Call me animal.

[phantastus]

WHO: Heather Mason and Maurice Hutch (OC)
WHERE: Dogtrot, Texas
WHEN: Just easing into spring.
WHAT: What probably would have been a night spent loitering around the drug store and breaking bottles in the alley like generic malcontent youths takes several unexpected turns when a vampire hunter interrupts Maurice while waiting for his friend from up north.
RATING: Probably PG. CW for violence, mild body horror and transformation.




awsum
ill be outside where the rentareel used to be

Maurice had put out the call and now he was in his place, hands in his coat pockets. He hadn't seen his friend for a while now. One thing or another would come up (said things including worrying mothers, various injuries, and plain bad weather) and now that at least the weather had calmed its bad self down, the world was ready to be trampled again.

And what a night for it! It was clear with chilly breezes sneaking around buildings and down alleyways. An orange moon hung low on the horizon and kept the clouds far on the edges of the horizon. It wouldn't rain for two more days. Spring was coming. The tiny green shoots had just barely started poking out of the ground where there was enough actual soil instead of the red clay of Dogtrot. Crispy dead leaves still hung in the corners where the buildings met the sidewalk. Easter candy all but overflowed on super market shelves.

The vampire thought of all the things they would do once Heather got there. They could graffiti the old building marked to be torn down the following week since it was technically not illegal anymore. They could eat pizza at Tod's until they were sick. And DRANKS. And Sega. If Meranda hadn't taken over the sofa for the night. An outlet in her room had blown (or so she said) so she spent a lot of time on the sofa during her WoW raids.

Something interrupted his thoughts. He had lived in Dogtrot for years now and not a lot surprised him. He knew the local vampires, he even knew a local spook or two. He knew the drug addicts and the few homeless and what they sounded like. What he heard on that empty chilly street was none of those things.

"Quack quack!" It was mechanical. Grainy.

Maurice lifted a brow and tugged his phone out wondering if Meranda had passive-aggressively changed the ring on it again.

"Quack quack!"

"The hell...?" It wasn't his phone. Maurice pocketed it and looked all around. The quack came from an alley across the street between a now defunct QUICK CASH and what was going to be a shiny new laundromat. Maurice looked both ways and ventured forward into the gloom.

The garbage can at the end of the alley quacked. Maurice screwed up his face in thought. Broken toy that suddenly came back to life? Stranded cyborge duck?

Up above on the rooftop, a long and lean and very crafty hunter was watching his prey fall for his trap hook, line, and sinker. His father had been a hunter--a normal hunter. Deer, ducks, rams. He had watched him make odd noises to get the attention of the deer. A whistle or a click to make them stop in just the right place. Sometimes to even lure them in.

Humans were the most curious animals that he knew of and though the thing in the alleyway wasn't human (not in the slightest) he had to watch it in fascination and amusement before he made his move.

Maurice peered into the trash. There was an old Talkboy straight from the eighties in the trash quacking away.

"Oh, man, sweet!" It was all his! He reached for it. Something dressed in full army camo descended upon him and drove a thin knife into his shoulder. Maurice screamed like a wildcat and the fight began.

Comments

[toothaches]

Maurice trudged onward. And he thought.

Where did they go? He assumed they just all died but...then where would they come from when spring came back? He was so engrossed with this new revalation that he didn't even turn his head when they passed a pile of very old, very mildewed looking shoes situated next to a tree. They were mostly covered with leaves and pine needles. Except one. A left shoe. It was fresh--a converse. Red.

[foolishwren]

She followed behind, still grumbling.

Until the grumbling suddenly stopped.

"... Dude... is that your shoe pile?"

If Maurice turned around, he would find Heather standing in front of the stack, looking down with a wrinkled nose.

"You kinda let it go, didn't you?"

[toothaches]

The dead man paused in his trek. The floaters and weights on the ends of the fishing poles jangled loudly as he wheeled around. He should have turned slower. Maurice didn't have time to change his panic to cool disinterest.

His pile!

"Just-- c'mon, we got fishin' to do, remember?"

[foolishwren]

... NO.

NO, SHE IS NOT GOING TO LET THIS GO.

