"I didn't do anything to you."
Jul. 23rd, 2012 09:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
renferretAn extremely brief scene with Harper, phone calls with Kavi, and Sue and Ex continue to Not Get Along.
Nestled against the wall of the house, only a few feet away from the door, is a black-furred wolf. Her head is resting on her paws, one of which is itself resting on top of a rather abused looking sketchbook, and her eyes are closed, though her ears are like tiny radars, twisting toward every little noise. The oddly precise scars on her face are just faintly visible through the thick fur, if one looks.
The door opens slowly and deposits a sleepy looking teenager. She's got an iPod in one hand, and a slice of bread in the other. Her slow pace takes her toward the fountain and once there she finds a spot to sit down. Earbuds go in, a button is pressed and then she starts breaking off little pieces of bread to offer to the koi-fish in the water.
The wolf's ears flick toward Harper as she exits, and slowly turn with her as she moves toward the fountain. Rogue's eyes slit open, two tiny slivers of bright blue against the dark fur.
The music listening teen doesn't seem to notice the black wolf curled up against the house. One foot tapping as she goes about feeding the fish, she continues to break off little pieces of bread and toss them at the eager fish-lips breaking the surface. "Good lord you're a big one. You might wanna let the others have your share for a bit fatty." This, is apparently to one of the larger koi's.
Rogue pushes up from the ground. There's no stretching or yawning, though the motion is far less smooth than it could be--she looks full grown, but there's a puppy-ish awkwardness to her movements that's undeniable. She plods forward a few steps toward the other cub, then stops. After a moment, there's not a wolf standing behind Harper, but a crouching young woman, her short hair messy and her facial scars stark against her pale skin. Her eyes remain narrowed, though now her expression is recognizably suspicious.
A curious feeling brings Harper's attention behind her, and upon seen the girl crouched there she absolutely startles and ends up dropping the whole last half of bread slice into the water. Koi-zilla makes a quick grab for it, but the red-haired teen is rather unconcerned with that bit of drama right now. Her hand pulls the buds out of her ears as she looks back. "Whoa. I don't know you."
Ex's head lifts a little at Harper's reaction--it at least has the effect of making her look a little /less/ like a short haired Samara from The Ring--and her eyes go to the other cub's face, scrutinizing it openly. "The hell is that?" Her gaze goes from Harper's face to her iPod.
Harper narrows her eyes a little bit, then looks down. "It's an iPod. It's Thea's. She's letting me borrow it." An uncertain pause catches the girl before she tilts her head, "I'm Harper. New around here actually. You too, or?"
"Yeah." Ex straightens, finally, though she still looks a little shoulder hunched when she stands up fully. "I'm Ex."
"Ex? That's a cool name." Harper offers that with genuine sincerity before standing up and dusting off her pants bottoms. "I didn't even see you or hear you come up. You scared the hell outta me."
Ex looks pointedly at the iPod, and then the earbuds. "You were listening to music."
Harper looks down at the gadget again and then grins, nodding. "Yeah. It helps me think. When I start getting all uptight about being stuck here, the music distracts me."
"Okay." Ex flicks a glance over the koi fish, and then, without saying anything else, she turns around and starts walking back to her sketchbook.
Harper narrows her gaze a bit at the other. "So wait. When did you get here? Are you a ... god the word they use is so lame. A cub?"
Ex picks the sketchbook up, and slides the pencil that was with it behind one ear. "I guess." She brushes dirt off of the book cover with one gloved--gloved?--hand. "A day ago. I'm visiting."
"Ah. Then we're in the same boat." Harper studies the girl a bit more before following after her. Her eyes fall to the book and hand, and it's the former she asks about. "Journal or sketchbook?"
"I draw," Ex says, by way of 'answer'. She starts turning away again, this time away from the house.
Harper doesn't press further than that. Instead she stays put, takes a deep breath, and watches the other girl head off. The iPod is resituated, and upon powering up, is turned up loud enough to hear the tinny sound of music from tiny speakers tucked into ears.
----
"Ex?" Kavi says, when she comes to the phone.
"Um," comes Ex's voice from the other end. She sounds uncertain, and she's speaking just a little too quietly. "Hello?"
"It's Kavi," he says. His voice is soft, but not too quiet to be understood. "I didn't want to... I wanted to make sure everything was okay."
"Everything's okay," Ex responds. "Phil's being /stupid/ still. I met a snake tattoo guy."
Kavi doesn't answer right away, but when he does, his voice is more hesitant. "Phil?" He asks, first, and then almost immediately, "Snake tattoo?"
Ex explains, "Horse-feet guy. He said that was disrespectful, and it was, so he's Phil now." She says this very matter-of-fact. "It was a really nice snake tattoo. He was a nice guy."
"Oh," Kavi says to the explanation about Sue's new name, and he doesn't pursue it further. "That's good. Have you met anyone else?"
"Some other girl," Ex says, slowly, unhurried. "She was feeding fish. And another girl who was pretty dirty. And the other bitch."
"Oh," Kavi says again, though this time there's a hint of a question in the sound. "But. Everything is okay? You're safe, and. And people are helping you?"
"Yeah," Ex says again. And then says nothing else. She just lets the silence run on, though the sound of her breathing is obvious.
Kavi lets the silence continue for several seconds. When he speaks, his voice is soft again, warm. "Maybe tomorrow I can come by and we can go to the island to practice shifting and work on fighting skills some more?"
Ex's tone audibly lightens just a little. "Okay. I slept in lupine, that was good. The cheerful girl said something about archery yesterday, maybe you can show me how to use knives."
"Oh," Kavi says yet again, and this time the tone is surprised, pleased. "That's good. Did you like it? It can be confusing, with all the different senses, but. I like it. We can work with knives. And. Sometime we can work with guns, too. Maybe after a while."
"It's hard to walk," Ex says, though she's sounding less awkward about this whole phone conversation thing now. "But I hear and smell /everything/. It makes the other stuff quieter, I think. Guns would be /cool/. I want to learn all that shit. And snake tattoo guy says you're trying to save the world." This last sentence ends on a slightly doubtful note. "It sounded like more of that superhero stuff."
Kavi draws in a breath at that and he lets it out, slowly. "I. I don't know if we can save the world. But the things we've told you? About the Wyrm and the Weaver and the way we fight them? If. If we didn't fight? If we stopped trying? Then they would win. They would absolutely win. So we fight. And every day that we keep fighting? Every day that we keep them from winning? Maybe that's the same as saving the world. At least for one more day. But... I don't... Superheroes on TV? And in movies? We're not like that. We're just... us."
"Are you actually doing that?" Ex sounds more doubtful. "Or is it just you believe you're doing that?"
There's a brief pause before Kavi answers, no audible breath, no swallow, just a thoughtful hesitation. "Remember when... When I asked Skokiaan to come, so you could see that the spirits were real?"
Ex's voice contains a considerable note of that teenagery 'duh' tone. "You've got a fucking spirit monster for a friend, of /course/ I remember."
"When the moon is a little closer to full? I'll help you cross. We can go to the spirit world and you'll be able to see." He does swallow, then, but the pause is brief. "I don't know if what we do will stop the Wyrm. But. But I /know/ that we slow it down."
"Cross?" Uncertainty. "That's uh, that's what the Bitch did, right? She disappeared, and then came back."
Stands-Between has arrived.
"I. I don't know. But it might be. There are gifts, too, that can make it hard to see someone. But I don't think she would know them." There's a faint sound of movement on the other end, before Kavi speaks again. "There's a... a barrier, between this world and the spirit world. We. We call it the gauntlet. Before the Weaver went insane, the two worlds were connected and anyone could be on either side. But now. Especially in the city and places where the Weaver is strong, it's hard to do, and only a few... types of beings can do it."
