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Jay pried her eyes open, blinking in the darkness as she tried to listen for the sound that had originally woke her up. For a while, it was quiet, her eyes adjusting to the lack of light. She yawned, the sound pulling from her throat before she could stop it. Her jaw cracked and she winced, bringing a hand up to her face to rub it.
The ship was swaying peacefully with the waves, nothing out of the ordinary that would wake her up. Outside, she could hear the lamp thumping against the pole with every sharp breeze or a large wave. Jay might even call the night relatively relaxing if she was being honest. And even though it had looked like it was going to rain earlier with how the clouds darkened the sky, no storm had come.
Jay was tired, barely pushing herself up on her elbows to glance around. It was still the middle of the night, around two or three in the morning if she were to make a guess. Gillion was curled up next to her, his hands pulled up close to his mouth. A blanket had been draped over his hips which was beginning to slip down. She had a thought to reach over to pull it back up but she was too tired.
Gillion’s breath rattled with every inhale and Jay noticed the way that his ears twitched in his sleep. It was kind of cute the way that he curled up in a little ball, she reasoned. But Gillion was still fast asleep and even his snoring wouldn’t have been enough to wake her. No matter how loud it was, or how close he was to her ear.
That’s when she noticed the lack of a large furred presence to her other side and she let out a small groan, sitting up the rest of the way. Jay scanned the sleeping quarters, a bundle of blankets scrunching under her hand as she twisted around. Her eyes adjusted slowly, but she was able to make out the basic shapes of the room, like the cots pushed against the wall, or Gillion’s water barrel.
With a small sigh of relief, Jay realized that thankfully, Chip in his wolf form was unable to open doors. She didn’t feel like going on a search for whenever the werewolf had gone off to. He was bad enough to try and get to sleep in their quarters.
He was sitting by the door looking utterly defeated. His chin rested on top of his large paws which he stretched out in front of himself. His glowing yellow eyes darted over to glance at Jay as his ear twitched in her direction. Upon noticing that she was awake, he suddenly perked up, poking his snout against the door.
Jay sighed again, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, “what are you doing up?” She asked like he would be able to respond, she knew he understood anyway.
“Come back to sleep,” she tried to usher him back over, waving her hand in an attempt to get him to listen. He refused, pawing at the door with an intimidatingly sized paw. How could someone that barely came up to her eyes be so big when transformed into a giant wolf? Her head could probably fit in his mouth, not that she trusted him enough to test that.
Chip whined softly, plopping back down on his paws, staring at Jay with a pleading expression. She really didn’t want to get up, especially not to either indulge in his antics or try and drag him back to the nest—den, he liked to call it a den—that he had made earlier.
He continued looking at her with that kicked-puppy expression, his ears drooping slightly. That same expression that he had down perfectly, even in human form. It broke Jay’s heart whenever he used it and he knew, which was the worst part. Jay cursed him in her head and begrudgingly pushed herself up to her feet.
“What do you want?” She asked, rubbing her eyes. There was fur in her mouth which she struggled to spit out, pulling it off her tongue. Chip sat up again now that she was walking over, tilting his head to the side and tapping his front paws against the ground. Jay just sighed for probably the hundredth time tonight.
She put her hand on his head, rustling his fur. Chip leaned into the touch, his eyes shutting for a moment before he returned to nudging at the door with his snout.
“I can’t let you out, we’re supposed to be sleeping,” Jay said tiredly, rubbing his ear between her fingers.
Chip made a noise from the back of his throat, it sounded like a whine but was more gurgled. He made no move to nudge back at the door now that Jay was rubbing his ears, but he did paw at the crack on the bottom of the door. His tongue poked out between thick lips and he made another small noise.
His sharp claws scratched against the wood as he practically tried to pry the door open. Seemingly coming back to himself, Chip shook his head away from Jay’s kind hands. He opened his jaw widely, sighing dramatically and throwing his head back, tail thumping against the floor.
“Okay, okay, fine, if I let you out, will you be good?” Jay raised one eyebrow at him, giving the werewolf a stern look. Chip’s ears dropped and he looked away mischievously.
