[Cordelia] “Come on, Milo, it’s just a mile, let’s go!”
This is never a good thing to hear. The air is cold, and ht efemale is done up in all sorts of comfortable attire. Which, of course, meant that she was running in a pair of jazz pants and tennis shoes. What makes up for the fact that she’s in skin tight pants is the fact that she has layered up comfortably in sweat shirts and a dorky little hat and a scarf.
Cordelia’s stayed about three steps behind Milo the whole time, and it wasn’t until now that it became abundantly clear that Cordelia? Cordelia has the potential to be a damned kinfolk drill instructor. She’s not stronger or faster or anything more anything than Milo, but she’s so persuasive.
Oh, and a mile? Was about thirty minutes ago. This has been
[Cordelia] … interesting.
[Milo] Today is not the day to be commanding most of Chicago’s supernatural, shifting population. The moon is full and fat somewhere, filling Garou with a surplus of Rage to fuel their inner fires. Milo is no exception to this. His Rage, though small, rides close to the surface, warming his face against the elements, which is a good thing. Unlike the leggy blonde running behind him, Milo is not dressed in layers for this cold. He doesn’t have them to wear. The best he could manage was a pair of jeans and a newish pair of sneakers, whatever’s going on beneath a dark hoodie, and that pastel green and reddish hat of his.
His Rage is high, but when Cordelia says “It’s just a mile” like Milo can’t tell it’s been goddamned near five, he doesn’t stop, pivot, and break her pretty nose, or snarl in her pretty face. He keeps on running though his lungs are burning and his muscles are crying out for him to stop please for the love of all this is holy just stop. He’s channeling that Rage, making sure it burns out. He hasn’t formally met the Silver Fang elder in Chicago. He has absolutely no intention of doing so. Ever.
As they jog through the park, he can’t help but keep an eye out for a particular breed of large brown, grey and black fowl.
His breath steaming with each exhalation, he turns his head back to Cordelia and nods her to the side. Not waiting, he diverts their course. Straight at a little pathway where he can see, just past the winter-bare shrubbery, a goose.
[Kristiana Coleman] The blond Fang kin has an even bigger reason to keep herself in shape now, and is jogging in the opposite direction. Her hair is back in a pony tail, and she’s in yoga pants and running shoes, with a tank top and hoodie on top. Earbuds in place, she seems to be in her own little world.
[Cordelia] “You’re doing great,” she tells him.
It’s the worst day to be giving garou any kind of commands, but damned if she’s not pushing him anyway. He’s tense and high up on rage, and Cordelia seems well enough aware of this. She’s jogging, and the best she can offer is the intention of getting a few steps in front of hum. She heads forward, fast, and catches up a few steps in front of him. She turns around and manages to keep a decent pace backwards. It works a different muscle group.
“Just one more,” and she smiles. Her cheeks are flushed. Her glasses are slipping, and she pushes them up. she turns just in time to see-
“AYE!”
She turns around and bolts in the opposite direction. That goose is there and she is not tempting it!
[Milo] [hee]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Milo] Just one more she says. Now that she’s ahead of him, she can see that Milo’s struggling. The Ragabash is good at fading into shadows, at slipping in behind his enemies and ripping them apart. And sometimes, sometimes he’s good at being a soft-spoken, awkward young man. He is not good at running long distances.
And today, he’s not good at not retaliating against his adorable tormentor. He guides her toward her doom, and she falls for it far better than he could have hoped. She runs up ahead of him and actually turns her back on the path ahead, and she can see wide, incredibly innocent blue eyes. Those eyes would never hurt a fly. That face would never cause anyone distress ever in a hundred years.
Then Cordelia turns, shouts, pivots, and Milo is there with an arm to try and catch her, maybe pull her into a protective embrace or push her behind him, acting like a shield the way he had when they first met.
Except, the quiet, soft-spoken young man is laughing. His face is transformed by genuine mirth he hasn’t the strength to try and contain.
“I’m sorry,” he says, unconvincing.
[Gina McClaren] Jaysus Christ, es tha a goose?! ARGH!
*The voice was unforgettable, the accent regrettably even more so. Five feet of curvy strider kin rounds a shrubbery, shaking her hands in a combination of terror and what she hopes is goose-wrangling. Or shooing. Or something. There were goose lurking in the bushes now?*
Shoo! Shoo. Fuck aft, will ye? Shoo!
*As of yet, her attention is on the waterfowl, and not the silverfang kin or her laughing prankster.*
[Cordelia] “You are in league with the geese!” she all but roars at him.
Of course, it’s hard to feel righteous indignation when you’re half flailing and trying to get out the grasp of someone who ran her into an awaiting feathered foe. Cordelia believes him, wholeheartedly, that he wouldn’t possibly run her into something so horribly and utterly awful.
She almost forgets that she’s dealing with a ragabash.
“You buttface!”
Gina and Kristiana do catch her attention, and she can’t think of how to warn them of the goose, so she does warn, “Ehhhhnnnn!”
[Kristiana Coleman] She’s got her iPod up too high, and Cordelia’s attempted warning floats around her unheard. Her steps continue, setting her on a course plotted right into the goose’s path.
[Gina McClaren] Och fer tha love o’..
*When you’re only five feet tall, a goose is a significant obstacle to a leisurely stroll. Would that she had a dog, or a bag of breadcrumbs to make negotiations easier. Cordelia’s yelling, Gina’s shooing, and a Matthieu’s sweetheart of a blonde beats feet behind her, in an impending goose/kin collision clusterfuck. Forget the wyrm, it was the geese they had to worry about. What was the blonde’s name? Did she get it in her awkwardness? Did Matthieu give it to her when she called t- YES!*
KRISTIANA!
