Garou - Friday, February 13, 2004

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Currently the moon is in the waning Half Moon phase (49% 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.

Obvious exits:

Front Hall

Natalie's figured out at least some of the bits of the entertainment center; something new-agey with flutes is playing quietly. She's shoved chairs out of the way to give herself a large space, and is currently doing tai-chi. She's got her back to the hallway at the moment, and seems quite intent on her forms.

The door creaks a little, and Tony lets himself into the parlor, wriggling out of his jacket and dumping it on a windowsill. He pauses at the music wafting from the speakers, regarding the woman listening to it curiously, scratching his head a little.

Natalie pulls invisible taffy from left to right, then right to left. It's rather like watching a movie in slow motion, except for the music. She reaches forward, steps, turns... and still fails to notice Anthony. That will happen when your eyes are closed.

Into the parlor tumbles Jeremy, carrying a duffle bag over his shoulders. The Gothic looks to be in a good mood for a change, despite yesterday's excitement. He offers up a grin to the pair. "Hey." He says, then pauses as he notices Natalie doing a swan dance.

"Oh, hey Jeremy," Anthony says, heading towards one of the shoved-aside chairs and settling into it. "What's in the bag?"

Nat's eyes fly open at the sound of Anthony's voice. She does a double-take at the sight of not one, but two people in her 'empty' parlor, but manages to keep form even though she stops moving. Jer's given a brief nod; Anthony gets a dubious look.

"Toys." Jermey starts unpacking the bag, brown boxes settled at his knees. Whipping out a knife, he cuts open the tapes, pulling out calculators, pens and small black boxes. "These aren't normal office supplies. They are radio transmitters, as well as pinhole based cameras. We're going to be bugging that Russian's place, you know, the guy who broke into my house all fricking Marine style? We're ganna find out what they know of the veil breech."

Anthony slouches forwards, looking at the assortment of spy equipment with a raised eyebrow. "Sounds pretty fancy," he agrees, nodding to Jeremy. "When's that gonna be?"

Anthony:

About five-foot-six and a touch on the stocky side, Anthony appears to be of Mediterranean descent, in his late teens. He has deep brown eyes framed by bushy eyebrows and high cheekbones, and his curly umber hair is close-cropped, a pair of thick sideburns running from above his ears down the sides of his jaw. Most of the time, he's slouching or leaning against something.

He wears a heavy red down coat over an unbuttoned red-white-and-blue plaid shirt, a pair of beat-up old blue jeans, and thick-soled hiking boots. A plain gold chain glints a little on the back of his neck. On his head is a faded blue baseball hat with an ornate "NY" embroidered on it in white.

He speaks quickly and in a gruff North Jersey accent, evidence of his ancestry.

"...'Kay," is Nat's contribution. "How d'you know where it is? Where he lives?" Her chin jerks slightly at Tony's back but otherwise she remains frozen. "And who the hell are you?"

"Natalie, calm down. Thats Tony, he's family. Otherwise he wouldn't be here." Jeremy says calmly enough as he continues to unpack the things. "And I know everything. I hacked Russia last month from a WiFi in StarBucks. I got info on all kinds of shit."

"Huh?" Anthony turns back to Natalie. "Yeah, I'm 'family'," he agrees, nodding back at Jeremy. "Either you're new here or I've managed to never see you since I got here," he says to Natalie.

Natalie closes her eyes again - just for a moment, just long enough to take a couple of quick breaths. "Great." Back she sinks onto her heels, her arms still upraised. "Your momma never told you about introductions? Natalie Baker, called Holds-the-Line. Galliard, Cliath. ...Ah, screw it." The last's more to herself than the others, for her arms drop and she retreats to the entertainment center.

Jeremy grins slightly over to the Galliard. "Well, who the hell are you, is not exactly a friendly Hello either." He smiles, leaning back some, hands placed behind him. "You two get to know each other, while I find out how to activate the smoke detector video cameras."

"I was getting to it, sheesh," Tony says, shifting in his chair and folding his arms. "I'm Anthony Bonavitacola, Shakes-the-Earth, cliath Ragabash. How's that?" He gives Jeremy a sort of 'what the hell' look at the suggestion

Natalie punches buttons and the flute stops. "Sorry." Not that she sounds particularly sorry, but. "Oh, you're Anthony, huh? Yeah, I just got into town Wednesday night." She leaves the rest of the equipment on, instead choosing to join the boys. "Jeremy, you are the biggest geek. Who is this Russian guy anyway and... you said 'Veil breach'?"

Anthony yawns and stands up, heading towards the door. "I'll be back in a bit, I'm gonna go pick up something to eat, I think," he declares to nobody in particular as he collects his jacket from the windowsill.

Anthony leaves the parlor, going into the front hall.

