Well, some people are early people. Take Joey, for instance. He reclining on a pew, having an after-dinner smoke by the window He blows the smoke upward, towards the window because even a Raggie can be polite at times.

Kaz stomps up from the basement, carrying two bags of groceries and looking like she'd rather be asleep.

Joey looks up slowly, dropping his cigarette butt and stomping it out on the floor. "Damn," he says. "You look like something the cat passed up. Need a help with those." He stands at the question, waiting.

Hey, someone's singing outside, her voice high and clear over the rattle-rattle of rolling wheels. Probably that cub with the skateboard from the sound of it. She clomps up the stairs outside, opening a front door wide enough to let herself and an overstuffed satchel inside. The skateboard's under an arm and Anneka's grinning, tired. There's a bag of chips sticking out of the satchel. "Hey, hi!"

Kaz drops the bags on the dais. "Nah. I just had late patrol an' I din' get any coffee yet. Anyone want some liquid adrenaline from downstairs?"

Gnawer Moot! Yes indeed, and a Gnawer moot without food is well... it's not kosher. So, this is naturally remedied. Yi shuffles a couple of large circular catering trays in arms, covered in plastic around in her arms. Even with the covering though, distinct smells of buffalo wings and sandwiches can be scented out. She backs into the church, from her elbows hanging a couple of plastic bags with clunking metal cans. Liquid adrenaline it's not, but liquid it is.

Joey hears the clankingof cans, and turns his head. "Coffee, right now? Nah," he says, off-handedly. Anneka gets the brightest smile Joey's able to muster, and Yi gets another nod.

Anneka tucks her skateboard under a pew, and darts on over to Yi, lopsided from the weight of her satchel. She grins over to Joey and Kaz, then whispers to Yi. "Need a hand? I got one! Two!"

Kaz shoots Anneka a grin, and then disappears downstairs for a few minutes.

Banecruncher pads in, smelling as if he just rolled in something particularly yummy.

Clunk, clunk, clunk... there's a weird ca-chunking sort of noise outside, and then then door opens, slowly, shoved in by Bernie's shoulder. She's got a paper bag in one arm, and she's pulling the source of the odd noises -- a seriously rusty and decrepit kid's wagon, probably once red, with various food and drink tied to it with twine. Can't have the pizza falling off when you pull the thing up the stairs, you know. Of course, it's probably all slid to one edge, inside the box, but hey. She makes a small gesture with the bag-laden hand, sort of a miniwave. "Hey. I late?"

Yi grins around the two trays. "Sure, just take the tray on top," she motions with a tilt of her chin. "I don't understand why the man said the reddish things in the middle are buffalo wings. I've seen buffalo, and they don't have wings. These aren't even buffalo, they're chicken." It's like a question mark flashing over her head for a few seconds before poofing back into the dimension it came from. "Strange. But at least the sandwiches look like sandwiches. Well, I've never seen a sand witch though." She puns horribly, don'tcha know. Her head turns and she tilts her chin again to Bernie. "No, not late."

Joey sees Anneka has things well in hand with Yi, and he reaches under the pew he was sitting on to retrieve two six-packs of Snapple to donate to the group. As Bernie enters, he looks over the top of the pew. "Nah. Right on time." Sniff. "And with extra sausage, too," he comments. He twists around the others, moving through to bernie. "Let me help you with those."

Anneka beams as more folks pour through the doors, and wobbles about with her satchel before reaching out to take the tray on top. "Hi, hi, hello!" She looks around. Um. "Where does the food go? They're buffalo chickens, I guess."

Elan pushes open the door soon after Yi, smiling. He's got a small bacl rat sitting on his shoulder.

Bernie grins a bit, "Oh, so cowardly buffalo, they get eaten. Let that be a lesson, yeah?" She drags the wagon to a stop nearish the dais, which looks like the handiest table about, and nods to Joey. "Sure. Gimme a hand," she replies, and sets her grocery bag down before tending to the myriad and complex knots in the twine. Yet another way Open Seal can be handy.

Sooner, rather than later, Kaz stomps back up, a gargantuan mug of coffee in one hand, and yet another bag of groceries in the other. "Jesus, it's a convention. Yello, folks." Dumping all three bags on the dais, it becomes clear they're mostly random chocolate things.

Banecruncher rumbles. Gonna have to go to the yard to get my stuff.

Joey chuckles, and is ready when some of the shifted pizza boxes slide as Bernie opens the knots. He catches them easily, placing them reverently on a pew, turning back to the rest of the wagon.

Elan walks on in, and smiles at seeing the assembled people. "Good, good.." He walks towards Kaz.

Anneka perks up as much as her cargo allows and trundles off down the aisle to set the tray down on the dais, before flopping down to empty her own satchel. Out comes a few bags of chips, slightly squished, then-- a ton of random things, bright bits of candy confections-- Lollipops, candy necklaces, rings, a bag of colorful M&Ms-- Somewhere, the checkout line of a supermarket is bereft of sugary treats.

Yi carries her contribution over to the rest of the food and sets it down amongst the rest of the consumables. Coke, and Guinness too. "What a party," she notes with thoughtful obviousness.

Kaz hefts her gargantuan mug in salute to Elan. "Yo, boss. Whassup?"

Joey rolls his eyes, sardonically. "Party party party," he says, snickering. and puts a few more pizza boxes on the pew.

Anneka tucks her satchel aside, sparing it a glance that hints there may be something else in there, then hops on over to help Bernie and Joey with the wagon. "Wow! There's a buncha food!"

