Mark had spent tha better part of his day with a few of the boys in camp finishing up a job that put a few more dollars in the community pocket. It was honest work, which for some of them was a boring punishment and made them feel as if they had been beaten, somehow, by the 'system' for having done it. Mark jist reminded dem that there was plenty of times gypsies peddled der wares and bodies and it was all about making sure all was taken care of. Together dah men had helped a clean up clue get the debris from a derelict warehouse out. He was covered in whutevah and had wore a 3M filter mask and gloves for the job. Was gonna be one o those days where they was sore in the morning.

He parked day car and they all piled out. Mark got word of a Mac spotting here and there and then he nodded, smiled fer them when it was right and got intah his place tah scrub the dust and crap offa him. When he was done he were wearing a black t-shirt with "Pour Some Sugar on Me" written on it in a font that looked intricate and were an obvious clash tah the roots and attitude o' tha song. Distressed black jeans, old dark grey sneakers and he poured outta tha RV, cuppin' his hands tahgether fer the cigarette. Weather had warmed up, but naht enough fer a t-shirt like he was wearing tah be enough. Mark felt like he'd always be burning up after the sweaty work he did earlier so he was kinda grateful fer than cold. Pausing outside his RV, then and with the cigarette held his cellphone as he checked messages and whut not.

Levi had spent the day going over the arrest reports and warrants for Dirk and Amare. The dates, times and places were well documented and had made his head hurt trying to come up with some sort of defense for the two knuckleheads that Quinn called brothers. He had researched and studied until he didn't think that he could absorb another word from the legal library he had stowed on his lap top. Closing the lid to the computer, he stood up and stretched. "Going out to get some air and something to eat," he announced before making his way outside. He wasn't even sure what time it was, much less of whether Quinn had went out on patrol yet or not. Either way, he knew that with Quinn's hearing, the message would get across one way or another.

The cold, damp air of spring hit him and he shivered when he stepped out of the RV. He was wearing a dark hoodie, jeans and a pair of old sneakers, but the dip in temperature caught him off guard. So he hurried across camp to gather a bowl of beef stew, a cup of coffee and some cornbread. Nobody was around the fire so he decided to sit alone for a few minutes to enjoy his meal.

Once he were caught up he went tah the fire, which was where he always was. It wasn't the biggest surprise dat Levi were there but he still felt surprised when he looked up from his phone and saw dat he was there, loungin' in a chair and looking set up with food and drink. He smiled fer him and din pulled up one of the plastic lawn chairs, dustin' the seat free o' pine needs and those annoying fuzzy lines of pollen which were fallin' from tha trees. "Oi, look who's left dah bat cave." He sank into the seat, tapped the ash of his cigarette and smiled fer him just befer takin' a drag.

"Are you calling me Batman, or Robin?" he chuckled and then offered up a piece of cornbread to Mark. Family meals were common and it was more of a habit than anything else. "So how's it going with your super hot hairdresser?" Levi could tease, too. "I see that you're out of the bat cave, yourself." Of course, Mark was more out and amongst his people but Levi was being silly about things.

"Batman. I can't do whatever crime solving or stopping it is you do." A gesture to the RV and what he assumed was the sort of paperwork he'd be asked tah read and punishment. Mark weren't nah idiot, but if somethin' fell outta the range o' his hobbies and the sort of sense a gypsy needed tah do well... then he usually weren't sah impressive in dat regard. There was the catch of his smile when Levi asked about Grace and he sank more comfortably in his chair. Couldn't think o' whut tah say, or how ta say it, but he jist nodded a few times first and then looked at Levi with a smile that grew slowly and was the sort that cut dimples in his face, "Good... like really good." It was not an eloquent summary, but his boyish enthusiasm and expression carried the rest o' his meaning. There was a glance tah Levi's RV and he chuckled, "I am usually am jist about everywhere these days. How's Quinn?"

Levi chuckled when that smile spread like a slow burn across Mark's face. It'd been quite some time since he'd seen it and was glad it was there now. The offered cornbread was placed onto Mark's thigh so that Levi could sit back and enjoy his meal. "Oh, you know..." his own smile grew slowly across his face and the tips of his ears burned a bit. "He's really, really good." He pushed his food around a little bit in the bowl and then looked up at Mark expectantly. Levi had some things to talk about but he wasn't sure how to broach the news without losing the smile on Mark's face.

"Feck, well, at least der are some thin's still really good." Dat was part of growin' older, he figured. All the good thin's they experienced was gettin' tarnished, naht because the world was wicked, but because dey wasn't kids anymore and thin's jist happened. People got sick. People died. They made bad choices and sometimes dey made good ones. Sometimes babes was born. He looked at the cornbread but didn't touch it jist yet since he were still workin' on his smoke.

"Yeah!" he upnodded and then slowly down nodded his head. "I mean, gotta think positive, right? We've got our health, our friends and our family. Those are all good, good things." Briefly he bit his lip and looked left and right before shoveling another bite of stew into his mouth before he began to ramble like an idiot.

"Yah okay?" Mark weren't no brain surgeon, but Levi was lookin' a bit skittish. Mehbe it was nervousness ovah tha Mac, but he'd always seemed dismissive about whether or naht dat was something tah worry over. His head tilted to the side. Fer a second he wondered if he was just "seeing things" but then decided, no, something was weird. "Yer actin' like someone does when they are about to apologize fer scratchin' their favorite cd dey let you borrow."

