Cockroach Mansion -- Downstairs

The heavy, dark opulence to this mansion known as Dominion is perfectly exemplified by the room vistors first enter, this front hall. Dark-stained wood serves as paneling on the walls, gleams with high gloss in the hardwood floor, and supports a semi-circular balcony in carved pillars. The heavy double doors, made of oak, open into the hall from the south, opposite the huge, hourglass-shaped staircase composed of red and black gneiss which soars up to the balcony; both are fenced in with a wooden railing of simple spiraled posts. Several doorways can be made out on the second floor, nearly blending in discreetly with the back wall. The wall to the left of the front doors is composed entirely of windows which run from the forty-foot-tall domed dark wood ceiling to the floor; if drawn, the heavy velvet drapes of deep red would completely mask them from view, but when parted, as they often are, one has a marvelous view of the grounds outside.

A doorway to the right of the front doors leads to a parlor, and towards the back are the kitchens, the large dining room, and Salem's office.

Tower Stairway Elder's Office Front Doors

Natalie's coming down the hall from the kitchen with a muffin in one hand and a glass of milk in the other. So wholesome. The smell of baking fills the air. ...Is that blueberry?

Anthony lets himself in through the front door, pulling off his jacket and tossing it somewhere convenient. Pausing to yawn, he starts to wander towards the parlor.

Natalie hastens her steps to catch him at the doorway. "Tony! How've you been? Haven't seen you for a couple of days. There's blueberry muffins if you want 'em. Fresh."

"I'm okay," Tony answers, turning to Natalie and eyeing the muffin thoughtfully. "Yeah, I've been... kinda busy, I guess."

Natalie's not going to share -this- muffin; she pulls it closer and gives the Ragabash the fish eye before taking a seat. "It happens. So did you hear what happened at the Revel?"

"No. I didn't go. What happened?" Anthony finds a place to sit of his own.

"Kinda fun. Did some deer hunting. Felt good to stretch out, you know?" The Galliard hooks the coffee table closer, then plops her feet on top of it in demonstration. "Anyway, that's not the thing. The 'thing' is Megan's group - that's who I ran with - ran into some freaky guy on horseback."

"Okay, so what was freaky about it?" Tony frowns at the front door, looking reticient to stand up and answer it so soon after sitting down.

Natalie eyes the door, Tony, the door again. She sighs - so put upon - and drops her feet to stand, leaving milk and muffin behind. "...It's Ashley," she says, surprised. "Huh." She buzzes her packmate in, watching to make sure the Fury pulls the gate open.

Ashley stares at the gate for a few moments, then blinks as her attention is drawn back to reality. Reaching out, she testingly touches the metal gate, almost innocently, as if it would electrocute her. Satisfied, she grips it and yanks it open, striding through.

Anthony considers the muffin some more, then watches Natalie head to get the door; he reaches out and breaks a small piece off the side, popping it in his mouth as he sits back in his chair.

Natalie patiently waits for Ashley, out of sight of the muffin-thief. Once the Fury is at the door she pulls it open to usher her through. "Hey Ashley. I don't suppose -you- heard about what happened at the Revel?" The house is filled with the warm smell of fresh baking.

"...we all hunted spirit stags, then went home?" Ashley says with a shrug of her shoulders. "I did not stay long after the last beast fell. I decided to go back home for prayers and bathing. Why?"

Natalie jerks her head toward the parlor as answer. "I was just about to tell Tony. Come on in. You want a muffin, or anything? Blueberry. I just baked 'em."

Anthony slouches a little further in his chair as Ashley's ushered inside, but otherwise stays put.

"Sure... muffins are good." Ashley says a bit distractedly as she looks about the large house, then glances over towards Anthony. "Hey Tony. Sup'?"

Natalie, good hostess that she is, heads back toward the kitchen. A few minutes later she reappears with a handful of muffins stacked on a plate which gets placed onto the coffee table.

Anthony offers a slight wave to Ashley, and not much else. The muffin plate earns a thoughtful gaze, but eating muffins isn't as fun when you don't have to be sneaky about it, so they go ignored for now.

Ashley reaches out and takes a muffin and places it into her lap. "I see. Thanks for the talk." She says with a furrow towards the Ragabash. "So, what happened at the revel?"

Natalie takes her seat again, complete with muffin-on-plate-on-lap and heels planted squarely on the coffee table. "Right. So. Where was I? Hunting stag... that's right. The freaky guy on horseback, tee em."

