three more days.

[Carter Roth] It had almost been a month, Carter had almost been trapped/reconciled to the Loft for a full thirty days, and you could certainly say that progress had been made. He had become more sociable, he had become less distrusting. There was a great deal that was not cleared though, a great many problems would not, could not be cleared inside of a month without a copious amount of brainwashing.

He had been waiting though, waiting all day at the Loft for a chance to catch Wyrmbreaker there. He hadn't gone out to work, he hadn't even gone out to do some of the 'side jobs' he held just to keep things interesting. No Carter had exercised, and waited for the tribal elder to show up, as he always did.

He sat for the moment in the living room, a book in his hands as he wiled away the time in silence. Not like there was anyone to talk to, all the others were out, or asleep, or who knew what, Carter certainly didn't care.

[Wyrmbreaker] 7

[Wyrmbreaker] [.... that was my post. yup.]

[Carter Roth] [A masterpiece!]

[Wyrmbreaker] It's true that Wyrmbreaker drops by the Loft frequently, just like he drops by the BroHo. He goes there to pick up his mail; to check his messages. To meet with people. He comes here -- more often than not -- to shamelessly mooch food from Lucille.

Tonight's no different. Coming up the stairs, he's eating chunks of steak off a skewer, the outside charred crispy, the inside still bloody rare. There are bits of onion and bell peppers skewered between the steak, but -- let's be honest; it's 90% meat. It was raining outside. Beads of water are caught in his hair. He looks at Carter with mild surprise when he sees the man.

"Carter. Aren't you usually still at work at this hour?"

[Carter Roth] Carter looked up as the man came up the stairs. For the briefest of moments there was a pleased look on the man's face as his target, or more appropriately the man he had been waiting for stepped into view. The man put down his book then, letting it rest open faced on the arm of his chair before shrugging casually.

"It was a slow day at the lab." His voice spoke clearly despite the gravelly tone. He looked Wyrmbreaker in the eyes and tilted his head slightly to the side. "Besides...I wanted to talk to you. It works out this way."

He rose then, pulling himself out of the seat and took a few steps forward. "I haven't been able to get any training for kin done in the last month or so." Straight to the point, Lukas knew that Carter rarely beat around the bush...looked like tonight would be no different.

[Wyrmbreaker] The upstairs of the loft is largely an open area. There are guest rooms and bathrooms around the edge, but everything else -- one large 'rumpus room', as Kate terms it, with a cluster of couches and beanbag chairs at one end, near the entertainment center. That's where they gather, wolf and man, the Ahroun offering the kin a skewer of meat off his plate.

And frowning, puzzled, "I thought Kate was going to let you train your students here?"

[Carter Roth] "There is only so much I can do here." He says shaking his head. "Nice as the place is unless i wanna talk on the basics of using firearms or espionage or tactical reconnaissance its not good for much else. I can't be doing live fire drills here, nor can I establish the necessary environments."

He looks at the skewer, considering wether he was willing to accept meat from the Garou, and after a moment..he took it, thought it might just be to ingratiate himself...for the time being.

"I need to be able to get back out where these things are possible."

[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas's eyebrow cocks upward. "You realize you're only here for another three days? I said a month without embarrassing yourself or your tribe, and it'll be a month on the 28th."

[Carter Roth] Carter gave Lukas an even look, it held many thoughts, but Carter only voices one. "You never specified what embarrassing could mean. For all I know taking that skewer of meat could be seen as a horrific breach of protocol."

He shrugged as he held up the skewer to emphasize.

"I don't know your mind, or how it works. But if your saying that I'm out on the twenty eighth...then I can't wait."

[Wyrmbreaker] Carter gets a level look. "Do you really think I'm so petty, underhanded, sneaky, insane, and bored as to try to trick you into taking a skewer of meat so I can keep you under lock and key for another month? Carter, I don't know how your mind works either, but I hope it doesn't work like that.

"Barring anything truly ridiculous, you're out on the twenty-eighth. Just don't celebrate by getting yourself back in."

