The wrong bus… [Matthais/Lonna/Clark/Randi]

She expected that she would be back out here, again, next Tuesday with the same buckets and the same intent and a different crew of volunteers scrubbng the same tags off the same bricks. Her hair was a mess, but it was always a mess so it was really just acceptable. And she scrubbed.

She was scrubbing until there wasn’t any sunlight left in the sky. It was going down, it was getting late, her horde of people who had to get hours done, whether it be because of probation, because of school service, or simply because they lost a bet, was dwindling. Like a good slave driver, the turquoise-eyed woman let them go.

But stains were still persistent. Idealism was still loud and bright, and she had half of a brick wall clean.

“This… is worse… than ketchup in cashmere,” she grunted. The Child of Gaia dropped her brush for a moment, looking at some of the remaining volunteers. The hardcore ones. The ones who looked like they needed a beer and a hug. She offered a half smile.

“You guys just want to call it?”`

And part of being a Child of Gaia ensured that he had to at least help out in what way he could. Offering a strong hand and a soft smile was all he could afford at this moment. The wyrm seemed to have his hand, if not indirectly, in every aspect of the public housing of the metro area. Hookers and Pimps. Gangbangers and thugs. This was there domain. All he could do was offer some simple change here and there, and a defiant glare to intimidate and cower some of the thugs so they might think twice of messing with those few glimmers of hope.

Tonight he watched over a group of volunteers as they worked over gangbangers wall. Art to the graffitists, eyesores to everyone else. It seemed that the do-gooders had brought on the attention of the local gang, The southside Ambrose. The large A sprawled across the wall told the story. But as they started to gather, they would easily dispersed by his glare.

Just watching, a guardian angel or monster.

“Larson!” One of them called. She stopped and looked at one of the slightly uneasy volunteers.
“What’s up?” she asked. Arms folded, posture straight. She waited.
“When we doing this again?”
“Tuesday.”
Why Tuesday?”
“Because, Jake, you’ll actually show up if it’s Tuesday. You don’t like the evening lineup on CBS.”
“Fair trade, Larson.”

He walked off, and for a moment, she just stood there. She stood with arms folded, and she waited for a moment. She waited to be sure that everyone was getting in their cars, that everything was fine. she gave them their goodbyes and, with that, the rather tall, blonde woman made her way to a bus stop.

She plopped down. So, there Lonna was, sitting on a bench, waiting for a bus, looking like the girl next door in the bad part of town. Attire was comfortable. Capris, tee shirt, tennis shoes. Given the healthy level of grime and paint on those capris, one could guess that Lonna Larson did a lot of volunteer work.

After the volunteers started to leave from the good deed for the day, one or two go back to the wall. Time enough for them to undo the damage did to their tags it seemed. At least one would think.

And then there were a couple that wanted to make an example of the girl who was messing with their shit. One guy inked to the neck with every sort of tattoo one could image. Names of fallen gangbangers and so on, a white wife beater underneath a dark blue shirt, jeans barely covering his ass. The Other a monster of a man, 6’8 at least and probably just as wide and looked like shit just seemed to follow him. But his friend seemed to speak for him.

“Hey Bitch wha’cha think ya do’in round here? This is our turf baby…. but you can make it up… yeah. I bet’cha can… with interest… damn.”

He moved up to the bench, his friend moving to the other side. Trapping them between the pair. One hand moving towards her shoulder and hair. But something in the air seemed to pick up, hotter than it should be. Like a small fire was started somewhere near.

Given her previous experiences, it should have been something the noticed. Something that she picked up and recognized. Realistically, Lonna was tired. The was tired and she’d spent a good year or so keeping her hands and thoughts out of the Nation’s business and putting her own back together.

Her stomach turned. She was an amazon of a woman. Height-wise, at least. A few inches shy of six feet tall. She looked at the males, and the rather pretty [strike that- Lonna was gorgeous. We don’t need to lie, here.] One hand moved torwards her shoulder and hair, and she brushed it off quickly with a shrug and a half push. Turquoise eyes looked irritated; it hid the fact that she was scared fairly well.

“Don’t.”

It was all the warning she gave. Because it’s all the warning she could force out.

“You betta, be nice’a or… I won’t be so nice when I get’cha in the sack. Now come to daddy.”

He laughed as he watched her skitter away, laughing up until he looked at his friend.. laughing until the mountain of muscle seemed to crash into him from the other side of the bench. The man thrown into him, crashing to the floor. And the source of the defender, the knight in shinning armor?

