[Armstrong] It was good that he wasn't sympathetic, because she didn't seem like she was looking for sympathy. It was a relief, however, that he was understanding. Namely because she wasn't entirely certain as to why she didn't just send the damned letter back. Tell them that they can make all their legal decisions on their own. Possibly even send another back with her own, less-than-pleasant message attached.
It wasn't even that Mrena missed them, but rather, she missed having something to miss. But, we could save the melodramatic thought processes for later. They didn't really have a place here.
"Seven days minimum. Ten to fourteen days tops," she said. "I've left talens, instructions, what's where, itenerary, things that may need to be done while I'm gone. I'm-" a pause. "That's actually another thing I need to talk to you about."
[Wyrmbreaker] If it strikes him as odd that an early-20s woman -- girl, really -- was being asked to make major legal decisions for her family, it doesn't show. It's more likely this doesn't strike Lukas as odd at all. She is, after all, and as far as he knew, the only Garou in her immediate family. They were Shadow Lords, as much as his own family. It was only logical that she would carry this burden.
Lukas nods when she gives him a range of times, as well as provisions while she's gone. The corner of his mouth tilts up, "We'll try not to make a mess of things while you're gone."
There's something else, she says. He doesn't seem surprised, but his eyes grow faintly more attentive. He gestures for her to go on.
[Armstrong] "What'll it take for the whole pack to learn the Rite of Binding?" she asked. A sincere question. "We... At the moment we're a pack of seven strong, and I can provide whatever services we need, but eventually we're going to go into battle and I'm not going to come back. And I don't want to see you all left without the ability to be self-reliant should the need arise."
Born of a sincere concern. She didn't seem upset or concerned of frustrated by the idea of her biting he big one; White Eyes seemed to address it as an inevitability and just something that they should plan for.
[Wyrmbreaker] This makes Lukas frown, though for what it's worth, he doesn't leap to reassure her that that day will be long in coming, that she's young and healthy and she'll live to a ripe old age.
In short: he does not lie to her.
After a pause, his pale eyes drop to her. He picks his shirt up off the bedspread and folds it idly while he considers her words, and when he's finished the shirt is neatly folded -- all crisp corners and sharp lines, even though it had just come off his body after what one can only imagine has been hours of wear, and after being muffled under a heavy overcoat at that.
He tosses it carelessly aside, though, not caring when a sleeve flops free.
"We should probably get together when you get back and learn it as one," he says. "It'll be good for everyone to know, anyway. There are talens that certain auspices and tribes are particularly adept at, which even you might not be able to master. I'll have a talk with Kate and see if we can set something up.
"Can I ask you something, though?" And if yes: "Why did this occur to you now? I mean -- surely your own mortality's never been far from your mind. Why is it suddenly an issue?"
[Armstrong] Can he ask her something? "Of course."
Why did this occur to you now?
He speaks of her mortality. It wasn't something she had ever denied; White Eyes had never thought herself to be indestructible. In fact, she was acutely aware of how incredibly close death could be, and for her part? She never thought it to be a problem. She still didn't see it as being an issue. The theurge, however, was posing this question- this request- on the grounds that she wasn't going to be around forever. And Lukas asked what brought it about.
"Well," she started, "it's because... there are times that I feel we are complacent. And I realized that there are talens that other tribes and auspices can make that I can not master, and it would offend the spirits if I did master them."
A pause.
"There are times that I feel that the pack is getting out-of-touch with the spirits. And it's a failing on my part that I intend on remedying."
[Wyrmbreaker] There's a pause; then Lukas simply gestures for her to keep going.
Not on the intend on remedying part, but on the out of touch part. The complacent part.
It's strange. Lukas tries to be approachable, friendly. He thinks of himself as close to his pack; he loves them dearly, is utterly at ease in their midst. Yet more and more he realizes that sometimes he is anything but approachable. That his rank, his position in the pack, his demeanor, his tribe and auspice -- or perhaps simply everything about him -- might intimidate those around him into silence. As though, by demanding nothing but the best from himself, he implicitly demands the same from those around him; and by demanding such from them, left them no room to express weakness or doubt.
There are things that Gabriella would not tell him, that she told her sister. There are things Andrea would not tell him, that she told Mrena.
