Remember - Outer Bawn

[Mouse]

Carry screamed, bolting upright from her spot curled up by the campfire.  The sound of her terror echoed across the quiet park, scaring up several birds from the spots asleep in the trees.

Carry stood quickly, hands running across her skin in a fevered effort to check for injuries.  She ran her hands across her shoulders, feeling nothing by smooth, intact skin.  A hand goes to her chest, tracing the glyph carved there by the alpha.  Everything was where it should be.  Except...

Carry closed her eyes, digging deep into herself, and let out a howl of joy as her rage and her tie to Luna came bubbling forth.  She slid into her breed form, and for the first time in a very long time, she cried. Never had she been happier than she was now, in the form of her birth, her connection to Luna and Gaia and Momma Rat still intact.

[Happy]

Windy running through the woods in Lupus here's the scream, and rushes towards it.  When he arrives seeing Carry in crinos, he lets out a bark, "Carry, what's going on are you ok?"

[Mouse]

Carry remains hunched down, her large, furry shoulders quavering.  She slowly calms, and finally she answers Windy, her voice cracking.

<<Nightmare...>>

[Happy]

Windy takes a second and shifts into Homid before sitting down by the fire, "Nightmare?  What about?"

[Mouse]

Carry turns to face Windy, but remains back and away from the fire.  The fur around her eyes is dark and soggy.

<<About the wyrm luring me into its lair and trying to prove to me that I am weak and unloved.>>

She stares blankly into the fire for a moment, before looking back to Windy.  <<Do you remember that fomori we fought back before the fight at the Iroquois Caern?  The one that was like a blob?>>

[Happy]

Windy looks at the fire for a while trying to shake the disturbing images from Iroquois out of his head.  He looks back up at Carry.

"Yeah, I remember.  Do you have nightmares a lot?  The battle seems to haunt me almost every night."

[Mouse]

Carry shakes her head.  <<I didn't, until recently, and they've all been about that blob Fomori.>>  

Carry looks at Windy helplessly.  <<I hear him in my head sometimes, taunting me.  I've done everything I can think of to get rid of it.  Not even a Rite of Cleansing makes it go away.  It just stays and makes me angry and gives me horrible nightmares.>>

She takes a deep breath.  <<I couldn't shift Windy.  It was like I wasn't Garou anymore I was just a normal human.>>

[Happy]

Windy stands up and walks over to his friend and packmate.  He wraps his small homid arms around Carry.  "Carry, you are one of the finest garou I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  I am honored to call you my pack alpha and my friend.  Know that you are not alone and I will always be here for you."

[Mouse]

<<But...> she started, and then fell silent, still in her friend's embrace.

Of course they loved her!  How could she even doubt that.  She could hear the words of that horrible wyrm creature in her head.  'You will poison them.' it had hissed.  She shook her head, trying to clear it.

[Happy]

Hearing her trail off and then shake her head...Windy shifts to Crinos(rage), and tightens his grip around Carry.  "It was a creature of the wyrm.  It will tell you whatever it thanks will through you off your game, don't let it.  Be strong and to thine own self be true."

[Mouse]

<<It was only a dream...>> Cary mumbled into her friend's shoulder.  She remained still for a moment longer before raising her arm to return the hug, grateful for the comfort.

<<I need to talk to Tide...see if he can tell me anything about how this fomori might be able to do this...>>

[Happy]

"Nightmares are still scary and disturbing even if they are dreams.  I have found myself more often than not waking up in a cold sweet crying out the names of those we lost at Iroquois.  Tide would definitely be the one to question about this."

Windy releases Carry from his embrace and shifts to Homid before sitting back down next to the fire.

[Mouse]

Carry crouches down in front of the fire near Windy, seeming much calmer now.  <<I can only imagine what that must be like Windy...>> she growls, shaking her head.

[Happy]

Windy drops his head a bit trying not to let Carry see him cry. 

"If only I were stronger, or smarter maybe they would still be around, maybe we would still have the Cairn."

[Mouse]

Carry shakes her head.  <<There are many ifs on that Windy.  If you had been stronger, if I had been there, if we as a group had taken better precautions against an attack.  So many ifs.>>

Carry slowly lets herself shift back to Homid, taking her time switching forms and seeming to relish every moment of it.

"The important thing, though, is that now we are ready.  We won't let anyone do that to us again."

[Happy]

Windy meets Carry's gaze and shakes his head.  "Your probably right.  I really hope we are ready this time.  If you would have asked me then I would have told you hell yeah we are ready." 

He reaches in his bag and pulls out a cloth and lays it down in front of him.  He then pulls out his Dessert Eagle and his cleaning kit and starts disassembling the firearm.

[Mouse]

Carry watches him take apart the gun with grim fascination.  

"Hey Windy...would you teach me to shoot one of those one of these days?"

[Happy]

Hearing the question a smile comes across Windy's face, yah change of topic.  He finishes putting the gun back together and slams the slide back before handing it to Carry.

"Of course it's really quite easy."

[Mouse]

Carry carefully takes the gun from Windy, holding it in her hands like it might blow up on her.  "I have this feeling that, in reality, you just make it look easy." Carry says with a chuckle.  She hefts the gun up and looks down the sight.  "Blam blam!" she exclaims loudly, pretending to shoot the weapon.

[Happy]

"That may indeed be the case I have been firing guns since I was little.  Your imaginary aim is quite good, maybe some real target practice now." 

He stands up and finishes drinking the bottle in his bag, before setting in on a tree limb not too far away.  He walks back to Carry and fixes her hand position on the firearm.  "Alright now try and hit the bottle."

[Mouse]

Carry looks up at the bottle, and then down at the gun, then back to hte bottle again.  With a shrug she hefts the weapon, letting Windy place her hands where they should be.  Once he was way out of the way, she took aim and fired.

Boom! went the gun, and there stood the bottle, right where Windy had left it.

"Well damn..."

[Happy]

He grins a little.  "Keep your arms straight and aim, then hold your breath and squeeze the trigger don't pull it.  Try again."

[Mouse]

Carry nods, raising again and staring down the sight.  She straightens her arms, trying to keep them in position.  She take a deep breath, holds it, and fires again.

Boom!  This time, the target goes flying as the bullet connects with the neck of the bottle, sending bits of broken glass in all directions.  Carry grins.

[Happy]

"Very nice Carry, you are on your way to becoming a marksman." 

He opens his bag and searches threw it for a minute before he pulls out a wooden box.  He walks over to Carry and opens it, inside is a Beretta 9mm handgun.  He extends the box to Carry.

"This was given to me on my 16th birthday from my mom, it has served me well over the years, I feel it needs a new home though.  So here you go, your more than welcome to hold on to it.  It's a lot lighter than my DE and will be much easier for you to learn with."

He walks over to the bottle and starts picking up the pieces.

[Mouse]

Carry carefully takes the box from Windy, reaching in and gently lifting the weapon.  She turns it over in her hands, examining it.

"Are you sure Windy?" she asks, replacing the gun and walking over to help pick up glass pieces.  "I mean, your mother gave it to you.  It's practically a family heirloom.  I wouldn't want to take that from you..."

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