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 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."

"Who're they?" asks Yuri, wrapping the blanket more tightly around him. On second thought, he says, "I dunno if I want anyone poking around in my head -- even if it'd...if it'd help."

There it is -- the first pang. He winces and rests his head against the wall, squeezing his eyes tight shut and trying to focus on staying calm. "I've known people who -- who could," he says through gritted teeth, not thinking clearly enough to notice that he's sort of flip-flopping, insofar as he's even coherent. "Remember."

Daine can hardly blame him for that - she hadn't been keen on them poking through her head, either. She'd trusted Numair, though, and if it could help... maybe she could talk him into meeting them, at least.

Oh, dear. She sits up a bit straighter, already wincing in sympathy. There's nothing she can do for him until he's bear enough for her magic to work. "Then you could, too," she says, trying to sound encouraging even though her voice isn't very steady. "I'm sure you could."

"It's different," he says, pulling too hard on the blanket and making one of the holes in it bigger. "They were younger -- when --"

He cuts off, unable to say more. He breaths hard through gritted teeth, pushing his head against the wall. He should have told Daine not to watch; now he's too caught up in the pain to worry about it, but later he'll be bothered by her having seen. He tries to hold it in and not scream in front of her, but as his body bulks up and his skeleton rearranges itself, he can't stay quiet. Fur erupts over his entire body, and he practically shreds the blanket when his claws come in. Soon, it's the sounds of a bear in pain that fill the room, not the sounds of a man.

She hadn't meant to watch, but she can't seem to help herself. Is this what it looks like to other folk when she shifts? It's not painful for her, though, and she bites her lip, bracing herself, as he becomes more bear and less human. Once he shows up in her head, she should be able to...

There! Off-color copper flares in her mind, and she gathers up a strand of her magic. Easy, she soothes, sending a wave of calm reassurance into the cage. It's all right. You're all right, Yuri.

Yuri pins back his ears and gives her a wild-eyed look from where he's still laying on the floor, claws scraping on the hard surface. Baring his still-changing teeth, he snarls to cover his confusion at the inrush of new scents and sounds and -- and the feeling that everything's alright? As the change finishes, he stumbles to his feet and lets out a bellow of general complaint. Considering he's normally roaring and charging the bars at this point, he's really doing quite well.

"I know," Daine says sympathetically once he's quieted down a bit. "It hurt. But it's over, now." She watches him with wary concern, wondering if he'll remember that he can talk to her without her prompting him. At least he's not battering himself against the bars like he was last month. If she can get him through the evening without him hurting himself, that would be something.

With a huff, Yuri lumbers over closer to the bars, eying her distrustfully. She was here when -- no. No, the pain didn't come from her. He thinks. He remembers he's annoyed with her, though it takes him a moment to place why that would be.

I told you to leave, he says after a bit of deliberation. Turning on his heel, he stalks along the bars, bumping them with his shoulder at each pace to test their solidity.

Even though he's gone right back to scolding her for being there, she lets out a relieved huff. "You remember," she replies approvingly.

She's less thrilled by his testing the bars, though she doesn't think he's bumping them hard enough to hurt himself. "I can't leave," she reminds him, "but it's okay. I'll stay right here, and we'll both be fine." She considers sending more magic into the cage, but holds off for the moment. It'd be better if he could stay calm without it, and he's doing rather well so far.

Nothing budges, of course. He's sort of relieved by that, and sort of irritated. With a glance and a growl at the silver-covered door, he turns and comes back the other way, testing the bars again for good measure. I hate this place, he informs her.

She can't blame him for that, either. She'd thought it was a terrible place to keep a bear when she'd first set eyes on it, and time hasn't changed her opinion. Yuri's complaint is a little surprising, though, given how insistent he was that the cage got the job done, as if that was all that mattered. Part of her is pleased that he's coming 'round to her way of thinking, but discussing the unpleasantness of the surroundings should probably wait until he's human again and less likely to take out his frustration on himself.

"Maybe we can make it better," Daine says. There might not be anything they can do about the size of the place, but there are other ways to make it all less dismal. "You have water, now," she adds. "That's good." Maybe pointing it out will only result in him swatting the bowl around, but better that than testing the bars.

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