The Wolf Changes his Coat

[Torvas Vief]

[member="Seth Huze"]

While it certainly was the case when he still lived back home, Torvas had soon found that it wasn't every day that he got the opportunity to catch a whiff of an individual who was a member of his own species. At times he would smell the characteristic odor of a wolf only to turn around and actually see some sort of biological canine who was sub-human.

A noble beast, indeed, and one that he could communicate with better than most more humanoid species ever could, and for that he was grateful. Still, at times, he yearned to go back home even if he was indeed practically exiled from that home.

That was why he was quite surprised to smell something familiar to him on Naboo, a planet that was, indeed, quite far from both his original home and the ancestral planet of his species. Hence, he was understandably shocked to sense much of anything at all.

Turning in the direction of the aforementioned odor, Torvas took only a few moments to realize that the faint odor of a canine being was actually emanating not from an actual canine, but instead...from what appeared to be a human male.

He looked around, trying to see if his droid was anywhere to be found since he figured that mechanized individual might very well be carrying his own scent, but it seemed that Eight-Cee was off doing his own thing.

Naboo had it's share of places that avoided serving droids like everywhere else did, but Torvas figured that his mechanical companion must very well have run off to some place that would have him. With a snarl, he thought to himself that he was going to have to fit Eight-Cee with a restraining bolt...again.

He then turned back to what appeared to be the male and tilted his head in what would have been an extremely canine gesture suggesting that he was listening to him. Should the individual have been able to accurately interpret what was going on, Torvas would have been more confused than he already was.

Was...this man able to become a wolf?

 

[Seth Huze]

Seth smiled as he walked about a meadow, his clan not too far. Recently he had met a girl, and that was all he could think about, the sad thing was he couldn't tell Jacob, his mother, or any of the clan in fact. It was supposedly forbidden to marry outside the clan. Thhat did not stop Seth's brother Jacob seeing the occasional female for a one night stand.

No this girl was different than the girls in his clan, this girl cared for who he really was and most likely couldn't beat the crap out of him if he did something wrong. As opposed to the girls in his clan who would beat the crap out of him just for his sensitive attitude. He turned his head up to look at the tree, upon it sat a bird who was chirping away to a tune that he could not follow.

Seth reached into his jean shorts pocket and pulled out a knife, he then carved his name into a tree, along with the girl he liked. He then heard a sound coming from behind him. He slowly turned to se a type of wolf man, not the wolves which his clan turned into....but the type of wolf that was almost a humanoid. Seth noticed his turned head but then he heard a howl, it was his older brother, Seth turned away before shaping into a wolf, his hands and feet formed into paws and his jean shorts tore away, his skin began to be covered by fur, his entire bone structure changed forming him into a wolf. Seth turned his head one more time before whining and running towards in brother.

reaching his brother they would chane back to humans

"Yes brother?" Seth asked softly.

Jacob looked at himand smiled.

"Mother and father want you h home before they start the bonfire. " Jacob said.

Seth nooded and Jacob transformed back into a wolf and ran towards the clan's land

Seth then looked to a tree and saw a backpack, he opened it and noticed another pair of shorts. He slipped it on and began to walk back to the clan, it was miles away but he perferd to walk.

He kept the wolf man on his mind for he had not seen a creature such as that before.

[member="Torvas Vief"]

 

[Torvas Vief]

[member="Seth Huze"]

Just as Seth had seemed rather surprised with his appearance, Torvas was genuinely surprised with that of the other individual. He appeared, at least initially, to look like a normal human being, but he had the scent of a wolf heavily on him and that was why Torvas remained there, examining him. He wished that his droid companion was there at the moment to perform an analysis, but that individual still seemed to be off doing his own thing.

His thoughts were completely interrupted as soon as Seth's brother let loose a howl. That awakened some sort of instinct within him and he was suddenly unable to control his own urges. Grasping his forepaws into fists, he put one leg foreword, threw back his head and allowed himself the pleasure of unleashing his own fury of wolf song into the evening air.

Naturally, it had to be at a different pitch than the howl of Seth's brother, as it was an uncomfortable case for a wolf to howl at the same exact pitch as another. In a worst-case scenario, it could actually have been taken as an insult.

