Did A Random Animation Because I Am Still Figuring Out Procreate Dreams. This Is A Metaphorical Representation

Did a random animation because I am still figuring out Procreate Dreams. This is a metaphorical representation of a random side effect of using a blood magic in my current WIP - whatever color your eyes were, they get redder and brighter. One character's eyes are bright orange, like this animation. I have another animation in progress that also shows this effect a bit, but who knows when I'll finish it because it is far more complicated than this one was.

The Worry (part 2)

The second week passed without event, though Jake did pretend no one was home as Adrian came knocking at one point. No one else was home, so it wasn’t too hard to do. Now, though, it was Saturday, late afternoon, and Ethan had yet to come back from his coffee date with his cousin. It had been a few hours, so it was strange that he wouldn’t have come back yet. Max and Jake were sitting at the kitchen table waiting silently, both imagining how things might have gone, and what might be keeping Ethan so late.

Max’s mind, from the state of his shaking leg, was likely conjuring images of the government snatching Ethan and questioning him in a dark, steel room. Jake’s mind was conjuring images of a silversmith being astounded by the request for a silver bullet, Ethan coming home and deciding to hunt and kill the original wolf to reverse the curse. Of course, Ethan had said it was technically a supernatural disease, and had no reversal process. Jake’s mind easily changed course to Ethan busking on a street corner, scatting to get the money for enough silver to make chains. Of course, they had already ruled that out, but it was fun to imagine it.

Their reveries were finally put to rest when they heard the door open, and they tried to seem more casual than they were about rushing to hear what Ethan had found out and why he’d been gone so long. When they got to the door, though, they found the answer to why he’d been gone late.

Ethan’s arms were full of different bags, each from a different store, and none of them a store that Jake recognized. From peaking into them, Jake couldn’t figure out what the common thread was. There were herbs and spices, crystals, chalk, and deodorant, among other things.

“What happened?” Max asked. “What is all this?”

“Well, my cousin can talk for quite a while when you get him started. He told me all kinds of things to try. So I got them all, and we’re going to try them,” Ethan said.

“Walk us through the conversation as you unpack,” Jake suggested. He was incredibly pleased with this turn of events. Nothing would make him happier than attempting to prove or disprove every legend ever recorded about werewolves, using Max as a test subject.

“He’s been taking a course on the history of herbalism as it relates to witchcraft, so several of the things he mentioned are plant based. One of the first was wood from the rowan tree, which used to have all kinds of relationships to magic and the supernatural. Witches were supposed to use rowan wood to make wands in order to increase their magic, but it was also good for weaving, and more importantly, warding off evil. A tree planted in a town would steer away the supernatural beings trying to enter the town. But more than that, supernatural creatures, including werewolves, were believed to be unable to cross a barrier made of Rowan wood.”

Ethan took out several sprigs of wood, placing them all around Max where he stood with Jake’s help. They both looked at Max expectantly, who looked back in confusion for a moment before getting the idea. He stepped out of the circle of the wood without issue and looked back at the other two.

“Not surprising, it sounded like no one could agree on what the tree actually does. It’s probably only wood. None of this is scientifically proven, you know, or at least, most of it isn’t. There have been a few experiments with silver, but really not all that many of that, either,” Ethan said. “Well, then he mentioned this man who was tried for witchcraft for using this plant,” he pulled a conical sprig of yellow flowers from another bag, “agrimony. It’s got an old rhyme essentially positing that if you sleep with agrimony under your pillow, you won’t wake up until it’s taken away. We can test that one tonight, but I was thinking if you went to bed early before the full moon, that might be useful.”

“So a person would never wake up if someone didn’t take it back out from under their head?” Max asked. “That’s kind of creepy. If that works, you had better not make me stay asleep any longer than you need to to test it.”

“That’s up to our interpretation, right?” Jake asked.

“Up to my interpretation, maybe,” Ethan said. “Don’t worry Max, I’m not going to let Jake use this willy-nilly. Next one was easier to find, given it’s December. Mistletoe, which was sacred because it grew from the sky. This one was just kind of a catch all to ward off evil, and some stuff about future husbands, which isn’t relevant right now.”

