Currently the moon is in the waning Crescent Moon phase (34% full).
Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 58 degrees Fahrenheit (14 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the east at 12 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 29.93 and steady, and the relative humidity is 35 percent. The dewpoint is 31 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius.)
It is currently 14:39 Pacific Time on Sun Jul 15 2001.
Sophia's Apartment(#4128RAJ$)
Small, bare, and uninviting, this little apartment is clearly not the dwelling of a homebody, nor of a person accustomed to entertaining. The sitting area has only bright white plastic lawn furniture that looks as if it might have been manufactured by Tupperware. Makeshift shelves of cinderblocks and 1"X8" boards bow with the weight of scores of books. Titles like "Rescuing the Bible From Middle America" or "Zarathustra: Modernism in Antiquity" can be seen here, along with dozens of dime-store paperbacks.
The kitchen looks as if it might never have been cooked in. A small microwave on the counter is still blinking "12:00", no one having bothered to set the clock. Beside it is an electric can opener. The only evidence of use is a single glass in the stainless steel sink and a few fast-food bags in the trashcan. The sole decoration on the refrigerator is a postcard bearing a photograph of a monstrous, grimy power plant with "Come to Hanford!" printed on the bottom in fluorescent green.
Through a door opposite the kitchen, the tiny bedroom looks slightly more lived-in. On top of a black particle-board dresser sit a hairbrush, a few hair-ties, and several plastic hairclips, along with a small pile of cheap costume jewelry. A frame designed to hold several of snapshots is hung squarely on the wall. The small writing table is bare, nothing on top, nothing inside. The bed is made, a bright yellow bedspread bravely trying to cheer up the room.
Sophia is sitting cross-legged in one of the lounge chairs, reading a book called "Gays in the Ministry: The Other Front." Her hair is wet, laying limp on her shoulders.
Sitting in a lawn chair, sipping a chilled coffee from a popular, local coffeehouse, Dizzy ponders idly at the window. "I'll probably be going out later," she tells her roommate, "Do you need me to pick up something?"
Sophia looks up from her book, a dazed look in her eyes. "Wha? Oh, no. I don't need anything. I'm thinking I'll wait till dark to chase John down, if I do it at all." She frowns as she says this; it's hard to be worried on such a nice afternoon.
There's a hesitant knock on the door, followed by some muttered grumbling. It sounds self-deprecating.
Dizzy nods, still staring at the window. A television would be nice, she thinks. "Well, call me if I'm not home when you get worried enough to go look for him." She sits up and looks at the door. Giving her roommate a quick glace she rises and goes to answer it. "Hello Core," she greets the pre-changed cub, "What brings you over today to our humble abode?"
Sophia shifts slightly as Dizzy opens the door, trying to get a better look. When she sees that it's Corey, she smiles and sets her book aside. "Hi there."
Corey smiles weakly as he steps it. "Not interrupting anything, am I?" Seeing that he's apparently not, "I'm getting lonely, believe it or not. Hops isn't the world's greatest roommate, and I haven't seen hide nor hair of anyone else. Do I just sleep through it when something interesting's going on, or is it really that dull around this place?"
Dizzy closes the door behind Corey and shakes her head, smiling, "Nope, just counting ceiling cracks."
Sophia smiles with friendly warmth. "Boring is good sometimes. But yeah, things have been kind of quiet around here. It would help if John weren't away. He's good for entertainment; like a nice big jigsaw puzzle. If you're looking for excitement, just come find me or Dizzy. We'll get you into plenty of trouble." She winks at Corey.
Corey raises an eyebrow at Sophia in shock. "But... what would all the elders say?" Then he winks to show he got the real gist. "I could almost use some trouble."
Sophia jokingly scowls at the boy, her glare quickly fading to a grin. "Dunno. So, ok. When I talked to John, it sounded like he wanted me to go over the litany with you guys again. 'Drill' was, I think, the word he used. Do you guys have any questions about it? Do you want me to list them again? Before too long, you should be able to list them from memory."
Dizzy laughs at her roommate's antics, and lets Corey answer as she sips her drink.
Corey has a fairly good memory. He sits down on the floor, since he's not particularly fond of the lawn furniture. "Okay. Want us to start listing what we can?" He clears his throat. "Rule number one: no boinking the relatives." He pauses, then rephrases it as he's heard it. "Garou shall not mate with Garou."
Dizzy giggles, enjoying Corey's sense of humor.
Sophia interjects here. "....Don't get confused about that one, though. Kin are relatives, but they're allowed. But not till after you Rite."
