bared teeth & broken noses

Alex Riddick. 24. Mechanic. they/them/theirs or it's time to fist fight. Born a werewolf, life is the pack. Or it was. It's not anymore. 10/10 willing to fist fight, doesn't care that they can't see their opponent, it's time to throw down, let's go.

[aggressively-enya-deactivated20]

Bar Talks // Open Starter

[aggressively-enya-deactivated20]

Sometimes it was easier, to tell the truth while making it impossible to believe. Nobody could accuse her of lying, because she spoke the truth. She merely spoke it in a way that kept people from believing her. But she wasn’t afraid to admit what she was, her numerous faults, though it could take a while to get through them. 

“I know that I don’t need it. You just don’t seem to have heard of sarcasm before. And I actually do not have to stop doing that. See, that’s the thing. I’m a bitch. If you don’t like that, you have no need to talk to me.” Enya shrugged, seeing it as hardly more complicated than that. She was what she was, and she saw no reason to be in denial of that. 

[fightmx-blog]

“-- Oh, no, I’ve heard of sarcasm. You just aren’t doing it well. The funny thing is, about half of sarcastic comments are in the visual elements. The bad sarcasm, anyway. The better the sarcasm, the less visual it is. At least in my experience, anyway. I mean, it’s up to you if you wanna stop being a total dickwad, but I just thought you should know that I have no reason to go anywhere. So if you don’t want to be called out on being an ass, you don’t have to talk to me either. Glad we sorted that out.”

Alex smiled, raising their glass a little, then taking another drink. What? They weren’t moving. It was just that they weren’t here for taking things laying down without pointing out hypocrisies and etcetera.

[remidevauxx-blog]

Hello There | OPEN

[remidevauxx-blog]

       Remi oriented himself as the other did the same and apologized. Immediately, he noticed something off, but couldn’t quite place a finger on it. The dog was the first thing he clued in on, the harness and the way the other was holding them. German shepherds made good guide dogs, and thinking on that, Remi noticed the way the other looked unfocused, his eyes not quite meeting his own… Shit, well now he knew why the other was so damn amused by the little run in and his phrasing. Thankfully, he was finding it funny. Still, Remi grimaced slightly at the situation but ate it. Well, no going back, and if there was no problem yet then he should continue on as if there wasn’t one. Sometimes unexpected awkwardness came over him when he didn’t know how to handle things correctly and this was one of those moments.

       “I’m totally fine, but same goes for you. Even if you were speeding I did kind of stop suddenly.” He looked down to the side at the creature dutifully leading the other and could see it look back up at him briefly, dark chocolate eyes focused on it’s job. Fumbling for something else to say he focused on the dog. “They have a name?” He gestured towards the german shepherd but then thought about his movements, remembered who he was talking to. “I… I mean your dog, do they have a name,” he stumbled and rubbed at his arm.

[fightmx-blog]

“-- Nah, it wasn’t that sudden. He had enough time to stop, it’s just I didn’t get the memo straightaway. So you’re fine, I promise. Scout’s honour.” Of course, they’d never been a scout, but they didn’t make fake promises either, so the two kind of cancelled each other out, Alex thought, glad to know that the stranger had emerged unscathed from the collision.

Wait. Did who have a name? Oh, he probably meant Charlie. Alex’s thought was proven correct a split second later, as the stranger clarified that he had indeed, meant the dog at his side, whose tail wagged briefly at the attention. “-- No, I have a dog without a name; if I want his attention, I yell ‘hey, you’, across a field. I’m kidding. His name’s Charlie.”

Alex laughed a little, nervously, paused because they knew what the next question usually was when Charlie was brought up, and rubbed their free hand against the back of their neck. No idea if the stranger was going to ask said question or not, but it didn’t hurt to preemptively voice the response. Just in case. “-- Sorry, you can’t pet him right now. He’s not supposed to get distracted when we’re out and he’s working. It’s...a whole thing.” Ah, the discomfort of preemptive dog-petting denial. Alex knew it well.

[kitxmclynch]

Caiden nodded before he realized they probably couldn’t see the movement. He didn’t add anything with words though. There wasn’t much point in saying anything, and what should he say? Nice to meet you? He was pretty sure they wouldn’t believe it anyways, so he just stayed silent. 

