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[awooligan]

CLIFFORD NORMAN
UN: REDRIDINGHOODIE

STATUS: grade 11

ACCOLADES: n/a.

BIO: name's cliff. let me know if you'll buy cigarettes and shit for me, we can work something out.

© TESSISAMESS

Comments

[awooligan]

[wolf vs deer... not a normal wolf, either. Cliff gives Tobias a look like he's not sure he completely believes him, then shrugs and pushes himself to his feet.]

Okay. Then let's head out. [On his two human feet. Even if his family knows and that was his biggest hurdle, the idea of others knowing still didn't sit well with him. He'd much rather wait to shift until they were out of sight, already in the forest.]

[hawkwardness]

[Not a normal deer either!! He flutters after Cliff, willing to follow until the guy finds a place to change... who knows what the big deal is, it looks so clean and easy compared to the hideous mess his morphing is. No bones snapping. No gurgling noises. Nothing gross whatsoever.]

[awooligan]

[So seamless, blink and you miss it! Just a shift in perception, and there's a big red wolf trudging between the trees in the place of the reluctant redheaded boy. Like there's no real difference between them. Similarly, there's no change in his senses, despite the transformation -- same heightened sense of smell, same improved hearing, even the same pace despite the number of legs going up. It was one of the things he liked about being a werewolf, but it did make shifting seem a little pointless. Still, he swings his head to watch Tobias.]

[hawkwardness]

[One of the things that Tobias himself doesn't quite grasp yet--that the world is the same to Cliff either way. He swoops off in another direction, catching up a few minutes later as a tasty looking pal. It must be Tobias, no normal deer would come running up to a wolf.]

< Your way looks so easy, dude. >

[awooligan]

[Wow, delicious, he assumes. Even if he doesn't have any particular instincts, he does have the craving for deer jerky blip across his mind. His head tips, ears forward, when he hears Tobias's voice again.]

What do you mean...?

[hawkwardness]

< When I change, it looks like something out of a horror movie. Most of the time. It doesn't hurt, but it'd give anyone nightmares. >

[He's... a deer. He can smell things for once. Like food. So he nibbles on some leaves idly.]

[awooligan]

[He's morbidly curious, but 100% certain Tobias is right and he would absolutely not want to see that, he'd have nightmares for sure. On the other hand, he's not sure why the guy suddenly has a hankering for plants. Deer brain...]

I guess it's easier to get a fawn to come by you than an adult. [The spots...] I mean, you said you could morph into an adult, so it isn't just because you're young, right?

[Time to start trotting through the woods again, heading towards the mountains.]

[hawkwardness]

[Deer brain! The forest has suddenly become delicious! What a wonderful world. But he tears himself away from his snacks and follows the wolf.]

< This is an adult. They all have spots in France, it seems like. Smaller, too. > [Or maybe that's just the locals. He doesn't know.]

[awooligan]

[It's weirdly human, but Cliff looks over again with furrowed brows. Since he was never like the local hunters, that was one of the few things he actually knew about deer!!! The fuck is up with French deer...]

Okay...

[Weird, but whatever.]

Then I guess I'm confused. How do you get all these animals to trust you? I only really see cats and dogs, but they don't come by me unless it's to bark or jump up. Cats really don't like me, now. I guess they can tell.

[hawkwardness]

< It's... part of my magic now. I can talk to animals, sort of. If they'll listen, if it's something they care about. Like bribes. Deer really love tomatoes. >

[Was it worth what he went through to 'earn' a slight expansion of his magic? No, not really, but that's life.]

[awooligan]

That's weird, man.

[He's judging deer, which by extension means he's judging Tobias. He hopes that's clear. His judgment, that is.]

Sucks I don't know where we're headed. I can't really race people anymore, but I bet you could give me a run for my money, like this.

[hawkwardness]

[What's to judge??? Humans love a good tomato too.]

< Who says you can't race me? Trust me, we won't get lost. > [Can a deer also give a judgmental look...]

[awooligan]

[I, as a tomato lover, know this well. Cliff is stupid and judgmental of deer because teen.]

I know that. Come on, I could find my way back blindfolded. It's wanting to see this mountain spot and not knowing where it is that's the problem.

[hawkwardness]

< So, run the whole way back. Like I said, what's stopping you? >

[Every time they pause for a moment, he seems to get the munchies. Judge that.]

[awooligan]

[imternally shaking his head... didn't they talk about this eating while morphed thing, he thought it wasn't going to be a thing...]

Oh, for sure I'm making you race me on the way back. Being a hawk again is cheating, though.

[hawkwardness]

[When you have no sense of taste normally and the whole world is suddenly full of delicious smelling food... you eat.]

< Nope, I'll stay a deer the whole way. Unless you end up lost in the woods. >

[awooligan]

Pff.

[It should really be impossible for a wolf to make that sound, but here we are. He speaks no differently than usual.]

Even if I wasn't used to finding my way around woods, I can still smell the place from here, or I could track the way we came.

[hawkwardness]

< Tracking I can believe, but you can still smell the campus itself? That's intense, dude. How do you stand it? >

[Then again, no dog seems to give a damn about nasty smells. It is a mystery... one animal he hasn't actually become.]

[awooligan]

[He’d shrug if he had the form for it. Like, he could shift for two seconds just to do it, but that seems extreme.]

It’s faint, but yeah. Helps that it’s way different than nature. What really sucked was when that Lalli guy moved in. Smells normal now, though.

[hawkwardness]

< Oh, I remember that. Did he finally start taking showers? With soap and not hospital disinfectant? >

[Pfft.]

[awooligan]

He was always showering.

[He has to admit, it's a little relieving to be able to open about things like this... As much as he hadn't wanted anyone to know, it would have been nice to have this earlier.]

I just think whatever he was doing, he was doing it so long it got stuck to him. Now he kind of smells like cookies, which makes sense because it's the only thing I've ever seen him eating.

[hawkwardness]

[Someday Tobias will figure that out for himself... how relieving honesty can be. He keeps on hoofing along.]

< Man. One of these days, maybe this place will find an actual sensible adult to be a role model for us kids. >

[awooligan]

[He snickers again, trotting bouncily through the underbrush.]

Yeah, right. Way too much weird shit happens here for anyone to manage. I basically just got here and I already know that.

[hawkwardness]

< It can't be any better at the other schools. Weird is just how it is when you get a bunch of dumb kids together and teach them to do more with their magical powers. People have accidentally cursed the whole campus before by screwing up homework. >

[Not like normal schools, where the worse that happens is a bad grade.]

[awooligan]

Lucky I've heard that before. Might've wanted to say fuck it, run away, and just live out here. A house in the woods doesn't sound bad at all.

[It's nice to be able to casually joke about the possibility, instead of worrying he'd be cornered into it.]