World of Darkness World of Darkness: Attrition - Hunter Hunting [Complete]

[William Rose]

Saturday August 16th, 8:10 pm

Antoine found the place eventually. He didn't usually go to coffee shops like this and it was a far enough south of campus that he hadn't ever happened on it or by it. He was only aware of the name and had needed to do a Googlemap search to find it. He'd ended up having to jog part of the way in the hot and sticky night and his shirt was starting to stick to him as a result. Coffee? I need fucking icecream, or maybe a pool ... hopefully there's AC.

Antoine pushed through the door and a wave of cool air strongly smelling of coffee washed over him. He sighed audibly at the cool air even as he wrinkled his nose a bit at the overwhelming coffee odor. The door swung shut behind him and Antoine looked around the place. Along the left was a counter behind which a pair of Baristas were doing all sorts of noisy things with steam and coffee beans while obnoxious trendy folk ordered drinks with more syllables in their names than calories in their cup. Antoine shook his head with a chuckle as some girl ordered a "double-half-fat-twin-tall-venti-mocha-choca-latte-espresso with steamed whip cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top." Wow, somebody needs to get over themselves ...

Spaced out around the remaining space at the front of the place were small tables with two or three chairs around them. People sat with steaming cups of pretension and read books or leached free WiFi on tiny laptops with glowing apples on them. Antoine didn’t see Amber and so he headed toward the back. The back half of the place looked like the proprietor had moved their study from home to work. The walls contained bookcases with all manner of books and nick-knacks on them. Sofas and loveseats and overstuff arm chairs crowded round low coffee tables. The lighting was provided by dozens of low watt track lights in the ceiling that provided a dim but pervasive lighting. The effect was one part, cozy reading room, and one part almost-but-not-quite make-out nook.

Antoine saw Amber sitting there a magazine in hand and a drink of some sort on the low table in front of her. Wow, that wound is gone completely... Antoine could see no trace of the spot between her cleavage and her shoulder where the tentacle had erupted from her torso and shattered her collar bone, it was as though it hadn’t happened to her at all. Her top was an off the shoulder something or other that allowed gracious amounts of flesh to show. Her neck flowed with tantalizing lines down to her shoulders and her bosom. … and, wow she looks even hotter despite the whole werewolf thing. Antoine noted the way her bare legs were crossed and the way the skirt gave plenty of view of the toned muscle beneath her tanned skin. Concentrate man, this is an information session first and a date … well, second I suppose … you’ve already seen her naked, keep your hear clear man! He mentally admonished himself and he stepped around the couch and slowly sat down. “Hi,” he began finishing in his mind with, You look so damn hot that I don’t care if your time of the month involves fangs, fur, and bloodshed.

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber arrived early, feeling conspicuous in her short skirt and skimpy top. She'd forgone the large hoops which were a trademark of a hunting woman - it wasn't that she wasn't hunting because she totally was. She was willing to seem a bit more circumspect about it, because the prize had changed. She wasn't looking for a handsome guy to give her a hard fuck. She wasn't looking at the possibility of that anymore, or rather just that anymore; she was looking for something more, something longer term and something that wouldn't risk her getting pregnant with a monster baby. She only wished that her clothes could have been less vampy; she didn't have a lot of money left after rent, food and gas. So she was stuck with the outfits Ray had gotten her - and those were all his idea of what his white trophy-girlfriend should wear. Sure, she had other clothes, but they weren't nice enough for this. She just had to face it; until she could save some money, she wasn't going to get rid of these remnants of her old life.

The pseudo-suede of the couch brushed against her legs in a really pleasant way and Amber quietly congratulated herself on the catch. It was soft and pleasantly padded, but best of all it is pushed against a wall, so no one can sneak up behind them. The music and other conversations would drown out their voices, so this was about as safe as it could be without meeting somewhere private. He was in the dorms, she assumed, and she'd rather not take him to her place - or rather, the dirty hole-in-the-wall where she lived.

Nervously, she glanced up at the clock. He was late. How long were you supposed to wait for a guy before you gave up? She wasn't sure, but she didn't want to wait for much longer. Amber hadn't considered that possibility that he'd stand her up, and she sighed as she lifted the magazine she wasn't reading. What would she do if he stood her up? Hunt him down? Trap him in a dark alley until a monster came along, and not help him this time? Maybe she could-

“Hi.” Amber looked up with a smile; she'd recognized his voice even though he'd only said one little two-letter word. He was wearing a blue-gray shirt - Amber wasn't good with the names of colors unless it was easily described by one of the six primaries, brown, black, white or gray - that wore as if it had been fitted to him. He wore nice khaki pants that again fit him really well.

"Hi," she said, standing up to give him a hug. "You look nice." She dropped the magazine on the table and sat back down, smoothing her skirt out as she settled onto the cushions. "Why don't you have a seat? Or... do you want to get something to drink? The Dark Chocolate Mochas here are indescribable."

[William Rose]

He arched an eyebrow, "Dark chocolate mocha, eh? ... are you describing your drink or your date?" An easy smile followed as he sat down in the couch next to hers, “I’m good for now, it’s hot and I had to run to make it here. Seems my car is busted …” He smiled, “You look great by the way. It looks like you never … fell down, on Wednesday.” There was an awkward little moment as the he acknowledged the odd events of their prior meeting. Antoine fidgeted and looked around before he leaned close, “OK, this is kinda weird, are you sure we can talk about … you know … here? Safely I mean.”

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber chuckled as his joke, glad he was able to laugh about it. Ray hadn't always been. With effort, she shook off memories of her ex. "Well, it's safe so long as you don't shout," Amber said. "Honestly, I couldn't think of anywhere better - my place is a hell-hole miles from here and you live in a dormatory, right? So I'm not sure where else we could meet." She tilted her head and some of her brown hair trailed over her enticingly bare shoulder. "Did you have a better place in mind?"

