Awoo, everyone! Happy Werewolf Friday yet again. This week sees more of our roadtrip boys, and some lovely Arkos goodness. Enjoy!

"Shoo!" Roman waved his hand dismissively while trying to keep his haunch of rabbit out of reach. "Get away, you mangy mutt. I don't share."

Zwei tilted his head, whining softly. He pawed insistently at Roman's leg.

"Stop that! You'll get the fabric dirty." Roman tried pushing the dog away with his foot. "Go on."

Zwei whimpered, his droopy ears dropping even further as he dejectedly walked over to Barty, who immediately handed him a bit of cooked meat.

"Really, now!" the werewolf scolded. "How can you possibly turn away such a face? Shameful, really." He took a few more bites of his meat before tossing the rest onto the ground. He chuckled as Zwei started immediately tearing into it. "Such a little fighter. Splendid choice, Qrow. Simply splendid!"

Qrow scarfed down the rest of his meat and grinned. "Yeah. He's not so bad. If I was more of an animal person, I'd keep him myself."

"Please don't," Roman said dryly. "I'm putting up with this nonsense until Burgundy. I'm not walking all the way back to Obsidian with it."

"Zwei is a male, not an it. Do show some respect," Barty scoffed.

"Oh, look! Your coffee's done. Why don't you shut up and drink some?" Roman grumbled.

"With all this bickering," Qrow snorted. "I'm half expecting you two to start snogging in a second." This, of course, resulted in him getting mercilessly pelted with what remained of the rabbit bones, which led to Zwei knocking him to the ground in an effort to grab said bones.

When Qrow finally managed to get to his feet, irritably holding the squirming pup at arm's length, he took out his flask with his free hand. "So," he said, flipping it open and taking a swig. "What's the plan?" He let Zwei drop to the ground, where the dog immediately started digging in the dirt. "Obviously, we need to figure out how to get a good amount of people from Burgundy on our side, but where should we start?"

"Well," Roman said, drawing himself up with a smirk. "I happen to know most of the townsfolk. I'm quite popular there, you know."

"Smut sellers usually are," Qrow muttered.

"Anyway," Roman continued with a superior sniff. "I should have no trouble convincing people to join me in the woods for a chat. I'll tell them our story before introducing them to Barty at the end. If what we've been hearing is true, the rumors about good werewolves saving Burgundy from the Grimm have spread like wildfire since everyone's been learning about Obsidian."

Barty coughed nervously. "Um, so you'll be bringing crowds of humans to see me."

"Small groups," Roman elaborated. "Besides, you can easily outrun them. I'll start with Wallace. He's the one Pyrrha saved. He'll definitely be on our side."

Qrow nodded. "I'll hang around in case you need backup. Then, I'll keep going to Vale. If something bad happens and you have to leave Burgundy, you can leave me a message."

"How?"

"I dunno. We'll choose an obvious tree, and Barty can scratch it up before you run. We'll figure it out when we get there." Qrow took another swig. "When I get to Vale, I'll talk to Tai alone, give him the dog, and try to convince him that he actually still has both of his daughters. If I can convince him, I'll figure out which other families I should talk to in advance. Most likely, I'll keep it to just Tai."

Barty nodded slowly. Then, his back stiffened. "Something just occurred to me! Something quite troubling!"

"Great. We needed more trouble," Qrow sighed. "What is it?"

"Well, you said that Vale has exiled you, and that you have to meet Taiyang in secret," Barty reasoned. "So, how will he explain the sudden presence of a puppy in a town where there aren't any dogs?"

There was a long pause, punctuated with the rapid scratching of Zwei's claws on the dirt. Qrow dropped his empty flask and slammed his head back against a nearby tree. "Aw, son of a bitch!" There was another pause. "Whoops. Sorry, Barty."

Roman put his face in his hands, groaning loudly. He was regretting his decision to leave Obsidian more and more with each passing minute.

…..

Pyrrha paused outside the door to the storage room, her brows going up in surprise. She could hear excited talking coming from within.

"And then," Scarlet was saying eagerly as Pyrrha opened the door. "The vampire had me by the throat! I thrashed and struggled, but nothing happened. It wasn't until Yang came out and punched it right in the face that it finally let go."

"Astounding!" Port commented, his brows raised as he eyed Scarlet's neck. "First you get bitten in the throat by another werewolf, then strangled by a vampire. How can you still speak?"

"Just lucky, I guess," Scarlet replied with a grin. "We've survived quite a lot, really."

Pyrrha smiled, happy and a tad surprised to see the two getting along so well. "Swapping battle stories, are you?"

"Yeah!" Scarlet chirped. "Did you know Port rode a Nevermore? He made it dive right into a Goliath! How amazing is that?"

