World of Darkness World of Darkness: Attrition - Better Late Than Never

[SalmonMax]

Ariel absently touched her fingers to the blood in Dec's hand and, with a fierce repression of her human shudder, touched it to her tongue. Coppery and salty; exactly like human blood. Strange to think it meant something more to her now. Strange how blood always seemed to enter the picture, somewhere.

Her eyes turned red. Is that just because she's mad?

Had they made a mistake? And if so, was it her mistake? Could she have done something differently? Would the pack have been better off with Sarah and without Amber?

She found she couldn't examine that question dispassionately. Amber was family. Amber was one of them. Sarah wanted to be, but wasn't. Joining a pack wasn't like signing up for a health club. Ariel felt that keenly, but couldn't help feeling bad for Sarah as well. She'd risked so much, and tried so hard.

Where would all that go now?

With a shake of her head, Ariel refocused on the task at hand. Decisions had been made. Time would tell if they were good or bad. Either way, they couldn't be undone now.

"Yeah. Two of the obstacles in the past have been territory and totem. Declan and Amber both claim territory, and our pack needs to be able to incorporate both into the pack territory, because they both have loci in them. There's also Weave's warehouse that I'd like to cover. Locus there too, not to mention Weave. These places are far enough apart that we can't just claim everything in between them. But I'm thinking we don't have to. We all have transportation, and we all have cellphones. One consequence of being 'urban' werewolves is that we can take advantage of stuff like that. Our pack territory doesn't have to be all in one piece, as long as we can patrol and maintain it."

[Rorx]

Moss moves forward and dips a finger to take a taste of Swara's blood with none of the faint signs of revulsion that Ariel tries to hide, before returning to his chair and his food.

Hmm, it's funny how blood tastes different at different temperatures. I suppose it's the coagulation or separation into plasma and platelets. Ariel obviously doesn't like it, I wonder if she had tasted human blood before? Heh, I can't remember whose I tasted first now, was it the cop I bit when he roughed me up for being a vagrant, or the nurse in the asylum when the spirits had me freaked before I Changed. Christ, I'll enjoy wiping those spirits when I get back to England!

With a brief shake of his head Moss gets his wandering thoughts back under control, "Ok, two things. One, what and where's the locus in Dec's territory? And two, is anyone else the slightest concerned about the unusual red look to Sarah's eyes when she left here? 'Cause it's not something I've seen her do before."

[z-Amber Wren]

"I didn't think Dec had one," Amber said. "I think he's been using the one Sarah's been squatting over." She sighed. "We're going to need to deal with that, too. I get that Sarah wants to keep what she's got, but the practicality of it is that she can only watch half of it. What are we going to do about that? Work out some kind of patrol with her? If so, we need some kind of kickback. And if she won't consent to that, we need to work that out, too.

"And I think that I'm not concerned with whatever crazy vampire shit Sarah's pulling," Amber snapped, her irritation with her cousin rising. Bitch didn't get her way, and she ran off snapping at flies like a petulant cub. "Just goes to show - she ain't one of us, and never will be."

[SalmonMax]

"I'm a little concerned what she might do if she loses it," Ariel confesses. "In that way she IS a little like one of us. But maybe she just needs some time to herself. She's earned the benefit of the doubt."

"Anyway, I recall there was probably a locus on the university campus. We just never got our shit together to go find it. For all we know the thing's choked in spiderwebs...might even have another spider or two by now. So once we get a totem, I think that's got to be high on our list of priorities."

"As for Sarah's locus..." Ariel frowned. "It's tricky. We can't just assume responsibility for every locus we know about all over the city that's not in another pack's territory. The whole point of having territory is that it defines what's ours, and what's not." She shrugs. "We can always patrol the park locus from the Hsil regardless. Nothing she can do about that."

"It does bring up a point I wanted to make though. There's a part of the Oath that I misunderstood until recently...and having it shown to me opened my eyes to really accepting who and what I am. Respect your territory. I used to think it was just about patrolling and keeping spirits down in the boundaries you mark. What I've come to understand is that it's a lot broader. It's about the entire environment you're in. It's about living in harmony with it. We're city wolves, and our environment is the city. Respecting it means living in harmony with humans, and with the other things we share this territory with. Which is why I'm not suggesting we just ignore Sarah's claim on the park and just make it ours regardless."

She nods at Amber. "And I know you weren't suggesting that either. I'm just using Sarah to make a point. This isn't the middle of the country where we can throw our weight around and nothing's big enough to stop us. There'll be times and places for tooth and claw...but in general we'll have to be a lot more careful about choosing those times and places."

