[PSL] You put that urban fantasy right back where you found it (for zunesareawesome)

[cahooted]

Flynn doesn't get involved.

Not anymore; there had once been a time where he had been involved in many things. Wonderful things, adventurous things – but that time was long gone, that life lay behind him now. It had ended when he had convinced Simone to let him stay with her, to bite and turn him. He had looked forward to a lifetime, no, countless lifetimes, with her, spending eternity together. Had been ready for it, or so he had thought.

After three days, three frightening, wonderful and confusing days with Simone, it had ended. Kubichek had not been killed by the grenade (of course not, that wasn't how vampires died, they should have known, stupid, stupid) and he had come back for his revenge, taking them by surprise. They had defeated him but it had cost Flynn dearly.

Now Simone is gone (forever) and Flynn is more lost than ever before in his life. He has taken refuge in Simone's old hideout, living off the remaining blood bags and postponing finding another place to live that isn't full of painful memories. He has secluded himself in here and here he will stay.

Alone.

He can't go back to the Library, he knows he can't. He turned his back on it and maybe he deserves the earth-shattering loss and loneliness of his rash decision; he has eternity to brood over that question. Part of him wishes he could see Judson and Charlene, just one last time, but he knows he wouldn't be able to face them after letting them down like he did. Sometimes he feels like he's catching Judson out of the corner of his eye, in a mirror, a movement of a reflection that can't be Flynn's, but when he looks there's nothing.

Flynn spends the days reading. About vampires, mostly, trying to catch up on his new existence. Most of the nights he spends reading, too, and really, if it were up to him he would never leave the apartment. But spending all his time reading also means he has to go out from time to time to find new material. Tonight is one of these nights and he already regrets it.

They're werewolves, he's pretty sure. It's like his gift to read people has been transferred to the supernatural and he can sense what these creatures are, can see it in their movements, feel it in the air, he just knows. They haven't changed form, only partially, their eyes gleaming in the moonlight, feral and dangerous and... mean. They have circled someone and Flynn can tell that this someone is a werewolf, too. A werewolf that the others don't seem to like for some reason. At all.

Flynn knows bullies when he sees them. They take their time, circling their victim, sometimes attacking for a punch or a scratch or a bite. Flynn pulls a face as he watches from the shadows of the trees before turning his back on the scene. Whatever. This is stupid. It's not his problem. He will seek out the trader he is supposed to meet for a stack of rare books, go home and hate life. Or unlife. Whatever he is supposed to call himself these days. 'Idiot', maybe. Yes, he thinks he'll go with that.

Flynn doesn't get involved, not anymore.

He makes it two steps back into the underwood, trying to ignore the snarling and growling, before he slows and stops. He closes his eyes, exhaling sharply at the sudden fear of a decision already made, before he turns and, with a gust of a dramatic whoosh ports himself forward and onto the clearing. He miscalculates and stumbles on a stone but thankfully for him the werewolves are too busy with their prey to notice his little mishap.

Or... anything about his dramatic entry really as nobody has even noticed him appear. Well, that was a colossal waste of time and energy? The old-fashioned way then.

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

Comments

[zunesareawesome]

WHINE.

Let me out oh please please please--

He wags his tail and tries to sniff at Flynn as close as he possibly can.

Understand him? He tilts his head quizzically. Peter's never really been able to remember much when he's a wolf, but this time, something's different. He feels more there than he had before. Maybe because he and the wolf were finally in agreement, maybe because he wasn't scared or angry or hurt.

There's an unsure nod, and then he plops his butt down on the floor, tail still wagging wildly. Whumpwhumpwhumpwhump--

[cahooted]

"Good. That's, um, that's good. You're really big, you know? So, I'm gonna open this door but please don't jump me because you are really big. No jumping, okay?"

Taking a deep breath and feeling less courageous than he's acting Flynn finally opens the door and steps away from the frame to allow Peter to come out. Please don't make him regret this.

[zunesareawesome]

You have made...

...a terrible mistake, Flynn.

Because here's several hundred pounds of fur and happiness and he's headed RIGHT FOR YOU!

Peter's rambunctiously springing towards his new best vampire friend, aiming to put his paws on his shoulders to knock him over.

[cahooted]

No, no, nononononono... Flynn's eyes widen and he brings his hands up in defense but it's no use. Two giant paws impact with his shoulders, driving him back, sending his arms windmilling and then he's falling.

When his back threatens to hit the floor and hard Flynn teleports, vanishing into a cloud of dust and reappearing behind Peter, stumbling into a nightstand.

"What did I just say!"

[zunesareawesome]

...what?!

Peter blinked at the empty space below him. A confused whine. His friend was there, and the suddenly, not? The giant wolf whirls around, Flynn's scent suddenly behind him.

GASP.

THIS WAS A GAME!

KEEP AWAY!

Peter delightedly play-bows--SO EXCITED--before leaping at Flynn again.

[cahooted]

THIS WAS NOT A GAME!