Bernie unloads the wagon -- which seems as though it may collapse any second, now that the twine's off -- and sets several pizzas and a selection of various fruits and chips and such on the dais before pulling out a two liter of Coke and a number of bottles of Guinness from the paper bag, and lining them up there as well. After all, she has to have something acceptable to drink. There's most of a bottle of scotch, too; it's the only thing that seems to have been opened. "Well. There's a buncha us, too, right?" she replies to the cub, with another quick grin. "Sure we c'n handle it all 'ventually, or get help 'f we can't."

Max meanders in a few minutes after Elan. She's wearing her baggy overalls today. Splotches of mud and paint and random other stains that shouldn't be looked at too closely decorate the light denim. Heading up toward the dais, she pulls a balled up tissue from her pocket and sets it down beside the piles of food, then, too silent, moves up behind Kaz and spits an ice-cube out of her mouth into her palm only to slip it down the back of Kaz's shirt.

Elan looks over the feast. "We'll be distributing most of it, actually. I doubt even we'll be able to eat what Kaz and I will be whipping up."

Kaz shrugs. "Give th' leftovers t'th' Project. Works f'me." This is said /before/ she gets ice down her shirt and spends a brief, uncomfortable moment squirming around, before it falls into her hand and she tosses it back at Max. Elan's words suddenly make her straighten. "Right. More'n just th' Project. Wasn't thinkin'. Wan' me t'get m'flute?"

Yi covers up her snicker at Max's little icy endeavor, and gazes out over all the food. Then she looks up at Elan and glances about for a suitable spot to settle down in. A momentary glance up to the rafters, but then she decides to stay down to earth today.

Max shies back away with a brief grin, over a few rows of pews only to drop down into one, slouching almost out of sight save for her booted feet propped up on the pew in front of her.

Banecruncher flops down on a convenient piece of horizontal surface.

Joey looks over at Bernie, a bag of chips in each hand. His eyes alight on the bottle of scotch. "Ach," he says, in a faux-Irish-by-way-of-eating-Lucky-Charms accent. "Sure'n we will, lass. Sure'n we will." He suddenly takes Anneka by her hands, does a small jig-dance with her, and spins her around once. "And what are you two," he asks, indicating Elan and Kaz, "whipping-oh." He stops, as realization does the anvil-on-that-poor-hungry-smart-cartoon coyote thing on Joey's head. "Wait, this like the thing you did at Sepdet's little "I'm cooler than you" bitchfest to Brian?"

Elan smiles and nods to Kaz.

Elan nods to Joey as well.

Kaz says, "We're doin' th' /big/ ol' Jesus an' the loaves an' fishes thing, yeah. Back in a flash." True to her word, she heads downstairs and gallops back up a moment later, flute case in hand. "'Kayo, boss..." she says, as she puts it together.

"Does this mean we should, step back a bit?" Yi quips though she's already doing so. Don't know how much overflow there'll be.

Anneka wanders on back to the dias and glances at the buffalo wings, then-- gets caught up in a spin. She laughs, her hair flopping down over her eyes as she holds on. "Eeee!" She's turned around a bit, wobbling as she makes her way over to the wings. Along the way she manages to tug several bottles from her satchel. Ginger beer, from some fellow named Stewart. She sets those down with the rest of the drinks, then-- blinks? She steps her way back as well.

Bernie giggles at Max, and laughs outright at Joey. "Hey, someone's gotta ensure quality beverages..." She steps back toward the pews as well... it can't hurt.

Joey, while taking a few steps back, turns to Bernie and laughs. "Corrupt," he says to her as judgement, but a smiling one. He flicks a wrist, popping out and opening a butterfly knife. "Yo, Annie," he says to the cub. You wearing a belt?"

Anneka blinks twice, then tugs her oversized t-shirt up enough to show that her skinny middle could use a tan and, yes, her baggy jeans are held up by a battered old belt. "Uh-huh." She casts the knife something of a suspicious expression.

Yi looks curiously over at Joey and Anneka when the knife comes out. Dimensional Question Mark reappears for seconds again. Her attention though is cut between Elan and the other two.

Joey puts the knife on the floor, sliding it to the Halfmoon cub. "Put a few notches in the short end of it, kid. Once you see what the bigger kids're gonna do, you'll know why."

Anneka blinks again, then starts giggling. She picks the knife up and eyes the blade before glancing over to the gathered food. "Wow."

Joey gives an amused snort. "You say that now. Just wait..."

Anneka tilts her head a bit and gives Joey a sidelong glance, then settles back against a pew. She looks over to Elan and Kaz.

Elan walks along the church until he's in the open area just between the pews and the door. He closes the main doors and makes sure they're secure, then turns to the others. "Tonight we moot, Gnawers of the Bones in St. Claire; this is a proud place for it. This place has belonged to our tribe since the refounding of the sept. Tonight we share news, and stories, and then we eat." His voice strikes a kind of ritual cadence with all this.

"So I got taste, sue me," Bernie replies to Joey's judgement, grinning back, and shrugs. She shuts up as Elan begins, and leans against the end of a pew to watch.

Kaz continues standing by the dias, a little more upright than usual.

Elan says "We are the tribe that went where few went before, into the cities, where we found Man already there. Ages past, we lived among him, even then, helping where we could and living off what he threw away. Other Garou sometimes call us traitors to the Wyld, or worse. Screw 'em. We survived where they could not. Cities grow and we grow with them. We know where the secret places are, the places no-one else ever goes or thinks to go. We hear where no one else thinks to listen. And we see. Oh, yeah, we see."

