It is currently 06:07 Pacific Time on Thu Jun 24 2004. Currently the moon is in the waxing Half Moon phase (44% full). Cockroach Mansion -- Upstairs Marcus is out on the landing, trying to open a door. He's got no idea what's in the room, which is why he decided to have a look. Unfourtunately the door won't open, and the Philodox is getting steadily more frustrated. It seems today everything is irritating him. Emily is coming down from the third floor, freshly washed and pulling her hair up in a ponytail as she walks. As she hits the landing, she sees the rather frustrated Marcus, which causes her to blink in surprise. "What are you doing?" Not far down the hall, Chaney's door is partly ajar, and it creaks open a little more widely as the cub, in homid, pokes her head out. Seeing Marcus and Emily, she stares at them for a moment, then stands up and walks out into the hall, slouched forward. One hand clutches the Little Leap plush frog that was yesterday's toy. The one with the speaking alphabet buttons in the tummy. "I'm opening the damn door, of course!" Marcus replies like it ought to be obvious. Except he's failing to open the door. Giving it a final kick for good measure, the Philodox turns his back on the thing, letting out a growl of frustration and disgust as he does so. Then his eyes fall on Chaney. Chaney can't lay her ears back or tuck her tail in this form, but the sudden stiffness of her posture is telling. Blue eyes shy away from Marcus' face, moving toward somewhere around his chest. Emily gives a little jump, the first hint of fright in Marcus' presence for a number of days. Her eyes move from him to Chaney and she swallows slowly. "Is that your little tad froggie, Chaney?" she asks softly. After all, she bought it, right? She keeps her voice nice and quiet, a friendly expression on her face as she watches the naked girl. Marcus dosn't seem to notice. He's much more interested in taking his Rage out on whatever comes his way. And right now, Chaney is coming his way. With a frog. There's something about the toy's huge, gormless, grin that just seems like a personal affront to the Philodox. Chaney's mouth pulls back into a grimace. Not answering the kin nor even looking at her, she holds herself still, keeping an indirect, wary eye on the angry Philodox. Emily pales now, her eyes moving between Marcus and Chaney. "Um." Not that she wants Marcus' rage directed at -her-. "You know, Marcus, just let her go back into her room." Its a bit weak, her voice, but she's trying. "I'm not stopping her." Marcus replies, eyes fixed on that horrible grin. "She came out on her own, she can go back in on her own anytime she wants." He takes a few steps forward, just to see how Chaney will react. Hard to say what the cub is thinking, though her gramace melts as she opens her mouth to pant, tongue only barely showing. "Aa," she tells Marcus, and then drops the toy, which lands on the hardwood floor with a muted thump. Emily's response is an increase in the tension in her own body, her eyes wide as she stares at the rather awful scene before her. "What are you doing then, Marcus?" "Aa, huh?" Marcus glares at Chaney, stooping to pick up the toy. "You say anything else but Aa?" The way he's holding the frog is rather disturbing, like he's trying to choke the thing to death. Chaney retreats a step as Marcus stoops to retrieve the frog. Her eyes flick from toy to halfmoon and back again; her nostrils flare visibly. Her breathing comes more quickly, upper lip giving little twitches upward. Its like a train wreck. Emily wants to look away but she just can't, still poised by the stairs on the landing. "Marcus. Stop it." Her voice shakes slightly, as if she is afraid of what could happen here. Marcus stands around 6' tall, with a proportionate build. There's some substance to him, and his shoulders are broad, but not enough to look out of place on a man of his height. His features have an Italian cast to them, which complements his similar complexion. Marcus' face is more angular than rounded, cheeks curving ever so slightly inwards as they move down towards his chin. Marcus has a strong forehead, brow jutting out like a clifface over his eyes. His small eyes are dark brown, set deep into his head and shaped rather like two small longbows. A short nose, almost perfectly straight save for a small curve at the very top, sits between his eyes and a prominent ridge marks the point where nose joins forehead. Marcus' hair is jet black, parted down the middle and slicked back on either side of the parting. Sideburns go just past the top of his slightly pointed ears, which are easily visible due to the way his hair outlines them rather than covering them. Marcus wears a crisp black shirt with a row of black buttons down the front and gold cufflinks in the shape of a half-moon. Over the shirt, which vanishes into a pair of equally crisp, and equally black trousers, the man wears a sharp, bespoke-tailored, black jacket. His black shoes are expensive-looking, and have been polished so that anyone who glances at them can see their face reflected therein. Marcus shakes the toy a little, watching Chaney's reactions. "Stop what?" He growls out to Emily, not looking over at her. "Aah," protests the cub, and makes a little experimental grab for the toy. There's a horrible moment in the tense silence where the little frog accidently gets a button triggered. "A sounds like apple!" chirps the happy little frog's voice. "Scaring...me." Emily likely would have said scaring her but that seems to be the idea. The little frog's sound makes her jump slightly, her eyes widening. "A sounds like apple?!" Marcus practically roars at the thing, Emily's words lost in the noise. "S sounds like SHUT UP!" And the rather tempremental Philodox hurls it with quite some force over Chaney's head, through her door and straight into the wall. Chaney lets out a short, girlish shriek, dropping to all fours to duck the flying toy. Then she turns tail and scrambles back into the room for it. Emily lets out her own girlish shriek, flattening herself against the wall. Her eyes move from Marcus to Chaney and back. Where's the valium now, huh? Run lupus run! Marcus stands there for a few moments more, looking like he might explode and kill somebody. Then the Philodox just begins to shake, shoulders hunching over. In her 'den' Chaney grabs up the speaking toy -- which lets out a cheery musical bit as its webby hand is squeezed -- and turns back around, staring crouching and wide-eyed out at the hallway. Even Chaney should be able to tell that Emily is terrified. She's dead white at this point and pressed hard against the wall. She's even starting to edge sideways, trying to get back to the stairs. Marcus just continues to shake. Until the point where the toy decides to pipe up again. Suddenly the Philodox freezes, staring at Chaney to the exclusion of all else. He's likely not really aware of Emily anymore. Chaney's eyes slide away from Marcus. Both