Quote from Kaqurei on October 6, 2024, 4:08 pm

For her part, Lyra was still watching the reactions of others. Her imagination did have the dirty habit of running away from her, and a vengeful companion of Reggie's setting the Chapman home ablaze certainly would have fit snugly into one of her plots. But if this was a mere fantasy, it certainly had gone on a while. She was starting to think it was very real after all.

But you never know.

So she waited, and watched--both for an opportunity to be of service (it was so odd playing the civilian for once, and giving a witness report rather than calling in the dogs to search the rubble for something the arsonist might have left behind to clue at their identity) and for subtle little details like "Svalnaglas" and "Hunters". New vocab to tuck away until it became useful later, when she had a better idea of what it meant. These were the first suspects to spring to poor Mrs. Chapman's mind, and she'd never heard anything of these players back at the station. So they must be part of the werewolf world.

After a moment, she tucked some curls behind her ear and gave Val a sort of "What now?" kind of look. He was supposed to take her to the safe house. And now they were standing on its ashes. And no one could get a hold of Chapman for further instruction. No way he'd heard about what happened then, he would have been here in a heartbeat if he knew.

Quote from Indy on October 6, 2024, 4:24 pm

In all my wildest nightmare sequences, this hadn't been one of them. Chapman had always been the stalwart figure of stability in my life and many others. No one got the drop on him. And that house had been more my home than even the one I was born in. Now it was just ashes in the sky.

I was bothered, sure. If bothered was a word used to describe that itchy, crawling feeling under your skin. Half of it was the moon inching along traitorously to the crown of the sky. The other half was turning a dozen possibilities. Some probable. Others improbable. Others belonging in an anime plot line.

I didn't think it was Reggie. I was the newbie. Maybe his deceit went deeper than it first appeared. But if he'd passed his background check, he likely didn't have criminal affiliations that could have helped him out. And the men under him, well - it was hard to imagine someone being complicit in something so petty. Crimes like this had a reason. No one would burn down a house, let alone Chapman's house, out of loyalty to a former boss behind bars. And it didn't seem like his crime of passion had allowed him enough planning to hire a few thugs beforehand, either.

We had walked face-first into a house about ready to set on fire and the only thing I could recall was the smell of gas just prior. There had been no shifty shadows and no obvious signs of forced entry. Everything had been normal until it wasn't. Not for the first time that night, I wondered if I'd missed something.

"At least the message is clear enough," I grumbled, speaking more to myself than an audience. But trust me to forget in a room full of other wolves (and Lyra) that I had just joined the discussion.

I caught the meaning of Tara's gaze as it veered towards us and sighed. There were, of course, more pressing matters ahead than our grand-arsonist. I glanced to Lyra, but she was already looking at me for the next step.

I shrugged, "Same plan as before, I would guess.. Get you somewhere safe. There's a few other options," and I declined to add 'and not much time to get there', "Then join up on the patrol after and maybe find the guy that did it - but doubt we would be that lucky..."

I tilted my gaze to Tara, "Am I missing anything?"

 

Quote from Adriana on October 7, 2024, 10:45 am

Tara crossed her arms, holding her lit cigarette away from her upper arm, and then led Val's expectant gaze to Clay. After all, he was in charge until Chapman got back.

Clay must have felt her eyes on him, because just then he turned to look at the others, gathered several yards away. He gestured towards them, Eleanor lifted her head, and the two began over.

"Excuse me," Mrs. Chapman said, and dismissed herself to go sit in the passenger seat of the car Tara leaned on.

"I've paged the boss, and tried his car phone.. still no answer." he said, rubbing the back of his neck, trying not to sound too concerned.

"Can't catch a scent around the yard, can't pick up anything but gas and smoke; haven't found prints or tracks." he glanced between Val and Lyra. "Fire marshals gonna keep looking for evidence, but if it's a werewolf, not likely he'll know what to look for; and we're running out of time."

"Officer Torres," Clay said, turning his body towards her. Then there was a sigh and a change of tone, "Lyra.. look. I wouldn't ask anything of you that you couldn't handle."

Tara looked at him and took a long drag of her cigarette, blowing the smoke into the wind away from the group. She recognized the tone in his voice; he was dropping the future-Alpha-and-Chief-of-Police tone for the "big brother" tone. She knew what he was going to say.

"I think you should stay with us, tonight."

Quote from Indy on October 7, 2024, 3:01 pm

"What?!" I choked out the word, then recall several seconds too late that maybe publicly disagreeing with your future boss was a bad idea.

