15th Howl: The After School Numbers Club, Finals Week Edition [Action]

[professorwolf]

It really was too bad that they'd started this up so late in the year. After only a few weeks of meetings, it was finals week, and Lyall, despite doubting he'd get many people studying, had his room set up after class as a good place to get some last minute studying done. His last class of the day had been let go early, giving him a little extra time.

While there were the usual snacks in the back, they were a bit more healthy this time than the last few weeks. While there were decks of cards-- playing cards and various games, both-- out on the lab tables, there were more tables cleared for books, set out with pads of paper and pens. He did have a cake, though, which was probably more silly than serious, upon which was written the words "Happy finals week!" in bright frosting.

Lyall couldn't eat said cake, so the rest of the kids sure had better like it.

Comments

[professorwolf]

"I'm sure someone is. We just don't know who, or how, much less their criteria for picking us." Lyall shakes his head, too, helpless and only able to offer what little information he's gathered. "And as far as I can tell, the largest group of people who know each other is us, the students in this club. The visions and powers everyone has been getting seem completely disconnected from each other, except for a few rare pairings of people whose visions seem to be of people who knew each other. At least they do seem to be internally consistent-- all of my visions have been of the same person's life, and that seems to be the case for most everyone-- but that's the most I can say for sure."

[odd_jobs]

"They're definitely different lives." Kenji's memories didn't match his... and those he'd been told about or been able to witness the effects of, seem as different as night and day. "I just..." He looks away and around the room briefly, before lowering his voice. "I don't get why the memories have to come with the abilities. I don't feel like I'm ... well.. me when they happen."

It's been bothering him no small amount.

[professorwolf]

"We're seeing things from someone else's point of view," Lyall agreed. "Someone else's life. I don't know why that is; maybe it's so we can learn how to use their abilities more effectively, or because these other people have information that will help us with whatever is happening. But Tadashi," he added hopefully, "that doesn't mean you have to become who you're seeing, if you don't like that person."

[odd_jobs]

"I don't know if I like what I'm seeing or not," he answered. He's been as honest as he could in hopes of some sort of guidance on it, so there's really no reason to stop now. "I mean, he wasn't despicable. The second time it happened, though, I didn't know it was happening. Heh, I couldn't even tell you exactly when it stopped."

He groans and rubs his face as he reviews his own words. "Man, I sound like a wuss, don't I?"

[professorwolf]

"No, you sound like a normal person caught up in an extremely non-normal mess," Lyall chuckled. "Believe me, I've had changes happen to me that made no sense, and visions that, while not terrible, still make me rather uncomfortable with seeing more into this fellow's life. He's apparently on speaking terms with ghosts, intelligent wolves, Earls, and Queen Victoria." Whatever any of that actually meant, in real-life terms. It sounded like some kind of fantasy or horror novel, except not quite so dark.

[odd_jobs]

"I dunno. 'I've had tea with the Queen' has to work as a great pickup in the hot librarian side of life." The grin is wide and cheerful. It fades a moment after. "Still... it sounds pretty fantastic at least. ... So how are you dealing with it?"

[professorwolf]

Lyall rolls his eyes at that, but it's with a smile and an amiable expression so it's obvious he's not really annoyed at he joke. "It would be more fantastic if there were less fights between the wolves and more moral certainty about the person I'm seeing from. But dealing with it?" He shrugs one shoulder. "Mostly through keeping detailed notes and focusing on other people, and sharing what they go through as well."

Why do you think he focuses so much on you kids, Tadashi? It's a coping mechanism as much as it is something he feels like is his duty.

"And I do a lot of research into everything we've found out so far. Not that most of it has panned out, but getting even a little more information is better than nothing."

[odd_jobs]

"Way better than nothing." If nothing else, it let him know what he didn't need to keep chasing around in his head. Rarely idle from one moment to the next, he shifts in his seat and starts drumming his fingers on top of the table, thoughtfully. "I doubt I'm gonna have better shot than you are... but I'll let you know if I find out anything at all."

A beat. "... So wolves aren't all cooperative and all that shit?"

[professorwolf]

Lyall chuckles a bit at the last. "Not these. I got the distinct impression they were as smart as you or I, which probably means they had as many problems working together as you or I would. But even wild wolves have conflicts now and then, as far as I've been able to tell."

Guess what? He's done research on that, too, ever since his vision of running as a wolf.

[odd_jobs]

The teen's expression settled into something earnest and bright, interest lighting up his face. "So, what was this other guy? Some sort of liaison between the wolves and nobility? Or a wolf in Victorian clothing sort of thing?"

[professorwolf]

It takes Lyall a minute to reply, and then he looks a bit sheepish when he finally does. "I actually think he may be a werewolf, or at least a wolf shapeshifter. As are those other intelligent wolves. I don't know for certain, but there was one vision where it was from the point of view of a wolf rather than a man, albeit a thinking wolf. He seemed to be the same person wearing a different shape, if that makes any sense."

This, is Tadashi can't tell, is another method Lyall is coping: he views this "other person" as someone entirely separate, rather than as someone he's turning into or was at one point or could have been. It's a distancing mechanism.

[odd_jobs]

He'd seen it enough... hell, he'd used it himself, to a certain extent, to both recognize and respect it. There were a lot of questions he wanted to ask about the life, about the world... but there's those strange lines he wasn't sure he wanted to, or was invited to cross.

So, instead... "Would you stop it? If you could."