"So what was so freaky about him?" Anthony repeats, watching Natalie guard the pastries.

"The dead." Artemis says as she nods her head. "Spirits of the past, bringing tradition to the revel. They would chase their game through the forests, letting their dogs lead."

Natalie ticks the points off on one hand. "Well for starters, he was riding a horse in the Umbra. For second, not everybody saw him. It was, hmn, Cutter and some other guy who first saw the dude. Third, he couldn't be tracked. Megan said they managed to trace him back to this stream where *poof* he disappeared. No scent, no sight, no nothing for a couple of miles upstream -and- down, both sides."

"Well, weird stuff happens in the Umbra," Anthony concludes with a shrug.

"Ancestor spirits then perhaps. Ghosts can't travel too far in the Umbra." Artemis says with a nod of her head.

"If this was normal weird stuff Megan wouldn't've made a point of coming back to tell us - me - about it," Nat protests, pulling bits off her muffin. "Anyway, there's more. Apparently Megan and the others who were following this guy found a couple of arrowheads," she pauses meaningfully, "stuck into a tree about where Cutter saw him first."

Ashley leans back slightly as she listens to the Galliard, this time deciding not to try and piece it together until she is finished. Its obvious her mind is thinking.

"Maybe some spirits were playing cowboys-and-Indians, then." Anthony doesn't seem very interested in the story.

Natalie rolls her eyes at Tony. "Or maybe freaky guy was hunting the stag we were hunting, and had his little prize stolen away from him by a pack of not exactly wolves," she retorts. "That's what I think happened. And like I said, Megan wouldn't've gone out of her way to mention it if she thought it was a regular thing. I'm willing to trust her on this one: she thinks it's strange, I think it's strange."

"Spirits have active lives as we do, Natalie." Artemis says with a thoughtful nod of her head. "They are not as routine or precise as some Garou think they are. If those spirits are hunting spirits, then it is their job and their ability to hunt in the Umbra and take whatever shape they wish to. When we summoned the Stags to the revel, we took away their game. They pursued. I'm sure it was nothing. Though, I am concerned about the arrows." She says with a furrow of her brow. "I wonder if something was hunting them."

Anthony shrugs again, accepting Natalie's and Ashley's reasoning without adding any more snarky comments of his own.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger." The Galliard shrugs and picks further at her muffin. "Megan told me to tell people, so you've been told."

".. I didn't plan on shooting you." Ashley says, looking confused.

"Well, okay," Tony replies, scratching the back of his head.

"...The Get have a new cub, by the way," Nat adds after a minute's nibbling.

"Good for them." Artemis says with a rub to the back of her head. "Hey, I told Josh to not get uppity with you anymore or I'd cut his head off."

That little announcement causes Nat to fix her attention on the Fury. "You did what?"

Anthony chews his lip at the rapid change of topics and mention of Josh. "Why'd you do that?"

"What is it that you call it... I... punked him?" Artemis asks, confused.

"You... you what?" Nat repeats, as confused now as before the Theurge's 'explanation'. "Wait a minute, you got in his face and told him to leave me alone?"

"I told him that if he ever fucks with any of us, or if he gets high and mighty and starts throwing around that submission bullshit because he got lucky in a fight with you, that I will deal with him in a way that'd hurt, a lot." Artemis says with a shrug of her shoulders. "He turned and ran off like a scared pup, mumbling like a fucking cave man."

Nat says, "Great." Only it doesn't sound like she's very thrilled. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"I don't think that's going to do much good," Anthony says, rubbing his forehead.

"Sure made me feel good. He's a bully who picks fights with anyone because he wants to get lucky and win for a change. If you leave his ego too big, he'll just get worse." Artemis says. "Sides, it was a big moon and he was acting like a moron the second I stepped foot in front of him. He made it easy."

"Easy," Nat repeats scathingly. "Ashley, you ever heard the phrase 'battle of wits with an unarmed man'? Of course it's easy with Josh. But that doesn't mean you get to go around..." She stops herself and picks at her muffin. "Look - next time you get the urge to 'protect' me, don't. Now it looks like I don't even have the guts to call him out myself. I have to rely on a theurge do my fighting for me! You know how bad that makes me look?"

"And besides, he's got this thing about people telling him what to do; he's just going to be even more pissed off, now," Anthony points out.

