Ode to the moon

[Caroline]

Norway was one of very few places Carly actually found to her liking. The remote area was an ideal place for a person such as herself - bound to the wilderness by a force far greater than personal taste. The wild was more to her than a home, it was part of her being. Of course, that meant that there was little to no room for modernization. Yes, she maybe is a little behind on the whole iPod and computer junk, but when it comes to the wilderness, there really aren't that many people that can rival her skills. Since she has no job to hold her back, Carly can travel around the world as much as she wants, and Norway is very often her destination of choice, and she doesn't leave it quickly, either. In fact, the upcoming full will mark one year since she had moved to Norway. An event like that certainly deserves a celebration, since she hasn't ever stayed in the same country for longer than a couple of months.

During that year, Carly had made it her mission to get acquainted with Norway's landscapes. Especially the mountains and forests, where she could always found peace and solitude. The forests weren't all that hard to learn, but the mountains proved a more challenging task. They weren't too complex, but climbing them by foot made for exhausting trips. For the child of Mother Nature, however, nothing was impossible. Each and every full moon, Carly would climb atop one of the mountains to get slightly closer to the silver moon. This time was no different. She made her journey onto a mountain she was already familiar with for the same purpose. From there, she forged her path through the forest layered with beautiful white snow. The smells, the sounds, and the atmosphere. It all felt so natural, so very miraculous, except for one little thing. At first it started out like an annoying buzzing of a bee, but eventually grew into a disturbing roar. Curious, Carly swayed off the path to investigate the source of the noise. She was taken by surprise by what she saw. It was not a large animal as she expected. Instead, it was a vehicle - a van to be exact - driving through the forest. God blast them, whoever it was.

As bugged as she was by it, Carly didn't let the vehicle ruin her night. As long as those weren't hunters, there was no reason for her to cross paths with them. She traveled deeper into the forest with no further interruptions until she made it to a very small clearing, and that's where she remained for the time being. She wasn't exactly dressed for the weather, mainly because she didn't own the proper clothing for such weather. The funniest of the collection were perhaps her shoes. A mismatching pair of boots of different colors; one darker while the other noticeably brighter. She didn't really care though, since they made a good job of warming her feet. Clothing-wise, however, she wasn't as lucky. Her pants were thin, though fortunately wind-proof. A sorry excuse for a jacket - with the sleeves torn off - covered one useless cotton sweater. Luckily for her brains, she managed to snatch a warm hat from a local market. Thanks to the warm blood of her animal, she wasn't yet at a freezing point, but she still would have loved a cup of hot chocolate and a blanket. Sadly, that was a luxury she could not afford.

Once she was done resting, Carly decided to go on and check what the nosy tourists were up to. Looking for them wasn't hard, with the tire tracks they have left in the snow. Once she did locate them, she was once again surprised. There was not one, not two, and not even three passengers in that van, but four! that was like a whole gang, or an entire pack. She didn't want to risk it, so she fell back into the forest where she hopefully could not be found. The thought of those people having lots of food and plenty of warm blankets was rather alluring, but Carly restrained herself and kept a good distance from them. God only knows who, or what, are those people, and what do they want.

[Adele Holst]

