[CBE-177/"Anna"]

Her hesitation at the big man's greeting was not due to size, as might easily be assumed. She was used to being small, and anyway she was not so easily intimidated as that. It was a question of smell, more than anything. When she stepped out onto the asphalt she got a whiff of it, distant and hard to track among the scent of exhaust. It made her frown. What was it doing here?

She got her parsel from the Uber car when invited (she didn't carry a purse; it made her feel too much like a woman) and climbed into the back seat of the stranger's car but stopped before she was halfway inside. The scent was stronger here. It permeated the vehicle, drowned it. Other scents were mixed in but the smell of her friend was there- very distinctly.

She paused only for a moment. Then she climbed in, eyes darting back and forth to inspect her new environment. The vehicle was clean- exactingly so. By the same token it seemed to have very little of the personal touch. She glanced around but felt she learbed very little of the tall man- Alistair- from it.

She found her spot. Buckled the strange little belt the law made you wear here. A silly law. Her driver got in the front passenger seat next to the new man. "Thanks dude," he said. "This is a lifesaver."

177 said nothing. She sat in the back seat as they drove, her eyes narrow as she studied the tall man driving. The smell of her friend didn't abate as they moved. It was in here, somehow. Not exactly the same as what sge had scented in the woods, but distinctly the smell of her friend. It was impossible to miss inside the car. What had the man done? How had he gotten it in here? A glance told her that her friend would likely not even fit inside- at least not in one peace. That made for darker speculations. The tall man looked strong. Muscular. Very muscular. She found herself beginning to imagine what his muscles must look like beneath his shirt, sculpted, solid as iron... She frowned more deeply and dismissed the thought. Of course no man could stand before her friend, but with the right tools...

She sniffed, deeply, and a blade of ice seemed to strike her stomach. She smelled something. Beneath the clean of the vehicle was something like wet iron. A smell she knew well. Blood.

She stared at him, burning the mirror with her relentless gaze. All right. So he was going to answer for something. She was going to make him explain why the smell of her friend and blood were mingled in here. Going to make him tell her what he had done. And if he'd hurt her friend- well. They'd cross that bridge when they got there, now wouldn't they?

Expression impressive, she watched as they pulled into an exit. And she began to plan...

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: Here

✉ notes: Roadside assistance.

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

He waited for a few cars to zoom by on the interstate before walking to his side of the vehicle and getting in during a safe break and clearness of traffic. Habitually, he twisted in his seat to grab the seat belt and pull it across and down his chest until it clicked into place. Though he figured both of them to be smart enough to do the same, he still looked back to the small woman and over at the unfortunate young man to confirm they were safely situated. The briefcase that had been in the passenger seat had been placed at Derrick's feet, but Alistair shook his head. That wouldn't do. Instead, he reached over to it and lifted it to turn behind him and set it on the seat beside Anna. "Sorry, I'll clear your leg room."

The briefcase itself was plain, if not very well-made and minimalist. The only distinguishing feature was the tag that hung off of the handle with his hand-written name on it proceeded by the word "Professor" as well as cellphone number. The Jeep itself was obviously newer - only a few years beneath its tires - and was one of the only things frankly that he regularly spent money on to keep updated. The inside was spacious, clean, and could only be confirmed at driven in by the lack of the "new-car smell" that carried scents of fresh printed vinyl and newly set plastics. Instead, piney aromas littered the air thanks to his preferred was sticks that fit perfectly into the front vents of the center console. There was one item of weight in the back behind the rear seat: a hard cello case.

"Don't mention it, it's my pleasure," he reassured the young man softly, pulling out into the lane of traffic when it was clear to do so. "Do you live far or have someone nearby to pick you up?" The conversation was boring and shallow for the most part as the two continued in front and mainly consisted that Derrick had every base covered to make sure the two of them were taken care of. The exit wasn't necessarily busy, but it wasn't empty either. Alistair pulled beside a pumping station just outside of the small convenience store. "I'll take my time filling up, go ahead and call who you need to and let me know the plan, alright?" he nodded to Derrick who was all-too-eager to bump Alistair's shoulder with a "bro fist" and hop out, start walking across the lot to the store, and begin dialing on his phone.

It was then that he'd looked into the mirror and caught Anna's eyes for the first time. Staring at him. He could understand the paranoia and caution on her end, most definitely... A situation with two men, both strangers, one very large, and in a car that wasn't hers. Still, it made him feel horribly and inherently guilty. With his best polite smile, he opened his door to get out and tossed the car keys on the driver's seat as a sign of good will. "You're welcome to wait in here if you'd like. Or with him. Either way," he offered, nodding and giving an awkward final look before shutting his door. He set the pump into the side of the Jeep, waiting with his back leaned against the car, and chewed on the inside of his cheek to try and bade the odd amount of anxiety in his stomach.

