Daniel Broken Hammer

[Truth in Frenzy] "How old are ya Joey? How old were ya for your first change? Your rite of passage? How old?"

He countered, head tilting as he sized her up.

[Joey] "I'm not talkin' 'bout age, Rhya. I'm talkin' 'bout experience. You got enough to be an Adren of the Nation. I'll be lucky if I make Fostern. I've seen you in battle, dude. Challengin' you for anything's about as dumb as me challengin' for Ragabash Elder or tryin' to claim kinfolk. You should know I don't stand a chance against you, and there's nothin' to be gained, not for you or me, in you kickin' my ass in a fight."

[Truth in Frenzy] He watched her unblinking for several long moments before speaking.

"Ya challenged. It is my duty in this situation to answer the challenge. Generally a Jarl is the strongest wolf. He is not necessarily the oldest, nor the highest ranked. Hopefully he is the strongest in more than just body, but that's part of it. If he's not, then someone will take it from him. He is responsible for all the Kin of his Tribe that are within his domain. In this case, that means within Chicago. He decides if you claim a kin or not. He suffers your flaws, your shame and stupid shit because he is your Jarl. Everything one of us do, will touch the Jarl, just like ripples from a stone thrown in a pond going in reverse. He is the center. He has to have a sharp wit and the strength to lead and hold his place. It is the right of all Fenrir here to challenge for the position."

He spoke softly, now and then the scar tissue on his throat moved when he swallowed or wet his lips with a quick flick of his tongue between them. All the while he remained solid, unmoving with his arms crossed.

"Now, you have challenged after I stepped forth and issued my claim. This is your right. And as you know, being older, more experianced does not guarantee success. Look at Joe."

He was not going to mention that as a Rotagar he knew more ways to throw a challenge and make it look good than he had fantasies to jack off to.

"Tell me do you challenge or did ya just want to compare notes?"

[snail] (ooo, can i drop daniel in?)

[Joey] Joey listens intently, aborbing and remembering, learning. Her brow furrows in a frown as her elder speaks.

When he finishes, she looks up at him from outside the challenge circle, head canted to the side. "But, you got the right to refuse, too. What if I get a lucky shot. Suppose I beat the billion to one odds and beat you in a physical challenge. I'm not a leader, Rhya," she admits, confesses.

"I issued the challenge, an' if you're really acceptin' it, I won't back down, but what if I win?"

[Joey] [I'm cool with that!]

[Truth in Frenzy] ((Sure))

[Broken Hammer] (you guys ok with it if i assume he was there from the start? he would've been -- i just didn't notice you guys were in here.)
to .fly., Joey, Mei, spirits, the devil, Truth in Frenzy

[Joey] [I'm fine with that, too]

[Truth in Frenzy] "If you win, then it was your turn."

His brows furrowed slightly as he added.

"You should never show this sort of doubt. Stand strong, stand with what ya do and say. As I said, a Jarl can be challenged and if he isn't strong enough, then he should be replaced. But he does not stand completely alone. He has his Tribe behind him. Without a firm standing below him, there's no support to hold it together and no need for a head, is there?"

He waved slightly, motioning her forward.

"Now, if ya stand by what ya issued, then let's get this over with."

[Truth in Frenzy] ((Ok))

[Broken Hammer] Having gathered at the runestaff, Broken Hammer has watched silently thus far. Lean and dour and dark-eyed in his homid form, his breath steams white in the brittle winter air. His arms are folded across his chest, and even the many layers he wears -- obviously compensating for quality with quantity -- can't disguise the wiry thinness of his body.

[Truth in Frenzy] "Ya see."

Why he bothered trying to explain things, some might wonder.

"I made a claim. Ya obviously felt ya made a better choice. Ya disagreed, unwilling to follow unless ya challenged and things were settled that way."

One dark brow cocked.

"Unless ya have another reason for this?"

[Joey] Joey hesitates, just a breath longer.

Then she sheds her coat. In homid she's tall for a woman, though small compared to most of her packmates, and most of the wolves she's run with in Chicago. Unlike her pack brother, Joey is stocky, muscular, athletic. Her figure lacks most of the soft curvature normally associated with the female body.

"It's not really doubt in myself, Rhya, but doubt in you. Leader of the tribe should be stronger in more'n just body. You obviously are. If you win, I look forward to following you," she says, the corners of her mouth lifting in a grin as she begins to shift.

In Hispo, Joey is stocky, her fur iron grey threaded with white, white patches at her cheeks. In this form, the only scar visible is the ugly slash across her throat.

