Devil's Tower

Who: Pan and Tennessee
Where: A southwestish part of the river
When: Saturday early evening
Why: Trying to cheer himself up

After Pan's talk with Cricket he'd started to feel a little more like his old self again. He was still heart broken over Gypsy, Moe, Shadow, and everyone else he'd lost in the war and otherwise; but he knew that none of his friends would have wanted to see him wasting his life moping away. After all, someone had to bring the tribe's morale back and Pan had always been the one to try the hardest as keeping things light amongst the tribe.

On Saturday morning he caught almost a dozen fish. It was an incredibly successful effort on his part and so to celebrate he ventured to his favorite swimming hole in the evening. He hummed along the path, a sack slung over his shoulder, bobbing against his back. He was wearing a vest, a pair of shorts and a plain black headband tied around his forehead that had long tails that hung part way down his back. The weather had been so nice and he wanted to take advantage of it now, and in doing so try to remember the good things about his wonderful friends. He missed them all so much, and cherished their memories. He only wished that he'd been able to tell them all how he felt before they'd passed on. Now, all he could do to make up for it was go back to living his life in the fullest.

He was already barefoot, so when he reached the bank of the best swimming spot all he had to do was removed his vest, bag and headband before running and jumping into the chilled water of the Belle Fourche. He surfaced and roughed up his hair. The sun was lower in the sky and just beyond the bank of the river there were lots of wild flowers. He sighed contentedly and tried to relax for the first time in weeks. Of course, the best way to relax was to sing and so Pan struck up a tune as he swam about lazily, "Drawing a line, a ship in a harbor. Yes I will go, I'll be going there soon!"

Who: Pan and Cricket
Where: The river bank west of the Trading Post
When: Wednesday afternoon
Why: Spring flowers and memories

Pan was happy to be back with his tribe, but he hadn't expected things to feel so...different. It wasn't just the war that had changed things. No, for Pan it was the loss of Gypsy that had changed the face of the River Runners. Things would never feel the same again. Gypsy had been the one person who he'd really taken to. Mostly becuase he felt that she was the only person who'd truly understood him and accepted him for alll of his quirks. He had loved her deeply, as a best friend, and her lost was staggering to him.

The war had mostly gone by unnoticed by Pan. He had no problem with Jed being the leader. They'd been able to make peace enough just before the war started. Now that Gypsy was gone, some things mattered more than they had before. Things like keeping the tribe together, and making sure everyone was safe and fed. Of course, before the war he'd always put in more than his fair share to keep the tribe afloat, but it was all that he focused on anymore.

He'd spent the last few nights at the Outskirts, soliciting himself in exchange for supplies to bring back to his tribe. His bag was pretty full of food and other random things that people had offered. Pan was tired and he felt dirty, so on his way back he stripped and bathed himself in the river. When he had finished, he dressed himself and laid back on the long green grass of the river bank. He hummed softly to himself in a subconcious effort to make himself feel better. It was a lovely Spring day, but he still felt cold under the sun's rays.

***OOC: Be sure to label the subject line of every post with either "Open" or the names of the chars that are involved in a particular thread! This will help eliminate confusion and let you know what threads are up for grabs!***
Who: Anyone and everyone who’s in Sundance at the time!
What: St. Patrick’s Day/Spring party!
Where: The Trading Post
When: Saturday
Why: Because it’s fun!

In the warmer months the Trading Post is almost always busy, full of drifters and members from every tribe who come there to barter, socialize, and a whole host of other things. It’s generally a peaceful place since it exists in neutral territory and everyone who comes there seems to have an understanding of an unspoken truce. The Trading Post is a large park the sits on the banks of the Belle Fourche river. There are picnic tables, a delapidated swingset and monkey bars, old grills, and of course trader stands. There’s also a dock there, but it is understood to belong to the River Runners, as it’s where they are docked most of the year and those wishing to use it usually have to give the RR a token of some kind, or at least ask nicely.

