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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 A variety of out-of-date magazines are strewn atop a low coffee table; more neatly presented are the plethora of books filling the small bookshelves which line the eastern wall.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.

Obvious exits:
Kitchen/Dining Room Front Door STairs

Natalie paces across the length of the living room, hands clasped behind her back. "...Damn. I wish we'd been able - D'you think it'd be stupid to have...? Yeah, 'course it would. We don't need the headcase here. Not now."

In the back of the house, as the sound of the sliding glass door opens and closes, calls out to the house, "It's just Megan," in an announcing way that is intended to re-assure the occupants it's not being invaded by little green men. She heads over to the fridge first, grabbing something out of it, before heading towards the front of the house.

"Yeah, probably better if he's not here," Anthony agrees, sitting on the couch and studying the ceiling.

Natalie's pacing the length of the living room, hands clasped behind her back. "I just wish... Damn, I wish Thomas were still here. Fer one thing, it wouldn't be me, y'know?"

Megan's head is tilted questioningly when she appears in the hallway, wherever the two are standing, and asks, "Who's not here?" before taking a bite out of the sandwich in her hand.

"Huh?" Tony spots Megan, glancing to Natalie before pushing himself up off the sofa and onto his feet.

Natalie straightens like someone kicked her in the butt, meeting Tony's glance. "Megan-rhya! I, um... Joshua. Will you... do you have time to talk? Is now a good time?"

Megan's expression becomes instantly suspicious, but there's also some wary interest in it. She leans a shoulder up against the open doorframe between the hall and the living room, leaving her sandwich hand free, to answer, "Yes, and .some. time, at least." By way of explanation, she adds, "Trevor's found a new Fianna cub and I'll need to get back to the Grotto sometime soon so he's not alone. What's up?"

Anthony tucks his hands into his jacket pockets and chews on his lower lip reticently, tacitly letting it be known that he's probably not going to be doing much of the talking for now.

Natalie probably expected no less from the Ragabash. At any rate, she takes a half-step forward. "I understand. I - we - think that your... decision about Joshua is... is overstepping your bounds, ma'am. For one thing, it completely... eliminates. No, that's not the right word. Basically, it spits all over Leala's Challenge to me. There's no point in her Challenge anymore, because you've come in to play God and decide what happens to Joshua. You see?"

Megan shakes her head, eyes narrowed slightly. "No, I don't see. I don't know what terms you gave Leala as a Challenge, for starters," she says, speaking slowly and ennunciating each word as if to give each more weight and meaning, "and, even disregarding that, why the terms of her Challenge to you for eldership should have any bearing on what I've told Joshua he needs to do if he wants me to even seriously consider his request to Renounce his tribe. I believe I told you, at the Elders Moot, that you weren't allowed to kick him out of the tribe, so I'm not sure how his decision, which I believe I clearly spelled out is the case here, would affect whatever these terms are. Perhaps, galliard," she gives an especially ironic stress to the auspice word, "you would like to communicate this to me?"

Natalie glances away, giving the Adren submission. "...I hadn't realized you didn't know," she answers, just as carefully. "I thought I... anyway. The terms of Leala's challenge are that she is to decide what will happen to Joshua. If she wishes to be Elder, ma'am, she needs to be able to lead. I - and Thomas - believe that Joshua - who is still a Walker, by name if not by heart - is a tricky enough problem that solving it will, will prove this. That she can lead. She is to decide what happens to him, ma'am, and defend her decision in front of three other tribal elders. One I pick - Signe - one she picks - Jacinta, I believe - and yourself. If the three of you decide that she has chosen... wisely, then she is Elder. If not, then I remain Elder. In either case, Leala's decision for Joshua stands. Originally," she licks her lips and dares a look back toward the Fianna, "Joshua was... on the cusp of tribes. I said if he were dead or had chosen another tribe, then his decision would stand, but that it wouldn't change the terms of her Challenge.'

"Ah," Megan voices the sound, as if this explains everything, some of the suspicion leeching out of her, lessened, but not entirely gone. "The problem with that Challenge, which I would've pointed out, was, again, it isn't yours, or Leala's, or whoever the Glass Walker elder is, decision to make. Jack Salem Rited him and accepted him as an adult Glass Walker of the tribe. The spirits, Cockroach, recognizes him as such now. We cannot undo that. We can't take that away from him. Only he can choose to do that, and only through ritual, such as Rite of Renunciation or, more extreme, Rite of the Lone Wolf. So, with apologies for wrecking your plans, but the terms you gave are not valid. On the other hand," she says, demeanor becoming more diplomatic, "if you, neither of you," she says, including Anthony in on the glance, "telll her what I've said about this either here or at the Elders Moot, and drop the part of the terms about her decision being binding, because her decisions cannot be binding, the terms could otherwise still work. You would be testing her decision-making process.." She opens her mouth for a moment as if she might add more, but then replaces that intention with another bite of her sandwich.

