6/13/2004

07:04 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Todd shakes his head. "No. Well, some of it is. But its mostly lists of things."

Mara grins. "I keep my lists in my head. Of course, all my lists are Garou things, so it's not something you want to be writing down."

Clump, clump, pause, knockknock, creaaaak... Yi opens up the front door after coming from the barn. She's a bit dirtied, and has a couple stray bits of hay on her person, but otherwise looks fine. Seeing the two cubs, she inclines her head to both.

Todd quirks a brow. "This list isn't." He turns one of the papers so she can see. It looks like a list, but none of the letters are recognizable. If Mara knew what Russian looked like, she might know which language it is. "Well in the way that it is my list, and I am Garou..." As the door opens, he looks up, and waves. "Yi! Good! I need to talk to you...."

Mara smiles over at Yi. "Hello again."

"Yes, we do," Yi says in that tone that brooks no interruptions the moment Todd speaks up to her. "Sit down, and shut your mouth a moment." She gazes momentarily at Mara, deciding whether or not to let the undecided cub hear all this. Then with a mild shrug, she moves on to the more important things. "You, Todd, are a lot of trouble." Slipping something out from beneath her jacket, she moves and sets the boy's whip down on the table. "Do you realize what you did yesterday?"

Todd nods. "Yeah. I defended my life without breaking the Veil."

Mara's eyebrows both go up at Todd's comment.

Yi narrows her eyes. In a flash, the whip is sent flying across the room to the far side of the hallway. "No!" A flash of anger, and then the cliath is calm again. "No, you didn't. You nearly lost your life yesterday, cub. And more importantly, I lost face because of you." Her eyes tell that she's serious.

Todd winces as the coiled cable is tossed down the hall and then looks back at her. "I nearly lost my life? How? What? Maybe, oh, I dunno, you should let me tell you what happened?"

Yi rounds on the Gnawer cub, Mara for the moment, set aside as she focuses on Todd. "In front of no less than 3 cliaths, you embarrassed me, you embarrassed our tribe, and worst of all, you proved that you still know absolutely nothing about the Litany. Do you realize what could have happened, Todd? Do you know why we have the eighth law? You think yourself /proud/ for being able to beat up a human child with /that/ whip? What would you have done if the boy had died? Do you think you could simply leave a body lying around, or worse... cart it around in front like some bag of dogfood?" She looks away for a moment, toning down the rising fury. "And of all things to do, you say /those/ words to Taslyn? I tell you boy, you broke no less than two laws yesterday." Her eyes tic on the sides, but the no-moon turns away. "If you want to tell your side, then do so now, and pray that I feel any spot of sympathy."

Mara scrunched down in her chair, trying to make herself as small as possible, while eatching the unfolding drama.

Todd sighs, deep in his chest. "Since the day Olga left, I've been working my ass off. I get up early in the morning to go perform magic on the street till my fingers hurt to try and get money. Why? So we can fucking secure a new hole. We got a gang of homeless people that need cleared from the building, and some cash would do it nice and get us allies. Then, at nice, I scour the fucking city to find metal for Squeak's cage and transport, which I'm also building. Then I haul it back to the new hole. Cause I fucking care. Yesterday, I hadn't pulled in shit doing tricks. So I decide to lift a wallet. Fucking fingers so numb from working on day I drop it. So I run. The jackass chases me-corners me in an alley. Makes threats to the effect that he'll kill me. So now its me or him. I tried to warn him, tell him I was dangerous, all cornered like that. So he rushes me. So I use the whip. Unless you hit the eyes, it only makes you bleed. But it can be intimidating. I hit and hit, and he kept coming at me. So finally, my back is against the wall and he's closing in. I go for one last threat. I pull a knife. Finally, he starts to back off. Then Tas comes in, and starts screaming and yelling. She asks a few questions, then yanks me off my feet and goes glabro with him right there! He takes the bus to a hospital, and she drags me here."

Todd says "And he was my age, and able to keep up with me. He was no child."

Yi has no way of confirming or denying the story, but she watches the cub carefully as he relates his story. As she turns her gaze away again, staring along one wall, she asks one question. "Did he use a weapon?"

Mara glances at Yi and then at Todd, waiting to see what he says.

Todd says "He mentioned something about martial arts, I believe."

Yi shakes her head and asks again, "Did he use A Weapon?" The ragabash's tone is unnervingly flat.

Todd shrugs. "I didn't see one.

Mara would back up, but she is as tiny as she can get in her chair. She looks ready to flee at the first sign of violence.

Yi cuts the air with her hand then, like cutting through the Rage, demanding silence. The ragabash says nothing, even though one could see her shoulders rising and falling as she breathes.

Todd stops talking and leans back against the couch, rubbing his temples.

"One," Yi begins afterwards, slowly, quietly, like a small rock tumbling down a hill. "One, you tried to steal from a boy. A /boy/." She turns then, eyes gazing straight at the ragabash. "Two, you were caught." She takes a step forward towards the cub. "Three, you beat this boy, and from what I see, you have no marks on you." She takes another step. "Four, you used not only a whip, but you also pulled a knife on this boy." Another. "Five. You were seen doing this by an elder." Another. "Six. You dared to challenge an elder by /insulting/ her." And finally, she is in front of Todd. "Seven. You have the nerve to tell me that story, and expect me to feel sorry for you?" She watches the no-moon cub before her.

Todd facepalms. "Right. Sure. Whatever you say."

Despite the tense energy radiating off of Yi, Mara can't help but roll her eyes at Todd's attitude. If it were her in te hot seat, she'd probably be groveling at this point.

