04-08-2001 > Experiences: Don't Challenge Ahrouns on Their Moon

Forgotten Church(#1801RAJLM)
The old church is dark, dimly lit by outside light coming in through scum-encrusted windows during the day, and tomblike during the night. There is a coatroom in the back of the nave, with separate doors leading off to mens' and womens' restrooms, and two staircases, one going up to the balcony and bell-tower, and the other leading down to the basement. The double doors leading out to the street are at the back of the coatroom.
The hard wooden pews in the sanctuary are, for the most part, still intact. There are even Bibles and hymnals left in the shelves along the back of each row, although many of them look rather chewed on. The altar on a dais at the front of the church is empty, and the lectern that once stood next to it has been knocked over. Rotting red cloth hangs at the very front of the church; there might once have been a design on it, but it has long since faded or been eaten away.
<'Places' available>
Contents:
Anneka
Nevada
Mural
Obvious exits:
Street Basement

Nevada doesn't confirm or deny what she has said. He asks, instead: "Who is Beck?"

"He was real good at skatin', but he'd always go bargin' t'dumb places, 'cause he liked t'be th'first person that did anythin'." There's the faintest tension in the way Anneka's sitting, but it fades quick enough. "I was talkin' 'bout it b'fore, at Signe's-- There's a buncha 'pipes in this one park, in T'coma, all open 'n stuff, an' they were cool t'skate on, but they went into th'sewers, an'--" She shrugs. "We kinda found parts that were dry, but-- It was just gross. So we didn' go back. But-- Well, he wanted t'skate this one part that looked real hard, an' was real near t'the sewer, an' he did it when it was dark, which was real dumb." She twines her fingers through her curly hair. "An' then his mom was callin' 'round, lookin' for him."

Something thunks heavily against the door of the church, before Yi opens it up to reveal the object in question is a staff. Her hair is a bit more fuzzled than usual, she looks...tired. "Hey," she greets the two of them, before her wits and manners come back. She straightens up automatically and nods to them with a polite cultured greeting.

Anneka looks down at her hands, again. "We told 'em that he went to th'park, 'cause he was talkin' about it, an' that Jeffy went out lookin' an' heard some real weird stuff, but-- they didn't find him."

Anneka blinks, twists about to wave to Yi. "Hi, Yi."

Nevada creases his lips into a frown. "I'm sorry," he says. Yi's entrance takes his attention. An eyebrow goes up. "Nice stick."

Yi's smirk is a bit wry, but she toddles over and flops a little more ceremoniously than she would if she were alone into one of the unmoved pews. "Thank you," she replies to Nevada. "Enjoying the House of doG?" Her question goes more to Anneka.

The girl finds something of a smile, nods. "Yeah, it's cool-- Never seen a church like it." Then her eyes drift back to Nevada. "Jeff really wouldn' say what he heard, jus' that it kinda sounded like Beck, an' kinda didn', an' that th'whole park was pants. Like, never go there. So we didn' anymore."

"Hate to say it. But that's a lesson fa you, Anneka. The sewers here, sewers here is just as bad. Evil shit in 'em, fo' sure. Be careful." There's a pause, and his eyes trail to Yi. "A'ite Mulan. Ya got me curious. What's at for?" A pause, then: "Oh! Is that the stick that was up yo' boss's ass? He cool now or what?"

The cub nods, her eyes clouded for a moment, then blinks and nods and she's okay again. "Still gotta really learn th'Litany," she says, quietly, almost to herself. And then she's looking over at Yi, and the staff.

Yi glances from Nevada to staff. Her furrowed brow indicates some thought processes, pushing aside sewers before realizing the joke. Her laugh comes, a little harsh. "No, but if I could use this to beat his ass, I would be happier." The slightly feral glint of eye, and she continues. "I was patrolling. Late last night. This... is helpful in gun control." She stands up and moves to an open section to give the staff a whirl. "Ran into one of the Spanish gang, last night. They really wanted to know where their friend was." She sighs a bit, but returns to her telling. "Pulled a gun on me. Not wanted. Demanded. So I told him." Faster than the eye, the staff's farther end whirls up to knock away an imaginary gun as the first end comes cracking down on an invisible collarbone. "He was satisfied with my answer." She turns back to Anneka. "What did you want to know?"

Anneka isn't hearing the question at first-- She's watching the staff swing about, quick as anything. "Wow." Then she blinks. "Jus'-- everything'. 'still pretty new."

Nevada's grin dies away. "Are we going to be lookin at a problem here, wit these kids? Hell. Wit the police?"

Yi shrugs, mostly shaking her head. "I doubt they will go to the police. You know the streets. They do not follow the same laws as citizens." She thunks the staff lightly beside her before slipping over to fuzz Nevada's hair before he can realize it. "Well, if there are Litany questions, ask. It is good to know the laws before you bend them." She grins.

Anneka sits up a bit more. "Nevada's been teachin' 'em t'me. D'no if I'm learnin' them right, though." Her voice catches a matter-of-fact edge. "Like knowin' alla stuff 'bout why we can't eat people." She pulls her legs up, wraps her arms about them. "'s been a long week."

Nevada is quiet for a moment, smirking as Yi ruffles his hair. "Audrey stopped by this mornin."

Yi blinks and cranes her neck down to look at Nevada. "Oh? How is she?"

"She's good. Tristan too." Nevada smiles wanly. "So Benedict works at McDonalds... "

Anneka has the look of someone who's listening, but with attention drawn from her, for the moment, she slips off her pew and pads out to the edge of the church, running fingers along the old wooden back of the pew before her. Then she turns, glances over to the mural, and scuffs her way over to it, the frayed cuffs of her jeans brushing the floor. She stops a few feet away from it, hands clasped behind her back.

"Tristan is... boy or girl?" Yi queries, not used to the strange names people have around here. "Benedict... oh Alicia's brother. Yes, he's still at McDonald's. I wonder if the tribe will want to find out whether he is kin. Have you seen him?" Her eyes wander to Anneka and her thoughtfulness. "Don't wander too far away now. I was supposed to answer your questions."

"Oh.. he's a little boy. Cutest lil guy." Nevada's stormclouds dissolve away, a huge smile coming on. "He looks just like Jay. You can see it in the eyes. Aw Yi.. you gotta see 'em." He sounds happy, wistful. "An Benedict. I'm almost positive he's kin, Mulan. Almost positive."

