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Tests; Rahne
Topic Started: Oct 16 2014, 02:36 AM (574 Views)
Chomper
Beast Form
Time: Post lunchtime
Date: October 10th, 2014



Having something that actually fit him, and did not mean fitting just his feet was a novel experience for Damien. Between hand me downs and refusing to wear something that was meant for kids younger than him, even if it would be a better fit, the shrimp had gotten use to the sensation of drowning in his clothes. This uniform that he had been provided with, one that he was told would not impede his shifting into the whatever, was the first thing that he did not have to worrying about holding up somehow. It was not too tight in any spot, though he did tug at the neck hole a little bit. That was less of a matter of fit and more of not being fond of having something touching the front of his throat. Kids at school, his old school that was, would make fun of super hero costumes from time to time. Superman wearing his underpants on the outside of his clothes, Wonder Woman having no pants for armor, how the ones who saved the world always wanted to wear colorful tights. And Damien would have to admit that he had joined in with the jokes because, really, Aquaman looked like he was trying to be a goldfish. What he wore now was special, a uniform that he could train in and didn't have to worry about wearing his shirt like a burka. To Damien though it was his own super hero costume. It meant that he was awesome.

Just how awesome he was though still remained a mystery. Despite the promise of helping him to do the research Damien still had problems with learning about what he was and what he was capable of. He wasn't a canine, he wasn't a feline. He'd looked at so many books about those and nothing really fit what he turned into. The body was too bulky to be a cat, and the fur pattern not like most dogs. Any frustration he felt while struggling with books and the internet cleared up when he got to shift. Running about, feeling beastly, that felt good. Damien didn't have an interest in eating what he caught, at least not when he shifted back into the more compact shape he had for most of his life. His raw meat came in the form of a steak brought to him in a restaurant. Even going to the fridge for a raw chicken breast squicked him out. At the same time though he would happily gobble down that same unprepared chicken in his beasty form.

What he did like was that feeling he got when he was in his beast form. In a way he got less frustrated. The world was a whole lot less complicated then. He saw things in black and white, not only literally, with just a little bit of blue to add color. Whatever Damien felt compelled to do he could. Not that Damien ignored his impulses in a human shape. he standards just seemed to be lower i the beast form because ther was only so much that he could do and understand. Whatever thoughts he had as a beast he could have with confidence. No need to worry that he would say something wrong. Nobody understood the weird noises he made. Maybe they could find out what he was by what sounds he made.

Today Rahne was going to meet with him to do some more testing. Together they were learning what the young teen was capable of. Understanding his capabilities and his limitations would help to give their research focus. After having put a dent in her fridge Damien could hardly blame Rahne for wanting to train him inside the school. After a successful shift Damien needed a large meal. The school provided him with that, well aware of his needs. It also meant that he didn't have to go too far when he felt like an overcooked noodle. Eating a big meal before hand helped as well. Right now Damien's small stomach was so stuffed that there was even the smallest hint at a bulge in his midsection.
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Wolfsbane
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Wolf Form
"Well, look at you!" the voice followed the hiss of Danger Room doors sliding open and preceded the sound of bare feet slapping against the cold, hard floor as Damien's mentor, instructor, what have you, strolled into the fore room, taking a moment to look the boy over before going any further.

"Fits ye nicely, has all the modifications in the right places, colors are nice on ye too. I like it. Feels good?" Rahne, of course, wore her own X-Suit, but was not yet transformed into her half-wolf form. For these kinds of exercises, she felt, it was good to start it on an even playing field.

"Well, let's get this show on the road then, eh?" Rahne said, flashing a grin to Damien as she quickly tapped in her faculty ID number into the touchpad, opening the main doors.

"So... at the risk o' bein' all melodramatic, welcome t' the Danger Room," Rahne punctuated that with a wide sweep of her arm as she led the way into the main room, which at this point was large and spacious - an empty and cavernous metallic room, sterile and bright.

