Connor stood there for a moment, and his expression was perhaps akin to what a computer would have during its processes. The order to run, while the logical option, wasn't one Connor could follow. He heard the struggles of the campers as they sought to survive, and he watched Vanessa run off towards the camp. He wanted to follow, yet he couldn't make his legs move. Vanessa said it would be dangerous for him, but that wasn't it. It seemed that, after escaping such an attack again, Connor was imbolised with fear. He stood there, unable to even process the fact that fear held him in its grip. But he still knew that Vanessa was going into danger, and what kind of a man would he be if he let her go by herself? He was just about to take a step, when he froze for an entirely different reason to fear. His eyes were drawn to the moon, and he shook. At one time he would have considered the moon beautiful, but now it seemed a thing of terror.
Something seemed to overtake him, and he stood there in horror that he could feel something happening within him. His body shook, and it didn't seem like it was his own. Whatever force overtook him, it propelled itself through his body, leaving needles of pain. It was almost as if his body was rearranging itself. As if it was allowing itself to...change.
Everything he knew told him that this shouldn't be possible. But it was happening, so didn't that mean it was possible? what was he doing, just standing there, when people had been attacked by a wolf, when Vanessa was charging into that danger? For one brief moment, his strength of will seemed to overpower everything else, and he took a step towards the camp site, before it all washed over him again.
He fell to the ground as his body withered, seeming to contort itself impossibly. As the pain grew too much, Connor screamed, but it came out as a howl. It simply wasn't possible. Humans did not have the ability to manipulate their cells. No creature did. The simple physics involved told him it wasn't possible. He should have been crushed. Or horribly mutilated. As his mind sought to understand this, to figure out what was happening, Connor howled again, long and mournful.
In seemed in this form, Connor was able to deal with the grief of his fathers death, although the grief he experienced wasn't the same, different somehow.
The smell of blood was a lure, so strong and potent. And close. Instinct thundered through him, until all Connor knew was the urge to pounce and lap at that scent. So strong was it that he didn't even know he was walking, all four limbs seeming to work in unison in a one two motion, tail twitching and ears laid flat as he snarled. He crouched, eyes roaming over the destroyed camp site, the scent of blood everywhere. A growl escaped him, and he padded closer, using the trees as cover.
Vanessa covered in blood drew his eye, and the order to run again seemed to wash over him. She had told him to run. Didn't that mean she had a reason? What was he doing? Stalking something like he was an...animal? He howled again in frustration, and turned, fleeing back the way he had come, he followed familiarity, moving towards his truck, already secluded from people. The scent of blood followed him, hauntingly tantalizing, but the image of his father being mauled made him cringe, and his will prevented him from turning around again.
Cassandra
Location: camp grounds
Interacting with:anyone, Collab with Lydyn between Cassie and Gloria as a memory
Cassandra felt woozy, and faint. Was she hurt anywhere else? She didn't know. Her body felt...weightless, and it wasn't until darkness edge across her vision that she realised she was going to pass out again. It happened too quickly for her to do anything, and the darkness overtook her once more.
[quote]
It was mid-morning when Gloria finally came downstairs, dressed
in a cute black outfit, and carrying a small notebook in her hands. She paused for a moment to look around the dining room of the building and shrugged to herself, not spotting her new chatter box acquaintance - Riley. She smiled softly to the girl's mother before taking a seat at one of the tables and asking her, kindly, to make her a white only egg muffin with some apple juice.
Not paying much attention to anything else at the moment, she looked down as she opened her notebook and started to take notes - looking as if she was concentrating on something important, however it definitely wasn't a personal journal or a book she was writing, making it easy for someone to be curious about it's contents. Keeping her focus on the notebook, she nearly jumped as the food was placed next to her, giggling softly and giving a soft,
"sorry," to Riley's mother who obviously dismissed it. Putting the small book down, she started to munch on the egg muffin she was given, idly looking out the window.
Cassie hurried towards the B&B, intent on finding Riley before she left, to see what she wanted snack wise for the camping trip, or what other things Cassie could bring. Preferring to walk, Cassie had her guitar or her back, the strap slung over her shoulder, and had a small back, out of which a notebook poked. She practically crashed through the door to the B&B, and composing herself, she looked about, but couldn't see Riley anywhere.
