Needing advice from a big brother type ...

[Tasha Masterson]

Tasha left Casie's room feeling a little more self assured. She figured she could pretty much handle anything the weres threw at her. But there was still one little problem. Jasper Izzoli. That little shit was getting on her last nerve. And she knew just who to go talk to about handling the problem. Her big brother Gawain.

So she went to bed thinking about going and seeing him. She could always just open a mind link with him, but sometimes it could be dangerous to do so over long distances because he had powers that she didn't even pretend to understand, and she had no way of preventing any backlash from those powers if it was a bad time.

So she figured that a visit would be best. And as she and Ha'Ruil nestled into bed to go to sleep, she let him know that she was going to go find Gawain the next day. She knew that she could leave him and Eros in charge for a day or two. After all, Inion and Manny were there too, unless Inion had already left for the Keep that was.



So when Tasha woke up, she got up and took a shower. She braided her hair and got dressed in a pair of low rise jeans and a black long sleeve top that looked like it had been shredded with claws. The top was tight enough that a good pair of eyes would notice her newest piercings. Her brown riding boots completed her outfit.



She kissed Ha'Ruil good bye, and headed out the door. Leviathan chose to stay behind, as she still did not trust the weres. So Tasha took the elevator and headed out to the stables. She saddled Agrarian and mounted him easily. Though it had been over a month since her last ride. She felt rather guilty about that.

She rode over to the Tel'Ranaemyn Inn. But the young elf woman who she ran into said she had not seen anyone there matching his description. And she didn't recognize his name either. So that left Tasha scratching her head. She was in the mood for a nice fast and long ride. Now that Agrarian was thoroughly warmed up.

So she rode into New Haven. She did some checking around, and though no one had seen him, at least no one she had spoken to, some did suggest she try a new Inn. It was called The Wolf's Head Inn. She remembered Gawain owning a Tavern by that name. So she turned to leave New Haven in the direction of the Tavern.

She got just what she had wanted. The Wolf's Head was out of town, by some distance. Enough of a distance that she was able to let Agrarian run as fast as he could for quite some time. It was very therapeutic. And Agrarian seemed to enjoy it just as much as she did. He liked getting out and stretching his muscles.

When she arrived at what used to be the Tavern, she saw that it had been turned into an Inn. It was rather large compared to the last time she had seen it. She smiled and shook her head as she dismounted. "He's been remodeling." Said pretty much to Agrarian as she walked him over to tie him up to a nearby tree.

Then she made her way into the Inn. A quick glance around the place and it wasn't hard to figure out where the Tavern was. Sense of smell and hearing adding to the ease of that. So that was where she headed. Knowing Gawain as she did, he would either be in there already, or he would smell her there quickly.

So looping her thumbs into the back pockets of her jeans, she entered the Tavern. Her heels clicked softly upon the floor, another thing that would give her presence away. She had made sure not to wear any perfume so it wouldn't aggravate his nose or confuse him into thinking it was someone else who wore that perfume.

She looked around the room. The place had undergone a little sprucing up, that was for sure. But it looked pretty much the same as she remembered. For what her memory was worth anyway. And she smiled as she remembered the good times that they all used to have together, here or elsewhere, in times long past.

She closed her eyes for a moment. She took a moment to enjoy the memories, then she put them away. She didn't want to get to the bad stuff. And she didn't want to start crying over missing people either. So she opened her eyes once again and looked around a little more. And all there was to see within the Tavern was ...

[Gawain]

Gawain. Booted feet propped up on the table, knocking back a cold one. Seems some things never change...anyway! He smelled Tasha before he saw her, and a slow smile crept across his features. "It took you long enough, runt. How have ya been? And....what do ya think of the remodeling Madeline and I did to the place? Always did say the place needed a woman's touch...." His features darkened for a moment, but he rallied quickly.

"So, tell me. What brings you to my neck of the woods? Hope it ain't trouble....I sort of promised Madeline I wouldn't kill anyone for at least a few days. Seems I reached my quota early this year." He chuckled, nodding for her to sit. "Take a load off, little sis, and tell me what's on your mind."

[Tasha Masterson]

He did rally quickly, but not quickly enough, and she knew that he was remembering a time long ago just like she had. But she thought that maybe for him, the trip to the bad stuff might have been a little quicker. "The place looks great so far. Beer still in the fridge behind the bar?" A rhetorical question of course, as she moved to go help herself. "You'll have to give me a tour before I go back. I'd like to see what else you guys did to the place." And yes, she did remember the woman's touch comment. He made it on more than one occasion.

After getting a cold one out of the fridge, she moved to the table. Twisting the top off the bottle and taking a long pull before moving behind him. She leaned over his shoulders and hugged him from behind, kissing his cheek. Then she released him, sitting down in a chair that faced him. The table was a little high for her to place her feet on, so she settled for his lap instead. It wasn't like it was the first time she used him as a foot rest, or a pillow, or even a bed on one occasion. Hell, one time she even used him as a punching bag, but that ... Yea.

Another pull from the beer bottle, she drank beer almost like he did. Of course, they had similar metabolisms and so they didn't exactly get drunk. At least not for a while. Once the cold liquid was swallowed she smiled. "So how is that niece of mine?" Ok, so it wasn't an official Aunty and niece thing, but she still claimed the little shit. "Oh, and I have news for you, ya old fart, there are no runts in this family." She laughed. And it was the kind of laughter that made your eyes sparkle. She was already feeling better than when she had got up this morning.

