consequence.

[Marni] Some may call her daring, or stubborn, or stupid, or quite simply insane - and on any given day some or all of those things might be true. It doesn't matter to her, though - she had sworn she'd tell him herself, and this is the first chance she's managed to sneak in.

And she does sneak in - umbrally, of course, and not to his apartment directly, which someone like Lukas might suspect. No, she's always teased Ray that it's the Pool that she loves, and she has almost always appeared there first. Tonight is no different, though once she steps through into the locker room, she doesn't go directly to change and take a dip. No, tonight? There are more important 'swimmers' to talk about.

So it is, after a few moments, she tears herself away from the view, and turns to survey the Pool room first, and then makes her way toward the apartment itself and soon enough [too soon] there's a soft rap at his door.

[Ray Ostermann] It takes a few moments, but eventually the door clacks slightly as the deadbolt is drawn away, and the door opens quietly before her. Behind it is Ray, looking at Marni with an incredulous, yet pleasantly surprised look on his face. He stands there, and before saying anything he looks to her belly, as if perhaps he expected some kind of sign...before looking up into her face again.

"Marni....what an unexpected surprise." He says as a slight smile slips across his lips, greeting her warmly none the less. "What brings you back round to my neck of the woods?"

[Marni] She arches a brows slightly as his gaze drops to her belly, and then back up again, and then she shakes her head slightly. "...seems like I didn't make it to you quite soon enough."

She drags her hand through her curls that are still damp from the recent shower she snuck in at the Broho. her clothing is clean...ish, jean shorts and a tank top because it's hot and humid and she's sweltering. Her shorts have Dorito dust on them, and a couple other stains that might be food related, but the tank is clean, and her pack is on her shoulders, and in short - she looks like Marni always has: curvy in all the right places.

Her smile though - not quite as ready and mischief filled as it used to be, but it's getting there. Maybe not tonight though. "Figured we should talk. If he didn't make ya hate me, that is..." Hopeful there, as she offers Ray a lopsided smile.

[Ray Ostermann] "Hate is a strong word Marni, I rarely hate even the hardest of my economical opponents. I would say...concerned is a bit more accurate." He says carefully before he takes a moment to think, and then he steps aside, a silent offering to step inside.

"I'm afraid this will be the only freebie I can offer you Marni, he's expecting me to report you to him immediately if you come near me again without leaving just as quickly."

He says that with a sort of sad tone in his voice, or at the very least, the tone of someone who isn't used to taking orders...and doesn't much like it either.

[Marni] He says something so careful, and then offers her the freebie. Any other circumstances and it probably wouldn't sting as much, she might make a quip, and then joke her way out of the situation, and disappear into the night...

but not now. Thing is, she genuinely cares for Ray - and while the situation isn't ideal by any means... well, she just sighs, and slips past him and into the condo proper. She kicks off her flipflops, and slips from her pack, letting it fall against the wall where she always had before, before she shoves her hands into the pockets of her shorts [because they want to reach for him, just as she always has too. Betraying fingers...] She doesn't make herself any more at home than that though, not even moving toward the living room until he offers such.

"So how big a whore did he make me out to be?"

[Ray Ostermann] Ray closes the door behind her and turns to look her up and down. He doesn't seem hostile, in fact for the most part he seems very much like Ray on any other day, the only sight difference being he seems slightly more cautious then normal.

"He certainly made you seem like you wanted to use me as a resource, and he also said you had very little respect for my tribe or for me." He says as he walks slowly up to her watching her face for a brief moment, and then turns towards the kitchen walking casually that way.

"Have a seat.....would you like something to drink?"

[Marni] "That's bullshit!" The outburst is frustrated - even if it's what she expected to have happened anyway. "Have I ever disrespected you? Or taken advantage of you or taken your money or ANYTHING like that? EVER?"

She takes a step toward the kitchen, to follow him, and then hesitates. She's never hesitated before - never with him. She's always been confident, sure, unafraid. This is uncharted territory, and it has her quite off kilter. She shakes her head to the drink, though she'd kill for a beer right about now, or something -anything- stronger. Finally she turns toward the living room, and makes her way to the couch and perches on the edge of it, pulling her hands from her pocket and dragging them through her curls, briefly, before letting them fall back into tangled disarray.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." unsure, this Marni. Still off kilter, still... Marni - but dimmed, somehow.

[Ray Ostermann] "No....you haven't." He says calmly from the kitchen. "And I've never particularly pegged you for the overly manipulative type, unless you are particularly gifted." He says as he comes back through the door with two glasses in hand anyways, orange juice in both glasses, and with the amount of time it took him, its most likely straight.

He seems completely calm as he comes back, he even gives her one of his brilliant smiles as he steps into the lower living room and sets one glass down infront of her and keeps one in his hand as he watches her.

"So....did you plan on telling me your side of the story?"

[Marni] He sets the glass down, and she hesitates a minute, and then she grabs it and takes several swallows. If she's lucky she'll come up with morning sickness soon - as it is she's simply constantly starving, constantly thirsty, always shoving something into her mouth. Granted, it might keep her from talking and out of trouble for a while - but that's unlikely.

She offers him a lopsided little grin, and nods. "I'd hoped too before he got to you. But some things kept me busy the last couple days. If you want to hear it, than ya. I want you to know."

She sets the glass down, and then scoots back onto the couch, pressing into the cushions and pulling her feet up, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. She rests her chin atop her knees, and looks up at him, dark eyes filled with conflicting emotion. "I know I didn't present myself well to Lukas.. I was still.. I dunno. shocked, I guess. But I didn't at all mean for it to come across that I wanted you as some resource to pay for shit. He was so furious about the kid, that I don't think anything I said would have come out right at that point, but I certainly wasn't on top my game."