It had been ages since she'd set foot in this room, having done much of her post-maternal training in outdoor arenas such as the woods surrounding the school and the various exercise yards. Stepping inside now, she actually felt a tinge of nostalgia, of fond remembrance for training exercises of yore. How long ago it had all been. And yet, not that long at all all at once.

"I know, may nae look like much yet, but that's the magic of the place - anythin' we want or need of it, we can make it do. Ye want a futuristic alien landscape? Done. Old Star Trek set? We can do that too. The Amazon, the 2012 London Olympics, you name it, we'll be there. But this is most important f'r today - could we display Damien's biometric readings please?"

With a flash of blue light, a holographic screen blinked into existence in the air above them, angled down so as to be visible. His full name. His height, his weight. Heartrate, breathing rate, oxygen intake efficiency - everything they needed to know about his vitals was on display right there.

"We're gonna be keepin' track of everything about yuir physiology today - well, not everything per se, but the important bits - an' how they change. How they change when you change, specifically. Here, check it out: display mine."

Next to his, in a reddish screen, hers came online, every category matched.
"Now watch," she closed her eyes, and as a tremble twitched its way over her body, it shifted and changed into her half-wolf form, a rapid and smooth transition. Immediately, her heartrate sped up, her oxygen consumption became more efficient, and certain chemical output percentages changed relative to each other.

"My guess is yuir vitals will change, but in rather different ways than mine. But not all too different. I feel we're gettin' close t' figurin' you out."
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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Chomper
Beast Form
"The collar is a little weird," Damien admitted, brows furrowing as he contemplated that fact, "Like I just put on a turtleneck after a day at the beach." That was about as poetic as Damien was capable of getting. Analogies weren't his strong point, but not being subtle meant that he could get his point across faster. It wasn't that the uniform didn't fit. Whoever had made it had done a great job making sure that it would fit. While the comic books might show costumes for super heroes that were outlandish and seemingly impractical this uniform Damien had been given seemed to be well thought out. Someone who understood mutations and the human form had given great thought into making something for him. For that Damien could be thankful. If his biggest trouble was getting use to something touching his throat again he was very lucky indeed.

Something about the blank slate of the Danger Room was eerily familiar to Damien. At first he couldn't figure out what about it was giving him such a sense of deja vu. There was literally nothing in the room that should be making him feel that way. You don't normally see plain blank walls and floors. Even in a brand new, totally empty house there was at least something of interest if you looked at the floors. Interesting tile patterns, faces in the swirls of wood floors, things like that. Nothing was ever as dull as this was. A sour expression took over Damien's face as he looked about the empty Danger Room. He didn't like the empty space, it felt too... cold. Not in the temperature way.

When Rahne brought up his vitals Damien was finally able to place why the Danger Room felt so familiar. It was the same sort of atmosphere that a doctor's office had, lacking only the smell of antiseptic. Damien wasn't shocked to see that he hadn't gotten any taller since his last visit. There was a little more meat on him though, an entire five pounds. Nothing that would seem terribly important when you noticed that he was still severly underweight for someone his age. But as someone who had for years been standing on a scale, watching as the nurses nudged the counterweights farther and farther to the left, only for them to stop at the same place they had the last time. Five pounds meant a whole lot when you don't have any to spare. Could it be though that just the massive lunch he had gorged himself with weighed him down more? Or did he actually get bigger?

"I feel like I'm at the doctors. I don't like it," Damien said as he looked at his screen. His heart was racing, one hundred and twenty five beats per minute according to the little blue thing. The itchies were strong in him and he was ready to get going. Rahne had slipped into some of the scientific talk again. Somehow looking at what this screen said about him now and comparing it to later would make their research smoother. For this he was just going to have to trust her. They needed to know some details about what he turned into to narrow their search, but there was such a thing as being too specific. "Can this place be less creepy?"

