This former rail station was abandoned for many years, but is now being brought back into repair. It consists of a rectangular two-story building beneath a peaked roof, with single-story wings sheltering the platform from the weather and providing additional small rooms. Some of the windows and doors remain boarded up, with rotting frames, peeling paint and liberal graffiti. The main building is in the process of restoration, with new doors (and locks), glass in the windows, fresh plaster and paint on the walls, and even some planters with bright and cheerful flowers.
The main building is open-plan at ground level, smelling of fresh paint, with the floor boards sanded smooth and oiled to a finish. A row of low cupboards lines one wall, providing storage and a flat surface currently used for a microwave, kettle, and supplies for hot drinks. The stairs leading to the upper story are rickety but sound enough to bear. There are the remains of a freight elevator, but whether the rusting mechanisms could be trusted to work now is anybody's guess. Upstairs are several more rooms which are in the process of being converted into small bedrooms, a kitchen and a communal living area.
Outside the buildings, beyond the platform edge, the line of the old rail tracks stretches east and west. Its straight scar is overgrown with weeds, dotted with tumbledown workers' sheds and studded with the rusting shells of railcars.
Currently the moon is in the waning Crescent (Theurge) Moon phase (34% full).
Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius). The wind is calm today. The barometric pressure reading is 30.19 and steady, and the relative humidity is 93 percent. The dewpoint is 38 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius.)
Compact is the word for him: wiry, maybe 5'6" in his beat-up black combat boots, with a sense of compressed energy and imminence like a coiled spring -- or a cocked gun. Never quite still for long, balance flowing through the balls of his feet. There's a striking intensity to his narrow blue-green eyes, the colour contrasting with his fair skin and spiky copper hair; just below the left is what at first appears to be a faint mole, but closer inspection reveals as a small, long-healed scar. His features are appealing, with high cheekbones and a good jawline, but it's the confident mien and roguish smile that most often seem to draw people in.
He's in a well-worn biker jacket of the traditional sort, all fairly closely fit black leather and silvery zippers and snaps. Beneath it, he's got nicely-fitting dark indigo jeans with a plain white tank, its ribbed cotton skimming close enough to hint at the musculature beneath. Over that, he's wearing a long-sleeved, navy blue shirt, unbuttoned; judging by the white-on-red number patches on the left arm, the flag patch on the right shoulder, and the round fleur-de-lis patch to the left of the collar, it was once part of someone's Scout uniform... probably not his. Okay, the 'Boy Scouts of the USA' patch over the right pocket's a hint, too. There's a couple leather-and-bead bracelets on one wrist and a length of ball-chain disappearing beneath his collar; his nails were apparently painted black some time ago, since they're starting to show chips. Late teens, most likely, and when he speaks it's in a mellifluous, southern-accented baritone voice.
Here is a young woman who is built like a track star with shoulder length brown hair and matching brown eyes. Her skin borders on the slightly tanned due to being kissed from the sun from her outdoor activities. Alicia is of caucasian descent with a hint of peruvian mingled into her DNA. Her apparel tends to be a mix of urban streetwear in the form of loose fitted cargo pants and crop shirts, to long skirts with button down blouses. Fairly tall at five-eight, she looks to be a young woman who has seen her share of scraps, and radiates an aura of confidence and showmanship with how she walks. Under her shirts, her stomach has a number of hacksawed looking scars along her skin that criss-crosses around to her back and just under her breast.
As Brings-the-Pack, on the telephone.
"I will let her know," the voice says over the phone to Alicia. "So how are you handling your brother being not what you expected him to be? Is it causing problems for you? Is there any guidance or advice you would offer me as I instruct him?"
There is a loud crunch of the granola bar through the phone, followed by three more crunches and a swallow. Finally, Alicia says, "I am handling it fine. I don't have any advice for you. I am sure you know more about him than I do now these days, so the only thing I can do is trust you to guide him the right way."
