Joining the Red Moon

[Mike]

*This is far too much running for one day.* Glen thought to himself, *If Kevin hadn't have brought me out here I could have been reading this whole time...* He looked over toward Kevin, who wasn't showing any signs of getting tired. *Honestly, how does he have so much energy?* Glen thought, shaking his head. As he did so, he glanced back at Trisha who seemed to be keeping her distance. *Yes, it would probably be difficult to trust two random strangers after all.* he thought.

Suddenly, Kevin began running much faster, quickly getting far ahead of Glen. Then, just as suddenly, he stopped. Startled, Glen skid to a stop. Trisha did the same, not far behind him. *What on Earth is he-?!* Glen thought, *Oh I see, we're home.* Just as he was thinking that Kevin walked over, apparently having already changed back into human form and his clothes. "Come on! Let's take her to Grand Alpha!"
*How is he so fast?* Glen thought to himself as he changed back into human form. "So, what was your plan you said you had?" Glen asked, as he was changing back into his clothes.
"Plan?" Kevin asked back, a confused look on his face.
"Don't tell me you-" Glen groaned, then shook his head, "Back when we were at the cave, you said you had an idea and that we should trust you because you knew what you were talking about. That plan."
"OH! Right..." Kevin said, "Well, pretty much I was going to bring her to Grand Alpha... uh... and then he'd sort everything out I guess."
Glen facepalmed, *Goddammit Kevin, why do I listen to you?* he thought.
From behind them they heard a whine. It was Trisha, she still hadn't changed back into a human.
"What's wrong Trisha?" Kevin asked, "Why haven't you changed back?"
Trisha gave him a look. Glen caught on, "OH!" he exclaimed, "She doesn't have clothes. We couldn't find Zangetsu's clothes, remember?"
"Oh right, I forgot about that." Kevin said, suddenly looking concerned. "Well, crap. Where are we going to find clothes for her then?"

[suspicaman]

Suddenly, from across the clearing, they heard a loud, creaking noise. Leaves rustled and bark snapped. A large tree fell in towards the center of camp, and the great oak trunk tore into splinters at the base, the sound of snapping branches pervading the air as it landed, followed by a slight bounce that sent Zangetsu hurtling through the air, launched from within its foliage. Kevin, Glen and Trisha watched, horrified as their friend flew up high, arms flailing as he spun through the air towards them. Oddly enough, he wasn't making a noise at all, and as he approached the ground, he saw his friends, stopped flailing, and just smiled and waved at them as he somehow stuck the landing and walked up to them. "Took you guys long enough."
They stared at him blankly.
Finally, Glen managed to sputter out, "Buh- hu- But you went the wrong... WHY WERE YOU IN THAT TREE!?"
"Climbing."
"Huh..." Glen mused, exasperated beyond thought.
"Well, I see you went back to the cave to get your clothes. I suppose it's a good thing we couldn't find them" Kevin said, collecting himself.
Zangetsu frowned, obviously confused. He looked down at himself, then held up an arm and looked at his sleeve, "Well, whad'ya know?"
Kevin decided to ignore Zangetsu's curious reply. "Anyway, how'd you get here before us? Did you find some shortcut? I thought we came straight back, but I could be wrong."
"There was a fence." Zangetsu said, still looking intently at his sleeve. Kevin raised an eyebrow, but did not pursue any further explanation.
Glen, having spent this conversation also staring at Zangetsu's sleeve out of sheer bewilderment, suddenly remembered why they had been talking about the clothing in the first place. "Zangetsu!" He started, a bit too excitedly because of his return to the here and now, "Zangetsu, I think Trisha needs your clothes again, could you lend them to her?"
"Why? Wouldn't it be best if she wore clothes that fit her?" He glanced at Trisha for a moment, then returned to inspecting his coat. He opened his coat and peered into the inside pocket, smiled, and pulled out a burger which he began eating happily as he continued to examine his garments.
Glen was lost in bewilderment again. Kevin decided he should pick up where his friend had left off, "Well, unfortunately, none of us are her size, so unless you've got some women's clothing in that coat-" He paused while Zangetsu felt at his other pockets then shook his head, "Right, then I don't think we have clothes that will fit her."
"She does though." Zangetsu said, pointing behind him with a thumb, still having a grand old time exploring the inside of his coat.
They looked to where Zangetsu had pointed, and sure enough, there was Anastasia, striding towards them, an air of confident huffiness about her. "Zachariah, what the HELL did you do!? This tree could have fallen on one of the houses! It could have KILLED someone!" She glared at Zangetsu who was totally oblivious to her.

