feel the heat of the future's glow [Will]

[Della Miller]

To be honest, Della's instinct to avoid events set by the school was still feeling pretty strong, even if she knew that at the very least, their Headmaster wasn't ranging from evil to morally gray. That didn't always matter, after all. Just look at the last Halloween she spent here...or the year before that...and before that...and at least two proms involved murder...just, why did we ever think it was a good idea to go to school events?

And yet, here she was. As far as she knew, Alyss was spending time with Milo, prepping him for the upcoming responsibilities he'd be dealing with while giving Gaston the evil eye, and she was sort of on the outskirts of the celebration. Oh, she'd talk to people if she ran into them, but she honestly just felt like reflecting while she had a little drink and watched the bonfire go up. It seemed fitting, to burn the remains of what was keeping them from their home, like a phoenix if instead of a bird, it was a bunch of dead plants...okay, that simile wasn't that great, but that was what rough drafts were for. The point was, it was kind of nice to watch, and the band they had hired wasn't half bad, and despite everything that was going on in her life, a sense of peace wormed its way into her.

It was only when she noticed a semi familiar face out of the corner of her eye that she turned away from watching the fire, and with a welcoming smile, she waved. 

[William Fenris]

Will had seen the new headmaster announcement though it meant little to him than most. He had no headmasters to think back on, and no reason to be worried, he'd made friends with Vlad and if there were any problems, he'd go see him. Now he was more intrigued by this holiday he'd never heard of than anything else. He looked warm in his coat, bobbled hat and gloves, moving around to look at the huge bonfire. It reminded him of the fight with the oil monster in the library. It made him think of Judy, and his face went warmer than even the fire could.

Then he saw a familiar face, the kind, tipsy woman who had been kind to him at the meeting, when he had first arrived. He waved back. He tried with all his might not to stammer, but he did so anyway.

"H-Hello!"

At least he was smiling this time.

[Della Miller]

Della's smile broadened when he actually spoke to her. "Hey...you know something, I don't think I caught your name during the meeting. Or if I did the alcohol wore it away, I guess..." Said smile turned a little sheepish. "Not my proudest moment...but anyway, I'm Della. I'm glad you're staying!"

This time her drink was more of the hot cocoa variety. Even with the bonfire, you could feel the chill that only came when fall and winter were circling one another...and gods, she remembered how beautiful winter tended to be around here. Certainly better than the bitter ones in Chicago.

She glanced back towards the boy...hmm, she knew he was shy, so she didn't want to put too much pressure on him...she supposed she had said enough. She'd let him respond as much as he saw fit.

[William Fenris]

Will smiles when she smiles, who knew that smiling was contagious? He moved towards her, trying his very best to try and be confident after everything that happened he had to try.

"T-Thanks? I'm Will....William. But I like Will." his hands shuffled inside his over-sized coat. He could feel the heat of the fire and it both terrified him and excited him. Like when he'd met Vlad. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"S-S'okay. I've smelled humans with worse alcohol....content. Back where I used to live." He gave a small shrug. "Did...Did I hear that you went w-with Judy to the library?"

He still felt guilty he didn't volunteer for that one, the library and the monster they found was still haunting his sleep.

[Della Miller]

Della chuckled gently as she said, "More than fine. Nice to properly meet you, Will..." She sipped her cocoa again, just in time for him to assure her that he had smelled humans with worse alcohol content...she arched an eyebrow, but said nothing. No need to make the boy feel more self conscious, but that didn't mean the wheels in her head weren't turning. So he's probably not human...at least not entirely. Nothing new, of course, but it might explain why he didn't want to go home...either that or I'm projecting my fiance's backstory on him, that's more than possible...but the first part I know for sure.

"Well yeah, I know, but it's still not really something I'd want to do at most meetings, least of all when one of my best friends was heading it...and oh yeah! I was going to the library anyway, I've had some really great times there, and she just happened to volunteer too. She's pretty great..." Then it occurred to her...ohhhh, so was he already making friends then? That was good, she found herself worried about that after the meeting. It was kind of stupid, but she knew better than to deny her somewhat overprotective nature by now.

[William Fenris]

"Well...that's fine then? Whatever you need to do."

Will hadn't thought much of it at the time. He'd once seen a drunk human kick one of his brothers, but his brother had started it. He also found it interesting that Merlin was her best friend, and was about to asy so but he was distracted when he looked at her drink, with some interest.

"What's that?" He hadn't meant to be nosy, but the smell was burning his senses. He'd never smelt anything like it before. His eyes focused on it, his head tilted like a puppy. "S-Sorry, everything is new for me. I...I was a wolf before, in my old place..."

He had to accept his past, if he was to move on...

