Daniel Broken Hammer

[Joey] "I know how that goes," she says of room 7 getting quiet sometimes, and she means it.

Joey leans her head back, pressing the back of her skull against the frame of her bed, her eyes staring at the stucco patterns on the ceiling. She draws up her knees, rests her elbows on them, taps her fingertips together. It's one of the things about her that's never changed, the fact that Joey is almost always in motion. She fidgets, shifts, shuffles, moves, as if it's impossible for her to sit still for more than a few seconds at a time.

"Maybe. I tried figurin' out if it was certain foods, right? But it's not. It's every fucking thing I eat. Doesn't taste bad or nothin', just hurts after." She snaps her head down, tilts it to the side to look at Nate. They're roughly the same height, but Joey, female that she is, is more muscular. She's stronger, faster, more agile. The way she watches him, though, she seems more dog than wolf. More domesticated rather than wild. For the longest time, for as long as she's been in the pack, Joey has been the most human of them all.

And here's Nate, seeking her out after she found herself in a fight. Nate, who has noticed that the Rotagar of The Sentinels is withdrawn, quiet, and has come to see her even though he can't know that she wasn't always this way.

"There's this website where you put in your symptoms and they give you a diagnosis? I think I got an ulcer or somethin'. That or it's fuckin' appendicitis." The ghost of a smile whispers about the corners of her mouth. There is no ire or animosity in her voice, only resignation. This is the way things are, the way they'll be for the rest of her life.

[Daniel] (so, srsly, can i crash this scene? cuz if you'd rather i didn't, i'd be happy to go elsewhere!)
to Joey, Nate Cross

[Joey] [go for it! it's from Friday night, though]
to Daniel

[Nate Cross] "Man that must sucks... maybe try some antiacids or something" shrugging , as he relaxes and leans back further against the couch. He's at ease here it seems, he doesn't have to fight with his rage like he does with normal folk. He can be himself and just talk and listen.

"That....sounds serious. You thought about going and get it checked out? I mean.. I'm sure there is someone around the Sept that could treat you without asking too many questions..." There is worry in his eyes , full of concern and then a question "Do the others know about any of this yet?"

[Daniel] There's a sudden pop! in their ears -- air pushed rapidly away from what was once empty space, and is now Daniel. The Forseti is in mid-stride, coming forward literally out of thin air to cast a quick, inventorying glance at his packmates on his way to his own bed.

There, he drops down on the thin mattress and starts pulling his boots off. "Know about what?" he asks. There's an accent in his voice, vaguely european, hard to place.

[Joey] Nate expresses his concern, even tries to offer a suggestion for a course of action. Joey opens her mouth for a reply when the air pops, and there's Daniel. She watches her brother of both pack and tribe as he unlaces his boots.

She shrugs. "Nah, I died, dude. Means it's probably a battle scar, and there's nothing Pepto can do about that. My stomach hurts when I eat," she says to Daniel. "Since I ate those spiders."

[Nate Cross] Nate just nods as Joey gives Daniel a description of their conversation "Yeah I was just asking Joey some qeustions.. you know getting to know her and stuff."

"You...died... Man it seems there are going to be a few tales I'll need to learn about this pack before I turned up. Seems like your always upto mischief and mayhem."

"Good to see you by the way Daniel... we really didn't get a chance to talk much that night in Hatchet's room.. and then the other night with those Skull Pigs."

[Joey] "Mostly died," Joey amends. Judging by her tone and expression, it's obvious she thinks this is something all of their kind knows. Then again, not all Garou earn their first battle scar straight ouf of their Right of Passage. She has others than the one affecting her eating habits. Pin pricks that run nearly invisible from the corners of her mouth and down her jaw, leading to the ugly gash across her throat.

"You never had to fight your way back before?" she asks, curious and openly incredulous.

[Daniel] Daniel seems to have exactly two changes of clothes. The one on his body is one; the one stuffed in the ratty old backpack under his bed is the other. He has only one pair of shoes, though, and that's the pair he's hauling off his feet now: big leather workboots designed to last a hundred years or so. They thunk heavily to the floor as he listens, one, then the other. Then he hunches over, elbows on knees, nodding once as Joey explains her scar without comment. Or pity, for that matter.

