A Challenge Only Not

[hazlogs]

DATE: Friday, October 11, 1996
Place: Harbor Park Fountain

Becca follows a path along the fence, no Mac with her today, no packmates
accompanying her. She rubs her bare arms briskly as she walks, and though
her eyes are mostly on the ground in front of her, she seems to be moving
toward JJ.
JJ Malone is as usual settled on a bench near the fountain, smoking casually
and watching the pedestrians, much as she does any day.
Becca lifts her eyes up to watch JJ as she draws closer. "Hey," she says,
tries to think of something to follow up such a promising start, and ends
up simply shrugging a little.
JJ Malone looks over at the Bone Gnawer with a heavy Look, one not quite so
intimidating as she can achieve under a full moon, but still no slouch.
There is no motion of threat, nor invitation to join her; she is almost
perfectly ambivalent in her reaction.
Becca fingers at a seam on her cammo pants, looking decidedly uneasy just with
the look. "I thought about something you said before, when you were talking
to Tommie," she says, with a definite, hesitant pause before she mentions
that particular Gnawer's name.
JJ Malone's expression takes on a scowl, and her words, when she does speak,
are low-pitched but biting nonetheless, "And what might *that* have been?"
Becca's eyes find a spot somewhere near the base of the bench to stare at, and
she takes a steadying breath. "You told her that if someone had a problem
with someone, that they should challenge that person." More careful now,
she drops the mention of certain names. "So, I mean, since you know about
this stuff, a lot more than me, that must be the way it's supposed to work.
And since I guess you have a problem with me, I was thinking, well, maybe
you'd want to challenge me." As a mumbled afterthought, she adds, "Or
something like that."
JJ Malone's spasmodically clench into hard fists, for a moment, purely
instinctual. Almost as soon as she does it, she seems to realize it.
Although her hands don't unclench, they drop into her lap, and she at least
seems aware of the action. There are long moments of indecision, rare for
the ahroun, as she looks straight at the galliard, the look made either
easier to bear or hard by the fact that the sunglasses tend to blank her
features.
Becca raises her eyes at the end of her little speech, expression hopeful, to
catch the older Glass Walker's response. And then that expression falls
when she comes to realize that she's done something wrong, apparently, to
gain such a dose of tense silence. "Or maybe not," she mumbles
indistinctly, and looks at safer items in the park, like that spot of grass
around the bench's leg.
"There'd be nothing I wanted more," is finally said, very low-pitched so that
it is barely audible to the Bone Gnawer, "than for the opportunity knock
the every living *shit* out of you," she finishes vehemently, but still in
a lowe voice. "But Challenges don't work that way, and I'm not going to
dirty it like that."
Becca takes a small but noticeable step backwards at those words, sliding her
right foot back and then resting her weight on it. "I was sort of hoping it
wouldn't involve you beating the crap out of me, actually," she says, the
words just barely loud enough to be caught by JJ.
JJ Malone mutters, "You wouldn't have the choice." However, it's obviously not
about now, since the ahroun's making no move to get up. She finally
remembers to reach up to the cigarette still burning in her mouth and toss
it, the filter crushed passed usability.
Becca begins again, very carefully, "Well... I don't think it's fair for you
to be so pissed off at me, just because of something that T--" She catches
herself, about to stumble across that name again, and pauses. "Something
that someone else did. Especially since no one even asked me about it at
all. So maybe I should be the one that challenges you." By this point, the
course of action the Gnawer seems likeliest to take involves either
stammering through another attempt at figuring out what JJ wants, or just
flat running in the likely event that JJ takes offense at this.
JJ Malone is in the process of reaching into her pocket for another cigarette
and her lighter at this statement, which takes her attention away. A brief
flash of almost unholy glee crosses her face before she catches it, but
she's *definitely* interested. "On what grounds?" she asks, with the coiled
intensity of a cat stalking a mouse.
It's fairly obvious that the Gnawer is just grasping at straws here, trying to
guess what it is that JJ would want her to do at this point. Or, at the
least, what would appease the ahroun. "Uh... because it's not fair."
JJ Malone's voice turns harsh, a note of anger. "Fair? Six, or even five on
one is fair, but this isn't?"
Becca shakes her head slightly. "It wasn't like that," she says insistently,
still about as submissive as she can get by her posture, but the tone to
her words start to take on the faintest hints of frustration and anger
both. "I didn't do anything. Matt didn't do anything. And Mosh, all he did
was challenge, and I thought that was what you were supposed to do. You
said so."
"Cry me a river," the ahroun mutters contemptuously. She finally lights the
cigarette, looking over at the fountain finally.
Becca says, suddenly sharp, "I'm not crying, I'm explaining, what's wrong with
you people?" It's partially an echo of her packmate's words, from a
previous evening but a similar topic.
JJ Malone looks over sharply to pin the girl with a glare. "Ever stop to think
that maybe it's *you* that's wrong?" Without even pausing, she snorts, and
answers contemptuously, "Probably not." She looks back at the fountain
again.
Becca has dropped her head back down, staring at the ground once again, by the
time JJ turns. "I don't know what you want me to do," she says, sounding
tired. "If you're not supposed to challenge me, and I'm not supposed to
challenge you, and I'm not even supposed to say what happened, then I guess
I don't know. And I guess you're supposed to hate us, and I guess you and
Mac are supposed to stay pissed off at each other. I wonder if that Walker
guy, that one with the business cards, knew he was lying."
JJ Malone growls darkly. Without word or even a sign of excusing herself, she
picks herself off the bench and begins to walk out, away from Becca, back
turned. Actually, she doesn't walk so much as stalk.
Becca keeps her mouth shut for five seconds, ten seconds, the Walker drawing
further away. And then the Gnawer's silence is broken, as she shouts,
"Guess that means you don't accept my challenge!" She takes a step forward
afterwards, and flops down onto the bench that was just vacated.

---- Recall end ----