Brownstone -- Basement Apt.

The basement of the brownstone has been split into two sections. The stairwell leads down into the northwest corner section, which contains the boiler room, furnace, and the elevator shaft. The rest has been converted into another apartment, and Signe's made it into a rather fortified one at that. The only entrance is through a re-enforced steel door with no less than three dead-bolts. There are absolutely no windows at all in any of the four concrete and brick walls. It's a rather stark but functional space. Overhead, the air ducts and plumbing pipes are exposed, while the cement floor is covered by a ragged dark wine and gold Oriental throw rug. A makeshift shelving unit of two-by-fours and cinder block has been erected along the length of the wall with the door, and it houses a stereo, tv and old vcr. Directly opposite this is a beat-up leather couch and two mismatched recliners. The kitchen is small but functional, with a round wooden table and four chairs. Half of the back end of the building has been walled off for a private bedroom, while the rest is open to the living area. This space has been converted into a home gym--complete with wrestling mats, weights, and a full weight boxing bag.

Obvious exits:
Out Bedroom

Signe's mood eases a bit, concern etched in her expression as Dillen's reactions become so submissive. "Show me?" she asks.

Dillen gets up and looks at Doc and then back to Signe. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, Thought processes can be seen running through his head before he finally shifts into Glabro.

Hygieia pauses to watch for a moment. She doesn't offer any comment or critizism or anything like that, but she does take note.

The elevator rattles, signaling the impending arrival of a mysterious stranger.

Signe looks pleased. "Not too bad, kid," she says, sipping at her water. The elevator gets her attention and she waits to see who it is.

Dillen looks to the elevator and quickly tries to shift back to homid, he makes it just as the door opens.

Hygieia looks up at the elevator as well, though she is perfectly relaxed about it. Nobody's going to come in here who isnt' welcome, to her mind.

It's keys in the lock, that's who it is. The mysterious stranger does give a perfunctory rat-tat on the door before cracking it, calling, "Anyone home?"

Signe seems mostly relaxed, too. The basement, apparently, rarely gets door to door salesmen these days. Still, the voice isn't immediately familiar. Moving to the door, she says through it, "Fuck off," and only then peeks through to see who it is.

"Told you, Grand Fucking Central Station." Dillen moves to sit back down on the couch and pick up his sketch pad.

Hygieia bursts out laughing. Its a low, gravelly laugh, but it rumbles out of her like something that doesn't get let out too terribly often. Between Dillen and Signe though...

"Why Signe, I didn't know you cared." Nat pushes the door open wider, grinning at her Alpha, her voice dropping back to its normal cadences. "Thought I'd stop by - this a good time?"

For the first time in twenty four hours, maybe, amusement plays in Signe's eyes. "Yeah, come on in, Nat."

Dillen just looks between the women, slowly making gestures in his pad.

Natalie waits for Signe to clear the door before stepping inside, her hands shoving into her bomber jacket pockets. "...Oh hey, Doc. Dillen," she adds with a nod. "I was just passing. Can I interest anyone in a copy of The Watchtower?"

"The Watch... Nat?!? You're a Mormon?" Doc asks, blinking as if she's not sure if Nat's putting her on or not.

Signe looks at Nat's offering, but is mostly ignorant. she sips at her water and moves back to Dillen, sitting on the couch. Looking briefly at NAtalie again, she asks the cub. "so, tell me the Litany?"

Dillen looks to the women. "Um... Not quite finished." He turns the pad around and shows a drawing of four of the five of Havoc. All together as a group, looking rather tough. "Haven't met Ashley so I dunno how she looks." He points to an empty spot on the page. "That's for her when I meet her." He looks up for a bit of approval or not. "Just a thank you for you, Signe... Oh, Litany?" he thinks for a moment.

Natalie smirks over at the Fury. "No, I'm a Garou." She glances to Signe and cub, then crosses to Doc, dropping her voice. "You just stop by too?"

Hygieia keeps her voice low as well. "Yeah. I kinda feel sort of at home here." Doc sort of looks embarrassed, shoving her hands in her pockets. Probably stating something as mushy as all that. She grins at the drawing of Havoc though, just a little, out the corner of her mouth.

Signe takes the pad from the youngsters hands. "Damn," she whispers. "Hey, you guys seen this?" she asks the Fury and the Walker.

