Yi sits at the first row of pews, chewing thoughtfully on the tip of a ballpoint with a couple stacks of paper.

The church doors open with a loud creak. Nevada returns from his two-day absence with rings under his eyes and a grocery bag over his shoulder. "Hey," he calls to the Ragabash.

Yi turns her head, seeing a not quite as cheery Nevada and sets down her writing material. Standing of from the pew, she strides down the center aisle towards him. A tug of a smile sits on her features, relief and concern filling her eyes. "Nevada, where'd you go? I got worried," she notes, helping him with the grocery bag.

"Went for a walk," he says, rubbing at the back of his neck. The grocery bag contains a six pack of Christmas cokes, some gum, some lunchmeat, and a loaf of bread that's been squashed. "What's all that?" Nevada glances at the stack of papers.

Yi rubs the back of her neck, setting down the bag on the pew and removing the Coke so it doesn't quash the bread any further. "I thought it would be time, to send word to people who should know the news. I meant to ask you something as well, Nevada." She sits back down on the pew, shuffling the papers to one side, picking up the pen and twirling it a bit agitatedly.

"News?" Nevada asks, slumping into a pew. "What about?"

Yi runs her other hand through her hair, gazing at the worn down cub. "Writing to my Sept in Hong Kong, for one. I wish to find out about Grandmother Rui and the others, how they are doing." She pauses, taking a deep breath and sighing softly. "And about Jay. His parents, they've been sending money to his apartment, and I think they should know. I've been trying to write a letter, but I do not know how I could tell them. I didn't know his parents, or even if they are alive as well. And if we... send them the news, they will stop sending the money, and we cannot stay in the apartment any longer."

Nevada dips his head in a nod, quiet for a moment. "We send a letter," he says, no question about it. "I don't know his parents. Met his kid sister once." He fingers the denim sleeve of his jacket. "There'll be ways to get money," he adds.

Yi slips out from her pew and into the pew Nev sits in. She plops right next to him and gazes, reaching a hand up to poke softly at the puffy ring under his eye. "You look like you haven't slept for days. Something wrong?" she queries, acting the concerned friend she is. "Arizona's been moved to the farmhouse. She's been wondering how you are doing as well." She pauses at that, wondering how the cub's reaction would be.

Nevada turns his head at the poke. "I'm fine," he says. "Just tired." He looks at the floor as if it were suddenly very interesting. "I should have seen it sooner, you know? I should have known."

"That she was Garou?" Yi questions, arching an eyebrow. "There's no way to see such things until the fetch arrives." She lays her hand on his shoulder. "You're just a cub too. I'm just a cliath. We've all got things to learn about the world and who is in it." Her head tilts so she can look at him. "It's not your fault, besides. The mating, is no big deal. You both did not know you were Garou. She lost the child, and I think it is perhaps, Gaia's will that deemed it so. Imagine if she had given birth, to the metis. A crinos pup. The Veil would've been shattered, and her mind confused even more. Nevada... she still does love you. And she wants to know, if you return that love."

"I can't," Nevada says. "If I did, it'd be wrong. I've screwed up at everything else.. I don't want to be a bad Garou. A bad dog." He sighs, hard. "I don't want her to get in any more trouble because of me."

Yi slips her arm around the cub's shoulder, hugging him with an arm. "You can still love her," she says quietly. "Love her the way Jay loved me, the way I loved Jay. It is a strange emotion..." She lets go, drawing up a leg and resting her head on the knee. "You aren't a bad Garou. You're not a bad person at all. The key to happiness is not found easily in our world, but if we have friends to help find it, the journey goes faster." She pokes him again, in the cheek. "If you don't start singing everytime you come into this church, I'm going to..." she thinks for a few moments, "take away those smelly singing socks that you keep around the house." Her eyes gaze at the cub, hoping to elicit at least a little genuine chuckle from him.

Nevada is quiet for a long time. He doesn't know what to say. He has a dark look, one that ages him. After a while, he finally says, quietly, "They don't smell that bad."

