Eveline opened the door, a small smile on her face as she heard her dad speak. “Mr.Dean is here, Mrs.Dean is in the car.” Eveline’s dad spoke, standing in the doorway.

“It’s nice to see you all again. I hope you’re doing better since we last saw you.” Mr. Dean's police officer's isms leaked out, as he awkwardly stood there.

Eveline looked between him and the group, deciding to cut short the tense reminder of the last time most of them saw him. “Dad, we can deal with your small talk later, let’s go to the water park.” She chuckled, beckoning everyone after her, as she pushed her dad past the doorway, down the stairs, and onto the sidewalk.

“Oh- Okay, honey.” Eve’s dad got into the driver's seat of the car, with the rest of them filing into the back, the two rows of the car accommodating them.

“It’s nice to see you all again, especially you, Will.” A sweet and mature voice came from the passenger seat. Upon looking, he saw the resemblance; this must be Eveline's mom.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs.Dean, but have we met?” Will tilted his head, a little confused.

“No, but I did help Eve get the police to you; she likes you a lot.” The woman teased, laughing lightly when Eveline gave an indignant look at her.

The subject quickly changed as Noah started wondering openly which park they were going to, leaving Will to be confusedly rebooted at the offhanded mention.

No, she’s just a friend, a very close friend, who is becoming increasingly important to him, which he didn’t know was even possible, but it seems like it is, and only shaking his head clears him from thinking too hard about it.

Staring out the window instead, as they pass highways and tall buildings, eventually approaching a neighborhood with more suburban neighborhoods. Leaving the immediate city behind, as they reach further away from the densely populated areas to come up on more sparse and richer locations.

Mall trips and large and rich hotels mixed in with popular service industry locations come into view as they drive by.

Places that take a stupid amount of time to drive to, but are for some reason very popular, zoom by, as the drive eventually slows down.

Making a couple more turns before coming upon a sprinkler and water fountain splash park. Simple, but popular because of the number of splash attractions. A couple moving and refilling containers of water make big splashes everywhere when they empty.

Happy giggles and loud laughing chimes over the rushing of water. Kids running around as they play around the attractions. The car comes to a stop.

“Ready to play, kiddos?” Mr.Dean addressed them as he turned to face them for a second, nodding, then unlocking the doors when he heard a resounding yes from the group.

Filing out of the car, Mr. and misses Dean shooed them into the sprinkler park with a flick of their hands. Telling them to go have fun, and arming them with water guns and water balloons.

Will assumes they were found in his bag. With no argument other than tension and a moping feeling keeping them from being happy, the group of four runs off. With Williams' odd gait doing nothing to keep him from running, other than giving him pain as they go in a random direction to a less populated part of the park. Shooting each other with water guns as they go.

Some dog or wolf-like forms run around the park, following after their friends and bounding around others as they play. It might seem strange, but it's not hard to tell the difference between the other forms of a werewolf or weredog in comparison to a regular wolf or dog.

It's in the eyes, and there are a lot of wolf-dogs and wolves at the park freely changing forms. Will isn't sure exactly why, but it's nice to run around in whatever form you want, with whomever you want to.

It's soothing to some part of William’s instincts to be free and happy with his friends.

To run around dousing each other in water, trouncing around like they have no worries in the world.

Like they didn’t just expose their school’s principal for murder. Like they’re normal kids, with all of their parents in the picture, and normal school lives. Like they feel like regular children, who don't get anxious when one of their friends isn't accounted for for even a minute.

It's nice to feel normal for a moment, before they go back to being kids who aren't the same anymore. Incredibly protective of each other after everything that happened. Jumpy and strung up.

It's good for them to loosen up a bit, to feel weightless for even a second, like kids should. Even if it feels weird at first.

Reaching wherever they were running to, Noah hides behind a fixture, throwing more water balloons at them from afar.

Oakley, the largest target available, ducks for cover as water bursts as it hits him, a silly laugh rising from him. Will walks backward at the splash, falling back on one of his legs. Running around to get the drop on her, he shoots Noah with his water gun when he appears behind her.

“Got you!” He smiles as she speaks. She lets out a sharp and loud giggle of a scream, smiling as she covers her face. Going to hobble away before she can get him, he almost rounds the corner before a splash of water hits his back.