"I feel real weird," Anneka says, quietly. She's got that lost look again, when she glances back at Nevada and Yi. "When Jamethon got mad at me for lookin' at him like I was gonna challenge him, I thought that was pretty dumb. Like he should know that humans don' think like that, really. But then I was thinkin' 'bout it, an' now I /can't/. 'Cause people said it was wrong, 'cause /I/ felt weird when I was doin' it and didn't /mean/ it." She points at her chest, at the last.

Anneka adds wanly. "And that's-- jus' weird. Thinkin' wolf stuff, I guess."

Yi gives her galliard house/tribemate a pat. "I think he's kin too, but I have no way to say for certain short of shifting in front of him and seeing his reaction. That is not worth it, if he is not. It's not our place either. He's brother to Alicia, and so that would make him kin to the Children of Gaia." To Anneka, her attention goes at the cub's voiced thoughts. "He's spent a lot of time out in the woods. Thinking like a wolf, can make instincts rise fairly quickly." She sounds as if she speaks from experience. "As long as you remember what happened, and learn something from it, don't worry. The weirdness... dies down some."

"I wish they would soon, then. Do somin' about him." Nevada shrugs eloquently. "I know there's a chance he couldn' be kin... just tough, y'know. An that he might remember what he saw, an we might have to.. fix it." He chops his head to the side in a shake. "No, I know he's kin. An' I don't think it's fair that he don't know. He's prolly worryin' about her. I mean, he's a dickhead, but he's a brotherly dickhead. They close."

Anneka turns around fully, her skinny body framed by the mural. She rocks a bit on her heels, her hair tumbling down over her eyes when she nods, her voice quiet when she speaks up again. "'splains stuff, 'cause lupus aren't human, an' don' think like human people." There's a pause and she reaches up to run a hand through her hair. "Don' know if /he's/ lupus, but, y'know. If he's wolfin' lots, 's maybe like that. An Get of Fenris are really fighty, anyway--" She does a funny thing, then-- looks over to Nevada and crooks her fingers up on either side of her head, like horns.

Yi looks puzzled at Anneka's movement. "I'm pretty sure Jamethon is not a lupus-born. He's just... more...'fighty' than the Gnawers, yes." Laying the staff on the other side of Nevada she leans up against the pew, eyeing him suspiciously. "What did you mean, he might remember what he saw?"

Raggedy Ann's gesture gets a faint smile from Nevada. He explains to Yi, glancing back to her: "Benedict is one tough little motherfucker. For a human. I woulda thought he's a Garou, but he ain't changed yet. An there's no fetch." He pauses a moment, a ghost of a bitter look on his face. "'Course Alicia never really had much of one, droppin' in at the last goddam moment." He continues,"There ain't a whole lot what makes him blink. I tangled wit' guys twice as big as me, in the end they all wimp out. Benny, he ain't like that. We tangle an we get hurt. I think that if he aine kin, then he's pretty fuckin tough. Jay said sometimes the Delirium don't affect some people so much as it would others. So we might have to kill him then. If that happened."

Yi could almost growl with the discomfort of killing. "Bernie has been acting messager between them, last I heard. But yes, Benedict is very eager to see his sister. And I'm sure the feeling is mutual." This time, she does growl but with some impatience. "Her elders are slow to act, but they are the elders of her tribe. I'd speak to Dante, if I could find him. But I think she will be rited soon." Her lips gets a brief chew, then she looks over at Anneka by the mural. Her mind pushes to a different topic. "Litany. What do you want to know about them, Anneka?"

Anneka flops down on the dias in a crosslegged heap. "I can 'cite it, an' Nevada's been teachin' me a lot 'bout it, but I'm still makin'-- mistakes, I guess. Like why we don' eat people." There's a loose shrug, and she glances up at the pair. "Not real bad, I s'pose, 'cause y'can't learn stuff without makin' 'em, but this is real serious."

Anneka wrinkles her nose up a bit, makes a face. "An' that's a weird thing, too, 'cause I /never/ think about rules so much."

Yi crosses over to the cub, choosing to lean against a pew nearest the dais before answering, "Most of it seems like common sense. We can't show ourselves to humans because some of them go crazy. Or worse, there are some that -don't- go crazy, and those decide to spread news of us. And what people don't understand, they kill." She sucks on a canine tooth a moment. "Or, not challenging the leader, or alpha, during wartimes and only during peacetimes. Even though we are constantly at war, there are lulls between battles. Like right now. We take the time in between to rest, and to think of our next move. If some battle before was unsuccessful because of poor leadership, then we need to change the top dog. That is how it is in both human, and wolf worlds. If the manager is stupid, then you have to fire them and change to a better one. In the middle of a fight, you can't have a battle of leadership, or else the soldiers will be confused." Yi pauses, thinking of a more realistic example. "Say you are with a group of friends, who..want to use the park. There is another group who is using it already. The sun is going down, and you want to get to use it before, so you, as leader, confront the other leader. But while you are discussing, one of your friends decides they should take charge and they do something wrong. Well, that could result in a fight. And, it results in losing face." She looks over at Anneka to see if she gets it.

Nevada listens, stretched out in his pew.

The girl glances up at Yi and almost smiles. "Yeah. Tho' there's usually a way t'get everyone usin' th'park or somethin'." She rests her hands behind her, leans back slightly, though her expression is pensive and then some. "'Cause if anyone gets shoved off, they get mad. If they're really pants, then they go an' try to wreck stuff after, or call th'cops."

Anneka lets her hair shade her eyes-- It's something that Kaz might do, and perhaps an unconscious imitation. "There's challenges, 'n stuff. Y'can say that you're better than they are, an' start sparrin'. If it's good, then-- it's fun, y'make friends. If it's bad--" She shrugs, barely. "Then maybe /no one/ uses th'park, 'cause then there's fights alla time. An' that's what th'Litany is-- 's like ways Garou can live w'other Garou."

"'cept that th'park is-- everythin'," the girl adds.

Yi nods slowly. "It is common sense, more or less. There is a ranking system, anywhere you go. Humans, wolves alike. Everyone finds another as either an equal, a higher up, or a lower status. Those higher than you, you know to treat respectfully if you want the favor returned. Those lower than you, should be respected because of the same reason. Though we Gnawers sometimes are not given that high a position, we are respected for the fact we know how to fight for Gaia, in the city.

Knock, Knock.

