broho defense, kin, wispirs, and james bond.

[Adara Mires] It had been a really hot day and the weather was still very warm. She had contacted Lukas earlier and he had told her to meet him at Katherine's loft. She had made her way there in the evening, so they could talk about a few things.

She entered the Loft, looking around, knowing from her many previous visits that lucille will come and greet her. Today, the pretty oung woman wasdressed in mid thights long shirts, a tank top and running shoes. Her skin was darker than what Lukas wasused to see on her. She had been out a lot lately and for a lnog time every time the weather had been warm. She had now a nice tan. The tribal style tatoo covering her whole left arm, starting from should and ending in four points over the back of her hand, was competly exposed. Long dark brown hair was tied in a ponytail and a backpack was on her shoulder. Just in case she get to use the pool. She was seriously addicted to that pool.

Her emerald eyes found the older latina woman and her lips curled into a warm smile "Good evening Lucille, I"m here to see Lukas" The woman nodded and start ot lead the Fury to the location of the Shadow Lord Adren She walked in a very fluid way, with a grace dancers would actually kill for. Her eyes looked around as they reach Lukas, as always admiring the beautiful decor of the Silver Fang's loft.

[Lukas] This isn't his home, but it's slowly and surely gravitating into a pack hangout. No surprise there, really. There's a pool here. And a huge flatscreen tv. And video games. And a billiards table. And food in the kitchen. Half the pack, more or less, lives here more-often-than-not. The other half -- Lukas included -- still frequents it several times a week, and sometimes daily.

So when Adara comes in, Lucille directs her brusquely upstairs. Lukas is at the pool table, looking up from a tough ricochet shot as the Fury enters.

"Hey, Adara." He nods at her backpack. "Is that for the pool?"

[Adara Mires] She thanked lucille then grinned at him "Has Carter talked to you about my addiction?" She said with a tilt of her head. She moved closer ot the Shadow Lord "Good evening Lukas, how have you been?" She let her bag drop from her should and into her hand as she lean against the table, her hip against the wood.

"You seem to be pretty good at this game" She said, looking down at the balls, having noticed the shot he had lining up. She was relaxed tonight. She had business to discuss with him but even if it was important, it wasn't stressful. It was just soem suggestions, an approuval that she needed and oen or two lose ends that he might help her with.

She could easilly play some pool or lounge in the pool while they talk.

[Lukas] "I'm actually not," Lukas mutters, bending to the shot again. "I got pretty good when I ran around with Kate's brother, but I'm rusty now. And -- no, I just guessed, because when I show up with a bag it's because I'm going to go for a swim."

Cue cracks off ball; ball clock!s into another. Two thumps off the sides, and then -- the ball misses the pocket by an inch.

"See?" Lukas says. "Rusty. Anyway, what's on your mind?"

[Adara Mires] SHe smiled a little more at his words "Well I wish I could help you getting back into playing shape, but I'm an ok player at best"

She watched him take his shot "As ofr the pool, yeah, It's pretty forward of me to assuem I cna use the pool, but I thought that if theocacsion presents itself, I shall not be unprepared" She grin "Same philosophy I use in my every day life actually"

She turn her attention back to him "You remember that my first plan about the Brotherhood's evacuation and defense was met with some..strong reactions from a few non resident kin. After talknig with a few people, I decided to ask a few kin, resident and others for their opinions. Amongst them were Doctor Slaughter and Gladecu. So I canme up with a new one and I wanted your approval"

She tilt her head "I also spoke with Simon about a few things we ould change in the Brotherhood to make it harder to attack. And I have a question about the info you sent me related to what happened to me August and Quinn. Do you have time ofr all this?"

She ask with curiosity, not wanting to keep him away from other businesses.

[Katherine Bellamonte] The clinking of glasses heralds Katherine's arrival.

She's carrying two wine glasses by the stem and holding a bottle of red wine in the other; judging by the silvery webs clinging to the bottle's base its come from her wine cellar. Sensitive Garou noses can scent the dust, the grapes within now nothing but aged liquid. Given the warmer weather, the Half Moon had begun to interchange her wardrobe with skirts and pull the covers off her summer wardrobe.

Tonight, she's in a floating sleeveless button-down, two undone at the collar; the curved neck giving glimpse to more of Ms Bellamonte's creamy skin that most were accustomed to seeing in the cooler months. The soft blue of the material was scattered with tiny birds in flight. Her feet bare. "Oh," she says, setting down the glasses, turning them upward with care, "hello Adara, I thought I heard the door closing while I was in the cellar. I was about to test out one of our vintage reds."

She straightens; sliding a hand to the small of her back and arching it as if she were so delicately human as to have a crick in her spine.

[Lukas] "Adara's here on business," Lukas says, "but she was hoping to take a dip in the pool after."

He takes the bottle from Katherine without having to be asked, getting his keychain out with the other hand. Lukas is the sort of man to carry around a swiss army knife, and a fairly large one too; he flips the corkscrew attachment out and begins to uncork the bottle.

A bit of a grimace as Adara mentions non-resident kin complaints. "I thought the plan was fine as it was," he says. "But let's go ahead and hear it."

[Katherine Bellamonte] The Silver Fang's hand pushes the heaviness of her hair from her face then, blinking once in a slow, studied manner at the Fury's ambition regarding her pool as if she were less wolf and far more thoughtful feline. "I see," she notes as if she did see, some undercurrent not voiced; some deeper intent.

"Do be careful of the pool cleaner; it's humming away at present. I wager, sometimes," she continues lightly; accepting the bottle back from Lukas and setting it to air for a few moments before she pours, "that were it awakened it would spend all its time lamenting the loss of Sinclair's little spiritual friend."

Adara was here on business, though, and Honor's Compass motions her onward with whatever it is; taking herself to a lounger and sinking gracefully into it; one leg crossing over the other.

[Adara Mires] She nodded and smile to Katherine when the elegant Silver Fang stepped inside the room "Good evening Katherine, It's a pleasure seeing you again. How have you been?"

Lukas spoke of her desire to use the pool and her smile turned slightly sheepish. Bit she didn't look away. She was capable of assuming her addiction to that pool. Then she looked back at lukas and moves slightly away form the pool table to she was facing both of them, including Katherine in her conversation

"Well it was pointed out that the plan might need to be simplified as people might panic in case of attack. I know none of uswill, I assumed kin were made of sterner stuff but I decide to take that into consideration. Dr Slaughter suggested two rallying points where kin could gather and we could defend. The bathrooms upstairs and the basement. The plan, as it is would simply be that. In case of attack, kin gather at one of those location and we'll defend it. It's simple and no one should forget it if they panic"

She paused "In itself, it's really too basic but if we make some improvement to hte brotherhood, it makes is better"She said looking at both of them then at Lukas ot see if he wanted her to continue.

[Lukas] As Lukas listens, his brow furrows. He straightens up, foregoing his next shot, laying the cue down horizontally across the edge of the table.

"The entire purpose of the plan is as much evacuation as defense -- not to set up for heroic last stands. The Brotherhood is expendable and replaceable. We'll defend if we can, evacuate and burn bridges and set up elsewhere if we can't. So while a simple plan of 'gather here with weapons and sensitive information in hand and await orders' is fine, the locations Dr. Slaughter picked out are, frankly, unworkable. The bathroom is at the center of the building. Same thing with the basement. If the rest of the Brotherhood is overrun, anyone in either room will be surrounded with no chance of escape. They'll be massacred.

"If you want my opinion, set the rallying point in the kitchen. And make it clear that people are to retreat and escape if need be. It might be a good idea to stash some area-clearing firepower in the kitchen -- molotov cocktails or the sort, to clear a path of escape if it's time to fall back and bail out.

"As for the kinfolk's suggestions -- Dr. Slaughter's done a lot for the Nation and perhaps even more for the respectability of kin in this city, but ultimately she doesn't live at the Brotherhood. Barely even visits. Regarding the rest of the kin -- I'm going to take a wild guess and say Amunet was one of the complainers. Her issue wasn't with your plan; it was with imagined instances of the Garou oppressing her lot, or some such thing.

"The bottom line is that I put this in your hands, and I want it to stay there. If you're uncertain, Adamidas or I can both advise, but in the end this is your project. Don't structure your plan to appease the kin, or anyone else. Listen to suggestions, but in the end, take it with a grain of salt. You live there every day -- more than can be said of anyone else involved in this project. It's your responsibility, and your privilege, to make the call. Do what you think is best. I trust you."

[Adara Mires] She nodded to him "All right. There has been so many little thigs happening with kinfolks and the setting up of new positions to..I don't know, appease them, that I wasn't entirely sure how the complains about the plan shoudl be handled. Or anything related ot kin really. I have this feeling that every time you iwll tell them they're wrong they will start protesting and go on strike or something"

She shrugh slightly "I'll make sure there are weapons and various things stashed around the place so kin can defend themselves if something happens at the Brotherhood. As for the bathroom and basement. Taling with Simon, he suggested we could reinforce the walls and windows of the brotherhood and along those line I was thinking it would be good to do so for the bathroom. He also mentioned installing choke points in the halls that would force people to shift down to pass them, allowing us to shoot the enemy their homid form if they're dancers or slow wyrm creatures down as they would need ot break those points before coming closer. And use the window at the end of the hall near room five as a getaway, as previously considered.

As for the basement, I was thinking that having it connect with the sewer, allowing us to escape and have a rat spirit or another better suited to watch it. We could use human tech, but I think spirits would be better."

Her eyes move to look at one then the other "Renovations cost money and I don't have that kind of money. I think it would be good for the Brotherhood though, evne if we move the rallying points. The more defenses we have the better it would be. With the staff, the owners and 3 other kin residing there, it makes for many people ot defend. The more options we have, the better"

She look at Lukas, waiting for his verdict.

[Katherine Bellamonte] As the Fury speaks; Katherine is silent but for a smile beneath her fingertips; those pressed against her lips; in answer to Adara's query regarding how she has been. It spoke as much as any paltry answer would and Honor's Compass was nary a female to waste her time with tiny details if one could afford as much respect with a smile or simple cant of the head.

Dignity was born in her; as well as that particular sort of stature that when she sat just so in a chair, one arm along the length of the rest; the other against her face she did so resemble a Silver Fang of olde, seated in quiet contemplation upon their throne that you almost quirked a brow; almost envisioned the crown atop her head. She stirs when Lukas begins his reply; and rises to pour out two glasses of wine; the liquid settling in the large crystal ware.

Katherine twirled each a little; and held them to the light a moment; her pale eye scrutinizing the contents before lowering one and passing it to Lukas. "I would offer you one, Adara, but that swimming and alcohol do not tend to meld with any agreement outcome." A brief turn of her mouth, then: "Is Amunet still bristling away, then? That woman has more spikes than a Porcupine."

[Katherine Bellamonte] [agreeable outcome, bah, spelling. Humbug.]

[Lukas] "Make whatever renovations you think are appropriate, as long as they'll pass building code inspections. You probably saw that business about city inspections. I like the idea of multiple emergency exits, but have one rally point, and one backup rally point if the primary is overrun. Make sure both are close to emergency exits. That way we won't split up and get overwhelmed.

