WHO: Summer Adams and Roger Davis WHEN: 18:00-20:00, Monday night WHERE: The beach WHAT: Summer and Roger hang out and get close before her furry little problem gets in the way RATING: High for transformation ickyness and PAIN STATUS: Complete | Logged
Summer had been working in the pub most of the afternoon. It had been pretty dead, though, and by about six she’d had enough of just sitting around. After yelling a goodbye to Mitchell, she’d headed out and started back towards the apartment buildings. Still, she’d only got about halfway there before pausing. She’d been feeling really fidgety all day and going back to her apartment to sit around really didn’t seem that appealing. She wanted to be out. She wanted to be doing something. Turning around, she’d started back the way she’d come, heading past the pub and onwards, down towards the edge of the city and the beach. She usually went out to the forest when she wanted to be out in nature but she thought a change of scenery might do her good. The forest reminded her of full moons with Remus and Sirius...
As she’d walked, she’d pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened a new text message to Roger. She wanted someone to hang out with and, since he’d turned up, Roger had become her go-to guy. They just... clicked. She got on well with the two Mitchells but they both came with complications. One of them was a ghost, for starters, and the other... well, he had Annie. Not that she wanted something sexual out of him, she just always felt guilty if she used up the time he could be spending with Annie. She’d seen him before when he’d thought she was gone, after all. She’d felt so bad for him all the time they’d been trapped in the jail.
Roger... well, he was complicated too, but not for the same reasons. She still got the feeling that he wasn’t completely opening up to her, that there was something bothering him, and she worried that he was still feeling weird about her coming onto him that first night, even though he said he wasn’t. To be honest, that whole thing was a bit of a mystery to her. He’d turned her down. Simple, right? He wasn’t interested. Except he’d spent the last week flirting with her or, at least, not seeming too bothered when she flirted with him. Guys who weren’t interested didn’t flirt, right? Who freaking knew. Men were weird.
Despite all the mystery, Roger was still the first person Summer thought of when she wanted someone to hang out with so she quickly typed him a couple of text messages, pressed send, then tucked her phone back into her pocket. She’d almost reached the beach by then. Zipping up the pockets on her leather jacket so that her phone and cigarettes wouldn’t fall out into the sand, she ran the last little stretch until she was on the beach heading down towards the sea. The tide was just going out and it had left a damp patch of sand behind it. It gave Summer an idea - a game that she and her friends used to play whenever they went down to the coast. It would be a little hard with just two people but the principle was easy enough.
It would take Roger a little while to get down to the beach - presuming he was coming, of course, and hadn’t just blown her off - so, to fill the time, Summer crouched down and began scraping the sand in front of her into a long, thin pile, in preparation for their game. She didn’t know if Roger would be into the whole thing, or whether he would just think she was stupid for being childish. Still, she wanted to do something. She wanted to run and use up all the energy that had been making her twitchy all day.
~
Roger had been taking it easy that day; he wasn't feeling too well and he wasn't sure if he was just starting to come down with something or what was going on. But he'd stuck near the apartment and slept half the day away. He had just finished eating a bowl of soup when he got Summer's text and he dropped his dishes in the sink- he could clean up later- before replying.
He would enjoy seeing her, if he was completely honest with himself. He was still a little nervous by how much he liked her- she was friendly and pretty and honest. She didn't push him for information about his past, just let him speak as he wanted and didn't press too much. Sure, they butted heads every once in a while, but it was usually playful and it easily passed- and besides, what two people got along all the time? And she flirted with him in a way that didn't make him feel too pressured. He liked her, had fun with her, and he figured that that, at least, was enough for him. For now. Maybe he'd want more in the future, but for now he had a lot to think about with adjusting to this place and trying to make sure his health was all in order. He wanted to be in control of the disease as much as he could before he could even think about telling her why he'd pushed her away.
