Currently the moon is in the waxing Full Moon phase (84% full).

Stairs in the foyer lead up to the second floor, while a doorway tucked under the curve of the stairs heads down to the basement. A heavy door in the foyer with a monitor and intercom beside it goes back to the area set up for communal use by the Sept's Garou.

Natalie heads out of the bathroom, the toilet still running behind her, and into the living room. She's wearing loose clothes - new-looking sweatpants and an untucked t-shirt, both in navy blue. All the furniture's been shoved to the wall or onto other pieces, freeing up a large section of floor space. Soothing new age music that sounds like Enya comes from the speakers.

From the public side of the house can be heard the sound of someone entering. A few moments later, Tu finds his way to the Walker side, carrying a briefcase with him. He stops by the living room, though hangs by the entryway of the room. Observing.

While facing the opposite wall Nat shakes out her arms, then each leg in turn, finishes by snapping her neck from side to side. A deep breath in, and her arms go up over her head, then slowly drop as she exhales. Another breath, her arm movements repeating, and she starts in a T'ai Chi routine - slow, calming. Relaxing.

Tu lets Natalie relax for a while, before disturbing the silence with a wise crack. "Isn't that the routine from the last Lil' Pink video?" Ha. MTV Humor. Requisite joshing accomplished, Tu lift the briefcase up, showing it to Natalie. "I was going to ask if you wanted to sit in on the cub debriefing, but it looks like you're busy."

It takes the Galliard a second to turn, but the exercise has calmed her enough that she doesn't spin and leap. She does blink at the man, then shake her head to clear out cobwebs before beckoning him in to the dechaired room. "Huh? No, come on in. I was just... what cub debriefing?"

Tu eyes the vacant spot where the comfortable chair used to be, but settles on leaving against one of the walls. "I sent Kevin on a trip into the city with some tasks to accomplish. I need to critique his performance, and explain why sending him to steal a nameplate wasn't simply for my amusement."

"--Oh," says Nat after another second, the light dawning. "Yeah, I'd like to sit in on that. And a pre-evaluation eval. How'd he do?" She turns for the media center, but doesn't go more than a step before turning back. "For that matter, what did he do?"

Tu places the briefcase on the floor and, after a moment, decides it such a good idea he sits down next to it. "Well, for his first venture into the city with an agenda, I think he did fine. You can read that as 'He wasn't arrested, nor did he kill anyone or breach the veil'." He presses the buttons on the briefcase, and the two latches pop with a snap, allowing the cover to be opened. Tu draws out a file folder, and slides it along to floor to the elder. "He wasn't without flaws, though."

Natalie says, "Hold that thought," and hurries over to turn down the music from 'elevator' to barely audible'. She pushes a hand through her hair as she comes back, crouching over the folder to pick it up. "You want to do this here, or back in the dining room?"

Tu looks around the room, then shrugs slightly. "You're call, Boss. I think a more formal setting for Kevin would be in order, but for this part - the floor is fine with me."

"I'm fine with this," she shrugs, and plops back onto her butt, knees drawn up as an impromptu table. "I just don't want to put the living room back until after I don't need the floor space any more. I -really- need to get the attic completed."

Tu looks around the room once more. "I kind of like it. It's a statement in minimalism. It just needs to be painted bright white, with black trim." He pulls another folder from the briefcase, identical to the one passed to Natalie, though doesn't open it. "Anyway, I gave him 5 tasks to do in the city, at various locations. He had to get a video token from a porn shop, a bible from a church, a name tag from a corporate office, a coaster from a bar, and I had him run a errand for my business, which involved paying someone for some information."

Natalie has yet to crack open her own folder; instead she's watching the Ragabash's face. "All right. Sounds... sneaky. Did you put any limits on him, like 'no getting caught' or did you just let him do whatever he wanted?"

"No shifting unless death is imminent, No going through the looking glass, and if he gets in trouble with the police, let them arrest him and call me immediately. I equipped him with a GPS device, locations for where each task needed to be done, and a cell phone that let me track his position." He ticks off each item with a business-like air, seeming certain he thought of everything.

"Reasonable," the Elder agrees. "And any time limit?"

Now Tu does flip open the folder, though doesn't really look at the contents. "I gave him 12 hours, though I thought that was a bit generous. He got back in time, though probably could have been quicker about things. His biggest fault is that he did practically no overall planning, that I could tell. He did some back tracking, and didn't do the tasks in the most efficient order."

