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renferretPhoebe reunites with KL. Friendly (and then unfriendly) violence ensues.
Greek House: Common Area(#2409RAJ$)
This is the central hub of the house. From here, you can still see the entrance foyer to the west, as well as the stairway that heads to the second story. Towards the eastern side of the common area is a set of glass doors that lead out to a courtyard. To the north, an arched doorway leads to what apparently serves as a less formal lounge, with a couch and an armchair, and to the south, an arched doorway leads to what appears to be a kitchen and dining area.
There are several chairs here, simple, elegant, yet functional in their design and intent. The room has a comfortable feel to it, but is a bit ascetic in design. The walls are off-white, the molding dark cherry wood and decorated with acanthus-leaf ornamentation at the corners. A pair of antique spears are hung crossed against each other on one wall, and a wall-relief depicting a scene of Grecian warriors hangs on the other. Above the mantle of the fireplace is a small statue of Artemis, on either side of that, dark metal candlesticks with ivory pillar candles. The entire room is a study in the contrast of light and dark.
Contents:
Kathryn-Laura
Moros
Phoebe
Sue
Wallchart
Obvious exits:
Downstairs Upstairs Courtyard Out
KL blinks, slowly, and then focuses on Phoebe, a smile slowly cracking the fierce facade. "Hi," she says. "Miss me?" She looks over at Sue. "Hi, again," she says, before slowly returning to Moros. "I'm KL," she says, a hint of tension creeping back in.
The adren's smile has a way of completely disarming the younger Fury ahroun. But when KL asks if she's missed, Phoebe very stubbornly replies, "No." She refrains from saying anything else, though, until Moros has a chance to introduce himself.
Sue moves over to lean against a nearby wall, watching this entire thing from a safe distance. Or perhaps not watching at all, because Sue very soon turns around and paces in a different direction entirely.
"Moros," says the monster. His fingers twitch at his sides. There's a beat before he adds the rest. "Metis Ahroun of the Black Furies."
"KL Cole, Adren Ahroun..." Her voice trails off, and she blinks, looks at Phoebe for a second and then turns and closes the door surprisingly quietly. She stops, and takes a deep breath, and then turns back. "No?" she asks, her voice almost a whisper.
Rogue appears at the back glass door, limping from a nasty looking wound on one back leg, and looking very, very sleepy. She gives a wide, tongue curling yawn before jamming her nose up against the space between door and doorframe in an attempt to shove it open. Even in this form, those strange precise scars are visible, which makes the new injury; not precise at all, and certainly not subtle, stand out all the more.
Phoebe practically scowls. Clearly there's a war raging in the still-not-quite-beyond-teenager. Half of her wants to launch herself at the adren for a hug, and the other half stubbornly wants to punch her. "Maybe," she finally, grudgingly admits.
Sue turns in pacing to see Rogue trying to get in, and the halfmoon turns his pacing that way, sliding the door open with a look that suggests he wants to bolt to /outside/.
Moros is distracted from watching KL and Phoebe by Rogue's arrival. With a snarling twitch of nose and lips, he turns away from the pair of Furies toward the scarred and wounded cub.
KL slowly peels off her leather jacket, revealing a vest top beneath. She sets it down just by the door, alongside her helmet, not really shifting her attention away from Phoebe. "Here? Outside? Downstairs?" she asks.
The response catches Phoebe off-guard, again. And yet she's quick to respond, once it's given. "Outside," she answers, suddenly grinning like it's Christmas.
Rogue twists her ears back, and backpedals several steps, first at Sue, and then when she spies Moros approaching. She looks suddenly very unsure.
Sue grumbles a moment and backs away from the door, and Ex, himself, except that for the metis, backing up means tripping and falling. The hiking pole goes a good ten, fifteen feet off to his left, and Sue winces at something in the way he's landed, the arm that he fell on out in a decidedly unnatural angle.
Moros pulls up short to just kind of _look_ at Sue, brow furrowed. After a moment, he shakes his head and steps around him and toward Rogue. "Heard you killed some Wyrm last night," he says, eyeballing the cub.
KL walks over to Sue, frowning slightly, and offers a hand. "OK?" she asks him, slightly distractedly. She glances up at Phoebe, that smile threatening to twitch her lips, but not quite managing to make it.
Phoebe gives the sprawled metis a look as well, as if she wants to be as concerned as KL. But there's something in the younger Fury that won't let her. Something hungry, and eager. And after the cursory look, she continues out to the courtyard, pushing past both Moros and Rogue to get there.
Rogue stares at Sue, baffled, then backs up a few more steps for good measure (or, perhaps, to give Moros and the others room to get outside into the courtyard). She looks up at Moros and runs her tongue over her whiskers. Dogs. /Big/ dogs. Life-On-The-Line killed one too.
Sue nods and manages to sit up, but the hand is viewed as though Sue doesn't actually quite know what to /do/ with it, and Sue does /not/ look directly at KL. Or at anyone, really.
Moros bares his teeth in an unpleasant grin down at Rogue. "How'd it feel?" he asks the cub.
KL withdraws the hand, a little disappointedly, then turns away from Sue and heads out into the courtyard behind Phoebe, sliding gracefully past the bulk of Moros. Once out there, she looks up for a moment, then moves purposefully out into the centre of the space, just stretching her arms lightly.
