3/17/2006

07:42 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Currently the moon is in the waning Gibbous Moon phase (79% full).
It is currently 19:33 Pacific Time on Fri Mar 17 2006.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is raining lightly. The temperature is 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the east at 6 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 29.97 and rising, and the relative humidity is 89 percent. The dewpoint is 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius.)

Campustown: Main Street
Stretching only two or three blocks between the interstate and St. Claire City University is the ubiquitous area dubbed 'Campustown' by the students. The main thoroughfare linking I-90 to campus is lined with the many businesses which thrive on the proximity to a college: fast-food restaurants, several small bars and dance clubs, Kinko's and their ilk, and bookstores catering to the college crowd. To the west of the main street, behind the businesses, is the neighborhoods of small homes which house a small number of off-campus students and the lower paid employees of the university and the lamprey-like businesses.
The buildings of SCCU are easily seen on the northern end of campustown, while the buildings of St. Claire are visible a few miles in the distance to the east, down I-90. A bright blue 'flyer' is tacked up to a telephone pole, and advertisement for a band playing at one of the bars Friday night.
Contents:
Xia
Obvious exits:
SCCU  I-90 East  

Xia is walking through the streets, rain coming down in heavy droplets. She is barely wearing anything at all besides her little black dress and appears to be lost.

The kinswoman isn't the only one. To an extent. Underneath one of the awnings of a local delicatessen, Kenneth waits out the rain. He's not about to go inside, though his presence around the entrance seems to deter a few wouldbe customers. Not that he's in the mood for caring. His jacket's drawn and buttoned up, collar upturned as well, obscuring a good portion of his lower face. The Shadow Lord stares out towards the street without inclination to move.

As she walks down the street, she narrows her eyes as she sees Kenneth. She runs towards him, although she runs in a sort of drunken stagger. Within view of Kenneth, she suddenly falls as her heel breaks.

Kenneth's attention gets drawn to the clicking of heels, the awkward, staggering movement as Xia approaches. His head turns a bit. His eyes turn a bit more. Behind his collar it's impossible to see the twitch and tightening of his lips. When she falls though, he's off like a shot. Just by pure reflex, instinct, he charges forth to catch - or at least help her up when she's down.

Xia does fall, but as she looks up an sees Kenneth, she suddenly smiles and practically lanches herself at him. "Kenneth, dear, I have been looking aaaaaaaaaall over for yooou," she says in a drunken slur. "I got a little... uh, sidetracked."

Kenneth at least, isn't drunk. He 'catches' the kin when she leaps at him, supporting by awkward association and contacted limbs. Even under the rain, he can smell the alcohol. "Christ, Xia, what the fuck... you're drunk," he utters out quietly, glancing around briefly at the people passing around underneath their umbrellas and coat hoods.

Xia looks up and raises her hand to stroke Kenneth's cheek. "I just wanted to say how much I am worried about you," she says in a forced whisper. She gives a funny look at the Philodox.

Kenneth bristles slightly, the stroke against his cheek unable to be resisted against with his arms full. The funny look begets a brief scowl. "Jesus, pull yourself together," he mumbles, before walking and partly hauling the woman to a spot underneath another awning, out of the rain.

Xia is hauled up easily since she is pretty small to begin with. "Ehh," she whines at the Shadow Lord.

"Xia, (Don't act stupid,)" Kenneth continues in a mild, stubbornly scolding tone, his voice taking a twist towards Japanese. "(What are you doing out here dressed like this anyway? Where's your coat?)" He takes a moment to untangle himself from her, unzipping his coat, shrugging out of it and putting it around the smaller kin's shoulders. "(Where's your car?)"

Xia gives Kenneth a funny look and looks around her to try to get her barrens straight. "I don't know where it is," she replies, but she is lucky enough to still have her purse with her. She doesn't realize the coat is placed on her shoulders until she suddenly feels warm. "Down there," she points.

Kenneth looks in the direction she points, and then starts to move with her. Like a hawk mantling over its prey, he gives everyone who looks at them the wrong way. Somewhere along the line, when he reaches the car, he leans her up against the driver side door for a moment. "I've never seen you drunk before," he says slowly, unsure of what to make of the situation.

The kin looks up at Kenneth, her eyes unfocused although she inncently cocks her head towards one side. "Well... so?" she says subbornly, although she has a point to all of this, to being this drunk.