"I'd say stash the weapons Umbraside where a Garou can easily access them, too, but where inspectors won't find them. And -- I like the idea of choke points, but don't set too many. Just a few around the rally points. Our own people will have to squeeze through as well, so it's a double-edged sword.

"You shouldn't have to fund this yourself by any means. Put up a notice; ask for donations. I'll see what I can contribute, and I'm sure others will as well."

He takes the glass from Katherine, then, swirling the wine just beneath his nose for a moment, sipping. "Is this the stuff Ed brought over from your family's ancestral cellars in France?" he asks Kate, offhand, and then laughs under his breath. "I haven't actually heard about Amunet bristling lately, but that probably just means she's getting better at hiding her tracks.

"If the kin come at you with complaints again," he says to Adara, "tell them that you're in charge of BroHo defense, period. If they have a problem with it, they can go complain at a Liaison."

[Katherine Bellamonte] "Mm, yes. It is âgés de stock Bellamonte, très bonne." The Silver Fang sips from hers for a moment, then offers a raised eyebrow and murmured: "Poor dear Danicka," when her Alpha notes Kinfolk should go and complain to a liaison.

"How is she enjoying her new position, Lukas?"

[Katherine Bellamonte] A moment later; pale eyes turned on the Fury: "I can help out where it's needed. I believe I am aiding my Cousin Mr Press in some quarter or other to do with protecting the Brotherhood and Caern already," a slender shoulder is shrugged; off hand. "What is a little extra here and there."

[Adara Mires] She smiled softly to Katherine. "It's all right Kahterine. And I wouldn't be so bold as use your pool without one of the residents doing so. I jsut brought mythings in case. I didn't want to have to borrow someone's swimsuit"

She then looked at Lukas "I'm aware of the inspection and will find a kin who knows more about building safety and standards than me. Maybe one of you know of such a kin?" Katherine spoke of Ivan helping already and she nodded "I'll contact him then"

"As for weapons, I'll hide them with Adamidas's help and will make accessible ot kin tolls to make some quic ones, like those molotov cocktails you mentioned earlier. I will make sure the rally points are strong and secure and the emergency exits easilly accessible. And not too many choking points. Too many would be pointless, a few strategically placed ones will be fine as you stated.

Ihaven't heard anything about Amunet either, which worries me. But maybe she learned her lesson..we can always hope so."

She let Lukas answer Katherine's question about Danicka before saying

"Speaking of kinfolk, the man who's book was given to Danicka by Quinn was injured by a baby sized acid spweing vcreature. Quinn wanted to save him, I felt like letting him die was better. I idn't want ot argue with her in public nad broad daylight, but do you know if the Garou she called to help actually healed the man who'sl ink to a paranormal reasearch organisation or actually killed him?"

[Lukas] "I actually don't know of any kin who are deep in bureaucracy," Lukas says. "Plenty of policemen and lawyers, but nothing so unglamorous as red-tape dispenser. I'd go ahead and put that into your notice too. Wanted: funds for BroHo safety renovations, building code advisers, and contractors for the work.

"Generally," Lukas has another sip of wine, then sets it carefully on the pool table's edge and picks up the cue again, "I think she hasn't been too burdened by the position." He extends the cue butt-first toward Katherine, "Care to practice with me?"

To Adara, then, "Yeah, she brought the matter to my notice. It's hard to say what would have been worse -- killing someone connected to wannabe Mulders and Scullys, or not killing one after he's seen too much. I actually wanted you to follow up on that. We have his notebook, but he must have other information and links. It'll be good to know just how much they know, and whether or not they'll be a threat."

[Lukas] [drop a char in!]
to air

[air] [don't have any that know about the loft! I'm working on one though!]
to Lukas

[Katherine Bellamonte] Katherine smiles; setting her wine-glass down and reaching for the pool cue. "Why Mister Lukas, I fancied you'd never ask," there's a wink thrown the Fury's way and the Silver Fang drifts toward the table; all flowing silk and perfume. She takes a moment; Honor's Compass and tuts with her tongue about the location and set up.

Finds her desired point of impact and leans over, aiming with one eye closed; fair hair falling over the edge of the pool table. There is a satisfying crack as the shot makes its connection and sends the little colored billiards rolling in all directions. "What is it with the human condition, always chasing after that which they don't understand. It seems the more absurd the idea, the deeper they want to investigate it. Ghosts, Vampires," her eyes widen theatrically a spell. "Werewolves. I think if they knew quite how boring we are when we're not fighting for our lives and theirs, they'd be quite let down in their ambitions about us all."

[Adara Mires] She nodded to his words about hte notice "That was my intention. Write up the plan and then a note asking for help with funds and knowedge."

She listened to the packmates talk about the Shadow Lord's mate. Lukas offer the cue to Katherine so she took a few more steps away from the table to allow them to play.

"I think letting him die from his injuries would have been better. But since he's alive, I'll make the most of it. I'll find out what he knows, who are his contacts, who he spoke to then if he's a threat, I'll ask one of the Doctors ot get me enough drugs to kill him and make it look liek a suicide. Strong sleeping pills will do. The shock of surviving what hadhappened and what he thought he saw would be a good enough excuse for him to crack up and kill himself"

She smiled at Katherine "I think that nowadays the idea of supernatural beings has been so romanticized that they want ot be those being without realizing that we live in a very violent world and that like movie heroes..our odwn time is as regular as theirs. We jsut end up dying younger than most of them to. Also I think some hope to use us as weapons or use supernatural DNA to enhance soldiers...and that it really worrisome"

[Lukas] "Speak for yourself," Lukas says to Katherine, mock-archly, watching her break. She seems to have picked stripes, so he takes solids. "I live a life full of danger, romance, intrigue, and hot babes. Just because you curl up with a Jane Austen book at 10pm every night doesn't mean the rest of us aren't having fun."

He leans down to take his shot then, looking down the table for a moment before picking a shot. He plays like he knows how: bending low, strong fingers forming an open bridge, cue sliding smoothly. He wasn't lying about being rusty, though. Instead of knocking an easy shot into the pocket, he manages to divert it away, muttering under his breath as he straightens.

"If you do end up taking him out," Lukas says, "make sure it's necessary, and make sure his friends don't know where to pick up the threads he leaves behind. The last thing we want is to get a gaggle of angry, nosy humans poking around our business."

[Lukas] (*way belated* you can always just make something up! car broke down outside, etc!)
to air

[Katherine Bellamonte] She leans her weight on her pool cue; her expression one of expectant amusement. "Oh, indeed I forgot I was in the presence of the Shadow Lord version of James Bond," there's an eye roll and the Silver Fang straightens and moves around the table for her next shot.

Click!

One of her striped balls rolls neatly into a corner pocket and Katherine's mouth curls in triumph.

[Adara Mires] She grin at him "I'm sure Danicka would love to hear about those hot babes"She said, teasing. Even if it was true, she certainly wouldn't get mixed into that. After all who was she to get involved in an Adren's life? She just smiled a layful one, then watch them play some.

Lukas tell her to be careful "I will be careful. I have no intentions to have the Veil lifted or have humans mess with our businesses. I'll be discreet" The usually cheerful Fury was very serious about that part.

She moved her backpack up to her shoulder, as Katherine sank her ball, watching them some more.

[air] [maybe i'll play test - if i can decide on a tribe]
to Lukas

[Lukas] "The new, awesome James Bond is totally a Shadow Lord." He pauses a moment, watching crestfallen as Kate methodically starts cleaning up the table. "The old, foppish one was totally a Silver Fang, though," he adds magnanimously. Then he extends the cue toward Adara. "You want to play? I'm getting slaughtered here."

[Katherine Bellamonte] "Foppish?" The Half Moon's eyes narrow in playful outrage, she jabs her Alpha urgently in the ribs. "That was elegance, I will have you know.

Foppish." She sniffs again, and moves to collect her wine glass. "Whenever a Shadow Lord is being defeated, Adara, he will inevitably lay scorn at the door of the nearest Silver Fang. It is a life of injustice and misplaced blame for my own good tribe." Katherine sighs, quite impressively forlorn.

[Adara Mires] She watched them with an amusd smile and took the cue from Lukas "And I thought the Unbroken never gave up?" She said, teasing Lukas. She moved to take her shot "I do think the newest James Bond is the most interesting of them. Still, Sean Connery would kick his ass if he had been born later and had Craig's age right now."

She lined up an easy shot and sunk it. She wasn't a bad player. Living at the Brotherhood has allowed her to practice a lot. "And what would that make him? He had the elegance of a Silver Fang, the cunning charms of a Shadow Lord and the mean streak of a Fenrir...and he was a lover worthy of any Children of Gaia"

She moved to take another shot and the ball didn't angled properly and didn't sink in.

[Lukas] "Sadly," Lukas stage-whispers, "that's usually where the scorn belongs.

"And, with the accent and all, Sean Connery Bond was obviously a Fianna born to a Fianna and a Fenrir whose family used to be a Silver Fang. And then after earning his double-O status, he realized Shadow Lords were better, so he changed tribes. Bam."

[Katherine Bellamonte] "I heard that!" Katherine calls from across the room where she was topping her glass up a little and then doing a pretty little spin and about face to traipse back over. "Also there is absolutely no doubt he was originally a Silver Fang. One can almost sense the breeding emanating from him on screen."

Such is Katherine's belief, it's rather hard not to crack up laughing.

[Adara Mires] She chuckled at both their comments, putting the cue aside and leaned slighly against the table "Well either way, he was the best" She smiled softly

"I tihnk I"ve imposed my presence long enough on you two. I don't want to keep either of you from your business"

She picked her backpack again. Business was done and she was in good terms with both Unbroken but she didn't think either considered her a friend per se. So it might be better not to impose herself much longer. Both f them probably had things to do with their respective mates..wait..Katherine was mated right? She thought she had heard something about that once, but she wasn't sure.

[Lukas] "All right," Lukas says, taking the cue back. "Let me know what happens with the BroHo, all right? Or just post up the new plan when you come up with you. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Adara."

[Katherine Bellamonte] The Silver Fang takes another moment to shoot, and straightens; nodding at the Fury as she takes her leave. "You are welcome to return and swim in the pool when you like, Adara. Have a good evening, oui?" As the Cliath heads for the stair case, she can hear in her wake the pack-mates and Adren's continuing their bickering.

No matter the surface rivalry however, it seemed decidedly fond; like siblings squabbling over a TV remote.

"Lukas, you are in my space. I cannot line up my shot with your elbow so near. I fear you will cheat and use it to throw my aim off."

[Adara Mires] She nodded to him "I'll do that. I'll keep you posted about that lawyer too. Thank you for your time"

She smiled to Katherine "Thank you for your hospitality. It was a pleasure seeing you again. And I certainly will come back, not just for the pool" After all she got along wih every Unbroken she had met, so spending time in their company was always interesting.

She looked at both of them "Have a good night both of you"

She head out of the loft, wondering what to do. Maybe she should call Carter. It's been too long since she hanged with the grumpy kin. Or she could stop by the Chruch and hang with Rory. In the end..stopping by a bar seemed like a good idea.

[Katherine Bellamonte] [Thank you for the scene, guys! ]

[Adara Mires] (thanks for joining..i missed rping with you)

[Lukas] [thanks back!! i had a good time!]

bookstore, coffee.

