It is currently 18:05 Pacific Time on Sun Dec 21 2003.
Currently the moon is in the waning No Moon phase (12% full).
Cockroach Mansion -- Parlor
This room is a palette of whitewash and wood tones, a cross between a library
and an adult's recreation room. To the right of the door way, tall
windows with a deep-set seat and heavy earth-brown velvet drapes show a
view of the front lawn. The far and left hand walls are inset with wooden
bookshelves just over man-height tall; the collection of books is varied,
with both fiction and non-fiction. The floor is well-carpeted in a light
tan color, and the furnishings -- an old but nice-looking couch plus
several armchairs and small tables -- match the decor. One side of the
room boasts a fairly impressive-looking entertainment center, complete
with high-definition television.
An open doorway leads west out into the front hall.
Salem is sitting in the parlor in 'his' chair, reading a rather thick-looking
hardcover book.
From the front hall, Rina slips into the big, drafty building, a backpack slung
over her shoulder. The cast is gone, and she is wearing--gasp!--a dress,
the drape of the georgette soft and close. She moves with her consummate
dancer's grace again, without a trace of any injury.
From the front hall, Joshua sits in the hallway, his laptop on his lap: the
computer from his bag was finally dragged out and fixed up. He figured,
why not, alone in the cavernous hallway, give it another try: Jeremy made
a mistake when he tipped his hand at how the wireless network here was
coded. The youth frowns, as he navigates through a few more menus on his
iBook, trying to figure out how to 'snag' the password out of the air...
From the front hall, A smile dawns, and Rina paces toward him, coming near
enough to peer over the screen and get a look at it. "Gotta Airport in
that thing?" she asks.
From the front hall, Joshua was so focused on cracking the password, that he
hardly notices Rina until it's almost too late. Quickly, force-quiting
the app, he swiches over to the airport control panel, looking over to
Rina with a look of suprise. "Um... yeah. I can't figure out how to
connect here, though... Jeremy didn't tell me how."
Salem glances up from his book. He's been keeping an eye, more or less, on the
boy, but his attention's been somewhat distracted of late. The kid's not
trying to sneak out the doors or window, though, and that's enough. Or is
it? Salem frowns faintly, then grimaces and closes his book with a snap.
Getting up, he moves out into the front hall, hands in pockets.
Cockroach Mansion -- Downstairs
The heavy, dark opulence to this mansion known as Dominion is perfectly
exemplified by the room vistors first enter, this front hall.
Dark-stained wood serves as paneling on the walls, gleams with high gloss
in the hardwood floor, and supports a semi-circular balcony in carved
pillars. The heavy double doors, made of oak, open into the hall from the
south, opposite the huge, hourglass-shaped staircase composed of red and
black gneiss which soars up to the balcony; both are fenced in with a
wooden railing of simple spiraled posts. Several doorways can be made out
on the second floor, nearly blending in discreetly with the back wall.
The wall to the left of the front doors is composed entirely of windows
which run from the forty-foot-tall domed dark wood ceiling to the floor;
if drawn, the heavy velvet drapes of deep red would completely mask them
from view, but when parted, as they often are, one has a marvelous view
of the grounds outside.
A doorway to the right of the front doors leads to a parlor, and towards the
back are the kitchens, the large dining room, and Salem's office.
"...and you don't have a hackmaster password cracker? Make sure you ask Jer for
a demo of his, it's wicked fast." She flashes him a grin. "Sixty-nine
domino, spell out sixty, replace the X with a five, use numbers for the
49, and zeroes for the O's."
[Rina]
Dark-brown eyes, touched with amber, look out from a pixie-sharp face. Rina's
skin is fair, but not quite pale--a light Mediterranean olive from
generations of pure Italian ancestry. Her black-brown hair is left just
long enough in the front to fall almost into her eyes; the butch cut
tapers to an army-short buzz at the sides and back, hardly more than a
velvet fuzz covering the nape of her neck. Her chin is delicately-boned,
her mouth small, the line of her jaw well-defined. Her eyes have a
shadowy, bruised look, either from fatigue or the artful use of makeup;
save for that Gothic touch, she might have stepped from a pre-Raphaelite
painting. She can't be more than twenty-five or so, but in that youthful
face the eyes are cynical, brooding, world-weary. Athletic grace and a
certain streetwise confidence show in her movements, but there is often
an element of tension as well.
