Perspective Shifts

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Faolan found it strange to see Matt turn tail and run... even stranger that Joe wasn't chasing after him. He gave a worried glance up at Rita, and then walked up the stairs careful not to be too rushed. As he got to the top he saw that Joe noticed him, and she was still growling. It wasn't as intense as it had been at Matt, but still, she was definitely not in the mood to talk to him. As he pondered this, he also noticed the trinket. "Oh." he said surprised, and then what she had said earlier properly clicked in. "So that's what she meant by hor-"

His parental male instincts kicked in, and under normal circumstances he would call his wife to consult with Joe, but sadly she wasn't here. Having no experience with young women and their... moody times, he looked at Rita with wide eyes.
"Uh, I'll go see where the lad ran off to..." and then as he turned to go, he sensed Joe immediately calming down... "Would you mind? Well," he searched for the right words to ask Rita something, "Erm, well you know, have a little girl chat or something?" the words pretty much stammered out and he quickly ran out after Matt. "I'll be back as soon as I can!" he shouted on his way, very much relieved to be out of the house.

Joe stood on her bed still, but her teeth were no longer bared and her tail was lowered again. Her breathing was calmer, but still not completely and she listened for any noises outside that could mean that Matt might come back. When there wasn't any, she looked at Rita, and her eyes softened almost apologetically. She didn't mean to growl at Rita... With a sigh of relief, she sat down, her head lowered. She was looking at Rita quite sheepishly and looked a little... lost. As big as she was in wolf form, she had a way of making herself look small and she did so now.

A tiny whine sounded from her throat, as the fear from the dream and seeing Matt made way for sadness. She was confused, conflicting emotions ran rampant in her mind and she was feeling very much awful all of a sudden. This made her look down in front of her, looking dejected. There came a craving for chocolate coated biscuits and automatically she licked her lips at the though of them.
 
A 'little girl chat'... oh. Rita's eyes widened as she realised what she was supposed to be talking to Joe about, but she supposed it was nothing especially new. The poor girl didn't seem to have any maternal figures in her life, not that Rita had seen anyway. It was tough to go through 'girl stuff' alone; Rita as a vampire had been lucky and had no problems in that area. At least Joe seemed quite docile now. She cast around for something, anything to say. After a moment she went to shut the door to the stairs, and then came back.

"I'm a nurse," she said conversationally. It was what she'd said to Addie the day before, blindingly-bloody-obvious as she stood there in her nurse's uniform. "If it helps, believe me, I have seen it all before." Then, after a few more seconds ticked by, "You're stuck like that, aren't you?" She'd seen wolves get jammed in wolf-form before and mostly the clinic just gave them biscuits and waited for them to calm down and figure things out. Only one had ever stayed stuck; his name was Boris and he was actually quite happy like that. He hung around the clinic like a sort of collective pet. "Don't worry about it. The nurse's uniform holds cures for many ills." She fished in her pockets for her Boris biscuits and found she only had one left. It didn't look the best, but she offered it to Joe anyway.

"We don't have to have a girl chat," she said after a while. "Just at the moment you're not actually a girl and I don't have any wise-old-woman words to share anyway. Haven't got the working girl-parts either." Strangely she wasn't the least bit embarrassed by this admission. "I do know some things though. Like you're frightened of Matt..." She met Joe's eyes squarely, but without threatening. "He's gone now, and my wolf's getting pretty good, so tell me. What are you afraid of, Joe?"

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Matt got out of the house and didn't slow down, ran into the woods and still didn't slow. He had no idea where he was running to, only that he had made this choice knowing something that had just turned out to be untrue. He found himself running more for the rhythm than the movement, and as a consequence slowed. He wasn't really expecting her to pursue him, not any more. It felt as though if he stopped running, the world might stop too.

What about if she doesn't want children? He remembered the way she'd looked at the puppies back in the pub... Maybe she had thought, with him a werewolf now, it would be possible... maybe she hadn't realised that vampires didn't generally reproduce. He'd signed the forms in the clinic; even if he had been all right after the initial conversion to vampirism, the procedure had reduced the odds to almost nothing.

The memories from the blood kept on coming, things he had never wanted to find out, about hygiene and trinkets and nosy boys. Sooner or later she would want puppies of her own and then, when one of those nosy boys offered them to her, she would be gone. He would lose her, all because of something that had never been in his control.
 
Joe watched quietly as Rita shut the doors and it put her more at ease. She listened to her beginning to talk and at first made no movement except to watch her. When she mentioned about being stuck, Joe's ears twitched backwards and she glanced down to the side. Unfortunately yes, although it also made her feel safer. When she heard Rita searching through her pockets, Joe looked curiously at her. Did she have something to take away this uncomfortable feeling in her? ... Her ears perked up at the biscuit and she looked at it excitedly. She took it gently from Rita, and ate it happily and when done licked her lips clean. Her tail wagged a little in gratitude as she again looked at Rita.

