Garou: Cycle of Healing

[Keira Kelly]

The ride back to the ranch house had been.. far more rapid that expected but Sara had opted to ride in the back of the pickup rather than in the cab. Though it could have fit three people in a crunch, it would have been squished at best and Sara hadn't felt like dealing with that just then. She preferred also to have some space to keep an eye on their new companion. Was he trustworthy? Sara thought so but.. it was never smart to totally trust a stranger, especially in vague and seemingly volatile situations. As the pickup hit one of the many potholes along the desolate roadway in the twilight, Sara gripped tighter on to the vehicle's siding to prevent herself from flying out. Cursing to herself, a very rare occurrence, she resisted the urge to try to shout against the wind at Lisa to slow down. There was nobody chasing them. The Ahroun wouldn't have heard her anyways though and Sara was pretty sure Lisa would have sped up just to irritate the Child of Gaia.

Finally, the vehicle slowed, prompting Sara to raise up a little, looking out to try to see through the gathering darkness at where they were. The house. Good. Crouching behind the cab as she had been, she had avoided any bugs but.. she was dreading trying to untangle whatever sort of tangled, rats nest her hair was from the air currents in the back of the pickup. Beginning to try to run her fingers through it to untangle what she could to at least look presentable, she noticed another car parked in front of the house. Dean. Well, this would be fun to explain. She was so intent on trying to comb her hair with her hands that the pickup pulling to a stop caught her by surprise, almost causing her to fall. She caught herself, but only barely.. and nearly pulling out a handful of her own hair in the process. She winced at it as the engine turned off.

By the time she managed to fish her staff from beneath a plethora of junk that inhabited the rear of the pickup, Lisa was already giving the Uktena some ground rules. Sara came up beside Ho'nehe, smiling in amusement at the dire sounding warnings about the barn.. warnings that she had been given too once upon a time. She leaned a bit closer to the Uktena, talking to him in a stage-whisper, so that Lisa could hear it as well. "Believe me, you don't want to go in the barn anyways, friend. It is not pretty in there... I'm sure you can imagine about Glass Walkers.." she said with an impish smile, making a gesture indicating that Glass Walkers were odd.

Her smile dropped off as Lisa moved on to the next rule. "Now that's one we all have to follow. Protect the Veil there.... No joking about that one... I mean, if Dean takes one look at Lisa in her Crinos form.. at best, we have a catatonic human that doesn't remember what happen, at worst, he runs for the hills and... there aren't many people who can put up with Lisa's temper as well as he does!" she said. It was too much fun teasing Lisa. At the request, she nodded. "I'll show him his new room." she agreed.

As they approached the front door, Lisa in the lead, it opened to the figure of Dean, back-lit by the lights inside. Sara slowed down, as did the Uktena, as Lisa and Dean exchanged and intimate greeting at the door. She saw the human's gaze turn to the newcomer afterwards, shooting Lisa a questioning look. Questioning and maybe with a hint of jealousy, Sara thought. He was easy enough to explain.....

Or so she thought until Lisa explained Ho'nehe's presence. Sara's jaw dropped. She let out a strangled sound of objection. Before she could add words to the objection, Dean accepted it and turned inside. "Lisa..." she said in a flustered hiss. "Lisa!" While she might have once found it funny.. despite the embarrassment it engendered, the painful memories it brought back wasn't so amusing. She grabbed Lisa's arm, turning the Ahroun around to her, leaving Dean to move far enough away that she could speak unheard by him at least. "You could have just said Ho'nehe was a friend that needed help and a place to stay.. like you helped me last year...." she added in objection. She frowned. "Besides, won't Dean think it's odd we have separate rooms?" she added, giving a logical reason for Lisa to clear that up with her human boyfriend.

Still mortified, she turned back to Ho'nehe. "Sorry about that, friend... Lisa's sense of humour has something left to be desired... An Ahroun trait, I'm sure." she added with a small smile. By the Uktena's lack of.. well, beating her over the head for the statement, she was pretty sure that Ho'nehe was of a different auspice than the Glass Walker. Good. She gestured to Ho'nehe to follow Lisa into the house and once they were all inside, she headed over to the attached kitchen area, feeling her own stomach rumbling. She was too wired to sleep right now as Lisa seemed more inclined to but she figured she would ask. "Lisa, Ho'nehe, dinner first or bed time?" she inquired. She was going to eat, even if she was the only one, though if their guest chose bed, she would introduce him to his room before she ate.

