Catching up.
Wednesday, 13 June 2012 14:31![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flint_garouIf you want, I'm listening.
13 June, 2012
The moon is in the waning Crescent (Theurge) Moon phase (39% full).
Instead of his usual jeans, today Kavi seems to be sporting a flashy pair of what are apparently cotton pajama bottoms. His gait, as he moves about the kitchen area, lacks his usual grace, as well. His barefoot steps shuffle, rather than glide, and each one seems somewhat tentative.
The sound of someone climbing the stairs echoes through the hall before Flint eventually comes up and makes his way into the breakroom, pulling off sweatshirt, backpack, and sweater and dumping them all onto one of the chairs by the dining table, though there's a nod of greeting for Kavi in there, as well. Flint pauses, takes a deep breath, and leans on the table. "Unfettered," he announces quietly. "Under a Merlin spirit named Bigwing." Seems that the younger galliard is going for the cheerful topic, first.
Kavi pauses with a glass in one hand, still reaching toward the cupboard, when the young man comes in. He blinks once and then nods, finding a small smile, as well. "Hey," he says at first. "Congratulations. That's. Merlin is a good totem."
Flint offers a brief flicker of a grin in return, "Yes, she is," he agrees, and moves over to the fridge, pulling out a small bottle of juice and then moving over to lean on the table. "Did Nieve-rhya stop by, earlier?" he asks, a hint of concern in his voice.
Kavi nods as he finishes putting the glass away. He closes the cupboard, still without speaking, without looking directly at the other galliard. Finally, he picks up the single remaining glass from the counter and fills it with water before making his way with his shuffling gait toward the table. "She did," he says softly.
"Are… is?" It's only half a question, once Kavi's at the table, and Flint furrows his brow. "I saw, it. The camera feed," he adds. "When I. I was on shift this morning."
Kavi frowns and his gaze rests completely on his water glass for a long while. "Oh," he says, eventually, and then the silence continues. He lifts the glass to sip from it, and then sets it back down, all without looking at the young cliath.
Flint pulls out a chair and sits, half-ignoring his orange juice in favour of glancing towards the elder Galliard. "Kavi-rhya," he prompts, gently. "Are you gonna be okay?" The teen's not asking about now, at least. "And…?" the last word is even quieter, more of an invitation to speak than anything else.
Kavi takes another sip from his glass and nods. "She— Nieve? She healed me. It's just… I'll be fine." His gaze flickers upward, catching, but not remaining, on Flint's.
"It's what, Kavi-rhya?" Flint prompts again, still quiet. "I… if you want, I'm listening."
Kavi shakes his head. "I shouldn't have lost control. I should have… prevented that."
Flint nods, once. "That… it happens," Flint says, the echo of words said to him, but there's a quiet acceptance, as well. "D'you… wanna talk 'bout it?"
The galliard gives another shake of his head. "I. There isn't much to say. I. I didn't…" He trails of to sip again at the glass of water. He drinks slowly, taking his time, finally placing the glass back on the table when it is nearly half-gone. "We all have things. Things that are so close to us that… that they hurt, even to think about. She found mine, and I… I should have done it differently."
Again, the teen nods. "Not your fault," he says, quietly. "I. The camera. It caught the look on her face—she… was taunting you, wasn't she."
Kavi shakes his head. "Maybe? At the end. I think… I don't think she knew how hard her words would hit me. She… She doesn't know me."
Flint nods. "What… what was she doing here, anyway?" comes the next inquiry, after Flint's had a little of the juice.
"She wanted… She was looking for her tribemate," Kavi answers, more easily than before. But his gaze shifts away, looking toward the shaded windows.
Flint furrows his brows, some. "Is… is that who came in?" Clearly, the younger galliard's watched over the altercation likely several times this morning. "Is… is she going to make a. A problem of it?"
Kavi draws his gaze back to the younger galliard and shakes his head. "I. I don't know. It. It was Sue. The fury who lives downstairs. But. I don't know what the other one is thinking. I don't know what she… what she plans to do."