arms sneak around the frog, hugging it to her chest as she squats there just inside the room. Slowly, she falls back onto her rear-end. Again, its that train wreck thing. Emily can't look away and thought she wants to just run, she doesn't. Stupid kin. Taking slow, deliberate, steps towards Chaney, Marcus extends a hand. "Gimmee." It's a cross between a snarl and a growl, but his intention is very clear. Chaney understands the halfmoon's body language if not his speech, and she utters a vague little grunt and hugs the toy closer to her, not wanting to give it up. The frog, belly squeezed, happily tells everyone involved that H sounds like House. Emily looks as though she might start crying. The little toy's occasional chimes make the entire scenario that much more awful, like some sick composer's idea of a horror soundtrack. "Marcus, please," she tries again. Too bad she can't make it more than a choked whisper. "Gimmee." Marcus repeats his demand, looking even angrier when the frog decides to get involved. Unfourtunately for Emily, her voice is far too quiet for him to hear. Especially with the blood pounding in his ears. "Aaaahhh," replies Chaney, not making any move to give up the toy. She's breathing fast again. "Stop," Emily tries. Her throats dry so it mostly comes out as a strangled whisper. Shaking even harder now, she manages to get out a barked "Stop!" Marcus, about to just take the frog, tell Chaney that f sounds like football, and punt the thing down the corridor, stops. Apparently he wasn't expecting that. Tilting his head on one side, the Philodox takes a few steps away from Chaney and towards Emily, who he's now aware of. Chaney stops panting. "Ah?" Still gripping the frog in the circle of one arm, she rolls forward and onto her feet, taking a few padding steps after Marcus. Emily can't really shrink back more than she already has without sliding sideways and hitting the stares. So, shaking, she then tries to. It is apparent that she's regretting saying anything now. Marcus turns for a moment to regard Chaney with a 'why the hell are you following me?' look. Then his attention returns to Emily. "Emily." Either the Philodox is calming down, or he's getting worse. It's hard to tell. Chaney, quelled, hunkers down again, still inside her room, though only _just_ inside. Enough for the door to close and no more. Her head ducks down, and she chews absently on the top of froggie's head. Emily freezes mid-skulk as she tries for the stairs. Her eyes are a little wild as she looks at Marcus; she really can't tell his current situation, it appears. "Marcus." "Emily." Marcus repeats. Well, he knows who she is. And given his current state, that's got to be a good thing. Then the Philodox hunches over and gets the shakes again. Rage isn't fun. Chaney remains silent, and happily Mr. Frog keeps his trap shut as well. The lupus continue to use Mr. Frog's head as a teething device. The second that Marcus hunches over, Emily jogs up two stairs. She doesn't completely run but she does put a wall safely between most of her body and the ragey Philodox. Only her head pokes around the edge, staring at the man. "Can I do anything?" She's hoping he says 'run away'. "Go away!" Marcus snaps at Emily, not even looking up as he continues to shake. Then he rounds on Chaney "Go away! All of you, just go away!" Emily was waiting for just that cue and the sound of little kin-shaped footsteps can be heard darting up the stairs. Try coaxing /her/ out of her room after this. Chaney abruptly reverts to lupus form and scatters to her nest of blankets in the middle of her room, leaving the toy frog right inside the door. She lies down, ears flat. This seems to trigger something in Marcus, or perhaps he just needed an outlet for all his Rage. The Philodox moves to lupus, and with a snarl leaps forward to grab the toy. Then he bolts. As the wolf runs off to whereever he's going, the frog can be heard informing the house that 'd sounds like dog'. [...] The talky alphabet frog is gone. Eventually, in its and Marcus' and Emily's absenses, Chaney shifts back to homid form and begins some muted, quiet play with the fire truck in her room. Every so often she glances at the open door from her seat in the mess of blankets. Downstairs the front door opens, closes again - Nat must be back from her morning jog. She calls out a rather facetious, "I'm home," then takes the steps up to the second floor two at a time. She certainly looks - and smells - like she's been jogging, though the heat will be noticibly worse in a few short hours. Chaney drops the truck and gets up, walking up to the doorway of her room. She's getting better at that, though still tends to slouch forwards. Arms hanging, she stares mournfully at Natalie and says, "Aah. Aah." Natalie untucks her shirt, flapping the hem as she heads down the hall. "Good morning to you too, Chaney. Marcus kept an eye on you while I was gone, I hope?" 'He'd better have' is the unspoken subtext. "Give me a sec to get out of this stuff, then I'll change. I'm thinking road trip today, and for that, you need clothes." "Aaah!" Chaney says, then follows Natalie off down the hall. Natalie ducks into her room, two down from Chaney's, yanking off her t-shirt as she goes. It's tossed into a half-empty laundry basket in the corner before her hands go for her jeans. Chaney, like a good cub, does not shift forms outside of her room, but she does keep attempting to communicate to Natalie what happened. "Aah. Aa-aa-aaah. Aaaaah-uh." "Oh, really?" Nat's answer is more pro-forma than anything; she's mostly talking to encourage the cub. "You don't say." Jeans too go flying toward the basket; she tosses Chaney a Look of consideration before snorting to herself and heading for the closet. Chaney exhales a huff of breath and squats down in the door to Natalie's room, watching her. Natalie gives the cub another look, then waves her in. "You can come in. Go sit on the bed." She points toward the messily made double bed with a pillow in the center of where the headboard would be - if she had one before going back to the closet. "Dammit, I'm not wearing that miniskirt... but cripes. Oh, what the hell." Decision made, she pulls a dark blue Hawaiian shirt out of the closet. Chaney looks where Natalie's pointing, and her interest is piqued. She heads over to it and clambers up on all fours, then spends some time walking on it, bouncing a bit, and then crawling around and shoving her nose into the blankets and pillows. Natalie pages to the room: Rat! Rat! You paged the room with 'Smells like alpha!'