Actually, she was quite glad that there would be no girl-chat. The old lady Rhonwyn had told her enough. Joe's ears moved sideways at the mention of 'working girl parts' and if a wolf could blush, she did a little but it didn't show through her jet black fur. Her ears shifted back and her posture sagged back at the mention of being frightened at Matt. After the dream she was, and it was because of how her subconscious had interpreted his actions the previous night. Problem was her current confusion and her toiling emotions that had thrown everything in chaos. She hated this feeling! She had herself all sorted out - well, pretty much - and now her body had decided to 'wake up' and cause all kinds of trouble. She huffed in frustration.

When Rita asked Joe about what she was afraid of, she hesitated. A minute passed as she sorted her memories from the dream and her tail curled next to her as her ears relaxed. She then looked at Rita, her eyes looking like she was contemplating something. Was Matt really the problem? Or was it that getting close and intimate could lead to, well, "Puppies." she rowled. It sounded silly when she said it, so she decided to elaborate, "They could turrn out... like me. Have the Voice thing. Be unstable." she explained. "Theatrrre... I sat close to him, and... it was nice." her ears twitched again, she hesitated as well before continuing, "Hospital... felt strange, instinct? ... also nice, but... " her words dwindled and she couldn't find the right words to say, and she lay down on the bed with a sigh. Then looked up at Rita, her pupils bigger and she almost resembled a pup.
 
Rita cautiously sat down on the end of the bed whilst Joe was speaking. Some of the words she wasn't sure about, but she got the general gist and looked thoughtful for a while. She didn't know what "voice" Joe was talking about, but she guessed it was the same thing Faolan had mentioned at the hospital, the one that had killed half her family by the sounds of things. It wasn't something to be trifled with, and it did seem to run in families.

Still, Joe wasn't afraid of the voice, she was afraid of Matt. Somehow being with Matt had made her very afraid that she would end up with unstable puppies, almost as if it was going to happen against her will. Rita thought through what she knew of the lad and decided to clear something up, before they got any further into this discussion. "Do you think he would try to… well, force himself on you?" Somehow she couldn't see it, but then she barely knew either of them and she wasn't going to presume to know the dynamics of the relationship. Joe had been very frightened, and it wasn't in Rita's nature to assume there wasn't a good reason for that.

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Matt's feet finally slowed under him and he came to a halt amongst the trees. He was breathing heavily, and the sound annoyed him, but when he tried to stop it he felt faint. Right. Werewolf now. Need to keep breathing. It was a weird and very fragile realisation, that without the constant rush of air in his throat he would quickly die.

He wasn't used to breathing this heavily, and sank down against a tree to try to recover. His thoughts were scattered all over the place and, as he managed to finally quiet his breath, he heard someone chasing him… not Joe. Faolan. Well, that was just fantastic… he got to have a little talk with her grandfather about what he'd done to upset her that morning – no idea – and why he'd bolted from the house – awkward as hell. Still, he couldn't be bothered to get up and run again so he just sat there, waiting for the old man to catch him up.
 
"Do you think he would try to… well, force himself on you?"

The words actually sent a chill down her spine, and Joe let her ears fold back and down. Her breathing became quicker for a moment but then she calmed herself... was she? She furrowed her eyebrows as she contemplated this. One part of her thought 'yes' - he was now a male werewolf, and she'd seen how rowdy they could get. Another thought 'no' - she knew Matt better than that. However, he had become very aggressive very suddenly and in the hospital he had bit her and tried to suck her dry. She still felt the spot on her neck and was pretty sure that the area would be red... like a love bite. Thinking about that made her feel awkward, so she shoved that memory far away.

Joe realised that all of a sudden, she felt that it was like she didn't know who Matt was anymore. Sure he was more confident and could protect her and keep her safe, but what if she ever lost the necklace and his instincts kicked in? He had lost control of his lingering vampire instincts in the hospital when he smelled her blood... She tried her best to tell this to Rita as clearly as she could. Saying it out loud was hard for her though and there were many hesitations in between words.

Then two ideas came up.
She got off her bed and headed for her closet. With a little scratching and eventually using her mouth she opened it and started rummaging in it. After some digging, she found what she was looking for and brought it to Rita. It was a portfolio bag, but zipped closed. In the front would be a copy of the picture that he had drawn for Matt, where she had told him that "This is what I see." and there was a date next to it, the day that they had met. She watched for Rita's reaction.

