Dance Campaign!

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Anyone who happens to come into the gym may notice Less Than Beta walking the length of the gymnasium. Every so often, he stops to make a note in his notebook. If one were to peek over his shoulder at it, one would find the paper studded with notes on the estimated dimensions of the gym.

On the wall next to the entrance is a crude sign which reads: Desining of Dance Studio in process. If you want desins to become reality, vote for Less Than Beta East Tundra for student counsil. It seems that Less hasn't succeeded in becoming a better speller since his arrival at the Academy.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

After a while, he darts out of the gym and returns with rope, which he then uses to mark off a circle 20 feet in diameter, with an opening between the ends of the rope a little less than 3 feet wide.

Huh. Now he's dancing in the center of the rope. Who knows why?

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

As Kahlen walked into the gym to start another dance practice, she noticed Less in the middle of a rope circle. "Hey, nice to see you're dancing. Want to join me again?"

Kahlen quickly put on her tap shoes and flapped over to the circle. "I noticed your student council campaign sign. Is this a ploy to get a vote from me?" Kahlen joked. "Even so, I think you'd do pretty well."

She began to stretch, standing a few feet from the rope.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less Than Beta landed a particularly high jump and darted over to Kahlen. "If I win, I'm going to see about making a dance association so that the students can learn dances from all over the world. If that's going to happen, there needs to be a studio for it. The gym is a good place for one. So it's not a ploy, but you did give me the idea."

Instead of stretching along with her, Less went to make sure the rope was still in the right place. "Yes, I'd like to join you. Do you want to do the Hunt Dance with me?"

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen grinned. "I was just kidding. But I'd be more than happy to help with it."

She stepped into the circle through the opening after she finished her strech. "Sure thing. Show me what you've got!"

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less began by creeping around the circle, rhythmically slapping the ground at short intervals. When he reached the starting point, he began a series of leaps and rolls. These were punctuated by moments in which he would freeze in place for several seconds before leaping to the side and starting again. Finally, he made another circle and sat down. "See? It's a little complicated, so pups just make the circle. In human form go clockwise and in wolf form go counterclockwise. That's not the entire thing, because only Alpha can be the centerpiece."

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen watched Less closely as he went around the circle. "So I go clockwise? I think I've got it." She took off her tap shoes, not needing them for this dance.

She copied Less' movements as she creeped around the circle, smacking the ground. She did much better at the leaps and rolls because they were more 'dance.' Finishing, Kahlen stopped next to Less.

"Pretty good? I don't think I'm the best at the first part, but the second is much more fun. What do the movements mean, exactly?"

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

"Decent. It's tricky getting enough height on the jumps, really. The dance itself is a...symbol? Representation? Just is? Something like that. Circling is stalking prey, and is done by all of the pack at once except the music makers. Mother of Alpha and Lesser Mage usually are the music makers for the East Tundra pack, but Pup Drummer is learning very quickly. Mother of Alpha says that she is a genius, but I do not know what that means for the pack."

Less Than Beta shook his head and hurried past the tangent. "Bounding is when the prey is being attacked, and is done in order of how the hunt went or pack rank. One at a time. If you are thrown off by the prey, you roll. Stop when another is bounding. Caribou is the most common prey, and is big, so you have to leap high to grab onto it."

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen leaned her head to the side. "Interesting. I like listening to you talk about your pack. Another part of Canada that I don't know about." She grinned.

Kahlen stretched out her legs again. 'How high are these jumps supposed to be?' she thought. She could leap fairly high.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

"And I like talking about the pack so it works, right? Humans generally do not notice weres unless there is a pack living near them, so I am not surprised," Less explained, leaning forward and arching his back in a painful-looking stretch. "And some live as humans or animals, ignoring their shifting ability. Many humans think we do not exist at all. Negotiator is there to make sure the villages in our territory know we exist."

Less stood up abruptly and marked off a height with his hand. "Your feet should reach about this high." Marking off a higher level he added, "Try not to exceed this one, though, because Alpha has to have the highest bounds."

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Yep. I definitely used to be one of the people that didn't think werewolves existed," Kahlen said with a laugh. "But now that I do, I find you very interesting. Oh! I should think it would be fun to visit over breaks, considering we probably live fairly close to one another."

Kahlen noted the height Less marked with his hand. She jumped a couple of times at that height. "So, I'm guessing you all participate in these dances? Must be quite a party."

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less thought for a moment before finding the right words. "East Tundra territory borders a large body of water. I do not know what you call it; we simply call it the Waters or the Blue Goddess' Waters. It is salty. The water freezes over in winter and fall, so that polar bears can walk on it. There is a human village called Arviat on the coast of the water, which we trade with. It is very cold there compared to here. I do not know whether that is enough for you to find us."

He nodded appreciatively. "You are good at jumping. Yes, we all participate after a successful hunt, or before a hunt when we haven't had a successful one for a while. It is quite a sight to behold.

((Less is referring to this hamlet: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arviat,_Nunavut))

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Hm. Not as close as I thought. I'm terrible at geography, so I can't tell you what the name of the water... do you mean an ocean? Anyways, I'm sure Arviat isn't too difficult to find," Kahlen replied.

"And thanks. I've always been rather good at leaps, if I say so myself." Kahlen grinned. "You'd be pretty good at acrobatics if you tried."

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less shrugged. "Oceans have waves, right? Like the one we visited here? The Waters have no waves." He spent a moment trying to dredge up the right memories before continuing. "There are no roads to Arviat. There is just an airplane, the one I took to come here. There may be boats, but I haven't seen any; we only visit when the Waters are frozen over. The sick must stay in the village in winter or they will die; even a fire in front of the den will not save them then."

((He means the Hudson Bay.))

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen smiled and scratched her head. "Oh, well, as I said, I'm not very good with geography... Must be interesting to live in a place only accessible by airplane."

Kahlen absentmindedly did a few tap steps. "Wait. Did you say dens? I suppose you lot aren't keen on technology, are you?"

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less shrugged again. "We walk. Sometimes we run. Very rarely does a pack member leave the territory," he explained. "Mostly it is cold and empty. The only excitement is the hunt and any incursions by other packs."

"Packs are migratory, so we cannot carry anything we cannot immediately use. There are no places to charge batteries on the tundra, so we cannot use electricity. Advanced, heavy objects are generally made to last and left in a den for when we come across it again. Simple, light machines and basic tools are all that can travel with us. The only reason Negotiator has a cell phone is because she uses it so little and has many replacement batteries which the village charges for her. It is for emergencies only. Dens are the best shelter in the tundra, because the ground provides insulation from the cold."

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Interesting," Kahlen said. "But it makes sense. However, I don't think that be very comfortable to live in a den."

Kahlen looked up at a clock on the wall. It was almost time for her first class of the day. "Well, I've got to run to class, so I'll see you around, yeah?" Kahlen waved, grabbed her bag, and jogged out of the building.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

"I will be around. Goodbye!" Less called after her.