[Kora]
"Scaring off the Wyrm," Kora explained, quietly to Drew as she accepted the cooler with an easy sort of grace, all animal underneath her skin. She offers the explanation easily, as if it made sense. " - nothing to worry about, except possibly some public nudity."
After that quiet exchange some distance from the clearing itself, Kora and Drew return to the clearing. In honor of the bonfire, the Skald was wearing her dedicated jeans and old Dr. Marten's, tired neatly at the calves. In deference to the heat of the afternoon, lingering still into what should be the cool hours of early evening, she added a black camisole to the ensemble, the fabric a sharp contrast against her northern skin, thin straps revealing the bony architecture of her narrow shoulders, the subtle muscle definition of her upper arms.
Once they reach the clearing, Kora touches Simon with her dark eyes, a direct look that holds his - just - before she hands off the cooler when he holds out his arms. "I'm not given to absolutes or superlatives like that, but I'm down with honoring life by living it," her mouth is curved upward at the right corner, the hint of a smirk.
"Drew," the Skald continues, lifting her chin at Roman. "This is Roman. Roman, this is Drew, kin to my tribe. And - " a curious glance at Simon, "I'm not sure we've met before."
[Roman Turner]
"Howdy Miss Drew."
He touched the brim of the straw hat he wore with dark Wrangler jeans that were so stiff they looked like they might of been pressed. A simple tee shirt in gray completed his outfit.
"That there is Simon, but I'll let him tell the particulars."
He stepped towards Drew to help her with her things.
"May I?"
[Drew Roscoe]
The Kinfolk had, as was typical for her, dressed practically for the bonfire. She might not know that moss grows on the north side of trees, but she did know that wood and deer ticks had a fine habit of getting in your hair and anywhere else you let them. She did know that while her feet would sweat, it was just plain dumb to wear flip-flops out in the woods, that was asking for torn toenails and prickly weeds between your toes. So she'd dressed accordingly: hair in a ponytail that came out the back of her baseball cap, dressed in a plain gray wifebeater that did nothing but compliment the surprisingly athletic structure of her shoulders and arms, a pair of old battered cut-off shorts, and a pair of hiking boots with the socks underneath pulled up to the middle of her calves.
She was still balancing the chairs on her shoulder when Kora made to give out introductions, her left arm wrapped up around them to make sure they weren't going anywhere, her right hand wrapped around the flimsy handles of the plastic bag she was carrying-- one full and heavy with packages of bratwurst and hamburgers. She was glancing between the large bonfire fit and the smaller ones intended for cooking when her attention was drawn back by the Skald speaking her name.
Big brown eyes hopped to Roman's face first, who she greeted with a brilliant thousand-watt smile-- the kind that won beauty pageants and got you into places you weren't supposed to be and ensured that you nailed that interview you were sitting in the office for. "Hey," she greeted with a voice that was friendly like sunshine and warm like honey in your tea. "Nice to meetcha."
She was irony embodied, it was a stretch to believe that this girl was Kin to a tribe of Nordic warriors and notorious barbaric hardasses.
The boy gave a name to the man with dark hair and tattoos scrawled down his arms, and Drew beamed a smile at the Shadow Lord as well, offering him a like greeting: "Good to meet you too." Then Roman was stepping forward, offering to help carry things. She looked at his hat for a moment, then down somewhere around the waist/hips region (searching for a rodeo belt buckle no doubt) before her smile turned into a broader kind of grin and she nodded, handing the lawn chairs off to him. "Thanks. I was gonna start with cooking, but... Well, we don't start these things with sticks and straw, do we?"
Where's a fire tornado when you need one?, came the inward reflection, a joke she would've stated aloud if anyone else had heard the story or been present for the situation to appreciate it.
[Colt Montgomery]
~The black Denali followed the roads to where they'd meet in the woods, he parked looking over at the Dodge, parking his GMC near it. He stepped out, walking around to the back and pulling out a large white coleman cooler through the back window. he left the back open and headed down to where some of the others had gathered, he set the cooler down~ "I stopped by the butcher and got some steaks... I'm sure the Jaral will show up with a doe or something that we can all bite on"
~Dresed in exotic ostrich skin Nocona boots, low-rise, deep indigo rinsed jeans look expensive, finished with fading and whisking to enhance their appeal. the bleached white tee shirt fit snug across his chest, his body chiseled, the outlines of his well defined muscles visible. He stands six foot three, dark curls hidden beneath the straw cowboy hat that sat low on his brow~
"Howdy Kora, Simon" ~he gave a nod to the others~
[Simon]
He grins back to Kora."Listen to that fancy tongue of yours. Someone's got herself a proper education hasn't she?"He kept his tone light and playful. After all it wasn't exactly an insult to admit someone might be a little better educated was it? He takes the cooler in his arms, and seemed to have little trouble lugging the thing towards one of the fire pits where it was settled in and he stood. His eyes going to Drew, Roman, and finally to Kora.
He strode back to the group and wiped his hands off on his jeans before offering up his hand to Kora."Simon, Bone-Grinder, Full Moon, Cliath in service to Thunder."He adds politely to the woman keeping his hand presented out to her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Roman and I were beginning to suspect that we were the only ones who ere gonna show. But I was reassuring him this was too important a meeting to count the others out just yet."He was surprisingly warm and friendly for a Shadow Lord. Certainly his manners almost implied some other tribe, but then again he was young. Not quite as young as Roman but still rather young himself. Then again Full Moons don't tend to advance all that much further than Simon's own.
He looks between the ladies and smiled."So who wants to help me get things ready for the fire?"
[Simon]
He turns his attention towards Colt and he grins brightly."Nice to see you made it out big guy."He looked over Colt's outfit and whistled to himself."Jesus christ those boots are probably worth more than my car!"He laughs and presents a hand out to the Fenrir."You gonna help us get this shit started up?"
[Colt Montgomery]
~he took Simons hand and gave it a shake~ "Good thing I got them dedicated" ~he grinned~ "They were a gift, glad ya like em.... Yes. put this country boy to work"
[Kora]
"Kora," the creature introduces herself, dark eyes tracking to Simon's proffered hand for a passing moment before lifting upwards to touch on his face. She takes the hand at last, this human gesture in the midst of an inhuman ritual, her generous mouth curved into a faint smile, self-aware, enlivened by a confidence that is as human as it is feral, " - Eyjólfsdóttir to my kin, she who offers sorrow to the Nation. Cliath Skald and daughter of Fenris, fostered at the Sept of Wind and Rain in Hjaltland. Now, I follow Joe War-Handed, Alpha of Aesir's Call."
Somewhere in the middle of this, Kora released Simon's hand. Her own drop to her side, the fingers of her left hand hook in the hip pocket of her jeans. "Colt," the faint twist of her mouth. " - good to see you. Colt, Simon, this is Drew. Roman," hey, she's Julie the Cruise Director tonight, with a jerk of her pale head toward Colt. " - this is Colt, my tribesmate. You two can exchange particulars on your own, if you've a mind.
"Let's get the cook fire started first, then build the bonfire, yeah?" says Kora to the group at large, bending to lift the lid from the heavier of the two coolers. "We brought the beer." Good stuff, too. She pulls a bottle from the slurry of ice and water, offers one to Drew, then goes back for another, holding the cooler open for anyone who wants one. "I've got a stout, a pale ale, and a Heifeweizen."
[Colt Montgomery]
~he looked to Drew~ "Pleased to meet ya" ~he was texan through and through, even the big ole belt buckle, he tipped his hat to the jarals mate, he was happy to help and take orders from his tribemen~
[Moira]
The dark-haired kin arrives alone, existing out of the passenger door of a jeep that had pulled up along the dirt pathway to a stop near Drew's truck. A pretty blond woman peering out of the driver's window towards the bonfire and the gathering of Garou. The blond's head turns, exchanging looks with Moira for a moment as she frowns a little.
"You sure you don't want to come, Jenny?" Moira calls over her shoulder, jumping down out of the jeep. She turns around, reaching into the back to fetch her knapsack and a duffel bag. She smiles, slipping it on over her shoulder and waits for reply. "Nah, got work to do and stuff... call me if you need a ride back."
"Will do." Moira steps back, shutting the door and starts to walk around the jeep, heading in the direction of the bonfire. Her eyes cast about to see who was already there.
