EXCOLO

I scented him the moment he crossed the border into the woods, the moment his scent changed when he recognized the night coming on, the second he decided to give into it. The wolf in him is already rising, even though his skin is smooth and his jeans still half-on. The wolf in him knows it's about to be set free, and it strains and tenses like a dog on a chain, like a racehorse at the gate. It waits. And now that it expects to go free, the boy won't be able to hold it for much longer.

I sit in the bushes as a Hound. If he looks up, he'll see me. I wonder if it will make any difference.

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I'm down t'my skin and it itches, almost squirmin' like a dog in a too-small kennel. I ain't slipped my skin much 'a late, just 'nough t'keep my senses sharp, and that ain't the same as runnin'. I finish pilin' my pants on and lay the bar 'cross the pile, weightin' it down.

I take a deep breathe and slip - down and he's there big as purple and black like silver cold smelling above - and oh jeez I can't, I won't run with him like that, but he's faster than me like this. I can't lead him back into town. There's none at the ranch that bear me any good will. He's just sittin' there.

The Carnival. No kin there and they turned him back once. Lunge quick and nimble to the brown laying like green over blue then twist and run run like he showed flat out and balanced running from the night from the brown rising like purple to meet our feet running to the light red orange scent of man and green black of hard things and meat and safety in numbers not pack but man not a dog but night runs behind. Not fast, not fast, playing maybe but not curious not playing just running not again not hunting like the night like teeth in the purple black cold just run.

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Ah, apparently he's decided that the best way to solve his problems is to run from them. Not such an unusual attitude in a pup his age. Well, he can't outrun me, and I'm pretty damn sure I can bring him back to heel once I've gotten a hold of him. The wolf's survival instinct and urge to submit are too strong.

For now, let him run. Let him get tired and shaky and confused. I follow at an easy lope, keeping him in my sights, not trying to hide my presence. Let him run. Every pup has to learn sooner or later that running doesn't always work.

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Close too close easy run like hunter feel like prey not right not good but running. Slow running still there run faster but panting breathing scent like yellow like bright red blazing through black. No alpha no leader not strong enough find one to stand in front -

- I'm on feet fer a sec instead 'a paws, overridin' the wolf, stoppin' myself from turnin' back 'n submittin' 'r runnin' off lookin' fer a pack leader in the forest. The Carnival's ahead, all lit up, 'n even if I can't run maybe I can hide.

Running to light like burning on the brown in the black not safe smells like man like food like hard things but so close hide among men like trees hide scent among food.

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The pup changes back to man for a split second....his control is improving, but then, fear has a way of doing that to folk....and then he's Wolf again, still moving. Where the fuck does he think he's...

- The Carnival? Is he actually going to try and lose me in the Carnival? Well, not a bad notion, I suppose. On a normal dog it might work fairly well, with all the distractions and muddled crowds and noises and mingled scents. It might well work, with an ordinary dog. But I am not an ordinary dog, pup, and I have marked you as mine. I could follow you through the fields of hell and back again.

My tongue lolls in a canine grin, and I stretch my legs into a run.

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Running faster somehow, purple black feet like shadows thudding without sound drumming like rain like thunder too close but soft caves and men and light startled gasps like birds scattering through the herd and away, stalking among soft caves like trees like hiding like grey.

I got t'find somewhere t'hide, 'r somewhere safe. It's a bad idea t'be here. I should 'a run back t'town, 'r run with him, but Luke told me I shouldn't and he's right. But now I'm naked in the Carnival and he's still there, big black shape stalkin' me though the tents and trucks. I'm flickerin' between man and wolf, faster 'n I ever have, tryin' to hide, to run, to slip scent, but he's still there. I crouch up against one big tent, tryin' t'catch my breath. Hell. What now?

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It isn't hard to track him. He's being careful, even amongst the noisy crowds stalking his way in between the tents, avoiding the light, keeping out of sight. Good pup. Clever pup. Reminds me of just why I want to keep him, even given all this.

And he's switching bloody fast too, almost flashing between man and wolf. Most lycanthropes I remember have trouble changing that quickly and still holding onto themselves...but he manages it. Huddles against a canvas wall, naked and shivering. He can think better in this form, that's for certain, but his senses are dulled. His ears filled with noise, his nose clogged with oil/food/sweat/shit from the crowds around him.

It's nothing at all to creep up behind him and press my nose into the small of his back.

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I think I should try the Magician. I ain't smelled him, but then I dint get a good scent when I was here. I dunt know where he is either, and I can't ask. I might be able t'make my way back t'the midway where the show tent was, but not naked, and I can't guarantee the wolf'll go along with it.

