(open)

[siring]

CHARACTERS: Niklaus (siring) and OPEN
LOCATION: Oxygen Gardens
WARNINGS: None yet.
SUMMARY: Exploring. Looking for victims.
NOTES: Klaus is a vampire/werewolf hybrid thing. See here for an explanation before tagging in, and let me know if you would be okay with Klaus possibly compelling or feeding from your character. Thanks!


[Klaus has come to detest the quiet. He doesn't do well with boredom either, never has. It caused him trouble during his short time as a human, those days of harmless fun that were ruined by a man with no tolerance for such things. A thousand years worth of memories and it's those that he seems to think about with more frequency when he makes his way through empty halls on the ship. He blames it on the quiet, and the way it sometimes tastes like steel and ash on his tongue. No part of him misses those early days, and Klaus proved that to himself by spending the next thousand years indulging in entertainments that no one would consider harmless.

There's purpose to his steps as he walks down the corridor, fingers splayed and the tips brushing against the walls. He lacks one, but the devil finds work for idle hands. He's made his vulgar promises, as Elijah would say-- ones that held only as long as they suited him. Until he finds the werewolves he has no need for the doppelganger, and as for the requests not to divulge certain information, he saw no reason not to let them all lie to each other. Let them put each other at a disadvantage, it meant less work for him later.

The sound of his own footsteps echo across the hall. The vessel is impressive in size, but it fails to mask a strong sense of containment. The Oxygen Gardens are his destination, he only decides on that as he caught the scent of vegetation. Overgrown as the plants are it's a poor substitute for the outdoors, lacking in all the sounds that nature provides. The chaos that erupted the other week had begun here. His hand reaches out, tearing a leaf off a nearby plant and studying it.

Life support on the ship is a fragile thing, and only some of his needs are readily provided for.]

Comments

[siring]

[The faint animal scent catches him off guard, standing out as almost completely foreign after weeks of his senses being assaulted by mostly artificial ones. The girl, Alayne, had mentioned a wolf pack wandering the vessel-- but this is the first time he's actually encountered any of them. Not werewolves, if what she had explained is true, but a convenient cover for one. Klaus has no idea if the magic that allows him to transition those beasts into hybrids works in this prison, but he sees no reason not to try.

He lets the animal circle around unmolested, but positions himself in front of the exit as it makes its way back around, its movements lack the blind aggression of the sort of werewolf he's used to. The leaf is absently twirls between two fingers as he waits before calling out.]

Hello there, sweetheart.

[tumbleweeds]

[ Jaye isn't part of that pack, though she has met Lady and Grey Wind -- Lady as both human and wolf, Grey Wind as just a wolf. The wolf just happens to be a form she enjoys, and when she's human her earrings are long, with silver feathers and silver wolves and onyx stones. By all rights she should favor the coyote over the wolf, but she doesn't.

The man's put himself in the way and Jaye's ears perk up, her head raising to look straight at him. It's a challenge, in its own animal way -- prey looks away, but predators stare, though rarely with the sort of intelligence that can be seen in her eyes. Likewise, her lips twitch, not quite pulling back over her teeth but enough to let on that she's considering it, if Klaus knows what to look for. She'll likely have a better chance as a wolf than a human, if it comes to a fight, but right now she's just annoyed that he's between her and the door. ]

[siring]

[With the twitch of her lips his hands go up, as though he means to surrender so soon-- although he doesn't break eye contact with her and makes no move to get out of the way. He can almost see the working mind behind the creature's stare.]

I mean you no harm. [Which he does not, he's only sought to make these particular victims into something more. And he says this with a bit of a wild grin, the veins near his eyelids twitch as they pump blood into sclera. The whites of his eyes turn a reddish black as two sets of canines extend in his mouth.

Show and tell.]

[tumbleweeds]

[ No harm, huh? That sure as hell doesn't look like a friendly face and he's not acting submissive, so she doesn't buy it, doesn't buy that he's not a threat. Jaye's lips pull back as she snarls, snapping at air. It's a warning. If he doesn't mean her any harm, then he'd better back off or she'll bring the harm to him. She has no problem with biting first, even if she's bruised from her earlier sparring (before she shifted; some knew what they were getting into, some didn't, and she loved it either way).

Well, she'd said she was looking for a fight. Looks like she might get one after all, though this time, there aren't any rules. No fatalities or fatal injuries is right out the door, and she'll do whatever she has to in order to survive. There are the plants to worry about too (can't destroy them, they'll all fucking suffocate), but if the fight's here, then the fight's here. They can be replanted. She can't regrow any limbs. ]

[siring]

[The snarl only seems to encourage him, and he openly laughs at her display.]

Fantastic. What are you? [Klaus doesn't back off, nor does he really expect an answer-- human intelligence or not. He takes a few steps closer, completely without fear, and moves to crouch down in front of her. A challenge.]

[tumbleweeds]

[ What are you? he asks and moves closer, and Jaye stands her ground. She'd rather know what he is, but her skin is crawling, faced with a predator unafraid of other predators who challenges instead of simply stares.

