Tamsin is sad.

Seger

When last we saw our heroes Tamsin was going to call down Fog on her former alpha after failing to trick him into believing that there were cops right behind him. She was convincing. But he decided against falling for it. Corey is smarter than he looks sometimes.

He'd flung her across the plaza and the impact had knocked her unconscious and that was nearly an hour ago. At least he didn't call anyone. He didn't get ahold of Lola or Hector to be like "Yo come get your bitch."

Corey drove her back to the Sept. He carted her out of the parking garage and into the elevator. Carried her down a hall and dropped her into a bunk bed. No one else is in there. He took off her shoes and covered her in a blanket and when she comes to that's where she is. On the bottom bunk in a sick room-looking place with nothing on the walls and fucking Corey sitting at a desk not far away.

He hasn't had time to shower yet. He reeks of beer.

"You gonna quit acting the ass?" is the first thing she hears when she opens her eyes.

Hall

[Just for lolz, GLARE.]

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (4) ( fail )

Hall

Everything hurts. Skin-scraped up and off, beads of blood all a-scabbed because she hasn't shifted out've her born-this-way form. It's easy to forget that shit hurts sometimes and it can hurt for a while when usually it heals pretty damned quickly and the whole short-cut look now I'm is a tempting prospect. Tamsin's eyes stay squinty dark lashes all a-fringed and her muddy eyes glitter at Corey but it fails to be particularly impressive or anything other than vaguely pain-soaked.

"Me?" Incredulity. Though she sounds kind of quiet, all things considered. Doesn't wiggle her feet or ask where her shoes are or do more than give Corey that squinty-glittery-brooding look that's just pat your head there there you tried over on that bottom bunk. "Well... I'd rather be an ass than an asshole, at least an ass is good for... other stuff. Sitting. Standing. Not just being full of shit."

Tamsin, you still sound upset.

Seger

"Shit's gotta go somewhere, man. You make the asshole sound like the unsung hero of the ass area."

Tamsin can sound kind of quiet all she wants. They're in a holy place. A healing place. All she has to do is behave herself long enough for Corey to get up off his ass and go find someone to help her out. Or give her one of his gourds. Something. He could have done that to wake her up but he just let her come around on her own.

Go ahead and brood, girl. Brooding won't hurt anything.

"You can keep coming at me all you want. I got nothing better to do. I don't think that's gonna do too much good though. So why don't you just, I don't know. You're a Galliard. Tell me something."

Hall

Tamsin can keep coming at Corey all she wants because he's got nothing better to do. Tamsin: that broody glittery look doesn't change an iota but the invitation has been filed away forever. Corey knows Tamsin. Fianna who isn't all fire and you see her when she's coming. Fianna who's mercurial the shadow-flicking, who'd as soon trick and trap than challenge with a roar. Not that that isn't cool too, but whatever. Corey knows Tamsin, is the point. Probably knows really well what she's thinking. Hector's still got a thing coming for insulting hipster boy's hat.

"Oh," and that word has never in the world been more sarcasm-laden. "Tell you something. That'll do good. Because you're always so fucking," her voice cracks, because she is hurt! because she is hurt, "so interested in listening to galliards. Okay," and another wince when she sits up, everything is bruised, one whole damned side of her, and something feels cracked and it's a shrill of pain and fuck that Ahroun fuck him to fucking Hell she settles her back gingerly against the wall keeps the blanket closed around her shoulders like a cape or a cuddle cocoon OR

or yes this is better

or like a poncho for a badass gunslinger for JUSTICE in an unjust world going outside of the law

yeah.

Seger

"Tamsin."

Here it comes. He heard that voice-crack. Heard the same threat of rain in Hector's voice when Hector was here last but Hector had a lot on his plate. Had to tell everyone about the pit in the city sept and was going to reconnect with his family and had a baby on the way. When Corey and Hector busted each others' balls it was permission for each other to move on with their lives but they are not friends anymore. They will never be friends again. Their friendship died the day Corey broke Hector's jaw.

