bigapplesauce | Bewere

Current Music: January 27, 2013 (backdated)

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Bewere

Yuri sighs as he trudges down the corridor. He's been feeling grouchy the last few days, his temper shortening and his hunger growing. In other words, he feels just like he does every month. Even though he's just had dinner, he finds himself thinking longingly of breakfast.

He also finds himself thinking of Daine as he checks each of the doors he passes, making sure for the fourth or fifth time that they've been put back together right. He made her promise not to come visit him -- or at least, he told her she had as good as promised and that he'd hold her to it, even if she said no such thing herself. She should never have come to see him the first time, and he won't have her on his conscience because she came again and got hurt or turned. Caught up in his thoughts, he isn't careful enough with the second door, and burns himself on a spoon. Without making a conscious decision to do it, he lashes out, hitting the door so it swings and rebounds off the wall, rattling the silverware. Sheepishly, he sticks his fingertip in his mouth and hurries on -- he has time yet before the transformation, but it's getting harder to keep his head.

He's several steps into the room with the cage before it registers that he's not alone. Freezing in the middle of the room, he lets out a huff that's halfway between annoyance and despair.

"Get out."

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Daine looks up at him from her improvised seat: a few folded blankets she's stacked on the floor. It's more comfortable than the chair, and given the long night she has ahead of her, comfort is a good thing. She's rather proud of the preparations she made: she stayed up most of the previous night and slept through much of the day, she has a few books for their collective entertainment, and she used some of her allowance to get Yuri a large, rubber water bowl that should be able to withstand a fair amount of abuse. She has some water for herself, too, though she decided not to bring food. She wasn't sure if the smell would rile him up, so it seemed best not to risk it.

"Hullo, yourself," she replies, making no move to get up or leave. Did he honestly think she was going to just abandon him? "I got you a water bowl," she adds, nodding at it, "and I brought some books, so it should be easier to keep you entertained until you fall asleep." See? She has it all worked out.

"Daine," sighs Yuri, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "I'm serious about this. It's not safe. Trust me, I know."

He's been up most of the night as well, though not by choice. Sometimes he feels like the days leading up to the transformation are worse than the full moon itself. Then, of course, he lives through another full moon and remembers that there's not much in the world that's worse than the transformation.

He frowns at the water bowl, taking issue with it as if it's a symbol of everything she's doing. "I'm going to knock that over in like two seconds," he grouses, though he's already stepping into the cage. He doesn't need to convince her, or even evict her himself. "Kuiv's gonna kick you out," he informs her, picking up the ratty blanket in the cell and trying to decide how he's going to get undressed without flashing Daine.

Daine climbs to her feet with a frown. "I'm not here because it's safe. I've dealt with bears before; I know how dangerous they can be, and I've no plans to get close enough to the bars for you to touch me."

She regards the water bowl for a moment, then shrugs. He can knock it over all he likes, so long as he doesn't try to eat it - and if he does, she can stop him. She doesn't like the idea of throwing magic at him, but she will if it's for his own safety. "Then it can be a toy," she says before pointedly turning her back on the cage so he can have some privacy.

Yuri draws in a breath like he wants to say something more -- how she can never know what's going to happen. With a sigh, he swallows it and turns his back on her in return, quickly shucking off his clothes and wrapping himself in the blanket. He takes a moment to fold the clothing before shuffling back out of the cage with them in hand.

Even if he wanted Daine here -- which he doesn't, he tells himself -- what he said was true. Kuiv's never going to allow it. "It's just one night," he says a bit hopelessly. "I'm used to being alone. I don't mind."

Daine keeps her back turned until she hears Yuri approaching, and then she ventures a quick glance to make sure he's decent before turning her head. "You seemed to mind quite a lot when I left last time," she points out. "And don't forget, I'll still be able to hear you from my room. If I'm going to have to listen to you either way, I might as well stay close enough to talk to you, too."

She doesn't address his comments about Kuiv, though she is a bit surprised that it hasn't occurred to him that she'd go to Kuiv, first. Honestly, if Kuiv didn't want her here, she wouldn't have been allowed in early with books and blankets - she'd've had to sneak in later in mouse shape or something.

"You could go stay somewhere else," he suggests, bending to put his clothes on the little stand by the chair before carefully re-wrapping the blanket and going back to the cage. This time he pulls the door shut behind him, latching it. It should already be locked, but it's Kuiv's job to come by and make sure he got in alright and that it's really locked. "I know you've got other friends you could stay with."