She tucks her forehead against her knees, and for a moment there, just a moment, it's so easy to see her for what she is - a teenager, a girl in a sticky situation, a woman who's still in some ways considered a child though she now carries one of her own. In her world though, in the one with men like Lukas calling the shots, and tribal affairs and conflicts and the war itself... she is fully grown, and fully responsible. "He threatened to gut me, and take what I'd stolen from the Tribe. Bet he didn't tell you that part. Said the only thing that saved me was that the nation needs more warriors, more than he wanted vengeance. I didn't intend to get pregnant, Ray. I didn't want to trap you or tie you down, or do anything but let you be who you are. We were never under any illusions - I never tried to make you only mine, or claim you or anything. I just... wanted to be sure that if something happened to me, that you'd be there for the kid - and I just... I tried to do it in a way the nation would respect, and Lukas just... exploded. I told him I cared about you, and was honest that this wasn't something I'd planned - I certainly didn't intend to trap you by any means, that's not my way. I forgot extra protection ONCE man... and you knocked me up. Once." It still boggles the mind, and she can't help but chuckle. "Just once. How is it there aren't 15 million other lil Ray's runnin round?"

[Ray Ostermann] *Ray smirks ever so slightly at her wondering how there isnt 15 million Ray's out in the world, doing what they do best and he shrugs slightly as he moves to take a seat, a bit of distance between them, but not so much as to indicate he loathes her by any means.*

"Morning after pills and birth control have been amazingly effective at keeping the number of me's in check, if you must know." He says before taking a sip of his juice and considering what it is she has said to him, taking a few minutes to digest that information, his gaze slipping over to her as he does so.

"Admittedly Marni, the how's and why's don't particularly concern me...my concern is what's next. I am forbidden from seeing you or the child, unless i take it from you entirely, if i want to provide financially I am allowed, but no more. I don't much like those terms to be honest."

[Marni] "I don't either." He sits, and it's not too close, but not too far either, and it takes everything she is not to close that distance right now. It's not of respect to Lukas by any means, as she has none, but for Ray, and what her slipping up could cost him. Has already cost him.

"Mama may try to claim you for the tribe, in hopes of getting Lukas to let go. She'd said she was going to before, but didn't, but now..." She shakes her head, an wrinkles her nose. "I dunno. It might make him angrier - but at least she is of the same rank he is. What I said then, when she talked about it with us and In" a hitch in breath, try again. "Indira still holds true - I don't want to trap you or tie you down. I've never been under any illusions that you'd want to settle with just me. But I'll certainly fight to get you the rights to see and be involved in the kids life as much as you want to be - no matter what it takes."

[Ray Ostermann] "According to Lukas, what that will take is your respect of the tribe...however at best that will grant us visitation, though...only for the child." He says as he leans forward, his arms resting on his knees as he looks over to her.

"You know...it might have gone better if you hadn't mentioned that little bit about being pregnant. You probably should have saved that tidbit till after you managed to claim me." He shrugs at his own words however and takes another quick sip of juice.

[Marni] "Then he would have killed me outright for lying - after denying the claim anyway. He's a fucking hypocrite though - his own packmates fuck anything that moves, and it's not like he's doing his duty with his own mate either."

She shakes her head, and sighs. "He would have denied me anyway - because I couldn't say that I love you." There's more to that, somewhere, laced under the words, though she doesn't clarify. And won't - unless he asks.

She scrubs her hand over her face, and through her curls. "I can't fake respect - and such a thing goes both ways. He showed me none, never has. After all, I'm just a streetrat. We're the shit end of the pole, always."

[Ray Ostermann] He seems to catch what she doesn't clarify on, and it becomes obvious the minute she says it that he's going to ask...foolish to think he wouldn't. He leans towards her a bit, his attention entirely hers.

"Would you elaborate on that a little? Couldn't? Or wouldn't?" He asks as he watches her face, her eyes as if he's looking for every tell tale mark she could leave as she answered him.

"At this moment Marni and from here on we are bound together as partners regardless of what Lukas has decreed, I think I deserve the whole truth."

[Marni] Part of her knew he'd ask. Maybe part of her hoped he would. But even so she closes her eyes, briefly, as he demands the whole truth. She doesn't look at him, though she can feel his eyes on her, feel how completely his attention belongs only to her. It's that kind of attention that had her returning to see him again and again, it's part of what makes him such fun to be with - the way he makes her feel like she's the only person on earth that matters...

...if only for an hour, a night, a couple of days.

She looks instead out the window at the view, the lights of the city in the distance, until she finally speaks, her voice filled with the pain she still can't deny, no matter how she tries to move past her mourning, her sadness, the sense of unbareable loss. Her voice almost breaks - almost, and is so very quiet as she admits... "Couldn't. It's... I loved Max, see. And Indira. And every time, every time I love someone, they die, Ray."

[Ray Ostermann] "I believe in this world, in this situation, death is an inevitability Marni. It's like taxes...we all have to do it eventually." He leans back into the couch as he speaks, almost casual as he talks about death. Perhaps almost too casually for someone who has never seen death itself.

"But we certainly don't let taxes ruin all the fun we have the rest of the year do we? It's something we just live with Marni."

He shrugs at that and looks at her once more. "Regardless of that...it's not my choice what happens now..it is frustratingly between you, Mama, and Lukas."

[Marni] "Not to me. To me you ALWAYS have a choice, Ray. We don't..." she sighs, frustrated, and flops back against the couch. "Gnawers, see our kin as equal. You aren't just someone with money and ties we can't manage to get or keep, kin aren't folks that are lessor beings or somehow worth less cuz they don't go all fur-raged and fang-faced. You're equal. Different, but equal. And that means it's as much your choice as it is mine."

She turns to look at him at last, and finally reaches for him, and slips her hand over his. "You want me to fight for you, and I will. Just say the word."

[Wyrmbreaker] Ray's intercom buzzes. It's not exactly visitation hours. Nevertheless, there it is.

[Ray Ostermann] "The question is Marni...is it a battle you can win?" He asks of her, expecting an honest answer now, it seems most of his charm and wit are stripped away in this moment, he just wants answers, he just wants to know whats going on.

"It's a foolish waste to fight if there is no chance of winning. As well,dividing the nation at a time like this...would be foolish."