Felix has never once had someone actually come and open the door when he's come by here, but as usual, he knocks anyway. And then tests whether it's open, also as usual, but this time... no! He leans up against the wall next to it, getting comfortable while he waits to see if that first part changes as well.
"I stress benevolence, but it's a difficult path to walk. And ultimately everyone blazes their own trail." The voice adds, "I will do what I can to guide him. And definitely strive to keep him from taking any of the darker paths."
"The only thing I can really tell you is to watch out for his hero complex. He is a jock and a cop rolled into one and down in Los Angeles he would go out of his way to track down the supernatural and hunt them. He can't do that anymore. He thinks he woke up as the next Merlin and he will be eager to prove that he is my equal in combat, which he is not and never will be. You need to drive that into his skull because I never could. He has his destiny and I have mine, and his does not involve having his guts ripped out because his do not grow back." Alicia says as she hears the knock, then ambles over to flip the bolt and then open it to let Felix in.
"Mornin'!" Felix greets, cheerily enough for it being before noon and everything, giving Alicia a bright grin as he steps in. He glances at the phone by her ear and makes a 'no hurry' sort of gesture, turning to take the door from her and handle closing and relocking it, if he's allowed.
"Good to know, as I'd been suspecting he might have those tendancies. They're not entirely his fault," the voice on the phone replies to Alicia. "Ah. Felix." Perhaps he recognized the new arrival's voice over the line? "Tell him I wish him well on his challenge."
Giving Felix a nod, Alicia walks away from him as she cradles the phone against her ear. "Probably not, no. He is overprotective of me and I get it. We did not have the greatest upbringing."
"I'll broach the subject when we next meet. In the meantime, I do not mean to distract you from your other duties and activities. Farewell," the voice on the phone says to Alicia.
Felix finishes closing up and wanders the room a bit, hands in his pockets, looking over things he's seen before. You know. Polite-like. There's a glance toward one of the doors, and he ends up by a couch, half-sitting on the arm. Hands emerge from pockets, one rather absently bringing his tin of smokes along with it.
"You don't have to go." Alicia says as she goes back to staring at the painted wall. "He only comes over here for free food, it's not like he needs me. We can keep talking if you want to."
Brings-the-Pack offers via the phone, "I'll switch over to 'no spoilers' mode if you want to put it on speaker phone."
"Hey, I do not either. Makin' me sound like a mooch," Felix protests mildly, and pushes up from the couch arm again, stifling a grin as he adds, "but since you =mention= it," and saunters toward the kitchen. Because rules.
"You -are- a mooch. I know it is a shorter distance to my safehouse than it is Edgewood. So you guys pillage my fridge, and I doubt you guys leave any cash behind so I can re-stock." Alicia calls over, then puts the phone on speaker. "Our puma wants to talk to you."
"Best of luck on your challenge," says the voice of Kylo Ren across the phone's speaker system. "I heard about what you did in that nightclub against one of those dancers. Preventing a riot? Perhaps saving many innocent human lives in the process?" A hesitation. "Impressive. Most impressive." That last phrase sounds more like Vader than Kylo.
"Fft, an' to think I broughtcha chocolate, even," Felix says, shaking his head sadly and setting a foil-wrapped Santa on the counter. Since he's there, though, he does take an apple out of the fridge, tossing and catching it as he heads back toward Alicia and the phone. "Wait, how's a puma--?" he starts, wriggling the thumb of his free hand, "...right, Mage, so prolly 'real easy'. Plus, speaker-phone..." He looks at the one handy, greeting it, "Hey," and looking rather pleased at the good wishes, and rather more so at the compliment, turning into a laugh at the last phrases. "Well, I reckon Obi-Wan's taught me well," he replies, "Thanks. On both."
"You know he is not actually a puma, right? He just changes his voice because he is obsessed with Jedis and Starwars." Alicia says as she gives him a look. "I do not eat chocolate, so I will let Dakota have it. I like to watch my figure. She's the curvy one."
