2022.08.21: Satire Rite
- There is a huge black curtain drawn across the stage. People are starting to take their seats, but are still socializing. There are several questions going about.
Daffyd looks at those assembled, seeing who is here, seeing what their demeanor is, just getting a sense of the mood in the room as it were.
Tinlin walks into the amphitheater, with some of the other Fianna with her. She has a very serious expression today, and has a quiet look about her. If there's a grouping of seats, she'll choose a spot mid-section and sit down.
Nadja is seated on the northeastern benches, hands in her lap and her eyes occasionally flitting up to a high tree branch upon which sits a familiar raven. Such engagement!
Torey got the summons and so she arrives with very little fanfare. She lets her gaze scan the room to see where people are and where she may decide to sit for such an occasion. For now she lingers off to the side to get the feel of things.
Nadja perks up! "Torey!" She calls, "Come and sit! There is space. I meant to leave with you but you must have left ahead?"
Lennox arrives and makes his way to join Tinlin where she chooses to sit, he seems to be in a somber mood keeping mostly to his own counsel. When spoken to he responds quietly and polite but otherwise is here to witness and so is paying careful attention.
Alecto is the first to leave. Well, not leave. She moves up the stairs and goes behind the curtain.
- Meanwhile, a group of kinfolk come out and place a large divan near the stage, right in front, facing the stage. Then two of those kinfolk break away and head toward Kennard. "You have a special seat this evening, Wrath Of Morrigu-rhya." If he's amenable, he is lead to the divan to sit.
Isla enters into the Amphitheater, with a confident stride. She seeks out the other Fianna, looking through the crowd to find them.
Lorna watches, gnawing on one fingernail. It's a long time since she saw this amount of the nation with this much tension in the air.
Tinlin turns her head as if looking toward where the other Fianna may be coming in now. She nods to Lennox, and then sees Torey and Isla same time. She waves to them both if they want seats with the other tribal people coming in. And as always, FINN will be late.
Journey nods to Irsa and heads back behind the stage.
Entering with the others, Kennard did stop. Ken adjust his tartan and gives them a little bow of his head. He follows then to his seat of honor. He does his best to hold his head up.
Irsa returns Journey's nod and follows him backstage. Wut oh.
Evonna stands toward the back. Her arms folded across her chest. Just waiting, watching.
Reno stands with Evonna.
Mercy's Messenger makes a few pleasantries with some of the arriving garou and kin, but only very briefly. Just saying hey, making vague plans to chat at some point, that sort of thing. She tries not to pause a much though, steadily making her way to stage-right where she can slip back there to do secret handshakes with elders and such.
It is true - Finn is pretty much late. Every time. Stepping in as the people start moving into place, he blinks. Nope - no witty commentary here, he moves over to where the Fianna are seated. "Sorry about that." He offers to those present.
Daffyd joins the other Fianna and stands at the side of the group, midways in the bunch making sure he has an unobstructed view of whatever is to come. He nods a greeting to Tinlin, Torey, and the rest of bunch.
- One of the younger kinfolk, about 7 or 8 years old, a girl named Tasha, who is known to be the cutest Child of Gaia kinfolk to ever set foot in the sept, comes out to center stage, her hair done up in twin piggie tails and a pretty pink dress on. Her shoes are clicky. She's holding a piece of paper and she calls out, "Attention please. Everyone's attention, please!" She's SO proud of herself for making her voice so big. The natural curve of the stone amplifies everything just right so that the whole theater can hear her tiny, cute little voice. She lifts the paper so she can read it. "What you are about to see is a re-enakment of actual events. Thank you." And then she turns and hurries off the stage, running to her mom over there on the side who hugs her.
Brooke is here, hanging out on the far side of the Amphitheater. The Galliard is quiet, as she takes close note of who is here and what is happening. This is an important moment for the Sept.
Lorna raises an eyebrow, and eases slightly. In her experience, adorable little children seldom preface a seriously bad event. That's right, isn't it?
