[Drew Roscoe] A bit of the tension slid away from Drew’s shoulders when Daniel approached Delmar slowly, calmly, not violently. She’d lifted a hand to her mouth without realizing it, started gnawing at her thumbnail while she watched the two Fenrir nervously. Another had moved into the room, and her eyes slipped over to spot and identify Joss. The Serious one that she hadn’t shared many words with besides a ‘You’re Joe’s girl, huh?’ and scolding for leaving a mess in a night club. She knew that she was Family, though, that counted for something, right?
Delmar glanced back to her, then away, looking for someone who seemed to have vanished– the sneaky guy with the Jack Daniels bottle.
For her part, Drew remained quiet, even when Delmar invited the ‘Foresti’ (whatever that was) to play, along with the girl with dreadlocks. Her thumb stayed at her mouth, caught between teeth, and while she wasn’t coiled painfully with tension, she still hadn’t relaxed back to normal just yet either.
[Broken Hammer] The basic human socialization that would tell him that holding another man’s fist like that for any period of time is odd, is unusual behavior, is strictly taboo in the Guy Code, is entirely missing from Daniel. He lets go only now, and only to look at the extended pool cue for a moment.
He looks puzzled. He takes it the way one might take a spear, right in the middle, balanced.
“I don’t know how,” he replies. And then he holds the cue out to Joss instead, who he recognizes the same way he recognized Delmar and Edwin — as faces from the moot. “Rhya.”
[Joss Lehrer] She gestures at Daniel with a grin. “Just Joss is fine. No need for formality here.”
She takes a quick bite of her sandwich and hops up to take the cue with a warm smile. She’s not you’re typical Fenrir, for sure. Then again, she’s Godi. And weird.
“Take the break, Delmar. Game’s simple – Broken Hammer, wasn’t it? What’s your first name? – hit the white ball into the others balls with the stick and aim for the pockets. The break will decide if you aim for stripes or solids – and the black ball is last. Get it in before that and you lose.”
She tosses a wink at the clearly worried Drew and a quick. “Heya.”
(gotta run my kid to town quickly, Joss’ll play her turns between bites and I’ll hop back in soon as I get back)
[Delmar Meister] Delmar remains silent as he fetches his own pool cue having given his own away. There’s still a seriousness in his eyes as he circles the table, casting neither favor nor displeasure at Drew’s method of racking them. He starts the far edge, lines the cue in the crook of his fingers, and lowers his body parallel to the table, all while Joss explains the game to Daniel.
There’s chaos in his eyes. Displeasure and murder. He might be just be really serious about playing pool, or he might still be pissed about the earlier conversation.
But slowly, there’s a twinkle. And a light. And a smile. “Balls’ He mutters, just before the pool cue strikes out swift and firm, and the impact of the cue ball scatters all the rest about the table.
[Broken Hammer] Daniel startles visibly when the cue ball crack!s into the others, sending them scattering all over the table in a kaleidoscope of color. The Forseti’s eyes are everywhere, trying to follow every trajectory, every ball. When finally everything comes to a stop, he’s frowning.
And then he simply passes the cue to Drew. “I’ll watch,” he announces.
(gotta take off, guys — back later tonight!)
[Drew Roscoe] Joss explained the game of pool to Daniel, asked for his name, and cast her a wink and a smile. Drew smiled around her thumbnail in return, only just realized that she was gnawing the heck out of it and that was why she was tasting nail polish (red and green, alternating fingers for the holidays, of course). “That’s Daniel,” she said for Joss’s benefit, then blinked when the Foresti passed the cue into her hand and explained that he’d rather watch. “Oh,” she murmered, half surprised that he’d do anything with her besides yank and tell her to shut up. “Thanks.”
Even if the cue was too tall for her. She traded it out for hers that she’d set against the wall, tossed her pale blue scarf about her neck so it wouldn’t get in her way and dangled over her back instead of on her chest instead, and eyeballed the table. A shot was spotted, lined up, and made. Solid ball sunk in the side pocket, and she flashed a bit of a grin, though still a little shaky, toward Delmar.