The second idea might be a little trickier, depending on how Rita felt about eating habits. Joe lifted her front leg and very carefully spoke the words: "Blud memries."
It was the best way she could show Rita what she had dreamed and what had happened in the hospital the previous night.

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It took a little while for Faolan to catch up with Matt...
Once he did, he stood a few feet from him and studied his face as he also caught his breath. "Good heavens, lad," he huffed with his hands on his knees, "you sure can run fast..." he said, still huffing. One eye squinted at Matt as he thought about how to approach this. He had no idea why Joe had growled at Matt, unless she was suddenly angry at him for the previous night. He had bit her after all, and well, Joe was who she was. "Mind if I?..." he asked and gestured that he would like o sit a little closer. Not too close, as he didn't want to invade the young wolf's personal space. He then sat with a loud exhale, still breathing a little loudly.

He was silent for a few moments, letting the air settle between them. "So... I don't suppose you know why Joe is angry, do you?" he asked conversationally, "Apart from that temper of hers, of course." he added with a chuckle. "She got that from her grandmother, she did." Mentioning that made him hesitate as he thought about his late wife fondly. He picked a tall blade of grass and rolled it around between his fingers, then smiled.

Faolan then looked at Matt calmly, "May I ask why you ran?"
 
Rita wanted to help Joe open the closet, but she thought it best to stay put because she hardly knew what might be in there… The girl wanted to show her something, but a girl's storage spaces were private and she might not appreciate having someone fishing around in there. She got the door open by herself soon enough and came back with a bag. Rita took it and hesitated slightly before unzipping the front, to make sure this was what was intended. Inside she found a piece of paper, and on that there was a drawing which she immediately recognised to be Matt. She read the message with it and frowned. Without needing a reflection… Of course, Matt wouldn't have had one when they first met. "And now that he's changed, you feel you've lost sight of who he is?"

She turned to Joe and saw the paw she was holding out. It was a strange request to make of a vampire and it showed trust – once you'd started feeding it was often incredibly difficult to stop. She could also end up with all kinds of things she wasn't supposed to see being passed over. Then again, thinking back to the previous day she knew Joe would have no trouble overpowering her if she did go too far. "Ok," she said doubtfully, and took the paw in one hand. "I'm generally good with blood, but if I don't stop as soon as you'd like, you do what you need to and get yourself away." She wasn't used to actually drinking from people – albeit wolf-shaped ones – and a little part of her worried that this would make her crave more, and then interfere with her work. But if there was something Joe wanted to show her, she'd just have to manage. She steeled herself and then, bending forward, bit into Joe's outstretched leg.

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Matt chuckled at Faolan's remark, running was the one thing he had always been good at and even Mel had struggled to keep up with him sometimes. "Sorry. It's not like Joe not to give chase…" That thought troubled him a little; her behaviour seemed more like she was afraid of him than angry with him and he couldn't understand why. He nodded at Faolan's request to move closer, still preoccupied with that thought. "I don't think she's angry…" He spoke very slowly and was still thinking about the possibility that she was genuinely scared of him. "I think she was afraid. Of me." A little part of him was stung that she would think him capable of hurting her, but he remembered the day before… what had he been thinking? Sure, he hadn't expected the vampire impulses to resurface but that was no excuse to let his guard down so completely. "I could have killed her yesterday," he admitted in a small voice.

"May I ask why you ran?"
And that was the question he had been really hoping wouldn't come up. He considered lying, telling Faolan something about wanting to avoid a fight with Joe, but thought the better of it. Instead he stammered, "Yesterday I got some… memories… with the blood. Joe's memories." He didn't know how to continue that sentence and he couldn't meet Faolan's eyes. "And then just now I remembered the old woman. Rhonwyn." Another long pause opened up and then he finished, "There was just too much at once. I had to get out."
 
"And now that he's changed, you feel you've lost sight of who he is?"

Joe nodded at Rita, and realised that it was exactly what a part of her felt. Things were making a bit more sense, but there were still a lot of other things that felt conflicting. She never had to worry about her emotions before, they had been few and were hard to trigger except maybe for anger. It usually had center stage. Now, just about all her emotions wanted attention and the stage wasn't nearly big enough.

She flinched a little as Rita bit her, and like with Matt, she tried to concentrate on the previous night first. It began where Matt sat in front of her saying he wanted to see her hand, and then bit her. The rest of the memory was clear and she tried to remember how she felt when he had pinned her down, her reaction to what he had said. Matt biting her neck caused a battle between different emotions - good vs horrible. His strength appealed to her wolf self, but also caused uncertainty - something she didn't even feel back then... and then afterwards... when she had collapsed on him and he held her tight. Like he was protecting her, and how good that felt, despite having to have fought for her life just moments prior.