Dizzy grins in Sophia's direction and teases her, "Can't wait for that, expecially now, huh?"
Corey nods, and rephrases again, using a Marlon Brando-as-the-Godfather voice. "You don't mess with the Family." His voice lapses back to normal as he grumbles. "Figures. A girl finally seemed to take interest in me as something other than a tool, and I can't do a thing because of the laws of /another/ society."
Sophia frowns. "Are you telling me another Garou has a crush on you?"
Dizzy sighs as she doesn't get the reaction from Sophie that she expected, and goes back to her coffee.
Corey shakes his head, sighing. "Had, I think. Then she learned I had that spirit bound to me. Honestly, I don't know if she ever actually had any interest." He goes silent before he rewords the encounter from possible love to probable disgust.
Sophia cheers up at the idea that the unknown woman will not be pursuing her tribesmate, and says, "You need someone to cuddle up with, I'm sure I could set you up with Samantha. She's very sweet. Gnar kin, but very clean." She looks sideways at Dizzy with a big grin.
Dizzy covers her mouth as not to spill the beans, but the grin on her face in unmistakeable. "Samanatha is the sweetest, she'll love you," she says with a nod.
Corey looks extremely put off by the idea. "Umm. Yeah. I'll take her to a movie, we can do the whole Lady & the Tramp thing at a nice little Italian restaurant..." Seems someone forgot Corey's already been introduced.
Sophia giggles. "She's more of the Lassie type, but anyway. Can you tell me why it's important to follow that rule?"
Smiling, Dizzy rolls her eyes and leans against the door. The joke isn't as funny if the other party is privy to the punchline.
Corey takes off his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose, thoughtfully. "Okay, umm, I know this." He continues at it for a few seconds, then adds, "It's something about having the recessive gene doubled produces, um, undesireable mutations?"
Sophia blinks. "Dizzy?" she says, leaning her head toward her roommate but keeping her eyes on Corey, "Can you tell me what he just said?"
Dizzy nods, "He's saying that metis have deformities when they are born. Like Kaz and Roger."
Sophia nods. "Very good, Corey, that's right. I don't know about all that gene stuff, but yeah, Metis come out basically inbred."
Corey manages a wry grin at Sophia. Then he blinks and looks at Dizzy. "Kaz? Strange, she didn't look deformed," he muses. Roger, he can see being deformed in the head, but Kaz appeared normal.
"Yep," Dizzy answers, "I don't think anyone would call themselves a metis unless they were. I wouldn't admit it, personally."
Sophia clears her throat softly and rearranges her legs, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Your turn, Diz."
Dizzy finishes her coffee and heads to the kitchen to throw it into the trash. "Submission to those of higher station. Don't dump soda on the cliaths." She says with a hint of amusment. That's her own personal litany violation.
Sophia chuckles, gathering her hair and clipping it up out of her way. "S'right. Most of them will throat you and the rest'll track you to speak sweetly to you about how good little cubs don't do naughty things like that." She shifts a bit in the lawn chair so that her legs are draped over the arm.
Corey raises an eyebrow at Dizzy's all-but-a-confession, but doesn't ask for details. What he does ask Sophia is, "Is there an actual order to these? A sort of priority scheme?"
There is sudden 'thud thud' sound on the door, then a pause, and another similar sound. A few moments later the sound returns yet again. Odd.
Dizzy goes to get the door again. It doesn't sound like Jeremy, and John is out getting drunk, who could it be? She opens the door and low and behold, beer-boy! Stepping aside to let him through, Dizzy welcomes him with a simple, short, "Hi."
As Dizzy is giving her greeting a small superball bounces up from the floor in front of her, and hits her in the chest. Beer-boy can be seen on the other side of the hall, sitting against the wall, presumably waiting for the ball to bounce back.
Sophia sticks out her tongue to make her brain work better. To Corey, she says, "That's one of those things I can never get answered. That and the order of introduction. I don't think there's a priority, but there might be a specific order. We'd have to ask a Philodox about that." At Hops's entrance, she nods and waves a hand toward the floor. "Come on in. We're going over the Litany." She stands up and offers, "Anybody want a drink? Milk, or KoolAid, maybe?"
Corey glances to the doorway, and outside. 'Oh, him' is in the expression on his face. Promptly losing interest, he turns back to Sophia. "What flavor?"
