"How are your ribs?"
Aug. 2nd, 2012 07:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
renferretFull moon at the Fury house is just as dangerous as the Walker's. Later, Rina drops by for a quick visit.
Greek House: Courtyard(#2280RJh)
A walled-in Greco-Roman courtyard exists here in the clearing behind the house. The western side columns look new, the others freshly cleaned and repaired in patches. The courtyard is more or less open, in a sense, the columns creating more of a border than an actual wall. There are four arched gateways that provide entrance into the courtyard, one at each cardinal direction. Near the house, in the north-west corner, there is a small fountain that adds the soothing sound of water to a calm, almost serene atmosphere. The pond around the fountain contains a few waterplants along with a handful of orange-gold koi fish swim lazily about. Diagonally across from that, on the western side, is a statue of the "Winged Victory of Samothrace", more popularly known as the "Headless Nike." By the house is another statue, a copy of Michelangelo's David. This one has been modified by someone hacking off its... equipment. Fairly violently. There are three archery butts, set up at the far southern end of the courtyard, which look fairly new, though already show the signs of heavy use.
In one corner sits a collection of around twenty glass bottles, of varying shapes, sizes and colors - clear, green, amber, cobalt blue - all of them clean and with the labels removed.
Contents:
Melodie
April
Harper
Obvious exits:
Roof North Eastern Arch Gate Doorway
A new face among a familiar one brings a pause to the wolf cub. There's tension in her haunches as her ears flatten to the sides. A high pitched whine follows as the cub drops herself to her belly, panting and, from the looks of it, trying to calm herself enough to shift. Full moon. Angry. Fight. A frustrated snort follows.
Melodie is doing a handstand on a makeshift balance beam. At this point, though, she lowers herself down to a seated position on the beam instead. "Oh, right, Harper! A pleasure to meet you, I'm Melodie Rodriguez, also called Shrouded Arrow. I'm in charge around here these days. I'm not sure how it happened, but here I am!" She flashes a smile. "Always glad to see more of my family around."
April watches Harper closely for the moment as Melodie introduces herself. "Whatever has you riled, just remember, deep and slow breaths. Concentrate." she states towards the wolf, voice quiet for the most part.
Harper licks at her nose, flickers an ear and offers another snort. The effort and concentration is there, and so, with the encouragement from the others, and with a lack of any tension in the area, the wolf begins to transform. It's slow, but without any major hiccups, and then, there is the red-haired girl wearing baggy sweats and a tee. A hand comes up to her forehead where she rubs it, and without much fire admits, "This sucks."
Melodie nods slightly. "But you got it. It's a pain at first, the transforming, and dealing with the full moon especially, but you get used to it. Some months are worse than others. I guess that's a familiar sentiment, huh?" She grins wryly. "I promise you, there is some good parts to all of this, eventually."
Speaking of a lack of tension; that doesn't last. Shortly after Harper shifts, another wolf arrives, black furred but still showing distinct, precise scarring. A battered sketchbook is clutched in her mouth, along with a sheaf of loose, printed paper that has been stuffed into the sketchbook's binding. Temper slides in with her; there are roils of it in the movement of her shoulders and all down her back, waves of quiet, murderous anger that are damn near visible, and quite tangible. There's nothing pleasant about Rogue, today.
April steps forward once the wolf becomes the girl and takes a moment to walk slowly around her. When she's behind her, she looks off the way Harper came from before frowning as the second wolf comes into the courtyard. "Everything alright, Harper?"
Harper shrugs. "I was at the other house. Sue was there. And this kid showed up, dreadlocks, smoking up a fat doobie. Sue told him not to smoke it in the house. He got all jerky. So Sue dumped water on him... out of nowhere. Then the kid went all big ugly and ... it went downhill from there fast. Then some chick showed up and she was /pissed/ and chased us outta the house. And so I came here." Then she glances over to the other wolf, and the hyper-story-dumping comes to a stop as she watches the scarred creature move.
Melodie watches Rogue come in, with more attention than she seems to give Harper's story. "Hi, Rogue. This is a safe place, remember. There's a punching bag in the basement if the moon's really getting to you." She turns back to Harper. "That sounds frightening. I mean, things like this happen sometimes. We've all got a temper. It's better, if you can, to not be the one pushing someone when he's having a bad day. Smart to just leave and let someone else deal with the mess."
Rogue stares at April for a long moment, but Melodie's words have her eyes and one ear flicking toward the elder. Okay. She settles at the edge of the courtyard, dropping first into a stiff sit, and then sliding onto her belly. The sketchbook she spits out between her paws.
April watches the wolf with a small glare until she settles before looking back to Harper. "You did well, Harper." she states as she seems to all but ignore the other wolf now and heads back towards the steps to the house.
Harper shakes her head, "Things happened so fast. I ended up in the big form... trying to stop them from being stupid? It just sorta happened, it wasn't like I though, Oh hey, Ima do this. It just happened. And that kinda freaked me out too. But now I dunno how it sorted out back there, and I feel bad for just running off too."
Melodie looks relieved that Rogue is settling down, and focuses more of her attention on Harper. "Yeah, it can just sort of hit you. There's no shame in it, though it's important to learn how to hold yourself back. Which it sounds like you did, so good. I like Sue, he's got a good heart, but he, well, has a lot to learn about owning his own life." She seems unsatisfied with her words on that last bit.
Rogue's ears twist back, but her own, violently blue gaze returns that glare, in a wolf-ish sort of way, until a little while after April has turned toward the steps.
April doesn't turn back to towards the others until she's back on the steps. "Just wait until Luna hides her face again, Harper. Perhaps we'll go for a small trip those days and let you fully experience the rage that flows through you, out in the middle of no where, where you cannot hurt anyone or anything." Her eyes slide back towards the still wolf. "How are your ribs?"
Harper looks between the two women in human form, and then the wolf again. After a moment of thoughtful consideration, she moves to join April on the steps, giving a slight nod. "Yeah. I guess. Maybe." A sigh escapes and then she perks up, "Oh. Sue asked me some stuff the other day, about my family. Said that he would have someone look into if they were related to this stuff or not, right? And he said that my aunt and uncle are kin. Or so he's heard. Children of Gaian he said, and..." she frowns. "I'd have learned more except for that pothead walking in."
Melodie looks between Rogue and April, and furrows her brows, before shaking it off. "Mmm. Yeah, that'd be good to know. My first pack was with a bunch of Children of Gaia, I'm quite fond of them. It's not who I am, but they're good folk. But, you look like a Fury to me. A lot more than I do!" She giggles a little.
Rogue's ears lift as she's addressed. Nothing about her rage heightens--it remains at dangerously smoldering levels--but her response is almost off-hand. How is your nose?
April smirks a little towards the wolf before looking towards Melodie and that giggle. "If what she says is true, do you think we should allow a supervised visit back to her family for a day?"
"Yeah I didn't get to hear much more about them, the Children people, or, more about the Furies. But he said the same, that there is no way I'm not Fury. But, stupid full moon stupidness. And given how things went today, I get the reason why we don't want me hanging with them just yet." This admission brings that cheerful mood down a notch, and it lands her attention back on the surly wolf.
