The Wild Girl

[Mike]

I was in the public library studying. I rather enjoy libraries, they're so nice and quiet. No one bothers you as long as you don't make a ruckus, and for me that is not a problem at all. However, this calm atmosphere not destined to last. Kevin, my best friend since we were toddlers came bursting through the door. He quickly spotted me and headed my way, despite my attempts to remain inconspicuous.

"DUDE! You're not going to believe what I found today!" Kevin shouted enthusiastically, pulling the book I was trying to hide my face with away from me, and flinging it behind him. The ruckus my friend was causing was drawing angry glares everyone in the library.
"Kevin, can you keep it down? This is a library you know." I whispered harshly.
"Yeah, I know. You're such a loser dude." Kevin said, not dropping the volume of his voice at all. "But seriously, you need to come see this cool place I found. It's friggin awesome."
"But I'm busy, I have to study."
"No you don't, we're home-schooled remember?"
"I like to study..."
"You're probably just scared aren't you?"
"Well, yeah a little."
"CHICKE- ... wait, what? Dude, you're not supposed to admit that you're scared. That's not how it works. How am I supposed to goad you into coming with me if you don't argue back?"
"I'm sorry."
*facepalm* "Dude, just... just come with me. You're embarrassing."
"Uh... alright I guess."
"Come on, let's go get Zangetsu."

[suspicaman]

"What were you getting me for?" Zangetsu said, walking into the library holding a rather large potted plant, which just happened to be burning The patrons of the library stared at him in stunned silence.

Kevin cleared his throat, "Ahem. Zan, what's the fire for?"

"Well, I was just bringing it here so that I could get a drink of water from the fountain over there before I found something to put it out with." He said, gesturing towards a water fountain with the plant, waving the flames in front of the mortified librarian's face. She proceeded to pass out. Zangetsu looked at her. "Well that hardly seems productive."
Only Glen had the presence of mind to run and retrieve a fire extinguisher, which he now used to put out the fire, covering Zangetsu and the plant with a thick layer of whit foam. Zangetsu put the sad, burnt plant down in front of him, wiped the foam off of his aviators, and looked at Glen. "Thanks buddy. Alright, let's go." He calmly sputtered through the foam, and he turned to walk out of the library, flecks of foam trailing off as he went.

The fire alarm chose that moment to go off, setting the sprinkler system into action.

[Mike]

Kevin looked up at the sprinklers and let out a laugh, "Zan, you're a riot!" He said, walking out of the library with him. Ignoring both the angry library patrons running from the building and a panicking Glen. Glen ran up to the librarian who was currently passed out on the floor. "Sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry!" He turned to see both his friends leaving him behind. He most certainly didn't want to be left behind when the authorities arrived... again. "W-wait up guys!" he shouted after his friends, *I am SO banned from this library...* he thought to himself.

"So anyway guys, I found this totally sweet cave way outside our territory." Kevin began, "It looks like it goes pretty far back. Maybe we can make it our hangout or something. It'll be SO awesome guys."
"I'm pretty sure the Grand Alpha said we shouldn't stray too far from our territory... It could be dangerous." Glen interrupted, with a worried look.
"Dude chill out, don't worry about it." Kevin responded dismissively, "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Well the worst would probably be running into a rouge or something." Glen suggested.
"Dude. Rhetorical. Why do you have to be such a buzz kill?"
"Sorry."

So, the three of them headed into the woods. After getting sufficiently deep into the woods Kevin turned to the others and said, "So yeah, it's pretty far out there. A good mile or so outside our territory. So we should probably get fuzzy first."
"Get fuzzy? I don't... what?"
"Wolf form smarts." Kevin said with a sigh.
"Oh right."

After transforming, Kevin led the way deep into the woods. They ran well past the usual hunting ground and outside of the pack's territory. And It wasn't long before Glen no longer recognized any of his surroundings, but Kevin seemed to know where he was going. As they approached a large rocky outcrop, Kevin stopped and changed back to human form. The others followed suit.
"Here's the place!" He said, as he changed back into his clothes, "The cave is over this way."

[Flarga]

sound? humans...! danger!
attack? flee? indecision...

a black wolf shifts uneasily inside a dark cave. she has been taking shelter here for a few moons now, but outside, she can hear danger; and cannot decide whether to flee or defend.

*whine* which? which?

she slinks back into the dark of the cave to lie in wait, to see if she should fight or take flight.

[suspicaman]

Outside the cave, Glen and Zangetsu followed Kevin's example, changing back into human form. Glen proceeded to clumsily get dressed. Zangetsu, however, just bent down to his clothes, reached into his pocket, grabbed a burger and took a bite, blissfully chewing as he sauntered towards the cave entrance in his birthday suit. Suddenly, a low growl rumbled forth from the cave mouth and Zangetsu stopped. He took a wide stance and looked intently into the cave where he saw the faint glow of two wolf eyes. Suddenly, he raised both his arms, one towards the wolf, the other towards his friends, holding out both his index fingers, commanding all to be still. For a moment, none moved, and the only sound was the slight rustle of leaves in the breeze. Zangetsu took a bite of his burger then resumed his pose. "Clothes." He said to Kevin, not taking his eyes from the wolf's.

