 |
|---|
Action
|
| Players |
|
|
Factions |
|
|
A full moon causes Liam to run off and the Pack gives chase; Dylan is caught in the middle.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Wildlife Preserve, Beacon Hills
Something had set the puppy off, sadly he was still getting control of his wolf self and the full moon still affected him quite a bit. It was probably something Ethan said or did completely by accident that has set him off. But now Liam was running through the woods wearing only a pair of sweat pants and with his iPod earphones dangling out of the pocket as he ran transformed through the wildlife preserve.
Normally, this would not be Derek Hale's problem. But Stiles apparently couldn't get in touch with Scott, whose problem it really is, and he needed someone with the alpha mojo to make this work. Naturally, Derek didn't doubt Stiles or his abilities, but sometimes...sometimes there's simply no substitute for training, discipline, and finesse.
Currently in his form more wolf than man, he pauses to sniff the air. Hopefully Stiles will be able to get somewhere in his jeep, because it's surely going to be a difficult pursuit and a rocky ride. It's difficult to communicate like this -- Stiles also doesn't know the howls and wolf-communication well enough for him to talk that way.
They need walkie-talkies or something. Derek mentally notes this for future reference: after this, walkie-talkies. The fancy kind.
Stiles is as close by as he can be in his Jeep, and he's dragged Oliver along with. "You know what we really need?" he says, looking over at the former were-rabbit. "We need walkie-talkies. Werewolf-friendly ones." He'd gotten Derek involved but also texted everyone in the pack he could think of. The Twins were busy with something-or-other, but maybe some of the others would show up. "In a minute, we're gonna have to pull over and walk," he grouses. "I can't keep up with Derek when he's running through the woods, but being stuck on the road isn't any good, either." He pauses, frowning, and looks thoughtful. "I'll have to work on a way to keep up. I have an idea, but... it's tricky, and I'm still learning to do it." He sighs, shrugs, and says, "Dammit, Liam. Every full moon." Glancing at Oliver again, he smirks. "At least he's not naked this time."
Oliver's a bit dense when it comes to matters of werewolves. Sure, he hangs out with a bunch of them. But apart from that one time in the theater, which was kind of chaotic, he's not been exposed to the more dangerous side of them. And so, completely oblivious to the fact that its a full moon, he was quite surprised when Stiles pointed it out to him. And thus is how he's in the preserve on a ride-along. As Stiles suggests walkie-talkies, Oliver grins. "That's a good idea!" But then Stiles mentions getting out of the jeep and going on foot, which only makes Oliver smile. "Well, um... what's your idea for moving faster? I might be able to offer some assistance." As he holds up his hand and makes a gesture, several of the lower hanging limbs on the trees nearest them move up and out of the way. "Seems I have a way with mother nature." The mere mention of Liam running naked causes his jaw to drop, however. "He does that? Oh my gosh. Well, yeah, we're in luck this time."
Poor poor Kira she was out way to long doing her practice. After all since this crazy stuff started happening to her all she knows is when she's able to practice with a sword she feels more centered and at ease... so she's been going into the woods almost every evening to practice... she even brings books to study on sword techniques to try and increase her skill . Then she hears a howl and blinks, her eyes of course glow but she doesn't know that; what does happen is she snaps her back pack on and takes off and she can move fast! when she wants too running towards the howls .
Tires crunch through the grass and leaves of this preserve. It's better to have a dirt bike than a Jeep at this point. Soon enough, though, the dirt bike that makes all the sense in the world sails over Roscoe's hood and skids just slightly before going deeper into the woods. If that's not a signal for Stiles to get out of the van and run who knows what is.
A moment or two later, the dirt bike is discarded and the helmet is also dropped along the path that one Scott McCall is making right now. "Liam." is the word of the moment as Scott's hushed whisper is the only thing that has him racing through those woods in pursuit. He's got Liam's scent. And a helluva' lot more scents too. But he's focused right now.
He doesn't even realize he just ran past this cute Asian girl with a sword that he kind of maybe wants to get to know better. Or that he's running at wolf speed. Oops?
