Abandon, Webs, Past Mistakes and Pizza
03/27/2005
12:53 AM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.
Studio(#2560RAJ)
The studio is airy, elegantly modern and full of light: a large, high-ceilinged square room with almost an entire wall of windows. It constantly smells of paint. Rolled canvases lean in one of the corners, and a few finished pieces adorn the walls. A six-foot length of pipe hangs a wall-sized painting that masks off some of the street-view windows, creating a slightly more personal space that evidently serves as a bedroom; the piece is a dark, strange cityscape, an oddly skewed view of the world beyond the glass seen through otherworldly eyes. The edge of a futon can be seen beyond it; the walls around the bed bear swirling patterns of colors, calming shades of undersea blue and green. These patterns gradually soften as they grow out into the rest of the room, where walls are visible; angles replace curves, until the mural becomes a mix of ocean and circuitry. The sofa is quirky and curving, a work of modern art upholstered in green velvet. A Turkish rug in vibrant tribal colors occupies much of the hardwood floor; the coffee table, a sculpture of recycled blue and green circuit-board and shiny aluminum, rests on it in front of the couch. An arty-looking steel chair completes the small seating area; instead of an end table, there's an odd birchwood box, three feet by four and about the same height as the coffee table, made up of five very shallow, big drawers. Some might recognize it as a 'flat file' for art storage.
Opposite the windows, a compact kitchen is marked off by a crisp stainless steel counter. The west wall nearby has doors to a closet and to a small, sparsely-appointed bathroom. The east wall holds bookshelves of pale wood, supporting a small stereo, collections of pictures and found objects, and a good number of books; the corner between shelving and the wall of windows holds a plain wooden desk with a slim notebook computer and phone atop it, and an elegant mesh rolling chair.
The wall behind the couch is dominated by a huge canvas, the framing large enough that the painting is cantilevered forward at the top--so that it overhangs the room slightly and draws one in even more. The painting depicts a futuristic city, all spires and crystalline forms, almost like something out of one of the Matrix films or a cyberpunk novel. The city of light and metal and glass grows on a planed surface, webbed with light and spiderwebs and strange lines like circuitry--paths, almost, all of them converging on the city and drawing the eye to its gleaming complexity. Metallic paints, flake and mica accentuate the surfaces; in places the oils and gesso have been mixed with silver, or powdered glass. The easel once again stands near the light-filtering canvas divider that splits off the bedroom; it is in a good spot to catch both natural sun, and the track lighting mounted on the ceiling.
Contents:
Rina
Obvious exits:
Out
She calls late, in the middle of the night. Her voice is wild, unsteady, and she is somewhere outside. "He-- hello?"
Yi was resting on the couch, rather comfortable despite her still healing status. When she answers the phone, it is with a moment's wariness that she does so. "Who's this?" A pause follows, before she makes a guess. "Rina?" After all, her packmates wouldn't be calling her... and hardly anyone else would know the number.
Rina swallows. "Yeah. Yeah. I--" She is crying. There's wind across the phone. "I wanted t'say goodbye. Before I leave."
Yi blinks. And it's almost sudden twang of anger in her tone before she can modify it with the alarming concern rising. "Wait, wh... Rina? Where are you?"
"On my way," she says quietly. "I-- I have to-- I have to do this. I'm sorry--" A muffled sob, then.
"Rina? Rina where--" Yi starts again, before cutting herself off. "What are you doing? What do you have to do?!" The Gnawer ragabash grips the phone like her life depended on it, throat getting that constricted feeling. "Whatever you're doing, don't! Tell me where you are!"
"It's okay, Yi," she says brokenly. "It's okay. It's for John. I have to-- he's hurting, and it was my fault-- I have to let him go, and-- and there's no other way..."
Yi frowns, though that expression is lost to the phone. "What are you going to do Rina?" she asks, more demanding than asking. Conflict evident in her voice, the ragabash grips the phone so hard her knuckles are white. "Just please... tell me where you are... where you are going?"
"It doesn't matter," she says hoarsely. "Please just listen t'me. You gotta watch out for Jenny and Angelina. Please. Don't tell anyone anything."
"Who? Who are they?" Yi's voice is definitely developing into a mix of anger and desperation. "Rina you are /not/ going to do what I think you're going to do!" A string of foreign words follow, and return to the pseudo-angry English. "Why? Why are you doing this?" A huffed out sigh. "Are you... just... going to leave?"
A choked sob sounds from the other end. "I'm sorry. I just can't-- I can't do this--"
The Gnawer bangs her fist against the table that holds the phone and answering machine. "Rina! Listen to me. Please. You... you are needed still. We... I. Need you. As you do us... just, tell me. Tell me why. Tell me where you are, and I can come to you. We can make this better."
"I stayed for /him/," she says hoarsely, her voice near hysteria. "And he's hurting. They way he is now. He's in pain. I can't do this anymore. I'm so--" Another sob. "I'm so sorry, I know, I--"
Yi clears her throat, pushing down the emotion that plays through her with the moon this full still. "Rina... just tell me, what you need. Where are you?" This time, the ragabash's voice is forcibly calm, as she tries to make out what the kinswoman is saying, and pick out the sounds behind her.
Just open air and wind. A passing car, then. "I need to do this. I need it to be over. For him to be ...free."
Yi furrows her brow, as she looks at the earpiece. Then, back to talking into the phone. "Who are you talking about Rina? Who's... who's him?"
"Gianni," she says hoarsely. "I have to do it-- I have to, Yi. I always-- I always loved you. You're so good. Stay alive."
