The door is knocked upon outside, a little loudly, in a series of three knocks.

Inside, a scruffy, triangular ear perks up and a wolfish sort of canine spills off the couch and onto the floor with the tick-tack-tick of blunted claws. Her tail wags about as she winds her way over to the door and sits on her haunches, regarding it with a certain consideration. She barks, once, even.

Yi tilts her head outside, then knocks again. "Signe? Anneka?" The voice is muffled, but maybe it is distinguishable. The Canto-Gnawer hms quietly, considering just unlocking the doors herself.

The wolf's tail wags about furiously, though her ears skew a bit, and she grins in the lupine fashion. It's me! Anneka! I can't open it. There's a bit of a whine to the last part, though more from a hint of frustration.

Yi hears the whine, then considers some more. Finally she decides to open up the door herself. She takes on the first lock, giving it the 'look' as it slowly, but surely slides open.

The wolf in question cranes her neck about to glance at Jamethon, her tail whisking across the floor. She looks down at her paws, furrows a canine brow. Hands, hands. I need hands. Hands, hands, hands!

Jamethon comes in from the back enterance looking at the odd wolf and hearing the knocking at the door and the locks coming open. He gives the wolf a quieting glance and gesture as he gets out his key to help unlock the door.

Anneka turns an ear back, then curls up in a half-moon on the floor. Her tail's still wagging about though. She at least didn't ruin any clothes-- There's a pile of her stuff on the couch, near her satchel.

Yi is on work of the second lock, getting a bit impatient but otherwise diligent on moving the deadbolt over from one side to the other.

Jamethon pushes the deadbolt the rest of the way himself and quickly unlocks the rest of the locks. Opening the door he glances at the newly arrived. "Yi, one of my favorite Gnawers."

Yi blinks as the door opens up, then looks up at Jamethon. "Hey, Jamethon. One of my favorite Get." She chuckles lowly, then tilts her head to look for the cub. "Anneka?" Politely, she doesn't step in yet.

The wolf looks over the scruffy brush of her tail at the door. Hi, Yi! I'm over here! She scrabbles to her feet, claws ticking on the floor. I've been practicing. It's fun and Nevada said so, too. She peeks around Jamethon at Yi, though not too close to the door.

[looking at Anneka (lupus)]
-----
Sandy-furred, skinny and underfed, with the pup's oversized paws and long legs. Her face is framed in a ruff of tangled fur, her muzzle not quite long or short, her eyes the sort of yellow that a dog never has. Despite being an adolescent canine jumble, she has the looks of a wolf that lands on all four feet more often than she does not.
-----

Jamethon grins and looks between the cub and Yi. "One of yours I see." he says simply before moving to the kitchen to grab a drink. "Want something, Yi?" he calls over as he rumages through the fridge.

Yi smiles and waves to the dog, "Practicing. Well, good idea. I thought I'd drop by and see how you were doing. Not climbing on walls or anything, right? Oh, that's right." By now the smell of Chinese food probably has rolled in through the doorway, as she picks up the bag of takeout behind her. She dips her head to Jamethon, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. "Uhm, a Coke I suppose." She answers hesitantly, as a guest would. Her hand reaches down to scruffle Anneka. "Thought you'd be hungry."

Jamethon nods and pulls out two cokes, closing the fridge behind him. Coming over he thinks on something as he hands one of the cans to Yi. He digs into one of his pockets and pulls out a harmonica. "The oddest thing happened today. Some bum on the street was playing this while I was walking by... he then looked at me, got all pissed off, and threw this thing at me saying he was done with the damn thing. I have no use for it... you want it?"

Anneka's tail starts wagging again. I am. She glances at the bag, sidles over a bit so she can be closer to it and follows Yi inside. I think I might climb them if I could-- A pause, then. I've bene practicing, though, and I didn't mess up my clothes. A cold nose touches the takeout bag, leaves a wet print for a moment. I did go to a moot, with Matt.

Yi accepts the Coke first, setting the bag down for Anneka to rummage through and sniff before canting her head to Jamethon and the harmonica. "Well.. I'm not sure how to use it myself, but, I'll take it." She grins, grateful for the gift and eyes sparkling with a sudden idea in mind about it. Then she stoops down and lifts out the boxes to set them on the floor, opening them for Anneka. "You've been Garou for a little less than a week, and you've attended a moot already? You have good timing, cub." She scruffles the cub between the ears and then sits down beside the couch. "How are things with you, Jamethon?" comes the query to the Get. A hand motions for the cub to help herself, as Yi offers a box of eggrolls in Jamethon's direction.

Jamethon shakes his head. "The everpresent quest for a pack is still going on. With little success for now. I find myself just walking back and forth between the city and the caern for over the last 3 months." Upon the offering of the food he accepts graciously, taking one before returning the box. "Yourself?"