Melodie suddenly tenses up. "April. What's up between you and Rogue over here? 'Cause she's been giving you the eye ever since she got here, and this is gonna get ugly in a minute, I'm guessing." She looks down from her perch on the balance beam, disapprovingly.
Phoebe opens the glass doors and enters the courtyard from the house.
Phoebe has arrived.
Indeed, there's a telltale ripple in the fur along Rogue's back, the only change visible with her even in this form. Her left ear flicks toward Melodie, but she doesn't take her eyes off of April.
April looks back towards the wolf and gives a small sigh. "The cub got snippy the other day, punched me in the face even." she answers Melodie. "Bad thing to do on my moon and I struck back. She's been a bit of a nuisance."
Harper looks from wolf to April and back, suddenly looking rather torn about something. And yet the moon is heavy on her too, and the exhaustion of todays events pulls at the last strands of her patience. "Seriously? Is this all we do? Run around and be ... aggressive and stupid and punchy?"
The door to the house slides open and Phoebe slips out. She's quick to close it behind her. Seeing the crowd, the ahroun manages a little smile. "Oh hey. We having a meeting? I missed the memo."
Melodie takes a deep breath. "Yeah, um, okay. Well, we're a physical bunch sometimes, there's no doubt, but." She looks down for a moment, and then back up. "We're trying to build up trust here, so let's try and keep it to a minimum, si?" She turns her gaze to Rogue, more confidently. "And you, you're a big girl, and we're treating you like it. That means sometimes letting the little things go. We're werewolves, we're gonna hit each other sometimes. But someday, you're going to find yourself looking at something a lot less nice than April here, and she'll have your back. So try not to hate her too much until then." She looks tiredly at Phoebe. "Oh, hi. I guess sort of. Tell Harper something cool that we do?" Delegation, the true test of leadership.
Rogue rumbles in the back of her throat. She doesn't hate the other Bitch. The Other Bitch said blue-hair was bad at teaching. Blue-hair taught her how to hit, so she hit The Other Bitch to show her.
"no, I said you needed to be taught better. there is a distinct better, which you are showing right now." April replies before turning her back upon the wolf and looking towards Phoebe as she joins the group. "While you're at it, we need a good name for Harper as well."
Harper stands up and takes a couple steps away from April in a thoughtful pace, one hand rubbing at her hair and the other propped on her hip. "A name. Yeah. That's what I need." This bit comes off with some tired sarcasm.
Phoebe listens to Mel and looks first between Ex and April, only turning to Harper after silently assessing the mood of the courtyard. "Hey," she greets. "Sorry, I can't remember if we've met before. Lots of new faces around here right now. I'm Phoe. Life On the Line. Ahroun." Again the ahroun glances to April, then echoes, "A good name? You mean like a deedname?"
Melodie can't help but smile a little at Rogue's logic. "Well, at this point, I'll take not hating. It's a start." She nods at Phoebe, "Yeah, a cub name is fun! But they come when they come, I guess. When I was a cub, they called me Ankle Biter." A toothy grin. "I kind of miss that."
Rogue agrees that she /is/ better, yes. Her blunted claws dig at the stonework of the courtyard.
April smiles and nods, "Yea, a cub name." she looks towards Melodie then. "If you want, I'm sure a lot of us will be willing to call you that still." she offers before moving towards the door inside. "I'll be back in a little bit."
Harper looks to April, then to the wolf and finally back to Phoebe, "Hey. Harper. New here. Kinda flustered just now, so sorry if I'm not my usual hyper self."
Phoebe grins at Mel. "I can call you ankle biter, if you want," she teases, lightly and in time with April. She then turns back to Harper. "KL called me Pride when I was a cub. I guess I was kind of a teacher's pet, you might say. How are you at taking the wolf? we might start there. See if you have any distinguishing marks or anything. Oh, and, auspice?"
Melodie giggles. "No, those days are behind me now. I've got to be all respectable and shit." Says the girl who was upside down not long ago. "If you just want to describe her wolf form, you could go with Black Beauty." She says that completely seriously.
Rogue rests her muzzle on her paws, still, occasionally, rumbling in quiet discontent.
"Black Beauty? Uh, that was the name of a horse, that went through a really big list of really crappy things. I don't think I'd wanna be referred to as a horse. Or, for that matter, a slur for want ads." Harper shakes her head, "I'm ... not /great/ with the other forms. I can get there, but it still wigs me out a bit, and takes forever."
Phoebe's expression suggests sympathy. She offers Harper a small smile and a slight nod. "Ok. Well, the first thing I'd recommend is not worrying about it. A name will come, eventually. Why don't we start with something else? Mel said I should tell you something cool. So. Hrm." She glances at the surly Rogue and her thoughtful expression deepens. "We /could/ practice at something. If not forms, how about crossing the gauntlet? Ex here hasn't ever been. Have you?"
Melodie laughs. "Okay, okay, not that, then. I just meant, you're a really well proportioned wolf. Hmm, full moon, if you guys want to, go ahead. I've got some stuff to do in a bit, but that'd be really cool. It's a whole new world!" She does not burst into Disney song, however.
Harper looks between them and shrugs, "Uh, the what? Oh wait..." she thinks about it for a bit and then shakes her head, "No, no clue."
Phoebe once again nods to Harper. She comes over to the cub and explains, "It's the spirit world. I know that might sound corny. But trust me, the reality of it is anything but. The way our people explain it is...something really bad happened a long time ago and it split the world in two. Separated our flesh and blood selves from our spiritual essence. Part of what we fight for is that balance--the balance that was lost in that sundering. One gift that Gaia's given to us, to help that, is the ability to move between the two separated worlds. This world that you grew up in, and the world of spirit. I can show you how to do that." With this last, she looks over to Rogue to include her as well.
Melodie backs Phoebe up, "It's really a magical place. Not a safe one, though, but it's best on full moons. I don't entirely understand it, but that's okay. It just is." She asides to Phoebe, "Try not to have too much excitement."
Harper considers this, "Is it gonna freak me out? Because I feel like I'm one wire shy of blowing a fuse." She looks toward the wolf as well, "And, honestly? /She/ makes me really nervous."
Rogue peels her lips briefly away from her teeth as Harper looks toward her, but Phoebe seems to have gained her direct, if cautious, interest.
April slips quietly back out from the house to rejoin the group in the courtyard. Nice and silent, she looks about from one to the other.
Phoebe spares a glance for Rogue, but it's Harper that has the majority of her attention. "When you you say freak out, what do you mean? Lose complete control, like in a frenzy, or just the colloquial "I can't handle this"? Because, yeah, the spirit world can definitely freak you out. Usually in a good way. But, like Mel said, it can be dangerous as well."
Melodie gives everyone a big thumbs up. "I'm sure you'll be fine. It's majestic and shit. Just do what Phoebe says. And if anything goes wrong, she's a bad-ass fighter, so it'll be super. I'm gonna go inside for a bit!" She then zips off, leaving the cubs in the hands of the Ahroun.
Harper shrugs, "I dunno. Mostly the second one. I just. I'm kinda up to here today, ya know?" A hand comes up to draw a line at her nose. As Mel departs, she gives a weak, finger-wiggled wave before turning back to the Ahroun. "Is it harder or easier than turning into a werewolf?"
Phoebe considers the question. "Probably harder," she answers. "But it all depends. Everyone's different. Some are more attuned to the spirit world than others. I forget. Did you answer what your auspice is?"
