[Rain] With the advent of cellphones, pay phones have become few and far between. The fees eek up, every year, ratcheting toward the point of uselessness. There is a sort of social stigma that comes with using them, too, but for the many who cannot afford a monthly charge or do not have a stable address, they are a last link back to others.
Rain remembers the days when a call was a quarter. And then a quarter and a dime. And now she just empties all her change out into a pile and pulls out anything silvery. There's enough in her hand that she has to corral it carefully on the silver floor of the little cubby that the phone hangs in, and sort out the proper fee when told by the operator on the line. She knows the number she's calling by heart; doesn't pause when dialing all ten digits.
The voice that answered was not Jodie's. It was only passingly familiar; Rain had only ever heard in on the phone. They spoke for a moment, exhanged holiday greetings and faint well wishes. The kinswoman figeted with the metal-sheathed wire connecting the handset to the box.
"Hey, Jodie. It's Rain," she says, when the other end of the line goes purposefully quiet. "D'ya remember me?" she asks. There's no answer. Rain tells her that she and Eve sent a postcard. That it's snowin' in Chicago. Talks for a little while about things that don't mean much.
At the end of it all, she says, "I met up with some family here. Staying with one of 'em. You'd like him -- well, about as much as you ever got on with no moons. They're good folk, here. Even got a spirit talker in the house, like you, 'cept not family. He's more of the charge everything down with a big spear and swear a lot types."
There's a pause.
"Miss you."
And another.
"I'mma go now, Jodie. You and Kevin take care." Rain waits, but there's no answer. And then she hangs up, and collects the remaining coins into her hand.
[Roman Turner] "Ya don't have a cell phone?"
He didn't tell her he heard it all, including the mostly silence on the other end of the line. His kind heard a lot when they tried.
He'd come up on her blind side, waiting till she finished and would turn to run in to him, before he let her know he was there. Still wearing the hat she had gifted him with, the collar of his coat pulled up high on his neck. As always, his jeans looked like he starched the suckers, stiff and dark blue.
[Rain] "Don't have a lot of things," she says with a little shrug, pushing the quarters and dimes back into her pocket. "But no, no cell phone."
Rain glanced over at him as she pulled her gloves back out of her other pocket. She still wore his gifts, too. The hat, gloves, scarf; the little glint of gold at her throat. They kepts her warm, and reminded her of Family.
"I didn't see you," she says, without rebuke or embarrassment. "Otherwise I wouldn't've talked about you like you weren't around like that. Didn't mean nothin' by it," she explains, in case he'd been offended or somehow felt left out. There's something amiss with her expression, but it doesn't resolve into a clear sense of what it might be just yet.
[Roman Turner] We are near the church area. Rain was on the phone and Roman was listening in.
to Drew Roscoe, Linus, Rain
[Roman Turner] He crossed his eyes at her when she said she didn't see him.
"Well duh, I wouldn't be no good at my Moon if ya saw me when I didn't want ya to see me."
The crossed eyes were followed by a nudge of his shoulder.
"Relax, your business is your's, I'm just nosey is all. One of my many charms. As for a phone, I'll getcha one. Them pay as ya go phones are cheap at ole Wally World."
[Rain] "You don't have to," she says, her expression twisting a bit more toward something anxious and unclear. "I can get one. I just didn't know if we'd be stayin -- I..."
She stops, flustered, cheeks slightly flushed and focused on cramming her hands into her gloves so they could go back into her pockets.
"I'm supposed to be helpin' take care of you all, and Eve, and I'm not doin' either. You don't have to get me a phone."
[Linus] He'd spent the better part of the day hunting down various Murders.
Not the blood and havoc sort that comes with this kind of territory, but the flock of Crows that normally put themselves on the outskirts of a city or along highways where roadkill is more prevalent. What little green Chicago has, is populated by much of the Scavenger type and where you found Crows you inevitably found Ravens, though, to ask Linus, he didn't know the physical difference between the two. The spiritual on the other hand...
"Fuck...ing thunder..." He's brushing himself down as he exits the Church doors, muttering under his breath the whole way. Clapping jaws and the occasional spitting off to one side to clear his mouth of something foul. He kicks at a nearby piece of masonry that had chipped off the stairs, sending it cartwheeling into the street to hit the curb and then promptly sits himself down on the stairwell in it's place, digging around in his half-jacket pockets for a cigarette and a lighter. Today was a casual day. Coat, slacks, sneakers and a skull-cap.
[Roman Turner] "No strings, Rain. Ya need to be able to call for help if the need arises. I ain't holding ya prisoner and don't expect ya to take care of me neither. I ain't a leech that's pulling ya in to suck the life out of ya, living off of ya."
Linus coming out cursing his head off drew Roman's attention away from whatever else he might of been about to say. Instead he cupped his hands around his mouth and called towards the church.
"Kick it again!"
[Linus] "It ain't a Can!" He yells back without getting up.
[Roman Turner] "That didn't stop ya the first time!" He yelled back. It looked like neither one knew how to keep it down too well.
[Rain] She'd been thinking about arguing, but then Linus and Roman were yelling back and forth and the kinswoman just shrugged. And smiled slightly, despite herself. She'd developed a tolerance for the oft-grumpy Godi, even if it paled in comparison to her fondness for the Ragabash.
Instead of yelling, she waved a bit and started walking toward the church steps. When they she got closer, she called out, "Hey, Mr. Linus," all friendly-like.
"Why're ya kickin' rocks today?" she asks. Like there might be a reason, specific to today, that had less to do with the weather and more to do with... something. With Linus she had little expectation that she could predict his reasonings. If she happened to not answer Roman's concerns about her calling for help, or him not being some sort of leech -- that was accidental or incidental.
[Drew Roscoe] Memory was a nifty thing within the cognitive mind, and it tied in closely with repetition. If you've gone somewhere often enough, walked the same path numerous times then your feet will remember the motion and direction without dictation from the mind. Driving was a similar case-- you would take turns, touch the side of your finger to the blinker lever and tap brakes and gas while your mind was a hundred miles away. Sometimes you'd end up somewhere you didn't even intend to go in the first place-- home instead of the post office, an old lover's house instead of work.
A fine example of this was at hand today, being shown to the world firsthand when Drew set course for the church that was now packhouse for The Last Watch. She'd set course off a familiar side street and found herself making the turns and stops that would bring her to the same block that a pair of Children of Gaia and a Godi were on. This was a mix of imprinted memory and logical thinking both-- all roads pointed here in this case, other options where crossed out for a mix of reasons.
Around the corner from the street the Church was nestled on came the rumble of a diesel engine, and a few moments following it a dark cherry painted truck, the kind that belonged in a rural setting and was made obsolete within the city lurched around the bend and onto the street. The windows were dark with the dusk of settling evening, two figures were visible in the cab but details were difficult to make out. The vehicle had lurched about the corner, but it moved below the speed limit, close to the curb. It was suspicious, moved like someone was scoping the neighborhood out or getting ready for a drive-by.
Rather, it came to a stop not directly in front of the church but a dozen or so meters past it, on the same side of the street. The engine didn't die, but it idled, even though the vehicle was put into park. There were two females inside the truck, that much could be made out this close up, both with long hair, both in their seats, both still.
[Linus] He tucks a cigarette between his lips, still fishing for a lighter, eyes narrowed and turning to regard Rain and Roman's approach in the meantime.
"'cause Ravens are about as fun as a bag of nails to the head, Sweet'eart." Said through pinched lips, he pulls a flame and slips it up under the tip of the cigarette, pulling a quick drag before tucking it between thumb and index to watch the pair evenly.
"Keep trying to pull Hrafn every so often, but he's a tricky lot. Keeps clear of a lot of this city. Smart enough to." A sniff for the chill in the air. "Figure if I can get a small murder of his lot in the area we'll have Flip side eyes-" A flick of a knuckle at Rain "-and a none-too-obvious kin-fetch for you lot that come and go, 'round here."
It's pretty much like that, smoke, puff, exhale, until the Car comes rolling into view. Linus, for his part, doesn't seem entirely phased, but that might be the slight bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. He watches the slow drift of the car go past and promptly, sucks in a large lungful of air that isn't cancer. Instead of standing, he flicks a glance at Roman and pulls a face, as if to say
Tha' hell?
He's climbing to his feet slowly, gaze narrowed on the Truck bed.
[Roman Turner] He turned to watch the old truck also. Back home this sort of vehicle was very common place. Here it was a bit odd.
"Well either someone is lost, or they are about to spring out and try to sell us Avon or Thin Mints."
He wasn't one to stand around and be shot, no, he was one to head up close so they didn't miss him. Already he was heading for the truck.
[Rain] A kin-fetch. There's clear recognition of those words in Rain's features, a little aha moment but no balk. She's not the sort of kin to argue with Theurges and their arcane ways of keeping tabs on their people.
Rain watches the car roll by, it captures her attention and she follows it with her eyes. Unlike the other two, she doesn't immediately suspect trouble. The kinswoman isn't trained to worry like that. She thinks it's someone lost, or someone coming to visit, or something like that, so she tries to get a glimpse of the people through the window and stays, right there in plain line-of-sight, like an idiot.
It's a small wonder she's only been jumped once in the Green so far.
"You guys expecting comp'ny?" she asks, with a hopeful note rather than a worried one.
[Eve] This is the problem about not knowing anyone, it's that she doesn't know where to go in situations like this. Eve didn't know where to go, but Drew did. Eve sat in the truck, and went to her side of the truck. She didn't really seem to care about what was in the back of the truck, her attention wasn't there, though. Her attention was on the woman in the driver's seat.
The world could pass by, and she wouldn't notice.
Eve is a bloody mess. her hair is stained red, her fingertips are bloody and her torso is a discugsting mess of claw marks and shredded cloth. The female's seen better days; she doesn't even seem to notice. Eve, as a matter of fact, barely even recognizes the sting in her bones. This is what duty feels like, this is what she was born for. If the door's unlocked, she opens the driver's side door.
"Head high," she tells Drew. There's something like pride tinging her words.
Eve feels lightheaded. She doesn't care.
[Drew Roscoe] The passenger door swings open first, and Eve gets out, a pale-toned girl that was stained both with the dirt of the streets and the crimson of blood. She was mangled, as much death as she'd given it seemed she'd received a good portion of it in return. Blessed by the Spirits, though, she did not lag. She didn't feel the pain to tell her her body was ruined almost past the point of function, she walked around the front of the truck to the other side without acknowledging the Garou or Kin on the sidewalk.
The passenger door opened and Drew rolled her head on the steering wheel to look at Eve through the curtain of brown hair that fell over her face, peering out blearily before closing her eyes and exhaling deeply. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach, the left hand now absent from the steering wheel and able to join the right where it's been all along. She was convinced that if she moved her hands her guts would fall out.
"Head feels high," she clarified weakly. She was pale, drawn, and under the heavy red winter jacket she was sweating considerably. "Where's Kora?"
[Roman Turner] He could smell the blood as soon as the door opened, even before he got a look at Eve whom he barely recalled when she looked not so bloody and all.
"What in the blazes of Hell happened? Kora ain't here. LINUS!"