The loud banging sound is followed by the door opening, and a shirtless, jacketless cub appears, still wearing his backpack. His entire body is red, covered in what appears to be quite a large amount of blood.

Yi turns her gaze towards the banging sound, the appearance of the cub covered in blood making her brow furrow. However, she does keep herself tightly reined in, letting her questions swallow back down into her throat. "Anneka," she says a little more grimly than she should, "Meet Rotem. The other Gnawer cub, and ahroun."

Rotem groans, and falls back onto the ground, overacting quite obviously. "Owwww." he cries out, a soft laugh contained in his moans. The distinct smell of ketsup fills the air.

Anneka was smiling, but her countenance has an even edge when she sits up straight, glances quick at Yi, then to Rotem. Her nose wrinkles a bit. "Um--"

Yi adds quietly, more to herself than any other, "Though I think Luna was drunk when she watched his birth."

Perhaps a minute or two later, the doors burst open, and a man as large as a bear, and coated in fur, enters without the preamble of a knock, and he exclaims, "MacDonald's got a half off--", he's in a hurry to announce in a booming voice, but he breaks off as the sight of a red-covered person arrests his sight. Blinking to recover his vision, he comments, in a lower tone, "Cub training, I see."

Yi snorts. "Hardly." She does scent the ketchup, and maybe the recent arrival's smell all the way across the room before she waits to see if Reggie wants to introduce himself.

Anneka, in the midst of all of this, starts giggling. Quiet, and she's remembering not to show her teeth or anything when she's grinning, but, well, what an impish look she has. She tries to stifle growing laughter, biting on the knuckles of a pale hand.

Rotem clambers up to his feet, his chest covered in ketsup. "Come on. I can't even g-get a laugh?" He rolls his eyes. "Damn I make a bad Raggie." He ponders the rather large furry man next to him. "Yo, you shouldn't go walking around in Glabro." He smirks, "I'm Rotem. Ahroun, bone gnawers. Also known as fucks-up, or other such names."

The large man cranes his neck over with scarcely withheld eagerness to determine how close the red-covered person is to expiring, and grunts with a note of disappointment as it seems he's more than alive and kicking. "You're the one who took all the ketchup packets at the Mac", he accuses. "I had to dip my fries in mustard!"

Nevada stares for a long moment, eyebrows cutting the roof in half. "Were you attacked by a killer tomato?" the Galliard and his ketchup obsession ask, before Reggie is given a faint grin.

Rotem bows before Reggie. "Aye, that was me." He smirks, and looks up to Nevada. "Giant killer tomatoes! They are roaming the streets!" He chuckles, using his hand to wipe his chest, then lick it off.

Yi doesn't particularly see the humour of the situation yet, nor the reference to killer tomatoes. "Evening, Reggie," she greets the Uktena. Her eyes cast their gaze sidelong to Anneka. "What's so funny?"

Instead of replying immediately, Reggie considers Rotem, before speculating. "We got any dogs or burgers here, we can use you as the serving plate. Just scrape some of it off and put it on the burger. Oh, and I'm Reggie from the pool hall." Another thought comes to him. "Forget the burgers. Just call in the dogs and they'll have a good dinner off you."

Anneka looks up at Yi, her hand still jammed in her mouth. When she takes it away there are dull crescents from her teeth on the back, nearly a circle around a few knuckles. "Ketchup." She snuffs, quietly, makes a wrinkle-nosed face. She shakes her head a few times as she starts to giggle again, then sits up a bit more. Back straight, yup. First impressions are-- something. "I'm Anneka. Philodox 'n Bone Gnawer, too. Hi."

Rotem moves over to Anneka quickly. "Your the new cub!" he exclaims. "WELCOME!" he calls out happilly, and wraps his arms about her, in a nice big, messy, ketsup filled, hug.

Nevada starts to laugh. "Rotem," he says,"I can't believe, you dork, that you wasted perfectly good ketchup for that, man."

Yi edges away from any flying dabs of ketchup, considering using the staff over by the pew to put a bo's distance between her and Big Red. She does indeed, cross over to Nevada and slides over into the pew with the bo staff, subconsciously noting Reggie.

Reggie's fists tighten and flex at his sides, as he too innocuously addresses Rotem with "I'm a new Gnawer cub too."

Rotem pulls away from the philodox and grins at Reggie, yes, its asking for pain, but he just can't resist. "WELCOME!" he calls out, and rushes towards the man as fast as he can, arms out to his sides.

A grin flashes across Reggie's face, exposing yellowed teeth, as he raises his fists to let Rotem smack into them.

Anneka manages a muffled yelp before she's bowled over by this peculiar embodiment of condiments gone horribly awry. But she's quite the skinny thing, and squirmy as anything. It doesn't help much-- She's got ketchup in her hair and big streaks all over her shirt and one pant leg, but she's at least standing by the time Rotem is-- gone. She's panting a bit, her eyes a bit more yellow than before, her teeth a little longer. And, no, she's not smiling.

Rotem runs headlong into the fists, and the next thing he knows, he's on the floor. A little dazed, but laughing hysterically for some reason. A quick launch of his foot upwards finds its way toward the man's groin.

Yi glances over towards Anneka, warily. Her dark eyes move to catch Nevada's, as if asking whether or not she should let this go on any further. Or rather, Why do I care so much?

Nevada's eyes move to meet Yi's. His expression is obvious: That was the coolest thing I have ever seen.

"Wheeee!" Reggie exclaims as the hyper cub makes close contact with his fists. And he didn't even have to move from his spot. His lips crinkle as Rotem shows more mettle than to lie flat, and the large man throws all three hundred something pounds of himself atop Rotem, with no consideration to whether or not the floor'll stand it.

Rotem's foot then slams into the large man's groin with much force, just before the man lands upon the cub. A loud howl is heard as the boy starts shifting upwards to match the man's weight.

Anneka closes her hands tightly and looks hard at the floor. She takes a few deep breaths. When she looks back at Yi, she's-- okay. Though, well, if her ears could be flat they would be at that moment. She dabs at her shirt, leaving spots of ketchup behind on her fingertips.

The spell is broken. "They won't break nothin," Nevada assures the Ragabash, eyes wandering over to the pair of Ahrouns. His eyes flick to Anneka, and a gesture is made for her benefit. Two "horns" made from his fingers at the side of his head.