. "You dig in that," Nat promises, darkly teasing, as she crosses back to the laundry, her fingers busy on the buttons, "And I'll whale your hide. That's a pillow. Pillow. And blankets. Blaaankets. You know about blankets. /You've/ got blankets." "Aaaah," says Chaney, her mournful manner evaporating. She burrows under the blankets, giving Natalie a view of her bare rump and fuzzy legs. Nat only watches her with a rueful eye. All hail the power of the Alpha. So much for empty promises. ...Which is why it likely comes as a surprise to Chaney when the floor creaks and seconds later a lupus Natalie -pounces- on her, viciously licking her legs. Chaney lets out a muffled but very human-sounding screech of surprise and, pinned under the wolf and the blankets, struggles and kicks mightily. Holds-the-Line takes another swipe at those naked legs with her tongue, before leaping off to the side. Her tail is flagged and waiving gently. I win I win. Chaney stands up, arms flailing, then loses her balance on the bed and falls back down, landing on her ass with another shriek. The mighty young Garou, losing a battle against the fearsome blanket. The fearsome blanket plus the traitorous terrain of Innerspring City. Holds-the-Line /bounces/ again, her forelegs as stiff as if she were hunting voles before dropping into a play-bow. Bright eyes gleam as she snaps her teeth - ferociously! - at the cub. I will bite you! I will bite you and tackle you and I win I win I win. Chaney manages to get her head out, somehow, and stares gaspingly at Holds from behind tangled hair. "Aaaah!" She reaches for the Galliard, fingers spread. "Aaa aah uh!" Holds-the-Line snaps her teeth again at those fingers. It would be far more worrisome if her eyes weren't wide with mock-fright and her teeth came within a foot of the reaching digits. Chaney has no problem knowing the difference between serious snaps and play ones, of course. "Aah!" she cries, and lunges, still half-tangled in the blanket, at Natalie. Holds-the-Line springs off the bed, nearly taking out her bedside lamp as she goes, landing on the floor with a scrabbling of nails. You cannot get me! she laughs, then dives -under- the bed, her tail disappearing like a slurped bit of spaghetti. Chaney's English may be terrible, but she's gotten pretty good at using her monkey-body. Yelping out a combination of 'aah' and 'uh!' she rolls off the bed and crawls under it, trailing blankets and sheets. Holds-the-Line's faster at the belly crawl - she's smaller and more coordinated, for one thing - so that by the time Chaney's head pops out from underneath the wolf is gone. Entirely utterly gone. Well, except for that meaningful creak of springs. Chaney's head pokes out the other side of the bed. She's confused for a moment, certainly, but the creak of springs gives the Galliard away, and with speed the lupus scrambles out from under the bed, free finally of the blankets, and turns to leap onto the bed itself. I have the bed! Holds-the-Line tells her, tail still beating furiously. The bed is mine it is... yipes! One of Chaney's hands gets in a lucky - and probably unintentional - swipe against her foreleg, and the wolf goes down onto her side, slain. I am dead. You have killed me. Chaney triumphantly drops herself onto Natalie and starts biting at her ear playfully, fingers clinging to the thick fur of her neck-ruff. The dead Elder swipes her tongue over Chaney's chin. I am dead, she says again. Now we cannot go for a ride in the car. Chaney doesn't take her 'triumph' very seriously and rolls off Natalie and onto her back, squirming. "Aaah," she says, not smiling precisely but looking happy nonetheless. Holds-the-Line belly-crawls over, her hind legs stretched behind her like a frog's, and gives Chaney's ear a firm swipe. There. Do you wish to go for a ride? If you do, you must put ~clothes~ on. Like I wear. We will go upstairs and find some for you. Chaney wriggles and rolls over... and right off the bed. Thump. She pops up again and says, brightly, "Uh!" I will take that as a yes. You go and get your new frog, and I will change. Holds-the-Line yawns widely, pink tongue curling, then pushes herself onto her side again. Then we will go upstairs and find things for you to wear. Chaney's expression flickers, her mood becoming less happy at the mention of the frog. "Ahh-uh," she tells Natalie earnestly, much as she did when she followed the Galliard into the room. "Ahh aaah aah uh uh." Holds-the-Line lifts her head to look sternly at the cub. Go get your frog. "Aaaah!" Chaney insists, looking a mite bit frustrated at the Galliard's lack of understanding. "Ah-UH!" She pauses, then gets an inspiration and holds her empty hands, palms out, to Natalie, showing her there's nothing there. ("No, blah blah blah," says the human to the dog after giving away the last doggie biscuit, and shows empty hands. "Blah blah blah.") What? I do not... wait a moment. The pale wolf pushes herself to her feet, then leaps off he bed with another creak of springs. She pads over to the hallway - empty - then scrapes at the door until it closes. Now. Shift and tell me. I know you do not have your frog. Where is it? Chaney is on four legs in the blink of an eye and explains with ears flattened and tail lowered. Frog is gone! Does Something to Rules While Happy was very angry and scared Sun-Hair! And I had frog, but I dropped it and he took it! Holds-the-Line's butt plops onto the floor in surprise. What? Who is... oh, Bends the Rules while Smiling. Remus. -He- took your frog? She seems to be having trouble wrapping her mind around the idea of Marcus wanting the frog in the first place. He should not have done that. That is -your- frog. Many Faces did not want to stop him. And he was very fast. He was very angry. I think Sun-Hair ran away. Holds-the-Line closes her eyes and sighs, a very human sound. I will speak to him when we return, she decides finally. I wanted that frog for you specifically, to help you learn to speak. Another sigh, and she stands. Come now. Shift back. We will find ~clothes~ for you to wear. Many Faces transforms back into naked wildhair girl form obediently and stands up. "Ah-uh." Holds-the-Line starts to shift but stops in hispo to add, bring a different toy, before finishing the change. "Ah!" says the cub, and heads out the door to go fetch another toy from her room. Yes, she's getting quite good at bipedal locomotion. When she returns Nat's waiting, fully dressed in shirt and jeans. "C'mon, kiddo," she offers a hand, "We've got to do stairs. If I'd planned ahead I would've brought something down, but what the hell. We'll just take 'em slow, right?" Chaney has the jingle stick with her, which is obvious by sound even before the cub returns. Gripping the musical toy in one hand, she grabs Natalie's hand with the other and squeezes. Natalie leads the cub - the wobbly cub - up the steps, cajoling and comforting the whole way. Once they're back on terra more-or-less firma she retakes the girl's hand and leads her to an unused room with a box of used clothing. Getting Chaney into the clothes is a scene worthy of the Keystone cops, and Nat has to slap at her hands several times to keep her from plucking at the strangeness of it all. "Leave it - Chaney, /leave/ it. That's your t-shirt, and these are shorts. -Shorts-." Someone past had sacrificed the legs of a pair of sweats to make