Jake took the mistletoe from Ethan, which was in plastic. Jake unwrapped it from its protective covering in case that would affect how it worked, then he held it out at Max.

“What is being repelled supposed to feel like? Also, I’m not evil. Maybe that affects things. Maybe it only wards of werewolves who are evil.”

“Well, just get really close and let me know if you feel anything,” Jake said, and he watched Max take a step towards him and the mistletoe. When he got close enough, Jake placed the mistletoe on Max’s head, watching for any reaction.

“I don’t feel anything. Except a little bit awkward because I have mistletoe on top of my head, but other than that, nothing,” Max said.

“I don’t think you would be okay with it sitting on your head if it really were going to repel you. Maybe these things don’t work properly unless you’ve already changed, so we can’t rule anything out, but so far this is disappointing,” Ethan said. “Rituals next, then.”

“Oh, this is going to be the good part, isn’t it?” Jake said.

“Well, not all of the rituals he mentioned are viable, but I took some notes to make sure we’re trying them correctly. But some of the ingredients really weren’t possible to get. Human blood, for one, and another requires that it be the blood of the werewolf,” Ethan said, looking at the notes he had. Due to his focus on the notes, he didn’t see Jake leaving the room, and Max was busy looking through the other supplies in the bags.

“Ow!” Max said after Jake sliced open his arm a bit using a knife from the kitchen. He pressed the edges, getting plenty of blood to well up, then wiped it with a cotton ball. By the time he’d finished, the cotton ball was half-stained red, and the wound was already closing up.

“Got the blood. What’s the next step?” Jake asked, holding the cotton ball out to Ethan.

“Dude. I didn’t take notes for those rituals,” Ethan said, frozen in confusion and a small amount of shock.

“Do you think you could remember them?” Jake asked.

“I don’t know why you thought you were allowed to do that,” Max said, also frozen in confusion.

“You’ve already healed, it’s fine,” Jake excused.

“Even if I could remember them, one of them was to bind and kill the werewolf. I think the other was about locating a werewolf, and I don’t think that’s especially relevant in this context,” Ethan said.

“Well, that’s disappointing. I guess I have to just throw this away now,” Jake said, and did, in the kitchen trash.

“Now there was no point in cutting me without asking,” Max said.

“There wasn’t a point to begin with. We have some much more realistic options here. Now, take this sage,” Ethan said, handing Max the sage.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Max asked, holding the sage like a wedding bouquet.

“We’re going to light it after I draw this circle,” Ethan said, holding up colorful chalk.

“Where was this side of Ethan all my life?” Jake said in an aside to Max. “All it takes is an academic interest and practical causes to get him to do rituals in the living room. You should have turned into a werewolf ages ago.”

“Remember how it wasn’t intentional? Don’t know how you would do it intentionally,” Max trailed off.

“Oh, there were rituals for that, too.  Some people think that the origin of werewolves was rituals where warriors would consume the flesh of dogs and wolves to make themselves better hunters, and ended up gaining the ability to transform,” Ethan said, drawing a circle until he hit the edge of the couch. “Jake, can you move the couch, please? Thank you. Similar to how the origin of vampires was supposed to be early alchemical experiments, but there haven’t been any modern sightings of vampires, so either they were all killed or they were never real to begin with.”

“Do people hunt werewolves? I just realized I don’t know if that’s, like, a legal thing that people can do,” Max said.

“Well, they used to. That’s over half of what my cousin talked about. They had werewolf trials just like they had witch trials, though werewolves predate the concept that they’re evil,” Ethan said, finishing the circle. “Not now, though. The only ones who are allowed to deal with werewolves are government folks. And not the one secret branch, that’s just a rumor. So I wouldn’t call that ‘hunting’. What they do with werewolves isn’t public knowledge, though.”

“Can you go a day without making it obvious the government is going to hunt me like I’m bin Laden?” Max said. “It’s bad enough my murder will be unsolvable because I won’t even have dental records.”

“The only reason I decided against trying the teeth ritual is because you’re obviously too obsessed with them already,” Ethan said, handing a lighter to Max. “Light that bundle and hold it just like you were. Don’t burn your clothes.”