Rogue wrinkles her nose for a moment.
Moros opens the glass doors and enters the courtyard from the house.
Moros has arrived.
Harper frowns, "Sorry. I'm all shades of distracted just now. Uh, Ragabash." She seems more than a bit preoccupied by keeping an eye on the wolf as she converses with Phoebe. April's return hasn't caught her attention just yet.
April continues to stand quietly by the door, arms crossed, listening. her own eyes settle on the wolf cub in the courtyard. Taking that one across could provide all kinds of fun for the Theurge if she follows.
Phoebe's eyes remain on Harper as she speaks. "I get that she makes you nervous. But you gotta get past that. Like Mel said earlier, some of us are more...'physical' than others. But we're all sisters. Or at least you will be, when you're rited. So you need to learn to trust each other. I know that's a lot to ask. But you have to try, ok?" Her eyes shift from Harper to Rogue to include the wolf, again.
Rogue didn't do anything to you, the wolf tells Harper, her attitude somewhere between belligerent and defensive. She's lying at the edge of the courtyard, with her sketchbook (extra printed research pages stuffed into the binding) right in front of her. While she's prone, there's no mistaking how the moon is riding her. Even her usual, unpleasant demeanor doesn't quite match up to how the Rage is visible in every hair along her back. She looks at Phoebe. Show me.
Moros's arrival on the scene is not the least bit stealthy; his heavy bootsteps are easily heard coming from the house toward the courtyard, unhurried.
"You all be careful if you're really going to step across." April finally speaks up as she moves away from the steps and starts across the courtyard. "I'll be nearby if you end up needing me to come find you all."
Twitch opens the glass doors and enters the courtyard from the house.
Twitch has arrived.
"I already got stuck in the middle of a fight today. I just..." A heavy sigh follows, "I want to be where it's not so intense all the time, where people aren't glaring, and scowling, and shouting and hitting... or worse."
Harper: Mis-nameless would be me.
Phoebe glances at April as she speaks. Something in what the theurge says seems to touch a nerve with the ahroun. There's a frown, and she takes a few seconds to breath before returning her attention to Harper. "alright. I tell you what. Why don't you go have some alone time? The moon's too big to take chances. If ex still wants to go--and it looks like she does--then we'll do that. and I'll show you, later. Ok?"
Rogue pushes up. She starts to angle her head down, to snatch the sketchbook back up--the poor thing's cover has quite a few teethmarks in it--when Moros's heavy arrival causes her to pause, her ears swiveling.
Moros exits the house and pauses there, red eyes narrowed; he clearly wasn't expecting a crowd, even a small one such as this. He tips his head a bit to one side, considering things with a frown and furrowed brow.
April pauses to smile back at Phoebe and then towards Moros as he appears. That smile fades though as she looks back towards the still wolf cub and she quickly shifts herself down to her four legged form to start padding away once more.
Harper looks over to spot Moros and there's a look of tired exasperation suddenly upon her face. "It feels like a pot full of oil and popcorn kernals about to hit popping temperature and go nuts here. Am I the only one that /doesn't/ like that feeling?"
Phoebe spares a glance for April, but again her attention is quick to return to Harper. Quietly, she answers, "You get used to it." Left unsaid is the obvious caveat 'or you don't survive.'
Rogue scoops up her sketchbook and pads closer to both Phoebe and the entrance to the house, giving Moros no small amount of her attention. It's not actively hostile, which in this mood, under this moon, might well be the best she can manage.
Moros's surly, bloody gaze turns on Harper. "You are, without a doubt, the whiniest cub I have ever met," he says after a moment of staring at her.
Harper looks from Phoebe to Moros, head tilting and eyes blinking. "Whiny? I've done everything asked of me. I came here without really, any fuss, sat on my ass, listened to... a half dozen different people explain, basically, how shitty things are, and that we're angry, angry monsters that like to abuse each other even more than Hollywood suggests we abuse humanity. And because I don't think that sounds at all appealing, I'm whiny? Maybe you guys got it wrong letting kids sit in the dark until one day they pop. Because when everything they've come to love vanishes... well I'd say I have been /hardly/ whiny considering all that. You're a big brute." She points then to the wolf, "She's like the crazy emo kid at school who cuts herself, and tries to make everyone else hate themselves as much as she hates herself. April is a two faced bully, who likes to push people around, then try and get back on your goodside. OH! Oh sign me up, please."
Phoebe's gaze flashes to Moros, her expression showing at least mild irritation, but she does not in any way speak out or contradict him. In fact, the female ahroun simply listens to Harper's tirade rebuttal and waits to see Moros's reaction. She seems highly interested in both, eyes keen and narrowed.
Moros listens to Harper's rant with no sign of sympathy, and in fact as the cub goes on, his mood turns darker. And darker. His head lowers slightly, greasy hair sliding over his face. His nose scrunches, upper lip pulling away from his teeth in a growing snarl. Near the end, something seems to snap in the monster, the smoldering fury kindling into a sharp, bright rage -- a rage he chokes back with visible effort.
Shifting Briar heads out of the arched gateway onto the front lawn.
Shifting Briar has left.
Rogue, in comparison, does not choke it back. She violently spits out the sketchbook and lunges in Harper's direction, sliding back to homid as she goes in a shift that is probably the smoothest she's managed so far. Her human face, however, doesn't seem any less feral than her lupus one. "What the /fuck/ do you know about me? /Nothing/. I didn't do anything to you, so don't point at me, don't talk to me about hard things. Do you think /I/ like any of this?"
It doesn't take long for Harper to realize the mistake she likely just made. First it's Moros, whose reaction brings a noticable shiver to the cub that draws her two steps back. Her jaw tightens and juts up just a bit in that kind of forced bravery one sees in horror movies just before the girl decides to run through the cemetery. It's enough to make Ex's shift from lupus to homid (and subsequent charge) end up a complete blind side. A few more steps back follow, "You ... radiate... evil! Just like he does. That's all I know. And it's enough to know I don't like it here."
If anyone were paying attention to Phoebe, they might notice her keen eye on Moros dissolves into an expression akin to admiration. But it's there only a moment before the fostern ahroun steps between the two cubs. Her raspy voice rises sharply, loudly, hopefully loud enough to grab everyone's attention. "Alright, that's ENOUGH!" She uses her hands to make sure the two stay several feet apart, and her glare carries a power backed by her own considerable rage. If she manages to get everyone's attention, her tone returns to something more normal, with one exception: her next words come out more as commands than suggestions. "Harper, go into the house. Cool out. We'll talk later. The rest of you come with me."
Moros, fists clenched and teeth bared in a snarl, continues to ooze rage, looking very much like he wants to kill someone. Slowly, quickly, doesn't matter; his body language says that someone needs to _die_. At Phoebe's command, he snaps his head up, a few tendrils of greasy hair flying out of his face, and that murderous stare turns from the cub to the Fostern. He glares at her, eyes wide and round.
Where Moros oozes, Ex smolders. Her expression doesn't change at the declaration, but it doesn't ease either, and neither does she. Only Phoebe's intervention breaks her focus on Harper; she gives the Ahroun's arms a careful, measuring look, and her jaw tightens.
