"I'm Ringtone, galliard."
Oct. 10th, 2007 11:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
renferretMouse confuses Kavi a lot, tries to pick his brain, and then meets Kaz, and commences to pick her brain, with slightly better results.
There's a stranger in the safehouse living room, half leaning, half sitting against the back of the couch. She has a lit cigarette between her lips, though it looks as though she's only recently started on it. She's wearing dark sunglasses, and a black trench coat, which makes her look distinctly like someone who has watched a little too much of The Matrix.
There's a motorcycle pulling up outside, and shortly thereafter a key turns in the lock and Kavi steps through into the foyer. He pauses at the sight of the unfamiliar woman, and his brows pull downward. "Hello?" he says, setting his helmet on the half-wall. He doesn't yet remove his pack, or step further into the room.
Matilda is already looking toward the door as it starts to open, and while nothing dramatic changes about her position, she does straighten slightly. "'Ey," she replies around a mouthful of smoke. "You family?" There's a distinct accent to her voice--New York, it's unmistakable.
Kavi nods, one hand resting on top of his helmet. "This, um. This is my house," he says, not so much possessively, as by way of explanation.
Matilda grunts. "Right. Rina didn't know if smoking in here was allowed or not, so if not, I can go put it out. Are you, ah." She frowns at him. "Probably not. She told me I should speak with a Jack Salem."
Kavi's expression, his entire stance changes when Rina's name is mentioned, from closed and distant to suddenly warm and responsive, and then it shifts back, though not all the way. "Rina was here?" he asks in that moment of openness, but doesn't give a chance for the other to answer before his posture has shifted and he almost interrupts himself. "I. Um. I'm Kavi. Salem... He's around. In the afternoons, usually. I'm Ringtone, galliard." And then a short pause before he adds, "And child of Sphinx, member of Fidelity."
Matilda nods once. "Yeah, you just missed her. I go by Mouse. Theurge, Metis, Glass Walker. First-Strike, Gets-the-First-Shot, etcetera. Err, and Fostern." This last is added almost sheepishly.
Kavi's brow furrows for a moment, thoughtful. "I. I heard a story. About here. A metis. Mouse Counting Coup... was a hero. But, I think he was Uktena, and a he. And he died. So. That, um. That probably wasn't you."
Matilda pulls her shades away with the hand not currently occupied with the cancer stick. The reason why she was wearing them is fairly obvious--her eyes are feral, golden, and not at all human. "Yeah, no, that ah...definitely wasn't me. I'm from Sept of the Green, this is my first time around here."
Kavi nods for a bit, uncertain what else to say. "I. Um. I stopped there, a couple years ago. But. But not for very long." His gaze remains at about her knees and he finally take his hand off the helmet and trails around the half-wall into the living room. "I, um. I don't know if there's a rule about smoking, or not. But. I haven't, um. I haven't seen any ashtrays."
Matilda sticks the cigarette back into her mouth. "I'm just having the one. I know it smells, so if you guys don't want them in here, I'll be sure to come back with a big old can of Febreeze to take care of it, and do a lot of groveling."
Kavi shrugs. "I... I don't know. Nobody, um. Nobody gave me a list of rules, or anything. I'm, um. I'm pretty new, still."
Matilda turns one golden eye toward him, looking faintly curious. "How new?"
Kavi shrinks further under the gaze, his own dropping to the floor. "Just... I've been a member of the Sept for... for a couple months. And. And I just found a pack last week."
Matilda seems briefly startled at something, but she resumes her composure after only a moment. "You said you were a Galliard? What are we like here? Rina said you uh...you don't have any fosterns. And that the tribe is pretty low on numbers."
Kavi pulls his eyes back up to knee level, flickering for half a second to Matilda's face, and her feral eyes. His brow furrows and he hesitates before answering. "There's... there's not many of us. And... and we're... we're none of us... This is a Sept where... where misfits can find a second chance. But... but even so. I... I think the tribe is..." He stops. "Who, um. Who invited you in?"
"Rina let me in," the metis explains. She looks faintly expectant, as if expecting him to say more.
"Did, um." Kavi looks up at her with another brief glance. "How did you know where to come?" This second question seems more uncertain, more uncomfortable than the first.
Matilda hehs. "Rina again. We met up at a donut shop down on Bridge, then she showed me the way here."
Kavi's gaze drops to the floor and remains there. "Oh," he says, soft, barely voiced. "It's. Um. It's not... Has um. Has anyone else, um. Been by?"
Matilda shakes her head. "You're the first. But then, I just got here." One eye narrows. "Look, it's not exactly my house or anything, but you wanna sit down?"
Kavi gives a small shake of his head. "No... um. Hang on a second?" He steps back beyond the half-wall and pulls out his cell phone, opening it to dial a number apparently committed to memory.
