(Untitled)

[hereand_now]

Wolf has found the big bouncy thing near the Compound.

Now that he's here, he wishes he would have found it earlier, because it's the very best thing on the island. Besides the good people, of course, and maybe the cows. They're all pretty great, but this is fun. This is the most fun he's had since Jack and that nice man let him ride in the back

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[crazyspacegirl]

Simon Chicago heard the howling first, and couldn't resist following it to its source, River and Zoe following out of equal curiosity.

They watched Wolf for a minute, River grinning at his obvious sheer joy as much as the tilt of her dog's head and her baby's look of confusion that cleared up as soon as Simon joined in the howling. She knew this game, and added her own little voice to the din.

It all made River feel kind of left out. She howled, too, and then laughed. She hadn't expected it to be quite that much fun.

[hereand_now]

Wolf laughs, bright and delighted, because of all the howling going on around him. His heart feels too big for his chest in that moment, the sense of brotherhood, of belonging so overwhelming that he feels tears prick his eyes. It's almost like being back with Jack, like knowing everything is exactly where it should be.

The island can become home, he realizes in that moment.

"Hi, Simon Chicago!" he shouts in the middle of a jump. "Hi, River and River's little baby! You guys all howl real good! Right here and now, you sure do!" He bounces to a stop, panting heavily, then drops onto the springy material, sitting cross legged. "This is the best thing ever! I never saw one of these before, but it's the best. Wolf!"

[crazyspacegirl]

"Hi, Wolf," River answered. Zoe's greeting was an echo, and Simon Chicago added a cheerful bark and wag of his tail. "Zoe and Simon practice all the time, so it makes sense they'd be good by now."

"Jump!" said Zoe, and and River lifted her up to have a little bounce on the edge of the trampoline. She couldn't jump very high, and River didn't think she was big enough for it to be safe to try on her own anyway, but she still squealed with delight. "I like it a lot, too. It's like flying, which I don't get to do much here so anything that feel like it is shiny."

[hereand_now]

"Shiny," Wolf repeats, then brightens again, his smile growing. He knows what that means and he likes the way River uses it, but even more, he thinks he knows what she's talking about when she speaks of flying. Although they weren't often seen in his part of the world, he remembers the men with wings. Not angels, not like Jack thought, but men with wings who loved flying so much that they ignored the pain it caused.

"Did you used to have wings?" he asks, holding his big hands out toward Zoe, who is so tiny. "Could you fly with your wings like the winged men could? They were so beautiful, up in the sky, all those feathers. All those feathers."

[findherwayback]

Even though she hadn't been a Hunter in nearly a year, the instincts that came from years of being on the run hadn't faded. She heard the howl long before she saw the source of it. The sound was enough to cause her to change the direction she was headed, shifting towards the noise rather than stay on course.

Stepping out from the treeline, she saw that it wasn't some sort of animal (a fact that had been clear as she got closer). No, it was coming from a guy on the trampoline. Stopping a few feet away, a slight smile cracked across her features.

"Having fun?"

[hereand_now]

"Yes!" Wolf shouts at the top of a jump, twisting in mid-air toward the sound of the girl's voice. There she is, by the trees and he waves at her as he starts to come down, letting his shoulder drop so that he does a sort of somersault on the bouncy fabric, rolling to a stop near the edge. It's not as graceful as it might have once been, but he executes it casually, as if it takes almost no effort.

"Yes," he says again, out of breath, but grinning. "I never ever saw something like this at home, not ever. This island has some of the best things." Things that might have been in Jack's world, sure, but they aren't things he'd seen on the other side. Most of Jack's world had been bad; bad smells, bad men, bad places, but if there are things like this over there, he knows there has to be some good.

[findherwayback]

Returning his wave with a slightly hesitant one of her own, Thalia wondered what sort of place this guy would've come from that didn't have a trampoline. Not every place back home might have had one, but she was pretty certain that even those who had never been on one could recognise it.

Approaching closer, she gave him a slight smile. "It has its moments. But really, no trampolines where you came from? That's kind of sad."

[hereand_now]

"I know," he agrees, sitting on the edge of the bouncy thing, his legs dangling over the edge. "I wish I would've had one of these. I would've bounced on it every single day if I'd had one."

He pauses, smiling. "I'm Wolf! What's your name?"

[broken_brushes]

When Wolf had been freshly arrived, I'd met him on the beach. He'd been covered in blood and confused and a little sad, but he'd trusted me in a way new arrivals rarely did. After we'd gone back to the Compound, he'd gotten cleaned up, had his official introduction to the island, and that had been where I'd let him go. I'd worried about him since, though, thinking about the wistful way he'd peered out at me from beneath all that blood and matted hair. Finding him so joyous and carefree was so far removed from our first meeting that it hit me harder than I was prepared for.

Hastily wiping the tears from my eyes, I climbed up onto the trampoline with him and reached out a hand as I bounced, grinning almost as widely as Wolf himself was.