Mind yer Hoose!
[Gina McClaren] *…whatever that means.*
[Milo] She yells at him, calls him a buttface, and the usually quiet Ragabash cannot stop laughing. Then again, he doesn’t really try. He holds out an arm to stop Cordelia from running off too far (where does she find that energy?), and she flails at him, which just makes him laugh all the harder.
Which, in the end, is his downfall. The cold and a still less than productive breathing pattern for running have the laughter dissolving into something of a terrible cough.
The wracking sound combined with the flails and the curses and the oncoming steps of another kinswoman help to startle the goose, who looks around as if to ask Where did you people come from?! Before Kristiana is able to be worn off her path, she gets close enough to startle the the poor bird into flight, heavy wings flapping mightily to carry it up and away from the shenanigans of the upright monkeys.
The coughing doesn’t stop Milo from laughing, it almost seems like nothing will. The day could not possibly get better than this moment. And maybe he’s right, because suddenly it hits him. He’s half holding onto a pure bred Fang, and then there’s Kristiana. The Strider is just the cherry to this sundae. It takes effort to tamp down the cough and the laugh, and he continues to grin. He realizes he’s got his arm around a pure bred kinswoman of someone else’s tribe, and so he lets go of Cordelia, steps back to put a bit of distance between them. Rubbing his hand over his face, he peers at the gaggle of lovely pure bred kinswomen with a sense of growing unease.
“I think you’re safe now,” he says quietly, snickering halfway through that one small sentence.
[Cordelia] (brb, phone :( )
[Kristiana Coleman] The yelling at least captures her attention, pulling her out of the fantasy world and back into the here and now, just moments before she stumbles within biting range of the goose. Making an awkward squawking sound, she backpedals too fast and lands flat on her ass.
[Gina McClaren] *Kristiana falls on her yoga-panted rear, and Gina can’t help but laugh, warmth of her voice settling around her and the fang as she offers a hand to the girl. dark eyes following the goose as it takes flight.*
Well, at least we didnae gi’ shite awn oos.
*A grin to the Fang she’s helping up, as well as a wave to the one across the way. Her laughing companion getting a quick look over. He didn’t look like a Strider. Small Mercies.*
[Marni] She hates this. HATES it. She doesn’t move well, she is off balance, she can’t breathe, she HURTs and she hasn’t seen her feet in WEEKS. Months. YEARS maybe. She’s been pregnant forever and she’s come to the scariest conclusion of all.
It’s never coming out.
She’ll get college applications c/o her womb.
She’ll never shift again.
She’ll never fight again.
It’s never. coming. out.
Mama Janice told her that she should walk. It helps get things moving, keeps her strong, keeps her busy. Unfortunately it doesn’t keep her from thinking, and it doesn’t help her with the ice underfoot, either. So she’s walking carefully, and concentrating on her footing, even though she can’t see her feet. Yells and cackles and laughter and she ignores it all, just keeps walking. One foot in front of the other…
[Kristiana Coleman] She blinks at Gina, not understanding a damned thing she’s saying as usual, but gratefully taking the offered hand and standing up. “Thanks. Did you see that goose?”
[Rain] The Gaian is cutting through the park on her way from Here to There, carrying the bulky black shape of her guitar case along with her. Weighed down by the messenger bag that someday feels like it carries all her wordly possessions. She’s bulked up by the winter layers. Like Marni, she finds it hard to breathe in all of these winter clothes, but her encumbrance is not due to a physical condition — unless being born in milder climes is a condition worthy of medical attention.
It was this fecking snow and slip everywhere. And the fact that her blue knit scarf was trying to strangle her, or that her hat had slipped a little and the pom atop it felt decidedly off center. Maybe that her fingers were numb enough inside her gloves to make her wonder if she was really holding on to the handle of her case at all.
There’s yells and cackles and laughter and it pulls Rain’s attention away just long enough that she fails to notice she’s setting her foot down on a patch of ice. And that sets her just off-balance enough that she almost runs into a very pregnant Marni.
And that?
“OhmigoshIamsosorry!”
Starts a string of apologies that almost over-rides the Southern tinge to her voice.
“Are you okay, Ma’am? Did …” No, Rain hadn’t quite run into her, but having to stop or start quickly on the frozen pathways could be treacherous enough without starting and stopping for two.
[Milo] Laughter and coughing subsiding at last, the grin doesn’t quite drift off the young man’s face. The Child of Gaia is not terribly remarkable to look at, with average features, average height, average build. The only thing about him that stands out is that arguably adorable or atrocious knit cap, brown hair curling up around the edges.
He steps forward to offer a hand to Kristiana, helping the Strider help the Silver Fang. His grip is sure and steady as he carefully pulls her to her feet, strong enough to lift her, but as gentle as if he’s afraid she’s made of glass.
“Are you alright?” he asks, ears pricking at the sound of a familiar captivating voice. His jaw sets, though, and he keeps his attention focused on the blonde girl.
[Marni] Rain almost runs over her, and that gets her attention up finally – she steps back suddenly, slips, and almost falls herself, catching her balance again with ease, despite her bulk and her complaining that everything has shifted to make room for the Bean.
It’s the ‘ma’am’ though, that makes her chuckle as she waves off the apologies. “Nah, ain’t no harm done.”
