Kinda weird.
Saturday, 21 January 2012 16:00![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flint_garouYou know, it's kinda weird.
21 January, 2012
The moon is in the waning New (Ragabash) Moon phase (12% full).
Flint's now the only one who lingers in the breakroom, sitting half folded on the couch with one of the Xbox controllers in his hands, and Fable going on the TV in front of him. Grey sweatshirt is draped over the edge of the couch next to him.
Hair wet as though she just got out of the shower, Rowan slumps into the breakroom. She's wearing the rather unflattering clothes that cubs get, though she has an enormous 2XL faded black hoodie over the top of it all. The thing nearly makes it to her knees. She apparently spots Flint, though she doesn't go thataway immediately, instead wandering toward the kitchen. "Please tell me there's something with caffeine in here…"
Pause is hit, abruptly and the controller dropped to one side. "Hey, yeah," Flint responds. "Coke in the fridge, I can show you where the coffee stuff is, too, your choice." A pause. "How're you doing?" The question comes, quiet and tentative. "Haven't seen you 'round much."
Rowan apparently decides coffee is too much work, as she finds the fridge and begins rooting around, surfacing triumphantly with a soda. "Thanks." She glances Flint's way, waffling for a moment. "Okay, I guess. Mouse has been …telling me a lot of stuff. But yeah, I've been reading a lot. Just… yeah." She sighs. "How about you?"
"Alright, enough," Flint responds, offering a very faint smile to the other cub. "I get kept busy, for the most part, a lot of stuff to learn, and practise, and think about, and all. But." The boy gestures towards the couch, grabbing his sweatshirt and the controller and scooting so he's not taking up all the space, and there's space for Rowan to sit down without it being awkward or crowded.
Rowan smiles crookedly at Flint and sort of fwumps into the opposite end of the couch, cracking the soda open. "Yeah. Mouse wanted me to work on trying to change again, but every time I try I get bad feelings." She plays with the tab on the can for a moment, and then peers over toward the game. "Whatcha playing?"
Flint nods. "Fable," the boy responds, with half a grin. "Well, give it time, on shifting," Flint says, quiet. "It doesn't do any good to stress over it. And it gets … easier. Or it has, for me." He pauses, that said, looking up at the ceiling before he adds. "Though that doesn't always help."
"I haven't played video games in … a very long time," the girl muses, sipping the soda. She looks sideways at Flint, though. "What doesn't, giving it time? I guess. I just keep getting a feeling like I had back in school. You have an 'F' for shifting this semester, Ms. Rowan, do better next semester." She wrinkles her nose, though some of the humor that should come with that statement is a little lacking. Humor to cover up things, perhaps.
Flint looks over at Rowan again. "I never had video games 'fore here," the boy admits quietly. "DS that I got from my cousins when they'd beat it up so much they got the latest and greatest, but that's about it. Never had that much, anyway." He pauses, stretching arms out above his head. The shirt he wears is loose fitting, a good size too big. "It's not like that, you know. No 'F's and all, anyway."
"Yeah. I left home when I was sisteen. My —adoptive parents were super nice and all, but I never felt like I was with… my real family, y'know?" She furrows her brows a bit, peering at the TV screen. "Maybe that feeling was… part of this whole thing." And, she snorts, though it's at least with a bit of good humor. "Yeah? Maybe there's no real grades, but you can't say it's not like being back in school sometimes."
Flint laughs a little. "It can be, I guess. I dunno, I was in school, until all this," Flint says, half a shrug. "My dad was never around, myself. My mom and I never had much, she was … coulda been better." The words seem to be the boy settling on something in between what he wants to say, and saying nothing. "Almost left home a few times myself, just had nowhere to go. Was leaving home really, the day of my change."
Rowan shrugs narrow shoulders. "I can get that. It took me a long time to figure out that I had to leave. I didn't really want to. Like I said, my home life was great. But there was something missing. I dunno. I didn't want to go my whole life feeling like I didn't do what I needed to do." She smiles a little. "So how'd you get picked up? Was it as—" Her smile turns crooked, a little bitter, but lingers, "—interesting as mine?"