shorts, and Nat leaps on them with something resembling glee. "Hah. Bare feet, I'm thinking... There. Don't you look..." Words fail her. "Well." [Pink sweatpants with white stripe down the outside of the legs, cut off to make shorts. Oversized pink t-shirt with a big-eyed Persian kitten on the front in puffy paint with sparklies.] Chaney can't help but keep fingering the material of her t-shirt, especially how sparkly and bumpy the kitten picture is. "Aaah aah uh-ah uh uh uh ahh," she tells Natalie. "It is indeed nauseatingly adorable," Nat agrees. "Come on, kiddo. Stairs down this time. And no freaking out and doing 'em in lupus, or we'll just have to come back up here and do it all over again." With care - and with a few scares - the pair manage their way downstairs and outside to Emily's car, where Natalie buckles the cub into the passenger side. [Zoom to outside the Dominion] Fifteenth Avenue, Uptown From south to north, the buildings shift from small, two- or three-story offices with delicatessens, ice cream shops selling homemade ice cream, and similar types of small specialty shops on the first floor to, first, a few old-fashioned inns, and then a small park on the western side of 15th, south of Market Street. Less than fifty yards to a side, there is a curving path in it, and a few park benches, and a small grassy place used, to guess by the poles, for volleyball or badminton. North of that, between Market and Osprey, are old houses, mansions almost, with metal gates and walls to set them back from the street. Along the street itself, tall trees tower, cutting off much of the light that should reach the ground, excepting a small strip in the center of the roadway itself from which the sky can be seen. Farther north, where 15th joins Osprey itself, there are a few condominium buildings, with carefully sculpted bushes around them. Emily is walking away from Dirk--and Starbucks--at a rather quick pace. Her face, once she turns from Dirk, looks downright terrified. When he speaks, her shoulders hunch slightly, though she's too far away to hear the words. In life as in comedy, timing is everything. As Emily and Dirk come within view of the Dominion again, the big gates slide open and Emily's little blue Honda sedan drives out and onto the street. Natalie's at the wheel, and next to her, buckled in and looking wide-eyed out the open window, is Chaney. Apart from the clothes, she looks almost exactly as she did when Dirk saw her in the house of death and blood. "Goddamit!" Dirk's harsh exclamation is more of a gutteral grunt then anything, and still too low to hear. He trots after her, holding off about five feet, talking to her back. "Emily, here's what I think..." He slows to a walk. "I think you know what's going on, and I also think you're a good person. Which leads me to believe..." He stops, staring as the gate opens. Then he sees the car. Dirk glances towards Emily, and takes a hesitant step off the curb, towards the vehicle. He squints, and suddenly recognizes Natalie -- but more importantly, he recognizes Chaney. "Now..." he mutters breathlessly. "I watch that gate all week...and /now/ this happens." He breaks into a trot. "Fuck!" That was loud enough for the street to hear. The street, perhaps, but the car's windows are rolled up. Nat looks like she's talking cheerfully to the girl and paying scant attention to her surroundings as she heads south on 15th avenue. The problem is Emily -is- a nice person. Her face, already pale, goes a sickly gray when she spies her own car turning out of the mansion gate. Swallowing hard, she darts toward Dirk and tugs on his arm. Hard. "You need to stay the hell out of things. Please." There's fear in her voice. Dirk, however, likely has no clue the fear is for his life, not her own safety. Dirk takes another step forward, the tugging on his arm a distraction more than anything. This is it. The culmination of a two week search. For a PI it's like discovering the Holy Grail. "I found her." He whips around and looks into Emily's scared face. "Where are they taking her?!" He demands in a harsh tone. His free arm begins digging around in his other pocket. Chaney actually spots the pair and her nose mashes against the (closed, really) window as she watches Sun-Hair and the familiar-looking man go by. Natalie drives off into traffic, completely oblivious. They're gone within four blocks. "I don't know." Emily's eyes follow the car as it disappears into traffic and she swallows hard. "I have no idea. Its...its something that you need to keep out of." Her eyes meet his, full of fear. "Please. You have to believe me on this." Never mind that she looks like a victim herself with all that scared behavior. [Zoom off to farmhouse.] After about half an hour of driving - first through the city, /very/ quickly down the freeway, then off onto quieter and quieter country roads - Emily's little blue Honda arrives at the farm. Nat parks the car close to the farmhouse, then reaches over to unbuckle Chaney from her seatbelt. "Now you just sit there, and I'll come and get you out." Which she does, sliding out of the car to come around to the passenger side. Chaney, sitting in the seat, doesn't know how to work the door handle anyway. Squirming a bit restlessly, she looks around, pressing her face against the window and leaving more nose-smears. Taslyn had been sitting out under a tree reading a little in a book. She looks up at the noise at a car and closes the book once she sees Natalie. A hand is lifted in a wave as she lets out, "Need help?" Natalie lifts a hand in return, but shakes her head. "No, I think we've got it. Thanks, though. You're the first to meet Chaney." Who must be the nose-smearing girl inside the car. Usually the Walkers are a bit less.... gauche than that, though. Nat opens the door, reaching out to keep Chaney from tumbling helter-skelter out with the other. Chaney grabs Natalie's hand and, for a moment, there's some confusion with her getting out of the car because she wants to exit head-first rather than swing her legs out. Eventually, though, the Galliard gets the taller and younger Garou out of the Honda and Chaney stands there in her bare feet and comfy pink clothes and waist-long uncombed hair, staring around with wide eyes and flaring nostrils. Taslyn raises a bit of a brow. "Chaney?" She questions a bit and then sees the other. "Chaney." She says to herself and gives a hint of a grin, already pretty sure of one thing... Chaney is going to be fun. "You're fine, Chaney," Nat tells the cub reassuringly, holding onto her with one hand while the other fumbles with her cell. "We'll just go on inside and see if we can find Lucas, how's that sound? And maybe Megan will be here too." Cell's tossed onto the passenger side seat and then Nat shuffles them both away from the open door so she can close it firmly. "There we are, see?" Chaney, still looking around with wide-eyed interest, lets Natalie herd her around. The gravel's not fun on