[Mad Maddox] Joshua is being cautious of the strangers, as well he should be. Maddox is a dangerous Garou indeed. Sure, he looks like he'd blow over in a gentle breeze, but beneath his ribs beats the heart of a lion, fierce and proud and strong and...No, no he really, truly is that small and weak. He did not prove himself in battle with his new pack over the weekend because, quite frankly, he is not a terribly glorious bastard. His strengths lie with te spirits, with contracts and negotiations. Certainly not fighting.

Still, Maddox doesn't press the stranger with that terrible scar to come on over, hang with the cool kids, yeah? He tips his chin, all the indication Josh gets from him that he's welcome to add his Rage to the pot, scare the kin just a little more.

Mostly, it's because Rain is teasing him about his guitar. She tells him he should tune it, or she'll sound like a banjo in the morning. Maddox unzips his dark blue and still wet hoodie to reveal an orange t-shirt, either genuinely or deliberately faded, with the logo of some college or university. Orange t-shirt, blue sweatshirt, maroon shoes. Truly, this young man does not give one single fuck about his appearance. That or he just doesn't know how colors should go together. The hoodie stays on, however. Like Rain, he'd have to set down his scone to do it, and apparently that's going just a bit too far to be comfortable.

"And what, pray tell, is your prejudice against the noble banjo?" he asks, brow quirked at Rain. Everyone else is offering their introductions. Maddox takes a bite of his blueberry scone, unable to answer her rejoinder for need of chewing and swallowing. "Well, I'm a man of many names," he says, sounding important. "London, Maddoxnot," he's quick to add, tilting his chin and lifting a finger in warning, "like that Angelina brat. I think I'm most fond of Mad Maddox."

[Adara Mires] Everyone introduce themselves, no one says too much about them and it's fine. She drank slowly form her coffee, her eyes moving the the guitar Maddox pulled out of it's case. She identify the brand and all the little quirks and identifications that would be branded in her memory as Maddox's guitar. You own one instrument long enough and no matter how identical it started to another, in the end, it becomes a part of you, easilly distinghisable from all the others.

She unzipped her jacket, taking it off and placing it on the back of her chair and then it was her hoodie's turn to be unzipped, revealing a dark red tank top. Like Maddox, she looked harmless. About 5'5", 120 pounds and nothing about her screamed I can turn into a 9 foot hairy monster..well nothing except her rage that is.

She smiled once more at Reese "Have you been in Chicago for a long time?" Like Rain, like Maddox her voice was harmonious, a lovely voice that you would love to hear sing and also in her case, tell you stories.

[Rain] Their conversation continues, despite introductions, seeming almost irreverently exclusive at times. Rain's voice is warmer, now, drawn out a bit by the banter with Mad Maddox, as he prefers to be called.

"Can't you hear the Georgia in my voice, honey?" she chides, lightly. "I have a healthy and native respect for the noble banjo. Enough to know that that," oh, yes, she points at his guitar with one graceful and expressive finger, "Is no stand in."

Even after little sleep, and even in the sea of all this Rage, Rain's voice is a captivating thing. It draws people in, it binds them together. If she had more practice in wrapping people around her little finger she might be quite dangerous. But this banter with Maddox is toothless. Harmless. It serves to swallow up the silence at their half of gathering.

Adara is giving Reese the polite first questions, without really hinting at why he's been called to a table to kabitz with Monsters. Rain offers him a glance, when her attention is pulled away from the Theurge, after it has lingered uneasily for a moment on Joshua looming nearby. This glance is engimatically comiseratory. He probably doesn't know why yet, and she can't confirm it's warranted, but there's something very strange about this all to her. Cat and mouse. It doesn't set quite right with the Gaian.

Have you been in Chicago for a long time? is the question. Rain's is simpler. It slips in between the rest of the Nation politics at play.

"And why do you take your coffee from a bookstore?" she asks, with a bit of a smile.

[Reese Edward Anderson] Reese was probably the oldest person here by a fair margin. From the looks of things, he was. But despite standing out a bit amongst the young and hipster crowd, Reese fell in with them easily enough. His eyes shifted between each face, curious and alert. Noting those details that everyone noticed when they interacted with a new group of people - how they seemed to view each other; what their particular rules of social etiquette might be. Who seemed friendly (Adara.) Who seemed witty (Maddox.) Who seemed shy (Rain.)

Who seemed dangerous. Initial impressions weren't always accurate, but they were all that one had to go on most of the time.

"Good to meet you, Adara - no Miss, Mad Maddox and Just Rain." For a moment his smile widened into something warm and charming. "I'm a recent immigrant, actually." He said that like he'd moved here from across the ocean instead of just from New England. "Moved out from Boston a couple of weeks ago." In response to Rain's question, he laughed once, gently. "I take my coffee from just about anywhere, if it's of appropriate quality."

Then, to Maddox... "Can you play that, or do you just carry it around to pick up girls?" he asked of the Theurge and his guitar, gently teasing.

[Joshua Coil] *He gets up, then, and he furrows his eyebrows, trying to figure things out. He shakes his head, and heads out.*

[Mad Maddox] "Of course," he says with a negligent wave of his hand, leaping to the defense of his guitar. "Apples and oranges, luv. Apples and oranges."

The Ahroun leaves without making an introduction. Maddox looks up when Joshua rises, and if he happens to look toward the table full of Rage, then the Theurge will lift his cup of coffee in farewell.

"Noooo," he says to Reese, "it's just decoration, mate. I tried to be gangsta, get it on a chain, but it didn't work out." He frowns at that, takes a sorrowful bite of his scone, pretending to mourn the inability to use a guitar as bling.

[Adara Mires] She chuckled at Reese teasing Maddox about the guitar, drinking from her mug with an easy smile then actually laughed at his comment

"Man I'd pay to see you wear a guitar on a chain around your neck, all platinum or something..with maybe soem of those big knuckle rings but yours would be shaped like harmonicas." She wiggled her brows at him, teasing.

The Silver Fang kin has admitted to he was a recent arrival and as such, he probably didn't know who was of his fmily here or who to contact. She'll ask him the question but not now, later. If things come down to it, she'll get his number and call or text Katherine with it.

"What brings you to Chicago Reese?" She ask him with genuine curiosity

[Rain] "You see, some people can play. And then? There's London here..." Rain adds, and it may be difficult to guess at which way to take it. Maddox knows she's heard some of his finer moments, present evening excluded of course. But she's also been teasing him, off and on, all evening. Maybe the Theurge could play, damned well. And maybe he was posing.

But her glance this time is not toward Maddox. Instead her eyes are cast across the table, to the newcomer, with a sort of moment-long solidarity. Pleased that he's teasing Maddox as well. Pleased to have encountered something lighter this evening after all.

She hasn't taken a bite of her scone, and Rain doesn't move to now, but she does find a napkin to wrap it up in. A small harbinger of the goodbyes to come.

"I'd bet you could play a harmonica," she says, to Maddox. Almost like it were one part consolation prize, and one part genuine esteem.

"Do you mind, then, if I escape with your scone?" she asks the Theurge. Just in case he might want it back. The plain one, without blueberries. It's becoming clear that Rain has somewhere to be after all, even if that's just where Rage and all to observant Garou aren't.

[Danicka Musil] Mother's Day is just around the corner. There are cards prominently displayed in the bookstore, a table set up with novels and nonfiction and, of course, cookbooks. The ideal of motherhood is the most advertised, but there are parodies and retro-styled magnets and coffee mugs with a snarkier, more tongue-in-cheek flair sprinkled throughout as well.

By the time Danicka makes it to the coffee shop, she's got a canvas book tote in hand carrying her purchases for the evening. What a thought -- reusable bags outside of the grocery store, too. The heels of her ankle boots tap faintly on the flooring, but there's enough ambient noise that only she or those immediate to her can hear it. Their main purpose is not to provide a measured clip of announcement but a certain shaping of her legs and posture, an added three inches of height. She's 5'9" now, and it's very exciting up there.

Her clothing brings to mind lilacs in both color and the texture of the embellishment on her blouse peeking out from underneath the just-too-small-enough brown cardigan hourglassing her top half where it's joined by a single pearl-colored button. Her skirt is a darker purple, the pleats not too crisp, her legs bare despite the chill that clings to Chicago even in May. Thick blonde hair is up in a rather high ponytail, though it stops far short of being all Blonde Ambition.

To the Garou in the cafe, she's instantly recognizable, like Reese before her. A faint scent of impending storms, fertile fields watched over by black mountains, a warm den full of cubs defended with surges of bloodlust. In any other form but the one they're all wearing they'd be able to scent, under detergent and soaps and shampoos and the smell of Her, the very identity of whoever must have put that subtle, pale ring on her left hand. Even the humans in the room, however, don't have to notice her much to somehow tell: taken.

Granted, Maddox has met her. So it's just that blonde again who happens to be mated to his packmate and who took Carter on a walk while he was still 'imprisoned'.

She sees him after she's gotten to the counter, ordered, and is glancing around when she waits for her receipt. She smiles. Gives him a small wave.

[Reese Edward Anderson] Something about the way Maddox said gangsta with his overseas accent just made the word sound completely wrong, and the Fang kin's expression took on an amused tone. When Adara asked him why he'd moved to Chicago, he shrugged as if it were a matter of little import (though in truth, he was not the sort to pick up and move without a very good reason.) "The E.P.A offered me a job in this district. I'm an Environmental Attorney."

Which explained why he dressed... like a lawyer. And had that messenger bag - briefcase hybrid hanging off the back of his chair. Also, why he was addicted to coffee.

"What about the rest of you? I have this sneaking suspicion that you might not be locals." The accents might have tipped him off. Just a bit. Reese himself sounded less foreign than Rain or Maddox did, though his accent wasn't Midwestern. Rain mentioned escape - an interesting choice of phrasing - and perhaps because of this, Reese met her gaze for a long moment and smiled. "Escape is always better with baked goods."

[Mad Maddox] He chuckles, lets out a Heh! when Rain says she'd bet he could play a harmonica. She doesn't know, none of them here know, what he told Lukas one night in a little restaurant in the Ukrainian village. That he gets bored, so he learns things. Languages, instruments, reads book after book after book. That huff hints at it. Of course, it says.

"That'd be a pretty good bet to take," he admits smoothly. And he lets out a long suffering sigh. "I suppose if you must, you can have it. You'll need the rations on the road." It's obvious that she's got somewhere to be, and Maddox doesn't keep her from it. For all that he'd flirted with her, he doesn't watch her with lingering, lovestruck eyes. "I'll see you around, Rain."

He looks around when he senses that vaguely familiar bit of breeding. When he spots Danicka at the counter, canvas bag with purchases, dressed in lovely and probably expensive clothing, his brows lift. He's not entirely surprised to see her here, on this side of town, in a place like this. The first time he laid eyes on her, Danicka was wrapped around her mate, just before they came to meet the stray and a surly kinswoman. The next time was at the loft, and she was considerably more sober. He lifts his hand to return the wave.

"Boston," he says, turning back to the table. "I've been to Boston." His tone is musing, and he finishes off his coffee. The accents may have tipped him off to the fact that at least two of them were transplants. Maddox could attempt that sarcasm again, but he doesn't. He answers truthfully. Which, given his accent, could come across as deflection easily.

