2/9/2006

06:35 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Currently the moon is in the waxing Gibbous Moon phase (77% full).
It is currently 18:26 Pacific Time on Thu Feb 9 2006.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is clear outside. The temperature is 49 degrees Fahrenheit (9 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the northeast at 9 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.45 and steady, and the relative humidity is 46 percent. The dewpoint is 29 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 degrees Celsius.)

Farmhouse: Kitchen and Dining Room
Homey is the first word to come to mind when looking at the farmhouse's kitchen. Dark, wood-paneled wainscoting covers the walls to about waist height, dark beige wallpaper continuing to the ceiling. Twin refrigerators occupy the north wall, facing the large six-burner stove on the south. The kitchen counter runs the length of the eastern wall, broken only by the double-basin sink. Cabinets run above and below the counter and a twin-pane window is set in the wall above the sink. A small pantry is set into an alcove alongside the refrigerators, presumably holding the deep freezer as well as shelves of dry goods.
Some twelve feet above the floor, a large chandelier hangs from the ceiling, lighting the dining room and casting long shadows over the bar to the kitchen. A long table occupies the center of the dining room, three chairs setting along each side, and one on each end. On the west wall, a large window looks out on the trees alongside the western pasture. Set into the north wall is a large cabinet, its glass doors closed on shelves containing a full compliment of fine china and glassware as well as a few decorative nicknacks. On the east, a wide bar separates the dining room from the kitchen.
An opening in the southern wall allows passage to the front entryway of the house, while a sliding glass door in the kitchen opens to a clearing behind the house.
Contents:
Xia
Stacey
Obvious exits:
Hallway/Living Room  Back Door  

It was a strange request. Cake and ice cream? Was he out of his mind? Kenneth had flushed a bit, grown cold, sarcastic and basically debased himself into cajoling the kin to lend a few bucks and her car towards the purchase and transport of a birthday cake. For who, he hadn't said. Eventually, as the car approached the farmhouse, he got less tense (comparatively to when he made the request). Now, as the Lord and Lady step out of the car, philodox with the package in hand, he speaks the name. "It's for Andrew. Stacey asked me to get it for him 'cause it's his birthday some time this week or something. You could come on inside if you want..." Not meeting the woman's eyes, he continues towards the house's back door, more or less to avoid any living room traffic.

Stacey is sitting in the kitchen, slouching with her arms crossed and feet propped up on the chair next to her. The Ahroun is staring off toward the entrance to the living room, lost in dark thoughts. She doesn't seem to hear the Shadow Lord approach the back door.

THe kin follows, although she remains particularly near Kenneth the entire time since exiting the car. "Oh," she replies but that is all, remaining quite and cautious.

"Yeah." Kenneth's level of conversation wanes with the moon's waxing. The Shadow Lord appears with kin beside him at the back of the farmhouse, next to the sliding door. It takes a moment to check inside, whereupon seeing the ahroun, he looks a touch surprised. One hand slides open the door, and he steps in, waiting for Xia to come in before closing it behind her. The brown paper bag in hand gets set down on the counter. "Hey Stace. We brought the cake and stuff."

Xia enters the farmhouse, bundled up in a pastel blue navy coat. She looks around her and watches as Kenneth closes the door before her eyes glance across the room towards Stacey. "Hello, Stacey." the kin replies, looking a little relieved.

Stacey turns to look at the Shadow Lords as they enter, sitting up properly. Her face pales as her gaze lingers on the bag. "Oh. Thank you, Kenneth. Xia." The Child glances at the kin, giving a small smile. "That was nice of you. And... I never got to thank you for the kite and candies. Meant a lot."

Kenneth sets the bag down on the counter, eyeing it and then the ahroun. "So, yeah.. it's an ice cream cake. Y'know, from Baskin Robbins. What flavor was it, Xia?" No way he was going to go into the ice cream shop. Not on that big a moon.

Xia is not the most attentive person in the world, but she does catch the sudden change in the complextion of Stacy's face. "Vanilla," she answers Kenneth. "Stacey, is there something wrong? You don't look so good, kid."

