It is currently 20:56 Pacific Time on Tue Jun 22 2004.

Currently the moon is in the waxing Crescent Moon phase (34% full).

Cockroach Mansion -- Upstairs

The dark opulence of the mansion's decor continues into the upper floors, where
      rooms are numerous and hallways are long. Most of the rooms are empty and 
      haven't been opened for years; only a few are furnished and even fewer 
      actually occupied. Still, the hardwood floors are in good repair, and the 
      hallways are well-lit.

After leading Chaney back upstairs after supper, Nat closed her door as usual.
      Just... not all the way. She undoubtedly didn't notice that it didn't 
      click closed, for even during supper she was tired and quiet. The 
      galliard went into her own room immediately after and closed the door 
      part-way, and now can be found lying on top of the covers, shoes off and 
      reading.

Chaney's door creaks open slowly, and the cub herself, in naked girl form,
      appears in the widening space, crouched down on all fours and clutching 
      the firetruck in one hand. Her nostrils flare as she sniffs, more out of 
      habit than anything, and then she gets up and, slightly hunched, walks 
      over toward Natalie's partly-open door and peers inside.

Natalie's flipping through a newspaper insert - Home Depot, from the orange
      plastered everywhere. "Why do they keep selling this crap?" she mumbles 
      to herself, turning to the last page and snorting at something there. 
      "Good god, you think people'd wise up by now." An arm falls off the side 
      of the bed, taking the insert with it; as it flutters to the floor Nat 
      scrubs at her eyes with her other hand. "I shoulda taken that bath after 
      all."

Chaney almost visibly perks up at the familiar word. "Aah," she says -- grunts,
      really -- and bumps into the door, making it swing open further. Her 
      hair's all in front of her eyes. "Aah aa."

Natalie turns at the grunting, startled; she rolls onto her side then drops her
      legs off the bed to swing upright. "Chaney. What are you doing out?" She 
      pauses, then asks firmly, "Did you open your door?"

Chaney hunkers down into a squat. "Aa," she says, and puts the truck down on
      the floor. She pushes it back and forth, making it roll, then looks back 
      up at Natalie with jaw slack and tongue poking out.

"I'll take that as a no," Nat says wryly, unable to repress a snort at the
      sight. "Yup, the truck moves. Did you just figure that out, and you had 
      to show someone, huh?" She rubs at her eyes again, then pushes off her 
      bed and crosses to the middle of the room where she sits. "So push it 
      here, Chaney." Pats at the floor. "Push me the firetruck."

Chaney moves the truck back and forth a bit, then gives it a good hard shove,
      making it roll across the floor. It's no Hot Wheels, though, and slows 
      about halfway before it reaches Natalie, so the cub stands up, walks over 
      to the toy, and squats down to give it another push to send it travelling 
      the rest of the way.

Natalie leans forward to intercept it as it slows, picks the toy up and spins
      the wheels aimlessly. "Good job, Chaney? You want me to push it back?" 
      Her manner's visibly lightened since the girl entered the room, even if 
      Chaney can't precisely interpret the little fragments of body language 
      she's probable seen 'happy' before. "Or... hmm. You just want to talk, 
      kiddo? In lupus, maybe?"

"Aa," says Chaney, which of course could mean anything. Still, the way she
      bounces on her heels (and, oh dear, squatting like that as she bounces 
      could win her a spot in any strip club) and reaches for the toy is a good 
      indication of what she'd like to do.

"Toy it is," Nat agrees. "Ok, kiddo, here she comes." And wouldn't Marcus laugh
      to see this: the big bad Elder playing push-the-truck with naked Chaney. 
      Her shove is a little more useful than Chaney's, so the truck hurtles 
      toward the cub at death-defying speeds. Well, at least feet per hour.

Chaney bounces some more, excited, and even ducks to the side to let the truck
      roll past her. Then she scrambles on all fours after it, picks it up, and 
      walks it over to hand it to Natalie. Fetch, anyone?

"Thank you. You can't just like tennis balls like a self-respecting Golden
      Retriever, now can you?" Nat asks her fondly. "OK, OK, g'wan with you." 
      She flaps the cub back. "And.... ah-oop!" Whirrr go the wheels of the 
      truck as they go round and round, sending the truck off toward the 
      hallway.