He called as he headed for Drew's side of the truck. Eve would heal a hell of a lot faster than Drew. And Roman's Gift was a tiny thing.
"LINUS!"
[Rain] It takes a moment. It's been awhile since Rain saw Eve, and longer yet since she'd seen Eve opened up like that. Bloody like that. Her eyes widened and she paled. The Ragabash and Godi near her faded from her awareness. Rain drew a sharp breath, and breathed it out in a yell:
"EVE!"
That's all the warning either of the True got before she started hurrying for the truck and the injured Gnawer at an awkward run/fastwalk due to the snow and slick sidewalk.
[Linus] "Fuck's sake..."
He's up, the cigarette going out against a jacket sleeve (familiar, given the burn marks on the right cuff) and then tucked behind his ear while he moves in at the first sign of Eve exiting the vehicle. A right mess, a bloody swathe on the inside of the cab and Rain nearby. His frown is not so much concerned as annoyed, even as he moves toward the passenger's side, already trusting in Roman's further ahead pace to see to the Philodox Gnawer (and settle Rain down, if necessary).
Roman yells. Rain yells. Linus...winces visibly and casts the pair a glance. It isn't until Drew escapes the truck and he catches glimpses of the Tribe that his face becomes a cloud of something...else. He moves around the truck alongside Roman, pointing to the Church.
"Get the both inside, now. We have to get off the street-" and then at Roman "-You're on healing duty. Kin first." He's somewhat out of his depth here. Linus beliefs never covered Healing but he moves to Drew with something akin to urgency.
[Linus] ...then a second-thought, as his senses/logic kick in, Linus nodding at Drew and Roman. He changes tactics, shifting around the car to give Rain a hand with Eve, just incase the Philodox was...less than functional in the head as much as the body.
"Rain, go open the doors."
[Roman Turner] His coat was off almost before he reached Drew to slip it around her, hiding her wounds from casual sight and adding warmth to ward off shock.
"I gotcha, don't ya worry none Miss. I ain't gonna let go."
He was speaking even as he wrapped her up snug as a bug to lift from the truck. His gait was fast and smooth, trying not to jar Drew on the way to the stairs and up them. Already he was praying his little skill wouldn't let them down.
[Rain] She doesn't get within arm's reach of Eve. Rain's learned a lot of things from experience and one of them is that Garou are more dangerous when they're injured. When they're less in control of the things that make them inhuman. She draws her breath in through her clenched teeth; it nearly whistles her concern.
Eve knows her, knows she's there to help; knows she can be trusted and leaned on and bent if needed. If the Gnawer reaches out, then she'll --
At the sound of her name, Rain's attention snaps to Linus. He gives her an order, and she replies: "Yessir." Wonder of wonder, the little kin complies immediately. She heads up the stairs and pulls the heavy doors open, leans her weight against one to keep it so.
"I can help," she tells Roman, as he carries Drew past. "If you've got any medical supplies, here, I can help."
[Eve] "Residential neighborhood, Spiral got the drop on her," Eve's voice is forced evenness.
It's not that she looks afraid, or calm, or anything really of the sort. Eve looks like she has nothing else to focus on, nothing but the task at hand and being absolutely certain that Drew was okay. She hears her name, and her head turns, slowly to Rain. In Rain's direction, at least. She brushes her hair off of her cheek, which leaves a bloody streak.
It's to be said, though, that she doesn't touch Drew. She doesn't get anywhere near her, doesn't put her hands in her guts, doesn't come near anything so remotely fragile.
"You can fix her, right?"
Once that focus and her concerns are met... who knew what would happen. One could say a lot of Gaia's gifts, this is familiar. Eve doesn't feel a thing.
[Drew Roscoe] There's audible shouting, names that she doesn't recognize right away. She and Eve didn't chat merrily while they drove from point A to point B, Drew had kept her hand pressed palm flat against the deep gouges in her stomach, through the winter jacket, trying not to think about what kind of shit was caked underneath the claws that sliced her open, pretending that she wasn't just sticking down feathers from her gutted winter jacket into the wound. She was focused on staying awake and staying on her own side of the road. She was watching the rear-view mirror to make sure no one was following. She was ignoring the steady seeping of blood down her pant legs and into her boots.
There were new faces, multiple ones, at the passenger door. It was a blur of activity, and a face typically topped with a stetson was there, telling her not to worry and wrapping her up with a jacket. She's baring her gritted teeth as he moves her and groaning her protest when he moves her out of the truck. Her shoulder jerks forward initially as though she was going to ward him off and keep him from touching her, but she relents soon enough. "Careful, jesus, careful," she warns unnecessarily while his arms tuck under her back and thighs and he takes her out of the truck and carries her toward the door.
She still hasn't moved her arms an inch from the front of her jacket, it's hard to assess how bad it is. The puddle of blood seeped into and staining the fabric of her truck bench and the puddle on the floor before the gas and brake pedals should say something though. There's a shotgun laying on the truck bench, it'd been between her and Eve.
She's curled up, almost afraid to relax, and speaking quietly but insistently. "Spirals. Don't know how many, some dozen blocks off. Only one of them's dead. Lost the others, I hope, I think. They might'a followed. They could come. Grab my fuckin' shotgun, I'll need it."
[Linus] "...Just need to keep them stable. I can find something. Bring something to help, Drew. You hear me, Roman?" Like he could see the sudden worry on the young Ragabash's face, the Godi hooking an arm forcefully around the Metis Philodox, tucking in close so Eve's sense can register his scent even as he begins to trudge his way toward the Church doors with grunts and unintelligible murmurs.
"...I need just a little time to find something that can help." He's wracking his brain. Fenris' brood was not the most healing friendly collective. Eve's concerns leap off her lips as if the Philodox were in a bit of a daze. Admittedly so.
"We can help. We're going to help, don't you worry none." and then he's listening to Drew's report and a new flare of curses rips off his own lips, the cigarette tumbling from behind his ear, forgotten.
"I'm gonna need some eyes as well, Roman. Once they're stable!" Up the stairs and into the Church.
[Roman Turner] He barely got inside before he lowered to his knees and gently rest his cheek on Drew's head, whispering soft words of comfort and nonsense.
"It's gonna be ok. I ain't gonna let nothing happen to ya. Just breathe in and relax. Bless your heart, you're gonna need new clothes."
As he rest his cheek on Drew's head, he let go with his first attempt of sending his Gift of Mother's Touch in to the Kin.
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6) [WP]
[Rain] This is familiar. For better or worse, this is the stuff of the Nation, to Rain, such as she'd learned of it before leaving River Fork. Roman's calmer than any of Shark's children had ever been; even swearing, Linus was friendlier. Up and into the Church they all went, and Rain closed the doors behind them. She didn't have to be told to bar them against entry.
Or to get a pan of water boiling on the stove to sterilize whatever she would need. Or to find sheets and blankets, so they didn't go into shock. Once they're inside, Rain's pulling off her gloves, hat and scarf, leaving them in a tumble somewhere and running to get the things she knows she can help with sorted.
[Eve] Linus hooks an arm around her, and the onyl recognition she has that someone is touching her is that there is pressure. Her head snaps around and she looks directly at the Godi. She doesn't blink. She doesn't even say anything, she just nods.
This is time for duty.
"Water?"
She doesn't give her next thought, which was bears. Bear taught a lot of things, but getting a bear int he city was like getting... well... water in the city.
"Rain, if anyone's coming, you need to hide," she says. She isn't so even anymore. She's a bit more insistent.
[Linus] Linus is setting Eve into one of the pews, a hand on either cheek. The Godi was not a healer and didn't have the first clue on how to apply basic first aid, but Eve was not human. She had something better under her belt.
"Eve...Eve, it's Linus. Remember me? I need you to shift to something heavier. Something larger, so you can keep awake and relaxed, ok? Need you to go bigger and stay on the floor. Time to rest for the moment, everything's going to be fine."
He flicks a glance past the Philodox toward Roman, the nimbus of blue light dancing off the No Moon's fingertips, small but there at least.
"Roman, you and Kora head-linked?" A beat. "Totem? If so, get her ass back here quick as, otherwise I'm adding a messenger when I go flipside." He's pushing back against the pew infront of Eve, giving her room to settle into place and relax enough to at least begin the healing process or allow her body to stop some of the bleeding.
"Water might work...not many pure...sources here-...Fuck, move!" The pew scrapes. "...Might...be able to tap, Roman's totem...Might be amicable with...him here..." And then back at Roman.
"Roman! Spare yourself some! Don't know the Spirals location, they could be umbral and I need you capable of crossing if they are!" Enough room finally, and Linus is already hunting for a reflection.
[Drew Roscoe] They go in through the doors of the church, and while it's warmer inside Drew doesn't really notice. Her jaw is trembling, teeth chattering every few seconds when they touch together with just enough pressure to do so. There's some jerking about as Roman lowers himself down to his knees, relieves the stress of carrying a girl not to far below his own body weight (she was small but compact, heavier than she appeared to be). He lays his head to hers, his cheek to her sweating crown.
He's whispering to her as he concentrates, it could be that doing so is something of a mantra that helps him focus to heal. Drew won't rest, though, she's afraid of the black that's at the corners of her vision, threatening to blot out the sharp red of pain behind her eyelids. She opens her eyes and focuses on Roman's chin and thinks of the dentist's chair for a moment. "I know I know I know," is her answer, breathed more than spoken. Things warm some, for a second, as though she'd had a drink of the world's greatest hot chocolate but was deprived the whole cup. Under her hands the bleeding slows up, more of a sludgey ooze than a steady flow. The wound was more shallow, sinew covered the organs, but it wasn't enough to be considered 'stable'.
Pews scrape, the other Kinfolk goes about what she knows for basic first aid, and Drew turns her head to look at the door, the windows, waiting for a snarling and sneering maw to pop into view before charging them. She was sure it would happen, either now or later when they were sleeping and prone.
[Roman Turner] "There's a box with gauze and alcohol in the bathroom."
He felt part of himself slide away in to Drew with that first push and knew he would be lucky to keep her from bleeding out as he nearly whispered the information to Rain. Ever so gently he held Drew and softly moved his cheek against her head. Each whispered word stirred the hair at her brow, sending warmth across her skin.
"That's a girl, just relax and breathe. We ain't gonna let nothing happen to ya. This is our home, ain't it pretty? Just look up at them stained glass windows. Feel the warmth of life in them colors?"
Once more he reached inside himself to push his spirit in to Drew in the form of Mother's Touch.
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 6, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Rain] They had supplies. Rain knew, because one of her trips to the grocery store (a good day of tips & wages), she'd bought some basic supplies. She even knew where they were, as she'd been the one to put them away. These things, the gauze and alcohol, and a small sewing kit from her duffel come back, along with the small pile of towels and a clean sheet. Along with the sidearm that she hadn't mentioned to either of the packhouse residents just yet. It shouldn't surprise them... much. The gun is tucked into the back of her jeans, the rest fill up her arms.
"I'll be fine," she tells Eve, as she drops her bundle a little way away from where Roman's holding Drew. She sorts it quickly, so it's easy to access. Linus is yelling about not over-taxing himself. Rain's jacket has been ditched, her shirt sleeves are already pushed up. Her hands are bright pink from being recently washed under the rush of whatever hot water she could find.
