faderift | It's a fool who plays it cool

Abby is actually out on night watch and the sudden appearance of something far too big gives her cause to actually be alert. She stops leaning, and straightens up, squinting at the far profile of the wolf, its ears pricked. She... thinks it might be watching her back, but it's hard to tell at this distance. Her skin prickles at the thought anyway.

Nobody moves.

Eventually, Abby thinks to call out in greeting, "Ataashi."

... Please let it be Ataashi. And then she remembers that Astarion's wolf has green, Fade-touched eyes, not yellow, and her held out hand drops down by her side instantly.

It's not a name Jude recognizes. But he can smell the fear in her sweat, watch the fight cording in her muscles. Wolves don't have night vision, but they can see movement better than anything, and he tracks her hand down to her weapon with a tilt to his head.

He lifts his, knowing that he cuts a terrifying figure in the moon and torchlight, and doesn't come closer.

He could shift human. He should shift human. But somehow, he doesn't think that shifting into a large naked human man in front of a woman alone will make this situation any less terrifying. So he stays furry.

Instead, he lifts one paw. He can't wave, but he can paw the air in a facsimile of a shake hands. He waves his tail sideways. Also not a wolf gesture, but it's a dog one. Cautious friendliness.

Good wolf. Nice wolf. Big, protective wolf. Not going to eat you.

Abby stares. The little wiggle of a paw makes her apprehension take a big hit but she still doesn't understand what a fucking wolf is doing in the Gallows, unless Astarion has started some new trend. Knowing him...

"Who are you?"

She doesn't sound accusatory or anything, she's just asking. That tail going a mile a minute is indicative of 'I want to play', so after another pause she holds out her hand again in greeting, if the wolf wants a sniff.

Friendly wolf.

Abby holds out her hand, and Jude tilts his head forward, making sure that yes, she's fine with him getting closer.

Who are you -- ugh, she's so smart. Most of the people here are, but she's catching on quicker than any of them. He trots closer, slows, still waving his tail, ears pricked, and gently sniffs at her hand. This is the person with the Mabari pup. Her scent is around the training grounds, among the weapons and armor. Forces. The whiff of rift about her, faint.

He sniffs ones more, loudly, then gives her hand a brief lick, ducking his head up under her hand like a big dog asking for pets.

Nice wolf. Good wolf. He sits back on his haunches -- absurdly tall, even like this, and lifts up the paw with the anchor shard, so the green glistens between the pads. He puts his paw in her hand for a shake.

Nice to meet you.

Honestly, she said it because she likes the joke of talking to dogs like they're people, but...

Hang on. Abby squints, her nose scrunching up. There's something oddly intelligent about the way the wolf regards her. Wolves are already very intelligent on their own and she knows that, but this wolf is doing everything in its power to appear harmless to her. Friendly. Somehow, it feels deliberate.

... But she scratches his head anyway, sifting her fingers through the thick fur on top of his head for a few moments. She won't say no to it, no matter her suspicions.

Which are all but confirmed anyway when it comes to the shake, the shard reveal.

"Okay," Abby says, voice thick with sarcasm, "That's hilarious, really, you're very good. Who are you?"

Jude lets his mouth loll open, tongue hanging out as he pants the wolf version of laughter. It can be alarming to those who don't recognize the gesture, what with all of those giant sharp teeth.

Got me.

But he doesn't press his luck. Backing out of her touch, Jude eases away, then trots a few steps towards one of the storage crates, where a tarp has been tucked over it to keep off the wet.

He grabs the edge of it with his teeth, gives it a tug, so the edge comes free. Tugs it again, but it's stuck on the top. He rears up on his hind legs, paws at it. Lowers himself back down.

With a low woof, he glances over his shoulder at Abby. Please?

Abby watches this entire performance, her arms folded across her chest. It's not that it's unclear what the wolf wants, she just feels a little crazy for acknowledging it out loud. But-

"Okay," she mutters, coming over to the crate, "Outta the way."

Yeesh. She gets the tarp free from the top, and hauls it off the crate completely. Does he want... what's in there? She looks at him, still holding the tarp by a fistful. "I think it's got training yard stuff in it."

Well, it's the tarp he wanted. Jude takes it in his teeth, tugging it gently from Abby's hands, swishing his tail once as a thank-you.

Then, with a very well-practiced toss of his head, he flips it over his back to let it mostly cover him.

Then, having learned his lesson, he trots well out of arm's length, but not entirely into the shadows, and shifts.

It sounds about as bad as one would imagine, but it's quiet and over in seconds. An elongating shadow mostly covered from view by the tarp -- and Jude's never asked if it's worse to see it, or to hear it? It's a sound that he's well-familiar with, but humans- who knows?

Jude catches the tarp with the grace of a man who's had practice with the maneuver, and wraps it loosely around his waist, standing to his full height with one hand out. (Not to shake, just to forestall the instinct to attack.)

"Evening," he says in greeting. As you do.

Nice night, isn't it?

Edited 2022-06-27 23:01 (UTC)

Abby actually laughs as the tarp settles over him because she's so confused as to where this could possibly be going. Can the wolf tell it's about to rain, or something? The night sky is clear. He trots away, into the darkness.

If it pleases him to know, Abby finds it far worse to hear it.