"Obi-Wan did teach you well. Which begs the question, if it's something you feel comfortable responding to," the voice over the phone says. "Who did teach you? You seem remarkably well-balanced and empathetic in comparison to most garou."
Felix gives Alicia a look perhaps too perfectly innocent to be believable, as is the tone of realisation: "Oh, riiiight." He grins, adding in much more his normal tones, "Ain't nothin' wrong with curves. But do what you want with it, 's yours now." He takes a good crunchy bite of the apple, and the voice's last sentence nearly makes him drop the rest of it. "Well, that. Ain't a way I think I been described before. 'least not where I could hear it. Thanks." He swallows the bite and answers, "I don't mind answerin', but they're all back in Memphis. Mostly Tiff an' Lee, though. Weedkiller an' Mends-the-Path. If I ain't pissed everyone off to hell an' back yet half my old Sept'd prolly give Fists of Thunder the credit, but he ain't gettin' it from me. Least, assumin' you want the 'rou teachers specifically."
Taking the chocolate, Alicia puts a sticky note on it that says: Dakota, then puts it in the fridge for safe keeping. Abandoning the phone while it is on speaker, she heads back to the wall and picks up her paint brush again, starting to work on it.
"Not all lessons learned come after a garou's first change," the phone responds to Felix. "Although that event and the training that comes while they are cubs does irrevocably change everyone it happens to." The puma-mage deftly avoids passing judgment on any particular aspect of garou indoctrination.
"Well, then I reckon Jayce prolly oughta get some credit for gettin' me that far," Felix decides, and takes another bite of the apple. Crunch, crunch. Alicia gets a glance, to see what it is she's doing over there. "Why d'you ask?" A sudden grin then, just about audible in the question, "An' who trained you?"
Continuing to paint, Alicia is using a roller up and down along the wall as she spreads the egg shell white coating across the new dry wall that was put up and hammered in earlier.
The speaker emits as an explanation for the question, "Curiosity. A trait I understand that can unfortunately be lethal to felines." In response to Felix's question, there's a hesitation before the response. "A number of individuals. I might be considered the equivalent of a Ronin among warpers, so no one mentor and no one school of ideology." Whereas that might be shameful among garou, it seems a point of pride here. "And yet I have come to have several apprentices. My path is my own. Occasionally it wanders. Occasionally it is straight and true. But it is of my choosing."
"On the other hand, I hear y'all get nine lives," Felix replies, "so maybe you can afford it. YOLNT don't sound as catchy as YOLO though. Anyway, I can get behind choosin' your own path." There's a very slight pause, there. "Gotta be one that's workin' okay if folks're comin' to learn from you."
As she continues to half-listen while she paints, Alicia does not interject on either side. Her roller goes back into her paint tray, then back on to the wall.
"Perhaps, and perhaps not. If I had taken different paths, I'm sure I could have learned more and better influenced others. Just as how if I'd taken different paths, things could have been completely different." There's a moment's hesitation. "Well that was fairly useless insofar as providing any potentially useful insight. I don't mean to be that obtuse, but it often happens by accident."
Felix laughs. "Can't all be golden," he says, shrugging, "but hey, at least it ain't easy to argue with; you take different paths, you mostly get to different places. Along the way, even if they end in the same place. Could prolly get away with that one if you put it in, like, Yoda voice an' rearranged it a bit."
"Perhaps," the phone replies to the Gnawer. "I won't pretend to have greater wisdom, though. I am fallable. I make mistakes. I err. I do see things differently than the garou, though. And I value the perspectives that the garou can provide to me as well." A hesitation, as if disturbed by something. And then, "I must go." *click.*
Felix quirks a brow at the phone when it's hung up, and reaches out to unspeaker it and hang it up on this end as well. That done, he heads over to check out the wall being painted, getting back to eating the apple while he does so. "Hope I didn't derail y'all mid-important-conversation or nothin'."
