#elsewhere

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Club Zero Cool does not sell booze. It is not really known for great food. There's a Karoke machine that sometimes folks crank up, but nothing planned. Mostly it has arcade games from a time period many of it's clientle find hilariously outdated. Club Zero Cool has suffered during Covid, but hung on. And, if you know about it, you can find werewolves here.

Sam shows up early. She had spent the previous part of the day decorating the Lodge, keeping busy, which helped (not at all).

She finds Lupe playing Pinball. Her friend doesn't look taller, but she does look a bit more worn, like she's been through some stuff.

Her hair is shorter! Not supershort, but a lot of it off compared to past days

She hesitates, lurking by the door.

"Get your ass overhere" Lupe says without looking away from the machine

She rubs the back of her neck as she crosses over. "Hey."

The game ends, partly becausee Lupe decides she's more important. The ball sinks in, and Lupe looks up at her, her eyes going up "Damn, I forgot how tall you were. Remind me, how did I ever see the hoop with your head in the way?"

Then she smiles

"You passed me the ball and I got it in."

"HA"

"...or May..." Frown.

"Yeah, May" A sigh , "I ordered our favorite pizza but didn't expect you this soon , so it'll be another ten to twenty. Want a seat?" She gestures to a corner table

There is no one else in the immediate area of htis side room. Apparently that's preplanned. Who knows how the garou claim it and enforce that claim. Maybe non prodigals just subconsciously sense they could be hunted

"You talk to her lately?"

"Not in person, no. I was away for a bit, Pack work"

"Yeah, well." A frown.

"It's bad."

"Yeah, I got some of her letters, her scripts? But they puttered out and honestly? I was awway so I wasn't here to get some? By the time I caught up I got the last one" A wince

"Accounting?"

"Seriously, what the FUCK?"

Sam looks down at the table, mouth pulled to the side and twisted up in an unhappy knot.

"It's my fault."

"Sam? You're one of my oldest and best friends, but sometimes you leap on a cross a bit too quick. How is this your fault?"

"I ghosted her."

"I ghosted her, and so I missed it. She got hurt, because I missed it."

A frown "I thought you .. what, missed what?" She is unenchanted, a lot of memories only half there

To be fair, Sam had tried to ghost Lupe, too, but Lupe had a way of just showing up

"May's special."

"Someone saw that, and... used her, damaged her."

"Who hurt May?" A low growl in the throat "And where can we find this person?"

"California."

"But I... we... May's still hurt."

"So that takes priority, right?"

"Yeah, it does. Okay, you ghosted her. I won't say 'I told you so' because I ended up doing the same, but Sam? I edon't get it, why the hell didn't you read her scripts or respond? "

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, it matters. "

"Doesn't excuse it. Doesn't fix it, and I can't fix it. But I... May's my... May was my friend, and I still..."

The little Latina says "You have reasons for what you do, or don't do, they may not always be good reasons but you have reasons. I want to know what your reasons were. What happened? "

"No, correct that.. WHY did it happen?"

"I was selfish."

"Listening" She says, encouraging

Jaw jut.

"I'm not, Lupe, I'm not going to try to get May to forgive me. I just... I want her to be better. I want her back to herself."

"And not just because of my duty to fix what I broke, but because I want her to be happy."

"Sounds like you're trying to be a good friend with THAT" She points out, "Look Sam, you know what I am, and I know you're special too. I remember that much. we should be able to help her, but I don't think she's the only one in trouble. I know you. And you're hurting... hard."

"Yeah, well, that's because I'm pretty spectacular at fucking up my own life."

"That's on me, nobody else."

"Bullshit... "on me nobody else"... You know what? May is a grown ass adult, so are you, so am I, so we all have some self sufficiency here to a degree. But we're also friends and sometimes friends fuck up sure. Butit's not all on you. She lost the safety net and fell.. but she didnt' FALL because OF you. She just fell. You feel bad because she hit ground instead of your net. Guess what? i wasn't there either. So neither was my net. And it looks like you fell too. So by your logic I wasn't there for you. Which I wasn't. This ....." A growl this time internal "You guys were my pack before I had a pack and I put you both on priority last. That was my choice. So you know? Either you're being too hard on yourself or I need to be a lot harder on MYSELF. You don't own this, not 100 percent. Maybe no one does"