~Thank you for your judgment. I do not pretend to like it or find it palatable, but I shall accept it as is my duty.~

The Sept Compound(#2075RAM)
Sweeping branches of trees form a sort of natural roof overshadowing most of this clearing, no more than an open space of grasses and beaten earth in the heart of the forest. Some pains have been taken to keep wear and tear on the area to a minimum, so the firepit tends to shift from time to time. The firepit, several sawn logs polished from use, and a stack of firewood discreetly piled up at the base of an old spruce under a tarp, are the only signs of constant occupation. However, a student of such things might think that some minimal landscaping or planning has been done, for the meadowlike profusion of grasses and other plants has an unusually high concentration of brilliant flowers, which attract a number of bees and butterflies.
A faint trail leads off to the east, and a bit north.

As the day wears on, Basil lies asleep under a tree. Kevin is awake; maybe his conscience is troubling him too much to sleep, maybe he's just not tired. He's plucked a long frond of spring grass and is lying on his back idly rolling it back and forth from side to side of his mouth. He looks thoughtful.

Blackriver is all business today, she comes trotting into the clearing and pauses at the edge, snout turning towards Kevin. ~Charachs!~ She bellows out as she swells up into crinos. ~Have you heard? The halfmoons have made their judgment!~

Kevin sits upright and eyes the Silver Fang as though he'd dearly love to respond 'And about time too'. But he refrains, and takes crinos himself, the better to converse with her if required. ~You have my ear. Speak, judge.~

Blackriver lopes over towards Kevin and draws herself up to speak. ~You shall be branded as Charach across your chest. You shall be publicly castrated with a silver knife. Then you will aid us when we attack the big fire, causing a diversion. It will be very hard to survive, but if you do you will be allowed to live in the sept, but as the lowest. If you die you will die with the little honor you have left.~

The first sentence is met with stolid impassivity by Power-Up. The second one makes his ears lie flat for a moment before they spring back up defiantly. But the remainder is more, it seems, than he can bear without a response, and he gives a wordless growl and his foot claws up a chunk of turf from the compound's grassy floor before he controls himself. ~I hear your words,~ he responds tightly, then. ~When are these punishments to take place? And must we remain here until we are sent forth to die, or will we be given some little freedom?~

Blackriver's ears shift a little. ~You will fight when we fight.~ She answers to the first question, as though it were obvious. ~I do not know if you will be allowed to leave, that is up to Culls-the-Herd. I would think you will though, here you are simply a drain on the sept's resources.~

Basil shifts up without any warning in his usual spot to the form of Crinos, when he starts to speak, asking. ~Why is it that we aren't serving with the main force? If you want us to fight, then let us to fight. Don't outsource executions.~

~I do not wish to be any more of a burden on the sept than I have to,~ begins Power-Up, when he's interrupted by the question from Basil, evidently now very much awake. ~We will fight what, when and where we must,~ he then says, ~for Gaia and for our honour.~

Blackriver lets out a sharp growl at Basil's words. ~You question our judgment after it is passed? You ask for the same honor and treatment as those who have committed no crime? You are a fool.~ she snarls.

~I ask to live to serve Gaia. Not die on a mission I have no chance of accomplishing. You don't understand.~ Kills-the-Cries says simply, slowly edging up to his feet again, shaking his head. ~Nevermind.~

~We are not dead yet,~ Power-Up reminds Kills-the-Cries. ~And if we are allowed to fight together, then even a horde of banes may find our claws too sharp for their liking.~ He inclines his head brusquely to Blackriver. ~Thank you for your judgment. I do not pretend to like it or find it palatable, but I shall accept it as is my duty.~

Blackriver flicks her ears in acknowledgment of Power-Up and gives a look of disgust towards Kills-the-Cries before shifting down into lupus and trotting off into the woods.

"Stupid lupus bitch." Basil mutters once Blackriver runs off, closing his eye again as he settles against the tree. "They did not judge us, the only wanted to decide how badly to torture us and how to kill us. As soon as they heard the word Charach, they made up their minds."

Power-Up waits until Blackriver is out of earshot before turning to Basil, shifting back to homid, and letting rip with one of his rare cuss-words. "Fuck. They're gonna cut our balls off with silver in public? Christ, Basil... I'd almost sooner they just executed us outright and got it over with..."

"That I can live with. Whatever we get punished with, as long as I can walk away and still function, fine. At least we'll get to show the Sept what big dicks we have, huh?" Basil asks, half chiding. "I just wish we got a fair shake instead of these fangs."

"If only Thomas was here still," Kevin sighs. "Or Kenneth. They'd have stood for no nonsense." He manages a smile at Basil's jest about dick size. "Typical insecure Fangs," he grunts. "They know their time is over, and they're insecure as hell because of it. That explains it all, I guess. Still..." He eyes Basil. "I meant what I said. If you and I must fight the tire fire banes as a diversion to the main assault, we'll damn well show them what two garou who really understand each other can do in a fight together." Either Olga's comments earlier, or the long wait for judgment being over, seems to have lifted a lot of weight from Kevin.