Dizzy is a tad ticked at being hit by the toy and entertains the thought of slamming the door shut. Instead she leaves it open and walks into the kitchen to help her roommate with drinks. "I'm fine," she says quietly to Sophia, declining a drink.
Sophia beams. "Red, of course. Only the best in this house."
Jonathan gets up from the floor, and retrieves the ball from the floor. Then the cub ambles into the room and takes a sead. "What are you up to?" he asks, looking to Sophia, "Because I got a few questions."
Corey chuckles. "As long as it's not that noxious blackberry mix, I'll take a glass, thanks." He listens to Hops, and makes a gesture as of ripping a page off a desk calendar. Take a number, pal.
Sophia bends down to peek out from behind the cupboard/bar that separates the kitchen from the living room. "Like I said, not much. Just going over the Litany. But we can pause for a minute, no problem. What kinds of questions you got? You want some Kool-Aid, Hops?" she says, getting a couple of glasses out.
Dizzy grins at her roommate's comment, takes a moment to compose herself and returns to the living area to close the door quietly.
Jonathan reaches into his pocket and fishes out a Mobilon (c), the screen is flipped open and a small pen-like object removed. He scribbles around for a moment then mumbles, "Here it is. Lets see, litany.. litany.. Ahh, there we go." The cub starts reading from the thoughts he had written down, "Okay, so this Wyrm thing, how does it breed?"
Corey looks at Jonathan with a new appreciation. He hadn't noticed Hops taking notes during the learning session. He glances at Sophia. "Can I try this one? We are moving on to the next law anyway, right?"
Dizzy rolls her eyes, beer-boy is just like Jeremy with his little toys. Leaning back up against the door, she listens to Corey.
Sophia comes out with a glass for her and for Corey, giving him a nod. "Sure. Oh, and Hops? Did you want some Kool-Aid? I didn't hear your answer." She hands Corey one glass and offers the other to Hops.
Jonathan blinks, then the question seems to register with him, "Wha? Oh, yeah, sure. Kool-Aid." He says, then keeps scrolling down on the document. "So? How does the Wyrm breed? I mean, if we're gonna stop it, best to know about it." No, he's not an Uktena, "And I'm assuming it isn't just a 'special hug' when one Wyrm really likes another."
Corey takes a sip and nods, pronouncing it good. "All right. Kick ass and take names. Ay-kay-ay, Combat the Wyrm whereever it dwells and whenever it breeds. The first part's reasonably obvious, but I think the second part has to do with poisoning people's minds. It breeds by converting others to its principles. Sorta like Christianity, or, well, any organized religion, but less benign."
Jonathan blinks at Corey, and just has to ask. "Christianity, benign?" he shakes his head and chuckles. "So you're telling me the Wyrm is less benign then, say, the crusades. Hmm, bad stuff then." Jonathan continues down the list, moving on. "Hmm, lets see, Oh, here. What is a Caern? You told us we had to make sure not to violate one, but you didn't explain what it was exactly."
Sophia nods at Corey's words and hands the Kool-Aid to Hops, heading into the kitchen to get another glass for herself. Returning quickly, she holds up a finger for Hops to wait. "I like that analogy, Cor. See Hops, some crimes are self-propagating. Like, take drugs for instance. You do it once, you want to keep doing it. And then you do all kinds of terrible things to keep doing it, which fucks up your life, so you never want to be sober again. So you do even worse things to get even more drugs."
Dizzy frowns at the mention of drug and looks over to the window, noticing that it's late in the afternoon. If she sticks around much longer, it's going to be too late to search for Kaz. She looks over at Sophia with a look of apology, "I've got to get going, Sophie. Sorry I can't stay and discuss litany longer, boys." She grabs her coat and hat from the bedroom. Putting on her sunglasses and searching for her keys she reminds her roommate, "Call me when you're ready to go, okay?"
Sophia nods quickly to Dizzy, waving. "Write down your number for me before you go."
Corey makes a face. "I didn't say that the overall actions of so-called Christians were benign, just that their guiding ideals were better than those of the Wyrm." He nods at Sophia's expansion on the subject. "Those 'worse things' including getting others hooked, which fucks over their lives, ad infinitum."
Jonathan nods towards Corey. "Oh, sorry." he waves to Dizzy. "See you around." and then his attention is returned to Sophia. "So, Ma'am, when this Wyrm breeds, how do we know?"
After hurrying back into the bedroom, Dizzy comes out scribbling something on to a pad of paper. She sets the pad near the phone and pockets the pen. "Okay, there you go. I'm outs." And with that, she leaves, closing the door behind her.