Thus prepared, Joey steps across the challenge ring, toward Truth in Frenzy.

[Broken Hammer] "Hold."

At the edge of the ring, the Forseti abruptly speaks. There's a faint accent in his voice, hard to place, but otherwise his words are clear, ringing cleanly through the crisp January air.

"Laughs in the Face of Death, why have you challenged Truth in Frenzy-rhya's claim to Jarlhood if you did not expect him to accept?"

[Truth in Frenzy] His attention was on Joey as Broken Hammer spoke up. He had been trying to get the exact same answer from the Garou from the start. Slowly one brow lifted.

"What he said. I think he has a valid question, as did I."

[Joey] A test, brother.

Joey stops, swings her massive head to look at her pack mate. Her ears flick forward, erect, then swivel back to listen to Kemp.

If Truth in Frenzy-rhya accepted the challenge of a cliath, I wanted to know why. If his answer was just, "This is what Fenrir do," or if all he wanted was to earn false glory in bringing down a lower ranked Garou, I would have removed my challenge and walked away. I will not follow a bully.

She swings her head back to look at Kemp once more.

If you had declined my challenge outright, I would have asked why you would refuse me but accept challenge from War Handed-yuf.

[Broken Hammer] Joey can tell at once that her answer infuriates her packmate. Though he stands in homid, and thus has no hackles to raise, no ability to lay back his ears, his face grows taut. There is so little spare to him that when his jaw clenches, the bolt of muscle from cheekbone to jaw stands starkly out, casting a shadow on his cheek.

When she's finished there's a silence.

"How dare you," softly then, "think you have the right to test an Adren of our tribe. How dare you imply that it is at all your choice whether or not to honor him. How dare you suggest you would slink away from a challenge you yourself issued, only to thereafter flout his authority like a ... sniveling wretched dog, a Bone Gnawer, a Shadow Lord!

"How do you dare, Rotagar!"

That was not soft. That was a shout; the Forseti bellowing with astonishing volume. Waves of rage beat off him. A vein throbs in his forehead.

"What Sept Fostered you? Where do you come from? In what world is the ancient decree of our fathers not reason enough to do a deed?

"We are Fenrir, Rotagar. We are warriors amongst warriors in the Final War. A Jarl who is strong, honorable and wise is a mighty Jarl. A Jarl who is merely strong is still a good one. A Jarl who is honorable, wise and weak is a dead Jarl. All the honor and cunning in the world will avail you nothing if you have not the strength to crush Jormangandr beneath your paw. That is why we win our Jarlship by tooth and claw! That is why the old ways persist. That is why it is the sacred duty of a Fenrir to challenge the would-be Jarl.

"But make no mistake, Face of Death. You are not his equal. You do not have the right to test him. You do not have the right to doubt his strength. You do not have a choice -- neither to challenge him, nor to follow him when he wins.

"When you stand against an Adren of your tribe, you do so to pay him respect and due honor. You do so to pay respect and honor to the ways of our fathers."

He's finished; breathing hard, white with fury. A few seconds go by.

Then, abruptly, he turns to Kemp, his voice low and level, with a rote cadence that suggests this is not his first, nor his hundredth challenge mediated:

"Truth in Frenzy-rhya, as the challenged you may set the terms of this battle."

[Broken Hammer] (juuust in case it needs to be said, all that is obviously daniel's IC opinion, even if he's roaring it like it's the word of god.)
to .fly., dust, Joey, Mei, spirits, the devil, Truth in Frenzy, vikthya

[Truth in Frenzy] (( Not God but Fenris! ))
to .fly., Broken Hammer, dust, Joey, Mei, spirits, the devil, vikthya

[vikthya] [THERE IS ONLY ZUUL.]
to .fly., Broken Hammer, dust, Joey, Mei, spirits, the devil, Truth in Frenzy

[Truth in Frenzy] Now that was a dress down. Addressed, taken to school and educated. Nearly regally he canted his head with Broken Hammer's proceeding with the challenge after the dress down.

"My terms. No talens. Use what form ya want. Tooth and claw and the last one standing is the victor, so to speak. I will attempt to pull my strike if it seems it will cause your death. Now you get to set when since you are the challenger."

With that he shifted to Hispo as she had. A great big shaggy brown prehistoric wolf with black markings at muzzle, paws and tail tip. Though after a few more moments his scent changed and his skin rippled beneath his coat as he drew on the Gift of Trollskin, making it obvious he meant business.