Creepy meaning empty. Damien had been a city boy all his life. The noise that served as a backdrop to the New York City life was his lullabye at night growing up. Being inside was torture, but at least he wasn't so vulnerable when there were millions of places that he could think to fit into. Given the choice between a field and a forest, Damien would pick the trees every time. Less blinding glare of sunlight, more places he could hide in. Maybe it was because he was a predator, a creature that hunted for prey that wanted to stay hidden. Maybe it was just he liked seeing things messy. Doctors offices, mueseums, and the empty Danger Room all gave the vibe of "If you touch anything you'll break it. Then you die."
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Wolfsbane
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Wolf Form
"It takes gettin' used to, aye," Rahne said with a nod of her head and a smile. "When I first put mine on, I felt like I was choking a bit. Then I got used to it. Then I felt like I was gonna bust the seams first time I put it on after the baby. But material like this, 'tis designed to stretch an' breathe an' adapt t' yuir shape, so it's really as good as it'll ever be."

She looked over his stats as they floated in the air above them, nodding her head slowly in thought. This was just his baseline, his "normal" human form, so there was nothing too terribly out of the ordinary here. When he changed, that would be something else. She just hoped she'd be able to determine something from what they'd see.

"Creepy? Heh. Never thought o' this room as creepy. This room can be anythin'. So let's try somethin' special, then. Let's try.... ooh. How about this one - ye like it warmer? I've always liked it a bit chillier, but even then, this one was always fun - computer - upload Machu Picchu for us, aye?"

The lights brightened for a moment, and a dull hum thrummed through the air as the scenery began to shift and warp. Artificial light was replaced with sunlight as scenery lifted up all around them - the mountainous peaks, the old buildings in a state of disuse from centuries of uninhabitation - the breezy yet warm air of South American altitude. Rahne took a breath in, and even though her senses weren't completely fooled into thinking this was a genuine outdoor mountain environment - it sure looked like it.

"Still never actually been to this place - 'tis on muh bucket list. Someday, I'll get t' see the real deal, but this makes for a good substitute f'r now," Rahne said with a smile.

"How's that f'r less creepy?"
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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Chomper
Beast Form
Damien was a teenage boy, he didn't understand things like fabric, or materials. He knew about things like cotton, wool, and spandex, terms that he'd heard before. But really, why would he have interest in the difference between those three when they seemed to conspire against him? Cotton usually was baggy, wool itched like the devil's dandruff, and spandex was cannon fodder for jokes . His uniform didn't feel like any of those. It was a snug fit, but not tight or painful. If clothes could hug a person, literally hug, his uniform certainly was doing so. Rahne assured him that he would get use to the neck part, and for a change Damien didn't mind hearing something about him adjusting to clothes. "It's going to change with me right? I'm not going to be a whatever in something too small right?"

Hopefully it was only the neck that Damien was going to have to get use to. His teacher didn't seemed to notice the creepy factor of the empty room. Chances were that she had been in here more than enough times that she wasn't put off by the room anymore. She was quick to put his concerns to rest and the room shifted into Machu Picchu. Like Rahne, Damien had never been there before. He had been to France though, so it wasn't as if the teen was totally clueless to the world out side of New York City. The shrimp turned about, trying to take in the sights that surrounded them all at once. He was so sure that they had been inside just a second ago, but now he had doubts. Say what you will about the capabilities of the Wii U or the PS4, they had Atari like graphics compared to what the Danger Room produced. Damien wanted to say something about it, to point out just how amazing everything was. They looked like they were so high up, as if all Damien had to do was stretch his arms out a little further and he'd be able to grab onto a cloud like it was a Cooney Island cotton candy.

"So, totally, awesome," Damien breathed out, finding some words to at least start describing the amazingness that he found himself surrounded by. Without asking for permission the diminutive teen started walking forward. He could see some weird looking buildings below them and his curiosity had a firm hold on him. Something about the vivid green and the geometric shapes made by the ancient ruins had a hypnotic and dizzying effect upon him. Damien stumbled a little as he continued forwards. His screen was already showing differences in his vitals, even if Damien's shape was still very much human. At such a high altitude, even if they weren't really at a higher elevation, Damien should be having problems getting oxygyn into his lungs, but he was showing no difficulties. In fact Damien was falling into the same sort of deep breathing one would normally associate with heavy slumber. On the other hand his body temperature, which on any given day ran a little lower, was climbing.

