Kings, Peasants and Packs

3/29/2005

11:42 PM
Odeon - Lobby(#4049RJ)
The Odeon's lobby is testament to a faded and perverted glory. The deep crimson carpet is thick in places but in others stubbly as velveteen, and the rich pattern of tangling flowers is everywhere marred by dark stains. The walls are clothed in kingly purple tatters of wallpaper, and covered with faded posters featuring women and men in various states of undress, posing with various degrees of tastelessness, and screaming out titles like "Male Service", "Bang Bang: a Sexual Explosion", and "A Slip of Her Tongue" in garish lettering. There's no light in the room but what comes in from the street, and during the day the actresses look grey and ghoulish, and the bright reds and purples of the room faded and dusky; and at night, the place might as well be covered in thick black paint.
Immediately in front of the entrance is dull matte turnstyle which no longer turns, where once tickets were taken. To the right are a pair of doors which some joker has labelled "Pimps" and "Hos" with red spraypaint: these are the washrooms. To the left are a pair of doorways which lack actual doors, and opposite is a grand set of boarded doors which lead into the theatre proper.
Please check +view for further description.
Contents:
Tobin
Obvious exits:
Upstairs  THeatre  Street  

Yi resides out in the lobby of the Odeon, her hand cradling a half-drunken Budweiser. Underneath her cap, a nondescript black bandanna covers her rather bald head just starting to grow out new stubble. The ragabash sits as a sentinel does, idle until a time of action approaches.

Tobin steps in from the street, looking a little cautious as he does so. "Hello?" he calls softly. "It's Tobin."

Yi glances up with the sound of steps echoing through the empty lobby. The sound of Tobin calling reassures her, as she swirls the beer in her bottle. "Good evening Tobin," she calls out. "Over here, by the office entrance." The ragabash stands with a bit more effort and a bit less grace than the past, coming into the very dim light that filters through the open door.

Tobin sighs a little breath of relief at hearing Yi's voice and walks over to her. "Hello Yi," he says warmly. "You're looking well..." he pauses, peering at the bandana and stuble. He frowns. "What happened to your hair? Are you taking after Sepdet and getting burned up now, too?"

Yi blinks, and then chuckles softly with a shake of her head. "The Revel happened to me," the ragabash answers, pointedly sweeping the cap and bandanna off with a flourish to show off just how much is missing - which is quite a bit. "Some kind of poison air spirit that could burn. Got quite a bit of us... Emma, Cole..." The Gnawer finds herself starting to ramble, and then stops. She then peers at the Silver Fang for a little bit, before beckoning him into the office. "There is no light in the Odeon, but what we make with the windows. But, you did not come here to reminisce about the past did you? Noble Fang as yourself, to talk with the peasants."

Tobin shakes his head, making resigned noises of disapproval at Yi's story. "Well, hair grows back, after all," he says as he follows Yi into the office. He hmphs, then. "A wise noble cares for the common folk he leads, and makes sure to spend time with them. Their safety and wellbeing is his responsibility," he says, sounding sincere in every word. "Which brings me to why I'm here."

Yi holds in a chuckle, sipping at her lowly Budweiser. "Yes, it does. Quickly, I hope," she notes with a scrub of her head, feeling the funny sensation. "I never once thought to wear the robes and cast away my worldly possessions in such a manner. But, it is different, no?" Trust a ragabash to find the humor of such an extreme hair cut. "You should try it sometime. I do have a knife you could use," she offers teasingly. Peasants.

Tobin sighs patiently. "Alas, I must be able to move in both worlds, and so must suffer with the trappings of nobility for a while longer yet," he says as though it were some great burden. The smile tugging at his mouth says otherwise, but it's gone quickly. "Besides, if it were not for the /charity/ of my tribe, I would be a pauper, and likely would be happy that way. But that is not why I have come," he says, finding a wall to lean against and folding his arms across his chest. He looks thoughtfully at Yi for a moment. "I assume you have heard that I wish to join your pack."

Yi looks up as the Fang leans against the wall, leaning forward a little bit. "I have. Alicia is such an excellent galliard... I'm rather proud that I found her when she was a cub." Her eyes are more intent on the theurge than usual. Then, she notes with upraised finger around beer, "I... wouldn't lean against there if I were you." The reasons remain unsaid, but she moves over to the wide desk in the office. "Try here instead."

