Comfort Zones
8/3/2007
03:40 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.
Currently the moon is in the waning Gibbous Moon phase (67% full).
It is currently 15:35 Pacific Time on Fri Aug 3 2007.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the southwest at 6 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.13 and falling, and the relative humidity is 56 percent. The dewpoint is 52 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius.)
Bawn: Western Forest(#3018RA)
Tall Sitka spruce and sequoia crowd around and above you. Many of the trees are old, their branches twisted into impossible shapes, trunks broad and draped with lichen, mosses and creepers. Tendrils of moss hand down from them like green spiderwebs, snaring the unwary with cold, ghostly fingers. The patches of younger growth are dense and pale, needles tinged with silver. Matted undergrowth huddles sullenly in the occasional small clearings, clutching with thorns and burrs at the legs of those who would pass. Deer seldom venture here, but the forest is full of rustlings, and tiny glints from wary, watchful eyes.
The forest spreads out to the east, bounded on the west by Sunrise Road. From farther to the west, one can occasionally hear the distant sounds of the town of Kent's Crossing.
Contents:
Salee
Obvious exits:
Southwest Highway 22 Overgrown Path Sunrise Road Farmhouse Caern of the Hidden Walk Creek Central Bawn Southern Bawn Northern Bawn
[look Salee (homid)]
A teenaged girl standing about five-and-a-half feet tall peers at her surroundings, as though she wants to take in everything and memorize it. Her appearance is rather frail, fragile. Her limbs are long and slender, almost to the point of being bony. But as stark as she is in body, her face is the opposite. Her features are soft and delicate, with high cheek bones that accentuate her pale green eyes quite nicely. Deep red hair, a shade so natural, but so perfect it had to have come out of a bottle, frames her pale face, cut in layers that brush her shoulders.
Chocolate-coloured leggings hug skinny legs and a pleated, camo print skirt, trimmed with white lace, falls to mid-thigh. Under a matching army green crop jacket that hangs open is a black tanktop with distressed lettering screened on, reading: The Angels Have The Phone Box.
Seeking a little solitude from the farmhouse, Salee has climbed up into one of the trees. Unsurprisingly, the girl's managed to drag her violin up with her and she's perched carefully on one of the wider branches as she plays. It's perhaps a bit louder than she would play at the house, now that she has no one to disturb. She looks incredibly serene, eyes slid shut with a small smile on her face. Her pale skin almost seems to glow, but that's likely a trick of the light.
Lured by the strings of music playing out on the bawn, Far-Cry lopes into the vicinity with his ears turned to focus on the melodies. Once he's closer, the halfmoon shifts to his breed form. He approaches the 'singing' tree, looking up and listening to the girl play. Only when there seems an appropriate pause in the music does he slip his hands together and give a light, one man audience applause.
Salee's eyes snap open at the sound of the applause. She jerks back with surprise and it's almost like slow motion as she starts to topple backwards out of the tree. She curls her arms around the violin protective, tucking it against her midsection.
Kenneth stops his applause as the girl starts. It's less than a blink of an eye later, she has not the youthful philodox below, but a large, blackfurred Crinos in place to catch her as she tumbles. His catching skill isn't exactly soft or anything, but saves her from hitting cold hard earth.
Salee stares up at Kenneth with wide eyes and stammers a quiet "Thanks." The Crinos is disconcerting, to say the least, having had so little experience with them, but she's not about to argue when she's been saved.
Far-Cry likewise peers back at the girl, still holding onto her. Those golden yellow eyes in their bestial form somehow soften for the most fleeting of moments. And then he gently lowers her down to the ground, back safe on her own two feet. ~It's nothing,~ replies the halfmoon with a dismissive flicker of his ears as he takes a step back from her.
Salee shakes her head slowly. "Sorry, I don't...." She trails off and looks away somewhat uncomfortably, colour creeping into her cheeks. She backs up a couple small steps herself.
Far-Cry rumbles again from deep in his chest at her words, and finally, slowly, returns to his breed form. Once he's resumed being 'Kenneth', he brushes down his shirt with a hand. "You could've hurt yourself," he remarks at her after a moment's pause.
Salee looks down at her shoes quickly, "Yeah... Sorry." She hugs her arms around herself, and her precious instrument, just a bit tighter.
"Are you?" Kenneth asks with a quick up and down scan of the other girl. "Hurt, that is. Because, I didn't mean to startle you."