Matilda raises an eyebrow. A little tenseness seems to slip into her figure, but she doesn't say anything, and she doesn't do anything either, beyond taking another drag from her cigarette.
Kavi looks at his cell phone with a frown, almost closing it before quickly putting it back to his ear. "Kaz?"
Shortly, Kavi speaks again. "There's, um. There's a new person? Here. At the safehouse. Do you. Um. Do you know anyone who can... who can greet her?" His eyes are on Matilda, caught between appologetic and suspicious.
Matilda straightens a tiny bit at those words. Her expression has become hard and unreadable.
A bit of a pause and then Kavi nods, eventually remembering to speak into the phone. "Yeah. um. Yeah." He smiles tentatively over the phone at Matilda, definitely more appologetic, now than anything else.
Matilda continues to smoke her cigarette, blatantly and shamelessly eavesdropping on Kavi's end of the conversation. She eventually stubs the butt out on the side of her shoe, though she keeps it in hand for the moment.
Another brief pause and Kavi sighs, a bit of his smile turning more real, and clearly directed at the voice on the other end of the phone. "Oh. Thanks." Not long after he closes the phone and sticks it back in his pocket. Turning to Matilda he looks a bit sheepish. "I'm... I'm sorry. I just. I thought. Maybe someone who knows more? Anyway. Kaz is going to come by, soon."
"Sure," Matilda replies. There's a hint of suspicion in her own voice now, though the rest of it sounds even-tempered. "Who's Kaz?" She toys with the cigarette butt, not looking at it, just turning it between two fingers.
"She's. She's another galliard. Fostern, Bone Gnawer," Kavi replies, looking up at Matilda. "And Metis, too," he adds. "She's, um. She's been here for a... for a long time."
Matilda grunts. And then, on a whim, she asks, "There any fosterns in her tribe besides her?" There's just the barest trace of dry humor, though that suspicion hasn't entirely retreated.
Kavi nods. "The, um. The alpha of my pack. Ferrets out the Wyrm." His gaze shifts downward again, but there's a hint of a smile, the barest glimmer of pride in his expression as it turns away.
Matilda nods. She stands fully now, still toying with the cigarette. "Where's your trash?"
Kavi points toward the hallway. "Back there. In the kitchen," he anwers, tone gone flat.
Matilda heads that way. She's moving just a little stiffly, though apparently that's all she wanted, as she returns from the kitchen right away. "There we go." She's replaced the cigarette with a toothpick.
Kavi finally comes back from the foyer, pulling one of the wooden chairs over and straddling it backward. He folds his arms over the back and rests his chin on his hands. "I, um. How... So. What, um. Why did you come, here? To St. Claire?"
"Well," Matilda says, "It's pretty simple. I needed a change of scene, for various reasons. Rina let us know she was looking with someone with demolitions experience, and while I'm no master or anything, I do know a thing or three. Plus, I'd heard you guys were lacking in the numbers department. So, in short, I'm here to help."
Kavi's expression opens considerably, then. "Oh," he says. Then, "Oh," again. "You. You didn't say Rina had... She didn't. I didn't know you'd talked... before."
Matilda shakes her head. "Oh, we haven't, not before today. It was a general request that got passed on."
Kavi nods, closing off a bit, though not as much as before. "Oh," he says again and it's amazing just how many meanings that single syllable can manage with differing inflections. "I, um. Well, it's... it's good that you're here."
"Thanks," Matilda says, though she sounds faintly bemused. "So, do you have names? Who're the other Walkers around here?"
Kavi considers for a moment and then answers. "Salem, you already heard. Kevin. Timothy. Tu. They've, um. I don't know any of them well. Mick, and Sally, and Chris are cubs."
Matilda tilts her head up. "You've been here for months and you don't know any of them well?"
Kavi shrugs, looking at his seat. "I, um. I sort of know Jack. But. Kevin was gone. And, Tu's... he was Elder when I first got here, but... he's been gone. And... I've never... I've never met Timothy. I talked to him... on the phone. Someone in LA gave me his number, but... I've never seen him, since I got here."
Matilda grimaces. "Alright. Sorry to pick your brain, but I'm understandably curious. What /do/ you know about Jack Salem? And Kevin, and these cubs?"
Kavi pulls the corner of his lower lip between his teeth. "I, um. Maybe... After Kaz comes?"
Matilda narrows her eyes slightly, and then shrugs, easing. "Sure. You mind if I fetch a few things from the car, since you're here to hold the door? Getting locked out didn't sound like a fun time."
Kavi gives a small shake of his head. "Um. Sure. I, um. I can help with that?"