The intercom goes off, and Ray stands with a raised brow, his hand sliding from beneath Marni's as he does. "Odd time for visitor's." He says with a crooked grin towards Marni, as he slides over to the intercom and presses the speak button. "Yes?"

[Marni] "I don't know. And it's not foolish if it's something we both want." She shakes her head, curls sliding across her shoulders as she does so. "If everyone believed like that...."

she doesn't continue, interrupted by the buzzer and she just chuckles, teasing. "Another babymomma? Should I sneak out the way I snuck in?"

[Wyrmbreaker] This building is rather state of the art. The sound quality is clear and crisp, though the lower frequencies of his voice is lost in transmission. No matter. It's still clearly and unmistakably Wyrmbreaker: his clean enunciation, his subtly courteous way of speaking.

"Ray. Sorry for dropping by unannounced. You mentioned investigating Whole Heart Farms the other day and I wanted to touch base."

[Sinclair] The Galliard of the Unbroken isn't a Shadow Lord. She's not a poisoner or a Theurge or a doctor or a financier and she's been rather separate from the more mundane investigations into the Hive in Moraine Hills. Which is, as she told Lukas when she saw him at the Loft, why she wanted to come along and listen in. She's not got a clue what's going on, and she should. It's a seemingly rare moment of wanting to do what most consider to be the main -- if not only -- job of her auspice.

She's dancing idly next to Wyrmbreaker downstairs. There's no earbuds or stereo playing, but if you watch carefully, she's wiggling around to Got to Give it Up, Part 1.

[Ray Ostermann] Ray's heart stops beating for a second as Wyrmbreaker's voice comes over the intercom and it takes him a heartbeat to look back at Marni, and then back over to the intercom, he seems to take another heartbeat to prep himself, before he speaks into the intercom.

"Lukas, A pleasure." Ray says smoothly through the intercom. "I hate to say it...but I am rather swamped at the moment, I've a rather top priority presentation to be ready for tomorrow, and I don't really have time...I can come by tomorrow however to discuss it."

[Manip+Subt WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6) [WP]

[Wyrmbreaker] [percep+subt!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 6, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Marni] ...his heart stops, and Marni's - well, her's is thudding suddenly so loud she is certain Lukas will hear it. She stands, and on silent feet moves toward her pack, and unzips it, digging around inside before shoving something into the front pocket, and cupping her hand around something else. She doesn't put her shoes on, or grab her pack, or do anything but seem to mentally prepare herself.

He hasn't given her the word yet - one way or the other. She simply looks at him, and waits.

[Wyrmbreaker] Hard to say what it is -- some slight hitch or tonality in the smooth kinsman's voice; some imperfection in the lie. Maybe it's just sheer practice: loving a woman who's a better liar than half the city. Whatever it is, it gives Ray away.

And downstairs, Lukas's heart skips a beat too. It's not fear, though. It's something closer to premonition, or dread: not so much suspicion as absolute certainty that something's off. It's possible, of course, that Ray's simply busy with his monday night fuck. Given recent events, however, Lukas is more willing to bet on a less pleasant likelihood.

He exchanges a glance with his packmate. It's rather grim. Then he turns back to the sleek metal intercom set in the wall, thumbing the button down.

"Don't lie to me," he says, and it's quite soft. "Buzz me up."

[Ray Ostermann] *He sighs at that, and is voice lowers almost to a whisper, as if he was trying to keep his voice from prying ears.* "Lukas, if you must know there is a woman up here, a woman that I would really rather enjoy seeing the night through with and well into the morning. You coming up here, is going to kill that in less then two minutes."

Now the man wasn't lying, everything he said WAS true, it was always so much easier when you told the truth.

"I can come by tomorrow if your really that hot to trot on the WHF issue."

[Sinclair] Sinclair's still boogying away at Lukas's side, but she slows a little when he looks at her with his doom face. Her hips and shoulders wiggle a mite slower, and then stop entirely as the intercom buzzes back and forth. She pays more attention, then glances up the side of the building as though she could see through the chrome and glass and concrete and all the rest and puzzle out what it is that's making her Alpha so suspicious.

"Awkwaaard," she singsongs softly to herself, hearing Ray.

[Marni] Even under the circumstances, the truth in the words makes her smile - just a little. She moves behind Ray, and slides her arms around him, pressing her cheek against his back, and closes her eyes, breathing deeply of his scent.

It might be the last time, after all.

[Wyrmbreaker] Ray hears a female voice singsonging: "Awkwaa-- click."

The connection goes dead. Downstairs, Lukas turns away from the unit and, planting one hand on the stoop balustrade, vaults over it. His landing is soft, springing off the balls of his feet, and he strides directly into the bushes.

From there, across the Umbra. From there, up the quasisolid walls of the building, climbing with his claws dug deep.

[Wyrmbreaker] Totemic, a steady stream of angry-suspicious consciousness: Son of a bitch. Better not be what I'm thinking. Fucking sonuvabitch, if I find that bitch up there...

et cetera.
to cricket, Sinclair

[Sinclair] Sinclair glances down as Lukas jumps the fence and goes into the bushes. She tips her head. "Why did I have a feeling that was going to happen?" she muses aloud to herself, and follows.

There's really no one to appreciate the fact that her vault is so much smoother than the large Ahroun's, or that there's a practiced air to it that he lacks. That's okay. Sinclair appreciates her athleticism without any help from an audience, these days, and steps sideways moments after Lukas.

She doesn't complain about shifting, only to climb up the sheer side of a building that might have spiritual stairs inside. A part of her genuinely likes this. A lot.

[Sinclair] What are you muttering about? comes the Galliard in reply, bewildered.
to cricket, Wyrmbreaker

[Ray Ostermann] The comm cuts off quickly and Ray looks over his shoulder towards Marni and frowns at that before he turns away and looks at her specifically. It's time you left, quickly." He said, and it was in a voice that didn't want her to argue. as he stepped away from the intercom and headed for the phone, picking it up and dialing a number.

[Wyrmbreaker] [daragan informed me Ray's on the 17th floor. stand by for calculations! *LOL*]

[Sinclair] [IT'S MATH.]

