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Last week’s post introduced Tala, a young, half-feral werewolf to the Mahon family.
Tala, who had been running with a rural, fundamentalist pack, was confused by a family in which a werewolf (Bryan), a weretiger (Jackie), and a wereduck (Our Hero and POV character Tom) were raised by a werebear and . . . whatever Mrs. Mahon might be.
After several pages, she’s still having trouble adjusting, especially to the necessity of hiding in plain sight from a species she’s been taught to think of as inferior.
Turner, Tom’s human friend, is glad to help out.
“I don’t need to hide from humans—humans are weak and useless.”
“I’d be offended,” Turner said, mildly, “but my weak and useless ass has put a number of your kind in the ground—purely in self-defense, by the way.”
“Generalities about a whole species are pointless,” I said, “and silver bullets are a great leveler.”
“Silver is cheating! If you didn’t have that—“
“If you didn’t have your claws and your teeth and your quicktime healing, you’d be a tool-user, too.” Turner smiled, friendly as you please. “Survival isn’t cheating, little girl,” he told her. “You should know that by now.”
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I think I’ve mentioned this before, but “fundamentalism” in werewolves—at least in this particular pack—has little to do with religion and a lot to do with behaving as much like “natural wolves” as possible, as judged by werewolves who have never met a wolf in their lives but have fallen for the rhetoric of a would-be Old School Alpha dominant.
And how I started out writing a joke story about a wereduck and ended up with a socio-thinkpiece, I don’t know . . .
Earful of Cider 
I love your concept of “fundamentalist!” This story has to many wrinkles to it- I can’t wait to read the whole thing.
Thanks, Christina!
It has a few too many wrinkles in it . . . right now, I’m trying to snap the plot like a bedsheet to get it to lie smooth. 😀
I *LOVE* Turner calling her “little girl.” (Somehow, I don’t think she’s going to like it, but I love it!)
Turner does not suffer fools gladly or prejudicial fools at all.
And you’re right, Paula, she won’t like it much. 😉
“Turner smiled, friendly as you please.” -> I like this guy. 😉 Tala has some hard lessons to learn (and some ego to shed, me thinks).
Turner is one of my favorite characters, Aheïla, for all he’s human. 🙂
Tala has learned some hard lessons already, but now that she’s with the Mahons, she needs to learn new ones. 😉
Excellent interplay between your characters. Looking forward to the next snippet. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Kim. 🙂
Love the dialogue…. and him calling her “little girl” … well done.
Turner gets most of the good line, Iris–even more than Tom. 😀
Tala might want to consider why humans ended up becoming the dominant species on the planet. And… even wolves use tools (though from what you noted about fundamentalism, I can see how she might not know that).
Fun reading. I don’t know what your goal was beyond a fun story about a were-duck, but… this is very good.
Precisely, Eden! 🙂
Most of what she’s been taught hasn’t been the best of wolves, but the worst of humans.
And thanks!
It’s easy to highlight the flaws in others, our media does that regularly. So very…
…human. 😀
haha nice. They have a point.
I also like the “purely in self-defense” line. I wonder if it’s true though, accidents happen.
They do! 😉
Wolves are tough–accidental deaths are pretty rare. And Turner’s been trained. 🙂
She has a point. And I can’t wait to see how she reacts to the “little girl” comment.
Silver might be “cheating”, but some wolves need to learn manners. 🙂
And we’ll see . . .
Excellent exchange of dialogue. Turner seems pretty bad-ass. Great eight!
Turner is fantastically badass, Amy. 🙂
Thanks!
Oh, I love Turner! He rocks and he’s right on. Silver is cheating? Not against the weres, it’s not. 😀 Great snippet, Sarah. 😀
There was a line in here somewhere that said,”You’re allergic to silver and I’m allergic to being eviscerated. Fair’s fair.” 🙂
Thanks, Siobhan!
Sarah, what an imagination you have to dream up a story like this. What’s Tom’s phone number. I think I’m in love.
Thanks, Charmaine!
It’s unlisted . . . but I’ll pass that along, 😉
Why is it werewolves always seem to have such wrong ideas about how real wolves behave? Did they all watch the same bad documentaries or something? I suspect it’s an excuse for acting like they want to–as terrible humans.
Not all do, and you’ve hit the nail on the head, caitlin.
In this case, the packleader is running a kind of cult for the disaffected. To do that, you have to encourage a certain mindset . . .
Reblogged this on Cecilia Corona.
Wow. Great snippet. Humans terrible eh?
Thanks, Cecilia!
Only from a certain point of view. 🙂
Lots to think about here. I still am most partial to the wereduck.
Thanks, Elaine! Me, too. 🙂
Love the interaction of the characters, and how your were world had so many layers. 🙂
Thanks, Karen!
I just hope it doesn’t get bogged down. 🙂
Speaking as a tool user, I loved the excerpt! Your details re always so well thought out, highly intrigued by this world. Could be a series!
Thanks, Veronica!
I won’t count my books before they’re agented, but I do have a folder of possible case files for my boys. 😉
Well said from Turner. Good stuff as usual Sarah
Thanks, Frank! 🙂
“I’d be offended,” Turner said, mildly, “but my weak and useless ass has put a number of your kind in the ground—purely in self-defense, by the way.”
That’s a great comeback. I love the attitude running through this bit.
Thanks, Jeff!
Turner gets to say things I wouldn’t or couldn’t. . . though I doubt I’d ever be in the same situations as he. 🙂
I love this diversified cast you’ve put together (I admit, I’m waiting for the inevitable “Can’t we all just get along?”. lol) I love Turner, he is an Alpha (human or not, he qualifies)
Thanks, Chelle. (Yeah, it’s probably coming . . . 🙂 )
Turner is one of my favorites. I wouldn’t date him, but a hug wouldn’t be out of the question.
That’s a really interesting definition of fundamentalist. I love the back and forth between them.
Thanks, Carrie-Anne! 🙂