(Me and Aie only) Bad News~

It was a warm, clear night in Windtown, and the moon was as full as possible. Lupa was laying on the grass in her backyard, looking up at the stars. The rest of her family was inside; Tala was asleep and she wasn't sure what Leo or Storm were doing. All seemed to be quiet until a wolven voice spoke from behind her, "Sstarss are bright thiss evening." Lupa was a little startled, but hid her surprise. She tipped her head back to see a young, rather small wolf standing behind her. "Hmm, you're right. But what brings you here, Snakehowl?" Lupa said. The wolf, Snakehowl, cast a glance at the sky before looking back to Lupa. "Asheen hass fallen ill. It doessn't look like she'll make it thiss time, being as old as she iss. I wass ssent to inform you, whether you come to ssay good-bye iss up to you and Sstorm," he said and left, disappearing into the night. Lupa had begun to form tears as the wolf told her what happened, but she had held them back until he left. As she began to wipe the tears away, the back door opened and someone stepped out.

Leo walked from the house up to Lupa and draped a jacket around her shoulders, "I just wanted to check up on you, it's kinda cold out." He said, not knowing about what had just happened.

"Not really," Lupa said, but accepted the jacket because she had begun to shake, hoping to pass it off as being cold.

Leo sat down beside Lupa then layed down and looked at the stars, "You want to talk about it?" Leo asked in an unconcerned tone.

"Talk about what?" Lupa said, looking up at the stars as well.

"I don't know, You tell me." Leo replied.

Lupa was quiet for a long time. Finally, she decided to talk about it. "Asheen's sick." Lupa said, tears starting to form again, " And...and she probably won't get better."

"It's ok if you want to go see her. I can look over Tala or you could take her along with you, I don't mind either way." Leo said, not needing to voice the fact that Storm wouldn't stay at home if he heard this news.

Lupa blinked and looked away from the sky. "I want you to come with me," she said, almost too quiet to hear, as if she wasn't sure it was the right thing to do.

"But I though you said that the pack hated vampires, no it would be better if I stayed home, you shouldn't feel guilty about leaving me behind." Leo replied, not realizeing that Lupa may acctually want him to com for a reason other than guilt.

"But that's not why I want you to go," Lupa said. She paused for a second, then spoke again, " The wolves are my family Leo. And so are you. I can't keep you separate anymore...it just isn't right. And now...now the only wolf that can convince them to accept you is about to die, so...I think it's the only chance you'll have to be accepted by them..."

"let's see, I picked you up in a graveyard, I tore a man appart in your living room the first week I knew you then I got you drunk, took advantage of you and got you pregnant, THEN married you. Yeah, I'm sure they'll just love me." Leo joked.

Lupa rolled her eyes but couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Leo, I'm trying to be serious here~" she complained, but it was obvious that she seemed a little happier now

Leo smiled back and hugged her, "I love it when you smile Lupa. But we still have a problem, even if I were to come with you they'd be able to tell what I am, I don't know about you but I don't exactly smell like a human." Leo explained.

Lupa returned the hug. "You know, there are ways to get around that~" she said, "we can always mask your scent."

"I hope you're not talking about perfume, I can't stand the smell of that stuff." Leo replied.

Lupa shook her head. "There are much better ways," she said.

"Like?" Leo asked curiously.

Lupa seemed to ignore the question. "Do you remember if it's rained recently?
" she asked casually.

"...Mud? Is that what you're saying? You can't be serious." Leo replied after thinking a little bit.

"If you don't like it, we can always have Storm pee on you," she said, without any emotion in words or face.

"I'd rather not. Isn't there anything else?" Leo replied rather curtly.

Lupa rolled her eyes, irritated that he hadn't realized she was joking. "Well, how do you feel about wild plants~"

"What do you meen by wild plants?" Leo asked with interest, wondering what would be offered up as a solution.

"Well, there are plenty of wild plants that give off an over-powering smell," Lupa said, then proceeded to list a few of them (I'm not listing because I'm not that much of a botanist), ending with, " and...uh... garlic."