Quote from Indy on August 22, 2018, 1:15 pm

Indy:

The alarm went off. Jackie yawned, slumped a pillow over her head in vain attempt to drown out the noise, but to no avail. She tried to throw a pillow at it, but having her eyes closed the entire time, the pillow whistled through the air safely out of the path of the innocent clock. The clock continued its diligent alarm.

Lazily, the woman’s eyes fluttered open. Her gaze squinted against the harsh light that streamed in through the window. Even if she had wanted to, it would have been impossible to fall back asleep. The sun was just too bright and the alarm was too loud. Jackie groaned, but in a slow methodical manner, stood. She slowly walked towards the mirror on the back of her door, looking back at her features curiously.

She looked like she had just got out of bed. Orange hair was curled at strange angles around her face. But there was frailness in her body that she didn’t have but a month ago. She’d lost some weight. Her skin seemed paler, almost translucent like a ghost’s. Her eyes were still hard and angry, but some of the edge was gone now. Her thin pink lips curled into a disappointed frown.

Beyond the reflection of the mirror, every bone in body seemed to ache. Her injuries from the previous full moon showed no sign of fading for quite some time. Certainly the healing abilities of being a werewolf had helped. Without them, she would have still been in the hospital instead of escaping its evil clutches and the fiendish nurses in a little under a week. But there was no denying it: she was weaker now, frailer now, and probably not gung-ho for another knock about this full moon.

Sighing, she shut the alarm off with a gentle flick of her finger. She had intended to smash the stupid device across the wall, but something, probably logic, told her it was a bad idea. So the alarm clock lived for another day.

It was noon now and lazy sunshine warmed her skin. She was still in her hello-kitty pajamas (which she sadly hadn’t the opportunity to get rid of). Everything about the day seemed to buzz with this lazy warmth. But Jackie knew better. If it wasn’t the big disappointing mark on the calendar that read “Full Moon” it may have been what she was planning that indicated otherwise.

There was a personal score she’d been intending to settle for a while. Now that she’d recovered some strength, it seemed as good a time as ever. So much for avoiding another “knock about”.

Dressing quickly and running a brush through her orange rat’s nest, Jackie quietly crept from her bedroom and trained her eye, ears, and even her nose (a sense she’d spent the last month learning to understand as she healed) looking for her.

“Logan,” she growled towards the sunshine.

Her footsteps rushed into the warm day outside.

---

Theo voicelessly sat poised in a tree. He was enjoying the day so far. It was warm and pleasant. If he listened closely, he could hear the hum of the bees and the chattering cries of songbirds. This was how he had spent most of his days, simply enjoying the day and its processes.

He mostly ignored the pack. It wasn’t that he didn’t like them—in fact, quite a few of them seemed nice enough if they were in the right mood. But he didn’t quite feel comfortable to him either. They were still just strangers really, strangers he was bound to because they all happened to share a really really bad habit. He stayed because he was afraid that he might hurt someone again if he left, but that urge did not extend to socializing with his peers. He sighed wearily, pressing his palms against his head. 

The bark felt rough against his back as he surveyed below. He could make out a few figures. Logan and Ulric seemed to be talking. At this, he withheld a wistful smile. She didn’t exactly qualify as nice or even moderately amusing. All the same, they had spent some time together. She had tried to run off, he had tried to stop her, he stepped into a foxtrap, and then she stayed. That was probably the closest thing he’d had to a friend. Now he’d always have the scar from that happy friendship on his ankle. Theo wasn’t really sure whether to feel happy or sad about it.

He watched the two for a few moments and considered saying hello, but something held him back. He continued his survey. A bird fluttered by, settling in a nest on a neighboring tree. The teenage boy watched it too for a while, before altogether deciding he was bored of it. As fantastic as nature could be, he was tired of it. 

He’d watched it for long enough. Tensing his muscles in his thighs, he jumped from his branch in the tree and settled on the ground twelve feet below. His feet stung from the impact, but he was experienced at landing and the fall didn’t faze him. Nimbly his feet rushed through undergrowth, averting Ulric and Logan so they wouldn’t see him.

He had something else in mind. He had been told they had captured a prisoner last full moon. Until now, he hadn’t the nerve to go see for himself. But now he was burning with curiosity; he had to know something about this prisoner before the events of this full moon made everything strange and confusing again. 

At last crouching at the edge of the ditch farthest from the gathering of people, he peered down the earth to look for the form of the prisoner below.

Almost impressed by his own daring, he felt his voice rise into words.

“Hello?”