Grinning wide, Adele looked down when Pablo joked that she should settle down. It was all so exciting; she hadn't felt this good in... years. Even despite the recent rift in the pack, which had really upset the girl, she was able to push it away for the time being to enjoy the moment. She was with friends here. Well, friend, his friend, and Damien.
"Me?" Pablo said she could pick what to do for the fire? Chewing her lip, Adele thought a moment on the fate of the tree. This was her first camping trip, and an important decision. Well, not so important, but the guys were waiting for her choice. Burning the whole tree would be pretty cool, but somehow the young woman didn't think that's what happened on normal camping trips. Then again, she wasn't a normal Human anymore, and neither were her companions, had they ever been normal in the first place. Somehow Adele could see Pablo lighting a whole tree on fire when he was still a Human.
A nice smooth patch of snow and ground had been worried beneath her feet when the thought struck Adele and she asked shyly, "Um, could we do a bonfire? A big one?" Large bonfires were lit atop mountains on the Night of Walpurga, a spring festivity that occurred the end of April which she had celebrated on her own for years. In her home country of Germany the fires roared on a peak called Brocken in the Harz Mountains, but that was a few hours north of where she'd lived and the young Lycan had never actually been able to see the festive fires for herself. A large fire would be a great way to celebrate on the night before the full moon, she thought.
In the near distance, for only a moment, Adele thought she heard something; the sound of footsteps on snow, or the snapping of a stick, or a sharp intake of breath. She wasn't certain exactly what, except that it was there. Looking over, the girl could only see the faintest shadow before it disappeared between trees and the endless white of snow. She tilted her head, gazing off with golden eyes in the direction of the sound a moment longer, Probably just an elk or something... Her stomach growled at the thought of meat and the wolf in her wanted to go chasing after whatever was over there, but she returned her attention back to the guys. "I'm kinda hungry. Did we bring food, or should we hunt?" The thought of a hunt was enticing, but she'd probably do that tomorrow night anyway.
Adele walked over to see if she could help with the bonfire.

[Peter Sharpe]

While the rest of the group jovially debated on what to do with the timber, Sharpe wasted no time putting Pablo's axe to work. He decided that not only was cutting the tree down into logs of a more managable size the safest decision, it would allow him to mentally communicate with Pablo without drawing the attention of the two blonde pups. Afterall, igniting a tree of that size would likely lead to the entire forest being consumed in some sort of horrific conflagration that none of them would survive. And two Lycans silently staring at eachother would surely garner some strange looks at the very least. Sharpe understood that he was already under the scrutiny of Alena and her ever watchful agents. He was wary of making Alena's favorite pup any more suspicious than he already was.

Unsurprisingly, Pablo's axe had a sharp and unblemished edge. Of course, Sharpe doubted that it would have mattered if the axe was as blunt as a sack of hammers... with the gift of unnatural strength, the wood simply fell apart as easily as if he'd been swinging an axe at a giant log of jello. "Pablo, as much as I wish we could all just sit around a bonfire and play an acoustic guitar forever, you and I both know that I won't be able to remain a neutral party in this much longer.I don't know who will approach me first, or whether they'll come to recruit me, or execute me. Not knowing where I stand is wearing on me. You know my loyalty has always been to the Pack... but I need to know who MY allies are. What would the sacrifices I've made, that Arai made, be worth if I met my end being hunted down and killed as a traitor?

Sharpe's ears nearly twitched as he brought the axe down in an arc towards the log before him. The way in which the blonde girl snapped her head around and gazed out into the forest confirmed his suspicions... she had heard something as well. Something that didn't belong. He quickly met Pablo's gaze and nodded, quickly and quietly setting the axe down by his feet. Sharpe had spent years hunting and in turn being hunted by other immortals... it had given him an acute sense of when he was being watched. If whoever, or whatever was watching them was friendly, they likely wouldn't have went through such lengths as to remain hidden. Sharpe gestured to the others, warning them to stay put, hastily disrobing. Judging by the age of the two blonde Lycans, he assumed neither of the two had the ability to change forms at will. Sharpe was the ranking member of the group, if one of them needed to investigate a possible ambush, it would be his job. He also had a distinct advantage in the frigid Norweigan mountains. He was rather exotic as far as other Lycans were concerned, being the first of only a handful of his kind in existance. Unlike other Lycans, Sharpe's pelt was as white as the full moon on a clear night... perfectly suited to hunt down the unwelcome guest without being seen.

His transformations had long since ceased to wrack his body with pain, and the proccess was altogether less taxing than it had once been. Regardless, Sharpe winced as he stretched his thick chorded muscles. The feeling of his bones and muscles changing form had always given him the shivers. Once more employing the mental link, Sharpe instructed the others to stay put before disappearing into the forest in pursuit of the potential threat.