Yi looks more dubious of that fact, but remains unmoved by the spectacle. Physically anyway. She snorts in reply to Nevada. Her eyes flicker towards the door as Rotem shifts, before she takes up the staff and moves over to Anneka to make sure the cub is ok.

Splatters of red decorate the floor in abstract patterns as the two ahrouns measure Rotem's length on the floor. Pent-up energy expresses itself as Reggie, rather than hugging people like Rotem was, hammers his fists into Rotem, and grunts from between clench teeth encourage Rotem to "Come on! What you got?"

Rotem pages to the room: How much does Reggie weigh? 300?

You paged the room with 'That's a helluva heavy man.'.

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

Anneka does catch something of a real smile, if a lopsided one when Nevada grabs her attention. Then she's looking to Yi. Her eyes have a wild edge, sure enough but she's calmed down. "Ahroun," she says, quietly. Then she's rubbing at an elbow where a bruise might grow assuming she doesn't change between now and when it would.

Flying-Wolf groans as his sides are pounded, growling out loudly, finishing his shift to crinos before lifting the homid elder up into the air by his arms. The Gnawers claws digging slightly into his arms to toss him over onto a pew.

Yi nods a bit solemnly. "As a halfmoon, you might have to deal with situations like these." She motions over to a crinosed cub and Reggie. "Things to take into consideration, are the fact that even though we are in the church, almost a safehouse for Garou, we are still not entirely cut off from the public. If someone were to hear the cub's howls, and be brave enough to investigate, there would be a possible Veil danger." Surprising, how she can keep cool like this. "This taken into mind, there is also the fact that Reggie is another tribe's cliath. Higher ranked than our Gnawer ahroun cub. The Litany, again, says submission to higher in station. Common sense, I will somewhat quote our sept alpha here, says 'Dickwaving on a fullmoon is stupid.'" She looks at Anneka. "What is your judgement? Stop the fight, or leave them be to beat each other up?"

Reggie's grin of flat homid teeth sharpens into one of sharper teeth, as he shifts into the heftier form of Glabro. He continues to prompt Rotem with "Bring it on" and rough smacks.

Long distance to the room: Yi picks up one of those Round 2 signs and walks around, displaying it.

The girl straightens up a bit, gains an inch or so even, if only in the figurative sense. She looks to the two ahroun, sprawled out and beating one another on the floor. "They're both wantin' th'fight," she says, her voice quiet and even. "But keepin' th' Veil matters more'n wantin' t'fight, so they should stop. An', 's a full moon, so they gotta 'member that we're all gettin' mad, easy--" She gets something of a rueful look at that. "Stop. Not here. 's th'wrong time 'n th' wrong way."

Flying-Wolf glances over at the girl, quirking a crinos eyebrow. He growls out lowly ~Come on, I never get a good fight anymore. I'm sick of fighting banecruncher~

For a skinny little kid, Anneka can stand her ground. There's a growl to her voice, perhaps even something of a gift. "Stop it. It doesn' /matter/ if you're not gettin' good fights. You're here, in th'church, in th'middle of th'city, an' it's a full moon. You want t'mess, up--? 's a good place for it."

Yi rubs the bottom of her chin a little, leaning against the staff in her hand. "Though how would you get them to stop, and take it to someplace safer, say...downstairs in the basement? The change of setting gives advantages and disadvantages. There is, also, the fact that breaking any of the pews may incur a certain Big Dog's anger, for messing up his church." The nomoon says this aloud, so the others could hear it.

And then there's Nevada, watching the brawl like he'd watch football on tv.

Flying-Wolf slowly shifts down to homid form, moving to retrieve his backpack. "Well fine then. I'm getting bossed around by another freaking cub." he mumbles to himself, turning away from the other ahroun. "I might as well just go get a leash and stay in lupus." He spits onto the floor while grumbling. Pulling the backpack on and walking the door. "I'm going home." he announces, louder then the rest.

"Din' say you couldn' fight. Fightin's not bad." She grits her teeth a bit at that, but barges on. "It's where an' when." She glances off to Yi, her eyes searching for confirmation, perhaps. "Y'want t'tear up? Go an' fight in th'basement, then." She's angry again herself, panting quietly, more of a growl to her voice. It is, after all, the full moon. Anneka stands there, watching Rotem.

Rotem pulls the door open, still shirtless. "I don't c-care anymore. I'm just everyone's whipping boy." He growls and steps out slightly. "Just call me when you need something done, since that's what I'm good for. Being ordered around." And with that the door slams shut.

Yi sighs with a shake of her head. "He'll be the omega all the time if he doesn't stand up." The nomoon looks over to Anneka. "Those that get your judgement, may not like it. But, it is the halfmoon's place to interpret things like this." She tilts her head slightly, wondering if the cub understands this as an 'actual experience' lesson.

In a resentful silence, Reggie shifts back down to homid, where he simmers, before he mutters to no-one that "Can't have no more fun."

Anneka looks down at the floor, growling quiet and low. "Coulda done't better." She crosses her arms, hard, wrapping them around herself, then looks up to Reggie. She's careful with her eyes-- they don't meet the Uktena's. "Sorry, Reggie-rhya. I didn' want t'stop your fight-- Jus' where it was bein'."

Nevada doesn't bother to hide his disappointment, though he looks a little approving of Anneka's show of dox-ness. "Chin up, Reggie," the Galliard reassures. "There'll be plenty of times to beat his ass up."

Yi nods towards Reggie, then gives Anneka a short remark. "You were in the right. Don't worry too much over it." The nomoon looks back to Reggie. "So what was the thing you were talking about, rushing in before?"

"Bah", Reggie expels after Nevada. "Fighting's what it's all about. The way to feel alive." He continues simmering, and gives a cold shoulder to Anneka. His resenemtent doesn't give him room to unbend and reply to Yi.

Yi looks confused for a moment, and waves as Nevada decides to go take a walk. He's like that. "Fighting is one way, yes. But doing it in Elan's church, on a fullmoon, is another."

Reggie shows his opinion of Yi's statement with an upflung arm and grumbles forcefully. "No better time to get tuned."

Yi growls slightly. "I'm just being concerned," she retorts. "Rotem isn't as in control with himself as he thinks he is. I'd -like- to get through a fullmoon without having to worry about him doing something stupid enough to endanger the Veil. You weren't helping by spurring him onto a fight."

Reggie raises both his hands to the ceiling and exclaims to above, "Can't have no fun! It's all Ritalin and sit down, shuddaup, and not twitch a muscle for longer than humanly possible!"