She has no real accent to speak of – a little of everywhere, a lot of nowhere. Aside from her obvious omgpleasedon’tgointolaborHERE condition, she’s still Marni – curvy and curly-haired, easy to laugh, easy to smile, and even swollen all over – easy to look at. Dark eyes sparkle, amused at the distraction from her thoughts…
[Gina McClaren] *Milo steps in to help, and Gina steps back to let him, giving him more than adequate space, disliking a stranger so close. Then Kristi speaks. Eyes close. A hand presses to her own forehead for the space of a heartbeat. Did she see the goose? Another heartbeat before her eyes open and the buxom pikey nods, tone flat to keep from laughter.*
Aye. Ah saw the goose darlin. Ye been aulrecht? Ah was jes t-
Marni wha en sam HELL are ye daen oot en thes weather, ye daft bint!? Yer gintae fall on yer arse oot en thes! Look! Yer aulready blockin fookin traffic!
*Chitchat interrupted with a bawdy bellow in unmistakable pikey-prattle, boots kicking up snow as she jogs towards the preggers gnawer in obvious concern.*
[Kristiana Coleman] She nods, wrinkling her nose and rubbing her bottom after she’s been helped up. “I think so. Ow.”
Her head tilts a little and she looks the Gaian over. “You’re Milo, right? You said to not call you Rhya?”
[Rain] When Marni nearly falls, Rain’s arms go out to help her. There’s not much the diminutive Gaian could have done to help, but she was willing to try and steady the other woman, even if it brought her down to the pavement and bruised her in trying. Rain gave til it hurt, and then started to think of it as a potential sacrifice.
But Marni chuckles, and that warmth spreads to Rain’s own Captivating and welcoming smile.
“Alright, then.” The girl lingers a little, making sure she hasn’t done any irreparable harm. In that hollow of conversation, an unfamiliar jingle-jangle (enchatning) voice rings out.
That voice is headed her way.
Rain backs away a little to make room for the force of personality headed for Marni — which must be her name, it was the only thing in that collection of syllables that sounded like one.
[Marni] She wrinkles her nose and ducks her head as Gina starts yelling, and mutters as an aside to Rain – through a smile very much like someone who’s been caught out by mom…. “Uh oh. I’m in trouble now…”
She lifts a glove covered hand to wipe at her nose, before she turns to face the wrath of Gina – playfully whining “I got BORED… All i’m doin is WAITIN’ for The Bean an’ I’m bored outa my everlovin MIND…” She sticks her tongue out at Gina. “An acourse I’m blockin traffic! I’m big as a fuckin HOUSE…”
[Gina McClaren] Are ye Stell knacked oop?
*Hands on her hips, Gina chides in a distractingly pleasant string of nonsense.*
Christ. Start chargin’ Ray fookin Storage fer tha theng, fookin elephants dinnae gestate thes long.
*A smile that’s pleased as punch at seeing a familiar face, Rain getting a nod in hello. The pikey on edge out in the open, eyes drifting back to Kristi to ensure she’s alright with the stranger Cordy accompanied. The situation was awkward, but the strider hardly wanted anything to happen to Matthieu’s mate, regardless.*
Ye aulrecht Kristi darlin?
[Milo] Brows lift when Kristiana asks him if he’s Milo. He recognizes her of course, from The Brotherhood. He’d been wearing his boxers and a tee, and just thinking about it would make a much more introverted young man blush furiously. He nods in the affirmative, yes he is Milo not Rhya. Once she’s upright, Milo slides his hands into his pockets and looks around, just the once, looking for Cordelia. He frowns slightly, or seems to, as the mirth that lingered around his mouth fades. He catches sight of Rain, not very far off, blue eyes staying there just a moment longer. “I’m sorry,” he says, turning back to look at Kristiana, “I forgot your name.” He sounds truly regretful, too. “You just missed Cordelia.”
[Marni] “i know, right?” She heaves a dramatic sigh, before she opens her coat farther and looks at her sweatshirt covered belly that is, indeed, ready to pop. “You know when they fuckin say nine months, they REALLY mean TEN? Forty fuckin’ weeks, Gina. That’s TEN. Months!”
She groans, theatrically, and tries to tuck her belly back away inside the coat that can no longer button closed.
[Kristiana Coleman] “Kritiana. Coleman.” She nods to Gina with a smile, then raises up on her toes and tries to look over Milo’s shoulder. “Cordie was here? I have to talk to her!”
[Rain] Rain casts a quick look about, and then suggests:
“It seems like you two know each other, and a couple of ’em over there are folks I know,” she gestures that way with her chin as her hands are largely busy. “There’s a bench that way, Ms. Marni, if you want to go say hi and rest a spell.”
Rain doesn’t know much about pregnancy, despite living with Kora, but she has noticed that it makes people extra hungry, and tired a lot, and … crabby. So she puts on her best and warmest smile, and offers her free-er arm to the Gnawer for support.
Of course, in looking about, she’s noticed Milo over that way. It’s a large part of why she’s asking Marni about going over. It’s the reason for the brightness in her smile, though and how it makes the warm brown fields of her eyes dance a little.
[Gina McClaren] Sae they tell me. Mostly ye, whingin’ as ye are.
*Its tossed offhand to the gnawer, Gina trailing along with an intimate smile and a nod to Rain. The woman was helping, and that in and of itself was a pleasant change from the kinfolk a pikey usually seemed to run into. Dark hands smooth at Marni’s coat, strider’s wrists missing the tinkling jewelry that ever gave away her approach. The bench cold against the back of her thighs as she sits, lullabying.*
Yer man needs tae buy ye a new coat.
[Milo] “Ah.”
