Ornature

[Kora] Mid-afternoon, a bright, warm day. Not just warm - hot, with a haze of clouds on the horizon that makes it feel like June, not April. Kora has a cold bottle of water from one of the coolers in the sanctuary and a packaged fruit salad - chunks of watermelon, grapes, strawberries - all the flavors of summer. "Hey," she says, when Roman comes in through the front door, the heat of the day pushing into the deep shadows of the interior. "Grab yourself a drink and come join me - " she's in motion, heading to the portico. "Let's talk, yeah?"

[Roman Turner] "Howdy."

He smelled of roofing tar and there was more than a little evidence of a lot of sun on his face and arms. The mottled scaring that reached out from beneath the neck of his tee shirt seemed all the brighter for it.

It wasn't very long before he joined her outside, sitting down with a tired sigh. Recently he'd stopped wearing his hat. Recently it seemed he was making an attempt to look just like everyone else in the city. Though he'd not give up his nice crisp jeans, today it seemed he had. Today it was a dirty pair of faded carpenter jeans he wore. A hammer still hung in the strap on the outside of his right thigh.

"Got hot fast."

[Kora] "You look like you've been working hard," Kora says quietly when she joins her. She is sitting along the side, rather than on the steps, her long legs hanging down the stonework. Some of the weeds have been cleared away here. The fruit salad - in a tupperware container - she would leave on her lap if she had a lap. She doesn't, and so it sits on the marble beside her. Her bottle of water is covered with condensation that leaves her long fingers damp.

She waits until he's sitting beside her, the corner of her mouth twisting upward, dark eyes touching on the younger Garou's face. She's calm today; calmer. Some of her rage has been spent somehow, which leaves her quieter, more centered. Easy inside the soft skin she wears.

"I heard about Starla," she begins, looking away, back out toward the fence ringing the property.

[Roman Turner] He'd brought two bottles of water with him, one he downed in two long gulps before replying. He'd withdrawn some, keeping his easy friendly ways to himself. So now he was seated on the other side of the porch, across from the pregnant Fenrir. She mentioned Starla and he grimaced.

"I handled it not so great. I was still hurt with her over not contacting me when she found herself in trouble. I tried to explain how it felt to be her none choice for aid. How it felt that she ran to another pack and never, ever called. If Hunter hadn't called you, well we'd be in the dark till it was thrown out there at the Moot. She said her phone was tapped and I said, well I guess none of the public phones worked either. I tried to explain how it felt to be made to feel like less. Eventually we settled in with an easy truce."
" Then she tells me about Fire Claws coming home, getting drunk and making her want him. That she managed to resist at the last moment. That she confronted him about it the next morning and he said she lied, but how she knew he had to know better cause of his moon."

He sighed, shaking his head.

"It was about then that Rain turned up and out comes how not only did my cousin run to others, she slept with both of them too. I reckon I should of got up and walked off rather than saying anything when she said. That, when she said what about the free love and peace and shit our Tribe is suppose to be about. Like we're all made out of a cookie cutter mold or something. Instead I shot back with. We're Children of Gaia, not the whores of the Nation. That's where I ended up in hot water with both women. A few more heated words between Starla and I later, I apologized to both and left."

[Kora] So Roman does not come close. Stays on the other side of the porch, pulled back into himself. Kora watches him as he walks, with dark, sharp eyes. Noting the distance, but saying nothing. All the human discomforts are hers, these nights. She's chained to this form, restless, feral. Sleeping no more than 2-3 hours at a time with -

Roman begins to speak, tells her his version of the whole thing, all at once. Kora listens with patience that is native to her, but which feels superficial these nights. Her legs swing, heels impacting the foundation of the porch.

When he's finished, she looks back to him, a keen, quiet, steady gaze. Her features are still, her generous mouth quiet. "Rain's been thinking about moving out. Says she thinks she makes you angry, and told me that you called Starla a whore." She watches Roman steadily the whole time, no judgment in her gaze, just that underlying calm. "You can't make enemies of your kin like this, Roman."

[Roman Turner] "I said we are not the whores of the nation. She threw "what about free love and all that shit we preach?" at me."