Harper is moved easily enough, and the command seems to suit her wishes just fine as she turns rather abruptly and hurries toward the house. The door is grabbed open as she rushes in, but is left to swing and sway shut on its own rather than being slammed. Acute ears would heard the stairs taken two at a time before, finally, a door is shut more intentionally within.
Phoebe's eyes meet Moros. The fostern tries to appear cool and in complete control, but any who shares her level of rage would notice the tightness and edginess in every muscle. She stares back at him, hopefully projecting authority rather than pure rage or challenge. She takes a step, and then another, her eyes never leaving Moros.
Moros seething, projecting nothing _but_ rage, holds the other Ahroun's stare for several long moments... and then he drops his gaze and looks away, turning his glower toward the house.
Ex pulls away from Phoebe and Moros, gloved hands clutching her arms, and turns to retrieve her sketchbook from the ground.
Phoebe, once the unofficial staredown is over, continues on out the back of the courtyard. She simply trusts that the others will follow. As soon as she hits the woods, the ahroun drops into lupus and moves gracefully through the underbrush.
----
Greek House: Courtyard(#2280RJh)
A walled-in Greco-Roman courtyard exists here in the clearing behind the house. The western side columns look new, the others freshly cleaned and repaired in patches. The courtyard is more or less open, in a sense, the columns creating more of a border than an actual wall. There are four arched gateways that provide entrance into the courtyard, one at each cardinal direction. Near the house, in the north-west corner, there is a small fountain that adds the soothing sound of water to a calm, almost serene atmosphere. The pond around the fountain contains a few waterplants along with a handful of orange-gold koi fish swim lazily about. Diagonally across from that, on the western side, is a statue of the "Winged Victory of Samothrace", more popularly known as the "Headless Nike." By the house is another statue, a copy of Michelangelo's David. This one has been modified by someone hacking off its... equipment. Fairly violently. There are three archery butts, set up at the far southern end of the courtyard, which look fairly new, though already show the signs of heavy use.
In one corner sits a collection of around twenty glass bottles, of varying shapes, sizes and colors - clear, green, amber, cobalt blue - all of them clean and with the labels removed.
Obvious exits:
Roof North Eastern Arch Gate Doorway
Rina ducks under a few stray vines and enters the courtyard from the front lawn.
Rina has arrived.
Rina's quiet, as she comes in; only the creak of leather and the sound of her boots on the grass and paving stones.
Ex has settled with her back to one of the pillars, flipping idly through some of the loose papers she's stuffed into her terribly abused sketchbook. While she doesn't look explosive, the Rage radiating from her is palpable; an unpleasant, smoldering thing just beneath her skin, waiting to come out.
The Kin is steady, calm, like a zone of deep serenity. Maybe she spent all day meditating, or something. "Hey, Ex," she offers quietly. "How you holdin' up?"
Ex offers only a half shrug in return, though she does glance up, very briefly. Fresh air doesn't appear to have done anything for the sheer feverishness of those ice blue eyes of hers.
"Can I see?" Rina asks, her voice soft.
Ex glances from Rina down to the papers. "It's just research," she says. Her voice is low. Muttered. Still, she offers up the first few sheets to Rina. They appear to be webpage printouts about 'Rape Culture', and various related topics (none of them fun reading, as one might expect).
"Research?" Rina murmurs. "Pretty grim stuff for the full moon..."
"Got it a few days ago," Ex replies, looking down at the papers again. "I wanted to know what it meant."
Rina tips her head, coming over to sit cross-legged on the ground to one side. "Got what?" she says quietly.
Ex answers by lifting the remaining papers, and dropping them back onto the book. There's a glimpse of what's under them; a drawing of some sort of black, coiling thing.
"Can I see?" the Kin asks, looking to Ex's face.
Ex's face tightens a little, but she shrugs. This time, the sketchbook is offered in Rina's direction, but she doesn't directly look at her.
Rina takes it gingerly, to look at the dark, swirling... what?
What lies underneath the printout pages becomes clear quite immediately. It's a dark, thorny vine, curling over both pages. On the first open page, it looks mostly like an average thorny vine, if somewhat stylized, and penciled in so darkly that it's practically black. It coils around the sides of the paper, then to the center, and then to the inner edge, and somewhere in there, as it transitions to the next page, it becomes...more. The thorns become larger, sharper, more deadly, and the vine itself is joined by many others. There's a werewolf in the middle of this mess on the second page, itself a vicious looking monster with no pupils and ravaging fangs and claws, being slowly throttled and torn apart by the monster vines. This, she's drawn in all its impressive, if very gory, detail.
"Did you see it, or dream it?" Rina asks quietly.
Ex shakes her head to both. "I just saw it in my head."
Rina looks across to her. "What's your auspice, did they do the math?"
Ex touches her tongue to her lower lip; she still isn't looking at Rina. "The Bitch said I was a dark moon, whatever that means."
"Nieve?" Rina asks quietly.
"Yeah," Ex says. "Her. She went into the spirit world or something."
Kavi has arrived.
Rina nods, sounding a little puzzled. "Who knows. She might be wrong, or something. It... wouldn't have been my guess." She edges a little closer.
"She said she asked a loon," Ex replies, looking dubious. The sketchbook is about 2/3rds filled, though it has certainly been abused. The cover is mud splattered, bent, a little torn, and there are clear teethmarks all over it.
"why're you reading all that rape stuff?" Rina asks, quietly.
Ex grunts. "Because it's research. The Furies do feminism and shit, when they aren't stupid assholes."
Rina's phone rings with the familiar sound she's chosen for Kavi's calls.
Wincing, Rina digs into her pocket to pick it up. "It's Kavi, you wanna say hi?" she asks, as she touches the screen to answer.
Ex jumps visibly at the ringing phone, then gives it a side-long, faintly suspicious look. "Hi," she says, a little above volume from her previous low mutter. Enthusiasm incarnate.
"Ex says hi," Rina offers. "W'sup?"
"Rina?" Kavi's voice comes from the other end, softening after she speaks. "Is everything...?"
Ex continues to eye the phone as she reaches up and scratches fiercely at one cheek scar with a gloved finger.
Rina switches off the speakerphone as he answers, and says, "Yeah, everything's fine... where are you?"
Kavi's voice is heard through the phone, still, though the words are indistinct.
"Yeah, I'm at the Fury place, everything is *fine*," Rina says easily. "I'll come by there? Are you on the bike?
Ex's frown deepens.
Rina nods. "Sure, love." She hangs up quickly, and offers Ex a reassuring smile. "He says he'll talk t'you more, soon. You want me to get outta here?"
Ex shakes her head. "You can be where you want."
"It might... help, reading about that stuff," Rina says quietly. "I better go, so he doesn't show up with April guarding the door."
"Okay." Ex nudges the papers with the toe of one shoe. "I've already read it anyway."
"They keeping you supplied with what you need, for the art?" Rina asks.
Ex doesn't look up. "Yeah."
"Aright. I'll come back in a week or two, when the moon's down a bit? Or sooner, if you want." Rina scoots back a little, and picks up helmet and gloves as she rises smoothly. "Okay?"
Ex picks up her sketchbook and papers again, and sets them on her lap. "Okay."
Rina flashes a swift smile--fond, whether it's seen or not--and adds, "Night."
