Can't Fight the Moonlight

"Really? You'd settle for half a brain?" Addie joked, though her voice stayed flat the entire time. The only tell that it was a joke was the smallest hint of a smirk on her lips, and the fact that Addie was always like this. If someone knew who she was, then this was the usual.

Addie ruffled her nose. "You'll get used to it," she said, noting the way Kiraz breathed in to smell it. "After a bit." Addie had, somehow, even if she still liked to pretend she hadn't. The sounds and smells that had hit her that first night after the change were so overwhelming she'd spent two days curled up in the back of the van, pillow pressed to her head to drown everything out. She'd only left eventually because Ronnie had been annoying her with how worried she was.

Addie snapped from her thoughts at the sound of Kiraz's call. She let the smirk on her face grow. She waded into the water and shuddered at the cool temperature, before kicking a splash at Kiraz. "Impatient, aren't you?"

Bess's eyes followed as Lennon pointed out the fighters. Bess shoved her hands into her pockets and pulled out a crumpled ten dollar bill. She had seen Lennon around town, although Bess hardly left the motel. It was in dire need of repairs. Unless you were in the hardware store, Bess was likely not around.

For the summer event, Bess look around and realized that it'll always need repairs. But today, with all of it's four guests, Bess decided that a night off was well needed.

"Ten on Ignacio," Bess nodded confidently.

By the time he wandered into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from his eyes, he found Kiraz perched atop one of the barstools, with pancakes but also a small mountain of broken plates scattered around her. His gaze lingered on the mess for a moment before settling on her, not with alarm exactly but with tired acceptance of someone who had lived with her long enough to know there was probably more to this. At least, he supposed there wasn't a knife being aimed his way. Little things.

"...Sure. How dare the plates be so breakable." He understood it though. There had been a period after his own turning where everything felt more fragile than it should have. With a quiet sigh, he disappeared to grab a broom and dustpan. He didn't comment as he swept up the mess nor was anything said when he knelt down afterward to gather the smaller pieces that had scattered beneath the stool. He was thorough about it too, making sure there wasn't a stray fragment left that could end up embedded in someone's foot, likely his, later. "Okay," he said once he was satisfied, setting the dustpan aside and moving to wash his hands. "You can get down now if you want."

His eyes drifted to the pancakes she was attempting to rescue and tried not to smile too much at the sight despite finding it amusing. "I have a revolutionary idea..." he said, opening a cupboard and rummaging around until he found a stack of paper plates tucked away near the back. "Maybe we stop testing the structural integrity of our plates and use these for a bit?" He slid a couple over to her, and pointed to the surviving pancakes. "Want me to make you fresh ones? Though I also do think we should talk about why you've destroyed...five? six? plates before breakfast."

When she collided into him, he nudged her back in the same momentum, grinning. "Me?" he repeated, refusing, rightfully, to say that word. "You put a hole through the net and somehow I'm the one getting called the star?" With a light shake of his head, he glanced down as she tugged at his jersey. "I can take it off right now, if it's bothering you," he teased lightly. "Wait, is this why you've been calling me Mehta? Just 'cause the jersey's got my name on it, all nicknames are void?" The comment was light but he had noticed that it was just this instance. It wasn't exactly like her to drop the endless stream of ridiculous names she had collected for him. The change had felt odd in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on yet but he did have his theories. Still, he let the thought pass for now, chalking it up to his overthinking like many had told him he was prone to. "Depends. Are we celebrating the win, or the fact that you nearly launched the ball into orbit?"

"It's divine!" Bess complimented and waved back. "I'd been thinking about having cold snacks in the motel lobby. But I'd settle for the leftovers so I can have it for breakfast," she laughed. "Patates salatası? Oh, I'm sure it's just as good, or not better. But I do love this..." Bess pointed to her plate with her fork. "Lemme make room," she shoveled another large forkful into her mouth and smiled at Kiraz.

The laugh which followed echoed with a dull, hollow din, tinted with jagged bitterness JC made no effort to hide. "We don't live in that kind of town, though. We just don't. I'm sorry. Call me disenchanted. But Lunar Cove is a place where vulnerability means...weakness. Something people can take advantage of. And it's not even just our enemies, you know. It's backstabbing and childishness and bullshit amongst ourselves." He huffed, a growl rattling his throat. JC seemed to need a moment to physically compose himself. He planted his feet.

"I know what you mean. I do. But I don't think of myself that way, you know? People keep talking like I'm some kind of 'feel first, think later' tornado of a man, but I'm not. I do both at the same time. Someone looked me in the face and told me to think before I act so that I don't transform, like that's not something I already fucking do." JC bit down on his lip. "Lunar Cove has no grace for me. Maybe it's my own fault. Maybe I'm not good at winning friends. But we're in this mess because we refused to play the game and they didn't. They were more than happy to sacrifice me. By our own standards, the witches and the werewolves should be at war right now. I can't even think about that Council. It makes my heart race. Do you know...when you were...taken, I tried to get them to talk to the spirits? For help? For recon? The eons of dead people with Lunar Cove's best interests in-mind, and you would have thought I shat in their cereal."