Torey looks around towards where the elders are sitting but she is called to and so she turns her head to see who has called out her name. Seeing Nadja she offers her a smile and begins in her direction. "It is alright. I am glad to see you. This seems to be something important." When attention is called she slowly takes takes a seat by Nadja, pursing her lips and listening now.
Nadja grins just alittle as Torey settles next to her, before she settles in to pay very close attention to that POWERFUL voice from that TINY mouth. She does whisper alittle, but not so much!
Isla walks by Nadja and Torey, giving them a light touch on the shoulder each. She then takes a seat next to Tinlin, giving a nod to Daffyd, Finn, and Lennox.
Yep, this is going to be fun. Ken gets comfortable as he can, but keeps his bearing.
Tinlin sees that Isla is coming to sit by her and quietly whispers, "Thank you." Her attention is on the stage, and where Kennard is seated. But she keeps her hands folded on her lap, and quietly tunes in to the stage area.
Bryan is running late, but he finds Torey, unerringly, and plops himself down beside her.
- The curtain parts and the stage is dark except for several little spotlights that focus on different areas. There are many, many little children wearing antlers or dressed up with wolf ears or cute little fox tails and they're scampering all over the place, giggling and having fun, playing leapfrog. Then there's a discordant note that sounds and all the children scamper in various directions and the stage lights up further with the children all gone.
- The 'scene' opens with a stage filled with little potted plants and dry scrub strewn about with huge happy face stickers plopped all over them and there's a black chunk of rock, about 5 feet across to act as the stage with more fake potted plants and a couple of stuffed animals.
- Alecto stomps onto the 'stage' wearing a kilt and big stompy boots and a cardboard rendition of bagpipes draped about her. Her face is dotted to look like she has a beard. She aims a kick at a couple of the potted plants as she stomps through, sending them reeling off just wherever. She steps onto the big boulder and kicks one of the stuffed animals, knocks several of the potted plants (they're fake) off and then stops. She does a little stompy circle, as if she's looking for something. She picks up one of the potted plants and stomps off the boulder and sets that one carefully aside. There is more stomping and clomping as she makes her way back to the boulder, kicks everything else off, some of it flying off harmless into the crowd. She clears her throat, leans down, brushes some 'dirt' off her boot, then reaches into her pocket.
Lorna watches and gets an idea what this is about. She murmurs to herself "Definitely not Alan Titchmarsh." Which is a reference that most will undoubtedly not understand at all.
Kennard just watches the stage. He sits with his hands folded in his lap and back straight.
Torey will get Nadja and Bryan to move with her since apparently they aren't anywhere near the Fianna and Torey must sit with them! They are her tribe after all and she must show unity so up she goes and moves the other two over least her seating position in a group of many people be judged poorly. She sits down beside Isla and bows her head to the other Fianna as well before folding her hands upon her lap and watching.
Daffyd winces slightly, he thinks he knows what is going on and is saddened that this has come to pass. He looks out of the sides of his eyes to see how the others are reacting so far.
Finn watches, eyes on the whole performance - the rite. It's important. He's here to learn, and to support his Family.
Nadja closes one eye as they shuffle up and away- but of course, she doesn't say no to following along. She follows and, high above, Hluti flutters to another branch to position herself as close to the direct center of verticality above Nadja as she can.
- Journey, dressed up as a kinfolk with long hair and pigtails, but still with some hairy-ass legs, comes rushing up, wearing a dress and those same boots he always wears. "Hi. What are you doing?"
- Alecto-Ken, with probably the worst Scottish accent one could ever imagine, blurts out, "AYE! LASSIE! I AM BUILDIN' ME CASTLE! I'VE BROUGHT IT OVER FROM ME HOMELAND STOOOOONE BY STOOOONE!"
- Journey-kin clears his throat and looks around the area. "Are you sure that's a good idea? What about the animals?"