Once his base instinct had been assuaged, he looked up once more and allowed a different instinct - the one that instructed him to track - to take over his senses. Figuring out the direction that the others were traveling in by way of their odor, he began to run off in that direction.

At times he followed the scent of the clan on two legs like a human would have, but he seemed to be more comfortable when he was running on all four. He wasn't sure what was going to happen when he reached their homestead.

Admittedly, he figured that he might have actually found that he would accidentally have sparked a conflict. Regardless, something drove him on to find out where Seth and his brother were going. It wasn't at all a stalking or any criminal act; it was an instinct for him to be with other members of his own species as well as a wish to investigate what appeared to him to be a colony of shape shifters.

 

[Seth Huze]

Seth continued to walk, hearing a piercing howl he could only turn around and wonder if the wolf man was responding to Jacob's howl. Seth turned back to the path, Jacob's scent filled his nose, musky and strong. Jacob was far ahead in wolf form, Seth hated how much Jacob rushed into things; Seth himself preferred to take things slow.

He had heard sounds of running, not as unsteady as the human, but rhythmic like a wolf. Seth decided he should hurry, so he began to shift into a wolf again. Bones cracked, his skull shape changed, his hands and feet became paws....grey fur sprouted from his skin covering his body, his shorts tore off. When the transformation was complete he let out a howl, at first it was high then it became low.

Seth then began to sprint off, futher towards his clan's land. He reached the river that symbolized the beginning of the land, he continued to run gaining enough speed to jump over it. On his clan's land he could only feel his sharpened teeth, his mouth formed a wolfish grin.

He stopped sprinting and slowed down to a trot. He could already see his grandfather, and cousins setting up for the fire, his mother near the house talking to his sister and brother. In wolf form he trotted over to his mother and brother.

"Yeah the hunt went bad mom, seems like the creatures have all migrated to the other side of the forest." Jacob said.

Their mother nodded "well Jacob there is nothing you can-" She was cut off by Seth approaching.

"Hey Seth how was the daisy sniffing?" His brother joked.

Seth simply growled before sitting. His mother walked off to grab something, Jacob smiled at Seth.

"What? Don't look at me like that!" Jacob said while smiling, minutes later their mother came back with a par of shorts and a button up shirt. Seth let out a whine, he hated button up shirts. Jacob laughed.

Seth grabbed the clothes with his teeth and ran off to change. After changeing he walked back to the house, he sat on a rock near the fire, they wer almost about to light it.



[member="Torvas Vief"]

 

[Torvas Vief]

[member="Seth Huze"]

While Seth hadn't yet perhaps totally realized it, Torvas had indeed bee responding to the howl that was presented to him by Jacob. Still, his actions were never as something that was aggressive, as his tail was still drooping. Once his tail drooped between his legs or propped itself up on his rear, Torvas would have been indicating that things took a turn for the worse and he would have been showing an actively aggressive emotion to the other.

Unlike the other, there was no need for Torvas to transform, as this was the only state that he had ever lived in. Once Seth had transformed, though, he allowed himself to share another howl, though once more this clear piercing noise was presented at a different tone than Seth's in order to show that he was an individual and not copying the other.

That was when he realized, judging by the odor of the territory that wasn't familiar to him, that he was on land of another pack. He allowed himself to fully upright himself as he continued to approach the others and then allowed his ears and tail to drop to a neutral position.

Eventually he stumbled upon the house and started to take a few steps back. It was...exhilarating to track once more without the aid of technology or even the droid that had usually accompanied him everywhere since he had been ejected from the Cloud City.

That being said, he wasn't sure if he should even be here and he took another step back before allowing his head to tilt in a fashion that was a canine manner of suggesting that he was listening to whatever was there.

While this could have been a standoff, he hadn't originally meant it, but was instead simply acting out of the usual instincts that would have commanded his functions whenever he was presented with other fellow wolves. It would have been honestly difficult for him to act any other way.

 

[Seth Huze]

Seth and one of his cousins began to get the fire started, one of his cousins grabbed a lighter that belonged to his grandfather and benan toying with the lighting mechanism. After a few minutes the fire slowly began to grow, the boys began to pile more wood onto the fire. Soon the fire was roaring, people were smiling.

