Leave well enough alone…

[jeremiah_garou]

July 2, 2015
The moon is in the waning Full (Ahroun) Moon phase (96% full).

It is a hot summer morning in St. Claire and it has caused most people in the city to crank up the AC. But, what does those do without electricity? Justin has set up a number of small solar panels and duct taped against the windows. Long extension cords travel from them to what appears to be large orange buckets with white PVC pipes sticking out of them. Cold air is felt blowing out of them as the young Ahroun is sprawled out on his back with a comic book in his hands. Shirtless and wearing a pair of loose pants, a box of half ate pizza is near by about a day old.

The front door opens, more slowly and hesitantly than usual, and there's nothing more than a half-sqeaked-half-grunted muffled greeting as Jeremiah slips inside. This time, at least, he's returning with more than just the clothes on his back, it seems. An army backpack, a duffel, and a bedroll are pulled in after him and before he closes the door, set aside, all having seen much better days in the past. The outer two jackets are taken off as well. If not for the obvious rage, the older ahroun could be just another homeless guy, complete with the low-key talking to himself that cuts off when he notices someone else present. "Uhhhm," Jeremiah manages, almost unused to contact with others, and the Jackal very present on his voice. "Hi. Jeremiah, Lives-On. Cliath, full-moon, Anruth." Another pause, and he asks. "'s Kaz here? Or Lefty?"

Justin rolls backwards a bit, plants his hands behind him and kippups to his booted feet with a solid 'thud'. His dark eyes smolder with territorial rage for a moment until he hears the introduction. Shifting his jaw slightly, he says, "No, Kaz ain't been here in years, and Lefty isn't around. I am Justin Statton, son of Jason Statton. Dances in the Darkness, Cliath and Warrior for the Gnawers. Packmate of Coyote."

Jeremiah leans on the shelf he's made it to, and nods, though his face falls slightly at the fact that neither person he asked for is around. "Nice t' meet you." There's another pause, and he adds. "I know what I look like," pause. "But I'm one of Mama Rat's." His head shakes, slightly, and he moves back to his pile of bags by the door, coming out with a few plastic grocery bags that he carries over to the kitchen. "What about Maddie?"

"Maddie took off right after she rited me. Just missed her. Aaron and Slug are now running the show until she gets back. I don't know where she went, but I am sure Slug knows." Justin says as he rubs at his nose with the back of his hand. He gives the other a squint of the eyes, then shrugs his shoulders. "Want some pizza? It's all meat."

There's a nod. "Sure," Jer says. "Guess I'll gotta find Slug, or something. I brought some groceries, beer, stuff." The older ahroun gives a broad wave to the few plastic bags, before he goes over and grabs himself a piece of pizza, then walks over and sits down on his heels on an empty spot of floor to eat. Even that, everything Jeremiah does reflects discipline. "How's it been going? I… haven't been here, in a while."

"Uh… not much is going on. Just waiting on the enemy to get their head out of their ass and do something. Word is Gnawers and Roaches are coming together down south and are making noise. Heard that through the barking chain of some wandering dude that slipped through town to pass the info." Justin crams another piece of pizza into his mouth. "So, why you get punished for?" He asks curiously. "Unless you always talk like ya sucking on helium."

Jeremiah very, very slightly bares his teeth, but it's not all the way directed at Justin. "Years ago, now," Jeremiah says, easily enough. "Here, in fact." There's a pause, and Jer finishes the piece of pizza methodically before answering the question. "Previous acts of dishonor and foolishness. Shit I done here when I was a Shadow Lord, and I was a shitty, stupid Shadow Lord, before Mama Rat named me Lives-On. I try to do better now, y' know? It's a long story. The Jackal's voice will be lifted if I leave forever… or if I manage some big damn act of heroism in service to the Sept."

"Seriously? No one can just lift it? That seems like some weak bullshit." Justin says as he twirls a slide of pizza about one finger as if it was a basketball before he takes another large bite, chewing loudly upon it. With a swallow, he wipes his mouth off, "So, you wanna do the heroic part with me?" He asks with a wily grin upon his face. "Cuz, I am about to pull off a super prank in honor of our totem and I need some extra claws."

There's a half-laugh. With the Jackal's voice, it's not a pretty sound. "I can go to Salem-rhya at any time I want," Jeremiah says. For whatever reason, it sounds like the ahroun respects the Walker philodox, immensely, regardless of the punishment in place. "Terms are, I leave St. Claire and the Hidden Walk or whatever it is now, forever, if I do so. I ain't ready to do that yet, even if I ain't supposed t' be here anyway." There's a shrug, and another grin. "Can always stand to get my claws dirty."