"I came here from Indiana. I was just stopping through on my way to Wisconsin when, I guess you could say I got stuck." The way he says it, though, it doesn't sound unpleasant. After all, getting "stuck" in Chicago has found him with a pack for the first time in years, and a place to settle in after years of drifting.

[Adara Mires] She watches Rain as it seem the Gaian was about to leave them "Leaving so soon?"She ask looking disapointed. She always found her meeting with Rain to be quite short. She offered her a soft smile "Well I guess I'll see you around..or maybe call me so we can jam. We could invite Maddox if we're masochistic" She grinned playfully at Maddox. She wouldn't mind the theurge being there at all. He was funny.

She noticed Danicka coming in, smelling her breeding, recognizing her by her looks alone as well. She offered the woman asmile and nod, waiting for her to be closer before gretting her "Good evening Danicka" She said in a friendly tone. She was far from being close ot the kin, but each time they have met, things had gone well. In herself Danicka was someone she liked and respected, she was also mated to a man she liked and respected as well, making the kin a person she didn't have a desire to be on bad terms with.

Reese ask if she was from Chicago "No, I'm from Arizona..originally, then went to gReece, Seattle and here. Did you meet many peopel since you arrived?" Her emerald eyes are now on him again, watching the Silver Fag kin, making him part of the little group.

[Rain] He supposes she will need the rations on the road. This would have been truer at almost any other time in her life but now. So the smile that curls Rain's mouth as she takes her leave of the table is less rueful and more amused. She assures Adara that they will, someday, jam, and Reese that it was a pleasure to meet him. Maddox, though, gets a short and enigmatic look before the songbird shrugs into her coat and makes her escape.

((Sorry so short! I am exhausted. Thank you all for the scene. G'night!))

[Reese Edward Anderson] Rain departed their informal gathering, and Reese watched her go before noticing the direction that Maddox's eyes had drifted. Instinctively, he followed them, turning his head until Danicka came into view. Another acquaintance of the guitar-toting wanderer, no doubt. A pretty one. Perhaps a bit out of his league (though Maddox did seem like the type who had a lot of tricks up his sleeve.) A cursory glance noted the ring. It was a familiar thing, at his life-stage. Most of the people he knew were either married or divorced - himself among them.

Maddox mentioned having been to Boston, which didn't seem too surprising. Reese himself didn't quite seem to possess the native speaking mannerisms of that city. There were edges of it, certainly. But asking him to say Park the Car in Harvard Yard wasn't likely to get the desired result. But if he'd come from anywhere before this, that was information he hadn't offered. Like Maddox and his Indiana roots.

Adara asked him if he'd met many people since arriving in Chicago, and he seemed to find this question amusing, because he looked at her over the lip of his coffee cup as he brought it to his mouth, one eyebrow arching upward. After a pause in which he took a long drink from that cup, he ran his tongue lightly between his lips and answered, "well, it is rather a large city. So I'd say yes. I've met a fair number of people."

[Danicka Musil] The woman in purple and brown at the counter accepting the slip of paper from the barista is, indeed, considerably more sober than she was the first time Maddox saw her. She looks a million miles from that woman, who was positively gleeful to see her mate. So composed. Untouchable in a way, and if they'd known her a few years ago they'd know she was always like that, that it's not the ring or the Adren Shadow Lord's presence in her life that gave her that quality. It's just easier to explain that comingled fragility and unassailability now:

she is a Shadow Lord kinfolk. Mated to an Ahroun. The fastest thought to mind is that nothing at all dares touch her, nothing and no one risks harming her. The greatest threat to her is... well. Him.

That's what's easiest to believe.

In any case, Danicka is sober, and smiling, and takes a few steps around the counter to accept her freshly made, tasty, very hot beverage. The smile softens to a sort of ambient expression, roughly as deep as the faint gloss over her lips. She walks over and Adara greets her; Danicka gives her a nod, but the truth is, she knows Maddox is a packmate of the Unbroken now. "Hey, Maddox," she says to him first, with what sounds very much like warmth, welcome, and the promise of familiarity at some point.

She looks thirty or so, perhaps a bit younger, with soft lines at the corners of her mouth. None yet at the corners of her eyes. The ring she wears, closer up, is a simple band of brushed white gold, the rims hinting at the glossy rose gold interior. No engagement ring, no diamond, no other jewelry but a pair of rather sedate drop earrings. Reese may know enough about the crowds of high society to tell that what she's wearing is, top to bottom, made up of items in triple and quadruple digits. Her purse is a month's rent.

She gives a small wave to Reese, to, to add to the nod for Adara and greeting to Maddox. No idea who he is, but he's in the company of wolves and doesn't seem to be crawling out of his skin. She guesses. "Dani&+269;ka Musil," she offers, extending her hand to him.

[Mad Maddox] [BTW: This was totem'd earlier:
Kate (and the rest of the pack) hear: "Katherine, you seem to have misplaced one of your boytoys in a bookshop in Wicker Park." They can practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Shall I retrieve him for you?"
to Danicka Musil, Lukas Wyrmbreaker

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [hahahaha!]
to Danicka Musil, Mad Maddox

[Mad Maddox] Rain makes her escape, and is replaced with a Shadow Lord. Danicka greets him by name, in a tone that speaks more of future familiarity than it does present. Truth is, Maddox knows her about as well as he knows Rain, maybe a little less. He's spoken to the Child of Gaia on more occasions, at least. But if it's an honor to be greeted first by the war leader's mate, Maddox doesn't react that way. They just know each other, there's no importance to the order, or so he thinks.

"Dani&+269;ka," he greets, leaning to the side to better look up at her until she decides if she's staying for a seat or not. Maybe someone will tell him someday that it's okay to call her Danicka, but for now he says her name the way he heard it first. He's seated next to Adara, and on the floor beside him is a black guitar case, propped up just against his chair. He's wearing a blue hoodie, his dark hair is damp from being out in the rain not terribly long ago, his t-shirt is orange, his jeans are a bit faded, and his sneakers are maroon. Either he doesn't care about matching colors, or he doesn't know how. Chances are, he just doesn't know how.

The kin are exchanging greetings, and Maddox turns to Adara. "Do you suppose someone actually makes harmonica rings?" Like he's actually considering getting some.

[Adara Mires] She smiled at Reeses words "I guess you're right, It's a pretty big city. I meant more in the lines of friends or acquintances? She shrughs slightly, her coffee almost empty.

Her eyes flickered to Danicka who only nodded to her but acknowledged Maddox in a more familiar way. It seem there was something about the Theurge she didn't know about. Or maybe they've been hanging around together, though Danicka didn't seem the type to hang around Garou just to pass time. Ah well, she never expected the Shadow Lord to warm up to her so..no big deal.

She turned her head toward the theurge and chuckled "I'm pretty sure you could find someone who would craft you one if you pay well enough" She was really amused at the idea that he might actually do it "That would be the funniest thing, I swear"

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Ahrouns are typically associated with war, blood, savagery, broken bodies. Less typically with small independent bookstores in urban-chic parts of town.

That's where this Ahroun is today, though. The bookstore has a deceptively narrow storefront; it actually extends rather deep into the rowhouse it's situated in. Two stories -- the upper one large balcony encircling the lower. There's a cafe in the back, and it's from the balcony that Lukas spies the group down below.

He comes down presently, a couple books in one large hand. He waves with them as he approaches -- smiling at Maddox, giving Adara and Reese friendly nods. As he comes up beside Danicka, he wraps his arm around her shoulder and hugs her against his side, kissing the top of her head.

"Hey guys," he says. "Back on the West Side, Mads? Were you having dinner at Babushka's Cafe?" -- not actually the name of the place.

[Reese Edward Anderson] Danicka would be guessing correctly if she thought this - that Reese was someone who recognized fine clothing and accessories when he saw them. His own suit was probably more along the lines of upper-middle-class boutiques than the multi-thousand dollar outfits designed by Prada and the like, but it was still both fashionable and well-made. (This was an every-day suit, you see. The kind a lawyer would wear to a normal work day. The special occasion suits were presently hanging in neatly arranged garment bags in his closet.)

She greeted him, offering a hand out of courtesy and etiquette, and he accepted it in kind, fixing the woman with a smile and grasping her hand gently (though not so gently as to be perceived as nervous.) His palm was still warm from the coffee mug he'd been holding seconds earlier. "Pleased to meet you. Reese Edward Anderson." Many introductions today, seemingly at random. Though Reese was gregarious enough to take these things in stride. It was possible that he was beginning to suspect some alternate motive beyond simple human friendliness, but if indeed he had suspected such, he had yet to voice that question.

And, unfortunately, it seemed as though he was going to have to follow in Rain's wake tonight, because just at that moment, a faint hum sounded from the inside pocket of his suit-jacket. Momentarily distracted, Reese reached in and pulled out his smartphone, unlocking the screen and checking the text message he'd just received. A slight frown, eyebrows pushing together faintly in an expression of concentration.

"And I... am afraid that I must get going. The interns need rescuing." He slipped his phone back into his pocket and pushed back his chair, sliding the bag back over his shoulder. After draining the remainder of his coffee, he gave a small wave to those assembled at the table. "It was lovely meeting all of you."

And with that, the Silver Fang was out the door and on his way to wherever he'd parked his car.

[Because his writer is totally an hour past her bed-time and needs to sleep. Goodnight guys! Thanks for letting me crash. :)]

[Mad Maddox] [thank YOU! good night!]

[Mad Maddox] Lukas sees them from a balcony above. Maddox lets out a short, low laugh when he sees him, shakes his head as the Ahroun comes down to join up with their small group. Not thirty minutes ago, Maddox had been just outside this bookstore, leaned up against the brick between door and one of the large front windows, guitar out, playing idly. And his alpha was just upstairs.

Reese has to go rescue his interns. If Maddox still had coffee in his cup, he'd lift it as he had with others already, in a sort of salute and farewell. Instead he gets, "Later, mate."

One leaves, and another joins. "Nah," he says, the word nasal, his nose scrunching. "Babushka was so infatuated with me last time. I thought I'd give her some space to clear her head before I went back." The table is smallish, with a solid top and curling wrought iron legs and supports. It's sturdy, yes, and was probably nice and fashionable a few years ago. This place is not new, but it's warm and worn, the scuffs in the wood finish of the bookshelves and the stains in the carpet giving the place a character that Borders and B&N can only dream about. It's the kind of place that invites in all sorts, even if the staff looks askance at the finely dressed patrons that wander in.

"I was busking when Adara and Rain found me. It's a shit day for it, though."

[Adara Mires] "It was nice meeting you Reese, take care" She wave at him as she finish her coffee. Lukas comes ot join them and she offer him a smile, somewhere between polite and friendly. She was on good term with the Adren, but not close to him, not as how Maddox seem to be.

Then something dawned on her, about how both Lukas and Danicka acted with Maddox...and also the man was a theurge, isn't that what the Unbroken were missing? Until recently it seem

"Good evening Lukas, how are you doing?" She ask the Sahdow Lord. Once again, it seem she is surrounded by Unbroken. An outsider once more. It was fine though. She could hold her own around them after all. Or close to. HSe went into a fight with two of their members and hse didn't die...she almost died, but at least didn't.

