World of Darkness World of Darkness: Attrition - Easier To Eat While Warm

[Owns-The-Night]

2:30pm, Wednesday 21st Jan

The diner on the intersection of West Sunset and the San Diego freeway was fairly quiet, the lunch hour having come and gone. The waitress idly flirted with the cook, and the only customers were some sort of office worker drinking endless coffee and a bum asleep on a bench seat near the back.

Declan took a seat near the door and next to the jukebox and ran his eyes down the menu while he waited for the girl behind the counter to come over. He'd changed out of his work coveralls and showered before coming here, his hair still damp. It was nearly brushing his shoulders now, not having known the touch of shears or scissors in several months, and went well with the short beard that he'd grown, framing the piercing silver of his eyes. He was shaggy and definitively Male, but not scruffy or unkempt, and the look suited him better, more in keeping with his essence. The t-shirt was a little small now, the white cotton stretched by the extra bulk on his shoulders and chest, and he wore a brown leather jacket over that and a pair of blue jeans, rounded off by his sneakers.

He made his order and sat back, waiting for the others to arrive and trying to stay cool.

[SalmonMax]

The car Ariel pulled up in was not her personal car. It was her police car, though as a detective it wasn't an identifiable squad car...the old black and white. It was a tan Nissan sedan from a few years back. In good enough shape not to be embarrassing, but not so nice so as to stick out in bad neighborhoods.

She took a second getting out, but when she did she hurried to the diner door like it was raining outside. Beige jacket, grey polo shirt tucked into blue jeans. Her badge and gun weren't showing. She took her sunglasses off in the dimly lit diner and told the waitress she was with that guy over there.

And then, for the first time in months, Ariel and Declan were face to face across a table. She glanced around at the windows, then back at Declan and nodded.

"So. How've you been?"

[Owns-The-Night]

"Pretty good. Better now than I was before." he answered, his voice low as he hunkered comfortably over the table, the set of his broad shoulders the only visible sign of the tension he was feeling. He wasn't too good at small talk to begin with, and his Rage kept trying to remind him of this female's verbal attack on him all those months ago. He forced the old ache of wounded pride and anger back into it's cage and smiled faintly. "You're lookin' well, Ariel." He meant it. It was good to see her, memories and all. The sight of his fellow Uratha reaffirmed the decision he had made in the dark of winter: to return and try to set right what he had put wrong.

"I invited Amber too. We'll give her a little while to show up." He settled in his seat and nodded his thanks to the waitress as she set his plate down and turned to take Ariel's order. Clicking her pen, she set off back to the rear of the diner.

"So how've you been?" Dec asked in turn.

[SalmonMax]

"I've been...okay," Ariel hedges, nodding. "Busy. Crimson's been getting worse, and we still haven't found where the money's going or managed to make a high level bust. On top of that there's some...warehouse I have to visit every so often now to make sure nothing nasty sets up shop in. And last, but definitely not least, there's people in town with a love of sniper rifles and a hate for People."

Her subtle shift in pronunciation of the last word made it clear which people she spoke of.

"You need to watch yourself," Ariel added tensely. "I don't think they've got anything to connect you, but there's a good chance they know about me, and maybe Amber too. And I really don't know what they know...but I think they watch the online chat thing."

She took a deep breath, then added, "Oh, and there's another one of us in town. Came from England. Not sure where he's shacked up though."

[Owns-The-Night]

"Hmm. Our other redheaded friend told me about the warehouse, the fuckers with the rifles, and the Limey. And yeah, Crimson's gettin' to be a bitch... I chased a dealer into the path of a van the other week. Goddamn parasites are setting up around UCLA." He kept his voice pitched below the level of the jukebox. As far as anyone else was concerned, they were a couple of folks talking quietly over a late lunch. "As for the chatroom thing: damn. I'd better be more careful. Thanks. In future, we'll set meets up this way to cut the chances of ambushes. In fact, might be an idea to work out codephrases for different meeting points, just in case." He shrugged, then grinned fiercely. "Don't want to be too paranoid, but let's face it, we're only paranoid if they ain't out to get us." He took a sip of his glass of milk and tucked into his steak, sawing off a piece and virtually inhaling it.

"Sho..." He said around the mouthful. "How'sh life treatin' ya outshide of business?"

[SalmonMax]

Ariel pokes at her salad unenthusiastically and shrugs.