The St. Patrick’s Day/ Spring party was not planned or hosted by any tribe. The whole things seemed to have come about on its own, first as a rumor and then with complete strangers and tribe members alike planning for it. Saturday morning the place was busy with people decorating in any way that they could. The place was strung with streamers of all different colors, some torn and ratty. There were candles, and lanterns strung about and a few different musicians set up throughout the park. By the time the sun set the park was teaming with people, more people than it had seen in years. Between the boos and the open admission there was no telling what the night would hold.

Who: Pan and Silver
What: Pan is looking for Gypsy and gets found himself!
When: Wednesday late afternoon
Where: An abandoned house somewhere in the northeast fringe of town (what some would call Mountain Lion territory.)

The moment he’d left the meeting last week he’d set out in search of Gypsy. He knew most of her favorite places so he’d started with them. It was when he found no trace of her at any of those places that he truly started to worry. It just wasn’t like her to go off for so long without telling anyone. Sure, she’d disappeared for days before but this was different, this was weeks. It was painful enough for him to be completely separated from his tribe, even if most of them took him for granted. The idea that Gypsy might be gone for good was almost too much to bear, but his will to fight against that thought it what had kept him going for days. He’d hardly had any sleep and found little comfort from the caresses of strangers which at this point he had only sought out of his need for food to keep him going.

He’d searched as far as he could manage on foot without having to camp for more than a night, since he had next to no provisions- only his backpack with what clothes he’d grabbed from his boat. When Wednesday came around he finally was at a loss for where to look and so he decided to search some of the city. He started near the most north-eastern fringe of the city though it took him almost half the day to get there because he’d been very far north west. After searching house after house for two hours he finally sat down in the living room of one and pulled his knees up to his chest so he could rest his face between them. He was exhausted, barely scraping by with supplies and most importantly he felt as though he’d lost his best friend forever and thus had lost his tribe as well. He folded his arms around his knees and began to cry from sheer exhaustion.

Who: Jed and all River Runners
When: Week Twelve
Where: Land surrounding Jed's boat
Why: Jed organises a search party and tries to quell panic.

There was no way Jed could lie to himself anymore.  At first he figured she'd just wandered off on her own for a few hours and would return, and when hours turned into a full day he figured maybe she needed a big time out, Gypsy was mad at him afterall for practically banishing her best friend.  But by the time Tuesday rolled around the panic in his body sank in fully and his nerves were on edge.  She was missing and he was partly responsible.

Although he never let people know it there was nobody Jed respected more than Gypsy, and lying to her about him and Silver had ebbed at his concious with each day that passed, there were whispers in the camp that there should be relief felt on Jed's part now she was no longer breathing down his throat.  Relief wasn't an emotion he could feel when his whole sytem was abosrbed with panic and dispair.  Gypsy had been his saviour, he'd been hers, they'd been friends and lovers for a brief time.  Now she was gone and he didn't know where.  It was like the twilight zone when he'd barrelled into her boat, everything perfectly in tact as if she'd simply stepped out for some air, no signs of a struggle to signal someone had taken her, no note to say she was leaving.  She simply walked out and vanished into thin air.  This wasn't a trick anymore, this was fucking weird.

Silver hadn't spoken to him since, he'd heard her sniffling in her sisters room as she asked for a moment to think by herself, and he'd hid the angry tears that brimmed and clouded his eyes.  She'd never done something like this before, though he had to try hard to reassure everyone that this wasn't as big a crisis as it actually was.  This was made harder by the fact that few people actually respected Jed as a leader and without Gypsy there to scold them he was swimming in a sea filled with what seemed like dozens of doubting faces.  For the first time in his life Jed had no plan, no thoughts, nothing coherent, and no guidance.  He was completely alone and missed his friend, he missed every part of her and wasn't going to give up until she was looking at him in the face and laughing at him for even bothering the tribe in the first place.

Jed had sent word out to the tribe that there was a metting to be held at his at eleven, outside his boat.  He daren't hold it outside Gypsies.  He stood on the dock facing the floor feeling it swirl and sway beneath him, making him feel queasy.  There was so much to do and so little time to do it in, every second was a second she could be in more danger, there was no way they could afford to waste time anymore.  It was time for Jed to stand in and be the man Gypsy always told him he could be.  He'd always doubted her.