Then the Forseti turns his head; frowns quizzically at Nate. "What is there to talk about?" It's an actual question, the sentence inflecting upward at the end. He sits straight and unzips his hoodie. The first one. He has another one under that; then his buttondown shirt, then a thermal undershirt. In lieu of truly warm clothing, Daniel makes do with layers.

[Nate Cross] He shrugs a little at Joey "I guess not... I've had my fair share of scraps to be certain. But I guess I just haven't had to leave it all on the line before. Guess that'll be my next big test.... I can't say I'm particularly looking forward too it though."

"Who you are... your role in the pack.. how you came to be. Heaps of things to talk about, unless you'd rather not of course. I guess I just don't see the point of secrets between pack mates.... or maybe I'm just pushing too hard too soon. Just give me a clip around the ear if I am. I haven't really been a full member of a pack before is all. Mainly just travelling unofficially with people." he shrugs

[Joey] If Joey had been looking for sympathy, or pity for her newfound condition, she would have spoken up about it weeks ago when her stomach first constricted around a meal. As it is, she never saw the point. It was just one more thing to deal with, to work around, to overcome so she could perform her duties for the Nation.

The only reason it's come out now is that Nate touched on something Joey still doesn't want to talk about, so she lead him down a different path.

"You talk a lot," she observes. Reaching down to the plate of half-eaten food, she grabs up another fry, chews it slowly and thoughtfully before swallowing.

[Daniel] (guys, don't wait on me to post!)

[Nate Cross] Nate laughs "I guess I do... the Nun's even used to have a tough time shutting me up back in the day. I guess that's why I got my deed name as well, beyond just my art. I talk to people and listen and I find out things. Sometimes they are useful.. sometimes not, but still gotta ask the question in the first place."

He does blush a little though when he's called on it "If I do start rattling off too much though, just give me a tap on the nose or something and I should get the hint.". Nate remains watching Joey throughout all the conversation.. that nagging sensaion from before still there. But he also wanted to avoid hassaling her too much about it.

[Daniel] Daniel continues to frown, and continues to take off his outerwear. Both sweatshirts are off, the outer zip-up, the inner pullover, and both are rolled up and set at the foot of his bed. He undoes the sleeves of his buttondown now, rolling them up as he hunkers down elbows-on-knees again.

"I am ... a packmate," he says, sounding mystified. "I do what I must for the pack. I wasn't aware I had a defined role beyond that. I came to be here because Great Bear told me to come here. Long ago I born at the Sept of the Seventh Isle, a Caern full of my Tribesmen dating back a thousand years. I was exiled for my foolishness and wrath, which led to the unjust murder of another Garou and the ritual defilement of his corpse."

And... it's just out there. Daniel says it without so much as a change of expression, laying it out flatly, as an undisputed truth. When he's finished he's still frowning at Nate, puzzled, all furrowed brow and lean cheeks, intent dark eyes that never for a second turn away.

[Joey] Nate tells Joey to tap him on the nose if he starts going on too long. There is no light of impish glee at his words, which amount to an open invitation for what she would consider 'rough housing.' Her face is drawn, straight, hardly impassive but without much humor.

She is vaguely familiar with Daniel's history, and how he came to be exiled from his former sept. He hasn't been shy about telling those who should know, those who ask, had announced it to The Sentinels the night they met him.

"What happened?" she asks, openly curious. Daniel has been with the pack for over a month, and they've only spoken a handful of times. Not nearly enough to get to know each other, to go from being just bonded packmates to something closer.

[Nate Cross] "Wow that's some story... sorta like a tale I'd expect to find in one of my favourite books from my childhood. I'm sorry you got sent away from your family though .... family is important." then Nate looks a little sad before he shrugs it off and offers a small smile instead.

"Oh and don't worry about that defined role stuff.. I guess I sorta assumed that you would. Just trying to figure out how you guys work, as I've sorta only fought by your side that one time. "

[Daniel] The curiosity seems to puzzle Daniel as much as Nate's gregariousness had. The Forseti's black stare goes from Nate to Joey, then back. The furrows on his brow deepen.

"There's no reason to feel sorrow or sympathy, Word on the Street-yuf. I am wholly responsible and accountable for what I did, and deserved to be cast out.

