savetheearth | 35th Howl: Poorly Timed Vacationing [Closed]

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35th Howl: Poorly Timed Vacationing [Closed]

Who: Randall Lyall, Hajime Aikawa, Nick Burkhardt
When: April 13 through April 17
Where: Leaving the city, then a small town with a nice little bed and breakfast
What: Lyall's escaping for the full moon and bringing some friends

[At the car, Sunday late morning]

Lyall is waiting outside by his car, his small suitcase and laptop case already packed after his earlier morning's network post-- his last for several days, looks like. He's wearing what looks like a vest-- for those in the know, it's actually a waistcoat-- and a scarf, and has his very first echo in hand: a blue, leather-bound journal.

As friends' cars and/or bikes pull up, he tucks it inside the waistcoat and waves.

[Crossing the border]

Seeing as it's his car, Lyall's the one behind the wheel. Anything else would wind up leaving him confused once he... well, forgets where he's going. He has a few notes taped up, just in case, but as they drive across the former border, he just blinks a few times, looks over those notes, and glances over at whoever managed to claim the front seat.

"Well. At least I still know who you are. And... sort of why you're coming."

[Being tourists]

Whether before or after the full moon, the plans during the daylight hours are to visit bookstores, antique shops, the lone gaming store in the little city just on the other side of the state border, and the pair of little wineries within half an hour's driving distance of the bed and breakfast Lyall picked out. It's a day for relaxing, maybe having a little fun, whoever decides to come along.

[Full moon]

Lyall is pacing around the hotel room. He's nervous, but he only has a vague idea of why. Something to do with a wolf. A werewolf. His notes say it's him, and some fuzzy memories suggest the same, but it's ridiculous. Changing into a wild animal, losing his mind, attacking people-- ridiculous. ... Isn't it?

So he's pacing, trying to keep from worrying too much, now that the sun's down, and thumbing through that journal again when he isn't too antsy.

Not much longer until the moon actually comes up, either.

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"Yes, do try, though exactly how one tries to change one's shape, I have no idea," Lyall agrees. While the British accent isn't exactly there, he does still speak a little more formally than he might have otherwise.

He shakes his head, and prowls to the window to peer out, looking for a moon. There's definitely a sliver of... something coming up. He shudders a little, staring hard at the horizon and trying to imagine what changing shape might be like.

Hajime just starts shuffling the cards he was playing with and looking cross. "I'm thinking about it, but nothing's happening." How was that even supposed to work? "My notes seem to think that if he changes into the wolf, I'll change to fight him off anyway...not that I'd really want it to happen that way."

"Like reactionary, instead of conscious? Yeah, I guess that makes sense." As much as any of this makes sense, anyway. Most of this still feels kind of unreal to him. Especially since the last time he'd forgotten the network, he hadn't exactly been on its side. Fortunately he still remembers enough to know where he really stands, but it feels strange. He's more sure of himself as a modified cop than he is as some weird superhero.

"If nothing else, I'm pretty sure I still have nine lives."

"Nine-- pardon?" But then he remembers, sort of fuzzily, being told about that. "Oh, right. That... police thing." Which makes about as much sense as everything else. He frowns, glancing back over his shoulder at the pair of them, and adds grimly: "Let's hope you don't need them."

And right about then, the moon starts to show its face. Lyall actually recoils from the window, letting the curtain fall. He only has what notes he left himself, none of which actually mention how much changing hurts. It's not as bad as it would have been, but there's still a sharp pain in his ankles, arms, mouth, and eyes-- a few bones break, anyway, and he sags sideways against the wall as his legs decide they'd rather not hold him up during this little partial change, thank you very much. And there's a kind of burning along the sides of his neck, and down his back and calves, as under his clothes a bit of fur sprouts despite the distance from Locke.

The only really visible thing, though, are that his teeth go all sharp and his eyes all gold. He's not a wolf... but there's a couple parts of him that are at least trying.

Well. That was unexpected. And kind of freaky. And Hajime just might have had more to say were he not for the fact that this was triggering his own latent monster instincts. He thought he might know what do, maybe...though he didn't want to fight Lyall, that didn't seem like a good idea. There's a bit of cursing in Japanese as he scrambles off the bed.