Kenneth draws down his brows, looking upon the woman with a sigh. "So, (it doesn't become you)," he utters quietly, glancing away. "I'll take you home." As he says this, his hand reaches for the purse, likely to look for the keys of the car.

Xia hands him her whole purse and walks, or rather staggers, towards the passanger side of the car.

Kenneth grasps the purse, though he doesn't look inside immediately. It's after watching her stumble her way to the other side, that he actually unclasps the bag and digs around to look for the keys. Soon as he finds them, it's back to the car, and unlocking it so they can both get in and out of the rain. The purse he sets down in between the two front seats, momentarily, not yet moving to start the car.

Xia takes a seat on the passanger side of the car and looks to Kenneth. "You're full of youself, Kenneth." she remarks. "Many think highly of you and you think that you are nothing..."

Kenneth is about to start the car, but he frowns and looks over - not to mention a little surprised - at the candor with which the kinswoman speaks. "You don't know what you're talking about," he says quietly, jawline clenching for a second as he fumbles the key into the socket.

"I do too," she replies. "You're the best Philodox in the Sept and you... you are afraid of failure." She moves her wet hair away from her eyes, "Kenneth, you have always taken care of me... have always protected me, why don't you just get it together, huh?" Her eyes look to Kenneth as if she were about to cry. "Kenneth, if you lose who you are... what you are, where am I going to be?"

A snort of almost-laughter chokes out from the halfmoon. "Best philodox of the sept, yeah /right/," Kenneth replies dourly. Still, he doesn't turn the key just yet. When he catches her looking at him, he looks back. And there's no undue small amount of 'oh no, she's gonna cry' hiding behind those dark eyes of his. "What do you mean... lose who I am? And you got your own life."

"You are!" Xia replies, her tone turning sour. "I have heard it and your own pack worries about you Kenneth..."

"I KNOW!" Kenneth yells out, tone exploding in volume as he smacks a fist against the steering wheel. For that brief splitsecond, the Shadow Lord's ire skyrockets. Then it plummets like a shot duck from the sky. His other hand starts the car. "I know," he adds again, this time quieter, just a low simmer. "Everyone worries so goddamn much."

Xia gives a little squeak as Kenneth yells and then turns to look out the window and suddenly become very quiet.

Kenneth lets the car idle, himself going silent as it warms up in the engine. After a few minutes, he breathes out a long sigh. "Truth is, I don't know. I don't know what the hell I'm doin'."

"I don't know why people keep approaching me, asking to try to... stirr you into action." Xia replies softly. "Seems all I do is more hurt than good. Forget it... perhaps I should stop trying."

Kenneth gazes back to the woman now, himself almost with a helpless look. "I don't know what you want me to do," he tells her, suddenly subdued. "Everything I've done up to this point, what was it all for? It seems like all I ever do is fuck up. And for someone like me, it's like, all anyone remembers."

Xia looks back to Kenneth. "Please try for me, Kenneth." she asks, nearly begs. "Eventually people will see that you're not a complete fuckup."

"Try... What the Hell am supposed to try?" Kenneth asks back, wrenching his gaze away and staring out at the car parked in front. "How am I supposed to do anything when everything I do gets shot down by someone else?" His hand slaps down on the parking brake and releases, then goes to the gear, shifts it to reverse, and he drives a bit /too/ fast to be anywhere on the side of caution. The gears shift again abruptly to drive, and he's taking the car out on to the streets at a rather dangerous velocity.

Xia is too drunk still to know just how fast Kenneth is going. "Kenneth, be stubborn ass... who fucking cares what others think. You are a Shadow Lord, let them get over it. Ignore what they say."

Kenneth takes a turn rather tightly, causing the tires to slip just a bit on the rainslicked road. "Ignoring them doesn't do shit," he replies, eyes forward and staring. "Only makes them think I've got something Wrong with me... fuckin'... they must think I'm /Tainted/." The engine growls out loudly, and as they approach a yellow turning red he kicks in the brakes a bit abruptly. Good thing the car's a good one. He doesn't even have his seat belt on.

Xia certainly has her seat belt on. "Fine, I will tell Vera to pardon you and to tell the others to fuck off." Xia replies. "Kenneth..." She doesn't know what she is saying, she's really drunk.

