[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] The smell of perfectly seared meat brings Lukas coming down the stairs, jogging over two or three steps at a bound. He hits the kitchen floor in his lounge pants and a plain white t-shirt, yawning. From the way his hair sticks up in the back and the red mark of a pillowcase-crease on his cheek, he just woke up.
"Damn, what'd Jenny cook?" He catches sight of Charlie and Ben and the stranger. "Hey, Lights-Out, Purifier." His eyes fall on the last, curious, expectant.
[Indira Kamble] "Huh," Indira says, scratching the back of her neck as she mulls that bit of information over and takes tiny bites off of the chunk of steak she has speared on her fork. The steak is nearing its end; she's trying to make it last as long as is feasibly possible. She never knows when she'll get more. Or another steak, for that matter.
"Guess I'll have to think about that one, not a fuckin' lot to my name," she says, and then her eyes fall on the man coming up the stairs.
"I'm Indira," she says. Then, belatedly, after realizing that he'd called the other two by their deed names, "Or Going Down!, either one's good with me."
[Ben] He looks up from his spot at the table. Nods to Lukas. "Wyrmbreaker-rhya." Glancing at Charlie and taking note of what the other man called him. He pauses with a piece of steak half-way to his mouth. Glancing around the kitchen quickly. Watching staff doing their nightly routine. Keeping everything in order. Then back to Lukas. "I made dinner. You're welcome to it." A couple of steaks, some salad, and a bunch of biscuits are still left. "Whatever you don't get, I'm sure the staff here will devour. They've been eyeing me."
[Charlie] Charlie steps out of the way when he hears heavy footsteps pounding on the stairs so as not to be bowled over by whoever it is hurrying into the kitchen. When he sees the state Lukas is in he puts his hand over his mouth, though whether he's smothering laughter or a yawn is anyone's guess. He keeps quiet, but he doesn't appear as though he's in any great rush to go anywhere just yet.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas's eyebrows flicker together in perplexion at Indira's deedname. There's a beat of startled silence; then it passes and he gets it.
"Bone Gnawer?" Just a guess. Then again, with Charlie's deedname, Lukas can't stop thinking of him as a Gnawer. And with the Mother's Touch pouring out of him in every battle, he can't help but lump him in with the Children. "I'm Lukáš Wyrmbreaker, Ahroun of Thunder."
Lukas is tall enough that he has to duck under some of the hanging pots and pans, several inches over six. His grip is solid at Indira's forearm rather than her hand. His own is hard as a wood banister, intensely warm.
Releasing her, he turns to grab a plate off the stack and grabs a slab of steak with his fingers. It's still sizzling hot, making him shake his hand out and pop his fingers into his mouth. He grabs a knife and... that's about it. There's a table in the kitchen, roughhewn and wooden. Lukas pulls up a stool and joins the others at it, rapidly sawing his steak into chunks that he eats with his fingers.
"You taking them to Maelstrom later, Charlie? Overheard the conversation on my way down."
[Ben] "I've already been to see Maelstrom." He says between bites. Finishing off his meal, he leans back for a second to relax. But he's always full of energy. Always rarin' to go. And he can't stay still too long. After a couple minutes he's up again. Going over to the washing station and cleaning the pots, pans and utensils he'd used.
[Charlie] The Theurge standing in front of the stairs performd two Gatherings for the Departed within three days of each other this week. Both of them were friends of his. One of them, the one he buried yesterday morning, he would have called his brother. The narcoleptic normally looks as though he has trouble sleeping during the day, nocturnal as he is, but right now he looks as though he's coasting on fumes, as though his reserves have been tapped. His Rage is overpowering relative to his ability to control it. Mild-mannered though he is, there's a hardness in his gaze that suggests he's on the verge of snapping. He needs to burn off some of his anger if he's going to be able to function tonight.
There's a question, and Charlie starts as though a shot has gone off. He'd zoned out while Lukas was talking to Indira, apparently. He does this sometimes, allows his attention to be snared by that which the average person can't hear or see; it seems as though he'd done it just now.
Ben admits that he's been already, and Charlie sniffs, harshly, as if to clear his sinuses.
"I told Going Down I'd take her," he says, "'cause I'm heading that way anyway? I don't know if she wants to go tonight, though, she don't know what she wants to give Maelstrom."
[Indira Kamble] Indira puts down the fork with the half-gnawed bit of steak on it back on her plate long enough to accept Lukas's handshake. When he goes past to grip her forearm she grips his too, with a callused palm. She's tall for a woman, and wiry, her muscles cabling a little underneath the skin. "Bone Gnawer, yeah. Nice to meet you, Lukas."
She picks up the fork, and then the nibbling is again resumed. The steak's going cold, though, so she just pops the rest of the bite into her mouth and then goes to finish the rest. "I ain't seen the Maelstrom yet, so yeah, we were talking about having him take me by."
The steak finished, she downs most of a glass of wine in a few steady gulps and then, setting it down, looks up at the other Ahroun and the Theurge. "It isn't so much that I don't know what I want to give as that I don't have a lot, but I bet I can think of something."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "Mmh." It's possible Lukas isn't capable of saying more right now, his mouth full of steak. He gets up, holding one finger up, comes back with a bottle of red grabbed off the shelf at random. His fingers leave little smears of grease on the wineglasses he takes down from the overhead rack, one for each of them, though it's apparently self-serve because he pours for himself and then leaves the bottle on the table.
A gulp to wash down the steak, and then he says, "I always figured it wasn't so much what you're willing to give up from the past but some indication of what you'd be willing to give up in the future. Lights-Out is probably the authority on this, though.
"Ben, this is excellent steak. You should see me cook. Nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches."
[Charlie] Lights Out is dangerously close to challenging for the second rank. The deeds that people at this Sept tell about him have to do with his prowess in battle, but more than that, more than his ability to take crippling hits in a fight and get back up, more than his ability to tear through his enemies with his claws and send them back to the earth, people know him as a wise man. Within this society, he is a shaman: he is as skilled a healer as he is a spirit-talker. His advice is valued, his skill with cleansing and healing sought after; he has a level head that many wouldn't expect out of someone who genetics and biology would instantaneously label as 'insane.'
That isn't to say that he's not insane. It seems as though with the upbringings they suffer and the treatment they endure at the hands of their brethren their entire lives being what they are, most metis are completely cracked. Only one of the people currently standing in the room knows Lights Out for what he truly is, though. There are no homid male Black Furies. This is not an homid standing in front of them.
Wyrmbreaker pegs him as an authority on what Maelstrom does and does not find acceptable, and he leans his back against the wall as he plunges his hands into the gaping pockets of his jeans and addresses Going Down while the Fostern commends the Child of Gaia for his ability to cook.
"For some reason it's easier for people to give up something they already have than it is for them to give up something they haven't got yet," he says. "I know a lot of people have given up like, wedding rings and pictures and stuff like that. I left Boston looking for my father, didn't have nothing more than like, the clothes I was wearing, wound up going all over the country looking for him before I got here, thought I was just gonna be passing through? I been here since July. That's what I gave Maelstrom."
Charlie brings his fist up to his mouth to stifle a quiet, empty-stomached belch. He doesn't appear to have any interest in the mouth-watering spread laid out on the table.
"Doesn't really matter what it is, so long as it's not something, like..."
Here he addresses Lukas, waiting for a break in whatever conversation the older Garou is having with Ben so that he isn't interrupting.
"What's it called when you do something without taking it seriously?"
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "Frivolous," Lukas puts in quietly. Apart from the compliment to Ben, his attention had largely been Charlie's while he spoke on what has been given; what he gave.
Then he turns back to Benjamin again. The mood at the table has changed somewhat; grown more somber. It's not a huge surprise when Lukas broaches what topic he does.
"Purifier, you looking into any packs yet?"
[Indira Kamble] Stomach more full than it has been in quite some time, Indira leans back in her chair, tipping it on its two back legs while she bounces on the balls of her feet in the front. The violent pink hair bobs up and down and she moves in short, jerky movements. She seems unable to sit still for long, in fact.
Lights Out explains what he gave up, and the Ahroun just gives him a very slow, deliberate nod, though it's clear by the slightly blank look in her brown eyes that she doesn't fully understand the significance. She doesn't know his tribe, and even if she did, wouldn't be able to make the jump to the fact that he is a metis and therefore might desperately want to seek out his father.
She, after all, has never had a particular desire to seek out her own.
"Yeah, that makes sense. Guess I'm just not too used to thinking like that."
