"You'd think this was some shopping mall in Illinois, not the last Gaian-held caern in Washington."

Big Red Barn(#3420RA)
The barn is built in the old style, a vast three level structure that is greater in height than a mere three stories, actually closer to five. Great wooden posts support the weight of the upper levels and roof, sunk into the hard-packed dirt floor of the first level like a sparse forest of regularly spaced, naked trees. The stalls and flagstones which once were here have been torn out to leave a rather open area where even crinos Garou may roam freely without fear of running into anything but the supports or the walls or the ladder at the back which allows access to the other two levels.
The first two levels are relatively open to each other, the second being only little wider than a catwalk going around all the walls but the front one, which has massive, twenty foot tall doors set into it. The third level is a true second floor except for a place cut out that allowed hay to be tossed down to the ground floor when the farm was actually worked. Now, it is a hayloft where Garou can sleep outside of the house.

A rhythmic thud-thudding sounds from inside the barn. Pretty much all the sept will recognise the sound; someone is giving the punchbag that hangs from the rafters a good beating as they work out. Closer inspection will reveal a big, surly, ugly guy throwing punches and kicks at it; closer inspection still will reveal the big guy to be Kevin in his glabro form.

The roguish looking southern teenager enters the barn, throwing back the door as if it were a bedsheet hanging on a clothing line. He could really care less about who he distrubs inside.

Kevin gives the bag a couple more blows then moves back from it as he hears someone enter. He nods politely enough to Aaron. "Morning."

Aaron looks darkly at Kevin and ignores him as he walks around the barn as if he were looking for something that was left behind.

Kevin compresses his lips as Aaron blanks him; not speaking to him is only to be expected, but this is evidently something more. He gives the bag a half-hearted last thump as the Bone Gnawer stalks past.

Aaron appears to have become more angered than when he first had entered the barn. Kevin's presence sparks new rage in the Ahroun as he stomps around like a stampeding bull. He is muttering something since his lips are moving but nothing can be audibly heard.

While Kevin's eyes betray his dislike of this situation a little, his voice is polite and civil enough, if rather gravelly as so many glabro voices are. "Looking for something, Aaron?"

Aaron rather politely gives Kevin the middle-finger before continuing his search for what he came in looking for. "Never asked if I needed help before," he whispers roughly with his broken vocal cords. The veins in his neck begin to show as he moves bails of hay over to look underneath them.

The dark gleam in Kevin's eyes intensifies a couple of notches. "Charming manners," he comments acidly. He makes no move to assist Aaron in whatever his search is for.

The Ahroun comes to a complete hault and then turns. His muscles ripple under his skin as he shifts into Glabro and closes in the gap between the Glass Walker and the Bone Gnawer. "You've got some nerve telling that to me," he replies.

Kevin stands his ground coolly. "Civility costs nothing, and is a sign of good breeding," he points out in a voice so silky it can't help but be provocative.
Alesia opens the barn door, peering inside curiously.

Aaron nearly finds that amusing if the situation was not as serious as it actually is and the itch that is crawling under the Ahroun's skin. He growls silently at Kevin, eyes burning in hatred. "What little trust I have ever had in you, you have lost it." The Ahroun replies to the Ragabash's witty words. "Basil and you have made a mockery of my tribe!" he whispers fiercely.

The faintest of smiles hovers on Kevin's lips. "Dude. Don't be so paranoid. Basil and me have made mockeries of nobody but ourselves. The only person who'll make a mockery of your tribe is you, if you go round over-reacting like this." He spots a third person entering the barn as he speaks, and his eyes flicker a warning towards Alesia for a moment.

Alesia pauses just inside the door of the barn. She says nothing as she takes in the two other people before her. A small frown forms on her thin lips. It's clear that voices have drawn her attention.

"Over-reacting would be ripping out your throat," Aaron replies. His voice is hardly heard from here Alesia stands, as he can only speak in a whisper. "Obviously you have already forgotten your new place in this sept," The Ahroun turns, spitting the ground. He shifts back into homid as he brushes past Alesia, accidently knocking her in the shoulder as he barely notices as he storms out of the barn without finding what he was looking for.

