Moonlight Rehearsal

[scribblerrigby]

The band rehearsal had run over an hour longer than planned, again. Normally Laurie Barlow, the group’s current drummer, wouldn’t have minded, but tonight was different.

It had been a momentary lapse in scheduling, really. She had been working the Hook on most of her evenings, and this was the first music practice she could attend. Unfortunately, she forgot why the date was left blank in her calender in the first place.

She could feel the full moon rising, niggling its way into the back of her mind. Being what she was, that generally wasn’t a good thing, and she wanted to get as far away from other people as possible. So, she had spent the past half-hour attempting to excuse herself from the small and noisy studio apartment when she realized how dark and late it was becoming.

But NO, the lead singer, founder and self-proclaimed god of the band had insisted. Their group had a gig coming up on Friday, and the rhythm section needed to precisely keep the beat, or else the entire song would fall apart. It wasn’t going to happen elsewhere in the band, especially if their bassist continued to show up to rehearsals completely sloshed and without any sort of musical timing, whatsoever. No, no, no. They needed the drummer – no drummer, no band. He could find another drummer if Laurie continued to be difficult.

Well, she wasn’t about to lose one of her jobs, so she dutifully and unenthusiastically continued to hammer, paradiddle and flamacue her way through the last two songs, her mind elsewhere, cursing the shortening days and oncoming winter. The second the final song ended, Laurie scooped up her sticks and loose sheets of music and scrambled out of the room, sending a forcefully cheerful “I’ll call you about rehearsal, tomorrow!” over her shoulder.

Walking to rehearsal was another mistake, but she had had a good reason: her car had finally died, and it was a nice and warm enough afternoon when she had left her apartment, earlier. Also, the view was terrific – the shortest way from her place to the band’s rehearsal space was alongside the shoreline and past the small but picturesque older buildings that housed Bridgeport’s small businesses. It was a great stretch of road on which to waste time.

Now, she was dashing back along that inlet, shoving past people with frantic and high-pitched apologies, desperately attempting to head back to her neighborhood in time to lock herself up before the all-too-familiar transformation began.

There was always a chance she could make it: Other than the generalized times of “around sunset, during a full moon,” there never really was a set way to precisely time when this thing happened.

She had passed Margarete's Flower Shop when a familiar but no less painful spasm rocked her entire body.

Oh, goddammit, this is NOT happening.

She cursed as she dropped her papers and her drumsticks, and doubled over, feeling parts of her begin to twist and change.

Well, so much for getting home on time, she thought. Plans had changed; at this point, she only wanted to get herself out of sight and away from people, and then hope for the best. She growled, furious at herself for her scheduling, and for attracting a small crowd of onlookers. Not that she could blame them.

With much effort, she forced herself to her feet again, with a slight, dismissive and – she hoped – reassuring grin at the handful of onlookers. Shaking now, papers and sticks strewn about and forgotten, she stumbled around Margarete’s to a small corridor – calling it an alley or a parking space would have been too generous - with several very full, overripe and smelly trash cans strewn in the back. She noisily let herself fall onto the nearest upright can and used it to support herself as she leaned over it, panting.

A few people followed her at a distance, wondering –what was wrong with the girl? Would she be all right? More of them probably dismissed her as one of those stupid, drunken kids – probably stumbling off to hurl on the shoes of some unlucky pedestrian up ahead. It wasn’t a crowded street at all – people had better things to do on a weeknight than lallygag around the seaside business district. Laurie was vaguely aware of these people, but the pain of her curse was more immediate and pressing. She whimpered softly, and scrunched her eyes shut.

Already, she wasn’t thinking in words.

More muscle spasms forced her to sink to the ground. She collapsed, one arm clutching her stomach, and one already clawed hand catching and supporting her weight as she fell to her knees. She curled up, whined softly - blood in her mouth, white noise in her ears, eyes still shut tight - and waited for the pain to subside.

It seemed ages for her world to calm down, for her hearing to return, sharper than ever and for the pain to disappear completely. Pale eyes stared out from her now-alien face – she was no longer remotely human, but a bizarre, lanky and hungry mix of human and canine.