Ex is standing very near the door, with the phone that probably gets next to no use in the Fury house. She's holding it at a rather awkward angle, tight enough that, were her knuckles visible, they'd be white. "Types of beings?" Her sketchbook is under the other arm.
There's a rustling of the woods beyond the courtyard, before a black-furred wolf peeks through one of the archways. The metis twists his ears in Ex's direction, but doesn't approach.
"We're Garou," Kavi explains, his voice still soft over the line. "Werewolves. There are other kinds of beings. Other... shifters. Ravens and foxes, tigers and other big cats. There are a lot of different types. And. There are other creatures. Some, like the Vampires, are... They're bad. Dangerous. And some, like Mages, are... Some can be dangerous, but some can be good."
Ex's ever present frown grows as Kavi lists off the 'others', though she quickly jerks her head away at the faint sound from outside. The door is open. Spying Sue, she eyes him for a moment, but then shifts her attention back to the phone. "You've got /wizards/ too?"
"I. I don't know a lot about them," Kavi tells her. "I don't understand their power. But I know... I know they can do things. Some of them are dangerous. They can destroy the strength of Gaia. But some of them are... Some of them try to help. They're on the same side that we are."
Stands-Between huffs. It's half-greeting, half-acknowledgement, before the metis angles to go towards the fountain.
Ex continues to eye Stands-Between, but she also continues to focus on her conversation, such as it is. "Okay. So you're going to show me." She pauses a moment. "I can wait to see it." She cups one hand around the mouthpiece and whispers something loud enough to still be audible as something that's said, but not enough to be understandable.
You paged Kavi with 'Phil's here. Do you want to talk to him?'.
Stands-Between watches the girl, incredibly wary for the metis. There's another huff, a little more questioning as to she is talking to.
"I will," Kavi says. "I'll come tomorrow and we can go to the island, and in a few days, I'll show you the rest." He pauses, before answering the other question. "No. Not... Not unless you want me to. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay, for you."
"I can come back here, right?" Ex keeps her eyes on Stands-Between, but there's no change in her expression. "And you can visit too. Or at the other place. Things are okay. You talk to him." And with that, she thrusts the phone in the metis's direction.
The phone gets a twist of ears and then Sue shifts to homid, moving over to take it. "Hello?" he says. His voice is shaky, uncertain, quiet.
"Sue?" Kavi says, his own voice quiet. "Tell Ex I said yes. She can come back there, if she wants, after we go to the island, tomorrow."
Ex touches her lower lip with her tongue and takes several steps backward as Sue takes the phone. She adjusts the sketchbook under her arm, and the other hand clenches.
Sue holds the phone, his grip a bit tight. "Hi Kavi-rhya," he adds. "Yes, Ex. Kavi-rhya says to tell you, can come back here if you want after you go to the island." The words are repeated pretty carefully, and the shakiness in his voice doesn't go away.
"Is everything okay?" Kavi asks. "Ex wanted me to talk to you, but. I don't know why. I... I think Rina is waking up, so."
Ex says, loudly, "Ask him why he's acting so fucking weird!"
Sue winces, and there's a glare leveled in Ex's direction, then he takes a breath in, audible over the phone. "Flashback," he explains. "I'm alright now, but... I wasn't." He doesn't seem willing to say more, pauses. "What's wrong with Rina? Is everything alright there, Kavi-rhya?"
"Everything's fine," Kavi answers. "But I should go, if. If everything is okay where you are."
Ex cups her hands to her mouth, and says, even louder, "What's a flashback?"
Sue takes another breath in. "I'm going to give Ex the phone again?" he asks Kavi, then murmurs into the phone quietly enough for it to be for Kavi to hear, rather than for Ex. When he's said that, he hands the phone back.
Kavi waits for Ex to take the phone. "I. I can explain more, tomorrow. But. Sometimes. When someone has been through something... hard? Something like what you've been through, and what Sue's been through. Sometimes there are nightmares. But you wake up, and it's over. But sometimes... The nightmares come when you're awake. And it's like you're back where you were, before. And you can't wake up and make it be over."
Ex keeps eyeing Sue as she takes the phone back. "...That's what it's called?"
Sue takes a few steps backwards from Ex, finding a wall to lean on.
"Yeah," Kavi says, his voice soft. "That's what it's called. Try... Try to be gentle with him. And. And when you can't? Understand what's happening." He pauses, just briefly, and then adds, "This phone? The one you have, now? It can call me, anytime. There are only a few phones it can call, but it can reach me. I need to go, now. But if you need me, just push the button and find my name."
"Okay," Ex says, though there's a bit of a sigh in her voice. "Bye." She has to take a few moments to find the button to hang up, but she presses it when she does. And then she looks carefully back to Sue.
Sue looks at Ex, then looks at the doorway inside. "I... forgot my hiking pole," he explains. "Came back to get it, then I'm going to go back to Edgewood again."
"I didn't do anything to you," Ex says, her tone defensive.
Which doesn't seem to stop him from wincing when she speaks, turning away, not facing her. His hand trails along the wall, a little bit.
Thea opens the glass doors and enters the courtyard from the house.
Ex says, a little bit louder. "I didn't /do/ anything to you. I think it was fucked up! What do you even /want/?"
The rumble of a motorcycle engine is audible, approaching the house.
"Quiet," Sue says, turning back to Ex. "No, you didn't do anything. I know that." There's still a certain amount of fear, hidden and pushed away in his voice. He pushes off from the wall, takes a few steps towards the door, and then another few steps, carefully.
Ex's eyes narrow. "Whatever. Run away some more. I'm a fucking animal anyway, don't want to be around me." She jerks her pencil out from the spiral binding of her sketchbook, hunches her shoulders, and deliberately turns away from Sue. She keeps talking, though it's at a low mutter. "So much more important things to do. Got to go be taken care of. Shut up."
The engine reaches the house, and cuts to silence.
Sue snarls, growls. "/No/, Ex," he states, forcing his voice to level. "No. I didn't /choose/ to run away. It's a type of frenzy. Fox frenzy, it can happen when things panic you, or scare you. Or with flashbacks." He takes another breath, and doesn't look at her. "When we were talking, arguing? I raised my voice." He pauses. "You're right. It /is/ fucked up. I wasn't /ever/ allowed to raise my voice, I realised what I'd done, and I /panicked/. Okay?"
Ex goes still at the snarl, her expression unchanged. "...Don't raise your voice then," she says, after a moment. "You don't have to yell at me. You could just say those things." Her nostrils flare, then settle. "If you get to tell me what to do, then you can't act like I'm supposed to take care of you. I stopped you from running outside, okay?"
Thea knocks briefly, and then the door opens inside.
Sue keeps his gaze on the house, rather than on Ex, making slow progress for the door. "You're supposed to work on learning to take care of yourself," Sue says, another few steps forward. "And I am, too." He pauses at the doors into the house, leans against them rather than going inside. "Thanks for that. You did the right thing, stopping me."
Thea slips through the living room and comes out into the courtyard, or tries to.
Sue steps aside to let Thea out the door, a smile of greeting for the other Fury.
Thea looks between them. "You guys okay?"
Ex jerks one shoulder back. "Then you aren't in charge of me." Her gaze flicks toward Thea. "No. He thinks I'm going to eat him."
There's a good bit more trust of Thea in the metis' posture and expression, but even she is regarded warily, and he leans against the wall, sighs. "No, I don't think you're going to /eat/ me," he says. "I'm still cliath. When things I'm saying are reasonable, you should listen, Ex. But you can tell me I'm being annoying, or a jerk, or... unreasonable."