Quote from Indy on August 22, 2018, 1:16 pm

Kaqurei:

It may well be said that, perhaps even to their own kind, there was something demonic and unnatural about seeing a werewolf in broad daylight. Levi's form was such as would send a billion red flags flying up in the average person's mind, as well as perhaps a sense of being in a nightmare or a dozen excuses as for why what they were looking at could not be real. He almost looked like some kind of oversized disproportionate bear at a first glance, though his muscular, squared shoulders were somewhat more reminicent of a gorrilla with all that thick dark brown fur. Upon hearing Theo's voice, his ears flicked back and he turned his head to glance up; his ravenous golden eyes in vivid contrast to the rest of his dark dog-like face. Those eyes looked so very wild, so unhuman--or, perhaps even more disturbing, they looked too human.

Levi looked at the face peering down through the fence at him for a moment or two, then turned his head and he resumed his meditative pose. After a moment, his deep, rumbling voice echoed, "Hello."

Quote from Indy on August 22, 2018, 1:16 pm

May:

Kratos had seen Zeit approach from across the yard and had waited for her by the fence. When she came to stand by him with her arms crossed and her face serious, the Alpha listened.

"I agree." He said in reply, "At this point it is imperative that everyone cooperates with eachother, the hunting parties will ensure the death of this small band of outcasts on this night if we do not. But there are dangers on both sides; I do not put it past the ferocity of our nature to claim the innocent lives of men seeking only to defend their land and people. But how we will call everyone together, I do not know. Our members are scattered in the mountains and in town, and I cannot bring them under a howl; the hunters will be listening for the direction that they should go."

Kratos took a deep breath, and cast his gaze out over Ziet's furthest pastures, toward the town of Reknab Bend. Then he spoke again.

"I was up by Gathen's den in hopes to find traces of Timothy, but to no avail. I've tracked and I've tracked, but I cannot find him, and he will surely pose a danger to himself and anyone who crosses his path." 

The Alpha rolled his eyes then, shaking his head and crossing his arms as he considered a thought.

"Though we likely don't need to worry too much about him, Sabrina is undoubtedly hunting the boy." Kratos scoffed. "Since the night we found him, her interest has become obvious. And that spy we're holding, he comes from her pack and she's been avoiding me on account of it. I didn't know until I recognized the scent beneath that irritating musk in his fur - Sabrina smelled just like it that day we first met her; she's been hiding her connections from us for some reason I do not know."

The tone in Kratos' voice as he spoke to Zeit clearly revealed his frustration and anxiety. 

*******

Ulric stood solid a moment as Logan ruffled a hand through his hair. It was viewed by him as a gesture of human dominance which he endured patiently.

She passed him, and Ulric turned to watch as she sat down on the porch of the house. 

"I didn't ask as a chaperone." Ulric said firmly, his brows lightly furrowed and expression having become grim. "I am not your warden, my obligations are to Levi."

Ulric then placed his hands behind his back and turned to look toward the ditch. He glanced briefly at Theo and Levi before looking solemnly up at the trees towering high on the mountainside. 

"So," He said after a moment with a tone rather nonchalant. "Do what you want, I was not instructed to stop you. I am not familiar with many people here, but I have given them my loyalty - my friendship, if they desire to have it."

Ulric again turned to look at Logan. "Just remember that regardless of our abilities, we are people. By claw, hand, or tooth, to take a life and shed blood is a crime of murder. Don't pretend that it is a light matter that can be joked about. Remember also that anyone who cannot control themselves, will be controlled by others - for their benefit and the benefit of those around them."

Then, rather uncharacteristically, Ulric cast a smile at Logan, and awaited her response.

Quote from Indy on August 22, 2018, 1:17 pm

Soar:

Though the sun was up, the ditch had retained a strange ominous darkness to it. The fence was tall and almost claw-like as it stood angrily against the clear blue day. The fence hummed like some sort of demented bird—Thep didn’t understand that it was the electric charge and it was this ignorance made it seem all the more like a creature of a dark mystical force. It seemed like a fiendish sort of thing, more like the ancient pits of Tartarus that he’d read in books than something men could have made in a few weeks.

The stranger’s voice rumbled and Theo grit his teeth. It wasn’t the fact that this prisoner was in his werewolf form that unnerved him—though unusual, he had grown up with these forms. That, he at least, understood. No, what unnerved him was that he couldn’t see where the prisoner was. The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, like it really was the pit of Tartarus and some evil presence was speaking to him. The prisoner could have been a phantom, he could have been a demon he could have been a—

Oh.

