Dominique only - do not read otherwise.

Sunday 22

That night Dominique has a visitor in her dreams. A wolf spirit comes to her and says that her pack is being watched and they should behave accordingly. Dominique asks who is watching and the spirit says that they are not her enemies, but not really their friends either.

October, 1998

Dominique is summoned to the Sept of the Morning's Glory. When she arrives, she meets Chloe Knife-Bright-Justice...

Dominique goes and speaks to her mother while Chloe takes this suggestion to the other sept elders. Dominique's conversation is strained and somewhat painful. The Sept elders agree, once the Master of the Rite has discussed with Dominique exactly what she intends to do. It takes a few days, as what she proppses is not part of the normal Silver Fang relationship with spirits. The Rite of Renunciation will also be cast on Charlotte's behalf, and she will be given the auspice of an Ahroun, in many ways the simplest auspice. It is decided to remove her memory entirely.

When the spirit of memory is summoned, it proves unwilling to destory Charlotte's memories. Instead, it proposes to transfer them to another. Dominique volunteers, and Chloe looks concerned, but agrees. Dominique takes the hand of the spirit and is flooded with all of her mother's 40 years of memories. For a time, she is confused and overwhelmed.

At the moot, the day after, Celeste Cleansed-by-Moonlight is presented to the Sept, and Dominique is honoured by the Garou name Shoulders-the-Burden. She is also presented with an eagle feather fetish - when activated, all will know the truth of the words she speaks.


October, 1999

Dominique leaves her obviously confused Sept mates at speed and runs towards the Grim Fortress where Marianna is waiting for her. She is passed by 6 knights going the other way - 2 break off and escort her into the castle and across the drawbridge which raises. The Lady Marianna meets her in the castle and once Dom has freed the Elder Fae from that nasty steel box, she takes the fetish. She suggests that one of her nobles, a Lord Umture take Dom to her rooms and makes sure she is comfortable. Dom asks after her pack and Marianna says that they will be admitted when they arrive.

Umture leads her around the Castle, and is polite and elegant. Dominique settles into her rooms, and continues her tour. There is a commotion at the main gate as they leave one of the beautiful ice-towers of the castle...


New Years Eve, 1999/2000

Eccles says "Its Friday night (NYE). Tuesday you got a visit from Thomas, 
  asking about a picture of Mathias." 
Eccles says "Wednesday you spent some of the day checking up on 
  Patricia. She seems to have dropped back into a mostly normal life, 
  but there is some lingering weirdness about her. She didn't go to 
  school for the rest of 1999 - her parents thought it would be better 
  to keep her close for a while." 
Eccles says "She hasn't grown any more, but her very odd experiences 
  left her a bit skittish. She spends some time alone every day... Would 
  you have tried to approach her or just watch from a distance?" 
Dominique says "Just watch: she never seemed too keen on the garou after 
  her scarring experiences earlier." 

Dominique says "How pregnant am I? (I can't keep track of these things 
  ;)" 
Eccles chuckles. "Not very. It probably doesn't show yet. 
Eccles says "About 2 months or so. If you were any normal garou, you'd 
  still have another month or so before you needed to be a bit more 
  careful changing forms. Given that's not an option still, you're just 
  an extremely healthy woman in first trimester" 
Eccles says "Its been a month since you were killed, and most of the 
  damage has healed. you're still a little easy to get out of breath and 
  you have some impressive scarring" 

Dominique says "Fear me for I am scarred. Don't fear me for I'm not very 
  rageful." 

Eccles grins. "Basically. 
Eccles says "There's nothing particularily urgent happening at Rippling 
  Waters - no Dancer infestations out here - so everyone is fairly laid 
  back at the moment." 

