lifeaftr | [OPEN] GOTTA GO FAST

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[OPEN] GOTTA GO FAST

Who: Erika and YOU
What: The specific combination of age-changing and full moons
When: Backdated to the night of April 19/20
Where: Around Enso
Warnings: a puppy with thumbs, the greatest threat of all

This was… probably inevitable, all things considered.

Something is coming toward you, charging through the woods with no regard to how many obstacles she might tumble through or trip over. When it finally breaks through the undergrowth and into sight, the disturbance is immediately identifiable as--

A puppy, kind of?

Definitely a big puppy, roughly the size of a middle-schooler, with rounded ears and spots that make it resemble a hyena. Her front paws are… oddly hand-like, complete with little puppy thumbs.

Those who remember the hulking hyena-beast that seems to run around Enso on a monthly basis (whether they’re aware of her identity or not) may be able to put two and two together. Everyone else… well, at least she doesn’t seem particularly aggressive. Though there is definitely a risk of her crashing into whoever she’s come across. Hard to control those long puppy limbs.

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Garren was exploring when suddenly!!!

But after a brief moment of being startled, the small pog peered out from the tree he had scrambled to hide behind and perked up.

With an over dramatic leap into the air, he transformed, a small husky puppy landing on all fours. With a happy bark and wagging tail, he scrambled over to say hello to the new potential friend.

Oh that's new, and very exciting. Erika hasn't actually seen another werewolf transform before, at least not in memory - and her own changes happen much more slowly than whatever is going on here. But it doesn't need to be just like her own change for seeing another kid turn into a dog (even more doglike than her!) to be incredibly exciting.

She makes some excited chuffing noises, rearing back before dropping on all fours again and bouncing around the other puppy a couple times. New friend!!!

To be technical, Garren isn't a werewolf; he's more a pogdog. Which. Is splitting far more hairs than he would ever be inclined to.

So never mind the technicalities, hello new friend! Garren barks happily, bouncing a few times as well as he turns around, trying to keep an eye on where Erika is. His tail is going so fast, he's all but smacking himself with it, but he's not at all bothered.

Erika tumbles to a stop when she's finished scrambling around Garren - it gets close to a literal tumble, honestly, tripping over her oversized paws and scuffling up the leaf litter under her feet.

It's fine, though. She's fine. She shakes herself and lets out a bwuff that sounds just a little deeper than one might expect from her size.

Garren moves forward to nuzzle against her curiously, making sure she is okay. Despite her being a bit bigger than him, she's a lot more awkward in her form than he is. Must be new to it.

He answers the bwuff with a cheerful bark of his own before taking his turn to run a circle around her, pause and then bark again, tail wagging.

Honestly, it's less newness than the fact that werewolf proportions - especially werewolf puppy proportions - tend to be kind of clumsy and inconvenient by nature. As much as the results of a knotted-up tangle of curses and magic reversals left to reform and develop on its own for hundreds of years could be called "nature".

It doesn't take her long to recover from her slip-up, and she bounces a couple times, first in place and then toward him, trying to bump him with her nose. Gotta play!!!

There's a small chuffy snort to the nose bump -- the closest to a giggle Garren has in this form. He attempts to return the bump, very much wanting to play, even if he's not exactly sure how a puppy normally would. He has some instincts in this form, but mostly, he's still him.

That's fine, Erika can help him figure it out.

Kind of.

By pouncing on him, actually, trying to knock him over and wrestle. Even as puppies go, she's inclined to be pretty pushy in play - good luck with that, Garren!

Look, Kiriya's not going to be particularly bothered by anyone turning into a puppy. Not when he's found himself much younger than he should be and able to turn into a tricycle. And when he spots that puppy, well, he's just going to pedal right after it.

No big deal, just a bright yellow trike with pink streamers on the handlebars and a faceplate that looks suspiciously like a pair of bright blue eyes following a weird puppy around, totally normal for this island.

At first, Erika doesn't seem to concerned with the sound of something rolling behind her - it's not loud enough to be a car, so that means it's probably definitely fine. When she does twist around, though, it's immediately followed by a startled yip and a hop back, because there is nobody on that tricycle and that's weird.

Her alarm doesn't last long, though; she takes a step forward, ears pricked up, and sniffs at Kiriya, reaching out to bap at his front wheel with one paw.

The tricycle doesn't seem to mind the bap. "'Sup?"

There is no one else around--the voice came directly from the trike.

Oh that is weird. Erika hops backward again and snorts, as if hearing that got something in her nose. Then she shakes herself, and, very quietly, growls at the weird-ass talking tricycle in front of her.

Don't trust that.

The tricycle doesn't appear too alarmed by that growl, if only because he is currently a tricycle and figures he can't actually get hurt if he gets bitten. "Wow, rude. I'm just saying hello!"

What is this. What is going on here.