Ex's only response is a quiet grunt. She doesn't look up.
A short while later, the motorcycle engine speeds off into the night.
Greek House: Courtyard(#2280RJh)
A walled-in Greco-Roman courtyard exists here in the clearing behind the house. The western side columns look new, the others freshly cleaned and repaired in patches. The courtyard is more or less open, in a sense, the columns creating more of a border than an actual wall. There are four arched gateways that provide entrance into the courtyard, one at each cardinal direction. Near the house, in the north-west corner, there is a small fountain that adds the soothing sound of water to a calm, almost serene atmosphere. The pond around the fountain contains a few waterplants along with a handful of orange-gold koi fish swim lazily about. Diagonally across from that, on the western side, is a statue of the "Winged Victory of Samothrace", more popularly known as the "Headless Nike." By the house is another statue, a copy of Michelangelo's David. This one has been modified by someone hacking off its... equipment. Fairly violently. There are three archery butts, set up at the far southern end of the courtyard, which look fairly new, though already show the signs of heavy use.
In one corner sits a collection of around twenty glass bottles, of varying shapes, sizes and colors - clear, green, amber, cobalt blue - all of them clean and with the labels removed.
Contents:
Melodie
April
Harper
Obvious exits:
Roof North Eastern Arch Gate Doorway
A new face among a familiar one brings a pause to the wolf cub. There's tension in her haunches as her ears flatten to the sides. A high pitched whine follows as the cub drops herself to her belly, panting and, from the looks of it, trying to calm herself enough to shift. Full moon. Angry. Fight. A frustrated snort follows.
Melodie is doing a handstand on a makeshift balance beam. At this point, though, she lowers herself down to a seated position on the beam instead. "Oh, right, Harper! A pleasure to meet you, I'm Melodie Rodriguez, also called Shrouded Arrow. I'm in charge around here these days. I'm not sure how it happened, but here I am!" She flashes a smile. "Always glad to see more of my family around."
April watches Harper closely for the moment as Melodie introduces herself. "Whatever has you riled, just remember, deep and slow breaths. Concentrate." she states towards the wolf, voice quiet for the most part.
Harper licks at her nose, flickers an ear and offers another snort. The effort and concentration is there, and so, with the encouragement from the others, and with a lack of any tension in the area, the wolf begins to transform. It's slow, but without any major hiccups, and then, there is the red-haired girl wearing baggy sweats and a tee. A hand comes up to her forehead where she rubs it, and without much fire admits, "This sucks."
Melodie nods slightly. "But you got it. It's a pain at first, the transforming, and dealing with the full moon especially, but you get used to it. Some months are worse than others. I guess that's a familiar sentiment, huh?" She grins wryly. "I promise you, there is some good parts to all of this, eventually."
Speaking of a lack of tension; that doesn't last. Shortly after Harper shifts, another wolf arrives, black furred but still showing distinct, precise scarring. A battered sketchbook is clutched in her mouth, along with a sheaf of loose, printed paper that has been stuffed into the sketchbook's binding. Temper slides in with her; there are roils of it in the movement of her shoulders and all down her back, waves of quiet, murderous anger that are damn near visible, and quite tangible. There's nothing pleasant about Rogue, today.
April steps forward once the wolf becomes the girl and takes a moment to walk slowly around her. When she's behind her, she looks off the way Harper came from before frowning as the second wolf comes into the courtyard. "Everything alright, Harper?"
Harper shrugs. "I was at the other house. Sue was there. And this kid showed up, dreadlocks, smoking up a fat doobie. Sue told him not to smoke it in the house. He got all jerky. So Sue dumped water on him... out of nowhere. Then the kid went all big ugly and ... it went downhill from there fast. Then some chick showed up and she was /pissed/ and chased us outta the house. And so I came here." Then she glances over to the other wolf, and the hyper-story-dumping comes to a stop as she watches the scarred creature move.
Melodie watches Rogue come in, with more attention than she seems to give Harper's story. "Hi, Rogue. This is a safe place, remember. There's a punching bag in the basement if the moon's really getting to you." She turns back to Harper. "That sounds frightening. I mean, things like this happen sometimes. We've all got a temper. It's better, if you can, to not be the one pushing someone when he's having a bad day. Smart to just leave and let someone else deal with the mess."
Rogue stares at April for a long moment, but Melodie's words have her eyes and one ear flicking toward the elder. Okay. She settles at the edge of the courtyard, dropping first into a stiff sit, and then sliding onto her belly. The sketchbook she spits out between her paws.
April watches the wolf with a small glare until she settles before looking back to Harper. "You did well, Harper." she states as she seems to all but ignore the other wolf now and heads back towards the steps to the house.
Harper shakes her head, "Things happened so fast. I ended up in the big form... trying to stop them from being stupid? It just sorta happened, it wasn't like I though, Oh hey, Ima do this. It just happened. And that kinda freaked me out too. But now I dunno how it sorted out back there, and I feel bad for just running off too."
Melodie looks relieved that Rogue is settling down, and focuses more of her attention on Harper. "Yeah, it can just sort of hit you. There's no shame in it, though it's important to learn how to hold yourself back. Which it sounds like you did, so good. I like Sue, he's got a good heart, but he, well, has a lot to learn about owning his own life." She seems unsatisfied with her words on that last bit.
Rogue's ears twist back, but her own, violently blue gaze returns that glare, in a wolf-ish sort of way, until a little while after April has turned toward the steps.
April doesn't turn back to towards the others until she's back on the steps. "Just wait until Luna hides her face again, Harper. Perhaps we'll go for a small trip those days and let you fully experience the rage that flows through you, out in the middle of no where, where you cannot hurt anyone or anything." Her eyes slide back towards the still wolf. "How are your ribs?"
Harper looks between the two women in human form, and then the wolf again. After a moment of thoughtful consideration, she moves to join April on the steps, giving a slight nod. "Yeah. I guess. Maybe." A sigh escapes and then she perks up, "Oh. Sue asked me some stuff the other day, about my family. Said that he would have someone look into if they were related to this stuff or not, right? And he said that my aunt and uncle are kin. Or so he's heard. Children of Gaian he said, and..." she frowns. "I'd have learned more except for that pothead walking in."
Melodie looks between Rogue and April, and furrows her brows, before shaking it off. "Mmm. Yeah, that'd be good to know. My first pack was with a bunch of Children of Gaia, I'm quite fond of them. It's not who I am, but they're good folk. But, you look like a Fury to me. A lot more than I do!" She giggles a little.
Rogue's ears lift as she's addressed. Nothing about her rage heightens--it remains at dangerously smoldering levels--but her response is almost off-hand. How is your nose?
April smirks a little towards the wolf before looking towards Melodie and that giggle. "If what she says is true, do you think we should allow a supervised visit back to her family for a day?"
"Yeah I didn't get to hear much more about them, the Children people, or, more about the Furies. But he said the same, that there is no way I'm not Fury. But, stupid full moon stupidness. And given how things went today, I get the reason why we don't want me hanging with them just yet." This admission brings that cheerful mood down a notch, and it lands her attention back on the surly wolf.
Melodie suddenly tenses up. "April. What's up between you and Rogue over here? 'Cause she's been giving you the eye ever since she got here, and this is gonna get ugly in a minute, I'm guessing." She looks down from her perch on the balance beam, disapprovingly.
