Entry tags:

!closed, !completed gdoc, !log, ~2017 august, ~25 points, ~~mercy thompson (coyotecalled), ~~merlin (morethanblood)

WHO: Merlin and Mercy
WHAT: Running into each other in the wild, Mercy and Merlin have a talk.
WHEN: Recently
WHERE: In the woods
WARNINGS: Mentions of nudity, strange conversations, Merlin
STATUS: Closed and Complete

Merlin ran. He loped along with confidence and with amusement, taking in all that he passed and slowing sometimes to sniff out new things and check on old things. Scents were like sights often to a dire wolf form like Merlin's. They informed of the world around one in ways sight could not. What and who had been where, doing what, and when, was just some of what could be gleaned by a strong enough set of senses and the knowledge to use them.

But despite those things, mostly Merlin was out here to enjoy the air and the woods and the feeling of running, as his entire body bunched and released, muscles all over working in unison. He loved to feel like this and he let himself run or fly every few days or so, so that he could just absorb this feeling. It was a good feeling.

He slowed at the river, scenting the air, then padding down to drink some, senses both wizardly and wolfly, open to read the world. As a dire wolf, he rose to the size of a horse, but silvery grey, with eyes that showed his true nature as they cycled from gold to red to black and back.

Sensing someone else near, he raised his head and waited, listening to hear who and what it was.

***

The coyote moved lightly across the forested ground. She was comfortable today on all four feet, lazy and not hungry. She’d scared a few rabbits, for fun, but she wasn’t out to hunt today. She was just stretching her limbs and settling her mind. When the world opened up with her nose, it was harder to think on what troubled her and easier to just… relax.

Four paws skidded to a stop as she sniffed and caught the scent of another. She tentatively stepped out on the other side of the river. As someone used to very large werewolves she really shouldn't be surprised by the sight of something much larger, but she was caught off guard and stopped, one foot in the water.

Her ears flattened for a moment.

***

Merlin waited, not moving, as she paused, and he shook his head slowly, speaking in the language of men, a hard thing for a wolf, but still. His chuckle was a rich and warm thing, and he did find himself considering her curiously.

"Hello, young one. I am Merlin. I mean thee no harm, nor aggression." he sat back, slowly, on his haunches, moving out of ready state to show his lack of desire to cause a problem. He could sense something... something that was not just coyote. And he wondered if this was one he had talked to. he knew at least werecoyotes, of brief acquaintance.

***

Mercy couldn't communicate as a coyote. Her father could but well when you're a native American great spirit you can do a lot of things your children cannot. Her ears pricked forward before she ducked behind the bushes.

A quick flicker of magic, it only took her a second to go from coyote to human unlike most weres, by it took he a little longer to open the small pouch she carried on a collar and slip on a sundress. Nudity didn't bother her, but it was best to not leave interpretation up to anyone.

“Well, you did say we'd run across one another someday.” She said as she came back to the bank, feet bare, a thin chain on her neck with a simple but pretty ring on it.

***

Merlin shifted as she ducked away, swirling from dire wolf to human, his form shifting and including clothing as he took up his chosen appearance once more. “I did. Hello, Mercy. It is good to see you out among the land.”

He waved a hand and a small fire was sparked as he set stones, and lifted fish out the water. “Will you break fast with me?”

***

Mercy smiled a little. “I'm jealous of everyone who can summon clothes on their changes. I have to carry a set around.” She hopped a across the water, agile as she jumped stone to stone.

“I'll do that sure.” The shift left her stomach growling even though she wasn't hungry before. She stretched the kinks out of her shoulder.

***

“It is an old acquired skill, one that took many long years to learn.” And he spoke years in a way that implied centuries. He smiled to her as he nodded.

He carefully skinned and gutted the fish, and lay them out on the rocks over the fire, blowing it higher to gently cook the meat.

“Do you run often, milady?”

***
She shrugged .”It is not part of my magic.”, she settled in place to sit. “I've been privy to many old debates between fae and More. I wish that I could have learned.”

She blinked then smiled. ,”I run easily every day. I have no limits on it”

***

Merlin, in his own turn, blinked, then chuckled.

“Forgive me, please, milady. I did not mean to question your ability, or whether you could run and change. I merely wondered if you ran very often. I myself enjoy such running, in various areas. It seems we share such a joy.” he nodded to her, smiling.

“Perhaps in this place you can learn new magics.”

He shrugged.

“I hope you and yours are well, in the wake of the recent events.”

***

Mercy waved him off. “I am the daughter of Coyote. Magic works funny on me. The only magic to work true and as intended is a very old object that is blood magic based. Everything else either does not work or had unintended consequences.”

