![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
renferretEx meets Melodie, who has an offer.
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
Melodie
Obvious exits:
Stairs Salem's Apartment Out
Sue huffs, partially amused, and sits down, a nod of acknowledgement. "Thank you, Melodie-rhya. I'm sure they will, yes."
As if on cue, the elevator door bings open, letting out first Flint, and then Ex behind him, and the cliath galliard crosses over towards the other two Garou, well ahead of Ex. "Hi Melodie-rhya, hi... Sue?" Flint says. "Flint, called Requiem. Cliath, galliard, Glass Walker." He jerks his head at the cub. "That's Ex. Rogue. I. You..." Flint pauses, then outlines to heed the door, not _touch_ Ex or violate her personal space, general rules of engagement and sitrep with how it's been going with the cub, before excusing himself towards the door to the street. "Pack business," he adds, before he's out the door.
Ex looks, to put it mildly, utterly sullen. She doesn't grace either Sue or Melodie with more than the briefest of glances, choosing instead to glare at the floor, after glaring at Flint's back. She's still wearing the black gloves Nicodemus gave her several days ago, with the sleeves of her hoodie pulled down over them to her wrists, and there hasn't been any effort to fix the increasing wildness of her growing out hair--though right now it's still extremely short. An inch and a half maybe, give or take in various spots.
Melodie gives Ex a good looking over, and puts on a gentle smile and tone of voice. "Hello. Ex, is that what you like to be called? I'm Melodie. I represent the Black Furies, we're a tribe that is primarily women. I'd like to help you, if you'll let me." She doesn't move closer, letting the girl have her space for the moment.
Sue keeps a careful eye on the door, otherwise a little bit tense, but also quiet for the moment.
Ex's floor scowl grows briefly harsher, her eyes faintly narrowing. "Had enough help, thanks. I already told that other bitch, I'm not joining any freaky cult army so I can go and die to other werewolves or evil spirits or whatever the fuck and end up on a wall. I just wanna leave."
Melodie nods a little. "I don't think they'll let me arrange that just yet. You know that you're a werewolf, so if nothing else, you're dangerous until you've had at least a little training. But it doesn't have to be all of this," she gestures around, "walls, and locks, and wires. I'd want to leave to, honestly."
Ex gives Melodie another brief look, this time suspicious, as well as generally glarey. "...Yeah?"
Melodie smiles a little wider. "Yeah. We've got a place near the edge of the woods. It's pretty nice, not all citified like this. We've got an archery space and workout equipment. I guess some folks are comfortable in the city, but most of our kind, well. It's no place for wild things like us."
Sue nods once, after Melodie's done speaking. "And fresh air, and open spaces, and the courtyard's nice," the metis says, though his own absence from Fury house in the weeks since he argued with April has been rather noticeable.
At some point during this, Ex's gaze shifts to the floor again, only to move back to the two Furies, this time sidelong, still narrow. "Why're you telling me this?"
Melodie pauses, considering her words. "Well, when it comes down to it, I can't stand to see a girl mistreated. I got a tip that you're having a rough time here, and if I can do better, that's my duty. As a Black Fury. I mean, there's certain things it's worth the trouble to learn before you go out in the world, but it doesn't have to be all that bad."
Ex runs her fingers roughly over the scar on her left cheek, and paces a few steps to the side, though she never fully takes her eyes off of Melody. "What's the catch? 'Cause here, they said as soon as I learned control, I could go. /Then/ one of them is like, oh sure, but you'll fucking die, so we won't tell you anything else, 'cause you'll tell our enemies or some shit, trying to scare me into signing up. And another one started talking about not seeing the sun for fucking ever."
Sue gets to his feet, giving Melodie and Ex some space, though even as he goes to change his laundry, there's an eye kept on the cub.
Melodie bites her lower lip, holding back her initial reaction, though she doesn't seem pleased. "Why the hell would they... Okay, I'll be straight with you. I'm no good at lying anyway. The only way I'll be able to get you out of here is if you agree to join the Furies. And even that won't be easy, but I can do it. And here's what that'll buy you. A summer at our outdoor school, where you'll learn about women power and Gaia and yes, fighting too. Eventually, there'll be a challenge. It's not easy, but if you work with us, you'll pass. And as a Fury, you'll be able to go wherever you want. A lot of us wander the wildest of wild places, protecting them. Some like the cities. It's up to you at that point. I can tell that you're not interested in signing up for all of what I'm selling, but, that's what's on the table. One thing that's obvious to me, though, is that whatever they're doing here, it's not connecting with you at all."
Ex's teeth flash the moment Melodie says 'agree to join the Furies', but miraculously, she doesn't interrupt. "What if I don't?" she demands, once the other woman has finished. "I have to stay here the whole time? How long's it take to 'learn control'?"
Sue furrows his brows a little, pausing in the doorway between laundry room and lobby. "There's no easy answer to that particular question, Ex," he says. "It takes different people different amounts of time to learn control, and a lot of that depends on what auspice you are, and how strongly you feel Selene's gift, the Rage, how strong your will is."
Melodie nods to Sue. "Yeah, but for most people, I'd say three to six months and you're good to go. It's not forever. If you don't get another tribe to claim you, I bet you would just stay here, probably mostly in this building, the whole time. They'll teach you about technology and cities, which I can't do. And guns, they like guns." She shrugs, like this is something that some people do for some reason.
"Guns," Ex echoes. "But the stupid bitch said she wasn't gonna teach me any-fucking-thing beyond control unless I signed up." She pauses, and again, there's blatant suspicion in her expression. "What's that mean, anyway? I gotta sign some kind of a contract? What happens if I break it?"
Sue brings up one hand to rub at his brow. "Not quite," he says. He paces, a moment, and then moves over to sit back down, on the other couch, perhaps deliberately this time keeping Melodie between himself and the cub. "Tribes are where we ... belong," Sue explains. "It's not a contract, though as a society we have certain laws, and rules, that govern our behaviour--but the rules are applied to everyone, They apply to me, and to Melodie, and to everyone, not just to you. Things like respecting the territory of another."
Melodie shakes her head. "We don't do things in writing. But we do have some rules, which you'll learn. Most of them are pretty easy to follow most of the time. And I don't think it's fair to ask someone to make a lifelong commitment to something they don't understand and don't have any choice in. I mean. It's not like we get unlimited choices. We are who we are. There's no way to go back to being a normal human. And it's really not a good idea to run around without any tribe, not at first anyway. But you don't have to belong to the first one that laid eyes on you."
Ex inhales slowly. "Haven't been a normal human in a long fucking time," she mutters. "Okay, so I agree to join your club, and you'll get me the fuck out of here? And you'll let me be /outside/? What if I want out later?"
Melodie keeps her tone even. "Yeah, that's the size of it. Later, we can talk. I promise I'll try to find a way that works for both you and for us. There's a lot of ways one can be a Fury. If it doesn't work out, it's possible to go your own way, but people will give you a ton of grief if you don't at least try it our way first. But I'm not running one of those African slave armies here."
Ex's eyes narrow, and her jaw works silently for several moments from one side to the other. "I'm keeping my knife. And these gloves." She pauses, and then says, abruptly, "And no sticking me with things. No fucking needles. And if you're going to fucking /shoot/ me, you'd better fucking tell me first." Another beat. "You got a fucking wall full of dead people's names?"
Ex adds, "Keeping my pencils and my book too."
Melodie considers this. "Okay. So long as the knife's not silver. And no needles or guns. And we don't have a wall. There's a graveyard out in the woods, I suppose, but no wall of names. That's kind of morbid, isn't it? Pencils are cool, too. One of my favorite lessons was learning how to draw Werewolf Glyphs, maybe you'll like that. So, should I talk to Mouse about it, or do you want some time to think it over?"
Sue shudders a slight bit at the mention of silver, though he's otherwise quiet.
Ex digs a battered switchblade out of her pocket that has clearly seen better days. "Ain't silver," she says, derisively. "No, get me the fuck out of here."
Melodie grins. "Cool, a switchblade, those are hard to get these days! Okay, I'll make it happen. I'm not going to promise it'll be all rainbows and unicorns. I guess if you want that, I know who to talk to, but I don't think that's you either. But if you'll work with us, it can be something good."
Sue looks at the knife with a sigh of relief that it's not silver. "Good," he agrees, before pitching his conversation more quietly, speaking to Melodie for a moment rather than Melodie and Ex. "When we've got this settled, and you get a chance, could we talk some more?" he asks.
Melodie nods to Sue. "Si. I really need to get to know you better, anyway. I mean, you're Cliath, so you can do what you want, but I'm sure things could be improved for you back home?" She says this softly, trying not to say too much with Ex around.
Sue picks up a hand to rub at the bridge of his nose, and then nods. "I'd like that," he says, the same quiet tone. "I'm trying to try, you know? That last was a bit of a setback but I still want to try. Tribe calls to all of us." Another pause, before Sue continues. "Also, Kavi-rhya said to ask you about... if you knew how to get a hold of Zeke?"
Melodie thinks for a bit. "I think so. I mean, I know where he was about a year ago. We could write a letter? Maybe he'll visit. I'd like that a lot, actually." She grins. "That's a good idea."
Sue nods. "I'd appreciate that, I think," he says, a little uncertainty creeping into his voice, and Sue wraps his arms around his chest, a little tightly. "Kavi-rhya mentioned that Zeke knows Soothe the Scars," he explains further, voice still pitched so that the conversation is not including the cub. "And, well. What you said about healing, because you're right, in that I can't just hold a grudge. Grudges and bitterness lead to worse things."
Melodie clearly approves of this. "Good! This is right, of course. And it's not easy to ask for help with that sort of thing. We'll make it happen, somehow."
Sue looks up from the floor and to Melodie, for a moment. "Thank you," he murmurs. "For being patient with me."
When Ex returns, it's noticeably with a rather woebegone looking sketchbook, and an even more woebegone case of pencils. "Right, I'm ready whenever. Preferably, fucking immediately or sooner."
Melodie gets a mischievous look in her eye, and turns to Sue. "How much trouble do you think we'd be in if we just left with her right now?" She looks like she really wants to, but knows she ought not to.
