Chapter 24 - Some Time to Pause

Saturday, October 1^st, 2011

Moon Phase – Waxing Crescent

Heading back into the bathroom, his limbs and chest shaking in excitement, Alex got a quick shower and some fresh clothing on. The only thing on his mind then was that he’d succeeded at shifting both into and out of his were form. Returning to the kitchen to find his friends and family waiting for him, some of them had very questioning looks on their faces. Despite that, and the soreness of his bones and muscles after the shift, Alex was ecstatic and his grin didn’t leave his face for long.

However, while riding with his friends to pick up his motorcycle, his enthusiasm took a slight hit; all three of them were eerily quiet during the ride. As though they were afraid to say anything. Judging by their scents, they weren’t afraid. Maybe deep in thought, or thinking about something else.

“Give it some time.” was what Alex said to himself after thanking Marcus for the ride. Waving him and Catherine off, he offered Nathan a quick goodbye before driving back to his house. going to sleep that night with a smile on his face.

With his Saturday off work, after a quick breakfast, he arrived at the skateshop to a small crowd of customers and few riders in the park. His ecstasy from the night before was still there as he got a running start and cruised the park for a time. The soreness around his body hadn’t diminished as much as he’d hoped from the night before, but he saw no reason to keep himself grounded.

After what felt like half an hour of riding, his legs were asking for a break and he obliged. Returning to the shop to refill his water bottle, a couple of customers were scattered about, with Cameron among them.

“Oh, hey.” he said as Alex walked up. “I saw that you signed up.”

“Yeah. Wouldn’t miss it.” Looking over the sign-in sheet again, Alex saw that only three others had added their names since he’d done so. That made a total of seven. “Hmm. Not a whole lot of people taking part though.”

“True, but that means for time for those who are.”

Nodding at that, Alex returned to the park after getting some more water. Sitting in the spectator area, and overseeing the entire park, he felt a bit more relaxed. As though he was in charge of things.

Once his legs felt less tired, his first stop was the quarterpipe directly below the spectator box. With the tail of the board sitting on the coping, his right foot holding it there, he looked over the obstacles in front of him and picked a location for a quick run.

Dropping in, he picked up speed and steered towards a rail nearby. Once in the Ollie position, he popped it a few feet from the rail, adjusting both trucks to land on it. They slid along with a hard grinding sound, the high pitches reverberating through his ears.

Once off the rail, his phone beeped twice; it was his messenger app. Using his foot as a brake, he checked the messenger only to see someone had sent a friend request. A spambot from the looks of it. Tucking the phone back in his pocket, he kicked off and went back to riding.

As the next hour passed, his skin became more drenched in sweat as did his T-shirt. Several times, he pictured the park when the demo was going on, and a few times wondered if he should do another patrol of the area. If this guy was showing up in First Colony most often, that was where he had his best shot at finding him.

Recalling the scents of cleaning products on his clothing made that theory even more sound. He had to be getting them cleaned somewhere, and this part of town had several businesses for that. Digging his phone back out, he remembered that there was one laundromat a few stores down from the comic shop. Deciding to check there first, Alex gathered his things and made his way there after he was satisfied with his time skating.

Seeing Marcus’ truck outside the store made him hesitant to go inside. The tone he had on his voice the previous night was still on his mind. The only conclusion Alex could draw was Marcus had gotten angry because he’d shifting during his birthday. A thought that on reflection he understood, if only semi agreed with.

Turning the ignition off, Alex slipped out of his helmet and headed inside the laundromat. As soon as the doors opened, his nose was swamped with scents of cleaning products. None of them an immediate match to what he recalled, but to be certain, he walked the entirety of the business. There was a breadth of scents, yet none that seemed familiar.

“OK. One location done.” Alex thought, just before his stomach felt a bit empty. Ordering a medium rare burger from the restaurant next door, he sat outside the comic shop while he ate. All the while, he told himself he had little reason to be nervous about talking to a friend. Until he finished his meal however, he held off on going inside.

When he did, Marcus was working the front register and Trevor was nowhere to be seen. “Hey, man.” His greeting was more neutral than usual.

“Hey, Marcus.” Alex responded, going for the PC racks nearby. “Trevor here?”

“No. He’s on his lunch break.”

Alex nodded once. “You have a minute?”

