[Dated to Saturday the 14th - For Keith]

[hereandnow]

They won't let him lock them up and now Wolf is worried. They don't seem to think that he's any danger to them, that the island has taken the magic out of him, but it was never magic that made him turn. It's the moon, it's always been the moon, and Wolf knows that they're wrong. He'll never stop being a Wolf, not in the Territories and not in Jack's world and not here on this island, where people flip, just like before.

There's still magic left and even if there wasn't, there's still the moon.

It's with these nervous thoughts circling that he forces himself into the Compound. He shuffles down the hall, his head down, hands pushed into the pockets of his overalls as he tries to find the office he's supposed to go to. There are coppicemen here, just like in Jack's world, but he thinks the ones here are much nicer than the one who put them in the Sunlight Home. Everyone here is nice and he knows there's a place with bars, a place where he can be safe when he turns.

He wants to run. More than anything, Wolf wants to run with the moon, but he won't hurt the herd. He won't hurt anyone.

After a few accidents, a few wrong rooms, Wolf thinks he's found the right place. Shuffling his feet against the floor, he clears his throat, his head still down. Briefly, he risks a glance up through his hair and he thinks the man there looks nice and he risks a brief, quiet, "Hi!"

Comments

[neptune-noir.livejournal.com]

Big, but big and nervous. That could as easily be a problem as it could avert one, but there was one important thing he was going to keep in mind.

The guy did just walk into the IPD office, and trouble didn't walk straight in as much as it did when you were a PI. Usually he had to go to the trouble, these days.

So, the benefit of the doubt. That seemed a friendly kind of 'hi,' too, so that got added in.

"Hi," he said. "Don't tell me what the weather's like out there, it'd just depress me."

[hereand-now.livejournal.com]

Wolf's nostrils flare and his gaze flickers briefly toward the door he's just come through before he realizes it's a joke. It's not enough to make him forget why he's there, but it is enough to dispel most of his nerves and he laughs, big and loud. "Sure is nice outside, Mister. It sure is!"

Then he grins again, hands still stuffed into his pockets as he rocks back and forth on his feet, wondering what has to be said next. It comes to him after a moment and he asks, "Are you in charge of the box with bars?"

[neptune-noir.livejournal.com]

"Of course it is," Keith said, shaking his head, but amiably. The next one threw him for a bit of a loop, but just another oddity you got used to. Different worlds, sometimes they didn't all have the same thing.

"The one where we throw the bad guys?" he said. Clarifying it as prison wouldn't exactly achieve anything, he assumed. "Sure, more or less."

[hereand-now.livejournal.com]

Wolf's smile fades a little at that, because he isn't a bad guy, not always, but he knows that during the moon he won't be able to help himself. He'll be a bad guy no matter what, even if he doesn't want to, and since no one will let themselves be put away, then he has to be the one.

Nodding, he begins to chew on his lip again. "Yeah, that one," he says, then falls silent for a moment. "Wolf has to go in there. When the moon is big. I have to go in there so that the herd can be safe and I won't hurt them. Can I go in there? Will you lock me inside?"

[neptune-noir.livejournal.com]

This took a moment to work through, and even then he didn't feel like he had the full shape of it in his head. Vague outlines only, and even then it was like one of those trick drawings you had to cross your eyes to make resolve.

"You're Wolf," he said, to try and clarify this. "And you want to be locked up. Run that by me again, the why part."

[hereand-now.livejournal.com]

"I'm Wolf. And I got to be locked up," he insists, rocking back and forth on his feet again, his nerves returning as he tries to remember all the words he had prepared for this. It's hard enough to explain to people on the island, they don't understand what a Wolf really is.

When the moon is big, they'll understand. He wants to be locked up when that happens.

"Jack called me a werewolf," he says finally, because maybe Jack's words are easier. "When the moon gets big, so do I."

[neptune-noir.livejournal.com]

"...ah," Keith said, diplomatically.

He'd had to learn to take certain things on faith, because you couldn't check if someone actually had been a werewolf, or if they'd just howled at the moon from a padded cell, as it were.

"Well, Mr Wolf, I've got some good news for you. You don't need to worry about that any more."

[hereand-now.livejournal.com]

Wolf shakes his head. That's what Cassie told him and the nice lady on the beach with the red hair, but he doesn't just stop being a Wolf. It's not the sort of thing that has anything to do with magic. "Wolfs are always Wolfs," he says and although he's trying not to get upset, his eyes fill with tears he doesn't want to shed.

"It's the moon, Mister, it's not magic and I don't wanna hurt anyone. Wolf! I sure don't," he says.

[neptune-noir.livejournal.com]

"Well, Wolf, we have a different moon here," Keith said, gently, "and it doesn't do the same things." The man was clearly concerned, which said something.

He was, however, doing a rethink, even as he made that suggestion. Even if there was no transformation, if he got really distressed, someone could still get hurt.

Wolf, even.

[hereand-now.livejournal.com]

"All moons do it," Wolf insists, becoming more distressed. Jack would tell him to keep his cool, that the only way to convince anyone was to keep himself calm, but he doesn't know how to do that. He isn't as good as Jack, not at the things that matter.

"I don't wanna hurt anyone," he repeats. "But if they won't get locked up and I won't get locked up, then I will. I don't want that."

[neptune-noir.livejournal.com]

Keith sat back and considered. Logic didn't seem to be working, although admittedly he hadn't tried anything advanced.

Seemed counter-productive.

"Well, tell you what," Keith said. "Even though you don't seem like a bad guy to me, I'll let you stay in the room with the bars when the moon's full. But if you're in there, and you realize you don't need to be, say the word, I'll let you right out again."

[hereand-now.livejournal.com]

Wolf doesn't think that will happen, but if that's the deal he has to make, then he'll make it. Nodding quickly, his relief is evident on his face, and he's just glad that the man in charge is nice enough to let him lock himself up.

"Sorry, Mister, I don't even know your name," he says, still nodding his agreement. "But if you let me get locked up, I'll do anything you say."

[neptune-noir.livejournal.com]

"Keith Mars," he said.

He had half a mind to add 'sheriff,' but it wasn't an official title. He just liked when people used it. "And you're... Wolf? Is it just Wolf?"

[hereand-now.livejournal.com]

"Keith Mars," Wolf repeats, then nods, offering a small, gentle smile. All the worry has drained out of him, knowing he'll be able to go behind the bars and keep his new friends safe. There are creatures out in the jungle, ones he could run with and eat, if necessary, but it's better to protect the humans. Jack would tell him so.

"Just Wolf," he agrees. "Thank you. You're being a real big help!"

[neptune-noir.livejournal.com]

"That's what I'm here for," Keith said, with a solemn little nod.

The strangest problems. Not one mystery, aside from the big ones that he couldn't do a thing about, but these did their own part for keeping things interesting.

"Just stop by when you feel like you... need locking up."

[hereand-now.livejournal.com]

"Thanks, Keith!" Wolf says with a cheerful smile and he turns to go, then pauses in the door, as if he's remembered something. Turning back, his smile fades a little, and the part of him that used to be a Wolf is almost visible, just there beneath the surface of his grin.

"It's soon," he says, knowing it sounds almost like a threat, although he doesn't mean it that way. "It'll be soon."

Then he's gone down the hall, hurrying back toward the door and the sun.