Kevin watches Aaron stride out again with a grim look on his face for a moment, before he composes himself and drives his frown into hiding again to give Alesia some approximation of a pleasant smile.

Alesia frowns a bit more then says, "You are a Charach." She says very softly. "I saw the ceremony."

"I am," Kevin says simply. "And I don't think Aaron likes me any more. I don't suppose many people will, now." He shrugs as though to dislodge the weight of the sept's disapproval from his shoulders. "But I'm still alive, and while there's life there's hope."

Alesia hmms softly then asks, "Does it still hurt?" She asks, as she glances at your crotch area then back up at your face, "They used silver." She speaks in very short phrases, as she eyes you, clearly a bit wary. As if your very presence worries her.

"Does it matter?" Kevin looks away from Alesia for a moment as though dodging the question with his face as well as his words. "Silver's meant to hurt..." he adds after a moment, still looking away.

Alesia nods a bit then says, "Yes but I wondered how long it would take to heal." She admits, "I've never seen a silver wound but I was hurt by a weaver spirit and it took a few days to heal."

"It's... mending," Kevin says slowly, as though somehow he isn't quite sure of the status of his own body. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not going to show it off. Besides," he adds in a valiant attempt at a joke, "you saw it once already!"

Alesia cringes a bit as if the joke was more like an insult. "I wasn't... I mean..." She turns away, upset obviously. "I should go..."

Kevin winces. "No. I should. If you want to be in the barn, I should make way and let you have the space. I'm sure Aaron will tell you that if you aren't certain..."

Alesia gulps then says, "I... wanted to ask you... um... Why do weaver spirits attack us? One attacked me without me ever attacking it first. But... that doesn't seem very orderly."

Kevin frowns slightly and leans forward as though concentrating on Alesia's words. "Can you tell me some more? Weaver spirits are not normally harmful unless they are under threat. Did anyone give it cause to feel threatened? Or was it out of its place and lost? Corrupt, even, like the roach spirit that killed my friend Elanora?"

Alesia ohs softly, "Um, I was with Laura-Rhya and she took me into the umbra durning the day. There were little weaver spirits all around and when they saw us, two um... 'pattern spiders' attacked us. Like we didn't belong maybe?"

Kevin waves a finger as soon as Alesia mentions that they ventured into the umbra by day. "There you have it. You were out of place. By the day's light, the Umbra's shadows become black and white," he explains. "No grey areas for garou to hide in, as there are by moonlight. Pattern spiders are dangerous, but not vicious like the Wyrm's spirits. They don't kill and destroy for the sake of it. Only so that order may be preserved. They saw you as a threat to the orderly nature of their habitat." The charach ragabash's somewhat forced air of cheerfulness has been replaced by a more genuine interest, seemingly, as he gets to talk about his tribe's especial member of the triat.

Alesia frowns slightly, "I guess. Still hurt a lot when it put it's leg through my chest." She says softly as she touches her right breast lightly, as if remembering it. "I definately do not want to go into the umbra during the day again if I can help it." She gives a bit of a sigh, "But I should go. I shouldn't talk to you."

"Leslie would probably disapprove," Kevin concurs with a slight sigh as the nascent conversation dies once more. "I hope you're keeping well and learning plenty, working towards your Rite of Passage."

Alesia nods once then blinks, "Leslie... yes... she's back." The cub seems suddenly highly distracted. "Yes... I..." Then she turns suddenly towards the door. "I have to go." That is all she manages as she heads towards the barn exit.

Kevin takes one step after Alesia, but only one. Then he turns and thumps the punchbag several times in an increasing onslaught of angry blows.

Mathias comes in after a few minutes. He pushes the door open to the barn before he enters, though he dosn't give much comment when he sees Kevin. He does pause though, and watch the other.

Kevin is giving the punchbag a good thumping and doesn't seem to notice Mathias at first. Eventually his footwork round the bag brings the door, and the Silver Fang, into sight, and he pauses. "Good morning, Mathias-yuf."