"See ya later Tony." Jermey says with a bright smile over his face. "This guy is named Boris. A real prick from what I here. Well, he sent in a buncha special ops into my house, looking for Salem. Seems to me that they got photoage of him or something, shifting into a werewolf, or at least information on it. Cuz', they, for some reason, think he is a demon that made a deal with the devil so he can turn into a wolf. So they went to kill him in the name of God or something. Well.. Salem, Tony and I, killed them instead." He taps his head. "You gotta check out my apartment. I made Rambo look like a pussy, and James Bond a rookie. Anyways, seems to me that this Boris guy got ins and outs with chemical warfare as well as genetic fucking aroundings. I got a video stream downloaded into my thumb that shows a man breaking metal shackles, then killing like six guys with his bare hands before the vid killed out. He was superhuman. I'm thinking Fomori, or whatever. But, coming after Walkers was stupid."

Nat's eyebrows go up... and up... and up. "Hunh. So you think this Boris - and where would he get footage of Salem-rhya shifting? - knows about these... possible Fomori and thinks they come from the same source? Jeeze - I knew the religious right was getting militaristic, but this is kinda ridiculous. So this stuff," a hand waved toward the boxes of toys, "Is to see exactly how far this breach goes, and then..." She draws a finger across her throat.

Jeremy nods his head casually. "Something like that, more or less. We're going to go deeper than Boris. Going to see who he works for. Then, if its out of town. I hope on the net and send out word to my homies. They can pick up where we left off. Maybe I can get in contact with Strangelove if I hit brick walls. It knows everything."

Natalie echoes, "Strangelove?"

Jeremy grins sharply. "You don't know 'bout Strangelove? Its the most curious thing. We don't know if its male, female, Garou, or kin. All we know, is that its glasswalker. It shows up when you need it to, in the form of secure email. If you ever get lucky enough for it to call you, its voice is that of a robots. Kinda all.. weirdish, huh? The thing is.. Its so smart.. it knows everything. Rumor is, the voice of the weaver speaks through it."

Natalie 'huhs' again, sounding pleased. "Nah, never have. I suppose there's no way to contact it, right? That'd go against the grain of every properly mysterious wisdom I ever heard of."

Jeremy smiles. "She's famous on the GWNET boards. I can get you her email if you want. Tho'. She hardly replies unless its hella important."

Natalie merely lifts a shoulder. "You can. Drop me an email with it, or something." She nods toward the boxes o' toys. "So who's doing the infiltrating? And isn't Boris going to wonder if he comes home and discovers that OfficeMax has delivered something he didn't order?"

"Leala and I are going to do it. She's a Ragabash. You know how that goes. She and I got a lot of experience in this sorta thing. Sides.. we're ganna try an get him out of the house for a few hours, an then go from there." Jeremy says with a grin. "A pen here, a calculator there.. a few mics here..." He shrugs. "Stuff so small you don't even notice."

Natalie says, "I'd hope you were going to get him out of the house first. But that kinda leads me back to: how'd they get footage of Salem-rhya shifting in the first place?"

Jeremy shrugs his shoulders. "I think they got photoage. You may wanna ask him on all that. They did the interrogation. I just did the hacking. But, those that we left alive before we killed them, rambled on about it."

Natalie snorts and leans up against the frame of the door. "Oh yeah, that'll go over real well. "Excuse me, Salem-rhya, Elder of my tribe and man I'm trying to Impress, but how in hell were you so careless as to let someone see you shift? Why'd you shift out in public anyway, and why did you leave survivors?" --No thanks, Jer, I'd rather not. I like my throat the way it is. Makes breathing much less bloodier."

"I can do it for you if you want." Jeremy says simply with a shrug of his shoulders.

Natalie digs a toe into the floor. "You think that'll work? What's he like - really like - anyway? I got the 'looming and brooding' part Wednesday, but since then I haven't seen him more than ten minutes all together. What's he do with his time?"

"I don't know. I only bother the Don when I need him, otherwise, I think I practically run the mundane sort of things." Jermey says with a shift of his shoulders. "He's a busy Garou I am sure, but, he is not typical of most GlassWalkers. That much you can tell. He's not the tekkie type."

Natalie says, "That's not much to go on. Crap. I've really got to sit down with him and discuss this greenhouse thing. ...Oh, that reminds me. Do I have access to the web or anything? There's some good websites out there with kits, but... I suppose I could go to the library if I have to."

Jeremy reaches into his jacket and takes out a small phone, then grins. With of his thumb, he pops it open. "Well.. I did get you a phone.." He trails off. "But, I'm not sure if you gotta pass Chim yet. It has the password to the network, but, if you want, you can use my puter' and I'll log you on with minimal privaledges."

Natalie aborts her reach for the phone. "Yeah. Nah, minimal privileges is fine. I only need basic stuff anyway - reading email, getting to websites. Stupid question, I know, but you block popups, right?"

Jeremy smirks slightly. "Never even seen a pop up." He tosses the phone over towards you with a shrug. "If Salem yells at you for it, just have him yell at me. I don't got the blue tooth enabled on there yet anyways. I was going to do that t'night."

"Remind me what this blue tooth thing is, again?" She looks curiously at her new phone, then shrugs and shoves it into a front pocket. "Something with connecting, right?"

Jeremy nods his head. "Large bandwidth signal that can roam about three hundred feet and used for practical downloading and sharing of files and network tools."

