Legs wrapped around a sturdy rafter, Yi hangs upside down in the near dark. Highlighted only by the light of the galliard's moon in the murky windows, she does her daily situps... or curls. Whichever people technically call it.

Outside a spot of shadow drifts and flutters down the darkened street, skirting the pools of light left by the streetlights that still work, like an animate leaf or a girl with a destination in mind and no particular urge to have herself noticed in this rather rough part of town. She's got her hood up when she steps quick up the church's stairs, a hand pale against the dark for a moment as she cracks the doors open enough to slip inside. In the murky, fuzzy moonlight, her face is bright, framed in dark as it is, and then the door's shut and she's padding down the aisle towards the dais-- She stops about halfway, looks up at the peculiar bat dangling from the rafters, grins.

Yi exhales tightly as she finishes another crunch, letting herself dangle there for a moment as she pants slightly. The padding of feet cause her to twist her head off to a side and gaze down at the center aisle. Not much light hits down below, and she squints some to make out the figure. "Anneka?"

Anneka pages: How high /are/ the rafters?

You paged Anneka with 'They should be pretty high. At least 20 feet up, I say. I think Yi can get onto them via the balcony.'.

"It's me," the girl says, quiet. "How do you get up there?"

Yi blinks a couple of times and does another crunch, this time grabbing a hand up at the rafter to boost herself onto it. She exhales again, regaining her breath in the next draw and moves over towards the balcony. "Over here," she replies, stealing along the beams with the occassional hop onto the next one, moving gradually to the balcony and dropping onto it. She pauses there. "Romeo, o Romeo..." Her British accent seems to add to the short jab at Shakespeare, before she laughs and descends down the stairs. "How are you?"

There's a faint giggle as Anneka stretches out into a huge yawn, then flops down on a pew. She pulls a leg up and starts working a stone out from between the treads of a shoe. "Okay. I was thinkin' about stuff, and I kinda started walking and now I'm here."

Yi sidles over to the pew and slips into the one in front. Setting an elbow atop the backing, she plucks a short round stone nearly invisible with black and thumbs it idly. "What were you thinking about?" comes the curious query.

"Songs, kinda," Anneka says. The stone is very interesting, apparently, and she worries at it with her fingertips, brow furrowed until it tap-tap-taps on the floor and vanishes into the dark. "My mom showed me a record once, that had music from planets on it. For each one." The girl takes a deeper breath than a moment ago, and even in the dark it's obvious it's not easy for her to talk about her mother. "She useta teach 'stronomy." She pulls her legs up, both, sits crosslegged on the pew. "I was thinkin' that places have songs too, like something you can hear. So, I was thinkin' 'bout what Saint Claire sounded like."

Yi tilts her head, the moonbeam shining in from the outside accenting the movement. Her own black stone in hand slips in and out of her fingers like a coin. "What St. Claire sounds like?" Her eyes, even in the dark, glitter in the faintest light with some curious thought. "What song do you think it sounds like?"

There's the scuff of a coat's rough fabric as Anneka shrugs. "I'm still thinkin' 'bout that, but it wouldn't be a song, like from th'radio. It'd be-- Saint Claire." She takes a deep breath. "I was thinkin' 'bout Rat, too, 'cause Kaz was tellin' me about her, and a lotta stuff I didn't know. And I was thinkin' about Rotem, 'cause he wanted me to go with him to see a rat spirit. A lotta stuff."

"What rat spir-- oh..." Yi interrupts her own question with a mental answer, nodding slowly. "The one that said to meet it again in the Umbra on the theurge's moon." Her smile turns wry as the stone in her hand flicks up and falls back down into a waiting hand. "Have any questions about it? Rat, I mean. Maybe I can help answer some of it." The Canto-Gnawer runs her free hand through her hair, combing it as best she can with slim fingers.

Anneka smiles. "I was kinda hopin' you could tell me 'bout what happened to you an' Rotem. With th'bird and the rat."