“There’s a teeth ritual?” Jake said in awe. “How are the teeth involved?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ethan said. “This ritual is about to be finished, so focus on that.”

“What’s this one supposed to do?” Max asked, holding the smoking bundle like he wasn’t sure how it ended up in his hands.

“Well, the one inside the circle is supposed to be stuck there until someone on the outside of the circle breaks it. Try stepping out,” Ethan said. Max stepped out, towards the kitchen, sage still burning.

EEEEEEEEEET. EEEEEEEEEET. EEEEEEEEEET.

Jake tried to turn off the fire alarm, but with the sage still burning, it wouldn’t shut off.

“Take that thing outside,” Jake shouted over the noise as he repeatedly pressed the button to silence the fire alarm.

Max obeyed Jake, going and opening the front door to a surprised Adrian, fist raised as if he were just about to knock. Not knowing how to react, Max held the smoking sage out to Adrian, who took it automatically, confused at the sight of a chalk circle and sticks on the ground, furniture moved out of the way, fire alarm going off nonstop. Max panicked then, shutting the door on Adrian and running back into the kitchen.

“What did you just do?” Ethan said quietly.

“The fire alarm finally shut off,” Jake said, exiting the kitchen without understanding why Max had so suddenly entered it.

“Jake, Max just gave that burning sage to Adrian,” Ethan said.

“Adrian is here?” Jake said in alarm, rushing over to the door. He looked out the peephole to see the situation for himself. “Oh, he’s leaving. He looks a little out of it.”

“I can guess why. He just realized he has crazy neighbors,” Ethan said. “Look at all this.”

“All of this was your idea,” Jake said. “For once, being the crazy neighbors isn’t my fault.”

“Well, it’s a good thing he’s leaving. We will probably have to convince him that this never happened, or else make a good cover story,” Ethan said.

“We could say it was for Lent,” Jake suggested.

“This has nothing to do with Lent,” Ethan said exhaustedly.

“Then we really should convince him it never happened,” Max chimed in. Anyway, he’s gone now, so it all worked out. Are there any other rituals?”

“No,” Ethan said. “Not right now, at least. There are some that are dependent on time of day, and a couple that we can only try on the night of the full moon.”

“Hey, why was I the one holding the sage? Doesn’t it make more sense for the people trapping a werewolf to hold the sage? I mean, how many werewolves would be aiding with the ritual to get trapped?” Max asked. Ethan furrowed his eyebrows in thought, rechecking his notes.

“I definitely wrote that the werewolf holds the sage. Maybe my cousin got it wrong? Maybe we should try that again the other way around.”

“We lost the sage,” Jake said. “And besides, I don’t want to set the fire alarm off like that again. Hey, if we’re going to be trying out rituals, can I try some if I can find any?”

“If Ethan’s aren’t working, why would you have a ritual that works?” Max asked.

“Well, maybe I can find something a little more current. His are all muddled by the time gap and false reporting and all that kind of thing. But there are werewolves around now, so there are probably some more current sources out there,” Jake argued. He didn’t want to admit that he was only arguing this because it would justify his knowledge of several odd forums in the depths of the internet.

“If you can find a good source, then why not?” Ethan said. “We don’t have anything that works yet, so we can’t go limiting our options too much.”

“Is the rest of this for rituals, too?” Max asked.

“Most of it, yeah. There’s some holy water and salt for barrier creation, though I’m less sure of those, but we might as well try them on the night.”

“And the deodorant?” Jake asked.

“I needed deodorant,” Ethan replied.

The Worry (part 1)

Jake did not get as much sleep as he would have liked. He was awoken at seven in the morning, criminally early for a Saturday morning. And for no good reason, either. It was Max, of course, screaming. Seemed to be happening too often in the past twelve hours. Jake tried to go back to sleep, but unfortunately for him, their apartment was a two-bedroom, and Ethan had one of the bedrooms to himself, so Max’s first course of action was to rush into their shared bedroom and ask him the dumbest question possible.

“Are you awake?”

“Yes, obviously. You made sure of that. What are you yelling about? Wait, why did you take off the bandage? You shouldn’t leave it uncovered right now, it could get infected,” Jake said, sitting up to lecture Max.

