[peter rumancek april catch-all]

[werewolfing]

[any given day - the garden]

[to anyone paying attention, it should be clear that newt has peter suckered good. he spends at least part of every day in the garden, tending plants, pulling weeds, turning earth for new projects. as much as he's sweaty and dirty and offhandedly complains to himself about things, there's sort of a peace to him there with his hands in the soil, nurturing something fragile into growing.

that and it's something to do. even peter needs something to do, sometimes.]

[april 15 - full moon - with newt]

[as usual, peter spends the full moon with newt. they take a short run through a known path in the tunnels to make sure nothing has changed (it hasn't) before going off into the woods where they're less likely to disturb anyone or be seen. it's possible to see boy and big-ass freakin' wolf doing such mundane activities as playing fetch, sitting in the forest together, or just walking. the wolf is big, at least 200lbs and irish wolfhound height, with golden eyes, wicked looking fangs, and a glossy coat that just happens to be the same color as peter's hair, although that last one might be a bit difficult to tell in the dimness of hadriel's 'night'.]

[without newt]

[sometimes peter just needs to let loose and run, full tilt and reckless through the ruins and the forest, along the banks of the river, always skirting the settlement itself. but for those who don't sleep easy in hadriel, it's fully and entirely possible that one might be passed by a streak of dark brown creature that gallops past on four long legs, leaving behind very canine footprints. is it a monster? does someone have a very big dog? what's the deal?]

[april 16-23]

[peter does his walking along the streets to get supplies hunched over with his hands in his pockets, head down but eyes moving from side to side. he doesn't like this game. fear may give him good cigarettes (and like hell if he'll ever be mad enough at the god to stop asking for those) but his idea of fun is...really not fun. he doesn't want to see his target, and frankly, if he's being targeted, he'd rather just be taken out quickly than have to worry about trying to fight back. it's much easier if he doesn't go into survival mode, especially since there won't be another full moon for awhile yet.]

[choose your own adventure]

[do it! do the thing!]

Comments

April 23rd

[krangke]

Excuse me.

(That's his ooooh you're in sooo much trouble voice, Peter. Watch out, bud. Newt's standing a couple feet away, arms crossed over his chest and a very calm, steady stare on his face.)

What exactly do you think you're doing wandering about?

(It's almost like the reverse of the whole garden incident. Only this time it's Newt trying to make sure Peter is safe. Newt adamantly refuses to let anything happen to Peter and what with this whole target nonsense- well. That and if Peter was taken out quickly....How dare he be fine with that. Newt was ready to lay into Peter twenty times over for this. There are way too many risks and seriously, Peter, did you want to give Newt a heart attack? He is 100% about to use guilt tactics and ruthlessly so.)

[werewolfing]

[peter freezes, more at newt's tone than anything else. his shoulders unhunch as he turns around.]

Going to get food? It's been like two weeks we're out of just about everything.

[for a moment he looks repentant, but then he looks up at newt with a half-scowl.]

And what are you doing out?

[krangke]

(Newt stares at Peter with a look that encompasses the wrath of all disappointed mothers.)

I'm out because you're out.

(Newt places his hands onto his hips and that's like, even more danger mode for Peter.)

I could have gotten the food. It's safer for me than it is for you.

[werewolfing]

[oh my god newt. the terrible thing is, it works, and peter looks down and shuffles his feet.]

You followed me? Are you serious? And how is it safer for you?

[now he's just going to be stubborn.]

[krangke]

(Newt rolls his eyes at Peter.)

Bloody hell, I did not follow you. Way to make that sound awful. If I had seen you going, why would I have let you go past the threshold? I noticed you weren't around and I took off looking for you.

(He gives Peter a particularly loud, exasperated sigh.)

Because, Peter, the worst that'll happen to me is I'll die. The worst that'll happen to you....

(He gives him a very particular look. He then removes his hands from his hips and goes to Peter. He reaches a hand out and settles it against the side of his face, forcing Peter to look up at him.)

That isn't fair and you know it. You would never let me risk sinking back into being a Crank and I won't let anything similar happen to you.

april 15

[whichend]

[ There are several sensible things to do when one sees a 200-pound wolf. Running straight at it is not one of those things.

Arya does it anyway.

She hasn't had the wolf dreams in months, not since she came here. It's been roughly half a year, and now even the memories are starting to fade. If Arya thinks about it too much, she realizes that she's losing a part of herself, and that's unacceptable. While the wolf she sees isn't her wolf, it's certainly better than none at all. She stops a few feet away from the wolf, barely suppressing a smile. ]

[werewolfing]

[peter knows arya, knows the scent of her, so he just stops and stands there, slightly wary. but arya doesn't know peter, so why is she smiling like that? peter's not trying to give himself away, here, and besides, the only human he's really become comfortable with is newt. he makes a little grumbling noise that's not a growl but not precisely friendly either, waiting to see what she does.]

