howling in the hills

[quinientos]

WHO: Vasquez
WHERE: The Woods
WHEN: November 27 - December 2
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: Animal Transformation

---

What Great Fur You Have

After he'd healed from his illness, Vasquez probably should have been more thankful for his good health.

Instead, he's quickly remembered all the secrets about himself that he had given up. He remembered confessing about his fears, showing his weakness, and worse, he thinks he remembers telling Faraday things that he'd vowed to keep inside. For sure, he shouldn't have told him how Rose Creek had ended, because thinking about that gory conclusion wasn't good for anyone. When he'd healed, he'd marched himself down to that bunker where it had a machine for powers and he did what any cowardly man who never took responsibility for anything or anyone would do.

He turned himself into a wolf and went out into the wilderness, knowing that so long as he was an animal, he wouldn't have to talk about any feelings.

Unfortunately, it also means that you don't get to eat so easy and raw venison is not something Vasquez likes, which is why there's a wolf sitting outside of a house, making whining sounds and pawing at the window, pleading for whatever food is inside. He's not eating raw meat, not unless he absolutely has to, and he didn't even do that when he'd been half-starving in a dead man's cabin.

Human Skin

Eventually, he knows that this transformation won't last forever. When he'd gone to the machine, it had said a week, and counting the days, Vasquez knows that his time is quickly coming up. Of course, he didn't exactly plan it completely, because when the week is up, he's nowhere near the clothes he'd hidden, which leaves him standing near the outskirts of the south village (more in it than out), hands over his personal area, cheeks flush with red.

This is definitely not how he had intended to end this, and he knows that getting all the way back to the house isn't an option. Even stealing something isn't such a good idea, because he doesn't want to burst into anyone's house like this.

They might get the wrong idea.

So, it looks like a kind gesture is all that's going to save Vasquez, and a little humiliation until then. "Morning," he greets the nearest person with a smile, fucking freezing. "Maybe, I don't know, you have a jacket you can give me? I think it would be best for everyone if I could get some clothes."

Comments

Fur

[tothefly]

Scratching at the door isn't necessarily entirely strange, nor is whining. After all, she's acquainted with several people who have dogs, and there's been the occasional badger who's wandered up onto her front porch, and once or twice a visit from a very industrious raccoon. But what she's not expecting to see, when she looks out the window, is something that is very definitely not a dog, or a badger, or a raccoon. She's pretty sure it's a wolf, honestly, despite not having ever been this close to one before, and the novelty definitely does not make her any more inclined to open the door.

She does, however, know that they are definitely not domesticated creatures, and Frank telling her about his time as a coyote is still fresh in her mind, which might be why she hesitates--and then opens the door a crack, eyeing the beast skeptically.

"Think you might have the wrong house. I wasn't expecting any visitors today."

[quinientos]

He's so grateful when someone opens the door, his stomach actually growling it's been so long since he's gotten a meal in him. He works his way into a perfect sit and puts a paw forward to tap against the space in front of him, then tips his head to the side, making his eyes as large as possible.

She looks like a woman who knows how to take care of herself, which means he very much came to the right place. Just in case she still thinks he's wild, he moves to where there's more dirt, and he uses a claw to scrape a large 'F' in the ground, then a rough 'O', thinking she'll understand the rest.

[tothefly]

That is the most perfect begging pose she's ever seen, enough that one eyebrow arches halfway up her forehead at him, and when he moves to start spelling out words in the dirt just off to the side of her front steps, the other one quickly joins it. Yep, this is definitely not a wolf-wolf, and he's definitely just a resident who's turned up at her door looking for dinner. Well, there's worse she could do than make a new friend.

Stepping back, she opens the door the rest of the way, gesturing for him to come up the stairs and into the house, now at least marginally warmer than outside, if still a little cool. She's still getting the hang of the antique furnace in the basement, and hasn't bothered with the radiators in the rooms she hasn't finished yet. "Come on," she says with a nod, motioning him in. "I'm a terrible cook, but I've got some leftovers from the inn. How's rabbit stew sound to you?"

[quinientos]

He lets out a happy yipping sound, because anything that isn't raw food is going to be miles above what he could do for himself. He trots along, a self-satisfied wiggle of tail and body because he's feeling pretty smug about being able to find himself some food and he's starved.

Vasquez and starving go hand in hand, but he's never been an animal while in that situation. He thinks maybe he should probably shift back, though, because the person he's avoiding isn't here.

That said, he also wants to make sure he's not going to be completely inappropriate, so he looks around and noses at a blanket, getting under it and giving the woman a barking sound, just to let her know that something is about to happen.