Dillen swallows and looks to Natalie and thinks, "Garou Shall Not Mate with Garou, Combat the Wyrm Wherever It Dwells and Whenever It Breeds, Respect the Territory of Another, Accept an Honorable Surrender, Submission to Those of Higher Station, The First Share of the Kill for the Greatest of Station, Ye Shall Not Eat the Flesh of Humans, Respect for Those beneath Ye - All Are of Gaia, The Veil Shall Not Be Lifted, Do Not Suffer Thy People to Tend Thy Sickness, The Leader May Be Challenged at Any Time during Peace, The Leader May Not Be Challenged during Wartime, Ye Shall Take No Action That Causes a Earn to Be Violated........" He finishes and then looks to the others as they look at his drawing. A faint smile comes across his face.

Natalie doesn't care about the drawing. She's listening to the recitation of the Litany with wide-eyed bemusement. "Damn, kid. You remembered all of that from my one delivery?"

Hygieia nods at Signe, beaming her grin onto the Alpha. She hears the Litany recitation but strangely had no doubt that the cub would rattle it right off, so doesn't display any particular amazement about that.

Signe does. she drops the pad back in the cub's lap and gives him an extremely pleased and proud smile. "One time, you told him, Nat? Just once?"

Dillen wipes his face a bit. "Wrote it down after you left so I wouldn't forget..." As he looks at Natalie. "Not that good on learnin. Had to study. Not to mention that Erika came by a while ago and made me do it then." He shrugs. "So I had practice."

"Once," Nat begins with an approving nod... only to come up sharply at the words 'wrote it down'. "...Ah... generally not a good idea, kiddo. Remember what I said about the Veil? Unless Signe's got a cross-cut shredder," her eyes flick to the Get and back without waiting for a cry of affirmation, "You don't write anything down."

Hygieia settles into a chair, just watching with interest. So this is how a cub is really taught. She stays quiet, mostly just observing the process.

Signe blinks. "Erika was here?" she says, with great surprise. The idea of writing down the Litany doesn't bug the Get too much, but she does warn, "when you have it memorized, burn it. And until then, it doesn't leave the basement."

Dillen shakes his head. "I can't burn it... It's worked into that drawing." He looks about and if you look really close you can see that the words have been turned into pieces of clothing, bodies, faces.

Natalie says, "Oh, hell," sounding resigned. She reaches for the picture Signe's holding with a 'may I?' hesitation. "...Then we have to burn that. ...It's good, though. Real good."

Signe looks both amazed and disappointed at the same time. "Fuck. That's a shame." After further thought, she says, "If we took it out to the woods. Maybe."

Dillen looks frantically around. "I can smooth that out... No residue."

"That's freaking clever," Doc states slowly. "The potential in that is really damn amazing if you think about it."

Natalie tosses a, "What, subliminal messages?" over her shoulder to the Fury as she regards the drawing with a mixture of admiration and regret. "Damn. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, Signe, but... remember Thomas. Remember where we are, and remember what I am. I say it should go." She shifts her attention back to the other Galliard. "Sorry, Dillen. You're a damn fine artist."

"I had a lot of time to myself. So I taught myself how to draw." Dillen looks to all the others. "Trust me. I can get the words out of it. Never even know they were there..."

"Not subliminal," Doc says, with a hint of irritation threading its way through her tone. "But for sending messages you don't want others to read. Not many are going to think of looking at a drawing that close. That's all."

Signe reassures Dillen, "No one's gonna touch it right yet. Don't worry." She, along with the others, continues to examine it with a certain amount of awe. She nods to Natalie, but argues, "If he rubs the words out, the picture can't do any damage. As it stands right now, what's written is fairly cryptic, anyway. Except for the word 'garou', and the fact that they are the Laws themselves, there's nothing in them to tell a plain human anything except the kid likes fantasy and science fiction."

Natalie raises her hands, holding them safely away from the pad, and takes a step back, ceding the issue. "Your decision, Signe. As for the rest... well. Your decision."

Dillen looks between you all, "I do have some comic book stories of Garou tales my grandmother told me, but they look like fiction. Shit, I thought they were fiction."

Hygieia blinks at that a few times and decides to just... not... comment. Yup. Not commenting on comic books.

