February: Stories and Songs

[Samael]

Keisha Ballard isn't a storyteller. Far from it. The girl, the Cliath who gets awkward sometimes in social situations...well, it's safe to say that she doesn't have the gift of gab. She's more comfortable talking with spirits than with people, and with humans her age than Garou. But sometimes, a story doesn't have a Galliard there to tell it, and this is why she steps forward, sets the end of her staff on the ground and leans into it slightly. Forget that it may make her look frail to some, that she needs her silly Iskakku staff for support and doesn't stand proudly with feet planted apart and shoulders square. To her, it is a part of her as much as her feet or her spine or her heart, and for her there is no shame in using it as such.

"I have a story to tell. One involving Milton."

She looks to the Ragabash, wherever he is within the crowd. Keisha fixes the young man with a look, quiet for just a beat, and then looks among the others.

"So, this happened last month. I was on my way home, heading through the downtown area, when I saw Milton--Pokes-the-Mind’s-Eye--making his way across the street looking, I won't lie, a little silly to my eye." She can't help it; she smiles a little bit. "He was striking a pose like he was in some superhero comic book...you know, some larger-than-life exaggerated idea of what a hero really is. Don't get me wrong, I like a superhero as much as anyone, but..."

She shakes her head. She's off point there, briefly. "Anyway. He looked silly. Lola happened to be in the area, too...Lola Hawkes. I'm sure most of you know her. And just as I was about to ask what the hell Milton was doing, we all picked up on it at the same time. A baby crying."

She frowns, thinking about it even now. "It...didn't seem right. I mean, more not-right than a baby's cry normally seems. And we all went to go see what was going on with it. We ended up in an alleyway, with no baby in sight but a hell of a lot of crying. I mean, it was really bad, to the point of screams. Something was definitely wrong. Lola and I went chasing to find out what, and suddenly...like out of the blue...Milton was gone. As near as we could tell, he'd run off and left us there to deal with it alone. Or more likely, just fallen behind."

Uh...Keisha, what kind of story are you telling?

She shakes her head. "Not gonna lie, I was a bit pissed. Anyway, I took a look across the Umbra and I saw a Bane coming our way. Lola backed off and went to find another way after the baby screams and I readied to fight it; even got a couple shots off with my staff. But I really didn't need to. Because suddenly, the thing's spraying brains on me. Because Milton was smart enough to get behind it and put a shotgun slug through its head while it was focused on me. And it was down with no harm done to him, myself or Lola. And when we found the source of the crying, which was itself a Bane of a whole different flavor, he did more than his part to take that one down too."

She turns her attention to Charlotte then, smiles and nods to her. "And Charlotte, who had shown up by that point, risked her own life to protect Lola when the Bane blew up and blasted us all."

She takes a breath and sighs, and shrugs. "I guess the point of what I'm trying to say is, Milton may act a little ridiculous at times, but don't ever count him out. Because without him, that situation probably would have ended up a lot worse."

See, Keisha? That wasn't so bad. And her story told, she pauses there, gives a little shrug and then returns to her spot next to her packsister.