He's also wearing a weird leather belt with a heart-shaped buckle that wasn't there before, but he has yet to notice this, that it was his own powers' attempt at trying to start to kick in at the appearance of a partial werewolf.

Despite everything, Nick hadn't really believed that anything was going to happen.

"...shit."

He's caught off guard, and spends a moment staring, before his own instincts kick in. Nick doesn't have any superpowers trying to assert themselves in times of danger - or at least, not anything that he can feel. He'd brought along some kind of weapon that looks like a heavier baseball bat, but the thought of actually using it on Lyall makes his stomach turn a little, so he leaves it where it is.

Still, he jumps up when Hajime does, automatically moving to cover the other exit - Hajime's closer to the door, so Nick moves towards the window that Lyall'd just pushed himself from.

"Lyall?"

He throws up a hand, whether asking them to wait or just fending them off, even he isn't sure. He still hurts, though it isn't as bad, now that most of the changes are done. His legs still aren't supporting him properly, though, and his hands look all wrong-- fingers shorter and stubbier, not quite paws, but halfway there. He's torn between terror, of this change and for his friends, and a very unusual and unnatural anger that he tries to throttle back with alarm. It isn't as strong as it could be, though... and luckily, neither of these people smell like food.

"Don't-- don't come-- stay back!" he gasps, a little awkwardly around his sharpened teeth. There's a hint of growl to it, but it's nothing compared to a real, angry werewolf.

Hajime feels...different. More aware of things, certainly. His own changes have been manifesting themselves more subtly, but it's a clear reaction to a thing to fight, or at least something he needs to defend himself against. He's sporting a couple of interesting piercings--chains ending in hooks hanging from each ear--and his own eyes have turned green. Taking off his shirt would yield the revelation that there was now a glowing green orb in the middle of his chest and that a few patches of his skin were more exoskeleton than not, but he doesn't care about anything like that right now. Lyall's the more immediate problem.

"Just--just take it easy! Maybe get away from the doors and windows..." Hajime didn't really know what they should do, but starting there seemed like a good idea.

"You won't hurt me." He's back to sounding a little cocky again, but it's something he's certain of. The vague memories of fighting a wolf and coming out ahead, along with his conclusion that he must be something of a monster hunter, are enough to make him a little overly confident.

"Yeah, we should probably stand in front of the exits, just in case." Nick pauses, glancing over at Hajime - and doing a double take, because that's a little different. "...okay. Uh. Right, if it gets bad, we can use the bathroom."

The thought of being trapped in an even smaller space than this hotel room elicits the stirrings of an angry sort of panic, but Lyall does his best to keep it in check, edging painfully away from the window and into the corner, wedged in behind the low armchair and the tall lamp beside it. He does, however, keep his back to the wall and his eyes on the two of them. Just in case they try anything.

Hajime has yet to notice his weird bugness trying to creep through. He just feels very alert, ready for...anything. Not that he wants anything to happen, even if a very small part of him seemed to like the idea. "How are you feeling right now?"

Nick moves in front of the window when Lyall edges away, half leaning and half sitting against the windowsill. He watches Lyall closely, but - he's having a hard time figuring out how to act, here. There's enough of his echoed instincts left for him to be a little on edge, to feel alert, but that's it. The rest of him is way more cop, and the hyper-focused, be-ready-in-case-he-does-anything attitude is reserved for criminals.

Lyall's not a criminal, he's just - something weird.

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"I hurt," Lyall answers after a pause, sliding down against the wall to hit the floor with a soft thump. "I think-- I think something broke!" He doesn't mention the anger. He feels vaguely ashamed at it-- and then angry at himself for feeling ashamed. He shouldn't. It's only natural. It's how he should be feeling, and these stupid-- whatever they ares-- shouldn't be in his way--

--except he does know he brought them here specifically for them to do that. He pulls his legs in with a wince and hugs them, half for the pain and half to try and keep himself contained.