[William Rose]

Antoine pondered that question while trying to avoid being dazzled, "Umm, not really I guess, unless you wanted to go to Topanga Park or the Santa Monica Mountains park. I guess maybe I'm just a little ..." Scared shitless ... worried about where this is going ... horny as fuck ... "... a little nervous, I'm a little new to all this stuff." Antoine looks around again checking to see if anybody is looking. He finds nobody is doing so and tries to relax some. "You aren't the first, umm, different person, that I've seen or met before you know. But there's a difference between catching it out of the corner of your eye and beating it over the head with a tire iron."

[z-Amber Wren]

"Uh, no. No parks," Amber said, looking a little tense. "If you want to walk around campus, that's..." Thoughts of Frank stopped those thoughts and she rotated her head on her shoulders a bit. Running into him with Antoine would probably cause a lovely little scene. "That's also probably bad. I mean we could go somewhere on campus, but... walking around it would be asking for trouble. Um... Security doesn't like me much, there. Long story."

She thought for a moment. "Got it. The LA Public Library is right over on Santa Monica. We can take over on of the... Damn it, no. It would be closed. We can... just walk, I guess? Is that ok with you?"

[William Rose]

"Yeah sure, but lets avoid the dark smelly alleys right?" he laughed and stood up offering Amber his hand. "Actually there's a great ice cream place back towards campus if you'd like. They churn their own, its really good." Without really thinking about it he guided Amber out of the coffee shop without ever releasing her hand. As they hit the sidewalk the humid heat slapped him across the face and Antoine grunted, "Just like home. New Orleans was always humid, too much damn water. I hate it and love it at the same time. Is that weird? Anyway the place is called Moo's IceCream, you'll like it." They walked on for a while quietly Antoine still unaware that he'd never let go of Amber's hand. After a few block he had relaxed considerably. "OK better start from square one again. Go slow, I'm no rocket scientist, but tell me whatever you can or are willing to."

[z-Amber Wren]

"Square one..." Amber said thoughtfully, wondering just where that was. She took a drink of the mocha she'd managed to snag as Antoine led her out the door. She noted that he hadn't let go of her hand, and the sensation of her hand being held in his much larger one had her nerves tingling to her toes. "Well, I could tell you some of the old stories, but they're not meant to be told while distracted, not even by something like walking. So I'm going for cold, hard facts, ok?"

Looking confused, Antoine nodded and Amber pushed forward. "There's a world that is close to this one, a world where spirits live. The spirits are supposed to stay in their half, and the humans in theirs. We patrol the borders, and make sure everyone is where they need to be. If we didn't, the humans would be regularly preyed upon by spirits. In fact, I think that's what happened to that woman back there. The fact that she seemed to be taking Crimson may or may not have led to her state. See, spirits can inhabit people and alter their personalities. We call them Ridden or Claimed. The spirits destroy the human's life; they take it over for their own greedy ends and the longer it lasts, the more the human is absorbed and changed.

"We've kept this war secret for millenia," Amber continued, pausing to take sips of her drink or when someone walked close enough to overhear. "You can imagine how the humans would take it. And being told that they can't do a damned thing to protect themselves would only make it worse. Oh, sure they could see when someone's Ridden, but by then, it's too late. The person's gone, dead. Only we can slip between the worlds, only we can find them before they take a host. But humanity isn't going to want us around, either. So we hide it. And you have to, too. Anyone you tell could come back against us and try to kill us.

"Your reaction to my... war-form was unusual. Most humans would have fled, screaming and pissing themselves," Amber said with a hint of wonder in her voice. "That's what clued me in to the fact that you're Wolf-blooded. They have a higher tolerance for seeing us in our forms. The fact that you weren't helpless with terror means that you're kin to us, and as I said before, that makes you special to us. Trust me... I know the marks of kin - I grew up in a conclave in the Appalachian Mountains. Almost everyone there was a werewolf, born to change into one, or kin."

She paused and glanced up at him. "Umm... is that making... well, do you have any questions?"

[William Rose]

Antoine was pretty certain he only got about half of what she said, but he was worried about looking dumb. "Umm ... so that girl had some ghost thing in her? That's what made her all ... freaky? And werewolves hunt down the ghosts so that they can't hurt people but they are afraid that people will fight and kill them or something?" Antoine scracthed his head with his free hand, "I ... yeah, I don't know if I get it." They walked along quietly for a moment before he finally asked, "How can you be sure? That I'm part werewolf I mean. Maybe I'm just braver than most!" He smiled somewhat hopefully, I don't want to be a werewolf. Hell I don't even want to know about this stuff at all, I just wanted to play football.

[z-Amber Wren]

"Not... ghost," Amber said, smiling and dropping her empty cup in a trash can as they passed. "Spirits are the essence of other things. They're... well, first, ghosts have their own world called the Twilight. It's a lot closer than the spirit world; in fact, spirits who have escaped the spirit world can hide in the Twilight. So they're not ghosts, which are the remains of the dead; spirits are the spiritual representation of things here. Like... there are spirits of anger, happiness, cars, grass and everything.

"And afraid of humans is the wrong term," Amber added. "You've seen Frankenstein, right, with the pitchforks and torches? That's what has us concerned. We all know and love individual humans, but it is the frightening mass that humanity becomes when it is afraid that has us concerned. We are powerful warriors, but even we can be killed." She thought of the terrible wound Declan had received and she shivered. She never wanted to see that again, but she knew that she would, again and again, in Ariel, Declan and herself, until they were dead - or she was.

"And there are some werewolves who don't like the humans," she added, thinking of the Pure. "If humans turned against us, they'd immediately go to war. It'd be a massacre. No, it's much better to keep all this secret, rather than risk so many lives."