Suddenly an unfamiliar scent had reached the wolf pack's noses, slowly the wolves would turn and notice the woldwolf man who appeared to be in a neutral state, a few of Seth's cousins had changed into their wolf forms. Jacob had glared towards the wolf man, Seth could feel the tension between the pack and the wolf man.

Seth ran ahead towards the wolf, he had seen this wolf man earlier and he did not attack him, this wolf seemed to be passive unlike Seth's aggressive cousins. The wolves began to growl and snarl "II say we tear him apart..." said "cchase him." Said another.

"Enough" yelled Seth, he was fed up with the clan's hostility towards outsiders though it was not particularly uncouncommon for wolves to be hostile.

"CCalm down everyone, if this wolf...er...man...ccreature had bad intentions towards us he would have attacked me back at the meadow. I say we have him spend the night and if he seemes hostile by the end, we attack....iif not then he can come back whenever he wants." Seth said loudltloudly, he then peered to the wolf.

[member="Torvas Vief"]

 

[Torvas Vief]

[member="Seth Huze"]

Tension continued to grow for a time as Torvas' ears started to press back against his head for the time being. It was a suggestion that the others were seemingly threatening to him, and he wouldn't have been opposed to fighting it out with them at this point in spite of the fact that he had realized he was, to at least some degree, trespassing on their territory and not the other way around.

The fact that he had heard one of them suggest that he could be torn apart certainly wasn't helping their image at all. Sneering and snarling with his fangs on display for a brief moment, he looked up but hadn't actually made the first move just yet.

Finally, as Seth started to speak, Torvas stood up on his hind legs again and started to straighten out the kilt that he had worn around his lower half. "Enough of this; I trust that you all know that I understand and speak basic as well as any of you do!"

Adjusting then the rest of his outfit, he snarled once more and exhaled deeply as his tail returned to normal and drooped. "I am currently an exile from where I was born, and I...wander. I would think that it was natural for me to track down other wolves. I had not expected such a negative reception."

Provided that he had been allowed to continue speaking, his tail once more drooped back totally toward its most neutral state. "Though it is not my species' native stomping grounds, I was born in a city high in the clouds and I cannot go back there."

It was a seriously abbreviated story as opposed to what it was that had actually happened.

Exhaling, he was relaxed, which had ultimately placed him in a better position if he had indeed had to fight.

 

[Seth Huze]

The wolves were uneasy, but backed down, the group that had chchanged into wolves trotted off to get cloths, Seth walked closer to the wolfman.

Seth heard the wolf speak, at first he was taken aback by this he thought the wolf was silent, he should have known that the wolf was domestic by how he was wearing a kilt.

"Why can't you go back?" Jacob questioned fiercely he was silently watching from the back.

Seth then felt sorry and offered a hand. "Sorry for the hostility, we're not used to outsiders...ddistant cousin or not." He paused. "let me introduce myself, I am Seth Huze, and this is the Huze's land." He smiled, a couple of his cousins had come back and were dressed. "Thhese guys here are my cousins." He said pointing to the three boys and a girl, the group was still skeptical and stood back.

Seth smiled. "TThis is my brother and mother, my grandma and grandfather is inside the house." He explained, his brother had then began to set meat out to cook on the fire. Seth then walked closer to the wolf.

"YYou're welcome to eat with us....aand spend the night."


[member="Torvas Vief"]

 

[Torvas Vief]

[member="Seth Huze"]

While Torvas was domestic one might say, and his wearing of a kilt had served to prove this fact, he still kept very much in touch with his canine sensibilities and therefore could very well have conversed with them in his own language should it have been so necessary.

Exhaling gently, he looked back and felt that at least Jacob's question should probably be answered, though he had elected to answer it with his own question.

"How familiar are you with the planet of Bespin?"

He then paused and listened to what it was that Seth was saying before he replied to the rest, "I figured that this land was someone's territory; it had apparently been marked and I realized that I was trespassing. I apologize for this though I assume that now having understood the situation you are a bit more understanding of what it was that I was doing. Though it may look rude of me, I would be honored to avail myself of your hospitality."

Torvas looked about a bit, still trying to catch the telltale odor of metal and lubricant that would have suggested that his droid was on his back. He was increasingly figuring that Eight-Cee was lost somewhere. Naboo was a big planet after all.