[suspicaman]

"Hey Ana, wassup?" Kevin said, grinning and leaning up against the fallen tree. He was trying to be suave again. He looked down and saw Trisha giving him a funny look and he quickly wiped the grin of his face and stood up. "I mean... Hello Anastasia."
"Oh! Hey Kevin! I didn't notice you there!" Anastaisia said, jumping, her cheeks flushing pink. She stammered nervously a bit, "I- I mean, I didn't notice because I was too focused on this DOLT." She turned swiftly to glare at Zangetsu again. "Honestly, I don't know why you spend your time with him, he's quite possibly the least productive being on earth. I've seen GNATS that were more useful than him."
Zangetsu turned and looked at Ana, "Hi Ana. Hey, can we have some of your clothes?"
Anastasia gasped slightly and stepped back, holding herself in horror. "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH MY CLOTHES!? EW! NO! YOU'RE SUCH A FREAK, ZACHARIAH! LIKE I'D EVER-" She stopped mid-shout when she saw Zangetsu tear his burger in half and hold one piece down to Trisha who quickly ate it, licking Zangetsu's fingers. Zangetsu scratched her behind the ears and she shook her head.
"Oh, who's this?" Anastasia asked.
"Trisha." Zangetsu said, sitting down on the fallen tree and laying on his back. He closed his eyes. "We found her. She's like us. No family though. Can we have some of your clothes?"
"No, YOU cannot have my clothes, Zachariah. And what do you mean she doesn't have a family? Is she a rogue?"
"Yep."
"WHAT!? How do we know she's not dangerous!?"
"Her face."
"Her face?" Ana looked sternly at Trisha who shrank back, obviously scared. She retreated towards Zangetu's side. Ana could see the sadness in Trisha's eyes. She softened, "Oh you poor thing, you must be so lonely." She sat down on her knees and offered her hand to Trisha, who shrank back again, but came forward and sniffed tentatively after a few seconds. "It's the only explanation for your poor choice in men." Ana added, glaring back at Zangetsu, who let out a yawn. He looked ready to fall asleep. "Oh no you don't! I've got more questions for you mister! Where did you find this girl?"
"Cave. She'll answer the rest. Clothes." Zangetsu said through another yawn.
"Fine, but this isn't over Zack." Anastasia turned back to Trisha, speaking softly, "Come on, let's get you dressed, and then we can come back out and talk." She stood and looked at Kevin, blushing. "I'm sorry we didn't get to talk, I'll be back out in a bit though!"
"Oh, that's cool." Kevin said, acting all nonchalant. He started to move towards a 'cool guy' pose, but stopped when he remembered Trisha was there.
"Bye Ana." Glen said quietly.
"Oh, hey Glen, I didn't notice you. Come on Trisha, let's see if I have anything that fits you." Ana began walking towards the cabin she had originally come from, Trisha tailing her from a safe distance.

[Mike]

As Anastasia entered the cabin, Glen stared longingly after her. Kevin glanced over at Glen, saw the look on his face, and then looked toward what Glen had been staring at. He scratched his chin for a second, wondering what Glen was upset about. Then suddenly, a look of realization crossed his face. He turned over to Glen with a smug, knowing look. "Oh I see what's going on now." he said, raising his eyebrows.
"What?" Glen asked, startled out of his sulking, "What are you talking about?"
"More like who am I talking about. Riiiight?" Kevin taunted, nudging Glen with his elbow.
Glen started to blush, "I still have no idea what you're trying to say."
"Oh, you mean Glen's crush on Anastasia?" Zangetsu said through a yawn.
"That's completely p-preposterous, I'm utterly flabbergasted by your outrageous and irrational accusation." Glen stammered, blushing harder.
"Ohoho! He's using big words! He's getting embarrassed!" Kevin chirped in a singsong voice.
"I am not. Your attempts to get me flustered have been in vain. And besides, excessively verbose responses are not necessarily indicative of emotional distress." Glen said defensively.
"Oh he's got it bad!" Kevin chuckled, "Glen and Ana sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."
"That hypothetical situation in which you describe myself and Anastasia..." Glen gulped, "secluded anywhere, engaging in any sort of amorous behavior, is most definitely not something that has ever happened, much less something that I personally have fantasized about at any time!" At this point, Glen's face was redder than even his hair.
"Wow Glen, you are such a bad liar that I almost feel bad for teasing you." Kevin laughed, "You know... almost."
"Oh yeah?" Glen challenged, "Well what about YOU and your blatantly obvious unrequited romantic feelings for Trisha?"
"...What?" said Kevin, clearly caught off guard. "I... uh..."
"Speaking of Trisha." Zangetsu suddenly interrupted, "Weren't we supposed to talk to the Grand Alpha about her?"