Sue crosses his arms, and furrows his brows. "Melodie-rhya," he says, shakes his head. "No. The Glass Walkers haven't claimed her either, but they are taking responsibility for her at the moment." There's an apologetic glance to Ex, fully aware that the two philodox are talking about the cub right in front of her. "You need to talk to Mouse-rhya. Or to Kavi-rhya, he and Rina have been primarily," he says. The entire statement, however, still has the tone of suggestion, opinion offered because it was asked. "There's enough tension between our tribes right now because of my aunt, we should go through the proper steps." To Ex, there is only another apologetic glance, the metis ducking a nod to the other Fury.
Rina has arrived.
"Glass Walkers?" Ex echoes. "You people have weird as /fuck/ names." She's standing well apart from the two Furies, with her sketchpad and pencil case under one arm. She's still wearing the gloves Nicodemus gave her (and at some point, Kevin dedicated for her).
Rina comes in from the street, carry a cloth grocery bag with bottles clinking inside. She pauses, her back straightening a touch as she sees just *who* is in the lobby.
Melodie looks over at Rina as she comes in and smiles. "Hola! Um. We were just talking with Ex here. Can I ask you a favor? Can I set up a meeting with you and Kavi, and maybe Mouse? Sooner rather than later." She gives a nod to Ex at that last. Her tone is polite, but expecting a yes.
Sue offers Rina a small smile when she comes into the lobby, though his arms go from being crossed in front of him to wrapped around his chest, and he clops over to sit back down on the couch.
Rina looks decidedly skeptical, her eyes narrowing slightly as she regards Mel. "Yeah, sure," she says. "We can talk." When her attention turns to Ex, there's a definite shift in her eyes, in her expression. Toward something softer, more neutral. "How're you, Ex?"
Ex makes a little exasperated noise in her throat, which translates to fidgeting around her hands. "Werewolves having fucking /meetings/," is the grumble, though Rina's question brings a shift in volume. "Well, haven't seen the fucking /bitch/ in a few days," she announces. "I decorated your wall. These people are called Furies or some shit. They don't seem very angry though."
Melodie giggles. "Well, we have our moments. How's Thursday for you? Do you have one of those nifty phones that tells you when you're free and shit?" She doesn't sound sarcastic, just curious. "I should really get back home, tonight, but I promise I'll be back." She gives an encouraging look towards Ex.
Sue grins, a little bit, getting up from the couch when Melodie says that she's leaving. "I'll see you around at some point, Melodie-rhya?" Sue asks, with a nod. "I... we'll write that letter."
Rina's brow furrows, and she studies Ex. "Who's the bitch."
Ex makes a rough, vague sort of gesture toward the elevator. "The bitch with the fucking butterfly spirit. Nieve or something." Melodie's encouraging look is met with a wall of skepticism tinged with frustration. "Yeah. Sure."
Melodie slips out for now, leaving Rina to suss out what's been going on with the cub.
Sue looks towards the door for a long moment after Melodie leaves, silent, arms wrapping around his chest just a little bit tighter.
Rina takes a slow breath. "Nieve, huh. I told her not to mess with you. Guess she di'n't listen?"
Ex swings back around, with more energy in the motion. "/Nope/." Her nostrils flare, but there's no further explanation coming...yet. It's clearly sitting there on the tip of her tongue.
Moros has arrived.
Rina takes the bag she's carrying into the laundry room, but glances out to watch Ex. "Well, if you don't wanna say anything about it, it's fine," she says quietly, feigning indifference.
Sue glances at Ex, and there's a few steps to put himself not _quite_ between the cub and the kinswoman, until she goes off into the laundry room, at which point Sue just as quickly returns to the couch, gesturing to the other couch. "You know," he says to Ex. "You could sit down. They're comfortable."
Moros hits the buzzer for a long few seconds before pulling his thick finger off the button. The big metis steps back, then, flicking greasy hair out of his face as he looks upward toward the camera. As usual, he's scowling.
Ex curls her lip at Sue. "I don't need a fucking invitation to sit. I'd sit if I wanted." She does not, however, sit. She watches Rina pop into the laundry room, and then presses the arm holding the sketchbook tighter to her side. "The fucking /bitch/ was trying to scare me into signing on to your freaky cult thing." She jerks her head toward the door, but she makes no move toward it.
"Shit," Rina mutters angrily. She slams a cabinet.
Sue sighs when the door buzzer goes off, and pushes back to his feet. It takes the usual long minute for Sue to walk to the door. He walks slow, carefully, and steps aside to let Moros in. "Brother," he greets, a faint grin coming to his face, though Sue moves back to place himself between Ex, and Rina. "Easy," he mutters. Perhaps to both of them.
Moros walks in, boots treading heavily on the checkerboard tile floor. "Brother," he says in return greeting to Sue, the word low and growly. Red eyes move over toward Ex, sizing her up.
Ex blatantly stares at Moros, though it only takes a few moments before she's forced to look away. "Why'd you /bring/ me here?" she demands. Or accuses, possibly. "This place is full of fucking crazies." She jerks her gaze toward the laundry room, and her lips twitch. "Except her, I guess. And the other guy, /maybe/. But everyone else is batshit!"
"Thanks," Rina says dryly. "But honestly, I'm at *least* as batshit as anyone else."
Sue grumbles a little, very quietly. "Because I don't have a _car_," Sue explains, keeping his voice level and patient, and then turns to Moros. "I talked to our Elder a little more today," the younger metis adds. "She wants to work to fix the obstacles."
Rina leans against the laundry room doorway, crossing her arms and regarding Sue.
Moros glances toward Rina when she speaks, cocking his head slightly as he considers her. Then he turns back to Ex. "What he said," he tells her, with a nod toward Sue. "This place was the closest."
"What obstacles?" Rina asks quietly.
"Fuck this place," Ex declares. "It's full of fucking cameras and crazies and they don't let you go anywhere. Watch." She makes a sudden, jerking movement in Rina's direction, though she goes only a single step.
Sue shakes his head once at Rina's question, taking one step to place himself directly between Rina and the cub again. There's a faint, reassuring smile for the kinswoman though.
Moros wrinkles his nose, his mouth curling in disgust. Disgust laced with anger. "If it was up to me," he says slowly, "you wouldn't be in this place, either." He glances at Rina and adds, ungracefully, "No offense."
Rina glances ceilingward for a moment. "Yeah." She narrows her eyes at Moros. "Cause you guys have *totally* proven you know how to handle trauma survivors." She looks pointedly over to Sue. "And make them feel safe and welcome." The dark eyes look to Moros.
Ex points at Sue. "/See/? Like I'm a fucking bomb." She gives Rina a sudden, sharp look, frowning.
Moros cocks his head to the other side, lips curling into an ugly, humorless half-smile. "I don't see _her_ looking like she feels safe and welcome," he retorts.
Sue wraps his arms around himself, slightly. "Hey," he objects, quietly. "My aunt's... an exception, at least _here_." Sue bares his teeth at the ground in silence, then, and looks at Ex. "Rina's still kinfolk, and you're still untrained. This, I would do no matter _what_ tribe's kinfolk was in question."
Rina's jaw tightens visibly, and she looks to Moros. "Yeah, and I'm *so* sure April will make her feel welcome and loved."
Ex flashes her teeth. "Why the /fuck/ are you all talking about me like I'm not standing right fucking here?"
The big man's ugly smile widens, revealing teeth. He actually laughs, though it's brief and sounds a trifle demented, his humor laced thickly with bitterness. Grinning openly now, he says to Rina, "Of _course_ she will. The cub is female."
Ex gives Moros a look that's half aggravated, half completely confused.
Sue huffs. It's an annoyed, awkward sound. "My brother is right," he informs Rina. "There are differences, you know." There's bitterness in the younger metis' voice, as well, a harsh, raw bitterness that's close to pain.
Rina's expression twists for a moment, fiercely, before she looks to Ex. "I'm sorry," she says quietly. The dark eyes are haunted, honest. "I just don't think anyone over there is gonna understand you as well as Kavi and I can, and Mouse, and even Salem. The only Fury who--" She looks to Moros for a moment, considering, and then back to Ex. "The only Furies who might actually help you are these two. And Sue lives with *us*, so..."
Moros loses the ugly killer's smile. "And _I_ live with _them_."
Ex turns away from the argument. She makes her way, neither slowly nor quickly, to the back of the couch, and when there, abruptly pulls out the switchblade, pops the blade out, and begins deliberately dragging the point across the top. The old material splits open almost immediately.
Sue looks between Rina, and Moros, and Ex, then back to Rina. "We can have this discussion on Thursday," he says, looking to Moros after that. "Melodie-rhya will be coming over Thursday," he explains to Moros. Another pause, and he takes a deep breath. "Ultimately, it's her choice, Rina."
Rina lifts her chin sharply, coming out a couple of steps to look up at Moros. "I don't know you," she says tightly, "and I don't *trust* you." It ends up looking something like a Jack Russell facing off with a Doberman.
Sue takes another step forward, to look straight at Rina. "Moros is my _brother_," Sue says, emphasis. "My tribe-brother. _I_ trust him."
Moros's lips curl away from his teeth in a half-smile, half-snarl kind of expression. He straightens, not that he was especially slouching before, and stares down at Rina as though he's deciding how she'd look without limbs. Sue's voice seems to bring him back -- slightly -- from this rather violent train of thought, however, and he gives a grunt of acknowledgement to the other metis. "Of course," he says, slowly, still with that rather ugly look in his eyes. "Of course, I'll abide by whatever Melodie... and the cub... decide." He doesn't look away from Rina.
Ex grits her teeth as she proceeds to stab the poor couch several times. And then, without any warning, she moves around it and kicks the coffee table as hard as she can.
Rina tilts her head a little, one way and then the other, as if stretching the muscles of neck and shoulders. "This is *our* turf you're on," she says pointedly. Her expression is hard, and she doesn't give an inch of ground. "Ask *April* what happened, last time one of your people acted up around here."
Sue takes a step, this time placing himself between Moros, and Rina. "/Easy/," he says, nearly snaps. "I'm sure Moros is quite aware that this is Walker territory, and aware of being respectful of it." Then, Ex gets his attention. "Ex," he calls out. "Why are you knifing the couch? The couch doesn't belong to you, that's disrespectful to knife it."
