Awkward, Much
10/7/2007
Logfile from GarouMUSH.
Currently the moon is in the waning Crescent Moon phase (27% full).
It is currently 12:24 Pacific Time on Sun Oct 7 2007.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the south at 22 mph, with gusts up to 30 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.01 and falling, and the relative humidity is 75 percent. The dewpoint is 51 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius.)
Farmhouse: Kitchen and Dining Room
Homey is the first word to come to mind when looking at the farmhouse's kitchen. Dark, wood-paneled wainscoting covers the walls to about waist height, dark beige wallpaper continuing to the ceiling. Twin refrigerators occupy the north wall, facing the large six-burner stove on the south. The kitchen counter runs the length of the eastern wall, broken only by the double-basin sink. Cabinets run above and below the counter and a twin-pane window is set in the wall above the sink. A small pantry is set into an alcove alongside the refrigerators, presumably holding the deep freezer as well as shelves of dry goods.
Some twelve feet above the floor, a large chandelier hangs from the ceiling, lighting the dining room and casting long shadows over the bar to the kitchen. A long table occupies the center of the dining room, three chairs setting along each side, and one on each end. On the west wall, a large window looks out on the trees alongside the western pasture. Set into the north wall is a large cabinet, its glass doors closed on shelves containing a full compliment of fine china and glassware as well as a few decorative nicknacks. On the east, a wide bar separates the dining room from the kitchen.
An opening in the southern wall allows passage to the front entryway of the house, while a sliding glass door in the kitchen opens to a clearing behind the house.
Contents:
Brendan
Obvious exits:
Hallway/Living Room Back Door
Sat in the kitchen with a duffel bag at his side on the floor, Brendan rubs his hands together with his jacket on the back of the chair. Someone ( most likely himself ) has turned the oven on, and it does smell like *something* is cooking in there... Whatever it is. The man mutters something about the pending winter being a bitch, and settles his head down on his arms ontop of the table.
Not yet. Winter's not in yet. That's what one Gnawer fostern ragabash wants to believe anyway, stepping into the farmhouse kitchen through the glass door with nothing but a thin long sleeve shirt, dark jeans and running shoes. Her hair is damp as well, dripping onto a towel slung around her neck. She shivers from the cold regardless, breathing onto her hands. At sight of Brendan, the ragabash pauses at the doorway. "Good afternoon, Brendan," she greets. A sniff from her indicates her notice of the oven's contents.
"Good afternoon, Yi." Brendan murmurs after a moment of hesitation, eying the slight build of the Ragabash and the fairly light clothes she's clad in. "You must be cold if you came in from that wind, across *those* wide fields in those clothes. You should be grateful I've been looking for you, I've come bearing gifts."
Yi looks down at herself at his observation, picking up the towel around her to scrub at her hair some more. "That is why I came inside to warm up," she replies matter-of-factly, eyeing him in puzzlement. "It is not a far run to the creek for a bath." She pauses as she realizes his latter statement. "You were looking for me?" Another pause. "Am I supposed to be grateful?"
"You bathe in the woods instead of in the shower here?" Brendan sounds genuinely surprised, but covers it up by quickly smirking and adding on. "I should've taken up hiking months ago." He laughs then rises from his seat, grabbing a glove from the counter to pull out a cookie sheet from the oven. "I hope you will be. I've been trying to spring a little surprise on you for a little while, but it's been too goddamned cold for a picnic and I'd blow off the sheet to boot. So I brought some food and let it heat up in the oven on low for a while, hoping you'd show up before Vera came and demolished all the food I brought." He pauses, then mutters under his breath. "Again." The man places a pair of shallow tin pans on the oven, filled with what appears to be chicken parmesan. Whatever it is, it doesn't /smell/ like something you'd get from a super market meal.
Yi turns her gaze back out towards the fields with Brendan's surprise, missing the correlation. "Someone was using it earlier," she notes as her excuse. "Plus, the scent of the soap is too strong for the woods." She observes as he stands to pull things from the oven, blinking some more and steps closer to check out the chicken. "It smells really good," she remarks in regards to the pair of parmesan chicken. Then she glances back up to the kin, quirking her head at him. An air of musing suspicion wraps around her expression.