She smiled at Maddox talked about his earlier performance "Yeah, it seem his guitar doesn't liek rain and was complaining more than playing music"She said with a playful smile at the Fianna

[Danicka Musil] Maddox pronounces her name...well. Sort of correctly. It's with his own accent, and if she were frank, she'd tell him to just give it up and call her by her Americanized nickname. One day she might. However, Danicka is rarely frank. And rarely obtuse as to the people around her, but Adara's assumption that Danicka will never warm up to her does not seem to ping on her empathetic radar. She's polite to a Garou of a different tribe, not a packmate of her boyfriend's, and Danicka is all too willing to accept Adara leaving it at that. Friendship with werewolves is simply not something she often seeks, usually wants, or can easily tolerate.

She ignores the mention of harmonica rings and the like, shaking Reese's hand a trifle more firmly than he allows himself. "A pleasure," she says smoothly, and does not ask questions best left in private locales. Tribe, association, etcetera. It would all only lead to her giving him Katherine's phone number, really. He may already have that.

He excuses himself and she would sit, but then Lukas is coming downstairs and she looks over, noticing him by footfalls, by scent, by the way the air changes -- something. She smiles and waits for him, accepts his arm and the kiss atop her head. Danicka has both one of her thousand-dollar bags and a canvas book tote with her. She hasn't sat down with the group yet, but she's still slight enough compared to Lukas that kissing the top of her head isn't difficult for him. The untouched coffee in her hand is held over to him, was in fact ordered for him. They say not a word to each other.

There are two free chairs now, as Reese excuses himself. Danicka sets down her bags and touches a chair, sitting down without asking ever-so-politely if it's all right. She is not quite so fragile. Not so afraid. And frankly, she knows she wouldn't be turned away. It would be a useless waste of time to bother asking, at this point.

"Your guitar complains?" she asks Maddox, lifting an eyebrow. "Tonally?"

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "I ran into Maddox at that hole in the wall you showed me," Lukas explains to Danicka, re: Babushka's Cafe. "She's a lot meaner when you're not there. Mad and I still aren't sure she didn't spit in the borscht." Then, responding to the hello, "I'm doing all right, Adara. Yourself?"

They talk about guitars. Lukas sets his books on a nearby table, then puts his hands on Danicka's shoulders for a moment -- a sort of communication without words, a be right back before he goes to get some coffee of his own.

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [hurrr she handed him coffee. ignore last part!]

[Mad Maddox] With Maddox, it's not hard to believe he'd be on good terms with just about everyone he came into contact with. He's incredibly charming, in a flippant, careless sort of way. He carries himself with the confidence to speak on equal terms with the likes of Wyrmbreaker, or to flirt with any kinswoman that crossed his path. As for the pronunciation of her name, it comes closer to Russian than it does British-playing-at-Czech. Still not correct, but not as wholly off the mark or terribly mangled as one might assume, given Maddox's ordinary accent.

Danicka settles into a chair at the table, and no one stops her. Maddox has in fact been half-expecting it since he saw her at the counter, ordering a coffee. Maybe get to know the mate of his alpha a little, or at least play nice with the kin of one of his packmates. And then that packmate comes to join them, and Maddox can't help but turn his attention to his leader, at least momentarily.

Adara comments about his guitar's complaints, and one corner of his mouth quirks up higher than the other when Danicka asks about it. "Ah, yes, and more than yes." He leans forward so he can lower his voice. "And, she's a bit noisier than that, I'm afraid. She's awake." He sighs dramatically and leans back again. "Worst mistake I ever made." His expression is weary, but his tone is affectionate, the way one might complain about a troublesome sibling.

[Danicka Musil] "Ugh," Danicka says, legs crossed demurely at the ankle, "serves you right for ordering the borscht to begin with." Not her favorite dish.

[Adara Mires] She smiled at Lukas "I've been good" She leaned back into her chair, listening to Maddox telling Danicka about his guitar and the fact it was awakened? Did he really do that? That brought an amused look to her eyes.

She zipped her hoodie and then got up, picking up her jacket "Well it was nice seeing you all again. I think I'm going to head back home." She smiled and waved at them slightly.

"Have a good night everyone. See you around" She put on her jacket as she headed toward the exit and then out on the streets. It was colder than when she came in but at least the rain had stopped. Putting her hands inot her pockets, she started to make her way toward the Brotherhood.

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [crap, this wasn't refreshing!]

[Mad Maddox] "I ordered the cabbage." As if he were somehow blameless in inciting Babushka's wrath, and this should absolve him in some way. Then Adara's leaving to go back to The Brotherhood. Maddox offers a wave to her before she goes. "Lovely seeing you, luv. Catch you later." He lays his hands flat to the table, and looks around the little sitting area and beyond, into the bookshop, searching for someone.

"Odd." He shakes his head.

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "Night, Adara." While the others chat, Lukas sips the coffee Danicka handed him. And glances over at his books. And then at Maddox, quirking a faintly ironic smile. "Busking, guitars, and talking about your instrument like a woman. I'm dying from Fianna overload here, Maddox."

This, from the Shadow Lord with black hair and blue eyes. Who dresses in dark colors all the time. Though -- today, at least, he's in blue jeans; white shirt. Not a trace of black on his outfit. Amazing.

"Nah," he corrects, "you got the beet soup. I got the stuffed cabbage. Ergo you drank the spit soup and I escaped unscathed."

[Danicka Musil] awake, is Maddox's guitar. She gives a thin smile at that.

"Goodnight, Adara," she says to the departing Galliard, leaning back a bit in her chair, resting her arm over the back. She listens with amusement to Lukas and Maddox's banter. "You know, if she spat in the soup, it might have been a blessing. Don't be so whitebread," she chides them mildly, a smirk more in her voice than on her lips.

[Mad Maddox] "Man's gotta make a living somehow, mate," he says, spreading his hands.

Then he pulls a face, actually rocks back in his chair, jerking his head at the very thought. "Ugh, beets? No way. No fucking way. You need to have your head checked." He taps his own temple for emphasis. "That or your memory's going in your old age." He's probably not that much older than Maddox.

Danicka suggests that the spit was a blessing. Maddox's brows come together, the expression incredulous as he looks from Danicka to Lukas. "If that's so, maybe I should've given it up to the spirits. They're all so cranky."

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "Maybe next time," Lukas deadpans, "you should try spitting on the spirit."

[Mad Maddox] Maddox gasps aloud, covers his mouth and widens his eyes as if Lukas has just spoken some unspeakable swear, one that offends the Theurge on every conceivable level. He looks at Danicka, Did you hear that?! When he looks back at Lukas he leans his elbow on the table, the hand covering his mouth cups his chin, and the shock and horror are gone as if they never happened. "Depending on the spirit, that might actually work."

[Danicka Musil] Maddox flicks Danicka a look. She raises her eyebrows, but the bland expression only lasts a moment. A laugh follows, and a shake of her head. "I'm going to go get some cocoa," she says, and

it's abrupt, the way she leaves her seat and walks, purse in hand, back to the counter to order it. But not abrupt enough, one hopes, to be rude. To be a snit. There's nothing for her to snit about.

Maybe she just really wanted some hot chocolate.

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [EMPAFEE HEER TOO]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 4, 4, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
to Danicka Musil

[Mad Maddox] [snit? why would i think you were snitting?: empatchee!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Danicka stands up, goes to get some cocoa. Lukas watches her go for a moment, then turns back to Maddox. Now that Danicka's chair is empty, he puts his foot on the thin rung reinforcing the legs, as though to hold it against whoever might come along snatching empty chairs.

"I haven't talked to you much since the trip," he says. "You doing all right now?"

[Mad Maddox] Maddox would pay money to see someone approach this table at all, let alone to snatch up an empty chair. There's too much Rage, too much menace, though the men sitting here appear mild enough.

"I think so, yeah. I've been a bit, er, hyper-vigilant since, but you know. Getting swiped and switched around will have that affect, I guess. What about you? That fight was brutal."

[Danicka Musil] [Silly Garou, kix are for trids.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [COUNTERSUBTERFUGE!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 4, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Danicka Musil] [Danicka is hiding her feelings a bit out of politeness for Maddox. They are not strong emotions, but she certainly wants a break from the thread of conversation they were on when she got up.]
to Lukas Wyrmbreaker

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] A faint, wry turn of his mouth. Then Lukas thinks for a moment.

"I'm ... good, actually," he says. "It was brutal, but it was ... good. It felt good afterward. A little like ripping a scab off, I guess." A few moments' pause. "I do sometimes get, y'know. Like that. Maybe not as bad as the other-me, but ... it was important."

He sips coffee. He sets the cup down.

"You still staying at the BroHo?"

[Mad Maddox] Maddox nods, understanding. Sorta. Maybe. He doesn't know Lukas well enough to have seen him get like that before. But he understands that it was important. "I think...it was like that for me, too. The worst part of me was just, exaggerated beyond belief. Thanks again for not killing me in there."

His own coffee was finished ages ago now. Looking at the table now, Maddox picks up the empty cup and rolls it between his palms. "Uh, yeah. Most days, yeah. I'll probably stay at the loft while they do that inspection thing."

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Maddox gets an odd look for a moment. "You kept the light for us," Lukas replies. "You turned into a bit of a dick, but even though you were vomiting raw sewage and bleeding from the ears, you kept that light faithfully beginning to end. There was absolutely nothing you did that justified getting punished, much less killed."

And, entirely aware of how ironic this is, "You should think more of yourself, Maddox."

The conversation turns to residence, broho, etcetera. Lukas nods. "That's coming up, isn't it? Christ, I hope it goes well. Jenny and Reuben poured their hearts into that thing." And Andrea. But it doesn't seem worthwhile to bring that up anymore.

[Danicka Musil] In time Danicka drifts back to the table, her departure abrupt enough to warrant a closer look by both males but, as it turns out -- at least for Maddox -- there was nothing to it. He was just being paranoid, but he can't be faulted. She is so new to him. Not like him to be paranoid, though. Eh, everyone has off days.

Danicka nudges Lukas's foot with her booted toe and smiles at him when he removes his foot from her chair. She sits back down, hot cocoa in a white mug, and catches up just as they're talking about the inspection. "I may have gotten some interest from potential investors to more long-range plans for the site they're trying to construct on, but that's so far in the future still. I'm worried that the protests are flagging. Once people get bored, things are just going to proceed however the other side wants them to."

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] That smile is returned; perhaps it reassures him somewhat. He shifts his foot from Danicka's chair as she comes to reclaim it. Good. No one else stole it. Mate-chair was protected. Good.

He sips from his coffee again, listening. Then he sits forward, elbows on the table, coffee cupped between his hands -- thick shoulders a little hunched from his posture. "Hopefully," he says, "by the time they try something again, longterm plans will already be in motion. And we could probably divert some of that protest-y public interest into supporting those plans. In the meantime, though, it's a good idea not to let the guard down.

"Have you had a chance to talk to Sarita about this? She leads the Ragabashes now, so she could probably help keep tabs on the site. Make sure nothing's happening under the radar."

[Danicka Musil] Danicka gives a small shake of her head. "I haven't. But I suppose that's really more the realm of Garou. No Kin have come to me saying they have a penchant for spying or observation. I figure that the only ones with experience in stakeouts need to keep a lower profile -- our friends on the force, I mean."