Charlie suggests that she shouldn't put in anything frivolous, and Indira lifts a hand to her mouth, gnawing at a ragged thumbnail in silence for a few seconds. "I'm pretty new to this shit, but it's one of the coupla things I take seriously," she says. "I didn't come down here on no quest or anything, though. Maybe I'll..."
Her brow furrows, after a moment. "Maybe if I got a job down here, like I was thinking, and gave it money? But I guess it's a spirit, it don't have a use for money, so..."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] (go on around me! i'ma wait for ben)
[Ben] He glances over from where he's cleaning dishes. And grins a bit. Nodding to Lukas. "Thanks. Lesson from my mom. People like you more when you come bearing food." He rinses off the last dish. Going about the work quick, efficient, and not really requiring a lot of focus. Instead, he's listening. Hearing them talk about sacrifices and things they've given, the things they've given up to Maelstrom to earn its approval.
Eventually he finishes up at the sink and comes back. Settling back into his chair and leaning back in it comfortably. Reaching up to run a hand through his short slightly shaggy brown hair. Shaking his head to Lukas' question. "No, haven't thought about it yet. Just got here and all." He reaches forward and picks up his glass of wine. Sipping it again and enjoying the forbidden fruit that he's not even old enough to buy yet. Just a kid. But at least here, talking to fellow Garou about this, he doesn't have the usual childish awkwardness.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] (*KILLS INTERNET*)
[Charlie] Charlie furrows his brow in thought when Indira says that she's thinking about giving Maelstrom money. There is no reproach or outright condemnation in the way he looks at her; it's contemplation, a mulling over of what he knows about the Caern's totem from his month of challenging Darkensky, from his dealings with the spirits in and around the Sept. He cracks one side of his sharp jaw then the other while Lukas and Ben discuss whether or not the Ahroun has found himself a pack yet, then decides to stop leaning against the wall and hollering across the kitchen.
His shower shoes clap against the tiled floor as he moved from the wall housing the stairwell and around the work station. He does not lean against the butcher block countertop when he ceases his meandering, but neither does he pull up a chair at the table in front of the fireplace, either. 'Meek' isn't a word that really fits this kid once one has truly acquainted oneself with him, but close inspection would show that he seems to be putting a lot of effort into standing up straight and holding his head up and meeting people's gazes when he speaks to them.
Maybe he's just tired. He looks it.
"I guess if you like, kept giving him money, he'd be happy with it," he says. "It's gotta be a sacrifice, you know, something you're gonna miss. If you just give him one wad of money, that's not really... you know, that's like giving him blood."
[Indira Kamble] "Yeah. Yeah, I see what you mean," Indira says, reaching up to scratch at her jaw. Looking at this girl, one might suspect that money really -is- something she would miss if she were to give it up - her clothes are tattered, and when she bounces up and down in her seat the sole of one shoe flaps up and down with the movement.
But then again? She's used to it.
"I guess I'll really have to think on it. When I decide what to give Maelstrom, should I just head to the Caern myself an' give it to him, or do I gotta wait until you're with me, Charlie?"
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas is still eating when Ben comes back, his plate red-brown with juices run out of his steak. He's still using his hands. He looks faintly barbaric, dressed in loungewear, his hair tousled, his fingers shining with grease and meat-juice. A few months ago, when he got here with Edward Bellamonte and a fang-flavored pack full of bright-eyed, idealistic youngsters, he would've never done this.
He watches Ben as he sits down, nodding. "I understand," Lukas replies. "But if you're interested, we'd be glad to give you a shot."
[Ben] He nods a bit and sips again at his wine. Dad would be proud. Week in the big city and he's already being invited to packs. Of course, there may be strange power struggles and other weird things going on in the city he doesn't know about yet. Maybe they just want him because... well, shit the Garou were dropping like flies these days. He'd heard of two himself.
He takes in a deep breath and lets it out slow. Still nodding slowly. "Yeah, I figure I'd be trying you out as much as the other way around, rhya. I'll seriously consider it."
[Charlie] "Nah, you don't gotta wait for me."
He's peripherally aware of the conversation going on between Lukas and Ben. Thus far, Ben and Charlie's paths have only crossed twice, at the Gatherings for his fallen tribesmates. It's entirely possible they don't recognize each other; the Theurge had been in his war form both times, had stayed that way for the entirety of the ceremony, and he had not been paying overt attention to the identities of the people in attendance either time. Especially not the second time. The second time he had looked almost numb as he stood up and said goodbye to the teen who would have been his brother had circumstance looked upon them more favorably.
There doesn't have to necessarily be a metaphysical reason for Art and Liam to have died within days of each other, but it might be a little easier to stomach Art's body being lowered into the ground if they could at least say that he had died fighting the Wyrm. That's what Charlie has to keep telling himself, because if he lets himself acknowledge the fact that another Gaian killed him and not an agent of the defiler, then he may very well snap.
"And you don't gotta do it right away, neither. If it takes you a while to decide to stay, or to decide what you wanna give Maelstrom, it's alright. You're not gonna get kicked out of the city or nothing."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] (this is not okay. *LOL*)
[Indira Kamble] Indira is also barely aware of the conversation going on between Lukas and Ben, beyond an envious look at the Gaian. The hardest thing about moving to a new place, whether you're a Garou or just a plain old mundane human being, is finding a new group to fit into, fearing all the while that you'll never match what you left behind. That those feelings of belonging will forever be a thing of the past.
"Might take me a while. I don't wanna be frev...friv...I wanna take whatever I give seriously. So would they be cool with me crashin' here even if I ain't pledged to Maelstrom yet? I haven't really found a job or anything down here yet, an' I don't really got any money to put down on an apartment until I get one."
She fixes Charlie with a hopeful look. "You got any tips on who I might wanna talk to around here, otherwise?"
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "Good." Lukas drains his wineglass, and this time, refills both his own and Ben's. He gets up, then, going to grab a napkin to wipe his hands on. "Are you living upstairs now?"
(OK, this is fucking ridiculous. if i'm silent for a long time, i've gone to starbucks *LOL*)
[Ben] He shakes his head. "Naw, I got an apartment. Big loft thing. Need my space to work. I carve all sorts of knickknacks and things. Make a pretty good living making stuff for folks." Glancing between Charlie and Indira. Paying attention to their conversation, sort of. Kind of listening in but not saying anything about it at the moment.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] (guys, i'ma shower and go to starbucks *LOL* just go around me for a while)
[Charlie] A hopeful look comes his way, and Charlie reaches up to scratch at the back of his head with painfully blunt fingernails. It isn't just his brow that furrows up this time; he squints as if he's attempting to tease out some strand of the conversation that he needs in order to unravel the answer that she's looking for, and then he asks, "What's your moon?"
[Katherine] (sorry guys, my brain is just dead right now. I can't function in this heat.)
[Indira Kamble] "I'm an Ahroun. Cliath Bone Gnawer," Indira says, helpfully adding the last couple of bits just in case it assists him in figuring out who he can send her at. "Like I said, I'm fresh out of a Rite of Passage an' I guess I'm just looking to get in touch with some people. Kinda sucks being alone in a new city, y'know?"
She bites at her thumb nail again; she seems to gnaw at it without ever breaking through the tough nail fiber or shredding it from the nailbed. "Or, like...even somebody I could call if I need help. 'Cause, I mean, from what they keep telling me things are pretty dangerous for Garou. Somebody died during my Rite."
She says this in a tone that implies that she realizes that it probably isn't that unusual.
[Charlie] The Theurge doesn't do so much as blink when she mentions that somebody died during her Rite of Passage. What she's saying is the truth: lone wolves rarely survive on their own, and those who do end up hardened, missing that piece of themselves that allows them to truly relate to other werewolves. It isn't humanity, necessarily, but rather the need to socialize and belong that most warm-blooded pack animals possess.
Indira is not far from her Rite of Passage, yet she's already learned enough to know that her best chance for making it in this city, or likely anywhere, is to make sure that she isn't alone for longer than is absolutely necessary. He doesn't come out and say so, but Charlie seems as though he does, in fact, know the extent to which being alone in a new city sucks.
"You're gonna wanna go talk to Bones To Dust," he says. "Humans call her Marrick. She's the Ahroun Elder in Chicago. She's not a Gnawer, though, she's a Fury. I don't think the Bone Gnawers got an elder or nothing... I only know of like, one other of Rat's in the city, and he's like, this big."
Charlie holds his left hand at about the level of his third rib, indicating the height of a particularly small teenage boy.
"Bones to Dust's territory is up near Oz Park." Ahz Pahk, he pronounces it. "She likes hanging out there because of the statues they got in the park. You can prolly find her there. In the meantime, we got a bunch'a free rooms upstairs if you need someplace to crash."