Anneka tilts her head and looks down at one of the boxes, ears canted forward, tail still for a moment: The archetype of canine thoughtfulness. When I changed first it was my moon. She lowers her head, plucks an eggroll from a box, slowly-- When she lifts her head, the roll's poking out of her mouth. Snap, snap, and it's gone.

Jamethon grins to the cub and nods approvingly. "You are a quick learner, but wait till you are first challenged, and we shall see how you fare then." There's a whole lot I don't know, Anneka says, her long canine face solemn for a breath. She looks down at a box of noodles, flicks an ear back. Her hands change first, blunt-claws fading to nails, toes to fingers, and then fur is fading to skin. This change is faster than her first, though only just, and she grits her teeth at the snip and snap of bone. She's pale, shaking quietly when she's human again, but she stands and pads over to wriggle into her clothes.

Anneka contorts and blurs as she is transformed. Anneka shifts into Homid form.

Yi eyes Jamethon, eyebrow arched slightly. "Who do you think you'll pack with? Myself, I've found place in Salmon's Leap. Sepdet, Soulcatcher, Little Bear and Flamecaller I call my packmates now." She blinks as Anneka shifts, listening to the bone and squidge of flesh as she chews on the end of an eggroll.

Anneka's color has returned by the time she sits again, picks up a box and some chopsticks. Her smile to Yi is a bit lopsided. "Hands."

Jamethon grins as he holds something back for a moment before answering Yi... not for long it seems though. "Nice ass..." he comments over to Anneka with an appologetic smile as he looks back to the Canto-Gnawer. "Jarred is a definate. He is my brother now as always even if the bastard is a Shadow Lord." he says cryptically.

Yi smirks some at the hands note. Then eyeing between Jamethon and Anneka, she blinks again. "What about Joey and Junior? They're looking for some Garou to pack with." She tilts her head off to a side slightly towards Anneka. "Remind one of your elders to dedicate a set of clothes to you." She shrugs and chomps the last half of the eggroll, swallowing before noting some more. "I'll do it for you even, after dinner." She smiles, a peculiar quirk of her lip.

Anneka is, by all accounts, a skinny kid. She gives Jamethon something of a blank look, then grins to Yi. "That'd be way cool." Then, she perks up a bit. "Where'd they go?" She looks down at herself. "--When I'm wolfin'?"

Jamethon glances to Yi with an odd expression of thanks. "I'll do the dedication, I owe you one."

Yi blinks up at Jamethon, the smile creasing a little wider. She dips her head in thanks, though her brow arches. "You don't owe me anything, Jamethon," she puzzles. To Anneka, her answer comes with a bit of thoughtfulness. "I'm not sure myself. The dedication, is asking the spirit of the clothes to become one with your spirit. I guess, in this way you and it are linked, maybe in the Umbra, or maybe a deeper level." She motions to Jame. "He's the theurge, ask him." She chuckles and looks up at Jamethon, eyes asking for his input.

The cub glances down at herself, plucks at her shirt with a free hand, then looks back at Yi, her head canted to the side, her hair framing her face in a sandy tangle. "Clothes have spirits?"

Jamethon would meet her eyes if she should actually seek his with her own, if not he glances over to the cub now. Either way, he explains. "Dedication is a powerful rite that many take for granted. It is a fusion of spirit and matter and a seperation of the two as well. Many use it just for their clothing when changing forms... but it has so many more capabilities. Let us just say for the laymen, that when you dedicate an item to a Garou you make are actually dedicating the Garou to the item. The item takes on the spirit of the Garou and will coexist with him until the two are irrepairably seperated."

Yi hms softly at Jamethon's explaination. "Everything has a spirit," she answers Anneka. "It's a little hard to imagine sometimes. But maybe even humans understand it a little. I've seen them talk to their cars like babies." Her expression goes a little more puzzled for a second, then reverts back to a normal calm as she continues to look at Jamethon a moment. "What sort of capabilities are you speaking of?" Herself curious, the Asian purses her lips slightly with a pensive look.

"Oh," Anneka says, quietly. She's quiet for a bit as she chomps on a mouthful of noodles, then glances at Jamethon, sidelong. "So, then, when I'm wolfin', my stuff'd be part of me?" Her brow furrows. "I'm still kinda confused 'bout spiri--" She looks to Yi. "Oh! But--" She blinks. "I guess that makes sense."

Jamethon looks to Yi. "Well there is the obvious. Smuggling. You can bind a weapon to a gnawer who has a particularly believable doglike look in Lupus form, no one around would know this dog has a sniper rifle on his because it would only look like a tattoo to the unobservant. Even the observant would need to use their own spiritual power to extricate a dedicated item that has changed form."

