Playing. Then talking. Then … well. Ragabash.
Sunday, 29 January 2012 11:00![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flint_garouWet outside, though
29 January, 2012
The moon is in the waxing Half (Philodox) Moon phase (42% full).
The front door opens and shuts, and there're the sounds of someone scraping shoes and such in the mudroom, before Flint makes his way properly into the living room of Edgewood. One hand is picked up to push hair out of his eyes, and halfway towards the kitchen, the cub pauses. "Hey." Announcing himself, mostly.
Rori is curled up in the living room, on one of the chairs. Looks like she was napping. She rouses as she hears a familiar voice and then nods at Flint. "Hey!" she returns, scraping a hand through her hair.
"Hi Rori-rhya," the boy says, grinning when he sees her. The hand pushing his hair out of his face turns into a half stretch, rolling shoulders, before he makes his way actually over towards the couches, leaning on an empty one.
Rori curls into the chair like a napping cat, giving the younger boy a little smile. "Not used to being called that. Thanks. How's it going?"
Flint shrugs slightly, thumbs hooking into the pockets of his jeans. "Going mostly alright," he says. "Sorry if I woke you up, and all."
Rori shakes her head, covering a yawn with her hand. "Don't worrry about it, cub. Met your.. mentor? the other day? He was surely defending you pretty fiercely."
Flint tilts his head to one side. "Kavi-rhya?" the boy asks, a faint furrow of his brow. "Uh." A nod follows, and the cub watches Rori, more curious than anything else. "Did you?"
Rori nods, not acting like the meeting was any big deal. "Yeah. Seemed nice. Then I spend a day or two near the vines, watching them. Met Wildfire. Nice. Played on the vines a bit. If they weren't such a big problem, they'd be a lot of fun. Fun to roll off the top.
Flint grins, thoughtful and silent for a long moment. "Yeah." He pauses. "I ended up telling Kavi-rhya about what happened with Javid, the other day," the cub offers, kind of an explanation. "Like I said I might."
Rori tilts her head at him, watching curiously for a moment. "Was it that bad? He's a lot nicer to you than anyone in my home sept is to me."
Flint looks up, watching the ceiling rather than Rori for a moment as he thinks, and brows furrow slightly, before he looks back at her. "It's…" a pause for a moment. "You were in the kitchen, you missed part of it. It's not about nice so much, as." Then the cub falls silent, shrugs, shakes it off.
Rori gives a nod, accepting of that. She doesn't seem to think it's her business to press it. "Didn't want to be part of any problems with you and yours.
Flint smiles slightly, then looks over at the door to the kitchen. "I'm going to go grab a soda, do you want something while I'm in there?"
Rori gives him a grin. "Only if you bring me back nice clean water. Not that crap the city has been messing with." Well water is fine, tap water is not. "What have you been up to lately?"
"There're some water bottles, but…" the boy shrugs. "I don't think that's what you meant, is it." Flint grins, before he disappears into the kitchen, and the sounds of the boy digging through the fridge can be heard all the way into the living room. He's not being particularly quiet about it.
Rori doesn't seem affected by the noise. "Filtered, spring or carbonated?" she asks in a voice loud enough to be overheard.
There's a pause, during which the sounds of rummaging through the fridge continues, before Flint responds. "Spring water," he calls out in return.
"That works," is called back as the fierce ahroun cuddles beneath a blanket. Rori adds, "I can cook something if you want. You hungry?"
The sound of laughter comes from the kitchen, and the closing of the refrigerator door, before Flint appears in the doorway to the living room again. "Is the sky blue?" he asks, grinning. A water bottle is offered to Rori.
Rori laughs at the look on his face. "Well, my idea of a great snack is a squirrel, but I know that those who can eat in the kitchen are encouraged to, right now. What is it that you'd like?"
"Pretty much," Flint says. Head disappears around the doorway and the boy looks at the kitchen again. "I think there's a good variety of stuff in the fridge, whatever you want to cook?" A grin forms on the cub's face.
Rori takes the water bottle when offered and finishes it off before she pulls herself out of the chair and then pads her way into the kitchen. "Nothing you might want more than anything else? Can't promise I can cook it, but if I can, I'll try."
Brow furrows in what might be minor confusion as Flint follows Rori into the kitchen. "Really, whatever you want to cook," he insists, a grin returning to his face. "Meat." There, he specified something.
Rori goes hunting around and finds stuff for a traditional American breakfast. She starts throwing things on the stove. Ham. Eggs. Hash browns. Sausage. Bacon. Heavy on the meat. "Alright. I'm not a great cook, but you've eaten my cooking before and lived."
There's a faintly quizzical look on Flint's face when Rori says whatever about not being a good cook. "And it was good, no less," he insists.
Rori pats him on the head, but it's an affectionate gesture. "You're a good kid. Now, let's see." She thinks for a moment and then starts sorting things by how long it takes to cook them. Longer things, like the bacon and sausage are put on the back burner on a grill. The ham at a lower temp beside it. The eggs are scrambled and she puts… veggies in them. Onions, peppers, whatever's in the fridge. "How hungry are you?"
Flint grins, ducking a nod to glance at his feet at the compliment, and helping out where he can, though he's mostly good at staying out of the way in the kitchen. "Dunno," he says. "Breakfast was a while ago?" Another faint grin. "So, you know."
Rori gives a little shrug. "Who cares? It's meat! And I like breakfast." She throws on the potatoes and then a little seasoning for flavor. Everything else goes on shortly thereafter, in large portions. Like she's trying to fatten him up.
