Snippet #1944453

Tabby felt her skin practically crawl as Lyra remained on the subject of 'mates'. It sounded incredibly primitive, yet at the same time she was providing a visual example in the way of herself and Kiyoshi. And they certainly seemed happy enough. Like they'd been a couple for years. It hadn't seemed quite the same with Gavin and that 'Jac' girl the previous night, but...well, Tabby was already realising that Gavin was a rather full-on personality and that could have something to do with it.

Besides, she could see everyone around her was more relaxed now that she'd put her defences down - except perhaps Aziel who was still looking rather defeated - and it seemed like it was as well to let it go. Especially as the subject of Lance came up and she realised she'd been about to call him.

"Oh boy, yeah." she muttered, "I was just gonna call him, he never did show. He probably met some people somewhere, got talked into something stupid."

She smiled awkwardly, slightly apologetic that she'd lied to everyone about him being her uncle. That said, it wasn't as though the truth was any weirder than anything she'd had to get her head around since walking into the house! She picked up the phone which she had dropped near her chair, and without looking started dialing. The tactic worked; thinking about it less helped her memory recover Lance's cell number, and she put the handset to her ear.

---

Jason smoothed down his clothes and snorted in contempt, hoping that it would disguise the discomfort in his back which he always felt after shifting. It was a demeaning reminder that he would never again be fit for combat. Butchering an unarmed human was one thing...

"Calvin." he corrected, "Yeah he must be about your age, I dunno you kids all look the same to me."

Ash made her excuses to go and take a bath, and Jason huffed and spat on the ground. Even back in human form there was still the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

"Sure thing," he said, "for now you can..."

He was interrupted by a frenetic, tinny musical tone emanating from the deceased human's jacket pocket. Jason pursed his mouth and stared at the corpse for a moment, wondering what to do. After a few moments of indecision he quickly retried the cell phone and looked at the display. The name which appeared there made him panic.

"It's her." he said, "The girl we came for."

He pressed the button to answer the call, but then immediately flipped it over, prized the back off and removed the battery, slipping it into his pocket and the phone into another pocket. It might come in useful later, but for now he would prefer Tabitha to simply think that he friend's phone had run out of charge whilst answering the call.

"Well," he went on, "for now you can take your pretty self off to do whatever you feel like. After a good morning's work why don't you head into town and treat yourself to something nice? I'm gonna go to the camp and tell Winter that the plan is back on track."

---

"God damn it's tight!" Nico cursed, as the four boys wriggle their way down the narrow passageway. Normally he would have the confidence to suppose that they would have turned back if the crevice didn't get wider up ahead, but unfortunately he knew that Q-Ball was in the lead, so there was no confidence at all that common sense would prevail.

"I dunno," Drake sneered, "I've had tighter."

"Sure you have hot-shot." Craig grizzled, looking back contemptuously. "Keep telling yourself that stud."

"Let the baby have his bottle." Nico chuckled, "He can say what he wants when there's probably no female within a mile to say to the contrary."

Nico and Craig laughed between themselves. Up ahead the sound of running water rose up again, confirming that they were heading towards an underwater spring. Unfortunately, it was also getting gradually darker. Nico found himself wanting to suggest shifting, but at this stage the ability to communicate orally probably outweighed the size and agility advantage of being in wolf form.

"You see anything Q?" Nico called forward.

"Yeah, yeah." Q-Ball chattered, "Looks like it opens up a little bit, maybe inclines upwa-ARGH!"

There was a squeal and a splosh, and the other three boys fell to their knees laughing as it became apparent that Q-Ball had fallen straight into a rock pool.

"Nice navigating dipshit." Craig chorlted.

"What's that?" Q-Ball spluttered.

"I said...nice navigating shit-for-brains."

"No," Q-Ball said, shushing the others. "I can hear voices...further up ahead...."

---

Tabby sighed resignantly and placed the phone back down on the table.

"Sounds like he's out of battery, wherever he is." she said with a weak smile and a shrug.

"Not a problem." Adrian spoke up after remaining quiet against the wall allowing Lyra and the other to deal with the situation. "I've got an idea. Mr Dean - aka Jeff - was telling me there's a fete on in the square down in town. It's a human shindig, so you know the score. But it could be fun, the weather's right for it, and it's in the middle of town so if Lance is down there we may well run into him."

He looked over at Lyra, taking a moment to give her a warm smile of approval as he took in, for the first time, the sight of her and Kiyoshi together. It wasn't difficult to see an alpha-pair in the making...but he had to refrain from the temptation to presume how things would work out. He still dearly wished the decision didn't ultimately rest on his shoulders.

"Besides," he went on, "it's a big night tomorrow. Best make sure that we're all stocked up for the celebration. So waddya'll say - penny-stalls and bouncy castles in the sun sound like a day out?"

---

Calvin snorted to himself. Scared of wolves is she? Well good luck with that. Maybe when 'it' happened it would be as well to leave Gavin behind to look after his car-crash of a sister. Especially now that his crazy mother had shown up and muddied the waters even more. He'd hoped he might be able to win over a few others - Gavin would have been a good candidate, Aziel too - but really the only person he needed to talk to an persuade was Lyra. Lyra was everything. And she was the most urgent too. Every second she spent getting comfortable around Kiyoshi was gonna make it harder for her to see the light when the time came.

"You hear that Gav?" he said, "I think the boss said there's a fete in town. Maybe there's be the opportunity to throw things at other things...maybe even shoot stuff with airguns if we're lucky. And if it's lame we can always bail and find something else to do."