If it weren't for bad luck...

[bad-moon--rising]

“What surrounds us we endure better for giving it a name – and moving on.” ~ Emil Cioran

Lucian Robert Doyle

Nicknames: Lucky (absolutely what he always uses because he fully believes his first name is the worst one possible for a werewolf but it's a family name so he's stuck with that)

Magic Status: Werewolf (born and out) & cursed (not public knowledge)

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: White

Accent: Southern, specifically Tennessean inland.

Height: 5′11"

Build: Athletic but pretty average.

Complexion: A bit tanned naturally, gets lighter in the winter when he's not outside all the time.

Eye Color: Hazel

Hair Color/Length/Style: Dark brown/chestnut, wavy and messy, perpetually messy in fact. Stays a little short but is thick so styling is really just a concept rather than accomplished. Annoyingly fluffy after it dries.

Tattoos: Homemade linework bumblebee on his left wrist done by Angel when they were dating and a sparrow skull outline on his right for his ex-fiance back home; West. Black and white stylized mountain tattoo on his right shoulder, with coordinate numbers that match his hometown. Sound wave tattoo on his left forearm from a very important song. Black and white leaves and thorns along the back of his neck- it's a common design with his pack.

Piercings: Two cartilage piercings in each ear.

Daily Jewelry: Wears either black or gold studs in his ears, and a gold ring in a woven thorns design on a chain around his neck. (apparently enchanted since he never seems to lose it even during shifts)

What would you find if you Googled them? 

Practically everything. He was backup singer, guitarist, and eventually front man to the now broken band South of Midnight; so his personal info isn't all that personal. You could hit that up on practically a dozen old fan sites or even the band wiki if you wanted.

This also means his outing as a werewolf is public knowledge as well, since it happened at a concert. All of this was roughly around 2017-202O. Since then though the last note of public information online was that he practically disappeared.

He does have a Twitter and Insta account now, but it's separate from his old ones and just something he uses on occasion because he knows a few of his extended family still check on him through it rather than contact him.

His curse is not publicly known.

What natives would know about them?

Magicks who can sense that sort of thing would know he's a werewolf, even if they didn't have knowledge of his music career.

Some around town might know he's the leader of one of the wolf packs in town, but that's mostly just known by the other wolves/people close to them.

Works at The Court of Miracles as a bartender, musician and occasionally sings.

Recently (July 2024) became the owner of Swynlake Cinema.

Other:

He seems friendly enough, but due to his curse little things always seem to be going wrong for other people whenever he's around. (Bad luck affliction on other people, his own luck always increasingly better in comparison - this is widely up the other mun the degree of effects but nothing too widespread or destructive.)

His wolf form has a solid grey coat without any markings other than some darker tones at the ends of his limbs and along his shoulder scruff. He has been seen around town/shifted before so he is recognizable as a wolf.

[Blackwater Pack Info] [Swynlake Cinema]

[rezares]

You Rang? || Lucky Curse

[bad-moon--rising]

Lucky wasn't really sure what he was trying to accomplish. Didn't know where to begin really; wasn't like he could go track down the sorcerer that Roland had gotten to curse him even if his brother could remember much about them. So that was a dead end.

But he had to try something else; if it failed at least he'd attempted.

It just wasn't a comfortable idea; folks knowing about the curse. But if this Reza fella was a sorcerer who worked at breaking curses he probably was discreet about that sort of thing. Or at least Lucky hoped he was.

When the door opened he...actually he didn't know what he was thinking because what did he assume a sorcerer was going to be? He was around sorcerers all the time and down and they were just completely normal folks so he wasn't sure why I had gotten into his head that this one would be something different.

"Lookin' for somebody named Reza, actually," he offered a smile, "asked 'round town an' ya might be th'one 'round here who can answers some questions for me."

If the man was, in fact, the one he was looking for.

@rezares

[rezares]

@bad-moon--rising

Oh, that wasn't terribly unusual, but still unusual enough that it took him by surprise.

"Right, well that's me. I'm Reza. Come in, make yourself comfortable." He said.

Reza gestured to the workshop's small kitchen.

"Tea? Or straight to what I can do for you?"

[bad-moon--rising]

"Not real sure how I'm supposed t'go about this sorta thing," Lucky admitted as he tried to follow that request once he'd followed him into the workshop, but he still felt out of sorts.

"M'fine, thanks," his twitchy stomach didn't much like the suggestion and it was nerves, sure, but he didn't want to change it. Nothing worse of a first impression than getting ill on some random fella he needed to ask some difficult questions.

"Just...had some questions 'bout curses an' you'd be th'one t'ask, right?"

@rezares

[goodeveningjasper]

keep it vintage, love ||Bad Luck

[bad-moon--rising]

"Dunno; has its place sometimes, like most things. Only way I get t'catch up on what m'family is doin' these days, 'cept Roland of course. He can just come round an yell at me himself," he joked, mostly, even though Roland did seem more interested in arguing than he was in talking lately. "Also did a lotta bad for me; rumors spread fast." And if not for videos and the internet maybe there band could have recovered.

But in the same breathe it was the online world that was keeping their music alive in little corners and devoted fans.

"Gotta balance things I guess; good with th'bad. Sure makes keeping th'cinema runnin' easier but not somethin' I wanna spend all m'time online."