Stacey gives a smiles. "You guys really are the greatest..." The smile falters. She leans forward with a sigh, burying her face in her hands, elbows on the table. "Might as well know now," she mutters through her hands. "Andrew... is with Gaia."

Kenneth blinks a couple of times, like he hadn't heard the ahroun the first time. It takes him a bit to sort through various remarks, but he settles on one that serves him. "Well, guess it means more cake and ice cream for us."

Xia bites her lip and is not sure what to say, so she just remains silent and takes wantever Kenneth says for her word too. "Pity," she murmurs.

Stacey lowers her hands and stares at Kenneth, for a moment looking like she might jump over and slap him, but just as quickly as it came, the moment passes, and she slumps back in the chair. "So... You serving, Kenneth?"

Kenneth looks back at Stacey as she stares at him, dark eyes and expression veiled to a state of neutrality. When she slumps back, he nods and turns to the bag containing the pastry. "Yeah sure," he replies, opening a drawer to find a triagular spatula. "Xia, y'want some?"

Xia nods her head. "Please," she answers Kenneth. She walks over to the table and takes a seat across from where Stacey is sitting.

Stacey watches Xia as she sits, then she clears her throat and attempts a topic change: "How are things in the scab? I mean, the city."

Kenneth does the footwork. Cabinets open and close, silverware clinks around as he grabs some utensils, and the bag crinkles as he takes out the nicely boxed cake with chocolate frosting on the outside. "Requiem's... probably gonna move back over there," he states as he serves. "Michael wants to 'get back to his roots' or some shit like that."

"I have not heard of anything happening at the campus lately," she replies. "I have been staying way from the beer served in the dorms, since I recieved word that there might be something odd about it." The kin rolls her shoulders. "I cannot say much since I am not as active in the 'supernatual' stuff like you all are. Been keeping my mind on my studies."

Stacey nods to Xia. "Probably best. Speaking of studies, we have a new kin around, Austin. He teaches biology." She sighs. "Gonna have to find a way to tell the kin I'm Elder now." She looks to Kenneth, frowning. "But if Michael wants to get back to his roots, why are you moving back to the city?"

Kenneth sets down plates, all three bearing thick (he -is- from North Carolina) slices of cake and slowly melting vanilla ice cream in the centers. "Probably 'cause the fight is out there?" he asks rhetorically. "The university's still got its problems we gotta look into. Besides... we got kin there." He glances briefly to Xia. "And the Walker safehouse is not far from the city offramp. The pack ain't big enough to hold all the territory out in the woods."

"There is more going on in the city, besides." Xia replies. "How many kin is there living in the city verses out in the woods?" she asks, watching Kenneth place the plate of ice cream cake in front of her. She looks up at him sucpiciously for a moment before poking at the cake with her fork.

Stacey stares glumly at the cake for a moment before she takes a deep breath, hand tightening around her fork. Then she takes a bite, not adding much to the conversation as she savors the taste. "It's good. A fitting way to celebrate future potential. May he not be such a damned fool in his next life."

Kenneth either misses the suspicious look, or ignores it entirely. "Anyone for milk?" He hasn't touched his slice yet, but then he's not sitting down yet either. The cake is placed in the freezer, and exchanged for the gallon of milk inside the fridge. "When'd it happen?"

"No thank you," Xia replies quickly to Kenneth while leaning forward a little in her seat to listen to Stacey.

Stacey takes another couple bites before answering, not looking at the other two. "Tuesday night. Late. On the bawn. I think Jacinta tried to save him, because she was there after. We buried him near Hope."

Kenneth gives a soft 'mmhm', pouring himself a glass before replacing the milk. He gets to the table eventually, and sits down to join the pair. "So who's the kin you're talkin' about? Bio guy. What was his name?"

Xia looks confused as she listens to Stacey, although the kinfolk remains silent and continues to nibble on her cake and occasionally looking up towards Kenneth. When Kenneth reaches the table, Xia slices up her cake and dumps a portion of it onto the Shadow Lord's plate unexpectedly.