"(Vera isn't going to do anything for us)," Kenneth spits out, fingers gripping the steering wheel tightly. "Everything that comes outta her mouth is suspect, as much as that bastard Jarred's words were." Once the light hits green, he's accelerating off again. At this point, he's just driving, perhaps not even sure where he's going. The rhythmic flip-flop of the wipers keeps the time. "But there's still Stacey. Dillen... maybe Kevin." The philodox sounds more along the lines of thinking aloud.

"Stacey doesn't take back what she said but she still is... how do I say this, she is... uh..." Xia is having a tough time thinking by this point. "Well, you are still highly esteemed in her eyes."

Kenneth suddenly jerks the wheel to change lanes as he realizes just where he is, nearly clipping a guy's vehicle. The horn behind them blasts loud and clear, but the Shadow Lord doesn't seem to hear it. The engine revs hard as he strives to make the turn on a yellow arrow, sliding into the intersection as it goes red. Once they're back on a semblance of straight road, he slows to a more reasonable pace. "You're just... no, nevermind," Kenneth breathes out, finally looking at buildings once they're within the right neighborhood.

"What?" Xia replies, eyes narrowing at Kenneth. She crosses her arms across her chest.

"Nothing," Kenneth insists somewhat more firmly, finding the building and pulling up into the lot. The journey's short end is at an actual safe pace. "There's just... a lot going on, and at the same time, nothing." He puts everything back into park, and reaches around the wheel to turn the car off. Then he sits there, quieted.

"Come inside... no one is in the apartment tonight." Xia replies as she gets out of the car and shuts the door behind her. She lets Kennth hold onto her keys for now.

Kenneth looks up and over when she gets out, dislodging the keys after another bit of contemplation and exiting the car. Just in case she misses any articles, he grabs them as well before the car is locked and alarm activated. As they're going up, he asks, "Where's your roommate?"

"She's with her boyfriend," Xia replies as she begins walking up to the building and climbs the stairs up to her floor. "they had some party too, which I doubt she will be returning home early anyway."

"Shouldn't we take the elevator?" Kenneth asks, looking at her dubiously as he follows. Still, he remains rather ready to drop things and catch if she stumbles again given her broken heels. "Is it spring break already?"

The kin doesn't hear him or doesn't pay attention as she climbs the stairs, although she pauses half way up to slip out of her shoes. "Nuhh," she replies. Finally they reach the floor and Xia staggers a little but makes it to the door. "You've got the keys."

Kenneth does indeed. And he opens the door, acting the steady pillar for the kin to hang herself on for the physical balance if she needs. Once inside, he guides her towards the couch to sit her down there. "I'll get some water for you," he says after a brief moment of looking down at her, turning and looking to go towards the kitchen.

"Okay," Xia replies and flops right down onto the couch. Her heels are suddenly dropped as soon as she got past the doorway.

It takes a minute or so. Keys left on the kitchen counter, Kenneth spends his time in the kitchen getting more than just a glass of water. When he returns, it's with some foodstuffs as well. Setting down the plate and glass, he takes a step back after, just observing the kin from where he stands.

Xia takes the water first and drinks nearly the full glass before she gets to the food. "Thanks," she murmurs." She looks up at him, keeping her eyes on him too but not directly.

Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the east at 8 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.02 and rising, and the relative humidity is 87 percent. The dewpoint is 37 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius.)

Kenneth is looking at her, though at the same time it feels different. More like, looking through her at a time. After a blink, he clears his throat and turns, looking towards the door. "I guess I should go," he says aloud, trying to fill the now awkward silence.

Xia shrugs her shoulders, giving Kenneth the ability to make up his mind about whether he stays or goes.

Kenneth runs a hand through his hair, turning partly again in an indecisive manner. When his back is turned towards the kin, that's when she can better see the dried evidence of blood down the back of his shirt. "I'm gonna, uh, borrow your restroom for a moment," he says instead, sounding like he's stalling as he makes up his mind. "You got my coat, right?" He looks back for his jacket.

"Take as much time as you need." Xia replies as she begins shrugging off Kenneth's jacket and tosses it over the arm of the couch. When he does go to use the washroom, she manages to rise from the couch and go to her room to change out of her dress.