If Jay wasn’t as tired as she was, she might’ve been less willing to go along with what he wanted. But it was late and Jay wanted to just go back to bed, she figured that the quicker she let Chip do what he wanted, the quicker she could go back to sleep. So, she reached around his furry shoulder, tugging on the door handle and pulling it open.
Chip stood up, his tail wagging hard enough that when it hit Jay in the arm she winced. He slipped through the open door the moment that the crack was big enough for him to slip through, tongue spilling from his mouth as he panted.
Jay shuffled her feet as she followed him, rubbing her eyes and yawning once more. He probably was just restless and needed a moment to wind down and get his energy out. Jay figured he was just going to pace around the lower decks for a while and then go back to the sleeping quarters. Usually on full moons like this, after he had transformed, Chip was too tired to really do much. Mostly he just laid down and slept for the rest of the night, sometimes he wanted to play for a bit before collapsing in the den.
He was a pretty lazy dog, but Jay didn’t blame him. Not when she saw what the transformations took out of him, it was rough, and Jay didn’t even have to go through it. She was just there for the support and to help in whatever ways she could. And if that meant walking around the ship for a while until he tired himself out, so be it.
It wasn’t like she could really say no to him, he was persistent and stubborn. And after seeing the pain that Chip had to go through, it was the least that she could do. Not to mention he was cute enough that she had a hard time resisting the puppy eyes.
Chip prowled silently, his head held low to the ground as he stalked. Jay figured he would be near silent if it weren’t for her footsteps right behind him. But there was no way she was letting him roam the ship unmonitored, even if she did hinder his sneaking. While he couldn’t get through doors, which meant that he technically couldn’t get into places that he really wasn’t supposed to go, he could still cause trouble. Or he could wake the rest of the ship, which Jay wouldn’t be surprised if they did.
His ears swiveled around as he sniffed the ground, tail still continuing to wag back and forth. Jay rubbed her eyes and yawned, causing Chip to stop suddenly and look over his shoulder at her. She could practically imagine the look he had on his face if he was in human form. A slightly raised eyebrow, almost like he was offended that she had yawned, but a hint of concern.
Chip looked away and continued walking. He struggled up the stairs since the narrow hallway got a bit too small for him and he had to squeeze through. But he made it up on top of the deck, the wind blowing in his fur and causing him to squint off in the distance. Jay frowned slightly, her eyebrows furrowing.
One morning a few months back, Chip had told her that he didn’t really like looking at the moon. Being out at night was unpleasant, even when it wasn’t a full moon, but there was just something about being outside when the moon was uncovered that felt wrong. Jay wondered if he was feeling that type of stress now, even if he didn’t show it in any way that Jay could pick up on.
She was still learning his body language when he was in wolf form, so she had no idea what he was thinking of right now. After a few seconds of standing stock still at the top of the stairs, Chip turned and began walking again.
Jay had been completely focused on the way that he had been staring at the sky, that she hadn’t even noticed where they were going until they stopped right in front of a rough wooden door.
Chip stopped once more, plopping down in front of the door and staring at it intently, his nose slowly creeping forward until it pressed against the wood. His ears pinned back and he made a noise from the back of his throat and grumbled, tail thumping against the ground.
That’s when Jay looked up to notice that he had taken her to the kitchen. Her eyes widened significantly and she immediately reached out and grabbed the scruff at the back of his neck.
“Chip, we can’t go in there right now,” Jay said, stumbling through her words at her immediate surprise. Chip looked back over her shoulder, giving her a confused look. His tongue peeked out behind sharp teeth as he huffed slightly, seemingly nodding back towards the door.
“You will be very upset in the morning if you remember that you went in there,” Jay didn’t need to crouch to get down to his level, at his current size, and even sitting down, he nearly went up to her shoulders, “you might wake Ollie or Earl and then you’ll be in trouble when you change back.”
But Chip doesn’t listen to reason at the best of times, he certainly wasn’t listening now. He whined dramatically, pressing his snout back against the door. The way that he was making a fuss at the moment really made him seem more like an oversized puppy compared to the nearly fully grown werewolf that he was. Chip hated being called a puppy, but it was hard not to when he acted the way he did.
