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

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.

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"Cut it out! I've got stuff to do!" Jeez, did this dog like him or not? Kay honestly couldn't tell.

He tried to keep walking, doing his best to ignore the dog.

At that point, it was obvious that he was getting nowhere, so Faolan became a boy again. He sprang from his post-transformation crouch, arms winding around Kay to hold him there. He whined, still partly the puppy he'd been a moment before. Why did Kay keep trying to go away?

All the pieces finally clicked together. That was why this kid acted like he could understand him, why he smelled weird, why he didn't act like a normal dog.

"...werewolf, huh?"

Kay didn't return the hug. Instead, he just looked down at Faolan, trying to process what this kid being another werewolf meant. Kay'd never met another werewolf, so he didn't have a whole lot to go on, but all he could think was that Faolan was awfully young to deal with everything that came with lycanthropy.

"Yes," Faolan answered. "Arf arf. Like you."

A jolt of panic ran through Kay. He should have known that if he could tell something was off about this kid's scent, the other wolf could smell him too. God dammit, he hadn't even been here six hours and already his secret was as good as out.

He lowered his voice, and bent down so he was closer to Faolan. "Listen -- could you not tell anybody about that? About me being...you know, like you," he muttered urgently. Maybe he was being paranoid. Maybe people in this world were okay with werewolves. But after the monster-hunter attacks a month ago, Kay wasn't taking any risks he didn't have to.

Faolan blinked up at him. "Why? Wolf isn't bad! Not a bad boy!"

His arms tightened around Kay, because somehow that meant that everything would be okay.

If only Kay could have made the same claim. How was he supposed to put this so the kid would understand without admitting some grim details about his history?

"But a lot of people think I'm bad because I'm a wolf," he continued, voice hushed.

"Being wolf isn't bad!" Faolan cried. His lip trembled. "Faolan is good boy! Can catch rabbits. Wolf is good boy."

This was the second time in five minutes that he'd made this kid cry. Good going, Kay, he thought. Maybe it was time for a change in tactics.

He put a hand on Faolan's head. "It's okay. It's okay. You're a good wolf." Kay tried very hard to make it ound less awkward than he felt. He felt really awkward. "I just...want it to be a surprise, okay? People will be really surprised when they finally find out I'm as cool as you."

...aaaand now he sounded like a creep. Was there any way he hadn't screwed this introduction up?

Faolan was cool? Faolan was cool! This warranted big hugs and beaming smiles.

"Good boy too!"

Being a werewolf was cool. Kay could not be convinced otherwise. But that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. He decided to leave it at that and hope that somehow it had gotten through Faolan's head not to go spreading it around that there was another werewolf in town.

Speaking of, he had something else to ask. "Yes, yes, you're a good boy," he said quickly, patting Faolan on the head. "So are there any others? Any more people like us?"

"Are lots of heroes!" Faolan answered. "Loki can be wolf! Or bird!"

Loki was cool. Lots of heroes were cool. Like him! Big werewolf brother had said so!

"And...nobody has a problem with that?" Kay was still skeptical -- there was no way werewolves didn't carry a stigma, they were violent and unpredictable by nature.

Faolan considered the question, because honestly - Loki was Loki and some people were stupid.

"Faolan doesn't care," he answered at last, as though it was all that mattered.

Thought so.

"You stay out of trouble, okay, kid?" Kay said after a moment, patting Faolan on the head. His tone was the one that people used when they were wrapping up a conversation and preparing to leave.

Faolan's hand snapped out and grasped Kay's shirt. He whimpered, looking up with round eyes.

Don't go! Don't go! his whimper said. Play with Faolan!

"Look, I told you, I've got stuff to do!" Kay said, trying to pull back. He had to track down those tailors in town, get them to make him better clothes. The puppy eyes might have worked if Kay had actually possessed a heart. Maybe.

At least he wasn't pushing Faolan this time?

Faolan visibly drooped. Look how sad you made him, Kay! Look and feel ashamed.

"Play later?" he asked softly.

...ok so maybe there was something like a heart in the beat-up crooked mess that was Kay.

"Yeah, sure, ok. We'll play later."

One of the ~~few~~ moral lines Kay held to was that he would always keep a promise. While this wasn't strictly a promise, what would have been a casual throwaway excuse from anyone else was an actual agreement from Kay.

[And just like that, Faolan starts to beam. He is so easy to please.]

[Have another hug, Kay.]

Need help? Faolan can help! And then play!

Kay considered for a long moment the prospect of a) convincing a tailor to make him something not-stupid and b) keeping Faolan out of trouble at the same time.

Nope. Not gonna happen.

"Sorry, I don't think you can help with it. Go play with someone else, okay?" He tried to make it sound as nice as possible.

Faolan let go. "Oh," he said with a pout. "If Faolan can help, just call!"

"Okay," he said. Kay was almost surprised that he'd managed to get Faolan to go away without upsetting the kid (much) or physically hurting him (also much).

Kay wondered what that said about himself.

Anyway, it was time to go. He patted Faolan on the head one more time and turned to walk away, down the street in the direction he'd been going.

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

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