Another Cub, Another Lesson

[hazlogs]

Currently the moon is in the waning Crescent Moon phase (25% full).
It is currently 09:54 Pacific Time on Thu Sep 17 1998.

[Daisy]
She's a decently handsome-looking young girl in her early teens, perhaps 
  fourteen or so. Deep brown eyes hold a sparkle of inner life and joy. She 
  clearly enjoys simply living life to its fullest--but in a quiet fashion 
  rather than boisterously ostentatious. She wears a baggy pair of pants and a 
  non-confining pull over shirt. She looks better dressed than a normal child 
  would, almost as if mommy or daddy picked out her clothes for her.

Holland Place, Apt. 1A(#3489RJ)
This tiny, rathole little apartment, though adequate as shelter, leaves a lot 
  to be desired. The wooden floorboards are unevenly dark underfoot, and 
  there's a suspicious-looking stain along the floorboards near the narrow, 
  cramped kitchen. The front room is gapingly bare, with nothing to hide the 
  ugly yellow-and-white wallpaper, and the small bedroom is empty but for a 
  military-style cot and a squat wooden dresser that looks as though a dozen 
  bored juvenile delinquints hacked at it with knives. The less said about the 
  bathroom, the better. The bedroom walls show damage in two places, as though 
  someone or something had been wrecking havoc with really large knives or 
  claws. The marks just above the cot are bad enough, but the damage is worse 
  in one corner, where both lower wall and floor are scraped and wounded.
Muffled noises from neighboring apartments can be heard through the walls, and 
  the grimy windows give a limited view of disreputable street outside. 
  There's a phone in the kitchen, but no sign of television, radio, or other 
  such staple of modern entertainment. Nearly all of the electrical outlets go 
  unused, and the ancient-looking refigerator is usually near-empty.
Obvious exits:
Out  

Salem gestures the cub into the dingy one-bedroom apartment. He hasn't said 
  more than five words during the whole trip from Nigel's place.
Daisy has been pretty quiet herself, keenly watching things on the trip over 
  and making notes on how to come and go in the future. She steps inside at 
  Salem's gesture and looks around. The rathole of an apartment doesn't draw 
  any negative reactions from her. "Is place you live?" She asks. "Find you 
  here?"
Salem takes a few moments to re-set all the locks. Click, click, rattle, 
  click. "Yes," he says. "And yes."
Daisy purses her lips, fidgetting slightly as Salem works the locks. She's 
  obviously torn between seeing what Salem is doing and nosing around the rest 
  of Salem's apartment.
Salem is soon finished with the locks. Turning around, he notes the cub's 
  expression and smiles thinly. "If you ever need to sleep here, you're 
  welcome to."
Daisy listens, then nods her head in agreement--the action apparently not 
  coming naturally to her. "Glass Walkers. Stick together. Like a pack. Yes." 
  It's almost as if she expected the courtesy from you.
Salem's smile gains a notch of strength. "Exactly." He studies the girl for a 
  moment. "Lupus, yes?"
Daisy nods her head again, looking perhaps a little bit uncomfortable. "Still 
  not good at being human," she admits freely. "Still learning."
Salem folds his arms across his chest. "Then fighting as a human won't come 
  easily for you. But you do know how to fight, yes?"
A hint of pride creeps into her--as much as you might expect from a shy, 12 
  year old girl. "Have killed cat."
Salem snorts. "Is that all? What about other dogs?"
Daisy blinks at this response. "Dogs? Why kill dogs?"
Salem shakes his head. "Never mind kill," the Ahroun says sharply. "Have you 
  *fought* them. Established your dominance through force."
"Oh," the girl mouths. "Some times. Yes. Is what dogs do."
Salem's smile reappears. "Yes," he says. "Is what dogs do." A subtle shift of 
  weight is all the warning the cub gets before the Ahroun's fist snaps out 
  toward her face.
Daisy apparently was not expecting this sort of thing. She's quick to respond, 
  however, and manages to deflect some of the blow by jerking back--though the 
  blow still lands pretty solidly, just lessened somewhat from its full 
  potential. Regardless, combined with surprise, it's enough to knock the cub 
  down and onto her back. She stays down, showing throat.
Salem gives his hand a slight shake, fingers opening and closing. "Get up," he 
  says mildly; nothing about him suggests anger. "Have you ever fought as a 
  human? Do you exercise as a human?"
Daisy licks the blood from her already-healing busted lip as she gets up. 
  Blood dribbles to the floor and onto her clothes unnoticed. "Spend much time 
  as human. Shades say to do it." When she gets back to her feet, she makes 
  sure nothing about her stance or posture indicates challenge.
"And Shades is absolutely right." Salem walks in a circle around the cub. "You 
  will join Brandon and myself at five in the morning, every morning, to jog. 
  Afterwards, we will see about teaching you the finer skills."