Julie nods to Kax, then shakes her head at Rotem. "Sorry ain't enough. Yer lucky yer not dead a'ready, from what I've heard." A shift of gears here, though the fury still makes her voice tremble faintly. "So. Whores ain't worth yer time, hmm? Just cuz yer momma was fucked up, right? Well, I'm gonna give you the truth on alla that. Yer momma was an innocent. I don't care that she screwed up with you. Them drugs? Them johns? Alla that? It's the Wyrm, an' leavin' them t' fend for themselves ain't gonna make it go away. I suggest you be gettin' it through yer thick skull tootsweet, b'fore it's split wide open. You got that? Yer here t' fight the Wyrm, not the humans, an' you /ain't/ gonna turn a blind eye t' them. Hear me?!" She loses a tad bit of control here, enough to whip a hand out and snatch at Rotem's chin to bring his face close to hers, eyes to seething eyes.

Kaz takes one wary step forward, but stops when it's clear Julie's making a point.

Rotem gulps slightly, looking to Julie. A soft word mumbled, "Okay." He agrees. Although if its from what Max told him, or Julies speach is unknown.

Nevada only lights a smoke, cool as a cucumber.

There's a distinct smell of rice, rangoons and other eateries from the restaurant as Yi opens up the door just in time to hear Julie's speech. And she blinks. "Yo," she says quietly.

Kaz glances over at Yi, and nods. "Talkin'," she explains.

"Bah," Julie grunts, shoving back the chin in her hand and letting go. "I'm hopin' yer more sincere than you sound. If'n valuin' yer life ain't gonna get you t' get yer mind straight, then yer gonna be S.O.L."

Yi nods to Kaz, glancing at Nevada, Julie, and the Rotem. "Guess I should put this in the fridge if no one wants it." Stating that, she moves towards the kitchenette.

Rotem sighs shaking his head, desciding whatever S.O.L is, its bad. Very bad. "I.. I'm gonna listen, like Max said." He motions to Julie. "I'll even help the whores." He shakes his head, not particularly happy about the prospect.

Nevada smirks at something, his eyes wandering from cub and Cliath to Canto-Gnawer as she approaches. He's leaning back against the counter in the kitchenette. Turning his head slightly to blow a stream of smoke away from Yi, he nods once and whispers briefly.

Nevada whispers "Hey, Mulan. Ro's gettin' a talk. D'jou bring any fortune cookies witcha?"

Julie calms a bit, glancing at Yi and giving her a quiet 'H'lo", then eyeing Rotem. "So, sounds like more'n one person's tried t' straighten yer shit out. How many will it take? Huh? Someone's gonna say the hell with talkin', an' that'll be it. You know the Litany, right?" Yes, she is going somewhere with this, believe it or not.

Kaz shifts slightly, watching Julie in what could be wariness or could be respectful interest.

Rotem nods softly. "Yeah, I know the Litany." He motions towards Yi. "She taught me most of it."

Yi tightens her jaw a little as Julie's talking gives her an invisible bristle at mention of trying to straighten things out. In response to Nevada's question, she shuffles about in the bag and comes up with a handful of fortune cookies. "Take your pick." Rotem's motioning catches her eye and she gives him a slight upward tilt of her head.

Julie looks over at Yi, and gives her a thumb's up, then turns back to Rotem. "Okay, so you know them. Now. Do you believe them?" Here, she bows her head slightly, to peer at him from beneath thin eyebrows. This actually intensifies the depth of her gaze.

Nevada plucks a fortune cookie from Yi's palm. Crunching it in one palm, he transfers the cigarette to his mouth as he picks the paper message out of the cookie pieces. He hands it to Yi. "What's it say," he mumbles around his cig.

Yi gently picks the paper out of the crumble, and reads, "You are an extremely good-looking guy who can't exit a building without being swamped by fans." She laughs, shakes her head, and reads the real answer. "You are an angel. Be careful who you give your feathers to." She blinks a few times, then shrugs. "They're not my fortune cookies."

Kaz pages to the room: Awright. I gotta go eat and stuff. Just assume Kaz sticks around silently.