"I was a Hand of Tyr," he continues, perhaps for Joey's benefit now, "charged with hunting down sinners who have escaped the justice of wolf, men and Garou. There were murders in the town nearest our Sept; atrocities done on young human women of a caliber normally only seen in the heart of the Scab. I pursued my quarry into the city. When I cornered it in its lair, another Garou of my Sept was there. There was a dead woman at his feet. Her blood was still on him.

"There was no question to my mind: my Septmate was the criminal. I accused him with the spirits of justice as witness. When he denied it and insisted on his innocence, wrath overtook me. So," the first pause in any of this; a short breath drawn and then released, "I slaughtered him and cut the blood eagle on his corpse so that all would know the price of vengeance a son of Fenris exacts."

All of that was spoken impassively, levelly, with a distance that is perhaps necessary. Even so, in the language, in the steadiness of his stare, there's perhaps a glint of true belief; zealotry; fanaticism.

"Afterward, when the Sept investigated the incident, it was revealed that my Septmate was indeed innocent. The woman he killed was the creature I pursued; a creature that had gorged herself on the blood of her kind. I was blind and foolish and wrathful, and though the Hand of Tyr is charged with destruction, it is always charged with impartiality and justice. So I was ejected from its ranks, and then from my Sept. That was several years ago now, but such dishonor will follow me always."

He's done. One feels sorry for Joey and Nate: casual, essentially nice people subjected to Daniel's rather deadpan tales of atrocity.

[Joey] Joey listens to Danie's tale intently, interested. It's important to note that it's without fascination, morbid or otherwise. She doesn't ooh or aah, her dark somewhat hang-dog brown eyes don't round with wonder. There's no sign that his story is romanticized in the young woman's mind, no evidence of relish in the pain and suffering and wrongdoings done by others.

She just listens, her back pressed to the frame of her bed, her head tilted forward and up, attentive. She's not a Galliard, not a keeper of records or tales or songs. Joey listens because she's interested, because Daniel is thus far a walking mystery to her and she's been too preoccupied to try to puzzle out her packmate, even though they share a room.

"Wow, that's," but whatever she thinks it is is put on hold for a moment. Her head turns toward Nate. Her mouth quirks, her forehead furrows. Crossing her ankles over each other, she drops her legs, resting her hands on the insides of her knees, her spine straight as she regards the Bone Gnawer.

"What the hell kinda books did you read, man?"

[Daniel] That's...

-- whatever 'that' is, all of that, Joey never finishes. That's fine; Daniel wasn't telling it for the reaction. He knows what that is: heavy shit. Perhaps horrific. Certainly, deeply unpleasant. The sort of thing that does not deserve or merit drama; the sort of thing that, even without drama, leaves one at a loss for anything to say.

She asks Nate what the hell kinda books he read, instead. Daniel lets out a short breath of laughter. Some tension leaves the Forseti, unnoticed until it's gone. He sits back in his bed, leaning back against the wall.

"Perhaps," he says, "you should both tell something about yourself. So we know each other a little better."

[Hatchet] He doesn't knock. He just walks in, opening the door of it's closed and striding through it if it's open as though he owns the room. In a way, he could be said to. The fact that the owners and proprietors of the Brotherhood are Fianna Kinfolk goes unremarked, most especially by the Fianna Elder in the city. He's talked to Reuben and Jenny about it. This is not Fianna territory; this is neutral territory.

If he has any right to make it otherwise, he has not advertised that.

Not only that, this entire room is populated by his packmates. In a very real way, and in a way that goes just as undiscussed outside of Hatchet's own -- very busy, very tangled -- mind, the three Garou that sleep here belong to him. They are his, different from the way Lee is his, but his bond to them is also very different to begin with.

Regardless: he walks in, sucking on a fingertip with a bothered expression. "Fucking splinter," he mutters, and spins around one of the desk chairs to sit down in it, slouching against the back, legs akimbo.

[Echo] Echo doesn't knock, because, well, she's Echo for one, and for two, she does actually live in this room that's currently full of people. Or, well, people in the loose classifying sense. Garou people, or whatever. She nudges the door open with a boot, since her hands are full of food. Or -- bags of food.

The waft of Thai cuisine emanates from two laden paper bags, staining with grease.

"Hrro errybdy." She says through a mouthful of serviette, as she kicks the door closed after her, the straps of her overalls dangling down where the young Pilot had stripped herself to the waist, leaving her upper torso in a dark blue jersey.

