[PRP] the gift that keeps on giving (Oliver & Ashton)

[Melancholies]

Well, it was about that time.

Or rather, had been about that time. Oliver had his calendar marked, his alarms set, his everything ready so he didn't accidentally fly into a full blown slaughter with his roommate and pets nearby. That hadn't happened of course, and now he was in the Otherworld (a place he was starting to see a lot more often than his own home), busy rolling around as a raccoon. The moon had only just hit its crux; it hadn't been very long since his rolly polly adventure.

He stopped suddenly, his ears and his nose picking up the sounds and smells of something unfamiliar to him. He was starting to get better at this whole... tracking thing. Sort of. Time to investigate until he got too chicken-s**t and decided to turn around.

Daekie

hi i hope this works 4 u

 

[Daekie]

Heavy footsteps, a few stray blonde hairs on the ground near the wall, a distant growling - nobody was nearby, but something, definitely. (Heavy footsteps compared to Oliver, who was about the size of a very cute volleyball if he rolled up in a ball, and could probably be spiked just about as high with some effort. This sounded like at least a very large volleyball, or maybe some other sportsball sports ball entirely.)

There was nobody to follow him. But he was definitely following something around the corner.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver's interest was piqued. The blonde hair was reflective in the light of the moon, but otherwise colorless. Still, it was different, so different, so...

His head poked around the corner, his hair floofed up so he seemed bigger than what he was (which still wasn't that big, honestly, only cuter). A tiny inquisitive chitter came out. What could it be.

This would probably be the death of him.

Daekie

short,,,

 

[Daekie]

There was a full grown god damn wolverine pacing in front of the door, claws scoring marks in the ground, a deep growl reverberating from deep within his chest -- its' eyes were space-dark, green galaxies throughout.

At Ollie's chitter, it stopped, turned, and growled once real low; inquisitive, of course, but coming from a wolverine it really didn't make much of a difference. It was still a big, scary noise.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver squealed, rolling backwards on himself. The growl may have meant to be friendly, but for Oliver it was still terrifying. He was also immensely skittish by nature. After a moment of rolling all over himself, he suddenly realized something; he was in the Otherworld, and this was a ******** out of place wolverine.

He righted himself and tilted his head one way, and then the other, and then he horked backwards onto his hind legs with his fingers wiggling (well, wiggling as best a a raccoon could manage. Was this his way of saying hello?)

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

The wolverine - Ashton huffed, and he sat down with that huff, a rolling sigh that had him lying on the ground. He cocked his head to one side, then the other, almost mimicking Oliver's actions; then he reached out and cuffed Oliver on the head with one paw, lightly. (It was still a fair amount of force. Comparatively, Ashton was Very Large, and Ollie was Very Small. Probably just a friendly tap?? Probably??)

The look in his eyes was clear: Why do I have to go through this ******** shite. Why me. Why me.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver shared this unfortunate empathy. His own expression was starkly blank, but that was because he was a raccoon and it was somewhat impossible to discern emotion from it. His ears wiggled. This was about all the communication he could display.

His fingers wiggled again before he flopped back down onto all fours. The wolverine clearly wasn't mundane, but he also wasn't sure how to differentiate between another Moonwalker and some weird-a** magical Othercreature. He wasn't being attacked yet, so that was possibly a plus? Oh wait, duh.

Hesitantly, he nosed forward, wondering if the sensation of Pack would take place or not.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Another, deeper, viscerally annoyed huff; and Ashton touched noses - and there it was, Pack, family, friend, close close - same-like - and he pulled back, wondering how best to communicate on times like these; and, well -- he had an idea, maybe. It might not have been a good one, but he was no telepath and he was very tired, and he would do what he could.

A few dedicated seconds of dainty claw-pulling through nearby dirt, and there was one word written out:

LEAVE?

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver jumped. Literally, he honest to god sprang a solid foot or so into the air before doing a very quick donut, his paws flailing across the pavement sloppily. He obviously wasn't used to the whole animal thing yet, but he was still doing his best. The feeling of pack left him feeling rather enthused, and this one hadn't tried to maul him, so it was a plus-plus. What did the person behind the wolverine look like, he wondered?

He snuffled over to the ground to see Ashton's work, his ears wriggling when he saw the word LEAVE in big, embolden letters. His tail flicked around as he took his own paw—a much more dexterous one than the average animal—and scribbled out a response.

YES.

GO.

He did another donut before starting off in some arbitrary direction. He was astoundingly adept at finding his way out as a human. Could he do the same as an animal?

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Ashton -- at his dismay -- was terrible at finding ways out of the otherworld. He could only semi-consistently find a way in when the full moon came, and that usually involved semi-irritated wandering for a manner of hours -- he wasn't about to bother anyone to get in. That'd be weakness, after all. That wasn't his style.

