The Luna's Gift

Helena & The Pack

    The first thing Helena does when she gets to her private carriage house is take a very long, and very cold shower. The water runs down her, soothing her anxieties, the familiar sensation taking her back to her comfort zone. This is all a lot, and the kitchen. The f*****g kitchen. Helena shakes her head, she refuses to believe it means more than just a coincidence. Yet there is something so familiar about it, something so real. The moment she stepped into the kitchen, she felt the heat between her legs, like a switch had been flipped. She pushes this thought out of her mind and gets out of the shower. Wrapped in a towel, she inspects her new living quarters. A Tribunal house is something all pack headquarters were required to have, for the visiting Tribunal, although most also used it as a guest house. This one is an old carriage house that looks like a cottage. Nested on the edge of the woods, she can see the main house and the backyard from the windows, but it was still relatively private. The house has a small living room with two chairs and a love seat, a bookcase, a desk and chair, and then a bedroom and bath off to the side. Being from the city, this might be the quietest place Helena has ever lived. 

Around 5:45, the bell tolls signalling dinner. Helena hasn't bothered to get dressed, and is still laying in bed with her towel on, reading a book. As soon as she hears the bell, her stomach starts to growl, “down girl, I’ll get you some food” she jokes to herself. She dresses quickly and walks back to the main house, nervous about meeting everyone at once. 

Ingrid welcomes her and calls the attention of the room, much to Helena's dislike, “hello all my loves, I know we’re hungry, and we will eat soon! First, I want everyone to meet Helena, from the Daae. She will be staying with us for a while in an official capacity. Please make her feel welcome and at home. Secondly, Humphrey barbecued all afternoon so you better tell him thank you!”

As a chorus, the room all says “Thank you, Humphrey!” as he sets down plate after plate of delicious smelling barbecue. He waves them off as to say ‘no big deal’ and Ingrid nods for them to start getting their food. The smell of the meat is overwhelming, Helena hasn't eaten since the airplane meal, and even her wolf is begging for some food at this point. She helps herself to some ribs, chicken, potato salad, two dinner rolls, baked beans, and another big glass of lemonade. Most of the pack wanders back outside with their plates, and Helena follows, sitting with the group. 

“Hi, I’m Clara, and this is my partner Joseph.” A woman around Helena’s age sits down next to her, followed by a man. 

Helena already has a mouth full, and makes an awkward smile, which Clara and Joseph laugh at, “please eat. There will be plenty of time to talk.”

“I’m Helena, it’s nice to meet you both. Do you live here in the house?”

Joseph shakes his head, “No we actually live about 15 minutes from here, in Salem. We own a bar.”

“A very cool bar” Clara joins in smiling.

“Yes, a very cool bar.” They smile at each other, before he continues, “we started a horror themed bar. Which is pretty fitting for Salem, we get a lot of tourists. But we have themed cocktails, and costume nights, and the decor looks like a haunted house. It’s like Halloween every night there.”

“That is a very cool bar! We don’t have anything like that at home.”

“You’ll have to come. We’ll tell Artemis to give you a tour of the area, bring you by. First drink is on the house!”

“That’s so sweet, I look forward to it. I had no idea this place was so close to Salem. I mean, I knew Salem was in Massachusetts, I’m just not great with American geography.”

“Yeah we’re real close, had to get a little further from the city center to be able to have some land to roam free, but it’s like 10 or 15 minutes away. It’s a really fun town, especially if you love all the history and lore surrounding it. We get a lot of tourists around here all year long, especially in the fall.”

“That’s what I do for the Daae, I’m a historian. I work in the library.”

“Well we’ll have to tell Artemis to take you to the museums too, not that that’s her scene at all,” Clara chuckles, “conventional learning has never been Artemis' thing. We went to school together here, and she was so infuriating, she never did any homework but would just show up for the exam and get an A. So don't let her talk you out of the museums, you have to see them. There are a few really good ones, and of course all the historic witch houses that they’ve preserved. Oh and at night they do ghost walks, which I know sounds silly, but they’re really historically accurate. They take you on a walk at night through the town and stop at various places to tell you the history and lore about it. We still go on them from time to time, we learn something new every time.”

“It sounds like an amazing town. In Rome, I don’t think we could do that. It’s all very religious. Still has clubs and what not, and amazing food, but the occult is only acceptable if it’s Catholicism.”

“What do you mean?” Clara asks interested, digging into her food.

“Catholicism is basically witchcraft if you look at it objectively. A demigod, transubstantiation, walking on water, the symbolism, their outfits, the secrets. Like if you didn’t know I was talking about Catholicism, and I told you about my religion based on a demigod born from a virgin birth, who has special powers, shares his blood and flesh with his followers, and can cross between dimensions? No one would listen to me. The Catholics just have an amazing PR team.”

“You might be the most interesting person I’ve ever met.” Clara says with a big smile, “Wow, I’ve never thought about it that way before. Just wow.”

Helena smiled back, “I don’t get to talk about my research a lot, sorry if it’s too much.”

“Please don’t apologize, I love when someone is passionate about something! This is what you do at the Daae, research Catholic Occultists?”

Helena laughed, “No no, I’m working on my PhD. This is my dissertation, and it goes way deeper than this. I’m writing from a non-Underworlder perspective of the grey area of the Occult and its role in everything from the Vatican, to presidential candidates, to major religions, even in TV shows. Yet no one calls it as such, it’s this unspoken grey area.”

“Artemis is going to love her.” Joseph tells Clara. Clara nods in agreement.

Helena blushes, and returns to her dinner.