[Armstrong] "It's like-" she was trying to put it all together and sort through the thought. "It's like any time the spirits come up, people glaze over and don't take responsibility and they just assume that Mrena's going to do it. I feel like..."
she paused. Because she was sorting through her thoughts. There was something about Lukas that made it difficult to disclose this sort of information, possibly because of his rank. Because of his bearing, because of something innate in his character. Lukas Wyrmbreaker was a creature that you did not wish to disappoint.
And it made it difficult to express doubt. And it made it difficult to express uncertainty.
"We are both spiritual and physical creatures, and I feel that if they rely to heavily on one person, they are denying a part of themselves."
And somehow, the conversation became something more metaphysical than concrete. It could be expected; Mrena's truth was different than Katherine's, and it was different than Lukas' or Dylan's or Edward's. But it was a truth that was, at times, universal.
[Wyrmbreaker] When Mrena finishes, the Ahroun is frowning faintly, more out of thought than obvious displeasure.
"It is true," Lukas replies at length, "that we are as much spirit as flesh, wolf as man. And we cannot deny one for the other.
"But Mrena, just as I'm more attuned to man than wolf by virtue of birth, you're more attuned to spirit than flesh by the same token. And the truth is, every time spiritual matters come up, you will be the one this pack looks to. Just as when war comes up, the pack will look to me.
"I have no problem with the pack learning the rite of binding and making their own talens. But White-Eyes, this will not take any responsibility from you in spiritual matters. Nor should it."
[cricket] (*ponders crashing your scene to be mean*)
to Armstrong, Wyrmbreaker
[Armstrong] (I don't mind!)
to cricket, Wyrmbreaker
[Armstrong] "And I'm not asking for it to be anything less than my responsibility, I'm just saying that we need to be aware. I don't-" a pause. "I don't want you to get the impression that I'm trying to shirk my duties, because I'm not. It's my duty to understand the spirits and to guide us in spiritual matters, but it's all of our responsibility to honor them."
She said, posture comfortable still. Brows knit slightly and she pushed her hair back out of her face. The theurge straightened up, finally, and then looked at Lukas again. Mrena didn't spend too much time hanging in silence, though.
"That was the point that I was trying to make. I have no intention of stopping what I'm already doing."
[Katherine] It has been a quiet few days for the pack. It is not often that they are apart so decisively as they seem to have been over the course of the week. Each with their own reasons and purpose for the solitude and yet it was unlike Katherine to go for more than a day's stretch without some passing visit, some discussion long into the twilit hours with Lukas over strategy, or art with Mrena.
Or even, more recently, sparring with Sam.
Not this week though, since her discovery about her sister and declaration to discover the truth; all but deathly, dangerous silence. And then there is this, tonight. The sudden feeling that she was near to them, nearer than she had been in the past several days and the other feeling, just as certain that there was something wrong. They were pack creatures, bound by totem and loyalty alike. It was richer than blood, stronger than iron.
So then -- soft, familiar footsteps on the stairs.
No greeting, but the waft of Chanel and finally, interrupting Mrena and Lukas' quiet discussion, a tall shadow falls across the doorway.
[Wyrmbreaker] It says something about how seriously Lukas takes this discussion, perhaps, that he watches her steadily even when Kate darkens his open doorway. He watches Mrena until she's finished, and even afterward, until he's finished.
"Okay," he says, simply and quietly. "I'll see that the pack learns the Rite from you. And I'll try to be vigilant, that we don't grow complacent in our dealings with the spirit world."
A pause.
"Perhaps we should participate in mystic rites more often as a pack. To honor our totem. And the spring equinox approaches. That's traditionally a time for rites, isn't it?"
At last now, he looks at Katherine as she stands in his doorway. "Hey, Kate."
[Armstrong] "Thank you," she said with an almost tangible degree of relief. Because the discussion was important. It was a statement of respect. "And there are some rites that are performed only at the equinox. But overall, it's a very important date."
The conversation had stopped, the declaration of where she would be for the next few days, her grievances, and then their resolution. Merna could not leave it hanging. Things had to be finished and what-have-you. And then? There was Katherine. Their alpha in her full, royal glory- it was enough to make White Eyes pause. It was enough to make her turn in her chair and look.
It was not like her to not see Katherine. She always came by for something, and for those times she was thankful. They were a pack. It came first. She pushed her hair back nd moved into a slightly more comfortable position to look at Katherine.
Namely, the not-yet-twenty year old lady stopped sitting backwards in her chair to regard her Alpha fully. "Hey," she said.