Flint nods, listening for the moment, mouth forming a quiet, but wordless 'o'.
Kavi nods at that and returns to his glass, taking a longer draught.
Flint looks down at the table, and then looks at Kavi a long while. "It's… because of her tribe—their tribe, isn't it?" he asks, a little more openly inquisitive, but with concern edging into his voice again. "Why you lost it?"
Kavi swallows, tensing for a moment, and then he nods.
Flint nods, and lets silence continue a minute before looking to Kavi again. "What did…?" The question is there, in the few words, but at the same time. "If… I. You… if," and Flint takes a breath, holding eye contact. "I'd… appreciate it, what you can, tell me, if… it. Because you're… my f—" And then Flint bites down on his lip, cutting off the word, and folding his hands to look down at the table again.
Kavi swallows again, and the breath he draws in, after, is held for a long while, his gaze solidly held on the glass on the table. Eventually, the breath slides out, and his gaze slowly rises again to the young man before him. "I…"
Flint just nods, listening and not pushing.
Kavi pushes up from the table, a slight wince visible as he moves a little too quickly, even given the healing he had earlier. He snags the glass as he rises and sips from it as he paces toward the memorial, studying the grain of the wood, the joints, and the glyphs themselves. "I'm better now," he says softly. "Better than I was."
The young galliard nods, a quiet sound of affirmation following that, and turns to watch Kavi. "It… good," Flint says, then falling quiet again.
Still with his back to the other, Kavi looks down into his nearly empty glass. "Where I came from? They. They had a bargain. Kamiir Nadi and Glass Spire. All the males born would be given to the Glass Walkers. But. But the marriages were arranged by Kamiir Nadi. By the— By them."
Flint listens, still letting Kavi talk, and watches the older galliard.
The glass is emptied and set aside as Kavi begins to pace once more. His right hand encircles his left wrist, rubbing at the band of well-healed scars.
Flint turns the chair so that he's sitting parallel to the table, bringing knees up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees. There's still no words from the younger galliard, though there's a nod, indication that Flint's listening.
It takes a bit longer before Kavi can speak again, and still, when he does, it's without looking to the younger. The hand around his wrist stills and tightens, hiding the scars completely. "I didn't want what I was supposed to. I didn't do what I was told." He swallows, and finally turns to face Flint. "A lot of things happened. A lot… a lot of bad things. You don't… You don't need to have that in your head. They kept me. Long enough that they could be sure she'd be garou. And then… Then they let me go."
Flint looks up, head tilted to meet Kavi's gaze, and nods, slowly. There is acceptance, and thanks, in the youth's gaze. "Thank you for, for… trusting, me. To… enough to tell me," he says, not even that much above a whisper, but audibly.
Kavi nods once and swallows again. He turns, pacing back to where he'd left the glass and brings it to the kitchen to refill. "I. I used to be afraid. All the time. That they would come again. That they would send me back. It's better, now. I'm better. But it's still… The memories don't go away. And the fear… It's always underneath."
Flint nods, again, getting up to go and rinse the empty juice bottle, then put it into the recycling in the kitchen, though the younger galliard is careful to simply maintain his own personal bubble of space as he does so.
Kavi drinks down the entire glass, this time, and then leaves it in the sink. "When she came? When she… when she said I was hiding Sue, that I should have sent him to her? It… That fear, and anger, and… and all the memories." His hands grip the edge of the sink and he looks down into the drain. "Sue—They did it to him, too. Some of it. The… The captivity, the beatings. That much… it's enough. I know what that is, and. For her to say those things—"
Flint leans on the far counter, and nods, bringing up one hand to his forehead. "And she should have known to, to back down. It. It's not your fault," the teen says.
Kavi pulls in a deep breath and holds it for a long moment. Shaking his head, he pushes up from the sink. "She doesn't know me. She doesn't… She didn't know. She should have stopped, but. But I should have walked away. Or made her leave. She… I don't know."
