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World of Darkness: Attrition - Passing the Buck


Swara-Ann

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She looked over to the Pacific Ocean as the sun set over the horizon. The orange and red fire across the sky was breath taking and she could think of nowhere else in the world she’d something as beautiful. Then again, she’d only been to Iowa and California…

It had taken her quite some time to muster the strength to get up and out of bed. The agonizing pain she felt from the deep lacerations on her back made even the slightest movement painful, but in time those wounds healed and indeed, had she not been what she was, she’d have surely died.

Instinctively she clutched at something around her neck, but it wasn’t there. Not long ago around her neck is where the spirit Tipishkau-pishum once resided bound within an amulet. She sighed as she tried to remind herself that it wasn’t there any longer, lost in the battle or something, hell, she didn’t know; she could barely remember the last moth or so of her life.

“I see you’re feeling better.” A voice came from behind her, startling her briefly and causing her blonde locks to spin about face to locate the source. Jonathan Steele, Def-Int, an Iron Master of the Topanga pack stood calmly, adorned in his usual dress slacks and polo shirt. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. It’s good to see you up and about.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She replied softly, her words barely a whisper. “You’re…?”

“Jonathan Steele,” He approached her with an outstretched hand and a million dollar smile. So far of all the Topanga pack werewolves, he was the only one she’d not met in her several weeks of recovery. “Pleasure to meet you finally, Swara-Ann.”

She accepted his hand and tried to summon up a smile but it still came out looking fake and insincere. “You and actor or something?” She asked, taking back her hand and suddenly realizing that she was all kinds of disheveled in front of an incredibly attractive man… and then she realized she didn’t care. Life was too messed up right now to be worrying about who was cute and keeping up appearances.

“Actor?” He chuckled. “No, I’m this good looking naturally.” He answered honestly and the lovely blonde nearly fell over the ledge she was standing near at the casual arrogance Mr. Steele seemed to possess. “How’s your memory? Anything come back to you in full yet or is all still just bits and images?”

“Well, kinda,” She walked, barefoot, across the tender leaves to go sit upon a well-worn log the provided a lovely view of the sky and the on coming night. “I know some Titty-Poopoo guy was having a field day with my body, and not in the really cool ‘hey I’m in college so this okay’ kinda way. There was a fight of some sort and I got my butt kicked, then I woke up in some hot guys basement, and they brought me here.”

The Uratha looked about in confusion at the young girl’s appraisal of the events. “Urm, something like that. Look there’s a lot to explain, and it’s not going to be really easy to sum up.”

“I’m a werewolf.” She said flatly.

“Okay, that about sums it up, yeah.” He sighed and scratched his head wondering where exactly he lost control of the conversation. “But there’s so much more to it…”

“I can be cured,” She asked him with sorrowful eyes that were so practiced and sincere they nearly melt his heart where he stood. “Right?”

“No, Swara-Ann.” He said as empathically as he could muster. “I’m sorry, but there is no cure. You are what you are and there is no turning back. Once you change, you are forever under Luna’s watchful eye.”

“I won’t change, then.” She said sternly and with a tone of stubborn immaturity that caused Def-Int to roll his eyes. “I don’t want to be a werewolf. I want my life back.”

“Tough.” He shrugged. “Look pup, I hate to shatter your puffy pink dreams, but there is no cure Swara-Ann, there is no going back, and there is no getting your life back to the way it was. You are one of us now, and if you walk away from us there are Hunters and worse lying wait for you, and let me tell you something girl: we’re the only friends you got left.”

“And you’re going to teach me?” She asked, getting snippier and snippier with every phrase but there was still something I there voice that pleaded for a ‘yes’. He was right, her own kind were the only allies she had left and she was confused and alone in a strange new world.

“Oh, hell no, kid.” He snorted a bit and almost laughed. Swara-Ann’s expression melted away completely as her new ‘friend’ so casually seemed prepared to throw her to the wolves, so to speak. “We’ve to many problems on this mountain to be dealing with training you. But get dressed and we’ll talk in the car, there’s someone in town that I think needs you as much as you need her.”

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Amber woke from her nap, blinking in a moment of confusion. Her werewolf metabolism cleared her head quickly and she rose from her bed, staring intently at her door. After a moment, the knock came again. Grumbling and checking to be sure she was dressed, Amber approached the door.

About ten feet away, she stopped. The people on the other side had Primal Urges. Tense, she went to the peephole and peeped as one did. What she saw made her growl.

