Quileute Potlatch Celebration 3

[Amorentia]

Marcus POV

Fishing was serious business.  At least for the first few hours and then most of the men had enough beers that we began to gossip like women, but with burping and other crude bodily functions that set the younger ones into peals of laughter.  This journey had been no different.  Each of us took our turns boasting about inordinate amounts of sex we swore we were having, though every one knew the truth was closer to the number we were swearing by but divided by like three.  We ribbed on the guys we knew we're getting any at all, the single guys joked on the married ones for being married,  the married ones defended our stances that marriage was better than the bachelor life any day.  And all of this was done using code words the kids would never be able to pick up on or be able to use to rat us out later.  Basically, guy time turned us into highly edited 16 year old boys.  It was more fun than I could ever explain

The only thing better than the male bonding was being welcomed into the open arms of our ladies when we pulled the boats a shore, grinning as they took in the amount of fish we'd been able to catch, praising us no differently if we brought back 2 or 200.

As Jaki ran towards us, I could see the Pack and their families had already arrived, the Sorcerers and their entourages taking seats, as well as the rest of the Magical community here on the Rez.  Just as Jaki's feet broke the line of the sand, my Pretty Peni scooped him up into her arms, her bronzed skin gleaming in the light of the sun, the smile brightening her eyes when she asked, "How did you do?"

Before I could even answer, Jaki was wiggling out of her arms, bouncing off to a new adventure. "We got second. We needed Nevi." I said with a laugh against her lips. "It was John's fault.  All the blushing when we raged him about Em scared away the fish."

Jalil POV

These kind of days were always mad chill for me. Surrounded by everyone who was anyone in my life, with food, and a day fun of with nothing to do but play. It was my kind of day. Peni and some of the other ladies were taking the ice chests full of fish. As it should be, the men hunting up the grub, while the woman prepared and cleaned it.

"Peni! Bring me a food!" I demanded with a smile.

"Shut up," she retorted. But she picked up a plate that Scrappy then loaded up with food for me. Women are amazing. Tucking Scrappy  in my arm, I thanked her for the food before asked, "Did you have fun?"

The sparkle in her brown eyes was the most stunning thing I saw all morning. Her bottom lip turned into a slight pout, "Peni tortured me with dancing lobsters."

"She's evil with that whole puppet thing," I hugged her to me. After giving her a kiss to make it all better, I reached extended a hand to Ab saying, "Hello, Mr. Dumbledore, sir."

Ab shook my hand speficying, "Ab...your not allowed to kiss my daughter again until you learn to call me Ab."

"I love how you keep making rules for me." Sara's eyes narrowed at her Father. But that sounded great to me.

"In that case, it's good to see you Ab, sir." Wrapping her in my arm, I leaned her back smothering her with a passionate kiss.

Looking a bit dazed, Scrappy pulled herself herself back upright saying, "Ok, back to doing dirty things with your Sister." If I had known I was warming her up for my Sister, I may have rethought my course of actions. Maybe, if that wasn't such an fantastic kiss.

Picking at my food, I followed my Dad and Marcus as we went to pay respects to the Elder's before we grabbed a place to sit. No matter who we talked to, I got a lot of compliments on Scrappy. It wasn't like I could take any credit on how wonderful she was, but it was nice to hear. All eyes were on her. It was safe to say I had a  reputation around the Rez. The woman who settled me enough so people could release the lock on their wives and daughters held a natural curiosity. The fact that she was the most beautiful thing on the Rez, just added to that.

Sara POV

Leaving J's arms, I made my way back to were Peni was already squatting, fast at work rinsing off one of the fish.  There's no way to explain the drop in my stomach as she began to scrap off the poor things scales before slicing it from it's sternum down to rip it's bones and intestines from it's body. Beginning the process of decapitating it, she turned my way,  "Want to help?"

Swallowing hard, I'm sure my desire to vomit was written all over my face as I knelt, "Sure, We already killed Sebastian, why not add Flounder to the list?"

Not phased at all, Peni laughed, her deft fingers making the fishes mouth open as she piped out,  "I'm not Flounder, I'm Tito. Now rub me the right way till I'm naked. Make it hurt so good."

She passed the fish my way, laughing at the look that crossed my face when I took hold of the cold, slimy, flopping thing.  I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue out at her as she pulled yet another fish from the bucket to torture to death.  Holding my fish as far from me as possible, I refused to look at it, there-by limiting my chances of becoming attached, closing one eye for good measure as I began to descale it.  My gag reflex was in full swing as I felt the scales slipping beneath my finger nails.

