World of Darkness: Attrition - [Fic] "Rawr! N'stuff!"

[Gary Norton]

"Which reminds me..." Gary suddenly murmurred, intentionally audible enough for Astra to hear... as he started turning up his pockets with a bit more sudden interest strangely... "Oh, thank god." He held out a ring of keys, before returning them to his pocket. "Thank goodness. For a moment I thought I forgot my car keys. That would be really shitty."

Declan turned his gaze on Gary for a moment, brain cells deadened to the normally obvious reason for Gary's words. Gary tapped his head with a fingertip repeatedly. "Designated driver, dude. When were you going to get a new car?" Ok, that probably wouldn't do much, but it was better than the alternatives - and it might work.

[Astra D.]

A single brow, dark as the night around them, arched skyward.

,,

"So," Astra began, one hip thrust outward as she took another pull from her flask and studied the foursome. "A neighborhood watch that hunts werewolves, vampires, spirits, and ghosts, or that happens to be werewolves, vampires, spirits and ghosts? It's an important distinction, obviously. Which are you, I wonder?" Her green eyes, nearly black in the dim light, were oblique and neutral as her expression as she looked at each of them. "Shall I tell you?" she asked, flippant insouciance ringing lazily in every syllable that passed those crimson lips. "Cross my palm with silver," the raven-haired beauty offered with unsettling emphasis as she gazed at Declan, "and I will lay bare your Fate."

,,

"Or," she shrugged, her grin Cheshire. "You can try to come up with something more interesting than 'neighborhood watch.' Either way, I'm game."

[Owns-The-Night]

"You got us." Declan's answering grin was lupine mischief incarnate. "We're a dance troupe and we're having a late-night..." he paused and looked up at the sky, then shrugged again "Sorry, REAL early morning meeting to discuss our performance of la Puttanesca." The fey manner that the brunette was adopting on being confronted with the oddball assortment of supernaturals was unusual, as was the way she'd just showed up, wandering through the grounds whistling 'Strangers'. If she wants to play, let's fuckin' play.

,,

"Really?" Astra pursed her lips to keep from laughing.

,,

"Really." Owns-The-Night nodded, then shrugged once more. "Or, y'know, you could be right, and we could be a neighbourhood watch made up of werewolves, vampires and Whos from fuckin' Whosville. The real question here is: does that matter to you? And if so, why?"

,,

"Dec..?" Sarah started, but the vargr raised a hand towards the Dead Wolf, biding silence. His silver eyes were on Astra in the gloom, twin points of glowing argent light.

,,

"Naw, she knows plenty already." Dec said as though deciding something. "Don't ya?" He shifted posture very slightly, his weight moving very subtly to the balls of his feet, and the bulky-shouldered man-shaped-object suddenly radiated a feral wariness. There was no snarling, or growling, or overt menace, just an awful stillness about him as he watched Astra that was somehow a thousand times worse.

,,

"I ain't got silver." he told the brunette in the same amiable voice. His head tilted very slightly, his eyes lambent as he smiled. "Have you brought silver to the party, frail?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

After being duly silenced by the vargr, Sarah watched the conversation with intense interest. The words were almost secondary; no, it was body language that she was interested in at this point, because while words could and usually did consist of a pack of lies, bodies - particularly living ones, like those in front of her - were as honest as Abe and tell-tale as neon.

,,

So when Declan's very much alive body shifted ever so slightly but meaningfully to combat-ready, her dead body wasn't far behind. The difference was subtle, but if you knew what to look for, there could be no doubt: the Dead-Wolf was prepared for this to take a turn for the ugly, and for this Astra to be entirely more than she appeared.

[Swara-Ann]

"Dude," Swara looked to Declan after his exchange with Sarah. What is it with you? Like, I know we just met and all but you are wound way too tight, Broseph. You know there are decaffeinated brands on the market that are just as tasty as the real thing. I mean, I'm not sayin', just sayin'..."

,,

With her million dollar smile she extended her hand to Astra. "Hi, Swara-Ann, nice to meet you, and this isn't as odd as it looks. Gary here found me in this alley earlier this evening, I apparently passed out. Could have been an assault, or something I ate, or y'know, something like that. We were simply trying to recreate the even in our minds before we called the police." She chuckled, bashfully. "No point in bothering them if we ain't gottta, right? So, yeah, no vampires, werewolves or evil ghost seeing sorcerers here. Nope. Just a whole lot of Declan being all 'grr, rawr' on everyone, that's all. He don't mean any harm, he's just over protective, is all."

,,

There were a few moments of silence while Swara waited for her smoke screen job to bear fruit. Astra could see how their threads all pulsed with activity and were interwoven with one another. Acanthus were so damn hard to lie to. Eventually Swara's own impulses interrupted her train of thought. "Oh my god! I love those boots! Where'd you get em'?"

,,

How in the hell this blonde wrecking ball of sanity defeated a monster this evening was becoming more and more of a mystery...

[Gary Norton]

Gary could tell right away that this was potentially leading to a fight. Possibly in which he would have to unceremoniously slip away, just to be safe. After all, Astra's manner suggested she was not unfamiliar with the supernatural - either meaning she was one too, or else probably crossed paths far too much to be healthy.

,,

At least if ---

,, ,,

"Dude," Swara looked to Declan after his exchange with Sarah. What is it with you? Like, I know we just met and all but you are wound way too tight, Broseph. You know there are decaffeinated brands on the market that are just as tasty as the real thing. I mean, I'm not sayin', just sayin'..."

,,

With her million dollar smile she extended her hand to Astra. "Hi, Swara-Ann, nice to meet you, and this isn't as odd as it looks. Gary here found me in this alley earlier this evening, I apparently passed out. Could have been an assault, or something I ate, or y'know, something like that. We were simply trying to recreate the even in our minds before we called the police." She chuckled, bashfully. "No point in bothering them if we ain't gottta, right? So, yeah, no vampires, werewolves or evil ghost seeing sorcerers here. Nope. Just a whole lot of Declan being all 'grr, rawr' on everyone, that's all. He don't mean any harm, he's just over protective, is all."

,,

There were a few moments of silence while Swara waited for her smoke screen job to bear fruit. Astra could see how their threads all pulsed with activity and were interwoven with one another. Acanthus were so damn hard to lie to. Eventually Swara's own impulses interrupted her train of thought. "Oh my god! I love those boots! Where'd you get em'?"

,,

How in the hell this blonde wrecking ball of sanity defeated a monster this evening was becoming more and more of a mystery...

,,

FUUUUUUUCK! Gary gave himself a moment of tortured attempt at pondering and decided Swara's quarry had simply chosen to kill itself than to listen to the blond's yammering any more. And Gary, nor at that, the aggravated Rotting Scholar, were quite so disposed to even consider that line of escape.

,,

He dug around in his wallet, devising subtler means of getting her away. "Swara, I got a twenty. Could you please head to the Taco Bell thataway-" he thrust his arm down a random street, "and pick up some burritos? A McDonalds or Burger King would suffice as a backup plan."

,,

Please work, please work...

[Owns-The-Night]

"Oh, for fuck's sake!"

,,

Gary's noble, nay heroic, efforts were to be in vain, sadly.

,,

The metaphorical fuse had burned down to the stick of dynamite. Kinda. Obviously, Dec wasn't going to utterly lose his cool, wolf out, and try to 'surgically' reduce Swara-Ann's posterior with a set of jaws better suited to buzz-sawing through cars. He wasn't that kind of asshole. But right at this moment, he really, really wished he was that kind of asshole.

