"I spoke to Mausumi tonight."

[renferret]

The drive home.



It isn't too much longer after Mouse leaves that Kavi comes near-stumbling through the door.

As promised, Mouse is sitting in the car, though she's not paying much attention to what's outside. She has her elbows resting on the steering wheel, her forehead against her hands. Her eyes aren't visible, but presumably they're turned downward. Still, the doors are unlocked.

Kavi makes his way over to the car, caught between hurried and hesitant. He stops and waits, just at the door, not actually opening it for over a second. Finally opening it, he slips into the passenger seat without a word.

As he slides in, Mouse lifts her head from her hands, squinting a little at the increased light. She doesn't actually glance at Kavi, she just straightens up, pulls her seatbelt on, and turns the keys in the ignition.

Kavi glances at her, and then down to his lap. His fingers close into fists where they rest on his thighs. He doesn't speak, not until they're pulling down the drive, and then it's just a whisper, just a breath. "I'm sorry."

"I know," Mouse says, her eyes on where the car is moving rather than her tribemate. "But you haven't done anything wrong. Just so you know."

Kavi pulls his seatbelt on, and his fingers close around the strap and grip it tight. "What... What did I..." He swallows, and glances sidelong at his elder.

"What did you...?" Mouse prompts, as the car rumbles down the dirt road.

"I... I upset you." Kavi pulls against the seatbelt, tugging it away from his body. "I did... I said... I don't know what... what I did."

Mouse shakes her head, though her eyes are still resolutely on the road. "You didn't upset me. You didn't do anything wrong, Kavi. You came here to see her, and I think maybe she needed that." She pauses. "I think she probably needed that a lot."

Kavi leans his head against the window. "Mouse-rhya..." He trails off, swallowing after a second or two. The hand not clenched around the seatbelt rises and he presses the heel of his hand against the bridge of his nose.

Mouse waits for a few moments, and then, when no further talk is forthcoming, she prompts again with a quiet, "Yeah?"

Even then, Kavi doesn't answer right away. His internal struggles are visible in the twisting of his features, the curling of his fingers as they slide up into his hair. "Thank you," is what eventually escapes, quietly spoken, as though afraid she might hear.

"You're welcome," Mouse says, almost as softly. She lets it stay like that for a little while, before she asks, "What are you thinking?"

"Everything," Kavi answers, still quiet, but not buried. "It's all... There's so much."

Mouse breathes in deeply, and lets only a moment of silence lie between them before she says, quiet and matter-of-fact, "I spoke to Mausumi tonight."

Kavi jerks upright, looking to Mouse, searching for the injuries he expects to find. "What...?"

There are none visible, though Mouse may be favoring her shoulder just the slightest amount. "She was walking past the Tenement again, and I spotted her from the street."

"Did she...? Are you...?" Kavi shifts in the seat until he's turned toward the driver's side, one leg drawn up awkwardly beneath him and shoulder crammed against the passenger seat-back. "I shouldn't-- I. What? What happened?"

"She slapped me," Mouse says, a little dry. "That's all. Mostly we just talked. And postured. And...though I think maybe talking's a bit too generous. She seemed very preoccupied with the things she wanted to say. I'm not sure she heard half of what I said."

Kavi winces at the first, and shifts his gaze down to the space between the seats. "I... I don't... I don't know what to think. Why...? Why can't I just... just hate her? Why... Why does it have to be so hard?"

Mouse says, after a moment, "Well. She sure seems to...lavish devotion on you. Or at least, who she thinks you are, which seems to be a dutiful son who will, of course, do exactly what it is that she wants, and who of course wants to talk to her and be with her, unlike Chandini," and the Theurge's expression draws into a grimace, "Who is apparently 'the traitor' and someone who has 'much to prove to her'. I think she...I'm not sure she realizes differently. It's a lot easier to hate someone when they hate you back."

"If... If I did..." Kavi pauses, biting down on his lower lip. He slips back down into his seat, and turns his gaze out the passenger window again. His voice is small, but still audible in the confines of the car. "If I went. With her? If I did. She... She wouldn't bother you anymore."

For the first time, Mouse jerks her gaze away from the road to look at the Galliard. "...What?"

This time it is the galliard who is turned away, not looking at his elder. Head resting against the cool glass, he stares at nothing out the window. "I could... I could make her go away. If I... If I went with her, if... if I do what she wants. She... She wouldn't hurt Chandini anymore. She wouldn't... She wouldn't hurt August. Or... Or you."

"Kavi," Mouse says, her eyes returning to the road, "That's not true, and you know that. She told me she wants to rebuild the Black Fury tribe. She told me specifically, and I quote, 'over the ashes' of the old one. And if she's tainted, as she almost certainly is? Do you think the Wyrm will be satisfied with leaving everyone alone just by your sacrifice? Has that ever worked before, in the history of our people?"

Kavi swallows, and his head thuds dully against the window. It's not hard enough to damage either glass or skull, but it's solid enough to hurt. "I. I don't know what to do."

"Tell her no," Mouse says, firmly. "Tonight, hopefully, everything will go well, and you'll know which side she's sitting on, from the mouth of Pegasus. Though I think you need to face the fact that you already know. You're so afraid of her hurting one of us. Well. She has. You saw it. And I can tell you from my talk with her, she did not /care/ about Chandini. She thinks she's garbage. It was in her voice, in her words, and all over her face."

Kavi's eyes pinch shut and there's another dull thud of skull against glass. "I. I don't..." He leans down, bending over his knees, though his head ends up hitting the dashboard instead. His breathing turns sharp and short. "I don't... What if I can't?"

"You already have," Mouse points out. "You told her no in the restaurant. I heard you. Kavi, she may love this fake version of you that she's dreamed up, and she may mean very well, but none of that changes her actions, and none of that changes the fact that if she has her way, you will not /have/ any choice in anything. Even if she's not tainted, even if Pegasus tells us she's a model Fury, you are NOT the son she thinks you are, and you are going to have to tell her 'no'."

Kavi's eyes remain closed, forehead pressed hard against the dash. After a while, there's a small movement, a nod that presses his forehead that much harder into the molded plastic. "You'll be there?"

"Of course," Mouse says, lifting her chin, though she's still watching the road. "I'm the one summoning Pegasus. And unless you object, I want to bring along a friend too. She can stay with you and be your support even when I'm busy tonight."

Mouse err. Changes that to 'tomorrow night'.

Kavi turns his head, scraping skin against plastic. His eyes open to look at her, brow furrowing, and he pulls himself back into his seat. "I... Friend?"
Mouse nods once. "Kakkerlak will come, unless for some reason you don't want her."

Brows rising, there's a momentary glimmer of hope, of something other than anxiety and despair in the galliard's features. "I... No, I... I'd... That would be nice."

Mouse smiles tightly. "Then she'll be there, with you."

Kavi's deep breath is one of relief and he lets it out as a sigh, and settles back into the seat. "Thank you, Mouse-rhya."