She shrugged at him. “It is how it goes. I have no magical talent beyond what gifts my father has given - I can see ghosts, I can control them and I can change from human to coyote in the time it takes to breathe a breath. Magic is, as generally accepted, part of my gifts.”

Mercy smiled a tiny bit. “We had our issues but we survived.”

***

Merlin nodded, hoping she would always been as equanimous about it as she was now. “That seems a good habit to take, mostly.” He smiled to her.

“Good. I was briefly comatose and in that other world. It was… unpleasant.” He had become that person and did not like it.

“I am glad you and yours are well.” He levered some fish onto plates and added a fork and knife, then handed it over to her.

“Eat then, and take strength from this kill made and gained.” He went back to the fire and got his own off, turning the skins to dry more on the other side. He would use as much of the fish as he could.

***

Mercy smiled warmly as she found herself sitting down and taking the offered plate. “Thank you. We are, and that is the best course. Things were hairy for a bit but, well, that’s life.” she shrugged pretty hard and smiled.

“Thank you, it smells wonderful.” because even as a Coyote, cooked meat smelled better to her than raw. Even if she ate chickens now and then (and always left money for them). She tucked into food with easy gusto, she was hungry and well, hiding it wasn’t a thing.

***

Merlin smiled back and ate up himself, settled in to eat with a gusto, magic taking a toll on even him, sometimes. And he had hunted these, and so he honored them by consuming them. Even as he chewed, he lifted a bone and began to carefully carve and string them together in an intricate pattern, the mass growing in a seemingly chaotic way at first.

“I like to hunt and use all that I find, if I can, to make the balance even.”

***

Mercy nodded a bit. “I grew up with werewolves, so we learned to use everything you hunt. That and Charles, one of the marrock’s sons, is Native American, so you learn pretty quickly to honor what you kill.” she was too, obviously, but Charles was more keenly so.

She was less so, but more so at the same time. It got weird.

“I haven’t had fresh fish in awhile.” she sighed happily.

***

Merlin nodded. “I too grew up in a group who honored food as well, in a long lost land now. Twas the way of things, in less complicated times.” He smiled, remembering.

“OH yes? Well, I do this every week or so, Dome events allowing. You are always welcome to sniff me out, in either form, and join me, if you wish. I admit to especially enjoying the company of shifters, as long ago, in a dark time for me, they took me in, and aided me, and helped me be one of them.” he smiled, remembering his days there, recovering, rejoicing, even taking a wife among them.

Before the rest of the world had found them and they had spread across the world.

“BAck then, I even knew Raven, tricky old bastard that he is.”

***

Mercy gave him a faint smile. “We'll see.” She nodded among before commenting.

“I've met a few but no one's yet bested Coyote for being tricky.” She shrugged. “Either way at least I'm not my half brother who our Father enjoys making his life interesting.” She used shut quotes around interesting.

***

Merlin chuckled. “Yes, at least there’s that.” he smiled as he settled back to eat, and to enjoy her companionship.

He enjoyed the woods, and the natural life out here, and he hoped it would continue to be just as interesting. It seemed like a slow stream of townspeople were expanding outward. Which could be good or bad. Only time would tell.

“Do you run in these woods often?”

***

“Not usually, the pack has a bit of land, but I felt like changing it up for once.” She said with a shrug, moving to polish off the fish. She was ready to run it off.

“I tend to stick over that way now..a little skittish being out alone.” She tried to keep close to home ever since the demon Dean days. It would fade in time.

***

Merlin nodded. “If you ever wish company, milady, let me know. I will come if called on the wings of the wind.” He began to clean up the camp, what little there was. Dispersing coals, rocks, and remnants, putting what was left to be done into bags that he made vanish as he worked.

Soon there was just them, and he was stretching, standing, and looking upward. “I think it is a good day to run, milady. I hope you find your day a very pleasant one.’

He shifted, then, into a mountain grey wolf, but an old and large one, with grey around the ears that came from age as much as from natural coloring.

He did not leave yet, as that would be rude. “It is good to meet more who run.”

His voice sounded odd in this form.

***
Mercy smiled at him as he cleaned up, it looked like a much easier way to handle a campsite than anything she could manage.

“It is a good day.” she said evenly as she nodded. “I shall remember that offer. It was good to meet you.” she ducked her head at him by way of goodbyes. “Enjoy the rest of your run and have a lovely evening.”

She smiled, and would wait until he was gone to shift herself.

***

“Fare thee well, milady.” Merlin nodded to her, and then ran, leaping into the run with no firther words, and was gone, headed home at last.

It was time to go.

FIN