"Aa!" cries Chaney happily, having discovered the joys of vocalization other
      than howling. Half-bent over, she walks after the truck, arms hanging low 
      and reaching for the toy. She misses her grab, and one bare foot 
      accidentally gives the truck a kick, sending it skidding off toward the 
      stairs. "Aa!"

"Ohh, /crap/." Nat pushes herself up to go hurrying after cub and truck.
      "You're gonna fall down the stairs, aren't you? And freak out halfway 
      down and flip into lupus and... what the /hell/ was that?"

Chaney stops short at the door-boom, dropping into a crouch where she is. Her
      nostrils flare rapidly, face tilted upwards and forwards.

Rina comes in, her jacket already dangling from a hand; she tosses it into the
      front closet and heads for the stairs, starting up them with a bemused 
      expression. "Natalie?"

"You're fine," Nat tells the cub as she passes, hurrying the last few steps to
      pick up the truck as it slows, then stops. "...Rina! What the... I mean, 
      come on up. In. Whatever. 'Ve you heard about Chaney?" She glances behind 
      her and gives her thigh an encouraging slap.

Rina pages: Lessseee.... Rina, jeans, kelly green Docs, long-sleeved knit shirt
      tie-dyed blue and green.

When she gets to the height on the stairs where she and the (shorter) Chaney
      can see each other, Rina pauses, and then steps up more slowly. "Yeah," 
      she answers quietly. "I mean, just the message."

Quizzical blue eyes fix on the kinswoman from behind the tangled dark auburn
      hair. Chaney cocks her head slightly to one side, then stands up and 
      walks over slowly. She stands, slightly hunched, next to Natalie, staring 
      boldly at Rina.

Natalie says "Well, this is her. You can see how well she's doing. Chaney," she
      continues, gesturing to the kin, "This is Rina. You can shift in front of 
      Rina. Rina is not Garou, all right? Not Garou.""

Rina steps cautiously toward the cub, unsmiling although her expression is
      soft. The dark eyes are sparked with interest, intensity--she is someone 
      who sees a lot, and looks deeply. Her hands are held out a little, open 
      and as relaxed as she can make them. She makes a gesture, both hands 
      coming to her chest to indicate herself as she speaks her name. "Rina."

Chaney tips her head slightly to the other side, and she gives a short 'huff'
      of breath. "Aa," she says, which _could_ be the last sound in 'Rina' or 
      the middle of 'bath' or just a vague sort of vowel-grunt. She pads 
      forward, head thrust out, and tries to sniff the smaller woman's hair. 
      Personal space? What's that?

A faint, wry smile comes to Rina's face; she closes her eyes and allows it.
      "Hi," she says quietly. "Nice to meet you, finally."

Natalie says wryly, "Ah's her favorite word. She's not doing that great on
      English, really. Everything else, can't complain. Just... that." She 
      steps up a pace, giving the pair a little room and balancing the 
      firetruck on her hip. The little metal bits inside shift faintly.

Chaney seems to find Rina fairly interesting for a bit, but the jingling
      distracts her. Turning, her eyes focus sharply on the truck, and with a 
      grunt she reaches for it.

"This is gonna be interesting," Rina says quietly, almost to herself. "Has
      anyone tried to... you know, actively teach her?"

Natalie eyes Rina dourly as she hands the truck over; the Galliard looks - not
      like she's been actively beaten, but as if she's at the end of a string 
      of very long days. "You mean besides me, who's spending most of my time 
      with her so I'm neglecting my pack?" She immediately waves her words off. 
      "Gah. Ignore me. I'm just tired. But yeah, I am teaching her. Giving her 
      educational toys up the wazoo. As soon as I get her reliably into clothes 
      we'll go downstairs and start on these videos Emily found. Baby Einstein, 
      I think. Plus the Noggin channel."

Chaney, oblivious, shakes the truck to make the bits inside jingle some more,
      and then squats down between the two women and starts opening up the 
      panels and compartments and taking out the brightly-colored pieces inside.

Rina nods minutely. "I'll help, if it's okay with you guys..." She tips her
      head and takes a step, dropping to a crouch to look at the girl from a 
      nearer height. "If we get to be friends," she adds.