The werewolf uncurled, stretched bony limbs, and growled with excited anticipation as she surveyed her surroundings.

Were people really still standing around? Didn’t they notice what was happening? She didn’t care, anymore.

They were easy prey.

[jollyjohanna]

Phil had left the cave two hours earlier, not really sure where to go or what to look for. Or what to do, really. He was dressed in a thick black jacket and his usual baggy jeans. He was carrying around a dark-blue backpack filled with stuff he thought he was going to need - a notebook, pencils, a silver crucifix (that was actually made of a mixture of metals and he wasn't sure how many percents of it were silver), garlic and a lunch bag with two sandwiches in case he got hungry.

Actually, he wan't sure he was cut for this. If someone two months earlier had told him that he would be a monster-hunter he'd laughed them straight in the face. But he certainly didn't laugh now - he felt unprepared, more than just a little scared and, oddly enough, a little bored. So far he hadn't seen any sign of any monsters at all in Bridgeport - except for Hailey and himself, that was. And his first evening as a monster hunter seemed to be exceptionally uneventful.
He wasn't really sure what to expect, really. He knew that Bridgeport probably wasn't teeming with monsters - if it had been been, someone would've noticed and written it in the newspaper or something - but he also knew that people were dissappearing. And he felt that he had to do something about it. And... Phillip Olsen, Monster hunter. It had a certain ring to it.

He sat down on a bench and ate his first sandwich, which was smelling strongly of garlic since they had been in the same bag. Then he scribbled down Nothing new. No signs of anything unnatural going on. in his notebook. Then he sighed and leaned back. Perhaps he should call it a day and head back to the cave...
A sudden noise from a passageway not far from him caught his attention. Phil immediatly stood up, his heart thumping heavily in his chest. Maybe this was what he had been waiting for? Or maybe it was just a hobo or something.
Another noise from the corridor, and something that sounded like a low whine. Phil sneaked slowly towards it. His knees were shaking and his throat was dry, and suddenly he got the urge to walk away from there. Monster hunter? Who did he think he was fooling? It had been a stupid idea to begin with.
Still, he had to know if the thing in the passageway was just a hobo or a stray cat or something. He stood by the corner and slowly peeked around.

((So Phil is standing on the other side of the corridor, so he didn't see Laurie rush into it.))

[scribblerrigby]

When the concerned crowd drew in on the corridor, there was a moment of complete silence as the collective realization sunk in. People stood, agape, at the growling, skeletal creature before them; then, all hell broke loose as many spun around to put as much distance between the werewolf and themselves as possible.

She howled triumphantly, joyously, reveling in the chaos.

One person wasn’t fast enough. The creature flashed an eerie, pointed grin, pounced on the nearest man, and pinned him to the ground. He managed to throw a punch that connected squarely with her jaw, knocking her back with a tiny yip!

She clamped down on his neck- hard - and twisted. It was only then that a few people screamed.

Small rocks slammed into her. She snarled, letting the man drop in a twisted heap to the ground. She reared up, caught the next rock, and hissed at the offending thrower as he bid a hasty retreat.

Instead of giving chase to the crowd- there was just too many of them, and many were running out towards the busy, unfortunately car-filled street – she settled down on all fours, wagged her tail, and turned with delight to the crumpled figure on the ground. She had barely begun to tuck in (shirts always slowed her down; it was always difficult to choke down mouthfuls of fabric) when she heard a small noise on the other end of the corridor. A punishingly awful smell accompanied it; she gagged reflexively.

Her ears pricked up. Her head swiveled around, and then tilted with interest at the offending smelly boy, who was trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible at the far end of the corridor.

Was that a bad smell? Was he poison? Was he too small to really eat properly?

Well, he could provide a little fun, at any rate. Get him good and panicked, then eat him up when he becomes boring.

She rose slowly on her hind legs to step around the garbage cans, and turned to face the boy, slightly drooling and grinning ghoulishly. She dropped back down as she crept nearer and stared right into his face.

