driftfleet | Yaugur System Mingle

_{[ Huh. Though he knew Biffy and Lyle were werewolves he had never
actually seen them in their wolf forms. So this was a first. A soft chuckle
escaped him at the way the other sat - so prim and proper. ]}

Getting back to my roots out here. I lived half my life on a farm. Wasn’t to fond of my uncle, but I liked the work. It’s got a nice rhythm.

_{[ He shifted and let himself flop down to his rear, leaning back on
his hands. ]}

You look different from how I expected as a wolf.

[Wolf!Lyall scrunches his nose, and then...shifts.

His changehis known for being elegant, one smooth transition from one form to the other, but there's not much he can do about the bone-breaking sounds. The pain he has learned to completely ignore over the years.

And of course, he's naked when he's done. Not that he seems particularly bothered by that fact.]

Really? What were you expecting?

_{[ Kirk winces as the other transforms. It just - looks painful. That
was a lot of bone reconstruction. Human limbs simply didn't bend that way,
not to mention the elongation of the tail bone and the face. He had met
shape shifters before in his travels, and it never looked like an easy or
pleasurable process. Especially listening to the snap of bone. As for the
nakedness, Kirk gives Lyle a once over curiously, but otherwise doesn't
seem bothered by the nudity either. ]}

Darker color, I think. Bigger - like an oversized wolf. Possibly bipedal? I kind of wavered back and forth when I thought about it.

Our color depends on our natural coloring as humans. Usually similar to our hair. Our size also tends to be proportional to our human size. But our physiology when changed is fully wolf.

[Of course, most werewolf are also quite big humans, so that translates... but Lyall, while definitely very fit, is 5'3", so that translates too.]

I am the smallest in the pack, actually.

That makes sense. Your mass shouldn't be changing between forms, after all.

_{[ He raises an eyebrow slightly and he chuckles. ]}

That's kind of cute. But I bet they all listen to you, right?

_{[ Smallest in the pack, but he was going to bet he had the most
attitude. ]}

[You get another look/i>, Kirk.]

I have been the Beta of this pack for a few hundred years now, and I earned it. They know better than to try and challenge me.

[Nothing to do with attitude, Kirk. He just can beat them up very easily, because that's how wolves do things.]

It used to happen occasionally but not anymore.

_{[ Look all you like, Lyle. Kirk's been immune long before you
came on the scene. His eyebrows arched up at the mention of Lyle's age. He
knew about their shape shifting, but not the unusual length of their lives.
He had to wonder if it was connected with something Biffy had mentioned
earlier... ]}

I wouldn't want to take on someone with a few hundred more years of experience than me lightly either. Are your long lives connected to the fact that you are 'soulless'?

We are not soulless. It's true that we lose a large part of our souls when turned, but Soulless, or Preternaturals as we call them, are an entirely different breed. Human, to start with, and even rarer than either vampires or werewolves.

[As for whether that is linked...]

There is still much study going on about those things. There probably is a link, but we haven't demonstrated it yet.

Biffy tried to explain it once - this... lack of soul. I still don't quite understand, personally.

[ But that was another conversation. ]

I wonder if it has to do with a fundamental change in your DNA when you become a werewolf. Because as you pointed out, you're not really human anymore. It would be an interesting thing to explore.

_{[ He turned back and grabbed a water bottle, taking a swig before
holding it out to Lyall. ]}

DNA?

[Sorry, Kirk, Lyall is about as educated as it comes in his time about all the scientific advances, that exist, but DNA hasn't been discovered yet.]

There are certainly some fundamental changes happening at the core level, but supernatural creatures tend to balk at being used as test subjects. We've had to deal with it from the Templars and the Inquisition for centuries now and it gets tedious.

Ah - DNA is something everyone has, unique to them. It's the building blocks for a lot of things about you like your hair color, skin color, eye color, et cetera. It's all your genetic markers in one long strand.