"Yeah, Salem… I'd ping him on a smaller moon. I have seen him shit bricks over the small stuff." Justin says as he dusts off his knees. "So, our totem's name is Oh No. He can shape shift. He is gonna turn into a spiral kin fetch and try and lure one of the idiots into a bottle neck trap that I am designing. Gonna dig a big ass hole and cover it up, fill it with hot tar. When he follows the spirit and falls in, we're gonna dump a shit ton of feathers on it." Justin peels off a pepperoni. "Then we're gonna cut his head off."

Jeremiah looks at Justin, and shakes his head to the first part. "I'll catch up with Salem-rhya," he points out. "But not for that. That… I did those things, that I was punished for." The Jackal doesn't do much to mitigate the edge that Rage adds to the ahroun's voice, just adds comedic relief to the overall dangerous seeming. The fact that Jeremiah's sitting on his heels on the floor, though, is discipline enough that though he might bare his teeth, he does not move. "Anything that involves killing Spirals, you can count me in. Better yet if it lures more than one of them, actually. They don't usually go after a fetch by themselves, in my experience. And if the tar and feathers make your totem spirit happy, then that's good, too."

"Yeah, if we get two we will deal. You do know that dunking a spiral like a doughnut in hot tar and then hitting it with feathers is gonna cause it to frenzy right?" Justin grins widely. "Everyone thinks I am nuts for doing it, but what is the strategic advantage of a frenzying enemy? They cannot focus on using their tricks and gifts."

"I've killed frenzied spirals before," Jeremiah says, with an almost nonchalant shrug. "I've killed them not frenzied, too. Fair lot of them." The older ahroun rolls his shoulders and glances at Justin. "Key is, nooot to underestimate them, regardless." There's a thoughtful silence. "Key is, also, scouting ahead, if you can, to get an idea of what you're luring into the trap."

"Yup, that is the goal. We are picking the territory we look to lead it into. Old abandoned area near Kent's Crossing. Our pack is only three strong but we're cunning, real smart. I live for this kinda thing… setting up traps and such. My gramps was a doomsday prepper, he taught me how to build stuff like that. I was even thinking of melting down some silver dollars and pouring it on to bear traps for under the pit. Snap. Shit burns like hell, followed by the tar. Keep the target mobile." Justin shrugs his shoulders. "I used to love the game mouse trap as a kid."

Jeremiah nods once more. There's a minute where the man looks like he's a thousand miles away from the conversation and the present day, but he shakes his head. "Tell me 'bout the rest of your pack?" he asks, quietly.

"There is Sings to the Three Mountains. He is my best friend. Lupus Uktena and Galliard. He is our resident spirit guy. He is half coyote, born and raised in the graveyard until his fetch happened. There is also Henry, Gaian Half Moon. Real hippy type, into yoga and banging his hot kinfolk girlfriend. He has a good head on his shoulders and evens us out." Justin says as he leans back to plant his hands behind him.

Jer listens, quiet, and nods again. "Sounds like you're suited t' each other," he offers. "That's good." At the end, now that his hands aren't occupied with the piece of pizza that they were earlier, now that they're not clasped behind his back, the ahroun slips into duplicating his words in sign language for a moment. Then, he tilts his head towards th' door. "I'm goin' t' camp out in the camp by the bridge," he says. "It's better, for everyone, if I don't hole up here when the moon is big. But I've got a phone." The last thing is stated with a wide grin, like it's an accomplishment. "I haven't broken it recently. Used to break every cell phone I got until I gave up on them a while."

"Why don't you hang out at the Edgewood farmhouse? It is where everyone goes when it's a full moon. They got showers and food and such." Justin gives a lick of his lips. "Way better than this pizza. I also live at the junk yard since the owner got killed during my passage rite. Not by my own claws… the fomori did him in. I built an underground bunker under some of the taller garbage heaps."

Jeremiah shakes his head, and there's a flare of rage underneath the iron control that the older ahroun has. But it's not that far beneath the surface right now, and with careful movements, the Russian gets to his feet, and looks at Justin. "I'm Anruth, I been judged, and that was part of it," he says, slowly and with as much force as the Jackal-voice will let him. "I'm not welcome at Edgewood. I'm not welcome on the Bawn. And I prefer t' be by myself." The coiled spring seems more or less ready to snap, and Jeremiah glances at Justin as he turns to get going. "If you see Slug before I do, let him know I'm around? But do yourself a favor… I'll make my own introductions as for th' rest."