,,

"She ain't fuckin' buyin' it, yer dumb fluffball. I'm pretty damned sure she came here to find us." he jabbed a finger at Astra, then at Swara. "And even if she weren't here to find us, you opened that damn pie hole of yers and blew the hole shebang." His accusing finger hung in the air, then dropped as the vargr shrugged, the very epitome of an 'ahh, fuck it' gesture. He looked around at Sarah, Gary, and then back at Swara.

,,

"She's one of us. Or at least, one of the folks in the goddamn know. So lets quit fucking around, say hi to Astra, and quit with the cute games. Which is what I was trying to do in such a way that might give us some kinda fuckin' clue as to her intentions. So yeah, we're a neighbourhood watch made up of things that go bump when the lights are out, big whoop, what happens now." His burly shoulders tensed, the werewolf tossed his hands up in the air and paced, grumbling under his breath as he kept half an eye on Astra.

,,

*grumblemutterfraggin'* "...the fuck is wrong with the world when I'm the voice of fuckin' tact..." *grrrmumblefek*

[Gary Norton]

Gary blinked, then shrugged. Well, that was the direct route. "My request still stands, Swara." Mainly because the point was less about keeping the lid on things than to - simply put - get Swara out of their hair for as much freaking time as possible. Hopefully Dec at least would catch onto that.

[Swara-Ann]

With her hands on her hips she just glared at Gary, shaking her head slowly. Apparently this was all his fault. "Burritos? Seriously? Who's gonna belive you guys were sending me out for burritos dressed like this?". The blonde numbskull made a casual sweep down her frame, once again bringing attention to the fact she was dressed like a complete ho.

"Way to go Ace," she flashed Gary a thumbs up. "You totally need to work on your centerfuge.". She made a 'pfffft' sound and rolled her eyes, shaking her head in disappointment. "Burritos..."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah looked back and forth at her three (more or less) colleagues as if they were Larry, Curly and Moe (in her mind, the vargr was nominally Moe, and Swara-Ann was definitely Curly). Meanwhile, Astra seemed to be doing her level best not to laugh.

,,

As the discussion quickly degenerated to slapstick, she let go the bulk of her combat-ready tensions, sighed a very tired sigh, and - despite the irate Declan standing not five feet away - stepped forward with a hand extended in the newcomer's direction. She'd let go of any thoughts of appearing human by this point, so it wasn't the warmest of hands.

,,

"I'm Sarah. Woulda been nicer t' meet ya in less goofy circumstances."

[Astra D.]

Largely content to watch the blonde, buxom wrecking ball plow heedlessly through every attempt at constructing something of subtlety or diversion, Astra was forced to concede that, whatever these four were doing, they were probably more a danger to themselves than others. With obvious hesitation, she briefly clasped hands with the alabaster-skinned redhead, and the tiny crinkles of amusement at the corners of her eyes smoothed by degrees.

,,

"Astra," she replied, nodding, "though I think we've covered that already." Something of her wry smile remained in the wan light, and she glanced at the argent-eyed groundskeeper again. "Although, to answer your question, if I had brought silver, I wouldn't be standing quite this close, would I? Close enough to see what big eyes you have," the dark-eyed girl added impishly. "If I thought I needed it, I'd be across campus, looking out a seventh-story window through a scope, with my finger just off the trigger." She shrugged, physically dismissing the idea and surveying the others as she took another pull from her flask. "But I didn't bring any, and didn't know until I saw you that it would even be relevant. I didn't even know you'd be here- just that someone would. And someone was, which is just the way things happen with me. Aaaand yes, I'm 'in the know.' As it happens, actually, I think I owe you a 'thanks.' Chatter around the water-cooler is that you handled an issue for us recently, something we intended on keeping in-house."

[Gary Norton]

"Subterfuge..." Gary muttered under his breath with a hint of frustration that the blond dolt had somehow seen through his attempt. The gods of irony were having a good night. On a more polite note, he straightened up a bit more. "Gary." They'd helped... Astra's... colleagues. Interesting... could it be... "Refresh my memory please. Which of us was it that did the helping?"

[Swara-Ann]

"Whatever." She shrugged cheerily, flashing her unphased smile at the subterfuge correction. "I know it wasn't me, I've been incognito for months and, sorry sweetie, but I don't know you from Alice."

,,

"Adam." Gary chimed up again. He wasn't quite at the 'put a gun in my mouth and end it' stage, yet. She was smoking hot, but even that was loosing its appeal to his senses real quick.

,,

"Whatever." She shrugged again, perfectly content to be corrected all night. "Um, Dec, if she's 'in the know'," She air quoted and used her creepy spy voice. "Why are you getting your hackles all bunched in a knot, dude?" For Swara, naive was the word of the day. It seemed this girl would trust anyone with handful of candy and a Power Puff Girls DVD. That made her dangerous; easily used for the wrong purposes and she'd follow blindly never knowing she was doing wrong until it was too late. She had 'wolf' written all over her, it was just hard to read under the bimbo routine. She carried herself with strength and passion, she probably fought like she was demon possessed judging by the mess he discovered earlier, and just in the short time he'd been following her (and who didn't want follow her in that outfit...) she'd displayed cunning, resolve and even a spark of intellect. Just a spark.

,,

And he knew the ditz would put all of that to use for the wrong people if someone didn't keep tabs on her. "Like, seriously, were all," she switched back to mocking spy voice and air quotes. "In the know... and plus now there's five of us which is better than," She was thinking. She was honestly thinking of what came before five! She decided it was wasting too much of her time so she shrugged again and settled. "Y'know... what we had a second ago."

,,

"At any rate could we like, maybe get something to eat? Like inside someplace?" She rested her head on Declan's shoulder, like a child her parent for permission. Dec shook her off with that 'get off me' glare. "Kinda chilly out here and Gare-Bear has been totally peeping my high beams for like, ten minutes now. Granted, low degree of difficulty but a high degree of creep factor. If we don't get something in his mouth soon, I might end up a statistic."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"Inside..." Sarah looked around, just a bit nervously. Then she sighed.

,,

"Yeah, inside would work. So long as you don't expect me to eat. Not so good with the food thing." Then she looked back at Swara, and added, "Though y'know, someplace private might be best, since there's some, uh, verbage-control issues here." She glanced over to the vargr and asked, "Declan, we're near your turf; gotta place where we can hole up? Maybe order some pizza or somethin' for the eatin' an' breathin' types?"

[Owns-The-Night]

The thing was, Declan reflected ruefully, that if it was really hard to concentrate while Swara was around wearing her 'Buffy the Vampire Layer' outfit. That said, it was hard to concentrate while Swara was around. She was athletic and hot and kinda-sorta-funny, and one hell of a story teller too. Plus... she was a werewolf. Not the same kind of werewolf, of course, but she got IT. He just knew from their accidentally-extended eyemeet back at Gary's place that Swara knew what it was to howl at the moon, to taste the wind and to breathe in the world. So he was honest enough with himself to know that at least part of why Swara gave him a headache, and why he was in a grumpy mood generally, was because he wanted to tap that harder than a drum solo, but he wouldn't, because decent guys didn't cheat on smart, attractive girls that were willing to overlook that he was a frickin' werewolf that'd frickin' well eaten people.

,,

It just wasn't done. Even if he did allow himself to briefly consider the what-if's. And Swara had a really cute what-if's, too. For a crazy moon-caller chick.

,,

Enough. Back to business. Cute mage chick with green eyes and a really tasty navel. Right. Goddamn his libido, focus.

,,

"Swara's right." he said with a sigh, giving a vague glower Sarah's way. "And you know damn well there's a place nearby." he grumped, then shook his head and started off. "C'mon, y'all. If we're gonna be buddies, we might as well get used to trustin' each other."