After that moment of silence and Antoine's rather impassioned hope, Amber stopped walking and tugged on the hand she was holding to turn him to face her. She also took his other hand, giving him the most sincere smile she could manage. "Look, I know this is a lot," she said. "I'm willing to protect you and help you, though. And don't think of it as half-werewolf. It's more like a cousin to us. Half-werewolves are something else, and they're likely to become one sometime in their adulthood. You might, too... but I can't tell that for sure. Sometimes ordinary humans are picked by Luna to be her children. It's... overwhelming, isn't it? I grew up with this stuff. It's always been like this for me, so I'm not really good at explaining it."

[William Rose]

Antoine looked down at his hands as she took his in hers, realizing that he'd been holding her hand since they left the coffee shop. Whups, sending mixed signals there ... or maybe I'm just mixed up in my own head... He listened as she basically laid out that yes in fact he had shaggy genes. Man, how much more fucked up can senior year get? And all before classes have even started...

"Overwhelming? Yeah, a bit, more so considering the other wacky stuff that's been going on lately..." He sighed and tried to smile but it came out kinda half assed and sad. "I'm pretty damn confused here, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I think you're attractive and sexy as hell but I don't have any idea where this is going, or if it is going. The fact that you are ... are a werewolf kinda makes it complicated for me." He released her hands and with one of his he gently strokes her cheek. "Mayhap this could become more but for now it's all I can do to accept you for what you are. It might be easier if we keep things ... a little more ... freindly?" Asshat, way to fuck that up, better protect your balls, you're probably in for a kick ...

Antoine waited to see how Amber reacted, he hoped that she would understand and not be mad. I'm not ruling anything out just yet ... but she's a werewolf and we killed a ... whatever, last week. I need some time to adjust...

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber wanted to get pissed, she wanted to rail at him for holding her hand but the second she showed initative, he got all scared. I wish Uratha could mate, she snarled to herself. None of this bullshit! And he couldn't even give her a solid answer! 'You being a werewolf' and 'complicated' translated in her mind to, 'I'm afraid.' And he should be! But-

It was all mixed up in her mind and she took a step back, moving from 'friendly' range to 'friend-only' range. There, she was complying with his request! And it made it just that much harder for him to give her another fucked-up signal. Like maybe a toe curling kiss or a request for a blow job. Speaking of... I may have to go hunt up Frank, she sighed to herself as she acknowledged the tension that Antoine had built up in her again. Frank's really turning into your silver medal, isn't he?

"Sure, your loss," she said with a twisted grin, keeping her tone light with effort. Fortunately, she'd only had a couple of days to build expectations, so it wasn't that hard. Not really. Piece of mother-fucking cake. "Just got a little confused with all the hand-holding and stuff. Any more questions?"

[OOC Notes: 1 sux to not lose her shit: Willpower (1d10=8, 1d10=3, 1d10=3)]

[William Rose]

Antoine was surprised by her sudden cold demeanor, Are you? Come on! You can't play with her like a damn yo-yo... fuck off... He realized that what he had meant and what he had said we're exactly the same. Crap ... why can't this be easy... "Amber... I'm sorry, I ... I ..." He sighed and hung his head, "This is happening all so fast. You were raised with this shit, you knew from when you were little that werewolves and spirits and whatever were out there and that you'd have to maybe someday beat thing's heads in and tear apart monsters." He was dead serious, no more half humor, no more charming smiles and flirting looks, he looked her in the eyes and bared as much of his soul as he dared.

"A month ago I was ... asleep. No, not asleep, I was like half awake. Back after Katrina I saw stuff, and that's when I first realized that all this stuff existed. But ... but I did my damnedest to ignore it and convince myself that I'd been mistaken, that maybe I was just suffering from the trauma of the aftermath. And then, maybe a week ago, I see a guy following my buddy home, I jump his ass and low and behold he's cold as a corpse. Yeah vampire, I made him prove it and prove that he could feed without killing somebody. Then I let him go, vampire or not he was just a guy, like me, trying to survive. But that opened my eyes some.

"A couple nights ago I woke up for real, you were part of that you saw what I saw. I CAN'T convince myself that that was anything other than what it was. That was a zombie, or a spirit host, or whatever. And you, you turned into a damned wolf-man, err woman. There's no going back for me, I can't ever just go back to playing football and jazz and looking for the right girl. Now I know that there's crap out there that can tear a person into bits or make a young woman into a disease ridden ... thing!

"I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea. I'm pretty fuckin' confused. I need somebody to talk to and I need a friend. I was hoping that you'd be OK with that for a while, until I could figure out how to get my head around all this. I was hoping you'd be willing to wait, to help me, to let me get to know you as something more than a killing machine with sexy legs."

Antoine stopped and took a breath, "I need a friend right now. One who I can talk to about this stuff even if they can't see where I am coming from. I was hoping you'd get it but maybe you can't see what it's like to be a human because you've always been what you are."

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber listened, feeling her anger leech away. She was hard-pressed... ok, that wasn't the right word: she found it nearly impossible to empathize with someone and guess what they were feeling unless if fell into a narrow criteria, mostly things that she had regular experience with herself. Anger or rage? Check. A mother's love for her child? Mostly check; some of her memories of that time were blurry. Concern for a comrade? Check. Being confused about her place in the world and what that meant for other aspects of her life? Nadda.

But when the emotional clue-by-four was liberally applied to her head, as Antoine had just done, Amber could get it. She just couldn't read his expression and get what he was saying unless he said it. And she could empathize with what was essentially supernatural culture shock.

"I was human until about a month ago," Amber admitted. "I ran away from all of this for about four years, before I had my first change. I kinda get where you're coming from, only that I knew about this stuff from birth. You know what was a surprise for me? Social Security numbers. Skyscrapers. Looking both ways before crossing a street. So, I can understand that you're afraid and that you need someone to talk to and I'll keep my own culture shocks in mind.