Anthony notices his inclusion in the request, nodding to show his attentiveness, then turns his attention to Natalie, seeing how she responds.

Nat says, "I believe," still using words as if they were unstable explosives, "That Leala had no plans to make Joshua's um... 'solution' irreparable. That is, ma'am, I believe she leans toward letting him find his own way. I... did ask her, yesterday, but..." She stops as well, a hand sneaking up to rub at the uninjured side of her neck. "...But I will tell her, ma'am. However. I still feel - the rest of the Walkers do too - that you are... overstepping your bounds by insisting that, that Joshua act as a Walker for two months. He had those two months already, as a cub. I feel," she's tiptoeing through a minefield, and knows it, "that this extra time would have been better spent before he was Rited so quickly, ma'am. We think that Joshua would be happier finding his own path, and the from little I've spoken to him about it, so would he."

Megan shakes her head in disagreement, still otherwise leaning to give a hint of casualness despite the seriousness of the discussion. "He was in the Glass Walkers for several months, that was not 'quick'. You can make an arguement that he had time to acclimate himself to the tribe as a cub or not, but, my opinion is, he, and Jack, made your collective beds, and now you need to lie in it. He may have had these feelings of uncertainty about his fit in the Glass Walkers before he became a cliath, but was afraid to voice them. But, now he's a cliath, now he's an adult, and he's made the decision to ditch it all before giving the tribe a chance as a fully responsible Garou. Maybe you don't comprehend the seriousness of what you so blithely want to force on him, but Renouncing a tribe or auspice is a serious thing. So serious, that I will not even consider running him through it unless I am convinced he has given it a real, true shot, as an adult, when he isn't handcuffed with the strictures of being a cub. This is one of those life changing decisions that have grave ramifications, ones that once you make them, you can never undo them. If he does renounce, the Garou nation will, from here on out, will look at him in suspicion and distrust. I am a Keeper of the Ways, and I will be damned," for the first time, some anger colors her words, "if I will let those be rode roughshod over. And I'm a halfmoon, meaning it's my job to walk the path between action and thought, which means I've decided to make him think before he can act. You know, that whole Wisdom thing. Which," and here she smirks a little with amusement, "ahrouns are not really known for."

"It's... it's not that it'd be forced on him," Anthony starts, "it's that... well, pretty much the way he is... uh, let me put it this way: he hates the city, can't stand it, refuses to live there, which I don't think would sit well with pretty much any Glass Walker; he'd be happier, more accepted somewhere else, and since he's an adult now, I think he should be the one who makes the decision and finds his own path... at least, that's what I think," he qualifies. "Forcing him to stay is just going to make things worse, make him more hostile, make him do stupid things..."

"Joshua isn't known for much, ma'am, except being a..." Nat clamps down before the sentence can escape, nodding to emphasis agreement with Tony. Time to re-enter that minefield. "Exactly. Thomas told me, on one of the many times we discussed Joshua, that hindsight was twenty-twenty. I don't know how the rest of the Garou view Thomas Walker, ma'am, but I can tell you that I'd trust him with my life. Maybe that's... it doesn't matter." She and the others are standing, she and Tony at two points of a triangle where Megan forms the third. Tension is high, but not strung taut and singing. "But Joshua is, as you say, an adult. If he wants to live those two months as a Walker, then... that's his decision, and I'll stand by it. Ma'am. I just don't think that this is a Sept matter. Ma'am."

Flash's cowboy boots click audibly on the wooden stairs as he descends from the second floor. The grunge look has been abandoned, even the badass red jeans, in favor of something out of _Urban Cowboy_. Complete with hat and oversized belt buckle.

Megan nods at Anthony, accepting his words with remarkable equanimity, and the very perceptive may realize that she takes it better than she has Natalie's words to this time. Her gaze flickers from the Glass Walker ragabash to the galliard, back over her shoulder at the sound of Flash's arrival, and straightens out of her lean in the doorway before turning back to the Glass Walkers. "It is a Sept matter, in one sense, because if he leaves the Glass Walkers, he will have to join another tribe, and I've told him, flat out, that I won't allow him to remain in the Sept without a tribe. And, it's a matter for me, personally, because with Jack gone, I believe I am the only philodox at this Sept who knows Rite of Renunciation. I know he professes to hate the Glass Walkers. Hell," she says with an amused smile, "there was a time when I hated Brian, who was my tribal elder, later my packmate, and close as any brother. People can change over time, though. Two months trying to live as a Glass Walker might change Joshua's mind. And, if it doesn't," she concedes with a slight shrug of her right shoulder, "and I'm convinced he gave it an honest shot, I will re-consider his request to change tribes. Fuck, guys, it's not as if I'm forbiding him to ever leave the tribe. Now, who the hell is Thomas Walker?"