[Damien]

Damien would have liked to join Pete in cutting the tree into bits, but the ferocity in the man's swings seemed to give a clear message that this was a solo job. Despite the fact that the Wolfmother herself had told him to watch his fellow american, the way in which the timber gave way to splinters dissuaded Damien from asking why he wished to be alone. Though he was confident that if the older Lycan had indeed alligned himself with his traitorous step-brother, present company would be able to restrain the man, if it came down to a one on one fight, he doubted that he would walk away from the encounter. Even armed, Damien would still be at a great disadvantage if face to face with the one they called Swiftpaw. Fortunately they had Pablo... one of Alena's most trusted. Though Damien had never witnessed the cocky man fight, it was well known that he was a force to be reckoned with.

He had considered making small talk with the rest of the group, but his hunger got the best of him. Fortunately, Damien wouldn't have to spend the night hunting wild game on an empty stomach... no, he had packed appropriately. Along with his clothing, Damien had stowed an entire backpack full of beef jerky in the back of the van before they departed, while nobody was looking. Though the Lycans all had super-human noses, he had faith that the jerky would be protected from their ravenous desires by the same thing that protected the jerky from the slow thief of decay; zip-lock bags.

After rummaging in the back of the van, he emerged victorious, with his glorious prize in hand. By his estimation, the backpack must have contained just ever so slightly more than thirty pounds of jerky. Gorging himself on the dried meat while walking back to his peers, he was surprised to find that his stomach was still growling. Only... it wasn't his stomach. Judging by the grimmace on Adele's face when she saw the food, Damien deduced that she hadn't packed any food of her own. The thought of consuming every last strip of the precious jerky in front of her crossed his mind, but he had made progress today. She didn't flinch when he made eye contact, and they even had exchanged words, however brief they may have been. Without a word, Damien lobbed the backpack towards Adele before plopping himself down on one of the logs they had arranged in a circle around where the bonfire would soon be. Just as he was about to yell "Feed your wildside!", he realized, crestfallen, the girl would have no idea what he was talking about, having spent the majority of her life in Germany.

Unfortunately he wouldn't have time to chuckle about jokes Adele wouldn't understand. As did the others, Damien had sensed something in the woods, something watching them. Without a word, Pete had set off into the forest, shedding both his clothing and his human form, stalking towards the source of the disturbance. He almost jumped as the Lycan made contact with the minds of the group, the voice was much more resonant than he had expected, and was accompanied by a sort of cooling sensation. They were told to stay put as he investigated. Any other time, Damien would have told his superior to take that order, and shove it up his or her ass... but the man was right in one regard. If whatever was watching them was up for a fight, Damien would be of no use in his current condition.

[Pablo]

Pablo appeared to be his normal self, sitting on a pile of snow; not a single care in the world. Yet that was rarely the case. He usually had a lot on his mind; such was the case for a man who wasn't only a high ranking official in The Pack but also a person who tried befriending nearly ever friendly living soul he's encountered throughout his life. His 'job' and the problems of his many friends always kept him busy. Such was the case at the camp. Pablo wasn't just staring up at the night sky admiring the stars while playing with a single blade of grass that had somehow come in his possession; he was also listening closely to Pete and his plight. Oh... politics and family.... Pablo could only assume the two don't mix well together. As Pete finished his short monologue Pablo tried hard to fight back a frown. One of the most important parts about communicating via-mental link in secret in front of other lycans was to hold back showing any emotion. "Adele, a big bonfire is rather redundant. I thought you knew that when it comes to fires it's either go big or go home."

