Tyler Lockwood (firstsuccess) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-10-15 19:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, grog strongjaw, tyler lockwood |
Who: Tyler and Grog
What: A random run in during a late night walk
When: September's full moon
Where: A park somewhere
Rating/Warning: low/non
Status: Complete
It had been nearly five months since Tyler had become a hybrid and no longer had to deal with turning into a wolf on the full moons, but even still he liked to go out on full moon days and just enjoy it. Enjoy that every bone in his body wasn’t breaking and reshaping. Enjoy that he didn’t have to worry about breaking his chains and tearing his friends apart.
Tonight, he was going for a walk. Maybe later he’d stop by at a bar for a drink - possibly a meal too, though he tried to keep feeding on humans to a minimum. It was better than blood bags, but a lot riskier.
It was a fairly quiet night, which meant that he could hear the footsteps that were running toward him from the opposite direction quite clearly. It was a while before the person came into view, his enhanced hearing bringing the sound to him long before a normal person would be able to, but when the guy came into view there was something decidedly off about his eyes. “Hey! Hey you,” Tyler called. He didn’t know what compelled him to do so, other than the fact that his dreams had made him extra cautious getting to know any supernatural beings as soon as he became aware of them. Surprises were rarely a good thing.
***
Grog had found himself out walking in the evenings more, lately, as he tried to get used to his new size and power. At a staggering 6 feet and 9 inches tall, almost a foot taller than he used to be, he felt enormous. In addition, he had found himself adapting to a new toy. He had gotten an item that he had not yet dreamed of a belt that when he wore it allowed him to see in the dark as if it was day time. It was amazing.
And he also grew a beard overnight, which was disconcerting, to say the least.
Tonight, he was walking, wearing the belt, and looking around in delight. His eyes, to other vision, would likely seem an eerie color, since they were openly pulling in and processing the radiations that allowed him to see by night as if by the light of high noon.
When the man called, he turned, and smiled, curious and cautious.
“Yes? Can I help you?”
***
Tyler hadn’t realized just how huge this guy was until Tyler jogged a little closer. He didn’t like the idea of craning his neck to stare up at the guy, so he stopped a few paces away. At least he seemed friendly. Tyler wouldn’t be afraid of fighting with him - the strength, speed, and healing that came with being a hybrid made those kind of fears pointless - but it wasn’t something he would want to do either way.
“Yeah,” he said. “You could tell me what’s going on with your eyes,” he said, and then deciding to take a risk, continued with, “I thought you might be a dreamer. I like to know who’s who.”
***
Grog raised an eyebrow, then chuckled. “I’m wearing a belt that allows me to see in all wavelengths, and thus in the dark, and as a result, it makes my eyes look funny.” He chuckled again.
“I hadn’t realized it would be so visible for all to see. You have good eyes.” He paused. “And yes, I’m a dreamer. Grog Strongjaw, at your service. Until recently, just a comic book man.”
***
“Oh,” Tyler said, glancing once at the belt. Vampires being nocturnal, his night vision was as good as his day vision. “That seems like a useful belt. I’m Tyler Lockwood. So, just enjoying the nighttime sights?”
***
“Yeah. A nice catch from the dreams.”
Grog nodded. “Mostly. I recently also shot up as a result of the dreams, and I feel like I should take care of the new build, you know? So I am out trying to walk-job, some, and see what i can do with it.” He chuckled. “Don’t know my own strength yet.”
He was a little worried by the number of things he had broken in his house.
***
Tyler didn’t know anything about growing from his dreams, but he did know something about a sudden increase in strength thanks to the dreams. He’d broken his fair share of furniture when he’d been adjusting to his werewolf strength. “Oh yeah? I might be able to help you figure it out. How much stronger did your dreams make you?”
***
“Uh… not sure about numbers, but I went from average, able to lift heavy shopping bags to being able to do over a hundred push ups and pull-ups unassisted. So… I am still figuring that out.” Grog chuckled.
“This is new to me, you know?”
***
“It’s a lot to take in. I had the same thing happen,” Tyler said. “Though, I could already do the push-ups and the pull-ups before the dream strength kicked in.”
Really, it sounded like human strength to him. Strong human strength, no doubt, but still human. As a werewolf, Tyler had gone beyond human strength, and that had only multiplied when he’d been turned into a hybrid. “You don’t know the upper limits yet though? How much can you bench?”
***
“I don’t. I broke two doors, a sink, several cabinets, and my table accidentally, though, so I know at least my grip strength if pretty far up there.” Grog had his hands in close to himself, as he was still getting used to it. He didn’t want to hurt anyone or anything accidentally.