She cleared her throat when he asked if there was trouble. And then burst out laughing again when he had said that Maddie had made him promise to stay out of trouble. "Kid's got ya on the short leash this week huh? Can't say as I blame her, troublemaker." She laughed some more. She was glad that this visit was cheering her up. She needed to be around those who were like her, yet who she didn't have to take care of. And even though she now believed she could handle taking care of them, she still needed this time away from them to regroup.

Once she stopped laughing, she took another swig of her beer. Then she figured she'd better tell him what was up before he figured out she had something on her mind and got onto her about not spilling it sooner. "But, speaking of trouble. I have a situation on my hands. Somehow, I have ended up adopting thirteen little beta and omega weres. And so far, things are going ok, except with this one beta. I get that he was the closest thing they had to an alpha for a while, and he says he will fall in and take his place in the pack But ..." She sighed.

She polished off her beer before she let the other shoe drop. "It's not one of those things where I need my big brother to ride to the rescue or anything. But this werewolf is pissing me off. I've already gotten into one fight with him. It's like one second he's trying to arouse me or seduce me or something, the next second he's trying to pick another fight. What do I need to do to knock some sense into this dip shit? I already told him to fall in or get out. But the others who seem to be choosing to stay, he wants to stay with them. But he ..." Another sigh.

She closed her eyes and shook her head for a moment. "I am supposed to be their Nimir-Ra. Not that I was looking to ever be an alpha. And I think he is trying to get me to make him my Nimir-Raj. But if I were going to chose an alpha, a mate, it sure as hell would not be him. So, what? How do I deal with this?" She had chosen a mate once, and she was not going to dwell on that. And if she were to chose another, it would be Ha'Ruil. He was her boyfriend, and she loved him. She sure wouldn't pick some guy she had just met and was a total ass to her.

While she gave him a chance to take in what she had said and maybe try to help her find an answer, she removed her feet from his lap. She rose from the chair, taking her empty beer bottle and his, and going to toss them in the can behind the bar. She got them both out another cold one, and then she came back to sit down. She handed him the beer then leaned back to prop her feet up on him again. If he complained about it, she would take them down. But that was a big if. Then she took a swig of her beer and waited for his reply, if any.

[Gawain]

He groaned, shaking his head. "Dammit. This happens once about every twenty or so years, sweets. The world starts spitting out more aggressive, more dominant members of our race, trying to force us to rip one another to pieces and thin the herd. Me? You know what I always say when someone expects something out of me." He smirked, leaning forward a bit. "F*ck 'em. I mean, I could kick the shit out of your little beta, but he would just take it as a sign that....damn again."

He stopped, walking over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't take this the wrong way, kitten, but the little ass would think you had to hire a heavy to do your tough work. Now don't get hissy -or- pissy, Tash. I'll walk you through what to do...well, kind of. It's different for me, being male and all."

He slid his hand down her arm, taking her hand and leading her to a table. "Alright, then. Say I attacked your pack, claimed dominance as the Alpha. We fought, tore each other to bloody chunks....one or both could die, and another would rise to the top. My point is, there are many with the capacity to be an Alpha, but there are bloody few fit to be the Alpha. Make sense? We're pack animals, Tasha, but damn if we could be any less hair-triggered in temperament. Only reason I'm so calm is I've learned not to give a rat's ass about the small stuff." He grinned, showing off his flawless rows of pearlies, and chuckled. "As to how I wound up with the capacity, I have no idea. No one living or dead can say I was turned through any normal means. Damned shaman. One of these days I'll see that wrinkled old geezer again. Hope it ain't in heaven, since I plan to kick him in the balls when I do." Smirk!

Still smirking, he shot her a wink and chuckled. "Send the little jerk to me. I'll have him saying ma'am and sir to everyone he meets. I wish the lessons I learned were bred into us as well as the desire and ability to kill had been. Damn vamps. Bred us like cattle or horse stock, they did." He stopped, shaking his head. "That's in the past, though, and we've adapted. Ya know how your guy...and don't act surprised, you reek of a male, and I know you don't go for the quickie thing. It ain't like us. Nah, we imprint on someone once, and if that person ever passes out of the picture, damn the rest."

He hung his head for a moment, not sure how to continue. "The thing is...well, we fall in love like the humans do, but when we do, we do it down to our last strand of fur. It hurts to love that hard. 'specially when it doesn't get returned. In fact, it sucks royally. But I'm off the topic again...damn Ellen. Started watching that damned witch-box of Maddie's and developed a taste for talk shows." He sighed, looked forlorn for a moment, then started laughing, deep and rumbling, right from his gut. "For pete's sake, I sound like a flaming human! A human woman at that! Light!"

Wiping his eyes after a moment, he looked at her closely. "Tell me this, kid. You happy? I mean really, truly happy? I'm not being nosy, so don't start gettin' yer back up, I'm just...well, fulfilling a promise. You know how those are. We can't not go through with a promise we make unless we're dead. I've been dead more times than that Buffy chick Maddie watches so much....feel free to explain what a box set is and why they make them anytime, she has ALL of them in the TV room....anyway, that's saying something according to Mads. Seems like she bought it more often than I have. Not....in a hurry to do it again. The last time kinda stung. Left me connected to the bad stuff. True Source. I don't know how, but it did, and if you've ever eaten rotting meat, it's like that, but all over, through every part of you."

He looked puzzled, staring at her and glancing to a clock once. "We should so not stay apart so much. We've got too much to talk about! Grab the case of MGD and let's head to the TV room. We gotta catch up...oh, and if you have anything you need while you're here, transportation included, me or Maddie would be happy to oblige. Just.....third floor, room 310? Don't go there. Another were, and the kid is mad at the world. I'll explain sometime when I haven't talked so much that my tongue's sticking to the roof of my mouth..." He grinned, waiting for her to grab the case and follow him.