“Wanna place bets?”
[Joss Lehrer] She chuckles softly as Daniel decides to watch, and Drew passes along his name. She, in time, lines up her shot as well.
And misses.
She can’t be good at everything, after all.
“Bets? Nah, I’m tapped and hate to welsh on a good bet.
[Drew Roscoe] Maybe Delmar heard a whisper from his packmate in the shadows that the others couldn’t pick up on. Maybe something fickle tripped his senses, maybe nature called. This was uncertain, because he didn’t give much of an excuse for his sudden need to depart. Instead, he murmered something about girl on girl, grinned, waved, and descended the staircase, forgetting his jacket once again it seemed.
Drew looked after him, head tipped to the side thoughtfully, then returned her gaze to Joss, who had to be the one person in Chicago to look younger than her. How old could this girl be anyways? Sixteen, maybe? It was a sad, short life these monsters lived, and sometimes it broke Drew’s heart to think about that too hard, to realize that the vast majority of her loved ones could be counted into that number.
So then there were two. Three only if you counted the half-focused looking too-thin man on the other side of the room. Drew tipped her head at Joss, then smiled, faintly, and knocked two more balls in before she missed on the third try.
“So… You’re.. You’re the ‘Goh-dee’ that Joe and Thomas talk about all reverently, huh? Must mean you’re the one I’m supposed to thanks for that gourd thing that fixed my stab wound.”
[Joss Lehrer] She doesn’t look very old. At times, she acts even younger, and even more often, she shows a wisdom beyond her years. Her eyes tell the story, as easily read as the expressions across her face. Joss is often an open book – one who’s seen too much, learned so much, and suffered along with the rest of their kind. But with her, there’s always something else, too; a rare contentment, a happy sort of self awareness that even in the mud and muck and mire, the pain and blood, the tooth and claw – there’s a beauty to be found and reveled in. Not many of their kind find it. Hardly ever in one so young – it’s difficult to maintain one’s innocenct joy in the simple things while in the midst of war.
That Joss does so says something – though the Jury is still out on what, exactly.
“That’d be me. If they haven’t explained, Godi is the Fenrir word for Theurge – shaman like, spirit talker, weirdo.” It’s said as so many things are, with a grin.
“And don’t mention it. S’my duty – glad I could help.” She lines up a shot, and then lets loose a pleased little squeal when she actually sinks a ball. Then she misses the next one, and steps back.
[Drew Roscoe] “Spirit talker,” she mused, tapping the butt of her cue on the floor a couple of times while she thought about something– either something that Joss had said or what shot she should take next, since she was staring pretty sternly at the table, eyes moving a little as shots played out in her mind. That wouldn’t work, that would put the eight ball in…
She sucked thoughtfully at her lower lip, then finally moved to the other end of the table, lined up a shot, and missed juuust barely. She did wind up rolling a ball in line nicely for Joss, though, the nine ball settling right in front of the corner pocket. She chuckled a little at that and shook her head, then stepped back, leaning comfortably against her cue stick.
“So you’re, like… a healer then? You know the magic that Joe was talkin’ bout too? Like, how to make people do what you want?”
[Joss Lehrer] She grins, takes and makes the shot – it’d been embarrassing had she not, of course, when it was set up so nicely. She can’t turn anything else at the table though, and soon it’s Drews turn once again. Joss plays this like she does.. well, just about anything – with a freedom and lack of ulterior motive. She simply hits what she’s given and doesn’t worry about the outcome.
And in between it all, she attacks her sandwich like she hasn’t eaten in days – which is entirely untrue, especially given her and Gina’s late night cookie making and eating extravaganza yesterday.
