The Great Escape (closed RP)

[4pawsandatail]

He hadn't really thought about it, the first time he'd done it. He'd been hungry, and he'd needed something to eat and hadn't been able to catch anything the old fashioned way. So he stole it, in the middle of the night, sneaking through the back door of a deli that had been left open during a cigarette break

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[sinfulways]

There had been reports, sightings, and two eyewitness reports that had filtered along the network and somehow ended up in Greta's inbox; there was a werewolf, or wolf-like creature picking off locals. And stealing, if the reports were to be believed. She'd never heard of a werewolf actually stealing little things like food and spare sneakers from thrift stores.

Simon drove for most of the night to get them to this town and she spent about twenty minutes that next morning flirting with the night manager at the local motel to get them a decent room with clean sheets, but they were here now and on the hunt. They both got a few hours of sleep before dressing in clothes that were just new enough to lend credibility to their cover stories but old enough to be comfortable in. Fake badges and enough weapons concealed beneath their clothes and in waistbands accompanied them out the door and to the police station to bluff their way into the local investigation for information and a starting point.

Hours later, late afternoon sun was slowly turning into dusk and Simon had tracked down what he believed to be their culprit to an overgrown and abandoned area near town. Greta followed his directions and together they scoured the area for any clues, any scrap of evidence that would lead them to their culprit. It wasn't too surprising when Simon's good instincts paid off and soon they were chasing a sleek, but large animal at speed. It was fast, but clumsy, and they split up to box the bastard in.

Greta was by far the faster of the two hunters and kept as close a pace on the thing as she could, dodging debris and stray ivy, low branches, and thick roots that arched out of the ground threatening to snare feet and snap ankles. It was a workout and one she wasn't appreciating.If she'd have been able, Greta would have shot the bastard before he'd taken off, it would have saved her from running herself ragged trying to keep up. She knew better than to tire herself out but the fucker pissed her off and she was determined to catch him; Simon wasn't far behind after all.

Greta slammed herself around the corner, almost diving into a roll, with her eyes flashing wide and her gun pointed and ready. She caught the tail of the creature disappearing into a decrepit warehouse a few yards away and cursed under her breath. If that asshole had lead her into a trap she was going to be upset. Pulling out her phone, she quickly shot a message to her partner then adjusted her grip on her weapon and closed the distance between her and the warehouse.

[4pawsandatail]

The phone buzzed in Simon's pocket and he cursed, fumbling out the cheap cell and texting back for Greta to wait, knowing at the same time that she wouldn't. She never did. Woman would take on an entire pack of werewolves by herself if she had too, and Simon was simply glad for the fact that all the evidence they had found suggested this wolf was acting alone. And leaving a sloppy trail about it.

Peyton, for his own part, couldn't help the heaving sigh of relief that escaped him as he made it to the old warehouse, slipping into the low to the ground broken window he'd been using as an entrance, completely missing the fact he'd cut his back paw on the few shards of glass in his haste, the pain pressed below the pulsing need to 'runhiderunhide' that seemed to pound in his head with his heartbeat.

He bounded past the pilfered blankets he'd made into a bed, and past his favorite sunning spot, bounding deeper into the warehouse where there was still a lot of debris from whatever company had used this place before - fallen support beams, twisted metals, broken cinder blocks. It seemed like a smart place to hide, might slow the woman who was chasing him down.

Unfortunately, for all that he'd been moving around recently on his four paws, they weren't entirely up to the task of climbing over nails and rocks and broken glass at any sort of speed. And, well, maybe he should have spend more time exploring his home, because he'd just run himself on four sore paws, into a damn corner.

He flipped around, intent on running the other direction and found himself muzzle to face with the rapidly approaching woman, and it was just now that he noticed the unmistakable trail of blood that had lead her exactly where he'd been running. He dropped, backing up as far as he could into the corner, tail tucked tight between his legs, ears pinned back as a low, completely undignified whine escaped him. He really, really didn't want to be shot.

[sinfulways]

She didn't know if it was the Heaven's finally smiling down on her when she found the blood on the window and smaller drops and smears on the floor just inside, or a clever ruse to keep her following into the darkened area. There was fading afternoon light streaming in through cracked walls and dirty or missing windows, elongating shadows and making the already dark areas all the more so. Greta huffed and slipped into the building to follow the blood.

A few minutes, a nice scrap down her side from her attempt to shimmy passed some sort of machinery, and a nice bruise she knew was going to be forming on her forehead where she ran into a rusted beam, she tracked the creature to a narrow area that didn't look like it had a way out. This was a lucky break or the straw that broke the camels back; she could either get him here or he'd make a meal out of her. She was willing to take the chance since she knew Simon would get to her before anything bad happened. Or at least she hoped.

Steeling her nerves, she took a shallow breath and crouched into a predatory hunch as she moved forward into the gloom, eyes sharp and gun ready. She kept moving until she caught movement just head, her ears just picking up the scrambling of nails and padded paws on grimy concrete. She also heard the most unusual thing: a whine. A frightened whine. It made her blink in surprise and confusion to swim inside her head. Werewolves, to her knowledge, didn't whine.