Then, it was the dream... the beginning was somewhat easy, but the part of her seeing Matt lay on the ground and her crushing his chest wasn't, and this spiked her emotions. Then it was Addie grabbing her and what he said, there was another emotion spike... All the while Bucky's presence had been there too, and there was a flashback to where she tried to hit him against the tree the previous day. Back to the dream and she was in the hospital room. It was worse and she almost couldn't concentrate on it - she didn't want to and had to fight her flee response.

Ironically the part where she had seen the photo in the house was a pleasant feeling... but that turned to dread as she went up the stairs. The last part of the dream in the room flashed by, but not soon enough for Joe. It was the most intense part, images rushing of the pups eating her grandfather, the way she looked to herself in the mirror, the death... She opened her eyes with a jolt and pulled her arm away before she had to recollect the part of the final attack with teeth. Her eyes were wide open and she had to calm herself from the fear she felt again. She sat back, and her bitten arm shook slightly. That final image ought to surface but she kept pushing it down.
She watched Rita with worrying eyes, taking deep breaths to try and clear her mind.

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Faolan nodded at Matthew as he spoke, but at the mention of her being afraid of him had the old wolf a little worried. Was there something he had missed somewhere? When they were in the hospital room? ... but it couldn't be. Joe had seemed perfectly happy with no signs of being forced to keep quiet about anything. He glanced at Matthew, and the lad was right - he could have killed Joe.

The question seemed to have troubled the young wolf, and for a moment Faolan thought that he wouldn't get an answer. He was quiet for a while after Matthew had finished answering. Ah yes... that. "It was a shocker for me too, seeing that trinket today." he confessed. "You know she never told me about that, but she did mention something about hormones when she got back." he said, and then cleared his throat, feeling awkward.

Another memory of his wife popped up and he gave a gentle laugh. "You know, me wife almost killed me the day she realised it was that time. We'd only been married a month or two... broke my arm falling out the window." he said with a smirk. "Since then I learned to give her a little more space when she went through her 'moody time' as she called it." he threw the grass blade aside absentmindedly.

He then looked Matthew in the eyes, "You know, Joe cares a great deal about you. More than you know... and for probably longer than you might have realised." he said earnestly.
 
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Unlike Matt, shielded by his werewolf brain, Rita had no control as Joe's memories flooded her head, and they overwhelmed her. For the few minutes that the whole thing lasted, she was Joe, seeing what she had seen and feeling what she had felt. There was so much conflict that it seemed she would be torn apart and she fought desperately to get back to herself, but she struggled to keep it together. She had agreed to do this. More memories flooded into her mind, and then the dream started…

When it was done, Rita was left shaking and wide-eyed, and for a while just sat and stared back at Joe. It had been horrible, but slowly her own mind came back to her. It was just a dream… she remembered Joe's fear and knew that didn't make it any less horrifying.

She had to say something. But first she had to sort out what she had seen, and felt. Matt had been fighting to kill Joe the day before in the hospital, that much seemed clear, and Rita didn't think she ought to dismiss that. At the same time, she knew what being a vampire was like. "He's never done that to you before, has he?" She didn't know if it was right to say so, but that impressed her a little. In the end she decided the best she could do was speak her mind. "I don't think that Matthew will hurt you, Joe. All this time he's controlled himself." She knew though that although the vampire instincts were in the past, there were other things he was going to have to rein in from now on. "I know he's slipped up at a bad time. And I know he seems different, and you don't even know if that's what you want him to be. But the transformation doesn't change people, not really." This much she had the experience to be certain of. "Whatever he was before, he is now."

She considered a little more and then added, "If you wanted me to, I could always look at his side of this as well… if you think it might help to know what was going on in his head yesterday."

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Matt shook his head, "It won't be enough." His hands covered his face, and his voice was a little muffled as he continued, "She wants a real werewolf, and I think she thought this change would make me into one, but it couldn't." He withdrew his hands, but still kept his face turned away from Faolan. He didn't want to see the look on the old wolf's face. "Yesterday she asked me if I was 'staking a claim on her'… what does that even mean? It's like now suddenly because I have a wolf form she wants me to start pissing round the borders of my territory…"

He was silent for a few seconds. Faolan hadn't reacted when he'd said he could have killed Joe the day before, and he was almost scared to bring it back up. "I really screwed up yesterday… so now on top of everything else she's frightened that I'm going to hurt her." He remembered pinning her down and the taste of her blood, and shuddered. That shouldn't have happened. And then, seconds after the end of a fight in which he'd been determined to end her life, she'd fallen to rest on his chest and he had felt… what? Contentment? All he knew was that having her there had suddenly seemed only right, only natural, and he wasn't going to let anyone take her away from him. But someday somebody was going to take her away from him, and be a father to her children. "I can't have children. How will I ever be enough for forever?"
 