He leaned away now, gripping the tree in a search for grounding. The bark splintered, crunching beneath his fingers and superior strength, and JC clenched his teeth. "That's the worst of it. They have no idea when they're even being annoying...sleeping, snacking, making little quips...it's all a big goddamn joke." He shook his head up and down, a stilted nod. "Good. I'm glad. I didn't know. I don't remember. Bobby could be a prick, but he didn't deserve any of that. Neither do we."

After a beat, during which a long breath rolled once more through his frame, JC moved to lower himself beside her. He brought up his knees to tuck beneath his arms, curling into a protective ball while still allowing some room for them to share space, leaning against her. "Sure," he nodded, flicking his eyes in her direction. A hand came up to rest on her knee, as though he were making a genuine effort to tear down the invisible barricade.

"No. You don't upset me. I promise you don't. But everything else? Look, in a lot of ways, our home is a fortress. It's ours. But I can't always keep the outside out. I don't know how." He shook his head back and forth. The mention of Dhruv made him visibly bristle. "I don't know. I wish I did. Maybe that was a fluke. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe if it was you standing there, I'd come to my senses. I want to say that's what would happen. But it's too many maybes, right? You said it yourself. This is unprecedented territory.'

"No. They never do. But what is what like? Growing wings out of my back or having died?" She asked curiously. Her teeth skimmed along her lower lip as she decided, "I remember it all. The ichor side effects don't seem to leave me with much control, but I do remember it. Honestly, it feels somewhat freeing in the moment, however much I might not exactly like what I see come after or the pain at the beginning. But then, I had to grow quite comfortable with the more monstrous sides of myself a long time ago, so... I suppose it somewhat feels like I am shifting into a more accurate physical representation of myself? Of who I've become? And I suppose I never realized how many emotions I bottle down on impulse until now."

"I wouldn't call you disenchanted, so much as sounding like... me, I suppose. But I disagree when it comes to vulnerability. I was vulnerable with you, and you didn't perceive it as weakness. I've been vulnerable with Bexley, she was receptive to it too. I'm not saying there isn't a time and a place for it, and it might not work in every situation, but as you've said, right now, we're just as much of a mess as we were years ago. Whatever we've been doing, has not been working, so maybe its not vulnerability. Maybe its honesty or something else entirely, but if we don't try a different approach, nothing will change and the Council room isn't the only thing we're going to have to worry about being torn to shreds between the two of us, hm?"

"I know you do. It was part of what made you so intriguing right off the bat," She hummed under her lips, flashing him a knowing look. "You not only kept up with me, but gave it back. And you know I love a good debate, but I'm not sure that it is Lunar Cove that has no grace for you as much as the town being scared. And yes, what the previous supreme did voting your name in was shite. But she's a wanted criminal now. She no longer runs the Coven and... JC, the previous fae queen, voted my name in too. So did many residents and, sure, some of them might be grudge-related, while others might've simply because they saw us to be invincible or, like I told you before, expect us to die for them solely because we decided to take on a leadership role. It's not right, but the truth is, leaders in this town are held to a sometimes rather unfair standard by residents and by each other. And I get what you are feeling, I do. I get it, and I've been exactly in your shoes. We can't win, and every action we take will be scrutinized and spun into a narrative often out of our control. But you're not just a leader. You're a person who had something incredibly traumatic just happen to them and are allowed to ask for some grace. As for whether or not they know they're being annoying, I say give them the warning of what could happen if they're not careful, and if they don't listen, that is on them. Not on you."

"Okay, so don't. Trash the house. We'll simply buy another one," She hummed, moving to lace her arms around his neck as he moved to sit back down beside her. "You're not a minotaur. You're a man who was injected with what seems to be a mixture of supernatural DNA, and as for buying up an entire block, why the hell can't we? I was already thinking about buying it anyway. Storage units add up, while multiple houses act as investments," She reasoned as she brushed her fingers along the length of his jaw. "Alright. We'll put the ash in place, and you can take vervain, hm? That way, even if I rage out and bite you, I won't drain you dry. And," The corner of her lips lifted once more softly as she admitted with the smallest hint of a laugh, "I can be, but it's okay. I don't want to lose you either, so let's not, alright? I want you home. Not hiding from me or keeping physical distance. That's it. Everything else, we'll figure out."

Addie tapped the toe of her boot on the ground before taking another drag of her cigarette. She would have preferred being at a bar somewhere, but sitting in the park passing a bottle back and forth was the second best for now. There was another full moon soon and she felt it aching in her bones. "So, how long you been a wolf or whatever we are?" she asked Kiraz, holding her hand out for the bottle. She didn't actually care (she told herself she didn't care, why would she care? Addie didn't care about anything), but she was still curious. Sue her. It wasn't every day she stumbled upon someone else's dead body and then walked away with them without batting an eyelash.

To the outside onlooker, Kiraz almost seemed too nonchalant about it. About life, everything. Maybe even emotionless. People called Addie that, too, but she felt plenty-- angry, annoyed, pissed off. Those were still emotions. Maybe it was that comradery that kept pulling Addie back to her. Maybe she saw something familiar in her. Wolf thing aside.

"But what about you?" Kiraz asked, giving Addie's leg a light nudge as she peered over at her with those big, curious eyes of hers. "How long have you been a werewolf or whatever it is you want to call it?"