Natalie says, "So that's something to ding him on. And," she adds, "This is his first, hmn, day trip. So given that he didn't break the Veil, get arrested, or do anything else skirting on the edge of illegal, I'm pretty happy with it. We can work on polish later."

"That," the Ragabash says with a pleased tone, "was the purpose. That, and starting him to learn to think about things and solve problems. So, all in all, I'm happy."

"Then I'm happy," Nat declares, dropping the man a sharp nod. "Good. Do you think - assuming Megan rules in our favor - that you'll have space for him in your company?"

Tu lifts his hands up in in 'Beats me' sort of motion. "My company consists, essentially, of me. So, as long as I'm a little profitable I can employ him - assuming he's interested."

Kevin pages to the room: Keep going, I'll pose myself in at a suitable juncture.

"That's..." Natalie begins, only to be interrupted by a cell phone's version of Beethoven's 9th. She scrambles to her feet, looking abruptly pale and tense, and heads for her coat, hanging on the pegs "--Crap. 'Scuse me, Tu, this's important."

Tu busies himself reviewing the information he has in the folder, and letting the Alpha take care of other business.

Footsteps sound from the stairs and a grouchy-looking -- perhaps even more so than normal -- Kevin appears from above, hands stuffed in pockets, looking pretty discontent. This look does not diminish in the least when he catches sight of Tu, but it's replaced by puzzlement when he sees that the furniture's stacked up and moved. "What the hell?" he says curtly to the other ragabash.

Nat scrabbles her phone out of her coat pocket. "This is Natalie. --Yes ma'am." She goes silent while Tu reviews, only glancing over her shoulder at Kevin's appearance.

Tu, having dealt with grumpy cubs before, doesn't seem put off by Kevin's tone. "Remember the fifth law," he advises as a response. "We're going to move to the dining room, so why don't you grab a drink and meet us there in a minute."

Kevin's mouth twitches, but he nods at Tu. "Just wondered why the furniture was all over the place like we were expecting a zombie invasion," he responds. "Anyway, hold on, I've got a few things for you upstairs." He turns back on himself and dashes up to the bunkroom two steps at a time, returning with both hands full of items which Tu will doubtless recognise, though Natalie may not.

Nat continues talking into the phone, still facing the wall as a nod in privacy's general direction. "--Yes ma'a - sorry. Yes Megan, thank you. I understand. No, it's not going to be a problem. I'll tell them. Thank you." The woman turns to face the room and clicks off her phone, looking simultaneously bushwacked and pleased. "She said yes."

Tu is in the process of collecting his stuff, when the news is relayed by Natalie. Even the moon can defeat the smile which fights it's way to his lips. "Wonderful. That's fantastic - any restrictions?"

Kevin returns to the living area just in time to hear Natalie speak Megan's name, and his brow clouds over still further. He doesn't otherwise respond to the mention of the sept elder, though. He just walks over to Tu, one raised hand hefting a small leather-bound Bible aloft, which would make him look like a young revivalist preacher if it weren't for the other hand holding a name-plate of the sort to be found on office doors, and a very dirty beermat-coaster.

Natalie doesn't reply to Tu at first; she's too busy dancing a small victory jig right there in the foyer, both hands - including the one still clutching her cell phone - held high in air. "YES! YES! YES!"

Tu lets Natalie dance and focuses on giving Kevin a clue as he returns with his collected prizes. "Megan said we can keep you," he explains to Kevin. "She just called Natalie."

Kevin gives his elder a suspicious look, as though he fears she may have slipped a mental gear. But Tu's explanation takes him totally by surprise; his jaw drops for a second, then snaps back into place so hard that it's a surprise his teeth don't rattle. He does not join Natalie in partaking of any external symptoms of joy at the news.

Tu clasps Kevin on the shoulder, and gives him a soft shake. "Of course, the bad news is that you have to keep doing what I say, now. Glass Walker."

"WHOO!" Nat adds, before throwing her head back and straight-out howling. "Oh thank Gaia." "--Kevin!" Her delight in spotting the boy is almost as great as her joy in that phone call. "Great news! I just got off the phone with Megan. She said that if I want you, and if you want to be a Walker, then your decision is final. Not Icy-Toes, not Signe's. Yours. Whoo!"

Kevin jerks himself away from Tu's touch for a moment, his expression a mix of anger and confusion. He looks as though he'd like to sit down, but short of simply squatting on the floor, the suitable furniture is all out of commission. Instead he slouches a couple of feet from the cliath. "Yah, right, Tu-rhya," he responds without great enthusiasm. "Is this godawful mess finally over, then?" The question is addressed to the empty space between Tu and Natalie, leaving it open for either or both to respond. He tucks the nameplate under one arm, and returns his hands to his pockets, Bible, beermat and all.

