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I rolled up the deflated air mattress and spread it out as much as I could. Once I stopped sleeping in the car, one of the things I needed was a proper bed to sleep in. While I could have gotten an actual mattress and bed frame, I wanted to use something different in case I ended up having to sleep in my car again. I was able to get one cheaply second hand and have been using them ever since. Connecting the nozzle to the mattress, I flip on the switch for the motor. Immediately the motor roared to life, pumping air into my deflated mattress and giving it new life.

"You know Elliot," Hector yelled over the sound of the motor, "we do have some extra mattresses and bed around here, we could have just given one to you."

"But aren't those for campers and stuff?"

"Not really. Everyone around here uses them as they see fit. We even have a few extras just in case. We can test one out to see if you like it."

I shook my head, "I'm good. You don't need to go through all that trouble."

"Oh it won't be a problem at all. It would be quieter as well."

I reached over to the bags with my clothing and started to put them in the wardrobe. It didn't take too long to put them away. I bent down to open up the drawers and started to fill them with my stuff like underwear and stuff. Then a thought comes to me, "oh yeah, is there a place to do laundry and stuff around here?"

Chester nodded his head, "next door is where your neighbours live. Since it is meant to be used year round, they should have a washer and dryer you can use for personal laundry, as well as a bathroom."

"What makes you sure they would allow me to use them?"

"You already met Albert and the others already know you are going to live here, they wouldn't turn you away. If you do, just tell me and i'll have a talk with them."

"Again, you don't need to do that for me. I don't mind going to a laundromat or somewhere for laundry and such. I'll look up a place later."

"You really don't need to, Elliot. These are good people and--"

Hector grabbed Chester's shoulder, "Chester, you mind stepping out with me for a moment. I need to talk to you about Pack stuff."

Chester looked confused, "oh sure." both he and Hector promptly left through the door a moment later.

Wonder what that was about?

###

I followed Hector outside from the cabin, "so what do we need to talk about?"

He signed, "your approach. It was obvious to me that what you were saying was not going to get through to Elliot, so i decided to step in."

"Why? Albert and the others are nice people and--"

Hector raised his hand to me, "and they are complete strangers to Elliot. You can list out all their virtues but it still wouldn't make Elliot go out to seek them. If you just moved somewhere and was told you would have to go to your neighbours for laundry and stuff, i am sure you would immediately think of going to laundromats as well."

"That's...fair."

"Don't forget they are also his coworkers. He would probably meet them all tomorrow anyway while Kamile is handing out duties. So there is no rush really."

"Maybe so. We can't force Elliot to interact with them if he doesn't want to. But they are going to be the people Elliot interacts with the most here so I want him to trust them. I won't be available twenty-four seven whenever he wants to talk or do stuff, Albert and the others are closer and more available than I would be."

Hector scratched his beard for a minute, "you know, Elliot probably doesn't know the campgrounds very well."

I thought for a minute, "Not really. He hasn't been back since Tuesday."

"So now would be a perfect time to show him around, since he is going to be working here soon." Hector smirks, "and if he happens to run into people during your tour, all the better for both of you."

I didn't need more than a second to know what he was implying, "but do you think it will work?"

"Course it will. He does start tomorrow, so why shouldn't he get familiar with the place a bit more first. " Hector leads me back into the cabin.

As we enter, Elliot doesn't respond to us as he continues to fill up the wardrobe. Okay so how do I do this? I looked at the air mattress. He probably won't leave until the mattress is done so i might as well try to kill some time with talking. I walked up to Elliot, "so convenient wardrobe right?"

He turns to me, "yeah, it's okay."

"Good good, it took me a while to find one that would work for you."

"Oh thanks." Elliot goes back to filling the drawers of the wardrobe. The silence being filled by the noise of the loud motor pumping air into the mattress.

I turn to Hector for moral support. Hector just gestures to me to keep talking, "So Elliot, have you seen anything interesting lately?"

"Not really. I try to sit down and watch shows, but i just end up watching videos on youtube instead." he closes the drawer, " i don't remember the last thing i saw that wasn't on youtube."

"Well what are you interested in? What genre?"

"I don't know. Most of the time when i pull something up on youtube, it is usually an old game from my childhood or some random video." Elliot reaches for another bag and pulls out a towel, "now where to put this?"

"What were you using before?"

"A drying rack that was a part of the apartment. I can probably order one or just use the chair."

"We have some drying racks in storage," Hector said, "They are the small foldable kind so you should be able to fit one in here."

"Oh okay," Elliot puts the towel aside and checks on the mattress, which looks close to bursting at this point. He puts his weight onto the mattress, "all right, that should do nicely." He turns off the motor and unplugs it, storing it away in the box it came here in.

I figured this was a good time to do it, "So Elliot, you don't know the camp that well right?"

"Not really." he pushed the box into an empty corner of the cabin, "I saw the map online but that's about it."

"Well why not let me show you around? It'll make tomorrow easier when you start working here."