He frowned, rubbing a hand across his face.

"After what came before that, I had a short fuse. We are cousins she and I, but I barely know her. She doesn't know me. Apparently we were raised completely different."

He sucked in a deep breath and continued.

"Spent the day working on the Kin House so they have somewhere to go where we aren't pushed together, Kin and True. Not in each other's face. I'm doing my best to pull back, not be so..so open. Trying to distance myself from what they do. I guess my job is suppose to be dealing with what goes wrong after they do what they do, not try and stave it off."

[Kora] "What Rain heard is more important than what you said, yeah?" Kora corrects him; her tone is oddly gentle. "What she remembers is even more important. I don't think she remembers your apology, just the name calling. Even if it wasn't name calling, your anger stains it." Patient, still. Quiet. Oh, she has put aside her fruit salad, the fork sinks slowly into the muddle of watermelon juice and discarded seeds at the bottom of the container.

"And that's what she thinks you think of them: that they're pointless, that they're - " a quiet, subtle pause here. A twist of her mouth. "I'm not going to say the word. Leading a tribe's not easy, and trust me, I get your anger at Starla. Especially the Shadow Lord, Simon. She was here when he stormed away and vowed up and down that he would stay away from our territory. He was an ass, disrespectful to me, to you, to the pack, to our hospitality. And she turned around - "

Here she closes her mouth; breathes out sharply, expels all that negative energy with a deep breath. "The problem isn't that you've been too open, Roman. You need to set expectations, yeah? Boundaries. I wouldn't - " a brief, subtle twist of her mouth, " - turn myself into the sex police. People have to be able to make their own decisions, but they have to know what you expect from them, and what you offer them. On both sides."

A glance back at him, unflinching. "You gotta make this right, Roman. With both your kin."

[Roman Turner] "I'll try but I got to tell ya. Nothing I do is right with Rain. That is how it comes across to me. She completely disapproves of me. Starla, I don't understand her at all. It's like a knife in the back the way she turned to Simon first. Not only running to him, but sleeping with him and then Hunter and then saying it meant nothing, but I should know she was untouched when she came here. What does that mean? What am I suppose to do with that?"

[Kora] "You're catastrophizing," Kora returns, gently. "It's simply not true that nothing you do is right with Rain. If that were the case, she'd leave. She doesn't have breeding. She doesn't have to stay - either with us or the Nation. She could slip away into some ordinary life, but she doesn't. But you're a Fostern Garou, her warder, her leader. And if you think she completely disapproves of you and it concerns you you need to speak with her about it.

"And you start by sitting down and apologizing, outright, for attacking Starla's honor in her hearing. No excuses. No explanations. Apologize for the anger you showed, and offer her your contrition. Show her that you respect those above and below. That's the honorable thing to do, Roman." A supple, bittersweet twist to Kora's mouth, then. "That's step one."

"Step two, yeah? Is Starla," her voice is low and steady, her eyes rapt on his face now. A certain animal gleam answers his own. "You owe her that unmitigated apology, too. No matter her betrayal, you still owe her that underlying level of respect. That's the compact we have with our kin, and if you don't apologize - without reservation, without excuse - she'll remember that for the rest of her life.

"And after you've apologized, you have to set down the law. Listen, she was in the room when Simon insulted our hospitality, raged at both of us, and vowed to stay away from our territory. She still fucked him. And she owes you contrition for that. I said before you shouldn't be the sex police, and that's right. If she wants the freedom to sleep around," a supple twist of her shoulders, " - maybe you should give it to her. I wouldn't care about Hunter; but Simon - that's a material betrayal. You have to set boundaries you expect her to abide by, and punish her if she crosses the line. When Drew punched August, I told Drew that she was to stop gossiping about August, and come up with a material means of helping her.

"She recognized her fault; accepted it the way you or I would accept punishment from an Elder if we transgressed. You have to give Starla the respect both to set boundaries and to hold her accountable for breaking them." A brief pause here, that steady look follows. "Make sense?"

[Roman Turner] "Yes and no."