Flint nods, enthusiastically. "Breakfast's good for any meal," the boy agrees. "Just meant that I haven't had anything since before lessons this morning." The clarification is quiet, a little moreso than the boy's usual softspokenness.
Rori glances at him out of the corner of her eye. "You want to talk, cub, I'm always willing to listen. Might not always have something to say, but at times an ear is enough."
Flint grins, a little, and shakes his head. "Just… thanks, Rori-rhya," the boy says, leaning back against the table.
Rori lets it go, likely one of the most easy-going types around, until she gets riled up. She flips the meat and then starts to cook the eggs. "No biggie. You'll be able to fight me you put on some more weight. Well, if your elder lets me teach you about those things, that is."
Flint grins. "Kavi-rhya said something about waiting until after my rite of passage, for that," he says, though there's no big deal to the words. "'s what everyone keeps telling me, about putting on some more weight." The boy shakes his head idly. "In between Devon calling me a runt."
Rori looks up as she shovels meat onto a plate, then eggs and potatoes. "Not a runt, just need to build some muscle. Fight training, that's fine, but you can work on your strength now. If.. if your elder is ok with that. My opinion doesn't matter at all against his."
The cub nods. "No one said anything about waiting as far as that goes," Flint says, moving from where he'd been standing to get out eating utensils, and to grab a glass, the remains of the soda poured out.
Rori grins back at him. "Good. Start with push ups and sit ups. As many as you can do. That'll get you moving and it's something you can do on your own whenever you have time. Just do some whenever you think about it."
Flint nods again, before taking the plate when it's handed to him, setting it on the table, and then slightly carefully sitting down. The awkward shows through in a slight lack of coordination, though the cub manages not to spill anything, or knock anything over. "That makes sense," he says, before shoveling a few bites into his mouth. Not in a hurry or anything, just as enthusiastic as ever about food.
Rori watches him quietly, grabbing the rest for herself and sits down at the table nearby. "You're moving careful. What's up?"
Another several bites of food disappear before Flint pauses to answer. "Oh," he says, a faintly abashed grin on his face. "I um. Fell off the top bunk this morning," comes the explanation from the cub.
Rori peers at him curiously, tilting her head. "Shift, boy. An hour in any other form and that soreness'll go away. Take advantage of being what you are."
There's a faint 'oh' mouthed in between bites, as though the thought really hadn't occurred to Flint before. "Yeah," he acknowledges, though his attention seems to be quite firmly on the food at least for the moment. "Was doing stuff with the computers all morning, didn't exactly … think of that."
Rori almost shudders at mention of computers and starts to maul the food into her mouth almost as bad as him. "Yeah? Well, that'll solve your problem right away. Surprised you're even holding onto soreness, honestly."
Flint head tilts to one side, and the boy gets up, backing away from the table before shifting up to glabro. Apparently obeying the cliath, before his attention goes back to the plate of food on the table, though he simply takes the plate and leans on the counter, picking up each bite between thumb and forefinger in order to eat.
Rori looks amused as she watches him, not bothered in the least. "When in Rome. Just so long as you eat." She finishes off her smaller portion and gets up to clean up the mess. "Should stop in the city at your tribe's place. Look aroudn a bit. Like to be aware what's up."
Flint continues to eat, emptying the plate of the remaining food in rather short order, and sets the plate down on the counter next to the sink before moving to push his hair out of his eyes again. "Would be good at some point," he says, nodding agreement. "It's nice, and all."
Rori cleans up and then turns to look at him. "Been there once. Talked to a nice kin. Something about his kid. Very cool. You can show me around if you like."
"If I'm there," Flint agrees with a nod, "I'd love to." A small stretch, followed by a long pause, and the boy shifts down to his birth form again, offering Rori a grin. "And if someone's not in the lobby, you can always ask whoever's on duty if someone's in, and all."
Rori grins, shaking her head at him. "Feeling better? Doesn't take much, does it? It's Gaia's gift to us, so we can kick ass in her name. Wouldn't be very effective if we were all beat up all the time."
The cub nods. "Yeah, better," Flint agrees. "Though I still feel rather silly for falling off the bunk bed." He finishes drying off his own plate, putting it away, before reaching for the mostly empty glass of soda from the table.
Rori gets another bottle of water from the fridge. "Hey, crap like that happens all the time. Pick up and move on, a lupus born wouldn't even sleep on the bed. Would be too high, likely. Usually."
Flint laughs a bit, finishing the soda before moving back over to the sink to wash the glass out. "I'm still not too used to having a bed," Flint admits, quietly. "And it is too high, not that it matters that much."
Rori grins back at him. "Some of the same problems. Don't expect that it will all come easy. Life isn't about easy. It's about putting your blood, sweat and tears into a cause greater than yourself."
"Yeah," the cub says, nodding, and then when the dishes plus the few clean ones in the drying rack are all put away, Flint stretches, arms out above his head again. "That it is."
Rori walks over to look out the window, pondering silently. "Could go run around outside again until you fall down."
Flint grins, draping his sweatshirt over the chair in the kitchen and then moving for the door, leaving it open for Rori to follow him out to the backyard, before the cub shifts down to lupus, scrabbling on the porch and down the few steps into the grass, despite the drizzle of rain. In fact, the cub seems rather pleased with himself as he attacks a puddle that has formed.
Danger Magnet closes the door and then shifts, leaving her clothes on before she leaps off the stair and jumps right behind Flint, growling low and teasingly threatening.
Ears perk up and the cub chuffs in response, though for a moment, Takes-It-All-In-Stride is clearly more interested in attacking the puddle. And then it becomes clear, as he jumps up and over it such as to splash the Ahroun.