Stacey smirks as the kin passes part of her cake to Kenneth, then looks at the Philodox. "Austin was his name. Austin Smith. He teaches at one of the high schools. Can't remember which. I have his address somewhere."

Kenneth is fortunately sipping at milk, and can only watch helplessly as more cake is dumped unceremoniously onto his serving. That same eyeing wanders from kin to ahroun and back, as he sets the milk down. "He's new, yeah?" The talk of kin draws his attention back to the Slord kinswoman. "So that's one for your tribe then, at least," he comments, eyes on Xia but voice directed towards Stacey.

Xia goes back to nibbling on her 'adequate' portion of her cake, obviously ignoring now as she has her attention on Stacey. There is a faint glimpse of a smile at the edge of the kin's lips, however, as she cannot seem to keep a straight face.

Stacey nods. "Yep. I don't know who else is still around. I don't even know if my father is still in St. Claire. There's always Karl, too. I think he is still around with his mate and cubs. Haven't heard from him for a while, but I don't think he's left."

Somewhere in the 'mate and cubs' part, Kenneth's fork screeches lightly in protest against the earthenware. He stuffs side of spongy cake in one cheek, chewing away. "He old?" asks the philodox, still glancing at Xia and her supposedly adequate portion. The halfmoon himself works away at the bit she gave him.

Xia is just listening, but under the table she lightly noses the edge of her foot against Kenneth's. She's trying to act proper but Kenneth's expression in making her act up a little, smiling a little more openly.

Stacey gives Kenneth a very odd look. "You should know Karl. Theurge of my tribe? Finds-the-Path? He fell in love with a wolf-kin after saving her, and they had pups. Two are Garou."

Kenneth continues to chew, though the masticating slows for that one moment when something touches his foot. "I meant the kin teacher guy," he elaborates after a hesitant pause. "But I don't remember Karl too well." Another bite is put hastily in his mouth.

Xia doesn't deliberately tro to piss Kenneth off, which she leaves him alone, although she pays more attention to him now when he speaks. "I've never met this Karl," she replies.

Stacey ohs and nods. "Yeah, he's older than most others I see. He might be like 25, 30." She considers this answer while chewing on a bite. "Hmmm, except Grey. Grey looks older. So, he's older than we are, but younger than Grey." The Child then smiles fondly as she looks at Xia. "Karl was a great guy. Mellow. A healer."

"And went feral," Kenneth adds, wiping off a corner of his mouth. "I think I remember him saying that his pups were Garou, too." The statement is simple, but an inflection of quiet impression goes along with it. And a sprinkling of jealousy. "Least he's helpin' out. Guess those cubs will be Children of Gaia too." Afterwards, he gives Xia a sort of weird look - just a bare lifting of his eyebrows, as if to acknowledge the foot from before.

Xia reaches out her hand and warmly pats Kenneth's arm briefly before finishing the desert on her plate. She pushes it away from her as she sits in reflection, eyes darting from Stacey to Kenneth.

Stacey glances between the two, then nods. "Of course, they will be. And he asked me to help train them when they get old enough, as the favor I owe him. Being lupus with Karl as a father, at least they'll turn out decently. Just once I'd like a cub that isn't broken beyond repair by the time we go to teach them."

Kenneth looks down to where his arm was patted, then back up at Xia. Another second later and he turns to Stacey. "You're optimistic," he says with rather black humor. "And it really depends on your definition of 'broken'." He then looks up to Xia. "You're normal. What do you think? Are Garou all just bloodthirsty monsters out here, driven off on a wrong path of righteous indignation?"

Stacey gives Kenneth and exasperated look. "You know what I mean! Not having metal things sticking out of them and calling us all murderers or being so damn thick headed they goad an Ahroun on a large moon, not to mention all the other crap that was wrong with him."

Kenneth wags his fork in the air, but says nothing in reply to Stacey. In his silence, he seems to agree with her point, and instead focuses on the continued consumption of his cake and ice cream.