bare feet, and she winces and pulls away, glancing down with wrinkled lips. Trevor comes out of the Farmhouse, and stands on the porch for a few moments. Then the Galliard notices the small group, and heads towards them. "Natalie-Rhya, Taslyn." He smiles. Taslyn smiles a bit wider now, moving out to meet the other two. "Hey Natalie-Rhya. How goes it?" She says quietly. "And welcome to Chaney." She looks over her shoulder as Trevor speaks. "Hey Pops." "Whoops, gravel." Natalie drops the other two a brief nod as she concentrates on getting Chaney off the gravel and onto soft grass as quickly as possible. "There we go. That's better." Now she can spare the attention to give the others a better introduction. "Taslyn, Trevor-yuf. This is Chaney, our lupus cub. Chaney," her inflection slows to better enuciate, "This is Trevor," she points, "And Taslyn. You can shift in front of them." Chaney steps-in-place on the grass for a bit, looking up only when Natalie says her name. She looks from the Galliard to the two strangers. She stares at them with frank, unchallenging curiosity, nose working visibly as she sniffs the air. Taslyn holds up a hand pretty quick. "But not outside." She adds and then smiles. "In the barn is the best... In the farmhouse, I think we can make exceptions." She looks to Trevor. "Because I would guess you are more comfortable sleeping in the wolf." Long distance to Natalie: Chaney | What Chaney Hears: Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah. "So /this/ is Chaney." Trevor looks very interested in, and possibly slightly awed by, the young lupus. "It is wonderful that the Sept should have lupus among their numbers once again." Natalie cocks her head at Taslyn. "Why would she sleep out here? She's one of ours." One of /mine/, screams her body language. "...But yes, into the house would be best. Is Megan around? Or Lucas? I was hoping to get Chaney introduced. She just put on clothes today," she adds, justifiably proud. Taslyn laughs. "No... No... I mean no shifting out here. She can shift in the barn or since she is lupus she can shift in the farmhouse." A big smile grows over her face. "Wouldn't make her sleep outside!" Chaney looks back at Natalie on 'Chaney', though her expression doesn't change much; she shows no sign of recognizing much of anything the others are saying. Trevor shakes his head. "I am afraid neither of them are here right now." He begins to lead the way inside. "So tell me, how is her learning so far?" He asks Natalie, clearly very interested in the cub. Natalie blows out her breath at the others in a muted sigh of exasperation. "Well, come on, Chaney. Come, Chaney. Let's go... cripes. Into the house for now." Her arm slips from around Chaney's waist but she still keeps firm hold on the girl's hand. "Someone want to get the door for us please? I'm gonna have my hands full helping her up the stairs." Aubrey comes around one side of the house, having entered from the woods and passing through the pasture to see who's cars are parked along the driveway of the farmhouse. Chaney glances at Natalie, perhaps sensing the other's exasperation, and leans over to nuzzle her hair. "Aah ahh uh ah aaaah," she tells the Galliard solemnly. Taslyn nods. "Of course. I can." She turns and jogs up the steps, opening the door to the farmhouse and still smiling at the new arrival. Trevor laughs. "That's pretty cute. I see she's beginning to pick up basic sounds already." [Everyone toddles off into the house.] Farmhouse: Hallway and Living Room All doorways in the front part of the house lead to the front hallway, a J-shaped area with the short tail starting at the stairs, the front door hitting the bottom curve, the doorless opening to the living room halfway up the long side, and the also doorless opening to the kitchen and dining room at the very top. The hall has a simple wooden floor, and decorated with a generic print of soft-colored flowers hanging on the wall to the right of the front door, and a tall table sitting under the print which serves as a place to toss keys. A closet under the stairs serves as a place to hang coats or to toss shoes. The doorless opening to the living room is halfway up the side of the hall's J, and the word cozy might spring to mind when looking into is, as it seems to radiate comforting vibrations. A long couch sits against the south wall beneath a large bay window curtained only by sheers that manages to obscure the view in but only filters the day's light. A variety of out-of-date magazines are strewn atop a low coffee table; more neatly presented are the plethora of books filling the small bookshelves which line the eastern wall. Three chairs sit about the room, focused inward, to allow group conversations. Large floor pillows are stacked in one corner of the room, except one, which lies carelessly in the middle of the floor, apparently left out the last time it was used. An opening in the northern end of the hallway allows access to the kitchen and dining room at the back of the house, while carpeted stairs twist up at the other end of the hall, leading to the second floor. A door at the base of the J lets out to the front porch. Aubrey notices the unfamiliar blue Honda parked along the driveway and quickens her step as she comes along the side of the house. She gets a glimpse of a few entering the house as she mounts the stairs of the porch. Natalie assists Chaney up the steps - the girl's still a little shaky - and into the house, whereupon Nat leads her into the living room and stops. "Basic sounds, yeah," she continues from outside, "But that's it. She just added 'uh' today. Don't even -think- about 'bagle'. ...Go ahead and explore, Chaney," she adds, releasing her hand from the cub's. "Or you can stay here with me." Taslyn comes in and leans against the staircase, sliding down to plop on the floor across from the couch. Chaney takes a step or two away from Natalie and looks questioningly back at her, head tilted. Aubrey pulls open the front door just as it closes behind the small group. "Hello? Hello?" she chimes as she walks in, spotting the two Walkers. Trevor walks into the lounge, looking over at Natalie and Chaney. Then he hears Aubrey. "Aubrey-Rhya." The Galliard greets with a smile. "Go explore," Nat encourages her with a small smile and a wave. "I'll stay here. Remember what I said about doors - no going through closed doors, Chaney. All right? And -no- shifting." Chaney, without further word, turns and goes exploring, padding barefoot around the living room and toward the closest couch. She crouches down to sniff at it, then pokes her head into the space behind it. From the stair comes the clomp-clomp of shoes, and there is Todd! "So what brings you here, Natalie-Rhya?" Trevor asks once everyone is inside. "Can I get you and Chaney anything?" Natalie watches after her cub for a moment, then deliberately takes her attention away to fall onto the couch. "Whew. It has been, as they say, a hell of a week. Two