Dominique is sure she had a particularly wonderful family Christmas, 
  inside her own head. "Plenty of time for vegging out, checking on the 
  trees she planted a while back, boning up on spirit lore and other 
  exciting things." 
Eccles says "A few members of the Sept here aren't particular interested 
  in the Xmas thing, so you probably got to spend time with them - as 
  opposed to the ones with sprawling Catholicish families across the 
  countryside" 
Eccles says "On Thursday, you get invited to a New Years Eve bash with 
  some of the Garou and Kinfolk from Rippling Waters, in Koroit (about 
  5kms away)." 
Dominique says "Sounds peachy. Full of Fianna-brewish-goodness, I hope!" 
Eccles says "That's the plan. Catherine Lie-thrower (Master of the Challenge and master brewer) 
has been busy for a few months making brewish goodness." 

Eccles says "On Friday, about 7 o'clock, Gillian Battershill comes 
  around to pick you up. She's a bit early, so while you're getting 
  ready she lounges about." 

 Gillian says, "FiHoAh2, member of Spear of Tulu, and the person 
  who invited you to her party :)" 

Gillian says "Hope you won't be too overwhelmed tonight. It won't be all 
  my family there, only the bouncy younger ones." 

Dominique's head peeks around the door as she buttons up her top, "I'm 
  sure I'll cope. I've seen enough things to make your hair curl, so a 
  party filled with bouncy young fluffballs should be a piece of cake, 
  right?" 

Gillian grins. "Well, it will be kids from about 15 to adults about 40 
  or more. Some of them will fade as the night goes on I guess.... um. 
  You'll get questions about being pregnant. Well, a bit. From the less 
  clued in family I guess. 

Dominique's head vanishes and there's the sound of coathangers rattling. 
  At least two of them. A muttered complaint about 'nothing to wear' 
  before she responds, "Well that will be nice for them. Perhaps I 
  should make up some outrageous story so I can justify all their 
  gossip." She reappears: black pants, green top, shoes. Clothing, 
  really. 

Gillian smiles. "Its not quite like that. More... well, motheringly. I 
  keep getting nagged into having a kid, or at least remonstrated at 
  about it. I guess they just want to spread the fun. 

Gillian's phone rings. 

Gillian answers her phone with a faint frown. "'Lo? Yeah... um... 
Gillian goes to say something three or four times, but stops. You can 
  hear faint noises at the other end. 
Gillian rolls her eyes at you. 

Dominique frowns faintly, lifting a brow in enquiry. This leads to 
  interesting wrinkles on her forehead. 

Gillian says "Well, I'm nearly there, can't someone.... right. Yeah." 
Gillian says "How about Andy? ....... Ha figures." 
Gillian sighs. "Hang on a moment." She looks up at you. "Would you mind 
  if I dashed off for a bit to handle some family stuff? I won't be more 
  than 45 mins... 

Dominique ambles about, pocketing her keys, money. "Sure thing. I'd 
  offer to help but..." She trails off with a shrug. 

Gillian says "Its probably safer not to get involved." She removes her 
  hand from the phone. "Yeah, I'll be there in 20 or so. See ya."" 
Gillian gets up and grabs her keys. "Seeing as I have to go into town, 
  do you want anything to drink or whatever? 

Dominique says "Not beer. Some Strongbow?" 

Gillian says "I can do that. I'll grab it on the way back. See you 
  shortly!" 
Gillian heads out the door to her ute. 

Dominique is left to foodle about the house. She foodles. 

StoryTeller says "Tis indeed a theurge moon." 
StoryTeller says "Time drags a fair bit while you're waiting. You look 
  up, convinced its been an hour, when its only been 30 minutes. 
  Occasionally you can hear people partying or driving past and making 
  whoop noises - being the NYE before 2000, its kind of popular and 
  busy" 

Dominique pokes at her hair with a brush, peers at the time, ponders 
  then discards the idea of calling the pack to wish them a happy New 
  Year's, figuring they'll be busy partying. Bored, she peers into the 
  Umbra, just because. 

StoryTeller says "The umbra is pretty much as it usually is, although 
  you suspect that you're starting to have an impact on the umbral 
  reflection of the cottage." 
StoryTeller says "1 hour....." 

