Backstory: Most people didn’t like the term ‘lycanthropy’, any more than they liked ‘werewolf’. They said it intrinsically implied that lupines had some sort of monopoly on the phenomenon of men changing from one species into another, let alone the words’ roots in anti-lupine sentiments. Not even figuring in that most people considered such phenomenon impossible and fantastic.
It made it awkward to actually be a werewolf. Just a normal, everyday sapien who turns into a wolf sometimes, usually affected by the phases of the moon. Most people just plain didn’t believe it. Some, when confronted with it, reacted...poorly. And it made for all sorts of legal headaches when no one would put down your species as “sapien/werewolf”, and then inevitably trouble arises when you’re the opposite species of the one you actually put down.
Over time, it was enough to make a man lose everything. Job, home, friends. Make him go from having a relatively stable life to being a homeless drifter druggie.
One night, one such man found himself being forcibly escorted from a nightclub by a bouncer who quietly suspected his nature. The bouncer took him up above the club into the old clock tower atop it and bid him to stay, before the bouncer returned to work. For the first time in a long while, the man had a place to sleep for the night that was warm, dry, and didn’t have anyone else there to freak out when he changed in the morning.
And change in the morning, he did, shortly before dawn. But it several more hours before he awoke in the afternoon. Of the bouncer who had brought him up, there was no sign. Not that the man would have recognized the bouncer if he saw him, as the last night was a fuzzy haze. The tower interior had a few small amenities. A TV, a bookshelf with some books, a few movies. Even a mini-fridge with a sticky note reading “Help yourself~”.
He knew the bouncer would return, eventually, at which point he’d predictably become angry at finding a sapien where he had left a wolf. But the man decided to make use of what kindness he was offered regardless. He watched a couple fantasy movies while eating sponge cakes from the fridge and drinking some cheap beer. He snacked on cheese and deli meats and read a couple supernatural romances. Somehow though, most of the day had gotten away from him, and he found himself quite tired as the sun was setting.
It was only in the waning sunlight that he noticed the statue, apparently carved to sit on a nearby bench. It tickled his memory, but he couldn’t recall exactly where from. The whim took him to climb into the statue’s lap, and it was surprisingly comfortable, as he settled in. Sleep took him quickly before the sun had fully set.
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Commentary: Another day, another turd to polish.
This one, metatextually, works just fine. In-universe, I made it weird. So enjoy the convoluted hoops I proceed to jump through whenever Talbain shows up, I guess.
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