Flint shakes his head at Rowan, with a half a grin offered. "Not nearly. I was running away after some stupid conference with the school and my mother," the boy says. "Kavi-rhya and Mouse-rhya and Devon-rhya found me, and Kavi-rhya bought me pizza, and asked if I had somewhere to stay. I didn't, so." A shrug is offered, and the boy falls silent.
"Huh," Rowan ponders. "How did they know what you were, then? Did you change for the first time later?" She pauses. "I mean, I met you guys in the park not very long after all that happened, and no one took me."
Flint looks back at Rowan. "There's… a thing called a kinfetch," the boy says, tentatively, trying to figure out how to explain it. "I had one, it found them. Not… sometimes Garou don't have them, Kavi-rhya said. I changed later, that same day. I'd been… really angry at everything." He shrugs.
"Weird," Rowan says, in that typical teenage way of describing anything that isn't in their realm of knowledge. "Yeah, I guess I didn't have one, then." To the rest, "Yeah, once Mouse explained stuff, it made more sense, how I'd been feeling. Though for me, it was just… more restless."
Flint nods again. "Yeah. Did Mouse-rhya say, what auspice you are," the boy asks, curious, one knee drawing up to his chest. "Yeah, Kavi-rhya and Mouse-rhya explaining things, being here things are starting to make a lot more sense. Even when they're weird, and a lot of it is."
Rowan scrunches her nose. "Ragabash," she answers. "At least that's what my birthdate told her. I just know that means I'm supposed to be sneaky. Or play tricks on people." She looks amused, somehow. "What are you?"
"Galliard," Flint responds, grinning a bit. "Stories, the history and everything, being a messenger." He shrugs, again, the vague gesture reflected in his hands coming up to palm up, briefly.
"Cool," she says. "You know, it's kinda weird, isn't it? Having your job kinda spelled out for you…" Rowan muses over this for a moment, and then sighs and starts to lever herself up. "Anyway. I'm gonna go read for a bit before bed, I know they're gonna wanna do more lessons early. I'll talk to you later, yeah?"
Back to the breakroom. Devon wanders in again, still with an air of rain-wrought boredom. This time, however, his jacket is pulled through a shoulder strap of his backpack, which is in turn hanging from one of his shoulders. He pauses, briefly, half way into the room, eyeing the two cubs before angling himself toward the kitchen.
"Always early, so yeah. Later," Flint agrees, laughing, to Rowan, before looking up off the couch and over to Devon. "Hey there," he calls out, though doesn't make any move to get up, himself.
Rowan waves to Devon, but, before she gets caught up in another conversation, scoots on out of the breakroom.
Devon frowns faintly, turning to watch Rowan leave. He shrugs to himself then tips his head upward at Flint. "Hey," he returns, opening the fridge up. "That the new cub?"
Leaning backwards into the couch a little, Flint nods. "Yeah," he says, brows pointing downwards for a moment in thought.
Devon pulls open the fridge and pulls out a couple of sodas. Another look goes to Flint, that small frown returning. "What's up," he asks, fitting the sodas into his pack.
"Nothing," Flint says. "Really. Random thoughts." The cub shrugs it off, brows raising askance when Devon starts putting the sodas into his bag. "Anyway. You going somewhere?"
"Edgewood," Devon answers, going to the cabinets to dig up a snack or two. "Need to catch up with Nik and Elliot-rhya and tell them what I've found out so far, see if they've made any headway on anything else."
Flint nods, glance going over to the xbox controller next to him and the paused video game that lingers on the screen, before picking up the controller and setting it on his knee. "Ah," the boy says, faint acknowledgement without much to it one way or the other.
Devon, finding nothing truly appeasing, gives up the search and turns to Flint. Once more that frown comes around again. "Flint," he says quietly, taking a couple of steps toward the couch and the cub. "What's going on?"