"We were just talking about my twin brother, Benedict. I was not sure if you knew but my brother has recently awakened as a mage himself and he is his mentor." Alicia says as her shoulders lift upwards. "So, besides my food, what brought you by?"
"No shit?" Felix says, brows going up, and tilts his head, eyes narrowing very slightly, "Your brother... right, cop, datin' Briari, got that baby Spiral, yeah? Ain't actually ever seen him yet, just heard a lot. So, hold on, they just wake up able to do magic shit one mornin'? Seems kinda unfair." He ignores the bit about food this time -- well, possibly ignores; that next bite of the apple as he drops onto the nearest chair may be louder than it really strictly speaking had to be. "Anyway. Was droppin' by to get your news, as your tribe's elder. An' maybe try an' pick your brain a bit, if you got a few an' you're up for it."
"Yeah, that's him, but when I say awaken, it is more like how we have our first change. I am not an expert, but they have a spiritual self .. sorta ... if you look into the mirror and you see the one looking back at you. That is their awakened self. When you can ... become as one ... with ... the other self... take the red pill, right?" Alicia rubs the back of her neck uncomfortably. "Either way, yeah ... he is a mage. Almost a year now. I only told Emma and Jacinta at the time because I wanted to be up front and honest with the Sept. They said it was no big deal."
Felix chews that bite of apple a little more thoroughly than the one before it, swallowing it before he says, "Hope it ain't TOO much like 'em. But they get in tune with their spiritual self an'... I'm gonna assume it ain't TOTALLY like the Matrix 'cause I ain't okay with bein' used as some kinda battery by robots, but. Okay." He shifts position slightly, watching Alicia a moment. "Only told 'em as in they were the only ones you told, or only told 'em as in that was the only reason you told, or both?"
"I told them so that if it came out later that he was a mage, no one would flip out and kill him and think he was trying to suck the Caern dry. Not that anyone has. Everyone has been pretty open minded about the situation." Alicia says as her shoulders shrug. "Though the fact this particular guy keeps his identity a secret bugs me, and the fact that leadership here kept it from me and the other tribal Elders."
"He does know who we all are," Felix says, "so that's a li'l one-sided there. Why d'you think he does? An' why didn't they say nothin' to y'all about it? 'fraid they might guess wrong on who'd maybe flip out an' kill him, or what?" Another bite of the apple, though this one's quieter.
"I don't know, but I do know that I no longer trust several people here in this Sept and that is why I backed Thane as Sept Alpha. I was lied to my face by Jacinta when I asked her if there was any other mages here that could train my brother. Also by the look on Emma's face, I could tell that she was holding something back." Alicia says as she continues the paint. "Remember when I talked to you about watching how people talk? The way they move? Facial expressions and vocal inflections? I have been around awhile and my tribe is known for it's ability to understand empathy, pain, psychology. I know when I am being lied to and it does not feel good. Especially when I am one of the oldest members of this Sept, born and bred here."
"Mine ain't, exactly. But I got some practice with people lyin' an' shit," Felix says, "...an' yeah, I reckon if I was you I wouldn't be real thrilled with 'em either. Who's several, aside from them two? Other folks who knew, or 'cause of other shit?" He finishes off the apple, core and all, and stands, coming over to see if there's any other paint rollers hanging around.
"I have my guesses, but I am not going to put anyone on blast. Would be dishonorable of me. But, I believe I have figured out who he is a few months ago." Alicia says as she smooths out a wrinkle of paint with the roller, then dips it into the pan. "So, what's going on? Enough about me."
"What, you're gonna drop that an' then just drop the whole thing?" Felix says incredulously, shaking his head, and not seeing any other tools, drops back into the seat he claimed before. "That's just cruel. An' hey, the more we know the better, right?" He shifts position, the better to watch her. "I was gonna offer to help paint, but it don't look like you got room for another. So I'll just offer to take over from you for a bit if y'want. Anyway. You were at the moot the other night; I kinda wanted to get your input on the challenge stuff. You bein' top Galliard an' all."