Matilda pauses as she considers. "I don't really have a ton of things, and I don't want to start unpacking all over your place when I'm not even approved yet. But, uh. Actually, if y'want to carry the laptop, I'd be obliged. I'm not much for lifting anything."
Kavi gives Matilda an odd glance, but nods as he rises from the chair. "Um. Okay."
Matilda digs into her pants pocket for her keys, and steps outside. Her car is apparently the fairly nondescript blue Toyota parked outside, as that's the vehicle she heads for.
Kavi follows her out, keeping a couple paces behind, and his gaze on the ground at her feet.
Matilda unlocks the back door, and retrieves two things from beneath the seat--the first, a laptop bag, is easily understandable, and this she offers toward Kavi. The second appears to be some sort of white, plastic contraption.
Kavi frowns slightly at the plastic, even as he accepts the laptop bag. He doesn't ask, though, just studies it as Matilda lifts it from the seat.
Matilda tucks the plastic whatever-it-is under one arm, and then steps back to lock and shut the car door. The laptop bag is obviously full--it's heavy, though not as heavy as it seemed when the metis was picking it up. "Right, that'll do for right now."
"What, um," Kavi asks, eyes still on the plastic. "What is that?"
"Back brace," Matilda replies as she turns to head back toward the house.
"Oh," Kavi says, and doesn't question any further as he heads back up the steps and unlocks the door.
Matilda steps inside again. She flicks a glance over what she can see of the common area, then starts toward the bathroom. "Thanks. You can just stick that laptop against the wall or something. I'm going to put this damned thing on, but it shouldn't take more than a few seconds--unless you're one of those sorts that actually wants to see every metis deformity?" She glances toward him, curious again.
Kavi has the grace to look embarrassed, color rising in his cheeks as he turns away, ostensibly to find a spot for the laptop.
Matilda gives a faint, amused snort. "I'm mostly joking. Here, I'll just give you the skinny of it--" she ducks into the bathroom, and around the door, though she doesn't close the door itself. "Spine's too damned long. If I shift to any more wolfish form, you'll see it for sure. Means my strength is shit and I have a lot of damned backaches, so--" Rustle. "I try to wear this irritating piece of crap when I can. I've also got a tail, and hence, Mouse. Or Ferret sometimes. Weasel. Don't mind any of 'em more than my real name."
"Oh," Kavi says in yet another inflection of the syllable. Taking care not to look, he moves past the bathroom and down the hall to the kitchen. "I. Um. I was. Do you want a soda? While I'm here?"
"Sure," Matilda calls from the other side. "Actually, do you mind if I let it out for a while? S'fucking uncomfortable. But I don't know your rules about that sort've thing."
From the kitchen comes the sound of the refrigerator opening and closing again, and the clink of glasses. "Um. I... I don't really know. I. I would think. But. But there was someone in lupus, the other day. So. Maybe. I should just close the blinds, first."
There's a buzz on the front door.
Matilda sounds grateful. "Yeah, if you could." She appears partially around the door again, and her posture is decidedly more rigid than it was before. Her trench coat is draped over one arm, and that tail? Well, the back half of her is still out of sight.
Kavi passes the bathroom again, two glasses and two cans of coke in his hands. He sets them on the coffee table on his way to the door. "Um. Just. Lemme." And then he's checking on the occupant of the porch before opening the door. "Kaz!" Almost exhuberant in his relief.
Kaz grins, and limps inside. "Hey-de-ho. How goes th' night?"
Matilda leans against the bathroom doorframe and peers toward the front door.
Kavi closes the door behind Kaz and gestures toward the livingroom. "Um. Matilda is. And. I was going to shut the blinds. I. Um. I only brought two cans."
Kaz admits, as she rummages in her pocket, "Well, I got one of my own." Removing the Coke from therein, she calls, "Yo?"
Matilda lifts a hand and steps out. "'Ey. Warning, tail." And tail there is...a long, skinny, pinkish thing poking out from under her long shirt that does /indeed/ look rather mouse-like. There's a fine covering of hair, like baby down. This isn't really any furry fantasy--on an actual person, it looks grotesque.
You paged the room with 'Oh, her eyes are visible too, since she hasn't put the glasses back on.'.
Kavi finishes closing the blinds as Matilda appears, moving over to stand by the backwards facing chair. "I, um. Mouse. Um. This is Kaz. And, Kaz, this is Mouse. And, there's soda," he says, finally, gesturing at the table.
"Huh," Kaz says, in curiously pleased estimation. "You oughta meet Squeaks. She's got one, too. Only, she's younger. Anyways..." Her nose twitches, and she tells Kavi, cheerfully, "She ain't gonna invade the Caern or nothin'. Like he said, I'm Kaz. Ears, t'Garou. Bone Gnawer, Galliard, Elder of the tribe, hangin' out with th' pack Vendetta under Raccoon, all that good stuff. I'm a Fostern, an' /also/ metis, but my thing's mostly not relevant in homid or nothin'. So anyway, hi."
