ArchivedLogs:A New Pack

A New Pack
Dramatis Personae Aerin, Lyric
In Absentia	2014-03-28 '
Location <XS> Treehouse
Built by enterprising students of yesteryear, this treehouse has weathered generations of Xaviers' students coming up here to study -- or escape from studying. A cozy retreat, its wood planks are sturdy and well-sanded, fit snug together to keep out draft. Snacks occasionally find their way up here, and the roof keeps the rain off well enough to pass a night -- so long as the teachers don't catch any students at it. For anyone agile enough to make the jump, a lucky leap juuust might carry them from here to the school rooftop, so long as they're careful of the drop... It's eveningtime but although the sun has set it's still fairly pleasant out, temperatures hovering around fifty and, despite the cloudy skies threatening it, no rain yet. In the darkness the treehouse nestled up in the branches of the enormous oak in the front yard is more clearly visible -- there's a light coming from inside it, cast from the yellow glow of an electric lantern hanging from its ceiling. There's /music/ coming from inside it, too. Rapid and lively, an intricate exuberant thumping of drumbeats. The source of the music is a small pair of handdrums in the possession of a small girl, head bobbing quietly along with the beat her well-practiced hands are calling out. Lyric is tucked into a corner of the treehouse, plate of dinner (she's just swiped from the dining hall a plate of enchiladas, rice, refried beans, guac) half-eaten beside her and a thermos beside /that/. She's dressed not /quite/ as warm as maybe she should be, long loose linen pants and a knee-length tunic (both in dark blue, with detailed embroidery at their hems in silver thread and small inlaid mirrors), a paler blue knit shawl wrapped around her head and shoulders, covering up her poofy-curly dark hair. Her backpack leans up against the wall beside her, though she doesn't at the moment seem particularly /interested/ in the textbooks within. It /is/ Friday, after all. A shadowy, wolfey figure runs up to the treehouse's tree. Taking a flying leap it sinks it's claws into the bark and moves up the tree in a few quick lunges. Landing on the entrance of the the treehouse the girl has a tied up rope hanging from her mouth, placing both hands on the doorframe to steady herself. Her red eyes reflect in the light of the lamp as she peers at the dark-skinned one. She's a little surprised at the scene, her long wolven ears atop her head moving outward twitching with every few beats of the drum. Lyric glances up from her drumming, not so much at the running-leaping-climbing (which she can't see) but at the face suddenly appearing in the doorway. Her head cocks to one side in curiosity, though her hands keep up their rapid thumping beat. Her dark eyes flick up-down up-down over the newcome, inquisitive -- a little puzzled as her eyes land on the rope, and then a quick-bright smile curls across her face. She nods a cheerful greeting to Aerin, in between the smaller time-keeping bobs of her head. Aerin slips the rope from her mouth with her hands as she takes a few steps inward. "Wha're yae' doin'? Sounds lik' a tribal dance or somethin' goin' on 'ere." She tosses the rope over into an unoccupied corner of the treehouse. "Ah'm Aerin.." Lyric's eyes stay fixed /very/ attentively on Aerin as she enters, watching the other girl's face with a wide-eyed intensity. Slowly, her brows crease together in puzzled non-comprehension. Her hands stop their movements, just resting down against the skin of one of her drums. Brows still creased, head tilting slightly birdlike to one side, she answers the question with a slow uncertain shake of head, hands turning upwards a little helplessly. Aerin peers at the girl "Do yae' understand english?" she asks, settling down in front of the other girl to sit on her knees. Her tail slips down to rest on the floor as she stares at the unfamiliar girl. "Aerin, Ah'm Aerin.." she tries again, tapping her chest lightly. "Aerin.." Lyric's stare is still a little uncertain; she digs her teeth down into her lips as Aerin speaks. The repetition of the name puts a blossom of bright understanding in her face, though. She curls her fingers in a small wave and then, bouncing slighly with an over-abunance of energy, turns to open a front flap of her backpack and extract a notebook and pen. She opens the notebook up to a blank page, writing down on it: 'LYRIC.' And points to herself. Her eyes skip down to the tail and then back up to Aerin's face and she adds below this: 'Ohmygosh so fluffy! That's amazing.' Aerin peers down at the pad, then to her tail. "Oh..that? Well..it's kind o' attached.." She pulls the tail over to her with her hands, offering it over. "So yae' cannae' speak? But yae' can understand mae?" Further speaking returns the look of intense concentration to Lyric's face, and then the faintly puzzled look of incomprehension. Her eyes light up, though, when Aerin offers the tail outward, and she reaches a hand for it -- her eyes lift in questioning silent request for permission before she very /gently/ pets a hand down its length. And promptly bounces eagerly in place /again/, her sudden /bright/ smile unquestioningly delighted. Her hands clap together once, and then she picks up her notebook again to write: 'New?' as her eyes lift back to Aerin's face. Aerin nods when the request comes in. She lets the tail flop down against Lyric's lap. As she draws she watches, and nods. "Yeah. Ah' came in from Ireland. Ah'm a bit o' a wolf if yae' haven' noticed or anything." She closes her eyes, and seems to concentrate. Focus wolfgirl, focus. The coloring in her hair (and fur) turns brown, her fingernails recede to about a half inch longer than her finger (but remain pointed). She opens her eyes, feeling a little woozy and off-balance. She pokes the pads of her fingers carefully on the drums curiously "Yae' seem tae' like music eh?" she asks with her eyes watching the drums, making sure she doesn't punture them with her pointed fingernails. "Yae' been 'ere a while? At th' school?" Lyric is, for a time, distracted with happy petting of the fluffy tail. And /then/ distracted with the color in Aerin's fur changing, and nails receding; her eyes open /even/ wider, a soft-impressed gasp drawn in quickly. She still wears a faintly puzzled look as Aerin speaks, watching the wolfgirl /very/ intently before chewing at her lip uncertainly. 