Flint nods, hooking his thumbs in his pocket. "So, next time. We— none of— none've us are perfect, Kavi-rhya." The words are kind, rather than at all condemning, with an acceptance behind them, and then Flint gets a very, very distant look on his face, pushing off from the counter to pace in a circle, muttering 'uh-huh' under his breath.
Kavi nods once, but as Flint gets that distracted look, the elder galliard tenses.
The teen pauses mid-step, hand coming up to rub at his forehead, and then he finally refocuses, looking over at Kavi. "Sorry," he offers. "Alexandra. Wanted me to. To know something," comes the explanation, and there's also clearly a sense of 'whoa' and the teen not quite being used to the connectedness of the pack, coming across in his tone of voice.
The tension doesn't ease significantly at the boy's explanation, but he does nod in acknowledgement. "It's… It's different. Skokiaan… We don't hear thoughts, but. But we can feel each other."
Flint nods. "It's. It wasn't entirely clear but, clear enough, and there's. Yeah," the younger galliard says. "There's the feeling, too, thoughts require, concentration and such, kinda. All sort of…" and it's at this point where Flint utterly loses the words to describe it and just waves a hand and lets there be silence for a while. "There are, she said she just encountered a bunch of very large rats, coming. Up from the sewers. Big, forty pounds plus, though. Killed with a gun, though."
"Not so far from the Vault. There. Weren't any more, right there," Flint says, "but she. Thinks it's likely not one-off."
Kavi nods, but the concern remains.
Flint nods. "We. We're going to go check out the sewers, but. Together when we have a chance. Prepared." Shoulders lift in a shrug. "Also, speaking of," Flint says, shifting the topic entirely to the sharing of news and happenings. "Saw Val, this morning. She said there's, some gang calling themselves Green Angels, said they… I didn't catch all of it but she. Seemed concerned, wanted folks to be aware." That said, Flint looks over at Kavi once more, moving back to lean on the counter.
Kavi nods again, seeming distracted, himself. He casts his gaze to the south and downward, as though he could see the sewers through the walls and floors. "We— Fidelity? We keep the ones close by clear. But. Farther out? Be careful. If… If you want, you can borrow the flame thrower."
Flint nods. "Yes. I. We will," the cliath says, quietly. "Thank you."
"Just. Let me know. I can adjust the straps to fit you, and we can dedicate it." Kavi catches the edge of his lower lip between his teeth. "Did someone teach you, yet? How to do that for yourself?"
Flint shakes his head slowly, somewhere between shaking his head and nodding as if he's trying to answer both parts of the elder galliard's statement, at once, and clearly getting ahead of himself as he does so. "I. Yeah. I know, where it is and," pause, and Flint moves back over to the table, sitting back down. "No. I. I was too busy with," and Flint gestures to the memorial. "I just. Mostly learned, what Jamethon-rhya said I needed to, to, to… to use wood from the Bawn. And, Breath of Gaia, Stacey-rhya taught me, right about when Devon and I were. Arguing. And Lex taught me the Artwork rite, more recently, but. Not. No."
"Art?" Kavi asks, as though unfamiliar, but he quickly cuts himself off to return to his original topic. "I can teach you. I. I'm not very good with rites, but I know a few, and. Talisman Dedication is meant to be done— It's different from one moon to another."
"I… I'd like that," Flint says, quietly, with another flicker of a smile, if a brief one. "I. Artwork is, it. It's a… a way of focusing and working, through rage, actually feeling it and pouring it into art and then, it. Helps," the teen explains, quiet.
Kavi's brow furrows as he listens to the explanation. "It… It would work with music?"
Flint considers a moment, and nods. "Yes. I. I mean, Lex does it with cooking, I. Mostly, drawing, so. Yes."
"Maybe…" Kavi's teeth catch hold of his lower lip for a moment before it slides free. "Maybe, after I teach you dedication, you could teach it to me?"
The flicker of a smile broadens, lighting up the teen's face a little, and then Flint nods. "Yes. I. Of course I. 'Course I will," he finishes, nodding.
Kavi finds a small smile of his own, at that. "Okay," he says, his voice softer, calmer than it had been. "We. We'll start tomorrow. With the flamethrower."