He wasn't the one who ran the cinema's online presence usually, that was Scott unless there was something he needed to post publicly outside of the usual things.

Jasper didn't care much for the reach of the technology that connected everyone though, he'd noticed, and it was just another of those things that was Jasper and he didn't overthink it much.

He liked the quiet sometimes himself, but he also liked the woods, summer bonfires and long weekends in wild places that neither Jasper nor Scott were quite as eager to experience; it was all give and take.

Lucky turned his attention back to the road and the building ahead, giving it a quick look around as they pulled into the lot, stretching his legs as he stepped out of the car. "Guess we head tha'way," he reasoned, spotting the open door to garage on the property.

@goodeveningjasper

[goodeveningjasper]

Jasper really took in what Lucky was saying about his own family. The two couldn't be more different. There wasn't a single day that Jasper thought about the goings on of his own family. Verneals health was one thing but after the wards were up he felt like she would favor well. Not a single thought flashed across his mind - what Horace was doing or his father. Only memories of Arthur - which held him together in his darkest of time.

A slight twitch of his hand flicked as he gripped the steering wheel. "Roland yells?" Jasper asked almost cutting his love off. That was triggering in the oddest of ways. It wasn't that Jasper wanted to come off over protective but bloody hell he didn't want anyone messing with his flock. "He better knock that shit off." Jasper warned pressing his lips thin - that loud mouth needed to reign it in.

The car was slowing continuing down the drive inch by inch. "We can pull right up to it then." Jasper ensure his smile had returned - Lucky wasn't going to see anything less than that smile. "I assume they know we're comin?" Jasper leaned forward looking for anyone out front. "If they wanted to make a decent sale love they would be here to greet us."

@bad-moon--rising

[bad-moon--rising]

"Roland's th'sorta person with a lotta energy an' doesn't always know wha way t'send it. He's a lil rough at th'edges but he's not t'bad." Lucky smiled; his brother was a lot, sometimes too much for some people. Loud, intense and full of opinions. But when he looked at Roland he didn't see the curse, the arguments or even the accusations; he saw his brother. The brother he'd grown up with who felt had to claw for everything because somewhere along the way Roland had gotten it into his head that something about him wasn't good enough. Lucky wished he knew a way to make that feeling go away because it wasn't true; for him it had never been a competition.

Once upon a time there had been exploring the woods and conversations about the future ahead and that feeling of knowing they just fine because they'd look out for each other.

Maybe it wasn't that way anymore, as much as Lucky wished it were, but he didn't want Jasper to think badly of his brother.

"He's harmless, just carryin' a lotta heavy things he's not ready to put down yet; ya can't hold tha too much against him. There's a lotta good t'him, lotta heart."

Lucky folded his arms back across the window, looking out into the wind and letting that breeze wash over him like the memory of those old days under the trees.

But of course he had to come back to the moment, chuckling as he tipped his head. "Should know, yeah; might be busy? Folks over here do things different than back home; would've already met em, talked to em an made friends by this point," he joked, or mostly joked; it was still true. But different folks had different ways of doing things.

"Probably 'round th'back if that garage," he speculated, "could probably park here an go see."

He was pretty eager to stretch his legs too, even if it had been a short drive.

@goodeveningjasper

[hngrylikethewoolf]

dog gone it || irish luck

[hngrylikethewoolf]

CLOSED STARTER FOR @bad-moon--rising

The wolf could smell the other before the man walked around the corner of the market. They'd grown accustomed to scenting people, the man and his wolf, and knew when they were familiar or not, Magick or not.

And this one, for what it was worth, happened to be both.

Clearing his throat, Errol offers a short nod to the younger werewolf, then tries to step around him. When he realizes there isn't room, even out here, he quietly sighs then looks the other full in the face.

"Feel like 's a trick tae run intae ye, even in a small town." He actively avoided, or tried tk avoid, the wolves in this place. He had no want or desire to get involved in territoriality, though his wolf wanted to run, and had done so with Buster.

[bad-moon--rising]

One problem with having another werewolf as a roommate?

The grocery shopping was never-ending with two appetites that could be especially demanding after full moons and running through the forest. It was the planning ahead weeks before that meant they didn't spend the day after eating takeout that didn't really satisfy much. Especially with Scott; the guy was practically a carnivore the few days leading up to and after the full moon. Lucky was less affected but he'd also been living with the wolfish influence on his moods, self control and hunger his entire life compared to the barely two years Scott had.

So he did a lot of grocery shopping, and they both did a lot of...less than great cooking.

He hadn't even started, paused to pull up his list on his phone, when the other man tried to shuffle past him.

"Oh, hello." Lucky couldn't help but chuckle because he had crossed paths with Errol a few times before and there was a wariness about him that was understandable, but always struck him as a bit unfortunate.

But that was a product of growing up in such a large pack and with community as a sense of comfort; he'd seen so many wolves who had never had the benefit of that security since he'd left home.

"Sooner or later you're bound t'run into everybody 'round here though," Lucky realized he was in the way though and moved to the side to be polite and in part because some wolves were always on edge about feeling cornered in a way he didn't like to upset folks over, "can't say it's not one of th'reasons I like small towns."

