![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
renferretEx's cubnapping.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is raining lightly. The temperature is 57 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the south at 10 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 29.82 and falling, and the relative humidity is 86 percent. The dewpoint is 53 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius.)
Currently the moon is in the waning New (Ragabash) Moon phase (17% full).
The weather's no real surprise today; hey, guess what, light rain. For the moment it's mostly let up, but the clouds are grey and low, threatening more to come at any time. The park's usual denizens have mostly fled to warmer, drier shelter, but someone appears to be sticking it out in the open. There's a skinny young woman, early twenties at most, hunched up on one of the benches near the fountain. She has her legs drawn up to her chest, her hands threaded into her very short hair, and appears to be rocking back and forth on her precarious perch. Next to her is a plastic shopping bag, filled with what looks like clothes.
Moros trudges into view from the direction of Bridge Street, hands in his pockets, big boots squelching the wet ground. The big man is quite damp himself from walking in the rain, though seems indifferent to it. Certainly it doesn't make his hair any less bedraggled in appearance.
The rain isn't stopping Sue from taking a walk through the park, coming from the tenement and making his way slowly through the park, hiking pole in hand. The halfmoon is scruffy, almost, the beginning of a beard coming from the fact that he hasn't shaved for days, and he looks tired, not paying as much attention save for walking down the path through the park.
Ex's rocking becomes a little more pronounced for a moment, before settling back into the original rhythm. She's muttering to herself too, though whatever she's saying is being said so low that it's impossible to make out. For the moment, she's unaware of either Fury's approach.
Moros jerks his head up, flicking stringy tendrils of hair out of his face, and spots Ex. His step slows, head cocking to one side, a thoughtful line appearing between his brows. Then he picks up his pace, heading toward her.
Sue notices the other Fury before he notices Ex, and chooses the path that will bring him towards them, but his steps are slow. Eventually, Moros gets a nod of greeting, shoulders lifting in a shrug.
It's only when Moros draws close that Ex seems to notice the giant man. Her eyes flick up and over to him, and the muttering stops, if not the rocking. Her jaw clenches tightly.
Moros stops at Ex's bench and stands in front of her, studying her with narrowed eyes and cocked head.
Sue looks between Moros, and Ex. "Evening," he eventually offers. To one of them, or both of them, it's uncertain.
Ex's jaw tightens a little more, her gaze flicking from Moros to Sue, and back to Moros. "You need to go away," she says, through clenched teeth.
Red eyes shift sideways toward Sue; the big man's not wearing his sunglasses. The acknowledgement, if that's what is was, is brief, barely a second before those eyes move back to Ex. "No."
Sue doesn't approach further until he's folded the hiking pole, nor does he approach too much further in general, but to Ex, there's a raised brow. "Bad day?" he asks.
A muscle in the woman's right cheek spasms in response, momentarily making that neat, thin scar distort. She glowers at Moros, then jerks her gaze to Sue. "Yes," she says, with more intensity, but less volume. Her voice sounds a little hoarse. "And you need to /go the fuck away/."
Moros's head tilts to the other side. His hands come out of his pockets, thick fingers curling. He leans forward slightly, upper lip lifting as he repeats, in a low growl, "No."
Sue raises his brows a half-tick, and pulls his peacoat around him a little bit more. It's not exactly the neatest, nicest garment anymore, though Sue's been able to get out the majority of the blood-stain from the front panels. "Makes two of us," he says, instead of going away.
Ex tries to hold up under that. She stares at Moros, eyes narrowed, eyebrows low, glowering her heart out--and then she very abruptly looks away and pulls back from him, as if recoiling from an invisible blow. Her nostrils flare. "/Okay/." She makes a snatch for the shopping bag, and starts to swing her feet back down to the ground. One hand remains pressed against the side of her head, fingers digging at her scalp.
Moros grabs for her arm, the one going for the bag. "I said _no_."
"Easy, /both/ of you," Sue says, not entirely a grumble, though he seems to know better than to get any closer to the pair. "Come on."
Poor Sue. /There's/ advice not taken. The moment Moros's fingers touch her arm--and she's not fast enough to avoid an actual grip--Ex abandons the bag in order to plunge her other hand into her jeans pocket, clearly grabbing for something. "Let go, /LET GO/." She's all tension now, seemingly every muscle in her face, neck, and shoulders drawn tight.
Moros does not let go. In fact, with frightening ease, the big man yanks her up off the bench, twists her around, and gets a thick arm around her neck. His right hand never lets go of her wrist as he wrenches that arm of hers painfully up behind her back. He growls, hoarse and rough in her ear (though loud enough that Sue can hear him as well). "You need _help_."
"Moros!" Sue snaps, though it's mild and more exasperated. "Not the way to help her, necessarily?"
Moros's answer comes as a shriek of bestial fury, because without /any single further warning/ the giant of a man suddenly has a squirming, raging, black furred monster in his arms. It helps that he's big; for a crinos, this one's nothing special. It helps that he already has a firm grip on her, and has her turned away from him, because her teeth initially snap at air. It also helps that her efforts are not remotely coordinated--clumsy, unrefined, and mad with fury.
Ex(#1291Pc)
As crinos go, this one is not quite so intimidating. She lacks in muscle mass and fails to achieve the kind of height many of her fellows do; it's a modest eight feet at best. Her fur is black, but looks somewhat unhealthy and uneven in length and thickness. Discolored grey fur marks a number of scars; not the wild gashes of battle, but rather thin, clinically neat. By far the largest and thickest stretches down from the middle of her chest to her abdomen, where it intersects with a smaller, horizontal scar that stretches from hip to hip. Two matching scars adorn each cheek, from the corner of her muzzle to the bottom of each ear, and another, nearly invisible, across her forehead. Her right forearm appears to bear some kind of marking, but against the dark fur and blue-black skin, it can't be easily made out. Ice-blue eyes, intense, smoldering with Rage, are the most noticeable feature at a distance.
Moros seems to have been expecting _something_, if not this exactly. He snarls, baring his teeth as the skinny young woman turns bigger and stronger -- though only a foot taller than the big black-clad monster himself. He tightens his arm-grip around her throat, bulking up into the near-man as he chokes off her air and holds her immobile. "Shut up!" This is, apparently, to Sue.
Sue takes a step back from the situation, enough to give Moros room to deal. He doesn't shift himself, but he's certainly alert and aware of everything going on. It's also dark enough and dim enough and wet enough in the park that Sue only spends a moment making sure that no one else happens to be paying attention to what's going on.
The scrawny crinos squirms and flails against Moros's arms with no success, managing at best to tear up the grass near the bench and to send a few clumps of turf flying. With the lack of air, she makes little noise beyond choking, snarling sounds, and even those stop rather quickly as her struggles grow weaker, fade mostly to kicks, and then stop altogether. As she loses consciousness, she drops right back into a--now very naked, with her clothes in tatters--young woman. Instantly noticeable is that her facial scars have quite a few siblings on the rest of her body. And on the underside of her right forearm is what looks to be an inked or tattoed series of letters and numbers: X75V-31.
Moros shrinks down to homid as the young woman does, loosening his hold as she goes limp. His nostrils flare, adrenaline and unspent fury oozing out of his very pores, but his motions are gentle as he lowers her to the wet, torn ground. "Car," he says, cutting his blood-red gaze to Sue. "Van, whatever. What's the best place to take her?" He's already shrugging out of his coat.
Sue looks at the girl a moment. "Edgewood eventually," Sue says, frowning. "Walker building first, they've got clothing there, and it's /close/. Walking distance. And it's indoors and safe." He looks at Moros, then jerks his head back in the direction he'd first come in. "I have a bike. It's not going to get us to Edgewood."
Ex looks far more peaceful unconscious than she ever did yesterday while awake. Her shopping bag remains mostly undisturbed on the bench, and her now shredded clothing is not particularly remarkable, apart from what she was obviously reaching for; it looks like an old, cheapo switchblade.
Moros casually confiscates the switchblade, tucking it into the back pocket of his jeans before wrapping the woman up in the massive black coat and hauling her up into his arms as though she were a child. He grunts at Sue. "Get her bag and lead the way, then."
Sue gathers the bag, and snaps open his hiking pole. "Someone'll have a car we can use," he says, making his way out of the park, towards the tenement building. The pace he sets, while much faster than his usual pace, is still not fast.
There's clothes in the bag, still with price stickers attached, and what looks like a receipt. There's also a half eaten sandwich and mostly empty water bottle. Dear possessions, apparently. Ex is quite light even for her unremarkable build, and she doesn't stir as she's moved.
Tenement Building - Ground Floor(#2451RJ)
The ground floor of the apartment building is taken up mainly by the lobby, an open space with the front doors at one end and the elevator and the door leading to the stairwell at the other. The floor is covered in black and white tile in a checkerboard pattern, and the walls have been painted a neutral grey shade. A couch, two squashy armchairs, and two wooden chairs have been set up in a rough semi-circle around a square wooden coffee table, facing toward the front doors and positioned so as not to interfere with any traffic moving between there and the stairs. The furniture does not seem to be very old, but it has been well-worn in its short lifetime. A few potted plants have been set in corners, to give the old lobby a more welcoming atmosphere.
