{"sf1_id":762887,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Bridging The Years and Confronting Fears","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2343,"posted_at":"2014-09-30T17:20:00.000Z","tags":["Human","Leonardo Da Vinci","Plot Development","Story Progression","Werewolf","france","hotel"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/762887-bridging-the-years-and-confronting-fears","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/762887","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=762887\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#47 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"         They group got two suites that were\nconnected. The plan was to have the males in one room and the girls in the\nother. That was the plan. Edward's plan at least. Funny how life happenes.\nMaggie was full of questions for the\nmaster, and he in turn was curious too, but he was also tired. Apparently being\nfrozen for a few centuries didn't constitute proper rest.  Edward too felt the need to rest. He knew he\ncould call on his inner ability to drive it away, but for some reason he didn't\nfeel like bothering. Sometimes it was just good to be unconscious and not\nthinking too much.\nHe handed his ring over to Corinne so\nthat Maggie and the twins could carry on a conversation. Corrine handed it\nback. Maggie smiled. \"We'll just turn into our feral selves and talk. No need\nfor a ring for that, now is there?\"\n\"No, I guess not. Have fun and don't\nstay up too late.\"\nHe crawled under the covers and went to\nsleep. Come morning he walked into the adjoining room to find three wolves\ncurled up next to each other, still snoozing peacefully. He fingered his ring\nand transformed to his most compatible form. His nose caught their scents,\nincluding Corinne's. He had noticed it before, and it was filling his nose\nagain.\nIt made him wonder. Verona had taken\ndecades to get into heat. Corrine was not nearly so old. Why was she approaching\nit already? He was going to have to ask Leonardo why there was some much\ndisparity in their forms and abilities.\nHe purposely stuck his nose in\nMaggie's crotch and inhaled deeply. When she didn't move, he got his tongue out\nand licked. One eye opened up. \"I'm sleepy. Go away.\"\n\"I was only being a pest, but since\nwhen would you turn down an offer of sex?\"\n\"When we have guests. I was also up\nlate talking. Maybe later.\"\nHe laughed internally and\ntransformed again, heading to the shower. He was happily scrubbing up when he\nheard someone enter. \"Mags?\"\nThe male voice was not hers by any\ndegree. \"Sorry no. It's just me.\" It was the master.\n\"Uh; oh. Hi.\"\n\"Hello to you as well. I see you have\na device for cleaning yourself. Hot running water. Better than the Romans had\nit! And better than we had it. I devised a tub that had a fire under it, much\nlike the Roman bathes, but the foolish boy who was in my household used to over\nstoke the damn thing. I finally moved him to the kitchen staff since he seemed\nto be interested in stewing meat rather than pleasing it.\"\nEdward coughed a little. He had a\nquestion sitting on his tongue and didn't know how to broach it. But since Leonardo\nseemed to be willing to answer questions, he decided to go for it.\n\"Leonardo?\"\n\"Yes?\"\n\"Can I ask you a question?\"\n\"Certainly my boy. Knowledge is\nbest spread by asking for the information you seek.\"\n\"There has been a debate over the\nyears about your, uhhhh, sexual preferences.\"\n\"Really. Why should anyone care? I\ninvented machines, I painted and I sculpted, and all people wonder is what I\ndid in bed?\"\n\"Well, it's not the only thing. It's\njust that people wondered, since you didn't leave any children behind.\"\n\"Edward, it's hard to sire children\nwhen you are stricken with the disease that withers your plums in their sack.\nIf it had happened after my transformation, perhaps I would have been able to\nreverse it. But being one of the kind isn't a cure-all for the problems that befall\nyou in life. And leaning on it like it's a crutch will not get you where you\nwant to go. Only in being true to yourself will you achieve that.\"\n\"I get that. But you didn't answer\nmy question.\"\n\"You call that a question?\" He\nsighed. \"I was partial to neither sex, and willing to enjoy both. Does that\nsurprise you?\"\n\"Uhm, I guess not. It's just with\nthe church's teachings and all...\"\n\"Teachings? What about practice?