Big Red Barn

The barn is built in the old style, a vast three level structure that is greater in height than a mere three stories, actually closer to five. Great wooden posts support the weight of the upper levels and roof, sunk into the hard-packed dirt floor of the first level like a sparse forest of regularly spaced, naked trees. The stalls and flagstones which once were here have been torn out to leave a rather open area where even crinos Garou may roam freely without fear of running into anything but the supports or the walls or the ladder at the back which allows access to the other two levels.

The first two levels are relatively open to each other, the second being only little wider than a catwalk going around all the walls but the front one, which has massive, twenty foot tall doors set into it. The third level is a true second floor except for a place cut out that allowed hay to be tossed down to the ground floor when the farm was actually worked. Now, it is a hayloft where Garou can sleep outside of the house.

(Non-Garou, please "+view curse")

Making her way into the barn, Alicia glances around slightly with a bored expression on her face. he is wearing a pair of work out shorts and a matching sports bra that reveals her muscled arms and stomach, as well as various tattoo's, some tribal, some urban punk. There is a cock roach on the small of her back, a unicorn on her shoulder, and the state of Arizona on the other.

Natalie's already here in her usual jeans and sweatshirt, pummeling away at the bag. The Walker's face is set, her punches coming steadily. She hasn't been here long enough to really work up a sweat yet, especially in the cool weather.

"Hey Nat." Alicia says as she shifts her shoulders about, heading past the Walker and the bag, slipping onto a haybale, legs dangling over. She offers a wry grin on her face, head tilting to one side.

Natalie gives the bag an uppercut-right-hook cross that would surely send any bar patrons swiftly to Dreamland, followed by a long vacation in Broken Jawland and I'm-Gonna-Vomit-ville. She grabs the bag one armed, turning to scowl - "Oh, Alicia. G'morning." The Walker steps back, brushing a forearm across her face and focuses on the bag again.

Nodding her head in return, Alicia draws a knee to her chest, resting against it as she watches, eyes intent upon the movements of the other Galliard.

Natalie's got a lot of energy this early in the morning; fists and feet fly at the bag, sending it rocking, creaking on its chain. Nat's not one to stay in one spot either, she dances around her victim, her face set and determined, taking out a 'knee' with a solid kick, then hitting the 'neck' with a double-handed chop. Her style is rough, mostly bar brawl with hints of some martial arts thrown in for laughs.

The Gaian bobs her head in time with your fists, almost as if she was creating a tempo out of the punches. She watches curiously, a smile finding its way somewhat across her features. She doesn't make a move to interrupt the other Walker, simply content in watching.

It's clear that Nat's good enough to hold her own in any such bar brawl. Barring ill-luck, she'd be hoisting bodies out the door, and wouldn't be one of the hoisted. She gives the Gaian no more attention, her world narrowed to 'self' and 'opponent'. A flurry of blows sets the bag swinging; Nat pulls back, watching, waiting until it nears her a second time on its arc... and delivers a solid side-kick to end the bout. Game, set, match.

Tilting her head, Alicia waits for a few moments, before speaking up. "Not bad. Did anyone teach you how to fight like that or is it just personal experience? I saw a bit of ...Karate mixed in there, I believe."

Natalie eyes the bag as if to make sure it won't come sneaking up behind her, but as it settles back to vertical she relaxes faintly, and nods. "Yeah. Both. Uh... that is, had a Sensei until I was fourteen, and then most of the rest of it's experience." This time she wipes both forearms across her face, though she's hardly dripping sweat. The Walker shakes her hands out of fists, then begins to walk in small circles, cooling herself.

"Cool." Alicia hops off the bag, tugging on her gym shorts some, then heads over to the bag, giving it a light tap. "I always wanted to learn Karate. I learned some Kung Fu though, from Three-Blades, and Kick Boxing from my husband." She smiles, then leans against the bag some as she watches you. "I'm not as good as Blades is as far as that njnja stuff goes, but I feel that I hold my own pretty well."

Anthony slowly pushes the barn door open, leaving it open as he wanders inside.

"The bag's a good idea," quoth Nat, tipping her head toward the thing as she continues her walk. "Gotta get something like that set up back at the house. "Sometimes you just wanna punch something, and it's no use driving all the hell out here to do it." "--Plus, there's too many cooks for just this bowl of broth."