Thea looks bemused. "Ah. Yeah." She glances to Ex, then, as she comes out into the courtyard. "How're you doing, Rogue?"
"Okay," Ex says. Her nose wrinkles. "You're being annoying, and a jerk, and unreasonable." She looks toward Thea again, and shrugs.
Thea rubs at the back of her neck, looking to Sue. "Okay," she says, resigned. "What's going on."
Sue steps out of Thea's immediate reach, and shrugs his shoulders. "I came back to get my hiking pole," he says. "I forgot it yesterday when Melodie-rhya had me go cool down, because I left in lupus."
Sue pages: Sue regards Thea with a toned down version of the same unease Ex gets from him. :) It should be noted that he regards pretty much everyone she's ever seen him interact with except Moros, Kavi, and Rina like this.
Ex's upper lip peels back from her teeth for less than a moment. "He won't /listen/ to me," she says toward Thea, and then twists around, away from the two, back toward the courtyard.
"Okay. What is he not listening to?" Thea gives Sue a quiet look, and turns her attention to Ex.
Sue flinches a bit at that look, and then moves over and slips into the house. Ostensibly to go find his hiking pole.
"Don't go," Thea murmurs. "Please?"
"I kinda need the hiking pole," Sue points out. "Unless I can take lupus, or sit down."
Thea looks to him, blinking. "Oh-- um. Oh. Okay?"
"/Anything/," Ex says. She's quiet, as usual, but her tone is forceful. "He said I could tell him if he was being any of those things, so I did, and he ignored it. He won't...he won't look at /me/. Everything is his feelings."
Sue does in fact, come back out of the house by the time that Ex is finished speaking. On the other hand, he doesn't look at either of them.
Thea nods. "And yours are important, too. What did he say t'you, that made you say he was a jerk and he was being unreasonable?"
Ex sighs and crosses her arms over her chest, sketchbook clutched under one arm. "He doesn't ever say anything to me. That's why."
Thea glances over to Sue, curious.
Sue's shoulders are held in such a way as to make it easier to look over him, past him, and he clutches the hiking pole. He takes a breath, then releases it. "What. Am I supposed to ask about the weather or something?"
Thea steps back and leans against the wall, content to listen.
"They don't ever say anything to you," Ex tells Thea. "Because you're an animal. You're a fucking animal. Just watch through the zoo glass. Balance a fish on your nose for them and bark when they want you to, so they can make their marks on the paper. They don't answer when you bark out of turn, so that's how you know. Nothing you say matters and they don't give a shit."
Thea's brow furrows. "Who are 'they'?" she asks quietly.
Sue turns abruptly, pulling back his lips from his teeth and taking a step towards Ex, then another. "They go away. For /weeks/," he says. He's not raising his voice, this time, but the words are harsh. "Forget you exist. Forget to bring food, forget to bring anything. They they come and watch while you throw yourself at the door out, except it's concrete, and steel, and reenforced so a crinos cub can't get out, and they shove the food through the flap and they GO AWAY again. And you're not even intelligent, because you don't fit their mold, because they're ASHAMED of you." His voice shakes as much as his shoulders do. "And when they hear what's being asked, they beat you, tear out your tongue even though it heals, because you're not ALLOWED to question them. Because it's for your own damn good."
Thea's expression darkens further, shadowed now with anger.
Ex's eyes go a bit brighter as Sue speaks. Then they go a bit wild. Her expression drops away; there's not a frown anymore, there's simply nothing at all. Two of the fingers on her right hand curl up toward her gloved palm. --And then she's breaking for the courtyard door, as fast as she can go, and the only hint of sense to her is the fact that she's clutching the sketchbook for dear life.
Sue curses, in Greek, and looks at Thea. "Go," he murmurs.
Thea follows, stripping off her jacket as she moves.
Ex's shoes pound against the courtyard's paving stones, and then she hits the grass. If anything, her speed picks up.
Thea pursues, breaking into a run only if Ex does so.
Ex is definitely running. As soon as she can, she hits top speed and doesn't slow down. She's away from the house in a moment, and still going half a minute later.
Thea strips off her shirt, revealing a sports bra; she pauses only long enough to kick off her boots, and then shifts down to Lupus to catch up.
Ex, as fast and as wildly as she's going, certainly can't compete with a wolf. But neither, as Thea draws closer, does she seem to even notice the Fury's presence. Other obstacles, stones, trees, brush, are dodged around at the last moment, or simply run through.
Thea just paces her, a little ways back--giving the younger woman space, but keeping her in sight.
Ex goes. And goes. And goes. She has enough sense not to head in the direction of the Wyld-entangled bawn, but she doesn't even bother to check before dashing across any roads she happens upon. Nor does she show the slightest hint of slowing down, even after some time has passed, and after she's wheezing for breath.
If there's one creature with hunting stamina, it's the American canis lupus. Ex's speed is not a sprint, for the black-furred wolf.
Eventually, even Ex's mad dash can't be maintained. The young woman's stamina drops out, and then so does she, half kneeling, half tumbling into the grass. She ends up on knees and elbows, with her gloved hands gripping tightly at her ears, and her face pressed into the dirt as much as possible without threatening to suffocate herself. Greedy gulps for air are the only noises that she makes.
After a time, the wolf circles around to one side, coming into plain view off at an angle. She lies down and lets out a soft, worried rumbly whine.
It is, in fact, a mothering sound.
Ex rocks a little in place, back and forth, side to side. There's still no sound from her other than her breathing.
Shields-the-Young whines again softly, and inches a little closer before laying down again.
Rather suddenly, in the midst of that slight rocking, Ex /does/ make noise. It's a wordless and drawn out note of anger and distress, not quite loud enough to be shouting, but a high volume all the same. She makes it until she runs out of air, spends a few moments sucking more air in, and then starts up again.
Shields-the-Young joins her, whining softly in sympathy.
Ex continues at this for quite some time, until she's hoarse and even the effort of making noise has been exhausted. Eventually she rolls onto her side, still clutching her ears, eyes squeezed shut. The poor sketchbook lies nearby, a little squashed and dirty, just a bit bent, but intact.
Ex remains still now, the only real sign of life being the rise and fall of her sides as she breathes. She's laying on her side, on the ground, with her eyes squeezed shut and her gloved hands clutching tightly to her ears. Her sketchbook is nearby, looking a little worse for wear, but nothing serious. The cub herself has dirt all over her face, her elbows, and her knees. And she remains like that for quite some time.
Shields-the-Young lies still a few feet to one side, watching. Waiting patiently.
Phonecall over, Sue steps out of Furyhouse, taking a stone out of his pocket, with string tied around it. Quietly, he mutters to himself until the stone tugs steadily in the direction that Ex now is, and he sets off at a walk. And continues, a slow walk, until he comes into sight of where Ex and Thea are, and he waits, a ways off.
From what either Fury can see, there's no real change from the cub, or any sign that change is coming. She breathes, and the breaths very gradually get slower and deeper, with occasional, silent hiccups in-between. The grip on her ears eases a little, but doesn't stop. Her eyes remain tightly closed.
Shields-the-Young inches closer, bit by bit. She is careful not to touch, as she curls protectively around the girl's head in a shallow curve. A dark halo.
The metis takes hold of his hiking pole a moment, watches for a long moment longer, and then shifts to lupus. The hiking pole with him, this time, and Stands-Between paces to lay down a few yards away from his tribemate. What happened? The question is posed as quietly as the metis can make it, rather than disturb Ex.
Shields-the-Young makes a soft rumble, a maternal sound. She ran. Ran far. Howled.
Stands-Between sets his head on his forehoofs, turning to watch Ex with unease. Stands-Between said something, he should not have. Doesn't know what, though.
