**subject to change at any time. work in progress.❝ August Thrush was the third child of five, firmly middle of the pack—figurative and literal—of his family. A quiet child, he could often be found outside in the woods, especially after his first shift. He was an unobtrusive presence in their home, well-loved by his parents, and got on with his siblings as any child does: in turns violently hateful and deeply affectionate, play-fighting turning to real-fighting and then back again on a dime. The first twelve years of his life were unremarkable: he grew, he learned, he loved.Three months after his twelfth birthday, that would change.He'd always been fond of his youngest sibling, Victoria. At six years his junior, it wasn't uncommon to see her clinging to Gus' back, either human or wolf, while the two of them traipsed off into the expansive forest around their childhood home some fifteen minutes by car from town. Whenever Vicky had nightmares, Gus wouldn't hesitate to take her out for a run, help her clear her head (and eagerly look forward to the day that she could shift, too, and run alongside him). It's a night like they've had dozens of times, running a path that Gus knew like the back of his hand until Vicky started to droop, sleep tugging her under without the threat of fitful dreams.The two of them return to their childhood home to see it in flames.Hunters.Grief muddies the memory of the next handful of months: funerals, estates, investigations, temporary homes. The only thing Gus clings to, the only thing Gus remembers from that night with any certainty, is the hunters' faces as they drove away, their scents marked smoke-acrid with fire and hate. Eventually, the two of them land in the care of the only living relative they have: Ricky Thrush, 20-something mechanic who lives states away, who just lost his only sister and now has to raise two of her kids.It's an uneasy adjustment; Gus takes to the move with little grace and less graciousness, caught between grief and rage. Vicky spends her nights screaming, and her days clinging to her older brother's side, angry and scared. Ricky never expected to have children at all, much less ones that are the spitting image of the sister he'd just lost.Bachelor, drifter, vagabond—and now, guardian, Ricky puts aside his own grief, puts down roots, and finds himself in the town of Sunrise: a haven, found only by those that need it, meant to keep those of a more magical nature safe. The next few years are spent working to open his own garage, fix up an old house on the edge of town, and make sure these two kids are alright.
Gus, never a star student, is ill-equipped to navigate a new environment on top of his own anger. He lashes out at everyone around him, spends days skipping school in favor of wandering the new mountains and forests he's surrounded by, and dreams of blood on his teeth and ash in his lungs. Vicky skews the opposite, throwing herself into study, academics, sports, anything to keep herself busy and distracted. Eventually, a handful of years after their loss, Gus formally drops out of high school at seventeen and steals his uncle's truck, dead-set on hunting down the hunters that killed his family.Unfortunately, the trail is beyond cold: with years and distance separating him from his quarry, there are no leads to be found, especially not for a kid working with the change in his pocket and a truck twice his age, one that loves to break down at the worst possible times.Enter Selune: mysterious, reclusive, and enigmatic, he offers to help Gus get his truck fixed—as long as Gus promises to take him with him, wherever he happens to be going. Gus agrees to let him tag along, with the caveat that he help him hunt these people down.The two of them spend the next half-year wandering across America with little more than the clothes on their backs and the wind to guide them. Selune is a gifted hunter in his own right, navigating the more social aspects of finding their quarry and always seeming to come up with the right lead or hunch to get them closer with every passing day. Gus, too wrapped up in his own anger and the nascent romance blooming between them, doesn't think to question any of it until they're at the hunter's doorstep, a lodge dedicated to eradicating anything deviant from humanity by any means necessary.A lodge that Selune seems to be all too familiar with.It's a betrayal that cuts them both to the quick: as unwilling as Selune seems to hand Gus over to the lodge, so to does he seem unable to defy whatever order he's been given. Gus, unwilling to listen to reason, leaves Selune bleeding on their doorstep and returns home, head low and defeated.Gus spends the next few long years working: on himself, at the shop, on building his savings. He pushes Vicky to finish school, helps his uncle at his garage, picks up shifts at the local diner on the weekends and evenings. He puts aside a fair amount of money to make sure Vicky can attend college if and when she graduates—which she does, with honors. His anger banks, fades, shifts away from the hunters that stole his family from him. He even makes a new friend: Danny Moore, graduate from his class at the local highschool, star quarterback with a sports scholarship, and hapless suburban werewolf to two completely normal parents.Years pass. Vicky moves up to high school. Danny starts working on his business degree, coming home to bother Gus at the shop on weekends while he learns how to be a werewolf. Gus keeps working, lets himself put the past where it belongs.Life moves on.