Rain watches Roman and Drew with an attention that can't be described as gentle. It's a pushing thing let me help, something that she has to keep as tight a rein on as her worry. Her attention flits back and forth between Roman and Linus, waiting for someone to give her the go ahead to dig in and help. Not wanting to be underfoot or ...
[Roman Turner] "I'm darn near tapped."
He felt it leave him, felt his spirit lighten if that was possible. It took him a moment to respond back to the other stuff Linus asked him.
"Ain't got the connection no more, not since Sparrow up and left us. We ain't enough to keep it going. Course if ya'd get your ass in gear we could."
He was Ragabash, he had to needled the Godi.
[Linus] "The lot of you sit tight. Roman, don't range too far, keep an eye on the Outside though and beat it back here and get the-" He points emphatically at Drew, for lack of a name "-Girl her shotgun!" A withering glance is cast at Eve, not fully trusting the Philodox to keep her head but in the end, better reason held out. Roman quips about the lack of totemphone...and Linus own place there...
...and the Godi frowns, deeply. A glance cast at the No Moon for a second. His response is simple:
"Yeah. I know."
And then his gaze snaps into one of the small mirrors they'd left around the Church for easy come and go and Linus vanishes with an ear thrumming Pop.
[Eve] The chaos subsides.
The air is quiet.
ThePhilodox, a bloody mess, doesn't say a word. What's also notable is that she doesn't shift.
[Rain] Roman says he's darn near tapped, and that's invitation enough for Rain to drop to her knees near the kinswoman he's been helping. Linus tells them to sit tight, and she glances over her shoulder for a moment before finding Drew's eyes.
"Hey," she says, low and steady. Her voice is warm enough, but tight given the circumstances. "I'm Rain. D'ya want me to help?" She hasn't touched the other woman yet, but her hands are out in front of her, open and upturned. There's an offer there. There's also a sort of field-medic professionalism, an awareness of the other woman's space, feelings and right to both.
[Linus] (Summoning: First round - Wits 4 (Negotiation) + Rituals 2. Diff. 7 for Unicorn Jaggling)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 7) [WP]
[Linus] (Bah, that should have been re-roll 10s, not WP)
[Roman Turner] He gently slipped Drew from off his lap and rose with a glance at Eve, making one small promise.
"Y'all don't go nowhere, I'll be back quick as grease through a goose."
He watched Linus vanish in the corner of his eye and raced for the door to fetch that shotgun wherever it was to be found in the truck, unless of course it was gone. His head lifted to sniff at the wind before he headed back for the doors of the Church, trying to pick up something other than the scent of blood before going inside.
[Roman Turner] ((Do it again!))
[Linus] (Re-rolling with the proper method.)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7) Re-rolls: 1
[Linus] (Temperament: Gnosis. diff. 6. WP)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 5, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Drew Roscoe] The Ragabash performs the human equivalent of a nuzzle. She was certain that if there was a wolf face there instead of a boy one he'd be licking her cheek and nudging his snout to her neck and chin. Instead his cheek, still soft with youth, scrubs lightly at the top of her head, back and forth, and his breath stirs the hair at her forehead and temple. The warmth returns, fuller now, proper, the whole cup of joe instead of the teasing sip. Her belly stitches itself up tighter this time, muscle weaving and nicked organs restoring themselves fully. She feels this under her hands, and it's surreal and a little scary all at once. Different from the gourd from so many months ago, closer and warmer.
The warmth fades away, the wound little more than a scratch now, angry red surrounding small breaks in the flesh. There's a moment left where Roman's arms stay about her, she's still curled into his lap, and words are starting to make sense again. Linus is yelling orders, insisting someone get her her shotgun (thank god for that, she felt awkward without her gun, the pistol was left in the truck as well), Eve is... somewhere, and a girl introducing herself as Rain is leaning forward and finding her eyes.
"I think...," she starts, unsure, and leans forward, moves her hands to look at the hints of flesh visible through a torn up jacket and shirt underneath. "...Think I'm okay." Her eyes, a brown to match the other Kin's, jump back to meet a face similar enough to suggest that they could be sisters, though their blood sung different tales. They hold for a second, and she's being pushed out of Roman's lap gently, but rather than leaving herself on the floor she stands up while he does. She watches him race toward the door, grab the shotgun from the truck, then come back after sniffing the air (and finding nothing out of the ordinary on it).
She's taking a deep breath and shrugging out of her jacket, tossing it onto a pew. The shirt underneath was a simple but nice green sweater, it was stained from the belly down, with four tears across the abdomen. War was gruesome, it was difficult to be reminded of how easily the Kin would lose their lives, how little they could do to defend themselves.
She looks to Eve, to Rain, then nods her head to the other bloodied woman. "Oughta see to her..."
[Eve] Something finally tells her that, even though she can't feel her insides, the likelihood that they are going to get in the way dawns on her. Roman slips off, and she spends time. Not a lot of time, though. Eve's worked through a system. She shifts, and it does take an effort, but eventually there isn't a blonde female standing there-
There's a wolf, instead. She's leaner than she needs to be, and the lack of fat and padding doesn't serve to make her look so much mangey as it does hungry. The wounds do nothing, save for making her appear more desperate. She's more reds than greys. She's blood splattered and vicious and the stuff of less-than-pleasant dreams.
She needed to be in a state that is more comfortable, and that she's more readily capable of being a protector.
Of course, she can see muscle tissue easier, here. She is more aware, and for Eve, that's a great asset.
[Rain] Drew says she's okay, and Rain holds that look a moment longer before letting something warmer break through. There's a smile there, now, where only gravid worry had hung before. It's a little daybreak through the clouds. Fleeting, but sunny enough. Hopefully.
"Alright, then. When it gets quiet, I got some clothes you can borrow," she offers, as she pushes herself up to standing and moves over toward Eve. Rain doesn't stop to think if this offer will sound odd to Drew, she hopes it's received well enough.
"Eve? You gonna let me--?" she calls to the Half Moon as she moves closer -- then the familiar homid woman is gone. "Oh... alright then."
Rain stops moving toward her, and instead stands still. Her hand goes behind her, so she can have her firearm ready if Roman comes back with a call of trouble. It's eerily quiet, just now; too quiet for Unicorn's kin. Who has nothing to do but wait, and be watchful.
[Roman Turner] When he rushed back through the doors, it was with weapons and a shirt stained in blood that wasn't his. He'd put his coat around Drew but he still wore the beanie cap Rain had given him for Christmas. He set the weapons down on one of the pews and skidded to a halt with the sight of Rain talking to a shifted Eve. Immediately he was taking stock of Eve's condition even as he moved to step between the pair with his palms displayed in a sign of being unarmed.
"Well now, let's just take a look here Miss Eve. I need to know just how bad off ya are. Can't have ya staining the floor up too much, it makes Kora cranky in her current state."
[Linus] The Godi slips into the Umbral domain, settling into place within the familiar confines of the Church's reflection, all stone gray walls and the eerie silence that comes with Earthen patience. The weeks had been diligently spent, pulling together comfortable alcoves and niches in which things could roost, from the small Sparrows that had roosted within their Home for a time to the Pigeons that made places like this a Nesting ground to the Ratlings that hid in basements, cracks and corners.
Deals had been minimal. None of them were Fenris' brood and he'd only been marginally comfortable seeking out their favour and help. Now, though, something needed to be done. Eve's wounds were too severe to allow her to fight and until Kora returned, it left them vulnerable to potential attack on the outskirts of the Turf.
So he did what he could. Two birds with one stone:
"Two of yours in our House tonight and the wyrm's crashing our Door. I need some help and I normally wouldn't ask but swift feet over power in this instance. I need you heal someone. I'll drop your price-" A grimace. He wasn't familiar with what Unicorn demanded often. "In exchange. Here in the Church, with us..."
A contract. A binding. With a Unicorn. This one would be hard to live down.
(Rite of Binding: Wits 4 (Negotiation) + rituals 2. Diff. 7 - 1 for spirit gnosis.)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 8, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Eve] She takes a few steps forward, and she bridges the gap. It's slow, but intentional. She inhales, and takes in all of the smells of the church. She isn't looking at things, not primarily. Eve is listening. Eve is waiting for some indication that something might be coming.
What is clear, though, is that injured or not she doesn't want to leave Rain's side.
Roman gets her attention. She doesn't bare her teeth, but she doesn't seem too pleased with the idea of leaving Rain's side. She takes a few steps forward. Her ears are back, her tail is still, and so is the rest of her. He just needs to see. There's a low half-chuff, and something said with little more than the slightest twitch of her tail and minute vocalizations.
Don't waste the effort, I don't heal like you.
[Drew Roscoe] Drew's eyes cut to Roman when he returns through the church doors. She doesn't check behind him to make sure all's well before he comes in, she's sure his judgment does a fine job of that on its own. Rather, she watches him set the shotgun and pistol down on the bench, and almost immediately seizes the magnum from where it lies. She sits, breathes, ignores the squish at the heel of her boot and what it's coming from.
She's checking how many bullets she has left, counting and calculating. Closing the gun up and setting it down when she accepts that she has no ammo in her pockets and a box of shotgun shells in the glovebox of the truck, but not the kind of bullets that feed her handgun.
With a bit of a shiver she looks to Rain, to Roman stepping before her with his palms out to Eve, and then to the scratched up and bitten Wolf herself. Drew sniffs some, touches at her nose with the sleeve of her sweater to stop the running, then tugs a spare hairband off her wrist to pile her hair up at the back of her head and secure it. She smooths stray hairs back with her palms while addressing the young man that had stitched her back up with comforting words and the touch of a cheek.
"The other guy said not to." Her voice was more resolute, more stern than it probably ought to be when she's addressing a True Born. "He's right, you can't be burnt completely out." Her eyes hop to Eve next, and she's rubbing her hands together in an attempt to flake the blood off of them, then scrubbing them on the hips of her jeans next. "She's strong enough, saw her fight. The light didn't leave her eyes once. She'll be alright 'till He gets back with whatever he's getting."
[Roman Turner] "Neither do the Kinfolk."
It was very subtle but he knew a bit of the history between Rain and Eve. For a moment his attention went back to Drew as he spoke as calm as asking after what was for dessert.
"Where were ya when ya got jumped? How many were there? How many fell and how many remained standing? Can ya recall?"
[Rain] Rain's attention is for Eve just now. And partly for Roman. There's concern and familiarity to it; they are close, or were not so long ago. There's also an edge of wariness. Eve won't think it strange, because Rain has been wary of Trueborn for as long as the Philodox as known her. Any sort of comfortable ease she has around Roman -- and to some extent, with Linus, too -- is a new thing. That's the oddity here.
Roman steps between them, but neither Rain or Eve back away. It's a cozy little knot of Rage and people, then, for a few moments.
"Mr. Roman's good people, Eve. You can trust him," she says, talking through the Ragabash to the wolf beyond. "I'll take a look if you let me, and if it's alright with him. I can help, but not so much when you're like this, 'member?"
She doesn't understand what Eve said to Roman, or what prompted his reply, so Rain lets it slide by without realizing it might have been about her.
