Video;

[whynotgoonmyown]

[When the feed starts, Tyler isn't saying much for a second, looking like he's just making sure the MID is recording. Once he's sure, he leans back a little, clearing thinking of how exactly he should speak, before finally getting started.]

So... Hi, I'm Tyler Preman, I'm one of the new people. [Another small pause.] I was going to make something like this anyway, but after what just happened, I figured I might as well do it now.

Long story short, I'm a werewolf. For anyone that doesn't know what that is, basically, back at my home, whenever there's a full moon, I turn into a wolf. I... Realize some of you might not know what that is either, but I don't have anything to help explain on me, so try the library, it should be more helpful than me right now.

[It's clear he's not speaking as well as he'd like to, as he releases a small huff.] Either way. Odds are, the same thing will happen to me out in space and in other planets. As a rule, I'm not dangerous as a wolf, since I'm still myself, but... To put it simply, my conscious is somewhat split between me and an oddly sentient wild animal. Most of the time, it's pretty easy to shut him up or ignore him, but... When I'm a wolf, he's more likely to take over. It doesn't mean it'll happen; I've been a werewolf for 17 years, and it's only really happened a handful of times, and for a short while.

Still, if anything goes wrong, or I'm somehow affected by the moons out there differently from mine, there's a chance I might attack you if you're nearby. I usually lock myself somewhere when I'm about to turn, and I intend to do the same here, but still... Point being, if I attack and bite you, if you're human, you'll become a werewolf yourself. If you're not... [Another pause, his face telling clearly that he does not like what he's about to say.] I have no idea. There's no precedent, nothing I could draw from to tell you.

[A final pause and a sigh.] I'm sure you have questions, so go ahead and ask. I'll answer.

Comments

Voice;

[forcefulgift]

[Well hello handsome man. Handsome man that Ade refuses to acknowledge actually being handsome. He's not even going to show you his damn face, because faces are expressive. Instead you just get one hell of a British accent giving abuse from the other end of an MID.]

I've got a question, which is pretty much me going along with the fact you're apparently a magical wolf-man. What's to stop you going all bloody crazy 'cause there's like fifty million moons out here and savaging some poor bloke in his sleep? Feel like we need a bit more than It probably won't happen.

[A beat.] Oh and do you piss all over the place?

Voice;

[whynotgoonmyown]

[No face, eh? Well, he can deal with that. No more handsome face for you, Ade.]

You mean besides the fact that I'm literally warning people right now that it could happen, me wanting to be kept separate from everyone else while turned, and having already having warned the captain that being kept away from everyone else while I'm turned would be a good idea? Well, I guess you can wear silver. Or I don't turn and either stay in excruciating pain until we're away from the moon, or so high off my mind I'm the most useless person on board.

And no, I don't.

Voice;

[forcefulgift]

[A moment.] Wait a bloody minute. Are you saying you might try and savage a bunch of blokes in the middle of the night? Don't we have a bloody cage for things like you? [He actually called him a thing. Despite being a mutant.]

Thank Christ for that. I'm the postman so I spend a lot of time walking about the place and if I step in a puddle of piss I'm coming right to your door and sticking my foot in your mouth.

Voice;

[whynotgoonmyown]

If by that you mean that I'd try to break out and go hunting people to bite, then no, I won't, even if I go full wolf. If I'm let alone, even at full wolf I'll just stay in my lane and wait the full moon out. [A beat.] Plus, I'll still need to sleep.

Again, you have nothing to worry about from me there.

Voice;

[forcefulgift]

[He doesn't believe you at all.] I've seen enough movies to know that werewolves can't help but savage at least a couple villagers before someone pops up and fills them full of silver. [Okay he'd seen one movie. He was really bad at pop culture.]

Voice;

[whynotgoonmyown]

... You realize, I hope, that Hollywood sits in a throne of fiction and some lies, especially if werewolves aren't a thing where you come from, right? [The temptation to ask whether he should run shirtless through small town America and fall in love with a vampire's unborn child or to join an evil wizard's plot to conquer the world is strooooooong... Too strong, even.]

Voice;

[forcefulgift]

Nah I'm totally thinking if you turn into a half-man half-wolf beast then you're probably gonna bounce 'bout the place trying to claw people's faces off. [Which was just another thing he was going to have to watch out for.] Besides. I've seen ferals before, they ain't exactly good at keeping the head screwed on neither. [Because people like Wolverine and Sabertooth were a bit mad in that regard.]

Voice;

[whynotgoonmyown]

The half-man half-wolf thing I can do at will, when it's full moon I look like any other wolf. Only bigger.

Voice;

[forcefulgift]

Oh great. So instead of being the half-man half-wolf of legend you're just a big fancy animal prepped to tear people's heads from their shoulders. Totally better.

Voice;

[whynotgoonmyown]

Account for the fact that me even wanting to tear anyone's head from their shoulders is really unlikely, and I'd say yeah, it is.

Video feed

[hellsbel]

....[well, that's actually a little more terrifying than Sergeant Taura. At least if she got serious about biting you you'd just die...

more worrying is the tone, the weariness of a burden that will not end. Bel's brow draws together thoughtfully as the vid call connects.]

C-- Bel Thorne here. [it's a wrench, to leave out the 'Captain'] Just arrived as well. That's... quite the feature to live with. A fable come to life, eh?

[brave, too, broadcasting that to the ship only days after the disaster they've been hearing about.]

Thanks for giving us the heads-up.