13 June, 2012
The moon is in the waning Crescent (Theurge) Moon phase (39% full).
Instead of his usual jeans, today Kavi seems to be sporting a flashy pair of what are apparently cotton pajama bottoms. His gait, as he moves about the kitchen area, lacks his usual grace, as well. His barefoot steps shuffle, rather than glide, and each one seems somewhat tentative.
The sound of someone climbing the stairs echoes through the hall before Flint eventually comes up and makes his way into the breakroom, pulling off sweatshirt, backpack, and sweater and dumping them all onto one of the chairs by the dining table, though there's a nod of greeting for Kavi in there, as well. Flint pauses, takes a deep breath, and leans on the table. "Unfettered," he announces quietly. "Under a Merlin spirit named Bigwing." Seems that the younger galliard is going for the cheerful topic, first.
Kavi pauses with a glass in one hand, still reaching toward the cupboard, when the young man comes in. He blinks once and then nods, finding a small smile, as well. "Hey," he says at first. "Congratulations. That's. Merlin is a good totem."
Flint offers a brief flicker of a grin in return, "Yes, she is," he agrees, and moves over to the fridge, pulling out a small bottle of juice and then moving over to lean on the table. "Did Nieve-rhya stop by, earlier?" he asks, a hint of concern in his voice.
Kavi nods as he finishes putting the glass away. He closes the cupboard, still without speaking, without looking directly at the other galliard. Finally, he picks up the single remaining glass from the counter and fills it with water before making his way with his shuffling gait toward the table. "She did," he says softly.
"Are… is?" It's only half a question, once Kavi's at the table, and Flint furrows his brow. "I saw, it. The camera feed," he adds. "When I. I was on shift this morning."
Kavi frowns and his gaze rests completely on his water glass for a long while. "Oh," he says, eventually, and then the silence continues. He lifts the glass to sip from it, and then sets it back down, all without looking at the young cliath.
Flint pulls out a chair and sits, half-ignoring his orange juice in favour of glancing towards the elder Galliard. "Kavi-rhya," he prompts, gently. "Are you gonna be okay?" The teen's not asking about now, at least. "And…?" the last word is even quieter, more of an invitation to speak than anything else.
Kavi takes another sip from his glass and nods. "She— Nieve? She healed me. It's just… I'll be fine." His gaze flickers upward, catching, but not remaining, on Flint's.
"It's what, Kavi-rhya?" Flint prompts again, still quiet. "I… if you want, I'm listening."
Kavi shakes his head. "I shouldn't have lost control. I should have… prevented that."
Flint nods, once. "That… it happens," Flint says, the echo of words said to him, but there's a quiet acceptance, as well. "D'you… wanna talk 'bout it?"
The galliard gives another shake of his head. "I. There isn't much to say. I. I didn't…" He trails of to sip again at the glass of water. He drinks slowly, taking his time, finally placing the glass back on the table when it is nearly half-gone. "We all have things. Things that are so close to us that… that they hurt, even to think about. She found mine, and I… I should have done it differently."
Again, the teen nods. "Not your fault," he says, quietly. "I. The camera. It caught the look on her face—she… was taunting you, wasn't she."
Kavi shakes his head. "Maybe? At the end. I think… I don't think she knew how hard her words would hit me. She… She doesn't know me."
Flint nods. "What… what was she doing here, anyway?" comes the next inquiry, after Flint's had a little of the juice.
"She wanted… She was looking for her tribemate," Kavi answers, more easily than before. But his gaze shifts away, looking toward the shaded windows.
Flint furrows his brows, some. "Is… is that who came in?" Clearly, the younger galliard's watched over the altercation likely several times this morning. "Is… is she going to make a. A problem of it?"
Kavi draws his gaze back to the younger galliard and shakes his head. "I. I don't know. It. It was Sue. The fury who lives downstairs. But. I don't know what the other one is thinking. I don't know what she… what she plans to do."
Flint nods, listening for the moment, mouth forming a quiet, but wordless 'o'.
