2014.04.30:CaernIntroduction

Caern Introduction.
Rianna gets introduced at the Caern
IC Date	April 30, 2014
IC Time	late evening
Players	George, Pascal, Teagen, Trekome, Connor, Rianna
Location	Gaian Garou Caern
Spheres	Gaian Garou, M+/Kinfolk, M+/Psychic

Deep Forest - Mystic Valley(#1747RJU)

A vast lush, dense underground forest surrounds the area as thick, tangled vines creep on up past high, rising treacherous, slick, black walls. The volcanic rock face that surrounds this natural valley seems to reach on up to the brink of infinity and beyond, making it nearly impossible to climb with its slick, plate-like surface. Inside the surrounding chasm lies a dangerous lush and vibrant woods as while the deeper one goes only seems to surround the area with eyes that watch from afar. Strange, foreign sounds echo throughout as odd beasts mock those that dare to travel in here, simply waiting in hiding to prey upon the weak and less fortunate. Numerous deep, dark, twisting caverns wind ever downwards to make up the expanse of the labyrinthine structure of the underground tunnels surrounding the area.

The ceiling of the caverns reaches something of hundreds of feet tall, far beyond what the eye can see into the dark as great stalactites and stalagmites meet each other in grissled embedded rock structures of enriched, pure minerals. Differently colored crystal pools of shimmering mineral water cascade down from flowing indoor springs as a cool, eerie air seems to constantly blow through the area, howling like a banshee on the wind. Photoluminescent algae clings healthily to the rock beds near the pools of water as they glow malevolently, casting a dim light for those to see that pass through these dark paths. Deep abysmal, dark and dense caves completely surround the area as the latent sound of dripping water lightly echoing against dried, crusted, volcanic rock and stinging gentle mineral pools with their soft *Hiss* as the cool water gently touches to make a light steam in the thick air.

The pathways that lead around these eternal caverns here are exceptionally deadly and dangerous as all lies within complete darkness except for the brief moments of glittering light against soft pools of crystals, green moss, illuminated algae, and shards of silvery reflections inside cavern waterfalls. The lush, thick, dark underground forest seems to surround the dense area in tight entanglements of vines, bushes, jungle and shrubs. The trees hang down in their weeping willows as branches mix with gnarled roots that sink beneath the cracked, rocky, stygian, encrusted earth. Depths of coiled mist surround the thick humid air in a serpentine pattern as spouts of steam spit out from the dark chasms in bursts of fiery hot gaseous flames.

Contents:

Rianna

Connor

Teagen

Trekome

Pascal

LOOKATME

Totem Pole

Obvious Exits:

Hidden Nest <HN> Heart <HE> Catacombs <CA> Temple <TE> Amphitheater <AM> Clearing <CL> Large Cavern <O>

"That really is how they see the umbra," she tells the man, crossing her legs beneath her, leaning back on her arms to give her belly a little more room as she slides off her shoes. Teagen stretches just a little bit, rolling her head around on her neck briefly. That's a LONG walk in her condition

Connor wiggles his hand back and forth "Everythin's a reflection of their true natures." he would nod over to Pascal "Don't let tha unicorn fool ya though, that horn isn't just for show, but goin' deeper inta tha layers of tha place can be very dangerous, and damn excitin' as well."

"The Umbra. I'm speaking -literally-. However, with our Gnosis, we can feel the corruption there, as well. There's a reason only two tribes are urban. The Bone Gnawers and the Glass Walkers," Pascal says. He sniffs in a dainty sort of amusement at Connor's words. "And we are creatures known for liking both," he says of danger and excitement.

George comes loping in a bit slower than his usual break neck pace and a bit more obvious as well. He's wearing his patchwork leather poncho but the hood is back and he has a stranger with him "See I didn't know how much you knew, that's why I was a little vague. And There were outsiders present, I just meant she was of your Tribe. So she's some kind of cousin anyway."

