Currently the moon is in the waning No Moon phase (14% full).
Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the east at 3 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.08 and falling, and the relative humidity is 70 percent. The dewpoint is 53 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius.)
It is currently 13:23 Pacific Time on Wed Jul 18 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 small writing table is completely taken up by a computer, powered up and humming softly.
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 bed is made, a bright yellow bedspread bravely trying to cheer up the room.
Sophia giggles. "When my mom first told me, I thought she said /See/urge. Like, you want to /see/ everything, you know? And actually, that's not a bad description. But really, it's /Thee/urge."
Jonathan nods. "So what does that mean? How am I suddendly getting it right? All I did was ask you a simple question." he pauses for emphasis then adds, "One that you still haven't answered."
Sophia smiles. "You're being obscure and weird, that's how you're getting the hang of it. Your question made no sense."
Something is different about the room. First of all, the door is wide open. Second, things are cleaner than usual. There are no books scattered about; all of them are placed neatly on the shelves, for perhaps the first day in a week. But most importantly, the computer is assembled, albeit a little oddly, on the writing table. The mouse is on the left of the keyboard for some reason, and the powerstrip is on the right. Both of the lawn chairs are right in front of the computer. Jonathan is sitting in one of them, to the side of the computer. Sophia is pacing back and forth across the room.
Dizzy walks right in the open door and heads straight for the kitchen. She gives her roommate a little wave, "Hey. What are you two doing?"
Jonathan blinks. "Ahh." he says as if he just got it. Mainly the 'as if'. "I see." He lied. "Let me rephrase... Why are you looking for the metaphors? Isn't that more of a gilligan type job?"
Sophia shrugs. "Still trying to find out how Rat is different from Cockroach. I'm hoping to give Daisy some good answers today. Hops here, smart kid. Pointed out that Rat is a mammal, and Cockroach has a... a.... exorcism?"
The fridge contains a water-filter pitcher, a carton of eggs, a jug of kool-aid, and several film canisters. A half-empty jug of whole milk, a wide variety of sandwich meats and cheeses, some bread, and always at least one container of leftovers you really shouldn't open.
Jonathan just facepalms. "Exoskeleton." he says, and kicks out the chair so Sophia will sit. "Sit, listen, take notes." He says, apparently his turn to teach. "Twelve years of the best private tutors that money could buy, and twelve hours a day of studying, including weekends finnally pays off." he then adds as an afterthought, "Still not worth it."
Sophia frowns and takes a seat. She is clearly uncomfortable with Hops being the teacher, but she wants the information, so she does as told.
Opening up the fridge, the ragabash pokes her head in and rummages around. A groan is heard from within just before Dizzy stands back up and shuts the door just a little harder than she should. She turns around and leans on the fridge. "I'm going to go crazy," she informs the room, holding a hand to her forehead.
Jonathan nods towards Dizzy. "Good idea." he says, "I went mad for a while, did me no end of good. You see..." he pauses and grins, "I just took my mind off the hook for a bit. I reckoned if the world wanted me back bad enough it would call back. It did." he then returns his gaze to Sophia, still wondering if anyone will place what he just said. "Okay, look, a rat is a mammal. It has fur, it gives birth to live young, all that stuff. A Cockroach is an insect. It has an E-X-O-S-K-E-L-E-T-O-N." He says to word slowly and slightly louder, much like if he were talking to someone who didn't speak english. It wouldn't help, but that just seems to be what people do. "That means its bones are on the outside of its body. It is kind of like a mammal turned inside out. Bones on the outside, flesh on the inside. Also, a Cockroach lays eggs, not live young. A Cockroach will lay its eggs then abandon them, unlike a Rat that will care for its young, give milk, and so forth." he shrugs. "Also, a few things I guess you could use. When everything else is dead, Cockroaches will survive. There are cockroaches living at Chernobyl, actually." he smirks.
Long distance to the room: Dizzy shakes her cubmates, "No keep secret."
Sophia nods. "I covered already how cockroaches will live through anything. I also covered how they don't run through mazes, they'd just climb out of the maze. And... I also covered how they are more sneaky. It was your kinfetch spirit who taught me that. A cockroach can sit on your head and you won't know about it." To the kitchen, she calls, "Why are you going crazy, Diz?"
Jonathan looks to Sophia in a confused manner. "People need a reason all of a sudden?" he chuckles and taps away a few keys on the keyboard, and then pulls up a web page. It seems to be some sort of forum about the mental healthcare system. "My website." he explains. "A bit of an activist I guess."
Dizzy walks back into the living area, still holding her head. "I've got a major headache. I think I'm going into withdrawl," she explains with a bit of a whine.
Sophia frowns and looks over at Dizzy. "You're not talking about drugs again, are you?"