She snatched her door open and glared at the two werewolves on her step. "You're trespassing," she growled, scowling at the lovely couple before her. She was within seconds of serious violence, or so it seemed by her demeanor.

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"Quite the contrary," Def-Int said calmly. "I'm standing in the hall politely knocking on the door. If you wish to confuse that with lurking around uninvited, then by all means, do so. Make your move, then I'll make mine and then before you know it my little act of civility has turned into a war neither of us want, I assure you."

The Iron Master tried to come across as politely as possible, but there was still a ton of tension between the two. "Perhaps you've noticed the Hunters out and about, and my precious little cargo right here." He tugged Swara-Ann forward and presented her to the Rahu. "Baying at the moon within the city limits is not the most intelligent thing one can be doing these days. To draw less suspicion I felt the old fashioned 'knock on the door' strategy might work. Don't suppose we could come in, hmm? Pretty please?"

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Her eyes passed from Def-Int to Swara and softened a bit. Then they snapped back to the Iron Master and became cold steel again. "You of all the fucking People know why I'm pissed," Amber snarled. "And you could have fucking asked Ariel for my number if you wanted to chit chat. And yeah, you can fuckin' kick my ass. Doesn't give you the right to be a pompous ass."

She stepped back, letting them in with reluctance. When the door closed, she stared at them, arms crossed. "What the fuck do you want?"

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"Ariel isn't accepting calls lately, she's sorting through some things and I'm respecting her privacy." Def-Int sighed as the two stepped inside. Amber certainly wouldn't appreciate him talking to her in the tone she was was using, so why she felt it was okay to address him in such a manner escaped him, despite the age old 'but she's a Rahu' excuse. There was little point debating it, he didn't bring his crayons so he had no way of explaining it in a perspective she'd understand, it was like talking to Kris.

"Put simply," and the scowl he shot her informed her he didn't appreciate her tone. "Swara-Ann here, I'm sure you've met, needs a guide, a mentor in our ways and our laws. We've done our best to treat the wounds that barbarian of a cousin of yours left her with, but that's as far as we can help her. She needs someone, and that someone is you."

Swara-Ann only smiled bashfully and raised a hand as high as her hip, flailing it about in something that could have been mistaken as a greeting.

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Amber's lips twitched at the mention of Sarah, but figured that protesting the connection would just prolong Def-Int's unwanted presence. When he got to the point of this little tea party, Amber sighed. It wasn't a sigh of exasperation, but rather of dismay.

"Def-Int, I'm sure you have your reasons for asking this, but I don't see that I can help her. Yes, I can teach you what it is to be a werewolf," Amber said, trying to keep her tone even and reasonable - never easy for the hot-tempered Rahu. "But I'm not sure I'm the best teacher, for reasons I'm not delving into right now. Ariel would do much better, in my opinion. Actually, what is your Auspice, Swara-Ann?"

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"Hospice?" Swara-Ann shrugged, "I dunno. The school had a few doctors we could go to for sprains or injuries, but I think I'm kicked out at this point. So, I'm pretty sure none, not having insurance and all."

Def-Int could only contain a smirk...

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Amber closed her eyes; it was clear, to the more intelligent Iron Master anyway, that the uratha was struggling to not blow up. She was only partly successful. "You." She leveled a finger at Swara-Ann. "That corner." She waved her toward the indicated area.

Turning to Def-Int, she asked, "So I feel like I'm getting a pet, here, but... I need her 'papers'. What's her auspice, does she have a tribe, has she had the oath and all her shots?" The last was asked with a sardonic twinge. Amber didn't want this burden, and she planned to pass her off to Ariel as soon as Ariel got home. But it was clear that the Topies were dropping this ball, and they apparently didn't care where it landed if they were trying to foist her off onto Amber.

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With a roll of the eyes Swara-Ann sighed and wandered away off to where she was told. Her one-size-too-small denim shorts with Winnie the Pooh & Eeyore stitched on each pocket gave Def-Int a momentary pause that almost made Amber want to slap his eyes out of his head for looking.

"Cahalith" he said, after snatching back his attention and clearing his throat in slight embarrassment upon noticing Amber's perceptiveness. "That's about all we know. She has no tribe, she's sworn no Oath, and had nowhere to go. Frankly, we have no room for her and I really wish that wasn't so, but it's the truth."

He took Amber by the arm and led her away a bit. "The experience's she's endured Amber, they've placed her way out of sync with Harmony. She cares nothing for her duties, her People, nothing. Her Purity is tainted by the dark spirit that took her over. She won't change, refuses to hunt, the Spirits shun her, hell, even the Shadow has barred its doors to her."