She’s a Silver Fang kinswoman, and he just a Child of Gaia, a peacemaker of sorts with a goofy hat and little else to call his own. And rather than being overly respectful of her status as Better Than, he offers her a single syllable, and awkwardly at that. Clearing his throat behind a closed fist, he steps to the side when she tries to peer over his shoulder, giving her room.
“I think the goose scared her away,” he offers, and takes advantage of his own maneuver to look over to where the jingling owl went without making it completely obvious to the whole world.
Looking back down at Kristiana, his lips purse, and he says in a tone that suggests his offering her the gravest of news, “I think she’s gone.”
[Marni] Rain offers her arm, and Marni arches a brow, chuckling. “Ya hittin on me, hot stuff? Course, I am a safe bet, since I’m already knocked up an’ all..” It’s clear she’s teasing, though she does take Rain’s arm, for the her sake, rather than need on her own part. Marni ain’t rude, and is as fun as they come, really.
Gina smooths her hands over Marni’s coat, and she sighs, contentedly, before pouting. “This IS a new coat. It fit a couple weeks ago…” a beat. “an’ it’ll fit again in a couple more.”
She settles to sit next to Gina with a whooosh of breath. She nudges Gina’s shoulder with her own, and murmurs softly. “I miss ya bells.”
[Kristiana Coleman] Her hand darts out to grab his forearm, the other clutched to her chest as her eyes get theatrically wide. “No!”
[Gina McClaren] Ye’n’me both…. Cut em aft tae better hide frem tha madman wha’ wards me.
*Narrow shoulders lean against the pregnant garou comfortably, pikey keeping a close eye on Kristi and Milo’s theatrics. She was uncertain what she would do should something go awry, but it would be equally dramatic, of that she was sure. Watching the Silverfang kin still, she sings to Marni.*
How ye been darlin, aside frem miserable wi’ yer babe?
[Cordelia] the female gets off the phone, and the largely involved Spanish conversation is forgotten by now. She looks left, looks right, and wanders over to the familiar group, which includes Gina and Kristiana.
Funny, now that she isn’t running, her legs are cold.
[Rain] Marni asks if she’s hitting on her, and Rain can only reply with her best smile and laughter in her voice: “Yes’m. It’s my weakness, you know, damsels in need of proper winter clothing.”
So the Gaian can tease, good-naturedly. And Gaian is indeed what she is, because this close Marni and Gina can read the glyph on the little heart shaped charm that settles just at the hollow of her throat. Her scarf has shifted and slipped, revealing it, and until now Rain hasn’t had a reason to stop and adjust it.
When the Gnawer settles on the bench, she glances over to Milo and Kristiana. There’s a little shadow across her features as the Pure Bred Fang… flirts? With the quieter CoG.
Rain sets her guitar case down on one end, wraps an arm around it loosely to stead it while she stands. She’s quiet, just now, but steals obvious glances at the Ragabash and his blonde companion.
[Milo] A very well bred, very pretty Silver Fang kinswoman darts a hand to clutch at Milo’s hoodie. Milo’s attention snaps away from the women making their way to the bench, plants itself firmly on the young woman’s face. Brows lift a moment (O_O), then tighten in confusion.
And is saved by the return of his personal trainer. “Oh, there she is,” he says, reaching up to gently and carefully urge Kristiana’s hand away.
[Matthieu] Matthieu was out for a walk. His attention kept mostly forward as he draws his phone to his ear and decides to dial Kristiana. It seemed a pleasant enough day and why not find her for lunch or something? The girl was so excitable that it would likely make her day. Ahhh to be young and reckless once more… Not that Matthieu was old, however he wasn’t exactly afforded the luxury of being too excitable. This was largely due to the fact he took it as his personal responsibility to make his tribe look good in the face of constantly bad PR. Matthieu was the kind of guy you go to when you’ve fucked up big time and are really in need of an external makeover. This was his reason for being in Chicago. His tribe needed his skillful hand whether they knew it or not!
So sadly for him giddy and jumpy was not his thing. He dialed the number and he waited for an answer as he walked through the park, pausing to breathe in the fresh crisp winter air. This was a part of who he was, the Silverfangs originated in the heart of Russia ice and snow coursed through their veins. Matthieu, himself, grew up right across the lake here so this weather was quite typical and he was delightfully comfortable with the cold.
[Marni] She flashes Rain a playful grin, and then pats her belly lightly. “”Ain’t all miserable. Ray’s been good t’us, an’ we got us a regular lil family goin at the moment. Been helpin at th’shelters, an shit. Been hidin round the place though, cuz I ain’t able t’shift an shit until the Bean is evacuated.”
She shrugs. That’s about the whole of it, really. that and avoiding certain people of The Nation too – but well, Gina already understands how that’s sometimes necessary.
[Kristiana Coleman] Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ starts to blare from her pocket, and she squeaks in excitement as she fumbles for the phone to answer it.
[Gina McClaren] Good. Ray’s a fine sort.
*Nodding. One ear on Marni, both eyes on the giddy silverfang kinswoman and Milo. It would appear between Gina and Rain, the pair have quite the chaperone. An eyebrow darts up, and she looks from Marni to the kinfolk in question.*
Kain anytheng aboot those tae?
*A long skirt is smoothed over the ample curve of her hip, one leg drawn up to rest her boot on the slats of the benchseat. A silent wave at Cordelia*
[Milo] Kristiana’s phone rings. Milo glances about, left, right, around. He takes on step to the side, away, careful not to slip on the ice slicked ground as the kinswoman had just moments ago.