To the right of the main doors are mailboxes for building residents, and off to the left is the doorway into a cramped rental office (see +view), and other doors that lead to the building's large laundry room.
Contents:
Sue
Obvious exits:
Stairs Salem's Apartment Out
Moros has arrived.
Moros follows Sue to the tenement, the coat-wrapped Ex cradled in his arms. His temper's edged back to a low simmer, though his glowering expression remains uncomforting.
This is one of those times where having a set of keys comes in handy, allowing them into the tenement, and Sue sets the bag down on one of the couches and then just sighs, leaning his head against the wall.
Moros lays Ex down on the same couch, making sure she's well-covered underneath his massive black coat. He flicks hair out of his face as he straightens back up, turning his eyes from the unconscious woman to the tenement lobby.
Rina arrives from the stairwell.
Rina has arrived.
Sue turns, enough to watch Moros set Ex down, unconscious on the couch, and watch for signs of the girl stirring. "If she's cooperative I can take her out to Edgewood on my bike and you could meet me there, or something. Might not take as long as it'd take to find someone with a car." The two Furies are in the lobby, Sue near the couches, head against the wall.
Moros turns a blood-red eye back toward Sue, his lip twisted sardonically. "This girl is the opposite of cooperative," he growls.
Rina comes in not *that* long after, a taut expression on her face and a tension in her steps. "Sue," she says tersely, "Sitrep. And introduce me to... ah." She raises both eyebrows to Moros.
"Then we find someone with a car I can use," Sue retorts, a little bit more sharply than he meant it. Still, the younger metis doesn't seem inclined to move yet.
Rina has to look up. And... more up. This, miraculously, does not seem to *faze* the petite woman. The only sign of any strong reaction is a slight clearing of her throat.
Moros turns slightly toward Rina as she enters. His head tilts slightly as he considers her in a gesture that wouldn't look out of place on a horror-movie slasher.
There's a visible twitch from the en-coated, unconscious young woman that starts at her nose and seems to migrate to just beneath the scar on her right cheek. Her jaw clenches once. Not awake yet, but possibly coming around.
Rina gives Moros a wide grin at that. A slightly dangerous grin, even. One that bares teeth, and comes with a little glint in the eyes.
Sue turns, leaning back against the wall when Rina comes in. "Moros..." There's a hint of exasperation in the halfmoon's voice, the clear insinuation for the Ahroun to /please/ introduce himself. "He's fine, Rina," Sue adds. "And that," he points to the couch, "is a cub. She was in Harbor Park, firsted, Moros dealt with it and we brought her here because it's closest, and I don't have a /car/ to take her out to Edgewood."
Moros returns Rina's grin with a crooked smile. His gaze slips over to Sue, still smirking, then turns back to Rina. "Moros, like my brother said." His voice is low and growly, unhurried. "Metis Ahroun of the Black Furies."
The muscle twitches were, apparently, the only warning. Ex suddenly gives a wordless shout, half kicking off the coat more from her sudden, full-bodied jerk rather by intention. The same motion has her half tumbling off the couch, all knees, elbows, and wide, fever-bright eyes. "You fucking, /fucking/...wh--"
Rina breaks eye contact only to glance over to the cub. She moves instantly, placing herself between girl and door, hands spread open. "Easy," she says in a soft, hoarse voice. "Easy. Y'safe here, aright?"
Kavi has arrived.
Sue tosses peacoat down and aside, then looks from Ex, to Moros, to Rina. "Easy, quiet down, it's okay," he says, though there's not so much confidence in his voice, but he tries to put as much as possible in. "Look, your stuff's right next to you."
Moros backs off a step or two from the couch, his tread slow and measured. He watches the new cub wake, doing that slasher-killer head tilt again.
Ex crouches, rolls her shoulders forward, and darts several wild looks at the others. The fact that she's naked doesn't seem to have registered as an immediate concern yet. She takes several sharp breaths, bares her teeth like an animal, and suddenly springs toward Rina--or the door. Same difference in this case.
Rina's reactions are fast enough to stop her, and the petite woman *is* standing right in the way, having stepped just inside the door when she came in. She hits something to activate the lock and points out, matter-of-fact, "Y'naked."
Sue abandons homid for glabro, slightly more sure-footed despite that yes, those are hooves sticking out of his pants, not feet, and moves, gripping the girl by the shoulders and forcibly maneuvering her back down on the couch, then shoving the plastic bag at her. "None of that, calm down would you?"
Ex might have run right into Rina, but Sue reaches her first. She flails at her new captor the whole way back to the couch, and once he's pushed her down onto it, she attempts the oldest female-to-male attack in the book, with the heel of one foot. Her response is unintelligible, but doesn't sound complimentary.
The door to the stairwell opens, then, and Kavi steps into view. He doesn't quite enter the lobby entirely, and one hand holds the door open as he takes in the state of affairs.
Rina winces. "Sue, easy," she says quietly. Then she slants the giant a hard, narrow-eyed look. "You're on Walker turf. Put your hackles down and stop actin' like a thug, please. It's less than freakin' helpful."
"None of /that/ either," Sue grumbles, voice a noticeable pitch higher with pain, and one hoof hits the floor sharply, but he backs off a little, then crouches to watch her, or perhaps just make sure she stays put for a little. "Put your clothes on, kid, no one's going to hurt you or anything, okay?" This time, the words are a little more gentle.
Moros's attention's on the minor melee; he's tense, but he seems content that his tribemate has the cub in hand. So it takes him a moment to realize that Rina's addressing him, and he gives her a mildly puzzled look.
"Don't you /fucking/ touch me!" Ex snarls in a hoarse, strained tone, after Sue backs away. "I will fucking kill you, you sick fucks!" Her attention drawn, if only marginally, to the bag, she plunges a hand into it, upending most of the contents--shirts, a package of panties, a new hoodie and a receipt, all still with the price stickers attached, as well as a half eaten sandwich and a water bottle--seemingly without finding what she's looking for. "Give me my /fucking/ knife! I'll make you match!"
Rina glances to Kavi, finally, an eyebrow raising. "Little help?" she mutters.
Sue settles into a crouched position where he is, enough that other people can approach the couch but to be a barrier towards the girl getting up again. "Get dressed, please?" he tells her, a bit snappish again. "We'll talk about the knife after you're dressed."
Kavi is quick to move once he takes it all in. Letting the door close behind him, he rushes across the room to where Rina stands, looking from her to Moros and Ex, and then to Sue. "Calm," he says to the girl, but though his voice is soft, there remains an edge to it; the galliard is not, himself, entirely calm.
Ex, unarmed, makes a violent, phantom stabbing motion at Sue's face, though she doesn't actually make contact. "/Cut/ you open," she hisses with the movement. Her eyes flick wildly between Furies and Walkers, her upper lip still faintly raised. "I'm not talking to you," she says, around sharp breaths. "Not answering any more fucking questions!"
Rina takes a slow breath, and releases it. Despite the physical readiness in her body, she seems to radiate calm. "No one's gonna hurt ya," she says quietly. "No questions. Wouldn't y'feel a little less freaked out with some clothes on?"
Sue rises to take half a step back, then sighs, crouching down again.
Kavi finds his own center as he steps in beside Rina, and he adds his voice to hers, the edge fading from it. "Nothing's going to hurt you, now. We just want to help."
Ex's entire body seems to spasm as Kavi speaks, and she makes a strangled, angry noise that doesn't ever manage to be a word before it ends. The woman makes a grab for one of the panties, one of the shirts (sticker still attached), and the new hoodie, and pulls each of them on with rough disregard for the fabric. There are no pants, no socks or shoes, and without so much as a 'by your leave', she pulls Moros's coat on as well, which is so large in comparison that it gives the impression of her drowning in fabric. Not once does she look away from the others in the room.
Sue looks away for the moment to give Ex some semblance of privacy as she's getting dressed, then looks back at Moros. "Alright, you were right," he allows, getting up to go sit on the second couch now. Unfortunately this has the effect of making his hooves more visible than they had been when he was crouching, and there's a faint "Oh..." muttered, followed by what's definitely cursewords in greek before Sue shifts back down to homid.
Rina's gaze is steady, focused on X but not intensely so. "I'd give you my pants, but the boys might get all bent outta shape. Just take a few deep breaths. I completely understand where you are right now, and I know it's pretty fucked up."
After the reaction from the new cub, Kavi falls silent. He watches her, but more from his peripheral vision than straight on, and his attention seems to divert to Rina, instead.
Ex's glower suddenly vanishes as she stares at Sue, first at the hooves, and then, slightly open mouthed, at the transformation.
"Like I said," Rina says softly. "Deep breaths."
Moros has been watching all of this with a distant expression and a lip-twisted frown. Finally he speaks up in his low, growly voice. "She's been running."
