you're a man now, boy

Her fingers continued to type for a few moments, the clicking rhythm unbroken, until it seemed like the voice of who exactly was on the other side of her screen clicked. Really it was his laugh that had done it. A slow smile spread on her face, even as she pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. “Honestly, you are probably one of the few who actually could.” Finally looking up, she tilted her screen out of the way, grimacing as she realized how bad the the table actually looked. Well to her standards at least. “Ugh, I’m surprised I let the table get this gross. I must be out of it. I was just thinking about writing a blog post about all of…” She paused and motioned between the two of them, hoping he’d understand, before continuing, “This… thing we’re dealing with now. But I also don’t know if I’m ready for that. Not that anyone really was.”

▬ 

“When we’re too focused on work, it’s bound to happen,” he stated, sharing a light tone, hoping it’d make her less worried about occupying the table, since he was the intruder. James was mostly supposed to take his coffee and leave, but there was no harm at greeting a friend, especially one that knew exactly what he was going through. Because, Catalina was also facing that change. “Have you checked a few of the books about it? Even if they state that we were extinct,” we. What a strange word that offered the idea that he was no longer human. “But yes, it’s been a strange and tough subject for some. Whether it’s because they didn’t know they were a concubus or because they now know someone that’s struggling with this.”

—

Although he was not a werewolf, Sofia believed that full moon days tended to be rough on James… because of what he represented as a public figure in Astoria. She wouldn’t blame him for seeming so stressed, hence why she offered driving him over to Elysium, where the few privileged ones tended to protect themselves on full moon days. It could have been left unsaid, but, as she pulled into the entrance, she’d told James to be careful. The Alpha had grown to care about him because of Zoey, and, those feelings had never faded. Now that the two were back together, it almost felt like things were getting back to their original places.

That particular full moon had been eye-opening to a lot of people, including the ones that judged themselves to be human. The city was still recovering from the chaos of last full moon, but it seemed to be in better spirits. That’s why Sofia asked to meet James for lunch, to both check in on him and try to see how things were on a political level, hoping she’d have some leverage on the matter due to their closeness.

“You look better.” She smiled, motioning her head towards him when the man sat across from her at the table. “Have you been okay?”

▬ 

The full moon experience had been different from everything he had ever experienced, with a reason. Feeding from others had been something he had never expected. James attempted to restrain himself from any trouble that would lead to him being turned by a werewolf or dying and becoming a vampire, and yet. There he was, learning that he was something completely different. He wasn’t turned, he simply was. 

While staring at the woman in front of him, he ended up laughing over her choice of words. “Well, thank you, Bodden. You really know how to get to my heart,” he teased, scratching the back of his neck. “I do look better, but I don’t know if I feel better. Trying to deal with this whole new thing is stressful.”

How could he tell everyone in his life about that? It had been one thing to state it openly to everyone that worked with him and the council, and his family. It feel less simple when it meant sharing it loudly with those truly in his life. It meant leaving a whole past as human behind him. “Both to myself and everyone else also dealing with those chances. Was the full moon kind to you and your pack?”

+

Rubbing the mark on her neck absentmindedly, Selin mentally cursed herself for losing track of time and what’s out in front of her. Not only was she a werewolf, but she was a professional athlete and putting two and two together meant that it was a given to have good reflexes. However, lately she hasn’t been living up to that expectation. Every loud sound or sudden interruption caught her off guard and she knew that she was too immersed in the chaos of her mind.  

“No, it’s alright. I should have paid more attention, especially if I was going to stick around in a public place.” Selin then leaned on the railing and relaxed her composure as she turned to face James. “Yeah…It’s been a lot lately.” Pointing around the beach, she heavily sighed and said, “The scenery makes up for it and it’s a nice break from thinking too much I guess…Does that make sense?”

▬

"Truth being told, I’m honestly constantly living inside my head while in public so I can’t really blame you for ignoring everyone around you too.” In fact, he wasn’t even annoyed by the fact it took her long to notice the fact he had waved at her. All he could feel was some sort of embarrassment living deep within himself, but that was his own issue when it came to his insecurities. 

He chuckled, asking with a minor motion of his hand and gaze if he could sit by her. “I know what you’re saying. I could stay home and enjoy a similar scenario right in front of it. But I needed to see people, you know? Watch others having fun and enjoying this beautiful day, so here I am. You should get in the water, it’s not cold and it helps relaxing.” It usually helped him, if it wasn’t for the mere activity of swimming, it’d be surfing. “But I hope you’re-- alright. Last time we saw each other, it was under a very different circumstance. One that I’m glad that’s in the past. 

“Yeah I guess that you are right about that, not every being is made perfect, I mean I don’t even believe that there is such a thing as the perfect being, that would be quite silly.” She said to him with a gentle chuckle falling from her lips. “Wow, I haven’t heard them in a long time, my friend would have their music on all the time when I would go around to her.” She remembered the bands music being played even when she stayed over at her friends house. “Oh goodness I think that he will understand my feelings much better if I went the caps lock route.” She laughed. “Pleasure to meet you James, I’m Lorna, again sorry for the scream.”

