Ornature

[*gets out sword* You couldn't kill me if you tried a hundred years, Denver.]

[kay, quick rules: try to post within 10 min and roll within 2. ping me if you have any specific phobias/triggers you don't wanna see in a scene. there may be douchebaggery in this one so you are forewarned. annnnd have fun!]

"Dude, you are fuckin' nuts, bro! You're fuckin nuts, bro!"

Ah. There we have it: the wild dudebro in his native environment. Nearly always found in packs, the dudebro is a unique species known for its curious social ineptitude, its colorful plumage of backwards caps and pop-collared shirts, and its distinctive call consisting of dude, bro, yo, man, dude emitted at the approximate frequency of three times per sentence. This particular pack of dudebros is coming down the street in the beta dudebro's car. It's a nice car. It's a drop-top convertible camaro, orange, racing stripes on the hood, five dudebros crammed in. Beta-dudebro is driving. Omega-dudebro is sitting on the back trunk, hanging on for dear life because higher-ranking dudebros want room to let their junk breathe.

"Yo man! Yo, bro! Bro, dude, we're actually gonna do this. We are gonna DO THIS."

"Yeah man! Dude, we're SO GONNA DO THIS. Fuck yeah, bro."

"Dude, dude. Dude, man. Dude, what about her?"

"Dude, that shit is nasty, bro! Bro, I like it! I like how you think, bro! HEY BABY, YO, HEY, HEY, WANNA PARTY?"

That: from the alpha-dudebro to one of the working girls, a regular on the corner of blank and blank. Seems this pack of dudebros has a reputation, though. She stares at them flatly, unimpressed, and then turns and walks away.

"DUDE! Bro! Dude, she turned you down cold, bro! Bitch turned you down cold, bro!"

"Dude! Bro, dude! Dude, yo man, bro, dude, DUDE, bro!"

"Yo man, dude, bro, fuck that shit. Fuck that shit man, pull the fuckin car over. Bro, pull over."

And so: the Camaro pulls over. And alpha-dudebro hops out of the shotgun seat, following the working gal.

"Dude. Bitch. I'm talkin' to you, bitch. Dude, what the fuck, bitch."

The girl: starts to walk a bit faster. She doesn't look bored now. She looks wary.

Charlotte is here for Reasons it is best not to ask about and these Reasons may or may not involve bones-of-things and concrete and the oily sheen on the puddle seeping slowly from a dumpster in the alley near where this particular pack of dudebros and this particular prostitute and this particular exchange is happening.

She is: impossible for Garou to ignore with her breeding like a supernova around her, and remarkably easy for humans to ignore. Skinny, more beanpole than girlish, wearing worn jeans and a thin cotton hoodie with the hood pulled up over the crown of her blond hair and a cotton half-sized messenger bag full of Stuff slung over across her body.

Crouched, the girl. Crouched with pale-pink hair slipping across her sharp and hallowed features, pale eyes huge in the darkness like creatures who spend far too much time underground, but she is animal and so are they. Her nostrils flare as her pale eyes flick between car and prostitute and car and Alpha.

Oh, Alpha is a thing-she-knows.

Perception + Occult (Sense Wyrm)

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 5, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Javed likes to sit on sidewalks. It's a habit gained from his preponderance to do so as he's traveled. It's not that he likes the sidewalks themselves so much, but rather he is able to sit there and just take in the sounds and smells of the city. (Also, though he wouldn't admit this: sometimes he gets change from people assuming he's looking for a handout. He's not, but he doesn't turn it down.)

That's how he happens to be in the vicinity...he had decided to take a load off of his feet and sit down, a little way down the block from where the working girls are. He hadn't approached them because he had no desire to make them nervous with his inherent connection to Gaia and the righteous anger that it brings. He stands out a bit perhaps, primarily because he isn't dressed for warm weather. He's wearing a jacket over his shirt, jeans and heavy boots that look like they're sweltering...but hey, when you grew up in the middle of the Iranian desert, Denver heat is light in relation.

So he was keeping to himself, minding his own business while he rested his weary feet for a few when the dudebros come up. He narrows his one good eye at them...polluting the air with their noise and their arrogance. But they seem to be going on their way...until they aren't, and the lead guy starts to harrass the woman.

