Tayne Peregrine (hunterperegrine) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2009-07-14 19:53:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | 2009-06-08 |
Conferring with a Were
Who: Tayne and Jess
Where: Random sushi restaurant
When: Lunchtime
The restaurant was noisy. Everywhere was noisy. Sitting at a table by the window, waiting for Jessalyn to show up, Tayne was starting to wish he had those earplugs now-- even being deaf would be better than hearing every dish clink in the kitchen, the conversation from the couple across the room, the sound of their chewing, the angry conversation between the manager and the cook, the cars passing outside.... And the smells were worse. The smells were driving him crazy. Breathing through the mouth was starting to get to be a defense mechanism rather than merely a convenient means of lessening the load if information, but it wasn't habit yet.
Maybe Jess wouldn't mind getting the food to go and hoofing it to the park, or something.
After talking with Mercy, Jessalyn had gotten a phone call from Tayne inviting her to lunch. It made her happy, and seemed to be the best way to spend the rest of her time before Madock was finished with work. So she all but skipped the way to the sushi restaurant, already craving raw fish. Yum!
Stepping inside, Jessalyn immediately caught sight of him. She wasn't overwhelmed by any of the noises, as they all seemed quite natural to her. She loved being able to hear almost everything in her vicinity, and she couldn't imagine any of it being muted. Waving cheerily, Jessalyn went over to sit down across from him, a bright smile on her face. "Hi! I..." Jessalyn trailed off as an unfamiliar scent hit her. Her smile slipped, but only a tiny bit, and she pushed herself up from her seat, leaning across the table and taking hold of Tayne's face in both hands as she pressed her nose against his. "You smell funny," she said after a second.
Tayne actually tried to backpedal a little when she grabbed his face, pulling back roughly with shock. Not because it was Jess, but because he was just plain overwhelmed right now. The chair screeched against the floor, making him wince and put a hand to his head. "I-- what?" Her words had been all but drowned out with-- everything else. "Smell funny?" Come to think of it, so did she. It was like some scent that he half-way identified as "Jessalyn" in his head was just-- hovering. Floating around. Emanating from Jess like a cloud.
This was just so damn weird.
Jessalyn wasn't at all bothered by his response. Instead, she dropped her hands to the table, still leaning half way over it toward him, trying to get a better scent. "Yes... you smell like..." She paused to try and place it. "Cat." Which made her wants to pounce on him and... well, she didn't quite know.
"God." Tayne scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to pull himself together. This was Jess, she wasn't about to hurt him, or anything. "Well, I spent last night chasing after, and then locking up, a loose bitten-were lynx?" He hoped that was it. If he smelled like a cat, himself, already.... He didn't even like cats! He'd want a goddamn dog, if he wanted a pet, not a cat. Not that being a were-thing was like having a pet....
Her eyes grew as wide as saucers as she stared at him, and she wanted to crawl over the table to smell him again, but she was already getting weird looks. He smelled like cat, but not as if a cat rubbed up against him or anything. "Did it bite you?" she whispered, her heart racing with the possibility of Tayne being a were like her now.
Tayne's mouth fell open, then shut, and he flushed, and then dropped his head onto his arms, on the tabletop. "Don't tell anybody," he said miserably, muffled by his arms. After all, this was what he'd invited her out to lunch to talk about, so of course he'd have to spill. He was amazed she figured it out, though.
Oh, wow! He was. He was a were. Jessalyn slipped off the chair and took his arm, tugging at it. "Come on, let's go somewhere and talk okay? It's too noisy here and people will be listening if they hear us."
Thank god. Tayne picked up his hat and jacket and got up without any protests. "I can hardly hear myself think in here," he admitted, jumping half a foot when someone in the kitchen dropped a plate. "Yeah, outside. Wanna sit in the back of my truck?" He had his camper shell on it, still, and he'd taken the bloody blankets out.
"That will probably be that way for a long time, at least until you get used to it. Yes, we can sit in the back of your truck..." And she started to walk with him in that direction, still amazed by the whole thing. "Have you spoken to the were-lynx since it happened? Who was it?"