weeks. Um... just water for me, I guess Trevor. If you've got a bowl for Chaney? She's not all that great with glasses yet. Do you guys have any peanut butter?" She makes as though to push herself out of her seat. "I can get it." Aubrey nods to Crescent Wing's Beta, "I am probably noing going to be here for long." she says to Trevor. "I just need a word with you, although we don't have to go anywhere." She looks as Chaney sniffs at the couch, flickering a lone eyebrow higher on her forehead. The woman waits as she listends to the Walker's reply. Todd walks into the room after a second, pausing in the doorway. "Oh...hello...." He trails off a little, noticing everyone there. "No, you stay there Natalie-Rhya, I'll get it." Trevor replies, looking over to his Alpha. "Certainly Aubrey-Rhya, perhaps we can talk in the kitchen while I get the stuff?" And he heads off in that direction. In the back of the house, Aubrey follows Trevor into the kitchen. She sighs and begins speaking softly to her tribemate, "Karl was a bit upset lastnight, but I told him that he could come to any one of us if there was anything that he needed to talk about or get off his chest. I fear that he might be blaming himself for Doc's death." Natalie reluctantly settles back into her chair, watching the two cliath for a moment before turning to look for Chaney. That lets her eyes fall on Todd; she considers him for a moment before offering a chilly, "Afternoon." In the back of the house, "I see." Trevor sighs as he listens, nodding at the end of it all. "Oh dear, that's not good." His own voice is merely a murmur. "Is there anything I can do for him directly, or is it merely a case of waiting for him to talk to us?" Todd errs, and is somewhat put off by the chilly greeting. His brows raise a bit when he spots the girl sniffing behind the couch. "Um...I'm not sure we've met before, ma'am...." Chaney, apparantly oblivious, works her way behind the couch until only her bare feet are visible. The furniture moves a bit as the tall girl wedges herself in. In the back of the house, Aubrey gives a slow shake of her head. "I think he is alright," she replies. "I just want the pack to know that it is okay to bring these types of feelings forward and we will work them out together." She then adds, "He made a valid point, too, that the healers all in one bunch during the Great Hunt was not the greatest plan of action. Next time there should be more healers clustered in the middle and the back of the group." "About a month ago," Nat informs him quellingly, nothing in her voice or manner encouraging him closer. "In the barn. Where you were stupid enough to provoke a Cliath Ahroun." She stands suddenly as Chaney continues to push, but only to stalk to another chair and fling herself into it, arms folded as she continues to glare at Todd. In the back of the house, Trevor nods, having gathered together what Natalie asked for. "I can't really comment on the tactics as I was here myself, but it does sound like he may be onto something, yes." Todd nods. "Alright. I'll go." With that, he turns to head back up the stairs. In the back of the house, Aubrey replies back with a soft nod of her head. "Also," she says, nearly forgotten. "Tobin has returned to Saint Claire. You know, the Silver Fang I always talk about?" A smile lightly forms on her lips. She steps aside to allow Trevor enter the living room before her. In the back of the house, "I think I remember you mentioning him, yes." Trevor smiles, nodding thanks to Aubrey as he heads into the living room. The couch continues to move a bit as Chaney works her way around, and then goes still. Her feet still stick out the side. Natalie doesn't call Todd back, but after he's started up the steps she does look away, letting her breath out in a large exhalation of air and stress. "Chaney, what are you doing back there?" Todd mounts the stairs, pausing briefly at the landing before continuing up to the second floor. Trevor returns, bearing a glass of water, a bowl of water, and a jaw of peanut butter. Placing them down on the coffee table with "There you are Natalie-Rhya." The Galliard settles into his seat. There's a muffled noise from behind the couch, and then Chaney slowly starts working her way out, backwards. Aubrey remains standing for a moment as the couch seems to jerk with the young girl wiggling around behind it. "That's the best place in the whole house," she murmurs with humor in her voice. "Not to mention that it is fairly bullet-proof for a couch." Natalie says "Thanks. Natalie-/yuf/, if you have to. I'm not -rhya to the RiteMaster." She offers Aubrey a tired stretch of smile. "I don't remember if we've met, so I'll make it official. Natalie Baker, called Holds-the-Line. Galliard and acting elder. THe couch with feet is Chaney, called Many-Faces, and our lupus cub. Peanut butter, Chaney." "Natalie-yuf, then." Trevor agrees with a nod, watching Chaney as she moves about the place. Evidently the fact she's a lupus means quite a lot to the Fianna. Chaney starts wiggling faster and emerges, dusty and even more hair-tangled, from behind the couch. She all but bounces over toward Natalie and squats down at the Galliard's feet, looking expectantly at the jar of peanut butter. Natalie snorts and pats the couch. "Up here, Chaney. Sit up here, like me. ...You don't mind, do you?" she adds with a glance to the others. "Not about the sitting, I mean, but she's gonna go through this whole jar if I let her. I can go stick some in a smaller dish for her if you'd rather." Aubrey offers her hand out towards Natalie, "Nice to neet you." Her eyes look towards the feet sticking out from behind the couch. "Aubrey Bennett, called Sheeaghan, which is in lupus, Fairy-Spirit. Fianna Theurge Cliath, challenging for rank to Fostern. Alpha of Crescent Wing and in service to the Gatekeeper." She looks to the couch, that she has more or less called her own. There still might be a sag in the cushions when Tobin, Cameron, and herself attempted to all conquer it when they were cubs. "I could go on-and-on with a bunch of formality, but I think that should be a nice introduction." Her vivid golden eyes flicker to Chaney as she sits down before the Walker elder. "No, of course I don't mind." Trevor replies, waving it off. Leaning back in his chair, the Galliard looks around for a moment before returning to his contemplations of Chaney. Chaney hesitates and glances over at Trevor and then Aubrey, clearly recognizing that she's being stared at, and her body language, though somewhat alien -- wolf within human skin -- is recognizably uneasy. She pants slightly, breathing quickly through her mouth, tongue almost visible. Natalie's smile as Aubrey mentions the Challenge becomes taut and forced. "I remember you. Dictionary definition of accomplishment." With a hint of effort she turns away, turns to the jar of peanut butter to open the thing with more force than is strictly necessary. "Come on, Chaney - up on the