Gasping, he turns to see who got him, surprised by Eveline holding a large bazooka-like water gun, and giggling as she runs away.

Her long black hair swishes in a low ponytail as she goes, her tail following the motion. Soft and happy feelings radiate from inside him as she goes.

Remembering this is a water gun war, he shakes his head and refuses to look at Noah’s squiggling eyes, as he shuffles away.

Will’s Dark brown hair gets frizzy and curly when it gets wet, his large and hefty tail throwing water around where it wags happily behind him.

He can’t exactly run around, but he hobbles around as well as he can, pushing himself, whether it’s good or not, to keep up with the Oakley and Eveline as they dodge ‘bullets’—streams of water, and ‘smoke bombs'—water balloons.

Laughs and smiles spread around them, dramatic reenactments of pretend water death scenes occur in spur-of-the-moment scenes, as William completely disregards what the doctor said about not doing any strenuous movement after his injury.

Sorry, doctor, he’s too bored and hyper not to do anything. Already preparing what to say when they have to get him a check up after this catches up to him, he rounds a corner, firing water bullets at Eveline, as he ducks her shots, letting out his own exuberant noises.

Trills and vaguely dog-ish noises come from them as they go. It’s going to be incredibly difficult to drag them away from this sprinkler park, even once they are tired and worn out. Narrowly escaping a fatal slip, Noah shoots another smoke bomb of water at Oakley, said person chuckling as he throws his own balloons at her.

Little screams are coming from the short girl as she’s drenched in water. Her ginger hair sticks to her forehead as she runs behind Oakley and pushes him gently, before running away.

Amused, Oakley runs after her. Will can’t get complacent while observing, he turns around defensively, only for a water balloon to hit him in the side.

Howling out a loud huff of laughter, he puts his hands up defensively, before he turns the gun on Eveline, shooting her in her side. She absolutely beams despite the water splashing over her in spurts.

Eve fights back with a stream of water coming from her dual guns, having somehow gotten two off the ‘dead’ body of Oakley while he wasn’t paying attention.

Will’s cowed as he tries to escape her bullets of water. Backing behind a fixture, he recovers some energy, shivering a little before he moves again. Energy is leaving them slowly, seeping out of them as their muscles ache every time they do unnecessary maneuvers to get each other wet.

Somewhere along the way, a couple of other kids around their age had gathered to join in.

Some of them had gone home by now, the sun lowering a little in the sky, partially becoming blocked by the clouds, and giving them shivers until it returned.

Continuing anyway, Will’s frizzy mop of hair pops out from behind a large rock feature, as Noah shoots pointed sprays of water around his general area, closing his eyes, he walks out from behind the rock, and throws a water balloon at her.

Eveline and Oakley tag team getting ‘revenge’ on her, as they shoot one last bullet of water at her neck and sides. Before they can continue to play, a sharper chill than before rolls down their wet forms, the sky darkening.

Mr. and Mrs. Dean walk over to them from the park benches they were sitting at, observing them from afar to make sure they didn’t crack their skulls open on the pavement or something. The idea is entirely possible despite their age.

“It’s time to go home, kiddos. Did you have fun?” Mr.Dean asked as he ushered them to the car, wrapping them in towels and collecting their water guns.

“Yeah, Noah kept spraying water at my leg.” Will laughed, and Noah gave him a similarly light-hearted giggle. “I thought it might be a weak point, y’know, like how bosses in video games have vulnerabilities.” She explained herself, deforming into a clump of laughs as she made herself laugh.

“I don’t know if I should be happy or upset that you just compared me to a video game boss.” He chuckled as Oakley and Eveline laughed at the concept.

“The final boss of Golden Retriever Boys.” Noah choked on her saliva as she cackled into her legs, folding into herself as much as her seatbelt would allow.

“I don’t think it’s that funny,” Oakley said, but still huffed a bit of a snort out as he did. It was an interesting drive home, but at least they laughed the whole way back, turning on music and singing along to it, out of pitch.

It didn’t take long for Will to warm up to Mr and Mrs.Dean, although he really wishes they had mentioned their first name at least once since they met him; it’s a bit awkward to ask now that their past first impressions.

Second impressions? Will doesn’t know, but he’s happy to meet them finally.