"You wouldn't know her. She grew up here, three years older than me or something like that, but then left for a while." And Tayne would have shared her name-- Jess was pretty damn trustworthy, in his opinion-- except he didn't want Rowena pissed at him if she found out. He limped out of the sushi place and across the parking lot; Jess could probably immediately tell where he'd been bit. "I brought her home and locked her in my closet until she changed back. We talked, she knows, and she's... very unhappy about the whole thing." He unlocked the back of the truck, opening the little door for Jess and motioning her in ahead of him. The lingering smell of wet fur and blood accosted his nose, and he rubbed it unhappily.
Jessalyn crawled into the truck to sit, also smelling the wet fur and blood. She tried to ignore it, but it was hard. "What are you going to do? I mean, luckily you have some time before the next full moon, but... I mean... I guess I don't know many people who were bitten." Other than Gabe, of course. "Did you go to the hospital or anything?"
"And get noted down by the authorities, for anyone to see, that I g-g-got bit by a were?" Tayne snorted, following her in and leaving the door open, for a source of fresh air. "Fat chance. I tended it myself." With some help from his sister. "I've done it before, I know how to look after a wound. I'm not sure what I'll do next full moon, honestly... I'll figure something out before then, though." Once he could think straight again, or could think about a cage without wanting to curl up in a ball and shake.
"It's not the end of the world," Jessalyn assured him, though she was sure he knew that. "You've just to get used to it... and make sure you're safe once a month you know? And then after you know how to shift on your own, we can go running together! I've never ran with a cat before!"
Tayne had to grin a bit, if weakly, at that. Jess was so wonderfully optimistic and encouraging. "Once I figure out how. I got some books from Nevermore this morning... turns out I don't know near enough about weres right now. Not to d-deal with this. Hell," he said with a little laugh. "I don't even know for sure what I am.... What kind of cat."
"I can help you with some answers if you want," Jessalyn stated. "I don't know a lot about cat weres, but I might be able to help with general stuff? I bet you'll be a really fierce kind of cat. Oh! Wouldn't it be cool if you were a cheetah or something? Then we could never race because you would beat me every single time!"
"Well, the gal who bit me, she's-- she's a lynx? And the one who bit her was a lynx, too, she thinks...." Tayne scratched his head. "I'm not sure if it's the same. Does it change? Could I be something else?" Dorian had implied it could be anything from a lion to a housecat, but he really couldn't see himself as a cheetah. He was too solidly built. Some skinny racer would be a cheetah, right?
She nodded, resisting the urge to sniff him again. "Yeah, there's a chance you could be a lynx, but there's a chance you could be something else. Wolves are really the only sure thing... if you're bit by a wolf, or born to wolves, you'll be a wolf. Everything else, I think, is up in the air."
"Well, that opens things up, I guess.... Am I gonna start acting like a cat?" he asked with a little frown of consternation. Dorian had mentioned that, too. Instincts. Because, well... Tayne didn't like cats, on the whole. Housecats, anyway, if there was a difference. Maybe he should find out what wild ones were like.
"No, I don't think you'll like, crave milk and purr... well, maybe." Jessalyn laughed and poked him gently in the arm. "I mean, you may take on some characteristics... like for me? I smell people. I try not too, but it's an instinct of mine to get people's scents and memorize then. I don't like sharing my food either, so I'm a bit territorial. And my hormones go all wonky at certain times of the month. I don't know much about cats though, other than I've chased a few through the pack lands before."
Tayne swatted lightly at her hand, not really aiming to hit, much less hurt. "I'd better start doing some research, then. I don't wanna be surprised by all this, when it happens.... I don't know much about cats, either, except they act holier-than-thou and change their minds a lot."
"I think by the time the next full moon comes across... you'll have a lot of instincts by then. I know you have questions, but I think you'll be pretty well prepared. And I don't think you're holier than thou," Jessalyn said, reaching over to pat his hand. "You might end up changing your mind a lot, but who knows? Maybe you'll be like a really strong, dominant cat!"
"So it is possible this'll-- change me," Tayne said, a little nervously. "The instincts, th-the cat-ness, it might turn me into someone different than who I am?" That was his biggest worry, and not one he could or would share with Dorian or his sister or anyone. Maybe Rowena, but he didn't want to burden her, poor thing.