“No, it can’t get infected, it scarred over. And even if it hadn’t I am ALREADY INFECTED.” Max said, making Jake wince at his volume.

“You’re going to wake up Ethan,” Jake said, scolding.

“No I’m not, he’s already at the gym. And once again, I am already infected.”

“Infected with…Look, Ethan said to wait until next full moon. That’s almost a month away. Quit freaking about it.”

“You want to know why I screamed?”

“Because you’re overreacting to the idea that you might be a werewolf a month from now? Because you wanted to ruin the start of my weekend? Why?”

“I bit my lip.”

“Oh, go suck a lemon. You did not wake me up for this.”

“No, I mean…well, I mean, I did, but it’s not about biting my lip. I think it healed already anyway. No, I screamed because…well, because it hurt, but then I found out why I had bitten my lip.”

“Because you needed an excuse to keep me from sleeping? Because when you go suck that lemon I told you to, you wanted to be considerate and make sure it hurt? Why?”

“Look at my teeth,” Max said, and he pulled back his lips to expose his teeth as much as possible. Jake was not a morning person, and therefore did not have time or energy to guess what about his teeth was such a problem.

“What about them? They’re sensitive to cold water? You have a cavity? What?”

“Look at them,” Max said through said teeth, speaking while trying to leave them visible. “The canines are way vigger than they used to ve, and they’re supher sharph.”

“Alright, I get it, you can put them away. They really don’t look that different to me, but they’re not my teeth. So what?”

“So, obviously, I am a werewolf now,” Max said, allowing his mouth to move normally again. “Ethan was wrong. There are some changes before the moon cycles back around.”

“Anything else? Or is it just the teeth thing?”

“No, I mean, the bite in my lip healed super fast, and look at my arm,” Max held out the arm that had been bitten. It was healed enough that it was just a cool scar. It didn’t even look especially fresh.

“I’ll admit, those are something,”

“Something? That’s all you have to say about it?” Max said, offended.

“I was not supposed to be awake right now. You’ve upset fate and the rhythms of life. Give me a break if I’m not as articulate as we’d both like me to be.”

“Well, I don’t know what to do about it. I’m taking on wolfish traits, and that’s in human form. I really don’t want to know what is going to happen when the full moon comes, and I don’t even know if I’ll be able to hide these changes for all that long.”

“Hey, look on the bright side. Maybe now you can actually grow a beard.”

“Hey, it’s been three years since the last attempt, I probably could anyway. And it wasn’t that bad, even then.”

“It only wasn’t bad because you’re blond enough it was easy to forget that the patches of hair were there at all. Hey, at least your hair color hasn’t changed.”

“Why do you say that? Do you think it will? I don’t want to have to dye my hair all the time. That would be awful.”

“No, I don’t think it’ll change. But I don’t know, your teeth changing was weird to me, too. Not really a bad thing, though, and the healing’s cool.”

“I guess, but just think about when I turn all mindless and awful and start biting people. How am I going to avoid that? And what if I’m dumb as a wolf and I drum up all this attention and get reported, then what?”

“I don’t know, but it’s too early to worry about right now.”

“You’re right. I have a month to prepare,” Max said. Jake meant early in the day, but he wasn’t going to correct him. “But what do I do in the meantime?”

“Monitor the changes and go about your normal life the best you can, for now.”

“What is normal, anymore? I feel like I forgot.”

“Normal is letting me go back to bed.”

-:-

On Tuesday mornings, all three of them had to go to work at 8 am. Naturally, that meant that Ethan typically got up at 4, went to the gym, came back, showered, ate breakfast, and accomplished errands and read until he needed to go. Naturally, also, that meant that Jake typically got up at 7:30 and rushed to put socks on and leave. Max was the happy middle ground of the two. So it was that at 6:30, he should be getting out of bed. Max knew this, and was awaiting it with great anticipation, bags under his eyes and coffee in hand.

“What are you doing up already?” Ethan asked, walking into the kitchen to get his own coffee, already having done everything necessary to be ready for the time that he’d need to leave for work.

“Join me,” Jake said. It wasn’t intended to be ominous, but Jake really hadn’t gotten enough sleep. And his rhythms were all off, anyway. But it would be worth it.