[Linus] ...The air begins to feel a touch heavier, imminent moment and sign that new volume is about to occupy previously untouched space.
Pop
And Linus is back within a few minutes of leaving, Spear clutched in one hand, scrubbing at his features with the other. He lifts his gaze toward the gathered. An eye at Drew, quick appraisal and a flash of a grin is cast at Roman- "Nice work" before he's glancing at Rain with a nod.
"Need you to pull what med supplies we have together and prep a...uhh..." He pauses, looking for the right word "...Sort of nursing...station...thingy, somewhere in the Church. A place we can put the injured to be looked at freely." He motions around the Church, more trusting Rain's experience to choose and set up (given she'd probably be one of the first to use such a thing).
"We're probably going to need it. After that, drag some garbage bags up and you and-" He snaps fingers, pointing at Drew "-The Hells your name...Go with Rain and try to keep things prepped. We're gonna need your Truck out of sight of the street. Put it in the back of the Church for the time being-..." A pause, almost as if the girl's former wounds (and decided loss of blood for that matter) had only just occurred to him.
"...And take it easy-" And finally around toward Roman "-Need to get her-" A nod at Eve "-on the Flip side. Your totem should be back from grabbing Kora soon. He'll heal Eve up and we can start looking for these Fuckers." The last word is said with something akin to vehemence. A rare allowance of actual Rage passing off the Godi's shoulder.
"Eve..." He looks down at the Bone Gnawer, brow furrowed slightly, lips pressed to a line.
"Gonna get you fixed up so we..." A pause. "...So we can go deal with the Ones that did this. Alright? Need you flipside-" He flicks his head toward one of the nearby mirrors on the wall.
[Drew Roscoe] Drew clears her throat some, but doesn't spit what's cleared to the side as others likely would. This was once a holy place, and that aside it was now home to the people that would have to be the closest to her heart now that the places for that had been cleared. She's glancing down at her stomach, flat with the athletic kind of muscle, suggesting that what ever her career or hobbies were they had to be physically active. She plucks at the tears in her sweater, pulls it out enough so she can see what's left of the wounds. They looked a lot better than what they'd felt like before. This she would barely even need to bandage.
"About a dozen blocks to the southwest, give or take. I know the address, could take you back if you wanted. I was viewing the place, thinking about renting it--"
and Linus popped back into the room with a sound like a cork being pulled out of a bottle. He's giving orders as soon as he's oriented from the switch between Realms (which was in no time flat, truth be told), and Drew's looking at him evenly. She's healed up, the blood's not seeping anymore but the stains are still there. She's still pale, but at least she's alive. In any pause he gives, she gives a name to replace 'Hell's your name' with.
"Drew."
And she snags the heavy revolver, tucks it into the holster that's visible at her back now that her winter jacket's off, and heads outside to move her truck. Apparently forgetting she was in the middle of the 'what went down' story.
[Roman Turner] He spared Linus a smile that he soon turned on Eve after listening to Linus.
"Ya heard him, let's take a little stroll. There's someone wants to meetcha."
It also meant the injured Wolf wouldn't be too close to the Kin and that suited him just fine. He waved towards the mirror, inviting Eve to go first.
[Linus] "...Wait." He wasn't thinking. Not fully. This sort of stuff was...New.
"Roman, maybe you should stay here with the Kin. I can take Eve..." He looks after Drew heading for the doorway, a frown on his face. So many decisions...What the Fuck was Kora on, doing this all the time?
[Eve] [ladidah]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Eve] [No, seriously, get there]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Rain] Her ears cracked every time the Godi slipped through the space between worlds. It was uncomfortable, but very familiar. Rain yawns against that cork-popping sound and then her expression hardens a bit as she's given direct orders and a task.
"On it," she tells him, as succinctly as possible, but she waited for Roman and Eve to step away before she went back to moving quickly again. Sudden movement around an injured Eve -- not the wisest course of action. Once again, Rain's firearm is tucked into the waist band of her jeans, at the hollow of her back. It was uncomfortable and hard, but she knew where it was.
"Don't lift anything heavy," she tells Drew. "Uses the muscles here," one hand swipes across her own stomach. "And I'll get you some juice or somethin' once we've finished this. Helps with the shakes." With shock, she means.
Rain starts to gather up the med supplies again.
"I'm usin the dinner table for this," she calls to Linus. It's the only sturdy table height thing she knows of in the entire packhouse.
[Eve] Her head cocks to the side, and her fur bristles for the time being. Once that feeling subsides, all that is left is a whine- high to low. Her tail swishes back and forth. there's sensory input. There's Rain telling her that she needs to not be on four legs for this and whatever comfort was born of being on four legs was to be shucked away.
She takes a few steps away.
There's tension, though. Obvious, intense discomfort. She walks away, and takes as much time as necessary to stand in homid. She is no less tense, no less inhuman.... She lingers in Crinos a little longer than one would think should be comfortable- she seems most at ease there. Reluctance to shift down before, finally, she's left in homid.
She looks at the mirror, and just takes a few steps towards the mirror. When she looks at Roman, her attention is too pointed, "you take care of her."
Eve cocks her head to the side to Rain.
She heads to the mirror to cross over.
[Linus] ...And Linus takes a glance at the collective, a brief bout of uncertainty washed away with Eve's sudden acquiescence. He steps into place not far from the Bone Gnawer and makes the trip over with her into the Umbral domain to await the Arrival of Unicorn and the Skald he was sent to retrieve.
[Roman Turner] He didn't bristle easily and he tried to keep in mind that Eve had looked over Rain for a long time. Problem was, Eve was giving him orders to watch out for his own Tribe's Kin. For a brief moment the tiny flame if his rage surged up like a flower bud in fast motion in one of those films on how flowers bloomed. It was shoved down as soon as Eve vanished, but the stewing look in his eyes remained till he forced himself to blink.
"You lovely ladies stay in here. I will move the truck around back. Ya need anything else out of it Miss Drew?"
Fresh cold air would clear the flash of rage from his mind he hoped.
[Kora] There's that - suggestion of soaring heights in the umbra, this strained memory of the lofty aspirations of whoever built the church still imprinted on its solid umbral shadow. The walls are high. The ceiling whole. The stained glass windows are intact here, all of them, and sometimes there even shine with faint light, dappling the interior in manycolored shadows.
Eve and Linus slip back through the gauntlet, and Linus finds that the unicorn spirit with whom he negotiated has returned. It has slender legs, an irridescent mane, a mother of pearl horn, and soft gray-black markings around its fetlocks. Beneath the white coat, the suggestion of dapples, the barely suggestion, as if only a good, solid brushing could bring bring them light.
The spirit is not breathless, but the gray wolf who streaks into the sanctuary in its wake is panting from the effort of an flat-out run through the hard, gray lands of the pack's territory. Her feral form seems - younger than her human form, slender and light-footed enough to be no more than an adolescent, except for the thickening at her flanks.
Inside the church, her pace slows; when Linus appears in the umbra, she circles him once, weaving around his legs, this physical greeting, entirely animal, her human mind wrapped up in the immediacy of instinct, lips peeling back from her teeth a moment later, at the scent of blood and gunpowder they bring with them. She shifts then, Sorrow. Frowns at Eve, and looks back to Linus. "What happened?"
[Linus] Linus flicks a glance up toward the brilliant spirit, nodding briefly and offering a Spirited appreciation that is both succinct and passing. He glances at Kora, even as he makes ushering motions at Eve to approach the Unicorn who's hooves clop the stone with thrumming echoes. Linus attention remains on the Philodox and the Unicorn, a brief mention-
"-This one" at the Totem Spirit, before he begins to divulge for Kora's sake.
"Spirals on the outskirts of the Turf. Ambushed Drew, one of ours" A brief question perk of the brow, as if to ask if Kora is familiar or not, because Linus obviously wasn't. "Eve waded in. Both came here in Drew's truck pretty banged up. I'm getting Eve healed up as best we can, but no sign of the Spirals yet and we're blind. Roman's on the flip, taking care of the two Kin and making sure things are comfortable but we're still in the dark on the Spirals and their current whereabouts..."
There was a certain amount of relief under Linus' tone. Glad for the solid presence of Kora, Jarl and Alpha. Her bag, now. He made motions for Eve to settle to the ground and allow Unicorn to attend her wounds...
[Drew Roscoe] Roman catches her at the door after a flicker-flash of Rage warms the back of her neck briefly (but not enough to draw her attention too sharply, it was muted and the sounds of violence hadn't followed), and Drew looks back at him. She seems to think on what he says for a second, like she's considering telling him no, that he's done enough and she should at least take some semblance of responsibility. But she feels like her head is too big and too light, and sitting down before a space heater didn't sound like a bad idea at all.
So she steps back from the door, drags it open to hold it for him. "There's some shotgun shells in the glove box and my wallet's in there too. If you could bring those and the keys...."
And once he's out the door, she looks back to the only person left in the Physical church with her. Her pants are sticking to her thighs and seat, and her sweater's a ragged mess as well. She doesn't seem to pay a whole hell of a lot of mind to this just yet, though. She may look at the clothes tomorrow and have a five-minute meltdown of precisely how close she'd come to dying, how she would surely be gone if Eve hadn't hockey-checked that Spiral into her truck and drawn her attention.
"Kitchen's still where it used to be, I'm guessing?" Her smile is weak, but genuine. She's pointing to where the kitchen used to be before walking back toward it. That juice, or any other sort of glucose to get her head right and help with the blood loss made a whole lot of sense.
[Eve] "Pack of four," she says, "there's a dead one in the bed of the pickup. They took residence in a rent house a few blocks over."
Business. Facts. Straight and to the point.
She pays attention to Unicorm. She turns, she sighs, and she settles. There's a sort of disease with the whole of it. Eyes on the horned horse, as though she can't be entirely certain what to do with this spirit. Eve relays what information she has.
"I don't know if they are planning something or regrouping."
[Roman Turner] He was out the door sniffing around in the next moment. The doors of the church closed behind him. If nothing jumped him, he'd get the old truck moving and stashed behind the Church. He'd retrieve the wallet and ammo along with the keys. He'd use bags of trash, old broken bits of wood and anything else he could find to cover the remains in the bed of the truck. And before he came in he'd patrol the outside of the Church for signs of others coming to find that body, despite the frigid cold and loss of coat.
[Rain] Linus and Eve disappear across the divide again. Rain's ears crack once, twice. She yawns against it again. Frowns a bit.
"It's about where you'd expect it," she tells Drew. "I put water on to boil. There's cups to the right of the ... stove thingy. Some packets of apple cider and hot cocoa in the same. I've got some juice in the cooler -- I'm not sick, so just go ahead and have the rest of it."
Rain's able to give clear directions on where to find things in their kitchen, despite the hectic to and fro of the last ten minutes. She's also headed in the same direction, so she can help if Drew gets stuck for anything.
In a few minutes she'll have the long table pulled to one side, and the sheet draped over it. The towels folded on one end. Once Drew's set with something to drink, Rain'll go out to the section of the church that Roman's remodeling and get one of the shop lights -- better light always helps. She'll set up that first aid area, just like Linus asked.