Video

[whynotgoonmyown]

[He pauses at Bel's term before raising his brows.] I suppose that's one way to put it. It doesn't really feel all that remarkable to me, since I've been around other werewolves and other... Fabled beings, to reuse your term, my whole life.

And you're welcome. Figured it'd be irresponsible not to, with how much I don't know about what will happen out here.

[hellsbel]

[whistles. what a life that must have been. o_O the only place Bel can think of that he might have come from is the crime-ridden hellpit of Jackson's Whole ("Dreams Made Flesh!!"), but some of the places people have talked about since the new group's arrival on the Moira don't seem to be anywhere in the known universe.]

It's not the first impossible thing I've heard today. They told me I'm the new Interrogation Technician, whatever that means... what do you need to make it as easy as possible for you? Is there anything the rest of us can do to help?

[whynotgoonmyown]

[If Tyler knew what's going through Bel's head right now, he'd laugh and apologize for the disappointment he was about to deliver. But as he doesn't, he keeps the neutral face he's had since finishing the first video.]

Honestly? There's really not much, if anything, that's needed. I'm not going to go walk around the ship when I'm shifted if I can help it, and my plan for when this happens is to just stay in my room, or somewhere else that's quiet, and wait it out. It's the same thing I do back home, really. I suppose I could ask for some patience when we're nearing a moon, since we can get a little... Moody in the few days immediately before a full moon, but I'm not sure how that will work when we're not actually on a planet somewhere. Plus, for that I already have something worked out just in case, so... Thanks for asking, but I should be fine.

[hellsbel]

[honestly, Bel would be pleased to know it wasn't as bad as the genetically-engineered abominations grown and traded like cattle over there. nobody deserves Jackson's Whole. >>]

Sounds like you've got it down to a science. [wry grin; tilts head, pondering] Think you could let me know if you feel any symptoms? And which doors nobody should open while it's going on? I'm on Nomo Deck. [if Bel's going to be patrolling the ship keeping an eye out for incidents, it would be nice to know about potential ones in advance.

wryness shifts into irony; hasn't slept since before the Ingress, and it might show by now.] I'm still working out what my job is supposed to mean, but starting with "get everyone through this safely" feels like a good bet.

[whynotgoonmyown]

[He allows himself a small chuckle as he shrugs at Bel's observation.] Like I said, I've been doing this for 17 years; it'd be a little weird if I didn't. Anyway, sure, I'll let you know. Probably will let everyone know if it happens, really. I'm on Mero Deck, room 13. I have a roommate, but he's from the same... World, I guess, as me, he knows how to protect himself if anything goes wrong.

voice;

[keelahselai]

[Her home planet has no moon and she grew up in space anyway, so brace for the stupidest question a literal space rocket scientist has ever asked:] Err... Wait a minute. Full moon?

[She'll get to the other points in a moment.]

voice;

[whynotgoonmyown]

[... Well, that's certainly not the type of question that he was expected.] Um... Yes? You know, when a moon is on the opposite side of the planet it orbits from the sun, so it's fully visible from said planet?

voice;

[keelahselai]

... Right. Sorry. So...ah, when you can see the whole moon from the planet's surface...you turn into an animal.

[There's no single word describing someone's tone of voice when they're hearing something that they know should be complete nonsense, even if it's turned out to be true. It's a tone of voice she's used a lot since getting here.]

So...does that mean if the ship adjusts its bearing so we can never see the full surface of any moon in a system we pass, it'll never happen? Or...

[... She thinks she's helping.]

voice;

[whynotgoonmyown]

[He can appreciate that! And he had been expecting questions like this eventually.]

It's... Really not seeing the moon that causes this, it's basically the whole... Unobstructed contact with whatever it is about the moon that causes this. So it really wouldn't be very practical for the ship to change its course whenever there's a moon around.

voice;

[keelahselai]

No, probably not... It's a lot of fuel to use up most of the time, unless we're really lucky and every moon in the system happens to be in the right place away from us...

[There's a crackly huff of a laugh down the line.] About a year ago, I'd have just thought you were crazy. Now I'm just going along with it.

voice;

[whynotgoonmyown]

[There's a chuckle of his own in response.] Honestly, I was expecting to get a few people saying just that. Not that I can't offer some proof right now, mind you.

voice;

[keelahselai]

Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you for proof. [In some ways, she'd almost rather he was crazy, really. It lets her not screw up her world view more than it already is. But...she sort of knows that's not how it works, not here.] I suppose we'll all see it soon enough anyway, right?

[She pauses a second and then...] Do you ever know in advance? If your...ah, other personality?... is going to come out? Do you get any warning?

Voice;

[whynotgoonmyown]

He's always out. Even now, I can hear him in my head. He's part of me, there's no way to really quiet him for good. I know what you mean though, and the answer is... Sort of? When it's happening, it's like the two of us are becoming one. It's not something very conscious in how it happens. But I can tell when I'm on the way there, yes.

[A pause as he shrugs, not that Tali can see it.] Like I said, though, it rarely happens, and I've been pretty good at keeping myself in check in the past. Barring some sort of disaster, I don't think that'll change.

Voice;

[keelahselai]

I believe you. [It's simple enough - there are a few dangerous people on board now; they've all managed to avoid killing each other so far.] But, ah... Be careful? You said you'd never been in space before - a lot of things might mess with you.

I grew up in space and I still can't get used to planets - and that's just me. Nothing bad's going to happen if I can't deal with something.