Rotem nods softly. "Most of em." He sighs softly. "I still don't get one." He looks to Julie. "But then again I don't know what a caern is."

Julie stands, rather abruptly, granted, but she is on the move to the utility drawer to hunt up pencil and paper. Once she finds them, she draws a wide circle on the paper, a smaller one in that, and an 'X' in the center.

Yi looks over Nevada's shoulder, or rather around it, at the paper. She draws out a box of fried rice and breaks open a pair of chopsticks.

Rotem looks down at the paper, wondering what she's scribbling, but remaining silent.

Nevada's smirk only widens at Yi's fortune. He chews on the fortune cookie pieces as he watches Julie and Rotem, cigarette burning in the crook of his fingers.

Julie lets Rotem get a good look, then describes what she's drawn. "The wide circle, that is the /bawn/. It is the Sept's proclaimed territory. It is constantly patrolled, an' protected. Safe haven." She then points at the smaller circle. "That there is the Caern. It's holy ground. You know, holy, like a church? Blessed, cleansed. It's where we gather for meetings, where many go for peace, for meditation, for study. Ain't no blood shed there. Or anythin' that'll desecrate it." She pauses to let it sink in, then taps the 'X' in the center, the paper rattling with the disturbance. "That, is the Center. Where the Caern's power lies. It's been Touched, and holds the heart of the Sept. To defile it is to defile all Garou and Gaia herself."

Rotem nods softly and motions to the inner circle. "If there is bad stuff here, c-can we kill it?" he reffers to the bloodshed rule she's given him. Not waiting for a reply he continues. "And what is more important, the caern or the city? What if y-you had to choose only to save one of the two? The caern or the city?"

Yi mms softly as she nods to Julie's explanation. Swallowing, she adds. "That's what the last law means. You save the caern."

"Always," Nevada says.

Julie nods. "If'n there's bad stuff there, then, yes. As Yi and Nev said, the Caern is utmost. The city's m' home, but I'd save the Caern b'fore I'd give second thought t' the city."

Rotem shakes his head and thinks to himself. "Okay." He sighs, sadly.

Julie says "But..." She hands the piece of paper over to Rotem, "If'n we protect the innocents from the Wyrm, we protect the Caern. R'member, battle the Wyrm where it dwells an' whenever it breeds. An' it's doin' that inna city. So, we work on cleansin' the city, t' protect the Caern."

"The fact is that most of the Garou, except we Gnawers, Walkers, and some of the Shadow Lords, find their homes in the city. For the others, the city is of the Weaver, technology and things, which is just as bad as the Wyrm to some of them. They don't like it or the humans in it, since, well, you've seen how our city can be that dirty, and house breeding places of the Wyrm." Yi nods to Julie's statements.

Rotem shrugs softly, jerking a thumb over at the gathering. "They wan' let me go with to the sewers. So how I s'pose to battle it?"

Rotem looks to Yi and nods. "I can s-see how the other tribes would think that."

Julie says "You ain't ready t' go int' the sewers. 'r anywhere, for that matter. Yer too wild yet, an' got yer hate aimed a' the wrong targets. Yer blamin' the victims, when they don't even know they /are/ victims." She moves away a moment, dragging the chair with her, which she sinks into with a tense sigh.

Rotem follows Julies movments with his eyes, sitting back in his chair. "I understand." He sighs heavily. "Just wanted to help."

Yi swallows down a couple of more bites of food, and rustles the bag a bit. "Did you want anything to eat, you two?" She glances over at Julie and Rotem, thinking this lecturing is just making the mood grow heavy. "You've a while yet, Rotem, but that is what patience is for. You may think you're ready, but there are things to learn about beyond the Litany and combat."

Nevada stubs the cigarette out, flicking it into the sink. "Good, Rotem," he says. "You should want to help. That's what Gnawers do. We take care of the innocents, protect them, fight for them. That's our job. That's how we help. We could use your help, kid. We want it." His eyes don't move from the cub as he answers Yi,"If you brought home some a'that kung pao chicken, Mulan, I'll love ya foreva sis."

Two beers, an empty stomach, almost constant work out on the city streets, and the contained rage was draining her hard and fast. Julie smiles wanly, and nods tiredly as she gets to her feet and approaches. "Sure. Got any eggrolls?"