Jay scrubbed her face, listening as Chip whined and moaned, loud enough that she worried someone was going to wake up. Her mind worked quickly through different options as she tried to think about what to do.
She put her hand on his head, quieting his fit for the moment but probably not for long. Rubbing his ear between her fingers, Jay had to take the time to weigh her options.
If she let him go into the kitchen, then she risked him waking Ollie. Chip had said many times before that he didn’t want Ollie to see him like that because he didn’t trust what would happen in this form. And for the most part, Jay had done her part and did what she could to respect his wishes. Mainly by keeping him confined to the lower decks and their sleeping quarters. She had buffered Ollie’s questions and tried to cheer the boy up when he seemed upset at Chip’s insistence.
On the other hand, Chip’s whining was loud enough that it would probably wake the entire ship. Jay was surprised at how Gillion wasn’t awake already and rushing up to the top decks like there was some threat. She really wasn’t in the mood to get a sword pointed at her today. And if Chip woke Ollie or Earl, there was a big chance that they would open the door to investigate, and that meant that Chip had access to the kitchen anyway with the added benefit of everyone else being awake.
And there was no way Jay would be able to drag him back down to the sleeping quarters. For being skinny as anything, Chip was surprisingly strong in either form. She didn’t really want to test the strength of a young adult werewolf that was almost as tall as her sitting down. It was unlikely that she would be able to convince him to come back to bed considering how stubborn he was being right now.
Jay sighed heavily, scrubbing her face with her free hand as she continued to rub Chip’s head if only to keep him quiet. He was beginning to become a pain the longer the night went on.
A part of her registered that it was probably because he was much more comfortable being like this around them. If he was comfortable enough to play with Jay or to even want to explore the ship, that meant he was in a better place than a few months ago. The first few times that Jay had seen a full moon with him, he had been quiet and sluggish, not really moving from one spot and tensing whenever she moved. He was better now, and Jay would be proud of him in the morning when she wasn’t as tired. It was a good thing for Chip and his insecurities, but not a good thing for Jay who was just trying to get some sleep.
Jay smoothed her hand down Chip’s head, ruffling up the fur underneath his chin. He lifted his head enough to give her access to his neck, panting slightly. She huffed fondly, using both hands now to pet his fur, noticing the way his tail wagged.
Just like a puppy , Jay thought to herself, knowing that Chip would throw a fit if she had said that to him. An adult dog didn’t melt as much as he did when being petted.
After a few seconds, Chip seemed to notice her attempt at a distraction and moved to lick her hands. His tail continued wagging, even as he placed his jaw around her arm, teeth slightly poking into her skin. He didn’t bite down, only held her arm between his teeth gingerly, like he was afraid of hurting her.
Jay didn’t move, her hand stilling against his fur. She could feel his hot breath against her skin and raised an eyebrow. He let go of her arm and stared at her with an intense expression. Jay stared back just as intensely, waiting to see who would win this stare-down.
But Chip’s gaze was unwavering, piercing yellow eyes practically staring into her soul. He suddenly barked, a sound that Jay hadn’t known he could make. It echoed in the darkness of the night, causing her to jump. She shushed him frantically, putting her hand on top of his snout.
“I know that you are pretty much nocturnal like this, but you need to remember that there are other people sleeping,” Jay insisted, “we are trying not to wake anyone else up.”
Chip tilted his head to the side, prying his snout away from her palms and pressing his nose back against the door. Jay sighed heavily for the hundredth time tonight.
“If I let you into the kitchen, you have to be very, very quiet. Ollie and Earl are sleeping in here,” Jay told him, forcing him to look at her, “do what you want to do, and then we’re going back to bed.”
It seemed like he nodded, but Jay couldn’t be entirely sure. She clenched her jaw tightly, nudging Chip aside to open the door. He moved easily, standing up and wagging his tail. Jay twisted the handle and pushed it open. Like before, Chip immediately shoved himself between the crack the moment that he could squeeze through it. Jay stumbled slightly, almost getting knocked over.