Dominique fidgets, peers out the window, contemplates changing her 
  outfit. Peers at the time. Surely nothing would have happend, right? 
  It's been quiet for ages, right? She's probably held up at the 
  bottleshop, right? Surely... 

StoryTeller says "You're fairly sure that the sept would let you know if 
  there was something wrong. The caern really isn't that far away and 
  they have emergency flares for when things get really bad (if, not 
  when. Really!)" 
StoryTeller says "1 hour 15..." 
StoryTeller says "1 hour 25..." 

Dominique flops onto the couch. Stares at the ceiling. Admires the 
  cobwebs. Checks her watch. Glares at the door. Mutters to herself. 

A clock, left here as part of the furnished cottage, bongs out 9 
  mournful tones. 

Dominique sighs explosively and gets up. She heads to the phone and 
  calls Gillian's mobile. 

StoryTeller says "It rings for a few moments and then is answered...." 

Gillian says "heo?" 

Dominique says "Gillian! Dom here. Where are you?" 
Dominique keeps it simple. Evil mobile reception. 

Gillian says "um's. Sorry abouis. I'll  
  possible." 

Dominique presses a finger to her free ear, as if this might magically 
  somehow make Gillian easier to be heard, "About how long will you be?" 

Gillian says "30 minutes  >beep beep beep<" 

Dominique frowns, drops hte phone back onto its cradle. "Crap." The rest 
  of the world is out partying while she gets to watch paint dry. When 
  it's already dry. 

The silence is deafening. 

...but slowly you can make out sounds from further away. Music. 
  Fireworks. People having fun. 

Dominique-just-call-me-Cinderella ponders other ways to get to the 
  party. Perhaps she could walk. 

StoryTeller says "Walking isn't beyond the bounds of possibility. Its 
  probably a 45 minute walk." 
StoryTeller says "Normally a taxi would be an option, but probably not 
  tonight." 

Dominique ponders if she has any other mobile numbers for other people 
  to give her a lift. 

(Dominique to StoryTeller Dominique) The roll is: 2. 0 matches vs diff 
  5. 

No. Nobody available for a lift. 

9:15pm 

Dominique lifts up the phone again and redials Gillian, mind made up. 

Gillian's phone rings once or twice and then clicks... "Hi, you've 
  called Gillian, I've probably let my phone run flat again. Leave me a 
  message, or call home. Catchya 

Dominique leaves a message, "Hi, It's Dom. I've decided to walk. It's 
  9.15, I should be there by 10. See you there!" That done, she scribbles 
  a note and stickytapes it to the front door. 

StoryTeller says "You should be there by 10ish if you head off now." 

Dominique gathers up a jacket and heads on out. 

StoryTeller says "As you head down the path to the front gate (a small 
  fence of wooden posts), you can see a guy standing next to his car 
  looking a bit lost. He looks up when you come out and walks a bit down 
  the path towards you." 

 Dominique says, "Does he look familiar? And I'm guessing I can't 
  smell too well in homid." 
 StoryTeller says, "No, not really. Legs, arms, the usual. Nope, no 
  sense of smell" 

Rumpled guy says "Scuse me miss, I seem to have got a bit lost..." 

Rumpled guy stops about 3 metres from you. "Um, I was looking for the 
  turn off to Koroit? 

 Rumpled guy says, "Make a per+alt roll?" 

(Dominique to Rumpled guy Dominique) The roll is: 1 1 2 3 5 8 8 8 10(9). 
  3 (+1) matches vs diff 5. 

 Dominique admires those 1s. 
 Rumpled guy says, "Lookit those ones :)" 
 Rumpled guy says, "You notice that he's dress kind of warmly for 
  what has been a fairly balmy day (about 25 deg)" 
 Rumpled guy says, "Roll wits+altertness, diff 8 :)" 

Dominique smiles noncommitally, "Going to the ... a big party there?" 

