Red Moon, Shy Moon

Isn’t anyone she knew? But Kirin was fairly certain she knew all the wolves in the area. This was news, and news that Gaius should hear. Kirin nodded slowly. 

"Ugh. If only it can happen at a faster pace than it is." Haley muttered. She nodded slightly to Kirin. Despite the fact that she may have been on the awkward side, Kirin meant well.  If only the circumstances were a bit different. She doesn't seem so bad. 

"I told you," Eli protested. "I’m not crying." He moved his face to the crook of his elbow and refused to look at her, preferring instead to shut his eyes against his long-sleeved t-shirt, though the fabric was scratchy against his eyelids and made the skin on the back of his neck erupt in goosebumps.

"No, it's fine, really." Thalia bit her lip and looked over at Eli. She never felt so helpless in her entire life. He was clearly broken, but she was wary about getting closer to him and trying to go deeper into the problem.  What can I do? I don't know how to help him at all. Goodness, this is difficult...

No way in hell while Gaius was there.

"Hell no! He and I hardly talk to begin with." Haley snorted and crossed her arms before starting to get up from the ground. "It isn't anyone you know anyway." 

"Er." began Kirin, haltingly. To tell the truth, she wasn’t sure how exactly this would work. She’d been under the impression that it just would. “I suppose it’d work like any club-sort-thing. We meet up occasionally at the safe-house (that’s where we go for the moons and stuff, it’s hidden in the woods), and since we mostly all go to the same school, we can pass on messages pretty easily without having to find excuses.” She took a breath to organize her thoughts. 

Haley quickly shook her head and reeled back a bit. Several images flew through her mind. A shabby shack in the middle of the woods. Everyone trapped down in the same room tied down with Gaius above them all. Having to report with him, even talk with him and be in the same room...well. She gagged a bit and shook her head some more.  "No thanks. You and Dross aren't so bad but...damn, no thanks." She crossed her arms, her expression becoming a little cloudy. "No way in hell while Gaius is there. Besides,"  As she spoke, she felt herself becoming lighter and different images started to pop into her mind. The Ruiz family, faces that she could remember since her childhood was in her mind's eye, Thalia's, Erza's too. Erza's was the strongest, the brightest of them all. Her own little sun.

"Oh, that guy.." Kirin nodded, her face focused and thoughtful. She’d have to tell Gaius about this, when she found him again… wherever he was. She sighed under her breath. She could find him later. 

Join their pack? 

"Tell me about it." Kirin sighed at Haley’s opinion of Macheath. "I think that’s why Gaius wanted him. I-i-in his pack. Y’know, like… what better way to get ready for a battle than get the fighters on your side-?" 

"Figures." Haley grumbled and crossed her arms. With the two of them starting to put the pieces together involved in the situations, new connections were beginning to be made. 

"Wait, you didn’t know about Mac?" Kirin frowned. "Who do you know about then?" Kirin counted up the people again in her head. 

"No! I mean, he was already nuts as a human...God." Haley shook her head slowly. Of course, there were several stories and rumors throughout the student body about how many times the guy was suspended, some of the rage episodes he had; the guy was practically infamous for his ability to lose his composure instantly. And now, with him being a werewolf on top of that... This is so fucked up. 

Kirin’s eyebrows raised and her stomach dropped. “Oh.” 

"Yeah. I ran into a couple of them myself, apparently." Haley grumbled and looked over at her ankle. Hidden beneath the thick socks and jeans was a very painful injury from the previous full moon, apparently caused by some rope of some kind.  Yeah, waking up naked and climbing up the hospital was LOADS of fun. 

"O-oh." Kirin sighed, and nodded. She remembered that night, or at least, transforming, then waking up later to the world on fire. Kirin bit her lip, thinking. "I-I’m so sorry." she said.

Haley closed her eyes and furrowed her brow in response. It was almost like the funeral again in a sense; no matter how many apologies were given to her, it didn't change the facts as they were. It's funny, how some people think that simple words had the ability to change the world when it didn't change her own. 

Kirin counted under her breath.

"Seven?!" Haley found herself stumbling back against the brick wall of the coffee shop. Once her back hit the wall, she allowed herself to slide down against the wall and take a seat on the gravel. 

Kirin passed over the napkins wordlessly. Haley seemed very… nervous, anxious. Edgy. And if Kirin new anything, it was that an edgy werewolf- heck, an edgy girl- wasn’t something you wanted to piss off.  She didn’t look used to this yet, if the amount of blood on her hands were any indication, Kirin thought to herself. That was only natural: this took a long, long while to get the hang of. Kirin took a few steps back to give Haley some space to breathe. 

It took all of Haley's willpower to not roll her eyes. "Easier said than done." She replied gruffly while applying pressure to her hands. The whole situation was rather frustrating; while Haley was now a bit aware of how her anger can cause werewolf symptoms to spike up, this knowledge made it all the more difficult for her to keep herself in check. The constant reminders of what she was now constantly left her on edge, always close to exploding.

"Wait, Haley!" Kirin cried as the younger girl jumped up and ran away- too quick for any human to run. As if the growing claws and flashing eyes didn’t give it away already. 

Silver eyes snapped back to blue once Haley heard Kirin's voice. The fog in her head seemed to have left for now, and she was able to breathe a little easier. However, these changes didn't really sink in once Kirin's words were easy to pick out.  Napkins...oh god.

"I don’t know. On the crime shows, the murderer always return to the scene of the crime!" said Kirin to Haley, before turning to Duncan, saying "And that’s stupid. You really have bad priorities." She paused and considered what he said.

"Ugh, geez." Haley buried her face in her hands and grumbled to herself. "That is why I never watch them in the first place; they always do such stupid crap like that."  While Haley mumbled into her hands, the last bit of sweaty teens arrived to the coffee shop and went into line. Suddenly, the air felt terribly thick, heavy and... Ugh, CHRIST. I can't take this anymore!  

"Not worth her time," he repeated, mumbling the last syllable, and raked a hand through his hair,

Kirin shook her head, saying before she could think: “But he wasn’t killed with a gun.” Her eyes widened and she shut her mouth, quietly. “Er. I mean. There w-would h-have been a-a bang! The music w-wasn’t that loud! We w-w-were at the p-party, we would have known.”

He shook his head. “Baxter wasn’t killed Halloween night— or, I guess, the night of the party, or whatever. He was dead ‘least a few days before then. Figure May wanted to check up on the body, make sure it was, you know, still dead.”