8 July, 2009 - Tarkham Trust

Cerise makes her way through the area slowly, only having been here once before now. She looks around with care, trying to memorize it as she goes.

Under the outstretched arms of Tarkham, a lone figure sits. It's pretty quiet out here, only the occasional bark or howl. You know that they mean, anyway.

Cerise pauses as she catches sight of the statue, and then the figure seated beneath it. She draws in a deep breath, then walks over, hands tucked casually into the pockets of her jeans.

Naydene doesn't say anything, but you can tell she's listening to everything around her by the way she cants her head. In her hand, a klaive, simply turned over and over and over again, and you can see the another sheathed at her back. She remains silent.

Cerise finally comes to a stop in front of you. "I think we should talk..." she says quietly, blue eyes serious as she watches you. Naydene lifts her eyes from the klaive. It's not her own, it's Rael's, and she just keeps flipping it over and over and over. With that fractured gaze, which has only gotten moreso in the passing years, she says, "Perhaps."

Cerise shakes her head as she sits down, then settles back on her hands to look up at you. "I know you must have questions..."

Naydene says quietly, her eyes watching something you don't see. "Maybe I do, but it won't change things overmuch, will it?"

"Not the past, no... but it might explain what happened, and make things easier in the future..." Cerise drops her eyes to the klaive in your hands. "He'll be back, Nay..."

Naydene nods "Brin and Claudia told me it was likely, yes."

Cerise smiles a little, then nods again. "Do you know much about Erebus, Nay?"

Naydene says "I know enough to think he deserved better, Cerise."

Cerise tilts her head a bit, then sighs. "Then you don't know enough about it... I was there once... a long time ago...it's not fun, and it's not pretty...but... it's also not what you think it is."

Naydene flips the klaive over a few more times, "I haven't needed to go there to find out, apparently." It's a statement, for what it's worth. "I know you don't learn that rite just anywhere."

Cerise nods a little. "No, you don't... it's given to you by swimming the river...I..I was sent there when we were in Chicago..."

Naydene snorts derisively, "Chicago apparently wasn't much good for anyone. Glad I left for Rhode Island..." She looks out over the highway below and says, "Amazing what a little nurturing and patience can do for a troublesome cub, eh?"

Cerise glances around the area, then back up at you, nodding. "There wasn't much patience in Chicago..."

Naydene looks stoic about it, in spite of her obvious annoyance "Well, I got out and did what Rael wanted most for me to do." She exhales, "I'd like to think he knows that I excelled because of -his- faith and patience." Yeah, there's a bit of pride there.

Cerise smiles a little, then her expression grows serious. "I wanted to tell you about Erebus... what it's for, and why...." She glances around a bit, then slowly returns her attention to you. "What you told that woman...the one who talked to Stacee... it's almost correct."

Naydene says "That he got sent to our version of hell because he lost it so bad that I had to do the 'right' thing?" Now she is annoyed, "He was tainted by that frenzy and set on killing me next...ironic that he was the opne who taught me to fight, Cerise. Oh, and I don't know what in the Tellurian to tell his wife?"

Cerise purses her lips thoughtfully. "It's not hell...not really... it just looks that way. Erebus... cleanses the soul... the silver rivers purify your heart and mind... it's a renewal process...and it's painful. Looking at the dark side of yourself and admitting to it... in realizing your mistakes... it hurts. It's no easy thing. Would you rather Rael have been killed?" She tilts her head a bit, expression calm and serious.

Naydene says quietly, "If you didn't realize it, I was obligated to see it to the end, and killing him -was- in the cards, if I had to. What I wanted ceased to be important, it's the job, Little Sister."

Cerise nods a little. "Job or no job...would you rather he died? Or been given a chance to redeem himself and start over again?"

Naydene says "Does what I want play into this? You took the choice from me as much as my duty to the Sept and to the Litany did." Then she looks you straight in the eye "You can be the missionary for how much good it will be for him, but in the here and now, other people are going to be picking up the pieces."

