The Glass Scientists micro-fanfictions

Werewolfery

"I mean, it's not like I planned it like this," Jasper began, poking the strawberry around his plate in a nervous sort of way that made whatever thoughts he was trying to make sense of. The strawberry had fallen off of the cake that was, likewise, on the plate. It was a needlessly extravagant cake - as was all those other slices of cake, serves of trifle, pile of cookies, and all manner of other treats he had been offered that afternoon. Thank goodness his metabolism was far too fast for his own good, thanks to his lycanthropic status - with all manner of layers of cream and cake and fruits and, of course, it was absolutely incredible. The perfect sort of treat to justify taking a moment to collect thoughts while biting. "I didn't just go up to 'em like 'Hello Mx. Werewolf, could you please bite me please!' or anything like that, 'cause that'd be, well, stupid, you know?" It was a marvel that he didn't sent his fork flying from just how animated he got by the end of this. The strawberry had been efficiently vanished away, skewered with the sort of enthusiasm that one would have been more likely to see from, say, Edward Hyde or someone.

"No, no, I didn't think that you got infected," a beat, "Infected? Is that the right word? I'm sure you know what I mean," Rachel had to catch herself before she got too caught up in trying to find a word, "I didn't think you'd get bitten on purpose or anything. Not with all the effort you went to trying to fix it and everything." She could not deny that she was, at least a little, curious about the whole deal of being a werewolf, but she didn't want to seen rude or invasive with asking too many questions about it. Not if he had been so close to quite literally poisoning himself in the pursuit of a cure.

"The thing is," the werewolf continued, taking the valid precaution of setting his plate down on the table, which his companion took as an invitation to place a new pastry on his plate, "I didn't even really know it happened at all when it first, uh, happened." He let out a slightly nervous laugh, as if he worried she was going to judge him for this, but when he was not met with any sort of judgement whatsoever he continued with, "I mean, it hurt a whole lot so I didn't really have the time to try and wonder why it was hurting like it was. If that makes sense?" It was as if he was intentionally trying to take away any sort of strength or source of concern by seeming more uncertain about everything that he was saying than he necessarily actually was. It was a way of deflecting away from the fact that, honestly, the whole situation really had not been good for him in literally any perceivable way possible. 

"Who'd really consider that they're being attacked by a werewolf? Especially in the actual moment of being attacked too!" Rachel exclaimed, knowing precisely what to say to prompt the conversation along while she was still free to keep herself focused on preparing the various desserts that her companion had given his tick of approval on. There so far had not been any that he hadn't approved of, which she assumed boded well and was not the result of him just being polite - she had gotten suspicious of this and made him promise to not just be nice for her sake - and so she had her work cut out for her. Fortunately she quite enjoyed her work, and so this was no real fuss. 

"I should, should I?" asked he, speaking this more into the universe than necessarily directing this at her, "I mean, it is supposed to be the sort of stuff what I know about and so that means I'm supposed to, you know, be able to tell what I'm looking at when I'm looking at it and not days after it attacked me and I definitely shouldn't have been stupid enough to get bitten and turned into a werewolf because I don't even know what I'm supposed to know and-"

"Jasper!" the woman said with just enough force to cut off his spiralling down the path of self doubts, "You were attacked! Nobody could rightly expect you to try and figure out what the teeth at your neck belong to, just keeping them from killing you would be all that mattered at that moment. And you did! You kept yourself alive, and now you can look back on it all to criticise things because you were able to get out alive! You're alive and you're you, and that's all that really matters in the end. And you know what?" She did pause, taking this as a chance to take a deep breath, which she hoped would add a layer of emphasis to what she was saying. "I know I am so very glad that you are exactly who you are, werewolfishness and everything. You are you, and that's all you need to be, alright?"

Several emotions flickered across the young man's face all at once, as if he could not decide on how he was supposed to feel, but a look of complete and total relief ended up settling on his features. It was still tinted with a nervousness, but significantly less than there had been before she had managed to intervene, speaking louder than his woes and worried were running at. Anything that was not a state of complete state of distress was an overall win, as far as she was concerned.

"Now," Rachel said with a particularly dazzling smile, nudging his plate over towards him, "Are you going to keep getting caught up in hypotheticals or are you going to try this and tell me if there is too much pineapple to ratio of being upside down?"