"It's wireless," Nat guesses. "And, um... I could upload stuff off my PDA - if I had one - to the main house system?"

Jeremy nods his head. "I got a shared folder on the network for others to drag an drop stuff into it if they want to safe keep." He says with a smile, rolling his shoulders back a bit. "If you don't want others seeing your stuff, you just password encrypt it." He murmurs softly. "Not that'd it'd stop me."

Natalie's grin shows quite a number of teeth. "You know about 'discretion', right, Jeremy?"

Jeremy looks innocently over at Natalie. ".. Noooo..." He clears his throat. "Never heard of the word. You hungry?"

Natalie clicks her teeth together sharply. Mmm, tasty. "Not yet." She pushes herself off the doorframe lazily, nods toward the box o' stuff. "I'll help you read directions and stuff. Where's this stuff display, anyway? Or does it just record somewhere? Live feed, or...?"

Jeremy chuckles. "Instructions? They still make those things.?" He asks, rooting around in the box, then hands it over to her. "Ah, the big boxes arrived last night. Monitors which I plan on hooking up inside the back of a U-Haul truck after wire rigging it. That is going to be our video and audio feed."

Natalie smirks as she takes them. "When what you're working with has the potential of ripping off your arm - and I'm talking power tools, not Garou - then yes, you get into the habit of reading instructions. ...So who's going to monitor however-many-hours of watching Boris play Bejewelled? Are we going to try to... to get him to talk about Garou, or just be passive about the whole thing?"

"Ganna tap the phones really, set up video feeds around the house in all rooms." Jeremy says. "I'll be doing the watching of video an audio playback. Gaia help us if any of ya'll guys start touching things an get frustrated with the mechanics. I'd have about ten grand of toys broken in half. I'll just record everything, document it, burn it, then pass it off to the Don, let him figure it out."

Natalie says, "So you're going to make him sift through Gaia-knows-how-many-hours just to hear Boris say 'demon'? That doesn't sound real smart. Can't you set up a, program that will listen for key terms, or something? Mark the time on the tape it showed up? That way we can go back and review the important bits only."

Jeremy shakes his head. "Nope, cuz' what if they use code instead?" He shrugs his shoulders. "Anyways, like I said. I'm only giving him the information he needs to know. I'm not going to give him a couple hours of him watching TV or some shit." He chuckles.

"But why would they use code?" Nat points out logically, bending to wrap her arm around one of the boxes. "If they don't know they're being watched, there's no point."

"Well, they lost six men trying to take out one guy. Wouldn't you be a bit paranoid now that you pissed off the 'wolf changing demon'?" Jeremy asks.

Natalie hefts easily and heads over to one of the chairs. "Paranoid about that, sure. Paranoid that I thought I was being watched? Nah. Besides..." She sets the box down in front of the chair and swings a leg over it, "What if they talk in Russian? D'you know any Russian? I know 'vodka' and that's it." At least she says it with a reasonable accent.

Jeremy chuckles. "Rina can speak Russian I believe, fluently.. or is Italian? Eitherway. I got software that'd translate as best as it can for me if it comes down to it."

Natalie says, "Yeah, but does your software know about 'fomori'? How about 'werewolf'? Hell, even 'demon' is pretty unusual."

Jeremy thinks for a second and shrugs his shoulders. "I don't even think they know what fomori is. They think Salem is a demon, so using vocabulary for the Wyrm is out of their league. They are more like.. religious zealots.. I think. Its hard to explain. They go in all different directions. I'll getcha a copy of the DVD I burned if you want, so you can go over the info an glean something."

"I'd appreciate it." She pulls a Swiss army knife out of her other front jeans pocket and starts slicing tape. "Might be good for popcorn watching, or something. So." Three easy movements, and the box, she is open. Victory! "So how long's Anthony been here? He seems kinda... quiet. Subdued." Of course, having a stranger aggressively demand name, rank, and serial number would have nothing to do with that.

"He's kinda like the Omega of the tribe I guess you can say. Hell, I can probably boss him around. Anthony is a really nice guy. He's just.. unsure of himself, and tends to think too much before he speaks. Like he is scared to interject his opinion. I don't think the tribe was nice to him up in New York, those fucking elitists. He's clumsy, so they rag him. I think Salem puts up with him, but doesn't like him much." Jeremy says, taking out a tube of.. lipstick. He gives it a twist, revealing a camera instead where the make up would be.

Natalie quips drily, "I don't see Boris using that one much. Yeah, what little I saw of him he seems Omega to me, too. That's part of the reason I'm such a bitch. You act like people should walk on ya, and they will. You're pushy and upfront, and they give you respect." She grins toothily again, elbow resting on one knee as she sits in best Riker style. "Plus, if I end up Omega under Anthony I know it's time to move on."

Jeremy grins slightly and tilts his head at you. "Is that why you don't walk all over me?" He asks.

Natalie shakes her head. "Nah, there's no point. You're kin, not Garou. What I mean is, you don't fit into... into pack structure. You're outside it, so you're not really a threat." Her glance into her box o' goodies is more of a delaying action, time to regather thoughts before she looks back at the kin. "You see? I respect you for what you do, not... not what you are. Make sense?"