Daine frowns, a little affronted by the suggestion. It wouldn't have occurred to her to leave the base just to get away from Yuri's secondhand misery, but if it had, she'd've been ashamed of herself for thinking of such a thing. Setting aside the fact that she's not sure she's quite friendly enough with Andrew or the Doctor to feel comfortable imposing herself on them for an evening, she's not about to run away from a problem when she could be solving it.

"I'd rather stay with you," she says firmly, sitting back down on her blankets and folding her arms. From this vantage point, she can't help noticing the scars on his left leg, and her brows knit together. "Is that where you were bitten?" she asks.

Yuri's breath catches in his throat. For a fraction of a second he nearly panics -- keeping those scars hidden has been fairly vital to going on living his life since he got them, first because they would put the lie to his claim to be a mere wererat, and now because they'd raise too many questions among the uninitiated denizens of Manhattan. A moment later his brain kicks in and he remembers that Daine obviously knows he's a werebear, and he switches to embarrassment rather than fear.

"Yeah," he says gruffly, turning and sitting down so it's hidden. "Bite scars never heal too well."

It occurs to Daine too late that the question might be upsetting, and she ducks her head to hide her blush. She didn't need to ask, anyway; she can't imagine where else scars like that could have come from. "Sorry," she says, though she's not sure if she's sorry he has the scars or sorry she mentioned them. Both, probably.

Best to change the subject. Daine picks up the little stack of books she brought with her. She'd asked Blythe for books that were fast-paced and not too confusing, though she hadn't let on that they weren't just for her own entertainment. "I've got 'The Hobbit,' 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,' and 'Mossflower.'" Glancing up at Yuri, she asks, "Any preference?"

"Kuiv's going to be here in a minute," points out Yuri, feeling that it would be unfair to pick out a book if Daine's going to have to leave before she can start it anyhow. He's curious, though -- he's read Harry Potter and he's at least passingly familiar with The Hobbit, but it seems Redwall was not part of his childhood.

"What's Mossflower?" he asks despite himself.

Daine examines the cover, though there isn't much more information to be gleaned from the pictures than what Blythe told her in the library. "I think it's about two mice and a mole who try to overthrow an evil wildcat ruling over their lands," she says. She'd been a bit dubious when Blythe had described it to her - given the size difference alone, it hadn't seemed like much of a contest for the poor mice. "Apparently it's set in a realm where animals wear clothes and things and are all about the same size. This middle one even has a sword." She tries to imagine a sword-fighting mouse and has to bite her lip to keep from grinning.

Yuri snorts softly. "Sounds like a kids' book. Are you saying the animals you talked to back home didn't do that?"

Look at him, cracking a joke and everything.

"Of course not," Daine replies, no longer attempting to hide her amusement. "No sane mouse would challenge a housecat, let alone a wildcat, and the moles stay underground." She flips through the pages, thinking that it's awfully thick for a kids' book. It could be interesting, she supposes, though that's assuming she can get past how outlandish it is.

Then again, she's already had to deal with plenty of outlandish things since she came through the rift. "I suppose it can't be much stranger than this place," she muses.

"You should watch some Disney movies. Most of those are about talking animals," muses Yuri. He's getting a little antsy, feeling the full moon coming on. The look he turns on the door as it opens to admit Kuiv is one of relief. He glances at Daine, anticipating the fallout he's sure is about to come.

The alien steps into the room and surveys its occupants, showing absolutely no sign of surprise at seeing Daine there. Businesslike, she steps over to the cage and tests the door. "Last chance to get out," she comments to Daine. "I'm locking the doors from the outside when I leave, and I won't be back until dawn."

Daine lets out a pensive hum, guessing that the animals in the movies are just as unrealistic as the ones in Mossflower. Then again, she's yet to sit through an entire film; maybe one about talking animals would hold her interest.

When Kuiv enters, Daine glances up with a small smile. "Understood," she replies, leaning back against the wall. She doesn't anticipate needing to get out, but if she does, she's certain she could manage it in mouse shape. Her own careful check of the doors had revealed that, sturdy as they are, they aren't so flush with the surrounding walls and floor that a mouse couldn't squeeze through.