Joe stayed quiet and sat very still as she waited. It seemed that Rita had definitely gotten the gist of it, and Joe hoped that Rita could help her sort her mind out... if even just a bit.

"He's never done that to you before, has he?"
Joe's shook her head slowly. She thought then of the times that she had pinned him down, but many times she hadn't been herself. Rita's opinion didn't sound all too convincing, but a small memory popped up of where she had cut her palm and Matt had shown great restraint... she knew that. Dammit, she did! Why then the dream? Why all the confusion that she felt? Ugh! She hated this...

"Whatever he was before, he is now."
Joe met Rita's eyes at the mention of that. Her pupils changed sizes as she went from uncertainty to recollection of how protective he had been over her. He'd done that before being a werewolf too, so... it wasn't that different. Her mind wanted to start arguing with itself again, but she decided to take charge and decided that Rita was right. It had just been a slip-up, and really her mind had always loved to tornent her. It was most likely due to her bipolarity, and it was getting in between her and Matt.

"If you wanted me to, I could always look at his side of this as well… if you think it might help to know what was going on in his head yesterday."
Her ears flipped up and forwards along with her head and there was a glimmer in her eyes. "You would do that?" she said, in an excited tone of rowls. Her tail even wagged a little, but then stopped. Shouldn't she go talk to himself? It wasn't like her to let others solve her personal problems. "I want to go with." she said in a more timid voice, "I want to apologise."

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The old wolf looked at Matt with a slightly confused frown. Not enough? Real werewolf? ... he realised now how uncertain the lad was about himself. The part of 'pissing round the borders of his territory' caused a bemused smile. Yeah, that was a weird one for non-werewolves. "I doubt that was what she meant, lad. It's just the we way werewolves put it because, yes, territories are important to us. However it has many meanings and it doesn't always just mean property. When you stake a claim on a mate, it means that you will protect each other no matter what, and you'll take care of each other. There will definitely be fights and near-death experiences but that's just because we're an aggressive species."

He sighed and shook his head when Matt finished. Then Faolan spoke with a firmer voice, "Has it ever occurred to you that Joe doesn't just make decisions like this on the fly? I imagine that she didn't just up and asked you to be her boyfriend, right? It was a big decision for her and she made it - after she had found out that she could have a chance at having pups." his eyes showed a hint of confidence. "I'm sure she's met many other boys her age, but none of them caught her interest. You did, Matthew, and she's a damn stubborn girl. She chose you, lad, and I'd bet my teeth she will never choose anyone else." he gave a short chuckle and added, "With all the things that you two have been through together, including almost killing each other, I think it's only strengthened your bonds... and don't worry about puppies, she's not too keen on having any."
 
"You would do that?"
She smiled at the excitement Joe showed at her offer; it surely wasn't that big a deal, especially after the dream she'd just sat through. "I'm not going to force him, but as long as he agrees to it, yes." It didn't seem likely that Matt would refuse something Joe was asking of him, and that made Rita think back to the day before and his reaction to her suggestion of the virus. "By all means come with me – it'd probably be best if you asked him whether I can bite him and suck his blood, anyway, because he may well not trust me." Should she mention what she was thinking of to Joe? She decided to go with it, "Yesterday I asked him if I should inject a very nasty virus into his heart, and he said 'If that's what she says we should do'. Just like that. I think you guys will be ok." She followed this up with a smile and stood up from the bed. Then she set off to find out what had happened to Matt, making sure to keep doors open for Joe along the way.

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Matt couldn't hide his confusion at what Faolan said staking a claim actually meant, and it showed in his frown. "But that's nothing new." Joe had surely picked up on the idea that he would protect her before yesterday – if nothing else, the game and him almost dying to try to keep her alive should have taught her that. If it came to it, he knew that she would protect him the same way, as indeed she had done in the past. He would have protected her whether or not there was anything between them other than friendship. So why should she need this claim-staking to prove it?

Faolan's talk about other boys her age made sense, and after all she had been at DarkHeart, surrounded by male werewolves of about her own age. She'd stuck with Jeff. And she'd always been so… independent. It seemed strange to think of her that way now, as a girl across the dining hall who he never thought he'd end up even speaking to, let alone… he laughed slightly. "I suppose she's had her fair share of other options." He was still thinking back to DarkHeart and it struck him that there hadn't noticeably been anyone trailing around after her, anyone watching her back. She'd let him do that, let him get very close to her, and he realised suddenly quite how much that meant. He met Faolan's eyes. "Thank you," he said. "And I didn't want to say this in front of her, but… I know you're very protective of your granddaughter. So am I. I bit her yesterday, and you had her shot. So let's just both agree to do our utmost never to hurt her again, and we can get along." He stood up, and held out a hand, both to help Faolan to his feet and to shake on that truce.
 