[Joey] The rest of the pack finds them, enters and arranges themselves about the room. When first Hatchet and then Echo enter, Daniel is seated on his bed, Nate is propped against Echo's, and Joey is sitting ramrod straight, legs folded in front of her, hands resting on the insides of her knees. Whatever tension may have risen in the wake of Daniel's telling of his gruesome history, it is at least partially alleviated when Joey turns her attention from the Forseti to the Galliard.

Echo enters bearing bags of food, and Joey rolls to her feet to relieve one of the Fostern's hands. She sets the bag on the desk that is hers, that has a corkboard over it with pictures from the Nevada desert, of people who look like Joey and those who don't but are roughly her age.

"Heya, Boss. Echo. This for all of us?"

[Hatchet] [Just a heads up, guys, I'm only here for about... an hour or two. *L*]

[Daniel] "Alpha," Daniel greets from his bed, which is the plainest and neatest of the three. He has very few belongings. There's a backpack under the bed, battered. There are two sweatshirts rolled up at the foot of the bed. That's about it.

And, "Echo." He sniffs; frowns. "What is that?"

[Echo] The rangy Glass Walker sets the remaining food bag down on the table and shoot her fellow No Moon a quick grin -- all teeth that smile. "Are you kidding? This is my dinner, I didn't get time to chow down before my flights started." She unpacks a grotesque amount of noodles, spring rolls, dim sims, grilled fish with sticky rice, pork with rice, beef with--well, one got the idea.

There are about seven meals there in total, and the Fostern turns, a box of noodles in hand and begins digging through it with a pair of chopsticks. There are more of those in the bag too. "This," She holds up a piece of beef. "Dear Daniel, is the best Thai food in Chicago. It's from this tiny little place in -" Shocker. "Chinatown, totally overlooked by most, but known to me with my keen senses. Prawn cracker?" She tosses a bag of them at the Forseti, before gently elbowing Joey.

"G'on, dig in. I got enough for ten families."

[Hatchet] "Dibs," Hatchet says as soon as he smells what Echo's bringing in. She's got more money than the rest of them put together... literally. He has no problem eating all the food that the Brotherhood's cook offers freely, though he hardly considers it free. The five of them protect the Brotherhood second only to their guardianship of the caern at large, daily and nightly and on both sides of the Gauntlet.

They can have a free meal here and there. Or they can eat Thai food.

He twists around as she sets it back down, reaching into one of the bags and yanking out a box of dim sum and a fork. He's got the manual dexterity for chopsticks, raw potential, but he's never learned. So he uses a plastic fork, and he opens up the box, shoving a dumpling in his mouth. "You underestimate us," Hatchet mutters to Echo, but only after he's chewed and swallowed and swiped at his mouth with a paper napkin.

Their Alpha is, always has been, oddly fastidious despite his other less savory manners.

[Daniel] Daniel grabs the bag of prawn crackers out of the air with a deftness known only to acrobats and chimpanzees. And, well, Forsetis were preternaturally acute senses. They'll be glad to see that he does, in fact, know how to open a bag of chips. Once it's open, though, he sniffs gingerly at the contents, uncertain.

"How are these ... " he hunts for the right word, "produced?"

[Hatchet] Hatchet pauses suddenly, putting the box down on his lap with the fork inside. He looks over inquisitively at Daniel for a moment, then lifts an eyebrow. "Let's consider the worst that could happen if you just try one."

[Joey] Joey looks down into the bag and its white boxes containing spicy foreign food, and she hesitates. The small blonde, no longer smallest in the pack thanks to Nate, looks to be weighing the pros and cons of something terribly, terribly important.

Then her shoulders rise and fall in a shrug, and she reaches in for a box that contains some kind of curry dish. She finds a plastic fork and a handful of napkins, and she resumes her place on the floor, next to a plate with a half-eaten hamburger and a pile of largely untouched fries. She'll find a box for it later (hell, she might even use the curry box, she's not picky) and throw it in a fridge somewhere.

She shovels a bite of food into her mouth, chews slowly before swallowing, and she watches Daniel as he navigates the strange and the new in prawn crackers. "I'll try one."

