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[Cursico!]

Running off and getting caught again... it was possibly the worst thing she could have said. He’d been ‘caught’ once as a little orphan child who had no idea that slavery had even existed, and the second time... well he couldn’t really say it wasn’t fair the second time... Third time was the charm though. Cursico snarled, seething that she had implied he couldn’t beat them. In the time he had been stuck in a cage with nothing to do, he hadn’t been thinking about making a family, he had been obsessed with getting out and staying out- among other things. Remembering how they had tricked him by circling him into a trap, by the time he’d noticed what they were doing it had been too late; not again.

“And it’s not just that, I really like you- you’re a nice person.”

He abruptly stopped his snarling, and started looking confused. ‘Nice’... ‘Nice’... The word burned. Nice had only been used in reference to him when it was describing his pelt, or in sarcasm. ”Nice...” He echoed, ”Really? Of all the words in the world, you choose Nice?” It was an insult as far as he was concerned. Nice guys finished last, was that what she was saying? He was going to finish last and get captured unless he got her help, cause of course she was a human, she could do anything she wanted.
The paranoid voice in his head would be discounted by any sane person, but for Cursico it struck deep and he winced. “Oh gee, thanks. I’ll drop some dead rabbits on your doorstep when I can, but I’m not a tame little puppy who is going to live in your house and snooze at the bottom of your bed to keep your feet warm on cold days!” He growled, crouching to morph into the sleek white form named a wolf by humans.

[Kayla]

The ugly sound of a snarl reached Kayla’s ears, her eyes darted to look at Cursico before she took them away. She bit her bottom lip, almost punishing herself for saying something like that. To tell the truth, Cursico’s snarling startled her and it sort of scared her. Not maybe to the point where she thought he might attack her, but to the point where just the sound of it was a bit frightening. She had said the wrong thing and inside her head she was mentally hitting herself over and over. Some mild cursing was involved too. The sound of Cursico snarling then suddenly stopped and once again her eyes were on him.

He looked confused at first, but then… what he was saying… Ouch. What the heck was wrong with the word ‘nice’ anyway? If she had something along the lines of, ‘for a lack of a better word… nice’ then he would probably act the same way because she could not think of a better word. A small flare of frustration began to bubble inside of her. She wanted to throw a tantrum like a little kid would, yelling and screaming, but no, she was older, more mature. Maturity! Ha! Maybe that is what Cursico needed to work on. Her arms dropped, her hands clenching themselves into fists as he continued to talk. She bit her lip, trying to reign in words she wanted to get out at him right now. When he was finally done, her eyes narrowed.

Suddenly determined, she walked up to Cursico, eyes locked onto his. Despite him being taller, the fact that he was bigger than her, and he could hurt her, it was all blinded by her emotions. ”You think ‘nice’ is a bad word?” It was bitten out rudely, but she did not give him a chance to respond. ”There are plenty of other adjectives I could come up with! But would you ever listen to them- to me? Probably not.” Her breathing had picked up a bit and things just started to crash down on her. Emotions… such things were hazardous to one’s life. Then suddenly Cursico was now a wolf. Another streak of determination struck through her now- she was going to try and prove something, but would her way of maybe trying to show it work?

Kayla got on her knees in front of Cursico, holding out her wrist to him. ”Bite me.” So many questions could be answered by his next move, but then depending what he did would alter what she wanted to prove. Why did things have to be so complicated sometimes?

[Cursico!]

It was very true that few words could keep his animalistic brain in check, it mostly depended on his mood before he heard them, which would determine how he took the words. If, in his curious moment before he had been called nice, no paranoid voice in his head would have said she was insulting him. But it had; he'd listened; and become mad. For lack of better things to say, he ignored her and morphed into his least human form anyway- where he had a nice thick pelt.
Cursico's fur bristled as she got down in front of him, lower jaw hanging open in a bold threat. He had been contimplenting biting her even before she suggested it. His fat greyish tongue pulled further up into his mouth and out of the way. Strings of sticky saliva ran between some teeth like pillars, making some of his sharp teeth look longer than they were. Ears back and tail running straight behind his body, the decided to take Kayla's advice, ignore all she had done for him.
His instincts told him to go for the neck, his teeth and jawline were designed for catching the curve of the neck, and pushing the long canines into the jugular. Not having the inclination to be humane and listen to a tactical mind, Cursico reared up onto his hind legs, paws spreading out before he dropped back down, aiming to catch his claws behind Kayla's armpits and bite into the back of her neck. An awkward move in either form, but his instincts told him that was the way to go.
No part of him wondered why she would ask to be bitten, as though a pair of cubs play fighting would struggle to keep from getting caught by teeth. In all simplicity, his reasoning had gotten lost when he could find no reason for existence.