The beat up boots of Scott McCall have the True Alpha running at top speed. As top of speed as he can get without wolfing out. He's hoping he can wait before wolfing out. And maybe, just maybe, handle this without wolfing out. Although, he's pretty sure that's not in the cards. He's just saving it that card. Ace in the Howl.
Dylan was already in the woods, checking on his cameras, which seemed to get mostly local track stars (seriously, those high school guys could MOVE) and deer when several of them sent updates to his phone at once. The video was grainy and low resolution but there was something definitely odd about the blurred figures zipping along too fast to be caught in decent stills. Which direction? Oh. Um. Coming towards him. He wants to make sure to get a good shot of whatever it is, so the optimistic, if not wise, young man plants himself in the middle of the trail, using his camera phone to record whatever is barrelling towards him at high speed. What could possibly go wrong with this plan?
Apparently his older brother has gotten out again, Grey shakes his head, now how many guys can say that, still brother duty calls and it's pack work too so he followed Liam's scent here. Hearing Scott's bike nearby Grey switches to demon mode and starts off in the direction of Liam's scent at top speed, "For the love of god, let him be dressed this time".
The puppy was still wolfed out, who knows what set him off this time. Could have been Ethan making flirty eyes at Rabbit. It could have been Grey beating him at video games. It could have even been that he was out of power bars. But whatever it was had tipped the fragile balance that Liam had on full moons. He was a bitten wolf after all and not all bitten wolves ever got it under complete control. He did have enough control to run out into the woods instead of down town. And at least this time he was wearing sweat pants and not naked. So he barreled through the woods. And right into Dylan. He stared at the human for one brief moment his eyes glowing their golden yellow before he howled and kept running. It took all his control to keep running and not attack, but he still had that much control.
Derek is there just a second after Liam, and he sees the boy with a camera. Well. That's not going to go well. So he decides to take a moment to make sure -- for the good of the pack -- that it's not something that will compromise all of them, just for one moment of weakness. With superhuman speed, he reaches out to swat the phone away, but otherwise is careful not to hurt Dylan.
His eyes gleam red, jaw set, brow so very stern and imposing. "Don't. Cause. Problems." Then he's gone again, off like a flash in Liam's wake. Surely he can catch up to him quickly enough. Either that, or drive him somewhere that Stiles or one of the others on the trail can stop him.
Stiles pulls to a stop when he runs out of road, shifting the Jeep into park and killing the engine. "Well, hope you're in the mood to run," he says with a laugh, and then he's out the door, slinging a small pack over one shoulder. He slides carefully down a slope and into the trees, just in time to see Derek vanish into the distance. He turns to the guy standing there and offers a little grin. "Y'know how it is. My friend's dog got loose, so we're tracking it down. Crazy puppy can really move." He tosses off a wave, and then he's charging after Derek for all he's worth. This isn't working, so he reaches out through his senses and feels the For--okay, fine, it's not the Force, it's the Quickening, but you get the idea--and feels the speed of the wolves around him, the power. And, attuning his energies to that and feeling Derek's heartbeat in his mind, he begins to move faster.
Speed of the stag, eat your heart out. This is the speed of the werewolf.
Oliver is aware of sounds all around him, but in his head they all sort of blend together and he can't isolate any one particular noise to identify it. "Wow, there sure is a lot going on in these woods," he mutters more to himself than Stiles. As the immortal hops out of the jeep and starts moving on foot, Oliver follows. As he does so, he uses his limited magic to move branches and roots out of his way so as to not knock himself out or trip. And then he notices Stiles stop to talk to someone. Who on Earth would Stiles stop in order to talk to and for that matter, why would anyone be in the woods? He spots Dylan just in time to stop using his magic, and actually does trip over a root. Catching himself, fortunately, he comes up to Dylan even as Stiles zooms off. "Uh... Dylan. Hi." Oliver's cheeks are bright red as he approaches his new friend. "Um... so, yeah... you really shouldn't be out here right now. There's a huge dog loose, he's only a puppy so he's not very um... well-behaved. He might try to play with you and accidentally knock you down." He rubs the back of his head and gives Dylan his best smile. "Why don't you and I get outta here, huh? I'm sure the others will catch him." He looks suspiciously nervous throughout all this.
