'He's been inside for a while'
'Honestly, I'm not surprised. I'm pretty sure he passed out once he got through the door'
'You what? Why didn't you tell us, he could be in-'

The sound of the front door opening snapped Rob, Preston and Jerome out of their conversation as they looked up. Marina rolled her eyes when she saw the trio, but smiled and leant against the doorway 'Before you ask, he's doing fine. A bit tired, but that's only to be expected'
'I don't want to seem disrespectful, Mrs. Power,' Rob began, and the woman laughed 'Why so formal, Rob? You definitely have more manners than your Father... Yet again, before you ask; Yes you can see him'
'H-How did you-'
'I'm a female of many talents, Rob. Now, Lachlan told me that your hands looked quite scraped up earlier... Do you mind if I check them out?' Lachlan's Mother gently took ahold of one of his wrists, flattening his hand out and whistling softly at the damage 'He was certainly right. What did you do, get into a fight with one of the Rusticus'?'

Nodding for his two friends to go ahead, Rob waited until they'd gone inside before letting out a small puff of air 'Mrs. Power, did my Father ever have... I don't know, anger issues of any sort? Like would he get random bursts of anger, or would he sometimes lash out at others?'
'Now that you mention it, Adam did have a tendency of losing control sometimes. Why d'you ask?' The brunet looked down, hissing as Marina traced over his raw knuckles 'It's just- Well, it's difficult to explain'
'Hey, if there's one thing I'm good at it's listening. C'mon, you can tell me all about it while I patch you up' Guiding her Son's friend into the house, she sat him down and turned to get something - Most likely gauze - From a small cupboard in the hall 'Sorry about the mess by the way, I'd just started setting everything up for Lachy's party when Preston almost knocked the door down'

'No, it's fine - Far better than my Dad's, anyway' The Canadian smiled slightly as the woman turned around, a vial of crimson liquid in one hand on the gauze in the other 'As to be expected, your Father couldn't keep anything clean for more than a week. I remember helping him clear out his bedroom when we were younger, then I came back literally three days later; It was almost as bad as it was to begin with!'
'If you got annoyed at him then, you'd probably want to shove him into a volcano full of zombies is you saw his house now' Marina raised an eyebrow at the boy's words, spreading the red substance onto two bandages before walking back to his side, picking a hand up once more and inspecting it closely 'They look okay, but the potion should counter any bacteria just in case. By the way, this is probably going to sting pretty badly'

'What do you-' Rob cut himself off with a loud squeal as the syrupy liquid came in contact with his bare flesh, causing Lachlan's Mother to shake her head as she began to wrap the material around his hand 'And this is where you're nothing like your Dad, you actually have a sense of pain - That man could be thrown off a cliff, yet wouldn't make a sound'
'I wouldn't expect anything less, being the "King of the Werewolves" and all that' The teenager muttered, wincing as Marina tightened the wrap before moving to the next hand 'Hey, what's wrong? You seem rather tense'
'Well... You know how I asked about my Dad's anger issues? I just - Well, I kind of... I don't really know how to explain it'
The hybrid's ears were flat against his head as he trailed off, unsure how to begin while the final knot was tied. The female Power perched on the arm of the sofa, running a hand through Rob's hair as he finally started to unravel 'My Dad got mad at me for something this morning. It's not anything important, but I just - He keeps trying to get me to go hunting with him, but I keep telling and telling him that I don't want to. Then when I spend about five minutes trying to get out the front door, I go into the forest as normal, but I'm just so angry at him that I ended up punching a tree. And... For whatever reason... The pain felt good'

Marina sighed, sorting out all of the tangles in the boy's hair as he continued 'Then I find that Preston was right behind me, so I don't know how much he saw, but he saw my hands and - He just seemed really worried. He tried to get me to tell him what was wrong, then said that he was going to ask my Dad and-'
'Let me guess, you pinned him against a wall or something?' The Canadian jolted, looking up to see a concerned expression in the woman's face 'How did you - Did you see me? Did somebody else see, then tell-'
'Rob, calm down. Nobody saw that happening, it just seemed like a familiar scenario. When we first had to move here, he had a hard time controlling his temper - He did that to us multiple times. He's finally grown out of that stage now, but it's perfectly normal; There's a full moon tomorrow, you were already stressed out, and to top that you were in pain. It's only natural that you lashed out'
Robert looked at his - Now bandaged - Hands, nodding slightly as he tail curled into his lap 'But why did I do it, though? Normally I'm so good at keeping my emotions in, but today it just seemed unbearable'

'You needed a way to vent, Rob. We all need to do that sometimes, so you're fine. Now, I'm sure the boys need you up there so that they don't break a window or something, so you'd better run up there' Marina slid off the side of the armchair as Rob stood up, hiding his hands behind his back and he gave a small half-smile 'Thank you, Mrs. Power'
'Oh please, that's what Colby calls me sometimes - Just call me Marina, alright?'
'That's a nice name'
'You're such a charmer, Rob; Now go! I think Jerome managed to set something on fire by now'
Tilting his head slightly, the Canadian shook his head as he straightened up 'But Preston's the one made of lava' He pointed out, and Marina rolled her eyes 'Exactly my point. Make sure you keep those hands clean, alright? No more punching inanimate objects'

'Of course, who do you take me for?'
'A kind, intelligent young boy who will go to extreme lengths to make sure his friends are-' Mrs. Power was shocked into silence when Rob darted forwards and hugged the woman tightly, before he took a step back and waved awkwardly 'Thank you, Marina!' He smiled, dashing out of the room and sprinting upstairs while she smiled softly "So much like his Mother... Full of life, yet put down by his own choices"

+++

''Ey, Roberto! Glad you could join us' Preston grinned as his older friend ran through the door, almost slamming into the bookcase on the other side of the room. The brunet teenager merely shook his head and grinned apologetically, taking a seat on the bottom of the bed as Lachlan waved slightly 'Hey Lachlan, feeling any better?'
'Now that I'm not bleeding out, yeah,' The Australian's voice was weak, with a tired undertone, 'What took you so long?'
'It was Mama Power saving the day, as per usual, she wanted to talk to me about my fudging hands'
'Actually yeah, what happened to them? They can't have been scraped up that much by the caves, surely' Lachlan pointed out, blue eyes flashing with concern as Rob shrugged 'Eh, it's not that important. Today's about you, remember? Mister Birthday Boy'
'Oi nah, fudge off - But it's true. Shower me in affection, guys!'

'Alright' Preston said simply, grabbing one of the pillows at the end of the bed and chucking it at his younger - Yet taller - friend's face 'Have some affection!'
'Preston I swear if I wasn't in bed right now'
'You know you love me, ya handsome man' Jerome rolled his eyes and threw a smaller cushion at the lava mob's head, causing him to slowly turn and look him in the eye 'One versus One me, bacca'
'Right here, right now' The older hybrid joked, and the two began to fire harmless insults at each other while Rob and Lachlan simply exchanged confused glances 'Should we be worried?'
The younger of the two shrugged, crossing his legs and resting his head in the palm of his hand 'Probably not, but we need to make sure they don't get too fired up' Pleased with his bad pun, Lachlan watched as his Canadian counterpart groaned and slapped a bandaged hand in his face 'That, my good Sir, was simply the finest banter'
'The finest banter, oi?'
'The finest banter!' Jerome screeched, and his friends fell silent for about give seconds before they all burst out laughing 'Only you, Jerome,' Preston laughed, clutching his stomach, 'Only you'

~

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