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

The men kept up a light dialogue in front of her which 177 paid little attention to. Her eyes were taking in the vehicle, studying it, learning it. A car was hardly an ideal place for a violent encounter, though, at the same time, the cramped quarters made her size something of an advantage. She wanted to look inside the briefcase but felt that would not go over well. She had already displayed too much intelligence to play the mute fool. She studied the word “professor”, running a finger over the lettering. A professor hardly seemed the sort to kill for sport- but she had visions of her friend chained in a laboratory somewhere, and that reminded her of her own experience and her hands had started to tremble before she pulled herself out of it with a violent shake.

They were pulling in to a filling station about then. The professor told Derrick he could call whoever he needed to.

“Honestly, I'm okay,” said Derrick. He pointed at Anna. “She's the one that has to be somewhere.” A stricken look of realization crossed his face, and more quietly, he added, “and of course I get my pay docked if she's too late...”

She got out of the vehicle when the other two did, crossing her arms beneath her breasts and studying the professor with a frown as he pumped gasoline. He had a good jawline, the outline of muscles beneath his clothes. She felt her tongue beginning to brush her upper lip before she forcibly stopped the act. Turning, she went into the shop and emerged a minute later with a bag of skittles and two Cokes. Derrick was talking to the professor again.

“...she doesn't have to go very far, but it'll be forever before I can get my car fixed, and if they have to call someone else to take my route I'll be in so much s**t...”

Anna drew near, slurping out of one of her Coke cans. Derrick looked abashed at her. “Hey, listen, I'm so sorry. They're gonna ask you to rate me and if my rating falls below 4.5 I-”

She held a palmful of Skittles out to him. He hesitated before stuffing them into his mouth. “Thanks.”

She shrugged and looked at the professor again. She had a fairly good guess of what Derrick had proposed while she was gone. And she had a fairly good idea of what she would do if she ever got him alone.

So.

All that remained was to see if he'd offer to drive her- and for her to accept, if he did.

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: Here

✉ notes: Then there were two.

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

The poor kid had a bad stroke of luck, that's all it was. He hadn't done a thing wrong to deserve it. When the issue of payment came up, Alistair was already thinking of what he had in cash in his wallet. It wouldn't feel right letting the kid go home after a bad night with nothing to show for it, let alone the expenses for towing and possible repair. Now that he couldn't help with, but he could at least help soften the blow. His lips formed in a firm line, intent on responding, but then the frequency of a new shuffle against the pavement a few yards away alerted him on something headed towards them.Alistair turned his head, seeing tonight's unlucky passenger arriving with what was more than likely her favored snacks, and offered them to console the young man. One side of his mouth lifted gently and he looked down to her with a silent and unspoken message of gratitude. It seemed they both were on the same page for giving the kid a bit of a break.

"I'll take care of it," he nodded, "as long as you're comfortable with that." His eyes moved from one to the other, ending on her approval with an open, wary hand that was a clear sign of only acting on what she felt safe with. "You can take a picture of my license plate if you want. Maybe tell whoever's waiting for you where you are and that you'll be there soon?" a nod of encouragement solidified where he stood on the modern issues of male strangers with female passengers. Especially on the interstate. He couldn't stand that it was a necessary precaution... not as the kind of man that he was.

As soon as he found a moment for the girl to be out of sight, he opened his wallet and handed the young man the two twenties he had. He wished he carried more in cash. Neither said anything, which was a miracle considering how talkative the kid had been, and instead shared a respectful moment or two with understanding eyes. With a deep swallow and wet eyes, he nodded and headed back inside the gas station. It seemed Anna, his new passenger, was already set to go in the passenger's seat. He hopped in, turned the engine, and took a deep breath before asking a soft, "Where to, miss?" The address she came up with was plugged into his GPS, an easy followed route it looked like, and the trip was monumentally more quiet with just the two of them. He spoke as little as she did, making the very turned-down classical audible in the Jeep's speakers. Eventually, a few minutes in, he broke the silence with an uncomfortable clearing of his throat. "Sorry, I'm not great at uh, at small talk."

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

The offer came as she expected, and she nodded, accepting it. She had to get home somehow or other, after all. Not that she would be showing this man her home, but he could take her somewhere close enough that she could walk home. Somewhere they could be alone for a few minutes to have a... small discussion. She probably wouldn't hurt him. Much. At first.

