If you could only see the beast you've made of me

[why_me]

» WHO? Garion and you
» WHEN? just after he wakes up near the gym
» WHERE? Around (basically anywhere public is fair game)
» WHAT? There's a wolf walking around the station
» WARNINGS? None so far. Happy to use [ ] for any replies.


There is a wolf wandering around the station. A large wolf. A large white wolf with blue eyes.

Because he woke up in a chamber near the gym, that's where he's likely to be found, but he's wandering now, trying to sniff out something, anything, to tell him what's going on. Now, of course, he's not just a wolf. He's also a man by the name of Garion (or Belgarion, technically) but given that a wolf can cover distances much faster than a human can, that he'll have the advantage of a nose that can sniff out nearly anything on his muzzle, and the fact that between his teeth and his claws, he'll have more a weapon in that form should he encounter anything dangerous...

He's always scouted as a wolf. Really, this is no change. Or he tries to remind himself it's very little change, even though he can't sense his Aunt Pol or his Grandfather or even Durnik anywhere. Even though his wife is nowhere to be found and he can't smell her, not even on his own skin, not on the clothing he woke up in. Neither his wife nor his children and it's upsetting on two legs, but on four, it just gives him a sense of urgency.

So if you happen to see a rather large white wolf near the mess or the bar area or one of the crew quarters or just in the hallways, well...

He's as new to this as you are.

Comments

[tumang]

"You and plenty others around here," Amos answers, truthfully, shrugging a shoulder before punching a command in the food fabricator, for another protein bar, which are the more palatable thing the machines produce, as far as he knows.

"You'll get used to it."

[why_me]

He'd be fine without the roughage, really, whatever his Aunt might say on the matter. But whatever gets put out in front of him, he'll eat it though he may make a face at the plate at first before going to. Don't worry, Erik, it's nothing personal. He just grew up with very good food and then he was a king.

When he's done, the wolf will tip the plate up, grab it gently between his teeth, and bring it over to the station where it's supposed to go to get cleaned off. Then he'll consider what he wants to do next as he looks at Erik.

Hmm. There's no less awkward way to do this than to pad a few steps away and just change. Hopefully, as he hadn't seen any weapons on the man, he should be all right.

Hopefully.

"I'm a little amused that the inclination on board," says the rather tall blonde man who is no longer a wolf at the moment, "seems to be to either feed me or kill me. No one seems very apt to leave a wolf to their business.

"Not that I mind the food. Thank you."

Well, he minded the food a little, but it wasn't Erik's fault.

[why_me]

As if his entire life wasn't getting used to bizarre and completely unreasonable things at all hours of day or night.

"It's not too hard to get used to. For the most part, it doesn't figure into things. There's something solid under my feet and walls on either side."

He shrugs.

[lightduties]

So, business as usual, really. There's a reason escorting merchants pays well.

A small smile. "I suppose they throw rocks and eat people, too."

[why_me]

"To be fair," he points out, "if one happens to you, usually you don't need to worry about the other."

[neuralnet]

No, that's a good point.

[ All this talk of the mysterious "they" who brought them here, who changed their clothes... Haruto doesn't like it. He's already paranoid enough. ]

Do you gave any idea who "they" are?

[why_me]

The only idea I have is so unlikely that I doubt it. But I've learned since I was a boy not to discount the improbable too quickly.

[ He's walking and chatting and being amiable, but he doesn't look as if he'd be doing that if he knew exactly who'd done this. ]

[neuralnet]

Well? [ Haruto turns to him, inquisitive. ] What's your idea?

[ He's seen so many impossible or improbable things since he arrived here, he's liable to agree that the improbable shouldn't be discounted. ]

[why_me]

The Universe herself.

[ He glances over at the other man. ]

But she's usually not this... unsubtle.

[neuralnet]

[ Setting aside the fact that the universe is a "she," Haruto finds an immediate hole in this logic. ]

That might work, but there are multiple universes represented here. Multiple versions of the same planet, with different histories and circumstances.