Yi gazes at the cub comically, a small grin settling on her features. "You aren't the one who washes them," she replies, nudging under his jaw with a playful fist. "C'mon. Where is the Nevada that I knew, who would charm with his words and sing loudly in the streets like he owned the Broadway theatre?"

Nevada smirks thinly. "I don't know, but if you see him, let me know. He was kinda cute."

Yi returns the smirk. "Cuter than you I imagine. He had a smile that could charm bluebirds from their nests. You, have a smile of a constipated horse." She laughs.

Nevada snorts a laugh despite himself, trying to resist the Ragabash.

"And he was very talented, that Nevada," Yi continues, standing up and sliding along the church floor. "He said he could dance, and even sang while he vacuumed floors. He could make pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse, and come up with great names like Gets-Down-with-Bad-Self..."

"Well, he sounds like a hell of a guy," Nevada says, rolling his eyes. "What do you say we drink a few Cokes in his honor, or what?"

Yi plops down after a short twirl, next to the six-pack of soda. She plucks one off, handing it to the cub. "Yes, yes he was," she says with a reminiscent sigh. "There is a saying though, I heard from a movie I saw on TV. Speak of the devil... and he may come." She grins and pops open her own can with a whoosh of released air fizzing out from the heavily carbonated caffeine drink.

Nevada accepts the can, glancing at her from over it. "You know, I think he's glad to have you as a friend, Yi," he says. "Even if you are kind of messed up in the head."

"In a mad world, only the mad are sane," Yi quotes from the excellent movie _Ran_, "And I think I'm glad to have him as a friend. Now if he'd only get come back so someone can finish teaching him and he can get Rited..."

Nevada pops the tab, taking a sip. "Do you think you could teach me that voice control gift?" he asks, swirling the coke around in the can. "You know.. the persuading one?"

Yi takes a sip, feeling the acidic fizz sliding down her throat. A quick, dramatic exhale worthy of commercials, and she nods. "I think so," she replies. "It is a Gift that comes very naturally to humans. So manipulative, we are." She grins widely. "I've saved many a dollar from the storekeepers, using it."

Nevada smiles a little. Yi's grin is infectious. "One time," he says," Jay was showing me Gifts... he was just chattin away, then he said, by the way, Nevada, do me some jumping jacks..."

Yi takes another swig from her can and arches an eyebrow curiously. "Jumping Jacks?" She then quickly mouths an 'oh', remembering something of the sort from exercise programs she'd seen on TV. "Why?"

"'Cause he was Jay, that's why," Nevada says. He smirks. "Another time, he made bugs chase me. A big cloud of 'em. Like this." He holds out his arms.

Yi chuckles and nods. "That's a gift that we Gnawers can learn and use. It's because you smelled like honey, if you remembered to sniff while you were being chased."

Nevada says "It's not that I didn't remember to, it's just that when you're being chased by a plague of insects, you just don't sit down and decide to snort your tail on the spot."

Yi laughs, grinning and nodding. "That's very true." She finishes the last of her Coke, setting the empty can down on the pew beside her.

Nevada nurses his coke for a moment, then glances over to the stack of paper. "So what should we say?" he wonders.

Yi eyes the stack of paper, and picks up her pen. Slipping a piece of paper onto the pew, she looks thoughtful. "The truth," she says, dating the paper. "Jay was killed, in battle. He died with honor and glory, the way a warrior should, and will be remembered in our memories."

((You paged the room with 'Just occured to me, that Yi might not know how to write proper English. lol What about Nev?'.
Nevada pages to the room: Nev has horrible dyslexia. ;)
You paged the room with 'Jay is a good man. He fight well. Die with honor, and we remember. Send more money. LOL'.
Alicia has connected.
Alicia pages to the room: Hey guys. :P I'm on a quickie break.
Long distance to the room: Yi waves. Nev and I were just tryin to write the letter to Jay's folks.
Nevada pages to the room: Jay's parents: You have mail!
"deer jayss pants, HI jya dyed in battle w/ splack biral danceds we r sooo sad. he were wave barrior & fite gud, & live on in are legend's. rarr!! -- luv, nevaaordo, frened o jayy))

Yi thinks back to her studies in Hong Kong, calling up her memories amongst the facts. With a small scribble, she begins, saying her words aloud to get the phonetics down and tell Nev what she is writing - Dear parents of Jay. Your son, Jay, moved to Saint Claire. We write you to tell you, that he is gone. He died, in a battle, fighting for Gaia. He died with honor, glory, and courage. We are sorry and tell you that he will be with us forever, in our hearts and memories. -- Yi and Nevada.