I lowered my gaze for a moment, trying (and failing to) fight the burning at the back of my neck. Chapman's right. I'm lousy at managing my reactions.

"I mean... is that wise? For all we know, we're targets of whoever set the fire. She could be right in the center of action".

What scares me more than Clay's offer is what Lyra would say to it. She might more comfortably stand amidst a dozen armed monsters than I would being the monster next to her.

Quote from Kaqurei on October 11, 2024, 3:37 pm

True to Val's fears, Lyra's expression did not so much as twitch at Clay's offer.

"Look," she said, crossing her arms, "I might not be one of you guys--not a werewolf--but I am and have been one of you guys for a while. I'm a cop. I wasn't going to say it in front of the Chief, but I was getting twitchy with all this witness protection kaka anyways."

She looked at Val, and at least looked the tiniest bit apologetic for once. Shifted her stance and put her hands on her hips. "Don't worry about me. I'd like to think the shock's worn off by now. Whatever these guys throw at us, I'm no stranger to criminals. I've been in the center of the action before, and if I couldn't handle that, I would've changed my career path long before now. I can handle myself. But promise me one thing: no more of this babying Lyra stuff. We're a team. You guys have got my back, and I've got yours, alright?"

She gave a quick glance at the woman in the seat of the vehicle and lowered her voice, "Mrs. Chapman is the one who needs concern and protection right now."

Quote from Adriana on October 11, 2024, 10:51 pm

“You’re like a sister to us,” Tara said, sucking one last drag from the cigarette before dropping it and stomping it out, “we know you can handle it, but it’s not an easy thing to be.. a part of, when you’re not a part of it.”

Clay nodded to Tara, and both agreed with Lyra.

”Boss isn’t back yet, but we need to get moving. Chapman’s got a cabin where I’d like to take miss Eleanor til this is all settled. I’ll have a buddy come pick up the cars and take them back, but we’ll leave from here. Any questions?” he asked, looking at Val specifically.

Quote from Indy on October 12, 2024, 2:05 am

I had a lot of questions- and I suspected none had answers I would particularly like. I rubbed my finger to my temple, chewing down my tongue not to voice most of them.  Lyra didn’t want to be babied, and Clay wasn’t inclined to baby her… I was really just an appendage to this scenario.

“Just make sure you have your gun,” I mumbled, full well knowing she had it.

I turned to Clay, “And after that, what? Take a patrol or stick on standby till Chapman manifests ?”

 

Quote from Adriana on October 13, 2024, 11:38 am

"You think out ahead." Clay said, nodding. "It’s a good trait, but there are situations we have to take one step at a time. Tonight's like that." he added, firmly but not without understanding. “Let me make a couple of calls, then we get moving.”

The team had come to learn about Val’s anxieties-from Darius and Steele, to having a close call with the Talkane faction.

Tara looked between Clay and Val, and tilted her head a little when her eyes came upon the latter. When Clay had stepped away she chimed in, “You’re planning things out like it's still just you and Robin.” she said, sympathetically.

“You need to get used to letting go, and not having all the possibilities and outcomes planned out ahead..” she waved her hand towards the cinders of the Chapman house, a case-in-point gesture.

“You’re still burning the candle from both ends trying to have all the details up front.” now she put a hand on his shoulder, briefly.

”With time, when you learn to trust us, you’ll find we cover each others weaknesses. ”

She dropped her hand and looked to Lyra.

”You’ll have four loaded guns at every corner." she said, with the smallest smile at the corner of her mouth. She wasn't referring to the firearms. "Keep it on you if it makes you feel safe, but it's better to go without it; we can see better in the dark than you, and, y'know..." there's always room for error, Tara thought, but didn't finish it.

Quote from Kaqurei on October 14, 2024, 9:58 am

Lyra smiled slightly but said nothing to Tara. She felt the weight of a trigger finger unprepared to face werewolves, and bore the responsibility for the consequences of it on her shoulders as heavily as Roger did. But it was bad enough not having her dogs. She'd feel like a declawed cat without her weapon. The past few days had been a blur, but it taught her one thing: she wasn't cut out for civilian life. She'd joined the force to do something with her life, even if that meant risking it for the greater good.

She'd been feeling like a rookie on her first day all over again since that fateful night with Reggie. But this time she had the additional experience of having actually been a rookie on her first day before. Her and Kimberly. Now her and Val: two sides of the same coin. He had experience as a wolf, but not an officer. She had experience as an officer, but not a wolf. Both of them stepping together across new thresholds, in a sense.

She shrugged at some unspoken thought. Trial by fire was just the way she liked it, she told herself. She'd earned their respect before, and she'd do it again.