Fallout Shelter #17(#3791RAJ).
Contents:
Sebek
Hazmat
Teddy Bear
Obvious exits:
Hatch
Set.
Sepdet is in the kitchen, sitting up on the counter with her feet dangling so she can reach the stovetop more easily, humming from the other room to reassure Sebek with the presence of her voice.
Sebek smiles slightly, picking up the bear again and hugging it.
Hazmat pulls her socked feet off the floor, sitting crosslegged on the bed. "Yuh doin' good, then?"
Sepdet's singing stops, and she emits a yip. ~Food's ready.~
Sebek shrugs. "My dreams are scary and I still feel bad, but I'm with you and Sepdet."
Hazmat nods to Sebek and then looks up alertly at the yip. ~Cool!~
Sepdet slips down from the counter. ~I made it, but you got to carry it,~ she says with fairly good cheer. "Dahl."
Hazmat grins and hops off the bed, padding sock-shod to the kitchen to carry the food out.
Sebek slips out of the bed and moves to his sister's side. His legs seem much stronger and sure today.
You paged Hazmat and Sebek with 'Which is chickpeas, rice. She left off the curry, threw in some mild onions for taste. Indian chicken soup.'.
Sebek pages to Hazmat and Sepdet: Better than I've eaten in a while. Better than Sebek's ever eaten.
Sepdet pats Sebek's arm. ~You're going to be running races around me, Sen.~
Sebek shakes his head. ~Why would I do that?~
Hazmat eyes Sepdet as she sets things up for the soup. Bowls, water, napkins. She doesn't bother with spoons. ~How're _you_ doin', Seppie?~
Sepdet smiles at Hazmat. ~Doin' good. A little sore--I tried crawling upstairs til I was high enough I could call home and tell them I'm okay.~
Hazmat nods. ~Good, yah.~
Sebek looks at the cooking food curiously.
Sepdet gives Sebek a wink. ~I was joking. I been in a coyote pack two years, it's made me a bit of a no-moon.~
Sebek smiles a little. "Coyote?"
Hazmat utters a fairly decent, high-pitched yip and grins at Sepdet.
Sebek says "I don't have a pack."
Sebek looks at the food again.
Sepdet looks faintly embarrassed, but grins at Hazmat. ~Yeah. They liked me, and they decided I needed to loosen up. I was still very unsure of myself when I got here, and they were tired of me calling everything including the rocks 'rhya'.~
Sepdet gets a bowl. ~Give it a try. It's closer to our own food--a few onions in it, and something like barley.
Hazmat gets a bowl too and sniffs at it a bit. ~Smells good.~
Sebek says "Why would you call a rock 'rhya'?"
Sepdet taps Sebek's shoulder gently. ~Again, a joke. I'm afraid you will have to get used to me doing this. It's a habit.~
Sebek nods, seconding Hazmat's opinion. He takes a bowl himself.
Hazmat pads back to the main room and sits on the floor, bringing the bowl to her lips.
Sebek follows Hazmat, sitting on the floor and eating carefully, trying to avoid messing up the floor.
Sepdet slips back a little more slowly, after filling her canteen at the sink. She starts to sit down next to him, winces, and pulls a cot closer so she can perch on the edge of it and lean her knee against his shoulder for comfort. ~Any good news lately?~
Hazmat thinks. ~Oh-Jay got free, they said.~
Sepdet looks puzzled. ~What did?~
Sebek looks as perplexed as his sister. ~What is an Oh-Jay?~
You paged Hazmat and Sebek with '. o O (That some kind of spirit?)'.
