awooooooo werewolves of milton

[friendsfordinner]

Who: open to all, with a special focus on #TeamMoonTouched
What: let's all get together and be a proper pack
When: forward dated slightly to late January/early February
Where: Milton, in and around the church to start with.
Content Warnings: n/a, will edit as needed

The day after the storm clears out, Hickey tacks up a note on the community hall message board. Ever since Raylan mentioned the idea of all those wolf-changed getting together to form a pack, to take down a deer or a moose in a communal hunt, it hasn't left Hickey's mind. There's at least four of them here, probably more. That's enough. They could absolutely take down a moose. They just need to get to know each other, figure each other out, and become more in-touch as a pack. Easy enough, yeah?

So he puts up his notice. And the evening of the meeting, Hickey gets his little soiree set up. He does have food: rabbit jerky, a few jars of pickled vegetables, bottles of water and a bottle of pine wine, all set out on a table he dragged out and placed near the pews. (He's a good host, dammit). The set-up is very informal: it's a place where everybody can chit-chat and get to know each other at the start. Gotta make sure everyone is comfortable before he makes his proposal, after all.

( ooc: feel free to use this as a mingle post! Make your own starters and tag around. While the note on the message board is specifically tailored to the Moon Touched folks, anyone is welcome to crash the party. )

Comments

[desperate_times_right]

Feeling the man’s emotions during this conversation is so bizarre. Chloe can't brush off his firmly-held convictions in the way that she otherwise might, but it's hard to accept after seeing the fearful way that Billy had described their situation on the ice.

“I’ve found that being away from any kind of society for too long results in the rule of the strongest.” She’s got stories that might curl this man’s hair of expeditions she's been on, outsized egos trying to reenact Lord of the Flies. Lazarevic had stabbed a man in front of her and left him bleeding out in a swamp because he had stolen a single coin from a dig site. “Your group is large, and influential in this place. I remember at the trial, Irving saying that what you did prevented future crimes. Jopson beat Hickey in public and the only reason that stopped was that the Mountie stepped in.”

Sorry, Little, but Jopson is coming up anyway!

“Your captain was furious that we didn't beat him again! I hope you're right about your men, but it's hard to put any faith in that.”

[fidior]

The statement about being away from society for too long, and the way it warps those rules, those structures — the rule of the strongest... It makes Edward's stomach curl again, something that isn't so much shocked as it is... understanding. Because he knows, too, at least some of it. That's the true horror of it all. What a human being is capable of when they're desperate, afraid. Hungry. He knows that now.

(And something in him wonders, abruptly, if he should try to warn her more about Hickey. Because the man she's found friendship with is one of those who'd shown such colours, who is capable of such things. What happens if they begin to starve, really starve, in this place? What might he do again?)

...But it's complicated. It's all so complicated. As much as he has things to fear about her friends, she raises good points about his own. Little winces again, head dipped for a moment.

"The incident with Mr. Jopson... should not have happened." He knows Thomas had legitimate reasons for it; hell, he's come close to wanting to physically hurt Hickey, himself. He's not immune to feeling anger towards the man who'd caused so much despair. (But it's complicated. If the officers had led better.. it might have all been avoided. Who can really be to blame for it all? Little knows it's not ultimately Hickey's fault, even if the acts he'd committed had been inexcusable.)

"You are right, madam. We are influential here — and it despairs me to think of how others might perceive us after such... brutality." And what he'd done.. Little closes his eyes for a moment.

"There is no excuse for what I've done, either. I would not wish to be recognised favourably for it; a murder is a murder, and there will be no forgiveness for that mark upon my soul. This place is punishing me for it, as I deserve." He does truly believe that, and looks back up at her, miserable.

"I am truly sorry that this is the way you must know us. ....I believe I was a good man, once. I believe all of us were. But what happened before we arrived here... None of us can be pardoned from it. I am only horrified that it continues to poison those we come into contact with here."

[desperate_times_right]

For once, Chloe bites back her instinct to immediately respond in favour of absorbing what this man is saying to her, really listening to it. Hickey pretty much never talks to her about the expedition and what had happened back then - he wants to move on, and more power to him - but Billy does, and he hasn't exactly left her with the greatest impression of the officers’ abilities in that place.

But at the same time, talking about being punished by a place feels crazy. Punished by the Darkwalker, sure, but they all get that the same.

Finally, she says, “You don't have to condemn yourself to doing all of the same things again. None of you do.”

He might have continually failed to act, and ignored his subordinates as they deteriorated before his eyes, but he doesn't have to make the same mistakes a second time.