He'd found some jeans and and a t-shirt, then tugged on his leather jacket, raking his fingers through his hair and dropping his phone, lighter, and pack of cigarettes into his pocket before making his way out. It took a while to get down there, and he smiled a bit, raising his hand in a wave when he found her. "Hey, stranger. How're you?"
~
Summer had spotted Roger coming from a little way off and had stood, brushing the sand off of her hands, waiting for him. What she’d been constructing in the sand was now complete and stood around her feet - a very rough but pretty unmistakable sand fort. She hadn’t had time to build it very high but there were four walls, about two meters square, and a moat. What else did a sand fort need?
“Stop right there!” she called, holding up her hand in a halt sign, while Roger was still a little way away. She took a step then leaped over the wall of the fort and the moat so that she was standing on the outside. “We’re going to play a game,” she informed him. He was still a little way off, so she had to raise her voice to make sure he heard her over the sound of the sea. Still, she was grinning widely enough that he’d be able to tell she was a good mood, even from right back where he was standing.
“This is my castle,” Summer yelled, motioning behind her back to the fort. She sounded very proud of the fact, especially since the ‘castle’ wasn’t much to look at. Still, she carried on. “You’ve got to try to invade.” She paused, still grinning, and placed her hands on her hips. “It’s my job to stop you.” She’d played this game so many time, usually with more people, and it never failed to be fun. She really hoped that, by informing Roger of what he would be doing, he wouldn’t have the chance to back out and leave her hanging. Besides, he’d seemed to enjoy himself when she’d made him dance, just letting go and having fun instead of being brooding for a change. If he gave her game a chance now, she was sure he’d enjoy it. She knew she would.
~
He slowed to a stop as she called out for him to stop and he cocked his head, curious. He blinked, taking in the scene before him, wondering what she was talking about. A game? God, when was the last time he'd played a game, just for the hell of it? He couldn't even remember. Roger grinned as she motioned to her castle, the nodded, slowly. Fair enough. He could play at this game, probably.
"You sure you wanna take me on?" he called out, not quite able to help his teasing. He'd never played this game, although he thought he'd played something similar as a kid on the playground. But that was years and years ago, not anytime recently.
~
Summer grinned, glad that he seemed to be playing along. Good! This was going to be fun! And exactly what she needed to burn off some of her energy. “Oh, is that a challenge, Mr New Yorker?” she called, joining in with his teasing. She took a few steps forward, away from her ‘castle’, pushing up the sleeves of her leather jacket as though she was preparing herself to get down and dirty. “Bring it on!”
In reality, she knew she probably had an unfair advantage over him, being faster and stronger than an average human, but she would try not to play on it too much, if only so that he stayed interested. The sun was on its way down, turning the ocean a reddish orange, but they had a few good hours of general playing time before it got too dark to see much. Summer knew there would be no moon that night, since it was the new moon, which meant it would be darker sooner but, if she was honest, she didn’t think she’d mind being on a secluded beach with Roger at night time...
~
Summer caught Roger pretty quickly, as she’d guessed she would, although she didn’t run as fast as she technically could and she didn’t tackle him as hard as she might have done one of the boys from home. She didn’t want to cripple him, after all, and she guessed he wouldn’t be expecting her to be as strong as she was. She was small on the outside, true, but she sure as hell packed a punch. The guys at home were used to her and her boisterous ways. She didn’t mind tackling them to within an inch of their lives or, at least, their dignity, but then she knew that they weren’t going to be put off by her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to take that chance with Roger. So she played fair.
He was actually pretty good at the game, she found out. After a couple of tries, she wasn’t even going easy on him anymore and he still found ways to slip past her. Eventually, after a few runs and a mistimed tackle on Summer’s part, he’d managed to get around her and into the castle. Summer had laughed, brushed the sand off of her clothes, given him a high five then headed off back to where he’d initially started from to begin her turn trying to ‘invade’.