[Marni] She nods, slightly. "He'll know I was here. Do as he said, and tattle on me. I'll call you - I'll duck into Mila's place."

She grabs her flipflops, and her pack, and pausing only to brush her lips across his cheek, she murmurs "Remember - Just say the word."

And then she's out the front door, and to the elevator, headed once floor down.

[Marni] [once=one]

[Wyrmbreaker] [Alright, 17 stories = approx 170 feet, assuming 10feet per story. Leaping up the side of the building in Crinos is a straight strength roll, 4 feet / suxx at diff 3, meaning he needs 42 suxx total. He has strength 8 in crinos, and diff 3 means approx 70% of success per die (80% for diff 3, -10% for possibility of 1). So that's roughly 5-6 suxx per jump, on average, for about 7-8 jumps to get up there. Without rage, that's 7-8 turns, or 21-24 seconds. With rage it'd be about 6 seconds, but I don't think he'd blow rage.

Whew! *puts calculator away*]

[Sinclair] [Geek.]

[Ray Ostermann] Ray doesn't respond verbally, he just waits for Mila to pick up the phone. When she does he is quick and concise, his voice emphasizing his distress.

"Mila, sorry to bother you at this hour, but I could really use a favor, I'll owe you of course, but if you could be up here, in a few moments and in my bed you would be doing me a huge favor."

((LOL i cant believe there is a calculation for that))

[Mila] Mila had been sitting on her couch, dressed in a tank top and a pair of booty shorts.. the type girls tend to sleep in. A bottle of wine was in her hand. The phone was tossed aside and the young woman stood. Her free hand reached up to run through her messy hair.. the other, well.. it kept a hold of the bottle.

Barefoot, she padded for the door to her condo. She exited, but didn't lock it.. and headed for the elevator.

[Ray Ostermann] "Done, right quick please..." He chuckles and then he hung up...at this point he moved to change, quickly dumping his clothes..and throwing on a silken house robe. If the man had to die for this...at least he'd die comfortably.

[Wyrmbreaker] One might expect Wyrmbreaker to go tearing up the side of the building like a cat on fire now. He doesn't, though. He's swift, but unhurried -- every step deliberate, every dig of his claws into the semireal material beneath his handpaws sure.

The moon is very nearly full. It's Sinclair's moon, but it's close enough to Wyrmbreaker's almost not to matter. It casts a silver sheen to the tips of his otherwise jetblack fur; glints in his glaring eyes, leaving them pale as ice.

Twenty, twenty-five seconds later -- enough time for Marni to duck out into the hall and hit the elevator Down button, enough time for Ray to make a quick call and start changing, enough time for Mila to leave her condo --

the reality in Ray's apartment shreds open. A monster steps through, ebon fur and flaring nostrils, a creature out of legend and primordial fear.

[Marni] The elevator dings, and she slips inside, and the door closes.

One floor down does not take long. Call it 1 second for the door to close. 2 for the trip down. 1/2 for it to open enough for her to get out, and make the quick trip down the hall. Mila didn't lock her door - though it wouldn't have mattered to Marni, as she has particular talents to circumvent such trivial matters - and the Gnawer slips inside.

[Mila] The second elevator opened just prior to Marni's opening. Mila stepped inside. The pair missed each other entirely. She wasn't paying a ton of attention tonight anyway.. the bottle of wine wasn't her first.

The Galliard was humming to herself as the elevator door closed.

[Ray Ostermann] Ray hears that, he flung on the robe and stepped out of the room, leaving the door to his bedroom open, he see's the creature that is Wyrmbreaker and his heart skips a beat, but he has no time to fear, he had set foot on this path, and he wouldn't shy away now, instead he looked angry as he stepped forward.

"Lukas! What the hell!" He says rather uncouthly as he stepped into the kitchen, still some distance from the giant wolfman. "Do you respect my privacy so little?"

[Sinclair] It takes Sinclair longer to get up the side of the building than it does Lukas, but not by much. Tonight she seems stronger than she is any other, she feels stronger, she feels faster. So she's tearing upward just a few paces behind him, coming through the semitransparent wall just behind him, and when that hole in the world opens up in Ray's apartment, the air veritably snaps and shudders with the onslaught of Rage the two Garou bring with them.

The second one is not so large as Lukas, though similar-looking. Broad shoulders, heavily muscled, with surreally pale blue eyes set against thick, dark fur. The female's is all charcoal and concrete in color, underscored by white here and there. Metal glints in her pointed, tufted ears. A slender metal bar goes through one bicep, shining under his overhead lights or in the illumination from his lamps.

Her maw opens and she snarls softly, far back in her throat, more of a lethal, seething purr than a threat. It sounds like communication. That massive, metal-pierced head swings slowly from one side to the other, scanning the space, then she locks her gaze on Ray.

A half-second, an eyeblink, and it's not a monster anymore. It's a slim, athletic woman with a few freckles across her nose and a deceptively angelic look to her face and hair the color of wheat. She's in khaki shorts, blue sneakers, and a red tank top, and Ray can clearly see the tattoos on her thigh, her ankle, her arms.

Not, of course, that he'll be focusing on those right now. She's crouched when she changes, rises slowly to her feet after that.

[Wyrmbreaker] His back to his kin, the werewolf in Ray's living room is scenting the air. It takes only a second. His hackles are on end, his stance hulking. The air around him bends with his rage.

Turning, he sheds his fur, shrinks as he moves. Wyrmbreaker becomes some semblance, some pretense of human again. He faces Ray dead-on, his eyes flat; disappointed; angry.

"Do you value my trust so little?"

[Wyrmbreaker] During the climb, there was no reply from Lukas; nothing but seething suspicion and anger, determination, the impression of up, up, up.

Now, though. Now his suspicions are confirmed, and there's time to think. Room for thought.

Marni let Ray knock her up. Then she came to me asking to challenge for him. Said something about wanting his resources for the baby. I turned her away, told her to never come near him again. He was told the same.