"Not sure there's any such thing." Then she scowls as if having tasted something bad. "Okay, I DID go out on a date. But not -really- a date. You'll never guess with who though."

She looks up at Declan with a sort of wan, almost guilty look to her.

[Owns-The-Night]

Declan tilted his head curiously.

"Well, from the 'just crapped on the carpet' look on ya face, I'd say it's somethin' you ain't happy about." He chewed that over for a minute, his eyes on her. Being honest, he had no clue, but he decided to razz her a bit. "Umm... Lucien Hunt?" He grinned. "Just kiddin' there. Go on, tell me. I've no damn clue."

[z-Amber Wren]

The door's bell jangled aburptly and a tall brunette dressed in a nice shirt-and-pants ensemble entered the diner. She looked like a business woman who had come for lunch. Only the werewolves could truly sense that special edge to her that said she was different.

It was Amber, but not like they'd seen her before. Her hair was captured in a low-profile ponytail at the back of her neck and she was wearing subtle makeup. Spotting them, she joined them at their table.

"So," she said, eyeing the food. "What'd I miss?"

[Owns-The-Night]

"Hey Amber." Dec gave her a smile as she sat down then, in a peculiarly wolfish gesture, slid his plate over to her, sharing his 'kill'. As he did so, the Rahu took in her new look and gave her a low appreciative whistle. "You clean up good, girl."

He leaned back, sipping on his milk. "Nothin' too important yet. Ariel's been bringin' me up to speed on some things that have happened while I was gone, and was tellin' me about some date she had recently." He gave the Iron Master a sly smile. "She was about to tell me who with."

[SalmonMax]

"Oh hell," Ariel blurted, red-faced.

She grinned at Amber and cleared her throat.

"Okay, just to make this clear. It wasn't a -date- date. It was really just talking and dinner. Sort of like this. Only dinner instead of lunch."

She nods, and adds, "And with Lucien."

[Owns-The-Night]

Declan's face was a caricature of wide-eyed incredulity as he stared at Ariel. He blinked, and his open mouth snapped shut. The other two were to be considered lucky that he hadn't had anything in his mouth at the time, or things might have gotten messy.

"Ahh..." he managed, then pulled himself together. "So you guys talked, then?" He cocked his head to one side. "What's your take on him, Ariel? I mean, I trust him a fair bit, but I'm not sure I'm infallible there."

[SalmonMax]

"He's...actually a decent guy, overall," Ariel says. "I mean, he thinks very highly of himself and doesn't always think before he talks, but under all the bullshit is someone who's just trying to make sense of a world that's stranger than he knew."

She shrugs. "I think the 'bad boy' thing he's got going is just his life raft. The bit of normal he holds onto so he's not all alone in the dark."

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber said nothing during their back and forth, though Declan got a wry half-grin at his assessment of her clothing. She picked a little at the plate Declan had offered, though she wasn't hungry. That made her think back to the last time she'd eaten, and she was surprised to realize that it had been sometime yesterday. Gotta take care of yourself, girl, she told herself as she forced herself to eat a bit more. Don't go falling apart just because... just because... Stop it. He wasn't that good.

"So you went through with it?" Amber said, shaking her head. She wanted to make a crack about sloppy seconds, but she said instead, "Sounds like you had fun anyway."

[Owns-The-Night]

"Well, can't fault either of your taste in men." Declan grinned at Amber and winked. "While we're talkin' love life, hows yours doin'?" he smiled. He liked Antoine, thought him a good mate for the tall woman. "Hope he got out of that hospital okay. I would've come and visited, but..." He hesitated. "Well, I'll discuss that when we get down to business."

Dec nodded slowly, agreeing with Ariel's gauging of the Warlock. "Yeah, that's pretty much how he struck me too. Though I gotta wonder how a guy so smart really has such a hair-trigger mouth on him." He wasn't seriously razzing Ariel over the date with Hunt. Hell, he'd eaten dinner with the guy himself. Something else nagged at him, relatively minor in scale, but perhaps telling. He nodded towards Ariel's salad.

"I ain't tryin' to be funny, but what's with the rabbit-food?" he asked the Elodoth mildly, genuine curiousity in his gaze. "What I mean to say is: you a vegetarian? Because I confess that'd seem a little strange to me."