A lanky guy, no where near the size of the giant. Maybe the same height of the terrified woman, maybe a little less. And his build… nothing extraordinary, nothing that would have a beast crashing over a bus bench. The only thing that seems to stand out was the fiery red hair, like his head was ablaze.

A sight that also melded into the heat that he was giving off. A walking quiet storm brewing underneath that calm exterior.

“I think the woman said don’t.” A slight growl escaped his lips afterwards.

There was a crash, and somehow, she almost expected it to be her hitting the ground and not the man who was about a foot taller than her.

She turned to see who on earth was coming to her aparent rescue. And there he was. A lanky young man with red hair and of average stature. Who didn’t look like he should have been able to throw a man twice his size without breaking a sweat.

But, well, he had.

He growled. Lonna cocked her head to the side slightly, but it didn’t stop her from getting up and moving at that point. where?

Well, in closer proximity to aforementioned redhead of course. If things started coming to blows she didn’t want to be in the crossfire. There was no grace in that movement. It was panic, and she scrambled over.

“Ohhmigod!”

But the came that growl and one wouldn’t think wouldn’t even scare a child. That was if he was a normal guy. But he wasn’t. He was a warrior a gaia, a beast laying just shy of ripping them in two. He was a monster on a thin leash. They eyed him for a second before thinking twice of it. He did afterall throw the 300lb man like a twig.

“Ya lucky we got shit to do… else you and ya shortie would be all kinds of fucked.”

The pair continued to watch him for a second before moving off, a hollow victory in their minds. They scared a girl and tried to intimidate a white boy wanna be knight. Good night for the gang.

And after the pair rounded the corner, Evan turned around to the girl who rushed to his side when it seemed all hell was gonna break lose. And in that moment, the snarl, the glare was gone. The fire dimmed, but still present.

“You should be more careful next time, this is not a nice neighborhood.”

He seemed to be a boy scout. How could he have scared off two gangbangers with just his look and a sneer.

He had managed to divert a potentially horrific situation with a glare and… well, throwing that big one couldn’t have hurt either. But there he was- so incredibly normal looking, but intense. Something tingled on the back of her neck, said that something wasn’t quite normal about him. Normal? No. [Natural? Certainly. To say that it wasn’t was a lie in her mind, but Lonna’s brain wasn’t registering that intensity of his as Rage.]

He said she should be careful. It wasn’t a nice neighborhood; she nodded some, and she faltered with a bit of embarassment. A half laugh, something born more out of nerves than anything.

“Yeah, I kinda figured,” she said. Lonna looked down for a minute, but then after the silence she looked back at him. What was odd about this, however, was that she made eye contact. And she tried to keep it. “Hey… what you just did was… I mean…”

Taking it slow through the area, seeing as how this wasn’t the best of places, she saw fiery red hair and slowed even more, watching Evan with the unknown woman. And for some unknown reason, a wave of jealousy washed over her for a moment.

He noted the nod and the half-laugh that came across as a little bit of fear still touched with it. Then again he was a monster and she was a normal girl just trying to do good, a flicker of hope in this abysmal world. He didn’t think twice of it.

But when she tried to look in his eyes, maybe she could see it. Beyond that light green and black pupils was something else. Something completely unnatural and downright dangerous. Even if he had a strong control of that fierce animal underneath, it still clawed to be released. And those not used to it would shrink back from it, even if he was a coggie.

“Good people must do good or the world is consumed in darkness. That is all.”

He smiled lightly, an encouraging few words to keep her doing what she was doing even after this event.

Behind the light green, there was something else. Something fierce and distinctly controlled. But it was dangerous. And it was a danger she knew, and it was a danger that humans normally shrunk away from, that stirred them to the point of nerves. She pushed some of her hair back, but for her part she didn’t break eye contact. The desire to do so was there, but she kept her attention with him.

He smiled, and then she looked down for a minute. Eye contact with someone that intense for more than ten seconds was a little intense; it was a welcome break.

“Thanks,” she said. “I.. I really mean that, you know?”

A pause, and then?

“What are you doing on Tuesday? We’ll be back out here again if you want to help.”

She stick to the shadows though, moving from lamplight to lamplight while not seeming to let any spill directly on her. Even in the warmth of the early evening/day she’s wearing an overized hoodie, her hands shoved deep into the ‘roo pocket, the dingy grey hood pulled low over her face, her head down just enough that there is no part of her face truly visible.

What can be seen is that she is thin – very thin. At 5’5 or 6″, if she weighs 110, she likely has a brick in her back pockets. Her jeans are threadbare and patched over and over again. Her boots are beat to hell, but still sturdy. And that oversized hoodie practically swallows her as she walks down the street.