"You want me to find you an aspirin? I'd say doctor with a break, but, uh, I don't think that's a good idea right now." Hajime thinks that maybe talking to Lyall, keeping him calm would be good. It's doing good against whatever within him was poised and ready for a fight. Because man, he's ready to go now. Ready for some kind of fight. Adrenaline at this point would be understandable, but he feels more primed for a fight than he ever has before in his life--that he can remember, anyway.

"Can I look? Not as good as a doctor, but I have first responder training." He's not sure if him going near Lyall would be just as bad of an idea as a doctor, but he has to make the offer. It's better than just standing there in awkward silence, trying to figure out why Lyall saying that he hurts and that something might have broken upsets him way more than it should.

"If you do-- I don't know what I'll do." His voice shakes a little, and he burrows his face against his knees. In the interest of honesty, he fights against the urge to keep sullenly silent-- or worse, growl something mean-- and says as evenly as he can: "There's part of me that wants to hurt you. For being in the way. I think. I don't want to." Because the rest of him is just horrified by all of this. He's a good person, a peaceful person. He doesn't like having an urge to hurt anyone.

Not that he imagines he could really do much. Maybe bite, with these newly sharp teeth, but that sounds disgusting.

Hajime, in contrast, had never been one to shy away from a fight. He'd gotten in brawls all through school, and every so often, he still got into them as an adult. He doesn't object to the idea of fighting--oddly enough, it seems to excite him even more than it once might have--but he does not want to fight Lyall. "So what can we do?" There's more than a little frustration evident in his tone.

Nick pauses for a moment, considering that and weighing his options. He can get closer and try to figure out if anything's broken and risk Lyall trying to attack, or they can stand here and wait and risk Lyall trying to attack one of them.

Yeah, he kind of agrees with Hajime's frustration there.

"That's not enough to make me stay away. We're risking getting attacked just by being here, in your way, I might as well try to do something."

"I don't know!" Lyall growls back at Hajime, looking up with an expression every bit as frustrated and no little upset, in an angry sort of fashion. It's not an expression he usually wears-- and it does, briefly, make his newly sharpened teeth obvious.

But then visibly checks himself and buries his face back in his knees again. He tenses a little at Nick's comment, but after a pause, responds, " ... if you must, you must. I-- I will try not to do anything."

Hajime moves out of the way in order to let Nick get at Lyall, but he's still on guard, twitchy in case something does happen. He doesn't want it to, but he'll be ready. "It's...going to stay like this until morning?" Apparently. According to the notes. He thinks it's a stupid question as soon as it's out of his mouth, but that's the least of his worries right now.

"You're not going to hurt me." He's pretty sure he's already said something like that, but he believes it, and that's obvious in his tone.

It's... less belief that Lyall wouldn't hurt anyone, or belief in their friendship or something like that, and more belief that even if Lyall tries, he won't succeed. But it's enough that he's not afraid, as he moves in close and crouches down next to Lyall. "What do you think broke?"

Lyall keeps his face pressed to his knees. "I'm guessing-- a couple of the metatarsals, at least one tibia, and the radius and ulna in opposite arms. Possibly one of the clavicles, as well, but that's-- that's harder to tell." He's a biology teacher. Of course he's going to use the actual terminology for the bones in question.

Plus, focusing on correct terminology helps keep him focused instead of lashing out, like he wants to do. That's just disturbing on so many levels.

"Okay, see, I actually learned something in your class, because I think I know what you just said there." Hajime's wracking his brain for what he can do to help. "Should we...make splints or something?"

Despite the situation, Nick can't help but smile a little. Of course that's the way a biology teacher would answer, how could Nick expect any different? Fortunately, even without his pulses, Nick knows better than to flirt about that in a time like this. He starts to reach out to check, but hesitates. "Are you - my notes said something about you healing, after."

"I don't know. That sounds familiar, but--" He swallows, peeking up at them warily. "--if this is a kind of... lesser change... I doubt I'll have that, to go with it. I'm-- I'm not sure I'll manage to let you make splits, either way." Because he's sure that will hurt, and hurt at the hands of someone else right now is likely to drive him to violence-- what little violence he could manage, in this state.

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chalicejoker - 2014-05-26 01:41 (UTC) - Expand

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