(Untitled)

[sal_romano]

Sand, is the first thing he realizes. Consciousness has been slow in coming, like so very many mornings-after, where he’d drank just enough to keep up but not enough to get careless. He doesn’t remember drinking, but he feels like he has been. Must have been, if what his fingertips and cheek are telling him is true, that he’s laying on sand. He can

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[sal_romano]

Night time is certainly quieter - it's a better time to think. Since the sun has finally set, it seems like even the unusual amount of activity Sal's already been party to has mostly quieted. He doesn't remember meeting this many new people in one day since his first year of college. It's still not very late, but he's started to slow down, feeling the drag of hours and a poorly spent night begin to pull him down at the shoulders.

When he glances up at the voice, mouth turning up into a smile, he hesitates. Well, that's taking growing your hair out like the Beatles a whole extra step, and he's not used to seeing it - especially not on someone so big. A longer look gives Sal the opinion that it fits, however. He's already seen some unusual things today. He can cope with this, too.

He smiles, and turns the book he's sketching in so that the other doesn't have to crane his neck. "Working from reality - if this is reality," he answers, his tone conveying a subtle sort of irony. It's not that he doesn't believe it could be, just that he's not entirely positive it should be happening to him. "There's no substitute."

[hereand_now]

When the man turns the book toward him, Wolf takes that as an invitation and sits down beside him in the sand, peering at the picture he's been drawing. There are people back home who draw, some of the Queen's men who come to visit the Wolfs bring things with them, drawing sticks of all kinds of colours, but Wolf has never been very good at it himself. He mostly likes to draw all over, putting all the colours together at once.

"It sure is pretty," he agrees, still smiling widely. "Right here and now, the whole island is pretty! How come you're sitting out here on the beach? Are you trying to be alone?" It doesn't occur to Wolf that if the man is trying to be alone, he's interrupting. "I'm Wolf!"

[sal_romano]

The company is hardly unwelcome, since even for his enthusiasm, the other seems at least polite and mindful of Sal's space. The sketch, half completed, is of the shoreline. It's rough, impressionistic. Partially work to express volume and tone, and partially something he's just working to have something to do despite how little he's actually interested in the result.

"At the moment, I think I'd find the sight of Madison Avenue a little prettier," Salvatore says, but he isn't disagreeing. "But I haven't seen the stars clearly in a long time." He's looking forward to it. The next question prompts a single-sound laugh. More an expression of breath and a quirk of his mouth than actual laughter. The same sort of reserve he seems to keep.

"The beach is interesting to draw, for one. It's easier to think sitting out here," he answers. At the sudden introduction, Sal smiles again, tucks his pencil into the sketchbook and holds it in place by closing it around it, before offering a handshake. "I'm Sal," he says. "Wolf's an unusual name - or is it shortened?"

[hereand_now]

Most of what the man says goes right over Wolf's head. He doesn't know what Madison Avenue is -- maybe somewhere in Jack's world -- and he isn't sure why the beach would make for better thinking than anywhere else on the island, but none of that matters. Not when there's a handshake offered. Wolf loves to shake hands and he reaches for Sal's offered hand with a bright smile, pumping excitedly.

"Nice to meet you, Sal!" he says happily, still shaking his hand. "Wolf's just my name, not short for nothing. Just who I am." And what he is, too, but he's found that difficult to explain on the island sometimes, so he doesn't worry about it just yet.

[sal_romano]

It's alright, they can both feel a bit short of understanding. Probably one of the island's unique charms, along with trying to actually, genuinely understand the concept of interacting with people from other times let alone different worlds.

Perhaps he gets more than he bargained for when he offers his hand, but there's something charmingly enthusiastic - almost doggish. The name suits him, then. Even if he's feeling a bit jostled by the handshake, Sal doesn't protest. It's different from what he's used to, but reminds him a little of spending time with nieces and nephews at family holidays.

"It's nice to meet you, too," he agrees, with a genuine smile.

[hereand_now]

"Are you new?" Wolf asks, finally thinking to release Sal's hand, though he doesn't really want to. All the people on the island are nice and so friendly, but he doesn't get much chance to shake hands with anyone anymore. Phil Sawyer had taught him how to give a good handshake and Wolf thinks about him, missing him more in that moment than he's missed him in a long time.

"On this island!" he adds, making sure it's clear what he's saying. "Are you new on the island? I just got here a few months ago, but it's real nice. Everyone's real helpful and real kind. No one here is mean." No one Wolf has met yet, anyway. Sometimes he's afraid someone will be mean. Not to him, because he can take care of himself when he has to, but he's afraid someone will be mean to the people he loves. That someone might hurt Cassie or Sookie or little Matthew.

[sal_romano]

He waits for the clarification, because he can almost sense it coming - there's a lot of enthusiasm. Sal can almost see Wolf gathering himself for each statement. "Yes," he answers, "Very new."

'Everyone' is a broad classification, but it's a relief to hear it. Not that he doesn't believe that the others have been honest, and most of them have told him as much, but he doesn't think Wolf would even simplify for the sake of presenting a place as easier to survive in.

"I have to agree, everyone's been very kind," Salvatore says. "It seems like you've all been here so much longer than I have."

[hereand_now]

"Not so long," Wolf answers, but he can only speak for himself. He knows that others have been here longer, that Anne and River have both had babies and that those babies are still small, but not so small that they're newborn. Even Wolf knows that babies that big have been out for at least a little while. They're still smaller than his litter-brothers and sisters, of course, but bigger than human newborn babies.

"We're stuck," he offers. "Can't go home until the magic decides it's time to go." And he thinks maybe the magic decides to keep some people as long as it can. Wolf doesn't blame it. There are people he would keep as long as he could, too, if it was up to him, but he knows it's not.

