[As soon as Will sits, Malcolm flops down beside him and rests his head in Will's lap. When Will mentions lunch Malcolm lifts his head and tilts it back towards the last stream with a faint questioning whine: want him to get you a fish?]
[ Will looks at Malcolm's wolfy face for a moment, then chuckles. ]
Nah, but thank you for the offer. I'd rather eat with you, and I didn't bring anything to cook it besides. You feeling ready to shift again yet, or would you rather stay like this for a while?
[ He strokes his hand over Malcolm's head while he says this. It is a comfortable way to rest. ]
I did bring some Twizzlers, for when you have human tastebuds again.
[Malcolm sets his head back in Will's lap, but when he mentions the Twizzlers, his ears perk up. Maybe he'll be a person again for a bit. Will did bring clothes....
[ Will chuckles quietly, content to sit here and relax for a bit. He's still catching his breath a little, anyway.
He listens to the sound of life in the trees and watches an octopus climb and slide silently over the branches nearby, stalking a salamander twice its size. Undoubtedly weird, but still oddly natural.
He keeps petting Malcolm's head and can feel his own eyes drooping a bit after a couple minutes. ]
[That just makes Malcolm feel better about letting his eyes slide closed, focusing all his keen hearing on the comforting steady sound of Will’s heartbeat.
Until something grabs him around the neck and yanks him back. A strangled yelp manages to escape him before he can’t make sound anymore and he writhes, trying to grapple for a swipe at whatever has him, but he can’t reach it with claws or teeth.]
[ The yelp both pulls Will out of his doze and makes his heart drop down to his stomach. He's up on his feet instantly, reaching for his gun before he even sees that the octopus apparently decided that a wolf would be its next target.
Will's not exactly versed with shooting octopi and regrets not taking Shaw up on her offer for a 'safety' knife, silly as it sounded. So instead of backing up and getting a bead, he presses the barrel against the octopus' head, tilts it up, and fires.
A surprisingly strong tentacle grips his wrist, but there's nothing at the other end commanding it anymore. Instead, it's just a mass of rubbery flesh and blue blood, exploded outward.
Will finally lets himself breathe and starts untangling things. ]
[He whines as he shakes to help Will unwrap him. The shot so close did indeed hurt his ears, but he can breathe again and once freed he curls himself around Will’s legs.]
I'm sure she could. She's talked to Winston- all my dogs, really. Apparently, dogs are usually pretty wary around werewolves. She's managed to calm them all down about it.
[ Which is great, because otherwise this whole werewolf thing might've been a complete no-go. ]
[Shaw is quiet for a moment, processing this new bit of information. As adaptable as she is as a general rule, she often struggles with having things sprung on her that can stick in her unreality craw: and not only are those things plentiful on the Barge, but people also tend to talk about them like they're nothing, either because they've been onboard for so long that they're used to them or because they come from worlds where they truly are nothing. But Will's way of speaking helps: the slower lead-up, the introductory Did you know.
She is, she decides, fine.]
... What did they tell her? In general, not just about the werewolf thing.
[ Will works on the tentacles, and they get increasingly easier to pull off over time. Once he's gotten them all, he flings the carcass as far away from them as he can. Then he gets to gently rubbing over Malcolm's ears. ]
I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I shouldn't have dozed off. I didn't have anything else on me.
[ He rubs Malcolm's back, only not hugging him because Malcolm's currently too wrapped around him to allow it. ]
Thank god the gun went off, at least. I couldn't remember if it only worked when there was danger or when I was in danger.
[ He rubs the ears again, and will go back and forth until they both feel a little more calm. ]
[After a few moments, Malcolm shuffles back a little bit and changes, still a little wide-eyed and flush from the adrenaline, but as soon as he’s bipedal again, he throws his arms around Will’s neck and breathes him in from human height, gasping a little when he speaks.]
[ Will wants to keep his hands on him while Malcolm changes, but it's not really a doable with everything shifting so much. Will waits impatiently, fingers tapping his own thight, and he hugs Malcolm tightly as soon as he's human again. ]
I'm okay, I'm fine. Can't believe one of those things thought it could eat a wolf... Are your ears still ringing? Did it bite you?
[ His eyes are worried as he pulls back just enough to try and make an assessment of Malcolm's current state from his face. ]
[ Right, clothes. They're not far from his backpack- he'd hand over the one he's wearing, but it's splattered with blue blood and octopus goo, which is probably not the best for Malcolm's nose. So he pulls out another of his own shirts from his bag, and also the remaining clothes that Malcolm had in his office.
He knows Malcolm, though, and hands the shirt over first. ]
[He pulls the shirt on hastily, glancing up at the tree branches around them, in case anything else is lurking up there.]
It wasn't your fault you know. [He reaches for his underwear and pants and starts pulling them on.] Falling asleep. I could have smelled it or heard it. I wasn't paying attention. I liked being comfortable for a minute, too.
[ There isn't anything in the branches right now. Not after that gunshot. It's a smart idea on behalf of the wildlife, too, as Will would probably shoot anything that looked like it was coming near. ]
Yeah. It was nice.
[ He gives Malcolm an extremely tired smile. ]
I should've remembered that neither of us can stay hurt, but- [ He shakes his head. ] I guess it didn't matter when it comes to you.
[Doing up his pants, Malcolm pauses and looks up at him.]
It wouldn't matter if it happened to you, either. It cures hurt but not dead. That thing could have snapped my neck or choked me to death before it let go and the healing wouldn't have saved me then. [He leans up to press a tender kiss to Will's mouth.] You saved me.
Hey, just an FYi that Shaw has been doing self-prescribed civic clean up in the docking ring, apparently, and today she got shot. She’s okay. She’s with Root in their hotel room. But just in case you wonder why she comes back after with a hole in her.
Root wasn’t with her. She was walking up to me and these guys pulled guns on us. I guess she thought the guy I was talking to looked suspicious. I took her to a clinic she asked for where they recognized her, then dropped her off with Root.
She was cagey about the healing. She eventually told me that she will only use it if she’s going to actually die.
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