Phoebe, out in the open space before KL, did a little stretching as well. There was also a little hyper, eager hopping. Once KL arrives, there's no more waiting, no circling and looking for the best opening, the ahroun goes straight at her. This is, without a doubt, doomed to be a quick fight. Phoebe had spent the entire night out patroling, culminating in a fight that took half her rage and earned her a minor if annoying wound. KL is fresh, and (apparently) rested. And, to top it off, Phoebe is using no defenses at all. This is pure Fury. All out, immediate. And despite that, the adren may be surprised by how well the younger ahroun fights.
Rogue takes a few moments to consider this. She has questions, she answers, eventually. It felt good. She felt powerful. The dog died /fast/.
The younger metis continues to watch KL for a moment more as she walks away, throat bared and clearly puzzled, before he shifts to lupus. He darts for the door, around Moros, around Ex, and finally settles in the grass by the fountain. All too happy to be /outside/ now.
Moros gives Rogue an approvingly savage grin. "Good. It's a shame you're not an Ahroun. But Ragabash can kill, too..." He trails off, distracted by the start of a brawl between Phoebe and KL.
KL doesn't seem particularly surprised by the early attack, but she is mildly surprised by the speed and ferocity of it. It's been a long while since she fought Phoebe, and, perhaps, she was still expecting her to be the same. It's clear she isn't. But KL is breathtakingly, supernaturally, quick, and has the advantage of experience. She spends the first few seconds of the fight just evading, swaying out of the way, her feet dancing on the stone slabs that pave the courtyard. But not without taking a couple of blows, one that snaps her head back violently. And then she counter attacks, in a style that is half-liquid grace, half-blatant showing off, spinning, and flipping off one hand into a two-footed attack aimed at the younger Ahroun's head.
Rogue jitters away from Sue, eyeing him carefully, and with faintly bared teeth. She's distracted again by the fight, and both KL and Phoebe get a lupine stare of interest, right up until a few blows land. She actually jerks toward them at the noise.
Stands-Between settles in the grass and lays down, attention wholly on watching the two female Ahroun fight, and with some apparent interest for a moment. And then the halfmoon seems to go back to whatever thinking he had been doing earlier.
Phoebe winds up on the ground, briefly stunned and shaking her head to clear spiders, cobwebs and stars. She takes a few seconds to catch her breath, but that's all, and then it starts over again. Somewhere in the middle of that melee, Phoebe actually laughs--bright, and happy for about the first time in months. The younger ahroun is fast--just not quite as fast as the adren. Everything she does is just a shade too slow. But one unexpected combination lands quite successfully.
Moros manages to take his eyes off the fight long enough to tap the ground near Rogue, giving her a warning look and a quick shake of his head.
KL rocks back as that combination blacks her eye and forces the air out from her lungs. It's only a moment, though, before she's attacking again, this time eschewing punches and kicks, and looking to get a grapple hold onto the other woman.
Rogue's ears flick toward the tapping, and then Moros. She settles back onto her haunches with obvious effort, but the sudden nervous energy about her doesn't cease. If anything, it only grows more intense, and there are little prickles of fur all down her back as she returns to staring at the fight.
Stands-Between gets to standing, making a small circle before he lays down again, head on his paws on the ground, not paying much heed towards the rest of the events in the courtyard save for that his ears flick this way and that with the sound.
Phoebe may be larger than KL, but getting in close doesn't give her as much of an advantage as some might expect. She grapples the adren, but here, too, experience wins out, and KL actually plants her into the ground. Phoebe lets out a homid type snarl, struggling to get free and failing.
Moros settles down crosslegged on the ground next to Rogue, keeping his attention split between the brawl and the cub. Mostly the brawl, truth be told; he's watching the two smaller Garou keenly, studying their style and methods with head slightly cocked.
KL rolls to the ground, trying to use her bodyweight to drag her larger tribemate down and then pin her. She's not exactly laughing, but there's a spark in her eyes that, for once, isn't rage, rather exultation.
Rogue's attention jerks away to Sue again, but it's even briefer than before. The fight has her transfixed.
Stands-Between lifts his head slightly to watch the fight, for a little, before his attention flits to the door to the house, the gate out of the courtyard, and other things.
Phoebe fights the pinning, but KL has the leverage and eventually succeeds. "Ok," Phoebe relents, and now the ahroun is laughing out loud, unable to control it any longer. "I give." She relaxes, but continues to laugh. There's a similar spark in her eyes to the one KL has. She's also flushed and panting from the exertion.
The older Fury holds for a second, just long enough to say "You did miss me, then," and then sje releases, rolling away, finally letting herself breath heavily. Her fingers find the rapidly forming bruise around her eye. "You're quicker than I remember," she says. "Better, too."
Rogue pushes up to her feet, where she stands awkwardly, with her weight clearly favoring the injured leg. Her ears are erect now, and those fur prickles are still there.
Stands-Between watches KL and Phoebe for a moment, amusement at something clear in the metis' manner.
Phoebe's laughing so hard it's nearly bringing tears. Even after KL releases her, she remains prone on the ground, giggles streaming out of her. She answers the question as if it were a serious inquiry. "I missed you soooo much." For now, she's still oblivious to everyone except KL.