Rianna comes making her way into the cave, following close at George's side. "Yeah. I know. My grandpa told me that there was rules about talking about Nation stuff around Others," she says. She squeaks as a rock turns under her foot, making her stumble forward. "And when he died... well... I haven't met anyone else from the Nation. Until..." Breaking out into the forest, the girl's eyes go owl-wide. "...now," she breathes, a look of rapturous awe coming across her face.

Teagen smiles over at George, sitting up a little straighter. "George! Help! I've sat down and I can't get up." She makes grabby hands in his direction with a happy little sound. "Did you bring the toe truck to help me?"

Trekome huhs, he hadn't realized that there were only two tribes that were urban. Yep, total newb. "Well, that might narrow things down a bit since I've been in the suburbs most of my life. So Bone Gnawers and Glass Walkers was it?"

Connor shifts his glance a bit as he hears a familiar voice, he smiles, lifting a quick upnod over in George's direction before turning his attention to Trekome "Those are our brothers and sisters who live in tha cities, most of us prefer a more...rural life. I know I get a bit itchy staying in town for too long."

Pascal nods. "Yes. The Bone Gnawers serve a war spirit, Rat. The Glasswalkers have an equally, ah, urban totem, Cockroach, who's a spirit of wisdom and technology." He gives a nod to Connor. "Most other tribes simply aren't spiritually attuned to the city. It can actually be distressing, even maddening, at its worst."

George grins and nods to Connor as he moves over to Teagen to help the very pregnant girl to her feet as he talks "Just like Striders get an itch staying in one place too long. My tribe is all over the place, we travel so you never know where we'll turn up."

Teagen lets George help her up to her feet and then smiles at Rianna. "Are you okay? Those rocks got me every time. For months. Did you turn your ankle?" Her eyes slip to George and she gives him a smile and leans up to give him a brief smooch on the cheek - and he's promptly kicked several times when Teagen's belly is smooshed.

Trekome can't help but snerk when he hears what the two totems are, "Well, I guess you can't get much more urban than that." he says wryly. "Though, roaches can survive nukes, so, hey, pretty cool. So, I meet the tribal elders, see which one I belong to, and then start training? Or is there more to it than that?"

Rianna looks over at Teagen, still overcome by the wonder of the place. "Um." Suddenly, she seems to notice that there are other people. Many people. "Um. No. I'm. Okay. Thank you. Um." She wraps her arms about herself, edging away just a bit. "I'm Rianna Silver. Um. Kinfolk. To the Children of Gaia. Um. Hello. I'm sorry I don't know the protocol here. I hadn't met other Garou before I came here."

Teagen smiles at Rianna and nods. She's friendly enough. "I'm Teagen, Fianna Kinfolk, mated to Shu of the Silent Striders." She motions toward George. "His tribe." SHe motions over toward a seat. "Should sit down. Relax. No one here bites unless you ask REAL nice."

George oofs when he feels the kicks from Teagen's belly getting smooshed against him as he helped her up "Prospect....and apparently the caern was her one lead. I ran into her at Roasters yesterday." he says referring back to Rianna. Turning to Trekome George pitches in "Pretty much, probably going to involve working your linage backwards with the galliards or Ritemistress Mara probably has a thing for that."

"Yes, that's a way. I was mentored by the person who kidnapped me, after my first change," Pascal recalls. He sees the new kin, though, and stands, dipping his head, in a gentlemanly sort of way. "Welcome to the Caern, Miss Silver. I'm Pascal Dupre II. It's a pleasure."

Connor smiles, dipping his head in a nod to Rianna "Connor McMurrough, rited Shining-Walker. Claith and Theurge of tha Fianna, born on two legs. Son of Helios as a member of tha Flames of Gaia pack."

Leandro walks into the gathering area with a slight pause. A look around as he seems to be curious as to who might be around, when he sees some of the group however, he seems to be alright to continue on. Albeit, at a slow casual pace in case someone needs him.