A little bit put out, Cassie decided she'd just have to text Riley later, which she would have already done, if she hadn't left her phone home. Sighing softly, Cassie glanced about the room, seeing someone writing in a notebook. Curious enough, not merely because the woman as cute, Cassie approached her. It took her a moment to speak, having to force herself to do so.
"h-hello? Um..." Cassie didn't seem to be able to say anything more
"Huh?"[/color][/b] Gloria was snapped out of her daze to hear the voice of a young woman, looking up and seeing Cass standing over her. She couldn't have been older than eighteen, but she was surprisingly pretty, considering how shy the poor girl seemed. She thought it a tad odd - the pretty ones were always full of confidence from all the boys hitting on them, usually. Instead of dwelling too much on it though, she beamed a friendly smile and put her muffin down, perking slightly.
"Hi!" As Cass stared at her for a couple of brief moments, Gloria couldn't help but smirk slightly. Not entirely sure why the girl decided to approach her, it was still obvious she had been interested in talking to her, for
some reason."Um.." Gloria bit her lip for a second.
"Do you want to sit down?" She wasn't exactly sure what else to say either, but it sounded like the right thing to do. Usually you came up to strangers like this only when you wanted to introduce yourself and have a nice chat. Gloria certainly wasn't opposed to it.
"I'm Gloria... kind of new in town," she explained, trying to give Cass more grounds to talk and open up.
Cassie couldn't say what had prompted her to approach the woman, but she was already wondering if she should have indulged in the impulse. She shifted, feeling awkward, knowing she really should be on her way, but...some part of her felt like she should stay, talking with Gloria.
"oh, well, I don't know...um. Well, The B&B is a good place to stay, my friend Riley, her runs it...I was just...what were you writing?" Cassandra was intrigued by the notion that anyone now a days choose to write physically instead of electronically, and perhaps this was why she felt the need to speak.
Cass wasn't really sitting down just yet, but she was just standing there, talking to her. It was actually kind of cute, how shy she was being, and she could sense the conflict going on in Cass' eyes. Gloria honestly felt flattered. She had never caused someone to stop what they were doing, just to talk to her, but she liked it!
"Riley, hehe, yes, the little chatter box," she smirked amusingly. Gloria then looked down at her notebook and back up at Cass, smiling softly.
"Oh, this.. yeah, um.. heh, try not to judge me too much but I practice Wiccan witchcraft. So, it's just my notebook trying to study spells and the like... you know, the whole four elements, the Goddess of the Moon? Well, a lot of Wiccans kind of have their own views on things... it's not nearly as organized as Christianity or something." She opened the book to a page with a mock circle with zodiac symbols, however it also seemed to have some math equations, for some reason.
It amused Cassie to hear Riley described as a Chatter box, for her friend was indeed talkative, perhaps because Riley herself was just so
bubbly.it sometimes seemed that Riley wanted to make everyone happy with her mere presence. Cassie wondered why Gloria would think she would judge her for her beliefs. Cassie found it intriguing, and she say to see the book better.
"cool" Cassie said, her eyes roaming over the equations, having no idea what they could possibly mean.
"I like the aspect of the elements, and religion shouldn't be organized. Why would a diety feel the need to hVe such a structure? It seems like an interesting religion" And Cassandra never really believed in God. What God would leave a child orphaned and trapped in a car with her parents dead body?
Gloria blinked, adorning a very obvious surprised expression on her face for a few moments, before smiling widely at Cass.
"... that's exactly my thoughts!" she exclaimed cheerfully.
"If a deity was supposed to care and love us, then all these traditions and doctrines don't make any sense. We should be able to live the way we want, so long as it's not harming anyone." Gloria seemed extremely pleased by Cass' response and relaxed a little in her chair, putting her book back down.
"What your name anyways, if you don't mind, that is - and I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?" She felt like she wanted to get to know Cass more now, with how she had reacted. The girl was intriguing and interesting and Gloria wondered what was under that bashful shell of hers.
Gloria seemed to be shocked that Cassie had such an opinion. Cassie returned her smile, nodding as Gloria spoke. The fact that someone else thought In similar way was quite amazing.
She blushed as she realized she hadn't given Gloria her name,
"oh! Sorry, I'm Cassandra" she said in a hurried way, feeling quite bad that she hadn't mentioned her name.
"no, no! I just thought to get some supplies for this camping trip I'm going on, before work""Cassandra? That's a pretty name..."[/color][/b] Gloria smiled softly, taking note of Cass' reaction with amusement before nodding.