If Yi were in furred form, her hackles would rise. "I am -not- saying that," she continues. "You could have moved the fighting downstairs, and turned each other into bloody pulps for all I care." Her eyes stare darkly at Reggie, almost challengingly. "I'm only concerned for the safety of the new cub, and the condition of this church. That's it."

"We aren't human," the girl says, quiet. Really, almost a whisper. "Aren't. An' if they, th'human people, find us, fightin' here-- in a /church/. It's not th'fightin' that's bad-- We /have/ to fight. It's what we /are/. It's--" Anneka's eyes are big, wide and wild. She's only half-aware of what's going on around her. "So, in th'basement-- You can beat Rotem up all you want there. But not here, up here, or outside in an alley where /humans/ could see." There's a distance to that word that wasn't there this morning.

Red splotches of ketchup dry stickily on the church floor, in Reggie's fur coat, and on Anneka, as Reggie and Yi debate their concerns for the condition of the church and of the cubs. As Anneka chimes in her two-bits, Reggie takes off some temper by slamming his fist against the surface of a pew. "Egad! Listen to you! You're all 'oh no no no, oh no not here, not now'", Reggie mimics a pursed-mouth schoolmarm. "I'm betting you don't have the guts for any fight. Even one in the basement."

Yi's eyes shine with a feral light, spurred on by the fact Reggie challenges her guts to fight. "You were fighting a less experienced cub. One who had less control over himself than you," she growls lowly, looking directly at Reggie. "Don't think we have the guts? You don't have the mind to stop yourself once you get started. Lack of self-control. Problematic with your kind."

Reggie returns Yi's glare levelly, as he growls, "All I'm hearing are lily-livered piss-water wailings. A real one of our kind would have taken that up."

Yi has to look up to face the man, but she steps a pace closer, eyes locked on his. "I don't see you doing anything more than causing trouble in here. Picking on cubs, is that how you want to spend the fullmoon? I'd fight you, if there was any purpose to it." Her words are edged like razors.

Anneka growls, quiet and low. The strangest sound coming from a skinny little kid. Her hands are curled into fists, her arms straight down at her sides, her eyes almost yellow behind the tangled mop of her hair. In the dark, the spots of ketchup could be blood, streaked across her clothes, her hair. She probably weighs as much as one of Reggie's arms, but she keeps her ground.

Words spilling in a low growl along with a line of spittle from Reggie's lips, "Sorry to spoil your vision of paradise where the most cubs think of are visions of sugarplums and fairies dancing, but get off what you're high on and come to reality. He was willing and able for a bit of fun. And I'm still hearing excuses why you're not up for a fight."

Yi keeps level her gaze, unfaltering. "I said I would fight you. But there's no purpose, so why waste my energy?"

The tension in the air is strong enough to be nearly visible, as Reggie snarls at the Gnawer, in a mimicking of her voice, "Oooh, I could do it but I can't so I won't."

Yi retorts likewise mimicking in Reggie's lower tones, "Ooh but I have to prove I'm alive by beating up another like some smelly, mangy bully."

The floorboards creak under the shift of Reggie's weight as he takes a step towards Yi. "Better", a growl emanates, "to take action than to be dishonorable in refusing a challenge. Pick the place, pick the time before the next moon, and I'll be there. Will you?"

Yi strengthens her gaze, undaunted by the creak or imposing figure the man must be cutting. "If you wish," comes her reply, unnervingly calm. "Unless you would like to end this now."

Reggie throws his head back with a sneer. "It's up to you to chicken out."

Yi snorts, a smirk coming up on her face. She seems almost satisfied that Reggie moved first. "You know where the barn is?"

A frown creases Reggie's forebrow, and he begins, "If you're going to pick out pottery at the Red Barn, you're daft. The Sugar Creek's got a better selection."

Yi crosses her arms in front of her. "Then you pick the place, I pick the time." She hasn't forgotten about Anneka, but her attention is on the ahroun in front of her.

Reggie points pointedly downwards, "You keep saying to move it to the basement. Fine! The basement it is!"

Anneka is trembling with the rage bottled up hard inside her, with the moon full overhead and wide-eyed anger. But, she's still, firmly rooted in her spot, watching the two older Garou. She's bitten her tongue and there's real blood at her lips. "That's all--- was askin'."

Yi curls her lip in a smile, a brief showing of teeth in a smile that would otherwise be a silent snarl. "And since you are so eager, we can do it, now." She steps aside, half-bowing graciously to let the ahroun storm down there if he wishes.

Reggie looks for a door at hand to slam, but since he moved to the pew section, the door to the outside only gets a glare from him, and the pew at hand gets a slam from the palm of his hand. Bang!

Reggie takes a moment to pointedly be incredulous at Yi not trying to it things off, then heads towards the basement, after a false path taken through the wrong section of the pews, but he refuses to ask directions, and finds the way himself.

Yi moves afterwards, beckoning for Anneka to come with. This will be quite a lesson indeed.

Anneka is rooted to the spot for a few breaths. But there's enough that's rational in the girl trying hard not to become a monster, that her eyes drift after Yi, and her body follows after.

You go down to the basement.

Forgotten Church Basement(#1279RJLM)
This basement is only partly below ground level, and there are windows evenly spaced on the walls, right below the ceiling level. The main part of it is a large open area with a small kitchen in one corner and a large, ratty carpet in the center, covering the cement floor. There is a rather large window in the kitchen; it looks as though it might actually open onto the street. On the wall opposite the kitchen is a large bin, and there are folding tables along the wall perpendicular to it. On the other wall there are a few folding chairs, many fewer than one would expect from the number of tables.
A hallway next to the kitchen leads off to two offices and what once might have been a classroom.
Contents:
Anneka
Reggie(#3802PJOQcq$)
Obvious exits:
Sanctuary

Reggie leads the way into the open area of the basement, leaving it to the Gnawers to figure out how to turn on any necessary lights.

Yi descends the stairs after Reggie, not bothering to flick on any light switches. "And your terms of challenge?" She stops at the foot of the stairs, looking briefly out the window.

Darkness shrouds the place, having been leaking in through the windows while the sun sank to the horizon. Reggie wades through the darkness as he selects a place to turn and face any Gnawers shirking on the stairs, and replies, "Terms? Whoever cries uncle first loses."