Danger Magnet drips. Drip. Drip. Cold. She shivers the water off in a full body shake and then goes after the cub in earnest. She calls this training. Others call this play. But whatever it is, Takes-It-All-In-Stride is much more comfortable on four feet that he used to be when she met him.
Tail wags out behind him as the cub runs through the yard. Puddle! Puddle! In fact, All-In-Stride seems to be making his way from one puddle to the next, tongue lolling in the air as he runs.
Danger Magnet evades most of the wet and seems to just be chasing the cub. He finds the puddles, she makes sure he keeps running.
All-in-Stride is rather enthusiastic about the puddles, despite the mud everywhere, making several circuits of the yard with the Ahroun in pursuit, until the cub lags a bit, turning back on Rori and head lowering to the ground in a play-bow as he admits defeat. Wet. Slippery wet, the cub adds, panting to catch his breath.
Kevin comes trudging up the driveway from the road, hands in pockets, looking fairly sullen. He pauses to look at the two wolves playing in the meadow, which doesn't seem to improve his mood any.
All-in-Stride pauses a moment longer, looking at the meadow and at the puddles, before he shakes himself off, several times. Then the cub's attention flicks to his tribemate, a moment of indecision and then shaking the mud and wet off further. That done, the cub takes off, not at a full speed run, but at a decent trot, slowing down as he approaches Kevin, a faint whine of greeting given.
Danger Magnet lays down on the grass, watching the cub as he slows down and wants a break. She's got plenty of energy even for the cub, it seems. Her own fur is damp from puddle splashing. She couldn't evade everything.
"Eya," Kevin says as All-in-Stride comes prancing up. "You look happy."
All-in-Stride is happy, the cub asserts, head turning to indicate Danger Magnet and that the cub has been playing in the meadow. Ears splay to the side a little, though, even as All-In-Stride moves a bit away so that the shaking off of water doesn't get any onto the ragabash. You don't. It's not a question, more an observation, as the cub pauses, tail wagging ever so slightly.
Danger Magnet tucks her feet just so, ready to take off again in a moment's notice. Play? All must play. Part of being wolf. She yawns, licking her teeth and then turns to watch a squirrel as it scampers across a tree several yards away.
Kevin doesn't seem very inclined to play. "Yeah. Lot on my mind. Mouse reckons we need to pull out of the caern, and I'm… worrying."
Ears splay further, and the cub moves across to nudge Kevin's leg, gently and in an attempt, as much as the cub can be, to be reassuring that things will end up okay, before backing up a bit and shifting back to his birth form. Water and such are shaken off again, hair shoved behind his ears as the hairtie seems to have disappeared at some point earlier in the day. "Devon said something yesterday, about staying off the bawn and out of the caern," Flint says.
Danger Magnet yawns, getting to her feet and pacing over. Abandon is last resort. Think so bad? She tilts her head at Kevin curiously. Why stay away? Seems much I have missed. Catch up, please?
"You'll have to ask Mouse," Kevin says. "Apparently she thinks we're in a position similar to some other caern down south years ago. Basically she reckons we need to let the Wyld take it over for a bit… renew it, or whatever… and then we can come back. But I don't like it one bit."
Flint nods, slowly, hands shoving into his pockets. "Back in out of the rain," Flint asks, mostly of Kevin but head tilting towards Danger Magnet as well when the question is voiced. "I can't say it sounds like something anyone's gonna like, Kevin-rhya," the boy adds, looking at Kevin again.
Danger Magnet tilts her head in agreement if they want to go in, she's game. She might even slide back onto two feet. For now, though, she's sitting there, watching Kevin. Have met before?
"Kevin Lockwood, Glass Walker ragabash," grunts Kevin. "Adren. And yeah. I don't think anyone likes it. I keep trying to figure out ways around it, or if there's any kind of possible catch to it. Damned if I can see one."
Flint looks between Kevin and Danger Magnet once more, before the cub shrugs, moving towards the front door of the house to go back inside, holding the door to the mudroom open so that the other two Garou can go first.
Danger Magnet gives a respectful dip of her head, tail lowering in deference to his higher rank. ~Rori Murphy. Danger Magnet. Cliath Ahroun of the Fianna.~ She turns to look at Kevin before she heads inside.
Kevin nods politely to Danger Magnet. "Come on, let's talk inside," he agrees, and follows Flint to the door, then inside.
Flint pauses in the mudroom, shaking off the rest of the wet and wiping off the mud from his shoes before he moves all the way into the living room. The cub makes his way to lean on the back of a couch, standing up, before he begins pulling fingers through wet hair in an attempt to make it look like something other than a mess. An attempt that does very little, though.
Danger Magnet pads into the house on four feet, shaking out her fur before she enters and then slides back up onto two legs as she shakes off. Hair gets tied up again out of her way. "What do the other elders think?"
"I really don't know," Kevin grunts. "That's one reason I'm out here. I want to see what other people are saying. You, Rori, Fianna. What's your elder reckon to all this?" He stabs a finger in Rori's direction.
Flint eventually gives up on neatness of appearance, digging out a hairtie from his pocket and simply pulling his hair back out of his face regardless of the every which way current state of things, turning from Kevin to Rori as the Adren finishes speaking.
Danger Magnet frowns a little. "Can't tell you. Haven't been able to find him. I need to report my chiminage, as well. Wildfire is looking for him too. I went to the grotto to find Jacey, but she wasn't around either."
"Bloody marvellous," Kevin sighs. "Where's he normally hang out? It's Elliot, isn't it?"
Flint looks between Kevin and Rori for a moment, before straightening and turning towards the kitchen. "I'm going to put up coffee," the boy offers, with a tone of coffee being a useful thing to do.