Signe settles the matter for now by saying, "We'll talk about it in the morning. Like I said, though, for now put it away, and it doesn't leave the room. Right now, though, I haven't slept in a couple days, so I'm gonna get some shut-eye. Tomorrow, Dillen, road-trip."

Dillen reaches up and takes his sketch pad. "Road-trip... Okie."

Dillen stows his pad away and watches everybody leave. He looks up to Natalie and smiles a bit. "Did good?"

Natalie edges for the door. "Road-trip?" she echoes, then, "Signe, you want me to take off? I planned on cutting over to fourteenth, then up to Concord." Signe shakes her head and invites the Walker to keep the cub company a little longer before disappearing into her bedroom. "So," Nat says as the door clicks firmly closed. "Company I can do. What were you guys talking about when I came in?"

Dillen shrugs, "Something has Signe upset."

Natalie snorts and pulls her hands out of her pockets, leans against the steel door. "That's not strange. It's not all that hard to upset Signe - any of the full moons, really." She considers a minute before her lips twist wryly. "I think I know what about. Did she say anything to you? ...About it, or about me teaching you?"

Dillen shakes his head, "She quizzed me on the litany, you heard that." He wrinkles his brow, "What's got her all upset?"

The usually talkative Galliard hmns and doesn't answer immediately. She finally answers, "Something the Sept Alpha said. For more details, you should ask her." Time for a lightning -quick subject change. "You know the five names for the auspices, and our five forms?"

Dillen nods. "Yes, Ragabash, Philodox, Theurge, Galliard, Ahroun... homid, glabro, crinos, hispo, lupus."

Natalie hmns thoughtfully. "You are a fast learner. Well. Those out of the way, there's not much else I can teach you that won't end up with me on my back to Signe. Um... have you been practicing your shifting?"

Dillen nods. "Still hard to do..." He shrugs. "What did the alpha say?" Young curiosity...

Natalie says, "It'll get easier the more you practice," instead of answering his question. "You'll probably also find that it's easier to hit crinos and lupus than stop in glabro or hispo."

Dillen furrows his brow. "Why won't you tell me? Is it that bad?"

Natalie exhales, then sucks on her lower lip. "Shift," she orders instead, "And I'll explain." "--Lupus, if you would."

Dillen looks to Natalie and nods. He stands and closes his eyes, thinking hard and then shifting slowly into the lupus.

While he's doing that Nat pulls her hands out of her pockets and refolds them over her belly, her attention evenly split between the shifting cub and Signe's door. "...Good," she says when he finishes. "The alpha's made a decision that doesn't sit well with Signe. One of the Fianna has, hmn, married one of the Get, and the alpha isn't too happy about that. So." A sharp nod. "Hispo, please."

Dillen nods and then bows his head, trying to shift, he misses and hits Crinos...

Natalie shakes her head at him, should he look up at her.

Dillen nods. he takes a deep breath and concentrates hard, making it almost to lupus before he slides back to hispo

"Good," is the Walker's only comment. "All right, glabro, lupus, then revert to breed."

Dillen hangs his head a bit, already winded from the activity. He runs through them with relative problems but makes each form each time. He then sits down and looks at Nat. "Better?'

For answer, Natalie only looks at him for a long, long moment. "...And you said they were hard. It's been how long since your first? Not quite two weeks?"

Dillen nods. "Yeah." Guess it is the pure breed in the kid.

Natalie only shakes her head. She doesn't look all that happy, really. "I know cubs who practice shifting two weeks straight and can't do it that easily. You learn things - complicated things - after listening to them once, you draw like you're twice your age... Damn, kid. If I didn't know better, I'd say Signe was sticking a ringer in on me."

"A ringer?" The boy shrugs his shoulders. "I just think a lot when I am by myself. Work best when on my own."

Natalie continues to shake her head as she zips up her coat. "Don't need me, then. G'night, kid." She flicks open the locks on the door and tugs it open.

"No..." He says quietly. "Say you will come visit?" Dillen's eyes look awful lonely. "I may work alone, but I like... Havin someone to talk to sometime."

Natalie pauses at the door, steps back to look at him, looking like she just bit into a lemon. "...If I can. The Get are pretty possessive of their cubs. You've just zoomed through everything I could teach you in one night. Plus," she adds, not particularly cheerfully, "You've got a road trip, remember? G'night, Dillen. Don't stay up too late." With a last jerk of her chin she exits, keys locking the door from the outside.

[End of log]