Matilda smiles faintly. She seems at ease now, for all that the brace she's wearing is keeping her from her casual slump. "Lot of us here then? Nice t'meet you, Kaz. Yeah, I'm Mouse. Or at least, that's my preferred name. First-Strike, sometimes Gets-the-First-Shot, yadda yadda, Glass Walker, Theurge, obviously metis, and /also/ fostern, which is kind've crazy. I just shipped in today from New York."
Kavi sighs as he slips backward onto his chair, seeming relieved now that Kaz is here. His shoulders lower just a bit, and he takes up one of the soda cans, turning it in his hand.
Kaz shrugs. "A few. Squeaks is pre-change, though. She hangs out on the Bawn. There's uh..." she pauses to think. "Four others around, too." She perches on the arm of the sofa, and goes on, "So you here f'any p'ticular reason?"
Matilda turns to retrieve the remaining soda can with a nod to Kavi. That tail of hers is twitching, though it moves when she moves at least. "Yeah. Put simply, I'm here to help out. I got the impression the Walkers could use another set of hands."
Kavi pulls the top on the can, looking into the sparkling surface for a moment before he lifts the glass and begins to pour. His gaze lifts, briefly, to each of the fostern, then comest to rest on his drink.
Kaz purely grins. "Ohhh yeah. Just a tad. Buncha good folks, but except for Salem, they're either inexperienced or shy." She jerks a thumb at Kavi. "He's the latter."
"Shy's fine," Matilda says, glancing toward Kavi. "I imagine I'll be like that when I meet the other tribes." She pauses with the can halfway to her lips. "At least that's what I was told. It's a multi-tribal Sept? And the Caern's out in the woods somewhere?"
Kavi looks at Kaz, and then away. This time he answers Matilda, rather than simply remaining in the background. "Yeah. Um. Almost every tribe, really."
From afar, to the room, Kavi . o O (I'm not shy! Look! I can answer questions!)
Kaz says, "Ayup. 11 tribes, Caern's in the woods, Alpha's a Shadow Lord, Warder's a Get, and we're all goin' t'hell in a handbasket." To Kavi, half-apologetically, she says, "Don't mind me, I'm just annoyin'."
Matilda stops drinking for a moment, eyebrows lifting, and then she takes another sip before she lowers the can again. "Hell in a handbasket, is it? Is that for real, or is it just the woodsy sorts getting their hackles up about something or other?"
This time Kavi doesn't try to answer, he just looks into his glass, and then takes a sip.
Kaz shakes her head. "Nah, that's just my way of sayin' that sometimes, we get along better'n others. Th' main problems nowadays is this end of things, anyways."
The left side of Matilda's mouth twitches upward into a rather crooked, tight looking grin. "Yeah? I'm going to guess it has something to do with the crazy drug outbreak the news stations won't shut up about?"
Kavi lowers the glass, his gaze following it, and nods. It's a shallow gesture and could easily go unnoticed.
Kaz says, glumly, "That'd be the long and short of it. Th' stupid Fuzz is tainted, it's got a minor army pushin' it, it's made from umbral wasp venom, and we have yet to find the point of supply. I got some real good /ideas/ about that, but no certainties."
"Oh, business as usual," Matilda says. "Well, like I said, I just got here. And by just, I mean I passed through the city limits a few hours ago. I'm not worth much in anything beyond a gunfight, but if you need any help, I've got a few tricks and toys to offer."
Kavi glances at Matilda, and then down into his glass. "I, um. I talked to Lefty. She said she'd find you. But, um. I got the PDA back, so. So I can start... That's what I was coming back to do, really. I was going to start re-writing that virus."
Kaz quirks a smile. "Hey, you're a theurge and a Fostern, that ain't nothin' to sneeze at." She cracks a knuckle, and nods to Kavi. "I could... let you 'lone?"
Matilda volunteers around her soda can, "Yeah, I could too, if you want. Or at least, I can mess around on my laptop or read or something like that rather than keep bugging you about things."
Kaz levers herself off her perch. "I should get back t'doin' what I was doin' before. But I bum around here a lot, so I'll catch you later, yah?"
Kavi shakes his head and pushes up from the chair. "It's, um. It's okay." He tips his head toward the other side of the house. "My, um. My work is all over there, anyway.
Matilda nods to Kaz. "Yeah, I'll be around." Kavi also gets an acknowledging nod.
Kavi nods, and, taking his glass with him, heads toward the Glass Walker side of the house. "I'll, um. I'm sorry, if I was rude, before. I'll, um, see you around."