▬

"If there is, I’ve met someone like that,” James replied back to the other woman, chuckling after his words. “I listen to different genres, so I wouldn’t be surprised if after them the shuffle would give me that young singer that sings about her driver’s license.” A song that his daughter had been listening to all the time. James adored to get to know new artists and appreciate different musics, it was what helped him get better at guitar. “See? Sometimes I have the best ideas,” he joked. “Well, it was also a pleasure to meet you, Lorna. and seriously, don’t worry about it. I do hope everything will workout your way and if we ever stumble upon each other again, let me know!”

🧱 - what do you feel like your foundation is? how long has it been steady? are you still building it?

“My job and my family-- and well, in a way I consider my closest friends and the love of my life part of my family, so don’t even assume I’m not listing them as well. At first, I thought I was solely focused at organizing my life to life for work, but I was able to find out that it’s the people in my life that gave me strength to go on in life and to move forward. I would be nothing without them, and I’d also be nothing without setting goals that led me to becoming the mayor. And for what’s worth, I’ll aim higher when it comes to my job, and I’ll always try my best to keep working on my relationship with others.”

▬

           “Coffee first or I’m liable to be more beast in the shower than I’d like,” she replied with a small laugh as she happily took the coffee cup from James as she made sure to steal a quick kiss as well. It was always wanting to have one more after the last, because in the back of her mind was the quiet but solid realization that there was always that chance that it could be the last again. It wasn’t in her control should the world make a mess of itself again as she smiled at him. “I promise that to be the case next time, even if that means waking you up and dragging you out of bed to go with me so that we can go back to bed together again.” She let out a small sigh then, taking a sip of the much needed coffee that was about to fix a few things that had gone. sideways with her earlier morning. “Everything will be. You know how it is when someone’s new to shifting. They have so many worries and questions and fears, and it was a ledge that they needed a hand to hold and pull them back off again.”

▬

Arching an eyebrow, he chuckled. “With the promise of heading back to bed together you could even take me to the moon with little to no effort, Martinez.” A wink before his gaze moved down, grabbing his mug of coffee and taking a sip from his hot beverage. “If there’s one person that I know that’s capable of making those new wolves grow sure of themselves, that person would be you, and maybe the alpha from Ríos pack too.” The latter was mostly a joke, though he was certain that that person was definitely a great alpha too. After all, having a member of the council as an Elder in your pack comes with a lot of pressure. “Everything that we have to experience for the first time comes with all of our fears and the assumption that we’ll fail. Soon you’ll just have another member in your pack that knows of what they are capable of. I’m sure,” he stated, kissing her neck. “So, when you said beast in the shower… was it in a positive way? Or should I be concerned?” It was part of his nature to tease her, it was even better to know that now he could do it. There was nothing between themselves, not even their own stubbornness that led to their previous breakup. “Because if it’s in a positive manner, I think I have some time to spare before I need to go through my appointments for the day.”

Ever since his daylight charm broke, Tuah had to cater his lifestyle in Astoria during after the sun had set. He had informed his grandsire of the unfortunate circumstance, and Eleanor agreed to send him a new signet ring for him to use. After she had a good laugh at his misfortune and her curiosity about Zakary’s power satisfied (of course she was curious. The ring was enchanted so it wouldn’t be forged or break easily by any means. clearly no one had taken Zakary’s power into consideration.)  

He had attended his meeting with the board of directors at the Elysium that day, and decided to stay at the country club until the worst of the full moon was over. The others felt the same way too, though those that were affected by the full moon decided to be with their pack instead. Tuah supposed having a gold membership had its perks, especially when his guests’ needs were met with utmost priority.

Tuah lingered in the lounge area, glass filled with fresh blood served like fine wine to him in his hand, when he heard someone approached him. “Mayor Horton,” he called out, hand already hovering in the space between them, ready to catch the mayor if he fell. “I’m alright. Are you?” Tuah asked worriedly. Clearly something was wrong with the mayor, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was. “Why don’t we have a seat, hm. Would you like me to call someone to have you looked over?”

▬ 

His head was pounding and the dizziness was growing stronger, he had been trying to avoid it, but it seemed that the hunger would only grow stronger as time passed by. James wished he had stayed home or, perhaps, it had been wiser to just drive straight to the hospital instead of the club. At the response that Tuah was alright, James nod. There was a distortion in the voices he was hearing, part of himself was focused on the words spoken by the person in front of him, but another was the echoes of Tuah’s thoughts; to the point that they were so loud, James could easily mistake one for another. Daylight ring. “Hope everything’s alright ever since you broke your daylight ring.” Had Tuah stated that out loud? Fuck.  

