It is currently 19:01 Pacific Time on Thu Mar 13 1997. Forgotten Church Basement(#1279RJLM) This basement is only partly below ground level, and there are windows evenly spaced on the walls, right below the ceiling level. The main part of it is a large open area with a small kitchen in one corner and a large, ratty carpet in the center, covering the cement floor. There is a rather large window in the kitchen; it looks as though it might actually open onto the street. On the wall opposite the kitchen is a large bin, and there are folding tables along the wall perpendicular to it. On the other wall there are a few folding chairs, many fewer than one would expect from the number of tables. A hallway next to the kitchen leads off to two offices and what once might have been a classroom. Contents: Jimmy Wilson Obvious exits: Sanctuary Jimmy Wilson sits crosslegged on the floor in a pile of old ratty blankets, his one-eyed gaze locked on a little clay urn before him. The urn itself is simple, looking as if it were perhaps made by a child, and unpainted. Jimmy sits there, one moment stretching into a long eternity until he finally speaks. "We finally did it," he whines. "Wish ya coulda been there, Tommie-cat. We all miss ya. We got some new guys in the pack, an' I hope ya approve. Chugs tried ta get us all ta follow after Rat with him, but I remembered the promise I made back that day we found Gar an' brought her back with us. An' the promises I made both ta you an' mysef about takin' care a' the pack. Looks like I lucked out an' lived through this." He sighs irritatingly. "Dammit, Tommie. I miss ya." He leans forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands propping up his head as he stares at the urn. The other Ragabash isn't certain just when Hazmat arrived... just that there's a soft movement behind him, and the feeling of being watched, and the fact that the shadows are thick in the area, darker than they should be, obscuring all but the vaguest lupine shape. Jimmy Wilson pauses a moment then goes on. "There's lotsa bad shit goin' down, T-cat. Fuckin' Wharf Rats left town an' some others disappeared an' people are talkin' shit. I dunno what ta do anymore. Bein' in charge sucks. I'm not even s'posed ta be here by myself, but ya gotta get time alone sometimes, ya know? Hell, you know that, Tommie. I remember how ya used ta take off ta get yer head back t'gether an' stuff. I gotta try ta pay more attention to the stuff ya taught..." He stops, looking around. Suddenly he stands and whirls, his eye squinting towards the shadow as he begins to sniff the air. "Someone here?" His hands clench to fists by his side. "Speak up!" Movement and a soft, familiar wuff. ~Shakes. Yuh know me.~ It's Hazmat's voice for sure, but she sounds tired, bone-weary. Jimmy Wilson looks a little nervous, but at least slightly relieved. "Oh... hey. You been here long?" he whines. "I was just sorta talkin' ta myself. Hey, ya wanna beer? I drug a six-pack down here with me? Red Dog, the good stuff. Shift yer ass an' have a drink with me, Haz. Ain't seen ya in a while. Since people started... talkin'." Hazmat pushes to her feet and limps forward; strange how the shadows seem to dissolve as she does so. The lupus looks terrible, her fur grimed and bedraggled, and her right forepaw looks crumpled, useless. She lapses back into her native tongue. Talking? Jimmy Wilson cracks open a beer for the other raggie and looks around. He sighs, turning his back on her for a moment to grab an old, chewed-up tupperware bowl. He returns with the bowl, pouring the beer into it. He opens another for himself and takes a deep swig. "Yeah, talk. Like... well, ya know how paranoid old Chugs is. He wouldn't be so fucking old if he wasn't scared a' every shadow he sees, I guess. Anyhow, he been talkin' 'bout how not to trust anyone, since the whole fuckin' world's gone Dancer. I sniffed ya out, an' I guess yer still cool. I trust my nose more than everyone else's rumors. Gotta trust yerself, ya know?" Hazmat lays her ears back, a shudder going through her body. She flops over onto her uninjured side and, abruptly, shifts to human form. "Talk... yah, Jimmy, we ga' talk." Hazmat contorts and blurs as she is transformed. You shift into Homid form. Jimmy Wilson sits back down into the blankets. "Yeah, we can talk," he says. "Gimme a sec." He grabs the urn and places it out of the way, in a corner of the room within easy reach. "What's up? Where ya been?" Hazmat lies on her side, hand curled against her chest, uncharacteristically ignoring the beer. She stares at Jimmy for a long moment, her bloodshot eyes haunted. "You bad hurt, Hazzie?" Jimmy asks concerned. "What's wrong?" Hazmat drops her eyes. "I'm leavin', Jimmy. All'a us in th' No-Brands." Jimmy Wilson cocks his head. "Why? Can't take hearin' all the rumors anymore?" Hazmat shakes her head. "Nuh. 