Phoebe opens the glass doors and enters the courtyard from the house.
Phoebe has arrived.
Indeed, there's a telltale ripple in the fur along Rogue's back, the only change visible with her even in this form. Her left ear flicks toward Melodie, but she doesn't take her eyes off of April.
April looks back towards the wolf and gives a small sigh. "The cub got snippy the other day, punched me in the face even." she answers Melodie. "Bad thing to do on my moon and I struck back. She's been a bit of a nuisance."
Harper looks from wolf to April and back, suddenly looking rather torn about something. And yet the moon is heavy on her too, and the exhaustion of todays events pulls at the last strands of her patience. "Seriously? Is this all we do? Run around and be ... aggressive and stupid and punchy?"
The door to the house slides open and Phoebe slips out. She's quick to close it behind her. Seeing the crowd, the ahroun manages a little smile. "Oh hey. We having a meeting? I missed the memo."
Melodie takes a deep breath. "Yeah, um, okay. Well, we're a physical bunch sometimes, there's no doubt, but." She looks down for a moment, and then back up. "We're trying to build up trust here, so let's try and keep it to a minimum, si?" She turns her gaze to Rogue, more confidently. "And you, you're a big girl, and we're treating you like it. That means sometimes letting the little things go. We're werewolves, we're gonna hit each other sometimes. But someday, you're going to find yourself looking at something a lot less nice than April here, and she'll have your back. So try not to hate her too much until then." She looks tiredly at Phoebe. "Oh, hi. I guess sort of. Tell Harper something cool that we do?" Delegation, the true test of leadership.
Rogue rumbles in the back of her throat. She doesn't hate the other Bitch. The Other Bitch said blue-hair was bad at teaching. Blue-hair taught her how to hit, so she hit The Other Bitch to show her.
"no, I said you needed to be taught better. there is a distinct better, which you are showing right now." April replies before turning her back upon the wolf and looking towards Phoebe as she joins the group. "While you're at it, we need a good name for Harper as well."
Harper stands up and takes a couple steps away from April in a thoughtful pace, one hand rubbing at her hair and the other propped on her hip. "A name. Yeah. That's what I need." This bit comes off with some tired sarcasm.
Phoebe listens to Mel and looks first between Ex and April, only turning to Harper after silently assessing the mood of the courtyard. "Hey," she greets. "Sorry, I can't remember if we've met before. Lots of new faces around here right now. I'm Phoe. Life On the Line. Ahroun." Again the ahroun glances to April, then echoes, "A good name? You mean like a deedname?"
Melodie can't help but smile a little at Rogue's logic. "Well, at this point, I'll take not hating. It's a start." She nods at Phoebe, "Yeah, a cub name is fun! But they come when they come, I guess. When I was a cub, they called me Ankle Biter." A toothy grin. "I kind of miss that."
Rogue agrees that she /is/ better, yes. Her blunted claws dig at the stonework of the courtyard.
April smiles and nods, "Yea, a cub name." she looks towards Melodie then. "If you want, I'm sure a lot of us will be willing to call you that still." she offers before moving towards the door inside. "I'll be back in a little bit."
Harper looks to April, then to the wolf and finally back to Phoebe, "Hey. Harper. New here. Kinda flustered just now, so sorry if I'm not my usual hyper self."
Phoebe grins at Mel. "I can call you ankle biter, if you want," she teases, lightly and in time with April. She then turns back to Harper. "KL called me Pride when I was a cub. I guess I was kind of a teacher's pet, you might say. How are you at taking the wolf? we might start there. See if you have any distinguishing marks or anything. Oh, and, auspice?"
Melodie giggles. "No, those days are behind me now. I've got to be all respectable and shit." Says the girl who was upside down not long ago. "If you just want to describe her wolf form, you could go with Black Beauty." She says that completely seriously.
Rogue rests her muzzle on her paws, still, occasionally, rumbling in quiet discontent.
"Black Beauty? Uh, that was the name of a horse, that went through a really big list of really crappy things. I don't think I'd wanna be referred to as a horse. Or, for that matter, a slur for want ads." Harper shakes her head, "I'm ... not /great/ with the other forms. I can get there, but it still wigs me out a bit, and takes forever."
Phoebe's expression suggests sympathy. She offers Harper a small smile and a slight nod. "Ok. Well, the first thing I'd recommend is not worrying about it. A name will come, eventually. Why don't we start with something else? Mel said I should tell you something cool. So. Hrm." She glances at the surly Rogue and her thoughtful expression deepens. "We /could/ practice at something. If not forms, how about crossing the gauntlet? Ex here hasn't ever been. Have you?"
Melodie laughs. "Okay, okay, not that, then. I just meant, you're a really well proportioned wolf. Hmm, full moon, if you guys want to, go ahead. I've got some stuff to do in a bit, but that'd be really cool. It's a whole new world!" She does not burst into Disney song, however.
Harper looks between them and shrugs, "Uh, the what? Oh wait..." she thinks about it for a bit and then shakes her head, "No, no clue."
Phoebe once again nods to Harper. She comes over to the cub and explains, "It's the spirit world. I know that might sound corny. But trust me, the reality of it is anything but. The way our people explain it is...something really bad happened a long time ago and it split the world in two. Separated our flesh and blood selves from our spiritual essence. Part of what we fight for is that balance--the balance that was lost in that sundering. One gift that Gaia's given to us, to help that, is the ability to move between the two separated worlds. This world that you grew up in, and the world of spirit. I can show you how to do that." With this last, she looks over to Rogue to include her as well.
Melodie backs Phoebe up, "It's really a magical place. Not a safe one, though, but it's best on full moons. I don't entirely understand it, but that's okay. It just is." She asides to Phoebe, "Try not to have too much excitement."
Harper considers this, "Is it gonna freak me out? Because I feel like I'm one wire shy of blowing a fuse." She looks toward the wolf as well, "And, honestly? /She/ makes me really nervous."
Rogue peels her lips briefly away from her teeth as Harper looks toward her, but Phoebe seems to have gained her direct, if cautious, interest.
April slips quietly back out from the house to rejoin the group in the courtyard. Nice and silent, she looks about from one to the other.
Phoebe spares a glance for Rogue, but it's Harper that has the majority of her attention. "When you you say freak out, what do you mean? Lose complete control, like in a frenzy, or just the colloquial "I can't handle this"? Because, yeah, the spirit world can definitely freak you out. Usually in a good way. But, like Mel said, it can be dangerous as well."
Melodie gives everyone a big thumbs up. "I'm sure you'll be fine. It's majestic and shit. Just do what Phoebe says. And if anything goes wrong, she's a bad-ass fighter, so it'll be super. I'm gonna go inside for a bit!" She then zips off, leaving the cubs in the hands of the Ahroun.
Harper shrugs, "I dunno. Mostly the second one. I just. I'm kinda up to here today, ya know?" A hand comes up to draw a line at her nose. As Mel departs, she gives a weak, finger-wiggled wave before turning back to the Ahroun. "Is it harder or easier than turning into a werewolf?"
Phoebe considers the question. "Probably harder," she answers. "But it all depends. Everyone's different. Some are more attuned to the spirit world than others. I forget. Did you answer what your auspice is?"
