In a Hole!

[Rain Singer]

The air in the hole was barely breatheable. It reeked of strong B.O, bad breath and skunk cabbage. Or, as his packmates called it, boiled gross. The hole in the snow was ten feet on all sides, covered with a wooden plank, and Gaia knows how much snow.
Layla, Eric, Lies at Risk, and Rain Singer were all going to be down here all week. There really wasn't enough food(or air), and it was cold. Survival training had never been this much fun!

[AST Tai]

Sitting in the hole a latrine had been built in one corner by Eric who had finally woken up from being knocked out and high on toad petting. In less than a day she had lost a packmate, strapped one of her pack mates to her back to climb the mountain, knocked the drugged one out and carried him, and helped dig a huge hole with her swords. Lies at Risk seemed peaceful enough on the wall meditating, Eric was muttering his loss of pants which now resided at the bottom of the mountain and Rain Singer was stretched out near the bench Lies at Risk had made while digging. Going over to the bench Layla rearranged her swords and bottle on her hip and made a sleeping spot the best she could and laid down. "Nap time." Wrapping her jacket tighter she buried her head in Rain Singers fur and fell asleep.

[Nate]

"There are stories buried in the deeper darkness," Lies begins to speak, softly, melodiously. "Tales that deserve to die. An idea is bullet-proof, a story immortal, as long as it is told. Some things deserve to be forgotten."

Like the story of Lies-at-Risk, called Jumps-the-Shark, the Cliath Tale-singer. The darkness comforted him as he battled his rage, and hate, and fear, and loneliness, and despair.

"There are so many secrets buried in the darkness with us, secrets that could do great harm if they were ever carried to the light. Galliards deal in stories, not truths. People in this Sept seem to have forgotten that. They want truths from us, and we know that they would use them as weapons."

Like the truths about thieves and leadership. Of deals made in the dark with leeches. Of nightmares that will bring hell down upon the innocent of this area, whether they were ready or not, because of fools wanting to keep the greater glory for themselves.

"Everyone knows me as a loud-mouth, someone who talks too much. They deal with me as little as possible, taking everything that they can, and then shoving me back into a hole. Where I deserve to be."

But no one wonders why Lies speaks so loudly, why he stands up time after time, to yell the truths that he knows his elders are not ready to hear.

"And no one remembers that silence is defined by the absence of noise. The longer the silence, the louder the crash when it all comes falling down. The louder the crash, the more defined the silence that follows."

In silence and darkness, Lies had done amazing things that no one will ever know. What they saw and heard were his mistakes. When he performed his job perfectly, flawlessly, no one could know.

"Light needs darkness to define it, and I am a creature of shadows. People need a bad guy to make themselves feel better, and I can wear that mask very well. I was born into the cold, alone. I was raised in silence, only touched to be hurt. No one has ever given me a hand up from the dirt, only ground me further into the earth. Those that have offered help, only set me up to hurt me deeper."

Lies stops a moment, to create more air, blessed fresh air, that he was wasting with his words. Words that faded into the blinding darkness. He couldn't tell if anyone was still awake to hear his whispers.

"Do you have any idea what if feels like to return to the same empty, cold bed that awaits you every night? That as far as you can see into the future, that will never change? That by your very nature, you will betray and be betrayed?"

Over and over again, the cycle of birth, suffering, death, rebirth, suffering. Could anyone blame him for trying to break the cycle, anyway he could?

"And here is a final bit of wisdom. Everyone is going to die screaming, and alone. That is the fate for everyone. No one goes before death with anything more than themselves. Eventually, we are all forgotten."

Lies looks above with blind eyes, through the snow and stone to where another creature of smoke and shadows was wheeling through the night sky.

"My Numan friend," he speaks in spirit-tongue, "carry this tale to the Theurges of this Sept, and see if any of them can call it wrong."

[Torr / Dr. Alexander]

He rubs the side of his head trying to clear it. Looking around the hole everyone looks some what warm. "My head hurt, my pants are at the bottom of the mountain and I'm cold. Why the hell are we here." Sitting down he closes his eye's and fall asleep.

[Nate]

Lies sighs in the darkness.

"And this is how you prepare for war. By sleeping through the hardships. Good luck surviving the war."

Between meditation and short naps, Lies chats with spirits of the area.

Information never stops flowing, knowledge never sleeps.