@hngrylikethewoolf

[hngrylikethewoolf]

@bad-moon--rising

The chuckle earns a faint twitch of his eyebrow upward, head tilting ever-so-slightly to one side. It's not concerned, this movement, nor angry, just...studying. Curious. Errol was just as curious and ever-watchful as his wolf was. A byproduct of his upbringing, perhaps, or his background, his work. It didn't matter abd Errol didn't try to name it. It just was.

With that done, he snorts softly, a concession made, and allows the lad's words to draw a half-grin from his mouth, tugging it up to show the corner of a smile. "Aye. Ye do. An' sometimes at t' least welcome o' times. Nae speakin' 'ere, mind," he says, voice and tone ever-cool, always soft, pitched in a manner that bellied his presence.

The older man steps neatly around the werewolf, pitching his hip slightly into the shelf to knock off the thing he needed into his hand. It took three seconds before it was in his trolley cart and Errol was turned back toward him again.

"I grew up in a small neighborhood. Wasnae very welcomin', though. But ye get used tae it." Eyes stray to the younger man's cart and, seeing all the meat, his grin widens and a dry chuckle escapes.

He figures he knows what it's for – his wolf had a similar craving – and he had much the same, though interspersed with things he refused to shove off for a four-legged little bint (affectionately speaking).

[bad-moon--rising]

Sometimes he found himself trying to decode the other man's accent. It was the sort of thing that got easier with practice and he really didn't see him more than passing every so often so that practice was severely lacking.

But Lucky always found it interesting. Maybe it was because he had such a strong accent himself and people didn't always seem to get what he was saying either. He felt more inclined to pay attention. It wasn't that difficult, it reminded him a bit of some of the oldest among the pack or the coven who had come from much deeper places in the mountains originally.

He'd also heard stories like that before, one's very different from his own where growing up had felt like belonging rather than trying to fit in, at least not until he had left the sheltering borders of the town he'd known, past even Nashville and further into the world where not everyone had that same opinion.

"Can't say I envy that, home was a lot more like this place," he admitted, knowing how fortunate he was with that, "about the only difference was my pack was quite a bit larger there." Lucky chuckled, because that wasn't such a terrible thing either now that he was the one in charge of that pack; the idea had felt huge and overwhelming when he had known it meant dozens of wolves to keep up with rather than just the sparse few he was supposed to be looking after now.

Some days even that felt an awful lot bigger than himself though.

And he didn't like to mention those things too often anyway, seemed like nearly every wolf he ran across in town was on their own and he could understand when the world wasn't very kind and it was hard to trust people. He'd gone through those years himself and thought he still would be; not having to anymore was a refuge all in itself and not one that everyone had the luxury of so he didn't like to point it out.

@hngrylikethewoolf

[scampcomehome]

Family is a Choice || Scan

[bad-moon--rising]

"Scott's very worldly," Lucky voiced, teasing, when the protests about broccoli on pizza came up, although more worldly than himself and he couldn't really deny that. "He's just tryin' t'survive small town life these days."

Lucky stepped around Kurt while he was busy heating up his food, because he wasn't going to leave Scott just starving in the living room, of course, so he retrieved a few more plates from the cabinet.

"What's your fancy cat supposed t'be eatin' t'night anyway?" Since she would start nosing around if everyone but her was eating, and honestly he lost track of all the different cans and bags that Scott kept in one of the cabinets for her. Besides, every now and then it didn't hurt to appeal to her good side with a few treats.

"Isn't an emu just like a big chicken anyway?" Lucky mused as he collected pizza for their plates and set them aside for a moment until Kurt was finished. "Got drinks in th' fridge too," he informed him; hopefully seeing that space was relaxed would help him, in turn, shake some of the obvious tension lurking at the edge of his eyes.

Whatever he'd been through he was wearing an awful lot of it like a second skin and Lucky knew that exhausting feeling.

@scampcomehome

[scampcomehome]

"Small town life is getting easier these days," Scott conceded, "though it's helped by running the Lounge. Just working at the Pizza Planet might have killed me." The truth was the change that had made all the difference had been moving in with Lucky but it felt especially corny to say so in front of the new kid. Scott didn't want to change Kurt's mind on giving them a chance by getting all sappy.

"Well I'm fine with just.. pepperoni? Cheese?" Kurt shook his head. "And 'm from a small town. England is the weird part for me." He was going to try and pass on any 'exotic' flavors until he got his bearings.. and even then emu felt a little too extreme still. Who thought of these things?!

Kurt maneuvered where he needed to go, grabbing a soda from the fridge and settling himself onto a nearby chair. It wasn't positioned the best for conversation but he figured he'd make less of a mess in this spot than if he tried to sit with Scott and the cat.

"Boheme's on the Norfolk lobster one tonight," Scott chirped as he noticed that Lucky had grabbed some food for him as well. "She didn't seem to like the Devon crab, unfortunately. Not quite to her liking."

@bad-moon--rising

[bad-moon--rising]

"Not too different, folks 'round here come from all over but th'town itself doesn't feel so big," Lucky did think to add, "after a while." Because he'd gone through a similar sort of feeling; looking for the type of place he knew just because it was smaller compared to London and plenty of other places. And it really wasn't the same, England was a different world, but after a while more felt like a reflection than something outright different.

