After the battle...

[Boy]

The fight was over, and slowly but surely the feeling of wrongness, the feeling that something akin to utter doom was looming over them, is fading. But to make sure, they will cleanse this place, and the disgusting things they have killed in it. Boy was barely scratched in this fight, and even that was a wound suffered so that someone else wouldn't have to. That someone being Liam. He's been dragging bodies and parts into a single large pile ready to be cleansed. Its not tiring work, but its disgusting. And so, he takes a break, whipping blood and puss off his arms and clothes.

[Liam]

It had been a long evening for all them. Tracking and fighting and cleaning up one mess after another. Sometimes it seemed like the duties of a garou were never over. And they were never easy, either. Liam had taken quite a beating in the last fight. His hispo form was torn and bloodied in numerous places, flaps of skin hanging open where the fomori had sliced into him with its claws. When he approached the Uktena, he was limping on three legs, but he seemed to be holding up, in spite of it. The gift that the Child of Gaia used to ward off the pain had faded, but nonetheless he'd been making an effort to assist in as much of the cleanup as he could. He was panting slightly, long tongue hanging out of open jaws. Liam had remained in this form due to his injuries, but it wasn't the best way to communicate, so with a tired sigh, he slowly shifted back to his birth form. Almost instantly, blood started pouring fresh from his wounds, and he fell back against a tree, holding his head as if dizzy. "I wanted to say thank you. For what you did, back in the fight. Taking that blow for me." He looked up, blinking as a bit of blood oozed into one of his eyes from a wound somewhere on his head, and gave a slow, meaningful nod. "I'm grateful for it."

[Boy]

Boy grimaced when he saw the Hispo limping his way. Liam shouldn't have been walking around like that. Then again, that was him. That was Boy just a few months ago, after tearing the eyes out of a giant metal monstrosity. He'd been the one beaten to within an inch of his life and insisting on making himself useful. When Liam shifts and his wounds begin to seep anew, Boy tsks. He rushes to him, telling him what they told him when he was in Liam's shoes. "You shouldn't be moving around. You fought well. You showed your strength. There's no shame in taking it easy for a little while." He didn't address Liam's thanks or his gratefulness. Boy started with his own shirt, huffing slightly at the cold there in the woods, and with his teeth and arms began ripping it into ribbons. "I lose more and more clothes this way."

[Liam]

Liam lifted his hand quickly as the philodox began to sacrifice his shirt, shaking his head back and forth in a gesture of refusal. He'd been hurt this badly before, and knew what needed to be done to take care of the wounds, but it was evident he had something to say first. The galliard had left his own shirt back by the parking lot out of habit, since he'd never dedicated one, so Boy was getting a nice view of the older man's wounded torso, which had been pretty much torn to ribbons. Small wonder the Uktena was showing so much concern. "It's ok. Please don't... it'd just be a waste. I'll shift back in a moment. I just wanted to talk to you. You... you have a lot of honor, Brother of the Lost. More than most your age. More than me, certainly." At this he gave an amused little grin, which looked a bit disturbing considering his bloody state. "I heard about the trouble you've been having with your pack totem. Black Unicorn is... not an easy one to follow. He demands much. Too much, sometimes. For what it's worth, I'm sorry." From the way he was speaking, you might think that he had some experience with this particular spirit.

[Boy]

He paused when Liam stopped him, looking at his exposed ribs and muscle, and the blood that settles and flows between breaths. You have a lot of honor Liam tells him, and Boy's eyes pop up to his. He looks confused, somehow. It might have been the truth but Boy certainly wasn't expecting that. And then Liam begins talking about Black Unicorn and their troubles. Boy's gaze drops. He lowers himself to a crouch, encouraging Liam to at least do the same, at least get off his feet. If the blood loss should be too great, if he faints, at least he won't have far to fall. He doesn't say any of this, of course. He just crouches, and motions for Liam to ease his way down. "Not too much. Just...too much for any one person. Its me, y'see. I've lost focus." He huffs, tugging his shirt back on. "Look. My packmates aint here even now."

