Honorifics

[Boy]

In the material world they'd taken great
pains to make this house look like a house. There was a kitchen, kept
clean and well stocked. A living room where a family could gather and
be at peace. Clean, comfortable bathrooms. Bedrooms individually decorated.
If a stranger were to walk through the empty house, just walk through
without touching anything, there would be no indication that this wasn't
a house filled with perfectly normal people.

In the Umbra, it was another story all
together. Boy stood in the living room's Umbral reflection, before a
shrine of oddly collected and assembled pieces. A rat gaffling peeks
in on him, then waddles large and fat to some other corner of the house.
He'd left a note in Callie's room. A simple message scrawled on a torn
piece of paper.

Meet me in the living room. On the other
side.

And there, he waited for her. Patient,
calm, and even.

[Callie]

*After a long day Callie returns to the
pack house with what amounts to a reasonable take. So much so that she's
splashed out on a slice of some kind of pastry from the shop with pretensions
to deli-hood she passed on her way home. So she's in a good mood, and
still licking the last stickiness from her fingers as she lets her bedroom
door swing closed behind her, drops the backpack with its clinking contents
on the floor and lands on her bead with a thump and a squeak of springs.

Thump, springs . . and the crackle of
paper.

Callie slides one hand behind her and
fishes out a scrap of old envelope with a couple of lines of Boys writing
scribbled across it.

Meet me in the living room. On the other
side.

The other side . . . Raised eyebrows,
and she drops the paper back onto her bed and hurries back downstairs,
two at a time . . and steps through.*

[Boy]

There's that whispering pop here, and
Boy turns to see that Callie has found him as instructed. He smiles
softly at the fact.

"Hi Callie. I mean..."

He stops himself, head dipping slightly,
then rising again. Boy seems to stand taller now, back straighter. He's
no longer smiling. Doodle's work still stands strong. The awakened walls
of the packhouse still stand firm, and they create a square out of the
living room. Boy stands in the center of it. The massive turtle shell
adorned with other items stands behind him.

"Walks-the-Line. Step forward."

[Callie]

*She's smiling, a flash of a grin as
she first steps through . . and then, as he corrects himself, she feels
the atmosphere and it all changes. That easy smile disappears and her
eyes grow wide, take the light and shadow and the whole becomes something
else entirely. She hears her deed name, and does as he says. Walks-the-Line
steps up to face him in front of the altar.*

[Boy]

Boy took a breath in, and let it out
slowly. It was a measure of time, that breath. A pause that would let
the weight of the moment grow even heavier.

"Walk's-the-Line. Do you pledge
yourself to the protection of the weak and the defenseless. Do you promise
to protect your allies and brothers in arms, even if at the risk of
your own safety and glory?"

[Callie]

*And Callie feels every second of that
time. It sinks into her soul as she waits for what she senses must be
coming. When it does, even so, it still feels like a shock. She never
takes her eyes off him as he asks her, and when he stops . . waiting
for her response . . it takes another long breath of time before she
can answer.*

Yes. *and the faces are there, in her
mind . . allies and brothers-in-arms . . some still living, some dead,
some lost to the four corners.* I do.

[Boy]

"Do you accept me as your Alpha.
Do you accept your packmates: Doodle and Bones to Dust. Do you
promise to stand by them no matter the odds."

[Callie]

*It's been a long time since she had
an Alpha, packmates . . a pack . . but she hasn't forgotten what that
means. She would have done as much for them too, for Jake, Roadkill,
Sarah, Dermot, Lee . . Elfed . . any of them. She nods, and finds her
eyes wet as she answers softly* yes . . all of them.

[Boy]

"And finally, do you pledge yourself
to Unicorn's Shadow. Will you follow the lessons that the great
spirit teaches. Will you win Glory, Honor, and Wisdom on behalf
of your totem."