[Truth in Frenzy] ((Trollskin roll. Stam+PU.)) ((Let me know if I screw up))
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 7) [WP]

[Truth in Frenzy] The next Gift he drew on was Resist Pain as he paced and prepared to meet Face of Death in the Challenge.


((Initiative? +9 ))
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3

[Joey] Joey doesn't wait for Kemp to issue the terms of challenge. She snaps down into her breed form, not to lessen the threat of her form on her tribe mate, her brother, but so she is no longer hindered by her wolf's mouth and tongue and teeth.

In this form she's small, and blonde, and young. And angry.

"Who are you to tell me how to act my auspice, Forseti? We are Fenrir, but what does that mean? That we fight just to fight? To prove our strength in combat, but never thinking? My place is to question, and I will question whoever I need to, regardless of rank, tribe, or auspice, and regardless of who thinks my actions are dishonorable."

[Truth in Frenzy] What his body language said was.....AWFUCKME. And yes, the Hispo Wolf began to pace like a caged Lion as he fought the sudden rise of despair that rose up inside his gut and chest with Joey's reaction. They were Fenrir and he was suddenly faced with a little girl in more ways than one. It was painfully disheartening. This is what they were coming to, racing towards the end not on their own terms but like an old sickly dog caught on a slippery slope of ice.

[Broken Hammer] Well; Daniel isn't despairing. With a low, rough snarl, the wiry Forseti kicks through the line at the edge of the challenge circle.

By the time that foot leaves the sand, it's a paw. His Hispo form is no less lean and lithe than his Homid. He has a grace and quickness here that most only have in lupus, sprinting viciously across the few yards that separate him from his packmate

to go for her throat.

(w00t, initting in! +9)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7

[Joey] [1R snapshift to Hispo, 1WP activate Resist Pain
+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9

[Broken Hammer] (BTW, is kemp declaring in or just watching?)

[Mei] Order is Laughs in the Face of Death, Broken Hammer, Kemp. Declare in reverse order! If Kemp isn't declaring in, go ahead and just post that you're not acting.

[Broken Hammer] [k, i'm just gonna declare.

1WP - Resist Pain

1a. Body tackle
b. Bite
R1. Bite
R2. Bite!]

[Joey] [1a: Bite!
1b: Bite the face, called shot, + WP!
R1: Bite!
R2: Bite!]

[Truth in Frenzy] He saw it coming and like any smart Wolf, he waited to see who came out on top rather than join a wild fray. Besides, at that moment he was still trying to convince himself that it was because Joey was female that she made no sense and couldn't give a clear response.

[Joey] [1a: Bite! - 2]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 3, 6, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5)

[Joey] [damage: str + 2 + 3]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Broken Hammer] (ack, sorry! was ordering sushi :D soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Broken Hammer] (pause for a sec!)

[Joey] [1b: Bite! - 3, diff + 2, + WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 6, 6 (Success x 1 at target 7) [WP]

[Broken Hammer] (blocking with permission from moderator! changing first split, defensive action, no diff mod. -2 dice.)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Broken Hammer] 1b. bite!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 7, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1

[Broken Hammer] damage! str+1(bear)+3(hispo)+4(succ)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Joey] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6 (Failure at target 6)

[Joey] [R1: Bite!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 7 at target 5)

[Joey] [damage: + 6 (pulling at incap if it's somehow needed)]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Broken Hammer] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 5, 6 (Failure at target 6)

[Broken Hammer] R1: Counterbite!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2

[Broken Hammer] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Joey] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Joey] [R2: counter bite to your counter bite!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 5)

[Broken Hammer] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Joey] [damage: + 1]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 6, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Broken Hammer] R2: counter counter counterbite!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 7, 10 (Failure at target 5) Re-rolls: 1

[Broken Hammer] (mei recapping, so i'ma get my sushi.)

[Mei] Snow in Chicago is thick and heavy, it has been falling since the end of November. Someone, perhaps a Guardian, perhaps the Keeper of the Land before he died, has been cleaning the snow from the circle, piling it up in little banks a few feet from its borders. There is a fine dusting of it, still over the ground where the combatants - and not the combatants who had arrived to challenge - tussle. The ground beneath is hard packed earth.

Blood turns each individual snowflake red. It has begun to seep into the ground. It has turned grey fur bloody and smeared white teeth with a pink froth.

It is raining lightly. A cold, hard winter rain which catches in the thick wiry hides of all present. that begins to bead into ice on the tips, creating spikes along hackles.