Yi blinks over at Anneka as she queries and answers herself. Then at Jamethon's answer she brightens with..recognition? Yi nods affirmatively. "It has quite a surprising effect," she remarks. "The looks on some triad boss' face when a machine gun peels off from a pet dog, is quite remarkable." She doesn't suppress the little glint of fire in her eyes, before gazing back to Anneka. "What were you confused about? Ask away." Her smile is amiable enough.

You paged the room with 'Ah the implications. Suddenly, Fluffy grows off the side, the skin taking on a brief metallic glint as a rocket launcher falls off from the chihuahua.'.

Jamethon pages to the room: Oh... dear... god.

There's a long pause as Anneka peers into one of the boxes on the floor. She takes an egg roll out, nibbles on the end, then squints. Her freckled nose wrinkles a little. "Wellll-- I know a little 'bout totem stuff, an' I guess they're spirits. But--" She sits up. "Are ghosts real?" There is really a very hungry look in her eyes when she asks that.

Jamethon nods to the cub. "Yes... many of them. Hardly any of them are ever here in the realm, or even in the near umbra though."

Yi swallows the last of a short appetizer and nods. "Ghosts, vampires..." Yi almost growls the end of the word, "It's real." Her head tilts to the cub. "You are learning fast. What do you know already?"

"Oh," the cub says, quietly. She fumbles with her food a bit, takes a few moments to look to Yi. "Puddle's gettin' bigger, but it isn' that deep." There's almost a smile, hesitant, and then she's gone and dropped her food. She picks the egg roll up and brushes at it.

Yi smirks slightly. "Well, so how big is the puddle? Even my lake isn't all that spanning."

Jamethon glances at the egg roll and sighs. "Yeah, its all real. Perhaps not the way you now understand it, but it's out there in some form or another. Be hopeful you never have to encounter it here in St. Claire. The fucking Leeches are around I'm sure... but other then that."

Anneka opens her mouth, then closes it. When she speaks again, there's a careful edge to her voice. "A li'l 'bout totems, an' dif'rent tribes, 'n auspices, too. Like, there's Bone Gnawers an' Get of Fenris, an' Fianna--" She smiles a little then. "Matt took me to this house in th'woods, an' there was a buncha people there." Her back straightens a bit as she sits up. "An' there's ways t'talk 'bout people, too, like I'm a cub and a Philodox and a Bone Gnawer an' that's all -real- 'portant, so that's why we say it."

Jamethon nods his head slightly. "Except we don't use it just because it's important information. It is who we are and what our role is. It is how we do our part to help save Gaia."

Yi dips her head in a single nod. "When you say you are a cub, Philodox, and Bone Gnawer, it is like..." She pauses, thinking of a way to explain. "It is like when you are in the army. They ask you for name, rank, and what group you are part of. So your name, then rank, which is cub. This lets them know that you are still learning about the Garou ways, and have not taken the test that ...promotes you. Cubs, are given more chances than a cliath would. Cliath, and above, are expected to know the ways, with no exceptions. Then, the auspice of philodox, and tribe of Bone Gnawers, lets them know what you do, and who you run with. As a philodox, others will know that they can turn to you for help in settling disputes, or asking you about the laws of the Garou, things like that. As a Bone Gnawer, you should know the ways of the city. We know the streets carry their own laws, na?" She peers back at Anneka to see if she understands. Heavens know Yi sucks at getting her points across.

Anneka chomps on her egg roll, and nods. "Mff, an'--" She swallows. "Kaz said I gotta learn more 'Gnawer stuff, 'cause that's who I am." There's a smile, to Yi. "Yeah, there's lots. An'---" There's a long pause. "When I can go out, I gotta start explorin', 'cause I don' know here at -all-."

Jamethon nods to the cub. "Yeah yeah, you all gotta know the cities you protect like the back of your hands and all. I on the other hand... well, I a child of Fenris. Great Wolf. He who devours the wyrm in even his dying jaws. My tribe is the bloodest bunch mother fuckers out there and we'll kick the asses of anyone who says differently. I'm part of that group. And I'm proud of it. Still, all of us have our own ways of combating the wyrm, on our own terms."

The cub nods, eyes bright. "We're all dif'rent, and all Garou. It's cool." She chomps on another egg roll. "Oh! I heard stuff 'bout gifts an' rites, too, but not too much. I just-- Well, they're things Gaia gives to us."