Yi nods her assent, and stops before Reggie a comfortable starting distance. Her eyes watch the darkness calmly now, as she takes up a stance she was trained in, waiting...

The darkness obscures the movement of the fur coat draped on Reggie's frame, as inexpertly stitched seams of the fabric twist and mege into deep scars buried among alive fur, as the Uktena transforms into the war form, and gives the Gnawers little time to think about the sight as he tackles Yi.

Yi expected a lunge of sorts, as she flips back to avoid being crunched under a crinos. Darkness indeed, she's very used to fighting in nearly complete darkness by now. Her smaller homid form is kept, though, circling around the crinos and moving constantly.

The cub, jammed into a spare corner of the room and watching, her eyes catching light from the stray bits that wander inside, does indeed appear upset, snarling-- quiet at first then louder-- So soon into her first change it's all a bit much for her, and her eyes blur up, her body following quick and-- quiet, for what Yi would be used to by now. The snarl grows louder, from the Crinos hunkered down there, the light glinting from her teeth now, but she has the presence of thought to keep her ground.

The darkness is not absolute, as light from the full moon manages to trickle a torturous path down through the alley and through the kitchen window and leave faint highlights on the participants. Rags turns, tracking Yi, his senses excluding the world beyond the basement, and he swipes at her with claws. "Yelp, softie", he taunts.

Yi poing, barely avoiding the claws by centimeters as she lands lightly off to the side and waits more. She's patient alright, biding her time.

The Ahroun, not noticing any cubs cringing in corners, ends testing the Ragabash's reactions, and figuratively explodes as he rushes on the poinger, wild slashes of his claws aimed with less precision than energy.

Yi twists and falls back to the floor, not heavily, but as if she was waiting for his strike. Her shift to crinos is almost as instant as the ahroun's charge as she kicks off with a foot, spinning to slash on his leg in a hamstring, form shimmering in the barest highlights.

Yi contorts and blurs as she is transformed. You shift into Crinos.

The air is full of hisses and grunts from the patchworked ahroun as he strives to match Yi's speed with a turn of his own speed. His leg, a casuality of war, leaks dark red fluid onto the floor, as his claws blur and dig into Yi's shoulder, tearing away tendons, muscle, and bone.

Three-Blades growls out of pain as fire sears into her shoulder and snaps her clawed foot up out of the darkness, jaws opening up as she kicks for the proverbial adam's apple on a crinos.

This crinos is particularly massive, though only part of it is muscle--a good amount of fat pads out the frame, and skin clinging loosely also adds to the bulk. The skin gives a patchworked appearance, looking as if it was pieced together from a whole skin that had been torn apart, then sewn back together hastily with little regard to the smoothness of seams.

A dull thud resounds through the basement as the foot makes contact with the Uktena's jaw, along with a fainter sound of teeth clicking. Blood dribbles from the Uktena's punctured tongue and splatters on the floor, making it as decorated as the upstairs was with ketchup. His mangled words join a gleam in Reggie's eye as he states, ~So you can fight.~ His claws continue to blur, digging into Yi's torn shoulder and ripping down and across, as though unwrapping a shrink-wrapped present.

Anneka's tail lashes, banging against the stairs, drags her claws along the floor, but she watches, lantern eyes bright in the dark. She snarls, counterpoint to Yi when the Crinos is wounded, even drawing a step closer on all fours. There's a pause, then, lantern eyes fixed on the shards of the fight visible in the dark. Her claws dig shallow furrows in the cement floor.

Three-Blades is hot with pain and anger as her shoulder gets torn up. Ow, that's gotta hurt. To cope, she twists in contortions that just don't look right but it happens as she turns herself onto her side with her injured shoulder pressed against the ground. Thought flashes through her mind, and her free claws shoot out, seeking purchase on the jewels Down There. At such close proximity, in maybe desperation, maybe in outrage, she's latched on. She growls incomprehensibly.

The dirty tactic exposes the Gnawer's arm, and the Uktena turns his attention from dissecting the shoulder towards getting a firm grip on the arm with both hands, his grip tense and strong and in a slow corkscrew motion. ~Say it.~

Three-Blades snarls, the pain from her shoulder piercing. But as the ahroun's strength bears down on her arm, she slowly, reluctantly, lets go of him. The low growl of conceding the fight to him rumbles from her throat.

Rags stumbles slightly, but steadies himself with his grip on Yi's arm. He hisses. ~Say it.~

Three-Blades growls again, and lies down on the floor. ~You win.~ In the dim light, she exposes her throat to him albeit reluctantly.

Rags releases Yi's arm and clouts her good shoulder with claws furled. ~You can fight~, he performs his part of a concession. Half kneeling on the floor, he momentarily debates rising to his feet, but two favors: his bum leg, and his short breath, work against him, and he rests, regaining strength.

Three-Blades blinks as she doesn't get a set of jaws set around her throat. She sits up, slowly, with a hiss of pain. ~And as you can rightfully, ahroun.~ Her eyes blink again, as she looks over to Anneka.

Three-Blades blinks shortly as the Uktena simply flops onto the floor and shifts down. Holding her left shoulder, she stands up with some effort and growls again, ears flat against her head with pain. She tilts her head to look at the shoulder, but perhaps it's lucky she can't actually see all of the damage. Again her eyes follow the dark to the cub crouched in the corner.

Anneka is quite nearly incoherent, ears flat back and teeth bared, hunkered down on all fours like she'd be in Hispo, but manifestly not, even in the dark and scattered moonlight. Whatever's rational in her still doesn't show in her yellow, lantern eyes, but it does get her moving, claws scrabbling on the floor as she scrambles out-- One step, then two. She snarls again, far back in her throat.

Three-Blades lifts her hand away and turns her head to lick at her shoulder. An eye on the cub, she pauses in her wound tending to look at the cub. ~You ok?~ Her nose flares slightly, trying to catch a scent of her and some hint of emotion behind it. The nomoon stoops down, slowly, to look straight into Anneka's eyes with her own golden amber ones. They seem set out from the no-moon's blackish brown fur, almost invisible in the dark.

Anneka smells wildly angry, shot through with fear-- and something else. Grief? Perhaps there's more going on in her head than this fight, here. Yellow eyes stare back at Three-Blades. She whines, quiet-- An odd sound from something that'd send any reasonable human being running, screaming. ~Why?~

Three-Blades rolls her good shoulder, testingly and in a shrug. She chuffs, apologetically in lupus before shifting down to glabro, her form shrinking. "Dominance, ranking, a the way to test strengths and weaknesses. To keep keep ourselves ready. Reggie and I, had to find our places between us. Who is up, who is down. He may have beaten me, but he does respect me for fighting." She tilts her head slightly, her now more human, slightly lighter than normal eyes watching the cub. "Shift down, Anneka."