Joe agreed that Matt would have a choice in the matter, it was his body after all. She tilted her head at the mention of Matt's trust in her, and it made her think. With a wag of her tail she said as they walked, "So, in other words, it would make it quite easy to get him to the vet for a full check-up?" and her tail wagged more by way of a 'laugh.' Her spirits were lifted and she looked up at Rita with gratitude in her eyes, "Thank you... for everything." and then she remembered something and quickly ran into the house, then came out with a small tupperware container in her mouth. It was sealed tightly, so no smell could escape. It was a gift for Matt.

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"Oh aye, but it also means that no one else is allowed to stake a claim on her, or on you." he elaborated.
He smiled when Matt thanked him, "Glad I could help. You're a good boy, lad." and then realised the context of the 'good boy' thing and it showed on his face as his eyebrows furrowed. "... You know what I mean." he waved it off with his hand.

"...So let's just both agree to do our utmost never to hurt her again, and we can get along."
The old wolf took his hand and shook it firmly, "Aye. We all have our faults." his mouth then formed a sideways grin, as he seemed to look at Matt with admiration, "She made a good choice." he said and his eyes showed respect for Matt.
As they walked back, Faolan was in one of his story-telling moods, of his wife of course, and he shared some with Matt. Most was about her temper and how it always got him in trouble, and even hospitalized a few times... "but that was nothing compared to being kicked out of the house when she had cooked... it was torture."
 
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Rita laughed at Joe's suggestion, "I guess so." It wasn't as though the vet was likely to do anything more invasive than a needle to the heart, anyway. Although… no, she did not want to think about whether that was preferable to the thermometer. She was feeling in general rather cheerful given her apparent success at helping Joe out, and she didn't want to ruin that feeling. When Joe thanked her, she looked down and with complete sincerity replied, "You're welcome. I'm glad I could help." After all she had decided to go into nursing for that very reason. She gave a small smile. "It's actually nice to have someone to talk to, other than Angus. Angus is my cat. He's a great listener." She noticed the little tupperware container in Joe's mouth but decided not to ask what was in it. She was sure she'd be told if Joe wanted her to know. Although… "Do you want me to take that? It might make it easier for you to talk."

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Matt was glad to hear that there was at least exclusivity involved in this claiming business… he didn't like to think of other males sniffing around Joe, much less of her allowing them to do so. It seemed now they would be able to present a united front in driving off unwanted attention, if it should come to either of them. That thought cheered him up.
He did indeed know what Faolan meant, and just nodded his head, accepting the compliment for what it was.

"She made a good choice."
Those words suddenly made Matt feel a lot better, and he realised he had been very much doubting that she had. Her grandfather wouldn't approve of just anyone, though, and he recognised that the respect in his eyes meant a lot. His own expression returned it.
Faolan's tales of his wife – Joe's grandmother – made Matt smile. It seemed that she had very much been the one to pass her temper on to Joe, and he felt slightly more able to relate to Faolan as he talked. After all, it was clear that he'd loved his wife very much, temper and all. He didn't interrupt, and the stories whiled away the time until they were almost back at the house again. He heard movement, and realised that Rita was coming out into the woods... with Joe. But not an angry Joe. Nevertheless, he readied his apologies for what he had done to her the day before.
 
Joe gave Rita the container and licked away the slobber from her mouth. "Thanks... I hope this doesn't last too long." she said referring to her wolf form. Her tail wagged a smile back at Rita, "My grandfather's cat too, until he falls asleep... You're right, it is. At least someone of the same gender." she added with understanding. Her tail was held quite high, as she was in a good and more confident mood. Also, she enjoyed Rita's company.

When they eventually got closer, enough that she could smell them, Joe perked her ears up. Her heartbeat picked up a little too and, she felt a tingling sensation in her chest and stomach. It was a mix of a little excitement, and a little bit of anxiousness. She had been growling menacingly at Matt, without so much as an explanation. Her ears twitched a bit back and she took a quick deep breath between her regular breathing.
 
Rita found herself wondering what had happened to Joe's mother, but she didn't ask. It was far too personal a question for this early on in a friendship - if you could call this a friendship - and she knew that if Joe had asked about her parents, she would have shut right down. Still... "Yes... though hopefully you won't have many 'girl problems' from now on."
When they came in sight of Matt and Faolan, Rita hung back a little and let Joe go to meet them first. She still didn't know why Matt had bolted, and it seemed best to let them sort out their differences somewhat without involving herself.

