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jeremiah_garou) wrote2014-03-03 07:00 pm
jeremiah_garou) wrote2014-03-03 07:00 pm
Habits.
March 3, 2014
The moon is in the waxing New (Ragabash) Moon phase (16% full).
Maddie says, "All the more reason for them to find out what is being asked, then, Maddie thinks. Simply knowing the questions may tell them a great deal about what they seek. If it does not, that still tells them something."
"Sounds like a job for someone with less Rage than I have," Slug says with a wry smile. "Maybe it's all dumb. Maybe it's just a misunderstanding, and they're just FBI guys. There isn't really a way to say for sure unless someone goes and does a bit of recon, and I think I'm the one to do it. But… First, I've got to have a chat with a fox I know."
Speaking of Rage, the front door opens enough to admit one anruth into the downstairs, only a little bit out of breath from whatever he'd been doing. That, and Bullfrog looks more scruffy than ever, his hair having grown out some to match the beard that could use a shave now. Aside from the occasional creak of door and floorboard, Jeremiah's silent until he reaches sight of his tribemates, at which point he raises a hand in a wave of greeting, and then pulls the beanie off of his head and shoves it into a pocket.
Maddie replies, "Maddie will seek out those on the streets that she knows, and see if any of them were taken or know of those who were, so perhaps they have a starting point." Then, as the Ahroun enters, Maddie raises one hand in a wave of greeting, and finally opts to take a seat on the couch rather than continuing to stand when she doesn't have to.
Slug turns off his laptop and folds the screen down, resting his hands on top of the monitor's back bit. He nods at Jeremiah, looking him over quickly and quietly. "Basically, just keep a low profile, and keep an eye out for any suits and shades kind of guys. Avoid'em."
Jeremiah takes a breath, and there's a slight mutter and flare of Rage, but it's gone and under control again as he talks. "There were two suits in the Park the other day," he says. Or squeaks. It's his voice that's pissing him off, likely. "One with a big expensive camera, an' one with some cell phone, or pee-dee-ay. They's way too interested in the Fountain, from what Val and the Walker with her and I could tell. Didn' like it, I didn'." Jeremiah shrugs his shoulders. "I keep a low profile anyway." Something in that sounds like Jeremiah's more itching for violence at the moment than anything else, though.
That bit of news doesn't do any wonders for Maddie's mood. She considers for a long moment. "Maddie will have to think about this, about ways they might protect the park. She thinks, at a minimum, they will have to end the practice of using the fountain to cross, or even of crossing over in the park itself. Her other idea… well, it would involve rites beyond those she knows, but perhaps not beyond those that others at the sept might have."
"If they're spooks that are already in the know, like, government vampires, or government robots, or whatever, why don't we just convince them that all the spooky shit came from someone we want dead?" Slug offers, glancing between the two of them. "Hey, it'd be great if you could send the Department of Asskicking after a Spiral Hive."
Jeremiah lifts his hands from his pockets as he moves over towards the couch, a few signs following as he does so, and shakes his head. Don't think it is that simple or that sort of thing, with either set of them. Then, the cliath sits down on the floor not too far from Maddie, only slightly more relaxed from his usual posture of kneeling and then sitting on his heels from the fact that he leans against the couch instead of remaining stone-straight.
Maddie says, "If the Slug can think of a way to send them to Seattle, Maddie would love to hear it. The caern… there are ways that can be protected from prying eyes. The wards already do part of the job; the Rite of the Shrouded Glen could do more still. But Maddie does not know if that could be used on a site that only has the potential to be a caern, assuming any at the Hidden Walk even know it."
"Not easily. Not… Without something. Not without knowing for certain that they're 'strange'. I've never done anything like this before," Slug says, closing his eyes. "But I know something about lying. I know that if we just drop it in their laps, they won't take it. I'll have to think for a long time. Consult. I have a few ideas, though…" He rocks back and fourth a little, nodding at Maddie and Jeremiah. "That's one reason we've gotta move. We've got to protect the park, but we can't just straight up kill them. Do that, and they'll just send more."