But, for the most part, he seemed to listen to Jay, creeping quietly through the dark kitchen and taking caution not to bump into anything. Jay did the same, tip-toeing around and keeping one hand thrown out in front of her so she didn’t knock into anything.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the room only being lit up by the moonlight spilling into the porthole windows, Jay could see the hammocks in the corner where Ollie and Old man Earl slept. One of them was snoring, but you could never be too sure which one it was.
Jay placed her hand on the small island in the middle of the room, her fingers smoothing against the wooden countertop. She could practically hear her heartbeat in her ears as it drowned out the sound of wind outside. The hammocks were still, swaying slightly in the waves, but neither of them were awake.
Being so focused on making sure that at the very least Ollie didn’t wake up, Jay made the mistake of taking her eyes off of Chip for a few seconds. By the time that she looked over and found him again, he had his front paws on the counter, snout traveling across the surface.
Jay whispered his name, shuffling around the side of the counter. He found the basket of fruit that had been set out for the next morning, pulling it closer to himself to chew on the fruits.
He practically swallowed an orange whole, juice getting all over the counter. Jay grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, trying to pull him away from the basket, but he was insistent.
“Earl is going to kill you tomorrow,” Jay hissed through clenched jaws, “Chip.”
He ate at least two of the apples before deeming satisfied, licking the juice off the counter and sliding his tongue over his lips. He then had the audacity to look over at Jay completely innocently with his paws still on the counter.
“Are you done?” Jay asked, wrapping her arms around his neck and doing her best to wrench him off the counter. He slid off and landed with a thud, Jay felt her heart skip a beat. She waited and listened if there would be any sound from the hammocks. Her grip was loose enough on Chip that he was able to slip out of her arms and sneak off somewhere else.
Jay suddenly wished that Gillion was here with her right now, he was a lot stronger than she was and would probably be able to drag Chip back to bed. But she would’ve felt bad waking him up for something like this, not when he had been sleeping so peacefully the last she saw him. He wasn’t a big fan of sleeping outside of his barrel, especially in a bunch of blankets, so any time he was able to fall asleep, Jay wanted to just let him sleep.
That was her problem, she reasoned, she was too soft when it came to her boys. They were annoyingly charming, it wasn’t her fault. If it weren’t for Chip being so dramatic and pitiful, she would never be in this situation.
In the time that Jay spent musing over her own thoughts, Chip had moved on from the fruit to something else.
Sneaking into the barrel of ice that Gillion had provided, Chip clamped his jaw around the large fish that had been caught earlier. He pulled it out of the barrel before Jay could even try and tell him off for it. The fish flopped onto the floor with a wet plop and Chip took a large bite out of it, scales and everything.
Jay surged forward, latching her arms around his neck to try and pull him away from the fish. Chip was going to kill her tomorrow for letting this happen. He continued chewing on the fish, swallowing chunks whole before Jay was able to pry him away.
“Next time you are hungry, I will make you some food,” she hissed through a clenched jaw, standing in front of him, feeling the blood from the fish underneath her bare feet. She grimaced, “you can’t be walking around eating raw fish, Gillion is gonna get upset.”
Jay had no idea if that was true or not, it was a pretty fifty-fifty chance if Gillion was going to get upset about something. She didn’t understand his culture very well despite her attempts at trying to learn, so one thing might make him upset one day when it wouldn’t the next. Especially when it came to fish. Maybe that was just Gillion.
Chip glowered at her, he whined, plopping down on the floor dramatically. His paws and muzzle were covered in blood and if she hadn’t just seen him eating a raw fish, she would’ve thought that he had killed someone.
The fish was already mostly eaten at this point, his jaw was huge and he took big bites when he knew he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to. Jay just sighed again, nudging it towards him with a sense of defeat.
He made an excited noise, eating his fill of the fish as he licked up the blood. It reminded her of how Gillion would lick his fingers whenever they were cooking fish, tasting the blood, or eating other parts that otherwise Jay would never think of consuming. But at least he had the stomach for it.