The sound sends a chill down her spine and she straightens immediately, pressing a palm against the handle of her mace for comfort. She's ready, for anything. But not for a fully grown man to walk out of the shadow toward her, dressed in an old tarp.

She stares at him, and doesn't move.

"What the fuck."

Wait. Wait– "Explain."

Jude stays well out of reach. Not that he couldn't handle a good smack with a mace, but it would be a terrible day for everyone.

Leaving his hand up for the time being, he glances down at the tarp, and then back up to her face, then reaches down (with the hand that isn't holding it around him) to grab the edge of it and give it a swish.

It's not a skirt and it doesn't move like one, but hopefully it serves to break the tension. Especially when he follows it up with a serious answer.

"I'm a wolf shifter. Sometimes I wear fur, sometimes I don't."

Abby's busy wondering whether maybe she's lost her mind a little bit, and the crinkly swish of the tarp moving actually makes her do a spluttery, about-to-laugh sound. "Jude?"

Wow, this is so much more of Jude than she has seen before. Isn't he cold? The evening isn't that chilly but there is a breeze and... well, he's naked underneath of the tarp. Isn't he. The watch report she files for tonight is gonna be a really weird one.

The realisation hits her suddenly.

"Oh my god," she groans, and puts a hand over her face. "When you said pack–"

Jude laughs as Abby pulls back with the realization, sudden and loud and warm like rainy summer night thunder, like he never learned to hold it in. He echoes her by putting a hand over his face, realizing that he did come close but never actually told her.

"I did," he answers, still laughing at himself as much as her. His voice climbs an octave with the strain. "Oh, hell."

Yeah, that. All of that.

"My people, my pack," he confirms. "My family, blood or no blood, fur or feathers or scales or skin. We're not that picky."

His people. Now hold on.

"You're all wolves?" All shape-shifters, of some kind? Or is this a werewolf situation? Abby's eyebrows have shot up.

As much as she wants him to stick around and explain all of this, the dude is standing around wrapped clumsily in a tarp. That can't be comfortable. But... how do you tell somebody to go and get dressed and then come back.

Hrm. She elects not to say anything. For now, anyway.

"If you're in our pack, then yes. You're a wolf."

But that doesn't quite track with what she's asking. "Most of us are wolf shifters. We take in the odd human, or bobcat, or grizzly bear, or fox, or hawk, or raven-"

Jude, she gets it.

"You're from another world with no shifters?" he asks, sounding a little solemn.

Okay... now Abby truly understands what it's like to be a Thedosian on the receiving end of brand new information about the infected. The casual delivery, the weird follow-up questions, the assumptions?

She nods, slowly.

Adds, "I don't think so. But I'm pretty certain."

Confusion flickers across Jude's dark eyes, a pinch in his brow before he asks:

"How do you not know?"

"It could have been going on behind my back."

She's clearly joking.

Jude allows for a very eloquent shrug, conceding the point with a thoughtful stillness in his dark eyes. They glint like an animal's when light hits them, reflecting back the torches and the moon.

"Shifters were hunted to extinction, once. They created legends to explain us. Werewolves. Forgot what we really were. That might be the case in Thedas."

Abby's brow furrows. She asks, "Why?" Which is probably naïve. It's a case of humans seeking to destroy what they don't understand, right. But- well, Jude is so friendly and helpful, and it sounds like he had a good pack with him. A pack that hung out in Yellowstone. Why go out of the way?

Jude smiles, one of his sadder, more somber ones, his eyes steady. He pats her shoulder. Even if she can guess, it's good to ask. To understand.

"The settlement of the west nearly wiped us out," Jude explains, as he would to one of the younger members of his pack, learning.

"A few hundred years ago, there was a bounty on wolf ears. We weren't seen as people." Not human, obviously, but still people.

"Given how native Thedosians treat any race that isn't human, it would make sense for them to hide. And for that matter, I've been told that shapeshifting "magic" is frowned upon. Haven't been told why."

"Right."

She looks troubled when she adds, "Guess you couldn't keep the secret from them forever." Because of course, as Jude currently is, standing in front of her, she never would have guessed he could turn into a wolf if she hadn't just seen it happen. But what should his pack have done, never shifted again just to be safe? A denial of their nature. It isn't fair.

She sighs. "I don't think there really is a specific 'why'. Most people here are wary of any kind of magic."

"Seems like a terrible way to live. Hiding who you are."

Not a part. All. Jude doesn't view himself as part man, part wolf. He is one person, one soul. How is.

He gives a sigh.

"There are werewolf legends here, too. I'll keep looking."

Oh, shit.

"Are there?" She didn't know that. "I... hope you find them?"

"Thank you."

He warms, brightening again. While he doesn't cover up the sadness, it's a natural part of life, he wants to make sure he won't hand it to her by surprise, either.

"Anything you want to find here?"

"Cup of tea would be alright," Abby says and shifts her weight, looking past him. She isn't stupid, she knows he means something a little more philosophical than that, but she doesn't know how to say something like 'a purpose?' to a guy she's met twice. So.

Cup of tea it is. It's not not true. "You might want to come with me to find one." Tarp outfit doesn't shield entirely from the cool night breeze.

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foolsmakeitcolder - 2022-08-10 04:53 (UTC) - Expand

It's a fool who plays it cool

gimme the wolf

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