Yi sinks a bit into the pew, a short sigh escaping her lips. The stone in hand gets put away for a little while into a vest pocket. "It was a stupid idea, on my part. I don't know why I took him that far. I thought, perhaps, that I could teach him what I knew about the Umbra. We were walking in the Umbra, from the caern center where we stepped across. I didn't realize it until too late, but as we were walking we heard a rat spirit in a panic. It was running from something, needed help. So I shifted, and offered to help him. I had to, as it is the request of my pack's totem, Grandmother Salmon." She looks briefly to the balcony, up to the rafters, and back down towards Anneka. "It was being hunted."

The two Gnawers are sitting towards the front pews of the church, near the balcony. Yi in the row in front of Anneka, conversing in idle chatter. Or in this case, just storytelling.

Marcus's cab pulls up outside, the sounds of Bob dylan getting cut off just as the engine does. A few minutes later, the cabbie pokes his head in much more quietly, looking about with faint wariness before coming all the way through. "Yo."

In the dark it's hard to discern the finer elements of emotion, but there's subtly less tension in the way Anneka is sitting on the pew, less of a furrow to her brow. She fusses with her fingers a bit. "I wanted t'make sure he was tellin' the truth. It's---" She blinks, twists about in the pew at the sound of the voice.

Yi pauses in her own version of the story, looking up at the church doors. "Hello," she replies without much hint of uncertainty, but from her spot it is hard to make out the cabbie's features. "Looking for someone?"

Marcus lifts a hand in a vague, friendly wave as he shuffles down the isle toward the front of the church. His other hand is tucked into the pocket of his beat up army jacket. He looks from Anneka to Yi, smile widening a bit as he addresses her. "No on in particular. 'Less Bern's around." The hand comes out of the pocket, bearing three cds--all new and unwrapped. "Jesus, bearing gifts is all." His eyes move to Anneka, and he says quietly. "Hey."

Anneka's face catches the faint moonlight, but her eyes are dark pools. "Hi," she says, quietly.

Yi blinks as the wrapping of the cds shines in the moonbeams. "What's that?" she queries, perhaps a little too eagerly. Her eyes break off of the shiney wrapping reluctantly to look up at Marcus. "Bernie's not here... but... I didn't know Jesus came bringing CDs to family." Her brow arches curiously, studying the kin as if trying to make something out.

Kaz, a smallish brown bag in hand, pushes in the doors, whistling something vague to herself. "Oh, hey," she says, cheerfully, as she spies the people.

Marcus's faint grin doesn't hide his amusement. He asks, "You know that bleedin Jesus trick?" The hand still holding the cds then thumps the cabbie's chest. "You lookin at the blood donor. Name's Marcus. The man with the ride. Found these in the back seat tonight. I got all the Soopafly I need, and I already own Woo Child and Unity Klan. So. A donation for anyone who wants em."

Anneka sits up a bit more, smiles when she catches sight of Kaz. There're the telltale signs, for those with the eye for it, of a cub who would wag her tail if she had one at the moment. "Hi!" A quiet exclamation. Then she's glancing back at the fellow, the shiny rectangles in his hand.

Kaz ambles over to Anneka, and hands her the bag, before grinning at Marcus. "I could use the Soopafly, though I'd have t'use Sig's stereo..."

Anneka blinks twice. There's the quiet rumple of paper as she opens the bag and peeks inside.

Yi waves to Kaz as she comes in, then nods to Marcus. "You're the one who helped Bernie with that? I read the article. Nice picture of your life liquid there," she says with a short chuckle following. "I don't know those band names though. Are they good?" She tips her head oddly still regarding the CDs, probably more for the shiney wrapper than the CD itself.

Marcus catches sight of Kaz, and the grin flashes much more brightly. "Yo, Kaz. 'Sup kid-gloves?" He hands the cd over and holds out the hand for a tradition shake. To Yi, he winks, "Yeah, I'd just as soon keep the rest of it where it is, you know what i'm saying?"