Rianna's eyes go wider and wider. "Oh. Woah. Dude." She nods to each of the others as they introduce themselves in turn. "And... you're all... Garou? Like, for real and -everything-?" She owly-blinks again. "So many," she says. "This is... woah. Dude. I think... I should..." She feels her way over to a rock and sits down. "This is -wild-."

Teagen peers at Leandro for a moment, giving him a little wave, then looks back to Rianna. "This isn't even a few of them. The sept is huge." She grins over at the girl as she goes to sit and moves with her, sliding down alllll the way to the ground. It's a LONG slide down to get where she's going. She isn't real sure if she wants to stand or sit, though, so George might be picking her up again in a second.

Trekome realizes he should probably introduce himself as well, and stands up to dust himself off. He dips his head and offers a smile, "Sha'ul Trekome, lost cub. Don't worry, you're not the only one who just found out about all this; I missed out on it all and am playing catch up." He looks at George and Pascal, "Would the Ritemistress be able to help me figure out if my father and grandfather were Garou as well?"

Pascal nods. "She would be, very likely. Bane-Breaker, she was Rited." As far as Rianna's question, he nods. "Yes. I'm a homid born, under the Gibbous moon," he tells her, not sitting back down. "However, I do think I should get going. A good night to you all," he says, nodding to the others in turn. Teagan gets a slightly colder look, but still. He's civil.

George chuckles as Teagen goes to sit back down, offering Leandro a wave on his way by. "There about four or six dozen Gaian shifters of assorted types, more than half of that Garou. Add in our assorted kinfolk such as yourself? Maybe a couple hundred." he says to Rianna.

Leandro gives a nod to whomever may look his way, then he is gone, having continued on his way in silence.

Rianna boggles owlishly at George. Then cocks her head to one side. "Wait. Aren't all Gaian shifters Garou?" she asks.

Connor cocks his brow with a grin, looking between George and Rianna "Ohh, that's a fun question ta field."

Teagen grins as she watches Rianna and adds quietly, though she's been mostly ignored so far by.. well.. everyone but George. "There are all sorts of fera. There are the cats, the foxes, the ravens, the lizards, the rats, the bears. All of it. Right here in Prospect."

Trekome actually wondered that very question himself, and is glad to hear an answer to it. He chimes in with the little knowledge he's gleamed, "And there's also vampires, mages, fairies, and other things too... If there's a mythical tale or something about it, then it likely exists."

George nods to Teagen "I've actually met at least one of each of those, plus there are sorcerers, psychics, hedge witches and ghosts. To just throw that out there." he adds after Trekome pitches in. A passing warder trainee gets whistled at to fetch a waterskin and trots off.

Rianna's eyes might just fall out of her head if they get any wider. "But... grandpa never told me about -any- of this stuff," she says. "Neither did my dad." She pauses. "Well. I guess I was still pretty little back then. But. Holy -shit-, dude. Vampires." She pauses again. "They don't... sparkle in the sunlight, do they? Please, God, tell me that they don't."

Connor gives a dip of his head "I've killed a few leeches, fought alongside tha Fae, met a willworker who actually didn't rape a caern. All those stories are very real, just need ta find tha gain of truth through all tha shit lore."

Teagen grins over at Rianna. "Well, welcome to Prospect. We got just a little bit of everything. And they don't sparkle, they go poof in a big ball of flame." Her eyes do roam over toward Trekome. "And who told you about the fairies?" And then over to Connor. "And there are PLENTY Of willworkers who aren't caern rapists. And that is SUCH a nasty term."

Connor scratches at his chin briefly at the sparkle comment "Well..yes actually they do. Toss those fuckers inta tha sun and they sparkle just fine and turn ta ash. Good fuckin' riddance ta tha shit too."