[z-Amber Wren]

The piece of steak she'd been chewing went to ash in her mouth, and Amber swallowed, feeling the meat slide down in an unappealing lump. Buck up. You knew this was coming. She'd considered not coming, knowing that this would happen, but Dec had called, and she had come. She shoved Dec's plate back toward him.

"I don't know," she confessed softly. "I haven't talked to him since we broke up." The words came out easier than she thought they would, making her feel a little better. She'd said it, and the world hadn't shattered around her. It'd be okay.

Time to change the subject. "Yeah, what's up, girl?" she asked Ariel, forcing some levity. Pitching her voice lower, she asked, "Becoming a were-rabbit on us?"

[SalmonMax]

Ariel looked sharply at Amber, but the other woman's quick attempt at a joke convinced her that this was a subject she didn't want to get into right now. Which made sense...Amber had never really been comfortable sharing her vulnerability, and if she and Antoine had broken up...shit.

"I like salad," she answered primly. "I like steak too, but just because I -can- eat meat all day doesn't mean I -have- to."

She glanced at Declan and said teasingly, "Some of us choose to avoid the classical stereotypes."

[Owns-The-Night]

"Point: Ariel." Declan grinned and made a stroke mark in the air, then sobered slightly and leaned forward. He worried briefly about Amber: it couldn't feel good that she and Antoine had broken up. Mentally, he shrugged. The female Rahu was a Storm Lord by upbringing, and wouldn't tolerate any overt sympathy or concern for 'weakness'. She'd share if she felt like it: there was no sense pushing the issue. "Well, I don't want to waste too much of both your time here, do I guess I'd better get to it." He kept his voice low and expression easy, but there was no mistaking the tension in his shoulders. He looked them both in the eye before dropping his gaze to his milk glass.

"First up: I owe both of ya an apology. Several apologies, really. For fuckin' up the hunt, for fallin' out over that whole fucked-up situation, for withdrawin' into myself outta pride and lettin' things go to hell: I'm sorry." He looked back up at Ariel, his gaze calm. "For the things I said and the way I treated you, I'm sorry." He glanced at Amber. "I failed as an alpha, and I know how and why. Been thinkin' about it non-stop for the last coupla months. It was hubris, pure an' simple false pride, and it put all of us at risk."

He let that hang there for a moment, studying them for a reaction.

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber's response to Declan was simple. She nodded to let him know she'd understood and then was silent. She wanted to see what else he wanted or was going to say. She wanted to know if he was going to push toward them being a pack again - finally and formally, rather than this pseudo-setup they had now. Granted, it had roughly worked for them up to this point. But she wasn't sure it would hold forever.

And that lead to another sobering thought. How could she get involved with a pack with this deal with the leeches hanging over her. Her stomach bottomed out as she realized that the price of her locus might be higher than she had considered.

That was a concern for later. For now, she waited for Ariel's response. Her reaction would dictate much of how the remaining conversation would go.

[SalmonMax]

Ariel was quiet for a moment, and deliberately took a forkful of salad and chewed it to buy time to think. It wasn't about the fight, really. That was ancient history now. It was about that fundamental underlying -difference- between Ariel and Declan, and how they dealt with what they were.

Finally she looked up to meet Declan's unsettling eyes.

"Accepted. And as long as we're at it, I owe you an apology too. I...meant what I said, but I didn't have to be such a bitch in how I said it. And I didn't really appreciate at the time how new you were to this whole deal. So...it wasn't really fair of me to be that hard on you."

She took a breath...then let it out. There was more to say, but not just yet. She wanted to hear more from him and Amber first.

[Owns-The-Night]

"Accepted in kind." Declan nodded to Ariel, plainly appreciating the unexpected apology. He hunkered further forward. "Look, guys. We can't go on runnin' solo. It ain't good for us long term. As in REALLY ain't good." His lips thinned and his eyes took on a momentary haunted look.

"I think we can join up properly, make a real pack. We got differences, all of us. But that should be a source of a pack's strength, not the cracks that split open the minute somethin' shitty happens." He looked from Amber's eyes to Ariel's. "We, all three of us, need to work that shit out. Because otherwise things will get worse. And the first step is perceptions. How we see each other. Because perceptions about what other people are can be bullshit, or not the whole story. And to work shit out, we need to come in from our respective corners and learn from each other, rather than stand back like a kid refusing his spinach and saying 'Don't wanna.'"

