TIMING: Before Cass gave Thea that haircut. PARTIES: @notstinky & @letsbenditlikebennett SUMMARY: Alex last minute texts the Allgoods group chat to see if anyone wants to join her for a picnic. Thea is the only one who joins and the two attempt to have a picnic.
Thea knew it was a bad idea to make a southern style bacon and tomato pie for a picnic. Which was why she had also made a peach galette and salmon salad. Thea wanted to impress and there wasn’t much she could do in that department: she wasn’t particularly funny, her intelligence was overshadowed by her naïveté and sometimes talking to people made her so anxious, she didn’t talk at all. She was, however, a decent cook-- not a chef by any fancy standards but someone who enjoyed the practice and was good at following instructions just as much as she was willing to do tedious work. By the time she was done, she had enough for a picnic of her own and she was also a few minutes late. She didn’t bother to check her phone, rushing to the common on her bike as fast as she could. She carried the bike and her basket up a small hill, heaving when she found… no one. Thea blinked. This was the spot, wasn’t it? This was the time they were supposed to meet, wasn’t it?
When a figure approached, Thea squinted, holding up her basket. “Um, were you here for the picnic too?” Had it been canceled? Surely she wasn’t that late.
—
Ever since finding out about the mushrooms, Alex had been a little uneasy about where she stood in most of her relationships. Obviously, everything with Cass had a huge question mark over it. How much of Alex had she actually liked and how much was just some weird high? Even the new friends she made were all friends with Cass and she couldn’t help but wonder how tentative that made her place in the friend group. Sure, being the girl who can step up in an emergency was a good niche to fill, but that hardly made her the first on someone’s party invite list, she was certain.
So even if the text to the group chat was likely going to be met with cricket sounds, Alex decided to invite the usual crew to the Common for a picnic. Andy had brought home a ton of nice breads and while the werewolf could not be trusted with a stove, she could be trusted with cold cuts and cheese. A couple of people agreed to meet, but by the time she had gotten to their meeting spot, most had backed out. She had been about to turn around when she realized someone was in fact there. Then she was being greeted and she felt a rush of relief. See, she could be social on her own merit. It felt like that counted for something. “Yeah,” she exclaimed, “I think everyone else backed out, but I made some sandwiches. Nothing crazy.”
Mostly ham and cheese because she had hoped Nora would come and Nora loved ham. Hopefully this new friend liked ham too and would in fact, be a new friend. “I’m Alex,” she said, extending her hand to shake Thea’s, “I don’t think we’ve met? I’ve only been to a couple of parties with everyone… but if you’re down to picnic still, I am too.”
—
Thea flushed, joining her strawberry dress in color. Of course, sandwiches were a normal picnic food to bring. The sort of thing smart, normal people brought. She eyed the horizon, considering throwing her basket down the hill. “I made a bacon and tomato pie,” she mumbled. “And a peach galette and a salmon salad.” And enough shame for a few lifetimes, at least. If she threw it all away, at least she wouldn’t have to face the knowledge that Alex had witnessed her desperation to be liked. So desperate, so embarrassing, that she hadn’t even checked the group chat to see that no one else was coming. She was, however, glad that she’d showed up—just so Alex wouldn’t be alone. “My worst nightmare is no one showing up to my events,” she said, not realizing that it wasn’t the sort of thing you told someone who was experiencing just that. “I get sweaty just thinking about it.”
Thea stuck out her hand, smiling brilliantly, “I’m Cyn—Thea. Sorry, just Thea. It’s nice to meet you, Alex.” Her eyes drifted to her basket. “I, uh, packed way too much.” It wasn’t too late to throw it and pretend Alex didn’t see anything, was it?
—
Next time she planned a social event, maybe it’d be a good idea to put some actual planning into it. Alex felt bad that Thea had put so much effort into her contributions to the picnic and the only person here was her. Sure, the werewolf could put back more food than your average girl, but she was sure it was meant for a group to enjoy. “Sorry,” she murmured with a hand uneasily stroking the back of her neck, “I’m not really the best at planning these sorts of things. But that all sounds super delicious if you’re still down to hang out.”