"If I just spent the last few hours tracking a city coyote I'm going to be very cross," She muttered to herself and crept forward still. If it was a coyote then she needed to be just as careful but she wouldn't kill the poor thing. Though, she would bitch at Simon if that was the case. All that effort for a mutt.

[4pawsandatail]

His ears tipped forward in interest at her words, before they pinned back again as she kept advancing, gun in the ready position. Even though he knew he couldn't get much further back, he couldn't help but try. The woman was beautiful, even as scared as he was, he could notice that. She had beautiful blonde hair and the sharp, piercing kind of eyes that everyone thinks of when they imagine someone's eyes, and he could tell her body was made of mostly muscle and grace.

She also looked incredibly dangerous. Like the kind of person you didn't mess with because you knew they could pretty easily take you out. And she held the gun like she knew exactly how to use it. He wanted to shift, he wanted to babble and plead at her to please forgive him, but he was too scared to actually get a firm grip on his human side.

So instead he let out another whine, shivering, tail bushed up and neck ruff raised, caught between trying to defend himself and the urge to roll on his back and offer his belly to her. The latter was pretty quickly winning out as he got an even better look at that gun.

[sinfulways]

The light was abysmal but just enough seeped in from odd corners to offer up a dim portrait of disuse, decay, and desperation. It also offered her a glimpse of just what she'd been chasing this entire time and it didn't immediately jive with what she always associated with werewolves. True, the creature was large and had all the important bits - tail, ears, large muzzle that held teeth that could easily tear into flesh - but somehow it just didn't automatically scream 'This is a Killer, BEWARE'.

Greta regretted that her thoughts had immediately turned away from 'kill' to 'pity', to sympathy for the cringing wolf, but it wasn't something she had active control over. She was an emotion driven woman, after all, and instincts honed from these years of hunting with Simon had left her with snap judgments that were usually on the money more often than not. Though she didn't lower her gun or lose any of her aggressive posture, her muscles coiled and ready for fight or flight, she didn't believe this was the dangerous sonuvabitch they were after.

"Well...fuck."

[4pawsandatail]

Honestly, he'd sort of expected to be dead by now. She had the gun, and had it pointed at him, and she totally probably already knew it was him who'd stolen everything, but--

But he wasn't shot yet. He wasn't shot yet and she didn't exactly look like she was going to shoot him any time soon. He was still shaking, ears still pinned, eyes still wide with fear, but he let out a soft little 'aroo?' of question that was probably much more at home from a domestic golden retriever than it was for a werewolf.

Peyton couldn't bring himself to mind.

[sinfulways]

Oh. Oh that was evil. The little shit wasn't at all what the hell they were chasing after, was it? Not when it looked like it was two seconds away from wetting itself and looking at her with abject fear and...curiosity. And that little noise?

Greta fished out her phone and immediately sent a text to Simon to tell him to 'hurry the fuck up' and 'we've got a problem. his name is fido'. She didn't lower her weapon but she eased her grip a fraction to take some of the tension from her wrist. After sliding the cell back into her pocket she glared, ruefully, across the space at the jerk that lead her on a wild goose chase.

"You are a bastard, you know that? You had me chasing you half across bumfuck to catch you and you're not even what I'm after, are you?" She'd laugh at herself later for talking to the animal, but dammit! She needed to vent her frustrations in a more constructive manner because her usual way was to shoot at what was bothering her.

[4pawsandatail]

He sees the gun loosen and he shifts slightly forward, settling down on his front legs, his tail giving a half-hearted little wave. He's--not sure if he's what your after, but, if she was starting to think he wasn't, Peyton was going to go with that, so he shook his head, before laying his chin down on his front paws, licking a bit at one of the scrapes he'd gotten trying to get away from her.

[sinfulways]

That little display seemed to confirm her shaky suspicions and she let out a heartfelt and very unladylike snort of disgust. The gun game down then but didn't get placed in the holster strapped into the shoulder holster she used when impersonating a police officer. Normally she kept it in a similar holster that secured on the back of her belt.

"Dammit. Dammit, dammit, DAMN!" Simon was going to be just as pissed when he got her. This big ole thing wasn't going to be the werewolf that had been killing the people in this little town because if it was then it was the biggest idiot savant in the killing-maiming department she'd ever run across. Idly she wondered if werewolves could have mentally challenged members among their ranks. Amusing thought.

"Suppose I should apologize for getting you hurt then," She replied after a moment, a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. Apologizing to an animal wasn't odd in the least, but apologizing to this one made her feel silly and a lot like she was turning into her batty aunt Lisa. "If I didn't think Si would smack me over the head for being stupid I'd offer to waste bandages on those cuts."