Kira blinks mostly cause she knows that was Scott that just ran past her and she can smell him! She doesn't understand but it's only a split second before she's running after him. She frowns, How the hell can he run as fast as me? She's suddenly sure something's going on with Scott and she needs to find out what! So she leans down and pours on the speed chasing after them at high speeds, her eyes glowing with fire as she taps into her power.
"Sorry, dude. Just uh... you didn't see us, right?" Somehow, Scott manages to talk to Dylan in the brief time he's there before he's pushing his speed and trying to run faster. Could be because he hears something running behind him that's pretty damn fast and the scent is not exactly of one of his Pack. He just keeps running. Faster.
He can finally see Derek and Liam in front of him and he can tell that Stiles is nearby, too. This is getting really, well, packed. He diverts his speed just a little bit to head towards a log that's fallen over a boulder to make an incline. He takes the log with some epic balance and gets to the end and launches himself off.
Activate Slow Motion Budget.
In the air, Scott's eyes glow red as he tucks and somersaults (probably to hide the stunt person). As the somersault opens wide again, Scott has completely wolf'd out and he lands on the ground two steps and a half behind Derek. Cue Kira's Swoon(?) So it only takes him another two steps to get next to him. He looks over, Alpha Red Eyes to Alpha Red Eyes. "Ready?" He's doesn't have to tell Derek the plan, right? He's pretty sure that Alphas can share the same wavelength long enough to know the plan on how they are going to dually take Liam down without hurting him.
Dylan has just enough time to think 'Oh crap!' and then Liam is barrelling into him. And by some miracle, the small young man stays upright, literally spun around in place by the glancing impact as the guy with the glowing yellow eyes! disappears into the woods. And then, suddenly, there is a big guy swatting his phone out of his hands and growling at him. And that one's eyes are glowing too. Red this time. At that sight and the tone, Dylan is actually proud of not inappropriately peeing for the first time since preschool. And then THAT guy is gone too.
"Hey! My phone....!" And then there is a crazy person babbling about dogs and HE runs away too. Finally seeing a familiar face, Dylan leans against a tree, trying to get his bearings as he asks, "Um, Ollie? Did you just see two guys with ...." He stops, if he says it aloud, it will make him sound crazy. "Um, three guys in a big hurry? I didn't see a dog. But I got video! If I can find my phone! This is going to be AWESOME for the site." And then, remembering what the scary one said, "Um, do you know those two? 'Cause I think the scruffy one was actually going to axe murder me, but he left his ax somewhere."
And then ANOTHER one runs past so fast that his words are almost lost on the wind of his passing. Dylan blinks and asks the empty air, "Didn't see who? Or ... what?!" He shakes his head. "This town is weird. Um, Ollie, could you help me find my phone?"
Grey Dunbar isn't much further behind the rest, when he reaches Dylan he follows Derek's example (he wants to be a good pack member) growling threateningly at Dylan and stamping on the dropped phone, his eyes shift to Ollie and the teen inside the demon briefly recognizes the boy's scent before he's running after the group again, "I swear to God, I'm throwing out every last damn powerbar we have at home, YOU HEAR ME LIAM! EVERY DAMN ONE!"
Ethan knows his Puppy very well. The Full Moon means Liam is likely to be running around the forest preserve, possibly naked. Ethan also knows Liam's favorite running routes. Of course, Ethan would rather have been on hand to prevent his boyfriend from wolfing out in the first place, but things happen. What things? Hard to say. What's important, though, is that Ethan isn't chasing after Liam, like the others. Instead, he's lying in wait along the path Liam is most likely to take. So when the puppy comes barrelling along, Ethan leaps out from behind a tree, arms stretched open to catch him. Of course, Liam's momentum will knock them both on their butts, but at least the chase will be over...assuming Ethan's plan works.
The puppy sees and smells Ethan, usually that would calm him down, not this time though. Instead this time it makes him howl again and barrel into Ethan, full force. He lands on top of Ethan and claws out almost claws his bf, but manages to keep in a little control and balls up his fists instead. "YOU.... GAVE... RABBIT... MY... LAST... POWERBAR!" Each word is punctuated by a punch. Yep, pissed off puppy and Grey's shouted threat to throw away all the Powerbars just reminds Liam why he's upset in the first place.