,,

"Neat-o." Swara chirped, falling into step alongside him to his right, and damn if there wasn't a skip in her walk. "Where are we going?" Her long legs were easily up to the task of keeping up with Declan's stride. The vargr shoved his hands in his pockets and loped along with unconscious economy, as though he could and had kept the same pace up for days. Swara, on the other hand, moved with a little bounce, now and then part-turning as she walked to address Declan or the others. "You got a batcave? Or is that a wolfcave? Oooh, I betcha you got a wolf-mobile. You got a wolfmobile, Declan?" she asked brightly.

,,

"Why would a wolf need a wolfmobile?" Gary asked, exchanging a nonplussed look with Astra and Sarah as the three of them started walking too. Swara turned so that she was walking backwards now, facing the hindmost trio, her blue eyes wide.

,,

"I didn't think of that. A wolfmobile would be dumb. Cool, but dumb." She shot Gary a dazzling smile. "So would a Wolf-belt."

,,

"And a wolfcopter." Gary retorted.

,,

"A wolf-submarine."

,,

"Wolfarang." The two were grinning at each other now.

,,

"Wolf-shark repellent."

,,

"Shaddup." Declan growled, without much force to it. His own lips were quirking at the corners, threatening a smile at the shenanigans of the two. Astra decided to take advantage of the shift in the volatile-seeming man's demeanour and quickened her pace to walk on his left. The silver eyes glanced her way, then went back to scanning the night as the small party moved. Declan seemed a little distracted, but it was the focus of one who was listening, smelling and feeling the world around him in ways that a human being could only imagine.

,,

"So where are we heading?" Astra asked quietly.

,,

"My place." came the laconic answer. "You'll love it. The science building totally overlooks it from across the campus. You can read our lips through a scope and I can have pizza sent round once a day." He flashed her a smile.

,,

"Your place? Awesome!" Swara chipped in. "And we can order take-out, right?"

,,

"Right." Dec confirmed. "Why don't ya take a poll and figure out what we're gettin'? I'm good with anything as long as it contains lots of meat."

[Swara-Ann]

By the time everyone had made it to Declan's place, ordered pizza and were waiting for it to arrive Swara had made a mad dash for her dorm (which wasn't too far from Dec's place), changed into something a bit more comfortable and made it back in time to hear the end of Declan explaining to Sarah and Astra exactly what had transpired tonight that led up to everyone's alleyway meeting. Declan didn't bother asking how she found the place so easily, given his poor directions, considering the collective scents from the traveling mob, he knew, would've been easy enough to follow. Gary smelled like his home, which Swara had been sleeping in earlier. Sarah had the scent of freshly turned soil all about her and Astra had enough hair product to be followed through a slaughter house by a hungry wolf.

,,

Now she seemed more like a werewolf, except for the pink. Laced but untied running shoes, aged cut-offs that hung loosely off her body (allowing a peek at her pink unmentionables), a white tank top and a pink zip up hoodie rounded out the ensemble. All of it was the 'drop and run' style of clothing that werewolves preferred. Her long blonde hair was now on two pigtails bound with pink ribbons. She was cute in a nauseatingly gumball sorta way, but no less attractive.

,,

A few moments before the Pizza Guy (yes, capped... it's a proper name/title or at least should be) approached the house she entered Dec's bathroom and when she exited she went right for the door handing Gary her tank top as she walked past him, it seemed all that covered her now was her hoodie and whatever lie beneath it. "Hold that, girl's gotta eat..." Gary stood there puzzled holding her shirt and just shrugged at Dec.

,,

After that it didn't take them long to figure what she was up to. She had yanked the zipper down a bit and spent several moments out there talking with the guy before she even went for the pizza and reached for any money. "Food discounts. Might be the only girl's saving grace." The large vargr smirked as he leaned in the doorway of the kitchen looking out the windows to the scene unraveling. In the end they were devouring forty eight dollars worth of meat lovers pizzas for only twenty six bucks (hey, it's not like any of them were made of money... three lived on a college campus so what does that tell ya), so over all, not bad. The only thing that would've made the night better is if Swara hadn't zipped up her hoodie after she came back in.

,,

"That was Glen," she said, laying the pizza down on the table. She took an educated guess where plates were and collected several. "Poor guy's gonna get fired eventually, but show a little skin and flirt with him and bam instant discount. My roomie and I lived off of Parmesan bites for three weeks thanks to him, low cut tops, boy shorts, and judiciously applied pink lip gloss."

,,

"You don't feel that's taking advantage of him, just a little?" Gary asked, not really meaning to take any moral high ground, he was simply curious.

,,

"Nope," she said swiftly enough to dispel any doubt she was the least bit concerned with Glen. "He offers me free food because he's crushing on me, big time. Not my fault if he doesn't have the gall to ask me out." All of them saw that Glen was about one hundred pounds, Declan guess a buck-ten soaked with rocks in his pockets. Glasses, acne and a retainer at nineteen... not the sort of guy one would expect to be on the arm of a gorgeous girl like Swara to begin with.

,,

"Would you?" Declan asked calmly while Swara took it upon herself to get the pizza organized and the plates and cups out. "Go out with him if he asked."

,,

"Yup." Again, it was so swift that it had to be either well rehearsed or just honest. "Look, guys, I'm an air head, I know that... but I'm not some trampy villainess. If that boy had the courage to ask me out, even I know that's a monumental feat for him. He'd deserve a chance, yeah. Heck, people have found love in stranger places." She looked to Gary who was setting her tank top down over the back of a chair and looked down at herself; in a zipped up hoodie covering her pink unmentionables. "Okay, maybe a bit of a tramp, but damnit I was hungry."

,,

She scooped out several slices for the plates but when Astra and Gary reached for theirs they promptly received a slap on the hand. "Ah! Not yet guys, sorry." She presented a plate to Declan and his nose went into overdrive. It held the most toppings from one of the pies, those 'golden' few slices that seemed just better loaded than the others (you know the ones...). "The first share of the kill for the greatest in station," She said calmly, offering him a warm and bubbly smile. "Granted it's not 'kill' in the proper sense, but this is your home and we are your guests, so the honor of highest station goes to you."

,,

For a moment the air head was absent and what was left in it's place was a striking, predatory woman whose glare silently searched the room for anyone who would challenge her declaration that while in Declan's house, he was king. A silly notion, sure, in the modern day and times people had come to always default to respecting others in their own home but for the wolf mentality it meant a bit more. This was a group of people who didn't ask you to politely leave, they spent several hours cleaning your off the walls and mocking your memory for being foolish enough to get your self killed for disrespecting someone in their own home. It was an awkward kind of silence and for the first time, honestly, since anyone had been in Swara's presence did she clearly draw a line a sand that declared she was a predator and anyone who violated particular tenants could easily become prey and she did it all with a silent glare.

,,

There may have been hope for her yet...

[Owns-The-Night]

"Uh..." Dec was momentarily at a loss for words. Pleased as hell, but taken aback for a moment, both by the totally unexpected deference and the very serious way that Swara took this... custom? Ritual? The vargr was not used to running with a pack, didn't really know the customs... or did he? He thought about his winter up at the cabin. The wolves had been deferential to the biggest and strongest, which while he was with them meant him. It wasn't a grudging acceptance, either. Sure, wolves of roughly the same pack status would squabble over food, but the Boss wolf was the Boss wolf unless you wanted to try for the job. So their own alpha hadn't lost face (though Dec wasn't sure how that worked with wolves), Dec had always made sure to invite their alpha to eat at the same time. After all, he wasn't that pack's leader.