A vintage dress of dark-red georgette skims her in veil-thin fabric, leaving
little to the imagination. Ripped fishnet stockings and a lace-trimmed
black slip show beneath the loose-cut, flowing fabric. Her thrash boots,
fastening with a row of buckles up to her knees, seem rather incongruous.
A black leather jacket, two or three sizes too big, drapes over her
shoulders.
A traditional biker jacket in black leather, at least two sizes too big, adds a
layer of toughness to the petite woman's attire. Several patches of
electrical tape and a small plate of discarded circuit board patch a few
holes and rips in the leather: the front and back of both shoulders, and
a spot near her waist on the left. There are more additions to the
traditional biker body armor: scraps of circuit board, metal spikes and
rivets, and a pair of mismatched vambraces that make her look like some
sort of Mad Max knight errant.
She wears two rings, both a silvery white gold. Her right hand bears a single
diamond framed by two smaller ones, the decorative work on the ring
elegant and subtle, perhaps Art Deco. On the left she wears a simpler
band decorated with letters and scrollwork.
Joshua quickly types it out, before saving and shutting down, looking back up
Rina. "Uh, Miz Rina? I've been meaning to ask you... about friday?" He
sets down the laptop on the floor then slides up the wall, standing up.
Salem leans in the doorway, still frowning. His eye lingers on Rina for a few
long seconds, then shifts to Joshua. He seems to be considering the cub
for a moment, perhaps suspiciously -- or perhaps just the usual bad
temper.
Rina's brow furrows. "Friday? And y'don't hafta call me that..." A genuine,
shadow-free smile blossoms. " Rina's fine."
Joshua catches a glance at Salem, and just as quickly looks away. At anything
other than Salem. Or Rina, for that matter. "The kid who was in the hall
with the blood 'n disappeared?"
Salem's frown deepens as Joshua mentions the ghosts, or _a_ ghost anyway. He
shakes his head slightly.
Rina unslings her backpack, and sets it near the wall; her dark eyes don't
leave the boy. "Yeah?"
Joshua frowns, looking down at his feet. "Does he... the kid who wuz in the
hall... did he have any friends here?" He grimaces a minutely, trying not
to think of either incident in too deep of detail.
Rina glances to Salem, guardedly, and then looks to the boy. "The ghost?" She
wets her lips. "None of us knew him... but we just got this place, not
too long ago. But Idunno if... while he was here, he might have known
some of the-- the others."
Joshua frowns, kicking idly at the floor. "Oh" He mutters, as he tries to put
his hands in his pocket, but fails, as he has no pockets. He adds
quietly, "I think I met a friend of his, but no one else saw her, so 'm
not sure."
Salem rubs the back of his neck and shakes his head slightly. He moves away
from the parlor and, after taking a leaning spot against the wall,
removes a PDA from his back pocket and starts tapping at it with a
stylus, not looking at the pair of them more than once or twice.
Rina tips her head toward the parlor. "You wanna come siddown, and maybe tell
me about her?"
Joshua stoops, and gets his laptop off the floor, before standing up again
nodding.
After punching in the code at the front gates, Jeremy makes his way into the
mansion, shouldering his own laptop bag.
Rina leans down to get the pack, and steps into the parlor.
Salem glances up, then belatedly follows Rina and Josh back into the parlor,
where he retakes his chair.