He suggested that she take a picture of his license plate, which she didn't understand, but since it seemed to be expected she took a picture with her phone (really wonderful devices, these phones- the cameras she remembered had been huge, bulky things) and sent it to Cory with a note:

This is my driver's license plate. He suggested that I take a picture of it. I am not sure why. I will let you know if I have to kill him later.

Alistair gave Derrick some money, and a slight frown came over 177's face. So far this Alistair had seemed like a kind and generous man. Yet she had very distinctly scented her friend's blood in his vehicle. She didn't understand this man, and that put her on edge. Well. She would make him explain all his mysteries very shortly.

She got into his car, the front seat this time, taking his phone and entering an address in an empty part of the suburb where Jack's house was. She had memorized all the suburb addresses once she realized there was such a thing here. Halfway through typing she had to pause. The expression on his face had caught her off guard. It was... concerned? Gentle? She wasn't sure how to describe it. But it was different from the faces of so many men she had seen before. She remembered Matsushita's superior expression, the leers of the men who had touched her. Alistair's look was nothing like that. At the same time she was struck against by how handsome he was. She felt like a schoolgirl for noticing it. She should have been immune to such things. She tried to push the thought away, but it had that sticky quality of thoughts that cause them to cling even more when you try to dismiss them. A slight red came into her cheeks. Quickly she glanced down, finished typing, handed back the phone and looked away. Trying to dismiss the increasing heat in her face only made it worse. Instead she focused on breathing. Deep breaths, calming breaths, reacquiring her serenity bit by bit, or most of it. She had a sudden, irrational urge to reach out and touch his chest. That could be nothing other than what that writer had called “the imp of the perverse”.

It came to her that she had not been with a man since coming to this place. She had known that, of course, but it was coming to her as an important fact now. Her last experience of that sort, in laboratory 1, had... not exactly been pleasant. She gave a sideways glance at her driver, studying his chin and shoulders before forcing herself to look straight ahead again. Bah. Where was her discipline? She had seen men before. She had smelled blood in his vehicle. This was a mission, not a courtship!

She suddenly thought that he was the first man to be unconditionally kind to her since she had arrived in this place. That couldn't possibly be right, could it? Jack had been kind to her... but Jack's kindness had a sneering quality to it, a sense that Jack expected you to dance when Jack wanted. Derrick had not been cruel, but their relationship had been transactional. Business. Cory had been kind to her (after some early difficulties), but Cory was not a man. Could that really be true that he was first? Was unconditional kindness really so rare? She gave him another sideways look, then took another scent of the car, again smelling blood beneath cleaning chemicals and the scent of her friend. She was realizing that there was something to reconcile here. Or perhaps not, she reminded herself. A person who was too kind could simply be acting to get you off your guard. That was far more common, in her experience. The thought steadied her and helped her reset her focus on what she planned to do.

Alistair spoke. He had been quiet for so long she had almost become lost in her own thoughts. It was a foolish thing he said, an apology for not speaking more. What the devil use would talking be when she couldn't reply? Yet as she glanced sideways at him she couldn't help showing a lopsided smile at the words. Bad at small talk? Really? Personally, she felt she had a whole different scale for measuring such things.

Smile dancing around the edges of her mouth, she typed and held the phone out to him:

I feel quite certain that I am worse.

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: Here

✉ notes: Then there were two.

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

He hadn't expected a response, not with her condition, but had felt the need to apologize just as if she were someone that could've afforded him with one.  It was a small stretch of time before he saw her hand reach out and offer something. In his peripheral with the tilt of his head he could see the glowing screen of her cell phone, but he obviously didn't feel comfortable taking his eyes off of the road just yet. Luckily enough, the next light turned red and brought his car to a stop. Briefly turning to thin his eyes and read the message clearly, Alistair half-mouthed the words as he scanned them without speaking them aloud.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I uh," he blinked, shaking his head, "I didn't mean it as... Well, like that. Just to say-," he stopped, clearing his throat again. "Case and point I suppose." A helpless huff left his self-disappointed smirk as if to notate the recent ironic proof. His hands held the wheel slightly tighter and his jaw flexed at the minor increase of the awkward air he'd added to between them. The light turned green and only half a minute in he tried to busy himself with adjusting the temperature in the car, turning the vents on the floor to warm the interior slightly. Not that he was cold. Hardly ever. But she was smaller, and he was considering the fact that they'd recently been standing outside in the chilly night.