"Right. City exploring comes when you are let out. That we can do in a couple of days I think." Yi chuckles at Jamethon, then turns to Anneka. "Jamethon is a Get. Short for Get of Fenris. Fenris is their totem, like he said the 'Great Wolf'. Which, at best I can say, is a very very big wolf. I've never seen Fenris." She shrugs. "But the Get of Fenris, I respect them. They are warriors, all of them, who fight, and fight honorably. Signe, Chaser, Jamethon here, Owen, and some others." She comes back around the branch of digression to continue, "We Bone Gnawers, protect the cities we live in as much as any Garou would protect their home. Even if we don't get as much respect as a Get of Fenris would amongst other tribes, we fight on our terms too. We do what we have to, to survive. To survive, we change to the situation. Like Rat can live just about anywhere because Rat learns to adapt."

There's a lot of energy bundled up in Anneka, and she starts-- almost standing before flopping down on her rear again. She nods, grins. "Cities need protectin', too, and--" She tilts her head. "'s like water stuff in T'coma. There's not a lotta beaches good t'swim from, so y'hafta be real careful, an' get on people who're makin' messes 'n stuff, 'cause it really hurts."

Jamethon glances to Yi, approving of her terse description of his tribe. "At least I know the difference between stuff and Stuff." he comments with a chuckle and a grin.

The jingle of keys in the lock heralds someone or other, and it eventually proves to be Kaz, a large paper bag in hand. "Yo, people," she mutters, heading to the kitchen to unload herself.

Yi grins back at Jamethon, "Yes, yes you do." She nods to Anneka. "Some people like to think the ocean is just a watery trash dump." Shaking her head with a slight growl, her shoulders shrug off the feeling before glancing up to see Kaz enter. "Hey, Kaz," she grins back at the galliard. Then the thought strikes her. She looks back at Anneka. "We should do that dedication now."

Kaz comes back out with a Coke. "You know it, Yi?"

Anneka scrambles to her feet, smiles at Kaz, then looks back to Yi. "I-- have shoes." She does, indeed, black and block-toed with some socks, in her satchel. The girl ends up on the floor near the couch, wrestling her feet into them. "Do I-- hafta do anythin' special?"

Yi nods her affirmative. "I do. Dedicated a set to Rotem before." She looks up over at Jamethon. "Though Jamethon for some reason offered to perform the rite." To Anneka, she nods. "Just, concentrate on the clothes, respect their spirit and what they do... clothe you to keep you warm. Something of that sort." She looks to Kaz and Jamethon.

Kaz glances at Jamethon, and grins. "You gonna do th' bleedin' one?" She seems not at all averse to the Get doing it, really.

Anneka stands up and crosses her arms, looks to Jamethon and the others, then down to herself. She stays like that, brow furrowed.

Jamethon looks to Kaz and shrugs. "If you don't mind. It's quick, effective, and to the point."

Kaz shrugs. "The fuck would I mind for? It's how I do it, after all. Just," her grin grows, "I prolly use less than you do."

Yi looks between the Garou. She's seen many forms of this rite, but her brow still rises with some interested curiosity. Her eyes fall upon the cub as she stands up and waits for Jamethon to instruct.

With so many eyes in her direction, Anneka looks up, green eyes meeting Jamethon's own. She tilts her head slightly.

Jamethon glances to Kaz once again. "Well, I do it my own way as well. I've not seen it performed much around here." As Anneka's eyes meet his his lip curls slightly and he growls. "Cub, do not share my eyes with your own unless you wish to challenge me." About this time he is approaching the cub and pulls a knife from a pocket of his sweats. Yes, he actually had one on him.

Kaz mutters, "Jesus, guy, explain it to her once nicely before y'yell at her," but watches his preparations with interest.

"He's saying, don't stare, it's impolite." Yi sort of adds. "It's a wolf thing." She smirks at Jamethon a moment. "Going eye-to-eye is a challenge. Like, sizing up the other guy."

Anneka stands very still for a moment, then looks away. "I won't forget," she says, her voice quiet, careful. She sticks her hands in her pockets, picks a point to look at that's near the Get, if not directly at him and nods.

Jamethon just grins ferally as he nods his head to Kaz's comment. "Sorry, I'll try." He then regards the cub again. "Ok, are you wearing now what you wish to be wearing for a long while to come?" Even as he asks this he pulls the single sided blade of the knife through the palm of his hand, biting deeply as the blood begins to pool from the wound. He flips the blade in his hand, holding onto the sharp end and offering the hilt to the cub. "If so, take the knife from me."

Yi watches from a bit off to the cub's side, glance flickering between the two. Under her breath she says something indecipherable, perhaps her own offer to the spirits to help with the dedication.

Kaz takes a long swig of Coke, silent.

"They're good clothes," the girl says, eyes meeting the knife sidelong. S he reaches out and curls her pale fingers around the blade's grip. There's the faintest tremble to them, but only that, and then she's holding the knife, her arm bent slightly at the elbow. Her eyes drift to it, to Jamethon's hand holdin g the blade. Her knuckles get white, for a moment, and then she pulls the knife towards her.