[sal_romano]

Well, he'd heard that new people could turn up at any time. At least experience seems to have taught them that they don't need to be too wary of what they'll find in the next appearance. In a way, that's reassuring.

"The magic?" He asks, with a smile, amused before he really thinks about it. But really, is there a better word for what's happening? If there is, does it matter? "No, you're right, I think. I wonder if it's related to something we need to learn. Maybe it's just - I don't know. A journey."

Though what that lesson is, how are they supposed to guess? Salvatore would likely have learned it from what he's already been through. He's not sure what going 'through the looking glass' will do for him aside from giving him a whole other set of things to consider, or a brief respite from focusing on his failings. Until he could get a handle on himself.

[hereand_now]

Wolf's head cocks a little, considering that, his eyebrows drawn together thoughtfully. He and Jack were on a journey, one to save the Queen, and Wolf thinks he's done his part in that journey, though he wishes he could still be with Jack to help him more. Dying, though, dying in the course of saving the Queen is an honour, one he's glad to have.

"But some of us can't go back," he says, giving thought to his words, speaking slowly as he tries to understand how to say what he's thinking. "Some of us are... if we go back, we don't go back to anything, Mister Sal. We go back and we're all gone." Wrinkling his nose, he says, "Some of us are dead back there. So... so we can learn all sorts of stuff and it can't help us there."

He has no problem with learning, though he knows he's slower at it than lots of people. The learning isn't the problem, no. It's the trying to understand that Wolf, well, doesn't understand. But maybe it's better to try and understand. Maybe Sal's right.

[sal_romano]

Salvatore goes silent for a long moment - but if he's completely honest with himself, part of accepting that he's here in the first place is realizing that he can't believe he's going to go back at all. This isn't a dream, or some unreal trip into one of the episodes of that show Kinsey was always on about.

And wasn't that the suspicion he'd been entertaining? That if this wasn't his world, or however this place could exist, if he was here and he wasn't crazy, that left only a very few options he could comfortably come to terms with and not go crazy.

"Maybe it's not about going back," he answers at last, leans back. He braces his hands behind him and looks up at the sky. "Maybe it's about having the time and a place to learn what we need to know before we can go forward."

[hereand_now]

They're the type of words that might normally go over Wolf's head, but he finds he understands what Sal is saying. It makes sense, because he knows that when his journey with Jack was done, he came here. And he knows, one day, he'll return to the moon, be able to run with her again, and so maybe it is about moving forward, finding a new place.

Smiling, Wolf says, "You sure do know a lot of stuff!" He doesn't know very much himself. Just what it takes to be a Wolf -- Protect the herd! -- and how to be a shepherd, which basically has the same sorts of rules as being a Wolf. "I hope you like it here as much as I do. It's really, really not bad. There are lots of things to do and lots of people to help you."

[sal_romano]

The words aren't as important as the understanding. But the sudden smile that greets him takes all the melancholy out of Salvatore's own words, and he finds himself answering it to even his own surprise. It's hard to feel upset in Wolf's company - he just seemed reassured that everything would be just fine.

"I wouldn't say I know it, I'm just trying to figure it out," he chuckles a little. He didn't really expect anyone to be so impressed by it. "There's a lot to like. When I get used to it, I think I will."

Everything he's encountered so far has been at the very least interesting. Difficult to understand in some places, but there was nothing as bad as what he'd come from. He won't turn down the chance for opportunity now that it's beaten down his door and apparently left him marooned on an island. The people are interesting, and he's not quite as alone as he'd felt, even in New York. It's a strange thing to realize.

"What do you do here, Wolf?"

[hereand_now]

"I look after the animals with Anne," Wolf answers, leaning forward and hooking his hands around the sides of the feet. He rocks a little in the sand, grinning. "The cows and the pigs and the sheep. I used to do that back home, too. I looked after the Queen's cows, made sure they were fed and safe and that no one hurt them. No one hurts the herd, that's the rule, it says so in The Book of Good Farming. So I look after them here, too, and make sure no wild animals get to them."

Realizing that he's talking a lot, Wolf smiles sheepishly, leaning forward against his bent legs. "It's nice of Anne to let me help. I missed taking care of the cows before I started to help her. Everyone has to have a job and everyone likes to have a job they're good at!"

[sal_romano]

That's an expression! Even without words, Salvatore can see clearly how much Wolf enjoys his job. He lights up - and yes, he might talk a lot, but Sal doesn't seem to mind in the least. He just stays comfortable in the sand and listens.

"So you found your strength and something to do with it," Salvatore says with approval, and then wonders exactly how much good six years of designing art to go with increasingly 'witty' copy was going to do him. There can't be much call for advertising on the island. As much trouble as Kitty had given him for doing all the cooking, he's suspecting that might be his one useful strength.

It occurs to him that he'd said 'protecting' the cows. "Are there wild animals?" Sal may have been in the city for way too long - it hadn't even occurred to him. "I didn't think it might be dangerous outside at night."

[hereand_now]

"Yeah, lots," Wolf says, nodding. "There's the boars, they're not so bad, but sometimes they can get a little prickly, right here and now! Lots of wild birds and monkeys. I like the monkeys. At first I didn't know what they were and I chased one, but now there's one that visits me a lot. He used to belong to my friend, but now she's gone."

And that makes him sad to think about. He'd like Vala very much, but he's glad that Sal (the monkey, not the person) comes to visit him now that she's gone. It makes him feel like there's someone else who misses her, too, like just Wolf.

"And there's the big lizards," he tells Sal. "Olive calls them di-no-sores. I never saw nothing like them before I came here, they're real big and real scary sometimes, so I don't get too close." He's still going to take Olive there, any time she wants, but he'll be sure to keep her safe.