k a o r i (chiri) wrote in the_dome, @ 2013-09-16 02:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | 04-10-2017, chiri, chiri and lochlan, lochlan |
Werewolf Studies
Who: Chiri & Lochlan
When: Afternoon
Where: On the way to the werewolf project
Lochlan was fresh off his horrible morning with Eily and he kind of needed a friendly face. He knew Chiri had asked him to sort out his family stuff before he called her or whatever, but there was never going to be a moment when Avery was okay with Chiri. He wasn’t going to cut her out of his life either though. So when he was set on leaving the house, he texted her.
Supernatural stuff happening, could use your expertise… maybe advice?
He didn’t figure she’d be judgmental at the very least. He made sure he was where he said he’d be on time. He waited for her, sniffing the air for her periodically.
Chiri was pleasantly surprised to get a text from Lochlan, and even more giddy with the subject. So, she hit back immediately. Oh! Love it! I'm all yours, come over? she returned, bouncing on the balls of her feet and everything.
When her text came in, he decided seeing her was more important for the moment. She might know what to do more than anyone else he knew. More than the jerks at the werewolf meeting. And he didn't really even think twice about spilling the werewolf thing to her. He figured she'd take it in stride. Be there in 5 he texted back. Which is how he found himself on her doorstep in record time. He knocked immediately.
Chiri opened up the door and beamed at him. "Lochlan!" she said brightly, giving him a big hug while she was at it. "Come in! And tell me about cool stuff!" she encouraged, still bouncing around like a rogue super ball.
Normally her overt affection might have made him a little hang-back-ish. But she was the first person he'd seen since Eily and her hug was more than welcome. He squeezed her tight, thankful for the human contact before stepping back. "Cool stuff? Not so much… Have you heard there are werewolves in the dome?" He wasn't going to admit to being one just yet. He needed to see her reaction first.
"I haven't!" Chiri said, eyes going wide and she even stilled for a second. "Oh my god! Werewolves?! For real?!" she said. "God, tell me everything!" she said, not even sure what to do with herself she was so excited. But she did get them something to drink, and sat down to give him her rapt attention.
Lochlan loved her exuberance but he wasn't sure yet if he could spill all the details to her so he tried to work in shorthand and generalities. "I'm not sure myself if it's real, honestly. But what if it was? Would you know anything about werewolves? I know your head is full of awesome things. There are rumors." He sipped what she'd given him and watched her.
Chiri considered that, head canting to the side as she regarded the ceiling. "What I do know is information gotten from fiction and lore, but is utterly unconfirmed." she told him. "It's a point of interest, of course, and just about every culture has it's own shapeshifter lore. Just like vampires, cultures have their own legends and rules, their own take on a concept that's universal in it's underlying theme."
He looked at her seriously and made a little bit of a face. "Was that kind of an evasive answer? Do you have a theory on werewolves in our present day and culture? Or is all you know really just fiction and lore?" There was something soothing about being here with her. A relief he hadn't known he needed until he was here.
Blinking, she looked back at him. "I wasn't trying to be evasive, no." she said honestly. "I was just talking about what I do know, which is lore, and that it's a hugely widespread concept with thousands of interpretations." she said. "You telling me there are werewolves in the dome was the first I'd heard of it, so I don't have any other solid information. Besides...you saying that has me thinking of your attack, the wolf who was not acting very wolf-like." she said. Then she paused. "Are you a werewolf?" she asked, her excitement at the idea not quite contained.
Lochlan nodded at her, affirming that he believed her. He'd just been checking. He was sort of bare bones, bottom line right now. If she had something he wanted to know it. But he hedged and threw up his arms. "No, no. I was just asking if you'd heard something like that." He wished he had thought this out better. Because he was probably not making enough sense now. When she asked him if he was a wolf he stopped. His jaw wanted to drop at her astuteness but he managed to keep his cool. "Are werewolves like ghosts? Can you figure them out, Chiri?"
"I don't see why not." Chiri answered. She very much knew that he hadn't answered her question, but she thought she understood why. If he wanted them figured out, if he was asking her something like that, then maybe he wanted reassurance before he committed to answering. "I would be willing to try." she said firmly.
"Why," he asked abruptly. It hadn't mattered to him before why she was okay with ghosts and studying them. He wanted to know why now. What about the situation made her willing to try at the very least? "If you knew there was something as dangerous as a werewolf in the dome, why would you be willing to try to figure it out. Understand it or whatever?" Maybe he shouldn't be testing her but his text had been some kind of knee-jerk reaction. He'd felt in his bones she'd know answers he needed but he was not sure yet he wanted to tell anyone what he thought he might be.
