31 Jan 2018
4:30pm, Wednesday
Belby Safe House in Cambridge
Two days following [29 Jan 2018] Pay it Forward

Oscar Truemane

"Ach, she's a real beaut," said werewolf safehouse attendant Bede Brocksdale as he circled the classic hatchback parked out front of the Belby Safe House. The enchanted automobile's owner Oscar Truemane looked on proudly and began to rattle off in his sometimes nasal voice all the particular specs and statistics of the model. Fans of old speedy European hatchbacks would be impressed with the care of the condition and the rare color. Witches and wizards keen on the topic would recognize the Blue Silver medallion as indicating the car was enchanted to fly right off Monty Pepper's well-respected line.

"And the flying enchantments are top of the line," Oscar was saying. "Perfect handling, just the right amount of turbulance feedback. You've got to let me take you up."

"Absolutely, really must."

"Absolutely must. Not now, though."

"Will have to be morning, won't it!"

"I think so, yeah."

Both wizards burst out laughing. The sun would be setting in twenty minutes and then the moon would rise and Oscar would become victim to a life-long curse to become possessed by the form of a horrible mindless wolf, kept at bay only by a powerful potion and a sturdy locked door.

"Best get up then. Will you join the circle before you go up?" Bede asked Oscar.

"I think I might, I think I might," Oscar said. It made the whole thing a little less lonesone to begin and end it with handshakes, well-wishes, and hopes to 'see you on the other side'.

As they made their way up the steps, with plenty of time yet apparently, Oscar faltered. With a gasp, he clutched at his chest.

"This is not my day," he said with a pained grin. And then, eighteen minutes before moonrise, he transformed.

15 mins to moonrise, countryside not far from the safehouse.


       "And you, Tansi?" Stacey Li looked her over. "How's the ankle?"

Li was heading tonight's patrol in Cambridge, and they were doing the usual routine - handful of Hunters gathered in a loose circle to go over their safety checks and whatnot. They were decked out in dark colours, hunting clothes suited to personal preference.

Dido sighed as she stuck her foot out to flex it pointedly.

"All good," she confirmed, not without a dry glance at Najwa. They all thought Li was kind of a no-nonsense stickler - not that they didn't respect the older witch.

There was a lot to respect in older Hunters who have been in the game for years. Dido herself wasn't sure how much more time she had left in her, considering she nearly quit after the Weir incident[1] last year.

      "Good," Stacey tossed her a Lupa Whistle. "You're bait tonight."
"Fuck. I'm always bait!" Dido caught it and pulled a face.

Najwa laughed as the group broke formation to begin their patrol. "It's what you get for having long legs, babe."

Maybe so, though Dido was sure it had more to do with being on Kerrigan's bad side. He never let her forget that Rory Weir would still be breathing if Dido had been more prepared that night.

Their badges flashed red. Even Li seemed surprised, staring at her own. "Belby," she said at last as they looked at one another.

It wasn't even moonrise yet.

1.	11 May 2017 - Tragedy on a Full Moon

Oscar Truemane

Old Bede Brocksdale hadn't been exactly sure what was happening to Oscar Truemane, not at first. The portly man with the good nature who'd made something of his life despite it all, had fallen to his knees and started to shake. And then he yelled out as his skeleton re-arranged itself, as his skull changed shape, as fur grew over everything, and claws burst from his fingers and toes. Brocksdale had never seen it before, a transformation up close. It was horrible. He fumbled for his wand and shot off red sparks before running inside to sound the alarm.

Outside on the pavement, poor Oscar was not himself. The Wolfsbane Potion he'd taken, the brew that his contact Mush had claimed was as good as the real stuff, was very seriously flawed. As his body shook and changed, the now-beastly form clawed and crawled into the street. A passing truck swerved to miss him. The streetlamps came on. A dog barked from second story window.

The werewolf, draped in scraps of clothing, rose to his its hind legs and howled at the setting sun.

Well, shit.

The patrol group apparated onto the vicinity, a cautious distance from the safehouse - they scattered along the pavement almost immediately to avoid a swerving lorry trying its utmost not to overturn. Dido found herself stumbling forward and staring in shock at the sight across the road.

A werewolf, caught in the dying light of day. She found her footing immediately.

       "Someone get the fucking muggles out of the way!" Li snarled, running past Dido at an adjacent angle. "Tansi! Move!"