[Simon]
He smiles at the mention of Joe yet again."I hope your Alpha shows up, I think I'd like to meet with him. I've heard of him but haven't had the chance to do much meeting of him."He laughs to himself as he draws his hand back and nods his head at Kora's suggestion. He wasn't beaming quite so much at the mention of starting up the cooking fires though cause he wanted to work on the bonfire! Technically the other chores needed to be handled first so he choked back the pouty face and stepped up to the plate. After all it would serve no one here is the Full Moon started crying cause he didn't get his way!
"Colt and I know each other... We met a while back."Hmm I hope someone brought somethin' to roast."All he brought was booze, which is fine and good but he had expected that the food would be handled by someone else so he didn't honestly bother. He showed up earlier to get the fire started anyway.
[Drew Roscoe]
A cooler was cracked open and a chilled bottle of beer was handed over to the Kinfolk, which she accepted with a smile and a nod of thanks. Roman had accepted the chairs, a polite gentleman right at the get-go Drew deduced, the product of the kind of raising that came with thinking wranglers and a cowboy hat look good. So Drew had the chance to twist the top off her beer bottle and give it a good swig before casting another glance about the clearing.
People were showing up now. She noticed Moira entering at the edge of the treeline from along the beaten path, then some man named Colt was being introduced. She watched him for a second, let her eyes linger on his shoulders and chest (some might think that she was checking him out, but the truth was she was judging about how much effort it would take for him to separate her head from her shoulders with only his hands. people around here were dangerous and worth watching, after all), then lifted them to his face and flashed that winning smile of hers as though thoughts of murder didn't even make an appearance in her mind. "Pleased to meet you too, Colt. Always good to see more family."
Another swig from her beer was taken, and she moved to the pits where the cooking fires were normally set up, set her bag of brats and burgers down and put her hands on her denim-clad hips to stare down at the little huddles of wood in the pit. It didn't occur to her to bring matches or lighter fluid or anything of the like-- every other time she's come the fires had already been in full blaze.
[Roman Turner]
He seemed to pull his attention back with a sheepish smile for Drew. The entire time she had been standing there he was trying not to gawk. This made the fourth beautiful female he had met with breeding out the rear. Once again he was glad he did not wear loose fitting pants because they would tent up and embarrass the hell out of him.
"Yes ma'am."
Was all he got out.
[Colt Montgomery]
"I got steaks in the coleman, Joe tends to bring half dead deer, or so i noticed at the last moot" ~he was moving around, looking for wood for the cookin fire, he wondered when the rest of the troop would show up. He walked over to Roman and extended a hand~ "Howdy, don't think we met. Colt Montgomery, Culls the Beast"
[Kora] "Somebody's got to hold down the fort," is Kora's oblique reply to Simon's hope that War-Handed arrives soon. There's a moment, then, when her fine features are blank, vaguely, the visible suggestion that she's speaking with her packmate through their spiritual bond. The smile she seems to always wear goes just slack, then quirks again as she refocuses on the clearing. "There's enough fuel here to start a cook fire. Colt - Roman, can you guys get one built and started? Once it's blazing, let's start throwing fuel on the bonfire."
The audible sound of Moira's footsteps on the path, the hint of her breeding in the air. Kora looks up, waves across the clearing at the Fenrir kinswoman, then jerks her head at Simon. "C'mon. Let's find some good, dry wood." - she says, taking a good long drink of her beer before finding a picnic table on which to rest it before heading off into the woods, past Moira as she arrives. "Hey Moira," brief and quiet and rich as her voice always is, " - we'll get the fires lit, soon. Your mate coming?"
The last, tossed over her shoulder as she heads off into the woods, Simon in tow, intent on finding something to burn.
[Roman Turner] He took Colt's extended hand in a firm grip and shook it briefly.
"Roman Turner, Fate. Right nice to meetcha."
Then Kora was asking about starting the fire and he glanced her way then back to Colt with a lifted brow.
"I believe we can, Miss Kora."
[Colt Montgomery] ~he grinned at Roman~ "Hey partner, I know your cousin Sparrow, haven't seen her in a bit, but would love to catch up with her soon" ~his own hand shake was firm, but not overwhelming, he had calloused hands, that were used to hard labor and living on the ranch~ "Let's get to work man" ~he went with Roman to gather wood~
[Roman Turner] "How do ya know Sparrow?"
He certainly didn't know everyone his cousin did and he'd given up trying to keep track a long time ago, but it was a conversation starter as he went with Colt so they could get the fire going.
"Simon and I gathered some wood earlier, though it ain't gonna last all night for sure."
[Moira] Moira passes Kora and Simon on her way towards the table. She pushes the strap of her knapsack higher up on her shoulders, nodding her head to Kora. "Hey, Kora." offering the Skald a grin, "I am not certain if he is or not. I haven't seen him all day, I hope he comes or I'm going to have to get creative with finding a ride home."
She pats the bag, "I brought some food along with me, I'll set it up over on the table. I just hope it's enough." She continues on her way after talking with Kora, making her way over to the tables where the food is usually set up.
[Colt Montgomery] ~he started gathering wood while speaking with Roman~ "I met sparrow at the park when I first came to the city couple months ago. she said ya'll came from kansas and were' lookin for a pack. My packmate Cara and i followed some spirals to Idaho and took em out.. then opted to check out Chicago. They actually slaughtered two of my packmates back in Texas... " ~he looked back to the boy~ "So did ya'll figure on a pack yet?"
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] The sun is setting on the longest day -- shadows of trees long across the earth. The bonfire isn't lit yet; it's not even properly built, only a cleared-out area of rock-lined dirt piled with a few pallets and crates.
There's a distant rumble of diesel engines: some big, fullsized pickup, Dodge or Chevy or Ford or something like that pulling up. A few other engines too, smaller and quieter, possibly import. They fall quiet. A few moments later Lukas shows up in the clearing, a large cooler hoisted over his shoulder. He drops it by the cooking fires.
"More meat," he says, "courtesy of the BroHo. They brought out a truckload of wood too. You guys want to give the kin a hand unloading it?"
[Kora] (switching computers, brb!)
[Fabienne Bartelle] *Something had told her it would be rude to bring a caterer. That didn't however, mean she couldn't bring catered food. Dressed in charcoal grey slacks and a long light tailored coat of the same color, the statuesque fang strides into the clearing. It had been a full hour of indecision as to whether she would present herself at this primitive cocktail party, but in the end politeness had won out, And so she found herself carrying a platter of expensive almond pastry, her shadow cast long and lean across the trees as she sets the food on one of the tables set up. An inclination of her head to Lukas, accompanied by a polite smile.*
[Colt Montgomery] ~he heard all the engines, he carried over some of the wood he'd gathered and put it over where the food would be cooked, then he joined in helping the kin unload the wood that had been driven in, that was a better way of doing things~
"Right on, after all this, we'll be ready to devour a bison"
[Roman Turner] "That's right, we came out here from just outside Clearwater. And nope, we ain't figured on a Pack yet."
He was quiet a moment as he bent to gather a limb.
"Ya say you and your packmate Cara came here? So you are a Pack of two?"
[Simon] He grins brightly with the arrival of Lukas. His attention going to Kora and then back at Lukas when he arrives. A gleam in his eye with the mention of a Truckload of wood."That's more like it!"He says with a brilliant gleam in his eye. He stands and begins headed towards the truck."Well if you need someone to wheel it in near the pit we can get it unloaded."He says with a grin towards Lukas.
[Colt Montgomery] ~he was still working on unloading the trucks with wood, Roman right beside him helping out, two good ole boys doing the brunt of the work, and not really caring about it~ "Ya, just the two of us right now, but we're hoping that there are others out there, who want to join, I know we've had some hero's fallen, and leaving packs with less and less garou, so we're hoping to even merge if it will help in the fight"
[Drew Roscoe] Moira had come over to stand near the cooking pits, setting up the goods she had brought and flitting through those already provided in a matter that seemed at least somewhat distracted. Drew was shifting her attention to and fro-- watching as people went to gather wood, as a(nother) tall man with dark hair came nearby and dropped a cooler down, proclaiming 'more meat' before suggesting some people go help 'the kin' with unloading 'the truck'.
Just because the Kin knew how to dress practically and cook meat well enough that it wasn't charred through but wasn't so underdone it would give you food poisoning, that didn't mean she was much use with other things outdoors. She didn't know the first step to starting a fire, could hardly navigate her way through the trees (were it not for the path cut into the ground from so much travel she'd get lost between her truck and the clearing). So she figured it best to stand back and let people who knew what they were doing... well, know what they were doing.