Jeremiah nods, not quite sullenly, more an acceptance of something that he knows as fact. "I know," he grumbles. "When y' find something that needs straight-up killing, lemme know, though. Could stand to get my claws dirty a bit more."
Maddie notes to Jeremiah, "While he cannot lead the mission against the toy store's spirit side, given his rank and standing in the sept, there should be no reason he cannot participate in it. Maddie expects there will be ample opportunity for him to put his skills to use." To Slug, she nods. "Do that, and they will become certain they are close to what they seek, and redouble their efforts. Their goal in the park is the opposite— to make it seem entirely unremarkable, so they no longer want to search there."
"I have a few ideas how to make them look elsewhere in a hurry, but… I don't think the Philodox would be down with the idea of creating a minor Veil breech to protect a greater one. Meh." Slug stands up and stretches out, flicking his nearly dead cigarette into some dark corner. "Find someone to spar with, bud. Or some lonely Kin. Either way, blow off some steam. An Ahroun that's all pent up is just a bomb waiting to blow."
Jeremiah rolls his shoulders, a bit. "I've got a few folks I spar with, an' I run an' crap," he says, as quiet as he can be, "I'll be fine." There's a glare directed at where the cigarette butt got flicked to, and Jeremiah snaps, "Pick that up, man. We live here, at least put it in th' trash can."
"The way things have gone of late, he will end up burning down the Library. Or at least setting enough of a blaze to draw human attention," Maddie notes dryly. "And yes, Maddie expects that any Veil breach would be frowned upon… even if it directed them elsewhere for a time, it would be just as likely to cause them to bring their searchers in greater numbers."
"I'm not going to go fish around in the dark for a filter half the size of my finger, but I can stop doing it," Slug offers, tipping his head. "It's easy to get used to just flicking them around when you're out on the sidewalks. Anyways. I think I'm going to go by the tenement, maybe… A couple other places. If something new happens, I'll try to tell someone. Leave a message. Whatever."
Jeremiah takes a breath in, and out, and looks at Slug, and then nods acceptance. "Fine," he agrees. "I'll get an ashtray or five t' have, too." There's a moment, and Jeremiah points out. "Y' shouldn't do it out on th' sidewalks either, no more than ye'd do it if'n y' was in the forest or something. Littering is littering." The jackal-voice sounds ridiculous, still, but the expression on the ahroun's face leaves no question as to that he means every word.
Maddie gestures to the phone over on one of the shelves— one of the burners that Slug brought in, even if acting as a longer-term Library contact number wasn't exactly it's planned purpose. "If he needs them for anything while he is out, he can call them on that phone," Maddie notes.
"That's clever," Slug says with a small grin directed at Maddie. "Though we should swap it out more often than the others." He looks over at Jeremiah, then shrugs again, and picks up his computer. Whether he agrees or not, he's not willing to argue over it. He waves to the both of them, then starts heading out the front door.
Jeremiah lifts his hand in a wave, and once the other is on his way out, turns and twists so that he is more facing the theurge, so that he doesn't have to speak. As much as the smile that happens lights up his face and makes him seem all the more pleasant, the scowl that the cliath has is equally unpleasant at the moment, though it doesn't seem at least to be in the direction of him losing his grip on his temper. Instead, there's just an angry series of signs. Littering is bad. Hard enough to fight for Gaia in the cities without our own being careless.
Maddie aims a wave at the departing Gnawer. "While the human-born bring many strengths based on their upbringing, they often also learn the most bad habits," Maddie agrees. "And some are harder to break than others. But they will remind him." She signs the words even as she says them aloud.
