At the heart of things - Feb 16

Darien sat in silent meditation at the center of the caern, patiently waiting for Speaks to return as he had asked Rhia to find him. It was night and most every was away on some task or another, but Fights felt he desperately need to speak with him. The current state of affairs was distressing, and Fights couldn't help but feel that it was partially his fault. So he waited slipping occassionally between realms, sometimes in the umbra, sometimes in the material, sometime somewhere in between. That was the way of things, he thought to himself. It makes sense that the very most pure and sacred points in the world would reflect that one basic rule of life. Things are always moving, always changed, coming and going at the wise will of Gaia. After a while, lost in thought, Darien forwent paying attention to where he was, forgot even that he was breathing. He was no longer Fights and simply another transitioning part of Gaia.

Speaks flies up from the west and lands. Changing into Ursine he walks over to Darien.

"Are you back? Or are you just on a break? What is the story Darien?" He speaks in perfect Garou.

Several hundred feet away the dark skinned man kneels down, watching Darien sit in the heart, flickering back and forth between this plane and the Umbra. His head moves back forward and back in a circular pattern, mostly unconsciously.

"You've stopped running Get. What's your next move? Gleaning the Caern, then what?"

Darien flickers back into existence but this time with a bear with him.


"And there's the other, chicken and the egg. Who turned who first? Make your moves boys, let me know what to do...."

*gleaning the caern?*

He sighs, leaning back on his hands, his face filled with shame, "You don't understand. I didn't want to abandon you, and I should of warned you that I was leaving, told you what I had planned. I just wasn't thinking. I'm a bit rash sometimes." Darien sits up, staring at his feet. "I'm not finished yet, but I will tell you everything, and you can help me decide what's best. You've always been wiser than me."

Darien grows quiet as he tells Speaks his story, and his eventual goal, no exaggeration and in all seriousness.

*I believe I've already told you all of it out of game*

*For the most part*

"Well.... It needs to be done. I don't think, that even you could do this by yourself though. Wait a year, let more come, let the sept help."

Speaks sits down and lowers his nose, to look at Darien as an equal.

"If you slip, even slightly, then your gone."


__________________________________________________________


The man stands straight and licks his lip.

"This is big, but not your place. That is the Ratkins job."

He raises two fingers to his head.

(mindspeak to Darien, "You step out of line, don't leave the pack. And leave taking down the man, to the rats. This is your only warning.")

(Then to Speaks, "Leave the Fera where they lay, we are different species for reason, quit this foolish plan of bringing everyone together. This, is your only warning bear.")

"A ratkin?" Darien said, surprised at the voice in his head. "Where?" Darien stood suddenly angry. "Where is this rat and who is he to threaten me from the dark?"


*That second part was confusing.

Speaks is quiet for a moment and then stands and looks around through the trees.

(activate heightened senses)

He steps towards the treeline, straining to hear something.

Darien stands very still, holding his breath so as to allow Speaks no interruption.

(rage shift to Arthren)

"Show yourself!!" He yells gutturally.

Then he concentrates on a patch of trees. (sense wyrm)

Insta shift to crinos

Darien roar a howl of challenge and pulls his tremendous swords. In Garou, "Coward, stand and present yourself or you shall be hunted down and slayed!"

In Speaks's head, "I don't think so bear. I'll not present myself, to be run through with his sword."

____________________________________________________________________________

Speaks turns to another patch and examines it.

"He's smart enough to hide from your swords."

"He can see us fine, even through these trees."

Speaks looks upwards and examines the sky.

Darien growled in frustration. "You who think you can take Pentex are afraid of two of Gaia's children?" Darien howled at the top of his lungs the anthem of war so that any septmate around would know an enemy was in the caern. "Quickly, whoever you are. Present yourself in the garou fashion and what it is you are doing here, or I swear it, you will fall today."

In Darien's mind, "If you want to be heard Get, don't speak in a language only you understand. And what? Now your calling your friends? I guess that means you don't want to speak anymore."

"Fine, how about this." Darien said in English as he shifted down to Homid, fighting to keep his frustration out of his voice. "If you're really looking to talk, we do it now in the umbra, in the open, in homid. If not, if it's a fight or some sick joke, stay and my sept will be here shortly." With an effort he put his swords away.

There is silence for several moments, then to both of them simultaneously, "Alright Get. I'll let you see me, so you can think you'll know when I'm watching."


After about a minute and tall dark-ish skinned man walks from the treeline. Jagged spikes stick out from various parts of his body.

He stops about 15 feet away from them. (out of range for the first attack)


____________________________________________________________________________________________

Speaks immediately upon seeing the man, stares deep into him.

Darien holds back a growl. "Who and what are you, and more importantly, what is it that you want?"

Before he speaks he closes his eyes and breathes out deeply.

"I am Tahash Malik, I am a watcher. I make sure that the Fera do not step out of their places. All of us are destined to fight the Wyrm in certain ways, trying to step out of those set plans is what will allow the Wyrm to win. It's been seen a thousand times, through a hundred eyes. The Prophecies are clear."

He gestures, "You two are not stepping lightly. The Fera do not need to bond together. Doing so would remove them from their purposes and allow them to start sharing their purposes. This would be the end for all of us."

In a rare moment of total and complete wisdom. "So, you're saying that all the amazing things we done, things that no others in the world could possibly do, are completely false. We would've never been capable of clearing the city of leeches, or rescuing a caern or destroying an entire hive of black spiral dancers had we not banded together, shared our knowledge. Was it not our inability to work together that caused all this in the first place. Had we just known of each others places under Gaia, had we just had the ability to accept one another, the war of rage would never have come to pass, all of us would have been here to fight against this new corruption. But no, we chose to stay separated, untrusting of our brothers. We are all children of Gaia, each of us. And it will be the end of our mother if we don't find a way to atone for our mistakes. Maybe this is that way."

Darien had said his peace. Those words had played over and over in his mind for the last few years. He had learned to love his sept, these fera. He had come to this conclusion long ago.

"There is a possibility and place for everything. You three and your children Garou have done well. But if you managed to unite everyone. That would be the end. Another War of Rage."

Darien stepped forward adamantly, "No. You are wrong, and you will be proven wrong. We here respect each other and our differences. I am loyal to my friends, as are they to me. And I swear by Fenris, you will not stop us from banding together and joining the fera here on these grounds. I am He-Who-Fights-Like-A-Homid, and I welcome wholeheartedly any force of yours, the humans' or the wyrm's to try and stop us. Together we are mightier than any force you can summon. Now go and know we will not be swayed."

"You have spoken to me this whole time and have not tried to sense the Wyrm on me? That in itself is a lack of wisdom."

"Do as you wish though, I have warned you. The next time we meet will sure not be fruitful."

With that he steps sideways. But in the flickering back and forth, he is not visible on the other side, he seemed to have just dissappeared.

Speaks steps forward, "I..... don't know what he was. His soul is different from any I've seen. He was certainly not Garou. Nor Name-Breaker."

"I dunno." Darien snorted. "I'm heading after the claiths."