She
was just your typical kid, with a typical life, in the typical city of
Boston. Her parents met, fell in love,
had two children, never married, and split up before she was three. Her father would have sent child support,
but he had no money and no job. Her
mother did her best to keep the family off the streets, but with a three year
old and an infant she couldn't hold steady hours at her job. Once she was fired there seemed to be no
hope. Except for one thing, she wasn=t that typical a kid.
Her
mother was Garou, of the tribe Children of Gaia to be precise. So once she lost her job, and with it her
home, and was forced to the streets with her two daughters, she decided it was
time to do as her ex had done and return home.
Her home was the Boston Caren.
True, it was small, but it was also family, and a place to live and
raise her children safely.
The
children loved their new home. There
were wolves to pet, and better yet wolf cubs to play with. At night the fire was warm, and during the
day they could run around wherever and as much as they wanted, as long as they
didn=t wander too far.
Both girls were born under the new Moon, Ragabash, and they were perfect
examples of their Ausipce.
Growing
up in this environment meant that the girls knew about Garou from an early
age. They were taught to understand
that Garou, and maybe even themselves, were different from humans, special, and
that it was a big secret that humans couldn=t
know about. Growing up in the Caren
also meant they didn=t get the usual homid education. However, their mother decided that should be
rectified, and eventually sent them to public school.
At
first the girls didn=t like school.
The rooms were too small, and there were too many rules. But worst of all, the girls were not allowed
to be together! Two and a half years
apart in age, the oldest was six and put into first grade, the youngest four
and put into her first of two years of kindergarten. Somehow the two managed the survive being apart for six hours a
day.
Until
a year later. The older girl went
outside one day after school to meet her sibling on the playground as
usual. What she found was her little
sister being picked on and ridiculed by older children for her old dirty
clothing and wild look, which came from living with and sometimes like wolves. The older girl wasted no time, she marched
herself right up to the children and came to her sister=s defense with words and fists. Later her mother explained to a bruised and
bloody, but proud second grader for having taken on older children and won, why
her actions were wrong.
Life
went along well enough for the family.
Over the years the older sister learned to fight reasonably well in
defense over her little sister and herself.
Both continued with their tricks and games, even at school. But only the younger sister did well
academically in school, the older one just didn=t seem to have the knack. She=d do well enough to pass, and move up through the
grades, but after a while she just stopped caring to try. She was too busy enjoying life and friends
and merrymaking to bother with class and homework she barely understood.
Then
the family=s world was ripped apart. The younger sister died.
It
happened somewhat suddenly. There was
an attack on the Sept. The girls were
in the bawn with a group of others when everything started. The two didn=t know what was going on, or who was attacking, but they weren=t old enough to help.
During the fight the two were separated. Once the attackers were driven away, the older girl, who had been
searching frantically, found her younger sister. She had been trampled, and died almost immediately, before any
healing could be found for her.
The
older girl was ten, and from that day on she didn't seem to have as much
joy. She continued with her easy-going,
worry-free, care-free lifestyle, but there was always an undertone of loss. She started skipping classes. Why did she need to be at school when there
was nothing there for her anymore? She
started spending time away from the Caren and Bawn. There was too much reminders there for her.
Eventually
the girl made friends, as she always did wherever she went, with the peoples of
the streets of Boston. Punks, street
musicians, small shops owners, panhandlers, she got along with all of them and
they all enjoyed her, as long as they weren=t
her target of jokes, pranks, or physical attacks. She was fun loving, and merciful when she felt things were being
taken too far. Unless she was provoked,
and then no one could help the poor fool.
She was tough and ferocious, even brutal, when fighting. She could talk most anyone into or out of
anything as well. When she was
provoked, the girl was relentless in achieving her goal, whatever it may
be. ALord
help him!@ People would
say when circumstances like those arose, A >cause there ain=t
no one else who can!@ From comments
like these came a phrase the girl was given as her street name. She had been given a few, which had all
failed due to her dislike of them. But
eventually this one stuck, and she came to be known as the Angel of Death.