Sue looks down at his feet, a moment, brows furrowing, feet tucking a little closer together and towards the couch.
Kavi frowns, more confused than concerned, and glances toward Sue. It only takes a breath, though, and he returns his gaze to the young woman. "It's okay," he says, his voice again soft, gentle, and he nods acknowledgement to the larger man.
Ex's gaze jerks to Rina, then back to Sue. "...The fuck did he just do?" One bare foot pushes against the couch cushions, and she ends up nearly perched on the armrest, pressed firmly against the back. "What the fuck?"
Sue looks over at Kavi and winces when Ex speaks. "I'm sorry," he offers, very quietly.
"Shapeshifting," Rina says quietly. "And you're gonna be okay. Just try to breathe."
Kavi shakes his head, whether to Sue or to Ex is hard to say. "It's okay," he repeats.
Moros's massive shoulders lift and fall in a shrug.
Ex looks to Rina, then Kavi, and then, more sharply, back to Sue. She's silent for several moments, before saying--demanding, really--"Do it again."
Sue looks once again at Kavi. "Should I?" he asks, glancing back at Ex and then towards the adren again. "Can I?" All the uncertainties of the past several days are still very audible in his voice, and there's a sigh.
"This might go easier," Rina says quietly, "with one less intimidating Ahroun in the room?" She looks across--and up, and up--to Moros and adds, "Nice meetin' ya, we'll finish the introductions later, yeah?"
Kavi gives the Fury enough of a nod to answer the question. To the woman, he says, "He'll do it slowly. He won't hurt you." His attention is focused now on cub and metis, but he gives Rina a brief glance at her words to the stranger.
Moros's lips curl at Rina's suggestion, and the black-clad monster kind of stares down at her for a second or two, but he heads out the door without argument. He leaves behind the big black coat, but still has X's switchblade in his back pocket.
Ex frowns at Moros's back--or, possibly, at the door--and she gives a little jerk in that direction, but ultimately remains in place. Instead, she fixes Sue with that bright, feverish stare of hers.
There's a pause, a nod of acknowledgement of Kavi's words, before Sue stands. He turns, first, watching his tribesmate leave, before he shifts to lupus and immediately jumps back onto the couch that he'd been on before, hooves and all. He's got no tail, but there's still the impression that if he did, it would be tucked tightly against his legs, and his ears are splayed a bit.
The oddest expression comes onto Rina's face--like she's trying to suppress shock, and instead what happens is a wary, nonplussed mask. "Okay," she says quietly, "I like you and everything, Sue, but wow, that's disturbing." Her tone is just a bit ... everyday.
This wolf stands two and a half feet at the shoulders, sleek of form with balck fur, a lupine jaw and muzzle, and hazel eyes. However, where most wolves have paws, this creature has black cloven hooves alike to those of a deer, and the structure of his legs accommodates for that, alike to deer much more than wolf in some ways. In addition, strange as it is, the creature has a little stump of a tail, covered in a fluff of black fur.
Stands-Between swings his head to look over at Rina, and there's a very apologetic whine from the metis, head lowering to rest on the couch in front of him.
Kavi draws in a breath as Sue shifts, and his brows rise. He looks to Ex, again, with a slight shake of his head. "It's okay," he whispers.
Ex gapes at Sue now. Her jaw works a little without fully closing, but no words immediately form. Her stare is certainly centered on the hooves, but she seems to have enough of it for all of him. Eventually she lifts a finger, her hand seeming to have suddenly developed several violent twitches, and stabs it repeatedly in his directly. And /finally/ she manages speech. "Gee-eless?! He's--you're--" And /now/ she springs off the couch and attempts to make another bolt for the door.
Stands-Between backs into a corner of the couch, mostly trying to be as small as possibly and clearly upset, hackles up a little bit when the girl goes for the door.
Kavi . o O (I meant GLABRO!)
Stands-Between: Then he shoulda said glabro!
Rina, happily, has not moved from her post. Though she does spread her arms a bit to take up more space. "Eeeeasy, there, hon." Her eyes are dead serious. "Can't let ya leave just yet."
Kavi moves quickly, putting himself between the woman and the door, and between the woman and Rina. Like the kin, he also makes himself take up more space, but he does so by shifting, his form gaining size and mass. "I'm sorry," he says as he moves, voice still soft, though somewhat rougher. "You can't leave, yet."
Ex skids to a halt on bare feet, staring so widely at Kavi that the white's of her eyes are visible nearly all around her irises. Her mouth opens and closes, then she jerks her head to one side. She looks at the floor for several moments before chancing a glance back at him, and then looks at the floor again. "...Need a /knife/," she mutters. "Need it right now."
The metis takes the opportunity of Ex being facing away from him, to return to homid, though if anything he pulls himself back further into the corner of the couch now. "I'm sorry," he repeats.
"It's okay, Sue," Rina says quietly. "I apologize for the, ah, reaction."
Kavi shakes his head. "It's okay," he says. "It's new. It's... We won't hurt you. You're going to be safe, now."
Kavi doesn't otherwise move, though, letting the woman look for the missing knife.
Ex jerks her head up and stares at Kavi for a moment. "...I'm not safe." She stabs a finger at his chest, but doesn't actually come anywhere near to touching you. "/You're/ not safe! I need a fucking knife!" Her nostrils flare. "...And a gun. You need /guns/."
"Moros has her knife," Sue says, very quietly, shaking his head. "I'm sorry." The last two words are tacked on again, more in the refrain of a broken record, since the Fury's acknowledge Rina's words already.
The petite, dark-haired woman slides into the space beside Kavi, touching a hand to his. "I've got those," Rina says calmly. "But I really thought pointing 'em at ya would be a bad idea."
Kavi slips back down to homid at the touch of Rina's hand. "We don't want to hurt you," he says again. "We can help you. When you're ready."
Ex rakes her nails over her scarred cheek and turns sharply away. She paces toward the couch, kicks it for seemingly no reason, and then whirls back. "Then get me a gun and my fucking knife and open the damn door." Her gaze jerks to Rina. "Is she gee-eless too? And the giant?"
Sue turns, when Ex starts on about guns and knives again, and gets to his feet, staring not at her, but at the space above her head, which quite suddenly dumps about a cubic foot of water down on the woman. Enough to get her wet, and probably startle her, but not enough to soak the clothing she's wearing so that it's unwearable. "We /can't/ let you go right now," he says. There's quite evident pain in his voice, the entire topic a bit touchy. "That's not what'll help you."
Kavi shakes his head. "She's not. She's... family. But," he glances then to Rina, before returning to the woman. "But you a--" He breaks off as the water falls on the woman. Without hesitation, he puts himself again between the new cub and the kin, and his body takes on the larger near-man form.
Ex jumps sharply when the water hits her, and her entire form seems to ripple and bulge--but it doesn't, not /quite/, result in an actual frenzy. She looks around wildly for the source of the damp, and then rakes her nails over her face again, and yanks at her short, uneven hair. "Fucking. Needles. The fucking needles. /I need a knife/." She lets out an explosive breath. "I have to /go/."
Rina's hand closes on Kavi's arm for a moment, as she steps to the space beside him again. The sharp-featured face is taut with empathy. "Needles," she whispers. "Kavi. Someone-- oh, gaia, *fuck," she mutters. "This is gonna suck *ass* for you."
Sue watches Ex, moving over and clear of the seating area to stand off to one side. "Look," he says, a little more quietly. "You can't go." Once again, there's a lot of pain in his voice. "You can't. Right now this is the /safest/ place for you. But, we can try and help you through this, as much as we can." He looks at Rina, and at Kavi, at this.
Kavi glances again to Rina, but his nod is almost too small to be seen. "I'm sorry," he says to Ex. "You can't leave, yet."
Ex's right cheek seems to have developed a faint muscle tic. She inhales sharply through her nose, jaw clenched, and narrows her eyes. "/Yet/?"
Rina takes a shallow breath, and releases Kavi's arm. She steps in front of him, and keeps going, taking a couple of steps toward Ex but not getting particularly close to the girl. Her movements are kept slow and nonthreatening as she reaches behind her back and pulls a knife. A very handsome Bowie-style fighting blade, the sort meant for killing as well as general use. She doesn't extend the blade toward Ex, but flips it backward in her hand. The dark eyes remain serious, steady, an echo of pain visible in them as she offers the knife. "Yet. You'll be able to leave after a while. Y'not gonna harm yourself, are ya?" For now, she doesn't come closer.
Sue wraps his arms around himself for the moment, tensing a little as Rina offers the girl the knife, obvious alertness and readiness pushing through.
Kavi nods again, more visibly. "Yet. When you're safe? When you... When you know what you need to know? Then it will be your choice where to go." He keeps his voice soft and even. As the woman seems to calm, he once again slips down to his birth form. Rina's movements get close attention from the galliard, though he doesn't make a move to stop her. He does, however, move with her, remaining close.