[Wyrmbreaker] (we should totally do a pack scene around the equinox to do some rites!)
to Armstrong, Katherine
[Armstrong] (OMG yes! I can look some up, or if you guys have nay in mind of- *glee*)
to Katherine, Wyrmbreaker
[Wyrmbreaker] (*grin* w00t. i think you should be back from europe then too, right? like after the 20-something-th of march?)
to Armstrong, Katherine
[Armstrong] (I come back on Monday night, but I'll be wiped out, so we can expect me coherent on Tuesday)
to Katherine, Wyrmbreaker
[Wyrmbreaker] (*laughs* we'll probably do it on the weekend, regardless!)
to Armstrong, Katherine
[Katherine] (oops, sorry, I got the phonecall of doom from upset GF. Back now.)
[Wyrmbreaker] (just fyi, gotta sleep in 40!)
[Katherine] "Am I interrupting something?" Katherine inquires with a fair eyebrow arched upward, her hands casually slung into the pockets of her designer-frayed jeans. There were unusually dark circles beneath the Philodox's blue eyes, and they seemed, upon closer inspection, a little blood-shot and weary.
"I wanted a word with you both." A beat, and their Alpha pushed off the wall and stepped fully into her Beta's bedroom; closing the door in her wake. There was no way for her to say it politely, not really. Therefore: "I spoke with Gabriella. It would appear that she and Sam have been having a relationship while he was staying with us."
She allows this to sink in for a moment, her lips pressed tight.
[Wyrmbreaker] "Mrena and I were just talking," Lukas says, and then moves over on his bed. Puts his back to the headboard, clears some room at the foot for Katherine.
She shuts the door behind her as she enters, and then there were three: almost half the Circle, gathered in the beta's small room.
Kate doesn't preface it. She just drops it on them, and for a second, Lukas' face goes totally blank. Whatever his reaction, he keeps it to himself.
Finally: "He's the Garou that Gabbie spoke of, then?"
[Armstrong] She looked at the two of them.. and, for her part, she didn't seem too sure of what to do about that. the theurge blinked, then blinked again for good measure. Almost half of the pack was sitting in Lukas' room; larger parties have crammed into smaller spaces before, but Lukas wasn't promising booze or a Guiness Book World Record, so there was rarely any reason for that many intense individuals to be in such a confined space.
"Oh," she said. And that's all she really could say.
[Katherine] She doesn't sit, which might mean -- something. That she does not mean to stay, perhaps. Or that she is far too wound up and restless to stay seated too long. The blond Royalist's gaze is distant, and while her voice is carefully blank and unaccented by Rage (and oh, her Rage must have been something to behold, surely) it does not seem comforting for the lack of emotion.
She shifts her weight, Katherine and looks between the two as if judging them on their reactions. "Yes. I have forbidden Gabriella to see Sam until I deal with him. She is not to be anywhere close to him. If you see her speaking to him, you have my permission to remove her."
A hiss of air from between her lips.
"I do not think I should approach Sam alone." A beat.
[Wyrmbreaker] While Kate speaks, Lukas looks away, frowning. He's uncomfortable -- with the subject; with Kate's edicts perhaps; with what she says last, and specifically, the way she says it. The way it's worded. The connotations behind the words that he thinks he picks up.
Lukas raises a hand to the back of his neck, kneading as he rolls his head on his shoulders. Then he drops his hand. Draws his knees up loosely. Lays his wrists over them.
"Why not?" His frown deepens minutely. He seems on the verge of saying more -- but he checks himself. He'll hear her reasons first, without prompting.
[Katherine] She meets his eyes without flinching.
"I think you know exactly why, Lukas."
[Wyrmbreaker] "I have suspicions, but they grieve me. I'll hear it from you first. Please."
[Armstrong] She inhaled, slowly. Very slowly, took air into her lungs and relished the fact that she could. The theurge tensed slightly and looked at Katherine. This was her Alpha. This was her Alpha who was distraught and needing to be soothed and calmed and brought back to a state of rational.
Or, possibly, Katherine was... something else entirely. White Eyes clenched her fists and waited.
"Katherine," she said, "if he knows why then explain to me, because I don't know why you couldn't approach Sam by yourself."
Placid. Plastic. Something.
"Please."