,,

And he wasn't necessarily the leader of this one, either. Though it felt right, somehow, the way Swara was acting. This was his territory, his den, and he was sharing it willingly. In human society, things tended to be backwards - guests were looked after first, hosts made sure they got the best of everything. Wolves did it the other way around. And I'm a wolf, and so is she, even though we can pass for human, and are as smart as humans... How does that change the pattern? A wolf that associates with non-wolves doesn't happen in the wild, but a smart wolf would hook up with- he pondered Astra and Gary - ...a falcon and a raccoon, p'raps, in order to work more efficiently. That's why humans run things: cooperation. What's that word that describes good teamwork?

,,

"Sorry," he said, aware that he'd been staring at them all for a long moment. "I was kinda spaced for a sec." He reached out and took the plate from Swara, giving her a smile. Picking up on instinct what she was waiting for, he picked up a slice and took a huge, savory, delicious meaty bite. Swara beamed fit to light up the room and nodded to everyone.

,,

"'Kay, peoples. Scarf it while it's hot!"

[z-August Turner]

The various eating-food types tore into the pizza with abandon, popping wedges of cheese-and-meat goodness into their mouths. As it was, only Sarah was the unoccupied person when the newest arrival announced herself. “Dec, what are you doing in the kit- FUCK!”

,,

Everyone turned just in time to see a blur of movement dashing away from the doorway. The lasting impression they got from the person was long black hair and sleepy eyes, and a lot of skin. The sound of a door slamming deeper in the house punctuated the flight of the newcomer.

,,

“Ah, shit. I didn’t know she was here.” Declan dropped his half-slice back on the plate and rose. “I’d better go make sure she’s okay.”

,,

As he left, he heard Swara say, “Oops, I think we woke up his roommate!”

,,

“I don’t think that’s just a roommate,” Gary answered her, sounding way too amused for Declan’s mood.

,,

He found August in the bedroom, wrapped up in a blanket and huddled on his bed. The expression of mortified horror on her face left him torn between trying to laugh her embarrassment off and wanting a spell to turn back time and rescue her from her entrance.

,,

“Can I die now?” August asked so plainatively that he had to laugh. “Now I kinda want you to die. God, I am so embarrassed.”

,,

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d be over here.” Declan slid his arms around her, blanket and all, and pulled her close.

,,

“I wanted to surprise you.” August sounded miserable. “But you didn’t come home, and I put the food in the fridge, and just went to bed.” She sniffled a little. “There’s pork steaks and mashed potatoes in the fridge.”

,,

Dec smiled. “Thank you.” Hearing another sniffle, he checked and found that she was crying. “Aw, August. It’s not that bad. I don’t think any of them really saw you.”

,,

“I’m just…” Her wet green eyes caught his as she cast about for a word. “Mortified. That’s the word. Completely mortified.”

,,

“I’m sure they’ve seen worse.” Dec knew the words were wrong the moment he said them. August smacked him on the shoulder, and for the first time, it wasn’t a playful swat. “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that!” The hint of a growl in his voice was warning for both of them.

,,

“Sorry.” August wiggled her arms out of the blanket and wrapped them around his chest. After a moment, she said, “You should probably get back out there.”

[Owns-The-Night]

"Yeah..." Dec looked at the door, his head cocked as though he were listening. Which he probably was, come to think of it. Then he looked back at her, an idea dawning in his expression. "Hey, you should come with me." August jerked her head away from the comforting solidity of his chest and stared at him as though his head was on backwards.

,,

"No, really. They're kinda in the same line of work as me." he said with a meaningful glance at the door. "And you were talkin' about wanting to help out. And you gotta meet Gary, he's all into ghosts and stuff, apparently he's kinda part ghost but still alive. And you've met Sarah, so they won't all be new faces. And Astra was at that huge party you first invited me to-"

,,

"I remember." August didn't remember much about that night, but she remembered the body shot episode. The flat way she delivered the statement reached even Dec, who hastily moved on.

,,

"Well, she's a mage - that's kinda a real wizard - I reckon, and Swara is a werewolf." Dec finished hastily. August looked at him, plainly torn. She did want to help, and the thought of meeting other supernatural types was as interesting as it was terrifying. A man who was part ghost? That couldn't be right. She sighed and dropped her forehead to his chest.

,,

"Should I even bother with clothing at this point?" she asked, a smidgeon of self-pity in her voice.

,,

"Well, they're gonna see me naked sooner or later. It ain't so bad." He grinned and hugged her, but the stiffness in her normally hug-welcoming body was apparent.

,,

"Cos, y'know, I'll be a wolf?"

,,

More silence.

,,

"In fact, two of them have already seen me naked." he added brightly.

,,

"Ye're bein' awful quiet, frail."

,,

"This is not a night for joking, Dec." August said quietly, her manner subdued.

,,

"Ah." There was a long silence as Declan sought the correct response. August waited patiently. "I'm sorry?" he said after a ten-count. The hopeful note in his gruff voice made her smile and stand on tip-toe to kiss him. Declan smiled widely.

,,

"So that's a 'yes, I'll come and meet your weird night-stalky friends'?"

,,

"With clothes." August affirmed.

,,

"Of course with clothes. Gary's a lech as well as being a living dead guy." Dec's voice took on a slight growl at the thought that another dude had seen his girl naked. Well, of course her prior boyfriends had, but... well, you know.

,,

"Lovely." August grimaced as she hunted for her t-shirt.

,,

"Don't worry. If he gets outta hand I'll have Swara kick his ass. She'd love to - he's been eyeballin' hers all night."

,,

"He sounds like a creep."

,,

"Nah, he's just a guy. Any guy would eyeball her ass..." he caught the hint of danger the way his keen nose could detect a spot of five day old blood. "... if they were single. Which I am not so I'll just go and tell them ye're coming and see ya out there and save ya some pizza..." The door closed behind him and August stared hard at the inoffending wood before shaking her head and smiling slightly. Men were men, even the ones that were man-shaped objects.

,,

* * * * *

"Okay, the girl's name is August, and yes she's with me, and she's goin' to join the party." Dec announced to the others as he came back in and leaned against the kitchen doorway. "Clothed."

,,

"Wow - grmmf - you're bringing a date?" Swara said around a mouthful of pizza, blue eyes wide.

,,

"Not a date." Dec rolled his eyes. "She sees dead people. For real. Otherwise she's straight outta the human drawer. She was talkin' about helping me with my territory before, but seein' as we're meeting about workin' together, I reckon she should be included." Silver eyes swept the group. "Anyone reckon different?" He hadn't meant it to sound like a challenge, but there was a hint of that nevertheless.

[Swara-Ann]

"I reckon as long as she's useful." Swara chewed her pizza, talking with her mouth full and grinnin' like a twelve year old who knew something he didn't. She picked at the slice and popped a pepperoni in her mouth, her Cheshire whimsy didn't abate. "We tend to keep our business our business, Declan, reckon she can do that? Since there's no dating involved, I reckon she's just here to keep Mister Winky happy in exchange for what? Shelter? Safety? Dec, sex bodyguard for hire." Her grin was just as mocking as it was amusing. "Good thing she popped in. If you have a habit of putting every supernatural girl you meet on soldier polishing duty I'm glad she popped in when she did. It's the bod isn't it? Give them that muscular chest to rest their head against, play the noble dark hero with an attitude and a five o'clock shadow. All grumbly and gruff... then BAM next thing you know damsel in distress is sneaking in through the back so you can put her on her back..."

,,

She scoffed and snorted. "Wow, and I though frat guys were douche bags. I had you pegged as cleaner Dec, but hey to each their own." He could hear it and he wasn't sure if it was genuine disgust, jealousy that Declan servicing the local herd, or a combination of both.

,,

Great... more drama.