A wry grin forms over his face. "Thats cool. Even tho' we aren't 'pack', you'll find that we 'are'." He says with a nod. "Glass Walkers at least. I like living here, honestly, cuz Salem treats me good. He respects me, and he knows I got talent. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here."

Natalie's sitting, ala Riker, in one of the chairs with an open box in front of her. "Well, my Mom was quick enough to cuff me one if I was being stupid, so you'll get no argument from me. She was a nurse, worked at Henepin County."

"Oh thats cool. I don't got many contacts over that way. Far as I go is New York... an I got some Euro kin bros that I kick it with on Half Life servers." Jermey takes out what appears to be a smoke detector and puts it to the side, then opens up a box of walkie talkies and head sets with built in mics.

Anthony returns to the parlor, carrying a paper coffee cup in one hand. "I'm back," he declares to the room, and heads over to the sofa.

Natalie says, "There's lots more Get than you'd think, 'cause of all the Scandahoovians in the area. They're more outstate, of course." The Galliard removes a thick layer of air padding, drops it on the floor, then looks over to give Tony a nod. "Hey again. You're just in time for the unpacking. I bellycovered all the drooling and technobabble for you."

A wry grin forms over Jeremy's face. "These bad boys can go a quarter of a mile before losing reception. I think maybe I went over kill tho' on this thing." He puts a head set on, and plugs in an ear piece. He then takes the audio cables and plugs them into his PDA.

"Great," Anthony declares, crouching near the boxes and rubbing his chin at them thoughtfully. "How much did this stuff all cost? I mean, assuming it didn't fall off the truck or nothin'."

Natalie's cellphone - the old one - rings. She picks it up, frowning at the caller ID, and moves to the far corner of the room to answer.

Jeremy glances over to Natalie for a moment, then looks back to Anthony. "A lot." He says with a wink, then shrugs. "Not my money."

"So you're just going to stick this stuuff around their... house, office, whatever it is, and just eavesdrop on them?" Anthony asks, poking through the box Natalie had opened.

"Yup, and going to record it all too." Jeremy says with an evil cackle in his throat. "Its going to be awesome. Then, we're ganna special Ops his fucking ass like he did me."

"Who's 'we'?" Anthony asks, now, looking up at Jeremy, raising an eyebrow at the mad-scientist laugh.

"Well, Lee and I are ganna do the set up of the stuff, then I guess once we figure out the veil breech, ya'll big dogs are going to go in there and fuck shit up." Jeremy offers with a nod of his head.

"Ah, okay," Tony replies, nodding slowly and starting to unpack the box, examining each component before setting them in a line beside the box. "Any ideas how the veil got breached? Just out of curiosity."

Jeremy shakes his head. "That I do not know." He says. "I'd talk to Salem and see if he has a clue."

Anthony shrugs a little, looking down at the box pensively. "So, uh. You know when you're going to be setting all this stuff up yet, or is that still being planned?"

"Soon as I can get Leala to sit down for five seconds.. unless you want to do it with me. Yer' a raggie, right? You got that blur gift? Or opening up doors thing?" Jeremy asks.

"Well, yeah, but if you can get Leala it might be better..." Anthony scratches his head, looking up at Jeremy.

"Why would it be better for?" Jeremy asks, tilting head. "So which gifts you got?"

"Eh, never mind. Well, I know that I can do that Open Seal thing, and that blur gift, what's it called, something something of the milky eye, I think?" Anthony looks down at the floor for a moment. "I guess I could help out, then..."

Jeremy leans over and pokes Anthony. "Dude.. c'mon. Get some confidence in yerself, aiight?" He drawls. "Now, I'm ganna pull up schematics on his house if I can, and find the best exits and entrances. Hopefully I can find a way to get him out of the house for a few hours so we can set stuff up. How good at you with electronics?"

"Yeah, sure. Bye." Natalie returns to the others, pushing her phone's antenna back down. "Say Jeremy - we want to unpack all this stuff here? There somewhere better? I'm just imagining Salem's face if he comes in for a spot of reading and we're spread out all over the floor."

"Electronics? Not very... I mean, I know a little about them but I'm not great with them..." He picks up one of the 'toys', examining it and turning it in his hands.

"Alrightie..." Jeremy says with a soft breath. "I can work with it I guess. Maybe this can hep out with yer Chim some, huh?" He says with a grin, before glancing to Nat. "Ah, I'm sure he'll be Ok with it. I bet he'll wanna see this too."

"You know him better'n I do," Natalie allows, kneeling beside her box to help Anthony. "Oh, you're working on Chiminage too? What's Salem asking you to do? He wants me to build him a greenhouse, of all things."

"I don't know yet," Anthony says, putting the gadget on the floor again.

Jeremy grows quiet as he glances between the two, then shrugs his shoulders some, starting to hook up a few gadgets. He pulls out his PDA and taps it, then looks at the screen.

"You don't know yet?" repeats the Galliard incredulously, rising up onto her knees to shoot Jeremy a Look before sinking back onto her heels. "Geez Louise, why not? I wasn't here an hour before he was grilling me on what I'd do to prove myself. How d'you rank?"