Jessalyn frowned, but it was incredibly brief. "I don't know. I was born this way, so I don't know... how to be any other way but myself. The wolf is me, you know? Eventually you may feel that way too, but I don't know for sure. I think you'll always be who you are now, Tayne, but some of your instincts will be slightly different."
And what did that mean, for him? Did it mean-- wanting red meat, or being dominant? Or did it mean suddenly liking girls out of some imperitive instinct to make cubs? ... he wasn't honestly sure whether he liked that idea or not, actually. As much as he'd love to be normal, that was just-- alien to him. He shook his head. "Guess I'll have to see... and hope it doesn't change me too much.... I like me how I am." Mostly, anyway. Maybe the books would help some.
Jessalyn smiled and rubbed his arm. "I like how you are too. If anything, this is just going to heighten your senses... and you'll be able to shift into a cat! I mean, other than that, it shouldn't disrupt your life too much, you know? I think I would be more worried for you if you had been bitten by a wolf."
The reassurance was nice. And, you know, reassuring. Even if Jess probably didn't know for sure, at least her opinion counted, and so did her faith in him. She was just so encouraging and optimistic. "Why's that?" Tayne asked curiously. "Is being bitten by a wolf different than being bitten by a cat?"
"I think werewolves have the potential of being a lot more dangerous than cats. I mean, I'm sure there's some cats out there that you wouldn't want to be stuck with on the full moon, you know? But wolves are, especially ones who are bitten and lose themselves the night of the full moon... all they care about is the hunt. Blood. They're beasts, hunters... through and through. Sometimes on a bad day, I feel... but I'm always in control of myself, no matter what." Jessalyn sighed and took Tayne's hand. "The good thing is, you know what's happened to you. You can take precautions, right? Not everyone who's been bitten can say that."
"Are cats less likely to lose themselves to the madness, then, you think?" Tayne asked, hopeful. Because that was his second-biggest fear. He knew how to keep himself locked up, and knew to keep himself locked up, in some sensible corner of his mind, but there was always that chance he'd get out... not know how strong or crafty the full-moon beast would be, and misjudge. The way Rowena did. He was definitely glad he knew and could prepare, but could anyone mistake this explosion of the senses for anything else? He couldn't even imagine it.
"I don't really know," Jessalyn said apologetically. "If you were going to be a canine of some sort, I would have better answers for you. But do you think the girl who bit you... do you think she would be able to help you out? Or even want to?" Jessalyn only knew a few weres, and one was a fox. Not really cat like.
"This was only her first full moon since she was bitten," Tayne sighed. "She doesn't know a whole lot more than I do-- in some things, she might actually know less." Like, you know, how to kill or incapacitate them. Which he knew. "I actually promised her-- the books I got at Nevermore, I actually promised to share them with her if they were at all helpful. You were my best bet for info that wasn't in a book, you and Dorian."
Jessalyn nodded. "Maybe now she'll take extra precautions for the full moon so she doesn't bite anyone else. And at least you're aware of what's going on now. I think anything you find in Nevermore should help you... I've been in there a couple of times and looked through some things. They're definitely more legit, and Dorian seems like he knows what he's doing." She gave him another smile. "At least you have people to help you this go around, right? It won't be so bad..." Except Jessalyn was fairly sure the first time shifting was pretty painful, but she knew Tayne would be okay after that.
"Dorian knows his stuff," Tayne agreed. He and Dor' were pretty good friends, anyway, which helped. "Now I just gotta figure out how to tell my mother. She's going to have a cat." And he didn't even want to think of how Torshael and his granddad would take it. "And figure out where I'm going on the full moon... I need a basement or a c-c-c-cage or something." Even the word was hard to say.
"Just don't let her buy you a collar with a bell on it," Jessalyn teased. Who knew what kind of cat he would be. Something told Jessalyn it wouldn't be a small, domesticated house cat by any means. "I would try to set something up in the basement that you won't be able to get out of, no matter what your size. Maybe plan for the biggest cat possible, that way you overestimate rather than underestimate."
"Would help if I had a basement," Tayne said with a wry smile. "I'll figure something out. Maybe whatever new instincts I get will help... like if I want to run after something, I'll know I'm a cheetah, right?" He chuckled, trying to lighten himself and the situation up. "But don't worry, I'm not a collars kind of guy."
