Werewolf: Appalachian Moonrise, Ch 1

[Cynical Cat]

"Looks like we will still have company," said Alexander. "If someone has a Childe's cell phone number, calling her and having her wave us through as assistants would make things really easy."

[Devonie]

Arianne snorts. "What part of 'I have connections in campus security' doesn't make sense?"

She parks the jeep in a space marked 'Reserved' and pulls her notebook out of her backpack. She scribbles a quick note and puts it under one of the windshield wipers as she hops out of the jeep.

"Y'all comin'?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Those are useful," said Alexander, "if there are no real cops present. If there are actual police on the scene, they won't do us any good." He stepped out and started walking.

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds glanced at the note, figuring it was a fake parking ticket, before he shrugged and followed after Arianne.

[rhoenix]

Following after the others, Sees-Faces-In-Stars did as the others did for the time being, having little other knowledge to do on. Homids, true to their overly big brains, made everything complicated. He didn't say anything for now, but was looking forward to introducing himself as "Joe-Smith" to those who asked.

[General Havoc]

Sophie shut down the computers as they pulled into the parking lot, jotting down the cell phone number of the scientist they were going to visit in her PDA. Only after she had done so did she clip her equipment back into her carrying case, and got out of the car, following the others and trying to keep an eye on the Lupus Stargazer. She didn't need to be an expert here to realize he risked doing something very un-homid around here, and it was best to watch out...

[Cynical Cat]

"Well mighty alpha," Alexander said to Arianne, "time to strut your stuff and show off the value of monkey connections and monkey knowledge."

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds looked over at Alexander and shook his head. The man had to either be a plant or a psycho who thought himself Gaia's gift to garou-kind. For now, the Metis was leaning towards the idea that he was a plant. A Shadowlord cub with a Grand Klaive that just happened to stumble into a pack with two Metis? Yeah, and Galileo was an Ahroun.

Lost in his own thoughts, Breathes-the-Winds was auto-pilot walking, his eyes gazing past the ground he was looking at.

[General Havoc]

"Apes," corrected Sophie with a wry smirk. "Humans aren't monkeys, they're apes. Just like wolves aren't dogs or foxes, they're canids. And I hope you're not planning on walking around with that thing on." She gestured to his enormous melee weapon. "Camp-sec won't be happy about random armed strangers on campus."

Sophie's own weapon was stored in her backpack, out of sight.

[Devonie]

Arianne flashed her teeth in a feral grin. "I never claimed Alpha, Alex. But if you really like being dominated by a woman, I'm game."

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and walked off toward the Archaeology building. No, walked is incorrect. She -strutted-, shoulders back, head high, a ready smile for the admiring glances thrown her way, especially if the admirer was a fine specimen. This was her element, and it was obvious she loved the attention.

Her eyes were alert to anything out of the ordinary. Of all those in this tiny pack, she was the one who knew Berea. Would know if anything was out-of-place. She strained her senses, knowing her Homid nose wasn't as sensitive as when she was Lupus, but doing what she could under the circumstances.

(Perception roll?)

[Cynical Cat]

"Oh yes you did," said Alex to Arianne. "You just didn't do so verbally." He turned back to Sophie. "Monkey is slang Sophie. And who is armed? I'm carrying a scroll tube, nothing that unusual on campus especially for someone involved in anthropology or archeology. Big rolled up maps needed to be transported properly." He grinned.

[Cynical Cat]

He inclined his head to where the cops were looking at a torn up piece of the landscape. "Curious no? We should check that out when we get the chance. If we're lucky it's connected to the robbery and will give us a scent trail."

[Devonie]

Arianne glanced over at the marks on the grass. "Wonder what could have done that?" She thinks aloud.

She sighed internally. They were already acting like tourists. So much for blending in.

"Later," she whispered in a voice that humans couldn't hear. "Buck up, we gotta get into the building and to the professor's lab."

She glances over at Sophie. "Sophie. You got the professor's number? Let's let her know we're here."

[Cynical Cat]

Alexander walked over to the police line, drawing upon his Persuade Gift to help smooth the way. "Excuse me," he asked. "Is Professor Childe around?"



(No listed difficulty for the Gift)

[LadyTevar]

The policeman looked up at Alex, blinked a couple times, then nodded. "Ahyup, she's inside, checkin' her office. You onno her students she'd be lookin' fer?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Yes sir, that would be us," said Alex. "Is it alright if we go in and see her?"

[LadyTevar]

"Wahl... I guess so..," the officer answered, taking his hat off and scratching his balding head. "We're 'bout done here..."

[Cynical Cat]

"Thanks kindly," Alexander said as he waved the rest of the Garou forward. "We appreciate it."

[LadyTevar]

"No'-a'tall" the officer answered, turning three words into one as he waved them forward, clearing them to enter the building.

[Cynical Cat]

Alexander walked into the building, a friendly smile on his lips.

[Devonie]

Arianne snarled internally. Infernal Shadowlord. Her eyes flashed as she stalked into the building after him.

"Alex?" She said sweetly as she caught up with him. "Don't do that again. If she'd been called over to ID you and let you through, it might have failed. You're lucky she'd already made arrangements. I was going to call to make sure she had first."

She added for the benefit of them all, "This is the South. You treat women like ladies - up to and including opening doors and allowing the lady go first." She leaned in toward him to catch his eye. "Especially if that -lady- is your Alpha."

[Cynical Cat]

"You aren't my alpha dear," said Alex. "You're theirs. If you're smart, you'll see you don't want me part of your pack under the current conditions. And if you think my game plan for dealing with those cops was to rely upon blind luck, that's your prerogative."

He paused for a moment. "Thanks for the tip though. A more thorough understanding of local customs is quite valuable. I appreciate it."

[Devonie]

Her green eyes flashed again. "Let's get this straight then, Shadowlord. This is not your game. You can play, but you follow my lead. ALWAYS. You get one paw out of line, I'll rip you to shreds. Got it?"

All this was said as they stalked down the hall toward the professor's office. It's a good thing they didn't pass anyone; the look in Arianne's eyes would have scared even Jason Vorhees.

[Cynical Cat]

Alex said nothing. Saying anything more at this point would do nothing but provoke a fight or give information to someone who thought he would be a slave. A Shadow Lord did not fail. A Shadow Lord succeeded. Let her bluster like a battle-drunk Get. He would not let his Rage lead him down a path to failure and a fight here would be a failure. He was the Child of Matthew-Roars-to-Thunder, the student of Joseph-Bones-of-Steel. Cunning was his heritage as much as an Ahroun's fury.

Still, it was best to be prepared and Arianne had made her feelings known. His studied her intently.

[General Havoc]

"Trust me," said Sophie, walking behind the Ahrouns who seemed to be about ready to tear each other to pieces right here in the hallway, "when I decide who my Alpha is, I'll let both of you know. Until then, keep your opinions on who my Alpha is to yourselves. We kind of have a job to do here, and it doesn't involve breaking the veil on one another."

It absolutely never ceased to amaze her how reckless some werewolves were. Not that she was the most conservative wolf ever born, but insofar as the veil was concerned, she had always taken as much care as possible to avoid even setting up a situation where the veil might get breached. Pissing off rival Ahrouns that one had just met was exactly the sort of thing she tried to avoid in public. Neither of them knew that the other was calm enough to take a challenge like that without reverting to Crinos in the middle of the hallway and laying about. Hell, she didn't know that either of them were calm enough to.

She had retrieved the phone number in question and punched it up on her cell phone. "You want me to dial the professor?" she asked, "or should we just walk in?"

She purposefully did not address that question to anyone in particular, but left it open for anyone to answer who had a mind to.