The battle is rapid, vicious, as packmate goes for the throat of packmate. Laughs in the Face of Death moves swiftly, charging forward to intercept the Sentinel's philodox. Her teeth catch at his shoulder, leaving a small tear of raw flesh, causing tufts of fur to stick into her teeth. Her next blow is turned aside viciously, as Broken Hammer protects his eyes and vision. Broken Hammer follows up his defence with an offence. His teeth tear at the soft flesh beneath the Rotagar's ear.

Laughs in the Face of Death tears flesh and blood from the Forseti's shoulder, filling her mouth, blood sliding hot and warm, unintentionally down her throat. Broken Hammer returns the favour. Then, they both taste air, each narrowly missing the other, as the sound of harsh, animal breathing fills the challenge circle, heavy with growls.

(5 agg to each. Reroll Init!)

[Joey] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9

[Broken Hammer] +9!
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Mei] Order is: Joey, Broken Hammer, Kemp is not acting.

Declare in reverse order!

[Broken Hammer] a/b/c/d - all bites! WP on the last one.

[Joey] [1a: Flank
1b: Bite!
1c: Bite!]

[Joey] [1b: Bite! - 4]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 4, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 4)

[Joey] [damage: str + 2 (pulling at incap if needed)]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Broken Hammer] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 5, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Broken Hammer] (and down!)

[Mei] (Broken Hammer is at incap. Joey is still at 5 agg. I won't be recapping this last one, since it was just one action. Play may continue!)

[Truth in Frenzy] His pacing had long since ended when the sudden attack came. Packmate to Packmate, he wasn't stepping in on it. And it went quickly. As soon as Broken Hammer went down, he snarled and shifted back to homid to stand bare of chest and foot in the snow. Only the old pair of worn, holey jeans covering him.

"Ya need to take care of him. Then ya need to learn to listen. He showed wisdom and a better understanding of this Tribe than you seem capable of comprehending at this time. Take him, see to his wounds. See to yourself and then come see me. We are not finished with this. I won't fight you in this condition and dishonor myself. There's been enough of that tonight."

[Joey] They rush each other, teeth snapping and blood spurting across pristine snow, marking fur and leaving flesh and muscle and bone bare to the bitter night air.

Laughs in the Face of Death and Broken Hammer collide, not as a Rotagar, not as a Forseti, but as Fenrir. They are powerful, brutal, vicious. They're almost evenly matched, except Joey is smaller, lighter, faster.

She pulls back at the last, takes consciousness from Daniel rather than his life. A moment later she's in homid once more, spitting his blood from her mouth even as she moves to his side. Kemp tells her to look to his wounds even as Joey lays her hand over them.

She doesn't answer him, just nods. This isn't over, not between the Cliath and the Adren. Nor is it likely the end of whatever now lies between the Rotagar and the Forseti.

[-1G Mother's Touch
int + med + 3 (Bear), diff Daniel's rage (4?)]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 5 at target 4)

[Hatchet] As promised over their pack's link, Buried Hatchet is nearby. He has been out of sight, on caern grounds but not too close to the gathering of Fenrir. This is, as he'd told Joey, a tribal matter. However her actions reflect on the Sentinels as a pack, ultimately this is a situation best handled by the ones who are handling it:

Kemp. Daniel. Her tribe. Her blood.

But her Alpha is coming closer now, feeling both of his packmates shuddering with injury that reverbates through his very spirit. As Truth in Frenzy speaks to Laughs in the Face of Death, a heavily-furred and broad-shouldered lupus strides over the snow until he sits on his haunches some ten yards away. His fur is gray, like most of the Fenrir's, red tips giving him some marking of his tribe despite the lack of purity in his breeding. His eyes are a rich molten gold, and they watch.

While he waits. Patiently, for what it's worth, for the two Get he is packed with to be dismissed by their current Jarl.

[Broken Hammer] (wait!0

[Broken Hammer] The Forseti hits the snow and the sand. For all his quickness and lightfootedness, the beast is enormous. A puff of snow curls up on either side of the Hispo, whose forepaw scratches indistinctly at the sand in an attempt to rise.

"I will tend my own weakness... Truth-Rhya."

The dark eyes slide to the female. If she reaches to heal him, he snaps at her hand and bares his teeth. It's feeble. There's no chance he'll do damage.

He does it anyway.

"You have bested me and... I do not have the right to... command you." The fierce cadence of his words are lost. He speaks like a squeaking wheel -- a few words in a rush, a whistling breath, a few more. "But you are wrong if... you think your auspice gives you... the right to act without honor."

[Truth in Frenzy] He had learned something in this because he watched how Joey handled herself in a fight. She had gone for the eyes of her own Pack mate. Gone for the eyes of her own Tribesman. It wasn't a Dancer, it wasn't life and death. He did however find it dishonorable and something to watch for from this female.