Rotem looks to Yi. "Cliath knows best." He grins, "Whatever they don't finish off, I will." The garbage disposal on two legs announces.

Yi hunts around in the bag, coming up with quite a few boxes. Deciding it's just easier to open every box and stuff, she picks up the bag and moves to the center of the basement. The boxes inside come out, various shapes and sizes. "Kung-pao chicken, eggrolls, combo fried rice, broccoli-beef..." she continues for a few seconds and eventually all the boxes are opened, with forks and stuff in a fan-like arrangement on her hand. "I didn't know what people liked. Only that Kaz liked rangoons."

Julie claims three eggrolls, waves off the offering of the fork, and returns to her chair. "Thanks. I'm perty flexible, but fingerfood's m' favorite." A chomp, and half an eggroll disappeared into her mouth.

Rotem grabs up the combo rice and broccoli beef, He moves to put them on his lap and then stops. "So, this a kill, or can I eat it alone?" He asks with a smirk. Long distance to the room: Yi gives Nevada his 'kill' of kungpao and brbs a moment to get her own fried rice.

Nevada gravitates toward the box of kung pao chicken. "Thanks, Yi. I'll sing songs of praise f'you later," he says with a small smile as he wags a fork at her. "What rhymes good wit' 'short'?" He glances at Julie, fellow Galliard, for input perhaps. Heartsight is given a grin. "Long time no see, by th'way." He gestures for Rotem to go ahead.

Julie thinks a moment. "Um, snort, cohort, thwart, mugwart, wart..."

Yi gives Nevada what rhymes with short. Snort. "If I get a spot in the tales like Mulan, then I can die happy." She chuckles, digging back into her own fried rice and a goodnatured grumble at Julie.

Rotem delves into the meat, using his fingers to eat, swallowing down mouthfulls rather uncerimoniously. "Mphgn. Nood." He swallows and then repeats. "Thanks, S'good."

Nevada likes that. "Wart," he repeats, with a sidelong grin behind a box of Chinese. "Hmm.. sport. Import." He snorts. "Contort."

Rotem eats very well. Too well.

Yi munches on her meal with a polite quietness. "Glad you like it," she says. "I don't think the manager has noticed the food bill yet." She chuckles. "How've you been, Julie?" she tilts her head inquisitively to the Gnawer she hasn't seen in a while.

Rotem descides against asking why Yi wasn't fired, and continues scarfing down the meat and broccoli. He finishes off the entire box in only a minute or two, and starts off on the rice.

Julie chews up the second half of the eggroll, then swallows, before speaking. No use wasting food by spraying while you're saying it. "Been a'right, I s'pose. Busybusy.

Rotem continues eating, he looks like he'll swallow down the box as well if he isn't careful, and seeing as he's already /eaten/ an entire hymnal it wouldn't be surprising if he did.

"I see," Yi replies, giving Rotem a cautious glance. Maybe if they made ricepaper takeout boxes... "So how is the Tai Chi coming along then, Rotem?" she queries the cub, perhaps to get him to slow down before he eats the box, metal handle and all.

Julie slowly gets to her feet, the two extra eggrolls get stuffed into her pocket as she stands. "I need t' go crash. These 48-hour days're a bitch an'a-half."

Rotem lifts his head out of the rice daze its in, and looks to Yi. "Huh?" He pauses. "Oh, fine. Need Chugs." He motions to the book on the couch. "Books only help so much." He then promptly returns to eating down the rice.

Yi nods to Julie, lifting her chopsticks to wave. "Don't disappear for so long next time, na?" she grins at her. Rotem's response earns him a curious tilt and a short smile.

Julie waves halfheartedly at the remark. "Yeah, I'll try not t'. Unless I croak in m' sleep. Which wou'dn't surprise me, right now. I'm beat. Later, all." A brief study of Rotem a moment, before she turns and heads for the stairs.

Rotem shakes his head, waving to Julie. "Bye." He mumbles, then works on finishing the rice, the empty container discarded as he looks to Yi. "What else you got?"