Mathias gives a simple bow towards the other. "And to you Kevin-Yuf. I would take it that you're not in the pain you were in anymore?" he keeps it simple, taking a few steps in as he closes the door.

Kevin looks past Mathias as though to check that nobody else has followed him in before giving a single, sharp nod. "Thank you," he adds. "Appreciated."

Mathias gives a simple nod to Kevin. "That's good. Dillen-Yuf got in fight with your former totem. He's up in infirmiry. Bastard would rather lay down and naturally heal the scars. Though, it does show a strength of character."

Kevin starts at this news. "Dillen got into a fight with Sn... oh for crying out loud!" He thumps the bag, once, hard, and takes several hasty steps towards the door before slowing to a halt. "I probably shouldn't go bothering him. I don't suppose he would care for my company now."

Mathias chuckles softly. "Yeah, I had to help him up the stairs...why the hell the infirmary is on the second floor is beyond me..." he ponders for a moment, "I don't know...not really with him."

"Probably to stop patients trying to wander out and get into more fights before they're ready," suggests Kevin with would-be humour. "I hope people aren't giving him grief over me."

Mathias hmms softly, "Not that I've heard, and I would have stopped them. Though I did get to talk to Dillen about the possibility of joining your attack...hmm, how should I put it? He was hesitant?...Maybe it's since I'm a guest."

"There seems to be a good deal of heated talk about 'my' attack," Kevin says, favouring the word 'my' with waggled fingers as though to disclaim it. "Emma got really mad about what she saw as the philodox telling her how to organise her campaign. I wonder if she had the argument with them she was threatening to."

Mathias hmms? He looks at Kevin for a moment. "Kevin-Yuf. I am a guest to the sept. I will ask if I could be allowed to oversee your attack. And help you survive. Maybe I'll be told to leave the sept for it, but, in my heart I will know I've done right."

Kevin kicks at the ground, plainly embarrassed by Mathias's determination to reclaim him. "If they tell you to leave, more fool them," he mutters. "Same as if they'd killed me and Basil. You'd think this was some shopping mall in Illinois, not the last Gaian-held caern in Washington. It needs every set of claws it can get to guard it. Even charach ones."

Mathias chuckles. "Garou are not well known for being tolerable, and have a habit of shooting themselves in the paws. If I am turned away. So much thier loss. Being a charach does not mean you can not do your duty towards Gaia."

"Yeah. Thanks for hammering that into my thick head," Kevin says in a voice even more gruff than his usual glabro growl. "Er... Mathias-yuf... Can I ask you something?"

Mathias tilts his head for a moment. Then he chuckles. "Well, it wasn't supposed to be a sexual touch...I mean really. I couldn't punch you and expect you to heal the same way, y'know?"

Kevin looks very confused for a moment, then scowls. "Not that," he snarls in a moment's anger before regaining control, folding his meaty hands against each other. "I meant... something you told me the first time you came to see us two after we got our asses slammed in pokey."

Mathias ahhs softly and just laughs. "Okay, just so you know I wasn't trying to hit on you. Yeah, watch how fast I can be thrown out of a sept. Anyways, yeah, sorta. What did you want?"

Kevin speaks slowly and hesitantly, yet quite firmly. "You told me how what I did offended against Gaia," he recalls. "Out of all the garou who've been ripping on me since my confession, all the philodox who judged me, everyone... you're the only one who actually tried to explain why. I just wasn't in a very good mood to take it all in at the time. Could you, like... go through it again?" He gives Mathias a slightly nervous look, as though he feels he's asking a lot of the theurge.

Mathias hmms softly and looks at Kevin, then pauses. "Come closer then, and find a seat. It's a bit longer of an explanation then to just be standing around and talking about it." he grabs a hay bail as he moves it to a nice spot, then sits on it.

Kevin sits, consciously or unconsciously, at a lower level than Mathias, on the ground with his back against the bale, and looks up with a focussed expression. "I'm listening."

Mathias nods as he looks at Kevin for a moment, then explains, "As you would know, we Garou are of two beings, the physicals and the spiritual. When we are in the umbra, we are flesh made spirit, and in the real world here, we are spirit made flesh. We are nothing without the spirit, and nothing without the flesh. This is what seperates us from the kinfolk, humans, and many other things out there."