He shook his head momentarily and sighed. "Look, I've been in group therapy sessions, but damned if I know how to run one for a bunch of maladjusted werewolves." He kept his voice low, below the music nearby. "Hi, my name is Declan and I'm a Full Moon. I'm also a Blood Talon. By blood and by code, I'm a warrior. I see things in terms of enemies, allies, and unknowns, and I like to resolve the unknowns into one of the other two. My deed name is Owns-The-Night, and I got it by stalking and destroying, without losing it, a pack of five leeches that were over the edge and leaving drained bodies around. I'm not just a mindless killing machine. I'm not some psycho who gets off on throating folks. But I don't offer any surrender I wouldn't accept in turn." He looked at Ariel.

"When I called you half-tame and sheepdog, I meant it. Like you said, though, I didn't need to be a bitch about it." He spread his hands on the table. "It's weird for me, Ariel. Weird as hell to meet someone like me that doesn't relish what we are. Who doesn't love to run on four legs, and from what I can see would rather be human." He looked at her, not aggressively, but with obvious effort to connect in his eyes.

"My whole life after my uncle died, I felt odd. Never got on, never connected with folks around me. Only place I fitted was the Army, and even then it was a shallow fit. You understand? When I went crazy, when I had what the docs called a breakdown, I thought that my life was over." He took a sip of his milk. "Then I realise I'm not crazy. Then I realise that I've never really been human at all, so no fuckin' wonder I felt like I was from another planet. That's where I'm comin' from, guys. Being what we are is, to me, a fuckin' lottery ticket as well as a duty."

[SalmonMax]

Ariel absorbs that and leans back in her chair for a moment, looking up at the ceiling as if deep in thought. In reality she wasn't thinking at all. She'd known this was coming...she just wasn't sure how she felt about it.

"I'm willing to give it another shot," she said at last. "But here's the deal. I'm dealing with this my own way."

She brought her eyes back down to meet Declan's.

"I will never be as -wolf- as you. I will always include human beings when I say the world 'people.' That means I respect them, and I respect their laws, and I will look for ways to protect both wherever possible. That's just the bottom line with me, pack or no pack, alpha or no alpha. So the question for me is, can you deal with that?"

[Owns-The-Night]

"I can deal with that." Dec's grin was pure unconscious charm. "Hell, girl, I'm countin' on that. It's too easy for us to regard people as less than 'People'. Not all of them are. You..." he pointed at her "...have got what I don't: a perspective on them. From a moral stance, I'll need that to balance me out. From a practical stance, it could steer us around a shitload of trouble we don't need. We'll try to find ground we can both work on. Agreed?" He offered her a hand across the table.

[SalmonMax]

Ariel nodded slowly, then reached out and shook Dec's hand.

"All right then."

She glanced at Amber, who'd been quiet up to this point.

"What do you think?"

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber was quiet for a long moment, her gray eyes stormy with mixed emotions. "I like the idea," she admitted finally, leaning forward and planting her elbows on the table. She was bracing herself for what was to follow, because she knew it wasn't going to be pretty. "But as you guys had stuff you wanted to bring forward, so do I. First, I don't know if I can join up right now, and let me say why. I'm working for this leech, and while I'm doing it for a good reason, it's trouble. I'm willing to gamble on it with my own head, but your heads are something else. I'd like your thoughts on that before I join, and even then I may not join. I don't want that on my head.

"And the second," she drew a deep breath, "I want us all to have veto rights on who joins after we form up. No majority vote - all have to consent. That includes our totem, whatever we find to do that for us. And by that, I mean we all agree on a totem, and once we have the totem, it gets a vote on whether new members can join."

[SalmonMax]

Ariel shrugs. "Seems reasonable enough to me, the second bit."

She gives Amber a concerned look. "As for the first...just because we might be in a pack doesn't mean you don't get a personal life. On the other hand, if you're getting in too deep with this, I'd like to help, pack or no pack. Is this connected to that price jack at your apartment?"

[Owns-The-Night]

Declan sighed slightly. This wasn't going to be easy. Well, the second part of it anyway. He turned towards Amber and nodded to her.

"For your first concern, no problem. I'd help you with that, with any problem, even if we weren't pack. If we are pack, then I'd help you... more." He smiled at her, then sobered.

