Re: Long Memories

[DerekCase]

“I will tell you of the time before things were so broken, long before the chaos of the Impergium, and the many mistakes that have been made since.” Tide’s voice booms out into the cloud of smoke, flattening it to the ground. Shapes begin to appear on the new surface. In their hybrid forms walk all manner of the changing breeds.
The scene plays across both the smoke and the mind’s eye. Everyone around the circle can see the rolling fields of a well-tended caern in their mind. A gurahl watches over a group of Garou, Bastet and Ratkin cubs while a Mokole is working a rite of dreaming, teaching them of the lives before them. In the distance, a Nagah and Ananasi are discussing a matter of the spirit while a young Nuwisha and Kitsune chase each other across the bawn. There were other shapes there, Fera long since passed.
“Things were more peaceful then. Each of us performed our functions, and Gaia was the healthiest she had ever been. But there has always been wrong in the world. As far back as memory can go.”
The scene changes, a pack of Fera: Bastet, Mokole, Garou, Nuwisha, and Corax are racing through the woods. The listeners are seeing the scene from the perspective of the individual packmates. They can feel the earth beneath their paws or the wind in their wings and see the forest soaring past with alien eyes. But at the same time, they are still in their bodies, watching the scene play across the smoke at the campsite.
“This is one of the stories of a Bear pack. Their Bastet Alpha, Claws-like-Thunder, has spent weeks tracing down her cub and those that had murdered her kin. Her fury boils in her chest enough to shame luna’s gift.”
The scent is here. She growls, her voice strong against the dark. The pack slows to a halt. They had come upon a clearing the forest. A hole had been torn into the ground. The surrounding trees had been cut down but not by the claws of any fera. Their trunks were missing entirely, only small branches had been left. The hole was large enough for a bear to fit through. Something must be helping these Men.
It is a trap, something of the wyrm. Squawked the Corax, his feathers ruffling at the idea of going down there.
There is no wyrm scent here. Growled the Garou. I say we tear whatever’s hiding there apart.
I’ll go. The Nuwisha said. I can get out fast if there's something big in there.
We all go. Growled Claws-like-Thunder. I will not sit idly while you take first blood.
The pack moved in line into the gaping hole, bastet taking the lead and corax bring up the rear.
The smoke rises, the scene shifting to a side view of the tunnel, the Pack creeping deeper into the darkness. They are quiet, the listeners can hear their ancient heartbeats echoing in their ears. They crawl for a many paces, downward then suddenly flat. The tunnel opens into a chamber, a cave somewhere. A man stands behind a stalagmite holding sharp stone and the bastet cub.
You will hunt us no more beast. The man says, holding up the cub. We are not prey.
The listeners can smell the fear dripping off the of the man’s skin, hanging, enticingly in the air around them.
Be gone from here, from us, and we will leave your child, find our own homes elsewhere. The man says, voice faltering as the lioness grows ever nearer.
No. Claws-like-Thunder slowly shifts up to Crinos. No. Little thing. She says in the human tongue. You have slayed my kin and raided my nest. I will end you and your kin in turn.
The man, steps back from the large form and presses the knife into the cub slightly. It cries in pain, and the Bastet feels her anger welling up inside her.
No. The mokole growls. This will not end well. Let them leave, save your child.
The Corax caws behind him, Agreed. Let them leave.
Kill it. The Garou barks. You are fast. It will not have time to harm your cub.
The Nuwisha quietly steps back, looking around, he brushed up against the Corax and nods.
The Bastet pounces, the Garou quickly following, and from the ground rise pointed wooden sticks, from the ceiling fall more, and neither attacker reaches their turn. Their roars turn to yips, their forms melt back to wolf and lioness. From deeper in the cave come more humans. The one speaking turns to the Mokole, the only one left in the cavern as the Corax and Nuwisha wisely escaped.
We are not prey. The man whispers as he set down the cub which immediate runs to its mother. Leave us, and we will leave you.
The Mokole in its Suchid form, a large alligator, nods, picks up the cub by its scruff and begins to slowly walk back up the tunnel.
The words echo in the minds of the listeners, as they see the man walk away. We are not prey.
“This was one of the many beginnings to the change in the humans.”
The smoke clears as does the man’s voice and the image of his somber face.

[Mouse]

Carry stares silently as the smoke dissipates, taking a few minutes to digest the man's story. She looks around at the others in the circle to gauge their reactions.

((Damn Derek - that was intense.))

[DerekCase]

"There are many lessons these ancient ones have to teach us." Tide says, his voice again the rasp of an old man. "What is it that you have taken from this story?"

[Mouse]

"The caern in the story is how I picture our caern some day." Carry says softly. "It almost was like that for a while, with Speaks and Rhia, Bete and Chitter. So many of us banded together in one place for the same purpose, fighting the same battles for the same means."

Carry pauses, taking a couple deep breaths. "That will never happen though, because the Garou, because my people, were stupid and rash and couldn't control their pride. We killed our brothers and sisters because we were the only true protectors of Gaia, or so we thought. We were foolish, and now I..." she looks around at the others. "And if I may speak for the others, we...hope to fix that."

[Gh0st]

Processing.

Processing.

Consensus reached.