"I was thinking for a while, what sort of gift would someone like you appreciate. Or what sort of thing you might like." Brendan gets a spatula from the drawer and carefully empties the contents of both pans onto a pair of plates, and puts the piping hot food onto the table. "Then I thought, well. Everyone loves food. And if you don't like Italian... " Brendan sits down and bends over to dig around in his duffel bag, pulling up a variety of food the Gnawer has likely not seen in some time if ever. Some of it is rather mundane : A French loaf, a jar of olives, a box of chocolate. Others are somewhat more exotic. Small containers of caviar, fois gras and assorted delicious but *expensive* foods make the rounds. Including a somewhat large box of sushi.
Yi steps closer towards the food, taking it all in and watching the kin dish out his dishes. She does so in silence, dropping the towel back to hang limp around her neck. Her path takes her to the tableside, where she gazes at the steaming chicken. Then her eyes turn up to look at the kin. "What is all this for?" she wonders at him.
"What else would it be for? It's for you." Brendan replies in a murmur with a soft smile, offering his hand to the Ragabash. "I and Salee parted ways, because we figured the relationship wasn't likely to work. So I'm now unattached, aside from Laora's occasional knocking at my door. I was hoping you might entertain the thought of sitting down to a meal with me, Yi."
Yi looks upon the hand offered out, and then slowly slips her own into it. Her skin is freezing cold, a result of the chill and wind and exposure from bathing in an equally ice cold creek. In comparison though, her cheeks flush hot. "You did not need to go to such..." she searches for the word, "... go to do so much, Brendan. I could not eat all of this." She keeps her eyes on the food, thoughts turning visibly through her expression.
"Probably not, but I did not know what you would like. I can always put most of this back on ice, and I can work on it later at my apartment. It's not like it'll turn bad if we don't eat it all right this second." The man's skin by contrast is just as warm and radiant as the expression on his face, his large hand easily encircling the Ragabash's and holding it as she sits down. "I want you to know rather openly, that I won't be offended if you turn me down. I wouldn't mind having you as a friend or a drinking buddy, but on the same note... I don't mind if you're in the woods, and I don't care if it'll be a little strange for a while. I'm alright with taking things slow, and approaching this however you want. I know Gaia demands much of you, and I will not let my demands conflict with Her's."
Yi seats herself awkwardly before the spread, swallowing down some of that embarrassment. Her hand slips out of his, back to her lap. A conflicted mien plasters itself on her face, but she blinks and shakes her head slowly. "You did this much already," she answers after a pause and a look back up to him. In her gaze, she scrutinizes him.
"You said that I reminded you of something that you wanted, but that you'd forgotten you wanted. If you still want it... Then take it." Brendan tells her, leaning forward just enough to prop his head up with his elbow.
Eyes widening at him, Yi quickly looks away again with a hand going to cover her mouth. Most likely, to stifle some initial reply. She shakes her head again, and takes in a breath to blow out in a fast exhale. "Well, you asked me to join you but you are not eating either," she notes to him instead. She nods to the food, again looking over the spread.
"Ah, well." Brendan bends over and reaches into his bag, pulling out both a pair of forks, knives, spoons and a pair of chop sticks. The man puts a pair of each at both sets of the table, then begins to work at once on his cheese covered chicken. "Sorry, I was too busy talking to a lady to stuff my face." He muses, putting a large piece of chicken into his maw.
Yi picks up the fork and knife when he does, setting to work on the chicken parmesan. Eat it while it's hot, and all that. She cuts in a piece, focusing on the act in a way to distract herself, and then before she tastes she looks back to him. "Thank you, by the way, for all of this."
"Anything for a lady, Yi." Brendan murmurs between bites, occasionally glancing up at the woman as he systemically cuts his meal into pieces and piles it away. The Kinsman appears to be fairly happy to be quietly sharing the meal with her, stooped over the table just enough to avoid getting the sauce on his clothing.
Yi too, partakes of the meal in the quiet. Partway through, she turns back to him to remark, "This is delicious. Not something I have made before, either. You cooked all this yourself?" All this being, the food that has been cooked anyway.