Matt saw that Joe was still in her wolf form and for a moment thought that she was still angry with him… but if that was the case then why would Rita walk out here with her as calm as anything? More likely she had just turned that way in reaction to whatever stress had got to her earlier, and not managed to turn back yet. Still, he approached cautiously. He didn't even speak wolf, so this could be an interesting conversation they were about to try to have… assuming she had come out here to talk.

He stopped a little way away from her and looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry about yesterday." The words were quiet, but she should still be able to hear them clearly from that distance. "If I frightened you… I promise I will not let anything like that happen ever again."
 
Joe stood still after taking a few steps ahead of Rita. A humorous part of her thought, Nope, just boy problems most likely... and then had no idea where that had come from. Damn hormones, again.
Faolan also noticed Joe being in her wolf form, and something about her smell told him that she was stuck in it. He glanced up at Rita as he too hung back behind Matt. His face said that this was going to be interesting. Thankfully Joe didn't look mad.

She was in fact thinking about how to approach this... she could still speak 'human', but not very clearly like this.
As she listened to him, she glanced back at Rita and the container she was holding. Joe walked to her to fetch it and then walked to Matt, where she sat in front of him and then held the container for him to take it. Her eyes also looked apologetic.
Inside were, of course, biscuits... but these were biscuits that she had made herself, from an old family recipe. Her initial plan was to give it to Matt once they returned home after the surprise at the inn.
 
Matt watched Joe go back and get the little container from Rita, and he was thinking how absurd it was that she was stuck in her wolf form whilst he still hadn't the first idea how to go about accessing his. When she sat down and held it out for him, he sat down too and carefully prised it out of her teeth. When he opened it, he found biscuits… home made ones. So she wasn't still mad at him. And she might even be apologising? He looked at her in bewilderment: he was the one who had something to apologise for, she was just frightened. Which was very natural considering he'd tried to kill her.

"Thank you," he said. He remembered that he still had the biscuits he'd brought for her in his jacket pocket, the ones he'd found whilst he was rummaging for Rita's card, and laughed. Rita shot him a funny look and he realised unexplained laughter wasn't a good reaction to this gift. "Sorry. I got you some biscuits, too… I meant to give them to you yesterday, but things got… complicated, and I forgot." He felt a little embarrassed about the contrast between their gifts, though; she had made him something and he had just tracked down a particular flavour she liked that Jeff had said was hard to find. Back when she'd been dead. Jeff wasn't wrong either, it had been something of a nightmare. "Nothing special, though," he added, to keep her from getting her hopes up. "They're in my jacket. We could go and get them… if you like?"
 
For a moment Joe worried that Matt had thought the biscuits gift to be weird, or even inappropriate by the look of his bewildered face. Her head tilted slightly and an ear turned back. His thanks proved otherwise and the ear joined its counterpart again and her tail wagged side to side a few times. Forgetting about the language barrier her "you're welcome." came out as a rumbled bark, though her eyes showed what she had meant.

Yes... things had gotten out of hand, but on both sides, and she lowered her head and looked up at his eyes. This had the effect of her smaller eyebrows bobbing about as she switched her focus from his left to right eye and back. At the mention of his biscuits not being special, she gave a little snort and brought her head up. There was also a little grumble, but not an angry one. It was a way of her telling him that he shouldn't be silly - it was the thought that counted.

"They're in my jacket. We could go and get them… if you like?"
Joe stood, her tail up and wagged at that suggestion and her ears were also forward. Faolan sneaked a smile, as he sensed that Joe was feeling much better - and a mischievous moment was imminent. Sure enough, she picked up her front legs and hit the ground with her paws in front of him, and gave an excited bark. The old wolf gave a delighted laugh at Joe acting like an excited puppy. She even stood up on her hind paws to put her front ones each on a shoulder of Matt as she looked him in the eyes... there was definitely a spark of mischief in them.

The next moment she put her head forward to 'boop' / touch her nose to his and then ran off in the direction of the house like a silly thing.

The old wolf figured that he'd accompany Rita back, and shook his head with amusement. "That's a 'pure blood' for you... give just enough time in wolf form and the canine antics will pop up." he smiled at the nurse.
 
Matt laughed at Joe's silly antics and jumped up to chase after her into the house. She seemed to be feeling a lot less afraid, and he was glad of that. Maybe Rita had said something to her, or maybe she had just remembered that despite his mistake the day before he really wasn't out to hurt her. Either way, he was very pleased to see her in good spirits and it lifted his mood as well. "Was that 'tag'?" he called after her as he ran, "because that's how I'm taking it, so you better keep running." She seemed in a good enough mood that chasing her was probably ok without making her feel threatened, but he still ran slowly, not trying too hard to catch her. That way if she did get upset at having him after her, he at least wouldn't have made her feel like there was no escape.