"Hey, Zan, what's going on? What's in the cave?" Kevin asked, unsure what exactly to do.

"Wolf. Clothes. Now." Zangetsu replied, a mild tone of urgency in his voice.

Glen called back to him, "Zangetsu, I think you aught to just back away slowly. Let's just leave the wolf alone."

"I said clothes." Zangetsu said. Kevin gave in and wadded up Zangetsu's clothes and threw them at him. Zangetsu reached out with his open hand to catch the clothes, still staring into the wolf's eyes. Never breaking this contact, he set down his clothes, reached into his pocket, pulled out a second burger, unwrapped it and tossed it gently towards the wolf.

*Huh* Kevin thought, *I definitely didn't feel anything in his pockets when I picked up his clothes.*

[Flarga]

*growl* my cave, what.... what is he doing?

a hamburger lands near the wolf.

*sniff sniff* that... what is it? smells good... it ... so good...

the wolf snaps up the burger, eating it quickly
she then looks up at the man who tossed it to her
her hackles go down
she tilts her head

"rru?"

[suspicaman]

Zangetsu relaxed and heaved a sigh of relief. He looked back at the wolf's confused face. Something about the wolf's eyes were not quite right. They seemed almost human. Zangetsu collected his thoughts and made a quick inspection of his surroundings. *Wolf. Circle of rocks with burnt sticks. Tattered, stuffed bear. Dirty pink backpack. OH!* Zangetsu hurried into his black jeans and picked up the rest of the clothes. He then approached the wolf slowly and set his shirt and trench coat down in front of her. He looked at the wolf again, then at the remainder of his burger, then back to the wolf. He split the remainder of the burger in half and set one half down by the clothes and walked out, keeping his back to the wolf. "Let's just give her a couple of minutes." He said to his friends through a mouthful of burger.

[Flarga]

the wolf gobbled up the chunk of food then nosed at the clothes uncomfortably

mmmm, don't like... human

she looked up at the guy's back, then back at the clothes

she shifted back anyway.

she couldn't shift all the way back human, she kept her ears and tail, and teeth and claws.

she attempted to dress in the clothes. they were very big on her so the shirt was like a dress and she was swimming in the coat, but she liked the way they smelled. kind of like comfort? or family?

she walked out of the cave, sleeve covered hand shoving back her mane of hair.

[Mike]

As the girl stepped out of the cave wearing Zangetsu's over-sized jacket, Glen stepped backward. *Wait.* he thought, *She's a rogue werewolf. Which is literally the most dangerous thing we could possibly run into out here.*
Kevin on the other hand had the exact opposite reaction. "Sup." He said, trying to be suave, "My name's Kevin. What's yours?"
The girl stared at him blankly.
Glen looked between the girl, Kevin, and Zangetsu, *Well, she doesn't seem to be aggressive.* he swallowed, then spoke, "Uh... Do you speak English?" he asked, stepping out from behind Kevin, where he had unconsciously hidden.
The girl tilted her head, and blinked at him. After a few seconds she slowly nodded.
"My name is Glen. We're from the Red Moon pack, do you know of it?"
She shook her head.

[suspicaman]

*I'm not really sure what to do here.* Zangetsu thought to himself. *Must avoid eye contact. That's probably the best course of action.*
"My name is Zack." He started after a short silence. He was still facing away from the cave, not looking at anyone, just gazing out into the vast wilderness with an entirely unreadable look on his face. The best poker face in the world.
"We call him Zangetsu." Kevin said, leaning back against a tree and crossing his arms. He was really trying hard to look cool.
Zangetsu ignored Kevin entirely."We live over there." He gestured in the general direction of their home without using his hands, then returned to his blank presence, looking away from everyone.

[Flarga]

the girl walks up behind Zack and peeks over his shoulder, trying to see what it is he is looking at.

[Mike]

Kevin walked up to the girl, "So tell us, what's a nice girl like you doing out here in a place like this?" he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. The girl hissed and ran to the other side of Zangetsu, then growled at Kevin. Zangetsu now looked slightly upward as he was still trying to avoid eye contact, and she was now standing right in front of him.
Glen was standing back and surveying the situation. "I don't think she wants to be touched Kevin." *Also, what on earth is Zangetsu doing?*
Kevin frowned, and went back to leaning against the tree.
Glen slowly approached the girl, who was still hiding behind Zangetsu. "Can you speak? Could you please tell us your name?" he asked her, in a gentle tone.

[Flarga]

"I-" she managed to whisper before her voice cracked and died. she tried again after clearing her throat.
"name- ... Trisha"

[suspicaman]

Zangetsu finally looked down at Trisha. Again, he noticed that her eyes had an odd sort of gleam to them. This time, when he looked, they indicated loneliness and fear. "You're alone out here. You have been for quite some time." He looked back into the cave, and saw the belongings of a child leaving home in a hurry. "You don't have a family, do you?" He said, looking back at Trisha.

[Flarga]

she shook her head, flinging her hair from side to side. Trisha looked up at Zangetsu, an sad look on her face.