“Sure.”

Alex sighed. He would have to open up dialogue with him soon; best to get it over with. “I don’t mean to pry but, you still sound a bit angry or something.”

“In a way.” Marcus said, looking over to check the door as he spoke. “Frustrated as well.”

That was the signal Alex needed. “I’m sorry about last night if that’s the case. Seeing that guy just set me off.”

“I could tell with the way you were growling, and your eyes turning yellow.”

“My eyes changed color?” The news didn’t feel new for some reason. “I’ll try not to let it happen again. Not sure how though.”

“On that, mind if I ask you something?”

“Sure. What?”

“If you see this guy again…” Marcus stalled, and then restarted his sentence. “You said you were concerned about us before, so what happens if you find him again?”

Alex averted his eyes for a second. If he was asking about how he would confront his attacker again, why would he add something to the thought? “I’m confused.”

“When you confronted that guy, you almost stepped back when he got up.”

“It caught me by surprise, if that’s what you mean.”

“Not just that. I saw you duck a bit as well.” Marcus waited, as if for an answer. Or to see if Alex would add something he was missing. “That didn’t seem like surprise to me.”

Alex thought for a second. Backing away; ducking his head, or lowering it. “That’s a sign of submission.” Alex felt his pulse pick up a bit.

“I’m not trying to say you’re weak or anything, but that stood out to me when I saw it.”

Alex rubbed his forehead. “I didn’t realize I did that. Thanks for telling me.”

“No problem.”

“To answer your question though,” Alex looked around to be sure no one was there. “if I do run into him again…I don’t know.”

“Isn’t submission something wolves do?” Marcus asked matter-of-factually.

“Yeah. They’ll act that way to show they know their place in a pack.” When Alex said that, something clicked. That was what his friend was trying to say. Running a hand through his hair, he felt a shiver run over his skin. “Why didn’t I realize that before?”

“You said it yourself.” Marcus said, once again checking the door. “All you were thinking about was that guy.”

“Yeah. That could explain why I shifted as well.”

“Seemed more like anger to me and Catherine.”

“Maybe, but that’s not what I felt when it happened.” Alex said. “It was like I wanted to be sure he knew you guys weren’t to be touched. Or approached.”

Marcus remained silent, but his expression was clearly on weighing what was said.

At the same time, Alex recalled how Marcus spoke when he said he was going inside to get their meals; he had sounded more determined than angry. Had that rolled over into his attitude for the rest of the night? “Either way, thanks for everything you did for me last night.” Alex extended his hand as he spoke.

“You’re welcome.” Marcus said, returning the shake with a firm grip. “And that game you got me? Awesome. I was playing it nonstop when I got home.”

Alex smirked. If nothing else, that made him feel better.

Deciding to hang around the shop for a while, he had time to think as he browsed the trade-ins. What Marcus had brought up was foremost on his mind. Had he acted submissive on instinct? What would that signal to his attacker? That he was afraid of him no matter how he found him? The idea of doing that subconsciously was bad enough.

Another thought flashed through his mind then. Did this guy know about how canines behaved? Thinking on it now, even if he had acted a bit submissive, the only time that happened was when this person stood up as if to face him. He hadn’t completely shirked away from him, something he knew submissive canines did.

Looking over to his friend as he opened another comic, Alex felt a bit hopeful about that.

Monday, October 3^rd, 2011

Moon Phase – First Quarter

The rest of Saturday passed quickly after Alex made another run of the locations his friends worked at; neither Nathan nor Catherine were working that day. Something he was pleased to know when he found his attacker’s scent at the bookstore once again. It stopped and pooled near the New Age area at the rightmost side of the store this time, which Alex found unusual at first.

Seeing an influx of books on werewolves, and finding the scent on the spine of one of those books, something crossed his mind. This guy was in the same position he was. Was he trying to figure out what to do to bring his lycanthropy under control? He had lasted on just two animals, but this guy had claimed at least eight, if not more.

Remembering how calm he had been when confronted, both at Steakhouse and Nathan’s work place, Alex disregarded the idea of his attacker being weak-willed. Something was driving him. Or he had some kind of agenda. For all he knew, this guy was messing with him right now by leaving his scent on a werewolf book. Replacing it before he flipped too many pages, Alex left the store and headed home, spending the last parts of Saturday practicing for the demo.