(Dominique to Rumpled guy Dominique) The roll is: 1 2 4 4 5 5 10(5) 
  10(3) 10(7). 2 matches vs diff 8. 

Rumpled guy says "No." He sort of steps back and swings a sawnoff 
  shotgun out from under the jacket he was wearing. "Its silver" 

 Dominique says, "Anyone else nearby to see a weird guy waving a 
  shotgun around?" 
 Rumpled guy says, "Not in your immediate vision. You're more or 
  less at the end of one of the backstreets." 

Rumpled guy says "I suggest you don't make any false moves. I know what 
  you are, and I know what you can do. I won't think twice if you step 
  out of line" 

Dominique musters the 'I'm humoring a freak' look. She's more used to 
  seeing it on other people's faces, but it's worth a try, "Uhh... I 
  don't know what you're talking about, but... What do you want? Money?" 

Rumpled guy says "Don't fuck with me." A tick starts up in his eye. "I 
  know about Rourke, and I know about you. Come on." 
Rumpled guy he backs out the path and onto the footpath, jesturing with 
  the gun. 

Dominique follows slowly. Damn silver. Damn lack of rage. "Rourke? I 
  haven't seen him in ages. What do you want?" 

Rumpled guy says "Yeah, he just disappeared. Funny that. Funny how you 
  all just disappear. Go to the back of the car." He jestures with the 
  gun again, not enough to aim it away with you, just enough to point at 
  the white van in the street. "Go to the back and open it." 

 Dominique says, "Do I still have a mobile phone?" 
 Rumpled guy says, "Roll a dice for luck." 

(Dominique to Rumpled guy Dominique) The roll is: 6. 1 matches vs diff 
  5. 

 Rumpled guy says, "Ya, but its ina bag. Not easy thing to get to. 
  And this guy looks nervous and a bit trigger happy." 

Dominique edges vanwards, keeping an eye on the gun and the guy. She 
  peers in the window before fumbling with the opening mechanism. 

The windows are actually whited out, so you can't see in. The van is a 
  recent registration, Victorian. 

 Rumpled guy tries to decide on a way to convey information. "The 
  latch is open" 

Rumpled guy says "Open it and get in." 

Dominique contemplates complaining that it's jammed, but pushes not her 
  luck and opens the door she does. Gets in she does. 

 Dominique makes a mental note of the reggo. 

Rumpled guy approaches a little. The inside of the van is not 
  reassuring. Bolts have been fitted to some of the struts, with twisted 
  wire cable leading off them, which in turn leads to handcuffs. 

 Rumpled guy says, "cool." 

Rumpled guy says "Take the ones on your right. Put them around you 
  feet." 

Dominique scowls, making a mental note of the Rumpled Guy, already 
  starting to think up creative ways to disembowel... to get someone 
  /else/ to disembowel him. Sullenly she does as told. 

Rumpled guy says "Ok.. now the other pair. Put them on your wrists." 

Both pairs are fairly solidly attached to the car, without much slack in 
  them at all. The second pair, however, have silver wire bound around 
  them as well. 

 Dominique says, "Well that's gonna sting. What are the odds of 
  faking putting them on, without actually locking them?" 
 Rumpled guy says "Its going to be /very/ uncomfortable. You could 
  give it a shot...they're not toy ones though. They look fairly 
  serious. They've also been scuffed up or had soemthing done to them so 
  they aren't reflective, or not in big enough pieces to let you 
  step..." 
 Dominique dances on the crumpled body of the rumpled guy. Yay, I'm 
  free. Suicide saves the day. "Allrighty. What else in the van looks 
  remotely shiny, if anything (struts, rear-vision mirror)? I'll start 
  putting the cuffs on, but I don't wanna actually lock them, if it can be 
  at all avoided. And if I can wangle getting my shirt sleeves between 
  the silver and my skin, that'd be nice too. Greedy, that's me." 
 Rumpled guy grins. "Nothing immediately apparent seems reflective. 
  In fact, the mirror in the car has a cover on it. Roll dex + 
  subterfuge, diff 7 

(Dominique to Rumpled guy Dominique) The roll is: 2 2 5 5 7 8. 2 matches 
  vs diff 7. 