[Della Miller]

She shrugged. Honestly...yeah, she knew that she had gotten to the point where she felt like she needed to drink probably more often than she should have. She wasn't proud of it, but the stress of becoming an adult without a whole lot of her friends even being in contact with her, and plus a smattering of gods only knew what cocktail she had in her brain as a result of her dead mother's genetics and the shit she saw while at Tintagel at such a young age, what the hell else was she supposed to do? No therapist alive was going to believe half of her stories, and she'd probably have been institutionalized if she had gone that route.

Fortunately before she could think too hard about that, Will asked about her drink, revealing her hunch had been right, that he was a wolf back at home...she hadn't expected that precisely. She wasn't sure what animal she was guessing, but...a wolf, really? Then again, most modern research suggested that wolves were really shy, despite their reputations...yeah, she supposed that was believable then.

She offered him a smile. "...aww, don't apologize for being curious, least of all if you're not used to things around here. It's hot chocolate." She tilted her head, pondering. He was in human form now, chocolate probably wouldn't be deadly for him, right? Was it worth the risk? She could probably get some help if, gods forbid, it had a bad effect on him...because really, she did not want to ask if he thought he could possibly die from this, that would be one of the top five most uncomfortable topics she could think of delving into with him.

So instead, she asked, motioning towards the booth she got it from. "I could get you some, if you want."

[William Fenris]

Will watched the woman carefully, so far, all he had seen was someone kind, but someone distant. Someone who had a lot going on her head, someone who probably cared more than she initially let on. At least, that was the woman he felt he was running into. He was still overcome with looking at the drink, hot chocolate but his eyes brightened when she suggested she could get him some to try.

"You can? You will?"

He's a puppy in this second, head cocked, ears pricked up in a happy fashion. He had no idea what chocolate even was. It was not something that the wolves of his home had dealings with. Humans may have done, but he didn't certainly know about it.

"I...I would like that, do...do I need to pay?"

He scrambled for coins, which he'd gotten from 'his benefactor' "I can....try to pay?"

[Della Miller]

Will's insistence on paying was strangely adorable, and once again reminded her of a time when she was a broke, clueless teenager who felt really weird about people being nice to her. She held up her hand, shaking her head. "You don't have to, consider it my treat. You look like you could use a good deed in your life anyway," she insisted, and then started heading towards the booth, motioning for him to follow.

"I wasn't that different from you when I first got here...I was probably a little younger than you, I hadn't even known magic really existed, hadn't really known much kindness from anyone outside of my family...I doubt I would've survived if people hadn't reached out to try to help me..." She shrugged. "So I guess this me trying to pay it forward. I hope that's okay."

[William Fenris]

Will listened to Della carefully, every word. He followed doggedly at her side and when she spoke about her past, he felt terrible for her, to not know kindness.

"I have known more kindness....here in this world, than I have in my old one." Will tells her, understanding where she was going with this. This was a woman who had grown here, because of the school. Now that the school was back in operation too, that means that he too should be able to learn and grow.

Thanks to his benefactor. Thanks to his friends.

"Pay it forward....yes, I understand, I think...giving me hot chocolate is a kind thing, for when other people were kind to you, before?"

[Della Miller]

Will seemed to confirm her suspicions with a single statement, and she nodded. She supposed despite the fact that dogs were essentially domesticated wolves, that hardly meant wolves would always be terribly nice to one another. Hell, it was sometimes hard to get two dogs to get along, let alone actual wild wolves...and it was hard to picture Will as a wild anything, so perhaps he hadn't fit in because of that.

"Well good. This place may be borderline insane, but it's hard to deny that it's a good place for those who didn't quite fit in at home...and yeah, exactly." She smiled proudly, and turned to the booth. "Hey, could I get another hot chocolate, please?" she asked as she slid a few bills towards whomever was serving...was that a nametag that said Todd? How many Todds were there in this place? Had there always been a lot of them?

...probably best to reserve the questions for the mysteries that were worth giving herself a headache for, though.

She turned back towards Will once the hot chocolate was ready and handed it over. "Let me know what you think..." And for the love of gods, please please PLEASE tell me it won't affect you like it would a dog, I'm still legitimately concerned about that.

[William Fenris]

"Outsiders then, most of us are outsiders....that's a weird thing to think of, a group of people who were once alone....now....together."

Will smiled, quietly watching Della and the man making his drink and then was finally holding his own hot chocolate, the smell is overpowering. Carefully, takes a sip, but howls as he realises it's too hot and so he tries again, blowing on the cream, only slightly, before trying again.

This time he's successful, only a slight burning on the tongue, and the taste is marvellous. His eyes close in wonder.

"This is amazing! Wonderful! I've never had anything so amazing to drink in my life."

And then he looked at her face, trying to read it because he's pretty sure she looks a little stiff, perhaps that's the wolf in him, he smells something's up...

"This is....well, it's great!"