ghostwolf | Hound of the Baskervilles

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[phdr]

Hound of the Baskervilles

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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

It wants to take a nap now? Damn it, maybe he's doing this wrong after all.

Okay, new approach. Gilbert puffs out his chest and brings his arms up, trying to appear much larger and intimidating than he really is.

"H-hey! Get away from there!" he yells a little louder, making exaggerated shooing motions with both hands.

Pfft, now he looks like the giant chicken trying to establish its dominance over the Jabberwock or something, that time she'd put one of her hammocks too close to its coop. It had failed. The wolf's mouth splits into a doggie grin, and his tail wags a little. So preciously useless, Gilbert, honestly.

Laughing at him. The wolf is laughing at him. Why this. Why is this his life...

Slowly he puts his arms down and then drops down to one knee a few feet away from the poor pooch. One arm draped over his knee, he finally makes eye contact if only so he can glare at this damned thing and let him know through sight alone that he's no amused by--

But that shade of red is familiar...too familiar. He startles a bit and continues staring, as though he expects the wolf to answer the question that he's fighting to come up with in his mind.

He has two intact eyeballs, Gilbert. This is not rocket science. Kevin yawns at him, lazily exposing teeth, and contemplates whether the effort of stealing Gilbert's hat would be worth the dramatic overreaction. Maybe after he knows for sure Gilbert recognizes him.

It shouldn't be rocket science, and yet.

But it finally occurs to Gilbert after staring at the red eyes and white hair long enough. He remembers back to his own time spent as a frog, Gilbert's stint as a cat, the numerous times that Break has changed into a bird.

Of course the Will wouldn't be done with any of them yet.

"...Kevin?" he guesses, keeping his voice low as if he's embarrassed to be heard. Which he is. What if he's wrong and someone overhears him giving wild animals names, his reputation will never restore itself.

Kevin sits up again, tail swishing, ears forward. He almost grins again, but instead, he waits to see how Gilbert will react now that he's got it. Although the knight has settled into a rather fine mood as the evening wears on -- perhaps a side effect of his wolfy brain -- he is still Kevin, and this is still Gilbert. Depending how he takes it, this could be incredibly awkward later on.

Still thinking of stealing the hat, though. It's just right there.

Okay. So it really is him and he really is a wolf.

Okay.

He can accept that. It's not the first time that it's happened and definitely won't be the last. But it does mean that he's now officially down one patrolling buddy for the foreseeable future, and that frustrates him enough to sigh and let his head slump forward in annoyance. Why this, etc.

The hat really is just sitting there on his head. While he's not paying close attention. It's a crime not to take it, honestly.

"I guess we need to figure out a way to communicate, then...until the Will changes you back. Ah. Do you know how it happened?"

Oh, he knows how it happened, alright. Lacie's fault, as usual. Ah, but he's had his form changed by the Will before, too, and this isn't the same thing. He could just wait until he changes back and use words to explain, since it's not like it'll be all that long, but...

Rising to his feet -- with Gilbert kneeling, he dwarfs him, like this -- Kevin pads away, moving silently past the trees until he gets to a place where they can easily see the sky. There, he sits down again, and turning to Gilbert, he lifts one of his front legs to paw at the general direction of the moon. It's in its last quarter now, rather than the full moon so typical to the legends, but maybe Gilbert will still be able to make a connection between wolves and moons anyway.

Or not. Patiently, Kevin watches him, and also the hat. Kevins and Breaks are not always very good at being patient, but when they want something enough...

He looks up to where Kevin is pointing. Stares. Contemplates. Looking like he's trying really fucking hard to figure it out. He also remains standing as Kevin comes to a stop, if only because there's no way that any Break-shaped living thing is going to be taller than him if he can help it.

But after another couple of quiet moments of pondering what he's talking about, it's pretty clear from the look on his face that he has absolutely no idea what the wolf-man means.

"Um...something in the trees...?"

Gilbert, you are so, so lucky that Kevin still has far too many tiny dignities to ever use his own ass in an attempt to convey the word "moon". Or yours, for that matter. Instead, with a grunt, he sits up on his back feet the way dogs do when they beg, and stretches that front paw over his head as he waves it again. Higher, Gilbert. Look higher than the trees. Look at the sky.