She sips her cocoa. "Truth be told, if I had any ideas to offer in that respect I'd go to her with them, or speak with Matthieu about it. For my part I'm just trying to help in the areas I know I have a bit of influence or can bend someone's ear, trying to keep people from doing something stupid. But you know how well that usually works."

Maddox sees it now, where before he's only seen a giggly stoned blonde or a woman requesting Carter politely for his time. She speaks with Lukas, too, as though he's her equal. She speaks without ducking her eyes or apologizing for herself. No broken Lord kin, this.

[Mad Maddox] He grins at that, and for once it's not a smirk. "I think of myself just fine, which was the problem, yeah? It was amplified." He sets the cup down again, and shrugs a shoulder. It's also in the past, and for a man used to looking only ahead, and only so far as the next city, Maddox doesn't dwell on it.

"This weekend, I think. Mother's Day. Is nothing sacred?" There's some irony to that, more than just a little. All of this is happening around The Brotherhood, right up near their most sacred place.

Danicka returns. Whatever had him looking at her when she got up, paranoia or curiosity or reflex, it doesn't compel him to look again. He doesn't know her well enough to know her tells, anyway.

Talk turns to long-term plans for the 'construction' site, and Maddox's attention drifts, that sharp attention turning toward the window, his head angling as if to listen to something only he can hear. He probably is; he did say that guitar of his was awake. Something brings his attention back into the present, though. He looks at Danicka, speaking to her mate as an equal. Unbroken, too. The corner of his mouth lifts slightly, but before it can resolve into a smile, he looks at Lukas. "I'm going to head back to The Brotherhood for a bit." And he rises, bending to grab up his guitar.

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] The turn of Lukas's mouth is equal parts fond and wry. Yes, he knows how well that usually works. He leans back on the back legs of his chair. "Fair enough," he says. "I'll go bug Sarita about it then.

" -- or maybe Maddox can!" Since he was leaving, and all. "If you run into her and/or Margaret, can you pass the word on? Just that maybe it's a good idea to keep an eye on the dig site, whether or not the bulldozers are gone? And I'll catch you at the Loft later. Or maybe tomorrow."

Maddox out. Lukas sets the front legs of his chair down again, reaching for his coffee. It's cool enough to drink -- so he drinks, not bothering to sip politely and all. "We should get some hunter stew on the way back," he comments to Danicka. "You wanna take our drinks with us and head out too?"

[Mad Maddox] [Maddox would probably say something witty and amazing on his way out, but my brain shut down twenty minutes go @_@. Assume he says something better than, "YAH TOTALLY, BRAH," and makes some sort of quasi-cool exit.]

[Danicka Musil] "G'night, Maddox," she says to him, friendly enough. "I'll see you around." A smile. It's an attempt. Even though he, too, is very new.

He departs, and she sips her cocoa. "I think I'll just leave mine," she says, since it's in a white ceramic mug. "It's not as good as I was hoping. You know how sometimes you're in the mood for something and you realize it's not something that even exists, really? I think that's what a craving for cocoa is."

She leans over and kisses his cheek, her breath smelling of chocolate. "You can talk about that thing you mentioned while I wrap Eat, Pray, Love for your mother."

Moving back, she sees the look in his eyes and laughs. "I'm kidding. Come on," she adds, rising to her feet.

rooftop poker.

[Maddox] He tips his head up toward the sky, reaching up with his right hand to pluck the cigarette from behind his ear, and squints. There's a nod, and a slight shrug, Yeah, I guess it is a nice night. Then he looks down again at the pair, particularly Mac.

"Bride to be?" he asks, his voice carrying vestiges of London. Dark eyes pass over her, head to toe and back up again, checking her out in a manner just shy of a leer. "My condolences, luv. And I am a bit, yeah. Name's Maddox." A pause, and he squints upward, almost a grimace. "Not like that Angelina brat."

Lowering himself to the ground, he stretches long legs, settles, and lights up. Taking a deep drag first, he blows a plume from the corner of his mouth. "Which one's that?" he asks, nodding toward the book in question.

[Mac] "Back to Boston." She says to Michael, the whiskey brought to her lips for another sip before she shifts her positioning to keep both men in her line of sight. The pipe smoking Fianna refers to her as the bride to be and she just smiles lazily: a story for another time, perhaps.

"Nice to meet you Maddox." She doesn't extend her hand or make an effort to move where she's lounging so comfortably on the fake turf grass. "It's Lanark: A Life in Four Books by Alasdair Gray. He's a Scotsman." Mac reaches down into her bag and takes the opportunity to remove a Black from it's pack and her lighter. She too lights up, the smell of the clove sweet and strong.

[Owen DeTerizzi] [hold on. Growing slightly larger breasts.]

[Michael Carroll] He looks around their gathering, his grin broadening as they each indulge in their own version of the same vice. "Have t' change the name from th' Midnight Gardening Society t' the Rooftop Cancer Club. We should be ashamed o' ourselves."

If he is ashamed, it does not stop him from puffing away steadily on the pipe. The glass of scotch is nearly finished, not that anyone up here should be surprised. Stereotypes exist for a reason after all. "Before y' run off t' get hitched you'll have t' have yourself a proper party. I'm sure our other Tribemates would be happy for any reason t' drink heavily and celebrate. Have y' had th' chance t' meet Patrick yet?"

[Maddox] [didn't you just go DOWN in boob size?]

[Wendy Berber] {I may have stayed the same. -.-}

[Wendy Berber] *There's a tripping of nervous footsteps up the stairs, and grossly thin fingers curl around the door like something out of a horror flick. The door swinging open to reveal - aw. Not a fomori. Its a disgustingly thin girl in cokebottle glasses and attire that she must have stolen from a give away bin. In an old folks home. In the fifties. Ugly purple wool skirt, swinging just below the knee of her ridiculously long chicken legs. A white blouse that's too short in the sleeve and too broad in the shoulder, sagging off of her like a cheap flour sack and emphasizing her sallow skin and - dear god her height. Six feet if she's an inch.

Scuffed mary-janes shuffle across the concrete slab near the door, Wendy surveying the garden, book clutched to a markedly unimpressive chest. People were here. One she knew. Sorta. Everyone is offered the fleeting quirk of an awkward smile, hand raising in barest hello, as though any grand movement might see the limb snatched of at the elbow. *

Uh. H-hey.. Can, Is it ok-k-k-kay if I s-sit? And.. read m-maybe?

[Ramona Adams] "You better runnn ruuuu-uuun runnn ruuuuuun ruuuuuun-"

There is nothing good about Ramona's singing voice. She should sound a lot, lot sexier than she does, but she has the kind of half singing voice that is either intentionally bad or she has stuff to do. She tromps up the stairs. Up, up, and up further still. The female has changed into a pair of shorts again and a halter top because, let's face it, Ramona can't seem to keep her clothes on in the best of days. She's made a good bit of contacts with tops like that. Apparently, though, the lady with the wild hair and black (void-riddled) eyes has a bit of sense

Because she's bringing a jacket, too. And it's off to the roof.

"Heeeeey, I wantedtoknowiftherewasworkIcoulddooooooo?" Ramona likes digging in the dirt.

[Maddox] "I know," he says, to Mac first. "I read, what was it. A History Maker, few months ago. I've heard a bit about that one, you'll have to tell me how you like it."

He takes another drag, the cherry burning brightly in the semi-darkness before fading to a barely glowing ember once again. "Ah, Patrick. Good lad," he says, perhaps unexpectedly given the nature of the young man in question. "I think I've almost got him convince to be a banjo playing bear." A lie, a complete and utter fabrication, or so his tone says.

Two more ladies join the party. Maddox twists around to see the new arrivals, then twists around back to look at Michael, smirking around his cigarette. "I'll rock paper scissors you for her," a nod of his head toward Mac, "and the girl in the halter."

[Mac] "I'll throw a party for leaving, but we can hold off on the pre-nuptial celebration." Her smile edges wider as she fixes her eyes on Michael's face. She alternates between the clove and the tumbler of whiskey. Wendy is asking for a place to sit and read and Mac smiles at the thin woman, her demeanour pleasant. With the clove stuck between her lips she starts to gather up her belongings: the book is slipped into her bag followed by the tall bottle of aged Highland scotch whiskey.

She misses Maddox's reference of Rock Paper Scissors as she's busy gathering her belongings. "I've not met Patrick..." She says as if suddenly remembering the question. When she stands up her jeans fall low on a slender waist and curved hips, her long sleeved shirt settles just at her waist and accentuates what's there to accentuate.

"I love his works..." This she says to Maddox. "He's a brillant author."

[Michael Carroll] "I should give y' his number. He speaks for th' Tribe and it's kin here in th' city. Might be useful t' meet him before long. Just in case." The rooftop is filling up rapidly. First Wendy sneaks and stumbles her way up. Then, in sharp contrast, Ramona announces her arrival for an entire three flights of stairs before actually appearing. Maddox offers a game of RPS, and Michaels chuckle is drowned in the glass of scotch he now finishes. "Y' can have all three o' 'em, if y' think y' can handle it. I'm a married man."

He holds up his left hand, allowing the plain gold band to glint under the moonlight. Then he gestures the pair of newly arrived women over. "Come join th' gathering, right now we're workin' on gettin' a good drunk. Then we'll be puttin' together the fake pond that's in a thousand pieces under that tarp."

[Ramona Adams] "Booze and construction? Fuck yeah!"

Ramona trots over, which makes her eattings jingle- they look like a series of silvery, shiny, shiny, coins and baubles and doo-dads and what-have-you. They more than likely match whatever belly button ring she has in. The cowboy boots click as she walks; Ramona lives life like she's writing the lyrics for Ke$ha.

"This isn't like a fuckin' jigsaw puzzle though, is it? I suck at those."

[Wendy Berber] *Someone was singing. Offkey, but better than Wendy could sing, surely. The bookworm scuttles to be out of the way, well to the side as Maddox divvies up who gets the attractive females. Head ducked, fingers tracing along the spine of her beloved book, she misses Mac's welcoming smile, her shoulders creeping upwards as her head lowers. Step one to being invisible. Make yourself small. Ink blue eyes flick between the pair of long haired beauties, and she feels smaller already. Then those magnified eyeballs land on the book Mac's shoving away, sparking with interest as the nerd moves to try and take a seat on a bundle of PVC piping nearby - To mixed success.*

Th-th- um. Th-thank you.

*It seems like something should follow that. A wiggle of fingers in hello. No. As soon as she does it she realizes how... gross ... her fingers are, and hastily tucks them under her skirt. Which looks like she's grabbing her bum. They change course again, and finally she's just clutching her book like its a life preserver. Knees knocking together in an attempt at modesty as she squeaks.*

Um. I'm W-Wendy.

[Maddox] Mac rises, and Maddox lifts his head to follow the movement, his eyes flicking briefly over to Michael again when he says he's married. Then the Ragabash gets his full attention, and sympathy. Marriage, apparently, is not high on this guy's list of priorities. "I can more than handle three ladies at once, thank you very much."

Looking up to Wendy, he pats the ground beside him invitingly. "You don't happen to have a deck've cards on yeh, do ye, luv?"