[Kayla]

Why Cursico, what big teeth you have. Yet nevertheless, she was waiting for him to bite her. She did not know if he would or if he would not. In fact, he could probably kill her, but so far she was still alive. Her emotions though were haywire. The ‘bite me’ had sounded more like a dare then she had wanted it to, but she was not going to attack first. She was relieved at first when he made a move so she would not be the one to start a fight, but that was before he had managed to bite the tender and sensitive skin behind her neck. A type of yowl escaped from her mouth before she clamped her jaw shut, back teeth pressing hard against another.
It was at this point an adrenaline rush began to course through her body, her heart pounding and skin tingling. Her body was reacting to a threat of course, but nevertheless with the adrenaline it felt like she had some hope of getting him off of her neck. Using her shoulder and elbow, she made a move to push him off, adding pressure each passing second. Getting as much strength as she could, she made for a death grip around Cursico’s white neck. She was gritting her teeth as she tried to bring herself to put her body weight on him to hopefully slow him down a bit. With all of her might, she tried bringing her mouth to one of his ears.
Better now than later, she tried to clamp her teeth over a part of his ear and bite down hard. She was set on making him realize she could fight back. In all her heart though she knew that if he whined heart breaking-ly enough, she would have no choice but to loosen the force of her jaws clamping down. Her arms were still around his neck which seemed oddly like a hug. It struck her then if she should place her hands over his neck, but unlike he- she did not have vicious teeth that could sink into his flesh hard enough- but only his ear could she probably get some answer out of him. She kind of hated fighting with him, but the adrenaline gave her a weird… thrill to it.

[[ooc: It’s cheesy and crappy… I’m sorry! I don’t know what happened to my muse!]]

[Cursico!]

It was foolish trying to bend his neck around to make them fit into the curve of her neck, he found that out just as soon as he could try. His neck simply didn't twist that way without breaking, but he could still reach some of it, and there was where he dug his teeth in. The worst case scenario of the brushing bite was infection- and after living in conditions which were downright disgusting, it was a big risk. One shower couldn't get it all off- it would take a soak in a bath for a couple of hours... and a good scrub.
As such, when she pushed back, his weaker back legs couldn't brace against it and he was forced to let go or fall backwards with her. Another problem from living in a cage was the lack of healthy exercise- getting stressed and running madly in circles didn't count as healthy, and neither was bashing your head against sturdy metal bars.
But he wasn't about to stand there after being pushed off, another thing his instincts dictated. In fact, he twisted sideways to jump off her. Too bad the linoleum didn't catch and he skidded. Still, like an expert he moved into the skid rather than trying to stop which would jar his elbows and knees; getting away from any death hug to be put upon his thickly furred neck and loose skin which added a 'protection' of sorts.
Yellow eyes turned back to the human, their slits missing any trace of humanity he had before. By that point his wolven brain couldn't fathom why it was fighting, but it was willing to fight anyway because it was stuck in a strange environment against a strange furless, flat-faced and gangly back-legged creature. He cut his growls off in his throat, slipping into a silent-mode that was alot more serious.
Laying his ears back, the wolf paced to one side while keeping his eyes on Kayla, trying to get behind her, which was how most real wolf fights went about- circling to stop the other from getting behind and then one would break the circle first, they'd meet and it would start again.

[Kayla]

Well now that bite hurt… a lot. She could not focus on that too much now since she still was in a kind of battle with Cursico. How did this start in the first place? Groaning, Kayla just wished they could start over and by all happy- she almost laughed at that thought before shaking her head and standing up after Cursico began to take on a circling motion. Slowly and sluggishly, Kayla backed herself up into one of the kitchen cabinets behind her. Slowly, she sunk down to sit with her back against it in a way to protect it from the wolf. Taking a breath, she let the back of her head rest against the cabinet, gazing up a bit at the ceiling.
Her thoughts ran around her head as she studied the ceiling in an attempt to think of something useful. Sighing yet again, Kayla relaxed herself against the cabinet behind her. ”Ok, look… I’m sorry. I don’t know if you can understand what I’m sorry for, but I’m sorry.” Shutting her eyes briefly, she listened to see if the click of Cursico’s claws would come closer or back away. Keeping her eyes closed though and waiting seemed to drag on as thoughts and scenarios ran through her head. Thoughts along, ‘please don’t kill me’ ran through her head, but she was not going to voice them any time soon.
Eventually Kayla began to fidget as she waited, muscles twitching every now and then. She let her head drop then slightly so it was angled toward the tops of her drawn up knees. Her eyes were still closed as she tried to keep her breathing calm. She said she was sorry, she wasn’t making a move toward him, her arms were tucked across her stomach, what would he do?