[Indira Kamble] The rooms upstairs are free, and she doesn't have to pledge to Maelstrom before she can crash there. Fantastic. The relief is evident on the Ahroun's face as she rakes a hand back through her pink hair, leaving some strands standing on end and some mowed off to the sides.
"I'll go an' find Marrick, then, soon's I can figure out where Oz Park is. I got a Triple A map from a gas station, 's how I've been findin' my way around." She says this with pride, as though she would otherwise be hopeless at it.
"So what's your story, Charlie? How long you been in Chicago?"
[Charlie] 'What's your story' doesn't appear to have any mapping in the brain of the kid who'd had to ask the older Shadow Lord for an English word synonymous with the general idea he was trying to convey earlier. It isn't that he's an idiot, or that he's completely incapable of expressing himself; it's just that his vocabulary isn't too hot, it's just that there are still certain turns of phrase and colloquial expressions that he hasn't been exposed to yet, or if he has been exposed to them he's gone ahead and forgotten it haven't happened already.
He frowns at the first question, his lips folding themselves into a thin white line, and his expression clears up when she qualifies what it is she's looking for.
"I got here like, three moons ago," he says. He's already said that he's been here since July.
[Indira Kamble] Indira could perhaps sympathize if Charlie were to explain the reason behind the pause to her. Colloquialisms, well, those are a bit easier, but chances are that many of the Garou here are going to talk over her head in one way or another.
Her eyebrows raise and she bites thoughtfully at her thumbnail again before giving the Theurge a slow nod. "Glad I'm not the only person around who's kinda new, in that case."
The chair falls heavily forward, both legs thudding against the floor beneath her weight before she reaches around to grab her jacket. "Guess if I'm gonna crash here I ought to go check out the room. Maybe grab a shower, too."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "I think," Lukas says, reinserting himself into the broader conversation now that his brief exchange with Ben seems finished, "most of us are fairly new in one way or another. I've been here a little under a year. Ben's new too."
[Ben] He grunts softly. Shaking his head. Letting out a sigh and pushing his hair back. It flops back however it likes once his hand is gone. His hairstyle is oddly boyish, and only reminds people of how young he is. The stubble on his cheeks to the contrary.
"Yeah. I've been here a week and two of my brothers have died already."
[Charlie] [*whistles*]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas doesn't know what happened yet. Not with Liam; not with Arthur. Lukas wasn't at either Gathering of the Departed; both were called hastily, as such things always are, and those in attendance were by in large packmates, friends, packmates-to-be. He's noticed the two new graves at the Caern. He's heard the rumors, but ...
He doesn't know. Not about Sinclair.
So he asks, "Both of Sulis's too, weren't they?" He finishes his steak, drains his wine. There's a touch of regret when he says, "I barely knew them."
[Charlie] It seems as though the end of the conversation concerning the Theurge is dying down when Indira says she's going to go see about the room and shower situation upstairs, but then Lukas assures her that most of the Garou here are still new, and then Ben chimes in that he's only been here a week, that two of his brothers have died already.
Charlie knows exactly who he's referring to, and although he manages to--just barely--school his expression and swallow whatever reaction he might have had to that, he can do nothing about the sudden crackling of spiked Rage that simmers under his skin. That, they can all feel.
Both of Sulis's, Lukas wants to know, and Charlie tersely nods. He doesn't respond when Lukas confesses that he barely knew either of them. That exhausted cast to his gaze may be response enough; he had been the one to send those two sets of gafflings out into the city.
[Theron Locke] After his initial run in with Lukas, Theron had managed to find his way to the Caern and offer his greetings to the elders. He had yet to make a commitment to the Sept, in his mind he was here in passing to challenge Lukas for his sisters hand.
So here he was standing on the pavement outside "The Brotherhood" his car was parked around the side, hopefully secure. He proceeded to the door and rapped his knuckles against the wooden surface. He was a strange here after all, he doubted the people here would take kindly to a stranger arriving in their midst unannounced.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] (CHARLIE: EMPATHEE)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 3, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Indira Kamble] That stops Indira midstep. She had been about to go up to her room and get a shower, to bury herself in clean sheets and sleep for as long as she possibly could and head down in the morning and ask for breakfast, and maybe do that a few more times over the next couple of days. But that stops her. If anything, because she feels that she ought to be respectful and listen to the accounts of these Garou she didn't know.
"Fuckin' shame," is what she ends up saying, though, even if it is communicated with an air of regret.
There's a quick look over at Charlie, and her tongue flicks out and wets her lips for a second before she asks, "What happened to 'em?" She may be asking out of morbid curiosity or a desire to honor them - who knows. All she does is hook a thumb under the strap of her backpack, her jaw jutting out a little as she looks between the faces of those present.
[Charlie] If Lukas has heard rumors that Liam and Charlie were almost packed together once upon a time, or if he was paying attention this week and saw that Art had moved into Room 3 the day he died, then Charlie getting angry when Ben calls the dead Garou his 'brothers' might make a bit more sense than it does.
to Lukas Wyrmbreaker
[Ben] He looks up. Eyes Charlie for a moment. A theurge crackling with Rage was a rare thing. The guy must be exhausted and run down to be running so close to melt down. Usually it was the Ahrouns that went bouncing over the edge all the time. He glances at Indira at her question. Speaking up, his voice low, somber.
"I wasn't there when Art died. But Liam... we were ambushed by a pack of Spirals. Outnumbered us. Their leader had these fucking horns. I got a scar from 'em. That asshole just wouldn't die." His teeth end up clenched at the end. His lips pulled back, almost in a snarl.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] There's a moment where Lukas's eyes meet Charlie's over the table. The Shadow Lord is rather unlike the forbidding, domineering stereotype his tribe projects -- courteous and only sometimes formal; sometimes, downright friendly.
He is, however, undeniably one of Thunder's. It's in his blood. It's in his face. It's in his eyes, startlingly clear and astute, most definitely reading Charlie right now.
A beat. It passes. He blinks once, a natural flicker of his eyelids, and looks to Indira as she asks how they died; to Ben as he answers for Liam. "I get the feeling the Dancers are getting bolder," he says. "Looking at the wyrmpole, you'd think it'd be the other way around, but it's like the more of them we kill the more of them come pouring into the city.
"I hear they've got a Hive up north. Sooner rather than later, we need to start striking back."
There's a knock on the back door. It opens into the alley. No human customers ever come that way. Lukas turns, looking over his shoulder for a moment. Then he gets up. "I'll get it," he says, and goes open the door.
--
[Indira Kamble] Indira could perhaps sympathize if Charlie were to explain the reason behind the pause to her. Colloquialisms, well, those are a bit easier, but chances are that many of the Garou here are going to talk over her head in one way or another.
Her eyebrows raise and she bites thoughtfully at her thumbnail again before giving the Theurge a slow nod. "Glad I'm not the only person around who's kinda new, in that case."
The chair falls heavily forward, both legs thudding against the floor beneath her weight before she reaches around to grab her jacket. "Guess if I'm gonna crash here I ought to go check out the room. Maybe grab a shower, too."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "I think," Lukas says, reinserting himself into the broader conversation now that his brief exchange with Ben seems finished, "most of us are fairly new in one way or another. I've been here a little under a year. Ben's new too."
[Ben] He grunts softly. Shaking his head. Letting out a sigh and pushing his hair back. It flops back however it likes once his hand is gone. His hairstyle is oddly boyish, and only reminds people of how young he is. The stubble on his cheeks to the contrary.
"Yeah. I've been here a week and two of my brothers have died already."
[Charlie] [*whistles*]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas doesn't know what happened yet. Not with Liam; not with Arthur. Lukas wasn't at either Gathering of the Departed; both were called hastily, as such things always are, and those in attendance were by in large packmates, friends, packmates-to-be. He's noticed the two new graves at the Caern. He's heard the rumors, but ...
He doesn't know. Not about Sinclair.
So he asks, "Both of Sulis's too, weren't they?" He finishes his steak, drains his wine. There's a touch of regret when he says, "I barely knew them."
[Charlie] It seems as though the end of the conversation concerning the Theurge is dying down when Indira says she's going to go see about the room and shower situation upstairs, but then Lukas assures her that most of the Garou here are still new, and then Ben chimes in that he's only been here a week, that two of his brothers have died already.
Charlie knows exactly who he's referring to, and although he manages to--just barely--school his expression and swallow whatever reaction he might have had to that, he can do nothing about the sudden crackling of spiked Rage that simmers under his skin. That, they can all feel.
Both of Sulis's, Lukas wants to know, and Charlie tersely nods. He doesn't respond when Lukas confesses that he barely knew either of them. That exhausted cast to his gaze may be response enough; he had been the one to send those two sets of gafflings out into the city.