[tothefly]

She's going to be taking that as a yes to rabbit stew, and it's with a faintly amused, half-resigned smile that she closes the door behind him. She's not a pet kind of person in general, never mind the fact that he's not even an animal at all, but the enthusiasm is still contagious. At least it's breaking up a day of fairly dull housework scrubbing surfaces.

She looks perplexed for a moment as he dives for the blanket on the chaise, wriggling under it and barking; is this some sort of weird wolf thing? Again, not actually a wolf, she reminds herself, and it only takes a split second before her expression clears and she processes what he's trying to get across. She turns around with a sigh, presenting him with her back.

"Not sure I'm going to have any clothes that are going to fit you," she calls back over her shoulder, waiting to see who exactly her visitor is.

[quinientos]

Vasquez shifts back to himself and wraps the blanket around his waist like he's come out of a shower. At six foot four, she definitely isn't going to have anything to fit him, but he shrugs as he walks, barefoot, into the kitchen and makes a show of sniffing the air around him.

"Shorts?" he suggests, because even if they're tight on him, they're better than just keeping this blanket around him. "Or a sheet you could drape over my shoulders like I'm a Roman?" he quips, giving her a broad grin. "I'm Vasquez, by the way."

[tothefly]

"You know, if you were looking to meet the neighbors, you could have come knocking wearing pants. I would have answered the door." As dry as her voice is, it's still more amused than irritated. There are worse things to come walking in the front door, and she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, even if he is quite a bit larger than she'd expected.

One look as he walks by her and she's sure nothing she's got is going to do much for him at all. He's over a foot taller than her, and while he's not as bulky as some, he's still big enough that her pants aren't going to do much. Fortunately, between one of the big cloaks she'd liberated from the clothing stores she's been using as a blanket and the creative use of a bit of rope, she's got a perfectly serviceable robe to hand him, lips quirking in a smile.

"Natasha," she tells him, offering a name as she tilts her head back to look at him. "You spend a lot of time wandering around howling at strangers' doors, Vasquez?"

Fur

[fooloftheking]

Bobo is used to having visitors at the butcher shop. Not that it should be common, but he's been trying to help Venom not to eat everyone in the village, and he's still providing for the inn, and now there are pawprints when Bobo is dealing with enough shit.

First Vasquez just goes and vanishes soon as he's well enough to move. Then Bobo got to deal with the whining ass boyfriend stomping around because he can't find Vasquez. He's thrown himself into his work, because killing things and demolishing them is what he needs to cope with the stress of his household.

And now there's a dog or something that is much bigger than those horrible little lizard things, and it's hanging around. Likely looking to snag something like Venom first had.

So he waits, and he watches, and when he sees the wolf, he's stunned it's come down this far, taken this risk.

Then he sees the eyes.

"Son of a ..."

He's not sure how, or why... No, he can guess why given Broody McAlcholic at the house, but he's not putting up with this.

Catching sight of the wolf haunting a few house, hanging around the door, he headed into the inn and got a bowl of the soup, coming to put it on a stump behind the butcher shop and wait.

[quinientos]

He's feeling very good about his decision to come to Bobo, even if it hadn't been his first choice. His first choice had been anywhere but, only people didn't seem to want to feed a wild wolf, so he'd sucked up his pride and headed there, knowing that he's probably deserving of whatever lecture he might get.

He's a wolf to avoid his feelings. Of all people, Bobo is the one person (outside of Faraday) who probably understands what he's trying to subdue. Lucky for him, there's soup.

He gives Bobo a pleased yip and heads to the bowl of soup, shoving his face into it and slurping it, raising his muzzle and shaking it to try and get the soup droplets off, whining in Bobo's direction when his face is still wet with them.

[fooloftheking]

Bobo gets a lot of it. It's hard when you're interested in someone, and you'e not sure. God knows that Bobo gets love is hard, and getting over it is harder. He is facing never getting this chance, and yet now wondering what might happen if she ever showed up in the village and how he'd feel about it.

That said, this is taking avoidance to a whole new level that Bobo's violence and killing never ever considered.

So he watches, waiting and considering just what to say. When that whining starts, his eyes narrow though, folding his arms over his chest.

"Oh. You run off after all of this and expect me to help you now? You could have come to me and talked about it but instead this?" He waves a hand at him, even as he turns and heads inside. Not that he's gone long, coming back with a rag.

Moving closer as he starts to kneel down. "If you bite me, I'm biting back," he warns as he starts to clean his muzzle for him. "What even were you thinking?"

[quinientos]

Vasquez feels a lot of affection to Bobo, both for the food, but in general. It's why he leans forward and gives him some sloppy kisses with his tongue when Bobo gets close enough to clean him off with the rag, nuzzling his muzzle against Bobo's neck before sprawling on the warm floor of the butcher, half like he wants to take a nap instead of talk about anything.