"Well, okay then. I'll tell Slug later tonight when I see him." Justin says as he plucks out another pizza, seemingly unfazed by the rage presented before him. He rolls the slice up and takes a bite off it. "You're welcome to stay here at least as well. Ain't no one coming around here as it is besides Slug and I."

There's a nod, and Jeremiah moves over to the counter, scrawling his phone number and his name out on a piece of paper, then pointing to it. "Thanks, but," he shakes his head again. "I'll be by, though. An' if I decide t' skip town again, I'll let y' know."

"Aiiight. If you want." Justin says as he flops back down to the ground on his butt, then plucks up a raggedy looking book and thumbs it open to a spot he had placed. "You don't gotta go though, we can still kick it and get to know each other. I don't have anything else better to do."

Jeremiah moves over to his duffel bag, giving no indication one way or the other as to what he's going to do. But eventually, the older ahroun comes back into the main part of the library with a tattered pack of cheap cigarettes, a lighter, and some battered paperback books. There's a strained, almost apologetic smile offered to Justin, before Jeremiah moves over to put some of the books back on one of the shelves that has books on it. "Took these with me last time," he says, shrugging, and picks up another book, before moving back to resume where he'd been sitting on the floor, if a little more relaxed than the first time. A cigarette's pulled out, and the pack is tilted towards the other ahroun. "Sorry. I ain't used to people, much. Everywhere I was, was more fighting, less people, ever since Las Vegas fell I ain't been much for talking."

"It's all good. I like talking. May as well do it while we can since we can be dead tomorrow. I got myself a werewolf bucket list of sorts ever since I found out I was born to die." Justin says with a grin as he flips through another page of the book. "So you looking to rejoin the Sept maybe and what not? You know, Anruth aside or whatever. I think right now we're taking what we can get, seeing how the Wyrm is fucking us up left and right. If it was up to me, I'd just wipe the slate clean and tell people if you fight on the side of good, then it's okie dokie. I suck at politics. I am just good at punching things and blowing shit up with household chemicals."

Jeremiah lights the cigarette and blows the smoke into the air, and shakes his head to the question. "No," he admits. "Not the joining type, not here. I have too much past, here, too much weighing me down. Clean slate would be all well and good, but that's not how it works. People have memories, especially oheeiet' St. Claire." Jeremiah shrugs. "I've never been good at politics, either. I don't see it unless it's right in front of my face, but I'm good at killing shit." He shrugs. "I'll either stay, or I'll leave, or I'll leave for good. I'm not sure yet."

"Well, from what I know, this is a different St. Claire. Changed the Sept name and all of that. Jacinta is the big boss now. Salem is still here but he isn't involved in any leadership. He keeps to his own. Mouse is Beta. I think you'll find that starting over here may be easy. I don't know. Everyone is pretty cool here it seems for the most part." Justin says as he gives a twitch of his nose in thought. "At least I think so. Everyone leaves me well enough alone. I don't make any waves, even apart of a Coyote pack."

Jeremiah breathes a heavy sigh, and looks at Justin. "Jacinta-rhya's one of the people who would just as soon kill me as look at me," he says. This time, the correction's almost as gentle as the older ahroun can make it, more with the patience of experience to exuberance instead of exasperation and rage as it had been earlier. "Even now that I'm not the same as I was. Is okay… It may be different, but for a lot of reasons, it's still the same, and I's pretty sure, I's still not welcome. Not permanently. Don't mean I's gonna go leave for good, or take the easy path— that ain't what Gaia wants from us. We survive, and sometimes that's the harder thing to do." He shrugs, and reaches and grabs another piece of pizza. "It's okay. It's just… complicated. But I keep t' the city anyway, and everything works out. City needs people, eyes, patrols, more bodies, so that's what it is."

Justin shrugs his shoulders upwards. "Aiiiight. Well, whatever is clever. I just don't think it hurts showing some throat, laying down a super apology and asking for forgiveness. Worst case scenario she says Gee-Tee-Eff-Oh and you peace out again. Best case she gets over it and buys you a beer or at least a bottle of water, or whatever them 'pure ones' drink. Probably a flask full of stream water. I don't know. Either way, you're acting like a real defeatist and that is some real pussy shit. Sack it up. Play the lottery and take a chance." He says rather bluntly with a rising grin on his face. "Believe me, she is so desperate for warriors she has told everyone they don't gotta give us chiminage to join. Long as we roll in with fire in our gut and sharp claws. Shit is changed now dude. The world has changed. Welcome to Terminiator days. The enemy is here and no one has time for bullshit."