Sunday began with a similar session on his grindbox after lunch. The excitement of the coming event helped encourage him to attempt a flatland trick he’d yet to try. He had seen a few people do it online, but never in person. After refreshing his memory with a few video clips, he pocketed his phone and put his board into a tail-stop position, grabbing the nose and maneuvering it along with his legs and feet.

After several initial attempts of varying success, and some scrapping of his palm from the griptape, he heard his phone beep with another message. This one from Catherine. “You doing OK?” was all she asked.

“I am.” Before Alex sent the message, he typed out a second part. “You guys have been pretty silent recently, though.” Figuring she knew what he was talking about, he sent the text.

There was no immediate reply. After what felt like fifteen minutes, he then got one. “It’s nothing personal. I just don’t know what to say.”

“I understand. This is pretty out there as I said.”

“You did look like a sleeping dog that night though.” Catherine added a smiley to the text at the end.

“Thanks for reminding me.” Alex texted back, adding the same icon.

“Well, talk to you later.”

“You too, Catherine. And thank you.” Pocketing his phone, Alex stepped back onto his board, starting another run from the garage. After riding around for a time, he slid to a stop, holding the tail down and readying for another attempt at the trick.

With his left foot under the deck, he took the nose in the same hand, shifting the board into and past the vertical position. Standing on the truck and kingpin as the nose of the board changed hands, his weight on the tip of the deck’s tail, he felt it tilt forward as he brought it down. His body started to fall forward before he put both feet out to catch himself.

The board clacked between his legs before he flipped it back over. He was close. The balance point was the tricky part, as was flipping the board back around when he found that.

Repeating the moves, he held the board at a slightly higher angle than before. For a second, he thought he felt the deck tilt a bit, his right hand adjusting just in case. Hearing the deck make a cracking noise, he readied himself and leapt off the truck. He rose only an inch or so before flipping the board around. It landed back on the wheels, but the handflip had pulled the deck forward some.

He landed half on the ground and half on the board, his left foot clipping the tail. “Just a few more tries.” Alex thought as he went inside for some water.

His folks were already eating lunch when he walked in; ham and turkey sandwiches. Bailey was laying down nearby. “You hungry, son?” his father asked.

“Not right now. I just need a drink.” Alex said as he filled a glass.

“You sure? You’ve been practicing all day.”

With a minute to pause, and the scents of meat now starting to entice him, Alex replied. “Uh…sure. Why not?”

Going for the fridge, he found some leftover pizza and set the microwave to warm a few slices. They came out softer but together with a glass of water, it was a nice, hot meal.

As he sat with his folks, his mother picked the time to ask him something. “How did you turn back before? I thought you didn’t know how.”

Alex looked up from a mouthful of the pizza. Although the question didn’t catch him off guard, how late it was in coming was confusing. Remembering how silent his folks had been that night after he changed back, he sort of understood. “I may have been doing things wrong.”

“How so?” his father asked.

“I wasn’t…how do I put this?” Alex said. “I wasn’t, I guess, demanding or tricking myself into changing before.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Me either. I felt something before it happened, but I can’t describe it very easily.”

“But you haven’t felt anything…strange since then?” His mother asked.

“No. Nothing new.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“I’m just glad what I tried worked.” Alex said, a smile appearing on his face.

While he finished off his pizza, he heard his phone starting to ring; it was Trevor. “Alex, would you be able to work tomorrow?” His tone sounded like he was questioning something.

“Yeah, I can work. Are you expecting something that day?”

“No. Daniel called in. He said something family related came up and he needs the day off.”

“OK. Yeah, I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Great. I’ll put you on for tomorrow at 1:30.”

With an exchange of thanks, Alex hung up. While the idea of Daniel having a run-in with the werewolf came to mind, he found the very idea rather silly. He hadn’t seen any reason why this guy would target his co-workers. He only seemed interested in his friends. Not that that was anything good, or even better.

When Monday finally arrived, Alex sat into his morning classes trying not to think about his attacker too much. A few hours playing Borderlands the night before had helped with that, but a few lingering thoughts simply wouldn’t go away.

Although Nathan sat next to him in their Math class, outside of a few quick smiles and nods, the two didn’t share too many words. Ignoring the little voice in his head nagging him to say something, Alex’s classes went by quickly, leaving him an hour to get some lunch before starting his shift.