He stood in the cold, silver glinting against his scarred chest from the little Fenrir pendant he worn for years on end. Scars from killing wounds marred his throat, chest, shoulder, sternum. More scars hidden beneath the old ratty jeans. His body was a map of violence and resilience.

There was respect in his eyes for Broken Hammer's honor. His narrowed green gaze landed on Joey.

"Ya heard him. He will tend himself with honor. It would benefit you to listen to him. While he might not of bested you physically, he was all over your wisdom. Listen and learn."

He stepped from the circle, ending this for now. Hatchet got a small lift of his chin and a brief word.

"Your Foresti is well worth having. Good choice in that one."

[Mei] (and I'm out! have fun, guys)

[Hatchet] The Fostern gives the Adren a small upward nod of greeting and respect. And agreement, as well. Rising to his feet, then, he walks forward at a tidy pace until he stands with his Rotagar and his Forseti. He's smaller than the hispo to one side, larger in a way than the homid at his other side. His eyes track between the two of them. He has heard few if any of the words that have passed between them tonight. It may not matter.

He uses his voice rather than their link, questioning and dominant at once. "Is it settled?"

[Joey] Joey waits until the Adren is gone, until it's just the three of them, until her Gift begins to fade and the pain sets in.

Then she drops heavily to the ground, sitting with knees drawn. She scrubs at her face with both hands, smearing Daniel's blood across cheeks and chin.

She doesn't answer. She just turns to Daniel, waiting for his response.

[Broken Hammer] Broken Hammer whuffs, blowing a small puff of snow from his muzzle.

No. But it is done with for now.

[Truth in Frenzy] ((Heh, thanks for the play. I must sleep before getting up in a little over 4 hrs. Night! ))
to .fly., Broken Hammer, Hatchet, Joey, spirits

[Hatchet] No, says Daniel, and Joey says nothing at all. His ears hear and listen to the other Half Moon, though his eyes and his sense of smell are trained on the Rotagar. They're both covered in one another's blood. They are both from the same tribe in terms of overarching history, lineage, heroes in the past. Right now they smell so much like Fenrir that if he were a dumb animal he might believe that they are nothing more than that, that they do not belong to him at all.

Hatchet is very, very far from dumb, though at times he is more animal than anything else. They all are. He rises to all fours, ears up and slightly forward. Those golden eyes of his are wide open, staring intently. His mouth is closed, his teeth hidden. Though he is in a form smaller than Broken Hammer's and shorter than Joey's, he holds himself with all the authority of his rank ...as well as his position in their pack.

A low growl ending in a soft grunt issues from his throat as he turns to the New Moon. "This was a mistake. Worse, it is a breed of mistake you keep making."

Hatchet steps forward and stares at Joey, her face streaked in freckles and blood. "You would not be in this pack if you did not have potential to be better than this. Start proving it."

[Joey] Joey stares at her alpha for a moment, then drops her eyes, shamed.

Again.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles at her shoes. She burns the last of her rage, and where there was a bloodied teenage girl with a face full of freckles, there now sits a grey wolf. Joey pulls herself up to all fours, and turns to go. Her coat is forgotten on the outside of the challenge ring.

[Aidan] [ooc: Sorry!]

[Broken Hammer] For his part, Broken Hammer is quiet now, lying still, his dark eyes alert despite the ruin of his body; the blood that slowly melts the snow around him. It doesn't matter. He's Fenrir. He won't die. Already, his body is beginning to slowly mend itself -- he can feel the burning tingle at the edges of the wounds, a sensation that transcends even the Gift of Bear.

(sorry about shortasscrappost! i suddenly realized you guys might be waiting on me *LOL*)

[Hatchet] "Don't be sorry," comes the irritable response. "Learn. Change. Get smarter."

Whether or not he really believes that apologies mean nothing or not isn't said. Hatchet has two of his packmates bloody and shredded in front of him, and by one another's hand. He doesn't, apparently, care what happened between the two of them and Kemp, doesn't care what happened in the challenge. This conversation, unto itself, is a pack issue.

He nods Joey ahead, then looks at Broken Hammer. "Are you staying here?"

[Joey] Joey is nodded ahead, but she doesn't go back to The Brotherhood, nor does she wait for healing, even though that was why she apprised her packmates of where she was going and what she expected to happen.

Instead she limps away, to find a corner somewhere to curl up in, to heal, and to lick her wounds in solitude.