[Tasha Masterson]

Tasha sat there drinking from her beer as she listened. She chuckled when he said F*uck em. She had gotten to where she herself felt that way sometimes. Which was odd for her. But he had a point, if he kicked the shit out of Jasper for her, it would make it look like she had to go out and find an enforcer to deal with things for her. That was not an image she was looking to portray.

He got up, and as she felt him move to do so, she removed her feet from his lap. She watched him as he walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. That was when he had explained in better detail about her looking like she needed an enforcer. But he didn't have to worry about her getting all hissy and pissy about it. She was there to find an answer, not whine and bitch.

She rose from her seat and walked with him when he took her hand. She listened to what he said and laughed when he smirked. "I think you have enough pull with some of the big names that even in Heaven you could get away with a nut shot." He would know of whom she spoke. After all, wasn't that big name his favorite Fireball? "But as far as an alpha versus the alpha ..."

She went silent then, giving him a chance to continue what he was saying. She shook her head when he told her to send Jasper to him. Jasper needed to respect her as the alpha, not just an alpha, even if she herself wasn't all that sure. And there was a chance that he would have to see Ha'Ruil the same way. And just as that thought crossed her mind, Gawain mentioned him.

She hung her head even before he did. She knew what he was talking about. Though she was completely sure that her love had been returned. It still made it the most painful thing in the world though when he was gone. She took a deep breath to keep her composure. Then her head popped up and she smirked this time. "Hey! Half human woman here. Watch your tongue Furball."

Then he had to go and get all serious again. He wanted to know if she was happy. Well, that was a difficult question to answer given his reason for asking and because of their situation. So she took a deep breath before she did. She held up her left hand, he was holding her right. Upon her left middle finger was a diamond ring that once had been on her ring finger, still upon her hand.

If he felt the Amethyst ring on her right hand and wanted an explanation, she would give it. It was unrelated to either of the men they were speaking of at the moment though. The diamond though, that was on topic. "I am happy. This happy. I can't bring myself to take it off. But I finally was able to move it. Ha'Ruil got upset at first, because I moved it. He understands."

In fact, he understood more than she had ever known anyone could. "He knows that he is my second love. That he will never replace Gareth, and he doesn't try to. He understands that I love him, but there will be a part of me that will forever belong to Gareth, no matter what. And he has let me set the pace in the relationship. All of it. I thought he'd die of frustration."

She couldn't help but chuckle about that. She had made him wait so long for any changes in their relationship. And each one seemed to come slower than the last. But they were at the point of a committed monogamous relationship with the titles of boyfriend and girlfriend. He hadn't pushed for more, yet. And she hadn't offered it up, yet. Though, she was thinking about it.

Thankfully, there was a change in subject. Box set DVD's. And Buffy the Vampire Slayer of all things. She arched an eyebrow at him mentioning that Maddie had them all. Then she just laughed. "Ok, box sets are so that people who missed the show when it was on regular TV can watch it all at once, a whole season or series at a time. But Buffy? Yea, that's a good comedy."

She winked at him and chuckled. She lived her life surrounded by vampires. And the ones on Buffy were comical. At least, in comparison. Though, that Joss guy got a few things right. Maybe he knew a thing or two that most Earthlings didn't. Though Tasha would never refer to them as Earthlings in front of others. Too many of her 'family' came from Earth originally.

When he mentioned rotten meat, she wrinkled her nose and her stomach churned audibly. Gabriel used to use that as a punishment. She had been punished more than once, and in more than one way. So she knew exactly what he meant. So, upon request, she went and grabbed up he case of beer and followed him to the TV room. She heard him mention room three-ten.

An arch of her eyebrow as she smelt the air just a bit. She didn't smell anything other than herself, some wolves, and some other things, that didn't smell like weres. Though her nose had been wrong before. After all, she was feline, not canine. "Maybe he just needs to throw back a few with a couple other pack animals and vent?" An honest offer. "Unless he has cat and dog issues."

She chuckled about that, most wolves didn't like to be referred to as dogs, but she hoped Gawain understood the context in which she meant it. Not an insult, just a reference to the way domesticated felines and canines had a tendency to act. She had already let the vampire comment pass. So she hoped he would return the favor. After all, she wasn't bred, he wasn't a dog.

He told her that if she needed anything, they would be happy to oblige. At the moment, all she really needed was to get back on topic for a bit so she knew what to do about her situation when she got back. Agrarian on the other hand. "If you have a stable hand on the premises, I'm sure Agrarian could use some food, water, and a wash down." She had rode him hard and fast.

Then she moved the subject back to where she needed it to be at the moment. "I know what you meant by an alpha versus the alpha. But how can I be sure that I am even capable of being the alpha? I've always answered to another. Gabriel, Venis, you. I know I can be an alpha, but ..." She trailed off there. This would be a good time for some reassurance from him if he had any.

[Gawain]

"Ha...Maddie loves horses, so when you get Agrarian back? Yeah, the horse is gonna want to sleep in the house." Serious face. "Totally not kidding here. Braided mane, fed with a spoon....okay, okay, maybe not that bad. But still. Spoi-led. Believe it." Whatwhatwhat?! "Damn that New Ratto guy and his stupid cartoon!" Yeah, too much TV definitely rots the brain-box.

He heard her stomach, saw her face, and remembered. "Sorry, kitty. I forgot about that feminine hygiene product Gabriel. As for the kid in 310? No, he has serious daddy issues. He is a lot like I was once." He shook his head, then moaned slightly. "Light, but I don't remember being that bull-headed!"