[hereand_now]

"Shari!" Wolf shouts when she joins him on the bouncy thing and he reaches out for the hand she'd holding out, grasping it in his as he continues to bounce, higher and higher. "What is this?" he asks, laughing, shouting to be heard over the rush of the wind and the sound of his own laughter that keeps bubbling up. He doesn't want to stop it, doesn't know why anyone ever would, but even if he did want to, he doesn't think it's possible. Whatever this thing is, he wants one back home for all his litter-brothers and sisters. And for Jack, too. He and Jack could jump on this forever and never grow tired of it, he thinks. This is the best he's felt since his arrival, since finding out he can't run with the moon anymore. Right now, none of that matters.

He isn't sad for the Queen or Jack anymore. Later, he'll remember their quest, but for now, all that matters is this moment, right here and now.

[broken_brushes]

The moment was surreal, blue sky and green foliage blurring together as my hair flew around my head. Wolf's beaming face was the only thing I could really focus on, and I couldn't keep myself from laughing along with him, fingers clamped firm against his.

"It's a trampoline!" I yelled in reply. "It's for fun!"

[hereand_now]

"It's the most fun!" Wolf answers, still laughing. He's glad Shari is so happy, at least for right now. People can't be happy all the time, Wolf knows this, but he likes seeing their smiles and hearing their laughter. It makes him feel good inside. And it is the most fun he's had in a very long time. He's glad that's what it's for, he'd hate to find out it was for something other than exactly this.

"I never had this back home! I sure wish we did. It's almost like flying!"

[babyviper]

"What are you doing?" asks O-Ren. It's dark, so she's let herself have this one tiny thing, dressed in a light blue kimono and indigo obi, her hair loose down her back. "Haven't you ever seen a trampoline before?"

She tilts her head up to watch him jump.

"Are you howling?"

[hereand_now]

"Having the most fun!" Wolf shouts in response to her first question. Then he adds, "No! And yes!" She's called it a trampoline and he doesn't know what that means, but if it's the name of the bouncy thing, than trampolines are destined to become his favourite things. And he is howling, or he had been before she'd arrived.

"Can't you bounce?" he asks, slowing his jumps until he's only getting a few inches off the material. "It's the most fun."

[babyviper]

"I don't know if it's the most fun," O-Ren says, folding her hands in front of her. "I used to jump on one when I was a kid." It'd been fun then, of course-- but things change. Trampolines are for training, if anything.

[hereand_now]

"Oh, it is," Wolf answers earnestly. "Most fun on the island!" That isn't even a question as far as he's concerned, but the girl doesn't seem to want to bounce with him and he isn't sure why. "Want to bounce with me? You can. Wolf sure doesn't mind even a little."

In fact, he'll be happy for the company. Grateful that someone else wants to bounce, too.

[piemakerprince]

Ned, having just finished up his shift at the bakery, was only just relishing the freedom of being on the porch of the bakery instead of in the back rooms, when Digby let out a few barks and took off down the path and around the side of the compound.

It was the sort of bark that said something interesting was just down the bend, and Ned would do best to follow his beloved friend, for it was the little things that kept the days from being a blur of baking and caring for Eli.

With a sigh, Ned followed Digby.

As he rounded the corner of the building, he could hear it - someone yelling, practically howling in joy. The man jumping on the trampoline caught Ned's eye immediately, and he couldn't help but smile. Digby, who'd stopped right in front of the trampoline, turned and barked at Ned as if to say, See? I told you so.

[hereand_now]

"Dog!" Wolf says happily when he hears the bark. He slows his jumps, nearly tumbling straight off the trampoline in his attempt to get down, then crouches near the dog, holding both his hands out for him. There's a man, too, and Wolf raises his gaze, smiling.

"Hi!" he says, because anyone who comes with a dog is his friend, right here and now. "Hi, dog! What's your name?" He knows the dogs on the island can't talk, not like the Wolfs back home, but he asks each one anyway, just in case, never wanting to appear rude by asking their master instead. "Hi, mister! What's his name? And what's your name? I'm Wolf!"

[piemakerprince]

Digby, to his credit, made his best attempt to tell the man his name, but he was unfortunately constrained by the language barrier. He looked at Ned, then tentatively licked the hands presented to him.

Seeing Digby take to someone so quickly put Ned at ease, and he lifted a hand in greeting. "Hi, Wolf. I'm Ned, and that's Digby. I think he's pleased to meet you."

[hereand_now]

"Hi, Ned. Hi, Digby," Wolf says, running his big hands over Digby's ears and through his pretty fur. He's never seen a golden red like that, not back home and not yet on the island, and he can't help but stare at the way the sunlight hits it. Wolf are never red -- only their eyes and only when they change -- they're always brown.

"You sure are pretty," he says to the dog, then smiles up at Ned. "Wolfs aren't coloured like this back home."