Instead she settled for nodding to Lukas, taking the cooler he'd thunked down, and hauling it over to the preparation table, lifting one end and dragging the other through dirt and grass to move it. As she did so, back bent and muscles in bare shoulders put into display, she turned her head to address the other Kin hovering nearby.
"So, Moira, how's life?"
[Roman Turner] He was more than happy to chuck wood next to Colt while processing what he'd said. If he and Cara were a Pack of two, the by the same reasoning, he and Sparrow could be considered a Pack of two. That made him chuckle and shake his head.
"Well now, I know there's folk looking to add to Packs and I reckon it's a matter of fitting together and what totem a body would be interested in."
[Colt Montgomery] "Yeah, not everyone fits in the same totem, some are more cunning, others built for war... what are you lookin to get into? I mean, tell me bout yerself" ~he didn't look that old, he thought Sparrow said he wasn't that far out of his rite of passage, and Helen had spoken of Roman as well~ "Heya seen Helen round?" `yep change of thought just like that, all the while still tossin wood, hoping the kin would get on cookin~
[Moira] Moira watched Drew out of the corner of her eyes as she began to fiddle around at the tables, the duffel bag set down on the edge of the seat, the zipper peeled back as she carefully took out the large, rectangle aluminum containers that were filled with food. She wasn't sure exactly what all they would eat, so it was a mixture of things that one usually sees at a cookout.
A dish of baked beans, another that had cobs of cooked sweet corn and a third with some dessert like treat, all homemade. Once the pans were set out, she leans against the preparation table, looking over at the small kin that dragged the cooler over. A thoughtful expression lighting up on Moira's face, "Life is good at the moment, I wouldn't ask for it to be any different right now."
A pause, rummaging through her bag for a box of kitchen matches, "Want to help me light up the cooking fires? I brought extra pans so we could store the meat in them, and chafing fuel to keep it warm. I'd be grateful if you helped me set it up."
[Roman Turner] "Ya know Helen?"
Just like that he was distracted. Pausing to brush his hands off on the set of his jeans as a big stupid grin crossed his face.
"She's mite pretty. Last time I saw her she was drunker than a skunk at a club with some guy. She was wearing this dress that was all skin tight and well she couldn't of been we...."
His brain finally caught up with his mouth and he just stopped himself from saying it was so tight he could tell if she did landscaping or not. Heat flooded his face.
"I mean, she couldn't of been wearing nothing prettier."
[Drew Roscoe] Drew straightened up after she got the cooler over next to the table where she wanted it to be, grabbed her beer from the table's corner where she'd left it, and took a few good long swigs before looking over to Moira, then down at the box of matches that she'd pulled free from her bag. Skepticism flashed briefly over Drew's face, like she couldn't believe that such a small flame on such a short stick could last long enough to start a real good fire. But that faded away quickly enough, she'd knew full well that her own knowledge in all things camping, woodsy, and survival was extremely limited.
So she took another swig for good measure, set the beer back down, and nodded.
"Good to hear, I'm glad for ya. ...Do I need to, like, get newspaper or something to stick in under the wood? Something that'll actually catch fire in the time that your match is burning? I didn't get out to go camping a lot when I was a kid-- lots of extracurriculars."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas is uncharacteristically alone this bonfire: no pack, no mate. For someone who lives in a single room, for someone who keeps so many cards so close to his chest, the Shadow Lord is, in fact, a pack animal. He likes having loved ones close on the important days of the year. The holidays. The rises and falls of the season. The turning of the wheel. It's strange for him to be alone on the longest day, and it leaves him quieter; the smiles he returns to those who greet him a little slighter.
"There are a few handtrucks," he says to those who've accompanied him back to the trucks where the Brotherhood kitchen staff are beginning to unload. "If we grab one each, we can shuttle the wood in while the kin unload. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes."
So speaking, he grabs pops the hatch on his own coupe. The rear seats are folded down to accommodate the dollies, which he hauls out one in each hand, passing them to Simon and Colt.
[Colt Montgomery] ~that got a grin going.... not as stupid or silly as the one on Roman's face.. but still, he couldn't help but chuckle.... boy did he know Helen, that girl was something, he'd liked to have a chance to catch up with her again, she seemed quite enthralled with him a time or two, okay well maybe not that serious, she was in love with the drink. He liked her well enough, but they hadn't spoken in weeks, she'd gotten really pissed at him, he wasn't quite sure why even to this day, didn't really matter though~ "I do, great gal, she was taken with my cowboy hat" ~he chuckled, still tossin wood~
"She's quite the looker, dig that edge she's got as well" ~he knew she was a good dresser, that was her business~ "So how's she doing?"
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [sorry folks, got distracted ooc! and ... i lost track of who's where so if your char didn't go haul wood, ignore. *LOL*]
[Moira] She laughs, smiling at Drew, "The matches were actually for the chafing fuel. I know a little about camping, so I can show you how to make a fire. I agree with you I don't think the match alone will be enough. Usually, I have seen a starter log used to get a real fire going."
She looks around, crinkling up her nose, "I'm sure we can find something to use to get the fires going. Let's look?"
[Helen Moore] Believe it or not the woman actually owns a pair of jeans and she had purchased a pair of hiking boots just for this occasion, nothing great or grand but she had absolutely nothing suitable for going walking in the woods. A jacket she had with her in her bag, for when it got colder, but for now she was in a simple cotton three-quarter sleeve v-neck in a lovely shade of blue.
Navigation map on her phone has been her saviour, she made it out here and parked the car along with all the others and discovered a bunch of people unloading various trucks. She's got out of the nice Chevrolet Cruze, slung her bag over her shoulder and locked the car with the remote key she stows in her pocket.
Approaching the said folks, she calls out. "Is there anything I can help with?" Carrying bunches of wood, by the looks of her, probably isn't going to be something she could help with, but might be more of a hindrance. She's tall and skinny and would possibly break a wrist.
[Simon] He takes one of the dollies then wanders over to the Truck."The fun thing about unloading the wood is..."He pauses to think as he wheels the dolly over to the truck. He watches the others unload with a brilliant grin on his face but he doesn't seem to feel the need to continue what he was saying. After all there wasn't anything fun about it. This was work and he was here to get it done so they could enjoy their evening.
[Roman Turner] "Well, like I said."
He helped Colt while they spoke.
"She seemed a might, happy. And she was there with this fella that just was, well he was so nervous I expect he must be part long tailed cat and was afraid I brought the rocking chair, ya know?"
He greeted Lukas with a.
"Howdy."
And a nod.
[Fabienne Bartelle] *Almond pastries set out, Lukas wandering off to go ..do..something with wood... the silverfang's glass grey eyes slide over those gathered and tending fires. Little in the way of recognition. Acquaintances made once or twice likely at the failed kin coalition meeting she had attended. Food set out, and no one of great importance to associate with, Fabienne does what she does best. She takes her leave.*
[Kora] Fifteen minutes after she disappeared into the woods, Kora returns, dragging a pair of large limbs behind her -
- only to find nicely split and seasoned firewood now being carted back from the gravel-covered parking area and stacked in neat piles by the cook fires and the bonfire, courtesy of the kinfolk at the Brotherhood. The light is failing now, the sky is painted a dusk-colored blue and the woods in deep shadows. Without the light of the fires to brighten the space, they have no more than a handful of lanterns and flashlights to park the gloom.
And fireflies.
- it is dusk and the fireflies are coming out, gleaming sexual promises at each other in the darkness. There are so many in the clearing that you could read by the light shed by their wee thoraxes could you convince them to shine all together. They float up in a glowing cloud, or sink down in the blades of deeper grass. The sound of water is close, running somewhere, and with the sun sinking from the sky, the bullfrogs have started their virile song.
[Colt Montgomery] ~he nodded and tipped his cowboy hat to Lukas as well, chimin in with a Howdy as well, the two were busy runnin the wood to the bonfire area now, he'd worked up a thirst and was ready to toss one back with the rest of the garou, he looked around seeing Simon had joined in the fun with the dollies~
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas laughs under his breath, his dolly rattling along behind him as he heads toward the truck. "The fun thing about unloading wood is when you get to stop, is that it?"