Natalie says "'Course you can help," without any hesitation. "And... I think
      it's clear to her that she's not to shift on you. Rules say she can't 
      shift outside her room anyway. Chaney, why don't you show Rina your toys? 
      Give Rina your truck, Chaney."

"Aa," says Chaney, eloquently. She's holding a laddery-like piece out to the
      kinswoman, and did so only a moment before Natalie suggested the cub give 
      over the whole truck.

"Cool," Rina says, examining it and seeing where it fits into the whole. "This
      is neat, Chaney... maybe we can just play for a while?" She glances to 
      Natalie, then. "Or did you have plans?"

Natalie waves negligently as she sidles over to the wall, there to lean up
      against it. "No plans here. All I had in mind for the evening was 
      laughing at the Home Depot ad, which Chaney interrupted. And frankly, I'd 
      rather play with a firetruck than lie around and moan at myself. So. 
      ...She really likes the toys with bits to 'em," she adds. "Putting things 
      in other things. The stackers, that sort of thing."

Chaney hands the other interior pieces to Rina, or tries to, one by one,
      occasionally making that grunting "aa" noise. Once she makes it _while_ 
      handing Rina a piece, though what that piece has that's different from 
      the others is... difficult to tell.

"Yay for manual dexterity," Rina murmurs. "It's new and exciting, I imagine,
      right, Chaney?" She demonstrates with a hand, picking things up and 
      trying to put them in the 'right' spots. "Hey, thanks-- you're right, 
      that does go here." She glances up again, to Natalie. "Do smiles scare 
      her? I read something somewhere... baring your teeth, you know?" With a 
      deft little movement she settles back and flips her ankles forward, 
      sitting crosslegged on the floor.

"Try it," Nat invites after a moment's thought. "And no, I'm not being
      facetious. _I_ smile at her, 'cause I figure she's got to learn about 
      human expression plus she's probably been smiled at before, but I dunno 
      about how she'll react to kin. So now's probably the safest time to try 
      it."

Chaney, for her part, seems content to squat, and it seems she's gotten quite
      good with using her hands to pick things up, put them down, open and 
      close things. It still seems to be a great amusement to the lupus, a 
      fascinating novelty. When all the pieces are back in place, Chaney closes 
      the compartments one by one and then shows Rina how the toy can roll back 
      and forth on its wheels. Amazing!

"Cool," Rina agrees. She doesn't actually do it on purpose--it just is a
      natural expression that comes to her, a sharing of the lupus's joy of 
      discovery.

Rina's smile is a kid's grin, easy and open; she looks across at the girl with
      that expression on her face and in her eyes.

Natalie keeps quiet, just watches the two with a subdued wariness.

Chaney goes quite still for a moment, peering at Rina, but only for a second.
      She doesn't smile back, but she does give the truck a shove toward Rina. 
      Rolly-rolly. No crisis.

Rina ducks her head, and, smiling still, turns the truck around and rolls it
      back to Chaney.

"You should see her go wild with her jingle-stick," Nat quips from her spot
      near the wall. "Or, heaven help us all, that damn squirty frog I got her."

Chaney perks up at 'jingle-stick' and cranes her neck to peer at Natalie.
      Leaving the truck with Rina, the lupus gets up and starts heading back to 
      her room with that hunched walk of hers.

"Okay, no squirty frogs near the computers," Rina murmurs dryly. "Now look what
      you did..." She gets up to her feet and follows, curious about this 
      'jingle-stick' thing.

"Squirty frog is /only/ a bath toy," Nat assures, falling into caboose position
      behind the Chaney train. "The rules are clear on -that-, thanks."

Chaney, like an incredibly smart dog, knows 'jingle stick' and finds it in her
      room, in the tangle of doghair-covered blankets. It's basically a wooden 
      rectangle with little cymbols in it and a handle and, when shaken, makes 
      a lot of noise. Standing up after finding it, Chaney turns around and 
      shakes it at the two older Walkers.

"Yeah, but can /you/ make noise," Rina murmurs, her smile tugging one corner of
      her mouth upward.

Natalie says "I gotta get her some shelves. She's getting so many toys in
      there, it looks like Christmas."

[Natalie plays chaperone while Chaney shows Rina all her toys until everyone
gets tired.]