“Doesn’t answer my question,” Ethan said, taking the seat next to Jake. “What are you watching for?”

“You will see. It’s about to happen.”

“What is? Did you do something?”

“Silver affects werewolves, right?”

“Yes. But as I have said, Max wouldn’t be a true werewolf until next full moon,” Ethan said, watching the door to the bedroom where Max’s alarm was going off for a moment.

“Max thinks he’s already a werewolf.”

“Well, he’s not.”

“We’re about to find out, aren’t we?” Jake said, not taking his eyes off the door.

“Are we?” Ethan said, looking to Jake in sudden concern. His concern was proven justified as a scream issued from the door. “What did you do?”

“Is there silver in my underwear?” Max’s voice came muffled through the door, but the anger was clear.

“You put silver in his underwear? So as soon as he started putting them on, he got burned?” Ethan clarified.

“It burns? I didn’t know that,” Jake said, bashful as he could be in his half-conscious state.

“Ow, ow, OW!” Max said.

“Good thing he probably felt it before they were all the way on,” Ethan said. Jake looked at the ceiling. “Because the silver was just, maybe, sprinkled on indiscriminately and so he got burned on his foot?”

“Sewn in,” Jake explained, embarrassed. “I got silver wire and stayed up most of the night.”

“To every pair? Where is the silver?” Ethan asked.

“Well, I started on the butt region, obviously. But then, you know, I was delirious and tired, and halfway through, I thought, the front would be really funny? I thought it would be irritating, like itch powder.”

“Oh no. So fifty fifty it was just his butt. Let’s hope-” Ethan was interrupted when Max slammed open the door, marching out without any silver-lined underwear on. Ethan and Jake make excellent eye contact with Max, apparently more concerned by his nudity than he was.

“You burnt my DICK!” Max yelled at Jake.

“Guess he wasn’t lucky,” Ethan said. “I will leave you two to it.” With that, Ethan gracefully exited the scene, retreating to his own room.

“I didn’t know it would do that,” Jake excused, though he knew it was weak.

“Well, how did you even know what pair of underwear I would grab this morning?” Max asked.

“I didn’t. I maybe, um…did it to all of your underwear. I mean, I couldn’t have done that if you didn’t sleep naked, not that that makes it any better.”

“You WHAT?” Max did a little turn, unable to find a proper outlet for his frustration. “Now what am I going to wear to work?”

“More than what you’re wearing now?”

“Yeah, I get that, but I have no underwear that won’t burn me, so then what?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking you’d end up going commando for a day.”

“To work?” Max said. His anger then started turning into tears, making Jake more uncomfortable even than the nudity. “I just didn’t want any of this. I didn’t want underwear to burn me, and I didn’t want to grow a beard that bad, and I didn’t get injured enough to need super healing, I want steak tartare and I never have before and I don’t know if it’s related or is I’m just psyching myself out, and now I can’t even go to the dentist because they have x-rays of my teeth and they’ll know they’re different and so I’d better brush and floss and do it three times a day, because once I get a cavity I’ll just have to have you or Ethan pull it and I want to keep my teeth, you know?” He was starting to devolve into sobs, and he took over Ethan’s chair to put his head on Jake’s shoulder.

“Maybe the super-healing heals cavities, too,” Jake suggested.

“But I’m gonna kill you guys when the full moon happens, and then what? I don’t want to do that. I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” Max said tearfully.

“Well, whatever it takes, we’ll help you. And maybe we can be an at home dentist or something,” Jake said. Slowly, sitting there, Max started to pull himself together.

“You really mean it?”

“Yeah, of course. We’re going to stick with you, maybe even after you kill us. Not that you’ll kill us. But for now, you really need to put on some pants.”

“I don’t have any underwear, you know that. You did that,” Max protested, unamused.

“Well, I didn’t realize it would burn you, so since it was meaner than I meant it to be, I’ll tell you now. I meant to keep this a secret for a day, but I actually kept one pair that has no silver. You can put those on, and then I’ll take the silver out of the rest, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks,” Max said while wiping away tears, and finally, after Jake provided the safe pair, put on underwear.