Cockroach Mansion -- Parlor
This room is a palette of whitewash and wood tones, a cross between a library
and an adult's recreation room. To the right of the door way, tall
windows with a deep-set seat and heavy earth-brown velvet drapes show a
view of the front lawn. The far and left hand walls are inset with wooden
bookshelves just over man-height tall; the collection of books is varied,
with both fiction and non-fiction. The floor is well-carpeted in a light
tan color, and the furnishings -- an old but nice-looking couch plus
several armchairs and small tables -- match the decor. One side of the
room boasts a fairly impressive-looking entertainment center, complete
with high-definition television.
An open doorway leads west out into the front hall.
Joshua follows the Lady in, his eyes snapping to a window on the far side of
the wall. Shaking his head, he makes his way over to the couch, sitting
cautiously down, and then checking same window again.
Rina drops onto the other end of the couch, unzipping the padded backpack and
pulling out a pristine platinum ibook. She hardly looks away from Joshua
the whole time, setting the computer next to her and leaving it be for
the time being. "So... you saw another one?"
Salem settles comfortably into the armchair, legs stretched out in front of him
and crossed at the ankles. He continues to tap at the small, flat screen.
Making notes?
Joshua takes his gaze off the window, looking at Rina for barely a heartbeat
before he resumes looking anywhere but at her. After a moment, Josh nods,
before adding embarrassedly. "I think I made her angry."
Patient as a confessor, the dark-haired young woman watches him. "Tell me what
happened," she says softly.
Jeremy heads into the parlor and raises up a brow at the trio, calmly finding
himself a seat and settling down.
Salem glances up as the sound of someone at the Dominion gate is heard. He
glances over at the others, then sets the PDA down and gets up to go
check on who's decided to come visiting.
Joshua nods, quiet for a moment, before saying. "I was looking at the window,
'n she showed up in it. She was trying to yell something at me, but I
didn't hear her." Defensively, he adds. "She was all bloody 'n bruised 'n
hurt 'n she scared me. So I threw a lamp at her 'n she went away." He
blushes tomato red, purposefully leaving out something. "But I didn't
hear what she was yell'n at me..."
In the parlor, Rina sits turned toward the kid, one knee tucked up on the
couch. "What else?" she prompts gently.
Salem takes a look at the monitor and, noting the familiar figure on the bike,
activates the gate to let the Get Ahroun onto the grounds. He meets her
at the front door to let her in, his expression guarded.
In the parlor, If it's possible, he turns even more red. "She was naked..." But
that's not he trips up over, quietly adding. "And I puked afterwards, in
the Kitchen." He chews on his lip, trying not to look too embarrassed.
Signe adjusts her jacket as she walks through the door. Salem gets an equally
guarded look in return, but the ahroun offers an otherwise pleasant,
"Hey," in greeting.
Salem returns Signe's greeting with a curt nod, then gestures in the direction
of the parlor, where everyone else is gathered and talking about... naked
women?
In the parlor, "Hi, Jer," Rina murmurs distractedly. Her eyes don't leave
Joshua. "She didn't... say anything?"
In the parlor, Jeremy lifts up a hand and waves to the pair, listening in on
Josh's story with a furrowed brow.
Signe follows Salem's gesture, easing toward the parlor as quietly as a Get in
Dr. Martins can.
Salem crosses the room to re-take his seat, pausing briefly to power down the
PDA and put it away, setting it aside on top of the book he was reading
earlier.
Joshua bites on his lip even harder, before desperately adding. "I was
surprised! She was all bloody 'n hurt 'n came from nowhere! I would have
listened to her if she didn't surprise me!"
Rina's back is turned to the archway and the hall, her posture focused on the
young cub seated at the other end of the couch. "S'aright." She lets out
a breath in a sigh. "We'll probably see her again.:"
Signe remains somewhere near the parlor's entrance, perhaps not comfortable
enough to come further in just yet. She remains standing, her hands
lifting to come to rest on her hips, casually, for a bit. She notes
Rina's presence, Jeremy's, and then begins studying the scrawny kid that
apparently has everyone else's attention. At a lull in the conversation,
she says, "Hey."
