Typical La Familia Dinner

[Marrick]

The lingering injuries from a few nights ago were nothing to her at that moment. They were nothing but a scratch across her stomach, something that overlapped the scars on her torso. the ones that littered her left side, that made her look like she'd been cracked open by something like a crab or some other crustacean. The Fury was silent. Her room was silent. No, no her room felt wrong, as though there was some over-reaching feeling that something had happened. If felt like the aftermath of battle. That something had happened. The sound of something hitting the wall, hard of wood shattering, of things breaking, of sheet rock cracking and blood curdling screaming broke the silence.

[Boy]

He was home before the sun set, but just barely. Just enough time to put away the equipment used during the day, spend a few minutes locked in the unoccupied bedroom for which only he had the key, and wash off the sweat and grime of the day. The next move would have been to find some food. Fuel up before going out on patrol that evening. But, coming out of the shower bathroom with a towel working at his formerly greasy hair, Boy seems to make time for one more minor task. He stops at the spare bedroom, the one currently occupied by a certain ornery uktena woman, and peaks in. He'd seen Soledad. He'd caught sight of her in the mornings, and heard her coming in late at night. But he had yet to talk to his tribemate. Then again... Boy turned to look across the hall, at the closed door of Marrick's bedroom. For a while he was quiet, listening. And just in time to hear the violent song of her waking up. He turns the doorknob just before slamming his shoulder into the door itself, and the force sends it swinging open.

[Marrick]

And it was violent. It wasn't even terror, it was Fury. He'd heard her wake up before, he'd heard her lay still for a good, solid eight hours and not move. He'd known that waking her up was a pain, that it was more-than-difficult. He'd seen her lay there peacefully, but wake up with her hands shaking and her gaze distant. Hell, boy had even seen her wake up and cry and refuse to say more than a few words for the rest of the day. But it was only on very, very rare occasions that this happened. The door swings open and the furniture is overturned. Mirror broken, chair broken, bed overturned. the room smells like blood. It's on her knuckles with the remnants of the mirror. It's in her hair. It's on her ribs where she'd been torn open the night after prom. Boy remembered when she didn't have those scars.

[Boy]

"Marrick!" He barely manages to whisper her name before his breath is being drawn inward in an involuntary gasp. Boy held his hands out ahead of him, ready to either embrace the Ahroun Fury, or deflect her blows. No, make that attempt to deflect her blows. His hands come lower and lower, less defensive with each cautious step into her room, her territory, that he took. "Marrick. Its Boy. Its me. Are you okay?"

[Wendy Berber]

*The sound of the front door. The jingle of keys. Wendy, returning from Triarii. And the smell of Pizza wafting through the vents. Shuffling, shoes being kicked off. She hollers.* Um.. guys? Anyone Home?

[Marrick]

She growled, but the sound was somewhere between pained and that of a caged animal. Her mind wasn't processing words, it was working. Fast. On some level, she didn't even realize she was awake. He said her name, and she snapped her head to look at Boy. But she wasn't really looking at him. She was looking through. "You have to go," she tells him, "you go with Danny, I'll stick with Emily- we'll buy time-"

[Boy]

"Ohh...god." His voice is a whisper, and his hands lower even further, down to his sides. "Marrick. Marrick, you have to wake up. Danny's not here. Emily's--" He can feel his ears pull at the sound of the front door, at the call of Wendy's voice. He's stepping backward now, just as cautiously. "Don't...move..." And he heads downstairs with urgency in his footsteps.

[Marrick]

"We have to go-" she tells him. She insists, and she looks at him with confusion. The air felt all wrong. Too wrong. He lowers his hands further, and she is looking at him with an incredulous look. He's seen her in battle before, he's seen her in preparation of a large fight. She doesn't even hear Wendy then. Maybe she hasn't put a name to the voice.

[Wendy Berber]

*Three extra large pizzas, were battling Wendy Berber for control, and winning. She's propped up against a wall to keep her balance, one of the lids having popped open. The kin trying to avert disaster, unaware there's a bigger one occurring upstairs. Glasses crooked, satchel dragging heavily at her hip as she tries to do too many things at one time.*

[Boy]

Boy started by unloading the pizzas from the still-too-skinny but not quite bone thin Kinfolk. And with those in hand, he started right in on his way to dropping them off in the kitchen. "No time to explain. You can't be here right now. You should go...somewhere. Just not here."