[Broken Hammer] Broken Hammer raises his head from the snow and the bloody sand to watch his packmate go. Then he sets it back down with a soft thump. He's caught his breath back. Most of it. His sentences are short and choppy; the whistle remains when he breathes, but the uneven staggering speech is gone.

"Until I can stand," the Forseti affirms. "Then I will use my Gaia's Breath talens to heal. Weakness resulted in defeat. Lack of foresight... why my talens are not with me. Do not aid me. I will not learn if you do."

A pause. Then his eyes track upward to his Alpha.

"Why did you say that to her? What mistakes do you speak of?"

[Joey] [alright, Joey's off being emo for the night. good night, and thanks for the RP!]

[Hatchet] Who is he to argue with Daniel, who says he knows how he will and will not learn? Hatchet stands there watching him for a moment, then takes a few steps over and sits on his haunches.

"You are weak if you refuse the aid of your packmates, Broken Hammer," he says. But he does not reach out and jawlock him, forcing healing on him. Yet. "We are as much a source of strength to you as anything else, and you to us."

He glances after Joey, then back to Daniel. "You may ask her yourself." It is not dismissive. It is a direct order, and not without purpose: "See if she knows."

[Broken Hammer] "If this were a battlefield. Or if a hunt were called, I would agree. But this is the Caern. I will be safe here. And if the pack needs me. I will not refuse healing.

"Save your Gnosis. I will heal myself by morning."

The hispo's dark eyes move then, following the disappearing shape of Joey. He responds simply enough:

Face of Death, will you answer a question?

[Hatchet] "Good enough."

Which is all he has to say. It isn't silent denial. It isn't arguing that he deserves to suffer. It isn't inexplicable refusal. Daniel explains his point, and Hatchet walks around him, lying down against the Fenrir's back. Safe here he may be, but for what it's worth: the Fiann stays with him, warm and alert, tipping his head back to look at the stars, the crescent moon, the sky.

[Joey] Joey doesn't go far. The youngest member of the Sentinels leaves the hangar, finds the nearest nook protected from the wind and the snow, and she curls up.

Yeah.

[Broken Hammer] What breed of mistakes did the Alpha mean?

[Joey] The...dumb kind?

[Broken Hammer] A shiver of irritation raises the hackles on Broken Hammer's back. Specifics, his mindvoice snaps.

[Joey] A pause. And then, The kinda mistakes a pack followin' Bear doesn't need. The kind I keep thinkin' I'm done makin', but here we are. You wanna list?

[Broken Hammer] Yes. I do.

[Joey] There's another pause. Where she lays, Joey has stopped cleaning the blood from her fur, has lifted her head and tilted it in a very canine expression of thoughtfulness that no one can see. When they hear her again, and they can all hear her, even Echo and Nate, wherever they may be, whatever they may be doing, Joey's voice is flat. What follows is a recitation of a list, a report of sorts. She speaks slowly, pulling events from her memory, and in so doing she loses the short, clipped way she has of talking.

In June I abandoned my kin to pack up with and follow two wolves I'd never met before. A week after we got here, two of us abandoned the third to face and probably die by the Wyrm.

I challenged the former Jarl for a kinfolk I have no intention of mating. Instead of facing my punishment, I ducked and was humiliated in front of the entire sept.

Over the summer, my former alpha was tainted by the Wyrm and left the city. I knew she was gone, but I didn't think to find out why she left. I was lost to the Weaver for two days. When my alpha came back, I didn't realize she was tainted, and she asked for succor from the sept instead of me.

I made a deal with a Shadow Lord without knowing what he'd ask for, and it nearly cost the safety of a kinswoman of another tribe.

And I was in love with Charlie.

Another pause. I think that's everything since I came to Chicago.

[Joey] [oops, that should be "two wolves I'd never met before to Chicago"]

[Broken Hammer] There's a long pause. Then, But... what kind of mistakes are those? What trend does the Alpha speak of?

[Joey] It's like you said. I act without honor. I think I've thought through sh--stuff, but then I just keep looking like a dumbass. A pack followin' Bear doesn't need a dumbass draggin' their name through the mud all the time.

[Broken Hammer] Self-pity doesn't suit you, Rotagar.

In the challenge circle, Broken Hammer stirs, rolling from his side to his stomach, setting his chin on the bloodied sand. Later, when the night lightens and day begins to break, he'll cross the barrier between worlds; he'll literally drag himself back to the Brotherhood if he has to, shedding molten rage to beat back the damage.

That is what Joey did to him. And Broken Hammer, though far from the mightiest of their tribe, is not useless in combat.