[Owns-The-Night]

"She an' I are dating. But that ain't why I think she should work with us. That's what I meant by not a date." Declan said levelly. Too levelly, really. He had taken a step forwards out of reflex at Swara's words, but had stopped, and was now radiating that awful stillness, a growling subharmonic underscoring his seemingly calm tone of voice. "She's a decent girl who's had to deal with seeing spooks her whole damn life. She's terrified of 'em, and she still wants to help by usin' her gift, or whatever you wanna call it. She don't heal from bruises and cuts like you and me, but she's learning to fight and defend herself anyway. For real, not some pansy-ass self defence course. She's vanilla human with a gift she can't control well, who's made a conscious decision to keep my secret and even give me a chance to date her, knowin' that I'm a fucking werewolf."

,, ,,

"Now I like you, girl. Don't know you all that well, so I'm guessin' it shouldn't be so surprising you can be such a all-fired bitch. I'm disappointed, though." Declan leaned forwards and placed his hands on the table, leaning over it. Now his teeth were bared, and a faint golden tinge was entering the lambent silver of his gaze. He radiated menace and feral anger, not even bothering to try and hide the Wolf inside. "Disappointed ain't a fuckin' drop in the ocean compared to what I'll be if the next words outta your mouth ain't an apology. She ain't some piece of ass to me, and if yer gonna treat her as such you can tuck tail and get the fuck outta here."

[Gary Norton]

At first it had been an amusing sequence of events, Swara bubbling (but admittedly serious) about the complete primacy of the host, and being delayed just a tad from the pizza. Declan's... companion popping in and understandably shocked at the guest list and her state of undress. Then Swara had to go and - in ironic light of her insistence on 'Declan first', beard the lion - okay, wolf - in his own den.

,,

Naturally, the best course of action was to look elsewhere and nibble on his pizza. However, Gary was curious about the mention of Declan's girlfriend - and her capacity to see ghosts. Unless there was more she wasn't telling the werewolf, she was just an average human being with a gift. Correction - not so average - but... semantics.

,,

"Goes to her credit then, from what you said... Declan's girlfriend that is. I don't object." Gary offered at last. "Maybe Swara is projecting her jealousy." He added with an impish grin. "Though about seeing ghosts - do you think she'd like some lessons?"

,,

Swara naturally craned her head around to call him on his perv factor, anything to get out of her pickle, but Gary knew it was coming and was actually tired of the commentary. "Stop saying I'm a creep, perv, whatever. It's a libel..."

,,

"You've been peeping my-" Swara feebly protested. "Only a few times," Gary allowed, but he actually looked very annoyed at last. "I'm still alive, you are admittedly attractive, and - in your own words - you have been dressed like a ho." He leaned back while eating some more pizza. "Getting back to my point, I was strictly offering tutelage in terms of seeing, interacting with and trying to understand ghosts. And you should apologize to Declan, Swara."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah - who had been busily trying to ignore the smell of the pizza and the delicious memories it dragged up - had more than glimpsed August during her very brief initial appearance in the doorway. Not that she said anything about on Declan's return, though she did silently say to herself, Gee, never saw them getting together. Nope, never. The sole expressed element of this little internal dialogue was a hint of rolled eyes.

,,

Which turned out to be just as well, since Swara had gone into full blown jealousy mode. Last thing she needed was to piss off one of the Uratha, even if said example was the dizziest blonde who ever spun until she fell over.

,,

What did come out of her mouth - which sadly required an inhale of that wonderful smell again - was, "You know, this ain't a half-bad little group here. Oddest damned pack I've ever seen, but as oddballs go, not bad at all." Something laughed in her ear as she finished it up, which brought her to a slight glance to her side; even though she knew full well that she couldn't see spirits, hearing them still tripped the glancing reflex.

[Swara-Ann]

"Now I like you, girl. Don't know you all that well, so I'm guessin' it shouldn't be so surprising you can be such a all-fired bitch. I'm disappointed, though." Declan leaned forwards and placed his hands on the table, leaning over it. Now his teeth were bared, and a faint golden tinge was entering the lambent silver of his gaze. He radiated menace and feral anger, not even bothering to try and hide the Wolf inside. "Disappointed ain't a fuckin' drop in the ocean compared to what I'll be if the next words outta your mouth ain't an apology. She ain't some piece of ass to me, and if yer gonna treat her as such you can tuck tail and get the fuck outta here."

Was there something in the brain that knew? Some chemical in the mind that understood that there were two apex predators in the kitchen about to square off and get blood and viscera all over Declan's kitchen, and probably some pizza too. After a few moments everyone realized they'd instinctively just moved away. Swara wasn't afraid of death, in fact, given her curse, she welcomed it. Ever since she awakened Luna's gifts years ago she'd been waiting for that monster powerful enough to end her curse, one way or another.

,,

"You are dating?" She asked. Already people were really hoping she'd just apologize and leave it alone... but did anything ever really go the supernatural types ever hoped it would? Nope. "Fine. I assumed otherwise so I apologize for that, my mistake, but that's all you get." Already her body was rippling and Sarah could see the tell-tale signs of muscle rippling over bone as it cracked and reformed. A sheer coat of white fur had grown over her skin although she still looked human-oid. Her hair was longer now, cascading down her back like a white waterfall. Her nails had become pink talons, thick and sharp and her canine teeth had elongated. Her voice carried a low growl with every word. She stood nearly seven feet tall now, much larger than she should be for her standard height, Sarah noticed.

,,

She wasn't trying to intimidate Declan, he knew that. She was bracing for a fight. Shifting forms was the human-wolf's way of inflating it's size and 'raising her hackles'. "Sees ghosts?" She swiveled her head to Gary. "We already have one of those. She's human and this is not a game of 'can she come, I wanna impress my girlfriend'. Do you think some scared girl will be able challenge the things we face? I can smell her fear and doubt from in here, she wreaks with it."

,,

Swara had balls. It was amazing she could even walk. She leaned in and met Declan's step forward with one of her own, signifying she wasn't going to back down. This 'pack' didn't have a leader... yet. Luna be damned if she was going to be cowed by some frat boy vargr who wanted to impress the lamb he was sleeping with. Everyone here was a 'super', something more than human and here was Declan trying to bring his squishy love toy into the ring to do battle with the Forces of Darkness? What the fuck was he thinking?!? This was not a 'learn your powers' training camp, it was a war! "She's your problem. She keeps up with you, she either fights or dies on her own merit she'll get no help from us." Swara's glare towards everyone else told them that she wasn't looking for moral opinions on the topic either. "You will not suffer us to tend to your weaknesses."

,,

The feral snow goddess narrowed her ice blue eyes. Disagreements, arguments, fighting were all common among werewolves. It usually wasn't anything personal. Getting your ass kicked and spending hours regenerating wounds that would've a human ten times over were often ways to solve debates. The Uratha were a people of few words sometimes, violence was the only solution. If it came to a brawl, she was ready. If it didn't, well, she was ready for that too. "That's all you get. Now, if you wanna throw down, make a move." She shrugged, "It's your kitchen that'll be getting remodeled. If not, then bring her out and let's get this over with."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

When the Uratha decided to shift up into Dalu, Sarah took a different tack... and shifted down into her wolf form. Unlike what was apparently custom with the Vargr, this didn't involve dropping clothes around her; no, they melded smoothly with her shifting form, becoming fur and pads and such.

That said, Sarah's shift wasn't in preparation to fight. No, it was a simple matter of not being a soft pink slow human-shape in the midst of two werewolves preparing to throw down. It deprived her of speech, but that was just fine; she was a Crescent-Moon, not a Half, and there was no way she was going to play Elodoth between these two and get pummeled to ash for her trouble.