Moros doesn't look away from Rina; the threat seems to do little more than amuse him in an unpleasant kind of way. There's even a hint of 'bring it' in his eyes, the shift of his weight, the twitch of thick fingers. "I repeat. I'll abide by what Melodie and the cub decide."
Ex kicks the table again, hard. "Ain't a fucking cub!" she says, louder. "Not a recruit, not a fucking /service project/, not a goddamn victim, not a /trauma survivor/. Stop fucking fighting over me, you crazy assholes!"
Rina's actually beginning to tip her head and narrow her eyes, when Ex's voice breaks the tension. She turns her back on both Furies, to take just one step in Ex's direction. "Easy, X," she says quietly. "Don't take it out on the furniture, okay?"
Sue steps towards Moros, tilts his head up to look at the other Fury. "Thank you," he murmurs, quietly, then jerks his head towards Ex. "So how," he says, pitched quietly to ask his tribe-brother the question but not make it easily overheard, "do we deal with _that_?" Louder, he points out, "No one's _fighting_, Ex. But, when Melodie comes back on Thursday, to talk with Kavi and Rina, and probably you as well, you'll get to have the decision of whether you stay here, or whether you go out and live at the house my tribe has. And for the most part, that's your decision. But you need to think about what Melodie-rhya said earlier."
Moros turns red eyes slowly over toward Ex, then to Sue. "I'd take her out to the woods," he says. "Let her run. These walls..." He lets his gaze travel over the lobby, then back to his tribemate. "Too many walls would drive anyone crazy."
Ex draws her foot back from another kick, and instead turns a disgruntled, sullen look on the floor. She crosses her arms over her chest.
Rina looks at Ex, a flicker of sadness in her eyes. "You'd never come back, would you?" she says softly.
Sue just nods, finally uncrossing his arms, and shoves his hands into his pockets. "Thursday," he repeats to Moros, voice quiet. There's an audible wince at the mention of walls, but turning away turns to watch Rina and the cub, rather than away entirely.
Moros purses his lips and nods once, curtly, to Sue.
Ex shoots a glance to Rina, and makes that exasperated noise in the back of her throat again, throwing up her hands. "I don't even know half of what you people are even /talking/ about."
"If I opened the door. Or if we took you out to the woods, so you could just hunt and run... would you ever come back?" Rina's voice stays soft.
Sue remains silent, and his hands don't stay in his pockets very long, returning to the previous posture of hugging himself tightly.
Moros's eyes turn to Ex, obviously curious about the cub's response. His head tilts.
"Maybe if I knew I could /leave/," Ex says, throwing a dirty look toward the door. "But the bitch said everyone would go and move somewhere else anyway."
Rina's brow furrows, and she tips her head. "What d'you mean?" she asks quietly.
Sue remains quiet, and takes a few steps so that he's standing beside Moros, now.
Moros glances sidelong and down at Sue, then turns his attention back to Rina and X.
Ex shrugs. "She said unless I joined up I was gonna get killed by 'enemies' and so I wasn't going to be taught anything except how to control myself, and when I left, everyone would have to move somewhere else because they were going to get all that information out of me, and then I'd die within a year." She adds, unnecessarily, "Fucking /bitch/."
Rina's expression tightens further. "We'll have words," she says tersely.
Sue snarls under his breath, hands curling into fists. This time, the repetition of Thursday seems to be predominantly intended to calm _himself_ down.
One side of Moros's mouth slants upward, forming that humorless, sarcastic half-smile again.
Ex eyes Sue for a moment, jaw working. "So what the fuck were you talking about earlier? What's me being a girl have to do with anything?"
Rina lets out a breath, and turns away again, raking a hand back through her hair. "The Furies are... kinda militant Amazons. The only men in the tribe are-- like Sue and Moros. Metis."
Sue looks up at Moros, and the younger metis seems to have gone entirely silent for the moment. The only sound from him is a very hard swallow, before his gaze drops to the floor.
"Sorry, Sue," Rina mutters.
Moros nods, his expression solemn and sour again. "They keep the kinfolk and the metis. They give away their wholeborn male children to other tribes. Usually the Children of Gaia." His nose wrinkles, mouth curling. "_We_ have to fight for our place. But an abused woman?" He smirks.
"The who?" Ex says, but almost immediately she straightens, and glares straight /at/ Moros. "You think I'm not going to fucking fight for it if I want it?" She drops the book and pencil case on the couch. "I don't give a shit if you're a guy and Gee-el-ess two, I'll fucking fight /you/ right now."
"Easy," Rina says, tensing a little but filling her voice with reassurance and calm. "No one's going to fight. You don't have to fight for anything, that's what he said. East, X."
"No need for fighting," Sue says, the halfmoon's words a little bit on the snappish side, and spoken loudly and clearly. For a moment, he looks down at the floor, then glances over at Moros. "No," he adds, more quietly.
Moros looks like he might say something to this. But he doesn't. Instead he just stares down at Ex, smirking viciously.
"Moros," Rina says quietly, "knock that shit off, or get the *fuck* outta my house."
Ex's hands both clench into fists, and despite both Rina and Sue's discouragement, she marches straight for the hulking Ahroun. "I've had to fight for /everything/. So if /I/ fucking want it, I'll fucking /fight/ for it. I'm not. Fucking. /Abused/. I'm not taking fucking handicaps from anyone, /Fezzik/."
Sue straightens, a little, and grimaces even more at the words from Rina. "ENOUGH!" Unlike Rina's soft words, the younger metis' volume increases, and there's a tension that just about /radiates/ from Sue right now. He looks towards Rina, and then towards Ex, and then walks over towards Rina. "I think," he says, a lot more quietly, "it'd be a good thing if the cub went back upstairs, now."
Moros's eyes widen dangerously, his lips skinning away from his teeth in an ugly snarl, that simmering temper suddenly snapping forward, ready to explode outward. By a hair's breadth, it doesn't. It was Rina's words that sparked the sudden fire, but it's Ex, storming forward into his personal space, that gets the brunt of it. He glares down at her, one wrong word, one wrong tone of voice away from turning the cub into so much ground meat.
Rina's dark eyes are focused on Moros, as she reaches into her jacket and pulls her *off* hand .45. "Sue," she says quietly, "please separate them?"
Sue moves in between Ex and Moros, now, and he looks up at the big Ahroun, even as there's a move to shove Ex out of the way, and Sue shifts up to glabro to gain a little steadiness of footing, provide a bigger barrier between the two. "Moros," he says, interjecting. "_Brother_. Enough. You should go, now." It's a suggestion, but a forceful one. "I'll keep you updated, about Thursday. But now, you need to leave."
The click of a semi-auto's slide seems to underscore Sue's words.
Ex blinks, temporarily startled out of her own temper. "Whoa." She's silent for a beat, but then gets pushed aside. "Hey, stop it. I /like/ Fezzik. Don't screw with him. He's just pissed."
Moros's chest heaves. His eyes are round and slightly too wide, rolling down to look at Sue like that of a mad bull. His nostrils flare as he sucks in each breath, in through the nose, out through clenched teeth. Slowly, he gets himself enough under control to take a step back from Sue, first one and then another. Every motion is slow, tight, deliberate. "Thursday," he repeats in a low, rasping growl, and then again, "Thursday." He turns on his heel and storms out, not looking at Ex or Rina.
Rina lets out a very slow breath.
It's only once Moros has gone that Sue returns to homid, cursing rather rapidly in Greek for a moment before he moves over to the couch, and looks at Rina. "You can put the gun away now," the remaining Fury says. "The moon's getting bigger, okay? And my brother is an Ahroun."
Rina gives a tiny nod. "Yeah," she says tersely. "Apparently."
Ex huffs, and then glares at Sue. "/Don't/ fucking touch me again. That's why I'm Rogue. No one touches me." And then the heat seems to vanish without explanation. "Is that what it looks like?"
Sue looks at Ex, a moment. "If it's necessary, I'm not pandering to your 'don't touch me' thing," the metis snaps. "Get it? That," and Sue points towards the door, "is an Ahroun, getting angry, and it's a good thing that my brother is strong of will and knows when to leave. You, on the other hand, are untrained and unexperienced, and therefore, I did what needed to be done to give him space, in a short period of time where there was not enough time to just _tell_ you to back off. If it is not necessary, I'll make sure not to touch you. Got it?" There's some weight to the words, as much as Sue can possibly muster, and backed by the grumpiness the current state of the moon. He wraps his arms around his chest a little tighter.
"It was good, Sue," Rina says quietly. "And thank you."
"Well, you'd better give me some fucking space too," Ex says, low and brittle. "And what the fuck is an Ahroun?"
Rina still stands... not too far from the laundry room. Out of the way,
definitely.
Sue stalks over to the couch and sits down, and huffs. "Sit down, then I'll tell you," Sue decides.
Ex crosses her arms over her chest and decidedly does not sit down.
Sue looks over at Ex, and points at the couch across from him, the one that Ex earlier knifed up. "If you want me to answer, you will sit down, and we will talk like civilised Garou, Rogue." The order isn't very forceful at all, but Sue seems rather patient to wait for the girl to comply.
Ex's forehead seems to twitch. "I don't want to sit down."
"Please, X?" Rina asks softly.
Sue seems like he's ready with some snappish comment, but he shuts his mouth when Rina speaks, waiting to see what Ex does or doesn't do.
Ex stresses, eyes narrowing, "I dooon't. Want. To sit down."
"I don't _care_," Sue responds, levelly even if a little quickly. "I mean, I care that you don't want to, but it has absolutely _no_ bearing on this right now. I've had a long day. I've had a shit week. I'm grumpy. And if you want me to answer, you'll sit down. But once you do, I'm more than happy to teach you what an Ahroun is, and what all the other auspices are, too."
"/I'm/ grumpy," Ex snaps. "Why do I have to do what you want for you to tell me anything? I'm not /that/ interested in your creepy cult."
Sue leans back on the couch, going to pick up the book. "Fine, you can be grumpy," Sue says. "The moon's getting bigger, it has that effect."
Ex 's arms tighten over her chest, and she glares at Sue for several long moments. Then, slowly, she turns her back on him and stalks over toward the stair door.