Rianna blushes. "I must sound like a total dork to you guys," she says. "My parents died when I was only six. And I lost grandpa when I was thirteen. But dad... he was the Garou... he used to tell me all kinds of stories. But they were just about Gaia, the Mother, and Unicorn." She gets a wistful look. "I miss those stories. They made everything seem less... awful, somehow."

George laughs out right and has to catch his breath eventually gasping out "Now I want to get some spray glue and glitter to go after the children of Sutehk. Counting Coup, Twilight style." Rianna's memories sober him up a little "Well I'll get you introduced to my Alpha, he's a Galliard of your tribe. He knows a lot of those stories."

Connor chuckles pacing a back "Well that beats an old fashion tar and feathering." he would nod over to George "By tha by. If ya know anyone good workin' with metals can ya send them my way? I'm in need of a new spear head. I can carve tha haft myself but no skill workin' with metals just yet. Left my last one embedded in someone's chest and was forced ta get out of dodge before I could retrieve it." he begins to pad off towards the path before stopping himself, pulling a bottle of irish whiskey out of the satchel he carried with him "Ah, enjoy a bit tonight too!" he grins setting the bottle down before making his way back towards the pass

Trekome actually has a wicked sort of grin when that question pops up, and can't help but snicker. "Great... now I'm going to have to carry around some glitter to throw in a vampire's face before ripping them apart." He looks curious about the stories, "I haven't really heard any of those... dad and grandpa just took me hunting and taught me how to shoot. Still turned out to be pretty useful." He raises a brow at the mention of using spears, "So... y'all really /don't/ use firearms then."

Rianna looks up at George. "Galliard. Those are the... um..." She lifts a hand thinking hard. "Don't tell me. I know this one." She squinches her eyes shut in concentration. "They're the... Singers, right? The Moon-Dancers?" She looks to Connor as he leaves the bottle. "Oh. Um. Bye! Blessed Be!"

George grins and nods to Rianna as he settles himself down and grabs the whiskey bottle. "Got that right on the second try. Moon-Dancers. They keep the histories and tell the stories so we don't forget. That's why I was saying Sha'ul would probably check in with those elders first, even if the council can't help him personally. They will know who to ask."

Connor would lift his hand in a wave over his shoulder "Gaia gave us fangs and claws ta fight our war, I like being up close, though guns have their places!" he would call out before vanishing into the treeline

George missed the bit about guns apparently so he adds "I have a milspec sniper rifle actually. And it has its place in my operational planning but its not center stage. I've gotten too effective up close to ignore it as an option."

Rianna nods her head. "Right on. Okay, I get it." She considers. "My dad was an Ahroun. He said it was his job to fight the Boogeyman." She looks down at her hands. "He really meant it, too. I mean... I could never imagine him fighting anything. He was always so... sweet. And gentle, y'know?" She pauses, thinking about something else George said. She looks up at him. "Wait. Psychics? You said there were psychics?" She leans forward, clasping her hands. "Do you know any?" Gone is her shyness and awkward owly-ness from before. Now, she's focused on the Strider with razor clarity.

Trekome looks at the knife and hmmms, "I like it... though I'm more utilitarian." He reaches behind him and draws a smaller blade, "It's the only thing that the cops won't hassle me for since everything else I've got is closer to 5 inches. I'm still trying to get the paperwork through for the 1911 grandpa gave me." He raises a brow when Rianna blurts out being a witch, then looks at George. "Being a witch doesn't automatically make someone bad, does it? I was pretty sure that it was kinda case-by-case, person-by-person, unless they're flat out tainted and hostile." (http://www.knifeforums.com/uploads/1170834704-Hinderer_Flashpoint_1.jpg)

Teagen grins at Rianna as she blurts out her little secret. "Tsk tsk tsk. Witches. All a bunch of hoo doo, I say. It's really all about mechanics and physics." She places the rock on her belly again and motions in that direction, a little grin sliding over her lips, just almost but not quite a smirk. She draws her hand up and.... the rock comes with it. She turns her hand and the rock rotates as well until she holds her hand, palm up, the rock about the size of her fist, but flatter, hovers about 6 inches above her hand. "Sorcerer. Psychic. But not all of us are witches."