It was with the sigh of the century he stood to his feet and began to follow Oliver, surprisingly quiet for something so solid, with an oddly menacing gaze leveled at the back of the raccoon's head.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

There were many things in life that gave Oliver fear. Actually, anxiety was a better word; stress. For some bizarre, completely-going-against-Mother-Nature reason, communicating with wolverines just wasn't one of them. Now, it might have been months before, but apparently transforming into a raccoon had that sort of effect on a person. His nose was pointed in the air as he tried to sniff a way out. It unfortunately didn't work that way.

Well, whatever. He'd found his way out with Jamie before.

The main problem was the lacking ability to open doors. Those functioned very well as portals between the worlds, but he didn't have the height—nor the thumbs—to do so. This basically left entryways and alleyways and so on, coupled with the added hopefully-no-one's-going-to-see-us-on-the-other-side.

But he'd made it this far at least. Survived one full moon to tell the tale. Was pretty confident he'd at least live the second. Maybe not the third.

His ears swiveled when he caught a good looking location for crossing over. It was an alley squeezed between two buildings, narrow and inconspicuous. He turned his head over his shoulder to look at the wolverine, a chirp-like bark of a sound heralding the way over towards it, his tiny little paws moving him quickly.

He slipped between the buildings, disappeared into the darkness.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Ashton padded after, surprisingly quiet, sniffing after Oliver - if they'd been able to communicate he might have been able to explain that through sheer force of effort he'd figured out how to open doors without opposable thumbs, but some things just weren't meant to be, not without proper human vocal chords. (Some days you just couldn't get rid of a nagging sense of disquiet, even if you were an animal. It was truly unfortunate that way.)

It wasn't like he had much to lose here, anyways, because what was the worst option? Oliver slipped out, he didn't, and he just stayed here until he found a way out later? It wasn't really all that terrible, just mildly annoying.[/quiet]

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Walking through the alleyway wasn't any more insightful than it would be any other time. The moon was high above them, but here it was dark, here the shadows seemed to swallow them up whole. Encapsulate them.

Except then the shadows washed away to something lighter—a cooler sort of grey—and the clouds overhead started to move and the wind started to blow again. Time ticked back into place, but it was late. People had already gone about their lives and retired for the night, sans the occasional lone wolf patrolling the sidewalks. But here in the alley—it was safe, mostly.

Oliver said mostly, because it was a dead end, and there was a wolverine-walker behind him. Sure he had given whoever it might be the benefit of the doubt, but there were a number of things that could be hidden behind that fluffy exterior. It didn't magically mean they weren't like, a serial killer or a mugger or something. Use the raccoon-kid to get out of Ashdown's hell-twin, then take all his money. Jokes on you wolverine-thief, Oliver was a starving college student. He didn't have any money.

Or maybe his anxiety was speaking for him. He slowly turned around to face the moonwalker in question.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Ashton cocked his head at Oliver, staring, staring, waiting for something -- but when it didn't come (and he seemed sure enough nobody was going to walk in and stare at him or Oliver mid-transformation), the wolverine's form started to shift, bones reorganizing, resorting, bipedal; and relatively soon enough a human (well, human-like, still the ears and tail and claws, all of that) stood in front of the raccoon.

A thin, androgynous, pretty blonde; Ashton would have been maybe an inch taller than Oliver if they'd both been human at the time. His hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, though, and there was sweat shining on his brow a little; he was in a tank top and pajama pants, comfy, bare-footed. If nothing else, he seemed shy; hesitant to look down at Ollie.

"...thank you."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Well, that made him feel somewhat better. Whoever this was looked just as bedraggled and unfortunate as Oliver felt, so there was some bit of camaraderie there. After a second the raccoon before Ashton shifted himself; his bones bending and aching and reorganizing into something more fitting of a human physique.

However, Ollie still looked a little more dignified. This was only his second full moon, and he still found it necessary to dress for the occasion. He wasn't... presentable, not in his eyes, but he also wasn't gowned up in pajamas. To that end, he also looked much younger than Ashton did.

"It's not a problem." He said with a tired huff, still crouched on the floor where he had shifted. Slowly he stood, the tail and the ears and the mask under his eyes far more prominent now that he wasn't in the shadow of the buildings (and Ashton himself). "I usually hang out in the Otherworld a little longer, but that's only because I can find my way out easily." The tail flicked around unevenly. He hadn't fully mastered control over all his new muscles.

"I didn't know there were any... wolverine-walkers though." His eyes glinted, "I mean, I heard there had been an incident at Blackfriars, but..." He shrugged, "Well, whatever. You're welcome. I'm Oliver."

Daekie