Shields-the-Young whines again softly. Them.
This prompts a splaying of ears, turning to bare his throat to the female Fury, somewhat. Stands-Between doesn't add anything, just whines quietly in apology.
Thea lets out a heavy canine sigh, head sinking on her forepaws. Stay like this. Not time for-- (a shake of her head) ~words.~ Time for this. Not-words.
Ex gives a longer, slower exhale than she has tonight, and her eyes slant open.
Stands-Between bares his throat in submission to the other halfmoon's decision for a moment longer, then rolls onto his belly, backs away a little to lay down and wait.
Shields-the-Young lets out a soft, interrogative sound.
Ex uses one hand to push herself up on an elbow, then reaches out toward the sketchbook. She pulls it closer, jaw setting, and then sticks two fingers between the pages. It only takes a moment or so before she flips it open to the place she wants, and then she turns and drops it in front of the two lupus, though the picture is angled mostly toward Stands-Between.
The page shows three quarters of a room, angled up from the floor so that the ceiling is also visible, drawn in heavy lines that leave dents in the paper. The dimensions seem off--too narrow, the ceiling too far away, but that's certainly not the strangest part of the picture. In one of the walls sits a door, heavy, impossibly large, foreboding. Black.../something/ leaks from under it, a crawling liquid that stretches into the room and over the walls and weeps from the ceiling itself. Here and there, in the spiderwebs of black, a small eye can be seen. The eyes all look slightly different, but they do all have one thing in common; they're all looking right at the viewer. The drawing is actually very good...but distinctly disturbing.
Stands-Between pushes to stand, walks a few steps towards the sketchbook without being close enough to threaten it, and turns his head so he can see it. Then his head dips in acknowledgement, and attention turns to the cub.
Shields-the-Young lifts her head enough to see, and her muzzle pulls back slightly, baring teeth at the picture.
Ex doesn't look at Stands-Between or Shields-the-Young. She doesn't say anything, and her expression, while hard, mostly due to tension, doesn't change.
Stands-Between looks at the drawing for another moment longer, then settles to sit, occasionally glancing at Ex. Not very often.
Shields-the-Young makes a soft, discontented sound, and settles an inch closer.
Ex remains as she is for a good long time, then eventually reaches forward and collects her sketchbook. She closes it carefully, settles it next to her. And then, finally, seems to find her voice. It's quite hoarse. "You need to see other people."
The metis stands up and backs away a little, moving to where he has the space to shift up to homid, and then sits down, half-facing Ex. His brows raise in an unvoiced question.
Shields-the-Young makes a small noise of confusion.
Ex inhales very slowly. She must notice that change in his expression, even if she doesn't look up, because she says, "You need to /see/ them. If the Furies are supposed to help people that need it, how can you do that if you're blinded by what's hurting /you/? You can't help me. Won't. Maybe if I grow a dick." She touches her tongue to her lower lip, tasting some of the dirt there. "Don't talk to me like that again. That's not fair. Don't put me there."
Shields-the-Young chuffs softly at the other Fury, a sort of agreement and underlining--though immediately she comes over to nose at him in reassurance.
Sue does, in fact, nod at Ex's words, and his grip tightens on the hiking pole. "As long as you don't," Sue responds. "It's not fair you to put me there, either. But I'm cliath, I shouldn't have responded, reacted, snapped at you like I did, and so... I'm sorry. I /know/ what it is to be treated as a /fucking animal/, okay? We both do. Neither of us needs to be there again." Sue recoils, however, trying to back away from Thea in a less than reasonable response, teeth bared.
Sue: *fair of you
Shields-the-Young makes another questioning response, this one an almost stereotypical 'aru?' of canine confusion. Ears flicking down a notch, she stretches out, tail in the air, and yawns to break the tension, looking away from him. Her signals are all calming ones.
"I don't know," Ex says. Her tone is a little flatter. Not even the exhaustion is properly coming through.
Sue looks pretty wary of the other Fury right now, until he forces himself to take a few deep breaths. He looks down at his lap.
Shields-the-Young edges a bit closer to Ex, stretching in between them and lying down with a resigned sigh.
Ex frowns. "I'll grow a dick. I don't know what else I'm supposed to do."
Shields-the-Young makes a *very* vocal sound that expresses her opinion of *that* idea. *Not* necessary. She glances to Sue. We will help where there is need. Here there is need. The black wolf's eyes are very serious.
This gets almost choked laughter out of Sue. "No. No no," the metis insists. There's... self-deprecation, in his tone, he pauses, and he then looks up at Ex, very briefly. "You could start, though, with calling me by my name. Maybe."
Ex's lips thin as they draw tight. She doesn't say anything right away.
Shields-the-Young rumbles again like a mother wolf.
Sue uses the hiking pole to poke at the ground off to one side, fidgeting and anxious.
Ex sighs through her nose, and eventually says, "But Sue doesn't /mean/ anything."
Shields-the-Young makes a low sound of disagreement, and looks toward Sue.
"It's my name," Sue says. "It's also from a song. Johnny Cash. Shel Silverstein. 'A Boy Named Sue'." The metis' voice is tense.
Ex's frown deepens. "I don't remember a song."
The black wolf makes a little chuffing sound.
Sue shrugs his shoulders. "I'll bring the CD back with me, next time I go to the city. But, the boy's father names him Sue, then abandons him. And he goes through all sorts of shit, for having a girl's name. And comes out stronger for it." Sue speaks slowly, quietly, still fidgeting, but there's determination there, too. "It's a reminder to myself. It's defiance against the sisters in Golden Gate who did not /want/ me, in that I took a girl's name, and I /am/ a Fury."
"We should kill them." Ex says that neither fast, nor particularly slow, and in the exact same flattish tone that she's been using.
Shields-the-Young makes a low 'rrr' sound, flat agreement and hostility, hackles lifting. Anyone who would hurt Sue or Ex has it coming.
There's another shrug, Sue wincing and looking downwards. "They're adren. And fostern, and..." He shakes his head, that said entirely as if it explains why such a concept is unthinkable for him. The flinch continues, as if once again, Sue expects either Ex or Thea to be the ones to hurt him.
Shields-the-Young lets out a heavy sigh, and then yawns hugely.
"Those words don't mean anything," Ex says, in the same tone of voice. "We can open them up until maggots lay eggs in their ribcage, and put needles in their eyes if they're still blinking."
"They outrank me," Sue says. "They're in /charge/. They were in charge." Thea's actions get him to breathe again. "They were just fine to every girlcub and every female Fury in the Sept," the metis continues. "They're adren, and fostern. They would be within their rights to kill me for backtalk, if they wanted. Or at least," and then the metis slightly reflexively moves one hand to his mouth and touches his tongue.
Ex repeats, without a single change, "Those words don't mean anything."
Shields-the-Young makes a disconsolate, unhappy sound, and then another.
Sue just shakes his head back and forth, and there's a frightened look in his eyes. "They do," he repeats, without explanation offered.
Ex picks up her sketchbook and stands up.
After Thea shifts--not an instant process--she wears only a sports bra and jeans. Her dark eyes are almost unreadable, watching Ex. "They mean a lot, actually," she says quietly. "But bitches who abuse their own tribemates deserve to die, I agree." She's in command, suddenly, radiating confidence and a quiet authority. The unassuming kind, not the sort that bosses people about. "Let's get back to the house."
Sue stands, and then shifts to lupus, moving up almost to against Thea's leg and then away again. He is going to go to Edgewood, now. He'll be by the house, later.
Ex turns wordlessly to follow Thea. No protest. She looks very tired.
Thea lets out a breath. "All right, Sue," she says softly. "Luna guide you." She walks back with Ex, staying on the couch downstairs.