He doesn't expect an answer but she'll give him at least part of one. He's closer, crouched down, but a bear takes up much more space than a wolf, and she shifts. It's not slow; if Klaus blinks, he could miss it. But nevertheless, where there was a wolf, there's a grizzly bear now -- and her lips are pulled back, showing her teeth. ]

[siring]

[Well.

That is a thing.

The transformation startles him, which says a lot. Very few things startle Klaus. He's on his feet again, a half step taken back in confusion. He doesn't let his puzzlement settle into his expression for more than half a second. Not a werewolf after all. How disappointing.

He's behind her in an eye blink, a few paces away. She may not be exactly what he's looking for, but he could always use a new toy.]

Now there's a good parlour trick. What else have you got? [Goading, baiting, he just wants a show. There's little interest in fighting with her yet.]

[tumbleweeds]

[ She doesn't need to see it in his expression -- though she can; bears have much better eyesight than people think they do. She can smell it, but then he's suddenly not there and is behind her instead. It's enough to make her roar in frustration, to whirl around to look at him.

Jaye's always been more brawn than brain and baiting... well, she rises to the occasion. Literally, as the bear she's turned into stands on its hind legs and roars, a sound that should alert anyone nearby to the fact that she's here and really pissed off. Those with short-term survival instincts will run. Those who don't want to have a bear roaming the ship or who think someone might be in trouble will run, too -- right for them. ]

I legitimately had to poll people for the best way to wrestle a bear

[siring]

[we came up with nothing

There's no instinct to flee. If there's a human skin hidden among the beasts then he wants to see it, find a way he might be able to use it.

As she rises on her hand legs, he cocks his head to the side-- gaze following up and up...

... and then he sends a kick at her exposed abdomen. Not hard enough to crush bones (although he really has no idea what would crush bones on a grizzly bear), but certainly enough to knock her back.]

play dead and hope it doesn't eat you anyway

[tumbleweeds]

[ An adult female grizzly bear, the form Jaye has chosen, weighs 440 pounds. Adult males are heavier, but the female has the desire to protect her cubs, something that comes in handy when Jaye is able to convince animal instinct to exchange "people" for "cubs". Right now, she's sort of wishing she'd decided to turn into a male instead.

A kick was definitely unexpected and there's a bellow of surprise as she stumbles back on her hindpaws. She's sore from her sparring earlier -- should've gone back to her room instead of looking around (Coyote would have said that she should have gone to medical but she hates doctors, doesn't trust them if she doesn't know them, and she probably won't go after this either). It's not enough to send her to the ground, though, at least not backwards. Instead she lands back on all fours, shaking her head. Ow.

He's fast, probably too fast to do anything effective with a charge in a space like this -- which pisses her off, but she just snarls again, starting to back up. If she can get her furry ass out into the hallway, maybe she'll have better odds. ]

lmao

[siring]

[He's at her side as soon as she's on all fours again, having her on the ground makes things a bit easier. One arm moves to try to wrap around the over-sized neck and pull up, while the other braces down and hard against the spine-- his best attempt at a headlock. He speaks into the bear's ear.]

How about you show me your real face. [Klaus doesn't need to speak a threat, his hybrid strength is giving him enough leverage to promise that something will crack if she doesn't try a different tactic soon.]

PRETEND THIS ICON IS A PORCUPINE

[tumbleweeds]

[ Shit shit shit fuck. She's in trouble, serious trouble, grunting as he pushes down against her spine. But he wants to see her face, and like hell is she going to give him that. Jaye doesn't respond well to threats, and besides, it's much harder to bite through a scruff of fur than a human neck. She hasn't forgotten those teeth.

Still, she lowers her head, makes it look like she's going to surrender. The massive bulk of the bear begins to shrink, slowly at first -- and then she's rather suddenly a prickly North American Porcupine, quills extended as she attempts to embed them in Klaus's arm, his face, and squirm away. ]

PRETEND THIS IS AN ACCURATE ICON FOR BEING QUILLED

[siring]

[He feels a bit triumphant when the neck begins to shrink, but it doesn't last very long.

That's no fun.

Thanks to the grip he's had on her previous form (and how he was not so subtly pressing his face against her to speak his request) he catches a couple of growing quills straight in the eye, which naturally causes him to shout and drop the animal.]

IN THE EYE AND EVERYTHING SOBS

[tumbleweeds]

[ Here's the thing about Jaye: she hates losing. It is entirely likely that she will try and get some sort of revenge for this -- though some would argue that porcupine quills to the eye is a good stat. Others might argue that she's won, too, but as soon as she's on the ground she shifts again into a common house mouse and she runs.

Running isn't winning. Living to fight another day, retreating, sure -- but it's not winning. She'll remember your face and your voice, Klaus. As an animal, she'll remember your scent. Hopefully she'll take enough time to regroup before doing something monumentally stupid. ]

y u p

[siring]

[Her scent fades too quickly for him to follow, so someone ends up standing in the middle of the garden, methodically pulling quills out of his eye, out of his jumpsuit, out of his hands.

Whoever that is, they've seen his face. He stares down at the quills in his palm. Not the end of the world, considering how many people on this ship already recognize it, but an annoyance nonetheless. Klaus hates loose ends.

He wipes a trail of blood from his face, carefully pockets the quills, and makes his way out of the gardens.]