Tu smiles more broadly as Natalie confirms his suspicion, answering the cub. "Well, that's assuming you still want to be one of us, I guess." He eyes the cub carefully, "Do you?"

Natalie's too overwhelmed with her own emotions to notice such a piddly thing like a sulky cub. "This is great. Thank Gaia it's finally over." With a broad grin she pivots and 'slam-dunks' her phone back into the pocket of her jacket, then does another round of her victory dance hissing, "Yes!" every second or so.

"Yeah... yeah, I guess..." Kevin seems a little shell-shocked, the sound of stunned disbelief in his voice. "I just thought it'd be a bit more... formal... than this. She never even spoke to me! Then again, that's probably a good thing." The cub's lips twitch into a kind of smile. "Well, stone me, I'm a Glass Walker." He watches Natalie dance around the room with a peculiar expression on his face -- one part sardonic amusement, two parts astonishment, and a twist of left-over grouchiness, shaken not stirred.

Tu, the sensitive one, shakes his head at Kevin wryly. "This is, technically speaking, good news. You are free to..." he nods his head towards 'Dancin' Natalie, "...be just a little bit happy. So, cheer the hell up."

With a furious pumping of her fists, Nat finally calms down enough to manage coherent English sentences again. "Yes." She beams at both of them, happiness slowly dripping off her face when she takes in the cub's discombobulation. "--What?"

Kevin shrugs to Natalie. "I said, I'm a Glass Walker." The cub's initial disbelief seems to have worn off to be replaced by an air of feigned, or maybe even real, nonchalance. "Congratters, Natters. I'm glad you got to keep me, really I am. You'd not have been fun to be around if you hadn't." The cub, as well as being tactless, seems to overlook the fact that he wouldn't have been around her had this been the outcome. "Now, Tu. What the hell do I do with these?" Pulling his hands back out of his pockets, he waves the trio of mysterious trophies -- Bible, beermat, nameplate -- in the air.

Tu crosses his arms across his chest, and looks at Kevin with mock disappointment. "No," he says in response to the shown items. "We're not moving on until you say 'Yippee, I'm a Glass Walker. I'm the luckiest cub in the world."

Nat's eyebrows beetle together - though nowhere near as impressive as Scratch's - and she looks between cub and Cliath. A second, though, and she looks back to Kevin, prompting, "And say it like you mean it."

Kevin cocks his head on one side, looking at Tu. "Hold on," he says politely, laying the three items on the floor in a row, where they sit looking like a surrealist composition. He seems to fold in on himself a little, taking deep breaths, psyching himself up for something. And then, with no warning, he lets out a piercing shriek like a train whistle, and begins running round the room, taking advantage of the pushed-back furniture to do a couple of very fast laps, and then, wilder still, beginning to leap onto the chairs and tables heedless of how precariously they're stacked or how high they are, trusting in his agility not to take a tumble. Through luck or skill, he doesn't. After a further circuit he runs upstairs, still letting out shrill screams of excitement, capers back down again at undiminished speed, does one more circuit of the room for luck, races straight at Natalie and plants a kiss on her face. And then, what the hell, he turns to Tu and gives his fellow ragabash a big smacker as well, before releasing him, toppling over onto the floor like a dead thing next to the scavenger-hunt trophies, and lying there, arms outstretched and eyes closed, like a horizontal crucifixion. After a few seconds he opens one eye again. "... That good enough for ya?" he grins.

Natalie steps back as Kevin comes rushing at her, dropping into a 'ready' position her Sensei would approve of. She manages to get her hands up in time to block him, though he's still able to grab one arm and plant a big ol' smooch on the inside of her wrist before he goes zooming over to Tu.

Tu doesn't try to stop the kiss aimed at him, remaining there with his arms crossed. He watches the cub fall prone to the floor, looks at Natalie, then walks over to the cub. "For Gaia's sake, man. You're a Glass Walker, now. Show a little self respect." He bends down slightly, then adds. "And that is the only kiss you ever give me. At least on my face."

Kevin sits back up. "Oh, there's no pleasing you guys," he teases. "You don't like nonchalance, you don't like enthusiasm..."

Natalie only shakes her head as she straightens, tugging at the hem of her navy tee. "Health tip, kiddo. Don't do that on a fat moon like this. I nearly took you out." Stern her words may be, but her voice holds a hint of amusement. "--C'mon, Tu. Back to the dining room. I want to hear how his field trip went."