Yi is rendered speechless, bewilderment battling out with the rest of her sense. "Rina... Rina?! Rina don't!" The ragabash practically yells into the phone. "John gains nothing with your death! You gain nothing! If you give in now, who will have won?!" The sounds of hasty movements and things crashing down sound from the Gnawer's side, as she is on the move.
Rina sobs. "I can't-- I'm sorry. Goodbye, Three-Blades."
Yi clutches at the phone, staring at the phone. "Rina? Rina no!" Desperate, and finally finding the thing she needs, the Gnawer drops down to her knees with a thump, and tries to make herself focus despite remaining on the phone. It's nigh impossible though, as she attempts to flatten out a map and draws out a polished obsidian stone on a string. "Come on," she mutters softly to herself first, then into the phone, "Rina, Don't Do Anything crazy. You're just ... thinking too much."
[Phone goes click.]
[Later, in the morning...]
Fifteenth Avenue, Uptown
From south to north, the buildings shift from small, two- or three-story offices with delicatessens, ice cream shops selling homemade ice cream, and similar types of small specialty shops on the first floor to, first, a few old-fashioned inns, and then a small park on the western side of 15th, south of Market Street. Less than fifty yards to a side, there is a curving path in it, and a few park benches, and a small grassy place used, to guess by the poles, for volleyball or badminton. North of that, between Market and Osprey, are old houses, mansions almost, with metal gates and walls to set them back from the street. Along the street itself, tall trees tower, cutting off much of the light that should reach the ground, excepting a small strip in the center of the roadway itself from which the sky can be seen. Farther north, where 15th joins Osprey itself, there are a few condominium buildings, with carefully sculpted bushes around them.
Contents:
Christine
Obvious exits:
Clairemont Boulevard 1435 Osprey Drive St. Uriel's Church St. Uriel's School Dominion Estate South East
[look Christine]
She is an Korean girl of middling height and athletic build, in middle adolescence. Exceptionally well groomed, she wears her black hair long, cut just below the shoulders, with a line of bangs at her forehead. Her face is so round it's almost circular. It's pale, and there's never a hint of makeup around her brown eyes, or her serious small mouth. She wears a pair of generic jeans with a colorful silk scarf threaded through the belt loops. Farther up, she's got a form-fitting cotton T beneath a baby-blue cordoroy jacket. There's a grey cabbie hat on her head, and a pair of red sneakers on her feet. At the hollow of her neck, now concealed by the closed jacket, is a small silver cross. To match, she has a plated silver bracelet with her name engraved on it at her wrist.
It's early afternoon and an adolescent Asian girl is sitting, cross-legged, on top of a wooden park bench. She has a book open in front of her, and pen whose end she chews compulsively. Her shoulder-length hair is undone, and another girl, a blonde, is combing long fingers through it, and making a halfhearted attempt at a braid. "Which was not one of the ornaments of the daughters of Zion?" asks Christine, removing the pen from her mouth long enough to mark something in the book. "Bracelets, crowns, nose rings, or ankle rings?" "Dunno," says the blonde girl. Christine sighs very loudly, which prompts the blonde to let go of her black hair. "Shut up, Chris," that girl says. "I have a joke. OK, so this girl goes to heaven, and she gets to the pearly gates, and St. Peter says 'Which of these was not one of the ornaments of the daughters of Zion'? But the girl doesn't know, so she goes to hell." There is a long pause. At the end of it, Christine comes out distinctly unamused. She closes her book primly, removes herself from the bench, and gives the blonde girl a mutely reproachful stare.
And out of the crowd, breaking off from the traffic on the street, is a peculiar looking figure of Yi. A black shoulderbag looped over her shoulder, her baseball cap slipped to one side, a rolled up mat and a small black boombox in hands, the loaded Gnawer makes her way to the smallish grassy spot not too far from the girls at the park benches. After choosing a relatively flat spot, Yi sets her stuff down and lays out the roll-out mat, setting the boombox down on one side. When she takes off her hat, though, the immediately strange sight is that her whole head is bald, and just barely starting to grow out hair again.
The blonde girl throws up her hands theatrically. "Oh, you have /no/ sense of humor, do you? Sorry." And she sounds sincerely sorry, enough so that Christine is satisfied--or at least tolerant. Tolerance is something she has to work on lately: friends aren't exactly coming thick and fast these days. She puts the book back on the table like a peace offering. "I'm hungry. Do you want to go get lunch?" she asks. And then she looks over her shoulder to a brick-faced building beyond the park and across the street. That's when she spots Yi. She blinks, and frowns at the sight of the boombox, adding to her friend: "She's going to turn that on, isn't she?" There are more words exchanged, in lowers tones, and the blonde girl winds up with the assignment to bring back two lunches. (The camp food, they agree, is disgusting, and they can always vacate the park if the music is too loud.) A minute or two later, Christine is crawling back up onto her bench-throne, and her friend is striding across the park to the street.
True to the prediction, the boombox is turned on. However, the music is hardly loud. In fact, the music isn't music at all. It's a tape deck - evidence of the machine's age - and playing ever so quietly is a reading of some novel. A very, very simple novel. Yi sits down in that crosslegged style with a slightly stiff movement, drawing out a few books of her own and laying them out one by one. One looks to be far thicker - a dictionary perhaps - than the others. And then, as she settles and pushes play, the quiet words are spoken with a pleasant voice of some woman, reading out loud in a pitch that seems higher put. A look of concentration assumes over the bald Gnawer's features, as she seems to be following along with the voice on the box: "'Please don't kill it!' she sobbed. 'It's unfair.' Mr. Arable stopped walking. 'Fern,' he said gently, 'you will have to learn to control yourself.' 'Control myself?' yelled Fern. 'This is a matter of life and death, and you talk about controlling myself.' Tears ran down her cheeks and she took hold of the ax and tried to pull it out of her father's hand."