Chiri didn't balk at his aggressiveness. Instead, she let him get it out there, just listening til she could answer. "The world isn't figured out yet. Mankind itself is stupid. Sure, we make all kinds of progress scientifically, but it's been at the expense of finding out other things. It's also caused most people to just up and forget we don't know everything, that the world still has wonder in it, strange and amazing things that we haven't seen before. It has not all been discovered, or done." she explained. "I haven't lost sight of that. I love discovering things. Learning more. A werewolf would be something completely new for me. Fascinating, and scary, but awesome. And I'll believe werewolves are dangerous when I see one being dangerous. A good lot of shapeshifter lore isn't based in terror at all, but other things, so..." she shrugged. "I reserve all judgment."
Lochlan listened to her assessment and sat there a full minute before he answered her, a slow smile covering his features. "Do you know that you're probably the rarest creature in this place? Whatever mystical thing they create or resurrect, they'll never come close to you." He was astounded by her and in awe and still in need of her somehow. "I … might be a werewolf," he blurted. "I don't know, I don't think anyone can know until the full moon, but there you have it. I'm a little worried about torches and pitchforks. And I was on my way to a project that was building some kind of enclosure to keep me from hurting anyone tomorrow." He then just left that out there for her.
Laughing, she grinned at him and even winked. "Someone has to bring a little sunshine to dark shadows, don't they?" she asked rhetorically. "And okay." she said with a nod, taking in everything else. "What's happening that you're leaning on the side of being a werewolf?" she asked, wanting as much information to work with as possible.
He half smiled at her ray of light in the midst of his doubt. He liked her even more now than he ever had. Well, if he could trust her with this much, and she hadn't laughed or looked at him like he had five heads, he could trust her with some more, right? He shouldn’t second guess his instincts about her. He figured she’d be cool and she was. He was glad she didn’t mind much that he’d waffled some. "I can smell everything," he said with a wrinkled nose. "Someone thinks about not wearing deodorant, I smell it. And I can hear more and see farther, clearer than I should be able to or ever could before. Apparently silver burns," he said, though he hadn't been burned by it himself yet. "And medical professionals have apparently done their research and decided." That last bit had his eyebrows raised a bit skeptically.
Taking it in, Chiri nodded, feeling like she should be taking notes. "Have they now. I'll have to talk to people then." she said. "Honestly, I'm surprised no one did contact me before...this can't be easy for anyone to deal with! I'd like to offer me up for counseling sessions for anyone freaking out." She drummed her fingers on the counter, her nails too blunt to make a clicking sound. "Is it all sensory?" she asked.
"I don't think most of them, or any of them maybe, really want the whole dome knowing about this. Hell, I'm already worried that there are going to be mobs with pitchforks if the whole place figures this out." He rubbed at the scruff on his cheeks with one hand. "It's not all sensory. I mean, I'm sort of stronger than I used to be. And I can't get drunk but I'm not sure if that's part of it. Seems arbitrary."
"I'm not the whole dome, I'm a shrink." Chiri said, but it was off hand. She understood what he meant. Still, she thought about things, feeling like her mind might melt from the overclocking going on. "Being stronger and not being able to get drunk could be related." she said. "Werewolves--that's a physical thing. Shapeshifting. So, in theory, physical changes would happen along with that, strength being obvious, but not being able to get drunk anymore could be your body processing things more efficiently or quickly." she mused.
He shook his head. "I didn't mean you were the whole dome, but that you would be offering to…" he shook his head again and chuckled. Just because she was offering, didn’t mean she had to make it known to the whole dome that she was offering but that was what his mind had leapt to. "Nevermind me, I'm still in paranoid mode." There was something so damned soothing about hearing someone talk matter-of-factly about all of this. There was no emotional tension here with Chiri. He felt like she was grounding him in a way and that meant a lot to him to the point where he was just smiling at her. He caught himself when she stopped talking and nodded. "Yeah, I've been hotter lately when I'm trying to sleep and getting hungry faster too. I think I may have even lost weight recently. Do you think that means my metabolism is running faster? Werewolf: the ultimate weight loss diet."