Max pulls a red cocktail straw from her pocket and begins chewing on it, her half-hidden gaze settling upon Kaz as Elan speaks. But she's attentive to Elan's narrative.

Quietly, Kaz begins something of a harmony to this, flute weaving underneath Elan's cadences, never quite interfering with what he's saying; supporting.

Yi listens intently as well, taking in this version of the Gnawers' origins. She's never heard it this way before, and curiously soaks it all like a dry sponge to water.

Elan says "We are the tribe that will be here after everything is done. We will survive, even that last great heave when the Wyrm decides to screw it and kill everyone. We'll be right here waiting for him, because we been studying him all this time. Watching. Waiting. Listening. Seeing. We see where It lives and where It hides. We know, and it knows we know; we have to watch out, but in the end it'll be our time and our knowledge that lets us survive that final time."

At the last part of what Elan said, a ghost of a smile crosses Joey's face. We do see. He nods quietly in approval at the rest of it, listening as he sits on a pew.

Anneka draws herself up straighter, eyes bright as she reaches a hand up, brushes her hair away from them. She lowers her chin slightly, her attention focused totally on the story being told, the music woven through it.

Banecruncher perks his ears. Never heard it told quite like this before.

Max mutters a quiet but vehement grunt of agreement at Elan's statement about 'seeing', the red straw flickering up and down between her lips. Then when he finishes the survival shpiel, she woof-woofs like the dawg she is, raising a fist in the air for a moment, then dropping it.

Kaz's musical accompaniment gets a tad more aggressive at the end there, a touch louder -- but it's still in the background, still weaving in and around his rhythms.

Elan's gestures for quiet as he winds down. "So we moot, and that it tonight. News, who has any?"

Kaz's accompaniment fades as Elan finishes. "Yo," she mutters.

Junior hurries in, and quietly takes a seat by Joey.

Elan recognizes Kaz. He pulls out his flute, which then blurs into a guitar. He sits back on a pew, and listens to the rest.

Bernie listens with interest and slight smile, and looks to Kaz at the question of news. And, apparently, she isn't disappointed. She slips around the end of hte pew she was leaning on to actually sit on it.

Anneka blinks twice at the peculiar musical transformation, then settles down on a pew as well, crosslegged, near Bernie.

Kaz just starts talking. "Well -- first of all, y'all know about th' bones that SCCU's got? They're prolly metis bones, an' they're gonna put 'em on /display/ at some charity auction thing. Which means, they gotta put 'em up, an' they gotta have less good security when they do that, an' so /we/ can get 'em then. I'm gettin' us a couple tickets just in case we fuck up, but -- the charity thing's the night of the 16th." She thinks. "We -- Trouble I mean -- are gonna go lookin' for Raccoon soon. Yi talked t'Brian, he's gonna actually maybe help some with the damn sewers and yes, by the way, them as might wanna help, we're still puttin' fuckin' lights in there. Um. Elan gave me my challenge, so anyone as wants to meet some Kin, talk t'me." She stops to think. "There's prolly more, but I can pop it in later."

Joey looks up as Kaz gives an update. "Well, you talk to that college guy yet about the security, so I can get in and get those bones out?"

Bernie straightens up in her seat at the stuff on the bones. "Hey, wait," she pipes up, "Is Leda not doin' that part, now?" She gets a somewhat thoughtful look. The one that tends to be worrisome.

Kaz nods. "Yeah. I got plans, even. Get with me after, I'll get you the maps." She sighs. "Yeah. Apparently, Leda done decided she can't hack this shit, so no, she ain't real involved." She shoots a speculative look Bernie-wards, but doesn't add anything to that.

Bernie nods slowly, and then grins a bit. "C'n I bug you 'bout it after, too? I gotta thought." She pulls her legs up to curl them beside her on the pew.

Elan says "Anyone else?"

Kaz says, "More the merrier, Bern," and quiets.

Max folds her arms across her chest and remains silent, listening and watching from her low slouched seat.

Kaz adds, "Oh, Baney, if Brian ever does get involved, you oughta be in on that one, I think. Yeah?"

Banecruncher rumbles agreement. That's the way to go. Open a hole for the rest of you to use.

Joey says, flippantly. "You or Brian, Bane?"

Kaz moves from the dais to flop next to Max, somewhat bonelessly.

Junior grins.

Banecruncher snorts. He's just a ranger. Probably doesn't know how to handle shit up to his knees.

Bernie's smiles fades out of existence at the conversation, and her hand slides into her jacket pocket, seeming to close around something there. "...so, yeah," she says, after a moment or twenty, "...if we're done with news... next is stories, y'said?"

Anneka looks about, her hair tumbled down over her eyes as she sets her gaze on faces familiar and not so. Elan's guitar gets another glance as well, before she scoots a bit closer to Bernie. An inch or two, but closer, yeah. The cub reaches up to brush her sandy hair away from her eyes.

Max slides over to murmur something to Kaz.

Kaz shrugs just slightly.

Elan nods at this. "Who wants to go first?"

Kaz shrugs. "I can. Ain't much /good/ at 'em, but..."

Elan nods at this. "OK."

