The Cleansing of Sunni (RPed Jun 6, 1996, really on Jun 5)

Wooded Mountain Flank
This area is rough and wooded, with a steep slope to the land as it ascends 
  towards a high mountain peak and descends into a more gentle valley below. 
  The slope is sparsely wooded throughout, tall pines and spruce spread over 
  the countryside for as far as the eye can see in tall rows. There is almost 
  something desperate to the way the trees cling to the bare rocks here and 
  gather close the thin soil in patches of life. There are signs that a forest 
  fire swept through here in the distant past, judging from the scorched 
  trunks on some of the trees and the burned stumps gathered in some areas 
  like fallen warriors.
Towards the northwest a river winds hurriedly down the mountainside, coming 
  from a narrow chasm cut between two adjoining mountain walls. A steep and 
  narrow mountain road is visible to the south.

Robert comes downriver, emerging from between the steep rock walls of the 
  chasm.
Sunni comes downriver, emerging from between the steep rock walls of the chasm.
Anna comes downriver, emerging from between the steep rock walls of the chasm.
Paul shifts his weight from foot to foot for a moment, looking around at the 
  gathered, machinegun slung carefully barrel down over one shoulder.

The darkness of the sky has just begun to pick up color in the early hours of 
  Wednesday morning, when untainted forest is finally found near the remnants 
  of the Hive. Megan gives a shrug, and looks over at Shea, and then Robert 
  and Shadowed Moon. "This place is of Gaia. We can do the Rite here, if you 
  two approve..." she trails off, and waits.
Shadowed Moon limps along, breathless at the simple task of having walked so 
  far so soon after the fight. Wordlessly, he nods assent. As good as any.
Anna contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Anna shifts into Lupus form.
Robert looks around the forest, then nods. "This place will work."
Anne, walking beside Sunni, studies the land passed through with a quiet 
  interest. One hand is clasped around one of Sunni's wrists, tightly enough 
  to have some pressure to it. When the area is finally chosen, she comes to a 
  halt and looks at Megan and Shea questioningly.
Paul murmurs quietly, "Where do you want me, and what role should I play?" He 
  seems to be addressing Megan, at current, since it is to be her or Shea 
  leading the Rite.
Sunni stumbles along beside her teacher, looking resigned to whatever fate 
  awaits her here.
Tastes-Ashes is here as a guard. She takes no place in the ceremony itself, 
  but she takes a stand as lookout. (Admittedly a very battered burned and 
  weak stand, but a stand.)
Megan takes a deep breath, straightening her shoulders, apparently a trifle 
  uncomfortable with being Ritemaster with Athros around. She says to Paul, 
  "If you could make a circle around us, and watch...at the end of the Rite, 
  everyone should howl, to drive away the spirit causing the taint. 
  Hopefully," she adds. Shea goes about laying out the instruments for the 
  rite, a canteen of the pure water from the waterfall, and two prepared 
  branches the two Fianna searched out the previous night after volunteering 
  to do the Rite.
Seshemw flows up into warform, then carefully starts inscribing a circle in 
  the loam of the forest, walking slowly around the group.
Anne steers Sunni into a position in a center position around which the circle 
  can form, turning her to face the two Fianna. She herself takes up a place 
  behind Sunni, hands resting lightly on the young Fury's shoulders.
Seshemw's battered wood staff finally closes the circle and he faces 
  outwards, one hand checking that the '60 could be unslung in a hurry if 
  needed. His stance settles, only his ears twitching as he scans the 
  surroundings for the approach of possible threats.
Shadowed Moon takes this time to catch his breath, not offering to help with 
