When wolves collide (Closed to Wolf and Red)

Trace climbed off the plane. After much animated argument, he had been allowed to keep Krieg and Blitz with him. As he walked through the city streets, he unknowingly strayed off his intended course. He brushed the fur down on Krieg's side, the wolf panting long shallow breaths. Blitz brushed against his legs, and asked, in wolf, "Is my brother going to be ok, master?"

"I hope so, Blitz. I really do." Trace looked up and would have scratched his head if it was possible to lift the large furry weight with a single arm. He wasn't familiar with this part of Chicago. But surely someone had directions. The information claimed someone here could cure almost any poison. He'd get Krieg cured, and then...He stared out from his shock of dark hair. "Then that crazy babe is going to pay. Pay with her life."

"Master...I don't....want you...to get hurt...because...of me..." Krieg growled, between winces of pain.

"Easy Krieg. Rest. We must cure you of that poison that courses through your veins." Trace said. That woman who did this to his mighty right hand would be sorry before she could draw breath. He would make her repentant, he would force her to say sorry, to plead for her life, and then he would crush her heart in his hand.

"I am liking you more and more, Trace Faolan." The wolf god in his head chuckled darkly.

The Greyson siblings had been in Chicago for a couple of weeks now. Sierra had been frustrated at every turn, none of the books she'd managed to locate containing anything of value, if they were even genuine at all. It was when she was at the point of throwing the tomes at the walls--a true sign of overwhelming frustration if there ever was one, given how much Sierra loved books--that Sam decided it was time to intervene. A walk in the city might do her some good, he figured, and hey, maybe they'd have enough cash on them that she could buy herself something nice.

They made quite the odd pair, a young teenage blonde in a red coat, and a huge wolf trotting at her side; he only barely passed as a dog due to the collar he wore. They stopped at a street corner, waiting for the crossing signal, when the smell of hot dogs from a cart in a nearby park made him turn his head and whine.

Sierra glanced down. "What’s up?” she asked, reaching down to scratch Sam’s ear; he whuffed and shook his head, indicating it was nothing. No point in bothering her just because he was hungry. He was always hungry, it was something he’d gotten used to by now.

The light finally changed, letting them cross, and it was just as they reached the other side that Sam stopped dead, head straight up and eyes wide. Sierra stopped as well, staring at him in confusion before looking up, and that’s when she saw it, too; a man holding what looked like an injured dog—an injured wolf?—in his arms, a second one trotting at his side.

Trace stopped. A young girl, maybe a teenager, and a massive wolf walking by her side was looking directly at him. Maybe...his train of thought was interrupted by Blitz snarling at them. "Ease off, Blitz." He admonished the wolf. He smiled. "Hi there. I'm Trace, this is Blitz," He attempted to gesture towards the wolf at his side, "and this heavy lump here is Krieg." He chuckled, cut short by Blitz's growl. "Krieg's not very well, and we're kind of in a rush, actually..." He thought for a moment. "A little but lost, too." He added, mostly to himself.

"Trace, maybe they can help us with Krieg." Romolus insisted. Forcing his way to the forefront of Trace's mind, he produced a smile, or at least tried, as he was not used to using Trace's facial muscles. He asked in a voice deeper in Trace's, "Maybe you can aid me in helping Krieg here."

"You know, that gets really annoying!" Trace yelled, forced to the back of his own psyche, so only the wolf god heard him.

Sam laid back his ears and bared his teeth at Blitz, growling right back at him as he pressed against his sister's leg, pushing her back, putting himself between this guy and his freaky pets and even freakier smell. He smelled human but not human, smelled like a wolf but not like a wolf, and he would've attributed it to the wolves he was with, but they just smelled like normal wolves. Not... off, like he did. It was enough to have him raising his hackles just from that alone.

Some part of him wondered if that was what another werewolf smelled like. It made him that much more determined to put himself between his sister and the possible threat.

Unfortunately, Sierra wasn't so inclined to agree.