Ex ends up curled in lupus right next to the back door, with her muzzle and one paw resting protectively over her sketchbook.
Nestled against the wall of the house, only a few feet away from the door, is a black-furred wolf. Her head is resting on her paws, one of which is itself resting on top of a rather abused looking sketchbook, and her eyes are closed, though her ears are like tiny radars, twisting toward every little noise. The oddly precise scars on her face are just faintly visible through the thick fur, if one looks.
The door opens slowly and deposits a sleepy looking teenager. She's got an iPod in one hand, and a slice of bread in the other. Her slow pace takes her toward the fountain and once there she finds a spot to sit down. Earbuds go in, a button is pressed and then she starts breaking off little pieces of bread to offer to the koi-fish in the water.
The wolf's ears flick toward Harper as she exits, and slowly turn with her as she moves toward the fountain. Rogue's eyes slit open, two tiny slivers of bright blue against the dark fur.
The music listening teen doesn't seem to notice the black wolf curled up against the house. One foot tapping as she goes about feeding the fish, she continues to break off little pieces of bread and toss them at the eager fish-lips breaking the surface. "Good lord you're a big one. You might wanna let the others have your share for a bit fatty." This, is apparently to one of the larger koi's.
Rogue pushes up from the ground. There's no stretching or yawning, though the motion is far less smooth than it could be--she looks full grown, but there's a puppy-ish awkwardness to her movements that's undeniable. She plods forward a few steps toward the other cub, then stops. After a moment, there's not a wolf standing behind Harper, but a crouching young woman, her short hair messy and her facial scars stark against her pale skin. Her eyes remain narrowed, though now her expression is recognizably suspicious.
A curious feeling brings Harper's attention behind her, and upon seen the girl crouched there she absolutely startles and ends up dropping the whole last half of bread slice into the water. Koi-zilla makes a quick grab for it, but the red-haired teen is rather unconcerned with that bit of drama right now. Her hand pulls the buds out of her ears as she looks back. "Whoa. I don't know you."
Ex's head lifts a little at Harper's reaction--it at least has the effect of making her look a little /less/ like a short haired Samara from The Ring--and her eyes go to the other cub's face, scrutinizing it openly. "The hell is that?" Her gaze goes from Harper's face to her iPod.
Harper narrows her eyes a little bit, then looks down. "It's an iPod. It's Thea's. She's letting me borrow it." An uncertain pause catches the girl before she tilts her head, "I'm Harper. New around here actually. You too, or?"
"Yeah." Ex straightens, finally, though she still looks a little shoulder hunched when she stands up fully. "I'm Ex."
"Ex? That's a cool name." Harper offers that with genuine sincerity before standing up and dusting off her pants bottoms. "I didn't even see you or hear you come up. You scared the hell outta me."
Ex looks pointedly at the iPod, and then the earbuds. "You were listening to music."
Harper looks down at the gadget again and then grins, nodding. "Yeah. It helps me think. When I start getting all uptight about being stuck here, the music distracts me."
"Okay." Ex flicks a glance over the koi fish, and then, without saying anything else, she turns around and starts walking back to her sketchbook.
Harper narrows her gaze a bit at the other. "So wait. When did you get here? Are you a ... god the word they use is so lame. A cub?"
Ex picks the sketchbook up, and slides the pencil that was with it behind one ear. "I guess." She brushes dirt off of the book cover with one gloved--gloved?--hand. "A day ago. I'm visiting."
"Ah. Then we're in the same boat." Harper studies the girl a bit more before following after her. Her eyes fall to the book and hand, and it's the former she asks about. "Journal or sketchbook?"
"I draw," Ex says, by way of 'answer'. She starts turning away again, this time away from the house.
Harper doesn't press further than that. Instead she stays put, takes a deep breath, and watches the other girl head off. The iPod is resituated, and upon powering up, is turned up loud enough to hear the tinny sound of music from tiny speakers tucked into ears.
----
"Ex?" Kavi says, when she comes to the phone.
"Um," comes Ex's voice from the other end. She sounds uncertain, and she's speaking just a little too quietly. "Hello?"
"It's Kavi," he says. His voice is soft, but not too quiet to be understood. "I didn't want to... I wanted to make sure everything was okay."
"Everything's okay," Ex responds. "Phil's being /stupid/ still. I met a snake tattoo guy."
Kavi doesn't answer right away, but when he does, his voice is more hesitant. "Phil?" He asks, first, and then almost immediately, "Snake tattoo?"
Ex explains, "Horse-feet guy. He said that was disrespectful, and it was, so he's Phil now." She says this very matter-of-fact. "It was a really nice snake tattoo. He was a nice guy."
"Oh," Kavi says to the explanation about Sue's new name, and he doesn't pursue it further. "That's good. Have you met anyone else?"
"Some other girl," Ex says, slowly, unhurried. "She was feeding fish. And another girl who was pretty dirty. And the other bitch."
"Oh," Kavi says again, though this time there's a hint of a question in the sound. "But. Everything is okay? You're safe, and. And people are helping you?"
"Yeah," Ex says again. And then says nothing else. She just lets the silence run on, though the sound of her breathing is obvious.
Kavi lets the silence continue for several seconds. When he speaks, his voice is soft again, warm. "Maybe tomorrow I can come by and we can go to the island to practice shifting and work on fighting skills some more?"
Ex's tone audibly lightens just a little. "Okay. I slept in lupine, that was good. The cheerful girl said something about archery yesterday, maybe you can show me how to use knives."
"Oh," Kavi says yet again, and this time the tone is surprised, pleased. "That's good. Did you like it? It can be confusing, with all the different senses, but. I like it. We can work with knives. And. Sometime we can work with guns, too. Maybe after a while."
"It's hard to walk," Ex says, though she's sounding less awkward about this whole phone conversation thing now. "But I hear and smell /everything/. It makes the other stuff quieter, I think. Guns would be /cool/. I want to learn all that shit. And snake tattoo guy says you're trying to save the world." This last sentence ends on a slightly doubtful note. "It sounded like more of that superhero stuff."
Kavi draws in a breath at that and he lets it out, slowly. "I. I don't know if we can save the world. But the things we've told you? About the Wyrm and the Weaver and the way we fight them? If. If we didn't fight? If we stopped trying? Then they would win. They would absolutely win. So we fight. And every day that we keep fighting? Every day that we keep them from winning? Maybe that's the same as saving the world. At least for one more day. But... I don't... Superheroes on TV? And in movies? We're not like that. We're just... us."
"Are you actually doing that?" Ex sounds more doubtful. "Or is it just you believe you're doing that?"
There's a brief pause before Kavi answers, no audible breath, no swallow, just a thoughtful hesitation. "Remember when... When I asked Skokiaan to come, so you could see that the spirits were real?"
Ex's voice contains a considerable note of that teenagery 'duh' tone. "You've got a fucking spirit monster for a friend, of /course/ I remember."
"When the moon is a little closer to full? I'll help you cross. We can go to the spirit world and you'll be able to see." He does swallow, then, but the pause is brief. "I don't know if what we do will stop the Wyrm. But. But I /know/ that we slow it down."
"Cross?" Uncertainty. "That's uh, that's what the Bitch did, right? She disappeared, and then came back."
Stands-Between has arrived.
"I. I don't know. But it might be. There are gifts, too, that can make it hard to see someone. But I don't think she would know them." There's a faint sound of movement on the other end, before Kavi speaks again. "There's a... a barrier, between this world and the spirit world. We. We call it the gauntlet. Before the Weaver went insane, the two worlds were connected and anyone could be on either side. But now. Especially in the city and places where the Weaver is strong, it's hard to do, and only a few... types of beings can do it."