Jeremiah nods, taking his time to calm himself with slow breathing and rein in his anger further, and his hand unclenches to simply rest on the couch for the moment, and then he signs. Yes. I was raised in an isolated sept, mostly, and a very strict one, so I… did not get the same chances. I did not even have television in my mother's house, he signs, chuckling. When I first came to Hidden Walk, when I was a Shadow Lord, Bright-Eyes teased me that I might as well have been from the old country. I still think in… the ahroun pauses, and fingerspells, Russian, sometimes. My… he pauses, mother and sister had mellowed significantly by the time they raised Kyler. And, it was only after I renounced that I learned English as well as I speak it now.
Maddie considers briefly. "Maddie thinks, perhaps, that the first rite that she teaches the Slug will reflect that— Trash is Treasure, since it teaches both thanksgiving for bounty found, and to balance that with offerings in turn. Unless he would prefer to teach it, first, as she taught him?" She looks a little aghast at the notion of someone being raised without a television, but then, it wasn't as if she could spend time outside prior to being able to change.
I would be glad to teach him, the ahroun signs, though there is still a slight sharpness to the motions. And the rite of tobacco, though I think that he might know that one already, but if he does not… he should. Jeremiah pauses, and looks at Maddie. I forget, I think there was the rite I know that you had wanted to learn as well. The deft evasion, yes?
"The Slug does know Tobacco's Calm, yes, though he seeks to learn others." After saying that, though Maddie clarifies in sign: But it is the only one, so far. If he would rather teach others that would have a similar benefit, they might be good starting points as well. Then, in answer to his question, she speaks aloud again. "Maddie does wish to learn it, yes, though it will be some time before she is free to do so. She learns to open the inner sky, so that she may fill that role at moot, and then she means to do some teaching— the Rite of the Totem to Sera, and perhaps to Charlene. At least one minor rite to the Slug, and Rite of Passage to her packmate Sue and perhaps to Emma. After that, she means to learn the Rite of the Fetish next."
Jeremiah nods, thinking for a moment, and from somewhere in one boot underneath where he is sitting, produces a fairly small knife, not much bigger than a pocketknife. There is another rite that I should teach Slug as well if he wants to learn it, that should serve him well, Jeremiah signs. Whet the Blade, to care for weapons properly and to care for their spirits.
Maddie bobs her head in agreement. That one might be a better place to start, she signs. More direct, more physical, and then as his skill with them grows, he can move to those with less immediate benefits.
I learned both Whet the Blade and the Tobacco rite as a cub, Jeremiah responds. Even whet the blade can help with anger, by giving someone enough to focus on outside of themselves, as a tool. And I think he'll have skill at it, since he clearly knows guns and weapons well.
Maddie says, "Maddie expects that he is right." With sign, she adds: And the practicality of it will make it a rite that he will likely use regularly, which is important of itself. Practice is the surest way to build skill.
Jeremiah rests one arm against the couch, even as he signs, nodding. I think, I use that one every day now, whether my weapons need it or not. Though part of that is that I have enough time to spare and I like the routine of doing it. Silence and stillness follows, and Jeremiah asks. Slug has a lot of Rage for a no moon, though he wears it well enough I suppose. Do you know, was he some other auspice to start with?
Maddie shrugs. "He may have had another once, but if he did, Maddie does not know of it. And if he did, the one he has now is the only one that is important to her."
"Yeah," Jeremiah says, clear agreement, and then switches back to sign. It's not like those pasts matter, he gestures, in any sort of way that is important now. But sometimes they bring bearing to things, like rites. There's a grimace, the lesson of pasts being one the ahroun has learned all too much in the past year, and he continues. It's for Slug to figure out and choose as he goes, of course— but I think that the rites common to ahrouns may be useful to him.
Maddie bobs her head. "They have their starting point, she thinks. He can teach first, and then Maddie will do so as well in a few weeks." She yawns, and begins to get to her feet. For now, she believes there is a box with her name on it outside, Maddie signs.
Jeremiah nods, and points for himself downstairs. It is my shift soon. I promise I won't kill her tonight. There's a sigh, and Jeremiah stretches his arms up against his head. Unless she really and truly leaves me no choice.
