Crash & Burn

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid left Chicago behind her as quickly as she rolled in. Michele had really turned on her, and it was better to lick the wounds where no one could see. Now she was in Detroit, and inside her hotel room, she wrapped her arms around herself and let out all the pain ::

[Nara McKenna]

I watched the sun come up on Portland
I waved goodbye to all my friends
I packed my car and headed to LA
I gave away all my loose ends

Somebody said you gotta get away
To wanna go back home again
I left my universe standing there
Holding the hand of my best friend

And it's laughter that I feel when I think of you
It's one more dusty rose about to turn
I'll see you when I reach New Mexico
If I'm in the mood to crash and burn

I wrote a letter that I never mailed
I rehearsed a dialogue in my head
In case you ever wanted to track me down
I'll take my cell phone to bed

And it's laughter that I hear when I close my eyes
And it's one more punchline I forgot to learn
I call you up when my bottle's dry
I'm on my way to crash and burn

Antigone laid across the road
And let a mack truck leave her there for dead
Just because her lover split the scene
Well love might be great but why lose your head

Well, it's laughter that comes up when I cry for you
And my heart may break again before it learns
And I might be stupid enough to want to fall again
Cause I've gotten use to the crash and burn
I say I've gotten use to the crash and burn

Crash and burn
Crash Crash
Crash and burn*


Life was full of coincidences and Nara was clueless that only three blocks away, Brigid was balling on the floor of her hotel room. But Brigid was the last thing on her mind as of late. Her life was full of music again. Like old times before Chicago. Before the Black Spirals. Before the Immortals making her life complicated. Now it was sleeping in late, shopping during the day, music at night, and partying into the wee hours of the morning.

Nothing could be better.

Nara stretched out and worked out the kinks. It felt wonderful and soon a pillow was thrown across the room into the other bed. "Vic wake up."

She heard the mumbling protests and smirk before falling towards the ground and into a push up. "Come on. It's after one. I wanna get some new clothes for our gig tonight."

Something that resembled a 'yeah' filtered out under the covers but nothing stirred.

"If I get to fifty and you're not out yet, I'm comin' for ya." Again, nothing stirred and it went that way for the next forty-five push ups.

"46 ..." The Fury peeked over the bed as she came up and saw just a lump.

"47 ..." The same.

"48..." Still the same but Nara had shifted into Crinos form.

"49 ..." Came the growl as her features shifted further lupine.

When 50 never came, Vicki pulled the covers down in a sleepy haze just to get a tail in the face before Nara pounced on her, nipping and licking playfully to force her kinfolk awake. "Dammit Nara!!! Ok!!! OK!!!! YOU WIN!!!!"

A triumphant lupus padded to the edge of the bed and sat in victory, looking so ever innocent.

*By Sheryl Crow

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Her growling stomach woke her up a few hours later, and she washed her face before stepping out. She avoided looking in the mirror, or in windows. She just walked towards the nearest cooking smell as she watched her feet ::

[Nara McKenna]

Only Kevin decided to join the girls for lunch. Ethan and Paul wanted to restock the mini fridges with more food then Kevin wanted, but they tried to impress upon the boisterous drummer that alcohol was not part of the food pyramid.

"So girlies?"

Nara elbowed him in the gut, harder then usual, which prompted a giggle from Vicki.

He coughed, rubbed his stomach and fumbled for a come back. "So ... ladies?" Kevin winced and brought up his arms defensively, but the blow didn't come. "I"m starving, even after the love tap. Where we goin' to stuff our faces."

"Not sure. Don't care. Long as it isn't Taco Bell or McDonald's." Nara raised her brows with a smirk towards Kevin. "How can you eat that stuff. I mean, you have no idea what that stuff smells like. I could ..."

"NO!" He shouted much louder then intended, but he knew that if Nara were to continue, her detailed account of how long the food was frozen for and just how much fat content was clinging to the meat in the form of grease. Hell, sometimes she could smell the people who touched it or bugs!!! "Just don't. Please!"

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Just don't. Please!"

:: Brigid looked up, and across the street towards the sound of the voice, and she was trapped between wanting to call out or hide. Reflexivley, she stepped inside the diner before she was spotted. She probably looked as bad as she felt ::

[Nara McKenna]

Trying to save the conversation from becoming gross, Vicki started to steer her friends towards a familiar stomping ground. "Why don't we just go to Lila's? We love it, they know us, it's convenient and cheap."

