"She *will* run."

[renferret]

A series of logs in which Ex is non-verbal, Rina, Kavi, and Melodie discuss Fury recruitment, Riley breaks things very un-gently, and Kavi tries to teach her how to shift.


Tenement Building - Cockroach's Breakroom(#3365RJ)

Here, a large studio apartment has been converted into a mutual meeting space for the tribe, one with its own kitchen and bathroom. The walls are a simple, plain white, and the floor is covered in stain-resistant beige carpet. The windows look out onto the somewhat less than scenic view of downtown St. Claire, but more often than not, white blinds prevent anyone from peeking in, or out.

Amenities are what might be expected--a well stocked refrigerator and cupboards, a microwave, a coffee maker, a toaster. There's a wooden table that seats four, five or six if people scrunch, and enough chairs to service it. There's also an old couch and armchair along the walls, angled to face a large, plasma screen television. Most of the entertainment goodies are here. An old NES system, an original Sega system, and an XBOX 360, each with assorted games. There's also a DVD/VCR combo player, and nearby a box of movies, most of them Ed Wood and Roger Corman specials. Ah, classics.

Along one wall is a row of tables and chairs, on which sit five desktop computers as well as the Walker's network server, a printer, and a scanner. (+view for more details)

Contents:
Flint
Rina
Memorial
Information Board: Skindiggers Cult

Obvious exits:
Out

Rina leans against the kitchen counter, her dark eyes watching Flint--though they flicker to the doorway a moment, and she touches a finger to her lips, signalling Ex to be quiet.

The galliard takes a moment, walks over to lean on a different countertop, and looks over at Rina. "He. Devon kept on that..." Flint pauses, takes a deep breath. "That I was. Getting worked up over, over stupid little things. But, I think he... he resented that I feel comfortable, here. All of that. I. After I ran away? Devon got upset over stuff when I. When Ishmael-rhya brought me back here. And then he kept making issues of things, anyway. His... his problem is me," Flint says, frowning more.

Today has not been one of Ex's better days, which is saying something. She has, bathroom breaks aside, absolutely refused to get out of bed all day long, and her willingness to talk about anything has been about as hopeless. That she appears in the doorway, narrow eyed and frowning as always, is her first real action in hours.

"Hey, Ex," Rina offers quietly. "You want some coffee? Dinner?"

"Anyway," Flint continues, looking down at the floor. "Devon. Devon, and Nik, and Elliot, fought some weird... hunters? out. On the bawn. And Devon was for. For a while, talking about maybe packing, with then. And then, when. When I made cliath, he still gave me crap. Over the post-its. Over. Over caring about what I was making, I... just, everything, I really don't think Devon feels at home, here." Then, Flint falls silent. "I. I wish I could, I knew more. Sorry, Rina."

Ex shrugs in response to Rina's question. Neither the kin nor Flint get more than a glance from her, but she doesn't leave the doorway either.

Rina's voice is quiet, her eyes thoughtful. "It's okay," she murmurs. Turning around, she turns the lasagna in the microwave, taking a look at it and then zapping it a while longer.

Flint sighs, quiet a while. "He. He may think that. That people don't care, but. I. I still worry. Even if he hates me, he's. He's still tribe. But I don't know what..." Flint shakes his head, shrugs his shoulders. "Or how."

Ex slides a single foot into the room, and then eases the rest of herself in. She remains near the wall, expression unchanged.

"Sounds like there's got to be a mediator," Rina murmurs. "And I fucked up by not bein' there, to do it, when I needed to be." She looks to him and says, quietly, "I'm sorry."

Flint shakes his head, and looks at Rina, once. "No. It. It's okay..." Flint says, and sighs. "I just. We should go find him, some point," he continues. "Devon needs... I don't know if. If seeing that we care. Will help. Or if it's more than that, but we have to try."

Ex flicks a skeptical look toward both of the others now. Her nose wrinkles faintly.

Rina lifts both shoulders, and then gets down plates. She looks over her shoulder. "Ex, you gonna try some real food, or do you want some of that rice?"

Flint falls silent, moving over to the fridge to get out another soda now.

Ex shakes her head again, in a thoroughly unhelpful answer. She eyes Flint for a moment longer.

Rina rubs at her forehead and then looks to Ex, pained. "I'll try them one at a time: one. Do you want food?"

Ex shakes her head.

Flint moves back over to the computer, for the moment, with a glance and smile to Rina.

"Aright," Rina answers, and then she turns around to dish out lasagna. "You don't hafta stick around, Flint," she murmurs, handing him a plate. "I'll be fine, okay?"

Kavi enters from the hallway.

Kavi has arrived.

Ex moves to the table, and slumps into a chair. Her gaze seems to be on her hands, rather than the table itself, or the actual occupants of the room.

"Timing," Rina says wryly, as Kavi comes in. She's just dishing out lasagna.

Flint takes the food, looks to Ex, then back to Rina. "I." Then Kavi comes in, and Flint looks to the older Galliard, and nods. "Okay," he agrees, taking his plate of dinner and moving out of the breakroom.

Kavi looks significantly confused as he passes Flint in the doorway. His brow furrows, and he looks across to Rina. "Hi," he says, his voice soft, and just touched with a hint of question.

Rina lifts one shoulder and lets it fall. "We were just talking," she says quietly.

Ex flicks a quick, shifty glance toward Kavi, and then back to her hands.

Kavi's brows rise, still confused, but perhaps less so. He nods and offers Ex a small smile before crossing to Rina. "Can I... Do you need help?"

Rina waves a hand. "Get y'self a drink." She serves up a plate--and takes her own plate and beer to the table. "You want something to drink, Ex?"

Ex is a little more hesitant about this. Her forehead wrinkles for a moment, before she shakes her head again.

"Is... Are you sure?" Kavi asks of Ex as he moves toward the fridge. "There's juice, or water? Soda?"

Ex shakes her head again, more vigorously this time.

Rina watches, not yet sitting down.

Kavi watches for a moment, and then turns, pouring water for himself, and for Rina.

Ex fidgets. At first it's just finger twitching, but it quickly graduates to tapping rapidly on the table surface.

Rina slides into her chair, then. "What's up?" she asks quietly. "Just don't feel like talkin' today?"

Kavi brings the glasses to the table, and sets one in front of Rina. He remains standing, still, as he sips from his own glass and watches the interaction between the other two.

"No," Ex says. Her voice is very quiet, barely above a whisper, but carries an undeniable level of tension.

Rina nods acceptance, as if this is not an earth-shattering matter. "Aright. Well, you know where to find shit, by now." She seems unconcerned, and sets in hungrily.

Kavi takes another sip from his glass before he sits, and his hand reaches out to touch Rina's before returning to take up his fork. "Thank you," he says to the kin, then gives a small nod to the cub and begins to eat.