Ex watches Rina's approach carefully, with her shoulders rolling forward again, and her head lowering so that, while she's still clearly and directly watching her, it's more from under her eyebrows than straight on. The knife is given a look as well, and her lips tighten. "Gonna do what I need to." A beat. "You don't want me here. I'm a fucking animal."
Rina presses her lips together for a moment, almost-- almost-- as if she might be fighting back emotion. She gives a tiny shake of her head, and steps closer still. "You might be, sure," she says softly. "But you're one of us."
"Believe it or not," Sue says, and his voice is tense, strained, and cracks a few times as he speaks, "we do, want you here. I..." he glances at Kavi and Rina, swallowing. "You... don't need to hurt yourself, here. It... I'm metis. I'm born of /abomination/, of /sin/, deformed, wrong, and I've... been shown that it's different here. It is different, here. It's okay."
Ex's jaw works slowly back and forth. Her eyes go from Rina to Sue, and her forehead wrinkles in obvious confusion. Then she looks back to the knife. "Give it to me."
Rina doesn't take her eyes from the woman. "What are you gonna do with it? I want you ta feel safer. But you won't be able to hurt anyone *else*, and I don't want you ta hurt *y'self*."
Sue swallows, and watches Ex, though for the moment he lets Rina talk.
Ex licks her lips. "I'm gonna fucking /cut/ anyone who tries to stick things in me," she says in a low, heated tone. "And I can't kill myself with a fucking knife. There's something I've gotta do."
Sue shakes his head, very minutely. "No one's going to stick things in you, here," he says. "They'll have to go through me--go through us--first. I won't let them."
Rina wets her lips, the gesture only a little different from Ex's; her eyes are more thoughtful. There's pain and understanding in that dark gaze, as she hands over the knife grip-first. "Sentimental value," she says quietly. "So I really need that back."
"But for now."
Ex slides her fingers gingerly over the grip, before they abruptly tighten, and she takes the knife. Something seems to loosen a little in her posture; while she's still a little hunched, still looking from under her eyebrows, she seems a tiny bit less likely to spring into sudden action. "The fuck is a metis?"
Sue winces, abruptly, at the question. "Metis are what happens when two Garou... wolf-shifters like us," Sue says, "have a child, with each other." He swallows, turns away, and just crouches in place rather than face either Ex, or Rina. "We're born sterile, we're born deformed and wrong and impure and evidence of the sin of our parents, and most of the time, in... in a lot of places metis are culled."
Kavi, for his part, seems a shade even more watchful when Ex takes the knife. Tension radiates from him.
Rina doesn't seem to be worried about what Ex will do, exactly. She's more... watchful, taking in the reactions, and trying to suppress pain.
Ex turns the blade over in her hands, studying it. She runs a thumb along the flat of the blade as her gaze shifts back to Sue. "...What?"
"Culled," Sue repeats, at the question, his knuckles resting on the floor. This time, his voice /does/ crack once. "Killed at birth because our families consider it kinder to kill metis at birth than let them live. Because, we're born in the war-form, it's a burden to raise a metis cub." There's an echo of so much more hurt, in his voice.
"Easy, Sue," Rina murmurs. Her attention's on the girl, as she asks, "You kept saying 'G.L.S.'-- what's that?"
Ex's eyes narrow a little further. "What kind've freaky fucking cult shit is that? It's--" Her attention jerks back to Rina. "Gee-eless?" The young woman chews at her lower lip, eyes still narrowed. "It's this. The fucking mutation." Her eyes flick between the three. "Don't you...? They said it all the fucking time."
"Who said it?" Sue asks. It takes a moment longer for him to stand up, turn around, and face Ex again. "Mutation, you mean... shifting?" There's a furrow of concentration in the Fury's brow, now, and he watches Ex, more observant. "The ones who said it, also the ones who did all that to you?"
Rina listens, and watches.
Ex taps the knife against her leg. At first the motion seems idle, like finger drumming, but then she sharply turns away, and when it resumes, it's faster, more agitated. Her voice mimics the agitation, getting lower and hoarser. "Always fucking talking. Not to you. Right through you to the needles and the knives and the wires, with all the fucking, /fucking/ questions. Gee-eless one, H, two, five fucking billion /listen to me/."
Sue huffs, once, and looks over at Rina. "Shit," he murmurs. "Hey, they can't get you here, okay?" Sue's tone of voice hasn't gotten too much louder.
Rina steps a bit closer, holding a hand back behind her in a gesture to forestall Kavi when he follows. She comes to within four feet of the girl, not reaching for her at all. "I'll listen," she says quietly. Gently. "You're not there, anymore. You never will be again. We won't *let* them have you."
Ex barely looks at Rina, a side-long glance that's intense, but not terribly focused. She sucks in a deep breath through her nose, and holds it for a moment. "...Genetic Lycanthropic Syndrome."
Sue furrows his brows and huffs again. "Someone's /studying/ Garou?" he wonders, though it's more under his breath, not a direct question. "They-- Rina, and Kavi," Sue adds, a little louder, "are good people. They... they're helping me, too."
Rina takes a slow breath. "I gotta... ask you a couple of questions," she says quietly, "and this is gonna be hard, but just try to remember I'm not them, okay? This is now, and you're here. And we're not gonna let anyone come after you."
Ex says, very precisely, without looking any more directly at either of them, "You need some fucking /guns/."
"We have plenty," Rina says dryly. "Can you control the change most of the time?"
Sue is quiet, for the moment, and his concentration is on Ex.
Ex kicks the couch with the side of her bare foot--she's wearing a shirt, a hoodie, and over that, Moros's massive coat, which completely envelops her, but she's inexplicably lacking pants, shoes, or socks. She also has a large bowie knife in hand, which she's agitatedly tapping repeatedly against her leg. "'Course not," she says, in a low, hoarse voice. "I get angry and people fucking die."
At this point Kavi is probably nearest to the door, a few yards in, with his back to it--at least, for now. A few steps in front of him, Rina stands only a few feet from the scarred girl.
"We can help you," Rina says softly. "Teach you to control it. Help you understand why."
Sue nods as Rina speaks, though his gaze now flickers towards the elevator, but only once. "Yeah," he affirms, quietly.
There's noise from the front door's lock as someone apparently is fussing about outside, about to come in. On a monitor, Nick can be seen.
Without turning towards them, Ex snaps with sudden sharpness, "I've had /enough/ fucking help for one--" She abruptly cuts off at the noise from the door, and turns to stare at it. Rina and Kavi get a swift, calculating glance.
Sue grumbles, and goes to meet Nick at the door, shifting back to glabro even as he does so so that there's more of him to block Ex's potential escape route. Nonetheless, he does let Nick in, murmuring a bit quietly to the man when he does so.
The reactions of the others are fast, smooth. Kavi and Rina both glance to the monitors, and seem to communicate something with a look and a gesture or two. Rina says, "Don't bolt, okay?" and heads for the door, while Kavi once again places himself squarely between Ex and exit.
"We have kind of a cub thing going on," Rina says quietly. Her expression is taut, and it's the kind of tension that speaks of empathy, of thing that call up shadows from the depths of the soul.
Sue looks between Rina and Nicodemus, for a moment. "Like Rina said, kinda a thing," he says, as quietly as he can. "Was it important, Mr. Dalton?"
"Just dropping off a bag of groceries." Nick assesses the situation, tones, and hands Sue the bag. "Take care and best of luck to the new guy." He prepares to head out.
Ex gives Kavi an off-target glare, brief but blistering, and half turns back to the couch. After a moment's contemplating, she digs the barest tip of the knife into the armrest. "Is he another one?"
Rina gives Nick a swift nod. Her eyes are haunted, as she turns to step back to Kavi's side. One of her hands joins his, giving a brief reassuring squeeze. "No. He's... a carrier. Like me. Someone who can pass it on, but isn't a werewolf. We don't shift." She takes another of those self-calming breaths. "Look, I-- I need you to stay with us. Until you learn more. Like how to keep it under control, better."
Sue nods to Nick. "Yeah. You too." With that, Sue's taken the bag of groceries in hand, keeping himself by the door for the moment.
Nicodemus gives a farewell wave to Sue and then heads off down the sidewalk, off to who knows where to do who knows what.
Ex watches carefully as she slides the knife an inch or so forward, neatly slicing open the armrest's material. "Give me something to eat," she says, after a moment. "I'll stay the night."
Rina takes a slow breath, and nods. "You like Italian?" she asks quietly, coming a little closer. "The kitchen's upstairs. Come up, have a bite, you'll feel better."
Sue moves to offer the grocery bag from Nick, to Rina, and looks at Ex, a moment. "I need to..." Sue starts, then grimaces, and swallows. "I'll be about, and all."
Ex gives Rina a blank stare at the question, but at least she stops tormenting the furniture. She turns, gripping the knife tightly, clearly intending to follow.
Rina gives Kavi another one of those looks. "Sue, will you hang out down here for an hour to watch the door?" she asks, as she starts leading the way up. Kavi takes up a bodyguard's position again, right behind her, between the Kin and the crazy woman.
