Its been a while since he met MJ, he doesnt wanna jinx it, but he thinks his life is finally turning up for the better. The girl is a positive influence on him thats for sure. Her bright and heartwarming smile melts even the coldest of hearts. But now since he was with her, as friends, he considered he should get better. And get stronger. He needed to survive. He needed to defend himself from any dangers, be it demons, mages, hunters or other werewolves. Anything that was a threat. He needed to be on his top game. He was the apex predator. And he didnt want that to just be some mental hype. He wanted that to be reality. That he was the alpha and the omega. If it was night he'd let out a hearty howl, but since it was day he obviously didnt.

Now at the moment, he was just making his way to a more forested area, a less urban place of Hargeon. It didnt mean he knew where to go. He just explored on his own, finding a place that was suitable and not filled to the brim with people. Though the idea of a forest and him hunting animals sounded great. He wondered how he can get stronger. He took his tactical knife that he had on his person and observed it as he walked. He made a stabbing motion at the air, just to get the feel of it. Some practice.

Mary Jane had arrived in Hargeon about a week ago. Her life had been already topsy turvy and well strange. She had no idea what to think or say about it, and luckily no one asked. The visions had subdued a bit, there were obviously still there. As she did not go to new places, nothing seemed to trigger her at the moment. Mary Jane had walked around and met new people, albeit still shy and carrying herself like she did not know… she got a bit lost in her own attitude. What should she do? Now that there was no one to dictate her through the day, she felt a little lost. Worse of all; she felt homesick. She missed Caelum and her stuff, she missed some of the kids and her friends. When those moments surpassed her, she would look at her hands and try to relive the memories of the pain and the horror that she had gone through. Only because of this, her magic, the visions. She did not blame the Divine or Illumin but she wished life had been different enough. Alas, she could not have that, so she had taken matters into her own hands. She believed that the visions had been a sign by the God and she had left for the country of Adelaide, she had left for Fiore.

Now she had studied and read a lot when she was still locked up Caelum. But her Fioran reading did not go as fluently as she would. She had gotten a book, with a symbol on it that she recognized, although she did not remember where from. She bought the book and had taken it with her. It seemed to be more ancient Fioran than she had anticipated. Which had made it slightly more difficult. She got out of her room to her next door neighbour and knocked on his door. Michael did not response and she frowned. She looked around and noticed Michael just going down the stairs. She almost called out his name, but someone bumped into her and she would focus on keeping her balance. She apologized and quickly followed her friend. He might be going on a job and she could definitely use the help to make more contacts in the city. Although it seems like she had already met a couple of very impressive people.

Now Michael did not seem to be going towards Hargeon square and she quickly followed. Even though you would think that red hair was hard to miss, it was not easy to keep up with the tall man. He disappeared into the wildlands of the forest and Mary Jane hesitated, wondering if she should follow. It felt like she was spying on him and yet he had not seemed to be hiding where he was going. Or was he used to people not paying attention to him? She frowned and hesitated again. Looking over her shoulder if no one else was following Michael or worse following her. So she would go, slower this time, making sure not to break a branch or step on dead leaves and make a sound. No, she wanted to make sure that she could say hello to Michael without seeming to be a shady person. Unfortunately she had seemed to have lost him in the woods… great job Mary Jane. You had only one.

As he walked, he'd pass some trees. And as he did that he'd extends his hand and casually just claw at it and scratch it. He didnt even stop to see what kind of damage he'd leave. The point was it to blunt his nails, but also to see how much damage he can give unarmed. He was pretty sure if he kept them sharp it'd be quite the damage. He would walk in deeper making sure the common population of Hargeon was nowhere in sight. But he didnt go too deep where any real danger was. Granted he had no idea if the woods had a werewolf. But if it did, he would one day challenge it and claim the territory. He was going to be the alpha and the omega.

Michael stopped clawing at any passerby trees when he noticed his fingertips were a bit bloody. Ok, he dulled his nails enough to appear human. He wiped any blood against his shirt rather casually. Now he stopped and thought how will he go about this. How to increase strength. He could punch a tree, get strong with repetitive actions and break it. It'd be cool to fight a bear. But he imagined he'd need to be more feral if he wanted to do that unarmed. He just huffed and figured that trees could be his punching bags. Humans used punching bags, he uses trees. More sturdier, more resistance, more power used to break them.
He would begin his training, focusing and telling himself "Gotta get strong. Strength. I can do this. I am the alpha and the omega"
He will be strong. He will overpower any spell that gets in his way. He will endure any attack in his way. He will persevere.