The book on tape proves to be far more distracting than any tune-outable tune, and Christine finds herself turning a figurative ear to listen in. Her eyes stay on her book, and her pen stays by the page, but the pages are turned only rarely, and notes not taken at all. It takes several minutes before she places the story; when she does, she lifts her eyes and sends a pleasant smile in Yi's direction, and a look that invites Yi to partake in a smiley mutual nostalgia.
Yi squints at her book, the words coming through the speakers getting nodded to and a fingertip scrolling and stopping, scrolling and stopping. Poor Fern and her dilemma are solved, and the happy life of Wilbur about to begin its phase in the story. The end of the short chapter is cut abruptly with a push of the pause button, and Yi sits back with a short sigh. Compelling story? Probably not that so much as how much of a strain it is, evidenced by her expression, to try and read. As it were, the dictionary put on the side is taken up and opened. Yi casts one short glance up at her surroundings through habit though, and it is by that habit that she notices Christine looking in her direction. A small smile is offered in return, along with a bit of a nod to the younger girl. She doesn't, though, have that nostalgia in her look.
Christine scrutinizes the woman--her bald head, her rolled mat, her dictionary. Her guesses are these, respectively: chemotherapy patient, yoga enthusiast, and immigrant. "Charlotte's Web, huh?" she asks, and ironically, she makes a better show of being simultaneously intent on her own work than she did a few minutes ago. Her pen scritches on the book. "That was a cute movie."
Yi looks back up from her dictionary, title of study getting mentioned in conversation. "Oh?" she asks, her accent tinged in a Cantonese-British flavor. "What was it like? I've never seen it." Definitely an immigrant, though the beginning two might be questionable, Yi looks up at the other girl. And her expression changes considerably now that she takes a better notice of Christine, in a pleasant way and one that takes stock of the girl's attractiveness.
Christine nods. "Yeah. It's animated, but not Disney, I don't think. Y'know, I'd forgotten there was a book." Her own personal blend of intonations and inflections is straight out of the St. Claire mold. "I think it made me cry. Oh, have you read it before? I'll shut up before I give any spoilers." She puts an 'oops' closed hand to seal her lips.
Yi shakes her head, a smile forming on the side of her lips. "I don't worry about it. My tutor," she explains, "He told me the story after I insisted on it. But, he is still making me read it on my own." Her gaze drops down to the dictionary. "And the task is more difficult than I thought it would be."
"Ouch," says Christine. "I've got Spanish in school, but it's not very--what's that word? Immersion. Immersive. And I tried to study Korean on the internet for a while, but...yeah, I gave up. I've got a friend whose mom is making her learn to read it now because she can only speak. I can't decide if she's lucky, or if I'm sorry for her." She catches herself before she rambles on, and gives a swift nod. "Anyway, good luck."
Yi nods again, that smile tweaking a little with the girl's mention of her friends. "Immersion I believe it is," the ragabash says. "And I think being able to know more than one language is good. Your friend, and you, should really try to learn. But, you are still young yet." Giving her a nod, Yi turns back to the boombox to unpause it. When she does though, the words come out garbled slightly, and then fade altogether. Yi frowns slightly, tapping at the boombox a bit.
Christine sits up to stretch her back somewhat. "Immersion, there you go. Your English is better than mine." Then she buckles down to see if she can't anwer a few more questions in the workbook, though she angles herself more towards Yi this time, so not to be completely unsocial. "Tape working?" she asks at length. She's now settled into a comfortable space where she can process study and conversation both, provided both move slowly.
Yi looks puzzled herself, as she extracts the tape and looks at it. "It should be. Or I am in trouble," she replies with eyes looking between tape and boombox now. In goes the tape again, and she pushes the play, only this time nothing comes from the speakers. Sucking on a tooth, Yi taps the boombox a few more times before she sighs. "I ... think I know what is wrong."
"Battery go kaput?" Christine ventures. She's back to that obsessive pen-chewing. And it's not her only nervous habit, from the look of her; the only things about her that aren't excellently manicured are her nails, which are chewed almost to the quick.
Yi nods in agreement, the theory being best supported by the lack of movement in the tapedeck. "I think that is it too, yes," she answers, glancing back over. "I guess here is where I must leave for now then, to get more batteries." Slipping one foot under and standing up that way, she brushes off her jeans slightly and sets the baseball cap back on. "Or... maybe just not do my studying for today," she muses in thought.
Completing a section in her workbook, Christine rips the pages out and digs into her bag for a paperclip. She has one, along with a bunch of other common office supplies, tucked neatly into a nylon pouch covered with cartoon cats. "I can't believe he told you the end of the story. That's messed up," she says. Talk about delayed reaction. She gives Yi a look of extra sympathy, just in case she really is a chemotherapy patient. "Yeah, g'luck, again."
Yi looks over just briefly at the girl's things, but then looks back and starts to roll her smallish mat back up and slips the books back into the bag. "Thank you," she returns, hoisting the powerless boombox and mat in hand. "And to be honest, I think I like that he told me how the story ends. But... I do agree. Sometimes, it is more fun not to know." She slings the shoulderbag back up, and dips her head in a short bow to the girl. "May we meet again soon," Yi notes, and turns to head off down the streets and towards the shops around.