- Alecto-Ken blurts out in that same godawful accent "AYE! DINNAE WORRY LITTLE LASS! I MOVED ALL THE ANIMALS OUT AND I ONLY USED THE DEERPATHS!"
- Freya - everyone knows the sweetest little Get of Fenris lupus kinfolk - comes wandering through with antlers strapped to her head, zooms across the stage.
- Journey-kin looks a little worried and he fusses with the hem of his skirt and wanders off.
Isla places a hand onto one of Tinlin's hands, and takes her other hand to find Torey's - if the two lovely kinfolk ladies will oblige.
Lorna looks sidelong to her friends over in Fianna land, and winces a little. She knows this is important, but it has to feel pretty awful watching it unfold like this. But, this is the Way. The Way is not always an easy path top skip along.
Kennard is glad nobody can see his face. His only reaction is a mild twitch of a shoulder.
- On the stage, here comes Skully, looking... remarkably like Skully and he holds up a hand. ""Hi. I'm your neighbor. Well, technically I'm your roommate -- you're in my yard -- but we haven't met. Is this your... umm... fort? Are we being colonized again? We have our own blankets, if that's the case. Please don't try to give us more."
- But Alecto-Ken throws back her head in a cackle of laughter.
- Irsa and Iris walk out, one carrying a velvet pillow with a plastic crown on it, the other with a flimsy superhero cape made for a child. They walk up to Alecto-Ken and at the same time, much like the twins from Spaceballs, they say, "My Lord." Irsa, carrying the toy crown, places it on Alecto-Ken's head. Iris ties the superhero cape around Alecto's neck. They stand there and look pretty.
- Alecto-Ken says in that awful accent, "AYE! IT'S GOOD TO BE KING KENNY!" And reaching into her pockets, she pulls out piles of monopoly money and tosses it up in the air.
Daffyd makes a slight face, on the one hand that is a really broad and terrible attempt at a brough, on the other hand, it is a fairly good job when obviously going for satire which this obviously is. It will be a painful lesson, but as a Galliard, he is watching avidly as one can always learn and even though it is sad it is his own kin at the heart of things, there is much to be learned and filed away for future use if ever needed. It is humbling, but these elders know their craft and it is a masterclass on how to perform this rite.
Tinlin does slip her hand into Isla's and she gives her a light squeeze. Otherwise, she's sitting very prim, and proper on that arena seating this afternoon. It's an effort to keep a straight face through some of this, but her focus remains on the stage.
- The stage grows darker, dimmer. More and more people, mostly played by local kinfolk, wander through, looking at the castle and making sad faces and picking up the kicked over stuffed animals and fake potted plants and clearing everything out of the way
- The lights come up again and there is Sean, dressed in a red wig that just goes everywhere, riding one of those stick ponies, pulls up to Alecto-Ken, who is now sipping from a cup marked 'The Most Expensive Fianna Brew' and he calls out. "I'm Fiery Bellona! What the fook ye doin' lad?" (He's Irish, not Scotish, and does not do the accent any sort of justice, but at least it isn't as bad as Alecto's) And Alecto-Ken hands over the cup and reaches into her pockets and throws more monopoly money out and about. "Just wooin' me lass, Fiery Bellona!"
- Sean, as Fiery Bellona, shakes his head. "You need to calm down, lad."
- Sean rides away on his horse and several other people parade through, dressed as representation of various Elders and semi-elders, comical, but not really disrespectful, telling Alecto that she needs to chill out, or stop doing things or whatever while Alecto stomps her foot. "I AM THE KING! YOU CANNAE TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Alecto-Ken.
Torey looks down as she feels the touch of someone's hand upon her own. She doesn't seem to mind Isla's hand on her's at all and allows it though she does take a moment look over the other Fianna. She turns her gaze back to the stage, no expression shown there at all simply calm and observing.