Derek tears through the underbrush. He's ready to do what needs to be done. And Ethan standing in the way means that the two alphas can catch up with ease. Once they're there, Derek glances to Scott. Yes. He understands. This will be by the numbers. He sets his jaw, tensing his muscles...
And then he hears what Liam says.
A mixture of exasperation and disappointment crosses his face. Yes, he's Jarething. Taking a deep breath in through his nose, he huffs it out again, nostrils flaring, and folds his arms over his chest.
Derek opens his mouth and, showing his fangs, bellows the alpha roar. But at least he kind of holds back a little bit. He doesn't want to hurt Liam or to make him scared enough to run off again, just...needs him to stop making a big scene.
Over Powerbars. God.
Alpha roar, check. Stiles adjusts course a bit, half wondering how Oliver's doing with that guy who looked so out of place. But he darts into view a moment later, stopping a few paces behind Derek, and takes in the scene. Well, well, Ethan came through! That's handy. It may be just as well that Stiles missed Liam's reason for freaking out, 'cause he'd no doubt be rather put out over it. Even so, the token (semi-)human of the group folds his arms across his chest and grunts softly. "Well," he mutters, "at least he kept his pants on." Shaking his head, he says, "Can we please pack up the puppy and get going? There are way too many people around right now."
Oliver sighs at Dylan. "Dylan, I think you're seeing things. I told you, it's just a group of us trying to find a dog that got out. It's just, some are in track and some play lacrosse so they're used to moving faster. And either way, you really shouldn't stay out here, let's go."
As Dylan mentions getting video, Oliver frowns faintly. He knows exactly what could happen if Dylan puts that video on the web. His eyes search quickly, looking for Dylan's phone. He spots it at around the same time that Grey runs by, crushing it beneath his feet. Well, problem solved. Reaching out to try and grab Dylan by the arm to lead him in the opposite direction from everyone else, he quietly asks "So, tell me about those cameras of yours. Were they tied to your phone, too?" He tries to sound as nonchalant as possible while probing. If those cameras set up had any footage, he'd have to destroy it somehow as well.
When he hears the noise coming from deeper into the forest, he assumes Liam has been caught. The Alpha howls coming from that general direction do nothing to reassure him as he does his best to try to lead Dylan out of the forest. Because if the others come this way with the human still lingering, it could get bad. Very bad.
Too many people? Well, Kira is one of them because she spots all this going on... Eyes glowing, furry face... claws, check of course. She has no idea that her own eyes are glowing and to the were wolf eyes right now she's shrouded in flames and lightning showing off her kitsuness. She hears the roar and blinks "Woah," is all she can say but her eyes are mostly on Scott and that display, so yeah she kinda swoons and bites her lip but she also has her katana out just in case those other guys get funny ideas... but the young guy beating up the other funky guy over power bars, really?
"AH! My ph... AAAH!" This one stops long enough for Dylan to get a good look at him and those golden eyes, fangs and the caveman brow are enough to divert the short young man even from seeing his beloved (and expensive) phone crushed underfoot. And then Grey is running away too. "HEY! Get back here ... you ... you ... CAVE JERK!" And then that roar shakes the leaves on the trees and makes something at the back of Dylan's primate brain flinch and want to hide from the predator that produced it.
He tries to dig in his heels a bit as Ollie tries to put him off the track. "Yeah, thankfully, they record to cloud storage." He looks down at the ruins of his phone and then back up to his friend, "Um, what the heck is going on? Do you know?" He's been looking for proof of the supernatural his whole life, but he also kinda wants to run away after all that scary stuff. Thus Dylan stands in one place, not sure which way he should be running.
Grey Dunbar tackles into Liam as he's punching Ethan (not a were so pretty unbothered by Alpha howl), trying to pin him to the ground he just stops himself from biting him, "Stay still or I swear to God I will rid Beacon County of Powerbars!" Demon Grey is mean, picking on poor Alpha roared Liam.