Another step, chin dropped, glancing at the daughters of kings, and glancing around as if he has some sort of danger sense warning him of the nearness of a Garou of their tribe, he steps off and away, across a short distance, shoulders hunched against the cold. Like Cordelia, now that he’s not moving as much, his body is cooling down.
He stops in front of Marni, giving the kin around her space. Looking from his Auspicemate to the Strider, he nods his head once. “I’m Milo.” Glancing sidelong at Rain, she can see the subtle changes in his features when he sees her.
[Marni] She shakes her head, slightly. “Nah. Ain’t been socializin much. Buncha new faces about.” Again. things in Chicago rarely stay the same for long, hm?
Milo joins them, and she shoots him a grin. “Hey. I’m Marni. This…” she pats her belly. “..is the Bean.”
[Kristiana Coleman] “Hello, Matthieu” She tries to sound smooth and sophisticated, but winds up sounding like the lovestruck, totally enamored young girl that she is.
[Gina McClaren] Good fer ye darlin. Ah’m Merri-Beth Leiderhosen.
*To say Gina wasn’t up for meeting strange men after her ordeal in the woods, is something of an understatement. Regardless, she offers a charming flash of teeth, and extends a small brown hand to Milo, polite as she ever got. This close she smells like..well, Strider. Road dust, and faint exotic spices.*
[Rain] Oh, good, they’re sharing names. So it’s right about this time in the round robin that she lifts her hand and says, “I’m Rain,” in a cheerful tone that is not entirely unlikely a school child reporting in on the first day of school. It’s hard not to feel like you have to report when there’s this much breeding and rage, charisma and accents
She follows Gina’s glance over to Cordelia, and waves at the familiar kinswoman. Rain’s not so smiling for Kristiana, though, but even that is warm and welcoming all things considered. She can’t really be impolite to people she doesn’t know.
“Hey, Milo,” she says, and it’s hard to miss the little flutter of pleased and simultaneously nervous that accompanies the Ragabash’s arrival.
[Matthieu] Matthieu is smiling when he hears her voice, standing still and not much more than a couple blocks from her.”Kristiana, I have an hour or two free and I thought I might take you out to lunch somewhere. If you’re not too busy…”He voice was polite implying this was not a requirement but rather a suggestion.
He remained where he was standing swinging on his heels a little as people made their way around him. His rage wasn’t as powerful as some but it was certainly impressive enough on it’s own. Most people would do well just not to get so close to the man and so it was easy enough to just step around and pretend he wasn’t there.
[Milo] Milo blinks at the Pikey, unsure if he understood her correctly through her accent. And he looks at her hand a moment, not quite as ill at ease as he is with the Fangs, but still not completely comfortable. At least kin and Garou have that much in common. He treats all the pure breds as though they have a large hulking Ahroun hiding around the bend, waiting to leap out and beat the Gaian to a pulp for being so close to their kin.
Because in Milo’s experience, they usually do.
His trepidation is apparent, especially when Gina flashes that smile, but he removes his hand from his pocket and grips hers lightly around the fingers.
“Are you really named for those German shorts?” he asks, openly curious.
[Kristiana Coleman] “Out to lunch?” She goes into an instant, full blow panic. She’s in workout clothes, for Gaia’s sake. She’s sweaty. Her hair is a mess. She’s not made up… “When?”
[Cordelia] “She is,” Cordelia says. She sounds dead serious. She nods. And, while Cordelia isn’t an adept bullshitter, she does have an edge over garou in that she’s got tons of prestigious, bullshitting pedigreed ancestors to back her up.
[Marni] Gina gets an arched brow as she introduces herself, but Marni doesn’t say any different. She just grins, and reaches up to scratch at the back of her neck, before settling her hands back on her belly.
Cordelia gets a little waggle of her fingers in a wave, too.
[Milo] [(challenge accepted) YOU A LIAH: percept + subt]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Matthieu] He grins brilliantly.”Right now I was thinking… I can swing in and pick you up. It doesn’t have to be anywhere fancy. i just felt you might enjoy having lunch with me. If you are busy we can always reschedule. I am flexible enough and can certainly manage lunch on my own.”He says into his phone, his tone pleasant enough.
[Gina McClaren] Course et es. Wha else would et be?
*Gina nods, lying with a straight face and a oh-so intimate smile. She’s got the charm of a longtime lover, or close friend, this Merri-beth Leiderhosen. Looks Indian. Talks Pikey. German last name. Yup, she’s a strider alright.*
[I just know the sound it makes when it LIES (-2 dif, enchanting cheapassed voice)]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 8, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 4)
[Kristiana Coleman] She shoots Cordelia a pleading “OHMYGOD HELP!!” look, trying desperately to keep her tone casual. “Now… I’m in the park. I was out for a run…”
[Rain] There are things going through the pretty Fang’s head, over yonder, that Rain would never in a million years think to worry about. She doesn’t have enough clothes to have workout clothes, and schlepping her stuff back and forth across town and trying to keep warm in the stout Church that serves as Last Watch’s pack bun off at least as many calories as she can take in. The net result is a very thin Gaian, and no need for running about in the snow harrassing geese.
So there’s Gina, telling them her name is Merri-Beth. And just like she had with Ennar, Rain smiles and says: “Nice ta meet you, Miss Merri-Beth.”
The Strider will have a hell of a time convincing the Gaian girl her name is anything else, now. In fact, even if she does get through to Rain, Rain will probably keep calling her Merri-Beth. Just like Ennar stayed Mr. Ennar until his pyre burned him away.
