It is currently 11:58 Pacific Time on Mon Oct 15 2001.
Currently the moon is in the waning No Moon phase (12% full).
Currently in Saint Claire, it is foggy. The temperature is 48 degrees
Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius). The wind is calm today. The barometric
pressure reading is 30.10 and falling, and the relative humidity is 100
percent. The dewpoint is 48 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius.)

Walker Safe House - Rec Room

        Much like the rest of the building, mirrors are prominent in the
Recreation Room. There is a pool table set up in one half of the room,
along with a small fridge for storing drinks and a cabinet for snackables.
A small bar provides limited seating and more intoxicating drinks, if one
has the key that allows access to the refridgerated drinks cabinet under
the bar. The remainder of the room is dominated by a large home theater
system, with an incredibly expensive-looking couch in front of it. The
couch nearly screams out, 'Don't spill anything'. For those who might,
there are also two matching side-chairs, and a bean-bag on the floor - far
too close to the television to be good for anyone's eyes.

From a distance, Kaz is whistling something from Les Miserables as she
wanders up to the door and buzzes the main buzzer.

Salem sits at one end of the couch, his attention focussed on a thick
library book with a dark red cover. He's about one-third of the way
through.

From a distance, Kaz continues whistling cheerfully, but doesn't actually
press the button again. Yet.

Salem glances up after a few moments of nobody else answering the buzzer.
Lips thinned, he puts the book aside and heads for the front door, giving
the security monitor a glance before opening up.

Oddly enough, it's Kaz. Her whistling snaps off as she sees Salem, but
she's not nearly as wary around him as she was mere days ago. She also has
donuts, this time. "Hey," she tells him, still not anywhere near complete
comfort. "Is John around? Or Jon?"

"I haven't, not recently," Salem replies. He's a bit reserved as well,
though that seems more or less normal for him. He steps to one side,
giving Kaz room to enter.

Kaz mutters, "Well, damn," and heads past Salem, lingering in the hallway.
"Oh." She stops, regarding Salem. "Because I ain't into sneakin' around, I
thought I oughta tell you -- I made a deal with Jon. If he got me some
shit I needed, I'd teach him some. If y'all object, say so, but I figure
he kinda needs th' help, at this point."

It's at that point that the closest first floor apartment door clicks
shut, and John makes his way down the stairs. He's still pulling on the
right glove, and fastening it, when he looks up to spot a Gnawer and a
Tribesmate. "Morning." he grunts. Evidently, it is for /him/, at least.
Still hasn't shaved.

Salem closes the door behind her and hooks his thumbs into the front
pockets of his jeans. "No objection." His lips thin. "He _does_ need the
help, after all." He glances up, nods to John. Salem looks like he's been
awake for many, many hours.

Kaz has coffee, too. Two cups worth. One of which she offers to John.
"Yo." A moment later, she adds, to the ahroun, "Do /you/ object?"

John's attention is fixed on the offered coffee, which he takes with a
short grunt of satisfaction. Good... Sipping at it, already, the Ahroun
takes a moment, before lifting his eyebrows and eyeing Kaz. "Possibly.
What'm I objecting to? I missed something."

Salem shifts his weight, leaning against the wall. "Kaz has made a deal
with Jonathan, to teach him a few things."

Kaz offers John the bag of donuts, too, as she explains, more fully, "He
said he'd get me a few things. I said I'd teach him some. But I'm... kinda
done with sneakin' around t'teach people, an' he ain't known for knowin'
what his tribe is actually thinkin'."

There's a muffled thunk on the door, like someone meant to merely lean on
it but couldn't help putting more weight into the motion than necessary. A
glance at the monitor will reveal that someone is Corey, who's fishing in
the pocket of a sweatsuit jacket, probably for his keys.

John stifles a yawn against the back of one hand, and takes another sip
from the coffee. He takes a donut, and asks, neutrally, "What were you
planning on teaching him?" before sticking the thing in his mouth, and
moving to open the door with his free hand. The Elder jerks his head,
motioning for the cub to get in.

Salem glances over at the arriving cub, giving him a faint half-smile in
greeting.

Kaz shrugs, as she offers the bag to Salem, with an air of expecting it
not to be taken advanttage of. "Tell him some story shit. Y'know. Dancers,
an' legends, an' that kinda stuff. Teach him t'survive in places he don'
expect t'be able t'survive in. Mebbe help him figure out what submission
is, since he don't seem real good at it, at the weirdest times. Mebbe help
teach him fight, in ways you folks ain't. I'm kind of figuring I'll suit
it to circumstances, though. Like, last time I was here, he was wandering
around naked. /I/ don't give a shit about that, and /he/ was just lookin'
for attention -- an' givin' him attention over that ain't so useful. But
addressin' it sideways'd woulda worked."

Salem does indeed shakes his head, politely refusing to partake of sugary
donutness. "The unclothed incident was odd, yes."

Corey stumbles in, slightly off-balance from an apparently full backpack
and the surprise of having the door opened on him. Not really looking up,
he continues straight for the rec room, dropping the bag onto a chair in
passing. After two brief glasses of water -- one drunk, one dumped over
his head -- he returns to the lobby, much more awake, and damp. "Good
afternoon, rhyas."

John rolls his eyes and takes the donut from his mouth, as he kicks the
door shut with his foot. "There's a difference between turning red and
shrieking when naked, and exhibitionism." he growls. "The boy simply does
not know how to find the middle ground." John eyes his damp cub, and
finally takes a bite from his donut; watching the boy thoughtfullly, as he
chews.

Kaz offers the damp Corey a donut. "Yeah, that was sorta my thought. But
I'm not about to sit there and focus on it to the exclusion of other shit,
not when it's an attention gettin' thing. Anyways. Heya, Corey."