Salee looks up again, finding it hard to keep her eyes on Kenneth's face, but managing all the same. Even if she doesn't quite meet his eyes. "I'm fine. Thanks to you."
Kenneth seems to notice that lack of eye contact, as he gives a small sigh. "Like I said before," he says with a dismissive gesture, "it's nothing." He skips a beat, looking towards the farmhouse direction as if on purpose. "Did they kick you out of the farmhouse because you were playing that thing too loudly or something?"
"Naw. I just wanted a little time to myself is all. I feel like..." Salee looks toward the house herself with a small frown. "It's nothing."
"You feel like...?" Kenneth pursues, not letting the girl off so easily. The step back he took before is made up for, as the philodox approaches to refill that empty space. "What's bothering you?"
"I just don't think I fit in," Salee admits. "I don't understand a lot of what's going on. What people are talking about. Hell, I can't even understand what people are even /saying/ half of the time."
Kenneth remains quiet for a long moment after such a confession. Then he gestures towards the farmhouse. "Fuck 'em," he states plainly. "Right now the most important thing to ask is this. Are you comfortable with yourself, knowing what you are?" He turns his gaze back upon the girl.
"Hell no." Salee shudders once. "I still can't quite believe it. I keep waiting to wake up from this. Like I'm going to suddenly be back in my own bed and think 'Wow! That was an incredible dream! It would make a great book.' I just..." She finally eases up just a bit, holding her violin in one hand and running her free hand through her hair. "There has to be a mistake. This is some kind of sick joke. I'm not cut out for this."
Listening without a change in expression, Kenneth just observes the cub for a while. Then he steps forward some more, hand outstretched. "Hand me the violin," he states, not by any sort of request.
"Uh uh." Salee again hugs the instrument close to herself, face determined. Amazing what manages to draw the backbone from this girl.
Kenneth's expression darkens just a touch. "Give it to me, or I'll take it from you. I guarantee you I'm not going to break it."
Salee peers skeptically at Kenneth, peering at his hands for a moment. Once she decides that they're sufficiently clean, she hands the instrument over.
Kenneth takes the violin in a rather gentle manner compared to the way he'd asked for it. The bow, he peers at, looking up and down the ivory string. "When you first started playing this, did you like it? Was it easy for you?" he asks, turning the instrument over, inspecting its every nook and curve.
Salee shrugs, "I started playing when I was very young. I was four. It maybe wasn't the easiest thing, but I /wanted/ to do it..."
The Shadow Lord nods slowly, gradually putting the violin up to his chin and shoulder. His form might not be the most graceful, but he appears to have at least had played such an instrument in the past. "I hated playing this," he replies to the girl. "My father thought it'd be a good way for me to learn focus. I thought it was a great way to cut my fingerprints off. The only reason I didn't smash that violin to pieces, was because I learned something about it." He sets the bow to the strings, and glances at the girl. "Learned that it was just a part of me that was holding me back. This? this is just a hunk of wood, some oil, some stain, some catgut and horse hair. But in the right hands?" He drops the violin back down, offering it back over. "In the right hands, it sings."
Salee takes her violin back and then tucks it between her chin and shoulder, playing again. "My parents didn't want me to play. They thought it was going to be a waste of their time and money. Thought it would be just a phase. I had beg for almost a year. I asked /every/ /single/ /day/ to be put in violin lessons." She slips quickly into the violin concerto Kenneth requested the other day, eyes sliding closed and that serene expression returns. "It's always been my escape. I wanted to be like-" She cuts off and blushes a bit, pretending to be deep in concentration. But the other Garou should know that she hardly needed to concentrate the last time she played this piece.
Kenneth listens again to the music played, but he looks to the girls face rather than her fingers this time. "Like?" Again, Kenneth spurs on the girl to finish her thought. "What if I ask you to play something else. Play something that might, describe what it felt like when you discovered you were a werewolf."
The music stutters for a moment, but she keeps up with the concerto until she can think of something fitting. Eventually, a small smirk plays on Salee's lips as the song stutters once again, this time intentionally. She breaks into something that sounds like a track from a movie, during the scary scene. If Kenneth has such tastes, he might recognize it as the interlude from El Tango de Roxanne, from Moulin Rouge. She's clearly doing her best to avoid finishing her thought.