"I was human, Antoine, as human as you are," Amber added, spreading her arms. "So I get it, I just forgot your point of view. This is as elementary for me as a computer is for you." Suddenly she grinned. "But hey, I love computers now. They do fun stuff, when they work. So maybe you can get there, too, to the point where all of this is fun and interesting instead of terrifying. I know computers don't kill you if you mess up, but... it's the analogy I've got. And I'm pretty bad at analogies, I know. I'm pretty... um, straightforward.

"So here's a bit of straightforward advice. You want me to focus on being friends? Watch how you touch me," she said. Her tone wasn't nasty; it was the cadence of lecturing. "Wolves use body language and signals, so I suggest you avoid my face, my belly and thighs and anything between my thighs. Don't hug me from behind, unless you mean to start something. You do that for me, and I'll remember that all your other touches are completely platonic, ok?" She smiled as she said it, hoping her expression was sincere enough to be her own clue-by-four. She wished, for about two seconds, that she was a Cahalith; they were so much better at stuff like this.

He wouldn't understand what she was doing for him, how hard it would be to keep those signals from igniting instinctive replies in her. But she'd try. He was kin, and she'd do what she could to help him. Besides, she'd known that she was going to have to endure some compromise with a human mate. Unbidden, she thought, Wow, guess it's a good thing I hadn't popped the 'M-word,' huh?

[William Rose]

Antoine tried to keep his jaw from hanging but it was tough, Wow totally didn't see that coming did you big-n-dumb? Looks like she's the all or nothing type. Maybe you need to fucking man up and pretend like that fire hose down there is attached to a pair of big boy balls... Despite everything though Antoine slowly smiled. "OK, I think I can manage that, and I'm sorry to have implied that you ... that you didn't get it." That you were a monster and not a human ... shut up, you'd rather we just drop trow and get it on with somebody we nothing about?

Antoine offered Amber his hand, not to hold but to shake, "Friends? For now anyways? And I promise, if this moves forward that's the last hesitation you'll see from me."

[z-Amber Wren]

Now what the fuck did that mean? Amber wasn't sure but she took the hand and gave it a good shake. Together, they both turned and walked, while Amber tried to bring up her next thought. She finally just gave up on subtle and went for blunt. "Now that we've established that I'm your friend, I have to give you a warning. I mentioned other werewolves who don't think much of humans, remember? Well, some of them won't take no. The only other female werewolf I know is a... a good guy, and she's not like that." Or if she is, she's got to be doing a lot of moral juggling to rationalize rape but be against killing little old spider-ladies.

"But, if you do find yourself in that situation, I'd..." Amber sighed. "This isn't easy. I'd recommend that you run if you can. And if you can't, you go with the flow. Because they will not hesitate to kill you if they decide you're not worth the effort. I'm not like that, my friend isn't, and I don't know any werewolf who is, but I wanted you to be wary. If you want, you can claim my protection, but... it may not work. There are werewolf factions, and the two big ones don't get along at all. So that may not work. But with other... others like me, you can say you belong to me. I know, the wording isn't very progressive. But it might save your hide." Or your sanity.

"And if someone does do anything to you, let me know. I'd have a chat with her about it, for sure."

[William Rose]

Antoine listened and slowly his mind put together what Amber was saying without saying. HOLY CRAP! Rape by werewolf! And she was wondering why I wasn't ready to move forward?!? His eyes grew wide, "Umm, do you mean, like ... umm ... getting raped?" Antoine was clearly a little scared of that idea and he leaned somewhat close and said it quietly as as to not be overheard. Amber could hear the way his voice broke a little as he said it, clearly not something he'd ever had to worry about before that very moment. "Ummm," he squeaked then cleared his throat, "Uhh, so ok I'll try and tell them I'm yours."

Together they walked along in silence, Antoine keeping his hands to himself and wondering just how he had escaped getting a savage fucking during the night of the party. Oh yeah, Anita ... boy, she's not going to like it if she finds out I've been hanging out with Amber ... After a while he decided that it would be best to talk about something. "OK So what do you think was the deal with that girl? Is that the kind of thing you see a lot of? I ... I bought some weapons yesterday. I don't know why but I feel like ... like now that I know about this stuff I have a responsibility to stop it, to hunt down the stuff that preys on my kind, on the normal everyday sleeping mortals. Does that make any sense? Is that part of the whole wolf blood thing?"

[z-Amber Wren]

"Yes, I am talking about getting raped," Amber said softly, glad he'd said it so that she could talk about it directly instead of dancing around it. "Like I said, I'm of the opinion that a wolf-blooded should have a say in his or her mate. I've seen what happens when they don't, and it's not pretty." His agreement to be hers in fiction only warmed her. It was a pleasant thought, owning the tall, sexy male next to her.

"The deal with the girl... well, I'm not one hundred percent," Amber admitted. "I'm no Ith- spirit specialist. My um, given duties are more physical, as you saw with the wall. And about that... I'm sorry if I scared you. I wasn't really thinking that night, well, ok, I was, just not very well. That damned girl pissed me off so bad, and it was hit her or hit the wall. I can't help being like that - werewolves are passionate, primal creatures. But I can control my reactions, to a degree. Turn my wrath away from people or find an acceptable outlet, like a punching bag.

"But yes, your desire, your need to hunt them is just another sign of what you are," Amber said. "You sense that these things shouldn't be, and you fight against them. Vampires... ech, I don't like them. They're not trustworthy. I mean, they are corpses, and they'll backstab you if they think it will help them. My family had allegiances with some, and I even saw one when I was twelve. Be careful when dealing with it, and if you ever need protection from it, I'd be happy to help."

She shifted a little and adjusted her shirt to let some of the steam night air over a bit of skin. She didn't show anything truly revealing - and after their fight earlier, what did she have to hide from him anyway? She didn't think about it until she'd done it; she hoped it didn't think she was teasing him. She was saving that for the ice cream later. "Do I do this a lot? Oh yeah," she added quickly, pushing past that. "Every day before work I patrol my corner of the spirit world. Then I do it again when I get home. And on my days off, I do an extra-long patrol, like this morning. Spend three hours circling around my territory to continue to scout out the surrounding area. I'm planning to expand, now that I have my feet under me."