Ex lets them get on with that for a few minutes, before she suddenly speaks again, if no louder. "Who's Devon?"

Rina gives Kavi a small half-smile, and then looks to Ex to answer, the smile fading a bit. "Another Walker. He came to us a little before Flint."

Kavi pauses between bites at the question, and his brow furrows again, though not nearly so significantly, and only briefly. He nods, accepting Rina's answer, and takes up the next bite with his fork.

Ex's skeptical tone is likely very familiar by now. "Came to you?" she echoes.

"Point," Rina says dryly. She looks to Kavi. "Galliard, do your thing?"

It takes a moment for Kavi to swallow, after that, and once he does, he reaches for the napkin to wipe his mouth. "Most of us? When we're young, just infants? There's a ritual that's done. If the baby is garou, a spirit is... is assigned, and when it's time? When we're ready for our first change, the spirit goes to find an adult of the right tribe to take the cub and teach them. If the child is kin, then nothing happens. Sometimes, the rite just fails, and a garou cub can be lost. Be alone when it's time for the change. Sometimes... Sometimes the rite isn't done at all. Devon was lost. We found him and took him in. Flint had the spirit, the kinfetch, and when he was ready, the spirit found us and took us to him so that we could take him in."

Ex's frown deepens several times during this explanation, coupled with a few more furtive glances toward Kavi, and once, toward Rina. Her jaw works for a moment. "...How long was he lost?"

"Not long," Kavi says with a shake of his head. "We... He wasn't lost for long. We found him at his change. He was lucky. We... We all were lucky. We were able to keep him from hurting anyone, and keep him from getting hurt."

Rina eats quietly, listening, watching.

Ex shakes her head roughly, and for a brief moment, there's the hint of a true scowl, instead of just a frown. "Okay."

Kavi looks down at his own food, but the fork only scrapes the surface rather than taking any. "I'm sorry," he says, just barely a whisper, lifting his gaze to Ex. "That we weren't there. That we didn't find you. That you were alone for so long."

Rina's eyes are on the cub.

Ex's features don't change for a long few seconds. Then she gives a single, sharp jerk of her head. "No."

Kavi leaves it at that, and though there's a tension, a readiness, to his posture, he brings his gaze back to the food and scoops up a bite with the fork.

Rina follows suit, glancing elsewhere and eating.

"I wasn't alone," Ex says abruptly. Her eyes appear to be trying to bore into the table. "Even when I was alone, they don't leave you alone. Fucking eyes in the walls."

Rina swallows, looking across to her. The woman's expression is oddly bleak, something in her eyes. A shadow. "Someone always watching."

The galliard glances up, his expression sympathetic, but at Rina's addition, he swallows, and looks back down at his plate.

Ex sucks in a deep breath. "Of course, they thought I wasn't watching, but I /was/. I know what they do. The bitch is right. /I/ could see their eyes. See what they did when I was asleep. Always moving the fucking walls. Taking things out. Look at this, look at that. Look, look, /look/. Why are you being so uncooperative?" If she means that question toward anyone, it's not clear. She's still glaring at the table.

"Changing things, when they thought you were sleeping?" Rina says quietly.

Kavi remains quiet, now, and though he eats, each bite is small and thoroughly chewed.

Ex's nose wrinkles. "When I /was/ sleeping." She pushes out of her seat, though it's not hurried. "I told you before, you need /guns/."

Rina nods minutely, her expression serious. "We've got 'em, Ex."

"More," Ex emphasizes. "Lots of them. Put them up on the roof." She inhales again. "I need to sleep some more."

"No prob," Rina says quietly. "I'll be up early, in case you're starving."

Ex flashes her teeth at the table. "No getting out that way. Night." And with that, she turns for the doorway.

Kavi half-rises as Ex heads for the door, but though he seems ready enough, he does not actually follow her from the room.

Ex heads back into the cubroom, without any further noise beyond footsteps. A few moments later, there's the sound of bedsprings.

---



Tenement Building - Basement Apartment(#1849RJh)

The basement apartment is roomy but windowless. The wooden steps come down near one wall, against which is the boiler and a large washer/dryer. The area underneath the steps is used for storage, though the boxes tend to get quite dusty and cobwebby down there.

The rest of the area is set up as living space, albeit rather unlived-in at the moment. The battered rust-orange couch and heavy, scarred wooden coffee table still hold court in the main room, and a scattering of rugs soften the hard concrete floor. But the bookshelf is mostly empty, and there's a pale spot where the entertainment center used to be. Instead, hanging on that wall is a framed painting, two and a half feet by a foot and a half; the landscape merges a dark, brooding city into a primeval forest, in an Escher-like transformation that moves from left to right. There's a subterranean aspect to it -- not a simple cutaway view, just a hint of energy and movement around the roots of the towering trees.

Everywhere there are cockroaches, oval brown forms often seen scuttling from point A to point B or hanging quietly on the ceiling with their antennae waving.

Doorways lead to a narrow kitchen (colored in dull yellows and browns) and a small bedroom that contains an empty bed and an equally empty desk.

Contents:
Melodie
Kavi(#3249PJOc)
Rina

Obvious exits:
Out

Rina's in said office already; she's set up a pitcher of water for them. Glancing up at the sound of the door, she calls out, "I've got water but I can run up and get you somethin' else to drink, if you want."

Melodie follows the Walker politely, looking like she's dreading the conversation that's about to come. She gives a polite smile to Rina. "I'm okay, I think, for now. Um." She gives a nervous look around the room. "I need to talk about Ex, the cub. I don't think you're going to be happy, but please hear me out, and think about what's best for her, okay?"

Rina pours a glass of water, and offers it. Her expression is unreadable. "Course."

Rina leaves the chair behind the desk for Kavi, taking one of the others herself and waving the Fury to a seat.

Kavi takes the seat behind the desk, though he doesn't look particularly at ease, there. His gaze turns to Rina as Melodie speaks, and then to his own glass of water. "I think--" He breaks off and takes a sip from his glass, only to nod as he sets it down again.

Melodie takes a seat, and a deep breath. "Okay. So. Ex. I heard she was here, and she wasn't doing well, so I came by to visit. You probably know that she's not doing really well here, yeah? And some of the things she said..." She's definitely choosing her words carefully. "She really doesn't belong in a city tribe, I think." She looks up, trying to judge the temperature of the room.

Rina takes a slow breath, and releases it. Her expression is not at all hostile, or cold; it isn't soft, either, but then, it seldom is. She looks to Kavi.

Kavi tenses as Melodie begins; his jaw sets, and his shoulders roll backward. He doesn't interrupt, but as soon as the Fury is done speaking, he gives a sharp shake of his head. The words take a little longer, brief as they are. "She's doing better." The tone borders on defensive, and he cuts off there, biting back anything else he might say.