The scent moved in the air, swirling slowly with the push of the vents, both newly cleaned and the leftover tinge of an old stain. His briefcase - now lying on the floor behind her seat, held that stain. The warmer it rose, the tiniest bit more pungent it became. He'd had a nosebleed... the only thing he'd had on him was his handkerchief and he was desperately hoping he'd be able to wash the red out. Unlikely, but he rather enjoyed that handkerchief.  "Is this it? I think," he leaned forward to look up and out of the windshield at a street sign to make sure he was turning down what the GPS had instructed him to. "This complex, right? Let me pull up to the front door here," less walking distance to the apartment building. These low-lit parking lots weren't always the safest for a woman at night.

He parked the car and turned the emergency flashers on. Leaving the engine running, he opened his door and jogged casually around the front of the Jeep to then open hers. "Well, I hope you're not too late for anything," he inhaled, nodding with his hand still on the door handle; the other resting consciously loose in his pants' pocket. It was his intention to worry her as little as possible during the entire unfortunate series of events, but he knew it was unlikely that he succeeded much with the ever-present obstacle of his size. In the end, at least she was home safe.

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

She had to hide a smile at Alistair's obvious discomfort with her response. She found his embarrassment refreshing, like a splash of cool water in the afternoon. It didn't hurt that the tilt of his jaw as he huffed was sharp, pronounced, masculine. She found herself leaving her gaze on aspects of his anatomy, studying, drinking them in. His jaw there. His shoulder there. His slightly self-deprecating smile. It was a strange thing to be feeling again after so long. Rather than judging him from an aloof distance, she found her walls melting and her tension easing as she heard him speak. The statement about small talk was pleasant, she thought, because it was honest. It was not often that she heard such honesty- certainly not from Jack, and rarely even from Cory. For herself, being "honest" almost always meant giving a harsh judgment, an unpleasant one. A pleasantly honest talk was something she had not had in a long while. It was a strange sensation- strange, but good...

The scent of blood struck her nose again, jarring her as if back to wakefulness. What was she thinking? Those thoughts were useless now, here. The smell of blood- her friend's blood!- had she forgotten it so soon because the man was pleasant to look at? Idiot girl! You know where that leads! You remember what it meant to be cotton-headed with infatuation, overlooking every sign of danger until it was too late. Curse that part of her. She was no better than a mooning schoolchild.

Now to steel herself again. Now to restore the right path of thinking. Now to set her mind towards the task ahead and complete it without blinking. She stared straight ahead, away from his jaw, his arms, his silly, stupid smile. It did not matter how handsome he was (yes, she was thinking of him as handsome, curse her) if he had done a terrible thing to her friend. He had no right, no matter his face or his smile. The creature had been more beautiful than he would ever be.

Now they were coming to the place. She nodded when asked if they were there, deliberately looking past him. She didn't trust herself. Even after all she had been through, she still had too much of the weak woman in her. Would she never be free of it?

Drawing out her phone, she composed the message she would give him. She could not simply show it to him, of course. A woman small as she could not approach a man about such things; he would only laugh. But a thing more than a woman- even if a monster- well, that was not something that could simply be laughed off.

To her surprise he got out and came around to open her door for her. She had been making plans to pull him from the car herself. Well, this would be easier. He stood over her, hand in pocket, face still displaying that stupid smile. For a moment her heart wavered. Surely this man would not have- but she stopped the thought before it went further. He was only a man. Only a creature who understood violence. Behind his smiles, behind his pleasant words, if her size had not concealed a greater than womanly strength, or if he had found her as the guard at Laboratory 1 had, vulnerable and unable to exert her strength...

Well. She knew men.

Slowly she rose from the car. He towered over her, far too close. Thank god she was more than a woman. His scent reached her nostrils, more clear now in the outside air. She caught something there, mingled with his scent. A smell of something outdoors, wild, free, and clear, a smell of memories of life and freedom and splendid, unfettered joy. In that moment her rage and resolve crystalized, and the last vestige of hesitation fell away.

Her right hand seized his belt. Her left dropped her phone in her pocket and came up to his chest, pushing backwards. At the same time her right ankle swept both of his legs, and she pushed him downward, slamming him roughly onto the asphalt. Now her right leg bent and came down again, striking his solar plexus- knock the wind out him! And it brought her right calf within reach of her hand still on his chest. A flick of her wrist. Now the knife was in her hand, now she had it against his throat, one knee on his chest now, one knee on his nearest upper arm other hand seizing his hair, pulling his head back, keeping it down. She snarled, exposing her fangs, and met his gaze, telling him with her expression that I am no prey.

She held that position a moment, frozen in an implied threat, before her hand moved from his hair to her opposite pocket to draw out her phone. The message was still on the screen. She held it in front of his eyes.