Laughing harder, Peni instructed,  "Sara, open your eyes are you going to cut off your finger."

Uh uh.  I called back, "We have potions to grow them back"

Finally finished with the scales, I opened both eyes to see tears of laughter streaming down Peni's face, a huge grin there as she said, "Now slice it's stomach open, reach inside, and pull out the guts."

Deep breath, "Ugh,,,"

"It can't be worse than that deer..." My dad reminded me, laughing.

With another deep breath, I cut the poor fish open, closing my eyes as I reached in, whispering to myself, "It's for a good reason...It's for a good reason..." trying to tone Peni's laughter in the background.

Peni POV

Sara scored huge points by helping me with the fish. She really didn't have to. My own Mother wouldn't be caught dead gutting a fish. But I like being hands on, not just organizing from a distance. Quickly she was earning the respect of everyone just for being open to the experience. We took all the fish to be seasoned. Half were being baked, the other half battered and fried. There was going to be plenty, not only for the day, but for everyone to bring some food home - another of our Potlatch - our feasts - traditions.

After using our wands, as well as some lemon, to clean our hands, we grabbed some food and rejoined the our family to eat. We had a huge group gathered. Pretty much anywhere we could have sat, there was family around. The entire Pack was present with most of their families, except for Tori. Marcus and my entire family were here - down to our third cousins once removed. Where Sara, Jalil, Marcus, and I grabbed large driftwood to sit, we had a triad of our families surrounding us with the Pack just a stones throw away. There were few words to describe how much this type of event fed my soul. As I watched our babies being handed from one loving hand to another adoring set of arms, I couldn't help but smile. Jaki, along with little Sammy Uley, Leah's son, and Brailee joined the other kids running around the playground, throwing rocks into the ocean, building sand castles, and using driftwood as wands under the watchful eye of dozens of protective family members. In our Magical Community, we believe it does indeed take a Village to raise each child.

Plates in each hand, I sat down by my sweet man, receiving his kiss on my shoulder. As Sara found a place in Jalil's open warm, we started trying to teach Sara a few basic saying in Quileute. Our language was not an easy one. There was nothing about it that feels natural, especially to our lazy American tongues. We have eight different K sounds alone. The nasal tones, unwritten sounds, guttural, and clicking additions alone made it one the most difficult languages on earth. In the Muggle Community, there are only a handful of the Tribe who speak fluent Quileute. Efforts are being made to remedy that. In our secret society, that's why we think it's all that much more important to maintain our inherent culture and full language, and teach it to our children.

"Whatever they tell you," Jalil warned her. "Don't let them tell you that 'kihkah' means nice to meet you." All around the fire, there was laughter. "They told me that when I first came and I spent weeks running around the Rez telling people the equivalent of, 'Go away, get away from me.'" We all roared with laughter. Yes, thank you, Jalil, for the memories. Everyone thought my Brother from New York was insane.

Jalil held out a kabob offering a bit to Sara as we sat. Having been apart of the food prep all morning, she learned quickly asking, "What is it?"

"I don't know," Jalil stated before taking a big bite. "Peni what is this? It's delicious."

Pretending like it was the most normal thing in the world, I held back my laugh starting, "Elk." We all watched the inner struggle raging inside Sara before she closed her eyes deciding to be brave giving an unenthusiastic, "Ummm...sure."

Sara POV

Peni and Marcus were curled around one another, laughing, as J held the stick out with a reassuring smile, "It tastes a lot like beef. Really."

"It's healthier than chicken. Come on Sara. Eat it." Peni laid on the peer pressure,"It's really good. It's not Bambi's Dad." Once again, my eyes closed, trying to not think about furry woodland creature's as I took a bite, chewing quickly, "It's his cousin."

Oh, she had to go there, I thought as I shot daggers in her direction, trying to continue smiling so I wouldn't offend anyone.  Like two's pea's in a pod, Marcus chimed in with Peni, holding a plate with lobster and crab and Gawd knows what else out to me, "You need to eat all these too.  It's custom"

Apparently I looked as horrifed as I felt because even Peni took pity on me, asking sweetly, "Sara, do you want me to just get you a hot dog?"

"Damn it, Peni." J threw out with a grin, "Stop trying to slip my girl the big one before I do."

"Yes, Peni," I replied laughing."I would love your hot dog" 

"Does she know something I don't know?" Marcus looked at Peni with a raised brow.

Standing, Peni brushed off her shorts, tossing me a conspiratorial wink, "Shhhh... Sara. He thinks it's a strap on"

Using my fingers, I began feeding the bites of food to J, giving Marcus a smile, "Does she dominate you too?"