Drew's bloody clothes won't make it until tomorrow. Rain'll find a way to get them packed up and elsewhere. She'll replace them with some of her own until Drew can get better for herself. She knows far too well that horror of waking up to see what had happened, echoed in the rends and bloodstains. There's no reason to put someone through that, no matter how much they'd paid for their pants.
[Linus] (Unicorn charm: Healing. 1 Essence. Diff of Eve's Rage.)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 6 at target 2)
[Drew Roscoe] There would certainly be a song of momentary horror to wake up with your own blood dried into your clothes and making them stiff like they'd been starched too severely, but this was something that Drew was growing calloused against. You wash so many bloodstains out of so many items of clothing, you have a couple of people heal up in your living room or bedroom, you pluck the gravel out of your own wounds and wash them with rubbing alcohol (never seems the brightest idea for the five minutes following, but is a good one in the end), and bloody clothes make less of an impact afterward.
Drew knew where the kitchen was, she remembered it from when she'd toured the place when it had been under the watch of a different Alpha and Jarl. It was arranged a bit differently, more complete and put together, but it was still the same.
The juice mentioned was fished out of the cooler, and Drew dragged a chair off to the side, out of Rain's way, and set it up close to the doorway into the cooking and eating room. She did as advised by a few voices tonight and took a load off, leaned back in her chair and sipped at her juice and let her head fall back against the wall. Her eyes closed, and she was still. Were it not for her picking that juice bottle up off the top of her thigh every couple dozen seconds or so to take a sip you'd think she'd passed out from all the 'excitement'.
[Eve] It heals. Realistically, it should heal nicely. It should knit all wounds and return her to a functioning, normal garou. This is Unicorn we are dealing with, here. Eve isn't phased by the grandeur. She isn't shaken, she isn't anything except... there. Wounds knit, her stomach closes, her shoulder doesn't look to be an awful mess but, at the end of it all, there is still damage. There is still some lingering clawmarks in her torso, the damage is still there.
Eve, for her part, regards the spirit and smiles. It's not natural for her- typically baring one's teeth is an aggressive gesture, but she seems to have gotten the hang of this whole smiling thing to show pleasure
"Thank you," she says. Like she had to say it at all. She doesn't seem to pay whatever lingering damage is left any mind. She regards the Fenrir, both of them, "I'm fine now. Thank you, Linus."
[Kora] "Drew's one of ours," Kora confirms, brief and quiet to Linus. "She was mated to my old Alpha. Not Truth-in-Frenzy-rhya. War-Handed." The creature goes silent, then, a crease appearing between her brows as Eve speaks up. "I'll need to know what they hit you with. How they attacked, but I'll want to hear it from you and Drew both.
"Li - " next, Kora's looking up, frowning at the lofted reaches of the church. " - we have a deal with the scab birds in the belltower. We keep the broken windows open so they can fly in, keep the bell clean, and keep them in seed. They're our eyes and ears. I want you to rouse them, and then them out on wing, yeah? If they need extra thistle or another damned bell - I'll get it for them. When you're done - both of you - meet me on the other side."
With that, Kora pushes her way back through the gauntlet. She's humanskinned when she steps into the nearly empty sanctuary, coatless, wearing just her dedicated things - new jeans, old boots, and an old t-shirt and thermal that stretch now, too-tight over her changing figure.
[Linus] Linus gaze follows the healing pattern, narrowed against the brilliance of that Horn dipping down to touch almost tenderly against the flesh of Eve's wounds. It isn't until that glare has lifted, a soft hum in the air and Kora's orders ringing in his ears that Linus pays the remaining wounds a glance of what might be disbelief but is more than likely concern. His jaw clenches and he flicks a stare at Unicorn, who confirms the Metis' deformity with something akin to sorrow. How something so Equine could possibly look so pained, is a difficult thing to muster...
...But the totem of the Gaians does. Is. It shifts in place, something of the spirit passing between Linus and the Jaggling (negotiation) even as it clips and clops and moves about the Church's interior with graceful strides and infinite patience. He frowns darker now and turns to look at Eve, nodding after the space where Kora once was.
"Go back over and help out as best you can. We'll no doubt be on the hunt soon enough."
and he's pulling back to his feet, muttering under his breath, heading out in search of the Scab birds Kora mentioned. Recon and Report.
[Roman Turner] He paused in his patrolling outside, paused just long enough to call Imogen.
"We got trouble over here, but handling it. Still if ya feel like shooting something Miss Doctor Slaughter ma'am, we might be able ta give ya someone to shoot. Either way, it's always nice to have ya come a calling. I'll meetcha outside, if'n ya can come?"
[Rain] One of the kinswomen is bloody, her clothes rent; the other is clean, with her shirt sleeve pushed up and her hair bound back in a tight-yet-unruly spiral. One is sitting near where the table usually stands, drinking from a bottle of apple juice. The other is working at putting together a draped table, and a sense of organization and cleanliness, a bright space like the kitchen hasn't seen in quite some time.
If one catches sight of their faces in quick succession, or in the same moment, perhaps out of the corner of one's eye, they look close enough to call sisters. Drew's blood sings out to her Tribe. Rain's Family glyph is carved into the small gold heart that flashes at her neckline whenever it catches the light. These Tribes are not the same.
It's quiet here. A calm between waves of the storm, no doubt. Any calm they garnered did not last near long enough. Still there's a moment, when she stands, hands on her hips, studying the station and then letting that attention slip back to Drew. There's a small smile that fills that moment -- apologetic, and warmingly pleased that Drew seems to be doing better.
"Can I get y' anything else?" she offers. There's not as much immediacy to it, just now. There's not as much worry, so it's easier to hear the warmth in Rain's voice, the welcome. "While it's quiet, I mean? I'm serious about those clothes -- and if you want, I'll defend the shower for you, so you can clean up."
Gallow's humor, maybe, but if it makes the other girl smile a bit then Rain will be grateful for it.
[Eve] (okay, loves, I love you but I have to flee! I'm really sorry!)
[Drew Roscoe] Drew's eyes are still closed, her head's rested back against the wall, turned so her face tipped more to her left shoulder instead of straight forward, making room for the knot of hair looped through a ponytail holder at the back of her head, not at all unlike how Rain had hers pulled back. These were a pair of Kin that knew when it was time to hunker down and get into work mode-- hair and sleeves couldn't get in the way. But Drew was still chilled, feigning off the effects of losing half your blood on the seat of your truck. Her sleeves were still down.
Rain looks to her, offers her new clothes and a shower, and Drew's answering smile is faint, pushed to the surface by a low chuckle.
"No sense in that just yet if there's gonna be more blood tonight. Gotta wait 'till we've got the all clear, don't you think?" Her voice is low, like she's just a skip and a hop away from falling asleep (or passing out, depending on who you asked), and her eyes don't open. She takes another drink of juice and sets the bottle back on her thigh.
[Rain] "Hey, don't go sleepin' on me. Mr. Roman's good at what he does, but you're t' bedtime yet," Rain cajoles. She also crosses to the stove and pours some of that hot water into a mug, mixes in one of the cider packets, brings this all over to Drew.
"This'll help with the chills. It won't be so stupid-sweet after the juice, either. You want a sweater? Don't worry 'bout the blood. It's from good will. Coulda gotten it for a song if I wanted," She offers a broader grin, and it's likely that -- with Rain's voice -- she could have.
"This'll sound dumb. But it's nice to meet ya. Will be nice to meet you properly, and possibly share a meal, when this is all over. Yeah?"
[Drew Roscoe] Drew's answer to Rain is a deep breath, almost inconvenienced that she's going to be forced to keep awake. But the Kin understands, she'd be doing the same thing were she in the Child of Gaia Kin's shoes. So she moves her free hand to scrub at her face and massage her eyelids with forefinger and thumb, then opens her eyes and kills off the juice. The empty bottle's traded for the cider, and she holds the mug with both hands, breathing in the smell and the warmth of the beverage.
"Nah, this is fine. I'd probably be shaking a little no matter how many layers I put on. I'll be alright." There's a sip from the mug, and she looks up to Rain again. The smile she offers this time isn't quite so weak. It's got plenty more light behind it, not as strong as it would be were she at 100% but still notable. Probably about as warm as Rain's too. The pair were similar in an eerie number of ways. "Not dumb at all. Met most of my best friends in chaos like this."
[Kora] The sanctuary is silent, empty. There's a moment of stillness - the usual vaccuum pop. There are cobwebs on her eyes, in her hair, none of them real - and that brief sense of weightlessness before the world resolves, reasserts itself all around here. One of the old pews is askew, and the sharp scent of blood is in the air. Kora reaches for the bond she shares with Roman, but with just two their connection is now too weak for anything but this: she feels him, knows he is close, senses the immediacy of his presence outside the church.
--
That kitchen's a real kitchen, too. The cabinets and table are from the 1950s, and there's not enough electricity for the antique fridge to function, so they make due with coolers and hot plates, a single electric kettle and the like in the space where the church ladies once warmed up their casseroles for potluck suppers and prepared huge cauldrons of burnt coffee to serve with donuts in the chilly social hall after morning service, as the aging congregation dwindled to nothingness.
Kora doesn't bother to hide her footsteps down the long hall, the peeling linoleum in the social hall an ugly counterpoint to the soaring space of the sanctuary proper, with its granite and marble. She's more deliberate than normal, her footfalls louder so that the kinswomen will hear her; that they won't be startled when she follows them into the kitchen.
"Drew," it's a greeting and a question, both. In that first glance, the echo of their voices down the walls, she's has a certain - picture of the situation. "Rain," there's a warm not, there, something like gratitude. " - thank you." A brief glance toward Rain, a sort of inquiry to the medic - like some detective in a cop show checking with the ER doctor before questioning some victim, before she just plows onward.
" - Drew, listen. I need to know as much as you can tell me about the ones that attacked you. What I want you to think about for me is - what tricks they pulled. What you can remember of it. Can you give me that?"
[Linus] ...Linus and the Scab birds is a short story. A thing of quick anger and assurances (You're dealing with me now, not Sorrow. Yes I know it's different. No I'm not going to go get her to- Just do the Fucking job!) and he's coming down from the belfry with something akin to annoyance riding his skin and teeth. The umbral reflection is solid stone and strong (and also sticks out like a sore thumb to anyone traveling umbrally for that matter). Despite the amount of time that's passed, he doesn't hold out much hope of being overlooked.
The spear remains in hand and he descends toward the Church floor once more, already reaching for the Physical through the painful glare of some nearby reflective glass.
[Roman Turner] He came in through the back this time, following the sound of voices to the kitchen where he handed over wallet and ammo to Drew. He deliberately brushed against Kora to hand over the things to Drew. His face was flushed from the cold though he still wore that beanie cap.
[Drew Roscoe] Drew looks over to Kora when she enters the room, sips the cider and keeps the mug up close to her chest and her face. She stays leaned back in her chair, head rested against the wall when she's not taking a drink. Her stomach was sore as a son of a bitch, but it was a welcome relief from what it had been twenty-or-so minutes ago.
The front of her green sweater is shredded, claw marks gouging out the fabric and making tears in it. It's plastered to her body with blood, thick and sticky but not completely dry yet. The front of her pants down the insides of her thighs and legs is stained and soaked with the stuff as well. She'd bled out a considerable amount, there's a reason she's not up and about-- Kora has a pretty good notion of the fact that she would be were recovery not a factor, getting a rest not relevant.