She broke off with a laugh. "Sorry, got carried away, there. Did all that make some sense?"

[William Rose]

"More or less, yeah. And what didn't I probably don't really need to understand... so were we near your ... umm, territory? The other night I mean?" Amber nodded and Antoine made a note that maybe that area wasn't as dangerous as he thought ... Then again you got jumped by a fucking rotting ... whatever ...yeah, maybe not ... Antoine couldn't help but notice as Amber adjusted her shirt, Nothing you haven't seen before ... boy, you got it bad don't you ... you can't have it both ways, you two can't do casual sex, either it'll fuck the whole thing up or next thing you know she's sleeping over and asking for breakfast in bed. Antoine snapped his head around as though he caught something out of the corner of his eye and did his best to not look directly at Amber for the next block as he tried to reign in his impulses and reconcile his desires.

After a little while he asks, "So that thing, you think it was a spirit that tool hold of Denise? I plan to do some digging and see if I can't find anything out about crimson. Maybe play connect the dots and see if there is anything more that the normals haven't put together yet."

[z-Amber Wren]

“In my experience, yes, it was a spirit that took her over,” Amber said. “But I’ve learned that there are more things than I have experience in. Those are going to be the things that screw me up. But the thing back there… it could have been a spirit of gluttony or addiction forcing her to indulge her vice until it killed her. Spirits are parasites; they feed off the essence of whatever they’re constructed of. So they will work to make sure people are doing things that will create the food they need. That means a spirit of murder will turn their host into a murderer. That’s why they’re such bad news for humanity. They have no restraint and no concern for their hosts. All they know is hunger and power, and it makes them horribly destructive.

“When kept in their place and in balance, spirits help balance the human world,” Amber added, brushing some of her hair off her neck to let the night air try to cool her. It was a wasted effort and she dropped the hair again. “That’s our job – the werewolves. We keep them in their place, and guard to make sure people don’t stumble over there.” An ice cream shop was ahead of them, and Amber pointed. “Is that our stop?”

Antoine nodded and, moving quickly, got the door for her. Amber reminded herself he was being friendly and stepped through, blinking in the brighter lighting after the night outside. There were several other people their age there, all of them students eager to have a last bit of fun before the classes started. The room was a little crowded for her tastes; she didn't notice, but she moved a bit closer to him, the way a canine draws comfort from proxmity. “Why don’t you get a seat and I’ll get our ice cream,” Antoine offered. “What do you want?”

“Vanilla,” she said, smiling. That wasn’t strictly true, but vanilla would suit her purposes so much better. Taking a seat as far away as she could from others in the busy parlor, she waited for Antoine to join her.

[William Rose]

Antoine sauntered up to the counter and got a vanilla cone and a peanut butter fudge swirl cone. He paid and seeing Amber watching him left a tip. Goober, you wouldn't have done that normally ... I would too... you so lie ... He walked back to the table and handed Amber the vanilla cone then went and got a couple of napkins. He wrapped one around his own cone as he started to lick the ice cream, starting from the bottom of the mound of icy joy and working up. "I find that I enjoy eating it off the cone as a challenge. I like to see if I can eat it without dripping all over the place." Lame ... but true ... For a while they sat there in the cool parlor and ate their ice cream Antoine watching Amber work on the cone ...Oh man that gives me ideas ... holy crap I need to get laid ... she'd do it ... she'd do it and it'd blow my damn mind to boot ... *ahem* werewolf ... fuck, man why do I keep thinking about that!

"So ... vanilla eh? Got a thing for bland and normal or you just didn't want to order the ..." he looked up at the board and read off the "Danger Flavor of the Week", "... the Quadruple Choco Cayenne Fudge Swirl Bomb ... damn that sounds like it'll kill you ..." He laughed and took another lick of the ice cream, straight up and over the top, with a wink thrown Amber's way.

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber paused in mid-lick, her tongue pausing in its efforts to catch all of the melted white ice cream rushing down the cone. “Well, sometimes, simple pleasures are the best,” she admitted, hiding the internal wince at how corny that was. Quickly, she came up with a biological reason that would float –she hoped. “Also, some of those fancy flavors are too sweet; my tongue is pretty sensitive to taste, since it’s so tied into the olfactory senses.”

She glanced around the busy room and decided that it was safe to talk a little. “Thanks for the ice cream, Antoine,” she said. “It’s a lot nicer to talk like this than in a club or a dark alley after a fight.” She paused to let someone walk past their table before she added, “Have you been having any problems with nightmares or anything? Sometimes, that’s the hardest part – not the fight itself but what comes after.” She was hardened to such things, to the spill of blood and the ripping of flesh. She didn’t guess he was.

Amber took another long lick, molding the ice cream from a vaguely round shape to an oblong shape that was as phallic as ice cream got. “Or if you don’t want to talk about that, did you have any more questions?” she asked before wrapping her mouth around the top of the cone and beginning to work her lips over it. Yes, she was teasing him, just a little. She was the Big Bad Wolf, after all. She was barely able to stop her mirth at the idea of Antoine in a red cloak.

[William Rose]

Antoine was having a hard time keeping his ice cream from melting all over his hands as he watched Amber do things to her ice cream that made him regret his earlier words about going slow and starting off as friends first. Moron, told you to take her home and tap that, look at what she is doing to that cone... that could be YOUR cone!! Antoine couldn't even think of a reason around that. So tasty ... werewolf ... but look at that ... Werewolf ... she's deep throating that cone ... Were Wolf ... but but but ... WEREWOLF! ... fine, party pooper ... Somehow he reigned himself in and simply continued with his own dessert. "Nightmares? Not as such but it's not like I've forgotten. None of it, not just that thing either, the other one too..." he meant her, he wasn't trying to make her feel bad but he wanted her to know that he was still freaked out by her nature enough to make every other wonderful aspect of her to fall behind.