Damien's body started to change shape, this time without him having to run. His temperature stopped it's rapid climb at just past a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. At the same time his heart rate dropped, almost in half of his excited human shape. The beast that he had turned into held no interest in the little screen that broke down what his body was doing. Without being told what to do before hand Damien was now on one simple mission. To find something to snack on. He had problems keeping his balance on this mountainous terrain. Strange hoof like feet like his were better suited to less steep ground, but at least he didn't feel overheated.
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Wolfsbane
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Wolf Form
"Nah, nae so much change with ye as it is designed t' remain comfortable an' functional when ye change," Rahne said with a small shrug of her shoulders. "One instance too many o' the dreaded tail wedgie, an' I was all for the way our suits are designed."

She exaggerated a shudder, but perhaps he knew full well the discomfort and sheer pain of a tail wedgie. Changing shape while wearing pants entirely unprepared for the sudden addition of extra length to the spinal column was a highly unpleasant experience, one few people could truly understand.

There was something special though, in witnessing his awe and wonder. The Danger Room was an amazing place, and had only gotten more amazing since Rahne had first come to the school. The input of technological wizards like Sarah Vale, Madison Jeffries and the AI being known as "Danger" had allowed for this room to be capable of more than it had ever been in the past, and the experience was truly remarkable. Star Trek Holodeck, eat your heart out.

"I know, right? There are times I still find muhself in awe of it all," she said as she glanced over at his vital display. He was changing, whether he intended to or not. She hoped this was intentional, that he was willing it forth, because it signified progress. It meant that he was learning from their work together.

She followed along as he trekked forward, exploring his new surroundings as a predatory animal would. Still, he had a full transformation going. It was either all human or all beast for him, and she wondered if he was capable of degrees of transformation. If there was simply an on/off switch or if he could do more.

For now though, this was good. Made it difficult to converse with him, though.

"So from here," she said, hopping down to a lower vantage point in the mountainous rocks and landing in a crouch, "we've got some options. We head into the ruins, which maaaaaaaay have a bit of a jaguar problem - I know, would never happen in real life, but this is the Danger Room - or we stay out here, amid the rocks an' peaks an' see about agility an' dexterity an' whatnot. I leave the choice up t' you."
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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Chomper
Beast Form
The term "tail wedgie" was a funny one, but strangely accurate. Until you shifted into some sort of animal you couldn't really appreciate the awkward pain of having a tail trapped in the leg of your jeans. Damien had seen enough of those little designer dogs that ladies carried around in their purses, dressed like they were four legged dolls or a replacement baby. Damien had an enormous sense of pity for those dogs now. Sure, he could understand if your dog was hairless and you didn't want it to freeze to death. There was a difference between that and putting a poodle in a dress. When Damien had asked about his uniform changing with him it was hard to say what his bigger concern was, tail wedgie or that the uniform would somehow be absorbed by his skin. Once again he would marvel at his uniform, not only because it was the first thing he had in years that wasn't over sized, but because it could handle the different shapes he took as well.

Communications still was an issue once he was in his beastly form. Damien could understand what Rahne was saying to him, but he didn't have any way of talking back to her. His lips were thin and not capable of making the same shapes as a human's, so speaking English was out of the question. Until they found out what sort of creature he turned into Damien couldn't rely upon the sounds he was capable of making. His attempts to mimic dog sounds were failures outside of the most basic growl. It was his failure to make a clear bark that made Damien think that maybe he was more of some weird cat thing. For now though he had to figure out what he could do to say what he wanted.

At first he had wanted to go exploring the ruins. A natural curiosity and one too many video games had taught Damien that exploration was never not a good idea. He did want to look there, and doing so while in a more capable shape was the best time to do so. There most likely wouldn't be anything that he could eat there, but you never could tell. It was also close to the lush green that had been drawing him in when he was still human shaped. Damien paced a little bit on his slightly higher elevation from where Rahne was. He had stumbled a little bit earlier just walking around on the slope. Taking that leap down to where she was didn't exactly frighten him, but he wasn't sure that he was going to be able to jump down as easily as she did. Damien was bigger than he normally was after all.