Questions are launched spitfire fast, one after the other, and Drew's shaking her head at Kora, lifting a hand to stop the questions.
"Not really, no. See, I was viewing this house to rent, and a woman strolls up, the realtor. She and I go into the house to check it out, but... nothing felt right. It was all off, all wrong you know? I'm about to leave, but I hear fighting up the hall. Eve was back there with however-many others there were, I don't know how many... The woman I was with goes to that Half-Man form and I go for my gun. Get one or two decent shots off before I make a break for the truck-- shotgun'd do a better job. I could go get help. But she's faster than me, she gets me turned around and pulls my guts out.
"Probably I'd be dead if Eve didn't show up. She comes running outta nowhere and hockey-checks the bitch into my truck, and they hit the ground. I get the shotgun, put a pair of shells into her, and Eve finishes the job. There were... two or three of them coming from behind the house. Eve tossed the body in my truck, got in the cab, and we came here."
She takes a deep breath, then nods to Roman as he hands over her truck keys (complete with a key ornament that says 'Long Shot' and has the Fenrir glyph carved into the opposite side), wallet, and a box of shotgun shells. She leaves the lot of them in her lap, and looks back to Kora. "I don't know if they followed. I don't know how many there were total or what kinda tactics they have. It was hard enough keeping awake to drive here."
[Rain] Kora's gaze flicks over to her and Rain stands a little straighter. This is not the same wariness she shows around Eve. If anything, it's closer to a galvanized pride. Something about she who offers sorrow made Rain want to be harder, stronger, more capable. She wanted Roman's alpha to be proud of the kin that cleaved to her pack, not view them as a struggle or an anchor-weight. That there was warmth there, for Rain, pleased the kinswoman.
At the end of Drew's report, she is sure to make a single clear appraisal: "Roman helped Miss Drew when they got here. Linus asked me to set this up," she gestures with a lift of her chin toward the medic area.
The credit was not Rain's to take, and she knew it.
[Imogen Slaughter] The old Volvo parks on the street and practically disappears into the background so well suited is it to its surroundings. The same cannot be said for the driver, the slight and attractive redhead who gets out of the car and walks around to the trunk to retrieve a heavy looking brief case.
She's dressed in jeans, a sweater beneath an open jacket, her red hair a flare even in the poor lighting of this Cabrini ghetto. The front door creaks as she pushes it open, but the kinwoman's steps are silent as she walks down the hall toward the kitchen. When she approaches the sounds of voices, she deliberately scuffs a foot along the linoleum; her arrival is not a surprise.
Her breeding is heavy, like spice. It weights the air around her.
[Simon Zahradnik] Simon was different lately, if anyone had been paying attention, he was far more focused and intense. Those eyes of his burned with the passion one might expect from a Full Moon. It was as if something inside him was pushing just a little harder and further than usual. He could feel the thrumming of his heart racing within his skull and his senses were on high alert. On any normal night Simon might have simply lost track of what he was up to... But some had seen him lately. Scouring the dark and filthy sectors of the city in search of them. Breaking whatever he had to break to get the information that he needed. Simon was at war and to him war was total, complete, and absolute.
It wasn't random chance that he just so happened to be trailing the Black Spiral dancers through another packs territory. In fact his investigations had uncovered a couple interesting leads, and he had spent the last several days aggressively pursuing those leads. That he happened to be pursuing one of those leads when he came upon the crash sight was a bit coincidental but it didn't take long before any concidence was brushed aside when he caught sight of the others searching... Scouring the area. A slight smile took shape on his lips and he decided to see where this would lead.
His eyes were alight with hatred, and the icy chill of the outdoors did absolutely nothing to calm the inferno that burned just behind those eyes. He wore a little smile under the bandanna that kept his nose and lips from the biting cold, and his attention shifted towards the hunt. This was another pack's territory but this was a war and in the end he would hope the other pack didn't mind.
[Linus] (Rolling this time due to imminent combative measure. Gauntlet Cross.)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 6, 8 (Success x 1 at target 7) [WP]
[Kora] Kora has her hands in the front pockets of her jeans, now. There's something deceptively casual about the posture as she listens to Drew's account of her encounter with the Spiral pack, and Rain's addendum. Kora's mouth is still, serious, her dark eyes gleaming in the dull shadows of the kitchen. There's a flicker down at Drew's weaponry, wordless.
When Roman arrives she gives him a gentle sidebump with her hip in response. " - you didn't see anyone outside, did you? I want you watching the door, anyway. There's that crack in the window there, like an arrowslit. Be ready for anything."
Her attention narrows briefly, consideringly on Rain then. "Can you shoot?"
"Doc." Kora's voice is low, tight. There's blood everywhere. "Drew was attacked by cursed ones at a rental house about a mile from here. We've got a dead one in her truck hidden behind the church. I don't want to alarm any of you," a glance shared between Drew and Rain, even and steady. " - but if I were them, I'd hound my wounded prey to the ground. If you hear anything, feel anything, taste anything strange, I want to know."
[Kora] "Fuck, Johnny - I told you you ain't got a clue how to work that thang."
"I'm gettin' it Ed, I'm GETTING IT. LOOK." Two filthy boys on the sidewalk, one with blood on his mouth, trusting his menace to clear the way for him, hyped up, furious, still raw with the ripping loss of his packmate, with the seductive promise of that slip of a thing that escaped them, just -
He has a stick in hand; a filthy stick, carved with runes that seem to crawl when Simon watches them too long, that sometimes seem to smolder, to catch and glow and send that kid - he's fifteen years old, a bruiser of a kid, some hulking linebacker down to the sloping brow, nevermind his moon - when he holds it out just soon.
" - and by the fucking father, Johnny - " this is quieter, a line of snot accompanies it, a great big snort of strange sorrow. "I can still feel her, I swear. She's fucking close. We're gonna bring it down on them. I'm'a make them bitches pay."
"SHUT UP - " it's not Eddie that cuffs Johnny from behind, hard enough to make him see stars. It's Karla, hard-eyed, hard-mouthed, her jaw split grotesquely down the middle, blunt teeth going two directions. Only her eyes are pretty, this pale smoke-green color, like the depths of the fucking bogs that border their homeland. "Stop making a - " She's furious, she can feel the blood and rage in the back of her throat like green dragon's neverending fire.
Then Eddie's arms rise up of nearly their own accord and the old, cursed dousing rod seems to drip with venom. "I GOT IT." he says. "I GOT IT I - " his hands are smoking from it, but he doesn't let go. He just starts off in a stiff-armed, stumbling run toward down the narrow block. In the distance, he can see the gray squat of the church, another ruin like everything here, but not his sort of ruin.
There's an old black patched pick-up shadow the trio of kids, driven by a mushmouthed old man who spits out a stream of tobacco juice into the filthy snow in the gutters, unimpeded by teeth of any sort. With an sigh, he puts the truck into gear. "I knew that was a stupid fuckin' plan - " he says, quietly to someone in the shadow of the cab. "Fucking real estate. Damn shit gets us ever'y time."
[Drew Roscoe] Kora's asking if Rain can shoot, asking Roman if he saw anything, explaining to Imogen-- oh hey, it's Imogen. "Hey, Doc," Drew interjects with a lift of her cider mug in greeting. --Kora's explaining to Imogen what's happened, and to everyone as a whole to be ready because animals don't stop hunting wounded prey, they track them down to the ground.
Drew takes all of this, listens carefully enough, then rises to her feet with something of a sigh mixed with a grunt. Her hand flies, catches the corner of the counter and holds there while her balance slips sideways for a second before catching along with her hand. She was terrifically lightheaded standing up like that, the world caved in black, pinpointed in the center of her vision for a second, and cleared almost as fast. She shook her head, scrubbed her hand up the side of her face and back across her neck, then tucked the wallet into her back pocket, the keys into her front, and kept the shotgun shells in her hand as she ducked on out of the kitchen and back toward the room once dedicated to weekly sermons.
She excuses herself with a simple explanation of: "Gonna be ready."
[Roman Turner] "No Ma'am Miss Kora, weren't no sign of anyone out there yet, but I'll go watch the door just the same."
He responded to his Alpha, then greeted Imogen on the way by to go watch through the slit on the door.
"Hey Miss Doctor Slaughter, Ma'am. Miss Drew there ain't up to par yet."
He motioned towards Drew then headed towards the front doors of the Church. He didn't much like looking through the slit in the door because he was always sure it would be like the Three Stooges and someone would poke his eyes out one of these times.
[Imogen Slaughter] Perception+Alertness
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 7, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Rain] [Perception + Alertness]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 4, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Roman Turner] Percept+alert
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Rain] Kora asks Rain if she can shoot. The kinswoman nods and reaches behind her to pull her firearm from its snug fit in the small of her back. She holds it comfortably, fluently even, with no fingers on the trigger just now and the safety still on. It's confirmation that not only can she shoot, she's also joined their Stone Soup family with every intent to defend herself -- and them -- if needs be.
She's not alarmed at the prospect of trouble, not with this many True and the sturdy walls of the Church between her and the out of doors. Perhaps that's hubris. Perhaps it's something a bit more like resignation.
"Where do you want me?" she asks Kora, straight and to the point. "I can shoot, but I can help patch folk up after also." This appraisal of her skillset is calm and without boast. Wherever the alpha tells her to go, Rain's headed that way next without hesitation.
[Drew Roscoe] [Perception + Alertness]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Kora] Kora: Per + Alertness!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Imogen Slaughter] Doc, Kora addresses Imogen as the redhead's dark eyes sweep over the bloodied kitchen, impassive, an eyebrow stirring.
Her attention returns to the Fenrir Jarl, her gaze steady, a tendon moving in her jaw as the other speaks.
"Brilliant," she says, flatly, stepping further into the room to set her brief case down out of the way, careless of the blood. The kinswoman, straightens, removing her jacket and dropping it on the brief case. Anyone behind her will see the two guns at the small of her back.
Drew is leaving and Roman directs the doctor's attention toward her. "Drew," she says, "If all this blood is yours try and find something sugary to drink. Yeh need to replace what you've lost."
She turns her head suddenly, tilting it as if it might help her hear better. "Listen."
[Simon Zahradnik] Nothing draws out the primal side of the garou more than the promise of blood, but Simon was not Fenrir he was a Shadow Lord and thus capable of acknowledging the fact that he was outnumbered... He looked from the boys to the truck and back again before catching notice of the Packhouse."Shit..."He says to himself.
Fortunately he was in constant communion with his totem, and in that Simon hoped they were around and understood spirits. Simon was polite enough in asking his Totem to march ahead and convey a message to the Pack that others were approaching their pack house. He found himself hopeful that the message would get there in a timely fashion while he, himself, continued to trail them keeping a cautious distance from the group.
[Kora] Roman and Drew hear the back and forth; identify at least two distinct voices - curse words. It sounds like the back and forth of gang members except gang members don't hang around here, not with Garou residing in the church. Focusing, they hear, "I GOT IT. I GOT IT. I'M GOING TO FUCKING - " and can tell that the group is coming closer.
