Light of May ::: an original roleplay

Who: Jason and Anastasia.
Where: The streets of Scarlet Oak.
When: Late night.

There were some tricks that were so much easier to pull off with more of the pack present but this sort of thing required some degree of discretion, just enough finesse and quiet to keep people from looking your way until it was absolutely too late. In the time he had been active in the circuit Jason knew the kinds of tricks that would keep him from turning heads -- at least those that would cause a fuss and make noise he would much rather avoid, the sort that would draw attention and bring the whole thing crashing down around his ears -- and so he always took the lead on things like this and only ever brought one person with him. Maybe two if he thought that was absolutely necessary.

Anastasia had joined the pack after he had but she had been with them a long time by now, longer than the others, and as difficult as it was for Jason to bond with anyone the girl to his side had managed to form one with him anyway. She didn’t cower when he snapped, she called him on his bullshit, and she could stand up for herself. Bernhard through and through. Devon would have been proud of her. She knew how to keep her head down and she could watch his back for him while he worked.

“Put these on,” he had said to her as he’d drawn the gloves from his back pocket, “just in case.” After donning his own gloves the tool had come out next, the long thin shaft narrow enough to slot down the inside of a car’s door and pop the lock. That was the easy part. It was what came next that would take time and care. Getting the bloody thing started without drawing too much attention was always the tricky part of stealing a car.

Halfway through sliding the tool down the narrow gap between the panel and the window Jason paused, turning his head to look at Ana, keeping his body language casual, as though he belonged there next to the car he was intending to steal. “You want to have a go?” he asked her, just a hint of a smile on his face. No time like the present to learn, right?

WHO | Farren & Anastasia
WHERE | Edge of Summers' property
WHEN | Afternoon

( You new around here? )

Who: Jason and the Bernhard Pack.
Where: The Pack’s home (a warehouse).
When: Evening, right before moonrise.

The blankets were heavy in his hand, folded together in his grasp and gripped by strong fingers that were scarred across the knuckles from God only knew how many fights over the years, fights that had predated his supernatural healing factor. He could have carried them in both hands, evened out the load, but Jason was a big believer in always having at least one hand free to defend yourself. Or others. In recent months Jason had become responsible for a lot more people than he was used to and all those tendencies had amplified, as was perhaps to be expected. Having a whole pack to watch out for had never been in the cards for him but the job had landed in his lap anyway.

Maybe Devon had expected something like this would happen. Jason had trouble believing that, he had a lot of trouble really believing that Devon would ever want him to be in charge. As a second-in-command he had been great, he’d been reliable and dependable and everything else you could possibly want in a Beta figure but as an Alpha? Had Devon really planned for that, or had he just hoped that someone else would come in and fill the void left behind by his death?

Huffing out a heavy breath Jason rounded the corner into the large thick-walled room that would serve as their containment for the nights of the full moon. For the time being, at least. Putting those thoughts and doubts out of his mind was much easier said than done but he had a perfect distraction set up in the form of several restless, anxious young wolves who needed looking after. The blankets were set to one side on an old table he’d found in one of the other rooms, long enough to serve as a kind of supply station for nights like this. Everyone was in various states of undress, many of them stripped right down to their underwear, like Jason himself, but there were some who were still mostly clothed. A few of the pack, those still mostly dressed, were tossed blankets right away, those he knew weren’t comfortable with baring everything. Those like Anastasia. His eyes met hers briefly when he threw the blanket her way, giving her the smallest of nods as if to remind her that everything would be all right. Drawing in another breath he looked around at the others.

Moonrise was close. He could feel it, as he had been able to feel it for years now, ever since Devon had given him the bite and changed him. The first of a ragtag pack cobbled together from runaways and victims of all shapes and sizes. Devon had meant to keep them all safe and ultimately he was the one who had needed protection. Protection he’d never had, not from those who should have provided it anyway. Not from Jason.

Clearing his throat he said, “I know this is going to be rough, it’s our first full moon here, but the cages have been tested and the door is tough enough to withstand me when I’m changed, so we should be fine.” It was said without arrogance, it was just a well known fact that he was a force to be reckoned with when he was transformed, so it was intended to be a reassurance. Jason was never sure whether anything he meant to be reassuring really came across that way. He supposed he’d find out soon enough.