Talk of Rank

Kefka is silent as he watches the rest of his pack walk away into the night. He smiles and takes a deep breath. He is not enthusiastic, merely content they have survived for at least one more night. His smile slowly fades away as he steels his mind and closes his eyes. He turns around to face Claws of Silk, the fire of determination shining in his eyes.

"First off ma'am, I'd just like to apologize for bringing up the Sicarii. It wasn't my intent to create more strain between Malchizedek, Roaring Jack, and yourself."

He pauses briefly before continuing.

"My name is Mocks the Night. Since arriving in Texas after my rite of passage was completed I have served Gaia fervently. I have killed a range of Wyrm foes. Small mockeries to large ones. Black Spirals to Skin Rippers. I got a few scars and am missing a lung to prove it. Never inhale bael fire... it's a bad idea. As much success as i have received on the battlefield, i have experienced success outside of it as well. For example we always uphold the litany after a fight by making the evidence disappear. I helped the Camino Real Sept agree to follow Chief Bowl into The Deep Umbra in the battle for Nacogdoches. This helped the relationship between us and the Indians in the area. It also proves that we can still trust and work with the Uktena. Something many more of our kind could stand to learn. More recently we successfully created a meeting between the Comanchee and Texas Rangers. With any luck they can keep us informed of what the Skin Rippers are doing when they aren't going crazy on the full moon. We also saved that helpless black man from gettin' hanged. He is still in custody but we plan on helping the Sheriff investigate to prove his innocence."

Kefka pauses and smiles at Claws of Silk.

"And forgive me for braggin' ma'am, but I'm goin' to be a daddy soon...All that to say I do feel I have earned the right to be a Fostern. It is my hope that you could provide me with a mission to prove my worth."

Kefka stops speaking and nervously smiles at Claws of Silk. He then bows his head and awaits her decision, whatever it may be.

Claws-of-Silk shook her head gently. "There is already tension, that cannot be avoided; you told me the truth and I appreciate it." As he tells his story, the Voice of Gaia studied him, her kind eyes betraying her apprehension. "This sounds like you want a challenge..." The ruddy-furred Crinos walked back, carefully walking down into the crater at the caern's heart. As she stared into the glassy pool, she continued: "You say you and your pack have forged unexpected alliances and built understanding among old enemies. I have heard it said that Coyote's children had a penchant for mayhem; maybe you have been misrepresented..."

Her gaze shifted away from the water's surface and she looked at Mocks-the-Night, her shining eyes caught between the stars above and their mirrored twins below. "Here is your charge: Make peace with at least one of the Throat Tearers- don't give me that look!" Her crinos form emitted something between a growl and a laugh. "Even on the eve of your trial, even with Warbreath making his accusations, mutual understanding is worthwhile. The Get of Fenris are volatile and headstrong, but they are also noble and worthy allies."

Mocks the Night's left eye twitched as his charge left the mouth of the Sept Alpha. He scratched his beard while contemplating and slowly a smile appeared on his face. "You are wise. I thank you for this chance to prove myself. I shall return to you after speaking with the Throat Tearers." He gives a bow and turns to leave. He walks slowly thinking as he slowly makes his way towards the Get of Fenris area. He stops briefly at the edge of their territory and peers inside. Cautiously he steps inside, whistling a tune as he winds his way down the path.

Eventually he makes his way back to where they met with Roaring Jack. It was there he saw the large Throat Tearer who favored the noose. He ducks in the shadows and questions running off to find a different Throat Tearer. He collects himself and decides against running away. If this is the Throat Tearer Gaia saw fit for him to meet, then this is who he'll talk to. He walks up next to the Get of Fenris.

"Nice weather tonight, eh? Good for walking around or keeping watch... say could i ask you a couple questions?"

The dark grey wolf rose to his feet, his long fangs glinting as his lip curled slightly upward. Spine Breaker snarled out a single phrase in heavily accented Mother Tongue:
"I hunger not for ape chatter, wheezing shadow..."

The gigantic canid sniffed at the air, scenting Mocks-the-Night.
"...vomit out your words quickly."

Kefka shifts to the same form to match Spine Breaker, in that way he can speak in the Mother Tongue as well. "Wheezing Shadow? That's terribly clever." Kefka thought to himself before speaking in Mother Tongue. "I come not to waste time. There are things I must know. How we acted, my pack and I, was it really that abhorrent to you? Do you honestly think we disgraced Gaia with how we fought? I guess the real question I am trying to ask is... would we be here on trial if Frost Blood was still alive?"

"Your thoughts are too many." Spine Breaker let out a bark, an exasperated wolf-laugh. "You two legged whelps came to us and said 'we are wise, do what we say,' and you befriend fallen ones and protect sick ones. Frost Blood believed you; he is dead."

"You prance and whine when you should throat your foes. You are not abhorred, but pitied. You have not tasted the offal of prey since birth, or felt Gaia scream under your paws. The Fenrir know what has to be and not be. You, like so many others, think too much, chase your tail." The lupus' eyes were bright in the darkness, shining with pent-up rage.

Kefka stares at Luna for a few minutes mulling over what Spine Breaker said and how to respond. Eventually he clears his throat as best a wolf can before speaking.

"I will give you the point that many over think, and as you said "chase their tails". Hell you may think we did that in Perdido, but fact of the matter is my pack ain't that physically strong, so we use what got for the good of Gaia best we can. For example, I am handy with a shotgun, can hide well, and spot weaknesses. I would like to think I made her proud fightin' them Skin Rippers in Perdido. I put my life on the line same as y'all."

Kefka pauses, unsure if he should continue or not. He steels himself speaks slowly and carefully.