Still, one thought did run repeatedly through her mind, even as she was tensed to dodge several hundred pounds of nastiness: Don't point out the pink claws. For the love of Luna, don't point out the pink claws.

[Owns-The-Night]

"If I have to put up with you, help you, work with you and respect you, you'll do the same for anyone else in this team." Declan growled, looking up at the immense Dalu-form with nary a blink. "She ain't weak because she's human- You know what?" he shook his head and grinned widely. "Fuck it. Dunno why I'm tryin' to reason with a fuckin' moon-caller."

,,

The punch was fast, and heavy, with all of the vargr's anger behind it. It also missed by inches as Swara jerked her head back and sideways, blue eyes wide and almost crossing as the fist whipped through the air just under her nose so fast she felt the breeze. Dec's eyes were tinged with gold, a curiously uratha trait in someone who wasn't one of Luna's children, and his glare could strip the paint off rocks. But he hadn't shifted form from the get-go, whether from overconfidence or inability, the two uratha-savvy folks at the table weren't sure.

,,

Initiative:

Owns-The-Night *rolls* 1d10: 6+6: 12

Revenant *rolls* 1d10: 2+6: 8

,, ,,

[Owns-The-Night] 6:39 pm: spending a WP, due to Dec acting on his Vice, so Str + Brawl + 3 dice for WP = 10 dice
Owns-The-Night *rolls* 10d10: 7+6+1+5+1+6+1+2+4+3: 36
[Owns-The-Night] 6:40 pm: Hah
[Owns-The-Night] 6:40 pm: suckage

,,

Nothin' but air!

[Swara-Ann]

Have you ever heard a punch? Most people don't. See, when you hear a punch that means that the air itself decided to get the fuck out of the way and if you don't follow suit, well... you wake up with anywhere from a few minutes to a few years of your life gone and sold to Morpheus. Thankfully, Swara go the hell out of the way, else she'd been laid out on the kitchen floor.

,,

"Have it your way..." She growled and she side stepped and snarled. Her hand flattened on Declan's chest and she effortlessly pushed him to the side, slamming him against his refrigerator which thundered against the wall. Her forehead connected with the bridge of his nose and her arms swung up. She was too close to punch effectively but instead began slamming her elbow and forearm into the side of his head like a Thai kick boxer. The speed was amazing. One, two, three, four... she didn't stop. Already welts began to form on Declan's cheek.

,,

She was a feral beast it seemed. All of her attacks were brutal, swift, and while she wasn't trying to kill, she wasn't showing any mercy either. This wasn't the perky, ditzy, blonde girl they'd met earlier... this was animal she kept in check.

,,

Blah, blah... everyone in chat saw the rolls... 2 bashing to Dec.

[Owns-The-Night]

Dec gritted his teeth and weathered the storm of blows, feeling the sledgehammer-strong elbows rattling his head and ribs. He'd suffered worse, though, and damn straight wasn't going to quit, not now, not ever. The girl's reach in her She-Hulk shape was immense, but he could already feel the bruises fading as she continued to whup him like a punch bag. He tried a couple of times to get in a hook punch or two, but against the flurry of blows his own rejoinders were ineffective. He was tempted to shift, to take the fucking gloves off and let the broad really have it, but several considerations held him back for now, not least the fact that he had neighbours and really didn't want the cops called because of an escaped animal reported.

,,

So for now, the proud vargr had to ride out the fury he'd called down and wait for an opening...

[Swara-Ann]

Declan felt his spine bruise as she scooped him up from his place on the fridge and slammed him hard against the counters by the sink. He knew the tactic; tossing him about, keeping him off balance. Clever girl.

,,

She didn't swing on him though, she held him there, her strength keeping his own in check. "We going to keep doing this? Or are you going to bring her out? You know as well as I, respect is earned," The growl in her throat seemed different, the words were honeyed and meant to speak to the part of Declan that wasn't in this fight. The rational side, the warrior within that knew when to fight and when to simply let things be. "You want me to respect her? Then stop fighting for her and let her fight for herself!" She swung him about again and they slammed into the stove. "With deeds!" She swung him about and they rolled into the utility room slamming against the washer, Swara on top. The two traded blows, Declan smashing his fist in her jaw and her doing the same. "With words, with actions... that is my way!"

,,

Declan slammed her head against the washer, stunning her enough to roll her over but the fight continued on in the same fashion. He was using one arm for balance and the suddenly became locked when Swara caught his fist in mid punch and was holding it there, each now pushing in a contest of strength. Her other arm was pinned by the washer and the way he was balanced, so the big man didn't fear a sudden blow. "Bring her out so that she might begin earning the stories I'll sing to Luna, but I'll not sing the praises of a warrior who has no voice of their own. No amount of fighting will ever change that Declan..." She smirked seductively and he knew apart of her was enjoying the action. "I can go all night stud, but that doesn't get her out here to start earning place any faster, now does it? Chose."

,,

Inspiration Gift - The Right Words (reflexive activation) +2 to rolls to encourage, inspire or mollify.

Manipulation + Persuade + The Right Words + Willpower Dice = 10.

-3 Penalty for Declan's mood.

,,

1 success.

[Owns-The-Night]

"You'll give her the chance to earn it?" he asked, his own voice several octaves lower than any human throat had a right to produce. The two of them were locked fist-to-hand, muscles still testing against each other even though they were parlaying. "No race-inferiority crap?"

,,

"Dude, she'll have the same chance as any of us." Swara stated bluntly. That got a blink from the vargr, she saw, and noted that the gold was fading from his silver gaze. She was glad of it, too. Something about Dec's air of ferocity was distinctly different to an uratha, who fought between themselves and laughed it off before the bruises faded. He might play, but he needed to learn that not all fights were deadly serious, too. At least among packmates. A small part of Swara wondered if there were packs of these other werewolves, and what they were like.

,,

"Right then." Declan withdrew his arm slowly and stepped away from Swara, keeping a suspicious eye on her in case it was a trick. If it was, it was a good one: the girl was already shrinking back down to her human shape, flipping her hair back and working her jaw where he'd clipped it.

,,

"Nice punch." she noted. Dec touched his already-healed lip, then rubbed at the back of his head where the uratha had plowed it into a wall. He stretched then, feeling the bruises on his ribs tingle as they faded.

,,

"You too." he told her grudgingly. Swara beamed perkily at him.

,,

"Man, I'm hungry. You totally interrupted the pizza worship, grumpypants." she chirped, swishing past the big vargr and bouncing out into the kitchen. Dec blinked again and followed. The tableau in the kitchen was one of tense waiting. Gary had grabbed the pizza from the table and was currently sitting on the counter at the far wall, whereas Sarah and Astra had both retreated to the lounge, from where wolf-shaped-vampire and woman now both peered through the doorway at the sound of abated violence.

,,

"So... we're cool?" Declan asked Swara as he righted the kitchen a little, straightening up some things before picking up his chair, with some confusion evident in his tone. She rolled her eyes and gestured for Gary to bring the pizza back.

,,

"Cool as icecream." she nodded, waving everyone back in. "C'mon, kids, mom and dad are done fightin'." She looked at Declan as he slowly took his seat again, and presented him with his plate once more, a gesture that was not lost on him. He blew out a sigh and took his plate, then smiled reluctantly.

,,

"Alright. We're cool, I guess." he said, biting into his pizza and pondering.

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

The Dead-Wolf shifted back up from her namesake into the familiar denim-clad form of Sarah, and stepped back into the kitchen.

,,

"You know," she said, "I was kinda worried there for a minute. One of you bein' pretty new to this an' the other not bein' Uratha, wasn't sure you'd be able to keep a friendly fight from gettin' non-friendly." She smiled, and added, "Glad I was wrong."