\nYou'd never find me castrating choir boys so that they would keep their sweet\nvoices, and then using them for my pleasure at night. Shall I tell you the\nstories surrounding the cardinals and the clerics?\"\n\"No, that's ok. But if you have\ntime, you might want to write a book on it. It'll probably become a best\nseller.\"\n\"Might I ask you a question in return?\"\nEdward felt a chill down his spine.\n\"Sure.\"\n\"Why do you care about what someone\ndoes in the company of another willing person?\"\n\"I don't.\"\n\"But of course you do. You asked.\nDo you think I am such an old fool that I don't recognize a couple when I see\nthem?\"\n\"Couple?\"\n\"You and the girl. I know love when\nI see it. She's far above you Edward, for all her youth. You will have to watch\nthat one. Never give her reason to hate you, because she has power. If she ever\ndiscovers how much she has, she will be dangerous. And it is power like that my\nfriend, which made Pope Alexander cautious. If her heredity goes back to the\nland she claims it is derived from, then she comes from a branch of the kind\nthat is more feral and wild than anything you can understand.\"\n\"I don't know. My own past is\nlittered with some pretty colorful characters. Things that happened after you\nwent underground.\"\n\"Yes. I need to catch up on all\nthat has happened since my interment. I would like to see this inter-net thing\nshe spoke of.\"\n\"Can I finish my shower?\"\n\"Oh, of course. By all means. I originally\ncame in to relieve myself. This toi-let system is incredible. And no lingering\nsmell. Find a religious man who can pray it away and I'll give you three gold\ncoins!\"\nEdward finished, and then\ninstructed Leonardo how to use the water control. He was in there a good half\nhour before he stepped out, hair and beard sill dripping, a fluffy towel\nwrapped around his waist. He looked comical. \n\"That was most enjoyable. I could\nstand under that all day. But we have things to do, you and I. Show me this\ninter-net.\"\nEdward set him down in front of the\ncomputer the hotel furnished with their room. Leonardo watched Edward as he navigated\nthrough several internet sites. He caught on quickly.\n\"Ok. So this key-board allows one\nto type words. And this small oval device moves the arrow under the glass\nplate. Very ingenious. It is helpful that it is in French. Reading other\nlanguages does not work with the ring. That is a skill you must learn on your\nown. There are terms here I do not understand, but I think I will get the idea\nwith practice.\"\nEdward went to the other room and\ncalled room service, calling up for food for five.  It was over an hour later before it arrived,\nbeing pushed in on four carts. He had pots of coffee, breads, meats, pastries,\nand even two bottles of wine. Add to that the fruits and vegetables and it was\nveritable medieval feast.\nHe went to wake everyone up, and\nwas rather shocked to see everyone in a state of undress. \"Is this advisable?\"\nMaggie shushed him. \"Leo says that\nthere is nothing wrong with the body that it must be covered up like a bad\npiece of art.\"\nThe master was still typing away on\nthe computer, and Maggie was directing him here and there, as he searched fro\ninformation. Edward couldn't help but tease him. \n\"So did you look yourself up?\"\n\"Son, why would I do that? I\nalready know about myself and my life. If some biographer or historian got it\nwrong, who am I to worry? I'm dead, remember?\"\nHe had a point.\nThey broke things off and ate; naked.\nEdward was fully dressed and he wasn't about to strip back down again. He was\nstill modest, and even if he was presently outvoted, he was still going to maintain\na certain degree of decorum. But he couldn't help but keep his eye on the\ntwins. Corinne was a fine looking girl, with excellent firm breasts and a very\nnice backside. \nHer brother, when looked at with a dispassionate\neye, was an equal to her in many ways. Edward shook his head, trying to remove\nwhere his thoughts were going. Leo might have been bisexual, but that didn't mean\neveryone was; or had to be. Still...\nMaggie spoke up and broke his train\nof thought. \"I don't think we can all go to Russia. We don't have passports,\neven if we get a car that can hold all of us. We certainly aren't going to get\nthere in that boat, no matter how cool it is. So I think we'll need to\nconcentrate on what we're going to do with Leo and the twins.