[Video+Action, post moon-warp]

[wereperrito]

Hello all!

This is Jack, from my little nook in the convoy where I make and repair clothes.

[He smiles at the camera, showing off the fluffy little fox ears he is now sporting instead of regular ears, and the white streaks in his blue-gray hair, then turns his radio device around to show the little shop. It is, frankly, less like a shop and more like a workspace, with fabric in cabinets on the walls and a pair of tables and some chairs, with more fabric strewn across them, some in good condition and some in less-good condition.]

I just wanted all of our new people to know that if the moon warp ruined your clothes, I can probably help. I have mostly figured out trousers, I think, and I am still working on proper shirts, though I can make, um, cloaks and drapes and things.

[He sets the camera down on one of the tables, and sits down to face it.]

I did want to, er, also tell everyone something else. I know we are all... changing. Into something we might call monsters, some of us. I just wanted to say I was a monster before I came here. Not a-- not a bad person, no, not a cruel person, but a werewolf. I turn into a beast once a month on the full moon, like moon warps here.

So. So I just wanted everyone to know, I have done this before. This changing, this becoming something else for a time. I don't know if it will help anyone, but if it can-- I wanted everyone to know.

[He has "come out" piecemeal to various people, here and there, and it's gone well. But now he's doing it to everyone, to people he's never talked to. It's a little scary, but he's doing it.

And now that he's done it, he hesitates, then fumbles for the radio to turn it off without further comment.

He will be available in his shop most evenings, for people to come by to get clothing repaired or measured for, or for people to ask questions, and of course he's around the convoy or in his van during the day when they're on the move.]

Comments

[wereperrito]

Mmmhmm. I have had that happen to me before, too. Before I knew how well to lock myself up.

[Sometimes it was even on purpose. Sometimes it had been people he cared about. He holds out his hand for the measuring tape back, refusing to be baited into trading angry words.]

If you are worried, SecUnit, then we will come up with plans. The way I do for my wolf form. That way you and everyone around you will know what to do if you become a danger. With all of us having these changes, not many people are helpless humans anymore.

[wereperrito]

"A couple of times, yes," Jack nods. "During the storms last month. It was inconvenient and I got rather over-excited during the change, though I was not dangerous unless you count reckless behavior. I have not changed into that during the moon warp, as I do the werewolf thing then." He heaves a little sigh. "I cannot do either of my changes on purpose, which seems rather unfair."

[wereperrito]

Jack waits patiently, trying very hard not to do his fill-the-silence routine, letting Serph thing. He compromises by idly petting Serph's hand again with his thumb.

"Moon warps affect us all," he suggests. "Though I have thought John was not human since we met. He has too little knowledge of human things, the way you do. It may have been that, too. I don't know what that kind of not-human is for him, though, since he has not shared it with me. It may be time to actually ask, soon."

[wereperrito]

"I am a very average cook, John," Jack comments, but with amusement, leaning comfortably against John's offered shoulder. "But okay. If you want to come by in the evening before bed, I can show you how to make some simple things. Stew and stir-fry is mostly what I make, and sometimes a fire-spit roast. I don't have a decent oven and there are not a lot of different ingredients to work with."

[purplexing]

Knowing what to be aware of might be good. I think too much was happening to have noticed otherwise.

...so any tips on what to look out for would be most appreciated.

[bufudine]

Oh... really?

He'd thought John was plenty knowledgeable, his jumpiness and terror in the face of danger and the pained way he talked about cults had Serph dismiss the idea of John being anything besides human. It certainly didn't seem particularly monstrous behaviour.

His gaze falls to where Jack's hand is touching his. "I want to know." John had mentioned being monstrous as Serph was sinking into the oasis, air slowly being choked out of him. "But I'll hear it from him."

So whatever John decides to share with Jack, that's between them. He won't ask Jack for details that John wouldn't tell Serph himself.

[definitionofcrazy]

Right. Course not.

[She manages a weak laugh, but she's decidedly leaning toward him a little more.]

Nah, you're like the nicest guy here.

[One of the nicest guys she'd ever encountered period, actually. The only rivals she could think of... well, one was a lot more on the tough-love side than Jack, and the other one wanted to turn into a big snake and eat people.]

... I normally don't go in for the touchy feely crap so much.

[Not that it was... awful, exactly. This was probably the least upset she'd felt around it since it happened.]

[discolouredwings]

She was frowning as she listened. The moon? She'd been fortunate there, she'd gotten the odd extra changes but those had vanished on their own later.

"I've turned into a fox fully a few times. I'm not sure of the cause but I've worked out how to change back when it happens."

[wereperrito]

The moon pieces kind of... come closer together?

[Jack gestures with his hands, as if kind of gathering something up between them.]

They don't become whole, but they're closer to it, and they get brighter. Also, so far, it has been every other month. Unless the pattern changes, we will not have another one for a while.

[wereperrito]

"Oh, good. I was stuck like that until the storm passed, being able to change back on your own is much better," Jack says. "What was happening the times you did change? Maybe there is something in common between them."

He pauses, then adds, "If you do not mind sharing, that is. You certainly don't have to." They'd only just met, after all, and he knows he is more eager to talk about things than many other people here.

[wereperrito]

Knowing about horrible things is not the same as being human. Jack has known many so-called monsters in his time, many of them unable to blend in for most of their lives the way he can, and John shows a lot of the signs of being kept well apart from normal human society. Up to and including the way he reacts to food, conversation, and natural human kindness.

Plus, well, the weird finger and the way occasionally his eyes glowed.

He nods. "Probably for the best. Have you talked to him much since? Like you are talking to me, now?"

[purplexing]

Closer together...

[Donnie frowns thoughtfully as he makes his mental notes.]

Not sure how they can get brighter unless they were reflecting something. I mean, that's how the moon works in general...

