TLV: Inbox

[tinstar]

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[abrightboy]

Lark said being in the pack meant having a connection to the others. A... a bond. Plus it would help with my work because I'd have sharper senses and be faster and stronger.

[tinstar]

[A bond, a connection. And then Lark's gone, leaving Malcolm without what he promised. Goddamnit. He hated people who did this kind of shit.

Raylan can only shake his head a little and stare at the counter for a minute.]

I don't understand why you feel you need those things from them, but if you're stickin' with it..

That mean you want me steppin' in and drawin' your attention to your.. heightened emotions? And what if somethin' happens and you.. I dunno, flip out, go wolf and decide to try and tear someone's throat out?

[abrightboy]

You never wanted to belong? He chose me. Out of everyone. On a ship where people hit me in the face for something they vaguely think I said to someone else two weeks ago, he chose me to be one of his group.

[tinstar]

[Not really, no. Not until he was here and utterly void of belonging to anything. Here, he understands the feeling.]

That's the overwhelming group of.. three? [One of which who just up and leaves after possibly irreparably changing Malcolm's genus. He was incensed by the irresponsibility.]

Is this somethin' you're lookin' to keep secret or are you tellin' other people?

[The questions were soft - he'd entered data collection phase, gotta build a game plan as to what this will look like. He wasn't trying to barb or be an asshole.]

[abrightboy]

I hadn’t really considered… the others don’t hide it.

[tinstar]

Better not to, in my opinion. Okay. [He goes ahead and pours another drink.]

How long has it been? You slept yet?

[abrightboy]

A few days. I slept. Before… all the everything that today is. Will stays with me most nights now. Lark let him attend the change. I wanted him there. So he understands.

[tinstar]

[He nods and holds Malcolm's eyes.]

Last question I got. What happens if shit goes sideways? If you... wolf out and lose control?

[abrightboy]

It… doesn’t really work that way. You still… have consciousness. I could barely kill a moose when they took me hunting. And I didn’t really… I mean, it was kind of thrilling but I can still… taste it. [He makes a face.]

[tinstar]

.... they took you hunting.

Who else, besides Iris?

[abrightboy]

Just Iris and Lark. Shortly after I was changed.

[tinstar]

Least there's that.

Is the.. 'ceremony' somethin' I'm allowed to ask about, as an outsider?

[abrightboy]

Sure. He let Will come with me.

[tinstar]

What was it? Did he just.. scratch you or somethin'? Blood exchange? Pagan shit?

[abrightboy]

He cut both our hands and bound them together so I couldn’t let go by accident when the writhing started.

[tinstar]

The writhing.. Go on.

[abrightboy]

In pain. Because my bones were changing.

[tinstar]

So you.. turned into a wolf and that's it? And once it was over? When did you.. change back? Am I gonna havta start worryin' about full moons and shit?

[Raylan 'one more question' Givens.]

[abrightboy]

We changed back after the hunt. I can change whenever I want, basically, but it takes energy.

[tinstar]

[He nods again and stares for a long second before shaking his head slightly and taking a drink.]

The shit we have to deal with that I never thought we would..

[abrightboy]

Are you mad at me?

[tinstar]

For rubbin' in the fact that you've already graduated someone and I haven't? Yes. [He had to at least complain about it once. ]

For everythin' else - No. I still don't understand why Iris and Lark are more than Will and Neal and I but if this is the choice you're makin', then it's the choice you're makin'. [It didn't change the fact that he cared about Malcolm.]

[abrightboy]

I didn’t even really do anything for Neal; he basically graduated himself.

[He’s studying the floor intently, but his head snaps up at the next part.]

What do you mean ‘choice’? Why does this mean they’re ‘more’? Lark said I don’t have to give anyone up. Will came to the changing.

[tinstar]

[Raylan looks at him steadily, eyes soft and pained as he wrestles with how honest he should be with the New Yorker.]

You chose this for connection. You've literally changed yourself for connection, Malcolm. You tell me.

I'll be here either way. It doesn't change anything.

[abrightboy]

It doesn’t nullify other connections. [His brow creases.] Unless the other side of the connection chooses that. [He was afraid Will might be repulsed by it, but was assured otherwise. He didn’t think it would bother Raylan. His stomach is sinking.] I’m not going anywhere either.