Kaz shakes, firmly, as she sticks the CD in her pocket. "Thankee kindly, sir." There's a brief pause and then she asks, "Um. Kid-gloves?"

Marcus shrugs his shoulders, the smile turning enigmatic. "You know. Handling the kids and all," he explains. And, intuitively, his eyes move to Anneka. "This one of em?" he asks. In answer to Yi, he chuckles. "Some like em."

Brown paper rumples a bit more-- quiet, but in the church clearly audible. Anneka blinks again, then starts to giggle faintly. *pop* She has a bit of something in her hands, just catching the moonlight. *pop-pop*

Yi apparently, doesn't know what Marcus was saying, and it shows slightly as she parses his quick words. Then with a short flicker of her lips, she looks to Anneka, wondering if the cub wanted her to finish the Umbral annecdote. And the popping just draws her attention down towards the bag. Blink?

Long distance to the room: Yi .oO (Bubblewrap?)

Kaz's grin softens slightly. "Oh, hey. Makes sense to me. An' yeah, that's Anneka. She's been here a week're so."

Marcus holds a hand out to Anneka. "Pleased to meet you," he says, almost too formally but with the taximan's usual charm. Seeing the cub's attention is diverted, though, he looks to Yi.

Yi tentatively holds out her hand, the gesture perhaps more awkward than usual. "Song Yi Ling," she introduces herself, the name rolling off with a Cantonese flavor. "Or, just Yi. Mulan, if you wish... you are.. family?" She looks briefly to Kaz before flicking her gaze back to the kin.

Marcus blinks, chuckling quietly at the introduction. "Mulan. I like it." He nods, adding, "Yeah. Family. Not the furry kind, just the human kind."

Kaz nods. "Yeah. He's in from a few other places. He's a good guy, pretty much. Bern likes him a lot."

Marcus's eyes slide toward Kaz at the remark, looking a little surprised. "Yeah. Berns is cool."

Anneka blinks twice, draws her eyes up from her hands and looks to Marcus. There's enough light through the murky windows to give her eyes a green edge, spots of color amidst pale skin. Her impish grin fades to a broader smile. "Oh-- Oops. Hi." She sticks a small hand out, towards the fellow.

Marcus offers Yi the Woo Child CD, and Anneka, then, is given Unity Klan. "Hi there," he says to both. Taking a step back, he climbs onto the pew behind the Anneka and gets comfortable.

Yi takes the CD and peers at the cover some, using the sparse light from the windows of the church to get some idea of it. Lacking a right CD player at the moment, she grins at the kin, more relaxed now. Looking back to Anneka, she queries, "You want to know the rest, or should I hold off until later?"

Kaz finally flops into a pew herself, and asks, hat over her head, "Was there somethin' goin' on when I got here?"

Yi looks back up at Kaz. "I was telling Anneka my side of the story of Rotem's eye." She points up to her own left eye, for some emphasis.

Kaz takes her hat off her head. "Hell, /I/ wanna hear that, let alone /her/."

Marcus looks from Yi to Kaz, eyes eager. "Story?"

"Thank you," Anneka says, quietly. Nimble fingers turn the disk over in her hands, her eyes narrowing faintly at something on the cover. She smiles a bit more, looks up. "Story."

Yi switches her position, turning completely around and sitting cross legged and facing the others. "Well, I was telling her how I had taken Rotem into the Umbra." She sighs again, shaking her head slightly as she fingers the disk in her hand. "It was a stupid decision to go on such a slim moon. Even more stupid, that I was not keeping track of where we were. We ended up close to Kent Crossing's borders...and the rat spirit came rushing towards us needing help. It was being hunted, yes.. and I didn't see what was hunting it yet. But under Salmon's words, I am bound to help spirits that need my help so long as it does not further the Wyrm's cause." She lifts a hand to scratch slightly at a cheek. "So, I took the rat to safety, telling Rotem to watch out for whatever was hunting the rat. Another stupid decision of mine, leaving Rotem alone instead of telling him to come with me as I looked for a safe spot to put the rat down."