He was so focused on getting stronger that he didnt noticed MJ follow him. Not even at the inn, because he was so in his own head. As he is now. Focused on strength. Building his strength, his constitution, his everything. He wanted power. And when he gets power, he will get to do whatever he wants. He will be free and he will survive. He didnt care about any damage he'd endure from the training. It was all for the greater good in the long run. He needed to be stronger than the humans and the mages. He will become a hunter, not the hunted

Unsure if it was smart to follow, Mary Jane realized that she had come so far and it would be silly to give up. Also, it would make her probably more lost than she already was. The good thing was that Michael had left a path of destruction. Where it first had been branches and twigs broken, there were also cuts against some trees. Which made Mary Jane frown. She could only imagine that people did this out of frustration, out of mental pain that needed to find a way out, out of anger. Should she ask him about that? Was that not too personal? It would be up to Michael to share of course. But she was not telling everything either. She looked at her hands, there was magic flowing through her veins but she had never been able to control it and she was a little afraid that Michael might hate her. She could not remember exactly what he mentioned about mages, but that he thought guilds would use someone like him, in a bad way, because he had no magic. Mary Jane would never do that. Besides, she would be the last person to underestimate Michael, he had taken her stolen purse back and had been able to carry her back to the inn.

Mary Jane sighed, she was more worried than she would like to admit. She believed that spreading kindness and finding answers about Adelaide and her life here in Fiore was her task. But should she also not be a good friend to Michael? Mary Jane herself could definitely use a friend. Her fingers lingered on the broken tree bark and there was a frown on her face. She looked up and followed the trail to the next tree and so on. She touched every tree bark until she noticed blood. Her idea that Michael must be hurt and was now physically hurting himself to deal with it only grew. So she started to hurry a bit up. But she was still not sure if she should show herself to Michael. Would he be okay with the fact that she followed him? How desperate did that sound for her? Michael please let me be your friend. He already tolerated her on all his jobs and she hoped she was not in his way. She put the negative emotions aside now, no one was getting any use of that.

She stopped in her path as she finally saw Michael again. Still too far away to see what he was doing and coming from behind him, she just held her breath. Her golden eyes scanning him, wondering if she should say hello and let it be known that she was here or just stay quiet or maybe leave?

He was punching the tree angrily. Hoping to damage it and maybe even cut it down that way. He was weak and it PISSED HIM OFF. He was never all bark and no bite. He was never afraid of a fight. But that night when he met Vex. The words she used. Saying he was all bark and no bite. That hurt more than any spell she could've hurled his way and he had to just stand there and take it. Anyone else who said that to him had their teeth punched in. But this was a mage that did it to him. A Dark Guild mage. He knew he couldnt pick a fight with her and thats what hurt him. If he was stronger, he could've taken her down and be a hero to this stupid town. Maybe earn respect so people can back off his case. Maybe he wouldnt need to hide who he is.
"I'm not weak! Im strong!!" Mary Jane could hear him angrily speaking to himself as he tried to convince himself he was physically strong. How he is "Strength, not Weakness."

He didnt care if he damaged his hands and made them bleed. He just pushed through the pain and continued going at it. Weights from a gym were too limiting, as in he couldnt lash out and take out his anger on a bunch of weights. He wanted to hurt something, hurt someone. He wanted to get better. He didnt want to depend on a mage guild. Though he knew he should tell Blue Pegasus he saw a dark guild mage in their town doing god knows what. But he hated being a tattletale because he was too weak to solve his problems. It frustrated him to no end.

He eventually got exhausted and just glared at the damaged tree and kicked it, albeit weakly. He was that angry. Then he'd sigh and sit down, rest his back against it. He'd look at his hands and the damage he dealt to them "I'm not weak" he spoke in a more calmer or defeated tone and just buried his face in his hands.
"What do I doo?!" he spoke to himself, frustrated.
If he was younger, he probably would've cried. But thats the last thing he wanted now. Crying was for the weak. He wasnt weak. He needed to find solutions. He needed to be an alpha wolf. Big and strong. He needed to live up to his race and be a force of nature. Not be a weak human. Maybe he was too good at his camoflauge that he did become just as weak as a human.
But if he went wolf, he would've been in danger. He talks shit about Blue Pegasus, but he was pretty sure the Guild Master would have a low tolerance to his kind and just hunt him down.
It was a huge dilemma and he didnt know what to do.

