painted in blood.

[Wyrmbreaker] Rewind.

Morning after the moot. Pale light through overcast skies; grey bitter winter, ice frozen at the shore. Garou are returning home -- to their packs, to their mates, to sleep it off.

Wyrmbreaker finds War-Handed amongst the Garou. The Shadow Lord's presence is odd; stripped of rage, charged with spirit. His eyes are fierce and steady, but sleep deprivation and exhaustion casts a pallor under his swarthy skin.

"Still want that fight, War-Handed?"

[Joe War-Handed] In lupus, Joe waits near the challenge circle.. his attention mostly on the silvery ring itself, shining under the full moon.

Occasionally, the snap of a twig, the rustle of a pile of junk.. it jerks his attention expectantly toward the surrounding darkness.

When Joe rises, its to Homid. The formidable lines of his body curved in exhaustion, though he stands straight, and a strange hunger burns in his face. The eyes of a warrior would note that while tired, the way he moves, in the twitching of fingers..

he's not entirely given over to fatigue. Breathing is too even. The spark remains in his eyes.

Oddly muted, Joe locks his attention against Wyrmbreaker and nods.

"Gotta dew it right."

[Joe War-Handed] (er.. morning. No full moon)

[Wyrmbreaker] A nod.

"You tell me how you want it. Where, when, how, with what. What kind of battle will make you respect me?"

[Joe War-Handed] Joe scowls as he pieces together a sort of explanation.

"Heah. Now woyks. It don' gotta be anytin' particular. It just gotta happen. It goes boff ways. I paint yew so da trade weah makin' stands in blood. Yew paint me because da leader gives da most, like."

He waves a hand and snorts. Look at him, trying to make a Shadow Lord get the way things ought to be. hmph.

"Anyhow. Now."

[Wyrmbreaker] Wyrmbreaker nods again, gravely.

"Now, then."

And he comes at Joe, the last bloody curl of his rage given to the shift to direwolf.

[and off we go! Lukas is starting this in Hispo with 0 Rage (unless Joe is slow-shifting, upon which he'll wait til Joe is shifted)]

[Joe War-Handed] Its another sort of leadership, leading a cliath in a battle against you. A welcoming thing. Come and see my strength. Joe comes in hard, fast, and low. The torc around his direwolf neck gleams fitfully. Anticipation and a want for blood writ in the flickering.

(Both Hispo and 0 rage works for me, as long as we keep a couple wp back for mojo)

[Wyrmbreaker] [init+20]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5 (Failure at target 6)

[Joe War-Handed] (+9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6

[Joe War-Handed] 1a: leaping rake
1b: dodge

[Joe War-Handed] (resist pain)

[Joe War-Handed] (also! Joe is in Crinos! and I wonder how many grace points I just burned through! weeeeee!)

[Wyrmbreaker] 1WP - Resist Pain
1a. bite
b. bite
[Joe's actions go here]
c. turn and follow!
d. bite

[Wyrmbreaker] 1a. -4 dice!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1

[Wyrmbreaker] Damage +6
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Joe War-Handed]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] b. -5!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2

[Joe War-Handed] (next bite gets the dodge)

[Joe War-Handed] dodge: pool
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] Succ -1! Dam +2
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Joe War-Handed] soak
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 4, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Joe War-Handed] bite: brawl/dex9-3
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Joe War-Handed] (leap rake roll dex+ath)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 6 at target 3)

[Joe War-Handed] (its late. I blame that- it wasn't a bite, it was a claw)

[Joe War-Handed] damage: str8+1claws+3sux
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 5, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] c. turn, follow.
d. bite! -7 dice, +WP.
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 5, 8 (Success x 3 at target 5) [WP]

[Wyrmbreaker] [damage +2]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Joe War-Handed] soak pool actually 8 not 7
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Joe War-Handed] (no- soak is 7! 5 sux)

[Wyrmbreaker] [Next round!]

[Joe War-Handed] 1a:bite
1b:bite
1c:bite

[Wyrmbreaker] 1a/b/c/d: biting!

[Wyrmbreaker] 1a. -4.
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5)

[Wyrmbreaker] [whoops -- reroll on the 10's]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5)

[Wyrmbreaker] [damage +6]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Joe War-Handed] soak
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] b. -5!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1

[Wyrmbreaker] [damage +1]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 7 at target 6)

[Joe War-Handed] soak
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 7, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] It's a short, brutish, vicious fight.