Honestly, I'm not sure if you should be asking me this... After all it can be said that in this case I'm rather bias... But, since you asked this is what I think. You have always given The Pack your support and vice versa. I don't have to list the countless times you've fought in its name and I don't think I have to tell you when it's been there for you. The Pack rewards loyalty and that's all you've ever shown. I can guarantee that Alena will not send an assassin after you while you sleep as long as you’re still making up your mind. It simply wouldn't make sense. We're part of a family that is based around loyalty. Sure you may be Geoff's Step-Brother, but haven't you grown relationships with other members of The Pack that are now more important? You haven't left the pack, you haven't given Alena any reason to kill you... and The Pack hasn't given you a reason to think somebody's coming after you. Heck... Alena let Geoff leave after declaring his independence and threatening her. You're still in the middle of making up your mind, why would she give him the chance to get away and not you? Besides, even if she did send somebody after you while still a member of the pack; it wouldn't sit well with a certain brown fur lycan. She'd have more to worry about than just Geoff. If it helps at all... I'll request Alena to put you in a post where you have no chance of running into Geoff. I've found her to be a lot more understanding than people give her credit for.... or maybe she just likes me more than most.

Somewhere around the half-way point of Pablo giving Pete his two cents the youthful lycan had also picked up the presence of an intruder. Despite his curiosity he did not react to it. Pete seemed to have everything under control. He did stand up though and jump into the back of the van where he soon re-appeared from with an acoustic guitar in his hands. For a second Pablo considered whether Pete was simply reminding him in a very clever way that he'd left the instrument in the vehicle; however that seemed too silly for Pete. With a smirk Pablo sat back down and began to gently strum the strings of his guitar. "Well, I planned on starving myself until tomorrow night. I figured we'd all go hunting then. Can't either of you go a day without eating? Pete and I have gone for days.... maybe even a couple weeks."

[Adele Holst]

Adele watched with disinterest as Pete rested the ax down against a pile of wood and made gestures to the group which the girl took as meaning 'don't move'. She figured he'd heard the noise too and needed to answer the call of the hunt, but he was being awfully stern about it. Maybe he was calling dibs on the kill. Or maybe he was trying to assert dominance over the group; wolves were known for their ranks. That thought made Adele frown slightly, in the years she'd been a Lycan, the only real power struggle she'd witnessed or been part of had been with Damien, and most of that was, well, complicated. Alena carried an air of dominance about her and had been known to make some displays of her status, but that never really seemed like a struggle, more like a reminder. And amongst her Lycan friends there had never been such shows or contests. Their interactions were easy, everyone just fell in where they were needed. The blonde began to taste blood rising beneath the skin as she chewed her lip and shrugged the matter aside. Maybe this was just Pete 'falling in', she didn't really know him after all.
When the first article of clothing was stripped from the older Lycan, Adele looked aside to busy herself with arranging the chopped wood into a sloppy pile she hoped would serve as the bonfire. That's when the backpack dropped at her feet, falling heavy into the snow. The godly smell of Damien's jerky had already besieged her nose. The girl looked from the backpack full of salted meat to the silent boy sitting a few feet away on a log gnawing on jerky, not even really acknowledging that he'd made an offer. Boys could be so confusing. Her group in Germany had shared a lot, their smokes, drinks; some of the guys even shared their ladies. But Damien offering Adele food? It was so weird; so unexpected. Oddities aside, it was common knowledge that you do not deny the jerky, ever. Grabbing a bag and tearing it open, Adele smiled gratefully, "Thanks."
She finished assembling the wood pile with a grin, gnawing on the tasty salted jerky. When Pablo made his jest about eating, the girl looked at him thoughtfully, "I used to go days without as a Human, but... It seems like I get hungry easier now. Wait, you guys went weeks without food? How the hell did you manage that?"

[Peter Sharpe]

As always, the transformation was exhilarating. Even humans expirienced a sense of excitement while they hunted; this "thrill of the hunt" affected the lycans doubly so. Though Pete often wondered whether he or the beast was more excited at the prospect of blood and perhaps battle, it mattered not, the urge to sink his teeth and claws into yielding flesh was all the same. He was in his element. His thick fur shrugged off the norweigan chill, and his inhuman eyes allowed him to navigate in what he would have once considered pitch darkness. The dense forest was both a blessing and a curse. Because the thick canopy kept snow from accumlating on the ground below, Sharpe would be able to stalk through the darkness without giving away his position via the deafening crunch of ice and snow underfoot. Unfortunately, the dense forest also meant more places for a potential assailant to hide, ambush could be waiting behind, or up any tree... and here, they numbered in the thousands.