"Ah, right, Riley mentioned that a couple times. I might be up there... just because it's a nice place to relax and concentrate. I mean, I bought the abandoned house on the edge of town, but sometimes it nice to see nature, y'know?" She paused.
"And it might be nice to meet some new people... where do you work, by the way? I'm a personal accountant for some richy-rich clients in another city." That's when Gloria tilted her head a little bit, taking true notice of the guitar on the girl's back, then pointed to it causally.
"Are you a singer?" she asked, seeming very interested.
"my mother thought so. My aunt told me she named me after someone special" Cassandra became passive for a moment, before shaking out of her stupor, looking back to Gloria. So Gloria wasn't merely visiting, but had a place. That was interesting to know.
"I work in the cafe, playing music, and sometimes I help with other things, but I'm not a good waitress though. Too clumsy and people scare me."As Gloria asked if she sang, Cassandra remembered she hadn't taken her guitar off.
"oh, uh, yeah. I do. Music...gives me peace"Gloria listened patiently, pursing her lips quietly in thought before taking another bite of her muffin, finishing the bite as Cass got done talking.
"Scared of people?... but I don't scare you - or at least I hope I don't." She smiled gently.
"I mean, you seem like a really sweet girl and really fun to talk to." Gloria was trying to encourage her, giving another soft, sweet smile.
"Regardless, I think the name suits you. You seem to be like a special person..." She had said it without thinking about it much, flushing a light red as she realized.
"U-um, anyways... uh... it would be nice to hear you play sometime? I'll have to drop by maybe on a night you are. If it helps, when you are there and I'm hungry, I can ask for you specifically? At least you'll get some respite from people, right?" Again, Gloria seemed to give Cass a sweet smile, though a bit more thoughtful this time.
How could Cassie explain what she meant? Perhaps it wasn't that she was afraid of people, but rather afraid of forgetting some social nicety, or if making a fool of herself.
"not all people scare me...I just...it's hard to talk to strangers..." which was clearly not being demonstrated right then.
"no, I just...I found it intriguing that you were actually writing, and not typing at some machine" Cassandra trailed off as Gloria said she seemed special. And blushed.
"oh. I play generally every day for a few hours, but Sophie can probably tell you if I'm there or not" she said after a moment,
"I just play what I feel mostly..."Cassandra had played pretty much for everyone at one stage or another, but the thought of someone she had just met coming specifically to hear her sing was a bit intimidating, but she gave Gloria a smile
"I'll only be at work today and tomorrow; then the camping trip. I'll be back on after it""Well, I'm a bit busy for the next couple of days, but maybe sometime after the camping trip.. or maybe I'll bug you on the trip one of those days or something about it.."[/color][/b] Gloria's tone had clearly gone a bit more shy, but she powered through it regardless, biting her lip for a moment. She took one last bit of her muffin and sipped a little apple juice to help it go down.
"Sadly, I have to get back to work. The client's finances won't do themselves, but... yeah, if you see me, don't be afraid to come up and say hi or something. I'll do the same for you..." Standing up and grabbing her small book, she paused again, giving Cass a shy grin.
"I'll see you around, okay? Cassandra - still a pretty name.." Gloria was never normally quite this forward, but something about the teenager really sparked it in her, or least more confidence somehow - she knew if she was to be
really forward, she'd likely flirt with the girl a little more, but it just wasn't her style to just be so blunt with things. Strangest thing that she already felt so interested in Cass, having only talked with her for like ten minutes. She mentally shook herself of the thoughts and gave Cass a wave and a friendly smile before heading back upstairs.
Curious at Gloria's tone, wondering what this bright, clearly confident woman had to be shy about, but she didn't dwell on it long.
"oh, well, I'll probably be playing at the camp site too. Noise carries well in the wood, so maybe you can come on over if you hear music" she said, rising, making sure nothing had fallen out her bag, and that her guitar was secured.
She nodded, and returned the smile.
"sure thing, stay safe, okay? There's been reports of weird things with Wolves lately" oblivious to the forwardness, Cassie blushed at the mention of her name being pretty, and she watched Gloria go, before hurrying out the B&B, only realizing as she was halfway to the cafe that she should have asked Riley's mother to get in contact with her.
[/quote]
The memory was welcome to Cassie, and she wanted to dwell within it, to escape the pain, as her mind slipped into consciousness. She wanted to sink back down into that blessed pain free world, but she couldn't seem to.
@lydyn 