For
short, people called her Angel. By
fourteen Angel had unofficially dropped out of school. She spent most of her time on the streets of
Boston and Cambridge, occasionally returning to the Caren to sleep. She learned to shoplift somewhat
effectively, and when she wasn=t effective she
talked her way out of trouble. Her
fighting skills had earned her enough respect to keep her from having to fight
for anything less than serious reasons.
Even
after her first shift, at twelve, Angel didn=t
spend any more time at the Caren. She
had a similar attitude about learning Garou abilities as she had about homid
schooling. She already knew about being
Garou, as she had been raised listening to the tales and attending Moots.
One
day Angel was hanging out at the pit in Harvard Square with a group of pit
punks when she saw something interesting across the way. A young teenager was selling cliff notes to
whomever would buy them, and a group of high school guys decided to practice
their pick up lines on her. Angel was
amused by how the girl awkwardly managed to handle the boys= advances and sell each one of them a book. Once the boys left, Angel wandered over to
the new girl in the area and introduced herself. Angel asked the girl about herself and what she was up to, but
only got head nods or shakes in return.
Angel soon put her head to use and asked the girl if she could
speak. The girl shook her head. So the two started from there, trying to
find ways to communicate, as neither of them could write or read effectively
either. Angel liked the girl, she saw a
mischievous equal, if not exceeding, her own in the girl. They agreed to meet the next day, and tried
again to find ways of communicating.
This continued for quite a number of days while the two girls began to
grow close. And they started to create
their own means of communicating. Angel
soon found the girl=s name was Harley.
After
about a month, the two became business partners. Harley would steal the goods and Angel would sell what she
stole. It made life much easier on the
both of them, and they split the profits evenly. Harley even agreed to share her pickpocketing profits. They both had a lot to gain and got very
close. Angel became very protective of
Harley after a while. It was much like
having a little sister again. Harley
was two years younger than Angel, she wasn't that much of a fighter, and she
had a knack for getting herself into trouble.
Plus, both of them loved tricks and games. In a accidental slip up during a conversation on Angel=s part that most homids shouldn=t have caught, Angel discovered that she believed
Harley was kinfolk. After that Angel
viewed Harley as the sister she had lost.
Then
Harley was gone. Just like that. Her grandfather had died and her mother took
the family to Washington state. Angel
didn=t know what to do.
It was almost like losing her sister all over again. Angel decided that she wouldn=t let that happen again. At sixteen, for the first time, she got herself a job. She worked hard, for almost a year, and
saved every penny she earned.
Eventually she even started returning to the Caren regularly and paying
attention to the lessons they offered her there. When she reached rank one she decided it had been long
enough. She packed up herself as light
as possible and took to the roads. She
was determined to find Harley.
It
took awhile, but Angel didn=t fail. One day she knocked on the door of Harley=s house.
Harley seemed as happy as Angel was to see her. They spent some time catching up and
such. Harley "spoke" about
the general happenings in her life, and Angel, who had already known Harley was
at least kinfolk, had mentioned a few things that happened in the septs she had
visited on her journey. When Harley's
rank was brought up, it seemed the two had more in common than they thought. Now Harley mentioned her father, for the
first time Angel could remember, and Harley seemed pleased that she finally had
someone who understood her.
About
a month and a half later, Angel was poking around killing time until Harley
came home form school when Harley and her father came home in the middle of the
day. He was packing Harley up on her
motorcycle and talking some gibberish about a new Caren or dragon=s nest or something needing ambassadors and that
Harley was supposed to go. Well, Angel
wasn=t about to loose Harley again. And it sounded way too dangerous for Harley
to go alone, she would definitely need Angel=s
protection.
Once
things were all ready, Angel also having packed for the trip, she and Harley
sat themselves on Harley=s motorcycle.
Phantom, Harley=s pet ferret, was kept in hiding in a bag on Angel's
back, with all the food and the various other things they may need for the
trip. Of course Harley packed a harness
for him so he wouldn't have to spend the entire time in a bag. Harley's dad made sure they had a map, and
he gave the two a set of directions just in case. If he had have given them more details as well, Angel may not
have allowed them to actually have gone.
But curiosity got the better of her, and Harley seemed excited, so off
they went.