couch. You can have this whole damn jar." She doesn't look at anyone except the peanut butter as she speaks. Aubrey seems to blush a little. "That was a rather boring speech," she says, rubbing the back of her neck. "I was trying to impress Alicia-rhya." Trevor dosn;t comment on the speech, but he does pick up on Chaney's unease and stop staring. Chaney, coaxed and bribed, climbs up onto the couch next to Natalie and sits with her knees pulled up. She stretches her hands out for the peanut butter jar. Natalie hands the jar over without looking. "Well, you impressed Alicia enough that she let you Challenge. So... good luck." It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes or even a half-decent therapist to pick up on the Galliard's unhappiness. "Thank you," Aubrey says. Her eyes flicker over to Chaney. "Does he understand much yet?" she asks curiously. Chaney leans back, partly curling herself around the jar, and digs into the sweet sticky stuff with her fingers and with much obvious enjoyment. Contentment, thy name is Skippy. Or Chaney. Trevor looks over at Natalie to that, clearly interested in the answer. Natalie doesn't answer for a moment. When she finally does look back up, she seems once more to be in complete control. "Sorry? Um... yes, sort of. Limited things, but I talk to her all the time. She understands about Garou, and kin - well, as not-Garou - and shifting. And you can see she knows about peanut butter. So... yes and no. Getting better all the time, though. Her English sucks dead rat through a cocktail straw, but she only Firsted a couple of weeks ago." "That sounds fairly good considering her age as in human-form," Aubrey replies to Natalie. "It must be taking a lot out of you, and I admire that you seem to be very patient with her. Our sept hasn't had many or any lupus for awhile now." Trevor nods. "Indeed, lupus are becoming less common all over the place. In my 13 years or so as Garou, I could probably count the number of lupus cubs that I've come across on the fingers of one hand." Chaney is kept busy with the peanut butter, eating fingerful after fingerful, licking happily at her digits and around in her mouth in between. Natalie considers both the adults for a moment, then reluctantly nods her agreement. It's almost as though she weren't expecting the praise. "Yeah. She's damn smart, though - I mean, she figured out how to shift and work doorknobs on her own. Plus she loves her toys... cripes, that reminds me. It's still out in the car." She considers cub, then door, then cub again and sighs. "Not like she's missing it. But anyway. So she knows the forms, and the litany, too. First try. I'm not sure how I'm gonna get auspices or tribes across to her, but... I'll think of something." Aubrey nods her head slowly. "For her, she is probably learning more of the basics that we do when we are... like preschool age, or so?" she asks, looking from Trevor to Natalie. "The auspices should not be to difficult, being tha they are moonphases with attrubutes that compose a Garou's nature." She watches as Chaney eats the peanut-butter, making sure that none dribbles on the couch. Off-handedly, she comments, "Peanut-butter is fairly good for her, protein and natural fats..." "There are various ways to teach the concept of Tribe and Auspice in a way lupus understand." Trevor comments thoughtfully. "And of course, once you have a lupus cub who can understand and deal with english or Mother's tounge, it's a lot easier expanding on and dealing with things like that." Chaney doesn't drop any globs of peanut butter on the couch, though given the bounty she has here, she's eating it more slowly and looking around more. "I'm thinking Mother's Tongue'll be easier," Nat admits. "She's got all of two sounds now - ahh and uhh - and while they're darn useful, they don't communicate much." She offers the cub a wry smile. "Though she -also- knows that we make sounds to talk to each other. But again, those two aren't all that useful without consonants and things." Aubrey nods, then she turns to them both. "I have to be off," she says. "It was nice getting to met you Natalie, and Chaney." "I'll see you later, Aubrey-Rhya." Trevor dips his head to his fellow Fianna, before turning back to Natalie. "Obviously language is going to be your primary teaching concern, then?" "Aubrey," Nat acknowledges with a nod of farewell as she pulls a knee up to her chest. "Oh hell, Trevor, what /isn't/ my primary teaching concern? I still don't even know her auspice. Plus there's English. And Mother's Tongue. And teaching her how to dress herself. Plus bathing regularly. Plus using utensils while eating." She gives the peanut butter jar a meaningful sidelong glance. "Plus sleeping in a bed. Plus chairs. Plus all those little things that tell people she's human. Or at least, letting her pass for one. And that's just with -her-, and not with the rest of the Tribe." Chaney licks her fingers clean for the nth time and looks into the jar. She's done some serious damage and seems to be thinking about whether she wants to do more. "Well, you have to look at it from the point of view that all those will come far more easily once you've got communication down." Trevor points out with a wry smile. "I'm more than willing to offer my assistance and what experience I have, should you wish to call upon it." Natalie turns from watching Chaney with study him with more than faint surprise. "You've trained lupus?" "I've been a Garou for thirteen or so years." Trevor nods. "I've come across, as I say, a handful. And been closely involved with one or two, of my own Tribe." "There's a difference between knowing them and training them," Nat points out, reaching over to take the jar from Chaney. "All right, that's enough of that or you'll throw up in the car." "That's why I specified I've only been closely involved with one or two." Trevor points out. "So yes, I have trained lupus to answer your question. Not as many as I would have liked, but then there arn't as many lupus as any of us would like." Chaney makes a half-hearted little whine of complaint, but lets Natalie take the jar docilely enough. She gives her fingers a few more licks and starts looking around again, blinking slowly. Natalie snorts, just once. "Marcus hates her. Cat's afraid of her, and Gaia only knows what Josh thinks. ...Can we take her for a walk? I want her to see the barn, at least, and maybe let her shift. Gah - plus I should get her clothes Dedicated." "Marcus hates her?" Trevor dosn't seem able to understand that. "What can she possibly have done to him?" The Galliard nods, rising. "Of course we can take her for a walk." Chaney's eyes flick alertly to the Fianna as he stands up. Natalie sticks out a hand for the cub as she stands as well. "Come on, Chaney. We're going to go for a walk. Trevor is coming with is. We're going to go see the barn. And maybe later you can show him your jingle-stick. But first of all, a walk." Trevor heads out, holding open