Sue shrugs his shoulders, and is quiet for a long moment, before he looks over towards the kinswoman. "Sorry, Rina," he offers.
Rina lets out a slow breath, and looks to him, her brow furrowed slightly. "You okay?" she asks softly.
Ex stops at the door rather than going through it, instead leaning her shoulder against the wall. Her back, however, is rather deliberately turned toward the other two.
Sue lets the book rest in his lap, leans back on the couch, arms wrapped around himself, and eventually looks over at the kinswoman. "Yes and no," he answers. "More no than yes."
Rina swallows, and nods, worry in her eyes. "You wanna talk, sometime... you know my number?"
Ex lets her head rest against the wall as well.
The metis nods, one knee and then the other coming partway up towards his chest. "I do," Sue says. "I'll be okay, I think. I'm just not, not right now. It's scary as all fuck, sometimes." He speaks quietly, though not so quietly that Ex can't hear if she cares to listen. "Kavi-rhya said to ask Melodie-rhya about if she knows how to get ahold of Zeke. Because of the rite. And, I asked her today."
Rina raises both eyebrows. "And?"
Ex might be listening, but she gives no sign of it.
Again, Sue nods. "She thinks she does," he says, a little more quietly. "She wants to do whatever she can to make things, there, better for me. She said she'll make it happen somehow." THere's uncertainty, fear almost, in the cliath's voice.
Rina comes over to sit with him, a cautious approach.
Ex twists around. "/See/? How come I'm the victim? /He/ sounds like a victim."
Sue glances over at Rina and nods once when she sits, but Ex's words bring a wince from the metis. Knees pull up a little closer to his chest.
"Neither one of you is a victim," Rina says quietly. Her gaze is still on Sue, the dark eyes a little haunted. "We're not victims." A hand reaches out, gingerly, in Sue's direction.
"Well," Ex says, "He looks like a kicked puppy." She plants her opposite shoulder against the wall now, now that she's facing them again.
Sue neither flinches nor draws away, though his arms remain tightly wrapped around his chest. There's a deep, ragged breath in, and it doesn't seem like Sue knows what to say in response to Ex, or how to say it.
"But you don't hafta be," Rina says quietly, still watching the Fury as she rests a hand gently on his shoulder. "Never again. Say it."
Ex wrinkles her nose as she watches Sue, only flicking the briefest of glances toward Rina.
Sue straightens a little bit, at the hand on his shoulder. "Never," he says, voice barely above a whisper, but the most affirmation that he can manage. "I'm still scared. Asking for help and admitting that I need it is scary. It's scary to be not okay." He still speaks very, very quietly, pitched mostly for Rina now that she sits next to him.
Rina nods, her brow furrowing a little. "I know."
"And fear is for prey," Sue adds, very quietly.
Rina nods, her brow furrowing a little. "Yeah."
Ex's mouth twitches, tugging downward. She leans off of the wall and stalks back toward the sitting area, with both hands clenched into fists.
Sue frees one arm from how tightly he'd been hugging himself, raises a hand to rub at the bridge of his nose. "But I need to do this," he adds. "Nowhere to go but up."
Rina nods, letting her hand slide away. "You're not a victim, either," she says, glancing over to Ex.
Ex snatches up her previously discarded sketchbook and pencil case. "Already said I wasn't," she mutters.
Sue huffs, quietly, and leans back into the couch. He seems to be out of things to say, again, but his breathing evens out. "I know," he eventually says, to Rina.
"You wanna go up and hang out and draw, for a while?" Rina asks Ex.
"Drawing isn't getting me out of here." Ex flicks a glance toward Sue. "Dunno how much better going to /his/ place is though. Shit."
Kicked puppy indeed, and Sue abruptly winces, pulling back and actually standing up, looking down at Rina, half-apologetic. Now it's the Fury's turn to stalk towards the elevator, though he doesn't press the call button yet.
Rina glances to him when he moves--an apology in her own eyes, too, apparently. Then she returns her attention to Ex. "It... might not be real different from here. But it might be better, for you, depending on if they lock you up. What did Melodie say?"
Ex scratches hard at her forehead scar. "She said there was woods and things, where I could run. And she said she wasn't a good liar."
Sue looks over at Ex and Rina for a moment. "Halfmoons--philodox--like Melodie and myself typically aren't very good at lying," he says. There's a moment of some snark comment, but it's bit back, unsaid, not the time right now. "Part of the job of the philodox is to seek balance, and uphold the laws of the Garou. Lies aren't productive to that."
"Don't scratch it," Rina murmurs. Her brow furrows, and she studies Ex. "Wouldn't you just want to run? Forget about all of this, go... live on your own somehow?"
Ex sighs, as her hand drops. "And you can't just say you're werewolf cops?" A sidelong glance to Rina. "Wouldn't /you/?"
Sue is half turned towards the elevator again, before he looks back at Ex at the latest statement, brow furrowing. "Werewolf cops?" The metis sounds confused, as if he doesn't quite follow the reasoning that led Ex to say that, or like he's not grasping some concept there.
"They are," Rina says. "Well. Judges, really." She considers Ex a moment. "And... I don't know. If I were Garou... you're not meant to be loners. Haven't you felt that? Felt... too alone?" She wets her lips. "Even if you can't trust... doesn't it help a little, to be around people who have some of the same issues, who have the syndrome too?"
Ex gives a rough shake of her head. "Everyone's so /different/. They don't make any fucking sense." Her lips tighten. "Except when they want shit from me. Then it's the same old fucking story."
Sue looks at Rina, a moment. "You okay if...?" Sue asks, jerking his head towards the elevator. There's a clear reluctance to leave Rina alone with the cub, and an equally clear desire to excuse himself from the situation.
Rina glances over to him, and gives a quick nod.
Ex merely scowls at Sue, but she doesn't say anything.
Sue doesn't see the expression, because he's turned back to the elevator, pressed the call button, shoulders slumped and posture defeated in many ways as he stands there.
Rina's expression wrinkles into concern as she watches him. After a moment, though, she looks back to Ex. "What doesn't make sense?"
Ex inhales slowly. "Werewolf wars and spirit monsters and weird fucking names for everything. You've got /tribes/ and shit."
Rina nods minutely, glancing down for a moment. "It's pretty simple, if you suspend your disbelief. If you suspend what the rest of the world has taught you... and look to the things you've *experienced*, instead. Have you ever run in the woods, as a wolf?"
Ex shakes her head again, but says nothing. She eyes the elevator doors instead of Rina.
Rina takes a slow breath. "We should make sure you get to do that," she says quietly. "You want to go upstairs?"
This time, Ex shrugs. She does, however, turn toward the stairway door, rather than the elevator.
Rina goes up with her, silent for once until they reach the apartment upstairs.
Tenement Building - Cubs' Bunkroom(#1657RA)
This large studio apartment has been set up as a communal living space for the tribe's cubs, as well as a temporary crash space for those who don't have their own apartment in the building. It's extremely sparse in furniture, consisting of two bunkbeds set opposite each other against the walls, and little else. Fortunately, it does possess a small kitchen and an even smaller bathroom.
Contents:
Rina
Crate Fort
Obvious exits:
Out
The previously mentioned 'decoration' is quite visible once they reach the cubroom. It's a drawing--and not a bad drawing at all, in point of fact--of a looming, vaguely humanoid figure. It has no face, and what look like large knives instead of hands. Luckily, no one gave the cub something more permanent to mark up the wall with, and she didn't use the knife.
Rina stands still, studying it for a long moment. "This is good," she says quietly. "Does it help, at all?"
The fingers of Ex's right hand curl against her palm. She shrugs again. "Yeah. I think." She's a little quieter, now that it's just her and Rina.
Rina nods. "Helps me, too. It used to be... necessary. To the point where I'd feel like I was gonna lose it, if I couldn't paint. Hurt my hand one time and I was fuckin' terrified."
Ex slants a look toward Rina. "What do you do, anyway? You fight werewolves too?"
One corner of Rina's mouth tugs upward. "Mostly I keep certain parts of the city... operating. And I paint."
Ex rolls one shoulder back, and eyes her a little more carefully. "No creepy cult stuff?"
Rina lifts a shoulder and lets it fall. "I'm not one a you," she says quietly. "I've dusted a couple of vampires, but it's not something I would normally do. Pit myself against something supernatural, I mean. I'm nothing more than human... mostly. Skilled in killing people, defending myself... and I know some things other people don't, about the world. But that's all. No mojo, no magic..."
Ex doubletakes. "Wait. Vampires? Fucking vampires?"
Rina winces slightly, ducking her head. "Ah... yeah. No one toldja, I guess."
Ex rubs her forehead with both hands, and makes a faint, groaning noise. "...Okay. Can't I be like you? Just...do regular shit? Maybe beat someone up now and then who really has it coming?"
Rina glances over to her, bemused. "That's what you'll end up doing. You just have more power to fight the big stuff. The *real* enemies."
Ex's ever-present frown grows. "Who /are/ the real enemies?"
"Minions of the Wyrm. Sometimes twisted humans. Sometimes vampires, or even Garou who've switched sides and gone insane.
Rina's jaw tightens a little. "Sometimes... creatures I can't even describe."
"Worm," Ex says. One eye squints. "Minions of the /Worm/?"
Rina glances over to the woman, something sharp in her eyes. "No one's told ya this stuff? The three forces, all that?"
Ex shakes her head, and again, she shrugs. "I dunno. People mention things, like the auspice stuff. And I've heard a lot about 'enemies'." The finger quotes are practically audible. "And Kavi had that spirit monster thing, and the bitch had another one. I thought you guys meant the doctors, but then Kevin got /pissed/, and the bitch was talking about other werewolves, and evil spirits."
Rina tips her head. "Let's go sit. If it's okay with you, if I hang out for a bit? Or-- were you gonna crash?
In answer, Ex moves toward the bed--the one she knifed up--and half sits, half slumps. "Gonna crash soon. I don't care if you stay."
"Sure," Rina murmurs. "We'll talk tomorrow, then."
Ex grunts. After a moment or so, she lays down fully, and rolls onto her side, facing the wall.
"Night," Rina offers, from the door. She flips off the lights.
