Despite what others may say, he’d been quite busy. Sure, a lot of that time included thinking. Not thinking about the sudden appearance of scales over his body - that was simply one curiosity swimming in an ocean of possibilities, there were other things he wished to investigate first. In any case, thinkinh is mental work, which includes the word ‘work’, which is associated with being busy, active, putting in effort. Hence, I was busy. Of course this included tinkering with his trinkets. Time was pleasant spent in this way, floating by aimlessly, with no attachment to himself. In no time at all it seemed, there was another pack meeting called.

He had vaguely wondered about their numbers, curious for it seemed a strange situation, but apathetic enough not to be bothered to expend energy on finding out. At the last pack meeting, the pack seemed to be just one family, yet the scents of others remained. Why didn’t they attend? Perhaps he’d know if he didn’t keep to himself so much. This wasn’t a conscious choice, rather, it seemed he had simply drifted by until he hadn’t noticed time passing at all.

He had no interest in rank or power, simply the allowance to be left mostly to his own devices, excluding necessary pack duties. He’d been working on a project, one of the many he’d started, but this one had actually gotten to a stage that may be considered presentable. He’d find the Queen after the meeting, to suggest it to her. Jekyll may have lacked the social skills to understand proprietary and social norms. Or perhaps he didn’t, but rejected these as irrelevant. Either way, he was never rude. Not worth the effort.

He caught sight of the gatherers, once again the first to arrive were the family, naturally. Would more arrive this time? He dipped his head briefly to the adult pair, as he’d seen others do in the past, while hanging around the edge. All the while, his keen eyes watched the world.