Room 1067 - Miu/Ayers

[AJoeOfSubjectiveQuality]

As he put his key into the lock, a movement to the side caught his eye. "Is that you, my little wolf?"

[Chiyako]

Miu had been following the kind older man, creeping along as quietly as she could manage! Usually she was silent, especially when placed in a hard floored corridor with no debris to worry about. However the drinks that she had consumed already were having an effect on her. She was not quite as steady and, more importantly, not as smooth in her movements. Occasionally she found herself brushing up against the wall, for instance, or thwapping her tail against it. That she had managed to track the man quietly all the way back to his room before being noticed was a testament to her skills!

Upon being spotted she went completely still, ears folding back against her head on reflex, tail holding straight back, all in an effort to make her appear smaller. Not that she really had anything to blend into. The hallways here were pretty barren. But it was a natural reflex for her, and one couldn't really blame her for making an attempt!

After a couple of moments she relaxed. Ears perked up and tail wagged softly. She decided to settle her butt down upon the ground, hands placed against the floor in front of her between her legs. Normally she might have crouched down but at the moment she found balancing just a little more taxing. This was simply more comfortable!

My? Mine? Miu is Miu's.

[AJoeOfSubjectiveQuality]

Ah, I really wish I could understand her body language, he thought. Ayers opened the door, and then stepped aside. "Would you like to come in?"

[Chiyako]

In? Come in!

An invitation! She had come this far! Curiosity had trapped her already. She knew where to find this man but she knew not what his home looked like. Did he also have a similar den? Or was this home different? He seemed far different, as though he came from another place and lived a life of luxury far beyond any she had ever experienced for herself.

With a single nod the wolf pushed herself back up to her feet, steadying for a moment with a hand against the wall. A smile spread across her lips as she stepped forward, venturing over to the man's side. She was careful enough to peek inside, to make absolutely certain that it was not a trap. Only when she noticed that it was safe did she actually slip into the room, sliding past Jason, tail gently smacking mid-wag against the man's leg on the way.

Different!

[AJoeOfSubjectiveQuality]

[A brief first impressions post of the room. There is a bath, sitting room, and a bedroom. The ]atter two are paneled in walnut with light brown carpets and offset walls. His armchair is a deep red leather with brass riveting and a matching footstool. In the bedroom is an ornately carved armoire, and a bookshelf holding many hardcover works of literature (from our current world), most bound in leather.]

 She's cautious, he thought, checking for ambushes or traps. Am I approaching her wrong? Maybe instead of being a girl with the features of a wolf, she's a wolf with the features of a girl? Or something in-between?

Seeing her caution, he went ahead and opened all of the doors and even the armoire so that she could investigate them. The revolver on the wall suddenly caught his eye. I never found out, do they have guns on this world? Has she or her people been hunted? He would have to be very careful now that his past didn't threaten his present.

[Chiyako]

The home of Jason Ayers was quite different from her own. For starters the divides between each room appeared to be simple walls and doorways. There were no winding passages. Most of the home was made of polished wood. The floor was soft, covered in what appeared to be the hide of some massive beast, as there were no clear marks showing the divide between multiple creatures. It lacked stone, but also dirt. There existed ample light, and yet not even a single torch. Despite this it felt warm.

While she stepped inside Miu's head turned this way and that, eyes darting about as every little detail was absorbed. None of the furniture looked rough. What appeared to be a seat was clad in the leather of some red creature. Something in the back of her mind informed her that Jason had enough storage in the first room to contain everything that Miu had ever owned, and then some!

Royalty.

As Jason moved to open up the doors and the largest of the storage container Miu came to a halt and simply observed. It made her feel a little more relaxed. He was clearly not trying to hide anything. Still, caution felt normal to her. It had probably kept her alive in the past. She did make her way over to each door once he had moved on to the next, peeking within each room as it was exposed to her. They each carried a familiarity, enough so that she could figure out what purpose they served. One room held a large bed, one which looked far more comfortable than anything she remembered sleeping on. Another contained a large container and smooth floors. It smelled cleaner than the rest of the home.

Bath.

Eventually her attention did land upon the revolver. Fur bristled along her tail. It felt familiar somehow. Dangerous. Something she had fought before. The bladed weapons were even more familiar. She felt as though she might have handled one of those in the past, or at least something similar. However none were being wielded at the moment, and so she did not mind. Instead she made her way over to Jason's side, tail wagging softly, content in her brief moment of exploration.