"Whatever happens, happens." Basil lifts his hands and drops them, shaking his head at the Ragabash. "Ain't nothing I can do about it, but try to live. We've all got to go sooner or later, after all. I just hope if I do go, it's a clean death, instead of being captured."

"Basil," Kevin says quietly but firmly, "I broke the litany for you, I threw away my garou career for you, I'm gonna have my balls cut off because of you... the least I can do is fight at your back when the time comes. If those things want a piece of you, they'll have to go through me."

"And I'll fight with you, but remember, we're supposed to cause a diversion. She never said we were supposed to fight to the death. What did they call it online?" Basil muses, quietly. "We're supposed to draw aggro."

Kevin smiles tightly. "I, my dear Basil, am a ragabash, remember? That is what I do anyway. I can lead them out and away, either onto your claws, or to follow me until the rest of the pack can leap them from behind and throat their smoky asses. We'll work out a plan when we know the layout of the place, and who else is fighting," Kevin suggests, sounding almost like a member of a Fenris pack again as he warms to the thought of battle. "First... we need to get through the initial instalment of our punishment."

"We'll either live or we'll die, again." Basil guesses off handedly, smiling a little again. "For that part, all we need is the will to survive. I don't think they'll kill us before we go on the battle. But it isn't going to feel good, either."

"It won't kill us," Kevin says, "any more than Thomas's scars killed him... except perhaps his pride, and ours. Hell, Kenneth got his dick cut off by some vampire, and he seems to manage okay without it. We'll show them," he says, all bravado now, "that two charachs without balls still have more fight than other garou with 'em."

"Maybe they'll grow back. Or they'll keep them in a jar and heal them back to us if we survive." Basil murmurs, pulling his arms over his head for a pillow, his gaze tilted up towards the sky. "I never had much pride anyways. Only as a Bone Gnawer. It isn't very important to me. Just don't cry or scream in front of them. Bite down."

Kevin thumps Basil on the shoulder with medium force. "I wouldn't give them the satisfaction," he promises. "I won't tell you to do the same, I know you won't either."

Basil nudges Kevin back in the lower thigh with an elbow, then settles back down again, shaking his head. "I'll do my best not to. Ahrouns shouldn't cry, you know. Not from pain at least."

"Crying doesn't mean weakness really," maintains Kevin. "But they think it does, so let's not show it them." He slides down into a heap nearby to Basil -- much nearer, in fact, that he has been accustomed to rest since the two were brought to this place of confinement. "Say we both survive it all," he muses. "I wonder what they'll do with us then?"

"They'll have to let us go. Our punishment will be done." Basil rolls his shoulders, then glances over at Kevin. "Don't sit too close, you know... They might think we're up to our old habits, but cleverly hiding it somehow. Or something." Eventually he edges himself back up into a sitting posture, and pats Kevin on the shoulder briefly.

Kevin pats Basil back equally briefly and equally chastely. "Let them think," he replies. "They'll be wrong. I still find it hard to believe," he goes on speculatively, "that Gaia meant us to be this miserable. Mathias must be wrong about that... that spiritual energy bullshit."

"Probably a crazy Fang like the other two. I don't believe it either... But I do hope when I do find a Kin, they're a bit like you." Basil comments, poking Kevin in the chin with one finger. "And a bit like Masao. But with a bit less anger."

"Even if I do grow my bollocks back," Kevin sighs, "I can't see Aimee being interested in me any more. Well, hell. I always did say sex was gross, didn't I? I'll just return to a life of chastity like I should have had the sense to stick with in the first place. You know, though," he adds after a moment, "even now, even after all this... I kind of don't regret it as much as I should."

"Don't do that. The whole point of this was to show you that value of love... That's kinda how I fell in love with you. If Aimee will take you back, go back to her. Besides, when you did sleep with her, it felt good didn't it? You had fun with her even before that? And having children is something Gaia would like." Basil smiles, then chuckles beneath his breath.

Kevin gives Basil a shove. "The mistake I made," Kevin explains, "was letting it get physical. I didn't fall for you because of any of your physical attributes... Remember how I told you Aimee was a really cool person to hang out with but I wasn't sure I could see her as a girlfriend? I should have put you in the same box. Loved you chastely and purely like a mediaeval knight. They couldn't have touched us for that, and we'd still have been able to fight for each other in battle like tigers."

Basil shakes his head at Kevin though he still smiles a bit, giving him a nudge back. "But my attributes couldn't have hurt. And neither could Aimee's. But what's happened has happened, I just hope we both live to learn our lessons. And continue to fight for each other. And for Gaia. Sin will make us stronger in a way then we could have been otherwise."

"Okay," Kevin says. "I want a rest from all this. Can you hack it if I go lupe? It's still cold enough out here that a fur coat is good for sleeping in."

"I'll be fine." Basil responds, sinking down again into a laying position. "Just curl up in a lil' wolf ball and get some sleep. But I thought there wasn't supposed to be any for the wicked." He chides in a whisper, obviously kidding as he starts to doze himself.

"Many things aren't supposed to be," Kevin grunts sleepily, "and yet they still happen anyway..." He does shift through the forms, right to lupus, where he takes Basil at his word and curls himself round in a sleepy wolf ball.