Kaz doesn't get up. She just talks. "So ok, there was this Beaver Cleaver kinda family. Mom, Dad, 2.5 kids, 1.4 cars, that kinda shit. So Mom, bein' all perky an' wearin' pearls, was cleaning her son's room, an' in the closet, she found this freaky assed bondage S&M magazine. She bein' The Original Perky Mom, this kinda drained her brain. So she held ont' th' thing 'til his dad got home, an' showed it to him. He flipped through it a little, an' handed it back to her without a word. So she was like, "Ward. Dear. What should we do about this?" Th' guy looked at her for a sec, and then said, slowly, "Well... I don't think you should /spank/ him...""

Joey has already taken a Guinness, and snorts at the punchline. He looks up. Ok, so if this is the game...

Bernie giggles, hand moving up to cover her mouth. "...Mmm, okay, well, I got one..." She glances around to see if it's appropriate for her to chime in.

Elan laughs out loud at that one and claps his hands.

Junior coughs, then laughs.

Anneka, not the most informed kid in this respect, blinks twice at Kaz-- then starts giggling as the words fall into place. "Ew."

Kaz mutters, "Thank yew, thank yew," and glances at Bernie.

"Okay," Joey says. "So, right, there's this woman, walking into a pet shop, and she sees this beautiful parrot. Bright feathers, healthy, the whole bit. And for fifty dollars! So she goes to the guy behind the counter and asks him how he can sell a bird that cheap. the guy says, "Well, it's a healthy bird, but the last placed it lived in was the whorehouse downtown, so it might be a little off color." The woman looks at the bird, and it talks." Joey starts in a parrot voice. "'Rawwk! Pretty woman! Pretty woman!' So, she falls in love with the bird, buys him, brings him home. Now, a few hours later, her two teenage girls come home from school. Bird looks at them and goes 'Rawwk! Pretty girls! Pretty girls! Get 'em while they're hot!' And the girls are floored, and are playing with it all day. So, around six, her husband Chet comes home from work. Bird takes one look at him and goes 'Rawwk! Hi Chet!'"

Kaz chortles. "'At'll do, that will..."

Junior blinks, then cackles, grinning widely. "I got one t' follow that."

Bernie opens her mouth, but stops as Joey tells his, and laughs as he finishes. About to start in, she stops again as Junior talks, and looks slightly annoyed. "I kina said I had one t' go next, but it'll keep if you wanna..."

Junior shakes his head. "You go...I'll follow you."

Elan snickers.

"Thanks. ...So, okay," Bernie begins, in that case, "see, for a while, they were short on samurai, so they got all inclusive, an' started lettin' in non-Japanese people, but it got a li'l competitive, see. So, one day, threea these guy were sittin' in a bar, shootin' th' bull; a traditional Japanese samurai, a Chinese samurai, anna Jewish samurai. An' the Japanese guy says, "I am th' best samurai around here, an' I'll prove it. Watch." An' he waves his sword around once," she demonstrates, "an' this fly falls t' th' table, cut neatly in half. "See? I am th' best." An' th' Chinese one says, "You think that's good? Check THIS out." She waves the imaginary sword again. "Ha! An' a fly falls t' th' table, cut neatly in quarters. '=I= am th' best!' he declares, all proud. So, th' Jewish samurai snorts, and shakes his head. 'That you call the best?' he asks, all incredulous, an' shakes his head." She waves the sword again, this time with a little flourish. "....an' th' fly that was buzzin' over th' table flies away. 'Now, =that's= precision!' he exclaims, an' th' other guys look at him like he's nuts, they're all, 'What th' hell? You di'n' even kill it!' an' the Jewish guy looks back at 'em an' says," she arches an eyebrow, giving a 'well, duh!' look, "Circumcision isn't =meant= t' =kill=."

Joey listens, and goes pale for just a moment before he busts out laughing.

Elan falls over and off the pew, laughing.

Anneka watches all of this, owl-eyed. But with her mind in gear at least from Kaz's joke, she's got the idea of where things are heading, and after a pause starts giggling. Then more as she looks over to Joey and Elan.

Junior snickers, grinning over at Bernie.

Kaz snorts and leans onto the pew in front of her, grinning.

Elan finally hauls himself up and back into his seat. "Who is next?"

Bernie grins broadly and sweeps an exaggeratedly flamboyant little bow, which looks extra silly given that she's sitting indian style. Then she looks toward Junior, expectantly.

Junior grins. "Me, I think. It's another parrot joke." His grin broadens. "Anyway, there's this guy named David, and he got a parrot for his birthday. The parrot was full grown with a bad attitude and worse vocabulary. Cussing all the time - if it wasn't a swear word, it was saying something nasty. David tried hard to change the bird's attitude and was constantly saying polite words, playing soft music, anything he could think of to try and set a good example...........Nothing worked. He yelled at the bird and the bird yelled back. He shook the bird and the bird just got more angry and more rude. Finally, in a moment of desperation, David put the parrot in the freezer. For a few moments he heard the bird squawk and kick and scream - then suddenly, there was quiet. Not a sound for half a minute. David was frightened that he might have hurt the bird and quickly opened the freezer door. The parrot calmly stepped out onto David's extended arm and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I will endeavor at once to correct my behavior. I really am truly sorry and beg your forgiveness." David was stunned at the bird's change in attitude and was about to ask what had made such a dramatic change when the parrot continued, "May I ask what the chicken did?"

Bernie snickers, leaning back into the wood of the bench.

Kaz thunks her head onto the pew.

Anneka stares at Junior and starts laughing, high and loud. "Eeee! Chicken!"

Junior grins.

Joey winces. "Hell damn," he mutters.

Elan snickers.

Elan points to Anneka. "Come on, cubbie..."