The teen backed up a bit, drew closer to the edge, then backed up again. There was a little bit wider a space just a little past where Rahne was that he felt more comfortable jumping to, and with a little bit of a running start he managed to make the jump easily. Why couldn't they see how he was with the dexterity and agility while also looking at the ruins? Damien tilted his head slightly in consideration, trying to determine how best to describe that thought to Rahne. Right now his position on the slope could go either way. With great care he stretched his relatively short neck out as far as possible and gingerly took her hand into his mouth. Images of his brother's arm flashed into his head and he released his light pressure even more.
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Wolfsbane
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Wolf Form
"Heh - I think we'll have t' learn sooner than later if ye can take any kind o' transitional form," Rahne said with a soft chuckle as she followed along, allowing him to take his lead with as gentle a tug of her hand as she could manage. Surely, he had to be capable of that on some level, of learning the shift well enough to exist between the beast and the boy.

Her own power had worked in the other direction for her. She had gone many years, a decade and some, without ever knowing she could completely become a wolf. And it was difficult at first to regain that shape, difficult to maintain it some times, difficult to break it at others, but now that she had mastered it, it was as natural as breathing.

But as of now, they'd just continue as they were, hopping down the rocky mountainside to get to the ruins of Machu Picchu. The fabled Incan city of old, abandoned hundreds of years ago for reasons unknown. Certainly it wasn't imminent threat by the Spanish - the Spaniards never found this place. And now, a popular tourist attraction. Funny how things work sometimes.

It reminded her in a way of the temple the X-Men had retrofitted into their makeshift headquarters and school down in the Savage Land. Old and abandoned, once a site of high reverence and devotion, now just rubble in the jungle. Or in this case, above the jungle.

The buildings of Machu Picchu stood empty, wind whistling through the stone structures around them. The quiet was almost deafening - a phrase Rahne always found odd, but she understood it in situations like this. There was no bustle of human activity, and they were far enough above the jungles of Peru to not actively hear the sounds of wildlife far below them. It was... quiet. Peaceful.

"Yuir move, Damien," Rahne said, looking around them. "Houses, market... maybe that big temple... palace? Templepalace... whatever."
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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Chomper
Beast Form
One of the best things that could be said about Damien was that he went all out in whatever he did. The young man had so much more force and life in him than you would think, especially if you saw him in the morning. Damien did not hesitate to take on any challenge you might give him and seemed to be either unaware, or uncaring of his limitations. And while it was an admirable quality, he did get into trouble from times to times because of it. It would seem that his mutation was following Damien's bombastic personality as well. There had been an attempt to stop at something halfway between human and beast, but Damien clearly had failed. Was it even possible to be both? The shape was so drastically different. Then again wolves and humans were opposite ends of the spectrum and Rahne was able to strike the balance.

Damien felt a strange feeling of superiority for having gotten Rahne to follow him. She might not understand the sounds that he made, and he couldn't say things in ways that she could understand, but none the less he had managed to get her to do exactly what he wanted her to. The family dog Titan was never so effective. His mind was working as best it could to think of things, but he was mostly relying on instincts. What he wanted to find in the ruins was something to eat. That was highly unlikely though. Damien knew nothing about Machu Picchu. Instead of picking up a third language at school, Damien had been taking French. It was his parents belief that he should know the language of their native country. Never mind the fact that Damien's native country was the United States.

Damien released his hold on Rahne's hand as he sniffed about. Things looked real enough to him, but something still felt odd about their surroundings. He did not have any one destination in mind and he simply wandered about. If they were going to test Damien's agility and dexterity he should do something. Damien looked up at one of the lower walls that ran about the buildings. It should be wide enough that he could walk on it and get a better scope of the land. With a subtle twitching in the speckled and striped hide of his hindquarters Damien took a leap. Clearing Rahne earlier to get to the lower spot was one thing. Damien was perfectly capable of horizontal leaps. Vertical it seemed, was not quite so easy to do.