[Owns-The-Night]

"That's fair." Dec said as he offered Amber his bloody hand. "I've got no interest in strongarming Sarah. She might not be one of us, and she might not be Pack, but she's been a friend. When she cools down from the disappointment, we can sit down with her and talk shit out." As Amber took a finger-dip of blood, Dec moved over to the sink and washed his hands off.

"And I agree with ya, Ariel." he said, turning as the last crimson swirls of Swara's blood washed down the drain. The Rahu dried his hands off on a towel then leaned against the counter once more. "We're city wolves right now, and the fuck-up we made of dealing with those hunters shows louder than anythin' that we have to be smart, not just about when and where we go tooth n' claw, but how as well. We went in there with a lack of respect for the foe, and we were damn lucky not to die."

"We'll need to be smart about how we police our turf outside the Hisil, too. We can't just rip apart all the drug dealers or pimps in two or three nights. Sure, they're scum-suckin' scavengers weakenin' the Herd and violatin' our turf, but if they turn up in itty-bittys then we end up shootin' ourselves in the ass. So we need to be smart about dealin' with them. Act like wolves rather than bulls in a china shop." He nodded his acknowledgement to Ariel.

[z-Amber Wren]

"Cool," Amber said regarding Sarah. "I mean... I don't want her in the pack, but she has been a good ally. And what I'm worried about it that there's a locus in the heart of what we have talked about claiming, with now way to patrol it. Work out a.... treaty for lack of a better word."

She sighed and rotated her neck as he spoke. "I'll be happy to work all of this out. Get to doin' instead of talkin'."

[SalmonMax]

"Agreed," Ariel agreed. "So lets get to the part we can actually do something about right away if we care to. The totem. We know of one spirit we have a decent working relationship with, and that's Weave. It's been a totem before, and probably would love to be one again. Personally, I'm not sure it suits this particular pack, but my ears are open on the subject."

"What kind of totem do you guys think we need?"

[Rorx]

Moss shrugs, "If we are to try and fit in better with the city then perhaps we should go with a more city type totem. Either a city type animal or one more related to the city or technology more directly."

He looks around the three others, "Weave would fit in the second category I guess, but I'm not sure he is really strong enough to suit us, and I'm not sure what he could teach us."

He takes a sip of the pineapple juice he brought along, "As for Sarah, I'd leave her territory and just patrol the Hisil side as necessary. Preferably with her permission, but there is not a lot she can do to stop us either way I guess."

[Owns-The-Night]

"Okay, before I can vote at all, I need to know more about this Weave." Dec stated bluntly as he helped himself to a beer from the fridge. "Totem spirit shit ain't my strong point, but it strikes me that totems tend to be as strong as their packs make 'em. Kind of a symbiote effect, yeah?" he looked around at the other Uratha questioningly. "So if we take Weave on and it takes us on, and we kick ass as a pack, then Weave gets stronger."

He twisted the cap off his beer effortlessly. "I'd say that's a cool arrangement. We save a totem that has served the People faithfully, and it has experience of bein' a totem before."

[z-Amber Wren]

"Fuck, if Sarah wants to be one of us, but can't keep her territory - both sides of it - she doesn't deserve to have it," Amber growled. "Normally, I wouldn't give a shit, but she's right in the middle of us, and anything that festers in her area is going to come back on us. Worse, to patrol her area without using that locus is impractical, because it's not near another locus." Amber shook her head. "I'm not trying to be mean, but this is the reality of our situation."

When Dec asked about totems, Amber shifted subjects. "It is a mutual effect," Amber said, nodding. "I don't mind helping out a spirit down on its luck, but we shouldn't agree for that reason. Ariel asked what kind of totem we need, so I'm gonna talk on that for a moment." She paused, then began again. "We're looking at a large chunk, so something that sees over the whole area. We're smallish, so something that is good with small numbers. We're diverse, so something that doesn't lean too much to any of us.

"Anyone have anything else to add to that list? We probably won't find a totem that perfectly matches it, but we can figure out what's really important to us. And if we don't go with Weave, we can still move him up here and watch over him. I'm sure he'd guard our territory for essence and protection."

[SalmonMax]

"One thing to add," Ariel said. "Most of us are pretty inexperienced at really being werewolves in the practical sense, so a spirit that knows the ropes is a good idea. But Amber's right. Weave doesn't have to be our totem to be someone we have a working relationship with."

[Rorx]

Moss tries to consider the best type of spirit for a totem, "Hmm, for something that covers the area I guess a raptor or a wolf both tend to have largish areas. Both might be more comfortable with a smaller group than a larger one and the wolf spirit would have a head start on helping us with the werewolf thing." He shrugs before continuing, "But I don't know how much help it would be with working in such an Urban environment."