Hair of the Wolf

[kleineklementine]

Continued from here.



Soren woke up with a throbbing headache. Where was he? He ought to be in the forest but something seemed decidely un-foresty. Was he laying in sheets? That couldn't be right. He shifted his weight, eyes still pressed tight shut. Yes, he was definitely in a bed. In a bed? His head was too foggy, too weighed down with the night of drinking he was gradually very gradually starting to remember. In attempt to dispel it, he rubbed a paw to his face.

Wait.

Suddenly, Soren opened his eyes. A paw. A paw to his face. He stared at the black-furred paw in front of his black-furred nose and then - worse yet! - to the still sleeping Tanya beyond it and felt himself tense. A pang hammered through his head at the realization. Tanya might have gone to bed with a handsome young man, but when she woke up, it would be to a black-furred, golden-eyed wolf! He needed to get out of here... Was it still early enough that the city might still be empty? He had no idea. And he was in a room in a building in a city... far away from the safety of the forest. Moving as carefully and silently as his body wrecked by all the drinking would allow, Soren slipped out of Tanya's bed. He nudged the door once with his muzzle but no, it was shut properly. And without hands...

The wolf's golden eyes looked back at the bed and at Tanya. So much for 'no more secrets until a second date!'

[zozee9]

OOC: Klei, I love you. Sorry for the slightly delayed post, but I promise you I have been thinking about this from the second I read it. SO funny. XD Also, sorry that nothing happens in this post. I figured I'd give you time to decide if Soren would do anything. Otherwise feel free to either tell me (and I'll edit this) or just write something short! <3

IC:

Tanya's light snoring turned into moaning as she started to slowly wake up. Her headache wasn't as bad as it normally was after a night of drinking, but she was still quite groggy. Her window, even though it was shaded, had light pouring out of it. In attempt to fall back asleep, Tanya turned onto her stomach and pressed her face into the pillow. While it did dispel all light, it also hurt. So she moaned again and turned back to her side.

Then she breathed in deeply with her nose... and sneezed. Cursing under her breath, Tanya realized she should probably get up. The memories of the previous night had flowed back into her head. "Who let the stupid cat into my room?" she muttered. "Cat hair just got in my nose."

Drearily opening her heavy eyes, Tanya immediately noticed two things. One, Soren was no longer in her bed. That didn't surprise her much. Her partners often woke up before her, and unless they woke her up to go at it again (which normally didn't happen due to overbearing headaches), they went downstairs to eat. This had led to various semi-naked people to be seen around the guild, and she was starting to believe they were actually starting to get used to it. So no, that didn't surprise her much. But the second thing did.

The fur on the bed most definitely wasn't from Misses Fluffyface. The texture was wrong, the color was wrong, and the length was wrong. But if it wasn't from the idiot cat, what was it from?

Sitting up with another groan, Tanya finally turned her head in the direction of the door.

By which she saw a wolf.

She couldn't pinpoint the species, but that hardly mattered. What mattered was that nobody could yell at her for bringing a pet cat home anymore. After all, someone had brought home a pet wolf! Not like they could have yelled at her anyway—she ranked higher than all of them except Jaxel. And there was no doubt that Jaxel would love a cat. What she was curious about, however, was how the wolf ended up in her room... and on her bed. Well, apparently even animals knew where to be attracted to!

[kleineklementine]

The wolf froze stock-still when Tanya woke and spotted him. He crouched by the door, golden eyes fixed on her. What was he going to do? He was trapped in this room now; paws were worthless for opening door knobs! Through the fog still clouding his mind, the wolf wondered how on earth he'd let himself end up in this situation. He did not belong in the city. The city... where would he go even if he got out of here? How far might he be from the forest? He doubted the inhabitants of Ketra would take kindly to a wolf in their midsts, which they would surely would assume was there to eat their sheep and pigs and the like.

Was staying here actually his best option?

Only until he changed again, obviously, then he needed to fly out of this city, back into the safe eaves of the forest. Feeling quite resigned to this, the wolf slowly relaxed its crouched posture. This was so embarrassing. Tanya would put it together, surely, with enough time. Well, at least he was masked behind his furry countenance. And once he changed... well, he'd just make short time getting out. Slowly, the wolf padded over to the woman, still in bed, and nudged her hand with his cold, wet nose.