Nodding her head, Alicia grins. "I understand. I had to stand in line back in the old days as a cub to get at the bag. The Get were always hogging it." She smiles and takes a few steps back, then bends over to tie her sneakers tighter. "Hey Tony." She calls over as her eyes find him.

Nat continues her complaint, "Plus, there's no one to spar... oh, hey, Tony." She shakes her hands out again, then stops long enough to essay a few kicks with each foot, low- and medium-height, back and side. "You get Salem's email?"

"Yeah, I did," Anthony replies flatly, shuffling towards the center of the barn. He doesn't look like he had much sleep; he's sporting dark circles under his eyes.

"Oh? Something going down?" Alicia asks as she swings out a foot, high, about chin high as she tags the bag hard, then drops her leg back, fists going up to her chin. "If yeh' ever want to spar." She adds. "I'm good for it."

Natalie answers neutrally, "The cubs passed." Good, bad, -and- ugly, all at once. She doesn't immediately respond to Ali's offer, but considers her sidelong, as she resumes her slow, arm-waving walk.

"All of them passed?" Alicia asks, furrowing her brows. "All three?"

"All of them," Tony echoes. "Cat and Emma and... Josh."

"Huh.." Alicia trails off some, nodding her head with a set jaw, looking bemused. "Good for 'em. That rocks."

Natalie bares her teeth at the names - it could be interpreted as a smile - and attempts to wrap one arm around her neck. When that fails, she tries the other arm. Foiled again.

"Good for /them/, yeah..." Anthony rubs his eyes with the side of a hand.

"You guys don't seem real thrilled with it all." Alicia says as she gives the bag another strong punch, straight into the solar plexis. "Whats up?"

Natalie breaks the silence first. "We got Cat - that's great. But we also got Josh - and that's not. Plus... crap. Plus all this other stuff that's going on."

Anthony nods slowly in agreement with Natalie, wiping his hand on his jeans before putting his hands back in his pockets.

Alicia tilts her head a bit to one side, flashing a slight smile to them. "Just have faith in Josh. He passed his Rite. That should say something. Maybe this will sober him up, if not, treat him like an adult and do what Garou do." She says, turning her attention back to the bag. "Sure as hell sobered me up." She throws out a smooth combination of punches into the bag.

Natalie snorts darkly, her path bringing her back around toward Alicia. "Talons pass their Rites, Alicia. That doesn't say much, now does it?" She considers her Tribemate past the bag. "Haven't seen you since Friday. You doin' all right?"

"I'm okay, I guess," Tony says somewhat non-convincingly as he circles around the bag, finding a post to lean against and wrap his arms around.

Alicia shifts her gaze slightly to Natalie, then stops punching the bag. "If you say so Natalie." She glances over to Anthony for a moment, then heads to the doors. "See ya guys."

Natalie only lets the elder Galliard get a few yards off before she calls, "Wait. I, um..." But that's a far as she gets, trading chewing words for chewing on the inside of one cheek.

Anthony watches Alicia leave, only sparing a slight wave of one hand to her.

Pausing at the door for a moment, Alicia raises up a brow towards the Walker, then shrugs. She slips out, letting the door slide closed behind her with a thunk.

"Damn." Nat shoots Tony a quick look before jogging after 'licia. She doesn't call out again, not until she's at the door and wrestling it open. "Wait?"

On her way to the farmhouse, Alicia pauses and turns around to face Natalie, arms crossing over her chest. "Word up?" She drawls lazily.

Natalie hangs on the door, half in, half out. A moment's study of the other woman and she invites, "Wanna spar?" The next words come hard on the invitation's heels, as if afraid if she -didn't- say them, Alicia would turn her down. "I, uh... you beat me, and I'll tell you something."

Anthony watches Natalie leave, too, now; his attention shifts to the punching bag, now, leaving his post to approach it curiously.

"No." Alicia says rather bluntly. "I shouldn't need to beat the crap out of you, to get you to open up to me. I got shit to do." She says, then moves right in to the backdoor. "Tony is right over there, throw him around. See ya later." With that, she slips in, closing the door behind her.

Natalie closes her eyes, expression pained. Half a league, half a league... She turns back to the barn, her voice and step forcibly light. "How 'bout it, Tony? You wanna throw a few punches?"