Ex follows, stepping gingerly on bare, dirty feet. She gives both Kavi and Rina quite a bit of distance on the way up.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is raining lightly. The temperature is 57 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the south at 10 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 29.82 and falling, and the relative humidity is 86 percent. The dewpoint is 53 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius.)
Currently the moon is in the waning New (Ragabash) Moon phase (17% full).
The weather's no real surprise today; hey, guess what, light rain. For the moment it's mostly let up, but the clouds are grey and low, threatening more to come at any time. The park's usual denizens have mostly fled to warmer, drier shelter, but someone appears to be sticking it out in the open. There's a skinny young woman, early twenties at most, hunched up on one of the benches near the fountain. She has her legs drawn up to her chest, her hands threaded into her very short hair, and appears to be rocking back and forth on her precarious perch. Next to her is a plastic shopping bag, filled with what looks like clothes.
Moros trudges into view from the direction of Bridge Street, hands in his pockets, big boots squelching the wet ground. The big man is quite damp himself from walking in the rain, though seems indifferent to it. Certainly it doesn't make his hair any less bedraggled in appearance.
The rain isn't stopping Sue from taking a walk through the park, coming from the tenement and making his way slowly through the park, hiking pole in hand. The halfmoon is scruffy, almost, the beginning of a beard coming from the fact that he hasn't shaved for days, and he looks tired, not paying as much attention save for walking down the path through the park.
Ex's rocking becomes a little more pronounced for a moment, before settling back into the original rhythm. She's muttering to herself too, though whatever she's saying is being said so low that it's impossible to make out. For the moment, she's unaware of either Fury's approach.
Moros jerks his head up, flicking stringy tendrils of hair out of his face, and spots Ex. His step slows, head cocking to one side, a thoughtful line appearing between his brows. Then he picks up his pace, heading toward her.
Sue notices the other Fury before he notices Ex, and chooses the path that will bring him towards them, but his steps are slow. Eventually, Moros gets a nod of greeting, shoulders lifting in a shrug.
It's only when Moros draws close that Ex seems to notice the giant man. Her eyes flick up and over to him, and the muttering stops, if not the rocking. Her jaw clenches tightly.
Moros stops at Ex's bench and stands in front of her, studying her with narrowed eyes and cocked head.
Sue looks between Moros, and Ex. "Evening," he eventually offers. To one of them, or both of them, it's uncertain.
Ex's jaw tightens a little more, her gaze flicking from Moros to Sue, and back to Moros. "You need to go away," she says, through clenched teeth.
Red eyes shift sideways toward Sue; the big man's not wearing his sunglasses. The acknowledgement, if that's what is was, is brief, barely a second before those eyes move back to Ex. "No."
Sue doesn't approach further until he's folded the hiking pole, nor does he approach too much further in general, but to Ex, there's a raised brow. "Bad day?" he asks.
A muscle in the woman's right cheek spasms in response, momentarily making that neat, thin scar distort. She glowers at Moros, then jerks her gaze to Sue. "Yes," she says, with more intensity, but less volume. Her voice sounds a little hoarse. "And you need to /go the fuck away/."
Moros's head tilts to the other side. His hands come out of his pockets, thick fingers curling. He leans forward slightly, upper lip lifting as he repeats, in a low growl, "No."
Sue raises his brows a half-tick, and pulls his peacoat around him a little bit more. It's not exactly the neatest, nicest garment anymore, though Sue's been able to get out the majority of the blood-stain from the front panels. "Makes two of us," he says, instead of going away.
Ex tries to hold up under that. She stares at Moros, eyes narrowed, eyebrows low, glowering her heart out--and then she very abruptly looks away and pulls back from him, as if recoiling from an invisible blow. Her nostrils flare. "/Okay/." She makes a snatch for the shopping bag, and starts to swing her feet back down to the ground. One hand remains pressed against the side of her head, fingers digging at her scalp.
Moros grabs for her arm, the one going for the bag. "I said _no_."
"Easy, /both/ of you," Sue says, not entirely a grumble, though he seems to know better than to get any closer to the pair. "Come on."
Poor Sue. /There's/ advice not taken. The moment Moros's fingers touch her arm--and she's not fast enough to avoid an actual grip--Ex abandons the bag in order to plunge her other hand into her jeans pocket, clearly grabbing for something. "Let go, /LET GO/." She's all tension now, seemingly every muscle in her face, neck, and shoulders drawn tight.
Moros does not let go. In fact, with frightening ease, the big man yanks her up off the bench, twists her around, and gets a thick arm around her neck. His right hand never lets go of her wrist as he wrenches that arm of hers painfully up behind her back. He growls, hoarse and rough in her ear (though loud enough that Sue can hear him as well). "You need _help_."
"Moros!" Sue snaps, though it's mild and more exasperated. "Not the way to help her, necessarily?"
Moros's answer comes as a shriek of bestial fury, because without /any single further warning/ the giant of a man suddenly has a squirming, raging, black furred monster in his arms. It helps that he's big; for a crinos, this one's nothing special. It helps that he already has a firm grip on her, and has her turned away from him, because her teeth initially snap at air. It also helps that her efforts are not remotely coordinated--clumsy, unrefined, and mad with fury.
Ex(#1291Pc)
As crinos go, this one is not quite so intimidating. She lacks in muscle mass and fails to achieve the kind of height many of her fellows do; it's a modest eight feet at best. Her fur is black, but looks somewhat unhealthy and uneven in length and thickness. Discolored grey fur marks a number of scars; not the wild gashes of battle, but rather thin, clinically neat. By far the largest and thickest stretches down from the middle of her chest to her abdomen, where it intersects with a smaller, horizontal scar that stretches from hip to hip. Two matching scars adorn each cheek, from the corner of her muzzle to the bottom of each ear, and another, nearly invisible, across her forehead. Her right forearm appears to bear some kind of marking, but against the dark fur and blue-black skin, it can't be easily made out. Ice-blue eyes, intense, smoldering with Rage, are the most noticeable feature at a distance.
Moros seems to have been expecting _something_, if not this exactly. He snarls, baring his teeth as the skinny young woman turns bigger and stronger -- though only a foot taller than the big black-clad monster himself. He tightens his arm-grip around her throat, bulking up into the near-man as he chokes off her air and holds her immobile. "Shut up!" This is, apparently, to Sue.
Sue takes a step back from the situation, enough to give Moros room to deal. He doesn't shift himself, but he's certainly alert and aware of everything going on. It's also dark enough and dim enough and wet enough in the park that Sue only spends a moment making sure that no one else happens to be paying attention to what's going on.
The scrawny crinos squirms and flails against Moros's arms with no success, managing at best to tear up the grass near the bench and to send a few clumps of turf flying. With the lack of air, she makes little noise beyond choking, snarling sounds, and even those stop rather quickly as her struggles grow weaker, fade mostly to kicks, and then stop altogether. As she loses consciousness, she drops right back into a--now very naked, with her clothes in tatters--young woman. Instantly noticeable is that her facial scars have quite a few siblings on the rest of her body. And on the underside of her right forearm is what looks to be an inked or tattoed series of letters and numbers: X75V-31.
Moros shrinks down to homid as the young woman does, loosening his hold as she goes limp. His nostrils flare, adrenaline and unspent fury oozing out of his very pores, but his motions are gentle as he lowers her to the wet, torn ground. "Car," he says, cutting his blood-red gaze to Sue. "Van, whatever. What's the best place to take her?" He's already shrugging out of his coat.
Sue looks at the girl a moment. "Edgewood eventually," Sue says, frowning. "Walker building first, they've got clothing there, and it's /close/. Walking distance. And it's indoors and safe." He looks at Moros, then jerks his head back in the direction he'd first come in. "I have a bike. It's not going to get us to Edgewood."
Ex looks far more peaceful unconscious than she ever did yesterday while awake. Her shopping bag remains mostly undisturbed on the bench, and her now shredded clothing is not particularly remarkable, apart from what she was obviously reaching for; it looks like an old, cheapo switchblade.
Moros casually confiscates the switchblade, tucking it into the back pocket of his jeans before wrapping the woman up in the massive black coat and hauling her up into his arms as though she were a child. He grunts at Sue. "Get her bag and lead the way, then."
Sue gathers the bag, and snaps open his hiking pole. "Someone'll have a car we can use," he says, making his way out of the park, towards the tenement building. The pace he sets, while much faster than his usual pace, is still not fast.
There's clothes in the bag, still with price stickers attached, and what looks like a receipt. There's also a half eaten sandwich and mostly empty water bottle. Dear possessions, apparently. Ex is quite light even for her unremarkable build, and she doesn't stir as she's moved.
Tenement Building - Ground Floor(#2451RJ)
The ground floor of the apartment building is taken up mainly by the lobby, an open space with the front doors at one end and the elevator and the door leading to the stairwell at the other. The floor is covered in black and white tile in a checkerboard pattern, and the walls have been painted a neutral grey shade. A couch, two squashy armchairs, and two wooden chairs have been set up in a rough semi-circle around a square wooden coffee table, facing toward the front doors and positioned so as not to interfere with any traffic moving between there and the stairs. The furniture does not seem to be very old, but it has been well-worn in its short lifetime. A few potted plants have been set in corners, to give the old lobby a more welcoming atmosphere.
