howling around your kitchen door [active/closed]

[squishyarms]

Characters: Riza Wildman, Wolf
Content: After a couple days without (substantial) food, Riza runs into Wolf on her hunt.
Location: Near the Strand 2.0
Time of day: Late afternoon
Warnings: AWOOOOOOOOOOO

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[huff_puff_wolf]

Wolf didn't really know where he was going...it was difficult to move fast in all the snow as it was, but it was better than trying to go back to the apartment right now. At least out here the only one he stood a chance of hurting was himself. He'd spent more than a few winters out in the cold anyways, when he wasn't able to find a town to settle down in. Why should this one be any different?

But suddenly being outdoors and in much harsher conditions didn't do much to calm him down. He sloshed through the drifts recklessly, snarling curses to himself. The snow provided a mild distraction from the fact that he was hungry, but not nearly distraction enough. It just reminded him that there was nothing he could eat out here. No animals to find, no people he could touch without getting in trouble...

When he did smell something out there. Another wolf.

He stopped, tensing, not certain what to do. He couldn't see them yet through the snow, but he knew they were around. "Rrrrrahh...who's there?"

[squishyarms]

Riza's ears perked up; her body straightened as she turned to where she thought the voice had come from. She wasn't hungry enough to eat a person and wouldn't have done that anyway, but maybe whoever this was would know where to get something that could stick to her ribs.

"Riza Wildman!" she announced into the snow. "Daughter of the great warrior Volg Wildman, alpha male of the strongest clan of werewolves in Japan!" All the while she was looking around, trying to catch a glimpse of someone. Her nose was never all that strong, even for being half-wolf. "Who are you?"

[huff_puff_wolf]

Wolf's problem was that he was hungry enough to eat a person. He did desperate things when he was hungry, and with a full moon coming in this week, desperate things could turn to violent things.

A voice answered him from somewhere across the street. He kept stumbling forward, following the scent, until spotting a girl with red hair and...wolf arms? She was another one of those werewolves he'd heard about from Harry. Wolf was a little wary of werewolves, even though being half-wolf was strange enough in of itself...the idea of werewolves had been used in his own world just to soil wolves' reputation further. But he had to keep reminding himself that things weren't always the same across different dimensions.

"Hrrrr...awwwrrr...I'm Wolf." He stood, shivering against the cold, looking and feeling rather pathetic but too angry with himself to really care.

[squishyarms]

If he tried to eat her, he'd be met with a face full of paw and an empty stomach. Hopefully. Dogs eat dogs indeed. But he wasn't the only one who was affected by the full moon.

Riza waited a moment to take him in. She knew her fair share of werewolves and he didn't look like one, but with a name like that, he had to be. It was like naming yourself Remus Lupin. Not that any self-respecting werewolf would ever do that.

"I bet you are," she said. "You know where there's any good food around here? Beef curry or anything?" She probably could have hijacked a building just to get them out of the snow, but food was more important.

[huff_puff_wolf]

Wolf wouldn't have bothered trying...aside from the fact that he wasn't the biggest or toughest wolf in the pack, it'd be unnatural trying to make a meal out of another wolf, even if it was a werewolf...too close to cannibalism (while oddly enough, humans didn't seem to count towards that.) Still...he hadn't seen another wolf around these parts for ages, and wasn't quite sure if it'd help or not.

The mention of food almost immediately set him off again. He snarled, scratching furiously at his ear and darting left and right as if wanting to make a break for it but not knowing where to run. "Harrrrfff...no! There's...there's nothing around here!" He slowed down a little bit, suddenly sounding less agitated and more despairing. "There's nothing..."

[squishyarms]

At any rate, Riza knew full well not to get between a hungry wolf and his next meal. There wasn't going to be any competition... or there wouldn't be, if the situation were more normal. Here and now... well, they marked territory for a reason, didn't they?

Okay, yeah, this guy was definitely a werewolf. She only knew a few people who acted like that at just the word "food". "Of course not," she said, unsurprised. "That would be easy." But she didn't know why he was getting depressed. "You're acting like this is the first hard winter you've ever been through. What kind of wolf are you?"

[huff_puff_wolf]

Wolf had been through some hard winters in the past and survived them fine. But this was the first winter where there was no wildlife available...and where humans were actually off-limits.

"RrrrrAAH, no, it's not! It's just..." He glanced back in the direction of the apartment complex, although he couldn't tell exactly where it was through the snow. How could he possibly explain all the bad things that could happen if he didn't get control of himself? He'd seen how well that had gone over in the past. "In these sorts of conditions...rrrrrggh, there's...there's too many temptations here!..."

[squishyarms]

"Temptations?" she echoed, only having to think about it for a second. "You're thinking about eating people?" That didn't settle with her very well. No, not at all. She raised her voice and glared at him. "Eating people is for zombies and vampires! If you ever want to call yourself a wolf again, you'll keep your mouth away from humans! Otherwise you're no better than a bloodsucker!" She was getting pretty pissed off, but it was the best way to get her message across, she thought. "Don't forget you're half human, too."