Moros lowers his head as he turns his attention more fully back to Rogue. Red eyes narrow as he considers the cub.
KL points at her eye. "Not that time, though." Her laughter is coming, too, as she crouches now. "Oh. Doing what I'm doing, being away... it's really good. But coming home is good too." She looks around. "Especially to find so many people here."
Rogue appears to take this as an opportunity. She twists her head back (and up) toward Moros. Why did the worm thing turn those dogs into monsters?
Phoebe moves to sit up, the laughter finally starting to wane. She gets about halfway to a sitting position and winces visibly, clutching at her ribs with her already wounded arm. And yet, there's an expression of absolute pride as KL tentatively touches her swelling eye. "Yeah," she rasps out. "We've...been busy." finally, her eyes settle on Rogue, and Moros. She listens to hear how he answers the cub's question, but she takes a moment to quietly tell KL, "I'm glad you stopped home."
"That's what the Wyrm does," says Moros slowly. The hair hanging in his face partially obscures his expression, which isn't particularly pleasant. "It corrupts. It reaches out from its prison," he extends a hand slightly, thick fingers grasping at air, "and touches whatever and whoever it can, so that its servants can eat away at the world." His lip curls.
KL nods. "I'm not sure how long I'm here for," she says, quietly to Phoebe. "I'm kind of between tasks, and I thought I'd pay Charlotte a visit." There's a little bit of sadness there, but it disappears in an instant. She looks up at Moros, faintly interested, one eyebrow raising slowly.
Phoebe finally begins to catch her breath, both from the fighting and the laughing. "New Moon. Good time to have down time," she says, nodding once. There might be something else she wants to ay, but the fostern ahroun chooses not to. Instead, her eyes go to the hulking metis teaching the cub. Phoe is reminded of the conversation from earlier this morning, and the elated, joyous sparkle in her eye fades just a bit, replaced with more sobering thoughts.
Stands-Between catches the topic of conversation at hand, and the younger metis too perks up, interested and watching, though he moves from laying in the shade, to laying in the sun.
Rogue's response begins, but is then overwritten by abrupt frustration. She slides through the forms before stopping abruptly at glabro, in a manner reminiscent of an inexperienced driver hitting the brakes a little too hard. "Because it can?" she asks. "Just because it can?"
Moros watches the cub with unsmiling, disturbing intensity. "That's its nature," he growls. "It used to be the balance between the Wyld's chaos and the Weaver's order, but when the Weaver started getting... out of control... the Wyrm got caught in its web." His nose wrinkles. "The Weaver is still itself. Order. Stasis. Rigidity. But the Wyrm has splintered into its own mockery of the Triat. It consumes, it destroys, and it corrupts. That is all it is, now." The monster has a certain compelling manner, when speaking, though it's not exactly pleasant.
KL listens, carefully. "That's slightly over dramatic," she comments, eventually. "But basically, accurate." She shrugs. "We don't fight against it because it's nice." She hauls herself slowly to her feet, offering a hand to Phoebe.
Phoebe takes the hand up, gratefully. She looks from Moros to Rogue, and then her head drops. Her voice is quiet, low enough to where (hopefully) only KL can hear. The younger ahroun confides, "KL, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know how to teach these cubs." There's a faint hint of desperation and uncertainty in her tone.
Stands-Between watches all of this for a moment, then stands up, a quiet huff as he decides that he is going to go back inside, turning for the still open door to the house.
Ex does listen intently, only glancing away when KL speaks, and that for only a moment. "So if we didn't kill those dogs," she says, to Moros, "Then they'd kill people? Is it like a disease, would they make other people and animals turn into monsters too?" Her gaze jerks toward Sue; and no surprise, she scowls, but her attention is still mostly on Moros.
Moros's head snaps up, eyes going to KL when she speaks. He stares death -- or at least horrific violence -- at the Adren for a moment or two before Ex's question draws his attention back to the cub. Still, his anger simmers. "Some Wyrmthings can spread corruption," he says, his voice lower and rougher than it was earlier. "But not all. Mostly, they kill."
KL is about to say something to Phoebe, or at least the look on her face is that of someone about to be reassuring, but then Moros's gaze hits her and she snaps around to fully face him as if he'd tugged on a bungee cord attached to her nose. "Yes?" she demands, her arms folding over her chest. "Do you have a problem?" One finger taps against the outside of her elbow.
Tension tightens Phoebe's shoulders as the exchange between KL and Moros unfolds. Her jaw tightens, and she practically rolls her eyes at the inevitableness of what's happening. Despite this, she doesn't interfere. In fact, she moves away from KL, allowing her to address Moros without distraction. She moves towards Rogue, watching intently.
Ex's mouth starts to open again, but then KL speaks again, and it quickly closes. Her eyes move between Moros and the Adren Fury very, very carefully.
The younger metis doesn't get nearly to the open door to the house before this happens, and he shifts up, smoothly through forms until he lands in glabro, lingers a moment, and ends up in homid. There is a frown, and arms cross, and he moves to one side to observe.