Anneka ohs, quietly, then rubs the bridge of her freckled nose and sits up a bit, coincidentally drawing a bit closer to Bernie. She casts a grin to the Ragabash, then looks back to the others. "I kinda got a joke, too-- Well, a story. When I was leavin' T'coma, I didn't have any money, so I couldn't get a /ticket/ for th'bus. 'stead, I kinda wandered 'round, lookin' for a way on. I couldn't get th'Cali one, 'cause there was this real big driver an' he wouldn't go away, so I-- kinda snuck into th'bottom of th'bus, where they put stuff." She makes a face. "That was really way loud, but I hid 'n back 'n he didn't see me when he closed th'door." She grins. "S'anyway, when th'bus stopped, he opened th'door 'gain, and I-- Well, I kinda had t'pee. So, I ran off 'n did, an' when I got back he was loadin' people back on th'bus again." She gets something of an impish grin, then. "When I got back, I asked him if I could get my bag, before I got on the bus, since it --had my ticket in it." She ducks her head. "I d'no if that's a joke or not, but I did end up wonderin' what he meant by Saint Claire after I got back on."

Elan smiles broadly at that.

Joey's eyes go wide, and he starts snickering.

Kaz looks up and quirks a remarkably warm grin.

Junior grins.

Banecruncher rumbles amusement. Now THAT, he understands.

Elan looks around. "Who next?"

Anneka's grin gets bigger as she pulls her legs up and wraps her arms about them.

Bernie giggles, flashing a grin at the cub, and considers. "Well. I guess I prolly got a couple more 'f we need 'em..." she offers.

Elan clears his throat, then.

Joey looks to his Elder as Elan clears his throat. What can this portend?

Elan smiles and starts. "OK, I heard this one back when I was in a Dog pack. A WW II American soldier had been on the front lines in Europe for three months, when he was finally given a week of R&R. He caught a supply boat to a supply base in the south of England, then caught a train to London. The train was extremely crowded and he could not find a seat. He was dead on his feet and walked the length of the train looking for any place to sit down.
Finally he found a compartment with seats facing each other; there was room for two people on each seat. On one side sat only a proper looking, older British lady, with a small dog sitting in the empty seat beside her.
"Could I please sit in that seat," he asked. The lady was insulted; "You Americans are so rude," she said, "can't you see my dog is sitting there?"
He walked through the train more and still could not find a seat. He found himself back at the same place. "Lady, I love dogs, I have a couple at home. So I would be glad to hold yours if I can sit down."
The lady replied, "You Americans are not only rude you are arrogant!" she said. He leaned against the wall for a time, but was so tired he finally said, "Lady, I've been on the front lines in Europe for three months with not a decent rest for all that time. Could I please sit there and hold your dog?"
She replied, "You Americans are not only rude and arrogant, you are also obnoxious." With that comment, the soldier calmly stepped in, picked up the dog, threw it out the window, and sat down. The lady was speechless.
An older, neatly dressed Englishman sitting across on the other seat spoke up. "Young man, I do not know if all you Americans fit the lady's description of you or not. But, I do know that you Americans do a lot of things wrong. You drive on the wrong side of the road, you hold your forks with the wrong hand, and now you have thrown the wrong bitch out of the window."

Banecruncher snorts hard enough to spray at that one. OH yeah.

All right, that does it. Joey leans forward to fall off the pew in a fit of laughter.

Kaz thunks her head on the pew again.

Bernie bursts out laughing at that one, and leans against the side of the pew, shaking her head.

Anneka looks around at everyone, from where she's curled up, then rests her forehead on her knees, snickering muffledly. Owwwww.

Elan grins as the rest of the Gnawers laugh. "OK, now I think we're ready for the last part of the rite."

Crrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaak. Damn man, gotta get those hinges fixed. But it's as good as one of those laser set alarm systems. "Allo?" The voice is familiar to some, though the time of night is a little interesting. "Pizza delivery..." Alec pokes his head in and stops dead... ooh. Lots of peeps.

Junior grins at Elan, then glances towards the doors as they open.

Kaz is already half rising to her feet at Elan's words when Alec opens the doors. She stiffens slightly, then grins as she recognizes his accent. "Hey, yo, Alec! Just in time f'th' Jesus trick."

Elan looks over and grins. "Ah, Mama Rat has sent you at /precisely/ the right time. Come on in, Doc, and witness some magic. The real shit." He pulls up his guitar and signals to Kaz. "OK, the first part of this is easy..."

Joey pokes his head over the back of the pew, where he's sitting next to Junior. Pizza? More, you say? Kaz's greeting and comment calms him down just a little, but he still ives the Kin a hairy eyeball.

Bernie giggles, relaxing as she gathers he's allowed to be here. "An' not =my= Jesus trick, either..." Of course, thinking along those lines kills the grin again, and she looks a bit worried. She turns her attention to Elan and Kaz, though, to watch this trick.

Kaz brandishes her flute at Elan, with a grin, and starts playing a quiet melody, watching him as he starts so she can move to harmony.

Anneka achieves her mission of getting near enough to Bernie to nudge her a bit, gently, and grin at her. Then she's looking back to Elan and Kaz, eyes wide.

Alec's eyes lift up as he blinks and brings the pizza in. Oooh, the doc even has one of those thermo bags to keep it hot. "Zut alors!" Said quietly as he scoots in. Finding a space to sit he does so, his ruck? He still has it on, never did take it off.