[Katherine] "Then by all means, let me be clear for you my Beta." She retorts without a second's pause; her weariness by no means lessening her capacity for (seemingly) rational thought. Mrena chimes in, and her plea (please, katherine) which was so like her sister's pleas (wait, katherine, please) sets the woman's muscles into a frisson of excitement, as if aware of the potential the tiny room held for destruction.
"And for you, White Eyes. I do not wish to speak to Samuel alone because I made a promise to my sister that I would kill him. I do not wish to do so, but I am so extremely ..." She cannot finish.
Her eyes narrow; nostrils pinching.
"He has betrayed my trust."
[Katherine] (gah, italics fail)
[Wyrmbreaker] (*cough* would NOT kill him, right?)
[Katherine] "Then by all means, let me be clear for you my Beta." She retorts without a second's pause; her weariness by no means lessening her capacity for (seemingly) rational thought. Mrena chimes in, and her plea (please, katherine) which was so like her sister's pleas (wait, katherine, please) sets the woman's muscles into a frisson of excitement, as if aware of the potential the tiny room held for destruction.
"And for you, White Eyes. I do not wish to speak to Samuel alone because I made a promise to my sister that I would kill him. I do not wish to do so, but I am so extremely ..." She cannot finish.
Her eyes narrow; nostrils pinching.
"He has betrayed my trust."
[Katherine] (*LMAO* ....uh, yeah. THAT'S COMPLETELY A TYPO OKAY?)
[Wyrmbreaker] And this is why Lukas asked for clarification. Ironically -- and perhaps poorly timed-ly -- the corner of Lukas' mouth twitches briefly up. He schools his expression.
"See," he says, wryly, "for a moment I was afraid you'd tell me it was because you were afraid he would attack you. And that's a completely different can of worms."
A pause. He watches her, serious now.
"When I told you I would go with you to confront your sister's lover," he says, "I didn't think it would be Sam. Kate, I will give you what advice I can, but I don't know that it's ... appropriate for me to go. Not when this issue lies within the pack. And not when it's Sam."
[Armstrong] (skip me!)
[Armstrong] The theurge, at that moment, just looked between the two of them. Her breathing was calm, put together, something that came from having to function in times like these. She let her hands clasp in front of her, and her posture was not unlike that of a woman waiting for a bus.
And she waited to hear more, pale grey eyes looking almost expectant. It really was like she was waiting for something. The other shoe to drop,
[Armstrong] (I lied, sorry!)
[Katherine] Katherine's expression is a carefully made up thing devoid of any true feeling either way regarding what Lukas says. She looks at him steadily for several minutes before she blinks, and smooths her palms along the hem of her shirt.
"I did not think it would be Sam, either, Lukas. Believe me when I tell you I would pay all the money in the world for it to be some nameless Garou I did not know from Adam. But it is not, and I must do what I must. I cannot fault you for not wishing to be there for it."
She breathes out, carefully.
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas draws a short breath.
"And now you feel that I've betrayed you too," he says.
[Armstrong] "I am very thankful that you are very, very invested in your sister's life," she stated. The theurge stood and started to push the chair back to where Lukas had pulled it from. Everything had a place, and everything was where it should be. "She is lucky that you care enough to be involved."
Mrena exhaled, "I'll leave you two to discuss this matter."
Brows raised, hands clasped in front of her. The theurge glanced to the door, then back at the two as though she was asking for permission.
[Wyrmbreaker] Before Mrena leaves -- "I'm glad we talked, Mrena. Come find me before you leave. There's something else we should discuss."
[Katherine] Katherine smiles at this, it's a small thing, sickly really and lifts her slender shoulders in a very human shrug that says yes, so there it is. Mrena stands to excuse herself and Katherine merely nods briefly; her hand reaching to idly clasp the other woman's as she passes; the low murmur of an intimate farewell.
"What more would you have me say, Lukas? That I will not punish Samuel for breaching my trust? That what they have both done does not place my sister in the most precarious of places?" She steps closer now, and heavily sits down on the edge of his bed, back bowed, her face concealed in one hand; the fall of her golden hair protecting the vision of Katherine rubbing her temples as if they would bring about some miraculous solution.
[Armstrong] "I will," she said, "And I'm glad we talked, too. Thanks for listening."
A quick praise to his listening skills. And then? She was off to her room to finish packing. She gave her goodbye to Katherine, a squeeze of the hand, and then? Off to her room.