Erika would love to use her words here and ask how, exactly, this tricycle is talking on its own. Unfortunately, her mouth and vocal chords are more canine than human right now, and she isn't super well-versed in nonverbal communication.

So she lopes forward and pushes on the side of the wheel, trying to flip the tricycle over, as if that's going to tell her what's going on.

"Wh...hey!" The trike tries to pedal back to avoid getting tipped over. The bell on his handlebars dings a bit in frustration. "Cut that out, you're gonna mess up my paint job!"

On one hand, werewolves don't fully lose the capacity to understand language on full moons. They can still parse sentences and sentiments, generally understand what's being said to them, even if they can't reply.

Unfortunately, understanding doesn't mean Erika gives a shit. She snorts, apparently offended by his resistance to being flipped over like some kind of wheeled turtle, and smacks one paw against the handlebars and bell. Rude!!

"Don't you have any manners?" The bell dings a few more times. It is currently Kiriya's only defense.

...well, that and the whole ability to roll away thing, that too. Or he could just take a humanoid armored form. But the tricycle is more fun, even if getting whacked is less fun. "That's kinda rude! I should know, I'm really good at being rude when I wanna be."

Sorry, Kiriya, you're dealing with a lawless creature who knows no respect, and definitely has no manners.

She takes a step back and lets out another harsh snort, but, this time, it's accompanied by a couple eager wags of her tail. Maybe if she keeps being a bastard at this talking tricycle, it'll do something to retaliate! That sounds fun!

Oh, the tricycle does something to retaliate, alright. Something flips a switch on the dash--it just moves on its own, and then the tricycle transforms into a weird chibi armored...guy. Kid. He's a kid's height. "Huh? What now? Huh?" He's waving his stubby little arms around.

Erika startles and takes a quick hop back, her ears pricking up as the tricycle turns into... a kid in armor?? That's new.

It is also, unfortunately, not a deterrent. She pounces on him, barking enthusiastically.

The thing about this form is that it's got stubby little legs and arms and is not perhaps as stable as Kiriya would like. He goes down. "Hey! Cut it out!"

"Bwuff!"

Apparently that's a "no". On the bright side, she doesn't seem interested in doing any real damage (though she's not paying a lot of attention to how she's throwing her weight around); instead, she just chuffs a couple times and hops back with an excited butt-wiggle, apparently daring him to retaliate.

Just because Beau is a kid doesn't mean she will ascribe to things like bedtimes and houses and being a person. She's been sort-of wrangled into a house with a large woman and a purple man and a blue girl and that's all well and good, because they feed her and let her draw pictures of dicks on the floor. But that doesn't mean she can be contained.

So as soon as she hears something charging through the woods, she's instantly and incredibly excited, squaring herself up for whatever's coming. She's not scared. She can handle this. She's been living on her own for like, one whole day!!

But also Beau is like 12 and a mess and lets whatever this thing is barrel right into her and attempt to start wrestling it. This is great. This is advised. Absolutely.

Oh heck yeah, this is fantastic actually??

For a split second, Erika is startled at running into someone - then the someone just starts grappling with her, and she lets out an excited bark and just, grabs right on to push back with her awful dog-hands. She is absolutely just seeing if she can knock this kid over right now.

Oh shit it's strength contest time. Beau's pretty middle of the road- she isn't weak but isn't the brute force wall of muscle you need to stop something in it's tracks. She yells back just out of instinct, pressing her heels into the dirt and keeping herself as rigid as possible.

On one hand: forward is probably good. On the other, she could be knocked to the side so easily right now. All that momentum and focus is going straight ahead, leaving her sides much too exposed.

Unfortunately for Beau, werewolves - even young ones - tend to be pretty strong. Especially on full moons.

On the other hand, Erika doesn't currently seem too interested in actually, you know, strategizing and trying to knock her over sideways; instead, she keeps just shoving right ahead with excited, playful growls, effectively wagging her whole rear end.

Look, this is a good lesson for not fighting everything you meet with your hands, even if it's not one she's going to learn for like ten more years. There's only so much she can keep together, and it's only a few more seconds before her little body starts trembling and she folds under Erika's grip, tumbling backwards still hand in hand with a urgh as she hits the ground.

Of course, Beau is looking up as soon as she can, shoving loose pieces of hair out of her face and trying to focus in the dark. "Hey! I didn't lose! Who are you?"

Erika's answer to that is free of any actual words, because she can't really do those right now. Instead, she just grunts triumphantly and bumps her forehead against Beau's in some combined expression of delight and victory.

Well that's surprising. She manages to take the headbutt with less falling than previous, even if it's a little sloppy. But at least she has adrenaline, a surging excitement not just from sneaking out but finding this awesome thing that she... has no idea what to do with. But she found her! That's cool!

Beau keeps her ground, grinning in a manic little giggle before shoving her back, obviously lighter than Erika and her adult self. "Okay! Okay. You're, you're really cool. I don't know what you are, but it's really sweet. Do you wanna find more stuff to fight?"