Moros pushes to his feet, nice and slow. His nostrils flare as he stares across the distance at KL, considering his response... or perhaps convincing himself that the response he _wants_ to give (which, judging from the psycho-killer head-tilt and the murderous scowl, is probably something very physical and anti-social) is not the one he _should_ give. "...The cub asked _me_," he says at last. "Not you."
KL nods slowly. "One of the privileges of rank," she says, carefully, "one of the things that you earn with blood and sacrifice. With looking your own death in the eye, accepting it, and then somehow surviving, is that occasionally you fucking well get to interject in fucking conversations. Especially when some testosterone-addled asshole is being fucking fake fucking mystical and fucking lording it over someone they should be fucking well reaching out to." She's spitting by the end of it, stalking towards Moros, oblivious to his size, even as her gaze tracks upwards with the angle.
Phoebe listens, and as KL begins the tirade of swearing, she watches Moros very carefully. The tension in her shoulders redoubles, but she remains exactly where she is.
Moros's eyes widen, that simmering undercurrent of rage suddenly exploding outward in a strangled, half-choked, incoherent curseword as he starts a murderous lunge at KL, one hand cocking back, fingers curled into claw-like shapes as his body expands upward -- and stops, stops dead in Glabro, freezing even as he does, as the monster goes absolutely rigid with the effect of forcing back frenzy.
Ex remains a little hunkered, standing near Moros (and being quite dwarfed by him), her eyes moving back and forth between the metis and KL. Then Moros lunges. He stops himself. Ex doesn't. There is absolutely no warning before the cub is suddenly in crinos, lashing out at anyone near her.
Stands-Between snarls, something changing in the younger metis' posture as Ex moves. From trying to be invisible and watching, the younger metis is in his birth form and moving straight for Rogue. There's no claws out, but the blow that Stands-Between lands is rage-backed nonetheless, with the attempt to deter the cub until one of the ahroun can do more.
KL actually manages to find time to roll her eyes before she flashes up into Crinos. Split seconds later, she's in the air, leaping towards Rogue, intending to try and bring her out of Frenzy the only way she knows how - by repeatedly pounding her head into the stone flooring.
Phoebe was watching the interplay between metis and adren so intently that Rogue's sudden frenzy catches her slightly unawares. She happens to be the closest one to the cub, as well, and one flailing, frenzied claw catches Phoe right across the face. In a moment of screamed pain and anger, the fostern ahroun explodes up into crinos to fight off the cub while the others pound her down.
Moros isn't frozen anymore, though anyone paying attention to the big red-eyed monster might notice that he's shaking a bit with the force of swallowing his anger, his craving for violence. Breathing hard, he backs away from the crinos brawl, lips curled up and away from overlong canines. He almost stumbles once, in backing up, but can't seem to pull his eyes away.
Between the three Furies--one cliath, one Adren, one Fostern--the frenzying cub stands hardly a chance. She goes down in two seconds, and it takes less than half a second more for her to stop moving altogether.
The halfmoon eases a bit when the cub goes down, backing off and away from Ex a few steps. It takes a long moment for Sue to end up back in homid, though. "Well," he mutters.
KL eventually manages to stop with her head-banging ways, and lifts herself off the cub, slowly shrinking back down to homid. "OK," she admits. "I wasn't expecting that to happen, really." She looks a little rueful.
Life-On-The-Line snarls in pure irritation as she licks the wound on her muzzle. Nostrils flare and hackles remain pricked. Her ears twitch, and she rumbles out in a raspy, low tone to Raging Phoenix, ~See what I mean?~ Then, she too is shifting down to homid. In that form, the three jagged cuts look very ugly, one on the forehead, one across the nose, and one opening her cheek.
Rogue remains in crinos, which is probably fortunate, given the head pounding she just received, but she doesn't move.
Moros scowls, head lowering, oily hair sliding back across Neanderthalish features. Turning away, the metis shifts from glabro to lupus -- from giant caveman to far-too-big wolf -- and heads out of the courtyard and toward the forest at a ground-eating jog.
Sue looks over at Phoebe, brows furrowing. "Glabro," the younger metis says, half-order and half-asking, a quiet concern in his voice.
KL looks at Phoebe, a frown on her brow. "OK, with your efforts at helping cubs, have you put the caern at serious risk of taint and ended up being punished by the Philodoxes for carelessness?" For the moment, she ignores Sue.
Phoebe balks, blinking a few times in response to the adren. Her answer is not meant as a joke, and yet there is a certain comedic quality to it. "Not.../personally/," she says, and then adds quickly, "Though we have...lost it. Not to the Enemy. But. Still." She can't quite meet Kl's gaze as she speaks, either.
Sue doesn't make a big deal of the suggestion, just watches the two ahroun, hands tucking into his pockets and posture awkward for balance. His attention swings from the conversation, to the cub.
"You're doing better than I did, then," KL says. "Come inside and we'll talk about it." She glances down at Rogue. "Um. Maybe we should move her somewhere less in the open."
Phoebe seems relieved at KL's reaction. Her shoulders ease, and she eagerly nods about coming indoors. Looking at Rogue, she says, "I'll take care of her." Then, the younger ahroun is bulking back up to crinos in order to carry the cub.
For a crinos, Rogue is a lightweight. She still hasn't really built up much muscle-mass, and that lean, hungry look that she's had since arriving has not fully gone away either.
