I cannot believe my eyes [werewolf one-shot]

[Marisol Leandra Lobera Navarre]

15 August 2029

“And here, we can see an illustration of a tablet that was found in a burial site just outside Machu Picchu. Note the similarities in the anatomy of the figure to the Viking scrolls we just finished reviewing. This gives us a very high level of confidence in determining that werewolves shared similar characteristics despite the vast differences in geography and climate…” Sol continued to ramble on in a semi-monotone voice as she used the laser pointer to indicate the shape of the snout and a loose artistic interpretation of what appeared to be fangs. She found these public lectures to be so, so mind-numbingly boring…but it was one of the evils of the job. The Oraculum seemed to be slowly shrugging off the mystery that had always shrouded its centuries-old operations, and had started to initiate archivist-led lectures that were available to seemingly the entire British public.

At least she got to choose the subject. Sol’s last brain cell might’ve already tried to commit suicide as she’d been instructed to ‘dumb things down’, but since she enjoyed comparative analyses of werewolf representations on artifacts across cultures…well, she’d probably survive the evening. Especially since she’d blatantly ignored the instruction to keep things simple (simply because she didn’t want to) and was lecturing in the same way she might in front of her colleagues or bosses. “Um, please hold onto questions until the end,” she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she noticed a very persistent hand in the third row keep popping up. He must’ve had hearing problems, or maybe he’d left his common sense at the door with his coat.

“Is that why all werewolves suck blood the same way?” he asked sharply, asking his question anyway even though Sol had already begun a new sentence on the process of excavating what had clearly been a tomb for a werewolf. She stared at him, jaw slack as she wondered how stupid people could get. “Uh…no. Perhaps you’re thinking of vampires. Werewolves biologically have no need to suck blood.” Her tone was flat, the expression on her face clearly screaming ‘please don’t have children.’ She turned back to the slide, but the man’s question seemed to have opened a dam as suddenly questions were directed at her from every direction.

“Why are werewolf claws so long? To cut through skin more easily?”
“I heard werewolves use bones to clean their teeth after! Is that true?”
“How did the curse spread all the way to Peru, I thought the problem started in Europe…”

Sol cleared her throat once, twice, but nobody seemed to notice. Nobody seemed interested in actually asking any real or academic questions at all. The seminar had turned into some kind of free-for-all, where people were shouting indistinctly about every crazy rumor or story they’d ever heard about werewolves. Their voices began to blend together and Sol watched with wide eyes as the conversation spiraled out of her control. “Hey,” she tried timidly, but when that didn’t work she stamped her foot and try again. “Hey! Pay attention!” That seemed to do something, as people started to quiet down and look at her expectantly. As if she was suddenly going to reveal the truth about werewolves, found in the ancient remnants of cultures around the world that had all suffered from the same ‘problem.’

“I’m sure some of you must know a werewolf. Have any of you ever actually spoken to them about their experience?” Silence. Blessed but ringing silence as thirty pairs of eyes stared at her in blank incomprehension. Sol grit her teeth, played with the laser pointer in her hands, and debated what to say. It would only take one misplaced sentence for people to start walking out, and then she’d really hear about it from her bosses. “Okay. Well. This isn’t a talk show on the radio. I’m here to talk about facts and evidence, not crazy stories that you heard from the friend of a friend of a friend. I’m going to continue talking about Incan werewolves, and the next time someone opens their mouth…it better not be before the Q&A. Am I clear?”

Even as she got to continue her lecture in peace, Sol couldn’t banish the little whisper at the back of her mind that told her the storm was only starting. World peace couldn’t exactly be achieved in the back room of a museum, after all…

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Listen close to everybody's heart

And hear that breaking sound

Hopes and dreams are shattering apart

And crashing to the ground