To keep this brief, I work at a factory that specially houses the disabled as workers like any other. I've spent my time realizing that, for all the ill will my co-workers have against each other, they seem to have a good grip on what might have happened to themselves, or have already known what happened in their past lives. A scenario where they see each other as equals, for the most part.
Now let's add a werewolf into the mix.
Not just any werewolf, either. One that has, say, been exposed through some unfortunate circumstance that has led him/her live a life where most of the time is spent in werewolf form. He/she has chosen to, instead of living out in the wild, live alongside the humans, with no interest nor intention to eat humans or their pets. How would the disabled see him/her as?
Would they come to understand that this werewolf has his/her own problems that limit him/her in some way or another? Would they feel threatened at the sight of a scientific impossibility? For that matter, what notable difference would it make if a werewolf's human acquaintance/confidant/ally is physically or mentally disabled?
The relationship between a werewolf and a disabled human
-
JoshuaMadoc
- Legendary
- Posts: 1257
- Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2005 6:36 pm
- Custom Title: HERO OF NIGHTMARES
- Gender: Male
- Additional Details: I just don't care.
- Mood: Indifferent
- Location: Ausfailia
- Contact:
-
Terastas
- Legendary
- Posts: 5193
- Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 4:03 pm
- Custom Title: Spare Pelican
- Gender: Male
- Location: Las Vegas
- Contact:
Re: The relationship between a werewolf and a disabled human
I actually have exactly that in the Inhuman setting. Whenever werewolves are exposed or are otherwise incapable of maintaining their anonymity anymore, they assume full wolf form and go live (more often than not) in a wolf sanctuary in a neighboring state. Supposedly, the sanctuary then gives them the option of going to Canada to live in the wild, but the werewolves don't actually know for sure; to protect the werewolves living at the sanctuary, they maintain as little involvement with it as possible.
The mentality about such werewolves is pretty much what you described: They empathize with them since the same thing most likely will happen to them some day. With only one exception: It's a little bit more heartbreaking for them because, barring extraordinary circumstances, the werewolf will never have the option of being able to return to a human lifestyle. So the tendency is to regard being forced to live feral as being like another form of death, and often regard feral werewolves the same way they would regard a werewolf who took a bullet and died for them.
So much so that the werewolves don't keep tabs on who died and who went to the sanctuary. They refer to both as simply being "gone" because, regardless of what actually happened, it makes no difference to them now.
As for humans who are handicapped. . . Well, that depends on the handicap.
On one hand, they actually have a weird sort of dependence on the handicapped. The werewolves maintain a loose network of safe houses, the keepers of which are only obligated to stay at home as often as possible and try to convince their neighbors that whatever money the pack is giving them is actually coming from elsewhere. Typically, that means the keeper has to either have some kind of at-home business, or be collecting disability and/or social security benefits.
Mentally disabled people, on the other hand, werewolves are a lot less keen to reveal themselves to. If it's a disability that strictly affects their motor skills like cerebral palsy, that would would be one thing, but beyond that, mental handicaps are generally treated as a heightened exposure risk and people with them are kept out of the loop whenever possible.
The mentality about such werewolves is pretty much what you described: They empathize with them since the same thing most likely will happen to them some day. With only one exception: It's a little bit more heartbreaking for them because, barring extraordinary circumstances, the werewolf will never have the option of being able to return to a human lifestyle. So the tendency is to regard being forced to live feral as being like another form of death, and often regard feral werewolves the same way they would regard a werewolf who took a bullet and died for them.
So much so that the werewolves don't keep tabs on who died and who went to the sanctuary. They refer to both as simply being "gone" because, regardless of what actually happened, it makes no difference to them now.
As for humans who are handicapped. . . Well, that depends on the handicap.
On one hand, they actually have a weird sort of dependence on the handicapped. The werewolves maintain a loose network of safe houses, the keepers of which are only obligated to stay at home as often as possible and try to convince their neighbors that whatever money the pack is giving them is actually coming from elsewhere. Typically, that means the keeper has to either have some kind of at-home business, or be collecting disability and/or social security benefits.
Mentally disabled people, on the other hand, werewolves are a lot less keen to reveal themselves to. If it's a disability that strictly affects their motor skills like cerebral palsy, that would would be one thing, but beyond that, mental handicaps are generally treated as a heightened exposure risk and people with them are kept out of the loop whenever possible.
