Don't flinch when innocents
Are dancing with the flame
If they wanted to live
They'd learn to play the game

@ted

Soon the moon would come out and then he’d say goodbye to much of his consciousness. For a night. For a night, he’d have little else on his mind but finding humans and biting. Not that he usually did. He always went as far away from human civilization as possible, and then it was not his fault if someone came across his path. Everybody could see it was a full moon, and humans had nothing to do in a forest at night anyway. He might not have managed to go as far away from human habitation as usual, but he could do so while in wolf form. He had enough control for that. There were still his instincts that would tell him otherwise, but having been a werewolf all his life, he knew that he could avoid humans as long as he didn't smell them. It was weird. When he had been younger, there had always been others, especially the five with who he had grown up. With company, it had been easier to feel... not more human, no, he couldn’t say that but... more like a common wolf. A wolf that had no need to attack and bite humans, but just to run in the company of the pack.

There was no pack. For many years now, he was mostly alone. It did happen, with age it was to be expected to be more of a loner, so nothing out of the ordinary. And yet, it was not feeling right. It was on full moons that he missed his childhood friends the most. A healthy wolf was not meant to live alone. But he wouldn’t have to think about this much longer. To miss times when he had thought that his life was sort of okay. Soon, the moon would rise and take away all these pointless regrets. When it happened, it was the same like every month. The moment the moonlight shone down on him, he forgot that he had been waiting for this. It was always the same, of course it was, but that didn’t make the pain any less severe when his bones stretched and bent and burnt. But then he was on four legs and the pain was forgotten. He still remembered where the humans lived and that he wanted to go there and that he shouldn’t. Most of all, he knew that he needed to move. To run. And with no hesitation he bounded into the forest, running through thorns and bushes, until a scent made him pause and listen. It was unfamiliar, but while he didn’t know who it was, it was clear what. Indecisive, he remained still for about three heartbeats, then he cautiously approached where the other werewolf had to be.

Under A Killing Moon

The air my lungs first loved
Carves craters from my eyes
They said, "Breathe deeply, son
Or be the next to die"

The moon was with Pack again, proper and all. Tilly was with them, and so Teddy simply had to run with Pack that night, no matter what. The first morph that night had been fusing vocal cords together, just in case. Teddy still didn't like stopping the pain, still drank it in and. . .well not quite let it out tonight, but it was a physical pain that was much easier dealt with than other ones. And it. . at the end, did make the first few moments of being back on four legs the sweetest thing Ted had that month. So that was something, that moment of smelling the air, and tasting it, soring through everything, the grass cold on paws, the breathing around--

it was Pack, it was there, and though Teddy knew that half of them were true wolves tonight, and Teddy was tempered by Wolfsbane, the energy was contagious. There were to be no fighting swans tonight, Cass and Alex had seen that their location was swanless enough for Teddy to run around without starting a fight to the death with Her Majesty's Royal Swans. Apparently, after all, the Muggle monarch owned them.

The time had gone on, and Teddy decided to explore a glen they'd smelled once before. With a short whine, and a flick of a tail in signal to one of the others, Teddy let themself track it. There was running water, and hold on.

Was that another wolf? Teddy was still in howling distance, but the scent of another wolf-- alone, no pack was enough. A quick trot roughly over, Teddy pointed their ears flat against their head, pulled tail between their legs and half-wagging, mouth loose, and eyes squinted. The other wolf was nearby, and Teddy let out a quick, playful yip, trying to focus all they remembered of wolf body language to be reading friendly, subordinate.

☆342 words, @wolf☆

❤fai

A werewolf was not harmless, not even for another werewolf, at least if they were strangers. They only felt the urge to attack humans, but with none around, it was still possible that their aggression would turn upon one another, especially if they didn’t know each other. A werewolf might have little human consciousness left in his wolf form, but they did remember who belonged to them, even when they fought each other. It remained mostly a game from which no dangerous injuries would result. When he had had to transform alone for the first time, he had thought (as far as he could as a wolf) that he was going insane because there was nothing to divert him from his need to bite humans. With time, it had got better, and while he ran, he felt almost like a normal wolf.

He had come across other werewolves from time to time. But either they were in a pack and he was too old to fit in, or the individual was more than likely to attack in serious. So, whoever was near, was just as likely to be a threat than anything else. But even a threat would be somewhat welcome because it would be something that diverted his instincts from humans. He strained his ears and it seemed to him that there might be more wolves somewhere in the distance. That might mean less aggression if the one nearby had somewhere he belonged.

There was a whelp, making him jump in the direction and then come to an abrupt halt to watch the scene in front of him The wolf before him was young, barely past being a cub. It was normally an age where a wolf was the most aggressive. He surely got into many fights with his friends at this age, fights he doubted he would ever have the chance of winning at his age. But this wolf looked like the most harmless thing he had ever seen. It was actually puzzling him. A wolf so young, shouldn’t he be more confrontational? He hesitated, then sat down, his ears pointed forwards but otherwise still slightly on alert.