He at last settled on the familiar shaggy form of Levi. He studied him for a moment. He was, in fact, mortal and just in a metal-and-cement-ditch. His fear evaporated like dew. Now he was simply curious about this stranger. 

Speaking the first thing that came to mind, Theo questioned simply,”Do you get bored?”

---

Jackie stumbled further into the sunshine. Logan was close now, she could just smell her. Instinctively, her fist curled into a tight ball. She approached much like a zombie—slow and ambled, but with an air of inherent danger.

Then at last she approached her target. Her eyes narrowed with a mixture of victory and hatred. Her ratty orange hair, which had not been entirely tamed by the hairbrush, blew in wisps against her face. Her pale ghostly face tightened into an almost delighted snarl.

“You,” Jackie clarified, as though this was all the explaining Logan would need.

Quote from Indy on August 22, 2018, 1:18 pm

Dez:

Logan, a bit surprised by Ulric's reply, found herself avoiding his gaze, head turned away and eyes set firmly on nothing. There was a sting to his words, if only a faint one. Mainly because, as naive as it may have been, she didn't expect her attempt at a little banter to be returned with such scorn.

If the circumstances were different, that is to say, if there weren't so many lives presently at stake, she may have taken his response a little more personally. However, she was silent and still, swallowing his words with a with a teaspoon of her pride. The bitterness of his reply caught her off guard, but she now realized her roundabout method of asking for advice was hardly a good idea from the start.

Although she wondered if Ulric knew that she had no desire to hurt anyone, Logan let the silence stretch on, stubbornly refusing to say anything else to the man for the time being. Surely she would approach him another time, should she find the chance and need to, and act as though this conversation had never happened. 

"You".

The voice broke the silence suddenly and sharply. Logan looked up, her eyes meeting with a tall, pale figure. The woman looked fragile (if only by Logan's standards), yet her demeanor, the way she held herself and the look in her eyes, all told a different story. 

While the woman was a stranger to Logan, it wasn't at all hard to put the pieces together. 

Standing, she moved closer to Jackie until they stood but a yard apart. Logan examined her with her chin raised just slightly, her own expression revealing a mild curiosity. She took all of the woman's features into account, however her focus was almost entirely on her posture and facial expressions. 

"You're.. Jackie? Or.. Jacqueline?" having heard both names mentioned around the camp, she was unsure of which one to use, though it was safe to assume that she at least had one of the names right. "You're upset?" it was more or less of a statement than a question. 

Quote from Indy on August 22, 2018, 1:19 pm

Hour Glass:

Zeit nodded, listening to her Alpha, wanting to know what would be best for the pack. The full moon was going to be much more dangerous then any other full moon. This one could lead tot he destruction of the pack if they weren't careful enough. If one wolf was killed, and the body found, the farmers would know that the pack was not made up of normal wolves. 

And then They would seek answers, and get to close tot he pack. If they were lucky, they might be able to make the farmers forget, but it could lead tot he pack needing a new territory, or even having to escape a hunting party with as few casualties as possible.

She sighed, thinking about what would be best for the pack. She thought of the members that lived here, how one was int he pit, and another might not be able to control them self in their wolf form. And she knew the wolves weren't quite fond of the Beta, and maybe not even the Alpha. This provided more and more problems to be solved as well.

"We'll find Timothy and Sabrina soon" she stated, "for now, I assume Sabrina will be able to keep the boy safe, or at least keep him away from the hunters." She shifted her weight a bit, looking off at the territory, trying to think of how to save the pack. 

"If it could be done, the pack could be split" she murmured, "One group, I'd say the ones most familiar with their wolf, and not afraid to protect the pack, could keep closer to the hunters, maybe lure them away? Keep them away from the rest of the pack?" she suggested, "then you could run with the newer members, and try to get them more familiar to you and their wolves, maybe even try to track down Timothy while your at it."

Quote from Indy on August 22, 2018, 1:20 pm

Kaqurei:

The scent of Theo's fear spiked--Levi made a brief mental note of it, only being moved to desire to know the cause of his distress at its height, after which it had then suddenly dissipated entirely before Levi could decide one way or the other. Then it wasn't important, whatever it had been.

Though Levi was no longer looking up at Theo, he knew he had not gone away, if not just by the sound of his breathing alone then by the fact that he sensed a rising interest in his direction... the same sort of feeling a human would get when they were being watched, only more specific and conscious rather than subconscious. 

"Do you get bored?"