"I'm... so sorry. For everything I did. You... I never thought I was going to see you again. I wanted to. You have every right in the world to be angry at me, but I'm... I'm trying. I'm trying to listen to you."

Hall

I wanted to--

THE BIGGEST MOST DRAMATIC SCOFF IN THE WORLD. Tamsin doesn't even care that it makes her cringe, eyes going half-moon again.

You have every right in the world to--

SNORT. Not the biggest snort in the world; she learned her lesson, but still, snort.

"Because I fucking came here to you." Flat. Gives nothing away at all that tone. Neutral. Dead.

Then it's with the sarcasm again. "Oh but of course I would only do that because you fucked Lola, your old best friend's crush of forever, because why else in the fucking world would I want to talk to you. Trying to listen. You want a fucking story? Fine. I'll give you a fucking story."

Seger

He burned through his Rage earlier tonight. Dropped so much of it on her that he could pass for a wiser moon now. But he is not a wise wolf. Never really has been. He and Hector are about matched in terms of their wisdom and their capacity for wisdom. Hector is trying too. But he doesn't have Corey's upbringing and his childhood familiarity with the world they live in now.

Neither does Tamsin. And Tamsin has an anger towards the world that Hector doesn't have either. An anger towards Corey that Hector let go already. Now he's just hurt. Healing-hurt but what Lola and Corey did hasn't really gone into the past yet. It won't until he can hold his daughter for the first time.

Anyway:

"Alright," he says. Crosses his arms over his chest. He's sitting with his legs splayed and his boots planted. Nowhere to go and nothing better to do. "Give me a fucking story."

Hall

"Once upon a time there was a Glasswalker and a Fianna. They'd battled monsters and battled spirits and battled inhuman things that tried to get into their minds and make them forget the world they were in. They got lost in a labyrinth of ever-shifting walls, riddled their way through the Matrix. Bros. This Glasswalker. This Fianna. They were both young, you should know. Young, and pretty new to the whole 'Garou' thing still but the Fianna was newer. They'd decided to battle together, shit happens, whatever. And then one day there was a river, you know? A river running, a wise woman witch-thing with a tree's name wrapped in mystery, enigma, trailing glory, Eyes in the Dark, and she said: Hey. And then there was a big pack. Big pack and they followed Fog, battled yes always battled, but they battled to a purpose that was knowledge, was finding what was lost, here one moment and then gone - they didn't go where the wind went. They went where they thought they should go. Prophecy sometimes maybe other times a bet an argument or a story. The Glasswalker, he was pretty good. Finding his feet. Carrying himself well, like he meant something. Meaning things, and when Eyes in the Dark were closed by the dark forever, he led. Wasn't even ranking, but he led, ranked up soon after because he was good, wasn't he? He was so fucking good. Good at the city. Good at the wyld. Good at listening to the wyld, even when he was the weaver."

"Do you know why he led, Spark-Gap?" Her pupils are large and dark. "Because - " - and she never got a chance to burn up her Rage. It's still there, simmering, the waning moon calling it up and out and she tenses up. " - because he was good. They loved him, the cowardly weasel of a cock-burn, never knowing what pustulating perfidy was cringing within just waiting for a chance to snivel out. They adored him, the traitorous fucktard. They thought he's tempered enough this Ahroun. They didn't even have to think. Because he was fucking good."

"Then one day, lamentations and sorrow, a shadow fell cold upon them."

Larger, the pupils. Darker, sure. "And snuffed them out, one by one by one. He'd led them into darkness, hadn't he, with the best of intentions. Led them there, thinking it would be well, and then it wasn't. Three survived, though: three survived to sorrow, three survived to tell the tale, three survived to remember. The Fianna. The Glasswalker. The Uktena. But they weren't out of the dark yet; the shadow - hadn't it just wormed its way inside? Wasn't it leaning heavy on their hearts? Wasn't it pressing down, the malevolent weight? Loss and blame and punishment and didn't the Uktena disappear for a brief time in his rage and in his grief, leaving the Fianna and Glasswalker alone with those who did not trust them: same-side ones, but wrong, all full of blame. Here, have your White Boy, don't sing for the one we call our own. Wasn't it terrible, the very rite for the dead disrespected, their names nearly snuffed-out too by the fighting that followed. A desecration."