Jonathan continues, looking to Sophia still. "If you cut off the head of a Cockroach it can live for a further two weeks, until it dies of starvation." He smirks, "Show that little experiment to Daisy. I'm sure she'll shit a brick." he snickers, "Anyway, while rats aggregate together by scent and sound, for the Cockroach there is an aggregation pheromone. This pheromone is a species specific chemical message that elicits aggregation. Rats merely smell eachother, Roaches can actually change their scent to 'call' eachother. Although with some modern techology this is a disadvantage, seeing as they can be 'called' to their deaths."
Dizzy gives her roommate a weak grin, "Yah, I am. Caffeine. I haven't had any in two days."
Sophia tilts her head and looks at Dizzy. "Just by one of those machines, online." She furrows her brow and returns her gaze to Jonathan. "So, why exactly do they want to aggravate each other?"
Dizzy shakes her head, "Sorry, I've no idea how that whole shopping on the computer thing works."
Jonathan facepalms and shakes his head. "AGG-re-gate." he says, "As in, group together." he explains, and quickly hits alt-n, pulling up a new browser window and opening the dictionary.com refferance to the word.
Sophia nods and enters the URL www.starbucks.com one finger at a time, then motions for Dizzy to come over and look. "You just click on what you want, see? Have a credit card?" She stands up and moves a side. "Jeremy's been teaching me how to use it. I ordered some new clothes last night, since Corey freakin' went and had mine bound to him. I don't want to be dressed like this for the next month." She points to her clothing, which is smaller, perhaps, than it should be.
Dizzy peers over and looks, "Yeah, of course I've got a creadit card. But isn't it... unsafe to use it over the internet? Hackers and such?"
Jonathan looks between Sophia and Dizzy, then back again. "Umm, okay." says, then smiles to Sophia, "Here, I'll make you really proud of my auspice." and then he begins speaking to Dizzy. "You don't have to worry about that, as long as the web page uses SSL and 128 bit strong encryption. You could be using a crae supercomputer and still not crack that in under half a million years." he chuckles, "But you need to watch for problems closer to home. You know, like keystroke recorders." he smiles to Sophia, then explains. "Just let me do the order for you, and if anything goes wrong /I'll/ pay you twice what you lose, okay?"
Sophia shrugs. "Dunno. Sure." She stands up and moves out of the chair, sitting on the floor to the other side of Jonathan. "Ok. Sorry for the interruption. You were saying? Cockroaches and rats both huddle in groups, but rats find each other with noise and sight, and cockroaches find each other with smells. And a cockroach can live for a long time without its head. Only you're saying, because cockroaches are sneakier, they can be sneaked, right? Because they expect it from each other?"
Dizzy thinks, "Well, I'll have to try that later. Besides coffee we need some new furnature as well." She looks around, "Definately need more than two seats."
Jonathan pauses to think about this. "You're giving them too much intelligence. Cockroaches are not as smart as Rats, they lack intelligence, they operate on instinct. This has its ups and downs. They won't learn to run a maze, but they will eat through the walls and take the cheese." he smirks, then gets back to the subject. "So what I'm saying it that they can be sneaked because they trust eachother. Or rather, that they listen to eachother's commands, trust would be too high of a thought process for them." He then turns to Dizzy, "Hmmm, lets see." he considers, then looks about. "I think a recliner would be nice for relaxing, three more padded chairs as well." he taps the desk. "And a /real/ desk too. Not to mention a better modem for this computer."
"Well, Jeremy is in charge of the computer and everything in it, but a desk and a bookshelf are both needed. A coatrack too." Dizzy looks to her roommate, "Anything else?"
Sophia frowns. "Jeremy said this modem was real good. Fast. What else does it need? And besides, I can't go and tell Daisy that cockroaches are dumber than rats. That won't help me any." With a quick glance at Dizzy, she says, "Um... yeah. A beanbag. And a kitchen table."
Jonathan smiles. "Ahh, okay. I'll order a nice set of furniture for you, on me, my treat." he smiles and then sets about considering Sophia's words. "Hmm, put it like this, the Rats have low thought processes, they are.. stupid. The cockroaches don't even have to think to survive. They already know what do to, they operate on instinct. They don't have to stop and consider something. Also, cockroaches have been around a lot longer then rats." he suddendly gets wide eyed and chuckles. "You.. you have to see it." he says, and procceeds to tap at the keyboard while humming. "Mmmmm mmmm mm mm hmm hmm mmm." then mumbles to himself as he goes about placing an order. "We welcome you to joe's appartment..." and he sends off the order. "You and Daisy are going to love this movie."
Dizzy raises an eyebrow at the male theurge, "Your treat?" She ponders how expensive it'll be and considers, "Okay."
Sophia nods as Jonathan talks. "Now, see. That's a lot more like it. There's one thing about Gnawers and Cockroaches, though, that I want to say, but just can't fit into the metaphor. Gnawers are, well, they're bums. I mean, not all of them, but that's the stereotype."