[Theron Locke] After his initial run in with Lukas, Theron had managed to find his way to the Caern and offer his greetings to the elders. He had yet to make a commitment to the Sept, in his mind he was here in passing to challenge Lukas for his sisters hand.
So here he was standing on the pavement outside "The Brotherhood" his car was parked around the side, hopefully secure. He proceeded to the door and rapped his knuckles against the wooden surface. He was a strange here after all, he doubted the people here would take kindly to a stranger arriving in their midst unannounced.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] (CHARLIE: EMPATHEE)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 3, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Indira Kamble] That stops Indira midstep. She had been about to go up to her room and get a shower, to bury herself in clean sheets and sleep for as long as she possibly could and head down in the morning and ask for breakfast, and maybe do that a few more times over the next couple of days. But that stops her. If anything, because she feels that she ought to be respectful and listen to the accounts of these Garou she didn't know.
"Fuckin' shame," is what she ends up saying, though, even if it is communicated with an air of regret.
There's a quick look over at Charlie, and her tongue flicks out and wets her lips for a second before she asks, "What happened to 'em?" She may be asking out of morbid curiosity or a desire to honor them - who knows. All she does is hook a thumb under the strap of her backpack, her jaw jutting out a little as she looks between the faces of those present.
[Charlie] If Lukas has heard rumors that Liam and Charlie were almost packed together once upon a time, or if he was paying attention this week and saw that Art had moved into Room 3 the day he died, then Charlie getting angry when Ben calls the dead Garou his 'brothers' might make a bit more sense than it does.
to Lukas Wyrmbreaker
[Ben] He looks up. Eyes Charlie for a moment. A theurge crackling with Rage was a rare thing. The guy must be exhausted and run down to be running so close to melt down. Usually it was the Ahrouns that went bouncing over the edge all the time. He glances at Indira at her question. Speaking up, his voice low, somber.
"I wasn't there when Art died. But Liam... we were ambushed by a pack of Spirals. Outnumbered us. Their leader had these fucking horns. I got a scar from 'em. That asshole just wouldn't die." His teeth end up clenched at the end. His lips pulled back, almost in a snarl.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] There's a moment where Lukas's eyes meet Charlie's over the table. The Shadow Lord is rather unlike the forbidding, domineering stereotype his tribe projects -- courteous and only sometimes formal; sometimes, downright friendly.
He is, however, undeniably one of Thunder's. It's in his blood. It's in his face. It's in his eyes, startlingly clear and astute, most definitely reading Charlie right now.
A beat. It passes. He blinks once, a natural flicker of his eyelids, and looks to Indira as she asks how they died; to Ben as he answers for Liam. "I get the feeling the Dancers are getting bolder," he says. "Looking at the wyrmpole, you'd think it'd be the other way around, but it's like the more of them we kill the more of them come pouring into the city.
"I hear they've got a Hive up north. Sooner rather than later, we need to start striking back."
There's a knock on the back door. It opens into the alley. No human customers ever come that way. Lukas turns, looking over his shoulder for a moment. Then he gets up. "I'll get it," he says, and goes open the door.
[Theron Locke] Theron looked at his watch and checked the piece of paper the Elders had given him with this address. But he continued to wait. He was about to turn away when he heard the door handle turn and waited for the door to open.
He was dressed in his almost trade mark black trousers, white t-shirt and black jacket. A faded backpack slung from his shoulders.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "Theron." The corners of Lukas's mouth start to tug up. Then he remembers why the Theurge is in down, and they flatten again. "Come on in. Glad you found your way here.
"This is Ben, called Purifier, Ahroun of the Children. That's Charlie 'Lights Out', Theurge of the Furies. And that's Indira 'Going Down', Ahroun of the Gnawers. Ben, Charlie and Indira: Theron 'Eyes of the Oncoming Storm', my tribemate, and a Theurge.
"We were just talking about two warriors that fell earlier this week. Liam Requiem for the Lost and Arthur Strikes with Valor in his Heart, both of Unicorn."
[Charlie] It's the rare individual who can take one look at Charlie and guess which tribe he belongs to. Based on physical appearances alone, he could belong to just about any of them: his ethnic heritage is clearly Mediterranean, most likely Greek given his swarthy skin and his prominent bone structure, but he could just as easily be central European or Middle Eastern or home-grown American, could just as easily be a Bone Gnawer or a Glass Walker as he could be a Silent Strider or a Child of Gaia, and he's been mistaken for one of Thunder's or Uktena's before.
Rarely does anyone suspect that he's actually one of the few male Black Furies out there. Most of them are pawned off on other tribes, or killed at birth. He certainly doesn't fit the tribal stereotype: he does not seem overly strong, or bold, or empowered. Right now he looks run down and on the edge, and were not for the fact that Wyrmbreaker meets his gaze first, he would not have any cause to look at the Fostern in the first place. He's trying to tamp down his Rage after that brief flare-up, but when he feels the weight of the ranking Ahroun's gaze on him, he looks up and looks back.
He doesn't wither under Wyrmbreaker's attention, but knowing that someone in this room is watching him seems to help him get himself under control faster. His Rage simmers, and then recedes, and Charlie reaches up to scrub at his face with his spindly left hand.
Ben's suspicions are correct. He's exhausted. As Wyrmbreaker gets up to go to the door, Charlie steps away from the butcher block and turns to go. He's halted halfway to the stairwell by an introduction, and he turns to face the incoming Theurge rather than darting up the stairs before he can be noticed.
He lifts a hand to motionlessly wave, then crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the wall by the stairwell.
[Theron Locke] He gives a wry smile at Lukas' reaction, not surprising really. The news that Theron had brought would probably be the elephant in the room for quite awhile. "Lukas, thanks I wasn't sure if I had the right place."
As he is introduced to the people in the room , he nods in greeting...wasn't hard to see that there was tension in the area so he didn't overdo the greeting. He makes a mental note of names, tribes and auspices. However when he is introduced to Charlie there is a flicker of something that plays across the young theurges face. Looking the male theurge up and down, he makes no comment though before shifting his gaze elsewhere.
"I'm sorry to here that, it seems that many of our kind are falling these days across many Septs. I'm sure they were valuable to have around and will be missed."
[Indira Kamble] They offer their accounts of how Liam and Art died, lost to Black Spiral Dancers - bogeymen that Indira has heard about but never seen. Those stories seemed to come from another time, even though they were told around a garbage fire amidst an urban wasteland instead of a natural one; tainted and twisted and fallen from glory, a reminder of what any of them could become in a moment of madness. She'd listened with fascination, but the realization that those things are -real- makes the fine black hair on the back of her arms bristle a little.
Theron makes an appearance, and Lukas introduces her. Going Down lifts a callused brown hand. "Hey, man, nice to meet you."
And then Charlie makes his way back toward the stairs and she chews at her lip before uttering, "Sorry about your friends." It's not eloquent in the slightest, but at least it's heartfelt.
[Ben] He looks over from the table where he was seated. Someone new. Some new Garou. Deed name and everything. He slides to his feet and nods to the man when his name is spoken. Pulling himself up straight. The purity of his breeding shining through. Like the revolutionaries, peacemakers, and healers of his past he stands tall. Even though he's only 6'. And he levels an intense gaze on the other man. Before it slides to the others. All talking about the fallen. He stays silent.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "There's a lot of Wyrm activity around Chicago," Lukas says, perhaps to Theron, or to Indira, whose inexperience is nearly stamped on her face. "The Sept's small and young, and it's the only one around for miles. I'm sure the Wyrm thinks that makes us easy pickings.
"But we're not."
He hasn't returned to sit since Theron entered. He says to Indira and Ben now, "Excuse me for a minute, will you? I need to have a word with Theron." He picks up the half-finished bottle of wine, grabs an empty glass off the rack, and nods Theron toward the doors out to the dining room.
This late, the restaurant has closed. A few kin are mopping floors, wiping tables down, but the wingback chairs near the fireplace are unoccupied and welcoming. It's to these that Lukas leads his tribesman.
[Charlie] [Thanks for the play, y'all, I'm out here!]
[Theron Locke] He looks at Lukas puzzled but probably not surprised, offering a small wave to the others gathered "I'll be back in a bit I guess" as he proceeds to follow Lukas out into the dining room
As he follows he asks "Is the Wyrm that bad here at the moment ?"
[Ben] He glances over at Indira and Charlie. Watching as Charlie vanishes up the steps. He moves over to the table, pours a glass of wine, and drinks it down quickly. Shaking his head a bit and setting the glass down a little too hard. "Hope your room is nice." To Indira. "Be safe." Then he turns and heads over to the door. Picking his jacket up off a peg on the wall as he goes. Throwing it over his shoulders.