Thankfully his skull was thick, no matter his form, and when Damien crashed headfirst into the stone wall he was more stunned about the impact than harmed by it. Had Damien been able to see it he would have found his failure quite humorous. It was just like all those funny videos where cats failed to make a jump of less than a foot. The combination of the shorter legs and longer torso seemed to suggest that whatever creature Damien had turned into was meant for ground work, hunting closer to the ground. There would be no climbing up trees for him. Damien did a slow turn about and looked up at Rahne. You saw nothin' Damien thought before breaking his focus from her and changing his path.

A head that was only slightly sore swung about towards the "Temple Palace" as Rahne had put it. Once more Damien glanced at his teacher. The "temple palace" was a good place for them to go and he wanted her to follow him there. Or rather he wanted her to know that's where he wanted to go and that maybe she should be in front of him. That was why he didn't grab her hand to drag her again.
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Wolfsbane
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Wolf Form
It could be easy to get lost in the wonder of the Danger Room. In the things it could do, the places it could take you. Rahne supposed then, it was good that the computers were recording the information they needed to know on Damien, so she didn't have to keep an eye on it at all times. The display had long since vanished to prevent it from interrupting the illusion, and now it was just the two of them, exploring ancient ruins. Or maybe not so ancient. Wasn't Machu Picchu only a couple of hundred years old? Hardly ancient to someone who lived in a country where thousand-year old castles weren't too terribly out of the norm.

Rahne smirked when Damien's leap didn't work out quite as well as he'd hoped. She'd been there a time or two - overshooting your strength, or underestimating it to your detriment.
"Mum's the word," she said with a nod of her head.

But then, they ventured on. Damien made it clear he wanted in the temple, or the palace, or whatever it really was. Rahne had no idea herself. Some... big building. Bigger than the others. For all she knew, it was an Incan Sam's Club.

But he hesitated, and it took her a moment to really figure out what he was going for. She nodded her head, and took the lead, walking slowly and cautiously through the dimly lit yet expansive interior. She was sure the real deal, being a tourist spot, wasn't like this, but in here, in this simulation, it was overgrown. Vines crawled all along the walls, a large tree erupting from the ground and threatening to breach the walls. She knew why it was designed this way - combat arena. But did Damien know?

"Cautious, here," she whispered, her voice echoing in the dark. It was time now. Any moment.

A snarl sounded out from the darkness as bright golden eyes peered out at them. Then another pair, then a third. Silent and sleek, three jaguars materialized in the branches of the tree and began to work their way down to the ground level.

This would be a real test for Damien - see how he handled danger, handled stress and the possibility of injury. Rahne's legs bent, hands prepared to strike as her fingers curled and tensed. Seeing as Damien had little training in this area, she'd fight alongside him, not force him to take up more than he was capable of - but she wanted to see what he'd do.
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Chomper
Beast Form
New York City was set on a grid, which, as long as you didn't get tangled up in the subway, meant that it was fairly simple to find your way about. Damien had lived in the city for just about his entire life, only spending about a year away from it while in France. It wasn't as though he had to deal with construction getting in his way for most of the locations he was going to, and yet... Damien had been born with his sense of direction put in him backwards. He shouldn't be able to get lost so quickly in a place that he lived, especially when everything fell in perpendicular lines. How much more lost was he going to get here in Machu Picchu, a place he only had ever heard the name of? That was reason enough to have Rahne lead him to their target location. If it was up to Damien they would end up in the entirely wrong place, even if he could see it perfectly fine where they were.

Damien took the time to sniff around the plant life, not because he was going to do what you would expect an animal to do to a tree, but because he was curious as to what this place was for. This place was so beyond anything he had experienced before and required him to explore as much of it as possible. There were strange smells here trying to convince him that her really had traveled instantaneously to an old foreign city. Lips curled back as he got a better sniff by tasting the air. Something large, in comparison to him at least, was living in this area of Machu Picchu. It had a distinct and sharp tang to it, and the only thing that he could think of that came close was a litter box that hadn't been cleaned in a long time. Damien couldn't help but sneeze, his entire body seized by the effort. The smell was too intense where he had just been sniffing. In addition to figuring out if he could stop halfway, and what he did turn into, Damien was going to have to learn how to not get overwhelmed by a smell. His senses were so much stronger like this.

