Hound of the Baskervilles

[ghostwolf]

Two months ago, during the time when the different worlds converged, the tiny Lacie encountered a very large wolf. One month after receiving that negligible cut to her palm, she turned into a little black wolf puppy for a night, and wasted no time sinking her fangs into Kevin's hand when he tried to pick her up and keep her out of trouble.

Tonight, there are two wolves in the Baskerville House, and they've pretty much figured out what's going on.

Lady Shelly and Oswald agreed some time ago that Kevin would make a pretty good wolf, if it came to it, and he really can't help but feel like someone is laughing at him over it. His two stints as a bunny rabbit did not prepare him at all for walking around on four legs -- walking, not hopping -- and having a mouth full of huge teeth. He keeps tripping over his own feet, getting confused as he tries to sort through all the sounds and smells, and earlier his long tail got stuck in a door. It would be easier if he were a pup like Lacie, loping about the house and crawling under the furniture, but as a full-grown werewolf Kevin is huge, four feet tall at the shoulder and heavier than he is as a human. Finally, after spending half the night trying to endure the house, the white wolf ventures outside in an attempt to get used to this new form. After all, given that the Brat has turned for the second month in a row, it looks like he's probably going to be stuck with it...

When not at home with Glenwald and company, Kevin can be found wandering through the streets he often haunts during patrol, enjoying the late-night solitude of the mansion's gardens, or perhaps even sniffing about at Lady Shelly's house, just to make sure nothing suspicious is going on nearby. Hopefully, he'll be back at home safe and sound before the moon sets. If he isn't, somebody gets to deal with a mortified and very naked knight, who will proceed to sleep in their house for two days and then eat the whole pantry for breakfast. Ah, the noble life of a werewolf!

[fallingbackup wearing his shiny new coat, if you will. Due to busyness, there is no post as of yet for bittybratty's first transformation, but I will link it here whenever something is backdated. Slow, late, and backtags welcome as always!]

Comments

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

Lacie, who'd been trumping down the stairs to look for her younger self, stops dead in her tracks at the sight of a giant white wolf in the middle of the living room. She'd been present for the Lacie-cub's arrival and for the bite that had spread the love lycanthropy to him, and so it doesn't take much of a mental leap for her to realize what's happened.

With a grin, she goes down the last few steps.

"Heeeeere Kevin, Kevin, Kevin! Wanna play fetch?"

[ghostwolf]

The wolf's ears flick toward her as Lacie arrives, and Kevin groans in his head. Lacie's particular gait as she handles stairs is easily recognizable, and the knight is utterly uninterested in tolerating her presence at this time. He's chosen the living room as his current place to rest because it's large and open and he's less likely to knock anything (else) over, so he doesn't just get up to leave as he might if he were a human man. But Lacie's jibe isn't really a surprise at all, and the wolf turns over his shoulder to look at her with his ears flat and his eyes narrowed as if to say, really? Really?

Canine he may be, but the signature Kevin scowl on his doggie face is unmistakeable all the same.

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

Grinning, Lacie crosses the floor toward him, plunking herself down on the sofa, so that she can look at him properly. Well, he makes as pretty a wolf as he does a man. (Not that she'll say so.)

Leaning forward, she props her elbows on her knees, chin in her hands.

"I hope you don't get fleas. We'd have a hell of a time getting a big thing like you into a bath."

Reaching forward, on impulse, she scratches behind his ears.

[ghostwolf]

Oops. There goes that defense mechanism Kevin has where Lacie starts talking and the knight's brain stops bothering to process words, thus reducing her to a drone he is better able to cope with. Maybe it's the wolf thing or maybe he's just frazzled, but it happens even faster than usual this time. He opens his mouth in a wide yawn, casually showing all those mean teeth, and that's why he misses Lacie reaching for him until he's already getting scritches.