[Wendy Berber]

I just.. But Its dark.. and those guys are - *This was not the time for protesting, and she realizes that almost as soon as she starts, cutting her prattle about thugs off sharply. She presses her lips tight together and nods.* Back yard? *Asks the almost too skinny but not too skinny kin. Suddenly pale as she backs towards the kitchen door.*

[Marrick]

The only sound that gave any sort of indication that something was wrong was the sound of a distinctly inhuman growl coming from Marrick's room.

[Boy]

"Yeah. Yeah, that's good." Pizza's safe, and Wendy arranged to be so, Boy gives his mate a quick but urgent kiss, full on the mouth (this was becoming a habit) and heads back to Marrick's bedroom, taking the steps two at a time. Once there, he waits by the door, looking in at her. "That was Wendy. You remember Wendy? She brought pizza. She brought pizza home. Our home. In Chicago. That's where you are. No Danny. No Emily. No Winds meeting. Maelstrom. Chicago. Home."

[Marrick]

(come on kid, wake up...)

[Wendy Berber]

*She' hasn't time to kiss back, before Boy's dashing upstairs to deal with god knows what threat. Nor was she inclined at the moment, instead moving to safety. Marrick was snarling, she must have something cornered. There's the loud sound of obedience from down stairs. The kitchen door slamming shut.*

[Marrick]

Home, our home. It was one of the few things that stuck, and she was all but primed and ready. Her muscles tense, and her breathing low. It took a moment, and she was looking through him. That was Wendy. This is home. Chicago. It was a memory. She was looking at him, and for a second, she didn't seem so distant. For a second, she was staring through him, and now she was staring at him. She breathed slowly- there were small shards of mirror and sheet rock dust in her knuckles. Her ribs were aching, but she'd never even taken a hit. No Danny. this was home. No Emily. this was her room. No Winds Meeting. This was her territory. Her sept. Maelstrom. Chicago. Home She leaned against the wall hard, and she slid down. the Fury was cradling her ribs like the injury was brand new, like the memory and reminder made her hurt. She clenched her fists, she gritted her teeth- Home And she sobbed. The sound wasn't that of a girl, it was the sound of an animal in pain. It was a full body, unadulterated sound of agony. Of loss. Of nostalgia that she couldn't keep living in. She protected her left side, as though she expected it to be bleeding still. Marrick hung her head, and made no attempt to hide this.

[Boy]

"Shhhhhh..." He wasn't moving as cautiously now, but he moved in a manner that seemed soft. Not a stomping warrior or a marching leader. He sidestepped the debris of her bedroom with an urgency to be at her side, acting like the brother that he was. "Its okay. You'll be alright." Boy squatted next to her his hands hovering over beaten fists and and scars before finally, cautiously touching at her shoulder. A simple offer of contact to let her know that he was there. "It'll be alright, Marrick."

[Wendy Berber]

*Wendy listens, knuckles white around a small snub nosed pistol. Jumping at every noise in the backyard.*

[Marrick]

She wrapped her arms around him and kept sobbing. it was a visceral, awful sound. It was agonized and unapologetic. She didn't hide it, and she didn't make an attempt to make it sound any less than what it was. He tells her that it'll be okay, but it doesn't make her stop.

[Boy]

He realizes that there were no more words that would make her stop crying. At least, if there were, he didn't know them. And so he did whatever it was that earned him his name, since he never quite knew it in the first place. He stayed there, holding her as she held him. Being solid. Being there. Eventually, he knew, this would stop. She'd get tired of sobbing, either physically or emotionally, and they'd go on just like they always did. Just like he did after nearly losing his mate twice in the same week. Just like they swore to after apparently losing the favor of their totem. Just like they had when they decided to get on the road and go wherever the wind took them. And how far had they come, at this rate? Were they really still traveling? Still searching for...whatever they were searching for? "Shit", He says, even though he's told himself there was nothing here to say. "C'mon. This isn't the most fucked up week we've had, right?"

[Wendy Berber]

*She's pacing now. Long legs carrying her back and forth across the yard, to greater and greater distance. She nearly beheads herself on the clothes line.* GAK! AUGH! *Coughing as she stoops over, gun dangling at her side, one hand to her throat, where an angry red scar remains. The only remnant of a fomori viper attack. Clotheslines and Fomori. Both deadly things that lurk unseen in the backyar, waiting for a change to strike Wendy Alison Berber.... At least she hadn't shot at it.*

[Marrick]

"No," she sniffed, "no that was last week." She gave him a tired half laugh. She eventually did stop holding onto him, and she pulled back. Eventually, she would get tired of sobbing. The good thing about Marrick was that she was a creature of great stamina. The bad thing was that it eventually carried over into everything she did. After a long time, she did stop crying. Her eyes were red rimmed and it happened long after she stopped having any tears left. Her voice sounded tired, and she kept up for two reasons- one, because she was doing so to spite herself The second was simple: she was afraid to go back to sleep.