"Salem says he can't give me anything before he knows what I can do, and I don't know what kind of stuff Salem's looking for me to be going out and doing, so I'm kinda stuck." Anthony shrugs, standing back up to stretch out his knees.

Natalie says, "Huh." She drags both hands through her hair, her eyes fixed on the Ragabash. "Well, what can you do, period? D'you know Rites? What sort of skills d'you have? ...And when'd you Rite, anyway? You been Cliath long?"

The sudden rush of questions elicits a sigh from Anthony. "I dunno, back home I just did whatever I got asked to do... mostly just running around and, like, investigating stuff and sometimes fixing things, you know, nothing special... I think it was, like, three years ago? Kinda long, I guess..."

Natalie quirks him a grin as she pulls a 'stapler' out of packaging. "Great. Now my mental image of you is in a track suit with a magnifying glass in one hand and a screwdriver in the other. You do any construction work?" She lifts her voice. "Hey Jer! I've figured out why Salem wants a greenhouse."

"How come?" Jeremy asks with a tilt of his head over towards Natalie, glancing up from his work.

"My dad's a contractor, an' he wanted me to be one, too. I don't remember ever not doing construction work," Anthony replies thoughtfully.

Natalie says, "He's gonna make you sit in it so you get some sun on that pasty skin of yours. Either that, or he wants to test the theory that goths dissolve if you put 'em in sunshine."

"Oh hell fucking No, you did not just go there." Jeremy says, blurting out with a laugh.

Natalie turns back to Anthony, eyebrows raised in surprised. "No crap? Me too - and that's what I do. I'm looking into getting a contractor's license here in state. So why didn't you tell Salem that? Then you'd be the one trying to make Jer toasty, not me."

Anthony laughs as well before turning back to Natalie. "I dunno, it didn't occur to me... I kinda froze up when I first saw him, I guess."

"Salem is hard to talk to." Jeremy mentions as he goes back to fiddling with his PDA, shooting Natalie a look. "An I happen to like my invisible tan."

Natalie grins at Jer. "You gonna do something about it? See, Tony, there you go. Ask Salem if you can help me with this greenhouse. Or see if there's anything else around the place that needs work. You taken a look in the basement yet, see what sort of plumbing they've got? I'm figuring iron."

"Natalie, you sleep here, right?" Jeremy asks with a raise of his brow.

"I took a look at the basement before, yes ... but when I checked, there were two dead Russians and a bunch of ghosts floating around so pardon me if I didn't get a good look at the plumbing," Anthony says, smiling slightly. "You know what, maybe I'll go check now; it might give me some ideas."

Natalie levels a finger 'gun' at the other Garou. "Bingo. I'm not even going to ask why we had Russians in the basement. Sounds too much like the set up to a killer punchline." She roots around in the box a moment longer, comes up empty and starts tossing packing material back into it. "Yup. Rina's room for now, since the place is so empty."

"Ah. Good." Jeremy says with a wide grin on his face as he gives her a look, then goes back to fiddling with his PDA.

Anthony wanders back to the exit. "If you hear two clangs on the pipes, it means I'm being attacked by ghosts," he calls back before leaving.

"I'll wait for the screaming, thanks," Nat calls after him before tilting her head at Jeremy. "Yeah, Salem suggested it first night. Quieter and more private than the Super-8. I think his eyes were gonna bug out when Rina suggested her room. I couldn't tell, though, I was too busy picking my jaw off the floor."

"She has a lot of rooms. She doesn't live here, only visits." Jeremy says with a nod of his head.

Natalie says, "That's how she explained it. It was a little weird, though. Hi, I'm a complete stranger. Well hi there, complete stranger, you can sleep in my room!" The woman shrugs and rolls up to her feet. "OK, ready for the next box. How many staplers and pens do we think we're gonna need, anyway?"

Jeremy chuckles. "Most of this stuff is just funky gadgets an what not." He pushes a credit card to you. "Radio."

Natalie accepts the credit card, puzzled. "Excuse me?"

"Its a radio." Jeremy says with a faint grin on his face, nodding.

Natalie ohs and looks more closely at it. "AM/FM, or two-way?"

"One way. Its to pick up audio. It has an FM trasmitter which beams to this." Jeremy taps the headset and grins.

Natalie examines the bit of plastic both sides, then the edges. "Then it's not really a radio, is it? Here." She tosses it back, then moves to collect another box. "You really love this stuff, don't you? ...Oh, wow." She stops, box in arms, eyes distant. She has just had A Thought.

Jeremy tilts his head. "Yes. I really love this stuff. Whats up?" He asks curious, furrowing his brows.

Natalie says, "Just had a... Huh. Damn." She returns to the land of the living with a shake of her head. "I was just thinking if we could hook a spirit to all this stuff, then that would be even easier. Have them do the prelim screening before it even gets to you. But." A shrug. "No Theurge, and Salem says he's already got a Rite planned for Cat. Curses, foiled again, s'what I say. That's two stellar ideas I've had already."