Ex is standing very near the door, with the phone that probably gets next to no use in the Fury house. She's holding it at a rather awkward angle, tight enough that, were her knuckles visible, they'd be white. "Types of beings?" Her sketchbook is under the other arm.
There's a rustling of the woods beyond the courtyard, before a black-furred wolf peeks through one of the archways. The metis twists his ears in Ex's direction, but doesn't approach.
"We're Garou," Kavi explains, his voice still soft over the line. "Werewolves. There are other kinds of beings. Other... shifters. Ravens and foxes, tigers and other big cats. There are a lot of different types. And. There are other creatures. Some, like the Vampires, are... They're bad. Dangerous. And some, like Mages, are... Some can be dangerous, but some can be good."
Ex's ever present frown grows as Kavi lists off the 'others', though she quickly jerks her head away at the faint sound from outside. The door is open. Spying Sue, she eyes him for a moment, but then shifts her attention back to the phone. "You've got /wizards/ too?"
"I. I don't know a lot about them," Kavi tells her. "I don't understand their power. But I know... I know they can do things. Some of them are dangerous. They can destroy the strength of Gaia. But some of them are... Some of them try to help. They're on the same side that we are."
Stands-Between huffs. It's half-greeting, half-acknowledgement, before the metis angles to go towards the fountain.
Ex continues to eye Stands-Between, but she also continues to focus on her conversation, such as it is. "Okay. So you're going to show me." She pauses a moment. "I can wait to see it." She cups one hand around the mouthpiece and whispers something loud enough to still be audible as something that's said, but not enough to be understandable.
You paged Kavi with 'Phil's here. Do you want to talk to him?'.
Stands-Between watches the girl, incredibly wary for the metis. There's another huff, a little more questioning as to she is talking to.
"I will," Kavi says. "I'll come tomorrow and we can go to the island, and in a few days, I'll show you the rest." He pauses, before answering the other question. "No. Not... Not unless you want me to. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay, for you."
"I can come back here, right?" Ex keeps her eyes on Stands-Between, but there's no change in her expression. "And you can visit too. Or at the other place. Things are okay. You talk to him." And with that, she thrusts the phone in the metis's direction.
The phone gets a twist of ears and then Sue shifts to homid, moving over to take it. "Hello?" he says. His voice is shaky, uncertain, quiet.
"Sue?" Kavi says, his own voice quiet. "Tell Ex I said yes. She can come back there, if she wants, after we go to the island, tomorrow."
Ex touches her lower lip with her tongue and takes several steps backward as Sue takes the phone. She adjusts the sketchbook under her arm, and the other hand clenches.
Sue holds the phone, his grip a bit tight. "Hi Kavi-rhya," he adds. "Yes, Ex. Kavi-rhya says to tell you, can come back here if you want after you go to the island." The words are repeated pretty carefully, and the shakiness in his voice doesn't go away.
"Is everything okay?" Kavi asks. "Ex wanted me to talk to you, but. I don't know why. I... I think Rina is waking up, so."
Ex says, loudly, "Ask him why he's acting so fucking weird!"
Sue winces, and there's a glare leveled in Ex's direction, then he takes a breath in, audible over the phone. "Flashback," he explains. "I'm alright now, but... I wasn't." He doesn't seem willing to say more, pauses. "What's wrong with Rina? Is everything alright there, Kavi-rhya?"
"Everything's fine," Kavi answers. "But I should go, if. If everything is okay where you are."
Ex cups her hands to her mouth, and says, even louder, "What's a flashback?"
Sue takes another breath in. "I'm going to give Ex the phone again?" he asks Kavi, then murmurs into the phone quietly enough for it to be for Kavi to hear, rather than for Ex. When he's said that, he hands the phone back.
Kavi waits for Ex to take the phone. "I. I can explain more, tomorrow. But. Sometimes. When someone has been through something... hard? Something like what you've been through, and what Sue's been through. Sometimes there are nightmares. But you wake up, and it's over. But sometimes... The nightmares come when you're awake. And it's like you're back where you were, before. And you can't wake up and make it be over."
Ex keeps eyeing Sue as she takes the phone back. "...That's what it's called?"
Sue takes a few steps backwards from Ex, finding a wall to lean on.
"Yeah," Kavi says, his voice soft. "That's what it's called. Try... Try to be gentle with him. And. And when you can't? Understand what's happening." He pauses, just briefly, and then adds, "This phone? The one you have, now? It can call me, anytime. There are only a few phones it can call, but it can reach me. I need to go, now. But if you need me, just push the button and find my name."
"Okay," Ex says, though there's a bit of a sigh in her voice. "Bye." She has to take a few moments to find the button to hang up, but she presses it when she does. And then she looks carefully back to Sue.
Sue looks at Ex, then looks at the doorway inside. "I... forgot my hiking pole," he explains. "Came back to get it, then I'm going to go back to Edgewood again."
"I didn't do anything to you," Ex says, her tone defensive.
Which doesn't seem to stop him from wincing when she speaks, turning away, not facing her. His hand trails along the wall, a little bit.
Thea opens the glass doors and enters the courtyard from the house.
Ex says, a little bit louder. "I didn't /do/ anything to you. I think it was fucked up! What do you even /want/?"
The rumble of a motorcycle engine is audible, approaching the house.
"Quiet," Sue says, turning back to Ex. "No, you didn't do anything. I know that." There's still a certain amount of fear, hidden and pushed away in his voice. He pushes off from the wall, takes a few steps towards the door, and then another few steps, carefully.
Ex's eyes narrow. "Whatever. Run away some more. I'm a fucking animal anyway, don't want to be around me." She jerks her pencil out from the spiral binding of her sketchbook, hunches her shoulders, and deliberately turns away from Sue. She keeps talking, though it's at a low mutter. "So much more important things to do. Got to go be taken care of. Shut up."
The engine reaches the house, and cuts to silence.
Sue snarls, growls. "/No/, Ex," he states, forcing his voice to level. "No. I didn't /choose/ to run away. It's a type of frenzy. Fox frenzy, it can happen when things panic you, or scare you. Or with flashbacks." He takes another breath, and doesn't look at her. "When we were talking, arguing? I raised my voice." He pauses. "You're right. It /is/ fucked up. I wasn't /ever/ allowed to raise my voice, I realised what I'd done, and I /panicked/. Okay?"
Ex goes still at the snarl, her expression unchanged. "...Don't raise your voice then," she says, after a moment. "You don't have to yell at me. You could just say those things." Her nostrils flare, then settle. "If you get to tell me what to do, then you can't act like I'm supposed to take care of you. I stopped you from running outside, okay?"
Thea knocks briefly, and then the door opens inside.
Sue keeps his gaze on the house, rather than on Ex, making slow progress for the door. "You're supposed to work on learning to take care of yourself," Sue says, another few steps forward. "And I am, too." He pauses at the doors into the house, leans against them rather than going inside. "Thanks for that. You did the right thing, stopping me."
Thea slips through the living room and comes out into the courtyard, or tries to.
Sue steps aside to let Thea out the door, a smile of greeting for the other Fury.
Thea looks between them. "You guys okay?"
Ex jerks one shoulder back. "Then you aren't in charge of me." Her gaze flicks toward Thea. "No. He thinks I'm going to eat him."
There's a good bit more trust of Thea in the metis' posture and expression, but even she is regarded warily, and he leans against the wall, sighs. "No, I don't think you're going to /eat/ me," he says. "I'm still cliath. When things I'm saying are reasonable, you should listen, Ex. But you can tell me I'm being annoying, or a jerk, or... unreasonable."
Thea looks bemused. "Ah. Yeah." She glances to Ex, then, as she comes out into the courtyard. "How're you doing, Rogue?"