And then I yelp and jump, turnin', nearly slippin' back as the hound-god pushes his muzzle into my back. Jesus Lord in Heaven, he's big. I dunt see size the same way when I'm the wolf, and I ain't really bin 'round him much when he's bin a hound and I bin a man. He must come up t'my shoulder, anyways. He could take my head off 'n not even need t'pounce.

I gulp 'n step back, not takin' my eyes off 'a him. I got no weapon, no clothes, and I dunt think I got anywheres t'run. I do the only thing I can think 'v. I straighten up 'n nod t'him. "Sir."

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There are certain pleasures unique to being a hound. Being able to lick one's own balls is one of them. Another is that special shriek that a person only gives when a cold, wet nose is unexpectedly pressed to some area of bare skin. The boy yelps, spins around, skids in the mud and nearly goes over. For a minute I think he's going to take the tent with him, and wouldn't that be a laugh. But he catches himself, and for a minute just stares at me, his legs trembling. I sit down, idly wondering if he's going to piss himself.

But no. He straightens his spine...doesn't raise his head, but nods to me. "Sir."

There's guts in this one. If he goes wolf now, I'll have him. If he doesn't....well, I'm not sure what he'll do. And it's that fundamental curiosity that keeps me sitting on the ground, my tail beating a steady rhythm on the packed earth. Is he going to break and run? Or will he talk to me?

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He just sits there, his tongue lollin' out 'n his tail thumpin'. I know if I ran now he'd catch me - there ain't room 'nough t'dodge. I think if I found somewhere small I could hide. Realizin' how big he is, and I know I ain't my full weight when the wolf is out... it could work. But I got t'get away, first.

"I guess I ought t'know better than t'be walkin' out near dark. At least when I ain't right in town." I shake my head. "But I ain't runnin' with you. It was fun, catchin' that deer, but that night with Luke, and you starin' down at that poor touched girl? It's too easy t'get carried 'long when the wolf is out." I think back t'the last time I was here, Lily, and Conley. "Bad 'nough as a man, sometimes."

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The show is over for now, maybe another later but I made sure to draw a large crowd for them ti pick from. Unfortunately nothing worth my interest or to my liking. So in deeper into the tent they go, lured by smiles whispering promises of things they didn't know they wanted until now.

The girls will give them what they want, they always do. I make sure to stay behind, in the shadows and then let the marks as they call them, see me walk though to the back, drawing in the few that lingered behind. Declining all requests, I walk into my room and close my door and then hear a yelp, just outside my part of the tent. Human, not animal, but close enough to be confused between the two and low enough to be drowned out by the din of the midway, girls and crowd but loud enough for me to hear.

A smile touches my lips as along with the voice, I catch not one familiar scent in the air but two. Ibliss' dog is here and so is our pup and just listen to him make his stand. From the smell, I can tell Gaueko is not in his human form and I wonder how he'll respond. Though, at the same time, I will not allow him to tear the boy to shreds. So I open my door and wave over a few of the rousties that stand guard, telling them I heard a noise and I think an animal is just outside the tent. Picking up their lights and weapons they turn and tell me they'll go out to check though they don't seem in any big rush. That should give the boys just a little more time to talk. Shutting my door, I go back inside, close enough to hear and close enough to jump in should the need arise but, Oooh I am interested in what the pup has to say. He is not happy with Gaueko it seems.

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Still facing me down. I'll give him full marks for courage, if not for brains. But then, I knew that already. "I guess I ought t'know better than t'be walkin' out near dark. At least when I ain't right in town." Really, I'd have no problem taking him in town, but let's not disabuse him of the notion. "But I ain't runnin' with you. It was fun, catchin' that deer, but that night with Luke, and you starin' down at that poor touched girl? It's too easy t'get carried 'long when the wolf is out. Bad 'nough as a man, sometimes."

"Bad enough as a man"? I have to wonder what exactly that means. Anyway, boy, you came out at night, you ran with me. Your wolf knows the truth of the matter.

My ears prick forwards. Guards. Lights. I can hear them. Well, let them come, then. I'm fairly certain they'll take less well to a naked man on their lot than they will to a dog.

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Still just sittin' there. I can smell men comin', hear them searchin' round through the tangle 'a tents here. Damn. I could slip my skin and run, but that's no better than it was a minute ago. They won't bother him, unless he looks dangerous, but the wolf is small, and a wolf, and they'd shoot it if they could.

But I'm a naked man now, and judgin' from the scent 'a the nearby tent, that's not a good thing t'be right here. Damn. If I could slip under the tent, 'r had a knife I could get inside and make somethin' up. Or at least hide.

I think shiftin' is my only real option - if they come 'round the right way I can run through 'em and he'd have t'charge 'em t'get me.