Getting out of the cab, she slammed the door and stood there, trying to keep herself in check. Maybe this was just all pent up leftovers from her previous experiences. Or could be why Evan has been so close. To hide he’s stepping out.

Anyway he offered her a smile when she once again tried to thank him for a feat that should, be all rights never actually have happened from this lanky guy, in the middle of the slums no less. And after she paused he started to move away, but she continued onward. Asking something about helping again on Tuesday.

“I can’t make any certain plans I am sorry. But I am sure you will be well looked after.”

That was when Randi slammed the door to the tow truck, heading over to the pair. A genuine smile of happiness graces his face, he wasn’t expecting to see Randi tonight, awake at least.

In short, Matthias stood as a man not to be trifled with, if indeed humanity were his claim at all. Rage flowed from him, sharp and hot like overly spiced soup, cowing all but the most determined of cutthroats and thieves, Rage that only enhances the rugged, almost Viking appearance of the man.

So it was that Matthias approaches a bus stop in Bronzeville, his tread slow and unhurried, as if daring creatures of the night to accost him.

A door slammed. She almost jumped; the blonde turned in the direction of the sound. Door slammed, and a truck- Lonna winced. Ohh, double parked. She was just taking in the area around her; Matthias was making is way down the way, and she felt the rage before she saw him. There was a thin something moving in the shadows.

Lonna didn’t quite see her at first. Maija kept her attention briefly, and then? It was back to the redhead. She gave him a content smile.

“I guess you guys know each other?” You guys. You and Randi, that is.

…it’s that distraction, however, that has her almost run into the back of the Brick Shithouse that is Matthias.

She’s quick and light on her feet though, jerking back as soon as she feels him, sees him – practically a flinch more than anything else. Maybe he didn’t notice. That’d be good.

“Umm… are you asking me or him?”

“Hey baby. This young lady was being harassed by some hoodlums and I stepped in.”

At that moment he realized he didn’t know her name, nor did he offer his own. Not like he was expecting her to even stick around him this long, being in the presence of his rage afterall.

“I have seen you before.”

Then, the long golden mane sways as the steely orbs turn to the ensuing argument near the truck…

She was a blonde, after all. And it looked like she was a natural blonde, at that.

“It was amazing, he really helped me out,” a pause. “I’m Lonna, by the way.”

He didn’t know her name, she didn’t know his, but it seemed that she was offering it to both of them. The nameless, angry mechanic who could very well kick Lonna’s five foot nine inch butt or the nameless, intense redhead who loved her.

She closes her eyes briefly, before taking another step back, the force of his rage and that darkened expression making it more of a flinch than anything remotely graceful. Its understandable that she’d be on edge, especially as apparently – he has seen her before.

“That so..” is all she says, her voice low and soft, a mixture of everywhere and nowhere with nothing to pinpoint where she’s actually from.

“I am Evan and this is my wife, Randi”

He nodded to the blond before moving to wrap his arm around his wife’s hip.

“Well, it’s great to meet you both,” she said. Not a formality, she seemed to really mean it.

The low bass rumble issues forth again, as Matthias watches Maija. His expression still stern, his Rage still prickly, but perhaps a hint curious as well. Then, his steely orbs returning to the group beside the tow truck, Matthias nods toward the bus stop proper, where the tow truck and its passengers are standing.

“This way.”

He directs her that way, and she’s not stupid. She knows an order when she hears one, even when couched in something polite. He’s curious, but he doesn’t ask. She, therefore, does not answer.

“Yeah, alright.”

“So… umm… were you just passing through or was it a coincidence you were here? I mean… I… really lucked out there.”

She just couldn’t get her head around it. By god, she tried though.

“A pleasure as well.”

“Out doing some overtime?”

The question addressed to his wife as he didn’t think she would be up at this time, let alone be in the slums picking up some car.

“Oh, just luck I guess.”

The steel eyes watch for a few moments, before the giant speaks…

“Car trouble?”

Her hands clench lightly in her hoodie, as she gives everyone a quick onceover – marking their stance, their place, and expressions in that quick glance, before reaching to make sure her hood is still pulled low over her face.

“I’m waiting for a bus. Decided that I wasn’t going to drive today,” she said.

She didn’t falter. She should have, at the very least, jumped or something. And, for her part, she was a little edgy. There was a lot of rage there. A lot of rage that was sticking to her senses, that hung in the air, that could have been almost oppressive.

It was practiced calm, though. She’s been around this before.