Cerise sighs a little. "I understand all that Naydene... and while what each of us might want is beside the point, I wanted to know what you would have preferred. You're sidestepping the issue by retreating into duty."

Naydene snorts, "No, I am being the same, pragmatic soul I've always been, Cerise. Sometimes there are no choices, I was simply lucky that there was someone else who could tell his wife, show her that Rael had killed her rapist and the pack that aided him, and offer a more palatable message than -I- could have brought her." She stares for a moment at the klaive and says quietly, "You should spend less time lecturing me and open your eyes to the reality of back there. IF Rael comes back, he may be wonderously changed and healed, but that doesn't change the now of things much, does it?

Cerise tilts her head, listening quietly, then shrugs slightly. "No...it doesn't change the here and now. Not one bit. And while the choices might be non-existent, that doesn't mean we should stamp out hope in favor of pragmatism." A soft sigh rises to her lips as she leans forward to wrap her arms around her knees. "Rael will come back... I know he will."

Looking back up at you, Cerise adds quietly, "I did what I thought I had to do, Nay..I hope that you understand that."

Naydene glares at you, "Hope? You know nothing of what I hope for or dream about. You assume you know. Your mistake."

Cerise arches a slender brow at your antagonism. "It was my hope... I didn't ask for yours." Her expression falls, sorrow rising up behind her eyes. "But tell me, so I'll understand..."

Naydene says "Maybe," she says looking out over the City below, "I hope to not be dogged to death with your 'superior' moral position. I knew Creed's evil. You -do- know that monster left her pregnant, don't you? I had to tell Ra the news. I saw how it ate his guts out, the despair, the rage it caused to surge in him. You knew were going out there to find him and -end- it. You accepted and even supported it, yet when it got down to the nitty gritty, there you were, spouting nonsense about how garou shouldn't be killing garou. Personally, Sister, you need to make up your mind."

Cerise's eyes widen at the mention of Stacee's pregnancy, a pained expression entering them. "No..I didn't know that. How could I when no one bothered to tell me?" She sighs and rakes a hand through her hair before tossing her head back to look up at you again. "I agreed that Creed's evil must stop, yes... and Creed is dead. I can even go about killing Garou that are attacking me. I just can't kill one who is unconscious at my feet. I'm sorry that I seem to disappoint you at every turn, but it's who I am."

Naydene says "Your beliefs and morals stop when they get to me, Cerise. You -always- had a problem getting that point." She takes a breath and calms herself visibly, "All I ever wanted or needed from you or anyone was the respect I deserved as a person. I got weird looks and lot of 'why can't you be like Cerise' for my trouble. Maybe I'm not the apple of Daddy's eye, and maybe never will be. I'm not enough of a sweet spirit for that, but I have honored him every other way that -I- possibly could. And no matter what happens, or what you say or do, I will take the privilege given me by right and rank to honor his name in the Moot." She turns her eyes completely from you and says, "I will never, ever, let you take that from me, you hear me, Little Sister?"

Cerise looks taken aback at your stream of words. "When did I say I would take that from you? What makes you think I would? I didn't come here looking to intrude. I didn't even really know you were here, until I saw you in the Plain."

Naydene says "You accused me of hiding behind my duty. Know something? I knew that if I had to kill him, that it was my duty to make sure that he would be known as Cubsitter, and what he did for me, for us. That's honor, Cerise. That's what this is about for me. I did the right thing and faced him, you sent him to hell. Maybe both of us were right. Maybe it doesn't matter anymore." She checks her watch and says, "And I need to get to to work. Duty calls and the plants need watered."

Cerise rises to her feet, then slowly shakes her head. "I know you did what you had to do. I know you couldn't let him go off like he was... I had just hoped that you might also know that I did what I had to do. I've explained Erebus... he needed to go there, to be who he was again." She frowns, then turns away. "I apologize for darkening your doorstep." Hands tucked back into her pockets, she begins walking away.

Naydene walks off herself to meet someone coming from the woods above, then they take her place and she wanders off back down the hill. The last you see of her is when she goes into the greenhouses.