Currently the moon is in the waning Full Moon phase (94% full).

Farmhouse: Hallway and Living Room

All doorways in the front part of the house lead to the front hallway, a J-shaped area with the short tail starting at the stairs, the front door hitting the bottom curve, the doorless opening to the living room halfway up the long side, and the also doorless opening to the kitchen and dining room at the very top. The hall has a simple wooden floor, and decorated with a generic print of soft-colored flowers hanging on the wall to the right of the front door, and a tall table sitting under the print which serves as a place to toss keys. A closet under the stairs serves as a place to hang coats or to toss shoes.

The doorless opening to the living room is halfway up the side of the hall's J, and the word cozy might spring to mind when looking into is, as it seems to radiate comforting vibrations. A long couch sits against the south wall beneath a large bay window curtained only by sheers that manages to obscure the view in but only filters the day's light. A variety of out-of-date magazines are strewn atop a low coffee table; more neatly presented are the plethora of books filling the small bookshelves which line the eastern wall. Three chairs sit about the room, focused inward, to allow group conversations. Large floor pillows are stacked in one corner of the room, except one, which lies carelessly in the middle of the floor, apparently left out the last time it was used.

An opening in the northern end of the hallway allows access to the kitchen and dining room at the back of the house, while carpeted stairs twist up at the other end of the hall, leading to the second floor. A door at the base of the J lets out to the front porch.

The front door bangs open, admitting Natalie into the house. She winces and reaches behind her to pull the door closed, being deliberately gentle with it. Only when that's done does she turn, eschewing the stairs to head straight into the living room. She's wearing her ubiquitous bomber but it's left hanging open in deference to the weather.

In the back of the house, The living room is empty, but from the kitchen there is a rattle of pans and dishes.

Natalie glances around the empty living room and swears under her breath before running a hand through her hair. The Galliard mutters something that doesn't sound very complimentary at all, then steps back out into the hall to bellow up the stairs, "OI! Anyone home!"

In the back of the house, "Right here!" comes a call from the kitchen, whose occupant has evidently heard that cry where the quiet opening and closing of the front door went unnoticed. Kevin steps into the living room from the kitchen, still clutching the newly-scrubbed frying pan. "Nat!" he exclaims.

In the back of the house, Kevin passes through the open doorway for the front part of the house.

Natalie turns sharply, still on edge even if one discounts the moon's fullness. "There you are," she all but accuses. "What were you planning on doing with that?" 'That' is accompanied by a chin jerk at the frying pan.

Kevin gives a little chuckle. "You'd not believe me if I told you..."

"Did it sound anything like 'sneak up behind you and bash you over the head?" Ah, suspicion. She turns to fully face the cub, hands sneaking under the waistband of her jacket to hook her thumbs into her jeans pockets.

Kevin gives a laugh of disbelief. "You what? Assault with a frying pan doesn't fit my definition of 'Submission to Those of Higher Station," Kevin retorts a little tartly. "If you really want to know... I was... trying to see my face in it." He indicates the shiny bottom of the pan. "Is it my imagination or is there a distinct absence of mirrors round this place? Only I think I'm finally starting to get a bit of beard." He gestures with the hand not holding the pan at his chin. "Not before time."

Natalie boggles at him for a second, then snorts, relaxing. "Yes, probably. About the mirrors, I mean. I've never looked." Which she does now, a quick glance around the hallway, but no mirrors shuffle out of hiding. "There's a reason for that." She pulls her left hand free and gestures a 'come hither' at the boy. "C'mere and let me see. Or if you oh my god have to see for yourself, you can come stare into my rearview mirrors."

Kevin plonks the pan down on the nearest chair and approaches Natalie, adopting a pose with his already prominent chin pointing forward. "Go on, why no mirrors? They can be smashed and used as weapons by a cub trying to escape? Hope looked in one and it broke to pieces under the strain?"

Natalie fondles his chin once he's within distance, a quick brushing of her knuckles on one cheek and then the other, going against the grain. "Huh. I dunno. Maybe there's something there." "--No, mirrors can be used to go into the Umbra. No mirrors, and you don't get cubs committing suicide by deciding to step across on a whim."

Kevin looks at Natalie suspiciously, possibly a dangerous act given the fullness of the moon and his presence deep within her personal space. "Mirrors can be used... how's that again? Mirrors are glass. Light bounces off them. I should know, I had detention last term for mucking around in physics and had to write it out a hundred times. How does that square with the Umbra?"

Natalie sighs and looks past him to the kitchen. "--Megan-rhya around?" she asks instead. "I really need to talk to her."

Kevin shakes his head. "Not that I know of," he responds simply, not pushing the mirror issue further as he senses impatience from Nat. "She doesn't seem to come here much."