“Healing is one of my talents, yeah, though there are others that are better at it than I am.” She arches a brow slightly, and chuckles. “Making people do what you want? If you’re referring to gifts, I have some of them yes, and know many of the rites and rituals of our kind. Why do you ask?”
[Joss Lehrer] (….weird. *LOL*)
[Drew Roscoe] Joss and Drew played about the same, honestly, without tricks. This wasn’t chess, after all, it wasn’t war. It was just a game of pool, or billiards if you were feeling fancy. Drew was a little more thoughtful, though, thinking out the consequences of the shot available, where her cue ball would end up if she took one, where it would if she took another. She played thoughtfully, shot carefully, and that’s why she usually won five bucks every time she played against someone new– Five bucks says a chick beats your ass in pool/You’re on!
Joss inquired as to why Drew asked, and the Kinfolk looked at her and shrugged, taking a shot, and then another, getting two balls in before she missed. Three left, the table was getting cleared off pretty quickly.
“Just curious, I guess. The guys don’t really do heart-to-hearts or study lessons very well, y’know? Trying to pick up on things so that I don’t make a damn fool of myself and sit scratching my head going ‘What the hell’s a bawn?’ while someone’s shaking their head at me.
…On that note, what is a Bawn? And can people be controlled? ‘Cause Joe warned me to look out for that.”
[Joss Lehrer] She chuckles softly, and finishes off quite a bit of her beer. “Joe and Thomas aren’t the heart to hear types, I’d wager.” It’s said with a smile, she likes them both, though finds them a little.. intense.. for her taste at times. “There’s a reason the Godi’s are teachers, perhaps even more so than the Skald. We like nothing more than a challenge, to figure something out, to find a way to make things work the way you need them too.”
She leans on the back of the couch, and watches Drew work the table as she talks. “The Bawn is the area surrounding the Caern’s heart, the spirit within the city that draws us together. The Caern’s a place of great power for us, a spiritual connection between us and Gaia. The Bawn is the area that surrounds it. It begins not far from here, actually, though all you would see is the dockyards, mostly abandoned. On the other side – the Umbral side – it’s an area cleaned from all taint, a place where we can regain our strength, both physically and spiritually.” She smiles, softly, reverently. “It’s beautiful. It’s a great shame that our Kinfolk cannot see what we do.”
She pushes back her dreads, and reaches for her plate, and another bite of her sandwich. “As for controlling people – to a certain extent yes, if a person is weakwilled some of us can convince them to do what we want. It’s like being persuasive, only a little more intense. Some use intimidation, or other things. It’s a little more possible to control groups using gifts, rites and such, but there’s always those with a strong enough will that do not succumb, no matter how strong the one who wants to control is.”
[Drew Roscoe] Drew was still and quiet while Joss explained to her what a Caern and a Bawn was. Were? Something. She studied the table for a moment, then gave up on pretending like she was interested in that anymore and instead circled the pool table so she was on the side that faced the couch, closer to Joss, and hopped up to sit on the table’s edge, setting the cue stick between her knees and wrapping her legs and arms about it, leaning forward against it in a way that was monkey-like and precarious all at once. Also just childish enough to have one wondering if Joss and Drew were related somehow, aside from shared Tribal heritage. Cousins, maybe, literally?
“Ya see, he left that part out. You know how they get, real…. enthused and intense? Trying to warn me there’s danger, and he doesn’t tell me that I can resist it. Here I was convinced that I was completely helpless.” Her tongue ran against the sharper edge of her upper left incisor, lip curling some as she did so. This was habitual, thoughtless, and one day it just might get her in trouble, be perceived as bare teeth by a Wolf-Born in the room or something similar.
There was a period of silence, where Drew didn’t really know what to say, then she spoke, albeit softly and slowly. “So… Is that Decker guy coming back at all?”
[Joss Lehrer] “That’s because you’ve less of a chance of resisting than we do.” Blunt, maybe, but truthful too. She takes a final bite of her meal and sets the plate aside, dusting off her hands as she chews and swallows.