Kenneth finds the restroom alright, wincing at the bright light before looking at himself in the mirror. The halfmoon stares at his reflection for awhile longer, before turning on the faucet water and unbuttoning his shirt. It's rather dirty, considering the places he's been in of late, and the condition he's been in as well. Ducking his head under the water, the halfmoon's scrubbing his hair and soon looking around for a towel before he pauses. Two towels. None of them his. That's a dilemma. Wrapping his shirt around his neck, he steps back towards the common room, but not seeing the kin, he goes on the search for her. "Xia?"

Xia comes out from her room, dressed in a pair of thin material jogging pants and a tank-top. "I'm right here," she says as she pulls up her long hair into a pony tail. She looks a little better than before, but her eyes are bloodshot.

Kenneth blinks, abruptly faced with the kin when she comes out. "Uh," he bungles, standing there with his hair soaked and dripping down onto face and shirt. "Ah... Got a towel?"

"Under the sink," the kin replies. She doesn't think much about Kenneth standing in front of her with his shift off. It isn't like she hasn't seen a naked man before. She moves back out into the living room and settles back into her seat again.

Yeaaah. Whereas she might be comfortable, he surprisingly isn't as much. Clearing his throat, he shuffles back to the washroom, looking beneath the sink and drawing out a towel. The shirt is replaced with that instead. His hair is scrubbed a few more times beneath the running water of the sink, and then towel dried vigorously. When he's out again, it's still with just the towel, and the shirt is draped over his arm. Poking into the living room, he asks in a low voice, "Feelin' better?"

Xia is rubbing her forehead when Kenneth peeks around the corner. "Yeah," she replies. She has the television turned on now.

Kenneth doesn't really answer, but withdraws back into the narrow hall where the bathroom is. After a few more minutes of staring at his reflection in the mirror, the towel is whipped off, and he jerks his shirt back on. As he comes out, he's not even got it halfway buttoned. Again, he strides over to the couch and looks down at the woman. "Xia... when'd you talk to Stacey?"

Xia looks back up at Kenneth. "Earlier," she replies, although she sounds as though she wasn't aware of the time.

Kenneth narrows his eyes a touch, and then finds a spot to sit on the couch. Searching out her eyes, he asks - or more rather, makes a rather forward request. "Tell me what you two talked about... 'bout me."

"There wasn't anything specific," she replies. "Stacey just feels that your are a good Philodox, and she doesn't want to see you end up... down the wrong path."

Kenneth stares at the woman awhile longer like he's trying to read more out of it. "She doesn't hate me? After what I said to her?"

Xia shakes her head. "Are you kidding?" she asks. "She is upset with you, but she doesn't hate you."

Kenneth takes his eyes off of her, and sits back further on the couch. "Didn't tell you what I said to her, huh?" he asks. "It... it was really... really hurtful." The halfmoon looks down to his hands, rubbing them. "I passed judgement on her before I knew the whole thing."

"I am sure it was a mistake," Xia replies. "and, in my opinion, since you have passed judgement before knowing about everything, perhaps you should apologize?" The kin's brow rises. "Stacey is a nice girl, I find her trustful."

"It was a mistake," Kenneth exhales roughly. "But when I said it... I meant it. For that one second, that moment, I thought, 'She turned on me.' And then I reacted. I doubt she'd take the apology after that."

"Apologize," Xia replies with a slow smile appearing on her lips. "Try it, it sometimes goes a long way..." The kin is begining to look a little tired. "Would you like to stay for the night? You can sleep on the couch, if you'd like."

Kenneth jerks his head up, blinking a few times and looking back to the kin. "Except, your roommate. She might come back?"

"Not until tomorrow evening sometime," the kin replies. "I wouldn't worry. She is pretty predictable."

Kenneth stares a little longer, with a 'you sure?' look to his expression. Then he looks to the couch, and nods slowly. "Yeah, sure. If you don't mind..."

Xia nods. "Please do," she replies before she stands from the couch. She pulls out some blankets from a chest and lies them over the couch. "I'll cook some breakfast in the morning if you stay that long."

Getting up, Kenneth takes a few steps forward, offering his help to make his makeshift sleeping quarters. Though in his face, quite the surprise of how organized she is. "Thanks," he says in the end. "And... yeah, maybe I'll stay long enough."

Xia nods her head and begins to walk towards her room. "Good night, Kenneth." she says.

"(Good night, Xia.)" is the quiet reply, followed by a dull fwumph of the philodox sitting back down heavily onto the couch.

Xia closes the door of her room quietly behind her.