Rori drops onto the couch, shaking her head. "I have a cell phone number, but I know he lives in the city. He has a family there."
"Coffee! Now that sounds good," Kevin agrees. He takes a seat on a chair facing Rori. "Does he, now? Never knew that. I have to say I don't know all that much about Elliot. He only came to town last year, I think. And he keeps himself to himself. Now that I don't pack with a Fianna any more…"
Flint grins a little. "Coffee, because it's damnable wet outside," Flint asserts, before the cub makes his way into the kitchen. A few minutes pass, and then he returns to lean on the doorway between the two rooms, such that he can watch the coffee brew and yet still not miss anything.
Rori gives a little shrug. Her accent thick in this form. Irish. From the island itself. "Only been here about a month m'self. Trying to figure out the local troubles, what I can do to help. Only met Elliot twice. First when I arrived and then when he agreed on my chiminage."
"You picked a fine time to come here," Kevin says, eyeing Rori as though, for whatever reason, he doesn't quite trust her. "What made you come? Also," he adds after a second, "have you been having any weird dreams?"
Flint disappears back into the kitchen as Kevin speaks, at the faint series of beeps from the coffee machine, before coming back out with three cups of coffee, and the various things to go into coffee on a small plate. "There, coffee," the boy says, setting the cups on the table before claiming one for himself, and then sitting down on the floor near Kevin.
Rori gives a shake of her head, submitting to the 3rd degree. "Been wandering the states for awhile. Mentor told me this was a good spot and I should come here. Seemed to work, so decided to stay a bit." She gives Flint a nod of thanks. "Came after the Rite of the Winter Wind. Seems you had to be there for that to get those."
"Maybe," Kevin says to Rori. "Who was Mentor?" He picks up one of Flint's coffees and takes an eager sip of the warm fluid.
Flint has his cup of coffee in both hands, listening to the conversation although the cub is quiet for the moment.
Rori looks back at Kevin steadily. "Siobhan O'Malley. Based mostly on the east coast. Near the north. Don't know if she did more than pass through here on the way to something else. She didn't specify."
Kevin drinks more coffee. There's something in the way he keeps his eyes on Rori which suggests he's not entirely happy with… something. "Well," he says after a moment, "right now, I guess the more garou we have around here, the better."
Rori is respectful, but careful, frowning a little like she's aware she's doing something wrong and doesn't know what it is. "I will help as I can. I have some battle experienced." She's marked all up by scars, much more evident when in fur.
Flint takes a long sip of his own coffee, before setting the cup back on the table rather than the more precarious position of having it in his hands, lips pursed and a faint shrug following.
"Good for you," Kevin says. He turns to Flint. "You found any more people to talk to about the dream thing yet?"
The cub frowns a moment at the question, and shakes his head. "No… nothing since the last time in the lobby, sorry," he says. "Been kinda busy with lessons with Kavi-rhya the past few days." Another furrow of brow and then Flint reclaims his coffee.
Rori picks up the coffee, nodding to Flint in thanks again and curls up on the couch, frowning still. She has no idea what she did wrong, but figures keeping her mouth shut at this point is best.
"Well, it does all seem rather futile, now," Kevin comments to Flint. "But I suppose we should keep on at it, given that I can't think of any better use of my time, until and unless we're ordered to help evacuate the caern."
Flint shrugs a bit, and takes a long sip from his coffee. "It's still a good thing," Flint says, with mustered certainty. Or perhaps simply that the boy prefers working on the list of dreams than the other lessons.
Rori looks back and forth between them, curiously, more withdrawn than before. She just doesn't know how to help or what to say.
Kevin looks at Rori again, and there's a silence which starts awkward, and just gets more and more so. The ragabash fidgets in his chair, and spills a few drops of coffee over the edge of his mug.
Awkward indeed. The cub takes another few sips of his coffee, before leaning over to put it down on the table again, and his gaze flicks between Kevin and Rori, several times.
Rori isn't staring at anyone, she just doesn't know what to say, and these awkward silences seem to be very comfortable to her. She seems downright used to causing them. "So um, tried to find a use for the vines the other day. Best I could come up with was tumbling off them."
"Too bad," Kevin says. "If we could find a use for them, there's no shortage of the rotten things…"
Flint laughs quietly, the slight tension from the awkward silence at least lessening in the boy's posture.
Rori clears her throat a little. "Jumping on them was fun on four feet, so long as you had a good purchase, otherwise you landed on your belly and that could be uncomfortable."
"Please tell me you were going a-wooo-a-wooooooo," Kevin grins suddenly. "Like Tarzan of the Apes."
It's probably a good thing at this point that Flint's no longer holding his coffee cup, and that it's set aside on the table. A glance goes up at the ragabash, and it's clear that the cub is trying not to laugh. Not succeeding, though.
Rori holds up a finger with a nod. "Not then. Wildfire was watching and I thought it would be undignified. But the next time.. the next time, I think I will. No promises that it will be pleasant, however. I can't even howl decently on tune. Sound more like a junkyard dog."
"Anyone want to go out for a swing, right now?" Kevin suddenly has a wild, gleeful look in his eyes. Surely it can't just be one cup of coffee that's put it there?
Rori finishes off her cup of coffee and slides to her feet. "I'm always game for taking off on four feet. Especially for play. We don't get enough play as garou."
Flint snickers a little, before he pushes himself to his feet, grinning at Kevin. "Sure, Kevin-rhya," the boy says, stretching arms up above his head. A glance at Rori, and then the boy gathers the coffee cups, hurrying to take them into the kitchen and returning briefly, empty-handed and eager.