Taking a seat in the back of the store after a greeting from a co-worker, Alex relished being back at work. A few hours around the stacks of gaming and comic memorabilia felt like a great way to get his mind off things for a while.

While sitting in the back room, a few of the new scents detailed the goings on since he’d been there last. A new shipment of comics had come in; along with what he was sure was a shipment of role-playing books. Those sharp binder and paper scents were almost unmistakable. The shelves hadn’t looked too sparse when he came in however, making him guess they were for a promotion.

His first customer came minutes after his shift started. It was someone a bit older than he was. “I noticed you guys had some World of Darkness dice.” he said looking towards one of the shelves. “Do you have the Mage or Werewolf ones?”

“I believe so. Hang on.” Alex replied, shuddering at ‘werewolf’. As he tracked down the sets, one for both games, his eyes diverted to the Werewolf: The Forsaken rulebook spine. “No. What sense does that make?” He thought. As much as he wanted to, he refused to try and gather information from one of those books. It was just a game after all. The idea however made him smirk a bit.

“We’ve got both in fact.” Alex said, holding out the sets. “I think the Mage ones look cooler though.”

“They are but I’ll get both. How much are they?”

“Nine dollars each, so about…nineteen bucks with tax.”

“Nice. Oh, I’m picking up a copy of this as well.” Reaching into the shelves, his customer pulled out one of the Werewolf rulebooks. A different one than the one he was looking at before.

“Blood of the Wolf?” Alex said after seeing the name on the spine. “Seems kind of on the nose.”

“Have you played the game before?”

“Just Mage. Not Werewolf.”

“Ah. You should. It’s pretty fun, all things considered.”

“I’ll consider it.” Alex said as he took the book in his hands. The cover of it, with all the yellow eyed wolves, immediately caught his eye. “We DM games every week, so maybe someone is running it.”

As his customer left, Alex walked back over to the RPG shelves, picking out another copy of the book. The blurbs on the back described the book as a tome on werewolf biology and physiology, and how they differed from humans. Sighing, Alex replaced the book, even though those blurbs had gotten his attention.

Even if some of the info matched what he knew, the rest of it likely wouldn’t. Shrugging aside his curiosity, he went back to walking the floor, straightening any open spots on the shelves. For the following hour, aside from a single customer asking about a certain game, things were rather uneventful and slow. At least until Marcus walked in.

“Hey, man.” He said, walking in Alex’s direction. “Where’s Daniel? Wasn’t he working today?”

“He asked off yesterday.” Alex responded. “Trevor called me in.”

“Oh. I was about to say.”

“You coming to hang out for a bit? It’s rather slow right now.”

“Sort of.” Marcus said, pulling out a bag of role-playing dice. “We’re hosting a game later, and I’m a bit interested to see how it works.”

“Really? Which one?”

“It’s a D&D module. 4^th edition I think.”

“Nice, and you bought some dice for it?”

“Yeah.” Emptying the bag, the dice were all blue with white sweeps. “We had an older set in backstock.”

“Very nice. Have fun then.”

Watching his friend head to the rear of the shop, Alex stepped into the spot where Marcus had been. His scent was still in the air, but there was no trace of his fear scent. Breathing an easy sigh, he returned to the shelves as another customer entered.

Until another of his coworkers came, the flow of customers started growing once again. Most of them had dice with them from the clinking in their pockets, but a few picked up reserves and other stock from the register. Ringing up a stack of comics for one of them, between discussions about the Green Lantern, he saw Gwen, his co-worker for that evening, walk up to him.

“You can take your break, Alex. I’ll cover the rest.”

“Thanks, Gwen.” His stomach still full from lunch, Alex grabbed a soda and headed for the back of the store. Marcus was sitting at one of the tables, along with Trevor and at least three other people. Laid out in front of the group on the table was a collection of maps and figurines, opened sodas and dice. At his first glance, it seemed like a normal encounter.

“How’s the game going?”

“I’m getting my ass handed to me.” Marcus said, looking over his sheets and the map.

“He’s got a third of his HP left.” Said another player, a weak smile on his face. He seemed in his mid to early twenties.

“Says the guy who nearly blew us up earlier.” Marcus retorted in jest.

“We’ve got no wizard. What did you expect?”

