It is currently 17:41 Pacific Time on Wed Aug 31 2005.

Currently the moon is in the waning Crescent Moon phase (20% full).

At the center, Poe tilts his head, and seems to think silently at this, before
      looking between Reggie and Clemency. He edges back, just in case. This 
      looks like it's going to get bloody.

At the center, Reggie reaches out his hand to take Clemency's left hand in it.
      With a finger, he draws an imaginery line across Clemency's knuckles, as 
      he studies its topology. The line crosses the thumb just across its tip, 
      and he redraws the line, lower down on the fingers, until it crosses the 
      thumb well below the nailbed of the thumbnail. Pressing Clemency's hand 
      down on the rocky ground, Reggie holds out his hand for Stacey's knife.

Grey makes his way down the trail as Reggie is examining Clemency's fingers,
      showing no outward sign of the injuries he sustained Friday evening.

At the center, Stacey sits cross-legged near Clemency, watching Reggie and
      Clemency closesly. She reaches out a picks up the roll of bandages, 
      keeping them ready.

At the center, Clemency betrays a hint of nerves. "Sooner you start, sooner we
      finish," she points out to Reggie. Her hand remains rigid and unmoving on 
      the rock.

At the center, Reggie gathers up the knife, running his thumb along the edge to
      test its sharpness, getting a nick in his thumb for his pains. He tests 
      his grip on it. as he shifts upwards towards Crinos, his tattered 
      wolfskins melding into scar-crossed Crinos fur. With a Crinos hand 
      holding Clemency's wrist firmly in place, lest she jerk away. Reggie 
      firmly bangs down the knife atop her hand, severing the fingers and half 
      of the thumb.

Grey pauses a step, brow furrowing, then continues onward into the center of
      the caern, a frown still tugging downwards the corners of his mouth.

Center of the Caern

This is the central point of the 30-meter-wide clearing. The ground is a
      mixture of dark, rich, muddy soil mixed with clay, though there is an 
      occasional patch of grass. At the center rests a large white boulder, 
      immovable even by the strongest crinos. The boulder is shot through with 
      streaks of quartz that produces scintillating colors when light strikes 
      it just right. It is, for lack of a wholly adequate word, beautiful.

Around you, twenty yards in every direction, stretches the caern. To the
      southeast, a waterfall plummets over the edge of the chasm into a small 
      pool in the caern; nearby, to the southwest, steam comes from cracks in 
      the ground, perhaps some of the same water. Northwest, a rocky spar juts 
      out of the ground at a low angle, showing a sloping but smooth top. The 
      chasm walls narrow a bit to the northeast, causing some of the mist to 
      swirl in that area.

Stacey winces as Reggie severs Clemency's fingers, her grip on the bandages
      tightening. Grey's movement distracts her momentarily and she gives him a 
      tense nod.

Clemency's head jerks back in a sudden spasm of pain and anger. "Sweet fucking
      jesus fuck fuck GREAT GAIA ON A STICK." Blood starts to spurt eagerly 
      from the severed digits as she springs to her feet and swells up into 
      Glabro, looming over Reggie menacingly for a moment with fury in her eyes 
      before she forces herself to twist aside. She lurches over to the caern 
      stone and plasters herself close against it, as though drawing 
      inspiration or comfort from the smooth coldness of its surface against 
      her cheek.

Poe leaps backwards with a yelp as the knife comes down and Clemency spasms,
      cursing. Once he's safely out of the way though, he watches with wide 
      lupine eyes, ears pricked, tail alert. Blood is everywhere, and Poe lets 
      go an uncertain whine.

Spider-Eyes's lupus form appears at the edge of the Caern, nose twitching as
      she takes in the scent of fresh blood. Overly large ears pushing forward 
      in curiosity, the deformed Strider makes her way into the Caern.

Rags wrests his attention from the detached digits towards Clemency,
      momentarily tensing and ready for a battle, then eases slightly as the 
      Fang staggers away. He waits, silent, attention on Clemency, as he holds 
      his knife still.

Grey's own expression hardly flickers at the digit-removing; he looks more
      bemused than disturbed, though the frown remains.

Stacey stands to her feet as Clemency rages, eyes wide and still clutching the
      bandages. She bites her lip as she watches the Fang's pain, and then 
      glances over at Grey again. "Trying to heal her fingers..."

