Wild For You

7. Strained Communications

That night - since Dal didn't come home - Namjoon stayed the night. He normally did that when Dal disappeared for two reasons. One was so he could make sure no one tried to break into the shop, and the second was so someone could keep watch over Ember. This night was only different in the fact that he now knew this tiger's secret. Namjoon sat on the couch. Taehyung sat on his hind quarters beside him. Both of them were silent as Namjoon flipped to a clean sheet in his lyric notebook so that he could try to come up with a plan as to what to do from here. The 'yes' and 'no' papers were laid out on the floor nearby so that Taehyung could still use them as needed.

"Alright, so there are several questions we'll have to answer," said Namjoon, "The first one is what triggers the change..." He wrote it down, looking over at Taehyung. "Do you know how the change happens?"

Taehyung hopped down off the couch and pawed the 'no'.

"Wonderful. So we're really starting from scratch," said Namjoon with a sigh. "Well, once we figure out what the trigger is, we have to figure out why it is a trigger. I mean, how long have you been like this..." Namjoon tried to think back to the date on the article. "...1982, right?"

Taehyung pawed 'yes'.

"Geezum...forty years. I can't even imagine..." said Namjoon. "I swear we'll figure something out. No one deserves that."

'Well I did,' thought Taehyung.

As much as Taehyung was angry at the time, he knew that he had been a classless jerk. A filthy animal that took potshots at everyone that he felt like. He had come to realize this after being left with his thoughts and his regrets for the last several decades. That - with Dal's care and compassion - had turned him into a better person. Taehyung now wished that he could go back to that night and make it better. Heck, he wished he could relive his life. He would do things differently. Have different friends. Treat others with more kindness and compassion. Taehyung knew he didn't deserve a second chance, but he wanted one all the same. If he was ever granted one, he vowed he would be the best human possible.

"Alright," said Namjoon as he drew Taehyung out of his thoughts. "We have two key questions we need to answer. I just wish I knew how this happened...I bet you know how, but you can't talk to me...I mean...you do know, right?"

Taehyung slapped the 'yes'.

"Maybe we can do it as a bit of a guessing game then," said Namjoon. "Were you born this way?"

'No' was slapped.

"Okay...well, that was a stretch anyways, but this whole thing is..." Namjoon cut off his rambling. "Anyway, okay. This wasn't something at birth...is this a spirit animal thing?"

Again the 'no' was slapped.

"Curse?"

This was when the 'yes' was slapped, and shamefully so. Taehyung had his head bent, looking ashamed and miserable as his paw just remained on top of the 'yes'.

Namjoon didn't know what to say for a second. He soon put the notebook on the empty cushion on the couch before getting down onto the floor beside Taehyung whose head was still bent.

"You feel guilty. I can tell."

Namjoon reached out a hand towards Taehyung, gently petting his head as he stared off at the notebook he'd left on the couch.

"Don't do that to yourself. You've been punished enough for whatever it was you did. Look, even if you could tell me why you were cursed, you wouldn't need to. It's your past. Everyone has a past, but people change. The past is in the past for a reason. You need to leave it there. You shouldn't let it cloud your future otherwise your future will be bleak. People deserve second chances, and you do even if you don't think you deserve it."

Namjoon looked over at Taehyung when he noticed his hand getting wet, noticing that there were tears coming from the tiger's eyes. He didn't even know tigers could cry, but this one was an unusual tiger as Dal had told him. If only Dal knew how much so.

"Taehyung..." Namjoon whispered softly, addressing him by his human name for the first time in decades. Namjoon shifted to wrap his arms about him in a hug, just holding him for a moment. "It's okay...We'll figure this out. I'll do whatever it takes."

Taehyung didn't even bother to stop the emotions from coming now. The flood gates were open now. Besides, he trusted Namjoon just as much as he trusted Dal. They were the only two people that he had now. They were his only family.

Namjoon kept one arm about Taehyung after he pulled away some, using his free hand to wipe away some of the tears matting Taehyung's fur before moving to yank the notebook off the couch to look at what little he had written.

"If this is a curse, there is a cure," he said. "We will have to look at the circumstances that were different today to figure out why it happened for the first time today. Today was the first time that has happened, right?"

Taehyung kept his paw over the 'yes' paper as he stayed close to Namjoon.

"Well then lets write down some of what happened today when the change happened..." Namjoon knew that was easier said than done, so he began to write down everything. Taehyung watched him write.

"There were some customers in the shop...Dal left...I sat wanting to compose...None of this is unusual. This has all happened before. So what was different this time...unless..."

Taehyung could only sit and watch the wheels turn in Namjoon's mind. Dal wasn't kidding about this man's IQ levels. He could practically see the gears spinning.

"...curses are usually broken by another person. What if one of the customers in the store tonight is your key? Yes...that is the most plausible explanation right now for this ridiculous situation...but shoot...how am I going to remember everyone in the shop?"

'The sales slips,' thought Taehyung.

Dal's checkout system was ancient, but Dal claimed it was still effective. It required taking down a person's name along with their phone number (so they could get future discounts and offers), the book they purchased and how much. Dal claimed it was for inventory purposes to help him determine who were reoccurring customers and what books and authors he ought to keep in stock. Taehyung just figured it was also Dal's way to have tangible evidence that his bookshop was loved and adored.

For whatever reason, Namjoon wasn't thinking of the sales slips. Taehyung got up from where he was sitting, walking back out to the shop. Curious to see where Taehyung was going, Namjoon got up to follow him. Taehyung walked right back over to the register, slipping up onto his two hind legs until his paw could slap at the sale slips book.

"Brilliant," said Namjoon with a smile as he grabbed the sale slips book and flipped it open. He put the notebook down that he had carried out, copying the names over.

"This doesn't account for anyone that didn't buy a book tonight, but this will at least start us off somewhere," said Namjoon. "It's a better lead than nothing."

Taehyung was content with at least having a lead. He was closer than he had ever been. Namjoon turned his head to look at Taehyung after he finished copying the names down. There weren't many. Only five, but it was something.

"Are you okay, Taehyung?"

Taehyung turned his gaze to look at Namjoon. There were so many things he wanted to say to the other, but he couldn't. Not like this. Instead he had to communicate with his eyes his gratitude. Luckily Namjoon was perceptive enough to see it.

"No worries. We've got this," he said as he walked over to Taehyung, listening to the other purr as he scratched the top of their head. "We'll enact this plan starting first thing tomorrow. In the meantime, lets go back to the living quarters and to the couch. I'm gonna turn on Netflix, and you can hit the 'yes' and 'no' until you tell me which show you want to watch. It's time you started feeling human again."