A flicker of something crosses Rina's expression, and she reaches across to touch Kavi's arm, a reassuring and calming gesture. Looking across to the Fury, she says, "In the long run, you may be right. In the short term... how Ex is 'doing' has more to do with where she's been, than where she is now." She wets her lips and glances down, frowning a little in thought. "It's thorny. No mistake. I gave it a lotta thought when she first came in; it's why she isn't locked up, why she's allowed more run of the building than other in the past. Because I don't *wanna* put her in a situation where she's locked up, and at the same time, we needta keep her ... safe. More t'the point, we gotta keep the outside world safe from the risk *she* present, yeah?" She looks across to Melodie and says, candidly, "If you put her in a situation on open land, where she can run? She *will* run. Unless we're talkin' about some kind of group operation where there's a watched perimeter, where we have people we *know* are fast as hell... *that( I might be open to. It's just a bigger cage, but could be it's one she'd find more comfortable than a building."

Melodie listens quietly, and nods. "I'm not saying you haven't done a good job. Well, you two, anyway. But, she kept talking about wanting to be outside, away from walls and cities and all this stuff." She gestures widely. "I mean, I'm worried about her running off too, but this isn't the only secure place. We could take her to Arthur Island, where Morgan is, she'd be safe there. If she doesn't have a Walker temperment, we really shouldn't rite her as one, and if we aren't going to rite her as one, she shouldn't be here."

Kavi leans forward, hands on the desk. He draws in a deep breath and holds it for a moment before letting it out, slowly, and shifting back again in his seat. "She isn't like other cubs," he says, the words carefully articulated. "The way we do things? The way things are, for the others? It's not right, for her. It's not good, for her. Maybe she will belong with another tribe, later. But not now. Right now, she doesn't belong with any tribe. She-- You have to think about her, differently. It's like she isn't even a cub, yet. She has too much healing to do, before she's ready for that. And here? We can help her. We are helping her. And she is getting better. She's starting to talk."

Rina purses her lips in thought, and nods as if to underline Kavi's words. "Island's not a bad idea," she says quietly. "It might be a good place for her, in a few weeks. I'll talk to Morgan." She looks to Melodie for a long moment. "How much you know about her? What she's been through?"

Melodie bites her lower lip. "She talked plenty to me. But, maybe I should let you tell me everything. I mean, I'm a Philodox, I can't really judge a situation unless I know all the facts." She leans back in the chair, settling in for a tale.

Kavi's lips part, but only to draw a breath, and he takes up his glass again. He looks to Rina, and gives the slightest of nods.

Rina takes a slow breath, and lowers her eyes. "From what I can tell, she was locked up. Not sure how long. And she was obviously some kind of... experimental subject." Lifting her head, she looks across to Melodie. "Because of the things that were done to her, she has a hard time taking her own experiences at face value; if you show her somethin' that doesn't fit into her worldview, like a spirit, say, she'll find a way to rationalize it. Hallucinogens, f'rexample."

Melodie nods slightly, considering. "Is she tainted in any way? I do have a cleansing gift of considerable power, if it comes down to that. Locked up, Jesus, we're lucky something really bad didn't happen. When I talked to her, she at least seemed to acknowledge the werewolf stuff, so there's at least something to build on."

Kavi give a swift shake of his head. "She's not. And. Something really bad /did/ happen." He pauses long enough to take another sip from his glass and then sets it back on the desk. "She's starting... just /starting/ to trust us. She needs that. She needs to be able to... to feel safe. The rest-- None of the rest of it matters. Not tribes. Not city or woods or any of that. Not yet. She has to... to be able to trust, first. And if the rules change? If her world changes? Now? It will hurt her more than it will help."

Rina glances over to Kavi, and nods a swift agreement. "Yeah. She needs stability. And after a bit, hopefully we can *get* to the point where she's... better enough to run the woods.

Melodie quietly licks her lower lip, before speaking. "Well. Maybe. On the other hand, maybe a fresh perspective would be good for her? I mean, helping abused women recover, it's kind of our thing." She looks down. "I really don't know how to handle this sort of thing without making everyone hate each other, and that's the last thing anyone needs, that's for sure." A big sigh.

Rina sets a hand on Kavi's forearm, just an intimate gesture.

Kavi frowns, a tight expression that never quite settles. He starts to rise, but the touch of Rina's hand stills the impulse and he looks to her. Thoughts pass unspoken, the effort seen in the working of his jaw, before he turns back to the Fury. "This isn't /about/ tribes," he says, finally. "This is about her. Helping her. If you want to come and talk to her, sometimes. If you want to /help/ her. If you want to find Zeke, or someone else who can help her heal? Then you're welcome to do that. If you want to take her away when she's not ready? If you want to stake a claim to her rather than waiting until she can make her own choices? That's not going to happen."

Rina's voice, by contrast, is relaxed. Soothing. "The Furies' expertise would be welcome," she says quietly. "But we have some of our own. Kavi and I both have a lot of common ground with Ex, and I think she senses that. Sue does, too." Her eyes are steady. "She's just barely starting to understand where she is. Give it time, yeah? We'll worry about tribes later, once she's... at least a little oriented."

Melodie pulls her head up, looking a little more annoyed. "That's easy to say, when you're the ones who have her. See, the thing is, this place? To you, it's safe, it's home. To me, it's fucking terrifying. It's all sterile and cold and I feel like my skin is crawling. If she's feeling trapped and penned in, if she's been in cages and labs, is it a surprise that she's having a hard time adjusting?" Her voice rises during this speech, as she starts to get worked up. "You say it's not about tribes, but you can't see through anything but Glass Walker lenses."

"Easy," Rina says quietly, though her eyes narrow a little. "*Listen to me, Mel. I've *been* that girl. And I *know*-- beleieve me, I *know* that her bein' here is not ideal. And *as soon as it is fucking possible*, she will be able to go somewhere less like a cage." Her jaw tightens a fraction. "But the way I see it? For the time being, until she starts gettin' better, we got no *choice* but to keep her locked up, because guess what? If she's *not* penned in? At the moment, she will *run like hell*."

Kavi shakes his head again, more sharply than before. "You aren't listening," he says, biting out the words, and then breaks off at Rina's voice and he works to steady his breathing. His fingers extend and curl, slowly releasing some of the building tension. By the time Rina finishes, he's ready to try again, though there remains tension in his voice. "And she /is/ getting better. She /is/ starting to trust. She needs time. Still."

Melodie takes a deep breath. "Trust. That's kind of the problem, yeah. You don't trust her, for good reason. I don't trust your judgment that this is the best place for her. And, I don't see any way for us to convince each other. There's two different paths ahead, both well intentioned. Maybe we should find someone neutral to resolve it? Like the Sept Alpha or something." She looks rather pained to be in this situation, and is clearly putting a lot of effort into staying calm.