[Armstrong] (thanks for the scene, loves! I'm out!)
to Katherine, Wyrmbreaker
[Wyrmbreaker] When Mrena has exited, Lukas reaches back over his shoulder and turns on his reading lamp. Now there are two lights in the room: the overhead, the one over his shoulder.
"If it weren't a packmate," he says, "I'd advise you to confront the Garou immediately, and I'd go with you. I'd expect him to break off the relationship immediately, make reparations, and then ask for your permission to court your sister if he's still interested. I'd tell you to notify his tribal elder if the Garou didn't play by the rules at any point along the way.
"But that's for a stranger. And this is Sam, Kate, and he may be foolhardy and ... a child, but I don't think there's malice in this. I don't think he did it to shame you or your sister.
"I don't deny that he's dishonored himself by doing this behind your back, by forcing the burden of truth onto Gabriella. It's not the first time he's dishonored himself over matters of kin, but it is your role as Alpha and Philodox to guide him in this -- and, yes, to punish him. But I'd give him a chance to explain, Kate. Ask him what the hell he was thinking, and why he did this, and ... "
Lukas trails off. His brow furrows; something abruptly occurs to him.
"Who seduced whom?"
[Katherine] "Do you know what the most ironic of things is," She says, her voice muffled by her hand at her brow, by her hair falling thick and free over her wrist. She straightens, pushes the heaviness of her blond tresses back over her face and twists to face the man that perhaps, despite their positions of authority and mutual dislike at some points in their lives, she would consider a wise councilor and friend.
"I keep wishing that I could run and speak to Edward about this. To hear his, likely illogical, solution for it." She laughs, bitterly, wryly and shakes her head but a little.
A breath; brought deeply into lungs and expelled.
"It was not a seduction. Gabriella was quite emphatic on this point. I believe that it was some mutual... occurrence." She finishes with, fumbling to deliver it the way her upbringing, her sensibilities called for it to be spoken of.
[Wyrmbreaker] "I don't find that ironic at all. You may be alpha of this pack, but he is a Fostern." A beat. "And, judging from previous experience, a little more lenient on these matters than you are."
The Ahroun's hands fold into loose fists then. He thinks a moment, keeping his own counsel.
Then: "When you speak to Sam, you should ask him if he, in any way shape or form, forced Gabriella to sleep with him. You should be absolutely sure you believe his answer."
[Katherine] She shifts herself backward on the end of his bed, putting her back to the wall; reaching to unbutton several of the fitted jacket's restrictions so that she could recline. Not quite in some exulted stupor but so that she could lean her weight more fully on one elbow and turn her furrowed brow, her frown completely on Lukas.
"You believe he might have forced her? I am certain that Gabriella does not see it that way but if there were any persuading..." She does not finish, there is no need to. They both knew the dishonor involved in using certain gifts to sway one of their cousins into sexual intimacies. In some circumstances it could be forgiven. In others -- it was an unforgivable violation.
"What worries me the most is that they fancy this to be love. An indiscretion I can cover up, but an affair I am not certain even I can keep from my family so long."
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas is quick to shake his head. "I don't believe that of Sam. I don't think it. But you should be certain."
He doesn't elaborate beyond that; not his reasons, not what history he and Sam had. Lukas is nothing if not discreet, and he draws certain lines -- between non-pack and pack, between pack and private -- very sharply.
She goes on. The corner of his mouth turns wryly up. "I'm not at all surprised that Sam thinks it's love," he says. "But Gabbie? She said that to you?"
[Katherine] But you should be certain.
"I will be very certain." Finality.
At his wryly spoken response to her concern regarding love he finds that his Alpha's tired eyes twinkle now with a tinge of rueful humor. That she can twist her mouth in amusement and roll her eyes heavenward as if in utter abandonment of any sense in either of the two they were discussing.
"My sister is a romantic, Lukas. She could fancy herself on the moon and make it to seem real. She is easily led by her heart, or by what she thinks is her heart. I worry that her long held affection for Sam and her new found... intimacy with him will convince her she's in love." Katherine plays idly with a loose thread in his bedcover, her eyes downturned.
"None of us can afford to love so freely."
[Wyrmbreaker] "Kate," Lukas says, gently, "before you fly off the handle, maybe you should talk to Gabbie, too. At least when I talked to her, she seemed rather ... well; she didn't act like a besotted girl. And god knows we've both seen her act exactly like one, so I don't think that she's simply not the type to show it.
