[Mac's Gathering]

Burial Mounds(#3207RJ$)
This wide clearing in the midst of short, dark pines is obviously a burial 
  ground of some sort. The air is a bit cooler up here in the foothills than 
  below, and the majestic peaks of the nearby mountains rear up over the 
  eastern treetops. There seem to be several separate groups of burial mounds, 
  somber rows of graves marching back eastward into the forest perpendicular 
  to the trail by which you entered. In addition to these, there is a 
  vine-covered boulder ringed round with a circle of graves standing under the 
  edge of the somber evergreens to the east. Finally, in the exact heart of 
  this area open to the sky, a single black finger of stone is sunk into the 
  grass.
        Each mound has a small flat stone inset in its surface, carved with a 
  name and three glyphs. The air is preternaturally silent and somewhat eerie.
(+view to examine the markers.)
Contents:
Kosh
Thena
Brian
Obvious exits:
Path  

Brian waits near the entrance to the burial mounds, seated with his hands 
  folded in his lap. As people begin to trickle into the area, he rises.
Hazmat pads in, shifting upwards, her manner anxious and slightly excited.
Hazmat contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Glabro form.
Kosh contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Kosh shifts into Homid form.
Matt comes up the trail from the west.
BJ comes up the trail from the west.
BJ looks around, for all the world like a tourist in Times Square.
Hazmat puts her hands into her pockets and leans back against a tree, silvery 
  hair falling over her face, obscuring her expression.
Matt, Hank, and BJ step into the burial grounds. Matt leaves Hank and BJ off 
  to one side when they arrive, taking a place as solitary as possible.
Brian exhales a small breath as BJ and Matt both arrive. "Is this everyone," 
  he asks. "I don't want to start if more people are going to be here."
Thena looks up from the wire form in her hands and gives BJ an odd look.
Hazmat chews on her lower lip. ~I sent out word to ev'ryone.~
Kosh stands behind Hazmat, arms crosed, eyes unreadable.
Matt shrugs. "I couldn't find Becca or Mosh, but I can speak for them."
Hazmat reaches under her coat, scratching herself.
Brian nods slightly. "Then let's begin," he says quietly. He turns his back to 
  the assembly, and with a flick on a chromed cigarette lighter sets ablaze a 
  torch thrust into the ground near the entrance to the little valley. The 
  sputtering flames burn, oddly enough, a brilliant green rather than a 
  familiar orange-gold.
Stepping back from the torch, Brian turns once again to face the Gnawers. ~We 
  gather here to honor our dead,~ he begins, simply enough. ~The one who was 
  our teacher, our Uncle, our friend, our packmate, our septmate, has left 
  this life and travels to a better place, leaving us to wait here for the 
  return of his spirit. We are not here to mourn. We are here to remember.~
Hazmat straightens slightly as the Rite begins, tossing the hair out of her 
  face.
Thena pockets the sculpture, and folds her hands in her lap.
Bathed in the green light from the torch, Brian pauses only long enough to 
  draw breath. ~Once Mac and I disagreed over something. I don't even remember 
  what it was, it was so unimportant. And he challenged me. He was Cliath, I 
  was Fostern; he was Galliard, I was Ahroun. He must have known there was no 
  way he could beat me in a straight fight. But he fought me anyways because 
  it was what he believed was right. There are few scars I wear proudly, but 
  the one from that fight is one of them.~ He looks next over to Hazmat, as if 
  expecting her to make the next contribution.
BJ tilts his head, listening to the rite as if studying it.
Kosh rests one hand on Hazmat's shoulder. The other buries itself in his 
  pocket.
Matt smiles slightly when he spies his packmate, moving over to stand next to 
  him. He speaks softly to him. "I'm glad you made it, I was worried I was 
  gonna be here alone."
Hazmat shuffles a step forward, hands still in pockets. ~Um. Father was the 
  first person who ever made sense tuh me. He wasn't maybe as good at stories 
  as some Galliards, bu' he taught me everythin' I know. How tuh be a Gnawer 
  an' proud without slagging everybody else.~ She clears her throat and 
  straightens. ~He was a good Bone Gnawer, an' a good Garou, an' a good member 
  of th' Sept all at once.~ She looks at Brian. ~An', um, since he was my 
  Father, he asked me, inna paper, tuh do something for him when this time 
  came.~ She shifts her weight nervously.
Mosh appears quietly and sidles toward his Alpha. His eyes are glassy, his 
  step a bit awkward, but he nods and whispers, easily enough, "Gotta count on 
  bein' here, Mattman."
Hazmat taking a deep breath, Hazmat pulls a gun -- an ordinary-looking pistol, 
  not too large -- out of her coat and takes careful aim at one of Brian's 
  knees. She switches to recitation mode. 
Brian's eyes widen just slightly as the gun is produced, but he allows Hazmat 
  to continue uninterrupted.
Hazmat quotes, "'Ta Echen, ya drunken Irish bastard, I leave ya this. A bullet 
  in the kneecap.'" That said, the Gnawer squeezes the trigger. *BLAM*
The Gnawer's aim is pretty good, and as Brian hadn't exactly been prepared to 
  dodge a gunshot, it strikes him square in the right knee with a spray of 
  blood. He shrieks in pain as his leg buckles beneath him; oddly enough, 
  despite the large moon overhead, he doesn't radiate the fury that one would 
  expect from an Ahroun, nor does he begin to shift forms.
Kosh pauses, making sure that the bullet strikes home, then quickly withdraws 
  a compress from his pocket and hands it to Brian without a word.