“I’m still getting used to, and learning, really, what I can do. Like… I heal faster than normal now, and I can like… make myself heal extra fast. And sometimes I can move really, really fast.”
***
Tyler’s eyebrows rose. Okay, maybe a little more than human strength. “The dreams gave me extra strength as well,” Tyler said. “So if you wanted to test yours out against someone, I might be your best shot.” After all, even if by some chance Grog managed to hurt Tyler, Tyler’d heal nearly instantly. That was especially true on the night of the full moon, when all of Tyler’s powers were heightened.
***
“Sure. We could try that sometime. Might be fun.” He considered. “But carefully. I have no idea what I can do, and I neither want to hurt you, nor be hurt.”
Grog nodded. A test would be good, but not if it ended in pain for someone.
***
“I doubt you can hurt me even if you wanted to,” Tyler said. “At least, not seriously. I’m a quick healer.” Well, ‘nearly instantaneous healer’ would be closer to the mark, but he didn’t need to get into the details. “Though, we could start off with something simple, like arm wrestling.” It had been a long, long time since the last time Tyler had had a good old fashioned arm wrestle.
***
“Oh? Dream stuff?” Grog liked that, and it relaxed him a little. At least he wasn’t alone in this mess. He smiled a little more.
“Alright, sure. Where do we go? Is there like a table around here to balance on?” He had not arm wrestled since he was sixteen.
***
“Yeah, I’ve been dealing with the dream changes for the last few years,” Tyler said. And he’d had to deal with a lot of changes. He’d been a werewolf, than a human, then a werewolf again. Now, here he was, as a hybrid.
“There was a picnic table not too far back that way,” Tyler said, jerking his thumb in the direction he’d just come from. He turned to make his way there. “So, how long have you been dreaming?”
***
Grog followed him, thinking about how odd it was to just randomly encounter someone like this. But… well, this place seemed like that. “Not long now. A few months of dreams, stuff from my dream-self’s youth.”
He walked along silently for a moment, then spoke again. “I have seen many different attitudes on the net about this… do you consider yourself separate from your dreamself, or the same?”
***
Tyler didn’t need to mull over the question for very wrong. “Separate,” Tyler said. “I mean, it’s obviously me in the dreams, and feelings do cross over.” His feelings towards Damon after Damon put him into a coma and then later killed him were proof of that. But, on the other hand, the intense hatred he felt toward Klaus weren’t present here. “But I’m different than him. For one, I’m luckier.” More importantly, he never wanted to feel the way he had felt toward Klaus in the dreams. The burning hatred he felt for Klaus, that had destroyed his relationship with Caroline and so many of his other friends. The need for revenge, even if acting out his revenge would inevitably end up destroying him. “A lot of the people who share my dreams feel the same way though. Where do you sit on the topic?”
***
Grog walked on for a minute in silence, then spoke slowly. “So far, separate, but… I’m afraid of the changes that are happening. My dream self is stupid, like… very much not nearly as smart as me. He’s savage, and without much in the way of moral compass. And if I am changing physically, what if my brain changes, too. What if I lose my intellect, get his brain? That weighs on me.”
And he went silent again.
***
Tyler frowned thoughtfully. “That sounds rough,” he said. He shook his head at a lot of the decisions his dreamself made, but Dream!Tyler was by no means stupid. At least, no more stupid than the actual Tyler was like. He wondered what it would be like to dream of being an idiot. Or what it would be like to start losing your intelligence. Would you even realize it was happening?
“That sounds tough,” Tyler said. “Honestly, I don’t know if you’d dumb down in real life. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with that problem. I hope not though. That would blow.”
***
“I hope not too. Its the one thing I really worry about. I don’t mind the physical changes, even if I turn into a Goliath completely. I do most of my work remotely, and the fans will just think I am cosplaying. BUt my mind… is what my whole career is based on. Without it… my whole life would change.”
He didn’t like that idea, at all.
***
“Hate to break it to you dude, but you’re whole life’s going to change whether you get stupid or not,” Tyler said.
As they went around a bend in the park, the picnic table he’d seen earlier came into view. “There it is,” he said, gesturing toward it. “Want to try racing the rest of the way?”
***
“NO doubt, I’m sure.” Grog chuckled, and nodded, looking ahead.
“Sure! Why not? Let’s do it!”
He stretched and smiled. “A race sounds like fun.”
***
“Great,” Tyler said. He wasn’t expecting it to be much of a challenge - hybrid speed was almost unparalleled - but his inner sportsman was still glad for the chance at competition. “On three then. One, two…”