Joking back, he replied, "We're saving that for our 2nd anniversary."

Spread out along the beach as far as I could see, people of every age were jumping into one game or another.  Marcus had every kid between the ages of 5 and 10 lined up by him, working the perfect curve of a horseshoe toss while Peni snagged little ones left and right for the canoe she was creating, a priceless piece of art with the hand prints of every child in the tribe.  It was amazing the things she came up with.

Following J inside, I wrapped my arm around his waist as we made our way into the community center, stopping in the gym to hoot and holler as Quil and some of the Vet Pack took on C.D. and some of the rookies.  The rolling laughter from the game room pulled our attention away, J's grin spreading when we entered to see the Texas Hold 'Em tournament Peni had arranged well under way.  It was a brilliant idea, a fun way to get the group involved in raising funds for the Muggle version of the Potlatch in July.  She'd orchestrated it so half the winning pot went home with the winner and the other half supported the non-magical part of the tribe, cause in Peni's eyes, magic or not, family is family.

Past the poker game, pool was under way, but J and my attempts to join were laughed off, the story of our hustling skills already on it's way to a legend among the group.  Instead, we wound our way through the stands and stalls of Quileute crafts, taking the time to stop and converse with smiling faces, ready hands attempting to teach our bumbling ones the skills the tribe held dear, such as their basket making, hat weaving, and even Peni made it in to walk me through the steps of making cedar sheets.

I tucked my other arm around her and the three of us went back out as a unit in search of Marcus, Peni and J ragging on eachother about who got to play with Ivory once he was discovered.  When Peni started joking J about sleeping with his girl, the two fell into a game of chase, running past the flyers in the Quidditch pitch, ducking the surf boards being taken out into the ocean, before poor Peni ran into Ivory's arms, only to be held while Ebony tickled her into submission.  The love between the three of the them was as clear as the day before us. 

Attempting to stay out of reach until I was positive all tickling was done, I watched the line of canoe's stretching against the backdrop of the sea.  Two teams were racing, I could see Jake heading the Vet pack, Paul leading his rookies.  I felt J's arms curl around me as he called out a cheer for his pack, Marcus and Peni coming up beside us, Marcus yelling right along with J.  I felt bad no one was cheering for the Rookies, so I threw my support their way, watching them row like they had something to prove.  Peni was just shouting in general, cheering the names of all the members, scooping Jaki up in her arms when he came running to yell for his Dad, Brails hot on his heels calling "Go go go" as loud as her little voice would carry.  Snuggling our little ones close, Peni and I shared a smile before their faces fell seeing the Rookies take down the Vets by inches.

[Amorentia]

Mar. 20, 2010 at 11:39 AM

This is a post that is not only a celebration for our characters, but is also a celebration of the Quiluite Tribe and much of it's historical, tribal legends and belief's, embleshed, of course, by our imaginations. Party with us as we stretch this Portlatch into the party of this century...or at least the month. It's a gathering of friends, family, and community that we're stretching over a 3 day frame to give you the time to devulge yourself in the immensity and intensity of the Quileute culture.

Peni Clearwater written by Amorentia. Marcus Flint written by shtteredprncess. Sara Black written by shtteredprncess. Jalil Clearwater written by Amorentia. Aberforth Dumbledore by shtteredprncess. Emily "Em" Roche written by shtteredprncess. John Ellis written by Amorentia. Wayne Clearwater written by Amorentia. Sam Uley by Amorentia.

 

Want to read more? What to join in the Creative Writing fun? Our full stories are in the RPG writing group Through The Looking Glass. Link HERE to join as a reader or writer.

(Original Poster)

[stargazer69]

Mar. 20, 2010 at 11:48 AM

HA!  Marcus and the men fishing..sounds just like going out with my husband and his friends! Lobsters, then fish, then making her eat it...Peni really is having fun picking on Sara LOL.  It's really cute to read.  I love the way you've set up the flow of the party, we really get an idea of all the prep involved and they fun set up, it shows a great sense of community!

[louisianagir76l]

Mar. 21, 2010 at 12:44 PM

This kinda reminds me of crawfish boils here in LA....Its more about the gathering of friends then the food...although the food is of course delish;) good job ladies.

[mountainluvnmom]

Mar. 22, 2010 at 9:41 AM

The guys fishing is dead on LOL.  Poor Scrappy is getting put through the ringer.  It's sweet that she wants to be a part of the culture that helps create his life.  I love how she is pushing up her sleeves, closing her eyes, and diving into his life.  Every line of Peni reads with pride in her background and a love of the tribes history.  You ladies have done a great job of creating a party  I want to go play at.