"It's okay, I'm sure there's good reason for some paranoia." Chiri assured him. She giggled at his last bit, but in the end nodded. "It sounds like it, yeah." she agreed. "So, hooray, you're gonna be supabuff!" she clapped. "Not that you aren't hot already because you are." she added. “Now you just might have animal magnetism!”
He shook his head, chuckling at her enthusiasm. "Supabuff. Well at least one of us has great expectations." He smiled at her saying he was hot. He wondered if that was a one off or if she thought lots of people were hot. He hadn't been able to pin her down, in that way at least, since she'd casually mentioned having sex the first time he'd come to her house. "Well I'm glad you're upbeat about this. I kind of needed that. Thank you. What do you think about protecting others in the dome though? Is the best idea to create some kind of apparatus to pen us in at least temporarily until real data is available?"
"Oh, absolutely. Just in case. Because even if most shapeshifter lore isn't about dangerous things? There is some that is. And we'd best be safe than sorry, y'know? So, just in case, something to help out in that matter is best, and afterwards we'll figure out a much better solution if one is required. Which I still say it may not be." She paused as Midori slunk into the kitchen, hopping up on the counter to nuzzle against Chiri's back, two tails curling around her arm while she was at it.
"Well, my family and a bunch of others are working on something like that out in the woods. I was just on my way there when I texted you actually. You wouldn't want to come and you know, soothe some minds or offer some facts?" He didn't know if people would take kindly to him showing up with someone else, but he trusted her. If Micah could trust the "friend" he was working with, then Lochlan should be allowed to bring moral support, right? He was about to say something more when the two-tailed cat entered. His brows raised and chuckled. "Of course you have a cat with two tails."
"I want to come!" Chiri said immediately. "Yes, definitely, please!" she said as she nuzzled Midori. Then she smiled. "Oh! You'll find this interesting, especially right now. But she didn't always have two tails! This is a recent thing!"
Lochlan smiled at her eagerness. Leave it to Chiri to jump to action in a situation like this. He turned serious for a moment. "I need to thank you. For whatever you did when that wolf attacked. Whatever you did because it saved my life and you're still here. I'm glad you're still here. Thank you." And then he grinned. She was the only one he'd believe saying things like this. "What changed? What made her grow another tail? Do you know?"
"You're welcome!" she said brightly. "I'm glad I'm still here too!" She grabbed a canteen and filled it with water from the sink. "And I have no idea. I just noticed she had two one day. She seems to be fine otherwise, though. I'd take her to a vet but I don't think we have one. I do know that there is some Eastern lore about two tailed creatures. So, it's just nifty, in my book."
Lochlan kept his eyes on Chiri. "One day you'll have to tell me how you did it," he muttered, coming closer a bit to look at Midori. He looked at Chiri askance and then asked, "What about Eastern lore? Now I'm curious!"
"I'd have to look in some of my books and stuff? But I know there were some shape shifter spirits with more than one tail. And other spirits that had even more than that. So, it's pretty interesting." she said. "I don't know all the specifics, I'll have to do some research. And maybe read through some of my old manga graphic novels. They loved taking lore and using it." she added with a grin. Turning off the water, she capped the canteen. "So, you wanna lead me to this place?" she asked.
Lochlan sputtered slightly. "Wait, you're not talking about things like Hydras or whatever, are you?" His eyes were wide because he at least knew about that nasty beastie. You cut off one head 7 grow back. That was in 8th grade English class. He didn't think a kitty could be that evil but there was this whole thing happening in his world where he might be a werewolf so he was a little wary. "Sure, I think I'm ready to go," he said.
"No, that's extra heads, silly!" Chiri said, smiling at him fondly. "More like mischief spirits, and guardian spirits..." she trailed off. "So, don't worry. No terrible weird dragon things that become even more unkillable every time you chop off a head!" she assured him.
"So they're different. Good to know!" he said with a half smile, glad she hadn't made him feel like an imbecile. "Mischief spirits? Like a Pooka?" he asked, referencing an Irish folklore and an old Jimmy Stewart movie. "I don't think there are any dragons or anything else at the place we're going. Except people who might turn into werewolves. You're signed on for that though, yes?"
"I'm signed on for that." Chiri confirmed. "And anything that comes with it. It'll be just fine." she promised him. "And you'll have to tell me more about Pooka. Regale me while we walk!" she said, bounding out the door, prepared to work. And to dive right in on Werewolf Studies. God, it was going to be an exciting time, up ahead!