Kavi nods at that and returns to his glass, taking a longer draught.
Flint looks down at the table, and then looks at Kavi a long while. "It's… because of her tribe—their tribe, isn't it?" he asks, a little more openly inquisitive, but with concern edging into his voice again. "Why you lost it?"
Kavi swallows, tensing for a moment, and then he nods.
Flint nods, and lets silence continue a minute before looking to Kavi again. "What did…?" The question is there, in the few words, but at the same time. "If… I. You… if," and Flint takes a breath, holding eye contact. "I'd… appreciate it, what you can, tell me, if… it. Because you're… my f—" And then Flint bites down on his lip, cutting off the word, and folding his hands to look down at the table again.
Kavi swallows again, and the breath he draws in, after, is held for a long while, his gaze solidly held on the glass on the table. Eventually, the breath slides out, and his gaze slowly rises again to the young man before him. "I…"
Flint just nods, listening and not pushing.
Kavi pushes up from the table, a slight wince visible as he moves a little too quickly, even given the healing he had earlier. He snags the glass as he rises and sips from it as he paces toward the memorial, studying the grain of the wood, the joints, and the glyphs themselves. "I'm better now," he says softly. "Better than I was."
The young galliard nods, a quiet sound of affirmation following that, and turns to watch Kavi. "It… good," Flint says, then falling quiet again.
Still with his back to the other, Kavi looks down into his nearly empty glass. "Where I came from? They. They had a bargain. Kamiir Nadi and Glass Spire. All the males born would be given to the Glass Walkers. But. But the marriages were arranged by Kamiir Nadi. By the— By them."
Flint listens, still letting Kavi talk, and watches the older galliard.
The glass is emptied and set aside as Kavi begins to pace once more. His right hand encircles his left wrist, rubbing at the band of well-healed scars.
Flint turns the chair so that he's sitting parallel to the table, bringing knees up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees. There's still no words from the younger galliard, though there's a nod, indication that Flint's listening.
It takes a bit longer before Kavi can speak again, and still, when he does, it's without looking to the younger. The hand around his wrist stills and tightens, hiding the scars completely. "I didn't want what I was supposed to. I didn't do what I was told." He swallows, and finally turns to face Flint. "A lot of things happened. A lot… a lot of bad things. You don't… You don't need to have that in your head. They kept me. Long enough that they could be sure she'd be garou. And then… Then they let me go."
Flint looks up, head tilted to meet Kavi's gaze, and nods, slowly. There is acceptance, and thanks, in the youth's gaze. "Thank you for, for… trusting, me. To… enough to tell me," he says, not even that much above a whisper, but audibly.
Kavi nods once and swallows again. He turns, pacing back to where he'd left the glass and brings it to the kitchen to refill. "I. I used to be afraid. All the time. That they would come again. That they would send me back. It's better, now. I'm better. But it's still… The memories don't go away. And the fear… It's always underneath."
Flint nods, again, getting up to go and rinse the empty juice bottle, then put it into the recycling in the kitchen, though the younger galliard is careful to simply maintain his own personal bubble of space as he does so.
Kavi drinks down the entire glass, this time, and then leaves it in the sink. "When she came? When she… when she said I was hiding Sue, that I should have sent him to her? It… That fear, and anger, and… and all the memories." His hands grip the edge of the sink and he looks down into the drain. "Sue—They did it to him, too. Some of it. The… The captivity, the beatings. That much… it's enough. I know what that is, and. For her to say those things—"
Flint leans on the far counter, and nods, bringing up one hand to his forehead. "And she should have known to, to back down. It. It's not your fault," the teen says.
Kavi pulls in a deep breath and holds it for a long moment. Shaking his head, he pushes up from the sink. "She doesn't know me. She doesn't… She didn't know. She should have stopped, but. But I should have walked away. Or made her leave. She… I don't know."
Flint nods, hooking his thumbs in his pocket. "So, next time. We— none of— none've us are perfect, Kavi-rhya." The words are kind, rather than at all condemning, with an acceptance behind them, and then Flint gets a very, very distant look on his face, pushing off from the counter to pace in a circle, muttering 'uh-huh' under his breath.