He rolled his eyes when Alex apologized, not seeing the necessity of it. “Don’t apologize.” Alex was acting like he was going to beat the shit out of them at the slightest provocation, and he didn’t really see why. He hadn’t even been acting that aggressive, in his mind. Grumpy, but he generally was, so that wasn’t anything new.

[fightmx-blog]

It was the pack mentality that was tough to shake off, so much of the werewolf subtext hard to pinpoint without the visual cues that went with it, making it hard to figure out the exact messages being sent. So much of wolf communication was done with eyes alone. People were fucking hard. But at least they could talk when they had two legs. So the grumpiness was, alas, perceived more like general negative behavioural responses, in Alex’s mind, and so they fought very hard not to apologise for apologising. And immediately kicked themselves internally for even entertaining the idea. One apology was quite enough, and they didn’t owe this stranger any more.

Fuck.

What were they even fucking thinking? This was a stranger. This wasn’t their alpha, no, their past alpha, and he certainly wasn’t their superior. Alex straightened up a little as they walked, readjusting their hold on Charlie’s harness, and letting their shoulders settle. “-- Where is this place?”

[ilejidemet-blog]

coffee catastrophe || Open

[ilejidemet-blog]

“At least there’s that.” she mused. She was small, not hobbit small, but small. She’s spent her adult life being mistaken for a teenager. Not that she was that old, but still it was pretty irritating. It wasn’t as if she wanted to be taller, no she was fine being her size. She just wanted to be treated like an adult and not infantilized for the rest of her life.

She eyed the dog with a certain degree of unease. She really didn’t feel comfortable around dogs. She looked at him gently. “Just because people do it all the time doesn’t make it any better.” she laughed awkwardly. “It’s nice to meet you Alex. Even if I almost left you horribly disfigured.” She took a quiet sip of her drink. Unsure of what to say. Should she invite the stranger to join her for coffee? Would that be weird? Would it seem like she was asking him out? She was always horrible in awkward social situations. “So uh, wanna drink our coffee together?” she realized how awkward her question sounded as soon as it left her lips. “I mean in a totally normal not strange way… I sound like a total weirdo.”

[fightmx-blog]

“-- Nah, I’ve had worse. Trust me, you’re fine,” Alex smiled good-naturedly, still wondering where they could put the tiny little sugar packets without leaving it for someone else to clean up. Seriously. Worst thing ever. Wait, what? Seriously, they had to start paying attention when she was talking to them.

Alex turned back towards her, raising an eyebrow in not-unpleasant surprise at her question and subsequent explanation. Was this what socialisation outside of the pack was like? “-- Uh. Sure? I mean, you don’t sound like a weirdo. I mean, I don’t have a whole lot of experience with uh...people, anyway, so you’re fine. One request, though. Just. Y’know. Before mutual coffee-drinking. Do you...know where I can put the packets?” Holding up the empty, crumpled sugar packets, Alex sent a mildly uncomfortable expression in her general direction.

[aggressively-enya-deactivated20]

Bar Talks // Open Starter

[aggressively-enya-deactivated20]

There was no point in continuing to argue with that. Some people wanted to bigger families, but it really wasn’t worth going on as the topic wasn’t all that important. She was ready to cut them off again, and explain that had been the opposite of her intentions, until they kept on with another theory. At the second one, she nodded, then drained what was left of her whiskey. “You caught me on the last one. Gosh darnit, like you just see right through me. There goes my act.” She said it in a dry tone, only giving them a glance over as she spoke. She saw no reason to deny it, not when she knew it. She tried to scare people off, and she had her own reasons for it. She didn’t want social interaction, unless the person was tolerable and it was a purely surface level and lasted for a short time. Anything past that involved friendship, involved actually giving a shit about someone. 

Caring just meant eventually losing someone again. Was she a coward to avoid it purely for fear of that. Goddamn right she was, and she wasn’t afraid to admit that either. But she was her and she wasn’t changing no matter how hard anyone tried to convince her otherwise. Life was easier for her when she was alone and she had every intention of keeping it that way. “It is my life, though, thanks for recognizing that. Always great to have someone’s permission to be who I am.”