The mention of tag sent him back in his memory to that night at the school, the night they'd met and she'd shot the helicopter out of the sky, and that moment by the stream when he'd realised exactly what mess he was getting himself into, but by then it was already far too late to stop. He had never for a moment, back then, thought that she would reciprocate… and now here he was, a werewolf, chasing her around outside her grandfather's house. That little thought made him feel warm inside. In spite of all obstacles, he was hers and she was his, and together they would stay.

Rita hung back a little as the two young ones rushed off. They suddenly did seem very much younger to her, even though there couldn't be much more than five years in it, and she thought perhaps happiness made people that way. She envied them… not in a bitter way, but still.

"Oh, I know," she replied to Faolan's comment, thinking of Boris. Come to that, she wasn't entirely sure that Boris was a pureblood. Sure, he talked about his parents as if they had been wolves, but then he talked about more or less everyone who wasn't right in front of him that way, even vampires. It was as though his brain was forgetting the 'were-' part and just assuming that, as a wolf, his social circle must consist of other wolves. "I've seen what years of it can do to the mind… make you forget you were ever even close to human." That sounded a bit doom-and-gloom so she added in a lighter tone, "I think Boris wants to be a wolf, though. Joe will snap out of it soon enough."
 
"Was that 'tag'? ... because that's how I'm taking it, so you better keep running."

Joe's answer was a teasing growl and she turned around to face him and then rushed at him, but not to jump him, although she made it look like it at first. Then running past him, she barked at him in a challenging tone, by way of saying that yes, this could be indeed, 'tag'. Of course this time they weren't running from military and gunfire, but it didn't make it any less fun. In fact, it reminded her of why she liked him in the first place and her fear of him dissipated as her mind could finally sort things out inside.

"Oh, you have?" Faolan enquired, curiosity in his voice. He then chuckled, "Aye, I can see how being a wolf could have one lead a simpler life, if you can find a safe haven. Is this Boris a friend of yers?" and then with a smirk added, "For one you don't have to pay taxes, so that would narrow life's certainties to only one, if you believe in the saying." thinking about the saying of only death and taxes being what one could ever be certain of... though, there were other, better things too.
He enjoyed watching his granddaughter being happy, and it brought a peace over him. The he conversationally asked Rita a bit about her work and how she became a nurse, "Do you enjoy it?"

Joe was enjoying herself in this game of tag, and she knew that Matt was faster than her - so her competitive side being very present, decided she would be sneaky. Trees and foliage made that easier if you knew what to do, and she did. She made sure to lose Matt as best she could, didn't keep in a straight line of running and then covered her tracks. Him being a werewolf meant that she'd have to be extra crafty, especially if she was going to set up an ambush... those were always fun.
 
Matt saw that Joe had accepted the challenge of his game of tag, and a little competitive part of him was quite determined to win. He knew in theory he was fast enough to win this game hands down, but he also knew that she would be aware of that. Also, his human form seemed a little slower than he remembered being. Possibly he couldn't run quite as fast any more in human form.
He soon couldn't see her for the trees, but she was leaving a reasonably clear scent trail at first. Then that too started to go dead, and he ended up trying to follow her by the sound she was making as she ran. She was good at this.

Every so often there was a little hint of her scent that she hadn't managed to cover, and those acted as signposts to set him back on her trail. Still, he would hardly say he was catching her up, unless covering her tracks like this was slowing her down a lot. He had to admit that this was very good fun, and he wondered if he would have enjoyed it so much before he became a werewolf. Perhaps. When the military wasn't chasing you, lots of things were probably more fun.

"Oh yes, Boris is... well really I'm not sure friend is the word any more." Since he'd been stuck so long he was losing some of his powers of speech, and certainly anything resembling grammar was long gone. He was bordering on what she'd describe as a pet. "I don't know what he's escaping from, but I know a life of doggy biscuits is easier than whatever he had before." True, taxes were probably also an advantage, and in the safe haven he'd managed to find himself, even death wasn't certain, at least for a long while yet. She sighed. Death and taxes... well, that was a lot to look forward to. She very much hoped there would be more to life than that.

"Being a nurse is, well," she hesitated slightly and tried to find a way to phrase it, "it's being able to help people. Though to tell the truth, there hasn't been as much of that as I'd hoped, until yesterday." She thought about her life at the clinic, and how she'd thought she'd do so many more useful things. "I got into it because my mum had the reverse of the procedure Matt's just been through, a long time ago. It just... seemed right to try to help them carry on offering it, especially now they do it without requiring you to spy on anyone."
 
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