Tobin blinks and carefully shifts weight so he's on his own again. He nods and moves to lean against the desk instead. "You found her?" he says, a little surprised. "I didn't know. Yet she's Fostern now," he says, sounding thoughtful, and politely not finishing the sentence, letting the implication drop. "So you've heard, and I've come to ask what you think of it. Do you...have any problems with it? Have any questions for me? Tests?"

Yi smiles wanly, face shadowed by the lack of good light. "She's Fostern, Groundskeeper, tribe elder, Beta of Resonance..." Oh, the ragabash could go on lauding the Coggie. Instead, she laughs quietly again. "I told them when I wanted to join, I would be Fostern soon. And that was how long ago?" The Gnawer shrugs though, not hung up on it. She then turns her gaze back on the Fang. "Ask a ragabash whether she has questions, do you?" Her smile comes back. "Well, ok. Why do you choose Resonance? Why not... oh... Jamethon's Scourge pack? Or even your old pack... Crescent Wing?"

Tobin looks up at the ceiling, eyes closed for the moment in thought. "The short answer? Because it's where I'll do the most good, and is the one most suited to my...abilities. Carrying news between the city and the bawn? I do that already. Dealing well with spirits? Ah, well, you know how I am about that. And it's an Honor pack. Honor is bread and butter to a Fang," he says, though there's a tinge of bitterness on that last part. "The other packs, well, if you don't know my feelings for Jamethon..." he trails off and wrinkles his nose, then sighs heavily. "As for Crescent Wing...it, was not the pack I wanted it to be. It never had been, and I was foolish to have formed it in the first place," he says briskly.

Yi narrows her gaze a touch, part out of sympathy, part out of doubt at the Fang's answer. "Every pack formed under a spirit is an aid to understanding ourselves, and others," she intones softly after a sip. "How do you feel about Stag, then? I admit, myself I didn't think Resonance was a pack I should join. But then, I am a Bone Gnawer, and a ragabash."

Tobin tilts his head a little and regards Yi thoughtfully. "It does seem an odd place for you, but you are still there so I assume you're doing well." He sighs again. "Stag is a noble spirit, and I have served under him many times in the past." He smiles a little. "It would be like meeting an old friend again, I think."

"Odd, strange," Yi echoes, "are bread and butter to a ragabash." She smiles wryly, but grows warmer as Tobin continues with his answer. "Hm. Ok then," she notes, her turn to be thoughtful. "Then I have one last question for you, that I want you to answer as completely and honestly as possible." She pauses, looking right to the Fang intently.

Tobin straightens a little, returning Yi's gaze just as intently. He nods minutely, ready for any challenge the Ragabash may put to him.

Yi grins a bit as her stare is met, and she says evenly, "Tell me where you went, what did you do, and who you met during your travel outside of St. Claire."

Tobin's jaw clenches at what Yi asks of him and he looks away, his form gone tense. "I was kidnapped," he says tightly. "By members of the Sept of the Seven Swords. It's a Fang sept, in upstate New York. It was the sept that my mother and father fled, 23 years ago when they found out my mother was pregnant." He pauses, glaring death at some memory off in the distance. "My father was supposed to have given me up to them when it was time, but he let me go my own way to spite them." He chuckles bitterly. "Took them a while to notice, but by Gaia they were determined to have their cub, no matter that he was Cliath, Groundskeeper and Elder of his tribe."

Yi's smile wanes like the moon, expression getting serious with the story. "Then, you ran from them and came back?"

Tobin shakes his head and takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Long before, before even the caern fell, when I was still a cub, Sepdet asked me what I was going to do with myself. With my life. I answered that I wanted to save my tribe. Save them from their madness and hubris." He shrugs after a moment's silence. "I figured that the Fangs in Saint Claire could take care of themselves, and that if I were to save my tribe, I should be among them, so I stayed. I worked, and learned, and fought. Fought to gain some modicum of respect for the son of the coward kin who ran."

Yi nods slowly, listening now with a sympathetic ear rather than a humored one. "I wouldn't call your father a coward kin. Kin have their own reasons, when they decide they cannot stand their Family any longer." The ragabash rubs at her arm, setting the near-finished beer down. "So you stayed at their Sept and learned. What brought you back?

