I used to own this town, now it's all turned upside-down

[warewolf]

Characters: Kay Curtis and you!
Open? Yes!
Where: In town, or in the castle/grounds while he's on his way to the town if that's what you prefer.
When: 20th of Rebirth's Decline
What: Kay is taking his relocation about as well as can be expected. He's taking the costume they brought him here in much worse. He's ditching the leather-and-fur armor and going into town in the vain hope that he can find something to wear that affords him a little more dignity.
Warnings: Nothing besides some casual teenage swearing yet, though violence is always a danger with Kay.



A month ago, Kay would have thought all this was some kind of dream, or worse a punch-drunk delusion. A week ago, he probably still would have thought it was an elaborate, vivid vision. Now, he still wasn't ruling out "dreaming" or "absolutely insane," but considering the amount of freaky fairy bullshit that had come into his life lately, Kay was at least willing to consider that he had actually been pulled into some kind of fantasy-land dimension full of monsters and magic and all the nerdy things that populated those tabletop games Steven could never quite get enough people to agree to play with him.

Consider. But not quite believe.

At least he'd gotten rid of the stupid furry armor. Most of it, anyway. He'd have to find a place to get other clothes, but the bracers, the breastplate, the shoulderpads, and the fur cape had all been deposited in the room they said was his. There was nothing to be done about the furry boots, though, or the stitched-up brown leather pants. Jeez, this was embarrassing. It was a freaking catch-22: he couldn't go out in public until he got better clothes, but to get the clothes, he had to go out. Kay ran a hand through his hair, let out a frustrated sigh, then decided to bite the bullet and just go. He could worry about the bigger problems of this world, like the thorns and the dragons and whether or not it was even freaking real or just fairies messing with him, when he looked less like something out of Skyrim.

He sure was in a hurry to get into town. Such a hurry, in fact, that he wasn't paying enough attention to the people around him and totally bumped into you on his way there. Kind of hard, actually. Maybe he even knocked you down, or you moved out of the way in time and got away with just a shoulder-check. Either way, he doesn't look like he's about to apologize. God, what a jerk. ...who is this jerk, anyway? You haven't seen him before.

Comments

[greatsquirrelhunter]

Faolan, doing his usual wander around town, smelled something that he hadn't smelled in a long time. Eyes widening with surprise and glee, he dropped to all fours and dashed off, nose in the air.

Finding Kay, he bounced around him, barking happily.

[warewolf]

Brought up short by the rambunctious barking dog, Kay stared down at it. What was its deal? He'd gotten used to how much animals usually disliked him a long time ago, but this one wasn't growling or slinking around like the others usually did.

Probably just some stray, he thought, and started walking again, doing his best to ignore Faolan. "Hey, get lost," he grumbled, waving dismissively with one hand.

[greatsquirrelhunter]

Nono pay attention to Faolan! The puppy whined and tried to climb Kay.

[warewolf]

"Whoa -- hey!" Kay tried to shuffle backwards, away from the dog, but it was clinging on. "Get off!" He tried to shake the dog off of him, but when that didn't work -- well, let's be blunt. He kicked Faolan. Not hard, or with the intent to hurt Faolan, but there really wasn't a better way to say leave me alone, I'm a terrible person than kicking a puppy.

"I said get lost!"

[greatsquirrelhunter]

Faolan's eyes widened as he dropped to the ground, sitting hard. He sniffled as only a puppy can. Couldn't the new werewolf tell that they were alike? Didn't he want to play with Faolan? Weren't they brothers?

He threw his head back and howled in sadness.

[warewolf]

...okay, this was weird. This dog wasn't acting like dogs were supposed to. It should have run away or something, not sat there and cried like some kind of --

-- kid...

Kay's brain was finally catching up to what his nose had been trying to tell him. Something smelled off about this dog. It wasn't normal. Okay, so maybe dogs just smelled different in this Swanheim place, but it was also completely possible that this was an unusual dog. He wasn't sure it was another werewolf, and wasn't going to make the assumption without proof, but it seemed more and more likely that he'd just kicked an unusual puppy.

But what was he supposed to do? Talk to it? If it turned out that Faolan was just some kind of overly-domesticated dog, Kay'd feel really dumb. But -- and he looked around to make sure -- there weren't too many people around right now, and none of them were close enough to be paying any attention to him. What did he have to lose besides his dignity?

Kay crouched down to get a better look at the whining dog, resting his forearms on his knees. He swallowed awkwardly. What was he supposed to DO? "Uh...sorry?" he said hesitantly. Great, now he not only looked like an idiot, he sounded like one too.