[Cordelia] Marni waggles her fingers, and Cordelia waggles back, “Hola Marni, hola Bean.”
Because the bean deserved its own greeting. At this point, the world is flying around her and she catches Kristiana’s look. She pushes her glasses up and shrugs. She mouthes something about either glue and buttons or something else entirely.
[Matthieu] “In the park? What a coincidence so am I! This’ll make it easier to find you… I won’t even need to grab the car. Whereabouts are you?”He asks her with a warm little grin taking shape on his face. His eyes glancing at the folks who pass him by casually as he waits for an answer.
[Milo] Two of them are telling, and they’re quite quite convincing, too, that yes. Merri-Beth is actually named for German shorts. Milo knows a thing or two about how surnames come about, and he finds this factoid absolutely fascinating.
“Did your family just adopt the name? Or did they make the shorts?”
[I’m so totally intrigued]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Kristiana Coleman] She may just pass out right here. Even as she talks, her free hand rakes through her ponytail and she looks like she might cry any second. “Um. By the goose… where the goose was, I mean. Cordie is here, and Milo…. There’s a bench….”
[Marni] She stretches, slightly, and listens to the patter going on around her. She finds Gina fascinating. Always has. The woman could convince God to go to his bunk if she had a mind too…
[Gina McClaren] *Marni’s hair is tousled in silent thank you for not blowing Gina’s cover, and Rain is given a grin.*
Nice tae meet ye by the-wha?!
*Did her family.. Oh jesus christ. A hand smooths across her forehead, chasing a grimace off exotic features. Now she’d done it, one lie turns into another.. and another.*
Aye. Me great grandad made em, reckon.
…
En Holland, oor where-ever the fook ee was frem. Was a tailor.
*Kristi looks like she’s about to pass out, and Gina takes a moment to bellow.*
Kristi Darlin? Ye stell Aulrecht o’er there?
[Matthieu] He nods his head.”By the goose, with Cordie and someone else… Alright I will be there shortly.”He adds with a little smile before hanging up the phone and continuing on his way to finding her. A soft tone began to fill the air as he whistled with that lovely voice of his. He could use a little work here and there but he hasn’t been practicing much lately so that would easily account for where his voice is off.
[Kristiana Coleman] The phone is hung up and she goes into a full blown panic, jogging over to Gina and Cordelia and the rest while she yanks the hair tie out of her hair. “Ohmygod. Does anybody have a brush? Cordie, I need lipgloss! Ohmygod why didn’t I put on makeup? Do I stink? I stink don’t I? Ohmygod ohmygod ohmyGOD!”
[Rain] If Kristiana’s beau could really find her based on her absolutely stellar directions, then Rain and Milo had every right in the world to worry about Pure Breds and their eerily omnipresent warders and mates. The Gaian girl was forgettably unblooded. If it weren’t for the glimmer of gold at her throat and her rather calm bearing around the collected Rage gathered here, it would be easy to write her off as another nothing or nobody.
It had happened before. It would again.
“Have you been?” she asks Gina, enthralled by the possibility of more stories from far away. Dr. Slaughter and Miss Kora had had such lovely ones. “What’s Holland like? Are there really wooden shoes and tulips and windmills?”
She’s never left the continental forty-eight, and Rain likes easy conversation. Travel stories are like war stories, but less bloody. She likes them better anyhow.
[Gina McClaren] Och, there’s a fashion Emergency Rain darlin… have tae talk about Holland another time…
*Thank fucking christ. Gina…er MerriBeth is on her feet, grateful for the opportunity to talk about something other than her fabricated homeland of tulips and wooden shoes and apparently, windmills. A brush is dug out of a tattered leather satchel on her hip. The tawny strider had hair down to her hips, of course she had a brush on hand, anything else was pure masochism. The worn wooden brush is slapped in Kristiana’s palm with the hurried efficiency of an ER nurse providing a surgeon’s scalpel.*
Here darlin.
[Milo] Milo could do this all day, pester the Strider kind with the unusual name. She’s convincing, and spins one lie after another, and Milo? He’s quiet, sure. Withdrawn most times, yes. But he can bullshit with the best of them and does so now. Her granddad was a tailor. He nods, brows lifted, interested. Rain steps in, asks after the tulips and the windmills. Milo glances at the songbird, and his mouth quirks up one side at her.
Yes, Milo could do this all day, but there’s no denying that his presence here is unwanted by at least one of their number, and she the one he pesters. Then there’s Kristiana, scurrying over, going on about lip gloss and a brush, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what that means. He steps to the side, clearing a space for the kinfolk of other tribes, gently bumps the girl of his with his arm.
“That’s cool,” he says to Gina, shoulders tensing, eyes darting around. Turning to Rain, he looks into her warm dark eyes, casts his eyes deliberately to the side and back to her. And again.
[Kristiana Coleman] She flashes Gina a grateful smile, brushing through her hair quickly before putting it back again. She chews at her bottom lip, unsure of what else she can do, finally lifting an arm to take a test sniff. “Do I stink? I’ll just die if I stink.”
[Cordelia] “Kristiana,” she says with a very even voice, “if you are are genuinely attrached to this man he needs to see you without your makeup on at some time.”
She is going through her pockets and comes up with lipgloss. Because, let’s face it, despite her talking and insistence there is no reason for her to abandon herself in the middle of nowhere without lipgloss. Kristiana get something shimmery and pink.
“Waitwaitwait, stand still,” which is when Cordelia is bridging the gap and…
Well…
Sniffing her friend.
“Bien.”