Christine caps her pen decisively. "It's more fun not to know," she echoes in agreement. And she sends a pleasant "See you" on after Yi, whose departure coincides with the blonde's arrival. That girl sets down two white paper bags next to the open book, and looks back at Yi. "Who was that?" she asks of Christine, and the only answer she gets is "Just some woman."
[And on into the afternoon-evening...]
Harbor Park -- The Meadow(#194RJ)
One of the last bastions of green left in the city, mottled and withered grass and weeds covers the earth like a badly stained carpet, with the construction work turning what is left into just bare dirt. The vegetation seems marginally healthier the further it is from the river and much healthier towards the central area of the park around the fountain. Construction work is ongoing here: a raised earthen berm about five feet tall is being built all around the park perimeter, with two breaks each at the Bridge Street entrance and the First Street end. Wooden posts are being erected at regular intervals all along the earthen wall, while tasteful iron gates and fences are being added at the entrances. Overpowering the scent of living vegetation are the exhaust fumes from a busy street to the west and an unpleasant stench from the Columbia River to the east. From the street view or river view, the park is now isolated, as if it existed apart from the city. People in tall buildings have an excellent view of any goings-ons for now, though. In the center of the park, a small glade of six tall trees and a flower bed surrounds the fountain.
The murky waters of the Columbia River flow swiftly along the east side of the park. Bracketing the park to the west is First Street and the city of St. Claire.
Contents:
Joey
Grey
Obvious exits:
Bridge Street Fountain First Street River
Grey prowls restlessly through the park meadow, smoke trailing back from the cigarette in his mouth. The Glass Walker doesn't look like he's gotten much sleep (if any) in the past day or so; his eyes are shadowed, and his face is drawn, tight, and thrumming with repressed fury.
Ask how many Gnawers does it take to pick a pocket, and one would have to muse on the auspices. As it is, Yi and Joey, the notorious pair of ragabash, come jogging into the park at a fast clip and from relatively different directions. Yet, they are in sync, and with a quick glance behind her, Yi tugs at the brim of her baseball cap and nods at the other Gnawer, shifting her path to intercept with Joey. A wide, smirky smile is on the Asian ragabash's lips, as she makes to compliment her apprentice in crime. "Good job Joey. I think we've lost him after that last turn." As the pair make their way further into the park, Yi is looking out to see who else might be occupying the park.
Joey grins widely at her mentor, giving a big nod. "That was sweet. Holy crow!" She takes in a large breath to catch the air back, and stretches her arms up. "We get anything good?"
Grey's restless movement through the meadow slows as the two familiar figures come jogging into view, and by the time they come together, he's stopped, watching from a distance with a thin-lipped frown, the breeze tugging at the tails of his coat.
[look Grey (homid)]
Thomas Grey is a man hard-used by the world. It shows mostly in his face, a hawkish visage that's extensively scarred down the left side, twisting keloid making a ruin of aristocratic features. If not for the scars, he'd probably be fairly handsome in a severe sort of way. The angles of his face are sharply defined, the nobility in them scoured nearly to the bone. His thick black hair hangs shaggily around his face, clean but unkempt, and a short, well-kept black beard lines his mouth and jawline. He looks older than his thirty-something years; his deep-set eyes -- the right dark brown, the left blind white -- are often shadowed as though from lack of sleep, and the set of his mouth is usually tight and grim.
At six-foot-three, he stands taller than most men, and an inherent athleticism indicates that he could probably hold his own in a fight. There's also an aura of pent-up violence about him, a tightly-controlled rage and bitterness within the lanky, muscled frame that could be lethal if unleashed.
His plain white t-shirt is tucked into a pair of olive-drab BDU trousers; over the tee, he wears an unbuttoned red and black flannel shirt. The pants are untucked over Matterhorn tanker boots, heavy-duty black leather fastened with straps and buckles instead of laces. When outdoors, he wears a knee-length grey trenchcoat with a black lining.
Yi heads towards a bench and does catch Grey's figure, but is distracted with the question from her companion. Taking in a few more quick, panting breaths as the adrenaline rush fades slowly, she digs into her jacket, extracting the leathery wallet plucked away from some hapless victim further uptown. "Hm..." Yi replies with a short, quick estimate. "A hundred seventy, about?" She closes up the wallet, and tosses it towards Joey. "Here - this one is your prize." The smile on her face doesn't fade too much, though Grey again draws her attention away as she now takes a closer look.
The mouth of the young Gnawer drops wide open and another expletive is offered, "Never held so much at one time in my life." She hurriedly takes the cash out of the wallet and begins stuffing it down the waist hem of her jeans, a wide smile on her face. "What do we do with the rest of the crap?"
Grey is still looking in their direction as Yi looks in his, and their eyes seem to meet briefly, across the distance. His expression remains cold and harsh, but after a few terribly long seconds, he turns away and looks out toward the river as he takes a long drag off his cigarette.
Yi wets her lips, eyes meeting Grey's for the few seconds before he turns away. Once he does, she turns back to Joey with a more tempered smile. "We give Mr. Carson his wallet back. Or, at least, his driver's license and the credit cards. We have no uses for those, and I don't like to deal with the card information dealers." She beckons for Joey to come with, as Yi changes from heading for a bench to heading towards the section of park where Grey is standing. "And give Mr. Carson a note to be more careful about keeping his valuables safe." As the two approach closer to the Walker, Yi's demeanor gains a bit more tension, but nowhere rivaling that of Grey's.