"Out of curiosity, I am in no position to ask, but how did a colony of your family end up on the home world of an aquatic species?"

 

[Seth Huze]

Seth smiled at the wolf man, Jacob however kept a ston cold face when the wolf asked how familiar he was with . "Not very, I've been to other planets, but not Bespin...." Jacob said. Seth then looked at Jacob, he seemed to be telling the truth, he spends most his time in clubs anyway...

Seth listened to the wolf.

"It's fine, thank you for staying" Seth said, he then gave a bright smile showing his white teeth. The wolf man then asked another question that made Jacob growl, Jacob then stepped in front of Seth.

"That....is a story I'd rather not share!" Jacob said coldly, Seth pshed Jacob out of the way. "How our pack of shape shifters ended up here on such a planet like Naboo, well that is a stoey that dates back years ago. It's not like one day we popped up here...it took many years...aalthough we are not fond of the wildlife we found it is a peaceful place where we could live without disturbance...YYou know what....tthe past is the past...pperhps we will talk about how we got here another time. Come let us eat."

[member="Torvas Vief"]

 

[Torvas Vief]

[member="Seth Huze"]

"Few people from this part of the Galaxy have the opportunity to go to Bespin these days, I suppose. The planet is a gas giant with a mighty artificial city that floats up in the clouds. At one point she was a glamorous place, and some of us cared very deeply about restoring her former glory. I was a peace officer there, but eventually the Baron Administrator began to concern himself far more with the rights of the convicted over the rights of those they wronged."

Growling for a moment, Torvas' show of teeth was not directed toward Jacob's comment, but rather at the management of his former home. Looking over slowly, he exhaled a bit and calmed himself down. The others had no wish to share their past just yet, and he wasn't going to press it for the time being.

"I appreciate your hospitality, and I shall ensure that it is repaid." Soon he found himself following Seth once he had pushed Jacob out of the way. "If there were any assistance you needed, I would be honored to oblige or perhaps my droid could do the same."

Pausing once more, he was going to mention the fact that his droid companion wasn't there for the time being, but he felt it was obvious enough that he didn't need to add words to the fact.

 

[Seth Huze]

"Hmm thank you for sharing that." Seth said. When Torvas growled Jacob glared, Seth noticed that. Jacob was territorial and hated seeing unknown wolves trespass, he was one of the strongest wolves in the pack...other than their dad, but he was gone....Jaco stormed off into the forest, seth knew he wouldn't be back till later.

Seth looked at Torvas "There is no need to repay us, it's just the right thing to do." He paused. "You have a droid? Nice" Seth said with a smile. On the fire sat meat from a creature. The meat was just about finished when one of Seth's cousins began to take the meat off of the fire and place it on tree stumps, everyone began to eat. Seth led Torvas towards one of the stumps.

"Sorry I don't know if you want to eat with something, our family usually eats with our hands..." he said to the wolf man.

SSeth then grabbed a chunk of the meat and tore it apart with his hands before eating it. His cousins however transformed back into wolve and were devouring the meat, two of them were trying to fight for a piece. Seth smiled at his family.

[member="Torvas Vief"]

 

[Torvas Vief]

[member="Seth Huze"]

"Yes, he is a police droid who left the Cloud City with me and continues to travel for the time being."

As he spoke, Torvas made his way over to one of the stumps and nodded a bit in turn. "I would prefer merely to eat with my paws as well. Regardless, should that not have been the case it would have been rude of me to impose any other rule on you."

Sighing softly, he looked up toward the other and blinked for a moment or two. "I still wish to thank you for your hospitality in spite of the fact that you had reminded me that it were unnecessary."

While he had wanted to press more about why they were on this planet, he felt that if they weren't really ready to discuss that then he wasn't going to continue to ask about it. They were being nice enough to share dinner with him, so he had no reason to antagonize them for the time being.

Tilting his head up, he felt that the next question he asked would at least be inoffensive compared to the way that at least Jacob had reacted before.

"Is it fair of me to ask if you were all born on Naboo at least? For what it were worth I was born on Bespin, though my species does not call that planet home."