Flint gets a confused look on his face for a moment, peering up at Devon. "What?" The cub raises a hand to his forehead. "Nothing, really, just trying to sort out thoughts from… nevermind. Mostly useful or not, it gets annoying at times," he mutters.
"What gets annoying," Devon asks. He steps around the couch to sink down onto it, his pack coming to rest on the floor beside his feet.
"Mouse-rhya explained it as…" Flint looks over at Devon, leaning back into the couch when the Ahroun's sat down, "as being part of a cycle, as bits and pieces of memory of remembering the times through the cycle before. And well." A shrug. "I didn't quite get all of it, but." The cub's gaze shifts up to the ceiling. "That."
Devon shakes his head a little, frowning, though not at the cub. He's trying to understand what it is Flint is describing. "So… what? You're… remembering things that happened before? Like …like Mouse and I were talking before with the dreams and prophecy? Only in reverse?"
Flint shakes his head in response. "Not quite. Mouse-rhya also said it's normal… if not actually normal for our tribe. Not related to everything going on, sometimes related to whatever is immediate. Usually. Bits and pieces, occasionally." The boy looks over at Devon, sighs quietly.
Devon studies Flint for a moment longer before picking up his bag. "That's… weird," he decides, giving up one word for another. He stands, pulling the bag onto his shoulder.
The cub nods. "Never said it wasn't," the boy says, with a shrug. "Like when I heard the Litany the first time, except, I could have sworn I'd heard it before, but. Anyway, so. That. Sorry, anyway." Flint twiddles idly with the game controller on his lap.
"Don't be sorry," Devon says as he wanders toward the door. "Nothing to be sorry about. You can't help what you're born with. I'll see you later, though. Go find that chocolate cake that's gone missing, it'll help you feel better."
Flint grins a bit at Devon. "Yeah, okay," the boy agrees, controller picked up. "Seeya, then." The game on the screen is unpaused, and cub's attention goes to navigating through the level he's on.
21 January, 2012
The moon is in the waning New (Ragabash) Moon phase (12% full).
Flint's now the only one who lingers in the breakroom, sitting half folded on the couch with one of the Xbox controllers in his hands, and Fable going on the TV in front of him. Grey sweatshirt is draped over the edge of the couch next to him.
Hair wet as though she just got out of the shower, Rowan slumps into the breakroom. She's wearing the rather unflattering clothes that cubs get, though she has an enormous 2XL faded black hoodie over the top of it all. The thing nearly makes it to her knees. She apparently spots Flint, though she doesn't go thataway immediately, instead wandering toward the kitchen. "Please tell me there's something with caffeine in here…"
Pause is hit, abruptly and the controller dropped to one side. "Hey, yeah," Flint responds. "Coke in the fridge, I can show you where the coffee stuff is, too, your choice." A pause. "How're you doing?" The question comes, quiet and tentative. "Haven't seen you 'round much."
Rowan apparently decides coffee is too much work, as she finds the fridge and begins rooting around, surfacing triumphantly with a soda. "Thanks." She glances Flint's way, waffling for a moment. "Okay, I guess. Mouse has been …telling me a lot of stuff. But yeah, I've been reading a lot. Just… yeah." She sighs. "How about you?"
"Alright, enough," Flint responds, offering a very faint smile to the other cub. "I get kept busy, for the most part, a lot of stuff to learn, and practise, and think about, and all. But." The boy gestures towards the couch, grabbing his sweatshirt and the controller and scooting so he's not taking up all the space, and there's space for Rowan to sit down without it being awkward or crowded.
Rowan smiles crookedly at Flint and sort of fwumps into the opposite end of the couch, cracking the soda open. "Yeah. Mouse wanted me to work on trying to change again, but every time I try I get bad feelings." She plays with the tab on the can for a moment, and then peers over toward the game. "Whatcha playing?"
