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vigil. [cold crescent!]
#1
No one outside his pack sees Erich for quite some time after the night of the punishment rites. No one catches sight of him patrolling the city or the Bawn; no one spies him tussling with his friend that-other-ahroun-that-wanted-to-be-Wyrmfoe-way-back-when; no one sees him hanging out with Charlotte and Melantha down in the city, and no one finds him scarfing down Baskin Robbins even as the weather turns far, far, far too cold for such treats.

He just disappears for a while. Withdraws and retreats and hides. Some might suspect he's left the city altogether. It wouldn't be entirely out of the question; he does, after all, live in a house on wheels.

That's not the case, though. Might've been in the past, and more than once: something goes wrong, or maybe he just gets bored, and he moves on. No roots. No local connections. No sense of responsibility, if we get down to the hard truth. But that was then. This is now.

Now:

Erich resurfaces again, ten or so days after he'd lost his mind and interrupted a sacred rite. Tried to. He resurfaces, but not in the Bawn; not there at all but in the emptied, evacuated floors of 1999 Broadway that once housed Cold Crescent.

Of course, i's not like he lives up there. And it's not like he turns into some sort of crazy hobo haunting the deserted ex-Sept. But he does spend time there. A lot of time. Hours a day, prowling the barren floors, scowling at FOR LEASE signs, patrolling empty rooms and silent halls. Going downstairs once in a while to visit Eva Illeshazy's law firm and swipe their coffee, terrorizing their employees along the way. Crossing over to chase the departing guardian spirits, barking at them, making frustrated, futile attempts to convince them to stay. None of them listen. He tries anyway.

And -- he tries to reach out to his own. He sits up in the abandoned living quarters and he texts the people he knows: his packmates, of course, though some of those messages are just I'M SO BORED and THIS IS SO STUPID I CAN'T BELIEVE EVERYONE ACTUALLY LEFT. But others as well. Avery and Javed. Phoebe. Eva. Keisha, if he has her number. Hector, if he has his. Everyone and anyone he can think of; all the friends and acquaintances he's made over the past few months. Even Ingrid, and he hasn't really talked to Ingrid in weeks.

The messages are short. They're simple. They're pretty much all the same, and all to the point:

I'm still keeping watch at Cold Crescent. I haven't abandoned my post and I don't think we should. You don't have to come, esp if you're afraid of pissing off FQ elders, but I could use some help. Even if you don't, pass the word on -Erich.

And whether or not anyone joins him, Erich keeps showing up. He keeps his vigil. He keeps his watch.
BECAUSE OF LIGHT AND DUTY AND REASONS.
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#2
When Erich shows up, he might be surprised to find that Javed is already there. The Silent Strider has made no secret of his desire to re-open the Cold Crescent and he still spends most of his time when he isn't training his new cub, patrolling or sleeping there. Of course, the lower levels are being guarded, but the upper levels...well, those are empty, but for them and whoever else might be there.

He looks at Erich when he shows up, arches an eyebrow, and nods. Of course, they have to go through the brief rigamarole of Javed establishing who Erich is; his Face Blindness makes that a necessity. Once that is established Javed has few words right away. He has a lot of plans in order to get this Sept re-opened and he is still working to get them implemented.

First among them is to find out what level of support he has for his plans to re-open the Sept among the city Garou. And then, from there, they can progress.

But the point is...not everyone did leave. And now there are two.
"The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules."
"Good men don't need rules. And today's not the day to find out why I have so many."
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#3
There are two within. There is one without.

The Ahrouns don't see her, no one does except perhaps shadows and spirits. There is no physical sign of a Shadow Lord Ragabash's presence, nothing left behind in her wake to let the others know that she's there just outside. Prowling.

Patrolling.

Ingrid sees the others go inside sometimes, she watches from the shadowy reflection of the Umbra or from the shadows Realmside, but she does not make her presence known to them. She's not there to fraternize, she has no interest in making "friends" she'll only lose again when she doesn't behave the way they want her to.

There is no reason for her to be there. There is no reason for her to be here, in Denver, in Colorado, in the West. And yet, here she is. Here she stays.

Erich's message goes unanswered, and he'll think of that what he will. But Ingrid is there, somewhere just out of sight.