Quickly.
to Drew Roscoe, Roman Turner
[Simon Zahradnik] [Don't get seen Simon! Trailing!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 4 (Success x 1 at target 6) [WP]
[Roman Turner] He sent the warning back through Drew, even if she heard what he did as he peeked out the slot in the door.
"Incoming, there's at least four of 'em, maybe more, can't tell but three on foot, at least one in a junk truck. I'm gonna go greet them, bar the door behind me."
With that he stepped out the door, closing it.
[Kora] "C'mon - " says Kora, with a sudden liminal tension in her frame. She does not like this. Does not want to leave the kin behind in the bowels of the social hall, amidst the old sunday school classrooms, the initiate's dormitory. Does not want them caught alone from behind and doesn't trust the echo of sounds. They're headed back to the massive space of the sanctuary. " - I think I'll have you two get up in the belltower," she maintains an urgent sort of calm, but when Imogen says Listen, Kora tips her head, frowning. "Well, we might not have time for that."
The frown tightens, a brief grimace over her brow. "I want you to stay back, get to the choir loft if you can. Don't shoot if you can't tell us apart unless you're in direct danger. But generally, we'll be the ones without weeping sores."
"I'm gonna go greet them - "
"No you're not, Ragabash." - Kora interjects immediately; as they emerge from the hallway into the vastness of the sanctuary. There's a flash of rage there, immediate and sharp.
[Drew Roscoe] Drew's out in the sanctuary along with Roman. He's at the door, peering through a crack in it, and Drew's got her shotgun kicked open and is reloading it. She's listening because it's quiet, Roman's not speaking, he's busy keeping a look out. She's not interrupting his concentration.
Silence between the both of them, they hear the same thing.
She looks to him, he sends her a warning and says he's going to go greet them, and she's closing her shotgun with a snap! and holding it against her side with one hand. Her eyes widen when he turns toward the door, a flash of 'Is he serious?' runs through her mind, and she damn near sprints the distance between them and jams her arm between his torso and the doors. She's smaller, lighter by roughly twenty pounds, and not True Born. But by god, the look on her face was the perfect blend of bewildered and 'don't you fucking dare' to instill a sense similar to Mom putting her foot down on whether you're going out partying tonight.
Her voice is hushed, it doesn't need to be loud for the impact of her words to meet his ears. "Are you fucking insane? Your pack is literally forty feet from you and you're going to charge three or four Spirals alone? Do you know how little time it takes to die in th--"
Kora's interjecting, cutting Drew off, and she's looking back to the Skald, then up to Roman's face again. Damn right he's not.
[Roman Turner] "Who's charging?"
For a brief moment confusion clouded his eyes, then Kora's command stiffened his spine and instead of going out the door, he braced his back against it.
"I don't want them in my home."
[Linus] The air balloons outward slowly, a building thing and quite suddenly the frigid clap of the Church's chill interior releases another form, pushing the pressure out of ear drums with Linus' arrival. The Godi steps across the aisle between the pews, eyes unfocused, a finger rising to wiggle inside his ear canal with a wince on his features.
"Scabs are out. Bring back...word...in..." He stares at the huddled mass of Rage and tension buddying up to the doorway, both Kin and Garou alike. A brow perks and he switches his attention from one to the other rather rapidly. The long shaft of the spear dangles absently at one side, a finger lifting on his free hand.
"Uhhh...What the Fuck people?"
[Imogen Slaughter] Roman speaks, Kora snaps back, and Imogen turns her attention to Rain. "Come on." She says, simply, tilting her head.
The kinswoman moves with purpose, heading from the kitchen toward the stairwell which leads toward the choir loft.
[Kora] This is all quick, nearly hissed. Kora's in motion, walking swiftly toward the door, speaking in a low, sharp whisper after her barked interjection that doesn't change as she moves, but carries nonetheless. "They don't know we're in here. They're expecting a badly wounded Garou and a kin who is bleeding to death. They're making no attempt to hide themselves. They're going to storm the doors, and we're going to flank them, take advantage of that surprise. You're going to use the shadows and jump down behind those fuckers if they storm in. Linus and I are flanking the doors and taking them down from the sides while the ladies with the guns open up from above. Got it - ?"
Linus stumbles in from the umbra, Kora gives him a gleaming-eyed, snapping look. "Incoming," she says, already moving again to flank the massive wooden doors. Hell, she's going to unbar them, so one tap sends them spilling open.
[Rain] There's some disagreement about who is, or is not, headed out to greet, or not greet, the incoming assault. Rain's eyes narrow slightly in disbelief, but she's not party to the particulars -- more precisely, she's been told where to go by Sorrow, and isn't going to linger around to get told twice.
Come on, says Imogen. Rain glances toward her, nods, and falls in behind the rowan haired Kinswoman. She is not as calm and purposeful as Imogen, but she comes in a reasonable second. Rain's jaw is tight, and her gait a little more carefully policed as they ascend to the choir loft and pick out their places.
"It's good to see you again," she says, managing a surprising amount of warmth for the situation. Then again, when you're kin to the Nation, this isn't all that unusual. Certainly no church tea and potluck dinner, but not a rare and surprising mishap either. She finds a place to wedge herself where she can see the door, and use the banister to help steady her aim, but will be as covered by the loft's railings as possible. Rain's no fool, and doesn't have any desire of battle scars or stories. It shows.
[Linus] ...Linus response is a quick blink and an almost exasperated hiss.
"For fuck's sake..."
[Drew Roscoe] There's the choir loft where the other Kin are going, but, well... Shotguns didn't have that great of a range on them. She doubted the effectiveness of her weapon from anywhere up above. Down on the ground 'in the shit' so to speak wasn't ideal either. She cleared her throat some, pulled her arm out from behind Roman, and wordlessly walked to find her own position and hold it.
A few rows of pews in, to make being reached a little more difficult and escape more of an option, far enough away that she wasn't likely to be caught in the crossfire but close enough that she trusted her weapon. Angled back so she was more in front of the door than to either side of it-- this way she didn't run the risk of hitting Kora or Linus right off the bat.
She put one knee on the pew, the other foot on the floor, leaned down (with a very faint hiss of discomfort from crunching up her abdominal muscles), and set herself up to aim.
[Roman Turner] "Yessum."
He was already shifting to Crinos to climb to an advantage point, using claws to aid his climbing. Though he wasn't so sure about the shadows. Sometimes the shadows liked him, other times they kicked his ass out.
Man+stealth diff 8
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Botch x 1 at target 8)
[Kora] " - shit." - says Kora below, not yet shifted. "I can see you seven ways from Sunday, Roman. You're - glowing. Just, uh. Drop on the first one's head, okay?"
[Kora] "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU BITCHES AND FUCK YOUR FUCKING - "
Eddie has a limited vocabulary in English, but a complete command of every foul, debauched, grotesque way to degrade a human corpse. These is what happens when you are born to darkness, not even human, all this wrongness twisted inside you, the hero born to the wyrm to kill the fucking world. He holds that dousing rod his mother's mother made with her own hands and blood from a dead night, that she witched into being and bound into darkness, that still has her blood drying on it - and he stumbles forward in his staggered run, crowing his goddamned victory, already tasting the blood and ash in his mouth, already savoring the many ways he has to make them feel the yawning hurt he has inside him right now.
The dowsing rod is still stiff in his arms, and he rumbles forward, his brother Johnny at his flank, Karl just behind them, fists in the pockets of her greasy trench coat, her head down, her mismatched boots heavy on the pavement.
The church is ahead, a ruin behind the old sagging chainlink fence, and she can feel her eagerness starting to overtake the rage, she's salivating at the prospect of a kill all her own she's going have flesh to pick from between her teeth tonight -
When the pack reaches the steps they are sharp with hunger and rage, already heady with the victory that is going to be theirs, and they open their human mouths bellowing like wolves baying at the moon, in that oddly in time, ever-dissonnant way of wolves, except their voices are just raw, cracking, Johnny's still sounds like a fucking 9 year old boy, cracking like a broken egg along the top notes - all to inspire terror in their prey, these raw idiotic - human - screams as they charge up the front steps of the church and
- on the street, Cletus swallows his plug of tobacco deliberately, mutters a "fuckin' kids - " to his compani, and puts the truck in gear, inching forward after them, eyeing those big wooden doors and wondering if he could drive the truck up the steps and in through them.
"Heh. That would make an entrance." Cletus tells his friend.
[Kora] (Inits!)
[Drew Roscoe] [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Imogen Slaughter] The kinswoman exhales her breath sharply - it's impossible to tell if she is laughing or scoffing, it is so soundless. "Oh I'm sure," she answers Rain, sinking to a crouch at the front of the choir loft, levelling her gun at the door.
+9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[Drew Roscoe] RAIN
[+5]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Roman Turner] Int +8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9
[Kora] Eddie +6
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Linus] (7 +...)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Kora] Johnny +5
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6
[Kora] Karla +71
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6
[Kora] (er, she is +7. hah.)
[Kora] Cletus. +4
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Kora] Kora: in hispo! +9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[Simon Zahradnik] [+8]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[Kora] Cletus' passenger +8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Kora] Roman - 17
Passenger - 15
Drew - 16
Cletus - 14
Karla - 13
Imogen - 12
Kora - 12
Linus - 12
Rain - 12
Simon - 11
Johnny - 11
Eddie - 8
[Kora] Eddie: OH SHIT. NO ONE SAID THIS WOULD BE HARD. Rageshift to crinos.
1. Bodyslam Linus into the church.
Rage 1: CHOMP.
Johnny: Uh, ditto bro. WTF. Are you sure that's mom's dousing rod? Rageshift to crinos.
1. Bodyslam Kora into the church.
Rage 1: CLAW.
Rage 2: CHOMP.
[Rain] Declare: Shoot Johnny.
[Simon Zahradnik] [Approaching the truck from behind... Stealthily! Dex+Stealth! And 1 more WP to be on the safe side!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5 (Failure at target 6) [WP]
[Simon Zahradnik] [*LOL*Oops!]
[Linus] '...My name is Inigo Montoya...'
Reflex: Resist Pain.
Initial Action: Pike jab at Eddie.
Rage 1: Same.
[Kora] Kora: reflexive - resist pain.
1a. BITE Eddie. 1b. BITE Eddie. Rage 1 and 2: uh, ditto!
[Imogen Slaughter] Split actions:
1. Three Round Burst
2. Fire.
[Imogen Slaughter] (at Johnny)
[Simon Zahradnik] [Still approaching the truck from behind!
-1 Rage Shift to Crinos
1a: Leap into the back of the truck
1b: Attempt to grab and toss the driver outta the truck
R1: Claw his ass
R2: Claw his ass again!]
[Kora] Karla: Rageshift to Crinos!
1. Falling touch Roman.
Rage 1: Claw Roman.
Rage 2: Bite Roman!
[Drew Roscoe] 1. Headshot Karla, spending WP
[Kora] Cletus: 1a. Drive truck up steps, shaking Simon off. 1b. Shoot Simon!
[Kora] Passenger: 1a. Get out of truck. [Rageshift to Crinos] 1b. Draw oogly sword. Rage 1: Slash at Simon. Rage 2: AGAIN.