To the right of the main doors are mailboxes for building residents, and off to the left is the doorway into a cramped rental office (see +view), and other doors that lead to the building's large laundry room.
Contents:
Sue
Obvious exits:
Stairs Salem's Apartment Out
Moros has arrived.
Moros follows Sue to the tenement, the coat-wrapped Ex cradled in his arms. His temper's edged back to a low simmer, though his glowering expression remains uncomforting.
This is one of those times where having a set of keys comes in handy, allowing them into the tenement, and Sue sets the bag down on one of the couches and then just sighs, leaning his head against the wall.
Moros lays Ex down on the same couch, making sure she's well-covered underneath his massive black coat. He flicks hair out of his face as he straightens back up, turning his eyes from the unconscious woman to the tenement lobby.
Rina arrives from the stairwell.
Rina has arrived.
Sue turns, enough to watch Moros set Ex down, unconscious on the couch, and watch for signs of the girl stirring. "If she's cooperative I can take her out to Edgewood on my bike and you could meet me there, or something. Might not take as long as it'd take to find someone with a car." The two Furies are in the lobby, Sue near the couches, head against the wall.
Moros turns a blood-red eye back toward Sue, his lip twisted sardonically. "This girl is the opposite of cooperative," he growls.
Rina comes in not *that* long after, a taut expression on her face and a tension in her steps. "Sue," she says tersely, "Sitrep. And introduce me to... ah." She raises both eyebrows to Moros.
"Then we find someone with a car I can use," Sue retorts, a little bit more sharply than he meant it. Still, the younger metis doesn't seem inclined to move yet.
Rina has to look up. And... more up. This, miraculously, does not seem to *faze* the petite woman. The only sign of any strong reaction is a slight clearing of her throat.
Moros turns slightly toward Rina as she enters. His head tilts slightly as he considers her in a gesture that wouldn't look out of place on a horror-movie slasher.
There's a visible twitch from the en-coated, unconscious young woman that starts at her nose and seems to migrate to just beneath the scar on her right cheek. Her jaw clenches once. Not awake yet, but possibly coming around.
Rina gives Moros a wide grin at that. A slightly dangerous grin, even. One that bares teeth, and comes with a little glint in the eyes.
Sue turns, leaning back against the wall when Rina comes in. "Moros..." There's a hint of exasperation in the halfmoon's voice, the clear insinuation for the Ahroun to /please/ introduce himself. "He's fine, Rina," Sue adds. "And that," he points to the couch, "is a cub. She was in Harbor Park, firsted, Moros dealt with it and we brought her here because it's closest, and I don't have a /car/ to take her out to Edgewood."
Moros returns Rina's grin with a crooked smile. His gaze slips over to Sue, still smirking, then turns back to Rina. "Moros, like my brother said." His voice is low and growly, unhurried. "Metis Ahroun of the Black Furies."
The muscle twitches were, apparently, the only warning. Ex suddenly gives a wordless shout, half kicking off the coat more from her sudden, full-bodied jerk rather by intention. The same motion has her half tumbling off the couch, all knees, elbows, and wide, fever-bright eyes. "You fucking, /fucking/...wh--"
Rina breaks eye contact only to glance over to the cub. She moves instantly, placing herself between girl and door, hands spread open. "Easy," she says in a soft, hoarse voice. "Easy. Y'safe here, aright?"
Kavi has arrived.
Sue tosses peacoat down and aside, then looks from Ex, to Moros, to Rina. "Easy, quiet down, it's okay," he says, though there's not so much confidence in his voice, but he tries to put as much as possible in. "Look, your stuff's right next to you."
Moros backs off a step or two from the couch, his tread slow and measured. He watches the new cub wake, doing that slasher-killer head tilt again.
Ex crouches, rolls her shoulders forward, and darts several wild looks at the others. The fact that she's naked doesn't seem to have registered as an immediate concern yet. She takes several sharp breaths, bares her teeth like an animal, and suddenly springs toward Rina--or the door. Same difference in this case.
Rina's reactions are fast enough to stop her, and the petite woman *is* standing right in the way, having stepped just inside the door when she came in. She hits something to activate the lock and points out, matter-of-fact, "Y'naked."
Sue abandons homid for glabro, slightly more sure-footed despite that yes, those are hooves sticking out of his pants, not feet, and moves, gripping the girl by the shoulders and forcibly maneuvering her back down on the couch, then shoving the plastic bag at her. "None of that, calm down would you?"
Ex might have run right into Rina, but Sue reaches her first. She flails at her new captor the whole way back to the couch, and once he's pushed her down onto it, she attempts the oldest female-to-male attack in the book, with the heel of one foot. Her response is unintelligible, but doesn't sound complimentary.
The door to the stairwell opens, then, and Kavi steps into view. He doesn't quite enter the lobby entirely, and one hand holds the door open as he takes in the state of affairs.
Rina winces. "Sue, easy," she says quietly. Then she slants the giant a hard, narrow-eyed look. "You're on Walker turf. Put your hackles down and stop actin' like a thug, please. It's less than freakin' helpful."
"None of /that/ either," Sue grumbles, voice a noticeable pitch higher with pain, and one hoof hits the floor sharply, but he backs off a little, then crouches to watch her, or perhaps just make sure she stays put for a little. "Put your clothes on, kid, no one's going to hurt you or anything, okay?" This time, the words are a little more gentle.
Moros's attention's on the minor melee; he's tense, but he seems content that his tribemate has the cub in hand. So it takes him a moment to realize that Rina's addressing him, and he gives her a mildly puzzled look.
"Don't you /fucking/ touch me!" Ex snarls in a hoarse, strained tone, after Sue backs away. "I will fucking kill you, you sick fucks!" Her attention drawn, if only marginally, to the bag, she plunges a hand into it, upending most of the contents--shirts, a package of panties, a new hoodie and a receipt, all still with the price stickers attached, as well as a half eaten sandwich and a water bottle--seemingly without finding what she's looking for. "Give me my /fucking/ knife! I'll make you match!"
Rina glances to Kavi, finally, an eyebrow raising. "Little help?" she mutters.
Sue settles into a crouched position where he is, enough that other people can approach the couch but to be a barrier towards the girl getting up again. "Get dressed, please?" he tells her, a bit snappish again. "We'll talk about the knife after you're dressed."
Kavi is quick to move once he takes it all in. Letting the door close behind him, he rushes across the room to where Rina stands, looking from her to Moros and Ex, and then to Sue. "Calm," he says to the girl, but though his voice is soft, there remains an edge to it; the galliard is not, himself, entirely calm.
Ex, unarmed, makes a violent, phantom stabbing motion at Sue's face, though she doesn't actually make contact. "/Cut/ you open," she hisses with the movement. Her eyes flick wildly between Furies and Walkers, her upper lip still faintly raised. "I'm not talking to you," she says, around sharp breaths. "Not answering any more fucking questions!"
Rina takes a slow breath, and releases it. Despite the physical readiness in her body, she seems to radiate calm. "No one's gonna hurt ya," she says quietly. "No questions. Wouldn't y'feel a little less freaked out with some clothes on?"
Sue rises to take half a step back, then sighs, crouching down again.
Kavi finds his own center as he steps in beside Rina, and he adds his voice to hers, the edge fading from it. "Nothing's going to hurt you, now. We just want to help."
Ex's entire body seems to spasm as Kavi speaks, and she makes a strangled, angry noise that doesn't ever manage to be a word before it ends. The woman makes a grab for one of the panties, one of the shirts (sticker still attached), and the new hoodie, and pulls each of them on with rough disregard for the fabric. There are no pants, no socks or shoes, and without so much as a 'by your leave', she pulls Moros's coat on as well, which is so large in comparison that it gives the impression of her drowning in fabric. Not once does she look away from the others in the room.
Sue looks away for the moment to give Ex some semblance of privacy as she's getting dressed, then looks back at Moros. "Alright, you were right," he allows, getting up to go sit on the second couch now. Unfortunately this has the effect of making his hooves more visible than they had been when he was crouching, and there's a faint "Oh..." muttered, followed by what's definitely cursewords in greek before Sue shifts back down to homid.
Rina's gaze is steady, focused on X but not intensely so. "I'd give you my pants, but the boys might get all bent outta shape. Just take a few deep breaths. I completely understand where you are right now, and I know it's pretty fucked up."
After the reaction from the new cub, Kavi falls silent. He watches her, but more from his peripheral vision than straight on, and his attention seems to divert to Rina, instead.
Ex's glower suddenly vanishes as she stares at Sue, first at the hooves, and then, slightly open mouthed, at the transformation.
"Like I said," Rina says softly. "Deep breaths."
Moros has been watching all of this with a distant expression and a lip-twisted frown. Finally he speaks up in his low, growly voice. "She's been running."
