06-17-2014, 04:37 PM
It's not just one truck or one van that rolls up into the Sept of Forgotten Questions one late night after the gates have closed. It's a whole caravan of them: three pickups, an extended passenger van, a re-purposed school bus painted red with flourishing white stripes flying all over it, a well-worn VW Golf hatchback, and one very out-of-place silver Infiniti. All of them have filthy undercarriages from driving out here, and driving a long way. A few words at the ranger's station by the gate, and then the gates are being unlocked by the illumination of the moon and several sets of headlights, and the caravan is rolling towards the parking lots.
Guardians begin to emerge from the shadows and brambles and the penumbra near the visitor's center as the cars (and trucks and bus and van and so on) pull to their stops and turn off their engines, as lights go dim, as doors open.
Garou and Kinfolk alike tumble out of the automobiles, some bursting from doors and others yawning, waking up in the back seats, coming more slowly. A curvy woman with red-gold hair and creamy skin gets out of the Infiniti, wearing colorful clothes and carrying a mint-green bag. There are a few children with them, and they look as most children do after long travels: their faces a little dirty, their hair a bit matted, their cheeks pink from sleep and their eyes wide to absorb a new place. A few of them are already starting to run, eager to stretch their legs, even if they're just bolting for the bathrooms in the visitor's center in the waning moonlight. They are fearless, young and old, and they are noisy.
Noisiest of all are the Garou who come climbing out of the brightly painted no-longer-a-school bus. Tall and broad of shoulder, long of limb, and each one with their own shade of ginger hair or auburn fur, they are the ones who walk and lope and stride to meet the Guardians.
There is sniffing.
There are a few protracted looks of wariness.
Then, after some talking, there is arm clasping, there is greeting. The Fianna and their caravan meet and meld with the Garou of Forgotten Questions, already getting down to practical business: where they're staying, where they'll park, patrol shifts they'll take.
It takes a few days, after the June moot has closed with its revel, but soon word has spread through both Forgotten Questions and Cold Crescent: they have guests, a whole troupe of guests, who can't wait to test the mettle of their hosts.
["SL" intro post! And for those of you who don't get the subject line: http://youtu.be/_B0CyOAO8y0 ]
Guardians begin to emerge from the shadows and brambles and the penumbra near the visitor's center as the cars (and trucks and bus and van and so on) pull to their stops and turn off their engines, as lights go dim, as doors open.
Garou and Kinfolk alike tumble out of the automobiles, some bursting from doors and others yawning, waking up in the back seats, coming more slowly. A curvy woman with red-gold hair and creamy skin gets out of the Infiniti, wearing colorful clothes and carrying a mint-green bag. There are a few children with them, and they look as most children do after long travels: their faces a little dirty, their hair a bit matted, their cheeks pink from sleep and their eyes wide to absorb a new place. A few of them are already starting to run, eager to stretch their legs, even if they're just bolting for the bathrooms in the visitor's center in the waning moonlight. They are fearless, young and old, and they are noisy.
Noisiest of all are the Garou who come climbing out of the brightly painted no-longer-a-school bus. Tall and broad of shoulder, long of limb, and each one with their own shade of ginger hair or auburn fur, they are the ones who walk and lope and stride to meet the Guardians.
There is sniffing.
There are a few protracted looks of wariness.
Then, after some talking, there is arm clasping, there is greeting. The Fianna and their caravan meet and meld with the Garou of Forgotten Questions, already getting down to practical business: where they're staying, where they'll park, patrol shifts they'll take.
It takes a few days, after the June moot has closed with its revel, but soon word has spread through both Forgotten Questions and Cold Crescent: they have guests, a whole troupe of guests, who can't wait to test the mettle of their hosts.
["SL" intro post! And for those of you who don't get the subject line: http://youtu.be/_B0CyOAO8y0 ]