Kaz sits up, putting her hat on her feet, and listens thoughtfully.

Yi continues, obviously not the best of storytellers and definitely not taking any heroine stance here. "When I found a tree that wasn't dead and covered in webbing, I set the rat down. It said something like repaying favors, but I wasn't sure. I wasn't paying attention at the time. The owl, as it turned out what it was... wasn't any normal owl spirit. Tainted, that was certain. It was big..." The asian spreads her arms for effect. "Even bigger than this. Wings probably... as long as Marcus is tall, maybe more. And it stank of the Wyrm, or just dead flesh. Didn't have any feathers, was green all over, and shrieked like it came from Hell itself. It was fast too, and somehow could disappear and reappear in various places. It caught me on my shoulder, spit some acid at me here but didn't burn past the fur." She motions to her shoulder, hand stretched to show the area the spit covered.

There's a faint squeak from Anneka as she catches sight of something in the brown paper bag, a brilliant smile, even in the dark. She glances back to Kaz, then settles down into a crosslegged healp to listen. A hand reaches up to brush a strand of hair away from her nose.

Kaz glances over at the squeak and just grins happily, before sobering as she listens to more of the story.

Marcus's jaw tightens in a grim expression as he listens to Yi talk. He shakes his head a little in sympathy.

Yi looks from her shoulder, to make sure it's still there and everything, before looking back up to the others. "Rotem was eager. This was, indeed, his first fight against a real... piece of fish bait. He waited out in the open for the bird to show itself again after it disappeared from attacking me. And when I went to join him, the bird reappeared, flying kind of low to the ground headed toward him." She blinks a few times, rubs the back of her neck and admits, "I don't know much of happened next in great detail, but somehow Rotem was attacking the bird, and it decided to take off high into the sky. At first, I was hoping he could get the throat and take it down.. but it was strong enough to lift him in crinos up into the air, higher than the rafters.. maybe higher than the roof of this church." She looks up, briefly. "And then the bird did a roll, only Rotem was going to claw it, and something..." A pause. "The bird's claw must have sunk straight through his eye. He went into some frenzy, tearing at the bird afterwards. All the weight on the bird's claw though, sent it down towards the ground. I couldn't do anything really, except run after and hope I could catch one or the other."

Kaz sucks air through her teeth in something resembling a wince.

"I managed to make a lunge from the side, hoping to knock them off a straight path down and take out some of the speed of their fall. I hit the bird, which crashed to a tree and disappeared. I'm guessing that was how it died. Rotem... didn't get off so lucky. He crashed, very hard into the ground." She winces with a breath. "I knew I was in trouble. He wasn't unconscious yet, but he wasn't talking to me.. and he was bleeding, very badly. It was stupid, yes... I blame myself for his loss. I was lucky, Sepdet must have heard something, because she came out of nowhere. I'm grateful for her.. I think Rotem would have died if she hadn't come." She swallows. "She healed him as best she could, but even the best of healers sometimes can't help the injuries. So.. he has his eye, but he will never see out of it again. You'll have to ask him if he sees anything at all." Yi slouches, head bowing with regret. "It is my fault I took him that far, on such a slim moon. The rat spirit, later, reappeared. Sepdet translated, that it would repay Rotem with something if he went to meet the spirit on the next theurge's moon." She looks back up, the smile faded away to a thin line. "So that's how it is."

Marcus mumbles a wince of his own, mingled with a vague prayer or two. "Have I said yet how much I'm glad it's your job and not mine to face shit like that?"

Kaz just shakes her head. "Fuckin' A. But Yi -- I /know/ Rotem. You couldna stopped him if you had a tank behind you. Yeah, you gotta protect him, but you can't work miracles."