[Ghaz]

While on the ride Ho'nehe couldn't stop thinking about his tribe worried about what could happen to them while he is away. Once they arrived he got out of the vehicle and looked around and listened to the rules that were given to him about what not to do. He didn't have a problem with this since he really didn't live here. Ho'nehe acknowledge what Sara said about Glass Walkers but agreed that he probably wouldn't like it in there anyways. He quickly said "Don't worry I wont break any rules or take advantage of your hospitality." Once he saw the man come out he looked at him and quickly looked at Lisa in complete shock that she would say something like that. He didn't know how to respond so he did the next best thing in his opinions he stayed quiet looking at Sara and sighed deeply.

After he listened to how Sara responded to how Lisa had introduced him to the human. He chuckled a little saying "this is going to be fun". He nodded about Lisa's sense of humor and thought if he could somehow get her to have a better sense of humor if that's really her sense of humor. Ho'nehe looked at Sara saying I perfer to sleep for now if that is okay especially after the day I had. He was worried deeply about his people after what he had just experience with the wendigo and wanted the day to end sooner. "But sleep can wait if we need to discuss about what happened at the meeting if you both need to."

[rivaan]

"Oh?" Lisa made a questioning sound as the trickster seemed really affected by her naming Ho'nehe her boyfriend. The glass walker wore a tired grin as the other went into a tirade about how it wasn't really logical to call him such in front of Dean since the lie and joke was thin and way too obvsious. She looked at Sara, tilted her head to one side and said." So if it's so obvious that Dean will notice it's not true, why are you so affected by it anyways?" She asked with self pleased expression." If you can poke at me, then I can poke at you and that's that, Trickster. Besides Dean's not stupid, he'd figure it out as you said." She added.

" No, I'm not hungry." The glass walker stated and looked at Sara and Ho'nehe." I'm tired and I personally will be heading to bed where I will enjoy a warm comfortable restful night. We can talk in the morning when all our heads are clear and we've taken some rest." Lisa added with a shrug. It didn't matter if hte other two wanted to talk it out now. it wouldn't change things much aside the fact they would tire and strain themselves even more now." I also propose you get some good rest and not waste too much time staying awake tonight."

With that said, Lisa smiled at Sara and Ho'nehe, after they were inside, she made sure all the doorways into the house were locked and headed upstairs to hers and Dean's room. The man was already waiting in bed and it didn't take them more than a few glances to understand each other and that she's really going to prefer to just cuddle and sleep tonight. So they did and she quickly laid into the bed, closing her eyes in the warm comfort of his presence. It was weird how this ordinary human made her feel safe and comfortable. She supposed that meant love after all and as such her head had barely touched the pillow before she was already sleeping.

[Keira Kelly]

Sara made a shooing gesture towards Lisa. "Go get some sleep then!" she told the Glass Walker. Truth be told, she envied her friend.. being able to go and fall asleep in the arms of someone she loved, something that Sara had lost. She envied Lisa, but she was happy for her, happy that the Ahroun had managed to patch all of that up. The only truly important thing in all of the universe was balance; balance in nature and balance within yourself. Finding one's soulmate was ultimate balance, not to mention that Dean also balanced Lisa's more aggressive side. She made a visible show of wincing. "Don't break anything this time!" she called out at Lisa's retreating figure.

The gesture she received in return only made Sara laugh. The laughter was her armour, her defence against everything... and right now, it was her attempt to balance herself, to come down from the high adrenaline this evening had caused. She was still feeling jittery from it. Lisa and Ho'nehe had ridden in the cab of the truck; they'd had time to come to grips with the shock of the situation. Sara, riding in the back and trying to keep from falling out and breaking her neck through Lisa's brand of driving.. hadn't allowed her to do that too.

She turned to their guest.. well, their new roommate for the foreseeable future it seemed. "Guess we will leave it till tomorrow then..." she told him. She gestured for him to follow her. "I'll show you to the spare room then." she added as she walked. As luck would have it, the extra spare bedroom was across from hers on the ground floor, at the rear of the house. Luck because they had only just met this young man and Sara would not put all her eggs in one basket based on the facts that they had seen. There was too much that was vague going on, too much that could be deception. Until they KNEW they could trust Ho'nehe, Sara wanted to keep an eye on him. And tomorrow, if nothing untoward happened overnight, she'd be using her Truth Earring while they questioned him.