Jamethon releases the blade to her grip and shows her his cut palm. "Here is your first test. You might find me barbaric... cruel. But this matters. Give yourself the same wound as I have given myself. It honestly will only hurt a moment, and you'll heal it before you know it." He seems to be going easy on the cub with his words now at least...

Yi continues watching intently, sniffing a bit as the bloodscent reaches her nose.

Anneka draws her left hand out, fingers opening slowly. There are darker spots on the palm where her nails have bit in a bit, little crescents. On the knife, her fingers curl about the hilt tighter, as she wraps her palm about the blade. There's a faint wince from the first bite, then the girl's growling faint to herself. She glances to Kaz and Yi, then to Jamethon and pulls the knife out from the scabbard her hand had made for it. Her back tenses and she hisses quietly, but she doesn't cry out as blood starts to squeeze out between her fingers.

Jamethon grins and nods approvingly, seeming to enjoy the scent of blood more then having any real intrest in it. "Good, now touch the blood from your opened palm to each piece of clothing you wish to have dedicated, starting from your head to your feet and from the clothing underneath, closest to your skin, outwards to that which furthest on the outside." He does the same as he instructs to his own clothing as he makes the instructions. He imprints his sweat shirt with a long bloodied line, and something... perhaps the energy of the rite showing itself, causes the blood to spread rapidly through the cloth and disapates like it wasn't even there in the first place.

Kaz just watches, tensing slightly when Anneka cuts herself, but it seems this is not a foreign process to her.

Yi looks on with fascination at the bloodletting and disappearing blood, silent in observation. Her eyes flicker between the two.

Anneka uncurls her fingers, slowly. The cut's a mess, bleeding freely and the girl's heart is racing, but she pulls her hand across her shirt, leaving a dark smear of blood behind, the long prints of a few fingers. Then down, following the pattern set by Jamethon. When she stands straight again, her hand's still bleeding-- there are droplets of it on the floor as well, and her clothes are crossed with a hatchwork of bloody lines.

As the blood meets the clothing Jamethon's eyes seem to flash white for a moment as if he was expending some kind of power through them. The effect is the same however and the red stain spreads and disappears. The clothing on her body seems to be charged with a new energy, much like it seems Jamethon's is. They almost float lightly from the body's of those involved in the rite. "Now, drink deeply of your wound as you cross over to the form which is easiest for you to achieve." As he speaks this, he waits for the cub to start to comply.

Yi notes the flash of white, maybe a little mystified, but her gaze to the smears on the clothing and disappearing blood doesn't break.

Kaz's Rites apparently don't have flashy effects like this, but then, she's not a theurge. She just says, "Huh," and appears to be taking mental notes.

Anneka is growling, quiet as she pulls her hand up to her mouth, blood smearing across a cheek, her mouth as she licks at the long cut across her palm, then presses it closer. The change to Crinos is quicker this time, but bones still snap and pull, and the girl's cry turns to a muffled howl as she draws up and up into the war form, sickle claws pulling out from her fingertips, a long brush of a tail thrashing behind her.

Anneka contorts and blurs as she is transformed. Anneka shifts into Crinos form.

Yi furrows her brow a bit at the bone snapping, but does note with some satisfaction the clothes blur and disappear. She looks to Jamethon.

Jamethon pulls his own hand quickly to his mouth and drinks directly of the wound, teeth even tearing a bit at the flesh surrounding the cut as he too shifts to his crinos form, with less howling and more growling. The clothing on both bodys seems to recede into them as their fur would when they change to the homid form. Soon enough the transformations are complete and no sign of the clothing, the blood involved, or the wounds is evident. ~Remember what this means. You are bound to those items you have tempered with your lifeforce and spirit. They will return to you when you call upon them.~ We are concluded.

Jamethon contorts and blurs as he is transformed. Jamethon shifts into Crinos form.

Yi moves off a bit as two crinii fill up the space she was standing in previously. The short smile on her features as she looks up towards Anneka tells of her approval, before she retrieves her unopened Coke to have a drink.

Anneka takes a deep breath, her ribs showing beneath skin and fur along the barrel of her chest, looks down to her hands then back to Jamethon, her gaze sidelong. She nods her long head, slowly, her broad brow furrowed as she works to catch the words of the Mother Tongue. Then she draws her left hand to view, turns it so she can look at the palm, to where the cut had been. Her dark lips part in a lupine smile.

Kaz tilts her head as she watches the cub. "Hey. Anneka. Do me a favor? Shift down again?"

Yi looks over the cub, then down at the few spots on the floor. "A successful rite. I've not seen it done that way, Jamethon." She sips at her Coke, which seemingly opened on its own accord. Her eye goes to Kaz, however. "I'm a little concerned, though... about your shifting Anneka. The whole..bones popping and things."