Joshua nods, as if in agreement, at Rina's statement, even though he hopes he
doesn't. The cub looks up and around, suddenly noting that people came in
since he started, for the first time. "Oh... Hi Mister Jeremy. 'nt see ya
come in." Josh's still rather quiet; to the newcomer. "Hi."
Jeremy grins faintly to himself. "Mister Jeremy? You can just call me Jer,
dude." He says, slipping his Titanium out of his book bag, laying the
thin laptop over his knees.
Rina looks over her shoulder, and the barest flicker of a smile touches her
lips. "Hey, Sig."
Joshua nods to Jeremy, even though he has no intention of ever calling him that.
Signe's expression suggests mild surprise. She leans forward a little to get a
better look at Rina. "Ah. Hi. You're, uh, all there are ya? Well. That's
good news." The others get a more simple nod and nothing else.
Joshua doesn't say anything to the newcomer: it's obvious to even his untrained
eye that she wasn't from here. He'd never seen here, heard of her, and
she didn't have some gadget on her.
Jeremy lifts his chin upwards to regard the other female, offering a quick
smile to her, head ducking just a bit.
Rina's smile quirks into place a little more. "Never," she says quietly.
"This's Joshua. Brand spanking new, an Ahroun cub of the Walkers."
Signe flashes a grin at Rina's response. It obviously pleases the Get, despite
the grumbled mumble that escapes a moment later, "Too much to ask for,
anyway." then, she adds in a more normal voice, "Cub, huh? Must be that
time of the year. I've got one too. Well, not *mine*, but, Get. You know
what I mean." Directly to Josh, she says, "Defiant Storm. Hi. You can
call me Signe. Full moon. Get."
Joshua blinks a bit at the mention of 'Ahroun'. Since Jer first mentioned it to
him, he hadn't thought of it since. He listens to her attentively, before
curiosity overcomes caution and he ask with an arched brow. "Get?"
Salem watches the cub rather closely when Signe introduces herself to him, his
fingers drumming silently against the arm of his chair.
Rina glances to the cub. "They're another tribe. We're the city fighters,
they're the Viking raiders."
Signe smirks at Rina's explanation, relaxing enough to come a few steps further
into the room. Her hands slip down to rest in the pockets of her jacket.
"Not how I'd put it, but good enough for a start I suppose."
Ah, so Josh was right: She wasn't from here. But somehow, he felt his education
was, well, lacking. "Oh.. . Please ta' meet cha'."
"Sig's a full moon, an ahroun, like you," Rina says. "She's one hell of a
warrior."
Salem shifts his weight in the chair as though restless and sits up.
Signe shifts her weight from one leg to another, that slight discomfort
returning when Rina praises her. Nonetheless, she nods back to the cub in
an amiable way. "I hold my own," she corrects, glancing toward Salem. "I
just dropped by to let you know I had a chat with the Shadow Lord."
Salem looks over at Signe and lifts an eyebrow at her questioningly.
Joshua glances over at Salem, a little restless himself. He nods at Rina's
comment, but can't think of anything to say... the conversation slowly
died, apperantly. Well, before Sig mentions 'shadow lord' Turning back to
Rina, he quietly asks "Shadow Lord?"
Rina's eyes narrow when Signe speaks on, and she looks sharply over her
shoulder to the woman. "Which." When Joshua asks, she murmurs, "Another
tribe."
Signe draws in a breath, her natural scowl deepening a little. "I should
probably have my head examined, but, if you're still game, so am. I
talked to Charlie, too. So." she shrugs, not sure what else to say.
Signe glances at Rina at the question. It takes her a few seconds to realize
what she meant, and Signe answers, "Cutter."
The Walker Elder's other eyebrow rises. He actually seems, oddly enough,
surprised. He nods at her and conjures up a thin, tight smile.
Joshua shakes his head. Muttering to himself. "How many bloody tribes can there be?"
Too many, in his book.
A faint smile kindles on Rina's face at the mention of the Fianna. "How's
Charlie?" she asks.
Salem glances over at Joshua's question and holds up both hands, all ten
fingers spread. Then two more fingers.