Turns out, Kevin likes ear scritches -- or at least his wolfbrain does. She gets away with it for a moment before he gives her another affronted look, as though to ask just what she thinks she is doing. One front paw comes up to gently bat her arm away.

(Spoilers: Kevin likes being petted and scritched on whether he is a wolf or not. He just isn't fully aware of it yet.)

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

Her rabbit is still bigger, Kevin, she will not be intimidated. She snorts, watching that fleeting expression of bliss cross his face only to be wiped out when he caught himself and pushed her hand away. It's just like their first meeting all over again--he simply can't stand to let himself enjoy the moment. She leans forward again.

"You like it. You know you do."

Flopping back into the sofa cushions, she reaches for the little toy she'd gotten for her younger self, when she'd realized that, for at least a night a month, they were to have a puppy in the house. It's a small rubber rabbit--black, of course, like their favorite doll. She gives it a squeeze, making it emit a shrill little squeak, pretending to ignore Kevin entirely, since he's too good for her head-scritches.

[ghostwolf]

Kevin grunts. It is exactly the same as his usual grunts, except that it is a wolf grunt and not a man grunt. There are only two people who will get away with scritching Kevin's ears for him, he thinks to himself. One has a name that starts with Os and ends in wald; the other has every Break-shaped creature in the place eating out of her hand. Lacie does not fit either of these! Thus, he will roll over, the better to shun her entirely, because like Lacie, Kevin is a mature adult.

Then the squeaking starts.

The wolf turns over his shoulder at the noise, giving her a look that says clearly, The hell is that? He wants to know what it is. That's -- that's a really freaking obnoxious noise. No surprise given that it's coming from Lacie, but --

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

She raises an eyebrow, when the turns to look at her. So, the toy might not only be for her younger self... but if he hogs it from the tiny cub, he'll find himself thwapped with a rolled up newspaper. Holding out the toy, she gives it another couple of squeaks.

"What, do you want this? I thought you didn't want to play with me."

squeaksqueaksqueak...

"You can't possibly want it."

squeaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueak...

"It's just a toy, anyway. I bought it for little-me."

squeaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueak...

[ghostwolf]

Dear gods, what an infernal noise! The wolf drapes his paws over his poor ears and groans. No, he doesn't want it, but he definitely doesn't want her to give something like that to the Brat! It would never stop squeaking.

Maybe he can get it away from Big Lacie and go bury it out in the yard. But no, she'd just keep buying them, wouldn't she? Kevin imagines Oswald standing at the back door with a cup of tea, linefacing at all the places where the lawn had been dug up. He'd also have to deal with Chicken, if he went out back. What to do, what to do...

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

She laughs, then sighs, eyes rolling heavenward. Apparently becoming a canine had done nothing for his wet rag of a disposition. Sliding down from the sofa onto the ground in a cascade of silk and ruffles, she tosses the toy over her shoulder and proceeds to vigorously scritch at his sides.

"You're no fun at all, you know that? You need to lighten up!"

[smallkindnesses]

Shelly, who hasn't yet heard of this latest development in Kevin's life, has no idea what to expect, when she opens her door, but an enormous white wolf certainly isn't it! She stares at the lupine figure for a long moment, too shocked to really be frightened... more like awed. She's never seen such an enormous canine!

"Heavens...!"

[ghostwolf]

Kevin -- who had actually had no intention of letting the Lady see him like this, and only ventured into the garden because he'd gotten distracted by following a squirrel, of all things -- cringes as the light from inside the house spills out. His ears go back and he sinks a little lower to the ground, an unconscious attempt to make himself look smaller, more submissive. The knight knows he's huge, and that he has fearsome teeth; he's a little less aware of his wickedly clever new face, but his paws are just about bigger than his actual feet, and he could probably break ribs with a solid slap.

The last thing he wants is to scare the Lady Shelly, who has been so good to him. Also he's in her garden sniffing at a squirrel, and that is embarrassing.