"There is other Theurges in this Sept that is allied with the Walkers." Jeremy notes with a smirk on his face. "We're a Sept for a reason."

Natalie says, "Yeah, what'd Signe say yesterday? One of those Shadow Lords is a Theurge, right?" She lets the box slide off her hip and onto her chair. "Thing is, is this a Tribe thing, or a Sept thing? They only know about the Walkers, right?"

"Veil breach is a veil breach, isn't it? Its a Garou thing." Jeremy nods his head, coyly, grin sliding smoothly over his face.

Natalie's knife got lost in the cushions; she digs it out to open the box. "Eh, I dunno. I could argue it either way. I think it'd ultimately fall back to the big Kahuna how he wants to play it. Who all knows about it right now? Just us, right?"

Anthony again returns to the parlor, wiping some grease off his hands onto his jeans. "It's a mess," he declares, picking up his now-room temperature coffee from the windowsill and taking a sip.

"I honestly don't know. Oh um... Signe knows." Jeremy says with a nod of his head. "That much I do know." He glances around, then starts gathering up the empty boxes, breaking them down.

"Pack, then," the Galliard allows with another shrug. "What's a mess, Tony? Oh, the plumbing? What is it, some Wyrm-ridden mish-mash of iron and copper?"

"Pretty much," Anthony says, putting the coffee back down with a grimace. "Besides the fact that the hot water heater was an antique back when Nixon was in office and the last few people that've screwed around with the pipes seem to be graduates of the 'stick duct tape on it' academy of design."

Natalie winces as if she'd just gotten punched in the belly. "Ooh. No wonder the ghosts are mad. If I had to live down there I'd be pretty damn furious myself. Well, then, Tony m' boy, I believe you may just have found your Chiminage. Whatcha think, Jer? Think Salem'll salute if Tony runs it up the flagpole?"

"Wow, early adopters. Um... I don't know... Salem is a trip. Maybe, but he'll want to know how fixing the plumping is going to help the Sept." Jermey says with a laugh.

Natalie levels Jeremy a Look that would work better if she had half-glasses and a library to back her up. "Jer, I'd like very much to know how a greenhouse will help the Sept myself. Give it a whirl, Tony. Worst he can do is say no." Or rip out Tony's guts, but shh.

"You can't fight the Wyrm without hot showers," Anthony states. "I guess I could try. Better than just sitting around doing nothing."

"A greenhouse makes sense." Jeremy says, adjusting -his- glasses over his nose. "We Walkers are known as technological depedants, right?"

Nat retorts, "Yeah, and nothing says 'slave to technology' like a nice pot of geraniums. There ya go, Tony. I've even got a propane torch you can borrow."

"Alright, well, with the green house, its putting some of the Wyld, back into the Weaver. It shows that even us six million dollar wolves can enjoy the bounty of which Gaia has to offer us in places well away from the concrete jungles we live in." Jeremy says, nodding his head a bit.

"Neat." Anthony walks back to the center of the room. "Well, maybe I could convince Salem to let me put in a hot tub, or something, and who doesn't like hot tubs?"

Natalie points a finger, no, two fingers, over at Tony. "I like the way this man thinks. The Wyld's all about bubbling springs, right? Well, this is our answer to ice-covered lakes. A jacuzzi."

Jeremy stares blankly at the two Garou, then shrugs his shoulders. "Alright..."

"Aw c'mon. I bet if computers were water-powered you'd be dragging me to Salem yourself," Anthony says, putting on a look of mock dejection.

"Yeah," Nat chimes in to Tony's defense. "Gaia only knows why that hot water heater's still actually working. Normally those things have a half-life of seven, eight years."

"Actually Thermal Intake has created a computer with a water based coolant system that is used to freeze up through plastic tubes that house the mother board, so that it takes the heat levels down off of over clocked processors." Jeremy states, like a nerd. "Its cool, until one of those tubes break, an then you fuck up about five ground of hardware."

"You and your geek talk," Anthony groans.

Natalie whispers loudly in a mock-aside, "Just smile and nod. Getcher eyes to glaze over, if you can." Suiting actions to words, she drops her hand and beams emptily at the goth.

Jeremy tosses an empty box at her, then rolls his eyes. "I swear. I never seen a Sept full of non computer nerd Walkers before. Back in Portland, everyone was a fucking dork."

"We should go over to Portland and give them swirlies, then," Anthony declares, folding his arms.

Natalie's shins are attacked by empty boxes, the horror! "Oof," she grunts, not meaning it in the slightest. "Ooh, hey, that's an idea. Road trip. See? Now you've got a second idea to give Salem for Chiminage. Even better, tell him that one first. Then when you propose replumbing the house he'll leap on it."

Jeremy laughs and shakes his head. "Oh my Gaia, you two are like... Emu Walkers." He says, winking, then goes back to typing away on his PDA. "Sides, chicks dig scrawny pale guys." Its what his shirt says, currently.

"Emu? Like ostriches?" Anthony looks vaguely confused, trying to figure out what flightless birds have to do with not being a computer nerd.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Speaking of, 've you talked to what's her face? Miss Clingy? She reaches down to collect Jer's weapon of choice and deftly break it down.