[fightmx-blog]

The corner of Alex’s lip quirked up at her phrasing and assumed sarcasm. Sarcasm could be kinda hard to tell sometimes without the visual cues, honestly, but considering how prickly the stranger was? Alex was about ninety-eight percent sure this was sarcasm. Ninety-nine. Regardless, they shrugged a little, continuing to nurse their pint.

“-- Never said I was giving you permission, either, not even that you needed it. Y’know, at some point, you’re gonna have to stop twisting my words to make me sound like I’m hitting you in the face with my views. For one thing, it’s an asshole thing to do. For another thing, it’s an asshole thing to do.” Totally nonchalant. No big.

[kitxmclynch]

“Welcome.” The word was barely audible, Caiden would rather pretend he wasn’t doing anything helpful. Somehow it seemed easier that way. Or at least, easier for him. “ ’M Caiden, by the way.” If he was going to have extended contact with the kid, knowing their name might make it better. At least then he’d know the name of the wolf to possibly avoid.

“I figured whatever’s wrong with your eyes didn’t affect your legs.” Caiden wasn’t exactly growling, but it was close, even as he started walking a little faster. “My legs are longer than most though. Figured you didn’t want to be running to keep up.”

[fightmx-blog]

“-- Alex,” was all they said by way of introduction, sensing that Caiden wasn’t too happy about this whole situation. It was kind of obvious, honestly, what with the way that they seemed to pretty much be dragging out their words, with how reluctant he’d seemed about helping in the first place. And yet, Alex remained the type to take things at face value, so if he said he was okay with helping them out, then Alex believed him.

Still, that didn’t mean that they couldn’t take a hint, and they caught the not-a-growl in his words, and knew damn well that Caiden was bigger than them. The end result for that particular fact combination was a very slight wince, and having to battle the urge to duck their head. Instinct wasn’t easy to fight off. “-- Point taken. Sorry.” Was it just them, or did Caiden give off a very...not quite dominant, but certainly powerful vibe? No way could they take him on. 

[danisavin]

bruised for your bark; open.

[danisavin]

        It was all very weird – being licked, being scolded by a wolf for sitting too restlessly – yet the longer she sat there, the less her wound stung and the more sensible it became. Dani had eventually managed to sit still, and it paid off. Her injury may have been coated in werewolf spit, but it was raw, bloodless, and felt cleaner than it had initially. Though she’d have to sterilize and bandage it when she returned home, this was a far more clever solution to getting her there than trying to hold back the bloodflow with a torn strip of cloth form her shirt. 

When the wolf finished and moved on to sniffing her over for other serious injuries no doubt, Dani elicited a quiet chuckle and patiently waited for them to settle. No one had checked her so thoroughly for injuries besides her father during those delicate and over-adventurous years of her childhood. She had to admit, it was a nice feeling – being tended to. Lord knows she could use some TLC that didn’t originate from her homemade first aid kit. 

She was okay, and it was mostly thanks to Balto over here who had at last sat down beside her. She looked at them expectantly. They cocked their head and whined. It sounded somewhat like an inquiry, but Dani wasn’t exactly fluent in wolf. Very quickly, this turned into a game of lupine charades. The wolf stood, sniffed her knee, sat back down, and cocked their head again. Okay. A knee sniff. Well, her knee was scraped a bit, but it wasn’t busted. They hadn’t licked it at all, so they probably weren’t asking if it also needed tending too. Maybe… oh! Dani glanced briefly at her knee before adjusting the position of her legs to a more operable position. She assumed they wanted her to get up on her feet, or at least try. Luckily, her legs hadn’t suffered any major damage. Her freshly licked wound caused her to pause and wince for a second, but besides that, she got up without a hitch. “Is this it, then?” she asked. “You wanted to know if I could get up?”

[fightmx-blog]

Alex lowered, then raised their head in a wolfy nod, letting out an affirmative huffle of air that almost sounded like a bark. Not quite, because they didn’t want to attract every wolf in the town, and it was tough to do so (as in bark) quietly, but close enough. Sniffing at her again, they were satisfied that she was indeed still standing, and there weren’t exactly any falling blurs or anything, so yes, they were satisfied.