Elliot paused, "you have a point." He sat on the mattress with his arms crossed, looking deep in thought. After a few seconds he stood up, "yeah we should probably get it over with already."

Yes.

Hector spoke up, "Well with that out of the way, it's about time i head off. I'm sure Chester here can handle giving you a tour of the camp by himself."

"Alright, Later Hector." I gave him a quick hug.

"Good luck with Elliot," He whispered before letting me go and walking out of the cabin.

I turn to Elliot, "you ready for the tour?"

Elliot simply nods and we leave the cabin.

As we exit the cabin, I point to the bigger cabin next to it. "That cabin there is where the other workers live together."

"Live together?"

"Yeah, most of the cabin's are for public use. Because of that, to save space workers live together under one roof."

"How many actually live there at the moment?"

"Let me think." I scratched the side of my head, "I think the number of people is six. We Already met Albert earlier, so the others should be around the camp somewhere."

"I see." Elliot didn't seem to care about what I said.

From here, we walked to the first stop of this little tour of ours. We arrived at a large rectangular building. "This here is the Shower house, as we call it."

"And let me guess, it is full of showers."

"Yep. while the larger cabins have a singular shower, most people who want to get clean come here for a shower since this is the one where you would find one available for use."

"So it is an open shower room or is there privacy in the building?"

"There are stalls for privacy reasons, as well as lockers to hold stuff." I look at the entrance and see someone walk out of the ladies side of the shower house. Looks like it wasn't too late. "Hey," I yelled to the figure.

The figure turned to me, showing that it was Gene. he waved and walked right over, "Chester, hey it's been awhile." he shook my hands and noticed Elliot besides me, "who's this?"

"Oh this is Elliot, he is going the pack today," I answered.

Elliot moved behind me. "Hello," he answered.

Gene smiled, "bit of a shy guy isn't he. Don't worry I don't bite."

Elliot moved further away from Gene.

I spoke up, "yeah sorry, he is kind of new to being a werewolf."

"So I have heard. Kamile said he was a stray before."

Elliot peeked over my shoulder, "stray?"

"Werewolves that are not a part of a pack." Gene answered, "I was a stray not too long ago either, so i understand his reaction."

"Did something happen to your Pack or something?"

Gene shook his head, "nah, i just had a disagreement with the next ALpha of my Pack and just walked out. Guy was an asshole."

Elliot looked even more confused, "And you were just allowed to leave? Isn't the Pack supposed to be important to werewolves or something?"

"Yeah, but we are people and sometimes we have disagreements. This one just had me walk away from my Pack." Gene had a sad, painful look on his face. Even if he doesn't admit to it, I figured some part of him misses his old Pack. From what i know, he grew up with those people and its not an easy choice to just leave them like that. "anyway, enough about my old Pack, I prefer this one anyway. Got a job, roof over my head, a girlfriend, why wouldn't i like it here." Gene eyes go wide, "oh crap."

"What?"

"I promised to help Albert with groundskeeping once I was done here. Did you happen to see him?"

"Yeah we ran into him earlier, he was heading towards cabin H, I think or at least in that area."

"Thanks you really help me," Gene turned his back to us, "bye Elliot, i'll see you later." Gene runs at a brisk pace away from us.

Elliot turned to me, "so where to next?"

I thought for a moment, "well i think the Lake would be a good stop."

"The lake? I think I remember seeing one on the map online."

"Well where I am taking you is the area we cordoned off for swimming. We recently opened it back up for swimming and all with the weather warming up."

As we started walking to the lake, Elliot and I just started to make some small talk about nothing really. We just spoke about whatever came to our minds at the moment. It was just no different from how we were talking over the past few days.

We arrived at the lake within a few minutes. Because of the clear sky, sunlight reflected off the water almost blindingly. Off in the distance we can see the buoys used to cordon off the area for swimming. Even though I am used to it, I am still amazed with how it looks and all. I turned to Elliot, "It's beautiful isn't it?"

Elliot just gave me a look, "uh it is?"

"You sound like it doesn't affect you at all. Have you never seen a lake before?"

"Not really. My family was never the outdoorsy type. No camping or fishing or anything like that."

"That's a shame since it is fun. Normally that's usually something everyone here can get behind. I am always hearing about someone going to the campgrounds and camping under the stars at least once a week."

"There is another campground?"

I nodded, "it's along the hiking trail we have. It has a place where we set up tents and stuff. We even have a few extra tents that they can rent if they don't have one themselves."

I scan the shoreline for any figures. A bit away I see someone laying on the shand of the shore with one leg over the other in a relaxed state. He was half shifted, dense brown fur covering his body that wasn't covered by his clothes. I knew right away he was the lifeguard on duty and also one of the other handymen.

"Hey," I yelled out, trying to get his attention.

The figure sat up and turned our way. He gave a short wave before standing up and walking towards us.

As the figure approaches, I feel Elliot move behind me, using my body as cover to hide from the wolfman coming our way.

