Remus was running from bungalow to bungalow with a tiny, ripped off piece of parchment and quill in hand, writing the names of all the inhabitants of the island and their bungalows in a sort of grid, writing colours next to the names and generally trying to get organised in the ridiculously small space provided on the tiny, tiny piece of parchment. One done, he ran to the next, frantic to get this all done by exactly ten minutes from now because he needed to get organised so that he could get to painting some more, because although he'd started at Sirius' and Harry's and Fred's place, he wasn't done yet and he needed to get done there before he could start another, but he didn't want to make anyone wait too long or else they would lose interest and then he wouldn't have a job anymore!
All this had started last night when he had opened the piece of luggage. Ridiculous piece of luggage. For hours, he'd sat there, or lain there, and otherwise tried to get his breathing under control, rein his emotions in because he was going to go mad. MAD. But finally, unable to control this new feeling anymore, he'd had to consider the possibility that maybe, if he allowed himself a bit of time to let the emotion control him rather than the other way around, he might be better prepared to deal with it in a calm, collected manner afterwards.
Remus was a werewolf, after all. You didn't give a werewolf this kind of obsession, this kind of drive, without regretting it dearly.
Someone was approaching him from behind, someone who didn't feel familiar, and Remus turned his head at the last moment to see the hand reach for his shoulder.
"Tonks." He turned to face her and let his arms fall to his sides when he noticed the manic shake he had been giving to the quill. "A walk?" he repeated, rather pathetically. She had expressed her desire not to speak or see him again. Not in those words, obviously, but Remus was nonetheless certain that he hadn't misinterpreted the sentiment. "Alright," he nodded and let her lead the way. "As long as we can stop at every bungalow so that I can write down the names."
Remus was not going to lose his job because of a walk. That was not going to happen. Not this time.