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
Melodie
Obvious exits:
Stairs Salem's Apartment Out
Sue huffs, partially amused, and sits down, a nod of acknowledgement. "Thank you, Melodie-rhya. I'm sure they will, yes."
As if on cue, the elevator door bings open, letting out first Flint, and then Ex behind him, and the cliath galliard crosses over towards the other two Garou, well ahead of Ex. "Hi Melodie-rhya, hi... Sue?" Flint says. "Flint, called Requiem. Cliath, galliard, Glass Walker." He jerks his head at the cub. "That's Ex. Rogue. I. You..." Flint pauses, then outlines to heed the door, not _touch_ Ex or violate her personal space, general rules of engagement and sitrep with how it's been going with the cub, before excusing himself towards the door to the street. "Pack business," he adds, before he's out the door.
Ex looks, to put it mildly, utterly sullen. She doesn't grace either Sue or Melodie with more than the briefest of glances, choosing instead to glare at the floor, after glaring at Flint's back. She's still wearing the black gloves Nicodemus gave her several days ago, with the sleeves of her hoodie pulled down over them to her wrists, and there hasn't been any effort to fix the increasing wildness of her growing out hair--though right now it's still extremely short. An inch and a half maybe, give or take in various spots.
Melodie gives Ex a good looking over, and puts on a gentle smile and tone of voice. "Hello. Ex, is that what you like to be called? I'm Melodie. I represent the Black Furies, we're a tribe that is primarily women. I'd like to help you, if you'll let me." She doesn't move closer, letting the girl have her space for the moment.
Sue keeps a careful eye on the door, otherwise a little bit tense, but also quiet for the moment.
Ex's floor scowl grows briefly harsher, her eyes faintly narrowing. "Had enough help, thanks. I already told that other bitch, I'm not joining any freaky cult army so I can go and die to other werewolves or evil spirits or whatever the fuck and end up on a wall. I just wanna leave."
Melodie nods a little. "I don't think they'll let me arrange that just yet. You know that you're a werewolf, so if nothing else, you're dangerous until you've had at least a little training. But it doesn't have to be all of this," she gestures around, "walls, and locks, and wires. I'd want to leave to, honestly."
Ex gives Melodie another brief look, this time suspicious, as well as generally glarey. "...Yeah?"
Melodie smiles a little wider. "Yeah. We've got a place near the edge of the woods. It's pretty nice, not all citified like this. We've got an archery space and workout equipment. I guess some folks are comfortable in the city, but most of our kind, well. It's no place for wild things like us."
Sue nods once, after Melodie's done speaking. "And fresh air, and open spaces, and the courtyard's nice," the metis says, though his own absence from Fury house in the weeks since he argued with April has been rather noticeable.
At some point during this, Ex's gaze shifts to the floor again, only to move back to the two Furies, this time sidelong, still narrow. "Why're you telling me this?"
Melodie pauses, considering her words. "Well, when it comes down to it, I can't stand to see a girl mistreated. I got a tip that you're having a rough time here, and if I can do better, that's my duty. As a Black Fury. I mean, there's certain things it's worth the trouble to learn before you go out in the world, but it doesn't have to be all that bad."
Ex runs her fingers roughly over the scar on her left cheek, and paces a few steps to the side, though she never fully takes her eyes off of Melody. "What's the catch? 'Cause here, they said as soon as I learned control, I could go. /Then/ one of them is like, oh sure, but you'll fucking die, so we won't tell you anything else, 'cause you'll tell our enemies or some shit, trying to scare me into signing up. And another one started talking about not seeing the sun for fucking ever."
Sue gets to his feet, giving Melodie and Ex some space, though even as he goes to change his laundry, there's an eye kept on the cub.
Melodie bites her lower lip, holding back her initial reaction, though she doesn't seem pleased. "Why the hell would they... Okay, I'll be straight with you. I'm no good at lying anyway. The only way I'll be able to get you out of here is if you agree to join the Furies. And even that won't be easy, but I can do it. And here's what that'll buy you. A summer at our outdoor school, where you'll learn about women power and Gaia and yes, fighting too. Eventually, there'll be a challenge. It's not easy, but if you work with us, you'll pass. And as a Fury, you'll be able to go wherever you want. A lot of us wander the wildest of wild places, protecting them. Some like the cities. It's up to you at that point. I can tell that you're not interested in signing up for all of what I'm selling, but, that's what's on the table. One thing that's obvious to me, though, is that whatever they're doing here, it's not connecting with you at all."
Ex's teeth flash the moment Melodie says 'agree to join the Furies', but miraculously, she doesn't interrupt. "What if I don't?" she demands, once the other woman has finished. "I have to stay here the whole time? How long's it take to 'learn control'?"
Sue furrows his brows a little, pausing in the doorway between laundry room and lobby. "There's no easy answer to that particular question, Ex," he says. "It takes different people different amounts of time to learn control, and a lot of that depends on what auspice you are, and how strongly you feel Selene's gift, the Rage, how strong your will is."
Melodie nods to Sue. "Yeah, but for most people, I'd say three to six months and you're good to go. It's not forever. If you don't get another tribe to claim you, I bet you would just stay here, probably mostly in this building, the whole time. They'll teach you about technology and cities, which I can't do. And guns, they like guns." She shrugs, like this is something that some people do for some reason.
"Guns," Ex echoes. "But the stupid bitch said she wasn't gonna teach me any-fucking-thing beyond control unless I signed up." She pauses, and again, there's blatant suspicion in her expression. "What's that mean, anyway? I gotta sign some kind of a contract? What happens if I break it?"
Sue brings up one hand to rub at his brow. "Not quite," he says. He paces, a moment, and then moves over to sit back down, on the other couch, perhaps deliberately this time keeping Melodie between himself and the cub. "Tribes are where we ... belong," Sue explains. "It's not a contract, though as a society we have certain laws, and rules, that govern our behaviour--but the rules are applied to everyone, They apply to me, and to Melodie, and to everyone, not just to you. Things like respecting the territory of another."
Melodie shakes her head. "We don't do things in writing. But we do have some rules, which you'll learn. Most of them are pretty easy to follow most of the time. And I don't think it's fair to ask someone to make a lifelong commitment to something they don't understand and don't have any choice in. I mean. It's not like we get unlimited choices. We are who we are. There's no way to go back to being a normal human. And it's really not a good idea to run around without any tribe, not at first anyway. But you don't have to belong to the first one that laid eyes on you."
Ex inhales slowly. "Haven't been a normal human in a long fucking time," she mutters. "Okay, so I agree to join your club, and you'll get me the fuck out of here? And you'll let me be /outside/? What if I want out later?"
Melodie keeps her tone even. "Yeah, that's the size of it. Later, we can talk. I promise I'll try to find a way that works for both you and for us. There's a lot of ways one can be a Fury. If it doesn't work out, it's possible to go your own way, but people will give you a ton of grief if you don't at least try it our way first. But I'm not running one of those African slave armies here."
Ex's eyes narrow, and her jaw works silently for several moments from one side to the other. "I'm keeping my knife. And these gloves." She pauses, and then says, abruptly, "And no sticking me with things. No fucking needles. And if you're going to fucking /shoot/ me, you'd better fucking tell me first." Another beat. "You got a fucking wall full of dead people's names?"
Ex adds, "Keeping my pencils and my book too."
Melodie considers this. "Okay. So long as the knife's not silver. And no needles or guns. And we don't have a wall. There's a graveyard out in the woods, I suppose, but no wall of names. That's kind of morbid, isn't it? Pencils are cool, too. One of my favorite lessons was learning how to draw Werewolf Glyphs, maybe you'll like that. So, should I talk to Mouse about it, or do you want some time to think it over?"
Sue shudders a slight bit at the mention of silver, though he's otherwise quiet.
Ex digs a battered switchblade out of her pocket that has clearly seen better days. "Ain't silver," she says, derisively. "No, get me the fuck out of here."
Melodie grins. "Cool, a switchblade, those are hard to get these days! Okay, I'll make it happen. I'm not going to promise it'll be all rainbows and unicorns. I guess if you want that, I know who to talk to, but I don't think that's you either. But if you'll work with us, it can be something good."
Sue looks at the knife with a sigh of relief that it's not silver. "Good," he agrees, before pitching his conversation more quietly, speaking to Melodie for a moment rather than Melodie and Ex. "When we've got this settled, and you get a chance, could we talk some more?" he asks.
Melodie nods to Sue. "Si. I really need to get to know you better, anyway. I mean, you're Cliath, so you can do what you want, but I'm sure things could be improved for you back home?" She says this softly, trying not to say too much with Ex around.
Sue picks up a hand to rub at the bridge of his nose, and then nods. "I'd like that," he says, the same quiet tone. "I'm trying to try, you know? That last was a bit of a setback but I still want to try. Tribe calls to all of us." Another pause, before Sue continues. "Also, Kavi-rhya said to ask you about... if you knew how to get a hold of Zeke?"
Melodie thinks for a bit. "I think so. I mean, I know where he was about a year ago. We could write a letter? Maybe he'll visit. I'd like that a lot, actually." She grins. "That's a good idea."
Sue nods. "I'd appreciate that, I think," he says, a little uncertainty creeping into his voice, and Sue wraps his arms around his chest, a little tightly. "Kavi-rhya mentioned that Zeke knows Soothe the Scars," he explains further, voice still pitched so that the conversation is not including the cub. "And, well. What you said about healing, because you're right, in that I can't just hold a grudge. Grudges and bitterness lead to worse things."
Melodie clearly approves of this. "Good! This is right, of course. And it's not easy to ask for help with that sort of thing. We'll make it happen, somehow."
Sue looks up from the floor and to Melodie, for a moment. "Thank you," he murmurs. "For being patient with me."
When Ex returns, it's noticeably with a rather woebegone looking sketchbook, and an even more woebegone case of pencils. "Right, I'm ready whenever. Preferably, fucking immediately or sooner."
Melodie gets a mischievous look in her eye, and turns to Sue. "How much trouble do you think we'd be in if we just left with her right now?" She looks like she really wants to, but knows she ought not to.