[whichend]

[ Arya has spent enough time as Nymeria to know what a growl like that can mean, and her smile fades, respectfully. This time, when she comes closer to the wolf, she moves slower, almost gentle. She sets her sword off to the side -- Arya hunts men with that, not wolves -- and lays a careful, but not frightened hand on the wolf's back. She sighs a little at the feeling of fur under her skin once more. ]

[werewolfing]

[peter doesn't run from arya because it's arya, but that doesn't mean that there's not some amount of tension that leaves him when she sets her sword to the side. she may not know him for who he is, but at least now he's positive she means no harm.

he lets out a sigh when she touches his back. his coat is thick, a coarse and shiny overcoat with fluffy, downy fur beneath.]

[whichend]

[ The smile creeps back on Arya's face when the wolf relaxes, too, and she scoots closer, brushing her shoulder against his own.

In hindsight, she should have been more careful. She never should have gotten so close, so relaxed.

Because she lets herself slip, her mind so desperate for the presence of a wolf that in enters this one. This wolf is no Nymeria, but Arya knows exactly who he is. Peter.

The connection isn't only one way, however, and Peter, if he lets her, will be treated to an overwhelming sensation of pure Arya, but also something far less human, more wolfish. Memories of the hunt. A pack. A loud, powerful howl. ]

april 15th;

[pellameno]

[ Did you say people who don't sleep easy? Yeah that's this kid. It helps being in a house with others but some nights it doesn't, and he doesn't want to be that creeper who lurks in the doorframe just to hear someone else breathing. (Yes, he's done that but hasn't gotten caught yet.) So he walks down to the lake and sets crystals of light out on it, so that there's a soft glow coming from the water like tea lights.

No one's ever mentioned the monsters coming out from the caves at night so he figures he's safe enough... until he spots something moving, quick and dark, down past the garden. ]

...hello?

[ Yes that's stupid, Pell, announce your presence. ]

[werewolfing]

[there wouldn't have been any breathing to hear if pell had stopped at peter and newt's doorway on that particular evening, so perhaps it's fortunate that he didn't.

peter sees the lights on the lake, catches the scent of something half-odd and half-familiar in the air, and tries to circle far around it. not far enough, apparently. but the voice is familiar, so he slows, and then stops, circling back at a wary trot. he stays just outside the circle of pell's lights, unsure, but his breathing is loud enough in the darkness, and he's the wrong kind of dark to disappear into the nighttime.

so pell is basically confronted by a huge creature breathing loud in the night, clearly canine if pell is familiar with dogs, but not likely to resemble any dog he's ever seen.]

[pellameno]

[ He's familiar with canines, the pet dogs the Richards had when he was a child and the coyotes that threatened their cows from time to time, but nothing like this. His first thought is actually 'werewolf' because it strikes him as some sort of unnatural beast of the sort in the horror stories told by travelers. And it could be, especially here. But what's most important isn't what the animal is, it's what it intends to do with him.

The monsters from the caves, if they came out, probably wouldn't be hesitating. So he and the dog exist in this standoff for awhile, its eyes glowing in the light from the lake and its breath loud in the quiet nighttime of the city. What does he do? He doesn't want to hurt it if it's not going to hurt him but he isn't exactly comfortable right now, either. It responded to his voice... maybe he could just keep talking to it?

Pell holds up his hands to show he's not a threat (as far as the animal knows; he could summon up fire whenever he wants) and extends one for sniffing if it so chooses. ]

It's alright. Where did you come from, hm?

[werewolfing]

[there's a very long moment of hesitation between the time pell extends his hands and speaks and the time peter steps forward to sniff. pell doesn't smell like a human, which peter had known intellectually, but this really drives home how true it is. he stands like he's ready to bolt at a moment's notice, which is a rather odd thing for a creature with fangs that large to do.]

[pellameno]

[ Definitely not one of the monsters, Pell decides, looking up at the huge wolf. Which means that it's actually someone here, and it probably understands him. His fear at the animal melts away into curiosity as he reels his hand back in slowly and pats the ground next to him, wondering if he should try communicating how he does with Bianca's hyenas. Not yet, he decides -- better not to scare the creature. ]

I won't harm you. Actually...