She extended her hand to properly introduce herself, “I’m Alex.” She caught onto the minor way Thea tripped over her own name, but Alex wasn’t about to point it out. “Good to meet you.” She thought about the whole nightmare thing and maybe if she had put more effort into planning this, she’d be horrified, but she couldn’t imagine no one showing up being worse than her usual dose of self-loathing. “Heh, I guess it depends on the context. Could be a nightmare if it was like a big party,” she mused, “Especially if I planned it for someone else.”
Since she had company now, Alex pulled one of the picnic blankets out of her bag and laid it down on the ground. From what she could smell, the dishes Thea brought smelled amazing and she was hungry, but then there was something else there too that made her pause. She looked up a bit surprised and determined no one else was nearby. There was definitely a werewolf, she could smell another werewolf, which meant Thea was also a werewolf. Did she know or would this be another Gael situation? She hoped it wasn’t the latter. Her head tilted and she gave the other wolf a quizzical look. “So, uh…,” she started, awkwardly gesturing between them, “Lycanthropy, am I right?” Well, that was decidedly not smooth and probably sounded crazy to Thea if she didn’t know, but her patience was already being worn down in that department with Gael.
—
Thea came with every intention of making new friends who thought she was cool and normal and so, even if her audience was just Alex, she intended on doing just that. Slowly, she unpacked the contents of her basket—the pie, the galette, the salad, the cutlery and plates. She hoped Alex was hungry, at least. “Planning stuff is harder than it seems,” Thea nodded. “You can’t just say ‘hey show up to my thing’ but also, what else are you gonna do? And when people flake on you, it’s not like you can force ‘em to come anyway. Hey, what do you want first?” Thea gestured to her assortment of food and then to Alex’s sandwiches. Now she felt silly about not bringing anything to drink. She had picked up the knife, ready to cut up her pie when the word rang out over the still, summer air.
Lycanthropy. Of course Thea knew what it meant; she had been there when Twilight had hit its Hollywood stride and then, later, when Teen Wolf was airing (though in her opinion the show really fell off after Allison Argent died). She knew the word. She was the word. Her eyes grew wide and the knife wobbled in her quivering grip. Her palms grew hot. “W-what?” She turned to Alex, panic bubbling off of her. She sniffed the air to no avail; the world and its scents were still a mystery concoction to Thea. The grass was grassy, the dirty was dirty, Alex was Alexy? She didn’t know. She swallowed against the lump in her throat. Suddenly, her mouth was desert dry. “L-like Jacob f-from Twilight? B-bella, where the-the hell have you been, loca?” Thea laughed and the knife slipped from her hands, stabbing into the ground, the handle perfectly vertical. “I like, uh, vampires more.”
—
“You’re so right,” Alex joked with a smile, “But hey, you showed up which means I get to know you now, so I think it turned out alright this time.” It was still a little embarrassing that no one else had showed up, but Thea seemed pretty cool and understanding about it… and packed a lot of really delicious sounding food that Alex was looking forward to trying since all of it sounded delicious. “Mm, maybe the tomato bacon pie? That’s like… three of my favorite things. Tomatoes, bacon, and pie,” she exclaimed.
There was a long pause and she could see the way the knife shook in Thea’s hand. At least that hopefully meant the other werewolf at least knew she was a werewolf, something Alex couldn’t seem to get through Gael’s head. But then Thea was writing it off and talking about Twilight and Alex wondered if she couldn’t tell they were the same.
“Uh, lycanthropy,” she said slowly, “Like werewolves?” There was clearly a reference there that Alex didn’t understand since she’d never seen the movies or read the books. She tilted her head slightly confused before giving a shrug. “Not like Twilight,” she laughed nervously, “Never read or seen it actually. But can’t say I’ve met a vampire for reference. Zombies are pretty cool though… not really what I was getting at.”
She took some of the sandwiches out of her pack and placed a few between them. Alex wasn’t sure how to address the elephant in the room… or wolf in the field? “The word made you nervous…,” she trailed off, “Do you not smell it? The whole we’re the same in that thing?”