"No, but I have traveled a lot and dined out many times. I know all the best restaurants. Maybe if you ever decide to come back into the city I'll buy you a dress and take you to one... If, you wear dresses." Brendan murmurs with a faintly amused expression, wiping a little sauce from his cheek with a napkin.
Sitting at the dining table with Brendan, Yi and the kin work at eating a spread that should be too big for the both of them to finish. At the moment, it looks like her hair is damp from a shower. The towel around her neck and thin longsleeve shirt, dark jeans, all indicate she hasn't even had the chance to put on her usual layers before she's sat down to eat. At the moment, she gives the kin a rueful sort of look and breaks into a half-smirk. "Of course I do," she comments at him. "But it is not so practical out there to be wearing one. The last time I did, though..." She trails, looking back to her plate of food. "The last time, I was with my brother, Nevada. He took me to dinner at a fancy restaurant. Expensive, too." The smirk fades to a wan smile, filled with nostalgia. "We didn't pay for one bit of it."
"Then maybe I could bring back some old memories, and take you out for a night on the town when your feet are fit to touch concrete again. I know a few places that you'd just *love*." Brendan smiles and chuckles, piling away yet more of his chicken. Despite his long and rail like form, he seems to be packing away quite a bit and at a steady, neat clip as well.
The back door slides open and in slips Salee. At least, everything seems to look like Salee, except for the pale blonde hair. She's brimming with energy and excitement, that much is obvious. A smile lights up her entire expression. She stops short at the sight of the table, and the two gathered around it. The warmth and light drains from her face immediately. Energy is replaced by anxiety. "M'sorry," she mumbles. "Didn't mean to interrupt anything." She starts making her way quickly toward the living room.
[look Salee (homid)]
A teenaged girl standing about five-and-a-half feet tall peers at her surroundings, as though she wants to take in everything and memorize it. Her appearance is rather frail, fragile. Her limbs are long and slender, almost to the point of being bony. But as stark as she is in body, her face is the opposite. Her features are soft and delicate, with high cheek bones that bring out her pale green eyes. Light ash blonde hair frames her pale face, cut in loose, layered curls that brush her shoulders. The cool shade gives an almost ethereal or glowing quality to the girl.
Chocolate-coloured leggings hug skinny legs. A pleated, camo print skirt, trimmed with white lace, falls to mid-thigh. Under a matching army green crop jacket that hangs open is a black tanktop with distressed lettering screened on that reads: The Angels Have The Phone Box.
Melodie comes in via the living room, heading for the kitchen, and briefly blocking Salee's path. "Hi, everyone." She smiles, clearly in a great mood, as she grabs a yogurt from the fridge, and a spoon from the drawer.
[look Melodie (homid)]
Shockingly bright pink hair reaches down to the shoulders of this girl in her early teens, though several inches of her natural dark brown are now showing. Multiple piercings adorn each of her ears in an asymmetrical pattern, and a cheap stud sits on her nose.
She's wearing a dark purple v-neck T-shirt with a monochrome image of a heart with giant owl wings, stretching out across the bustline. Purple capri jeans hug her hips tightly, with floral embroidary on the back pockets and near the cuffs. On her feet are a pair of sneakers with visible 'shock absorbers', and a pink swoosh logo, with pink laces. When the weather warrants, she has a dark purple hoodie with the design of a new-agey fairy on the front right panel. She wears shiny lip gloss with a pink hilight, and her nails are typically painted various bright colors.
Her coloration is hispanic, although her facial features also have a distinctly Greek influence as well. Her height, several inches shy of five feet, makes her seem at first glance to be in the latter years of elementary school, but her figure belies this assumption, having filled out considerably in recent months to be reasonably considered curvy.
"You are all about the memories, aren't you," Yi replies to Brendan as she puts away a bit from her own plate. "I hope you don't mean to bring a few rat friends with you either, because that is what he did. Kept them in an uncomfortable place the whole way too. I had to admire him for his courage." She shakes the end of her fork at the kin, and turns as the cubs come in from opposite ends. She shakes her head at Salee. "You weren't," she answers the young Walker cub with a glance back at Brendan, brow arching. "And hello..." she notes at Melodie, though there is a degree of unfamiliarity with the girl.