[greatsquirrelhunter]

That stopped the crying. Brother wolf was sorry? It must have been an accident.

Faolan put his paws on Kay's knees to lean up and lick his face, showing that his apology was accepted.

[warewolf]

Kay pulled a face at that, since dog spit on his face was kind of gross, but didn't pull away or anything. Actually, he reached out and put a hand on Faolan's head, rubbing it absently as he thought about whether Faolan had actually understood what Kay had said or if he'd just understood Kay's tone.

He wasn't quite sure he was ready to ask a dog so hey, do you understand me? yet though.

[greatsquirrelhunter]

Oh yes. Head scratches for Faolan. The puppy's eyes closed in bliss. After a moment, he twisted to expose his belly for petting as well.

He gave a pleased whine, glad that the other werewolf was being friendly now.

[warewolf]

...well, he supposed he could spare a couple seconds to scratch a dog's belly. He had kicked it earlier.

"You're a weird dog," Kay said.

[greatsquirrelhunter]

Belly rub bliss was suddenly interrupted, and Faolan pulled away, growling.

What? What? Dog?

Didn't Kay recognize a werewolf puppy when he smelled one?

[warewolf]

"...that's more like it." That was what dogs usually did around him. Kay sighed and got back up onto his feet. "What's with you?"

And why was he wasting his time talking to a dog when he had things to do?

[greatsquirrelhunter]

Wait... Where was he going? Wasn't he supposed to apologize again and then drop down and play? Faolan was so confused. Why was the new werewolf acting so strange?

He whined and attempted to climb Kay again.

[shiromadoushi]

Finding out information was always easier when Bakura dressed the part of the White Mage, which was why he was walking through town in his seemingly oversized robes.

...that and the hat was handy to hide from fangirls with. Though thankfully, most of them seemed far more interested in fighting with each other than chasing him today.. small favors from the previous day's madness...?

[warewolf]

Hey.

That guy was dressed all in white.

He was carrying what was either the gaudiest walking stick in the world, or some kind of magic wand. White clothes + magic staff = white mage, right? And even if this wasn't the guy Kay'd been told would answer his questions about going home, Kay'd bet Bakura could tell him where to find the White Mage he was looking for.

(Kay also took solace in the fact that, although he hadn't yet acquired less embarrassing clothes, what Bakura was wearing was infinitely lamer, so he could talk to this guy relatively shame-free.)

He shouldered his way into Bakura's path, standing with his feet apart and his arms crossed. "Hey," he said, "are you the White Mage?"

[shiromadoushi]

"Eh?" Bakura blinked before rubbing the back of his neck a little. "Aaa-- I am one, un... Something the matter?"

It wasn't unheard of that he was flagged down for a healing when he was just out and about, after all.

[warewolf]

"I've got questions about going home," Kay said, short and all business, "and I hear you're the one who can answer them."

[shiromadoushi]

"Eh?" Bakura blinked again, expression utterly befuddled before realization hit. "Aaa! You're looking for the other white mage! The one who works for the king, the younger one, sorry!" he apologized, looking a bit sheepish. "You just arrived, right? I haven't seen you before, sorry!"

[warewolf]

Kay gave a long, heavy sigh. Right role, wrong person. From the sounds of it, he had a fifty-fifty chance of finding the right guy, and he'd blown it. It figured. "What gave it away?" he asked, dripping sarcasm. "The dumb questions? Or the dumb clothes?"

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura scratched at his cheek a little. "More that I haven't seen you before and the natives don't ask about going home...."

[warewolf]

Well, damn. Kay wasn't looking forward to chasing down someone else. But maybe he wouldn't have to. If this other White Mage wasn't a native (and that's what it sounded like) then he had to have asked the same questions as Kay at some point.

"What about you? Can you tell me what I want to know?"

[shiromadoushi]

"Probably not," Bakura admitted. "I'm not really sure how the spell he used works, just that he's had trouble getting it to send people back."

[warewolf]

"So there's no way back?" Kay asked, a note of worry creeping into what had been a confident, even pushy tone up until this point. "I'm stuck here in this Elder Scrolls fantasy land for the rest of my life?"

(Kay only had a vague idea of what the Elder Scrolls games were. He knew it had something to do with Skyrim, that game that had eaten Steven's life for practically a month, and Skyrim was what this place reminded him most of.)

[shiromadoushi]

"Aaa-- I don't think it's that dire! I'm pretty sure the spell will be over when the Thorns are defeated, so at the very least, everyone will go home then. It's just getting back before then that seems to be the problem."

[warewolf]

"'Pretty sure?'" Kay repeated. "How sure are you? Do you know that they're not just telling us that to get us to do what they want?"