"Race you out there!" Kevin offers. He leaps out of his chair and makes a bolt for the door.
29 January, 2012
The moon is in the waxing Half (Philodox) Moon phase (42% full).
The front door opens and shuts, and there're the sounds of someone scraping shoes and such in the mudroom, before Flint makes his way properly into the living room of Edgewood. One hand is picked up to push hair out of his eyes, and halfway towards the kitchen, the cub pauses. "Hey." Announcing himself, mostly.
Rori is curled up in the living room, on one of the chairs. Looks like she was napping. She rouses as she hears a familiar voice and then nods at Flint. "Hey!" she returns, scraping a hand through her hair.
"Hi Rori-rhya," the boy says, grinning when he sees her. The hand pushing his hair out of his face turns into a half stretch, rolling shoulders, before he makes his way actually over towards the couches, leaning on an empty one.
Rori curls into the chair like a napping cat, giving the younger boy a little smile. "Not used to being called that. Thanks. How's it going?"
Flint shrugs slightly, thumbs hooking into the pockets of his jeans. "Going mostly alright," he says. "Sorry if I woke you up, and all."
Rori shakes her head, covering a yawn with her hand. "Don't worrry about it, cub. Met your.. mentor? the other day? He was surely defending you pretty fiercely."
Flint tilts his head to one side. "Kavi-rhya?" the boy asks, a faint furrow of his brow. "Uh." A nod follows, and the cub watches Rori, more curious than anything else. "Did you?"
Rori nods, not acting like the meeting was any big deal. "Yeah. Seemed nice. Then I spend a day or two near the vines, watching them. Met Wildfire. Nice. Played on the vines a bit. If they weren't such a big problem, they'd be a lot of fun. Fun to roll off the top.
Flint grins, thoughtful and silent for a long moment. "Yeah." He pauses. "I ended up telling Kavi-rhya about what happened with Javid, the other day," the cub offers, kind of an explanation. "Like I said I might."
Rori tilts her head at him, watching curiously for a moment. "Was it that bad? He's a lot nicer to you than anyone in my home sept is to me."
Flint looks up, watching the ceiling rather than Rori for a moment as he thinks, and brows furrow slightly, before he looks back at her. "It's…" a pause for a moment. "You were in the kitchen, you missed part of it. It's not about nice so much, as." Then the cub falls silent, shrugs, shakes it off.
Rori gives a nod, accepting of that. She doesn't seem to think it's her business to press it. "Didn't want to be part of any problems with you and yours.
Flint smiles slightly, then looks over at the door to the kitchen. "I'm going to go grab a soda, do you want something while I'm in there?"
Rori gives him a grin. "Only if you bring me back nice clean water. Not that crap the city has been messing with." Well water is fine, tap water is not. "What have you been up to lately?"
"There're some water bottles, but…" the boy shrugs. "I don't think that's what you meant, is it." Flint grins, before he disappears into the kitchen, and the sounds of the boy digging through the fridge can be heard all the way into the living room. He's not being particularly quiet about it.
Rori doesn't seem affected by the noise. "Filtered, spring or carbonated?" she asks in a voice loud enough to be overheard.
There's a pause, during which the sounds of rummaging through the fridge continues, before Flint responds. "Spring water," he calls out in return.
"That works," is called back as the fierce ahroun cuddles beneath a blanket. Rori adds, "I can cook something if you want. You hungry?"
The sound of laughter comes from the kitchen, and the closing of the refrigerator door, before Flint appears in the doorway to the living room again. "Is the sky blue?" he asks, grinning. A water bottle is offered to Rori.
Rori laughs at the look on his face. "Well, my idea of a great snack is a squirrel, but I know that those who can eat in the kitchen are encouraged to, right now. What is it that you'd like?"
"Pretty much," Flint says. Head disappears around the doorway and the boy looks at the kitchen again. "I think there's a good variety of stuff in the fridge, whatever you want to cook?" A grin forms on the cub's face.
Rori takes the water bottle when offered and finishes it off before she pulls herself out of the chair and then pads her way into the kitchen. "Nothing you might want more than anything else? Can't promise I can cook it, but if I can, I'll try."
Brow furrows in what might be minor confusion as Flint follows Rori into the kitchen. "Really, whatever you want to cook," he insists, a grin returning to his face. "Meat." There, he specified something.
Rori goes hunting around and finds stuff for a traditional American breakfast. She starts throwing things on the stove. Ham. Eggs. Hash browns. Sausage. Bacon. Heavy on the meat. "Alright. I'm not a great cook, but you've eaten my cooking before and lived."
There's a faintly quizzical look on Flint's face when Rori says whatever about not being a good cook. "And it was good, no less," he insists.
Rori pats him on the head, but it's an affectionate gesture. "You're a good kid. Now, let's see." She thinks for a moment and then starts sorting things by how long it takes to cook them. Longer things, like the bacon and sausage are put on the back burner on a grill. The ham at a lower temp beside it. The eggs are scrambled and she puts… veggies in them. Onions, peppers, whatever's in the fridge. "How hungry are you?"
Flint grins, ducking a nod to glance at his feet at the compliment, and helping out where he can, though he's mostly good at staying out of the way in the kitchen. "Dunno," he says. "Breakfast was a while ago?" Another faint grin. "So, you know."
Rori gives a little shrug. "Who cares? It's meat! And I like breakfast." She throws on the potatoes and then a little seasoning for flavor. Everything else goes on shortly thereafter, in large portions. Like she's trying to fatten him up.
Flint nods, enthusiastically. "Breakfast's good for any meal," the boy agrees. "Just meant that I haven't had anything since before lessons this morning." The clarification is quiet, a little moreso than the boy's usual softspokenness.
