2019.01.21 - The Apocalypse, Day Two: Cookies for Breakfast Is Okay, But Only During the Apocalypse

*Early the morning after the The Siege of Rowanwood, some of defenders steal a quiet moment.*

January 2nd, Year Unknown; Pre-Dawn

Rowanwood

Jason Christopher walks inside through the front doors of Rowanwood House. It was still very early, but then he seldom slept very much. Much less with recent events weighing on his mind so heavily. There is a darkness that hangs about him like a cloak. The killer instincts he had abandoned to some measure while living in Forks were suddenly alive and well again within him. He reflected that maybe Derek Hale was right, and this was what it felt like to actually fight for survival. If so, Jason Christopher of the House of Lupus, Lord of the Children of the Moon, did not like it. Tonight he would speak with Nessa, as her wisdom was needed now. But Nessa knew him, knew what he was. The time would come when the enemy was revealed, and then he would do what he had always done best. Yes, the darkness hung about him like a cloak, the cloak of one that understood that at least for a time, he might well need to be the monster he always believed himself to be, once again.

Marius Runningwolf Riesse....Salish werewolf, spirit talkr already stands inside, sipping on coffee as he looks over. Right now Mar's hair is cascading down his back, a hair band tied around his first two fingers on his left hand. Marius's amethyst eyes are bright with....something. Something dangerous. He and Brother Wolf were on the same page, though the man and wolf are for the moment in harmony. Both wanting to survive. Both wanting to make it through this....as Marius's grip on the coffee is white knuckle....as Marius shakes his head at his coffee. "You ever" he says to himself. "Figure you'd be in this crazy crap huh?" he asks himself with a look around, then half closes his eyes. If he has to rely on the wolf inside him.....so be it then. Marius will do whatever it takes to survive. Get through this. Even if that means ceding to Brother Wolf...

The kitchen door opens, and Sly emerges, carrying a small plate with a few cookies on it and looking like teenagers do when they're being, in a word, tolerant. He's followed out by Jacob Black, who holds the door for Sly, sighs, and follows him out, looking like grown-ups do when they're putting up with teenagers, even when they are themselves teenagers and technically far younger than the teenagers in question and, crap, this part of his life is really damn complicated. But, he manages--and, seeing Jason, even in the more brooding state, Jacob brightens visibly. He reaches over to ruffle Sly's hair as he passes him, drawing a pointed look from the changeling, and goes to hug Jason.

"I know that look," Jacob murmurs to him. "And I know you're in 'gearing up for war' mode. And it's probably a good thing right now. Just don't get lost in the dark, okay? I'm right here." He moves in for a kiss, then, tender and sweet rather than too steamy, and when they part, he cracks a little grin. "Your son, by the way, demanded cookies before breakfast. I lost the argument, since there was a big platter of them in the kitchen. Good news is, we didn't burn down the kitchen trying to make any."

As for Sly, he hangs back for the moment. PDA between his dad and his... Jacob... is something he doesn't question, but he doesn't exactly go in for it, either.

Jason Christopher is well aware of the other wolf in the room as he walks inside, Marius as he recalled. For himself, his stalking ability was in use. Though he was readily seen, his footfalls made utterly no sound, and he gave off no discernible scent at the moment. Like he was a ghost in the great halls of Rowanwood. Taking a shallow breath he nods to Marius, as a small rumble of thunder can be heard from outside. The weather mirroring his darkened mood. Just the same he offers a polite greeting. "Hello again, Marius. You should rest before the sun rises."

As Jacob and Sly walk out of the kitchen, Jason Christopher turns to look at them. A bemused expression as he notes the cookies with a raised eyebrow. He returns Jacob's kiss, and then says quietly. "I'll find my way out, following your light. I have twice before after all, thanks to you." He looks at Sly and shakes his head some. "No milk? Isn't that some sort of a mortal sin? If not they should update those. Clearly, behind the times."

Marius raises an eyebrow at the cookies then to Jason. "I would. But" he says, raising his coffee in a greeting as he spins on a heel and eyes the cookies. "So...umm...are you going to share those with us or are you gonna share the platter I heard was in there?" Mar asks then turns his attention back to Jason, letting Mar's wolf out a tiny bit, his eyes going a touch more wolflike. His grip on the coffee tightens. "I did rest, I rested earlier after running several hours ago. I slept outside by the pond" Mar adds, with a look around as he sips his coffee. It's working. It's calming him. Mar sighs quietly. "I couldn't sleep. I was trying to contact the spirits to see if they knew anything. I couldn't get to them, so I stayed up trying, and trying, and trying" Mar says with a hint of disappointment, though he does hear the 'no milk' question and glances over. "I thought it was a rule you always had milk and cookies. I know I did when I was your age" Mar nods to Sly with a slight smile. "Besides, milk and cookies go together great" he adds after a moment's pause.

Sly's eyebrows dart up, and he immediately turns on the ball of his foot to return to the kitchen. Because, clearly, his father is right. Cookies without milk! What was he thinking? He vanishes through the door, munching a cookie as he goes.

Jacob, looking like he really might laugh but keeping it together, says, "Yeah. You really are the big, bad wolf. So strict. So unreasonable." He does laugh, then, unable to help himself. "Compared to you, *my* dad's weak as a kitten, but if I'd ever told him I was having cookies before breakfast, he'd have at least chewed my ear off. Guess that's just it. You officially do have a warm, fuzzy side, and now there's a witness to prove it."

