A Duck in Manhattan [Active/Closed]

[onceuponaduck]

Characters: Duck, Wolf and possibly Elphaba? Don't know if that's it yet.
Content: Alone, frightened and duck-a-fied, things can't be worse for Ahiru... except they can when along comes a big bad wolf! Oh noes!
Location: Uh... maybe near the Empire States Building?
Time of day: Mid-morning
Warnings: None as of yet.

Comments

[huff_puff_wolf]

Despite everything, Wolf was in as decent a mood as could be. He'd gotten to scare Dahlia Hawthorne a bit (although he hadn't heard from her since then, strangely enough), and despite the fact that the awful monster had ripped through the city again, he and his darling Giselle had managed to stay safe. Hopefully everyone else would get back on their feet, too. At least the monster had been kind enough to drop them off some potential meat! ...True, he would've vastly preferred something other than that big fish-mammal, as the stench was terrible. He could pick up on it far easier than most people. If only the monster had left them, say, a herd of wooly sheep! Or maybe a ton of chickens! Or maybe...

He stopped, and sniffed. There was a new, unusual smell amidst the normal grit of the city. One that he actually recognized. Suddenly excited, he darted off through the streets, following the scent. And his nose didn't lie...close to the ridiculously tall skyscraper, he came upon a small yellow duckling, looking like it was trying to carry

"

[onceuponaduck]

Ahiru scurried along, although she had no idea where she was going at all. Would a place like this have a pond? Or maybe she could find a fountain or something around here? Ahhh, why was this place SO HUGE?!

Wait. What was that behind her?

She heard someone coming up behind her before she saw them. The little duck stopped dead when she noticed a large shadow looooming over her. Slowly, Ahiru lifted her head as she found herself being looked down upon. The human man's grin was absolutely FRIGHTENING.

"Q-QUACK! Quackquackquack!" she cried, as she flailed in surprise, scrambling backwards and lost footing, as her balance was thrown off by the large bundle on her tiny back. Ahiru fell backwards onto it, her little legs kicking and her wings flailing in panic.

[huff_puff_wolf]

Wolf considered this duck's response. A sentient, person-duck would give him some kind of answer right? Whereas normal, highly edible ducks quacked. And since this duck was just quacking...

"Hoo, HAAHHHRR!" he let out a victorious growl, bent down and quickly scooped the duck up out of the clothes-pile. At long last, after who-knew-how-long since first arriving in this dimension, he'd found a REAL animal! "Aren't you just the tastiest thing I've ever seen around here!" he exclaimed, beaming.

Of course, the question now was...how best to do lunch? It might be really nice to actually head home and prepare the duck the long way; make a real special treat out of it. But on the other hand, he was terribly hungry, and the duckling looked exceptionally good just as it was now...

[onceuponaduck]

Oh no! Her clothes! She let out another quack, flailing in the human's grasp as her clothes were left behind on the ground. The man's words, however, made her freeze and slowly look at him in growing horror.

Did... he just say she looked tasty?

Her face, almost comically, grew more horrified.

"QUACK! QUACKQUACKQUAAAAAACK!" she, well, quacked loudly. Why would he want to eat her?!

Maybe... Maybe this was all just a bad dream. Maybe she'd wake up and find she was still in Kinkan and she would be Princess Tutu rushing to give Mytho his heart shard and find a way to give the story a happy ending.

She closed her eyes tightly, willing, wishing to wake up. NOW! Please wake up me! she begged in her head. Wake up!

Cracking open her eyes she realized it was not working. She could still see Wolf looking at her thoughtfully. This... was real, wasn't it? Drosselmeyer would be glad. He'd get his tragic ending.

No. No! She couldn't think like that! Thus, she started quacking again, flailing desperately, trying to get out of the human's grasp.

[huff_puff_wolf]

While Wolf was debating various methods of lunch, the duck began quacking and squirming around in his grasp, trying to escape. She almost succeeded, and Wolf barely managed to catch her again before she flapped out of his hands.

"Oh no, ohhhhhh no, you're staying with me! Nice, fuzzy little duckling!" He kept a tighter grip on her now with one hand, using the other to both hold her down and stroke her back. He always liked petting such soft, creamy, tasty things. He was awfully hungry right now, and then again, if he took the duckling home, Giselle might see it and insist that he not eat it. He definitely didn't want to upset Giselle...but then again, who knew when an opportunity like this would come along again? Better to just enjoy the quick snack now and not worry about guilt later

[onceuponaduck]

She almost thought she'd managed to get free, but hands managed to enclose around her, and she found herself caught in the mans arms. Ahiru might have enjoyed being pet once upon a time, but it was nothing but dread right now.

Ahiru gave the occasional squirm, testing the human's grasp as she was carried away from her clothes, but Wolf seemed to have a good grip on her now. Where was he taking her? Tears started to pool in her eyes, as her fate was starting to look grim.

But then he stopped and sat, which confused her. Wouldn't he be carrying her off to some kitchen? Maybe eating her wasn't in his plans after all?

Her thoughts were cut off as she realized he had noticed the pendant. She didn't have a chance to try to grab it, before it was whisked off her neck. "Q-q-quaaack!" she whimpered, almost mournfully. Without her pendant she would be stuck like this!

Ahiru did only thing she could do: She started squirming and wriggling, trying once more to escape.

[huff_puff_wolf]

Having caught ducklings since he was a cub, Wolf knew just how to hold them to prevent them from actually getting away. "Awwwrr, awwwrr, stop fussing! Hrrr, this'll be rrrreal quick, I promise!" He almost felt a little bad about this particular snack; the duck was almost irresistably cute...but something so cute just made him all the hungrier. And by now, he was practically starving.