[AST Tai]

Waking from her nap Layla rubs her eyes and looks across the dim hole. "I'm not sure how you manage it, I need sleep every so often even if it's just a nap." Addressing Lies she moves a little closer since the other two boys appeared to be asleep still. "Were going to be here a while so how about a little chat, Lies?" Biting back the urge to do something stupid knowing they were technically underground now Layla rips the cap off her whiskey and takes a sip, half the bottle left and seven days to go. Placing the cap back on she secures it to her waist again and looks at the modest surroundings, "This week is going to suck, I am NOT looking forward to the BO by the time we get outta here." Hoping to crack the ice a little but not to optimistic Layla leans against a wall and waits for Lies to acknowledge her.

[Nate]

Lies sighs, breaking his meditation once again.

"Weakness must only be shown if it brings a tactical advantage. Sleep when no one knows you need it, stay where no one knows.

Body odor is only offensive if you allow it to be. True with most things. Ignore the pointless inconveniences, learn from the flaws of others. Distract them with a song and dance routine. And once they're trapped in a hole with no escape, create just enough air for your own lungs."

A moment of silence.

"Sorry, didn't mean to say that out loud. I must be tired."

[Rain Singer]

Huh... You guys are up already?
Rain Singer sniffed the air, then regretted doing that.
This is going to be a long week.

[AST Tai]

Layla looks over to Lies and then over to Rain Singer who was just waking up, "Were in a hole with nothing better to do than talk, sleep, and survive. Go sleep if you need it, I'll let you hold onto my swords if your really that concerned about us shanking you or something." Layla reaches and pulls the long swords from her sides under the trench placing both on the ground. They reminded her of Llue and her former pack. Sitting down she took a second sip and sighed. "Been one hell of a summer so far."

[Nate]

"I don't think you understand, I'm still awake not because I fear dying in my sleep. There are much worse ways to die. I'm awake because there's a ton of snow and stone above us, and earth all around. If I sleep, if I mistime creating air, we'll all die."

Lies stops speaking for a moment, and the sound of his head falling into his hands can be heard in the darkness.

"Than again, that might just be my arrogance speaking for me. I seem to think that I can solve every problem on my own. The price you pay when alone is mostly what you know. And alone is safer then allowing people close enough to hurt you. Wake me up when you find it difficult to breathe. Or if a spirit returns and wants to speak."

[AST Tai]

"Try as you might you'll need sleep eventually, go ahead and rest. When were needing air we'll let you know, until then just sleep." Layla looked over to Rain Singer again and sighed, the wolf sitting blinking in the dark looked like he wanted to talk. "Care to join us Rain Singer?" She called him over.

[Rain Singer]

Rain Singer walked over.

"I remember one time, Back in Canada, when My siblings all kept me awake for two days. I certainly was happy to sleep at the end of that. But they were too young to know what they were doing."

[Nate]

"Siblings, eh?" Lies said drowsily. "Family. I wonder, what was that like?"

[AST Tai]

Layla looks up at the 'celing' and rolls her eyes. "I wonder that too actually." Looking over at Rain Singer she lowers her voice and asks softly as her voice will go, "What is it like anyways?"

[Rain Singer]

"You mean neither of you had a family? I'm so sorry! I can't imagine how that must feel. Even though I haven't seen them since i left canada they will always be a part of me."

[AST Tai]

Layla smiles and looks over to Rain Singer, "I have a father, he cares and wishes me well and tells me to live a good life, he'll be sad when I die. You know cause I will, I'll die young and hopefully in battle. He doesn't really get that though, he's kinfolk but it's not the same always you know. Someday I'll be gone and he'll understand why but he won't understand why I went so young. It's all about perspective I guess, but that's my only family, just him. Your's sounds big though." She wondered if the other two were still asleep or just not talking, she rarely talked about herself and suddenly hoped they were asleep afterall.

[Nate]

"I killed my mother when I was born, before she could give me a name. The birthing just went wrong, the town Alderman told me. As for my father . . ." Lies became silent for a moment, searching his heart. What was left of it anyways. "I really hope that he's still alive, and suffering every moment of it."

He trails off back to silence, and mentally does the math.

"Wait, how did a Fianna wolf-cub end up in Canada?"

[Rain Singer]

"Dying in battle. No better way to go that I can think of!
I'm glad you at least have him. Does he still live in ireland?"

"My family has always been up north. Came over on a boat with the humans a long time ago."

"I'm sorry about your mother. Did something happen between you and your father?"

[AST Tai]

Layla sighed, "No he lives in Michigan with my mother. I dropped outta school and society for the most part when I raged, I wasn't fit to be in public- to many questions. Rolled on over to the local sept and patched up and sent on a boat to Ireland for a couple years, came back got handed a car and told to go find my own way. Drove til I hit water and well it's as home as I could hope to be." She sighed and pulled her jacket a bit tighter around her before looking over to Lies at Risk, "Can't sleep?"