“Wait wait wait…what do you mean he’s your dad?!” Alex asked, looking at Orion and Setith in disbelief. “You’re…and he’s…how?!”
“It means exactly what it sounds like, human,” Setith responded, a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. “What, have humans stopped teaching about how children are made in school?”
“N-No! That’s not what I meant! I mean…you’re a normal wolf, right?”
“Of course I’m not!” Before Alex could ask any further questions, the wolf began to change before his very eyes. He watched as Setith began to grow slightly as his form shifted from that of a canine into one that more so resembled a human. His front legs began to elongate as the digits of his front paws began to stretch outwards, with a new one coming in on the sides. The wolf then stood up on its two hind paws as his legs became more human-like, but still kept the digitigrade structure. The last thing to change were his eyes, becoming more of a fusion between those of a human and those of a wolf. Before Alex knew it, a large, grey-furred anthropomorphic wolf stood where a feral wolf had just a minute prior.
Alex stared at Setith, feeling both shocked and in awe at what he had just witnessed. “Woah…you can become feral wolves too?” The young man then turned his attention over to Orion. “Why didn’t you tell me that you could do that?”
Orion broke eye contact with Alex, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “Well you see…I can’t exactly do that…” he said. “Only high ranking members of the pack can change into feral wolves, and since my father is-“
“Enough of this!” Setith shouted, silencing Orion and making Alex shrink back in fear. “You need to explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to bring a non-werewolf to one of our most sacred ancestral sites!”
“πατήρ, please calm down!” Orion exclaimed. “I was only trying to teach Alex about our culture! He seemed so fascinated by it, so I thought that he would enjoy seeing the ruins! I knew that you were patrolling today, so I was hoping that you would for once be a little lenient on the rules!”
Setith looked at Orion, over to Alex, and then back at Orion before taking a deep breath. “Listen υιός,” he said in a tone that sounded a bit calmer, but still rather angry, “I’ll make you deal: if you leave these ruins right now and promise to never bring another human here ever again, I won’t report this little incident to the elders. Do you understand?”
“But πατήρ-”
“Do I make myself clear?”
Orion growled before letting out a sigh. “Yes πατήρ…” The man turned to Alex with a defeated look on his face. “Come on Alex…let’s get you back to the resort…” Orion put an arm around Alex’s shoulder and guided them away from the ruins and back in the direction they came. Alex couldn’t help but look over his shoulder at Setith, who stood there watching them with his arms crossed before shaking his head and disappearing behind a building.
The two walked in silence for a good fifteen minutes before Orion suddenly let out an exasperated groan. “Θεέ μου, δεν αντέχω αυτόν τον γέρο μερικές φορές!”
“I still can’t speak Greek, you know,” Alex spoke up, which made the other man sigh.
“Sorry, I was more so talking to myself when I said that,” Orion explained. “I said that I just can’t stand that old man sometimes. I swear, he gets such a hard-on for following the rules that it’s ridiculous! I thought I could convince him to let it slide just this once, but apparently not!”
“You both seemed pretty hostile towards each other when you were speaking. Is there some kind of tension between the two of you or something?”
Orion sighed again. “My father and I have never seen eye to eye,” he explained. “He was one of the few members of the local packs who were against the resort’s construction, even after Pan assured them that our sacred grounds would not be touched. When it came down to a vote, the majority of Weres who reside in the valley voted for the resort to be built here, much to my father’s dismay.”
“So…he doesn’t think that humans and Weres should live in peace?”
“Not exactly. He believes that the human world just isn’t ready to accept the existence of magic and Weres.” The man paused for a minute to gather his thoughts before he continued. “I understand that his views of the human world won’t change overnight, but he’s had those same views for over fifty years!”
“What exactly does he think will happen if the existence of Weres is revealed to the world?” Alex asked curiously.
“This is going to sound insane, but stick with me here,” Orion replied. “He thinks that Weres will be hunted down and captured.” The man shook his head in disbelief for a second before adding “Seriously, we don’t live in the era of the fucking witch trials!”
Alex couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Yeah, that all sounds pretty insane,” he replied. “I mean, I guess I can see where your dad is coming from, but the world isn’t like that nowadays. There are people out there who would give anything for a chance to become a Were, and I’m certain that even more would be willing to give it a try using some magic if they saw how much other people were enjoying themselves.”
“Exactly!” Orion exclaimed, catching Alex a bit off guard and causing him to jump slightly. “That’s the entire reason I supported the resort being built! Hell, hearing about why the werefox in charge of overseeing the resort wanted it to be built convinced me even more that this was a great idea! I went to have a chat with him to learn a bit about his plans a couple of days ago, and let me tell you: he has some grand visions. Everything about it gives me some form of hope that someday, Weres won’t have to hide from the rest of the world. It might not be in my lifetime, but I’d be okay with that if it means that we won’t have to hide forever.”
“That’s a great way to look at things,” Alex commented when the other man finished speaking. “If the world does come to accept the existence of Weres and magic, what’s the first thing that you’d want to do?”
“Oh, that’s easy: travel the world and help to spread awareness of what it’s like to be a Were,” Orion responded. “People are going to have many questions, and I want to be able to give them answers. Plus, it would allow me to finally see things outside of Greece.”
“You’ve never left Greece?”
“No. I’ve never had the necessary funds to do so. But one day, I’ll have the money I need to travel the world and see the sights, mark my word κουτάβι.”
Alex chuckled, shaking his head. “I don’t understand how some people can just have everything figured out,” he said. “You seem so sure about what you want to do with your life.”
“And you aren’t?” the other man asked. Alex shook his head in response before letting out a sigh. “I don’t know what I want to do with my life,” the younger man said. “I thought I wanted to go to college, earn my degree, and get a job. I thought I was ready for college, but my freshman year grades say otherwise. I lost my scholarship because I couldn’t keep my grades up, and my dad is working his ass off to try and make the money needed to send me to college. I’ve been doing as much as I can, but I just feel so powerless. I guess that’s another reason I’m so grateful to my friend for paying for this trip. It gives me a month to just…worry about other things.”
Alex felt Orion wrap his arm around his shoulder, and the younger man looked up to see the older man giving him a comforting smile. “Don’t you worry, κουτάβι,” he said. “One of these days, you’ll find your calling. It could be tomorrow, next week, or even in a few years, but you’ll find it eventually. Alex smiled, a slight blush appearing on his face.
“Thanks Orion,” he said. “You know, I’m glad you were the one who stopped me yesterday.” Orion was about to respond, when the sound of something tearing turned their attention behind them. Orion’s tail had reappeared, and it was poking through a hole that it had torn in his shorts. Alex laughed as he watched the appendage wag rapidly before looking back up at Orion. “Couldn’t keep your happiness contained, huh?” The other man laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.
“Guilty as charged.”