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I can see the flesh of his back against the opening of the tent. Breath coming hard and fast until he realizes Gaueko isn't going to attack.Poor pup about to be discovered as naked as the day he was born behind the grindhouse by a group of rousties. The heat coming off him is so strong I can feel him right there, muscles taunt as I reach out and wrap my arms around his waist and pull him back inside.Evidently I caught him off guard by the way his weight falls back quickly into me and my arms so much so that this human form falls back on to the ground with a sharp intake of breath coming out as loud "oof," as we hit the ground loosening my arm, I lay back and smile up at him, "Hello ,John. You okay? Looked like you could use a hand," I say blushing as I seem to notice his lack of clothing an squirm a little under him.

Edited Date: 2009-08-09 03:19 am (UTC)

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I'm just nervin' myself t'slip my skin and run back fer town when somethin' grabs me from behind 'n pulls. I yelp 'n fall back, somehow into the tent 'n then I'm landin' on somethin' soft. "Hello, John. You okay?"

Oh. Oh, heck. Lily's smilin' up under me and even with everythin', with the hound-god just outside a thin layer 'a canvas 'n men lookin' 'round and with what happened last time, even with all that I'm suddenly very aware that I ain't got a stitch on and she ain't wearin' much more. She's noticed too and she moves about tryin' t'get out from under me. Looked like you could use a hand," she says with a blush.

Oh, heck. I push myself up quick 'n look 'round fer somethin' t'cover myself with, grabbin' one 'a her cushions. I look at the wall 'a the tent, but there's nothin' t'say how I got in here. I look at Lily, but she ain't givin' me no clues - she just smells kind 'v amused. Those same undertones make my nose wrinkle, though - sourness, and somethin' like hot metal. I glance again at the wall. How come he ain't come after me? "Um. Thanks."

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Looking shocked, he gets up quickly and covers himself with one of the couhions from my bed, making me laugh a little. Someone knocks on my door saying they heard a noise, asking if everything is okay. "I'm fine," I call back, smiling and looking John over as he looks at me, wrinkling his nose. "Would it help if I took my clothes off too?" I tease and giggle."

"Um. Thanks." he says and I walk over to him and smile, lightly brushing a kiss over his lips, "You're welcome, John. That was a big dog, Why was it chasing you? And where's your strange friend, Conley, I believe was his name?" Making sure to emit the pheromones of a female ready to mate,I take his hands in mine and look in his eyes, "I'm just glad to see you again, John. That dog didn't bite you did it?"I ask, brows knitting in concern.

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"I'm fine," she calls when someone knocks, lookin' at me and smilin'. "Would it help if I took my clothes off too?" she asks, and I blush darker. "N-no, um, I dunt think - that is, it - " I find myself stammerin' and then just clam up.

She keeps smilin', walkin' over 'n kissin' me lightly. "You're welcome, John. That was a big dog, Why was it chasing you? And where's your strange friend, Conley, I believe was his name?"Oh, heck. As grateful as I am, I dunt want t'explain any 'a this. And she smells like sex, like she wants me, and it's cloyin' and strong and I sneeze as she says "I'm just glad to see you again, John. That dog didn't bite you did it?"

I shake my head, tryin' t'clear it. "No, Miss, it dint. And I ain't seen Conley since - " since that night with us three - "fer a while."

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His blush deepens,still the innocent boy Iblis brought to me."N-no, um, I dunt think - that is, it - " he says then cuts his words off sharply. I laugh and shake my head when he sneezes, "I was only trying to lighten up the situation,John. You have a wonderful body, there's no reason to cover it up or be embarrassed, you should be proud of it" I shrug and then bend down to open a trunk at the foot of the bed.

"No, Miss, it dint. And I ain't seen Conley since - " since that night with us three - fer a while." he says, clearly embarrassed at the mention. I hold my smile in wondering if it was because of what happened with them or that he liked it. My poor, poor pup. I only saw him in his wolf form briefly tonight, Oohh how I'd love to see it again. I prefer that to human anyway.

"I haven't seen him either," I say tossing him some clothes and shoes as I sit on the chest and sigh. "I was hoping I'd see you again though," I look up at him, "I mean, Not like last time," I say quickly, letting my face heat. I usually stay out front and don't work back here,but it was you I thought about later. I just wanted to see you again."When I look back up, he's dressed and I give him a small smile.

"It will be safer for you to go out through the front, I think." I stand and walk over to him. We're close to the same height so I only lean against him a little and press my lips more firmly against his and then stand back and smile. "Stay safe,I hope to see you again soon,but if its in public, I promise to pretend not to know you." I say, lips turning down briefly before I blush and smile as if to hide sadness. I open the door and gesture out, "I'm sure you're eager to be on your way.It was good to see you.I'll walk you out if you don't remember the way." The way he ran out last time, he might not. Though his sense of smell might help him find the way.

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