Kaz gives Yi a curious look. "I seen cubs that ain't done that, I seen cubs that have. Mostly, I wanna make sure she got some control over it."

Fights-For-Hope nods to Yi and then to Kaz. Then finally shifts down to the homid form and seems to get ready to leave. "Sorry to interupt, I'll be gone in a moment, but Yi, make sure to show Kaz that Stuff I gave you... and how I got it. Some fucked up shit." With that he makes his way out.

The girl turns to Kaz, her ears canting forward. There's a slow moment before she nods, and then she's changing-- Faster, faster! She's almost grinning this time as claws draw in to fingers and her body blurs to something lighter, smaller. It's still painful though, as bone and flesh is formed anew, and she's panting, quiet and cross-armed by the end. The arm crossing seems a bit unnecessary this time, as her clothing does indeed appear again as she finishes changing forms.

Kaz gives Jamethon a somewhat odd look, but then Anneka is shifting again. To Yi, she mutters, "Although she's kinda an extreme case, really." She regards the younger woman steadily, and then rummages in her pocket, tossing her a set of keys. "You ain't about to run off, and you gotta brain, so..."

Yi nods to Jamethon as he makes his way out. "Thank you for it," she notes to him, looking over to Kaz and Anneka. "I've seen a few that hurt when they shift too, though it goes away after awhile. Maybe it is because of the lack of control." Her eyes go to the keys. "Looks like you just got set free," she notes softly, with a wry smile.

Anneka is quick, but she's still panting, and the keys bounce off an arm and clatter to the floor. She blinks, twice, looks down at them. "Oh."

Kaz adds, "I can show y'a few other places we hang out, too. I jus' don wanna keep you locked up longer'n you gotta. Just -- you ain't got /huge/ amounts of control yet, so use some sense, huh?"

Yi sips at her Coke. "The church, the park, and more so the streets. You'll be running around fine in no time, considering how fast you learn." She exhales a little relieved at that thought, glancing at Kaz and exchanging a Thank Gaia look.

Kaz definitely shares in /that/ look. Yummy. Cubs with sense.

Anneka reaches down and catches the keys by their ring. They get stuffed in a pocket, and she straightens up, nodding. "Nevada said I hadda practice a lot, so I am--" She makes a face. "It doesn' hurt as much as it -did-, but--" There's a glance to Kaz-- Not as direct this time, she's more careful with her eyes. "It shouldn't as much, should it?"

Kaz affirms, "Yeah. With practice, it gets easier. Not s'painful. It ain't never hurt for me, but I'm weirdass anyway. But pain or not, practice is what makes it like second nature, which is what it's gotta be -- that'll save y'life, lotsa times."

Yi shrugs. "It didn't hurt much for me, though maybe a few stings around the fingertips and feet a few times," Yi shrugs. "It will just take a little time. Taking some time to commune with the self in different forms. Know the body, know the mind, and the shift comes naturally." Yi rubs at the back of her neck. "So, now that you have been sprung... 'What are you going to do next?'"

Anneka jingles the keys in her pocket, muffled through the thick fabric of her jeans. Her mouth draws into something of a lopsided smile and she rubs at the bridge of her nose. "I was thinkin' a lot about bein'--" She blinks, looks to Yi. "Oh--, well, I d'no. Explorin'!"

Kaz finishes her Coke, and tilts her head slightly. "Bein' what?"

Yi also waits for the cub to answer Kaz's inquiry.

Anneka grins. "Th'Rialto sounds cool, an' th' church, too, and--" She blinks twice, running a hand through her tangled mane. "Well, 'bout bein' Mad. 's like I was, kinda, before I met Kaz 'n Nevada, but it didn' make any sense. I jus' got mad. Now I -know- what it's for, so it's not bad, but it can be." She looks down at her hands. "I don' want t'hurt anyone who's just there, like another skater, or someone's just in a bad place."

Kaz nods slowly. "It takes awhile. To control it. Meditatin', it helps a lot. An' Tai Chi. When you meet Rotem, ask him about it. He's an ahroun what ain't got a lot of control, an' he's got some exercises, kinda."

Yi gives Anneka a short half-smile. "It's all about control, and state of mind." She looks to Kaz and nods. "Tai Chi, if you want to learn it, I can help. Been helping Rotem some with it, though Jarred has a better ..." The nomoon shrugs off the thought. "Well. Just have to remember to check what goes on up here," she taps her head. "And I think you'll have enough sense to control it."

There's a muffled 'whrf' as Anneka sits down hard on the couch. "Yeah. So, that's what I was kinda practicin' too. Not just shiftin', but tryin' t'find out what's makin' me mad, so I can keep from wolfin' when it'd be bad." There's blink. "Exercises! Pushups!" Anneka doesn't look like she's ever done a pushup.