Clemency breathes in, out, in, out, plainly trying to focus on the rhythm and
      calm herself, ride the pain from her left hand out. Blood pumps steadily 
      from the injured hand, some of it speckling the stone itself, the rest 
      soaking into the earth, though her glabro form is already setting to work 
      in stemming the flow if not yet regrowing her digits. After maybe half a 
      minute she relinquishes the stone and walks carefully back to Reggie. 
      "Fucking knew I should have done the first hand myself," she grates at 
      him ruefully before throwing herself back down and slapping her right 
      hand down on the bloodstained stone where the left one rested a minute 
      ago.

Grey hooks his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans, good eye tracking
      the Fang's movements. "What was wrong with them?" he asks Stacey.

Rags glances at the maimed hand, as if to see if good nails or bad ones are
      growing yet, then hovers the knife over the other hand. ~Next time, you 
      can do it yourself~, he growls. as he keeps the knife in the air, then 
      with the effectiveness of a cook chopping carrots, he slices off 
      Clemency's fingers and thumb.

Small stones skid under Spider-Eye's paws, as she reaches the center of the
      Caern and trots up behind Salem. Bad claws.

You paged the room with 'Salem? Salem who? ;)'.
Spider-Eyes pages to the room: Buh. Sorry. Habit.
Long distance to the room: Grey grins, amused.
From afar, to the room, Stacey grins.

Grey looks over sharply at the sound of Spider-Eyes' approach. "Ah," he says,
      in response to her explanation, and then unhooks his thumbs and drops 
      into an easy three-point crouch near the malformed wolf. "I haven't run 
      into your cub friend yet."

Stacey glances down at Spider-Eyes and then nods. "Yeah. The Wyld spirit they
      fought in the revel turned her claws to stone," she answers softly, then 
      winces again as Reggie cuts the remaining fingers off.

Spider-Eyes sits down on her rear and scratches at her side. Made me glow, like
      bug.

"Not gonna... be... another time..." Clemency snarls, face contorting. "Once
      is... enough..." When she tries to get up she finds that fingers are 
      useful in levering oneself into a standing position. With a growl of 
      fury, she shifts instead through Crinos and into Hispo, a white-furred 
      dire wolf with fury in her eyes and front paws covered in her own blood. 
      In this form she limps over to Stacey. ~It is done, young ahroun. Let me 
      say... a few words... and then if you would use your skills...~ She 
      shakes herself as though clearing her head, then speaks again in a formal 
      intonation. ~Mother Gaia. I have given my claws up, with the hope that in 
      Your mercy You may send them back to me renewed. I ask you to return my 
      weapons to me so that I may use them to... to fight for you once more.~ 
      The hispo wolf closes her eyes briefly at the conclusion of this prayer 
      before looking at Stacey once more, silently but hopefully.

Poe inches back over, to watch the second fingerchopping, lupine tail
      semi-tucked. The second hand has lopped off of fingers, and he finally 
      tears his gaze away to spot Spider-Eyes. He squints, before making his 
      way over to her, as Clemency prays to Gaia.

A somewhat standard looking wolf, with fur that doesn't seem to know where it's
      going. An overall scruffy appearance, but at the same time there are no 
      knots or bunches that would be considered lack of care; although it is 
      occassionally difficult to distinguish where some of him ends and begins. 
      His coloring is an uninterrupted solid cream, with plump furry ears and a 
      somewhat poofy face. His saggy lips are a leathery black, with a mottled 
      pink and grey nose, the fur in the front of his muzzle a bit peppered 
      with greyish tone. His eyes are rimmed with black, which stand out 
      against his much lighter fur, with hazel irises.

The butchering job completed, Rags watches Clemency's reactions pensively. He
      wipes the knife on the ground, removing most of the blood, then rubs it 
      delicately on his fur, removing the dust and all but specks of the blood, 
      without turning his eyes from Clemency.

Grey observes with an air of detached interest.

Stacey kneels down as the Hispo approaches her, solemnly listening to her
      prayer. There's a moment of hesitation, of considering, and then the 
      Child reaches out to set her hands on the Fang's bleeding paws. Closing 
      her eyes, she concentrates on using her gift to heal, a soft glow 
      surrounding her hands.

Reggie shifts down to homid, knuckles still gripping the knife, as he studies
      Stacey, with a jutting lip revealing some dubiosity, then he diverts his 
      eyes from the glow, and gathers up the detacted digits, arranging them in 
      one hand like a flower bouquet.