 Rumpled guy coughs as he rolls 5 successes for the guy to 
  notice... 

Rumpled guy says "Don't fuck me about! You want to spend the rest of 
  your life without legs, that's your choice! Lock the fucking things!" 

 Dominique repeats the oh-so-expressive 'Spud'. 
 Rumpled guy favours 'bother' at the moment :) 

Rumpled guy looks fairly pissed off and is jesticulating at you with the 
  shotgun wildly 

Dominique winces, throwing up a vague wish for Mikal's 'Resist Pain' as 
  she snaps the suckers shut. Do not upset the feral with the gun. 
  "Where are you taking me?" Fidget, delay. Every minute might bring 
  Gillian closer. If she's lucky. 

The touch of silver is like having metal taken straight from the fridge 
  placed on your kidneys. Its very very squirmy. 

Rumpled guy says "McDonalds. I thought you'd like to kill a few more 
  children." 
Rumpled guy comes closer once he's satisfied that you're locked in. He 
  puts down the shotgun carefully and pulls a knife. He pulls out some 
  duct tape. 

 Dominique says, "How close is he to teeth which bite? And how much 
  can I move legs/arms to kick shotgun away/kick him?" 

Dominique's eyebrows climb, "Kill children? What are you talking about?" 
  Genuinely indignant. 

 Rumpled guy says, "You're at a really awkward angle in the van - 
  sort of front left to back right lying down. Kicking is limited to 
  about 6 inches. He's put the shotgun down /outside/ the car." 
 Dominique quoth, "Bugger." 

Rumpled guy pulls off some of the tape and cuts it with the knife. 
  "Don't play innocent with me, you fucking monster." He waves the knife 
  at you. "Also silver. I'm not sure how fast you'd bleed to death, but 
  I suspect it will be long enough for me. So if you want to keep your 
  guts on the inside, don't move a muscle. 
Rumpled guy steps up into the van and kneels down across your abdomen. 

Don't move a muscle. With silver wrapped around each wrist and a big 
  smelly lump kneeling on her unborn child. Dom's teeth grind, stomach 
  tense. 

Rumpled guy leans forward and goes to put the strip of duct tape across 
  your eyes. 

 Dominique says, "Does his knife look silver?" 
 Rumpled guy says, "Hard to tell. If there wasn't the silver around 
  your wrists, you might be able to sense it. It looks like /something/ 
  has been done to it, but at the base its a normal knife (like you'd 
  buy at aussie disposals." 
 Dominique says, "I take it he's still got his knife in the other 
  hand?" 
 Rumpled guy says, "Yep, in his right hand, and sort of pinching 
  the tape with that hand." 

Rumpled guy wraps the tape half way around your head, and slaps down the 
  end in a non-gentle sort of manner. 

Dominique is left to glare against the back of her eyelids. How's she 
  meant to inventively step now? Some New Year's Eve this is turning out 
  to be. 

You hear him move around a bit, and then wrap something across the 
  bottom half of your head. "Open your mouth." 

Dominique musters a piss-poor excuse for a growl before opening her 
  mouth. Do not repeat the sins of the mother and bite the human, 
  tempting as it seems. 

 Rumpled guy giggles. 

Rumpled guy stuffs a cloth gag in your mouth, and then ties it fairly 
  tight. You can still breathe, but its not much fun. 

You hear him get out and close the back of the van, and then the front 
  door open. 

Dominique starts chewing on the cloth. Tasty delicious tearable cloth. 
  Oh for wolf teeth and claws and Crinos strength and size and biting 
  and tearing and munching and crunching. Bother, said pooh. 

The van starts up and moves off... 

 Rumpled guy giggles again. "First there's the oohing and the 
  aahing, but then there's the running, and the yelling and screaming... 
 Dominique laughs. ;) 

The van makes a number of turns and then it sounds like he's moving out 
  onto the highway. 