Okay. Okay, the fight was over, and she was okay, and so were they. Okay, it was time to get up, find Charlie, shift back, and put clothes on. Alex sighed, and stood. Uh. What direction had they came in? They briefly circled on the spot, then raised their head and howled, quietly enough that it shouldn’t have carried outwith the graveyard but loudly enough that it wasn’t long before they heard Charlie’s response. It did echo off the gravestones, but now? Now they had a direction, and tail wagging, they slowly began to trot in the direction of the noise, carefully picking their way around the headstones. Every so often, they stopped, and cocked their head, and let out a quiet howl again, and upon receiving the reply, they followed it. Honestly, part of them wondered if this was more trouble than it was worth, but at the same time, they were satisfied with their work tonight.

Charlie barked. Alex jumped a little, ears perking up. Wow, the German Shepherd was close by. Okay. Padding towards the noise, Alex continued to sniff and listen, until they heard the confirming bark that told them that they had reached the dog. Excellent. Alex shifted back to two legs and a lack of fur, letting the discomfort of the shift roll over them as they sat on the grass, completely and utterly naked. “-- Thanks, buddy,” they said, putting their hand out. Charlie put his face in Alex’s hand, and Alex gave him a nice, solid petting, stroking down towards the harness and rubbing underneath it. “-- Good boy.”

[aggressively-enya-deactivated20]

Bar Talks // Open Starter

[aggressively-enya-deactivated20]

She realized a little too late what she had done. Touching other people in anything besides a fight, that was something she avoided. It had been to make a point, which made it a little better. But physical touch was about her only way of showing affection, which meant she hadn’t touched anyone in a casual manner in years. She drew her hand back into her lap quietly. 

“It’s what pack people want. Family, closeness, protection.” Maybe there was a small sliver of her that missed that, feeling people at her back. Yet her pack, her family had been a toxic one. “I grabbed your hand to make a point. What I was referring to was a different kind of connections pack wolves expect.” She sat back for his description of her, always entertained to hear how people saw her. “Mainly accurate, though I’m not bothered that people want general social interaction. I’m bothered that people want social interaction with me. I’m not social.”

[fightmx-blog]

“-- Like I said, I already have a family,” Alex reiterated to make a point, turning their eyes (hopefully) towards her to further illustrate it. “-- If you’re not social, and you don’t want to be social, why would you start a social interaction with me? I sat down. I got a beer. That’s it. I didn’t turn towards you, I didn’t engage you, I didn’t touch you, and yet...you talked to me and you grabbed my hand. I mean, whatever, it’s your life, you do you, if you wanna be the way you are, then you fucking be the way you are. But I’m just saying, you’re the one who was social in the first place.”

Shrugging, Alex put their glass back on the bar-top, letting their hand drop a little to rest around the base of the glass, fingers circling it. “-- Or is it that you’re more scared shitless that people’ll think you wanna be social, so you tried to cut it off, only you do, deep down, ‘cause I mean, that’s the only point you could’ve been making, but you’re having this whole internal crisis thing or whatever. I mean, either way, it’s your life.”

[jameslivinguptoexpectations]

Lunch Break || Jen + Alex

[jameslivinguptoexpectations]

Jen shook her head with a smile. Animals, all of them. She didn’t mean that about actually being wolves, necessarily, just about the reclusive way some werewolves chose to live. It boggled her that so many considered it the perfect scenario when so much was missing.

Looking up, she realized how pissy Alex seemed to be getting over the conversation. Jen laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “I mean it’s more belted singing than void-screaming, but basically. You get the general idea. Ultimate break up artist.” She shifted, looking down at Charlie still gobbling at his chicken. “So if you’re too uncultured for the art that is modern pop, what do you listen to? Mostly rock?”

[fightmx-blog]

“-- Yet another reason to keep Adele firmly off my to-listen-to list,” Alex griped, sitting forward and leaning their elbows on their knees. Yep, they were stubborn enough to do so, and more to the point, the more someone wanted them to do something like that, the less willing they’d be to do it. And if Jen wanted them to listen to Adele, then damn right, they weren’t gonna do it.

She was asking them questions about their taste in music, and Alex frowned. They didn’t like it when people were right about their guesses about them, not when their defences were up. And oh, were they up... “-- How about you mind your own fucking business, huh?” they snapped. Then a few seconds later. Because they were too much of a softie to keep it up without any real reason, “-- Yeah. Mostly rock. Not when I’m doing things, though. Not that it’s any of your business. Asshole.”

