A Haunting [Action, Backdated to May 8th night, CLOSED]

[professorwolf]

Reading until late at night is a common thing with Lyall, especially lately, given he's trying to teach a ferret how to read. And since he left her behind for both his trips to the art gallery, he feels like he had to make it up to her somehow.

That does mean that falling asleep in his armchair in the living room has also been a thing that has happened frequently. Generally, though, he's comfortable there and sleeps well enough until the crick in his neck gets bad enough to wake him up and he moves to his bed. Tonight, not so. Tonight, he's twitching a little, and winds up waking himself up with a start well before cricking sets in, wide-eyed and startled, and looks around wildly. The book he'd been reading falls off his lap with a thunk.

"What was that--"

Comments

[seabeast]

Stella raises her head from her book...? Ordinarily, she'd have been happy enough for a distraction - now that her efforts to read are organized, her motivation to actually learn has taken a bit of a dip, although things are certainly expedited, now - but he looks as though someone stuck something ice cold under his collar without warning. She trills a bit at him. Hey, what's up?

[professorwolf]

He doesn't notice her at first, trying to see something that may or may not be there, and trying to test the air. "What was... oh dear."

He levers himself out of his seat, and only then looks down at Romsca. "Stella, didn't you hear that?"

[seabeast]

Stella rises from her book, sniffing at the air and straining her ears carefully. She shakes her head after a moment, though. Nothing but the sound of the a/c running. What is he hearing, then?

[professorwolf]

But... he could smell it clear as day. Lyall looked down at her with a worried expression. "No howl? No smell of wet dog...?" The dream, he's sure, she wouldn't have heard, since it was a dream and she wasn't asleep, but those two things had been loud and clear.

[seabeast]

Well, that's fairly worrying. She hops onto a nearby table, turning around to catch any stray scents she might be missing... nothing. She turns towards him, cocking her head in sort of a shrug. Nightmares of the night of the werewolves would have been explicable, but sounds and smells that she can't see?

[professorwolf]

"I swear I heard it... and smelled it," Lyall insists, though with less conviction now that she can't. "It's right-- around here." He circles the armchair he'd fallen asleep in, looking not at it, but at everything around it. Especially the windows. It feels weirdly like someone is watching him, but he can't be sure that's not the lingering effect of the dream.

"No, it's definitely there... fleeting, but there, and further away it doesn't get stronger." Which makes no sense, because he doesn't smell like wet dog. "You really can't...? Of course you can't, or you wouldn't be looking at me like that."

[seabeast]

Stella huffs a huge huff. It's true that she regards him as sort of a flighty creature, for all of his intellect and various skills, but this is pushing the definition a bit far. For one thing, she's not as certain that this is all some elaborate joke...

She starts snaking her way up to the nearest windows, coming very close to knocking over a lamp, and peers out the window into the darkness. Nothing but the lights from the other houses, and she smells nothing but the normal scents of the house. She looks back and shakes her head again, sniffing very hard once. Is this a joke, Lyall?

[professorwolf]

Would Lyall do that to you, Stella? Really, he doesn't have a particularly good sense of humor, and definitely not a cruel one, anyway. And at the moment, he looks more lost and baffled, and nervous, than he does like he's waiting for a reaction.

He skirts away from the chair, and instead drops heavily onto the couch. "I know I smelled it... strong enough that someone not me could smell it. Unless I dreamed that, too?" He leans his face into his hands for a moment, trying to sort out the things he's feeling, but keeps his fingers spaced out so he can see Stella, in case she has something to "say", even if he's not precisely looking at her.

[seabeast]

... Oh, so now he's a hop away from frightened. She notes this with a tilt of her head. So he's sincere. Now... how much does she actually care? A lot more than she's willing to discuss, she realizes. She's grateful for her lack of emotive ability, suddenly. She doesn't want to explain that she's pretty sure that it comes from her own sense of self preservation, and then compound on the subject a hundred time until everyone finally believes it. (Because they're the ones who need convincing. Of course.)