"With good food," said Nara, chiming in.

Even Kevin had to agree. "Lila's it is!"

The trio crossed the street and headed into the diner.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid was already nursing a coffee, and her heart began to race as the gang entered soon after her. It led her here, but she wasn't ready ::

[Nara McKenna]

Nara slid into their usual corner booth, propping a leg up on the cushions and scoped out the area. Vicki took up a position between her two friends in case they started acting up, just like a good mother.

Kevin already had a straw hanging between his lips and was bouncing it up and down while debating menu items, "We unveiling our new song tonight? Or it not finished still?"

"Not sure yet," answered an oddly calm Nara. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on edge, but she couldn't fathom why. She felt no danger. No sense of Changers or anyone touched by the Veil. Just something was out of sorts.

"Still?" whined Kevin. "That song is tight and I love the beat to it. You gotta play it some time."

"When I'm ready." Which meant back off. The song she wrote was personal. Something that needed to be let out due to Chicago. It was a cathartic release of anger and pain that was shared with just the band so far. It was too soon to share with the rest of the world.

Her eyes drifted up to Stacey, their waitress, who already had a pot of coffee for the group, a coke for Kevin, and a glass of water with lemon for Vicki. The Garou's lip turned into a comforting smile, almost happy to be surrounded by the familiar again.

"So, you're missing two. They still asleep huh?" She asked with a knowing wink. The antics of the Band were always a topic of conversation around this neck of the woods. Mostly it was bar hopping and dancing, but every now and then you'd get a Kevin doing something stupid, like stripping on stage ...

[Wolf Bane]

He had been posing as a dog since he followed Brigid to Detroit. He wasn't exactly sure on the last time he had been to this city but he knew it was one of his least favorite cities in the US. Detroit always smelled of wyrm tainted to him, maybe it was the over abundance of automobiles or maybe it was gang banger wannabe's that thrived in this city. All he knew is he didn't like the smell of it.

He had followed Brigid to a Diner but he hadn't entered yet. Something told him that they wouldn't let a scraggily dog just enter a diner so he darted off down an ally way to find a nice dumpster to hide behind so he could change. As he shifted back into human form the small saddle bag he was carrying fell off. He quickly reached into it and grabbed his clothing out which was his normal wife beater shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of shoes. Luckily before he left Chicago he was able to get a shower and wash his clothing or else they would still smell like garbage.

He then walked his way out of the ally and into the diner. However once he was in the diner he slinked into the closest unoccupied booth. He didn't want Brigid to be altered to his presence. She would probably kill him if she knew he was keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't slip over the edge. A waitress then walked up to him and handed him a menu and asked if he would like anything to drink.

"Water please."

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Keeping her back to the gang, she was able to see them in the mirror on the wall behind the bar. In her present state of emotion, she hadn't noticed Wolf tailing her at all ::

[Nara McKenna]

Stacey returned with their drinks and poured out the first cup of coffee for Nara. "What'll it be for ya guys today?"

Kevin chimed in right away. "Chicken fiesta omelet and a side of pancakes. Oh! And some cheesecake."

"I'll just have the fruit platter and some cottage cheese." Which was the usual for Vicki.

Nara looked up at the waitress with a grin, "The usual."

"Extra rare?"

The Garou nodded and Stacey just shook her head. "Surprised you've not gotten sick girl with the amount of red meat you consume."

She chuckled while jotting down some notes on the order and left to go fill it.

[Wolf Bane]

Wolf looked up over the menu at brigid so far everything seemed well. However she seemed to be trying to avoid contact with something that was out of his sight range. The waitress soon came over to him handing him his glass of water and asking if he was ready to order.

"Bring me a steak, extra rare but not frozen."

She gave him a weird look like but wrote it down anyway. Then she asked if he wanted anything else with that.

"Nope just the steak."

She walked away shaking her head. He was pretty sure he heard mumble something about getting sued for food poisoning. Wolf sniffed the air to try and figure out if he could pin point what Brigid was avoiding. He smelled humans mostly, but there was someone else here a female garou.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid suddenly tried to avoid eye contact with Nara's reflection, but there it was, looking straight at her from where she sat ::

[Nara McKenna]

Kevin was rattling on about the set they were gonna play tonight at The Labyrinth. He wanted to make sure that the song list was correct and was making notes in his napkin. Only Vicki sensed the sudden change in Nara's demeanor. She realized that the playful nature that Nara presented was only due to the pain that she was denying herself. The Band embraced this change, so it was quite odd to see her friend shift back to her usual quiet self.