"Ok," he continued after a pause, "So what about you, do you have to turn into that beasty under the full moon? Do you run around eating people's pets and stuff? ... Do you ... are you ... in ... you know ... heat?" Dude?! Did you seriously just ask that? ... wow, just ... wow.

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber choked. There was nothing sexy or seductive about the way that her entire body seized for a second or the way she scrambled for a napkin. Covering her mouth, she coughed into it for a moment. Antoine wondered what was wrong, but that was answered the second she got her windpipes clear and started to laugh. “Sorry,” she giggled, “sorry… That was just… oh god!” She had to stop again to cough, a deep, racking bark of noise that sounded truly painful. “Oh, crap…”

Still on the verge of giggles, she met his dark eyes and said, “Let’s see, I am in almost complete control of my… changes. The full moon has something to do with that, but not like you think. I changed on a full moon, but that doesn’t mean much. It just happened like that. Other’s first changes have happened on other phases. Each phase represents a duty given to the… us. Like mine is the warrior phase. All of the gifts and benefits I received reflect that duty. There’s one that is our lore-masters, our story-keepers – they have different gifts than me. But we don’t have to be in any given form at any given phase. There’s the Death Rage, but that’s different, and you’ll hopefully never see it.”

Amber’s cone had swayed around dangerously while she’d coughed; now that she was back in control she took a quick nibble. She didn’t have any water, and so she’d have to clear her throat with melted ice cream. “I don’t eat pets usually; if I’m so hungry I’m hunting cats or dogs, there’s plenty of strays to eat,” she said. “I mean, they go missing and people are just relieved that they’re gone, whereas pets are missed. But I don’t go after wolves or humans for meat – because I know you’re going to ask about that sometime. That’s a sin, to eat them.

“And as for-” She broke into a quick snicker. “For heat…” She paused for another little giggle. “I’m more human in that regard than canine. If that’s a sideways way of asking if I’m promiscuous, then the answer is yes. I’m…” She paused and swallowed hard, then looked up, meeting his eyes. He saw wariness and fear there, but he also saw a dogged – no pun intended – pride, a surety to her gaze that dared him to think less of her for having fallen and recovered. “I was a junkie just a month and a half ago. I had wrecked my life. My NA sponsor said I’m going to be having cravings for months to come. I’ve traded one vice for another, in a way. But I like sex, even before the drugs I enjoyed it. I will probably live a short, vibrant, violent life and I’m going to live before my time comes. I don’t have time to wait around for stuff to happen to me. I have to make what I want happen.”

She was getting angry. It was the first time that she’d really thought about what all this meant and that being herself was going to cost her any chance with Antoine. “I don’t have time to be on drugs. I do have time to fuck guys occasionally. Or girls. You know, it’s all fun. Feeding one hunger sates the other; it helps burn off aggression and pain. And if it’s a problem that I like sex, that sex is my coping mechanism, then it’s your problem. Not mine.”

[William Rose]

It was Antoine's turn to all but choke on his ice cream. He recovered quickly though and after he wiped his mouth he looked long into Amber's eyes. Quietly he said, "Drugs. I don't even know what to say. I've stayed away from all of it myself, for sports. I'm sorry. As for your sex drive, its not a problem unless we stop being just friends. I ... I'm not sure I could be with somebody if they weren't going to be faithful." He was quiet and just kinda stared at his cone. "That's just the way it's going to be." OK ... awkward ... good job ... go me...

[z-Amber Wren]

God, he was so confusing! Why wouldn't he just make up his mind?

Amber smirked and took another bite of her ice cream. "Antoine, wolves mate for life. Humans can fuck around," Amber said, "and that's all it's been for me, since the change. But when I pick a mate, it's going to be for... well, maybe not life because I can't expect a mate to feel those same urges. But it will be serious, incredibly so. I am a jealous lover and I'm not going to take cheating well." How things ended with Ray crossed her mind and were shoved away. "It does mean that I won't be fooling around - doing so will feel unnatural."

She leaned forward, sliding her hand holding the cone to the left and out of the way. "Promiscuous plus instinctive faithfulness equals lots of sex for my partner." She sat back and attacked her ice cream, letting Antoine chew on that thought.

[William Rose]

Did she just ... yup ... can we? ... nope, werewolf ... but ... I know .. Antoine's eyes glazed over for a moment then he coughed and blinked several times. "Umm... wow... ok... umm..." Antoine was completely brain locked and stalled, Amber noted with satisfaction the deer-in-headlights reaction. For a moment the awkward silence continued and then as though somebody smacked him he blurted out, "Good ice cream eh?" *sigh*

[z-Amber Wren]

"Great ice cream," Amber casually agreed, nibbing off an edge of the cone. She focused on it for a moment, letting Antoine recover himself and his dignity. This had been an odd night, in turns irritating and amusing, or sometimes just confusing, but never, ever boring.

"So, I have a question. What's your position, and when's your first game?" She let her gray eyes met his own, as she showed an interest in him and his life. And it would be interesting, because it was his.

[William Rose]

Finally Antoine did recover, "First game is the 1st actually Labor Day. Tennessee is coming here. Wait? ... Did you just ask what position I played? I thought you've been in LA for a while?" He smiles broadly and takes a "SI Cover Pose". "I'm the star Quarterback, we've won the past two years since I became the starter. There's a good chance we might be able to go undefeated this season. Or at least that's what the coach believes and the sports guys say. Me I'll be happy to end my last season as a winner. Championship would be nice though."