The time seemed to fly by as they played. Summer didn’t think she’d laughed as much as she did since before arriving on the island. After forty minutes or so, her sides and cheeks were aching from it. It was a good ache, though. It proved that they’d been having fun. Although the running hadn’t exactly done the trick – she was still twitching with all the energy inside her, which was weird since mid-month was usually her down time – her mind had been taken off of everything except the beach, the evening, the laughing and, more importantly, the company. She honestly wouldn’t have cared, right then, if this night never ended and she was just stuck playing with Roger for ever. At least she knew she’d spend eternity grinning like an idiot.
She was on her third turn at ‘invading’ when they reached a stalemate. Standing about five feet apart, each time Summer moved one way, Roger mirrored her, ready to lung if she got any closer. She’d tried feinting to the left, then the right, but each time she moved, he copied her. She was laughing still, almost unable to stop at that point, as she stood, watching him, watching his eyes on her, both of them waiting for the other to make a move. There was a kind of tension hanging in the air between them, filling the empty space, crackling with the electricity of anticipation, and Summer wasn’t sure that it was all to do with the game. There had been that same kind of electricity between them before, on a couple of occasions, and it always made the hairs on her arms and neck stand on end in an entirely good way…
After a few moments, neither of them moving, Summer decided to make her run for it. She would have to be quick, she knew, and she wasn’t really expecting it to work – Roger was surprisingly good at this game – but they couldn’t just stand watching each other all night, as nice a view as he was. In a burst of movement, Summer sprang forward and started sprinting in an arc around where Roger stood, her sights set on the, now somewhat trampled, mound of the sand fort. She wasn’t that far away. She might just make it...
~
Roger grinned at her retort and feinted to one side before starting toward her castle. It was fun, and he wasn't half bad at the game. The time flew past, his nearly slipping past Summer a few times, her nearly catching him. She was good at this game, really good- of course, she probably had a bit more practice at this game than he did.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd relaxed this much, had laughed so hard and he watched as she stood, getting ready to attempt to take the castle. His fingers curled at his side, and he waited on the balls of his feet to see which way she would go. His heart was pounding in his chest and as she started forward he stepped in her direction, nearly missing her but then he managed to slide an arm around her, nearly lifting her off her feet before they both toppled over to the ground. He was half on top of her, leaned up on his elbows over her, a grin playing about his face. "Got you."
~
For a moment, Summer thought she had outmaneuvered him. She could see the castle just ahead of her and... then she felt a strong arm slip around her waist, halting her in her tracks, the momentum carrying her off of her feet. She fell, laughing, into the sand, pulling Roger down with her as she went so that they ended up in a semi-tangled heap on the damp beach. His torso was across hers, pinning her down, his elbows on either side of her and, although she could have got him off her with a sharp shove and a well-timed roll, she found that she was perfectly content to stay where she was for the time being. Her laugh had subsided to a giggle which, in turn, trailed off into a grin as she looked up at him, her head resting back against the sand, her arms splayed to her sides, lying where they’d landed when she’d fallen. “Got me,” she echoed, her voice sounding breathy as a result of all the running and gasping for breath. Still, it was hard to miss the undercurrent in the two small words, the ripple of sexual tension which accompanied them. “You’re good at this game...”
Roger’s face was close to hers - she could feel his hot breath on her skin - and the weight of his body over hers was a wholly pleasant sensation. What was more, it was him that had her pinned - him that wasn’t moving to let her up. Her wide, blue eyes, suddenly hungry again, as they had been on that first night, blinked up at him as she tried to maintain an expression of innocent obliviousness. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake she had before and risk running him off again. In fact, she wasn’t going to do anything at all. This was all down to him.
~
Roger was laughing some as well. He knew he should move, but right now, he didn't really want to. "Beginner's luck." He was breathless, still laughing a little. They were close, so close, and after a moment his smile faded, gaze meeting hers. Oh damn. He wanted to kiss her- just a few inches and he could easily close the distance between them. He shouldn't, he really shouldn't, it was dangerous to get attached. Only... Oh, damn. Damn. After a moment he lowered his head, brushing his lips against hers.