"Nara?" She leaned forward and saw the Garou's face stiffen with pain and anger. She looked more like a statue then anything else and barely noticed her chest rise to breathe. Vicki knew this look all too well. Something spooked her and the keyboardist wondered if the Spirals had finally caught up with them. "Nara what is it?"

Nara didn't answer, but her face contorted in debate as to whether or not she should get up. She didn't know what to feel. Part of her wanted to kick the table away and throttle Brigid right here, right now! But then there was the part of her that wanted to just bolt out the door, hop on her motorcycle, and get the hell out of here.

"Uh, Vic?" Kevin tapped her shoulder when he saw the source of the issue.

Vicki followed his line of sight, gasping when she recognized Brigid sitting in the booth next to them and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "How dare you come here!"

The sudden commotion caught the ears of the other patrons and all eyes drifted towards the back of the diner.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid cursed under her breath at the unwanted attention. She decided to slap some money on the table and split. What the hell was she thinking, that she was going to be forgiven? She chided herself and walked out as fast as she could ::

[Nara McKenna]

Nara tensed, ready to bolt but Vicki placed a hand in front of her. "Let her go. She's sneaking around for who knows how long."

"Aw come on Vicki. Up ta Nara if she wants to talk ta her."

"You need to shut up. You're the one that started this in the first place."

"Oh don't even! Not my fault at all! Brigid shouldn't of done that without talking to Nara! Don't blame me for pointing the pictures out!"

"You're such a pig. You know that?"

The glasses rattled with the force of Nara's fist against the table. "Shut. Up. Both of you."

Quickly the two Kinfolk hushed and sunk into the booth, pretending that the salt and pepper shaker were interested as Nara continued to sit there, struggling with what to do. All she ever wanted was Brigid to be honest with her, and even that was too much to ask....

[Brigid Cassidy]

(OUTSIDE)

:: Brigid walked out onto the street, and was promptly struck by an SUV that sped through the red light. She flew head over heels, and everything went black as she hit the ground with a painful crunch ::

[Wolf Bane]

Wolf heard it all go down, so chick possibly kinfolk from the smell had yelled at Brigid. The next thing he knew brigid bolted from the diner. Dam lunch was going to have to wait he thought to himself. He gulped down his water fast and stood up.

He sent a glare across the room at the woman that he heard shouting at Brigid. Instead of staying for words he exited the diner to do his job of keeping Brigid out of harm and trouble. He stepped outside just in time see Brigid get smacked by an SUV.

"Frak!"

[Nara McKenna]

Nara heard the squeals of brakes being applied. Ears twitching, she heard the commotion from outside the diner.

"That poor girl!"

"Call an ambulance quick!"

"Ah hell!" She pushed herself out of the booth and ran outside to a few gawkers huddled around a body. Muscling her way by them, she saw Brigid laying there unconscious and the SUV peeling away. If it were anyone else, Nara would have chased that bastard down and beat the crap out of him before throwing him at the police. But Brigid was Immortal. She'll be fine. Physically at least.

"Nara! NARA!" Kevin was trying to peer over the crowd, trying to find out if it was Brigid that got hit. "She ok?" It was an awkward question, but

"Of course she isn't!" Some woman in a suit was on the phone with 911. "I saw the whole thing and I got the police on the line!"

Without any hesitation, Kevin snatched the phone out of her hand and danced around her as he shut it off. "We're on it. Already called the Hospital that she's on her way."

"Yeah, trust us." Nara stood up and addressed the small group of humans present. "She's part of our crew and we'll take care of her. Thanks for helping but go along now."

The group oddly turned calm, nodded, and proceeded to walk towards their intended destination as if nothing had happened. All except for one. Nara locked eyes with him and inhaled deeply. He was Garou.

"How bad is she?" asked an exasperated Vicki.

"Not sure, but we'll have to carry her back to the hotel. Not too much of an odd sight for us thanks to Kevin's reputation." Nara was numb, speaking in a detached monotone voice as she bent down to pick up the Immortal.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid lay still, and her neck felt broken as Nara lifted her ::