[Indira Kamble] Indira gives a nod to Ben as he moves off to go upstairs, and then, with a final glance toward Lukas and Theron, decides to finish making her own way up to her room. Outside there might be Black Spiral Dancers and sacrifices to make to the Maelstrom, but right now all she really wants is some hot water and a bar of soap.
[Indira Kamble] ((Thanks for the play, guys! 'Night.))
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] (likewise!)
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "It's not unmanageable," Lukas replies, taking a seat in one of the wingback armchairs by the hearth, waving Theron into the other. "But there are a lot of them, and it's a rare Garou that goes a week without running into something.
"We kill them when we see them. But we need to push back, or else we'll be fighting a losing game from the start."
He hands the empty wineglass to Theron, then tops it off from the bottle. There's only haf a bottle left; after he fills his own glass, it's down to a glass or so. The bottle clicks on the ground as he sets it down beside his chair. The fire leaping in the hearth lights half his face, burnishes his swarthy skin, glints in his dark hair and his pale eyes.
"We'll have plenty of time to discuss that later. I've given your challenge for my sister some thought. I think the answer might disappoint you, but will you hear me out?"
[Theron Locke] Theron nods and listens "Exactly no point taking out the infantry , when the reinforcements are left untouched."
Moving one of the other seats out , he sits and take offered glass taking a sip now and then, he watches Lukas, his eyebrows furrowed "You did me the courtesy of listening to me the other day. It is now my time to do the same."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "My sister," Lukas begins, "is by and large an honest woman. I was surprised to discover she'd lied about who -- and what -- you were. It's unlike her. I can only think of two reasons why she might have done it at all.
"The first is that she's serious about you. She knows I want her to have a better life than most Garou can give their mates. I want her to be as independent and free of ... all this," a small gesture of his hand, indicating the Brotherhood, the Sept, the Caern, the city, the Nation, "as she can possibly be. If she must mate within the Nation, I'd want it to be a kinsman. Someone who won't, now or ever, terrify a woman like Anežka. She knows this, and if she's serious, if she -- loves you, she might want to conceal what you are from me as long as possible so I couldn't overreact and end it.
"The second," and Lukas grimaces faintly for what he's about to say, "is that she's not at all serious. She may like you, but she doesn't see this going anywhere. So to avoid undue worry and fuss, she simply didn't tell me.
"I don't know which it is. I talked to Anežka the night before last, but not for very long, and she wasn't terribly forthcoming." A faint huff of a laugh, "She's my elder sister, and she thinks I've no business inquiring about her personal life. And to some degree, she's right. I don't know what the two of you have said, pledged, or promised to one another -- or not. I don't need to know.
"What I do need to know is, whether you're the decent, honorable Theurge I remember -- and whether Anežka cares enough about your relationship to want it when it's no longer in front of her.
"So here's my proposal, Theron. My pack needs a good Theurge, preferably one familiar with Thunder. The Sept here needs as many warriors as it can get. I need to get to know you again, and learn to trust you. And I need to see if Anežka will follow you to Chicago if she has to. Join my pack, and if you prove yourself to me -- and if Anežka proves loyal enough to your to follow you to Chicago -- I'll give you both my blessing.
"Is that fair?"
[Danicka Musil] Danicka comes in the front doors, rather than the back. She is not here to check on the virus situation with the Vaio upstairs, nor to see her mate. She is here for dinner: a late dinner, but they know her here. The kitchen never entirely closes to members of the nation. It's warm -- relatively speaking -- tonight, and her dress reflects it. Instead of tall boots she's wearing heels with bare legs, a cream-colored skirt with a lazy fold-over waist swirling around her knees, clinging to her hips. Instead of layers of wool she's wearing a light green top that skims her torso, accentuating its leanness and making no mistake about what little there is beneath her lingerie. She comes in wearing a light camel-colored jacket rather than her revere or a peacoat, no hat on her head and no scarf around her neck. Her jacket is open, revealing the long gold chain with the abstract round pendant hanging down her front. Her hair is loose in waves, parting here and there to reveal the hoops in her ears.
She's chilly, but does not look windblown nor winded. Keys jangle as she puts them in her purse, which is white leather and hangs loosely from her wrist. She drove. She doesn't see Theron and Lukas right away, but goes to the bar, ordering a Manhattan. That's when she glances over and notices them, but -- remembering Theron from the other night -- leaves them be for now.
[Katherine Bellamonte] "What is this talk of fairness, Lukas?"
A familiar voice inquires from a short distance, her high heels declaring to all that Katherine Bellamonte was entering the vicinity in a cloud of designer perfume with a heavy winter's coat draped over one arm and her younger sibling a few steps behind. As ever, the first glimpse a newcomer had of the Silver Fang left them marveling at Truth Meridian's stature and clear breeding. Her features carried a touch of arrogance with them, the curve of her lip was most always verging on a sneer and her voice suggested an air of arrogance born to her.
Here was a Garou who did not doubt that she was born for great things, and born to a lineage of Kings.
[Theron Locke] He looks , listens and thinks. Waiting for Lukas to finish everything that he has to say, Theron does actually look a little shocked though at the suggestion that he would terrify Anezka. He opens his mouth to rebut but thinks better of it and waits for Lukas to finish.
After a few moments Theron finally responds "I guess truthfully Lukas that both option 1 and 2 are probably true, depending on your point of view. I know she likes her independence , I think she has fought for that as long as I have known her. Something I don't think she will be giving up anytime soon, and was one of the conditions when we first started seeing each other. "
He runs this fingers through his dark hair "I think that indepence is also why she didn't tell you, she wants to remain incontrol of the relationship and not have it dictated to her by anyone else. Much of that is the reason she didn't particularly want me to come and see you. She wanted the final say on where we stood"
"You have my word Lukas that I am here with honorable intentions, but like you said the other night we have not seen each other for many years. I can understand the reason for you offer and I can see the fairness in it. Anezka might not agree with the situation or even like it, but if we are to be together I want to have your blessing. And from the sounds of before with so many warriors falling , it does sound like you can use my help. Your sister will just have to understand that I've not only a duty to her but to my brethren as well."
"So yes I think it's fair and would gladly join your pack , if I am welcome. As for Anezka I will leave that upto her and see where the fates guide us."
[Gabriella Bellamonte] Gabriella trailed along after her older sister, pulled out of the loft on her sibling's urging. She hadn't been out of the building aside from school for quite some time, and Katherine saw that. The Kinfolk took no steps to be social, holed herself up in her room and the front room as well, reading, doing research on her laptop, looking at old newspaper clippings from God Knows Where, and painting on occasion.
Come with me to visit Lukas, it will be good for you.
She didn't quite grasp how visiting the Shadow Lord would be any good, but along she went. Katherine walked with arrogance that she earned by blood, and Gabriella followed in the wake of that with something far more subdued. Her elder sister dressed finely, and while Gabbie's clothes weren't cheap they were far more casual, nice jeans and an expensive zip-up hoodie with some high-end brand logo on the chest. Her hands were in her pockets, and her eyes were trailing.
A smile was flashed to Danny, the boy at the pastry counter for the evening, and one hand lifted for a wave. At least there was one face she could count on to remain friendly.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "It's a deal, then. We'll call Perun after you've paid chiminage to Maelstrom." A faintly wry smile, "Or rather, you'll call Perun. Our Theurge is away in the Umbra."
The wingback chairs are slanted toward the fire, and from the angle Danicka enters from, Lukas can see her, though she passes behind Theron. The Ahroun's eyes rise briefly to the blonde, tracking her a short ways across the floor before flicking, instead, to Katherine and her sister.
"Kate, meet Theron "Eyes of the Oncoming Storm," a Theurge of my tribe, a friend from my cubhood, a suitor to my sister," Lukas is beginning to smile at the length of the introduction, "and our new packmate.
"Theron, this is Katherine Bellamonte, Truth's Meridian, my packmate since the beginning. That's her sister, Gabriella."
There are only two chairs near the fire, massive, claw-footed wingback armchairs. Out of courtesy, Lukas stands up from his, moving the group over to a table nearer the bar. His eyes meet Danicka's for a moment. He nods her toward an empty chair at the table, eyebrows raised in question.