[Cursico!]

Cursico was forced to stop circling when she backed into a corner, although his impaired thoughts meant that he paced back and forth like someone in an asylum, although his eyes remained obsessively fixed on the human girl, his scruff standing high on his shoulders in frustration. Being what he was, the environment was baffling to him, including the absurdly smooth floor he had to concentrate to keep his grip on.
His tufted ears flicked at her words, then flicked again, and again. The words melted in his brain, sloshing around like some sort of acid that made him begin growling again. What a strange language it was, the odd pink thing didn’t bark, did that mean it was prey? It didn’t look like a deer, and no prey he instinctively remembered willingly went into a corner... unless it was a wolverine, and they weren’t nice.
Snuffling in the air, he faced Kayla and laid down, staring directly at her. Not a wolverine, they stank like a skunk, and this one smelled very different. The wolf tilted his head, lips still bunched up on his face in a hostile expression. There had to be a reason he was fighting the strange creature, but memory wasn’t a canines forte unless it was innate. Then his human thoughts began to seep back in; they were needed to rationalise the situation: Know... It’s a human, a human! Human omnivore, neither prey nor hunter... It’s the one who got this one out... It’s... The wolf frowned, mouth slowly relaxing as it began to really think.
God, I’ll never meet a more peculiar being, which I’m sure of. She asked me to bite her, then she stopped me from doing just so, and now she’s in a corner... Cursico barked lowly, scratching at the floor with his claws. Not predictable like those slaver guards, I suppose this really is a human who is not... humane.
Sitting back on his haunches, but still not too pleased about the situation, the candid sighed and gave a weak smile. “I’m surprised those old people upstairs haven’t come rushing down.” He grumbled, fluffing up that suspiciously thick white fur of his.

[Kayla]

Kayla looked up briefly to see the wolf laying down in front of her. He looked confused and still did not look like he wanted to be messed with. Gee… I wonder why, that’s all your fault you know. Sighing, Kayla stayed still as much as she could. Her forehead then rested on her knees, her arms still wrapped around her stomach. What had she done, why had she done it? Goodness things weren’t as they seemed.
A voice suddenly broke through her thoughts, Kayla’s heart skipped a bit as she heard the voice. She slowly brought her head back up to see Cursico sitting now. He… sighed and… smiled? This time, she tilted her head thinking before smiling slightly. ”Hearing problems,” she mumbled before laying her forehead back on her knees. Her arms slowly unfolded though and brought themselves to her legs to her.
”Hugs…” she murmured out of the blue with a slight laugh. ”Do you know what a hug is, Cursico?” she asked him, her eyes still hidden and closed. ”May I have one?” She laughed this time, lifting her head so it rested against the cabinet behind her now. Her brown eyes were closed at this point. What would he think of this now? Perhaps it would get a softer conversation going, a laugh, something.

[Cursico!]

Cursico thudded his tail on the floor, staring blankly at the human. Hugs... while the ‘Wolf had thought he knew what a hug was, it seemed so peculiar at that moment. He had seen other people get hugged, and as far as he could make out, it was either full of affection or hate. Evidently, he’d only had the nasty rib-squeezing bear hugs used to stop someone from running away.
He tilted his head back, and then lifted one paw to stare at it. If he changed back to hug her, she would be likely to feel what he’d managed to stash away in the heavy clothing, and otherwise he faced the problem of not having any arms. And then, why had he begun thinking of giving her a hug and not just refusing?
A deep breath filled his heavy frame, forcing his chest out so the fur stuck out. He noticed she was resting her head back, and wondered what was in the peculiar creatures mind. Cursico stalked a little closer, surprised by the increased pattering on his heart. What is wrong with me? It seems the longer I spend with this girl, the stranger I feel... Is this how humans become how they are? Slowly he released the breath, feeling almost like his chest was collapsing in on itself, but that only happened when he was a human turning into a wolf...
Cursico stopped just an inch away, then feeling a sudden pang of guilt for stealing off Kayla after all she’d done were nice deeds. The wolf whimpered and morphed into the ginger-haired teenager who quickly wiped something off the corner of his eye. “If you hug me, you’ll find out something that’s maybe not too pleasant.” He murmured softly, staying awkwardly crouched for an answer.