[Nate Cross] NAte had been quite for a long while, perhaps distracted in his own memories as he builds a tale to tell Daniel. But then he is soon distracted by the arrival of his other pack mates.

"Oooh Thai...man Echo right?" he looks at her with a nod "If your ever up for Chinese ... you need to head to the Golden Emperor down there. Man they make some good Mu Shu... just like tell them your family of the dish washer and they'll give you a free feed. They're kin you know... took me in after my first change and looked out for me till the Tribe claimed me."

THen he eyes the Prawn crackers "Oh Echo you shouldn't have.....you do love me " he grins as he licks his lips " eagerly reaching for one of the boxes. His stomach growling as he does so "Ooops sorry." he blushes softly.

"Aww man Daniel try some... it's normally different meat and fresh vegetables cooked in a scorching hot pan. With all kinds of herbs and spices... the flavour just explodes in his mouth." He then looks over at Joey warily .. tempted to move "I'm talking too much again aren't I?"

[Daniel] "The worst that could happen is that we could literally ingest taint," Daniel says immediately, drawing the bag of prawn crackers protectively away from Joey. "The Wyrm is not idle in the Scabs. It has conquered many human organizations, including those affiliated with food service and production. Are we certain that this ... " he looks at the bag, "Hong Mei corporation has not been infiltrated?"

[Joey] Joey is already reaching under her bed for her bat bag, her box of food balanced in her lap as she goes.

"Dude, will it make you feel better if I fuckin' cleanse it first?"

[Hatchet] "Be that as it may," Hatchet says mildly as Daniel details the exact worst that could happen, spearing another dumpling to bring to his mouth, "all your packmates are right here, and will not allow harm to befall or spring from you if you happen to eat Wyrm-tainted prawn crackers. Now stop being suspicious and eat your dinner."

He takes a large bite. As idle as his words were, as glib-seeming, there was at least one sentence spoken with sincerity that somehow seemed offhand, as though it came as naturally to Hatchet to mean every word as honesty comes to children.

[Daniel] Daniel thinks for a moment. "Actually," he extends the bag at Joey, "yeah. It would."

[Echo] Echo waves her chopstick at Daniel.

"Dude, will you just eat the fucking cracker already and be amazed?" She doesn't mince words, our Echo. But then, neither do the rest of them, really.

[Hatchet] "You're not cleansing that," Hatchet says mildly to Joey as Daniel passes it over. He takes another bite.

[Echo] She turns to look at Hatchet, rolls her eyes heavenward and proceeds to shovel food into her mouth, hopping up onto the desk and crossing her legs, Indian style. "You need to relax, Daniel. Take a chance on life, or, you know, baby steps? Eat a prawn cracker and don't have it cleansed first. I eat them all the time and look at me?"

She puffs out her chest, which was, alas, minimal.

[Echo] [I dunno why that ended with a question mark. It was meant to be an exclamation.]

[Joey] As soon as the bag is within her grasp, Joey snatches it from Daniel's fingers and pulls it toward her. She opens the bag and pulls out one of the chips, examining it closely, mere inches from her face.

"Just looks like a chip." She pops it into her mouth, and crunches thoughtfully. After a moment, she declares, "Weird," and tosses the bag at Nate. With significantly less force than she threw a snowball at an Ahroun earlier this afternoon.

[Daniel] Daniel watches Joey intently, as though expecting her to potentially birth a Wyrmling out of her sternum any second. When a good half-minute goes by with no adverse effects, he sits up on his bed and leans forward to snag the largest, least-processed piece of meat he can see. With his fingers.

[Hatchet] "Well, in point of fact," Hatchet says, "human companies that produce tainted food usually only have portions of Banes in, say, one individual can of beer in a flat of hundreds of them. It's not the people who go to the store and have a beer every week or so that end up turning into fomori. It's the ones who are drinking or eating it constantly, never leaving, never cleansing their spirits with any other influences, who gradually become more and more drawn to the Wyrm."

He pauses, puts his fist to his mouth, belches quietly. "Pardon," he says, the emphasis on the second syllable strange, as though he's almost saying pardone rather than pardon. "However," he goes on, continuing his earlier thought, "we have no guarantee that the producers of this food are tainted or tainting the food. Daniel is being paranoid about one bite of something that has a one in a million or more chance of having any adverse effects on him. And I think it's nitpicky, ungrateful, and fearful, and I expect better of him."

