Meeting Ryan
5/2/2007
06:26 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.
Currently the moon is in the waning Full Moon phase (96% full).
It is currently 18:25 Pacific Time on Wed May 2 2007.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is raining lightly. The temperature is 46 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the south at 7 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 29.87 and rising, and the relative humidity is 81 percent. The dewpoint is 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius.)
Montrose District
This is St. Claire's artsy district, a pocket of cheerful liberalism and a particular favorite of the gay community. It consists of a swath of older houses and cramped shops jumbled together on the west side of town between Vandertramp Street and the freeway to the south and the truly upscale residences north of Four Leaf Clover. Many of the old houses have been rescued from disrepair by coteries of college students and artisans, and there's a staunch though quirky sense of community pervading the neighborhood. Even the most organized and determined of renovators can't get to everything, though, and the line between low-income bohemians and the truly poor is fuzzy. The two communities mingle and merge at grimy corner stores, rickety washaterias, and mom'n'pop cafes of varying quality.
Contents:
Stacey
Ryan
Obvious exits:
BUngalow Catholic Church 2970 Concord Renovated Factory Exxon Station Boarding House Midtown ELectronics South North on 13th/14th North on Fifteenth
The light rain has one advantage to the city weather besides diluting some of the smog in the skies. The wet weather makes more people head for the indoors, sheltering themselves from cold and damp. It helps the Garou too, giving Kenneth and Stacey a free and clear path to travel on the sidewalks as they head towards a destination to meet a new - or old - face. "Tell me again why he didn't maybe, come out to the woods to do this?" asks the Shadow Lord, eyes sweeping the surroundings.
Stacey glances toward Kenneth with a faint, frustrated sigh. "City folk, I guess. And if Aja wasn't sure of him, well, she did good not to invite him to our woods. Rather meet him here than there if he's trouble." She glances down at the card as they enter the hotel. "Should be just down the hall," she adds, moving toward that direction.
The door to room 29B in the hoity-toity businessman's-retreat hotel is ajar and is held that way by the cross bar leaning between the door and the metal door frame. Soft music can be heard coming from within though just because the volume is down doesn't let the tempo of it be any less. Black Sabbath would be heart broken to hear their music being played at so low a volume... oh well... Only one of the lights are on in the room with the TV casting an odd shadow, taking up the job of lighting the room where the dim lamp does not. The sound of a hard drive thrumming on a laptop (sniff!) can be heard as it sits on a mock-cherry wood desk.
"29B, right?" Kenneth gets just a little edgier as they enter the hotel in search of their target. Each numbered-and-lettered door gets a fleeting glance. Not until the pair comes upon the cracked open abode, whereupon the philodox gives pause. His head tilts to listen to the music. Sniff. Sniff sniff. Human noses. Useless for real detective work. With a hand, he gestures for Stacey to do the honors of knocking.
Stacey nods, looking down at the card, then back up, to double check. "That's it," she murmurs softly, peering with narrowed eyes through the crack before she finally shrugs. At Kenneth's gesture, she nods again and lifts a hand to knock on the door.
"Coming... coming..." Accompanies the protesting of cheeply made matress springs on the bed. The voice sounds a little tired and annoyed though the footsteps do pause for a minute. Perhaps looking at a mirror quickly before proceeding to the door. As the door is opened, the tall man's gaze pins just a little too high and then has to look down to take Kenneth and Stacey in. "Oh... hey, I already gave five bucks to your friends that were by earlier selling candy and I don't have an address so I can't use any magazine subscriptions."
[look Ryan (homid)]
Tall and a bit on the bulky side, there is little to no fat on Ryan and it is quite obvious that he lifts weights more than in passing. His hair is a chestnut brown with blond streaks that run through it, kept short though what there is has been spiked up quite neatly. His features are rather sharp with high cheek bones. The bridge of his nose flares a bit, probably due to the fact that his nose has been broken on so many occasions. Blue eyes are so light that they might be able to be called a 'husky blue', his eyes narrowed a bit just out of habit from being in the sun too long.
He wears a white t-shirt and standard army camo pants that are just a touch bulky on him though they are held at his pants by an issue belt. On his feet are standard issue steel-toed. Around his neck on a chain is hung a set of dog tags.