Thena shakes her head and grins slightly, muttering.
Hazmat swallows the huge lump in her throat and repockets the gun, carefully. 
  "Um. Sorry." She takes a step back, ears reddened.
Matt stands there for a few seconds, trying to figure out what the hell just 
  happened. He frowns noticeably at the shooting, but doesn't move towards 
  Hazmat, figuring the Alpha will deal with it on his own.
Mosh runs a hand over his nearly shaved head and lets his mouth hang open, but 
  he simply blinks between Hazmat and Brian. He follows Matt's lead - doing 
  nothing.
BJ mutters under his breath, almost as if talking to the tree he's leaning 
  against.
It is perhaps to Brian's credit that he's able to snarl out the likely-choice 
  imprecations that spill rapid-fire from his lips in an obscure tongue like 
  Irish Gaelic, sparing the rest of the audience a keen view of his 
  perspective on Mac's parting gift. He eschew's Kosh's gauze compress in 
  favor of simply shifting up to the near-man shape long enough for the wound 
  to heal over.
Kosh nods as the Alpha slips skins, replacing the compress and returning to 
  Hazmat's side.
Hazmat scratches the back of her neck, eyes mostly on the ground, though she 
  takes small glances at Brian.
Still muttering to himself in the foreign tongue, Brian hauls himself to his 
  feet and allows his body to dwindle back to the human shape. He fixes his 
  eyes on the ground, assiduously avoiding eye contact with anything or anyone.
Kosh purses his lips, trying to maintain eye contact with a peculiar shadow 
  near the ground. He gives Hazmat a gentle nudge.
Hazmat clears her throat and says, quietly. ~An', um, I wouldn't shoot 
  Echen-rhya for anybody but Father.~ That said, she seems to be done. Her 
  eyes flick over toward Matt.
Thena looks down at her hands and stares fixedly at her hands, her lips still 
  twitching slightly.
BJ shrugs in the silence and remarks, "Ah didn't know him all that wayul, but 
  he shore knew where to get good beer."
Matt wipes his nose briefly on his sleeve, taking a slight step closer to the 
  center of the gathering. "Umm, Mac took me in when my other pack left. He 
  taught me lots of stuff about life..." His eyes seek out Hazmat and lingers 
  there, "Mostly he taught me that being a Gnawer was about stickin' together, 
  that we watch out for each other, cuz no one else will. I know Momma is 
  gonna take care of him, and he's pro'ally havin the best meal he's ever ate, 
  as we speak." Finished, he steps back in next to Mosh.
BJ smiles a bit.
Hazmat chews on her lower lip, looking thoughtfully at Matt.
Mosh grunts, nods assent, and reaches out to thwap Matt's shoulder. He murmurs 
  something indistinguishable, but, judging by his expression, it is 
  appreciative.
Thena looks up with an oddly wistful expression on her face. "We shared some 
  of the stories about Philly where we had both run around, though..
Thena says "..at different times."
Kosh steps forward and says softly, "When I first arrived in St. Claire, three 
  people welcomed me as friends. Thena, Hazmat...and Mac." He reaches into his 
  coat and removes a small, battered book with the title "Nausicaa of the 
  Valley of the Wind by Hiyaho Miazaki." "We swapped manga. Just before he 
  left, he gave me this to read. It was the only volume I did not have. Now, 
  I'm giving it to his daughter. I think Mac would have liked it that way."
Hazmat's eyes are far away, her head down slightly as she remembers.
Kosh takes the book and places it in Hazmat's hands.
Hazmat takes the offering with an absent nod.
Mosh steps forward now, and simply says, "Yeah, he got me first. Showed me 
  'round, introduced me ta his pack 'n all. He... he was good." He shuffles 
  back, subdued - hands in pockets, eyes down.
Matt leans into Mosh when he finishes, nudging him slightly with his elbow.
~And so, with these tales and others, we remember the one who has begun his 
  journey towards death, and towards life,~ Brian mutters through clenched 
  teeth. ~We wish him well, and we hope that the Mother will grant us the 
  priviledge to walk beside him when he joins the world once more.~
With that, Brian walks -- no, limps, over to the still-lit torch. He draws his 
  klaive and slashes open the palm of his right hand, and lets a few droplets 
  of blood touch the green flames, which abruptly turn to a more normal shade. 
  He then says, switching to English, "It's customary among my tribe for 
  someone to stand watch over a new gravesite to see to it that the spirit of 
  the dead man gets a good start on its journey."
Hazmat steps forward immediately. This should surprise no one, really.
Brian then adds, "The rite's ended. I'm sure Mac appreciates everything you've 
  all said and done here tonight." Still he keeps eye-contact only with the 
  ground, struggling more visibly now to keep his temper in check.
Hazmat contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Lupus form.
When the Alpha finishes the rite, Matt digs into his pack and pulls out an 
  beaten comic book. He picks a spot of dirt near Mac's marker and kneels 
  down, hands clawing at the dirt. When he's made a big enough hole, he drops 
  the comic into it, then covers it up again.
Kosh nods solemly and moves towards Hazmat, sitting next to her as she stands 
  deathwatch. ~I will remain with you,~ he says.
Hazmat sits down next to the gravesite with the alert, quiet manner of a 
  watchful guard dog. She nuzzles her packmate briefly, quietly, in thanks.
Kosh turns and looks to Thena, a hint of worry flushing his eyes.
Thena gets up and settles closer to her packmates. "I'll stay too. At least 
  until dawn."