She stopped in front of the closed door opposite her own and opened it, gesturing a hand inside. The room was fairly spartan but in a country home sort of way, with a large knitted blanket resting over the end of the bed, a rocking chair in one corner and a table in with a conventional chair in the other along with a large wooden wardrobe along one wall. And older fashioned iron radiator stood against the wall not too far from the bed, warming the room. "Here you go, Ho'nehe. If you need anything, I'm right across the hall. Just knock." she told him. She gave him a small smile. "It was nice meeting you despite the.. circumstances. Get some rest and maybe we can figure out what the hell is going on in the morning." she added, closing the door behind him.

Instead of going back to her own room, she headed back to the kitchen. She needed.. something to calm her frayed nerves. She made sure there was water in the kettle before turning it on. At least it was one of the more conventional kettles, not the steam type that whistled and would wake up the whole house when it finished. At her old Sept, if they had any at all, it was that kind. One of the benefits she had found to living with a Glass Walker. This kettle might have been electric but.. it was easier on the ears. While it boiled, she grabbed a little bit of the leftover food and once the kettle clicked off, she made her chamomile tea, taking all her meal off into her own room.

She closed the door lightly behind her, and she did something she had never really done before: she propped a chair up under the door knob. If someone tried to get in stealthily, it would be nigh impossible and if they tried to break it, it would give her more warning at the least. With that done, she got ready for bed, quickly ate her small snack and drank down the tea which definitely helped to put her at peace. She yawned sleepily and crawled beneath her covers, finally able to drift off to some uneasy sleep.

-----------------------

When morning finally came around, Sara woke up groggily. She hadn't slept well. There had been too many dreams... and not good ones. A lot of memories had been brought back up yesterday and they had surely influenced her dreamscape. Though what the dreams had been were fading, the pain and grief that had come with them still felt nearly as fresh as they had a year and a half ago. The content of the dreams was fading but she clearly remembered what and who the dreams had been about. That and being chased by insane Wendigo in a frenzy, along with other monsters, intent on rending them to all to bloody strips.... that had been a fun one, she thought sarcastically. Her imagination had graciously filled in what likely could have happened the night before and supplemented it with its own additions.

She sat herself up, about to throw a housecoat on and go out but.. seeing the chair stuffed up against the door, remembered that they had two new male roommates. That would be.. awkward. With a sigh, she dragged herself to get dressed, grabbing and putting on the special earring she had, hiding some hair over it. Turning to the door again, she moved the chair out of the way and exited her room, heading back towards the kitchen and breakfast table area. Making sure the kettle was full, Sara turned it on again and allowed herself a big stretch and yawn.

( Don't know if anyone else is there yet or not. If so, I'll add in that Sara says good morning to them. If not, can continue from here. )

[Ghaz]

Ho'nehe listened to the others joke with each other wondering how much they joke with each other. After deciding that they were just going to go to sleep he watched the glass walker walk away. He nodded to Sara and followed her to the guest room wondering what tomorrow will bring. After arriving to his room he listened to her words and said "thanks you and it was nice meeting to you as well and I'm sorry about how everything ended at the meeting." He looked at the bed and sighed thinking to himself 'I wish things would have ended better.' He soon went to bed trying to get the day over with.

After he woke up he looked around feeling worried and a little tired. He didn't get much sleep since he was so worried about what was going on with his tribe. He sighed before forcing himself to get up and exited his room walking towards the way he came from wondering if anyone else was awake. He wondered how the others were going to treat him and if they were going to ask him anything about what happened last night. He tried not to think to much about it since he didn't know what to do at the moment and was just going to wait to see what the others wanted to do.