"No," is Anthony's quick reply, turning from the punching bag to face the barn door.

"Well that was direct enough," Natalie chirps, stopping in her tracks. "All right, I'll, uh... leave you be, then. You got a ride back, or do you want me to wait for you?"

Anthony tilts his head slightly, frowning. "Um, well, I guess I could, if you really want to," Anthony concedes. "I'm not very good, though..."

So encouraged, Nat starts moving back toward the Ragabash. "It's sparring, not Rank challenge. I'll give you some pointers. You ever had any lessons? Formal, I mean?"

"No, never," Tony replies as he pulls off his jacket, putting it over the top of the punching bag.

Natalie stops about an arm's length from him, her hands loose and relaxed at her sides. "How about informal? You know how to fall, where to punch, that sort of thing?"

Anthony shakes his head slightly. "Not really."

Natalie blows out her breath, thoughtfully, not in irritation. "All right. S'not like it's the end of the world. I guess first thing I'd teach you is how to fall. 'f you can do that, it means you're not flat on your back in a fight. You can get up quicker, you're more in control of what's happening. So. First thing to remember when you're falling is to let it happen. You wanna tuck your shoulder and kinda, just, well, roll."

Anthony listens carefully, folding his arms and nodding in the right places. "Okay."

Natalie rises up onto her toes, sinks back. "You want to push me, watch how I do it? Or should I push you and critique?"

Anthony considers this for a moment. "Well..." He then shrugs a shoulder, unfolding his arms and letting them hang at his sides. "Okay, push me," he says, trying to sound a little enthusiastic and not doing so great.

Natalie nods once, and with a warning of, "Don't try and catch yourself," reaches out to give Tony's shoulders a forceful shove.

Anthony readies himself for the shove, though once he's actually pushed he loses his composure, forgetting the whole shoulder-tucking thing and instead flailing a little and landing flat on his back with a loud grunt.

Natalie winces and immediately steps forward, offering a hand. "Wanna try again?"

"Not really," Anthony admits sheepishly, taking the offered hand and pulling himself up off the floor.

"Maybe it'll be easier if you see it done," Nat offers - not unkindly - as she steps back to her original spot. "You want to just sort of... go with the flow. You know you're falling, you know the ground's gonna be there, so all you can do it minimize what happens when you meet it. Sensei always told a story of how he was riding a motorcycle through an intersection when some yahoo in a car clipped one of his wheels. He went head over teacup, but because he knew how to fall, he was able to get up and walk back to where the guy had gone head on into a tree. It's a useful skill." Understatement.

Anthony dusts off the back of his shirt as he listens. "I dunno, I don't think I can do it," Anthony says, a bit defeatistly, folding his arms again. "You saw me and the pancakes," he reminds her, kicking at the floor absentmindedly.

Nat says "And you know this because you've tried it once? C'mon, Tony," she cajoles. "Sure you can. Give me a shove. Front, back, I don't care. Shift up if it'll make you feel better."

"Uh, well... I have some work to do," Anthony mumbles as he turns to grab his jacket, trying to weasel out of the lesson rather shamelessly.

Natalie steps forward, reaching for the Raggie's arm, her voice and hands hard. "Yeah ya do. C'mon, Tony. I'm not gonna bite. I'm not gonna frenzy on you. I'm trying to teach you, dammit. I need... I gotta know what you can do. I'm not gonna shove a tribemate out there only to get himself killed. Not again."

Anthony spins away from the grab, face bright red from embarrassment, presumably. "And I can't --" As he snaps at Natalie and twists away from her, he gets tripped up in his own feet, and stumbles a couple of paces backwards before ending up on his side on the floor.

Natalie immediately steps back, her voice as cheering as if that had been her idea the whole time, though her expression is slower to leave the realm of irritation. "Better! You got onto your side that time, see?"

Anthony stumbles back up onto his feet, disregarding Natalie's cheerleading. He crumples his jacket into a tight ball, digging his fingers into it as he stalks towards the barn door.

Natalie watches him stand, turning in place as he heads off. Then with a grunt - or a growl, perhaps - there are quick footsteps behind. She doesn't have much time to really pick up speed and so their abrupt flight isn't as impressive as it could be. Her arms take him around his ribs, her arms trapping his, immediately twisting, turning so when they land she is on the bottom, the air rushing out of her in a *whoof*.