Signe's eyes narrow at Rina's smile. It's the Get's thinking expression,
calculating, which is never very flattering. Eventually she answers with
a vague shrug. "She's ok. I guess. I didn't know you knew her."
The young Kin's expression softens, and one corner of her smile tugs upward in
a rakish grin. "Yeah."
Joshua vaugely follows the conversation, since he's already said all he had to
say. Instead, his mind goes back to formulating: what was he up to, plan
E? He picks up his Laptop and starts tacking away, going off of what Rina
told him and Jer let slip about the network to try and figure the thing
out. Aside from that, he's silent.
Salem's eyes narrow slightly. He watches Joshua for a moment, then gets up and
stalks over to the cub to stand behind him. Watching what he's doing.
Signe rolls her eyes a little in response to Rina. "Jesus Christ, woman. You
know, it's a miracle *I've* never slept with you. and no, that's not a
come on."
Joshua pages: He's reading a note he typed up. Talks about what Rina told him
the pw was and how Jer told him the network worked.
Joshua remains oblivious to Salem's presence, as he tacks away, adding text
to... whatever he was doing.
Rina purses her lips at the Get, her gaze narrowing. "Who said I slept with
anybody? I just said I know her."
Salem squints at the screen over Joshua's shoulder. His frown deepends. He taps
the cub on the head.
Joshua blinks at the revive, looking up to see... 'that one crazy guy who may
or may not be out to kill him.' He tries to keep his face undercontrol as
he "Hmm?"'s. He hadn't done anything wrong... in the last 20 minutes,
anyhow.
Salem smiles at the cub, but there's something in the way he shows his teeth
that doesn't look at all pleasant. With an air of 'no, you'd better _not_
resist me' he reaches over to take the laptop from Joshua's hands.
"Yeah, I know her, too," Signe says, giving Rina an all-too-knowing look.
Still, the Get doesn't push the issue. Her attention is diverted to Salem
and the cub, and she grows quiet again, looking for a wall to lean
against.
"Oh sweet Jesus he's going to find the cracking program and the logs and he's
going to kill me. The freaky guy is going to kill me." Well, that's
what's running through Josh's head, anyhow. But since Salem would kill
him if tried to keep it from him, he doesn't resist at all.
Joshua pages: BTW, Laptop looks like it went throug a meat grinder, badly
scuffed up, and there are some dull red splots on the lid.
The shift of Signe's attention draws Rina to turn back to the boy, and Salem;
her brow furrows for as moment, and then she looks chagrined. "Oh. My
bad," she tells Salem. A flicker of regret comes to her expression, as
she looks to Joshua. "I thought you were doin' okay... I mean, at least
you know what's happening is real, now."
Salem shuts down the laptop without bothering to look at the screen or study
what the boy's been up to, and after closing it, he turns it over in his
hands. Tosses it lightly, even, a few times.
Joshua crings a little, as Salem casually tosses around his 'life-blood', but
the look on his face say that he's not going to object to Salem
manhandling it... "What? What'd I do?" He asks nervously, mostly to Rina.
Rina raises a raven eyebrow, regarding him coolly, not unfriendly--in fact,
just a little too cordial. "I don't know. What were you up to? Contacting
the authorities, maybe? Arranging for a taxi? Callin' a friend?"
Signe can't help but grin at the way Salem handles the cub. her hands come out
of her pockets. "I'm gonna head home. I just wanted to give you that
news. I'll get back with you about making everything official and all,
ok?" she looks from the Walker elder to the kin and cub and back again.
"And, if you're ok with it, I train my ahroun at the brownstone. He's
welcome, if you don't mind him being bruised a bit."
Salem glances away from Joshua long enough to give Signe a nod. Then back that
mismatched, ruthless gaze goes, down and heavy upon the hapless geekcub.
"I wasn't doing nothing!" Josh objects, "I was just gettin' what ya and Mister
Jeremy said into the same file..." He nervously eyes Salem, hoping that
the Laptop doesn't take yet another tumble.