_{[ He tried to keep it simple without treating it like Lyall was
stupid, because he knew the wolf wasn't. ]}

I don't blame them. Thankfully with DNA sequencing, it just takes a swab of your cheek, and not much else. Not that we can do anything like that here, of course.

Templars? As in the Knights Templar?

another thing I'll need to look into. It sounds fascinating.

[And well, he is a biologist originally.]

Yes, the Knights Templar. Still as backwards nowadays as they used to be. Italy is not exactly the friendliest place for supernaturals.

I'm sure there's some books on it in the library. If not, I can definitely write you out some notes on the subject. Biology isn't my area of expertise, but I can get you started on the basics at least. Of DNA I mean.

_{[ He sounded excited at the prospect, actually. Science! Learning!
]}

They aren't exactly remembered to very fondly in my world's timeline either. Seems like any world you go to there has to be a group of dicks trying to persecute and discriminate against someone.

I would definitely be interested if you have references.

[Give him all the books, Kirk. He loves books.

He shrugs at the last words.]

Not only that, but they seem to enjoy putting basil in absolutely everything. I suspect it may be a side effect of the bigotry, though.

I can certainly give it a go. You know Felix keeps an library on the Iskaulit, right?

_{[ Just in case he didn't, since it wasn't to widely advertised. ]}

Basil? What's basil got to do with anything?

_{[ He pronounces it the American way Lyall - short 'a'. ]}

Werewolves are allergic to basil. Just like vampires are allergic to garlic. Both things that Italians seem to be overly fond of in their cuisine.

[Which is not very subtle.]

_{[ He takes a moment to think about that, his eyes flicking back and
forth towards the clouds as he considers this. ]}

Right, I kind of have to ask - why basil? Or garlic? I never understood that. They're just herbs.

I wouldn't know. Simple biology, I think. Nature has a way of balancing things out. In a way, we have the potential to be superpredators. It would be unfair if we didn't have any weaknesses. So we can be hurt with silver, or basil, or sunlight.

[And yet here is Lyall, out in the daytime.]

Edited 2018-07-28 05:44 (UTC)

I suppose, but other predators in the world don't have weaknesses like that - natural wolves, sharks, bears, tigers, and the like. Maybe it's like how chocolate and onions are poisonous to canines?

_{[ It's a curious thing, and he would like to know more, for sure.
Curiouser and curiouser, as they say. ]}

It could be.

We are also susceptible to silver, of course. that seems to be a common point in all werewolf stories. Vampires also have an intolerance to citrus fruit on top of garlic. And all supernaturals dislike tobacco as a rule.

Really? Citrus fruit? Are there any foods vampires can eat? You made it sound like werewolves are pretty restricted to raw meat, too. And it's for the best you don't like tobacco. Fine enough smell, but overall it's not very good for anyone.

Vampires do not eat, no. Some of them like sampling food for the taste, but they spit it out afterwards. Their systems cannot digest it at all. Blood is the only thing required for their survival, biologically speaking, just like raw meat is for us werewolves.

[Let him remind you of a small fact, Kirk.]

We are technically dead. Dead bodies cannot digest food. Just like they can't reproduce.

So, obligate bloodivors and obligate carnivores? Interesting - that the process that changed you would be do drastic with its changes.

_{[ He raised a brow at Lyle. He had several questions branching off
that statement, but he would start with perhaps the easiest. ]}

So why is it then that vampires cannot eat anything, but werewolves have to eat raw meat? Consuming the meat would suggest you are digesting some part of it, no? You're deriving some nutritional value.

The only answer I have to this is that we are different species. The consumption of meat probably comes from the fact that we are at least partly animals. If you want to see it that way, it's not us eating the meat, it's the wolf.

Edited 2018-08-04 19:37 (UTC)

_{[ Ah, there was a question he had not considered. He tilted his head
slightly. ]}

And how do you see yourself? Are you and the wolf two separate things, or are you one, or something else?

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