Yi's jaw tightens briefly before she gives her neck a twist that all too easily resembles a shake of a lupus' fur. "He was in worse shape than one would imagine. Seemed like when he realized he couldn't see out of his eye, he didn't want to go anywhere. I know, it was my fault I brought him out there. But I have seen ahrouns and cubs receive injuries worse than a lost eye. And no, I don't think I could have stopped him, Kaz... but it could have been avoided. So...Sepdet and I pushed him back to the caern, and we stepped back through." She turns to Marcus. "Makes a taxi driver's day seem kind of dull, doesn't it?" The thin line turns into a tight, wry smile.

Kaz tilts her head. "Huh? Y'mean, he was really pissed about it?"

Marcus attempts humor, shrugging once and grinning. "I dunno. Try doing an airport run on New Year's Eve. Sounds about as dangerous."

Anneka curls up a bit more, her arms wrapped about her skinny middle. She's winced a few times as the story was told, her nose wrinkling in the semblance of a lupine snarl, if a faint one. She tilts her head as well, looks to Yi. There are volumes of questions in her green eyes.

Yi snorts a short laugh. "Or just walking around taxis in Hong Kong. Don't know which is worse." She nods to Kaz. "He was angry, yes. I don't blame him for it... but later I told him, that the loss of an eye was not as bad as he thought. It would affect his sight, yes... his balance too. But one can learn how to fight without an eye, easily. Steven is just one of them... and he is proud of it, it seems. And even I can fight somewhat, blindfolded. It just takes knowing what is around, how it will act..and some luck." She looks over at Anneka, brow raised. "Admittedly, I'm not good at fighting blindfolded though." She chuckles lowly.

Kaz says, "Huh. I din' know he was an asshole about it." She scowls and mutters something under her breath, before flopping back down onto the pew.

Marcus slips off the pew. "Well, I better be rolling." He gives Yi another sympathetic look and waves to the others. "I'll check back when I can."

Kaz ratchets herself back up. "Take care, Marcus, yah?"

Yi dips her head to the kin, giving him a small wave. "Nice to meet the man who has been called Jesus by the newspapers." She grins more, before leaning onto the pew backing and watching Anneka thoughtfully. Her words go to Kaz, though. "His attitude got better, later. Just needed some inspiration. I'm not particularly fond of how he told his story before, but..." she shrugs lightly. "That is why he isn't a galliard, na."

Anneka looks back to Yi, the edges of her lupine countenance fading, her arms wrapped about legs pulled up. She blinks, twice, almost opens her mouth, but then she's turning to Marcus and mustering a faint smile. "Bye. An' thanks for the music, too."

Marcus smiles at all three. "Keep it real." Then he's gone.

Kaz shrugs at Yi. "I musta heard the story once he'd calmed down. But shit," she mutters, before shrugging and glancing at Anneka curiously.

Yi looks over at Kaz a moment, the quirk of her smile lost in the dark. "Well I'd be curious to hear how he tells it now, but I'm open for questions." The last part of her statement seems directed to the halfmoon cub, as well as her eyes.

Kaz shakes her head. "/I/ ain't got any. Just -- don't be too pissed at y'self over it, is all." That said, she flops back down and puts her hat over her head again.

Anneka flomphs back into her pew, curled up amidst her coat. "It makes me real mad that someone was hurtin' him, an' I don't even /like/ him," she manages, after the questions begin to die down in her eyes. "I don't know why he wants /me/ t'go with him, when he meets th'rat spirit."

Kaz says, from underneath her hat, "I dunno about why /he/ wants you to, but we all of us gotta meet Mama /sometime/. She's /Mama/. She's /part/ of us. Though that's prolly not his reasonin'."

Yi clears her throat softly, rubbing her hand against the back of her neck. "Perhaps he just doesn't want to go alone. He probably wouldn't be able to find the place again alone. And..maybe he doesn't want me there." She looks over at Kaz briefly before turning back to Anneka. "Not some-one-... some-thing-. An owl, it looked like. We were close to the borders of Kent Crossing. Something about the cities.. is that the Wyrm likes to breed in them. Unfortunately, it spreads out to the spirits around too. Places like the sewers down below here... it just all needs cleaning. We, are the crew to do it."