~
Summer watched as his smile faded, her chest rising and falling beneath him from more than just her breathlessness. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she felt a little shiver of... something run through her as his blue eyes met hers. God, he was hot. And she wanted him, so badly. Silently, she willed him to kiss her, begging with her eyes if not her voice. And then he was moving closer, answering her unspoken call. Yes! She had known there was more than just friendship between them. Maybe she’d acted too fast that first night, but she hadn’t been wrong about the signals. So she’d had to wait for him to recognise it too but what did that matter? She was going to get her kiss now. That was what counted.
Her eyelids fluttered shut, one hand raising from the sand to find his arm, her mouth soft and oh so ready to welcome his kiss. She felt his lips brush hers, so lightly but there just the same. She tilted her face up towards his just a little so that her lips were pressed more fully against his, her throat tight with the anticipation. Summer wasn’t usually one for the slow build up but she thought that Roger might have been worth the wait. Either way, she was about to find out.
Suddenly, a loud, hollow crack emanated from deep within her body. Her ears heard it first and she had a split second to wonder what it was that had made the noise before the pain hit her, blinding and stunning. Convulsing beneath Roger’s body, she couldn’t help the scream that escaped from her mouth, the sound only slightly muffled by his closeness. God, it hurt! His weight, which had felt pleasant and seductive a moment before, only added to the agony and her hand, which had been lightly resting against his bicep, began clawing at the leather of his jacket, desperate to get him away from her. No,, she managed to think. This wasn’t fair! She was losing her kiss!
~
His lips had barely brushed hers and he was just leaning in to deepen it when he felt something almost like a shift and she cried out. He pulled back, eyes widening and he scrambled off of her, pushing up to a sitting position not far at all from where he'd been previously. "Summer? What's- what's wrong?"
He couldn't tell if she was in pain or what was wrong. He didn't understand, and Roger reached a hand for her, stopping from actually touching her. "What's- what's going on?"
~
Summer was shaking all over, the pain still coursing through her as readily as blood ran through her veins. She felt Roger shift, his weight lifting from her, but the relief didn’t make much difference. There was something wrong. Seriously wrong!
Gathering all her wits about her, Summer forced herself to open her eyes and push herself up to sit, her arms trembling beneath her weight. She knew that Roger was speaking, could hear his voice, panicked and confused, but she couldn’t pick up on any of the actual words. In fact, all she could focus on was what she could see behind Roger’s head - a big, round, bright moon, just beginning to rise into the night sky. “No,” she whimpered, shock and anguish heavy in her voice. How could there be a full moon? It was impossible! There were still two weeks to go before the next one! Full moon phases were not something she forgot about. It was supposed to be the new moon tonight. She was supposed to be good for another two weeks. How could this be happening?!
Another loud crack, this time from one of the bones in her forearm, and another splintering burst of pain, confirmed to her that it was really happening, as impossible as it all was. There was a full moon in the sky and, just as she did every month, without fail, she was beginning to transform. She gave another cry of pain, automatically pulling her broken arm up to her chest to cradle it there. This was not good! She was too near the city - too near people. God! Roger! She was going to change and he was right there! She’d kill him! She wouldn’t be able to stop herself.
Tears of pain leaking out from the corners of her eyes, trailing mascara down her white cheeks, Summer forced herself to focus, through the agony, on Roger’s face. “You need to go,” she managed to gasp, still holding her broken arm tight to her. There was another crack, another flare of scorching pain, as one of her ribs snapped in on itself, causing her to convulse again, almost doubling her over, but she made herself look up again, her jaw clenched against the pain. She had to make him leave, before it was too late. “Now. Please. Go.”