Tu reaches down to Kevin, offering him a hand up before grabbing his stuff, and moving to the dining room. "Me too," he says.

Kevin picks up his trophies in one hand, and stands back up, using Tu's proffered hand to support himself. "Okay," he confirms, following the two cliaths through to the dining area.

Natalie doesn't seem to have a problem playing second fiddle to Tu, at least not on this short trip. She detours over to the kitchen instead of cutting over to the dining room, asking, "Anyone besides me want any water?"

After relocating to a chair in the dining room, it only takes Tu a few moments to re-organize himself, a folder open on the table in front of him "I'd love a glass of water." He takes note, finally, of the collection of items Kevin has been displaying, but doesn't comment on them yet. "Why don't we start by having you critique yourself. How did things go generally, what did you learn, and what questions do you have?"

Kevin seems grateful for the chance to ask some questions. "Water here, too, please, Nat," he asks before formulating some. "Okay, first off, who the hell is Jean Kilborne, and why did you want her nameplate? Furthermore," he goes on without pausing for breath, "given the litany's ruling that we should respect the territory of another, why is it okay for me to waltz into office blocks and churches, and steal things?"

Natalie doesn't reply - verbally - to the Ragabash, but gets down a trio of glasses from the cabinet anyway.

Tu smiles, in spite of his attempt to keep this formal. "Well, first of all, the Litany doesn't apply to non-Garou. So, you don't have to respect anyone's territory. Secondly, I have no idea who Jean Kilborne is. I know where she works, and have a vague idea of what she does - but that's it." He gives the cub a moment to digest this, then adds. "The rules of society that you're used to - the ones which say 'this is right'..." He lifts his hands to contain an block of air in front of him. "...and 'this is wrong'..." His hands move to a different block of air. "...are gone, in many ways. You are probably going to need to break the law, sometimes. You're going to need to steal stuff. You're going to need to lie."

Kevin seems to accept this answer with equanimity. "So it wasn't the plaque you wanted. Or the bible, probably, or the beermat. You just wanted to see how I managed with having to collect all of them." He looks at Tu as though wondering whether to say more.

The Elder fills all three glasses, then brings two of them over to the wall between dining room and kitchen before heading back for the third.

"I wanted the USB drive," Tu adds helpfully. "But, you're correct. This was about introducing you to the city, seeing how you planned, and helping you get used to thinking on your feet." He crosses his hands and rests them on the folder. "So, you can keep that other stuff with my blessing."

Kevin looks at the grubby beermat. "That can go in the bin." The Bible he considers for a moment. "Not my thing, but we should either keep it or else take it back to the church. The nameplate... I'm tempted to nail it on the wall in the bunkroom as a trophy, but I'm not sure if that's a bit loserish." He grins. "And the whole thing came out in profit, by the way. Well over seventy dollars left. I saw your bike a couple of times; were you watching me all through? There was one point in particular where I thought the whole thing was gonna end in a total disaster. Like, veil breach disaster."

Tu ignores profit and trophy plans, focusing in on the last bit of the cub's comment. "Veil breach? Did someone piss you off?" he asks curiously.

Natalie continues to play waitress, though she delivers glasses for herself and Tu before fetching the one for Kevin. At the mention of 'Veil breach' her eyebrows go up, but she doesn't comment.

Kevin shakes his head. "Nah. I near as dammit got caught inside the offices," he admits. "I was going down in the lift, with this damn thing," he takes the nameplate and whacks it discontentedly against the table, "stuffed down my pants leg, and expecting a posse of security guards to be waiting for me in the lobby at the bottom. I... felt myself start to go." he says more quietly. "First time since, uh, the first one, that I felt myself shifting without consciously wanting to. I was in a complete bloody panic. And there were two people in suits in the lift with me. I was this close," he says, holding his fingers an infinitesimally small distance apart, "from shifting and freaking out completely all over them. I still don't rightly know how I managed not to."

Tu frowns slightly. "Well, we need to work on that. We can't have you flipping out in elevators - especially if you think you're going to get caught. One of the things you'll learn is that, while certainly something to avoid, getting caught for minor crimes in the city isn't a big deal. If you can learn that, you're better able to focus on keeping your wits and your control about you."

"You might have been table to take out both of the people in the elevator with you," Nat adds as she slides into a chair, "but the security cameras would have been a different story. Good job keeping it together."