Sue looks down at his feet, a moment, brows furrowing, feet tucking a little closer together and towards the couch.
Kavi frowns, more confused than concerned, and glances toward Sue. It only takes a breath, though, and he returns his gaze to the young woman. "It's okay," he says, his voice again soft, gentle, and he nods acknowledgement to the larger man.
Ex's gaze jerks to Rina, then back to Sue. "...The fuck did he just do?" One bare foot pushes against the couch cushions, and she ends up nearly perched on the armrest, pressed firmly against the back. "What the fuck?"
Sue looks over at Kavi and winces when Ex speaks. "I'm sorry," he offers, very quietly.
"Shapeshifting," Rina says quietly. "And you're gonna be okay. Just try to breathe."
Kavi shakes his head, whether to Sue or to Ex is hard to say. "It's okay," he repeats.
Moros's massive shoulders lift and fall in a shrug.
Ex looks to Rina, then Kavi, and then, more sharply, back to Sue. She's silent for several moments, before saying--demanding, really--"Do it again."
Sue looks once again at Kavi. "Should I?" he asks, glancing back at Ex and then towards the adren again. "Can I?" All the uncertainties of the past several days are still very audible in his voice, and there's a sigh.
"This might go easier," Rina says quietly, "with one less intimidating Ahroun in the room?" She looks across--and up, and up--to Moros and adds, "Nice meetin' ya, we'll finish the introductions later, yeah?"
Kavi gives the Fury enough of a nod to answer the question. To the woman, he says, "He'll do it slowly. He won't hurt you." His attention is focused now on cub and metis, but he gives Rina a brief glance at her words to the stranger.
Moros's lips curl at Rina's suggestion, and the black-clad monster kind of stares down at her for a second or two, but he heads out the door without argument. He leaves behind the big black coat, but still has X's switchblade in his back pocket.
Ex frowns at Moros's back--or, possibly, at the door--and she gives a little jerk in that direction, but ultimately remains in place. Instead, she fixes Sue with that bright, feverish stare of hers.
There's a pause, a nod of acknowledgement of Kavi's words, before Sue stands. He turns, first, watching his tribesmate leave, before he shifts to lupus and immediately jumps back onto the couch that he'd been on before, hooves and all. He's got no tail, but there's still the impression that if he did, it would be tucked tightly against his legs, and his ears are splayed a bit.
The oddest expression comes onto Rina's face--like she's trying to suppress shock, and instead what happens is a wary, nonplussed mask. "Okay," she says quietly, "I like you and everything, Sue, but wow, that's disturbing." Her tone is just a bit ... everyday.
This wolf stands two and a half feet at the shoulders, sleek of form with balck fur, a lupine jaw and muzzle, and hazel eyes. However, where most wolves have paws, this creature has black cloven hooves alike to those of a deer, and the structure of his legs accommodates for that, alike to deer much more than wolf in some ways. In addition, strange as it is, the creature has a little stump of a tail, covered in a fluff of black fur.
Stands-Between swings his head to look over at Rina, and there's a very apologetic whine from the metis, head lowering to rest on the couch in front of him.
Kavi draws in a breath as Sue shifts, and his brows rise. He looks to Ex, again, with a slight shake of his head. "It's okay," he whispers.
Ex gapes at Sue now. Her jaw works a little without fully closing, but no words immediately form. Her stare is certainly centered on the hooves, but she seems to have enough of it for all of him. Eventually she lifts a finger, her hand seeming to have suddenly developed several violent twitches, and stabs it repeatedly in his directly. And /finally/ she manages speech. "Gee-eless?! He's--you're--" And /now/ she springs off the couch and attempts to make another bolt for the door.
Stands-Between backs into a corner of the couch, mostly trying to be as small as possibly and clearly upset, hackles up a little bit when the girl goes for the door.
Rina, happily, has not moved from her post. Though she does spread her arms a bit to take up more space. "Eeeeasy, there, hon." Her eyes are dead serious. "Can't let ya leave just yet."
Kavi moves quickly, putting himself between the woman and the door, and between the woman and Rina. Like the kin, he also makes himself take up more space, but he does so by shifting, his form gaining size and mass. "I'm sorry," he says as he moves, voice still soft, though somewhat rougher. "You can't leave, yet."
Ex skids to a halt on bare feet, staring so widely at Kavi that the white's of her eyes are visible nearly all around her irises. Her mouth opens and closes, then she jerks her head to one side. She looks at the floor for several moments before chancing a glance back at him, and then looks at the floor again. "...Need a /knife/," she mutters. "Need it right now."
The metis takes the opportunity of Ex being facing away from him, to return to homid, though if anything he pulls himself back further into the corner of the couch now. "I'm sorry," he repeats.
"It's okay, Sue," Rina says quietly. "I apologize for the, ah, reaction."
Kavi shakes his head. "It's okay," he says. "It's new. It's... We won't hurt you. You're going to be safe, now."
Kavi doesn't otherwise move, though, letting the woman look for the missing knife.
Ex jerks her head up and stares at Kavi for a moment. "...I'm not safe." She stabs a finger at his chest, but doesn't actually come anywhere near to touching you. "/You're/ not safe! I need a fucking knife!" Her nostrils flare. "...And a gun. You need /guns/."
"Moros has her knife," Sue says, very quietly, shaking his head. "I'm sorry." The last two words are tacked on again, more in the refrain of a broken record, since the Fury's acknowledge Rina's words already.
The petite, dark-haired woman slides into the space beside Kavi, touching a hand to his. "I've got those," Rina says calmly. "But I really thought pointing 'em at ya would be a bad idea."
Kavi slips back down to homid at the touch of Rina's hand. "We don't want to hurt you," he says again. "We can help you. When you're ready."
Ex rakes her nails over her scarred cheek and turns sharply away. She paces toward the couch, kicks it for seemingly no reason, and then whirls back. "Then get me a gun and my fucking knife and open the damn door." Her gaze jerks to Rina. "Is she gee-eless too? And the giant?"
Sue turns, when Ex starts on about guns and knives again, and gets to his feet, staring not at her, but at the space above her head, which quite suddenly dumps about a cubic foot of water down on the woman. Enough to get her wet, and probably startle her, but not enough to soak the clothing she's wearing so that it's unwearable. "We /can't/ let you go right now," he says. There's quite evident pain in his voice, the entire topic a bit touchy. "That's not what'll help you."
Kavi shakes his head. "She's not. She's... family. But," he glances then to Rina, before returning to the woman. "But you a--" He breaks off as the water falls on the woman. Without hesitation, he puts himself again between the new cub and the kin, and his body takes on the larger near-man form.
Ex jumps sharply when the water hits her, and her entire form seems to ripple and bulge--but it doesn't, not /quite/, result in an actual frenzy. She looks around wildly for the source of the damp, and then rakes her nails over her face again, and yanks at her short, uneven hair. "Fucking. Needles. The fucking needles. /I need a knife/." She lets out an explosive breath. "I have to /go/."
Rina's hand closes on Kavi's arm for a moment, as she steps to the space beside him again. The sharp-featured face is taut with empathy. "Needles," she whispers. "Kavi. Someone-- oh, gaia, *fuck," she mutters. "This is gonna suck *ass* for you."
Sue watches Ex, moving over and clear of the seating area to stand off to one side. "Look," he says, a little more quietly. "You can't go." Once again, there's a lot of pain in his voice. "You can't. Right now this is the /safest/ place for you. But, we can try and help you through this, as much as we can." He looks at Rina, and at Kavi, at this.
Kavi glances again to Rina, but his nod is almost too small to be seen. "I'm sorry," he says to Ex. "You can't leave, yet."
Ex's right cheek seems to have developed a faint muscle tic. She inhales sharply through her nose, jaw clenched, and narrows her eyes. "/Yet/?"
Rina takes a shallow breath, and releases Kavi's arm. She steps in front of him, and keeps going, taking a couple of steps toward Ex but not getting particularly close to the girl. Her movements are kept slow and nonthreatening as she reaches behind her back and pulls a knife. A very handsome Bowie-style fighting blade, the sort meant for killing as well as general use. She doesn't extend the blade toward Ex, but flips it backward in her hand. The dark eyes remain serious, steady, an echo of pain visible in them as she offers the knife. "Yet. You'll be able to leave after a while. Y'not gonna harm yourself, are ya?" For now, she doesn't come closer.
Sue wraps his arms around himself for the moment, tensing a little as Rina offers the girl the knife, obvious alertness and readiness pushing through.
Kavi nods again, more visibly. "Yet. When you're safe? When you... When you know what you need to know? Then it will be your choice where to go." He keeps his voice soft and even. As the woman seems to calm, he once again slips down to his birth form. Rina's movements get close attention from the galliard, though he doesn't make a move to stop her. He does, however, move with her, remaining close.
Ex watches Rina's approach carefully, with her shoulders rolling forward again, and her head lowering so that, while she's still clearly and directly watching her, it's more from under her eyebrows than straight on. The knife is given a look as well, and her lips tighten. "Gonna do what I need to." A beat. "You don't want me here. I'm a fucking animal."