He grinned at her final question, a sly grin that spoke volumes. "Best way to find out? Do it. Don't ask if you can, know you can." Beer time! Beer good....."Mmm, 'member that Yoda guy? From the Star War or whatever? Don't try, do or do not. That's some zen shit there, kitten. They got a lot of his philosophy from Zen Buddhism and Christianity. Hmm, come to think of it, the first three movies are pretty much veiled hints of more peaceful religions. Why else would the Yuuzhan Vong be introduced in a post-9/11 America as religious zealots bent on subjugating everything and everyone in the name of their gods?"

A pause as he slugged the rest of his beer, then blinked. "Dammit, off topic again! Maybe I should eat something besides red meat and nachos, never mind the fact that I don't gain weight....some of that hippy brain food Mads is always talking about."

[Tasha Masterson]

Eyebrows raised in response to Gawain saying that Maddie was going to spoil Agrarian. He wasn't used to getting spoiled. Slightly pampered, but not spoiled. But she chuckled and shook her head. And the comment about TV just made her chuckle even more.

Her response to his apology about Gabriel was to fan her hand in a downward motion. It was a signal that there was no harm done. She took a swig of her beer as she did that. And she listened as he continued. "Daddy issues? And Furball, I don't know any males that are more bull headed than you." She laughed and wondered if he would catch that she said males.

She listened as he continued. Then she had to laugh. "Ok, you had me until you started talking about Yuuzhan Vong and post nine eleven stuff. You very much lost me there." He'd lost her for sure that time. And she couldn't help but grin when he said he needed to eat something more than red meat and nachos. "Fish." That was the brain food that he should eat. Of course, that was one of the things that separated their species, cat's loved fish as a general rule. And Canines, not so much.

She laughed some more, because of the fish thing, and reached for another beer. "So, just basically be the alpha and make him abide by the my way or the highway rule? I guess Ha'Ruil will have to do the same, provided I choose him to be my mate that is." She had basically already done so, just hadn't made it official. Or even made it a conscious decision as of yet.

So now she would move the conversation to something she was curious about. Of course she was curious, she was a cat. "So why would he have daddy issues? He need a father figure or just one of those pissed off at all older males cause of what daddy did or didn't do types?" She had met both types before.

[Gawain]

"Bah. I despise fish." Gawain made an 'ick' face there. "Gotta piece once with too many scales and not enough meat. However, oddly enough, this shit that Maddy forced on me once wasn't so bad. Shoe-shee, or some such nonsense. Eh, who knows?" He shrugged his thick shoulders, thumping the top off another beer. How many was that....dammit. He lost count, he realized, at something close to twenty-five.

What the hell. His liver would regenerate. He was feeling just a little buzzed, though. Maybe he'd slow down after this one. And the one that washed that one down.

"Gah....this is one of those tetchy subjects, Tasha. He doesn't know why his pops left him, he just knows he did. Oh, and trust me when I say I was never as obstinate and bull-headed as he is." He was, as it turned out, a bald-faced liar. He was precisely as bull-headed as the kid once upon the proverbial time.

"Maybe....maybe when my head clears up a little, we'll discuss particulars. I hate to say it, since I'm a male, but Alpha males don't have to work as hard as females. Myself, I don't think it's fair to allow your defining point to lie between your legs." Shrug. "But then, what the hell do I know? I've never been the philosophical type." Wink-crack-gulp. What had he forgotten? Oh yeah, the beer before last was supposed to BE the last.....damn.

[Tasha Masterson]

Now when they had entered the room, and Gawain sat down on the couch (?) Tasha set the almost full case of beer beside him and kicked off her boots. She climbed up onto the couch beside him, case between them. She sat on one foot and brought her other knee up in front of herself. What a curled up position for sitting upright. And as they talked, she was matching him, beer for beer. She might have even popped open one or two more than he had while they sat there. After all, he was talking more than she was.

She laughed about the fish. If someone heard her laughter, they might accuse her of being intoxicated herself. She was working on it. No riding home for her this night. And the more she drank, the more feline she acted. She even stood against the back of the couch, sliding upwards along it, and sprawled herself along the back of the couch. She was on her stomach so she could still drink.

She was stretched out along the back of the couch like that when he said he was never that bull headed. Her face was near his head, so her laughter was not too loud. "You are still that bull headed brother dear." And she stretched far enough to kiss his cheek. Now, were she not a cat, she would have fallen off the back of the couch as she moved in that way. And it wasn't that she knew how bull headed the boy was, only that she knew how bull headed Gawain was.

She rolled in a stationary position on the back of the couch. After all, it was a thin space. She was still managing to drink while laying like this, and her leg dangled behind the couch and swung like a tail. She rested her other foot on the back of the couch with her knee bent. "Yea, I know what you mean. People think that just because there's a slit between my legs, that I don't have no balls." Showing signs of intoxication for sure now. "I got some news for them. I got balls. Balls the size of grapefruits and made of solid brass. Heavy bitches let me tell you." She laughed as she noticed her beer was empty.

She tipped up the beer again, not even a drip dropped into her mouth. So she held to the couch with the leg that was behind it as she rolled to her side to see if there was another in the case. Not like she needed another. But hey, she hadn't fallen off the couch, yet.

[Gawain]

Gawain laughed, beer spraying the area in front of him. Yes, he was mildly buzzed and acting much more silly than he normally would. "Haha, Tash, you're druking funk! I mean.....ah, dammit, you know what I mean. Drunk kitty.....ha! There was this pathetic little twerp that followed Mads around like a puppy for the longest time, if he heard there was a drunk -pussy- lying around he'd break the damned sound barrier!" More laughter coupled with a hand questing for another beer.