"With the second issue, I'd be solid in line with you all the way." He looked Amber in the eye. "Except for the fact that a person I see as a solid friend and potential packmate I think you'd veto outright, without consideration for what's right or even for the Code. Right now, she's workin' on Tests set her by the Topangas. She wants to be closer to the People so bad that she's puttin' herself through hell over and over again. Now that ain't your problem, I admit. It's hers. But when you let whatever bug's up your ass cut her off as not worth your time?" The Blood Talon sighed and shook his head. "It's wrong to me, Amber. It's a bad thing done to a good person. That's my issue with you. You're a great friend. You'd be a fantastic packmate. But the way you treat her is wrong. And when that attitude has the potential to dictate how I treat Sarah..." Owns-The-Night looked from Amber to Ariel and back again, then leaned back, setting his cards down on the table.

"I won't go with it. It'd be moral cowardice to accept somethin' I feel is wrong just to have a pack."

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber was shaking her head before he was done talking. "And I'd react a lot better to her, to all of this, but for two things. First, she's getting shoved down my throat every time I turn around. Either you're backing her as if she were some newly-turned pup, or she's there, pushing and pushing herself. Or an ally is insisting on me working with her, like that fool-stunt of Adrian's. Adrian can be an ingratiating fuck, but he's not nearly as bad about it as she. And he knows that he's an ally and doesn't try to be more. Second, she pushes where she doesn't belong, and you only encourage her. I'll work with her, when necessary. But she's not Ur- one of us, she won't be and no amount of pseudo-va- pseudo-sucker tricks or bullshit will make her one."

Her voice dropped to a hiss - more to obscure her words than to sound angry - as she said, "And this is a prime example. She's not People. I'll treat her nicer when she stops trying to be People-with-a-capital-p. But pack is about family. And I won't be family to a dead thing. Clearly, you feel different. But don't you dare suggest that I'm violating 'respect the low' by not letting non-People in my pack. I can respect someone without making them Family. We start that bullshit, and we might as well ask Adrian to join, or Lucian. Or Frank." Amber felt a rant building and she stopped herself before she said more.

"If you're making her presence in our pack a requirement to join, then I'll pass, thanks. Which I guess doesn't make it our pack, then, huh?" The bitter pain in that last question was painful to hear, and Amber slid her sunglasses down out of her hair and over her eyes.

"But I'll still be your ally, if that's what you want, Dec," she said behind glossy black shutters. "Call and I'll come, leech at your heels or not." That's how much I care about you, you sack of leech-loving shit, she thought at him, feeling her eyes sting and knowing she'd hate herself for thinking those words later. At least she didn't say them, only rolled them into her heart where they could reside with all the other dark, ugly things she felt.

Click to reveal.. (OOC Rolls (yes, rolls ))

Amber's check to see how badly she loses her shit: 2 sux

1d10.open(10)=9, 1d10.open(10)=8, 1d10.open(10)=5, 1d10.open(10)=2

[Owns-The-Night]

"Someone's got to be on her side. Luna knows her family ain't never been." He wanted to say more, wanted to yell and curse at Amber, try to make her see what was happening. But that was all Declan had to say on the matter, his eyes sad as he glanced at Ariel. "Won't ask you to choose between us, either. We can work well together still. I'm interested in the Crimson thing: keep me in the loop?" He started to rise, needing to get out of the emotionally charged atmosphere. "Same goes for both of you guys. I'll be there for you both if you call. Even if it's just to watch bad werewolf movies and throw popcorn at each other." He forced a smile that he didn't feel, and it showed. "Even if the Lunes don't see it that way, you guys are pack to me."

The large man blinked, then turned away. "See ya round, girls. Don't be strangers." He started for the door, glad that neither could see his eyes.

[SalmonMax]

"Jesus Christ," Ariel said. "Both of you sit down. Now."

"We've come WAY too far to let something like this break it up again. We're adults, not fourteen year olds. We can get through this without running off and writing nasty blogs about each other on our Myspace pages."

"Sit. Have some water. Cool off for a second."

[Owns-The-Night]

For a moment, he ignored Ariel. For a moment, something inside the Full Moon bridled at being ordered around.

For a moment. Then he stopped moving, head low and obviously deep in thought.