Levi glanced back for a moment. He could not see Theo without turning his head though. After a moment, he chuckled lightly (though this almost sounded more like a dog choking) and sighed. "Nah, I've plenty t'do. Sit, stay, roll o'er an th'like. Would not yeh get bored, at tha'?" he asked, turning his head and smiling a little.

Quote from Indy on August 22, 2018, 1:21 pm

Cathannah:

When Toby finally arrived at the house and farm, he tossed his small backpack down on the porch and sat on the steps in a huff. He wasn't sure who owned this place; Was it that creepy wolf they called Zeit? Or was it the psycho one he couldn't remember the name of. Not that it made any difference, he was still stuck here.

For a moment or two, he sat in silence. Many negative thoughts about his predicament passed through his mind. To soothe the contents of his head and make himself feel better, Toby turned to his backpack and pulled a pen and a notebook marked 'Negative Thinking' from it. As far as he could tell, no one from the pack was close by. Typical, but fine by him. Toby didn't really want to see the others anyway. He didn't know any of them- Expect Sabrina. He knew Sabrina and liked her well enough, but his attempts to befriend or even acquaint himself with the others hadn't met with much.

Toby opened the book and grumpily turned to an empty page, where he then began to write:

[These people were strange, and in my opinion, they live more like wolves then people-- That's what I dislike the most: In human society, I'm considered to be a brilliant young man with a bright future and a shot at being accepted into the university. But as a wolf, I'm nothing more then a mangy, wimpy, over-looked, perfectly useless runt. An omega.

Toby gritted his teeth as the word played over in his mind again and again. [I hate being an omega! Omegas never get anywhere or did anything other then eat after everyone else has. They just constantly fought for a higher rank. I don't like fighting, I don't like trouble!] With that, Toby closed his notebook and took a deep breath of fresh air. All the wonderful oders of farm life wafted into his nose, but also the scents of the others. Calmly, Toby tucked his book and pen away in his backpack and stood up with a smile. 

"Alright, enough moping. Today is a new day. Let's see if I can make a good impression and a friend with someone this time." He said aloud to himself, stretching his lanky body and adjusting his large glasses. Then he began to search the area for the others. Had they gone far? He had hardly rounded the side of the house when he caught sight of two people standing by the fence and talking. Instantly, his bravado was dashed. It was that creepy Zeit lady and the awfully huge alpha. Landsakes, he was even big in human form! Toby instantly fell back against the side of the house and moved out of sight. It was just his luck that the only two nearby were the two he was most afraid of. Toby swallowed hard and hoped they had not seen him, when suddenly he managed to trip over his own feet and landed rather ungracefully ontop of a small bush from which a young rabbit retreated.

Quote from Indy on August 22, 2018, 1:21 pm

Soar:

Half a monologue died in Jackie’s throat. It had been quite good, actually. It went into detail on what a horrible person Logan was, how she deserved her cruel fate that she was about to serve her, how she would soon—in agonizing pain—reflect how her downfall began when she messed with Jackie Ryder. And now those wonderful words, words that belonged in a book or a movie because they were that important and interesting, were worthless.

Because this lady had no idea who she’d nearly killed a month ago.

--

Theo blinked a few times. As far as his expectations of this stranger, who five seconds earlier he thought was an evil demon from the pits of Tartarus, his were completely blown away. For instance, Theo had a difficult time catching the stranger’s words. The accent was peculiar to him and it took him a moment to even process what he had said. Even after which, he wasn’t entirely certain he had understood it right.

“Rolling… around?” Theo blinked,”That can’t be all you want to do. What about games? Do you have little mental games you play?”

 

Theo laughed a bit,”Because I love games”

Jackie was too stunned to be angry. Instead, she cocked her head to the side like a collie learning a new trick and starred at her. Part of Jackie hoped if she starred at her long enough with that lost empty expression, Logan would suddenly say, “Oh yes, now I remember! How I rue the day and beg at your feet for forgiveness… etc. etc.” But she didn’t.

And this hurt far more than any injury she’d received from her. Because to Logan, she wasn’t important. And that stung. From an “enemy”, she expected that her enemy would hold her in some regard. Like Moriarty to Sherlock Holmes, or a Terminator to John Conner. Instead, she was just that one person who might be called Jackie or Jacqueline. 

Jackie deflated like a balloon.

“What… What do you mean… Do you really..?” Jackie sighed defeated. 

Her body sagged against the sturdy trunk of a nearby tree and her head stopped down. She held out an open hand.

“Hello, my name is Jacqueline Anna-Marie Ryder. But please, call me Jackie,” the words were foreign and strange in her mouth, like she was chewing on cotton balls.