Kavi nods once, but as Flint gets that distracted look, the elder galliard tenses.
The teen pauses mid-step, hand coming up to rub at his forehead, and then he finally refocuses, looking over at Kavi. "Sorry," he offers. "Alexandra. Wanted me to. To know something," comes the explanation, and there's also clearly a sense of 'whoa' and the teen not quite being used to the connectedness of the pack, coming across in his tone of voice.
The tension doesn't ease significantly at the boy's explanation, but he does nod in acknowledgement. "It's… It's different. Skokiaan… We don't hear thoughts, but. But we can feel each other."
Flint nods. "It's. It wasn't entirely clear but, clear enough, and there's. Yeah," the younger galliard says. "There's the feeling, too, thoughts require, concentration and such, kinda. All sort of…" and it's at this point where Flint utterly loses the words to describe it and just waves a hand and lets there be silence for a while. "There are, she said she just encountered a bunch of very large rats, coming. Up from the sewers. Big, forty pounds plus, though. Killed with a gun, though."
"Not so far from the Vault. There. Weren't any more, right there," Flint says, "but she. Thinks it's likely not one-off."
Kavi nods, but the concern remains.
Flint nods. "We. We're going to go check out the sewers, but. Together when we have a chance. Prepared." Shoulders lift in a shrug. "Also, speaking of," Flint says, shifting the topic entirely to the sharing of news and happenings. "Saw Val, this morning. She said there's, some gang calling themselves Green Angels, said they… I didn't catch all of it but she. Seemed concerned, wanted folks to be aware." That said, Flint looks over at Kavi once more, moving back to lean on the counter.
Kavi nods again, seeming distracted, himself. He casts his gaze to the south and downward, as though he could see the sewers through the walls and floors. "We— Fidelity? We keep the ones close by clear. But. Farther out? Be careful. If… If you want, you can borrow the flame thrower."
Flint nods. "Yes. I. We will," the cliath says, quietly. "Thank you."
"Just. Let me know. I can adjust the straps to fit you, and we can dedicate it." Kavi catches the edge of his lower lip between his teeth. "Did someone teach you, yet? How to do that for yourself?"
Flint shakes his head slowly, somewhere between shaking his head and nodding as if he's trying to answer both parts of the elder galliard's statement, at once, and clearly getting ahead of himself as he does so. "I. Yeah. I know, where it is and," pause, and Flint moves back over to the table, sitting back down. "No. I. I was too busy with," and Flint gestures to the memorial. "I just. Mostly learned, what Jamethon-rhya said I needed to, to, to… to use wood from the Bawn. And, Breath of Gaia, Stacey-rhya taught me, right about when Devon and I were. Arguing. And Lex taught me the Artwork rite, more recently, but. Not. No."
"Art?" Kavi asks, as though unfamiliar, but he quickly cuts himself off to return to his original topic. "I can teach you. I. I'm not very good with rites, but I know a few, and. Talisman Dedication is meant to be done— It's different from one moon to another."
"I… I'd like that," Flint says, quietly, with another flicker of a smile, if a brief one. "I. Artwork is, it. It's a… a way of focusing and working, through rage, actually feeling it and pouring it into art and then, it. Helps," the teen explains, quiet.
Kavi's brow furrows as he listens to the explanation. "It… It would work with music?"
Flint considers a moment, and nods. "Yes. I. I mean, Lex does it with cooking, I. Mostly, drawing, so. Yes."
"Maybe…" Kavi's teeth catch hold of his lower lip for a moment before it slides free. "Maybe, after I teach you dedication, you could teach it to me?"
The flicker of a smile broadens, lighting up the teen's face a little, and then Flint nods. "Yes. I. Of course I. 'Course I will," he finishes, nodding.
Kavi finds a small smile of his own, at that. "Okay," he says, his voice softer, calmer than it had been. "We. We'll start tomorrow. With the flamethrower."