Matilda smiles. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm glad you were cautious, I just didn't realize what you were up to at first. See you around, and probably soon."
Kavi nods again, and slips through the door.
There's a stranger in the safehouse living room, half leaning, half sitting against the back of the couch. She has a lit cigarette between her lips, though it looks as though she's only recently started on it. She's wearing dark sunglasses, and a black trench coat, which makes her look distinctly like someone who has watched a little too much of The Matrix.
There's a motorcycle pulling up outside, and shortly thereafter a key turns in the lock and Kavi steps through into the foyer. He pauses at the sight of the unfamiliar woman, and his brows pull downward. "Hello?" he says, setting his helmet on the half-wall. He doesn't yet remove his pack, or step further into the room.
Matilda is already looking toward the door as it starts to open, and while nothing dramatic changes about her position, she does straighten slightly. "'Ey," she replies around a mouthful of smoke. "You family?" There's a distinct accent to her voice--New York, it's unmistakable.
Kavi nods, one hand resting on top of his helmet. "This, um. This is my house," he says, not so much possessively, as by way of explanation.
Matilda grunts. "Right. Rina didn't know if smoking in here was allowed or not, so if not, I can go put it out. Are you, ah." She frowns at him. "Probably not. She told me I should speak with a Jack Salem."
Kavi's expression, his entire stance changes when Rina's name is mentioned, from closed and distant to suddenly warm and responsive, and then it shifts back, though not all the way. "Rina was here?" he asks in that moment of openness, but doesn't give a chance for the other to answer before his posture has shifted and he almost interrupts himself. "I. Um. I'm Kavi. Salem... He's around. In the afternoons, usually. I'm Ringtone, galliard." And then a short pause before he adds, "And child of Sphinx, member of Fidelity."
Matilda nods once. "Yeah, you just missed her. I go by Mouse. Theurge, Metis, Glass Walker. First-Strike, Gets-the-First-Shot, etcetera. Err, and Fostern." This last is added almost sheepishly.
Kavi's brow furrows for a moment, thoughtful. "I. I heard a story. About here. A metis. Mouse Counting Coup... was a hero. But, I think he was Uktena, and a he. And he died. So. That, um. That probably wasn't you."
Matilda pulls her shades away with the hand not currently occupied with the cancer stick. The reason why she was wearing them is fairly obvious--her eyes are feral, golden, and not at all human. "Yeah, no, that ah...definitely wasn't me. I'm from Sept of the Green, this is my first time around here."
Kavi nods for a bit, uncertain what else to say. "I. Um. I stopped there, a couple years ago. But. But not for very long." His gaze remains at about her knees and he finally take his hand off the helmet and trails around the half-wall into the living room. "I, um. I don't know if there's a rule about smoking, or not. But. I haven't, um. I haven't seen any ashtrays."
Matilda sticks the cigarette back into her mouth. "I'm just having the one. I know it smells, so if you guys don't want them in here, I'll be sure to come back with a big old can of Febreeze to take care of it, and do a lot of groveling."
Kavi shrugs. "I... I don't know. Nobody, um. Nobody gave me a list of rules, or anything. I'm, um. I'm pretty new, still."
Matilda turns one golden eye toward him, looking faintly curious. "How new?"
Kavi shrinks further under the gaze, his own dropping to the floor. "Just... I've been a member of the Sept for... for a couple months. And. And I just found a pack last week."
Matilda seems briefly startled at something, but she resumes her composure after only a moment. "You said you were a Galliard? What are we like here? Rina said you uh...you don't have any fosterns. And that the tribe is pretty low on numbers."
Kavi pulls his eyes back up to knee level, flickering for half a second to Matilda's face, and her feral eyes. His brow furrows and he hesitates before answering. "There's... there's not many of us. And... and we're... we're none of us... This is a Sept where... where misfits can find a second chance. But... but even so. I... I think the tribe is..." He stops. "Who, um. Who invited you in?"
"Rina let me in," the metis explains. She looks faintly expectant, as if expecting him to say more.
"Did, um." Kavi looks up at her with another brief glance. "How did you know where to come?" This second question seems more uncertain, more uncomfortable than the first.
Matilda hehs. "Rina again. We met up at a donut shop down on Bridge, then she showed me the way here."
Kavi's gaze drops to the floor and remains there. "Oh," he says, soft, barely voiced. "It's. Um. It's not... Has um. Has anyone else, um. Been by?"
Matilda shakes her head. "You're the first. But then, I just got here." One eye narrows. "Look, it's not exactly my house or anything, but you wanna sit down?"
Kavi gives a small shake of his head. "No... um. Hang on a second?" He steps back beyond the half-wall and pulls out his cell phone, opening it to dial a number apparently committed to memory.