Port's chest puffed out against the ropes. "Oh, it was nothing. Any amateur could have done it," he said, failing completely to sound even the least bit modest or sincere.

"I know time flies when you're telling stories," Pyrrha chuckled. "Your shift is over. I'll take over for now."

"Okay." Scarlet stood up. "I'll get to the first big fight we all had with the vampires next time."

"Good, good," Port said with a nod. "I hope you're ready for the epic of when I chased that ancient Boarbatusk. That'll be at least two hours."

Scarlet's face lit up in a way anyone else's definitely wouldn't in that situation. "I can't wait!" He practically skipped out of the storehouse.

Pyrrha glanced at the door, then at Port with a bemused look on her face. This was the second day of Scarlet and Sage taking turns guarding Port, and they already seemed to be good friends with the fanatical Huntsman. Scarlet had taken to trading stories while Sage was very patient about listening to Port's boisterous tales, occasionally using his omega powers to make him sleepy.

"Getting along well, aren't you?" she commented.

Port shrugged. "Better to converse than to be bored out of my skull. It's a shame, really. They'd be perfectly nice boys if they were human."

Pyrrha bristled slightly, trying not to outwardly show it. "They are perfectly nice boys."

Port shook his head, looking almost sad. "Afraid not, she-beast. Nothing can change what they are, or what you are. I hope you aren't mistaking my general amicability for a lack of vigilance."

"Do you really think that a person can become inherently evil by being bitten, or by being born a certain way?" Pyrrha asked, voicing the main question that had always chased through her mind whenever human hatred for her kind came up. "What kind of God would just damn someone for something they might not be able to control, especially since the only cure is a vampire bite."

Port tilted his head. "A vampire bite, eh? How did you figure this out?"

"One of our own was bitten by a vampire," Pyrrha said coolly. "And he'd give anything to be a werewolf again."

"So, the influence remains, even then." Port tutted softly. "Such a pity."

"You still didn't answer my question."

"It is not for us to decide how God and the Maidens run the world they made," Port murmured in a low voice. He looked up at her again. "You have piqued my curiosity, she-wolf. I would like to meet this cured werewolf."

"To be cured, you first have to be sick," Pyrrha said. "I'll send him to speak to you later on, as long as Brawnz is okay with it." She had to keep reminding herself that Brawnz was technically in charge of Ferron, now that he was a human citizen of Obsidian.

Port let out a long sigh at the mention of Brawnz. "One thing I will give you devils: You are much politer listeners than he is. Honestly, how did he become the leader of this town?"

"All the other candidates were killed by vampires," Pyrrha said. "Before my pack helped kill the vampires in question."

"Bit touchy, aren't we?"

Pyrrha forced herself to take a steadying breath. I've gotten used to more reasonable humans, she reminded herself. The rest of the world isn't like that. I need to keep the patience I had at the very beginning of this whole ordeal. "Constant prejudice against one's entire species does whittle away at one's good nature," she said in an even tone.

"Hmph," Port murmured. "Good nature, eh?"

"Yes," Pyrrha insisted. "Good nature. The kind that makes us want to befriend humans instead of killing them."

"And why don't other werewolves want this?"

"They might, but they are attacked on sight by any human or Faunus with a weapon."

At that moment, Sage came in. "Leader," he greeted, inclining his head. "Huntsman."

"Wolf," Port said gruffly. "You gonna make me sleep again?"

"You do need to sleep," Sage said gently as he sat down. "No one will attack you."

"I've heard that one before!"

Pyrrha suppressed a sigh as she stood up. "Will you be okay, Sage?"

"Of course, Leader," he said with a smile. "Though, do you think you can have some of the Huntsmen take over tomorrow. I miss being around Scarlet."

"Absolutely," Pyrrha assured him. "And I'm sorry about that."

"No, it's fine. I'm happy to help," he assured her.

Port was shaking his head. "Two males being romantically involved. Yet another unnatural phenomenon…"

"It really isn't," Sage said kindly. "It's possible for anything, human, Faunus, werewolf, or animal to sometimes have feelings for the same sex."

"I've certainly never seen such a thing!"

"I have. Actually, I remember these two coyotes that lived in our forest a few years back…"

Pyrrha left them to that conversation, silently marveling at Sage's patience.

Jaune was waiting outside for her, and immediately noticed her furrowed brows and suppressed frown. "Hey," he murmured. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Pyrrha replied quickly.

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Most times when people say that, it means they're not fine." He gently tilted her face toward his. "You sure you're okay?"

Pyrrha looked into his concerned eyes for a moment before her shoulders sank. "I'm just…very tired and frustrated."

"That's definitely understandable," Jaune said. "Wanna go back to the inn and sit down?"

"I would," Pyrrha sighed. "Though, lying down might be better."