[Danicka Musil] She sees Kate and Gabbie come in as she's accepting her drink from Reuben, running the bar tonight. Danicka catches Lukas's eye, or he catches hers, and though she is not and never will be able to hear his and his packmate's thoughts the way they can hear one another's, it seems for a moment that there is, nonetheless, communication in the glance. She smiles faintly, takes her drink, and walks over to the newly-commandeered table. She chooses a seat not beside nor across from Lukas but off to the corner, leaving the seats at his right and left hands free, leaving the one facing him open.
She greets the Bellamonte sisters with the same small but warm smile as ever, gives an incline of her head to Theron. "Have you all eaten?" she asks, setting her drink down and putting both coat and purse on the back of her chair.
[Theron Locke] Theron chuckles as he finally sees Lukas smile "Why do I suddenly get the feeling that I've just sold my soul ?" he shakes his head , oh how he expected Anezka to react to this new turn of events.
His eyes take in the new arrivals, tall , elegant , regal all words that would roll off the tongue watching these two. "Nice to make your acquintance ladies." he stands from his chair as he greets them, extending a hand to them both. Once the greeting is complete he follows Lukas over to the larger table, only then noticing Danicka, Lukas' mate. "Evening Danicka , good to meet you again. No I haven't eaten myself it has been a busy day meeting with people and then I came directly here." He waits for Gabriella and Katherine to take a seat before finding his own.
[Katherine Bellamonte] Since the attack on her younger sibling, the Philodox had become something of a vigilant shadow to her movements. There was little Gabriella did that her elder sister or mother did not know of, did not approve of or, frequently, disapprove of. Katherine's nature was one leant to fluctuations of temper with the snap of her fingers together, most especially when it came to matters relating to her family's good name and pedigree.
Her devotion to her sister, and her pack were the only that mattered to the young woman that comes to stand beside her Alpha and her newly-appointed pack-mate. Katherine Bellamonte's pale eyes, so much a match for Lukas', swept over Theron with a slow deliberation that left little of the man's appearance unchecked -- it was a critical inspection, though save for the slight rise of a fair eyebrow upward at mention of Anezka, the Half Moon makes no mention of the clear history between the pair.
She extends a palm out toward the Theurge in greeting, her lily-white fingers decorated in two places by rings, and around her neck a thin coil of white pearls. The voice that formally greets him is surprisingly girlish, soft in pitch yet in possession of a clear amount of gentility. Here was a woman reared in the finest courts of Europe, and it was on display. Between the Garou and her sibling it was plain that they were in deed sisters, both in possession of the same long noses and high cheekbones, though where Gabriella's eyes tended toward softer, friendlier gazes, her elder sister's remained predominantly cooler, more aloof.
"Charmed, I am certain, we have always need of new members to the Unbroken."
The Philodox extends the courtesy of a nod as Lukas' mate approaches and asks after their supper. "I have not, actually." Katherine's attention is caught for a moment as Gabriella leans in to murmur something, and gestures toward the stairwell. The Garou nods in acquiesce, and the younger girl excuses herself and heads upstairs, it takes only minutes before the soft tinkering of piano keys is heard.
To the gathered, Katherine offers a clearly fond smile. "My sister is a great music lover."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "How's she doing?" Lukas asks, pulling out a chair and sitting. "She seemed quiet."
[Danicka Musil] Whereas the Bellamonte girls have a certain nobility in their beauty, Danicka's grace is a quieter sort. Theron has likely met many Kin of Thunder whose breeding not only matches but eclipses hers -- his proposed mate is one, in fact -- but where their dark hair and bright eyes speak of hard winters in craggy mountains, harsh winds blowing through and making them all the stronger, Danicka brings to mind... meadows. Vineyards. Rivers rushing fast and frothy as winter thaws into spring, slow and lazy as summer reaches its zenith.
Something about her speaks not to the crown of Fang glory or the shadows the Lords are said to wait and hide in, but the dark quietude that comes just before sleep, when you are warm and you can hear your mate and your cubs breathing nearby, the fire banked and your belly full.
Considering she looks like she is from a city even faster-paced and more demanding of its citizens' fashion than Chicago, it's an understandably odd juxtaposition. She tosses her hair off one shoulder and, hearing that Theron and Kate have not eaten, makes eye contact with Danny across the room to see if they can get some stew. Some bread.
"She's been quiet for some time," Danicka comments, to no one in particular.
[Katherine Bellamonte] Katherine hangs her coat over the back of her seat before following suit and settling herself in a chair, her blouse is of a modest cut, the V neck of it unbuttoned only a touch more than was fitting to allow a glimpse of her necklace. The moon was verging on the Law Keeper's own, and she would be a liar of the worst kind to say she did not feel the twinges of it tonight.
Already her temper had been stirred by her sister on the drive over, and she had done well to curb her tongue, stayed by some lingering concern for the girl's mending scars, both physiological as well as physical.
"She is angry at the world in general, at me for not being there, at her own inability to fight back." Katherine breathes out a long sigh, and idly tends to strands of hair against her brow. "Sometimes I think she should return home with our mother. Perhaps she would be happier," Katherine's lips twitched.
"Perhaps I would sleep better at night."
[Theron Locke] Theron sinks into the back of his chair, trying to relax and feel at ease around these new acquintances that would become almost family in the days ahead. His eyes flicked around and one couldn't help see the juxtaposition between the two females sitting at the table. Both incredibly beautiful but in very different ways.
"She plays very well." he finally speaks up , not knowing the circumstances around her quietness he adds "perhaps she chooses that form as her outlet? Sometimes words aren't the right form" in response to Danicka's comment.
He watches and listens to Katherine's comments about her sister "Or perhaps you will still remain sleepless and fret that your sister would no longer be nearby, out of range of your ability to help. That is of course under my assumption that your home is not nearby. But something tells me the assumption is correct."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "I think Gabbie might be determined to be unhappy, the same way she was determined to be happy with Sam, and Hatchet before him." Lukas looks across the table at Katherine and shrugs, something faintly apologetic in the gesture. "And if that's the case, then I doubt anything you could do will change anything until she decides otherwise.
"That said, getting beaten in the streets probably didn't help."
[Danicka Musil] Danny comes over and Danicka speaks quietly to him. If anyone is listening, she does not just order stew and bread and brews. She orders quite a lot of food, in fact, including lamb and potatoes, though the voices of the two kinfolk are kept low so as to not disturb the conversation. Danicka hardly seems absent from the conversation a moment later, though, after the red-haired Child of Gaia takes off to talk to Reuben at the bar.
She sips her Manhattan and glances over at Katherine, listening. The dinner party had gone well. She had not been attacked. The last time she truly interacted with the Philodox before that had been in this very room, and she had been drunk. Her eyebrows flick up slightly.
She drinks, and thinks of Martin in Florida briefly. Passingly.
"It is impossible to always be there to watch her," Danicka says, and somehow this obvious, innocuous statement seems in agreement with Lukas's, aimed at Katherine. "Whether she is here or with her mother, or in Los Angeles or South America."
[Katherine Bellamonte] It is difficult to know whether or not Katherine ever thinks of her former lover at all. Their affair had been fleeting at best, and never without an air of danger and miscommunication. In Martin Katherine Bellamonte had felt her first true glimpse of heartache and perhaps the thought of the Silver Fang Kinfolk still draws pangs when she reflects upon her own behavior toward him.
Or when she awakens to find her bed cold and empty.
Whatever her faults (and it was a well established fact that the blond had many) she had never denied the fact to any she spoke to that her feelings for the kinsman had been real, and had been, for whatever time, reciprocated. Still, she has never been a creature to speak of her feelings openly, to be so unguarded, and this does not change at present -- though her voice is tinged with clear regret.
"You are quite right, Danicka. Though it has long been my pleasure to deny it, my sister is as capable an adult as I and as such must be her own keeper. The time may come, as it does for us all, when I will not be able to watch over her." A brief gleam enters the girl's eye, then.
"I do pity the man who becomes Gabriella Bellamonte's chosen companion."
[Theron Locke] Theron himself just sits and listens, he had his wisdom to impart but without knowing the history of these three it wasn't his place to say much more.
He picks up odd bits and pieces as Danicka orders, he does his utmost to supress the rumble in his hungry belly as he picks up words like "lamb".
At Katherine's last comment though, Theron steals a look to Lukas but remains silent. He finally speaks up after a moment or two "So besides Katherine and Danicka here... he else should I be looking out for , if I am to be a member of the Unbroken?. Although I might add it may be better if a meet and greet is organised , rather than me introducing myself to almost strangers as their new packmate."