[Kayla]

Eyelids twitched briefly in an almost flinch when she heard the faint clicks of Cursico’s claws on the linoleum floor. What seemed like forever had Kayla’s heart speed up in anticipation whether it was good or bad she did not know. The clicks of Cursico’s claws stopped suddenly and her eyes opened at the sudden whimper. They then widened slightly at the sudden realization that he had transformed back into the only form she had. When she saw him wipe something from his eye her own eyes seemed to soften as her facial expression turned to a calm one. Her heart slowed down, her breaths even now. He spoke to her in a murmur then and despite the unpleasant possibility, Kayla’s lips turned into a small smile.
He said ‘if you hug me’ and she picked up on it. He was not downright refusing her and saying ‘no’. Taking her chance, she slowly moved to sit up and wrap her arms around him despite the awkward position. Her head moved to next to his own as if enveloping him in a shield. It was meant to comfort him and assure him that she was not going to ever really hurt him. The fiasco ago was her mistake and hers only, not his. She felt lumps in his clothing, but she paid no mind after making it up.
”So I’m finding out, but…” she told him, lowering her voice softly at the end. Perhaps the lumps were the things she had first asked him about a while ago when she was suspicious. She moved her cheek closer to his own then so hopefully she was speaking near his ear. She tightened her arms just a little a reassurance. ”I don’t care, this,” she paused again, ”makes up for it.” Giggling softly, she loosened her grip to let him pull away if he wanted. Kayla lifted her head slightly to look back at him, tilting it a bit as if to question him about those lumps, but she had yet to speak a word.

[Cursico!]

Cursico tensed when she spanned the distance between them, swallowing in a nervousness he put down to being caught as a thief... even though he had pretty much given the game up, most willingly. Judging from harsh experience, he expected she would hate him for it, and demand all her things back. So many times when he’d been a slave at the bar, something heavy had connected to the back of his head as a punishment for having light fingers.
The memory made him wince, how could he be so stupid as to give it away? The smartest thing surely had to be just getting away from all humans, they’d hurt him so much already. The safest thing to get away from everything that could injure him, it could only be a matter of time before his actions blew up in his face.
Yet again, all his paranoid and delusional thoughts couldn’t be more off track if they jumped onto a rocket and went into deep space. A hug made up for it... but they... how? Cursico felt the hug loosen, and his insecurities overflowed. The urge to rub at his eyes returned, but a stronger one prevailed against it.
Gritting his teeth, the teenager wrapped his arms around Kayla, squeezing too tight thanks to a lacking experience in hugs that weren’t designed to crush ribs. With a wolf-like whine he buried his head in the woman’s shoulder, entire body shivering as if from a great compressing cold.

[Kayla]

After loosening her arms to allow Cursico room to pull away, she thought he would. Was she ever wrong though. To her surprise she felt his arms around her and very tightly. She gasped at the sudden tightness in his hug, her breath hitching a bit. His head went to her shoulder and his body began to shiver. Her throat grew sore as she willed herself not to cry for the boy, but she took a very shaky breath. Moving her arms to his, she wanted to see if she could gently ease the pressure from his arms being too tight around her. Trying her best with that, she decided to make herself relax, letting out a steady breath. She brought her right hand to Cursico’s head and rested it there while she brought her left up to rub his back.
”Shhh,” she cooed to him gently while rubbing his back. Her right hand subconsciously stroked his head to also help try to calm him while her thoughts took over her concentration. If in fact he was crying –tears yet to be felt- then how long had he been going on without letting his feelings out. Sure there was anger, but tears were healing. However if he shivering because of a sudden illness or he was getting chills then that was not good. She would just have to wait and see. Her head lowered then to rest gently on his as she waited.
She was there for him and she was not about to leave his side anytime soon. Her head moved a bit as she placed a short peck on his head, letting her cheek now rest against it. Her neck hurt from the earlier bite, but for now she ignored it. She would have to take care of it sooner or later, but right now she was not going to leave her spot.

[]

[Cursico!]

Despite being caught up in his own emotions, Cursico yielded so he wasn’t squeezing Kayla like an orange, although his grip was still constrictive. In another mindset, being petted would have been an affront on his every so fragile pride. But as he fought to hold back tears (which had only been shed in frustration before) the little fact went unnoticed; though he did blink at the kiss on his head. He looked at her through a haze of hair, and managed a wobbly smile.
Almost at once, the Chihuahua-like shivering ebbed down, leaving the wolf shifter suddenly alert. Swallowing against a lump residing deep in his throat, he listened to the nervous shuffling and creak of someone with socks/slippers. Fearing being caught looking weak (even by strangers that could be just as nice as the one he’d been willing to hug in the first place) Cursico practically jumped back, lithely reaching his feet in a second.
“Urr..” He wiped his still dry eyes, “I think we have company” The teenager was feeling nervous himself as the foot-steps; probably hearing his voice; increased their pace. How would it look to the grandparents, a strange man in their house late at night with their daughter? Would they take him back to that place!? Even after all he’d gone through with Kayla; his freedom was still a fragile thing.