Rianna waves her hands, all a-fluster. "No no no, dude. I'm not a -witch-. Well, I mean, I -am-. Pagan. Wiccan. My -mom- had the Craft. But no. I'm..." Her eyes get drawn to Teagen. Here come the owly-eyes again as the rock levitates. "...psychic," she finishes lamely. A slow smile breaks across her face, and she drums her fists excitedly on her knees. "Oooooh! Punk fucking -rock-, dude, that's -awesome-!" she crows. "I've been hoping to meet others like me for -years-!"

George grins and shrugs at Trekome "It isn't about the ornaments for their own self, its to honor the owl spirit riding in it. Gives the knife its extra bite. This blade is why I stopped carrying my hunting rifle when I go on patrol any more in my war form I can kill someone faster and surer than waiting to line up a shot. And with my gifts of speed and stealth? Well I'm sure you can figure out how that goes." Teagen's showing off gets a grin and George reaches into a pocket under his poncho and pulls out a handkerchief to pass over "Just in case." before he grins at Rianna's enthusiasm "Well Prospect's the place for it."

Trekome can only chuckle a little at Rianna's reaction; it's actually rather endearing. And now he doesn't feel so bad about being so new to everything, between him and the other kinfolk that he met. "That is pretty neat..." He looks back over to George as he sheaths his knife, "I'm guessing that that means something more than a simple prayer being said and being lucky with it. I know it's an age old practice to have a weapon that's personal and is said to be blessed or cursed, but I thought it was more superstition... pretty sure you're about to prove me wrong though."

Teagen grins at Rianna and nods. "There are a lot of people that you should hook up with. Maybe Halle. June, if she ever comes around, and ... George, you mentioned ELoise, right? Isn't she the big kinfolk mucky muck that just had a baby?" She plays with the rock a little bit before finally moving it over to drop a whole half inch or so onto George's toe. HARDLY painful, really.

Rianna nods her head excitedly. "Right on," she says. "Dude, this is -sick-! I can't believe it. I'm so lucky!" She leans forward towards Teagen, watching the rock go. As it plops onto George's foot, she stifles a giggle behind one hand. "Can you do anything else?" she asks.

George nods back to Teagen and sticks his tongue out at her when she drops the rock on his toe. He plucks the rock off the ground and stares between it and the knife blade and tosses the rock to Trekome as he rolls over backward and gets to his feet. Pulling the poncho off he sets it aside as he says "Demo time" and gives a little flex and concentrates.....

Mocks-the-Dark springs swiftly and easily into his war form.

"Toys. I make little trinkets. Not anywhere near Fetish level. But still useful. I can read and influences minds... which is why George is TOTALLY going to buy me icecream when he takes me back to town." She puts her hand to her temple and STARES at George, WILLING him to volunteer to bring her to icecream, then she grins. "I can actually lift myself off the ground with my psychokinesis, but it's VERY straining and sometimes I get nosebleeds and I weigh a metric fuckton more than I did last time I tried it, so I'm saving that for an emergency." SHe pats the large swell of her belly lightly. "And I can heal and sometimes I can tell the future." She grins as George. "Last time he failed?" she says as an aside to Trekome, "Crapped his britches." The little flex looks an awful lot like a grunt of concentration

Trekome actually looks a little jealous about how easily George can do that. He's not even sure if he can do that with any sort of grace at all, or if he can do it easily either. He's practiced, but it's always been a HUGE task for him, and the few times it was easy was in the middle of a serious fight and purely accidental. He snerks at Teagen, "Think you can do something about getting the cops to give me a license to carry?"