That's it, then -- blunt, flat.
to cricket, Sinclair

[Sinclair] 'Let'?
to cricket, Wyrmbreaker

[Ray Ostermann] "Perhaps I shouldn't since you rushed up here like that." He says folding his arms over his chest. He fails in any way shape or form to look overly impressive, pleasing on the eye maybe, but certainly not intimidating or threatening.

"This is my home. I see regular women all the time, what the hell would have happened if a woman I knew was sitting RIGHT there." He unfolds his arms to gesture at the couch that Lukas and Sinclair had come in next to.

[Mila] Mila didn't knock. She just turned the handle of Ray's door and bumped it open with a hip.

Her tank top had fallen off one shoulder. She was a hot mess. But, the key word was hot. She pulled off the bedhead look oh-so-well. "Ray.. I brought wine.." She called as she pushed open the door further. Mila was giggling a bit. Yup, must be drunk.

However, the giggling stopped the instant she saw he had company. "Oh.. hey guys.."

[Ray Ostermann] Ray sigh's as Mila steps through the door and looks over to Lukas. "Thankfully, Mila as you know...is not pure human."

[Sinclair] Sinclair's hand raises to answer Ray's question. "She would have freaked out because of the Deliri--"

The door opens, and Ray goes on to mention Mila, and Sinclair -- hand still up -- looks over at her, brow furrowing in bewilderment, head tipping to the side. She looks back to Ray, hand dropping. Her frown deepens.

[Wyrmbreaker] Ray gets as far as this is my home. He gets that far because in that time Wyrmbreaker is crossing the space between, is bearing down on him like a freight train, a storm front.

The alpha of the tribe stops an inch from his kin. He bends to Ray until they're face to face, eye to eye, and he roars:

"THIS IS MY TERRITORY."

The silence afterward: quiet enough to hear pins drop; to hear blood pulse in the ears. It's broken when Mila opens the door. When she slips in, and when her giggling cuts off.

"You are my kin," Lukas says then, soft now. "And I trusted you. I've given you more freedom and leeway than any Shadow Lord kin could rightfully expect. All you've done with that freedom is lie to me, ignore my edicts, and sidestep the truth in order to indulge your own selfishness and hedonism. If that's how you want to play it, then so be it. You've betrayed my faith in you. There are no second chances in my book.

"You will have a stormcrow bound to you. If that Bone Gnawer comes near you again, I will know. If you fraternize with her, I will know. If you dare lie to me again, I will know, and I will hold you accountable. Until you prove to me that you're more than a dick and a quick tongue, that's how it'll be. We're in a war, and you're wasting my time."

He turns from Ray. Faces Mila.

"Why are you here?"

[Sinclair] [DLP!]

[Mila] Blink. Pause.. it took a long moment for Mila to take in the scene. What in the world is going on?

"Uh.." Nope, she was too drunk to lie, she knew it. "Ray asked me to come. We hang out all the time - thought he finally wanted to have a little fun... Wyrmbreaker-rhya." She smiled a bit and took a sip directly from her bottle.

"You want some?"

[Sinclair] Through all this, Sinclair's been silent. She hangs back as Lukas advances on Ray; an unanswered and possibly rhetorical question hangs in the minds of the Unbroken and their link through Perun. She watches from the very spot where she and Lukas tore through the Gauntlet and into the kinsman's apartment, her expression a careful blank.

Which, given that she's terrible at hiding anything, means it isn't difficult to tell that she's thinking. She's watching, listening, remembering. What she has to say, if anything, will be held for another time.

[Ray Ostermann] Ray stands his ground...amazingly, he holds it as Lukas roars in his face, doing his very best not to flinch under the man's intense gaze and rage. Something inside him hardens as the man speaks as if he'd done nothing for the tribe, done nothing for the war effort, and when the Alpha of the Shadowlord turns from him he shakes his head at the man. He waits for him to turn back around and he shakes his head. His arms crossed in front of him.

"All I have done?" All I have done...i see, so, managing the shutdown of the community center, working through the process to buy the community center. Acquiring a pack house, assisting in reconstruction, acquiring a home for my tribesman, generating information, bypassing legislations."

He pauses and reins himself in.

"Your right Wyrmbreaker-rhya, I've done nothing that would allow for a ten minute conversation with her." He says it, but it is sarcastic, he's pushing the boundaries, and maybe he doesn't care.

[Wyrmbreaker] [WP! +1 pissed off! +1 he's still talking!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8)

[Wyrmbreaker] There's an instant in which Lukas's intellect almost slips. He almost descends into red fury. It's an alpha wolf's instinct: to quell dissent with tooth and claw, brutality and strength. And it would be so fucking easy to quell a creature like Ray, wouldn't it? Nothing but flesh and bone, human skin wrapped in human clothing: a soft little weak thing that would break if it were flung against a wall, that would bleed and scream and die if Wyrmbreaker so much as closed his teeth around its torso

and bit down.

He bites down -- but not on his kin. He bites down on the raw red beast inside him, the one that roars for blood and violence and satiation of the most savage sort. For a moment Ray can see the struggle for control in the tense jaw, the eyes closing for a moment.

Then it's past.

"You're correct," he says, low. "You have contributed much in your months here. For belittling your achievements, I apologize."

Ray is new enough to the Nation, perhaps, not to know what a rare thing that was. Lukas, nearly losing his temper An Ahroun controlling himself. A Shadow Lord recognizing his own fault and apologizing.

"But remember," he continues, "you did not act alone. You acted within the structure of the Garou Nation, and with its networks and assistance. That Nation is built on a hierarchy, just as any military is built on its ranks. That hierarchy cannot be violated. It can be challenged, even questioned, but it cannot be simply and arbitrarily violated, or the entire chain of command will crumble and the war will be lost.

"My orders are not suggestions, Ray. No amount of contribution excuses insubordination. You and Marni disobeyed a direct order. Now you must face consequences, and so must she.

"Where did Marni Sticky-Fingers go?"

[Mila] Mila took a long sip from her bottle of wine. Then, quietly. "I'm just gonna go - rhya.."

She took the few steps back towards the door. Her hand rested upon the handle. And, if he made no move to stop her, she'd go back to her apartment.