The flare of anger is nearly palpable when the Fury talks of her lack of trust, and the galliard goes completely rigid for a long moment after, body nearly trembling with the effort of keeping himself contained.

Rina shakes her head minutely. "This is *not* a good time for us to even be talking," she murmurs. She practically radiates calm and focus. Her hand stays on Kavi's forearm, but the dark eyes watch Melodie. "I'll speak to you alone, later, okay? That would be... better. And to be honest, I don't know, maybe we *will* have to take it to the alpha--or maybe when things are more settled, and she's spent some time with the Furies, we let *her* make the choice. But you don't *know* her like we do." Rising, she finally takes her hand from the Galliard and tips her head at the woman. "I think given the issues between your tribe and mine, we don't want to discuss this with multiple Garou present until, say, the half or even crescent moon. I'm happy to meet with you before then. And hey. If the Furies end up bein' the best place for her, I'm good with that. But you're right, if you don't trust our judgment when she's been *living* with us... this meeting is over."

Melodie stands up, giving a not-so-nice look at Kavi, but nodding to Rina. "I hope you guys are right, I really do. We'll be in touch. I'm going to leave now, before I say something really not nice that I'm not sure I mean." She turns to leave.

"Probably a good idea," Rina says softly. "You have my number." Somehow, with a subtle step, she's ended up almost in front of Kavi, putting him behind her shoulder like a bodyguard.

Kavi pulls himself back from wherever he was, though his breathing remains tight, remains fast. He stays seated, but watches over Rina's shoulder as Mel departs.

----


Ex has been...quiet, the past few days. Suspiciously quiet, perhaps, but as she hasn't left the bunkroom, and there are people continuously checking in on her, there's not much one would think she could get into. Right now she's lying on the knifed up bed, her arms over her face, muttering. On the wall is a several day old drawing (in pencil, thankfully) of what looks like a hooded, looming figure with no face, and knives instead of hands. It's surprisingly well drawn...and creepy as hell.

And what luck! Today is one of those days that Ex hasn't been interrupted every five seconds. Alas, that doesn't have time to become a trend. With a silent approach and without sparing a knock on the door, Riley's only noticed right as the door lurches inward and she steps through it. For a change, she looks rested - her hair is an attractive mess rather than in the spiked disarray of bedhead, and hey. She's wearing pants. She leans easily back against the open door, pinning it all the way open to the wall with her back. "How you doin', Jubilee?"

Ex responds with a knifed, feather leaking pillow, flung as hard as she can fling it at Riley's face. "/Rogue/," she fairly hisses, as she shoves up to a sit. That feverishness to her eyes seems to have spread; there's sweat on her forehead, and the bridge of her nose. If anything, her short hair looks more out of sorts than ever, and the strain is evident in every twitch and muscle tensing. "I don't like this, I don't like this. Gonna fucking kill someone."

Ex: Oh, stupid me. She's wearing gloves, idly. Nick gave them to her.

Riley flicks her attention to the wall for a few moments. That's until the pillow comes soaring at her face. Fwump. The ragabash's face disappears for a moment, but when the pillow slides down off of her, her only reaction is a lifted brow. "Was it Rogue? Huh." She plucks an errant feather off of her shirt, letting it drop to the floor. "Any progress yet? On shifting?"

Ex inhales deeply, an effort that produces mixed results. Her first breath is calmer, and the two after are quick and harsh again. "Thought I was supposed to be trying /not/ to shift."

Knitting her brows, Riley cranes her head to the side. "What exactly have they been having you do? Or are they just babysitting you and hoping that your zany ass decides to calm down some time this century?" The girl toes the pillow along the edge of the floor with the tip of her shoe, sighing at the feathers that are leaking their way free. She steps into the room properly then, moving across toward Ex, "Ain't gonna touch you, so don't tense up on me. Just don't feel like having to strain to hear it when you start mutterin' curses at me. Or whatever it is that you're, you know. Muttering."

Ex sighs. "The /bitch/ wants me to sign up for your war, or else I don't get to learn anything but control. Thinks she can scare me into it. Oooh, you'll be dead in a year. /Bitch/. I think Kavi and Rina are...doing that. And then some /other/ people from some group called the Black Furies said they'd take me out of here where I can be in the fucking open air, but they've got to have /meetings/ with Kavi and Rina or something. That Gee-El-Ess Two Fury person is busy crying about himself every fucking time I'm on the room, and the thirteen year old is...I don't know. Around."

Ex: Err, /in/ the room.

Riley scrubs at the back of her neck, "Yeah, well. We're a dysfunctional family. S'what you get when you throw a bunch of self-absorbed teenagers into a war. So, does 'Bitch' have a name? I'm actually drawing a blank on that one." A pause, and a moments' hesitation, "Thought I had that territory covered and all."

"Sure she has a name," Ex replies, hotly. "She's /the Bitch/." For a few moments, it looks like this is all she's going to give as an identifier, before one shoulder twitches, and she says, quieter and more sullenly, "Nieve."

"Yeah, well. Can't say I've ever seen her as much of one." Riley flops down on the bed adjacent to the one that Ex is seated in, stretching her arms out and then tucking them casually behind her head, "Nosy, sure. But she tried to help me out when I was in a bad spot." A brief, if wan, smile. Then it's gone. "Anyway, so no one's been trying to teach you anything? Just yammering your ear off and talking about feelings?"

Ex shakes her head slightly. "Not too much talking. Nothing about feelings, really." She rakes her fingernails over her scarred cheek, and narrows one eye. "How'm I doing, am I hungry, that sort've shit."

Riley repeats in a bland monotone, "So, how are things? Hungry? Thirsty?" Her head rolls to the side on the pillow so as to better peer at the bedraggled girl. "Are you getting enough fiber?" She stretches out for a moment, giving a long yawn, "Wonder if they're treating it as a jurisdiction kinda thing. Since you're as of yet unclaimed. I think. Still," Riley considers, "Sounds boring. Small wonder you're creating Creepy Edward Scissorhands on the wall." She casts her eyes momentarily to the art. "You at least buy what we're selling, yet, or still in Denial-town?"

Ex's mouth corners tug further downward. "I don't /know/. Kavi has a fucking spirit monster, and it talked. The Bitch has a butterfly that talks through a fucking telephone. There was someone around who could make stuff come to him. Rina was talking about some fucking big spirits that control everything. The Bitch went on and on about evil werewolves getting me."

"/Nieve/," Riley corrects, "Is probably giving you the best advice you've heard yet. Unless your idea of a fun time is bathing in blood and gore, consorting with all manner of twisted piles of flesh and raping everything that moves." Riley raises her hands briefly, palms out. "I mean, hey. Not judging." A smirk later, and the ragabash murmurs, "But yeah. What's it gonna take to get you on board?"

