A Dance To Share

[Brigid Cassidy]

the soundtrack to this scene is Juke Joint Jezebel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-oUxxLEoR0) by KMFDM

:: The two immortals stood at a distance from eachother as introductions were issued. The Hueguenot seemed displeased with the Garou who watched on the sidelines, but it offered the leather clad Irish lass he challenged a chance to show off in grand style.

A haughty grin played on Brigid's lips as swords clashed and sparks flew off the blades that lit up the back alley loading dock in a random pattern ::

[Nara McKenna]

The Garou sat on her hind legs, her tail nervously swaying against the cold concrete of the alley, wishing she could do something instead of just watching. Brigid was bound by the rules of the Game, and that spilled over onto Nara, who could not interfere. Amidst kisses for good luck, the Immortal assured that she 'Had This'. That comment made Nara's stomach queasy with concern. 'Had' a fight to the death? As capable as Brigid was, she was arrogant and unpredictable. Either could be her strength or weakness.

A whined escaped Nara's muzzle as she pawed the ground in agitation.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid locked blades at the sound of the whine, and delivered a ballerina heel kick over her shoulder as she leaned her body in to drive Gaspar's sword down. Her heel caught him in the temple, and it sent him off balance.

Turning her attention to her lover, she offered a confident wink as the french immortal scowled disapprovingly. Then they circled and clashed again. Gaspar's flaw was his adherence to one style of fighting, while Brigid used a broken rhythm of several styles.

The fatal stroke came when she rushed up the brick wall like Jackie Chan. Gaspar's head came away from his shoulders as Brigid planted like an Olympic Gymnast. There was an eerie stillness around them that made the Garo's fur bristle. The wind picked up slowly, and a weird ghostlight flowed out of Gaspar's headless body as the Quickening began ::

[Nara McKenna]

She felt it right before the first spark of electricity arced out of the still twitching body of the dead Immortal. Nara went to all fours and sniffed the air. The stale odors of rotten garbage were ionized by the dark clouds of rain and thunder overhead. It tickled her senses, making her growl on the defense.

The Garou had no conception of what a Quickening was, so to her extraordinary senses, all she could tell was that something was amiss and Brigid was in danger...

[Brigid Cassidy]

"I love you, McKenna." she gushed, right before arcs of electricity snaked around her body and made her scream.

[Nara McKenna]

Ears curling back, Nara pounced in instinct, wanting to run to her lover's side. it was a futile effort. The Garou could only get so closer before the heat of the Quickening was threatening to overtake and kill her. Her fur was prickling from the energy in the air and threatening to catch ablaze.

She was strong for a Fury, but regenerating from complete incineration was far beyond her capabilities. Nara retreated and paced the ground feverishly.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: As swiftly as it rolled in, the storm dispersed as Brigid absorbed the other Immortal's knowlege and power. She knelt on hands and knees, wet hair covering her face as a light rain fell ::

[Nara McKenna]

Her head was bowed in a forlorn expression as Brigid dropped to hands and knees. Quickly the Garou padded to the weakened Immortal, licking Brigid's face in relief as the rain began to beat down against them.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid let go of her Hanzo sword, and wrapped her arms around the garou as she laughed hoarsley ::

"I'm okay."

:: Taking her snout firmly with her hand, she planted a kiss on her cold, wet nose ::

[Nara McKenna]

She huffed out an aggravated snort through her nose for having to watch that and then shook some of the dampness off her fur and onto Brigid to accentuate the point.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid squinted her eyes and gave another weak laugh as she pulled herself up shakily, and claimed a sword in either hand ::

"Let's go home, I'm spent for the night."

[Nara McKenna]

Nara circled Brigid once before racing off out of the alley and turning the corner. Moments later, the familiar sound of a motorcycle engine being revved caught Brigid's ears and a midnight blue Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 peeled into the alleyway.

Smirking darkly, Nara revved the engine one last time as a invitation for her girl to get on.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid swung a leg over the seat after concealing the blades, and hugged Nara tightly as they left the alley ::

[Nara McKenna]

The bike swung around, leaving burnt rubber in the air and on the ground, as they took to the street. The drive home was quiet. Brigid was exhausted, using what little strength to keep a tight grip on Nara's body so she wouldn't fall off the motorcycle.

[Brigid Cassidy]

(Back at the Club)

:: Brigid leaned on Nara as they entered the apartment over Kingston Mines. She flopped over wetly into a chair ::

"HOME AGAIN!!!" she shouted.

[Nara McKenna]

Nara sniffed the air and recoiled as she recognized the one scent present. She didn't even have time to warn Brigid.