"'Attention-getting.'" Salem echoes the phrase thoughtfully, then shakes
his head again and looks over at Corey. "Afternoon, Corey."

Corey, amazingly, declines the donut. "Ask me again later, when my
stomach's caught up." Rubbing his shoulder where one of the straps dug in,
he adds, "One of these days I /will/ leave a library with fewer books than
I brought in." Empty threat, for sure. He seems to consciously avoid the
topic his elders are discussing.

Waking up, John washes down the bite of donut with some more coffee, and
nods his head a little. "Yeah, well. No objections to that, anyway. Just
remember that he's impressionable. Be careful with that." he says, to Kaz.
And then eats some more donut.

Kaz grins at Corey. "They breed." She takes a swig of now warm coffee, and
tells John, dryly, "I'm aware." She adds, after a pause, "Also, I told him
I wouldn't teach him somethin' you folks thought y'all should teach. So's
there areas I oughta stay away from?"

Salem arches a brow at this and glances at John.

Corey covers the lower half of his face and snorts quietly at John's
assessment, the only indication he gives he's even paying attention. He
tries to cover it up as an aborted sneeze.

John's brow furrows, just a little, as he eats, and studies Corey. "Yeah,
I'm thinking." he grunts, to Kaz. A pause later, and he adds, "And I can't
think of anything. You make it clear that what's your opinion /is/ what's
your opinion, if you give it, and we should be fine. Because in the end,
it's /our/ opinion that matters. Rite or die. It's very simple." His eyes
don't leave Corey.

Kaz looks from John to Corey. "Uh-huh. We makin' the point with an anvil
yet, John?"

John grunts, "Only if you can't find something heavier."

Corey looks between Kaz and John with a mock-disgusted expression. "And I
thought /I/ was supposed to be the joker here." Shaking his head and
resuming a more normal expression, he adds, "John, you and the other
elders have been making it quite clear that Garou tend to lead rather
short lives, beginning at the very latest from the Rite. Believe it or
not, some of us do have the sense to grasp that."

Kaz starts into a doughnut, remaining, for once, silent, as she watches
the cub and the elder.

"Jonathan didn't seem to," Salem remarks. "At least, that's the excuse he
gave for running off into the daytime Umbra."

Corey looks disgusted for real at the mention of the name of the Accursed
One. "I did say /some/. Not all."

Salem's glance toward Corey is a mite sharp; he reins the expression in
and nods. "Naturally."

"Jonathan is a twit." John adds, mildly, still looking at Corey. His head
tilts. "In my opinion, you should do fine, Corey. The older cubs appear to
be having difficulty with age. They're too used to being human. They have
a teenager's sense of invincibility." Studying the remains of his donut,
the Ahroun adds, "Just don't get over-confident."

Kaz adds, "And the habits of what being human means. Ain't no big thing,
but neither of 'em seem willin'a change."

Corey hesitates, eyebrows both raised momentarily. "Rhya, if you only
knew..." Biting his lip to end that sentence, he starts again with a
question addressed to everybody. "If I may ask, what happened on your
Rites?"

Salem shifts his weight and crosses his arms across his chest. "Hm." He
glances at John and Kaz.

John simply sips at his coffee, silent and grim-faced. He gives Kaz a
sidelong glance, and then returns Salem's look.

Kaz looks from John to Salem, then shrugs. To Corey, she says, "I'm a
Galliard. Me an' this Fury, we teamed up. Publicised a women's shelter,
an' a homeless shelter. Got a lot of publicity in th' papers an' shit. An'
we also hadda clear out th' Umbra around th' area. There was more to it
than that, since this was in the Umbra, and we hadda deal with some weird
symbolic shit goin' on, but that's the /basics/."

Corey nods with a mild sound of acquiesence. "All right, I see. Thank you,
Kaz." Tapping his chin, he falls silent, realizing that his RoP is likely
to be nothing like that.

"Interesting," says Salem, studying Kaz thoughtfully. "And appropriate."
He gives Corey a wry look. "Most Rites are tailored to the cub or cubs'
tribe, auspice, strengths and weaknesses... few are alike."

Kaz shrugs. "It's a real individual sorta thing. Geared t'tribe an'
auspice an' shit. The only way t'prepare, really, is t'jus' make sure
you're knowin' who an' what you are."

Kaz tilts a small smile at Salem. "I had good Elders." She adds, agreeing,
"It's a real individual sorta thing. Geared t'tribe an' auspice an' shit.
The only way t'prepare, really, is t'jus' make sure you're knowin' who an'
what you are."

John inclines his head in agreement. "Some occur in strange realms in the
Umbra, where the rules are different to anything you know. It means that
all you /can/ know and succeed with, is yourself."

Salem nods his agreement with the others' statements.

Kaz shakes her head. "Anyway. That said, I need t'get outta here. Y'all
feel free to keep the donuts." She hands them to John, and and heads out.

John nods to Kaz, taking the bag. "Sure. Thanks." he murmurs, apparently
glad for the distraction. "See you round."

Salem straightens up from his lean, nodding politely to the Gnawer as she
leaves, and then heads back into the rec room and his abandoned book.

Grabbing the backpack from where he dropped it, Corey waves to Kaz and
heads upstairs to take care of his latest acquisitions, with a nod to his
elders as he passes.

From a distance, The departure of the assembled company brings something
to John's attention. He frowns. "I came out here for something." He eyes
the contents of his hands. "And it wasn't donuts or coffee." He moves in
to the rec room, after Salem, dumping the donuts on the bar, and snatching
another, as he looks about. Seeing his trenchcoat and jacket draped over
the back of the couch reminds him, and he slips them over one arm, as he
makes his way out. A nod of his head to Salem, "Jack." as he departs.

Salem returns the nod. "John." Then he settles back on the couch with the
book.