"Like all Silver Fangs he doesn't take kindly to people not following every order he gives without thinking."

Farmhouse: Hallway and Living Room
All doorways in the front part of the house lead to the front hallway, a J-shaped area with the short tail starting at the stairs, the front door hitting the bottom curve, the doorless opening to the living room halfway up the long side, and the also doorless opening to the kitchen and dining room at the very top. The hall has a simple wooden floor, and decorated with a generic print of soft-colored flowers hanging on the wall to the right of the front door, and a tall table sitting under the print which serves as a place to toss keys. A closet under the stairs serves as a place to hang coats or to toss shoes.
The doorless opening to the living room is halfway up the side of the hall's J, and the word cozy might spring to mind when looking into is, as it seems to radiate comforting vibrations. A long couch sits against the south wall beneath a large bay window curtained only by sheers that manages to obscure the view in but only filters the day's light. A variety of out-of-date magazines are strewn atop a low coffee table; more neatly presented are the plethora of books filling the small bookshelves which line the eastern wall. Three chairs sit about the room, focused inward, to allow group conversations. Large floor pillows are stacked in one corner of the room, except one, which lies carelessly in the middle of the floor, apparently left out the last time it was used.
An opening in the northern end of the hallway allows access to the kitchen and dining room at the back of the house, while carpeted stairs twist up at the other end of the hall, leading to the second floor. A door at the base of the J lets out to the front porch.

The night on the very verge of Luna's fullness seems to be affecting at least one member of the farmhouse. Cole is pacing back and forth from the kitchen to the living room in an unchanging cycle. He has a troubled sort of expression on his face, staring off into space.

Cole isn't the only one feeling his moon tonight. Another so afflicted is just stepping in--through the front door, for once, rather than the sliding one in the kitchen. Her face is a mask of tension, and when she lets go of the door a little too early, causing it to slam behind her, she not only jumps but whirls around, as if expecting to find some attacker bearing down on her. Finding nothing, she lets out a harsh, heavy breath, and bites at the knuckle of her left thumb.

Kevin, on the other hand, seems unreasonably cheerful as he walks out of the barn and towards the farmhouse. Only a certain hollowness around his eyes and a cautious element in his walk betrays any clue to recent events; his face bears a smile which seems a little too broad to be entirely appropriate as he lets himself in through the back door, abstracts a can of Coke from the fridge, and cracks it open as he walks into the main room.

Cole is surprised by the slamming of the door, spinning at the sound to confront the person just entering the room. "This isn't the barn," he starts to snap, intending to end with something like 'so don't slam the door like that'. When he spots Morgan, though, he cuts himself off. "Morgan. Hey." When Kevin enters from the kitchen, he lets his gaze rest on the newcomer for a moment. The smile gets a raised eyebrow and a scowl.

Morgan turns sharply to face Cole, an apology clearly on her lips before he even finishes speaking. And it comes out anyway, almost by rote, in spite of the change of tact. "--Sorry." She bites down a little harder as she follows her elder's gaze to Kevin, and then lets it drop to the floor.

Kevin's smile is undaunted by the scowl from the Fianna elder. "Good day, Cole, good day, Morgan," he greets them, leaning up against the doorframe of the open kitchen door. "Any news from Fiannaville?"

"It's nothing, Morgan. Just a bit edgy. Something up?" He turns so he can keep both figures in his sight. "Kevin. You seem awfully cheerful for someone who was publically emasculated and branded a Charach, handed what amounts to a death sentence. You know something we don't?" While not exactly cold to the Glass Walker, he's not his normal amiable self either.

Morgan lowers her hand away from her mouth. However, that only seems to be the prelude, because she immediately wraps both normal arms around her coat and shakes her head fiercely back and forth. Her gaze remains plastered to the floor in front of her.

Kevin turns his smile on Cole like a searchlight on a target. "I'm alive," he tells him, as though this wasn't obvious to him. "Isn't that enough of a reason for me to be cheerful? Or did the Philodox order that I have to go round with a face as long as a violin for the rest of my life, and did I somehow not hear that part of the punishment?"