"We have a basement, but I think it might be bad to be in a house full of werewolves," Jessalyn apologetically. She wanted to rub his head and snuggle him, strangely enough. "I think if you're a cheetah, you'll be super fast! Then I could have someone to chase around the woods that I won't so easily catch."
"Any cat might give a run for your money, if just because they can climb trees," Tayne pointed out. "I'll figure something out." He reached over to lay a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks, though, Jess. I'm amazed you figure it out so fast...."
"Well, I could smell you," she said sheepishly. "I know your scent, and it was very, very different than what it usually was. So I knew something had changed. Plus, it smelled feline, you know?"
"So I should be able to tell you smell like a wolf?" Tayne guessed, though he couldn't quite bring himself to lean over and take a sniff and find out. That just seemed too out of character, for him, so... so weird. Then again, he had no idea what a wolf smelled like. Like a dirty dog, maybe? Hell, he couldn't even guess.
"Well, I don't know. Being a born werewolf, I think some of those things are instilled inside of me. I imagine that will develop for you, but I don't really know how it works specifically for a bitten were." She lifted her arm up to his nose. "Does it smell strange to you?"
Tayne jumped a little to find a wrist right under his nose, and he flushed, but he did, reluctantly, give her skin a sniff. "Um. I don't know what counts as 'funny'... you just smell like... like you, I guess. Do you smell like a wolf? Should I be thinking that smell is wolf-smell and not-- not Jess-smell?" This was going to take a lot of work to get used to.
"I smell like me," Jessalyn said with a shrug. "I think to some I may smell differently, but again, you're just bitten so maybe those things aren't instilled in you yet. If I still smell the way I always have, then maybe not." She paused and then grinned brightly. "I guess I'm not a lot of help."
Laughing a little, Tayne tugged her over into a hug. "You're a ton of help," he assured her, squeezing her lightly. "Thank you." Even if she couldn't tell him what smell was what, she was still a help.
She hugged him back tightly. "I'm trying to be. Though I know you'll be able to find someone else who can help you a lot more with your questions. But now we have more to talk about, right?" At least she thought so. Even if he was a cat, she still liked him.
"We've definitely got something more in common, now," Tayne chuckled. "Maybe you can give me lessons in smells once I get my poor brain sorted out, a few days or something." That was the biggest problem he had; he could manage the sounds since he at least could recognize most of them, and getting something to lock him up for the full moon was easy. The instincts he didn't know about, so he couldn't prepare for them, but the smells were going to drive him insane until he figured out what they were.
"Smells lessons," Jessalyn agreed with a tiny laugh. "Sounds kind of funny, doesn't it? But yes! I would love to help you out, if I can. Maybe I can go to the zoo and smell all the cats and see if any of them smell like you." She was teasing of course, but it was a possibility if there were no other options.
"If you think that'll help, go for it," Tayne said, shaking his head and smiling. "For now, I'm starving. But rather than going back in there, wanna find a drive-through or something?" Then at least the sounds and scents would be more limited, and less contained.
She nodded. "Sure! We can get some food to go and go someplace quiet if you want." She imagined anywhere they went inside to eat might be too loud for Tayne to handle at the moment.
"Thanks." Tayne scooted himself out to the door and pushed it up to climb out. "Got any preferences as to where?" He was imagining fast food, for the moment. Those were the only to-gos where he wouldn't have to get out of the truck.
She followed him out of the truck, smoothing her skirt back down over her legs when she was standing. "No, I don't care where. I can find anything to eat almost anywhere. Anywhere but Taco Bell!" That place always made her sick to her stomach.
Tayne chuckled and came around to the passenger side door. "No Taco Bell, I think we can do that." He opened it for her. "In you get."
He did wonder, suddenly, whether he'd get cravings for fish. Or mice. Or whatever else it was cats ate.
She climbed up into the truck and put on her seat belt. It was a strange day, meeting Mercy the fox, and now Tayne was a were as well! Jessalyn wondered if the number of supernaturals would continue to increase, despite people taking more precautions. "Let's go somewhere with a really greasy burger!"
Well, if he did get cravings for fish, it wasn't right now. "That," he said as he climbed in his own side, using the top of the door to heave himself up rather than his bad foot, "sounds like a great idea." Greasy burgers and milkshakes. That was definitely what was happening.