Maddie says, "Maddie hopes it does not come to that. She will be close by, if he should need anything."
The moon is in the waxing New (Ragabash) Moon phase (16% full).
Maddie says, "All the more reason for them to find out what is being asked, then, Maddie thinks. Simply knowing the questions may tell them a great deal about what they seek. If it does not, that still tells them something."
"Sounds like a job for someone with less Rage than I have," Slug says with a wry smile. "Maybe it's all dumb. Maybe it's just a misunderstanding, and they're just FBI guys. There isn't really a way to say for sure unless someone goes and does a bit of recon, and I think I'm the one to do it. But… First, I've got to have a chat with a fox I know."
Speaking of Rage, the front door opens enough to admit one anruth into the downstairs, only a little bit out of breath from whatever he'd been doing. That, and Bullfrog looks more scruffy than ever, his hair having grown out some to match the beard that could use a shave now. Aside from the occasional creak of door and floorboard, Jeremiah's silent until he reaches sight of his tribemates, at which point he raises a hand in a wave of greeting, and then pulls the beanie off of his head and shoves it into a pocket.
Maddie replies, "Maddie will seek out those on the streets that she knows, and see if any of them were taken or know of those who were, so perhaps they have a starting point." Then, as the Ahroun enters, Maddie raises one hand in a wave of greeting, and finally opts to take a seat on the couch rather than continuing to stand when she doesn't have to.
Slug turns off his laptop and folds the screen down, resting his hands on top of the monitor's back bit. He nods at Jeremiah, looking him over quickly and quietly. "Basically, just keep a low profile, and keep an eye out for any suits and shades kind of guys. Avoid'em."
Jeremiah takes a breath, and there's a slight mutter and flare of Rage, but it's gone and under control again as he talks. "There were two suits in the Park the other day," he says. Or squeaks. It's his voice that's pissing him off, likely. "One with a big expensive camera, an' one with some cell phone, or pee-dee-ay. They's way too interested in the Fountain, from what Val and the Walker with her and I could tell. Didn' like it, I didn'." Jeremiah shrugs his shoulders. "I keep a low profile anyway." Something in that sounds like Jeremiah's more itching for violence at the moment than anything else, though.
That bit of news doesn't do any wonders for Maddie's mood. She considers for a long moment. "Maddie will have to think about this, about ways they might protect the park. She thinks, at a minimum, they will have to end the practice of using the fountain to cross, or even of crossing over in the park itself. Her other idea… well, it would involve rites beyond those she knows, but perhaps not beyond those that others at the sept might have."
"If they're spooks that are already in the know, like, government vampires, or government robots, or whatever, why don't we just convince them that all the spooky shit came from someone we want dead?" Slug offers, glancing between the two of them. "Hey, it'd be great if you could send the Department of Asskicking after a Spiral Hive."
Jeremiah lifts his hands from his pockets as he moves over towards the couch, a few signs following as he does so, and shakes his head. Don't think it is that simple or that sort of thing, with either set of them. Then, the cliath sits down on the floor not too far from Maddie, only slightly more relaxed from his usual posture of kneeling and then sitting on his heels from the fact that he leans against the couch instead of remaining stone-straight.
Maddie says, "If the Slug can think of a way to send them to Seattle, Maddie would love to hear it. The caern… there are ways that can be protected from prying eyes. The wards already do part of the job; the Rite of the Shrouded Glen could do more still. But Maddie does not know if that could be used on a site that only has the potential to be a caern, assuming any at the Hidden Walk even know it."
"Not easily. Not… Without something. Not without knowing for certain that they're 'strange'. I've never done anything like this before," Slug says, closing his eyes. "But I know something about lying. I know that if we just drop it in their laps, they won't take it. I'll have to think for a long time. Consult. I have a few ideas, though…" He rocks back and fourth a little, nodding at Maddie and Jeremiah. "That's one reason we've gotta move. We've got to protect the park, but we can't just straight up kill them. Do that, and they'll just send more."