[Danicka Musil] "Oh, I didn't say that," Danicka returns mildly, when Katherine speaks of Gabriella's capability as an adult. She sips her Manhattan, and does not add to her comment.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "I think more than anything right now, Gabbie dreads the thought of a 'chosen companion," Lukas says wryly -- then, perhaps suddenly realizing Theron might have no idea what they're talking about, turns to the Theurge. "Gabriella, whom you met just now, has been the apple of Katherine's eye and the pain in Katherine's ass since time immemorial. I think the Bellamontes' first priority with her is to set up a proper arranged matehood, the way Fangs usually do, but Gabbie's not too keen on the idea."
Lukas leans back, then, looking across the table at Katherine with a faint, wry smile. "Not that I blame her. Though it's not like we don't all have to do things we'd rather not from time to time.
"We should probably do that, actually," he agrees, then. "There are a few other prospects I had in mind for the pack. We might as well get everyone together and work it all out at once. What do you say, Kate?"
[Katherine Bellamonte] The Silver Fang nods once, a vague appreciation for the suggestion.
"Oui, there are certainly benefits to us bringing all our prospects together. It would most likely be wise to have you meet with our current Theurge, Caleb Darkensky, but alas," Katherine opines with a light shrug and a turn of her mouth upward in dry humor. "He is something like the wind at present, here and then away again."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "Let's do it, then. The night of the new moon. Those of us here, Sinclair, Caleb -- I've invited Benjamin 'Purifier' Abramson to try out for the pack too. Word has it there's a new Galliard of Thunder in town that I might call in for a look.
"Are you going to extend the invitation to your friend Emile?"
[Theron Locke] Theron responds softly to the Fang "Yes Lukas mentioned Caleb and that he was off in the Umbra somewhere. Perhaps I will investigate sending him the news via the spirits. Just so he isn't in for a rude shock when he returns."
He would continue to make small talk till the food arrived, even though he was famished he ate with decorum. Eventually he would dab at the corners of his mouth with a napkin. "mmmm delicious, thankyou for ordering that meal Danicka." a smile of thanks on his face "Unfortunately I think my travels to Chicago have taken their toll, so if you all don't mind I'd like to excuse myself and head to bed. I heard there are rooms available upstairs that I can help myself too?."
He folds the napkin neatly and places it back on the table as he gets ready to stand and depart. "Anyway thankyou for the meal again and the company. Lukas , I'm sure you will keep me informed....ahh the night of the new moon. Okay I will remember that , just let me know where. " He gives a polite nod to those gathered and excuses himself.
[Katherine Bellamonte] "I will ask Emilie to join us at the New Moon, yes. I believe that he may prove a worthy addition to the pack." Theron excuses himself, and receives the woman's faint smile, she inclines her head. "Sleep well, Monsieur."
Katherine's eyes linger on the departing Theurge for several moments before she looks to Lukas, smirking in clear amusement. "So am I to congratulate you on inheriting both a pack-mate and potential brother in law?"
[Danicka Musil] The truth is, Danicka has several more years and far better training in playing the part of the softspoken -- or silent -- kinswoman, fading into the background without a ruffled feather as the Garou talk of pack matters as though she is not there. That is how it is. That is how it should be. And if she were ever asked, though she is not tonight, Danicka would say she honestly could not care less when the members of the Unbroken get together to talk about who is in their pack and who is not.
Dinner arrives, a spread more of variety than volume. Some of it is made up of leftovers re-plated and re-heated, but it is getting late enough that the kitchen has closed and she was not about to ask Jenny to make something new. She is not, like they are, a werewolf. It is not her place, and she does not try to take it.
She eats quietly, sips at her drink til it is gone, and nods to Theron respectfully as he leaves. She smiles wryly when Katherine asks about him being a brother-in-law, biting back a small laugh.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "You might want to grab room 5 if you want the privacy," Lukas calls after Theron as he heads up the stairs. "Otherwise, I think all the rooms in the far hall are open right now."
He turns back. Food is arriving. Lukas had a slab of steak, courtesy of Ben, earlier. It doesn't matter. There's lamb. He slices a rib free with obvious delight.
And then he shoots Katherine a dark glance. "Oh, try not to gloat so hard, Kate. Anyway, I have a feeling you're looking for the exact same thing in Mr. Emile Rothschild."
[Katherine Bellamonte] Katherine's laughter tinkles from her throat in a merry display, her pale eyes dancing with utter glee. She tuts softly in false disapproval when Lukas mentions her plans for Emile and her sister.
"I would be a sorry elder sister indeed if I did not keep my eyes peeled for a suitable match for her, the Rothschild name carries weight among my tribe." She lifts her shoulders lightly, leaning back against her chair. "I am not certain on their match yet, which, I admit is partially my desire to see how he does among the rest of our pack." In a rare moment of good spirit, the Philodox turns her attention toward Danicka.
"You must have observed some small amount of Emilie during our dinner the other evening, Danicka. Tell me your thoughts on him."
[Danicka Musil] Danicka ordered wine for the table as well. She has been here often enough that both Reuben and Danny know that if there is not enough whisky in the glass to knock out a draft horse, she's disappointed. Then again, no one at the table saw it mixed. For the most part, they do not know how well Danicka holds her liquor. She sips the cocktail slowly, and does not pour herself any wine for some time.
Her eyebrows slide up a bit when Katherine asks her opinion on Emile. "Mr. Rothschild and I did not interact whatsoever, Katherine," Danicka says gently, "and he was something of a ghost at the table. Other than a lack of being impressed with his contribution to a lively dinner table, I have no thoughts on him."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "Actually," Lukas says, eating with his hands, laying down a clean bone, "tell me your thoughts on him, Kate. What's the draw? It must be more than just name and breeding."
[Katherine Bellamonte] The Silver Fang orders herself a white wine, and listens first to Danicka's reply, and then to Lukas' query on her own reasons for inviting the man into the folds of their pack. "I think that he is impetuous, and entirely full of himself." A beat, a smile grows across her lips, and she idly tosses her glossy mane of hair over a shoulder.
"Perhaps that should endear him to me, but I find that it engenders my desire to guide his progress. To what end? I do not know, but he is one of my own tribe, and alone in the city. I think that he will benefit from being in a pack, it will either be the making of him, and weed out those more regrettable habits or it shall simply show him for what he is."
She picks up her glass when it arrives, and sips from it.
"We are in need of numbers, Lukas and he is, above all other things, another Ahroun to bolster us. A wiser Philodox than myself once told me that to judge another too quickly is to judge them poorly, so I think my thoughts will only become truly accurate as I become more fully acquainted with Emile."
[Danicka Musil] With Theron and Gabriella both gone now, Danicka moves from her seat, picking up a glass of wine she poured so quietly it's likely neither of them noticed the gesture, and moves to sit at Lukas's left. She, too, faces Katherine now, but is nearer to her mate. It is more intimate: were this a formal occasion, it would be unwise and impolite for her to sit nex to him. The fact that she does so now may mean that Katherine is considered on a different level; or simply that the whisky is working its way nicely into her veins, warming her blood and diminishing her concern for appearances.
"What of the intention to match him with Gabriella, though?" she asks quietly. "Or is his ability or inability change within the pack the determination of whether he should be with her?"
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Danicka asks about Kate's plans for Emile and Gabriella. Lukas, however, focuses on the man himself. While Katherine speaks, he cuts himself another rib off the rack, but his eyes stay on the Philodox.
And there is a certain intimacy to this. His packmate, his mate, and himself, eating alone in a vast dining room, sharing food and wine and thoughts of the future. Lukas isn't using his utensils. He's not even properly dressed. He's in a white undershirt and lounge pants. His feet are bare and his hair is still tousled from sleep.
He picks up a dinner roll and breaks it open in his large hands, dipping it in the juices run from the meat.
"You know," he says, "I don't think numbers is a good reason to take on a packmate. Besides, you and I and Sinclair make three. Theron makes four. If Caleb comes back, that's five. If we recruit Ben, six; if we add the Galliard of Thunder, seven. If we look into Edwin, or Syndel, or Hunter -- eight, nine, ten; too many to bond under a single totem. There are plenty of fish in the sea. As for his being an Ahroun -- the last Ahroun that 'bolstered' us was Sam, and that's something I'd rather not repeat.
"I have to admit, it worries me when you describe him as impetuous and full of himself. That sounds really familiar. But if you want him in the pack because you see genuine promise in him -- not because you want numbers or his moon phase, but because you think we can actually tap into that promise -- then that's a different story."
[Katherine Bellamonte] The Half Moon's brows draw upwards, perhaps in surprise, at the accuracy of Danicka's surmise, her lips curve upward in a smile and she dips her head toward her Alpha's mate. "Most astute, indeed it is a great deal what he decides to make of himself that will steer my decisions surrounding my sister and he."