—
“WOW, you’ve never seen Twilight?” Thea laughed loud and nervously. Her heart punched the edge of her ribs in quick, suffocating pumps. The scene around her spun and twisted, like water dropped on a painting. Everything was a blurry mess of green and blue and then, a series of grays. She could only tell where Alex was by the smell of her, which she refused to categorize. “I b-b-bet you don’t know…” she slurred, her words tumbling quickly over each other. “…a-about the ugly baby.” With hindsight, she might have laughed; it was kind of funny to be talking about Renesmee while her body unraveled. Her throat squeezed, pinching her airway into a thin tube with a tiny hole and Thea had to push in as much air into her body as she could. She pressed her plan to her chest, marveling at the rapid hammering of her heart, then, worrying over it. Surely, she was dying.
Thea squeezed her eyes shut, her body rang out like a tuning fork hit at a bad angle. The discordance made her feel like she was dying and her body, panicked, continued its reaction accordingly. It wasn’t until the sweet smell of flour, the savory kick of ham and the unmistakable odor of cheese wafted into her nostrils that her mind rendered into a fireworks show shot off its last multicolor explosion. Her father made her ham and cheese sandwiches all the time; it was all they had money for and the only thing time would allow him to make before work. Thea should have gotten sick of eating the same thing day after day, but she was a creature of habits and rituals and nothing soothed her more than something that operated without change. She opened her eyes and stared at the sandwiches wrapped in plastic. She’d come here for a new chance at normal. Thea looked at Alex, smiling brilliantly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Thea pulled her knife from the ground and pointed it at Alex. Then, grinning, she cut into the tomato pie. “I’m just a normal girl with a bit of a moon-based issue.” She put a slice on to a plate and set it in front of Alex. “I haven’t done anything wrong. Ever. I’m totally normal and okay. Oh, I’ve got some water in…” She pulled a water bottle out of the basket and set it in front of Alex, adjusting all the angles so everything sat just right. “If you’re going to claim that you turn into a monster every full moon, and some, and hurt people… well…I don’t think that’s me. I’m very normal, Alex. My problem is just a teeny tiny little thing—you say lycanthropy and that’s just so weird and scary. You might be a weirdo, but not me. The only thing I smell is ham and cheese.”
—
“I don’t know about any ugly babies,” Alex said with a confused grimace. What did ugly babies have to do with anything? Was it actually okay to call a baby ugly? That seemed kind of mean. It was just a baby. She assumed the baby had to have some sort of nonsense going on if it was from Twilight though, so she was going to have to trust Thea on that one… or simply ask Cass about it later. When it came to rocks and movies, Cass was better than Google. Google didn’t look cute while answering her questions and Cass looked cute always. The potentially ugly baby from Twilight was hardly the point though and neither was getting lost in thoughts of simping over her girlfriend. There were two werewolves in the field here and apparently only one of them realized it.
If she weren’t so worried about the fact that there was another werewolf that was clueless about being a werewolf, Alex would have felt a little bit bad about the way Thea was stumbling over her words and how she could hear the girl’s heartbeat beginning to race in her chest. All the telltale signs that the other girl was nervous, but she couldn’t drop this. A werewolf had to know what they were so they could prevent a whole lot of bloodshed. She tried to soften her features all the same, but found she wasn’t sure what to do with her hands. Her and Thea weren’t close enough for her to give her shoulder a comforting squeeze or something.
“A moon based issue,” Alex repeated while pinching the bridge of her nose. Was that better or worse than ‘sleepwalking’ as Gael so aptly put it? It at least sounded a little bit more in the realm of self awareness, but not by very much. She made an effort to remove her hands from her face and soften her features. Coming in hot or showing her annoyance wasn’t going to help here. It’s not like it was Thea she was annoyed with, anyhow. It was moreso the ever growing pile of what the fuck getting bigger that was frustrating, but that was hardly on any one person. “How is a moon based issue different from lycanthropy, exactly,” she asked as patiently as she could muster.