[Roman Turner] Reflex Resist Pain
1.a Claw Karla
1b. Bite Karla
1r. Claw Karla
[Roman Turner] 1a Claw Karla
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Roman Turner] Damn
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Roman Turner]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Kora] Karla: soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 9, 9, 10
[Kora] (she soaks 2!)
[Roman Turner] 1 b Bite Karla
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Roman Turner] Damn
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Kora] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Kora] Passenger: 1a. Gets out successfully! Rageshift and draws sword to face Simon successfully!
[Drew Roscoe] [Headshot: Dex + Firearms, +2 diff for called shot]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8) [WP]
[Drew Roscoe] [Damage: Base 8 + 2 suxx (L)]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Kora] Karla: soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[Kora] Karla: rage back!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 5, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 1 at target 8) [WP]
[Kora] Karla: raged back, incapped.
[Kora] Cletus: dex + drive up steps, to stop before crashing into the wall!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Kora] Cletus drives up the church steps, erratically and not especially quickly, and has a fender bender with the solid wall of the church, but fails to: 1. block the entrance/exit; 2. shake simon out of the truckbed.
[Kora] Karla: twitch. Incapped.
[Imogen Slaughter] Three round burst. HAIL KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Imogen Slaughter] Damage
HAIL KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 3, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Kora] Johnny! Why is that mean lady shooting you!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Imogen Slaughter] One last tap.
HAIL KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 8, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Imogen Slaughter] Damage.
HAIL KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Kora] Meanie. :(
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[Kora] Kora: 1a. CHOMP Eddie.
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 5) Re-rolls: 4
[Kora] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Kora] Eddie: SOAK.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Kora] Kora: 1b. CHOMP.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 5, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5)
[Kora] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)
[Kora] Eddie: SOAK
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Linus] (Pike thrust: Dex 4 + Melee 2. Diff. 6)
[Linus]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Linus] (Strength 6 + 1 Spear.)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Kora] Eddie: SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Rain] [Shoot Johnny. Dex + Firearms. For the love of Gaia, Rain, do not embarrass yourself in front of the Fenrir.]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Rain] [Damage: Base 4 + 0]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Rain] [Liz told me to!]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[Kora] Johnny: I have never had a girlfriend. :(
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Kora] Johnny: Bodyslam Kora. -5 dice for wounds.
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 6, 6 (Success x 1 at target 7) [WP]
[Kora] Kora: Dex + Ath to Remain standing
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 7)
[Kora] Johnny: Dex + Ath to remain standing -5 WOUNDS.
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Kora] Johnny: Damage
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Kora] Kora: Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Kora] Eddie: Bodyslam Linus! -2 dice for wounds!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 4, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Kora] Dex + Ath to remain standing -2 dice!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 1, 6, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Linus] (Dex 4 +Ath 1. stand up mofo!)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 6, 7 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Kora] Eddie: damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Linus] (Soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Simon Zahradnik] [1a: Graba Tireiron!... 1b: I'ma just kill you *Stab with Sharpend* Dex+Totem+Crinos+Melee = 10 -3 for second split Action... Imrpovized weapon spec!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Simon Zahradnik] [Str+Totem+Crinos+1+2=11 Take that Cletus!]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Kora] Cletus: soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Kora] Cletus: is now also stunned.
[Roman Turner] He dove over the prone figure of Karla, heading for Linus.
[Kora] Passenger: Rage 1: stab!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 7 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Kora] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[Simon Zahradnik] [Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 5, 8, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Kora] Kora: Bite Eddie!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5) Re-rolls: 4
[Simon Zahradnik] [Per+Primal Urge]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[Kora] Kora: Damage Eddie!
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Kora] Eddie: I SOAK.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Linus] (Dex 4 + Melee 2. Diff 6 - 2 for partial immobile.)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 6, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 4) [WP]
[Linus] (Strength 6 + 1 Spear + 4 Sux. Fuck you Kahseeno.)
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Kora] Eddie: soakie?
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 5, 5, 5, 7, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Kora] Rage back!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Kora] Eddie: incap!
[Simon Zahradnik] "I'ma teach you bitches how to use a weapon..."Simon snarls as he rips the Tire Iron's sharpened end from Cletus, dripping in the man's blood as he turns with tire-iron in hand and brings all his strength to bare against the Sword wielding maniac attacking him.
[Dex+Totem+Crinos+Melee = 10 Dice!]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Simon Zahradnik] [Str+Totem+Crinos+1+4 = 13]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Kora] Mr. Bad Dude SOAK
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Kora] Johnny: Claw Kora! -5 dice
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Kora] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Kora] Kora: soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Kora] Passenger: Rage 2: STABSTAB.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7)
[Kora] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Simon Zahradnik] [Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Kora] Kora: BITE Johnny!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5)
[Kora] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 9 at target 6)
[Kora] Johnny: soak! [I ded.]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 3, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Kora] Johnny Ra-aaaaaaaaaaaaaage?
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[Kora] The fight – as always – is brief and bloody; in the space of three heartbeats – someone has slammed a truck into the side of the church, crumpling the front end. The building is solid enough that Imogen and Rain, up in the choir loft, do not even feel the impact. They do hear it, though – the crunch of metal outside, and the raw roar of pain, anger and triumph as the rather ordinary looking man who was Cletus’ passenger – balding just a bit, with a bad haircut and a checkered shirt, old jeans and worn cowboy boots, complete with spurs - climbs out of the passenger’s side of the truck and erupts into a massive monster. They have a glimpse of that fracas, perhaps, through the panes of glass broken out of the stained glass windows. A massive black-furred Crinos flattens the truck’s driver with a tireiron, than charges the other crinos – who is equally large, with a faint, green sheen to his mottled black fur – but wields a sword whose blade is covered with a slick of slime the color of antifreeze.
He puts takes a blow, then puts the tire-iron wielding Crinos down with one elegant swing of the sword.
The Shadow Lord crumbles at his feet, unconscious, and the Passenger’s maw peels back from his fangs as he turns to snarl a warning, rage and taunt and challenge combined – to the Garou in the church.
This one mine. Then you. Then you. Then you women. Then you boys. I eat you liver. I lick you spleen.
[Linus] (8 +...)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[Imogen Slaughter] (+9)
HAIL KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Roman Turner] Init +8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Rain] (+5)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Drew Roscoe] [+6]
[Imogen Slaughter] +9
SERIOUSLY STOP EMBARRASSING ME.
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6
[Linus] (Re-rolling apparrently...8+)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8
[Drew Roscoe] [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Simon Zahradnik] [Zzzzzzz]
[Kora] Passenger! +8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Kora] Kora: +9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Kora] Kora: 19
Passenger: 18
Linus: 16
Imogen: 15
Roman: 13
Drew: 11
Rain: 6
What happens is: this. Johnny dies and something snaps in the snarling, taunting Spiral. The swords seems nearly a foreign thing in his hands - turns, enraged, and charges toward the church, Bone Grinder forgotten, still unconscious on the street.
[Rain] [Declare: If it gets to me, we are seriously hosed, so Shoot Him + WP]
[Drew Roscoe] [Headshot on Last Man Standing]
[Roman Turner] Running out the door, right through taunting Spiral if need be to reach Simon.
[Imogen Slaughter] (three round burst + extra tap)
[Linus] (Spear toss at the flapping Goober)
[Kora] Passenger: 1. Charge the church! Rage 1: Slash Kora! Rage 2: Slash Linus!
[Kora] Kora: 1a. BITE BAD DUDE. 1b. BITE BAD DUDE. Rage 1: Dodge! I'm PREGNANT YOU BASTARD. Rage 2: BITE.
[Kora] Kora: 1a. BITE.
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Kora] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Kora] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 6, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Kora] 1b. BITE!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Kora] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Kora] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Kora] Dex + Ath (Run up steps?)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Linus] (Dex 4 + Ath 1. Spear toss)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 7, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Linus] (Strength 6 + 1 Spear + 2 Sux. Fuck off Kahseeno)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Kora] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Imogen Slaughter] Three round burst
HAIL KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Imogen Slaughter] Damage
HAIL KAHSEENO MOTHERFUCKER!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 4, 5, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Kora] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Imogen Slaughter] Single tap
HAIL KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 5, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6) Re-rolls: 3
[Imogen Slaughter] Damage
HAIL KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Kora] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 3, 5, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Roman Turner] Bite
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 5)
[Roman Turner] damn
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Kora] SOAK
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Kora] Rage back!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 7 (Botch x 1 at target 8)
[Kora] Roman can feel the spatter of acid from the blade against his fur as he charges into the remaining crinos - the largest of them, the oldest, and the only one who collapses into human skin when he falls dead, at last.
In the aftermath, there's this ringing sort of silence, interrupted only by the coughing of the pick-up truck's motor, by Bone-Grinder's labored breathing, by the call of birds across the sky.
[Roman Turner] He was shaking off the spatter of acid as he headed for Simon to use his mightly gift on the poor guy.
[Imogen Slaughter] Imogen is crouched at the front of the choir loft, her gun balanced on the lip of the opening, her ears ringing. She remains still, crouched, for several seconds, eyeing the carnage in front of them before she gets to her feet, clearing the chamber of her weapon with a single, deft movement.
"Come help clean up." There is something flat to the kinwoman's voice, her gaze on the blood below. She does not glance at the Gaian kin before she starts toward the stairwell once more.
[Roman Turner] He rushed to Simon burned himself out on pouring mother's give in to the guy.
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 6, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Rain] Once she's sure that there's nothing moving down below, no last flurry of activity to catch anyone unawares, Rain's shoulders drop a little and she exhales. She pushes herself up from standing when Imogen does, and while the Gaian's ears are still ringing she's pretty sure Dr. Slaughter said what everyone with authority says after these events:
Come help clean up.
It's either that, or Stay here. Imogen didn't point at the benches in the choir loft and look pointedly at Rain, so the girl yawns to clear her ears and follows Imogen down to the main floor of the Church. As they walk, she resets the safety on her gun. She carries it with the barrel pointed down and away from everyone else.
[Drew Roscoe] Battle rushed by in a flurry, over in perhaps a minute, if that. She got one shot off, and by the time she was able to shoot again all the blood that would be spilled tonight had been. Shells from her shotgun still rolled on the floor by her feet. Her eyes hopped from one Crinos to the next, from shoulder to shoulder to shoulder. To make sure they all had normal pelts, none were panting too heavily or foaming thick green sludge at the mouth.
All were Gaian, the battle was over.
Drew slumped a bit, then turned around and simply sat in the pew, laying her shotgun across her lap and leaning forward so her elbows were on her thighs and head in her hands. The night had been long, dizzying, exhausting. She'd take a minute to recoop and go to help clean.
Multiple voices insisting that she needs to go sit the fuck down (some in gentler words, others in precisely those ones) convince her to get out of the way. She was slow, every time she leaned down and straightened back up she'd grow dizzy and need to take a second to recover. She wasn't so much helping as she was getting in the way, her strength was sapped out. So she'd go find the shower, accept whatever clothing Rain would indicate for her to use, and, eventually, settle into Kora's bed for the night.
"Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes." -- Benjamin Disrael
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