another warmoot-y thing! [attn: ALL]

[Damon]

"Yeah I still think we should focus on Cold Crescent first." On the tail end of Avery's ever-so-well-spoken words, Erich's considerably more casual dialogue sounds downright crass. "I mean the airport: that's like, really far away. And meanwhile we have a bona fide Diablo dungeon under our own building. Plus I'm thinking maybe there was a reason the Sept was put here instead of at the airport. I mean it's a lock, right? If you only had one lock for two cages, you'd put it on the one with the more dangerous beast, right?

"Also, architect dude: I'm not sure how I feel about just tracking some random guy down and executing him. We're not monsters. Well okay, I guess we are, but you know what I mean. We don't have to be monster-monsters. I guess what I'm saying is: if you guys wanna go digging around on info, I think that's awesome. But if we're gonna act on something -- and I think we should start acting even if we don't have all the info yet -- we should act on Cold Crescent first.

"But yeah," wrapping it up now, "maybe we should ask the Warder one last time. See if he'll open up. I think you guys," he nods at Javed and Avery, "should talk to him. Maybe with Eva. 'Cause you guys seem the most ... um, grown up."

[Kenna]

Lola's expression becomes a little more scowly as Avery expresses her point that the architect might not be a knowing player in the whole thing, and that causing him harm and harassment could yield consequences not worth the lack of information they would find through that route.

She had to admit, the Silver Fang had a point.

So, with only the tiniest chip on her shoulder, Lola acknowledged: "That's fair enough. Alright, we'll stick back, poke around and see what we find. If there's any solid evidence that he is In The Know, we'll report back to you all. See what everyone thinks before we take any action."

She didn't say this so much like she was making a suggestion as much as it seemed she was finalizing a plan. She turned her attention to Reese, looked him square in the eyes, and tilted one eyebrow just a bit higher than the other.

"We'll trade numbers at the end of the night, yeah? Arrange plans on how to do this sometime in the next few days."

[errin]

Plans become set, things are winding down, and it becomes obvious this moot of sorts is coming to and end. Phoebe has offered the assistance of herself and of her pack wherever they might ne needed - it's what they do, they're a pack for support. She's preparing for departure mentally if not physically when Erich suggests a cliath, a kinswoman, and another fostern be the ones to approach the Warder and she's fine with the choice. Though they've rarely if ever spoken, she knows of Eva and respects her. The Philodox led the Cracking before last admirably, and she's heard good things about Avery besides. And she has spoken with Javed and knows him to be be a Garou of great honor and strength.

But Erich says his reasoning is that these three are the most grownup, and the Fury speaks up again.

"Excuse me," she says a bit crisply, though it's not as sharp as it could be, "but what exactly do you mean by that?"

[mnemosyne]

"Ms." The Shadow Lord corrects Javed thoughtlessly. There is no evident sense of grievance in her tone, but neither is the correction leavened by even the smallest feminine smile of apology. Her attention is brief and steady, with a certain wry light in her eyes that does not track to her mouth. Listen, she wears her years in the lines around like commas around her crisp mouth. Framing her dark eyes, etched between her rather expressive brows. Whether or not she wears a ring on the ring finger of her left hand - none is evident now, but on occasion she sports one that looks like a wedding band - humans never mistake a woman like her for a Miss anything.

All too often they default to Missus.

Don't worry. She corrects them too.

--

A brief and sharp breath in when Keisha speaks up, makes clear that - oh yes - the murders themselves, elaborated as they are, are the ritual. "I do not know," to Keisha, when it is her turn again to speak, " - whether we have complete blueprints or either site. In any case, I would not trust those available through the public record, given what we now know. I will make what I have available to you, though.

"And," a brief and wintry smile, "I would expect the Warder to have the most complete blueprints of 1999 Broadway. He requires assistance on all fronts now, I believe. He can hardly turn down your requests." A beat. "Our requests. I would suggest that one of the representatives to the meeting with the Warder be a crescent moon. And that the reconnaissance team include a competent spiritualist as well. Given recent events, and the discoveries we have made, I find the spiritual dangers more troubling than potential physical dangers beneath the Sept."

It is, after all, one thing to die.
And another thing altogether, to be possessed by a force powerful enough to -

--

"Perhaps," to Lola and Reese, " - the common thread is not the architect himself in any case. Some underling; some design associate. Some contractor. Some contact. Some common thread between the projects. We'll review the police data to see if there are similar threads of crime and disappearances in and around any of his more recent projects. Try not to get arrested.

"But if you do, tell them you want to speak to your lawyer, and call my office. My practice is criminal defense. If there is a way to get you off - " - or sacrifice you on the bureaucratic altar of someone-has-to-pay and for-the-greater-good - "I will."

[Samael]

The difference between Miss and Ms. is completely lost on Javed and he in fact does not notice that Eva has said anything different than what he did. He is an extremely well-spoken man for his circumstances; born metis and overseas, learning the language by his own study and experience--but some things things he misses, and he frowns a moment in confusion before simply nodding out of propriety, conceding the point and making a note to ask Avery what exactly was meant there in that little correction. His etiquette is good, but not yet perfect. He will appreciate the opportunity to correct himself.