[zozee9]

When the golden eyed wolf came and nudged her hand, Tanya couldn't help but squeal in delight. Petting him just behind his ears, she sighed with wonder. "See," she said to no one in particular. "This is why I love dogs more than cats." Well, wolves, but still. This wild wolf was much kinder to her than Misses Fluffyface.

"Mmm, well, Mister Wolf, let's go find another odd golden eyed being," she said with a smirk before pausing to think about it for a second. They both did have golden eyes, didn't they... She glanced the wolf over before smiling at her suspicions. Either she was right and could tease him, or she was wrong and would be talking to a normal wolf. She had done much stranger things in her life than the latter.

Standing up, Tanya walked over to her closet and opened it up. She grabbed a surprisingly nice looking silver crown that was covered in blood red rubies and placed it on the wolf's head. "King Wolf, now," she decided before changing out of her nightclothes and into a forest green dress. While the color might be a little strange compared to the reds and blacks Tanya normally wore, the tightness and length were undoubtably questionable for any woman of good standing. Which meant it was still perfectly Tanya.

After heading over to the door, she curtsied and asked, "Would King Wolf mind escorting me to the kitchen so that I may find my second date?"

[kleineklementine]

Soren watched cautiously as Tanya got out of bed and headed over to her closet. He was definitely not going to go find her 'second date' and Tanya certainly wasn't going to find him in the kitchen, or wherever she was looking. But then she came back with a  crown and placed it on his head!

Either she was crazy (not an impossibility) or she'd made the connecting and was having fun at his expense. Soren wasn't sure which option he preferred.

When she put the crown on his head, though, the wolf issued a low growl before pawing the ridiculous thing off. The crown clattered to the ground and, in response to Tanya's request that he escort her, the wolf laid on the ground, looking rather resolute that he was staying just where he was. His golden-eyed gaze on her was unbroken until the scratch, scratch, scratch of Misses Fluffyface came at the door. Well, he couldn't let her in. Paws were useless when it came to doorknobs!

[zozee9]

Tanya looked at the wolf unimpressed when he took the crown off. But her frown quickly turned into a smile as she realized and said, "Ah, well, I guess that makes two of us that don't like wearing fancy things."

Upon hearing the cat scratch at the door, she grinned mischievously and opened it up, expecting the cat to either run away or pounce at the wolf. Instead, Misses Fluffyface strutted over to him and starting purring and rubbing against his furry self. While that served to further her belief that the wolf might actually be Soren, she was still hoping for the cat to not admire him so much.

Tanya sighed and wearily said, "Let's go get ourselves some breakfast... it might take a while, seeing as I'm in charge of feeding the entire guild." One of the many 'pleasures' of being manager. "But I'm sure there's a slab of meat for you somewhere." And with that she walked out of the room and headed down the stairs towards the kitchen.

[kleineklementine]

Misses Flufflyface, at least, the wolf did seem glad to see. It returned the cat's affection with a nuzzle; clearly four-legged furry things just understood each other better. After a few moments of affection between the cat and wolf, Soren looked up with a distinct air of unhappiness as Tanya threatened again to go down to the kitchen. But when she finally actually left the room, and Misses Flufflyface behind her, the wolf had no choice but to reticently get up and slink off after the pair.

After all, breakfast didn't' sound so bad!

[zozee9]

The kitchen itself was fairly small, but it was openly connected to a large eating room full of over ten large dining tables. Tanya assumed that Jaxel had planned for tons of people to work here someday, maybe even ranging up to a hundred. But for now, it seemed like they had a rather mediocre size group... which, she supposed, was why she was in charge of recruiting.

Tanya entered the kitchen, debating what she should make. She smiled at Eirdis and exclaimed, "Morning, Lady! What would you like to eat this fine day? Perhaps some eggs and bacon? That sounds rather good to me." She pointed behind her and laughed, "Don't mind the wolf, by the way. He seems rather docile. Don't suppose he's yours? Oh, and the cat is Misses Fluffyface. Brought her home last night with this rather handsome and attractive man. Have you seen him, by the way? He had beautiful golden eyes, if that helps."