The safehouse itself was going into lockdown, the door loudly slamming shut behind a final figure darting indoors. She really hoped everyone else got in or else they'd be dealing with more than one.

Dido ran - she went in the direction the lorry had been going, hoping the sight of it would discourage further traffic. She struggled to draw in a deep enough breath and just managed to blow the Lupa Whistle.

It sounded like nothing to her. Werewolf ears, though, were different. The single dog barking was joined by two or three others, also picking up the grating noise.

Akira was crouched by the group of hunters, delicately running her wand over as she checked along what had been previous put up, her hunting clothes like usual seemed slightly too large and baggy, but to her it meant she could just store more equipment on her as needed, after all there was lots of various tools that could help with checking barriers or if need be, a werewolf.

Hearing the slight bickering behind her, she turned her head and stood up as she raised a hand. "I'll be bai-" She was going to attempt to help out the other hunter, she didn't care on being bait, but it was quickly thrown out the window as the flares were spotted.

Apparating with the rest of the group, she only just managed to avoid the truck from smashing into her before she gathered what was going on, snapping to action she lifted her arms up from her oversized jacket and drew a silver chain from a sleeve and tossed it to another hunter.

Dido was running as the bait, the wolf would be on their heels soon after, Akira started to sprint to follow her from the side, she transformed into her Red Panda form to pick up extra speed, hoping to get ahead of the hunter and what surely would be following, her mind racing at the situation and what really she could do to help right now, other then not let the hunter be alone.

Oscar Truemane

The enchanted tone of the Lupa Whistle pulled on the werewolf like a tether, dragging him to a claw-scraping stop in the road. With a howl, a shake of his heavy neck, and he launched himself towards the bait, fleet Dido Tansi. He was so much faster than she was. He used parked cards for cover as he hunted her.

The Belby Safe House was in a quiet street on the edge of the town, but it was nearing getting-off-work time and local muggles were moving around a bit. A gentleman stopped his car to see what the long-legged girl was running about, saw a lemur and took out his phone to take a video. He was lucky indeed that Oscar the werewolf only had jaw for Dido and her whistle now.

Oh for fu--

What the hell was Hericho doing? They didn't need two of them running bait. But Dido didn't have time to process her annoyance, lungs burning, werewolf on her heels. It wouldn't take long for the thing to catch up.

She blew the whistle one last time and twisted round to throw up her best Obex, the air shimmering with magic. It wouldn't hold the werewolf off for long but it might give them precious seconds for Li or Najwa to come upon him from behind.

"Muggle!" Dido yelled at Akira as she drew out a loop of Tenacious Twine.

They did not need a dead muggle on their conscience, now or ever.

Akira spotted the muggle as it was called out, she diverted herself, she felt bad leaving the Hunter by themselves but the muggle was a risk and in danger, and had to be dealt with for now.

She ran around the muggle's car, and turned back to her regular, unusual self. With a wave of her wand she opened the car door and slipped in behind before, before delicately placing her wand by his head and whispering the spell Tenebris Somnus. With the muggle falling asleep, her hand reached for the phone and with her skills of using her own phones...perhaps too much, her Gen Z abilities came in clutch as she swiftly deleted the video he had taken.

"Okay buddy, let us guide your car to the side now, the Obliviators will have you fall asleep on the side of the road for a nap, and beautiful dreams." She said softly as she moved to place them safely to the side of the action.

"Why, hello. I'm afraid..." the muggle gentleman had protested at the cute young woman who'd joined him in his sedan. Into a cold, dreamless sleep he went, though, safe and sound. "It was the oddest thing," he'd tell his wife later, and she'd have him make an appointment with the GP straight away.

Oscar Truemane

Of course, he wouldn't be aware of or remember how the beastly werewolf had pounced at Hunter Tansi but had been stopped by a shimmering mirage wall, and how it snarled.

He won't have seen experienced Hunter Stacy Li erect a similar barrier at the werewolf's flank, or how Hunter Shafiq had out her own Tenacious Twine.

"It's acting weird," Shafiq said approaching with caution.

"The sun's still up," Li observed. It was, just barely, the sky behind her a brilliant pink and orange.

Indeed, Oscar Truemane's beastly form seemed jerky on its feet in a way he never had before. His attention was darting back and forth between the three wix, snapping his jaws.

"Hericho, you got that muggle sorted?" Li called out. Further down the lane, Shafiq's anti-traffic ward was up now.

She could feel the tension in her body, like a rope drawn taut, even though the immediate danger was over.

