BABY: The next time Kohl woke up, he was in a bed he didn't recognize. He barely remembered meeting Sigmund and he definitely didn't recall being taken by him and brought to the house. Closing his eyes again, he took a deep breath and brought his fingers to his throat, feeling around for the scars he knew had to be there. He remembered part of the attack. He remembered all the blood. He remembered the pain. With a deep sigh, he opened his eyes again and glanced around the room, trying to figure out where he was and why he was there. He definitely wasn't in the hospital. But where was he?

PIRATE: Pirate had put Kohl in the sun room. He believed the rich sunlight that room got in the late afternoons would be good for his patient. Sigmund had put the weight of Kohl's care into Pi's hands because he'd been so vocal about going after the wolf who'd openly attacked a human in their town. Instead of letting Pirate rally the troops and going on a wild goose chase, Sigmund thought it better to keep him occupied with other things. It'd been awhile since Kohl had come to consciousness at all and Pirate got up out of his own bed the moment he sensed stirring. "How are you feeling?" He asked, not quite expecting a coherent answer, but willing to hope.

BABY: "Huh?" Kohl turned his head a little, struggling to focus his eyes on the other man in the room. "What..." he trailed off. His throat hurt and he was tired and it took a lot to keep his eyes open. He wondered who the person was and how they could possibly know him. He knew he had no ID on him the night of the attack and he'd overheard some of the nurses in the hospital referring to him as a John Doe when he was drifting in and out of consciousness. Pulling his eyes open again, he just stared at Pirate as best he could, trying to figure out who he was and what was going on.

PIRATE: No go on perfect coherancy, but that was to be expected. Kohl had no way of knowing where he was or really understanding what the hell had happened to him. "You were attacked. We brought you here to get better. The hospital--well, they really aren't equipped like we are. I'm Pirate." That might have been too much information, but it all needed said eventually, and there was so, so much more. "Do you think you can eat?"

BABY: Kohl managed to lift an eyebrow. Pirate? Really? Who was named Pirate? He actually looked like a Pirate too, oddly enough. The moustache...it was insane. Attempting to sit up a little, he coughed and sank back against the pillows. His head was pounding and he had no idea what was going on. "Attacked," he nodded. "I remember." He rubbed at his throat again and just looked at Pirate, shrugging in answer to the food question. "Do you...have a mirror?" He managed, desperately needing to see himself. He had horrible mental images of looking completely fucked up after the attack.

PIRATE: Standing there for a second, completely nonplussed by the question about a mirror, Pirate stared at Kohl. "Seriously? A mirror?" And so the judging began. The kid was lucky to be alive at all, and even luckier that Sigmund had found him before he turned, ran out of the hospital and got hit by a car or something. He hesitated to grant such a petty request, but eventually left the room for a second to bring back a mirror from the bathroom. He'd cleaned Kohl up, and his wounds were rather well healed already, so he didn't see any harm in it.

BABY: "Yeah," Kohl nodded the affirmative. He lay there quietly, waiting for this Pirate character to return with the mirror. When he handed it to him, Kohl snatched it as quickly as he could, running his hand over his neck and face. He was surprised that he didn't look completely mauled to death. Even though he wasn't able to remember all of what happened or what had attacked him exactly, he was expecting to look worse than he did. "Could be worse, I guess," he mumbled, running a hand through his dark hair before handing the mirror back to Pirate.

PIRATE: Pirate took it back, having a hard time not jerking it out of his hand. "Yeah, well, it'll get even better in time." He wondered if Kohl would run to a mirror after shifting to a wolf, if the soul of him would be vain and need to check to see if his fur was lying straight. It was almost an amusing thought if it didn't piss Pirate off. "What should I call you?" Because no name had been given to him.

BABY: "Baby," Kohl replied. He hadn't introduced himself by his given name in years. He had no family left to speak of and the few friends he had were in the business as well. He went by Baby and that was it. He ran a hand through his hair again and then looked up at Pirate, suddenly remembering his earlier question. "What kind of food? Do you have chocolate?" Chocolate was his favorite. But then, he realized he was in the mood for more. "And steak?" A steak sounded amazing even though he rarely ate meat on its own.

PIRATE: Being hungry was a good sign. Some people took the bite and that was it for them, their bodies couldn't handle the changes and they got sick and died. It was a fairly low survival rate, but this Baby kid seemed to be doing all right. Pirate knew better than to make fun of his name, even if he wanted to do so. Too many times he'd had those barbs turned right back onto him, thanks to his ridiculous parents and their naming choices. "Chocolate and steak." He repeated, nodding as if he was making a list in his head. "Anything else?"