[Mac] The reading glasses on her face are black framed and big in size. They make her features seem smaller, more petite than they really are. She's standing up, folding her plaid blanket up into a small and compact shape that she can carry easily. Wendy sits. Ramona breaks through the door singing and she slips her bag over her shoulder and looks at the faces almost all of which she doesn't know.

"Michael." She says firmly with a sound nod of her head. "It is, as always, a true pleasure. I'll see you before I leave?" It said more as a question than a firm, decided idea or thought. He was a Garou, he could be dead by this time tomorrow night.

Amber eyes drop down to Maddox and she hears [finally] his comment on handling three [3!] ladies at once. It twists the spread of her generous, wide mouth into a sardonic smile, her expression lit with mirth. "That's an awful lot to handle, Maddox. You might want to re-think that." The Fiann is offered a wink before she starts to leave: steps paused momentarily as she turns back to Michael.

"Do you want to keep the whiskey?" She asks.

[Wendy Berber] In.. In my room? If - d-do you want me to g-get them?

*The kin responds immediately, prompted by the faint prickle of rage running like ambient noise through the background. Her mind snaps to the cards in her suitcase. They have flowers on them... but maybe that wouldn't matter. Kin-already half rising on Mac's heels. Quick to hop to, though her book slides off her lap and lands half buried in sod.*

[Michael Carroll] "I've got m' own, Mac. Be in touch, we'll drink until Maddox can find a way t' talk y' out o' the wedding." He lifts his empty glass in farewell to the departing Kin, then realizes...it is empty. There's a quick shuffle as he digs through his beloved lunchbox and retrieves his own bottle. Once more the tumbler is filled, and a crisis is averted.

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] There's enough open air on the roof that a crossing of the Gauntlet is not so immediately palpable here. Air displaces, but there's no characteristic pressure on the ears, no sense of an entity suddenly filling what was once empty air. Just Lukas, slipping across the Gauntlet, cinching shut a small leather bag full of tiny clinking talismans as he goes.

The moon is nearing full again, though. They can feel that: the rage rolling across the rooftop like a miasma, heavier than air and far more poisonous. He looks about, mildly curious -- such a collection on the roof tonight.

[Maddox] [what's up with the Berbs? empatchee]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Maddox] Tipping his head up to Mac, he grins at her. "What, exactly, do you think I'm plannin' to do with you birds?" he asks, affecting wounded pride. What do you people take me for?

The pretty, bred, and supposedly attached woman is not the only one up on the roof, however. There's the little bit trashy one he worked with in this garden not all that long ago, for one. And the appallingly thin girl with the over-large glasses. Who, apparently, intends on getting a deck of cards right the hell now. Maddox looks up at her, dark eyes hooded.

Though it's to Michael again that he speaks, his voice quietly distracted. "She doesn't need to be drunk for me to walk 'er out of a wedding, mate. You there, what'd you say your name was?" This to Wendy. The Adren is felt before he's seen, his Rage reaching them first.

[Mac] For a woman who skirts the edge of their world and lingers more [fills it up and flourishes in it] in the world of man, she's surrounded by a collection of Garou who's Rage is a living thing with a pulse all its own. She's smiling at Michael and dropping her eyes toward Maddox at the pipe smoking Fiann's comment on being talked well and clear of marriage.

"Is that right?" Her attention is slow to shift away from both of the Fianna. She can feel Lukas' Rage like a furnace blowing on high at her back. A hand lifts and she tugs out the elastic band from her hair, freeing the thick mane of pale brown and dark blonde locks to spill down her back. Her spine straightens and her chin lifts and for a brief moment she reconsiders leaving because the spot next to Michael looks pretty good.

Her eyes shift around her until she finds the source of her irritation: Lukas. Gaze averted she draws in a deep, lung filling breath of air and smiles tightly.

"I'll call you." This said to the married Fianna as she turns to go.

[Ramona Adams] She looks from Wendy- the tall, thin thing with the gawdawful-and-slightly-endearing nervousness- to the other peopel gathered and...

And...

whatever Ramona was doing finds itself with a hard reset button because rage comes across the roof top like a low-grade poison. It's the smell of natural gas. It's tension, it's the warning that she either needs to watch her damned mouth or find a damn-

Oh... right... this is a roof top. Ramona gets a look off the edge of the roof, or at least glances that way. Yeah, she thinks, I could make it. Her hands go to her hips and she looks back at the group.

"Eh?"

[Wendy Berber] W-W-wendy?

*Her name is offered tentatively, as though it might offend, or somehow be the wrong answer. Her book left in the dirt for now as she freezes, an approach of gut twisting anger washing over her and threatening to squeeze her heart into inaction... She'd been more confident a year ago. She'd been growing a backbone. She'd existed in a house with Soledad, and Marrick and Deitrich Burke without dissolving into a puddle of urine. She'd been at a Bonfire in proximity of Silence - she'd served meat!

Now she ducks her head and plucks at her fingertips, skin twitching like she's shaking off flies.*

[Michael Carroll] The arrival of Lukas changes the very atmosphere on the roof. Gravity seems to increase for the Fianna, as he very slowly rises from his seat. Whether out of respect for the Adren or pure discomfort in the prescence of such palpable Rage is hard to discern. But the odds are high that it's an even mix. His response to Mac is mumbled distractedly. "Do that. I'll be expectin' it."

The Kinfolk look like they're about to scatter. Not a promising indication of the direction of this party. He sighs and takes down a mouthful of liquor before addressing the Shadow Lord. "Evening, Rhya. Can we interest y' in a drink?"

[Ramona Adams] This is where the problem lies. Ramona looks at Lukas, gives him a once over, and notes the finer features- the fact that he's tall, and dark, and handsome, and probably could crush a small car with his fist. He's a study in contrast- darks and lights and rage. Now, that being said, Ramona inhales deeply, looks at the gathering and the tarp and...

Ramona reaches up to take off one of her earrings.

"C'mon, we should play poker or some shit when Wendy comes back," she tries out the name. Determines she likes it just fine.

[Maddox] He rises, the motion not at all graceful, but slow and jerky and labored. This is not a Garou in the best of physical conditions. He's tall and thin (though not as thin as Wendy), can lug a singular bag of sod from the first floor to the third with the occasional stop, but that's about it.

So he gets to his feet, and the beautiful Fianna woman has her attention on the married man. That little nugget gets pocketed away, likely to be forgotten before the night is through, but maybe he'll get lucky. Rage roils and burns across the rooftop, its affect on the kinfolk palpable. Maddox, gallant knight in rusted armor, bends to retrieve a book from the dirt, tips his chin up at Wendy. Smirks.

"Wendy, luv, go get those cards for us, will you?" The book his held out to her. An offering of escape, cloaked in haughty smarm.

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Of that entire convocation - two lovely kinswomen, one Fianna that looks a bit like a headbreaker and another that looks like the unfortunate headbreak-ee - it's curiously Wendy's attention that draws Lukas's most.

"Wendy, is it?" He's coming at them now, abandoning his original plan of going downstairs, getting the car, and driving over to the Loft to do whatever it is he does there. "Wendy Berber. I remember you. Is Boy back too?

"And -- thanks, I'll be glad to have a drink. What are you all having?"

[Mac] [thanks for the scene boys and girls!]

[Wendy Berber] Oh. Um. Ok. Kay. th-thanks. I ean - uh

*The book is taken. Hastily. Snatched is a better word. Kinfolk turning to make her retreat, eyes lifting to see - ... Wyrmbreaker. The fount of all that sudden anger. A nod of her head silently, booked turned over in her painfully breakable fingers as she finds it suddenly hard to breath.

Is Boy back too?

She's like a marionette whose strings have been cut. Spine curved, arms floppy, neck bent. Meloncholy as she shakes her head. Blinks hard behind cokebottle specs that have been taped and glued so many times its hard to tell they were blue rimmed once. Voice thin as she croaks.*

N-no. Um. Rh-rhya.

No B-boy.

[Maddox] The Lord that crossed onto the rooftop is, obviously and without a shadow of a doubt, someone incredibly important. There's the breeding for one thing. There's the Rage, for another. There's the carriage of high rank, too.

And yet, when he asks quite politely after some connection of Wendy's, and the girl shuts down like an automaton with its power supply yanked out, he quirks a brow at the Adren. Shaking his head slightly, he tsks, and he plucks the book back from Wendy's nerveless fingers before she can drop it in the dirt again.

"Look what you've done, Rhya." Deadpan. "Did Mac happen to leave the whiskey?"

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "I see."

There's always an awkward silence after something like that. What more is there to say? Is he dead? Did he leave you? Weren't you pregnant? -- impossibly impolite. Lukas fills dead air by pulling out a chair. Or a crate, or a bench, or whatever they might be sitting on.

"Well," this after he's situated, "welcome back, all the same." To the others then -- "I've seen some of you at the moot, I think, but we haven't really been introduced. I'm Lukáš. Room 2."

[Wendy Berber] *Lips licked nervously, response purely animal for several seconds. her book is taken. She doesn't notice, even if it is one of her rarer texts on ectoplasmic generation. Instead the shaggy haired kin nods once more, and once Lukas focusses elsewhere, murmurs a meek and stuttering thank you, before stumbling towards the door. Cards? Someone had mentioned cards. She rubs beneath her glasses and disappears gracelessly.*

[Ramona Adams] People are talking! Oh thank god!

She looks relieved, and her cowboy boots look decidedly less interesting at that moment because... well... there's some hot-and-scary-but-mostly-attractive dude talking. Ramona offers a hand and smiles. They're white. They're straight. She hasn't knocked one out yet.

"I'm Ramona," it's sing-songy. Iiiii'm Ra-monaaaa, "and. uh... I don't have a room yet? Talkin' to... oh god... okay, what'shername-Jenny! Yeah, talking to her about a room. So, right now, I'm Ramona of the Motel Six."

Ramona, stop talking. Done! Her attention swings to-

"And you're Maddox, right? Like Angelina Jolie's kid?"

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [WHO'S POSTING? *LOL*]

[Ramona Adams] [*LOL* I CAN POST AGAIN!]

[Maddox] [I'm sorry!]

[Ramona Adams] [stamina]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Ramona Adams] She almost sneezes, but keeps it at bay.

[Adara Mires] She headed up to the roof in her search for a certain Adren. She had asked around if he was at the Brotherhood today and some had spotted him heading to the rooftop. So there she was, opening the door and stepping out. The yslim young woman was dressed in running shoes, jeans, a tank top with a hoodie over it. Her darl brown hair were left loose to fall past her shoulders. She had colors on her cheeks. The nightmares were gone and she had been working outside lately and it showed.

She smiled when she saw Lukas "Good evening Lukas"She say to him in a warm tone. She nodded to the others, none she had met yet "Good evening to you all as well"

[Maddox] Whether or not the whiskey was left behind by the other retreating Fianna, Wendy leaves before she can be offered a bolstering swing (or five) to straighten her spine and put a fire in her belly. She remembers the mention of cards and bolts like the wind. Maddox watches her go with raised brows, and looks down at her book. What divine providence was this? He'd just finished reading some trash novel picked up at a hotel gift shop in the last city he breezed through, generally a sign that it's time to move on. And now here's a reason for him to stay a while. He doesn't know a damn thing about ectoplasmic generation, but he intends to find out now.