"Absolutely," Kevin nods. "Belonging in two worlds at once. Go on."

Mathias nods his head. "Among all things, we also have exactly one spirit, and one body of flesh. Now, kinfolk also have an enhanced sense of the spirit of gaia inside them, one that waits to be awoken, but it does not belong in the realm of spirits, rather, it only helps to guide the flesh in the ways of the wyld."

Kevin nods again, more slowly. "I always assumed that kinfolk's relation to us was a matter of genetics. Shows how much I ever bothered to think about it."

Mathias shakes his head. "Genetics surely plays a part, but, it is part of the spirit as well. Now, normally, when a garou mates a kinfolk, they combine thier spirits together, giving parts of themselves to the child, so it too may be of gaia. In this case, the garou's spirit dominates the kinfolk's...most of the time, and the child if born garou, will have it's own spirit and flesh. But if born kin, then it will retain some of the spiritual essence of both parents, but it still waits sleeping."

Kevin keeps concentrating on the theurge's explanation. "I see," he says quietly. "The garou spirit is hidden beneath the human nature in a kin, but it's still present."

Mathias nods. "Right. It is why when a garou mates a normal human, there is less of a chance of the full spirit of the garou to form, and when two kinfolk mate, the chance is there that the spirit will awake, but it's not like between a garou and a kin, not two garou." he pauses a moment then says "It is also why when two humans mate, a garou does not suddenly magiclly appear. Now, when two Garou mate..."

Kevin's expression becomes noticeably more of a poker face. "Yes?"

Mathias pauses as he thinks of the best way to say it, before he decides on. "A garou is an alpha in it's own spirit. It seeks to dominate, to take over, to control. It is the way of the Garou, the wolf, to be the best. When two garou mate, be it between a breeding pair, or a gay couple like yourselves, the spirits seek to dominate each other. With a kinfolk, it's sleeping spirit poses no threat to the garou's spirit, and thus is submissive. But when two spirits fight, trying to take dominance over the other, it harms Gaia. We are of the wyld fighting the wyld, it is not in our natural order to fight like that. When you have a breeding pair of Garou, the spirits never truely gain dominance over each other, and the metis is born. It's a fusion of twisted spirits, and is never right with itself. The flesh that is twisted is the showing of such an error."

Kevin doesn't seem very content with that explanation. "That explains why metis are screwed up," he points out, "but it doesn't do a lot to prove that Basil and I offended Gaia."

Mathias hmms softly, "This is one of those cases, that I cannot show you the direct pain you have given our mother. She still loves you, and you are still her warrior...it is what it means to be a mother. But, between a gay couple, there is no child because of biology of the situation, but the suffering because of two spirits fighting each other still happens."

Kevin looks up at Mathias with a kind of defiant glint in his eye. "So you're saying that if I'd been a kin guy and Basil and I had been, uh, dating," he says, "Gaia would have been happy as a clam?"

Mathias chuckles and nods. "Yup. The litany says specificly a garou shall not mate a garou. Not that a male garou cannot fuck around with a male kin. Though, people would be unhappy for a different reason. We are not exactly outnumbering the wyrm here, and by screwing a male and keeping them to yourself, you are taking two good people out of the gene pool."

"Okay," Kevin concedes. "If I were a garou and Basil were a kin and Aimee were a kin and I was seeing them both and... oh, what the hell, if gooseberries didn't have hairs they'd be grapes. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have wasted your time like this." He slides back down a little, with a gloomy air.

Mathias chuckles. "There's always Basil. But in my book, as long as Basil wasn't being taken in favor of some other Garou having a fuck toy...then I wouldn't care one bit." he gives a slight smile. "Don't feel so bad. I'm sure there's a few male kin if you want to hump them too. Just don't make it your only way of reproducing, yeah?"

Kevin is silent for a few seconds more, digesting this advice. "I'll worry about this," he finally decides, "if I survive the tire fire. Which with Gaia's grace and your backup," he goes on with a faint smile, "I may just pull off." He stands up, stretches, and walks a few paces. "Wish I could go back to the city," he adds. "Glass Walkers shouldn't be marooned in the countryside for weeks."