She's Elodoth. This is her job. She wouldn't tell you to sit down if she didn't have a reason. She's the balance: you and Amber are both at the same end of that balance. You break shit, but she puts it back together so it works right. What it comes down to, Dec ol' buddy, is do you trust Ariel to be a good Elodoth? Not warrior, but judge and mediator. His head rose, still facing away, and he nodded once. "You're right, Ariel." He turned around, sat down, and picked up the glass of milk, taking a sip before grinning despite himself. "But I don't have a Myspace page."

[SalmonMax]

Ariel grinned. "Well, we'll have to get you one," she said. "It's the in thing these days."

She looked at Amber then.

"Please? If you don't want to sit, fine. You and Declan had your say on this, I just want mine before you two make up your minds and walk off."

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber sat back down. "Sure thing, Ariel," she said. She was tired, though, sick to death of the feeling of being jerked back and forth by Sarah's presence. Even when her cousin wasn't around, she was fucking with her, and it was getting old. If it hadn't been for Sarah, they'd be talking pack-stuff right now instead of covering what should have been obvious ground.

[SalmonMax]

"Don't worry," Ariel assured Amber. "This won't take long."

She looked at Declan.

"I get that you feel strongly about this, Dec, but I want you to stop and think about this from Sarah's point of view. First off, how do you think she'd feel when she found out that the only reason we all stayed loners was because of a disagreement about her?"

Ariel lets that sink in for a second, then adds, "Not to mention, do you really think she'd want to be part of a pack where all the members didn't fully accept her? Even if Amber gave in, it wouldn't change how she really felt. You wouldn't be doing Sarah any favors bringing her into something like that."

"All right, now try to see this from Amber's point of view. She's not like me or you. She grew up in a big family of...people like us. She can't just turn away from all that in a few months and pretend it never happened. And try to imagine how hard it must be to see what looks like someone you knew as a kid walking around, and you feel, in your heart, that it's not really her. I mean, I imagine how I'd feel if mom were dead, and I kept SEEING her...walking around, even acting like she used to, keeping the wound open and painful. I'd start hating her too. Because I'd just want it to be over. I'd just want her to die and get it done with so I could grieve and move on. That's how it's supposed to work, right?"

She let out her breath and drew another in again, slowly.

"You and I lack that connection. We don't see history in Sarah. We don't have preconceptions about what she is. It's easier for us to accept her. All I ask is that you try to keep that in mind. Be patient. Work with her, not against her."

Ariel turned to look at Amber. For a moment she didn't say anything. Then she said, "There'll come a time...and I don't know how long it'll take, or how it'll happen...but one day Sarah will do something or say something or...BE something that only your cousin would do, say, or be. All I ask is that when that time comes, try to have an open mind about the possibility that maybe just because Sarah's body died doesn't necessarily mean the most important part of her died. Try to be open to the idea that maybe Sarah is not an abomination...but a miracle instead. I know that isn't going to happen now. But someday."

She nods.

"And that's pretty much all I have to say on the subject. If you guys still want to go your separate ways, I'll miss you. If not, lets get to the -good- part, and work out how it's going to work. Because if we want it to work, if we -really- want it to, there's no reason anything will stand in our way."

[Owns-The-Night]

Dec was silent for a long, long moment, his eyes on Ariel's face. Then suddenly, he smiled faintly and nodded, awareness dawning in his eyes as he looked at Amber.

"I get it." His smile was one part empathy, two parts apology as he looked at his fellow Rahu. "I... guess I know how it feels, kinda. I had an experience over the winter that was sorta similar." He shook his head briefly. "Not the time to talk about it right now, but... yeah." He looked Amber in the eye. "I'm sorry. And I'll stop pushin' about Sarah. I didn't realise you were gettin' shit from others about her too, or I might have kept my noise down." He reached over and grabbed Amber's hand firmly in his own roughened fingers. "I won't pretend I don't know her, or that she's not my friend and ally. But I will stop forcin' her down your throat. Is that a deal? Because I want this pack to work, Amber."

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber felt something unknot in her gut, an angry coil of tension and pressure she hadn't been completely aware of. It was like the night she'd come home, drunk and defiant. Her mother had thrashed her and the same feeling of loss and hurt had been there as Dec's near-choice of Sarah over Ariel and herself - which was how she'd seen it - had spawned. But this time, with the grip of a friendly, warm hand, and the care she felt from the others, that pain leaked away.