"It's possible she just had a moment of weakness, and now it's over. No one, especially not your dreaded family, needs to know.
"As for Sam -- I know you feel betrayed. He isn't exactly handling this whole situation with stellar honor. But I think he's more foolish and reckless than malicious, and given the chance, I think he'll try to make this right."
His eyes follow her hand on the bedcover. It's simply a point of contact, a place to rest his eyes while he thinks.
"Of course," he adds then, quieter, "if they've indeed become infatuated with each other, that changes things. Would your family ever accept a Fenrir courting one of its daughters? He is purebred."
[Katherine] "My family has never mated outside its tribe." She says with quiet finality again, her eyes lifting and holding no small amount of regret. "They will never make an exception because a Kinfolk fancies herself in love."
His Alpha smooths down the thread she has been toying with and pushes herself to her feet. "I am betrayed, Lukas. There is no feeling about it. It is an absolute. But I will be diplomatic." She smiles wryly, now, as she collects herself, smooths down her clothing, her hair.
"I will be the picture of my auspice, oui?"
[Wyrmbreaker] She'll be the picture of her auspice. Lukas' faint smirk says he suspects she'll fly off the handle if she's not careful, regardless.
"Take Mrena with you. She's good at defusing situations." He watches her get to her feet, but doesn't bid her goodnight just yet. "Kate," he says instead -- and hesitates. "Do you understand why I don't want to go with you when you confront Sam?"
[Katherine] She ignores the smirk, she knows him too well to know what it stands for, and it only serves to pike her irritation levels.
Kate, he says and she looks at him expectantly, her hands at her sides, her expression blank. He asks her if she knows why, and the way she draws her eyebrows high and at once smiles in a familiar, knowing fashion tells as much as her words.
"You feel you are not qualified to judge him, Lukas. Not in this."
[Wyrmbreaker] But Lukas does not smile back. Instead, his face closes, becomes motionless and set as she answer him -- so assuredly, so very mistakenly, and so tellingly.
He's silent for a moment.
Then: "Actually, no. That's not it at all, Kate, though I suspect that's what you think given what happened between Danička, Sam and I.
"Now I've said I wouldn't speak of this, but I'll make an exception tonight because we will be clear on this point. Danička is exactly the reason I do not want to be involved in this. I don't want Sam to see me there and automatically grow hostile -- as he almost certainly will, if he thinks I've come to ruin another imaginary romance of his."
He hides his anger well, but perhaps not so well as he can when the moon is smaller. The tells are there, subtle but present: the quiet, absolute way he speaks; the particular turns of phrase, razoredged.
"But if I hold back, Kate," he continues, "it is not out of shame. It's out of consideration for my packmates. Because I have every right to think him dishonorable in this. A Fenrir defiling the blood-kin of his Silver Fang alpha and host while he sleeps under her roof, without her permission, without even bothering to notify her before or after the fact? That, Kate, is a very different beast from a Shadow Lord taking what is freely offered to him, and what was always his to begin with."
[Katherine] She is equally silent for a moment; if he grows angry, she snubs that anger in favor of her own. "This pack," she warns, forebodes, perhaps, "Has too many secrets. Perhaps under my brother's rule they were acceptable but they are not under mine, Lukas." She warns, as much as she reacts.
"You wish to keep your affairs with Danicka as your own, so be it. Gaia knows I have no wish to speak of them but my one true demand of you, Lukas, is that the next time I want your aid, it is not a Kinfolk that is coming between your giving it and choosing above it."
[Wyrmbreaker] There's a flare of absolute fury in Lukas' eyes.
"You think I'm putting Danička above my pack? You think I'm sparing Sam the humiliation of my presence when you tell him yet another one of his romances has ended -- because of Danička? How does that even compute in your mind, Kate?"
[Katherine] You think I'm putting Danicka above my pack?
"Exactement!"
She exclaims, taking a threatening step toward him, her hand arcing through the air to stab at it in exclamation of her point, eyes wide and intent. "You are denying me your presence because of the entanglement of a woman between the two of you. Do not assume me ignorant Lukas Wyrmbreaker. You think I do not know what all has happened here? You wish to avoid a situation with Samuel? Le mot de la fin! But do not tell me it is complete insanity that the very reason for your absence is not that woman."
[Wyrmbreaker] She takes one step toward him and Lukas is instantly off his bed, charged with anger.