Ex rolls her eyes over to Riley, and gives her a look. "What's it gonna take to make me want to join a cult war and die to evil werewolves and maybe spirit monsters so I can get my name up on your creepy death wall? --There's a question."

Riley shrugs her shoulders, "You're looking at it the wrong way, really." She sits up with legs crossed, hands clasping her feet to keep her from teetering right back over. "I'm asking what it's going to take to convince you to stop being retardedly obstinate about the fact that we're trying to help you." She scoots to the side in order to face Ex more directly, leaning forward, "Because if you don't choose our side, you don't just wander off into the sunset, control or no control. If you keep your head buried in the sand, the Black Spirals will eventually get their mitts on you. And a nice young, unaligned Garou? They'd love to sink their fangs into you." Riley no longer sounds like she's joking, her sarcasm replaced with dark sincerity, "I think it would probably only be the first week or two that would be bad. What with all the torture. With the way we heal up when we shift, I imagine they could go at us pretty much indefinitely." The ragabash even looks momentarily wall-eyed, "So maybe after that was done, and they'd had their fill of eating parts of you or pulling parts of you out, they'd move on to the sex. And maybe by then, it'd even be a relief." Riley locks eyes with the other girl, "This is where I'd say I'm not trying to scare you, only I am. Because I have to. You're not hearing us. This isn't some cult, and we're not trying to recruit you into drinking the Kool-Aid. Point of fact? We're the only thing standing between you and a very, very dark future. Even if what we have to offer is an unbalanced, frightening life of war."

Ex remains stony throughout Riley's talk, with only the occasional twitch of her jaw, or the muscle in her cheek, to break the unchanging expression. The rest of her is statue still, even after Riley finishes. "What are you going to do if I still say no?" she says, eventually. Her tone is hot, but the volume hasn't risen. "Teach me nothing but the bare control basics, like what the Bitch said? /Because/," and now it's not just heat in her voice. There's something sharp there, as if she were trying to stab the other young woman with words, "/All of this was to fucking 'help me'/." Again she rakes her fingers over her scarred cheeks--both of them, this time. "I've had /enough/ of being /helped/ 'for my own good'." Her eyes narrow to slits. "Are you really trying to /help/ me, or are you just trying to get another fucking body in your war? Because /I/ think one of those is way more important to you people than the other."

Riley's hand snaps up the instant that she asks 'What they're going to do', as though requesting that Ex stop talking for a minute so that she can respond. Naturally, that doesn't happen, leading the rabash to grit her teeth and wait until the other girl's had her chance to rant back at her. "You're right. It's not for your own good. It's for ours." Riley bluntly states, swinging her feet over the edge of the bed and leaning slowly towards her, her eyes narrowed, "Everyone else wants to give you the warm, fluffy version of the truth, that's their prerogative. The reason we're doing this is that yeah, we need more allies. And more than even that, we need less enemies. I know you've got baggage, Rogue, and I'm not even going to pretend I know what the fuck it is, minus those scars on your face. But the truth of the matter is that if it comes down to it, we'd rather have you fighting on our side than on theirs. And if you 'Say no', you're probably not just going to walk out of here. Because killing a little girl is far, far preferable than killing a Spiral. If it came to it, I'd pull the trigger myself - which is far kinder than what you'd find at the claws of the arms you'd fall into if we let you walk out of here. There's your truth."

Ex's eyes remain narrowed to slits. She remains very still, perched on the edge of the knifed up bed. There's no visible change from her. There is, however, absolute silence.

Riley curls her legs back underneath of her, her elbow tucked down against the crook of her knee, cheek resting on her fist. She doesn't advance the conversation any further, herself, simply meets Ex's narrowed gaze levelly and cooly. "Ultimately, it's your decision to make. But believe me when I say, it's either/or. There's no third option."

Ex curls her fingers against her right palm, and says, simply, "I'm not a little girl." There's no heat to her voice, no underlying edge, no trace of temper. It doesn't match her smoldering expression in the slightest.

Riley keeps her expression fairly stoney, which just makes the sudden, sarcastic flash of a grin from her all the more jarring when it occurs, "I'm not either." Of course, it probably doesn't have the same meaning to Ex. Alas. "And now you know the score."

Ex doesn't respond to the grin, which is probably not too terribly surprising. Instead, she pushes against the edge of the bed and rolls back down onto it, her back to Riley, facing the wall.

Riley draws in a breath and lets it out, staring long and hard at the girl's back, "That was about the grimmest scenario I could have painted for you, and ... honestly, it's not as bad as all that." She raises, and turns from the cub, heading for the door. "Just thought you deserved to hear it straight from someone."

Stubborn silence is the only thing that meets Riley's words again. Ex makes no move to stop her from departing.

"Yeah." Riley murmurs, agreeing with the silence itself, "I wouldn't much want to talk to me after that, either." With a shrugged shoulder, she takes hold of the door and eases it half-way shut behind her, taking care to make sure it doesn't close on her way out the door.

----


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:
Crate Fort

Obvious exits:
Out

Ex has been absolutely uncooperative all day. She hasn't left her bed, hasn't been willing to engage in a single word of conversation, and has refused all offers of food. For the most part, she seems to have been sleeping; or at least, pretending to sleep. The looming, penciled figure on the wall doesn't help the gloomy atmosphere either.

Kavi has been busy, but toward evening he finally has a chance to check in on the cub, word of her apparent bad mood having been left as a text on his phone. He comes to the door, but doesn't enter, stopping just at the threshold. "Hey," he calls, his voice carrying the typical gentle tones.

There's nothing gentle about how Ex responds. She fairly swings off of the bed, and stands up far too fast for it to be wise. "Hi," she says. Her tone is short, and not actually in any way close to a greeting. There's an unmistakable temper about her every movement; the fat moon, perhaps. "I want something."

Kavi watches, though despite the moon he manages not to show anything more than interest and mild concern. He takes a half-step, angling backward, freeing the doorway itself should she choose to move through it. "What is it?" he asks, the tone still soft.

Ex gets up a little closer, though not quite uncomfortably so, for either of them. "You need to teach me how to fight."

The furrowed brow remains, but the galliard gives a small nod, as well. "Okay. What... What kind of fighting? I. I'm not an ahroun. I can fight, but. There are people who are better at it. Rina can teach you to shoot, if you want. She's better than me."

"All of it," Ex says immediately. "Shooting. Knives. However you fight the evil werewolves especially."

Kavi's gaze sharpens on the cub and his teeth catch the corner of his lip. There's only a moment of consideration before he nods again. "You don't have to," he says softly. "You don't have to worry about that. I'll teach you. Whatever you want to know? I'll teach you. But you don't have to worry about the Dancers, about fighting them. Not until-- Not unless you want to. You don't have to... to worry about any of that."