Rina presses her lips together for a moment, almost-- almost-- as if she might be fighting back emotion. She gives a tiny shake of her head, and steps closer still. "You might be, sure," she says softly. "But you're one of us."
"Believe it or not," Sue says, and his voice is tense, strained, and cracks a few times as he speaks, "we do, want you here. I..." he glances at Kavi and Rina, swallowing. "You... don't need to hurt yourself, here. It... I'm metis. I'm born of /abomination/, of /sin/, deformed, wrong, and I've... been shown that it's different here. It is different, here. It's okay."
Ex's jaw works slowly back and forth. Her eyes go from Rina to Sue, and her forehead wrinkles in obvious confusion. Then she looks back to the knife. "Give it to me."
Rina doesn't take her eyes from the woman. "What are you gonna do with it? I want you ta feel safer. But you won't be able to hurt anyone *else*, and I don't want you ta hurt *y'self*."
Sue swallows, and watches Ex, though for the moment he lets Rina talk.
Ex licks her lips. "I'm gonna fucking /cut/ anyone who tries to stick things in me," she says in a low, heated tone. "And I can't kill myself with a fucking knife. There's something I've gotta do."
Sue shakes his head, very minutely. "No one's going to stick things in you, here," he says. "They'll have to go through me--go through us--first. I won't let them."
Rina wets her lips, the gesture only a little different from Ex's; her eyes are more thoughtful. There's pain and understanding in that dark gaze, as she hands over the knife grip-first. "Sentimental value," she says quietly. "So I really need that back."
"But for now."
Ex slides her fingers gingerly over the grip, before they abruptly tighten, and she takes the knife. Something seems to loosen a little in her posture; while she's still a little hunched, still looking from under her eyebrows, she seems a tiny bit less likely to spring into sudden action. "The fuck is a metis?"
Sue winces, abruptly, at the question. "Metis are what happens when two Garou... wolf-shifters like us," Sue says, "have a child, with each other." He swallows, turns away, and just crouches in place rather than face either Ex, or Rina. "We're born sterile, we're born deformed and wrong and impure and evidence of the sin of our parents, and most of the time, in... in a lot of places metis are culled."
Kavi, for his part, seems a shade even more watchful when Ex takes the knife. Tension radiates from him.
Rina doesn't seem to be worried about what Ex will do, exactly. She's more... watchful, taking in the reactions, and trying to suppress pain.
Ex turns the blade over in her hands, studying it. She runs a thumb along the flat of the blade as her gaze shifts back to Sue. "...What?"
"Culled," Sue repeats, at the question, his knuckles resting on the floor. This time, his voice /does/ crack once. "Killed at birth because our families consider it kinder to kill metis at birth than let them live. Because, we're born in the war-form, it's a burden to raise a metis cub." There's an echo of so much more hurt, in his voice.
"Easy, Sue," Rina murmurs. Her attention's on the girl, as she asks, "You kept saying 'G.L.S.'-- what's that?"
Ex's eyes narrow a little further. "What kind've freaky fucking cult shit is that? It's--" Her attention jerks back to Rina. "Gee-eless?" The young woman chews at her lower lip, eyes still narrowed. "It's this. The fucking mutation." Her eyes flick between the three. "Don't you...? They said it all the fucking time."
"Who said it?" Sue asks. It takes a moment longer for him to stand up, turn around, and face Ex again. "Mutation, you mean... shifting?" There's a furrow of concentration in the Fury's brow, now, and he watches Ex, more observant. "The ones who said it, also the ones who did all that to you?"
Rina listens, and watches.
Ex taps the knife against her leg. At first the motion seems idle, like finger drumming, but then she sharply turns away, and when it resumes, it's faster, more agitated. Her voice mimics the agitation, getting lower and hoarser. "Always fucking talking. Not to you. Right through you to the needles and the knives and the wires, with all the fucking, /fucking/ questions. Gee-eless one, H, two, five fucking billion /listen to me/."
Sue huffs, once, and looks over at Rina. "Shit," he murmurs. "Hey, they can't get you here, okay?" Sue's tone of voice hasn't gotten too much louder.
Rina steps a bit closer, holding a hand back behind her in a gesture to forestall Kavi when he follows. She comes to within four feet of the girl, not reaching for her at all. "I'll listen," she says quietly. Gently. "You're not there, anymore. You never will be again. We won't *let* them have you."
Ex barely looks at Rina, a side-long glance that's intense, but not terribly focused. She sucks in a deep breath through her nose, and holds it for a moment. "...Genetic Lycanthropic Syndrome."
Sue furrows his brows and huffs again. "Someone's /studying/ Garou?" he wonders, though it's more under his breath, not a direct question. "They-- Rina, and Kavi," Sue adds, a little louder, "are good people. They... they're helping me, too."
Rina takes a slow breath. "I gotta... ask you a couple of questions," she says quietly, "and this is gonna be hard, but just try to remember I'm not them, okay? This is now, and you're here. And we're not gonna let anyone come after you."
Ex says, very precisely, without looking any more directly at either of them, "You need some fucking /guns/."
"We have plenty," Rina says dryly. "Can you control the change most of the time?"
Sue is quiet, for the moment, and his concentration is on Ex.
Ex kicks the couch with the side of her bare foot--she's wearing a shirt, a hoodie, and over that, Moros's massive coat, which completely envelops her, but she's inexplicably lacking pants, shoes, or socks. She also has a large bowie knife in hand, which she's agitatedly tapping repeatedly against her leg. "'Course not," she says, in a low, hoarse voice. "I get angry and people fucking die."
At this point Kavi is probably nearest to the door, a few yards in, with his back to it--at least, for now. A few steps in front of him, Rina stands only a few feet from the scarred girl.
"We can help you," Rina says softly. "Teach you to control it. Help you understand why."
Sue nods as Rina speaks, though his gaze now flickers towards the elevator, but only once. "Yeah," he affirms, quietly.
There's noise from the front door's lock as someone apparently is fussing about outside, about to come in. On a monitor, Nick can be seen.
Without turning towards them, Ex snaps with sudden sharpness, "I've had /enough/ fucking help for one--" She abruptly cuts off at the noise from the door, and turns to stare at it. Rina and Kavi get a swift, calculating glance.
Sue grumbles, and goes to meet Nick at the door, shifting back to glabro even as he does so so that there's more of him to block Ex's potential escape route. Nonetheless, he does let Nick in, murmuring a bit quietly to the man when he does so.
The reactions of the others are fast, smooth. Kavi and Rina both glance to the monitors, and seem to communicate something with a look and a gesture or two. Rina says, "Don't bolt, okay?" and heads for the door, while Kavi once again places himself squarely between Ex and exit.
"We have kind of a cub thing going on," Rina says quietly. Her expression is taut, and it's the kind of tension that speaks of empathy, of thing that call up shadows from the depths of the soul.
Sue looks between Rina and Nicodemus, for a moment. "Like Rina said, kinda a thing," he says, as quietly as he can. "Was it important, Mr. Dalton?"
"Just dropping off a bag of groceries." Nick assesses the situation, tones, and hands Sue the bag. "Take care and best of luck to the new guy." He prepares to head out.
Ex gives Kavi an off-target glare, brief but blistering, and half turns back to the couch. After a moment's contemplating, she digs the barest tip of the knife into the armrest. "Is he another one?"
Rina gives Nick a swift nod. Her eyes are haunted, as she turns to step back to Kavi's side. One of her hands joins his, giving a brief reassuring squeeze. "No. He's... a carrier. Like me. Someone who can pass it on, but isn't a werewolf. We don't shift." She takes another of those self-calming breaths. "Look, I-- I need you to stay with us. Until you learn more. Like how to keep it under control, better."
Sue nods to Nick. "Yeah. You too." With that, Sue's taken the bag of groceries in hand, keeping himself by the door for the moment.
Nicodemus gives a farewell wave to Sue and then heads off down the sidewalk, off to who knows where to do who knows what.
Ex watches carefully as she slides the knife an inch or so forward, neatly slicing open the armrest's material. "Give me something to eat," she says, after a moment. "I'll stay the night."
Rina takes a slow breath, and nods. "You like Italian?" she asks quietly, coming a little closer. "The kitchen's upstairs. Come up, have a bite, you'll feel better."
Sue moves to offer the grocery bag from Nick, to Rina, and looks at Ex, a moment. "I need to..." Sue starts, then grimaces, and swallows. "I'll be about, and all."
Ex gives Rina a blank stare at the question, but at least she stops tormenting the furniture. She turns, gripping the knife tightly, clearly intending to follow.
Rina gives Kavi another one of those looks. "Sue, will you hang out down here for an hour to watch the door?" she asks, as she starts leading the way up. Kavi takes up a bodyguard's position again, right behind her, between the Kin and the crazy woman.
Ex follows, stepping gingerly on bare, dirty feet. She gives both Kavi and Rina quite a bit of distance on the way up.