Sue crosses his arms, and furrows his brows. "Melodie-rhya," he says, shakes his head. "No. The Glass Walkers haven't claimed her either, but they are taking responsibility for her at the moment." There's an apologetic glance to Ex, fully aware that the two philodox are talking about the cub right in front of her. "You need to talk to Mouse-rhya. Or to Kavi-rhya, he and Rina have been primarily," he says. The entire statement, however, still has the tone of suggestion, opinion offered because it was asked. "There's enough tension between our tribes right now because of my aunt, we should go through the proper steps." To Ex, there is only another apologetic glance, the metis ducking a nod to the other Fury.
Rina has arrived.
"Glass Walkers?" Ex echoes. "You people have weird as /fuck/ names." She's standing well apart from the two Furies, with her sketchpad and pencil case under one arm. She's still wearing the gloves Nicodemus gave her (and at some point, Kevin dedicated for her).
Rina comes in from the street, carry a cloth grocery bag with bottles clinking inside. She pauses, her back straightening a touch as she sees just *who* is in the lobby.
Melodie looks over at Rina as she comes in and smiles. "Hola! Um. We were just talking with Ex here. Can I ask you a favor? Can I set up a meeting with you and Kavi, and maybe Mouse? Sooner rather than later." She gives a nod to Ex at that last. Her tone is polite, but expecting a yes.
Sue offers Rina a small smile when she comes into the lobby, though his arms go from being crossed in front of him to wrapped around his chest, and he clops over to sit back down on the couch.
Rina looks decidedly skeptical, her eyes narrowing slightly as she regards Mel. "Yeah, sure," she says. "We can talk." When her attention turns to Ex, there's a definite shift in her eyes, in her expression. Toward something softer, more neutral. "How're you, Ex?"
Ex makes a little exasperated noise in her throat, which translates to fidgeting around her hands. "Werewolves having fucking /meetings/," is the grumble, though Rina's question brings a shift in volume. "Well, haven't seen the fucking /bitch/ in a few days," she announces. "I decorated your wall. These people are called Furies or some shit. They don't seem very angry though."
Melodie giggles. "Well, we have our moments. How's Thursday for you? Do you have one of those nifty phones that tells you when you're free and shit?" She doesn't sound sarcastic, just curious. "I should really get back home, tonight, but I promise I'll be back." She gives an encouraging look towards Ex.
Sue grins, a little bit, getting up from the couch when Melodie says that she's leaving. "I'll see you around at some point, Melodie-rhya?" Sue asks, with a nod. "I... we'll write that letter."
Rina's brow furrows, and she studies Ex. "Who's the bitch."
Ex makes a rough, vague sort of gesture toward the elevator. "The bitch with the fucking butterfly spirit. Nieve or something." Melodie's encouraging look is met with a wall of skepticism tinged with frustration. "Yeah. Sure."
Melodie slips out for now, leaving Rina to suss out what's been going on with the cub.
Sue looks towards the door for a long moment after Melodie leaves, silent, arms wrapping around his chest just a little bit tighter.
Rina takes a slow breath. "Nieve, huh. I told her not to mess with you. Guess she di'n't listen?"
Ex swings back around, with more energy in the motion. "/Nope/." Her nostrils flare, but there's no further explanation coming...yet. It's clearly sitting there on the tip of her tongue.
Moros has arrived.
Rina takes the bag she's carrying into the laundry room, but glances out to watch Ex. "Well, if you don't wanna say anything about it, it's fine," she says quietly, feigning indifference.
Sue glances at Ex, and there's a few steps to put himself not _quite_ between the cub and the kinswoman, until she goes off into the laundry room, at which point Sue just as quickly returns to the couch, gesturing to the other couch. "You know," he says to Ex. "You could sit down. They're comfortable."
Moros hits the buzzer for a long few seconds before pulling his thick finger off the button. The big metis steps back, then, flicking greasy hair out of his face as he looks upward toward the camera. As usual, he's scowling.
Ex curls her lip at Sue. "I don't need a fucking invitation to sit. I'd sit if I wanted." She does not, however, sit. She watches Rina pop into the laundry room, and then presses the arm holding the sketchbook tighter to her side. "The fucking /bitch/ was trying to scare me into signing on to your freaky cult thing." She jerks her head toward the door, but she makes no move toward it.
"Shit," Rina mutters angrily. She slams a cabinet.
Sue sighs when the door buzzer goes off, and pushes back to his feet. It takes the usual long minute for Sue to walk to the door. He walks slow, carefully, and steps aside to let Moros in. "Brother," he greets, a faint grin coming to his face, though Sue moves back to place himself between Ex, and Rina. "Easy," he mutters. Perhaps to both of them.
Moros walks in, boots treading heavily on the checkerboard tile floor. "Brother," he says in return greeting to Sue, the word low and growly. Red eyes move over toward Ex, sizing her up.
Ex blatantly stares at Moros, though it only takes a few moments before she's forced to look away. "Why'd you /bring/ me here?" she demands. Or accuses, possibly. "This place is full of fucking crazies." She jerks her gaze toward the laundry room, and her lips twitch. "Except her, I guess. And the other guy, /maybe/. But everyone else is batshit!"
"Thanks," Rina says dryly. "But honestly, I'm at *least* as batshit as anyone else."
Sue grumbles a little, very quietly. "Because I don't have a _car_," Sue explains, keeping his voice level and patient, and then turns to Moros. "I talked to our Elder a little more today," the younger metis adds. "She wants to work to fix the obstacles."
Rina leans against the laundry room doorway, crossing her arms and regarding Sue.
Moros glances toward Rina when she speaks, cocking his head slightly as he considers her. Then he turns back to Ex. "What he said," he tells her, with a nod toward Sue. "This place was the closest."
"What obstacles?" Rina asks quietly.
"Fuck this place," Ex declares. "It's full of fucking cameras and crazies and they don't let you go anywhere. Watch." She makes a sudden, jerking movement in Rina's direction, though she goes only a single step.
Sue shakes his head once at Rina's question, taking one step to place himself directly between Rina and the cub again. There's a faint, reassuring smile for the kinswoman though.
Moros wrinkles his nose, his mouth curling in disgust. Disgust laced with anger. "If it was up to me," he says slowly, "you wouldn't be in this place, either." He glances at Rina and adds, ungracefully, "No offense."
Rina glances ceilingward for a moment. "Yeah." She narrows her eyes at Moros. "Cause you guys have *totally* proven you know how to handle trauma survivors." She looks pointedly over to Sue. "And make them feel safe and welcome." The dark eyes look to Moros.
Ex points at Sue. "/See/? Like I'm a fucking bomb." She gives Rina a sudden, sharp look, frowning.
Moros cocks his head to the other side, lips curling into an ugly, humorless half-smile. "I don't see _her_ looking like she feels safe and welcome," he retorts.
Sue wraps his arms around himself, slightly. "Hey," he objects, quietly. "My aunt's... an exception, at least _here_." Sue bares his teeth at the ground in silence, then, and looks at Ex. "Rina's still kinfolk, and you're still untrained. This, I would do no matter _what_ tribe's kinfolk was in question."
Rina's jaw tightens visibly, and she looks to Moros. "Yeah, and I'm *so* sure April will make her feel welcome and loved."
Ex flashes her teeth. "Why the /fuck/ are you all talking about me like I'm not standing right fucking here?"
The big man's ugly smile widens, revealing teeth. He actually laughs, though it's brief and sounds a trifle demented, his humor laced thickly with bitterness. Grinning openly now, he says to Rina, "Of _course_ she will. The cub is female."
Ex gives Moros a look that's half aggravated, half completely confused.
Sue huffs. It's an annoyed, awkward sound. "My brother is right," he informs Rina. "There are differences, you know." There's bitterness in the younger metis' voice, as well, a harsh, raw bitterness that's close to pain.
Rina's expression twists for a moment, fiercely, before she looks to Ex. "I'm sorry," she says quietly. The dark eyes are haunted, honest. "I just don't think anyone over there is gonna understand you as well as Kavi and I can, and Mouse, and even Salem. The only Fury who--" She looks to Moros for a moment, considering, and then back to Ex. "The only Furies who might actually help you are these two. And Sue lives with *us*, so..."
Moros loses the ugly killer's smile. "And _I_ live with _them_."
Ex turns away from the argument. She makes her way, neither slowly nor quickly, to the back of the couch, and when there, abruptly pulls out the switchblade, pops the blade out, and begins deliberately dragging the point across the top. The old material splits open almost immediately.
Sue looks between Rina, and Moros, and Ex, then back to Rina. "We can have this discussion on Thursday," he says, looking to Moros after that. "Melodie-rhya will be coming over Thursday," he explains to Moros. Another pause, and he takes a deep breath. "Ultimately, it's her choice, Rina."
Rina lifts her chin sharply, coming out a couple of steps to look up at Moros. "I don't know you," she says tightly, "and I don't *trust* you." It ends up looking something like a Jack Russell facing off with a Doberman.
Sue takes another step forward, to look straight at Rina. "Moros is my _brother_," Sue says, emphasis. "My tribe-brother. _I_ trust him."
Moros's lips curl away from his teeth in a half-smile, half-snarl kind of expression. He straightens, not that he was especially slouching before, and stares down at Rina as though he's deciding how she'd look without limbs. Sue's voice seems to bring him back -- slightly -- from this rather violent train of thought, however, and he gives a grunt of acknowledgement to the other metis. "Of course," he says, slowly, still with that rather ugly look in his eyes. "Of course, I'll abide by whatever Melodie... and the cub... decide." He doesn't look away from Rina.
Ex grits her teeth as she proceeds to stab the poor couch several times. And then, without any warning, she moves around it and kicks the coffee table as hard as she can.
Rina tilts her head a little, one way and then the other, as if stretching the muscles of neck and shoulders. "This is *our* turf you're on," she says pointedly. Her expression is hard, and she doesn't give an inch of ground. "Ask *April* what happened, last time one of your people acted up around here."
Sue takes a step, this time placing himself between Moros, and Rina. "/Easy/," he says, nearly snaps. "I'm sure Moros is quite aware that this is Walker territory, and aware of being respectful of it." Then, Ex gets his attention. "Ex," he calls out. "Why are you knifing the couch? The couch doesn't belong to you, that's disrespectful to knife it."