After all, if he's a wolf, there doesn't need to be any talking. Bobo should know what he was thinking and he hopes the sad eyes will do the trick, because while he can shift back to himself, he really would rather not.

This way, no one has to talk about Joshua Faraday.

[fooloftheking]

Bobo winces at that, but he strokes a hand over Vasquez's head, stroking along his neck and then scritching between his ears. He doesn't even know what to think of this, the shifting and the affection, but he does know one thing. It doesn't take rocket science to think about why this is happening.

"You can't just run away from this, Vasquez. He's alive. He's alive and he's living in our house, and he's the man you knew and you're hiding from it all. I get why. I do. I can't even fucking imagine what would happen if Willa was here now," he says, but then that's not the same either.

"But he's not Willa and he didn't betray you. Did you... Did you tell him? That he's dead?"

[quinientos]

It feels just as nice as when Bobo strokes his hair when he's a human and he leans into it, snuffling a little when they start to talk about feelings. Worse, when Bobo gets right to the point. He nods, as much as he can with a muzzled face.

That's not all he told him, though. It would be so easy if that's all he said, but telling Faraday that he died had just been the start. He whines, plaintive and pained, because it hadn't been a good idea, but he'd done it.

He blames the fever, is what he does.

Human Skin

[mediumhoodie]

Kat was collecting whatever berries and eatable plants she could find that haven't been killed by the morning frost when she comes across a very naked Vasquez. She wasn't naturally shy but this wasn't exactly a situation she'd expected to find herself in.

"Oh." She turned away and then began to peel off her dark green hoodie. It'd be cold in her shorts and tank top but it was better than leaving Vasquez naked in the woods. "If you want to come to my house I have some men's clothes that were left there. I don't think my hoodie can cover you." Kat was very small.

"I live at the edge of the village so we can walk around to get there." And he can stay mostly hidden.

[quinientos]

Vasquez isn't so sure whether it's better or worse to be discovered by someone that he knows. He decides it's probably worse, but he's going to try and use charm to get himself out of this situation, grinning at her and shrugging, like he can't help the situation he's in.

"I don't think it's enough either," he admits. "Also, I can wait, if you're close. I don't want to get your hoodie dirty." After all, he's been a wolf for a week and hasn't showered. Nudity aside, there are some issues happening. "Wherever we go, we should just go quick. I just lost my fur coat."

[mediumhoodie]

He had several very good points. "Okay. It's this way." Kat turned and slipped her hoodie back over her thin shoulders. She was thankful for the warmth of the jacket and also for the hood. She slipped it over her head and suddenly felt more comfortable. It wasn't Vasquez, nudity had never bothered Kat, but it had been very unexpected and her trademark hoodie had seen her through all those unexpected turns. It was silly, she was an adult, but some habits were harder to kick.

"I live at the house over there, at the edge of the houses. The back door is unlocked. Going in that way will likely stop you from being seen." She was going to give him Vergil's bright teal clothes, hopefully that was alright. They were both tall but she had a feeling that Vergil was a little bit lankier than Vasquez.

"What happened?"

Kat glanced back at Vasquez though her eyes were never impolite when she looked at him.

[quinientos]

Vasquez isn't ashamed of how he looks naked, but he's so fucking cold that he doesn't like being so bare, which is why he hurries. It also isn't so nice to step on sticks and twigs, making him hiss every time it looks like he might break skin.

He starts working for the house she points to, glad there's clothes and hope in sight. When she asks her question, though, he gives a huff, annoyed with himself. "It was safer to be a wolf than a human, this past week," is all he says, because he'd said a lot of things while he was sick and to a specific person.

And eventually, he'll have to face Faraday, but he just bought himself a week, which is good.

[mediumhoodie]

Kat gave him a look before turning and jogging towards the backdoor. "Don't want to talk about it?"

She was mindful of his steps and quickly pushed open the door once they reached her house. It was empty and infinitely warmer now that they were out of the wind. Kat turned left towards the steps that lead upstairs and gestured for Vasquez to follow her.

"It's up here."

[quinientos]

"Not with him," Vasquez says firmly, because that's a lot of awkward and uncomfortable things there that he'd rather just leave in the past. If he's a wolf, then no conversations happened. So what if he snuck into Faraday's bedroom the one night and curled up on the end of his bed.

That's for him to know, and no one else. Breathing relief, he lopes the last few steps, his stride as long as he can make it, and gets there. "Good, because I know I have a good ass, but not everyone needs to see it so much."