,,

She took up a seat at the table, though for all the obvious reasons she didn't dig into the pizza, no matter how good it smelled.

,,

"I'm gonna ask a kinda touchy thing here, 'cause I'd like ta know. How much experience do either of ya have with packs an' how stuff shakes out in 'em?"

[Swara-Ann]

Swara shrugged and nommed the cheesy goodness. "Never been in one, officially. Back home I wasn't allowed to run with the big guys because the stuff in Alaska... oh my god, it makes the spiits here look weak. It's wilder up there, more out of control. I guess they wanted to keep me safe until I'd learned more, but I watched and listened. Plus, parts of me just know, y'know? I know that wolf packs have a 'my way or get ousted' mentality, sometimes, but Uratha packs aren't like that. Well, not usually. We're human as much as we are wolf. Two souls who have to exist together n' stuff. So the pack must be the same way."

,,

Her pig tails were a mess and she was taking the time to bind them again. "The Alpha is the leader, but a true alpha shouldn't be a tyrant or a bastard. The purpose of the pack is to work together, not serve the Alpha. Fighting, disagreements, heck those happened all the time back home. I got put on my behind more than once for mouthing off to a few of the others, but still... all said and done, we were family. Even those who didn't like me still protected me like I was the most precious thing in their lives." Her eyes were off somewhere distant and they could tell she missed home, even though home was in such a hurry to get rid of her. "...and I did the same."

,,

"But I'm not going to simply be your whipping girl, Declan. Sitting around being intimidated and cowing just because you have some wild hair up your butt and feel like puffing your chest." She glared at him and it was a mixture of Swara's sweet side mingled with the animal laying down the law. "I've earned my place as a warrior, I've the Glory to prove it." The way she said it made it sound like this 'glory' was more than a word, a point of pride for the Uratha. "Then again if we gotta keep kicking each others butt until the point sets in, I'm cool with that too. It's awesome practice."

,,

"Thanks for saving the pizza Gare-Bear." She smiled sweetly at him. "Most excellent of ya."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah listened to Swara, a look of understanding on her fact as she nodded in agreement with certain points. Then she looked over to Owns-The-Night.

"An' you ain't really done the pack thing before, if I remember right. Been lone-wolfing it." The Vargr nodded, and Sarah looked more or less at both of them.

"I grew up 'round it. Sorta stuck in the middle of it, with my fucked-up family. But that ain't the same as bein' in a pack. I've been in a pack," she said, which earned her more than one raised eyebrow.

"Presidio's Pride, a Forsaken pack up on the Monterrey Bay. Worked with 'em for half a year before I was able to join. Pledged to the totem and swore the Oath. We weren't the toughest thing around, but we held our own against Pure an' vampires an' all the other shit for over a year." Her former smile faded. "Then the Pure pulled a divide-an'-conquer. Drew us all off with different shit, an' went for the throat. Killed the totem, killed the Alpha, and gradually hunted an' killed the rest. I think the only reason I got out is they were usin' something to track with that only found Uratha."

Sarah shook her head and looked back up at the two werewolves. "So anyway, I know how packs work, inside an' out. I'd be happy to help."

[z-August Turner]

Declan left her alone and August sank back down to sit on the bed. This sucked. August knew that a first impression was critical to how people saw you; she’d screwed up her first impression on the “scary neighborhood watch” big-time. There was nothing she could do about it. Sighing, she grabbed her clothing and pulled on the jean shorts and spaghetti-strap tank, hating the sick feeling in her gut. Her clothes were a little too skimpy for her mood tonight; she would have picked different clothing if she’d known she was going to flash a gathering of LA’s supernatural community. She grabbed her hoodie, feeling the need for concealment before stopping herself. Dec was always telling her that acting like she was trying to hide made her a target. They’d already seen “the goods”, right? The hoodie would only advertise her discomfort and make her overheat.

Dropping the jacket, she slipped into the bathroom to check her appearance. Her face was a mess - her red nose and eyes combined poorly with tear-strained and puffy skin. August fished a ponytail holder out of her pocket and pulled her hair back. She quickly washed her face with cold water, leaving the faucet running. She thought she heard a couple of bangs while she was in there and hastily turned off the water and listened. Hearing nothing out the ordinary, she shook her head at her jumpiness and dried her face. Another check in the mirror made her feel better, especially after she quickly applied some lip gloss. If she was going to face the lions, she might as well look good doing it. Not too good, of course. She was sure she’d lose some points if they thought she was too concerned about her appearance. Her eyes dropped to the bite-scar on her shoulder. For a moment, she almost went and got the hoodie anyway. She was going to feel self-conscious either way, so she left it alone.

With her cell phone stuffed in a back pocket, she was as ready as she got. Taking a deep breath, she walked out of the bathroom and went to the kitchen. “Hi, guys,” she said softly as she entered, hooking her thumbs in her pockets and trying to be casual.

“So,” August said, her voice forcing levity as she leaned against the counter, “what’d I miss besides pizza? Discussion of dues? Building a clubhouse?”

[Swara-Ann]

Swara's opinion hadn't changed: August had no business being with this group. She might be gifted, but she was a human and human's had no business in the affairs of the Uratha. It was he first rule any werewolf learned, but Swara had so accept that these were not werewolves she was with, they were... other things. Her laws didn't apply to them, but they still applied to her. Maybe i was the fact that Swara didn't like her because sh ewas jealous, or maybe it was because she was honestly offended by the way she wasn't in the room ten seconds and was treating serious hunting like it was a joke.

,,

Maybe she was just a jealous hypocrite.

,,

"Declan and I rearranged kitchen." She said flatly. Indeed it looked like bomb was set off in here. "Which you may have heard were you not crying in a pillow because we saw your naughty bits. Your boyfriend and I are in a disagreement about whether o not you need to be a part of this. I don't think you should be, he thinks you do because you can see ghosts, cry really well, and he's teaching you how to hit stuff. We already have a guy who sees ghosts and I'm the plucky comic relief where as Sarah looks like she's filling the gap of ancient wise lady who holds us together... everyone in a pack serves a purpose, and from where I'm sitting, humans have no place in our business."

,,

She took in a deep breath and tried to keep her composure, she told Declan she would, but August needed to hear the situation as bluntly as she could take it. "This is not a point of whether or not I actually like you, I don't know you from Alice."

,,

"Adam." Gary corrected, looking up from his pizza long enough to cut her a sarcastic smile.

,,

"Whatever, the point is, I don't think you belong in this group. You are frail and weak. I will not be tasked with tending to your weaknesses, so understand that until such time as you prove to me that you've earned the right to fight at my side, your place is by Declan where he can babysit you. So, there it is, packmate, welcome to the family."

[z-August Turner]

“Wow, the word ‘welcome’ comes out of your mouth, but I think you mean the other word. Or words.” August’s green eyes filled with anger and her cheeks flushed. Her voice shook, with some outrage but a lot fear; she’d learned that werewolves shouldn’t be shouted at and she was doing her best to keep it from going somewhere that earned her another scar. “Also, no one was talking about joining a pack. That’s something wolves do, and werewolves, not mages and half-dead dudes.”

,,

As Gary growled under his breath that he wasn’t dead, half or otherwise, damn it, August went on. “And I never asked to fight. I know that I’m not up to going against vampires—though I did survive an encounter with one, without getting eaten. I know I can’t fight werewolves—but I did talk a crazy one down and saved my own hide. All I can do is experience ghosts, but when one came for me and my family, I still figured out how to deal with it until someone who could kill it came to help.” Declan shot her a sharp look and for a moment, she heard a growl from him. Shit… I didn’t tell him about that. Great… more drama.