"Figured we'd be t'be th'odd ones out," he shrugged, "me an' Scott; but ya see more folks from our side of th'world than ya might think 'round here." At least he personally ran across a fair amount. "Still are I guess; more for th'other part, but there are a few wolves 'round here too."

Not always the friendliest bunch though. Lucky wouldn't have called them unfriendly, just the types that mostly kept to themselves for their own reasons.

But they were around; he just wasn't sure if that was a comfort or an uneasy thought for Kurt.

"Cat eats better than we do," Lucky remarked, joking, as he went hunting for the food and her fancy little bowl that he sat on the mat just inside the edge of the kitchen doorway so she could still see the people but Lucky didn't like feeding her anywhere but the kitchen. She wasn't necessarily messy, just a habit and felt like one of those things that made sense.

By the time he returned to the living room to set drinks on the table and hand Scott his food before settling on the couch with his own Kurt was already looking a little less frayed at the edges. But Lucky wanted to give him more time to decompress before questions.

"Ya should see th'little outfits she's got; can't say I ever saw a cat with a closet to herself before this one."

@scampcomehome

[bad-moon--rising]

Business Sense || Royle

[bad-moon--rising]

"I appreciate it Ms. Rabbit," he was still skirting the uncertainty of the truth but it didn't seem to crash in on him that time. And he knew the details would have been harder to explain, especially since Roland lived in that town currently and Lucky didn't want to alienate him from people either.

Some part of him still stirred with the reasoning that he should have, if for no other reason than to caution others. His brother had an energetic charm to him but he also had a selfish streak that could turn on people quickly. Lucky had already made the choice to try to move past the bad blood between them, and ignore how Roland continued to insist he'd done something wrong to deserve the curse, but it was a choice; he wondered if other people were getting themselves into trouble only seeing the shine to his brother and not the teeth of his hunger for what he wanted.

He couldn't quite manage to talk about it though, not right then.

"Not much else t'say about it; tryin' t'make peace with th'whole thing and th'reasons behind because right now it's not gonna change." Even if everything else around him continued to; unraveling that curse would have meant abandoning everything there to chase down a source he and Roland might never even find again. He'd thought about it but what could he do yet?

"The rest I guess I need t'figure out what's goin' on," he admitted, an oversight on his part simply by not paying attention to how things worked during that brief time in Nashville.

@notbad-justsungthatway

[notbad-justsungthatway]

She doubted that was true, although she understood Lucky well enough to know that he might feel it was true there was nothing else to say. After all, curses could be tricky and the ways they impacted a person's daily life could be insidious.

Even if it was as simple as ranting about something small that had been triggered by the curse that made his day a little harder, she was happy to listen.

But that could come in time. It was more than enough that he'd told her about it and he knew he could stay. Perhaps she could find a way to put him and Tony together on a few more shifts. Not that she would say anything to Tony, but Tony was open enough about his own curse these days that it might make Lucky feel a little bit less alone. It was an idea to toy with.

"If you want any advice, I'm happy to help. But if you start by reaching out and asking the questions, that will give you a good starting place."

@bad-moon--rising

[bad-moon--rising]

He still was convinced that somehow the curse had been at fault for the cinema being nearly destroyed, the point that felt like the biggest point in the curse lashing out since Nashville. But the problem was they didn't know if it was true, and even if it was it was one more thing committed to the past. Moving forward was the only thing he could do at times, but it was one of those delicate situations where to move forward he had to drag someone else into the problem with him.

He and Roland weren't always on the best terms, their last conversation Lucky had said what he felt needed to be said but that didn't mean he felt good about it.

"Gotta figure out where t'start," he admitted, although he supposed the obvious answer was to get back in contact with the band's old manager, track down what had been done, and...figure out what to do about getting things straightened out with his bank account that had been dusty and unused for a few years.

"Guess on th'plus side I might be able t'feel less guilty about buyin' th' truck for th'cinema," he chuckled, looking for the humor in the situation but maybe it was true. It wasn't like the truck had been that new, or that expensive, but it was always a gray area when it came to the cinema because the business was thriving but a lot went back into the events they ran. And a lot was overlooked so far as his own paycheck when it came to things like that; he really didn't find himself needing much.

The truck felt a bit like an indulgence, even if it was for the sake of the business, but he could feel better about it if we could put that money back into the cinema again.

@notbad-justsungthatway

[rezares]

You Rang? || Lucky Curse

[rezares]

@bad-moon--rising

Reza was working in his and Fadela's workshop, which was a small barn on their property converted into such a space, when the doorbell attached rang.

He suspected it was someone for his sister, a love witch, but she was out. Most calls for her, a lot of his work was from out of town clients.

He opened the door and recognized Lucky, vaguely, from the cinema. "Hello there," he said. "Looking for Fadela?"

[bad-moon--rising]

Lucky wasn't really sure what he was trying to accomplish. Didn't know where to begin really; wasn't like he could go track down the sorcerer that Roland had gotten to curse him even if his brother could remember much about them. So that was a dead end.

But he had to try something else; if it failed at least he'd attempted.

It just wasn't a comfortable idea; folks knowing about the curse. But if this Reza fella was a sorcerer who worked at breaking curses he probably was discreet about that sort of thing. Or at least Lucky hoped he was.

When the door opened he...actually he didn't know what he was thinking because what did he assume a sorcerer was going to be? He was around sorcerers all the time and down and they were just completely normal folks so he wasn't sure why I had gotten into his head that this one would be something different.

