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[abrightboy]

This is Bright. Leave a message.

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[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?”

[ukan]

"Yeah. It's sort of like a blissful fog settles over you. You'd die for her; you'd kill for her. You'd do anything to earn a reward from her. And then one day she gets shot and your head clears, and you realize you never want to be in that position again. That's how I came up with the way I run my packs."

[abrightboy]

“…….No heterosexual men?” Malcolm hazards.

[ukan]

"No, most of my pack are straight." It's just a numbers game. "We just don't sleep with the girl. Anyone who wants to take that risk is free to make that choice but most of them are fine just getting their needs met with humans."

[abrightboy]

"...But our pack has two girls," Malcolm points out. "Is that not normal?"

[ukan]

"Yeah that doesn't happen in the real world. Iris isn't a real wolf like we are; if she was she and Maggie would be tearing each other apart. And Maggie is going to start a pack in her world, and you're going to LA. The Barge pack is different. We work together to make sure we all get our deals, and to set each other up for the best possible next steps, but settled packs are different."

[abrightboy]

"...But Will is definitely one of us, right?" Malcolm confirms, with Lark raising concerns about Iris again.

[ukan]

A sympathetic smile. "He's one of us. Like I said: Iris can't make him into a Time Lord with a wolf ritual. She can only make him a wolf. He's got my blood in him. You can't smell that?"

[abrightboy]

"...I didn't try to smell it. I can tell our pack from another pack by smell?"

[ukan]

"It takes a lot of focus. I can teach you that. Imagine the next crime scene you're on once you're trained up."

[abrightboy]

"What else can I smell?" Malcolm asks curiously.

[ukan]

That has such a broad answer. "Illness. Bedbugs. Hormonal imbalances, the onset of seizures in other people before they hit. Anything a dog can smell you can smell better, and with the advantage of a mind that can problem solve if people try to confuse the trail."

[abrightboy]

"...I noticed illness on... someone. Recently." He pauses. "So I could follow a trail from crime scene like a bloodhound?"

[ukan]

Lark did, too. But Kiryu is keeping it quiet so he doesn't pry.

"Depending on what time you get to the crime scene you'd be able to tell how much adrenaline was pumping through the killer's veins when it happened. You'd know if their blood sugar was low, where they'd been before they got into the scene."