Safe.

[AJoeOfSubjectiveQuality]

Her body language made him feel a kind of happiness that he'd not felt since he'd heard his last wife say that she'd marry him. Relief, maybe joy, something else? Without realizing it, he'd dropped to one knee to be more on her level, and he'd started to reach out for her. He didn't feel entirely in control of himself anymore. With an effort, he stopped his hand, and asked her, "May I?"

[Chiyako]

Ears perked up once more as the man decided to take a knee in front of her. Was he getting tired? Or was he simply trying to be eye level with her? Why would that be the case? Perhaps it was some attempt to calm her, but she already felt quite calm. He clearly was not attempting to ambush her. That or he was so confident in his ambush that he showed her every perceivable place from whence an ambush could normally be initiated, only so that it might cause her to lower her guard!

Might be clever.

That however would go against what she had already learned. It was unlikely. He began to reach for her, causing her body to tense only for a single moment before she relaxed again. Trust was earned, and it would be his chance to earn it! The drinks she had consumed also made it far easier to relax. If she had been without them then she might have still been as anxious as she had been when she arrived here.

With a smile the wolf answered the man's request, head nodding a couple of times. For whatever reason people enjoyed touching her. Perhaps she was softer than they were? It felt nice sometimes. At the moment she didn't mind.

[AJoeOfSubjectiveQuality]

Jason slowly moved his hand forward, pausing to let his fingertips rest lightly on her cheek for a moment (God, she's so soft, and warm!) before letting them slide back into her hair. It felt thick and bushy, and natural in a way he couldn't explain. He looked into her big ruby eyes as he stroked her cheek with his thumb.

[Chiyako]

With her approval granted the man's hand continued on its original course. Fingers brushed across her cheek, prompting the closest eye to close. There was no fear in her expression, only curiosity as her smile retreated to be replaced by a neutral line. Not that she was unhappy, of course. Her tail continued to wag softly behind her. If anything her awareness was simply heightened. She was keeping an eye on Jason.

Her skin was quite soft, however when the man's finger ran across the scar of her left cheek that soft skin was interrupted by a patch of something rougher. One could imagine that the other marks were similar in nature. Miu did not react to it, not in pain nor in shame. They were old wounds, especially now in this new realm. Reminders of things she could not quite remember at the moment.

Warm.

The hand continued, dipping into the mane of wild, messy silver. Her hair was surprisingly soft and warm, much like the fur of some beast. Thick. Straightening it out would probably take a day of hard work with normal tools, and even then one couldn't promise for how long that might last.

As the man's thumb brushed across her cheek Miu leaned the faintly squishy flesh into his palm, offering a single comforted nuzzle.

[AJoeOfSubjectiveQuality]

Touching her scar made him fight to restrain a blink; he'd forgotten about them. More accurately, his mind was ... erasing them from his view of her. He was seeing her not so much as she was but as he wished her to be. But the touch grounded him. Touch was the only true sense, the one that you cannot hide from or fool. As a result, he was a very tactile person.

Not to mention that he had his own scar. Falling to the ground, the barbarian atop him ... straining to keep the knife back as he tried to force his own into the man's side ... faces inches apart, both snarling ... burning embers from a kicked fire in the melee spilled onto his neck and into his armor ... he was burning, on fire, but to lose focus was to die.

Memory betrayed him in that moment and he flinched, wincing, gasping, left hand reaching up to slap out the terrible flames in his mind.

[Chiyako]

It is nice. This is nice.

A gentle touch was something precious. It was the sort of thing that brought her comfort, the sort of thing that was familiar to her but also something that she knew she had lacked in whatever world she had come from. These sorts of gentle moments had been rare. The scars which littered her body probably came from what made up a majority of her life.

Her closed eye opened when the man knelt before her flinched. Something had afflicted him. Perhaps it was a memory? Some thing that he had forgotten in his own world? Or maybe something that had happened in this one. She knew not of his origin, just as she had lost the memories of her own. They only thing that was clear to her was the source of these painful memories: a scar which appeared to run along the man's neck.

Hoping to offer the same sort of comfort that he had offered to her, Miu reached a hand up and slipped it past the man's flailing hand. Fingers brushed gently, carefully across the old burn wound. There was no hesitation on her part, not from his slapping hand nor the scar itself. She hoped that something physical would shatter whatever hex lay upon the man's mind. It felt as though this sort of thing had worked in her own past, whether it had been used on her, by her, or on another.