He started in on the cone itself and looked at Amber. "You know, I've never met anybody even a little like you before. Do you go online much? Cause there's a woman I've been talking to online, calls herself Ashe, and well, that's part of why I want to go slow. 'Course if you were her ... well, that'd be very very convenient." Antoine looked deep into Amber's eyes, trying in vain to see the soul of this woman that both scared him and fascinated him.

[z-Amber Wren]

“Quarterback? I’m impressed,” Amber said. “Hard position to play, hard to be good at. I hope you do go all the way. It wouldn’t bother you if I came to games, right? I don’t know much about how this friends-but-something-you-keep-implying-otherwise thing works. I’m used to much more forward relationships.” In other words, had this worked like it usually did for her, they’d be at home in his bed already – hell, they would have washed each other off after the battle and already be cemented. For the first time, Amber wondered if this hassle was worth it.

At his query on Ashe, her mood shifted a little. Amber raised her eyebrow. "I don't get online much," she admitted. "But lemme get this straight here - you are considering not taking up with a flesh-and-blood woman in front of you because of someone on the internet who might be a 40-year-old man living in his parent's basement in Boise, Idaho? You're really seriously thinking that?"

It was hard to tell if she was amused or irritated. It could be both - she was intemperate enough for it.

[William Rose]

Antoine's expression changed, from hopeful and happy (if somewhat distracted but rampant horniness) to disappointment and anger. "You know, you've a lot to learn about being a person," he hissed trying not to let his anger fly out of control and hoping to avoid a scene. "When somebody tells you that they've connected with somebody so strongly that they are able to resist the urge to jump on what is otherwise a VERY tempting offer, it usually means something pretty significant to that person. Do I know who this 'Ashe' is? No I guess I can't be certain, but while I do not know what she looks like here," he waves his hand up and down indicating his body. Antoine then points to his heart, "But I sure as hell know what she looks like and what she means to me here. There's a connection there. Just like I thought there was between us. But maybe you don't get it, maybe you're too interested in the sex to know what it means to love somebody just because of who they are."

[z-Amber Wren]

"Don't say I don't know how to love, or that I can't understand it," Amber said, trying to keep a lid on her temper. Antoine was certainly losing his. "You didn't say you were in love with her, just that you met her. I don't read subtext, Antoine. I get the matters of the heart. So if you're going to get mad at me, at least get mad over something you've told me the full story on."

God, would the jerking around never end with this guy? "Sounds to me like you need to decide what you want," Amber added. Her ice cream - what little was left - had gone sour on her tongue but it was food, and it had been free. She couldn't afford to turn it down. "You want this woman who may be anyone or anything? Then go. You want me, but you want to get to know me, first? Then do that. Just don't try to punish me for not understanding what you are when you haven't given me a chance to know you."

She was babbling inbetween vicious bites to her food. Was she making sense? She couldn't tell. She needed to calm down soon or leave.

[William Rose]

D'oh! No wonder this whole thing was like a bad car chase, she doesn't see any of the layers beneath the words I am saying. Oh shit, what a fuckup I am... Antoine immediately reigned himself in, "Oh God, I'm sorry, I ... I didn't know you didn't get... shit." Antoine sighed and shook his head slowly, sadly, "I'm a dufus, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you ... that you were taking everything I said at only face value. No wonder this thing has been so weird." Antoine shoved the last of his cone into his mouth to shut himself up and avoid saying anything more until he could think. God you really screwed the pooch on this one... heh, screwed the pooch, hehehe ... just be blunt, plain, and straight with her... don't screw this up more.

"OK here's the deal, as plain as I can explain it. Yes, I think maybe I've found somebody I could potentially care very much about online. But I also can already tell that you and I might be compatible. I don't know what to do because I can't seem to think straight lately. You've got my dick ready for action and this other woman has my heart in a vise. But you are right I don't even know who she is. Or if she's a he, or what. Hell even if I can love her for who she is, without physical attraction what is there?" Fuckfuckfuck ... you think an awful lot for a dumb jock man, maybe you should just go for the fucking and see how that suits you, eh? ... maybe I should ...

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber waved away the apology. “It’s not normal. I know. I wasn’t exactly socialized very well,” she said. “In our family, what you said was what you meant, because what you said could get you beaten. If you were going to get thrashed, it might as well be for something you really meant instead of a joke.” She stopped at the look on his face. “What?”

“You were… beaten? As a child?”

Amber nodded. “I have a pretty smart mouth and a temper. I got my share of punishment.” She didn’t see any change in his shock or surprise. “It’s… look, I’m sure to someone raised as a human, it seems bad. But it’s not. If I kept my mouth shut, I was fine.”

It didn’t seem to be helping, so Amber changed the subject. “Antoine, there are a lot of loves. Without physical attraction, would you love? I don’t see why not. Ugly people marry all the time. Ugly people marry beautiful people all the time. There’s got to be something more than physical. Physical is fine, but it’s the heart that matters, and if they’ve got the heart you love, then it’s love.”

And that’s the sound of metaphorically shooting yourself in the foot.

Quickly, she added, “Just make sure you really know her. Humans always play false to impress… well, I guess we do, too, a little. I haven’t told you everything about myself, and I won’t until I’m ready. Just… find her. See if she’s who she says she is online.” Amber gave him a wry smile and popped the end of the cone in her mouth. After she chewed and swallowed, she finished, “Just don’t take too long, because I won’t wait forever.”

[William Rose]

Antoine levered his jaw back up and was silent for a bit. I got nothing, its all you now. He sighed and made a show of wiping the table with a napkin, the table was already clean and nothing changed. Antoine finally just nodded, then he shook his head, "I'm ... completely confused and I have no clue what to think now. I guess you're right; maybe I do need to follow my heart. At the same time though things are changing for me, I can't go back, I can't un-see what I have finally seen clearly, and I'm not sure that it would be right to drag somebody else down this rabbit hole. To force open somebody else's eyes ... I don't think I could bear to do that to somebody. The veneer of civilization and safety that we see, I don't think that everybody could handle to see what is beneath."