Matilda raises an eyebrow. A little tenseness seems to slip into her figure, but she doesn't say anything, and she doesn't do anything either, beyond taking another drag from her cigarette.
Kavi looks at his cell phone with a frown, almost closing it before quickly putting it back to his ear. "Kaz?"
Shortly, Kavi speaks again. "There's, um. There's a new person? Here. At the safehouse. Do you. Um. Do you know anyone who can... who can greet her?" His eyes are on Matilda, caught between appologetic and suspicious.
Matilda straightens a tiny bit at those words. Her expression has become hard and unreadable.
A bit of a pause and then Kavi nods, eventually remembering to speak into the phone. "Yeah. um. Yeah." He smiles tentatively over the phone at Matilda, definitely more appologetic, now than anything else.
Matilda continues to smoke her cigarette, blatantly and shamelessly eavesdropping on Kavi's end of the conversation. She eventually stubs the butt out on the side of her shoe, though she keeps it in hand for the moment.
Another brief pause and Kavi sighs, a bit of his smile turning more real, and clearly directed at the voice on the other end of the phone. "Oh. Thanks." Not long after he closes the phone and sticks it back in his pocket. Turning to Matilda he looks a bit sheepish. "I'm... I'm sorry. I just. I thought. Maybe someone who knows more? Anyway. Kaz is going to come by, soon."
"Sure," Matilda replies. There's a hint of suspicion in her own voice now, though the rest of it sounds even-tempered. "Who's Kaz?" She toys with the cigarette butt, not looking at it, just turning it between two fingers.
"She's. She's another galliard. Fostern, Bone Gnawer," Kavi replies, looking up at Matilda. "And Metis, too," he adds. "She's, um. She's been here for a... for a long time."
Matilda grunts. And then, on a whim, she asks, "There any fosterns in her tribe besides her?" There's just the barest trace of dry humor, though that suspicion hasn't entirely retreated.
Kavi nods. "The, um. The alpha of my pack. Ferrets out the Wyrm." His gaze shifts downward again, but there's a hint of a smile, the barest glimmer of pride in his expression as it turns away.
Matilda nods. She stands fully now, still toying with the cigarette. "Where's your trash?"
Kavi points toward the hallway. "Back there. In the kitchen," he anwers, tone gone flat.
Matilda heads that way. She's moving just a little stiffly, though apparently that's all she wanted, as she returns from the kitchen right away. "There we go." She's replaced the cigarette with a toothpick.
Kavi finally comes back from the foyer, pulling one of the wooden chairs over and straddling it backward. He folds his arms over the back and rests his chin on his hands. "I, um. How... So. What, um. Why did you come, here? To St. Claire?"
"Well," Matilda says, "It's pretty simple. I needed a change of scene, for various reasons. Rina let us know she was looking with someone with demolitions experience, and while I'm no master or anything, I do know a thing or three. Plus, I'd heard you guys were lacking in the numbers department. So, in short, I'm here to help."
Kavi's expression opens considerably, then. "Oh," he says. Then, "Oh," again. "You. You didn't say Rina had... She didn't. I didn't know you'd talked... before."
Matilda shakes her head. "Oh, we haven't, not before today. It was a general request that got passed on."
Kavi nods, closing off a bit, though not as much as before. "Oh," he says again and it's amazing just how many meanings that single syllable can manage with differing inflections. "I, um. Well, it's... it's good that you're here."
"Thanks," Matilda says, though she sounds faintly bemused. "So, do you have names? Who're the other Walkers around here?"
Kavi considers for a moment and then answers. "Salem, you already heard. Kevin. Timothy. Tu. They've, um. I don't know any of them well. Mick, and Sally, and Chris are cubs."
Matilda tilts her head up. "You've been here for months and you don't know any of them well?"
Kavi shrugs, looking at his seat. "I, um. I sort of know Jack. But. Kevin was gone. And, Tu's... he was Elder when I first got here, but... he's been gone. And... I've never... I've never met Timothy. I talked to him... on the phone. Someone in LA gave me his number, but... I've never seen him, since I got here."
Matilda grimaces. "Alright. Sorry to pick your brain, but I'm understandably curious. What /do/ you know about Jack Salem? And Kevin, and these cubs?"
Kavi pulls the corner of his lower lip between his teeth. "I, um. Maybe... After Kaz comes?"
Matilda narrows her eyes slightly, and then shrugs, easing. "Sure. You mind if I fetch a few things from the car, since you're here to hold the door? Getting locked out didn't sound like a fun time."
Kavi gives a small shake of his head. "Um. Sure. I, um. I can help with that?"
Matilda pauses as she considers. "I don't really have a ton of things, and I don't want to start unpacking all over your place when I'm not even approved yet. But, uh. Actually, if y'want to carry the laptop, I'd be obliged. I'm not much for lifting anything."