Gripping Declan's hand, she leaned over and rested her face against Ariel's shoulder. She only did it for a moment, knowing that it discomforted Ariel. She couldn't have stopped herself from it, though. "I want it to work, too," she whispered, then raised her face, sat up and said with more volume, "I do, too, Dec. I do, too."

But as happy as she was in that moment, as close as she was to losing her composure from pure joy, something wasn't quite right. She had no idea what it was, but it was there. After a second, she realized it was a twinge of sympathy for Sarah. Huh. That's weird.

That, as much as her Elodoth's wise words, made her look at the unsettled Ariel and say, "And I'll think about what you said, Ariel. I really will. I promise."

[SalmonMax]

Far from being uncomfortable with Amber's response, Ariel leans her head against the top of Amber's head when she presses against her shoulder. Her relief at having managed to get the two strong-willed Rahu to give each other this chance was too strong for any other reaction. It was going to happen, it was going to work!

She blinked away tears and reached out to put her own hand over Declan and Amber's.

"Then I think we should get on to discussing pack stuff," Ariel suggests with a tearful little laugh.

[Owns-The-Night]

"Okay." Declan grinned slightly at Ariel, then reached over the table and gave her a gentle nudge to the shoulder. "First thing I want to do is extend an invite to you two to help finish somethin' off. I think I might know where that Azlu's nest is." he grinned at them "The thought occurred to me after the chatroom thing the other night that maybe there's a locus on campus that a spirit managed to slip through. Titus, the professor who's havin' trouble with a student bein' weird? Well, I went to see him today. Turns out the Prof is a goddamn mage on the side." He was smiling slightly. "It didn't come right out like that, so we danced the little dance around our words until it got down to brass tacks." Still in a quiet voice, he laid out for Ariel and Amber what he had found out about the probably location of the locus.

"So the Prof says he'll keep an eye on her and pass anythin' more he finds out to me, but he wants to be part of the cleanup." Declan grinned. "Y'know, I'm all in favor of responsible community members. He also didn't seem to mind when I told him I'd be lookin' after the locus when all was said and done. I think this could be a good start, guys. Amber's got her little slice of heaven east of me: we could cover the ground between the UCLA and there and have ourselves a real territory." He shrugged. "That's not too important right now."

"I'm thinkin' we go for the cleanup on the 8th. It'll be a full moon, and our big guns will be at their best then." He squeezed Amber's hand and winked at her. "It also gives us recon time, plus time to check out this No-Moss dude as a possible pack member too. What do you two think of him? I've met the guy and worked with him a little. An Ithaeur could be handy."

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber nodded. "I'll try to be there. The 8th?" She pulled out a fancy phone, scrolled through some screens, scowling as she moved more and more. Finally, she hit some buttons and closed the phone. "I hate that thing."

She glanced at Ariel. "No Moss is pretty ok. I've been letting him crash with me. We can let him run with us, see how he works with us. Wanna bring him on the bug hunt?

"And yeah," she added with a grin, still giddy with the knowledge that she was making a pack. "We'll have a massive amount of territory to cover, but it's probably the only way to do it."

[Owns-The-Night]

"Great." Dec's grin was no less giddy than Amber's. "We'll bring No Moss along on the hunt then. I'm thinkin' of involvin' a few others. Not makin' them privy to all pack secrets and stuff, but the special folks around UCLA who have an interest in keepin' the neighbourhood clean, like the Prof." He looked from Ariel to Amber. "I think if we start on the basis of arms-length trust, we might be able to build up a good network here. It ain't the wilds, and we can't just wipe out or force out the other supernaturals even if we wanted to. So if we can get people thinkin' in terms of workin' together, each 'side' has a step up on their own set of enemies. Hunters packin' silver? Not a problem for mages who can twist fate. What do you both think?"

[SalmonMax]

Ariel thinks of a warehouse populated by dead werewolves and a forlorn little spirit. Victims of their neighbors; mages who couldn't, or wouldn't get along.

"Yeah," she said after a moment. "That's probably a good idea. Seems like just about all the unusual people have the same basic need to stay out of sight and protect what's theirs. If we can work together, that'll only make everyone's job easier. As long as we can trust each other."

She nods. "And so far, I think we have a few that I feel like we can trust."