"The only 'rat friend' I'd even dream of put in an uncomfortable place is- " Brendan's abruptly cut off, but given the teasing tone of his voice and the smirk he was directing at Yi, there is little question as to who he meant. He turns to look over at Salee when she comes in with a faintly annoyed expression, that quickly melts into a smile. "Salee." He calls quietly, looking almost painted or concerned for a brief moment. "You have dyed your hair? Why did you do that?" He asks, paying little regard to Melodie at the moment.
The Walker cub stops when she sees Melodie blocking her path, with the intent of continuing past her. That is, until Brendan calls to her. "I didn't think you would care," Salee attempts to sound blithe, but she doesn't do a very good job. There's something in the way that her eyes narrow just the slightest little bit that suggests that she knew he /would/ care. "Suits me don't you think?"
Melodie grins at Salee. "Yeah, you did a good job! I'm thinking of going to a deep purple. I like pink more, but it's way too obvious if I'm in the woods. Maybe I'll do that today, even." She pulls a strand of pink hair in front of her face, looking at it curiously.
Yi's brows lift a little bit more at the beginning of Brendan's implication, but drop back to the norm soon enough. Standing from her seat, she moves towards the fridge to grab herself a drink on her own. "Are you two hungry?" she asks in something of a big sisterly tone, not minding the tweaked exchange between Salee and the kin. "There is a lot."
"No, it doesn't. You look a bit like a new person all together. I hope you didn't dye your hair after you broke up with me just to make a change because I said I liked it." Brendan murmurs, devouring the last pit of chicken with one hand while the other subtly moves a few containers of caviar and fois gras to rest beneath his palm.
Salee opens her mouth to respond to Melodie, and she /did/ get a brief smile, but... She just can't hide the scowl the curls her lip when Brendan responds. A truly ugly expression upon her face. "Oh, don't flatter yourself, Casanova. I can see you're rebounding just fine."
Melodie glares at Brendan, too, and moves over to stand closer to Sally. It's perhaps humorous to see her standing up to someone twice her size, but she has the attitude that she's scarier than him. "Yeah, don't be mean. I think it's a cute color, girls don't do everything because of sex, unlike you guys."
"I missed the part where we were angry at each other, when you broke up with me, we didn't yell and scream or get pissed at each other. I was just hoping she didn't change a really beautiful part of herself because of bad feelings. I was worried I might've hurt her. Sorry for caring." Brendan half mutters the last part, putting a large handful of expensive foods into his duffel bag.
Yi straightens up from her spot at the fridge with the words starting to turn. Her gaze travels over the pair of cubs before she shuts the refrigerator door with a slightly harder than necessary motion. "Hey - that is crossing a line," she interjects, adding to it the physical motion of stepping between the two cubs and the kin.
Salee's scowl turns into a look that's far more anguished in no time flat and the effort it takes to keep from crying is obvious. She takes a step toward the door, not quite turning to run just yet.
Melodie gives Brendan a deadly glare, totally convinced that he's in the wrong, before getting a look at Salee's face. Her expression completely changes, turning sympathetic. She moves closer to Salee, saying to her, "C'mon, let's go somewhere more fun, huh? He's so not worth it." She turns her back on Brendan completely.
Brendan looks ready to say something when Yi steps up to the plate, and though the boy eyes Salee with an almost regretful expression he says nothing. Instead, he turns his head to look at his now mostly empty but sauce laden plate.
Yi narrows her eyes towards the pair of cubs, not exactly sympathetic, but at the same time not lacking in compassion when she sees that anguished cast to Salee's features. "You could run away," she remarks aloud for anyone wanting to hear her, though she's watching Salee as she speaks. The option following an unspoken 'or' also remains unsaid.
For a long moment, Salee just stands there. She stares at Yi, and then she stares at Brendan. She glances just briefly over to Melodie, expression relaxed only slightly when she regards the cub. In the end, her green eyes go back to the Kin just seconds before the first tear slides down her cheek and she bolts for the back door.