This seems to tug a hint of a smile from one corner of the Fianna Elder's mouth. "No, I can't say that I heard that as part of a punishment. Just seems strange to me. I guess the truth will set you free, huh? As for news, I don't imagine you heard everything at the Moot. At least, after your stint as Fool. Both Morgan and Sophie have passed their Rites of Passage, and are now adults of the tribe." There's a warm not of pride on his voice, and his smile blossoms. It's nowhere near the incandescent strength of the Ragabash, though.

"I won't pretend I felt this way all through," Kevin concedes. "A few people had some little... talks... with me that helped me get a perspective. Yes, I gathered that Morgan and Sophie were cliath now," he says, turning that smile on the metis for a moment. "Is young Kieran far behind them?"

Cole shakes his head. The Fianna's stance relaxes by increments. "No, he's not. If I can get him to settle down in one spot for more than a few moments, he bodes well for a Rite within the next month or so. Christopher and Caleb, our two newest cubs are doing us proud as well. As for other news, various challenges were made and accepted, and initiatives were taken towards solving some of the Sept's problems. Also, I'm looking to start warpack as part of solving those problems."

Morgan bites her lip, and finally lets her gaze waver a little higher--ankle level, or thereabouts. "...Cole-rhya, you hear 'bout Mathias?"

Kevin raises an eyebrow. "Caleb? That's news to me," he begins, but then Morgan's words finally dislodge his smile. "Mathias? What about Mathias? Don't tell me he's in more trouble."

Cole looks over as the other Galliard breaks her silence. He tries, as usual, to engage Morgan's gaze when he speaks with her, but doesn't press the issue. "Mathias? The new Fang in these parts? What about him, Morgan?" He then looks to Kevin. "Caleb's new to us, the ward of Jessica of the Black Furies. A Ragabash. Now. Trouble? What's been happening?"

Morgan shakes her head slightly at Kevin's query. "Same trouble," she mumbles. "But Vera-rhya tell me make sure everyone know. Make sure Galliards know." She looks, frankly, more apologetic than anything. "She want everyone know Mathias want help Kevin, Basil, 'cause he want join Kevin's pack." She appears to shrink a little into her hunched shoulders. "I think I frenzy again, Cole-rhya..."

Kevin sighs. "Mathias has taken the trouble to help me see things in a proper light," he points out, "and all he seems to be getting for it is ridicule from Vera-rhya. As for 'Kevin's pack', Kevin doesn't have a pack any more, so it's a dead issue." He ignores the talk of frenzy.

Cole looks back and forth between the two as they speak, scowling. "Maybe he'd like to form a new pack, then." The Galliard shrugs. "I don't see what's so objectionable. It's not as if you are ostracized or anything like that. Maybe a lack of judgement on his part, but hardly punishable. I'll remember it, though. Thanks Morgan." He looks concern at the mention of a frenzy. "What happened, Morgan?"

Morgan's head almost seems to sink into her hunched shoulders, as if she were trying to imitate a turtle. "Blackriver come, tell Kevin she want make him die. Mathias say he stop Blackriver making judgment. I say is wrong, try stop judge. We...argue." She begins biting at one fingernail again. "He keep saying I say things that I not. And he laugh lots. He say I saying Philodox only auspice can give opinion, but is not true. I try make him stop. He yell really loud, and then laugh and walk away, and...and that all I 'member."

Kevin's smile is well and truly gone as Morgan recalls this episode. He takes a drink of Coke as though to distract himself. "I didn't realise that was what all the shouting was about after you guys went out of the compound."

Cole winces as Morgan's tale reaches its conclusion. "So, the newcomer is making a mockery of Sept members, hmm?" There's an unpleasant sort of smile on his face. "He seems to have more of the new moon in him than the knife, from what I've heard. What happened to Mathias? I take it he's still amongst the living?"

Morgan grimaces again. "I wake up, Vera-rhya snarling at me. She very mad. She ask Mathias why we fighting, and then why he care about Kevin's pack, and then she tell me tell everyone. He not look very hurt..."

"I was speaking to him yesterday," Kevin offers. "He seems well enough to me, and very solicitous of my welfare, though like all Silver Fangs he doesn't take kindly to people not following every order he gives without thinking."