[Mike]

Kevin jumped at the opportunity to change the subject. "Uh... Yeah! We should go see him right now. Come on guys." Glen rolled his eyes, but decided he'd rather not continue the conversation either. Kevin led the way, as the three of them headed to the Grand Alpha's cabin. Just as he was about to reach for the doorknob Kevin suddenly froze.
With a puzzled look, Glen asked "What's up? Why'd you stop?"
Kevin turned around to face Glen. "I just had a thought. What if Grand Alpha asks where we found her?" Kevin asked, with a clear look of panic on his face.
"What? Are you saying that you hadn't thought of that earlier?"
"It slipped my mind."
*facepalm* "So what's the big deal then?"
"Well do you remember how angry he got last time I was exploring so far outside of territory?"
"What?" Glen said in surprise, "No! When did that happen?"
"Oh, I guess you weren't there. Well anyway, he said that if any of us got caught wandering about that far out in the woods we'd be in a LOT of trouble."

[suspicaman]

Zangetsu, hardly paying attention, stepped forward and threw the door open with incredible force. Kevin and Glen looked on in horror as they watched the destruction happening before them in slow motion. As the door swung wide and hit the wall with a thunderous BANG, the two saw Rory, the Grand Alpha, look up from his desk in mild surprise. That was not what worried them though, not yet. What truly mortified them was that as the Grand Alpha's head rose, the whole room, jostled by the shockwave of the door, seemed to be falling around him. Snowglobes, statues, and other small glass trinkets and pictures were raining down from their high shelves, exploding into fragments as they collided with the floor.
Zangetsu stepped in, ignoring the shine and sparkle of the shattered glass and called over his shoulder, "Don't worry about it, there's no way he'd ever know we went a whole MILE outside of our territory."
As he said this, he stepped on a portion of a broken bowl which crumbled under his weight, throwing him off balance. Zangetsu threw his arms forward in an attempt to save himself from the fall, and caught hold of a bookcase. He began pulling himself up, but as he was just regaining his footing, the bookshelf gave way and toppled onto the floor.
Rory took a moment to assess the carnage, and he watched as Zangetsu righted himself, brushing himself off, and reaching into his pocket for a burger which he munched on, seemingly oblivious to the devastation he had just caused. Rory's gaze transformed from the mild shock Kevin and Glen had initially feared, and contorted into a glorious fury which he aimed directly at Kevin.

[Mike]

"A MILE OUTSIDE OF TERRITORY?!" Rory shouted, "How many times have I told you to stay out of the deep woods?!"
"Well we-" Kevin started, but was immediately cut off.
"There's a reason we have that rule! It's dangerous to go out there without the rest of the pack! The wildlife is more dangerous out there, you could get hurt out there and none of the pack would know about it! You could have even run into a rogue!"
"Well about that-" Glen began.
"And you!" Rory shifted his glare over to Glen, "YOU of all people should be following the rules! I KNOW you know better!"
Glen looked down in shame. Rory glanced over at Zangetsu, who had decided to sit down on the fallen bookshelf and was finishing his hamburger.
He sighed, then turned back to Glen and Kevin, "But obviously you two wouldn't have come here to turn yourselves in, so what is the real reason you're here?"

[suspicaman]

"Well... you see, we found a ro- er... stray." Glen mumbled, picking his words carefully.
"A rogue? And what, pray tell, did you do when you found this rogue?" Rory said with an icy calm.
"Well, see, I found this cave, and I brought Glen and Zangetsu with me to go explore it, and when we got there, there was this wolf inside, and Zangetsu gave it a burger and calmed her down, and we realized that she was a werewolf, a little younger than us, and she didn't have any family so we brought her here so-"
"You brought a rogue wolf HERE?!" Rory interrupted, full of rage, "I told you, no matter what, you do not bring a rogue here! If you find someone IN OUR TERRITORY who would like to join our pack, then you tell them to wait while you come get me to meet up with them!"
"But she was alone and helpless." Kevin cried, pleading for mercy.
"You don't know that for sure! She could be bait, waiting to lead other wolves here in a raid!" Rory was fuming now, and Kevin and Glen stood still, cowering and full of shame.
"However," Rory began again, "There's nothing we do about that now. We'll just have to hope that you two were right, and that she really is alone. I'll need to speak to her before I can decide what we'll do with her. Well, where is she?" Relief filled they two boys until they realized that they did not have Trisha with them. They gave Rory a nervous smile that told him all he needed to know.
"I'll get her." Zangetsu piped up, standing up and pulling his trusty hockey stick off of his back and striking the closest window, resulting in yet more broken glass. He stepped off of his bookcase and walked out of the second story window.
Glen stared, once more in awe of Zangetsu's bizarre behavior. "Buh... Why? The door was just down the stairs behind us! WHY!?"
Rory cleared his throat, "Don't worry about him. Now, as for you two, this mess isn't cleaning itself. I want this floor spotless by the time Zack gets back." And he sat back down at his desk. Glen and Kevin looked at each other in despair and were about to voice their protests, but thought better of it when they saw the stern look Rory was still giving them.