[fightmx-blog]

What makes your character embarrassed?

I don’t get embarrassed. I get uncomfortable.

[remidevauxx-blog]

Hello There | OPEN

       Upon arrival in Downtown he’d decided to wander. It wasn’t long before the lanky youth had met the loveliest of old women who’d pointed him the way to Sang Wen upon asking. All it’d taken was the tip of his glasses and a patent smile and she’d been more than kind enough to prattle on about all the neighborhoods. Remi had been looking for a long time resident, and she had seemed like the perfect mark. By the end of the conversation he knew the names of all the boroughs and possibly a bit more than he’d liked.

       He hadn’t quite seen the appeal to Sumner… but slowly it was sinking in. Sure, it was like any north-eastern beach town to the untrained eye, but Remi knew the differences. From far off could feel the pull of mana pools, the unique swagger only fairies and nymphs had, the slightly out of time period dress vampires wore despite trying their best to fit in. Even in New York the number of humans was drastically higher and sightings like the afore mentioned were scarce despite everything. Overall, it was downright impressive and he found himself pausing, caught in thought… What Remi didn’t account for was someone being directly behind him on the walk. Turning, he wasn’t even in the slightest bit mad whoever it was had given him a flat tire and had bumped into him. Proceeding to fix his oxford as the corner of his lips curled into a smile he managed to get the words out as smoothly as ever, “Oh, sorry, didn’t see you there.”

[fightmx-blog]

Alex was once again trying to figure out the layout of Sumner so they didn’t have to be one of those douchebags who walked around with their phone to their ear the entire time. For reference, however, their phone was not currently at their ear, as GPS was a fucking godsend. Regardless, they and Charlie were walking along, absolutely fine, no big deal, everything was fine.

And then the person in front of them stopped suddenly and despite Charlie also stopping almost immediately, Alex walked directly into the stranger. Like, slap bang into his back. They did, however, right themselves fairly quickly, patting down their pockets to make sure their wallet, phone, and keys were still there. Yep. All good. Wait. Wait, wait. Seriously?

Alex laughed a bit at the stranger’s choice of words, and pushed their free hand through their hair. “-- Neither did I. It’s fine, sorry, I didn’t see you either. Are you okay? I know I walk pretty fast.”

[aggressively-enya-deactivated20]

Bar Talks // Open Starter

[aggressively-enya-deactivated20]

Her tenseness only grew as the other wolf seemed perfectly content with where they were at, and unlikely to leave anytime soon. She found herself glancing over her shoulder in search of some familiar face, just to reassure herself that her old pack wasn’t there, sending this new one for her. There was no one she knew in the bar, but it didn’t ease the itch between her shoulder blades as she turned back. 

“See, that was the point.” Enya told them, looking over at them again. She drew in a deep breath and looked him over, face impassive. “Someone’s used to pack life, aren’t they? That’s the thing about those like you, you assume that when you meet someone like you and you’ll just form this instant connection and,” she reached over and grabbed one of their hands, “it will be like instant family.” She dropped their hand and turned away again. “But I don’t want family.”

[fightmx-blog]

Alex startled a little at her grasping of their hand, and at the sudden drop of it, their eyebrows steadily rising at her words. Well, then. Someone was getting ahead of herself. Reaching out and wrapping their free hand around their folded up cane, more out of a comfort sort of thing than anything else as they cocked their head at her.

“-- Why would you think I want family?” they asked, taking a drink of their beer. “-- I have a family. Sure, I don’t have a pack right now, but the only instant connection you and I have is you...grabbing my hand just there. We’re strangers. But okay. If we’re doing the first impressions thing, let’s go. You make snap decisions about people that you meet just because they’re like you, and you get pissy when someone just wants to live their life, general social interaction and all. It’s not wanting to get to know you, stranger at a bar, it’s called being social.”

[jameslivinguptoexpectations]

Lunch Break || Jen + Alex

[jameslivinguptoexpectations]

Jen rolled her eyes, listening to their excuses. Signal, fine, but internet? “I suppose you guys never hooked up wifi either? In which case… Man, wolves are weird.” She found it funny how many werewolves weren’t exposed to modern elements when her kind were supposedly the wild, uncivilized ones. They were actually far too civilized in her opinion, but maybe that was projecting from her family.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to take it literally,” Jen explained. “It’s like… cathartic or whatever. I think that’s it anyway.” She shook her head. “Hello is the more important one right now, although that’s finally started to die down.”