Spider-Eyes yawns, showing off large white teeth. I will look for the cub,
      Grey. Do you know why there was all the blood around the cub den?

Grey, distracted from Stacey's healing and Reggie's rather gruesome 'flower'
      picking, glances sidelong at Spider-Eyes. "Pardon?"

Clemency's front paws stop bleeding as Stacey's gift takes effect, though
      they're obviously still wounded quite badly. The white-furred hispo 
      raises one, licks it, sniffs at it. Then she speaks to the assembled 
      garou. ~I am tired. I hurt. Please have the kindness to leave me alone 
      for now.~ She limps to her duffel bag and takes the strap in her mouth 
      carefully, lifting it up, and crosses once more to the caern stone. 
      There, she drops the bag once more, and remaining still in hispo, curls 
      herself up beside the bag and the stone so tightly that a viewer might 
      take her for no more than an unusually large arctic wolf of the common or 
      garden variety. Not waiting to see whether the other garou respect her 
      desire for solitude or not, Fire-Burns-Forever closes her eyes and 
      ignores her surroundings totally.

Spider-Eyes scratches at her side. The blood, outside the cub den. The metis
      seems frustrated for a moment, then manages a single word in the Mother's 
      Tongue, ~farmhouse.~

Poe finally decides to shift into Homid, in order to properly leave the area.
      "Intense." he murmurs, mostly to himself, as he watches Clemency, and 
      looks around, before turning to go.

Stacey lets out a sigh as she scoots back, giving the Fang some room, smiling
      softly. She stands to leave, but then catches sight of Spider-Eyes' 
      conversation and frowns. "That's right... Kenneth and I were wondering 
      about that as well."

Grey's eye flicks over to Reggie for a second before turning back to
      Spider-Eyes and Stacey; his mouth tightens into a grimace. "That." He 
      rises slowly from his crouch, stretching long legs. "Rabid wolf, multiple 
      Garou, at least one frenzy."

Reggie continues arranging the thumbs in the middle of the fingers, until he's
      got all the digits secured, while being aware of Clemency's moving about 
      the caern. He walks over to the caern stone, about to reach down for the 
      bag, and hesitates, then straightens up and steps away, leaving the wolf 
      untouch. He turns to the others, acknowledging Tamara with a nod and Grey 
      with a still expression, then murmurs to Stcey, "Let sleeping wolves lie."

Spider-Eyes's oversized ears lay back. I heard of disease. In wolves is bad.
      Two-legs get scared.

Poe turns back again as he catches a snippet himself, and winces at Grey,
      making his way back over a bit. "Yeah, Brom-rhya said there was a fight." 
      he licks his lower lip idly. "In the barnyard, 's why I couldn't go there 
      one night to train. Though, it did turn me on to hitting trees." he looks 
      at his knuckles a moment before dropping them again.

Stacey frowns. "Ah, the wolves..." she murmurs sadly. "Touch Deer and I
      gathered some herbs for Gunnar. I hope that he is able to discover a cure 
      before too many more kin are affected."

"Or before the cullings start," says Grey, pessimistically. "How many of the
      packs have been affected so far? Anyone know?"

Reggie stands, fingers clenched in his hand. He scowls briefly at Grey, before
      grudgingly stating, "The packs--", and he shakes his head, "The packs 
      need to be checked."

Spider-Eyes shakes her head in a very human manner. No. Not know.

Poe suddenly swivels his head, "Culling?" he asks, brows arching. "Over rabies?
      Can't you get a shot at the doctor that prevents it from occuring or 
      something after you get bitten?" he shrugs, looking mildly confused.

Spider-Eyes's ears perk forward. Check? How check?

Stacey glances up at Reggie as well. "Yes, how do we check?"

Grey turns his mismatched eyes onto Poe. "I imagine that many people will find
      it more cost-effective to simply kill infected or possibly infected 
      animals to prevent spread of the disease to the human population." The 
      Walker's voice is bland, even cold.

Spider-Eyes huffs softly. Only know is sickness. Make animals mad. How sickness
      work?

Reggie glances from the malaformed lupus to Stacey. "Why, by seeing if they're
      all there", he waves his finger-holding hand in circles, to put emphasis 
      on what he's saying, "See if they're all feeling good and non-frothy."