Three-Blades contorts and blurs as she is transformed. You shift into Glabro.

The cub skews her ears out, then draws them flat. There are thumps, dark and loud as she beats her hands against the floor. There's the scrape of claws against cement, a muffled whine as Anneka hunkers into a knot-- She turns her head away, her face framed with a crazy tangle of fur, only visible for being just lighter than the dark. When she changes back, it's slow at first and she whines again in pain this time, but then-- fast and faster and she blurs as she grows smaller, glabro only a moment before she's crouched on the floor, looking up at Yi. Her eyes, save for being green, hold the same questions, the same anger.

Yi holds the cub's eyes steadily, light brown against green. "What is it? Why did I fight him?" She stands, heading towards the kitchenette and rolling out a mop with a bucket. It seems like it was there, prepared all along just waiting to be used. The nomoon lifts the mop with her good arm, and begins to mop up the mess. "I was stupid to accept it," she says with a sigh as she mops. "But, I have his respect." Her eyes looks up briefly to see what the cub is doing.

Anneka is crouched on the balls of her feet, turning her hands over as she watches them, watches pale fingers curl and open again. "It didn't hurt," she says, her voice even, quiet. "It didn't hurt." A corner of her mouth quirks up-- It's about as far from a smile as one can get, and for a moment the girl looks entirely lost in her own skin. Then she stands, slowly.

Yi's quirk of a smile is probably lost in the darkness.

Yi continues mopping until the blood and ketchup is mostly cleaned up, before rolling the bucket back to a hole somewhere in the basement back where the toilet would've been, and dumping it down that way. The bucket is rolled back, slowly, before Yi toddles over and smirks slightly at the cub, casting a glance at the passed out Reggie. "I said you would get used to it," she says softly, a little gruffer in this form. "You're going to be ok, yes?" The nomoon is at the very least, concerned. "I'm sorry if my .. actions caused discomfort."

Anneka steps slowly, carefully through the dark. There's a light switch about, somewhere, but there's enough light that she can see Yi, and that's what seems to matter now. She looks at her, and her mouth opens once, then closes again. "My dad used to scare away th'monsters under my bed, 'cause that's what dads do. Am I a monster now?" There's the faint scent of fear again.

Anneka almost laughs, her voice quiet. "'Cause I scare me.

Yi is a fair mess, but nothing that she'll die from. "You're a monster, only if you think yourself that way." She rolls her good shoulder, being content in leaving her cut up side bloodied but covered with her clothes that returned to her dedicated form. Well, her vest, anyway. The shirt is a little torn up, but easily replacable. She smiles, a little wryly. "Sometimes I scare myself too. But just have to remember what I am, what we are, and what we do. Fight, to protect and win back Gaia."

There's a long, dark silence, then Anneka's voice skirls through the basement. "I'm not a monster." She closes her hands into fists at her sides, opens them again. The thought seems to center her, the scent of fear growing fainter, but the shadow of the wolf is still about her, the rage held close but never gone. "I don't like fightin'. Not ever, but--" She looks down at the floor, nods. "There's part of me that's thinkin' that what you did was right, that th' rules were followed."

Yi looks down to her shoulder a moment, not really able to see a lot of the cuts, but still the blood and some throbbing pain is enough to convince her she'll need to take it easy there a few days. She moves to the foot of the stairs and sits on the second one from the bottom, taking some of the strain off her shoulder. "What part did you think was right?" she queries the cub, maybe testing her. The hint of a smile on her lips, around the pain. "What was the difference between my fight with Reggie, and Rotem's fight with Reggie?"

There's a muffled thump as Anneka leans against a wall, the scuff of a blocky shoe along the floor. "Rotem was just makin' a mess-- With me, without askin', then with Reggie." The girl slides down until her rear thumps on the floor, and she wraps her arms around herself. "Reggie wanted t'fight, but Rotem's a cub 'n I bet he'd just get ripped up." There's a pause, a breath drawn in. "He didn' ask neither, he just did." She looks over at Yi. "When you were fightin', there was a challenge-- You asked t'fight, kinda. And then after you said that you had lost, an' Reggie said he knew, and you did, but that you'd lost-- Well?"

A hand goes up, runs fingers through curly, sandy hair. "So, when you were done fightin', you and Reggie knew where you were /were/. Rotem just-- got beat up."

Yi nods slowly. "Rotem was beat up, though that won't last physically. His pride hurts more than his body, most of the time." She sighs and shakes her head. "I'm not sure what to teach him. He needs to have pride in being a Garou, but... not pride in the sense he knows he can beat on others and do what he wants." She stands, slowly. "We're finished in here, I think. I should head back to my apartment, and shower. Get some bandages on this shoulder of mine." She grunts slightly, thinking about how to deal with the boss tomorrow.

Anneka scrambles to her feet as well, sticks her hands in her pockets. "You were sayin' somethin' 'bout him bein' omega." She nods, lets a sigh out through her teeth. "I keep thinkin' this coulda been a lot--" She looks around, shrugs. "I d'no-- Maybe Reggie was gonna get mad, no matter what."

Yi shrugs slowly, rolling her good shoulder. "If it was not me, it would have been him. I was inclined to let Reggie teach the cub through a fight. But... as you said, a Veil breach is not worth the trouble of teaching a cub." She quirks a smile to Anneka, before ascending the stairs to the sanctuary.

You climb up the stairs to the ground floor of the church.

Quincy still hums, but now a bit quieter, after his little discovery.

The door from the basement opens, followed by some heavy footsteps and chatter between the two Garou. That is, until Yi stops at the top at sight of the stranger in the dimness of the church. In the dark, she narrows her eyes and turns her bloody shoulder away into the shadows. "Who's there?"

Quincy stops, looking up. He thinks he recognizes that voice, then stands stock-still, trying to find the source of it.

Quincy finally responds, after a good two minutes of dead silence. "A friend."

Anneka, still behind Yi on the steps, goes mouse-quiet-- And in the dark largely invisible.