Joey follows along once the money is safely stuffed down her undies. She glances to their destination and gives the older Ragabash a curious look. "We don't hand it back ourselves though, right? I mean, duh." As they get closer she grows more quiet, falling into step slightly behind Yi, hands sliding into her pockets.
Grey gives the two Gnawers a sidelong glance, then looks away, back toward the river. He waits for them to approach, still smoking.
"It is up to you how you want to return it," Yi answers her tribemate, "but I just place it in their mailbox, or in their newspaper." The next smile she gives Joey is much more wry, and fox-like, before it disappears to be replaced with a serious straightline. "Have you heard from Rina?" she asks aloud, keeping at a polite distance suitable from the halfmoon.
Joey continues to narrow her brow at the information Yi gives her, then lets out a final shrug and looks around idly as the two converse.
Grey focuses on Yi, ignoring Joey entirely. His eyes narrow at the CantoGnawer, and he reaches up to take the cancer stick from his mouth. His expression turns suspicious, and this is reflected in his voice. "Why."
Yi casts a brief sidelong glance to Joey, before shifting attention back to Grey. "Because," she says with an attempt to keep the emotional connection out, "she called me last night. And she is now... I suspect... in the hospital." The mention of the hospital gets the older raggie to glance in its direction, further uptown.
Joey looks up at the mention of someone in the hospital. "Who's Rina? Should we be getting her out or something- I mean that place is like, bad mojo."
Grey's gaze bores down on Yi, making it clear to the older Ragabash that, yes, he's still got that grudge against her. Nobody keeps a grudge like a Serb. Joey's voice jerks his eye toward her, and then he grunts and glowers at the river again. "No shit. And I know. I got a message from her, too. Figured out the hospital last night." He inhales smoke, exhales it in a dull grey cloud, simmering with anger.
Yi hasn't forgotten about the grudge either, but she presses on underneath the stare. "You don't need any help then," she states quietly, forcing back the tension again with a mental broom. Turning to Joey, she explains to the younger, "Rina is Walker kin." She pauses, before adding on, "And a good friend." Then, her eyes swing back to the halfmoon. "Will you be getting her out of it?"
Joey ohs very softly, shrinking back into her denim jacket. "I'll help if anyone needs it."
Grey utters a deep-throated snarl as he whirls back toward Yi, face contorted into a mask of fury, the hue of his good eye flickering from dark brown to wolfish gold. "No, you backstabbing piece of shit, we're going to let her /die/ there." The sarcasm's obvious and ugly. His nostrils flare as he pulls back on his temper, and his next words are more modulated, though still sharp and stabbing, like daggers. "Of course we're getting her out. I've already alerted the family." Joey, for good or ill, is ignored.
Yi tenses under the insult, jaw tightening. "I offer my help still," she hisses out, "regardless of what I owe your family. This, I do on my own choosing." The ragabash's eyes both glare back, daring and defiant. "And I am tired of your stubborn hold on to the past. What we did was judged to be wrong, and you of all should have known that." The ragabash gives ground though, taking a step back. "For one who decided to take a new name and renounce his past, you certainly still cling on by your fingernails."
Joey flinches a bit at the sudden eruption, one foot sliding back a step as if distance would save her from the fury. Her eyes glance up to Yi briefly, and a defensive look is donned for her tribe mate.
The cigarette is all but bitten off between the Glass Walker's clenched teeth. He remains balanced on the knife's edge between self-control and reckless violence. As Yi steps back, he steps forward; his stride's longer than hers, and the distance between them is closed. "Fuck you," Grey snarls. "Fuck you /and/ your self-righteous dogshit. You are not my judge."
Yi only gives that one step, and forced to look up to rather than at the halfmoon, he gets a better view of her own rage and turmoil through her eyes. "I am only doing my job," she mutters back, an invisible prickling running up her spine.
The younger Ragabash, meanwhile, looks completely on edge now- and not the grizzled angry one. Her face draws into a deep frown and a serious fidget overcomes her hands as they wring at her jean jacket. Joey gives another glance around her, then sighs nervously.
"/Piss/ on your job," is the Glass Walker's venomous reply. He looms over the CantoGnawer, one hand clenched into a tight fist. But somewhere beneath all that hate and anger is a thin thread of rationality, and it yanks back on the screaming animal that clearly would like nothing more than to beat Yi into a bloody mess. Grey jerks himself back a step, jaw clenched, and abruptly turns himself away from them.
Yi waits a time, watching the halfmoon with a tensed frown before she too takes another step back. "If that is what it takes to get things done instead of letting the Wyrm chew at us," she utters softly, "then I will do that gladly too." She makes her way back closer towards Joey, expression grim but a great deal more steady that the Walker's. "Let's go back to the Odeon," she tells her tribemate.
Joey gives a rushed nod of agreement, silent otherwise. Her bottom lip gets pulled up between her teeth as she watches the other man turn away. It is only after they start moving that she leans up to whisper at the other. "What was that all about?"
"I'll tell Natalie you're interested," Grey rasps, loud enough for the two Gnawers to hear. He doesn't turn back around to look at them, saving his bile-filled stare for the sluggish Columbia River.
Yi pauses long enough to be significant when Grey speaks again, and with a short nod continues on her way with the other. "It is about a mistake made, and a secret that shouldn't have been," she replies to Joey with a long sigh. A good few more feet away, Yi looks back over her shoulder at the lone Walker.
Grey has, by the time Yi looks back, lit another cigarette to replace the one flattened between his teeth. His posture is tall and straight and unrelentingly rigid.
Joey lets out a short sigh, "And the night was going so well too." Her shoulders slump and her hands go deeper into her pockets. "Can we get a pizza?"