Kavi gives Matilda an odd glance, but nods as he rises from the chair. "Um. Okay."
Matilda digs into her pants pocket for her keys, and steps outside. Her car is apparently the fairly nondescript blue Toyota parked outside, as that's the vehicle she heads for.
Kavi follows her out, keeping a couple paces behind, and his gaze on the ground at her feet.
Matilda unlocks the back door, and retrieves two things from beneath the seat--the first, a laptop bag, is easily understandable, and this she offers toward Kavi. The second appears to be some sort of white, plastic contraption.
Kavi frowns slightly at the plastic, even as he accepts the laptop bag. He doesn't ask, though, just studies it as Matilda lifts it from the seat.
Matilda tucks the plastic whatever-it-is under one arm, and then steps back to lock and shut the car door. The laptop bag is obviously full--it's heavy, though not as heavy as it seemed when the metis was picking it up. "Right, that'll do for right now."
"What, um," Kavi asks, eyes still on the plastic. "What is that?"
"Back brace," Matilda replies as she turns to head back toward the house.
"Oh," Kavi says, and doesn't question any further as he heads back up the steps and unlocks the door.
Matilda steps inside again. She flicks a glance over what she can see of the common area, then starts toward the bathroom. "Thanks. You can just stick that laptop against the wall or something. I'm going to put this damned thing on, but it shouldn't take more than a few seconds--unless you're one of those sorts that actually wants to see every metis deformity?" She glances toward him, curious again.
Kavi has the grace to look embarrassed, color rising in his cheeks as he turns away, ostensibly to find a spot for the laptop.
Matilda gives a faint, amused snort. "I'm mostly joking. Here, I'll just give you the skinny of it--" she ducks into the bathroom, and around the door, though she doesn't close the door itself. "Spine's too damned long. If I shift to any more wolfish form, you'll see it for sure. Means my strength is shit and I have a lot of damned backaches, so--" Rustle. "I try to wear this irritating piece of crap when I can. I've also got a tail, and hence, Mouse. Or Ferret sometimes. Weasel. Don't mind any of 'em more than my real name."
"Oh," Kavi says in yet another inflection of the syllable. Taking care not to look, he moves past the bathroom and down the hall to the kitchen. "I. Um. I was. Do you want a soda? While I'm here?"
"Sure," Matilda calls from the other side. "Actually, do you mind if I let it out for a while? S'fucking uncomfortable. But I don't know your rules about that sort've thing."
From the kitchen comes the sound of the refrigerator opening and closing again, and the clink of glasses. "Um. I... I don't really know. I. I would think. But. But there was someone in lupus, the other day. So. Maybe. I should just close the blinds, first."
There's a buzz on the front door.
Matilda sounds grateful. "Yeah, if you could." She appears partially around the door again, and her posture is decidedly more rigid than it was before. Her trench coat is draped over one arm, and that tail? Well, the back half of her is still out of sight.
Kavi passes the bathroom again, two glasses and two cans of coke in his hands. He sets them on the coffee table on his way to the door. "Um. Just. Lemme." And then he's checking on the occupant of the porch before opening the door. "Kaz!" Almost exhuberant in his relief.
Kaz grins, and limps inside. "Hey-de-ho. How goes th' night?"
Matilda leans against the bathroom doorframe and peers toward the front door.
Kavi closes the door behind Kaz and gestures toward the livingroom. "Um. Matilda is. And. I was going to shut the blinds. I. Um. I only brought two cans."
Kaz admits, as she rummages in her pocket, "Well, I got one of my own." Removing the Coke from therein, she calls, "Yo?"
Matilda lifts a hand and steps out. "'Ey. Warning, tail." And tail there is...a long, skinny, pinkish thing poking out from under her long shirt that does /indeed/ look rather mouse-like. There's a fine covering of hair, like baby down. This isn't really any furry fantasy--on an actual person, it looks grotesque.
You paged the room with 'Oh, her eyes are visible too, since she hasn't put the glasses back on.'.
Kavi finishes closing the blinds as Matilda appears, moving over to stand by the backwards facing chair. "I, um. Mouse. Um. This is Kaz. And, Kaz, this is Mouse. And, there's soda," he says, finally, gesturing at the table.
"Huh," Kaz says, in curiously pleased estimation. "You oughta meet Squeaks. She's got one, too. Only, she's younger. Anyways..." Her nose twitches, and she tells Kavi, cheerfully, "She ain't gonna invade the Caern or nothin'. Like he said, I'm Kaz. Ears, t'Garou. Bone Gnawer, Galliard, Elder of the tribe, hangin' out with th' pack Vendetta under Raccoon, all that good stuff. I'm a Fostern, an' /also/ metis, but my thing's mostly not relevant in homid or nothin'. So anyway, hi."