Rori glances at him out of the corner of her eye. "You want to talk, cub, I'm always willing to listen. Might not always have something to say, but at times an ear is enough."
Flint grins, a little, and shakes his head. "Just… thanks, Rori-rhya," the boy says, leaning back against the table.
Rori lets it go, likely one of the most easy-going types around, until she gets riled up. She flips the meat and then starts to cook the eggs. "No biggie. You'll be able to fight me you put on some more weight. Well, if your elder lets me teach you about those things, that is."
Flint grins. "Kavi-rhya said something about waiting until after my rite of passage, for that," he says, though there's no big deal to the words. "'s what everyone keeps telling me, about putting on some more weight." The boy shakes his head idly. "In between Devon calling me a runt."
Rori looks up as she shovels meat onto a plate, then eggs and potatoes. "Not a runt, just need to build some muscle. Fight training, that's fine, but you can work on your strength now. If.. if your elder is ok with that. My opinion doesn't matter at all against his."
The cub nods. "No one said anything about waiting as far as that goes," Flint says, moving from where he'd been standing to get out eating utensils, and to grab a glass, the remains of the soda poured out.
Rori grins back at him. "Good. Start with push ups and sit ups. As many as you can do. That'll get you moving and it's something you can do on your own whenever you have time. Just do some whenever you think about it."
Flint nods again, before taking the plate when it's handed to him, setting it on the table, and then slightly carefully sitting down. The awkward shows through in a slight lack of coordination, though the cub manages not to spill anything, or knock anything over. "That makes sense," he says, before shoveling a few bites into his mouth. Not in a hurry or anything, just as enthusiastic as ever about food.
Rori watches him quietly, grabbing the rest for herself and sits down at the table nearby. "You're moving careful. What's up?"
Another several bites of food disappear before Flint pauses to answer. "Oh," he says, a faintly abashed grin on his face. "I um. Fell off the top bunk this morning," comes the explanation from the cub.
Rori peers at him curiously, tilting her head. "Shift, boy. An hour in any other form and that soreness'll go away. Take advantage of being what you are."
There's a faint 'oh' mouthed in between bites, as though the thought really hadn't occurred to Flint before. "Yeah," he acknowledges, though his attention seems to be quite firmly on the food at least for the moment. "Was doing stuff with the computers all morning, didn't exactly … think of that."
Rori almost shudders at mention of computers and starts to maul the food into her mouth almost as bad as him. "Yeah? Well, that'll solve your problem right away. Surprised you're even holding onto soreness, honestly."
Flint head tilts to one side, and the boy gets up, backing away from the table before shifting up to glabro. Apparently obeying the cliath, before his attention goes back to the plate of food on the table, though he simply takes the plate and leans on the counter, picking up each bite between thumb and forefinger in order to eat.
Rori looks amused as she watches him, not bothered in the least. "When in Rome. Just so long as you eat." She finishes off her smaller portion and gets up to clean up the mess. "Should stop in the city at your tribe's place. Look aroudn a bit. Like to be aware what's up."
Flint continues to eat, emptying the plate of the remaining food in rather short order, and sets the plate down on the counter next to the sink before moving to push his hair out of his eyes again. "Would be good at some point," he says, nodding agreement. "It's nice, and all."
Rori cleans up and then turns to look at him. "Been there once. Talked to a nice kin. Something about his kid. Very cool. You can show me around if you like."
"If I'm there," Flint agrees with a nod, "I'd love to." A small stretch, followed by a long pause, and the boy shifts down to his birth form again, offering Rori a grin. "And if someone's not in the lobby, you can always ask whoever's on duty if someone's in, and all."
Rori grins, shaking her head at him. "Feeling better? Doesn't take much, does it? It's Gaia's gift to us, so we can kick ass in her name. Wouldn't be very effective if we were all beat up all the time."
The cub nods. "Yeah, better," Flint agrees. "Though I still feel rather silly for falling off the bunk bed." He finishes drying off his own plate, putting it away, before reaching for the mostly empty glass of soda from the table.
Rori gets another bottle of water from the fridge. "Hey, crap like that happens all the time. Pick up and move on, a lupus born wouldn't even sleep on the bed. Would be too high, likely. Usually."
Flint laughs a bit, finishing the soda before moving back over to the sink to wash the glass out. "I'm still not too used to having a bed," Flint admits, quietly. "And it is too high, not that it matters that much."
Rori grins back at him. "Some of the same problems. Don't expect that it will all come easy. Life isn't about easy. It's about putting your blood, sweat and tears into a cause greater than yourself."
"Yeah," the cub says, nodding, and then when the dishes plus the few clean ones in the drying rack are all put away, Flint stretches, arms out above his head again. "That it is."
Rori walks over to look out the window, pondering silently. "Could go run around outside again until you fall down."
Flint grins, draping his sweatshirt over the chair in the kitchen and then moving for the door, leaving it open for Rori to follow him out to the backyard, before the cub shifts down to lupus, scrabbling on the porch and down the few steps into the grass, despite the drizzle of rain. In fact, the cub seems rather pleased with himself as he attacks a puddle that has formed.
Danger Magnet closes the door and then shifts, leaving her clothes on before she leaps off the stair and jumps right behind Flint, growling low and teasingly threatening.
Ears perk up and the cub chuffs in response, though for a moment, Takes-It-All-In-Stride is clearly more interested in attacking the puddle. And then it becomes clear, as he jumps up and over it such as to splash the Ahroun.