When she reached him, she laughed, reared up again, and aimed a swipe that just barely cleared the kid’s head

(OOC: My name’s Grace and I write enormous posts and traumatize children. La, la, la. Sorry, Phil!)

[jollyjohanna]

It wasn't a hobo. Or a stray cat. God, he'd given everything he'd owned for it to be just a stray cat. Phil wanted to scream, or run the hell away from there, or preferably do both at the same time. But he couldn't. Just the sight of that... that creature hunching over the dead man (at least he thought the man was dead) was enough to froze him, just like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck.

The air around him suddenly got heavier - his fear caused all the mold in the area around him to mature in fast forward, and some of it was starting to release it's spores. A banana peel in the corner started to get covered in a greenish pelt.

The monster in the narrow alley was clearly a werewolf. He'd never seen one before, but what other could it be? It walked on all four and was clearly canine, but still there was something uncannily human Phil had been a cynophobic since he was four and the neighborhood's German shepherd had chased him up a tree, and earlier he'd thought that dogs were the scariest thing in the world. Well, now he realized he was wrong. The scariest thing in the world was a dog with a human inside of it.

Suddenly it turned around it's head and looked straight at him. Phil's heart actually stopped beating for a second before it started again, now at full speed. When the werewolf started to walk towards him his brain screamed at his leg to get moving, but his traitor legs and feet were like glued to the ground.
No. No. This can't be happening.

His fear made it hard to breath. Suddenly the creature laughed - it was throaty and harsh and barely recognizable, but he was pretty sure it was a laugh - and aimed a swipe that could have ripped his head off his shoulder's had it not passed over his head. First then the paralysis broke - but unfortunately that meant that his knees turned to jello. They buckled under him and he landed ungracefully on his behind.
Phil used his arms to shuffle away as far as he could from the werewolf, but he couldn't go very fast and he was unable to turn away his face from it.
"GO AWAY!" he suddenly screamed. And like a tidal way that had been building the mold broke free. It didn't grow on the werewolf, since it couldn't grow on living creatures, but it certainly affected the are around them. The air got heavy with spores, and mold crept over everything organic around them - the bench Phil had been sitting on earlier, the fabric in his clothes, an old newspaper in a corner.

((Bah, he had it coming. Seriously, monster hunter? He should head back home and concentrate on his grades instead :/ ))

[nightlightwolf]

Hailey had been stalking him for awhile and she finally noticed what was going on she frowned and walked out from a coriddor and let out a loud hissing sound and kinda slid infront of him and growled back at the werewolf and she narrowed her eyes at it.

Knowing it was probably just messing with phil she could let that go but for scaring him to death is something she couldnt forgive more so the fact that she was in her real form and that frightened her a bit.
" ..........you know its rude to growl at children.........." hailey hissed in a voice very threatening and low her skin began to shift to a grey color. What she hadnt told phil was that she could change into her siren form at will when the situation was dyer ,well she figured this was dyer.

[scribblerrigby]

She could practically feel this kid’s heartbeat pounding like a jackhammer. His fear was tantalizing. She giggled, leaned in closer, and snapped once in his face, just to rub it in.

“GO AWAY!”

She recoiled as the mold suddenly sprouted, rushing around her in waves, creeping around the bench, throughout the garbage, and over the body that she had left, spoiling her food. Whining, she backed away from this new, weird occurrence.

Gasping and whirling in confusion as the mold surrounded her, she momentarily forgot about her cat-and-mouse game with the kid. Instead, she began sniffing around and whimpering quietly. The air was thicker; it was getting difficult to breathe, and she was scratching madly at the bits of clothing and sticky pieces of garbage that had clung to her fur – they, too, had begun to sprout.

She coughed and wheezed; small drops of blood scattered.

With a strained snarl, she spun back around and stared at the kid with furious, determined, watering eyes. This was no time for play anymore. Rock-throwing people were one thing, but mysterious and irritating mold was another and, somehow – the wolf couldn’t bother wondering how, though she noticed it was the thickest near him – this boy was at the center of it all. Which meant that he also, somehow, spoiled her meal.