  the preparations, conserving his strength.
Sunni waits with head bowed, arms tightly hugging herself.
The rest of Blackwatch arrange themselves in the circle, as Megan and Shea 
  each pick up a branch and dip them into the clean water. With the Philodox 
  humming under her breath, they begin walking widdershins around the cub, 180 
  degrees from one another, and begin sprinkling her with water. One 
  circle...two...
Sunni flinches as the water hits, in the beginning. She grows more and more 
  agitated as the Rite progresses, then arches her back, throwing back her 
  head and emitting a dry, whispery scream,. Her form blurs up as she changes 
  to the warform, scream mutating to a strangled, hoarse howl. ~Teacher! It 
  huuuurtsss!~ She tries to twist away, to get away from the pain driving her 
  to insanity.
Sunni contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Sunni shifts into Crinos form.
Seshemw flicks his ears flat at the screaming howl, suddenly tensing. But 
  still watching the forest for a sign that something comes to answer the 
  screams.
Anne shifts upwards blurringly quickly as Sunni does. The hands on her cub's 
  shoulders tighten and push downwards, one foot crossing over the other to 
  hook the opposite of Sunni's legs, right-to-left; yanking, hard, she tries 
  to knock the leg out from beneath the younger Fury while twisting her 
  shoulders, to force her to the ground on her stomach if she can.
Anne contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Anne shifts into Crinos form.
Shadowed Moon tenses, his joints protesting as he crouches, ready to spring to 
  Anne's aid if need be.
Tastes-Ashes does not turn around. The other Garou can handle the cub.
Sunni writhes, turning to bite and claw at her teacher-captor like a panicked 
  animal, whining and howling the whole time with her altered voice. No match 
  for the older Fury, she still manages to score some damage, as her struggles 
  become more desperate. She begins to froth, and frenzies--to no avail. 
  Nimue's grip shifts and holds the tainted cub in place. Suddenly, Sunni 
  drops limply, unconscious.
Nimue makes soft, pained noises at some of the bites and scratches, but by the 
  time Sunni is once again still, her jaw is set, though her ears are flat 
  against her skull. She doesn't release the cub, keeping her weight on her 
  enough to forestall any movement. The dark gaze turns, almost sightlessly, 
  towards Megan, then Shea.
The two Fianna ritemasters continue on, giving concerned looks, but 
  bull-dozing along in their circlings and asperging. After the fifth 
  rotation, first one, then the other, shifts upwards to crinos, continuing 
  their circling, until after the ninth, when they begin to howl.
Shadowed Moon doesn't pounce but does outstretch his thick, Hispo, body and 
  unleash a howl that shakes the leaves on the trees, until his voice cracks 
  and he is silent again.
Nimue looks not up, but down, and her own howl is soft, pleading, the claws 
  flexing harmlessly on the fur of her cub.
Seshemw stands still and firm outside the circle. He lifts his voice in a 
  nervewracking, dissonant noise, but never takes his eyes from the 
  surrounding forest.
Robert looks to the east, directly towards the sun, and gives a soft howl from 
  his human throat towards the light.
Megan waits for the howls to die away, then crouches down near Nimue and the 
  unconscious cub. With a grimace, she shakes her head, and gives a tight 
  shrug with her right shoulder. "I'm sorry, Anne-rhya. Maybe Robert or 
  Wraps-in-Shadows will have better luck."
Seshemw turns his head at the sound of Megan's voice, and looks at the 
  unconscious cub with an unreadable expression.
Sunni contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Sunni shifts into Homid form.
Nimue glances upwards at Robert, ears partway back up now. ~Do you think you 
  would?~ she asks, harshly though politely.