Elan begins to play the melody to The Beatle's 'Can't Buy Me Love'. He builds up the melody a bit, explaining some things to Kaz. "OK, the basic thing here is to please Mamma Rat, and she rewards us with the extra food. It's a concentration thing, as well. Just... let yourself sink into the music, let yourself go with it. This rite ain't something we can just whip up anytime. It's a sacred thing to Mamma Rat and to us, and it ain't for getting more M&M's or shit like that."

Kaz segues into a harmony of that, supporting, quietly listening. As anyone who's watched her busk before can attest, letting herself fall into the music isn't precisely a problem; it might even be called meditative. She's soon enough floating on the edge of the music, just barely retaining concentration on the Rite itself.

Elan motions for people to put the massive amount of food in a roughly circular order, with the still-hot pizzas being the last thing there. He continues to play, eyes glazing a bit.

Anneka slips off her pew and darts up onto the dais to do just that, crouching on the balls of her feet as she helps to nudge things into place.

There's a smile at that from Alec as he listens to the music and he opens up the thermo bag. Ooooooh! Damn! Meat-lovers Deluxe! Extra large! Times two! He puts them into a circle and scuttles back to his spot. There's a slight clunk from his bag but that subsides quickly and Alec falls into the feel of the music. Guess he gets to hear Kaz's flute sooner than he thought.

Bernie gets up as well, giving the cub a hand with the rearranging. Very careful not to let anything breakable fall off. 'cause, hey, that would suck.

Elan raises his chin up and begins to sing.
I'd buy you a cappucino my friend, but it keeps you up all night.
I'd buy you something nice to eat but money's rather tight.
'Cuz I don't care if this song's funny,
Funny can't buy me lunch!

Tell me you don't want filet mignon, and I'll be satisfied.
Tell me that you want the kind of things, like McDonald's apple pie.
'Cuz I don't care if this song's funny,
Funny can't buy me lunch!

Can't buy me lunch, whether here or to go!
Can't buy me lunch, no no no, no....

I'll buy you lunch next Saturday if you buy me some now.
If I don't get my check by then, I might skip it anyhow.
'Cuz I don't care if this song's funny,
Funny can't buy me lunch!
Can't buy me lunch, whether here or to go!
Can't buy me lunch, no no no, no....

I got some money now but look, the rest'rants all are closed.
We should have gone out yesterday, but now I guess we're hosed.
'Cuz they don't care if I got money,
Money can't buy me lunch!
Can't buy me lunch, whether here or to go!
Can't buy me lunch, no, no, no....

Kaz is taken, slightly, from her focus on the music by these words. She manages to grin and yet still play, and she's soon, after the surprise, fading back into her own space again, though still playing quite intently.

Anneka knows this song, and the variation on the lyrics set her to grinning. She looks over at Bernie, then to Kaz and Elan, and gosh the cub's tail would be wagging if she had one right now.

Bernie's grin returns at the lyrics as well, joined by a giggle. She steps well away from the dsis again as the food's all rearranged, remembering everyone's earlier caution.

Alec's smile is light, amused. For all of that though, he is still a bit reserved. The collection of food though, does catch his eye.

Joey covers his mouth with a free hand st the song, stifling himself.

Anneka blinks at the food, then darts off after Bernie as well. Yup, she remembers the warning.

Junior smiles at the song, leaning back in his seat.

Elan, as he ends up the song, steps back and the food at his feet begins to grow. Well, multiply. A shimmering thing that seems to happen when you're not directly looking at it, the food begins to divide and divide again. Suddenly there are four Meat-lovers Pizzas instead of two. Five bottles of beer instead of one. The rite begins to accelerate, and soon food pushes it's way across the floor, eventually almost three times it original size...

Kaz seems to be expecting this, and keeps playing, quietly, softly, encouragingly.

The red straw between Max's lips flickers up and down along with the song. She remains unusually silent, straightening enough in the pew to stretch her arms across the back of the pew.

Anneka flops down hard on her rear as she stares at the food, growing, growing out and out along the dais and floor. Her eyes get huge, round and she 'oh's, quietly. "Oh, wow."

Alec says "Merde..." Alec's curse is quiet and soft, but heartfelt. "Tabarnac."

Bernie watches with definite fascination as the food creeps along in its multiplications. "...Someday, I =gotta= find out how t' do that," she mutters quietly to herself.

Junior grins widely. "Cool..."

Max slowly straightens and leans forward, a glint in her eyes to now offset a bit of what seems to be a brooding silence. "Fuckin' A," she murmurs under her breath.

Yi, having been quiet and listening this entire time really... watches the rite with still the same sort of awe that just..well it -is- amazing. She blinks a few times, before regaining her senses and registering Alec. He gets a short wave from her, off to the side there in the pews a little shadowed. "I, ah, had some news. I almost forgot about it, with this gathering and all." Her eyes flicker across each of the other Gnawers' faces.

Banecruncher licks his chops.

Elan finally stops playing and puts up his guitar. "OK, guys. THAT is the power of Mamma Rat. Dig in!"

Anneka glances back to Yi, halfway to the wings already.

Kaz's playing fades, and she turns to give Yi her whole attention.

Joey about to bring a hand to his mouth to call out something, when he is stopped by Yi. He turns to her, a question in his mind.

Junior glancs over to Yi.

Banecruncher rises to his feet and pads toward the chow, leaving a trail of drool in his wake.

"I, ah," Yi feels like shrinking back under all the eyes, but steps up and moves a bit closer. "Well I'll just make it short. I'm leaving, to go back home. Soon. If only, for a short while...but I'm not sure when I'll be back. And..." She glances around. "Well yes that's it." She shuffles her feet. Looks like she had more, but doesn't want to ruin any moods here.