While Jay had no doubt that Chip could stomach it in this form, human Chip definitely could not. She had a bad feeling about what would happen in the morning.
Once satisfied, Chip sat back on his haunches, front paws pressed against the floor. He wiped his paw over his muzzle, licking his lips. Then he even looked at Jay with a slight tilt of his head like he had done no wrong. She frowned and shook her head slightly.
“You’re filthy,” Jay whispered, Chip tilted his head to the other side like he didn’t understand what she was trying to say.
Jay puffed out her cheeks, letting out a long breath, “stay here, I’m going to clean up this mess.”
At least he sat there like a good boy while Jay scooped up the rest of the fish and mopped up the blood. It was hard to see where the blood had spread to in the darkness, but Jay did her best to clean it up. So much for being secretive and leaving no trace that they were here. When old man Earl woke up, he would definitely notice the remains of the mess.
Jay stuck her hands in the barrel of ice, wincing at the coldness but using the water to wash her hands. She even dunked another washcloth in the water, taking Chip’s chin in one hand and using her other to wipe the blood from his snout.
He whined and made a fuss out of it, trying to wrench his jaw away from her as she scrubbed the cold towel on his fur. Jay knew he was just being difficult, if he really wanted to get away, he could. Chip’s ears twitched his tail wagging despite his dramatic display of unhappiness.
She knelt down, grabbing his ankle and lifting his paws enough that she could slide the towel over it. He resisted a little more this time, trying to pull his paw out of her grasp and squirming. Jay held his ankle tightly, his paws much bigger than her hands but she was able to slide the cloth over his paw pads.
Jay scrubbed as gently as she could, knowing the water was cold but doing what she could with the resources that they had readily available. When she deemed his paws as clean as she could see in this lighting, Jay let him go. Chip laid down on the floor, tucking his paws underneath himself as he eyed her suspiciously.
“Come on, are you done in here?” Jay asked, nervously glancing over at the hammocks. Somehow neither of them had woken up in the time that Chip and Jay were messing around. Chip made a small noise that Jay took as a confirmation.
She crept back towards the door, relieved that Chip followed. Before leaving, Jay grabbed the bucket that they had hung up by the entrance, just in case. Chip yawned, large teeth shining in the limited light of the kitchen. At least he had tired himself out in the time that they had been exploring.
His nose bumped against her back as he followed as close as he physically could. Jay nearly fell down the stairs because of it, gripping onto the railing just to keep her balance with the swaying of the boat. She could hear the wood creaking, the familiar sounds filling the silence that settled between them.
The only reason that Jay knew Chip was still following her was by the feeling of a wet snout on her back. She did her best to walk quietly, avoiding the floorboards that she knew would creak. The handle of the bucket in her hand creaked, but besides that it was quiet. No noise came from their sleeping quarters, which meant that Gillion was still asleep.
Jay opened the door, holding it open after she slipped inside for Chip to squeeze through. He yawned once more, head butting Jay in the side. She ruffled his fur, petting his head.
Gillion was in the exact same spot that she had left him in, his breathing was shallow and he was still curled up in a little ball. He had curled his tail up to his chest, holding it like one would hold a stuffed toy. She couldn’t help but smile softly.
Chip wasted no time plopping back down on the nest, sniffing Gillion’s head and causing his hair to fluff up. He patted the blankets, kneading them underneath his paws for a few seconds before laying his chin down. One eye was kept open as Jay slowly shut the door, placing the bucket down near the nest and sitting down.
She watched as his ears twitched back and forth, obviously listening and waiting but trying not to be too obvious about it. Jay placed her hand on his head right between his ears, scratching her nails lightly against his scalp. He let out a shuddery sigh, deflating against the floor. Each breath he exhaled caused Gillion’s hair to rustle, but of course, the Triton was oblivious to it. He was completely out, unaware of anything else in the room even after Chip and Jay had left and gone on their adventure.
Jay couldn’t help but reach over and smooth his hair away from his face, revealing the luminescent scales that dotted his cheeks. Gillion held onto his tail tighter, curling in on himself more. It was just like how Chip slept, they were alike in that way.