Read this through and think carefully before you answer. Some days ago in the mountains I made the acquaintance of a large cat with whom I romped and hunted. It was a large, friendly beast, taller than me at its shoulder, huge and heavy and with beautiful fur. We played and roamed the forest until I had to go, and I would not forget him for anything. I have few friends. I have few friends and I think quite valuable the ones I have. Now tell me this, and do not lie or I will know: why is it, that when I entered your vehicle earlier today, that I smelled the blood of my friend?

Rebel

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: Here

✉ notes: Stuck in the middle.

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Anna," he applied pressure to the frame of the passenger door with the intent to shut it, but she took a step closer to him rather than away from it. Lips parted enough for a small bit of air to pass between them to begin phrasing a question, but the tug at his waist had them pressing shut firmly and instead turning a bright, hot red. With eyes wide, he only had half of a second to see her hand gripped around the front of his belt before he felt his entire sense of equilibrium shatter. "Hunnphhh!"

There were two hard slams; the first against his chest, then a much louder one as his shoulders and the back of his head crashed into the asphalt. Everything flashed white momentarily from the glare of a yellow-orange street light above them since his brain jostled about inside of his skull. If his breath hadn't been completely shoved out of him already, the rest wheezed out with a grunt that her knee forced out of him when it pinned the center of his chest down like a steel beam. Before he could make heads of tails of what had even just happened, the blade came dangerously close to breaking the skin of his neck. It scraped against tiny hairs that'd grown out over the course of the day from the morning's shave, causing him to hold a swallow in place.

As she pulled his hair back to expose even more of the soft flesh of his throat, his entire body stiffened beneath her. There was no time to recognize how strong she'd been for how small she was, no time to think on the baring of her teeth like a predatory animal, no time to wonder why she let his hair go to fumble around for something else. The knife and the aching on the back of his head and chest were already sending his heart into massive palpitations. Regardless of who she was or what she wanted, a whining breath left between his clenched teeth as he struggled to keep his body under control in fear that if he didn't... well... the bloody image in his mind was enough to convince him to fight it.

He wanted to speak, to beg her to back away and run. Or, better yet, to get into the car and hide. But every move he made to try and open his mouth made the cold blade of the knife sink that much further into his skin - nearly pressured enough to slice. That's when the phone flashed in his face... His eyes shut immediately and winced away from their sensitivity, flickering for a moment with expanding, reflective irises. There were so many contrasting lights, so many different depths, it was nearly impossible to focus in-between phases. The pressure of the knife didn't let up... she was insisting he adjust regardless. Fingers scraped and dug against the concrete beneath him as he forced his eyes open to try and read. Struggling still, his eyes dilated and shrunk rapidly. Catching every other word or a bit of a stretch in the middle of the sentence was the best he could do. 'Think carefully', 'large cat', 'forest', 'would not forget', 'do not lie'. She'd caught him - after he thought he was far enough for any to find - and now he was to answer truthfully or pay whatever price she wished to charge. The problem was she was so unaware of the dangers.

"I can't-," he tried, his Adam's apple scratching against the blade as it bobbed through his words, "Please-!". The panic was too much; his body was winning out for its need of self-defense over his mind's plea to freeze. He felt a tiny sting and a thin line of red appeared beneath the knife the more he spoke, yes, but mainly the more his body began to wriggle beneath her in odd, small jolts. "Th-TH," he was trying to spit out between clenched, barely growing teeth. Again he shut his eyes and the bone beneath her knee at the center of his chest caved inwards with a loud pop. "The car! Getinthecar!..." It didn't matter who she was or what she wanted. He wasn't about to have more blood on his hands.

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

Fear. She could see it in his eyes. Terror. Good! Let him fear her. Well he ought to. His fear was palpable, nearly coming out through his pores. She watched him squeeze his eyes shut and thought disdainfully of the show of weakness. He hadn't even tried to fight her. Womanlike weakness. Not that it would have done any good, of course, but she despised that he had not even tried. His skin convulsed beneath her, but she didn't ease up on the pressure of the knife.

So great was his fear that for a moment he was unable even to speak. When he finally did it was confused jabbering about getting back in the car. Her eyes narrowed. What was this, some sort of trick to get her to ease the pressure so he could escape? She closed her mouth and set her jaw in distaste while continuing to stare at him. She stretched out her hearing, but heard nothing to suggest they were not alone. A quick sniff- she smelled him, and herself, and the oil of the car and the nearby dumpster, and-

-something of her friend. The scent had grown stronger. She frowned. How?