Content to listen for the choice of track, Kenneth brings a hand up, fingers brushing his lips as he considers. There lacks a recognition in the tune specifically, from the way he watches her play, but then he presses on. "What about, being a wolf? You've spent time in the lupus form, right? What made that different?"
"It just /is/ different," Salee says quietly. The song makes the transition for her, as though she may have picked this one purposely. It sounds less fearful, but no less emotional. "When I'm... like that, it's like nothing else matters. Everything just becomes simple. But then I'm back to myself again and nothing's simple. I'm reminded of why this is just so messed up."
"Can't disagree there," Kenneth admits aloud, "if there's one thing to envy of a wolf it's simplicity. But even their world is far from boring. You can take what you learn that way, though, and apply it to almost everything." His gaze travels to the forest beyond for a time, even if he's still listening to the song's ebb and flow. "Knowing that you can't go back, and knowing what you know now about yourself. What would be one question that you'd ask?"
"What do you mean?" Salee's eyes open half way, peering curiously at Kenneth. "Nothing I could have possibly known then would have prepared me for what I'm going through now."
Kenneth levels a querying look at the girl. "Nothing at all? Just because you find out one day you're /more/ than what everyone expected of you, everything from before gets tossed out into the cold? How do you define yourself, Salee?"
"Jack told me my old life is over. How am I supposed to equate /any/ of that to this? It's like I don't even know who I am anymore." Salee's voice is cold, tone perhaps a little harsher than what she intended. This whole I'm-A-Werewolf thing really /isn't/ sitting well with her. "This isn't a case of being /more/ than what people expected of me. I'm just /not/ what people expected. I'm not what /I/ expected. I'm not ever going to be able to do any of the things I wanted to do with my life."
Kenneth narrows his eyes again at that cold tone. "So what, you find out you're not being all you can be." The Shadow Lord steps forward enough that he gets in her face. "You are a Garou. You /are/ more than anything some mere humans could ever hope to be. You're more than anything you could have expected living some boring ass life playing violin like a performing monkey. How hard is it to expect better?"
The violin screeches as the music abruptly stops. Salee turns away quickly and starts walking toward where her violin case is laid, a ways away from the tree she had climbed into. She doesn't say a word in response. She just wants to get away.
Kenneth pursues like this were a mild car chase. "Is that your response to everything? Running away? Maybe that's how Salem found you, huh? What happened? Did you discover you were getting restless with life? Found yourself wondering whether there was more than just the same boring shit of practicing, eating, sleeping, getting up to practice more?"
Salee has her violin stowed away just as Kenneth finishes his accusations. She whirls around, empty handed now, and swings at the Shadow Lord with her tiny fists. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut /up/!"
Kenneth moves to sidestep the first of the blows, but then he lifts his hands to block or redirect any that come too close to striking his face. One punch does get through that hits his jaw hard enough to turn his head, and he throws his weight forward to pin her against a tree. His form bulks up to the Glabro form at the same time in a mere instant, spurred on by Rage.
Salee starts screaming, but she doesn't stop fighting. She kicks and she struggles and tries to break free of the Glabro's grip. "Let go of me! Let go!" Oddly enough, she doesn't even seem all that scared. Just /angry/.
Kenneth doesn't let go, though. He keeps the girl pinned against the tree as long as she struggles, using his bigger bulk to hold her. The screaming gets a reply of a snarl, and another harsh command. "Silence, or I swear to God I will break your jaw!"
"You wouldn't /dare/," Salee growls back, although she does stop screaming. Her flailing and attempts to break free don't stop, however.
Oh, he dares. Kenneth has a time trying to keep her pinned, so he doesn't for long. There's a second only, perhaps, for Salee to realize that she's released. But the next second there's a meaty fist that comes at her face in a hard left haymaker right to the kisser.
Salee goes stumbling a few steps before falling to the ground. She's seeing stars, and not really moving much at all anymore. Her lip is split pretty badly, blood already dripping from the wound. Her jaw isn't broken, if her attempts to form words are any indication. Tears sting at her eyes and after a few moments, she just starts to cry softly. Defeated.
Kenneth stomps over after, maintaining that bulky form of the near-man. "You are /not/ as pathetic as you think you are, cub. You are /not/ fragile. Your mediocrity, your boredom, /those/ are no more. You are Garou, so hold your damn head up high. Or the next time, you may not be spared." After he says his piece, the Shadow Lord turns away and stalks off back into the woods, soon disappearing amidst the trees and leaving her to her will.
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