milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

Max enters from the guest quarters, her expression dark, a strange mixture of determination and fury. She stops briefly at the bar to get a cup of coffee, then heads to a booth. Her notepad, absent for a while, appears again, and she proceeds to scribble in it furiously.

Bother if you'd like. She probably won't bite.

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Richard appears at her side looking flustered.
"Max. I heard what happened. We need to talk."

"I figured we would." Max gestures to the other bench in the booth, a short, curt motion. "Have a seat."

Richard takes a seat and regards her gravely. "I need to hear what happened from your angle first."

Max grimaces slightly. She's been through this so many times in the past few days, she can nearly give a recitation in her sleep. "I got a note slipped under my door the night of the full moon, a bit before midnight. It said Jason was hurt, in trouble. I didn't really stop to think that it might be a set up, so I rushed out there. I got cut up a bit on the way, somehow - adrenaline levels were too high to notice it."

"When I got to the clearing, he'd already shifted. I guess he must have smelled the blood, because he attacked me. He got a few good hits in, and then Gabriel appeared, out of nowhere. Nearly killed Jason, the sick fuck... I managed to stop him, and get Jason back here. And into the cells." Here she stops, looking appologetic. "He needed healing, and if he woke up before he shifted back...well, there are a lot of people here."

"I found out for certain today that Gabriel set the whole thing up in the first place. A friend scented him near my room." Her voice and expression are utterly calm. Her scent, however, carries dark, cold fury.

So much of it is familiar. So much of it isn't. "You know there's a good chance you'll shift." Anita would have told her if she hadn't realised for herself.

"Yeah, I know. If it happens, it'll happen. I'll deal." Her voice isn't quite as sure as the words, though.

"Not alone. If one of my Pack turned you he's responsible for you. And so am I." Richard gives her a reassuring smile. "We'll help you through the first few changes."

Max gives him an odd look. "This isn't your territory, I'm not one of your people. And you should know now that I have problems with authority." She pauses, then smiles weakly. "But thanks...I figure I'll need all the help I can get."

It forces a chuckle out of Richard. They're too much alike. "Good."

Then he asks something he'd wanted to for a while. "If you couldn't defeat Jason how were you planning to help him?"

Max smiles wryly. "There's can't, and then there's won't. I didn't want to hurt him. It put me at a pretty severe disadvantage." She looks down at her hands, then back up. "He would have hurt me, regardless, but if I'd been willing to make it so, he'd probably have been dead."

Richard can smell the truth in her words. And the danger. "Thank you for not killing my wolf."

"I try not to kill people I care about..." Max slides out of the booth. "I've got a few things to do, Richard. See you 'round. And...take care of Jason for me."

"I will," Richard promises. "Please go see him soon. I think you both need to talk to one another before this festers."

Max nods once. "Soon." And then she's gone, up the stairs and out of sight.

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