This, he does not like. And so he rises, using that one eye to throw a quick look over the situation and get his bearings before he starts to approach.

Ingrid Kim does not look like the sort of person who would be caught within fifty miles of a "working girl" such as is found on the corner of blank and blank. Call girls, maybe, prettily dressed sensuous women passed in the halls of whatever fancy ass hotel the Ragabash has put herself in this week. But not working girls.

She's wearing a light and airy summer dress that looks cut to conform to the shape of her slender figure. The collar is up around her collar bones with a V cut low enough to show the top of a dark tattoo behind the laces holding the fabric together. The skirt falls to about mid-thigh, but coupled with a pair of heels makes her legs look like they go on for miles and miles. Her hair is short and choppy and dark, windswept from riding with the top down because it's summer and how else would one drive an convertible in Denver in the summer?

No, Ingrid Kim does not look the sort of person who would be anywhere near this stretch of Colfax, and yet, there she is. Could be coincidence, could be she came with Charlotte. Like her friend's sister, Ingrid's reasons for being here are her own.

She's leaned up against her little black convertible, hands pressed back against the door, when the pack of dudebros drives past hollering to a woman on the street. Ingrid pushes off from the side of her car.

And so the hunt begins.

'Working girl.'

That is how Clarissa Tristessa, who used to be plain Cara McDowell from South Bend Indiana, who knows her way around a few works of modern lit and who once thought she'd go to college and major in literature, thinks of herself. She doesn't like the terms hooker, whore, ho -- who would? But she likes working girl. It fits. She works. By god, you better believe she works, and it's a job, nine to five only pm-am instead of the other way around. And she knows hers isn't exactly the dream life, but it's better than some. She's got a pimp but he's given her a fairer shake than most would. She still keeps in touch with her mother. She has a tiny savings account and she keeps dreaming of the day she moves out of here, moves up, moves on. She knows it's not coming, but it helps pass the time.

Not a bad life, if you look at it the right way. Better than those empty-eyed girls with track marks on their arms, anyway. Better than those dead-eyed girls who barely speak english, who were smuggled here in barrels and cargo holds and car trunks, brought in by some far-flung fantasy of,

well,

the dream life.

--

So that's our protagonist. Clarissa Tristessa, working girl, clipping away from the dudebros on four-inch heels that she knows she can't run in. Word on the street spreads faster than fire after a drought. She's heard about these guys, this pack of dudebros with their too-white grins and their tanning-bed tans and their leader. Alpha-dudebro. Still hollering after her, aggressive now:

"BITCH. DUDE, I SAID I'M TALKIN TO YOU, BITCH. Bro, what the fuck, dude, she's fuckin ignorin me, do you believe this shit? Dude."

"Dude! Bitch! He's talkin to you!"

"Fuck it, dude, fuck this shit, I'ma get her, bro. Watch, I'ma get her."

And -- gamma-dudebro breaks off from the pack. He starts to jog after Clarissa-formerly-Cara. Who, without looking back, without saying a word to provoke the pack further, and without hesitating for an instant

begins to run. In those heels.

Just a sniff. Charlotte scents the air, see. Slips a hand into her little messenger bag while she's crouched there and she's watching the dudebros and there's a note on her features of a sudden and irrepressible revulsion. Cannot miss that convertible across the street and maybe Ingrid did come here with her. Maybe there's reason other than breeding for Ingrid to look in Charlotte's direction.

Charlotte is not exactly a subtle creature when it comes to expressing her feelings or communicating across distance or doing anything, anything at all, that does not involve her vocation and avocation and everything in between of being a dotty little theurge. But she's very good at both dottiness and theurgery so when she makes a Mr. Yuck face in the direction of the dudebros, well, perhaps Ingrid will understand what she means.

That they are no longer dudebros.

They are wyrmbros.

As one may well expect.

Charlotte is engaged in several motions at the same time, see. That hand in the messenger bag was going for her slingshot until the situation changed. The girl starts to run and gammadude starts chasing her and the girl frowns and grabs for something else from her bag-of-tricks and it is a small clay beat shaped like an eye and the clay is embedded with pieces of an eye and Charlotte breaks the bead crushing it between her thumb and her palm and feels the dust and little shards of pottery in her hand and rises from her crouch then and steps between the fleeing prostitute and the chasing gammadude.