"Okay," Ex says. Her nose wrinkles. "You're being annoying, and a jerk, and unreasonable." She looks toward Thea again, and shrugs.
Thea rubs at the back of her neck, looking to Sue. "Okay," she says, resigned. "What's going on."
Sue steps out of Thea's immediate reach, and shrugs his shoulders. "I came back to get my hiking pole," he says. "I forgot it yesterday when Melodie-rhya had me go cool down, because I left in lupus."
Sue pages: Sue regards Thea with a toned down version of the same unease Ex gets from him. :) It should be noted that he regards pretty much everyone she's ever seen him interact with except Moros, Kavi, and Rina like this.
Ex's upper lip peels back from her teeth for less than a moment. "He won't /listen/ to me," she says toward Thea, and then twists around, away from the two, back toward the courtyard.
"Okay. What is he not listening to?" Thea gives Sue a quiet look, and turns her attention to Ex.
Sue flinches a bit at that look, and then moves over and slips into the house. Ostensibly to go find his hiking pole.
"Don't go," Thea murmurs. "Please?"
"I kinda need the hiking pole," Sue points out. "Unless I can take lupus, or sit down."
Thea looks to him, blinking. "Oh-- um. Oh. Okay?"
"/Anything/," Ex says. She's quiet, as usual, but her tone is forceful. "He said I could tell him if he was being any of those things, so I did, and he ignored it. He won't...he won't look at /me/. Everything is his feelings."
Sue does in fact, come back out of the house by the time that Ex is finished speaking. On the other hand, he doesn't look at either of them.
Thea nods. "And yours are important, too. What did he say t'you, that made you say he was a jerk and he was being unreasonable?"
Ex sighs and crosses her arms over her chest, sketchbook clutched under one arm. "He doesn't ever say anything to me. That's why."
Thea glances over to Sue, curious.
Sue's shoulders are held in such a way as to make it easier to look over him, past him, and he clutches the hiking pole. He takes a breath, then releases it. "What. Am I supposed to ask about the weather or something?"
Thea steps back and leans against the wall, content to listen.
"They don't ever say anything to you," Ex tells Thea. "Because you're an animal. You're a fucking animal. Just watch through the zoo glass. Balance a fish on your nose for them and bark when they want you to, so they can make their marks on the paper. They don't answer when you bark out of turn, so that's how you know. Nothing you say matters and they don't give a shit."
Thea's brow furrows. "Who are 'they'?" she asks quietly.
Sue turns abruptly, pulling back his lips from his teeth and taking a step towards Ex, then another. "They go away. For /weeks/," he says. He's not raising his voice, this time, but the words are harsh. "Forget you exist. Forget to bring food, forget to bring anything. They they come and watch while you throw yourself at the door out, except it's concrete, and steel, and reenforced so a crinos cub can't get out, and they shove the food through the flap and they GO AWAY again. And you're not even intelligent, because you don't fit their mold, because they're ASHAMED of you." His voice shakes as much as his shoulders do. "And when they hear what's being asked, they beat you, tear out your tongue even though it heals, because you're not ALLOWED to question them. Because it's for your own damn good."
Thea's expression darkens further, shadowed now with anger.
Ex's eyes go a bit brighter as Sue speaks. Then they go a bit wild. Her expression drops away; there's not a frown anymore, there's simply nothing at all. Two of the fingers on her right hand curl up toward her gloved palm. --And then she's breaking for the courtyard door, as fast as she can go, and the only hint of sense to her is the fact that she's clutching the sketchbook for dear life.
Sue curses, in Greek, and looks at Thea. "Go," he murmurs.
Thea follows, stripping off her jacket as she moves.
Ex's shoes pound against the courtyard's paving stones, and then she hits the grass. If anything, her speed picks up.
Thea pursues, breaking into a run only if Ex does so.
Ex is definitely running. As soon as she can, she hits top speed and doesn't slow down. She's away from the house in a moment, and still going half a minute later.
Thea strips off her shirt, revealing a sports bra; she pauses only long enough to kick off her boots, and then shifts down to Lupus to catch up.
Ex, as fast and as wildly as she's going, certainly can't compete with a wolf. But neither, as Thea draws closer, does she seem to even notice the Fury's presence. Other obstacles, stones, trees, brush, are dodged around at the last moment, or simply run through.
Thea just paces her, a little ways back--giving the younger woman space, but keeping her in sight.
Ex goes. And goes. And goes. She has enough sense not to head in the direction of the Wyld-entangled bawn, but she doesn't even bother to check before dashing across any roads she happens upon. Nor does she show the slightest hint of slowing down, even after some time has passed, and after she's wheezing for breath.
If there's one creature with hunting stamina, it's the American canis lupus. Ex's speed is not a sprint, for the black-furred wolf.
Eventually, even Ex's mad dash can't be maintained. The young woman's stamina drops out, and then so does she, half kneeling, half tumbling into the grass. She ends up on knees and elbows, with her gloved hands gripping tightly at her ears, and her face pressed into the dirt as much as possible without threatening to suffocate herself. Greedy gulps for air are the only noises that she makes.
After a time, the wolf circles around to one side, coming into plain view off at an angle. She lies down and lets out a soft, worried rumbly whine.
It is, in fact, a mothering sound.
Ex rocks a little in place, back and forth, side to side. There's still no sound from her other than her breathing.
Shields-the-Young whines again softly, and inches a little closer before laying down again.
Rather suddenly, in the midst of that slight rocking, Ex /does/ make noise. It's a wordless and drawn out note of anger and distress, not quite loud enough to be shouting, but a high volume all the same. She makes it until she runs out of air, spends a few moments sucking more air in, and then starts up again.
Shields-the-Young joins her, whining softly in sympathy.
Ex continues at this for quite some time, until she's hoarse and even the effort of making noise has been exhausted. Eventually she rolls onto her side, still clutching her ears, eyes squeezed shut. The poor sketchbook lies nearby, a little squashed and dirty, just a bit bent, but intact.
Ex remains still now, the only real sign of life being the rise and fall of her sides as she breathes. She's laying on her side, on the ground, with her eyes squeezed shut and her gloved hands clutching tightly to her ears. Her sketchbook is nearby, looking a little worse for wear, but nothing serious. The cub herself has dirt all over her face, her elbows, and her knees. And she remains like that for quite some time.
Shields-the-Young lies still a few feet to one side, watching. Waiting patiently.
Phonecall over, Sue steps out of Furyhouse, taking a stone out of his pocket, with string tied around it. Quietly, he mutters to himself until the stone tugs steadily in the direction that Ex now is, and he sets off at a walk. And continues, a slow walk, until he comes into sight of where Ex and Thea are, and he waits, a ways off.
From what either Fury can see, there's no real change from the cub, or any sign that change is coming. She breathes, and the breaths very gradually get slower and deeper, with occasional, silent hiccups in-between. The grip on her ears eases a little, but doesn't stop. Her eyes remain tightly closed.
Shields-the-Young inches closer, bit by bit. She is careful not to touch, as she curls protectively around the girl's head in a shallow curve. A dark halo.
The metis takes hold of his hiking pole a moment, watches for a long moment longer, and then shifts to lupus. The hiking pole with him, this time, and Stands-Between paces to lay down a few yards away from his tribemate. What happened? The question is posed as quietly as the metis can make it, rather than disturb Ex.
Shields-the-Young makes a soft rumble, a maternal sound. She ran. Ran far. Howled.
Stands-Between sets his head on his forehoofs, turning to watch Ex with unease. Stands-Between said something, he should not have. Doesn't know what, though.
Shields-the-Young whines again softly. Them.