"Well, he wants secrecy and there must be good reason for it. Either way, I am willing to keep my mouth shut, if only so I don't go about spreading the wrong name and then looking foolish if I was to be wrong. But, this is Thane's Sept now and I am going to play by his rules." Alicia says as she dips the roller into the pan, then goes back to painting. "What type of input do you need from me?"
"Maybe that's what they were thinkin'," Felix muses, then notes brightly, "'course, knowin' it's a theory an' not certain, I wouldn't be thinkin' you looked foolish if it turned out not to be quite right." He folds an awful lot of charm into that delivery, right in that plausibly deniable overlap of innocent playfulness and actual persuading. "Well. Obviously I need your portion of the news to get taken along, for one. But you been around this coast a while, from what I hear, even when you weren't up here, so I also wondered if you might know where Uncle Bob might be hangin', or know someone who definitely would. Assumin' it's who I think, he's a Gnawer Adren, I heard of him some. But I ain't heard nothin' about a where, now." He pauses a moment, regarding her. "Plus I wondered if you got any particular advice. Ain't too proud to hear the voice of experience." Half-smile, "Usually. These days."
"I have no clue who Uncle Bob is, never heard of the guy to be honest." Alicia says honestly as she shrugs her shoulders upwards. "So, I would ask Winter point blank you know? That is not against the rules I'd assume. I suppose you could ask Briari to track him down, hop in the car and go hunting. You may need to owe her a huge favor and a lot of gas money since she drives a Ferrari." Plopping the roller in the pan, she gives up on painting for now and flops into a beach chair. "You want news of the riots and all that to pass down I take it?"
Felix makes a bit of a face at the 'ask Winter' bit, "I =did= ask him point blank, when he gave the challenge. He said I'm a Galliard an' not a kid anymore, an' Uncle Bob's famous. That I'll find him, an' he spends his time on the West Coast now. Seemed a pretty clear 'that's all you're gettin' from me'." The other gets another half-smile. "An' yeah, I thought of that, but it's a hell of a long coast. I know, I drove most of it last summer. An' I don't currently got a shitload of gas money -- though I reckon I'll hafta get hold of some again if I'm gonna take the Caddy anyhow, but more importantly, it's gonna be right 'round the full, an' I just don't think that's the ideal time for her an' me to play road trip. Ain't rulin' it out if nothin' else works, though." He heaves a sigh. "Anyway! I got a couple other ideas. Just figured you mighta known. An' sorta. I want, specifically, your news for the Nation outside our borders. If you got any you want spread. That's what I'm supposed to get from all the Elders."
"Look, /I'm/ famous and I never heard of an Uncle Bob, but my Gnawer contacts won't be as deep as yours I'm sure. Utilize the barking chain, the infamous Gnawer chain of information delivery. We used the shit out of it back in the early two-thousands when the Caern was first taken over by the Spirals. It's how we got reinforcements." Alicia gives a stretch of her body. "You know, I should be asking of you a favor or two, seeing how I'm an old wise wolf and you're a young whipper snapper on the road to self-promotion."
"I know. I heard of you," Felix says, giving her a quick grin, "...I heard of a lotta people, at least in passin'. An' yeah, it's just askin' people down the street's a lot quicker if they happen to know. But if they don't, they don't. So what kind of favours would an old wise wolf be askin' of a young whippersnapper like myself?"
"To be honest, probably nothing. I'm too nice of a girl to make young pups go through all those hoops and shit." Alicia admits as she gives a stretch of her body. "So, let's just to the thick of it. The riots are being caused by the forces of the Wyrm, that much we do know, but what most of the Garou nation does not know is that they are being controlled by three sisters who consider themselves to be Queens. There is -three- of them. One in New York, and she was responsible in systemically taking out the Sept of the Green. One in Los Angeles, who took out the Steel Angel, and one here in St. Claire."
