"I am no philodox to judge you, but so help me, I am a fostern to command you. "

West Bridge Street
The desperate hopelessness of the industrial sector just to the south makes itself felt here, in crowding tenements and dying trees. Many of the people here leave their homes to go to the factories and warehouses, and to return again to noise, crowding, and the tempers of too many people in too small a space. The street is a patchwork of potholes and attempted fillings of them, cracked across with the imperfection of the work. The occasional shop is tucked in here, small building among those a few stories taller. From 13th to 15th Streets, every inch of land is used, mostly for buildings, occasionally for a small, struggling garden which even in the best years cannot hope to provide all the needed vegetables.

The door to the donut shop here in the bad part of town swings open, and a tall man in a suit comes striding out in what seems to be a great hurry, heedless of any pedestrians who may be on the sidewalk in his path already.

Mathias has been around here before, but, he's wearing a hoodie...and he dosn't come out of the front door, instead he's hanging around the back. There were some stale donuts there that he grabed, a turnover no less that hadn't sold the day before. With that in hand, he makes his way around the front of the store, no doubt his path going to meet Cedrics

Cedric swings through ninety degrees, still walking very fast, and heads along the sidewalk in the direction of a smart yellow sports car parked illegally at the roadside, just the other side of an alleyway's entrance across which he strides, only to walk full tilt into a younger guy emerging from the alley clutching something a little furtively. "Excuse me!" he calls out, not in an automatic kind of way, but sounding genuinely apologetic as he looks at the guy he walked into. One eyebrow rises as he does so.

Nearly five and a half feet tall, Mathias seems to be in his mid-teens. Rich blue eyes and blond hair cover his head, while a button nose and thin lips round out his face before ending in a strong jutting chin. He seems to be rather thin, with a slight build to his body, wearing a navy blue tee-shirt, with a brown leather vest over it. He also wears a pair of khaki cargo pants that end at his feet in worn hiking boots. His hair also has a small lock of metallic blue dye off to the right side, over his eye.

Mathias pauses a moment, and gives a low snarl first towards Cedric. An automatic reaction really. When he looks up to Cedric for more then a moment, it cuts off. He pauses a moment and slinks, before taking a step back, looking ready to escape by blending in with anyone else who might be around. "Don't worry about nothing." he claims quickly.

If the younger man's looks hadn't already set Cedric's alarm bells jingling, that ill-suppressed snarl would surely have done so. Taking a quick glance round himself, he steps forward into the alley as Mathias steps back. "Who in Falcon's name are you?" he hisses as quietly as he can while remaining loud enough for Mathias to hear.

Mathias looks at Cedric a moment, "Noone, and it'll stay that way. Falcon abandoned me, so I walk alone." and with that, he turns and tries to scramble away into the alley. Really, he still isn't in the best shape ever, if snarling over a stale piece of food wasn't enough to give it away.

"What the hell?" Cedric ejaculates, not to Mathias but ninety degrees to one side, to seemingly empty air. Then he strides forward again and catches up with Mathias at the point where the alley turns the corner behind the actual shop. "Falcon abandon you? The hell you say. You just hold still, now, and tell me who you are and what you're doing dumpster-diving like one of Rat's brood."

Mathias does a heel turn to face Cedric, a metal shiv in one hand (Silver? Unlikely!). "Who sent you? Why have you come? Bad enough to be run off because some bitch never bothered to listen to anyone outside her pack, but has she sent you to kill me?"he takes a quick swipe with it. "I won't go down that easy, not over something that bitch has said to stroke her ego!"

"Falcon sent me!" Cedric hisses as the shiv slashes across his stomach, slicing open his immaculate mauve shirt and drawing a long wound across his lower ribs and belly which starts bleeding immediately and profusely. "You little bastard!" he growls at that, and reaches out a hand to try to grab Mathias' wrist before he can strike again, while also striding forward to push him back into the wall either by physical contact or by pushing into his personal space to prompt a retreat.

Mathias lets his wrist get grabbed, as he utters "Liar! Falcon dosn't come for me." he gives a low growl as he tries to reverse it, to step to the inside of Cedric, and then throw him, using this wrist as a pivot over his shoulder.