He catches a pair of work gloves from Reuben, tossing another pair to Simon. Gloving up, then, he reaches to help the kin pile wood on their hand trucks. Helen pulls up, gets out; Lukas straightens up, swiping hair off his brow with a wipe of his wrist.
"Hm." He looks around. "See if someone brought lighter fluid to get the fire going?"
[Drew Roscoe] "Yeah. Uhh..."
Drew took a few moments to look around, left then right then back again, before she held up her finger in a clear 'wait a second' gesture and trotted away into the forest line. Some rummaging around on the ground just past the bushes was done, and she straightened up to rejoin Moira, this time with a fallen stick with plenty of dead leaves attached to it in her hand.
"Not paper, but it'll sure light right nice." There was a flash of that brilliant grin of hers, then Drew crouched down beside one of the fire pits loaded up with kindling and wedged the branch underneath it. As she did so, one hand held out for a match from the other Kin, she saw fit to make conversation.
"It's been real quiet lately, don't you think? I mean, all kinds of danger and action and people passing away... and now there's a lull." An ironic chuckle bubbled its way past her unpainted lips. "Hell, I haven't had to shoot anyone in over a month. ...But doesn't that put you on edge a little bit, too? It feels like the calm before a real big storm."
[Roman Turner] It was in the middle of Helen turning up and he'd seen Drew and Moira and was going in to overload. So he leaned in in the middle of moving wood to whisper to Colt.
"Do ya think they don't let Kin in to Chicago unless they are pretty as a diamond in the sun and so well bred that your jimmy about jumps right out your britches just being near them?"
[Simon] He was young and healthy and recently showered so fortunately there wasn't too much sweat taking shape just yet. Young and in the prime of his life, the Full moon seemed to love taking on whatever tasks his elders had to throw his way. He kept his pace quick, and moved the wood at a startling pace. Eagerness had already consumed him and seeing others around meant he had to step on things. Which is exactly what he did!
Several trips helped pile up the wood nicely and when Lukas asked for Lighter Fluid he grinned."Damn I was gonna send roman to get some Gas. Umm I can check with our cooks if you like."He says gesturing towards where the food had been started. He paused and smiled slightly when he noticed Moira was present, and then lifted a brow at the sight of Helen. The rich bitch from the parking lot! Well this was getting curiouser and curiouser.
Lighter fluid was among those things, though, that Simon rarely left the house without. Patting his shoulders and sides then locating his bag of tricks in the grass a short ways off he wandered over to snatch it up. Rummaging through the bag till he pulled out a can of lighter fluid. He stood and called out to Lukas."Wyrmbreaker catch!"He says tossing it in Lukas' direction and smiling brightly to see if the older man could respond in time.
[Colt Montgomery] ~Colt bust a gut laughing at what Roman said, but the kid had a point, all the kin were hotter than a summers dream~ "I think it might be a prerequisite or something, all the one's I've run into are mighty fine fillies." ~he gave a wave in Helen's direction and Moira as well, he hadn't seen her show up even~
"I think we're finally done, I say we rejoice with some brew"
[Helen Moore] Her mouth twitches in a slight smile, bemused, but she nods at Lukas and wanders off to to inquire just that. It was a good way for her to meet people, which is what she does as she introduces herself and drills various strangers about whether or not they have some fuel to get this bonfire started. Surely if they bought wood for a bonfire someone had it already organized.
Simon, it seems, had it under control, and with a small smile in their direction and a shrug of her shoulders she left it to the men to deal with their wood, and headed off to see who else was around. It's not as if she's met many, really.
[Colt Montgomery] "Evening ladies" ~he said to Helen, Moira and Drew as he grabbed a bottle of beer from the chest~
[Moira] "It has been quiet, like a lull in a passing storm. Reminds me of the summer months in Florida with the hurricanes. Weather is too damned unpredictable." This spoken after Drew returns from the forest line of trees, Moira offering her a wry grin and the box of matches as she moved after the smaller Fenrir kin to help light the fires.
She runs a hand over the back of her neck, glancing up to survey the area, tilting her head down to keep an eye on Drew to make sure she hadn't burned herself in trying to set fire to the wood. "How are you taking to the non-single life?"
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas is dragging over the last dolly-ful of wood when Simon tosses lighter fluid at him. He pulls the can out of the air onehanded, fumbles it against his chest, gets a grip on it.
"Thanks," he says, ironic.
That last handtruckload of wood gets dumped on the bonfire, and then he's squirting lighter fluid on, circling the massive firepit and dumping ... pretty much the entire can in.
"All right." He looks toward Moira and Drew, matches hopefully at ready. "You guys want to do the honors?"
[Helen Moore] "Hello Colt," she greets him when he does her, having smiled at him after his wave. Sliding her bag from her shoulder and onto the ground, she crouched to unzip it, glancing up after to look back at him. "How have you been?" There had been bad blood between them, even if he didn't know why. Men were like that, they didn't understand women, at all. But she's polite to him anyway.
From her bag she fetches out some containers of various salads, pasta, rice and garden to set them down with the other foods not far from where she's came to stand, temporarily.
[Drew Roscoe] Drew chuckled a little bit at Moira's question, hitched one shoulder up in a shrug then dropped it again. She'd lit a match and caught the leaves on fire, then jammed the stick back under the flames, only to knock the alight leaf down and have it burn out in the old ash underneath. So, on the second try, with a little more care, she'd managed to get the dried leaves and branch smoldering under the rest of the kindling, and all with little more than a forgivable bit of burning to her fingertips, which she scrubbed against the hip of her shorts.
"Non-single life was fine, I was used to that. It's non-single life with a werewolf that's a bit off. I mean, don't see Joe for weeks, right? Always stuck wondering if he's even alive, but then he'll roll in all smiles and cheer and bruises and cuts and everything's right again." She licked her lips, straightened up, and grabbed her beer to finish it off. "I'm adjusting. It's well worth it, I think."
Then Colt had swung on by to offer some greetings, generally directed to all the fine young females nearby, and Drew just grinned, tipped the edge of her empty beer bottle to him, and then shifted her attention over to Lukas. Eyes jumped over to the large pile of kindling and crates, to Moira, then back to Lukas.
"Uh, sure? But you've gotta put me out if I catch fire too when that thing roars to life. Deal?" A deal, hopefully, since she was already sealing it with her million-watt grin.
[Kora] So: right, amidst the quiet little conversations and the stacking of wood and the people moving in and out of the clearing in the shadows and the sky above, all blue, that impossible color that only arises at twilight, the confluence of shadow and light - someone finds some lighter fluid, someone stacks some logs in artfully, someone shoves some twigs and leaves and pine needles and debris and -
- Kora helps with the rest, building the structure for the fire up with the wood carted out to the woods (oh, irony) from the city, then steps back, away from the pit as Lukas douses it in foul smelling accellerant. The night is warm and humid, and there's a certain species of mosquito that is only active at this time of night. One hopes that mosquitoes are as intimidated by rage as humans are. Here is the point: Kora brushes away mites from around the crown of her head and grabs her beer, quiet enough, standing back as Drew agrees to light the fire.
[Moira] "Light it up, Drew, We'll douse you with beer if we have to."
She calls after the smaller kin, her head lifting up to glance Lukas' way when he asked if they wanted to set the bonfires. She nods quietly to what Drew had said, seeming to understand what she was experiencing. She moves away to pick up a beer from one of the many coolers, taking it with her as she helps Drew out in lighting the res of the fires as darkness settled in!
[Colt Montgomery] ~with bottle in hand, he takes a long haul of the drink, raising his bottle in greeting back at Drew, it was hard not to hear the kin talking back and forth, no wonder he hadn't heard back from Joe, he was off running the state and killin shit, same place he wanted to be. Why the hell had he come in a pack to this city.
He went from ease droppin to offering to help Helen put her waves out for the group~ "Things are good, been workin hard, and just found a house, so the pack is finally not homeless" ~he shook his head a bit~ "How about you? How's life treatin ya, I haven't seen ya around much, guess work and all is so time consuming" ~he was making conversation, still totally unaware of why she had gotten so angry with him~
"I finally met Roman, good kid, just like ya said, he'd make a good packmate" ~his attention goes to the fire as it's about to be lit~
[Kora] "We'll douse her with icewater," Kora corrects Moira, her mouth curving into a generous little half-smile. "We aren't wasting good beer like that."