[AJoeOfSubjectiveQuality]

He couldn't breathe. His heart pounded in his temples. The voices of two women thundered in his mind.

"Ata tachia ad shtashlam al hat'ehem 10,000 pa'amim!" You will live until you pay for their sins 10,000 times!

"As for payment, I am afraid you have already paid." Not yet.

Drowning, he reached for the small hand on his neck, his lifeline for this moment.

 

[Chiyako]

It is warm. He is warm.

A large hand closed around her own. She kept it where it was, thin digits gently brushing across the rough skin, offering little squeezes of her fingertips. Perhaps touch alone could not work. Smell would be difficult. Taste? She would not risk the dangers of that sort of thing. Not with someone who knew not where he was, nor with her own sharpened teeth.

Cannot speak.

What did she do when she needed someone's attention with sound? Lips parted slightly. It had to be something non-aggressive. A grunt or a growl probably would not work. Howling? It felt familiar, however probably not helpful here. A bark? Also too aggressive. Whimper? He might think that he was hurting her.

From the wolf-like girl emerged a quiet yip. Something sharp to the senses, but not threatening. It came to her naturally. Perhaps this was how she communicated to her own people? Or was it just something that she had learned to do? She did not know, but in the moment she hoped that it might help.

[AJoeOfSubjectiveQuality]

Biting his lip, Ayers struggled to control his breathing. He focused on her eyes, biting his lip. His heart rate finally slowed, and he came back to her senses. "Thank you."

[OOC: sorry, had a bit of a medical issue and I had to save charge on my phone until I got home.]

[Chiyako]

The calming of Jason's breathing, as well as the steadying of his heart, indicated that her plan had worked! Somehow! He was calming. Returning. All was well again, although she knew not exactly why he had acted as he did.

With a slight nod of her head Miu raised her other hand and gently set it atop the man's head, patting softly a couple of times. It was all fine! Of course the other hand was still trapped, and so it remained put, however she did not apply too much pressure to the burn scars, worrying that it might perhaps set him off again.

What happens now? Maybe I should go? Let him rest?

[AJoeOfSubjectiveQuality]

"I'm very tired, my lovely young wolf," Ayers said. "So, I hope that you'll excuse me." He sighed. "I wish that I knew your ..." A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he quickly climbed to his feet, went back into the sitting room, and fetched a sketch pad and pencil that was sitting on an end table near his chair.

[Chiyako]

Tired. Lovely?

That word took a little extra time to sink in. He was probably just being kind. It was the sort of thing people said to be kind. At least very formal people used it that way. Something told her that this was the truth. It was familiar. She had probably interacted with this sort of person before.

It sounded as though he was about to leave. Or perhaps he was going to ask her to leave? She didn't exactly know as the man ended up cutting himself off mid-sentence, climbed to his feet, and ventured back to the first room. Having not received any proper instruction the little wolf decided to raise a hand to her face, sniffing at it. It still smelled like meat. She took the brief time waiting to lap at her fingers and palms, focusing on the little gaps where juices might have eluded her earlier cleaning attempt.

Should clean. Bath.

[AJoeOfSubjectiveQuality]

He returned and sat on the bed. Pointing to himself he said, "Jason." On the pad, he wrote the word JASON.

[Chiyako]

A bath certainly did sound nice to her. She didn't know how long it had been since she had one. Sure, she appeared to be clean when she got here but she still didn't quite feel as though she had been cleaned. That and a proper bath could just feel excellent! In the back of her mind something told her that she used to take baths with others. A pack, perhaps?

Pack? Pack. My pack.

Ears perked straight up as the man returned, the wolf pausing mid-lick, tongue curled out and tip just about to brush between two fingers. As it retreated back into her maw Miu settled her hand down and placed all of her attention upon the owner of the room. When he settled upon the bed she crept over, settling in to a squatted seat in front of the bed. Crimson orbs settled upon the rectangular object. It felt only slightly familiar. At least certain aspects of it did.

Jason pointed towards himself. Stated his name. In response she nodded once. This she understood. Something was scratched into the object. When it was aimed towards her Miu was greeted by something unfamiliar to her. It was similar in a way to the things which were etched on the doors. She had understood those. Something made her understand them. Or perhaps it was something she knew before, something she had simply forgotten. This, however, was not clear to her.

Her head tilted slightly to one side.