"Ya know, I always knew ya had it inya. I did! Ever since Gareth, I knew you had the inner fire, the strength to get shit done. If I ain't never toldya, Tasha, I love ya, kid. You, Maddie, Xavier, Ryan, Air.....family. I know you are Alpha of your pack, and I've known it since I scented you the first time you stepped in. Us Alphas can smell our own.....makes it easier to find which ass to kick. No, settle down, I have no reason or intent to try and take your pack over. I just hope you intend to invite me along to hunt occasionally. I think Maddie is trying to sneak vegetables into my diet........seulement entre vous et moi." Wink sent. He had no vithing idea he had spoken anything but standard english......yep, he's officially drunk.

[Tasha Masterson]

Tasha giggled. Yes, giggled like a school girl. "Yesh, I am. And you, brother dear, are a prunk duppy." *Hickup* "Dunk pruppy. I mean, a punk duckie." *Hickup* "A ... Shit. I drink ... I mean ... A drink ... Drunk puppy. Yea, that's what it is you is." Ok, so Tasha hadn't drank this much in a while. It was a good thing that Gawain was her big brother, and that he was a gentleman, and that he was married, and that he was a wolf, and that she had Ha'Ruil, and .... There went that train of thought.

The track her mind jumped to was Gareth. Two reasons. The first being that Gawain stuck his big hand down into the same box that Tasha's little hand was in. And given it was her left hand, if he weren't too drunk to notice, there was a blatant moving of a piece of jewelry. If he noticed, the ring was still there, it had just moved from her ring finger to her middle finger. And this was in no way at the request of Ha'Ruil. In fact, he had seemed rather angered by it, or at least a little upset. And she had forgotten that she had already showed him the ring had moved.

The other reason was that Gawain mentioned him. Yep, brought him up in conversation. She shook her head and pulled out a beer from the box. There was at least one more in there, if not two. She popped the top and listened to what he had to say. The beer never left her lips as he spoke. He was rattling on and on, but he was making some semblance of sense. So at least she could follow along. If she could stop thinking about Gary for two seconds. Which was a lot harder than she hoped.

When he was done speaking, she was done draining that beer. It is a lot easier to drink like you are a funnel when you are laying on your back. Beer gone, time to talk back. "No, I don't have the strength. That's you not me." She turned to kiss his cheek, almost falling down onto the couch when she did. "I love you too big brother." Her head hit his shoulder as she tried to maintain her balance enough to lay right on the back of the couch again. She thought she'd realized something he forgot.

It took her a second to get her bearings on the back of the couch again. But once she was comfortable again, she spoke. "You fergot yer Fireball. She is family too. Maybe not her little blood sucker protege', but she is." She almost sounded emotionally wounded about his forgetting her. "And I am Nimir Ra, but, well hell, I guess I'm Lupa too. But damnit. I don't want to be. I think I'm Ursa now too. Cause, you know, the bears. And I don't know what the rest call it. But you can have ..."

She fell silent for a moment. She was suddenly trying to remember what the female alpha was for Fox and Hyena, and rat, she had a rat too now. A cat with a rat. She was Dr-freakin-Seuss. "Oh, yea, sorry. You can have that blasted werewolf. Put him in yer pack cause I don't know if I want him in my Pard." And it was a pard, regardless of what the other animals that weren't cats thought. Cause she was head kitty and she said so. And she would probably keep Jasper, she was just drunk.

She stopped talking again, as if to digest what else he had said. Then it came to her. "Oh, yea, and of course you can hunt with us. Hell, you can have 'em. I won't even fight ya for 'em. This ain't me. I'm no alpha. I'm a beta at best. I don't want this." Again, she was drunk, so she didn't exactly mean what she was saying. "So yea, you can come hunt with us. And yer secret is safe with me. Je promets ... Promesse de ne pas ... De ne rien dire." Yea, that was what she was trying to say to him.

She had realized that he had spoken French to her, and so she knew to speak it back to him. Which made her think that he did still love his Fireball as he could have very easily picked up the French from her. Or not, but there was a chance. She also realized that she was not going home this night. She would sober up in a few hours, but still. "I tink I need a vroom. Ha, a vroom. Like I need a car. Don't think and dive. No, don't blink when live. Don't drink and drive. Or ride." She laughed.

[Gawain]

Snort, snicker, guffaw. "If'n I din't drink 'n' ride, prolly wouldn'tna been a daddy that first time. I ever tell ya about my first daughter? Yeah....she died. Twice. Necromancer brought 'er back, pointed her at me, pulled the trigger. I led 500 men against them. Din't make a damn bit of difference. They died. SHE died. Again. I lived. Ya wanna know the most ass-sucking part of being quasi-immortal?" Gulp. "Takes for-damn-ever to get dead for good. Sometimes....sometimes it woulda been better if I had stayed that way the first time." Hiccup! Melancholy drunk, now arriving.

[Tasha Masterson]

Tasha released the back of the couch with her leg and slid down to be in the seat again. Then she rolled over and got sat upright, on her knees, facing him. "I didn't know about your first daughter. I'm sorry." She crawled closer to him on her knees.

He looked really sad, and then he said it might have been better to stay dead the first time. So she swung one leg over his lap so she was straddling him. She sat down in his lap and looked at him. "Don't think that way. Think of all the things you would have missed if you had stayed dead." And she leaned forward and hugged him around his neck.

While she hugged him she laid her head on her arm where it was over his shoulder. "The first time you died, was it before or after the night that V bled for you?" Venis had opened a vein to save him once, when they were in the SBR, and he had done the same for her on another occasion.