The pie was on a plate in front of her and Thea continued with such an insistent nonchalance that Alex almost wanted to drop it. But she could hear the way Thea’s heart raced and she could smell the wolf on her. She had Alan and Gael, but some selfish part of her wanted someone closer to her own age that she could relate to in all of this. She chewed at her lower lip and her fork played at the pie on her plate. “Uh,” she started nervously, “Fine, let’s say moon-based issue then. You have a moon-based issue, I have a moon-based issue. Let’s be friends about it?” Smooth.
“Hey,” she shot back when she fully realized what was said, “I’m not a weirdo.” Speaking the truth plainly wasn’t weird. Maybe Alex knew that simple terms did sound crazy, especially to someone who didn’t grow up around all of this, but she wasn’t weird just because she never had a choice when it came to knowing all of this.
—
You’re an ugly baby, she thought, but decided not to exclaim. It was a little too mean and Alex’s only crime was ruining their nice picnic. Which was a pretty big crime to Thea, who adored the sacred art of the picnic, but not so large that she couldn’t forget it with enough willpower. Her mind kicked up like the engine of an old car, sputtering at first but humming with a heavy sense of life once it was ready. Alex didn’t say anything, she told herself. Alex was normal, she thought. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. She wasn’t some freak, she wasn’t a monster, she didn’t eat people, fuck the moon. For a moment, some piece of her churning mind thought about Nora and that day in her crypt. Normal could be what they made it; she could be a wolf and normal. But Nora wasn’t here, even as Thea found herself desperately hoping her friend would be. She couldn’t will Nora into existence just by wanting her there, which was all the better for Nora, she thought, as it would’ve gotten annoying to materialize at her side every two minutes. In the end, her chant turned into a screaming choir and there was nothing inside of her but the promise that she was normal.
The wolf was a strange creature; Thea didn’t understand it, Thea didn’t want to understand it. In these moments, where her skin burned and her bones ached with strange desires of splintering, all she could do to keep the wolf away was to tell herself that it didn’t exist. It would’ve been very bad for Alex if the wolf was real. “Because lycanthropy is a fantasy word,” she said, calm as the blue sky and its fluffy white clouds. “People don’t actually turn into wolves because that would be weird and stupid.” The wolf was a tiny black hole in the center of Thea’s body and inside of the singularity, an eye looked up at her. It was watching; it was waiting.
Thea pushed herself off the ground, brushing imaginary flecks of dirt off her nice summer dress. “I don’t think I like you very much, Alex,” she announced matter-of-factly, “I don’t know if I want to be your friend. You make up strange words. You say weird stuff. You accuse people of stupid, nonexistent things.” She turned and grabbed her bike, picking it up off the ground. The black hole pulsed, expanding by a tenth of an inch. An impurity was devoured; another thing she tried to deny the existence of. “No wonder,” she said, “no one came to your picnic.”
—
Something in the response left Alex feeling indignant. All the patience that she had found when she realized what Gael was seemed to be completely absent in her meeting with Thea. The younger werewolf didn’t have the benefit of being an older adult that Alex was desperate to please which likely played into the lack of patience she was exhibiting. Plus, there was enough self-recognition there to realize it was a moon-based issue, so why could Thea just not put that last piece together? It was a willful refusal to accept the truth and given how many people that put in danger, it was hard not to grow agitated with the other werewolf.
“Uh huh,” Alex retorted with an eye roll, “Because a moon-based issue sounds so much less weird and stupid.” At that point, she was almost relieved that Thea was pushing herself off the ground and leaving her to enjoy her ham and cheese sandwiches in peace. Part of her knew she should push the issue harder, but there was a couple of weeks until the next full moon. Surely it’d be easy enough to get back in contact with Thea and have someone else look over the other werewolf when the time came. Right now, she was hungry and frustrated, so she let Thea leave with nothing more than a huff. It didn’t matter if Thea liked her so long as the girl wasn’t going out and turning whatever neighborhood she was in into an all-you-can-eat werewolf buffet. “I’d rather eat alone anyway,” she leered as the other werewolf rode off on her bike. Maybe that was a lie, it’d be nice if Cass or literally any of their other friends were here, but what could she really expect from an impromptu text meet-up? Apparently the answer to that was in-denial werewolves.