"When the Uktena returned, the Glasswalker - shamed, wasn't he, for his unwise course, the course that proved unwise, shamed and hurting - and the Uktena fought over the dead. Bitterly, didn't they? Wasn't it a fight to see, all pride and ego and forgetting, all you did this, and you did that, fighting as only brothers would ever, huh? Both wrong, and wrong, and wrong."

"You know what this Glasswalker did then, don't you? He lost the fight. He lost it: he. Who'd lead them so well." Perhaps it is meant as an ironic lash; perhaps not. "Who'd been so brave. He lost the fight and then he left. No more river, said he, and no more running, and no more, and no more, and no more, and fuck you, and I'm out, and he was out. Fuck you, he said to the Uktena. Looked once at the Fianna, and then left, and was seen no more, and was felt no more because he'd stomped right out've the Fog - "

" - what did he think, that Glasswalker, I wonder? Did he think that the Fianna would follow him out? They'd gone in together. Did he wonder where she was, later on, when the Rage had died down - the shadow-grief and shadow-rage and hurt?"

"I will tell you, Spark-Gap. He did not. He thought: welp. I'll never see her again. He thought: welp, dead with the rest, a Galliard without a voice, there's nothing but memory there. And time passed, and it was so. And it was fucking so, Spark-Gap, but surely the Glasswalker - at least he remembered his old packmates, right? He remembered the love they'd had for each other the love he'd had for the Uktena surely he remembered all of that: though he would not see them. Ah, no."

Regretful. Her eyes are gleaming, furious salt.

"No, he did not. Because there was none of that: not ever. Proof of it in how he behaved toward the Uktena's love, the girl he knew the Uktena loved, knew, joked-at, helped the Fianna and the other Fianna because the Fianna were fucking the best ones tease him, but gently, over - when he was so stinking drunk he did think: I'll tap this. And that tapping to come when the girl the Uktena loved had come to him for help, because that Uktena was still struggling with sorrow - with the fucking shadow."

Seger

And he does listen. He doesn't just try to listen. He sits there and he listens to the way they met. Their newness together and their uncertainty and their happiness running with Eyes in the Dark. Easy to forget about happiness with everything that came after that. Her falling away into that dark her eyes saw through and he taking up the mantle of leadership because Glen and Maria didn't want to do it and Hector and Tamsin were both young.

She tells it well. Tells it smoke-drenched and salt-stained like so many Fianna tales are and by the end of it her eyes are threatening to spill water and his have gone hard. He's sitting up straighter and his nostrils are flaring and now they're getting back to the meat of it. To why she is so mad. Why she has a right to be so mad.

"You left out the part where the girl the Uktena loved fucking lied to Spark-Gap and told him she didn't think of the Uktena like that. How he asked her more than once what the hell she was doing coming out to Las Vegas if she didn't feel that way about him and how every time she told him No, no, no, we're not banging, we're just friends. I'm just here because I care about him same as Tamsin I would never think of Hector like she had no fucking clue. If you're gonna tell the story don't fucking make it out like--"

Hall

Tamsin does not interrupt him at this time. Her eyes do spill over; he's a blur, but she is not crying. She's absolutely silent and still and jaw-taut.

Seger

"... are you crying?"

He's like a white Hector sometimes man, god.

Hall

"No."

Seger

"Well don't make it out like I did it on purpose, man. She fucking lied to me. If I thought she had feelings for him I never would've tapped that."

Hall

"Oh." Her eyes widen. "Oh, I'm sorry, your dick just accidentally, like, not on purpose, hardened up and ... Fell up her twat. Shit, I am sorry, my bad."

Seger

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED."