BABY: "Pink lemonade," Baby said after a second. It was his favorite drink in the world and he rarely ever got the chance to have it. He still wasn't entirely sure what he was doing here. "Why am I here?" He asked after a second, finally managing to push himself into a sitting position.

PIRATE: Pirate opened and shut his mouth, figuring it was his own damn fault for asking. Playing nursemaid wasn't his cup of tea, even if he had a medical background as an EMT. "You're here because you need to be here. We can talk about it when I get back." There was no arguing with him on that because he'd already left the room and gone downstairs to get working on their guest's order. When he returned with the hodgepodge menu on a tray, Pirate pulled up a chair and sat next to Kohl's bed.

BABY: "I don't need to be," Baby wrinkled his nose as Pirate left the room. He sat quietly though by himself until the other man came back and looked over at him expectantly. His throat was still scratchy but he had so many questions to ask that he just ignored it. "Did you bring me here? Where are we? How long do I have to stay?" It wasn't that he had anywhere particularly amazing to get back to. The questions just came out on their own.

PIRATE: Pirate didn't answer right away because it was a control thing; he liked to have the power in any situation, a naturally dominant sort of person. Setting the tray down on Kohl's lap, Pirate leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "Sigmund brought you here. We're in a farmhouse out in the country, and you have to stay for awhile. No--we're not a cult and no one's going to hack you into little pieces, so let's get that out of the way right now." Because from his answers, it rather seemed like something nefarious was going on. "You were attacked by someone with a condition, one that was passed on to you."

BABY: All of the color immediately drained from Kohl's face at the words and suddenly he wasn't as ravenous as he'd been just seconds earlier. "That fucker HAD AIDS?" His eyes were wide and in his line of business, they couldn't think of any condition worse than aids. Anything else was usually somehow treatable. "What the FUCK am I going to do? I used a condom every single fucking time..." he trailed off, starting to cough which made his throat hurt even more. He grabbed the pink lemonade and took a few sips. "What the fuck am I supposed to do now?" Because really...who wanted to pay for sex with someone with such a...condition?

PIRATE: The wolf was glad he was sitting and he blinked a few times to clear his mind of that little outburst. He knew the jist of what Kohl did for a living--if one could call it that. The hospital records had shown where he'd been attacked. Still, it was perplexing to him that anyone would put themselves in a situation such as the one Kohl had put himself. "It isn't AIDS." Pirate said flatly. "It's nothing like that. In fact, you'll probably never get ill again."

BABY: "It isn't?" Kohl asked. "What is it then?" He slid the tray over onto the bed so that it wasn't on his legs anymore and he turned to fully face Pirate. "Fucking tell me what's going on," he demanded, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. "How will I...never get ill again?" It was taking a lot out of him to sit up and talk. He hadn't realized how tired he was.

PIRATE: It was usually best to tell them when they were tired, still weak so that if there was flipping out to be done, it could be controlled. "Eat." He said with a tone that expected to be obeyed. "If you don't eat, I'm not going to tell you a thing more." It was vital for nutrients to be getting into the kid's system at this point and that was Pirate's first priority.

BABY: "You can't make me," Kohl replied, folding his skinny arms over his chest as he glared up at Pirate. "I don't want to eat. I want you to tell me what the fuck is going on around here and what....and what your real name is," he rubbed at his forehead, shaking his head a little. "Cause nobody is named Pirate."

PIRATE: If this was going to be a stubborn-off, Pirate had every intention of winning. Setting his jaw, he leaned forward and glared at Kohl. "My real name is Pirate Lasage. My parents thought it was funny, okay? Your named Baby and you can't accept my name is Pirate?" He stood up, pushing the tray back onto the kid's lap. "Eat and I'll tell you. Don't eat and I'm going to go watch TV."

BABY: "Baby isn't my real name," Kohl scoffed as if Pirate was positively retarded for assuming such a thing. "And I will eat something if you just open your fucking mouth and start explaining what the shit is going on around here," he demanded, setting the tray stubbornly back on the bed. "And if you don't...I'll leave," he threatened, knowing that Pirate and this Sigmund must want him to stay here if he'd gone to the trouble of bringing him here.

PIRATE: He had to grit his teeth because the fact that Baby wasn't his real name had stung a little. Pirate was stuck with Pirate. When Sigmund had used the term 'taking the kid under your wing,' Pirate had interrpreted it loosely as 'don't kill him.' That was being tested at the moment. "Good luck trying to walk." Kohl would have a difficult time making it all the way downstairs, and then where the hell was he going to go? "Not to mention, you're in the middle of nowhere."

BABY: "Well...fuck you. How about that?" Kohl replied, showing both of his middle fingers to Pirate. He was pissed and confused and really didn't feel well at all and as he rolled his eyes, they landed on the chocolate bar that was sitting on his tray. He snatched it indignantly and tore the wrapper open, chomping right into it, because he wanted to. Not because Pirate told him to.