Greek House: Common Area(#2409RAJ$)
This is the central hub of the house. From here, you can still see the entrance foyer to the west, as well as the stairway that heads to the second story. Towards the eastern side of the common area is a set of glass doors that lead out to a courtyard. To the north, an arched doorway leads to what apparently serves as a less formal lounge, with a couch and an armchair, and to the south, an arched doorway leads to what appears to be a kitchen and dining area.
There are several chairs here, simple, elegant, yet functional in their design and intent. The room has a comfortable feel to it, but is a bit ascetic in design. The walls are off-white, the molding dark cherry wood and decorated with acanthus-leaf ornamentation at the corners. A pair of antique spears are hung crossed against each other on one wall, and a wall-relief depicting a scene of Grecian warriors hangs on the other. Above the mantle of the fireplace is a small statue of Artemis, on either side of that, dark metal candlesticks with ivory pillar candles. The entire room is a study in the contrast of light and dark.
Contents:
Kathryn-Laura
Moros
Phoebe
Sue
Wallchart
Obvious exits:
Downstairs Upstairs Courtyard Out
KL blinks, slowly, and then focuses on Phoebe, a smile slowly cracking the fierce facade. "Hi," she says. "Miss me?" She looks over at Sue. "Hi, again," she says, before slowly returning to Moros. "I'm KL," she says, a hint of tension creeping back in.
The adren's smile has a way of completely disarming the younger Fury ahroun. But when KL asks if she's missed, Phoebe very stubbornly replies, "No." She refrains from saying anything else, though, until Moros has a chance to introduce himself.
Sue moves over to lean against a nearby wall, watching this entire thing from a safe distance. Or perhaps not watching at all, because Sue very soon turns around and paces in a different direction entirely.
"Moros," says the monster. His fingers twitch at his sides. There's a beat before he adds the rest. "Metis Ahroun of the Black Furies."
"KL Cole, Adren Ahroun..." Her voice trails off, and she blinks, looks at Phoebe for a second and then turns and closes the door surprisingly quietly. She stops, and takes a deep breath, and then turns back. "No?" she asks, her voice almost a whisper.
Rogue appears at the back glass door, limping from a nasty looking wound on one back leg, and looking very, very sleepy. She gives a wide, tongue curling yawn before jamming her nose up against the space between door and doorframe in an attempt to shove it open. Even in this form, those strange precise scars are visible, which makes the new injury; not precise at all, and certainly not subtle, stand out all the more.
Phoebe practically scowls. Clearly there's a war raging in the still-not-quite-beyond-teenager. Half of her wants to launch herself at the adren for a hug, and the other half stubbornly wants to punch her. "Maybe," she finally, grudgingly admits.
Sue turns in pacing to see Rogue trying to get in, and the halfmoon turns his pacing that way, sliding the door open with a look that suggests he wants to bolt to /outside/.
Moros is distracted from watching KL and Phoebe by Rogue's arrival. With a snarling twitch of nose and lips, he turns away from the pair of Furies toward the scarred and wounded cub.
KL slowly peels off her leather jacket, revealing a vest top beneath. She sets it down just by the door, alongside her helmet, not really shifting her attention away from Phoebe. "Here? Outside? Downstairs?" she asks.
The response catches Phoebe off-guard, again. And yet she's quick to respond, once it's given. "Outside," she answers, suddenly grinning like it's Christmas.
Rogue twists her ears back, and backpedals several steps, first at Sue, and then when she spies Moros approaching. She looks suddenly very unsure.
Sue grumbles a moment and backs away from the door, and Ex, himself, except that for the metis, backing up means tripping and falling. The hiking pole goes a good ten, fifteen feet off to his left, and Sue winces at something in the way he's landed, the arm that he fell on out in a decidedly unnatural angle.
Moros pulls up short to just kind of _look_ at Sue, brow furrowed. After a moment, he shakes his head and steps around him and toward Rogue. "Heard you killed some Wyrm last night," he says, eyeballing the cub.
KL walks over to Sue, frowning slightly, and offers a hand. "OK?" she asks him, slightly distractedly. She glances up at Phoebe, that smile threatening to twitch her lips, but not quite managing to make it.
Phoebe gives the sprawled metis a look as well, as if she wants to be as concerned as KL. But there's something in the younger Fury that won't let her. Something hungry, and eager. And after the cursory look, she continues out to the courtyard, pushing past both Moros and Rogue to get there.
Rogue stares at Sue, baffled, then backs up a few more steps for good measure (or, perhaps, to give Moros and the others room to get outside into the courtyard). She looks up at Moros and runs her tongue over her whiskers. Dogs. /Big/ dogs. Life-On-The-Line killed one too.
Sue nods and manages to sit up, but the hand is viewed as though Sue doesn't actually quite know what to /do/ with it, and Sue does /not/ look directly at KL. Or at anyone, really.
Moros bares his teeth in an unpleasant grin down at Rogue. "How'd it feel?" he asks the cub.
KL withdraws the hand, a little disappointedly, then turns away from Sue and heads out into the courtyard behind Phoebe, sliding gracefully past the bulk of Moros. Once out there, she looks up for a moment, then moves purposefully out into the centre of the space, just stretching her arms lightly.