At that point, he turns to Marius and says, "Sorry, didn't mean to ignore you, there. Just, uh, y'know. Kind of a family moment. You know how it is." God, the fact that *Jacob* knows how it is *still* hurts his head, but... go figure, he adjusts. The imprint really is so damned useful when it comes to accepting the weirder parts of his life. "Slept outside in the cold, huh?" he says, raising his eyebrows, and gives Jason a sidelong glance. "Huh. Who does that sound like? I just can't place it. Nope. Doesn't sound familiar at all."

Jason Christopher rolls his eyes and groans a little as he is chided by his mate. "At least the milk makes it seem more appropriate as a breakfast. Isn't there some cereal with a cartoon dog or something that is just glorified cookies in milk?" He dismisses it with a sigh and smiles that soft, special smile that he reserves for so few. "Once we get through this, I'll tell him no more cookies for breakfast."

Glancing back at Marius he considers for a moment. "You speak to spirits? That is, interesting." He glances at Jacob and raises an eyebrow. "Tell me Marius, ordinarily what do the spirits tell you, or do for you?" There is an element of it, that reminded Jason of the stories he had heard decades ago before he actually met the Quileutes.

Jacob smirks a bit and says to Jason, "I think I tried that argument on my dad when I was about eight." At the promise to end the practice of cookies before breakfast, he grins wider and says, "That I'll believe when I see it." But, then he turns again to listen to Marius, interested in what he says but a bit wary. The spiritual side of things is important, even interesting, but it's just never exactly been in his wheelhouse.

Marius shakes his head, "They...." he says simply, looking over them all again. "What do the spirits tell me?" he asks leaning against the wall,taking his hair band off of his glove and setting his coffee down, braiding his hair. "Yeah. I slept outside. Didn't want to track mud and snow and everything through the house" Mar adds then goes back to the questions of spirits. "What do the spirits do for me? Well....I ask them for information. They tell me if they want to" he adds, shaking his head. "Not bad for a Salish werewolf huh?" he asks with a shrug, finishing up braiding his hair, and picking his coffee back up sipping it. "Hey, how'd that cookie thing end up?" he asks, leaning more on the wall. "I'm a little annoyed I couldn't contact the spirits but then again, I need to be on Salish land to do so. If I could find something here where I could call to the spirits and say hey, look, I got Salish land, I got a question....they may or may not tell me. Spirits are fickle when they want to be" Marius says, knowing not to anger them. Spirit animals doubly so.

Jason Christopher listens to Marius thoughtfully. "The Salish. The Bitterroot Salish from around Montana? Interesting." He looks at Jacob and then back to Marius. "I have followed up for centuries on shape changers, various brothers and sisters of our kind. Yet I still find as much as I know, as much as I discover. There is always more to know."

Jacob folds his arms across his chest, just listening, but he doesn't really have much to say. His manner is respectful, but this is quite different from his own experiences and way of looking at things. For him, it's all much more primal, natural. Spirits are more of a conceptual, theoretical thing, at least the way he tends to think of them. Does he feel the spirit of a wolf when he shifts, of the ground when he runs on it? Maybe, but... well, in his own inner thoughts, he might remark that he's not Pocahontas or something. He's not feeling the colors of the wind or whatever--not that he's got anything against that! It's just not his life. He's a pretty simple guy, at least in his own mind.

Marius shakes his head. "Flathead Salish,or the Salish-Kutanai tribes" Marius says with a smile. "Yes, there's more to learn, I lways find the best way to learn however....is just to watch and tke note of what your environnment is saying, from the trees, to the wind, to the spirits" he says then smiles. "Hey, listen, if I can get through to the spirits, I'm perectly fine helping us all out" he says and looks around. "Besides, it could help out, ya know" he nods, tapping his nose as he swirls the cofee in his mug. "So....after everything that's gone on....I ws going to ask you all what we're gonna do" he nods, and pauses as if looking off into the distance, out the window as hee's turned to look out of said window then back to them. "Well" Marius says. "It's snowing out there, I was watching it snow"

Jason Christopher listens quietly to Marius, and considers how his own druidic knowedge is in some ways similar to what he is describing. Under the circumstances he wasn't sure this was the best time, and yet. "We will all be called on to do our parts in the conflict to come." He considers a moment. "You speak to spirits, I speak to nature. To the wind and the earth, fire and water. To the storm, and the animals and plants of the world." He pauses and looks up torwards the ceiling, contemplating.

Jacob continues to to just sort of... stand by. He's gotten quite good at that, honestly, when Jason delves into these things. He doesn't seem at all impatient, nor bored, nor even disinterested. He's simply there, listening politely.

Around then, Sly returns with his cookies (a few more than before) and a big glass of milk. He walks over, offering the plate of cookies to Jason, and confirms, "Good call. They're *so* much better this way." He flashes a grin at the others, clearly pleased with this decision.

Mar nods and pondrs it. "See, there's....not much diffference" he says taking his coffeee cup to the kitchen and looks back to the others over his shoulder. "I mean, I think we could learn a lot from each other, ya know?" he asks, the sound of running water as Mar dries and puts the coffee cup away, leaning on the doorrame, eyes half closed as he snaps his fingrs. "Oh crap, I was meant to go check on the people who got hurt. Nah, not your fault, I got caught up in wolf stuff. Said I'd help out however, so you guys want to meet up again later and figure all this out?" he asks almost pawing the ground with a foot.