"Oi," Mark looked away from him and felt sah torn about dat. O' course he got an opinion and whut dat were was nah surprise. Mark was threatened by other creatures, especially day ones which was violent and tended to eat people. Since camp were made of people, dat seemed like a situation fer conflict. "I dunno how tah answer you on dat, Levi. It's yer body, yer life, but dat like... naht somethin' yah can take back vera easily. And it's contagious? It's yer body, but it's mah camp full o' people dat could get killed. You and Quinn naht even married or been tahgether a full year and you gonna change whut yah are?"

"I would never hurt anyone in this camp," he said quietly. He knew Mark would have objections, but they were for his people and not himself. Levi could respect that. In a camp of nearly thirty families that looked to him for guidance, the safety of those families had to be foremost in Mark's mind. "And I would hope that you know that even when I do this, I'm still the same guy I've always been, Mark."

"You should ask Quinn if he's the same guy he were befer he turned." Mark wasn't sure about that. When someone changed whut they was, it could realign der values in a pretty substantial way. He imagined dat some o' his values coulda changed, dat things was different in ways he didn't understand. Otherwise, wouldn't all people jist wanna convert? If bein' a werewolf only meant dat you was stronger, lived longer and once a month ate somethin', well, dat was a small price tah pay. In his experience nothin' in tha world were free and der was a tax collector, loomin' somewheres. He jist couldn't see it and were feeling like an ill-informed naysayer. "If you turning is jist about controlling tha situation being brought here, I'd rather it naht be here."

Mark was giving him food for thought. It wasn't as if Levi hadn't been thinking about how it had felt the first time that he'd been turned and how things transpired and the things he could do to change. Levi had thought quite a bit about all of those things. But Mark had given him another perspective. There was a tax collector and Levi did want to be a part of Quinn's life in every way possible. But did it mean losing his family that he'd known all of his life? He took another sip of his coffee and then sighed. "So we'd have to leave camp?"

"Naht permanently. But you dun know whut you'd be like or whut that situation would be like. Tah meh, iffin yah had tah go through with it... had tah be a werewolf, I'd rather it be because it was something yah wanted fer yerself and naht for someone else or tah fix a situation. Cause changing yerself for someone jist never works out well. I was stupid and got a dumb tattoo fer someone else and din had cover art done over it. Yah can't cover art being a werewolf. Beyond dat? I dun see how changing means more control when Quinn's as strong as he is and is gettin' help from Saila." There was another log tossed on the bonfire befer he sat next tah Levi, "I also dun like tellin' yah no, Levi, cause you have given sah much. I guess I'm jist worried that the situation won't be as simple as you think and dat you would end up having tah leave because of it. I dunno, it's like... dah most impossible thin' tah see the future of."

"You're right," he agreed and took another sip of his coffee. Levi became quiet, letting the thoughts rumble through his head as he stared into the crackling fire. "I just..." he started and then stopped to gather his thoughts. "I was so happy and so proud when you made Quinn a part of this camp, a member of this family. Proud of you for seeing that he may be a wolf first, but there is a man with a heart in there, too." He let his gaze sweep down into his lap, to stare into the cup of coffee. "Regardless of the circumstances with the Mac clan, I want to be a part of that world, too. Just don't give up hope that I'm going to change so drastically that I'd hurt anyone that I love."

"It's somethin' we should have Quinn here fer discussing. I only know some o' tha things I see and heard and that be a far cry from knowing whut was whut." Mark scratched the back of his neck and smiled tah Levi, then, "Sah, I want yah tah talk tah Quinn about it, real detailed like. I won't let those other two werewolves in here unless we got a means tah stop the problem in its tracks. And I'm worried about yah changing, and yah should ask Quinn iffin he did. You naht rushin' this, I can tell. Otherwise yah already wouldn't be turned and all. But if yah think about it a few more days, a lotta more times and it still feels right... yeah. I'm okay with yah being here. But it might be the thing that makes yah leave camp one day and you gotta ask yerself if it's worth it."

"I have talked to him about it, some," he admitted. "You should see his face light up, Mark. It's like the Fourth of July and Christmas and Easter and your birthday, all wrapped up into one expression. I know that he'll be happy if I do, but he's worried, too. I mean, last time wasn't the best experience for either of us and when it just abruptly ended it nearly tore us apart." The facts and opinions on the matter were becoming larger in number and he knew that there would be a pros and cons spreadsheet in his future. "I think that once the dust settles that we're all going to be fine. Getting there might be a bumpy road but I have hope." He smiled then and turned to look at Mark. "So how about this? You, me, Quinn, Saila, Ko and a few others meet up with Dirk and Amare at Beltane? Kind of neutral ground but they can see the family that we are and how we are our own individuals but we're a solid group, too?"

"Did yah evah wanna be a werewolf or change befer you met him? Is dis all about makin' Quinn happy?" Mark kinda looked worried. He was tryin' naht tah look real worried, but he was. Yeah, Quinn lit up like all dah holidays and it were something he was wantin' badly. Levi jist wasn't talkin' about whut he wanted, other than it was tah make Quinn happy. "I'm gonna take Grace dancin' at dah Beltane," he mentioned that fer Levi cause it was somethin' he'd been wantin' tah do and it weren't gonna get sidetracked fer this. Mehbe meetin' them and gettin' a feel for the situation weren't a bad idea. Mark mighta been building things up as being more catastrophic din they was, like somebody who thought dat stubbin der toe was the end of the world and then laughed about how silly they was fer overreacting and worrying. Still, Levi seemed tah be thinkin' over all tha points he was making already, which was the most important thin'. He weren't goin intah it ignorant or missing some pieces or nothing.

"But, yeah, we can all meet up der, mehbe. I dunno how dis Beltane festival is done in this town but it's naht at our place, or der's."