Chip huffed, shifting to paw at Jay’s arm now that she was paying attention to Gillion and not him, she just rolled her eyes.
“You’re just like a puppy,” Jay said fondly, cupping his chin in both her palms and bringing his face up to meet her eyes. She wrinkled her nose at him, scruffing up the fur on his neck. His tail thumped against the ground happily, completely ignoring her comment.
He licked her face and Jay recoiled, “Yuck, you smell like fish.”
Chip went to lick her face again but Jay pulled back before he could, shoving his snout away. She chuckled quietly, giving him another pat on the head before laying down. He put his chin on her stomach, deflating with another dramatic sigh.
Jay placed her hand on the back of his head, absently curling his fur around her fingers. Gillion’s breathing was loud against her ear, the sound of his chest rattling the only sound in the room besides the waves pressing against the side of the boat. Chip was warm as he curled against her, providing enough heat that Jay didn’t even shiver despite the chill of the room.
Jay didn’t even know that she had fallen asleep until she was woken up some time in the morning to the sound of retching. She pried her eyes open, bringing a hand up to rub at her face. Rolling over to her other side, she spit fur out of her mouth, spotting Chip curled over the bucket that she had brought to the sleeping quarters earlier. Ah, so she was right about that.
His shoulders shook and he coughed, heaving again into the bucket. Jay pushed herself up to a sitting position groggily, moving to sit next to him, and placing a hand on his back. Chip barely even reacted to the fact that she had woken up, another round of heaving causing him to nearly collapse.
Jay felt only a slight bit guilty, knowing that he probably would’ve eaten something else dangerous if not the fish. She ran her hand up and down between his shoulder blades in what she hoped served as a comforting motion. The hair on his arms was still darker than normal and much thicker than before. Jay was sure that if she were to see his face, the yellow eyes would still be there and his teeth would still be a little sharp as the last bits of the full moon sunk below the horizon.
Chip coughed again, spitting into the bucket and moving away to slump against Jay, the handle of the bucket rattling against the side as he nearly kicked it with his foot. He let out a loud groan, breathing heavily and sweating.
“What the hell… happened… last night,” he gasped between pants, curling one arm around his stomach. Jay moved his sticky bangs away from his forehead gently, grimacing slightly.
“You ate an entire raw fish,” Jay whispered, not wanting to beat around the bush but also trying her best to tell him gently. He never usually remembered what happened after he had transformed so he was always jumpy and anxious until Jay told him what he did. This time, Chip just groaned pitifully and gagged, although he didn’t seem like he was going to throw up again at the moment since he remained slumped against Jay’s side.
“Why did you let me do that?” he moaned, peeking up at her through half-lidded eyes. She could still faintly see the yellow glow that was steadily fading back into the usual dark brown color.
“I tried to stop you, I looked away for two seconds and you had gotten into the barrel,” she ran her fingers through his hair.
Chip looked like he was going to respond, but instead, he suddenly lurched forward, heaving into the bucket again. Jay grimaced and held his shoulders, rubbing his arm gently. He groaned, dragging his nails against the wooden floor.
“Sorry,” she muttered, truly meaning it as she watched him heave what she hoped was the rest of what was in his stomach. He leaned over the bucket for a few more seconds, panting and shaking.
“It’s okay…” he mumbled, “I’m sure… I’m a handful like that.”
“Not really,” Jay shrugged, “you usually sleep or want cuddles.”
No matter how many times Jay told him that, it never truly seemed to reassure Chip. He continued to act skittish whenever the topic of being a werewolf came up and was insistent on keeping Ollie from seeing him like that. Jay wished he would trust himself a little more than he already did. The only time he had ever hurt anyone was when he dug his claws into Gillion’s arms or back during the beginning transformation. Other than that he was passive and a little dramatic.
But now wasn’t the time for that talk. Jay just continued to rub his back and hold him upright to keep him from falling. They maybe would have to put in some more dog proofing when it came to a full moon. Jay was sure that Chip didn’t want to go through this again, or as little as he possibly could. She’d try and remember to put away the raw food next time.