-:-

“I’m pretty sure people are catching on,” Max said Friday night once he got home from work. “Someone asked if I was doing something different with my hair.”

“Has your hair changed? I didn’t think it was any different.” Ethan said.

“Well, no, but she only asked because she knew something about me was different, obviously, so it’s a bad sign. Soon she’ll figure it all out and report me.”

“No one has reported the other werewolf yet, so I bet people don’t really notice any of the more subtle stuff,” Jake said. He had been checking somewhat regularly.

“Well, they’ll notice in three weeks, if we don’t figure out how to prevent that,” Max said.

“I was thinking about that. There’s an abandoned mine nearby, and I’m pretty sure a werewolf would get confused if it were in a mine tunnel deep underground. You’d basically be trapped by the mazelike tunnels, and then once you were back to normal, we could go in and lead you back out,” Jake said.

“That was an open pit mine. No tunnels,” Ethan said. “I’ve been trying to figure out whatever I can about werewolves. My first thought was silver handcuffs, because werewolves have enhanced strength, but silver cancels out supernatural effects. The problem is that Jake proved that, in either form, silver will just burn you. Probably because every bit of a werewolf’s body is supernatural due to the potential for healing and transformation. But anyway, we couldn’t count on the silver only burning the mindless werewolf form.”

“I’m telling you, it needs to be some kind of trap. Something that can be evaded by a human mind, but that a mindless beast couldn’t operate,” Jake said.

“I was still thinking I’d just run really far away,” Max said.

“The effective range of a werewolf is larger than you’d think,” Ethan said. “Actually, Jake’s idea isn’t a bad one. But I do think we’ll still need to incorporate silver to ensure that Max doesn’t just rip down a door or something to get around it.”

“Doesn’t the government have that branch that deals with the supernatural?” Max asked. “So someone knows how to deal with this stuff. There must be some kind of guaranteed method of trapping a werewolf, right?”

“Well, that branch is kind of a rumor, and either way, they might just not care if the werewolf gets a little burnt,” Ethan said. “I do have a cousin that’s studying the history of the supernatural. Everyone has told him there’s no way to make a career out of that, but I could always ask him if he knows anything that could help.”

“But how exactly are you going to ask without giving him the idea that I’m a fresh werewolf?” Max asked. “You can’t tell him, but even if you don’t, he might guess if you’re asking questions.”

“Well, he and I get together to catch up every so often because he lives kind of close by, so I’ll just try to subtly weave it into the conversation next time. It’s polite to ask a student about their studies, anyway.”

Max jumped when there was a knock on the door. He immediately went to hide himself, but there really wasn’t any reason for him to do so. Ethan opened the door momentarily, revealing that there was a man not much older than the trio standing outside. He carried a small basket of flowers in one hand, a bright purple.

“Good evening,” the man greeted. “I’m Adrian, and I’m new in the neighborhood. I am trying to make myself known to the residents and make sure they know how to contact me. I’m sort of an unofficial proxy for reporting supernatural creatures. Seen anything strange, lately?” the man asked, seeming to make it out like it was a joke, though Max was clearly trying not to panic.

“Oh, well, it’s nice to meet you,” Ethan said. “I certainly haven’t seen anything recently, but you’ll be the first to know if I do.”

“Excellent, glad to hear it! I’m passing out some fresh wildflowers also, so take this, and a business card,” Adrian said, pulling a business card from his pocket and handing it over alongside a sprig of the flowers he was carrying.

“Thanks! I think monkshood is one of all of our favorites,” Jake said, taking the flowers as Ethan took the business card.

“Oh, good. I’m always worried that I make the worst first impressions. If I had done that, I would have wanted to know right away. Well, I’ll leave you all to it, but remember, I’m just down the road if you need me, so don’t hesitate. I love hearing about anything supernatural,” Adrian said, and he excused himself. Ethan shut the door, at which point Jake had to physically restrain Max so that he didn’t start yelling about the situation while the man was still close enough to hear through the walls.

“Alright, so that was a problem,” Ethan said.

“At least the flowers were pretty,” Max said. “But otherwise I think I’m triple doomed.”

“Make it quadruple, since you still don’t know what monkshood is,” Jake said. “Hey, do these smell off to you?” he held the flowers up to Max for him to sniff, which he did.