[fightmx-blog]

“-- What? We didn’t exactly have wifi in the woods. We had to go into the city for that.” Alex didn’t know why they were so defensive about the way that their particular pack had run, as removed as they had been from the general human populace. It was a thing, okay? Humans weren’t exactly on the best of terms with werewolves when it came to the full moon, and considering their North American werewolf ancestry, that pretty much meant that the people were used to hunting the wolves around. This did not bode well for the pack.

Alex huffed a little. They were pretty defensive now. Which had already been said. But it still stood, and Alex kind of brought their limbs in a little closer, scowling slightly. “-- Let me guess, it involves screaming into the void about someone not responding to a phone call.”

[ilejidemet-blog]

coffee catastrophe || Open

[ilejidemet-blog]

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “How do you know I am not a little kid?” she said with a large amount of light hearted snark. “I mean I’m not, but I could have been.” She smiled looking over to the counter before sliding over the sugar holder. “Of course. Need any sugar?” she paused before looking at him a bit confused. “I forgot to introduce myself… I mean I guess I don’t have to.” she started to ramble. “But uh. I’m Seol.”

She noted his tone before really looking him over. Her mistake making her feel like a total asshole. She paused unsure if she should apologize or just keep on moving. She debated mentally for a few moments before speaking. “I’m a total idiot and didn’t notice.” she said it a small whisper. “Though you probably don’t want to hear some half hearted apology since I am assuming you hear those all the time. But I am a total ditz.”

[fightmx-blog]

“-- You don’t sound like a kid,” Alex shrugged with a somewhat amused little smile as she moved the sugar, and they registered the movement, putting the coffee down and reaching their hand out in search of the sugar. Okay. Got it. They took out a packet, tore it open with their teeth, and tipped it into the coffee. It wasn’t mixed, but...that didn’t really matter. They supposed. Regardless, she was introducing herself, and Alex would’ve responded in kind but he was a little preoccupied with trying to figure out where to dispose of the sugar packet.

As such, when her entire tone changed, Alex was a little surprised. Uh. What? Didn’t notice what? Oh. Oh. She hadn’t noticed that they were blind. To be fair, Charlie was sitting down on their other side, so it was completely possible that she’d missed the guide-dog-specific harness handle on their hand. Made sense. Alex let out a little sigh, and turned back towards her. “-- Seriously, it’s not a big deal. People walk into people all the time, and there weren’t exactly any third degree burns or anything, so it’s fine, seriously. It’s just a fact of life. I’m Alex. I mean, I’d shake your hand, but a lack of third degree burns is generally a good thing.”

[danisavin]

bruised for your bark; open.

[danisavin]

        Maybe Dani should have thought twice before speaking to the wolf. Or at least she should have put two and two together and realized that offering conversation typically brought a pair of individuals within the same close quarters. They didn’t appear threatening– quite friendly, in fact –but that did not change the fact that she had never actually met a werewolf in wolf form before. She had no idea what to expect, and as such, remained wary and somewhat hesitant as they approached. 

“Woah– Hey there, buddy. Nice wolf. What are you…?” It was unclear at first what they were sniffing out. She couldn’t tell if it was just her or one of her injuries, so she continued to sit stiffly until a cold nose made contact with her arm, and they both jumped. In doing so, her position shifted just enough to expose some of the wound on her hip. The wolf seemed undeterred, only returned to now press their entire face against that exposed portion of her back. It was when they nudged again that she finally understood. “Oh, is that what you’re trying to get to?” she inquired after her injury, at last going along with their nudging to offer access to the area. If they’d wanted to do her any harm, she supposed, they would have done it already. What could a little compliance with a stranger’s wishes hurt, right? 

Apparently, just a bit. 