"Hey, cut it out!" she said, stumbling back as Sam pressed against her. "I'm sorry about that," she apologized to Trace quickly. "I do know a few things about poisons and antidotes... Do you have an apartment near here or something?" Even though she was eager to help him, she knew better than to be too trusting and lead this guy to the place where they were staying.

Trace raged at the back of his mind. Romolus smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, I'm only visiting here. I don't have a permanent residence."

"Uh...yeah, I do. You wouldn't know." Romolus and Trace were almost always like this. He forced past Romolus and took over his motor capabilities once more. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. I do. Follow me. Blitz, follow." Blitz nodded and trotted along obediently. Turning, he attempted to remember this area of the city, and started walking, his memory getting better of the city. "So, you live here?" He asked.

"Your insolence will be dealt with when the time comes, human." Romolus growled. Trace ignored him and carried on walking. Blitz stepped back and walked along with the large wolf, and started to talk to him in the common wolf tongue that consisted of growls and barks.

"Thank you for your assistance. I'm Blitz. What is your name?" He spoke to the wolf that accompanied the girl.

The girl looked at Trace oddly; it was a strange thing to forget, after all, but she followed anyway, her own canine companion staying close to her side. "We're actually just visiting," she said in response to his question. "We travel around a lot--me and Grey, I mean," she explained, patting her wolf's head a bit nervously. "What about you?"

Grey, for his part, was completely startled when Blitz started talking to him. More interestingly, though, he didn't respond. He growled, a sound that only had a general meaning-- Back off! -- and pressed against the girl, once against forcing her to move in the other direction.

She scowled and swatted at his ear for that. "Cut it out!" she hissed, as he looked up at her and whined. Once again, it wasn't a full message, like when Blitz communicated with Trace, but only a vague, general one-- almost like baby-talk. Bad! This is bad! he warned, clearly not happy with this situation.

"Heh. Same. I live in New York, but I'm here to visit family." He hefted Krieg's weight once more and the wolf whined weakly. Trace shushed the wolf quietly and continued walking. Blitz pressed against his legs, almost tripping him over, as the wolf did when intimidated.

"Master, our entourage doesn't trust us." Blitz spoke in wolf-tongue, weaving around Trace's legs.

"I am well aware, Blitz." Trace said, out of instinct responding to Blitz's statement. He looked at the girl, realising she hadn't been privy to his whole talking to wolves power. He stared at the large wolf accompanying the girl and knelt down. "There is nothing to fear from me." Trace spoke firmly. He had a feeling the wolf understood English. He realised something smelled strange about the wolf. He smelled both like a wolf and a human at the same time. It was a head scratcher.

"A fascinating puzzle, Trace Faolan. A fascinating puzzle indeed." Romolus laughed darkly.

The wolf stopped dead and looked at Trace with an expression that was almost completely human; he looked at him like Trace had gone batshit insane. He stared at the man for a moment longer, than looked back up at the girl and whined.

Dude smells bad and needs crazy pills!

She took that as a cue to intervene, smiling at Trace weakly as she scratched his ear reassuringly. "I, uh... I'm sorry, but he's not good with strangers," she said. "Don't pay him any mind." She was halfway tempted to deliberately step on the canine's paw if he didn't start behaving better, but it wouldn't do to do that while Trace was watching.

Trace nodded with a chuckle. "I know someone a little like that." Stepping out onto the busy sidewalk, he got the normal weird looks a man carrying a wolf with bandages wrapped around it and with another wolf following him got. The general public shied away from him though. He turned into a large building, and walked up the stairs, doing his best to keep Krieg comfortable. After going up several flights of stairs, he reached the penthouse apartment, and fumbled with his keys, just managing to slide the right key into the lock and turn it. Pushing the door open with his arm, he led the way into the expensive apartment. "Well, this is my place." The first thing one noticed was how clean the place was. It seemed that it had not been used in months, and that was true.

"Krieg, you will be well soon." Blitz said in wolf-tongue, the shallow panting of his brother the only answer.