Long distance to Robert: Nimue's *voice* sounds harsh.
Long distance to Robert: Nimue's *tone* sounds polite.

Robert looks down at Sunni for a moment, then back at Anne. "Without doing, I 
  could not know. My immediate reaction, though, would be not. She is tainted, 
  and tainted deeply. She *could* be redeemed, but it would take time, a 
  precious commodity we do not possess."
Seshemw looks back towards the trees and grumbles almost silently to himself, 
  ~There is always the river, if it can be found again. Or death.~
Nimue nods slightly, and shakes the shoulders under her claws a little. 
  ~Sunni. Wake up.~
Sunni cracks open her eyes, looking up at Anne reproachfully for a moment.
Shadowed Moon regards Sunni with cold, hard, white eyes like orbs of ice 
  within his skull.
Nimue says to the cub, ~I'm sorry.~
Megan's jaw sets, and she rises back to her feet, moving to stand with the 
  other Fianna. Impulsively, she reaches out and puts a hand on Diana's 
  shoulder and squeezes, looking past the ahroun to watch the elders 
  stony-faced but with eyes flashing darkly.
Tastes-Ashes has not turned to face the rite, still keeping a stony and silent 
  watch.
Diana stands in complete silence, not flinching as Megan's hand touches her 
  shoulder, merely standing the same way as she has, arms folded across her 
  chest.
Sunni pushes up from the ground and looks around at everyone with resignation, 
  reading her fate in their various stances. Her whispery voice rasps a quiet 
  answer, "I--I can't go through that again, teacher. It is...like a fire 
  inside me. Please don't make me..."
Nimue's muzzle moves from side to side, once, while she stays silent. Another 
  moment, and the jaws open for the bleeding Elder to say, ~No. They think it 
  would not succeed. But you know what it means. I'm sorry.~
Seshemw rumbles towards the woods, ~It can't hurt as much as molten silver. 
  Pain's all in perspective.~
Megan mutters softly, "Paul..." then trails off, giving the Strider a warning 
  look.
Seshemw bows his head, leaning on his staff and nods a little in 
  acknowledgement of Megan's warning.
Sunni lowers her head, a tear slipping from the corner of each eye. "Who's 
  going to do it, then?" She whispers, shoulders slumping defeatedly.
Nimue's claws remain, not yet drawing blood but firm on the cub's shoulders. 
  ~I am. It is my responsibility. I am,~ she repeats a third time, gently, 
  ~sorry. Are you ready?~
Sunni raises her head, setting her jaw firmly. "Yes," she whispers, her tone 
  anything but firm, instead sounding small and frightened. Her eyes meet her 
  teacher's steadily. "I'm sorry, too."
Robert mutters softly, "Mother, into your hands we commit her spirit. Purify 
  her as we cannot, and bring her back to her next life when You are ready."
One of Nimue's paws is shifted to Sunni's throat at the younger Fury's words. 
  She pronounces, clearly, ~From Gaia you have come, and to Gaia you return. 
  Born of earth, you return to spirit, to the love of the Mother. Daughter of 
  Artemis, you are, and remain. May Luna guide you home, Stolen Song.~ The 
  claw against the throat tightens, digging into the flesh and ripping, 
  violently and suddenly, across to expose flesh and blood and bone.
Diana growls, deep in her throat, her fists clenched so tightly as to turn her 
  knuckles white. She turns, quickly, shifting downwards as she goes, and runs 
  off.
Diana contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Firerunner shifts into Lupus form.
Firerunner heads off downslope, through the forest.
Seshemw leans his forehead against his staff, jaw clenched and claws scoring 
  the already marked wood as his grip tightens.
Robert merely watches, silently, with no obvious reaction beyond the sad look 
  in his eyes getting a little sadder at the passing of another of Gaia's 
  children.
Tastes-Ashes turns at last, looking to Robert and then to the rest.
Sunni's eyes go wide, then begins to dull as life drains away from her. The 
  once-warm blue eyes roll back in her head, and her body falls forward, into 
  her teacher's arms, blood soaking into Nimue's fur.
Megan throws a look at Brian and Eamon, then turns and shifts, running after 
  Firerunner.
Megan contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Megan heads off downslope, through the forest.
Tastes-Ashes drifts over next to Robert and stands looking at Anne and the 
  fallen cub.
Shadowed Moon stands long enough, muzzle extended and nostrils flared, until 
  he is satisfied that the cub's heart beats no longer within her chest. He 
  turns, looking even older and more grey, then, and limps back to the Caern.
Nimue cradles the body briefly, then lies it out straight to look up at 
  Cristoph. A look is exchanged, and the Elder straightens the body and then 
  holds out her hands to either side, blood dripping from the claws used in 
  the kill. ~Take, then, our daughter home, not yet made sister,~ she says. 
  She rises, but does not move away from the body.
Seshemw turns smoothly in place, hands and jaws unclenching a little. He 
  rumbles, ~I will see if I can find something to wrap her in for the trip, 
  Rhya?~ He seems uncertain what Anne would consider aprorpriate, or if he can 
  even find anything, but is forcing himself to ask.
Nimue's muzzle is shaken from side to side again. ~The body will have to be 
  burned,~ she says, a trifle bitterly. ~I dare not assume that the taint was 
  extinguished from her body.~
Sunni's limp form, in death, begins to take on a semblance of the peace that 
  was so lacking in her life.
Seshemw sighs. ~Something to take her ashes back to the Wheel then, unless you 
  want her ashes scattered here, Rhya?~
Nimue's muzzle moves only slightly. ~If you wish to find something, then yes.~
Seshemw unshoulders the rifle, tucking staff under one arm, then heads back to 
  where his pack is cached for one of his empty ammo boxes.
Nimue looks down at the blood that soaks her fur and the ground, both. ~We 
  should return to the hive,~ she rumbles. ~I will...wish rest, before the 
  Gatherings tonight.~
Robert nods as he allows his gaze to wander from the corpse. "You would do 
  well to rest, though perhaps someplace other than that hive would be more 
  restful," he says kindly.
Nimue gives Robert an almost impatient look, but keeps the first thought out 
  of her voice as she answers. ~I will just need quiet, and some time more or 
  less alone. Cristoph will help guard me, or another, perhaps.~
Tastes-Ashes must rest. With that, the Get pads off and settles to sleep.
Robert gives Nimue a slightly puzzled look, but simply nods. He glances over 
  towards the sun, which by now is more clearly over the treetops, then begins 
  to pick his way back down the hill.
Robert heads off downslope, through the forest.