Hazmat shrugs. ~Some human named Oh-Jay. They were thinking and wondering for weeks trying to decide if he killt his mate an' some other guy. But finally they decided he didn't.~ She wrinkles her nose. ~Humans are weird.~
Hazmat says, ~They were talkin' all about it lots th' other day.~
The confusion on Sebek's face grows. ~Humans kill people all the time. Why does this one matter so much?~
Hazmat shrugs again. ~I dunno. Maybe they just sometimes pick one to pay attention to, or something. It's weird. This guy I know, Bobby, sez Oh-Jay got free becuz he had lotsa money.~
Sepdet sighs. ~Humans,~ she notes softly, ~Have other humans instead of spirits and totems, they're so lonely. And then they talk about them a lot. But I was wondering about the caern.~ She pauses between bites, and smiles proudly at Sebek. ~They let me be Groundskeeper. It feels strange, believe it or not, to be away from it.~
Hazmat blinks. ~Oh! You shoulda said.~ She grins a bit and then shrugs. ~I ain't been in days. Were yuh at the Moot?~
Sebek looks up at his sister. ~Really? Is the caern pretty?~
Hazmat tells Sebek, ~It's _very_ pretty.~
Sebek smiles a little, pausing between bites of food. ~I want to see it when I'm better.~
Sepdet nods at Hazmat, then her smile grows softer at Sebek. ~It is nothing like the desert. But it is /green/, like the banks of the Nile after a good flooding, green as good can be. And there are spirits there, and earth, and I can watch the stars at dawn. I will take you there, when this is all over.~
Hazmat nods wistfully. ~An' the woods're real nice, too.~
You paged Hazmat and Sebek with 'That's not a slip. In my store of Useless Egypt Trivia is the fact that 'red/green' is the equivalent of our concept of 'black/white'.'.
Hazmat pages to Sepdet and Sebek: And I learn more Egyptian stuff from Sepdet. :) Cool.
From afar, to Hazmat and Sepdet, Sebek grins.
You paged Hazmat and Sebek with 'They should tell all failed Egyptology majors to play Garou. :)'.
Sebek says, ~I would like that.~
Sebek sighs. ~I have not seen home for a very long time.~
Sepdet continues to eat, watching him silently to see how he's doing. ~I was there this winter,~ she shivers, ~but not for very long. They don't welcome me. Tell me...tell me about this stepfather? How you grew?~
Hazmat's expression becomes intent with interest.
Sebek eats heartily, his appetite stronger than before (perhaps it's the food). ~My step father was named Khonsu, an ahroun. He was very scary, but nice. He died when I was six.~
Sepdet bites her lip. ~Khonsu, moon man. Was he from our parent's caern? Or some place else?~
Sebek says, ~He was from Morocco. I don't know why he was in Egypt. I never got to ask.~
Sepdet rubs Sebek's shoulder. ~I bet he came for you. Striders know things. Was he a Seer too?~
Sebek says, ~He knew lots of spirit things. I don't know how he could get into the Otherworld, he got so angry sometimes.~
Sepdet smiles a little. ~Did he give you your name?~
Sebek says, ~I think so. He never said who gave me it. I think it fits, though you can't tell now.~
Hazmat cocks her head, puzzled.
Sepdet sniffs at him worriedly and sighs, taking an irritated spoonful of rice.
Sebek says, ~After that, a woman named Theran took me to her place over here. A secret place in New Orleans. She was an ahroun too. She taught me how to fight.~
Sepdet looks up at the mention of that city. ~Heya. The Gnawers that took me in, after I was found and driven out of Waset, home, and we "stowed away" on a ship to New Orleans.~
Sebek says, ~Really? Did you stay there long?~
Hazmat cocks her head.
Sepdet's face clouds somewhat. ~Half a year. Ibis found me and decided to set me straight before someone else decided to make a meal out of me. The Gnawers were kind, but they didn't have time to teach a crescent moon; it was more than enough they taught me how to hide in human cities.~
Sebek frowns. ~How old were you?~
Sepdet counts back on her fingers. ~Almost ten.~
Sebek sighs. ~We were so close...~
Hazmat's eyes dart from one to the other, quietly.
Sepdet makes an exasperated noise, stroking his cheek. ~So close. You were okay there? I had...problems. A leech got Ibis' apprentice while she and I were exploring. I don't think he ever forgave me for that.~
Sebek frowns. ~You couldn't control that.~
Sepdet sighs. ~Maybe he did. Maybe I just...you know. She was his better student.~ She finishes off her bowl and takes a sparing sip of water. ~Theran, heh? You probably know how to fight better'n me.~
Sebek says, ~Theran said I was a very angry little boy. She said the wyrm cursed me with great anger.~
Hazmat blinks. ~Anger?~ She looks at Sebek, puzzled.
Sepdet bites her lip, eyes widening a little. ~Heya,~ she says softly.
Sebek says, ~She once said it was Luna's great gift. Sometimes she called it a wyrm curse, but I think it was because she had much rage too that she called it different things.~
Sebek says "She said it made me smell like the Wyrm."