Why is...oh right. This is probably his first time seeing someone in half shift form. "It's okay Elliot, there is nothing to be worried about."

Elliot said nothing but I could feel the deathgrip he had on my shirt loosening a bit.

As the wolfman approached my eyes caught sight of the earring reflecting sunlight off of his ear. As far as i know, only one handyman has earrings, "nice to see you Charles."

When he got closer, Charles points to his chest, makes a circle then points to his wrist.

"Yeah it has been awhile."

He brought his knuckles together, stuck out his thumb, then pointed his index finger to me.

"I've been alright," I answered, "just showing Elliot around the camp."

Charles looked at Elliot then back at me. He scooped his hand before holding the invisible box.

"Yeah he is the new guy. Joining the pack today."

"How can you understand him Chester?" Elliot asked behind me.

"He's using american sign language." oh wait, Ellliot probably doesn't understand him. I turned to the hulking werewolf before me, "hey Charles can you turn back into a human Elliot can't keep up with the conversation."

Charles nodded. Before my eyes I saw the hulking form get smaller, his claws got shorter and the fur covering his body got thinner. The wolf-like ears that sat on top of his head slowly moved down to the side and changed shape. In less than a minute, Charles was completely human again. "Sorry about that," Charles said while reaching his hand to Elliot, "didn't mean to exclude you from the conversation."

"No no, its okay," Elliot weakly took Chales hand in his own and shook it, "so why were you like that anyway?"

Charles looked at us quizzingly, "like what, you mean half shifted?"

"Yeah, if that is what it is called."

"Well, I got stuck on lifeguard duty today, so I will be out here all day as as you can see, the coast doesn't have much cover for me to be under. Since i am not expected to jump in when people are not around, i just use my fur to keep the sun off my skin."

"Well what about your partner?" I looked around the area, "isn't someone supposed to be with you on lifeguard duty?"

"Alex went to get us some food since we can't leave the area alone in case someone decides to go swimming. Should be back soon if you want to see him."

"Sure we can wait a moment for him to get back, that's fine with you Elliot?"

"Huh? Sure, i don't mind waiting a bit." Elliot seemed a bit distracted.

At that time my phone went off in my pocket. I pulled it out and the caller ID was from The Alpha. Huh, why is she calling me? "Excuse me, I should take this."

###

Chester walks off a way, leaving me alone with Charles. "So um Charles right?"

"Yeah," he answered in some sort of accent.

"That ASL you were doing, why were you using it?"

"When you are half shifted, your throat and mouth can't use human words. Since we still have a use of hands and stuff, most werewolves pick up sign language to communicate. Most members of the pack can use it to some degree."

"Would I have to learn it too?"

"Oh definitely, especially if you are going to be working with Benten and all."

"Is he another worker here in the campground?"

"Yep and a quirky one at that. You know how we can't speak in half shift form, well he likes to be half shifted at all times, so he only communicates in ASL. never heard him say a word once, ever."

"Is that okay?"

He looked at me puzzlingly, "why wouldn't it be okay? Most everyone who comes here is a member of the pack so they know what he is so he is fine."

"What about people who are not a member of the pack? With how this place is run, surly people outside of the pack come around from time to time?"

"Well we just pass him off as the camp mascot then. Not the first time we did it."

My mouth was agape in shock. "Wait, people believe that thing is a costume?"

Charles looked even more confused, "well yeah, most people would just see it as a realistic costume. you make it seem like that was the first time you saw it. Didn't you see it when you got turned into a werewolf?"

My heart skipped a beat, "wait what do you know about me?"

"Well, that you were changed into a werewolf and would need to go into classes for control and that you would be in a single cabin instead of bunking with us. Anything else, I don't know."

"Bunking?"

"Yeah, everyone who lives on the campground shares a cabin since cabins are used for pack activities. Single cabins are only for the Beta's personal use, so it is strange that you were just given one."

Chester talked about that earlier, "Maybe you just didn't have space in your cabin?"

"Nope, we got two rooms available waiting for a person to sleep in them. Beds included."

"That's odd. When I was asked to join, the Alpha gave me the cabin right off the bat."

"That is odd, considering the fact that it is Kamile's cabin and all. They might have worked something out if they allowed you to stay in there."

Now I felt a bit confused. If the normal things were to bunk together, why am I being separated from the other workers?

Chester finishes his call and walks over towards us, "hey sorry about that. That was the Alpha."

Charles spoke up first, "oh, is it a secret mission?"

"Nah, just asking for me to Take Elliot for his physical."

"Physical?" I ask.

"It's standard practice when joining that a physical is done when new members join. We got everything ready for you."

"If it's something I have to do. Might be good since I don't even remember the last time I went to a doctor."

Chester just nodded, "yeah." He grabs my come on, "come on, Ami is waiting for us." pulling me away from the beach and Charles almost like he was impatent with me.

"Didn't i say you don't need to keep pulling me around all the time."