"Muggle's all good!" Dido replied before her colleague could - she was still snappish and irked but Hericho had handled the no-maj smoothly.

       "It's no Direwolf," Najwa mused as the three Hunters got into position around the contained beast. "Let's see if we can put it under."
"Tansi, get your twine in place," Li ordered. "Who's got the Hair of Wolf on them?"

The werewolf snarled, fighting against the barrier on one side and then the other. Spittle dripping down its jaw. Dido had been at this for years now but it didn't get any less startling when you made glancing eye contact.

"Uh," she checked her belt pouch, "not on me. Hericho? Should we give it a go before we restrain him?"

They didn't always use the draught but the werewolf was caught in such a way they might be able to have it bite down on saturated cloth.

Akira popped into existence once again outside the car, clear with the muggle dealt with, just as they started calling out to her with questions that was swiftly answered by Dido, she glanced towards her with a slight bit of annoyance, it was true of course, she might of had a reason to shout in reply but still.

"Just needs some obliviating but that's later." She added on, she knew she likely didn't have to tell them such a thing but it still did well as a reminder.

Seeing the werewolf captured, she took a few steps over, not moving in close, she wasn't suicidal, but she needed to move nearer to assist.

"Oh, I should." She answered to the question of supplies, she did her best to ensure she had all the supplies needed, so she reached into her sleeves and after a moment she pulled out a small bottle. "Got it! Here!" She towards the other hunters to provide the sleeping potion.

"Soak a rag with it," Li instructed. "Be careful not to get it on your skin."

The sleeping potion was far more potent than a regular person could handle exposure to. The werewolf lunged at Stacy Li all of a sudden and even though it was topped by the barrier, it made her jump. Najwa Shafiq stepped back as well, wand leveled. The barrier had held him with barely a ripple.

Shafiq shook her head. "It's not right."

Li continued on updating Hericho on the technique. "If we get him to bite the soaked rag, it should be enough that we can get him down without hurting him."

Trapped, Oscar the werewolf paced.

"I'll do it," Dido gestured with her free hand to take the rag off Hericho. "Get ready to throw up this shield once it's taken the bait."

She didn't always understand what was going on in Akira's head but she trusted the younger Hunter to be as quick as anyone with a shielding spell. Dido would have to drop her own in order to toss the rag in.

Gingerly, she placed the Lupa Whistle in her mouth and took a few steps back in anticipation of the lunge. The beast, pacing, was like a coiled snake - they could sense the tension in it. "Ready? On one," she mumbled around the mouthpiece. "Three. Two. One--"

Dido blew on the whistle to get the werewolf's attention and dropped her shield spell at the same time.

       "Now!" Li yelled, even as Dido was already pitching the rag at the pouncing werewolf. It was murderously fast, rabid. Something was wrong with it.

"Hericho!" she prompted in a shrill shout.

Akira was applying the potion to the rag, as instructed being careful to not get any onto her skin, focusing on it to reduce her fear and calm herself at the idea of having to go close to the werewolf to get them to take the rag, only to be interrupted by Dido taking the rag off her and moving herself over!

She gave a scowl, she didn't need the other Hunter to be protecting her or to take the job for themselves, she was the one told to do it! But she gave a slight huff and began her preparations to join the shield in defense.

Despite being the newest member of the team here, she thought she was doing well to keep up at the very least. She could of given the werewolf the rag...

She snapped to when she heard the shout for now, her wand moved quickly as she wordlessly but still mouthed the spell to be cast to reinforce the shield and trap the Werewolf inside.

"You hurt?" She asked bluntly, not wanting to remove her eyes from the werewolf as of yet, but wanting to check on Dido.

The timing was the breadth of a breath. The whistle, the lunge, the snap of Oscar Truemane's jaws, the shield spell. The werewolf, in going in to tear apart Dido Tansi, had gotten a mouthful of the Hair of Wolf-soaked rag, spat it out with a stuttering snarl, taken three steps, and laid down. It fought the potion with jerking attempts to get to its feet for a few more moments, but soon, it was lights out.

The werewolf seemed bigger somehow laying there inert. The feeling of raw, feral power was replaced by its immense weight that the witches of the Werewolf Capture Unit would have to navigate.

Bede Brocksdale had been watching from the safe house and, seeing the wolf contained between the shields, had come outside, his own wand raised. From the top of the stairs, he echoed Hunter Hericho's query.

"Is he hurt?"