Yi looks back to Joey, and with the mention of the pizza, she forcibly cheers a level. "Sure," she notes with a change of direction. "You earned it, after all." Sparing one last long gaze at Grey, she lets another sighing breath out and says aloud so he can hear, "Please send Natalie my best wishes for her challenge. Gaia keep you, Thomas." Another nod to Joey, and she leads the way towards Regan, and Garcia's.
Thomas Grey offers no reply, or any sign that he's heard Yi's parting words.
Joey tries to cheer up a little once it is decided pizza is on order. She gives the other Ragabash a little elbow to the hip and bops her head in the direction of the pizza parlor.
Garcia's Pizza Parlor(#2882RJM$)
The first thing some people notice when they step into this room is the noise: almost always there is some sort of noise, of music or conversation or the employees in the back, cooking. Others see the lights, harsh yellow-white over the counter and on into the kitchen in the back, a dimmer, indeed faint glow above each of the tables scattered around. No matter which sense is first engaged by the room, almost all soon are captured by the smell of pizza; the smell pervades the place, an aroma of melted cheese, cooked tomato sauces, various meats, vegetables, all subtle, yet all blended together into the overwhelming smell. The smell tells the customer that, despite the less-than-classy look of the restaurant, the product is, undeniably, almost guaranteed to be good.
(Type +view for details.)
In the corner near the door is a trio of video games and a soda machine. Scattered around the room are several tables; lining the back, the counter on which the pizzas are put before they are picked up.
Obvious exits:
STreet
The smell of pizza wafts on the evening air all around the block, as Garcia's struggles to keep up with the demand for Sunday night delivery. However, while the kitchen in back bustles with activity, the front is relatively subdued. A few families sit at booths, indulging their kids and whatnot with the beloved greasy, cheesy substance. A large female figure occupies the back of the pizza parlor, near the arcade games, taking up two tables with food, drink, a CD discman and a large, grease-stained book. She munches on sausage and pineapple pizza as she reads, seeming to enjoy the literature with as much gusto as she devours the food.
Yi walked in silence for a time, but the distance to the pizza parlor, combined with the good comforting smell, seems to work wonders on the older ragabash's mood. And though the tension doesn't entirely disappear, it is much more tempered to a low point as she enters with Joey. "I wouldn't eat too much," she notes, "or else if Badger jumps on you, your stomach will hurt. A lot."
Joey nods her head, and reaches crudely down her pants to fish out a twenty dollar bill. "What kind are we going to get? I like anything." Her eyes skim the establishment and now it is the youngsters turn to grow tense. A little scowl lands on her face and a hard elbow hits the other. Rising on tippy toes, she nods in the direction of the woman.
Joey whispers "That's Cass. The new kinfolk lady, she's a total bitch."
Cass is utterly oblivious to the Gnawers' arrival. She gnaws on her food in a way that is far from ladylike, fully immersed in whatever it is she's reading. "Mmh!" she suddenly exclaims, as if she were in actual conversation with the rectangular paper object, and it had made a particularly good point. The woman turns the page with vigor, and some of the younger patrons of the restaurant turn to stare at her openly.
Yi gets jabbed with an elbow, and starts in surprise with the roughness before she gazes in the direction of the woman pointed out. It is under a small whisper from her companion, that Yi peers at the way Cass eats, then looks back to Joey and chuckles. "I met her, yes," she notes quietly back, still looking relatively nondescript in what her opinion of the kinswoman is. "But anyway, you order. Whatever it is you feel like."
Joey give a soft grunt and heads up to the counter, all cheerful once food becomes the focus. "A large double cheese, meat lovers pizza. Don't go soft on the pepporoni, and throw on some garlic too." The twenty so recently rescued from down her pants, is pushed across the counter. The clerk takes it with a grimace, fingering it as if it were poisonous to the touch. The order is called in and the money changed over. "Oh, and a pitcher of pop."
Cass remains immersed in her book for a few more moments, before she looks up to take a drink of her soda. When she does, she notices Yi and Joey standing there, and she immediately ducks down her posture and reaches for her napkin to wipe her hands and mouth. She hurriedly brushes crumbs from her sweater and skirt, and then reaches for her book again, trying to look casual, like she didn't notice them all along.
Yi glances sidelong at Cass as the older woman tries to cover up the already exposed habit. A smirk tilts up at the side of her lip. "If we can't finish it, we can bring it back to Olga and the family. And speaking of family," she notes to the other ragabash before heading over towards the kinswoman's table.
Joey pouts a little as Yi moves to the womans table, her lips going up into an annoyed smirk. She follows over anyway, trying to put on a more polite look- and failing horribly.
Cass isn't really reading now, just looking down and watching the pair of Garou out of the corner of her eye. When they do actually approach, she looks up and gives them a nervous smile. "Oh, hello Yi, Joey. How are we this evening?" She closes her book quietly, exposing extensive grease and tomato sauce stains on the pages and cover. "I was just doing a little eating... and reading for pleasure." The grin that follows this statement is somewhat sheepish, as if she were a preteen caught playing with a younger sibling's toys.
Yi smiles amiably in return, giving her tribemate a small knowing glance before looking back to the kin. "Good evening, Cass. Joey and I were just ordering some pizza as well. Today's work was... very rewarding," she notes, again with an all too vulpine smile. "What is it you are reading?" Her eyes drop down to the book, though not likely to immediately pick up the title.
Joey gives a smirk, "That a jab?" This is tossed out quickly to the kin after she comments on reading. Her arms fold over her chest and she looks at the book.
