Shapeshifting Shenanigans

[Moonlight_Eevee]

It was another day and another succesful adventure for Dusk as she stretched. A smile was put on her face as she shifted back into being human to stroll through the town. There was nothing like being back in a familiar town as she easily made it to the tavern she was always looked forward to going to. She ordered her usual hamburger and fries after having a seat. "Ah, nothing like being home and in a familiar setting after a good adventure," she said, taking a drink of her water. She looked out upon the crowd, seeing a bunch of people over there which made her raise her eyebrow and stiffen slightly. Was that a pack? It made her make a slight face as she tried to determine what pack they were. Lion? Wolf? Flamingo? Honestly? It made no difference to her as a pack made her feel suffocated and more restricted as she rolled her eyes and looked away.

[SkySong278]

Theo didn’t know that the pack was in the town and at the tavern until he came across it and saw them gathered around it while out on his walk. He sighed a bit before turning around and heading back in the direction of the woods and the pack’s village without them seeing him at all. Before he had turned around, though he had noticed another girl there that was sitting away from everyone else. He tilted his head slightly out of curiosity and with the expression showing on his face before turning back around and going into the woods.

Edited August 17, 2022 by SkySong278

[Moonlight_Eevee]

The sooner Dusk got out of the tavern and away from the pack, the better in her opinion. As her meal was brought out to her, the woman quickly ate her food and from the corner of eye, she saw someone she hadn't seen before looking curiously at her from outside. Now who was that she wondered? Oh well, he was gone now as she paid and rushed out of the tavern, starting to get looks from the packs. She shook herself for a moment before turning and rushing off to the woods. At this rate, she just wanted to get back home to her cabin and away from prying pack eyes. "Ugh, all packs are all the same," Dusk said, throwing her hands up in in the air. "If you're not in a pack, then you're a threat to their society." At least out here she was free. Free of restrictions, free to do whatever she wanted to do, and most of all, free to shapeshift into whatever she wanted. 

[SkySong278]

Theo was about halfway back to the village when he heard everything that the girl he had  seen earlier say and turned back around to go talk to her. He thought that they had some stuff in common although they were from different worlds and wanted to try to talk to her. “Hey. I couldn’t help but overhear what you said. I have the same opinion on the last bit except in my case it’s about being able to shift,” he said in a casual way while leaning against a nearby treetrunk. “I’m part of a pack, but they treat me like an outcast and loner since I can no longer shift.”

[Moonlight_Eevee]

As Dusk walked through the forest, she paused as she heard a voice and turned to see the guy who looked at her curiously. She was slightly annoyed but hid it well as she put on a polite smile... only to look more interested as the guy mentioned he was unable to shift. "Unable to shift, eh?" she asked, peering at him a bit closer; as if trying to study him. "And what exactly happened to you that made you lose that?" Some pack this one's one. If the alpha or leader started bullying one of the younger ones, then they all pitched in as she scoffed slightly over it. "Then why are you still hanging around with that pack if they won't help you?"

[SkySong278]

Theo nodded his head in reply when he heard her first question while noticing that she was trying to study him, hearing her second question soon after. "I was cursed by a shaman when I was 10. I was actually in my shifted form when I was cursed but then the next day, I discovered that it had been locked, or been put in a cage-like thing and I haven't been able to shift since then. As soon as my friends learned of it, they've been avoiding me like I have the plague and thinking that its contagious if they get too close. That's not true but what do they know," he said in reply with a shrug and a sigh. "They're the only family I have." He then moved slightly causing his head to hit the trunk, glaring at what seemed to be his stomach. "Will you cut that out?" he muttered in an annoyed voice seemingly to himself but was really to his wolf. I'm hungry so stop talking and hurry up and feed me, was all it said before he sighed and looked back over towards the girl while rubbing the side of his head a bit and letting out another sigh. "It's been nice talking to you, but I have to go eat something to feed my wolf before he keeps bugging me. See you later," he said before moving away from the tree and going back towards the town and tavern from earlier to get a medium-rare burger.

Edited August 17, 2022 by SkySong278

[Moonlight_Eevee]

As the man spoke, the more curious Dusk was about the man. She furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he mentioned that he was cursed by a shaman when he was 10 and she gave a slight shiver. "Shaman's curses aren't meant to be contagious," Dusk mused, crossing her arms. "They don't sound like a very clever pack of they don't know that much at least." It seemed that his inner wolf was talking to him as the guy bonked his head on a branch and seemed to be angry with it. Dusk tapped her fingers on her arms, giving a slight hum. "You know, I'll meet you back in town," she said, turning towards the direction of her house. "I think there may be a way to help you out if you're willing to listen if I find the book I'm looking for." She quickly turned into a hummingbird, glancing back at Theo for a moment.

[SkySong278]

Theo turned back around when he heard what she said in her last two statements, seeing that she was a now a hummingbird, he saw the little bird in the place where she had been and assumed she had shifted, before nodding in reply to her offer of meeting him back in town to discuss his curse. “See you in town!” he called over his shoulder after he turned back around to head to the tavern in town to get some food. He figured that his pack was no longer there by now and if that was the case, he’d feel much better and less uncomfortable. When he got there, he asked to be seated outside and was before he was given a menu, looking it over soon after. When a waitress came over and asked what he’d like, he told her he'd like a half and half tea and a hamburger cooked medium rare with fries on the side. She wrote all of that down before heading to the kitchen to get his order in and to also get his drink. A few minutes later, she brought him his drink, and he nodded in thanks before drinking it a bit after she left.