PIRATE: Taking almost no joy--almost--in this quasivictory, Pi sat himself back down. "Some people are born with this condition and some people are," he hated to use the word 'infected' "--well they get it from someone who has it. It's genetic, as far as any research has been done on it." Which wasn't much, considering. Some people thought it was a curse, and even Pirate had to admit that there were some aspects of it that seemed inexplicable and magical. "Over the next few days you're going to experience a heightening of your senses, mostly smell and hearing. You're going to be hungry. Eventually, you'll experience a significant change. You're a werewolf now--do you know that that is?"

BABY: Baby sat there indignantly chomping on his chocolate bar while he listened to Pirate speak. He mostly followed him up until he got to the word werewolf and then he just laughed a little. "What? Is that the best you can fucking do? Are you just trying to make me feel better about having aids?" Because he was still convinced that was what he had. He tossed the wrapper down onto the bed cover and set about licking each of his fingers clean, all the while still managing a half pout/half glare at Pirate.

PIRATE: Disbelief was better than panic, and he offered a shrug. "A day or so before you shift you'll feel strange. Hours before you'll get hot, itchy. I'm not going to lie to you--it's going to hurt." The first time Pirate had shifted, he'd passed out from the pain before the shift was complete. It was something that embarassed him immensely and he didn't talk about it. "I'll be here to help you." He kept on as if Kohl hadn't even said anything.

BABY: "Are you out of your fucking mind?" Kohl asked, just staring at Pirate as if he'd sprouted a second head. "You really think I fucking believe you? You're nuts. Where's this Sigmund guy who brought me here? When do I get to see that guy. Maybe he won't bullshit me," he pouted impossibly harder and looked over at the steak. He was awfully hungry...but maybe there was another way to torture Pirate. "I don't feel good," he murmured. "Cut my steak for me."

PIRATE: The growl that came out of his throat was not quite human. This kid was going to be the end of him, or at least of his sanity. This was definitely a punishment and he wondered if Sigmund had known exactly what he was doing. Reaching forward, he took the steak and the fork and cut it that way, the force of his hand strong enough to tear through the meat without a knife. When it was in little bits, he put it back at Kohl. "What is your real name then?"

BABY: "What makes you think I'd tell you that?" Kohl asked, pulling the plate of steak onto his lap. He took the fork into his hand and started to eat it, bite by bite. "Nobody knows it. What makes you think you're so special? You aren't even being truthful with me...just talkin' all this crazy shit," he said around his mouthful of food. He already felt better than when he'd woken up and he could feel himself getting stronger as he ate.

PIRATE: "You are the most annoying person on the face of the planet." It wasn't a very mean insult, but it was laced with all the venom Pirate could manage. He was exasperated with the other, and the thought of having to take him through his first shift was almost too much to bear. But he'd been given a duty, and it was an important one, so he would carry it out. "I'll just have to call you Baby then."

BABY: "Uh yeah...you and everyone else. Like I care. It's the name I picked," Kohl replied, rolling his eyes again. The insult kind of made him laugh on the inside. "You are a weirdo, captain," he told him, settling on that new nickname for Pirate. He didn't want to be too horribly mean and call him first mate or something.

PIRATE: Perhaps it would be satisfying to watch every bone in Kohl's body break to reform into a wolf. "There's a bathroom down the hall if you need it. I sleep in the room through that doorway." Really this whole room was his room, but they'd set up the sunroom as another bedroom because it was big enough. He didn't say a word about the nickname, because if he outright said not to use it, Baby would probably only use it more. "And why would you pick such a ridiculous name for yourself?"

BABY: "Pirate is way more stupid than Baby," Kohl replied, still eating his pieces of steak. "And it's a name from my favorite movie of all time. Dirty Dancing. Have you seen it? It's really the best. All the dancing and the music? It's so sexy." The shitty attitude was dropped and a look of pure joy and excitement crossed his face when he was talking about his favorite movie. "You should stay in here, captain," he added, thinking that maybe Pirate was talking about the other room because he planned on leaving.

PIRATE: The request for him to stay took him by surprise. "If I'm a weirdo, then why would you want me to hang out in here more? I'm sure you could think quietly to yourself about the movie masterpiece." It was clear Pirate didn't hold Dirty Dancing in the same regard as Baby did. "Look, I'm telling you the truth, and I can prove it in a couple days when you shift. After that, maybe you'll be a little less obnoxious." Though he wasn't going to bet the house on it.