Banecruncher whines in surprise at Yi. Going to leave us? Who will watch my yard after I'm gone? Little-Cat can't do it alone.

Kaz seems to, somehow, have already known this, but she closes her eyes and winces anyway. She just sighs and heads over to her flute case, breaking it down while looking at nothing in particular.

Junior blinks. "You're leaving?"

Bernie blinks at Yi, and is speechless for a moment or three. Then, "...but you WILL be back. Right?"

Alec blinks once or twice, and hoiking up his pack, moves over to where his... multiple pizza's now lay and he grabs himself a slice or two. Then off to a somewhat sturdy pew, leaving the fuzzies to take care of their own business.

Anneka blinks at Yi, twice, then sits down on the floor and ducks her head, then looks up as Bernie asks, brushing her hair away from her eyes.

Joey doesn't say a word, but his expression falls sharply.

Elan says "We'll miss you, Yi."

Max drags her attention from the expanding foodfest to regard Yi from behind bangs. She says nothing aside from the weight of the gaze itself.

Yi nods her head as if to confirm the fact yes, she's leaving. She looks up though, straight on at the rest of her tribe. "I once told myself, I wouldn't make any promises that I couldn't keep. It will be the same here. I will come back as soon as I can, though." That's about as close to it as she -can- promise. "There's some...trouble at home. It seems... it followed me here. I have to go back and help fix things." She chews on her lips some. "Well, don't worry about it, na? I'll make sure to write, as best I can in English anyway. Or use the telephone too." She smiles, trying to lighten the heavy feeling she knew it would bring. "We should, eat... before everything gets cold there."

Max's words come swiftly, clear but quiet. "You need some help with that shit, chica?"

Bernie nods at Max's question, "...yeah. Anythin' we c'n do t' help out?" She steps over to where she'd left the drinks, and eyes the now multiple bottles of scotch for a moment before deciding on a Guinness instead.

Anneka scrambles to her feet and darts off down the aisle, stopping not far away from Yi. She stays there, poised on the balls of her feet, chewing on her lower lip. Then she darts forward arms open.

Kaz, flute broken down, sticks the case under the pew. She doesn't say anything, but her expression appears to agree with her packmates.

Junior hrms softly, going over to get some pizza for himself before it gets cold.

Shaking her head, Yi shrugs slightly. "I only know what I know from one letter. But I know my home sept, and I'm sure the surrounding septs will help against this...problem. It would be too much to ask for you to leave your watches over this city. No. I will go alone." She glances about. "But, enough from me, na? Let's go distribute this food. If you want to ask more, I suppose we can talk about it.." She cuts off when Anneka rushes to her. She hugs the cub, tightly. "Later," she finishes.

Banecruncher snags some chow and carries it back to where he can sprawl and gnaw on it contentedly.

Anneka hugs Yi back, closing her eyes, her hair tumbled in a mane about her face.

Kaz, a little dryly, says, "With this crew, do you seriously expect to divert attention off've y'self? We give a shit. S'stop tryin'a hurry through this, hey?"

Alec's presence now to him atleast, feels a little awkward. This is not what he had intended, but for all of that he's not going to turn down some of the offered food. A small smile at Kaz's comment, the dry humour seems to tickle him.

The top jumps impressively off Bernie's bottle with just a quick glance; looks like she must've been getting some practice with that little trick. She hardly seems to have noticed she did it, focusing mostly on Yi. "Well, I mean, y'said it followed you here, so. Even if we're not gonna be trekkin' overseas an' all, might be a way t' help, yeah?"

Banecruncher rumbles in agreement with the cub.

"I'm not going to be alone, there. It's not a one wolf fight, I know. At least 3 septs will be involved somehow, as it's in our territory and theirs." Yi steps back from Anneka and gives her a wan smile. "I just didn't want to 'rain on our parade' or 'crash the party'. But it seems like I did anyway." Her shoulders lift in a slight shrug. "All I know is, someone back home came over, and wanted information on me. I was tailed. That was taken care of though," she says quietly, withholding the growl of memory. "But yes. And I have the feeling, it stinks of bloodsucker. They always seem to like crawling in from the docks." She glances around. "I'll be more careful moving around the city these days."

Anneka nods, looking at Yi, takes a step or two back, then scrambles off to gather up some wings, a bottle of Stewart's from the rather large gathering on the dais. She races back, hands the bottle and a couple of wings to the Canto-Gnawer. Her own wing is stuck in her mouth, and she tries to talk around it. "Wefl hup aroo."

Max rises from her seat as Kaz speaks, muttering in agreement before heading forward to dig through the piles of food to find her tissue. She scoops up half a dozen joints, stuffs five in a voluminous pocket then pulls a stainless steel lighter from down her top. Lighting it she inhales deeply before wandering back over to settle in the front pew.

Kaz says, "No shit we'll be careful." She looks at all the drinks and heads downstairs to get some water.

Banecruncher contentedly gnaws on chow and listens to the others.

Anneka glances to Yi, once, twice on her way to the huge circle of food, then starts wandering in a circle about it. One of the bottles of Stewart's gets tucked into her satchel, then she settles down to eat-- A wing here, a piece of pizza there. There's really far, far more than a single Anneka could ever touch. She tries, though, grabbing a handful of wings and some sandwiches before heading herself downstairs as well. "Gotta find a pail or somethin' for all th'candy. Folks're gonna bug out when they see alla this." She grins at Bernie and Yi, at Banecruncher gnawing away, then heads downstairs.