"Zilla. ZILLA. What is this?"

She nudged the new shoe with one of her own.

"Explain this to me! WHY IS THERE RANDOMLY A NEW ONE."

[toothaches]

Maurice nearly dropped the fishing poles. He waved the lantern at his friend and huffed.

"I dont' know, now c'mon! Or I'm gonna go to the fishin' hole without you!"

[foolishwren]

"Oh my god there's even more shoes than I remember."

She reached down and, perhaps against her better judgment, picked up the red Converse by its laces.

[toothaches]

It then became evident that Maurice had fed recently because his face was turning slightly purple in the lantern light. He hadn't even had time to pretend to be surprised or pull some other lie out of his butt.

"Oh, my God, Heather, just c'mon!" He finally stomped forward and reached out to knock the shoe out of her hand.

[foolishwren]

NOPE. Holding the show up and out of reach, she walked backwards away from him.

"Dude, you're seriously still doing this? SERIOUSLY?"

[toothaches]

Maurice huffed and puffed. No! She was not going to make fun of his weird Shoe Thing. Then an idea came to him. She couldn't make fun of what she couldn't see...and if she couldn't see she'd have to knock it off before they could go fishing.

Without another word, he crouched down and turned off the lantern, plunging them both into darkness. The clouds and branches hid what little starlight there was and out here there were no telephone poles to send orange beams through the trees.

[foolishwren]

"I can't believe you're--"

And then the light went out.

"--Dude, what the HELL?! Zilla!"

There was some shuffling-- she didn't have her flashlight, and night vision was a privilege her human body didn't have.

[toothaches]

Now that he had a free arm he could sort of fold them and pout. He could see her just fine and knew she couldn't see him. Maurice huffed loudly so she could hear him.

"I'm not turning it back on until you drop the shoe!"

[foolishwren]

Heather glowered at the spot five feet to Maurice's left.

"Oh, come on, you big baby! It's like you can't even take a j--"

Then the obvious occurred to her.

Oh.

Oh yeah.



After falling mysteriously silent for a second or two, an orange-yellow glow appeared in the general area of her eyes. And grew.

... And also there was a ripping sound.

"DAMMIT."

She forgot about the clothing problem. :I Well there'd be some exciting new tears in her jeans after this.

[toothaches]

SHOES WERE SERIOUS OKAY?

Maurice huffed and felt quietly proud that she was glaring in the wrong direction. Then something happened. A pair of headlights appeared in the woods and Heather's shape started to change.

Though he could see relativly fine in the dark, Maurice scrambled to turn the lantern back on anyway.

[foolishwren]

There was an indignant squawk of "HEY!" when the light flicked on, followed by a large set of hands attempting to cover up... well, actually, the pants stayed more or less ON, and the vest was now more like a sports bra than a vest, so...

Slenderbird squinted down at Maurice, still pinching the shoe between two long clawy fingers.

"Look what you've done now," she growled accusingly. "Maybe I should carry the lantern."

[toothaches]

Maurice froze up temporarily. He hadn't expected to see this strange new shape Heather now possessed again so soon. This time he wasn't bleeding or reeling from having his head slammed onto the concrete. Like an electric pulse the worry that it just might not be Heather in there ripped through him. He instantly felt guilty for it. It passed.

She was still holding his shoe and was attempting to cover herself. As soon as that registered, he let out a little yelp and doused the light again.

"You went and ruined your breeches yourself!" He forced the shake out of his voice. Maurice didn't need no lantern! He stomped up to the crow creature. "Gimmi that shoe!"

[foolishwren]

8( DON'T MAKE THIS WEIRD MAN.

When the light was plunged out again, at least this time she could see by her own ocular illumination.

She straightened up, now able to hold the shoe well out of his reach without even trying.

"No way, Mr. I-don't-have-a-shoe fetish! It's MINE now."

... Not that she necessarily WANTS it if it actually is some kind of fetish fuel, but she's pretty sure she's just messin' with him. :I

[toothaches]

Maurice's ever growing shoe pile would remain a mystery for the moment. The vampire had to marvel a moment at the fact that Heather of all people was holding something out of his reach. It filled him with a boiling 'not so big brother now are you' frustration that choked out any worry or fear he'd had.

