Boundaries

Conor: surviving the cafeteria

{Conor}

Tish threw me to the hard rubber surface again and cackled.
"Come on Conor, fight like a man!"
"I'm not one," I grumbled, and checked for bruises on my sore ribs. Tish had landed far more hits that I should have allowed, but she was just as fast and better trained than I was.
She extended a hand and pulled me up to my feet.
"I thought I was training you," I muttered.
"Well, if you could land some better hits, I'd have a reason to shift," she pointed out. "I remember you being better than this."
"Yeah, when I was active and eating three real meals a day," I said, trying not to snap at her.
I got my feet under me and took in a deep breath, waiting for Tish to swing another fist at my face. But she didn't. She frowned and walked around me in a circle.
"Damn, you have lost weight," she said. "And you were thin before. You need more calories than Ralph?"
"I eat more than the rest of the pack," I told her. "At home, that is. You never noticed?"
"I wasn't watching you eat like a weirdo," Tish snorted. "Okay, enough pummeling for now. Can you show me how to partially shift? Like my ears, like you do."
I straightened, dropping out of my fighting stance.
"I had to order you to shift the first time, Tish, you don't have a feel for it yet," I told her. "Because partially shifting is harder. It's like summoning what you need from your wolf side, but pushing your body into the shape...It just doesn't make sense when you can't shift on your own."
"I'm not about to strip down in this room where anyone can see me," Tish declared. "Let's get dinner and..."
"We'll go back to Ralph," I finished her sentence for her.
Tish groaned. "Conor, he's fine with Grant. Seems to me like you should give him some space."
"Tish..."
"Fine. After we eat. You're with me, and we'll get you some real food. Come on."
She grabbed my hand again and dragged me out of the training room, down some stairs and to a large cafeteria.
"No one will sit with me anyway," she confided. "And Grant doesn't eat. It will be nice to have company."
"Okay." I gave in, grabbing a tray like I had in New Mexico.
Tish led the way, making sure my plate was piled high as we stopped at the various counters. She grabbed several slices of cake, and we set our trays down to get some water cups and silverware. Sure enough, the table we were sitting at was vacated totally by the time we got back. People around us had stopped talking and eating. While Tish was prepared for the quiet, I was not. I didn't want to take on a whole room of hunters. I wanted to eat this chicken fried steak in peace.
"I heard they have Ralph on a diet?" Tish inquired, acting as if she was oblivious to the staring. "Are they feeding you the same?"
"Yeah," I said uncomfortably. "He told me they want him to lose some of his bulk. It doesn't seem to be working."
"Well, we'll get Grant to babysit, and you can eat meals with me," she told me.
"Um."
"Yo Boyd, are we going to have a problem?" she yelled at one of the tables watching us.
"Yeah, we've got some rogue dogs in our cafeteria," he snapped. "And that's Conor freaking Becker. He killed dozens of hunters down in New Mexico. I, for one, am not going to be next."
My spine stiffened. Tish put her hand on mine and gave me a slow smile.
"I'll take care of it," she said and rose from her chair, cracking her neck.
"You know the crazy thing about being a werewolf?" she began, stepping towards him. "I can smell fear now. You're afraid of these pearly whites." She flashed a smile. "Because all I have to do is break your skin with one of these, you can join my table here. Right, Conor? We're pretty open people."
I blinked at her, not sure how this was taking care of it.
"If you have a problem with me, I'll make a sign -up sheet on the training room door," she called to the room. "You can all get in line for some ass kicking because you apparently need it. If you don't want to let your fists do the talking, I would suggest your mouth find something better to occupy its time with."
She glanced back down at her place. "And I wouldn't come between a werewolf and her meal. I've got a wicked metabolism, and I get cranky when I'm hungry."
She plopped back down and resumed eating. For a moment, I wasn't sure that anything had been resolved, but the room slowly returned to a quieter version of normal. I cut into my steak with one eye on the room.
"Thanks," I said.
"Eh, hunters are predictable. Name their fear, give them an option to conquer it, and watch them not take it," She pulled her cake in front of her first and ate a slice in one bite before turning to her burger. "And it's helpful having you here. They would have pushed me around if you hadn't been."
"I'm just another werewolf," I protested.
"Conor, there are myths about you. Everyone knows that you're Stefa's boyfriend. That you can shift instantly, or something insane. There's a rumor you killed Juan, the leader of the East Coast clan. That you..."
"Juan tried to kill me first, that's not fair," I complained.
Tish paused mid -bite. "Hold up, you actually killed Juan?"
"Beheaded him with my claws," I replied. "He was going to kill Stefa. And he marched right up to me because he thought I was human. It was an easy kill."
Tish looked around as if making sure no one else heard me.
"Okay, yeah. For future reference, you should tell no one you killed Juan. They would have you locked up so fast you'd get motion sickness. Got that?"
"Why?" I asked. "He was a vampire."
"Exactly, he's murdered dozens of people. Confirmed murders too. We've been chasing his clan for years, gotten many a good hunter killed. I don't care what Juan thought you were, you shouldn't have been able to take him out."
"Ms. Herrington!"
Tish set her jaw and looked up. Sasha was dangling a pair of glasses in one hand. Tish groaned and rose to get them, but Sasha moved toward us.
"We were in the training room, and I forgot them, I'm sorry," Tish managed, not sounding contrite at all. "I'll do better next time, leave them at the door or something."
She reached for the glasses and slammed them back on her face.
"And when I check the log, I saw that you went out into Chicago with no warning, no permissions and bought what? Shoes and some balloons?" Sasha demanded. "Are you out of your mind?"
"No one was bitten or died," Tish told her. "Conor needed shoes for the training room. And we got balloons because balloons are cool. I was gone for less than a half hour, Sasha."
"And if it had been just you that would have been one thing," she snapped. "But Conor was with you. He has not been granted the same level of freedom you have, freedom that can be taken away, Tish."
"Then put me in these glasses," I cut in. "When I leave Ralph's room. If that's what it takes for you to trust that I'm not going harm anyone, then fine."
She looked surprised at the suggestion.
"You're here for a matter of weeks, tops. You don't need to go out and do things, you'll be back in your pack where you belong."
"Except you want me to teach Tish to shift in that time," I pointed out. "Which will involve fewer clothes than what we're wearing. We can't do that in the training room. You want Tish to rein in her werewolf temper? I'm the expert."
"I find that unlikely," Sasha rolled her eyes.
"Oh? Talk to Dr. Bryce. Look at the footage. And you know I didn't kill those hunters in New Mexico. I haven't killed anyone, Sasha."
Sasha knew I was right. Grant had told me she had guessed the truth about that training facility, how he had been turned and then let loose in the building. I wanted to maintain some level of trust and respect in this building, just in case there was someone who wouldn't trust us enough to let Ralph and I leave. I was nervous that they'd hold him and Mel would make good her threat to come here.
"I'll talk to Gayle," Sasha allowed. "But you have to stay away from the hunters. Even one incident, Conor, and I'll put you down myself."
"There won't be any incidents," I assured her, hoping that was a promise I could keep.
She scoffed and walked away from the table without another word.
"Was that a good decision?" Tish asked me.
I shrugged. "I don't want to get stuck in a cage when they realize Ralph and I plan to leave at full moon. The least I can do is play along until then. It's what you are doing, right?"
"You're not wrong," she sighed.
____
I love the idea of Conor going to college, but that is far far far off into the future. Still, he gets a taste of cafeteria life