[rivaan]

Lisa slept like a baby with Dean next to her. She felt warm, secure and just a little fuzzy comfortable in his embrace. Ahh the miracles of love, that said by morning Dean had already left because he had to get to work real early now that he lived with her on the form. She smiled as she pulled herself away from the blankets and yawned. She was dressed in her bedwear which consisted more or less of her underwear and a tshirt over that. Lazyly she moved away from the bed and towards the door, wanting to go grab a cup of coffee as soon as possible. She stopped at the doorway as she took hold of hte doorknob and memories about last night resurfaced in her mind." Ohh yeah..." She mumbled, remembering they had a new roommate at the farm. She blinked a few times to clear her head before moving over to put on some short pants. She wardrobe was deceptively diverse all things considered since she had a lot of other clothing aside jeans, tanktops and leather jackets, she just didn't wear them as much.

Anyways once she was done and dressed up she left the bedroom heading to the kitchen, hearing the lovely sound of water on the stove." Good morning, Sara." She said with a yawn and quickly took a space on the table while waiting for the water to boil so they can get some coffee going. Yeah coffee, the booze of spiders, the bane of white things and the energizer of the universe. Well not really, for the energizer part. Still she liked coffee, it make mornings easy when she had to be active during them. If she didnt have stuff to do and could lazy as much as she wants, she'd always wake past noon. In fact seh had many a sleepless nights in the barn, working on her project. She just hoped it was going to get into working condition soon. It would help greatly if those wendigo try something. Well she wouldn't be surprised if they do. Still to get that thing working she'd need some rather specific spirits' help which she wasn't sure if she'd be able to find easily. Anyhow each thing step by step. She rubbed her eyes as the water was about to get done so she went to grab the coffee jar from the cubboard.

"You do not too great... bad dreams?" Lisa asked as she was putting a few spoons of ground coffee in her cup. Said cup was pretty big and had a pretty cool skeleton playing a guitar while lightning were flying around picture on it. It was her favorite cup because she had it since she was young. " Today I have something to show you... and Ho'nehe." She said as she finally took her first gulp of the coffee." I've probably mentioned it, wait I don't think I actually have, but you may have noticed it during the time you've spend here. There's a burried stash of silver coated weapons by the well... Think it's time to show you where they are at." She stated flatly.

[Keira Kelly]

Sara was staring at the kettle, totally intent on using her mind to make it boil faster... which wasn't working, as Lisa joined her in the kitchen. Sara, so intent on the kettle in her tiredness, didn't notice until Lisa spoke. Her head swung around at the greeting. "Wha... oh, mornin', Lisa.." she answered, which was promptly followed by another yawn. She turned back to the kettle. "It's almost done." she added, knowing her friend's preference for coffee when up this early. "After I have a cup of tea, I'll make some eggs and bacon for all of us for breakfast but... tea first." she said with a grimace.

She turned back to look at Lisa as her friend asked her a question. Sara sighed, eyes closed for a moment and then nodded in reply. "Yeah, bad dreams again." she answered. It had been a long time since she had had dreams like that. For a the first few months after her fiancee had died, she had had terrible dreams. They were part of the reason she had left home and ended up out here but she had thought she was over them. "I think last night just brought up..." she paused as Ho'nehe arrived to join them. She gave him a nod of greeting before turning back to Lisa. "Last night brought up a lot of memories I had thought I'd dealt with." she finished. She turned back to their guest. "Morning, Ho'nehe."

The sound of the kettle finishing perked her up. "Finally!" She made a grab for it, pouring some of the water in her own mug that held a tea bag before handing it off to Lisa. She turned back to the Uktena as she let her tea steep in the boiled water for a minute. "We have coffee and tea, just regular black tea.. and plenty of boiled water left, and I think.. some juice in the fridge.. Help yourself." she offered. "I'll make some proper food once I finish my tea." she repeated for him. Any other niceties could be reserved for after tea.

Seeing the tea having fully saturated the water, she picked out the tea bag, threw it in the garbage and put the appropriate amounts of sugar and milk into her own mug before taking a long sip of the hot, soothing beverage. It warmed her right to the core. "Mmmm..." she moaned in delight. The comforting tea was helping to push away all troubles from her mind, and the caffeine, though in smaller amount than coffee would have, was helping her to wake up more fully.

She was definitely feeling more awake and coherent when Lisa began talking to them and what she was saying surprised Sara. Sara paused, with a curious look which quickly turned to one of worry and... dislike. "Wait, what?..." she replied. "You have.. silver.. weapons? Why?" she objected. She was shaking her head at this point. "I get that it might be more effective against Black Spiral Dancers but.. that's not very safe to keep around for us Garou..."