Moros doesn't look away from Rina; the threat seems to do little more than amuse him in an unpleasant kind of way. There's even a hint of 'bring it' in his eyes, the shift of his weight, the twitch of thick fingers. "I repeat. I'll abide by what Melodie and the cub decide."
Ex kicks the table again, hard. "Ain't a fucking cub!" she says, louder. "Not a recruit, not a fucking /service project/, not a goddamn victim, not a /trauma survivor/. Stop fucking fighting over me, you crazy assholes!"
Rina's actually beginning to tip her head and narrow her eyes, when Ex's voice breaks the tension. She turns her back on both Furies, to take just one step in Ex's direction. "Easy, X," she says quietly. "Don't take it out on the furniture, okay?"
Sue steps towards Moros, tilts his head up to look at the other Fury. "Thank you," he murmurs, quietly, then jerks his head towards Ex. "So how," he says, pitched quietly to ask his tribe-brother the question but not make it easily overheard, "do we deal with _that_?" Louder, he points out, "No one's _fighting_, Ex. But, when Melodie comes back on Thursday, to talk with Kavi and Rina, and probably you as well, you'll get to have the decision of whether you stay here, or whether you go out and live at the house my tribe has. And for the most part, that's your decision. But you need to think about what Melodie-rhya said earlier."
Moros turns red eyes slowly over toward Ex, then to Sue. "I'd take her out to the woods," he says. "Let her run. These walls..." He lets his gaze travel over the lobby, then back to his tribemate. "Too many walls would drive anyone crazy."
Ex draws her foot back from another kick, and instead turns a disgruntled, sullen look on the floor. She crosses her arms over her chest.
Rina looks at Ex, a flicker of sadness in her eyes. "You'd never come back, would you?" she says softly.
Sue just nods, finally uncrossing his arms, and shoves his hands into his pockets. "Thursday," he repeats to Moros, voice quiet. There's an audible wince at the mention of walls, but turning away turns to watch Rina and the cub, rather than away entirely.
Moros purses his lips and nods once, curtly, to Sue.
Ex shoots a glance to Rina, and makes that exasperated noise in the back of her throat again, throwing up her hands. "I don't even know half of what you people are even /talking/ about."
"If I opened the door. Or if we took you out to the woods, so you could just hunt and run... would you ever come back?" Rina's voice stays soft.
Sue remains silent, and his hands don't stay in his pockets very long, returning to the previous posture of hugging himself tightly.
Moros's eyes turn to Ex, obviously curious about the cub's response. His head tilts.
"Maybe if I knew I could /leave/," Ex says, throwing a dirty look toward the door. "But the bitch said everyone would go and move somewhere else anyway."
Rina's brow furrows, and she tips her head. "What d'you mean?" she asks quietly.
Sue remains quiet, and takes a few steps so that he's standing beside Moros, now.
Moros glances sidelong and down at Sue, then turns his attention back to Rina and X.
Ex shrugs. "She said unless I joined up I was gonna get killed by 'enemies' and so I wasn't going to be taught anything except how to control myself, and when I left, everyone would have to move somewhere else because they were going to get all that information out of me, and then I'd die within a year." She adds, unnecessarily, "Fucking /bitch/."
Rina's expression tightens further. "We'll have words," she says tersely.
Sue snarls under his breath, hands curling into fists. This time, the repetition of Thursday seems to be predominantly intended to calm _himself_ down.
One side of Moros's mouth slants upward, forming that humorless, sarcastic half-smile again.
Ex eyes Sue for a moment, jaw working. "So what the fuck were you talking about earlier? What's me being a girl have to do with anything?"
Rina lets out a breath, and turns away again, raking a hand back through her hair. "The Furies are... kinda militant Amazons. The only men in the tribe are-- like Sue and Moros. Metis."
Sue looks up at Moros, and the younger metis seems to have gone entirely silent for the moment. The only sound from him is a very hard swallow, before his gaze drops to the floor.
"Sorry, Sue," Rina mutters.
Moros nods, his expression solemn and sour again. "They keep the kinfolk and the metis. They give away their wholeborn male children to other tribes. Usually the Children of Gaia." His nose wrinkles, mouth curling. "_We_ have to fight for our place. But an abused woman?" He smirks.
"The who?" Ex says, but almost immediately she straightens, and glares straight /at/ Moros. "You think I'm not going to fucking fight for it if I want it?" She drops the book and pencil case on the couch. "I don't give a shit if you're a guy and Gee-el-ess two, I'll fucking fight /you/ right now."
"Easy," Rina says, tensing a little but filling her voice with reassurance and calm. "No one's going to fight. You don't have to fight for anything, that's what he said. East, X."
"No need for fighting," Sue says, the halfmoon's words a little bit on the snappish side, and spoken loudly and clearly. For a moment, he looks down at the floor, then glances over at Moros. "No," he adds, more quietly.
Moros looks like he might say something to this. But he doesn't. Instead he just stares down at Ex, smirking viciously.
"Moros," Rina says quietly, "knock that shit off, or get the *fuck* outta my house."
Ex's hands both clench into fists, and despite both Rina and Sue's discouragement, she marches straight for the hulking Ahroun. "I've had to fight for /everything/. So if /I/ fucking want it, I'll fucking /fight/ for it. I'm not. Fucking. /Abused/. I'm not taking fucking handicaps from anyone, /Fezzik/."
Sue straightens, a little, and grimaces even more at the words from Rina. "ENOUGH!" Unlike Rina's soft words, the younger metis' volume increases, and there's a tension that just about /radiates/ from Sue right now. He looks towards Rina, and then towards Ex, and then walks over towards Rina. "I think," he says, a lot more quietly, "it'd be a good thing if the cub went back upstairs, now."
Moros's eyes widen dangerously, his lips skinning away from his teeth in an ugly snarl, that simmering temper suddenly snapping forward, ready to explode outward. By a hair's breadth, it doesn't. It was Rina's words that sparked the sudden fire, but it's Ex, storming forward into his personal space, that gets the brunt of it. He glares down at her, one wrong word, one wrong tone of voice away from turning the cub into so much ground meat.
Rina's dark eyes are focused on Moros, as she reaches into her jacket and pulls her *off* hand .45. "Sue," she says quietly, "please separate them?"
Sue moves in between Ex and Moros, now, and he looks up at the big Ahroun, even as there's a move to shove Ex out of the way, and Sue shifts up to glabro to gain a little steadiness of footing, provide a bigger barrier between the two. "Moros," he says, interjecting. "_Brother_. Enough. You should go, now." It's a suggestion, but a forceful one. "I'll keep you updated, about Thursday. But now, you need to leave."
The click of a semi-auto's slide seems to underscore Sue's words.
Ex blinks, temporarily startled out of her own temper. "Whoa." She's silent for a beat, but then gets pushed aside. "Hey, stop it. I /like/ Fezzik. Don't screw with him. He's just pissed."
Moros's chest heaves. His eyes are round and slightly too wide, rolling down to look at Sue like that of a mad bull. His nostrils flare as he sucks in each breath, in through the nose, out through clenched teeth. Slowly, he gets himself enough under control to take a step back from Sue, first one and then another. Every motion is slow, tight, deliberate. "Thursday," he repeats in a low, rasping growl, and then again, "Thursday." He turns on his heel and storms out, not looking at Ex or Rina.
Rina lets out a very slow breath.
It's only once Moros has gone that Sue returns to homid, cursing rather rapidly in Greek for a moment before he moves over to the couch, and looks at Rina. "You can put the gun away now," the remaining Fury says. "The moon's getting bigger, okay? And my brother is an Ahroun."
Rina gives a tiny nod. "Yeah," she says tersely. "Apparently."
Ex huffs, and then glares at Sue. "/Don't/ fucking touch me again. That's why I'm Rogue. No one touches me." And then the heat seems to vanish without explanation. "Is that what it looks like?"
Sue looks at Ex, a moment. "If it's necessary, I'm not pandering to your 'don't touch me' thing," the metis snaps. "Get it? That," and Sue points towards the door, "is an Ahroun, getting angry, and it's a good thing that my brother is strong of will and knows when to leave. You, on the other hand, are untrained and unexperienced, and therefore, I did what needed to be done to give him space, in a short period of time where there was not enough time to just _tell_ you to back off. If it is not necessary, I'll make sure not to touch you. Got it?" There's some weight to the words, as much as Sue can possibly muster, and backed by the grumpiness the current state of the moon. He wraps his arms around his chest a little tighter.
"It was good, Sue," Rina says quietly. "And thank you."
"Well, you'd better give me some fucking space too," Ex says, low and brittle. "And what the fuck is an Ahroun?"
Rina still stands... not too far from the laundry room. Out of the way,
definitely.
Sue stalks over to the couch and sits down, and huffs. "Sit down, then I'll tell you," Sue decides.
Ex crosses her arms over her chest and decidedly does not sit down.
Sue looks over at Ex, and points at the couch across from him, the one that Ex earlier knifed up. "If you want me to answer, you will sit down, and we will talk like civilised Garou, Rogue." The order isn't very forceful at all, but Sue seems rather patient to wait for the girl to comply.
Ex's forehead seems to twitch. "I don't want to sit down."
"Please, X?" Rina asks softly.
Sue seems like he's ready with some snappish comment, but he shuts his mouth when Rina speaks, waiting to see what Ex does or doesn't do.
Ex stresses, eyes narrowing, "I dooon't. Want. To sit down."
"I don't _care_," Sue responds, levelly even if a little quickly. "I mean, I care that you don't want to, but it has absolutely _no_ bearing on this right now. I've had a long day. I've had a shit week. I'm grumpy. And if you want me to answer, you'll sit down. But once you do, I'm more than happy to teach you what an Ahroun is, and what all the other auspices are, too."
"/I'm/ grumpy," Ex snaps. "Why do I have to do what you want for you to tell me anything? I'm not /that/ interested in your creepy cult."
Sue leans back on the couch, going to pick up the book. "Fine, you can be grumpy," Sue says. "The moon's getting bigger, it has that effect."
Ex 's arms tighten over her chest, and she glares at Sue for several long moments. Then, slowly, she turns her back on him and stalks over toward the stair door.