Melodie spits out a stream of Spanish at Brendan, clearly calling him some sort of name or wishing him some undesirable fate. She then turns and runs after Salee.
"Ah, and now even though she broke up with me, I set her up with someone new, and did everything to make her happy... I'm now of course the evil, heart breaking man. Joy." Brendan comments quietly with a sigh once the two are gone, banging his forehead gently into the table to the side of his plate.
Yi makes no move to stop the pair of cubs, standing her ground there. "Brendan," she notes quietly with her back towards him still, watching the glass door, "I wonder if you know what it means to know the heart of a woman."
"To the extent a man can. Women are a mystery, and every one is unique. Not unlike men but with more... Ah, depth in general." Brendan looks up at Yi and asks her. "Do you believe I'm sincere when I say that I tried my best to make her happy when she broke up with me, and that I would sincerely do my best to make you happy, Yi?"
Turning to look over her shoulder at the kin, Yi exhales a short sigh. "I believe you." Yet she doesn't sound pleased by his statement, heading back towards the refrigerator. "At the same time," she says with her hand on the handle, "how could I trust you?"
"Because, the next time I start a serious relationship I will not drink at all outside of my apartment, and I will turn Laora away. Because I'm getting to be an old man, and I don't want to be a 'stud' or a cassanova, and haven't tried to be for the past five years. I just want to make someone happy." Brendan murmurs, rising up to his feet. The man uncoils his scarf from his neck and takes a few steps towards Yi, laying it around the Garou's slender neck. It smells of him, a clean scent that's vaguely touched with a bit of his subtle cologne. "Because I swear, the last thing I want to do is hurt *anyone*."
Yi moves the towel out of the scarf's way, turning so that she faces him. "And you call yourself a man," she quips at him with a wry expression and a hand lifting to pat his cheek. "So what was wrong with Salee, then? Helen? Laora?"
Brendan holds onto each end of the scarf, gently pulling the Ragabash toward him just a tinsy bit. "She broke up with me because of the age differences, because of the things that might come because of Laora. Laora doesn't want me that way, and Helen... " Brendan leans against Yi's hand, his voice dropping off and his eyes closing, remaining shut for a good three seconds. "Nothing was wrong with Helen, she was perfect in every day and I hurt her. I could have lied to her, I could have never told her, I could have thrown someone else under the bus to blame for my thing. I begged for her forgiveness and she couldn't give it. So here I am again, trying to get it right, because even though trying can hurt, being alone is so much more painful."
Yi leans a touch inward with the scarf pull, but there's still a resistance from the Gnawer. Her hand lowers back to her side, but her eyes stay on him, still observing from a forced emotional distance. "Have you ever truly been alone?" she wonders quietly.
"In periods when I was busier with my life, with all my time on business and none of it on the things that mattered... Which coming here has reminded me of. Of how damned important the Garou are, and how important it is to make sure they're happy." Brendan pauses and adds with a small smile. "And well fed."
There is a small change in the way Yi regards the kin, one that could be interpreted as favorable. But instead of moving forward, closer, she ducks herself out of the scarf and steps away. "The way to a Garou's heart is not through her stomach, even though you might have heard it that way," the ragabash quips. "I appreciate all that you have done for me tonight, Brendan. It's just... I don't know." She looks back to the table, with the food still there. Her head shakes again. "You should not look to me for such things."
"I'd go to your heart by another means, but I know so little about you that I'm just taking shots in the dark. I'd like to know more about you, but I have a feeling you won't open up unless I get closer which brings up an interesting little dilemma." Brendan murmurs, lifting one hand to loosely place it on her shoulder. "Why shouldn't I? Here is what I know so far. You know everything about me, but it doesn't make you shy away. I know... Or at least hope there is a mutual attraction, physically. I know that someone like you, a Fostern is a strong willed woman... And if you really believed you didn't want this sorta thing, you'd ignore me, and you certainly wouldn't defend me." Brendan lifts up his scarf and drapes it across the back of her neck again, letting it hang loosely without any attachment. "We don't need to rush into anything. We don't need to shout it from the roof tops, and we don't need rush into the backseat of my car. We can just... Well. Hang out together, go out together and talk together. And if you decide that you're willing to trust me, and you know I'm not just... Well, trying to score with you or whatever, we can go from there. And for now, you can hold onto that scarf to keep you warm."