"Okay. We'll head up to my room." Jaune wrapped an arm around her shoulders, noticing the way she seemed to slump into him. She's definitely exhausted, he thought. And it's not just because of a lack of sleep.

Since Ren and Nora were with the evening group checking the snares, the room was empty for the moment. After kicking off his shoes, Jaune joined Pyrrha on the bed. His nose wrinkled at the overall smell of the room. Since their only source of water was the small mountain spring, Obsidian had needed to cut down on things like boiling water for bathing and washing, only doing it when absolutely necessary. Since it was now fall, and the ice at the top of the mountain wasn't melting as much, the spring was even more depleted.

The werewolves, apparently, weren't bothered by the smell, as they preferred being able to detect scents and found the muted smells that came after a bath to be very odd. Jaune still remembered the first time the werewolves had tried bathing, soon after the defeat of the vampires. They had been utterly baffled at the notion of making oneself smell like flowers or cinnamon, and quickly developed a preference for the cheap, unscented soaps. Some, like Fennec and Corsac, avoided it entirely, claiming that rolling in the morning dew was all one needed to do to keep clean.

Jaune noticed Pyrrha inhaling deeply as she snuggled against him, and blushed a little. She was clearly taking in his scent as a method of calming down. This was one of the few werewolf tendencies that he still found a little strange, at least when she was in her human form. Still, he was happy that something as little as his scent could help her in some small way.

"So," he said, breaking the silence. "Anything specific frustrating you, or is it a general thing? Did Port say something?"

Pyrrha opened her eyes and looked up at Jaune. The musky overall smell of the room, and Jaune's scent surrounding her had helped to ease some of her tension. She couldn't wait until they had their own den. "Port did say some things, and it…added to what I've already been feeling, I suppose."

"Yeah?" Jaune wrapped an arm around her middle, resting his head on the pillow. "What did he say?"

"Oh, the same things he's been saying since we captured him, talking about how we're soulless beasts, even though he's become friends with Scarlet and Sage." Pyrrha nuzzled against Jaune's shoulder and breathed a long sigh. "And those Huntsmen are still waiting out there. I'm so tired of having to fight tooth and nail just to convince people that werewolves aren't monsters. We've defeated Grimm, vampires, and even other werewolves. Scarlet and Sage had to put up with being muzzled and collared. Now, we can't even hunt for food or collect water! We've done nothing to hurt anyone, but we're still hated on sight."

She felt Jaune starting to rub her back, and snuggled closer. "I know we need to work hard to be accepted, because deeply-held beliefs won't change overnight, but… What did we do to deserve this in the first place?"

"Nothing," Jaune assured her, brushing his lips against her forehead. "Bad things do happen to good people, Pyrrha. It's horrible, but all we can do is deal with it and keep fighting. We deserve better than what we're getting, but I know we'll be okay in the end." His words sounded hollow, even to his own ears. Truthfully, he had been spending the past few weeks worrying about whether or not this long quest really would end in tragedy.

Pyrrha easily picked up on the doubt in his voice. "What if we aren't? What if, after everything, we get killed, either here or in Vale?"

"Then…I guess we'll all just have to be together in Heaven." It wouldn't be as nice as living a full life together first, but it was something.

"Do you think we'd even go to the same place?" Pyrrha wondered. "Werewolves are said to hunt among the stars after they die."

"I'm sure it's the same place," Jaune assured her. "After all, it wouldn't exactly be Heaven if you weren't in it." He immediately blushed at how ridiculously cheesy that sounded.

Pyrrha giggled softly, smiling up at him. "I love you."

The quiet sound of Pyrrha's laugh made Jaune's heart stutter happily. "I love you too." He kissed her cheek, hesitating before saying something else that had been on his mind. "Lately, I've been wanting to just forget about the need for me to stay human. You know, just in case the worst ends up happening." He was painfully aware of the fact that they were alone in this room, and of how close his lips were to hers.

"I know," Pyrrha murmured, moving down to kiss his neck. "Me too." It would be so easy, and no one would judge them for it, not really. And it would give Coco and Fox the go-ahead that they were almost definitely longing for. And yet… "I don't want our first time to be out of fear," she said. "And, if we gave in now, that's what it would be. Fear."

Jaune suppressed a groan, wondering if Pyrrha understood that her lips on his neck were having a very bad effect on his self-control. "You're right," he muttered reluctantly. "I know that. I just…"

"I know." Pyrrha kissed him once more before resting on the pillow again. "I'm sorry."

Jaune closed his eyes, chuckling a little despite his roiling emotions. "You really need to stop apologizing so much."

How's that Arkos tension treating everyone? Good? Awesome!

If you like what you see and want to show extra support in exchange for rewards, my P/atreon is Solora Goldsun

Peace out!