She paused, giving Lisa a hard look. "You.. aren't proposing we use such weapons against fellow Garou.. Because, if so, unless they've turned to the Wyrm, we haven't the right... They are our brothers and sisters..." she protested. It was a fundamental teaching among Sara's tribe, and especially her tribe's Totem, Unicorn, that Garou refrain from harming Garou, save for if they allowed themselves to be corrupted by the Wyrm. That was why she carried a staff weapon, and why she had learned the special martial arts of her tribe that went along with such a weapon: while it could be used to kill in dire circumstances, it was meant more often to thwart, stop, and incapacitate, especially when it came to other Garou. "And if you mean to fight those who are corrupted, I have my own weapon to use." she stated, the idea of making breakfast for the moment set aside.

[Ghaz]

Once he got to the others he quickly replied back saying "Morning" After hearing what they had he just got some water letting it cool a little before he tried to drink any. He was still to tired to try anything other than water so he just waited trying to not fall back asleep. He listened to the others and their conversation and was shocked that Lisa had silver coated weapons around here somewhere. He began to wonder what else she had around here that would surprise him.

After hearing what Sara was saying about using them and he quickly said "I refuse to use any of those weapons against them." He nodded about Sara said she has her own weapon and quickly said "I have my own too." He couldn't imagine using silver weapons against his brothers and sisters. He didn't want to imagine it and knew he couldn't bring himself to do it no matter what the circumstances was.

[rivaan]

"Yes, naturally I have silver weapons." Lisa replied with a flat voice and a completely serious expression as if it was the most natural thing ever." Yeah hence why I have them burried away for when we might need them." She added when Sara mentioned it wasn't safe to have around garou like them." Look, I don't really care if it's other garou who attack us. If they do, I will simply slaughter all who attempt it and that's that." She stated with grim voice." If they are tainted by the wyrm and already following it's desires then there's no place for softness here. It's kill or be killed and I will not be caught unprepared. Black Spiral Dancers aren't the only garou who can be our enemies, you better remember that." Lisa growled.

"Brothers and sisters wouldn't attack their family..." Was her firm reply at Sara ongoing pacifism speech. Lisa assumed it was the other's upbringing making her spout some nonsense. Would make sense." Anyways if they try with clear intent of killing, I'm going to return in kind and that's that even if I have to use silver to do so." Was her final statement on the matter.

Apparently both of them were refusing her offer." Alright then, you're choice I cannot force you to use a silvered weapon... But was at least meanign to have you know where they are." She shrugged and waved her hand in displeased dismissing manner." Don't try to stop me though... Anyone comes to this place with clear evil intent, I'm not letting them walking away from here alive... did I make myself clear?" She asked slowly and gave them both the killing glare that confirmed her intention on the matter.

[Keira Kelly]

In a way, Sara was both surprised and yet not to hear their new guest side with her over the matter of silver weapons. Surprised because it was nigh unheard of for other tribes to think quite like the Children of Gaia thought and yet not surprised because... if she'd read Ho'nehe right, he was one who wanted the killing and anger and vengeance to stop just as much as she did. Then again, she wasn't sure what he meant about having his own weapons to use against them. Likely not what she had meant about her own, non-lethal bo staff. Dealing with Garou of other tribes, that was about the only safe assumption. Maybe he just didn't like the idea of holding silver. For that by itself, she could understand his hesitation.

She grimaced at the matter-of-fact way that Lisa repeated having such weapons and sighed at her friend's words. If it had been a bunch of Dancers showing up at the door, well.. that was one thing. Sara would have put her dislike of the silver aside and used whatever weapon was most useful at hand to dispatch such evil beings. Being that gave themselves to evil willingly did not deserve mercy. Other Garou was her issue. Falling prey to the Rage within was foolhardy to be sure, but it wasn't evil. Other Garou, except if they turned to the Wyrm, never deserved to die. Their numbers were depleting fast enough as it was and there were other, better ways to deal with foolishness. If she couldn't even make her roommate of a year understand that killing their own brothers and sisters, even in defence, was on the path to the Wyrm, she didn't know what could.