Cass blinks up at Joey, somewhat flustered. Then, she draws herself up a bit and shakes her head, slowly. "No, I... simply meant what I said." She holds up the book for Yi to see, a hardcover, drab-looking thing. "It's an autobiography of a man named Paulo Freire. He went to South America to educate poor adult farmers. He was eventually imprisoned by the Brazilian government for..." The woman falters under Joey's glare, even as she speaks to Yi. "Oh well I'm sure it would bore you. I'm sorry."
Yi notices Joey's smirky glare, and her brows arch at the other ragabash. Then she turns back to Cass, and nods slightly. "I have never heard of that man before, but a teacher is a teacher." Shifting her weight a bit, she nudges Joey's lower leg discreetly with her foot before turning her gaze back towards the counter. "Dinner awaits." Then, back to Cass. "Were you just finishing, or do you have some time?"
Joey looks up at Yi and huffs, turning back to the counter. She collects the pizza and holds the napkins in her mouth. She stops to look back and see if Yi intends to eat /with/ the kin.
"I do," Cass answers Yi's question flatly. She gestures towards her food - the pizza is only half gone, and evidently the woman intended to ingest the whole thing. As Joey storms away, she adds, "But I think your sister there would rather not." The kinswoman gives an exaggerated shrug, one hefty shoulder rising and falling jerkily.
Yi looks after Joey as well, eyes kept on the other ragabash. "It seems you two... what is that saying... 'got off on the wrong foot side'?" She furrows her brow, as it doesn't seem right. Then, just dismissing it, she turns back to the kin. "I only wanted to know if you had spoken to Olga about a certain new student." It doesn't seem like Yi is about to just sit down at the woman's table, though she hasn't started to leave yet either. Rather, a hand drops to her side, and motions more discreetly for Joey to take the pies to a separate booth if she wants.
Joey walks the pizza to a booth relatively close to the kin, if only for the ease at which she can overhear them talk. She sits back and lets out a sigh, apparently waiting for Yi to take the first piece.
Cass nods slowly. "The wrong foot. Yes, it would seem." A pause. The kinswoman glances at Joey nervously as she passes by, and hesitates before responding. "Olga informed me that she might be interested, but that's not the case. At least, not with me. Or do you mean someone else?"
Yi glances back to Joey, nodding and giving her a 'go ahead' look. "A different student I guess," she notes quietly, as if limiting the conversation's volume to the three of them. "But maybe some other time, you will have time to do some other teachings?" Though perceptive of the tension between the two, Yi seems to be floating between lazily.
Joey raises her brow in a silent 'you sure' and then dives in. She takes two pieces, folds them one over the other and takes a mouthful. She's listening to their conversation, snorting and huffing in appropriate places, but for the most part is paying more attention to the food now. So much so, that even some of that fiesty attitude seems to get swallowed with the sausage pieces.
Cass frowns, trying to seem unaffected by all the snorting and huffing coming from the disgruntled younger Ragabash. "Ah, I see. I can always make time for family. Perhaps I should contact Olga for more information?" The woman offers Yi a tentative smile, and fiddles with her bookmark, twisting its red piece of yarn in nervous fingers.
Yi nods again, stepping back a pace to allow the woman some room afterwards. "That would be good. Or, to drop by the Odeon and... say hello." The ragabash gives the kin another smile, this one tighter than before, and then turns towards the booth where her fellow tribesister sits. "Anyway, please enjoy your dinner, and your book." She starts back over towards the booth where Joey is, and slips in across. Ah, the savory smell of fresh pizza.
Joey looks up from her mouthful of pizza, eyes squinting together. "Whaaz-mffzat all 'bout?" she asks between mouthfuls.
Cass nods to Yi. "All right then, thank you," she mumurs to the more amiable Gnawer, and then goes back to her book and pizza as Yi departs. Though the gusto she showed before the Garou's arrival is notably absent.
Yi slips her hand out to snatch a slice of the pizza onto her napkin, giving Joey a small smile. "Just asking after the new sister that Olga told us about," she replies to the other ragabash. Blowing on the pizza slightly, she takes a nice and hefty bite out of it, eyes closing with the delicious taste. "Mmf. And," she continues, chewing a little before swallowing, "I will want to ask you some other things, later." Pouring herself and Joey a couple cups of the soda that was ordered, she takes a sip. "Some things about..." trailing Yi shifts her eyes to indicate the kinswoman, without actually mentioning Cass.
Joey just tightens her lips at the last bit of news and gives a shrug. Another mouthful sends her back to the topic of the new sister, "You mean, uh, what's her name, Christine? I ran into her, she's kinda aloof. Seems, I dunno, sorta like a Barbie Doll. She ain't gonna like how things are once they change."
Cass eats another few pieces of her pizza in silence, head down in her book. The kinswoman takes a pencil from behind her ear and underlines something, brow furrowed, but she's keeping an ear open on the Garou's conversation.
"That is her name?" Yi asks, taking another few bites of the pizza slice in hand. "She seems used to higher life, yes," she says with a nod, chewing on one side. "But, that is how things are. Hopefully we can get her to understand without too much... trouble." She turns her gaze, so as to cast a glance to Cass for a brief moment, then back to Joey. "And maybe have a middle-way-house. I wonder, though, if it is the best plan."
Joey licks at her lips to get some fallen cheese off. Her eyes glance to the teacher for a moment and then back to Yi. "If it's the one I was thinking of, she's down at the .. whatchacallit. She's like on a big field trip. And what do you mean middle way? Like Natalies house you mean?"
