Talk of Rites of Passage

Logfile from GarouMU.
Currently the moon is in the waxing Half Moon phase (43% full).
It is currently 13:05 Pacific Time on Thu Aug 11 2005.

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:
Olga(#4061PJceq)
Aaron
Obvious exits:
Upstairs  THeatre  Street  

It's a bit past noon and the Odeon lobby gets enough light to see by, though it's still unpleasantly dim. It's occupied by Olga, she sits in one of the corners like a raven on a branch, just waiting for some convenient carcass or vermin. Ostensibly she's knitting, her needles click against each other in rapid thoughtless succession, but she watches the front door with such avidity that it's obvious that she's really not paying her current task any attention; also making it obvious is the fact that she's haphazardly weaving orange wool into what looks to be a green sweater.

Aaron appears from the restroom, his hair matted back. He raises his hands to his head and ruffles his tresses, and his eyes going directly towards his elder. The cub has a grim look on his face before he offers a quick 'hello' to the Theurge.

The clank of cans and plastic herald Yi's arrival, the ragabash pulling in a large plastic garbage bag behind her. Clear and dirty from a day, afternoon, night's work of collecting recyclables, she glances about and spots the Gnawer elder. "Olga, I got your message. And also a note about how Killer caught the rear end of a very large bumpy thing... I guess he meant a car." She quirks a lopsided smirk, and then clunks herself and the bag down nearby. Seeing Aaron, the ragabash gives a wave to the cub.

Olga offers Aaron a sympathetic grimace, completely misinterpreting his look; "Hi," she says softly, in a quiet, hidden way, the way one touches an angry wound to clean it. Unavoidably though there's a little amusement on her face, try as she might to keep it down, a tenseness to red-tinted cheeks. Yi's arrival, the door sneaking creaking open while the Theurge was distracted, is met with a quiet look of expectation. "Yi," she says, almost businesslike, though her voice is warm and she sounds in a good mood. "Glad y'could come. Got yourself quite a haul there, eh?"

The poor cub has a look on his face that looks like he had been stuck in a cage for doing something wrong. At the sight of seeing Yi, whatever he was about to say has been abandoned and he paces by to slip into a quiet corner away from the two.

"Oh, you know. Here is one can, there is another," Yi explains, gesturing with her free and somewhat sticky hand as she does so. "But, I am /always/ glad to answer when the elder calls." She, too, seems to be proud of her 'catch'. After another pause, she throws in a somewhat awkward, "What's up, Doc?" Another passing glance is passed towards the ahroun.

Olga either ignores or doesn't see Aaron's expression. There is some sympathy in her voice, though, when she says to him "Give us a minute, would you, Aaron? Scoot on upstairs?" Still all the same it doesn't sound much like a request. Yi is unanswered as she watches the Ahroun and waits for him to comply.

Aaron sighs and moves fluidly up to his feet. "Yeah, a'right." he replies, not about to disobey orders. Either of them will continue to speak until the cub is out of sight, anyway. "Grown-up stuff, right? Ah should'ave figured." He shrugs and heads up the stairs without a glance back down the stairs.

Yi waits until Aaron has climbed up the small flight of stairs before looking back. "He seems a bit ..." she trails, looking for the word, ".. trapped, doesn't he?" The ragabash can only shrug though, as she slides down on her spot to sit beside the garbage bag. This time, she simply looks expectantly to the theurge.

Olga watches the boy until she can't see him anymore, and then she listens closely for the wrenched sound of old metal strain to stop. "Sorta, yeah," she answers quietly, pulling herself up from the corner by the palms of her hands, shuffling up and then lurching slowly over to where Yi sits, at the door, so that she can talk more quietly. "Maybe not for too long, though. S'what I wanted to talk to you about. First though, how you been? How's the recyclin' business treating you?"

Yi quirks her head to a side, eyes not leaving the theurge as she sits beside her. "Good," the ragabash answers readily. "And 'somewhat good'." The latter, intended as an answer to the second query. "It took a few days to heal from my challenge for fostern... but with luck, Layne will approve and call me -yuf in a matter of days." She beams at this, proud of her accomplishment. "And the recycling, well, it is one way to make an honest living. But, perhaps not enough to get by without rent worries."

"No shit," Olga asks, very quietly but with a smile that wraps from one ear to the other. "Really? So you're gonna be - maybe..." she begins, but then trails off, looking slightly bemused, like she still is having difficulty believing it, though the expression on her face looks terribly pleased. "Anyway," she quickly passes by, looking at the Ragabash but differently, now, a hint of reservation on her features, "I'm thinkin' it's about time for the cubs to be tested. What do you think?"