[smallkindnesses]

The animal's obviously-abashed demeanor gives the Lady pause. There's something vaguely familiar about the wolf--and that's before she even notices that it has red eyes...

"Eques...?" she murmurs softly, head cocked as she seems to be listening to something.

With his heightened earing, Kevin will be able to make out the Chain's soft voice, murmuring an explanation in Lady Shelly's ear. He certainly won't need stronger senses to see the look of shock come over her face, though she quickly recovers herself.

"Mr. Regnard..." she says softly, opening the door wider and stepping over the threshold.

[ghostwolf]

Being able to hear so far is a little weird, and the Chain's words only remind him of the time Eques had confirmed that he smelled of many things and the Abyss was not one of them. Her monotoned delivery of information leaves him just as bemused now as it did then. Still, his cover is obviously blown, and he has a feeling it would make Lady Shelly sad if he tried to sneak away.

So he sneaks forward toward her instead, still keeping his head low, the better to stare up at her. Tentatively, his tail swishes, just a little. At least, even if he is on all fours and has pointy ears, she will still call him Mister Regnard. That, he thinks, is reassuring.

[smallkindnesses]

It takes all of Shelly's resolve to stay still while the wolf approaches, and it comes as a great relief when Eques murmurs her observation that he seems to be, more or less, in as much posession of himself as he was when a man. The tales of werewolves being ravenous beasts, it would appear, are not altogether true.

Biting her lip, she steels herself, bends down a bit (but only a very small bit--good gracious, he's enormouse!), the better to return the wolf's gaze on his own level.

"Would you like to come in, Mr. Regnard? I was just about to sit down to a late tea."

... As a wolf, will he still enjoy tea...?

[ghostwolf]

The ears flick up at the mention of tea, because food is a thing that happens with tea, and he's had food on his brain pretty much all night -- thus his interest in the squirrel. Still, he hesitates, glancing back out into the garden uncertainly. The knight honestly does enjoy his visits with Lady Shelly. If he didn't he would find plenty of reasons to discontinue them. But precisely because the Lady would never yell or mock if he did something like knock over a lamp, the last thing he wants to do is bumble around in her house and mess things up.

It's the guilt thing. As the Lady well knows, Breaks are all prone to it. Who knows just what unthinkable lengths Kevin would go to if he broke one of her lamps with his wolfy butt...!

[smallkindnesses]

It's oddly endearing, seeing such a big, majestic, fierce animal behaving so very hesitantly, and the Lady gives a reassuring smile, reaching out to him.

"Come, Mr. Regnard, you know you are always welcome in my home," she says gently. "Your change in form makes no difference in that, at all."

After all, hasn't she cradled him as a bunny, and carried her Break around on her shoulder, when he'd had a sneezing fit and become a cockatoo? She can't very well pick him up in this form, of course, but she can still show him hospitality, at least.

Stepping back, she holds the door open wide, the better for him to pass through.

[ghostwolf]

When the Lady offers her hand, the wolf sniffs at it instinctively, briefly brushing his cold, wet nose against her palm. It's not exactly the change in shape that Kevin is fretting over, but it's not like he could explain what is worrying him even if he tried. So, cautiously, he steps over the threshold, careful not to bump into anything as he goes.

He's seen the front foyer of Shelly's home plenty of times. It looks different, from his wolf eyes. He tilts his head and flicks his ears, peering at this and that.

[retraced]

It's a little strange that Gilbert hasn't bumped into Kevin tonight on his patrol, but what's even stranger is the fact that a wolf - a very large wolf - seems to have ventured out of the woods and onto the mansion grounds tonight. Normally the woodland animals stay just there: in the woods. It's rare to see any of them get this close to where they can smell humans, and there are definitely a lot of them in and out of this house.

Eh, no matter. He'll just have to shoo it away before the children wake up in the morning.

But before that, he'll just be over here leaning against the railing of the stairs that lead to the front door of the mansion and smoke a cigarette. Nicotine first, shooing out unwelcome wolves later.