~
Roger watched her carefully, his gaze looking up as he noticed her looking above his head. The sky? Why on earth was she worried about the sky? "Summer-"
She looked like she was in pain, and he made to reach for her as he noticed her tears, wanting to pull her to him and comfort her, but her words made him stop still. "I can't leave you, not when you're like this-"
~
Oh god, why was he choosing now to start arguing with her? Couldn’t he tell from the anxiousness in her voice that he needed to do as she said? Maybe the anxiousness was being masked by the pain. Either way, she knew she needed to make him understand that he had to get away, before it was too late.
She was about to speak again when her spine started to crack. She always hated that part of the transformation and it wasn’t any better this time than it had been the hundreds of times before. Screaming in agony, Summer fell forward against the sand, her back arched up in a high curve, as her vertebrae began to pop and click out of position one by one. Every time she went through this she thought she would surely pass out from the pain, but she never did. It felt as though her whole body was being split in two, lengthways, and she got to be conscious to endure the whole agonising thing.
Her mouth was open in a silent scream, tears leaking out into the sand beneath her face from eyes that were screwed tightly shut against the pain. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t think. Her fingertips were dug into the sand at either side of her, gripping, grasping, trying to hold on. She just needed to make it through this part. Once her spine had finished snapping, she would have a moment to breathe. She knew the transformation process well - she’d done it enough times - and she just needed to hold on...
Finally, the pain began to subside a little, just enough that Summer could take a deep breath and raise her head a little, her blue eyes desperately searching for Roger in the gloom of the evening. It was hard to see anything through her tears and the sand that was clogging her eyelashes. White stars were popping in front of her eyes, caused by the pain, and she had to strain to focus on anything at all. Still, she could just make out the shape of him beside her. He hadn’t moved. God, why hadn’t he moved?!
“Please,” she choked, the sound more of a sob than a word. “You need to go. Run. As fast as you can. Find a building. Lock yourself inside. Don’t come out until morning.” If this was happening to her, it was probably happening to the other werewolves too. Nowhere outside would be safe tonight. He needed to get indoors, behind as many locked doors as possible, and stay there until the sun came up. He needed to get inside before she had time to complete the shift and catch up with him, otherwise... Well, she couldn’t think about that. Not now. The transformation was painful enough as it was without thinking about the pain she’d feel if she were to hurt him in any way. At least the pain from the transformation was only physical. Emotional scars took longer to heal, if something like that could heal at all. If she were to hurt Roger... “Please go,” she cried, tears falling freely down her cheeks as she looked up at him, imploring him. “I’m begging you!”
~
He found himself frozen in place, not quite able to bring himself to move. He could hear the desperation in her voice, see how upset she was becoming but he didn't understand it. Why was she in such pain, why was she begging him to leave? "I don't understand-" he started, then broke off, shaking his head. "Summer, what's happening to you? Why should I leave you when you're in pain like this?"
He raked his fingers through his hair, then started to reach for her but his gaze met hers and he hesitated, hand still outstretched.
~
Seriously? Did he need a freaking written explanation? He must be able to hear her bones cracking, see the odd and unnatural shapes her body was making. He shouldn’t have had to find out like this - she should have told him about herself before all this had happened - but she couldn’t believe he wasn’t running now, as fast as he could, away from her. She shook her head a little as he reached out for her, willing him not to touch her. She was in too much pain. She couldn’t bear the feel of his hand on her now, especially as she knew that for every minute he stayed with her she was only a minute closer to tearing him apart. Why couldn’t he just fucking go?
The brief respite came to a violent and sudden end as Summer felt the right side of her collarbone split in two and she collapsed forward again, a horrible, choking gurgle coming from her throat. It had reached the point of agony where she couldn’t even scream any more. She wanted it to go faster and just be over with already but, at the same time, she was desperate to drag it out as long as she possibly could, just to give Roger a chance to run. It was a small chance, even if he started running right that moment, which he didn’t seem to be doing, but it was a chance. That was all she could give him right now and she hated herself for it. For the first time in her life, she really hated what she was.
