Welcome Reassurance Who: Eli and Corey Where: Walking home from school When: Noon-ish
As soon as class let out, Eli made a bee-line for Corey. He had wanted to call her, but he wasn’t good at talking on the phone. And he’d thought about dropping by, but he didn’t want to have this conversation with her in front of her grandfather. So when he realized he’d been avoiding the conversation, he knew he had to take whatever opportunity he could get. At least her grandfather had prepped her on what might be out there. Hopefully she wouldn’t see him as a threat, but there was no telling. “Hey,” he said, speeding up his walk so that he was beside her, walking away from the school. “I… I was wondering… what’re you doing this afternoon?”
Corey came out of class, not sure what to do with the rest of her day, but that got cleared up as soon as Eli was there. She smiled at him. "Something with you?" she suggested, pleased to see him. She wasn't really a phone person either. She had one, but it hadn't gotten much use since she got it. Mostly she had it for emergency purposes, it didn't occur to her much to actually pick it up and call people. Up until recently, she didn't even know who she would call.
“I hope so,” Eli said with a nervous smile. “But, um, there’s something I need to tell you about first.” He looked over his shoulder, aware that they were still within hearing distance of other people. While he knew other werewolves would be able to hear him easily, they weren’t who he was worried about. It was the normal people, the ones that didn’t know to be worried, that he wanted to clear first. “It’s about the stuff your grandfather told us the other night.”
There was a tiny pinch of disappointment that he wasn't just there to talk or hang out or something, but it didn't show. "Okay." she said. Then she looked around too, then started in the direction of a distant tree, figuring they could sit under it and chat. "Is everything okay?" she asked.
“Yeah, kind of,” Eli said as they walked towards the tree, away from other people. He wished they could just hang out. Do target practice or something fun. Forget about the upcoming full moon. Why did it have to be so soon? “You know how he mentioned people who were bit by bats? Well, there are people who were bit by wolves, too.” And he was one of them. They both knew that.
Corey slowed, eyeing him out of the corner of her eye. "...like you." she said, immediately latching onto that. Because yeah. She'd visited him in the hospital. He'd been seriously mauled. Bad things had happened. Tons of people had died. "...finish your thought, Eli." she encouraged.
He didn’t want to finish his thought. He was afraid he’d suddenly be a target, like her grandfather had said. He knew Corey would tell him. He wouldn’t hold that against her. But it made him nervous. They were barely dating and now he had to drop a bomb like this. “We’re werewolves,” he said softly, once he knew they were out of hearing range of other humans. “At least, we think we are.”
She stopped, and looked at him. She had no idea how to react. And in the end, she opted to do it as calmly as possible. And get as much information as she could, so she could understand. "What's it like? Are you okay? And you don't know for sure?" she asked.
“Well… I can hear everything, like the crickets, and those girls down the street, and your heartbeat. I’ve been able to since I woke up. And everything smells stronger,” he said, not entirely sure how to describe the scents he could now take in. “It gave me a headache at first, but now it’s kinda faded.” He was glad for that part. He couldn’t stand having a headache for days on end. “And we won’t know for sure till the full moon, which is tomorrow night.”
Corey took it in, the seriousness of Eli's tone hammering it home. "What can I do to help?" she asked. Because she didn't want things to go poorly. And if he was a scary werewolf or something, then they needed to work out how to help that, so he didn't get on anyone's radar as a threat. That very abruptly became her top priority.
Eli smiled, reassured by her question. She wouldn’t be offering to help if she was ready to run him off or take him down. “I know it’s not as much fun as target practice, but there’s a group getting together today to build a kind of werewolf camp out in the woods, down by the trader’s circle. I think we’re going to try locking ourselves up for this first full moon and see what happens.” Because, really, no one knew.
She returned his smile, glad to see it. And glad that there was a plan already in place. God, that was relieving as hell. "I can swing a hammer." she told him. "So, I'll go. When, like, now? Should we head there?" she asked. The idea that the full moon was so close was unnerving, and if she could help, she wanted to get on that as soon as she could.
“That’s what I was going to do, but we should probably grab lunch first,” Eli suggested. He knew he’d be out there till dark if that’s what it took. He didn’t want to wake up tomorrow worrying that the cage wouldn’t be ready. “I’m sorry to spring this on you. I wanted to tell you since I found out, but things have been kinda crazy.” He’d found out Saturday night, after dinner with her, and spent Sunday getting around to telling Liam. It was only when he woke up that morning did he realize that he couldn’t delay any longer in telling Corey.
Corey smiled. "Right. Food." she said, laughing a little. "We can stop and grab something on the way, maybe pack a lunch?" she suggested. "And it's okay." she said. "I mean, how do you really bring that up? I'm sure it's weird for you. Awkward, and I'm sure now you're wondering what my grandfather is going to say about it." she added. "Thanks for telling me."
“That sounds good,” he said, liking the idea of a packed lunch. They could eat when they got there, if need be. “I’m not even sure I would’ve believed them if your grandfather hadn’t just sprung vampires on me,” he said with a little laugh. “After I had dinner with you, I got called to this meeting. Some of the guys had been burned by silver. It was just… crazy. And I’m kinda scared your grandfather might hunt me down.”
"I don't think he would unless you gave him a reason." Corey said. And she would like to think he would talk to her about it first, but she couldn't be one hundred percent sure on that. "So, let's work on him not having one." she said with a reassuring smile. Hesitating, she paused, then leaned over to give him a little peck on the cheek. It was her way of showing that she accepted things. They were weird, yeah, and she knew she'd probably need to do a lot of hard thinking later, but for the moment? She was focusing on the task at hand.
It was amazing how that one little kiss made everything all better. No, he didn’t know what would happen tomorrow night, but now he was sure that Corey wasn’t going to abandon him over it. He couldn’t help the smile or the blush, and he reached out to take her hand in his. “Thanks,” he said. “I know this is weird, but I’m really glad you’re not freaking out. Not that I thought you would, but-- but you never know.” It wasn’t everyday that someone broke the news that they were a werewolf.
She was glad she wasn't freaking out too. That she'd had it pounded home really early on that freaking out didn't help anything at all. It was a useless emotional response. She squeezed his hand back, then started them off walking again. "You're welcome. I'm pretty good at not freaking out." When it came to stuff like this. Social anxieties, she drown in those, but this type of thing was more her element. She could work with this. She would work with this.