[ He doesn't take his eyes off the wolf as he rummages in his ever-present sidebag, which means this takes a moment or two longer than it should, but he comes up with a baggie of monster meat jerky. A few pieces get offered on the palm of his hand. ]

All that running probably made you hungry, hm?

April 15th

[amos_moses]

[Amos doesn't always sleep well, and sometimes taking a walk helps. Sometimes it doesn't. But he's out and about tonight, talking to the fish in the river. The sound of paws and claws on stone snatches his head up, spins him around with a hand diving for a knife...but it's not a monster, it's a giant freakin' wolf.]

[Only it's not a wolf, because Amos, reaching out mentally, can't sense any animal thoughts. Just the barest sense of wolfish-ness, the shape of it a whisper around-behind-within blankness.]

[Amos stands perfectly still, and says in a cautiously friendly tone:] Hello. I wasn't aware we had any weres here.

[werewolfing]

[things peter neither expects nor likes: being immediately identified as a were. he growls, a low rumble in his chest, backing a few steps away from amos as he does. but he doesn't bare his teeth, and the ruff of his coat is still smooth around his neck. annoyed, off-guard, wary, definitely, but angry? not yet, at least. ]

[amos_moses]

[The growl still makes Amos shift a step back: he's met unfriendly werewolves before and the memory of teeth tends to stick, even if nothing says yet Peter might attack. Carefully polite now, he says, quietly:]

Sorry, no offense.

[Then:]

I won't tell.

[werewolfing]

[peter snorts a huff, but he no longer looks wary now that amos is on guard. clearly he's the winner of this staring contest. he gives another huff and sits, now waiting for the man to do...something.]

[without newt] [I need a hyenas icon damn it]

[wormintheglass]

[Bianca doesn't need a lot of sleep, and she, too, gets more stir-crazy than she'd like to admit. Sometimes Bud and Lou are just her excuse for roaming the wilder parts of Hadriel at night.

They aren't precisely hunting, although anything small enough and unwise enough to stray outside the caves is liable to become a target. It's in that spirit that they raise their tails, laugh out loud and chase after Peter with their deceptive, ungainly speed.

Bianca follows behind.]

[werewolfing]

[the drum of feet behind him makes peter wheel and skid to a stop, head down and hackles up. for a wolf, he has fangs that are long and hooked, almost feline, visible beneath his lip. he doesn't growl or bare his teeth, but he's clearly unhappy about being chased as he waits for the two hyenas to come within confrontation distance.

peter isn't violent by nature, but there are enough monsters in the cavern that he's not going to let himself be hunted.]

[wormintheglass]

[What is this, the chase game has stopped being chased. Bud and Lou aren't sure what to do next. Neither really wants a fight, and the wolf is too big, its sense of presence too strong, to be easy prey.

So they stop, unwilling to move forward or back down, and it's in this state of stalemate that Bianca catches up to them.]

Boys! What have I told you about running off... oh.

[First she goes very still, and then smoothly, as though it were her first instinct and not a thing she has to fight herself to accomplish, she inserts herself between the wolf and the hyenas.]

You aren't behaving like a monster. Are you someone's pet?

april 15th, sans newt

[murderpotato]

[Gren sits on the riverbank; he's still wet from a midnight swim, but already back in his glamour by now. There's too much risk in sitting around in his true form, even in the cover of darkness. Someone sees him looking like a monster, they'll be after his head sooner than he can say 'fuck this shit'.]

[This is the closest that he can get to being in his natural environment, just a quick dip in a small river underground, in the middle of the night. Maybe it's nostalgia or homesickness-- who would've thought that he could still get homesick, after all these years?-- that makes him think of deep snow and pine forests and black skies full of stars and northern lights. There's no sky underground, and overhead it's just all darkness.]

[He hears the sound of padded feet on earth and stands; something streaks past him, large and dark and four-legged, and Gren turns to follow its path.]

The fuck?

[werewolfing]

[peter hears the familiar voice and his first instinct is to keep running. his second instinct is to stop and go back, because that was definitely his drunkle, and underneath the smell of river water is something else. something...well, he has no idea what. so he loops around at a slow lope, coming back to face gren with that head-tilted curious dog expression.

how he thinks gren is going to recognize him is a whole other story.]

[murderpotato]

[That's a werewolf. Gren's track record with werewolves-- or wolfweres? Whatever the fuck Bigby is-- has been pretty poor, so he's less than thrilled to have one standing right in front of him. And without any way to identify who this wolf looked like when he wasn't on four legs, he's just... a werewolf.]

[Gren sighs and balls his hand into a fist, ready to start punching if he has to.]

Fuckin' figures.

[He can't have a nice night, ever.]