Danger Magnet drips. Drip. Drip. Cold. She shivers the water off in a full body shake and then goes after the cub in earnest. She calls this training. Others call this play. But whatever it is, Takes-It-All-In-Stride is much more comfortable on four feet that he used to be when she met him.
Tail wags out behind him as the cub runs through the yard. Puddle! Puddle! In fact, All-In-Stride seems to be making his way from one puddle to the next, tongue lolling in the air as he runs.
Danger Magnet evades most of the wet and seems to just be chasing the cub. He finds the puddles, she makes sure he keeps running.
All-in-Stride is rather enthusiastic about the puddles, despite the mud everywhere, making several circuits of the yard with the Ahroun in pursuit, until the cub lags a bit, turning back on Rori and head lowering to the ground in a play-bow as he admits defeat. Wet. Slippery wet, the cub adds, panting to catch his breath.
Kevin comes trudging up the driveway from the road, hands in pockets, looking fairly sullen. He pauses to look at the two wolves playing in the meadow, which doesn't seem to improve his mood any.
All-in-Stride pauses a moment longer, looking at the meadow and at the puddles, before he shakes himself off, several times. Then the cub's attention flicks to his tribemate, a moment of indecision and then shaking the mud and wet off further. That done, the cub takes off, not at a full speed run, but at a decent trot, slowing down as he approaches Kevin, a faint whine of greeting given.
Danger Magnet lays down on the grass, watching the cub as he slows down and wants a break. She's got plenty of energy even for the cub, it seems. Her own fur is damp from puddle splashing. She couldn't evade everything.
"Eya," Kevin says as All-in-Stride comes prancing up. "You look happy."
All-in-Stride is happy, the cub asserts, head turning to indicate Danger Magnet and that the cub has been playing in the meadow. Ears splay to the side a little, though, even as All-In-Stride moves a bit away so that the shaking off of water doesn't get any onto the ragabash. You don't. It's not a question, more an observation, as the cub pauses, tail wagging ever so slightly.
Danger Magnet tucks her feet just so, ready to take off again in a moment's notice. Play? All must play. Part of being wolf. She yawns, licking her teeth and then turns to watch a squirrel as it scampers across a tree several yards away.
Kevin doesn't seem very inclined to play. "Yeah. Lot on my mind. Mouse reckons we need to pull out of the caern, and I'm… worrying."
Ears splay further, and the cub moves across to nudge Kevin's leg, gently and in an attempt, as much as the cub can be, to be reassuring that things will end up okay, before backing up a bit and shifting back to his birth form. Water and such are shaken off again, hair shoved behind his ears as the hairtie seems to have disappeared at some point earlier in the day. "Devon said something yesterday, about staying off the bawn and out of the caern," Flint says.
Danger Magnet yawns, getting to her feet and pacing over. Abandon is last resort. Think so bad? She tilts her head at Kevin curiously. Why stay away? Seems much I have missed. Catch up, please?
"You'll have to ask Mouse," Kevin says. "Apparently she thinks we're in a position similar to some other caern down south years ago. Basically she reckons we need to let the Wyld take it over for a bit… renew it, or whatever… and then we can come back. But I don't like it one bit."
Flint nods, slowly, hands shoving into his pockets. "Back in out of the rain," Flint asks, mostly of Kevin but head tilting towards Danger Magnet as well when the question is voiced. "I can't say it sounds like something anyone's gonna like, Kevin-rhya," the boy adds, looking at Kevin again.
Danger Magnet tilts her head in agreement if they want to go in, she's game. She might even slide back onto two feet. For now, though, she's sitting there, watching Kevin. Have met before?
"Kevin Lockwood, Glass Walker ragabash," grunts Kevin. "Adren. And yeah. I don't think anyone likes it. I keep trying to figure out ways around it, or if there's any kind of possible catch to it. Damned if I can see one."
Flint looks between Kevin and Danger Magnet once more, before the cub shrugs, moving towards the front door of the house to go back inside, holding the door to the mudroom open so that the other two Garou can go first.
Danger Magnet gives a respectful dip of her head, tail lowering in deference to his higher rank. ~Rori Murphy. Danger Magnet. Cliath Ahroun of the Fianna.~ She turns to look at Kevin before she heads inside.
Kevin nods politely to Danger Magnet. "Come on, let's talk inside," he agrees, and follows Flint to the door, then inside.
Flint pauses in the mudroom, shaking off the rest of the wet and wiping off the mud from his shoes before he moves all the way into the living room. The cub makes his way to lean on the back of a couch, standing up, before he begins pulling fingers through wet hair in an attempt to make it look like something other than a mess. An attempt that does very little, though.
Danger Magnet pads into the house on four feet, shaking out her fur before she enters and then slides back up onto two legs as she shakes off. Hair gets tied up again out of her way. "What do the other elders think?"
"I really don't know," Kevin grunts. "That's one reason I'm out here. I want to see what other people are saying. You, Rori, Fianna. What's your elder reckon to all this?" He stabs a finger in Rori's direction.
Flint eventually gives up on neatness of appearance, digging out a hairtie from his pocket and simply pulling his hair back out of his face regardless of the every which way current state of things, turning from Kevin to Rori as the Adren finishes speaking.
Danger Magnet frowns a little. "Can't tell you. Haven't been able to find him. I need to report my chiminage, as well. Wildfire is looking for him too. I went to the grotto to find Jacey, but she wasn't around either."
"Bloody marvellous," Kevin sighs. "Where's he normally hang out? It's Elliot, isn't it?"
Flint looks between Kevin and Rori for a moment, before straightening and turning towards the kitchen. "I'm going to put up coffee," the boy offers, with a tone of coffee being a useful thing to do.