Turning to those that remain, he looks at Ramona first. Huffs something vaguely irritated. "No. That kid's Maddox like me," he says around his cigarette.

To Lukas he says, "You sure know how to clear a room, mate. I'm Maddox. No permanent residence at the moment."

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] In truth it's not really warm enough to be hanging out on rooftops drinking -- whatever. Lukas accepts a glass of whatever from whoever hands it to him, takes a sip, sets it down.

"Ramona," he repeats, "Maddox. So what are you people doing up here?" -- also, "Hey, Adara."

[Wendy Berber] [alright! assume Wendy brings back cards and flees just as promptly.}

[Adara Mires] She stopped beside Lukas "How have you been Rhya?'She ask, looknig at him. She had spent some time around the Shadow Lord, knew she could call him by his homid name but once in a while, she liked ot call him by this respectful title. She did respect him after all

"I was wondering if I could take Carter out, for good behavior, the time of an evening. I think it would do the man good. That is, if he has been behaving" She grin slightly at him then watch Ramonaand Maddox some before returning her attention to Lukas

[Ramona Adams] "Yep," she announces after surveying Adara (who is also lovely, lovely eye candy with rage [reaching critical mass pretty damned quick]) and Maddox and Lukas, "we are way too sober and not nearly naked enough to make this a legit party. Originally, I was comin' up here to work on the roof because apparently we have, like, a thousand piece friggin' pond to put in and it's under the tarp over there-"

she gestures-

"And I didn't even know that ponds did come in pieces but apparently you have to assemble this stuff. Last time I was up here, some dude who looked like Jesus was up here workin' and giving people directions."

It's accompanied by a big eh shrug. And she swings her attention back to Maddox.

"You realize if I get that reaction out of you every time I say it, I'm gonna have to do it more often," she grins at him. The left side of her mouth upturns more than the right, but there's no light in her eyes. There never is. Still, it seems innocent enough.

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] If there was any doubt remaining that the darkhaired man that literally appeared out of thin air and came over to have a few drinks held some sort of rank or title in the Sept, it's gone now. He looks at Adara as she speaks; his express is benign enough, but neutral.

"Let's wait until after Friday's meeting to decide if Carter's been behaving or not. If he can get through that without exploding into insane rhetoric, I'll reconsider your request." A pause. Then, bluntly, "You've been spending a lot of time with my kinsman. Are you romantically interested?"

A glance at the startlingly pretty one with the loose tongue, then. He cracks a faint smile. "Oh, right. The rooftop garden. I was going to help lug things up, but looks like that's already done."

[Ramona Adams] [This is me not facepalming manip+sub]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Adara Mires] She nodded to him "That sounds fair. Beside I odn't need reasons, you're his Elder so I'll respect your decision either way" And she meant it. She wouldn't go against him, she wasn't stupid.

The second part of his comment made her chuckle "What? Me? Romantically interested in him? No, no way, not in a million years"She say, amused. "I care about the huy, I liek him. I lvoe hanging with him but that's all. You don't have to worry about him and I. He's absolutly not my type"

She smiled, looking Lukas. She did glance at Ramona after a moment hten back to the Adren.

[Maddox] As the only Fiann left up here, Maddox takes it upon himself to serve everyone the whiskey that was left behind, in Dixie cups because his player can't remember if anything was used and can't be bothered looking it up. They're passed around to kin and Garou alike, with the only care given propriety being that he serves himself last.

As answer to the question of why he's up here, though, he plucks the cigarette from his lips and brandishes it, as if this is answer enough.

He grins at Ramona. "You realize the more you do it, you'll actually be building up my immunity?"

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [that's too tempting. COUNTERROLL!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [what are you REALLY thinking?]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] For the most part, Lukas's eyes are on Adara, weighing and considering. When the Fury's go to Ramona, so do his - a quick, incisive flick, then back.

"Well. For the record, I won't severing my kin from their tribe. I think you have strength and worth, though. If for whatever reason he should become your type and this should go beyond a simple friendship, I'd speak in your favor if you wanted to renounce your birth tribe and join Thunder.

"But that's all hypothetical. We'll see how Carter does on Friday, and I'll get back to you."

[Ramona Adams] This is Ramona's pokerface. It's flirty and she flicks her entirely too dark gaze over in Adara's direction. She might not be the most openly empathetic, or most perceptive creatures but... she does pick up on things.

"Well, if you've got your heart set on carrying things upstairs, you can haul my ass up here tomorrow or something, I don't know, could still use the help anyway," she says. Adara gets a second look, the corner of her mouth upturns a little more, and she continues on, attention and Maddox now, "and that just mean's I'll have to find another way to tweak your nerve. Which is a shame, because it means we're gonna be spending more time together."

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [severing? sever. I KAN RITE GUD.]

[Maddox] [Ramooooona: epatchee]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 4, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Ramona Adams] Yep. Alll that flirtatious bravado is doing only a halfway decent job of the fact that she halfway wants to cringe at the moment. This is her Tribal Elder she's talking to here and... well... she doesn't seem entirely certain what to do with him. Pay chiminage? Give him half her-

Aww, fuck. He's that Wyrmbreaker. He's got a mate. [Do you care? (Kind of) why? (Because she's important, too!) Good point, Ramona's inner monologue!] And? And? If you fuck up around him business tanks. Can't do your job under house arrest.
to Lukas Wyrmbreaker, Maddox

[Adara Mires] She offered a bright smile to Lukas "I on't think it will be necessary Lukas, but I thank you for your consideration and you thinking I could be a member of your tribe. I'm proud of who Iam, of my tribe, of it's heritage and owuldn't change it for the world. Nor would I force someone to give up theirs for me."

She nodded to him "Still liek Isaid, I"m honored you think highly of me. And I'll wait after friday to see if you allow him to go out and enjoy a night out of the loft." She said genuily touched that he would think her worthy enough to be in his tribe. After all, shadow lords took only the best, don't they?

She noticed Ramona looknig at her and offer her a warm friendly smile back

[Maddox] If that is Ramona's poker face, Maddox needs to get her into a high stakes game, STAT. He'll be able to pay Jenny back for putting up with his comings and goings, might even cover some maintenance on the bike. She looks uncomfortable, but she's trying. At least she doesn't look like she's going to assume the fetal position and start fervently wishing that if she couldn't see the Garou, they wouldn't exist.

"How 'bout I give you another nerve to tweak full on?" he asks with a wink, before draining his Dixie cup. "Another round?"

[Ramona Adams] "I already told you I charge by the hour, Sugartits," she tells Maddox, and she even, gasp horror, winks at the Fiann, "but I can print you some coupons or something. We're in a recession, after all."

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] Lukas nods to Adara. No need to elaborate, then. Heritage, history: she understood. He picks up his -- whatever it is, whiskey? -- and has a drink, then kicks out a chair for Adara.

"I'm not sure exactly what's going on here," he says, "but I think we're drinking and playing cards. Want to join us?"

[Adara Mires] She smiled to Maddox "Hi, I"m Adara" She say, offering her hand to him then to Ramona "And I'd lvoe a drink if you don't mind"She say to him in a friendly tone. She smiled ot the kin before she move to sit on the chair offered by Lukas

"Thank you" She said as she sits and grinned at him "Drinking? I'm good with that. Cards? I guess I could always learn" She says amused.

[Maddox] "To tweak my ulnar nerve?" he asks, brows lifted as he grabs up a folding chair. He shakes his head. "Everyone always jumps to the raunch conclusion." Adara offers her hand and for a brief moment, Maddox just stares at it. He's got a lit cigarette in one hand and an empty paper cup in the other. Freeing a hand by tucking that cigarette between his lips, he accepts her hand.

"Maddox. Cards and drink sound good to me. Ramona, did Wendy give you those cards?"

[Ramona Adams] "Well duh, most people don't know where the ulnar nerve is," she says. What she really says is what the fuck is an ulnar nerve and I'm still not sure if you're being suggestive or not but I'm probably going to go look that up later. She fishes the cards out that Wendy handed over.

"Aw, these are cute," the brunette remarks, and it' probably the first legitimately, openly genuine thing she's probably said all night. The lady (and we use the term loosely) hands the cards over at about the time her phone rings.

A beat.

A classic telephone ring.

Ramona waits and checks the phone. It's a pre-paid piece of crap. the female rolls her eyes, "ugh, raincheck, you guys. Duty calls."

she stands up and starts to adjust her jacket, "nice to meet you Adara, I'm Ramona, and I'lls ee you around... and Lukas? Uh, yeah, like, I'll probably need to talk to you... later... about-" the phone stops ringing.

"tribal stu-" the phone starts ringing again "-ughshutupalready. I'm sorry. I really have to take this."

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "Next time, then," Lukas replies to Ramona. Agreement, perhaps: yes. They'll need to talk about tribal stuff at some point.

He takes the cards from her, shuffling them once, then slipping them back into the pack to hand to Maddox.

"I was actually on my way out myself," he confesses. "Just finished making a big batch of talens and I'm pretty burnt. You should visit us at the Loft sometime. Both of you. Otherwise I'm sure I'll run into you here.

"Oh - before I forget," this, after he's already finished the last of his whiskey and stood, "if you don't have a place to stay, the BroHo's great. But be careful. The mob's been stirring up shit against us, and they're sending state inspectors in May. So don't leave anything compromising around. If you have other questions about BroHo defense," his hand drops briefly on Adara's shoulder, "she's the one you want to speak to."

[Maddox] There's talk of booze and cards, and then just as suddenly, it's over, cards put away, whiskey capped, everyone escaping the cool evening breeze.

"Ah yeah, I heard about that. Been kinda keeping an eye around that construction site," he says, looking up at Lukas and tapping his temple with his empty cup. Which he then looks at with confusion, crumples, and stuffs into his pocket. "I think something's coming through the Umbra. Gonna have a look tomorrow, I think. Want me to keep you posted?"

[Adara Mires] She smiles to Ramona "Pleasure to meet you. I'll see you around"

SHe look to LUkas "I'll stop by, to see you, your packmates and Carter. Even Alejandro, I think he's there right?" Well he's supposed to be when he's not travelling around in the Umbra, from what Gabriel said

"It was nice seeing you again Lukas. Have a good night" She then smiled to Maddox "Yes, the Brotherhood is quite a nice place to stay. The rooms are nice and hte food downstairs is delicious. Also the warm cider is quite a treat"

[Ramona Adams] (thanks for the scene, I need sleep!)

[Adara Mires] (night Mindy)

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] "I'd appreciate it," Lukas replies. "My phone number's [this], in case you don't find me in my room."

[Maddox] There's a grin for Adara, something knowing and cheeky. Maddox has been haunting the Brotherhood for a short while now, staying the night on whatever surface is available a couple nights a week. The rest of the time he's out, doing whatever it is he does when he's not here. Playing, most likely, trying to earn enough to move on or pay for a vice or two. The food is good, and the warm cider is a treat. And he considers it an especially good day when he gets the establishment's scarred proprietress to blush.

"Thanks," he says to Lukas before finishing off his cigarette. "Night." He's not long for the rooftop, either.

[Lukas Wyrmbreaker] [thanks for the RP, guys! sorry i'm ducking out, but wanna take a shower and stuff. *LOL*]