Xia is about to open her mouth, but Stacey speaks first. She nibbles on her lower lip as she looks across the table towards the Gaian. "There have been better cubs around, your tribe just has been a little more misfortunate."

Stacey nods to Xia. "I think you're right. We've had good ones as well. Auggie was a cub here. And Alicia-rhya. Dakota, Karl, Tenzin, Miguel, myself..." She shrugs. "Maybe it's just my luck that's bad."

Kenneth snorts at that. "Don't blame yourself for faults in others," he growls through a mouthful of edible chocolate sponge. "Hope didn't have any, an' if any other cubs... hell if /anyone/ is dumb enough to get /you/ pissed off at 'em, they deserve getting their ass kicked and worse." He stabs his fork down into the cake, punctuating his statement with an emphatic clunk. "You might only be 12, Stace, but you're an ahroun. You might a Child, but you're a Garou. Anyone who forgets that'll regret it when they get a face full of your claws."

Xia folds her hands in front of her as she listens to Kenneth speak. "He's right," she replies. "Anyone dumb enough to piss off an Ahroun deserves it... and I have learned this the hard way too."

Stacey looks from Kenneth to Xia, then nods. "Yeah, I know you're right..." She stabs at her cake, and then takes a few more bites, falling silent.

Kenneth falls upon his cake with vigor as well, soon finding his piece to be finished off along with the end of a certain strain of conversation. He pushes around a stray chocolate crumb with his fork tine, and then ventures, "Anyone want seconds?"

"No," Xia blurts out. "No, thank you." She, however, passes Kenneth the empty plate.

Stacey seems to like Xia's idea, as she passes her plate to the Philodox as well. "I bet the other cubs, and whoever else is around these days, will like finishing off what's left."

Kenneth looks at Xia curiously. "What, are you on a diet or something?" When he gets handed the second plate, the ahroun receives an incredulous, but grudging look. Kenneth scoops up the diningware, going to the sink to dump them down. "There was this cub that Sabina 'n I cubnapped," he notes while he's at the sink. "This pudgey Indian chick - not like Wendigo or Uktena Indian... India-Indian. Sabina knocked her out an' stuff when we got to her house. Don't know where she took her."

Xia narrows her eyes at Kenneth. "No," she mutters. Then she appears a little surprised at the news of this new cub. "How come I wasn't told about this?" she asks, looking as though her feelings have been hurt.

Stacey looks innocent, or tries to, as Kenneth takes her plate. At the mention of the cub, she raises a brow, curious. "Oh? What's her name? And what moon is she?"

Kenneth turns at the sink, leaning against it. "'Cause, -I- haven't even seen her since that day. She could be dead and culled for all I know." Though there is a sense that he's sure that isn't the case, the philodox shrugs. "Her name's Zeenat, or something. Sabina told me. I was goin' back from the tennis courts when the fetch swooped down right at me. She's a .. ragabash." Despite the talk, he does look back at Xia with a vague hint towards apology.

Xia gives Kenneth a sour look for a moment, but she sobers up as he gives her a vauge look of apology, enough for her it seems.

Stacey hmms. "Zeenat? That's an... interesting name." The Child stands to her feet. "Thank you again for the cake and the talk. I really should get back to the woods, though. I've been out here a bit longer than is probably wise."

Kenneth looks back to Stacey when she stands, and nods. "Yeah," he utters before glancing back to the kin. "You want me t'go back with you?"

Xia shrugs her shoulders. "If you want to," she replies, making the choice up to him.

Stacey smiles. "You'd better escort her safely back! Large moon and uncultured cubs around..." Her smile widens to a grin, and then she heads toward the back door. "See ya tomorrow, Kenneth. And take care, Xia."

Kenneth eyes Stacey some, and stands up straighter. "Yeah, I'll go back with you," he says decisively, like it were his suggestion all along. Really. "Catch you later, Peacemaker." He goes to the sliding doors again, opening it and holding it there - for both of them.

Xia raises her hand, waving to Stacey and slipping back on her coat before stepping outside. "See you soon, Stacey." she replies with a friendly smile before she leaves with Kenneth.