Anneka sits up again, eyes bright. "I know what! I gotta borrow a skateboard. An' find someplace t'swim, too."

Kaz grins a little, and flops onto the couch. "Stuff that helps y'center y'self, kinda?"

Anneka 's smile wavers a bit at the edge, but she holds it up. "Wellll-- that's kinda why I want t'find a place to swim. It's important." She opens her mouth, then closes it again. "It just is."

Kaz says, mildly, "I din't say it wasn't."

Yi ohs with a rise of eyebrows. She sidles over to Kaz and takes out the harmonica given to her by Jamethon. She offers it over to Kaz. "Jamethon gave this to me, said he was walking along the street when a bum threw this at him, saying he was done with it. Thought you might like it." To Anneka she nods. "We'll get you connected."

Kaz takes the harmonica with a slightly raised eyebrow, under her hair, and examines it carefully. "Huh," she mutters, running her fingers across its edges, "This thing ain't bad." She doesn't, yet, play it, though.

A series of bolts being flicked open with a key from outside the door sound like an odd, urban chime before the door swings open a few inches and Max peers in. Seeing who she sees she pushes the door open enough to electric slide-step in, kicking it shut behind her. The locks automatically relatch with a collections of snaps. and Max falls back, her bum bumping the door with a muffled thump and her arms folding across her chest. "Whatcha think? I got th'Kyle moves?" She mocks a scowl, dark eyes too capricious for her to pull anything of the sort off. Yi gets a wink, Anneka a once-over and Kaz the longer, tail-end of that gaze.

Anneka gets very quiet for a few moments, then she brushes her hair out of her eyes, looks to Kaz. "--I know. I wasn't sayin' that. It's-- It'd help. Swimmin'." She rubs her thumb along the palm of her hand, slowly, where the cut was.

"Hi, Max," the cub says, quiet. "I have dedicated clothes."

Kaz, nodding at Anneka, plays a brief trill on the harmonica, one that cuts off in surprise when Max appears. "Shyeah, you make a good Big Ugly Guard, Max. Like, amazingly good imitation." A grin tugs at her face, all unconscious.

One corner of Max's lips tugs upward into a characteristic half-smirk as she finally looks back from Kaz to Anneka. "Yo, girlfrien'. Ded'cated shit rocks." Then she adds, "Glad you ended up all puppy, chica." Watch closely, or you'll miss the gentleness in that tone. Max meanders over to the sofa and climbs onto the arm of the same stretching her legs across Kaz's lap, infringing on personal space in only the way a packmate can. She casts a glance at the harmonica then looks back to Anneka, sardonic tone returned full-force. "You a superfreak or all cool with th'whole 'Rarr' thing?"

Kaz seems to have nothing resembling a problem with Max legs lying on top of her lap, as she leans over slightly to be nearer to the Ragabash. It proves difficult to play the harmonica with the grin that remains on her face, but she does get a fairly good scale for a moment before she stops again.

Well, if Anneka doesn't perk up at that. She pulls her legs up so she's sitting crosslegged on the couch, smiles at Max. "It's like bargin' around in th'dark, or--" She grins. "Rarr."

Max grins at the response, wrinkling her nose and then wolf-whistling. "Ye-ah, bay-bee. I'm def'nitely keepin' this one, Zee." She notes, settling her forearm lightly on Kaz's nearer shoulder, casting an intrigued glance at the harmonica playing. Then she looks back to Anneka, her dark eyes faintly inviting as she asks, "S'up with the blindfold shit? You ain't sure which way's up?"

Kaz doesn't seem to have mastered actual tunes yet, and she soon breaks off to rub it gently with her sleeve. "/Jamethon/ found it," she tells Max, as if there were some miracle involved there. At Max's question to the cub, her eyes travel back that way, clearly curious -- though she's leaning a little more toward Max, the better to serve as shoulder post.

Anneka pulls her shoulders up into an exaggerated shrug. "One time I was swimmin' out in T'coma an' I got dumb an' kept swimmin' after it got dark an' everyone left. There's tonsa places t'do that, an' no one'll see, an' so I was-- But I got way out past the horses 'n all I had was a little board for scootin' round. So, I was there, an' I could see th'stars up, an th'water down, an' I -knew- there was stuff swimmin' around, but I couldn' see it. All I saw was th'moon..."

Anneka is not the most eloquent child. She shrugs again, pulls up a smile. "It was real pretty, it was fun, but it was not safe."

Kaz listens to this as if it contained the secrets of the universe, harmonica still at her lips. "I'm keepin' you," she concludes after a moment, with a nod.

Max frowns a little, her brows drawing together in a semi-comical manner. "You was swimmin' with horses?"