[Ray Ostermann] Ray remains standing there, his arms folded over his chest as Lukas doesn't quite demand the location of Marni. First he looks over to Mila and gives the woman a warm smile. "Good to see you Mila, drop by anytime..." He says with a thankful tone before he turns back to the other garou in the room.

He looks over at Sinclair at last, looking her up and down, but she has done nothing, and said little, which either made her dangerous, or watchful. Regardless he peeled his gaze from the enticing Garou, forcing himself to look at Wyrmbreaker, a completely less attractive option to look at, but rather important at the moment.

It looks like he almost won't give her up....but then he speaks. "Don't kill her....she is down a floor."

[Wyrmbreaker] There's a flash, almost a wince.

"As angry as I am," Lukas says quietly, "the last thing I want to do is kill a warrior in my charge over some misguided attempt to play Romeo and Juliet."

He turns to leave, then, passing Mila as she too is heading for the door. "Stay if you want," he tells the Galliard of his tribe. A minuscule pause -- then, "I'm sorry things didn't work out with Cristos."

The conclusion is easily drawn from what little he has seen and heard. There could be no other reason in Lukas's mind for Mila to be in Ray's apartment drunk and looking for action. The possibility of faithlessness between a Garou and her mate is unthinkable to him.

He holds the door open behind him for Sinclair. Then he goes to the elevator bank and presses the down button.

[Sinclair] The young blonde with Wyrmbreaker is most definitely dangerous. Tonight she seems to almost glow with strength, the edges of her form diffuse and lean. Her eyes are an unsettling opague despite the manmade light of the room. And though once upon a time she might have looked like some All American girl, quite possibly a cheerleader or a beach volleyball player or something of that sort, there's the metal and the ink to contend with, the markings she's put on herself over the years.

A thin metal bar pierced twice through the topmost skin of her left bicep, above three downward-pointing black spikes etched into her flesh. Rings and bars through her ears, some with colored beads, one with a tiny dangling feather. Wrapped around and around her right thigh is a tattoo of a black and green viper, its fangs digging into what a basic overview in anatomy would identify as her femoral artery. A harder-to-discern cuff of intricate ink around her left ankle, visible above the uppers of her blue Nikes.

A list of names down her right bicep.

She's frowning, now, thoughtful but tense. Thoughtful but ...annoyed, maybe. And nevermind that she's beautiful or young or that she has a body, because something about her strikes Ray with the impression that she is perpetually two steps from knocking someone like him flat and tearing out his throat. It isn't even Rage, because hers is outstripped by the Ahroun's. It's something else entirely, less controlled and less guided by Luna or Gaia or the war.

He's in his home with animals, and one of them can't even pretend to be civilized.

She glances at Mila as she leaves, giving a nod to the other Galliard, then unfolds her arms and follows Lukas, catching the door he holds and leaving with him.

[Mila] Mila makes a noise, somethinging akin to a 'hrmp' on the subject of Scott. It was a sore spot for her - she didn't really care to talk about it. Perhaps that is the reason for the wine.

Oddly enough, she also lives downstairs! So, she took the elevator down with them!

[Mila] And then.. in the elevator. Quietly the Galliard spoke. "His father said no. For now, at least. He indicated he may change his mind. I await that day. Ray is a friend.. nothing more."

[Wyrmbreaker] A quiet sense of questioning across the totemlink. If forced into words, it might be approximated as: [i]why angry?[i]
to cricket, Sinclair

[Ray Ostermann] Everyone leaves, Mila, Wyrmbreaker, even the tough but beautiful woman whom Ray would have had a grand time getting to know better in many ways left, leaving the man alone in his suddenly far to empty apartment.

Only when they are gone, do the shakes begin, starting in his legs they work their way to his hands, and at last it almost seems as if his whole body might shake. The man leans against the wall and takes several long, deep breaths, steadying himself as he recoils from the very near death experience he had just gone through. He waits several long moments, listening as the elevator shuts, before he pushes off and heads into the hallway, moving for the stairs at the end...he wasn't going to just sit up there and wait.

[Wyrmbreaker] There's a lull in the elevator; a proverbial eye in the storm. Lukas watches the numbers move, 17 to 16. And he glances at Mila only once, and briefly, in that interim.

"Try going to him after you've attained Fosternhood. Scott's father must want his son to be well-mated, and for a long time. Too many Cliaths never make it to Fostern. Brashness or carelessness or simple bad luck claim them before their time. If you can prove that you have the strength and cunning to make it to your second rank, you might just convince him that you're a worthy investment, so to speak."

The elevator dings as they stop on Mila's floor. Lukas steps out first, and it's back to business.

"Is Marni in your unit?"

[Sinclair] Startled, the reply: I'm not.

And then a pause: I think... this is stupid. That he lied and whatever. So that's annoying. But you nearly snapped a minute ago, and I'm not sure I get why it's worth that much anger over. And you told her to stay away from him, and I think --

She cuts herself off.

And another pause, briefer this time. Ultimately, they're not my tribe, either of them. Not my kin. It's not my business.
to cricket, Wyrmbreaker

[Mila] She nodded. It was the plan. Now, hopefully she'd make it there.

The young woman stopped off of the elevator and took another sip from her bottle. After her sip, she did offer it back out to the both of them.

"She wasn't there when I left. But I did previously extend her an invite any time she wanted to. So, maybe? You can come in if you want." A beat. "But, I do like Marni - no matter what this is about.."

Mila pushed open the door to her condo, and held it open for the pair of them, if they wanted to come in.

[Marni] Marni does many things while she waits inside Mila's apartment. She paces. She dashes to the bathroom to pee. She discovers she's hungry AGAIN, and raids the fridge. She inhales a Dagwood style sandwich that would make the toon hisself jealous, and resumes pacing again. She realizes she left a mess, and cleans up. Resumes pacing. Scrubs the ketchup from the corner of her lips. Back to pacing.

Back n forth. Back n forth. Back n forth.

She probably could have bolted. She likely could have disappeared into the darkened alleyways and trash heaps and made it near impossible to find her. She could have done a lot of things - but she didn't.