Her captive was still gibbering. His skin was shivering again. He was afraid, but he was yelling for her to move. She was surprised he had not tried to throw her off. The scent of her friend struck her nose again, thicker and more distinct, mixed with blood. She glanced down and saw the line of red beneath her blade and eased back on the pressure, slightly. She sniffed again. Yes- the smell was there, very distinctly, in blood, but coming from him. How? Had he eaten her friend? Or- the thought struck her for a moment that he could be like her, dependent on blood. But no, that could not be. He would not be so weak in that case.

The blood tickled her nose again. It was reminding her that it had been several hours since she'd had any. She leaned forward, extending her tongue- no, not now! This wasn't the time for eating. She had to get to the bottom of this. Her tongue flicked back and forth over her teeth. This was the kind of situation where it would be useful to be able to talk. Writing would require her taking attention off of her captive. Perhaps she should bind him. The blood was calling to her again and she had to stop her head from dipping towards the cut. She really should have brought one of her boxes with her from Jack's house.

Something inside his chest popped. For the first time she looked away from his face, frowning. Had she done that? She hadn't meant to break any of his bones yet. Without quite realizing it she brought the knife up and licked the blade before turning back to her captive and shaking the phone towards him, emphasizing him.

His flesh kept shivering. Did he have some kind of problem? The smell of her friend was all through the air now. Where was it coming from? She looked down at her captive, and her eyes narrowed. She showed her teeth, and again she brought the knife up to lick it. With her eyes she tried to communicate what her mouth could not.

Tell me what I want to know!

@alistiar

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: Here

✉ notes: Fursplode.

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

The last thing his clear, conscious mind could recognize was the screen pressing closer to his face and flashing in his eyes before the glint of the knife lifted away from his neck. The pop in his chest caved further inwards and then expanded beneath her knee - splitting in two and widening the sides of his torso. He let out a grunt and foam from his saliva built at the sides of his mouth. His teeth, clenched tightly together, began to elongate until his jaw could no longer contain them.

What was behind the both of them had seen even more change. Fabric ripped at his thighs and knees, his shoes had long since peeled away to reveal lengthy feet and thick claws. Beneath his skin, tips of blonde fur began to press and grow through. The irises of his eyes grew exponentially, reflecting the light of the cell phone's glare, and all it took after were a few, horrifically loud cracks. Fur and mass exploded beneath her with a deep and ripping growl. On his back, he panicked to his side and quickly found his feet to the pavement - albeit dazed enough to knock her away and topple against the side of the SUV. 

Finally, his large head shook to attempt to straighten-out his senses and equilibrium with all four feet on the ground. The lion stood to full height, panting, and groaned with the ache in the back of its skull. He took a step forward but his balance was uncertain. The smells here were unfamiliar... Another step, another, and soon the cat had found his way to the front of the Jeep before sniffing the air and turning the weight of his neck to look back at her. Immediately, a low growl began in his chest; wary and confused. 'Nnnnnn....' The lion stepped around to fully face her, but then began to pace backwards until he felt safe enough to lower himself down to the ground; shoulder blades spiked upwards with defensive fur raised, lips beginning to curl, ears flat and nervous. 

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

For a very few moments, 177 forgot how to think in English.

The change was so rapid that- she hated and had to admit it- it frightened her. The teeth elongating, the hands folding and twisting, the skin writhing as it became fur- her eyes widened and she lept back, knife held at the ready. Swear words in her first language filled her mind as she braced herself for whatever this threat was to be. Then the shape before her took a familiar form, and she lowered the knife and stood and with her mouth agape at the creature before her.

Impossible. Impossible! The man she had been holding- her friend- one and the same! Impossible! And yet her friend stood right before her, beautiful golden mane waving quietly in the wind, the small of him unmistakable now. The cat. The lion. Her friend.

How? She remembered- the woman she had fought during the bombing. The one who could deform her body. This must be something like that. But so entirely different! So entirely more beautiful!

For a moment she could only stare. The cat backed away from her, shoulders hunched in a defensive posture. That was right, it was an easily frightened create. She stared at it, unsure how to respond. Was he in there? Was he controlling it? Or did he become a true beast when this change took him, with a beast's instincts? And if he was a beast, did the beast remember her? Or would she have to meet it again every time he transformed?

They stood facing each other, the woman and the giant cat. Slowly, she extended the back of her hand as she had long before, and made the same whistling and nickering sound.

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: Here

✉ notes: Old friend, new environment.

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

'This lighting was so awfully strange, and not in any good or intriguing way. The darkness was easy to spot through, especially with bits of light catering to sharpen edges and assist him in seeing clearer depth. But if he so much as angled his head upwards, the street light cast a horrible starburst in his vision that forced him to over correct and thin his eyes to compensate. So, he kept his sight down low. Thankfully the person before him was small and needed no peering-up to. She was frozen. He didn't like that... it meant thinking.