"YA WON!" Paul, the ever annoying but lovable drummer, jumped onto the kitchen counter with a yogurt in hand. "I knew ya would," he continued, licking the extras underneath the spoon. "This one worries too much."

The Garou merely huffed and went to hang up their leather jackets without comment.

[Brigid Cassidy]

"The guy never learned the meaning of progress." Brigid scoffed, and stretched out lazily to rest.

[Nara McKenna]

"Pfft." Paul cocked his head to the side and a true look of concern crossed his features. "I know ya heal up ok and stuff, but you ok?"

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Exhausted, but I'll feel better in the morning."

:: She tilted her head to look at Nara ::

"Hey babe."

:: Her offered hand was sign language for 'beer me' ::

"Please." she quickly added with a big grin. :D

[Nara McKenna]

As she made her way into the kitchen, she purposefully knocked Paul off the counter.

"Hey!" :mad

The fridge door hid her smirk and she was all business again when it was closed with a boot.

Paul tried to act tough but Nara had a look on her face that said, "Cmon on. What'cha gonna really do about it, huh..'

He wanted to mutter something. But she would hear that too. "Ahh! You suck!" Defeated, he disappeared to his room and Nara gave Brigid her beer with a wicked smile.

"Alone at last," she purred.

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Arigatou, Nara-chan." she purred back, popping the cap and tilting her head back as her lips slid over the neck of the bottle to drink deeply. Then she turned on the TV. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNqT8jFgfpQ)

"Oh yeah, just in time." she smirked.

[Nara McKenna]

A pillow slammed into Brigid's face soon as the Immortal dropped the bottle. Nara had removed herself from the couch to grab something to drink, not actually miffed by her girlfriend's actions.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid uttered a muffled curse beneath the pillow as the bottle hit the floor, not breaking, but glugging out precious beer onto the floor. She tossed the pillow aside and rescued the bottle ::

[Nara McKenna]

Nara cracked opened a can of Diet Coke with a vixen smirk. "I knew you loved alcohol more then me."

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid rolled her eyes, and leaned back for Nara to join her ::

"I hope you feel a little less concerned about the Game now. I haven't been around this long to let myself get whacked by some lightweight."

[Nara McKenna]

"I'll always be concerned about the Game because they won't always be lightweights," she replied darkly.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid gritted her teeth as Kassandra came to mind ::

"It's Kass you're worried about, isn't it?"

[Nara McKenna]

"Yeah, if your Mom riles up the hornet nest, she might come a callin' on you. And who knows," Nara paused to take a sip of her drink, "So might Michele."

Tongue in cheek, the whole mess just made her stomach queasy. "This is one big train wreck waiting to happen and I don't want to see ypu end up on the casualty side."

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Pffffft!!!"

:: Brigid straightened up a bit ::

"Relax. I won't whack Kiddo, but she does have a severe ass kicking coming. I can't believe she snapped on me like that."

:: Her expression was more hurt than angry ::

[Nara McKenna]

"You're owed on an apology but you might want to keep in mind she's young. Young in Immortal years and good ol' human ones. She's freaking out and looks up to Kass, who's also filling a void. You turned on Kass, so she turned on you. And you really went off the deep end." She shrugged, "Didn't help."

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid blinked ::

"Don't go all wise woman on me, I know."

:: she kissed Nara on the cheek ::

"I just wish she'd trust me, like when we found her."

[Michele Hawkins]

Chicago - 1993

"Mommy!" cried a young Michele Hawkins, only six years in age, clung desperately to the limp hand of her mother's, desperately trying to shake her awake. Tears streaked her face, too innocent to know the truth. The Black Spiral Dancer had already taken Amanda Hawkin's life, but the young child thought she had merely passed out from the fright of seeing a Monster attack them. She would have to try harder.

"Mommy wake up!" she tried again, shoving Amanda's shoulders as hard as her little arms would allow. Her mother barely budged.

Swords clanged in battle as two women fought her mother's attacker. The noise was loud and it frightened Michele that she buried her head in between her mother and her jacket. She would just have to wait it out and hope for those nice people in the loud vehicles to come. The ones that have the neat bags and boxes that heal people. Then mommy would wake up.

[Fiona Devlin]

:: Fiona had arrived just as the Black Spiral lunged at Michele in Hispo form. She intercepted, standing in the way with sword drawn ::

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!!!" :verymad

:: The creature's mouth dripped venom as it growled back in outrage ::

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid wasted no time in joining the fray, laying the first cut along the Hispo's side. Oily black blood flowed from the wound. It yelped, and shifted to Crinos form as the two Immortals contained it in a tight, stalking circle ::

[Michele Hawkins]

The bad words, the growling, the smell of the sewers ... Michele clutched at her mother crying her fear into the black sweatshirt. No one could really hear her anguish. Accept perhaps the Black Spiral that wanted to feast upon such young meat.