"Lookin' for somebody named Reza, actually," he offered a smile, "asked 'round town an' ya might be th'one 'round here who can answers some questions for me."

If the man was, in fact, the one he was looking for.

@rezares

[goodeveningjasper]

keep it vintage, love ||Bad Luck

[goodeveningjasper]

“Why does everyone always say that to me.” Jasper knew that he was still young but had turned away from most advances. Life had always seemed much simpler back in the day and less complicated. So why would he chase the future.

“So what I don’t keep myself glued to a screen. Maybe I feel like life would be better if everyone just unplugged for a bloody minute.” Jasper was never sure if Lucky would feel the same - he knew Scott wouldn’t. Always head first into something and far more involved than either of them with social media. Which was why the old soul of his Lucky always pulled at his heart strings.

“Sure would make everything easier.” He shrugged as he looked out the window to see what Lucky mentioned.

“Aye you’re right love the storage space is just down there.” He kept his hands on the wheel and was ready to turn into the drive.

@bad-moon--rising

[bad-moon--rising]

"Dunno; has its place sometimes, like most things. Only way I get t'catch up on what m'family is doin' these days, 'cept Roland of course. He can just come round an yell at me himself," he joked, mostly, even though Roland did seem more interested in arguing than he was in talking lately. "Also did a lotta bad for me; rumors spread fast." And if not for videos and the internet maybe there band could have recovered.

But in the same breathe it was the online world that was keeping their music alive in little corners and devoted fans.

"Gotta balance things I guess; good with th'bad. Sure makes keeping th'cinema runnin' easier but not somethin' I wanna spend all m'time online."

He wasn't the one who ran the cinema's online presence usually, that was Scott unless there was something he needed to post publicly outside of the usual things.

Jasper didn't care much for the reach of the technology that connected everyone though, he'd noticed, and it was just another of those things that was Jasper and he didn't overthink it much.

He liked the quiet sometimes himself, but he also liked the woods, summer bonfires and long weekends in wild places that neither Jasper nor Scott were quite as eager to experience; it was all give and take.

Lucky turned his attention back to the road and the building ahead, giving it a quick look around as they pulled into the lot, stretching his legs as he stepped out of the car. "Guess we head tha'way," he reasoned, spotting the open door to garage on the property.

@goodeveningjasper

[roland-doylebaby]

trouble on brother mountain | Ruck

[roland-doylebaby]

Him and Pepper wanted it. Whatever the hell that meant.

Roland knew what he wanted and he knew the hard work he had put into the whole thing. That was his baby. The leg work was done by him. Day in and day out booking venues and meet and greets. Standing over at the match table the second the show was over to make sure everyone got their record signed.

That’s the hard work it took to reach that success he always wanted. Pepper liked the music of it all. Whatever the hell that meant - Roland appreciated her for it. Lucky though him and that manager Roland always knew they were in cahoots and honestly he wanted to hear his self righteous mouth admit it!

“I don’t give a fuck what people did to get this place right! It just a fucking cinema. Who gives a damn that it’s old and the old man running it will probably pass while watching the 600th running of Mary Poppins!” Roland threw his hands up in haste - blood boiling. “ I do not GIVE A FUCK!”

Roland did give 100 fucks though about the curse. Yeah he did it and he would probably do it again. With his brother out here still acting like this. So self righteous he doesn’t see a damn thing he does and how it would piss everyone else off. Nobody asked for all this wise wisdom. That’s honestly what his brother lacked it was the ability to be a fucking real person.

“Woulda thought that the curse would’ve done something!” Roland snapped. “Another thing I don’t give a fuck about now is the band! Yeah sure it was a good thing while we had it but we were one more show away from you sky rocketing to a solo career after all the hard work I DID! ME!” Roland was now pointed at his own chest over and over again. “I knew you had some twisted view of this whole fucking thing too! Talking about the break up and poor us and poor you! How you didn’t for us! NEWS FLASH - nobody asked you fucking to. I know I didn’t. I wanted to treat that as my fucking career bro! Jokes on you though!”

Roland walked in a tight circle as his rage built so high he was now fighting off a chuckle.

“I’ve actually made something of myself on my own. For me. Guess what nothing fell back on me or the twins or the pack!” Roland knew it wouldn’t either. There was always going to be people who hated wolves and he knew it. They were always treated poorly but Roland didn’t care. “You wouldn’t know that no though…would you.”

Roland finally stood still and looked across at his brother. “Using the curse as the reason you didn’t come home or whatever is crazy! Like I wouldn’t have owned it. Or gone and reversed that shit. Instead you just twist it into your own narrative fueled by your ignorance and self righteous bullshit!”

@bad-moon--rising

[bad-moon--rising]

He knew exactly what Roland was doing; exactly what Roland always did when he thought his own opinion was the only one that mattered. He was trying to prod at a wound for a reaction and Lucky knew it; wanting a challenge that turned sharp and snarling.

"Ya can yell all ya want Roland, m'not gonna start screaming an arguing with ya. In case ya forgot th'last time I did that we lost everythin' we had worked for. And tha wasn't just you, Pepper worked for it an I worked for it."

There was a point Lucky felt was cruel and he'd always avoided, but everyone always avoided it with Roland and maybe that was part of the problem.

