002: Ring ring, phone call for Mrs. Harvelle

[runboyrun]

Open because Stiles can't work the comm properly yet.

Uh... hey, is that Ellen?

[Behold Stiles' most charming smile. Which is actually pretty darned charming, considering how much practice it's gotten with getting him out of sticky situations.]

So, I was talking to a guy who said that talking to you would be a good place to start if I was looking into learning how not to get my ass kicked. Because not gonna lie, that would be useful information for me to have, considering my history.

I'm Stiles, by the way.

Comments

Re: [ Action ]

[runboyrun]

[He stops. Breathes.]

...I would, but for the wrong reasons. And I'd know it's for the wrong reasons. So I wouldn't. I guess.

[ Action ]

[packpapa]

[ He thinks he knows what he means by wrong reasons, but he doesn't ask directly. ]

What would the right reasons be?

Re: [ Action ]

[runboyrun]

[There are a lot of reasons, but Stiles doesn't know if he can sift through and decide which ones are good and which ones are bad.]

I guess... wanting to protect people? Like, wanting to stop the darach, or the Alphas. Everything else is just...

It's about power. I mean, we're teenagers. High school sucks. We all wanna be stronger, faster... and we all wanna be part of something. You know? Part of the cool crowd. Part of something bigger.

[ Action ]

[packpapa]

[ The look that takes over his face shows that he does know; he used to be popular, be captain of the basketball team with friends, but he could never quite live up to it, the secret always hanging over him, and then Paige. Kate offered to open up doors for him again and he fell for it, but he's paid the price ever since, and now he's surrounded by bodies of the people he cares about. ]

You are part of something bigger. People might not know it, but you help to save lives and risk your own to do it. You make a difference.

Re: [ Action ]

[runboyrun]

[His smile is small, but real. Sincere. It isn't what he means, but it means more than he can say.]

Thanks. And... I guess that's why I never asked. I'm in this, have been since ground zero, and I don't need the werewolf upgrade to prove it.

[ Action ]

[packpapa]

[ He's tempted to roll his eyes and give some comment about not throwing himself into danger as often, but when he does, he's usually saving his ass to begin with, stumbling into it by accident. So he doesn't. ]

No, I guess not. And you'd be a nightmare to train.

Re: [ Action ]

[runboyrun]

Hey. Who taught Scott to control his heartbeat?

[It's there in his grin, that he doesn't take the jibe seriously.]

That was all me, buddy. Me and my trusty lacrosse stick. I could totally figure it out. In like an afternoon.

[ Action ]

[packpapa]

And how much damage did you cause with your trial and error?

[ His eyebrows are judging, because he knows about the keying of the car and getting Scott beaten up, and the ridiculous attempt at handcuffing a werewolf of all people to a radiator. ]

If the two of you had come to me in the first place, I could have saved you a lot of trouble.

[ But no one got hurt, so he keeps it light, teasing, the way they've grown used to since landing themselves here; it lacks the heat they used to have in Beacon Hills, but he tries not to think about that too much. ]

Re: [ Action ]

[runboyrun]

Eh, not much.

[His mouth quirks, and he can't even pretend at repentance.]

Yeah, you would've got him to dump Allison in a week.

[Which, in hindsight, given the obscene amount of werewolf-abuse she chose to hand out... is a decision he is not condemning out of hand.]