Elysium offered closed doors. James rarely accepted the invitation to remain within the club during full moon nights with the council. However they were trying to keep themselves together, in case it was needed. In case the effects of what had happened two months ago would find a way to make the Worm Moon worse. James was attentive, his eyes focused on his phone just to know that Maya was safe and so was Kara. Ignoring the headache and dizziness, trying his best to disregard the voices inside his head that seemed to grow louder and louder with time. And then the clock over his phone offered the commence of the peak. A sigh. He was expecting the same kind of night, lost in thoughts of what was happening to those who were out there, urging that the scenario was better than the last outcome. But it didn’t take longer for him to notice that it wasn’t the same. And the chance came from within himself.

The hunger seemed metaphorically louder, he felt his body claiming for something. Something from others. James moved up, aiming closer to someone. Someone he had seen briefly by the festival, and with that he didn’t know exactly if he was approaching him because he was worried about the other person or if it was this instinct within himself craving for something else. Still, he craved his blue light eyes over Tuah: “Are you okay? I’m sorry, I--” he felt he wanted to feed himself. From what? Had he been bitten? What was happening?

“You’re fine. It was 100% the pavement.” Aubrey said, waving off his concern as they got back to their feet, gesturing to the crack that she’d tripped over. “And okay, maybe a little bit my being distracted, too. That’s what I get for trying to email and walk.” Honestly they should have known better. They really should have. But they were wearing sneakers, arguably the safest shoes to wear while walking and being distracted by your phone.

Aubrey locked her gaze onto the script and took it gratefully. “Oh my god, you just saved my ass, thank you!” They clutched the script to their chest. “Something like that. My calendar is gone. Not just for the afternoon, but for the entire month. I was trying to get in touch with my agent, and, well. You know the rest.” The gestured at their surroundings. “Are you alright?”

▬ 

“The people behind this city are the one to blame,” did they know that he was the mayor? And therefore, was that a concern he could take into account? Hopefully not. Or it wouldn’t be an issue, after all, he had apologized; and he could remind himself of that happening later. “Multitasking is not for everyone, it’s definitely not for me,” as James himself was also trying to focus on something else that wasn’t his path in public while people were heading his opposite side. 

“No worries, it’s the least I could do to be somewhat helpful,” he stated his hands moving back inside his pockets once they had taken their papers. “Ah, yes. I do know that and well… can I lie and say that I’m great?” Another attempt of a joke, “I’m just busy. A lot going through my mind while trying to solve a few issues before I head back to the office. Same old…”

Lorna had never had to deal with something like it before, she believed that he was out of her life for good but the fact that he contacted her after so long hit her quite out of the blue. “Ah I think that I will keep that one in mind just in case it happens to me again. Fingers crossed that it was a one off thing though.” She replied with a small chuckle escaping from her lips.

“I really am terribly sorry for the surprise, I hope that I didn’t make your listening experience to what you were listening to bad.” She apologized once again. “Ah I take that you work in a place where you get that one unhappy customer a day, I know that feeling. I think that I will be fine, just have to muster up the will to calming tell him that I am not interested without screaming down the phone at him.”

▬

“Yeah-- well, we’ve all been there, you know, it’s what makes us...” he was going to say human, but it wasn’t the truth, not only humans would break in this world they lived in. Everyone was entitled to allow emotions to get the best of them from time to time, so with that he chose something more general like: “...beings with flaws.”

“It was just Finger Finger Death Punch, I tend to listen to something louder when I need to clear my head,” perhaps that was weird. But it was indeed what James would go through to help with his trail of thoughts. “Something like that, yes,” he chuckled. “If calling won’t help you, aim lower and go for a text. You can’t scream through texts... unless you willingly use caps lock.” He tried to joke, hoping it’d cheer her up. “I’m James, by the way. I don’t remember if I introduced myself.”

“Alright, right, ‘s good, two beers please!” Raine yelled at the bartender, who held out a hand towards them, gesturing for them to tone it down. “Two beers please,” Raine repeated, voice softer. They hadn’t even realised that James had ordered his own, so ended up with two, blinking, shrugging, and starting to drink the first one as if it was water. “Yeah, def a compliment, nobody watches those CW series for the plot,” they noted. “Right, sounds weird. I am not gonna say it anymore, just pretend it don’ exist.” They took another sip. “So, ye got any artists ye’re gonna see, or just here for the beer and babysitting from a distance.”

▬

"Let me pay for those beers, you got me water. Honestly, during a festival that’s more than someone could ask for.” Though he was wearing  a humorous tone, he meant it. After all, during warm days it was important to keep themselves hydrated. It was something he was trying to remind Maya from time to time without embarrassing her. “Ah-- I’ll try my best not to assume that’s why my kid is all interested in some of the series that CW offers,” scratching the back of his neck, he took another sip from his beer. “Does anything really exists?” It was a strange question, but after watching people disappear in front of his eyes, he was certain that anything could be possible. “Definitely. Anderson Paak is one of my favorites in that setlist. Yours?”

“Any trip with my parents and sibling. It was one of those moments in which I could appreciate being around my family while still being sort of introspective. Because when I was a kid I wasn’t as social as I’m now.”