"Scaring off the Wyrm," Kora explained, quietly to Drew as she accepted the cooler with an easy sort of grace, all animal underneath her skin. She offers the explanation easily, as if it made sense. " - nothing to worry about, except possibly some public nudity."
After that quiet exchange some distance from the clearing itself, Kora and Drew return to the clearing. In honor of the bonfire, the Skald was wearing her dedicated jeans and old Dr. Marten's, tired neatly at the calves. In deference to the heat of the afternoon, lingering still into what should be the cool hours of early evening, she added a black camisole to the ensemble, the fabric a sharp contrast against her northern skin, thin straps revealing the bony architecture of her narrow shoulders, the subtle muscle definition of her upper arms.
Once they reach the clearing, Kora touches Simon with her dark eyes, a direct look that holds his - just - before she hands off the cooler when he holds out his arms. "I'm not given to absolutes or superlatives like that, but I'm down with honoring life by living it," her mouth is curved upward at the right corner, the hint of a smirk.
"Drew," the Skald continues, lifting her chin at Roman. "This is Roman. Roman, this is Drew, kin to my tribe. And - " a curious glance at Simon, "I'm not sure we've met before."
[Roman Turner]
"Howdy Miss Drew."
He touched the brim of the straw hat he wore with dark Wrangler jeans that were so stiff they looked like they might of been pressed. A simple tee shirt in gray completed his outfit.
"That there is Simon, but I'll let him tell the particulars."
He stepped towards Drew to help her with her things.
"May I?"
[Drew Roscoe]
The Kinfolk had, as was typical for her, dressed practically for the bonfire. She might not know that moss grows on the north side of trees, but she did know that wood and deer ticks had a fine habit of getting in your hair and anywhere else you let them. She did know that while her feet would sweat, it was just plain dumb to wear flip-flops out in the woods, that was asking for torn toenails and prickly weeds between your toes. So she'd dressed accordingly: hair in a ponytail that came out the back of her baseball cap, dressed in a plain gray wifebeater that did nothing but compliment the surprisingly athletic structure of her shoulders and arms, a pair of old battered cut-off shorts, and a pair of hiking boots with the socks underneath pulled up to the middle of her calves.
She was still balancing the chairs on her shoulder when Kora made to give out introductions, her left arm wrapped up around them to make sure they weren't going anywhere, her right hand wrapped around the flimsy handles of the plastic bag she was carrying-- one full and heavy with packages of bratwurst and hamburgers. She was glancing between the large bonfire fit and the smaller ones intended for cooking when her attention was drawn back by the Skald speaking her name.
Big brown eyes hopped to Roman's face first, who she greeted with a brilliant thousand-watt smile-- the kind that won beauty pageants and got you into places you weren't supposed to be and ensured that you nailed that interview you were sitting in the office for. "Hey," she greeted with a voice that was friendly like sunshine and warm like honey in your tea. "Nice to meetcha."
She was irony embodied, it was a stretch to believe that this girl was Kin to a tribe of Nordic warriors and notorious barbaric hardasses.
The boy gave a name to the man with dark hair and tattoos scrawled down his arms, and Drew beamed a smile at the Shadow Lord as well, offering him a like greeting: "Good to meet you too." Then Roman was stepping forward, offering to help carry things. She looked at his hat for a moment, then down somewhere around the waist/hips region (searching for a rodeo belt buckle no doubt) before her smile turned into a broader kind of grin and she nodded, handing the lawn chairs off to him. "Thanks. I was gonna start with cooking, but... Well, we don't start these things with sticks and straw, do we?"
Where's a fire tornado when you need one?, came the inward reflection, a joke she would've stated aloud if anyone else had heard the story or been present for the situation to appreciate it.
[Colt Montgomery]
~The black Denali followed the roads to where they'd meet in the woods, he parked looking over at the Dodge, parking his GMC near it. He stepped out, walking around to the back and pulling out a large white coleman cooler through the back window. he left the back open and headed down to where some of the others had gathered, he set the cooler down~ "I stopped by the butcher and got some steaks... I'm sure the Jaral will show up with a doe or something that we can all bite on"
~Dresed in exotic ostrich skin Nocona boots, low-rise, deep indigo rinsed jeans look expensive, finished with fading and whisking to enhance their appeal. the bleached white tee shirt fit snug across his chest, his body chiseled, the outlines of his well defined muscles visible. He stands six foot three, dark curls hidden beneath the straw cowboy hat that sat low on his brow~
"Howdy Kora, Simon" ~he gave a nod to the others~
[Simon]
He grins back to Kora."Listen to that fancy tongue of yours. Someone's got herself a proper education hasn't she?"He kept his tone light and playful. After all it wasn't exactly an insult to admit someone might be a little better educated was it? He takes the cooler in his arms, and seemed to have little trouble lugging the thing towards one of the fire pits where it was settled in and he stood. His eyes going to Drew, Roman, and finally to Kora.
He strode back to the group and wiped his hands off on his jeans before offering up his hand to Kora."Simon, Bone-Grinder, Full Moon, Cliath in service to Thunder."He adds politely to the woman keeping his hand presented out to her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Roman and I were beginning to suspect that we were the only ones who ere gonna show. But I was reassuring him this was too important a meeting to count the others out just yet."He was surprisingly warm and friendly for a Shadow Lord. Certainly his manners almost implied some other tribe, but then again he was young. Not quite as young as Roman but still rather young himself. Then again Full Moons don't tend to advance all that much further than Simon's own.
He looks between the ladies and smiled."So who wants to help me get things ready for the fire?"
[Simon]
He turns his attention towards Colt and he grins brightly."Nice to see you made it out big guy."He looked over Colt's outfit and whistled to himself."Jesus christ those boots are probably worth more than my car!"He laughs and presents a hand out to the Fenrir."You gonna help us get this shit started up?"
[Colt Montgomery]
~he took Simons hand and gave it a shake~ "Good thing I got them dedicated" ~he grinned~ "They were a gift, glad ya like em.... Yes. put this country boy to work"
[Kora]
"Kora," the creature introduces herself, dark eyes tracking to Simon's proffered hand for a passing moment before lifting upwards to touch on his face. She takes the hand at last, this human gesture in the midst of an inhuman ritual, her generous mouth curved into a faint smile, self-aware, enlivened by a confidence that is as human as it is feral, " - Eyjólfsdóttir to my kin, she who offers sorrow to the Nation. Cliath Skald and daughter of Fenris, fostered at the Sept of Wind and Rain in Hjaltland. Now, I follow Joe War-Handed, Alpha of Aesir's Call."
Somewhere in the middle of this, Kora released Simon's hand. Her own drop to her side, the fingers of her left hand hook in the hip pocket of her jeans. "Colt," the faint twist of her mouth. " - good to see you. Colt, Simon, this is Drew. Roman," hey, she's Julie the Cruise Director tonight, with a jerk of her pale head toward Colt. " - this is Colt, my tribesmate. You two can exchange particulars on your own, if you've a mind.
"Let's get the cook fire started first, then build the bonfire, yeah?" says Kora to the group at large, bending to lift the lid from the heavier of the two coolers. "We brought the beer." Good stuff, too. She pulls a bottle from the slurry of ice and water, offers one to Drew, then goes back for another, holding the cooler open for anyone who wants one. "I've got a stout, a pale ale, and a Heifeweizen."
[Colt Montgomery]
~he looked to Drew~ "Pleased to meet ya" ~he was texan through and through, even the big ole belt buckle, he tipped his hat to the jarals mate, he was happy to help and take orders from his tribemen~
[Moira]
The dark-haired kin arrives alone, existing out of the passenger door of a jeep that had pulled up along the dirt pathway to a stop near Drew's truck. A pretty blond woman peering out of the driver's window towards the bonfire and the gathering of Garou. The blond's head turns, exchanging looks with Moira for a moment as she frowns a little.
"You sure you don't want to come, Jenny?" Moira calls over her shoulder, jumping down out of the jeep. She turns around, reaching into the back to fetch her knapsack and a duffel bag. She smiles, slipping it on over her shoulder and waits for reply. "Nah, got work to do and stuff... call me if you need a ride back."
"Will do." Moira steps back, shutting the door and starts to walk around the jeep, heading in the direction of the bonfire. Her eyes cast about to see who was already there.