After perhaps forty minutes of fruitless pursuit, Sharpe decided that if something in this forest meant him harm, it would have chosen to do so while he was far from the aid of the others. He could not detect even the faintest trace of a scent foreign to the forest, and as the ground was both hard and devoid of snow, there would be no tracks left behind to follow. In all likelihood, the group was just a tad bit paranoid. But the possibility remained that they were indeed being watched, and who or whatever had been there was cautious enough to elude capture. His human side was ever so slightly relieved that he didn't walk into the forest alone to find a small platoon of immortals with the sole purpose of putting his head on a stick. But the wolf in him was somewhere between dissapointed and enraged that there was nothing but the smell of pine to greet him. Taking a moment to compose himself, Sharpe took in a large gulp of ice cold air, slowly exhaling as he reversed the lycanthropic transformation. With nothing left to do but return to the others empty-handed, he set off in the direction he came, silently noting that, interestingly enough, all the time spent in Athens in the form of a werewolf had actually hardened the soles of his feet in his human form.

Uppon arrival, he was surprised to see that the others still hadn't managed to light themselves a proper bonfire. What a strange sight. Three peculiarly underdressed people in their early twenties sitting around a pile of un-lit wood with an acoustic guitar. Bewildering. Making his way past them back to his clothes, he shook his head side to side in a "no" fashion, and projected to them over the mental link.

I didn't find a thing out of the ordinary.

[Adele Holst]

Stepping through the snow to the van, Adele rummaged through the trunk for some lighter fluid, still gnawing on a piece of beef jerky. She was surprised Pablo hadn't brought back the lighter fluid when he went to get his guitar, he'd always been the designated pyro of the group; but it was no big deal to her, she'd light the fire if he didn't want to. Procuring a bottle, she tucked it under her arm, and turned to the liquor she'd placed carefully in the snow, grabbing the bottle of rum and returning to the fire pit. Adele took her gloves off and pocketed them in her jacket, flipping open the cap of the lighter fluid with her thumb and dumping the entire contents over the pit as evenly as she could.
The blonde looked up as she heard Pete approach with news of his pursuit, and jumped slightly, as if scared. Oblivious, or perhaps just uncaring, Pete walked passed the group naked as the day he was born, wading through the snow and cold like it was no big deal, not a care about his lack of attire. Adele cracked open the rum bottle and took a healthy swig from it, and then another; she'd lost count, but felt like by this point she'd seen at least half the Den naked, which was half the Den more than she'd ever wanted to see.
Setting the rum down by Damien's backpack of jerky, Adele motioned to it, and further back where the vodka and moonshine were nuzzled in the snow, "Feel free to partake, I brought the booze for everyone." Adele lit and tossed match after match into the fire until two caught the lighter fluid and whooshed to life. The biggest grin Adele had worn in years lit up her face as the fire spread to the wood and crackled energetically. The bright flames made shadows dance across Pablo's face as he plucked lazily at the strings on his guitar, looking quite content.
Adele chose a spot at the end of the log Damien was sitting on, positioning herself between the blonde boy and Pablo. As she glanced over Damien, the play of fire on his eyes made her stop and stare for a moment; it was captivating how bright and lively they were. Like pools of molten gold, hot and full of emotion and experience, with the capacity of being unbearably hard when they cooled, breaking through the mental barriers of unsuspecting acquaintances. And so... like Perrin's eyes. Adele could count on one hand, with fingers left over, the number of people she'd met with golden eyes, and since meeting Perrin, each new pair of golden eyes struck her significantly. She forgot on a daily basis that she, too, now had those same gold eyes as Damien; the same that Perrin had. In her mind, she'd always have the soft grey eyes she was born with, but ever since her first Lycan transformation, when Perrin had died, Adele's irises changed to the rich color.
Averting her stare, the blonde took up the rum again and had another taste, smiling and holding the bottle over to Pablo, "So? Are you going to tell us what compelled you to go without food for so long?"