[why_me]

Which means that every Universe decided to contribute someone, or a few someones. Or this... Multi-verse decided it needed certain people for something.

[neuralnet]

"...We tried to save the world." [ He recites, hollowly. Maybe the wolf-man is right. Maybe they're here because they've been chosen for some grand purpose.

Haruto takes a deep breath, as they finally arrive at the mess hall. ]

You would think the Multiverse could at least provide better food.

[why_me]

[ Garion nods. Slowly. ]

When something goes wrong, terribly wrong, the Universe takes steps. Our presence here has a purpose. We just haven't figured out what it is.

[ He shrugs about the food. ]

I might have to see what can be done. I was raised in a kitchen, and good food is important.

[neuralnet]

[ Haruto fetches two plates and hands one to the wolf-man with a curious expression. ]

What kind of wolf is raised in a kitchen?

[why_me]

[ He takes the plate from Haruto with a dip of his head. Thank you. ]

I'm not a wolf.

[ He pauses as he realizes how that might have looked. ]

I can be a wolf at times. My grandmother was a wolf. But I was born a man and grew up a man.

My family can just do some things other folks can't.

[neuralnet]

[ Haruto just stares. Then, he does that thing he's had to do so frequently here, where he just decides to pretend that what he's just heard makes complete and total sense. ]

Oh. I thought you might be a yokai. But you're really just... a quarter yokai.

[blacksky]

Elektra goes to four places in this God forsaken place. She goes to the gym, bar, her room, and the mess. He's found her in the gym lifting weights. Really anyone would be frightened at the sight of such a giant thing. Elektra is just confident and mad enough to look amused even as she lifts. "Aren't you a lovely thing?" She smiles with her teeth and continues to through her next set.

"If you're looking for food, you've come to the wrong place." Both a warning and an observation. She's not all that worried though. She tends to trust things that seem as wild as her.

[why_me]

What, exactly, is a yokai. If you don't mind me asking.

[ IT doesn't sound like something bad. But you never know. It sounds sort of... Melcene?]

[why_me]

He isn't really looking for food. He's looking for answers, looking for people, looking for... things that are much more familiar than all of this. He's starting to wonder if this place is cut off from everything normal, as it is.

That's why the wolf pads over to watch her for a moment as she uses the exercise equipment. It's new and different and he's curious.

[neuralnet]

Oh, well... It's a creature in Japanese folklore. Legend says that if an animal lives long enough, it can turn into a human.

[magneticfields]

Erik schools his expression and doesn't react when Garion transforms, other than a slight widening of the eyes. "Well. A well-fed wolf is less likely to take matters into it's own hands, so to speak." He shrugs at the thanks for the food. "It was the best I could do under the circumstances."

Erik crosses his arms and leans against the wall, a thousand questions running through his mind as he tries to pick where to start. "So you are a shapeshifter, then? Why a wolf? Why not something less conspicuous?"

[why_me]

"It's something I can do, yes," he says, leaving the definition of exactly what he is up to debate. Mostly because as his grandfather had said, there never was much of a word for it, and, as a wolf might point out, there's hardly the need for a word for it when there's so few of them.

"And it's one of the easiest forms for me to take. Not to mention that it's fast, strong, and it's the only one that gives me a weapon. This place wasn't kind enough to bring my sword with me. Or it's kept somewhere I can't get to."

He takes in the crossed arms for a moment before offering a bow of his head.

"I go by Garion, more often than not."

[why_me]

[ That actually has him pausing for a moment. ]

That is actually what happened with my grandmother, from what I've heard, so maybe you have a point. I didn't know it happened often enough for someone to have a word for it.

[tumang]

"So you don't care that right outside these walls, there is no oxygen to breathe and the pressure will make your blood boil, if the temperatures don't freeze you up first?"

Amos tilts his head.

"You don't care that if any of the systems fail, even for a moment, we're all dead?"

[neuralnet]

I didn't know it happened at all. It's only a legend.