Kevin doesn't look at all happy at Natalie's blase suggestion of his wiping out the two office workers. "How the hell would I dispose of the bodies in an elevator between floors? And as for breaking the law, you guys have to remember, I never did anything like that before coming here. I did stupid things, sure, just not criminal ones. Plus, I'm an illegal immigrant, if they see through that fake ID of Scratch's."

Tu looks to Natalie for a reply, since she brought up the possibility of 'taking them out'.

"I didn't say it would be the smart thing to do," Nat snaps. "Just that you could have. Cripes." Time to drown her temper under a swallow - or more - of water.

Kevin gives a dry laugh. "While breaking the Litany by killing them in the first place, I suppose I could go the whole hog and eat them too."

Tu does interject this time. "Obviously, since you were pretty much taking a useless item, killing someone would have been extreme. The point is that, had the stakes been higher, you may have needed to do such a thing. " He leans in to the cub, voice adopting a more authoritative tone. "Killing people is not against the Litany. It's to be avoided, because it causes problems, but it's not against the rules. If you have a choice between someone finding out what you are, and killing them - well, there's no choice. You did the right thing - but you need to consider all possibilities and alternatives."

Natalie flicks the fingers of her free hand - encouragement? agreement? - but doesn't chime in. She seems willing to let Tu run the show.

Kevin pulls a face. "Yeah. I guess the thing to do is not get yourself into the situation where you have to make that choice, in the first place. I know killing people isn't against the litany, but killing someone in an office elevator in the middle of a working day's gonna be a veil breach, any way you slice it."

Tu shakes his head. "Not exactly. Getting caught is the problem - and even then only if it can be traced back to what you are. People get killed in offices all the time." He sighs, perhaps releasing some tension, and his tone is more cordial when he continues. "I noticed you didn't finish one of the tasks, yet you came back before the deadline was over. Why?"

Natalie glances between the two Ragabash, alternately sipping from and merely holding her water glass.

Kevin's cheeks flush somewhat in response to Tu's question. "Got chucked outta the place. Not old enough." He avoids meeting Tu's eyes, or Natalie's.

Tu studies the cub's face for a moment, then nods. "Well, figuring out how to get into places you're not supposed to be is important. We'll add that to the list of things we work on." He moves on, not pressing the subject. "What do you think your biggest weakness was for the whole project?"

Kevin seems grateful not to be quizzed further on the subject. "Ehh. I don't know. General unfamiliarity with the way you do things in this country didn't help. All those damn banknotes the same size... But I think the real killer's the same as it always is for me. No confidence in myself."

"Confidence will come in time. I'm not worried about that just yet." He pulls out a sheet of paper from the folder, and passes it along to the cub. It's a map of the city, with lines drawn on it which seems to traces the cub's movement as he did the tasks. Some spots have several lines back and forth. "Planning, was your weakness. A few moments with a phone book, or online, and you could have produced a clear plan, and known when the places were open."

Kevin raises his eyebrows, seemingly not having even considered this possibility. "You're the one who said time was important..." he protests, a little feebly.

Natalie interjects, "Penny wise, pound foolish, kiddo."

Tu seems unconvinced by the protest. "I said you needed to finish by a certain time. A little planning at the outset can save you time, even if it means a later start." He nods in agreement with Natalie's quote. "That said, you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. The point of all of this is for you to learn, not to do everything correctly from the beginning."

Kevin frowns and gives a vaguely assenting grunt. "Natalie?" he goes on to ask. "Now all this hoohah is over about me and Hjalmar and that, what's it mean? Will Emma still be taking me out to the bawn and so on? And will I get to the big test soon? Because, y'know, being called 'kiddo' is starting to grate on my last nerve," he says with a sort of fixed smile.

Natalie's eyebrows jump up. "Well, I can't call Thomas or Tu 'kiddo', so you're it. --But I'll try and stop if it bothers you. Just don't expect miracles. As for the other..." She shoots an appraising look over to Tu. "I'm thinking he'll be ready early June. About six weeks. What do you think?"

Tu nods in agreement with Natalie. "I think that sound doable. I have a couple of more learning tasks for him, but we should get it all done by then." He seems to ignore the cub for the moment.

Kevin puts on his frank-open-and-persuasive face for Natalie. "Aww, c'mon, you've got that new kid now! She's at least a year younger than me!" he wheedles. "I'm sixteen at the start of June!"