And stares.

[-1 Gnosis for Eye of the Snake Talen]

Charisma + Intimidation - dif is target's WP

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )

[is that an ahroun I spy with my little eye? Percept+PU diff 4]

Dice: 6 d10 TN4 (1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )

The actions of the would-be alpha male do not impress the Iranian man. Quite the opposite, in fact. He's seen men terrorize those weaker then them before. He knows where that desire comes from. There are even certain times in which that is an appropriate situation...the strongest lead the way, after all. But this is not the time, nor is it the place. There's nothing that he sees her--admittedly, via his limited vision--that suggests that there's anything remotely right about this.

His walking approach becomes a job, as he sheds his jacket and leaves it on the street behind him. "You!" He shouts it at Alpha Dudebro an accented voice, but clear English. "Leave the woman alone, she has done you no harm. Go back to your car and go your own way."

The woman ahead seems to have gotten in the way of Gammabro, to the prostitute's benefit. He only has the one eye so he's focusing it on the unhandled problem at the moment.

[[Man+Intimidation, 'cause why not?]]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Gammabro skids to a halt. Literally: he skids. And he halts. And he stares at Charlotte, or at least where Charlotte was, even after she moves away. For once, not a single dude, nor a single bro, comes out of his mouth.

Betabro is alarmed. "Dude. Bro. Bro. Dude. What's the matter? Dude? DUDE."

Alphabro shoves Gammabro out of the way. Gammabro kinda thuds into the wall, goes oomph, keeps staring. "Dude, bro, you're a fuckin loser. Fuck him, he's a fuckin loser. BITCH -- " -- and he keeps running after Clarissa-Cara.

And Deltabro, hearing Javed: "LOL." He actually pronounces this. He says it: LOLL! "Dude, go back to Afghanistan, Osama bro Laden."

...okay. Give him a little credit: that was a tiny bit clever. At least Omegabro seems to think so. He kinda laughs in that nervous way all Omegas laugh, but his eyes dart over Javed warily. Neither of them are chasing the girl now. They've turned, they've oriented on Javed, locked on. Deltabro is posturing, looking aggressive, squaring his shoulders and widening his stance. Omegabro sticks close to him.

Ingrid notices a lot of things. She notices, because a Garou cannot help but be drawn to that shining radiance, Charlotte's tension and the way it shifts as she watches the dudebros. She notices the newcomer, as well, though to be fair everyone is a newcomer to her. Ingrid doesn't stay in one place long enough to make friends. She notices him, though, because she stops following after the dudebros.

She stops because she has to take off her shoes, delicately lifting one foot and then the other to remove their coverings and set them down wherever on the ground. Because they're shoes. If someone comes along and snatches them away, Ingrid can always get more. Then she unlaces those strings that hold the collar of her shirt together, pulls that string out completely and lets it fall to the pavement. Then, with a quick yank, the V tears a little deeper.

Finally prepared, the Shadow Lord Ragabash holds her hands out before her, and she wiggles her fingers. As though pulled by invisible strings, the shadows shift and pull and coalesce around her.

[shadow weaving: -1G, dex+occult diff7]

Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 5, 6, 8) ( success x 1 )

[and some Blur, diff 8-1] 0

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 5, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

[and some sneak sneak sneak]

Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1

[Ingrid is sneaking and sword-drawing and going for Deltabro]

Charlotte yeah, she gets out of the way after Gammabro just stutterstops, ducks her head and blinks and frowns across the street where Ingrid was a moment ago. The bros are broing at each other and the girl licks her mouth and steps back as the Alpha bro surges past her. She's not paying much attention to the others or the jokes or the LOLs which she doesn't understand except to know that they're Otherwise Occupied by advancing on a stranger.

The girl grimaces, roots around for something else in her bag o' tricks and pulls out a shard of bone. It is a rib, specifically, the meat long since cleaned off and the bone itself cleaved through so that it has jagged ends and a sharp and ugly curve to it in the hand.

She swallows again, hmmms against the darkness and, well, throws it at the AlphaBro.