Now it's his turn to be sarcastic. Holding his hands out to her like she's some kind of new age prophet come into this world to save them all from lies and deceit.

"HOLY SHIT TAMSIN. I'm so glad you... it's fine. Don't worry about it! Glad we got that cleared up."

Hall

[Pretend thing. -5 dice.]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (6, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Seger

[perc + subt!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )

Hall

"Also, shockingly, you kind of missed the point, which is I don't fucking care what her feelings were. She's a fucking idiot who thinks it's a good idea to give birth alone in a fucking splinter-ridden HUT attended by no one but the nervous wreck Rage-filled GALLIARD father of her not long for the world spawn who I sure hope inherits Maria's brains. You knew what Hector's feelings were and you just didn't give a shit when it came down to it, just like you just don't give a shit about me. And I fucking love you still, because I didn't want anybody to be silenced and nothing, I didn't give up on anybody, so yeah as soon as Hector actually told me the shit that went down I came to beat you up. Lola's a grown woman she can do what she wants but you were a brother and you shouldn't've. You knew. Whatever whatever whatever whatever whatever. What-the-fuck-ever."

Tamsin rubs her forehead with the palms of her hands, not so much because she's hiding her face or avoiding looking at Corey, but because god damn, she just hurts all over.

Seger

"You're right."

Well shit. He sighs like the weight of what he just said has settled on him harder than he thought it would.

"You're right. I was wrong. And I was serious when I said I was sorry. I don't know what else to tell you unless you wanna hear I'm gonna let you beat me up."

Hall

Tamsin looks the least gleeful she has ever looked to hear those two words. She looks in fact completely devastated; good thing she is still rubbing her forehead so it's a little harder to tell.

She sniffles and says, scornfully, "Pft, 'let.' The fuck is this 'let.' I am going to beat you up. Probably not today, but maybe next month. Just because you got lucky in a parking lot."

Yep. The two-times Ahroun Fostern got lucky.

Hall

ooc: er. "Just because you got lucky in a parking lot fucking think you can use the word 'let.'"

Seger

"I was fucking born lucky."

He's not even trying to be sarcastic. He knows. He was born a lot of things. Privileged and loved and knowing what his fate would be. Corey is lucky. He recognizes this.

And he sighs and gets to his feet.

"C'mon. I'll get you a gourd and take you back to your car."

Hall

"And buy me a drink."

Seger

Well shit. She's got him there.

Corey considers. Isn't like he hasn't got the money or the time. And she did dump beer all over his goddamn head. So he could use a drink too.

"I'll buy you like five drinks. Let's go."

Hall

[PRETEND THINGS. -5.]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 9) ( success x 1 )

Seger

[knock it off]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 5 )

Hall

[IT IS ONLY BECAUSE I AM BEATEN UP. D:]

Hall

Tamsin's pretty good at lying, at being all silver-tongued, persuaive, like you don't really know where you stand with her or what's up. Tamsin: she doesn't go around lying all the time -- though she does enjoy spinning a tall tale and seeing just how many suckerfish are going to bite at the hook. But she's good: good at being convincing, good at concealing. Fog helps with that too.

This ain't one of those times. Tamsin. She takes her palms away from her forehead (just feels something splintering in them, anyway, something cracking against her palms--), and smirks.

"Five? Didn't you know, Sparky, there's an old custom from Tara, says you offer a Fianna five drinks it's a mortal insult, oh indeed it is, but it's an even worse insult to then go back and buy less than five, so looks like you're stuck buying me seven or somthing."

See. She's fine. Whatever. Drinks. They'll go and get some drinks and then she'll get into her borrowed car and that will be ... Something. For now though, Corey knows she's just trying not to think about things too closely.

Because the look in her eyes, that's just betrayed and sad and betrayed again and sadder, sorrowing, heart-break, resignation, whatever.

Smirk; it'll all be okay with alochol.

"... And if you're going to buy me seven, why the fuck not nine, you know? Uh," pause. "Where are my SHOES?"

Seger

[WRAPPAGE]