[Pablo]

"Not too well my friend. For a lack of better words it sucked a big hairy one." Pablo couldn't help but smile at his own statement. He was far too happy at the moment, not a single care in the world. There were no vampires to worry about in these mountains. No pups that needed to be watched over. It was just him, his friends, and a bonfire that had yet to be lit. There was no other place that he would rather be. Unfortunately it would be over all too soon. After this short vacation he would be back to fighting the good fight for who knows how long. To some that thought might deprive them of their happy mood, but not Pablo. The knowledge that this would only last so long motivated him to be happier. Not even the recent split in the lycan ranks could get to him.

Pablo's eyes lit up as Pete returned and sent out his mental message. "Well that's a disappointment, but not surprising. If it planned on sticking around it would have said something." He mumbled under his breath. The lycan then glanced over at Adele and smirked. "I was getting to that... but I needed Pete to return so he can add his input. Now that's he's here we can commence the said tale. Ahem." He began to play a melody to go along with his story telling; throwing in the occasional riff here and there. "So there's this here one time when Pete and I were in the Russian wilderness. It was winter and so damn cold... but we insisted we'd show nature what's what and packed only shirts and shorts. To make matters better when we were halfway through Siberia and then BAM blizzard! During the storm we lost most of our food and clothing. And there's really not much more to it... Both of us nearly became hypothermic, after a week without food I hunted down a deer, being a stubborn bastard Pete refused to eat and went searching for his own food. I shared a cave with a pack of wolves and after Pete returned we met some bird-girl. Which now that I think about it is probably the more interesting part of the story. There were scientists chasing her and they even managed to capture said bird-girl and Pete. In a show of thrilling heroics I had to save them... and then they saved me. It was very very exciting."

[Peter Sharpe]

Now fully clothed, Pete stepped into the clearing, eyeing the seating options available to him. The strange golden-eyed pair occupied one log with Pablo, there was another log opposite them, and a stump that oddly enough appeared as if it would be rather comfortable. Customarily, he would find a nice sturdy tree to lean against, but the fire had been strategically placed as to not set fire to the entirety of the Norweigan forestland. Frowning ever so slightly he plopped down on the stump, and couldn't help but wish that there HAD been something or someone watching the group from the trees. No one wandered into these parts, had there been someone out there, they would have known who they were spying on. His human side was ever so slightly relieved that there would be no fighting this evening, but the wolf in him reveled in the idea of an opponent that saw four Lycans and was not afraid.

Deciding that it would simply be inappropriate to tell campfire stories via the mental link, he cleared his throat loudly. "So..." he began, suddenly aware of both the difficulty involved with forming words, and how his voice had grown much deeper since last he heard it. "If we're going to tell stories of our old heroics, maybe we should start from the beginning, eh Pablo? I'm certain these pups would love to hear about how we absonded with a princess only to be attacked by a group of roaming vampires. Or the time we established a fully fledged Lycan Den with the assistance of Mikael Machernum. Or the time we battled against Richter Rossenhim, inadvertantly declaring war on every vampiric coven in Rome. We seemed to have a knack for slapping danger on the ass and getting away unscathed... Of course, we had a few other colorful characters in our group back then..." Though he didn't mention names, Pete was sure that Pablo understood which Lycans he was talking about. Arai, the wild redhead with a guilt-ridden past, the love of his life who had dissappeared years ago, and Namir Black, Pete's one time protege, who later became his sworn enemy. She had also mysteriously vanished years ago. Certainly there were stories to be told about their roles in the adventures Pete and Pablo shared, but Pete wouldn't be the one to tell them. Even after all those years, saying Namir's name left a bitter taste of betrayal in his mouth, and Arai's name still made his heart ache with loss.

"But how about you two," he questioned. "There must be some sort of story as to how you both have those eyes. I mean hell, even all things considered... those aren't normal." His curiousity had been nagging at him since he arrived at the Den in Stockholm.