Bernie grins, and shakes her head. She eyes her contribution, and the group, and shrugs, collecting a selection of things that end up back in her backpack, and some more to drink and eat now. It barely makes a dent, of course.

Yi smiles at Anneka and takes the offered wing. And upon first taste, there's an automatic slow eye widening at the taste. She sniffs the bitten wing oddly, chewing the piece in mouth before swallowing down. "That's... interesting....chicken." She glances at the chicken wing and wonders what sort of sauce is on it. Then she moves over towards the dais, stepping around food and such while picking out a small bag of M&M's. "I'll come back." She says quietly, more to tell herself than others. "St. Claire is my home away from home. You are all family." She smiles a bit, and decides the easiest way to eat this chicken wing is straight out engulfing it. Not to mention it stops a loose tongue.

Junior nods to Yi, gulping down a bite of pizza. "We'll hold you to that."

"Damn straight," Bernie agrees, "...don' MAKE me hop a plane t' Hong Kong an' drag your raggie ass back here." She grins a bit, and sips her beer. "...I'm gonna be away a couple weeks, too, soon. But, only a week or two."

Yi by that time has stripped off the meat with her teeth and tongue. She spits out the bones, and swallows the rest. "You'd have to learn that trick of Kaz's with the french fry. Or I could teach it to you, but I use a stone." She glances at Junior, then at Banecruncher. "If Little-Cat is who I remember she is... maybe she won't mind letting Junior or Joey also watch the yard. It's a big yard, after all." She glances around and snags a slice of meatlover's.

Banecruncher rumbles in agreement. Good choices. Little Cat is the Fury who Jay got in so much trouble over.

Junior nods. "Sure, we can help watch the place."

Banecruncher rumbles appreciation.

Bernie nods. "Kaz is gonna teach me that, she said," she remarks, and then looks curiously at BC, "....Why'd Jay get in trouble 'bout a Fury?" She settles down in a pew with her beer and pizza and chocolatte, and looks fairly content for the moment.

Banecruncher shrugs. Her elders didn't want her hanging around a scummy urrah. They were going to pack with me.

Yi sniffs slightly, around her pizza slice. She's curious though. "The same Kit, Little-Cat, Fury halfmoon... I met her at the farmhouse the other day when I brought Quincy to see Adam. Quincy's the new Children of Gaia around." She bites off her own little moon of pizza goodness.

Banecruncher thumps his tail. That's the one.

Bernie gestures vaguely with her bottle, "...how come no one seems t' be able t' say 'urrah' without havin' th' word 'scum' somewhere in close proximity? 's 'nough t' give ya a complex, I swear." She grins, though, and continues munching.

Junior snickers softly around his mouthful of pizza.

Banecruncher rumbles. Got their noses stuck so far up each other's tails...

"Oh," Yi says after a swallow and a short Raggie trick on a beer bottle. She smirks at Bernie. "Better than some of what I've heard, anyway." She takes a short drink of the bottle... and is visibly glad she swallowed before hearing Banecruncher's comment.

Bernie snickers, and intones gravely, gesturing with the bottle again, this time at the church, "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum an' villainy..."

Yi licks her lip with a short swipe. "If we're the scum, who are the villainy?" she queries with an odd tilt of her head.

Banecruncher slurps up some more chow, then snags a bottle of ginger stuff, pries the top off with his teeth, and tips his head back to pour it into his mouth.

Junior shrugs at Yi. "Dunno?" He finishes off one slice of pizza, and starts on another.

Bernie considers. "So many options," she answers, "I mean, there's everythin' we're fightin', an' then there's various people," her eyes darken, briefly, and she glances across the church a second, but doesn't pause, "an' then if we wanna make it on a par with us scum, which is t' say, not th' bad guys, maybe th' Walkers..."

Banecruncher rumbles in amusement. Walkers fits.

"I'm surprised this sept isn't too divided though there are so many tribes," Yi notes with a drink. "Maybe that's why so many things are going wrong back home. We're all too divided..." she trails, and gazes down at the liquid left in her bottle.

Junior nods to Yi. "Maybe. Better t' pull together."

Bernie nods, and giggles. "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately..." She drains the rest of her beer and sets the bottle aside, rising to assess the masses that remain on and around the dais.

Yi tries parsing that punnage, getting the general idea and draining the rest of her beer. Setting down the empty bottle she tilts her head at all the food left. "It's going to take many trips, to carry all this."

"Well, first we c'n fill up th' fridge an' cupboards an' shit downstairs, an' sort out what we wanna take with us, an' then we c'n take th' rest an' pass it out t' people an' all. Yeah?" Bernie proposes, busily making some more of her own selections. Plenty of room in the backpack yet...

Junior smiles at Bernie. "That was....Paine? Jefferson? One of the founding fathers, wasn't it?"

"Franklin," Bernie replies, collecting several of the multiples of her own contribution, and some of Max's as long as she at it, "Mr. Nifty Fifty an' electricity..." She giggles, shaking her head. "Man, I must be tired. But yeah, anyhow." Oooh. More chocolate.

Junior grins. "Poor Richard. He was a damned cool guy."

Bernie finishes packing away what she wants, and then loads up the wagon with various things, fastening it all on with twine she produces from a packpack pocket. "A'ight, I'm gonna cart this load over t' Regan Hope, I think. G'night, y'all. See ya t'marraish." With that, she gives the handle a yank, and is soon out the door and bumping down the street.