#bergen_county

Connor crawls out, but then shivers in his wet clothes. "Do you mind if I go naked? If so I'll go home and change there instead. It's too hot-cold-cold out here."

"Naked? Dude......" Worried.

"Oh, Oh I know. Here, watch." He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a nylon collar - it has superheros on it and looks rather worn, but the tag hanging off it glitters to Adam's fae sight. He dangles it in front of Adam, and let's it wave back and forth, back and forth. "Watch the birdie..."

"Play along, Adam"

Adam nods and watches.

"Round n' round n' round she goes, from my ears to my tail to my whiskery nose - where she stops, only I knows, but you're certainly certain that I've got my clothes." He giggles, and holds a hand in front of his face for a moment. "Close your eyes, just for a 1-2-3, okay?"

Zane covers his to play along

"One..... Two..... Three......"

He whisks out of his wet outfit and drops them on the warm rocks around the steamy pool to start to dry out, and then takes a seat sitting cross-legged within the warmed area. ""Okay, open 'em ups!"

Adam sees... Connor! But he's wearing. Uh. A snazzy suit. He looks rather sharp, actually! And... completely mortal. No ears - no tail! Strange, because even without any extra glamour, he's always seen Connor as a pooka-ish boy. Now he's just a boy. One who is oddly wearing a dog collar, but... human.

Zane sees... a naked Connor relaxing as his clothes dry. He winks at the Satyr and his tail swishes in amusement.

A shrug and he relaxes

Adam blinks. "What .... where did you get those?"

He grins at Adam. And wiggles his hands, gesturing like a stage magician. "Maaaaagic!" A pause, and he says a bit more seriously, "If you can remember what that feels like, it might be good because some mean people might use it to try to trick you. Not pooka though. We only use it for fun, or sometimes if we forget our pants."

Thus handled, he lays back on the warm rocks. "Wake me up when my underoos are dry." And dozes off with the expediency of children and pets.

"Huh. He's not a brat." High praise

"He's not." Adam agrees.

"Lydia and Lily have been hanging out, less little sister torment for us"

"Yeah. That's cool."

"I don't think he'll tell anyone if we let him in the guy club." Adam grins, speaking softly.

A laugh "Well, that's the down side of pooka... few folks believe em even if htey manage. So I guess you're right"

"I mean, he could lead someone here but not if his guy-card depends on it, right?"

"You know, that's a good point. " The satyr says "At his age, girls got cooties sometimes"

"Right. But hanging out with the guys..... being one of the guys......"

"Right.. you want to feel like one of the tribe"

" 'Xactly." Adam leans back. "And I'll throw myself on the girls to handle their cooties." He grins.

"me too... we are big damn heroes"

"Hell yeah."

He looks around, scoping out the terrain with a considering eye.

It's a pocket of steam in another wise wintery area of forest. Adam's never been to this part of the wood before.

And howls in the distance might catch them BOTH off guard

He kicks himself upright, steaming. "What the fuck was that?!?!"

"That...did not sound like dogs"

"Was it something screaming?"

"Howling... I think"

"-Howling?- Dude, what the hell, it's after Halloween!"

"Yeah........ but it still sounds likje howling" He says "Could be chimerical... has to be. Wolves aren't in this area, not regular ole fashion wolves"

"What the hell other kind of wolves are there?"

"Well, there's some with wings... but I thought they were like.. near the lodge and we're like a half hour plus."

"So what was it?" Adam realizes it's freezing and drops back into the water.

"I don't know" He admits

"Want to go find out?"

"I don't think we should leave the kid alone here"

"Shit, yeah.... you're right."

Adam frowns. "We could..... uh.... carry him back? Or to my car? Or.....?"

"Yeah, let's get him to the car" Zane grabs the boys things

Adam nods, gets out and shucks off the soaking underwear before pulling on his clothes, teeth chattering, to go commando. He scoops the boy up and carries him (and his own boxer briefs) to the car.

"Dude.... 'nads are going to freeze off......"

"Yeah well... who expects a howl at..." And in the forest as they leave it, for a moment, Adam swear he saw a wolf.

"That fuckin' looks like a wolf, Zane...." Tightly.

He turns "Let's.. get i nthe car. now." And he definitely gets into that passenger seat

Adam just manages not to toss Connor into the backseat and then runs to get in, himself.