“Holy shi–” Dani jumped again, this time when she felt the light sting and the utter weirdness of the wolf’s tongue running along her bleeding wound. “Did you just lick me?” One glance over her shoulder answered this question without a reply. Yep. A werewolf stranger had just licked her. At that moment, she dared her life to get any stranger. However, as they continued to tend to her wound in their way, she didn’t protest. There must have been a clotting agent in wolf saliva because suddenly, her wound wasn’t bleeding so much, and that seemed to settle her nerves about their unusual proximity. 

[fightmx-blog]

Yes. Yes, they had just licked her. Alex let out a quiet mooing sort of non-growling noise to complain about her movements when they were trying to lick her wounds. Was she deliberately trying to make this more difficult than it had to be and already was? Alex continued to lick the wound nonetheless, until they blood that they tasted was significantly reduced in quantity and the wound was raw. It wasn’t healed, and she’d definitely have to clean it once she got home, but the initial bad bacteria was gone and it wasn’t bleeding anymore. Then they sniffed her over, checking for any other serious wounds, accidentally knocking her with their nose or paw occasionally as they moved.

She seemed to be okay. And Alex sat down a little away from her, but still relatively close, their face turned in her direction. Okay. How the fuck were they supposed to ask her if she needed any help getting up? Uh. Okay. Alex cocked their head to the side, letting out a questioning whine, standing up, and sniffing at her knee before carefully making their way over to her side again and cocking their head at her. Hopefully she’d take the hint. Hopefully. They’d feel bad if she couldn’t get up and they had to leave her in a graveyard overnight.

[kitxmclynch]

Caiden blinked when the favor was actually voiced. That was certainly the last thing he expected, but when he looked a bit closer, maybe there was something off about their eyes. It took him a moment to remember that he hadn’t responded yet, and he finally nodded. “Yeah, sure. It’s fine.” He reached out and brushed their arm with his hand, figuring that if they only saw blurs, they weren’t exactly going to be able to grab his arm on their own.

He waited until the other was ready before he began walking again. It took him a moment to get used to pacing himself to someone else, and he kept glancing over at them. He wasn’t used to physical contact anymore. Even this light touch felt strange.

[fightmx-blog]

“-- Thanks,” Alex mumbled, swallowing a little once the stranger brushed his hand against their arm, but took the hint and followed the hand up to his wrist, forearm, then settling just above the elbow, fingers lightly circling the arm. Once they were situated, Alex readjusted their hold on Charlie’s harness and nodded that they were ready to go, walking just a tiny bit behind the guy.

He seemed at least a little uncomfortable, if the tensing of the muscle was anything to go by. Alex could relate. They tried to avoid doing this whenever possible, still unused to communicating with people outside their pack beyond the bare minimum. But still. “-- You don’t have to walk slower, by the way. My legs are fine. So are Charlie’s. I mean. Unless this is how you normally walk. ...In which case this is fine.”

[aggressively-enya-deactivated20]

Bar Talks // Open Starter

[aggressively-enya-deactivated20]

It didn’t take long to finish off the glass of whiskey dangling from her fingertips. She wouldn’t drink much more than that, didn’t trust herself while she was intoxicated. She was under control as it was and kept her temper safely locked away. When she was drunk, she lost all ability to keep her human side from going around and picking fights. So maybe about one more glass and she would start heading back to her apartment to shut out the world and get some sleep, hopefully. 

Then there was another werewolf next to. Even under all the grease smell, she could pick up the scent. And she tensed a little, never comfortable around other wolves. She’d spent the past four years of her life avoiding them, running from them. Now she was in a town full of them, so she supposed that eventually she was going to have to get used to it and not be so tense around them. 

She glanced to the side at him, eyebrow raising. “Honey, I think you need to just leave this to the professionals. You’re just not very good at it.” She told him with a sad shake of the head. “Not that it wasn’t a noble effort, it just lacked a little spark.”

[fightmx-blog]

Alex shrugged a little, unconcerned with her response, honestly. The other werewolf seemed a little wary about being next to them, but frankly, Alex wasn’t planning on going anywhere, having not really done anything, well, wrong. Or at all. They’d literally just been having a drink. No harm in that.

So they offered a little smile, not really sure of the protocol for dealing with other people when they called them honey, let alone when they were met with her particular brand of dealing with other people. That was the problem with running in close-knit packs. It took a while to get used to others.

“-- In my defence, you didn’t exactly give me a lot to go off of. Alex.” That was the general protocol, right? Introductions?