Jeremy shakes his head. "I talked to Trevor, one of her tribe mates who came pounding on my door, demanding answers. I told him what I felt... that it was moving too fast an I was uncomfortable and I think she an I needs a break. So, he accepted it an haven't heard from her since."

"Sign number two of an unhealthy relationship," Natalie declares. "She can't talk to you herself, but has to send friends to do it. You're better off without her, Jer. Besides, Theurges are usually..." A finger circles one temple.

"I don't think she sent him. I think he was playing the big badass Fianna routine with me." Jeremy says.

Anthony doesn't pay attention to the relationship talk, instead finishing up breaking down the boxes.

Natalie says, "Even better. You want a knife, Tony?"

Jeremy shrugs his shoulders a bit and smirks, propping his chin up in his palm. "Natalie, maybe you just want me to break up with her, so you can get a piece of my action." He says teasingly.

"No, I'm good," Anthony declares, producing one of his own, a small folding knife, from his pocket.

"Tcha, you wish," she retorts, equally serious. "You're so pasty you have to hide from kindergarteners."

"I wish? Whatever dude. An I'm not that pasty. I've actually been getting sunlight the past year or so." Jeremy says, eyes rolling upwards some a bit.

"Yeah, you're so pale you make Michael Jackson look like Jesse Jackson," Anthony jokes, as well.

Natalie, with a smirk at the goth, bends back to box emptying, letting the Ragabash handle this one.

Jeremy crosses his arms over his chest. "Byte me."

Jeremy glances over to Natalie, then back over to Anthony. He huffs slightly, then pulls up his PDA, taking a quick picture of Anthony with it. Click.

Anthony pauses, looking up at the PDA. "What are you doing?" he asks, folding up a box and shutting his knife as he walks over to Jeremy. "Let me see."

"No." Jeremy says, tapping a quick button on it, then stuffs it into his pocket, looking innocent.

Natalie says without looking up, "Poor Jeremy. Ganged up on by the two auspices known for..." She does look up at Anthony's demand, a little suspicious but no more than that.

"C'mon, what're you doing? Gimme that thing, or I'll stuff you in a locker. Though I'd have to find a place around here that has lockers, to do that." Anthony circles around Jeremy.

"Don't worry about it." Jeremy says cooly as he leans back in his chair some, raising up a brow. "And if you try an stuff me into a locker, I'll tell on you." He says childishly, teasing.

Natalie's going to stay out of this one for now, thanks, though she watches the pair in lieu of unpacking.

"Oh, fine," Anthony says, retreating back to the boxes.

Click. Another picture is taken, this time, with flash. Jeremy begins to hum to himself, tapping away at the PDA once more, using his stylus to swirl through the programs.

Natalie rolls her eyes and continues to Keep Out of It. "Okay, kids, break it up." Not so far out of it as all that. "Jer, this the last of your toys? You want help carrying them somewhere?"

Jeremy grins wryly and shakes his head. "I'll just dump 'em back in the duffle bag an carry 'em home. Its no biggie. I got to configure everything."

"Okay, that sounds good," Anthony says. "Good luck with that," he adds, looking at the wide assortment of gadgets.

Natalie snorts. "Talk about over-packaging. There were -how- many boxes, and they're all going to fit in one dufflebag? Sheesh. Too bad bubblewrap's no good for diffusing Rage."

"But look at the stuff, its tiny." Jeremy says as he starts packaging things neatly. "Besides, you think I'd buy a buncha crap that I couldn't haul around to the house easily?"

"They sure used a lot of packing material for it, though," Anthony notes, rubbing his chin.

"That's my point, yeah." She pulls up a sheet of bubble wrap, shakes it disgustedly. "You'd think they could make this stuff out of photo-degradable plastic."

Jeremy reaches out and takes the wrap from Natalie, giving it a twist, releasing loud pops and cracks, grinning like a cat.

Anthony scoops up some of the boxes. "Anyway, I'll go find a place to dump this," he says, heading out with an armful of cardboard.

Natalie watches Anthony leave, then casts a considering look toward the windows. "What's the rules about shifting in here, anyway?"

Jeremy frowns slightly. "I guess its OK long as norms don't see you. Why?"

Natalie's returning grin is almost girlish, coy certainly. "Because you can burst more bubbles by rolling on them than by popping them one at a time with fingers."

Jeremy laughs. "Well, you can, but I can't." He says with a chuckle. "So, lets see it. Do the wolf thing." He says.

Natalie backs up a pace to get her more out of line of sight of the windows, then stretches...

Holds-the-Line's forefeet thump down to the floor, lips peeled back in wolfish grin. How is this?

Jeremy tilts his head at her and chuckles. "You want me to scratch behind your ears next?" He asks, raising up a brow, threatning with his fingers.

Holds-the-Line gives the boxes beside her a cursory sniff, then sneezes and pads to the kin. If you would. She noses at his hand before shoving her head under it.

Jeremy reaches out and starts to scritch behind her ears with both hands, giving the pelt a good working. He is quite practiced at this and knows all the right spots to hit.