Reflected in Def-Int's eyes was honest sincerity, there was one thing the Iron Master never did, and that was bullshit people. "Her purity was snatched from her before she even understood what it was, and that's why I'm here speaking to you Amber. This isn't about politics or high and low station or any of the usual 'my pack can beat up your pack' dick waving shenanigans. No one understands Purity more than the Rahu, it's a constant battle that you all are burdened with."

He sighed softly knowing his last words may very well piss her off; Amber didn't like hearing the truth sometimes. "She needs you Amber, a woman proud and strong to show her what it means to be Uratha."

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What Def-Int didn't know, couldn't know is that Amber never complained about her duty anymore. Her flaunting of her obligations had ended when she'd Changed, burned away by Luna's light and the calcification of What Is Right. When Def-Int presented the need, the Rahu truly understood what had to be done. She sighed, rolling her head a bit on her shoulders, wondering how the hell she was going to teach this... this... pink puff how to be a proper Uratha. Forget even worrying about the Cahalith stuff; get the basics first.

"Fine, but swear to me that when she's ready for it, your Cahalith will teach her what that means," Amber said, leveling her gray eyes at the man. "I'll get the training wheels off her, but I can't teach her wheelies. I'll Oath her up, make sure she doesn't fall to the Pure. Someone else will have to finish it."

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"I'm confident Ariel will assist you where she can, as will all your allies." Def-Int appeared down right pleased and there was a sudden lift in the tension between them. He didn't like Amber all that much, and Amber really didn't seem to like anyone, but he was certainly proud to come to the realization that the Rahu was far more reasonable than he had first given credit for. "As for the Topanga, Shiva is our Cahalith, but he doesn't talk much, he only speaks Luna's will. I will certainly help you where you need it or in areas where Ariel is still uneducated."

"You have my thanks," He flipped out a small card with a motion that certainly seemed practiced to hundreds of women before Amber. "If you need anything, call me, also Ariel knows how to reach me." He looked back to Swara-Ann, who appeared to be actually standing in the corner staring at the wall. He looked to Amber and his smile grew almost to the point where he was about to burst with a laugh. "And good luck..."

"Swara-Ann." Ha called her over, trying to shake her literal translation of Amber's command out of his mind to prevent himself from smirking. "This is Amber Wren, she's a friend and is going to help you better understand a few things. I highly recommend you listen."

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She didn't show it - much - but the young Rahu felt relief that she wouldn't have to try to instruct the wayward Swara-Ann in her duties to Mother Luna. "We'll be in touch, then, but for now, she's not your problem." She's fuckin' mine. "I'll get her going."

She followed Def-Int over and waited while he introduced them, again. "Good to meet you again," Amber said, then wondered if mentioning their nightmare meeting was a good idea. The unempathic bitch mentally shrugged off the concern; if Swara-Ann was going to throw a fit about their unfortunate fight, better that it happen sooner rather than later. This way, they could put it behind them and fuckin' move on. Shit, if Amber held a grudge against anyone who pummeled her as a wolf-blooded, she wouldn't have time to feel anything but anger. "Got any questions for me before I dive into the rules?"

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"Yeah... do you actually live here?" She looked about the apartment Amber called 'home'. It was a shithole, sure the building was under renovation but Amber wasn't much of a house keeper, she had spirits to keep in check, bad guys to fight, a job to go to every night... keeping the apartment up really wasn't #1 on her 'to do' list. "I mean... wow... I thought my life sucked."

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Amber growled. It wasn't a sound a human normally made. As Swara looked at her, clearly startled by the noise, Amber ignored her completely and said to Def-Int, "Thank you for bring her by." She pulled out a scrap of paper and scribbled her number on it. "Here, if you - or any of the Top-Topanga's need to get ahold of me." Def-Int took his leave, still looking like he was trying not to laugh.

When they were alone, Amber turned to Swara Ann. "Sih Sehe Mak; Mak Ne Sih. Does that mean anything to you, or are you as deaf to the words of our People as you are the glories of Luna?" That low, rumbling growl was back, a bass echo to her angry words.

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"Well, I took French in High School." She shrugged as innocently as possible. The words tugged at something inside, she knew them, but their meaning was lost on her. Something was missing, a part of the puzzle that when clicked into place would make the words whole again. "But I watched a lot CSI: Las Vegas, and that definitely sounded Italian." She smiled wide about her triumphant guess. "I like Italian, it's romantic."