[Simon]
He smiles at the mention of Joe yet again."I hope your Alpha shows up, I think I'd like to meet with him. I've heard of him but haven't had the chance to do much meeting of him."He laughs to himself as he draws his hand back and nods his head at Kora's suggestion. He wasn't beaming quite so much at the mention of starting up the cooking fires though cause he wanted to work on the bonfire! Technically the other chores needed to be handled first so he choked back the pouty face and stepped up to the plate. After all it would serve no one here is the Full Moon started crying cause he didn't get his way!
"Colt and I know each other... We met a while back."Hmm I hope someone brought somethin' to roast."All he brought was booze, which is fine and good but he had expected that the food would be handled by someone else so he didn't honestly bother. He showed up earlier to get the fire started anyway.
[Drew Roscoe]
A cooler was cracked open and a chilled bottle of beer was handed over to the Kinfolk, which she accepted with a smile and a nod of thanks. Roman had accepted the chairs, a polite gentleman right at the get-go Drew deduced, the product of the kind of raising that came with thinking wranglers and a cowboy hat look good. So Drew had the chance to twist the top off her beer bottle and give it a good swig before casting another glance about the clearing.
People were showing up now. She noticed Moira entering at the edge of the treeline from along the beaten path, then some man named Colt was being introduced. She watched him for a second, let her eyes linger on his shoulders and chest (some might think that she was checking him out, but the truth was she was judging about how much effort it would take for him to separate her head from her shoulders with only his hands. people around here were dangerous and worth watching, after all), then lifted them to his face and flashed that winning smile of hers as though thoughts of murder didn't even make an appearance in her mind. "Pleased to meet you too, Colt. Always good to see more family."
Another swig from her beer was taken, and she moved to the pits where the cooking fires were normally set up, set her bag of brats and burgers down and put her hands on her denim-clad hips to stare down at the little huddles of wood in the pit. It didn't occur to her to bring matches or lighter fluid or anything of the like-- every other time she's come the fires had already been in full blaze.
[Roman Turner]
He seemed to pull his attention back with a sheepish smile for Drew. The entire time she had been standing there he was trying not to gawk. This made the fourth beautiful female he had met with breeding out the rear. Once again he was glad he did not wear loose fitting pants because they would tent up and embarrass the hell out of him.
"Yes ma'am."
Was all he got out.
[Colt Montgomery]
"I got steaks in the coleman, Joe tends to bring half dead deer, or so i noticed at the last moot" ~he was moving around, looking for wood for the cookin fire, he wondered when the rest of the troop would show up. He walked over to Roman and extended a hand~ "Howdy, don't think we met. Colt Montgomery, Culls the Beast"
[Kora] "Somebody's got to hold down the fort," is Kora's oblique reply to Simon's hope that War-Handed arrives soon. There's a moment, then, when her fine features are blank, vaguely, the visible suggestion that she's speaking with her packmate through their spiritual bond. The smile she seems to always wear goes just slack, then quirks again as she refocuses on the clearing. "There's enough fuel here to start a cook fire. Colt - Roman, can you guys get one built and started? Once it's blazing, let's start throwing fuel on the bonfire."
The audible sound of Moira's footsteps on the path, the hint of her breeding in the air. Kora looks up, waves across the clearing at the Fenrir kinswoman, then jerks her head at Simon. "C'mon. Let's find some good, dry wood." - she says, taking a good long drink of her beer before finding a picnic table on which to rest it before heading off into the woods, past Moira as she arrives. "Hey Moira," brief and quiet and rich as her voice always is, " - we'll get the fires lit, soon. Your mate coming?"
The last, tossed over her shoulder as she heads off into the woods, Simon in tow, intent on finding something to burn.
[Roman Turner] He took Colt's extended hand in a firm grip and shook it briefly.
"Roman Turner, Fate. Right nice to meetcha."
Then Kora was asking about starting the fire and he glanced her way then back to Colt with a lifted brow.
"I believe we can, Miss Kora."
[Colt Montgomery] ~he grinned at Roman~ "Hey partner, I know your cousin Sparrow, haven't seen her in a bit, but would love to catch up with her soon" ~his own hand shake was firm, but not overwhelming, he had calloused hands, that were used to hard labor and living on the ranch~ "Let's get to work man" ~he went with Roman to gather wood~
[Roman Turner] "How do ya know Sparrow?"
He certainly didn't know everyone his cousin did and he'd given up trying to keep track a long time ago, but it was a conversation starter as he went with Colt so they could get the fire going.
"Simon and I gathered some wood earlier, though it ain't gonna last all night for sure."
[Moira] Moira passes Kora and Simon on her way towards the table. She pushes the strap of her knapsack higher up on her shoulders, nodding her head to Kora. "Hey, Kora." offering the Skald a grin, "I am not certain if he is or not. I haven't seen him all day, I hope he comes or I'm going to have to get creative with finding a ride home."
She pats the bag, "I brought some food along with me, I'll set it up over on the table. I just hope it's enough." She continues on her way after talking with Kora, making her way over to the tables where the food is usually set up.
[Colt Montgomery] ~he started gathering wood while speaking with Roman~ "I met sparrow at the park when I first came to the city couple months ago. she said ya'll came from kansas and were' lookin for a pack. My packmate Cara and i followed some spirals to Idaho and took em out.. then opted to check out Chicago. They actually slaughtered two of my packmates back in Texas... " ~he looked back to the boy~ "So did ya'll figure on a pack yet?"
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] The sun is setting on the longest day -- shadows of trees long across the earth. The bonfire isn't lit yet; it's not even properly built, only a cleared-out area of rock-lined dirt piled with a few pallets and crates.
There's a distant rumble of diesel engines: some big, fullsized pickup, Dodge or Chevy or Ford or something like that pulling up. A few other engines too, smaller and quieter, possibly import. They fall quiet. A few moments later Lukas shows up in the clearing, a large cooler hoisted over his shoulder. He drops it by the cooking fires.
"More meat," he says, "courtesy of the BroHo. They brought out a truckload of wood too. You guys want to give the kin a hand unloading it?"
[Kora] (switching computers, brb!)
[Fabienne Bartelle] *Something had told her it would be rude to bring a caterer. That didn't however, mean she couldn't bring catered food. Dressed in charcoal grey slacks and a long light tailored coat of the same color, the statuesque fang strides into the clearing. It had been a full hour of indecision as to whether she would present herself at this primitive cocktail party, but in the end politeness had won out, And so she found herself carrying a platter of expensive almond pastry, her shadow cast long and lean across the trees as she sets the food on one of the tables set up. An inclination of her head to Lukas, accompanied by a polite smile.*
[Colt Montgomery] ~he heard all the engines, he carried over some of the wood he'd gathered and put it over where the food would be cooked, then he joined in helping the kin unload the wood that had been driven in, that was a better way of doing things~
"Right on, after all this, we'll be ready to devour a bison"
[Roman Turner] "That's right, we came out here from just outside Clearwater. And nope, we ain't figured on a Pack yet."
He was quiet a moment as he bent to gather a limb.
"Ya say you and your packmate Cara came here? So you are a Pack of two?"
[Simon] He grins brightly with the arrival of Lukas. His attention going to Kora and then back at Lukas when he arrives. A gleam in his eye with the mention of a Truckload of wood."That's more like it!"He says with a brilliant gleam in his eye. He stands and begins headed towards the truck."Well if you need someone to wheel it in near the pit we can get it unloaded."He says with a grin towards Lukas.
[Colt Montgomery] ~he was still working on unloading the trucks with wood, Roman right beside him helping out, two good ole boys doing the brunt of the work, and not really caring about it~ "Ya, just the two of us right now, but we're hoping that there are others out there, who want to join, I know we've had some hero's fallen, and leaving packs with less and less garou, so we're hoping to even merge if it will help in the fight"
[Drew Roscoe] Moira had come over to stand near the cooking pits, setting up the goods she had brought and flitting through those already provided in a matter that seemed at least somewhat distracted. Drew was shifting her attention to and fro-- watching as people went to gather wood, as a(nother) tall man with dark hair came nearby and dropped a cooler down, proclaiming 'more meat' before suggesting some people go help 'the kin' with unloading 'the truck'.
Just because the Kin knew how to dress practically and cook meat well enough that it wasn't charred through but wasn't so underdone it would give you food poisoning, that didn't mean she was much use with other things outdoors. She didn't know the first step to starting a fire, could hardly navigate her way through the trees (were it not for the path cut into the ground from so much travel she'd get lost between her truck and the clearing). So she figured it best to stand back and let people who knew what they were doing... well, know what they were doing.
