Flicker

Flicker: Vingt

Disclaimer: This chapter will contain slight scenes of sexual nature.

"Nora I'm afraid our days together are growing numbered," Carl said to her, rubbing the lenses of his spectacles with a cloth before placing them back on his face.

"Why do you say that?" Nora questioned.

"Well, we are just plowing through the material, and sooner rather than later I will have nothing more to teach you."

"Pshaw! There is no end to wolfen history. I'm sure there's tons more to learn."

"True. However, we've already gone over so much of the history, and how our present-day government functions, there are only a couple more topics left on the syllabus for us to go over."

Nora pouted.

"Aw Nora, do not be glum. I am confident in your ability to acquire information without my assistance. You have a vast library here at your disposal."

"It's not that...I just like our sessions. I'll miss you."

"Oh. Do not think you'll rid of me that easily. I will stop by to visit my favorite pulpit and test if you've retained that information."

"I guess that's better than nothing. I just want to enjoy today while I still have it."

"Very true. Today we open to a new, but a fun chapter of the wolfen world. I'll introduce you to the topic."

"What's that?"

"Society and pop culture."

"You're kidding...pop culture. We're wolves."

"True but that does not mean we can not have a social life. I mean we are going to be learning about some pretty famous figures in our species outside of politics."

"Like who?"

"Every heard of the story Little Red Riding Hood?"

"Yea who hasn't?"

"That story believed to be based on some fact."

"Get out!" Nora cried. "That's just an old folk tale."

"Everything has a bit of truth to it. Our Department of Records has dedicated itself to studying wolf sightings of all kinds and discovering if it is one of our kind or not. Today, most lycans are accounted for but in the past you know we ran rampant. So this story, which is retold all over the world, originated from France. The first literary version of the tale written by Perrault in 1697, however before then it was an oral story told for many generations. It took much time and labor (shifting through documents and reports), but we have determined that in actuality there was a young female who was going to visit a relative who lived beyond the forest and was attacked by a 'talking' wolf/man-beast. She escaped and when she returned to her village, we assume she was considered mentally insane and her claims became nothing but a legend. Now, of course, the story has since then undergone much revision, but that's what our historians have unearthed."

Nora's eyes were wide and she gazed at Carl in amazement.

"That's incredible! Wow. Who would've thought? Kind of a sad story."

"Yes. Many of these stories involving our kind end in some sort of tragedy, but on a happier note, today we have many acclaimed lycans masquerading as humans. They are poets, writers, mathematicians, and scholars. Yet, we are not perfect."

"Meaning?"

"Well, for example, it is apparent that as a culture we must remain under the nose of homo sapiens. For that reason, we have laws mandating that we do not hunt or run on private and even public land to avoid the threat of detection. The issue is that not all nations have effective infrastructure or funding to take care of or people. It is not a flawless system. People fall through the cracks - sometimes whole packs. For example, people of wolfen descent living in poverty rely on their skill of the hunt to feed themselves and their families, so though it is frowned upon, they often put themselves and their clans at risk in order to survive. Can we blame them? We will study what we can do and what others are doing to help those in need in our society."