 Rumpled guy says, "roll per + primal urge, diff 9" 

(Dominique to StoryTeller Dominique) The roll is: 4 6 7 7 9 10(10(6)) 
  10(10(2)). 3 (+2) matches vs diff 9. 

 Dominique works on memorising the noises/directions of where she's 
  getting dragged to. 
 StoryTeller says, "Oo. Ok, you can pretty much tell that he has 
  moved out of Killarney via the back routes and thenonto the highway, 
  heading towards Melbourne." 

StoryTeller says "The trip is interminable. Faint rumbling from the 
  wheels below you, silver slowly feeling like its burning or freezing 
  your wrists, mouth dry from the gag." 

Dominique kicks, trying to tear free the cuffs from the strut. She 
  bites, trying to get rid of the cloth. She even works on trying to 
  dislodge the nasty tape around her eyes: free eyebrow waxing, dahling! 
  Maybe this'll help distract from the silver. Bored, scared, angry, 
  frustrated, downright terrified. She's a big scary garou, dammit. 

Excessive strugging get you punched in the head, and a growl to cut it 
  out. The cuffs are very well anchored, but you can manage to soak the 
  gag and chew it enough to move it to one side - you could probably 
  yell as coherently as you can in crinos now. 

You'd guess that he has swung north (spidey sense) as he's come through 
  Warnabool and along the Hamilton highway. Hours pass... 

Dominique rather suspects that yelling won't achieve much right now, so 
  she satisfies herself with the petty victory of being able to swallow 
  without choking. C'mon Gillian. Questing Stone. Come find me. 
  Pleeeeeeaaaase. 

 StoryTeller says, "roll wits + primal urge" 

(Dominique to StoryTeller Dominique) The roll is: 1 1 2 2 2 4 5. -1 
  matches vs diff 5. 

 Dominique chokes and dies on her own curse. 
 StoryTeller sighs. "Ok..... 
 Dominique says, "Any chance of mindspeaking the pack? The totem? 
  The police? I'd settle for Sullivan Dane." 
 StoryTeller says, "Hours and hours and hours go past. Panic comes 
  and goes, and then depression - if only you could rage now...." 

It must be coming up to dawn when you can start to feel the pack by the 
  Kanau link.... 

Dominique hollers through the link, "Pack? Paaaaack. Heeeelp meeeeeee!" 

StoryTeller says "You suspect that its only a vague emotional link - you 
  can't hear them, but can feel a sense of rising panic. As you get 
  closer, it starts to resolve itself into coherent thought.... what's 
  the first message you try and get through to them? :)" 

Dominique says "Kidnapped by a mortal who /knows/." 

Monday 22

Waking up early, Dominique hears Melissa's voice in her head. Mel asks if Dom would take her out to speak to Kanau - she really doesn't want to do it in front of all the other guys. Dom agrees and they sneak off, leaving a note.

The two of them travel out to near Mt Macedon, and move into the Umbra. Dominique summons Kanau, who arrives fairly quickly. Melissa asks him about releasing her from the pack, because she is obviously not part of their greater destiny. Kanau says that Melissa does not have the something that is nothing within her, that is true. However, "they also serve who stand and wait" - not all the pack is needed for the same tasks, and the path that some of the pack walk is not for all. Dom asks about her task, and Kanau says that she has her own tasks, but they may not necessarily also lie with the rest of the pack. He seems to sense that this is important to the two Garou, and puts forth that what he senses is that they still both have a connection with the fate of the Bunyip and the Dreamtime, but it may not be tightly interwoven with the others of Holistic Approach.

Intriguing, what? Melissa asks if this means she should leave the pack, and Kanau suggests that he does not know if she should leave, but that she could. He knows not the future precisely, nor does he know more than he knows at any given time - it is his nature to respond to the moment and guide the pack, but it is their free will that shapes what is to come. They thank the enigmatic spirit, who returns to the sky.