'Two years,' she answers the last question, at least. Her eyes flick to the drums, then back to Aerin. 'These are my drums I like to play them would you like to learn? They're good for dancing to.' Aerin nods softly. "Ah'd like that, but ah'm nae' going tae' be too strong on mae' feet right now.." she taps the drums softly a few more times. "Nae' easy tae' suppress the wolf..but, it does mean ah' can play yaer' drums without breaking them." She smiles with a flick of her left ear. Lyric still watches Aerin through these words, a slooow crease knitting her brows together. Eventually she giggles, stifling this against her palm. 'I can barely understand you.' She writes this with an apologetic duck of her head, a small crinkle of her nose. One finger lifts to tap at her ear indicatively. 'Am deaf. First I thought you weren't speaking English! But some words I get.' She reaches out, too, to tap a gentle easy beat against the drum. 'Do you like music?' Aerin nods "Ah'm Irish. Sorrah, ah'll try t'talk a lil'bit clearer." She shrugs her shoulders softly "Ah' seem tae' like it..but ah' come from a very small town. About two thousan' people. Wasn't that big there. Ah'm experiencin' a lot since coming tae' the Americas though." The wolfgirl watches the finger, and uses a finger to follow the beat on the other drum. "Have yae' always been deaf?" Lyric bobs her head slowly along with the motion of Aerin's finger, smiling as the other girl follows the beat. She reaches her second hand there, changing up the rhythm a little bit to beat a slightly more complicated pattern with both hands. At least until she has to reach back for her pencil again. 'Yes always. Read lips. Hard, though. You're far from home! Did you just come here for school?' Aerin moves her other hand into play, following the second finger's beat. "Yes..it's a world away..or, half a world." She takes a moment to move the hair away from her left ear, revealing regular human ears in addition to the wolven ones. "Ah' have tae' much hearing..it's too bad Ah' can't just give yae' some of mine. Are yae from here? From th' Americas?" Lyric's puzzled frown returns at this, though /this/ time at least it is evidently not because of lack of understanding the words Aerin says. Just: 'Too bad? Why too bad? I don't mind being deaf.' She bobs her head in a nod at the question. 'My father isn't but I was born here. Not HERE here at the school or anything. We do get a lot of students who come from abroad. I guess there's just not many schools like this around. What was it like for you back home?' Aerin smiles "Oh, well ah' have very sensitive hearin'. Where yae' hear nothing, ah' hear /everything/." She sits back a little as she recollects. Mae' parents were always away workin'. Two older brothers. Ah' was a fiesty thing..troublesome jus' lik' them. Good hunter, but we really wouldn't have probably amounted tae' very much. Life took a bit o' a turn and ah' became a wolfgirl. Ah' didn't even know it was inside o' me." Yawning softly, she covers her mouth during it. "Ah' can repress mae' mutantcy faer a bit, but it wears mae' out pretty quickly." Lyric giggles at the mention of being troublesome, this description putting an amused smile on her face. 'Some of the kids here like to hunt. I like fishing but I don't know about hunting.' She shrugs a shoulder, glancing towards the doorway and then back to her notebook. 'Lake has good fishing when it's warmer. Too cold to sit out there for hours now. Why repress it do you not like it?' Her head tilts curiously to one side. 'I think here you don't have to repress. Things.' Aerin nods her head "Fishin' is more about feelin' than it is hearin'. Hunting needs some hearin' skills." She pulls her tail to her, cradling it to her chest. "Well..nae', Ah' don't really like it. Ah' turned intae' a really nasty big wolf. And Ah' couldn't turn back. Ah' was like that faer' six months or so..and ah' forgot what it was tae' be human. Ah' made it back, but ah' just was coming out of it n' ah' come out 'ere. It's not something ah'm used to..or comfortable with. Also ah' got used tae' sleeping in a pack, there's a void there that makes mae' feel rather lonely. Ah just am nae' the way that ah' was before." Lyric watches this with a very small wrinkle of her nose, cheeks sucking inward between her teeth. For a long while she doesn't answer this, just watching Aerin mostly pensively. Her hands start to beat a slow quiet rhythm against her drums, but after a moment she breaks off to pick up her notebook again. 'The dorms are kind of LIKE sleeping in a pack. A million people around always. Maybe you'll just find a new pack here.' Aerin nods softly "Maybe..but it's hard tae' be a wolf when others aren't. We're predatory by nature." She lolls her head back a moment and 'releases', her fur and hair shifting to it's previous colors, and her nails growing to 3 inches long. "Mmmmnph. Ah' think it's bedtime.." Lyric bobs her head in a cheerful nod at this. She lifts her hand to wave to Aerin, but then returns both hands to her drums, picking back up the lively-cheerful beat to send the other girl off.