\"\nThe master spoke around a mouth\nfull of food. He was enjoying the new things he had never been able to experience\nin his own time, like bananas and tomatoes.  \"Do with me? What makes you think I need your\nhelp?\"\n\"Because you're out of place?\"\n\"My dear girl,\" he exclaimed as he\nwiped his chin, \"I am not out of place; I am out of time. If you think I am so\nobtuse that I cannot fit into your century, then you know very little of me. I\nhave a feeling that a haircut and a trim of my beard and I'll look like any\nother old man. A few new clothes and I'll be indistinguishable from any other\nhuman, even if my height is less than typical.\"\nIt was arranged that Edward and Maggie\nwould go do some clothes shopping again. When they returned, they had a few\npairs of pants for the master, who was mildly amused by them. \"I am not used to\nsomething so confining, but I will make it work.\" A crisp white shirt and a\njacket over that and he looked pretty sharp. A trip to the barber brought his\nconsiderable hair and whiskers down to an acceptable level. He cut quite the\nsharp figure.\nThe twins were presented with stylish\noutfits, and they both pounced on Edward in thanks for their new freedom. They\nno longer had to pretend to be mere dogs. Of course, Corinne whispered in his\near (thanks to Maggie's ring) that if he wanted to lead her around on a leash,\nshe'd be more than glad to follow. He got her insinuation right away, and was\ntroubling when he considered taking her up on it. He blamed it on the proximity\nof her body and her smell, which seemed to be coming off her human form now,\nnearly as strongly as her feral form. This was not going to bode well in the\nfuture if they maintained close contact. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and\ngently pushed her away. \nMaggie gave him a wink. That made\nit worse. He didn't need to have someone pushing him into these situations.\nEven if he did bed her, what would the outcome be? Another child? And then what?\nHe would, in all good conscience, have to take her back to the states. And then\nprobably her brother too. And like Mags said, what of Leonardo?\"\nIn his agitation, he began\nsprouting hair. The master commented on it. \"Edward, my son, what troubles you\nso?\"\nHis fist slammed down on the cart, disrupting\ntheir eating and sending utensils flying. \"This is all too much. It was bad\nenough finding Maggie and learning that she was a werewolf. But then I found\nout I was one too. And then this damn magic ring. And now you, and the twins,\nand everything!\"\n\"I fail to see any difficulty in\nyour concerns outside of the fact that the rings are not magic.\"\nEdward was thrown off. \"What?\" The\nhair receded.\n\"Son, you are as bad as the fools\nfrom my time who thought a perfromer's slight of hand was magical. Religion is\nbased off of the concept. Turning bread and wine into flesh and blood? No, the rings'\npower is scientific and therefore quantifiable.\"\n\"No magic?\"\n\"No magic. However they do what they\ndo, they do it in a way that can be explained. Just because I did not have the\nmeans of figuring it out, doesn't mean there is no logical explanation. Take\nyour inter-net for example. Can you explain to me how a system of machines\ncircumventing the earth works? I mean, how does one machine find another machine?\nThere has to be hundreds of them strung around the globe.\"\nMaggie giggled. \"More like\nmillions.\"\n\"Millions? Good lord. That makes it\neven more incredible. But do you call it magic?\"\n\"No. I guess not.\"\n\"Right. So if you have no present destination,\nthen I think we can stay here for a few days. I feel the need to continue to\ncatch up on all of the things I have missed. Maggie here has shown me a place\nwhere all of the inventions of your land are gather together in one place. It\nis in your language so I can't read the descriptions, but I think I can figure\nout the drawings.\" He turned and was immediately glued to the screen.\nEdward looked at Maggie. \"What site\ndid you link him to?\"\n\"The United States Patent Office.\nIt seemed like a place he might like. I think it's as interesting to him as porn\nis to most other old guys. I think he'll be entertained for the next week, if\nwe let him. Which means you have me and Corinne and Emile to entertain. And\nyes, I did over hear Leo when you two were in the bathroom. I can guarantee you\nthat everyone here is willing.\"\nShe raised an eyebrow. Corinne and\nEmile smiled shyly."}