10-18-2013, 06:46 PM
"The Elders of Cold Crescent fucked up when they kept all the info to themselves and then couldn't deal with their own mess."
Perhaps Keisha would be surprised to hear Erich say this after the way he stood with her against those of Forgotten Questions who came to drag those very elders away. That is what he says, though: very firmly, without a single waver.
"I mean, okay. I get it. Sometimes some info is need-to-know only. Sometimes it's just not smart to tell every random cub off the streets that your Sept is built over a goddamn hellhole. But if you're gonna stamp shit Classified, then you damn well better make sure whoever has access can adequately deal with what's in the brown folder. Otherwise, when that shit hits the fan, you're gonna look like a real dumbass. Which is exactly what happened at Cold Crescent.
"BUT, and this is a big but: it's not like the Elders and the Elders alone are responsible for what happened. I mean yeah, generally when your Sept gets blown up from within it looks really bad if you happen to be a Guardian, a Warder or an Elder of the Sept. But -- they weren't the only ones that didn't catch that Champion of Honor was rotten at the core. They weren't the only ones caught totally off-guard when he turned like that. They weren't the ones that rescued him and brought him right back to the heart of our stronghold, and they sure as hell weren't the ones that lost him in the first place.
"We can't lynch one group of people for something we all had a hand in. And we did all have a hand in the debacle at Cold Crescent. So: the Elders deserve to be punished for biting off more than they could chew with that let's-keep-this-hush-hush thing. I'm not sure they deserve to be punished for letting Champion of Honor go banzai like that. At least, if they get punished, then all of us who hang out at Cold Crescent even part-time need to stand by them and share the burden.
"All that said -- whatever punishment you guys ultimately put on their heads and ours: it needs to be a suspended sentence. We can't drag the Elders away from Cold Crescent and lock them up. Or demote them or execute them or whatever the fuck. Not right now. These are goddamn Adrens and Athros of the Nation. Say what you will about their recent fuckup, but they held the line on Cold Crescent for years. And by god we need them to help us hold the line now.
"'Cause -- Eva went to talk to Warning Threshold, right? Along with Javed and Avery and Pheebs. And what he told them, and what she told me, was this: Cold Crescent sits over ... like ... a gateway. Or a 'mine', as he put it, full of horrors that'll answer if someone calls them.
"Beloved Horror is strong as fuck, we all know that, but they don't get their power from what's under Cold Crescent. That's not their interest in it. They want Cold Crescent's basement so they can stand there over the gateway and call all day and night. And man, if we thought Beloved Horror was a tough nut to crack -- just think how bad what comes through will be. Just think how bad it has to be, if a pack as strong as Beloved Horror is devoting all their time to making this happen. Just think about what happened that night with Champion, without limit or end.
"If we drag the strongest wolves of Cold Crescent away in chains, and if Beloved Horror overwhelms the rest of us and gets their way, we'd really be fucked. So I'm saying this as an Ahroun:
"This is war. We need all the claws and teeth we can get, and we need them undulled and unbroken."
Perhaps Keisha would be surprised to hear Erich say this after the way he stood with her against those of Forgotten Questions who came to drag those very elders away. That is what he says, though: very firmly, without a single waver.
"I mean, okay. I get it. Sometimes some info is need-to-know only. Sometimes it's just not smart to tell every random cub off the streets that your Sept is built over a goddamn hellhole. But if you're gonna stamp shit Classified, then you damn well better make sure whoever has access can adequately deal with what's in the brown folder. Otherwise, when that shit hits the fan, you're gonna look like a real dumbass. Which is exactly what happened at Cold Crescent.
"BUT, and this is a big but: it's not like the Elders and the Elders alone are responsible for what happened. I mean yeah, generally when your Sept gets blown up from within it looks really bad if you happen to be a Guardian, a Warder or an Elder of the Sept. But -- they weren't the only ones that didn't catch that Champion of Honor was rotten at the core. They weren't the only ones caught totally off-guard when he turned like that. They weren't the ones that rescued him and brought him right back to the heart of our stronghold, and they sure as hell weren't the ones that lost him in the first place.
"We can't lynch one group of people for something we all had a hand in. And we did all have a hand in the debacle at Cold Crescent. So: the Elders deserve to be punished for biting off more than they could chew with that let's-keep-this-hush-hush thing. I'm not sure they deserve to be punished for letting Champion of Honor go banzai like that. At least, if they get punished, then all of us who hang out at Cold Crescent even part-time need to stand by them and share the burden.
"All that said -- whatever punishment you guys ultimately put on their heads and ours: it needs to be a suspended sentence. We can't drag the Elders away from Cold Crescent and lock them up. Or demote them or execute them or whatever the fuck. Not right now. These are goddamn Adrens and Athros of the Nation. Say what you will about their recent fuckup, but they held the line on Cold Crescent for years. And by god we need them to help us hold the line now.
"'Cause -- Eva went to talk to Warning Threshold, right? Along with Javed and Avery and Pheebs. And what he told them, and what she told me, was this: Cold Crescent sits over ... like ... a gateway. Or a 'mine', as he put it, full of horrors that'll answer if someone calls them.
"Beloved Horror is strong as fuck, we all know that, but they don't get their power from what's under Cold Crescent. That's not their interest in it. They want Cold Crescent's basement so they can stand there over the gateway and call all day and night. And man, if we thought Beloved Horror was a tough nut to crack -- just think how bad what comes through will be. Just think how bad it has to be, if a pack as strong as Beloved Horror is devoting all their time to making this happen. Just think about what happened that night with Champion, without limit or end.
"If we drag the strongest wolves of Cold Crescent away in chains, and if Beloved Horror overwhelms the rest of us and gets their way, we'd really be fucked. So I'm saying this as an Ahroun:
"This is war. We need all the claws and teeth we can get, and we need them undulled and unbroken."
BECAUSE OF LIGHT AND DUTY AND REASONS.