Something that belongs to you.

[jeremiah_garou]

7 March, 2013
The moon is in the waning Crescent (Theurge) Moon phase (31% full).

Jeremiah slips in the front door of the Library relatively quietly, shrugging out of his jacket and heading over towards the common area of the first floor, brow furrowed. He's decently on the lookout for who else might be home at the moment, paying a lot of attention rather than be surprised by something right in front of his face.

Lefty's not hard to find. The ragabash is in the makeshift kitchen, putting together a sandwich from various leftovers. The concoction doesn't look too appetizing, but Lefty seems to be into it. She's munching happily while putting the excess away in between bites.

The ahroun lifts a hand in greeting, though he's quiet until he gets over there. "Afternoon," he offers, the sound of his own voice still eliciting a furrow of brow and a frown and taking a moment to get a grip on himself, though get a grip he does without too much evident difficulty.

Lefty pointedly does not react to the voice. "Hey," she answers around a mouthful of food. She asks if he wants any with a silent gesture to the sandwich.

Jeremiah shakes his head, though there's a gracious, easy smile. "Thanks though," he says, before following that up with, "That kid come upstairs at all, yet?" And apparently on the tack of bringing up everything at once, he glances directly to Lefty for a moment, and just asks outright, almost slightly nervous. "Do I have your permission t' stay in th' area as Anruth?" The implication is there easily and evident in his posture, that he'll fulfill whatever the older Gnawer sets on him if there are terms to that permission.

Lefty shakes her head in answer of the first question. The second is ignored—at least at first. Instead, she continues putting food away and cleaning up after herself. Eventually, though, she draws a deep breath and lets it out with huffed irritation. "I'd prefer not," she says, giving the other Gnawer the respect of meeting his gaze. "But," she adds, "I won't demand you leave."

There's a nod, and Jeremiah raises one hand to push at his forehead, looking down and away after a moment. He's thinking about this it would seem, but eventually offers, "Thank you," rather than a protest, explanation, or anything else, or lengthening that particular discussion. Instead, he turns to look in the general direction of the basement for a moment more.

Lefty finishes putting stuff away. Eventually she notices where the ahroun is looking and asks, "What exactly happened, anyway?"

There's a pair of eyes looking back when Jeremiah looks toward the basement. Angry, especially when directed at the cliath, but mellowed. Those eyes, and the boy's face they belong to, don't move closer at all. No, they remain pretty firmly put. And watching.

"He was wanderin' through th' camp near th' bridge," comes the response, as Jeremiah moves over to sit down on a chair. He notices Reed's presence, but doesn't push the matter, "an' had that look. Angry and goin' nowhere, an' offputting people to boot. I tried to talk to him, didn't get anythin'. Then he went on the offensive, an'. Introduced himself when he woke up, but nothin' more."

Lefty notices the kid, as well. There's still half a sandwich on the circulation desk-slash-kitchen counter. "Come on out," the Gnawer elder calls, gesturing for Reed to join them. "Hungry?"

Reed eases forward, anger turning to distrust despite the hesitant approach. "I was going somewhere," he points out. To Lefty and not Jeremiah. The cliath isn't ignored, but the cub treads carefully around him all the same.

Jeremiah simply sits in the chair he's claimed for himself, at as much ease as he ever is, though he's watching Reed carefully. There's a nod that's almost a question, but it seems Jeremiah's done speaking for the time being.

"Oh?" Lefty prompts, letting the cub tell his story in his own time, it seems. She leaves the sandwich, in case he wants it, and goes back to the fridge to get a beer. The top is popped off and tossed to the garbage before the one-handed Gnawer takes a sip.

"I was looking for Moxie and Emma," Reed explains. He sidles closer to the sandwich, while looking between Lefty and Jeremiah as if he might lose the exchange of food for information. "They didn't come back for morning training."

Bullfrog recognises neither name, though he doesn't seem to doubt the cub's story, simply sitting back into his seat a little more.

Lefty again gestures to the sandwich. "Go ahead," she says, noting with her expression that she means not only the food, but the cub's story. "Doesn't sound like Emma. What do you mean she didn't come back?"