[Kristiana Coleman] “Not yet. I don’t wash my face until after he’s asleep, and I get up before he does so I can do my makeup before he wakes up.”
No, she really doesn’t realize how absolutely insane she sounds. Cordie is given another of her grateful smiles, and she slicks on some gloss. “You guys are the best.”
[Cordelia] She thinks about this, and she has to think quickly. Cordela takes her sleeve and licks it, and the next motion is very very simple. Cordelia drags the dampened sleeve across her eyes, spits again and tries to scrub her cheeks clean of any of the residual makeup that might be there. (Hi, pot, i’m kettle) And the lipgloss is wiped away.
Cordelia shoves her glasses back down, and stands a little closer to Kristiana.
Plain by comparison, like a good wingman.
[Marni] She arches a brow slightly then snorts. “ain’t no reason for all that shit. If he ain’t like ya without ya make up, as who ya are, he ain’t worth shit an ain’t worth ya time. Hell, Ray? He fucked me right over my favorite dumpster once – just cuz he ain’t able t’keep his hands off me, even with me all grimy, or fat as a fuckin’ hippo. Whats inside is WAY more important than ya fuckin’ makeup…”
[Kristiana Coleman] She. Is. Scandalized. Her eyes get the size of dinner plates as she looks at Marni, barely blinking as she turns a deep shade crimson.
[Rain] Rain’s player is distracted by another window… but rest assured, all non-Fangs assembled, the Gaian is looking at the blonde spectacle with a look that is a cross between horror and disbelief.
Unfortunately for Rain, she is easy to read and her thoughts telegraph very very clearly. She has never, in her whole life, seen anything like this outside of daytime TV.
[Matthieu] Matthieu didn’t really have a direction to follow but he wasn’t too worried. He walked this park every day and figured sooner or later he would bump into her. What drove him to end the conversation when he did? It could have been any number of things but one thing was for certain… This Silver Fang lived his life for image. To look good in anything and everything that he did and listening to Kristiana babbling like that certainly didn’t help either of their images. If there was one thing that Matthieu could not abide it was the loss of composure especially before one’s peers. Silver Fangs were not people they were the leaders. They were always calm, cool, and level headed. Those who could not be as much were locked away in their homes.
Matthieu could be one hell of a cold son of a bitch now and again though most wouldn’t see that or hear it. Not openly, not unless they knew what they were looking for. He was, however, struggling to fix the image of a group of Garou who others believed to be inbred and insane. This leaves little room for mistakes. Image was everything, image was what others looked to. If they could not maintain that image then they others would strike at them and break their own leadership apart. The nation would soon crumble without them…
Every single thing that Matthieu did was in the name of defending his nation. Of protecting the ancient pacts and bonds set in place by groups of bickering self destructive wolf men. Without the laws and rigid social order established by the Silver Fangs in place the Garou nation would revert to separate tribes only ever occasionally working towards a common goal.
All these things and more rolled through his mind. He held on his shoulders the weight of a nation and the last thing he needs is his mate to be making a scene in public. So rather than flustering her more he decided to find her on foot, and so he set off into the park looking for… Groups and Geese.
[Marni] Marni schools her features into a look of total innocence – though it’s marred by the devilish twinkle in her eyes. She hasn’t had this much fun in AGES. Probably since that dumpster.
Oh so innocently, she asks… “…what? Too much?”
[Gina McClaren] *Gina’s brows pull together at something in Kristi’s panicked tirade. The kin looked insane. Eyes close and the pikey sighs, rubbing at her face as though she could somehow scrub out the look of disappointment there. Then marni speaks, and without opening her eyes, the little woman snerks and chimes back.*
Ye certain yer pregnant? Mayhaps jes caught yerself a tapeworm frem yer wee rendevouz?
[Milo] The women flock together to aid one of their own, pulling out the objects needed to fix her hair and pretty up her lips, and Milo…
Milo just stares. If he didn’t have an ounce of sense in him, his jaw would be slack with either horror or amazement or some mixture of the two. And that’s before Marni tells them all about her sexual exploits with her man. Milo looks from the girls fussing over Kristiana, to the Garou, eyes wide and bewildered. Looking at Rain, he sees his feelings mirrored on her pretty face. Kristiana is scandalized. Rain is mortified. Milo makes a noise somewhere in his nasal passage that can best be described as a snerk.
Sliding his hand from his pocket, he rests it lightly over Rain’s forearm. “We should, um,” yes we, and maybe that’s why he stops mid-sentence before continuing on, “leave you all to it. Nice to meet you, Marni and Merri-Beth.” He offers the women each a nod before turning away, his hand sliding down Rain’s arm to wrap around her smaller fingers.
[Kristiana Coleman] “But. People could have SEEN you!” She’s flat out horrified, both hands coming up to cover her mouth.
[Marni] She chuckles at Kristiana “that’s part o’the fun of it, darlin. Spicin things up and all. Ain’t no reason ya gotta be in bed in missionary position all th’damn time, right?”
To gina, with an unrepentant grin “Nah, if it were a tapeworm, I’d be SKINNY still. Though, since I ain’t seen no doctors…” She shrugs and grins up at Gina.
Then, to the poor mortified group. “Oh just relax an’ stop lookin at me like that. The Bean wasn’t conceived in a dumpster.”
A beat.
“It was a goddamn public hot tub.”
Oh the curly haired raggie is having a good ole time now…
[Rain] And then. Then it sets in. Through her shock at the Silver Fang make over session in one corner, what Marni just said actually hits home for the sweet, Southern girl and she blushes crimson and glances down. She’s still looking down, very clearly, when Milo’s hand finds her arm.