Natalie looks back at him, her lips pressed together, then nods. "Damn. All right." Another sigh, and her chin jerks up. "Then I might as well gloss over the Umbra. What do you know about it so I don't repeat myself?"

Kevin bites a knuckle. "Um. You can talk about it if you want, and it's true I don't know much about it, but I really wanted to talk more to you about... well... hooking up with you guys, mebbe." His eyes drop from her face and drift about the room, seeming willing to look anywhere but at the galliard.

"Hooking up with us guys maybe," she repeats coolly. "Well, you've already talked to me about hooking up with me maybe. Is this... a decision, Kevin, or are you just looking for more information?"

"I'm not explaining well..." Kevin sighs, and bites his hand again. "I thought up to a couple of days ago I was going to ask the Get. This theurge of theirs, Gunnar, he... seemed to speak to me like nobody else did. Scary guy, but." He takes a deep breath and goes on. "Only then, this other guy started in on me. Brom. He makes Gunnar look like a stamp collector. He..." A pause. "Um, I'm not complaining or anything here, I could have backed out of it, I had the chance. Brom... stabbed me. Stuck a knife into me. And when I healed that, he broke my leg. And cheerfully said there'd be months more of the same if I was gonna apply to them. Nat... I'd love to be good enough for them, I truly would, but I don't think I've got it in me. I'd fail and they'd hate me. While you guys.... I know it's not an easy life either, but I might stand more of a chance being a cub with you. Perhaps. How'd things go with that guy Saul, by the way?" he asks, blissfully unaware of what thin ice he is treading on with that question.

Natalie studies his face as he speaks, her eyebrows drawn down over bluegreen eyes. She stays quiet until he's finished, then offers a single, quiet, "Hmn. No, it's not going to be easy whichever tribe you choose, but... Look." She puts one hand on the boy's shoulder and squeezes. "Kevin. Garou have a crappy life. I've been shot more times than I can remember. The Get... well, if violence is a one to ten thing, they go to eleven. There's nothing wrong with that - for them - and there's nothing wrong with admitting that you don't want that. For you. OK? I'm not going to think less of you for saying you want to join them or you want to join us or whatever."

Kevin makes a brief motion as though to pull away from Nat, then thinks better of it, and as her hand rests on his shoulder he even gives her a slightly stressed smile. "I know we have a tough time. I'm resigned to that. I'm not gonna make old bones. Well, hey, my dad didn't either and he wasn't even garou." He looks back up, finally making eye contact again with the galliard. "You may say you'd think no less of me if I went and hooked up with Fenris. Can you really, honestly say that some of the Get would react less badly if I told them I was gonna be a Glass Walker after all? Brom... Dillen... Gunnar... Emma even, and I think Emma really rocks... They'd see it as failure on my part. And the real irony is," he gives a wry if somewhat watery smile, "that I'm too cowardly to tell them I'm a coward."

Nat says, "They'd rather you tell them now that you're not cut out to be a Get than find out after. Trust me." Her hand drops off him and she jerks her head back toward the kitchen. "Go put the frying pan away and we can talk. I don't suppose Emma's around, is she? She took off from the safehouse this morning and I haven't seen her."

Kevin snatches up the pan, trots into the kitchen, and returns without it. "Not seen her here, worse luck," he says. "If there was one Get I could talk to about this it'd be her."

"We'll find her," Nat says confidently. "If nothing else, then at least run into her tonight, since she's staying at the safehouse. Well, I suppose you ought to collect all your things and I'll leave a note for people." She squints down the hall again, distracted, but manages a quick flash of a smile for the boy.

"You're taking me away again...?" Kevin asks, surprised.

"Don't you want to go?" she tosses back, just as surprised. Then the full moon tugs unerringly at her, and surprise fades under a quick wave of anger. "Dammit, Kevin, if this is another Ragabash joke..."

Kevin holds both hands up in protest. "Not a joke. Not with you. Not on a full moon. Just wasn't expecting another city trip so soon."

Natalie takes a moment, but when she speaks again she sounds mollified. "Well, you're not going to be a Walker and live out here. We've got standards. Like electricity, telephones, and computers. We'll probably have you come back to spend a week or so closer to your Rite, but you're going to live in the City, so that's where you'll be trained."

Kevin takes a deep, deep breath. "Oooookay. Let's hit the road, Jack. Bye bye, farm, bye bye annoying Rae and whiny Hope... Oh. We ought to tell Signe-rhya. She's meant to have been coming to give me the Get test for ages, only she's been too busy to stop by. Knowing my luck, she'll turn up in five minutes' time and be mad when she finds me gone."

Natalie flicks a hand toward the stairs. "Go get your things. I'll leave a note for people down here and I'll handle my alpha if she's got her panties in a wad. G'wan, scoot."

Kevin snaps his hand to his brow in a salute, and scoots as bidden.

[End of log]