Phoebe, out in the open space before KL, did a little stretching as well. There was also a little hyper, eager hopping. Once KL arrives, there's no more waiting, no circling and looking for the best opening, the ahroun goes straight at her. This is, without a doubt, doomed to be a quick fight. Phoebe had spent the entire night out patroling, culminating in a fight that took half her rage and earned her a minor if annoying wound. KL is fresh, and (apparently) rested. And, to top it off, Phoebe is using no defenses at all. This is pure Fury. All out, immediate. And despite that, the adren may be surprised by how well the younger ahroun fights.
Rogue takes a few moments to consider this. She has questions, she answers, eventually. It felt good. She felt powerful. The dog died /fast/.
The younger metis continues to watch KL for a moment more as she walks away, throat bared and clearly puzzled, before he shifts to lupus. He darts for the door, around Moros, around Ex, and finally settles in the grass by the fountain. All too happy to be /outside/ now.
Moros gives Rogue an approvingly savage grin. "Good. It's a shame you're not an Ahroun. But Ragabash can kill, too..." He trails off, distracted by the start of a brawl between Phoebe and KL.
KL doesn't seem particularly surprised by the early attack, but she is mildly surprised by the speed and ferocity of it. It's been a long while since she fought Phoebe, and, perhaps, she was still expecting her to be the same. It's clear she isn't. But KL is breathtakingly, supernaturally, quick, and has the advantage of experience. She spends the first few seconds of the fight just evading, swaying out of the way, her feet dancing on the stone slabs that pave the courtyard. But not without taking a couple of blows, one that snaps her head back violently. And then she counter attacks, in a style that is half-liquid grace, half-blatant showing off, spinning, and flipping off one hand into a two-footed attack aimed at the younger Ahroun's head.
Rogue jitters away from Sue, eyeing him carefully, and with faintly bared teeth. She's distracted again by the fight, and both KL and Phoebe get a lupine stare of interest, right up until a few blows land. She actually jerks toward them at the noise.
Stands-Between settles in the grass and lays down, attention wholly on watching the two female Ahroun fight, and with some apparent interest for a moment. And then the halfmoon seems to go back to whatever thinking he had been doing earlier.
Phoebe winds up on the ground, briefly stunned and shaking her head to clear spiders, cobwebs and stars. She takes a few seconds to catch her breath, but that's all, and then it starts over again. Somewhere in the middle of that melee, Phoebe actually laughs--bright, and happy for about the first time in months. The younger ahroun is fast--just not quite as fast as the adren. Everything she does is just a shade too slow. But one unexpected combination lands quite successfully.
Moros manages to take his eyes off the fight long enough to tap the ground near Rogue, giving her a warning look and a quick shake of his head.
KL rocks back as that combination blacks her eye and forces the air out from her lungs. It's only a moment, though, before she's attacking again, this time eschewing punches and kicks, and looking to get a grapple hold onto the other woman.
Rogue's ears flick toward the tapping, and then Moros. She settles back onto her haunches with obvious effort, but the sudden nervous energy about her doesn't cease. If anything, it only grows more intense, and there are little prickles of fur all down her back as she returns to staring at the fight.
Stands-Between gets to standing, making a small circle before he lays down again, head on his paws on the ground, not paying much heed towards the rest of the events in the courtyard save for that his ears flick this way and that with the sound.
Phoebe may be larger than KL, but getting in close doesn't give her as much of an advantage as some might expect. She grapples the adren, but here, too, experience wins out, and KL actually plants her into the ground. Phoebe lets out a homid type snarl, struggling to get free and failing.
Moros settles down crosslegged on the ground next to Rogue, keeping his attention split between the brawl and the cub. Mostly the brawl, truth be told; he's watching the two smaller Garou keenly, studying their style and methods with head slightly cocked.
KL rolls to the ground, trying to use her bodyweight to drag her larger tribemate down and then pin her. She's not exactly laughing, but there's a spark in her eyes that, for once, isn't rage, rather exultation.
Rogue's attention jerks away to Sue again, but it's even briefer than before. The fight has her transfixed.
Stands-Between lifts his head slightly to watch the fight, for a little, before his attention flits to the door to the house, the gate out of the courtyard, and other things.
Phoebe fights the pinning, but KL has the leverage and eventually succeeds. "Ok," Phoebe relents, and now the ahroun is laughing out loud, unable to control it any longer. "I give." She relaxes, but continues to laugh. There's a similar spark in her eyes to the one KL has. She's also flushed and panting from the exertion.
The older Fury holds for a second, just long enough to say "You did miss me, then," and then sje releases, rolling away, finally letting herself breath heavily. Her fingers find the rapidly forming bruise around her eye. "You're quicker than I remember," she says. "Better, too."
Rogue pushes up to her feet, where she stands awkwardly, with her weight clearly favoring the injured leg. Her ears are erect now, and those fur prickles are still there.
Stands-Between watches KL and Phoebe for a moment, amusement at something clear in the metis' manner.
Phoebe's laughing so hard it's nearly bringing tears. Even after KL releases her, she remains prone on the ground, giggles streaming out of her. She answers the question as if it were a serious inquiry. "I missed you soooo much." For now, she's still oblivious to everyone except KL.
