The Preserve, Thursday Afternoon

[bitten_notshy]

Sometimes, being a werewolf led to annoying errands of a totally unexpected kind.

Today, for example. Several days after the last full moon, Jack had accepted his watch was not at the Community Center, Devil's Nest or the Perk, or anywhere in his house. Which meant it had either gotten stolen, trampled under a rickshaw, or (and he had to admit this possibility was the most likely) it had fallen out of his pocket and gotten left behind in the preserve in his haste to get dressed and go home some morning.

He would have just bought a new watch, but, as this one had been purchased in 1899, it had some sentimental value.

So here he was, prodding under branches with a stick and hoping he'd spot a telltale gleam of gold before the mosquitoes and gnats ate him alive.

It was indeed a glamorous day.

[OOC: For one and NFB, please.]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

Jack snagged the watch out of the air neatly. "Thank you," he said, surprised. He'd been asking mainly as a springboard to complaining, but if Derek wanted to be useful...

"I guess I am," he said. "The way I think you mean it, anyhow. I have three housemates but they aren't ... like me."

That 'me' was odd; Jack wondered if it should have been an 'us', but it felt early to use the word.

[justlurkinghere]

"Us," Derek corrected after a moment. "Are there hunters here?"

[bitten_notshy]

Jack tilted his head and pursed his lips. "Some of the more time-displaced students come out in the preserve to look for game sometimes, if that's what you mean," he said. "But I've never been interrupted at a bad time."

You know. Like when he'd tear someone's throat out.

[justlurkinghere]

He was just... still adjusting to the insanity of the island. The best way to do that? Not reacting at all. And being stoic.

Derek's mouth went tight for a moment. "How long ago were you bitten?"

Because clearly not born one of them.

[bitten_notshy]

Ah. A question Jack knew the answer to. He was almost grateful.

"January," he said. "In Paris. The monster died. So you're only the third other I've ever actually spoken with."

He glanced over. "You?"

[justlurkinghere]

Jack was so lucky that Derek loathed those American Werewolf in Random European Country movies. No jokes to be made there.

"I was born this way." And he hated Lady Gaga. "Did none of them teach you these things?"

[bitten_notshy]

Jack shrugged.

"It wasn't a long conversation. I heard to drag a raw chicken around ahead of time to distract the beast," he offered. "And that I didn't need to worry too much about accidentally infecting people most of the month."

He gave Derek a look that was almost jealous. "You must have had family to teach you."

[justlurkinghere]

"...I did." What the hell was Jack on about? He frowned again, moving closer to Jack as though to sniff out the answer. Or intimidate him. One of them. "What do you mean?"

[bitten_notshy]

Jack held his ground. (When completely confused, he was going to stick to bravado.) "I mean I didn't fancy making my girlfriend a monster. What did you think I meant?"

[justlurkinghere]

No emotional intimacy in Derek's general direction, thank you.

"Raw chicken? We're not animals." Not human, but not animals.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack was clearly having a hard time coming up with words.

"Not exactly, but -- I don't need to come to one morning and find out I bit through someone's throat. The chicken's absurd, but chasing the scent keeps me busy. It's all I ask." And now he was getting more curious. "What do you do to keep yourself in check?"

He was going to assume Derek wasn't a killer. Just for the sake of his own sanity for the moment.

[justlurkinghere]

Derek's frown wasn't going anywhere now.

"An anchor--" Jack, you were very strange. "Something that holds you to your humanity and doesn't let the instincts pull you under. If you can't manage that, you chain yourself up. Or put yourself in enough pain to keep from changing."

...ow.

[bitten_notshy]

It was okay. Jack's frown could keep it company.

"You can do that?" There was some weak hope in his voice. "I -- no one told me that, nothing I read said that, I had no idea."

He wasn't touching the 'chain yourself up' suggestion. It seemed a fast path to disaster.

[justlurkinghere]

No, that would end in tears. Tears and someone blowing purple dust at Derek.

"It's not an easy thing," Derek granted him. "But it keeps you in control and keeps you off the radar of any hunters."

[bitten_notshy]

And there was Jack's frown, back for another visit.

"What do you mean when you say hunters?" he asked. "You don't just mean people with guns in the woods, do you."

[justlurkinghere]

"Guns, crossbows..." Derek shrugged, going for the casual look. "They're supposed to only hunt when someone draws human blood. But not all of them care to wait for that."

He was the werewolf Batman, Jack. Listen to him.

[bitten_notshy]

And this was where Jack finally came to his senses and remembered he was on Fandom and of course no one was exactly like him, because he was cursed to be the specialest snowflake ever.

"I don't think we're from the same place," he said, shoulders slumping. "That is, I'm sure some people at home would happily blow my head off, but they don't organize about it. Quick check, the city with Manhattan in it is called...?"

[justlurkinghere]

"...New York?" STOP BREAKING HIS WEREWOLF HEART, JACK.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack shook his head, just as heartbroken. "New Amsterdam. Still. Where I'm from is strange."

He sighed. "I was wondering why I didn't know people could be born werewolves, but..."

[justlurkinghere]

And thus continued the story of Derek Hale Can Never Have A Good Day.

Derek took a step away, circling Jack warily again. Because he did not like not knowing what to do next. "Can you change now?"

[bitten_notshy]

Jack looked at Derek as if he'd suddenly gone nuts. More nuts. "It's light out," he said. "And the moon was full not even a week ago. Of course not. You can?"

[justlurkinghere]

Hey now! Hey.

"I can change anytime. The moon just adds an extra pull."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack thought about that. Squinted.

"I can see," he admitted, "where once in a great while that would have its uses. Do you know what you look like, when you --?"

[justlurkinghere]

"Like a werewolf." Stop being helpful, Derek. "Fangs, claws..."

He shrugged.

"What do you look like?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Black fur, someone told me blue eyes ... fangs. Claws." He shrugged. "About the size of a very large dog, I think. I haven't exactly had pictures taken."