"You're blind with your own anger. How many times do I have to explain this, Kate?" His voice is barely, barely reined in. "If I'm there, Sam will close up like a clam. He'll see me and he'll think: 'there's Lukas, out to cockblock me again, just like he did last time'.
"That's how he thinks, Kate -- that somehow I'm responsible for the fact that Danička dropped him like a hot potato. Just like he'll think I'm somehow responsible for your barring him from Gabbie, too. And then you'll get nothing out of him but petulance and resentment. I can almost guarantee it.
"But if you don't believe me, or you don't care, or you want him to slam shut on you, fine. I'll go with you. It doesn't hurt me a bit."
[Katherine] How many times do I have to explain this, Kate?
"Clearly you must explain it again for I am an imbecile."
She cries above his voice, around the final words of his softly-spoken sentence. He goes on, she bridges the space between them until there is barely breathing room. This is intimidation in the basest of senses. He speaks, and she scoffs, openly. "And is he so totally without cause to believe so, Lukas? You are so attached to this woman I leave it to you to judge her, but know that I have, and I do not any longer require nor want you with me when I face Samuel. You are, what is that saying?"
Katherine's eyes read her dissatisfaction.
"Dismissed."
[Wyrmbreaker] Is he totally without cause--
"Of course he is!" Lukas explodes, not caring now if Mrena hears them next door. "What the fuck do I care whether he's fucking your sister or not? What do I stand to gain or lose in this?"
Dismissed, she says then.
He counters, instantly and absurdly, "This is my fucking room." If she doesn't turn and leave immediately, he chases that with, "And don't you ever accuse me of putting a kinswoman -- or anyone -- above my pack again. I have been truer to this pack than anyone. Yourself included. If you so much as insinuate that again, I'll take it as a direct insult to my honor."
[Katherine] What the fuck do I care whether he's fucking your sister or not?
Right there is when she slaps him; it's clear across the cheek, let's not be polite. And it is not without some force behind it. She slaps him, and she growls as much as she speaks: "I care. That is enough for a true second to comprehend."
[Wyrmbreaker] And this would be the second time Lukas has been slapped under the Brotherhood's roof.
For a right honorable Garou, and decidedly not a cad, Lukas certainly seems to incur his share of feminine wrath. Another day and he might laugh about this.
Right now, he's nowhere close to laughing. His rage gives a single, dreadful pulse as the blow lands, turns his face sharply to the side. It passes, and he's leashed himself again; he turns back.
He speaks, quietly.
"Forgive my harsh words. Of course it matters to you. But my point is simply that Sam is, indeed, totally without cause to think I'm trying to thwart his romances. I have no vested interest in your sister.
"But Kate, I have always, and will always put this pack above all else. I could stand here and list all the ways I have done so in all things, up to and including this business with Danička. But I won't, because it's beneath your honor and mine to quibble over this.
"I will say this, however: do not insult me again by suggesting otherwise, ever again." A pause. "Please."
[Wyrmbreaker] (gagh! erase that first 'again')
[Katherine] His words seem to placate her enough that her stinging hand (its the first occasion Katherine has ever had to strike one of her pack-mates, she'll remember this and not for any pleasant reason) is nothing but a limb again, one she folds her fingers around and holds against her side as if pondering its need again during this exchange.
"I will not stand here and argue pointless matters with you, Lukas." She speaks, eventually. Her expression venturing from outright outrage to something close to resignation. "I know that you are loyal to our pack, and I only hope that at the outcome of all of this, you continue to be."
Here she does the strangest thing, perhaps, for Katherine, and raises her hand momentarily to touch the cheek she had slapped as if to make amends for it by that simple touch of palm to flesh. She does this for but a moment before she turns her back on him, and turns to open his door and take her leave.
[Wyrmbreaker] "Kate," before she's quite at the door, "do you want me to go with you, or not?"
[Katherine] "No, Lukas. I will take another in your stead."
A pause, a smile with her hand on the doorknob. "You may go ice your cheek."
[Wyrmbreaker] He just snorts at her. It's not so badtempered as it could be; there's a wry grin edging onto his mouth at the end of it.
"Oh, don't flatter yourself." A pause. "Mrena's going back to Boston, come to think of it. Maybe you could bring Sampson."
[Katherine] (dude. We totally just wrapped a scene. )
[Wyrmbreaker] (totally d00d)
[Katherine] (Yay Team! Quack!)
celebration.
9 years ago