Rahne urged him to be cautious, but clearly he did not know the meaning of the word. The short fur that covered his body stood on end as he braced himself. Whatever it was that he smelled was drawing close to them, and he knew that it had to be dangerous. After all, people didn't just tell him to be careful when there wasn't something that could hurt him nearby. As the panthers stalked them from the darkness Damien moved himself so that he was standing in front of Rahne. Broad head swiveled about to face the source of the smell and sound. In response to the panthers showing up he began to growl. It was the sound he could make that was closest to a normal animal sound. As always it was a deep sound that did not fit with the small image he presented.

Damien's fangs were bared at the panthers. It was those fangs that made him think briefly that he might have been a saber-tooth tiger. Only Damien looked less like a cat than a dog sort of creature. Even if he wasn't a saber-tooth he had a rather impressive set of chompers. It had to have hurt when he had bitten his older brother. Damien did not know if he could take on a panther, but that wasn't going to prevent him from trying to protect Rahne. Maybe just showing signs of aggression would be enough to keep the panthers from messing with him. Or it would swing to the other direction and be like him with the family dogs, where they sensed the predator in him and tried to bully him.
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Wolfsbane
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Wolf Form
There it was. Jaguars. Whether that was how it actually went in this place, Rahne had no idea. She had a feeling it was... less than accurate, but accuracy wasn't important here. What was important here was to put the student in a simulated dangerous situation in an unfamiliar territory and see what would happen.

And what would happen was... interesting. Damien stepped into a defensive mode, placing himself between Rahne and the advancing jaguars, who clearly, were not happy with the intrusion into their little domain.

Rahne's knees were bent, her shoulders squared, her hands ready to strike. She stood back-to-back with Damien, as the jaguars moved to circle them.

One of the jaguars made a feint towards Damien, darting forward and swiping, ears pinned back and fangs bared with a snarling hiss. A test, a fake-out. An intimidation tactic meant to startle him and take him off of his guard.

Wolfsbane was not going to attack, even though part of her wanted to. At this low of a level, the jaguars offered her no threat. She was more than well-trained and skilled enough to handle this exercise even handicapping herself. That was why she wasn't going to make the attack. She'd act defensively, and if Damien got in over his head, she'd step in and save him, but that was it.

"Yuir show, Damien," Rahne spoke quietly, watching the jaguars with narrowed, keenly focused eyes.
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[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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Chomper
Beast Form
Damien had gotten quite use to being growled, snapped, and otherwise threatened by his family's dogs for years. He had been dragged behind Titan with such strength and velocity that he was convinced that his arm would be pulled out of his socket. The cats that were circling the young student and his teacher could hardly be thought as the same danger level as an old English sheepdog, but for Damien it made little difference. Demi stomped his feet, all four, his growls continuing as the jaguars grew closer. When one made a swipe at him Damien did not jump back, but rather took a snap at the thing. Animal communication was something that he still needed to learn, but Damien's message to the jaguars was clear. He was claiming his territory and challenging the jaguars to question his right to be there.

The jaguars were bringing out an aspect of Damien that had carried over to his beast form as well. There was a bit of a protective streak to him. Right now Damien was feeling very protective of Rahne, and as such was putting himself in a risky position. Damien took a few small steps away from the teacher to threaten the jaguars. His broad chest swelled up and his ears, tiny as they might be, flattened to the side of his head. He had some basic animal instincts, and keeping his ears safe was one of them. With so much air in his lungs Damien was building up to a roar, or at least the closest thing he could make to one. It was a strangled noise, more of a rasp than a roar, and if Damien were to hear it outside of his current shape he would have questioned what the hell he just heard. The noise was disturbing in how foreign it was.