The cub blinks twice, then starts to giggle. "Oh-- I saw this movie once 'bout a unicorn. They were kinda in th'water, in th'whitecap part, so I started callin' that th'horses." She smiles. "I was just swimmin' with me, which is pretty bad." She looks to Kaz, Yi and Max in turn. "Y'gotta swim with family."

Kaz slowly puts the harmonica down. "Can you put it into words? What swimmin'... /means/, t'you?"

Max's frown eases up somewhat and she dips her chin ever so slightly in response to Kaz's earlier statement. Her dark eyed, bang-covered gaze is, for a time, almost uncomfortably sharp and measuring. But she finally breathes: "Fuckin' A." She quiets for Kaz's question, her face half turning toward the galliard while her gaze remains on the cub.

There's a moment where Anneka almost look like she's been struck. The words she'd had lined up in her head scatter around and it's painfully obvious. But she takes a deep breath and rolls her lower lip between the rows of her teeth. Her words, when they come, are very careful, her glance sidelong at Kaz. "When you first found me, you asked if I had any dreams about bein' a wolf--" She takes a deep breath. "I-- didn't. I just dream about water, about the ocean, about swimmin', about /being a part of her/. Of-- Gaia." There are hints of tears at the edges of her eyes. "That's what it is. It's like bein', like seein' where-- where--" She blinks, shakes her head. "That's what it means."

Kaz's grin fades into a remarkably soft smile, although it's only there for a moment before it fades further, into a contemplative sort of almost-frown. "I gotcha, kid. It's the thing that /matters/. It's the thing that /connects/ you, it's the thing that makes everything /real/, and yet not at all real. Most people don't got somethin' they can actually identify that way, not yet -- An' they're poorer people for it."

Anneka nods slowly, closes her eyes. "Yeah." Then she smiles. "When I was at the moot, I kept thinkin' that I could /smell/ water, that there's a pool there, an'-- Moot. An' I thought it'd be way bad t'just go swimmin', b'fore I found out if I'd get squished for it. So, I didn', but I wanted to."

Kaz mutters, "You coulda /asked/ someone..." with a faint grin.

Yi opens her eyes back up from a short meditation, and notes quietly, "There's a lake where Salmon's Leap is. I don't think the others would mind if you swam there."

There's laughter in Anneka's eyes. "Almost did, but then me 'an Matt went to th'house in th'woods, and th'moot was over, and'--" She shrugs. "I coulda. Is it okay?" Though what gets her is that word. She sits up straight, almost forgets not to go and stare at Yi. "There is? Oh, cool---"

Yi smiles, not minding the stare as much. She nods. "And buffalo. I'll bring you sometime. It's a bit of a run, though."

Kaz says, vaguely, "Ain't anyone never told me not to. I figure it's kinda easier to apologize than get told no aheada time, though, so don' ask me on that one."

Anneka pulls her legs up and wraps her arms around them, rests her chin on her knees. "Wow." She smiles. "Thanks, Yi." She pulls her hands through the tangled mass of her hair. "I guess human people can feel it, too. /Everyone's/ near the water, somewhere. 's like Tacoma-- There's little islands all over, an' people fishin' an' stuff, or surfin'-- It's like--" She twines her fingers together, grins at Kaz. "Like that."

Max slides up and off the sofa. "Dude. I so forgot 'bout Louie. Gotta jam." She leans over to murmur something beside Kaz's ear before grinning from Anneka to Yi and back again. "See you soon, Ann'ka."

Anneka grins, sneaks her hand around to wave to Max. "G'night, Max." She's smiling again, full bore. Everything's cool.

Kaz, a few minutes later, mutters, "Fuckin' patrol," and rises to her feet. "Anyways, Anneka, remind me t'show you th' Church an' the Rialto an' shit. T'morrow. Yeah?"

Anneka yawns, stretches her arms and legs out. "Yeah! Tomorrow-- I gotta borrow a 'board, too."

Kaz makes an 'ok' motion, and heads out.

Yi waves to Max, and dips her head over to Kaz. "Stay safe, don't kill anyone," Yi adds, maybe not quite jokingly. Fullmoon and all.

Yi watches the two of them leave, then checks the time on the radio. "Wow, I've been here awhile. Guess I should be going, before I am late tomorrow morning." She smiles over at Anneka. "Since you can roam around now, if you want, I'll show you my and Nevada's apartment. Unless you've grown attached to Signe's place."

Anneka looks about at the apartment-- at the weights, the stereo she can't touch, and the door with the rather elaborate locks. She stands, shovels a bunch of scattered stuff into her satchel, and tosses it over her shoulder. She grins at Yi.

Yi nods and motions to the door. Instead of asking for a key, though, she gives the locks a long look. The bolts slide open slowly, but eventually all of them come apart and she pulls open the door. "Alright, we'll go see the party."