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[abrightboy]

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[abrightboy]

“We do want to travel,” Malcolm admits. “But I can see it being our base. Our family.”

[ukan]

"I'd like that. A lot," Lark admits. "I think you'll like the pack. You'll fit in. I wish I could take you both to meet them now but..."

But Will needs to graduate.

[abrightboy]

“I can’t leave the Barge until Will can leave.”

In case something happens and he can’t get back.

[ukan]

"I understand. It's the same reason I'm going home on the weekends." To see Alec. Just in case.

[abrightboy]

“…You’re not worried about getting stuck again?” Malcolm asks.

[ukan]

He shrugs. "It's only happened once in fourteen years. We're not being chased by the Authority anymore, which means the reason it happened last time is moot. So no, not really."

[abrightboy]

“Is there… training that we’re supposed to do?” Malcolm asks cautiously.

[ukan]

He shrugs. Training is part of everyone's everyday life in a way. "Yes but it's not like military drills. I'm just going to teach you how to really use your new senses."

[abrightboy]

“What about… the rules? I’ve been basically guessing about them,” Malcolm notes.

[ukan]

It reminds him of when he'd been a pup, only he'd been gleefully testing the rules as soon as he learned them. It's how he learned which ones were unbreakable.

"Most of them are instinctive. And they're a little looser around the Barge, since we don't have to hide what we are in order to survive. Which ones do you know already?"

[abrightboy]

“…None of them. Except that apparently if I turned Will without permission, you’d murder him. And probably me when I got in the way,” Malcolm says. “And… I guess I was right about turning being about the community….”

[ukan]

"Wolves use violence in ways humans don't. It's a part of our language. I want to transcend that but some things can only be solved with teeth. You are part of how we're going to learn to do things in less bloody ways." But where to start now?

"We call lone wolves 'coyotes'. They don't live long. The pack helps channel your instincts; alone they run amok. Humans don't trust us, animals hate us. It's hard to hold down a job with your instincts running wild and your boss instinctively lashing out at you, so the pack is where we all want to be. You never want to be a coyote."

[abrightboy]

“I don’t want to be a coyote,” Malcolm confirms earnestly. “You really want my help to make the pack less violent?”

[ukan]

"I do. I want better for our people than scraping by in black market deals. I want our people to have options." And Malcolm's training means maybe they have a shot at that.

"I have one pup who's going to make a great governor if I can get him through some of his trauma, I have another who wants to go back and get a high school diploma so he can go to college, but he has to learn to control himself first. Trauma, again."

[abrightboy]

“Trauma’s my specialty,” he gushes, like Lark doesn’t know; like Lark isn’t detailing that that’s why he chose him. It’s a clue he’s starting to feel excited about it again.

[ukan]

"I've got a pretty wide variety for you to work through in LA." He doubts Malcolm will ever be bored.

"That's the thing about being a wolf; we've all gone through something terrible to become what we are. We all have trauma. Cutter was a veteran, he fought in Iraq. He lost everything overseas and then lost even more when he came home. Jason dropped out of high school and became a prostitute. He'd never had a real family before the pack. It overwhelms him sometimes."

[abrightboy]

“Will and I have never fit in anywhere. I think he feels it. Innately. The belonging of the pack. He’s helping me learn to trust it,” Malcolm tells him.

[ukan]

"It was hard for me at first. It took me time to trust the pack, too. You and Will are monogamous but if you ever did split up...don't fall for a wolf girl."

[abrightboy]

He doesn’t foresee ever splitting with Will, but he’s curious.

“Why not?”

[ukan]

He's had to tell Maggie so he might as well tell Malcolm, too. Even if the threat of it is less for him. "Because part of your free will will be tied up in her. She'll own a piece of you until the day she dies."

[abrightboy]

“…What? Why?” Malcolm asks.

[ukan]

"It's a biological imperative. Just one of the downsides of being what we are." A pause. "Although you and I lucked out because we like men."

[abrightboy]

“I don’t… actually have a preference. So.” Good to know? “But Will and I are permanent. Permanent.”

[ukan]

"I go both ways. I fell in love with a woman here, when I was a new inmate... It scared the hell out of me not knowing if she'd be able to control part of me if I fell too hard." But it's not a thing you get to choose once it starts to happen, not really. "Anyway that's how I learned it's specific to wolf girls. Although be careful with your jealousies--you'll feel those more keenly. It's part of how we bond our packs together. We're just more predisposed to envy now."

[abrightboy]

“What do you mean by control, though?” He’s not worried about jealousy. He knows Will’s devotion to him is as strong as his to Will. “Is that literal?”