[Carter Roth] "Hard to get up to anything when your stuck here." He says gesturing around, the skewer still untouched. "And that was just an example. I've met some pretty fucking underhanded garou in my life. That would use something similar to get what they want." He at last brings the skewer up and takes a bite, nothing massive but he chews a piece of meat down thoughtfully.

"Don't worry, you won't see me doing that again." Was it that he would never do it again...or simply not get caught? Those might be questions Lukas asks himself, but Carter remains mute on the subject.

"Well if I'm out in three days I guess that pretty much covers all the bases."

[Wyrmbreaker] Won't see me doing it again, Carter says. That draws another long, even look; in the end, Lukas doesn't comment further. He's said all he needed to about repeat performances a long time ago.

"In our case," Lukas notes instead, "your experience alone should have taught you that if I'm unhappy with something you've done, you'll hear it directly from me. I don't play games, Carter. I'll be as direct and honorable with you as you are with me.

"So here's the truth." Stripping his first skewer clean, he tosses the little spear of wood down on his plate. "You've spent a month in here, and in that time, you've been a better guest than I expected. You haven't tried to burn the place down. You've even made overtures toward not being such a suspicious, antisocial, self-righteous ass all the time -- though if anyone mentions it you grab for that demeanor like it's armor.

"You don't need armor, Carter. Whatever you faced in your youth, you're a grown man. You are, if you'd only bring yourself to believe it, amongst family. The only people that armor themselves against their own blood are those who have nothing better under that armor. Nothing to give, nothing to show. That doesn't have to be the case for you. You've got considerable skills and assets, and you just need to use them for something other than vengeance-by-proxy against your mother.

"Let's get this clear. I don't expect or want you to grovel and crawl. But I do expect you to contribute meaningfully. Not embarrassing your own family is a start. Not forcing your fellow kin to fix your mistakes is a start. And training your fellow kin to protect themselves is a start. You're a smart guy. I'm sure you can figure out other ways to be something other than deadweight or a liability without turning yourself into breedingstock or a mindless tool.

"I think you and I can both agree on this point: it'll be best if you never gave me cause to put you back here again. But here's one more point that I want you to think about -- if you gave me, or any Garou, or anyone at all half the directness, respect and courtesy you keep demanding, you might actually get some in return."

[Carter Roth] Wyrmbreaker spins a speech for the kin, expounding on the values of their family, of respect and not being worthless. For his part Carter remains passive during the whole thing, occasionally taking small, patient bites from his skewer as he takes it in.

When Lukas finishes and Carter's shoulders roll in their sockets and the man remains quiet for another few moments. When he speaks, it is with a slow, even tone. "I aint here to earn respect, I'm here to do what I think needs to be done. However I can." He says as he comes to a close on his own skewer, which he simply holds onto, not having a plate of his own.

"But don't you worry bout me ever coming back here in this capacity. Being kept, hasn't been fun. You almost drove me stark raving mad by keeping me in here with all this rage. It still makes me wanna scratch my skin off. I don't know if that was your intent in some way. But I ain't going to let this happen again." Was it progress? That was for Wyrmbreaker to decide, the contempt, the outright hatred was out of Carter's eyes and his voice...but then, maybe he had just learned to bury it.

"But fair enough, I've learned my lesson...I'll stay out of your way."

[Wyrmbreaker] "That wasn't my intent," Lukas replies. "My intent was exactly what I said it was: to keep you from being a liability to others and a danger to yourself. To give you time to think, and hopefully to get your head on right.

"I don't know that I've accomplished half of that. Given that I've had to tell you twice in the last minute alone that I don't play games and I say what I mean, I don't even know that you're hearing me at all. I certainly don't know that I've changed how you feel in your heart, or if that's even possible -- in a month, a year, or a lifetime.

"But we're Shadow Lords. Actions matter, and little else does. So if you genuinely manage to 'stay out of my way', or even contribute a little to this war we're all fighting for each others' sake, then that's good enough for me."

[Carter Roth] "It's going to take alot more then a month with Garou as room mates to make me trust them as a whole Wyrmbreaker." He says straight and to the point. "Even you, you say your talking straight, that you will always say what you mean and mean what you say. So far...you aint done to bad with that. So I tend to believe you more then most...but that don't mean I trust you, or your word completely."