It should have struck Damien as odd how the teacher who was suppose to be helping him to gain familiarity with his mutation and guide him to becoming better was willing to step aside and let him take on something so dangerous. Instead Damien was paying more attention to the jaguars. They were much larger than him, though that wasn't too hard an accomplishment. Even as a beast Damien was small, but he had grown slightly longer and slightly heavier if the little blue screen was to be believed. Either Rahne knew something that Damien had yet to discover, or she was just as likely to rush in as him. Damien lunged at the nearest jaguar, similar to how it had made a swipe at him earlier. The beast form had legs too short for him to be able to use the weird hoof foot to keep distance, but his snout was long and his teeth very sharp.
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Wolfsbane
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Wolf Form
Damien seemed to be playing it conservative, hoping his show of willingness and aggression would make the jaguars back down. And it was possible that in real life, that would have worked. But here, in this simulation, that wasn't going to happen. Damien had led them into the combat arena so to speak, so these jaguars were prone to fight and fight back. When Damien lunged, snapping, the jaguar flinched back only momentarily and then leaped back towards him, this time aiming to strike him against the snout.

And then it was a free-for-all. As the one jaguar attacked Damien, another jumped out for Wolfsbane, forelimbs stretched out, claws extended, fangs bared. A dangerous, wild beast going for the kill. Her eyes narrowed, frame tensed. In the fraction of a second that the beast was in the air, she prepared.

Her right hand shot out and grabbed the beast around the throat, suspending it for the small moment it took for her to snap out her right leg and kick it square in the gut, sending it flying away, sliding along the stone floor on its side for a good twelve feet before coming to a stop.

The third jaguar remained cautious, watching and waiting and looking for an opening as it circled. It would have been easy for Wolfsbane to simply attack and dispatch it, but that wasn't what she was here for. Her presence was to keep this simulation from harming Damien - his first go at it, she wasn't going to let him do it alone.

But she certainly wasn't going to do the heavy lifting for him either.
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[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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Chomper
Beast Form
The sharp teeth that posed as such a big threat with Damien were, unfortunately located near a rather sensitive spot. It was being hit on the nose by Lance that had blinded Damien when he first shifted, not the lights of the hallway. So when the jaguar managed to swipe his nose with it's paw, the teen did not take it well. The impact of the paw was what irked him more than the scratch to his sensitive organ. Damien reacted much as you would expect an injured animal to, he snapped at the cat. Only this time Damien wasn't just biting at air to keep the jaguar back, he was actually aiming to hurt it. He wasn't able to jump very high, but boy could the beastie boy lunge forwards. His pounce was not the smooth graceful strike that the jaguar was capable of, but more like a linebacker charging the quarterback. When he hit the cat it was with all the force and weight that his body had to offer.

What Damien had forgotten to think about was that a jaguar would fight a lot more differently than Titan would have. The jaguar's long legs were capable of wrapping around him, and the hind legs had a powerful kick in them. Damien let out a little yelp before snarling and going on the offensive again. He bit at what he could reach, kicked what he could, scratched as best as hoofed paws could. It mattered little to him that this stupid cat was bigger, or that it knew how best attack him. You could say that Damien was foolish, or maybe he was just scrappy. Right now Damien was still untrained on how to fight as an animal, but something was to be said about instincts. If a baby could kick in a pool without having to be taught to do so, the shrimp should know how to use his jaws to defend himself.

The front claws, the ones attacking his neck and nose, were the things bothering him the most, and it was one of those that Damien clamped down on. Of course the big cat did not like this and the fighting between it was increased. For his part Damien was clinging onto that paw. Only part of the shaking his head was doing was at his will, he was being dragged by the jaguar, but he was not letting go. It was less about the pressure that his jaw was exerting and more about the strength that he had in it. Not that the pressure was anything to sneeze at. It was still a tremendous amount, far more than a fourteen year old human shaped boy could do. He would be able to crack one of those jumbo jawbreakers that Suzanne had gotten when her braces came off. While still holding on for his life to that paw, Damien tried to regain his footing. Hoofs were going in every which direction, sometimes to keep from falling over, sometimes to strike at the jaguar.
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