An uncertain, tense tail flicked once behind him before flexing into a solid, still curve. As a front paw lifted with the intent to take another step back, his eyes shifted around the uncomfortable, alien area for a few seconds before returning to her. A click. A whistle. The paw hung towards his chest in the air and a single ear rotated about to catch the timbre of the sounds more accurately. He knew those pitches. The sounds pulled from his memory and the tail relaxed bit by bit, waving slowly again a few times close to his hind legs.

When the hand presented to him the lion lifted its nose to the air and extended its neck to fill the space between them, catching what scents he could that ushered his way. Yes, yes he knew that smell! The sound, the smell, his small friend that had the snacks! Why was she here? Why was he here? Knowing the figure before him eased a level of stress and his fur visibly softened back down along the length of his spine. Just to be sure, his steps closer to her were slow, but once his nose was able to touch her skin his ears lifted in certainty. The giant muzzle didn't hesitate to push against her once he was aware.  'Nnnrrrfff,' the cat moaned through his nostrils, lifting his head to crane his chin against her back, and pulled her closer. 

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

The great beast moved towards her. For a moment she had a sensation of doubt. Suppose it had forgotten her. What then? How effectively could she truly defend herself against such a huge creature? But then she saw it relax, and heart the comforting sound and felt it draw near to here, and she smiled. Pressing herself against it, she drew in a breath, a refreshing scent. Yes. It was the same creature, with the same memories. Her friend, back again, alive and well. How refreshing, she thought, to have a friend vanish and return to you alive! It was her first such experience since she had left laboratory 1.

Yet it came to her suddenly that all was not well. This was not the forest, not the open country of the mountains. This was a human city, a land one the one hand of hunters, and on the other of meat that ran much too slow. Danger. Danger to her friend, danger to others as well. She glanced at the apartment they stood next to. Who lived there? Had they seen this? What would they do when they saw a great cat in the parking lot?

And what of the man who had become the cat? She thought back to her first experience with it. She had thought it playful, lacking the instincts of a wild thing... tame, she had believed at the time. Yet perhaps not, if her friend spent most of his days as human. Yet he had not seemed quite human then. An illusion? Or was the man Alistair in there, only weighed down... filtered, somehow... by the shape of the great beast? She thought of her own cravings and madness when blood was near. His were not so violent. Yet she was sure he was not himself.

No time to think through all the implications. Standing in this open space was making her neck prickle. They had to go somewhere else. Somewhere more private... where she could think and process. Preferably with large game. Was he hungry?

...oh, and there was a running car next to them. She supposed someone should do something about that.

Giving her friend a quick pat, she leaned into the car, turned it off, locked it, and pocketed the keys. Glancing around, she saw a grove of trees near the back of the apartment complex. That was hardly a suitable forest, but it was at least some cover.

She checked her phone. The nearest thing that could be called a real forest was 2.7 miles away. That might be a problem. But one thing at a time. Clicking her tongue and whistling as before, she motioned for the beast to follow her, using hand signals somewhat more freely now that she suspected there was a human intelligence inside somewhere. She wondered how hungry he was. If he tried to hunt in a populated area...

Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked. Well, part of being wild was eating what was on hand.

Taking her friend by the mane, she tried to lead him to the grove of trees.

Alistair Lane

[Deleted]

[attr="class","ohlove"]

[attr="class","lacking"]

[attr="class","eyes"]
✎ tag: CBE-177/"Anna"

※ wearing: Here

✉ notes: He protec.

both were silent.

the air in my lungs, my hands on the keys.

His small friend, his trusted friend, his friend that had found him once and comforted him after such a sudden scare. She was just as little as he recalled, somehow sturdy, and familiar scents in her hair only confirmed the sensation of friendliness he'd remembered. When she first started to pull away he pressed further against her with a disgruntled grumble, but her small frame easily moved from underneath his chin and neck to walk beside him and observe the running vehicle. As she went about to kill the engine and shut the doors, the lion found himself circling it and sniffing at different bits with somewhat blurry memories of the object. He knew it, that much was certain, and he knew there was something within it that he wanted to stay nearby. While his mind couldn't quite put together "cello", a sense of ownership still puffed the furs of his chest when his nose pressed against the trunk door. 

'Tk tk tk.'

