Sepdet picks her papers off the floor, then sets her drink down to hitch
herself up on the counter, where she can let her feet dangle. The former
she tucks on the counter next to her. "Heya, Kaz. You won't believe a
scrap of news I've got."
Kaz ruffles the cub's hair. "I dun think I can agree with y'there,
but..." She trails off, and looks over to Sepdet. Taking a step or two
that way, she says, "Mmm? 'sit?"
Sepdet says grimly, "I'm packing with--" she stops herself, narrowly,
from giving some more heartfelt moniker--"Steven."
In the front rooms, Brian, eavesdropping, simply chokes. He makes his
way towards the kitchen and dining room.
In the front rooms, Brian goes through the aperture at the northern end
of the front hallway to enter the back room of the house.
Brian has arrived.
Lenny pages: "I'm packing with Fuckhead. Er, Steven."
Well, at least one person had a good reaction. "Yeah, you said, earlier.
I tell you, if you guys don't /kill/ each other, it'll be a fuckin'
miracle." Kaz shakes her head and grins.
Max tips her head away from the ruffling with a look of mock-indignance,
kicking out one booted toe at Kaz's foot as she steps away. Sepdet's
comment brings a strange expression to the jaded cub's face. "So
/that's/ how packs form." Max shakes her head. "Totally whacked."
Sepdet ducks her eyes sheepishly. "Oh, sorry. It's just--" she shakes
her head from side to side, incredulous. "I think I'm going to wake up
tomorrow and wonder if my idiot tribesmates got me drunk again. I still
can't believe it." Turning to set down her empty mug, she glances
absently towards the sound of footsteps, and her jaw drops a fraction.
She composes herself and gives Echen a respectful nod. "Brian-rhya."
"Not gen'rally, Max. This one's a mission thing. Ain't gonna stay long.
Most packs, they form outta friendship and mutual respect, for a common
goal." The Gnawer drifts over to the counter and leans on it. "Not like
this one. That's gonna be t'gether f'r a week and then break up agian."
Leda glances up at the alpha as he arrives, and she ducks her head.
"Evening Brian-rhya," she says, quietly.
Max follows Sepdet's attention around, half turning from where she
straddles a backward chair to look the alpha up and down with sharp,
hair veiled eyes. "Kahuna-rhya," she echoes.
"Evening," Brian says quietly, a bit subdued. "I, ah, came out here
looking for Cameron. He turned in?"
Kaz snorts a little, amused, and drinks her tea. Then she nods. "Yeah, I
think so. Anyways, he left. Good kid, though."
Sepdet nods distractedly. "Yes." Not that it matters much, there's a
large misshapen army duffle bag lying beside the back door, well
stuffed.
Brian nods minutely, his gaze straying to the back door. "Haven't met
him yet. I just got word from Duncan, that he was here. Suppose I'll
have to meet him tomorrow."
Max wordlessly points toward the kitchen door, still craned around to
watch Brian.
Sepdet observes very drily, "Well, he follows orders and insults mules.
So he's already well on his way."
Kaz smiles into her teacup.
Lenny pages: "Cam's cuute, and Kaz told him,
earlier, that most people think metis are morons with no social skills,
among other things -- so a) he's trying to smile and nod and b) Kaz
likes him a lot."
You paged Lenny with: Sepdet was also joking. She could tell he had a few of
his own opinions on that matter. She's actually pointing that barb
squarely at Brian."
"Steven must've been working with him," Brian observes mildly. "I'll
need to curb the insult bit, at least until he passes his rite."
Kaz damps down the grin a bit, and puts some sugar in the tea.
Sepdet lifts an eyebrow at that. "So." She glances at the other two.
"You've revised your opinion. Good, because I've been meaning to
Challenge you since before Louisa pulled her stupid stunt at Moot." She
gives him a hard look. "That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you
about, Alpha." There is an edge to her voice, but she still keeps it
civil, gaze angled lower than his own.
Kaz drifts back toward Max. "Man. Stick around Sepdet," she observes,
"Y'get all the action."
"I follow Owl, now," Brian says, sobering. "She tolerates some of my
prejudices, but not against Silent Striders. What did you want to talk
to me about?"
Leda decides this is a good time for her to depart. "Good evening. May
Luna guide your paths."
Kaz raises her mug in salute to Leda. "G'night."
Sepdet casts a gaze around at the others. "Some things that shouldn't
blathered in front of the sept, Moot or elsewhere, before I talk to you
in private." She gives Leda a tense smile. "Go well, Fury."
"No shit," Max answers her elder before looking to Leda. "See ya." Then
she adds after a moments thought. ".. later." But, like a rubberband,
her attention snaps back to the interplay between Sepdet and Brian.
Kaz mutters, grumpily, "Except then she decides t'go all private with
it."
Sepdet quirks a humorless grin. "I -am- a Strider, Kaz," she mutters
gruffly.
Leda goes home.
Kaz's grin reappears. "And I'm Galliard. It's only t'be expected, huh?"
She makes no particular motion to leave.
Brian shrugs his shoulders mildly. "I'll meet you out back, then," he
says, a faint, disarming smile lurking around the corners of his mouth.
He steps to the back door, and out.
Brian slides open the door in the kitchen, passing through into the back
yard.
Brian has left.
Sepdet takes a deep breath. But it doesn't seem to be to relax her
nerves. Rather, she sets her jaw as if preparing to do battle. She slips
out without looking back.
After sliding back the kitchen door, you pass through into the back yard
of the farmhouse.