[Liam]

Boy suggested that they sit, and Liam seemed to agree with this idea. He slid down until he hit the ground gently, knees up and back still against the tree. He had to catch his breath for a moment, and as he did so, he glanced up at the sky. The stars were brighter out here than they ever were in the city. It made him miss being back East. Boy spoke of losing focus. Blamed himself, as any good alpha would do. Liam nodded gently in response, though this was more a gesture of understanding than agreement. "Being an alpha is never easy. You can't predict the future, and you can't save everyone. Don't be so hard on yourself." He coughed a little. "My first pack followed black unicorn, so I understand what you're going through." There was a long pause then before he relayed the next thing he had to say. "My former alpha and another packmate died because they tried to save others. Because they tried to do what they'd been charged to do. In my opinion... one of those that they saved wasn't worth the loss." One might think him rather cold-hearted to say something like that, were it not for the fact that when he glanced back in Boy's direction, he raised a hand and pointed at himself. "It's a bitter memory. I don't mean to speak ill of your totem. There is much honor in following it. I just... sometimes I think the price is too high."

[Boy]

Boy blinks slowly, listening to Liam's story. They'd talked about this. He and Marrick had it in their minds at all times. He knew that if he had died out here, if things had gone onl slightly different, Marrick would have to come find him. She'd clean his body and take it back across the hundreds of miles that they'd come. And he knew that, on any given night, he might be called to her to do the same. "We're gonna die anyway, -yuf. If it had been me being torn apart by those things tonight, I'm not sure any of the others would have taken the final blow for me. Sure they'd tear the thing apart and say that I was avenged, but I'd still be dead. And what would it be for then?" His lips purse together, and Liam can see his jaws tighten and release in the motion of his cheeks and the rippling of his skull just behind his eyes. "Winds Meeting. The sept I'm from. Half of them, Dead in two nights. Mothers. Sisters. Dead. Fathers and Brothers, and those that didn't leave anyone behind to mourn them. Dead. Some of them died defending. We honor them. Others were just slaughtered, and the only thing we've got to remember 'em by is..." His hand lifts to his chest, clutching at his shirt, and for a quick second he has to catch his own breath. "...Pain. Do you...do you see what I'm gettin at?"

[Liam]

"I'm a gibbous moon." Liam smiled a little, bitterly. "Trust me, I understand." Moon dancers remembered. And they felt. And they sang. But most of all... they remembered. Requiem for the Lost would remember every bit of pain he'd ever felt for as long as he remained alive, and likely... on into the spirit world. He took a slow breath, and you could hear the rasping in his lungs, as if blood was pooling there. "I've got half of a pack, now. Less than that, even, but it's something. Art's a good guy. He'd have taken a blow for me, as you did. You're right... not that many of us would do that. We fight for glory. We fight... to prove something. As if any of that really matters, in the end. If we don't take care of each other, we have nothing. We're worth nothing." Then he was silent as he gave the Uktena a long, meaningful glance. "I hope I get the chance to return the favor for you, some day. You and Bones to Dust... would be welcome in out pack, if you ever found yourselves of the inclination."

[Boy]

Again, Boy blinks. His mouth trembles as if he's considering saying something. As if he's considering hard just what to say. Eventually he decides on: "And you in ours, yuf." Boy nods slowly, only his head doesn't come back up. Liam can see his eyes dancing, his gears spinning. "Though, in all honesty, I hope you never actually have to return that favor. But...I look forward to fighting by your side again some day."

[Liam]

Liam nodded, but he didn't say anything else. He'd already broached a number of difficult subjects for one evening. Perhaps it was best merely to let them sink in, for now. So on that note, the Gaian lifted himself off of the ground with some considerable effort, pausing as he got to his feet to catch his breath. "I think... it's time for me to try and get home, and find my pack-mate. It was good talking to you, -yuf. Thank you again." Then he turned and began to make his way back down through the woods. His body shivered and snapped, melting back into the dark-furred form of a wolf. Then... he was gone. Presumably back into the penumbra in order to make traveling less conspicuous.