Rogue wrinkles her nose for a moment.
Moros opens the glass doors and enters the courtyard from the house.
Moros has arrived.
Harper frowns, "Sorry. I'm all shades of distracted just now. Uh, Ragabash." She seems more than a bit preoccupied by keeping an eye on the wolf as she converses with Phoebe. April's return hasn't caught her attention just yet.
April continues to stand quietly by the door, arms crossed, listening. her own eyes settle on the wolf cub in the courtyard. Taking that one across could provide all kinds of fun for the Theurge if she follows.
Phoebe's eyes remain on Harper as she speaks. "I get that she makes you nervous. But you gotta get past that. Like Mel said earlier, some of us are more...'physical' than others. But we're all sisters. Or at least you will be, when you're rited. So you need to learn to trust each other. I know that's a lot to ask. But you have to try, ok?" Her eyes shift from Harper to Rogue to include the wolf, again.
Rogue didn't do anything to you, the wolf tells Harper, her attitude somewhere between belligerent and defensive. She's lying at the edge of the courtyard, with her sketchbook (extra printed research pages stuffed into the binding) right in front of her. While she's prone, there's no mistaking how the moon is riding her. Even her usual, unpleasant demeanor doesn't quite match up to how the Rage is visible in every hair along her back. She looks at Phoebe. Show me.
Moros's arrival on the scene is not the least bit stealthy; his heavy bootsteps are easily heard coming from the house toward the courtyard, unhurried.
"You all be careful if you're really going to step across." April finally speaks up as she moves away from the steps and starts across the courtyard. "I'll be nearby if you end up needing me to come find you all."
Twitch opens the glass doors and enters the courtyard from the house.
Twitch has arrived.
"I already got stuck in the middle of a fight today. I just..." A heavy sigh follows, "I want to be where it's not so intense all the time, where people aren't glaring, and scowling, and shouting and hitting... or worse."
Phoebe glances at April as she speaks. Something in what the theurge says seems to touch a nerve with the ahroun. There's a frown, and she takes a few seconds to breath before returning her attention to Harper. "alright. I tell you what. Why don't you go have some alone time? The moon's too big to take chances. If ex still wants to go--and it looks like she does--then we'll do that. and I'll show you, later. Ok?"
Rogue pushes up. She starts to angle her head down, to snatch the sketchbook back up--the poor thing's cover has quite a few teethmarks in it--when Moros's heavy arrival causes her to pause, her ears swiveling.
Moros exits the house and pauses there, red eyes narrowed; he clearly wasn't expecting a crowd, even a small one such as this. He tips his head a bit to one side, considering things with a frown and furrowed brow.
April pauses to smile back at Phoebe and then towards Moros as he appears. That smile fades though as she looks back towards the still wolf cub and she quickly shifts herself down to her four legged form to start padding away once more.
Harper looks over to spot Moros and there's a look of tired exasperation suddenly upon her face. "It feels like a pot full of oil and popcorn kernals about to hit popping temperature and go nuts here. Am I the only one that /doesn't/ like that feeling?"
Phoebe spares a glance for April, but again her attention is quick to return to Harper. Quietly, she answers, "You get used to it." Left unsaid is the obvious caveat 'or you don't survive.'
Rogue scoops up her sketchbook and pads closer to both Phoebe and the entrance to the house, giving Moros no small amount of her attention. It's not actively hostile, which in this mood, under this moon, might well be the best she can manage.
Moros's surly, bloody gaze turns on Harper. "You are, without a doubt, the whiniest cub I have ever met," he says after a moment of staring at her.
Harper looks from Phoebe to Moros, head tilting and eyes blinking. "Whiny? I've done everything asked of me. I came here without really, any fuss, sat on my ass, listened to... a half dozen different people explain, basically, how shitty things are, and that we're angry, angry monsters that like to abuse each other even more than Hollywood suggests we abuse humanity. And because I don't think that sounds at all appealing, I'm whiny? Maybe you guys got it wrong letting kids sit in the dark until one day they pop. Because when everything they've come to love vanishes... well I'd say I have been /hardly/ whiny considering all that. You're a big brute." She points then to the wolf, "She's like the crazy emo kid at school who cuts herself, and tries to make everyone else hate themselves as much as she hates herself. April is a two faced bully, who likes to push people around, then try and get back on your goodside. OH! Oh sign me up, please."
Phoebe's gaze flashes to Moros, her expression showing at least mild irritation, but she does not in any way speak out or contradict him. In fact, the female ahroun simply listens to Harper's tirade rebuttal and waits to see Moros's reaction. She seems highly interested in both, eyes keen and narrowed.
Moros listens to Harper's rant with no sign of sympathy, and in fact as the cub goes on, his mood turns darker. And darker. His head lowers slightly, greasy hair sliding over his face. His nose scrunches, upper lip pulling away from his teeth in a growing snarl. Near the end, something seems to snap in the monster, the smoldering fury kindling into a sharp, bright rage -- a rage he chokes back with visible effort.
Shifting Briar heads out of the arched gateway onto the front lawn.
Shifting Briar has left.
Rogue, in comparison, does not choke it back. She violently spits out the sketchbook and lunges in Harper's direction, sliding back to homid as she goes in a shift that is probably the smoothest she's managed so far. Her human face, however, doesn't seem any less feral than her lupus one. "What the /fuck/ do you know about me? /Nothing/. I didn't do anything to you, so don't point at me, don't talk to me about hard things. Do you think /I/ like any of this?"
It doesn't take long for Harper to realize the mistake she likely just made. First it's Moros, whose reaction brings a noticable shiver to the cub that draws her two steps back. Her jaw tightens and juts up just a bit in that kind of forced bravery one sees in horror movies just before the girl decides to run through the cemetery. It's enough to make Ex's shift from lupus to homid (and subsequent charge) end up a complete blind side. A few more steps back follow, "You ... radiate... evil! Just like he does. That's all I know. And it's enough to know I don't like it here."
If anyone were paying attention to Phoebe, they might notice her keen eye on Moros dissolves into an expression akin to admiration. But it's there only a moment before the fostern ahroun steps between the two cubs. Her raspy voice rises sharply, loudly, hopefully loud enough to grab everyone's attention. "Alright, that's ENOUGH!" She uses her hands to make sure the two stay several feet apart, and her glare carries a power backed by her own considerable rage. If she manages to get everyone's attention, her tone returns to something more normal, with one exception: her next words come out more as commands than suggestions. "Harper, go into the house. Cool out. We'll talk later. The rest of you come with me."
Moros, fists clenched and teeth bared in a snarl, continues to ooze rage, looking very much like he wants to kill someone. Slowly, quickly, doesn't matter; his body language says that someone needs to _die_. At Phoebe's command, he snaps his head up, a few tendrils of greasy hair flying out of his face, and that murderous stare turns from the cub to the Fostern. He glares at her, eyes wide and round.
Where Moros oozes, Ex smolders. Her expression doesn't change at the declaration, but it doesn't ease either, and neither does she. Only Phoebe's intervention breaks her focus on Harper; she gives the Ahroun's arms a careful, measuring look, and her jaw tightens.