Holds-the-Line's ears splay, her eyes half-closing in pleasure. You have done this before. Her leg doesn't come up, it -doesn't-. It just twitches once, twice, before she regains control. Scar would have words to say to this.

Rolling his thumbs along the inside tips of her ears, Jeremy applies light pressure, before scritching behind her eyes, working his fingers under her jaw and stroking the throat.

Holds-the-Line grunts happily under her breath, her eyes fully closed now. I thought we were going to make noise? But it's a question only half-meant; she certainly isn't asking him to stop.

Unfortuantly, Jermey can't understand a word she grunts at him. He just keeps on scritching and rubbing her candid head. He seems to have a pattern, one that works too. Around and around his fingers roll, getting under the fur good and massaging her muscles.

With great reluctance the wolf backs up, away from those magic fingers. With you here there is no need for a ~jacuzzi~. One ear remains splayed, puppy-like, as she plops her butt on the floor. She considers the windows again, then chuffs once, demanding. Where is the noise?

Jeremy looks curious at her, trying to figure out what she is saying. Finally, he picks up the plastic wrap and lays a good deal of it in front of her.

Holds-the-Line's grin is wide enough to catch woodsman within. She rises again, takes a half-step back, then playbows before POUNCING! on the entrails of her enemy. Noise, yes! She paws and digs at the plastic, rucking it up and popping bubbles at a furious rate.

Jeremy watches her in amusement, chuckling to himself as he draws a knee to his chest. "Now that is cute." He says, shaking his head a bit, blonde and black bangs falling into his face some, before he blows them out of his blue eyes. He listens to the poppings, laughing.

Holds-the-Line's all about adorable, you bet. She flings herself onto her side to pop a few last bubbles, then looks up at him, tongue lolling. Well? All that are left require monkey fingers to kill.

Jeremy leans over and pokes a bubble, listening to it pop, then grins at her. "You liked that, huh?" He asks, picking up another bubble sheet and tossing it at her.

Holds-the-Line snatches at this one with her teeth, the bubbles crunching. Tastes awful, she complains as she rolls back onto her feet and stands. Where is yours? Her ears splay again, her lips pulling back in disgust, but stubbornly she continues to chew.

Jeremy reaches over and tries to yank the bubble wrap away from your muzzle as you chew on it, tugging, hoping to wrestle it. If only he could understand the wolf tongue, this would be easier.

Holds-the-Line chomps down immediately, instinctively. Mine. She drops her head and braces her feet, tail beating slowly side to side.

Jeremy tugs backwards, trying his best to work the wrap away, laughing. He shakes it sdie to side, squinting his eyes at her.

The beige wolf's eyes narrow as well, a soft growl rumbling in her throat. She doesn't let go of the plastic. Mine. It would be more alarming did her tail not continue to wag.

Jeremy growls right back at her, rumbling the noise in his throat well enough to pull it off. He gives another harder tug, using both hands to get a good grip. Its followed by the sound of loud popping as he twists and turns his wrists.

Unfortunately for them both, plastic doesn't have much tensile strength. Between the wolf's teeth and Jeremy's tugging rips quickly appear. And when Holds-the-Line abruptly opens her mouth...

Jeremy blinks and goes tumbling backwards in the chair, hitting the back of the table. The recoil sends him forward, landing on the floor with a laugh and an mmmph!

Holds-the-Line dances backwards, out of his reach. You fell, you fell! You...! She stops, then, paws at her mouth. That tastes awful.

Jeremy pushes himself up to his knees and chuckles, eyes rolling some, staring at her antics. He reaches out with his hands, clamping her jaws shut as he winks.

Holds-the-Line immediately tosses her head in an attempt to free her muzzle. When that doesn't work she starts backing up, step by slow step. Her tail's stopped now, ears flicking backwards and forwards. Let go.

Jeremy lets go of her jaws and grins, squinting his eyes some at her, then flops onto his stomach, propping his chin up in the palms of his hands. "Yer fun to play with."

You have clever fingers, the wolf retorts, continuing to back away. Once she's behind the chair she stretches again, shifting quickly back into her birth form, "Pfaugh, that stuff tastes like crap. I thought they made plastic out of corn these days, but that... blech."

Jeremy nods his head and chuckles. "I haven't put it in my mouth, but I'll take your word for it." He says, gathering up the plastic and starts to bundle it together, cramming it into one fo the boxes.

Natalie says, "Tastes lots different with human tongue, I can tell you that." She rubs at her mouth with the back of one hand. "Here's one thing good about homid form: you can brush your teeth. You got all that stuff?"

Jeremy nods his head and smiles. "Everything is packed up and ready to be condensed and recycled as best it can be." He says, nudging a box over with his foot.

Natalie drops an approving nod. "Good. If there's any more boxes need breaking down, leave 'em. I'll do that after I get this taste out of my mouth."

Jeremy nods his head and smiles. "Alright. I'll be around here all night, so if you want to do anything, just come find me."

Natalie nods again, shortly, before disappearing upstairs.

[End of log]