BABY: "Because even though you're a weirdo, you're the only weirdo around here," Baby replied, finishing off the steak. He picked up the pink lemonade and finished it off before holding the tray back out to Pirate. "I don't want to be a werewolf or whatever," he said quietly, wondering if what Pirate said could possibly be true. "I just want to leave." He didn't really. He had nowhere else to go but he didn't want Pirate to know that.

PIRATE: "Well at least you don't have AIDS." He said quickly, smirking and taking the tray to set it on the table. Making no move to leave, even if he'd been planning to do so before, he crossed one leg over the other and leaned back comfortably in the chair. He had a commanding presence, though it wasn't the sort of calm aire Sigmund carried with him. "So--what exactly was it that you did at The Island?" Maybe he was just a dancer.

BABY: "Does it matter, captain?" Baby asked, shrugging his shoulders. He wasn't entirely sure that he believed what Pirate had been saying, as he was still trying to wrap his mind around the whole thing. "I did whatever needed doin," he said finally, shrugging his shoulders. It kind of bothered him that Pirate was sitting over there. Anyone else would have been on top of him already and he was just used to that kind of affection. Even the few boys he considered friends usually cuddled him at the least, usually fucked him at the most. "Come sit with me," he said, giving Pirate his best pouty face and big eyes as he patted the spot beside him. Pirate wasn't totally unfortunate looking after all, just annoying, and maybe Baby could ignore that if the older man kept his mouth shut.

PIRATE: Arching one brow almost comically high, Pirate shook his head. "I'm just fine over here." Even if the big eyes were rather pretty, he had an easy time resisting because he simply didn't think in those terms. Plus, doing the opposite of what Baby wanted was kind of satisfying at this point. "And yeah, it matters. There's a difference between waiting tables and some of the other shit that goes on there."

BABY: "Come over here and I'll tell you," Baby said, scooting over so that he was pressed up against the wall and there was plenty of room for Pirate. It was very very rare that Baby wasn't able to charm someone into giving him what he wanted.

PIRATE: Like any wolf, Pirate had a certain affinity for touch, especially that of his own kind. It was healthy, and healing, and the energy exchange was soothing in most cases. But the way Baby was moving, so willfully alluring, made it seem a little fake, practiced. He was sure the other was very talented. "Will we be bargaining for the rest of the time we know each other?"

BABY: "Will you be such an insufferable twat for the rest of the time we know each other?" Baby replied, trailing his fingers over the empty space. He'd heard one of the girls call another one that phrase at one point and it had become one of his favorites. It bothered him how much he was craving contact and that Pirate was his only option at the moment but he was prepared to make do.

PIRATE: "Yes." That answer was a no-brainer for him and he replied with the first note of blitheness that had been heard from him all day. His eyes watched Baby's fingers over the space and the movement was inviting. After a few seconds he sighed and stood up, acting as if he was very pained to do this. Putting his knees to the bed, he scooted over onto it and offered Baby a 'there-happy?' look.

BABY: "You are a douche," Baby said plainly, waiting until Pirate got situated. It made him really happy that he'd gotten his way after all and he sighed with content, feeling full and sort of tired and still not so great all at the same time. Sliding an arm around Pirate's waist, he buried his face in the older man's side.

PIRATE: Gut jerking warmly at the touch, Pirate frowned and put his hand on his stomach. He was probably just hungry. His wolf rolled over on itself somewhere in the back of his brain, sensing the beginnings of Baby's change, his first steps to becoming the same as Pirate. "Yeah, well it's better than being a frivolous child." Still, his arm found its way around Baby's shoulders.

BABY: Lifting his head, a tiny insulted growl tore from Baby's throat. He hadn't even realized it was going to happen until it already came and went. Then he just poked Pirate in the side and put his head back down, his arm tightening around the other man's waist. He was still certain he didn't believe all the werewolf nonsense and hoped he'd be able to figure shit out once he was feeling better.

PIRATE: That growl made Pirate smile, and the smile grew into an all out grin, but only because he was certain Kohl couldn't see it. This one was going to be strong, Pi could already feel it in his arms and hear it in the chastising growl that had come from him. A challenge, something infuriating he liked that.

BABY: As much as Baby didn't want to fall asleep, he could feel his body starting to do things without his permission. His eyes fell closed and he just nuzzled closer to Pirate. He would never have admitted it but he liked the way Pirate smelled and the way it felt to have his arm around him. Then he just gave in and finally let his body drift off to sleep, pressed up against Pirate.

PIRATE: Staying there for awhile after Baby had drifted off, he wondered what chance had gotten him into, the whole pack for that matter. Carefully, he extracted himself from Baby, lying him down on the bed and covering him up. Sleep was the best thing for him, allowing his body a chance to acclimate. Eventually, he shut off the light and took the tray downstairs.