Rianna gives a fangirlish squee as Teagen rattles off her power suite. "Oh my -God-, dude, that is -crazy- cool!" she says. "I'm nowhere near as awesome as that. I can just..." She looks up, then, as George doffs his poncho and starts to change. As the Crinos rises up, all the color drains from her face. Her elation turning to an expression of panic. She squeaks, scrabbling backwards and around her rock, hiding behind it. Peeking up over the edge, just enough for her owly eyes to show. Not the mindless terror of Delirium for certain but... well, she did say that she hadn't been around Garou in years.

Mocks-the-Dark cut a pretty impressive figure even before he shifted and afterwards its pretty clear why his tribe was associated with Anubis, guardian of the dead. He looks over at Rianna and tilts his head, panting a little. Muttering in Garou as he tries to look harmless >>Where's Sahael when I need him.<<

Teagen doesn't scramble. She PROBABLY wouldn't if she could. Oh, to be sure, for her flippant attitude, she still has a healthy respect for the majestic crinos form. She takes a quick look around for any possible danger in case she misinterpreted the reason for shifting, but then settles back in her seat. "It's okay. This is just show and tell." She laughs when Mocks speaks in Garou and shakes her head. "Is he still alive? Haven't they knocked him back to cub yet?"

Trekome notes another new name and ponders what would get someone knocked down to cub status. "So... what does it take to get past cub status? And what gets someone knocked back to it?" What can he say, he's getting tired of being called a 'cub'. "And who can teach me how to control shifting easier?"

Rianna whimpers softly as Mocks-the-Dark growls in the Garou speech. Her eyes flicker over towards Teagen. "You... -understand- him?" she whispers, looking back up at the Crinos. "He's... not going to... do anything... is he?" Her fingers white-knuckled from where she grips the rock by now.

Mocks-the-Dark shakes his head at Teagen >>He does well. He is a different sort of Ragabash than I. Still Necessary. Better at seeming harmless.<< Then he shrugs at Trekome and nods upward as he growls out one word in human speech to Rianna "Demo." then another to Trekome "Throw." as he braces himself to spring into motion.

Trekome heard throw, but he's not quite sure what. So he does what he figures is meant, and picks up a rock, then whips it at the Crinos, all the while bracing himself to get tackled. The Crinos did say throw, and he figures this is probably a better option than throwing himself.

Rianna sucks in a breath as Trekome picks up that rock and throws it. "Oh no no no -no-!" she squeaks, pushing back and landing on her rump. She crab-walks backwards from what she seems certain is about to become a bloodbath.

Mocks-the-Dark was not expecting that. The nod upwards.....well lets adapt and overcome shall we? Instead of a gift fueled leap and smash MtD focuses the on the spirit in the knife, urging it to show off a little bit and his strike makes the stone....disintegrate into powder and small chips. He drops quickly and effortlessly back into his human shape (still clothed thank goodness) and grins at Trekome "So yes, it really is magic."

Trekome looks... well... impressed to say the least. He eyes the blade for a moment, then back at George, now back in his Homid form, and gives a short nod that can be translated as 'nice'. "You're going to have to teach me how to use a blade now; all I can do is cut rope and cord." He glances over at Rianna and headtilts a bit, "It's ok, dear, nothing to worry about. If he wanted to fight I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have given me a chance to throw anything."

Rianna pants for breath for a few moments. It's not until George reassumes his homid shape that the panic starts to abate. Slowly, she gets to her feet, dusting off her hands. "I'm... sorry," she says. "Um. I just... I mean... um..." She wraps her arms about herself. "The last time I saw... that..." She gestures towards George. "It was... bad." She looks towards the Strider. "That was pretty sick, though. Blowing up that rock like that."

George grins and shrugs, not saying what he's thinking (If you see a Ragabash coming he's probably not trying to kill you) because it wouldn't help. Instead he just goes with "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. I just don't get to show off often." Trekome gets a nod and a shrug "Ideally an Ahroun of your own tribe or any other tribe would be the one teaching you to fight. A Strider Ragabash? We're all about the hit from no where and fade into nothing, more like as.....I mean commandos rather than straight up brawny warrior types. Pretty much the last choice for most as far as fighting lessons go."