His nose wrinkled and a moment later he was rubbing it.

"I will apologize, I have once, I will again. I recall the trouble with Drew and August, but I don't recall Drew doing anything to make up for it other than a list of places in the area that August might afford."

He waved that off with the same hand that he'd been scratching his nose with.

"What I need to know is, how do I set boundaries with Starla and still not care who and how many she sleeps with? What am I suppose to do if she happens to sleep with someone she shouldn't? If I ever figure that out? Ground her? I really need the advice of a woman in this."

[Kora] "You're not her brother, Roman. You're not her mate. You're not her father. You cannot get emotionally involved. You don't need a woman's advice; you need to be able to separate your feelings from your duty and honor as her warder. You're here to see that she's safe; not to police her love affairs, yeah?" Kora is quiet, level, steady here. "And it's up to you to figure out how to punish her. It depends on what she's done, and what she continues to do. You have to respond to the situation, and come up with something reasonable and appropriate under the circumcstances. Something that holds her accountable. But that's always true. If she were to spit in the face of a Garou, you would have to figure out how to punish her. If she were to slander another pack, you would have to figure out how to hold her accountable; how to repay the debt of honor she owes.

"This is no different. If she is too-long-recalcitrant, you could withdraw your protection, or even send her home. Last resort, that. It's situational."

[Roman Turner] He nodded faintly with her advice.

"I'll take that in to consideration. Is that all ya wanted?"

[Kora] "Yep."

[Roman Turner] "Great, there's also a few things I need to say to you. I had Janis asking if she has been approved to be in the pack yet, what ya thought. I told her she should come ask her yourself. She also is recommending Rory to the pack. I got no problems with either. I invited Rory around to supper whenever she wants. Also, I know you aren't all friendly and outgoing. But ya've know from the start I use to be a little lighter at heart. That's changing I reckon. I'm working hard not to step in your space. Not to use my manners I grew up with by calling ya Miss and Ma'am. By not calling others Miss or Ma'am. I'm trying not to touch ya, when I grew up with a very touchy feely open show of affection. All I ask is ya bear with me and please understand while I'm trying to change, it don't happen overnight. Not easy to change what I am inside so fast."

[Kora] "Rory?" - a note of surprise, there, her pale brows rising in twin arcs above her deep blue eyes. It settles into something else - quieter, considered. Then shifts away as Roman forges onward.

Her regard from there on is steady as Roman continues in a different vein. When he finishes, she sighs - all at once - narrow shoulders curling forward, her swinging feet stilling. "Roman, I don't want you to change what or who you are." Still her voice is steady, direct - forward-moving. "I just want you to respect who I am, too. I know you think manners mean you have to call me Miss - but aren't manners about respect, underneath? If someone asked you to call them Ms rather than Miss, would you balk? Or would you keep calling them what you wanted to call them?

"When you say Miss Kora I feel like an elderly aunt, not your Alpha. Not a Garou. And right now, I don't need anything else that reminds me that I'm stuck in this skin, a walking target, liability in any fight. Dreaming of all the battles my ancestors fought - dreaming of - " A sharp breath exhaled. "I never asked you to stay out of my space; we're packmates. We should be close. But I don't hug or kiss my pack, and never will. It's harder for me now, too. I don't want - "

Here she breaks off, sharply.

"I think you should respect my wishes; about my name. About these human shows of affection to me. But I don't think you should change who you are while you're doing it. Find a way to be yourself while respecting me, Roman. That's what I want from you."

[Roman Turner] "You want me to be me, but not be me. Me, I touch. Me I touch in all forms. I stepped in when someone approached the other day, not because I thought you weak, not because of your condition, but because it is me. Yet I felt your disapproval like a weight. I need touch from those I love. I need to feel close, like I got someone that cares. I'm respecting your wishes. I ain't talking like I was raised. I ain't touching ya. I'm giving ya space. I ain't gonna heal none of your's without them asking, cause I finally learned ya rather suffer. All I'm asking is ya understand where I come from too."

He rose with a cant of his head to her.

"I'm gonna head out. Ya have a good evening. If ya need me, call."