Sebek frowns, eating the last of his food. ~But I've been good. I don't understand.~
Sepdet's head droops. ~Too much anger does that. Remember that the Wyrm destroys, and that it wasn't always evil. Now /we/ fight, and /we/ kill, and these two things are in our blood. Burns-bright, a Stargazer, told me that he thought we have taken the Wyrm's old place as that which culls and trims. I do not think it is so, but it is close to truth.~
Hazmat considers. ~Maybe. But, Seppie, Burns-Bright is nice, but he thinks too much sometimes.~
Sebek doesn't seem too reassured. ~I wish I wasn't as angry. It scares the spirits away sometimes.~
Sepdet keeps her hand firmly on Sebek's shoulder. ~I know good seers who hold anger in them, or shadows. My own teacher now, my semsw, Eligio Sacateca, is like this. We cannot choose the curse we're born with, brother, but at least we can figure out what it is, and mind our steps. You'll be all right.~
Hazmat grins a bit. ~And try not t'let it make yuh stupid.~
Sebek sighs. ~We all have many curses. Especially us.~
Sebek smiles a little at Hazmat.
Sepdet sets her empty bowl down and slips off the mattress carefully, moving around to face him earnestly. ~Does it bother you too?~
Sebek nods slightly. He glances down at the floor. ~I'm not supposed to say it does, but...it does.~
Hazmat is puzzled again. ~Why na' supposed to say?~
Sebek says, ~Because we can't help it. Because, if we think about it too much it hurts us more.~
Sepdet slips her hands onto Sebek's forearms, looking up at him with keen old eyes much like his own. ~Telling us not to worry or think about it is stupid. I know. People told me this here for many moons, Hazmat. Then the leader of the coyote pack came to me, Toxic Bluefur. She's a Glasswalker. She was Talesinger. And she told me something that made far more sense.~
Hazmat ohs and looks curiously at Sepdet.
Sebek locks eyes with his sister, curiously.
Sepdet switches to a casual, slurred English that is quite obviously a different language for the Garou-raised Strider. "Ya birth is cursed by th' Wyrm. Fact. So ya know whatcha gonna do? Yaz gonna make the Wyrm regret it, rest of ya life, that it ever tried t'mess with yaz."
Hazmat grins widely. ~Toxic-rhya said that?~
Sebek's brow wrinkles. ~Someone talks like that?~
Sepdet's eyes crinkle slightly. ~She did.~
Hazmat looks at Sebek. ~Toxic Bluefur was one of the greatest Garou of the Sept,~ she says solemnly.
Sebek frowns his understanding. ~Oh.~
Sepdet's voice is warm and slightly wistful. ~She also talked me into following Coyote's path, so you must think twice about what she says. But--if you can understand what I just quoted--I think she is right.~
Sebek puts his empty bowl on the floor and slips onto the bed.
Sepdet moves after him, touching his hand. ~Heya. You doing all right?~
Sebek nods, slipping a gentle arm around his sister's shoulders.
Sebek says, ~Khonsu told me something that he said would keep me strong too.~
Sepdet goes quiet, tilting her head to one side.
Sebek says, ~He said I was going to do important things and make lots of Garou work together and be strong again.~
Sebek says, ~He was a very big and scary man, but he never ever lied to me.~
Sepdet touches Sebek's cheek. ~We were born under the hope-star, and our tribe desperately needs all the hope it can get. I know we will. Our father was crazy to have done this, but... I think he was not mad. He /did/ see something. I believe that much.~
Sebek holds Sepdet's hand to his cheek, smiling gently. ~We will do a lot of good things now that we are together.~
Sepdet bites her lip. ~I wish I could take you to the others. I want them to know you. I don't think they can believe...that there are two of us now.~
Hazmat grins suddenly. ~Two of you is real cool.~
Sebek smiles a little at Hazmat.
Sebek wrinkles his forehead. ~Is it a big caern?~
Sepdet looks over at Hazmat shakily. ~As you say.~ She is smiling, incredulous. ~It is strange. There will be some in the caern who do not approve--yes, it is a very big caern. Thirteen tribes, and someone is always biting or staring or growling at someone else. But it is the kind of place where most can find a niche to fit somewhere.~
Hazmat considers. ~Na' as big as th' Green, bu' big.~
Sebek frowns. ~I don't think I should go there for a while.~
Hazmat shrugs. ~Better wait until we get those asshole Dancers anyway, yuh know?~
Sebek shivers. ~The men there might...~
Sepdet nods and holds him gently. ~We will take this slowly. I don't want to take you until you are comfortable. But they are not bad Garou. Almost every one respects others for what they do, and those that don't are not elders.~
Sebek shuts his eyes tightly and holds his sister.
