Heffalumps and Woozles [open to multiple]

[stronglikebear]

It's unusual for Yuri to dream on the night of the full moon. That's less because weres don't dream -- they certainly do -- and more because weres generally don't sleep while under the lunar influence. It's hard for him to sleep even in the days leading up to a change with how keyed-up it makes him feel, so to drift off while in bear form without someone there to calm him (or drugs to knock him out) is out of the ordinary.

And, too, up until now he's never left the safety of his own head while snoozing in bear form. The rift has an impertinent sense of humor, though, so perhaps it was only a matter of time until it happened. So, in the small hours of the morning, a dreamer or two might encounter a shaggy form lumbering through their dreams, snuffling at the scenery and looking for something (or someone) to attack or destroy.

Comments

[wildmage_daine]

Daine has had a long night. By the time the moon rose, she was already out of the base and on the wing, circling the island in owl shape. A few minutes were spent perched on Andrew and James's balcony, unbeknownst to them. She hadn't wanted to impose - or unwittingly give them any hints as to what was going on if they happened to notice the timing of it all - but it had been nice to confirm to herself that she could find their apartment in bird shape (and in the dark, no less). So much for the subway.

But after a few hours, she'd been too tired and disgusted with herself to continue avoiding the base. Her attempts to just block Yuri's grumblings had been short-lived, and out of mingled curiosity and desperation, she'd tried sending him some calming reassurance from her room. His cage was far enough away that she wasn't sure if it really worked, or if he was just tired, but it was still a relief when he drifted off. She'd soon followed suit in a tangle of blankets and snoring dogs.

In her dream, she's in a small, white room with no visible doors or vents. A long, flat cushion serves as a bed, and there's a bucket in the corner that's probably meant to be the privy. A change of clothes are folded on the floor, replacement for the soiled garments she's wearing.

The Carthaki palace is probably full of such hidden rooms. soundproof and designed to counteract the Gift. If she screamed, no one would hear her.

She's trapped. She's caged.

"No," she says, her voice hoarse from disuse. "No!" Lurching to her feet, she scrabbles her fingers along the wall, trying to find the seam of a door without success.

[stronglikebear]

Yuri lumbers along a wall, nose to the floor like an overgrown dog. His ears perk at some hint of sound and he lifts his head and bounds toward it. There's nothing there, though -- the woodland he just left has given way to a barren hallway, no prey in sight. Coming to a stop in the middle of the corridor, Yuri lets out a whuff and goes still to listen.

[wildmage_daine]

"Let me out!" she shouts, knowing as she does so that it's useless. If anyone hears her, it'll be the Emperor, and he's the one who put her here. She smacks the wall with her open palm, more out of frustration than an attempt to suss out the doorway by sound. Her arms feel weaker than they ought to be - a side effect of being drugged? - but she curls her hand into a fist and pounds it against the wall, anyway. "Let me out!"

[stronglikebear]

There it is! Yuri bounces over to the doorway from which the distressed shouting is emanating, glad to be of service and give her something to really shout about. He scratches at the door with one gargantuan paw, gauging at the frame with his claws. Let me in! he demands.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine jerks back in surprise, not having expected a response of any kind, let alone one from... she frowns, the familiar mind taking longer than usual to register, as it's so out of context.

"Yuri?" Her arms drop to her sides. This isn't right. "You shouldn't be here," she informs him, feeling distinctly stupid all of a sudden, but also certain of that much.

[stronglikebear]

"Let me in!" Yuri forgets that he has to speak in his head in his excitement. He rears up and plants both front paws on the door, giving it a good shove. "I can hear you! You can't get away!"

[wildmage_daine]

Any hope that Yuri would rescue her is quickly dashed by that last sentence. He's in bear shape. Of course he's in bear shape; that just makes this so much better. Could Ozorne have...? No. Daine rubs her forehead, scowling.

"Yuri," she says sternly, "it's Daine. Remember? Daine." He can't get in without a key, can he? Even so, best not to take chances. Shucking off her clothes, she takes polar bear shape and plunks herself down on the other side of the door, which has warped just enough under Yuri's onslaught to at least be visible.

[stronglikebear]

"...Daine?" Yuri pauses in his assault on the door, sniffing at the air. He puts his ears back. "You never come to see me anymore."

Probably because he's been avoiding her.

"If I open the door, will you run?"

[wildmage_daine]

She lets out a huff of displeasure. I didn't think you wanted me to visit anymore, assuming I'd even be allowed. The former was the real deterrent. She would have happily snuck into his cell in defiance of rebel preferences if Yuri had asked her to - or even if he'd just hinted that he wouldn't be averse to the idea.

And if you're planning on attacking me again, I'd just as soon you left it shut, she adds, wrinkling her muzzle. The room felt stifling when she was in human shape, and now, it's downright cramped. The last thing she wants to do is share the space with a violent grizzly, thanks ever so.

[stronglikebear]

"I don't!" With a snarl, Yuri gouges long grooves into the door. It's like digging his claws into styrofoam, and he does it again, fascinated. Light begins to show through the claw marks, and he thrusts a paw through the suddenly brittle door.

[wildmage_daine]

For all that she knows he's not exactly at his best right now, the confirmation that he doesn't want her to help him still stings. Stop complaining, then! she sulks snaps, heaving herself to her feet.

... The door definitely should not be crumbling so easily, and she growls as Yuri's paw punches through. There's an accompanying draft of fresh air, but it's not actually coming from the door - it's coming from behind her. Daine cranes her neck around and sees a second doorway. A very smug pygmy marmoset is sitting on a cheetah's back and holding something aloft.