Kenneth eyes the man who comes to the door, weight shifting back on his heels and afterwards forward on his toes. A bit of incredulity slips into the philodox's gaze before he looks over to Stacey. The Shadow Lord passes a brief nod to the girl beside him before returning his gaze to the man. Absolutely, no comment.
Stacey looks up as well as Ryan appears, her eyes widening slightly as she appraises him. The perceptive would likely notice that there's something off about the young girl, the way she carries herself. It's older, a touch wilder. She doesn't quite answer the man's comment about subscriptions, just quirks up a brow before she asks, "Are you The Major?"
The man frowns as the question is asked, as if it offends him somehow though his expression quickly takes on more of an appraising look. He looking between Kenneth and Stacey for a few more seconds before he looks back at Stacey, gaze staying there a second longer. A look of recognition and relief passes over his features as he backs aways from the door, pulling the door with him. "C'mon in. Have a seat on the spare bed. Like I'm going to use it." he offers, a small shrug of his broad shoulders.
Kenneth again looks to Stacey to head in first. A double glance to either side of the hallway later, the philodox follows. "Interesting place to pick to crash," he remarks as he steps inside. Everything is treated like it were some object in a crime scene. He looks, but doesn't touch.
Stacey seems faintly puzzled at that recognition, then glances over at Kenneth before she moves to head inside. "New to the area?" she asks, her own gaze wandering about the apartment in an assessing, wary manner. "Heard you were looking for me."
Ryan closes the door behind the two though he doesn't lock it or bolt it. He knows he doesn't like being penned in by strangers, these two certainly wouldn't like it. "I've been in worse, certainly. Serves a purpose more than anything really. But yeah... New to the area." Major admits as he picks a beer off of his nightstand. Stale but it's just something to wash his mouth out. He takes a small swig and swallows, earning a grimace before he raises his brows at the two, sitting opposite of where he waved them to. "You're the spitting image of your mother. Not an ounce of your father in you. Mary'd be proud." he says that last sentance a little slower, a little more hoarse, as though tears might not be that far off. If they were to come he banishes them and shrugs.
Kenneth arches his brows at the Glass Walker upon mention of Stacey's parents. The Gaian gets the second glance. "Tell me you didn't come all this way to reminisce," speaks the halfmoon suddenly, with a flatness to his tone that rivals the stale beer.
Stacey also raises her brows at the man's words. Her expression wavers between tension, longing, and curiosity. A bit of pride, as well, at being compared to her mother, as she sits up a bit straighter. "So you really knew them?" she asks, brushing aside Kenneth's staleness. "Not that my father... Just haven't met many of their friends."
Major gives Kenneth a sideways look as if asking silently just what bane took root up his rectum. He looks back at Stacey quickly enough and nods. "I knew your father and your mother, yes. Knew your mother more than your father though, saint that she was. I knew her, I knew her pack well. I they did me favors, I returned those favors. Your mother helped me through a very rough time in my life and I'll never forget it. Call me old fashioned but that at least warranted me coming up here to check on you, pass along to you that you inheritted the favors I owe your mother." He leans his back up agains the headboard of the bed and brings his knee up, resting an arm on his knee as he keeps looking at Stacey. "But I'll probably be moving along soon enough. My only real business here was to rest up and check in on you, and from just what little I've heard you're doing just fine. I should have known."
Kenneth continues evaluating Ryan with an unflinching gaze to match the sideways look. The Shadow Lord doesn't shift expressions from the cold neutrality he adopts. Arms fold over the halfmoon's chest. "Favors," he repeats aloud with a glance towards the Gaian and back to the Walker. "To come all this way, tracking Stacey down to pay back some kind of debt... just who are you?"
Stacey leans forward as Major speaks, interested enough to set aside some of her caution. "I /thought/ she was..." she breaks off the sentence as Kenneth's words brings her out of her own memories. "I loved her very much, although I don't know all that much about her. I was young when she died. It means a lot just to hear from you what sort of person she was." She tilts her head, although doesn't quite respond to how she or the area is just yet. "Like my friend here says... Who are you? Very few details got passed along to me."