[Moonlight_Eevee]

Wether or not the guy figured Dusk had shifted or not, she hovered there for a few minutes as he turned back to look at her for a moment. He hollered over his shoulder before Dusk zipped off to her house. She quickly shifted into a bloodhound, searching very carefully and found no signs of anyone snooping around, making her sigh in relief. She quickly opened her door and made a beeline for her bookshelf as she turned back into a human. "Now, let's see," she said, carefully scanning all her books. After a few minutes, Dusk found what she was looking for as she pulled out a book called, 'Curses and Cures'. She flipped the book open to make sure this was the right book befote confirming it was and sticking it into her magical bag before quickly rushing out the door. If anyone asked, she was doing this out of spite to a pack as she turned to a crow and headed for town. 

[SkySong278]

Theo had his attention be on the woods beyond the tavern while waiting for the food to be brought out to him, sipping his tea sparingly so as to still leave enough of the drink for when he would start eating and to also not get too full before his late lunch arrived. He also had a few more conversations with his wolf during this time, mainly trying to calm it down from being impatient about the food not yet arriving and mostly telepathic this time so that other people around him wouldn't give him weird looks. He then had his attention go to being on a different waitress than before bringing out his burger and thanked her with a nod before starting to eat a few of his fries after she walked away.

[Moonlight_Eevee]

It didn't take Dusk long to reach the outskirts of town and taking up her human form once again. She gave a a slight stretch before walking into town. She really didn't care if anyone saw her shapeshift, but she did it because she liked the town as she looked in. Oh, there was the guy, she easily spotted him sitting outside the tavern eating lunch. "Sorry it took me a moment," Dusk said, sitting down across from him. "I had to make sure I had the right book." She dug the book out of her bag and placed it on the table. "It's called Curses and Cures and luckily for you, it's got information on your particular curse." She opened the book and started flipping to the page where she saw it.

[SkySong278]

Theo had eaten half of his fried and was almost done with his burger when the girl that he had met esrlier and had agreed to help him came with the book that she said that she’d get. “Oh that’s okay. I haven’t been waiting to long. Glad you could find it and that it would help with my problem,” he said in reply after he had swallowed his food. “I’m Theo by the way and thank you for offering to help me.”

[Moonlight_Eevee]

As Dusk flipped through the book, she heard the guy speak that he wasn't waiting too long and she gave a brief glance up to him. "Name's Dusk," she said to him. As she got to the page, Dusk held it up and flipped it around so he can see it, but keeping it out of reach so he doesn't grab it with greasy fingers. "You're situation isn't going to be easy to solve. You need to go through various temples that hold trials in order to free yourself from this. Sort of like... tests to prove yourself." It was kind of awful that a shaman would curse a kid, barely a teen, but she wasn't going to complain about shamans. She didn't want to loose her mighty powers that separated her from everyone else. 

[SkySong278]

“Nice to meet you Dusk,” Theo said in reply after swallowing another bite of his burger and drink before looking at the book soon after that she held up for him to see. He then listened to everything that she said after with curiosity after she held the book up. “I do like a challenge. Would you like to come with me to help? Some of them might require a second person to complete it,” he said and asked after swallowing the last couple of bites of his burger and then had most of his attention be on the fries and drink afterward.

Edited September 16, 2022 by SkySong278

[Moonlight_Eevee]

So Theo liked a good challenge, eh? It was something that Dusk took a slight liking towards him. Though his next question had caught her offguard slightly. Go with him? It made her lean back as Dusk had think. If she did go with him, it'd be easier for them to move about since she could run, but would she be able to carry him on her back? Plus, he might not make it through some of the temples without a second person to help him. "I suppose so," Dusk finally answered, though it sounded like she was deep in thought. "Do you have any good way to travel about?"

[SkySong278]

((sorry for the wait. I’ve been getting caught up at work from being out of town briefly last week))
 

As he waited for her to reply to his question, Theo ate the rest of his fries and drank the rest of his drink and then looked around the restaurant afterward. He then looked briefly back at her to see her deep in thought before hearing her response and question. “Glad I have a buddy to do that with. When should we go? Yep, which is my own two feet. I’m a really fast runner,” he said and asked in reply to them with a smile on his face.

[Moonlight_Eevee]

(It's okay!)

 

It was thinking that got Dusk to wonder more. What would she be getting out of this? This would be wasting time for ger to work on other things. Yet, Theo was practically ostracized from his pack because of his curse. As Dusk looked back at him, he seemed to have a grin on his face as he mentioned he was a really fast runner. "Oh? Are you perhaps as fast as a cheetah?" she asked teasingly as she got up. "We can leave anytime you want. It was a slight test, but Dusk wouldn't leave him that far behind as she got up and stretched before putting the book away. 

[SkySong278]

((okay ))

 

“No but I can try to keep up all the same,” Theo said in reply to her question still with the smile on his face before hearing her response to the question he had asked her regarding them leaving anytime they wanted. “Alright, and would tomorrow morning work?” he asked as he watched her put the book in the bag she had brought to keep it in. “Thinking about mid-morning like 9 or 10.”