Trekome grins at the mention of hit and run tactics. "You realize that I'm Recon, right? I'm the odd breed of Marine that enjoys being a sneaky bastard as much as being a hard charger. Sneaking is what we do just as well as breaking down doors and going in roaring." Seems he is an odd Garou indeed; it'll be fun to see just where he falls into place. "Though you're probably right; it'd be more ideal if someone from my tribe, when I find out which it is, teaches me. Closer bonds are made to my kin, and they'll have a better idea of how I'm progressing."

Rianna wrings her hands. Letting the two Garou talk. Though she does listen. Until someone tells her to stop listening. She edges quietly back and reassumes her position on her rock.

George nods and shrugs as he thinks back "That fellow that I waved at on his way through? His name is Leandro. He's a Glass Walker Ahroun, and the Elder in charge of the Caern Warders is a Bone Gnawer Ahroun if you're looking into the urban tribes. I already outlined a plan for figuring that out though." He stretches out his neck and looks off towards the temple "I think its time for a quite soak in the hot spring and then sleep. There's camping stuff off in the living area that way and one of the warders or the other kinfolk will show you around."

Trekome gives a nod as he listens. "I'll track them down and request their help. With any luck I'll have figured out where I fit in by the week's end, and I'll be of more use to us. I think I may try to practice shifting some more before calling it a night; lord knows that it's more useful if I can take on the 'war form' if I'm needed." He smiles at Rianna, "And I'm pretty sure you've been accepted as on our side, so don't fret so much, dear."

Rianna hugs herself a bit more. "I'm sorry. I can't help it. It was... really bad. But. Um. I'll try. Thank you." She looks up and around. "I should probably get going myself. I got some reading to get done for class. So. Um. Take care, guys."

George looks over at Rianna and the trail off back into town and he streches "I got one more run in me and you're kind of small. How are you with big 4 legged wolves? I can give you a ride back to town."

Trekome snickers to himself and gives Rianna a grin, "If a mother with a newborn can do it, then I'm pretty sure you'll be fine as well. Just hold on tight without ripping out his fur."

Rianna squeaks. "Um. I don't know. I've. Um. Never been near one. A big. Four legged. Yeah. Um. I guess we can try it out. I'll try not to..." She gestures towards Trekome. "What he said. Tear anything out. That would be bad. Yeah."

George nods encouragingly "Eloise's place is less than a quarter mile or so from the university and I did that run twice in less than two hours the other day." he says while he still has vocal cords. Then he flickers and drops effortlessly into his hulking direwolf shape.

Trekome smirks a bit and handwaves, "Now he's just showing off." he tells Rianna. "If he's willing to teach two brand new folks to all of this, then I'm sure you'll be fine with him as well. No worries." With that he gives a her a very gentle nudge, "Saddle up, darlin', and hold on." He's pretty certain he'll probably have a baby presented to him for the 'saddle up' comment, but it's too apropos for the situation.

Rianna timidly shuffles forward towards the giant wolf. Here come the owly eyes. "Oh my God," she murmurs as she reaches out to lightly rest a hand on the shoulder. A glance is given towards Trekome as he nudges her. Then, she looks back at MtD. Getting a determined set to her features, she takes a firm grip on his ruff and jumps. She winds up hanging over his back. With a bit of twisting and squirming, she manages to get one leg thrown astride the Hispo's shoulders. She leans forward and takes a double handful of fur. "Okay... I think I'm ready. Um. Yeah," she says.

Mocks-the-Dark stands there for a moment with Rianna on his back all princess mononoke like and then starts off at a slow walk, letting Rianna get used to staying on while he's moving then once they're out of the cave he picks up speed and the two of them disappear into the night.