Natalie fails, somehow, to fall for Kevin's sweetness-and-light. "And I call her kiddo too," she drawls before looking back to Tu. "Cool. It would be great if we could get him done before the next Moot, but don't press it. I'd rather get him trained properly than skip things just for the sake of getting it done." Cub? Sitting right here? Who's that?

Up in the front of the house, a phone starts ringing.

Tu glances at his watch, then does some quick math in his head. "I'll see if we can make that, though some of it depends on what the Rite will be." He glances at Kevin, chewing his lower lip, then back to Natalie. "We should probably figure out what it is." He glances, briefly, in the direction of the phone. "You want Kevin to grab that?"

Kevin half-gets out of his chair, as though awaiting Nat's confirmation.

Natalie looks up blankly. "Uh, yeah. If that's my cell," and the phone goes *ringring* again, "answer it and bring it back here, will you please?"

Kevin zooms through towards the ringing sound, ears alert to track it to its source.

Kevin spots the ringing phone. It is indeed Nat's mobile. Snatching it up, he hits the answer button. "Ms. Baker's cellphone," he says into it in would-be secretarial tones.

While Kevin's galloping up to the front of the house, Nat downs the last of her water. "You want a refill?" she asks Tu.

"I'm fine, thanks," Tu says, then lowers his voice while the cub is still out of the room. "He understands, intellectually, everything I think. He still doesn't fully understand what it all means, though. I think any rite we do should involve something against his upbringing."

"Putting you through," Kevin's voice says from the front room. He trots back through holding out the phone, his hand over the microphone. "Some weird electronic voice thing," he confides quietly to Nat as he passes the phone to her.

Natalie taps the side of her nose, likewise dropping her tone as she leans in to speak with Tu. "If you come up with any ideas, I'll be glad to hear them. Frankly, after the debacle with Saul, I'm wondering about my own... Huh?" She straightens up fast when Kevin comes back in, automatically reaching for the phone. "Did it - he - give a name?" Not that she waits for an answer, but sticks the phone up to her face. "This is Natalie."

Kevin shakes his head as he releases the device to the elder.

A familiar computerized voice comes over the phone. "It's a wonderful day outside, isn't it? The kind that makes you want to take a short jaunt before the sun sets. Before an certain disreputable and anemic individual gets up, moves elsewhere, and makes me have to try tracking him down again. Don't you agree?"

Tu doesn't reply to Natalie, letting the Alpha take her phone call.

Natalie sits up straight as though she's just had ice cubes dropped down her neck. "Pardon?" she demands of the phone, quickly following that up with, "Who, when, and where?"

"If you've a vehicle, it's only a few miles away from your residence. And he's alone."

"Give me the address," Nat demands after a few more seconds. "And I'll take care of it. How did you find it?"

"Go east from your house to Colonial. Take a right. Go south about to Everest. Take another right. There's an alleyway to the north halfway down the block. The second manhole cover. He's down below. He has a pistol and a knife."

Tu collects his folders as Natalie talks, slipping them back into the briefcase he has.

Natalie continues, "I won't even mention how freaky it is you know where I live." She flicks her fingers at Tu, then gestures to her phone after she's gotten his attention. "OK, got it. --You're going to let me handle this, right? No interference?"

Kevin raises one querying eyebrow at Tu, keeping his silence.

Tu, who had politely been pretending that he wasn't paying attention, looks from the finger flicking to the phone, and then to Natalie. He raises both hands in a shrug as if to say 'I have no idea what it is you want from me', which is exactly what he would say to her if she wasn't on the phone.

Natalie points at herself, then Tu again, and then once more at her phone. Then apparently realizing that this isn't working, demands a pencil via world-wide sign language of making scribbling gestures with her pointer finger.

"I've no intention of interfering. I've already attempted to dissuade this person from his activities, but have been unsuccessful. It seemed appropriate to introduce him to some of the other special snowflakes in the city. If you need help covering up anything...." A computer voice just doesn't trail off very well. "I suggest leaving the line open to facilitate such things."

Tu pulls a black UniBall fine-point pen from his briefcase, and slides that and a pad of paper over to the Alpha.

Kevin sits quietly like a good patient little cub. A rare moment indeed.

Natalie takes the pen and paper with a nod, then pours faux-honey into the cell. "What, can't you just watch over me like a guardian angel?" She immediately follows that up with a more serious, "I'm uncomfortable doing that. Instead, call me back in... twenty minutes. No, twenty-five. If you get my voice mail, there's a problem." Meanwhile she jots a few words down on the paper: 'leech. Armed. You and me?' before sliding the paper back for Tu's reading pleasure.

"Clock's ticking."