He tried to feint the Immortals and lunge at the girl once more ...

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: The Spiral broke past Brigid as it mule kicked her, and uttered a sickening hyena noise as it closed in on the child ::

[Fiona Devlin]

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

:: Fiona abandoned her blade as she went after the Spiral. Pulling the silver manriki chain from her waist, she jumped on it's back. She screamed into the monster's bat-like ear as she garroted it's neck and brought down with all her might "

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH !!!" :verymad

:: It gurgled as the silver burned, and it's neck snapped as it's head hit the ground at an awkward angle. Fiona clung to it with the fury of a mongoose, keeping her grip until she felt sure it was dead ::

[Michele Hawkins]

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" came the child's wails as she screamed into the Red Sky. Michele shivered with fear, still smelling the acid that wanted to burn at her nose. It felt as if all the moisture left her throat, due to the smell or her screams, she wasn't sure.

Her tiny body spasmed with sobs, not sure what had just happened. Michele didn't need to see what happened behind her, but her young mind realized enough that she had been in terrible danger.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid spotted a vamp watching on the far street corner ::

"Sabbat!" she hissed. "I'll get him!"

[Fiona Devlin]

"NO!!!" Fiona spat back as she got back to her feet. "KEEP HER SAFE!!!"

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid flusters at the command. Her adrenalin waa soaring and she wanted to kick more ass. Especially Sabbat ass ::

"You want to me to ..."

[Fiona Devlin]

"DO AS I COMMAND!!! :verymad

:: That was the end of it, and Fiona was off across the street in hot pursuit before Brigid could recover from the shock ::

[Michele Hawkins]

The sounds of the women fighting sparked a scared, yet curious, eye to turn to see what the commotion was.

She had no idea what a Sabbat was, nor why the woman chasing after it. The other lady looked mad and kinda confused. Just like Michele's mother would look like when she her little darling did something wrong, but looked so innocent and cute doing it. Like stealing a cookie from the counter and trying to say she hadn't eaten the cookie, though there were crumbs all over her face.

Michele's trip down a pleasant memory was squashed into the present as she stared directly at the Black Spiral. It was deformed looking mongrel who's eyes were dimmed and pink tongue swollen from death. It made her cry.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Oh, they would have this discussion later, she swore to herself. Damn fucking straight they would. Fiona had cracked, and now she was all Braveheart while Brigid was left to babysit. She looked up at the sky. It was definatley getting worse. Michele's cries drew her attention away, and she swallowed hard to force her anger down. The poor girl had just lost her mother, and Brigid's heart went out to her. Concealing her Hanzo, she knelt down to offer comfort ::

"Hey ..." she said as softly as possible.

[Michele Hawkins]

Huddling closer to her mother, Michele squeaked back a loud sob but she couldn't stop the coughing that started up. It took only a few seconds for her little chest to stop heaving.

"Mommy...." she said to Brigid and grabbed Amanda's hand. "She no wake up."

Big green eyes pleaded with the Immortal, "Can you help?"

Michele trusted the ladies. They stopped the bad dog and saved them.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid looked grim as she shook her head ::

"I'm sorry, we got here too late ..."

[Michele Hawkins]

Michele didn't get the meaning behind those words. Instead she pushed her hands against the ground to stand and pulled on Brigid's jacket in utter sincerity, "No! Not late! Get medacin! Medacin ... Please." :(

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: A lump formed in her throat as the girl shook her. There was no delicate way to say it to a child ::

"She's gone. There's nothing I can do to bring her back."

[Michele Hawkins]

Green eyes welled with tears and Michele slumped down to the ground. Still she held onto Brigid's jacket but her attention was solely focus on her mother. "She sleeping then?"

She sniffed and wiped her nose with a sleeve. "No more wake up...."

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: She nooded gravley, and cursed inwardly at Fiona. She was so better at this ::

"We have to go. It's still very dangerous out here."

[Michele Hawkins]

"But... what about Mommy?" :(

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: A shimmer of light appeared as one of the Garou stepped out of the umbra to their location, and Brigid exhaled in relief ::

"She'll be ok. This angel has come to take her to a safe place."

[Michele Hawkins]

Big wide eyes grew in wonder. "Whoaaaaaa...."

She teetered to her feet and watched as an older man, chiseled in face due to countless battles, picked up her Mother tenderly and walked back into the umbra tear slowly.

Michele's face turned cheerful and she waved to the nice Angel and her Mom, who began to ripple away into nothing. "Take gud cares of her, please!"