Flint nods. "Fable," the boy responds, with half a grin. "Well, give it time, on shifting," Flint says, quiet. "It doesn't do any good to stress over it. And it gets … easier. Or it has, for me." He pauses, that said, looking up at the ceiling before he adds. "Though that doesn't always help."
"I haven't played video games in … a very long time," the girl muses, sipping the soda. She looks sideways at Flint, though. "What doesn't, giving it time? I guess. I just keep getting a feeling like I had back in school. You have an 'F' for shifting this semester, Ms. Rowan, do better next semester." She wrinkles her nose, though some of the humor that should come with that statement is a little lacking. Humor to cover up things, perhaps.
Flint looks over at Rowan again. "I never had video games 'fore here," the boy admits quietly. "DS that I got from my cousins when they'd beat it up so much they got the latest and greatest, but that's about it. Never had that much, anyway." He pauses, stretching arms out above his head. The shirt he wears is loose fitting, a good size too big. "It's not like that, you know. No 'F's and all, anyway."
"Yeah. I left home when I was sisteen. My —adoptive parents were super nice and all, but I never felt like I was with… my real family, y'know?" She furrows her brows a bit, peering at the TV screen. "Maybe that feeling was… part of this whole thing." And, she snorts, though it's at least with a bit of good humor. "Yeah? Maybe there's no real grades, but you can't say it's not like being back in school sometimes."
Flint laughs a little. "It can be, I guess. I dunno, I was in school, until all this," Flint says, half a shrug. "My dad was never around, myself. My mom and I never had much, she was … coulda been better." The words seem to be the boy settling on something in between what he wants to say, and saying nothing. "Almost left home a few times myself, just had nowhere to go. Was leaving home really, the day of my change."
Rowan shrugs narrow shoulders. "I can get that. It took me a long time to figure out that I had to leave. I didn't really want to. Like I said, my home life was great. But there was something missing. I dunno. I didn't want to go my whole life feeling like I didn't do what I needed to do." She smiles a little. "So how'd you get picked up? Was it as—" Her smile turns crooked, a little bitter, but lingers, "—interesting as mine?"
Flint shakes his head at Rowan, with a half a grin offered. "Not nearly. I was running away after some stupid conference with the school and my mother," the boy says. "Kavi-rhya and Mouse-rhya and Devon-rhya found me, and Kavi-rhya bought me pizza, and asked if I had somewhere to stay. I didn't, so." A shrug is offered, and the boy falls silent.
"Huh," Rowan ponders. "How did they know what you were, then? Did you change for the first time later?" She pauses. "I mean, I met you guys in the park not very long after all that happened, and no one took me."
Flint looks back at Rowan. "There's… a thing called a kinfetch," the boy says, tentatively, trying to figure out how to explain it. "I had one, it found them. Not… sometimes Garou don't have them, Kavi-rhya said. I changed later, that same day. I'd been… really angry at everything." He shrugs.
"Weird," Rowan says, in that typical teenage way of describing anything that isn't in their realm of knowledge. "Yeah, I guess I didn't have one, then." To the rest, "Yeah, once Mouse explained stuff, it made more sense, how I'd been feeling. Though for me, it was just… more restless."
Flint nods again. "Yeah. Did Mouse-rhya say, what auspice you are," the boy asks, curious, one knee drawing up to his chest. "Yeah, Kavi-rhya and Mouse-rhya explaining things, being here things are starting to make a lot more sense. Even when they're weird, and a lot of it is."
Rowan scrunches her nose. "Ragabash," she answers. "At least that's what my birthdate told her. I just know that means I'm supposed to be sneaky. Or play tricks on people." She looks amused, somehow. "What are you?"
"Galliard," Flint responds, grinning a bit. "Stories, the history and everything, being a messenger." He shrugs, again, the vague gesture reflected in his hands coming up to palm up, briefly.