[Gnosis - activating the withering bone talen]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 1, 3, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Javed seems clearly quite comfortable with being surrounded. He's been beaten up by groups of Garou for years. A bunch of bros (okay they're Wyrmbros, but he doesn't know that yet) is something he can thoroughly handle. He looks at Deltabro and gives him a smile, turning so he's got the least amount of people at his back. The one eye locks onto Deltabro's, though he has no ability to hold him like Charlotte. It's just for effect.

"A common mistake, but no. You would be better served with something Ayatollah-related."

He doesn't attack...he's instead simply speaking now, ready for an attack should it come. Buying the situation behind him time to resolve itself. He's perfectly calm though, not worried about the fact that he seems remarkably outnumbered.

[aaand, throwing Dex + Athletics 6-3 ]

Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (7, 9, 9) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Deltabro kinda gets this derp look on his face.

"Dude, what?"

And then -- a little ways down the alley -- an odd gawky girl whose blood sings of heroes past to those special few capable of hearing the song throws a little bone at Alphabro. And it thumps off his meaty arm. And all at once

Alphabro is howling in distress. Not really pain: just distress. "DUDE, WHAT THE FUCK, BRO! BRO, MY FUCKIN ARM!"

Betabro wheels away from Gammabro, his loyalty to Alphabro greater. His alarm: greater still. "Dude, bro, dude, what the fuck is going on here? Fuuuck. Fuck this shit, bro, FUCK EM UP. DUDE."

And so: it begins.

[let's have some inits!]

[[Init + 17 (Spirit of the Fray))]]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )

[+8]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )

+8

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (7) ( success x 1 )

Alphabro! +8

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )

Betabro! +7

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )

Gammabro! +6

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )

Deltabro! +5

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )

Omegabro! +4

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )

[Action order:

Javed 23

Hurricane 18

Charlotte 15

Gamma 15

Beta 12

Alpha 11

Delta 10

Omega 9

Declares in reverse. Sooo...]

[Omega: ONOZ! OMG! Will only decide on action after Delta does, and therefore will get +1diff on all actions this round.

Delta: WTF. ATTACK OSAMA BRO LADEN. Punch!

Omega: OKAY I'LL PUNCH HIM TOO.

Alpha: is kinda uber, bro. dude, he gets three hits a round. 1) scream about his arm. 2) headbutt charlotte 3) again!

Beta: shaking Gamma

Gamma: @_@!!! Stunned!]

[Charlotte - 1 rage to hispo. Split action: 1a. Bite Alpha; 1b. Bite Alpha.]

[Ambush! Hoping Deltabro too distracted by hurling racist slurs to notice deadly little Ingrid hovering nearby.

Then: -1R Snapshift to Crinos

1/R: Do some exploratory surgery on Delta, move to Omega when he goes down]

[passive percep resist!]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 8) ( success x 1 )

[Stab!: dex+melee+4]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 7 )

[[Okay, when he sees other people going into Crinos form he assumes that there is good reason, so:Rage to shift.

1: Claw Omega (Delta seems covered)

2: Claw Omega]]

[dam: +2L]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

[OW?!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 5, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )

[[Dex + Brawl RAAAAWR]]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

[soak!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

[[Damage]]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

[And another slice: +1 (crinos)]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

[dam: 2+4+4+2][L]

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 7, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

[OWIE]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 3, 6) ( success x 1 )

Charlotte: 1a. Bite! Dex + Brawl + Hispo -2

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (4, 5, 5, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Damage

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 7 )

[D:] 0

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 3, 6) ( success x 1 )

1b. -3

Dice: 4 d10 TN5 (3, 5, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Damage!

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 6 )

[BRO, STAAAHP, DUDE]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )

[x_x]

[Gamma: STUNNED.

Beta: changing action - HOLY FUCK ALPHABRO IS DEAD D: THAT MEANS I AM ALPHABRO :D

attack charlotte! betabro is strong, but not fast. +1diff]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

[dude, damage +3, bro!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 5 )

Soak!

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 5) ( fail )

[Omega: punching Javed! -1 due to owie]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )

[dam! +1]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 7) ( success x 1 )

[[Soak!]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )

[Delta: SHOWIN OMEGABRO HOW IT'S DONE. punch! -5 from owie ffs.]

Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (6, 8) ( success x 2 )

[+1!]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 7, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )

[[SOAK]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

[[RAWR CLAW RAWR]]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

[[Damage]]

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 7 )

[OW]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )

[R: I WILL CUT'CHU, DELTA]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

[dam]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 8 )

[NOOO I DON'T WANNA DIIEEE]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

[x_x]

Dudebros, particularly wyrmbros, move in packs. They hunt in packs, they brodude it up in packs, they attack in packs, and with a rousing cry in their throats:

"[i]Yolo![/i]""[i]YOLO![/i]""[i]YOLOOOO!!![/i]"

Except: the good samaritans are so much more than that. Almost as one they burst out of their skins. One bursts out of the shadows. Her blade is keen and her aim is true: she pierces Delta through before he even knows she's there. He staggers when she yanks it out. He turns around, flailing, lands an ineffective punch on Javed that the Omegabro promptly mimics. Right down to the ineffectuality. By then Ingrid has sliced once, twice more,

the second flash of her sword cleanly unzipping Deltabro's midsection from side to side. He topples over.

Meanwhile, Javed holds his own admirably. Those two punches -- no mere human punches! -- don't even break his stride. Like any true predator, he tears into the smallest, the weakest: has the Omegabro down to his last legs in two devastating bites.

But really: did anyone expect Charlotte's show of glory? Because that is what it is: a show. of glory. Raw and pure and savage and fearless: a bold lunge at the biggest, the baddest, the fastest and the strongest -- the leader of the pack, the Alphabro who's still bellowing about his arm. He's rearing back to headbutt her when she

just

tears him apart.

Blood splashes over the walls. Spatters on Gamma's face, making him blink in sudden surprise. Alphabro makes some gurgling-questioning noise: a tiny little yolo? before faceplanting. Betabro! is distressed, and then -- rather elated. Alphabro is dead! That makes him Alphabro! And in celebration, he pulls back his fist, and --

remember how we said those are no mere human fists? Well: they hit with the force of a sledgehammer. Betabro knocks Charlotte sprawling with one hit. It's punishing, it's pulverizing; it causes serious internal trauma. Her head is light. Her paws can barely hold her weight. Betabro snickers darkly, shaking out his fist. And then he goes after her again.

--

It bears noting: Clarissa has run far, far, far, far, far away. She is shrieking and incoherent. She'll wake up in the morning and remember almost nothing, but she'll decide quite abruptly and quite completely that she was through with the streets. She'll move into a halfway house. She'll get a proper job, though a shitty one. She'll make enough on minimum wage to save up for a ticket home, and four months from now

she'll be home in South Bend, Indiana, enrolling in community college.

[roundup:

Alpha x_xBeta alive and well!Gamma alive and well, coming out of stun!Delta 6AOmega 6A

Javed alive and well!Ingrid alive and well!Charlotte 5A]

See, the odd little creature throws a bone; just a bone, a broken rib from a ruminant. Maybe a cow, but likely to be a mule deer from somewhere up in the Rockies, at the dude chasing the prostitute, splashing in the gross trickle of foetid liquid that always accumulated in the center of an alley. That runs like a ribbon of darklight and smells of rotting fish and car exhaust.

Then the whole thing changes: he screams, and sweeps around in a circle and the girl leaps forward, transforming midmotion, midair from girl-to-beast. And a great beast she is, resplendent and shining silver in the darkness and the truth is Charlotte is nervous and Charlotte is frightened because there are more they're a pack and Ingrid was here but now-she's-gone and and and -

- her body remembers.

Her body slams into his and she tears into his throat with the first surge of movement and gristle in her jaw and a great tearing bloody spray that leaves him wheezing / whistling but still sort of -

- another snap of her great jaws.

Then the world is uprooted as another of the men slams into her, shattering ribs and collapsing a lung and the great white beast begins to froth blood from her mouth and nose as she staggers in the muck to try to turn and face the new opponent.

[er, sorry, delta is not 6A, delta is very dead.]

[Omega: SHIT. SHIT, BRO. DUDE, WE'RE FUCKED, BRO, DUDE. AHHHH. Flail at Charlotte!

Beta: HURR, I LIKE THE PURTY ORIENTAL ONE, BRO. Punch Ingrid!