Yi blinks a couple of times, Olga's smile echoed and enhanced on her own. Then, on to the matter of rites. This she gives some more consideration, her eyes straying towards the stairs on the path after the ahroun cub. "Which ones?" she asks simply.

Olga answers "All of 'em." She watches Yi closely, watches her expression - there's a thin note of apprehension on the Theurge's face, but primarily it's curiosity that plays across her eyes. After a second she adds, hastily, "Except Chris, of course."

Yi's eyebrows arch up at the answer, quickly glancing back to Olga. The expression doesn't change too much when the subtraction is thrown in. "Well," the ragabash starts somewhat reluctantly, "Aaron does learn quickly. Basil has been here for some time, and Masao... Masao may need a few reminders. But, what did you have in mind?"

Olga answers immediately, a strange firmness to her voice, "I believe in Masao, she reminds me of Joey. She's smart and she knows when to run. She's a survivor, she's a natural. She'll be a'right. She may not be too up on all the formalities of things, but she's ready." It's only when she's gotten that down, and firmly, that she answers the question: "I don't know yet. That's part of why I wanted to ask you here, so you could keep a lookout. Combat - it's gotta be combat. I figure we find an infestation, we tell them to fix it. We don't tell 'em how, we don't lead 'em by the noses."

Yi nods, though mention of Joey brings back the girl's memory to mind and Yi gets a sort of reminiscent smile. "I think the last card I got was a few months ago. I hope she is ok." Then she focuses back on the cubs at hand. "An infestation, that is easy to find. One that the cubs could handle without too much more risk..." she trails, thinking. "You want to send all three at one time?"

"Yes," Olga answers, flatly. "They're loners, all three of 'em. They gotta understand they can't survive like that. They gotta know what a pack is. And I know it could take a while to track down the right size challenge, but this's the best we can do, I figure." She doesn't talk about Joey, doesn't seem to consider what she could be up to, almost forcibly. Instead she wrenches her attention onto the present, looking at Yi, still curious. She asks, finally, "What're you thinkin'?"

Yi nods again, her agreement ready. "They need to learn what I needed to learn. Working together." The ragabash ponders some more, before adding, "There should be something downtown that can be done. Maybe Mamma Rat will lead us to a good place." She glances back to the theurge. "Or some part of Griphus territory might work just as well."

Olga shakes her head, saying "If I knew of a blight on Griphus' turf that three cubs could take care of, we'd've taken care of it already. I'll be poking my nose around and if I smell anything I'll set it aside - hopefully with the both of us doing it we'll come up with something."

Yi shifts her gaze back up to the stairs, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Then I will keep an eye out, yes." The ragabash glances back once more. "And one more thing," she notes, but doesn't say quite yet.

Olga's head bobs, she seems fairly pleased, fairly easygoing, like something's been scratched off her mental list. As such her question's easy and curious when she asks "Yeah?"

"If Layne does approve of the challenge's results," Yi puts forward slowly, "I want you to know that I still value your wisdom a great deal, as elder of our tribe." She looks directly to the theurge, features calm. "In other words, we have been working together to keep ourselves balanced here between the two of us. If the cubs pass, we will be stronger, and then we will need a leader who is strong in our ways. I feel you would be better in that position than me."

There's a sudden flush of red across Olga's cheeks, visible even in the dim light. She looks away, a creeping, thin-lipped smile stretches across her face, though she tries to keep it down. "Um," she mumbles, awkwardly, looking down now at the lobby's sticky floor. "Thanks, Yi." It's spoken quickly, like she's not really sure of herself. "Thanks. Means a lot. But it's not, y'know, I mean," she stumbles on, lips wrenched slightly, "I mean it's just, you know. I'd suck without you. Just so's we're clear on that."

Yi quirks another characteristic half-grin, and pushes herself up to her feet. "And I would suck without the wit and wisdom of those who have led the Bone Gnawers all these years. I think we are clear on that too." She puts forward a knuckle to nudge the theurge lightly on the shoulder in friendly gesture before she looks back to the stairs. "Do you think we should surprise the cubs, or warn them?"

Olga is again business, quickly and effortfully forcing herself to be. "Surprise," she answers, "definitely. Thanks Yi. Keep your eyes out, eh? Take care of yourself."

Yi nods again, quicklike, and then smiles faintly. "Should have one before we know it. Take care." The ragabash pauses for a moment longer, lingering around, before the garbage bag gets scooped up and hefted over her shoulder. On her way out, she gives one last wave and departs.

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