Instead, she makes her way over the desk and onto the arm of the couch, the one nearest to his elbow, and sits her rump down firmly, making a pass over the room before glancing back at him. She's watching the place, all right? Stop that whinging, for fur and claws' sake.

[professorwolf]

Though she can't talk, he's getting better-- slowly-- at picking up her moods. He's fairly sure this one is protective. He reaches over to pet her back lightly. Even if she's sentient, she put up with petting before, so he sees no real reason to stop now.

"Sorry, I know, I'm mostly just thinking aloud. Trying to sort it out. I just had a dream where someone was saying they only wanted to 'save the earth'. And it was frightening somehow, as if I knew they'd failed, or as if... I don't know, as if I knew I would fail, too. Then I wake up to that, and it's just got me all-- all discombobulated."

Yes, he does sometimes use that word. It's a cool word, okay?

[seabeast]

She may not like it much, but her ferret instincts disagree - pets are very, very good. She'll sit under the petting quietly.

So that's why he was disoriented? Makes sense, although knowing didn't make it less puzzling. After a brief pause to consider the possibilities (all of which were mildly crazy, which was par the course), she'll bob her head towards his laptop and look back at him. Why not tell someone?

[professorwolf]

That's an obvious enough suggestion, and he nods. "It's a little late, and I'd like to work it out in my head first, but that is a good idea. Maybe someone else...."

He trails off, frowns, and then starts again, slowly: "Wait. Banagher... he said he'd heard a howl. And thought he was being watched. A few days back."

[seabeast]

Banagher? That young pup from their excursion? Even though she was still rather a young ferret herself, she didn't like the idea of just two people sharing a -- all right, not a delusion, but she didn't want them working both of themselves up into full on paranoia. This was a difficult idea to convey, though, and she didn't really disapprove of the young human enough to argue the point. She just trills instead and stares him right in the eye. Yes, go on.

[professorwolf]

At the encouragement, Lyall continues his musing: "It could be connected to the network... issues. It wasn't one of those changes or visions, it didn't have the same feeling, but then, those statues don't have the same feeling, either. It could simply be something new. I'll definitely have to ask around... see if anyone else noticed anything odd."

He offered her a wan little smile. "I'm sorry for being difficult, Stella. Even I need a minute to panic every now and then, I guess."

[seabeast]

Stella considered this new information, then the whole situation for a moment. This didn't seem like a process within either of their control, and any speculation on the matter would not be likely to help. She knows that Lyall is not generally a nervous man, and long as -- well. Not to put too much of a feather in her metaphorical cap, but she does consider herself to be a creature of fairly good sense. As long as she's around, they'll both be perfectly aware at the first sign of trouble.

... Now all they need is a good distraction. Stella stretches, then hops down to the floor, padding her way over to the kitchen. she makes it over to the entranceway of the kitchen, then looks back balefully. Well?

[professorwolf]

Lyall laughs a little and pushes himself to his feet. "Of course you'd want food now. All right. Food. Then I ought to get to bed, actual bed and not nodding off in the living room." He pads after her, to set about mixing a midnight snack for them both, and hopefully to finish calming down.

((and fadeout there? :) we can do her returning scene/network/whatevs whenever you're ready!))

ooc

[seabeast]

[[ yes of course! it can't be now since i've got something to do tomorrow, but will tomorrow or tuesday evening work for you? ]]

[professorwolf]

((hmm, I've got a network post to get up today for some plotty stuff, so either she can show up in the middle of that or we can backdate it a tad? :D ))

[seabeast]

[[ let's go with a quick backdated post! just so you don't have a thousand posts to make, how about i make it? stella will just show up at lyall's door, expecting to be let in. ]]

[professorwolf]

((sounds good! go ahead and post it up whenever you're ready :D ))

[seabeast]

[[ it's up! fire at will :D ]]