[Callie]

I will. *And there's no sign of hesitation
here. Self-consciously, her head drops and she scrunches the corner
of her sleeve in one hand and scrubs her eyes.*

[Boy]

"Then take my hand, sister.
From here on out you are a part of La Familia" And with a smile
burgeoning on his lips, Boy extends both hands out for the Ragabash

[Callie]

*She takes the hands offered, the sleeve
of her faded top patched with wet he can feel against his skin. Up close
now he can see the tears still in her eyes, on her face. She should
be happy, she should be pleased, she knows this, and she tried to smile
. . laugh on through, overcome the upsurge of emotion this short ceremony
has brought on.* thank you, brother

[Boy]

Callie's hands don't hold his for very long. A moment later he's pulling her closer, and thowing those hands and arms around her shoulders. "Great Job, Callie." He whispers, laughter and tears vying for dominance in his voice. "Welcome to the pack." And then he draws back, holding her at arms length with his hands on her shoulders as he regards her. There's an odd smirk of approval on his face. "There's just one more thing." He says, and from the altar he takes the the chain with its many similar links of braided and shaped copper and tin wire. Each link was a creation on its own. Each with a uniquely colored and shaped piece of pollished glass. Boy holds it in both hands like a delicate thing. "I guess you know Black Unicorn is the totem of protectors. But did you know that at its strongest it was the totem of knights? Back then a knight was given a chain as a symbol of his nobility."

[Callie]

*He pulls her close, and she responds. Holds tight in the way she and Jake did, brother and sister. And when he sets her back she's smiling, and sniffing, and smiling again. Just one more thing he says, and holds up a delicate network of copper and tin, adorned with gems, a chain. She shakes her head* Like a Mayor? . . no, I didn't know that

[Boy]

"Like a lord." He corrects. "Like a noble. See knights usually owned land. Territory. Like what Lincoln Park is to us. And they were sworn to protect it and their people, just like we are. Only..." He looks down at the chain, the thing he'd made himself. "Only we're not rich nobles. But we can be noble. And I think that's what you are. You had no guarantee that you'd be a part of this pack. In fact, I think for a minute you were pretty convinced that you weren't gonna be. But you still behaved like a member of this pack ought to. And you still did what I wanted you to. "That thing you did on Hallo--I mean, Samhain. That was exactly what I was hoping for. Keep us together. Remind us of our bond. Bring light to our darker times." And his hands extend presenting the chain to her. "I want you to wear this at the moot. It's just tin and copper and glass. To anyone else it doesn't mean anything. But to your pack, it means you are noble."

[Callie]

*It's beautiful. Callie listens to his explanation, watching every glint and sparkle of that strange, unreal light. She colours slightly when he praises her, drops her eyes momentarily to regard the hard-packed floor between her sneaker, and then he's holding it out to her to take. And she takes it, lets it drape over her fingers, shining red and gold and silver, glowing with reflected light in all colours. And more than that, it has meaning. She slips it over her head. Nods. She understands, it's clear in the way she looks back at him now.* It's beautiful. In so many ways . . .

[Boy]

He smiles slightly, and nods to her. "It looks good on you. Looks right. After the moot though, you have to place it back here on the altar. Its a little messed up, I know. But the truth is we're being tested constantly. So I have to test you constantly. If you fail to behave the way someone who deserves to be wearing this chain behaves, then you won't be getting it back next moot." Boy moves aside, giving Callie a clear view of the altar. "But there are other honors you can earn. The bracers of the defender. The knights belt, for the one among us always ready for battle. The battle horn, for the one that can rouse our spirits and tell our stories. And then there's the standard bearer. The on that shows the Pack ideal the most. "So, y'know. Just...keep up the good work."

[Callie]

*One finger runs along the chain, feeling the twist and turn of it, the cool glass and warmth of the copper, as Boy talks about the altar. He shows her the items, one by one, and explains their meaning. Those eyes, still glistening, widen slightly. They never has anything like this in the Legends . . but that was a different place, a different time . . a very different pack.* I . . can't promise not to let you down but . . I can promise to do my best, for you, for the pack . . for Black Unicorn . . *then silence, a long silence before she finishes in a hurried burst of emotion* I swear Rhya, I'll do my absolute best

[Boy]

Boy laughs in a single amused huff. "We don't need all that. I'm still just Boy. Just that I'll be barking orders at you a lot more now." He smiles, sliding his hands into his pockets and rocking forward onto his toes, then back on his heels. "So...wanna go get a burger or something?"

[Callie]

*She tucks the chain under her clothing, out of sight . . not out of mind . . grins, and shrugs* burger or pizza? . . I could murder something with loads of cheese and mushrooms on right now