"Um, who's Luna exactly, you guys keep saying it like some cult," Her hands darted to hips and she took a pose that resembled Amber might try to call 'dominance' or 'assertiveness' except it was weak and without merit. "And another thing, lady, why didn't you send that guy into a corner when he called you a Yahoo?"

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"My name is Amber," Amber said, doing a great job of holding onto her temper for the moment. Her pose of dominance was not all weak as she stood squarely before the pup and continue to punctuate her words with a growl. "Call me anything other than my name again, and you'll be dubbed 'Pink Pup', probably as your deed name. And it'll be all you'll be called until you earn another.

"Sih Sehe Mak; Mak Ne Sih. That is First Tongue, our language, the language of our People. You know it, or you should, if you hadn't been weak-willed enough to let a little trauma destroy your ability to be anything other than a half-human," Amber snarled, her limited patience burned away in one final spark of rage. "It means, 'The Low Honor the High, the High Respect the Low.' And in this case, you're the Low and I'm the High. So what does this mean?

"It means," Amber plowed on brutally as she leaned forward, "that I'll teach you and protect you until you're on your own two feet mentally, spiritually, physically and emotionally, and that you'll FUCKING TREAT ME LIKE YOUR GOD DAMNED ALPHA!" The last was roared with all the fury that only a Rahu could bring to a situation. "No dissing me, no dissing my house and never ever assume that my life sucks just because I don't have matching towel sets or pretty Weenie the Pooh linens!"

Her nose was now inches from Swara-Ann's. "You got that?"

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Once the windows quit rattling Swara-Ann felt all of three feet tall and Amber had gained that much in height over her. Her swallow was hard and audible in a way that brought the Rahu looming a degree of satisfaction. Oh, yeah; that got through.

And then the water works came... in the corners of her eyes the tears began forming as her mentor's words struck a emotional chord somewhere in her frail psyche. "I-I," Her voice cracked as she tried to stand up to the powerful woman in front of her. "I'm not weak, I held out as long as I could, longer then you or any else could have!" She suddenly seemed to have gained a measure of a spine, perhaps ther ewas some fight in this pup after all... "I tried! I fought! So don't you ever DARE tell me I gave up and 'let' it happen!"

She was crying now, fueled more by the fact that she needed that outburst and a chance to cry than any real desire to stand up to Amber. She had a lot she was holding in, but no one to let it out on. Her face found it's way into her hands, simply because she had no other way to hide her embarrassing break down. "It wasn't my fault..." she sobbed. "It wasn't my fault... she just said it was a necklace, I didn't know..."

Collapsing to her knees, she just let herself go.

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"Good," Amber said as the 'pinkest pup' sobbed at her feet. "I'm glad to hear that." She let the mention of 'she' pass for now; she wanted to work on Swara before she turned their collective eyes toward vengeance. "Come on, stop the tears, all they do is make it harder to see your enemy coming."

She reached down and gave the other woman a hand, pulling her up onto her feet. Time to build the girl up for a while; if all Amber did was tear her down, she'd never get stronger.

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She cried for a few more moments, trying to control the tears until they became sobs. She wiped her eyes and tried to finish up as quickly as possible. Amber had that domineering leer to her that made the frail pup afraid to waste her time.

Finally she looked at Amber with nothing less that pure sky blue puppy dog eyes that would have melted the heart of anyone. Thankfully Amber possessed no such thing. "But, I don't have any enemies." she said with still a bit of a whine in her voice.

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Amber heard the whine, and stuffed her hands in her back pocket so that she didn't try to slap it out of the trying werewolf. "You have enemies because of what you are," Amber said, her face red with the effort of not screaming. "There are enemies who would love to find a werewolf who can't even shift to protect herself. That's the first thing to address. Why won't you shift to another form?"

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Sniffling, she managed to shake the fit of tears away. "Why would I?" She retorted sadly. "Even if I knew how, I wouldn't do it. The things I did, to all those people. The claws, the blood... I'm never going to hurt people again, I don't want to be a werewolf, people won't know if I just stay normal."

A pang tightened in her gut but she ignored it. Although she had locked her wolf away through sheer force of will as a result of the emotional trauma she endured, it still wanted out. It was as much a part of her as she was to it, a side of her spiritual consciousness that, while it certainly sympathized with her desires, couldn't protect her if it was caged inside.

For the briefest of moments Amber felt the tinge of Swara-Ann's Primal Urge, but it was faint, so faint that even Amber barely noticed it was there.