The girl squirms a bit. "I just feel real bad for-- He's a goon, but he's one of us, an' fightin' for /her/. It doesn't matter if I don't like him--" She pulls herself up a bit and nods to Yi. "Something." A frown traces its way across her face.

Kaz drifts off to sleep, under her hat.

Yi shrugs with a roll of her shoulders. "Well... I've not seen the two of you together in the same room since that one time, but... things will work out, someway or another. Has he done anything to push the button more?" A brow dips with concern.

Anneka shakes her head, her hair bobbing in a mane about her face. "No. It's just that--" She lets a breath out, quick. "Nevada an' Little Tim were goin' to go fightin' somewhere, and Rotem said he wouldn't go if I was. Dumb." She looks down. "And then he's sayin' he wants me to go with him t'do somethin' real important."

Yi tilts her head some more to the side, gaze narrowing slightly. "Did he say what?" The mention of Nevada and Little Tim going fighting doesn't get much more than a shrug. Apparently her trust to them is well enough.

Anneka nods. "He wanted me to go and help him when he met Rat, t'talk for him, I guess."

Yi looks oddly confused by this. "Not everyone can speak with the spirits. I know I don't have that ability..." she trails. Then her voice picks up again. "And you nor Rotem are allowed in the Umbra, without at least a cliath. If you want to go, though, I or Kaz, or some other cliath can go with you two. I made a mistake once, taking a cub into the Umbra on a seer's moon. I won't do it again, directly or indirectly." She pauses. "And if need be, I'll ask Sepdet to come along."

Anneka pulls herself up until she's sitting straight, her hands resting on either side of the pew, near her legs. She looks tired, the hour catching up with the cub, and frustrated at something-- Herself, perhaps, her thoughts. "Elan was there when he mentioned it, and /he/ had a bunch of questions." Her eyes narrow a bit, her skater's cant trailing away. "So I think he's going, but I don't know when-- what's goin' on. I didn't want to say yes or now 'til I knew more about all of it."

Yi nods slowly. "If Elan-rhya is going, I'll be satisfied with that." She uncrosses her legs and stretches them out along the pew, returning to a sideways position. "How was meeting our Big Dog anyway?" Her query indicates curiosity, for the most part.

Anneka ducks her head slightly, smiles. "He was in lupus at first, so I didn' know it was him, an', well-- I guess he knows I know how to do introducin' now."

Yi grins with that notion. "He comes with surprises, like that." Her hand comes up to stifle a yawn. "Erf. Excuse me... it's a little late. I guess we should both get some sleep, na?" Her gaze turns momentarily to look out the window then back at the cub before she stands up from the pew and stretches. "Where do you stay now? Here? The Rialto?"

Anneka rocks forward a bit until she's standing, then reaches up to pull her hood up over her head. In the dark, her face seems to float like that, smiling faintly. "I prob'ly should just talk to him. It's not his moon now, so maybe he's-- a goon, but better." Then she starts grinning. "I've been sleepin' at your 'partment, a lot."

Yi laughs, then nods. "Well, it's a good place to start with. It's Jay's place." The smile wanes momentarily but regains a bit of its quirk as she rounds the pew. "Hope you don't hate the sofa as much. I should replace the cushions someday..." Her eyes go up again, musing about it but she blinks and looks back down. "Come on. I'll ask Nevada for pancakes in the morning."

In the dark it's hard to say for certain, but when Yi catches her sidelong glance, there's an echo of something. Old tears. Then she's smiling again and the pointed tip of her hood is bobbing up and down. "Pancakes sound real cool."

Yi returns the brief look of old tears with a shrug, and accompanies the cub back to Apartment 15, where the party inside awaits.