[suspicaman]

Zangetsu, having fallen out of the window and continued to walk without even breaking his step once, made his way over towards Ana's house to get Trisha. He pulled another burger out of his pocket and was about to take a bite, but stopped with the burger halfway to his mouth. Still walking, he considered the burger for a minute, then re-wrapped it and placed it back in his pocket for future consumption. As he looked up from his pocket, he realized that he was hanging on to the side of Ana's house, quite near the roof. *Huh... Didn't notice I'd gone this far* He thought, then he gave up on the thought and climbed easily onto the roof.

Inside, Ana had brought Trisha into her room. "Ah, here we go, this should fit you. Those are the smallest clothes I've got, I'm sorry it took so long."
"It's fine" Trisha mumbled quietly, looking down at the clothes. As she reached over to pick them up, they heard a loud crash from somewhere downstairs that caused them both to jump with a start.
Anastasia smiled at Trisha, "Don't worry, I'm sure it was nothing. Still, I suppose I'll go check it out while you're getting changed, okay?"
"Okay."
Ana left her room and proceeded down the stairs. She nearly fainted when she saw the living room. Soot had been thrown all over, out from the chimney. As she walked further in, she noticed a movement over near the broom cupboard which was promptly slammed shut. "Oh no you don't! Get back here!" Ana ran over to the cupboard and threw the door opened, and was stunned to find nothing there. Nothing besides a broom, that is. "*Sigh* I guess I aught to clean this up." She grabbed the broom and went to open the front door when she heard another crash from upstairs. "Oh no... What's going on here?" she groaned. She ran upstairs and saw that her bedroom door was wide open. She ran in and saw Zangetsu, covered in soot, laying on her bed. Trisha was hiding in the corner, trying to cover herself with Ana's shirt. Ana very nearly blacked out from rage.
"Get. OUT!!!" She screamed, "GETOUTGETOUTGETOUT!!!" She had brought the broom up with her and began swinging wildly.
Zangetsu rolled out of the bed and shielded his head, "Agh! Okay! I get the point! I just came to get Trish! I'll leave!" He made for the window and drew his trusty hockey stick, but Anastaisia was there in a flash, blocking the strike with her broom.
"No way, mister! You're leaving through the door like a normal person! Ugh! Why do you always have to be such a freak!?" She began swinging again, hitting Zangetsu on the head as she chaswed him out of her room and down the stairs. Zangetsu reached for the front door and was almost out, but Ana was right behind him and caught him by the back of his coat. "Tell me," she said, throwing him to the ground, fueled by righteous indignation, "why is my living room covered in soot? No doors were open."
"I came in through the chimney." Zangetsu said calmly, laying down on the floor. Ana began sweeping his face violently.
"You're going to clean it up!" Ana shouted at him, throwing the broom at him, "You said you were here for Trisha? I'll have her ready to go see Rory in a minute, and then the three of us will leave together, AFTER you're done cleaning!" She stomped up the stairs in a huff.
Trisha had finished dressing, so the two of them went backstairs. Ana was annoyed to see Zangetsu still laying on the floor. "Are you going to-"
"It's clean." Zangetsu waved to the rest of the now spotless living room.
"Honestly Zack, you exhaust me. Fine, let's go." And the three headed to the Grand Alphas home.

[Mike]

The three of them walked over to the Grand Alpha's front door, Zangetsu headed off toward the window again, but Anastasia grabbed him by the collar before he got too far and knocked on the door.
"you don't need to use a window when there is a perfectly serviceable door right here." she said peevishly as said door opened.
"ahh, good. You are here. come in." Grand Alpha pulled the door open wider and stepped back to give them room to enter.
the three of them interred to see Glen and Kevin kneeling on the ground, picking up shards of glass.
"oh, no, Kevin! you will prick your fingers that way! here let me get you a damp cloth," Anastasia said rushing over to him and fretting, fluttering her hands about but not touching anything. "err, all right?"
"you know what, actually you should just stop, its too dangerous... and i bet it's Zangetsu's fault anyway, he can clean it up." she said turning to address the other teen. "Zangetsu, you get over here and clean up the horrid mess you made! you need to learn that you are responsible for the stuff you do. other people should not have to fix your mistakes for you."
"cool, get out of work free card"

((ok, this is shitty but im tired, we need to do this stuff earlier in the day but yeah, ill fix it later i guess, or lee can))