Instead she settled for nodding to Lukas, taking the cooler he'd thunked down, and hauling it over to the preparation table, lifting one end and dragging the other through dirt and grass to move it. As she did so, back bent and muscles in bare shoulders put into display, she turned her head to address the other Kin hovering nearby.
"So, Moira, how's life?"
[Roman Turner] He was more than happy to chuck wood next to Colt while processing what he'd said. If he and Cara were a Pack of two, the by the same reasoning, he and Sparrow could be considered a Pack of two. That made him chuckle and shake his head.
"Well now, I know there's folk looking to add to Packs and I reckon it's a matter of fitting together and what totem a body would be interested in."
[Colt Montgomery] "Yeah, not everyone fits in the same totem, some are more cunning, others built for war... what are you lookin to get into? I mean, tell me bout yerself" ~he didn't look that old, he thought Sparrow said he wasn't that far out of his rite of passage, and Helen had spoken of Roman as well~ "Heya seen Helen round?" `yep change of thought just like that, all the while still tossin wood, hoping the kin would get on cookin~
[Moira] Moira watched Drew out of the corner of her eyes as she began to fiddle around at the tables, the duffel bag set down on the edge of the seat, the zipper peeled back as she carefully took out the large, rectangle aluminum containers that were filled with food. She wasn't sure exactly what all they would eat, so it was a mixture of things that one usually sees at a cookout.
A dish of baked beans, another that had cobs of cooked sweet corn and a third with some dessert like treat, all homemade. Once the pans were set out, she leans against the preparation table, looking over at the small kin that dragged the cooler over. A thoughtful expression lighting up on Moira's face, "Life is good at the moment, I wouldn't ask for it to be any different right now."
A pause, rummaging through her bag for a box of kitchen matches, "Want to help me light up the cooking fires? I brought extra pans so we could store the meat in them, and chafing fuel to keep it warm. I'd be grateful if you helped me set it up."
[Roman Turner] "Ya know Helen?"
Just like that he was distracted. Pausing to brush his hands off on the set of his jeans as a big stupid grin crossed his face.
"She's mite pretty. Last time I saw her she was drunker than a skunk at a club with some guy. She was wearing this dress that was all skin tight and well she couldn't of been we...."
His brain finally caught up with his mouth and he just stopped himself from saying it was so tight he could tell if she did landscaping or not. Heat flooded his face.
"I mean, she couldn't of been wearing nothing prettier."
[Drew Roscoe] Drew straightened up after she got the cooler over next to the table where she wanted it to be, grabbed her beer from the table's corner where she'd left it, and took a few good long swigs before looking over to Moira, then down at the box of matches that she'd pulled free from her bag. Skepticism flashed briefly over Drew's face, like she couldn't believe that such a small flame on such a short stick could last long enough to start a real good fire. But that faded away quickly enough, she'd knew full well that her own knowledge in all things camping, woodsy, and survival was extremely limited.
So she took another swig for good measure, set the beer back down, and nodded.
"Good to hear, I'm glad for ya. ...Do I need to, like, get newspaper or something to stick in under the wood? Something that'll actually catch fire in the time that your match is burning? I didn't get out to go camping a lot when I was a kid-- lots of extracurriculars."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas is uncharacteristically alone this bonfire: no pack, no mate. For someone who lives in a single room, for someone who keeps so many cards so close to his chest, the Shadow Lord is, in fact, a pack animal. He likes having loved ones close on the important days of the year. The holidays. The rises and falls of the season. The turning of the wheel. It's strange for him to be alone on the longest day, and it leaves him quieter; the smiles he returns to those who greet him a little slighter.
"There are a few handtrucks," he says to those who've accompanied him back to the trucks where the Brotherhood kitchen staff are beginning to unload. "If we grab one each, we can shuttle the wood in while the kin unload. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes."
So speaking, he grabs pops the hatch on his own coupe. The rear seats are folded down to accommodate the dollies, which he hauls out one in each hand, passing them to Simon and Colt.
[Colt Montgomery] ~that got a grin going.... not as stupid or silly as the one on Roman's face.. but still, he couldn't help but chuckle.... boy did he know Helen, that girl was something, he'd liked to have a chance to catch up with her again, she seemed quite enthralled with him a time or two, okay well maybe not that serious, she was in love with the drink. He liked her well enough, but they hadn't spoken in weeks, she'd gotten really pissed at him, he wasn't quite sure why even to this day, didn't really matter though~ "I do, great gal, she was taken with my cowboy hat" ~he chuckled, still tossin wood~
"She's quite the looker, dig that edge she's got as well" ~he knew she was a good dresser, that was her business~ "So how's she doing?"
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [sorry folks, got distracted ooc! and ... i lost track of who's where so if your char didn't go haul wood, ignore. *LOL*]
[Moira] She laughs, smiling at Drew, "The matches were actually for the chafing fuel. I know a little about camping, so I can show you how to make a fire. I agree with you I don't think the match alone will be enough. Usually, I have seen a starter log used to get a real fire going."
She looks around, crinkling up her nose, "I'm sure we can find something to use to get the fires going. Let's look?"
[Helen Moore] Believe it or not the woman actually owns a pair of jeans and she had purchased a pair of hiking boots just for this occasion, nothing great or grand but she had absolutely nothing suitable for going walking in the woods. A jacket she had with her in her bag, for when it got colder, but for now she was in a simple cotton three-quarter sleeve v-neck in a lovely shade of blue.
Navigation map on her phone has been her saviour, she made it out here and parked the car along with all the others and discovered a bunch of people unloading various trucks. She's got out of the nice Chevrolet Cruze, slung her bag over her shoulder and locked the car with the remote key she stows in her pocket.
Approaching the said folks, she calls out. "Is there anything I can help with?" Carrying bunches of wood, by the looks of her, probably isn't going to be something she could help with, but might be more of a hindrance. She's tall and skinny and would possibly break a wrist.
[Simon] He takes one of the dollies then wanders over to the Truck."The fun thing about unloading the wood is..."He pauses to think as he wheels the dolly over to the truck. He watches the others unload with a brilliant grin on his face but he doesn't seem to feel the need to continue what he was saying. After all there wasn't anything fun about it. This was work and he was here to get it done so they could enjoy their evening.
[Roman Turner] "Well, like I said."
He helped Colt while they spoke.
"She seemed a might, happy. And she was there with this fella that just was, well he was so nervous I expect he must be part long tailed cat and was afraid I brought the rocking chair, ya know?"
He greeted Lukas with a.
"Howdy."
And a nod.
[Fabienne Bartelle] *Almond pastries set out, Lukas wandering off to go ..do..something with wood... the silverfang's glass grey eyes slide over those gathered and tending fires. Little in the way of recognition. Acquaintances made once or twice likely at the failed kin coalition meeting she had attended. Food set out, and no one of great importance to associate with, Fabienne does what she does best. She takes her leave.*
[Kora] Fifteen minutes after she disappeared into the woods, Kora returns, dragging a pair of large limbs behind her -
- only to find nicely split and seasoned firewood now being carted back from the gravel-covered parking area and stacked in neat piles by the cook fires and the bonfire, courtesy of the kinfolk at the Brotherhood. The light is failing now, the sky is painted a dusk-colored blue and the woods in deep shadows. Without the light of the fires to brighten the space, they have no more than a handful of lanterns and flashlights to park the gloom.
And fireflies.
- it is dusk and the fireflies are coming out, gleaming sexual promises at each other in the darkness. There are so many in the clearing that you could read by the light shed by their wee thoraxes could you convince them to shine all together. They float up in a glowing cloud, or sink down in the blades of deeper grass. The sound of water is close, running somewhere, and with the sun sinking from the sky, the bullfrogs have started their virile song.
[Colt Montgomery] ~he nodded and tipped his cowboy hat to Lukas as well, chimin in with a Howdy as well, the two were busy runnin the wood to the bonfire area now, he'd worked up a thirst and was ready to toss one back with the rest of the garou, he looked around seeing Simon had joined in the fun with the dollies~
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas laughs under his breath, his dolly rattling along behind him as he heads toward the truck. "The fun thing about unloading wood is when you get to stop, is that it?"