But when the sharing of blood is between beings of power, they give a little of their power to the one drinking from them. Tasha knew this. And she knew that what Venis gave him was omnipotence. So not only was it harder for him to die for good, it was harder to even just hurt him. But she didn't know if he was practically immortal before that night or not. Come to think of it, she didn't know what Gawain gave Venis when he bled for her either. Maybe someday she would ask her.

[Gawain]

"H-uh. You know, I hadn't thought about it for so long....sorry. He put an arm around her, giving her a squeeze before ruffling her hair a bit. "Melancholy always looked stupid on me. As for my first time.....well, you have to remember, I thought I had died when I turned. So....I've never had a really clear idea of what dead feels like. I know I was in some sort of hell dimension last time, that was where I met Visage laid de Monsieur." He sighed, staring at the cases and empty bottles that surrounded them like a strange glass-and-cardboard army. "I guess I always felt like I shouldn't have been able to survive something, and well, you know what they say about your mind making things real."

He had found a beer that, despite all logic, was not empty. Unfortunately, it was also not cold. Warm beer.....guh. Wait....warm beer. H-uh. "You know, I don't remember being burnt since Venis did that. Oh crap! What if I got fire-resistant and she got extra-hairy legs!" He began laughing then, wiping at his eyes. "Man....don't tell her I said that, alright? That could be...dangerous. Especially if it's for reals." He really had no idea how his blood would have effected her, nor did he have any inkling that there was something different about him all along. "If that's the truth....do you have any idea how many times she has, indirectly and directly, saved my butt?! I mean....wow." He tilted his head and smirked. "Ha...she always did hate the smell of burnt hair, so maybe it was partially for her as well!" He gave her nose a playful poke before questing around for another beer.

[Tasha Masterson]

Tasha chuckled when he mussed her hair. And she didn't move while he spoke. "I know what you mean, sort of. I thought I was dieing too, that first change." She sat up and shook her head, not wanting to think on that night. Then she kissed his cheek and slid off his lap to sit beside him again.

Once she was settled back into her original position of sitting on one foot while her other knee was up to her chest. She rested her chin on her knee as she wrapped her arms around her leg. "Who's Mr. Ugly Face?" She chuckled as she too was scanning the beer bottle and cardboard graveyard for another beer.

Her attention was brought back to him fully when he mentioned not getting burnt. "She gave you the spell right? The one she gave me. To protect us from her flames. But if other flames and hot things haven't burned you either, and without even using the spell ..." She let that thought trail off.

There it was, another not empty beer on the floor in front of the couch. She released her leg and raised up on her knees. She braced herself with the coffee table that was in front of the couch as she bent over to get the beer. Hmm, not cold, but not hot either. Then she sat back up.

She was in the process of opening the beer when she heard the legs comment. She laughed very hard about it, making it hard to open her beer. "I won't tell her." She managed to get the beer open and she took a pull from it while he continued.

Following his exclamation of wow she had some input for him. "She says she can feel it every time you die. It makes her very sick. And one time, when you didn't come back fast enough, she started to panic. She was ready to come after you. She doesn't handle your death well." Enough seriousness for the moment.

She tipped her beer up again, and this time, she nearly spit it at him. His comment made her laugh again, and she had a mouth full of beer this time. It was all she could do to swallow it before she burst out in a fit of laughter.

When her laughter stopped she was able to speak again. "I'm not sure what she got from you. But, well, you knew she was a shifter vamp, right? Something about her first meal being the pet of a Gangrel, so it carried his blood in it's veins. But anyway, I digress. She spends a lot more time in her wolf form than she used to. Before we were in the SBR, I think I saw her wolf maybe twice. But I've seen it seven times since then. Maybe you gave her wolf a mind of it's own or something. She even shifts and hunts with me and Levi once in a while. Well, more than she used to anyway." The twice from before the SBR were because of hunts for food. Imagine how it looked, a pure white wolf with blue eyes out hunting with two very black panthers.

She thought about it some more as she took another pull from her beer. "In fact, I saw her in her wolf form not too long ago. You might have as well. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong, she just said that you were having a problem, with your inner beast, your wolf. And that she had gone to some cliffs to watch over you in case you needed her. Cause when she came back to the Inn, she was still a big white furball with those blue eyes of hers." She shrugged as she took another drink. She might have been wrong about his giving the wolf a mind of it's own. But it was her best guess.

She polished off the beer and shook her head. "You know, it just dawned on me, I didn't bring any clothes with me. And I am so not going back to the Starry tonight. You got a pair of boxers and a T I can sleep in?" She would most likely end up sleeping nude and wearing the borrowed items in the morning while she washed the clothes she came in. She would be going back in the same clothes that she had left in, but at least they would be clean? And she still needed a room. Just not at the moment, they were still talking. She would remember to ask again when the conversation died down.

[Gawain]

"Ah, you didn't have the pleasure of meeting Ahriman. Venis would have probably liked to toss something through him. A few broad-axes, a bastard sword or two....hah. Damn, I've already drunk moo touch. Too much." The world was not ready for the next moment.

Gawain.....

.....giggled. Like a drunken college girl. Not high-pitched, just.....giggly.

Just when you think you know a guy, huh?

He looked down, grinned, and shucked the top shirt off, leaving himself in a wife-beater. Anyone who knew his wife would appreciate the irony there. Air herself had looked at it and openly smirked, as if to say "go on, I dare you'. Since, however, he had a brain still in his head, he left off. Those spike things hurt.