Cass tries to finish her meal quickly, but decides to give up on her last few pieces. She turns to pack her book away in her enormous purse, stuffing it down as it were already quite full. A few furitive glances are stolen towards the Gnawers as she fusses with her purse.
Yi has no love for Natalie it seems, despite her words previous. She chews on her pizza slice with a bit more ferocity for a minute, before shrugging a shoulder. "I was thinking more of like the farmhouse. But, if Cass is willing... Olga did mention she would prefer her to live closer to us I think." With the mention of the kin again, Yi turns slightly to look at her as she fussed with the purse.
Joey gives a hmm at this, "You'll have to explain more later." She looks down at the pizza, takes one last slice and then huffs, "Better close the lid so I don't eat it all. Squeaks'll want some. And Olga too." She stands up then, and brushes the crumbs off her as she gazes towards the teacher again. It's really a very un-Joey like affair, the glares she keeps tossing to the other.
Cass manages to get the brown leather bag closed, and ungracefully slings it over her shoulder. Brushing crumbs from her clothing once more, she scurries towards the door, nodding to Yi and Joey and offering a brisk "Goodbye, enjoy your evening!" Before the pair can reply, the kinswoman is gone, having left half a number two pencil, half a glass of soda and two pieces of sausage and pineapple pizza behind.
Yi looks up as she bites the last section of crust left in her hand, and nods when Cass makes for the door. Waiting for the woman to be off and on her way, she looks back to the abandoned table and sighs softly. "Next time," she starts to say, before glancing around and getting up to retrieve the left over pieces of sausage and pineapple, and the pencil half. "Next time, perhaps we should remind her just what our totem is, and how Rat isn't very picky about leftovers." She sets the slices down on another napkin, wrapping them carefully with another napkin. "Now... why was it you dislike our kin so?"
Joey nods as Yi grabs the other pieces, "Was gonna do the same thing." She leans back and lets out a sigh, "Because she is a teacher. A smarmy one that gave me nothing but lip and suggested that any problem I ever had, was my own doing. She threw down all these rules, like I should be putting some stupid education first, and it don't work like that. She should /know/ that. Stupid teacher."
Yi sips at her soda, gazing at her tribemate. "But, a teacher is there for guidance. For discipline. Even if she acted like she knew all of our ways, I don't believe it would be wise to dismiss her suggestions so quickly." Glancing down, Yi helps herself to another slice of meatlover's. "And... she never said what kind of education you should put first anyway," she notes with a mischievous wink.
Joey looks up with disbelief, "Why are you siding with her!?" The last bit of napking is pulled down to her lap where it is bunched up. "We're talking GED stuff, basic highschool stuff. And no, I'm not doing it her way. She touted off about if I don't put all my effort into it, it's just wasting her time. Well, maybe I should stop wasting my time trying to save the world then too." She huffs, "No. Besides, I got a way into real school anyway, so fuck her."
Yi puts down her pizza slice. "I wasn't siding with her, or saying you do it her way. I was only looking through her eyes for a moment." The mischief and smiles disappears with the last comment, but rather than say something, Yi just looks on straight at Joey, expecting more.
The color seems to have rushed into, and now out of, Joey's face. She looks up, annoyed and shrugging. "She's a bitch. I've had enough bitchy teachers in my life, thank you very much." She'll just ignore that little slip for right now, "Let's go, maybe we can get the pizza home before it gets cold."
Yi nods slowly, sliding the leftover sausage and pineapple slices into the pizza box as well. Draining her soda, then stuffing her second slice into her mouth with a small 'mmf,' she dips her head and motions for Joey to hold onto the pizza. Taking the next bite, she frees up her tongue again, only this time to make a soft note, "I hope I haven't been one of those kinds of teachers to you."
Joey shakes her head, "No Yi, you been real good to me. It's just book teachers I can't work with." She sighs, scrubbing a hand over her head and grabbing some extra napkins. "Too many scars." She shrugs and heads to the front door, "Hey Yi.. you said out in the park, about secrets that shouldn't have been kept. What decides whether it's a secret no one should know, and one that shouldn't be one at all?"
Yi wipes off some sauce, but renews the stains with a few extra bites. Until they step out onto the street and are walking, Yi doesn't answer. It's until her slice of pizza is down to the crust and she is idly picking at it, does she answer. "I don't really know, Joey. But I suppose, a secret that isn't supposed to be a secret, is brought to light in its due time." She glances down an alley, as if she had spotted something, and then tosses the leftover crust in before wiping her hand and mouth again. "Things like what happened, back then. Things like, Lucas eating things he shouldn't have been eating. Those sorts of things, they shouldn't be kept secret."
"So mistakes? Mistakes should never be kept secret then? That's not really fair, everyone makes 'em, and just because some are ruled as being worse than others..." she shrugs, hands dipping into her pockets. After a moment, Joey continues, "Still, my secret isn't a mistake. Just, something I don't think others would approve of, so I keep them secret." She sighs, "anyway..."
Yi disposes of her napkin in a street trashcan, and moves to lay a hand on the other raggie's shoulder. "It isn't that... Some mistakes sure, everyone knows we all make mistakes. Only that when we do make them, we should learn from them too. We are the ones who play the fools. We make our mistakes, and others will laugh or scorn us. But, if they learn, then we have made our goal." She wets her lip, still tasting the remnants of the pizza sauce. "When we get back to the Odeon, maybe you and I can share some of our mistakes, mm?" The Gnawer smiles faintly, and then adds, "And after that, we can go out and do a bit more practice on other Mr. Carsons."
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