He was alone in this. Sure, there was Mary Jane in his life, but he was sure that she would be scared off if she knew what he was. If she knew he liked hurting people. Even now, he was seeing red. Just imagining he could make the dark mage bleed. MJ could.. should never know what he was. In human eyes he was a monster. Maybe he was a monster in not just human eyes.
"What do I do" he said to himself again, the frustration leaving him, only feeling the hopelessness and defeat of the situation. He felt he was presented a problem with no solution. He couldnt join a guild because he had no magic. He felt giving a task to a guild was the cowards way out. It was admiting weakness and defeat. He couldnt live with himself that way. He really would condemn himself to... humanity. Ie being a human. But if he dares to try and master his more lycan side, he could be in danger of being seen and gladly hunted by anyone, whether they think they're saving people or being righteous like those Rune Knights or just for funsies.
Maybe the only way he could do that was if he left this place and went somewhere far away. But that would mean saying goodbye to MJ. But he liked her. She was a good person. He loved her company. She brought something new to his life. Something exciting.
So if everything was a lose lose situation. What should he do

She flinched a little when Michael spoke up loudly enough for her to hear. There was enough frustration in his voice for her to even grasp a little bit about his thoughts (like the ones not spoken out loud). She stared at his back and she wondered what to do. She wondered what Adelaide would have done if her partner, the blond haired man, told her that. She imagined Adelaide holding that person, telling them that they did not need to worry and that they were strong, and that everything would be fine. But she knew Adelaide her frustration when she got defeated here in the streets of Hargeon. She had never really understood feelings from her visions, only what she saw. But this feeling overwhelmed her, almost as if she had encountered it before. She had been not strong enough, else she would not have fled Caelum, she would not have fled her cult and left the children and her friends to fend for themselves.

She wanted to open her mouth when he first asked out loud what to do. But she squeaked too softly and did not say anything. In the end, he went to sit down, he turned his back to the tree, which meant in a way he turned to face her. But he focused on the ground, on his hands and feet, and did not see her. Maybe she was too far away, her eyes slit and she felt that magic streams into her. Like she was trying to make sense of the smells. She never wanted this. She held her hands together and pushed the urge away, it hurt too much. She did not know why and at this point of the day she did not want to figure it out. "Michael?" She said, loud enough but not in a scream. She would walk slowly forward. Her shoes definitely not fit for this terrain and she only noticed it now. The canvas shoes were probably broken but she did not care.

If her task by the Illumin was to spread kindness and make people understand that or to see their own potential to grow in their happiness. Then the Illumin had brought her to Michael and Michael to her. She wanted to believe that. She lowered herself by pulling her skirt flat and wanted to make eye contact with Michael. "I am sorry, I followed you and I could not help but overhear. What happened?" She wanted to add that he was not weak but maybe she could really make a point if she knew why he considered himself weak. Else it might be an empty statement for someone like him. She did not want that. She was definitely worried and leaned toward him. "Can I help?" She asked before he could reply to her previous question. She knew it was not smart to ask two questions at the same time. But maybe she could suggest that a listening ear might already help and would convince him to talk to her.

He immediatelly looked up and was surprised to see Mary Jane. He mentally berated himself for not sniffing her out, but he was too focused on his problems to notice her. Still it was sloppy of him. What if it was someone worse
"Ah shit" he said once he realized he was a mess and immediately hid his hands in his pockets

"What are you doing here?" he asked. Was he followed? Why would she follow him? He didnt understand at all and couldnt make sense of things. She asked him what happened and then leaned in and asked if she can help.

He liked how she leaned towards him. Those lips really were kissa- no he shouldnt. Focus. Other stuff. "Uhm.... so one night I couldnt sleep. So I went to the lighthouse and.... tried to deal with some personal stuff. Didnt wanna disturb the people at the inn during the night, including you. But... I encountered this one elf girl. She was part of a Dark Guild." he put emphasis on dark guild and continued, while also keeping some info from her "She sussed me out. I was never all bark no bite... If anyone said that to my face they'd regret it. But that didnt happened this time. Not this time. She had the nerve and the power to insult me and I couldnt do nothing. Because I was weak. And I needed to tip toe around her verbally so I dont make her use magic against me to kill me. Thats what people from those guilds do." he got up and still leaned against the tree "You cant help me. This is between me and her. I need to get strong and beat her, obviously" he said as he extremely oversimplified it and made it sound so matter of factly
"I need to be strong. So no mage gets to walk over me like that chick. Until then... Im a disgrace" a disgrace to his kind. But he left that out.