 

[Seth Huze]

"A police droid! That's awesome" Seth said with a bright smile on his face. Seth looked back to the wolves who were fighting over the meat, one wolf looked unconscious while the other was choking down the meat. Seth looked at the sky, it was growing darker, and the fire was getting brighter.

Seth then looked at the wolf man Torvas. "Were we all born on Naboo?" He repeated the question "No, only Jacob, my cousins, and me....my mother, father, and the elders were born on our native planet..." He decided to answer the wolfman's earlier question. "My parents fled our origin planet to get away from a war between us and another clan. The reason Jacob hates telling people is because he feels our history should be kept a secret from the outsiders....but whatever." Seth said with a huge grin.

[member="Torvas Vief"]

 

[Torvas Vief]

[member="Seth Huze"]

"You can meet him if he shows up. I will try to recall him later on. He has a restraining bolt if I should need to call him, but I have a tendency to leave him to his own devices...which means that he tends to get lost."

Torvas, looking annoyed at Eight-Cee but not his company, finally shook his head at what the other was telling him. "He need not keep such things from me. I do not consider myself an outsider, but instead amongst friends."

Of course, he were referring to the fact that he was with fellow wolves for the first time in a long time, and therefore he wasn't going to plan on doing anything that might betray them.

Then again, he had no idea who he would have told about them anyway. After all, regardless of whomever Jacob may have been trying to keep secrets from it was truly doubtful that he would have ever met the individuals in question anyway. That made any secrets certainly safe with him.

 

[Seth Huze]

"That's a nice thing to do to a droid." Seth said with a white smile.

The wolf man said that Jacob doesn't need to keep secrets from Torvas this made seth chuckle. "You are indeed amongst friends....consider yourself almost family. " Seth suggested. He finished eating his meat and he wiped his face.

"I do not mean to be rude Torvas, but tell me about your kind....have you met any other wolves like yourself?" Seth asked politely.

[member="Torvas Vief"]

 

[Torvas Vief]

[member="Seth Huze"]

"If you would prefer to meet him later I could call him. I do carry a caller." Torvas nodded a bit and started to think about the next question that he was fed.

After all, at this point he had also considered them essentially family.

"There are some of my people living back on Cloud City, and a large number living on our home planet of Uvena and other places in that star system. I heard at least a few live on Tatooine, but I honestly never get out that far. Tell me; do you often meet others of your own species?"

He blinked for a moment and nodded once more, "Even if we are almost family, I do want to reiterate...if there is a task you need taken care of then I would gladly handle it for you should you ask."

 

[Seth Huze]

"That would be nice....thanks!" Seth said softly. Seth then listened to what the wolf man said.

"Your kind is all over..." he said as he walked over to the fire and threw more logs on it. As soon as the logs hit embers flew off the fire. Seth smiled. He turned back around to Torvas.

"Have I met any of my kind that aren't already living here? Well...maybe a few but if I did I probably did not notice. Seeing that we spend a lot of time in different forms." He said as he sat down on the other logs that was placed around.

"What do people think when they see you?" Seth asked as he watched the fire.


[member="Torvas Vief"]

 

[Torvas Vief]

[member="Seth Huze"]

"It would be no problem; I will just call my droid once we are done, or perhaps tomorrow if you were planning on going to rest after you eat." Torvas admittedly never relaxed until a while after eating, as he felt it were lazy to do so and a path to end his current state of physical fitness.

"Since your species can take many different forms, why have you decided on the form of wolves and the form of human beings?" Granted, even if Torvas were given the opportunity to change his shape he were not sure that he wouldn't have decided to keep his current lupine appearance anyway.

"I suppose it depends on how many they have seen like me. There are those that are disgusted, those that fear me...which I suppose is not a negative reaction considering I maintain order...and of course those that appreciate my form as well."

 

[Seth Huze]

Seth looked at the wolf. "Tomorrow would be a good idea..." he agreed, they did need to rest.

"Well, to me it just feels natural to form into a human although clouded by greed, they seem the most comfortable, as for wolves, they are a noble creature of the forest....wolves are a different feeling they feel more at home...our ancestors before us wold form into these creatures to avoid being found....but that's just old stories. " Seth smiled as he picked up a stick and threw it to the wolves near them.

[member="Torvas Vief"]