TLV IC Contact Post

[conning]

"It's Caffrey. Remember the value of plausible deniability. I'll get back to you."

Comments

[abrightboy]

"Oh. No. The full moon doesn't turn this kind of wolf. We can do it at will, though it takes energy. You can't just keep... flipping back and forth. I keep some of the, um... heightened senses, though, when I'm... human me."

He puts the kettle on.

"How's Wardening going? Did you get someone in the last pairing?"

[conning]

"Why can't you change back and forth? What kind of heightened senses?" It's genuine curiosity, fascination, though when Malcolm says we can do it at will there's a little scissor-pang of loneliness and jealousy that he looks toward the Goyas to hide in case it makes it to his face.

"Kendall Roy, on a temporary basis. Roman's older brother. He's... interesting. There's a lot going on there."

[abrightboy]

“Oh, yeah, I noticed that,” he says of Kendall, scooping tea into a diffuser. His hands pause in their work and he looks up at Neal. “I noticed it verbally, so probably better not to mention me.”

As for the senses, he goes back to scooping. “I can smell a… broader range of scents? Like. I can pick out the scents of the various components of this tea, for example. And my hearing is better, though that may be a double-edged sword. I’m not sure I needed a way to be more sure of overhearing people talking about me behind my back.”

[conning]

"The better to hear your friends telling them to go fuck themselves if they try." Implacable on that front, thank you very much. He leans a little further forward on the counter. "The scent sensitivity must do fascinating things to flavor profiles."

As far as Kendall is concerned, well... "He's tightly wound in a completely different way than Roman. Has a pretty strong chosen one personal narrative that would make him an absolute dream to run a con on, so it's good for us both that I'm not here for that, I guess."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm points at him with the cheese knife.

"What if you could con him into graduating?" he jokes with a grin.

[conning]

Neal snorts quietly. "I have to con him into telling his brother whatever Kendall's hiding from him, first."

Which is an issue for another time, one he has to talk about with Raylan, really.

Neal shakes his head. "How did it work anyway? Did Lark bite you? Is he the only one who can do it?"

[abrightboy]

“Oh. No. He cut his hand with a knife and then mine and then tied them together so the blood transfer wouldn’t be interrupted if I… convulsed a little,” Malcolm explains, looking up as he drops the diffuser in the teapot.

[conning]

Please hold.

“I’m sorry, I swear you just said he tied your hands together so things wouldn’t be interrupted if you convulsed.”

[abrightboy]

“From the pain,” Malcolm explains. And then, pointing out the obvious: “When my bones changed.”

[conning]

“Right.” Jesus Christ. “Right. Was there any concern around it… being fatal?”

Things he absolutely should have asked the first time they had this conversation, but Neal wants to know exactly how hard he should be slapping himself mentally.

[abrightboy]

“I don’t think so. That seems like the sort of thing someone would have mentioned,” Malcolm muses. “Anyway, that only took a couple of minutes and then I was sort of… disoriented at first. Because everything is taller than it used to be and you can hear things you couldn’t hear before… that sort of thing.”

[conning]

“Yeah it does.” Neal’s statement is less agreement than wondering what Lark might not have mentioned about this whole thing. He shakes his head, getting back on track. “Were you stuck? How did you change back? Where did you even do this, in his cabin?”

[abrightboy]

“In his cabin, yeah. And then when I sort of got my bearings, he took me to see Iris and she took us on her ship to… go hunting together. Like. An initiation, I guess,” Malcolm tells him.

[conning]

Oh. That’s also concerning, in its own way. Neal circles the island at last so he can be close enough to Malcolm to touch his elbow gently. “Did you want to go hunting? Are you okay?”

[abrightboy]

“Um…” For Neal, that’s probably most of an answer. “I mean, it’s what you do, I guess. They took me to hunt a moose, so I could understand the strength and stamina that I have now. And… the chasing part and figuring out how to corner it was kind of fun, but I’m not sure we needed to go for the kill. I can still kind of… taste it,” he says distastefully.

[conning]

Neal is making several silent notes to talk to Lark and Iris once he’s had a chance to figure out what to say that isn’t ‘what the actual fuck is wrong with you?’

In the mean time he gives Malcolm a tight hug. “Hopefully the tea will help with that.”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm will take the hug, holding on tight.

“It’s not really hitting my stomach like it normally would. It’s more like I… remember it, but with my mouth.”

[conning]

Neal uses the excuse of comfort to keep an arm around Malcolm’s shoulders.

“Maybe lycanthropy will be good for your stomach. That would be nice.”

Still. He gives Malcolm an extra squeeze. “You don’t have to do that again, you know that, right? Wolf or not, pack or not, you can run with them and not make yourself kill.”

[abrightboy]

“Yeah, I… maybe won’t so much. I don’t know if it’s expected to be… regular. But I think it only helps when I have a wolf stomach,” Malcolm admits.

[conning]

“It doesn’t matter if it’s expected,” Neal insists softly. “If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to do it. If Lark really respects and cares about you, he’ll respect and care about that too.”

[abrightboy]

“That’s true. I just… didn’t want to be a crappy wolf on the first day,” Malcolm replies.

[conning]

“I’m not blaming you.” Neal ruffles his hair and kisses the side of his head before finally letting go. “I wish he’d thought to ask what you wanted to do to test out having four legs.”

[abrightboy]

He smiles at Neal as he pulls away and picks up a slice of apple, holding it out to him in offer.

“Will said I can run with his dogs in the Enclosure. No killing animals. No animals to kill. Just running.”

[conning]

Neal takes the apple, pleased that his smile doesn’t dip at all when Malcolm mentions Will. It helps that he also mentions Will’s dogs, and the image of Malcolm playing with them as a wolf is unspeakably cute.

He shouldn’t be hurt that Malcolm told Will first. He has no right or reason to be hurt. Of course Malcolm told Will first. It’s fine.

One of the unintentional results of all of this, Neal doesn’t realize, is how much better of a liar he’s getting to be in a very short span of time.

“I hope I get to see your… wolf, at some point, which sounds like innuendo.”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm beams at him.

In truth, he was worried Neal would get mad at him like before, for not thinking things through or for giving in to peer pressure. He’s relieved and he’s pleased.

“You would? I… I can show you.”