This prompts a splaying of ears, turning to bare his throat to the female Fury, somewhat. Stands-Between doesn't add anything, just whines quietly in apology.
Thea lets out a heavy canine sigh, head sinking on her forepaws. Stay like this. Not time for-- (a shake of her head) ~words.~ Time for this. Not-words.
Ex gives a longer, slower exhale than she has tonight, and her eyes slant open.
Stands-Between bares his throat in submission to the other halfmoon's decision for a moment longer, then rolls onto his belly, backs away a little to lay down and wait.
Shields-the-Young lets out a soft, interrogative sound.
Ex uses one hand to push herself up on an elbow, then reaches out toward the sketchbook. She pulls it closer, jaw setting, and then sticks two fingers between the pages. It only takes a moment or so before she flips it open to the place she wants, and then she turns and drops it in front of the two lupus, though the picture is angled mostly toward Stands-Between.
The page shows three quarters of a room, angled up from the floor so that the ceiling is also visible, drawn in heavy lines that leave dents in the paper. The dimensions seem off--too narrow, the ceiling too far away, but that's certainly not the strangest part of the picture. In one of the walls sits a door, heavy, impossibly large, foreboding. Black.../something/ leaks from under it, a crawling liquid that stretches into the room and over the walls and weeps from the ceiling itself. Here and there, in the spiderwebs of black, a small eye can be seen. The eyes all look slightly different, but they do all have one thing in common; they're all looking right at the viewer. The drawing is actually very good...but distinctly disturbing.
Stands-Between pushes to stand, walks a few steps towards the sketchbook without being close enough to threaten it, and turns his head so he can see it. Then his head dips in acknowledgement, and attention turns to the cub.
Shields-the-Young lifts her head enough to see, and her muzzle pulls back slightly, baring teeth at the picture.
Ex doesn't look at Stands-Between or Shields-the-Young. She doesn't say anything, and her expression, while hard, mostly due to tension, doesn't change.
Stands-Between looks at the drawing for another moment longer, then settles to sit, occasionally glancing at Ex. Not very often.
Shields-the-Young makes a soft, discontented sound, and settles an inch closer.
Ex remains as she is for a good long time, then eventually reaches forward and collects her sketchbook. She closes it carefully, settles it next to her. And then, finally, seems to find her voice. It's quite hoarse. "You need to see other people."
The metis stands up and backs away a little, moving to where he has the space to shift up to homid, and then sits down, half-facing Ex. His brows raise in an unvoiced question.
Shields-the-Young makes a small noise of confusion.
Ex inhales very slowly. She must notice that change in his expression, even if she doesn't look up, because she says, "You need to /see/ them. If the Furies are supposed to help people that need it, how can you do that if you're blinded by what's hurting /you/? You can't help me. Won't. Maybe if I grow a dick." She touches her tongue to her lower lip, tasting some of the dirt there. "Don't talk to me like that again. That's not fair. Don't put me there."
Shields-the-Young chuffs softly at the other Fury, a sort of agreement and underlining--though immediately she comes over to nose at him in reassurance.
Sue does, in fact, nod at Ex's words, and his grip tightens on the hiking pole. "As long as you don't," Sue responds. "It's not fair you to put me there, either. But I'm cliath, I shouldn't have responded, reacted, snapped at you like I did, and so... I'm sorry. I /know/ what it is to be treated as a /fucking animal/, okay? We both do. Neither of us needs to be there again." Sue recoils, however, trying to back away from Thea in a less than reasonable response, teeth bared.
Shields-the-Young makes another questioning response, this one an almost stereotypical 'aru?' of canine confusion. Ears flicking down a notch, she stretches out, tail in the air, and yawns to break the tension, looking away from him. Her signals are all calming ones.
"I don't know," Ex says. Her tone is a little flatter. Not even the exhaustion is properly coming through.
Sue looks pretty wary of the other Fury right now, until he forces himself to take a few deep breaths. He looks down at his lap.
Shields-the-Young edges a bit closer to Ex, stretching in between them and lying down with a resigned sigh.
Ex frowns. "I'll grow a dick. I don't know what else I'm supposed to do."
Shields-the-Young makes a *very* vocal sound that expresses her opinion of *that* idea. *Not* necessary. She glances to Sue. We will help where there is need. Here there is need. The black wolf's eyes are very serious.
This gets almost choked laughter out of Sue. "No. No no," the metis insists. There's... self-deprecation, in his tone, he pauses, and he then looks up at Ex, very briefly. "You could start, though, with calling me by my name. Maybe."
Ex's lips thin as they draw tight. She doesn't say anything right away.
Shields-the-Young rumbles again like a mother wolf.
Sue uses the hiking pole to poke at the ground off to one side, fidgeting and anxious.
Ex sighs through her nose, and eventually says, "But Sue doesn't /mean/ anything."
Shields-the-Young makes a low sound of disagreement, and looks toward Sue.
"It's my name," Sue says. "It's also from a song. Johnny Cash. Shel Silverstein. 'A Boy Named Sue'." The metis' voice is tense.
Ex's frown deepens. "I don't remember a song."
The black wolf makes a little chuffing sound.
Sue shrugs his shoulders. "I'll bring the CD back with me, next time I go to the city. But, the boy's father names him Sue, then abandons him. And he goes through all sorts of shit, for having a girl's name. And comes out stronger for it." Sue speaks slowly, quietly, still fidgeting, but there's determination there, too. "It's a reminder to myself. It's defiance against the sisters in Golden Gate who did not /want/ me, in that I took a girl's name, and I /am/ a Fury."
"We should kill them." Ex says that neither fast, nor particularly slow, and in the exact same flattish tone that she's been using.
Shields-the-Young makes a low 'rrr' sound, flat agreement and hostility, hackles lifting. Anyone who would hurt Sue or Ex has it coming.
There's another shrug, Sue wincing and looking downwards. "They're adren. And fostern, and..." He shakes his head, that said entirely as if it explains why such a concept is unthinkable for him. The flinch continues, as if once again, Sue expects either Ex or Thea to be the ones to hurt him.
Shields-the-Young lets out a heavy sigh, and then yawns hugely.
"Those words don't mean anything," Ex says, in the same tone of voice. "We can open them up until maggots lay eggs in their ribcage, and put needles in their eyes if they're still blinking."
"They outrank me," Sue says. "They're in /charge/. They were in charge." Thea's actions get him to breathe again. "They were just fine to every girlcub and every female Fury in the Sept," the metis continues. "They're adren, and fostern. They would be within their rights to kill me for backtalk, if they wanted. Or at least," and then the metis slightly reflexively moves one hand to his mouth and touches his tongue.
Ex repeats, without a single change, "Those words don't mean anything."
Shields-the-Young makes a disconsolate, unhappy sound, and then another.
Sue just shakes his head back and forth, and there's a frightened look in his eyes. "They do," he repeats, without explanation offered.
Ex picks up her sketchbook and stands up.
After Thea shifts--not an instant process--she wears only a sports bra and jeans. Her dark eyes are almost unreadable, watching Ex. "They mean a lot, actually," she says quietly. "But bitches who abuse their own tribemates deserve to die, I agree." She's in command, suddenly, radiating confidence and a quiet authority. The unassuming kind, not the sort that bosses people about. "Let's get back to the house."
Sue stands, and then shifts to lupus, moving up almost to against Thea's leg and then away again. He is going to go to Edgewood, now. He'll be by the house, later.
Ex turns wordlessly to follow Thea. No protest. She looks very tired.
Thea lets out a breath. "All right, Sue," she says softly. "Luna guide you." She walks back with Ex, staying on the couch downstairs.
Ex ends up curled in lupus right next to the back door, with her muzzle and one paw resting protectively over her sketchbook.