[Kayla]

It was interesting to feel that his grip was still firm, but she did not mind it as much as before now that she could breathe per-say. To kiss him on the top of the head was something she did out of not much thought. To comfort him was just something that inched its way to the surface. Her mind briefly registered anything else until his shivering seemed to stop. A creak in the floorboards had her still, she knew where that board was too. The only way that spot would creak was if you were walking on it. Crap. Her suspicions were confirmed as Cursico jumped away and stood up much more gracefully and even faster than she probably ever could. He voiced it then and she stood carefully, worried even.
Her tank top showed her bruised shoulder, her scraped arm, and she now had a bite she still needed to take care of on her neck. Quickly she made sure her hair now covered her neck the best she could. There was nothing she could do now to hide her bruise and scrape since she was wearing a tank top and either one or both of her grandparents where on their way down the stairs. They wouldn’t think Cursico caused this directly would they? Clenching a fist briefly, Kayla needed to make sure they did not think that. Lithely, she eased her way to Cursico’s side, her left shoulder and side of her body in front of Cursico as if to protect him and to hold him back even though she doubted he would try to attack.
It finally came the time where she saw her robust, yet gentle grandfather move through the kitchen doorway to see her. He seemed to freeze in shock while Kayla watched the doorway to see if her grandmother would come down. “Kayla, what are you doing?” Her head turned to look at her grandfather. Suddenly feeling small, her posture sunk back almost seeking some type of reassurance from the person behind her, but what could he do? Gently taking a breath she was about to speak when her grandfather spoke again. “Good lord, look at your shoulder, your arm, did he do this to you? Get away from him!” Emotions for Kayla went from shocked, to angry, and to defiant. She looked at her grandfather straight on, her body seemingly taking up a posture to protect Cursico now.
”No.” It firmly and boldly stated her stance on all this. Her grandfather looked as if he was winded before Kayla took the chance to speak again. ”I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and Cursico here helped me out of it and then stopped by to see if I was ok and then we were chatting. Please Grandpa, let him stay I promise…” she lost her words, what could she promise? Cursico was just as unpredictable as her and any other person out there. ”Grandpa please, he really has nowhere else to go, can’t he stay here?” Kayla was pleading now with her grandfather and she realized afterward that she was being selfish- as if she knew Cursico would want to say. To correct it she added, ”Only if he knows for sure he has nowhere else to go.”
It was silent for a moment, the tension eating away at Kayla as her grandfather remained silent. Until finally, “I trust you, Sweetheart.” At that, he smiled and walked to go back to his bedroom. There was so much in that one sentence that Kayla could comprehend and it was unexplainable. Kayla was shocked, her mouth agape slightly until she felt tears building in her eyes and threatening to fall. She blinked and swallowed, only a streak of one tear falling. What would Cursico think now about this whole ordeal? That is when she realized then that she had drifted in front of him in an attempt to protect him and her grandfather and so therefore he was still behind her or he had moved. Blinking again, Kayla just took a moment to breathe.

[Cursico!]

Cursico tilted his head, watching the old man with a vague expression of hostility, but he resisted doing anything. It was hard to stop himself from even baring his teeth when the man told Kayla to get away from him. Hidden behind his back, he clenched his hands into fists and counted to ten in his head.
While he completely did deserve it, it wasn’t going to stop his rage from simmering, although he would have been so much happier if the whole world had shared the view of leave him alone. But thanks to that annoying feeling called guilt, he tried his best not to mess things up anymore.

”I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and Cursico here helped me out of it and then stopped by to see if I was ok and then we were chatting. Please Grandpa, let him stay I promise…”

Cursico tilted his half-hidden eyes to the side, chewing lightly on his lip. It felt strange to hear someone lying on his behalf, almost sentimental. He waited until the man had vanished back upstairs before relaxing his shoulders and uncurling his fists. The tension eased from his body, although his eyes remained fixated on Kayla who he could only see the back of.
“I wish my mother had been so lenient.” He muttered hazily, listening to her irregular breathing and wondering what that meant. She’d gotten what she’d wanted... was there a secret signal he hadn’t missed? “Hey... Are you alright?” Cursico asked, stepping up beside her.