Good-to-the-last-drop

Known to the homids as

Maximus Riggish Fulsome

Tribe: Bone Gnawers
Auspice: Ragabash
Breed: Metis

Appearance:

As a human, Max is a an attractive young teen with a slender build and platinum-blond hair. He normally wears a skimpy pair of tight shorts that leave little to the imagination and a cutoff T shirt that shows off his lean abdomen. He usually sports a pair of sneakers, but sometimes goes barefoot. He strikes amine fans as a bishounen (Japanese for "beautiful boy").

In glabro, his shorts and shirt change subtly with his appearance. He still looks fairly handsome but in a rougher, street punk sort of way.

In lupus he is a beautiful white-furred wolf, lean and a bit on the small size. Hispo is similar but obviously larger. In crinos he is noticeably thin and weak but otherwise resembles a white-furred Silver Fang noble.

Background:

Maximus Riggish Fulsome was born with a different name to the household of a minor noble in the north of England. His unmarried mother, in her 30's, still lived with her parents mostly due to the fact she'd never been quite right in the head. Max's grandparents were never able to figure out who'd fathered him. Max's mother and Grandfather were Silver Fang Garou, and his Grandmother and the two elderly servants were all Kinfolk.

Max was treated fairly well, though he was normally confined to the upper floors of their home. This actually was a goodly amount of space, as the home was one of the fortified manor houses relatively common along the English/Scottish border and was so old that it also appeared in the Umbra. The bedrooms, library, etc. were all located on the upper floors. There was even a workout room with a few exercise machines and some fencing equipment.

Max's Grandfather though trying to outfit a Crinos, especially a growing metis, was a waste of money. As he got older though, his Grandmother insisted that he needed something to wear - at least for special occasions. As pants needed extensive tailoring to fit him, his Grandmother taught him how to wear a great kilt. Essentially a length of fabric pleated by hand each time it was worn, belted around the waist and pinned on one shoulder, it required no alterations as he grew. His Grandfather thought it looked absurd, but did concede to Max's Grandmother that it was practical.

As well as being taught Garou lore by his Grandfather, Max received a basic education and was allowed to read anything in the library. The library included a collection of Shakespear's works and a section on family history. As far as Max was able to determine, the Silver Fang blood came from a Polish noblewoman who married a Scottish nobleman shortly after Bonnie Prince Charlie's mother (who was Polish) had married. The daughter then married into the English noble family that had title to the very home in which Max grew up.

Max was also allowed to use the computer in the library to browse the worldwide web. Max thinks no one in the house, other than himself, had any real clue regarding what could be found or done with a computer over the wed. Not that Max was much into web surfing until emerging pubescent feelings created a compelling new interest.

Max's new urges led him to go through a lot of effort to sneak a peak at one of his Grandfather's credit cards. However the thought of his Ahroun Grandfather's probable reaction kept him from ever actually using it to subscribe to anything on the internet.

Max was still exploring his new urges he encountered another of the milestones punctuating his ninth year - his first change. His first change involved his adolecent urges and unwise use of an excercise machine.

Like usual he'd been let to his own devices, so no one else was aware he could change and Max didn't tell anyone either. He wanted to get out of his ancestral home and the ability to change was critical. Now he could interact with normal people without scaring them. Also Max could now fit through his bedroom window, which gave him a potential escape route.

Max was able to find maps via the web - rather important when you've never been outside sight of your home. However he still needed something to wear and somewhere to go where his Grandfather wouldn't find him and punish him.

Then Max learned his Kinfolk cousin Brenda from America was coming to visit his grandparents. She was a bit older than Max and was staying all summer in England while visiting various relatives. After Max got the standard "be careful you're stronger" lecture he was allowed to meet her.

It was a bit touch and go at first, as Max was bigger and rather scary looking. But Brenda was no wimp and Max had a mild temperament for a Garou, so it didn't take long for them to become comfortable with each other. Max learned about her life as an only child in America and, more importantly to him, about her trip across the ocean. As she was likely destined for marriage to some Silver Fang stud, Brenda was interested in what she could find out about Garou (and boys) beyond what the her parents had told her.

Over the next few days it came out that Brenda only some vague knowledge of male anatomy and was really interested acquiring first-hand knowledge. Max decided he was willing to enlighten her in exchange for her old sandals. While Max was puny for a crinos, he certainly impressed Brenda. However, she was not pleased the way her parents had glossed over things.

Rather upset with her parents for having treated her like a child, Brenda readily agreed to give Max her faded sweatpants in exchange for ending her virginity. And despite it being Max's first time too, Brenda was delighted with the experience. And with her still annoyed by her parents, Max had no trouble the next time bargaining for a battered T shirt. With Brenda taking advantage of his sterility, Max easily obtained the rest of his escape supplies - some rope, bus schedules etc. By the time Brenda left a couple weeks later, Max was almost all set for his escape.

He still had his Grandfather's credit card information, so he ordered electronic plane tickets via the web. As this was before the days of massive paranoia about flying, Max was able to fly alone to New York. Max avoided Customs and the need for a passport by slipping into a restroom and stepping into the Umbra. Of course not having anything dedicated meant that Max had to abandon what little he possessed in the restroom.

Max exited the Umbra some distance from the airport in a rather hasty fashion after realizing he was being trailed by something. Max emerged from a nook into a sea of mobile humanity that studiously avoided making eye contact with him. The sidewalks were packed so Max, who was of course shorter than the multitude, couldn't see more than a few feet in any direction.

Disoriented, Max was swept along by the crowd. After stumbling along for a little bit, Max realized that at least some people were stealing glances at him. He got a few shocked looks, a few subtle smiles and a few stares.

Max was starting to enjoy the libertine looks when he was plucked out of the crowd by an old woman. She was a Bone Gnawer Grandmother who had mistook him for one of her own. She was about to demanded to what the hell he was doing when she realized she didn't recognize Max. A "sniff" revealed he was Garou and his cleanliness told her that Max hadn't been on the streets for long.

Max noticed she was staring at him. So remembering Brenda, Max offered his services in exchange for something to wear. For a while after they arrived at the Sept people wondered why she'd chuckle whenever she'd see Max.

Max was accepted into the Sept and "shown the ropes". May things were new to him, but much of the Garou lore was familiar but had a very different viewpoint from what he'd been taught. Max adopted his present human name, Maximus Riggish Fulsome, in part as a joke, in part seriously, but also to protect his family's "good name". Max had no moral qualms about having taken up as a streetwalker, but he thought his family would find it shameful. Max did love his family - he just didn't ever want to go back to live with them.

Not that long later, Max joined a group of Bone Gnawer cubs for their Rite of Passage. Their mission was to find what had happened to a Kinfolk kid who'd gone missing recently. If something untoward had happened to him, then they were to either deal with the perpetrator or keep tabs on the villain so the Sept could take action.

Max, as the least intimidating member of their group, was elected to speak to the younger and/or more skittish of the boy's friends and associates. Some of them reminded Max of talking to his mother. To make a long story short, they eventually found the boy in a shelter for runaways. The thing that freaked Max though was finding an artist's conception of him on the wall of missing children.

Max figured he ought to let his family know what happened to him. So he wrote a letter home basically telling his family he was OK, was now an adult in the eyes of the Garou and told them they could contact his Bone Gnawer elders to confirm it all. Then Max said goodbye to his friends and hitched a ride out of town, headed for somewhere far away. While Max had no misgivings about his new life, he wasn't going to stick around and explain to his family why the Sept had named him "Good to the last drop".