He smiled and nodded, "Of course little one."

Michele beamed, she knew her Mom was safe now. He had a pleasant voice that was perfectly calm and serene. Mommy was going to be safe in the Heaven that was talked about. And Michele knew that if she was good, she would meet her Mother again too!

Yet as amazing as this was, something really puzzled the six year old. Again, there was a tug on Brigid, but it was her leather pants this time. "How come Angels wear jeans? And where was his wings? Mommy said they had wings."

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Angels have casual days too, you know ..."

:: She winced inwardly at the lameness, but it's the kind of thing Fiona would have told her ::

" ... hey, what's your name?"

[Michele Hawkins]

"Dat makes sense," she said with a nod. Everyone deserved to have a lazy day. Even the mighty Angels of the heavens!

Her ears perked up at the question and looked up at Brigid, "My name's Michele. I'm named after my Daddy."

And she was very proud of that fact! :D

[Brigid Cassidy]

"My name is Brigid." she replied, offering a hand. A burst of wild lighting struck the ground across the street, and she scooped up Michele reflexley to protect her ::

[Michele Hawkins]

She was shivering from the thunder. Never had it been so close to her. Usually the loud scary stuff of storms stayed up in the sky!

"Can we go now please?" she asked into Brigid's neck all muffled and pathetic, holding onto the Immortal's neck as tightly as her little arms could.

[Brigid Cassidy]

"It's okay, we're going now."

:: Holding the child in her arms, she made her way into one of the abandoned convenience stores. Plenty of munchies for both of them as well as shelter for the night ::

(PRESENT DAY)

"She was a sweet kid, but she made me leave money for the milk & cookies."

[Nara McKenna]

Nara laughed and teased, "So how is that a bad thing?"

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Kiddo wiped me out." she chuckled.

[Nara McKenna]

"So even after you wanted to bitch out Fiona, you were happy you got to take care of her, huh?" she asked grinning.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: The outrageous grin was too much to handle, and Brigid pushed her head in self-defense as she laughed ::

"okay, okay, I'm busted" ^_^;

[Nara McKenna]

Nara leaned in, playing with the loops on Brigid's pants to tease her further, "Ya big ol' softy..." :p

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Yeah, yeah, yeah ..." :lol :lol :lol

:: She couldn't resist Nara at her most playful, and initiated a wrestling match that rolled them off the couch ::

[Nara McKenna]

Limbs scrambled for dominance as random yelps were cried out. Brigid was far too weak from the fight to put up too much of a struggle. Nara came out on top, straddling Brigid with the Immortal's arms locked behind her back and pushed up against the couch. Matching sets of brown eyes locked on each other, staring and unblinking as chests heaved from the struggling ending abruptly.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: The exertion left her weak as a child, but she managed a smirk ::

"There's gonna be a rematch, you know." :mneh

[Nara McKenna]

"And I'll win that too," came her retort and to add insult to injury, Nara licked the tip of Brigid's nose. After a moments silent reflection of wandering thoughts as they gazed at one another, Nara spoke. "What're we gonna do about the Michele problem then?"

She wanted to help, but the Fury did not have the connection that Brigid and Michele shared. There was love, not romantic, but a deep affection for one another that was seeded a long time ago...

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid sighed ::

"I don't know. I hate having to play by Mom's rules."

[Nara McKenna]

Nara's expression darkened and she pulled her arms away, "Nikoleta is right. You would only get yourself killed if you confront Kassandra."

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid had no response for that, and kept her mouth shut ::

[Nara McKenna]

"At least you realize it," she chided and untangled the rest of her body to stand. "Talking to Michele, on the other hand, isn't forbidden. And if you guys degrade into another squabble, you'll be fine. But I don't think that'll happen this time. Well, if you want to try it that is. Talking to her."

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: The Immortal blinked ::

"Sometimes you scare me, McKenna."

:: She pulled herself up in a sitting position ::

"Alright, I'll do it." she relented.

[Nara McKenna]

She smirked, knowing what that first comment was referring too. Nara may be young in years, but her soul was old. How old was debatable ... but it was humorous that the Garou was giving advice to an Immortal that had managed to survive for over a thousand years.

"You could sound a little more enthusiastic about it," quipped the Fury.

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Sorry, I need sleep."

:: she closed her eyes and began to fade ::

[Nara McKenna]

With much love, the Garou hoisted the Immortal into her arms and onto the couch - a far more comfortable place to rest then the floor. Covering Brigid with a blanket, Nara shifted into Lupus form and padded around in a circle to find the perfect spot to sleep nearby- as as any devoted Garou would do for their mate.