Keys! Zek says.

Daine glances back at the door that Yuri's still working through, then reaches down to give the cheetah a gentle nudge. We'd best go. Yuri's not very nice right now.

When Yuri does manage to break into the room, he'll be treated to the sight of Daine's large, white rump vanishing around a corner as Zek and the cheetah lead her through the tunnels beneath the palace.

[stronglikebear]

Yuri slips a whole arm (leg?) through, swiping at the empty air with a snarl of his own. He can smell something unsettling on the other side, but just keeps clawing and pulling away chunks of the door until he can shove his head and a shoulder through.

Get back here! he demands when he sees the animals departing. His fur snags on the door, and with a roar of frustration and anger he renews his efforts to completely demolish the thing, forgetting Daine for a minute despite the urgency of a moment ago. Finally, though, the door lies in crumbles, and Yuri gambols in the direction he thinks Daine went.

[wildmage_daine]

Here he comes. Huzzah. Now you want to spend time with me? she fires back over her shoulder, unimpressed - and a little worried for her friends, if not herself. Yuri's much easier to handle when she doesn't have to worry about anyone's safety save her own.

Fortunately for Daine and her friends, they've reached an exit. The cheetah chirps and paws at a door, and Daine reaches forward to shove it open. The three of them climb through, not waiting for Yuri to catch up, and Daine takes in their surroundings. They're in the Hall of Bones.

The skeleton of an enormous, three-horned lizard stands before her, and she can feel the stirring of a power she shouldn't have insider her - not anymore. But there it is. Striding forward, she lifts a paw and gently touches the lizard's bony frill. There's a bright flash, and then the skeleton moves, lifting one foot and giving its toes an experimental wiggle. She ought to be nervous, but instead, she feels a rush of pleasure. Hullo, she tells it.

[stronglikebear]

Yuri slows, ears perked forward. She's big. "Stop being so big!" he complains, forgetting again that he shouldn't be able to speak out loud. He snarls at the smaller animals and takes a step forward, but stops again before he comes too close to Daine's looming shape.

He barely even notices that they've entered a museum of some kind until something moves. It's even bigger than Daine is, and Yuri stares up at it, slack-jawed, as his brain helpfully spits out the word triceratops.

[wildmage_daine]

The triceratops skeleton gives Daine an affectionate little bump with its nose, then cants its head and trains an empty eye socket on Yuri. Not liking the look of him, it steps between him and Daine, horns lowered.

Stop being so nasty, Daine replies, feeling a lot better now that she has help. The triceratops gives her an inquiring look - as much a skeleton can - and she says, Not you; you're all right. Reassured, the skeleton turns back to Yuri.

And hey, she'd feel better still if she had more help, wouldn't she? She shuffles over to a pair of snake-necked lizards and wakes them, sitting up on her haunches to greet them as they bow their heads toward her. And wasn't there a mammoth in the next room? She'd best check.

[stronglikebear]

Yuri bristles. I'll tear you up! he tells the triceratops, rearing up on his hind legs and daring it with a snarl and a swipe of his paw to try coming closer. I'll break you!

[wildmage_daine]

The triceratops lowers its head and lets out a warning bellow - one that can only be felt through the floor, thanks to its lack of a proper body.

Daine, meanwhile, has found the mammoths. She's not entirely sure how she ended up sitting on the back of one of them - and in her human shape again - but this does more clearly match her memories of the last time she was here. When she rides back into the first room, she looks faintly surprised to see that Yuri's still there.

"Stop fussing," she orders him, frowning her disapproval. "You're being rude to my friends."

[stronglikebear]

Yuri pins his ears back and roars back at the triceratops, but the sound certainly doesn't shake the floor. In fact, though he bellows as loud as he can, it comes out like a hoarse gasp. Crashing back down onto all fours, he starts toward the skeleton, only to be distracted by the arrival of Daine.

You're smaller! he informs her, turning to lumber toward her and her mount. At the first sign of one of the dinosaurs moving toward him, though, he veers away again.

[wildmage_daine]

The bear is hardly a threat given the army she's raised, and there's a strange, persistent tug that requires her attention. Ignoring Yuri, she turns her focus inward, her head canted to one side as if she's trying to place a half-remembered melody. Something isn't right. What is it?

Then she remembers: Numair is gone. A very small part of her ventures that he's not really gone, not the way she thought he was, but she brushes that aside as nonsense. Her memories of New York have grown hazy and distant, but the ache of Numair's absence is all too real.

He's gone, and Ozorne has to pay.

When Daine returns her focus to the bear, her gaze is coolly assessing. He's not much compared to the skeletons that surround her, but that doesn't mean he's useless. Those claws and teeth could do some considerable damage, surely.

She leans forward and rests her elbows on the mammoth's head, the better to peer down at Yuri. "My friends and I are going to tear this palace to the ground," she informs him, her tone suggesting that this is a perfectly reasonable course of action. "You can help, if you like, but there are rules: no attacking any animals, and no chasing after any two-leggers smart enough to run away." Straightening, she asks, "Can you handle that, or do I have to have you locked in the menagerie?"

[stronglikebear]

"Rules!" scoffs Yuri with a snort of disgust. He doesn't much like the idea of being locked up anywhere, though, and he does like the idea of digging his claws into more crumbling walls. He'd rather like to go back to tearing things down, and he can always chase two-leggers when the beastmaster over there isn't looking.

Deciding to be duplicitous, he nods. "I could do that," he agrees, not saying whether he will.