[ghostwolf]

Kevin is feeling much more like himself now that he's able to mess around on his own. Walking is much easier now, and without the smells and sounds of people and the city around him, he's calmed down enough that his natural inquisitiveness is starting to emerge again. Somewhat hungry, he is currently investigating one of the garden ponds, and is giving some serious thought to eating whatever he finds in it. Or, if not that, to terrorizing whatever he finds in it. The wolfy side of him, he will soon come to realize, is the playful part of him that the knight still clamps down on most of the time -- the part that will make him much more like a Break, when it's finally allowed to manifest fully.

He's distracted when his sensitive nose picks up the smell of smoke. He doesn't pay much attention as a human, but now, he recognizes that scent as belonging to the particular brand of cigarettes that Gilbert likes. Turning, he catches sight of his patrol buddy lurking by the stairs. The wolf's ears prick forward, uncertainly. Despite the tension between Gilbert and Glen, Gil has the dubious honor of being one of the people who cheeses Kevin off the least, generally speaking. And being a wolf is definitely way less shameful than being a bunny. But does he really want to hang around here and risk Gilbert recognizing him? Kevin hasn't really thought about it. After all, it's not like tonight was planned.

[retraced]

He continues staring at the wolf, which he wonders is a bad idea. Because now it seems to be looking back at him, and he's not sure if it's in a good way or an 'I want to eat you' way. More than likely it's the latter, and though he's sure he could run/Raven away from a wolf if need be. Even though this one does seem...a bit larger than most. Hm.

The cigarette is stomped out a second later along with a long suffering sigh, and he steps cautiously towards the animal, trying to not make himself look like a threat.

[ghostwolf]

Oh. Now he's coming over here. That could be good or bad. Gilbert doesn't have his gun out, so Kevin doesn't feel nervous enough to retreat, but unless Raven has snitched on him already, Gilbert shouldn't know it's him, right? So what is Gilbert thinking right now? Kevin's ears twitch again --

-- and one of them starts itching. Holy crap, that's an annoying sensation. Without thinking, the wolf plonks right down on his hind end and lifts a back leg to scratch it. Given that Kevin has not yet learned how to aim his legs for scratchings, the motion is awkward, even silly looking on a creature so large.

Obviously, this is a very dangerous animal.

[retraced]

Gil almost loses his footing as he steps back, watching the large wolf start to move. Until he notices that...oh, he's just trying to scratch his ear. He's not getting ready to leap forward and rip Gil's face off. Good, good.

"Psst, psst, psst," he hisses through his teeth, trying to not sound intimidating. And he doesn't, surprisingly. He just sounds like an idiot.

[ghostwolf]

Ahhhh, Gilbert hasn't figured it out yet. Okay. Well. Kevin isn't a complete idiot; he knows that if the other man startles enough, the gun will come out, and that it's the same gun that shot Glen. He'd rather not find himself limping home as a wounded, bleeding dog at the end of the night. He'd also rather not die. Probably, Kevin thinks, the best thing would be to wait here patiently for Gilbert to approach, and not make any sudden moves.

He might tell him later that he sounds like an idiot, making that noise. Maybe not. Kevin's snide commentary is always dependent upon his moods.

[retraced]

He's trying to remember now...are you supposed to look an animal in the eye? No, that can't be right, that has to be a threatening gesture. So he averts his eyes down and steps in closer. But no, that must only work with domesticated animals, this is a wild animal. An oddly huge one, at that. But maybe some of the same rules still apply? Well, better to be safe than sorry, so he keeps his eyes down.

"Here, pup...you can't be over here, you know."

[ghostwolf]

No? The part of Kevin's personality that finds it amusing to be contrary thinks otherwise. The wolf lays down, watching attentively to see what sort of face Gilbert might make when he realizes the "pup" is going to directly disobey his every plea. He wonders how long it will take him to catch on. Especially if he won't look directly at the wolf, to notice the red eyes.