Gamma: HEY I'M MOVING AGAIN. BRO, WAIT, I'M COMING TO HELP YOU, DUDE. Gamma is fast, though not strong: 1. Attack Ingrid 2. Attack Javed 3. Twice!]

[Charlotte: 1 Gnosis to activate Healer's Torque.

1a. Bite Omega. 1b. Bite Beta.]

The darkness and I have long been allies.

Isn't that what Ingrid once told another Silver Fang Theurge, somewhere on the other side of the country? Tonight, as any time she finds herself hunting, she proves it again. With a wiggle of her fingers and a calling of a gift, Ingrid wears the darkness like a cloak. She slips along the sidewalk, a darker shadow amidst the shadows.

And she cuts. And she kills.

Turning to look back over her shoulder she sees Charlotte, glimmering white in the darkness except her face, which drips the blood of royalty onto the pavement.

Who knows what drives the loner Shadow Lord to turn and leave the stranger Ahroun and go to a girl whose awe of her makes her uncomfortable. Her reasons are always her own. But turn she does.

The Crinos wolf walks down her friend's sister's assailant.

[1a/b/c: Slice, WP on the last

1d: -1G Gaia's Breath Charlotte]

[[1: Rip and kill, aka claw Gamma

R1: Claw claw claw!]]

[[Oh, it's the claw! THE CLAW IS GONNA GET YA!]]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )

[[Damage]]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )

[soak!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 5, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )

[1a: Slice! -4]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

[dam: +2]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )

[soak!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )

[1a: Slice! -5]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

[dam: +1]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )

[1c: Slice! -6]

Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (7, 7) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

[dam: +2

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 5, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 6 )

[soak!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )

[incap!]

[1d: -1G Healz on Charlotte]

1a. Bite: Omega. -2

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

[yelp!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 5, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )

Damage

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 10) ( success x 3 )

[x_x]

1b. Bite Gamma! -3

Dice: 4 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 4, 7) ( success x 1 )

Damage!

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 7, 7, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

[jesus, girl]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 6, 8) ( success x 3 )

[Gamma: LAST STAND! DUDE, I'MA TAKE ONE OF YOU FUCKERS WITH ME, BRO! rolling 1d10. 1-3: focus javed. 4-6: ingrid. 7-9: charlotte. 10: no change in actions.]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

[redeclare:

1. attack javed (+1 diff)

2. no change, still attacking javed

3. attack javed (+1 diff)

first one! -1 owie]

Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (2, 4, 4, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

[+1]

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (3, 3, 4, 6, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )

[[Soak]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

[fists of brohood!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (2, 6, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )

[dam +2]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 8) ( success x 3 )

[[SOAK]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 5, 7, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )

[KAMEHAMEBRO!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (3, 4, 4, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )

[[SOAK]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 5, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )

[[Claw to Gamma, +1 diff for target change]]

Dice: 9 d10 TN7 (1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6) ( fail )

[GUESS WHAT, WE GET TO PLAY ROULETTE AGAIN]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )

[get ready to soak, ingrid!]

[[Damage SORRY SORRY SORRY HE'S GONNA BE SUCH A SORRY METIS]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 4, 7, 7, 7, 7) ( success x 4 )

[Soak it!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Betabro's moment of glory is shortlived indeed. Seconds after his ascension, he is summarily cut down -- literally -- by sword-wielding Ingrid. Who still has time to spin around and slap a bandage on Charlotte,

who is, in turn, busy tearing Omega to small popcollared giblets.

Gammabro: last bro standing. Quite sure he's not going to make it out alive. Determined! to bring one of these losers down with him. His eyes flash from one to the next to the next. Then, with a bellow, he launches himself at,

of course,

the FURRINER. Who, y'know. Basically lets those punches slide off his tough hide along with the rest of the racist crap.

[roundup: all bros down cept Gamma at 3A. Charlotte has... 1A left? Ingrid got 2A from Javed being BLIND IN ONE EYE.]

[gamma declare: FUCK IT I'M RUNNING. Take him down by Rage actions or he's out of sight with his super bro speed.]

[and then he'll spawn minibros. you don't want that.]