Cedric finds to his relief that he's stronger than Mathias; quite a bit so. He hardly teeters under Mathias's attempt to perform a shoulder throw; instead, his fingers close on the theurge's wrist like a vise, and his other arm wraps round his upper body, whereupon he drags the youngster sideways and behind the shop. His fresh donuts lie forgotten as he yanks Mathias out of view from the street. Still bleeding profusely, he growls into Mathias' face. "I am the Chosen of Falcon. I am Cedric Ambermere. Your face proclaims your blood. Who are you? Speak before I snap your wrist. Or your neck."

Mathias gives a low growl, then a yelp as it's reversed back on him. He pauses a moment, "Mathias Sorrendale, Promises-Kept." it's low, mostly growled out, and with enough anger in the undertones to make mortal children flee in terror!

"You're Mathias Sorrendale?" For a moment, in surprise, Cedric's grip on the youngster loosens. "I was told you quit town..."

Mathias tries to buck free of Cedric. "Not that easily. But, if word reaches back to the rest of the sept, it'd be the end of me. I've no love among the liars."

Cedric's fist tightens again as Mathias tries to pull away. "They would dare, would they?" he growls menacingly. "Perhaps you'd better tell me just what the hell has been going on that you're in this position, in town dishonorably and furtively, stabbing your betters, with Shadow Lords sneering at the mention of your name."

Mathias is held in place because of Cedric. "So you've already heard what they've had to say? So? where is the silver to kill me? Or, am I not enough worth that much?" he pauses, "But, if you must listen to me talk before you kill me...I still own a house."

"My weapon is in my car," Cedric comments icily. "I did not come to kill you. I came because Falcon turned my steps this way, towards your path. I am no philodox to judge you, but so help me, I am a fostern to command you. And my command is, that we get out of this alley where the back door could open any moment," he nods to the bakery's rear entrance, "and someplace quiet where you can tell me all your story. Coherently. Without stabbing me."

Mathias gives a low growl. If he was a wolf, his ears would be laid back, and submissive. He finally says "Yes...Sir." looking around if he can, "If you want to drive...but the house is close to the bawn.

Cedric realises he's still bleeding quite profusely. With an oath he shifts to glabro for a few seconds, and waits for the stab wound to heal. Even in this form, he somehow looks more craggy and striking than many garou in their homid shape. "I have a hotel room that's closer yet," he comments, "and where nobody who wishes you harm, if there are any such, will think to look for you."

Cedric(#2777Pc)
A huge man nearer seven feet than six, with features that could have been chiselled from granite, and hair that seems more like a mane of long, dark golden locks, somewhat matted and windswept. His sheer bulk is enough for most people to find him offputting, yet there's something noble and Viking-like in him too, and a spark of intelligence in the hazel eyes set below his prominent brow-ridge. The sort of man who could break you in half with ease, but would then put the broken halves down carefully and gently.

Mathias pauses a moment, but doesn't comment more. "To your car then?" he grabs the stale turnover off the ground. "Or, to walk?"

Cedric shows Mathias his teeth. "Drop that," he commands. "Falcon's children do not survive on scraps like starving mongrels. Come to the car with me, we'll go to the hotel, and I'll call room service for a square meal which, looking at you, you seem to desperately need." The grip on him loosens a fraction. "Agreed? Understood?"

Mathias drops it out of reflex, he's slightly more docile now towards Cedric, more submissive. "Agreed Sir." he says softly,not looking Cedric in the eyes.

Cedric glances down at his healed stomach and his ruined shirt with chagrin. He releases Mathias. "Walk ahead of me to the car," he commands. "And don't even think of trying anything."

Mathias walks towards the car, possibly only splitting up to goto the passenger seat. Well, among other things,he's decently unshaven, that could be fixed too. He dosn't comment now, instead when he gets in, only buckling up.

Cedric reverts to homid and follows Mathias closely, trying to conceal his torn and bloodied shirt behind the other garou's body until they're at the car which thankfully has no traffic cop standing by it with a ticket. He quickly dives in and unlocks the passenger door for Mathias. "Right," he grunts, turning the key in the ignition. And then, mysteriously, he adds, "And I hope you're damn' well right about this, Osric."

Mathias dosn't comment, instead he just looks straight ahead out the front window of the car. "Could have healed it, but...you're a big garou. Don't really ask the spirits to help with minor cuts."

Cedric pulls out into the traffic. The sports car whisks its way through other vehicles with effortless speed until they arrive at what is not a particularly plush hotel, but is at least the best this city has to offer. Cedric says not a word more until they are in the parking lot and turns off the engine. "Very well," he says, then. "Come with me, Mathias."