Mathias hmms softly, then looks at Kevin. "You got your cock cut off, you got branded, and everyone knows that you're going to the attack. No other sept would take you without finding out how you got branded, and you would not survive forever on your own...so, why are you still being kept here?"

"Vera-rhya said that I should not go further than this house," Kevin replies with a frown, "unless some garou of honour would vouch for me, and volunteer to stand surety for me to the extent of fulfilling the remainder of my punishment if I skip bail."

Mathias hmms a bit more, "And by bringing this up, I expect that you would ask me to vouch for you? I think Vera might agree to it, but it would put us both in a very dangerous situation. Vera-rhya might go out of her way to prevent you from showing at the fire to get at me, thus being able to kill me and have the philodox go along with it. They would also kill Basil-Yuf for helping...possibly, and Vera-Rhya would kill you after I had died, to claim that you had run away and she had caught you. You would be killed, she would gain honor, and this sept would be down at least 2 undesireables, at least from Vera-Rhya's point of view."

Kevin shakes his head. "So I guess I'll just stay out here and not give her the chance to pull a fast one on us both," he concludes. "Though I'm not being purely selfish -- I wanted to see Tu, and Derek. I'm worried about what the hell they've been doing to Derek since I last saw him... since I left him in your care," he adds.

Mathias hmms softly, and just gives a wicked smile. "No, you're not giving up that easily. Laura-Rhya had caught me on a point of honor in insulting her tribe, and after discussion, the terms to repay the honor would be that I would teach Alesia of what I know of the spirits. It is possible then to teach her in the city, of course with Laura-Rhyas approval, and then continue to work with Derek, and to watch over both you and Basil-Yuf. If nothing else, we will have Tu-Yuf, and both cubs to vouch for the both of us."

Kevin seems to be having a little difficulty following that plan, but after a moment or two he works it out, or seems to think he has. "I should tell Basil," he says, looking happy if a little surprised. "I bet he'll want to get back to the city too."

Mathias nods his head. "It may end up pissing off Justin-Rhya and Blackriver-Yuf, but I will tolerate that. I do require a place to sleep in the city, if you are able to accomodate that?"

"There's plenty of space in the Glass Walkers' house for guests," Kevin confirms. "It's almost like an urban version of the farm. Only classier," he can't resist adding with a grin. "Much more the sort of comfort that a Silver Fang is probably used to."

Mathias chuckles softly. "I violate no litany, and I will continue my search for the wyrm as I am able, thus it will not be said that I do not do my duty. It is never proper to point to your snout and say 'This is the distance I will go for Gaia, since this is what I measure by.', instead, we are garou, the snout is to look out towards the horizons, and to find new ways to help Gaia."

Kevin once again looks baffled for a second. Then he laughs. "You Theurges," he snorts. "I can understand galliards, I can understand ahrouns, but I'll never fathom you knife-moons if I live to be a hundred. Okay. When do you want to head into St Claire?"

Mathias nods his head. "As soon as both you and Basil-Yuf are ready? I'll leave Justin-Rhya a note that I have gone to the city for a short duration."
"Oh, and this almost goes without saying," Kevin says belatedly, "but you don't need to worry. I'm not going to run off in the middle of the night and leave you high and dry. Not now."

Mathias smirks. "Yeah, I know you won't. You do and I'll find you myself to kill you." he gets up as he pushes his bale back to where it was. "I'll be waiting in the farmhouse until you're ready."

Kevin shrinks back down to homid before speaking again. "Mathias-yuf, you're a hell of a strange guy," he says, "but I'm glad Gaia or Falcon or whoever it was, sent you to this sept. I'll catch you soon," he promises, and turning, he dashes out in search of Basil.

Mathias just laughs. "You ragabash get to play pranks. We theurges get to find new ways to confuse the ragabash."

Kevin turns his head as he trots out, and gives Mathias a broad grin and a wink before vanishing bawnwards.

Mathias takes some time in the barn, before he too is gone.