"As you know Gypsy is gone," he started off slowly but confidently, throwing his voice so it flew over everyone's heads, "We can't afford to stay put any longer, there'll be a search party dispatched and I need volunteers," he frowned, "We need to find her,"

Who: Pan, NPC drifter, NPC Fox and Shadow
What: Pan stops by Shadow's to give her the gift he promised her (and have some company).
Where: The Outskirts and Shadow's apartment
When: Thursday mid-morning

Pan awoke that morning with the chills and a rather stiff body. He sat up with a yawn that sounded more like a whimper, an arm slid down his chest to lay across his waist. He looked down at the young drifter who'd shared his bed last night, if a few blankets on the ground could be called a bed. Pan had been to the outskirts only a few times before and it had never been for pleasant reasons. He pinched the end of the drifter's coat sleeve with his thumb and fore-finger and lifting the boy's arm he slipped out from under the arm and the blankets. He couldn't believe the kid didn't wake up. All the drifters Pan had been with before had practically slept with their eyes open, if they even stayed with Pan that long.

He slipped his boots on and dug in the mess of covers for his many layers of jackets and shirts. When he left the River Runners the night before he'd put on as many of his clothes as he could. Granted he didn't have many clothes, but what he did have hadn't all fit into his bag. It wasn't too chilly in the empty warehouse but it was cold enough for Pan. After he'd properly dressed he went to find where they'd hid their belongings for the night in the corner of the warehouse. He threw his own bag over his shoulder and re-hid the kid's things. Pan was not a thief.

He walked back to the makeshift bed and crouched beside the fire. The coals were still a candy-orange underneath and so Pan built it back up with what wood they had laying around.

"You're up already, want something to eat? I have something more left in my bag." The drifter, Pan hadn't even asked his name, sat up on the pile of blankets.

"No, no thanks love but I've got something to do today." That something was to deliver Shadow the gift he'd made her for helping Gypsy those many months ago. His heart ached at the thought of it, the thought of leaving his tribe. He stood and pulled on his holy and fingerless gloves and threw the drifter what he could muster of a smile before he turned to leave.

“But we- I haven’t given you anything yet!”

Pan didn’t look back but called over his shoulder, “And you don’t have to.”

( It was Fox who Pan once again found at the edge of Wolf territory. )

Who: Pan, Jed and Silver
What: Pan takes Gypsy’s request to spy on Jed and Silver a little too seriously
Where: Jed’s houseboat
When: Wednesday, late afternoon

If any of the River Runners had been unhappy for winter’s end it was Pan. He liked the closeness in which they all lived during the winter. He craved attention and affection the same way a family pet would and most of the time he only received it from his fellow River Runners during the winter, or if he was intruding upon them. During the winter Pan liked to pretend that they were one big family. Sometimes he thought he might be better suited to live with the Wolves in their doll houses but then he thought better of it. They were way too kosher for him.
The River Runners had moved back to the main dock of the Trading Post since the river had cleared of ice. They’d spent the last week or so trying to get their boats back into good condition. He’d managed to get his boat back to functioning/livable condition before most of the other Runners and so for most of the day he’d been laying on the deck of his boat staring at the crisp blue sky. The air was still chilly for him but he loved being able to see the sun. He wore his ratty pea coat and a pair of over-sized blue clown glasses, of which one side was missing a lens. He fell asleep listening to the lapping of the water and the sound of his tribe members working around him.
When he awoke their was only the gentle sound of the river. He stretched, knocking the clown glasses off his face. He rolled over onto his stomach and crawled to the edge of his small deck to peer over the bottom railing. Just as he reached the railing he felt a splinter sliver into his right pinkie finger. “Bullocks..” he muttered as he thrust his pinkie into his mouth and sucked furiously to try and work out the splinter. It merely stung, and didn’t budge.
He sighed and wrapped his cold hands around the bottom rail. He listened for several minutes before he heard the others at the picnic tables of the Trading Post and clanging pots and pans within their tiny houseboats. He reached for the next highest railing and pulled himself to his feet. He stretched with a dramatic yawn and swept his shock of faded red and brown hair from his face. He turned from the river and leapt the distance from his deck to the dock. Most of the boats were tied at the main dock but some of them were anchored a little farther down the river.
He plodded down the dock and took a left to walk along the river bank. It wasn’t long before he came to the other group of boats. He turned to face the river and wet his lips with thought. That was when he realized that Jed’s boat was anchored not twenty feet from him. He looked around, and didn’t hear or see anyone. Since Gypsy had asked him to spy he hadn’t had much luck finding concrete evidence of things. Pan walked slowly down the bank to the rickety plank that lead to where Jed’s boat was anchored.
He tiptoed down the plank, being careful not to fall over into the icy water. He climbed gingerly onto Jed’s deck. The windows had the curtains drawn. He knocked on the door. “Jed?” No answer. If Jed was home Pan would simply make something up or bother him for a bit, but if he wasn’t… Pan knocked again. After several minutes Pan looked over his shoulder and then tried to turn the door knob. It turned freely. He swung the door open. “Jed?” he asked into the dim light of the cabin. “What a daft lout, leaving his door unlocked.” Pan shut the door behind him and locked it. The three rooms of Jed’s house boat were small so Pan made a quick run-through to see if Jed was hiding anywhere. He grinned. So, this was where the macho-man spent his nights. He went to the room farthest from the door, the bedroom and kneeled on the ground to go through a small trunk in the corner. He doubted he’d find anything here that Gypsy would want to know about but the fun of being in Jed’s business without him knowing was too much fun for Pan.