Reed's fingers find the sandwich while his gaze continues to keep track of where Lefty and Jeremiah are. It's lifted carefully, and the cub retreats a couple of steps with his prize. "Moxie went for a walk and Emma went after her. But they didn't come back that night and weren't back the next morning. So I went looking for them."

Lefty asks, "Where were you when they left? Where did they leave you?"

Jeremiah chews his lower lip a moment, expression carefully masked. "You tell anyone where you were goin' 'fore you did?" he asks as well, not long after Lefty asks.

"The Edgewood house," Reed answers. His gaze pulls away from the two Gnawers, giving him a chance to investigate the sandwich before taking a bite out of it. "I left a note."

Lefty offers a simple nod. The beer is put down on the counter so the Gnawer can pull out her cell. A button is pushed, and she waits while the call goes through. "Hey, Em," she says, and there's a pause as the person on the other end says something. "Yeah, I think I found something that belongs to you." Another pause. "At the library." And, again. "Cool. See ya." The cell is clicked off and set down so the gnawer can pick up her beer again.

Maddie fades into view over the course of a few seconds as she crosses to this side of the Gauntlet. TThe Theurge shuffles over toward the kitchen area after putting away her pocket mirror, the thump of the table leg she uses as a walking stick making her surprise entrance more recognizable to the other Gnawers, at least. She offers Lefty and Jeremiah amiable enough nods, while Reed gets a curious look.

Reed's sandwich loses another bite from it just as the thump from Maddie plucks at his attention. He looks him, his gaze follows the theurge, and the sandwich is pulled rather protectively closer and almost behind his back.

Jeremiah offers Maddie a bit of a grin when she arrives, and Lefty gets a brief nod. The cliath seems to have exhausted his share of words for now, though, because he scoots further back into the chair and leans on his arm, quite silent for a moment. "You're a cub," he offers to Reed, with no judgment in his expression. "Stuff's dangerous out there an' y' were out on your own, an' coulda run into anythin' when y' were lookin' for Emma an' Moxie." It's clear that his thought in bringing the cub to the Library was to see him safely returned to his tribe.

Lefty doesn't disagree with Jeremiah, but she doesn't pile on, either. She simply says, "Em's on her way." Maddie gets a small smile as way of greeting.

Maddie snorts at Reed. "Maddie has been hunting for her own food in the city since her first change, and sometimes before, when her elders could make sure it would not breach the veil. She does not need to steal sandwiches from cubs. So he ended up with the Fenrir, did he? The girl, too?"

"You're the lady from the river," Reed answers Maddie with a slight frown. "Yeah, we're Fenris cubs." Jeremiah and Lefty each get a small glance, maybe a fractional frown as well, but no verbal response.

It's not too long before the adren Get shows up. The sound of scuffling about outside, followed by a knock and an even toned, "It's Emma."

"Apparently," Lefty answers Maddie, a faint grin at her lecture on hunting. The knock gets the ragabash's attention, and she pushes away from the counter to walk towards the door. It's opened to allow the Get adren entrance. Emma's greeted with a wide, familiar grin.

Jeremiah looks to Lefty for a moment, picking himself up from his chair to go get the front door, and then setting himself back down when she gets it. For the moment, he remains silent, a faint glance angled to Emma.

Maddie doesn't head back toward the door, leaving that to the two who move a little more quickly, but she does offer the Get Adren a wave in greeting once she's inside. "Maddie is the lady from the river, yes. She wasn't sure how much he would remember, since he frenzied."

Emma gives Lefty a familiar nod and the shortest of grins. Her mood seem rather business like—which for this Get is a far less frequently worn suit. As she looks around, she grants a general 'nod' to the group and then settles her eyes on Reed. "Without excuses, I want to hear, from your mouth, what you've done wrong, and what laws were broken because of it."

Lefty was expecting a reaction from the adren Get, but nevertheless her brows lift. She remains silent, doing little more than shutting the library door behind them. She retreats back to the kitchen, retrieving a fresh beer and popping the top off it before handing the bottle towards Emma.