Lorna leans forwards, her fingers steepled, her lips pressed to her fingers. This is becoming excrutiating to watch, which is the whole point of course, but that doesn't make it any less painful. The feeling that the ground should open up and swallow her to avoid seeing this is strong, but it won't happen.
Kennard is sitting with a seat of honor right at the front of the stage. He's sitting ramrod straight, eyes on the stage.
Isla squeezes both the hands she is holding. Her brow raises a bit as Sean comes out, but otherwise she is observing and being strong for her tribe mates.
- And then in swoops George, dressed in the same brown leather jacket and gray shirt that Journey ALWAYS wears. It's a little tight on him. He lifts a hand. "Hi." and then walks over and picks up the castle and folds it back up and then unfolds it a little bit and pulls out a monocle and looks even closer and he holds it up. Written all over the 'castle' is MADE IN AMERICA. He waves that around a little bit. "Well, at least it wasn't the REAL 600 year old castle," he says with clear relief, and then he folds it back up and tucks it into his pocket and walks off, to the cheering of the rest of the people who have taken part in the drama, all off stage and the stage goes dark and the room goes dim and everything goes completely silent. Little Tasha rushes out onto the stage and yells, "THE END!!!" and throws more monopoly money up in the air and dashes off stage.
Kennard just stares at the stage. No movement, nothing.
Finn looks from the stage and the finishing of the story, to Kennard. He looks pained, his family is in pain. But it's about learning, and moving forward. He wills his resolve towards Ken, trying to telepathically bolster his cousin.
Tinlin seems to be following Finn's suit at this point. She also looks at Little Tasha as if relieved the satire play is over now. Her gaze falls on Kennard, and then she nods back to Finn quietly. Isla gets her hand squeezed again, a bit tighter the second round.
Lorna just breathes. In and out. So much tension out in the auditorium. Absolutely not her place to comment at all on any of this.
Lennox just watches the play quietly, tilting his head towards Tinlin to share a word with her. Even then his attention is mainly on the play, until it ends. He reflexively raises his hands as if to clap, then catches himself and puts his hands back down without.
- The curtain falls back across the stage and a moment or two later, Alecto comes back out, dressed as she normally is - yoga pants and her hair pulled up, but pinned to her head, face freshly scrubbed. "This concludes the Rite of Satire for Kennard Madden. In his carelessness, he built a castle, displacing many, many acres of wild land that butts right up to Wendigo land and tore out several nature paths that may never be used by the wildlife ever again. Many lupus kinfolk have been frightened from the area. The Umbra, in the wake of this destruction, will take a very long time to repair." She looks directly at Kennard now, down on the divan. "This is not an end for you, Kennard. This is the possibility of a new beginning. This was harsh, to be sure, and certainly nothing shown here today was funny for anyone in this arena. In Prospect, you make your own way. That has been said to every new kinfolk, every new Garou, even every new Fera that has come here in the past dozen years. And I'll say it to you now." She crouches, still far above the Fianna, but the intention is to be closer to eye level. "Prospect will be what you make it to be. Learn from your mistakes. Humble yourself. LEARN. Move forward. Your tribe is with you. I can see them desperately trying to add to your strength. Listen to them. Listen to others. This is not an end. This is a beginning." She rises then, taking a deep breath, and the curtain parts to reveal all those who had bits in the horrible play.
Alecto loses one Willpower
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Alecto rolls Charisma + Rituals vs 5 for 5 successes.
1 1 3 +5 +6 +6 +7 +7 8 10
<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->
Daffyd smiles slightly as he sees Lennox instinctive reaction, it amuses him because he had the exact same impulse. Although painful, the job was well done, it made its point, and it didn't linger on and on to no purpose, quick and to the point, driving home the lesson. A perfect lesson in how to present the rite. Well done, albeit grim.
Branton has been tucked away in the cheap seats, watching silently and taking the proceedings very seriously.
Isla nods toward Alecto as she speaks about the tribe. Looking around to each of the Fianna here, she tries to give a signal that they are together, stronger.