Hatchet cuts a dumpling in half. "Regardless of my opinion on the matter, he can eat it or he can watch us eat it. But if he wants it cleansed before he eats it, he can find someone else to do it."

[Hatchet] [Ack]

[Nate Cross] Nate reaches his hand into the bag and takes a handful of the prawn crackers, stuffing several of them into his mouth at once. Chomping soundly "mmmhmmm soooo gooood". Swallowing as he then takes little more than a pause as he begins eating his noodles once more.

That's when Nate pipes up "I'll have his share.... I'm always hungry. Never know when your last feed will be either for that matter."

[Daniel] As he finds himself being turned into an object lesson of sorts, Daniel shifts uneasily on the bed; frowns; coughs under his breath. Then he holds his hand up at Nate.

"Here," he mutters. "Toss that this way."

[Echo] Echo eats. She finishes her box of noodles and rummages in the bag for a moment before coming up with the goods -- or her dessert. It's a fortune cookie wrapped in plastic and she tears the packaging with her teeth, spits it aside and snaps the sweet cookie in half, picking up the tiny scroll of paper inside it and squinting at it as she reads off her fortune.

"A closed mouth gathers no feet." She frowns, and eats half the cookie. "What the Hell kind of fortune is that?" The Ragabash sighs, and leans back. "I was hoping for something more along the lines of you will meet a man today who becomes your sex slave, or money shall pelt you from the skies."

[Nate Cross] Nate just grins "Good man.. you only li....oh hey these noodles taste really good" distracting himself from what he was going to say as the hands the prawn crackers over to Daniel.

He then looks at Echo with a puzzled expression "Well I do know this one kinfolk of my tribe who seems eager to please the ladies. I could get you his number if you want?" taking another mouthful of the delicious food "Can't help you with the cash though.. Us Gnawers are always broke."

[Joey] Joey digs through her food as though she needs to bolt it down or she won't get to finish it. She looks up when Hatchet lectures about the odds of any of them actually getting tainted from a bit of bad Thai food.

Then she watches Daniel motion for Nate to toss over the potentially tainted prawn chips that now at least two of their number have eaten.

Joey tilts her head at Echo, eyes narrowing slightly. She finishes her food and sets the now empty box to the side. It's just a matter of time now. She reaches underneath her bed again, but this time she doesn't pull out her bat bag. When she reemerges, there is no dust or debris clinging to her arm. Joey actually keeps her side of the room very clean. She unzips a pocket of her wallet and pulls out a couple of quarters.

Joey is a natural born athetlete. This afternoon she chucked a snowball at an Ahroun with deadly aim and with enough force to bruise the girl's face.

"Gotcha covered, Sis." She pulls her hand back, and she lobs one of the coins at Echo's head.

[Daniel] Daniel eats a prawn cracker -- and promptly drops dead.

...no; just kidding. He eats a prawn cracker, nothing but dubiousness and doubt on his face, but as he crunches the expression relaxes little by little until he's chewing rather normally, chewing, chewing, gulping.

"Hm," he says, and thinks for a moment. "That wasn't terrible."

He passes the bag on, nonetheless, and reaches for the carton of -- duck; it turns out to be duck. Daniel has yet to resort to the plastic cutlery and plates, and eats straight out of the box instead, passing it on when he perceives it's disrespectful to continue hogging it.

After a moment he adds, "I apologize, End Transmission-rhya, if my distrust of your ... prawn crackers was disrespectful or ungrateful. That was not my intent."

[Echo] [Dex + Ath: Catch ze coin!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1

[Joey] [Quarter toss!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4)

[Hatchet] Each one of them has, at some point or another, received a lecture from the Philodox currently eating Thai food at one of the desks. He has argued with them, yelled at them, scolded them, and he's just as often wrong as he is right. He's just as often unfair as he is gentle. Nate hasn't mentioned Lee to Hatchet since being accepted into the pack, and Hatchet hasn't brought her up, either. Daniel and Hatchet have not said another word about whether the pack has an Omega, or who it is. How Echo deals with her Kinfolk hasn't been brought up again. Hatchet and Joey have hardly spoken more than two words to each other since Charlie died.

Hatchet hasn't said the metis's name since the Gathering.