Rori drops onto the couch, shaking her head. "I have a cell phone number, but I know he lives in the city. He has a family there."
"Coffee! Now that sounds good," Kevin agrees. He takes a seat on a chair facing Rori. "Does he, now? Never knew that. I have to say I don't know all that much about Elliot. He only came to town last year, I think. And he keeps himself to himself. Now that I don't pack with a Fianna any more…"
Flint grins a little. "Coffee, because it's damnable wet outside," Flint asserts, before the cub makes his way into the kitchen. A few minutes pass, and then he returns to lean on the doorway between the two rooms, such that he can watch the coffee brew and yet still not miss anything.
Rori gives a little shrug. Her accent thick in this form. Irish. From the island itself. "Only been here about a month m'self. Trying to figure out the local troubles, what I can do to help. Only met Elliot twice. First when I arrived and then when he agreed on my chiminage."
"You picked a fine time to come here," Kevin says, eyeing Rori as though, for whatever reason, he doesn't quite trust her. "What made you come? Also," he adds after a second, "have you been having any weird dreams?"
Flint disappears back into the kitchen as Kevin speaks, at the faint series of beeps from the coffee machine, before coming back out with three cups of coffee, and the various things to go into coffee on a small plate. "There, coffee," the boy says, setting the cups on the table before claiming one for himself, and then sitting down on the floor near Kevin.
Rori gives a shake of her head, submitting to the 3rd degree. "Been wandering the states for awhile. Mentor told me this was a good spot and I should come here. Seemed to work, so decided to stay a bit." She gives Flint a nod of thanks. "Came after the Rite of the Winter Wind. Seems you had to be there for that to get those."
"Maybe," Kevin says to Rori. "Who was Mentor?" He picks up one of Flint's coffees and takes an eager sip of the warm fluid.
Flint has his cup of coffee in both hands, listening to the conversation although the cub is quiet for the moment.
Rori looks back at Kevin steadily. "Siobhan O'Malley. Based mostly on the east coast. Near the north. Don't know if she did more than pass through here on the way to something else. She didn't specify."
Kevin drinks more coffee. There's something in the way he keeps his eyes on Rori which suggests he's not entirely happy with… something. "Well," he says after a moment, "right now, I guess the more garou we have around here, the better."
Rori is respectful, but careful, frowning a little like she's aware she's doing something wrong and doesn't know what it is. "I will help as I can. I have some battle experienced." She's marked all up by scars, much more evident when in fur.
Flint takes a long sip of his own coffee, before setting the cup back on the table rather than the more precarious position of having it in his hands, lips pursed and a faint shrug following.
"Good for you," Kevin says. He turns to Flint. "You found any more people to talk to about the dream thing yet?"
The cub frowns a moment at the question, and shakes his head. "No… nothing since the last time in the lobby, sorry," he says. "Been kinda busy with lessons with Kavi-rhya the past few days." Another furrow of brow and then Flint reclaims his coffee.
Rori picks up the coffee, nodding to Flint in thanks again and curls up on the couch, frowning still. She has no idea what she did wrong, but figures keeping her mouth shut at this point is best.
"Well, it does all seem rather futile, now," Kevin comments to Flint. "But I suppose we should keep on at it, given that I can't think of any better use of my time, until and unless we're ordered to help evacuate the caern."
Flint shrugs a bit, and takes a long sip from his coffee. "It's still a good thing," Flint says, with mustered certainty. Or perhaps simply that the boy prefers working on the list of dreams than the other lessons.
Rori looks back and forth between them, curiously, more withdrawn than before. She just doesn't know how to help or what to say.
Kevin looks at Rori again, and there's a silence which starts awkward, and just gets more and more so. The ragabash fidgets in his chair, and spills a few drops of coffee over the edge of his mug.
Awkward indeed. The cub takes another few sips of his coffee, before leaning over to put it down on the table again, and his gaze flicks between Kevin and Rori, several times.
Rori isn't staring at anyone, she just doesn't know what to say, and these awkward silences seem to be very comfortable to her. She seems downright used to causing them. "So um, tried to find a use for the vines the other day. Best I could come up with was tumbling off them."
"Too bad," Kevin says. "If we could find a use for them, there's no shortage of the rotten things…"
Flint laughs quietly, the slight tension from the awkward silence at least lessening in the boy's posture.
Rori clears her throat a little. "Jumping on them was fun on four feet, so long as you had a good purchase, otherwise you landed on your belly and that could be uncomfortable."
"Please tell me you were going a-wooo-a-wooooooo," Kevin grins suddenly. "Like Tarzan of the Apes."
It's probably a good thing at this point that Flint's no longer holding his coffee cup, and that it's set aside on the table. A glance goes up at the ragabash, and it's clear that the cub is trying not to laugh. Not succeeding, though.
Rori holds up a finger with a nod. "Not then. Wildfire was watching and I thought it would be undignified. But the next time.. the next time, I think I will. No promises that it will be pleasant, however. I can't even howl decently on tune. Sound more like a junkyard dog."
"Anyone want to go out for a swing, right now?" Kevin suddenly has a wild, gleeful look in his eyes. Surely it can't just be one cup of coffee that's put it there?
Rori finishes off her cup of coffee and slides to her feet. "I'm always game for taking off on four feet. Especially for play. We don't get enough play as garou."
Flint snickers a little, before he pushes himself to his feet, grinning at Kevin. "Sure, Kevin-rhya," the boy says, stretching arms up above his head. A glance at Rori, and then the boy gathers the coffee cups, hurrying to take them into the kitchen and returning briefly, empty-handed and eager.
"Race you out there!" Kevin offers. He leaps out of his chair and makes a bolt for the door.