"Let me define something for you, gipper. Maybe you can use it to wipe whatever you've got stuck between those cheeks of yours out. Honor: honest, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions. A source of credit or distiction. A high respect, as for worth, merit, or rank. Something of which you don't have and know nothing about. Now get out or pipe down." He says eyeing Kenneth a little, jaw set like he means every word and if he's not obeyed someone just might go through a wall. "Now..." he looks back at Stacey. "My name is Ryan Dobbs. The Family calls me Heart-Throb. Pulled the beating heart out of a leech." he explains in passing and shrugs as if to push the explanation away. "As you've guess, I'm with the 'Walkers and I punch things for a living, so you know where I'm going with that. I am formerly out of Steel Caverns, and formerly a member of the pack Broken Arrows. Merc pack. You pointed, we killed. That's the gist of me. You can check up on me with my mother, the Alpha back at Steel Caverns if you want. No skin off my nose and I wouldn't blame you if you did either. Can't be too careful these days."
Kenneth doesn't seem to take too kindly to the impromptu definition or command. Indeed, the Shadow Lord straightens up stiffly and glares at the Walker ahroun. At least he waits until Ryan finishes with the introduction before growling out, "I don't need a damn lecture about honor from you, Anruth."
Stacey lets out a frustrated sigh, almost a growl, at the exchange between the two. "Now is not the time," she says firmly, her gaze moving to meet Kenneth's, to put more than one sense of meaning behind the words, before she looks back toward Ryan. "I'm Stacey Kynds, Walks-the-Middle-Road or Peacemaker, Cliath Ahroun, Elder of the Children of Gaia and Voice of the Goddess, formerly of the Guardian pack Manitou's Ridgeline." She offers a faintly wry smile. "Things're rougher round here than they might seem on the surface. Can always use another warrior around."
"Smile when you say that." The Major clearly finds something humorous about being called an Anruth. Perhaps there is even a look of pride in his features. He didn't even look away from Stacey this time when he spoke to Kenneth. "Your mother always did go for more formal introductions. I smiled every time she went on her diatribe about the tens of hundreds of names people'd given her, what honorary titles she held, what positions..." he licks his lips and looks down at his knees, taking on a thoughtful expression. "'Can always use another warrior around.' Sounds like an invitation from one of the tribal elders of the area. Doesn't it?" he cocks his head to the side, looking back up and posing the question to Kenneth though not really looking to be answered. Looking back at Stacey he nods. "Let me think it over and let me get in touch with my people in the area. Who knows... might be around to pay those debts back."
Another tensing of his shoulders dissipates as Kenneth forces himself to adopt a tenuous, temporary state of calm. Turning back to Stacey for a moment, the Shadow Lord remarks from semi thinned lips, "He won't get far past Vera with that attitude, but he's lucky Tu is the elder here." A brief pause is taken and Kenneth turns back to the Walker. Dark eyes flick up and down the older fullmoon, evaluating him still. "Why do you call yourself 'The Major'?"
That wry smile deepens at Kenneth's words, but Stacey gives a shrug. "Vera has enough on her mind," she murmurs back to the Shadow Lord. "As he says, Tu Spies-the-Wyrm is the Elder for the Walkers now. And consider it an invitation. Any friend of my mother's is one of mine... Although, as you say, in these times, can't be too careful. We'll have to get someone with the gift to sense you for taint."
"Lucky me." He notes and shrugs, leaning his head back against the wall. "Why do I call myself Major. Technically the right question to be asked would be, 'Do do others or they call you The Major.'" he gives a bit of a chuckle and grins. "My pack, Broken Arrows... we were all military brats in one sense or the other. We all knew the value of the military and its structure, so we adopted it into our pack structure. Our Alpha as a tall Colonel, our Beta was a short Colonel, and I was the Major, with a Captain and a Lieutenant below me." "Tu? That's not American." he states, raising a brow as though irked by not having an American-named Garou in charge of the Walkers though like most things, at least thingst that don't really matter, he shrugs it off. "Bring whoever you want. I'll tell the lobby I'm stayin' another week and if all works out I'll start lookin' around at digs. Fair, Little-Gaia?"
And for the first time, Kenneth seems faintly - very faintly - amused by Ryan and his explanation. The philodox says no more, looking as well to Stacey.
Stacey raises her brows at Ryan's explanation, obviously mulling it over in her mind. "That sounds pretty damn hard core," she comments, then grins. "Now I'm thinkin' ya should come spar sometime. Bet ya could teach those around here a thing or two." She shrugs. "Not sure what Tu's heritage is. Truth to tell, don't know him too well. Was a Guardian for a good deal of time, and he sticks to the scab. But yeah, that sounds fair. I'll pass along word that you're in the area to the city folks and all. And I'll be claimin' some of your time during that week, 'cause I'd like to hear any stories you're willin' to tell 'bout my mother."