[huff_puff_wolf]

And this was precisely why he didn't like explaining it. Back home, all you had to do was mention you were a wolf to turn a crowd of people into an angry mob. It was as much self-fulfilling prophecy as it was base nature. But the last thing he expected to hear this from was from another wolf. Hadn't he already worked hard since coming here to control his urges? He hadn't hurt anyone except for Dahlia, but she'd deserved it. Didn't any of that amount to anything?

Of course it didn't. Why should it ever? He couldn't escape this stigma no matter where he went, in the end.

He snarled back, suddenly infuriated at the whole situation. "Rrrwhat? Vampires? No no, it's not like that!" Or was it? How should he know what vampires did, it wasn't like they'd had any. "It's...it's none of your business!" No, that just sounded worse, but it was hard for Wolf to even think straight

[squishyarms]

Maybe he just wasn't used to wolves with morals. Or wolves that had a human mother. But at least Wolf's reaction seemed to cool Riza's temper. She sighed to herself, then walked over to where he had collapsed. What was going through his mind, she had no idea. She probably wouldn't understand if she did know; she had some prejudice against her for being a half-breed, sure, but she never let that get her down. In fact, it was just more reason for her to become stronger, faster, better.

"Get up," she told him, extending her paw. "You'll freeze to death."

[huff_puff_wolf]

For Wolf, his father had been a human. Not that it'd mattered much...he'd still be raised as a wolf. And not that it'd mattered much in his teen years, as they'd both been killed before then.

Wolf shivered visibly, not nearly bundled up enough against the snow. He glanced towards the extended paw, but hesitated actually taking it. A small part of him almost thought about staying here and freezing to death...except he knew that it would absolutely break Giselle's heart. On the other hand, the thought of possibly hurting Giselle in a moment of weakness would break both their hearts.

"Awwr, awwr...I-I dunno what to do..."

[squishyarms]

"You stay there, you freeze, you die. Maybe when spring comes they thaw you out," Riza told him bluntly. She kind of figured there was more going on here than just a lack of food, but at the moment, she didn't really care what else there was.

"Or you get up, quit moping, and we figure out what the hell to do with you." Already her mind was thinking to the future. In fact... hey, that wasn't a bad idea. "If the snow lets up by Saturday, we'll check out the moon together." It never drove her crazy, but her brother and father seemed to be more affected by it. Maybe it was a guy thing -- and if it was, she didn't have much to worry about if Wolf was going to keep acting like a bitch.

[huff_puff_wolf]

"Huff puff, don't want to freeze..." he said between chattering teeth. He really had run out of the apartment without bundling up enough.

Wolf finally accepted the extended paw and got back to his feet, although he was still snuffling and pawing at his hair...more out of anxiety than trying to brush the snow off. "Awwwr, and I want to go back, b-but..."

He paused at the mention of going to see the full moon together at the end of the week. He'd never really come across anyone who understood that sort of feeling. When he was just a cub, he'd had his brothers and sisters, and his mother...but once they'd died and split up, he really had no one to share the full moon with, both in its terribleness and its beauty. Maybe...maybe instead of having Harry lock him up again this month, he could play hooky and be outside instead. Being around other wolves was always a little calming on the nerves. It was risky, and Giselle, Harry and Riza probably wouldn't like it, but what was a wolf's life without a few (okay, many) risks

[squishyarms]

Riza had always had her clan -- no, her family -- to share that experience with, even if she was the black sheep. (Best to avoid calling herself that out loud.) She even dragged Hiro out sometimes when she was stuck with Hime. So for the first full moon since she got here, it would just seem wrong to do it alone. Not that she wouldn't have if she'd had to, but... well, that didn't matter now, did it?

"Bet your ass I would," she said, giving him a grin. "What's the fun in a full moon if you don't get to howl at it?" Well, there were other fun things about it, but without a bike and with the roads the way they were, she couldn't really partake. "You in?"

[huff_puff_wolf]

"Ohoo, not much fun at all," he agreed. The past couple of months he'd been cooped up in the safehouse so that he couldn't get out any hurt anyone. But the thought of actually getting out and howling at the moon was sounding way better than he would've thought. If she remained in the apartment, it'd still keep Giselle out of harm's reach, wouldn't it? That was what mattered. "Hah, then certainly!"

Strangely, that made him feel a little better. But there was still the main problem. Wolf glanced back towards the apartment again, uncertain whether it was safe to venture back. "Awwwrrrr...but if only there was someplace to find some food here..."

[squishyarms]

Of course, Riza didn't know or care about Giselle (right now), but if it worked as a perk to get him to come along, she couldn't argue. "Great. So I guess you're living around here?" she asked. "I'll figure something out and give you a yell on the journals."

Ugh. Food. As good a distraction as his depression had been, there was still that one big missing piece. "I cleared out most of my hotel. Whatever's left went bad a while ago." She growled just thinking about the only other option she knew about. "But I saw a pet store nearby." How degrading would that be? But if there were no other options, she'd rather swallow her pride than nothing at all. "It might have dog food."