Jonathan nods to Dizzy. "So I'll set up the room for you, I don't suppose you'd mind a decent bed and all? I mean, I know I'm going to order myself one." he looks back to Sophia. "Now, as I was asking an hour and a half ago. Why are you doing all this? What do you get for the job?" he looks to Sophia curiously. "Because, I could use a good word with the elders, if you know what I mean."
"Job?" Dizzy questions, looking to her roommate for the answer, "You got a job?"
Sophia lowers her eyes at Hops. "You don't have to do me favors to get a good word with the elders. I tell them the honest-to-Gaia truth, good or bad, even if I get the shit beaten out of me for it. Our beds are Ok the way they are." After staring into Hops's eyes for a few seconds, she looks over at Dizzy. "No. Don't you remember, last night? I asked Daisy what I needed to learn before I could Rite, and all she said was, tell me about the tribe."
Dizzy nods, "Oh, okay. I see."
Jonathan nods towards Sophia. "Okay. You think I could meet Daisy sometime? I mean, it would be nice to know who the elders are and all."
Sophia looks at Jonathan with obvious surprise. "You did meet her. The day you got here. She was the young-looking one, with the lollipops? And she's not just /an/ elder, she's /the/ elder. Of the tribe. She's a lot of the reason that I think it's a load of bull you guys think I'm a child just because of my age. She was born a wolf; she can't be more than 4 years old. So what? She's still the person in charge around here. She'll probably be around tonight, for cub training, if you want to see her."
Jonathan nods to Sophia politely. "You're still a kid." he comments, "Since you ain't no wolf. A wolf is born and learns quickly how to survive. You spent your first couple of years crapping on yourself and crying for a bottle." he shakes his head. "No offence of course, I did too. The point is, you're a kid, and nothing is going to change that."
Dizzy slaps Hops lightly on the side of the head for the crapping comment, but she nods in agreement, "We're garou, but we're humans too. Split between the two."
Jonathan makes a mock 'ow' sound and smiles up towards Dizzy. "Why does everyone seem to want to hit me lately?" he asks rhetorically.
Sophia looks at him, her eyes fixing on his face. "If we weren't Garou? If we were just normal people? Then yeah. You'd know a lot more about your world than I would. But the fact of the situation is that you guys have known who you were for about a week. You can't defend yourselves against weaklings yet. You don't know how to heal yourselves without someone else pointing it out to you. You don't even introduce yourselves right unless someone politely elbows you in the gut. It won't take very long for you to catch up to me in terms of experience, sure. But for the moment, /you/ are the children, at least in the Garou world. So when it comes to family stuff, I'm the big sister. We walk outside that door, which, by the way, we aren't allowed to do anymore without a Cliath. We walk outside that door, and you're totally right. Suddenly, I'm the little sister, and I gotta ask for help to do the things I need to do. You just gotta keep it all in perspective."
"I'm trying, Sophie, really," Dizzy explains, "But think for a minute how you would feel if suddenly you were surrounded by 10 to 12 year olds who suddenly were your teachers. How would you feel?"
Jonathan nods towards Dizzy. "Exactly." he shakes his head. "Sometimes I think I've finnally gone insane.... the rest of the time I know I have." The Theurge cub just sighs. "Anyway, lets just forget about the fact you can't even watch an R-rated movie but you're allowed weapons..." okay, maybe he didn't forget about it, "And move on. Let me be completely self centered for a moment here and ask, when the heck am I going to change?"
Sophia grins, blowing off the age discussion. "You wanna change? I'll talk you through it. All you had to do was ask." The look on her face suggests that she, too, really wants for him to have his first change. "You might want to change into something you don't mind ripping and then bring another set of clothes in here and set them in the bathroom, unless someone's already fixed your clothes onto you?"
Jonathan shakes his head. "I see." he says, and gets up. "Be right back." he comments, and moves down towards his room. About a minute later he is back, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. He smiles to the two females and strikes a 'body builder' type pose. "Yeah, I know you want me for my body." he comments and leans against the wall. "Well, now what?" he asks Sophia, one hand on the towel, just to be sure.
Dizzy says, "Well, I know you're not gonna want me around for this. I'll just...", she ponders this for a moment and shrugs, "go watch some TV. Not much to do around here."
Sophia nods to Dizzy and waves. "Probably better, anyway. Who cares if your little sister sees you in the buff, right?" She chuckles a little. "Just to warn you, half the elders will give you hell if you're too modest, the other half will give you hell if you're not. So. Alright, I want you to think about the last time you were really, really pissed off. Don't /get/ pissed off, just remember it. And I'm not talking just, like, pissed enough to say something snotty. I'm talking, pissed enough to rip out someone's heart and fuckin' feed it to them, ya know? Ever felt like that?"
Dizzy waves a goodbye and ventures downstairs.