Anthony notices a little too late that he's not on his feet, and he goes sailing along with Natalie in the tackle, not putting up much of a struggle or protesting out loud.

Natalie holds him there just long enough to realize where he is and how. Then she releases him, suggesting with a push of one hip that he get up. "See? You learn to fall like that - hell, if you can ever do that to me - I'll stop pushing you about learning to fight."

Anthony gingerly climbs off Natalie, retracing his steps back a few feet to gather up his dropped jacket. "Whatever," Tony replies under his breath.

Natalie pushes off the floor, rolls up to her feet gracefully, all the while watching him, pushing. "Did you feel what I was doing? How I twisted?"

"I guess." Tony clearly isn't being cooperative.

Natalie's chin drops, her eyes still fixed on him. "You're a damn coward, you know that? You just keep twisting away, keep avoiding things, because you're too damned scared to try and change. Why is that, Tony? How come you're OK with being a nothing?"

"Because I don't care. About any of this stupid werewolf crap," Anthony mutters, sinking down onto his knees and staring intently at the floor. "I'm a screw-up. I'm here 'cause I got kicked out of my old sept. One day I'll get kicked out of this one, too." He stops, visibly flustered as he starts to get mildly choked up.

Whatever Nat was expecting, it clearly wasn't that. If Tony'd look at her face he could watch the change from confrontational to surprised, with a quick stop in bemused. Again there are footsteps, quiet ones this time, and the Galliard folds herself down onto the floor beside him, arms wrapped around her knees. "Y'know what? I'm a screw-up too, Tony. I couldn't handle it - I ran. Y'know what I'm doing here, though? Same things I was doing back home; same things that made me a screw-up back there." She stops, lips caught between her teeth, and watches him, watches his face.

"But, but you can, like, fight and actually be useful," Tony protests, glancing up at Nat momentarily before turning back to the floor.

Natalie's quiet for a moment or three. "I'm a Galliard. I -have- to know how to fight. I think Salem was gonna cry when I told him I can't shoot. But you - you and Cat both. You don't have to fight. For you, fighting's a bonus. You're..." She's groping for words now, physically as well as verbally. "You've got to be the clever ones, you two. Brains in an Ahroun... well, look. 'Ve you heard anything about this guy named John? Walks-Thin-Ice? He used to be Elder here before he died. Him, now, he was an Ahroun who could think. Most of 'em, though, you just point toward a problem and push. But, but you know how we know where the problems are?" She doesn't answer her own question, but eyes Tony sidelong, her chin balanced between her knees.

Anthony unfurls his jacket, flopping backwards into a seated position. "Yeah, I know," he concedes. "Gotta be the eyes and ears, and all that," he adds, "but... well... I dunno, I've just been in this mood lately, just feeling kinda out of it... maybe I'm homesick or something, but..." Anthony quits going in verbal circles and just lets out a long sigh.

Nat says, "Well if you wanna talk, I'm open for it. I mean, until Salem leaves I'm at his beck and call, but if he's not raking me over the coals for something, I'll be glad ta talk ta you." The Minnesotan deliberately shoves her accent over into Joisey and grins. "But if you think you're gonna be able ta hide, you gottanother think comin', a'right?"

Anthony shoves himself up off the floor, pulling his jacket on and smoothing out the wrinkles. "Okay," Tony agrees. "But for now, um, I think I'm gonna get going back to the city."

Natalie snorts as she heaves herself back to her feet. "What, not even a smile for the cheezy Sopranos accent? Jeez, Tony, tough audience. I do wanna talk with you later, though, find out what sort of stuff you can do, besides wield a mean propane torch. Which reminds me - you got any leads for funding?"

"No, not yet," Anthony says with a shrug. "But I'll get a hold of the cash eventually, ya know, eh?" he adds, mangling a Canadian-ish accent.

Not to be outdone, Nat takes a quick trip to bad German land. "Well, the kin, he is useful, jah? You ask him if he will help, and all is goot."

Anthony gives up the accent game. "All right, all right," he replies, backing out of the barn. "See you later."

Natalie's only reply is a flashing of teeth before the Galliard turns back to the punching bag.

[End of log]