[Boy]

Boy unravels himself from his beta, but that initial hand on her shoulder is the last lingering bit of contact. It was no longer tender. He held on to her shoulder, to the muscle there, and held it firm like a comrade. That touch belonged on sport fields between halves, and battle fields between victories. "And how 'bout that? We're still kicking." He gave her a wan smile, and cast a quick glance around her room. "C'mon. Pizza's getting cold. You get washed up and meet us downstairs. We can clean this up later." He stands and steps gingerly over the broken, but not quite shattered, debris on Marrick's bedroom floor and does so with considerably less urgency. He stops at the door and turns back to her. "Its been a while since we got a chance to do anything together. There's...some stuff I wanna talk to you about. So I'll see you downstairs, right?"

[Marrick]

She came downstairs in ten minutes. Her face is washed, her knuckles are a little bloodied and scraped, but for the most part she was fine. Attire was comfortable, and her eyes were set. She looked haunted, but Marrick wasn't going to lose her head anymore tonight. She just didn't have the energy.

[Wendy Berber]

*Wendy tapped on the window upon seeing people in the kitchen, A wordless request to enter. A question if everything was ok?*

[Boy]

Boy beckons at the skinny kin at the window, smiling wanly and putting on a 'Everything's fine' expression. He got out plates for the three of them and set the top most pizza box from the kitchen counter onto the kitchen table. "So...Uh...I guess by now you might have realized we've got a house guest?"

[Wendy Berber]

*Wendy traipses in, eyes wide.* um.. We're having Pizza now? *She rubs the back of her neck, taking a seat at the table and looking to Marrick. Her voice grows softer seeing the red puffiness of her eyes. Concern.* Marrick? Are you ok?

[Marrick]

"Yeah," she tells Wendy, and she nods to Boy as well. "I'm okay, I'll be fine." She tries to smile. She still has a pretty smile- still sharp and too bright white, but she is pretty.

[Boy]

"She's fine." He adds immediately. That phrase sounds familiar, Wendy realizes. He'd said the same thing, in the exact same way, the first morning they had breakfast with Soledad. (Or tried to at least.) The exact same tone he'd used when Soledad uncomfortably questioned Wendy's ability to breed. Only last time, he immediately followed up with a change of subject. "Lukas Wyrmbreaker brought Muerte Fria to the edge of our territory the other night. She was in pretty bad shape and...well...she needs help." Ah, there it is. Boy fixed everyone with two slices on their plates, and sat down in front of his own. "She's been alone for too long, I think."

[Marrick]

She looked at Boy, and she cleared her throat. The Fry ran a hand through ther hair, and then she reached for a piece of pizza. She was more-than-content to stuff her face. She's fine. Marrick said so. Boy said so. They Were Not Going To Talk About It. And Marrick Fisher, Bones to Dust, ahroun of the nation and, in her own rights, a terrifying young woman, continued on. "I've talked to her," she said, "and... I told her that no matter what she decides, that I've got her back." She paused. "I want her here. With us. Permanently. Or as permanently as she'll have it."

[Wendy Berber]

*Wendy nods. Trust the skinny kin not to press. though she had been showing more initiative as of late. She sits quietly in her chair, chewing Hawaiian pizza. Its a moment before she swallows and looks to Boy meaningfully.*

[Boy]

He stops mid face-stuff, and lowers his slice of pizza back into his plate. Wendy's look is returned for a moment; perhaps they were on the same page; before he addresses Marrick again. "We...we've got two full moons in this house already. Plus, she's unbalanced. Doesn't accept leadership. She hardly accepts help. I told her she could stay for as long as she needs, and that we weren't forcing her too because...well, we can't afford to try and force her to do anything...But I don't know about permanent. Not the way she acts now, at least."

[Wendy Berber]

*Whatever non-verbal communication she and her mate shared, it was over now, Wendy back to nibbling her pizza.*

[Marrick]

"She just needs direction, she's been through a rough patch... Apparently, her pack fell apart, Hatchet abandoned her, said she's unfixable, unhelpable, and... and I really don't believe that. We might not get to have her as a packmate, but if someone needs us, it's her." She stopped. "Losing her pack hit her hard. I don't think she has anyone else."

[Boy]

His eyes dart downward at his pizza. No, at something else. Some thought or idea. Then he nods. "Agreed." And he ate his pizza, chewing quietly for a while.

[Marrick]

She ate quietly, and it was strange. Marrick was almost more tolerable because of her little outburst from earlier.