There are more containers of similar nature, one of chow mein, another of some pieces of fried pork. "I know you're growing, but... eesh," Yi says with an arched eyebrow, pushing to him the large box of chow mein.

"See ya around, Julie," Nevada calls with a smile, wiping some rice from his chin. He's been content to eat quietly. Him doing anything quietly is quite a feat in itself.

Rotem takes the box, depositing it on his lap and opening it, "I'm hungry." He states simply, something about disembowlment just gets his hunger going. He dives into the box, eating piece after peice, obviously chewing being optional to him.

Yi shakes her head a little and glances up at Nevada, her expression sort of a 'hooboy' look. "Got any plans today, Nevada?"

"No kiddin." Nevada lifts an eyebrow, grinning slightly at Rotem. He sets down his empty box of kung pao, turning a glance to Yi. "I always got plans," he replies, wiping his mouth. "Wait.. what kinda plans you talkin' about?"

Yi gestures vaguely (hehe.) "Like, things to do. People to charm."

Rotem swallows down a few more bites of the food, then stops, lifting his head, seems he needs to breath sometimes as well.

"Good food." Rotem mumbles, then returns to attacking the chicken. He pulles the peices out and inhales them. After finishing he looks up to Yi, sauce covering half of his chin. "Cookies?" He asks simply.

Yi tosses Rotem a couple of fortune cookies from a bag of them.

Rotem grabs them out of the air and pops one into his mouth, chewing on it and then swallowing, seems he's forgotten about the paper bits.

"Maybe we should call you Eats-Everything," Nevada says with a laugh. He looks like he may be just a little impressed. As he looks to Yi, his grin becomes sly. "Maybe. I think I got me some lessons in mind, fa Bunny, an' Greenstreak here."

"Oh? Like what?" Yi tilts her head, cracking open a fortune cookie and reading it before scrunching the paper and sticking one half of the cookie in her mouth.

Rotem looks at Yi then cracks open a cookie, removing the paper. "Oops." He mumbles, then crushes the others in his hand and removes all the papers, swallowing down the cookie bites instead.

"Nope." Nevada shakes his head at Yi. "It's a secret." He glances sidelong at her, in that 'I'll tell you later' kind of way. Or maybe he won't. "So, Green. When you gonna re-do ya hair?"

Rotem motions to the doorway. "Tried to before. Kaz wouldn't take me dumpster diving."

"I didn't know you wanted to emulate Lucca," Yi chuckles, gathering up empty boxes and sticking them into the plastic bag for disposal. "Besides, maybe your hair will look fine without the green."

Rotem shakes his head from side to side. "Blue." He replies simply, then reconsiders. "Or orange."

Yi shrugs and sticks her empty rice box into the bag too, and does catch Nevada's look. "What would you use to redye your hair green?" She gives the cub a curious glance, not exactly imagining using /anything/ from a dumpster to purposely color her hair.

"Bleach, markers, hell, maybe paint," Nevada speaks up in answer to Yi's question for the cub. He grins a little.

Rotem motions to Nev. "Markers mostly. Cool aid powder in a pinch." He shrugs. "Bleach once every few months." He adds, for the streaks, "Tin foil too."

Yi just shrugs, the concept of dyeing hair to look cool in proportion to the way one dresses, is somewhat foreign. "I guess," she murmurs a little bewildered by the two others. "What's the point? Other than to make your hair a different color, and smell like punch?"

Rotem shakes his head. "So I don't have to e-explain to everyone why I'm called Greenstreak?"

"One time," the Galliard says, his grin settling into a half-smirk,"This frienda mine made my hair pink when I was sleepin'. Markers, I guess, there was stripes everywhere." He shakes his head at the memory. "Only, I didn' think she was the one who did it.. thought it was somebody else. So when he was sleepin', I got my revenge, an' shaved his head... an' I'll bet that chick was laughin' at me the entire time."

Rotem grins evilly, making sure to have pink hair dye handy for the next time Nev is a sleep, in lupus. :P

Rotem pages to the room: Bright pink lupus Nev! ROFL

From afar, to the room, Nevada stands pinkly before the Wyrm. ~Rarr! Meet your doom!~

Rotem pages to the room: The Wyrm looks at Nevada for a moment, then turns away running, while screaming. "ITS THE PINK BUNNY(IP) GAROU OF DOOM!"