You are strong and cunning. You are not without honor. You disrespect those who made you when you refer yourself as a 'dumbass', just as you disrespect them when you act without honor.

[Joey] There's more to bein' strong than what you can do in a fight, Daniel. The Jarl of our tribe, our leader, shouldn't just be physically strong, either. They should know when to teach and guide without their fists and claws. An Adren should know that more than anyone, but sometimes they forget.

It's not my place to test Truth in Frenzy-rhya's ability to lead the tribe. But it is my place to judge if he's fit to lead me. I shouldn't have called this a challenge for Jarlship, though. That was my mistake.

[Broken Hammer] Joey, how can you say one minute that it is as I said, and in the next refute everything I've tried to tell you tonight? How can you pity yourself for your mistakes one moment and then defend them all with such hubris the next?

Truth in Frenzy is an Adren. He did not become an Adren by declaring himself so. He earned it with his deeds; with glory and honor and wisdom beyond what you and I might ever manage. His rank is ordained by the spirits, by Fenris, by Gaia herself. He is above our reproach!

It is true that while the Litany states that we must respect our elders, the Nation recognizes our fallibility. It allows us to challenge one rank above us. But the Nation also recognizes that cubs and Cliaths often think themselves wiser and more able than they are.

You are a Cliath. You do not have the right to test an Adren. And you certainly do not have the right to choose whether or not to follow him, no more than you have the right to choose whether or not to obey the Alpha of your pack. It is utter pride for you to imagine that you do.

[Hatchet] All during this totemic conversation, Hatchet has been silent. He's watched the stars, the clouds drifting over the barely visible moon, and he's kept an ear and an eye to the world around them to make sure that the caern is doubly safe for his packmate to recover in. And Joey...

...Joey walked away, wounded as she is. Hatchet didn't try to stop her. It's arguable that he would not have tried to stop Daniel, either.

There's a flicker of something across their link then, not quite words but pure thought, pure emotion: frustration, for one. Restraint, for another. He holds his tongue, holds back his thoughts beyond that, as Daniel responds to the Rotagar. When Daniel is finished, though, Hatchet speaks up. In counterpoint, his thoughtvoice is... calmer. Slower, if nothing else.

Joey, if you questioned whether Kemp could lead and teach without fighting... you could have sought his guidance rather than challenging it. You could have spoken to those who know of his wisdom and honor -- say, for example, myself -- and learned of stories that aren't on the Wyrmpole.

You are a Get of Fenris. Unless you choose to change that, and know that doing so means you may never find another tribe willing to adopt you, you must accept the leadership of those who have proven themselves above and beyond your rank. Simply put, your opinion of whether or not they deserve your submission doesn't. Matter. We are a race that needs heirarchy as much as we need the law, as much as we need to hunt in packs and howl with many voices.

A brief silence. A pause.

Another of your mistakes was challenging for the role of Ragabash elder. You knew you were not qualified or fit. You knew you would not win. You did not even want to win. The trend I spoke of, Joey, was not dishonor or dumbassery, though you disgrace yourself with your behavior at times and make yourself look stupider than you are at other times.

I am glad that you are not the type to sit on your haunches and let the world go by without doing anything. I am glad that you are a questioner of the ways who does not use her auspice simply as an excuse to snipe at those around her. But you are a poor scout, and this is a reflection of a deeper failing: you have to learn how to watch, and listen, and keep silent.

Almost every mistake you listed could have been avoided if you had simply paid more attention, asked more questions, sought answers rather than thrown out challenges. Learn patience. Learn attentiveness. You will learn more of everything else if you learn to sit on your hands and close your mouth for awhile.

Hatchet glances over at Daniel, examines his still-seeping wounds. Then, gentler: Charlie was a distraction. And you are distracted still by your grief. I am wondering, after listening to myself, if you would not benefit from a temporary vow of silence to both mourn and to learn.

The question he has for Daniel, even as he says that, is in body language rather than totemlink.

[Broken Hammer] The Hispo lifts his chin from the sand for a moment, then sets it down again.

"I cannot advise you on this matter, Alpha. Anger would cloud my judgment."

He doesn't seem to realize he's referencing Cato. Or, for that matter, Yoda.

[Joey] Actually, I was...I thought I'd go back to Las Vegas for a bit. Get out of you guys' hair for a while, visit my folks.

Go back to the past, she might say, but won't. She knows better than to think things will be easier just because she goes back among her family again. She remembers the strained phone call after Art's death. Joey hasn't talked to her family much since then.