Barnyard
Contents:
Brian
Obvious exits:
FIelds BArn Farmhouse Lane Woods
Sepdet's back is somewhat stiff, the telltale sign that in lupus her
hackles would probably be raised, but as always she keeps her face
controlled when she's stewed about something. Almost. "Well," she says
softly. "You can probably guess some of what I have to say."
"Honestly?" Brian lifts his shoulders in a helpless shrug. "I haven't
the faintest. You said you wanted to challenge me. Is this for Adren, or
over something else?"
Sepdet's mouth crooks. "For Adren, perhaps. For the caern, because I
disagree with some of the ways you lead. For many insults you've given
me, which make my heart grow bitter when I see you fly on Owl's wings.
For having to break some Get's jaw for insulting your honor in public,
when he's voicing some of the very things I keep silent because you are
-still- my alpha."
Sepdet kicks the back of her foot against the wall of the house,
punctuating the frustration she's keeping from her face.
Brian's lips purse into a frown. "I'm sorry for some of those insults,"
he says quietly, his gaze straying out across the moonlit fields. "You
know how my people feel about metis, but there is no denying you've
earned the rank you bear. It's the ahroun's curse, even more than it is
the Fianna's, to act from heart rather than head. Owl's challenge to me
is to change that."
Sepdet shakes her head. "It will take more than an 'I'm sorry' to make
me trust you as I used to," she growls. "But I know. I'm still a mule.
Put that aside. I'm not the only target of your scorn-of-the-day. It was
Maury, and it's been me, and it's been Megan, and just because you've
shifted your abuse to another head doesn't mean you won't shift it back
to me again--or another Garou better than myself. You've done it to too
many others, and in a manner that ill-becomes an alpha. And even when
your scorn is well-earned, one can cuff fools without making an ass of
yourself in the process."
"Leaders of men, and of Garou, are allowed to feel -- to like and to
hate," Brian points out. "Megan is reaping what she has sown. If by
showing anger and intolerance to someone who has betrayed me twice over
I am making an ass of myself, then by God I'm pleased to be one."
Sepdet scowls. "I think you do badly," she repeats. "Gaia knows I've got
my own grudges and hatreds. I've fought with Steven once in the last
day, myself, and sometimes even -my- temper gets the better of me. But
it's another case where being a leader means we have to bite down, do
the job, put personal feelings aside for the sept's sake. Their eyes are
on us. If we break the 'Respect those beneath you' law too blatantly,
they stop respecting you. And many have, I think. That Get I clobbered
isn't the only one."
Brian snorts. "Let that Get you clobbered, or any of the rest of the
ones who you think have lost respect for me, try to do what I do better
than I have," he shoots back. "The plain fact is that when you are
elder, when you are alpha, you are resented and hated simply because you
*are* elder, simply because you *are* alpha, unless you take the gutless
route of trying to please everyone. I am not here to make friends and
win popularity contests. I am here to try to win a war."
Sepdet exhales, eyes dipping slightly to acknowledge some of that at
least. "Granted. It's a thankless job, and I know you lead well or you
wouldn't have lasted this long." She drums her fingers against the wall.
"Let me put it this way. Arjun Fletcher taught you to lead through
strength rather than compassion. But now most believe no one can touch
you, no one -dares- challenge you, or if they do, out they go. 'S why
it's taken me this long to say it. A leader leads through intimidation,
sure. He also leads through inspiration. You've got Fianna in your
blood. So inspire people, for Gaia's sake. Search out what your packs
and Garou are good for, like a good Owl, learn your people's strengths
and weaknesses, and put them where they do good, instead of only
stepping in to change or forbid missions that we've been working on.
Toxic went behind Arjun's back when he did that to her once too often,
and I'm afraid there's been times I've gone behind yours."
Brian runs a hand back through his hair, his gaze once more wandering
out over the moonlit fields behind the farmhouse. "I try," he says,
bravado and indignation gone from his voice. "I ask Pete Barlow to
handle things in the city, once we've got a foothold, and to come to me
and ask help if he needs any. He lets things slide, and never asks for
help. Owen comes to me and demands to lead a scouting party to Hanford.
I'm more than happy to give him leave. Nightflash -- Nightflash puts
together a pack of warriors under Wolverine, to reclaim Arthur's Island
from the golem the Dancers left behind. I hold my own packmate back, so
as not to step on his toes. What else do I do? How else do I inspire
people to do the things they're best at, besides leading by example and
rewarding initiative?"
Sepdet purses her lips. "It's hard with so few Garou who can step in and
do things: that's why you grabbed onto Nightflash so fast, I guess, much
to my irritation. But you can do more. Thoth--fool though he was--showed
me how, as a cub. Every moon, he'd check on all of us, and ask what we
were up to, and what we'd seen, and what we'd learned. He listened well
enough that we talked freely. He filed it away. And since he knew so
much was going on, he'd on occasion give a tweak somewhere: pass useful
info to another pack, or make a suggestion in the right ear. When he
wasn't being an ass. That's an Owl trick you might try, as your time
permits."
Brian nods slowly, his expression a pensive frown. "Councils of elders
are a habit we've fallen out of. Meeting with pack alphas can't hurt
either, I suppose."
Sepdet nods and falls quiet. "Yeah. I don't even know half of 'em
anymore," she growls. Then she spreads her hands. "Anyway. That's it."
Still staring out into the fields, Brian adds, after another moment,
"I'm sorry if I've disappointed you. I'll speak with Robert, to let him
know of your challenge; I'll tell you as soon as I have terms."
Sepdet lowers her eyes, a little drained. "Thank you."
With that, Brian begins walking out towards the fields, as if in answer
to a summons. There's an exhaustion to his step -- he carries himself
not as a 29-year-old, but as a much older man.