"You told me to go out there and start something with him." Artemis says with a frown. "I put the fear of fucking God into him. It had nothing to do with your guts, its about him going around, throwing his chest out, acting like a dumbfuck male and picking a fight with every chick out there. How many MALEs have you seen him knock around? None. He's fought Emma, Dakota, You. He picks fights with those he feels are beneath him, because he got an issue to work out. He hates being knocked down by girls."

Anthony rubs his left shoulder absentmindedly. "It's not just girls," he's quick to point out.

Natalie glances over at Tony, then back at Ashley. "He picks fights with those he feels are beneath him, sure. But guess what? Your going out there and telling him, and I quote, that if he gets uppity with me you'll cut his head off unquote isn't going to do squat load of good. Sure I told you to go ahead and have at him. I didn't tell you that you needed to act like my damn big sister! He might respect you now - and I doubt it - but any respect for me has just gone straight down the toilet. Plus if anyone else heard you threaten him for my sake... well, let's just say that it doesn't look good."

"Don't worry 'bout that." Artemis says. "Just me, him and Dakota, and right now I'm teaching her as a student, and she hates him as much as the rest of the world." She shrugs her shoulders. "An what is so fucking wrong about acting like your damn big sister? We're pack, are we not? To me, that is pretty darn close to being family as we can be."

Anthony sighs. "Could I get one of those muffins?" he asks.

"She doesn't get it," the Galliard tells the Ragabash sadly. "And sure, help yourself. I didn't make 'em so we could stare at them. Have two." She considers her packmate once more over her stretched-out legs. "OK, let me try once more. The next time you get the urge to threaten someone for me, don't. Threaten them for you all you want. Hell, I'll lead the cheering section. But doing in on someone else's behalf - on my behalf - makes me look like an idiot who can't manage her own affairs. I don't need protection, or hand-holding, or someone to wipe my nose and save me from the scary insane Ahroun. Which is what it looks like to him now - that I don't even have the guts to stand up to him myself."

Ashley stands up and shrugs, heading for the front door. She doesn't say another word, but the glower on her face speaks volumes. She jerks it open and heads out, closing it behind her.

Anthony limits himself to one muffin; Dr. Atkins only spins in his grave half as fast. "She still doesn't get it," Anthony concludes.

Natalie has to agree, "She still doesn't get it. I'll try and explain it to her again later, maybe." Next time she feels like beating her head against a wall. Nat sighs and watches after her packmate, but doesn't get up to see her out. Emily Post is spinning in -her- grave.

"Well, anyway, I finished the plumbing yesterday afternoon," Tony says, attempting to swing the topic back into less headache-inducing areas.

Natalie says, "Didja? Great." Yahoo, whee. "--Sorry," she adds with an apologetic moue. "It's just... does Leala know? You want me to go down and double check, or do we want to try and get a city inspector in or something?"

"If you want to check, that'd be fine. I still have to clean up some, but it should all be working fine now." Tony picks at the middle of the muffin.

"Gonna make me wade through hip-deep solder?" Nat teases, excavating a blueberry to fling it his way.

Anthony swats at the incoming blueberry. "No, I mean there's a couple puddles and a bunch of scrap I haven't had time to haul out yet..."

Natalie only grins and hauls her feet off the table. "If you want me to go down there, let me know. I'm not gonna play OSHA though. Did you get Leala's email about wanting to moot?"

"No, but I did get a voice mail about it." Tony puts the half-eaten muffin down on the coffee table. "I need a new computer. The one Jeremy loaned me's a piece of crap."

"Email, voicemail." Nat waves off the differences in technology with an airy hand. "Whatever. You gonna go to Circuit City and get a new one, or something? Or are you a Dell man? Mac?"

Anthony says "I don't know. It's ... computer stuff. Whatever's cheapest, I guess."

Natalie tosses another berry his way. Leala's gonna have a fit if she finds them ground into the carpeting. "Well, if you want to use mine to search for prices, go ahead. I've got a guest account set up, so you're all good."

Anthony nods, standing up and picking up the unfinished muffin. "I think I'm going to head out," he says. "I think I'm gonna go see what computer stores are around here."

Natalie says, "Sounds good, Tony. Don't be a stranger, huh? You need any help, just give me a holler. I'm not gonna push, though." Unlike certain Black Furies, shh. "Catch you later."

Anthony collects his jacket on the way out, waving back to the parlor as he leaves.

[End of log]