"Here ya go, Tasha. I'll show ya to a room. Lessee.....since we're both drunk as all get-out, I'll stick with first floor. No stairs, y'see." He was processing the whole of what she had said, and finally spoke on it. "I should have known she'd find a way. She knew back before that I was too proud by half a measure and it would come back and bite me. Of course, I didn't think it would literally bite me. Haha. So....wanna hit the room and lemme see if I can scare ya up a pair of my old trainer shorts? They're like boxers without the fly. Er....just so we're clear, there's a dang good reason for that. You only zip yourself into a pair of jeans once due to slippy-dong before you say nah, no boxers for me." Crap-eating grin....he knew she'd get it.

[Tasha Masterson]

What neither Tasha, nor Gawain knew was the reason Venis wasn't there to 'toss something through him'. Because what no one knew was that while the little mess with 'Mr. Ugly Face' was going on, Venis was mysteriously trapped in her Keep. And every time she tried to leave, something disastrous happened. People knew Venis was trapped, and other people knew about the problem Gawain, Dre, Maddie, and Kyra had been facing. But no one knew if the two issues were related or not.

But that was neither here nor there. At the moment, Gawain spoke of him and then giggled. Which of course made Tasha giggle. And hers was even followed by a short spell of hick-ups. And while she hick-upped a few times, he stripped off his top shirt. He handed it to her and she smiled. "Tanks" Meant to be thanks, but she was a few sheets to the wind.

The shirt smelled like him, which was comforting to her. Not like wolf him, because the scent of wolf isn't usually comforting to cats. Though, sometimes it was for Tasha. But the shirt smelt like the man that Gawain was. Like her big brother, her protector, well when he needed to be anyway. So that scent was very comforting.

He said he would put her on the first floor. "It don't gotta be da first floor, I can do da, do da, do da, zippidy do da steps. But first floor is otay tooo." She laughed. Then she listened as he spoke of how proud he was and how it bit him in the ass. Which made her laugh some more.

She got up off the couch, hugging his shirt to her chest so she could enjoy his comforting scent. She laughed some more. "Slippy-dong." She laughed wholeheartedly. "That's not the only thing that gets zip, zip, zippity do da zipped into jeans." She very much needed to get that damned song out of her head.

She looked off in the direction of the door. "Ok fuzzy, let's check me into some shorts and get me a pair of rooms." She scratched her head and chuckled some more. "I mean, well, you know what I mean." She bent over and picked up her boots off the floor. She had almost forgotten them. And now she was just waiting on him.

[Gawain]

He snickered and waved expansively."Right this way, my lady." He trudged over to the door, pushing it open, and channeled Fire to light the candles. "Just a sec, sweetie."

Gawain gestured, opening a gateway to his own room, whereupon he selected a pair of training shorts and stepped back through. "Here ya go, Tasha. One pair of training shorts, freshly laundered. Mads doesn't care for my form of doing laundry....for the record, it's tossing stuff on the floor, then, the next morning, picking it up and giving it a sniff to see if it reeks."

[Tasha Masterson]

Tasha giggled at Gawain when he snickered and did the whole dramatic gesture thing. "Too cute Furball. Too cute." And she followed him to the room. Of course she nearly tripped over her own two feet as she walked. But that should be expected given how inebriated she was.

The room was lovely, from what she could tell anyway. She had some blur to her vision, even with her emerald kitty cat eyes. The candles were a very nice touch. It made her feel a little more at home.

She waited for him to go to his room and come back with the shorts. "Thank you so much." She went up on her tip toes and gave him a hug and a kiss to his cheek before taking the shorts from him. "Yea, I kinda figured you had that habit. You aren't the first guy I know who does that." Neglecting to mention who the other one or others could be.

Boots having been discarded as she came in the door, she was ready to get ready for bed. "So I'll see you in the morning. Er, well, as close to morning as I happen to wake up anyway. Love you." And she gave him another hug as she tossed the shirt and shorts to the bed.

She waited for him to leave before she began to undress. She thought about taking a shower as she smelt like horses and beer. But then she thought she was probably a little too intoxicated to shower safely. So she figured she would shower in the morning and launder her clothes. That way she would get a fresh start to the day.

Tasha crawled into bed and went to sleep. She had been asleep maybe an hour when she woke. She rubbed her eyes and got up from the bed. She used the restroom and then had a thought. She suddenly wanted a glass of milk. It was one of the side effects of being feline. So she ventured from her room.

Leaving her room she was barely coherent enough to find the bar, and from there, the kitchen. But somehow, she managed. And she found a glass. She poured herself a nice glass of ice cold milk. Then she went to sit down and drink it. As she polished off that glass of milk, she yawned and stretched. It was time to get back to bed.

So she got up and went back to the kitchen. She refilled the glass of milk and headed out of the kitchen. Now, at the Tel’Ranaemyn and now at the Starry Myst, Tasha slept on higher floors. So in her still drunk, practically sleep walking state, it seemed only natural for her to head up the stairs.

The number three ten was sticking out in her mind. Of course, that was because Gawain had told her to not go to that room, but in her current state, she didn’t remember that. So when she hit the third floor, she turned to go down the hall. She thought she was going the right way, it smelled familiar to her.

In fact, come to think of it, it smelled way too familiar. Tasha furrowed her brow as she reached for the door handle. Her key wasn’t working. And she had no idea why. She tried and tried again. Even shaking the door and kicking at the bottom of it. “Damned door, open already, I want to go back to bed.” And she continued to try to get into the door.

[Connor]

A slow growl passed between his lips. "Bloody buggery, what the hell is all this...." Grabbing the sheet to wrap around his waist, he walked over to the door. Sniffing once and smelling.....cat?......he snatched the door open and glared. "Alright, so I'm up, what the hell is all this about door and sleep?!"

He blinked twice, pulled the sheet tighter, and smirked sheepishly. "Right...if I'd known it was a bloody cute dame at the door, I might have worn more. Or less."