Wolf snarled, licked his lips, carefully held his quacking yellow snack up...and opened wide, ready to wolf it down in a couple of big gulps.

[wingsformonkeys]

Elphaba was flying on her broom when she spotted a friend. Wolf stopping to sniff the air wasn't at all unusual, but when he dashed off on some newfound scent, her curiosity got the better of her and she swerved between some buildings to keep up with him. There were no animals left in Manhattan, at least none that were edible except for that questionably sanitary already dead whale, which surely he'd have already investigated

[onceuponaduck]

Real quick? What would be real qu--

Oh...Oh no! NO! He was... GOING TO JUST EAT HER?! As IS?!!?!

Ahiru whimpered sorrowfully as she was held up. She'd given up trying to squirm free as it seemed hopeless. After everything, her story was going to end like this? Mytho... Rue... F-Fakir! I'm so sorry! I... Fakir...

Tears pooled in her big blue eyes, and started overflowing down her tiny feathered cheeks at that point as her thoughts turned to the dark-haired teen. She'd never ever see him again now, would she?

Seeing his mouth open wider as he brought her up to chomp down on her, she clenched her eyes closed, waiting for it to be all over. Hopefully it would be as quick as he promised.

She only half noticed the voice that called out, and it took a moment for it to dawn on her that the woman had mentioned a bundle. Her clothes? A tiny seed of hope was quick to blossom.

[huff_puff_wolf]

Wolf was just a few seconds away from chomping down on the first really fresh meat he'd ever had in Manhattan, when a familiar voice interrupted him. "Wh-RRAAAHH!" He nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise; he'd been so absorbed in the tasty duck that he hadn't even noticed Elphaba approaching. When he did, he very quickly tucked the crying duckling inside his jacket and wrapped his arms around it in an effort to both silence and hide it...even though he wasn't doing a very good job of either. She sounded rather urgent.

"Awwwrrrr, bundle? Hrrf, mmm...no, that's not mine! I Just found it lying there!"

[wingsformonkeys]

Elphaba's eyes narrowed, her gaze sharp, as he made a hasty attempt to hide his would-be meal. Guiding her broom swiftly to the ground and landing in front of him, she pursed her lips and kept her gaze on him as she picked the bundle up on the end of her broom, opening it.

Well... those weren't Duck-sized clothing, but no normal duck would be running around with clothes, and it seemed far too great a coincidence for the clothing to have just appeared at the same place he prepared to devour the creature. Mild sarcasm and accusation in her words, she told Wolf, "Somehow I doubt you found it lying right in the spot you were about to devour something. No normal duck would be carrying them. Take it out from under your jacket. And don't eat it. At least not yet."

Elphaba folded her arms, broom tucked against her side between the cast her bad arm and her body, and waited for him to comply. She didn't begrudge a Wolf a meal, but Elphaba loathed being deceived.

[onceuponaduck]

She quacked slightly as she was suddenly shoved into Wolf's jacket, her quack muffled. His tight grasp on her stopped her from squirming and she could only let out a muffled whimper.

Ahiru went quiet, however, as she listened to the exchange and her heart soared as the woman ordered him not to eat her. Well... not yet anyways, but it was a chance!

[huff_puff_wolf]

At first Wolf considered thinking about denying he had any duck on him, but that'd be kind of pointless at this point. He grimaced and whined quietly before slowly pulling the duck out from under his jacket. He still kept a tight grip on it, and began stroking it again in the hopes that it wouldn't try to squirm out of his hands once more. Was he just doomed to bad luck when it came to fresh meat?

"Awwwr, awwwwrrrr, maybe the duck just appeared on top of that stuff, Elphaba! Just got tangled in them!" he whined, and then added in slightly quieter growl, "And it's so tasty..."

[wingsformonkeys]

Wolf's whines and growls were disturbingly reminiscent of the beginning symptoms of forgetting how to speak in Animals in Oz, but since she was certain that wasn't the case with Wolf, and it really wouldn't do to keep worrying about that here, she let them slide by without demonstrating the little flicker of discomfort they caused her.

Instead, she addressed the duck in his clutches. "Nod if you can you understand what I'm saying." She flicked her gaze back upward for a moment, warning Wolf, "Keep your hands away from its head."

She knew the way he was thinking the instant he shoved the animal (Animal?) under the jacket, and wouldn't have been surprised if he tried to stealthily hold its head in place and then scarf it down quickly on the grounds that it didn't respond to her question.

[onceuponaduck]

Glad to be out in the open again, Ahiru gazed up at her rescuer. She couldn't say she'd ever seen a green lady before, but then... she was a duck, so who was she to judge?

Fell on her closed? She was almost insulted. Sure, she was a klutz and... okay maybe she'd gotten tangled in her blankets more than a few times, but that was as a human. She was already trying to shake her head at that comment.

Then came Elphaba's question. Her bright blue eyes lit up! She couldn't have nodded more vigorously.

"Quack!" she added in, for good measure.

[huff_puff_wolf]

Wolf looked down and made a distressed sound as the duckling vigorously nodded its head. "Oohhhh-hoohhr!..." It understood them? He should've known there was no such thing as a free lunch! "Rrrf, but...but..."

His stomach growled in protest, and Wolf clutched the duck to him as if he were cradling a beloved pet rather than a tasty lunch. He really never was going to see another live animal he could have for a meal, was he? "Awwwwrrrbut everything else here has talked! Why doesn't this duck talk then?!" Not that that would excuse the fact that it could understand them, he just couldn't bear the thought of having to give up something so tasty again.