"You're not th' center of everyone's universe. Nobody tells ya tha because you're loud, and ya have a way of working 'round people's edges where they think it's charming. You've got a lotta good to ya but but you're also selfish, an if you hadn't been so selfish, if ya had taken even a minute t'actually look at what I was doing and what I was sayin' in Nashville ya would have known I had no intentions of a solo career. I wanted t'go home when it was all said an done."

There had been very little in that busy city that had appealed to him, and it wasn't by any means terrible but it also wasn't alive he saw for himself. "I was never going t'stay, Roland; I wanted t'make sure th'two of ya were okay first. If ta would have just waited long enough for me to step back ya would have been th'one in th'spotlight with th'band. Maybe I didn't do it all right but none of us did; ya can't blame me for everything."

It wasn't like Lucky hadn't known how badly Roland wanted it, he had never known his brothers do anything unless it was something that felt dire to him at the time, an impossible goal he would never back down from. So he knew Roland wanted to be the frontman, and he didn't; but there had been no waiting for the other wolf. Maybe lucky could have tried harder to push the issue with their manager but he'd been too afraid that they would simply be dropped and that would be the end of it. .

Lucky didn't blame his brother for a lot of things, some of them were simply the person that he was, but he wasn't going to put up with all of them anymore either.

"The curse cost me my marriage, cost me years on m'own an a lotta choices I wouldn't have made if I'd had any other options; and ya being angry is not going to cost me this place or the people here. Not lettin' ya push me like tha again." Lucky shook his head, lips drawn to a thin line over the edge of his canine teeth in the hint of a warning for Roland to back down; not as his brother, or a human, but as his pack leader. It wasn't a comfortable card to pull, but sometimes it was the only one Roland would respect. "I don't care if ya care about th'cinema or not, but I do an you're going t'respect that and th'people here; an if ya keep carryin' on like some kid cryin' over not gettin' his way an' trying t'start a fight here ya can do that outside."

"Of course I know ya made something of your own Roland; I've watched ya. Do you really think not bein' at home has kept me from watchin' your videos? Keepin' up with th'news?" It wasn't like it was that difficult, not with Roland being online with his channels and his vivid presence; it had been the only way to connect with him over all that distance and even then it hadn't been a real connection, only as close as Lucky could get. "I don't know why ya seem to think I want ya t'fail, it's th'exact opposite; been watchin' ya build your own life. But that doesn't give you th'right to step on anyone else's. It's not just you that's been buildin' somethin' and this cinema is mine. I'm happy for ya, but ya can't be happy for me because you're still clingin t'somethin tha even you say doesn't even matter anymore to ya. "

Roland kept going and Lucky's stance went ridgid, then he shook his head. "I won't ask why ya had no problem with th'idea of me bringin' some kinda potentially dangerous magic back to th'pack, to momma and dad, and Pepper, or th'twins, and ya don't have t'ask why I did."

@roland-doylebaby

[omneco]

[vexheart]

This

[goodeveningjasper]

keep it vintage, love ||Bad Luck

[goodeveningjasper]

“No no it’s a good investment.” Jasper couldn’t believe he didn’t think of the idea himself. Probably because he had drawn a fine line in the sand when it came to everything Lucky and well…Lucky and his cinema he was f going to come near it with his ideas.

Crossing that line was not something he was willing to do unless asked. Like now -

“Better than renting one from the garage. I know Buster has his set of rigs over there that he would lend.” Jasper only could roll his eyes as he even lofted the idea out. “You’ll get a hefty amount of use outta this yeah?”

Watching between keeping his eyes on the road Jasper found himself curious as Lucky looked up the address. Phones were not his thing - hell he barely texted as is. “I almost had you pulling out the map I’ve got there in the bin there.” Pointing to the glove box. “We should be coming up on it then!”

@bad-moon--rising

[bad-moon--rising]

"Yeah, things come up though, don't wanna have t'depend on askin' around th' garage all th'time." Lucky pointed out, and it wasn't just that it was more convenient but, well, it was also something he wanted.

Funny how sometimes it was the simplest things really; he'd shared a few vehicles among his siblings and cousins back home and that had been fine, hadn't given a second thought to it because it'd always been that way and he'd spent more time around home anyway so having something like that to himself didn't make much sense.

It did then, even if he wouldn't be the only one using it around the cinema and he'd had to talk himself into the idea, he was looking forward to it.

"Pretty sure I can still remember how t'drive," he joked; of course he could and honestly the roads around town were far less difficult to navigate anyway. Nothing like the dirt and gravel roads he'd been taught on; easy in comparison to those.

"Jasper, sometimes I wonder wha time yer livin' in," Lucky laughed fondly; it had always struck him a little funny all the things that Jasper held close that didn't quite mesh with the world around him. But the other man was a bit eccentric and Lucky found it endearing.

And he couldn't say much anyway; the appeal of nostalgia ran deeply in him as well.

"Yeah, next right; should be a big storage building' with a bunch of equipment in th' front," he confirmed with a glance at one of the texts with a photo of the building.

@goodeveningjasper

[bad-moon--rising]

Business Sense || Royle

[notbad-justsungthatway]

There was a moment she wanted to laugh. Was he going to say he figured the money would make its way to other people because he wanted it to? There were ways to make that happen of course, but they required instructions, documentation, planning. She wasn't entirely certain about the laws covering this back in the United States, but there were some basics that were similar across all Western banking systems.

