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]

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.

"Hrrrrggg...RRRRAAAAAwwrr!" Wolf scratched furiously at his ear until he was practically clawing at his own hair, full of violence that he couldn't direct at anyone but himself. He kept growling and snarling, pacing in erratic circles...he wanted to defend himself, but he didn't even know how. Finally he just seemed to exhaust his energy, and partially collapsed into the snow, whimpering to himself.

[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?

"Hahhr...you'd do that?"

[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."

[huff_puff_wolf]

Wolf nodded. "A-at the Strand." Even though it technically wasn't actually the Strand anymore, as that had gotten destroyed. But it'd been hard to stop calling it that, just because it was the weird family they'd all formed together. "Rrrrr well, it's not technically that anymore. Although, if you do, perhaps you could do so with one of those privacy filters?" He didn't imagine Harry would appreciate him playing hooky. Not after recent events from certain pink-haired men attacking their home.

"Dog food?!" The idea was as visibly disgusting for Wolf as it was for Riza. He was no dog! The last thing he wanted was to degrade himself to that level. Uuugh, he'd rather go chew on Dahlia that subject himself to dog food. "Rrrrggg...dog food, well..."

He paced in a circle, trying to decide if this would be worth the blow to his pride. It'd be lots better than accidentally attacking Giselle, but...dog food! "Rrrr...that's...well, something."

[squishyarms]

She cast him a sly look. That was the request of someone who had something to hide. "No problem." She wouldn't risk screwing this up anyway. "The Strand? Weird name for a building. Did you get some big shot to name the place, like a royal family member?" Even if it was incredibly unlikely anyone from Hime's family would ever be here, Riza didn't quite want to let it go just yet.

"I hate it as much as you do. There's a bloodsucking witch back home who takes every chance she gets to call me a dog and I don't even want to think about proving her right." As bad as things got around here, Reiri not being around was always a plus. "But if it's all we've got, we just..." She growled again. "We need to do it. Until something else shows up, or this city decides to stop screwing with us."

[huff_puff_wolf]

"Name it? No no no, it used to be a bookstore, I believe," he explained. Not that that really explained it more, since it was a weird name for a bookstore, too. He just wished that most of his self-help books hadn't been lost in the huge attack a few months ago. The idea of them being a royal family was amusing, though.

"Bloodsucking witch?" Wolf said with a bit of trepidation. He'd heard of children-eating witches, but bloodsucking was a new one. It didn't sound all that pleasant.

"Uuuuugh. Dog food. Cripes, I never thought I'd have to resort to that..." Then again, he never thought he'd have to do a lot of things in this dimension. He scratched at his ear again and gritted his teeth, appearing to be stuck in some internal debate for a good while. If Wolf eats dog food...that would be the most degrading thing in his whole life! But at least then Wolf won't go hungry...and he can talk to Giselle again! But he'll have to brush his teeth for an hour afterwards...

"Ohhhhhrrr, fine. It's better than absolutely nothing." Well, it wasn't better than some of the tasty morsels living in the city, but that just wasn't going to end well.

[squishyarms]

"Didn't take you for much of a reader." Riza could go either way about it. She didn't spend a lot of time reading, but wasn't going to give anyone hell about it if they did. But Wolf's internal monologue was right; it was a weird name for a bookstore.

"Yeah. Her name's Reiri." But if she didn't have to deal with that bitch, that was all for the better. She didn't even like talking about her.

"How do you think I feel about it? The witch gets word of it somehow and I'll never hear the end of it." she asked, not expecting an answer. Hell, she would eat raw, canned, and practically expired beans before dog food. In fact, she was pretty sure she already had. "It'll keep us alive until Saturday, at least. And then... who the hell knows?" She shook her head. "C'mon. I'll bring you there and you can take home whatever you can carry."

[huff_puff_wolf]

"HAH, there are a lot more useful books in this dimension," Wolf pointed out. He'd never seen all those self-help books in any of the Nine Kingdoms. The Strand had just happened to have a lot of those useful books.

"Rrrr well, she's not here to find out about it, is she?" he said with a tone that could've been either stating the obvious or asking a question. "I certainly won't tell." Like he would tell anyone he'd resorted to dog food. Whatever he brought back he'd just hide somewhere in the apartment.

He glanced around the street again as if expecting someone to be eavesdropping on them, but there was no one there. Wolf finally nodded. "Okay okay okay fine, let's sniff it out."

[squishyarms]

"Just because she's not here doesn't mean she can't find out," Riza started, but decided it wasn't that important in the long run. "Nevermind. No need to sniff it out. I went right by it on my way here." She jerked her head in the direction she'd come from. Or at least... the way she thought she'd come from.

She hadn't expected the weather to be quite that terrible. But she wasn't about to admit to being lost, either. (And she wasn't. Just temporarily turned around and misplaced.) "On second thought, maybe you should put your nose to the test."

[huff_puff_wolf]

That was a disturbing thought. It suddenly reminded Wolf of the Queen, who he'd all but forgotten about. She did have all those mirrors, would could see across the Kingdoms...who knew if she had a mirror that could see into this dimension?

But as long as she didn't show up here, Wolf wasn't going to bother with it. She could watch through those mirrors until she dropped dead for all he cared.

Normally, the scent of dogs (yuck) would be easy to follow here. But it was difficult to pick out through the snow, and the smell of animals had been gone for a long time from the city, leaving him with little to go on. But it gave him something to focus on, which was something. "Hrrrrf, might as well, if it's not that far..."

He sniffed cautiously at the air, only barely able to pick out anything in this snow. But finally, he honed in on what could have been something like old animal scent. He began trudging in that direction.