Rina purses her lips, and glances away from Josh just for a moment. "Anything
y'need," she tells Signe, "you know I'm with you." When her dark gaze
returns, it is much less ruthless--but then, some murdering mafia bosses
are known for being polite.
Salem tosses the laptop a little higher, making it spin. Then catches it easily.
Salem, after he catches the laptop, looks at Rina and shakes his head
significantly.
Signe's smile lingers as she makes her way out.
Rina's eyes don't stray from the boy. "Try again," she says quietly.
"Preferably without lying. I'd hate to see a laptop with that much
history rendered into little jagged bits."
Joshua cringes, too busy being nervous to be impressed by the feat. "I was
putting what you and Mister Jeremy said into the same file, I swear! He
saw me!" Josh says defensively. A little too defensively. He adds, "I
didn't know that I wasn't supposed to know that!"
Joshua pages: Part about not knowing he's not supposed to know is a lie.
Salem bares his teeth in a grin that's vicious enough to give a Kzin pause. He
shakes his head at Rina again and up the laptop goes into the air. Higher
this time, getting closer to the ceiling. Again he catches it, but what
if he slips?
Rina purses her lips, her expression darkening into worry. "Let's try this
again. What is it you weren't supposed to know? What were you doin' that
pissed Scar off?"
"It was just a file of notes! I wrote down what you and Mister Jeremy said
about how it works here, all in one file! I mean, I wrote down what you
two told me so I could get it to work with the Network here." Josh's face
gets a little redder: he didn't want to see the 'top take a plunge.
Jeremy blinks his eyes as he watches Salem. "Woah.. woah.. that is an iBook.
Those things are expensive. Salem, can you give that to me instead? Don't
drop that, /please/." Geez, even tho' its not his, he still freaks out.
"Guess Josh better tell us the fucking truth," Rina says lightly.
"At least let me take a peek at what he was doing then." Jeremy says hurriedly,
watching the laptop go up, then down, up, then down.
Joshua pages: Yep. Uh, well, that actually depends. It was true, but he didn't
add what he was going to do with the net acccess (Trying to crack
security). RP accordingly.
Salem catches the laptop after another apparantly-careless toss, then looks
over at Jeremy, considering. The Walker Elder gives a tight smile, then
takes a step over and hands it over to the hackergoth to examine.
Jeremy takes the laptop from Jack and places it over his lap, popping the small
white screen up before him. He squints his eyes, then taps the
powerbutton.
Joshua's jaw clenches, but he looks much calmer that it's out of the air.
Hopefully Jeremy would surmise that he did some warchalking, or
netstumbling, and leaves it at that. Hopefully he wouldn't guess the
ulterior motive, or how close he got to cracking the network wide open.
Salem returns to his spot behind Joshua and folds his arms across his chest.
Rina watches Joshua's face. "Tell me," she says quietly, "what you were doing.
I gave you the password, so you couldn't have been fucking with that."
Joshua squirms under the renewed barrage. "Try'n to get into the network, so I
could connect to the 'net."
Joshua pages: Lie.
Jeremy scrolls the mouse to that happy blue apple at the top left side of the
screen, then taps open recent items to see the drop down box of the past
couple of things activated in his computer, including applications and
documents. He peers at the list of articles for a moment. "Well, the
password changes once every sixty seconds anyways, and it shows up in our
cell phones, like I explained before through the blue tooth network that
I got set up on a personal and private firewall protocol. He can have the
password, 'for the moment' but still not be able to log in unless his IP
is perm through the routers and localized." He wets his lips, staring at
the stuff on the screen, then looks over to Josh, furrowing his brows.
Salem shakes his head again, and this time follows it up by cuffing the cub on
the back of the head. He's losing patience.
"Uncle Scar's gettin' fed up with the lyin'," Rina says softly. "And so am I. I
don't lie to my family, and I don't want my family lyin' to me. We depend
on each other for our lives." She looks up, to the looming presence of
'Uncle Scar.' "We do /not/ lie to each other, here."