Yi places a hand on the scarf and brushes her fingers over it. "But I do not really know who you are, Brendan," she insists. "I only know what I have seen and heard, and I know I don't like it. I know I do not want to see you hurt... but I know there is only so much I can do in return. You are generous, and sensitive, but." But, she lets out a slow sigh. "You will need a stronger stomach if you want to know more of who /I/ am." She takes the scarf from around her neck, carefully folding it up into a neat square.
"Then I will tell you everything you want to know about me, if you will share yourself in turn. We can get to know one another, either at my apartment or camped out in my truck talking back and forth. And I'll also say again, that I will try to be a better man. For what it's worth now, I can promise you that I will never hurt you purposefully, and I will not lie to you. I may be hurt, but that is the way of life. Without the bad, I would never be able to feel the good. If you would like to learn more about one another, I can come back during the week and the two of us can talk privately in my car, when you have the time." Brendan bows his head down behind her, almost enough to touch her hair with his chin. "I will wait if you are busy, I will not distract you from your job as a Guardian."
Yi starts to speak again, but in the end waits for Brendan to say his piece. The Gnawer stares downward as she turns things over. "Why?" is all she can come up with after a long silence. "Why do you want to do all this?"
"Because we're interested in one another, because I know you're as lonely if not lonelier than I am. Because Cole will likely allow it, and because you look absolutely stunning when you blush." Brendan murmurs near her ear, his body close behind her's but not yet touching, merely close enough to carry a sense of presence.
Yi takes in a breath long and slow, eyes closing briefly and reopening at the last part. It can't be helped. She turns around, facing him and fighting desperately against that losing battle to keep from doing just that- blushing. "Sweet words, Brendan, but I have heard them before. Heard them, and I know better than to fall for that now." She flicks her gaze down to the table with the food, then back at the kinsman. "And I am not lonely," she insists stubbornly. "I have a pack. My tribemates, my septmates. Friends." Swallowing down, the Gnawer looks past the man, forcing her gaze from him. "Don't wait on me, Brendan. I can take care of myself. Excuse me." Her jaw tenses along the bottom line, and she starts to head past him, towards the living room and stairwell.
"It isn't a trick, there is nothing to fall for. I mean every word. I'm not sure why you're pushing me away so much, but I'm not afraid to admit that even though I have friends, I can still be lonely. And even though I can walk tall and proud, sometimes I like having a soft shoulder to rest my head on." Brendan holds onto her shoulder until she passes him, turning in place with his fingers slowly draping down her back as she steps out of his reach. "I'm not sure what I have to do to convince you I'm being sincere, or that I'm a good 'nuff person for you... But I'm trying, Yi. And I'll be waiting down here, if you decide you want to join me for dinner."
Yi only gets a few steps away before she comes to a stop. She half turns so that her shoulder is to him, and her gaze turns back. The contemplative expression is decidedly mixed. "You said you want to take it slow. Is this too slow for you?" she asks, a brow arching at him, tone a bit tongue in cheek.
"As long as I'm headed somewhere with you, it can be as slow as you like. I'd just like to make sure the ball is bouncing, so I can see where it lands when it decides to stop." Brendan murmurs back with a smile, keeping his eyes on the Ragabash's.
Shaking her head slightly, Yi keeps up that mixed, enigmatic look towards him. "I hope you know what ball game you are trying to play, then," she comments back. "And we already had something to eat. It was enough. It was good. I thank you for it. The rest, maybe, you can save it for another time. I need to get my other clothes, and head back to the woods now."
"Guess we'll know when I swing the bat, huh?" Brendan murmurs back, still smiling and seeming somewhat pleased about it all. "You try to keep yourself safe, warm, and... Hungry. I've got much more food that needs proper disposal, after all." Brendan lifts his hand and waves to her, slumping over the table just a little bit. "Try not to freeze anything off in that creek."
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