[4pawsandatail]

As she keeps talking, Peyton moves forward slowly, pulling himself forward on his paws before he's relatively close to her, and then he raises his head and licks at her free hand, perhaps in thanks for not shooting him, or something, he's not entirely sure, but he's just--really glad she's on his side, so he'll just sort of press his entire body against her hip, ears finally coming out of their pinned state, large and somewhat awkward on his head. It's obvious he's young, and his tail begins to wag slightly as he begins to lick her hand properly in greeting.

Which is, of course, right when Simon manages to shoulder open the door to the warehouse enough to accommodate his larger bulk and calls out to his partner.

"Greta?! Greta, where are you?"

[sinfulways]

The light was horrible in this place and she'll blame it for her inattention. She hadn't noticed the creature moving towards her until he was almost at her feet and even then she hadn't leveled her weapon at it. It--he just didn't set off alarm bells she knew would be ringing if the animal had been immediately dangerous. And then it licked her. It licked her hand! What kind of unimaginable monster licked a girl's hand and whined, and was generally scared out of its head because a little human was chasing it?

She was a mother fucking sap and it was going to get her killed one day.

"Well, at least I know my death with be by slobber and not snapping teeth," She chuckled, keeping both hands still but smiled down at the thing trying to give her fingers a stinky bath. She'd have crouched down, like an idiot, and reached up to pet the thing too if Simon's voice, and the noise he was making, didn't pull her out of her unhunter-like thoughts. She knew better than the jerk her hand away or make any sudden movements - hello, wild animal at her feet! - but she couldn't help turning her head away from it to look towards where she could hear Si; a rookie mistake that was probably going to get her killed one day too.

"In here, Sim" She called out. "Be careful, though. There's crap all over the place and most of it hurts when you run into it."

[desperatehunter]

Simon made his way carefully through the wreckage that was a warehouse, slipping under broken beams and old machinery. Where Greta was the faster of the two of them, Si tended to be the more careful, more fluid. He didn't rush so much, took his time.

He moved, gun out and at the ready, but he wasn't sure anything could have prepared him for what he saw when he made it to where Greta was standing. She--

There was a damn werewolf cuddled up to her like she was his long lost mother. And she was completely turned away from the thing, throat, chest, sides exposed and vulnerable for attack as she looked back at him.

"---explain,"

[sinfulways]

When Simon came into view Greta smiled and lifted the hand that held her gun and shook it at him in greeting. The creature was huddled in front of her, shivering, and it looked for all the world like it wanted to hide right there behind - in front of? - Greta, like Simon was going to shoot it for being so close but it was too afraid to run for the hills. Or the back corner as the case may be.

"Meet the little wolf that couldn't," She grinned broadly and wriggled her damp fingers at the animal. Simon wouldn't shoot it, not this close to her, so she thought they were both relatively safe for the moment, though she knew her ears were going to be in for it if a flush started creeping up along Simon's neck...which she couldn't tell in this light.

[desperatehunter]

Worse than the flush was the slight tick at the corner of Simon's jaw, that made an appearance only when Greta was being particularly idiotic, and through her choices had put herself in some sort of danger. He stepped forward a half step, eyes narrowing slightly as he looked down at the werewolf, the half-hidden posture, the frightened slant of his ears and the way he kept casting pleading little looks up at Greta. It was--intriguing, but not at all comforting.

"He could be faking," He said slowly, even as his grip on the gun loosened slightly, and the wolf gave a tiny little whine and pressed his muzzle into Greta's limp hand.

"--is he even a werewolf?"

[sinfulways]

Immediately she turned her attention back to the animal pressing against her and made soft noises of comfort, nonsense words meant to sooth but otherwise didn't make a whole lot of sense. She told him it was alright that neither of them would hurt him but that wasn't really the truth. They would hurt him, kill him even, if he turned out he was, in fact, a dangerous animal that needed to be taken care of. Greta had a feeling that the animal knew that.

"Yes, I'm sure he's got that sort of presence of mine to fake being scared out of his mind, shaking and all, but is really luring me into a false sense of security, waiting for the moment he can pounce and rip my throat out." She gave her partner a look that said, clearly, that she thought he was being ridiculous. She doubted the quivering thing could lure a paper bag into a false sense of security much less tear into anyone.

Greta shrugged, "I don't rightly know, but it seems like he understands me - us - well enough, doesn't it? Maybe a shifter or walker of some sort? There's lore on beings that can shift into animals that aren't related to werewolves, right?"

[4pawsandatail]

He'd been well into coming into himself when the second hunter had entered the warehouse and he'd wanted to curl back up and hide in the corner with his tail over his nose and paws over his eyes when he sees the man. The hunter is hard everywhere that Greta was kind and he burrows into the woman as close as he can.

At their questions though, he thinks he might be able to explain some things, and he moves away from the woman, slowly, heading for the cover of a few file cabinets that are toppled over in some sort of haphazard fashion high enough he won't embarrass himself when he shifts.

It takes him a moment, a long moment, before he's anywhere close to able to grab on to his human side, but he finally manages it, and with a sickening sound of bones and muscles and tissues rearranging themselves he's standing on weak legs and giving them both an awkwardly sheepish look from behind the slim shield of metal.

"--hi."