Holding an invisible boundary line, much smaller than what was watched by around two dozen Guardian Garou.
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#4
Avery knows what Javed does with his days. She knows of his fervent desire, his belief, to get Cold Crescent not just maintained but fully functioning again: a sept in truth. She sometimes patrols the streets, she watches over the city like so many who live in it do, but she feels the shiftlessness and insecurity and uncertainty that comes from not having a center, a homestead, a core. Sometimes she comes to Cold Crescent to see her packmate, and she brings him thermoses of coffee and hearty, meaty stew to share with him.

She is also one of those who gets howling texts from Erich, and she realizes that Javed and Erich are doing the same thing. They are both inhabiting those empty floors -- there are still no For Lease signs, and no one is showing those upper floors, at least -- and the surrounding area. She texts him back:

Look for Javed.

And she texts him back:

Would you like some stew?

And of course he would.

--

So she brings stew, and coffee, and even when they have to eat it cold after patrolling the blocks around 1999 Broadway it tastes good just to fill the belly in the company of friends. The two Falcons plus an Ahroun of Thunder are quite a dangerous task force when you get down to it, and they don't even know about the shadow slipping through the streets impaling things with her sword.

She does not come right out and say it, and in fact in this Javed is the more eloquent, the more outspoken of the Falcons. For Avery, the wish and will to keep Cold Crescent intact and alive is something so instinctive, so based in her gut, that she cannot find words to properly articulate it. Instead she acts, and those actions speak loudly:

This, too, is my home. And I will defend it.

And now there are three.
my whole life is thunder.
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#5
As for the spiritual aspect of the sept, Erich needn't worry much about that. It starts as a ripple, Erich's stone cast into a still pond that ripples out again as soon as that first wave washes over Phoebe. At first she brings her pack, but it doesn't stop with them. Phoebe does not fear reprisal from the Elders and other wolves of Forgotten Questions. Phoebe's home sept is Forgotten Questions, but cold Crescent is where she and her pack are needed. It's where all the Theurges are needed, or as many as will answer her own call.

So, the Fostern Fury draws as many of her Auspice to her as will come, asking, commanding, luring with her captivating presence. If the topmost floor is still sealed to them they find a way inside. They tend to the spirit of the training floor's mat, and if needed they repair the desecrated totem shrine to Luna (though one hopes someone has seen to this already).

Then the Theurges start working in shifts, one Oracle to one other wolf for however many hours they can spare a night. They go with the Falcons and Erich, a spirit-tender for their patrols. They soothe and command the spirits that linger in the Umbra.

Sometimes Phoebe sits at the base of that strange unmarked statue in the courtyard, and she sings her gratitude to the Veteran for keeping watch another day, another night.

The work of the Theurges is not quite so frantic as it was in the weeks following Champion of Honor's use as a mouthpiece for corruption, but it is steady and nearly tireless.

After all, someone has to make sure that Hunter of Peace's work does not come all undone.

=====
Another little flavor roll, to see how spirit-leadery Phoebe is in calling other Theurges to look after Cold Crescent.
niko @ 9:12PM
[charisma (captivating) + leadership + PB]
Roll: 7 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 6 ) [WP] VALID

Samael @ 9:13PM
Witnessed!
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#6
It goes without saying, of course, that Keisha is there with her packsister. Whether she likes it or not, her destiny is seemingly entwined with Cold Crescent at this point. When it is wounded, so is she. When it lies empty, she feels the hollow gnawing inside of her, like something she needs to (fix) do. And when it was successfully defended by those twelve (of which she was one), she felt herself bulwarked some.

She may never consider herself truly part of Cold Crescent, and she has been officially associated with Forgotten Questions since she arrived, but she will never let it fall short or lay in ruins. Because its ruination is, in some strange way, her own.

And so she comes with Phoebe, without the need to be asked. Certainly without the need to be persuaded. And she works alongside her, throws her all into tending to the Crescent's spiritual needs. Because it had to be done. Because that Niemöller poem, the one that was in the forefront of her mind during the judgment of the elders...it always echoes strongly in her mind. And just because she is not of the Cold Crescent, does not mean she will not stand up for them.

And then there were five (and a sixth). And perhaps soon there would be more.
"The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules."
"Good men don't need rules. And today's not the day to find out why I have so many."
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