the door so that Natalie can guide Chaney outside. "Uh," says Chaney, agreeably enough, and grabs Natalie's hand, using the older Walker as leverage as she gets to her feet. Big Red Barn The barn is built in the old style, a vast three level structure that is greater in height than a mere three stories, actually closer to five. Great wooden posts support the weight of the upper levels and roof, sunk into the hard-packed dirt floor of the first level like a sparse forest of regularly spaced, naked trees. The stalls and flagstones which once were here have been torn out to leave a rather open area where even crinos Garou may roam freely without fear of running into anything but the supports or the walls or the ladder at the back which allows access to the other two levels. The first two levels are relatively open to each other, the second being only little wider than a catwalk going around all the walls but the front one, which has massive, twenty foot tall doors set into it. The third level is a true second floor except for a place cut out that allowed hay to be tossed down to the ground floor when the farm was actually worked. Now, it is a hayloft where Garou can sleep outside of the house. Natalie keeps Chaney's hand firmly in hers until they're at the barn, again nodding for Trevor to go ahead and lead the way in. Once they're well inside she drops the girl's hand, nodding for her to, "Go ahead and explore, Chaney." To Trevor she continues, "You know Dedication, right? I mean, you'd practically have to, but I could show you if you don't." "Yes, I know Dedication." Trevor nods, laughing somewhat. "But thank you for the offer. A jingle stick, you mentioned? You're using toys, then?" Big Red Barn The barn is built in the old style, a vast three level structure that is greater in height than a mere three stories, actually closer to five. Great wooden posts support the weight of the upper levels and roof, sunk into the hard-packed dirt floor of the first level like a sparse forest of regularly spaced, naked trees. The stalls and flagstones which once were here have been torn out to leave a rather open area where even crinos Garou may roam freely without fear of running into anything but the supports or the walls or the ladder at the back which allows access to the other two levels. The first two levels are relatively open to each other, the second being only little wider than a catwalk going around all the walls but the front one, which has massive, twenty foot tall doors set into it. The third level is a true second floor except for a place cut out that allowed hay to be tossed down to the ground floor when the farm was actually worked. Now, it is a hayloft where Garou can sleep outside of the house. Chaney lets go of Natalie and almost immediately trots over to the back of the barn. Squatting down randomly, the lupus digs at the dirt floor, then sniffs her fingers. "New one every day." The Galliard may be speaking to him but her eyes never leave Chaney. "Though there was some sort of screw up with today's. I was proud of it, too - a little frog that had the alphabet on its stomach, and when you pushed the letter, the frog would say it. Chaney says Marcus took it for some reason, though." "Sounds like you've worked out a solid stratergy." Trevor nods, also watching Chaney. "And that frog certainly does sound useful." He's about to express some opinions on Marcus, before biting them back. Natalie raises her voice to call, "Chaney, c'mere. Come tell Trevor what happened to your frog. Come on, Chaney." Chaney looks up, then stands and returns to the pair, steering clear of Trevor a bit as she comes up next to Natalie. Natalie nods not-quite agreement. "You've got that damn straight. Hmm... would you mind shifting so you can explain what I'm going to do? I want to get these things Dedicated to her. ...Let's take off your clothes, Chaney. Off with the shirt... oops! There we, no, don't bend your elbow." "Not at all." Trevor replies, shifting down. Now there's a large black wolf staring at Chaney. The kitten t-shirt and cutoff pink sweat-shorts come off easily enough, and Chaney wriggles away from Natalie and, turning, finds herself staring and blinking down at the big male wolf. Her head cocks and she looks back at Natalie. "Aah." She points at Trevor. Natalie nods at them both. "He's a Garou, yup. I don't know how you do this, but I'm gonna need a little blood." She doesn't go for veins, though, but spreads out the girl's clothes on the floor of the barn. Mmm, straw. Listen to me. Sings-To-Spirits looks up at Chaney with a definite air of authority. Holds-The-Line is going to do something that will make the clothes stay with you when you make other forms, so they will not be destroyed. Chaney drops down into an unladylike squat, fingers touching the barn floor. She regards the Fianna alertly, then drops her mouth open slightly and pants. Natalie digs in her pocket for a Swiss army knife - as if it's a surprise she carries the thing - and flicks open the longest blade. "I'm gonna cut her shoulder, all right? Tell her that, will you? I don't want her to flip." Holds-The-Line is going to make your shoulder bleed. The Fianna tells Chaney. This will only hurt a little and will get better fast, but she must do it. Let her do it. Stand still. Chaney stiffens a bit, going utterly motionless, her mouth snapping shut. She turns her head to eyeball Natalie. Natalie shows her the knife, then places the blade just above the curve of her shoulder and slices - not deeply, but firmly. "There we go. All done with that. Good girl, Chaney." The knife's dropped negligently to the ground as she hurries to wipe enough blood into her cupped palm before the wound seals up again. "...It's a little less than I was expecting, but it'll do. I hope." Sings-To-Spirits keeps his eyes fastened on Chaney, a mixture of reassurance and command. It should do fine. "Aah!" Chaney complains, then scuttles a few feet away. The pain fades as quickly as the wound, though the lupus still looks unhappy about it all. For the moment, anyway. Natalie lets Trevor handle the cub for the moment; she's busy with the ritual. She dabs bloody fingertips onto the annoyingly pink clothes, murmuring under her breath words that can't quite be made out. Where she touches doesn't leave red marks, though, but silvery-white shimmers that seem to melt into the fabric. Three times she touches each piece of clothing, the shimmer getting stronger each time, then wipes off the rest of the blood onto a bit of straw. "There we go. All done. Come on, Chaney, time to put your clothes back on." It was necessary. Sings-To-Spirits watches Chaney. It will be very useful for you, and it does not hurt that much. You are Garou. Big and strong, surely that cannot have hurt you that much? See, it is all over now. Go and put on the cloth skins. [After getting the cub dressed again, Natalie takes Chaney back to the Dominion. Alas, Megan's nowhere to be found today.]