She simply awaits the inevitable - and when the door opens, she turns to face it, her stance easy, her hands loose at her sides, alert.

Ready.

[Ray Ostermann] Ray is just opening the door from the fire escape as Mila ushers Wyrmbreaker and Sinclair into her unit, the unit Ray had helped acquire, simply another one of the few, unrecognized things that he had done for the nation in his time with it.

He was still dressed in that robe, and thankfully a pair of boxers. He didn't really seem to care mind you as he stepped from the stairwell and looked towards Mila as he started down the hallway.

[Wyrmbreaker] Simply, I'd like to hear what you think, anyway.
to cricket, Sinclair

[Sinclair] Maybe after this. When we're not... distracted.
to cricket, Wyrmbreaker

[Wyrmbreaker] There a wry sort of amusement in the look Lukas gives Ray as the kinsman pops out of the stairwell. Then Mila's opening the door to her flat, and Marni is indeed inside.

Wyrmbreaker and Sticky Fingers face each other. Lukas inclines his head after a moment, gesturing to -- well. A place that they couldn't really gesture at on this side of the Gauntlet.

"Let's talk on the other side. You and I."

[Mila] Mila looked little surprised. "Hey Marni." She smiled nonetheless.

As long as Lukas minded his manners, she would not step in. Instead, her gaze shifted to Sinclair. "Can I get you something to drink.. eat?"

[Ray Ostermann] Ray steps up to the door and looks from Mila, to Sinclair, and then finally to Wyrmbreaker and Marni, as the man gestured and spoke of the otherside, Ray realized he wasn't about to be allowed to witness what was about to transpire..instead he stepped in and stood there, cracking the best confident look he could muster.

[Marni] He wants to chat on the other side. Alone. Mama ain't raise no fools.

She chuckles softly. "No offense meant, Wyrmbreaker-rhya, but I'd rather not. I've the pup to protect - which he deserved to hear about from me, you know. Situations reversed, you'd have done the same." A pause. "I realize that some of the things said when I came to you were.. misinterpreted, and I didn't present my case very well - reasons, I got them, but I doubt you want to hear them. But this involves Ray, too. He shouldn't be excluded."

[Sinclair] They make an odd group: Ray in his robe, Mila in her sleepwear, Sinclair with her markings, Lukas with... his...

being Lukas.

All tromping back into Mila's apartment, where Marni is. Sinclair hangs back, as before, neither a Shadow Lord nor bearing the child of a Shadow Lord kinsman. She looks over at her Alpha when he tells Marni to come with him cross the Gauntlet, a question unspoken either here or over their totemlink. Mila asks her if she wants anything and the girl blinks, turning back to her.

"Uh..."

But then Marni's answering Lukas, and Sinclair's head whips around to snap her eyes on the Gnawer, narrowing.

[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas's eyebrow flicks up. "Don't insult me, Sticky Fingers. The spirits know whose honor is greater between the two of us. But if you want the audience, we'll keep the audience."

A beat.

"I disagree. Situations reversed, I would have come to you long before I impregnated a kin under your care. Situations reversed, I would have claimed a mate out of love, not material greed. Situations reversed, I would have respected your word had you warned me away from your kin.

"You didn't do any of these things. You disrespected my rank, my word, and the claims of my tribe at every turn. So you tell me, Marni. What price should I exact from you that will make you remember your mistakes? How do I get through to you?"

Another.

"Should I simply pretend you have a shred of honor left and accept your challenge? Would that give you closure?"

[Mila] And.. when Sinclair doesn't want anything.. Mila just wanders over and takes a seat on the couch. She propped her bare feet up on the coffee table and just.. silently watched.

[Ray Ostermann] Ray stands near the doorway, waiting and watching to see just what is going to happen. He becomes more attentive now, as Lukas apparently was willing to remain on this side to discuss. He didn't seem nervous or apprehensive, but perhaps that was simply because of that confident look he managed to plaster on his face even in the worst of times.

[Mila] {Alright - I need to go to bed before I end up sleeping on the keyboard. Mila won't interefere unless they start tearing each other apart.. or tearing her condo apart! She'll sit and watch otherwise.. night all.}
to Marni, Ray Ostermann, Sinclair, Wyrmbreaker

[Marni] She arches a brow as Sinclair's gaze narrows on her, but then her attention is on Lukas, solely. She listens, and this time, she doesn't speak quickly, she doesn't let her emotions -as fucked up as they've been - overrun her tongue. This time, she thinks through it, though she knows well that it likely will have no effect. Preconceived (..heh.) notions, and all that.

"I came to you first. Direct from the clinic, after finding out the unexpected news - news that I hadn't expected and was still reeling from. I understand why you would think that my claim for Ray was of some sort of greed - even though i told you then, and I tell you now that I do care for him, very much. Is it love? I don't know yet. It could be. I do know that every time I have uttered that word to put name to a feeling, the person has died shortly thereafter. Maybe you can understand what that does to someone - maybe not. It makes me hesitate. It makes me want to be SURE."

She lifts a hand and drags it through her curls, and her brow furrows. "I think that I wasn't clear, that you confused Mama's claim as being the same as mine. Yes, I want to be sure that Ray is involved, that my child is protected and taken care of - but that's not the ONLY reason I went to claim him. Jesus, if I were simply a greedy little tart, I would have been living under his roof already, taken his offers of money, hell - i wouldn't even let him give me a damn cell phone so he could call me, Lukas. I'm not greedy. I'm not what you painted me out to be. And when you demanded I bring the child to your tribe - not to Ray, but to the Tribe, after calling me an honorless thief, and threatening the life of the child I carry..."

"I snapped." She sighs, and shakes her head. "I never wanted to tie him down - I know well who he is, how he loves. I said that before - I don't think you took it as I meant it - that I did not do this to on purpose to steal from your tribe, to trap Ray into a situation he did not want. I did not get pregnant on purpose. I did not intend for it to happen, but when it did I did the right thing and CAME DIRECTLY TO YOU. Before I told him, even. I came to you."