She moved and started getting the food ready, not even waiting to see if Eirdis would agree on what they were eating. Tanya also took this prime opportunity to grab herself a bottle of whiskey and tossed another one towards Eirdis. "Drink up!"

[Looshi]

She had been having nightmares again, and they woke her up long before the sun had risen. Instead of dwelling on them, she figured she could make herself useful by sharpening what little blades they had. The sweet sound of it had been quick to lull away her dark thoughts. A few hours had passed, and her stomach growled at her. Rubbing at her beard, Eirdis decided to head over to the kitchens to see what she could scrounge up.

She wasn't expecting to be found by Tanya, and a rather large dog - no a wolf as she had been corrected. Eirdis raised one of her fuzzy eyebrows at both the woman and the beast. She wasn't all that worried, most dwarfs had worse under their bed sheets.

"You're cooking?" She asked, in high doubt. "Don't be putting alcohol in the eggs, it tastes awful. No good at all." She continued and caught the bottle of whiskey she threw at her. A little early, but with their lack of work she didn't think they'd be called off on some adventure. Eirdis shrugged her shoulders and took a drink, tipping her head back. It burned a little on the way down, but that was the good stuff.

The dwarven woman wiped her mouth, "So what's 'is name?" She said, pointing to the wolf. "He ain't mine, by the way. I don't keep dogs. Can never train them not to steal my shoes. Ain't seen a man with golden eyes either. Funny thing that is."

[kleineklementine]

The wolf slunk into the kitchen, sticking close to the walls, as though that might somehow hide a wolf in a kitchen. It frozen midstep upon seeing the dwarf, ears laid back. Especially when it saw the blades the dwarf was casually sharpening. Its golden eyes locked on the dwarf for several moments, one ear twitching. He'd been lucky so far that Tanya had reacted, all things considered, so well to finding a wolf in her bedroom. Though perhaps she understood what was going on. But Soren knew from experience that not everyone took so kindly to finding a wolf in their midst. Most people saw wolves as a pest or a threat, not a friendly household canine.

As if to reassure him, Misses Fluffyface circled back to the wolf and turned figure-eights around his front legs until the wolf's posture relaxed and his ears pricked curiously forward. Well, at least, the dwarf lady didn't seem too upset by him. But still, he kept his distance, and slunk the long way around the kitchen to position Tanya's side without having to cross the dwarf's path.

He needed to get out of here.

[zozee9]

Tanya tossed a slab of raw bacon towards the wolf for him to snack on. She figured he would probably feed the cat, otherwise she would have given Misses Fluffyface something, too... well, maybe.

She glanced over at Eirdis while lighting a fire on the stove, "Hunter, I believe. Seems fitting for such a wild wolf, right?" Tanya winked at the wolf in question before placing a giant pan on the stove. She cracked fifteen eggs and laid out thirty different pieces of bacon (criss-crossed) on it. Spinning around while letting it cook for a few minutes, she asked, "Anyone want to set the table?"

[Paradox]

It probably came as no surprise to all but one when an explosion rocked the building and a certain dwarven engineer came running out of his room, down the hall and into the kitchen coughing up a storm and covered from head to toe in soot. There wasn't a morning, noon or night that went by when one of Delvar's many alchemical experiments took an unexpected and often somewhat potentially fatal turn. And , obviously, Delvar's retreat had brought him to the kitchens because he was a firm believer that every failed experiment should go rewarded with a hearty drink.

Seeing others in the kitchen, the eccentric dwarf gave a wave and practically shouted at them because he was hard of hearing, " Mornin'! "

He then paused to inhale the scent of sizzling eggs and bacon, "That smells delicious! Need any 'elp?" Of course he hadn't heard Tanya ask about setting the table.   

(( And so I enter. Also, that is one big ass frying pan. Pardon my language lol.))

[Looshi]

Eirdis took the part of setting up the table, using the kitchen stool to reach the higher cupboards for the plates. She had to admit, Tanya had a good amount of strength to be able to lift a pan like that. It made her dwarven heart twitch a little.

The explosion that rang in the air did make her flinch. It was common. And it was a Delvar. Her guess was confirmed as he staggered into the room.

"GOOD MORNING DELVAR!" She shouted.