Pain flared in her mouth as sharp teeth ripped through her gums. She almost choked on the blood and saliva that pooled around her tongue as she gasped for breath but all she could do was gulp it down into her writhing stomach. Her head was bowed forward, her eyes shut, and she was desperate for Roger not to see her like this, now that her mouth was full of long, sharp teeth, ready to rip through flesh and bone. Still, she needed him to go and he didn’t seem to have got the message yet. She loved him for trying to stick with her when she was in pain but he just didn’t understand that she would kill him if he stayed. Feeling a sickening in her stomach, as much for what she was about to lose - there was no way he would want her now - as because of the change, Summer lifted her head, eyelids raising on glowing yellow eyes, to focus on Roger. She didn’t want to look at him and see whatever revulsion or horror was bound to show on his face at the sight of her but, at the same time, she needed one last look at him. She didn’t know if she’d ever see him again... Not as a human, anyway. Not as a human who liked him and wanted him and cared about him and had been dying to kiss him just a few minutes earlier. If he didn’t go now, the next time she saw him it would be with a very different kind of hunger for him in her eyes. She couldn’t let that happen. She just couldn’t! “Run,” she whimpered, ignoring the stinging in her gums as she spoke. He was more important right now. “Now!”
~
Roger watched- something was happening to her and he didn't understand it. He watched in horror as her face seemed to change and then she was looking at him, her eyes yellow and huge and terrifying and he scrambled up to his feet, taking a few steps back. What the-? That wasn't- that wasn't real. He had to be dreaming, right? Maybe it was some sort of trip? Maybe this whole thing, this whole place, maybe it was all just a figment of his imagination, some drug trip and maybe he'd never really recovered.
It didn't make sense. But he was on his feet and she told him to run. "I- er-" And something in the look in her eyes had him nodding, turning and scrambling up the beach in the direction of the nearest buildings.
~
Summer hated the look she saw on Roger's face - that look of horror. She wishes, above anything, that he hadn't had to see that but what else could she have done? At least now he was running. She stared after him for a moment, making sure he was running, and running fast, before she turned and started to push herself to her feet. She needed to put as much distance between Roger and herself as possible. She wanted to give him as much time to get away, get inside, as she could. If she could just give him time, he might be able to get safe. Right now, that was all she could give him.
She had only managed to stagger a couple of feet before another bone cracked inside her, making her fall to the ground again with a cry of pain. She stayed down for a while, trying to catch her breath, before once again struggling to her feet. She knew she didn’t have long. The transformation usually took about fifteen minutes and they’d already wasted around five. That gave him ten minutes to get inside. If she could get a decent way in the opposite direction, it may give him a minute or so more, but that could make all the difference between life and death for him. Panting heavily, Summer made herself move again, limping slightly on a semi-transformed leg which flared with pain every time she put pressure on it. She carried on, however, forcing herself onwards along the beach, clutching her hands to her chest as she gritted her teeth against the pain of them twisting and lengthening into paws.
She wasn’t sure how far she’d made it when she finally couldn’t go any further. Falling to her knees, feeling her legs turning into powerful haunches beneath her, she frantically struggled to get her arms out of her leather jacket before she became too much of a wolf to care. If she was trapped inside her clothes when she changed, she’d just get frustrated and end up all the more aggressive a wolf for the trouble. Eventually, she managed to get herself free of the jacket, but it was too late for the jeans and tshirt. The waistband of the pants fell away from her as her waist shrank and the ripping of the shirt was only covered by the shriek of pain Summer gave as her body morphed, becoming smaller, streamlined, powerful and furry. All human consciousness she’d had melted away, giving in to the wolf inside her, and, instead of a human scream of pain, a long, mournful howl rang out across the now deserted beach. Summer was gone. The wolf reigned.