Who: All the RR who show up at the Christmas time party!
What: Pan provides a feast
Where: The winter camp, farm house living room
When: Thursday morning

Pan had stormed into the living room the afternoon of Christmas Eve and demanded that everyone stay in their respective rooms until he called them down on Christmas morning. Amongst grumbles and suspicious looks he’d more or less gotten people to comply. It was no secret that he’d been busy the last couple of weeks in his Christmas preparations. Pan was always up for a party and he was more than willing to be the one to throw it.

Aside from spending incredible amounts of his time creating paper chains and decorations that were rather… odd, instead of festive, he’d managed to master ice fishing. He’d found a children’s book in the attic the first week of December that had pictures of Eskimos in parkas standing next to ice holes, holding their strings of fish proudly in the air. Pan figured, if they could do it in Alaska, why not in Wyoming? Perhaps not the best logic, but at least no one could ever say that he was lacking in ambition.

He’d become pretty good at it and by the time Christmas was ready to roll around he was somewhat of a master. He had always had an uncanny knack at regular fishing anyway. He’d managed to catch enough fish so that there was at least one for each person. With the shortage of food he was hoping that his contributions would help, at least a little bit. For all the hours he’d had to spend in the cold he hoped they would at least be thankful. It really was a wonder he hadn’t gotten frost bite.

He caught all the fish in the afternoon of Christmas Eve and stored them carefully in a little make-shift ice chest he’d constructed out of snow, near the barn. Thankfully when he awoke at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning no animal had disturbed them. He’d devised a spit that would fit in the fireplace and roast as many as eight fish at a time so he was set to go. He’d completed the nasty task of de-boning and gutting the fish on Christmas Eve as well.

He set one of the Runners the boring task of roasting the fish so that he could enjoy the fruits of his labors. He flitted about the living room on Christmas morning to make sure all his decorations were in place and that he himself was looking properly festive before he trounced down the hall and up that stairs shouting “Wake up you princes (an princesses) of Sundance! You kings of Wyoming!” When he was done with that little parade he marched back down to the living room and managed to turn on the Fisher-Price 45 player he’d found. He even had a few Christmas discs, though the carols were sung by children and more creepy than enjoyable. The electricity in the farmhouse was also rather shaky so every now and then he’d have to jostle the plug and restart the player, but at least there was something.

Who: Pan and Shadow, possibly Gypsy too?
What: Pan takes a long walk to find some help for Gypsy
Where: The Sundance Apartments, maybe the River Runners camp too?
When: Sunday sometime around mid-morning

Pan had left the old farmhouse early that morning to get a head start on the long walk ahead of him. Gypsy had requested of him that he find her a doctor. Seeing as he was part of the River Runners he knew a thing of two about the members of other tribes even if he did not know the members himself. It seemed as though every other tribe had a medic except for themselves, which was sad really because it left them to rely on favors and trades for such things.