Ex's lips pull briefly away from her teeth. "Don't lie to me, okay? Don't. They're out there, I've got to fight them, so I want to know how. How do I fight werewolves?"

Kavi shakes his head. Despite the moon, despite the flash of teeth, despite the accusation, he remains outwardly calm. "I won't lie to you. Not ever." He gestures with a hand toward the windows and then lets his hand drop back again to his side. "They're out there. They're dangerous. But you don't-- They don't control you. Someday? If you want to? You can hunt them. And someday? You might be somewhere they're hunting us. But right now? You're safe." He nods toward the stairwell door across the hall. "I'll teach you. I promise that, too. But not-- Not because I want you to go fight them. Because you asked me to."

The young woman's gloved hands suddenly clench into fists. "Bullshit!" she exclaims. "/Bullshit/. Everyone here is full of /so much bullshit/." Her nostrils flare, and for a moment, it looks as though she can't quite find the control to form words. Instead, that muscle in her cheek tics visibly, and her jaw works as though she were chewing the words up instead.

Kavi is quiet. The truly perceptive would see the tension in his posture, but even that is contained as he works to keep his outward calm and lets the woman find her own.

Ex's lips peel back from her teeth again, but this time it's briefer, less sharp. "...I know, okay? Stop lying to me. I gotta be a fucking soldier in your fucking war, so I need to know how to fight. Right now."

Kavi's brows furrow even more and he shakes his head. He almost takes a step toward her, but stops himself before his foot leaves the floor. "No," he says, and his voice is once again gentle. "I won't lie to you." He pauses and again gestures to the door. "We can go downstairs, and I can show you some things. And... And you can tell me what happened. You don't have to be anything. And before you can even choose to become... whatever you want to become? You need to be... be okay with, and understand, who you are."

The look Ex gives Kavi is one of deep, unending suspicion. "...Okay." She eyes the doorway, gives the faintest of tense as tense nods, and says, "You go first."

Kavi nods and heads across the hall to the stairwell door.


Tenement Building - Fifth Floor(#2192RL)

An indigo night softens both of the Glass Walker hallway walls, an urban scene crawling up to the ceiling by skyscrapers and evening clouds. A bright, full moon peeks from behind the tallest building on the right side, its light dulling that of the windows and headlights of the city. A road begins on the right wall and falls into background oblivion on the left, sparse cars treading it's length. In the foreground on the right wall, however, a gust of wind swirls from an alleyway in the form of a wolf, its shape amorphous and changing as it follows the viewer down the hallway. The wind continues on the left side, picking up dry leaves and dust that glimmers in the bold moonlight.

Spaced regularly within the mural and painted to match it are doors leading into each apartment; each door bears a brass three-digit number in the one-hundred range, and a whiteboard near the stairs lists each number with the corresponding tenant (look board). The short carpet is a dark brown that doesn't stain easily. The lighting is both bright and easy on the eyes; there are smoke detectors spaced regularly on the ceiling and a couple of fire extinguishers along the walls. At the end of the hall, a large window leads to the fire escape.

The apartment door nearest to the stairwell has been removed, and through it can be glimpsed an open space for the tribe to gather.

Contents:
Kavi(#3249PJOc)

Obvious exits:
Devon's Apartment Ishmael's Apartment Empty Apartment Solsiva's Apartment Kevin's Apartment Mouse's Apartment Chris' Apartment Kavi's Apartment Ritual Room Cubroom Breakroom Stairs

Ex: And Kavi would know from past experience, she prefers stairs over elevator every time, by a massive margin.

Kavi glances toward the breakroom, but then continues on to the door, which he passes through and holds open.

Ex follows Kavi without incident, though even when he holds the door open, she refuses to get in front of him, even briefly.

Kavi takes the stairs.

Kavi has left.

In the breakroom, "I just came outta the Slaughter and he and Moros were fighting in the street. Devon flipped and went killin' machine, and Moros shifted and dropped him." Rina's matter-of-fact. "Didn't see anyone else."

You take the stairs.

Tenement Building - Basement Apartment(#1849RJh)

The basement apartment is roomy but windowless. The wooden steps come down near one wall, against which is the boiler and a large washer/dryer. The area underneath the steps is used for storage, though the boxes tend to get quite dusty and cobwebby down there.

The rest of the area is set up as living space, albeit rather unlived-in at the moment. The battered rust-orange couch and heavy, scarred wooden coffee table still hold court in the main room, and a scattering of rugs soften the hard concrete floor. But the bookshelf is mostly empty, and there's a pale spot where the entertainment center used to be. Instead, hanging on that wall is a framed painting, two and a half feet by a foot and a half; the landscape merges a dark, brooding city into a primeval forest, in an Escher-like transformation that moves from left to right. There's a subterranean aspect to it -- not a simple cutaway view, just a hint of energy and movement around the roots of the towering trees.

Everywhere there are cockroaches, oval brown forms often seen scuttling from point A to point B or hanging quietly on the ceiling with their antennae waving.

Doorways lead to a narrow kitchen (colored in dull yellows and browns) and a small bedroom that contains an empty bed and an equally empty desk.

Obvious exits:
Out

Kavi comes down from the lobby.

Kavi has arrived.

Kavi leads the way all the way down to the basement apartment, not trying to converse along the way.

Ex leaves the door open behind her, unsurprisingly, and enters the basement with an obvious amount of trepidation. She goes as far as the bottom of the stairs, and no farther, and she's careful to glance over her shoulder once she's there.

Kavi crosses to the middle of the open space before he turns to look to Ex. "Later? I can take you someplace outdoors, and we can practice other things. And Rina. Mayb e we can take you to the shooting range, and Rina can teach you, there."

"Soon," Ex says. Demands, really, as her tone hasn't changed much. "Tell me how to kill them."

Kavi frowns. He remains standing where he is, but his gaze drops down to the floor before returning to Ex. "I... Let's start with... how not to let them kill you. Defending yourself, and healing, and... Ways to keep you safe."

Ex exhales through her mouth and nose. "Okay." She waits a beat. "I'm ready."

"Okay," Kavi agrees, and pulls a stub of a pencil from his pocket, and gestures, inviting Ex to come closer with a wave of his hand.

Ex hesitates. She slides one foot forward, and then the other, but not without an anxious sort of glance back to the stairs.

Kavi waits. He doesn't speak again, doesn't do more than look down at the floor, until Ex is almost within reach. Even then, he simply holds the pencil in an open hand between them. It's short, but sharpened. "The first thing? You need to know how you heal, and when, and from what."

"Everything," Ex says, eyeing the pencil very, very carefully. "I heal from everything, but I don't usually remember it."

Kavi nods, and his hand closes around the pencil. "In this form? Homid? You don't heal from things as well. It's more like being human. We... We don't get sick as much? But... we can be hurt." The movement is slow enough not to be startling, but still fast enough; the hand with the pencil comes down on the back of his other arm, the tip easily piercing skin and muscle.