Moros lowers his head as he turns his attention more fully back to Rogue. Red eyes narrow as he considers the cub.
KL points at her eye. "Not that time, though." Her laughter is coming, too, as she crouches now. "Oh. Doing what I'm doing, being away... it's really good. But coming home is good too." She looks around. "Especially to find so many people here."
Rogue appears to take this as an opportunity. She twists her head back (and up) toward Moros. Why did the worm thing turn those dogs into monsters?
Phoebe moves to sit up, the laughter finally starting to wane. She gets about halfway to a sitting position and winces visibly, clutching at her ribs with her already wounded arm. And yet, there's an expression of absolute pride as KL tentatively touches her swelling eye. "Yeah," she rasps out. "We've...been busy." finally, her eyes settle on Rogue, and Moros. She listens to hear how he answers the cub's question, but she takes a moment to quietly tell KL, "I'm glad you stopped home."
"That's what the Wyrm does," says Moros slowly. The hair hanging in his face partially obscures his expression, which isn't particularly pleasant. "It corrupts. It reaches out from its prison," he extends a hand slightly, thick fingers grasping at air, "and touches whatever and whoever it can, so that its servants can eat away at the world." His lip curls.
KL nods. "I'm not sure how long I'm here for," she says, quietly to Phoebe. "I'm kind of between tasks, and I thought I'd pay Charlotte a visit." There's a little bit of sadness there, but it disappears in an instant. She looks up at Moros, faintly interested, one eyebrow raising slowly.
Phoebe finally begins to catch her breath, both from the fighting and the laughing. "New Moon. Good time to have down time," she says, nodding once. There might be something else she wants to ay, but the fostern ahroun chooses not to. Instead, her eyes go to the hulking metis teaching the cub. Phoe is reminded of the conversation from earlier this morning, and the elated, joyous sparkle in her eye fades just a bit, replaced with more sobering thoughts.
Stands-Between catches the topic of conversation at hand, and the younger metis too perks up, interested and watching, though he moves from laying in the shade, to laying in the sun.
Rogue's response begins, but is then overwritten by abrupt frustration. She slides through the forms before stopping abruptly at glabro, in a manner reminiscent of an inexperienced driver hitting the brakes a little too hard. "Because it can?" she asks. "Just because it can?"
Moros watches the cub with unsmiling, disturbing intensity. "That's its nature," he growls. "It used to be the balance between the Wyld's chaos and the Weaver's order, but when the Weaver started getting... out of control... the Wyrm got caught in its web." His nose wrinkles. "The Weaver is still itself. Order. Stasis. Rigidity. But the Wyrm has splintered into its own mockery of the Triat. It consumes, it destroys, and it corrupts. That is all it is, now." The monster has a certain compelling manner, when speaking, though it's not exactly pleasant.
KL listens, carefully. "That's slightly over dramatic," she comments, eventually. "But basically, accurate." She shrugs. "We don't fight against it because it's nice." She hauls herself slowly to her feet, offering a hand to Phoebe.
Phoebe takes the hand up, gratefully. She looks from Moros to Rogue, and then her head drops. Her voice is quiet, low enough to where (hopefully) only KL can hear. The younger ahroun confides, "KL, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know how to teach these cubs." There's a faint hint of desperation and uncertainty in her tone.
Stands-Between watches all of this for a moment, then stands up, a quiet huff as he decides that he is going to go back inside, turning for the still open door to the house.
Ex does listen intently, only glancing away when KL speaks, and that for only a moment. "So if we didn't kill those dogs," she says, to Moros, "Then they'd kill people? Is it like a disease, would they make other people and animals turn into monsters too?" Her gaze jerks toward Sue; and no surprise, she scowls, but her attention is still mostly on Moros.
Moros's head snaps up, eyes going to KL when she speaks. He stares death -- or at least horrific violence -- at the Adren for a moment or two before Ex's question draws his attention back to the cub. Still, his anger simmers. "Some Wyrmthings can spread corruption," he says, his voice lower and rougher than it was earlier. "But not all. Mostly, they kill."
KL is about to say something to Phoebe, or at least the look on her face is that of someone about to be reassuring, but then Moros's gaze hits her and she snaps around to fully face him as if he'd tugged on a bungee cord attached to her nose. "Yes?" she demands, her arms folding over her chest. "Do you have a problem?" One finger taps against the outside of her elbow.
Tension tightens Phoebe's shoulders as the exchange between KL and Moros unfolds. Her jaw tightens, and she practically rolls her eyes at the inevitableness of what's happening. Despite this, she doesn't interfere. In fact, she moves away from KL, allowing her to address Moros without distraction. She moves towards Rogue, watching intently.
Ex's mouth starts to open again, but then KL speaks again, and it quickly closes. Her eyes move between Moros and the Adren Fury very, very carefully.
The younger metis doesn't get nearly to the open door to the house before this happens, and he shifts up, smoothly through forms until he lands in glabro, lingers a moment, and ends up in homid. There is a frown, and arms cross, and he moves to one side to observe.