((Long distance to the room: Yi notes, of course, that the spelling isn't all that great. lol))

Nevada listens quietly, tapping his fingers on the back of the pew. "That sounds right," he says.

"Do you know if they know he is Garou?" Yi asks the cub. "It might help... I'll draw our mark on it. If they do not know, then it might not mean anything to them. It's a risk, but... better that, then have them wonder about their son." She sighs softly, then adds the tribal glyph to the end of the letter. With that, she folds it up, and sticks it in an envelope from the paper stack. Taking out a small piece of paper from her pocket, she scrawls the address of Jay's house in California onto the envelope. "I don't suppose there is anything he'd want his parents to have," she murmurs.

"They know," Nevada says. "They're kin, Glass Walkers." He purses his lips, thinking. "Don't know.. I'll look over the place."

Yi looks a little surprised, at the mention of Jay's folks being Walker kin. "It's ok," she says, sealing the envelope. "Most of his possessions are in the apartment." Getting up, she stretches a bit and looks over another envelope she has, this one an airmail letter with Chinese characters written upon it. "I'll be sending these off, then," she says, looking down at both pieces of mail to check addresses and such. "You and I should visit Alicia, sometime." She looks at the cub. "If you'd still like to be friends with her, that is," she notes with some guard.

((Long distance to the room: Yi lol. | Humans walking by in the park look at the cub talking to crows and pigeons in the park, and shake their heads. "That's what drugs do to ya son, don't get involved with 'em."
From afar, to the room, Nevada sits with a beer and a squirrel. "Yeahhhh.... sho 'zehn Ah shhhaid,'Hey buddy, hyou htalkkin ha me'? An hlike, he'zzz hlike, no, an hime hlike.." Nevada passes out.
Long distance to the room: Yi passes by to see Nevada passed out, and the squirrel chugging on a pool of undrunken beer.))

Nevada nods slowly. "Kind of a bitch to send them that letter with Christmas coming up, but they have a right to know." He presses a long smirk. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to see Alicia for a while."

Yi respects the cub's wishes, nodding as she slips the envelopes into her front sweatshirt pocket. "Yes, well it is better than not getting any cards from him," she replies, glancing out a grimy window. "It may be better that way. She has other things to think about, as do you. I think after a little while more, you will be ready for your rite of passage." She smiles, and reaches out to pat him on the shoulder. "In the meantime, I think we have a Christmas gift for Elan. We can clean up this church a bit, make it actually more... church-looking."

Nevada smiles a little. "Get this place clean?" He casts a dubious look over the cathedral. "That's going to take some work."

Yi laughs, nodding. "It sure will. It can be done though," she remarks, her eyes giving the church a once over. "My Grandmother's den looked worse."

"Looks like a job for Mr Clean," Nevada says, leaning back in the pew. "I think we'd have a better chance taking a wrecking ball to this place, and then building us a whole new church."

Yi glances about, and wipes a finger on the dusty pew. "It's just dust. We might have a bit of a problem with spiders... but that hasn't stopped me before." She chuckles.

"Too cold for those little guys," Nevada says with a smirk. "Might be a broom downstairs, I'll check." He heads for the stairwell. "Though we're going to need.. like, a tank."

Yi laughs, and fingers the envelopes in her sweatshirt pocket. "I'll go mail off these letters," she replies, heading for the door. "Keep singing, Nevada."

"See ya later, Mulan," Nevada calls as he goes down.