Torey stays very still as she watches eyes upon the stage and upon Kennard. She keeps still and listens as Alecto speaks to Kennard about his new beginning.
Mercy gives some pleased arm squeezes to people near her on the stage, and whispers some thanks to Alecto for her finishing speech to Kennard. She stoops to catch a young wolf whose head antlers have slipped down to be pronged mammoth tusks instead. Someone's gonna put an eye out, gotta get those off and then maybe slink off from the back of the stage.
There is no further fanfare. No applause from the masses. The smell of cooked meat does waft about into the area though. There will, of course, be celebrations of some sort.
Tinlin nods to the emphasis of the new beginning. Alecto's words at the end really seem inspirational, and she lifts her own chin up as if to second the Truthcatcher's thoughts. The Fianna have not turned their back on someone who has fallen far. Quite the opposite. They are here to help and lift Kennard up.
Journey emerges from the back, dressed like he normally does, leaving the little girl costume for the FORMAL occasions as a member of the SatireDay Night Live Band.
Irsa snorts softly as her arm as squeezed by Mercy, and heads offstage to join the rest of the sept. She's scrubbing an arm over her face, where an overly-enthusiastic litlle kinfolk girl assaulted her with glitter.
Lorna looks over to the Fianna with concentration for a moment, then rises to head to the side, going to intercept Irsa along the way.
He'll be the first! Finn gets to his feet, offering a bow to the Elders - for what they did, and what they are offering. A new start. Then he moves over to Kennard, peering around the divan to look at his Cousin. "I'm here for you, brother."
Isla rises from her seat, letting go of Torey and Tinlin's hands. She steps over to Kennard and says to him. "Ye took that well. /Now/ we begin. The tribe will be there to help you move forward. One step after the other. There is a light, and ye will soon seen it."
Irsa dusts her hands off on her clothes. She's going to remain prettier for juuuust a bit longer. She spots Lorna moving towards her and raises a hand as she goes to speak with her. "How ya doin'? Blanket-fort seemed t' work well for ya last night."
Journey has forsaken his pretty costume. He goes up to the stands, to the area usually used by the Zephyrs Hand pack and sits down opening his satchel and peering inside before reaching in.
Lorna nods to Irsa, and speaks in a subdued manner. It would hard to be anything else right now. "It did, thank you. And I spoke with Mercy's Messenger. She helped a lot as well. I'm never going to forget what happened, but I think I can handle it now. I need to talk to you about something sort of related, but this might not be the most appropriate time or place."
Alecto heads down off the stage and moves to little Tasha. She crouches down and speaks to her for a couple of moments and also gives her a hug, pretty clearly telling her what a good job she did and all that. She smooches the girl on the top of the head and then rises, heading off to find some food. No one ever REALLY enjoys these things and Alecto, being the 'star' of the show, is no exception. She heads out.
Kennard is still staring at the stage. His shit is barely in the bag. He nods a little, but he's dead inside at the moment. Barely so much as a blink.
Mercy heads towards the Fianna, straggling a bit so as not to interrupt the tribe's talk or anything too much. At least until she's gotten close enough that she just has to go ahead and dive in there. It's a brief stop, long enough to try and give Kennard a gentle pat on the arm and say, "Well handled. If you ever need weird therapy or extra Theurge talkin', look me up." She kinda expects little to no response to that, given the way he's looking sort of lost and empty at the also empty stage, but that's what he's got family for! She'll be vacating that area quickly enough.
Tinlin will rise, and follow Isla down the steps. But first she has to lean toward Lorna, and mimics the crossed arm movement over her own chest. And then plants a fist over her heart. Her heart. Not Lorna's. But then she keeps moving down the rows to get to Kennard. Once to him, she places a hand on his shoulder, and speaks a few softer words in Scottish-Gaelic. >>Breathe, don't forget to breathe. Two seconds ago, the air you took in was full of hubris. Now, in these new breaths and rebirth, you can be something better than before. Much better. We're here.<<
Irsa tilts her head as she regards Lorna. "Yeah, probably not th' best place. You wanna meet up later? My place is still open for sleep, if ya need it."