Human Skin

[onesyllable]

Much of the place is still the wilds with odd things growing, creatures that could hurt them, and as Joshua has found out... Wild animals that just wander their way in. So when he finds a wolf in their house, stretched out on his bed, he decides the better part of valor is to leave it the fuck alone and get out for a while with both doors standing wide open.

Heading to check on the place he's wanting to use for a barn for their house, taking advantage of them being alone and up in the North village alone, and then hit up the Inn for a few supplies. Maybe when they had more up that way he'd worry about returning them, but not until then.

Coming back, he closed the front door, leaving the back door cracked in case he still had to run the wolf off. Creeping into the bedroom with a stick in hand, he finds not a wolf sprawled on the bed but something else entirely.

Vasquez, asleep, sprawled as if he owned the place and nude. No, not nude. This isn't like seeing him change on the trail, stripping down to bathe in a creek. This is downright naked. Comfortable, content, tanned, naked.

Joshua just stands there, stunned, not sure what to think about the things said to him while Vasquez was sick. Stunned, and confused, and his fingers flexing before he can think about it, the stick rattling to the floor.

[quinientos]

It's so cold.

Vasquez wakes up, briefly and barely, because he goes from having a comfortable fur coat to protect his skin to feeling freezing. Shivering, he reaches for the blankets and turns so he can tumble himself into them, his half-awake eyes catching sight of someone in the doorway.

Wait. His legs tangle up with the sheets, and they smell of Faraday, which brings all of the memories of where he is slamming back into him. He'd been curled up on the end of Faraday's bed because the heightened sense of smell had made it feel safe and secure in here. Now, he's naked, he's in his sheets, and Faraday is standing at the door, dropping a stick.

Staring at him, feeling caught out, and knowing he can't run, Vasquez tries to fake sleep, letting his eyes fall shut again and turning into the pillow. Maybe if he pretends long enough, Faraday will go away.

Never mind that he's not snoring, so it'll be obvious that he's faking it.

[onesyllable]

For a long time he just stares, unwilling to say, well yell, the things he should to wake him up and remedy the situation. Except he doesn't want to. He can't stop looking over long limbs, the stretch of his torso, way he looks, beautiful and elegant and somehow innocent and more wicked all at the same time.

Jerking back when Vasquez shifts, starting to turn away but then stopping. It's almost as if realizing that Vasquez is awake that he turns back to the other man. Again his gaze slides over Vasquez, finding that it's easier to stare at him when he's awake than thinking he's spying on a sleeping man that doesn't know any better.

And then, because he can't let himself enjoy this, no matter how exciting that he finds Vasquez to be, sensual and sexy and making his gut tighten up as well as his skin feel hot and tight, he has to ask an important question.

"Wait, what happened to the wolf?"

He hasn't realized the correlation here. Not yet.

[quinientos]

Is Faraday really this stupid? That's what Vasquez genuinely wonders, but as he tugs on the blanket, he knows he can't fake this for much longer, wishing he still had the power so he can switch back into his furry self and show exactly where he's been, this last week.

"There was no wolf," he sleepily murmurs, facing half towards the bed instead of Faraday. "It was me, I was the wolf. You didn't recognize me, guerito?" He lets out a huff. "I should be so insulted, how could you not know such a beautiful animal was me?"

[onesyllable]

Not stupid, not in many ways, but this place still confusing him, and leaving him uncertain and lost about so much that's going on. The talks of dying. The wolf. This place and the time and the things people talk about. He hasn't had a year to adjust to this, and he's trying to do the bext he can, but he's failing much as he tries to understand it all.

"You... What?" His face screws up, shifting and planting his hands on his hips, wishing he could make more sense of any of this place. He can't though. It just gets weirder, and sometimes he thinks maybe he is dead. That's why none of it makes sense.

"Because people don't turn into animals, that's how," he says, huffing out the words and knowing he sounds more cross than he should, but he can't help himself. "And after you'd been sick like that and then disappeared, I've been looking for you, not a dog."

He's been worried which makes him act stupider.

[quinientos]

Vasquez figures there's no point pretending he isn't awake. Collecting the blankets so they pool around his waist, he shifts until he's sitting up in Faraday's bed, leaning back against the wall, one knee up, and his hair a mess. He watches him expectantly, wondering how he can make Faraday go without them having to talk.

The trouble is, then he makes Vasquez feel like shit by admitting that he'd cared about him. "There's a machine in the bunker," he explains. "It lets you have powers and I had the ability to buy one. So I took a week of being a wolf," he admits. "It was easier than talking about anything with you, after I was sick."

He stretches out his leg, staring apologetically at Faraday. "I never meant to make you worry."