“Thing is- it doesn’t always work – on either end, and it is dangerous, especially for Kin. They’re right to make you wary, as false confidence can be a death sentence. ” a beat. “Or worse.” As there are many things worse than death in their society.
She ask of Decker and Joss shrugs. “As far as I know, yes. He’s gone for his rank challenge, and when he completes it successfully, he’ll return. Until then, I am Beta of the Eagles.”
[Joss Lehrer] (getting kids – back in 30)
[Drew Roscoe] Her face pulled into an expression that was half grim acknowledgment and half discomfort. She was very, very right. Drew knew this, all of it, from first hand experience. She knew that the True Born could stand up to things she could never dream of (when Charlie was laying on the ground, intestines billowing steam into the air, and suddenly spasmed life in a gasp and a snarl after his eyes had gone dim with death, she knew he was dead, she knew it), and she understood that false confidence was the biggest thing she had to worry about. That and misplaced trust (this man’s truck’s broken, looks like he may need a jump, let’s stop and help him Lonna! Wait… what’s out in the bushes? Oh my god it’s a trap run! RUN!).
A breath was inhaled, pulled in deeply then exhaled slowly, and she moved along. Those were memories, everyone was alive, everyone was just fine. No need to linger on them or she may go mad.
On to Decker. He was getting his rank, he’d be back when he was done.
“Ah,” she said with a bit of a nod, and let her forehead rest against the cue stick. “Eagles, huh.. That would be a… gang?”
[Joss Lehrer] She laughs softly. “Sorta. It’s my Pack, though I suppose it could be equated to a Gang – we even have turf wars from time to time, though with much less dancing than West Side Story – and a lot more bloodshed.”
She nods to where Delmar had exited. “He’s one of the Bogeymen – packed with Edwin and Blast. Daniel there, I believe he’s a Sentinal – with Hatchet, Sinclair, Joey and Charlie. JOe and Thomas aren’t officially a pack yet, but they will be, possible with Kemp. Each group, each pack follows a Totem Spirit, one that embodies what we see as our main purpose, main focus in the war. Our totem, unsurprisingly, is Eagle. Eagle is a totem of War. The Bogeymen follow Fox, the Sentinals Bear, so on and so forth. Each serves their purpose, and you’ll find that packmembers are often closer then those you would consider a family. The connection goes far deeper than simply blood.”
[Drew Roscoe] Drew nodded slowly and blinked a few times. Her eyes took on that half-vacant sort of sheen that came when you’d just heard way too much information at once and couldn’t sort it all out, so most of it fell in heaps and piles somewhere in her mind to be sorted through and discovered later, with a little help.
Something about totems (like totem poles? That would explain the animals. These guys are like Indians now? Crazy.) and packs. Packs made sense, they were wolves after all. She nodded slowly, then glanced toward the stairs, where Delmar had disappeared. “Boogyman, huh? Heheh, seems appropriate. Especially for that Edwin guy of his.”
She was quiet for a few more moments, glanced at a clock on the wall, then grunted and hopped down off the table, leaning her cue stick against it. “Shit. I’ve gotta head out, got work in about an hour.” Her scarf was wrapped more properly around her neck, and she gathered up her coat from off the couch. The poofy red thing was pulled on and zipped up, and she retrieved a pale blue hat from her pocket, something that matched her scarf, and tugged it on her head. A smile was flashed to Joss, something half-apologetic, half-thankful.
“Thanks for… ah, being patient with me and willing to teach. Can use all the help I can get. It was good seeing you.”
She nodded and moved for the stairs, fishing her gloves out of her pockets as she went. “Bye!”
[Joss Lehrer] “Anytime. Call if you need anything.”
Drew makes her escape, after hearing too much info, and Joss just waves, chuckling to herself – something in that amused her. She waits until the kinfolk is gone, and then gathers her plate and empty beer bottle, and makes her way home as well.