The shove gets an excited wiggle in return. It may have done very little to budge her, but she's gotta make sure to Acknowledge The Shove, okay!!

She's also got to acknowledge that, because it sounds like a great plan, and her parents aren't even around to tell her not to go around picking fights and pouncing on random people and getting her fur full of dirt that they've got to scrub out now because otherwise she'll be all grungy when she turns back. Unfortunately, she can't really communicate all that right now, so she settles for barking and dropping low to the ground, ready to Go.

She acknowledged it! That rocks! Beau's looking completely lit up now, swapping her weight between her feet with her little hands clasped in excitement.

"Yeah! Hell yeah!" Now high on the euphoria of having a dog (?) and swearing, she's about to take off running, but gets a couple of steps and stops as she thinks of something. "Oh! I'm Beau. Can I call you something? Will you respond if I say like, dog, or. Teeth or something?"

Hear that, Erika? Your new name could be Teeth. How about that.

She starts to bound after Beau, but skids to a stop to avoid crashing into her (by accident this time) when Beau stops. But, man, yeah, the name thing is an issue, huh. She can't exactly say hers with her mouth right now.

...That, though, doesn't strike her as the next best thing. Or the third best thing, even. Unfortunately, though, she doesn't really have a better approach in mind? So she tilts her head and whines, pawing at the ground as she considers that.

Beau waits for some kind of signal, but doesn't get one, and she can't see well enough in the dark to specifically write on the ground or anything. So now she gets to name this dog friend. They didn't seem to like Teeth very much, so what other kind of name would a dog want...

"Uhh, here, make a noise if you hear one you like. How about, uhm... Rocky? Or Deathclaw." This sure does sound like a 12 year old naming stuff right here, or at least a 12 year old trying to keep her naming conventions as far away from her prissy mother as possible. "Maybe you can just make a really specific sound and I can make that, even if it's just a yell."

Oh, jeez. Erika hadn't really considered this potential consequence of meeting new people while she can't talk.

There's really no way she can communicate her real name like this, so - picking one, it is! She tilts her head, considering how to pick from the options so far, then gives three short barks.

Or maybe it'll just come off as her name being a series of barks. At least that would still settle the issue.

It's sure going to. Beau listens intently, and then just barks right back at her like she's waiting for approval. She doesn't wait more than a second or two before she nods though, seemingly self confident.

"Okay, that's your name. If you hear me do that, come and find me." It's probably not foolproof, seeing as a bark is very indistinct and can be made by many creatures, but... well, she out here doing it or something. Beau gestures for Erika to follow, already picking up on her feet again.

"Come on! I know some people you can scare. It'll be so funny."

Y'know. Priorities.

Well, that's... fine, she guesses! Erika chuffs softly, accepting that solution as if it's not entirely ridiculous, and hops up to follow after Beau.

Then she lets out another bark, this one a little more enthusiastic. Yes perfect.

In accordance with the agreement they've just made, Beau just barks back. Yes, they are communicating. And now they get to go really get anyone else she can find, or just literally everyone in the first islet she sees.

Dream team. Fuck sleep, get dogs. This is absolutely fantastic.

One day she'll figure out this is Erika, huh.

Maybe not the most elegant form of communication, but, you know. Working well enough.

Erika bounds after her, off to do some stupid bullshit that'll probably cause way more trouble than it needs to.

One day, maybe she'll think to tell Beau it was her.

[Aaaaand they're just barreled right the hell over. Even as an adult.]

WOAH!

[Chip lands in a heap on the ground after Erika knocks their legs out from under them, grumbling and pushing themself up after a moment or so. They look around in confusion before spotting the kid-puppy shape they got tangled with and sigh.]

There you are.

[Erika skids to a stop after tumbling over this mysterious person-shaped obstacle, shaking herself before wheeling around to bark excitedly at them. She bounces forward, wagging her whole hind end, and barks again.

Honestly, at this point she's halfway testing to see if this person is gonna run away (in which case she gets to chase them), or stay and play with her (in which case she gets to play). Either way, she wins!]

[Chip laughs and leans down with hands on their knees, clearly ready to dodge or chase.]

What, you gonna get me? Better take me out in one shot!

[She gonna!! Or she's gonna try, anyway.

At least Chip has a chance to brace themself before this giant nightmare puppy flings herself at them with an enthusiastic bark.]

[They hop out of the way with a laugh, starting to jog down a clear path already broken by either the local wildlife or Erika's own previous monthly adventures.]

Too slow, kiddo!

[Erika tumbles past them, tripping over paws that are even more disproportionate than Chip is used to seeing. She whines and wheels to chase after them again - and, if she gets close enough, will try to tackle them again.

Sorry, Chip, this Erika is Ceaselessly Rude. More so than usual, that is.]

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[OPEN] GOTTA GO FAST

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wrapped?

works for me!

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