Matilda smiles faintly. She seems at ease now, for all that the brace she's wearing is keeping her from her casual slump. "Lot of us here then? Nice t'meet you, Kaz. Yeah, I'm Mouse. Or at least, that's my preferred name. First-Strike, sometimes Gets-the-First-Shot, yadda yadda, Glass Walker, Theurge, obviously metis, and /also/ fostern, which is kind've crazy. I just shipped in today from New York."
Kavi sighs as he slips backward onto his chair, seeming relieved now that Kaz is here. His shoulders lower just a bit, and he takes up one of the soda cans, turning it in his hand.
Kaz shrugs. "A few. Squeaks is pre-change, though. She hangs out on the Bawn. There's uh..." she pauses to think. "Four others around, too." She perches on the arm of the sofa, and goes on, "So you here f'any p'ticular reason?"
Matilda turns to retrieve the remaining soda can with a nod to Kavi. That tail of hers is twitching, though it moves when she moves at least. "Yeah. Put simply, I'm here to help out. I got the impression the Walkers could use another set of hands."
Kavi pulls the top on the can, looking into the sparkling surface for a moment before he lifts the glass and begins to pour. His gaze lifts, briefly, to each of the fostern, then comest to rest on his drink.
Kaz purely grins. "Ohhh yeah. Just a tad. Buncha good folks, but except for Salem, they're either inexperienced or shy." She jerks a thumb at Kavi. "He's the latter."
"Shy's fine," Matilda says, glancing toward Kavi. "I imagine I'll be like that when I meet the other tribes." She pauses with the can halfway to her lips. "At least that's what I was told. It's a multi-tribal Sept? And the Caern's out in the woods somewhere?"
Kavi looks at Kaz, and then away. This time he answers Matilda, rather than simply remaining in the background. "Yeah. Um. Almost every tribe, really."
From afar, to the room, Kavi . o O (I'm not shy! Look! I can answer questions!)
Kaz says, "Ayup. 11 tribes, Caern's in the woods, Alpha's a Shadow Lord, Warder's a Get, and we're all goin' t'hell in a handbasket." To Kavi, half-apologetically, she says, "Don't mind me, I'm just annoyin'."
Matilda stops drinking for a moment, eyebrows lifting, and then she takes another sip before she lowers the can again. "Hell in a handbasket, is it? Is that for real, or is it just the woodsy sorts getting their hackles up about something or other?"
This time Kavi doesn't try to answer, he just looks into his glass, and then takes a sip.
Kaz shakes her head. "Nah, that's just my way of sayin' that sometimes, we get along better'n others. Th' main problems nowadays is this end of things, anyways."
The left side of Matilda's mouth twitches upward into a rather crooked, tight looking grin. "Yeah? I'm going to guess it has something to do with the crazy drug outbreak the news stations won't shut up about?"
Kavi lowers the glass, his gaze following it, and nods. It's a shallow gesture and could easily go unnoticed.
Kaz says, glumly, "That'd be the long and short of it. Th' stupid Fuzz is tainted, it's got a minor army pushin' it, it's made from umbral wasp venom, and we have yet to find the point of supply. I got some real good /ideas/ about that, but no certainties."
"Oh, business as usual," Matilda says. "Well, like I said, I just got here. And by just, I mean I passed through the city limits a few hours ago. I'm not worth much in anything beyond a gunfight, but if you need any help, I've got a few tricks and toys to offer."
Kavi glances at Matilda, and then down into his glass. "I, um. I talked to Lefty. She said she'd find you. But, um. I got the PDA back, so. So I can start... That's what I was coming back to do, really. I was going to start re-writing that virus."
Kaz quirks a smile. "Hey, you're a theurge and a Fostern, that ain't nothin' to sneeze at." She cracks a knuckle, and nods to Kavi. "I could... let you 'lone?"
Matilda volunteers around her soda can, "Yeah, I could too, if you want. Or at least, I can mess around on my laptop or read or something like that rather than keep bugging you about things."
Kaz levers herself off her perch. "I should get back t'doin' what I was doin' before. But I bum around here a lot, so I'll catch you later, yah?"
Kavi shakes his head and pushes up from the chair. "It's, um. It's okay." He tips his head toward the other side of the house. "My, um. My work is all over there, anyway.
Matilda nods to Kaz. "Yeah, I'll be around." Kavi also gets an acknowledging nod.
Kavi nods, and, taking his glass with him, heads toward the Glass Walker side of the house. "I'll, um. I'm sorry, if I was rude, before. I'll, um, see you around."
Matilda smiles. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm glad you were cautious, I just didn't realize what you were up to at first. See you around, and probably soon."
Kavi nods again, and slips through the door.