Tu's eyes widen, and he nods to Natalie. He lets her finish on the phone, and pulls some books from his briefcase, which he hands to the cub. "Start reading. We'll talk more about this later." He waits for Natalie to lead the way.

Kevin can't resist craning his neck just a little to try and see what the elder's writing. He collects the books in the crook of his arm with a puzzled look.

"Understood," Nat tells the phone. "Thanks, David." With no more goodbye than that she flicks the phone closed and stands in one smooth move. "Kevin, stay here. I think Thomas'll be back soon. We'll be back as soon as we can. Tu, grab whatever you need and meet me in my truck. We have twenty-five minutes to get this done." With that she heads for the front of the house, her 'game face' on.

Kevin pulls a sour face, which is wasted on Natalie's fast-retreating back. The face turns even sourer when he sees that he's not only to be left out of whatever fun's about to go down, but that he's also had an armful of textbooks dumped on him.

Tu pushes away from the table as well, heading upstairs. In a few moments, he's changed to his business clothes and is waiting in the truck.

Kevin shakes his head as the two cliaths depart. He picks up the textbooks, the nameplate, and borrows Natalie's hammer from her hoard of tools. In a little while the noise of hammering comes from upstairs, not that anyone's probably around to hear it, as he fixes the 'Jean Kilborne' nameplate to the bunkroom wall, his first trophy.

Natalie's just a few seconds behind the Ragabash, her bomber jacket on but unzipped. "Here's what I know," she says as she gets her truck in gear and all but peels out of the driveway. "That was David on the phone. He said he'd figured out where a vamp's sleeping, and wanted to let us know. He also thinks it's going to scoot after tonight, so we should take care of it now." She heads east to Colonial, then turns right, following the Mage's directions to an alley west of Everest Street.

Tu simply nods, the name David not meaning anything to him, but not particularly relevant right now. "Do you know what type of place it is?"

"Place?" Nat echoes, parking the truck to the side of the alley leaving just enough room for Tu to wriggle out. "Down a man hole. He said..." She turns to squint at the mouth of the alley, then drop her eyes to count sewer covers. "Hah. That one. Second sewer, he said. And it's got a gun and a knife."

The drive is uneventful and relatively short--only about 3-4 miles away from the safehouse, but largely in a southern direction--towards a not-entirely-bad, but nondescript section of the city not too far away from a variety of bars and nightclubs. You're there in just over 10 minutes. The streets are lined with tall brick buildings. Businesses, mostly. And work has let out a little while ago, so they're mostly deserted. The alleyway moreso. And there, indeed, is the second manhole cover in question.

Tu wriggles out of the truck and into the alley, glancing around the place. He moves quietly in the direction of the indicated manhole cover, eyeing the ground in the general vicinity.

The sun is not cooperating. The North-South run of the alleyway cuts off the steadily setting sun, though you've still hours before it gets dark.

Natalie steals a second to turn her cell off before catching up with the Ragabash. "I've got a gun, a Glock something-or-other, but I'm thinking there's no need. You shift up, get the cover, then I go in and take point? After that, it's all up to us. Too bad about the buildings," she flips a hand toward the closest one, "or I'd say just bring it up for a little tan."

Tu looks at the alley and street with a slight frown, but nods agreement with the plan. He shimmers slightly, then expands up to the Glabro form, clothes altering with him. Another quick another look around, then he places his hands on the manhole cover. "On 3?"

Natalie nods and moves around to the other side of the 'cover, her right hand snaking around to her back to tap at the reassuring bulk of the gun presumably tucked into her waist band. She doesn't make any move to pull it, though.

With a grunt of effort, Tu manages to pivot the manhole cover up onto one side. Those suckers are heavy! There's a not-entirely-quiet sound of metal scraping on cement, but it's not loud enough to carry beyond the mouth of the alley. Probably. Below is inky blackness--maybe a floor about 8-10 feet down, but it's hard to tell. And metal rungs embedded in a cement wall. There's no signs of movement.

"I'm going in," Nat says, adding, "Leave the cover off," before she swings over to the ladder. Once she's a couple of rungs down and well-centered she hops off and 'slides' down it using the outer rims to guide herself. Once at the bottom - assuming there are no welcoming surprises - she bulks up into Glabro.

Tu watches Natalie disappear into the darkness, listening for her arrival at the bottom before he moves to follow her. He steps over the hole, and tries to slip in, shifting back to homid if necessary.