"Indeed, that was my full intent," he says in response to her point of having a Theurge come with. "Your suggestion is noted and appreciated." And with that he turns his attention and singular gaze to Phoebe and Erich, waiting for their situation to resolve before broaching the topic.

----------

Keisha, for her part, nods a little bit gratefully to Eva for the answer. "That was my next guess. Thanks, Eva." And with that she falls silent. It's not difficult to see that her mind is already working a hundred miles an hour running through possibilities of what they might find, shifting and permuting them and trying to imagine what might come into play and what answers may be discovered.

As she does, she settles an idle hand on her alpha's shoulder. It's not exactly an attempt to defuse the situation, though it may be a calming influence. More than anything though, it's a moment of support.

[Damon]

"Er," Erich looks mildly taken aback, "I mean when they open their mouths they don't sound like dumbasses? Not that you do necessarily. I haven't heard enough to decide. But they definitely sound smart."

[jamie]

Before Erich can say the S word Hector jumps in - about as fast as he jumped in when Erich was goading a drunk Beloved Horrorite, for the historians in the room, but with about 98% less chance of being slammed through a table for his trouble.

"ELOQUENT. They're definitely eloquent. The vastness of their vocabularies strikes awe into the hearts of those who hear them speak." A beat. "My vocabulary sucks. I'm sticking with dungeon-crawling detail, if it comes to that."

[kai]

Erich address Avery along with Javed and Eva, saying they should talk to the Warder -- a suggestion she will gladly take on -- because they seem the most grown up. That bewilders her a bit, but she doesn't question it. It's Phoebe's reaction to it that raises her eyebrows slightly.

Avery's eyes flick from the Black Fury across the room to the Silent Strider beside her, then back again. The alpha of the Oracles is older by a few years than she is, and the metis who is unspokenly but obviously the alpha of the Falcons is likely younger than both of them by far in simple counting of years, but that's not what seeming grown up is about.

At first she has no intention of mentioning anything, even though it is a comment about she, her packmate, and a kinswoman that is causing the kerfuffle, but when Erich tries to remedy it and then Hector cuts him off, Avery lifts her chin and addresses the room in the same clear, level tone she usually uses. The thread running through it is not tension or even firmness but suggestion. It is a request. Frankly, she speaks up because she is embarrassed. It's distinctly uncomfortable -- at least to someone of Avery's temperament -- to watch one garou get irritated because another garou said something positive about her. A third garou jumping in to try and smooth things over only seems to amplify that sense of embarrassment on Avery's part. Still:

level. Clear. Calm.

"Though compliments to my and my packmate's supposed maturity and extensive vocabularies are certainly flattering," she murmurs, "perhaps we could refocus on establishing the action plan, and privately discuss any intended or perceived insult to others present when we have formally concluded?"

[errin]

It's unfortunate the Galliard doesn't jump in before the Cliath Ahroun gets out dumbasses. At least he's talking to a Theurge, and more specifically this one. Phoebe doesn't bristle with offense, she doesn't fly out of her chair and start yelling. And certainly she doesn't look irritated, merely baffled.

She tilts her head from one side to the other, her focus sharpening on Erich. Her brows lift when he clarifies to her, all Oh is that so? She does not look irritated or irate. If anything, she looks on the brink of laughter. Almost, but not quite.

"Thanks," comes first, and she finally draws her attention away to look at Hector. She knows or can guess the word he smothered before it could worsen this situation further. It could very well end with for trying.

Because the damage is already done. But, Phoebe has no intention of dressing down a smart but thoughtless Cliath in a room full of his peers. She blinks at Avery. "I was under the impression the action plan was more or less established. The Kinfolk will look into the architect. Javed, Ms. Illeshazy, and yourself will go speak with the Warder." Her gaze shifts to Javed then, the unspoken but obvious Alpha of The Falcons. "As this matter may have a spiritual aspect, as the ranking Theurge here I would like to go with you when you speak to him."

[CourtCat]

Winona, meanwhile, that young woman who managed to pull down better than a four point GPA and graduate with a bachelor's at the top of her class in the midst of her first change and rite of passage and so much more, actually does laugh when Erich says that these other people she doesn't really know but has seen around sound so much smarter than she (or her Alpha, or anyone else in the room), leaving the rest of them looking like comparative dumbasses. "I didn't know a good vocabulary was what greased the wheels these days." She is a bit offended, to be honest, not that it shows - or that she won't get over it quickly. Whatever!

+++++++++++

Reese gives Lola a nod, and already has his phone in hand for when this never-ending meeting-moot is over, and he, too, is amused (and bemused, for that matter, because how would Erich know, and what strength is there in making that sort of cognitive leap without even talking to at least a third of the people in the room?) at the kid over there assuming everyone but his buddies would sound stupid in front of the Warder. But that's no job he envies, so whatever - let the people who want it work it out.

"Yeah," is his answer for Lola, and maybe Eva too. "Numbers. Don't wear blinders in an investigation, be open to other possibilities than the expected outcome. Got it."