Ethan takes the punches -- he's certainly taken worse in the past -- but after a few moments, he rolls over on top of Liam, pinning the Littlest Beta down. His glowing blue eyes stare into Liam's yellow ones, and he's about to try saying something, when the double-Alpha roar washes over him. Immediately, he flinches, shrinking in on himself just a bit, though he continues to pin Liam to the ground. After the roar's effects pass, he gives Liam a small frown. "Powerbars, really? Like there aren't half a dozen boxes always stocked in the pantry? Did you even look there?" He leans in and licks his boyfriend's face, from chin up to the corner of his brow, then rolls off to the side.
The others react to the roar a little. Ethan being a former alpha can at least resit some. Liam though is a puppy and he is hit HARD by it, especially when one of them is Scott. He is instantly back in human form and looks like a little lost puppy. His eyes are wide and he's whimpering. his hands are back to normal. He does say, "Rabbit likes them I think... I looked in the pantry and we were all out. Granted its also a full moon so it doesn't take much. He pulls his headphones out of his pocket and turns the music on high. He was trembling from the roar and soon was cuddling into Ethan's arms, oblivious to all the chaos his chase has caused.
Derek just sighs. This is Scott's problem. It really is. But now they've accumulated a series of...disciples? Groupies? What the hell is this? He glares at the assembled mass and then abruptly turns and dashes off into the woods. He's still wolfed out, so it's probably for the best anyway; wouldn't want someone who doesn't understand to see him like that, and he doesn't want to shift back. Not yet. Not tonight.
He'll find Stiles later. There may be things to do.
Stiles rubs his ears as the alpha roars pass, and Liam calms down, and--Power bars, it was over power bars!?--he breathes a sigh of frustrated relief. But then Derek goes tearing off, and Scott has apparently been distracted by Alpha Things, leaving... of course... Stiles to deal with the mess. He glares after the departing Derek, then sighs and calls out, "Ethan! Get Liam back up to the road. Grey, quit antagonizing your brother and get your butt in gear. We'll all cram into my Jeep and get the hell out of here." He reaches up to rub his forehead, then turns to trudge back along the way he came. With Derek gone, so is his source of speed--but at least the danger seems to be passed. He makes a detour to avoid Oliver and Dylan. He'll text poor Ollie to explain what's going on, then pick him up later. At least the new kid's being helpful.
And to think he used to be a were-bunny. Who knew?
Oliver makes a mental note to flex his computer hacking skills and wipe Dylan's cloud storage clean. It might take some work and a bit of information casually extracted from Dylan, but he's confident he can manage it. "I'm really sorry about your phone, Dylan. We'll get a replacement, I promise. But you need to trust me when I say that we should go right now." His mind is racing trying to figure out how to explain everything that Dylan had just seen. There isn't any plausible explanation of course, which is precisely why that cloud storage has to be wiped.
Dylan is apparently still resisting Oliver's attempts to drag him off, though. "Damn it Dylan, come on already." And he walks around to stand right next to Dylan and tries his best to push the other young man forward by the small of his back. Suddenly getting an idea, he gestures quickly behind Dylan's back. Immediately a mirror image of Grey, completely phased into his demonic form, runs out of the trees ahead. "Dylan, look! The guy that crushed your phone." The image disappears down the trail. "Come on, let's get him!" He waits for Dylan to take off first, praying his trick works. "Don't let him get away!" He quietly wonders if the cameras would pick up his illusion. Worth investigating later, before he wiped the cloud.
Resisting his friend's efforts to get him to leave, Dylan starts to walk towards the noises, if a little hesitantly, when Ollie points out the guy who crushed Dylan's phone. The young man's eyes narrow and yells, "Hey! You! With the eyes! And the teeth! I want to talk to you!" He starts running towards the phantom, which, of course, leads him away from the pack and back towards town, unaware of how close he came to having his dreams of finding and exposing the supernatural world come true.
Ethan cuddles Liam for a few moments, then leaps to his feet, reaches down, and sweeps the puppy up in his arms, carrying him bride-style. "At least you wore pants this time," he says, his features having returned to human, as he begins following the others toward the road. He glances around, looking for Scott, then notices that Liam seems to be falling asleep. Chuckling to himself, he hugs his boyfriend closer as he continues to trudge through the forest. "So who wants pizza? My treat, of course. Or Aiden's, since he's not here."