Ex starts to draw back, just a little, but when he pierces his own hand she stops, frowning. Both eyebrows lift. "...Yeah. I have to change. Get really angry."

Kavi winces and sucks in a breath in response to the pain. He yanks the pencil free again and drops it to the floor. The puncture wound bleeds, though not much, and he pokes at the skin around it with a finger. "You have to change," he agrees, but then gives a small shake of his head. "But you don't have to frenzy." He catches his lower lip between his teeth and then releases again. "I'm going to change. I'm not angry."

Ex takes a small step backward. "Okay," she says. She sounds dubious again, but in control.

Kavi makes the shift from homid to glabro, and stops. He holds his arm out so that the wound is easily visible as it closes.

"Bestial," Ex says, once he stops. She peers intently at the injury, watching it close with clear, if somewhat clinical interest.

"Glabro," Kavi offers in the gravelly voice of the form, though it lacks any real edge. "You'll heal like this from most things in any form but the one you were born in. Most things. But not everything."

Ex's frown deepens, and she scrubs at her forehead with the gloved palm of one hand. "Silver," she says after a moment. And then, far less certainly, "...Fire?"

Kavi nods. "Silver is the worst. It... Even touching it in this form hurts. And. And even in homid it's like a weight that deadens your spirit." He swallows, and his gaze wanders the room for a moment before it returns. "And fire. A lot of things that come from the Wyrm. And... And us." Bringing that same arm to his mouth, the galliard bites down, piercing skin with his elongated canines. He doesn't bite too much, just enough to break skin, but when he pulls the arm away again, the wound remains.

Ex's eyes narrow to mere slits as she watches this, and she stands up a little straighter.

"In other forms," Kavi says, letting his arm drop to his side. "Our claws, and our teeth, they hurt the way fire hurts. We heal, as long as we stay in another form? But. But it's a lot slower." In fact, there is healing, but it is much slower than before, and not yet visible in that moment.

"So if I bite or claw another werewolf," Ex says, slowly and carefully, "And I do it enough, they'll die?"

Kavi slips back down to his birth form, the remains of the punctures from his bite still visible. His brow furrows, and he studies Ex for a long moment before he answers. "They might."

"All werewolves?" Ex asks. And then, "Might?"

Kavi's frown returns, but he nods. "All werewolves." He takes a breath, and his right hand reaches up to touch the hoops in his ear. "Might. Because... Sometimes? If... Sometimes, when we die? We come back."

"Come back," Ex echoes. "How does that work? Dead as in clinically dead? Brain and heart stop?"

Kavi swallows. The instinctive gesture to touch the hoops in his ear repeats and then the hand drops down to lift the corner of his shirt just enough to make a bit of the massive scar there visible. "We die... It's. Dead. But... But it only lasts for a second and then... Gaia sends us back. We heal enough to... to be alive. To keep fighting. Usually... Usually we frenzy. And... Maybe because we healed so fast? We have a scar, after."

Ex actually starts to reach for the exposed bit of scar, but she stops herself right away. "Okay." She eyes Kavi. "So if you were going to kill me, how'd you do it?"

Kavi drops the shirt back over the scar, but at the question he looks directly at Ex and shakes his head. "I wouldn't."

There's another, visible flash of temper; controlled, but clearly there. "You said you weren't going to /lie/."

Kavi doesn't flinch from the anger and doesn't look away. "I wouldn't," he says again. "I wouldn't...."

Ex surges toward him; it's another movement that's quickly aborted, but this time only just. She claps both hands to her head and squeezes her eyes shut, wheezing furiously through clenched teeth, trembling.

Kavi steps back in response to the movement, but only once, and then he stops and remains. His breathing takes a turn, and while she struggles to contain herself, the galliard works to regain his calm.

"I know the truth," Ex eventually wheezes. "She told me, I /know/. You aren't going to let me go, you're /never going to let me go/." She visibly has to reign herself in again. "If I don't sign up, you're going to fucking kill me so I don't join the other side."

Kavi's expression changes, anger rising visibly beneath the calm. "What? Who told you that? Who--" He swallows back something more, and his gaze goes to the stairs, anger more obviously directed there than toward the cub.

Ex hunkers back and tenses, watching Kavi very, very carefully. She waits before answering. "The..." Vague gesture. "Riley? She said I deserved to know the truth, because everyone else was lying to spare my feelings. Even the /Bitch/ lied." She sucks in a shuddering breath, and her eyes look too bright even for her. "And I'm not going out like that. I'm /not/. I'm not going to be euthanized."

Kavi's lips pull back from his teeth, still staring toward the exit, and his breathing sharpens. He trembles, just as she did a moment before, but he keeps still, and through a few breaths manages to at least seem more at ease. "She's /wrong/," he states, his voice cold with anger. "And if she thinks I would let her hurt you, she needs to learn how wrong she is."

Ex doesn't say anything. She continues to watch Kavi very carefully, her expression a mixture of suspicion and doubt.

Kavi stands there a little longer before he gives a sharp shake of his head and turns back to Ex. "I won't let you run until I know you'll be safe. I won't let you hurt anyone, and if I have to hurt you to keep you safe, I will, but no more than I need to. No more than you can heal from. You can make me angry. You can try to hurt me. You can yell and fight and write on the walls and scream and destroy things. And I will still try to keep you safe. I won't lie to you. I won't force you to learn anything you don't ask for. And I /won't/ let anyone else put you in danger, either."

Ex chews her bottom lip for a moment and turns her head, so that she's eyeing Kavi out of her right eye far more than her left. "I don't..." she starts. And then, "I don't /understand/."

Kavi's breathing slowly relaxes, the anger subsiding with each exhalation. "That's okay," he says softly. "I hope... I hope someday you do."

Ex stares at him for a while longer, before she finally jerks her gaze away. "...Teach me how to fight," she says eventually. "Prove it, and teach me how to fight. So if someone tries, I can /fight/. I don't want to go without fighting."

Kavi takes another moment as well, but then he nods, already taking a step toward her. "The first thing you need to know is how to shift when you want to, not just when you frenzy. You need to know how to take glabro, so you have the strength and healing, without as much risk of losing control."

Ex straightens up. She can't quite seem to convince her hands to stop clenching, but there's a rabid sort of eagerness to her. "How does it work if I don't have to get angry for it?"

"It's part of you, of who you are," Kavi tells her. He looks to her hands and then to his. "You can feel it. When you can feel it, you can... can be it."

Rina comes down from the lobby.

Rina has arrived.

Ex glances briefly down at her own hand--still clenched. "That sounds so fucking /hokey/," she complains. "How do I feel 'it'?"