That sandwich gets hidden a little more protectively again as soon as Emma begins speaking. Reed turns to face Emma, again on guard, but without the distrust he'd shown earlier. "Left without permission," he answers quietly, but fairly quickly. "Submission to those of higher station, broken when I didn't respect the rules that I'm not supposed to leave."

Maddie doesn't say anything as cub and elder have their exchange, just finishes pouring herself a glass of milk and has herself a drink, licking away the milk mustache left behind afterward.

Jeremiah watches the exchange, but doesn't move from his spot, nor say anything, settling an oversize jacket over his shoulders a little bit like a blanket and apparently comfortable in the chair he's claimed. And potentially quite tired, the cliath ahroun looks like he's drifting off a little.

"By leaving your boundaries you failed to show me any respect, you didn't live by your word, and you were not dependable. I told you and Moxie both that I demand my cubs to know and live the creeds as well as the litany. And again, you ignore the very things that we're going over and over and over." Emma steps closer to the cub, and there's evident disappoint and frustration, but it's tempered and a far cry from just outright explosive anger and rage. "How am I supposed to judge you worthy of riting, when you can't even follow a single, simple command?"

Lefty watches for the cub's reaction, simply holding on to the beer for the moment.

Reed takes a tiny step back, turning his head to one side in what is meant to be submission. "I didn't… I was… You weren't back… and… and I was… I meant to find you. Not… get stuck here."

Maddie shuffles into the living area, flopping down and making herself comfortable while she waits. While Jeremiah starts dozing, she pulls her shoes off and begins rubbing her feet, a common indicator that she's been up and walking around for long enough they've begun bothering her.

The Get lets out a sigh, lowering her voice to address mostly just the cub. "You were worried. So you broke the rules to take things into your hands out of concern for Moxie. I get it. But there are gonna be times that you face hard choices between doing the right thing, and doing the thing that will hurt you less. Whether that's running from a fight, leaving your post, or giving up the defense of one person who really needs it, to go running off to Moxie and save her." She shakes her head, "Moxie broke the rules. You broke the rules. Again. You guys can't complain to me on one hand that you're tired of waiting for your rite, and on the other hand continually show me you're not ready for it." She glances quickly over a shoulder, "And you put the Gnawers under a burden to find you, drag you here, and look after you. Give them your apologies, and then we're leaving."

Lefty seems about to argue with the elder Get, but upon second thought she simply takes a sip out of the beer in her hand.

"And you," Reed emphasizes. There were two people he went after. It's the only thing he puts in while Emma talks, gaze only once flickering upward to look at the elder Get. His brows draw together at something she says, stung, but he turns to look at Lefty and Maddie, Jeremiah given only a modicum of his attention. "I'm sorry that my running away turned into a burden on you. It won't happen again."

Jeremiah looks up at this and gives a fractional nod, but doesn't seem particularly inclined to draw attention to himself if it isn't otherwise done.

Lefty answers simply, "Apology accepted."

Maddie suggests to Emma, "Since she is concerned about burdens, perhaps she should require him to hunt for small prey, and bring a portion of his kill to share. The hunt would sharpen skills that he will need in the days ahead." Which would, not coincidentally, also get him out and about in both the woods and the city.

Emma looks to Maddie, "It's a good suggestion, but right now they've both got some work to do with rebuilding some of my trust in them. Once that happens maybe." She gives Reed a nod, "C'mon. You can finish the sandwich on the walk home." To Lefty she gives another nod, "Thanks for the call. And whoever found him, thanks for that too."

Jeremiah looks up a little more, and nods to Emma. "No problem," he says, a fractional frown at the high pitch of his own voice, and he looks to Lefty and Maddie. "Going t' go downstairs an' nap," he says, pushing upright with a brief yawn.

Lefty nods to Jer, and then walks with Emma and Reed back to the door. "Absolutely no problem," she tells the adren Get.

Reed turns for the door, sandwich still held but for now ignored. Or forgotten. He looks as if he's facing an insurmountable task, the idea of rebuilding any sort of trust seemingly impossible. He keeps his thoughts to himself, withdrawing in a sense.