Maurice jumped. And jumped.

"I'm gonna bite your ankles in a minute!"

[foolishwren]

MUAHAHAHAHAHAAAA.

The ferocious beak cracks open in a grin, light shining out from the gap.

"Like you'd do it. You don't know where my feet have been. I bet you know where the SHOES have been, though!"

Oh yeah, she was enjoying this. It wasn't that she ever disliked being the little sister... actually, it's a big reason why hanging out with Maurice was always so fun. She's never gotten to be the little sister before. Not really. It's refreshing.

... But she's never gotten to be BIGGER AND STRONGER than everyone else before either, and that's refreshing too.

[toothaches]

"I'm dead, I don't have anything to lose!" And he glared at one of her long birdish legs. It was true he didn't worry about germs and dirt anymore but as far as he'd seen, Heather was full of light and BURNING.

It could be like biting into the sun. Which was the opposite of what he wanted to do right now.

The vampire puffed himself up as if he himself had feathers before stalking away from her and snatching up the lantern from where he'd dropped it.

"Well I'm gonna go fishin' and if giant shoe-stealing bird people can't hold a fishin' rod that aint my problem!"

And then he started walking! He was getting away with the fishing poles, tackle, and all! Once they actually reached the pond and Maurice didn't have a bunch of junk to carry and worry about damaging? THAT SHOE WOULD BE HIS.

[foolishwren]

Delighted with herself, Heather loped after him.

"Dude, have you SEEN these hands? I can hold all the things in them. At once."

[toothaches]

Maurice tromped along on the narrow overgrown path and cast glances over his shoulder every few paces to see the the dark lumbering shape of his friend. She looked right at home in the tall spindly trees and the light from her eyes and jeering mouth made the woods look like a mobile campfire was wandering through it.

"Oh, I see 'em. Question is, can they catch fish?"

[foolishwren]

She let out a scoff behind him, as though the idea that they might not be able to was preposterous.

"Of course they can. I mean, look at them. They're huge."

She'd never been fishing in her life.

[toothaches]

"What happens if you go in the water?"

Part of him was worried about the pond somehow dousing that flame that burned inside her. Part of him was worried about her destroying the pond. He could see her scraggly leggy ass standing in the middle of it as vapor lifted in clouds leaving flopping fish in the mud.

They would find out because finally the little clearing presented itself. It hadn't changed in years. The pond was round and dark and still and a fallen tree made a neat bridge out to the center. Above them the surrounding trees made a neat halo opening up to the cloudy night sky. A lazy airplane drifted by. The shallow edge was thick with weeds and little white flowers and the surface rippled as the baby fish that hid there sensed movement from the bank. The place was alive with frogs and gnats and all manner of flying bugs. The skeletons of a couple of folding chairs were half hidden in the grass and various junk from Maurice and a few of the other fishermen from the trailer park were strewn about--mostly beer cans, tangles of fishing line, and smashed up styrofoam coolers.

It was a sight for sore eyes. Maurice shuffled over to the edge of the fallen tree and neatly hooked the lantern on one of the stubby branches.

"Here we are!"

[foolishwren]

She opened her mouth-- er, beak-- to reply, only to stop walking and stand there briefly, like a weird glowing scarecrow come to life.

Because... well, shit.

"... I.... don't know. Actually."

She looked down at her oversized hands, belatedly starting to walk again, though some of the strut had been taken out of her stride.

"... Aside from that thing in the alley, this is the first time I've ... you know. Uh. Done this anywhere aside from my living room."

[toothaches]

Maurice paused in yanking out one of the folding chairs from the brush and looked o-- UP at his friend. He wanted Heather to get herself all figured out but he didn't want her going out like a candle! What if that was the downside? There had to be a downside somewhere.

He himself couldn't go in the sun or enjoy proper Itallian food ever again.

Where was Heather's hang-up? The vampire couldn't help but fret. Heather was like a sister and as far as he knew this was one of her first leggy steps into monsterdom. It was scary. He had to show her the way and that meant looking out for her.

"Maaaaybe you oughtta stay here on the bank just to be safe..."