“You’re not ghosts. You can be free.”

These people re-creating the expedition and its structure is one of the primary things she’s been afraid of, at least where they're concerned.

[fidior]

It's all something that he's thought much on, for months and months and months now. Edward gives a heavy, full-bodied sigh, and a soft nod.

"I do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past, no. I believe many of us... most of us, fear and dread that happening, almost more than anything."

They've all been utilising what grief they know to try and avoid the people of this community suffering the same fate. Even Hickey has been making his own efforts — facilitating this meeting, speaking about finding large game. And Little's been trying desperately to keep the peace, to stop history from repeating itself. He's even made a deal with Hickey to try and keep him and Irving apart....

But....

'You’re not ghosts. You can be free.'

That part has him pausing with an odd, painful hitch of breath deep under all the layers of himself. He thinks of Gibson, who'd spoken of getting to have a life here that he would not, back home. There is a certain.. freedom. A second chance. But Little can't let himself grasp hold of those things.

"We may be able to live our lives here, for a time. But... we are ultimately dead men. And as a senior officer, I must bear a certain... responsibility in remembering that for us all."

He can't forgive himself for what he'd done, can't move past it, can't see these men as anything but his failures, his ghosts.

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe thinks wow, this guy must be real fun at parties before remembering that she's seen him at a party and it was just as sad as you'd imagine.

“Do you think you’ll just drop dead when this is done? You can create a life you're proud of living.”

[fidior]

He is so fun at parties!

"When this is done... You mean this world?"

He's spent much time thinking about that, too. What this place really is, Little can't say, beyond a punishment. Will it ever end? Some people do vanish again, presumably to go home, but even then...

"I do believe we'll return to our place in time. In that case... there is no future for us," he nods miserably. No one survives that Expedition, he knows as much from the things Fraser shared with him.

"But I do hope the others find some joy in this moment, for however fleeting it may last. William—.... I have told him as much, and I am glad that he seems to be living how he likes, here."

[desperate_times_right]

“Thank you. Hickey’s my friend, but here Billy Gibson is probably my best friend. He came back for me, in a house fire.” This man knows more than most what that means. “I’m always worried about how safe he is here.”

That's embarrassing. Moving on…

“Maybe you don't have to go back. I know someone who is going to another world because going back will ruin her. You could do that too, maybe.”

[fidior]

Best friend... His former steward's life here never ceases to surprise Edward. He's married Hickey, is capable of burning a man alive with mere thought, and become very close with a woman who challenges nearly every norm of their own time.

(...All right, Edward can claim that fact, too.)

And yes, he knows a good deal about what someone rescuing you in a house fire can do in terms of solidifying a relationship. Despite how strange and harrowing much of this conversation has been, something in his eyes softens at that.

"Mr. Gibson's safety is one of my own priorities as well," he's sure to assure her, before he blinks in surprise again.

"She thinks it possible? To choose something like that?"

Alas, he would only ever choose to return to his own and to die... as it's what he deserves.... He's ruined his soul and there's no coming back from that, clearly!

[desperate_times_right]

“She does, and I don't see why it wouldn't be possible.” It is magic that they're talking about! “Whatever did this to us can obviously play fast and loose with both time and place. I want to go back to where I was, but I know not everyone's as lucky as me.”

Chloe frowns. “Hickey told me he doesn't want to leave because Billy might die, but I don't see why he would if they don't go home.”

[fidior]

"It is a nice thought. That my men might be able to find a place in another world... a safer one." He smiles faintly, though it's shadowed with a quiet ache. He won't claim to understand the workings of the forces at play here, and it might truly be possible, but his own heart isn't quite able to believe it.

Once, it might. Once, when hope was the leading force behind his eyes.

"Perhaps they will continue to have a stable life here," he nods, hoping to reassure her on that fact. This place may be his punishment, but if some can find security and even happiness here... that's good. That's everything.

"If I may ask, what is your world like?"

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe has to believe that they'll be able to choose where they'll go. There has to be some agency for them somewhere in all of this, even if they have to fight a god for it.

“I'm from a world like this one was before it fell apart. A little later, actually, it was 2018. So we had, you know, cars and electric lights and stuff. Cell phones.” He must have seen one by now. Renny had been fascinated by them and that guy had been basically medieval. Of course, Edward probably wouldn't enjoy her racy pictures as much as the halfling had. Whatever.

“I was born in India, lived there about ten years and then moved to Australia with my mum. I've travelled a lot since, but I've never been on this continent in my own world, so I'm not sure if it's like this or not.”