Yi's features contort in a way that has not been seen for either cub. It's that face of anger, purely so. In a blur of action, her hand finally comes out and slaps the cub full on the side of his face. The sound is sharp, and punctures the air. "Don't bloody fuck with me, cub!" Her hand clenches into a fist. "You put yourself in danger to be culled last night, and your attitude now is not helping! So you work hard. Good! Fine! Play your magic tricks on the unknowing. You think stealing and beating a human is honorable? You think the fact that you defied an elder makes you brave?" She stalks away, eyes shooting daggers at anything she looks at, which luckily isn't in Mara's direction. "You've insulted me. What do you think the rest of the Bone Gnawers are doing, while you work /oh so hard/ to provide for all of us? Hm? Sitting on our hands? Answer me. Now that you have managed to get yourself locked here, what will happen to your responsibilities now?"

Mara moves slowly, carefully, waiting until no one is looking at her. It's a skill she's practiced hundreds of times. But outside is one thing. There, moving shadows break everything up, play tricks on the eyes. Here, inside, she's not so sure she can pull it off. She works her way towards the door.

Todd looks shocked as he is slapped, turning back to face her. It looks as though the youth is ready to cry, face quivering. He whispers something in russian, then again, in english. "I only wanted to help do my part...."

Yi turns as she indeed spots Mara on the run, and then further again to face Todd once more. Her breath comes out a little more ragged as she stares with hard eyes. "I /know/ that, Todd. I /know/ that you do these things because you want to help." Then that gaze softens just barely, and she heaves out a sigh, closing them. "But you can't go around simply picking other people's pockets and expect to not get caught." At least once. "A ragabash is allowed to be... contrary to the law. But a ragabash, is not /above/ the law." She looks back to the Gnawer cub, her brow furrowed. "Do you understand?"

Mara freezes as Yi's gaze lands on her. When it moves onto Todd, she flees, no longer trying to be subtle. She has no desire to witness Todd's humliation. With her luck, he'll take his wounded pride out on her for being a witness, willing or not.

Todd sniffles a little and nods a bit. "I understand." He speaks softly, apologetically.

Yi takes in a breath then, deep and resolving. "I don't want to lose another cub," she says quietly. "Not again. But you /must/ know where you stand. You are still a cub, and still new to the Garou and our ways. You still need to understand that while some are not of our tribe, /any/ elder can, with their rank, choose to possibly end your life without you even knowing it and then simply give an excuse that you were unfit. It is a dangerous situation, Todd. One that we no-moons must know, when we cross the line." She walks over, and sits beside the cub with another heavy exhale. "But, because of this situation, I will not go against Taslyn's word this time. You will remain in the farmhouse until either I talk to her, or Megan, or Olga does. I will see what can be done about stretching your allowed space to perhaps the barn, but for now, you will stay here. Don't worry about the Gnawer safehouse, or Squeaker's cage. These things, you must remember, are the responsibility of /all/ the Gnawers here. Rat works better, when there are others to help."

Todd sighs again, heavily. "I..I guess I've just been so used to doing things all by my lonesome I forgot I was part of a team, really. I'm sorry."

Yi nods. Her action is slow and tired, but she's wrung out her Rage. "I know. That is still one of my problems as well." She takes a long look around the farmhouse, before standing up to retrieve the whip that she'd thrown down the hall. Returning into the room, coiling it in hand and observing the tips, she just looks at the weapon for a long moment. "That boy - out of all this trouble, how much money did you take from him?"

Todd shrugs. "Not exactly sure. A couple of twenties, maybe."

Yi considers, and then asks, "Was it worth it?"

Todd looks up at her, his eyes wet at the edges, but irises cold steel. "Every step toward a goal is worth the effort."

"Did he deserve it?" Yi continues, gaze going out towards the kitchen.

Todd shakes his head. "I'm not a judge."

Yi head tilts then. "But you made a decision about him when you chose him, didn't you?" The cliath continues watching the cub, more from the corner of her eye now.

Todd nods. "A decision about wether or not he was worth stealing from."

"You know what you could have done?" Yi says, by way of absurd suggestion. "You could have given him back his money." Or, even more absurdly, "Or you could have stood there and taken the hits. You are a Garou after all. It would heal."

Todd shrugs. "He made threats to the effect of killing me. That doesn't heal." He's leaned fully against the back of the couch, looking pretty exhausted.

Yi gives the cub a look. "You don't believe that you could have survived a few punches? Or that you could have won the fight fairly?"

Todd looks back, the dark circles under his eyes highlighted by the harsh, unshaded bulb. "Never tried. My philosophy is, if my life, or the lives of my friends are at stake not by my doing-fuck fighting fair."

Todd says "At that point, its about winning."

Yi shrugs. "When it comes to humans, they can be sneaky, dishonorable, and no doubt you could treat each and every one of them as carrying a gun with silver bullets." She stands then, making her way towards the door. "But keeping in mind that you were the one who won, it seems he was clearly outmatched. In the eyes of a Garou, defeating a human in combat, is not anything that will gain you a good reputation."

Todd nods. "Yes ma'am. I will remember that." He sighs, and casts his eyes downwards. "Devious little..." He looks up, seeming sad. "Are you going?"

Yi pauses at the door. "Why... is there something else?"

Todd shrugs. "I guess I just don't want to be alone is all...."

Yi takes a long, slow breath in and then exhales again softly. With a glance up to the ceiling, she turns her eyes up. "I need to take care of some things. But I will return."

Todd nods. "I understand. Go on. I'll continue with my lists. I'm just trying to make sure I've got enough..."