"Wha?" asks Yuri, staring at Kuiv. He looks back and forth between the two of them, feeling betrayed -- maybe he doesn't like Kuiv, but at least she's usually predictable. "But she can't stay here overnight!" he protests to the extraterrestrial. "I didn't agree to this!"

"And?" asks Kuiv, not even having the decency to look amused. "You were quieter with her here, and she's quieter when she's not arguing about wanting to be in here."

And that's that, as far as she's concerned. Satisfied the lock is fastened, she steps away and back out the door. "See you in the morning," she says in passing, before shutting the door.

Daine would probably have been smirking if she wasn't too busy being baffled (and a little hurt) by Yuri's protestations. Concern for her safety is something she can forgive, even if she does think he's overdoing it a bit, but there's no cause for him to act as if her being there is a terrible imposition on him. She helped him last time, little as he might care to admit it. Even Kuiv is willing to say as much.

"I did help you last month," Daine says after Kuiv leaves, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She peers at Yuri, her expression hovering somewhere between 'curious' and 'wounded.' "What's so horrible about me helping you again?"

Yuri clenches his jaw and looks away. This isn't a conversation he'd want to have even at a good time, and minutes before a transformation is not a good time. "Don't you think people have tried this kind of stuff back home?" he asks sharply. "This is how people get hurt, Daine, they think they can deal with someone just because they know them when they're human, and then --"

And then their best friend bites them.

Daine frowns at him, though now she's more confused than hurt. "I didn't search you out last month because I knew who you were; I thought you were just a bear. And I can handle bears; that's sort of what being a wildmage is about," she points out. "I can do a fair bit more than just sit here. I can talk to you - and I can hear you, which must be worth something. And I can..." she waves a hand as she searches for the term he'd used last time, "whammy you, if I have to."

She leans back against the wall with a sigh. Why is he being so difficult about this? "Look, you couldn't reach me right now if you tried, even in bear shape. I won't budge from this spot if it'll make you feel better. But I'm not leaving you alone."

"I'm not a regular bear," argues Yuri right back. "Regular bears just -- I dunno, do bear stuff. They don't hurt people just to hurt them. I told you last time I'd kill you if I could get at you. I'm not going to be able to help it, and I don't want to sit here all night thinking about how much I want to tear you to pieces."

He lets out a sigh of his own. "Kinda late for you to leave, anyway," he points out.

"Is that what you did last time?" Daine asks, eyebrows raised. "Just sat there and thought about eating me the whole night? If so, you hid it well." And bear-Yuri hadn't been particularly adept at hiding his state of mind. "You might not be a normal bear, but that doesn't make you a lost cause."

She nibbles at her thumbnail, wondering if she should risk mentioning what had happened to her, before Numair put a wall in her mind, and decides she has to. Otherwise, he might never take her seriously.

"I used to forget who I was, before," she admits quietly, twisting her hands together in her lap and staring at the floor so she doesn't have to see his expression. "When I was first learning to use my magic, if I listened too closely to other animals, I'd start to think I was one of them. I'd forget I was human. I - I even ran wild, once." She takes a steadying breath and makes herself look up at him. "That doesn't happen anymore, because I let someone help me. If I can help you, I have to try."

"Yeah, I did," replies Yuri stubbornly. So maybe he didn't think about that all night, but even thinking about it for a little while is too much. He wonders sometimes if Natalie felt that way every time he visited her, and if biting him was just giving in to what the bear in her had always wanted to do.

He's determined not to listen to her -- nothing she can say can make this enough unlike what happened between him and Natalie for it to be okay. By the time she finishes speaking and looks up at him, though, he's looking directly at her, brow furrowed in a mixture of concern and regret. He frowns, not wanting to give in on this, but he can't help but ask, "...How'd they help you?"

"I've got a wall in my mind," Daine replies. "It keeps my wild magic from getting tangled up with who I am, like it used to be." She's not sure if the same thing would work for Yuri, and without Numair here, it might be a moot point, anyway. Then she remembers that there are other folk here who can poke around minds without much trouble. "Maybe the Doctor or the TARDIS could do something like that for you. What you have is sort of like wild magic, so it might behave the same way if we tried to block part of your mind off from it. You'd still turn into a bear, but it might be easier to remember who you really are." She shrugs, not wanting to get his hopes too high despite her own cautious enthusiasm for the idea. "Meditation helps, too. I could teach you."

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