Lukas mentions Sam, and his desire not to repeat that Ahroun's actions, and he can clearly see the twinge of discomfort that rises in Katherine at the man's name, he can feel the spark of her Rage as it stirs from laying so dormant this evening. "What was there once in Samuel Modine is there in Emile to a certain extent, I do not disagree, Lukas. But I think it is worth our while to keep him as a possibility. Not every fish you keep, but the ones you do should contrast as well as they compliment."
She smiles, and sips from her wine.
[Danicka Musil] It is extraordinarily rare that Katherine has seen anything from Danicka but, well... whatever Danicka wanted her to see. Early on she was seen as the proverbial Whore of Babylon, turning men against one another, brother to brother, pitting them at one another's throats for some mysterious reasons of her own. Early on, Katherine flat-out informed Danicka that she should 'refrain' from interfereing with her packbrothers. Danicka ended up in bed with another of them mere days after assuring the Bellamonte that she would keep it in mind.
And then there are the things they have said to one another over totemlink and in Czech, battering Lukas from both sides with their commentary on the other.
And then there is discovering Danicka's scent all over Martin's apartment, finding out he not only lived with the woman who was fucking Katherine's packmates but had been living with her for some time. Finding her scent lingering even in Martin's own room, incredibly faint but there nonetheless. Learning that Danicka had taken him to the hospital to take care of him during withdrawals, because Katherine's methods were less than helpful. Possibly lethal.
This is perhaps the first time Danicka has given Katherine her honest opinion, free from fear that the other blonde will tear her throat out or tackle her to the ground or otherwise hurt her, and there is evident tension throughout it. Liquor or no, Danicka is not utterly at ease. Her jaw tenses slightly at the mere mention of Sam. She flicks her eyes at Katherine when he's mentioned, because
well
they were talking about Gabriella so very recently.
"Samuel Modine used his Rage and his nature to overpower the will of another, sexually, as a punishment as well as a bolstering of his own ego," she says somewhat flatly. "In some circles, any action along those lines -- whether simultaneous with penetration or not -- is considered rape. This is the man who had sex with your sister." She sets her wine down, having only taken a couple of drinks from it. "If you see any strong similarity between him and Emile, I would be more wary than optimistic, whether you seek him as a packmate or as a potential mate for anyone."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] If Danicka is wary of giving her opinion because of past conflicts between herself and Katherine, then Lukas must, on some level, be just as wary to see the two blondes together. The last time the three of them were here, together, was the time Lukas was -- rather plainly put -- battered from both sides by their commentary on the other.
Still, for all that, there's also this. There's his quiet enjoyment of the meal Danicka had ordered for the table. There's his quiet enjoyment of the presence of those closest to him. It's not quite equality between himself and Katherine and Danicka, but they're perhaps as level to one another now as they will ever be like this. And when Danicka speaks, Lukas is quiet, listening to her with the same attentiveness that he gave Katherine.
"What happens between Emile and your sister is ultimately your business, Kate, though I'd be careful of throwing her at the first eligible-seeming Fang that strolls into the city. As for Emile's presence in the pack -- I'm willing to give him a shot if he's still willing to take it, and if he's willing to follow a Shadow Lord. But I swear to god, if he turns into another Sam, he's gone like that."
[Katherine Bellamonte] She is quiet for a long while after that.
Perhaps gathering her thoughts, perhaps quelling the gurgle of agitation that builds in her stomach at the reminder of all that had gone before. The quiet tinkling of her sister's fingers across the piano keys some sort of underscore to her thoughts as she toys with the stem of her wineglass quietly, her pearls gleaming in the soft light. Katherine's memories of Sam are slightly different to either of the two sitting with her, as it had been Katherine who had been forced to strangle her then pack-mate unconscious to spare her sister's life. It had been Katherine whom Sam had confessed his desire to kill himself, it had been Katherine who, once upon a time, urged her brother to take the Fenrir into their pack.
She had been so sure of herself, then, too.
"I do not defend what he did to any of us for he made many bad choices and would not face the consequences of them. Instead he made petty excuses, and sought to place blame wherever it might fall." She looks first at Danicka, then Lukas. "But he was not all bad, though I --" She hovers over the right word here, eyes returning to the Kinwoman. "Regret that all you will remember of him is a poor excuse for a man." A soft sigh. "If Emile turns out anything like that, I should not want him near anyone I hold important."
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "That's not all I remember of him," Lukas contradicts, though gently. "I remember him the night we met him, too. Fresh from a battle, valiant and victorious, shy. I remember how he always seemed like a boy, eager to please. I remember the countless times he saved my life, or yours.
"I remember a night after everything between Dani&+269;ka and I was already said and done, when he was pursued by a pair of wyrmlings and called for help. He was frightened, and I wanted to protect him. He fought boldly. We both did. It was a good battle. He thanked me afterward and I told him he didn't have to because he was my brother.
"I think that was the last time we ever fought side by side."
There's a pause. Lukas has stopped eating. He looks at the half-a-dinner roll on his plate; the stripped bare lamb ribs with only shreds of meat clinging to the bone. His fingers idly play along the stem of his wineglass, and then he raises his eyes to Katherine again.
"I think that's the most insidious thing about a flawed man like Sam, though. You see so much good in them, and in the end you have to let all of it go because it's just not worth it."
[Danicka Musil] She drinks her wine. There's tension in her jaw because of all she just said, a certain uneasiness in the way she sips. She does not meet Kate's eyes at the Philodox's expression of regret. However, when Lukas begins the story of how they first met Sam, describes him as eager to please, her right foot slips away from her mate's ankle and back into her own heel. Around the time that Lukas speaks of the Fenrir calling for help -- and she remembers this, remembers seeing something in the alleyway, remembers Lukas trading keys with her and sending her away, remembers the way he would not touch her later because it might make her sick.
Danicka rises quietly, excuses herself as Lukas pauses and looks at his foot, plays with the stem of his wineglass. She doesn't hear the end of the conversation, about what good can be seen. She takes her purse with her to the bar instead, to pay Reuben.
[Katherine Bellamonte] She cannot ignore what is unspoken in his words.
She cannot ignore the subtle change in tension as Danicka rises to settle the bill, disengaging herself from the conversation entirely. The blond's eyes track the Kinswoman for only a moment before they resettle on her pack-mate, and there is a sense that between them they are sharing a remembrance of another man whom they had both, in their own ways, seen so much good in, and wished so much for.
She remembers fighting with Lukas about Edward, remembers the countless times they have struck one another, coming to blows over his short-comings. She remembers her own betrayal of her elder brother, leaving a bitter resin on her tongue. For this moment as two pack-mates study one other over their wine glasses, the entirety of their history plays before them like a ghostly picture show, phantoms of the past clinging to those who lived on to remember better times; worse times.
"I have let go now, Lukas," is all she says, in the end, and it's enough.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas's eyes track up to Danicka only once as she stands. He doesn't stop speaking. He finishes what he meant to say, without apology -- and without recrimination.
Each of them knew Sam differently, and though in the end all three of them would agree that he no longer has a place in their lives, is no longer worth it and perhaps never was, their memories differ. Danicka's experience with Sam Modine was singularly brief and brutal. Lukas's and Katherine's were much longer, much more ambiguous and, in the case of Katherine at least, haunting.
They don't know where Sam is now. They don't know what became of him.
But they've let it go.
"Yeah," says the Shadow Lord quietly. "Me too." Then he picks up his wineglass and drains it, getting to his feet. "You and Gabbie should visit more often," he says. "I miss having the pack in one place. I don't regret where we've gone, but I miss the unity we had, sometimes."
[Katherine Bellamonte] "Mm," is all she says to the suggestion that she and her younger sibling should visit more often, Katherine drains her own glass of wine and rises in tandem with Lukas, picking up her jacket from the back of the chair and turning to call to her sister softly that they were leaving.
"I too miss spending nights like this with my pack. I hope soon to do it frequently." Katherine studies her Alpha intently a moment until Gabriella's light footsteps sound on the stairs, and her lips threaten a smile. "Goodnight, Wyrmbreaker-rhya," she says a touch teasingly, and then calls a similar farewell to Danicka before she turns to lead her sister out.
[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas snorts when she calls him Wyrmbreaker-rhya. "Goodnight, Regina Virgo."
The Fangs leave. Lukas stays by his table a moment longer, alone now, and then sets the wineglass down. By then Danicka's paid the bill, which, if he were human, he might feel bad about. He's not human. He feels bad about something else entirely.
He's there to meet her when she turns away from the podium. The restaurant is closed; the dining room is empty. Lukas steps forward as she does, closing the distance to an arm's reach.
"Are you staying a while?" he asks.
celebration.
9 years ago