She had seen the blood on the trees and she now noticed that he immediately went to hide his hands in his pockets. She gritted her teeth together, good heavens, that must hurt. She would take his right wrist in both her hands to pull his hand out of his pocket and look at the broken skin. She let go of one hand and tried to find the bottle of water in her bag without looking. "Let me clean this?" She looked at him before actually doing anything. If Michael would agree, she would slouch a little water over his knuckles to help him clean the broken skin. What could make him hurt himself? What could make him so angry? Mary Jane would obviously not know the answers. But she was thinking about herself.

She admitted that she was following him. She just did not add that it was an accident. She wanted to ask him something about her book. The reason why she did not ask this was because she completely forgot considering how the situation unfolded. She leaned a bit forward as to talk to him and let go of his one hand to take and clean the other if he let her. She looked up at him again. He explained and used the words dark guild. Michael put quite an emphasis on it, but she did not get it. What did that mean? But as Michael continue to explain what happened and in a way explained how he felt. He also said something about that's what they do... mages from Dark Guilds that is. Mary Jane did not react fast enough and stood up much later and looked still at Michael. She could not do anything he told her.

"I could maybe help train or you know motivate?" She did not want to share about her magic. She was not in control and it was clear that Michael hated mages, so sharing anything like that, it would probably only make things worse or anything bad. What could she do? Michael helped her out before, should she not do the same for him?

The way she took his hand in hers, the way she was very careful and considerate and kind. The way she looked at him mesmerized him. And the way she was so loving in treating his hand set a sort of shiver down his spine. This was so very new to him and weird. Was this a good feeling? He didnt even know because it was so foreign to him. He tilted his head to the side as he looked at her concerningly

As they sorta spoke, she admitted that she followed him, which surprised him why would she. Again, he was so fixated on her eyes that he didnt even notice her take his other hand. All he would feel is the stinging sensation whenever she cleaned the wound with water. It would make him hiss because it did hurt. Whenever he looked at their hands, which would be a discreet glance from his side, he'd just want to touch her hands back. Hold them. But he didnt dare. Instead he was just idle with them and let her do as she saw fit, as he focued on actually explaining what happened to him and why he was this was, which just aggrevated him, thinking about his weakness.

Once she was done, she said that she could help train with him or motivate him. It kind of confused him
"I dont get it... how?" he asked but soon shook his head to try and dismiss that
"Nevermind me. What about you? Did you need anything since you know.... you're here?" he decided to flip the subject on her.

Funny enough, it wasnt quite the hatred of mages he had. It wasnt that black and white as it seemed. Well, while it was majority of the case. Good mages made him feel weak because they were talented in magic. They were accomplished in life. And that made him envious and spiteful of them. Dark Mages made him feel similar, weak, but also deadly and powerful. Which made him more fearful of them as he knew they were lethal and not afraid to use that lethality like good mages.
But then there were people he directly knew, the third category. Which was Mary Jane herself. She has shown him nothing but kindness and maybe platonic love? She made him feel good, useful, welcomed. She was so supportive that if he had no shame, he'd probably shed tears. He could never hate on Mary Jane even if she did have magic. He saw them both as underdogs in this dog eat dog world. Its just that they had different tools.

But now, Michael just sort of wanted to do things on his own because he was not used to Mary Janes type of support. He was kind of a lone wolf, pun intended. He genuinely didnt know what she could do. He didnt wanna punch and hurt her for training. And he didnt want a thought like that to cross his mind. And he wasnt sure how would motivation work. So he was kind of stumped on her suggestions

Cleaning Michael's hands with water was the only thing she could do. Mary Jane wondered why she did not carry any bandages. If you look closely to her own hands, you could see the small spidery display of small scars. But here, in Fiore, she apparently did not think she needed anything more than that. What a disappointment. She had to resist the urge to take a deep breath through her nose. It might sound disappointing or anything, which she was not. She was not going to dictate how Michael should run his life.