Eerily, a drop of water echoes in the distance--probably down some cement tunnel. Fortunately, the ground here is dry, though dirty from decades of residue washed off the city streets. Your eyes begin to adjust to the darkness. There seems to be a prone form--possibly two--on the ground of the wall opposite, about 15 feet away. The room itself appears to be a junction of pipes and is approximately 20 feet and square shaped.

Natalie doesn't glance up to see where Tu is - no point ruining what little night vision she has - but swears softly. Crouching down, she shifts past Crinos and into Hispo before padding forward to investigate the bodies.

Tu is less athletic than Natalie, actually using the rungs to climb down the tunnel. When he reaches the bottom, he shuts his eyes tightly for a few moments to speed their adjustment to the dark, then heads after Natalie (assuming she's easy to find).

As the pair draws nearer, it's obvious that there are two humans--a male and a female--on the ground, naked, in a spooning position. Unmoving.

Holds-the-Line's fairly easy to keep tabs on - pale fur will do that for you. She lets out a low growl, barely audible if not for the echo of the sewers, then paces even closer until she's able to put her nose on the bodies. She's trusting to the Ragabash to watch her back: ears, eyes, and nose are fixed on the... corpses?

Tu lets Natalie investigate the bodies, keeping his eyes moving around the area. He watches and listens for movement, hands twitching nervously.

The woman, the nearest body to Natalie, appears to be dead. Though how one tells dead from undead by smell may be problematic. One good indication might be that vampires apparently can grow their fingernails long and claw-like. Just like the one draped over the woman is doing right at this instant.

In a flash of Rage Holds-the-Line lunges for the leech, fangs spread wide and glistening. Her first target is the thing's forearm, to try and break its bones, and then, barely stopping, onward up to the neck. Tu hangs back, playing rear guard.

Tu starts, apparently surprised by the sudden movement, and wonks his head on the cement ceiling really hard, staggering sidewise and almost falling over from the stars that have suddenly come out. Holds-the-Line reacts fast enough to clamp down on the clawed arm before it can rake at her face. There's a satisfying crunchy noise as something breaks--but not thoroughly. The follow-up claw swipe goes long and strikes the solid cement behind the vampire, painfully snapping off a couple claws. The vampire's eyes snap open, glowing red, and his other arm--beneath the corpse in front of him--fires a single shot at the wolf. It hits, but only grazes flesh at that awkward angle. Hardly even worth feeling. A serpent-like hiss, and horrific breath, vomits forth from the vampire's mouth.

Holds-the-Line finds glowing eyes disturbing, not to mention tacky. Her jaws spread again to chomp down on the thing's head, trying to see how much of it she can fit inside her mouth.

She bites for the head, the vamp jerks his head the other way, and the end result is an unsatisfying snap in empty air, teeth clacking as they come together. The vampire fires his pistol at that really awkward angle a second time and she feels something hot rush through the fur on her side--but not connect with flesh.

Holds-the-Line growls again, beginning to get irritated, and drops, letting all her weight land on the monster. It may not have to breathe, but several hundred pounds of furry blanket will slow anything's reflexes. Now its head is closer to her face again, giving her another chance to try for a face-ectomy.

The vampire seems to realize that his partly immobilized gun arm is not going to cut the mustard. He fires another shot as you drop prone on top of him. The shot goes wild a zings off down a drainage pipe to parts unknown. His clawed yet broken arm attempts to dig in to your side and push you off, but the angle is all wrong and he does little more than pet you hard on the shoulder. You attempt to bite his entire head again and, as your mouth closes over his face, he manages to bite one fang into and through your lip--right before his head crushes like an overripe melon dropped off the back of the truck at highway speed.

*SPLURT!*

Holds-the-Line crunches until it's well and truly obvious that the leech is dead; only then does she push herself to her feet and spit out the slobbery remains. No movement from the vampire's snuggle-bunny, but she gives it a thorough going-over as well, to make sure that the woman's corpse is well and truly dead.

Neither body looks like it will be going anywhere anytime soon.

Natalie slowly reverts back to breed form, the motion to reach into her pocket and turn her phone back on almost reflexive. "Think that's everything," she tells Tu before wiping the back of a hand across her mouth. "You stay here, I'll go get the tarp from my truck. We can leave her body here, but Mr. Dentist is going for a little ride."

[All the easily-found bullets are found and removed, as well as the weapons - a bloody knife and a .38 special with three bullets remaining. They leave the woman's body there, but take the vampire away in a tarp in the back of Nat's truck. Much later that night, it's disposed of in the Columbia.]

[End of log]