Jeremiah raises an eyebrow, and takes a bite of the pizza, and shrugs. "We'll see what the new day brings," the Russian says, though he doesn't seem to share the younger ahroun's enthusiasm, or his view of the worst case scenario. "I still have to abide by the terms of the Punishment, to be here. Anyway." Another shrug follows. "And the worst case scenario? Is that I get dead. Multiple times dead, and then I'm no use to Gaia or Mama Rat or anyone. I'm not going t' hedge my bets on that, no thanks."

"What did you do that was so bad that people will kill you for it?" Justin asks with a frown on his face.

Jeremiah pulls out a second cigarette, and looks at the younger ahroun. "Guess y' got a right t' know," he muses. "I gotta tell you the back story to this first, or it won't make much sense." Jeremiah speaks quietly, though it doesn't help the squeaking, and slowly, half detached from what he says, though it doesn't push back the rage from the surface. "Y' know I was born and raised a Shadow Lord, at a sept called Broken Prairie in Colorado. But I was never a very good one. Too nice, too caring, and well… Y' don't do well in that sort of place if y' can't see something when it's right in front of your face, really, and I couldn't. Anyway. I was on my Fostern challenge, off clearing out a nest of Spirals from th' city. Me and my pack, there was more Spirals than we thought, and we was outnumbered, and it took us longer. And by the time we got back to th' Sept house, the Sept and Caern was overrun.

"The entire thing had been a trap t' get us out of there, 'cuz the Sept had been slowly rotting from th' inside-out. And I hadn't seen it, none of my pack had seen it. We… we tried, but there weren't enough of us to take it back. Just to kill most of them. Not all of them, and my packmates died, and I went… I went pretty mad with grief and rage. I was able to rescue a cub— Kyler— and I ran. I ran t' the only place I knew where it was, which was here, but I didn't trust anyone enough to tell them what I was running from. Didn't tell th' Sept here all of how Broken Prairie fell and why we was being chased. Nearly brought a pack of Spirals down on th' Hidden Walk before it all came t' light, all because I was a fucking moron."

"Oooooooh… You are THAT Jeremiah." Justin says with wide eyes, followed by a wry grin on his face. "Yeah, I know Ky. The Shadow Lord Elder here is my mentor of sorts. He calls me his little minion. He packs with Kyler. I heard about this from a few other people as well. Heh. So, cuz a buncha spirals were hot on your heels, they'd kill you for this?"

Jeremiah chews on the end of his cigarette for a moment. "Because I didn't tell anyone," Jeremiah says. "Because I kept secrets, and acted like an idiot. Because th' person at Broken Prairie who had fallen, was Eli's uncle, and it was personal, and I didn't tell anyone. Because as a Shadow Lord, I was exiled on pain of death, but that Shadow Lord was already dead." Jeremiah shakes his head. "Mama Kaz sent me to Las Vegas, and Rat gave me a second chance, named me Lives-On. And I didn't think I was ever gon' see St. Claire again until I was out in Connecticut and the Umbra dumped me right back here, two years ago. So I stood for Judgement because if I took the easy path, makes me no better than I was before. And yeah. Maybe it's dumb, but for what I did as a Shadow Lord, for how I handled it, there's people who'd still be happy to kill me, until I prove I's different now. And I can't prove that by crawling with my tail between my legs and showing my throat. That's cowardice, not honour."

"Well, I thought that was the point of starting a new life, is that you get a do-over. Slug was a charach when he was called Basil and was an Ahroun. Now as Slug, it seems that shit is gone and no one cares. You can't just renounce or something like everyone else? Or maybe that only applies to the cool kids? I don't know how that shit works. Either way, Garou politics is fucking retarded. But, you know those litany humpers gotta be hardcore about it." Justin yawns.

Jeremiah furrows his brows and just looks momentarily frustrated. "It's not always that simple." It's clear that the older Gnawer is trying to sound dead serious, but it doesn't work very well, so he repeats himself, more slowly, more softly. "It's not always that simple. And like it or not, politics are a part of the Nation." Jeremiah shakes his head somewhat. "Give it time," he says to Justin, apropos of nothing in particular, and climbs to his feet. "Thanks for th' pizza. Take it easy, road rise t' meet you." And with that, the older ahroun seems to decide that the conversation really is over this time, heading for where he's left his stuff to collect it before heading for the door. "Let me know when, and I'll be there," is the last thing he offers in parting.

Wrinkling his nose, Justin says, "See you later dude." He rolls back up to his feet and snags his own backpack, then climbs up the stairs to the second story.

Jeremiah grabs his things, and as quietly as he did when he showed up, slips back out the front door to the Library and onto the street.