"Frost Blood trusting us about the sick people had nothing to do with his death. He had fallen before they leapt from the church... going back and changing our decision would not bring him back."

He pauses again and readies himself to dodge if need be.

"I respect your ferocity, and your instinct. It was an honor fighting with your tribe and I do wish for us to meet upon the battlefield again as brothers. However...I can understand if you don't feel the same. I shall not bother you any further if you do not wish it."

The Fenrir's eyes slightly glazed over with irritated boredom as Kefka continued to talk, but he perked up when he heard one phrase that intrigued him. "You scent weaknesses? What weakness is in me, two legged wolf? Your frailties I can smell for miles."

The grey wolf stood taut, still like a coiled spring.

Kefka focusses on Spine Breaker's rage filled eyes. After a minute Kefka closes his eyes and when he opens them they at full of sadness. Slowly he begins to speak.
"You're weakness is that you refuse to think for yourself. You blindly follow your Alpha. No matter the cost, no matter how foolish it may be. You may see it as a strength you don't question... but from my perspective if someone talked FrostBlood out of standing in the middle of the road and facing overwhelming odds... well. He may still be here today."

"I serve. Frost Blood is dead. Nothing will change that." Spine Breaker's fangs flash in the dark like glittering daggers of ice, but his angry eyes were clouded by guilt. "Do not try to confuse me with monkey words. I have had enough of them; of you." The grey lupus' hackles rose as his ears drew flat against his skull.

Kefka keeps his eyes locked with Spine Breaker, refusing to back down just yet.
His voice is still cool and calm.
"I serve too. The trick is serving Gaia first. I will show myself out, and leave you in peace."
Kefka gave a low bow to Spine Breaker.

As Kefka bowed, the gigantic grey wolf pounced, his eyes twin boiling points of fury in the predawn night.

"NO PEACE."

The Ahroun's words were a guttural roar of madness- rage and despair given voice. Massive hispo jaws clamped down on Mocks-the-Night's head, fangs punching through one ear and pressing into his skull. Before the ragabash could so much as shift or scream, he was swinging back and forth in the air, thrashing limply like a ragdoll.  

On the the third shake Kefka felt his straining neck give out with a wet pop and the jaws released him with one last savage twist. The Shadow Lord crashed into a boulder several yards away and collapsed, his head lolling horribly against his chest. He caught a glimpse of a hulking dire wolf stalking forward, its snapping jaws trailing bloody strings of drool. Kefka urged his body to recover, calling on his own reserves of rage to re-knit shredded sinew and broken bone, but he knew the enraged Fenrir would be on him in scant seconds.

A dark red shape surged between the crippled New Moon and the oncoming Get of Fenris, a tall crinos that leapt and tackled the dire wolf. Both werewolves went rolling amid dust and blood and froth, snarling and snapping. The savage grey wolf came out on top over the sept alpha, his jaws snapping at her throat. Claws-of-Silk blocked with her forearm, and Spine Breaker bit that instead, the Child of Gaia's blood spattering across the faces of both Garou. With her other hand, Claws-of-Silk reached up and touched the Ahroun's eyes. It wasn't a vicious gouge, but a simple gesture, barely more than a gentle caress.    

Spine Breaker blinked, as the fire in his eyes dwindled and then went out altogether, and the hispo shrank back, tail between its legs. Claws-of-Silk stood and wiped the blood from her eyes and looked at Kefka, her bestial countenance doing nothing to hide her sorrow. She turned back toward Spine Breaker, who merely whined and angled his head, showing his throat.

"Go back to your den. I know what happened here, and that is enough."  

The Ahroun disappeared into the Get tunnels without a sound and Claws-of-Silk walked back towards where Kefka had just regained his feet. She studied him but said nothing, her eyes neither condemning nor angry, just weary and sad.

Kefka stumbled to his feet wearing the glabro form, trying to wipe the blood from his face, but he only managed to smear it. He looks at Claws of Silk holding back tears and looks away in shame. When he speaks his words are forced.

"I have much to learn. I am grateful you saved me, but it should not have come to this. I should have seen the signs and left earlier, accepting my failure. I have done you a disservice, ma'am. I shall go clean up and won't bother you again."

Kefka turns to leave and painfully starts to leave before he causes more trouble with the Throat Tearers.

"Not so fast, Mocks-the-Night." The alpha said quietly. Claws-of-Silk's large hairy hand fell lightly on his shoulder as he turned, and she drew him back to face her. She did not say anything at first, simply worked her strange, clawless fingers into into his damaged neck and shoulders, painlessly reforming fractured bones and slashed tissue.    

"You know, Spine Breaker was beginning to see the error of his ways. You were getting through to him, even though it pained him to hear it." She looked into Kefka's eyes for the first time as she stepped back.  

"What did you do wrong?"

Kefka breathed a sigh of relief as his wounds close and his pain floated away. He looked at Claws of Silk and flashes her a smile as his thanks. When asked what went wrong he tilted his head down toward the ground, his hand scratching his beard.
"I worked too fast. I was beginning to get through to him and pushed too hard. He had told me to leave and i should have listened. It didn't have to happen tonight. It could have been a gradual process. Roaring Jack asked us to accompany him North to help our Pure Brothers fight the wyrm. Or that is the story he told us. Regardless if the Throat Tearer's were there as well there would be ample time on the road."

He pauses and looks at her.

"People don't like to hear truth. They are more welcome to it in small doses, then having it shoved down their throats. That is what i did wrong. I don't think i will make that mistake again especially if you won't be around to save my skin." Kefka gives a small smirk to Claws of Silk as he says his last bit.