Sue shrugs his shoulders, and is quiet for a long moment, before he looks over towards the kinswoman. "Sorry, Rina," he offers.
Rina lets out a slow breath, and looks to him, her brow furrowed slightly. "You okay?" she asks softly.
Ex stops at the door rather than going through it, instead leaning her shoulder against the wall. Her back, however, is rather deliberately turned toward the other two.
Sue lets the book rest in his lap, leans back on the couch, arms wrapped around himself, and eventually looks over at the kinswoman. "Yes and no," he answers. "More no than yes."
Rina swallows, and nods, worry in her eyes. "You wanna talk, sometime... you know my number?"
Ex lets her head rest against the wall as well.
The metis nods, one knee and then the other coming partway up towards his chest. "I do," Sue says. "I'll be okay, I think. I'm just not, not right now. It's scary as all fuck, sometimes." He speaks quietly, though not so quietly that Ex can't hear if she cares to listen. "Kavi-rhya said to ask Melodie-rhya about if she knows how to get ahold of Zeke. Because of the rite. And, I asked her today."
Rina raises both eyebrows. "And?"
Ex might be listening, but she gives no sign of it.
Again, Sue nods. "She thinks she does," he says, a little more quietly. "She wants to do whatever she can to make things, there, better for me. She said she'll make it happen somehow." THere's uncertainty, fear almost, in the cliath's voice.
Rina comes over to sit with him, a cautious approach.
Ex twists around. "/See/? How come I'm the victim? /He/ sounds like a victim."
Sue glances over at Rina and nods once when she sits, but Ex's words bring a wince from the metis. Knees pull up a little closer to his chest.
"Neither one of you is a victim," Rina says quietly. Her gaze is still on Sue, the dark eyes a little haunted. "We're not victims." A hand reaches out, gingerly, in Sue's direction.
"Well," Ex says, "He looks like a kicked puppy." She plants her opposite shoulder against the wall now, now that she's facing them again.
Sue neither flinches nor draws away, though his arms remain tightly wrapped around his chest. There's a deep, ragged breath in, and it doesn't seem like Sue knows what to say in response to Ex, or how to say it.
"But you don't hafta be," Rina says quietly, still watching the Fury as she rests a hand gently on his shoulder. "Never again. Say it."
Ex wrinkles her nose as she watches Sue, only flicking the briefest of glances toward Rina.
Sue straightens a little bit, at the hand on his shoulder. "Never," he says, voice barely above a whisper, but the most affirmation that he can manage. "I'm still scared. Asking for help and admitting that I need it is scary. It's scary to be not okay." He still speaks very, very quietly, pitched mostly for Rina now that she sits next to him.
Rina nods, her brow furrowing a little. "I know."
"And fear is for prey," Sue adds, very quietly.
Rina nods, her brow furrowing a little. "Yeah."
Ex's mouth twitches, tugging downward. She leans off of the wall and stalks back toward the sitting area, with both hands clenched into fists.
Sue frees one arm from how tightly he'd been hugging himself, raises a hand to rub at the bridge of his nose. "But I need to do this," he adds. "Nowhere to go but up."
Rina nods, letting her hand slide away. "You're not a victim, either," she says, glancing over to Ex.
Ex snatches up her previously discarded sketchbook and pencil case. "Already said I wasn't," she mutters.
Sue huffs, quietly, and leans back into the couch. He seems to be out of things to say, again, but his breathing evens out. "I know," he eventually says, to Rina.
"You wanna go up and hang out and draw, for a while?" Rina asks Ex.
"Drawing isn't getting me out of here." Ex flicks a glance toward Sue. "Dunno how much better going to /his/ place is though. Shit."
Kicked puppy indeed, and Sue abruptly winces, pulling back and actually standing up, looking down at Rina, half-apologetic. Now it's the Fury's turn to stalk towards the elevator, though he doesn't press the call button yet.
Rina glances to him when he moves--an apology in her own eyes, too, apparently. Then she returns her attention to Ex. "It... might not be real different from here. But it might be better, for you, depending on if they lock you up. What did Melodie say?"
Ex scratches hard at her forehead scar. "She said there was woods and things, where I could run. And she said she wasn't a good liar."
Sue looks over at Ex and Rina for a moment. "Halfmoons--philodox--like Melodie and myself typically aren't very good at lying," he says. There's a moment of some snark comment, but it's bit back, unsaid, not the time right now. "Part of the job of the philodox is to seek balance, and uphold the laws of the Garou. Lies aren't productive to that."
"Don't scratch it," Rina murmurs. Her brow furrows, and she studies Ex. "Wouldn't you just want to run? Forget about all of this, go... live on your own somehow?"
Ex sighs, as her hand drops. "And you can't just say you're werewolf cops?" A sidelong glance to Rina. "Wouldn't /you/?"
Sue is half turned towards the elevator again, before he looks back at Ex at the latest statement, brow furrowing. "Werewolf cops?" The metis sounds confused, as if he doesn't quite follow the reasoning that led Ex to say that, or like he's not grasping some concept there.
"They are," Rina says. "Well. Judges, really." She considers Ex a moment. "And... I don't know. If I were Garou... you're not meant to be loners. Haven't you felt that? Felt... too alone?" She wets her lips. "Even if you can't trust... doesn't it help a little, to be around people who have some of the same issues, who have the syndrome too?"
Ex gives a rough shake of her head. "Everyone's so /different/. They don't make any fucking sense." Her lips tighten. "Except when they want shit from me. Then it's the same old fucking story."
Sue looks at Rina, a moment. "You okay if...?" Sue asks, jerking his head towards the elevator. There's a clear reluctance to leave Rina alone with the cub, and an equally clear desire to excuse himself from the situation.
Rina glances over to him, and gives a quick nod.
Ex merely scowls at Sue, but she doesn't say anything.
Sue doesn't see the expression, because he's turned back to the elevator, pressed the call button, shoulders slumped and posture defeated in many ways as he stands there.
Rina's expression wrinkles into concern as she watches him. After a moment, though, she looks back to Ex. "What doesn't make sense?"
Ex inhales slowly. "Werewolf wars and spirit monsters and weird fucking names for everything. You've got /tribes/ and shit."
Rina nods minutely, glancing down for a moment. "It's pretty simple, if you suspend your disbelief. If you suspend what the rest of the world has taught you... and look to the things you've *experienced*, instead. Have you ever run in the woods, as a wolf?"
Ex shakes her head again, but says nothing. She eyes the elevator doors instead of Rina.
Rina takes a slow breath. "We should make sure you get to do that," she says quietly. "You want to go upstairs?"
This time, Ex shrugs. She does, however, turn toward the stairway door, rather than the elevator.
Rina goes up with her, silent for once until they reach the apartment upstairs.
Tenement Building - Cubs' Bunkroom(#1657RA)
This large studio apartment has been set up as a communal living space for the tribe's cubs, as well as a temporary crash space for those who don't have their own apartment in the building. It's extremely sparse in furniture, consisting of two bunkbeds set opposite each other against the walls, and little else. Fortunately, it does possess a small kitchen and an even smaller bathroom.
Contents:
Rina
Crate Fort
Obvious exits:
Out
The previously mentioned 'decoration' is quite visible once they reach the cubroom. It's a drawing--and not a bad drawing at all, in point of fact--of a looming, vaguely humanoid figure. It has no face, and what look like large knives instead of hands. Luckily, no one gave the cub something more permanent to mark up the wall with, and she didn't use the knife.
Rina stands still, studying it for a long moment. "This is good," she says quietly. "Does it help, at all?"
The fingers of Ex's right hand curl against her palm. She shrugs again. "Yeah. I think." She's a little quieter, now that it's just her and Rina.
Rina nods. "Helps me, too. It used to be... necessary. To the point where I'd feel like I was gonna lose it, if I couldn't paint. Hurt my hand one time and I was fuckin' terrified."
Ex slants a look toward Rina. "What do you do, anyway? You fight werewolves too?"
One corner of Rina's mouth tugs upward. "Mostly I keep certain parts of the city... operating. And I paint."
Ex rolls one shoulder back, and eyes her a little more carefully. "No creepy cult stuff?"
Rina lifts a shoulder and lets it fall. "I'm not one a you," she says quietly. "I've dusted a couple of vampires, but it's not something I would normally do. Pit myself against something supernatural, I mean. I'm nothing more than human... mostly. Skilled in killing people, defending myself... and I know some things other people don't, about the world. But that's all. No mojo, no magic..."
Ex doubletakes. "Wait. Vampires? Fucking vampires?"
Rina winces slightly, ducking her head. "Ah... yeah. No one toldja, I guess."
Ex rubs her forehead with both hands, and makes a faint, groaning noise. "...Okay. Can't I be like you? Just...do regular shit? Maybe beat someone up now and then who really has it coming?"
Rina glances over to her, bemused. "That's what you'll end up doing. You just have more power to fight the big stuff. The *real* enemies."
Ex's ever-present frown grows. "Who /are/ the real enemies?"
"Minions of the Wyrm. Sometimes twisted humans. Sometimes vampires, or even Garou who've switched sides and gone insane.
Rina's jaw tightens a little. "Sometimes... creatures I can't even describe."
"Worm," Ex says. One eye squints. "Minions of the /Worm/?"
Rina glances over to the woman, something sharp in her eyes. "No one's told ya this stuff? The three forces, all that?"
Ex shakes her head, and again, she shrugs. "I dunno. People mention things, like the auspice stuff. And I've heard a lot about 'enemies'." The finger quotes are practically audible. "And Kavi had that spirit monster thing, and the bitch had another one. I thought you guys meant the doctors, but then Kevin got /pissed/, and the bitch was talking about other werewolves, and evil spirits."
Rina tips her head. "Let's go sit. If it's okay with you, if I hang out for a bit? Or-- were you gonna crash?
In answer, Ex moves toward the bed--the one she knifed up--and half sits, half slumps. "Gonna crash soon. I don't care if you stay."
"Sure," Rina murmurs. "We'll talk tomorrow, then."
Ex grunts. After a moment or so, she lays down fully, and rolls onto her side, facing the wall.
"Night," Rina offers, from the door. She flips off the lights.