The rest of his explanation had the amusement softening into sympathy. He'd left Nashville under such awful circumstances, no wonder he hadn't been thinking clearly. He'd picked a hard road for himself.

But there was more. Poor boy, no wonder he'd been terrified and reeling.

There was one worry she could relieve.

Leaning forward, she pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. "Lucky, you're one of mine. These doors will always be open to you, no matter what. I'm honored you'd trust me with this, and if its something you ever want to talk more about, I'm happy to listen. No one will hear about it from me."

He had his pack now, and she hoped that would relieve a little of his loneliness and ache. He deserved to have people he could trust around him. But even if she wasn't part of the pack, she wanted him to know that he had places he could lean.

@bad-moon--rising

[bad-moon--rising]

"I appreciate it Ms. Rabbit," he was still skirting the uncertainty of the truth but it didn't seem to crash in on him that time. And he knew the details would have been harder to explain, especially since Roland lived in that town currently and Lucky didn't want to alienate him from people either.

Some part of him still stirred with the reasoning that he should have, if for no other reason than to caution others. His brother had an energetic charm to him but he also had a selfish streak that could turn on people quickly. Lucky had already made the choice to try to move past the bad blood between them, and ignore how Roland continued to insist he'd done something wrong to deserve the curse, but it was a choice; he wondered if other people were getting themselves into trouble only seeing the shine to his brother and not the teeth of his hunger for what he wanted.

He couldn't quite manage to talk about it though, not right then.

"Not much else t'say about it; tryin' t'make peace with th'whole thing and th'reasons behind because right now it's not gonna change." Even if everything else around him continued to; unraveling that curse would have meant abandoning everything there to chase down a source he and Roland might never even find again. He'd thought about it but what could he do yet?

"The rest I guess I need t'figure out what's goin' on," he admitted, an oversight on his part simply by not paying attention to how things worked during that brief time in Nashville.

@notbad-justsungthatway

[scampcomehome]

Family is a Choice || Scan

[scampcomehome]

Scott debated following Kurt and Lucky into the kitchen but decided that three was definitely a crowd in that room. "I'll have to grab ours in a minute," he murmured to the orange tabby, his cat purring loudly in her cozy little sweater. Scott snapped a photo of her, preparing it to post on her Instagram account that was solely dedicated to her wardrobe.

"Broccoli on pizza? That's a thing?" Kurt asked, personally offended by the idea. He shuddered at the thought, glad to see some regular pizza options when the boxes opened. He grabbed a slice of each topping option, glancing at the microwave as he debated his options. He did eventually cave to pop them in the machine as the fridge temperature was just a tad too cold for his liking.

Scott rolled his eyes despite knowing the other two couldn't see it. "Broccoli pizza isn't that bad! It's pretty popular in Brazil!" That tidbit didn't seem to convince Kurt any but Scott wasn't phased. "I've also had mango pizza in the Philippine's and emu in Australia." He was pretty sure Kurt's whole face lost some color.

Whoops.

"Y'all're.. somethin' else." Kurt seemed to be questioning a lot of his life's choices.

@bad-moon--rising

[bad-moon--rising]

"Scott's very worldly," Lucky voiced, teasing, when the protests about broccoli on pizza came up, although more worldly than himself and he couldn't really deny that. "He's just tryin' t'survive small town life these days."

Lucky stepped around Kurt while he was busy heating up his food, because he wasn't going to leave Scott just starving in the living room, of course, so he retrieved a few more plates from the cabinet.

"What's your fancy cat supposed t'be eatin' t'night anyway?" Since she would start nosing around if everyone but her was eating, and honestly he lost track of all the different cans and bags that Scott kept in one of the cabinets for her. Besides, every now and then it didn't hurt to appeal to her good side with a few treats.

"Isn't an emu just like a big chicken anyway?" Lucky mused as he collected pizza for their plates and set them aside for a moment until Kurt was finished. "Got drinks in th' fridge too," he informed him; hopefully seeing that space was relaxed would help him, in turn, shake some of the obvious tension lurking at the edge of his eyes.

Whatever he'd been through he was wearing an awful lot of it like a second skin and Lucky knew that exhausting feeling.

@scampcomehome

[inactive-earlymorninglow]

are you djoking

[bad-moon--rising]

Business Sense || Royle

[notbad-justsungthatway]

Lucky's response was so baffling that for a moment she opened her mouth and then closed it again, staring back at him.

Maybe it was a legacy of her own childhood. One where she'd scrimped and saved every single tip she received to cover rent, and a good month meant she could afford to indulge her love of CDs and comics. The way she'd wept when getting the job at the Court had allowed her to put a down payment on a real home of the sort they hadn't been able to afford since she was barely old enough to remember. She never considered herself extravagant. But money was security. Residuals like that were security.

She only occasionally gave Lucky a nudge in a specific direction, but this hit such a particular nerve she couldn't leave it alone.

"Lucky, you do realize that all of that money is still yours, don't you? Leaving it behind simply means its sitting in an account not helping anyone. It isn't going to magically jump from your account to that of your siblings or your parents. Your band did well. It still plays well online. You should at least look into it."