Wyrmbreaker has a reputation for being careful. For being prepared. For going into battle all but dripping with talens and toys and strategies and gifts. And yet, when he fights Joe... it's on a level with the Fenrir. Same form. Same gifts. Minimal tactics. Just close-quarter, no-quarter-given destruction.

For a while the Cliath has the upper hand. Bite after bite glances off the Fenrir's thick hide, while his own claws draw first blood. Black and grey, the direwolves snarl, snap, tangle, whirl. Teeth flash. Eyes flash. Blood flashes, soaks hot and red through the hoarfrosted ground.

When it's over,
it's over in a flash.

That's how it always is for Garou.

--

When War-Handed comes to, only seconds have elapsed. Wyrmbreaker's blood is in his teeth. Wyrmbreaker's blood is literally in his bones: he's been healed by a bloody bandage, exclusive privilege amongst Full Moons. Call a gesture of unity.

The Fostern is not crouched over him. He's sitting a ways off on a rock, and he's wiping Joe's blood off his mouth, onto the palm of his hand.

There's a ring of ritual about this: "Will you follow me, War-Handed?"

[Joe War-Handed] He wakes up with a spasmodic jerk- a ripping growl.. then stillness. As though unaware the fight had even ended. Homid fingers remind him he was in a furred form before, and he looks around.

Fatigue soaks his bones in concrete, but Joe rumbles to his haunches with a groan.

It takes him a second to find Lukas' form. When he does, he pushes to his feet and faces the Shadow Lord. Words do not convey garou respect half so well as the pulse of motion and posture. In a Fenrir, it looks defiant. 'Hit me again!' But one ignores the weak. Tramples them. Respect is written in wounds and blood, and the respectful ask for more of each.

"Yes. I'll follow yew. Gib me enemies, an' I'll gib yew victories. Jus' like I said."

[Wyrmbreaker] [oops -- bloody bandage would've healed for +5, btw]

[Wyrmbreaker] Painted in blood, War-Handed said. Sanctified in blood, Wyrmbreaker said -- earlier.

As the vicious young Fenrir rises to his haunches, the Shadow Lord comes off the rock. Wyrmbreaker is tall. He knows how to dress. See him on the street, catch him passing by, and he cuts an impressive figure: sharp, charismatic. A predator in the eyes. See him here, though, now, after the moot and the revel and the bloody, bloody fight, and he's a savage, his outerwear lost somewhere, his white undershirt slowly soaking red from the blood on his skin.

He stands over War-Handed only for a beat. Then he crouches as well, eye to eye. He wipes his thumb in Joe's blood on his palm. Swipes it across the wound on his side, where Joe's claws had cut. And with that mingled blood, he paints a line down Joe's face, a heavy, straight slash down from center of brow to nose. The same line is drawn down his own face.

Maybe he's seen Joe do it before. Maybe he simply guesses that such things have meaning for a hardline Modi like this one.

"The Full Moons of each pack will meet in a few weeks' time," he says quietly. Ugly voice, still. Ripped and raw as a wound. "We'll talk defense of the Caern. And we'll talk war on the Hive. I'll see you there, War-Handed."

[Joe War-Handed] Its a strange moment. Joe's mouth tilts open, broad jaw slack- one might be reminded of doing a card trick before the eye of some rapt youngster. The Modi neither moves nor speaks. His eyes follow Lukas' fingers as though they were repainting the world. Brow furrowed, its clear this will take digestion.

As Lukas' broken voice pearls the air between them, a corner of Joe's upper lip twitches in response, but the Jackal Voice is forgotten for a moment as Lukas gives what every Ahroun must have. Targets. Enemies. Something to focus on. Marching orders and a direction. They seek from instinct nothing so much as a place to put the claws Gaia gave them.

His face and eyes don't move until Lukas gets to 'Handed'. Then his mouth slams shut, and Joe's brow furrows as though beginning to digest it all now. He saw no tricks there. Just... direction.

[Joe War-Handed] Maybe Lukas wouldn't understand his silence.

Joe's attention focuses on Lukas' eyes and finally he speaks. The words are jammed together. Quick. Almost furtive.

"When-an-wheah?!"

[Wyrmbreaker] "Night of the crescent moon. Here in the Caern."

[Joe War-Handed] "Awright." He nods dimly. The word seems redundant. Unnecessary. But he gives it like doing so will speed the face of Luna toward the appointed time.