Lorna nods "Thanks, another night or two would help. We do breakfast maybe? I'll explain it all then. And I will see you later."
Irsa gives Lorna a thumbs up. "For sure we got breakfast. Go on an' rest. I'll come check in on ya in a bit."
There's a hug given to Kennard, then Finn is glancing about the area. Spotting Alecto, he gives Kennard's shoulder a squeeze and then trots over towards the Truthcatcher. Raising his hand in greeting, he bows his his head to the Elder. "Excuse me, Truthcatcher Howls-at-High-Moon-Rhya. Do you have a moment to chat?" He's pulling out all the titles!
Lorna nods firmly to Irsa. "I really appreciate everything you are doing. You will get the same in return in any way I can manage, whenever you need it. Family, right?" And with that, she turns and heads out to her hike back to where her bike is parked. She needs a ride on the open road for a while to blow away a lot of cares and cobwebs.
Lennox is one of the later Fianna to rise and head down, somewhere in Tinlin's wake and coming up slowly, remaining somber and silent. Perhaps his presence in the loose circle of people around Kennard will be a sign of solidarity, but he really doesn't know what to say after that.
Irsa watches after Lorna when her Kinfolk departs, concern clear in her scarred features. Her hands slide into her pockets as she looks around, edging towards the edge of the stage.
Alecto pauses in her exit to turn toward the voice and she straightens herself up a little bit. "Of course. Spring-heeled Jack, isn't it?" She motions him over. "Here or someplace private?"
Finn nods to Alecto, again bowing his head. "Finn Thomas Madigan, Rited Spring-Heeled Jack, yes ma'am. Private, if it's not too much trouble?" He asks, respectful and polite!
Alecto nods to Finn and motions him ahead of her. "Lead the way. I will follow."
Ken takes a deep breath. He nods to things and turns to Mercy's Messgenger and bows his head, "Thank you, Mercy's Messenger'rhya." He's still out of it. He looks to Tiana and nods. He looks to Finn as he's already gone, but looks down trying to collect himself.
Finn is given the green-light, so he leads the way as instructed. Where? Who knows! He heads out, looking for hints as to where is best from Alecto.
Branton is still off in the seats up in the high and back part of the amphitheater seating. He offers his mate a wave if he can catch her eye.
Journey pulls out a wrapped bundle in the stands and opens it before looking around and rising, walking down in the direction of the exit
Sean comes around from backstage. He still has his wig on, but someone, in passing, snatches it off his head and rolls her eyes. "I said no," the kinfolk tells him and he makes a pouty face, but then he looks around to find Isla and heads that way
Irsa sits on the edge of the stage, pulling out some large folded papers out of her pack. She's looking them over thoroughly, making marks on them with various colored pencils. It looks like a series of maps, with little notations all around the borders.
Tinlin sees Finn leaving with Alecto, and then looks for Isla again. "Can we all ... go?" She gestures to Kennard, wondering if he's needing to stay with the Truthcatcher still or not. She spots Sean coming over their way, "Broken Claw'rhya, where's your horse?"
Mercy leaves the Fianna folk and heads towards Branton when she sees his wave, and chats him up quietly for a minute. "I smell food stuffs, and I'm famished. Care to rob a rib with me, sir? I need your help with something." She offers out her arm like a gentlewoman.
"Took it away from me. The wig too. Assholes." Sean gives Kennard a little clap on the shoulder. "Let's get out of here. Moon's too small for a good brawl and I'm sure there's booze somewhere that desperately needs drinking."
Lennox moves around the Fianna group until he's somewhere vaguely in front of Kennard and claps a hand onto the man's shoulder, "Feeling like that is normal. Feel it for a while, but don't feel it forever. Get up on your feet now and do something, aye?"