"I know my father wanted to save me from the madness of that place," Tobin says softly. "And I know he was no coward, but that was how they thought of me. Thin-Blood they called me, for being the son of two kin." He rubs his eyes for a moment, the light of a passing car washing over him. "What brought me back? The reason that they failed me at my Fostern challenge, is what."

Yi snorts at the name, considering her own questionable heritage. "You challenged for fostern there? Doesn't sound like they would have let you become a fostern for anything less than a miracle."

Tobin smiles thinly, his eyes glittering with a hard look. "They didn't mean for me to succeed, but they also didn't expect for me to fail quite as spectacularly as I did, either."

Yi lifts her brows with no disguise of the surprise at hearing that. She hesitates, and ventures, "I don't suppose you would want others to hear about it. Then, after that you chose to return here, and they let you?"

Tobin hesitates a moment, then shrugs. "I had some...choice words for the sept Elders, when I learned I had failed, despite all of my work. That I had, in fact, failed the moment I accepted the terms of the challenge. I left, and I'm lucky they didn't kill me on the spot. I should be thankful for that at least." He looks back at Yi, then, looking resigned. "I'll tell if people ask, or if I challenge for Fostern here, but it's a bit of a tale, as you've heard, so I hope you'll understand why I don't go telling it at every opportunity."

Yi nods understandingly, placing both palms against the office desk as she leans. "Well, I know that since I met you Tobin, you have been nothing but a good Garou, and one who I can tell others about as what a Silver Fang should be." She glances back to him. "Even if I can still beat you at a knife fight." The ragabash half-smiles, then turning to him more fully. "I would be honored indeed to have you in Resonance, if Stag and the others will have you."

Tobin straightens a little more from having slumped, though it's with pride this time, instead of angry memories. "Thank you," he says softly, looking at Yi with a solemn expression. "It means a lot to me, to hear you say those words." He stands up and bows to Yi in the Chinese style of one warrior to another, right fist placed against left palm.

Yi pushes back off from the desk, looking quizzically at first to the Fang's motion, and then mimicking the gesture with utmost sincerity behind it. When she straightens back up from the bow, her smile is a warm one. "I haven't been bowed to like that since I last saw Sifu at his home temple," she notes with a grateful second dip of her head. "Does this leave Alicia and Eamon left for you to ask?"

Tobin smiles back, and maybe even winks. It's hard to tell with just the light from the street coming in. "I've spoken with Alicia and Dakota already," he says. "They had nothing for me. No questions, no tests, no quests." He sounds almost offended that he should be trusted so implicitely. "Eamon I have yet to find, but he is the last."

Yi waves a hand round in the air. "They are Children of Gaia," she states as if this would explain it all. "Then, I wish you luck in gaining the last couple of permissions. From Eamon, and then from Ciancarw himself." Turning to one side, she tilts her head slightly and checks out the office window. "Are you sure you will be alright to return to your home? Or maybe, you would like to stay here for the night?" She outright grins, exaggerating a gesture to indicate the grand prospect of staying a night at the Odeon.

Tobin clears his throat at the question and looks out the window. "I am alright to /travel/ home, but, ahh, it might be better if I stayed out later," he says, looking awkward for some reason now. "Jana, ah, needed the house to herself," he says, giving Yi a Significant Look. "She is having a suitor over." Another Significant Look.

Yi doesn't quite catch the first Significant Look, but the second comes out clearer in the darkness. Her lips form a slight 'oh', and then the ragabash nods once. "Mm, well then, I do have some time. Perhaps you would like to go on my late night... errand run, and visit a few .. Friends?" Then, the ragabash gives Tobin a Knowing Look.

Tobin's eyebrows go up. "Yes, yes that sounds like a fine idea." He stretches his arms above his head. "Just let me know if you need anyone cut in half," he says with a wicked little grin. "The labors of my Fostern challenge were not entirely without fruit, but ask me another time for that story."

Yi grins again, stretching her own arms back herself before slipping her bandanna and cap back on from before. "I don't know about needing to cut them in half," she replies with a musing tone, "but I'm sure we can stop a few from continuing their shady deals.. at knife point. Come on. And see how this Gnawer pays her tribute to the great legend of Robin Hood." She tilts her head towards the office exit, starting on her way out with a soft whistle.

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