"But I'm not sure if he's gonna give it an honest shot... oh, you hadn't heard? About Salem?" Anthony glances to the Galliard expectantly.

Natalie's hands drop to her sides as she straightens. "Thomas Walker is the name that Jack Salem now uses, ma'am." One might think that she's using the human title in place of the honorific - or else that she's trying to use it to defuse the alarming Megan-Bomb. "He decided that it would be safest if he took a new name after the Russians discovered who he is. Was. Havoc took care of two of the men with the knowledge of his former name, but there may still be others out there looking for Jack Salem."

Flash takes off the cowboy hat as he wanders near the conversation. The Ragabash's muddy blue eyes are keen with curiosity, though for the moment he keeps his mouth shut.

Megan looks interested at the news, raising an eyebrow. "Really. Good. Thanks for letting me know, both about the Russians, and Jack. Thomas," she corrects herself after that full pause. She then gives Anthony a wry half-smile. "To be honest, I don't think Joshua's going to give it an honest shot, either. His loss. I told him if he can't convince me it was honest, then I might not run the rite on him. Which would mean, unfortunately for you guys, that he'd remain a Glass Walker, unless he wants to go entirely Ronin."

"Well, uh," Anthony starts, and doesn't finish, just scratching his head and looking mildly put off by the conclusion.

Natalie contrives to look both submissive and disgusted, and ends up mostly looking nauseous. "If, ma'am, at the end of those two months, you decide that he hasn't given it an honest shot? Is he... will you let the Walkers handle him?" The very absence of stress on 'handle' might be a clue.

In the back of the house, Owen trods into the farmhouse via the backdoor. Nobody in the backroom and those in the frontroom apparently not catching his attention, he bee-lines for the fridge, opening it and practically crawling in to find, gee, could it be a beer?

"If you mean by 'handle'," and Megan does give the word some stress, "in the Mafia sense, no. I'm going to give you an important lesson on being an elder, Natalie, that as a cliath, I'm not sure you've had yet, but you can't always choose your tribemates, and even if you don't like him personally, you will have to accept that he's a Glass Walker. Maybe, instead of doing such a fabulous job of alienating and trying to push him out, you guys could put more of an effort into trying to help him be a Glass Walker? If you want a philodox to help sit you all down and mediate, we can work with that. But, as much as I respect Signe as an ahroun, she isn't a Glass Walker ahroun, and as Sept Alpha, I believe we desperately could use one."

"How are we supposed to put an effort into it when he's not even interested in trying?" Anthony protests. "I mean, uh, ma'am," borrowing Natalie's words and taking a breath to calm himself down, "a lot of this 'alienation' he's done to himself ... like living out on the bawn; if he wanted to give it a good shot, he'd have at least tried to find somewhere to stay in town, or talked to us about letting him back into the mansion..."

"I haven't gone out of my way to be unreachable," Nat chimes in. "And even if he doesn't want to talk to me, there are plenty of others he could talk to. Tony. Leala. Hell, Jeremy. He's not just not meeting us halfway, he's damn near running backwards."

Megan smiles, although there is some warm sympathy in it. "Two-way street, Anthony. And although I wouldn't think you should do all the work... maybe go to him, tell him you know about the two months which, by the way, hasn't started yet since he still has obligations to the Warder and Groundskeeper, and tell him that when it does start, you guys will help him. If he chooses not to accept it after that... well," she says with another half-shoulder shrugged. "you've tried." She then glances over said shoulder at Flash, then back to Natalie. "Anything else?"

Flash catches the Alpha's eye when she looks his way and smiles crookedly.

Natalie jerks her chin up - not precisely in a nod. "Ma'am." Nor was that precisely agreement. "Tony, 'm gonna head out to the barn." She offers Flash a tight smile as she winds her way wide around Megan, heading for the kitchen.

In the back of the house, Owen peers back up from the fridge as Signe's name gets tossed out there. Fetching a bottle finally, he shuts the appliance door and heads into the living room, opening the brew as he goes.

In the front rooms, Flash returns Nat's smile with a dip of his head and a touch to the brim of his cowboy hat.

In the front rooms, Megan watches Natalie go, letting out an exasperated sigh only after she leaves through the sliding glass door, then running a hand through her hair while popping the last bit of sandwich into her mouth. She chews swiftly, swallows, then turns sideways in the open doorway of the living room to look at Flash in the hall. "So, how are you settling in?"

In the front rooms, Flash rests his hands on his belt, framing the big buckle. He'd given Owen a brief glance when the Get arrived, but now the Ragabash's whole focus is on Megan. "Not bad, not bad," he says easily, and then clears his throat. "I was wonderin' if we could talk in private?" He's not exactly speaking with a drawl, but his speech is a little slower.

[End of log]