Gabe enters your home with a natural cautiousness, sniffing at the
air. He glances around, as though he thought he might be walking into
a trap.
"Sorry," he apologizes, "force of habit."
"Not a problem," you tell him, "Make yourself at home. You want
something to drink?"
"If you've got beer, that would be great; otherwise water would be
fine," he replies.
"All I've got right now is Amber Bock," you tell him as you head to
the fridge. "Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine," he says, snooping around your living room. He's
particularly fascinated by the various collection of research and
reports you've got stacked on your coffee table. "Did you assemble all
of these yourself?" he asks as you bring him the beer.
You nod. "Some of the reports I compiled myself; others were just kind
of hidden in some archives somewhere and I unearthed them." He makes
himself comfortable on the couch as he continues to browse over them,
and you take a seat on the loveseat across from him. You're studying
him, looking at him far more as an interesting subject than as a cute
guy...though he certainly has that going for him.
"You probably have a million questions," he says, seeming to notice
the look in your eyes. "I'm sure we've got some time before the steaks
thaw all the way. So, since you're soon to be one of us, go ahead and
ask away."
You can't help but blurt the main question on your mind. "So, are the
three nights of the full moon the only time you change?"
He shook his head. "No...I mean these three nights are the ones where
I HAVE to change...all werewolves shift during those nights, except
for ones with an incredible amount of control over it. But we can and
do change at other times, when we're exposed to our triggers."
"Triggers?" you ask.
"Yeah. Triggers are things that make us or help us change when the
moon's not really up. They kind of put us in the mindset that we go
into when we shift. For some of us, they're just an aid...but for
others, especially new ones, they force us to change," he says,
apparently unaware of exactly why you asked the question.
"Are they the same for all werewolves?" you ask.
"Nope," he said. "They vary from person to person...or werewolf to
werewolf, if you prefer. But virtually all of us have an involuntary
one, oftentimes relating to either the way we were turned, or the very
core of who we are. Like a werewolf who's a hardcore bully, he might
have a trigger of fighting. Every time he gets into a fight, he's
shifting. That kind of thing."
"Wow," you reply, genuinely surprised that the condition seemed as
rooted in the psyche as in the physical realm. "So what's yours?"
"My involuntary?" he asked, seeming vaguely suspicious. "It's.."