She glances over, but it’s more like over and still down away from the oddity going on around her. When his fingers found hers, through her gloves, Rain breathed out. She’d been unaware she was holding her breath, or that his presence would be such a welcome relief.
Rain slides her other hand down to catch the handle of her guitar case.
“Um, it was, it was nice to meet you all,” she says, again. If her hands weren’t busy, she’d wave sort of half-frantically in a way to cover up her confusion and embarrassment. But then Milo’s got this covered. He understands exit strategies.
[Kristiana Coleman] She makes a strangled sort of squeaking sound. The sound of a girl who very much believes that in a bed, missionary position is exactly what is to be expected.
[Marni] With that sound, Marni just laughs… and leans to stage whisper to Gina – er, MerriBeth… “Guess I shouldn’t mention the toybox jus’ yet, huh?”
[Gina McClaren] *If eyes were windows to the soul then it was a fortunate thing that Gina’s were closed. Be kind. Mind your tongue. A hand waved in silence to the departing coggies, who would forever know her as German Leggings. Marni continues poking fun at the flustered Fang kin, and the pikey opens her eyes to look the girl over frankly.*
Ye’ll be aulrecht peaches. Loosen oop. ‘ave a bit o fun, oor ye’ll bore yer man.
*You’re welcome, Mattheiu. Sex advice from the pikey, surreal and bittersweet. But hopefully it would help some. Marni whispers in her ear and Gina singsongs flatly.*
Ye dirty harlot.
*Pot vs Kettle, the rematch!*
[Milo] Milo understands exit strategies very well, indeed. He wraps his hand around Rain’s, his bare and hers gloved. Before they turn away completely, he bends to retrieve the guitar case Rain has or had been hugging.
With a final nod to the ladies, it’s very obvious the Ragabash is trying not to laugh. Hefting the weight of Rain’s guitar easily, he tugs on her hand and walks away with her, glancing back once to see if he can catch Kristiana’s latest sign of epic mortification.
[Marni] “Me? A harlot? oh honey – no! I’m not a fuckin’ whore… ya see..” and here she stage whispers again.. “whores get PAID. I’m jus’ a slut.”
She nods, completely serious – though Milo gets a wink when he looks back. Incorrigible, Marni is.
[Marni] “and!” she adds helpfully. “I took a fuckin’ shower earlier. So I’m clean too.”
[Gina McClaren] Och. Aye.
*Gina’s features crumple into a wince.
Whore used to be a word she bantered around laughing and playful. That was until a Strider true born threw severed genitalia all over her, called her one, and spit on her.
You’d develop an issue with it too.
The pikey is quiet, bad memories and Kristi’s painful excitement about the arrival of her mate drawing the strider down into the bench. The contents of her satchel holding her interest as she sighs.*
[Matthieu] Matthieu doesn’t directly stumble upon the group it takes time and effort but he does, eventually, find them up ahead in the distance. His keen eyes honing in on the group as he approaches. His hand lifts to adjust his tie and as he approaches he notes the others with them.
Milo and Rain he does not recognize but they are exiting the stage so he doesn’t need to concern himself. Marni is remembered, though she’s put on quite a few pounds I remembers quite well the Bone Gnawer who stormed out of his car in the middle of the street cause she didn’t feel like a lecture about his tribes superiority. He deals with those sorts all the time so he isn’t exactly worried.
Cordie… Well Cordie was a lovely girl. Her heart always seemed in the right place though sometimes he worried she might disgrace both her family and her tribe. She was still young and fully capable of learning her place in life and that was always a pleasant sign.
Then there was Gina. You see Matthieu knew Gina quite well and wasn’t about to buy into her fake name oh no. He found a slight smile taking shape though at the thought he would get a chance to speak to her.
Lastly was Kristiana. She was a good girl, a sweet girl, a very excitable and hopeful girl. While all these traits were wonderful and expected in a young woman they were also traits that needed to be worked out, luckily that usually went away with maturity. Matthieu was born into wealth, he oozed wealthy and refined in all that he did and he never ever ever lost his composure.
So with the stage set for his arrival the actor makes his appearance. Warm charming smile, and startling beauty. He was a shining example of what a man could be, of what a wolf could be. He simply was who he was and he carried himself with a certain sense that he realized exactly who he was and what he was destined to become. There was a reason his tribe ruled and Matthieu Louvel de Ponthieu was a perfect example of why that was.
[Cordelia] Cordelia isn’t paying much attention, but she does catch a look at Gina, how her purse looks suddenly more interesting than it had. Matthieu gets a second look, a little wave, but clearly she had priorities, and that priority included heading to the bench and sitting down beside Gina. Cordelia nudges her a bit with her shoulder.
“Want to go dancing later?” because she seems nice, because she will do it until the sun comes up. Makes her feel better, at least.
[Marni] She gets one look at Matthieu, and recognizes him, of course. She rolls her eyes, and then goes about the slow process of getting up. “Yeah, an’ that’s my cue, ladies an’ gents…”
She reaches to squeeze gina’s shoulder, gently. “Ya know where we are, right? Come see us sometime. Ray’s set up a hella nursery. An’ I better get back there before he gets home from work. He worries.”
Then, with a wink, she starts her way home.
[bedtime for Lessas everywhere. Night!]
[Gina McClaren] [night!]
[Kristiana Coleman] She’s a different person when Matthieu is in sight. All at once she shrinks and pulls herself up straighter, fingers brushing nervously at her hair once more as she gives him an adoring but clearly nervous smile.