Slowly, his head tilts back further, further, and further still until he's nearly looking straight up. A quick glance to the left and right. Stars, clouds, wind, the moon, birds. Ah, maybe that's it.

"A bird? A black winged Chain?"

Look at how clever he is. Just look.

...yes, Gilbert, Jabberwock bit him and now he's doomed to frolic around as a very large puppy every month. Kevin huffs a no, and then he really just can't stand it anymore. His patrol buddy is tilting his head back, the hat's gonna fall off any minute now anyway, he's having Break urges, he just -- he needs to take the hat.

Bouncing up, the wolf gets a hold of the brim in his mouth and yanks it right off, trotting away. After he's got a bit of distance, he turns, tail wagging a little as he deliberately taunts Gilbert with his stolen prize. He'll figure out a way to communicate later. For now, this is much more important.

What the--

His hands go to his head, grasping both sides of his ridiculous, curly hair as he twists around to yell, "My hat?!" Is this really Kevin after all?! This is a Break tactic, definitely! The mature thing would be to stop and demand that the wolf bring it back right this instant, but he goes for the far less mature route.

He sprints after him, arms flailing.

"Give it back!"

Ironically, because this is Kevin and not a Break, this tactic almost works; the trouble with carrying things in your mouth is that if you grin too much those things are liable to fall out. He almost drops the hat, because that is freaking hysterical. If he were human, he'd probably be having a gigglefit right now, which has certainly been known to happen but is still pretty rare. The last time had been concurrent with not sleeping for three and a half days, actually.

On some level, Kevin is aware of this. He is aware that he is acting like an idiot himself, and that being so silly is unbecoming of pretty much anything that has long-since grown into adulthood, and that he is not in his right mind at all. But he doesn't have complete control of his wolfbrain yet and the wolfbrain thinks this is all a grand hoot, so he's off like a ~~MAGICAL FURRY SHOOTING STAR~~ shot through the night -- and once he starts running, he realizes how great running is, and doesn't stop. He'll have to slow down eventually to keep the game up, of course, but the grounds are huge and he's a great big white thing. It's not like Gilbert will lose him.

More importantly, Gilbert will not lose the hat. It is too important, thus the satisfaction in stealing it in the first place.

He's lucky he's in good shape, because he takes off running after this damned wolf at full speed, stumbling awkwardly over holes in the ground and twigs and rocks and whatever obstacle is in his way to win his main objective. To take his hat back.

"Kevin I'm serious, cut it out!"

Yeah, no. Kevin runs until he comes to the areas of the garden that are most twisty and turny, full of hedges, difficult to run around in properly. Only then does he stop, turning to let Gilbert catch up, tail wagging obnoxiously. This is an amusing game. He doesn't get to do things like this with the tiny Gilbert. He's seen the poor thing subjected to the Lacies once or twice, even when they weren't trying to be awful, and he has a feeling any kind of game would just make the kid cry.

That said, wrestling with the big Lacie earlier was pretty fun, since he actually had a chance at winning this time. But Lacie fights dirty. Kevin wonders idly if Gilbert would actually bother to try at all, and if he did, how honorable he'd be about it.

Sadly, this Big Gilbert looks about ready to cry too. Except his teary face looks more hilarious than depressing, easier to laugh at than to wibble at. Tiny Gilbert has the bonus of being cute, while Fail here is just pathetic and pitiful. Because this is a hat. It's not like it's a child, but one would think it was for all the fuss he's putting up right now.

He catches up easier than most people would. Being in shape and going after something that he cherishes, he's giving it his all.

"Be careful with it, don't bite down too hard--!"

Fear not, Mister Gilbert; just earlier tonight Kevin was carrying a squirming puppy around in those teeth and she's none the worse for wear. The hat is fine. It's just being held as a hostage while Kevin kneels down in a play bow, ass in the air and tail going nuts, an invitation for Gilbert to try and take it away from him. That's all.

(If Kevin is lucky this part of the night will, for the most part, be a blur in his memory later on. He's never going to live his puppy side down.)

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