And when he approached Evan’s demeanor changed, his stature changed. He stood up straighter, raised his chin slightly more. Something that Matthias could feel even. And then there was the breeding that bled from him, blood of royalty. The King of kings and their ancestry ran through him. Next to him, his mate. The nourting care of a pure breed child of Gaia would appear before him as well.

“Good Evening.”

He looked over at the other woman, who seemed to hold back for now and yet with him. And then back to the blond. The increased rage was starting to gather and she had yet to falter. Strange indeed.

“To you as well. We have not met before…”

Matthias’ words are as always, considered well in advance of their utterance, even considered as spoken. His eyes remain focused on that one, that one who must be more than man alone as well.

Please hold all “town bicycle” jokes until the end, thank you. She looked at Maija for a moment; she didn’t see any of her features just yet. And, well, she wasn’t quite looking. The lady pushed her hair back over her shoulder, then readjusted positions.

She’s just waiting for the bus, after all.

She’s tense – her shoulders tight with the rage in the air, compounded by Evan’s as well. But she huddles there, a very small target in case things go badly. Her flight or fight mode? Very much in effect.

He was not sure if he could even go into anything else after. There were too many people around were a proper introduction could possibly be given. But for now his name would have to do, that and his stature. And then back to the three who didn’t ooze rage. His focused on his mate at the moment, looking to see if she could tell anything else about them. They didn’t have any breeding that gave them away and only one seemed to be staying away from them.

Which is as neatly as the issue can be skirted by the hulking form. The way he says claimed… It leaves little question as to who has claimed it, or whose allies have done so.

Then, his gaze moves to the one apparently less attached to the other trueborn ((Lonna)).

“And you are?”

And, yes, in her brain she used that word to describe him. He was tall, hulking and muscular. He was daunting, he was tough, and he was strangely familiar. Well, not him in particular, just his stance. Just that which set him apart from others; who would have thought of rage as comforting.

A pause.

and then?

“It’s great to meet you.”

“I did not know of that. I apologize, this area has been… left for some time. I respect the claims and we shall met again. However I must head back home. Have a good evening.”

And then back to the blond kin woman.

“And you too, be wary.”

And after that he departed with his mate.

((Thanks!))

“Nice to meet you.”

Then, the curious gaze turns to Maija, trying so hard to be unassuming on the curb. The ghost of a grin hints at the edges of his lips as he speaks.

“And you?”

Then he speaks. To her. So much for being invisible, tonight. She glances back at them again, before she makes sure her hood is tugged down, the back of her hand rubbing against her cheek briefly, before she tucks her hands back into the pocket of her hoodie.

“Maija.” Mi-yah.

“So, umm… what’s got you out here?”

The Fenrir finds his gaze met by the woman named Lonna, a curious brow raising. Then, the gaze shoots back to Maija again…

“And you?”

“Missed my damn bus. S’all.”

She paused, and then?

“Figured that helping clean up would help people build positive community identity.”

“This is no community here. Not yet…

The people who live here are either predator or prey. The prey here have no backbone for community when faced with violence.”

The brow shifts back to the cleaned graffiti once again. Then, turning to Maija, he speaks.

“Where would you go?”

“Stayin’ with a friend in th’green.”

Acceptance. That yes, they were prey. That yes, she counted herself briefly in that category. There were things to be thought, things to be explored and then? She said nothing else. Matthias was talking, and she nodded.

“We’re coming back on Tuesday to finish up.”

The Fenrir’s steel eyed gaze moves back to the samaritan with that same tilt… As though he found it hard to believe anybody would try such a thing in the midst of Bronzeville.

“Who is we? And what time is this planned?”

She falls silent, she says nothing, but that is not to say she is any less aware of the area around them, of the large Garou, of the pretty girl. She is very aware… very much so.

Then again, when you looked like Lonna, it wasn’t hard to convince people to do what you wanted them to do.

“Your volunteers should manage their number better. Follow me.”

With that, Matthias’ heavy soled leather boots begin toward a 24 hour laundromat nearby, his size and Rage deterring nigh anyone from bothering the trio. At the laundromat, there was another stop on the bus route out in front, a pay phone inside, and security within to keep out vandals. In short, it was the best idea Matthias had for dealing with the women.

Then, he was going to find one of the aforementioned predators…

And destroy them.

((Cool 2 fade Matthias here? I’ll leave any wrap-ups you ladies might wanna right in your more than capable hands. :) ))

“yeah. whatever.”

After all, once he’s gone, she can make her escape however she deems necessary. She shoves her hands into her pocket again, and follows along. Sometimes it’s just easier to do what they want – and rebel as soon as they are out of site.

(*L* sure thing. Sleep well!)