Jeremiah nods, not quite sullenly, more an acceptance of something that he knows as fact. "I know," he grumbles. "When y' find something that needs straight-up killing, lemme know, though. Could stand to get my claws dirty a bit more."
Maddie notes to Jeremiah, "While he cannot lead the mission against the toy store's spirit side, given his rank and standing in the sept, there should be no reason he cannot participate in it. Maddie expects there will be ample opportunity for him to put his skills to use." To Slug, she nods. "Do that, and they will become certain they are close to what they seek, and redouble their efforts. Their goal in the park is the opposite— to make it seem entirely unremarkable, so they no longer want to search there."
"I have a few ideas how to make them look elsewhere in a hurry, but… I don't think the Philodox would be down with the idea of creating a minor Veil breech to protect a greater one. Meh." Slug stands up and stretches out, flicking his nearly dead cigarette into some dark corner. "Find someone to spar with, bud. Or some lonely Kin. Either way, blow off some steam. An Ahroun that's all pent up is just a bomb waiting to blow."
Jeremiah rolls his shoulders, a bit. "I've got a few folks I spar with, an' I run an' crap," he says, as quiet as he can be, "I'll be fine." There's a glare directed at where the cigarette butt got flicked to, and Jeremiah snaps, "Pick that up, man. We live here, at least put it in th' trash can."
"The way things have gone of late, he will end up burning down the Library. Or at least setting enough of a blaze to draw human attention," Maddie notes dryly. "And yes, Maddie expects that any Veil breach would be frowned upon… even if it directed them elsewhere for a time, it would be just as likely to cause them to bring their searchers in greater numbers."
"I'm not going to go fish around in the dark for a filter half the size of my finger, but I can stop doing it," Slug offers, tipping his head. "It's easy to get used to just flicking them around when you're out on the sidewalks. Anyways. I think I'm going to go by the tenement, maybe… A couple other places. If something new happens, I'll try to tell someone. Leave a message. Whatever."
Jeremiah takes a breath in, and out, and looks at Slug, and then nods acceptance. "Fine," he agrees. "I'll get an ashtray or five t' have, too." There's a moment, and Jeremiah points out. "Y' shouldn't do it out on th' sidewalks either, no more than ye'd do it if'n y' was in the forest or something. Littering is littering." The jackal-voice sounds ridiculous, still, but the expression on the ahroun's face leaves no question as to that he means every word.
Maddie gestures to the phone over on one of the shelves— one of the burners that Slug brought in, even if acting as a longer-term Library contact number wasn't exactly it's planned purpose. "If he needs them for anything while he is out, he can call them on that phone," Maddie notes.
"That's clever," Slug says with a small grin directed at Maddie. "Though we should swap it out more often than the others." He looks over at Jeremiah, then shrugs again, and picks up his computer. Whether he agrees or not, he's not willing to argue over it. He waves to the both of them, then starts heading out the front door.
Jeremiah lifts his hand in a wave, and once the other is on his way out, turns and twists so that he is more facing the theurge, so that he doesn't have to speak. As much as the smile that happens lights up his face and makes him seem all the more pleasant, the scowl that the cliath has is equally unpleasant at the moment, though it doesn't seem at least to be in the direction of him losing his grip on his temper. Instead, there's just an angry series of signs. Littering is bad. Hard enough to fight for Gaia in the cities without our own being careless.
Maddie aims a wave at the departing Gnawer. "While the human-born bring many strengths based on their upbringing, they often also learn the most bad habits," Maddie agrees. "And some are harder to break than others. But they will remind him." She signs the words even as she says them aloud.
Jeremiah nods, taking his time to calm himself with slow breathing and rein in his anger further, and his hand unclenches to simply rest on the couch for the moment, and then he signs. Yes. I was raised in an isolated sept, mostly, and a very strict one, so I… did not get the same chances. I did not even have television in my mother's house, he signs, chuckling. When I first came to Hidden Walk, when I was a Shadow Lord, Bright-Eyes teased me that I might as well have been from the old country. I still think in… the ahroun pauses, and fingerspells, Russian, sometimes. My… he pauses, mother and sister had mellowed significantly by the time they raised Kyler. And, it was only after I renounced that I learned English as well as I speak it now.