That was inexcusable.

She turned, glanced side to side, ready to jump and deliver the killing bite, just to get this over with, when someone fearlessly stepped in the way.

Her blank eyes widened at this newcomer that had slinked in between her and her smelly little treat. It wasn’t human, but it wasn’t wolf, either. She could tell, however, that it was another carnivore. It growled at her, and she realized what was happening -

It wanted him for itself! No fair, she saw him first!

Furious at having been cheated out of her game and meal, the werewolf snarled and leaped, claws outstretched, snapping angrily at the morphing siren.

[nightlightwolf]

Hailey let out a roar that sounded between being a whale and a deep scream and her legs turned in a tail and she became so big that she riped free of her clothing and she twisted avoiding the attack but lifted her tail to close hang the wolf and she snarled in anger."YOU WILL NOT TOUCH MY FRIEND!!!" she roared and tried to slam another part of her long serpintine body to the wolf. her body was grey and slippery she easily weighed more and could out weigh the wolf if she really tried she could crush it by simply sitting on it she hissed and fought the terrible wolf to keep her human friend safe from harm" RUN PHIL!!!!" she yelled at him.

[jollyjohanna]

Phil still sat down in the mold, almost unaware of all the mold that was coming forward. Suddenly he got a sinking feeling, like he was on the verge of losing consciousness. His eyelids fluttered briefly, but then he shook his head to clear it.
This is NOT the right opportunity to faint!!

The wolf was getting closer again; the wave of mold had caught it unprepared and shocked it, but now it seemed determined to kill the source of the mold.
Then suddenly someone was blocking the werewolf from his vision. It was first when she hissed at it that it was rude to growl at children he realized that it was Hailey.

The relief that washed over him was almost strong enough to drown out the fear. Then Hailey started to change, to grow. She sprouted a long snake-like tail where her legs had been. The werewolf didn't seem intimidated, as it snarled and then attacked Hailey.
"YOU WILL NOT TOUCH MY FRIEND!!!"
Phil's eyes widened. Why was she risking her life for him? Had he done anything to deserve it? But he couldn't dwell on that now. When she screamed at him to run he scrambled to his feet, prepared to do just that. But then he stopped. Was he really going to let Hailey save his butt again? Could he just leave her to her destiny and just hope that she'd get unscathed out of a danger he'd confronted in the first place? No way, not this time.

Even though he was still shivering, Phil was unhurt. His clothes, which had gotten affected by the mold the most since they were closest to him were in a terrible shape - his jacket wasn't black anymore, it was greenish grey, and the fabric had started to rot. His jeans was in a somewhat better shape, but it still felt disgusting to wear rotten cloth. But he didn't have time to be disgusted.
He tried to concentrate. He couldn't let the mold keep growing when Hailey was there - it would hurt her as much as the werewolf. Gradually, the air became easier to breath. Then he started to look around after some kind of weapon. He wouldn't have much chance against a werewolf in a fistfight.

[scribblerrigby]

The wolf had eagerly launched herself into the fray, clawing and biting madly, attempting to tear as many chunks as she could out of this new intruder. However, she wasn't prepared to have the tables turned so quickly – the fish monster had quickly grown to about three times her size – and that wasn’t even counting the enormous, muscular tail! Speaking of which…

WHUMP.

It caught her right in her chest, the force sending her backwards. She yelped and collapsed in a cringing, wheezing heap.

Retreat would probably have been the better option. People had definitely been scared away from the area by now, and she needed an entire pack to take down the fish-thing. She just wanted her food!

While lying on the pavement, though, she stared past the fish monster and saw something miraculous – the boy was still there! She wasn’t sure what he was doing – maybe looking for something? Not paying attention to her, at any rate. Perfect.

Hope renewed, fighting unconsciousness, she sized up the fish monster. She was small; it was not. It had more limbs, but if she was quick, she could clear the undulating tail.

Shaky limbs pushed her to her feet again; she was wavering unsteadily, one arm clutching her middle, eyes never leaving the kid. She scraped together her last reserves of energy despite sharp pains in her chest with every breath, and began her last-ditch attempt for her late-night snack.