Hazmat nods. ~An' there's plenny who'd stick up fer yuh if someone tried tuh step on yuh.~
Sepdet touches Sebek's cheek. ~No. Dancers do that. Things of the Wyrm do that. My people won't. I would not be their Keeper if I thought any of them were like that.~
Sepdet holds him protectively, letting him lean on her as much as he needs to.
Sebek nods.
Sebek says, ~I'm trying to be strong.~
Sepdet leans her head on his shoulder. ~I know. But you have time. I need to get back to my duties eventually, but you take all the time you need. You tell us when you're ready to meet others.~
Hazmat nods. ~An' you can stay here long as yuh need.~
Sebek sniffs in Sepdet's shoulder. ~Thank you.~
Hazmat reaches out and strokes Sebek's hair lightly.
Sepdet looks over at Hazmat. ~She's a Gnawer too. It's said that Owl and Rat can never be friends. But then it's said the thirteen tribes can't stand each other enough to work at one caern. There was a wise Strider named Horus, a Harbinger, who said the Wheel Renewed would hold all the tribes, and that even Owl and Rat would stand side by side. We keep his dreams green.~
Hazmat grins at Sepdet. ~I'm twice a Rat, even, now.~
Sebek looks up and over at Hazmat. His eyes are wet as tears form. ~I like Hazmat a lot. I've not met a Bone Gnawer before.~
Hazmat leans down and gives the boy a brief nuzzle behind the ear, grinning still.
Sepdet holds him tight. ~They saved me when the Striders drove me out. They taught me about how to keep warm with clothes, and where to steal food and things when you're in a city. And Hazmat saved my life again, when I asked her to help me go look for you. We didn't know you were there, but I'm so glad we didn't wait...even if I did nearly get us in trouble being reckless.~
Hazmat noses Sepdet a bit. ~Crazy Coyote. Like Noor.~
Sebek nuzzles his sister's neck. ~I'm glad you both saved me.~
Sebek says, ~Who?~
Sepdet sighs. ~Noor Aset Serpent-Blinder. No moon. She was Strider; she came to us last year. She came into my pack.~
Hazmat yawns a bit and rubs her eyes.
Sepdet smiles wistfully.
Sebek says, ~When can I meet her?~
Sepdet says, ~She did something very brave and also rash: she charged an enemy alone, and died fighting. We killed the one that got her.~
Hazmat gets up and literally _leaps_ up into the upper bunk, landing on all fours.
Sebek frowns. ~Oh.~
Hazmat leans over and gives both Striders an upside-down grin. ~Night, huh?~
Sepdet smiles. ~It's all right...I mean, it isn't. But she was Garou. She should have had more time with us, but she led a good life, and died quick and brave. I miss her, and I wish it had not been so soon, but I was with her, so at least I know she wasn't afraid or alone.~
Sepdet looks up at Hazmat. ~The Bone Gnawer is right. Even Owls should sleep sometime.~
Hazmat pulls her head back and curls up, wolflike, on the upper bunk.
Sepdet murmurs, ~I will sing you a song. And then you should rest. You're strong, but we want you well, too.~
Sebek nods.
Sebek says, ~Will you hold me while I sleep?~
Sepdet nods. ~I will. I had forgotten...what it is like to hold others.~ She drops her eyes. ~If I forget myself and turn jackal in my sleep, will it frighten you?~
Sebek shakes his head. ~No. I have slept with jackals before.~
Sebek puts the bear on the bed, away from himself and you.
Sepdet nods. ~In the desert, I was raised with them, and they would not let me in the den unless I was their shape. I miss them, sometimes.~ Her eyes glisten, and she draws Sebek's close, murmuring under her breath with faint wonder, "Tut-ankh-Ma'i." (Living image of Ma'i.)
Sebek closes his eyes and listens, holding you gently and happily.
Sepdet begins to sing of dawn over the desert, and the crescent moon rising, the cool winds of Shu blowing the stars awake on Nut's dress. A jackal howls in the wild, and the others answer back in voices thin and hard as stars. It is a harsh dry place, and the humans call it empty--but we know it's home. Always home.
Sepdet's voice is earnest, if not skilled, and by the last faltering notes a gentle quiet has descended in the room. She murmurs ~Dream well,~ and then she too sleeps.