The clicking caught his ear and he craned his head around the side of the car to see his small friend. She was motioning... beckoning, yes. He could tell what she wanted. But why leave this object? Didn't they want it, wasn't it something to be trusted? He took a few steps to her but stopped and looked to the side with the SUV there, eyeballing it and contemplating. Well... it didn't move, and the lighting here was bothering him. His vision couldn't tell whether to adjust for day or night. With an intelligent understanding, he pulled away from the vehicle and paced over to her with casual, weighty steps.

"Hnfff," he huffed lowly through his nostrils with his jowls loosely shut when he felt the hand hold to his mane. At first he didn't like it... but then he felt the need to stay beside her just in case she should fall or lose her balance. Or what if she was hiding? Instead, he matched his walk to her own and made a point to stay strictly close; nearly against her. Though he was 'natural predator' in form, his mind did not hear the barking dog and register it as any form of food. Rather, something to be wary of being spotted and tracked from. He stopped, lifting his head high to face its direction, and listened again to be sure of its location. Hmm... it was best they go the other way, then. Though he remained in the cover of the trees still, he pressed the side of his head where she held his mane to face the direction opposite of the barking dog. Sure, he wasn't keen on interacting with it.; but what if it was vicious? He couldn't let his small friend go near it.

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

For a few steps she led him, taking him by the mane, drawing him into the trees and out of sight of the apartments. Then he stopped and she felt resistance. He was trying to pull her in a different direction. Why? Frustrated, she tried more gentle pressure on his mane but he was insistent and much bigger than her. Sighing, she released the pressure and let him lead her deeper into the grove.

(She heard the dog, of course, but it didn't occur to her that he might want to avoid it.)

She walked beside him with a tense, wary posture, concerned both for others that might see them and that he might run off in search of prey. She was unsure how she might stop him if he got it into his head to go running. He wasn't technically too heavy for her to carry, but he was too large for her to pick up and therefore probably impossible for her to stop if he wanted to run without injuring him. Could she get it to understand that they needed to bed down and cause no trouble? It had seemed to understand her beckoning. So perhaps it had some of the intelligence of the man it had been still. Thinking of the man- Alistair- made her squirm uncomfortably. She had been wrong about him. Or, rather, the contradiction she had perceived had been resolved. She had seen with her eyes a kind and intelligent man; it had been only the smell of blood that made her think otherwise. But that was easily understood now. So her first impression had been right all along. She felt perhaps a little guilty; she had been too quick to judge. Yet it was still somewhat strange to reconcile the man from the car with the creature she had run and romped with in the woods those days ago. She glanced at the golden cat next to her, pressing her lips together in thought. What did it say about the man, that the beast had behaved so? How much of one was in the other?

They came more or less to the middle of the grove. Here she stopped, and moved in front of him to stop him too. She stroked his muzzle, smiling at the strong yet sad expression in his eyes. Powerful, yet with a hint of dim confusion. As an animal, it was a glorious creature. As something that came from a man... she wasn't sure yet. The strangeness of it lay on her.

She glanced around them. The place they were in was flat and mostly free of stones. They could be relatively concealed here, until... she frowned. How long would this change of shape last? It had lasted through the night in the woods. Would it end at dawn? The following day? More than one day following? Remaining here during daylight would be problematic. Yet she was unsure of her ability to move him to a more secluded area at tonight, either. She studied the branches of the trees, considering. She could construct a makeshift shelter for the day, perhaps, and make arrangements to move him the following night. If he stayed changed that long, she reminded herself. The man and the beast were one and the same. It was still an odd thought to her.

Her best chance was to hope this change was short-lived, she decided. To stay here, relatively away from prying eyes, for the night, and if this shape persisted... well, she'd have all day to make arrangements.

Still in front of him, she crouched and Tked with her tongue as she patted the ground in front of her, a signal she'd seen given to dogs as an order to lie down. He'd understood her beckoning; she hoped he'd understand this. A great pair they made, she thought wryly, one not quite in human mind and the other incapable of human speech. Once he was down she put a finger to her lips and then pressed it against his snout. She was becoming more confident of what he understood. Once more she put the finger to her lips and then to his. Quiet. This next part would have to be quick.

She ran back to the vehicle. She didn't know what she would find, but she had to see what her resources were. In the trunk, she found the jackpot. A blanket, sleeping bag, even a pillow. Perfect. A moment later she had dashed back. The blanket was too small to cover him, of course, but she did her best. Not time to hunt. Rest. Surely he would understand.

Her first instinct was to snuggle close to him in the sleeping bag, but she hesitated. This wasn't simply a friendly creature. It was a man, and some time, perhaps soon, it would be a man again. When that time came, she would prefer not to be pressing against his body. So instead she rolled out the bag a short distance away, and lay on her side, watching him.

Alistair Lane