Moros pushes to his feet, nice and slow. His nostrils flare as he stares across the distance at KL, considering his response... or perhaps convincing himself that the response he _wants_ to give (which, judging from the psycho-killer head-tilt and the murderous scowl, is probably something very physical and anti-social) is not the one he _should_ give. "...The cub asked _me_," he says at last. "Not you."
KL nods slowly. "One of the privileges of rank," she says, carefully, "one of the things that you earn with blood and sacrifice. With looking your own death in the eye, accepting it, and then somehow surviving, is that occasionally you fucking well get to interject in fucking conversations. Especially when some testosterone-addled asshole is being fucking fake fucking mystical and fucking lording it over someone they should be fucking well reaching out to." She's spitting by the end of it, stalking towards Moros, oblivious to his size, even as her gaze tracks upwards with the angle.
Phoebe listens, and as KL begins the tirade of swearing, she watches Moros very carefully. The tension in her shoulders redoubles, but she remains exactly where she is.
Moros's eyes widen, that simmering undercurrent of rage suddenly exploding outward in a strangled, half-choked, incoherent curseword as he starts a murderous lunge at KL, one hand cocking back, fingers curled into claw-like shapes as his body expands upward -- and stops, stops dead in Glabro, freezing even as he does, as the monster goes absolutely rigid with the effect of forcing back frenzy.
Ex remains a little hunkered, standing near Moros (and being quite dwarfed by him), her eyes moving back and forth between the metis and KL. Then Moros lunges. He stops himself. Ex doesn't. There is absolutely no warning before the cub is suddenly in crinos, lashing out at anyone near her.
Stands-Between snarls, something changing in the younger metis' posture as Ex moves. From trying to be invisible and watching, the younger metis is in his birth form and moving straight for Rogue. There's no claws out, but the blow that Stands-Between lands is rage-backed nonetheless, with the attempt to deter the cub until one of the ahroun can do more.
KL actually manages to find time to roll her eyes before she flashes up into Crinos. Split seconds later, she's in the air, leaping towards Rogue, intending to try and bring her out of Frenzy the only way she knows how - by repeatedly pounding her head into the stone flooring.
Phoebe was watching the interplay between metis and adren so intently that Rogue's sudden frenzy catches her slightly unawares. She happens to be the closest one to the cub, as well, and one flailing, frenzied claw catches Phoe right across the face. In a moment of screamed pain and anger, the fostern ahroun explodes up into crinos to fight off the cub while the others pound her down.
Moros isn't frozen anymore, though anyone paying attention to the big red-eyed monster might notice that he's shaking a bit with the force of swallowing his anger, his craving for violence. Breathing hard, he backs away from the crinos brawl, lips curled up and away from overlong canines. He almost stumbles once, in backing up, but can't seem to pull his eyes away.
Between the three Furies--one cliath, one Adren, one Fostern--the frenzying cub stands hardly a chance. She goes down in two seconds, and it takes less than half a second more for her to stop moving altogether.
The halfmoon eases a bit when the cub goes down, backing off and away from Ex a few steps. It takes a long moment for Sue to end up back in homid, though. "Well," he mutters.
KL eventually manages to stop with her head-banging ways, and lifts herself off the cub, slowly shrinking back down to homid. "OK," she admits. "I wasn't expecting that to happen, really." She looks a little rueful.
Life-On-The-Line snarls in pure irritation as she licks the wound on her muzzle. Nostrils flare and hackles remain pricked. Her ears twitch, and she rumbles out in a raspy, low tone to Raging Phoenix, ~See what I mean?~ Then, she too is shifting down to homid. In that form, the three jagged cuts look very ugly, one on the forehead, one across the nose, and one opening her cheek.
Rogue remains in crinos, which is probably fortunate, given the head pounding she just received, but she doesn't move.
Moros scowls, head lowering, oily hair sliding back across Neanderthalish features. Turning away, the metis shifts from glabro to lupus -- from giant caveman to far-too-big wolf -- and heads out of the courtyard and toward the forest at a ground-eating jog.
Sue looks over at Phoebe, brows furrowing. "Glabro," the younger metis says, half-order and half-asking, a quiet concern in his voice.
KL looks at Phoebe, a frown on her brow. "OK, with your efforts at helping cubs, have you put the caern at serious risk of taint and ended up being punished by the Philodoxes for carelessness?" For the moment, she ignores Sue.
Phoebe balks, blinking a few times in response to the adren. Her answer is not meant as a joke, and yet there is a certain comedic quality to it. "Not.../personally/," she says, and then adds quickly, "Though we have...lost it. Not to the Enemy. But. Still." She can't quite meet Kl's gaze as she speaks, either.
Sue doesn't make a big deal of the suggestion, just watches the two ahroun, hands tucking into his pockets and posture awkward for balance. His attention swings from the conversation, to the cub.
"You're doing better than I did, then," KL says. "Come inside and we'll talk about it." She glances down at Rogue. "Um. Maybe we should move her somewhere less in the open."
Phoebe seems relieved at KL's reaction. Her shoulders ease, and she eagerly nods about coming indoors. Looking at Rogue, she says, "I'll take care of her." Then, the younger ahroun is bulking back up to crinos in order to carry the cub.
For a crinos, Rogue is a lightweight. She still hasn't really built up much muscle-mass, and that lean, hungry look that she's had since arriving has not fully gone away either.