Yi looks back to Anneka, then to the somewhat familiar stranger. She steps out, still remaining a bit shadowed. This time, her voice is more normal as she shifts to a more normal form in the darkness. "Step into the light," she commands, somewhat forcefully.

You have shifted to Homid form.

Quincy rises then to stand, cautiously obeying the sharp command given. He is not one to needlessly resist. He steps into the light with his hands very clearly visible, and now empty, at his sides, trying to look as harmless as possible.

Yi still remains shadowed, though it's more obvious if the stranger remembers, that he's met her before. Her voice, carrying that distinctly alto pitched Canto-British accent to it, comes barked out again. Well, not quite barked out. "Your name, and what are you doing here?" The voice is still firm, but seems to carry a tone of hesitant recognition. Hard to say, in the darkness.

Quincy speaks, still unsure, but he decides to take a calculated gamble. "I'm Quincy, and if you are who I think you are, you asked me to meet you here, once, a while ago." He's trying to keep calm, and that much was apparent.

Yi looks back to Anneka again, before stepping out herself into the light. "Are there others with you?" Indeed, she does remember that name. "I has been awhile since I told you to meet me."

Long distance to the room: Yi notes she's, a bit bloody, mostly on her left shoulder, the sleeve tattered and stuff. Fight earlier. :)

Quincy says "Yes, it has...I have to be honest about it...I forgot before, and was hoping to meet you here again at some point..."

Anneka almost starts forward, then remains where she is, tucked away into the dark hall that leads down to the basement. Yi catches a glimpse of her, eyes bright and watching hard. There's a faint scuff of a blocky shoe on a step, but little more than that, and not easy to hear over the two, talking.

Yi nods slowly. She seems to have grown wary of the darkness around, but it doesn't seem to show on her. "If you are, what I feel you are... then you came because you are part of the family. Yes?" She doesn't indicate for Anneka to step forward yet, but keeps the cub in mind. Her eyes glitter with suspicion of the mysteriously reappeared stranger.

Quincy finally notices her bloody shoulder, his attention drawn there, that clearly being the most prominent feature she currently wears. He remembers at least her deed-name now. And his Gift, too. He takes a moment to decipher her subtle hints. "Yes, of course."

Yi notices him looking down at her shoulder, and crosses her arms over her front despite the pain, as if trying to hide the injury though rather unsuccessful. "And how do I know you do not wish ill upon us?" Her jaw sets, as if to indicate you aren't going anywhere without going past me.

From afar, to the room, Jay says, "Because Yi, Spiral dancers aren't pansy enough to name their kids "Quincy"

From afar, to the room, Anneka pokes at Jay. "Hush, Mufasa." :)

Long distance to the room: Yi laughs. Dancer sez: I'm a *frothspitdrool* Children of Gaia.

Quincy seems prepared for that, a gentle, somewhat relieved smile on his face. He doesn't see the figure tucked away behind her, and looking around, he sees no one else. He steps forward. Calmly, openly, nothing sneaky or underhanded or threatening about it, he reaches up, his hand poised over her wounded shoulder but stopped there, gauging a reaction first.

From afar, to the room, Jay laughs and pulls out his spiral. "Resop Uorag!" :) Which is Garou Poser spelled backwards

Long distance to the room: Yi laughs!

From afar, to the room, Anneka heehees. :)

Yi snaps out a hand reflexively before it reaches even an inch from her shoulder, her grip firm. But seeing no tentacle or something shooting out from the man, she stands there, waiting for -his- reaction with her hand still gripping his wrist. Her eyes watch him, suspicious still despite his smile. "What are you doing?"

Quincy keeps his gentle smile. He expected as much. "Granting a gift. A token of my goodwill." A simple response, hopefully, would suffice.

Yi blinks a few times, still keeping her hand on his wrist. She doesn't seem inclined to simply let him touch her. But... the Canto-gnawer releases her hold, slowly, waiting. If he were to do -anything- suspicious, she'd be on him in a flash.

Quincy lowers his hand slowly, allowing his hand to cover the wounded shoulder, gripping gently. Closing his eyes but a moment, he channels Gaia through him, as Justin taught him, hopefully bringing relief to the other's pain. Thankfully, he has had only rare chances to practice this particular Gift.

Yi keeps her eyes on the man the entire time, though noticing the pain that was in her shoulder is slowly ebbing away. Finally she breaks off her gaze from him to look at his hand upon her shoulder.

Quincy finds it difficult to break, at first. Even on the rare occasions that he reached for and touched his connection to Gaia, he enjoyed it and craved it like a drunkard craves alcohol. He detaches his hand and returns it to his side, mainly to see how good of a job he had done but also to let her know that he was finished and that she wouldn't have to kill him, after all.

Yi pokes at her shoulder, experimentally. Then, she looks up at him. "You know the Touch." Her hardened, narrowed gaze softens briefly out of consideration and gratitude. "But I still do not know you. What are you called, your tribe, your auspice?"

Quincy spoke lightly, quietly. "I'm called Silent-Thoughts-of-Gaia, a Theurge, of the Children." The expression on his face betrayed a sort of humble pride in his place in Garou society.

Yi tilts her head as she backs up a pace to get a good look at this Child of Gaia. What Dancer would try and pose as a Child of Gaia? And have a name with Gaia in it? "Then, Quincy, I am Yi, called Three-Blades, no-moon of the Gnawers. You came here to meet me, yes, but I ask you then, why are you here? Are you seeking one of the Garou around here?"

Quincy takes something of a relaxed pose now, clearly lacking something to lean on for the full effect. "That's what I was hoping..."

Yi licks a tooth, still eyeing Quincy. "I have spoken to the other Children of Gaia here about you. The one I spoke to wants me to bring a halfmoon to make sure you are not of the Wyrm." She looks to her shoulder, then back at Quincy. "Let me know where you are staying, and I will get the message relayed to them. They should send one of their own to meet you."

Quincy tries not to look miffed at that. Of the Wyrm, indeed! "Of course." He gives her his address, following her gaze, then stepping back, rocking a bit on his heels.

Yi nods slowly, filing his words into her mind. Then she gazes at him, unsure of what to do. "Well... it is late. For now, I suppose, you will have to wait for an answer." She beckons Anneka over, who finally comes out of the darkness but silently passes him by. Yi heads over to a pew to pick up her staff she left earlier, and motions for Quincy to follow out the door.

Quincy follows out the door, pleased with this encounter. He is glad of the meeting, and of its outcome.