She looks over at Ray then... "But he deserved to hear it from me, regardless of what happens next."

[Wyrmbreaker] [night pandora!]

[Wyrmbreaker] [fugg!]

[Wyrmbreaker] "You can explain events however you like, Marni, but it's your actions I care about. Without permission, without so much as a word to me, you fucked a kin of my tribe. I looked the other way for the sake of my kin's freedom and this Sept's unity. Then you mated with him. 'It was an accident' isn't good enough. It was your responsibility to respect the territory of another, and you took advantage of my leniency.

"As for your approaching him again tonight. I expressly forbade you to come near my kin again and vice versa. Despite that, you came to him, and he allowed you to stay. You've both come up with reasons to justify yourselves, but the truth is, if I hadn't discovered you, you would have never confessed. And no matter how compelling your reasons may have been, neither of you ever thought to bring them before me, first. That makes your reasons nothing more than the excuses of miscreants caught in the act.

"You've both disobeyed a direct order that, by my rank and by my position as Alpha of my Tribe, I had every right to give you. As I told Ray upstairs, we're a warrior race. Hierarchy matters. Our Litany matters. Violate either, and there will be consequences.

"Had you come to me before any of this had happened -- had you come to me as soon as you became interested in my kin and expressed interest in his person rather than blathering about resources and claims -- I might have thought you respectful and honorable. I might have given your suit fair consideration. Instead, you've proven yourself brash, honorless and disrespectful. And you've insulted the claims of my tribe over and over and over. It's time for consequences.

"So I'll ask you again. What price should I exact, Sticky Fingers?"

[Marni] Exactly as she expected.

Her jaw tightens, and she falls silent, she - in a very real way - shuts down. She looks over at Ray, her expression unreadable, before she looks back to Lukas. "I will not place words in your mouth, or lay claim to the reasons behind them as you have mine. So you tell me, what type of payment you would accept?"

[Sinclair] For what it's worth, Sinclair does as she has since arriving with her Alpha: she hangs back. As she told him, though privately, this is not her business. As she told him, also in silence, what she has to say about it can wait until they have a few minutes to speak without distraction. This is not like Marrick's Gathering; she is not going to speak up to interfere, nor speak to his mind in caution. This is tribal business.

Which means what happens, happens. And she will witness it. For once, she'll stay out of the immediacy of things, the burning rush of it all. In this case, her words can't come 'too late'. It already is, in a way. Her job now is to be there, in support and in memory.

That is what she does. Sinclair hangs back, mostly ignoring Ray and trying not to muss up Mila's apartment, until Lukas chooses to go. And when he does, she follows, without a glance back.

[Sinclair] [Sorry for the abrupt-ish outro, folks, but I need to crash! :] Thanks for the RP!]

[Wyrmbreaker] "I want proof that you've heard me this time. I want consequences laid out in case you err again."

There's no hesitation; no demure deferral back to her. That's one clear line drawn across Lukas's courtesy, one streak of harsh pragmatism across what's so often a surprisingly polite demeanor. What's offered to him will be taken.

"I want you to vow to me you won't violate the claims of my Tribe again. And I want you to tell me what I should do to you if you do."

[Ray Ostermann] ((And i gotta bail as well...falling asleep at the helm here, night! and thanks for the play as well, Ray will just watch and listen, slightly eager, but mostly unreadable))

[Wyrmbreaker] [thanks for the RP!]

[Marni] He still throws it back at her.

"I heard you." she stops. And shakes her head slightly, and then looks at Ray. She told him - and she meant it. It's his call. She doesn't answer right away - he knows what is at stake, he knows what it means, he knows what could happen. It's his call.

She waits. She meets Ray's gaze, and she waits.

And then, it seems she gets an answer, even in his silence and she returns her gaze to meet Lukas' evenly. "Ray wants to be part of his child's life. He knows that if it is to be, than he will have to be mine in your eyes and that of the nation. Therefore, I will continue to challenge for Ray. It is not for his money, it is not for greed. I care for him."

A beat. "However, you have my word I will not be with him again, or see him again until that challenge is made, honored and won."

A beat. "As for what you should do if I do see him without your permission, that is for you to decide. The child is not up for negotiation, however. In case that wasn't clear."

[Wyrmbreaker] A long moment the Shadow Lord eyes the Bone Gnawer, his pale eyes critical and -- perhaps rightfully -- doubtful. There's a pause when she's finished.

Then Wyrmbreaker nods.

"Fine. If you keep your word and prove yourself an honorable and worthy mate to a kin of Thunder, I will invite you to challenge. Have enough faith in my honor to know that I will offer. I won't begrudge you the opportunity out of sheer spite.

"If you think yourself worthy before I do, you may challenge me again. But if I find you lacking, I will crush you and you will not have another chance.

"And if you dare break your word to me again, I'll tear your tongue out and nail it to the Wyrmpole. And you'll speak with the Jackal Voice for a full turn of the moon.

"Are we clear?"

[Marni] The terms are laid out, and she listens, her gaze not wavering, her intentions clear. If she has her doubts of any of it, she says nothing of them. Instead, she shifts her dark eyes meet Ray's own, and she holds that look for a long, silent moment, the moment there for them alone, lost to the rest of the room.

A lot can be said with a simple look, especially when one's gaze is as expressive as Marni's own. Even more, perhaps, can be said when that gaze is guarded as carefully as it is when she looks to Lukas once more.

"Clear. Though if another challenges for him, while you wait, I request the right to have mine completed first."

[Wyrmbreaker] "If he wants to wait for your challenge," Lukas replies, "I'll wait for your challenge."

[Marni] She nods. "Fine."

She reaches to snack her pack, and sling it over her shoulders, sliding her feet into her flipflops as she does so. "Mila, thank you for your hospitality. I'll call you later."

Sinclair she ignores, she has nothing else to say to Lukas. Ray, though. As she walks by, she slides her hand into his, and squeezes lightly, the though brief, though as intense as her gaze moments ago. It's not goodbye. Far from it.

And then the touch is gone, and a moment later with the close of the door - so is she.