Nevada pages to the room: Ha ha! *beating on an Energizer battery drum*

You paged the room with 'The fetish keeps going and going and going.'.

"You could be named something else," Yi points out to the cub. "And... your friends are strange, Nevada."

Rotem crooks his finger at Yi. "You're a ragabash right?" He asks, waving her over towards him.

"Were strange," Nevada corrects, shrugging a shoulder. "An' still /are/, I guess. Counting you guys." He grins lopsidedly at the both of them. "Mulan certainly is a no moon. Don't let her fool ya."

Nodding, Yi just looks at Rotem. "Yes. You just noticed?" she chuckles, waving off the joke like a bad pun. "What?" She doesn't quite make a move towards him, simply arching a brow at the cub.

Rotem moves over to Yi, leaning to whisper to her

Rotem whispers "Rotem whispers to Yi: "So you play practical jokes, yes? I'll get the bright pink hair color, you get me to Nev while he's asleep."

Yi blinks, then looks at Rotem incredulously though she says nothing. She glances up to Nevada, and suppresses the image that comes to her mind.

Rotem shakes his head. "Come on, you know he'll like it." He grins.

"Whoa, whoa, what're you schoolgirls whisperin' about?" Nevada eyes them, blond eyebrows up.

Yi waves to Rotem. "Ask him," she says, keeping that giggle in check quite nicely. Rotem shrugs. "Birthday present." He turns and moves towards the couch, ploping down on it. "Now don't go ruining the surprise."

"Good luck," Nevada says with a light, amiable snort. "I don't even know when my birthday is. Guess it really will be a surprise then, or what. Bring it on, kiddo." If there's one thing the Galliard loves, it's surprises. Good ones, at least. Ones that have nothing to do with the Copper State.

"Well, we could make your birthday New Year's," Yi smiles, before giving Rotem a small thoughtful look. She gets up to her feet, to throw out the trash.

Rotem rises up, yawning. "I'm gonna take a nap. I'll be in the back." he anounces to anyone who might care, and walks off to the back room.

"Night night," Nevada says, nodding to him.

"See you," Yi says to the departing cub. She then turns back to Nevada, giving him a short 'maybe we should go upstairs' motion of the hand.

Nevada nods, stretching slightly as he moves toward the door. "Always used to celebrate my birthday whenever Easter was that year," he says. "I'd throw a huge party then, but I went an' celebrated it already in Vegas." He grins over his shoulder at her. "Hell, have a party anyways, right."

Nevada vanishes up the stairwell to the sanctuary. Nevada has left.

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

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.
Contents:
Nevada
Mural
Obvious exits:
Street Basement

"Easter," Yi grins, coming up behind the galliard. "So, what were you plotting," she asks, conspiratorily.

Nevada shares the grin, a love of conspiracy dancing in his eyes. "Fa Bernie.. I'm ganna show her the tricks a'the trade. I don't know what all she been taught, but this lesson can't hurt. Gonna teach her the old Switch'nBait, the Face Makin' thing, an' how to distract like nobody's goddamn business. Something she learn from, fa' the distraction duty she got comin'." He flashes that evil little smirk, then says, simply,"An' I'm gonna take Little Mista I Hate Hookas out f'anight on the town."

Yi arches an eyebrow at the galliard like the gibbous moon has really gone to his head. "You're going to take Rotem back out to Elson?" she asks dubiously, moving over to a pew and flopping down into a habitual sitting position of one drawn up knee. "And that would do, for Bernie," she says softly, a little guilty, that she hasn't done that either. "What is Face Makin'? Other than, you know..." she makes a face, pulling down at one eyelid and sticking her tongue out, for just a second.

"Well," Nevada begins,"It's... " He drifts off, looks faraway. "It's.. it's.. " His lower lip wobbles, looking pouty, beestung. "It's not my fault," he says, his voice strained, as he looks up at the woman from a pit of sorrow. "Not my fault officer," he sobs, starting to hiccup, going a little flushed in the face. His eyes look watery. "Not my fault, they muhmade me do it! I'm suh-suh-suh sorry! Are you going to tell my mom?" The last comes out in an extra pathetic pubescent squeak, as he wrings his hands, peering tearfully at Yi.