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"I'm not talking about just people," Amber said, hating that this youngun had gotten the worst possible introduction to the Uratha possible. "There are spirits, like what was possessing you, that need to be kept in check, and won't hesitate to ride you like a puppet again, or just flat out kill you. There are other Uratha - that's our name for us, by the way - who will not hesitate to pick you off before you figure out how to shift again. You may not kill for fun again, but you will learn to kill to defend yourself, if necessary." Amber's expression was stone hard and set. "I'm not going to let you lay down and die, or not fight to keep your life."

Amber shook her head. "You're making statements without understanding what the fuck you mean. There are people like you getting their lives ruined by spirits like Titty-pushy. You wanna sit back on your ass and hide in corners, knowing that you could be saving them?"

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She seemed well adapted to the tales Amber was giving her, she wasn't in a place to disbelieve anything given what had happened to her, but understanding the world now that the veil had been lifted was another matter entirely.

"Look..." she started to pace around, her arms were a bit active, accenting her growing frustration, not with Amber, but with all the information she was recieving. "First, thank you for taking me in and all, my parents are going to flip when I find out I've been thrown out of college. Second, I don't understand any of this stuff. Spirits, why people suddenly want me dead, how do they even know any ways? I have a werewolf sticker on my butt now?"

"Lastly," she looked at Amber. "I'm scared. Wolves freak me out, okay? Maybe it was months of seeing my reflection, maybe it was the eating people part, or maybe it was the whole thing where a group of them chased me down and almost tore me apart," she mumbled. "Which would have been a blessing."

"I just, I can't look at one and not be afraid, especially with everyone telling me that I am one now," Her lip quivered slightly. "I'm not even Irish, how the hell did I end up a Tuatha in the first place? None of this makes sense."

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"Let's get one thing out of the way," Amber said quickly. This was going to suck, so might as well deal with it. "I was one of those wolves who chased you down. I and a few others realized what you had become, and we knew that we had to stop you. The plan was to stop you, but it's a difficult proposition to stop a werewolf. So we did what we had to. Now the marks on your back, those were from a vampire, who I need to speak to about using her claws on the People.

"Anyway, I tell you this because you'll learn someday anyway, and if you're going to have a fucking freak out about it, I wanna get it done with, now." Amber shifted her weight slightly, preparing even for the unlikely event of being attacked by Swara.

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"I know," she said softly. "I saw you in my dream, the one that was real, but not real. Ugh." She grumbled and shook her head. "It's all so confusing, none of it makes sense."

"And you cuss a lot, you know that? You should try relaxing a bit more, breathing exercises, things like that." She found her bearings and got back on track. "I'm not going to freak out, I don't blame you or your friends for what you did. Sure is hurt like hell, but I deserved it for what I did to those people."

She approached Amber and a soft smile pressed it's way onto lovely lips. "I guess I owe you a 'thank you' if any thing. I couldn't fight any more, I tried and tried, but it hurt to much. I owe you guys for saving me, how could I ever not appreciate that?"

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"Good," Amber said, nodding. She curled her fists and uncurled them, then added, "You'll find that it's better when I swear, it's a way to let off a bit of steam. Otherwise, I end up hitting stuff."

She rolled her shoulders, as if warming them up for a fight. "Alright, here's some stuff you need to know. It's not 'yahoo', it's Rahu. Don't try to make English words of 'em, you'll just hurt yourself. It's Uratha, not 'Tuatha'."

Amber paused to let the girl process for a moment - slow and steady. But, she had one last thing to add. "Let's make one thing clear. I don't care if wolves scare you or 'freak you out'. I don't care if the sight of a gray muzzle fuckin' makes you wanna piss yourself. The only way you're going to survive being what you are is to embrace what you are. Otherwise, you're going to get ripped apart by fanatic zealot werewolves, or used as a meat puppet again. And I'm here to make sure you don't get killed, eaten or end up in Tickle-plushie's care again until you fuckin' start doing it for yourself."

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"Yeah, well, I'm not sure what my problem is Amber, so cussing at me, intimidating me, and doing your damnest to treat me like a turd in a punch bowl certainly isn't going to either of us any good." She folded her arms several steps away from the irrationally angry woman. "You told the guy you were going to help me, so, what's first? Because if it's 'change into something else' then yer plain out of luck, because it's not happening. I don't know how and even if I did I probably wouldn't anyway."

"So like, aren't there beginner classes or something?" She shrugged. "An e-course I can take maybe? I mean, how did you learn all this stuff?"

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