He shrugs a little. "Just the way its gonna be. I can tell you quite certainly though, that I'm going to do a whole lot more then just staying out of your way. I also meant it when I've told you, Danicka, and others that I am here for the kin...and I'm going to make sure they are stronger then their enemies will believe."

[Wyrmbreaker] There's a flicker of a smile, not entirely ironic. "Well, so long as that list of enemies doesn't include their Septmates, I suppose that counts as contributing."

[Carter Roth] "So long as those sept mates don't start raping or murdering kin or what not...yeah, that sounds bout right." Carter relaxes a little and lets his arms unfold, his gaze still forever on Wyrmbreaker, he rarely looks away for more then a second, ever since that night outside the broho...Carter didn't take his eyes off the Garou.

[Wyrmbreaker] Perhaps it's an offhand comment for Carter, but Lukas is serious. "Carter," he says, "if you actually hear of a Septmate murdering or raping kin -- and I hope that never happens -- you need to let me know immediately. If there's proof, I'll back you up. If it's one of Thunder's is the victim or the criminal, I'll see justice done by my own hands.

"But if you go off half-cocked on some sort of vengeance spree, you'll get killed more likely than not. And then your cause gets shat on. Have you heard about Maija and Wahya?"

[Carter Roth] Carter raises a brow at Wyrmbreakers talk of aiding him, backing him up, or doing the deed himself, more straight talk from the Tribe alpha? Or was it just another ploy. Carter couldn't really tell anymore.
It unsettles him a little, before when he was on the run, he knew that their words were not to be trusted. That they always had ulterior motives....he wasn't entirely certain what had changed that for him.

But then two names come up and Carter shakes his head. "Nah, why? What did they do?"

[Wyrmbreaker] "Wahya was a wolfborn Garou," Lukas is plain about it. The whole story. "A Theurge, and a good one. I even considered him for my pack for a time. Then the Wyrm sank its claws into him.

"Wahya went mad. Killed his close friend and kinswoman, a girl named Maija. Ate her. Nearly killed another. When they finally caught him, they dragged him into the Caern to be judged. Even with mitigating circumstances, I think his punishment would have been harsh. Except then a kinsman who had been close to the woman that died walked into the Caern with a loaded gun. John Thornton. He may have been her lover, and he tried to take justice into his own hands. He went straight to where Wahya was chained and tried to shoot him.

"The Warder threw him out. Demanded that he be punished by his Tribe, the Fenrir. Before that, in recognition of their role in raising this Caern, kin were allowed into the bawn. After that, no more.

"Not too long after Wahya was cleansed, and his sentence came down. I don't remember what it was. I do remember a few months later he was back, trying to claim another kin as his own. A Garou who'd devoured his kin under the influence of the Wyrm.

"Now, I understand he can't be held fully responsible for what he did. The Wyrm rode him. And I understand that once judgment is laid down and atonement -- whatever it is -- is fully paid, the matter is at rest. But no Garou like that should ever guard a kin again. That should have been part of Wahya's atonement. And I think if John Thornton hadn't tried to shoot Wahya while he was down -- if he hadn't made a martyr of Wahya, and if he hadn't overshadowed Wahya's crime and Maija's death with his own lunatic behavior -- no Philodox would have ever let Wahya even open his mouth for another kin. That would have been part and parcel of his punishment.

"All of which," he finishes, "goes to say this: don't go off half-cocked. In the end you'll just hurt your own cause. And that's not fair, but that's how it is."

[Carter Roth] It was mean't as a lesson and a warning. You go off half cocked, and the powers that be will turn on you and make you their enemy. Even if the bigger enemy is right infront of their eyes. Carter shakes his head, and an angry, resentful look crosses his face. "Disgusting."

"Your right it aint fair, its everything I hate about this nation." He says as he turns and looks to his room. "I gotta get some shut eye." He says as he turns to go.

"See you around Wyrmbreaker." And at that he heads for his room, having lost his appetite for discussion at this point.

[Wyrmbreaker] [we're wrapping on that note! *shoos insects*]