He loves them. He hasn't said it. He doesn't hug them, but sometimes in other forms he touches them more, gets closer. He's come into this room several times just to stand guard over them, though not a one of them is an incapable fighter. He is eating with them now, strangely remembering a night when he ate with the members of the Unbroken Circle because his own pack was already falling apart and the sole remaining member refused to associate with anyone but him.

Cookies are broken, coins are thrown, and Hatchet becomes quiet as his packmates eat and talk about willing kinsmen and what they want from a fortune. He sits back in the chair and eats, watches his packmates eat, a strange -- aching -- expression causing his brows to draw together.

"Thanks for dinner, Echo," he says after a moment, setting the dim sum aside or passing it to Daniel, taking the duck instead. "Occasionally it's nice not to be mooching off our kinfolk."

[Echo] The Glass Walker's dark eyes leap from Joey -- playfully tossing a coin [or two] at her, to Daniel and she just laughs, and tosses him one of the spare fortune cookies. "It's all good, man. Don't sweat it, time was, I mighta been suspicious myself of something calling itself a prawn anything."

She cocks her head to one side, offers her Alpha a cookie as well. "Do you dare?" She tempts, and waggles her eyebrows mischievously.

[Joey] Joey tosses the corner, smiling as Echo catches it or not. It's the first time she's really smiled in a while. It lasts for less than five more seconds.

"Yeah, thanks, Echo," she says, and then her body tenses. No creatures spew out of her, no strange appendages appear, but Joey clenches her hands over her knees, her head cocking to the side, a look of intense concentration on her face.

"Alright, I'm goin' to bed." She gets up then, taking the empty box of food with her so she can toss it into a trash can. The room smells like Thai food now, which for once overrides the lingering smells of the Garou who live here. Joey throws back the purple comforter that used to belong to her friend, climbs beneath it, and curls in on herself.

[Nate Cross] Nate eats with those gathered, he hadn't done anything like this in what felt like years. While he was away from Chicago it was a meal scrounged here and there, often on the move. So it was nice to just sit in one spot and eat, have conversation and laughter. To be a family.....one that he had always ached for. While he hadn't really gotten to know some of the others yet, it was happening slowly and that's all that mattered. But he casts a glance over to Joey, the one he seemed to be developing the closest relationship with and smiles as he watches her crawl into bed.

"Thanks for the food as well Echo. I think I might be off to bed as well. Thump on the wall if I'm snoring thought.. because man I'm stuffed " patting his belly as he stands.

"Otherwise I'll see you in the morning" as he makes his way to the door.

[Hatchet] Hatchet lifts his hand to catch the fortune cookie, a clear indication that Echo should toss it over. He grabs it out of the air when she lobs it, unwraps it, cracks it open, and smirks wryly after he reads it silently to himself. Then, aloud: "It is much easier to be critical than to be correct."

His eyes lift, flick around. "All of you just keep. Your mouths. Shut," he says firmly, and sets both cookie and slip of paper on the desk.

Joey curls up to sleep, but that doesn't make him decide it's time to go. In fact, he stays and eats even after the Bone Gnawer -- the Bone Gnawer -- has had his fill. He stays in that chair as the Rotagar's breathing turns steady, as the door closes behind the Galliard. He stays up with Echo and Daniel if they're up for awhile, eating and maybe even talking quietly. He's there for awhile, mostly silent but otherwise just soaking in the closeness and company of his packmates, well into the night.

[Daniel] (*sneaks this in before Hatchet's*)

For his part, Daniel is quiet now, eating food as it's passed his way. He keeps eating a good while after his packmates have stopped; he had a later start, too.

Eventually, though, his box(es) end up piled on the desk as well. He raises a hand in goodbye as Nate ducks out, then sits up himself to unbutton the last of his layers, a rather plain flannel shirt. When that's off, the Forseti is down to his undershirt, which is what he sleeps in: a single layer over a bony, wiry body, tough as jerky, devoid of waste.

"Time to sleep," he says, as though he were not so much announcing an intent but reaching a conclusion. He's fed, full, satisfied, sleepy. Time to bed down.

[Joey] "In bed," Joey groans from her bed. It's the last sound she makes for the night, and she remains perfectly still for a long while before she finally drops off to sleep.

[Hatchet] [I'm out! Thank you guys for the RP, that was nice. *G*]