She looked up at the fish monster in mock terror, feinted towards the far end of the corridor, then – howling madly, began her suicide scramble towards the kid.

Perhaps tonight wasn’t going to be a total bust, after all.

[nightlightwolf]

Hailey gasped and with speed and moved in the way and took the blow for phil. Tackled down by the wolf but she hissed and went to grab the jaws of the wolf to hold it open and break the jaw but not before she her self became scathed, the wolves sharp claws made long jagged gashes on her sides and anywhere else the wolf got at .Hailey was strong and she began to wrap her enormouse muscular tail around the wolf in desperation to squeese the life from it like a andoconda did its pray.

[scribblerrigby]

The wolf was scared out of her bloody mind.

One minute, she was pouncing towards the kid, but it had taken one speedy dive from the fish thing, and she found herself twisted in its tail. She had struggled and bit, trying to break free. Then the fish thing’s tail began to constrict.

She may have been hungry. She may have been desperate. But the wolf knew when she was beat, and she did NOT want to die here.

She stopped fighting, and resorted to fearful, wheezy barking. Her ears flattened, her eyes were wide, and her tail drooped. She frantically attempted to push herself up and out of the crushing coils, despite her broken ribs and trouble breathing.

She twisted around, looking back and forth, panic-stricken, yelping pleadingly at the boy and the fish-thing, scrabbling with her paws, gasping for breath.

[nightlightwolf]

Hailey panted and released the wolf but not before throwing it and let out a roar as a warning that if she ever tried to hurt him again she would look forward to her fishy butt after her like a fat person with cake.Hailey panted and looked at phil she was badly wounded and her blood pooled on the polished floors.

[jollyjohanna]

After some rummaging through the garbage, Phil found a perfect weapon - the mighty Pointy Stick. Okay, so it wasn't a silver bullet, but he might get in a good jab or two.
Then the sound of triumphant howling made him turn around, and he realized he shouldn't have turned his back at it. It seemed like this could be the last mistake he would ever make, but then Hailey jumped in between him and the wolf again.

Phil dropped his pointy stick, unable to tear his eyes away from the struggle that followed. Hailey was using her long fish tail to squeeze it, but the wolf wasn't helpless and used it's claws to rip and tear at it's captor. It seemed like Hailey was winning, though; the wolf realized that it was in a really bad position. It was yelping. He could see the fright in it's eyes.
Then Hailey threw away the wolf and roared. She was bleeding all over the place - he hadn't seen so much blood in his entire life.
"...Hailey?" he said with a weak voice. "Oh nooo..."

[nightlightwolf]

Hailey panted and crindged and let out a groan in pain but waited till the wolf retreated before falling to the floor hugging her long tail and she wheezed and groaned it sounded painful. Looking at phil she realized she did good and she smiled softly up at him." hey kiddo"

[scribblerrigby]

The wolf was too injured to fight, and too embarrassed to hunt.
It left her the only option – hang tight until the night was over, and the transformation healed everything, again.

She grumbled with annoyance as she dragged herself over to her kill from earlier in the evening, wincing and letting out small yips with every step.

She sniffed it, halfheartedly lapped at the unspoiled blood, chewed at the sleeves, painfully circled the thing, and then laid down to rest her head on top of it. She was noisily wheezing and petulantly whimpering – not exactly the best way to avoid attracting attention, but she couldn’t really do anything about it.

Laying down left her vulnerable in case the fish-thing or the boy with his pointed stick decided to come back and finish the job, but when she looked at the blood and the mess, she was slightly proud to discover that she did do a number on the fish-thing, despite it being three times her size. Well, that was good.

Just in case, she dropped her tail as far between her legs as it could go, flattened her ears, and tried to look as humble and nonthreatening as possible.

She settled down, head between her paws, and watched with interest. She was surprised as the boy approached the fish-thing - and it didn't try to eat him! They were partners? Part of a pack?

These two were weird.





(HAH, emo wolf is emo. I have to reassure myself that we didn’t just kill my character with this one…)