Stacey ahs and nods. "Well, I suppose that is one way to go about it... except
      that once you've checked them and sent them back into the woods... 
      couldn't they just catch it later? We need something preventative."

Spider-Eyes seems to be having a hard time with this idea, ears laying flat.
      Start showing sickness right away?

Grey merely shrugs, hands in pockets. "I think rabies is supposed to have an
      incubation period," he says, but then shrugs.

Poe isn't going to help much in the conversation, and so he lets the older
      Garou talk, quietly slipping out of the Caern to go back to the barn.

Reggie presses his lips together in thought. "If it's rabies. Distemper's
      pretty similar. But, if it's rabies--there are vaccines, to keep them 
      from getting it. What that cub said--", he thrusts aside his hand to 
      point at Poe, which has left in the meanwhile, and he double takes to 
      look for him.

Stacey also glances around for the cub, frowning as he seems to have left. "I'd
      vote for that. I wonder if any of my mother's books spoke about rabies. I 
      should ask Karl, since he has them."

Reggie turns back from looking for the missing cub with a query, "Your mother?
      Who was your mother?" He pauses a moment, eyes rolled upwards in 
      recollection, then directs at Stacey, "Don't you Children have that 
      kin--a doctor? Can you go ask him?"

Spider-Eyes yawns again, not having much more to add to the conversation.

Grey scratches absently at his stubbly chin, his eyes narrowed in thought.
      "Alec St. Jean," he says, and then grunts. "Haven't heard from him in 
      quite a while."

Stacey smiles at Reggie, shrugging. "My mother was a veterinarian. Karl and I
      went and took her books one day, so that he could learn. And yes, Alec is 
      a doctor. We should see if we can get a hold of him, but... I also 
      haven't heard from him in a long time."

Reggie grunts. "Maybe you should drop him a line. I've taken the wolf to Gunnar
      Rune-Scar so he can play shaman with all those herbs you picked, and took 
      the ear tag to the Walkers so they can play World of Warcraft--or maybe 
      actually do some actual research, I've no idea--and find out about that 
      tag, see if it is from the Wolf Woods. If we could pull in an actual 
      doctor into this, that'd be better than guessing at this disease."

Grey's form boils upward into Crinos, expanding into nine feet of Shadow Lord
      breeding and bared fangs. ~Apologize, you fat sack of shit.~

Stacey's eyes widens as Grey shifts, and she backs away a couple steps, looking
      from him to Reggie. For a moment, she seems confused, but then frowns, 
      watching the Uktena.

Reggie turns adruptedly, fingers clenched in his fist, as he is suddenly
      dwarfed by the Crinos, angry confusion playing over his features. "What?" 
      he bursts out.

Grey looms over the Uktena, good eye glaring down at him. His claws twitch like
      they're just itching to be used. ~That cheap crack at my tribe. 
      Apologize, bare your throat RIGHT the fuck now, or I will fucking paint 
      the caern with your fucking blood.~

Stacey stands nearby, still, silent, eyes lowered. One foot is slightly back,
      as though ready to fight or run if needed.

Reggie stares briefly up at the Crinos, lips moving silently as he goes over
      his previous words, then his glance slides down and and fixes on the 
      ground. "I'm sorry", he states, his shoulders slumping as he moves his 
      chin, exposing his neck.

Spider-Eyes quickly backed away from the Walker when he shifted, ears laying
      flat against her skull.

Grey growls, a low and thunderous rumble, and then slowly reverts back to human
      form. He looks hardly less furious or ready for violence. "Accepted."

Stacey barely relaxes once Grey returns to homid, at least daring to breathe.
      She glances over at Spider-Eyes, then back at the ground.

Reggie continues staring at the ground, barely moving, with just the barest nod
      to indicate he's not deaf.

Spider-Eyes sneezes, then shakes her fur out. Trying to dispel some of the
      tension in the air.

Grey turns to Stacey and Spider-Eyes and says, in a tone of enforced calm,
      "Gaia watch you. Tamara, hopefully I'll be able to speak to your student 
      soon." It seems he's about to leave.

Spider-Eyes's ears lay back. Yes. Soon. Luna watch.

Stacey glances at Grey, then back at the ground, nodding. "Gaia guard your
      steps," she says softly.

Grey inclines his head to the two female Garou and then heads out, heading
      roughly westward.