"Cool," she says. "You know, it's kinda weird, isn't it? Having your job kinda spelled out for you…" Rowan muses over this for a moment, and then sighs and starts to lever herself up. "Anyway. I'm gonna go read for a bit before bed, I know they're gonna wanna do more lessons early. I'll talk to you later, yeah?"
Back to the breakroom. Devon wanders in again, still with an air of rain-wrought boredom. This time, however, his jacket is pulled through a shoulder strap of his backpack, which is in turn hanging from one of his shoulders. He pauses, briefly, half way into the room, eyeing the two cubs before angling himself toward the kitchen.
"Always early, so yeah. Later," Flint agrees, laughing, to Rowan, before looking up off the couch and over to Devon. "Hey there," he calls out, though doesn't make any move to get up, himself.
Rowan waves to Devon, but, before she gets caught up in another conversation, scoots on out of the breakroom.
Devon frowns faintly, turning to watch Rowan leave. He shrugs to himself then tips his head upward at Flint. "Hey," he returns, opening the fridge up. "That the new cub?"
Leaning backwards into the couch a little, Flint nods. "Yeah," he says, brows pointing downwards for a moment in thought.
Devon pulls open the fridge and pulls out a couple of sodas. Another look goes to Flint, that small frown returning. "What's up," he asks, fitting the sodas into his pack.
"Nothing," Flint says. "Really. Random thoughts." The cub shrugs it off, brows raising askance when Devon starts putting the sodas into his bag. "Anyway. You going somewhere?"
"Edgewood," Devon answers, going to the cabinets to dig up a snack or two. "Need to catch up with Nik and Elliot-rhya and tell them what I've found out so far, see if they've made any headway on anything else."
Flint nods, glance going over to the xbox controller next to him and the paused video game that lingers on the screen, before picking up the controller and setting it on his knee. "Ah," the boy says, faint acknowledgement without much to it one way or the other.
Devon, finding nothing truly appeasing, gives up the search and turns to Flint. Once more that frown comes around again. "Flint," he says quietly, taking a couple of steps toward the couch and the cub. "What's going on?"
Flint gets a confused look on his face for a moment, peering up at Devon. "What?" The cub raises a hand to his forehead. "Nothing, really, just trying to sort out thoughts from… nevermind. Mostly useful or not, it gets annoying at times," he mutters.
"What gets annoying," Devon asks. He steps around the couch to sink down onto it, his pack coming to rest on the floor beside his feet.
"Mouse-rhya explained it as…" Flint looks over at Devon, leaning back into the couch when the Ahroun's sat down, "as being part of a cycle, as bits and pieces of memory of remembering the times through the cycle before. And well." A shrug. "I didn't quite get all of it, but." The cub's gaze shifts up to the ceiling. "That."
Devon shakes his head a little, frowning, though not at the cub. He's trying to understand what it is Flint is describing. "So… what? You're… remembering things that happened before? Like …like Mouse and I were talking before with the dreams and prophecy? Only in reverse?"
Flint shakes his head in response. "Not quite. Mouse-rhya also said it's normal… if not actually normal for our tribe. Not related to everything going on, sometimes related to whatever is immediate. Usually. Bits and pieces, occasionally." The boy looks over at Devon, sighs quietly.
Devon studies Flint for a moment longer before picking up his bag. "That's… weird," he decides, giving up one word for another. He stands, pulling the bag onto his shoulder.
The cub nods. "Never said it wasn't," the boy says, with a shrug. "Like when I heard the Litany the first time, except, I could have sworn I'd heard it before, but. Anyway, so. That. Sorry, anyway." Flint twiddles idly with the game controller on his lap.
"Don't be sorry," Devon says as he wanders toward the door. "Nothing to be sorry about. You can't help what you're born with. I'll see you later, though. Go find that chocolate cake that's gone missing, it'll help you feel better."
Flint grins a bit at Devon. "Yeah, okay," the boy agrees, controller picked up. "Seeya, then." The game on the screen is unpaused, and cub's attention goes to navigating through the level he's on.