Protection for, you understand, the little boy, the inner man...

[stillaboyscout]

Vaughn is nervous. He has no idea what's going on, but there's something in the air that's telling him something is not right. He's not sure what it is, but he's waiting in the lobby anyway, sitting and staring out the glass doors at the street outside. He's twitchy. He's nervous. He's more than a little paranoid. But he's there.

Noah, meanwhile, is

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[callinallfreaks]

Huck is out as well. When is she not, that is. But today is different from normal days. She can't find one of her pack, Ryan, hasn't seen him for over a week and that's a long time for even him to disappear. She's afraid something's happened to him, something she should have been there for, she should've stopped. Maybe he got shot, or arrested, or just killed fighting somewhere and--

So she's curled up in her overlarge jacket at the mouth of an alley, sitting down and staring hard at the ground. Werewolves don't cry, and neither do fifteen-year-old girls who can take care of themselves.

Here, Gladys. It's not physical pain, but it's someone you can maybe fix.

[cookiesandhugs]

Gladys is storming around, following the internal map of pain, feeling the blips as someone cries, as someone falls down, as someone is beaten, as someone dies. She's shaking with rage because today the blips are calling out, the blips are screaming for her help and she can't do it all and why can't anyone see this is madness?

And then there's a girl. A little girl and she's a blip too, a mess of pain and hurt and fear and Gladys immediately softens because no one's helping her either. Gladys will. It's what Gladys does.

"Hello, dearie," she says, crouching close to her but not too close that she'll frighten the poor thing to death. She reaches into her massive purse and pulls out a cookie. Wiping off a bit of lint, (it's still good, she promisese,) she offers it to the girl. "Take a bite, it'll help. I promise."

She promises.

[callinallfreaks]

Huck jumps when Gladys speaks; she hadn't expected anyone to notice her. Or if they did, they kept walking, because that's what you do with homeless kids these days anyway. She gives Gladys her best human impression of scared wolf, eyes wide and teeth bared, but only for a second when she realizes a) this lady's old and b) she's offering a cookie. A cookie.

Huck reaches out, tentatively, and takes the cookie, sniffing at it. Nibbles on it a bit. Then she gives Gladys a wavery smile and says in a voice much less forceful than usual, "Thanks." She's still not okay, but random strangers giving her food is something that always makes things a little better. And is always welcome.

[cookiesandhugs]

"It's no problem, dearie, no problem at all." Gladys sits down next to her, making sure to put a little distance between herself and the girl, just in case. This is rather strange- normally Gladys wouldn't care about bursting someone's personal bubble, but she gets a sense, somehow, that the cookie is enough for the time being. She knows that the poor thing's not feeling better by all means, but Gladys doubts she really needs- or would respond well to- a hug at the moment.

Slowly but surely, this old bat is learning a thing or two.

"Are you lost?" she asks after a moment of silence.