Pan knew that Azrael had a hand in medicine but they were already so indebted to the Mountain Lions, and what with the grain situation Pan didn’t think it was a good idea to ask for more. So it was the Wolves that he sought, simply because they were closer than the Feathers and he knew that Wolf had a soft spot for Gypsy, so perhaps he could convince their medic to come.

He layered up as much as he could stand and reluctantly clad his bare feet in a pair of Doc Marten’s he found in the communal coat closet of the farmhouse. He walked along Highway 90 along the edges of Mountain Lion turf. There were still the rotting bodies of cars strewn this way and that along the road but there was more than enough space for him to be able to pick his way through. He shivered inside his tattered brown pea-coat. Oh how he hated the cold, but it was for Gypsy and he figured he could tolerate it. The walk was long and the surroundings quiet with the kind of stillness that only snow can bring to a place. He mused at how white everything was, how clean, crisp and clear the world looked when it snowed. What a joke.

The walk was lonely, long and cold which eventually brought forth a song from his lips. Lucy remember the smell of that fall? The fires of fungus and the rotting leaves. I fell off the wagon… Through shivers he sang to himself and the small group of deer he came upon when he reached the city limits. into your arms! As he left the highway and walked down one of the smaller city streets he saw a figure standing a few blocks ahead of him, no doubt a guard at the edge of Wolf territory. into this long month of Sundays! His voice and the crunch of snow beneath his boots were the only sounds in the alley, if the guard had yelled something at him he hadn‘t heard. He flipped the long tassel of his snow cap back over his shoulder, fancying himself in a musical as he danced down the road towards the guard.

( tra la la! )

Who: Jed [Open to any River runners]
What: Jed calls a tribe meeting
When: Saturday evening
Where: The living area of the winter shelter.

Jed had never been one for public speaking. He'd never been one to keep his opinions to himself but having to address the whole tribe about the new pressing issue and possible downfall of the tribe was making his heart beat rather erratic. It wasn't even the eratic excited heartbeat that he had whenever Silver was in the room, nope, it was due to pure fear of the uproar this news could cause...would cause.

He had discussed with Gypsy what needed to be done all of this morning and after she had retired to bed (Jed's idea surprisingly) he walked out and nervously asked everyone to gather all the tribe and meet in the living area. Various faces stared back at him, some with worry already on their faces, some with confusion and some with amusement...though he wasn't quite sure what the cause for the last one was, perhaps a joke he had not been in on. However now was no time for jokes. He stood in front of the old couches and cleared his throat, trying in vain to hush the loud chatters of 'his' tribe members.

"Guys," he spoke letting the lump in his throat fall from his lips and make him sound as if he was choking, "Guys!" he called louder this time, thankful that a hush seemed to fall over them the second time. "Okay I know you are all wondering why you're here," he took a breath....great way to start a speech, or course they were curious! "This morning Gypsy and I walked out to the barn attic where the supplies have been kept for the winter. As you know," he ran a shaky hand through his hair, "As you know the blizzard has been wiping out supplies of and places of refuge for tribes all around and last night it hit us-" he closed his eyes as murmurs broke out through the group, "I don't know how to say this so-" he scratched the back of his neck, "The grain we had left over from the harvest is gone, it's been frozen or blown away, we've got tinned food but it's not going to last us through the winter. We're in trouble but I need you to know that if we can pull together we can 'fix' this, we can make it through,"

The room was not quiet for much longer, people stood up, people panicked, some had so much worry on their face he was concerned the girls of the group were about to burst into tears. All this emotion filling the room was doing nothing for his own nerves. "We need people to branch out and talk to the surrounding tribes, see if we can't ask for their services," he called the words into the loud room feeling them settle in the air but not sink in over the existing noise.

"Guys!" he screeched achieving a lower level of noise than before. "We need to band together, I need volunteers to go to the Lions and try and arrange some sort of extra food supplies, I need people to approach the Twin Feathers and ask for their carpentry services. And I need to know if anybody has any other suggestions or wants to help," he held his breath waiting for people to shout at him, waiting for people to step up...waiting for help.