"ThaT WAs a goOD STory." He said, his voice it's usual amalgamation. "IT SPeaks of imPORtant LESSons thaT ALl haVE LEArned wiTH TIme." He paused, his mind attempting to compress his thoughts into a concise form.

"THerE ARe moRE Of thEM THan theRE ARe oF Us. THe maRCH of thEIR TEchnologICAL PROgressioN Is FAst. PRide ANd argoGANCE WIll leAD TO A SHOrtlife aND LEss thAN HOnoraBLE DEath... evEN LEACHes knOW THis aND ACt accordINGLY. ANd glaSSWALkers picK OUr figHTs witH LEAcheS caREfulLY foR SImilAR REAsons."

...

"OUr WAr anD PURPOse is deaLING WIth wyRM, NOt humAN. LIfe anD RESOUrce loST FUTIly is a cRIMe AGAinst GAIA."

[mars_hackworth]

"I agree with the others, it looked like a wonderful caern to be a part of and I hope we can eventually have all manner of friend and packmate. I feel that we sometimes underestimate the cleverness of Men in our battle, we feel as though we have more right to be here and to protect ourselves and our family. But they too have family and will go through much to keep them safe. We needn't treat them as equals I don't believe, but treat them with the hand that might tend an angry child."

Whispers eyes stay on the middle of the circle, watching the smoke dissipate and thinking. As soon as someone starts speaking, she turns her eyes up to the old man to watch his face some more.

[Nox]

Alli wipes the wet streaks off of her face as she looks up from the smoke. They used to live in harmony with the other changing breeds. Everything she had been taught about Garou being superior to the others...she feels conflicted, a little confused, but beneath that she feels an emptiness, a longing for something she had never, in this life, experienced.

"We were...we are prideful. Instead of setting of setting our supposed superiority aside and recognizing that the humans are intelligent beings that are just as much children of Gaia as we all are, we hunted and slaughtered them until they did something dangerous and drastic to get our attention. If it had been different, perhaps we could have taught them of the Wyrm and our battle against it, made allies of them. But we were just as rash as they were, and even now we live in hiding from them.

But that isn't all. We used to live in harmony with the other changing breeds. Seeing that scene...I miss something that I've never had." More tears fall from her eyes, her voice begins to waver. "We killed them. We thought ourselves better than the others and used it as an excuse to go to war with them. I know there are other reasons we had, but they were all bullshit. How are we any better than the humans that go to war and kill each other off because they're a different shade of brown, or follow a different religion? If we're so much better, why do we make the same mistakes?"

Alli pulls her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them.

[Mr Speaks]

Eli reaches out his hand and places it on Alli's shoulder, "no, we only killed some. The others are still around, albeit in hiding. That's why we originally put out the call, to try and bring them out. One brave soul at a time. We just gave up though."

[Mouse]

Carry shakes her head. "We shouldn't give up though. Otherwise, how can we fix the mistakes we have made in the past? Perhaps we should think about renewing our call. Let anyone in the area know that we are a welcoming place, regardless of your changing race."

[Mr Speaks]

"I think we need to be more subtle than that. We drew too much attention last time."

Eli shakes his head.

[mars_hackworth]

"Eli is right. I wasn't around here when the cairn fell before, but I can see how a desperate call would garner some hostile attention. We shouldn't turn away any sincere help though, that's for sure."
Whispers reaches a hand out hesitantly and pats Alli on the shoulder.

[Nox]

Alli lifts her head and gives a small smile, grateful for the concern of her sept-mates. "I don't know enough about the other breeds to know where to begin looking, but I can try contacting my uncle and see if be knows of anyone, has heard anything. He travels a lot, he may have heard something."

[Mouse]

Carry leans over, using Eli's knee as a resting place for her arms, and looks at Allison. "Your uncle sounds like an interesting person Allison, from how you keep talking of him. Is he Garou or kinfolk?" she asks curiously.

[Nox]

"He's a Garou, Child of Gaia. He's the reason I became a Child instead of a Glasswalker like my dad was, but that's a story for another time."

[Gh0st]

"secREsy. StEALTH HIDden numBERs. THese arE SOLid taCTics. THe eneMY KNows whERE WE ARe no poINT In broadcasTING NUmberS."

[DerekCase]

Devon, rubbing his hands on his jeans, answered Tide's question somberly, "With certainty comes pride, and that is a hard lesson."


Tide waited patiently as the other sorted through reasoning before clearing his throat, "I would also advice against making another call. But there are other friends who can do that kind of thing quietly. Little birdies. I believe that was their purpose. "

[Mouse]

"The only Corax we know is Rhia, and she is off with Speaks and Darien doing missions. Do you know any others?" Carry asks curiously, looking over to Tide. "I have no idea how common the Corax are, but that really is a good idea. There's no reason we can't continue the "call", so to speak, and just do it more subtly than last time."

[DerekCase]

Tide begins cleaning out the mystical pipe, "I've met a few of them. They shouldn't be too difficult to find."

[Mr Speaks]

"What about the groups that are in hiding? If we could find them, we could offer protection. Maybe we could ally with some Bastet to find the hiding groups, they tend to be good at finding things. " Eli offers.

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