RP:In Two Days Time
Summary: Mahri learns that she might have a thing or two to teach Meri about lycans and control.
The Rebel Room: Art Gallery
Meri was waiting for Mahri at the main entrance of her shop. For a change the blonde did not have a bottle of whiskey in hand but she does have a cigarette pressed between her red lips. The front door of Meri’s art gallery has been left open expectantly, as if to signal to Mahri to come on in. From the main entrance, the two women could go down into the gallery or they could go into the apartment. Meri leads Mahri away from the space where the child is supposed to be sleeping and down toward the paintings. At least Mahri would have something interesting to look at while the two women chat, “If you don’t mind shutting the door behind you.”
Mahri had followed Meri's scent, actually, to find this place. The glow of a cherry beconed and she was tempted to ask for one, but didn't. Mahri hadn't quit, she just slowed down. Following the blonde into the gallery, she took her time looking at the art work, admiring them and pausing in front of those that caught her interest beyond curiosity. The door was, of course, closed behind her. "Nice place. You're very talented."
Meri :: Mahri may not have asked but it seems that Meri must have picked up on the want. Call it a smoker’s intuition, or maybe she just felt like it was polite to offer one to Mahri since she had only freshly lit up her own smoke. She won’t follow the other lycan around the gallery though, instead she would retrieve a tarnished cigarette tin. It was silver in color, but the material was not actually made of such. Not like Mahri’s dagger. “S’alright. It helps keep the food on the table. Not all the pieces are mine, plenty of artists in the land who have talent worth displaying. Especially if they let me in on the cut of the sales. Quintessa for example, not that our dear Countess needs to sell paintings for coin.” Meri smirks. “She has plenty of it already.”
Mahri snorts in amusement and accepts the smoke from Meri with a nod of thanks. She doesn't need a light, though. The druid simply calls a small flame to the tip of her finger to light the cigarette. "I didn't know Tessa was an artist," she says on an exhaled plume of greyish smoke. "Speaking of, Tessa and I had a rather intersting conversation the other night. She caught me up on all the things I missed while I was away. I'm going to be hunting soon." A silvery side-eye slides towards Meri. She wondered for a second just how much to say here, but given that Magik obviously cared about this woman a lot and trusted her, Mahri probably could, too. "What can you tell me about a woman named Mags?" That's right, get right on down to business.
Meri presses her red lips together as Mahri summons her own fire for her cigarette and nods, that was a good little tidbit of information to file away on this particular woman. Mahri would learn in time that Meri’s loyalties were definitely in the appropriate places. Both Magik and Quintessa were two individuals that Meri cared for deeply, just in very different ways. If the blonde sounds a little guarded, it is only because she is protective, a feeling that Mahri can certainly relate to. Just swap out Quintessa for Rumiko. “I mean if I am being honest? Whatever Quintessa told you is probably the same information that I got on her. She and I have been working together quite closely on this project.” Meri hopes to continue to work with her niece on this too. “What I know is that she may be pedaling various artifacts that people are using for nefarious purposes.” Meri sucks in a lungful of smoke before releasing it, “But really, we ought to get everyone together soon, like I was saying, so that she can tell us all about this at once. It’d be good.”
Mahri was not the most patient of people and she worked better alone. In the wolf's experience, tag-alongs just got in the way or hurt. And she'd be damned if she would be responsible for that. "That's pretty much what she told me, too. She asked me to track the artifacts, woman and take care of her." Well, really, Mahri offered and Tessa took her up on it. "No offense, I'm sure you have your talents beyond your art, but I do better working alone."
Meri :: Did Meri take offense? There is a moment when the blonde lycan is lifting her brow but her expression is brought back into check and the tone of her voice remains tempered. Meri’s not one to appreciate being put to the sidelines. “Ah, well. If that is what she wants you to do and that is how you work? Then good on you. But that unfortunately is not how I work…” Meri states, taking another draw from her cigarette. “So if you are hoping to get me to say something that Tessa hasn’t already told you? Then you gotta include me in the on fun. ” The blonde winks. “Because you’re right. I do have my talents outside of being an artist, I promise they keep me around for more reasons than Magik thinks I’m cute.” The blonde shrugs. “Though I wasn’t lying when I said I probably didn’t know anything more than you do.”
Mahri liked Meri. She didn't know her very well, but she liked her. Which, given her history is pretty dangerous. "Ok...." she hedges, "Fine.We'll all need to get together and figure out the best way to take care of this problem. In the meantime, when was the last time you let the wolf run?" With the change of subject, silver eyes leveled on Meri, a brow quirked curiously.
Meri :: There are a few moments that Meri actually looks a little triumphant, not in an overly smug sort of way. She was just pleased that she heard that ok, it was like one annoying sister just got the other cave on letting her hang out. The moment does not last for long though as Mahri touches straight into an issue that most do not actually have the nerve to ask Meri. The blonde shifts her gaze away from the other lycan and rolls her shoulders in a bit of a shrug, “I can’t. I mean it happens? But. I mean if I don’t contain myself then someone will get hurt. It is different for my kid though? I think because she was born that way?” Spoken like one very confused lycan. Bitten and abandoned maybe?
Mahri watched emotions flit across Meri's face, the smugness then the discomfort. The latter causing the dark haired woman to tilt her head. "You can't? It happens? Maybe?" The fact that Meri had not connected with her wolf was disconcerting. It meant she would have no control if she ever shifted outside of a full moon. "Your kid won't shift until she hits puberty. But, you need to learn. If you don't and you need to shift for any reason or you're forced to outside of the influence of the moons; you could hurt someone. Even your kid." It isn't Mahri's intention to scare the blonde, but impress upon her just how important it was that she learn this very important skill. "You're a wolf. The wolf lives inside you and is part of you."
Meri :: It was disconcerting to Meri too, very much so. Enough that Meri is actually silent and staring at Mahri in contemplation. This was not an issue that Meri easily opened up on, for obvious reasons. Lycans were sometimes shunned, and Meri was the very sort they often took to shunning. The blonde heaves as sigh and pinches out the remains of a cigarette between her two fingers. The butt is tucked into her pocket rather than dumped on the floor. Meri probably should have grabbed an ashtray at some point. “Right. Correct. Please don’t repeat this story. The account I give sometimes...varies depending on the audience. You are getting the actual story. I was walking through the forest one day? And then bam. Wolf attack. It wasn’t exactly pretty and I was honestly pretty lucky that I didn’t end up dying.” Meri wrinkles her nose. “For months I didn’t even know who. The only information that I ever got was...a book on lycans shoved into my hands? But it wasn’t even like. An entire book. It was just a chapter...of a book. And then when I did learn who bit me? All she had to say was ‘oh don’t fight it, just let the wolf run.’” Meri shrugs. “My ex husband is a werewolf because of me. I bit him. And, yes. I am very concerned that I might bit Magik too. My child is honestly the only one who seems to be safe from me when I am a wolf? But even then, you are right, I don’t chance it.”
Mahri grunted, finished her own smoke and did the same as Meri but she palmed the butt instead to be tossed outside. "Good. We'll meet in Sage in two days time. You're training is going to start then. Books are shyte by the way, but your maker wasn't entirely wrong. You're going to have to embrace the wolf and learn to keep her in check at the same time." With a sniff, the lycan turns on her heel and heads towards the door, "See you soon," she calls over her shoulder. Mahri's not going to give Meri a choice on this one.
Meri makes a mental note of that. Two days time. Sage. Meri nods, there is no objection, Mahri won’t even have to force the blonde to show up. The other lycan will be there. But for now? Mahri was off and Meri was heading back into her flat to check on her mini.