"Huh." He says, absently looking at Kenneth for a second and then turning back to Stacey. "Whatever you want. All I got is time though I hear the Apocalypse is coming so that might put a damper on our fun... Oh well. Another day at the office." "Happy to tell anything you want to hear. I'm not much of a Galliard and the closest I ever came to being one was doing one's sister, but that's another story altogether. Sweet ass though and lips I'd walk through bane infested Umbra to kiss again. Made a soldier feel lucky, anyway."
Kenneth's eyes widen at the Major's remarks. A flick of his eyes back towards Stacey, and then the Shadow Lord's eyes grow hard like stone. "I hope, for your sake, that it did not go further than a kiss." That's all he states in commentary.
Stacey frowns slightly at the mention of the Apocaplyse, shifting her weight uncomfortably. Of course, as Ryan goes on about the kin, Stacey's lighter mood returns, and she even laughs, especially at Kenneth's reaction. "/Sister/. Methinks recent events has made you half moons paranoid," she teases gently, then nods to Ryan. "Don't need a Galliard, but it'd be nice to talk with someone else that remembers her.
The Major stares at Kenneth for a minute before he raises a brow. "Son... whatever is wrong with you, it must be very hard to pronounce. Two words? Seek help." And, oh yeah... kisses were the least of what was done. He turns a mock-crazed glance to Stacey, implying just what he thinks of Kenneth, at least for the time being. He nods solemnly and smiles kindly enough at Stacey. "Happy to do it. Stop on by any time you want." he reaches over to his wallet and opens it, pulling a one hundred dollar bill from it. He folds it over his finger and holds it out to Stacey. "Here, go by yourself a golden toilet or something. Or hell, go get a meal. Skinny as a rail. Always had to remind your mother to eat, me and your father."
Kenneth breaks his silence again with a snort and a glare, this time at both ahrouns. "The sept's going to Hell in a handbasket, and the Garou are doing the weaving," he replies back at Stacey, keeping the rage in his tone firmly in check, but unable to keep out the sarcasm. "How's that for paranoid?" And then it's back to Ryan for a brief stare. "The name is Kenneth. Called Far-Cry, Cliath Philodox of the Shadow Lords, formerly of the Fenris pack, Requiem. Not 'gipper'. Not 'Son'. I'll gut myself before I think of you as any father figure of mine." And with a sharp turn, the halfmoon wordlessly proclaims his departure by heading for the door without so much as an adieu.
Stacey loses a bit of her good humor at Kenneth's words, sobering at the sarcasm. "Ain't that bad," she answers lamely, then hops down to her feet. At the offer of the money, her eyes widen and she looks up uncertainly before she grins and reaches to take it. "Thank you," she says sincerely. "Think I'll use it for the meal. It was good to meet ya," she adds as she starts to move after Kenneth.
"Whatever you say, sport, but I'll be the first one to hand you the paring knife." The Major says as he looks back over to Kenneth. He shrugs and shakes his head, holding up a hand to stall any comeback from Kenneth. He reaches over to his side table to grab a Kleenex from the box and waves it a little, the "white flag" of truce. He stand from the bed after the money is taken from him and walks after the two, seeing them to the door. "Good to meet you. Both of you. Really. Either of you run into anything you might need help with, don't hesitate to sound the alarm and give me a hollar." He gets ahead of them and opens the door wide. "And Stacey, for what it's worth, I'm proud of you."
About to grab the door handle himself, Kenneth tenses as The Major comes after them. He must be half expecting an actual fist instead of the white Kleenex of peace, as his shoulders stiffen with defensiveness. And yet, nothing of the sort comes. It mollifies the snapping of the inner beast just a little, and with a low grunt he steps out into the hallway.
Stacey glances toward the 'white flag' and smiles, looking between the two before she nods. "Same to you, while you're in the area. Or, shoot, even if you're not. Never know when one might be able to help out." At Ryan's words, she smiles. "Thank you, means a lot," she answers as she also steps outside.
"Good." The Major nods to both of them and then peeks his head out into the hallway, looking either way before he shrugs. "Now go get some strange ass. Both of you. That's an order." he says as he closes the door. From behind the door he can be heard mumbling about needing a drink.
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