Maddie considers briefly. "Maddie thinks, perhaps, that the first rite that she teaches the Slug will reflect that— Trash is Treasure, since it teaches both thanksgiving for bounty found, and to balance that with offerings in turn. Unless he would prefer to teach it, first, as she taught him?" She looks a little aghast at the notion of someone being raised without a television, but then, it wasn't as if she could spend time outside prior to being able to change.
I would be glad to teach him, the ahroun signs, though there is still a slight sharpness to the motions. And the rite of tobacco, though I think that he might know that one already, but if he does not… he should. Jeremiah pauses, and looks at Maddie. I forget, I think there was the rite I know that you had wanted to learn as well. The deft evasion, yes?
"The Slug does know Tobacco's Calm, yes, though he seeks to learn others." After saying that, though Maddie clarifies in sign: But it is the only one, so far. If he would rather teach others that would have a similar benefit, they might be good starting points as well. Then, in answer to his question, she speaks aloud again. "Maddie does wish to learn it, yes, though it will be some time before she is free to do so. She learns to open the inner sky, so that she may fill that role at moot, and then she means to do some teaching— the Rite of the Totem to Sera, and perhaps to Charlene. At least one minor rite to the Slug, and Rite of Passage to her packmate Sue and perhaps to Emma. After that, she means to learn the Rite of the Fetish next."
Jeremiah nods, thinking for a moment, and from somewhere in one boot underneath where he is sitting, produces a fairly small knife, not much bigger than a pocketknife. There is another rite that I should teach Slug as well if he wants to learn it, that should serve him well, Jeremiah signs. Whet the Blade, to care for weapons properly and to care for their spirits.
Maddie bobs her head in agreement. That one might be a better place to start, she signs. More direct, more physical, and then as his skill with them grows, he can move to those with less immediate benefits.
I learned both Whet the Blade and the Tobacco rite as a cub, Jeremiah responds. Even whet the blade can help with anger, by giving someone enough to focus on outside of themselves, as a tool. And I think he'll have skill at it, since he clearly knows guns and weapons well.
Maddie says, "Maddie expects that he is right." With sign, she adds: And the practicality of it will make it a rite that he will likely use regularly, which is important of itself. Practice is the surest way to build skill.
Jeremiah rests one arm against the couch, even as he signs, nodding. I think, I use that one every day now, whether my weapons need it or not. Though part of that is that I have enough time to spare and I like the routine of doing it. Silence and stillness follows, and Jeremiah asks. Slug has a lot of Rage for a no moon, though he wears it well enough I suppose. Do you know, was he some other auspice to start with?
Maddie shrugs. "He may have had another once, but if he did, Maddie does not know of it. And if he did, the one he has now is the only one that is important to her."
"Yeah," Jeremiah says, clear agreement, and then switches back to sign. It's not like those pasts matter, he gestures, in any sort of way that is important now. But sometimes they bring bearing to things, like rites. There's a grimace, the lesson of pasts being one the ahroun has learned all too much in the past year, and he continues. It's for Slug to figure out and choose as he goes, of course— but I think that the rites common to ahrouns may be useful to him.
Maddie bobs her head. "They have their starting point, she thinks. He can teach first, and then Maddie will do so as well in a few weeks." She yawns, and begins to get to her feet. For now, she believes there is a box with her name on it outside, Maddie signs.
Jeremiah nods, and points for himself downstairs. It is my shift soon. I promise I won't kill her tonight. There's a sigh, and Jeremiah stretches his arms up against his head. Unless she really and truly leaves me no choice.
Maddie says, "Maddie hopes it does not come to that. She will be close by, if he should need anything."