[Tasha Masterson]

And the door opened. Rather rapidly come to think of it. And in Tasha's drunken state, she heard the voice, and thought it sounded entirely too familiar. The variances in pitch and tone could have been explained away by the fact that she had woken him, or the fact that she was drunk.

Now drunk she may have been, but stupid she was not. Tasha knew Gareth was dead. So she thought she was imagining him standing there when the door opened. She also thought she had been the one to open the door. His words sounded muffled in her drunken ears, but the voice, the scent ... Nevermind that he smelled like a wolf, this was Gawain's Inn. And she was too drunk to distinguish between the two different scents. There were just too many explanations for what she thought was a hallucination, or a ghost, standing before her.

She released the door handle and took a step forward. "Heh, I'm sorry my beloved. I did not mean to be loud enough to wake the dead." A half of a second step. "I still do miss you Gary, and will love you forever. You do know that, ri ..." Contact. That was no hallucination or ghost standing before her. And she was too drunk to see that it was not actually Gareth standing before her.

A look of terror came across her face as she dropped the glass of milk. The sound of glass breaking drowned out the sound of her inhaling as she stumbled backwards. And then she exhaled. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A scream that truly could wake the dead. Everyone within the Inn would have heard it unless they slept like the dead.

As she was screaming, she was backing away from the door. She hit the wall across the hall and stared at him, shaking her head. Had this been ten years earlier, she would have already been shifting. But she had been forced to learn to control it. She no longer shifted when her emotions became too strong. All the better for the clothing she had borrowed from Gawain. But even with her better control, her fingers were breaking and reforming, and her nails grew longer and thicker and began to curve. She was ready to climb the wall to get away from the man who had answered the door. Because the shock had not quite sobered her enough to be able to tell that it was not her beloved Gareth back from the dead.

[Madeline Cauthon]

Madeline hadn't notice Connor get out of bed when she heard someone screaming. She jumped out of the bed in nothing but Connor's flannel shirt, which was down to her knees. Running to the door to see what was going on, she scooted past Connor. "Aunt Tasha? Are you okay, you look like you saw a..... OHHHHH"

Madeline turned and looked at Connor smiled and shook her head. "Um hun what have I told you about answering the door like that. Go put something on.. preferably pants."

Maddie walked over to her dear Aunt and put her arms around her. Light she hoped that scream didn't wake her father. "It's okay Aunt Tasha, I had the same reaction, but it's not what you think. Well sort of. I'll explain everything as soon as someone puts clothes on."

"Connor go get dressed! There's someone special I want you to meet."

[Connor]

He blinked, looking from one to the other, then shrugged. "Bloody hell, I don't usually get that sort of reception.....alright, don't get your knickers in a twist, I'm going." With that, he dropped the sheet and walked back toward his dresser, bending to look for a suitable pair of jeans.

He finally selected a pair of faded denims, tugged them on, then walked back over. "No. It's too bloody hot for a shirt. Never been too fond of 'em anyway." He smiled, looking to the obviously shocked red-head. "Sorry for the start, miss. Maybe an introduction? I'm Connor. You're Maddie's aunt, eh? Bloody young thing to be havin' a grown niece."

[Tasha Masterson]

If the first scream hadn't woken Gawain, the next one surely would. Because seeing Maddie come out of that room wearing nothing but a shirt freaked her out even more. So she screamed again. "GAWAIN!" And when Maddie came near, she moved away along the wall. She was well and truly ready to climb up that wall.

Maddie was trying to calm her. Not going to happen. She was too freaked out to want her niece near. "Don't. Don't touch me." Then the ghost in solid form dropped the sheet to walk away. That should have told her that it wasn't her beloved, but she was a little too panicked to notice that much.

If she hadn't gotten so drunk she would have noticed a lot about the guy who answered the door. That would teach her to sit around getting drunk with her brother. Unfortunately for Maddie and this guy who she still wasn't listening to very clearly, Gawain was probably the only one who would be able to get her to calm down at this point. She knew the guy was saying something, but she was too busy trying to find a way to melt through the floor or climb the wall or something. It wasn't even occurring to her to turn and run down the hall.

[Gawain]

A gateway opened directly to the left and behind Madeline and Connor. "Maddie, out of the way. Boy, move or get beat like the yearling whelp you are. Damnit, I asked for just a little time. A LITTLE time! Jesus!" A name he rarely uttered, but still revered.....hey, just because La Iglesia Catolica had excommunicated him didn't mean they owned him. Besides, old Nan....Maddie would remember her, a were-bear who taught Gawain how to live as a being of dual natures.....yep, she had been old enough to have actually met Martin Luther, and said he was a great guy. That was good enough for the furball, so yeah, Methodist.

Anyway.

He strode out into the hall, knocking, if the fool boy didn't have the sense God gave a garden gnome, Connor to the side in the process. "Damn, Tasha, I know it's a shock, but cat's have a vithing climbing gear. Stop trying to climb the wall with your arse and come here." He held his hands out, hoping she'd come to him. It was time for him to explain the thing he wished he never had to explain. Maybe she'd listen and realize that Gareth had been faithful to her, then realize hey, Connor looks to be in his early twenties, but like Gawain, was a good bit older than he looked. That, however, would be a story told in private, and no one but those who needed to know would be privy. "A cat and a dog walked into a bar......sheesh, how do I get all the fun jobs?" He glanced back to Madeline and, after seizing Saidin, allowing it to fill him and make his eyes flash a luminous amber ( a trick he learned some time back, but was saving for a special occasion). He tore open a gateway, and growled "Go put some clothes on, young lady. Oh, and don't look at me like that, I've known for three vithing months."

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