“Not using that scroll for one.” Said another player as they flipped through a collection of cards.

Listening to the back and forth, Alex jumped in. “At least in Mage, that’s intentional. Trying to blow someone up.”

“I’m a rouge.” The player replied.

“Meaning anything magical is dangerous in your hands.” Marcus said in jest.

As the player mentioned something about using healing, Trevor got Alex’s attention. “You want to join us for a while?”

As he considered the offer, one of the players spoke. “You said you played Mage, and we do need a wizard.”

“Any chance you all can give me some pointers if I do? I’ve never played 4^th edition.”

“Certainly.” Trevor said. “Grab a seat.”

As he did so with another drink of his soda, Alex was handed his character sheet and started to look through it. Some of the stats stood out immediately, along with the spells he had on his cards, but when to apply what was already causing questions.

“So, what’s going on?” Alex asked, looking over the table.

“We’re in the middle of an encounter,” Trevor said. “so roll for initiative.”

“What’s your character name, though?” asked one of the players.

“Mordecai.” Alex replied; the player nodded in response. With a 16 on his roll, he was acting after their main enemy, as well as Marcus.

As the minutes ticked by, he found the players to be a joyful sort, helping him get acclimated to the game. When he did check the clock, how fast his break was going by was catching him by surprise. He’d burned through a third of it since joining the game. Even so, the atmosphere was too great to ignore.

Glancing out at the store floor every so often as well, the number of customers ebbed for a time. Most were browsing instead of buying, but the ones that seemed to be buying had more products than usual.

“You going to move or attack first?” Trevor asked when Alex’s turn came.

Seeing that his avatar was cornered, Alex decided to move. Showing where to on the map, Trevor continued.

“OK. That’s an attack of opportunity,” Trevor rolled a die behind his DM screen. “and he does hit you for…” Another series of rolls came after some silent mouthing. “seven HP.”

“Ouch.” Alex said as he moved his figure. With only a few minutes remaining on his break, he checked their customer traffic again. It hadn’t lessened much even by then, but it was still before rush hour.

“I don’t mind if you go over your break time by a minute or two.” Trevor said.

“That’s OK. I won’t need that long.” Deciding to go for his strongest spell after moving, Alex pulled the card for it. “I’ll use Flame Pillar on this guy.”

“OK. Roll a D20 again.” Trevor said. Alex ended up with a 14. “And…you beat his reflex save, so roll for damage.”

“Sweet.” Alex said, rolling the dice and running the numbers in his head. “That’s eight damage.”

“So, our friendly Wyrmling here now has his scales set on fire.” Trevor said.

“That has a per turn effect as well.” said one of the players. “Five more damage per turn.”

“Yep. Fire and forget.” Alex said with another look outside. This time, past the window outside, he saw a bit of bright red clothing. He was too far away to make it out clearly but it seemed like part of a jacket. Hearing the doorbell ring soon after noticing it, Alex tried to downplay what he’d seen. He hadn’t noticed a hood with the clothing.

When his gaze diverted back, Marcus locked eyes with him. As if he was taking notice of his sudden interest, he also looked out to the sales floor.

“Are we getting busy out there?” Trevor asked.

“Doesn’t look like it.” Marcus said.

“Either way, my break’s over.” Alex said, getting up from the seat. “Do I need another roll, or…”

“No, you’re fine.” said one of the players. “We’ll take over for you.”

Nodding to and thanking everyone at the table, Alex headed back into the store, Marcus remarking behind him that he was getting hungry. An excuse he found was to intercept him.

“Did you see him?” Marcus asked, his voice just above a whisper.

“I don’t know.” Alex said. “I saw someone wearing red, though.”

Marcus sighed. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Better we be prepared though.” Alex said, taking another glance out into the store.

“Dude,” Marcus began, giving his friend a look of growing terror. “you do remember what happened last time, right?”

“I haven’t forgotten.” Alex didn’t speak after that, nor did Marcus; his last statement summed up everything he was feeling with the look in his eyes. The store was packed with customers, and if he shifted again, things would get ugly fast.

With a quick tilt of his head, they followed each other out into the store. With his friend nearby, Alex felt far more at ease. Even if this guy knew Marcus’ scent, showing that this guy wasn’t going to rattle them felt like the way to go.