[Charlotte: 1a. Bodyslam Gamma; 1b. Bite 'em.]

[Pin him like an insect (bet you didn't know Ingrid was secretly an entomologist (she's not)): uh, called shot I guess? Spending a WP]

[[1. Grab head and neck before he runs

1a: Pull very hard.]]

[[Strength + Brawl #1

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 7 )

[[Strengt+Brawl #2]]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )

[ack! soak!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 5, 5, 5) ( fail )

(x_x)................|--<

So: Gamma didn't have a pretty end. He turns. He runs. Three wolves all but leap on him, and one of them rather creatively grabs him by the head

and pulls very hard.

...

So you can imagine how that turned out.

[WP: I mean the dirty metis DID claw me! But he also carries himself like he has rank or something. Maybe we don't slap.]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

The alley is quiet in the aftermath. The working girl's screams have faded into the distance. She doesn't remember how to scream about what she's seen but she's alive and there's South Bend and community college in her future rather than -

- whatever the dudebros had planned.

The Silver Fang - for she could be nothing else with that pelt and those eyes - gives a great shake as blood geysers from the decapitated corpse of the last of the brokenmen and circles, ears swiveling, alert, listening / waiting / looking for other threats.

Then she sits back on her haunches and abruptly shifts through her forms, all the way to human again. Her hoodie has been shredded, and Charlotte's left behind in t-shirt and jeans. Charlotte pulls a phone from her bag and calls the Sept and its Guardians for clean-up, then slips the phone back into her back. She'll heal Ingrid before leaving if Ingrid allows it, and check on the stranger, and assure them both that cleanup, and the Guardians, are on their way.

[MT on Ingrid: dif is her current rage]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Moments after the final target falls to the ground in a headless heap, the tattered and bloody head and neck hit the alley floor next to it. Javed stares at the body for a few seconds, claws still flexing instinctively as he focuses himself, letting bloodlust slip away.

After a couple moments and he is calm again, the Anubis-esque Garou melts back down out of his breed form, into Homid. He looks to Charlotte and then to Ingrid, and it is to the Lord that he folds his hands and bows his head.

"My deepest apologies. That was unintended, I assure you. I will not let it happen again."

The pinnacle of politness now that he yanked someone's dome off and left a Rorschach test of blood on the wall.

Ingrid does not have the gift of pain resistance. So when the Ahroun's claws rake through her fur, cutting through the flesh nearly to the delicate (for a Crinos) bones beneath, she feels it. There is a moment, or there was, when she turned, lip curled, and she snarled.

But this is combat. These things happen, and there is the blood of enemies to be spilled before the night is over.

When it's over, the Ragabsh stands still cloaked in shadows, ears swiveled back as she, too, listens for others. But these dudebros were their pack, and now their pack is broken, blooded, dead. Except for the one. Ingrid's ears swivel and then her head follows toward the sound of labored breathing. The last one living is the last to die, Ingrid's sword lodged in his throat.

There will be no more bros, dudes, et cetera to ruin the quiet of this evening. Charotte buries her hand into her fur, and Ingrid tlits her head to look down at her with hooded golden eyes, but she doesn't stop her, doesn't shrug her off because it's really just a scratch. Ingrid does not often turn down healing. Her eyes close against the images that play against the darkness of her mind. When it's finished, she opens her eyes again and nods once to Charlotte.

When Ingrid shifts down it is down to her homid skin, emphasis on the skin. Her lovely dress lies in tatters on the ground, the breeze picking up and shifting them around and carrying them inch by inch down the street. She doesn't scurry to cover herself, but is as comfortable in nothing but the breeze as she was in that dress. However, she needs to get to her car, which was down and across the street or something. And even here on what was the longest, wickedest street in America, where there are women of the night waiting to climb into cars and do all manner of things, a naked woman will still stand out. And also, not everyone is as comfortable with her nudity as is Ingrid. Holding out her hands, she bends and warps the shadows that still answer to her will, and she...sort of...makes a covering of literal darkness around herself, making her a head and arms and legs poking out from the shadows.

Javed bows his head to her and offers his apologies and Ingrid lifts her chin a touch to look at him with eyes that are now black in the low light of the alley. Her mouth curves into a smile.

"Apology accepted," she says.