Harper is moved easily enough, and the command seems to suit her wishes just fine as she turns rather abruptly and hurries toward the house. The door is grabbed open as she rushes in, but is left to swing and sway shut on its own rather than being slammed. Acute ears would heard the stairs taken two at a time before, finally, a door is shut more intentionally within.
Phoebe's eyes meet Moros. The fostern tries to appear cool and in complete control, but any who shares her level of rage would notice the tightness and edginess in every muscle. She stares back at him, hopefully projecting authority rather than pure rage or challenge. She takes a step, and then another, her eyes never leaving Moros.
Moros seething, projecting nothing _but_ rage, holds the other Ahroun's stare for several long moments... and then he drops his gaze and looks away, turning his glower toward the house.
Ex pulls away from Phoebe and Moros, gloved hands clutching her arms, and turns to retrieve her sketchbook from the ground.
Phoebe, once the unofficial staredown is over, continues on out the back of the courtyard. She simply trusts that the others will follow. As soon as she hits the woods, the ahroun drops into lupus and moves gracefully through the underbrush.
----
Greek House: Courtyard(#2280RJh)
A walled-in Greco-Roman courtyard exists here in the clearing behind the house. The western side columns look new, the others freshly cleaned and repaired in patches. The courtyard is more or less open, in a sense, the columns creating more of a border than an actual wall. There are four arched gateways that provide entrance into the courtyard, one at each cardinal direction. Near the house, in the north-west corner, there is a small fountain that adds the soothing sound of water to a calm, almost serene atmosphere. The pond around the fountain contains a few waterplants along with a handful of orange-gold koi fish swim lazily about. Diagonally across from that, on the western side, is a statue of the "Winged Victory of Samothrace", more popularly known as the "Headless Nike." By the house is another statue, a copy of Michelangelo's David. This one has been modified by someone hacking off its... equipment. Fairly violently. There are three archery butts, set up at the far southern end of the courtyard, which look fairly new, though already show the signs of heavy use.
In one corner sits a collection of around twenty glass bottles, of varying shapes, sizes and colors - clear, green, amber, cobalt blue - all of them clean and with the labels removed.
Obvious exits:
Roof North Eastern Arch Gate Doorway
Rina ducks under a few stray vines and enters the courtyard from the front lawn.
Rina has arrived.
Rina's quiet, as she comes in; only the creak of leather and the sound of her boots on the grass and paving stones.
Ex has settled with her back to one of the pillars, flipping idly through some of the loose papers she's stuffed into her terribly abused sketchbook. While she doesn't look explosive, the Rage radiating from her is palpable; an unpleasant, smoldering thing just beneath her skin, waiting to come out.
The Kin is steady, calm, like a zone of deep serenity. Maybe she spent all day meditating, or something. "Hey, Ex," she offers quietly. "How you holdin' up?"
Ex offers only a half shrug in return, though she does glance up, very briefly. Fresh air doesn't appear to have done anything for the sheer feverishness of those ice blue eyes of hers.
"Can I see?" Rina asks, her voice soft.
Ex glances from Rina down to the papers. "It's just research," she says. Her voice is low. Muttered. Still, she offers up the first few sheets to Rina. They appear to be webpage printouts about 'Rape Culture', and various related topics (none of them fun reading, as one might expect).
"Research?" Rina murmurs. "Pretty grim stuff for the full moon..."
"Got it a few days ago," Ex replies, looking down at the papers again. "I wanted to know what it meant."
Rina tips her head, coming over to sit cross-legged on the ground to one side. "Got what?" she says quietly.
Ex answers by lifting the remaining papers, and dropping them back onto the book. There's a glimpse of what's under them; a drawing of some sort of black, coiling thing.
"Can I see?" the Kin asks, looking to Ex's face.
Ex's face tightens a little, but she shrugs. This time, the sketchbook is offered in Rina's direction, but she doesn't directly look at her.
Rina takes it gingerly, to look at the dark, swirling... what?
What lies underneath the printout pages becomes clear quite immediately. It's a dark, thorny vine, curling over both pages. On the first open page, it looks mostly like an average thorny vine, if somewhat stylized, and penciled in so darkly that it's practically black. It coils around the sides of the paper, then to the center, and then to the inner edge, and somewhere in there, as it transitions to the next page, it becomes...more. The thorns become larger, sharper, more deadly, and the vine itself is joined by many others. There's a werewolf in the middle of this mess on the second page, itself a vicious looking monster with no pupils and ravaging fangs and claws, being slowly throttled and torn apart by the monster vines. This, she's drawn in all its impressive, if very gory, detail.
"Did you see it, or dream it?" Rina asks quietly.
Ex shakes her head to both. "I just saw it in my head."
Rina looks across to her. "What's your auspice, did they do the math?"
Ex touches her tongue to her lower lip; she still isn't looking at Rina. "The Bitch said I was a dark moon, whatever that means."
"Nieve?" Rina asks quietly.
"Yeah," Ex says. "Her. She went into the spirit world or something."
Kavi has arrived.
Rina nods, sounding a little puzzled. "Who knows. She might be wrong, or something. It... wouldn't have been my guess." She edges a little closer.
"She said she asked a loon," Ex replies, looking dubious. The sketchbook is about 2/3rds filled, though it has certainly been abused. The cover is mud splattered, bent, a little torn, and there are clear teethmarks all over it.
"why're you reading all that rape stuff?" Rina asks, quietly.
Ex grunts. "Because it's research. The Furies do feminism and shit, when they aren't stupid assholes."
Rina's phone rings with the familiar sound she's chosen for Kavi's calls.
Wincing, Rina digs into her pocket to pick it up. "It's Kavi, you wanna say hi?" she asks, as she touches the screen to answer.
Ex jumps visibly at the ringing phone, then gives it a side-long, faintly suspicious look. "Hi," she says, a little above volume from her previous low mutter. Enthusiasm incarnate.
"Ex says hi," Rina offers. "W'sup?"
"Rina?" Kavi's voice comes from the other end, softening after she speaks. "Is everything...?"
Ex continues to eye the phone as she reaches up and scratches fiercely at one cheek scar with a gloved finger.
Rina switches off the speakerphone as he answers, and says, "Yeah, everything's fine... where are you?"
Kavi's voice is heard through the phone, still, though the words are indistinct.
"Yeah, I'm at the Fury place, everything is *fine*," Rina says easily. "I'll come by there? Are you on the bike?
Ex's frown deepens.
Rina nods. "Sure, love." She hangs up quickly, and offers Ex a reassuring smile. "He says he'll talk t'you more, soon. You want me to get outta here?"
Ex shakes her head. "You can be where you want."
"It might... help, reading about that stuff," Rina says quietly. "I better go, so he doesn't show up with April guarding the door."
"Okay." Ex nudges the papers with the toe of one shoe. "I've already read it anyway."
"They keeping you supplied with what you need, for the art?" Rina asks.
Ex doesn't look up. "Yeah."
"Aright. I'll come back in a week or two, when the moon's down a bit? Or sooner, if you want." Rina scoots back a little, and picks up helmet and gloves as she rises smoothly. "Okay?"
Ex picks up her sketchbook and papers again, and sets them on her lap. "Okay."
Rina flashes a swift smile--fond, whether it's seen or not--and adds, "Night."
Ex's only response is a quiet grunt. She doesn't look up.
A short while later, the motorcycle engine speeds off into the night.