Felix nods, focusing on the information; if he's heard some of it before, he doesn't seem inclined to let that make him less attentive. "Are the other two still in New York an' LA, do we know?" he asks, but otherwise just listens.
"Yes, they are still there. The Green was rumored to have fell, but it seems that Mouse had a hand in saving a lot of the lives of the Sept. So she's a real hero. I have not heard any real news to come out of the Steel Angel since they were hit, so your next move would be to speak with Emma as she just returned from there to visit with her family who is also a Garou." Alicia says with a grin. "Either way, the attacks across the entire country formed a ritual of some sorts. It was designed to try and potentially raise something far greater and scarier than we've ever seen, but enough Septs were able to battle back and prevent their Septs from falling, thus the ritual was interrupted."
Felix nods again, presumably filing all this somewhere in his head; it's more intense attention than most people would be used to getting from him. "Interrupted, but not ruined, or prolly they wouldn't be workin' so hard to try again..."
"That is why we can't fuck up here. If we take out this Queen, we'll be the first to do so, and we fuck up their entire ritual, and expose a weakness that we can send to the other Septs in danger. You want to elevate the Sept to rock star status? That is what you do. You pull off something legendary, and this here is legendary." Alicia laughs softly. "These Queens are highly telepathic and they created fomori that are invisible to the naked eye, outside of using gifts or special vision such as infrared. They are the ones that are painting those spirals all about the city, which causes Garou to frenzy and anger in mobs. They are all telepathically linked as well and that is why they can mobilize and move so efficiently. Very strong. Just like the Queens, they are very skinny, albino white with long limbs."
There's just the faintest flicker of something across the younger Galliard's expression, shortly before the elder laughs, something there and then gone fast enough one might have imagined it, replaced by a somewhat less brief, sharp-toothed grin. "Well, who wouldn't wanna be a legend?" he says, clearly not having been told all of them. Icarus, for one. The information about the enemies is carefully noted. "...sure be nice if we had some kinda telepathy-jammin' mojo. Or device, whatever."
"Yeah, that would be nice, huh? I'm thinking of partnering with the Glass Walkers and seeing about creating a high pitched frequency that can disrupt their thoughts. Maybe like a fomori dog whistle. I don't know how this shit works so I'm throwing an idea into the dark. But if we could .. I dunno, get on their frequency, maybe we can just disrupt their flow of communication and expose them." Alicia shrugs her shoulders upwards. "So, besides that, the Queens are employing a number of Spiral Dancer packs who are looking to gain status in the ranks of the Wyrm. Unfortunately, now it seems that they are becoming scared of their Queens and looking to rebel. So, that is good news to pass around. As distasteful as it sounds, some deals could be made to get some doors opened. Here in St. Claire, our particular Queen has a high ranking mage of the Nephandi in her employment, and he uses his magic to ward the building so that we are not able to moon bridge in or utilize the Umbra to gain access." She continues on with a nod. "They also use some of the strongest banes I've ever seen to guard the towers."
Felix laughs. "How awesome would it be if we could entirely break into their frequency like comm channels in movies, an' send fake thoughts at 'em?" he says, not, of course, that he'd have the slightest idea how to do that even with a mundane channel. But in theory! The bit about the Spiral packs gets a nod and, "That DJ wantin' to drop us a heads up to handle that wizard, for 'zample."
"Yeah, for example. Of course the whole thing smells like a trap." Alicia says as she shrugs her shoulders upwards. "But, hey, yolo, right? If the opportunity is there, we should take advantage of it and try and blow the head off that guy. If the mage goes down, it makes getting access to the tower a lot easier. Welp, that's all I'm going to give you."
"Yeah, it's got that kinda trap quality to it. I mean, 'hey, this is the place you gotta be. Now. No, we can't give you any what an' when to be prepared for...'" Felix shrugs, "...but yeah. YOLO, right? Gotta take our chances where we get 'em. ...I still kinda wanna see the whole place blow up, though. That'd be fuckin' amazin'."