For his part, if the Flagellant thought anything was off about the dire wolf, he did not show it. Normally bloodied hands had been cleaned by order of the sanitarium’s nurses, and for once he was glad for it, because now he felt the soft fur against his hands, the powerful muscles beneath them.
“Forgive me, kind one, but are you perhaps lost?” He had half a mind to bury his face in her fur and smell, just to have the scent of something clean and healthy and living.
Everyone in the Hamlet and the surrounding acres were already rotting, even if they didn’t know it yet. The best they could do is make sure this plague did not spread.
The man’s movements faltered for a moment and his breath hitched before he pulled his hands back reluctantly. That’s right. Even if he was fresh from the sanitarium, he was still, by very nature, a carrier of this virulent corruption, this maddening disease. His fingers twitched as he fought the desire to pet the wolf once more.
“I…” He hesitated for a moment. “Forgive me, kind one. Your beauty, your purity… it distracted me from my plight. For a moment, I forgot all but your presence. Ironic, isn’t it? You’d think I wouldn’t notice anything at all, but your radiance is enough to light up even my dim eyes.” He pointed to the bloodied bandages surrounding his long since broken eyes.
“This land is sick and diseased. It is not safe for you here. Even if it hasn’t spread to your home yet… it will. I urge you, kind one, please leave before the same plague that has taken every living thing here takes you too.”
She allowed him to continue petting, deciding that it couldn’t hurt just to let him do something that made him happy. Rinnah’s mouth opened wide as she yawned, a little sound escaping at the end of it. The wolf’s head then tilted when he asked her a question. It was quite obvious that she was no dog. The concern on his part was rather confusing, not understanding why he would ask such a thing.
Rinnah’s eyes narrowed slightly as he stopped, though not out of disappointment. It was much more concerning, his sudden guilt and reluctance. A contemplative noise rumbled in her throat before she stepped closer. The man was much too troubled for her to leave. Brows furrowed, and she kept staring at him contemplatively. What was the skin changer to do? There was only so long that one could tolerate staying in one form, but she didn’t want to upset the man further.
After a few moments of difficult consideration, the wolf was no longer standing before him. Instead, now, there was a young woman.
“As if I had to worry about any human disease, or one of the beasts’, for that matter.” Rinnah pouted softly, “Perhaps you should leave here…seeing as you find it so horrible, instead of forcing yourself to stay. For…whatever that reason is.”