“They smell fine, I guess. Not that great, though, on second thought. Almost bitter? Why?” Max asked, smelling the flowers multiple times to get a good idea of their scent.

“I cannot believe you just did that,” Ethan said. “Max, it’s wolfsbane. That’s what monkshood is. You just took a big whiff of wolfsbane. No wonder it smells a bit bitter to you.”

“No, it smelled like that to me, too,” Jake said. “I was really hoping it would do something interesting.”

“Well, it’s a good thing it didn’t. It is poisonous, though, so quit putting it in your faces. Do you think that man meant to find out if there was a werewolf in town using the wolfsbane?” Ethan asked, thinking things through.

“Yeah, obviously,” Jake said. “He didn’t exactly have access to Max’s underwear, so how else was he going to test it?”

“What if he already knew and he was just trying to prove it?” Max asked. “Oh no, someone must have reported me already. I knew my teeth would be a problem. I wish I’d been found out because I suddenly got buff, or something, instead of my teeth. Why don’t I have any super strength, anyway?”

“Well, that’s because you don’t go to the gym,” Ethan said. “I’ve invited you to go with me.”

“I’m not getting up two and a half hours earlier just to go to the gym with you,” Max said.

“Regardless, no one has reported you. I still think your teeth look normal,” Ethan said.

“That’s what I said,” Jake chimed in.

“Then what’s he doing showing up to our apartment with wolfsbane? He must know something,” Max said.

“Not necessarily. The local government has been incentivizing reports of supernatural creatures, recently, so he could just be trying to get some extra cash. Or…” Ethan trailed off.

“Or what, Ethan? It’s so much worse when you don’t even finish the thought,” Max complained.

“Well, congress has a bill up that has to do with certain changes to the laws about reporting supernatural creatures. For one, it would make reporting mandatory after a sighting. For another, it would implement a broader range of reporting methods and locations. You would be able to file a report anonymously, too.” Ethan said.

“I’m just now hearing about this?” Max said. “This is incredibly relevant to me specifically, why do you know about it and I don’t?”

“Well, it is publicly available to view. You just didn’t read it,” Ethan said. “But I didn’t tell you because it might not get passed, and even then, you can still hide. It’s only one night a month, that’s not so bad. I didn’t want to scare you for nothing.”

“Well, now I’m scared anyway. And I really have been craving something, like sushi or steak or a really juicy burger or something and I feel like I might even be able to enjoy it now because I’m half sure at this point that it’s completely unrelated to the wolf thing.”

“I’ll order some stuff and get it delivered, and then you can get it all out of your system,” Jake said. Ethan narrowed his eyes at Jake at that, but Max agreed, so they went about their business as normal until they got dinner, Ethan keeping up his suspicion the whole time.

Once they had everything arrayed at the table and they had all gotten partway through their food, Ethan’s suspicion waned. Just in time, Jake thought.

“Wow, Max,” he said.

“Don’t –” Ethan tried to interrupt, but Jake couldn’t be stopped now.

“You’re really wolfing down your food tonight.”

“I knew you had that evil little gleam in your eye, I just knew it,” Ethan said. Jake had to laugh, though, and between Ethan taking offense on his behalf and Jake being far more amused than he needed to be, Max was able to join in.

So I finished the first round of editing on the first book of my WIP trilogy. Absolutely relieved it's over - now on to the next thing! The second round of editing. So that's great.

This is the first bit of that minicomic I mentioned. I'm calling it "The Crossroads" which is definitely not unique but it's accurate. There's a lot of blood on that gate, and that Raven won't allow it to open now.

Yeah this was a break from editing. It's also a scene that doesn't fit in my trilogy, but that I wanted to show eventually either way. Also, I'm trying to work quicker so it's actually ever complete, so that's why I phoned it in slightly on the glass rendering - though I'm happy with how the raven bit turned out.

I literally hate getting wet 99.9% of the time but today was a weird day so I biked in the rain. 10/10 would recommend. Don't know what it was about intentionally getting soaked, but great vibes, really.

In other news the next installment of Werewoof Undies is set to post tomorrow. I'm overly excited about that.