Yi tries to hold up the act, really, peering sternly at Nevada as the galliard breaks down into a sobby puddle. But that's just too much. Her stern scowl mutates into a full restraint of the giggles, before she finally has to look away and put a hand to her mouth as she's racked with a fit of mirth. "Aiya!" she manages after a few shudders of giggling. "I could see that happening," she pants out, regaining her breath and still every so often averting her gaze as she feels the giggles coming back.

Nevada suddenly looks his age, sobbing there like that, just a poor sad kid upset that he's going to be in trouble. Then he stops, just like that. "Works like a --huck! -- charm," he says, yerking as a hiccup or two decides to remain. Shaking his head, he flops down next to her on a pew. "But Elson? Pshaw... I should. I should. But I ain't crazy. Not yet." He wipes his eyes with his sleeve, the ruddy blush going out of his face in splotches. "Ganna show him how to treat people, tho'." An afterthought: "One a these days, though. That kid has got to get laid."

Yi almost balks at the suggestion, expression showing that. It's not really her culture to think of such things as a remedy for impatience and anger. "Er... ok," she replies hesitantly. She shakes her head a little, not really understanding that bit of logic. "If you think it will help him," she answers with a confused blink.

"I think a lotta things'd help him," Nevada says, propping his legs up on the pew in front of him. "Like, few punches. Kick here'n there. A chance to give a few his own. Think I might show him how to hunt.. Urrah style." His eyes narrow suddenly. "Did I ever tell you abou' Miss Poofykins?"

Yi looks blankly at the galliard. "Miss... Poofykins?" Yi shakes her head, obviously not knowing who, or what, that is. But, the name does conjure pink pig muppets in mind.

"Poofykins," Nevada says, as if the name itself tasted bad. "When I first started goin' lupe, around the city, I thought it'd be funny if I chased cats. Y'know? But then I got to like it. Caught a few. But there was one that got away.. quite a few that got away in the beginning.. but the first one... " He smirks, holds up his hands with a space of at least two feet between them. "..was this huge fat cat, big and fluffy, prissy lil' bitch. You know, real pampered like. Wore a nice little collar with a little bell an' everything. Named Miss Poofykins. Man, the chase we had. An' I woulda caught her, too," the Galliard says, smirk widening,"If this lady didn't come around hittin' me with a newspaper."

Yi for the moment tries to parse the information. Poofykins. What human in their right mind names any creature... /that/ ? She shakes her head, and laughs with her mental images. "And this is supposed to show Rotem how to hunt, our way?" she gives the galliard a little grin with a glint of her eye. "I should try it sometime, chasing cats." The nomoon changes her view up towards the rafters. "Or pigeons. Pigeons seem hard to catch."

"Naww, pigeons is nice. Even if they poo on ya car. I like how they walk." Nevada bobs his head just so. "Cats, though. They is meanass motherfuckers. Catch shit, an they torture it, just because. Like mice. Rats. Someday, we go cat-chasin', I think. Car-chasin', too. I'm real good at catchin' those."

Yi thinks about car-chasing, and the memory of Banecruncher comes up. "No... we might want to hold off on car chasing," she says softly. "Banecruncher was in quite a bit of trouble because of...that..." She glances back to the galliard. "But I'll give cat-chasing a try." She grins. "If it helps out Mother Rat, then it should garner some favor."

"How 'bout garnering some favor right now, then, huh?" Nevada grins at her, removing his legs from the pew in front of him. "I'm wired. Moon's in my eye, like a big pizza pie.. y'know, that song."

From afar, to the room, Nevada has to go in like, two minutes. ;) If ya, we could just say they ran out rarring and chasing cats or something. ;>

Yi gives Nevada another blank look for a moment, and then it comes to her. "Oh!" a smile spreads over her face. "Sounds good," she thinks aloud. Then, the nomoon gives him an affirming nod. "Let's go then." She laughs, the images and tactics to chasing cats beginning to form in her mind already.

[And so our daring duo go out to chase some Hello Kitties.]