I know who Wolf is, now.

At first this was just a disambiguated jumble of words in my head, thought proved that there were two voices, imagination drew the picture. Wolf is one of tha main characters from a novel I'm working on. I've mentioned a character description of Matthew from the Mercantilion, and this is something different. Animal symbology remains, as you can see. Reposted with minor spell-check. :D

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Person one dressed in a white shirt, vintage trouser slacks, denim coat over his shoulder calls out into a tiny cement store standing by itself on a street corner. It's past sunset, but night life is abundant, though elsewhere.

PERSON ONE: Hey Wolf, you there, man ?

A voice comes out from behind the store rather than from in it, sound of empty bottles clinking.

PERSON TWO: Fuck you, I'm not Wolf anymore.

Man walks out in ragged clothing, dark oil stains on his sleeves and pants and his half-burnt half-tanned skin looks like seasoned meat before hitting the oven. He's got a drunk swagger but his eyes are fixed on the guy who called out earlier.

PERSON TWO: They call me the fucking Merlin now, 'cuz I'm their wizard, see.

He grins. Still drunk.

MERLIN: Get your ass inside, boy, we'll have a nice chat.

They walk in to the store, a third-rate bar with round card tables and some musky smell coming from the back. Probably the rig Merlin was working before the visitor came in. Merlin grabs two chinese beers. In the fridge-light he looks like he's phillipino. Can't tell from his accent, though. Tsingtao clinks on the card table.

MERLIN: I hear they call you a fucking street samurai, running around with the name of the Wolf, now... A real dread pirate, aren't ya ?

The man called Wolf doesn't touch the beer, he stares at it hard before he tosses his jacket on the table, and slumps down in his chair, looking back at Merlin whose laughing at his own joke. Wolf doesn't get it.

WOLF: Doesn't matter so much what they say about me, doc, it's you I came to talk about. You've changed, Henry, like the world don't matter none to you.

Merlin laughs again, but Wolf doesn't let him dodge the question, so he takes his time, drinks his beer and gets cozy to tell his story like he's been waiting for this chance some years now.

MERLIN: I ain't fucking around no more, kid, that's all. Grew me a pair of balls where I didn't have none before and started shooting the shit just to see if things were still real... It ain't me whose fucking changed, boy, this whole world has, and I'm trying to hold it back like a fly against a dam... I'm fucking drowning, kid, and that's all that's left for me.

He was crying now, but he pretended he wasn't.

WOLF: Slick Henry said he never had to swear before... that's changed.

MERLIN: Well fuck that, I just wisened up, is all. I still don't swear, not in the real sense, not like suits swear on a bad day, I just say fuck, like fucking fuck it, I've had my share of fucking, I don't wanna fuck no more...

He's downed his beer, and grabs the second untouched one and flicks the cap off with his thumb.

MERLIN: That's all we really are here for, you know, kid ? Fuck ain't a swear word, it's something we do, all of us. I don't go around yelling cunt-ass-niggershit, that's just asking to be hung over some railing; the fuck-word's an invocation.

WOLF: How you figure ?

MERLIN: You hear them sisters in the church telling you not to use the lord's name in vain ? Over fucking five-hundred years ago, people around the world used to chant mantras with demon's or devil's names as if it'd protect them, like they were somehow weakened when you knew their name - like it fucking signified something.

There was an akward silence like Merlin said something profound and he was waiting for Wolf to agree, but that didn't happen, Wolf just appears stunned as if everything was just going over his head, so Merlin takes anoter sip to lube his throat.

MERLIN: That's our invocation, see. Fuck. That's what we do, what we're here for, and that's why they're all ashamed of it, like it's something you can't ever say in public when you know they've all done it, or they want to do it, or thinking of fucking right as you're saying it. Look at our fucking population crisis - you think that people would think twice about reproducing; fucking caths don't even wear fucking condoms, shit.

There. That was it, and Merlin finally broke down from his own lecture and started convulsing in his chair. Wolf didn't move. Not at first, eventually he got up and pulled a roll of bills from the trouser's pocket and placed it on the table where Merlin was covering his face with his dirty sleeve. Wolf walks out around back and Merlin calms down to a heavy engine's rev as it shakes the bar, shaking the hanging glasses and the bottles clumped together in the fridge. Then it tears, and the engine thunders away, shifting gears atleast twice before it disapears. Merlin's calmed, but he's still crying. Guy was a wizard all right, Wolf thought as he was well on the other side of the city. In more ways than one. The way he put you in a trance when he just spouts bullshit, and all the while he's already worked his magic behind the curtain, out back. The City's border check scans him as he passes the dome's walls and a brisk wind nearly blows him off the road. It's cold out, and Wolf realizes he left his jacket with the wizard. He can't go back, now. Fuck it.