"You are lucky he's just batting you in the head. Next time he may use his
claws..." Jeremy says, then warns in his own way. "Also, if you don't
want me to do a reformat on this bad boy, I'd start telling the truth
Asap. Also.. it seems to me that you were kinda trying ta' do more then
crack the network, but, like any good hacker -- you didn't put down /all/
the details on paper, so I can't prove that you are lying to me, outside
of Salem smacking you around."
Joshua turns to Jeremy, just as he gets wacked over the head. "What?!" His head
jerks from one person to the next. But he's not about to spill the beans:
if Jeremy didn't figure it out, Josh figured he was in the clear. "I was
trying to connect to the 'twork here, really..." He stares for a bare
second, sweating bricks, before cracking. "Okay, so I was trying to get
into the Mansion Net! I admit it!"
You paged Joshua with 'Truth?'.
From afar, Joshua nods.
Rina flashes a faint smile, looking almost satisfied as she glances over to
Jeremy. "Is he any good?"
Salem cocks his head, studying Joshua for a moment. Then, finally, he nods.
"Not as good as me, but he has some skill." Jeremy says, turning his eyes
towards Joshua, then firmly says. "Don't try and pull that shit again,
alright? Or I'll fuck shit up so bad you'll never want to touch a
calculator in the least. This network is my prize, and if its breeched,
it'd put us in a lot of shit. Also, if its breeched, I'm sure Salem would
kick my ass for not being better and what not.."
Joshua's teeth grind slightly at the browbeat: the Youth didn't take kindly to
being called second best, but considering if he objected, it would be his
butt in the can. So he chews on nothing, so to say nothing.
Salem snorts and gives Jeremy a thin, crooked little smirk. Then, his
expression solemn again, he takes a felt-tip pen out of the breast-pocket
of his t-shirt; with his free hand, he reaches down to take Josh by the
wrist.
Joshua doesn't resist. The crazy mute might kill him otherwise, he figures.
Rina's expression returns to seriousness as she looks back over Joshua. "Let me
explain something to you," she says quietly. Her eyes don't hold
anger--just a shadowed, sober honesty. "We-- the garou, these people you
just met-- we're all in the middle of a war. I don't go out on the
streets without this jacket on, because it's bulletproof. People like
Salem and Sig, they go up against shit that can rip mere humans to
shreds. We're up against monsters out of your nightmares. I /know/ of at
least three people in this city who want me dead, and /they/ have people
loyal to them." She leans forward slightly, eyes narrowing and
sharpening, her voice deadly and soft. "And you just tried to compromise
the security of this house."
Salem uncaps the marker with his teeth, then writes, "STRIKE TWO" in large
block letters along the outside of Joshua's arm. Then he releases the cub
and stands up, recapping the pen.
Huffing slightly, Jeremy pulls up his own laptop and starts to toggle a few
screens, fingers flying over the metal keyboard. His eyes squint a bit,
nostrils flaring in a loud huff. "I'm going to start to work on a new
added security system, just in case anyone can randomly figure out the
ever changing password. Maybe I need to make the characters longer and
put it on a thirty second timer instead, that should be ample enough time
for any of us to type it in if we glance at the cell phone once."
Jeremy whips his head quickly around to peer past his shoulder, brow raising
upwards.
Jeremy taps his fingers slowly along the keyboard for a moment, before turning
his attention back to the screen, frowning.
Joshua listens to Rina passivly, letting the crazy Mute go about his business.
Silently, he vows to step up his efforts to break out: who knows what
Salem would do, should Josh get caught a third time. Grinding his teeth
again, he nods after Rina finishes... but he doesn't correct Jeremy.
Salem, his expression quite bland now, folds his arms across his chest and
continues to stand behind Joshua.
"Listen to me, kiddo," Rina says quietly. "You hafta get serious about this. If
you try to run from it, you'll end up hurting someone, maybe hurting
y'self or your family, maybe killing innocent people. I don't think
you're the kinda guy who wants to wake up one morning with blood on his
hands; you seem like a decent person, to me. And I don't want anything to
happen t'you... you're important to us, just because of what you are."