Instead she offered to help him train. However Mary Jane was a little wary on the fact that she was a mage and that Michael hated them. In his speech now and last time they had a very openly discussion about it, she believed he said it during the explanation of guilds. She did not want to keep things secret from Michael because why would she. She hated liars and sort of secret keeping felt under that as well. So, she would tell him that she was a mage. it was better than keeping two secrets and she could not tell him about the visions. Not yet. She did not want to be considered insane. Before she could answer Michael's question of how, he already asked her what she needed. "Oh, no it's not important. I didn't understand something in a book I found and you were walking this way. I thought you might go on a job so I wanted to look."

But the red head wasn't stupid. So she parked her bum on the mossy ground instead of hunching down and stared at Michael. She had no idea how dark guilds worked, that they were a thing even. Michael had not told her that, she did not blame him. It had not been part of the topic. "So let me get this straight. There are people out there, in guilds, that want you to do the wrong thing?" was there no justice against that? Or was that the job of good guilds? Like Blue Pegasus. She thought of Alisa, she definitely looked like someone you did not want to cross as a dark mage. Mary Jane looked at her hands, maybe she needed to train more too. Instead of depending on everyone, she should depend on herself and no one else. It would be nice to have someone as support but being fully dependable... no.

"I think you are right. There is no harm in getting stronger. Especially if that means that you can stand on your own and no harm can be done to you." Or no excessive harm. A fight would always bring hurt and harm... right? "But that would mean, I need to do so too. Considering that I cannot depend on you all the time, that would be unfair. Teach me Michael. I believe teaching someone would show ways of development for ones own." She had a stern look on her face, which wasn't for the wolf boy. It was for herself. "I haven't been completely honest. I am a mage." Where she first looked Michael in the eye, her own golden ones dropped away and looked at her own hands again, her hands in her own lap. "I have no control and I don't like it. I was always told that it was a rare form of magic and the like." So no one had been able to teach her. But she should figure it out, now more than ever.

He hated the fact that she saw him in such a vulnerable state. That she had to mend him. He didnt want her to worry about him. By the contrary, he rather felt protective of her, so he wanted to be strong not just for himself, but her too. But soon he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard her say that she wanted to train with him. He was bewildered by that. How did she expect that or imagined that. He asked her how, but soon shook his head as he had a more pressing question in mind asking her if she needed anything, like why she was here. Did she need help with anything. Once she explained, he kind of relaxed and felt stupid for jumping to conclusions
"O-oh... Sorry for misdirecting you or something. Um... yeah. I just wanted to train my strength"

She sat down beside him. Part of him wanted to pull her close and wrap his arm around her. But he didnt, because he wanted to respect her personal boundries. Plus he didnt want to scare her away by coming on too strongly. Instead he was just... mildly awkward and listened to her question. Once he heard her out, he offered an answer
"There are two types of guilds. The legal guilds. Which are your typical good people guilds. Then there are dark guilds or illegal guilds. Usually guilds full of magical criminals, killers, evil people who have some dark and evil agenda. Big bad guys. Its quite tricky to stop them. Usually that would mean pairing a good guild to go against them. A guild vs guild situation. Which I assume is called a guild war."
He wasnt sure if he was clear or he was just giving her more questions. He hoped he was clear
"Im not confusing you, am I?" he asked in a concerned brotherly like tone, to make sure she got everything.

He noticed she looked at her hands. He hoped she was ok. He wanted to reach over and hold her shoulder, offer support. But again, he wasnt quite good at some human interactions. So instead his hand awkwarly hovered, unsure what to do.

Thats when she spoke once again. Like a pup with big eyes, he'd listen to what she'd have to say. He was curious what did she mean when she said he was right. He'd just blink when he'd listen to her. And then just full on blush when she said 'teach me michael', it was like pure surprise and awkward bashfulness. Which was contrasted by her rather serious and stern expression which displayed pure determination.
"I.. um..." he stuttered as he was at a loss of words, but also had no idea how to teach her.

But then another relevation came up. She was a mage. He just blinked as he was registering that. Somehow that was less mindblowing than the 'teach me michael' because no one really looked up to him like that. Or at least not in a long time. So it caught him way off guard. He noticed her eyes as they looked away from his and back to her own hands. She spoke how she had no control over it and didnt like it. But it was some rare form of magic

He managed to snap out of it and touched her cheek, mostly to just move her gaze back to him. After which he'd hold her hands gently
"Hey... dont worry about it. We'll figure it out together then and we can be strong together. I dont know how to help you train with magic... or even strength considering I dont have any excercise gear. But we'll figure it out and work together."
He got up to his feet and gently pulled her up
"So.. yeah, how did you imagine like training your magic power?"