The Human Luna

Same Old Song & Dance

(Toni's POV)

I turn back to Iseult and flash her a brilliant smile. "I don't need to leave right away. Let's go grab a quick bite to eat. My treat?"

Iseult laughs a wet laugh almost like a sob. "You're reckless Toni. Totally reckless." She mutters softly then shakes her head. "Yes."

She runs her arm through mine as we head to my car and I put the duffle in the back and she shouts shotgun as she takes the front passenger seat. "You're the only one with me."

"It's the principal of it T."

I huff a laugh and roll my eyes. Iseult will always be Iseult and I love her for that. She has been my best friend since we were 5 years old. Through thick & thin.

It is a short drive over to Tender's Burger's, a locally owned restaurant that we frequent because they can't be beaten when it comes to the burgers and fries! Out of this world if you ask me, which usually people don't.

We find our usual table in the corner near the windows while the server takes our orders. A bacon double cheeseburger with a smoked aged cheddar with onion rings. Delicious. Iseult orders her usual regular hamburger with wedge fries.

I am thinking about the route I'm going to take in The Scar when my leg vibrates and I check my cell to see it is my mom and my face falls slightly and Is must've noticed because she takes it and scrowls softly. "What does the b***h want now? Haven't they made your life hell enough?"

My heart swells at her words and I take my phone back. "Its...complicated Is." I answer and bring it to my ear. "Yea mom?"

"Don't you 'yea mom me.' Why aren't you at work? Your sister just called and let me know."

"I have the next two weeks off for my Vlogger series mom."

"And you weren't going to tell us?"

I remain silent and I can feel my heart ache from the accusation. "I was...working up to it." I lie.

They never cared so the fact they even called was surprising. My relationship with my family had never been easy when I told them that I thought humans and wolves could live in peace. They were adamantly against it.

The words hang in the air between us, a familiar weight that settles deep in my chest. I can feel my mother's breathing on the other end of the line, that slight pause that always comes right before she says something that will cut me to the bone.

"Working up to it," she repeats, her voice dropping to that dangerous quiet tone I know all too well. "You mean you were hoping we wouldn't find out until you were already gone, off playing in the woods with the monsters."

"They're not monsters, Mom," I say, the words automatic, tired. I've had this argument a thousand times in my head. "They're just… people. Different. That's all."

"Don't you dare," she snaps, and the flatness is gone, replaced by the familiar sharp edge. "Don't you dare defend them to me. Not after what they did to your grandfather. Not after what they took from this family. And you're going to waltz into their territory, into the one place on this continent that still bleeds from the last war, and what? Make a video? Is your little internet show worth more than your life? Your family's honor?"

I close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. Iseult is watching me, her green eyes soft with sympathy. She reaches across the table and puts her hand over mine, a small, warm anchor in the storm of my mother's disapproval.

"It's just a vlog, Mom. It's what I do. I'm wanting it to become my job." My voice is quiet, defeated. I know there's no winning this.

There never is.

"Your job is to shame this family," she shoots back. "To prance around on the internet talking about peace while the rest of us have to live with the reality of what they are. We lost people, Toni. Real people. And you're out there making friends with their memory."

"I'm not—" I start, but she cuts me off.

"Just… don't call us when you're in trouble. Don't come crying to us when one of them rips your throat out because you were naive enough to think it wanted to be your friend." Her voice cracks, just for a second, a flash of something that might almost be fear beneath the anger. "You've made your choice. You always do."

The line goes dead. I'm left staring at my phone, the screen dark, my reflection a pale, unhappy face. The ache in my chest is a familiar, hollow thing. It's the ache of belonging nowhere. To my family, I'm a traitor. To the world, I'm just another human, a potential victim. And to myself… I'm just someone trying to find a place where the idea of peace isn't a revolutionary concept.

I set the phone down on the table, my hand trembling slightly. Iseult squeezes my fingers.

"Same old song and dance?" she asks gently.

"The greatest hits," I manage a weak smile. "Apparently I'm shaming the family and courting death. The usual."

"Well," Iseult says, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper as she leans forward. "If you're going to be a disgrace to your name, you might as well do it with a full stomach. Our food is coming."

Just then, the server arrives, placing a mountain of a burger before me, the bacon perfectly crisp, the cheddar a molten gold blanket over the patty, nestled next to golden, crispy onion rings. The smell is heavenly, a brief, glorious escape from the bitterness of the phone call. Iseult's burger looks just as good, her wedge fries arranged in a neat pile.

I pick up an onion ring, my appetite returning with a vengeance. "You're right," I say, taking a satisfyingly crunchy bite. "If I'm going to be eaten by a rogue pack in a haunted forest, I'm going to do it on a full stomach of the best burger in the territory."

Iseult grins, her earlier worry momentarily forgotten. "That's the spirit. And if you get eaten, I'm telling everyone you went down fighting, singing an Irish drinking song and throwing onion rings like ninja stars."

I laugh, a real laugh this time, the sound chasing away the last of the shadows from the phone call. "Deal. Just make sure my vlog gets a proper upload. The views would be insane."

For a little while, sitting in the warmth of the diner with my best friend, I can almost forget about the complicated future waiting for me in the north. I can just focus on the food, the company, and the simple, comforting fact that for the first time in a long time, I'm about to do something that feels completely, recklessly right.