Joshua's face goes dower, listening to Rina's speech. Then, midway through it,
his face drops, eyes growing wide. Very wide. "Behind you..." He starts
to wisper, before his hand shoots out, grabbing Rina by the arm trying
his best to drag her off the couch, shouting "Move!"
Salem, having seen nothing and already ill-disposed toward the cub, bares his
teeth in a silent snarl and _moves_ -- motherfuck he's fast when he wants
to be -- to grab Joshua by the collar and haul him back and away from
Rina.
Jeremy jerks his head up quickly from the laptop, eyes furrowing. "You see
something too?"
Rina still heeds the cub's cry, flattening herself against the couch and then
rolling from it, spinning in a low crouch to face the opposite direction.
Her right hand disappears inside her jacket, to pull the .45.
Joshua's head whips as Salem drags him forward, but his face still is pale with
terror. "He's got an Ax! Run! Run!" Josh's voice borderlines on panic.
Rina's eyes widen, and she pales slightly.
Salem's breath hisses irritably out through clenched teeth; he keeps a tight
grip on Joshua, fingers now digging into the boy's shoulder.
"Shoot hi..." Joshua's paniced sentence is cut off by a cry as Salem digs into
his shoulder, his jaw dropping as his eyes squint. "Mizz Rina!! Oh god,
Mizz Rina!"
"I felt it," Rina whispers. "I can't see him. Jack--?"
Salem, frowning, shakes his head sharply.
Joshua sobs softly, his face showing the pain from Salem's grasp. Quieter now,
he moans "Mizz Rina... the Axe..." His breathing is short and rapid.
Jeremy furrows his brows and holds himself very still, glancing around the room
slowly, drawing the laptop up to his chest a bit tighter.
"I'm fine," Rina says, a bit sharply. She remains white a a sheet, though, her
expression taut. "What do you /want/?" she calls out, holstering the gun
and rising to her feet. "What can we do?"
Joshua's breathing slows, as his face straitens as much as it can, with the
pain in his shoulder. A moment later. "The axe is gone... He... he left."
Whatever it is, it scared him more than Salem. "He's gone."
Salem gradually loosens up on his grip. Then he lets Joshua go. Eyes narrowed,
he paces around the room, examining it from all angles.
Jeremy opens up the laptop again and activates the home automation, accessing
the cameras to look over, sighing to himself. "Nothing ever shows up on
the lens. I doubt it ever will... I .. thought I saw something in the
reflection of the screen earlier.. this place is starting to creep me
out. Did we build this on a burial ground or some shit?"
Rina wraps both arms around herself. "I felt him," she says quietly. "His
anger. Like I feel John. Or maybe it was the axe."
Snaik pages: It's just a room. :)
Salem wrinkles his nose and gives his head a quick shake. Mouth thinned into a
grim line, he walks over to retrieve Joshua's laptop. No tossing this
time... but the cub doesn't get it back, either. After giving the room
another suspicious look-over, he heads out, laptop in hand, to the back
of the house.
Joshua gladly collapses to the floor, with Salem not holding him up. Pulling
himself up, he looks from the Couch to the Window to the hall, and then
very carefully at the window.
Jeremy slowly lets out another breath, then murmurs softly. "This is
craptastic. Ghosts living in the safehouse." He sighs and closes the
laptop once again with a soft click, then slips it into his bag. "I think
I"m going home, before I get anymore nightmares."
Rina nods minutely. "Do that," she murmurs. "We might not want to have Kin hang
out here too much." She glances to Jeremy, giving him a small, wry smile.
==============================================================================
To: Jeremy
Subject: Email
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salem sends you a quick email later that night:
Find out what Dominion history is? Old house. Must have a past. Thanks.
--S.
P.S. Good job tonight.
==============================================================================
Joshua looks back to Jeremy and Rina, especially at Jeremy. He stares for a
moment. "You where here." He quietly says.
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