Flynn yelps when he realizes that he has made yet another terrible mistake and proceeds to teleport back and forth in the narrow space, desperately trying to get a word in in between.

"Peter!" Poof. "I said..." Poof. "... no..." Poof. "... jumping!"

The last word drowns in a surprised yell when he ports into the couch, falling over and tumbling to the ground. All without Peter's help.

[zunesareawesome]

THIS WAS THE BEST GAME EVER!

Peter jumps towards every 'poof' even if he can't reach it, completely worked up, his tail practically wagging out of existence.

And then--ON THE COUCH! Here comes a bounding wolf! He attempts to jump on top of him again, aiming to just sit on the poor vampire.

[cahooted]

This time Flynn doesn't manage to get out of the way in time and the next moment he finds himself pinned on his back. The air leaves him with a noisy OOOFF and he lies, trying to breathe.

"I give up! You win!"

His hands come up trying to fend Peter off. This really isn't how he imagined his day to go.

[zunesareawesome]

He won! This is the best!

Proudly, Peter trots off of Flynn, and lets up off of him, and goes to lie down on a free patch of the floor. He looks rather pleased with himself.

This is your life now.

[cahooted]

This was his life now. Flynn stayed down a little longer, trying to catch his breath and letting his eyes slip shut for an exhausted nap.

Maybe it was time to invest in a cliched and werewolf-proof coffin for the days.

[zunesareawesome]

Naps? Naps are good. Peter curls up and decides to take a nap too, yawning before putting his tail over his nose and falling asleep.

It's not before too long that he changes back, there's whining but he seems to not be in very much pain at before. But he's a little confused and startled when he feels cold and wakes up with a start, furless and...

...probably should get his pants. Peter scrambles for his discarded clothes and shoes, quickly changing hopefully before the vampire woke up. Was it daytime? Did they sleep during the day? Probably. What happened? He sits there, his jeans on at least, tying his shoelaces. If he was out then Peter would probably stay and take a nap too, he was honestly a little afraid to just leave, what if this was like one of those magical things that you can't find a place if you aren't invited in or something...not that he really believes in magic other than what he's seen with his own two eyes.

Why did he change? Peter frowned. He remembered it. Dude. He REMEMBERED IT!

"Hey? Dude? You awake?"

[cahooted]

Flynn gave a sleepy grunt in return, then slowly forced his eyes open. The nap had turned into a deep day slumber and he was dead tired when Peter's excited voice woke him up. All his limbs felt heavy and God, he swore it couldn't be later than early afternoon. What a horrible time to be awake.

Turning his head he glanced over at Peter and grimaced. "Mmmrh." Rubbing at his face he yawning heartily and muttered something that sounded like 'totally need a coffin'. Then he paused, fanning his fingers open and peeking out at the face looking back at him and its distinct lack of fur and wolf features.

"Oh hey, you're back. Are you okay? What time is it...?"

[zunesareawesome]

"Yeah! I'm fine, actually--better than fine. Great, even!" His good mood seems to have persisted. "It's just turned 3...wait, did you say something about a coffin?"

That's both kind of disconcerting and so classic vampire that Peter was seriously considering going out to try and find him (steal him) one.

He pulls on his shirt and motorcycle jacket and finishes tying his shoes as he chatters. "--so like, dude--I actually remembered it this time. Isn't that great? I don't know what the difference is, just--and it didn't hurt as bad. I mean, it still hurt, and I'm sore, but it's not as like, incapacitating--"

[cahooted]

"Three?" Yes, this was where he dropped all pretense for a sleepy whine. "That's great, I'm really happy for you..."

That wasn't a lie. But part of it was also a definite 'can I go back to sleep now'? However, Peter kept talking on excitedly and eventually Flynn sat up, accepting his fate. "You remember?" Those were good news, as well as the fact that he wasn't in as much pain. Some of the fatigue left Flynn's face in the wake of curiosity. "That's a good sign, I think. Remembering is the first step to control."

At least that was what he guessed. Little hard to stay in control when you didn't even remember your actions...

[zunesareawesome]

"You sound really sleepy...oh man, did I wake you up too early? Is this your nighttime? You're a vampire, this is your nighttime, isn't it?" But he's too excited about the good things that just happened to feel really all that bad about it. "How much sleep do vampires need?"

"Yes! Dude, it was wild...like, I was so happy? And when you were poofing around everywhere it kind of made it worse. I wanted to chase you down. But not to hurt you or anything. I'm kind of surprised, actually, cause the wolf didn't like you at all when I first smelled you but...I think feeding me might have had something to do with it." Instant loyalty! "Or offering to help me. M...maybe if I can stay in control when it happens again, I can actually stop it from happening when I don't want it to. Mostly. Probably not gonna have much luck during the full moon, though."

[cahooted]

"It is. But it's fine, it's not like it's going to kill me or anything." He paused, then flashed him a stupid grin. "See what I did there?"

Spoiler alert, the vampire liked horrible wordplay and puns.