Cole shakes his head. "Well, at least there wasn't much harm done." He looks at Morgan searchingly. "Were you hurt badly? You look to be alright. Glad for small blessings, at least."

Morgan shifts her nail biting to knuckle biting once again, and shakes her head. "I no hurt." That assurance given, she abruptly lifts her eyes, searching Cole's--can it be? --yes, his face, before once more dropping the gaze.

"Glad to hear it," Kevin comments. "If I say that I regret any disputes that have arisen at the sept out of Basil's and my behaviour, and that I'm surprised there's been so much aggravation, that doesn't mean that I don't think we did wrong, just that I wasn't expecting so many people to be ready to plead clemency for us."

Even that momentary contact is enough to engender a warm smile on Cole's features. "I'm glad of that, Morgan. We still need to work on your control. Such things will happen from time to time, but we need to try to stop them. With Vera-rhya's new insistance on reparations for the victims of frenzy..." He trails off. At Kevin's words, he nods. "Unfortunately, those probably weren't Philodox," he adds. "I can't say I approve of what you two did, but that's between you. There was no chance of bringing a child into the world, at least. Like I said, small blessings."

"No metis," Morgan agrees fervently, and for the first time, actually turns to face Kevin, though naturally her gaze remains firmly rooted on the ground. This kind of action should naturally be followed up with a comment directed at the Ragabash, but while she opens her mouth momentarily, no actual remark is forthcoming.

"Small mercies indeed," Kevin agrees. "And following the punishment, no future chance either." He shifts from foot to foot uncomfortably.
Cole winces visibly, turning his gaze aside. "Yeah," he agrees. Awkward silence from the Galliard ensues.

Once more, there's the impression that Morgan is about to say something, followed by a rather conspicuous silence from her end. She rocks from one foot to the other, looking anxious.

Kevin's smile resurfaces under pressure. "But that's all over with now," he says smoothly. "Until the battle of the tire yard happens, I shall do my best to return to a normal and reasonable lifestyle."

Cole simply nods. "Yeah, that sounds like the thing to do," he acknowledges. "I wish you luck in that fight, for what it's worth. And I will state that, should you and Basil survive and still feel any obligation as Sept members, you might find a place in the warpack I'm trying to gather. It's likely only for the short term, unless the members choose otherwise."

Kevin looks startled. "You would pack with charachs?" he exclaims, then goes a little pink. "...Not that I'm not grateful, or not interested. Just, uh, wasn't expecting an offer like that. What aim would your pack hold, and what totem would it follow?"

Cole smirks. The Fianna nods. "I wouldn't exactly be skipping down the road in excitement over the fact, but it remains true that you're Garou, and still have an obligation to defend the Mother. The fact that your Charachs doesn't stop you from being useful in that regard." He huffs a breath. "Helen of the Furies has already expressed an interest. At present, our goal is rid the old Scab territory once held by Birdseye of the pack of Scrags that inhabit it. I want them destroyed utterly, their spirit drained away as they die." The vehemence in the Fianna's voice grows as he speaks. "We'll be searching for a totem appropriate to that goal, though I cannot say just what it will be at the moment. Perhaps the totem will choose us, perhaps not."

Morgan fidgets all the more as the topic shifts to packs, and pack totems, and the like. She meanders into the room, moving rather stiffly, with her head down, and only just settles for climbing onto the couch after a moment of indecision.

"Oh, yes. The ones that killed Jana. If I'm still alive and breathing when the time comes, count me in," Kevin promises. "I know the area they lurk in, too, if that helps. I think," he says, "I'll go find Basil and pass that news on, if that's ok?"

"Certainly." Cole's expression is serious. "I'm glad to hear of it. And I wish you luck in that fight. You and Basil both. And not only because it means two more members of the pack. But because the loss of any warriors means one less the day the Apocalypse arrives."

Kevin turns to go, but looks over his shoulder as he heads out. "Funny," he says with a touch of irony. "Those words are almost exactly the ones Mathias used, which led to Morgan here being told by Vera-rhya to tell everyone in the sept what an idiot he was. Food for thought, huh?" And with that, the charach slips out of the back door.