But it's in the nature of those grieving to want to go to where they remember comfort. And Joey misses the desert, the sun, the warmth of family and friends. She misses the small hidden places she could go where no one would see her being weak.

And she still misses Charlie, but that's a comfort she'll never find again.

She doesn't know what conversation may be happening between Daniel and Hatchet. She's close enough that, should the unthinkable happen in the night, and the Caern be attacked, she can get to her brothers' sides, but she's not close enough to see them, or hear what they might say aloud.

How long?

[Broken Hammer] I don't want you to leave the city. Broken Hammer's thought comes across the link with a convulsive suddenness; there's an almost physical tightening of his bond. The Forseti has not had many packs in his life. They are his first in a long time. You are my packmate. You belong here.

[Hatchet] The silence over the totemphone in the wake of that exchange is, on Hatchet's side... very hard. They can all feel his anger, and underneath that, the control that anchors it to silence, that keeps it from getting away from him and drifting into higher and higher waves. When he finally does speak, it is not out loud to reply to Daniel, and it is not a lash of whipping rage across Joey's mind.

I don't want you to leave, either, Joey. I don't want you to go backward. I want you to stay. I want you to learn. I want to watch you... grow.

He thinks for awhile. Til the next New Moon, Laughs in the Face of Death. This is not something I am punishing you with, but something I suggest that you can choose to commit yourself to or not. If you do, I will guide you in it.

[Joey] They speak up, telling her not to go, not even for a little while. Angry, frustrated, like arms outreached not to embrace, but to hold nonetheless. To keep her here, and it feels so different.

Different from her first pack, the Red Bulls, who splintered apart within a week.

Different from Sinclair, former alpha, former sister, former roommate, with whom she fought in a strange sort of harmony, considering the Storm Chasers never spent many waking hours together.

She doesn't try to explain herself. Joey doesn't try to tell her packmates that she sometimes feel homesick, that she misses the sun, and her brother, and her parents. These are weaknesses she tries to keep to herself.

Can I think about it? Until tomorrow?

[Hatchet] About leaving, or about giving up your voice for a time?

[Joey] Both.

[Hatchet] A pause, first, then a slow: Of course.

Tend your wounds. And might I suggest...doing so alongside your pack brother?

[Broken Hammer] (don't wait on me!)

[Joey] Joey doesn't answer aloud. It takes time for her to pull herself up to all fours once more. Time to limp back across to the challenge circle. Joey took Daniel to unconsciousness, but it was a very near thing. If the Forseti had been faster, Joey would have been the loser all around.

She moves slowly, haltingly. Bear's gift has worn off, and she feels her wounds, feels the burning itching sensation of them healing. Joey approaches with her head up despite the pain, her ears down and back against her skull, her tail down.

Stopping a few yards away, she lifts her head, cocks one ear forward.

Are you still mad at me, brother?

[Broken Hammer] Since she left, Broken Hammer has picked himself up somewhat. No longer laid out on his side like a dying thing, the Forseti is sprawled on his stomach now, like a dog too tired to lift his head. He whines softly as the Rotagar approaches, recognition and a touch of anxiety, but when she questions him his ears fold back.

I am not angry anymore. But I cannot condone your attitude toward our tribe, our elders, and our traditions.

A pause; then, reluctantly, a softening. What passes as one, anyway, from the bone-hard Forseti.

We will speak of it another day.

[Hatchet] Their Alpha has no comment on this: it is between them, and their tribe. Or maybe he's said his piece, and he's tired, and he's done. He is lying on his belly but his head is up, his ears up, his eyes alert.

[Joey] Joey's head drops, dipping nearly down to the ground between her forepaws. She pulls herself forward, ears and gaze flicking toward Hatchet and she moves to align herself beside her currently much, much larger brother.

I don't have any talens.

[Broken Hammer] There's a sort of exasperated whuff from Broken Hammer. He lifts his head with some effort, wet nose nudging inexactly against the Rotagar. He's aiming from her temple. He probably shoves his nose in her ear instead. Nevertheless, the healing touch of Bear suffuses her.

After, Broken Hammer lays his chin back on the sand and closes his eyes. Warm between his packmates, he dozes for a while. When he wakes, the stubborn, prideful, painstaking marathon back to the Brotherhood will begin.

[-1 Gnosis: Mother's Touch! Her rage = 1 right now, so. +6. *LOL*]

[Hatchet] A whuff leaves Buried Hatchet as well, not exasperated so much as well fine. He twists his head and lays it over the back of Daniel's neck with a low growl that is half affection, half dominance.

[-1G: Guess What.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 6 at target 2)