How many Moon Warps have there been so far for you to figure as much?

[wereperrito]

Oh, I don't think I'm that. I'm sure there are nicer people than me.

[He sounds pleased, though, because he does try to be a good person, and he's not always sure he does a good job. Mostly, sure, he's relatively realistic about the type of person he is, but even being kind and decent doesn't always go over the way he'd like it to.]

And you seem to be doing okay with it right now. Maybe you just need more practice.

[He does take the hint, though, and loosens his arm enough to sit back. And then he kisses the side of her head, in a very clearly brotherly fashion, before climbing back to his feet. There is still stew to dish out.]

[thetatters]

"Good. I will plan to."

But John looks sideways at him over his next bite of soup, assessing from the corner of his eye. His tone remains mild, but there's another faint undertone of tension.

"Will you be sleeping in the room, after dinner? I have seen less of you this month."

He has assumed Jack to be upset about his abandonment during the Moon Warp. Despite the man's insistence to the contrary, it still seems a reasonable explanation. John is here for the food and cloak and company, yes, but also because he has spent more than a few long nights worrying over Jack's absence. At least when Jack and Serph are crowded into bed with him, he knows they're safe.

Arthur never could have spent a night without John on watch. To let Jack go so unguarded puts him ill at ease.

[bufudine]

Serph's gaze slides away. His silence to the question is answer enough.

"...I didn't know what to say."

John had been... the word brooding comes to mind. That same sort of distant silence and separation that he had seen from Heat after he and the rest of the Tribe had returned from blowing up that cruise ship. Serph had decided to leave John be.

Maybe he shouldn't have?

[hatethereaper]

That there any are people here who come from worlds without magic is a new concept to me. [It implies an entire paradigm of thinking about the universe that he's not used to.

He gives a polite laugh at the remark, then answers the question about patterns.] I have, though it's been some time.

[definitionofcrazy]

[She gives a slight smile at the 'doing okay with it' line, but it drops at the kiss. She doesn't look offended or anything, if anything she looks... bewildered. She quickly averts her gaze to hide it.

But she neither objects nor moves to leave. Instead she just asks something... entirely out of left field, even for her.]

You cook for people back home?

[serialmurderbot]

[The tape is dropped into Jack's palm, to keep from initiating skin contact - not far, just a few centimeters. SecUnit takes the opportunity to back off a bit, reestablishing personal space without withdrawing entirely.]

Sure.

[It wants to say it's different somehow, but it's fought the wolf. It knows that it's actually pretty hard to effectively contain something it doesn't want to kill when it's a wild animal and not a weak human. So even though it wants to argue, it just. Doesn't. Because that'd be shitty to Jack. Also, more importantly;]

... Tying up or whatever isn't going to work. For either of us.

[wereperrito]

Aw, John. "Yes, I'll come back to the room," Jack promises. He's already had this talk with Serph, at least partly, so now apparently it's John's turn. So he adds, "But you must tell me if you and Serph want time alone again. I don't want to intrude on whatever you two might want to build."

Unless they don't want to do it again. But Serph, at least, had seemed potentially inclined in that direction.

[thetatters]

John's expression freezes neutral.

"Of course," he says. It's the tone that means he has no idea what's going on and is trying to cover his incomprehension. Someone less familiar with him might be fooled, but Jack has heard many an Of course and Yes, naturally while John stared owl-eyed at some mundane trick of human life. "But really, Jack, I don't expect an issue."

Probably. Right? What would Serph want to build? What does that even mean?

"Did he... I mean, if he said something—?"

[wereperrito]

"Well, it's hard sometimes even for people who know what desire is, and have experienced it before," Jack comments, a little wryly. He pats Serph's hand lightly, and suggests, "But you could maybe start with 'did you like that' and 'do you want to do it again or not'. It might be easiest for both of you to just be up front."

[wereperrito]

No, ropes don't work very well. John and Serph tried that, and I chewed my way out pretty quickly once they got distracted.

[He collects his measuring tape and turns back to his table, sorting through piles of fabric.]

Chains do work, though, for the most part. Do you have a preference for color?

[wereperrito]

[He'll take the subject change, and let her recover from the moment of intimacy.]

Sometimes. I am not usually hosting people, though, they are more often hosting me, so only if they have food around and are willing to let me cook.

[He makes an amused little noise as he collects bowls from a cupboard over the stove, and adds,]

My friend Ted is actually a better cook than I am, even if he has a ridiculous preference for take-out.

[wereperrito]

Yeah, sorry, John, Jack knows exactly what that tone and expression means. He doesn't prod at it, though. "We talked about it a bit," Jack says instead, casually, as if it was no big deal. It kind of had been, but he's trying not to spook John, here. "He did not seem like he didn't enjoy what you two did. It may be that he would like to do it again sometime."

He has a spoonful of soup then adds, "But I know he's likely to come talk to you about it, himself, and I would rather not put words into his mouth before he says them."

[thetatters]

"Again?"

John's polite expression breaks into flustered alarm.

"No, that's— uh— I don't think that's... likely, Jack." Unless— the next Moon Warp—? He cannot imagine anything more embarrassing than trying to murder his friend again. Arthur forgave him an attempted strangling or two, obviously, but that was early on. John is better than that now. This isn't the Dark World; he has control of his worst impulses. For the most part.

"Wait. You've been avoiding us because you're afraid we'll fight again?" No, Serph must have been more tactful than to tell him everything. "Or— sex! The sex part."

Hopefully Serph only told him about the sex part. That seems the more reasonable human activity, from what baseline Arthur and the Convoy have given him. You're not supposed to talk about sex, but you're not even supposed to think about snapping the bones of your allies.

Hurriedly, he adds: "Really, Jack, it won't be an issue."