She shook her head. She couldn't give up. "If they are tainted, then they deserve to be ended. I understand that, Lisa. In fact, that is a tenet that my Tribe is based on. But no, other Garou, untainted Garou.. are NOT our enemies. Ones who might wish us harm are misguided and foolish most definitely, but how could you kill your own brothers and sisters because they are simply being stupid and pigheaded and only listening to their anger? That would make us no better than they!" she argued vehemently. She rubbed her her forehead hard in frustration for a moment. "Simply put: how many of us are left? The Wyrm is laughing, watching us kill off our own over petty nothings and grudges! At this rate, it won't even need to bother to attack us because we seem to be doing a perfect job of picking each other off!" She was angry now, but not at her comrades there... just at the whole situation out in the world.

"You choose the easy way. Just kill. If... IF we can instead disable any Garou that wish us harm, we sit them down, get them to listen to reason and accept it. We bring soldiers back to the true war that we NEED to be concentrating on rather than simply thinning our numbers and therefore helping the Wyrm. I refuse to be a party to helping the Wyrm's cause! I can't accept that a whole Sept, maybe two, is corrupt to the core." she went on. "And I'll certainly not kill without being sure one way or the other." She turned to the Uktena. "Ho'nehe, how are you at sensing Wyrm corruption?" she asked. Neither she nor Lisa were particularly skilled in it, though Sara had some other means of recourse. If they managed to catch any of a Garou foe alive, she had a Fetish able to detect lies. Simply asking specific questions could paint a very good picture of a Garou's true loyalties.

Her attention still on their newest member, her hand went to her ear, where her own Fetish earring sat barely visible under her hair. "Ho'nehe, where do your loyalties lie in regards to the Wyrm? Do you fight for or against it?" she asked in no uncertain terms. At this moment, she did not truly doubt the Uktena but.. the earring would tell her for sure. She decided to add another question on. "And as for your Sept, the Uktena Sept, Red Deer Sept, to the best of your knowledge, is it or could it be corrupted by the Wyrm?" she asked. She suspected there might be outside influence there maybe.. more likely in the Wendigo camp for sure, but.. somehow she didn't feel that the Uktena at least were openly loyal to the Wyrm.

Her own glare turned back to Lisa, matching the Ahroun's in intensity. Sara knew she would, herself, stand in front of Lisa's blade to protect another untainted Garou, but now was not the time to up the confrontation. Among Garou, it wouldn't end well. "Lisa, if you choose to serve the Wyrm by killing our brothers and sisters, I cannot stand by and let that happen. One way or another, I can't.. and I hope that is clear enough." she answered back, the anger and passion that had been in her voice now replaced with sad resignation. "Not when there is other means to deal with them."

She sighed. "Even if it wasn't against my own ethics, I am sworn to follow Unicorn. I must protect and aid the weak and exploited but I cannot aid the Wyrm in doing so. Our misguided brothers and sisters need our protection and guidance and killing them for their folly would only aid the Wyrm in the end. Doubly so if events here were begun by the Wyrm. I would give my life to try to stop the feuding between Garou who should be allies and to foil the Wyrm's plotting. If you want to fall into its claws, to lose your own soul in the corruption of killing brothers and sisters.. well, I can't make your choices for you, my friend." she added sadly. "Instead of waiting for violence to come to me, I would rather go out there and find out what is going on. If the others are untainted, innocent, and whether unknowing pawns to their own anger or to the Wyrm plots, I cannot condone their murder. If they are tainted, I will join you with weapon in hand to deliver death but.. unless I know for sure, they are innocents as far as I'm concerned."

She wouldn't raise her own weapon to the Glass Walker if it came down to it but.. she wouldn't step aside either. She raised her arms to the side, palms open towards Lisa. "If you are of a mind to kill Garou, kill me now then, because I will not lie down and accept the killing of innocent, misled Garou who listen to nothing else but their own Rage... including you, Lisa." She closed her eyes in that vulnerable pose, waiting. If she couldn't even get Lisa to understand that to do anything else WAS siding with the Wyrm.. maybe Sara was unfit for this mission in the end. If there could be no end to the violence, no first step towards that cause, what was the point? Right at that moment, Sara had no idea of what choice Lisa might make... but she couldn't go against her own morals, not even for friendship.

( Ghaz : Ho'nehe has Sense Wyrm. He will have not detected anything corrupted, nor there being corruption in the umbra at or around his Sept's caern. )