'Cos they're true." Jimmy Wilson nods simply. "Ah. Ya know ya shoulda never told me that, right?" Jimmy chews on his lower lip, staring at her. "Why? How? Ah shit, nevermind, Hazzie. Fuck." Hazmat rolls onto her back, her eyes closing. "Yuh 'member tha' fight I ga' inta'? Wit' th' wolfdog?" Jimmy Wilson nods slowly, watching her carefully. Hazmat grimaces. "She wuz beatin' me, so I did somethin' stupid. A went tuh th' big-wolf form. Soon as I did, she went tuh Crinos an' whupped th' shit outta me." Hazmat remains as she is, lying on her back with her eyes closed, one mangled hand curled to her chest. Jimmy Wilson nods again. "Why... why ya tellin' me this? Is there some way I can help? Like Luke Skywalker an' all that shit? I jus' saw the movie th'other day, ya know. There is still good left in you, Hazzie. I can feel it." Apparently, even in this serious moment, the ragabash can't help himself. Hazmat doesn't get the reference. "Mebbe. I dunno. Kosh an' Windrunner fell, too. Don' trust 'em. Thena was cool. She killed herself afta' they ga' her." She sighs, rolls slowly onto her stomach. "We're all leavin'... bu' first I ga' a couple things fer yuh." Jimmy Wilson looks at her a little distrustingly. His gaze sweeps the room making sure no one else is there. "Things?" Hazmat sits up slowly, fumbling in her coat pockets. Several dozen assorted small items spill out onto the floor as she searches, the sort of junk that Hazmat always carries. Finally, she pulls out a page ripped out of a city map and what appears to be a broken claw of some kind. Jimmy Wilson looks strangely at the items. "I'm not sure I should take nothin' from you, Haz. It wouldn't be right. Me an' you was friends, an' that's th' only reason we ain't killin' each other right now. If you come back lookin' fer yer stuff, I don't wanna have ta deal with that." Hazmat frowns, looking up at Jimmy. "I'm givin' this to yuh. It's 'portant. Here." She shoves the junk aside and spreads the map page out on the floor. One section of the city is circled in black. "Tha's where th' Pit is. An' this..." She picks up the broken claw and stares at it for a moment as though she's lost the thrad of what she was going to say. Jimmy Wilson gapes. "WHAT?! A fucking pit? Here in the city? Holy shit..." Hazmat jerks herself out of her fugue, blinking. "Yah. Yuh 'member th' earthquake?" Jimmy Wilson nods, dumbly, not seeming to believe any of this. Maybe Haz is just playing some ragabash trick that's beyond the scope of taste. He hopes... Hazmat nods. "Yah. So there's a Pit. An' other Dancers tha' nobody's even met yet. An' they wuz talkin' bout some bigshot elder comin' in..." She shakes her head. "Bu' it's all wrong, it's /wrong/. An' anyway, this is for yuh, too." She holds up the claw. "Issa fetish. It keeps all those sniffin' gifts from workin' on yuh. Like Truth. An' Questin' Stone. An' tha' gift tha' senses Wyrm." She tosses the claw down, sending it skittering along the floor. "Go 'head. Sniff me 'gain." Jimmy Wilson sniffs at her. "Holy shit," he says yet again. Then, "Holy fucking shit. He stares at her for a long moment. "Ya put me in a bad spot, Hazzie. Even if I show up with this info, people are gonna give me shit for not killing you. I can't do it, though. I can't." He chews his lip once more. He stands up, then, as straight as he can. "Thanks, Haz. Get Kosh an' the rest t'gether an' get the hell outta town. I'm sorry for you, but I can't protect ya. I gotta tell the others what happened. It'd be best if you was as far from here as ya can be when I do that." Hazmat nods. "Yah, tha's th' plan. Bu' I hadda see yuh 'fore I went." She looks up at the other Ragabash, sadly. "I din' wan' this tuh happen, yuh know. An' I don' wan' it tuh go on. It /hurts/." She sighs, rubbing at her face with her good hand, then shifts, reverting back to lupus form. Hazmat contorts and blurs as she is transformed. You shift into Lupus form. Jimmy Wilson watches her. "Get out," he finally says. "Get the fuck out and never come back. I hope we never meet again, Hazzie, fer both of our sakes. I hope you guys do what ya know is right." Hazmat doesn't reply, and as she limps slowly out of the church, the shadows thicken around her until she vanishes into the night.