He catches a pair of work gloves from Reuben, tossing another pair to Simon. Gloving up, then, he reaches to help the kin pile wood on their hand trucks. Helen pulls up, gets out; Lukas straightens up, swiping hair off his brow with a wipe of his wrist.
"Hm." He looks around. "See if someone brought lighter fluid to get the fire going?"
[Drew Roscoe] "Yeah. Uhh..."
Drew took a few moments to look around, left then right then back again, before she held up her finger in a clear 'wait a second' gesture and trotted away into the forest line. Some rummaging around on the ground just past the bushes was done, and she straightened up to rejoin Moira, this time with a fallen stick with plenty of dead leaves attached to it in her hand.
"Not paper, but it'll sure light right nice." There was a flash of that brilliant grin of hers, then Drew crouched down beside one of the fire pits loaded up with kindling and wedged the branch underneath it. As she did so, one hand held out for a match from the other Kin, she saw fit to make conversation.
"It's been real quiet lately, don't you think? I mean, all kinds of danger and action and people passing away... and now there's a lull." An ironic chuckle bubbled its way past her unpainted lips. "Hell, I haven't had to shoot anyone in over a month. ...But doesn't that put you on edge a little bit, too? It feels like the calm before a real big storm."
[Roman Turner] It was in the middle of Helen turning up and he'd seen Drew and Moira and was going in to overload. So he leaned in in the middle of moving wood to whisper to Colt.
"Do ya think they don't let Kin in to Chicago unless they are pretty as a diamond in the sun and so well bred that your jimmy about jumps right out your britches just being near them?"
[Simon] He was young and healthy and recently showered so fortunately there wasn't too much sweat taking shape just yet. Young and in the prime of his life, the Full moon seemed to love taking on whatever tasks his elders had to throw his way. He kept his pace quick, and moved the wood at a startling pace. Eagerness had already consumed him and seeing others around meant he had to step on things. Which is exactly what he did!
Several trips helped pile up the wood nicely and when Lukas asked for Lighter Fluid he grinned."Damn I was gonna send roman to get some Gas. Umm I can check with our cooks if you like."He says gesturing towards where the food had been started. He paused and smiled slightly when he noticed Moira was present, and then lifted a brow at the sight of Helen. The rich bitch from the parking lot! Well this was getting curiouser and curiouser.
Lighter fluid was among those things, though, that Simon rarely left the house without. Patting his shoulders and sides then locating his bag of tricks in the grass a short ways off he wandered over to snatch it up. Rummaging through the bag till he pulled out a can of lighter fluid. He stood and called out to Lukas."Wyrmbreaker catch!"He says tossing it in Lukas' direction and smiling brightly to see if the older man could respond in time.
[Colt Montgomery] ~Colt bust a gut laughing at what Roman said, but the kid had a point, all the kin were hotter than a summers dream~ "I think it might be a prerequisite or something, all the one's I've run into are mighty fine fillies." ~he gave a wave in Helen's direction and Moira as well, he hadn't seen her show up even~
"I think we're finally done, I say we rejoice with some brew"
[Helen Moore] Her mouth twitches in a slight smile, bemused, but she nods at Lukas and wanders off to to inquire just that. It was a good way for her to meet people, which is what she does as she introduces herself and drills various strangers about whether or not they have some fuel to get this bonfire started. Surely if they bought wood for a bonfire someone had it already organized.
Simon, it seems, had it under control, and with a small smile in their direction and a shrug of her shoulders she left it to the men to deal with their wood, and headed off to see who else was around. It's not as if she's met many, really.
[Colt Montgomery] "Evening ladies" ~he said to Helen, Moira and Drew as he grabbed a bottle of beer from the chest~
[Moira] "It has been quiet, like a lull in a passing storm. Reminds me of the summer months in Florida with the hurricanes. Weather is too damned unpredictable." This spoken after Drew returns from the forest line of trees, Moira offering her a wry grin and the box of matches as she moved after the smaller Fenrir kin to help light the fires.
She runs a hand over the back of her neck, glancing up to survey the area, tilting her head down to keep an eye on Drew to make sure she hadn't burned herself in trying to set fire to the wood. "How are you taking to the non-single life?"
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas is dragging over the last dolly-ful of wood when Simon tosses lighter fluid at him. He pulls the can out of the air onehanded, fumbles it against his chest, gets a grip on it.
"Thanks," he says, ironic.
That last handtruckload of wood gets dumped on the bonfire, and then he's squirting lighter fluid on, circling the massive firepit and dumping ... pretty much the entire can in.
"All right." He looks toward Moira and Drew, matches hopefully at ready. "You guys want to do the honors?"
[Helen Moore] "Hello Colt," she greets him when he does her, having smiled at him after his wave. Sliding her bag from her shoulder and onto the ground, she crouched to unzip it, glancing up after to look back at him. "How have you been?" There had been bad blood between them, even if he didn't know why. Men were like that, they didn't understand women, at all. But she's polite to him anyway.
From her bag she fetches out some containers of various salads, pasta, rice and garden to set them down with the other foods not far from where she's came to stand, temporarily.
[Drew Roscoe] Drew chuckled a little bit at Moira's question, hitched one shoulder up in a shrug then dropped it again. She'd lit a match and caught the leaves on fire, then jammed the stick back under the flames, only to knock the alight leaf down and have it burn out in the old ash underneath. So, on the second try, with a little more care, she'd managed to get the dried leaves and branch smoldering under the rest of the kindling, and all with little more than a forgivable bit of burning to her fingertips, which she scrubbed against the hip of her shorts.
"Non-single life was fine, I was used to that. It's non-single life with a werewolf that's a bit off. I mean, don't see Joe for weeks, right? Always stuck wondering if he's even alive, but then he'll roll in all smiles and cheer and bruises and cuts and everything's right again." She licked her lips, straightened up, and grabbed her beer to finish it off. "I'm adjusting. It's well worth it, I think."
Then Colt had swung on by to offer some greetings, generally directed to all the fine young females nearby, and Drew just grinned, tipped the edge of her empty beer bottle to him, and then shifted her attention over to Lukas. Eyes jumped over to the large pile of kindling and crates, to Moira, then back to Lukas.
"Uh, sure? But you've gotta put me out if I catch fire too when that thing roars to life. Deal?" A deal, hopefully, since she was already sealing it with her million-watt grin.
[Kora] So: right, amidst the quiet little conversations and the stacking of wood and the people moving in and out of the clearing in the shadows and the sky above, all blue, that impossible color that only arises at twilight, the confluence of shadow and light - someone finds some lighter fluid, someone stacks some logs in artfully, someone shoves some twigs and leaves and pine needles and debris and -
- Kora helps with the rest, building the structure for the fire up with the wood carted out to the woods (oh, irony) from the city, then steps back, away from the pit as Lukas douses it in foul smelling accellerant. The night is warm and humid, and there's a certain species of mosquito that is only active at this time of night. One hopes that mosquitoes are as intimidated by rage as humans are. Here is the point: Kora brushes away mites from around the crown of her head and grabs her beer, quiet enough, standing back as Drew agrees to light the fire.
[Moira] "Light it up, Drew, We'll douse you with beer if we have to."
She calls after the smaller kin, her head lifting up to glance Lukas' way when he asked if they wanted to set the bonfires. She nods quietly to what Drew had said, seeming to understand what she was experiencing. She moves away to pick up a beer from one of the many coolers, taking it with her as she helps Drew out in lighting the res of the fires as darkness settled in!
[Colt Montgomery] ~with bottle in hand, he takes a long haul of the drink, raising his bottle in greeting back at Drew, it was hard not to hear the kin talking back and forth, no wonder he hadn't heard back from Joe, he was off running the state and killin shit, same place he wanted to be. Why the hell had he come in a pack to this city.
He went from ease droppin to offering to help Helen put her waves out for the group~ "Things are good, been workin hard, and just found a house, so the pack is finally not homeless" ~he shook his head a bit~ "How about you? How's life treatin ya, I haven't seen ya around much, guess work and all is so time consuming" ~he was making conversation, still totally unaware of why she had gotten so angry with him~
"I finally met Roman, good kid, just like ya said, he'd make a good packmate" ~his attention goes to the fire as it's about to be lit~
[Kora] "We'll douse her with icewater," Kora corrects Moira, her mouth curving into a generous little half-smile. "We aren't wasting good beer like that."
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