,,

“So no, I’m not asking to fight with you guys. I’m not asking to be the one who’s always put in the hospital or ends up hurt.” August glared at Swara, her fists balled at her sides. Her flush had spread down her neck to her shoulders as she snapped. “I want to help. I have access to knowledge that you guys don’t, that you could get if you’re willing to reveal to humans that you’re different. But they already know about me and don’t care if I use their library. I can drive getaways cars, ferry the wounded around, get takeout—all of the boring support tasks that you need when you’re committing covert warfare in the middle of a modern city. Having me be the go-for frees you guys to do the fighting.

,,

“But most of all, you, at least, are not human. You’re something else, but you are in a human city. This is my world, in case you have forgotten. It might be handy to have someone who is human around, who can help you guys out with human things.” August crossed her arms, and added, “If you don’t want that help, that’s fine. Do it yourself. But I am going to help Declan, and if you don’t like it, she-wolf, tough shit. I’m not a werewolf, not part of your pack and I sure as shit don’t take orders from you.”

[Astra D.]

"Hey." The other brunette in the room interjected casually and without rancor, but with just enough volume to carry over the sound of hackles raising and claws unsheathing in what was destined to be yet another fight. She leaned against the doorway, one booted foot crossed idly over the other, and for all the violence and rage and impromptu kitchen remodeling, she seemed utterly nonplussed. "I should probably point out, here, that only one of us can't really function in the human world, since the rest of us have been doing it all our lives. We have to. In fact," she continued, hazel eyes more green than gold as she tilted her head and smiled, earnestly as any here had seen, at August. "As much as I hate to spoil a good tirade- and I've heard some winners tonight, believe me- we can all still do those things. I," she emphasized with a slim hand against her chest, "do them every day. The things that I can do don't make me inhuman. They just mean I'm a little more..." There was a brief pause as the black-clad Acanthus slowly bobbed her head from side to side, considering. "Open-minded. So."

,,

Uncrossing her legs, Astra straightened and her expression grew more serious.

,,

"Here's the deal, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but none of what you just said about driving cars and doing research counts for much. Now, if we were all freaks of nature dripping with swamp ooze and bristling with spikes so we had to hide ourselves away from the world, it might be different, but that's not the case. Admittedly, I don't have a dog in this race-" she blinked, then grinned suddenly and shrugged apologetically at Swara and Declan. "-Since I'm not signing up for anything without a lot more information and a lot more trust than we currently have. But I think what will count for something, and this is just the opinion of a jaded hussy who gets to tinker with reality, is what you're willing to sacrifice to do what you want. You may be touched by the dead, August, but following this path could easily land you among them, or, perhaps, no longer quite human yourself. If you want to help your scruffy stud over there," the mage mused, eyeing Declan in a way that promised mischief if left unattended, "then your worth, and your value, will be defined solely by your choices. Blondie's mostly right, in that there are lots of things she can do that you can't. Everything's got a price, though, and where her gifts prove a burden, it might just be your vanilla self that saves her ass one day because you haven't got silver burning a hole through you and the smell of blood driving you into a frenzy. Those of us who've already made our choices, or been chosen, will never be anything else. Fate's already got our threads pulled taut. But there's nothing wrong with being human. It doesn't make you less. It means your path's not set yet, not while you live, and your potential is Nigh. Fucking. Limitless."

,,

She paused to take a breath, smiling faintly. "And, believe me, that's not such a bad place to be."

[Owns-The-Night]

"I'm gonna add one more thing." Declan said, smiling grimly at August's backbone in telling the uratha where to get off. He looked at Sarah, then at Swara pointedly. "This girl, I know." he indicated August. "Her, I trust. This guy here, the one that's not a wolf, I trust him too. He's been in the shit with me and I've seen him head-on charge a dude that was shooting fire out of his fuckin' hands." He jabbed a thumb at Gary. "He's solid. Astra..." He shrugged apologetically at Astra, giving her a crooked smile. "Sorry, frail. All I know fer sure about you is that yer fun to hang with at parties, have a way of turnin' up, are probably a mage, and serve interestin' drinks."

,,

"I'll take that for now" Astra grinned, eyes dancing. "I'm sure my other qualities will come to light soon."

,,

"Point bein'," Dec returned to fixing the two 'wolves' with his gimlet stare. "Like August said, these fine folks ain't wolves, so they ain't pack. They're friends. Allies. Buddies. If this-" and he made a little circle between him, Swara and Sarah "-is gonna be a thing, then we treat them as such. No peckin' order bullshit. We keep that between us. That's my condition, because I ain't a moon-caller. I don't need a pack, I don't care if I got one or not, as long as I got friends I can trust and get along with. Because if we're gonna treat 'em like shit because they can't grow fur or run for days or take us in a stand-up fight, then I might as well treat you like shit because I can write my name in the snow when I piss an' you can't. Chew that over." He leaned back and took another bite of pizza.

,,

"So." he looked over at Astra, still chewing and managing to make it charming rather than gross as he spoke with food in one cheek. "I know everyone's stake in this 'cept you. August's helping me, the two wolfy ladies got a pack thing they wanna work on, and Gary likes to poke his nose into the supernatural stuff and ask lots of questions, while following Swara's caboose with his x-ray vision."

,,

"You have x-ray vision?" Swara narrowed her eyes accusingly at Gary, who shook his head and sighed. Dec grinned without looking away from Astra.

,,

"So the big question I wanna know is: what can we do fer you, frail?"

[Astra D.]

"Hmm. What can you do for me?" the newcomer asked, pursing carmine lips as she canted her head slightly in the classic pose indicating thought and tugged on a stray lock of raven hair. "Honestly, I'd tell you, but I sincerely doubt your lovely companion over there would appreciate it. Unless," she amended with a wicked grin, considering the comely brunette with the fiery temper, "she'd be doing it too."

,,

Flustered, and still riding the wave of righteous anger, August was initially too stunned by the blatant flirtation to react with the appropriate level of snark. Her wide turquoise eyes blinked in surprise, moving from Astra's mischievous smirk to her boyfriend, who was busy chewing a mouthful of meaty, cheesy deliciousness. She managed a startled laugh and shook her head, and the black-clad woman's grin widened.

,,

"Shame," the mage mused, "but you can't blame a girl for trying. Well, since that's out, I'm honestly not sure. Mostly, I suppose, I'm just curious. L.A.'s something of a hotspot for the weird and terrifying, and it might be easier to keep tabs on things if I know others who are doing the same."

[z-August Turner]

“I’d be willing to help you with that,” August told Astra with a nod. “Just let me know what you’d be interested in and where I can reach you, and I’ll be happy to pass stuff along. The more you know, and all that.

,,

“But as a point of clarification, I was speaking to Swara about not being human.” She realized she was rubbing the bite scar on her shoulder and made herself stop as she added, “I know a tiny bit about werewolves, enough to know that I shouldn’t treat them as if they are going to react like humans.

,,

August turned to fully face the other brunette in the room. She was very pretty, and August felt uneasy, just as she always did around prettier women. “And as a final point… Astra, I get what you mean about me being human, and about getting involved in all this stuff. But I’ve been involved my whole life. I see ghosts, except when I zombify myself with medication. Before I met Declan, I was apparently living with ‘special’ people. And all that stuff I mentioned before happened to me before I took an active interest in the supernatural. I used to run away from it and push it away as hard as I could. Now, I take a more active role because pushing it away doesn’t work.” August sighed and shrugged. “This may not help either, but passive wasn’t working. Plus, I’ve been on the bad end of rampant supernaturals. I’d be dead were it not for supernatural people willing to step up and help others. It’s time for me to give back. Maybe I’ll do some good. Maybe I’ll get killed. Either way, it’s better than sitting on my ass in my room, hiding.”