But the grin softened into a surprised smile at Peter's confession and Flynn ducked his head, a little embarrassed and unsure what to do with it. "That's, that's okay. It was no big deal, really. I'm glad it helped." And he was, more than he even expected. It felt really nice. He paused again, frowning when he thought of something. "So the control seems to be linked to emotions. That's good. That might help me find more information."

[zunesareawesome]

He gets finger-guns. "Ha, I totally get it. Cause you're dead already. Probably a little funnier if you didn't spell it out afterwards." But you also get a laugh, at least?

"Yeah...there was something like..." he didn't want to say the word pack, but that's what it was. His wolf wanted a pack, and Flynn offered him food, safety, and friendship. He coughs, clearing his throat. "Anyway. Yeah, emotions. And it was like...happiness and fifteen-billion cups of coffee. I was so wired."

[cahooted]

Flynn brightened considerably at the finger-guns. He had never gotten finger-guns before from anyone ever and after a moment of surprised delight he brought up his hands to finger-gun back at Peter. You made his day, wolf-friend.

"You were extremely wired. I probably could have anticipated that porting around would wind the wolf up and make you chase me but it was more a reflex at the time. You're kind of big as a wolf, that's a lot of body and muscle launched at me, you know?" But he grinned, indicating that he wasn't holding a grudge for it.

Another yawn. "Well, guess now that I'm up I might as well get started on my research."

[zunesareawesome]

Peter would have probably lost it to the wolf again if his wolf knew how happy that made Flynn. He just wants to be your best friend, buddy!

"Well, I mean, if you're not used to being around...uh..." he didn't want to say big animals, but. "Critters, you wouldn't have known. Did you grow up with a dog?" He grinned, though. He liked to work out, and it was something of a point of pride that his wolf was big and muscular. "Was I really buff? I mean, as a wolf. Can wolves be buff?"

"Cool! Research!" Peter gets up, ready to follow him around like an eager puppy.

Really not that much behaviorally different than he was when he was covered in fur.

[cahooted]

"No, I never had a dog. And yeah, you were. About this big?" He held up his hand to indicate the height. "And definitely buff. I don't know how buff werewolves can get, so I can't say if you were buff for a werewolf but you were definitely buff on a general scale of... buff-ness."

Or something like that.

Flynn led him over to the table with the stack of books already piling up. He slowed briefly when they passed the cupboard hiding away the freezer with the blood bags but passed it. He did not want to do that in front of his guest if he absolutely didn't have to. Peter would probably take a shower or go get more food or do something that should give him an opportunity to feed.

"Do you want to help me? That might speed things up."

[zunesareawesome]

"Dude, that's awesome! Could you get a picture or video of me the next time it happens?" Because surely he's going to be around when it happens again, right? Buff werewolf needed to be recorded.

Peter doesn't notice him slowing briefly, and goes to sniff (literally, sniff) at the books. He's been catching himself doing that more often than not, but the more he's been accepting the wolf in him, the more things like this happen.

"Sure! Just point me in the right direction, bro."

[cahooted]

The idea of taking pictures of the giant werewolf in his living room made him chuckle. "Sure. I'll see what I can do."

He tilted his head at the sniffing and his eyebrows rose slightly but as long as Peter didn't drool on or chewed the books they wouldn't have a problem.

"Alright, let's start with gathering some info." Flynn grabbed a stack, pushing it over at Peter. "You find anything on werewolves just slip a piece of paper in so we can cross-reference it later."

[zunesareawesome]

"Yes!" This was going so well. He finishes his cursory sniff inspection--nothing at all to worry about here, just books--and he takes the new stack that Flynn pushes over to him, lifting a particularly hefty tome and half-dropping it heavily onto the table.

"Right! Cross-referencing! I'm gonna reference these books so much. I'm gonna gather the hell out of this info!"

Enthusiasm? He has it, new friend! Much education that involved research, he does not! What does cross-referencing even mean? Whatever, he'll just do the paper thing.

[cahooted]

Flynn chuckled at the enthusiasm and particularly the expressions. "That's the spirit."

He was soon engulfed in his reading, flipping pages and muttering quietly to himself. Sometimes he, too, slipped a piece of paper in one of the books so he would find the sections faster. But over time his focus waned and he felt his eyes wander back to the cupboard then and again. Unwilling to give into the unnatural demand he buried himself in a new stack of books, taking one of Peter's from time to time to look what he found.

"Hey, uh, if you're hungry or anything, you let me know, right? I tend to forget these things."

[zunesareawesome]

Peter looks up from scouring through some giant dusty book, fighting the urge to fall back asleep because some of this was just SO BORING, but Flynn's question brings him back to alertness.

"Wh...hungry? Oh yeah, maybe in a bit. This is just really interesting." Or not. What is all this about moon cycles and ancient lore and...boring. Where was that one book about how werewolves hunted, that was cool...something in Peter's bleary observations clicked. Flynn looking back towards the cupboard occasionally, then asking about...

"Are you hungry? 'Cause if you need to go out and do your thing, go do your thing, bro."