She rested a hand on one arm. "Even if you don't need it for yourself, wouldn't it be helpful with the strays in your pack? For getting them comfortable while they transition?"

@bad-moon--rising

[bad-moon--rising]

Lucky had not, in fact, realized that. Because he had left the idea behind him with the faith that the band's agent would look after it, see to it that it went to the people back home and he'd been too busy trying to keep on his feet.

"Never thought much 'bout it, figured it'd get where it needed t'go because I-" he trailed off for a moment, feeling that swell of something not exactly shame but perhaps still saturated with too much regret, "-honestly was just s'paranoid if I touched any of tha it would end up bein' how somebody found me. Couldn't go back then; not just because...th'tabloids, or worse, would've never given m'family any peace but I didn't know then just what all else I'd be takin' back to 'em."

He was always so cautious about that fact, he afforded the curse more caution than he did his status as a werewolf; the latter he had been raised to be proud of but the former he knew was something terrible.

"Home isn't like most places; never even heard much 'bout how folks had so many problems with wolves until I started at th'high school outside of town because we were part of town, just as much as anybody else. Didn't know th'world was that different until Nashville, an' didn't want to take any of th' ugliness of it back home."

He weighed it for a moment, then continued.

"Not just tha. Th'whole reason it all went wrong was because of me but it wasn't me, wasn't something I would've done," it had taken him a long time to get to the point where he could say that, where he could admit the fault wasn't all his own, "been carryin' some bad magic for a long time, cursed magic. Back then it was new an' I didn't know if it could really hurt people. I didn't want to take tha' home either, especially not with th' twins being so young an' not able t'look after themselves if anythin bad did come along because of me. Still...can't convince myself t'do it for th'same reason."

Lucky exhaled, talking about things like that did lighten some of the tension in his chest but at the same time he didn't feel very good about the burden that placed on others in knowing.

"Didn't say much 'bout it before because I thought, well, seems like bein' a wolf was one strike but a curse on top of tha might have been one strike too many an' got me thrown out of this place," he admitted, "wasn't the right thing t'do, I know, feels like I do a lot of things tha don't quite end up being th'right thing. An if tha matters now, still, I understand. I've made a lot of mistakes but I've always tried t'keep on th'right side of those mistakes not hurtin' other folks an I don't want t'do tha here. "

Because there was that; she had to think about everyone there and the truth might have been a little too much. He wasn't going to argue that.

"Just didn't think much about th'money; could have saved me a lot of miserable, cold, rough nights an' choices I wouldn've made quite th' same way I had to then, but kinda felt like I deserved those."

But she was right about that; he had people to look out for and if he had more means to do that potentially it was worth finding out. He just had to get himself together and get to figuring out where to start.

@notbad-justsungthatway

[scampcomehome]

Family is a Choice || Scan

[scampcomehome]

Scott plopped himself down on the couch, allowing Lucky to play host for their new guest. Boheme usually immediately jumped up to sit with him but, instead, began circling Kurt's legs. The newer wolf stiffened, clearly unsure how to respond to her affections. Scott decided not to help, just watching it play out. Boheme was gentle, making little infinity symbols between Kurt's legs, until the man relented and leaned down to pet her, upon which time she decided to abandon Kurt to finally join Scott on the couch.

"Think Bo just wanted a proper greeting," Scott chuckled as he scratched her behind the ears.

Kurt shuffled after Lucky without responding to Scott, unsure how to proceed there, and instead focused on the food offerings. Which... yeah, the offerings were pizza. "Well, even the worst pizza is still pizza," he shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Can't really go wrong there, right?"

Scott glanced at Lucky's face, trying to get a read on how the leader of the pack felt about the whole ordeal. He hadn't meant to spring this on Lucky, hadn't known he'd run into a lost wolf on his outing that day, but just like when he'd brought Boheme home, it seemed that Lucky was taking it all in stride.

Lucky seemed to take everything in stride, really.

"Well then pizza it is. Help yourself to.. really whatever. The cheeseburger mac pizza's pretty good. I promise I had no hand in crafting any pizza."

@bad-moon--rising

[bad-moon--rising]

"I don't get it either," Lucky added, watching Kurt trying to figure out the strange whims of feline behavior. It made more sense some days but others he had no idea what to expect; the cat might sprawl on the sofa next to him while he was playing his guitar or she might decide to throw all the papers with the restock orders for the concession stands all over the living room floor if he happened to forget to put them away after he'd gone through to order things.

"Oh, it can go wrong," Lucky felt it was a bit of a cautionary tale even if he was mostly joking to lighten the mood since Kurt looked about as apprehensive as Lucky figured he might have been in that apartment. But just getting a good look at him confirmed his suspicion that was bound to be the case anywhere; he must have been through a lot.

But that story wasn't one he needed just yet.

"Broccoli on pizza might just be an affront t'sound reasonin'." As he had learned from experience.

The kitchen was near enough and the floor plan open enough that he caught Scott watching out of the corner of his eye as he urged Kurt into the space, grabbing a plate for him and retrieving a few white and red Pizza Planet boxes from the fridge to set on the counter for him.

The microwave, which Lucky and Scott were in fact too American to live without, was also within reach on said counter as well since Lucky had no aversion to the idea but some people did not like cold pizza.

@scampcomehome