Good god, it’s not fair ... if you love someone, set them free ... but, she might be the one ... would you put her through the horror? … no …Would you make her wait for you on those nights? Wondering if you were going to come back alive or not? … no … Ashe is nice, but Ashe is from your days before. Before the zombie, the vampire, and the werewolf… but she’s worth holding on to! Worth fighting for …Exactly, Ashe is the type of person you are fighting for, but can no longer be. If you love her how can you put her though that? …. I can’t ... the choice is clear, protect her … by letting her go… Slowly but surely Antoine realized that no matter who Ashe was, no matter how much he thought he loved her, he couldn't be with her. To do so would expose her to the harsh truths of the world.

Antoine looked at Amber, not with his eyes but with his heart, his mind, his feelings. He saw a woman who was capable of standing against the darkness with him, who was bred for it. A woman who would understand his need to go out into the night to destroy an evil, no matter the form, and who would stand by him every time. When god closes a door he opens a window.

[z-Amber Wren]

"Nope, not everyone can. It's a hard life, seeing what's underneath. That's why we - my kind - stick together," Amber agreed simply. There wasn't more to say to him - he was working it out in his own mind, and with her hunter's patience, she could wait a bit and let him work things out. If he wanted to talk about it, he'd bring it up.

She just leaned back, clasped her hands on the table top, stretched her crossed legs out between his legs and let him say whatever he needed or wanted to say. Maybe if they could find somewhere private, she could tell him a story of the People - his people, now, too.

[William Rose]

Antoine was silent, he ran over those thoughts in his mind half a dozen times. The same conclusion came each time; his like was irrevocably changed. On the on hand I could try and forget all of this and be normal and every time I saw something out of the corner of my eye or read something in the paper that didn't make sense I could just convince myself to ignore it. People do that every day.

He looked at Amber and smiled, "Maybe we ought to walk back? Sitting here is kinda rude now that we're done eating." He rose from the table and they walked out into the night. It was cooler now as the darkness began to eat away at the fading glow in the west. Side by side they walked up Westwood Boulevard toward campus.

On the other hand I step up and admit that I see these things and allow that fact to direct my life down a different path, a path I've already started to walk. It's not too late to double back, but I can't walk them both, it wouldn't be fair to whomever I was with or whomever I was working with. Distractions one way or the other.

"So, how often do you have to, err, take out the garbage?" Antoine asked with an inward wince at the lame question, "Have you been doing this a lot lately?"

[z-Amber Wren]

"Define 'a lot,'" Amber joked. "I do it enough to call it 'frequently' I guees, especially lately. I have found some other lone wolves and we're running together; that's three times the information and trouble I find out about. So that's three times the stuff we have to take care of. And that doesn't count the random occurances." She smiled, leaving no doubt in his mind that she was referring to their encounter.

"And then when I was a kid, I was doing stuff to help out, but not fighting directly," Amber said. Her gaze grew distant as she reflected on the past. "We'd load cartidges for the adults during class while the teacher talked about geometry. Our weekend were spent making meals and snacks for the coming week, or helping to slaughter the kill or working in the garden. And there was cleaning and laundry, too. I mean, we always had adults working too, but their first goal was supporting the main fighters, the werewolves, and we picked up the slack. So I've been involved most of my life. The only time I got away was when I ran away, and then I fell in with the wrong crowd and fucked that up."

She laughed suddenly. "Wow, that was a long way to answer that question, wasn't it? So yes, I take out the garbage quite a bit, if you count the daily spirit-herding I have to do."

[William Rose]

Antoine laughed too, he pushing his concerns about the directions his life was taking of his mind as he did so. I'll worry about this later, now is not the time. Antoine pressed forward with his line of questions instead. "And on a scale of one to ten that was what? For me it was pretty much eleven, but then I think we established that I'm not really on the ball yet. So, are these things like the stories? Like if you shoot a vampire does it not even feel it? Do you have to use like, holy water and wooden stakes and crap on them? What about you? Will a silver bullet take down that ... thing you ... you wore?"

[z-Amber Wren]

"That? For me?" Amber thought for a moment. "Seven. I've heard of worse, and I've fought my ten recently." The memory of the almost-queen piercing Declan's body passed before her inner eye again and the pretty Uratha shuddered. "I saw my ten sever a man's spine and turn his back into hamburger with a single blow. Getting a tentacle shoved into me rates a bit lower than that." The casual way she talked about such terrible wounds spoke volumes about her exposure to them.

But as Antoine asked about tools for hunting, Amber paused. "Well, with vampires, I personally tear them apart. I don't think guns have an effect on them. And I'm not sure about the reality of the Judeo-Christian God, so I'm not sure what holy water would do. I believe vampires to be back-stabbing and lacking in the ability to care or empathize with others, but I wouldn't call them unholy. A stake through the heart kills just about anything, so that's safe. And fire, so long as it will burn it, will probably hurt them. It hurts us."

She fell silent for a moment, thinking as she walked. Did she tell him about the problems with silver? Did she trust him that much? "Antoine, I'm going to level with you. We have an allergy to silver, and it messes with us when it's just was a weapon. Never, ever do that, and I'm not saying that because it hurts. I'm saying that because it was cause us to fall into a berserk frenzy known as 'Death Rage.' You could be hurt them, only to have them lose their minds and go crazy. It's very dangerous for you to use silver on us." There was concern in her gray eyes, and she reached out and took his hand, holding it between both of hers. "Antoine, please promise me you won't use silver on us. Not..." She swallowed and closed her eyes for a moment and he could see the effort speaking this caused her. "Please promise me you won't use silver, unless your life is being threatened. And I don't mean you are trying to avoid a beat-down. I mean, you are in true danger of death. It's a grave sin and a declaration of a struggle to the death."