Kavi frowns, but it's a thoughtful expression, rather than one of disappointment. "Have... Have you ever shifted when you weren't angry? Or... Or stayed in a different form, when you weren't angry?"

Rina comes down the stairs, footsteps audible.

Ex shakes her head roughly. "I'm /always/ angry." She jumps a little, at the sound of footsteps, but a tiny amount of tension relaxes when she sees who it is. "Maybe. I don't know. I got stuck in, uh, lupine, a few days ago. I think. I don't know how I got like that."

Kavi and Ex are standing near the middle of the open space. The galliard still radiates a level of tension, though that may be a reaction to Luna's pull rather than anything happening in the basement. The voices are relatively quiet, now. "I'm going to shift, again," Kavi says, and then glances across to Rina. The smile that he shows is shadowed with the residual anger and worry, but he extends a hand in invitation. "After I do, then you can think about the difference, and think about what it might feel like to be that much bigger. That much stronger."

Rina comes into sight. "Hey, caro," she offers, coming to his side, almost.

Ex makes a dubious sort of grimace, but she also gives Kavi the faintest of nods. "Okay." For a moment, she eyes Rina carefully as well, but then it's back to studying Kavi.

"Hey," Kavi replies to Rina. "Ex wants to learn to fight," he tells her, an edge creeping into his voice at the end. He swallows before adding, "We're going to start with shifting." He takes a step back, then, and looks from Rina to Ex before sliding again into glabro.

A faint smile comes to Rina's lips, and she backs off a bit to give them space. "Let me know before you jump into sparring, and I'll retreat upstairs."

Ex watches Kavi shift very, very intently. Once he's hit glabro, she stares all the more, squinting, frowning. Her forehead wrinkles. After a few moments of this, she makes an exasperated noise. "This is /dumb/."

Kavi shakes his head, just enough for Rina to see, and speaks softly. "Not tonight. But. I told her you could teach her to shoot." He stills, after, and waits. When Ex gives up, he gives another shake of his head. "It's difficult," he says. "It... takes time. And... And it takes the opposite of anger. You've seen what I look like in glabro. You've probably seen others? Try... in your head, pretending that you /are/ in glabro. Imagine what you look like. Feel the power and strength you have."

Rina's silent, watching.

Again there's the frowning, forehead wrinkling, and squinting. Ex tries for longer this time, but there's still no visible success, apart from looking rather constipated. She huffs, and mutters, "I'm not supposed to. I'm not /supposed/ to--" And very very suddenly, with that strange mantra of 'encouragement', she bulks straight up, past glabro, and into crinos with an unrestrained snarl.

Rina lets out a breath, her eyes lighting.

Kavi takes in a sharp breath, and casts a quick glance to Rina, checking her position in relation to the crinos. "Good," he says, not much more than a whisper. "That's... That's crinos, but that's okay. You did it. Now..." He takes a slower breath, almost in demonstration, and lets it out slowly. "Now relax and try to come back. Try to find glabro on the way back down."

Rogue's response is a louder snarl, showing even more teeth while her ears flatten. She's visibly wobbly on those digitigrade legs, but not, perhaps, as much as she /should/ be. She inhales, as if to follow Kavi's example, but instead of relaxing her jaws part and she lets out a noise that's half shriek, half roar. Then she turns her nose upward and makes the noise again, at higher volume.

"It's okay," Rina says softly. "You're good."

Kavi ticks another glance to Rina, to the stairs. "It's okay," he echoes, his voice as gentle as the gravelly glabro throat allows.

Rina slowly works her way around the room's perimeter.

Rogue drops ungracefully to all fours. One ear tracks Rina's progress, but she doesn't seem too interested in the kin. Instead, she leans forward and roars into Kavi's face, with what appears to be gleeful fury.

Kavi holds his ground, though the perceptive would notice the effort it takes him to do nothing more. He remains wary and aware, and in the wake of that roar his gaze remains steady on the cub.

Rogue huffs through her nostrils and eases back from Kavi, with her lips slowly falling back over her teeth--marred only by a few rumbly starts before she fully settles. The cub's still in crinos, but at least she doesn't appear to be testing her lungs any more.

Rina flashes Kavi a swift, absolutely brilliant smile, and disappears up the stairs.

Rina leaves, heading up to the lobby.

Rina has left.

Kavi draws in another breath and this time lets it out almost as a sigh. "Good," he says, still gently. "You're doing so well. This is part of who you are. Not only when you're lost to the rage, but all the time."

Rogue hunkers down further. It takes a minute or two, and then quite abruptly she's back in homid; with all of her clothes, gloves included, naturally. It's abrupt enough that she nearly goes tumbling right onto her nose, but she manages to catch herself just in time. "Brain's /burning/," the young woman mumbles.

Kavi comes down close to her, but does nothing to suggest he might touch. Concern mingles with pride in his expression until she falls. The pride all but disappears when he catches those words and his brow furrows with worry. "Burning? What..."

Ex presses the palm of one hand to her temple and, of all things, shrugs in response. "I just wanna kill shit."

Kavi pulls back, relaxing some as he sits back on his heels. "Rage," he says. "It's in all of us. Some... some of us feel it more strongly than others, and all of us feel it more strongly when the moon is closer to full. But. You weren't in pain, right? Not... They didn't do anything to you that makes you hurt, when you shift?"

Ex breathes deeply and takes a moment to let it out. That hand is joined by her other one, on the other side of her head. "I don't know." She sounds sullen again.

Kavi settles further, crossing his legs. His thumb rubs absently at the old, faded scar encircling his wrist, and he nods. "You don't have to know, right now. We can practice more, when the moon is smaller, and. And we'll find out. And find a way to make it stop."

"Okay." Ex doesn't lower her hands, but the sullenness does seem to evaporate. "You're sure she was wrong?"

Kavi tenses at the question, hand tightening over that scar, and he looks toward the stairs. "I know that I won't let her, whatever she thinks. I know that Mouse and Rina and Jack all would stand with me." He pulls his gaze back to Ex. "And I know that when I find Riley? I'll make her understand that she was wrong."

Ex says nothing, but she does nod again, very, very slightly. And finally, her hands do lower.

Kavi pries his wrist from his own grip and flattens his hands on his legs. "I meant it. All of it." He takes a breath and pushes it out, shaking off some of the tension before he glances to the stairs. "Do you want to go back upstairs? I. Rina and I can teach you about guns, tomorrow. We won't go to the range, but. You can at least get a feel for them. And maybe we can go out to the woods."

Ex's nodding this time is a little more vigorous. She stands, still a tiny bit wobbly, and turns for the stairs. Notably, she does not insist that Kavi go first this time.

Kavi starts up the stairs before Ex, but again holds the door at the stairwell for her. He doesn't say a word when she moves past him, but he also finds his way to the front again before they reach the fifth floor, and once again, he holds the door.