you'll never know what hit you

[akillersmile]

[ooc: This is the Kyle werewolf bite/curse log, plus random other stuff. Feel free to add a new thread or hit me up for plotting!]


i. WON'T SUSPECT A THING [CLOSED to Abigail] - backdated to earlier in March
Kyle arrived at the Widdowson Estate with relative calm. Where once the property was moderately intimidating, his previous chat with its owner had set him at ease and he now felt welcomed to the foreboding structure. Stepping up to the main stoop, he gave the door a few hard knocks and waited for either Abigail or one of her staff to open the door for him.

He wasn't expected and it didn't occur to him until standing at the door that she might not even be home. His concern for Alex was escalating, however, and if it was true that a witch could provide his friend with some kind of moon necklace, then he had to ask the most powerful witch he felt that he could ask. And then convince her that it was worth it, regardless of the price that he would need to pay.



ii. HURT YOU FROM INSIDE [OPEN to first response]
It was late into the evening when Kyle was out and about. While he hadn't exactly adapted the moniker of hunter, he had turned into something of a vigilante, keeping his eyes and ears out and trying to protect unsuspecting humans from vampires and other creatures of the night.

For once, it wasn't a vampire he stumbled onto, but a pair of injured people with what could only be animal scratches on their chests. Last he checked, there were no escaped wolves or rabid dogs in the area, which meant he was probably coming up on an actual werewolf. In wolf form. That would eat him alive.

He didn't pull his knife out yet, waiting for now as he followed the trail of blood. When he rounded the corner and came face-to-face with the werewolf, that's when he had a real problem. The thing was on him before he even had time to draw his weapon, teeth clamping down on his left shoulder while it clawed at his side. Kyle struggled to get the thing off of him, the air knocked out of him from hitting the ground.

[ooc: Feel free to jump in to fight it, scare it away, or find Kyle after it leaves!]



iii. THE POISON IN YOUR BONES [CLOSED to Nancy]
It wasn't the brightest idea. Nancy told him it was a less than ideal neighborhood and here he was, stumbling around it injured and desperate in the middle of the night. He found her building after some backtracking, disoriented and working off of a shit memory anyway, and ran his hand across all the buzzers. Someone finally let him in, while another tenant cursed him out for the late buzz and most didn't respond at all. Once inside, he made his way to Nancy's door and begin pounding on it.

His left arm was curled defensively against his body. Kyle had wrapped his t-shirt around the wound and tucked it under his hoodie, which he zipped up to hide his otherwise scratched and exposed torso as well. When Nancy finally opened the door, he practically fell against the doorway.

"Hi." A smile, red lips on a pale face. "I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go."

The black of the hoodie hid the color of the blood, but there were still traces on his face and his hair that the hood couldn't hide. With more light, even the black hoodie would reveal the moisture it absorbed.



iv. THE LOVER TO YOUR NIGHTMARE [CLOSED to Alex] - forward-dated to tomorrow
Nancy had taken care of the bulk of his injuries, but it was the curse that worried him more than the injuries or the pain. When he found out that it was something that couldn't be immediately healed, he'd waited until he was alone and allowed himself to break down for a minute. Then he slept it off.

Not that he slept well, or very long. More nightmares, now of himself killing someone and transforming into the monster that Alex was so afraid of. He refused to kill a living person, yet he also refused to live with the threat hanging over his head, like Skip did. He wanted to go back to being a normal human. And while there was a possibility of that, right now, he was running late for a breakfast date of sorts. They were supposed to be cooking french toast.

Kyle followed someone into the building and knocked on Alex's door. His hoodie hid what damage remained, though it was very apparent on his face that he'd slept like shit and wasn't exactly in full health. As if nothing was wrong, he offered her a smile. "Sorry I'm late."



v. A HEAVY BURDEN THAT YOU CAN'T BEAR (Clubbing) [OPEN] - end of March anytime
Kyle wasn't running away exactly. He was biding his time, accepting his powerlessness while he waited for the witches that were helping him to do more. Since he couldn't do anything other than wait, he spent the time coping in his own way: loud music and alcohol.

He was on his fourth drink, already tipsy and trying to make his way to plastered. He spent equal time between the bar, ordering and drinking his shots and beer, and the dance floor, losing himself in whatever company he could find. It took him back to the days when he was the guy guys wanted to be and girls wanted to be with. When it was easy. Whatever could help him forget the rest of the shit for now, even if the ache in his shoulder was a constant reminder.



vi. WHAT YOU MADE OF ME (Hillingdon House) [OPEN] - end of March anytime
Although not exactly a hunter, Kyle had been accepted as part of Hillingdon and had made casual acquaintance there for information and resources. Now it was time to step it up. He spent hours for days on end at the House, trying to find people with information to chat with, to find out more about everything there was to know. Including the political bullshit, trying to figure out where Hillingdon stood and who was with who.

His other objective was to buy a rifle. The soldier was missing his old best friend and the security she provided. He knew the laws, which is why he'd put it off this long, but Alex was right to keep a gun with wooden bullets. Between the vampires and the werewolves, Kyle was getting to be uncomfortably in over his head and wanted to remedy that.

Comments

iii

[stauncherhearted]

"Kyle? What's- what's wrong?" She'd, luckily, just gotten in from the evening out, and was in the process of getting ready for bed when he knocked. Without waiting for an explanation, she glances both ways and ushers him into her apartment. Questions can come later. Right now, he was in some sort of pain, and that was enough for her. "Come in, you look awful."

The lights in her apartment were on and instantly revealed the blood, and a growing wet spot on the hoodie. Nancy pushes up her sleeves. "Sit- you're hurt. Let me." She guides him to her kitchen table, and reaches a hand out gingerly to touch his shoulder.

This was getting to be a habit, shirtless, bloody Kyle in her apartment.

[akillersmile]

"I bet you say that to all the boys," he teases. Kyle quickly moves inside with her encouragement, following along with her to the kitchen table. He grunts as he drops onto the edge of a chair, slowly reaching up his right hand to unzip the hoodie. His hand pushes the hood back, revealing only minor splatters on his face but a now drying patch of blood on the back of his head.

He works the right sleeve off without too much trouble and then very gingerly takes the left off as well. Kyle holds the hoodie awkwardly in his hand, hanging down in the air, not wanting to bloody her floor or table. His right side shows a few big gashes - clearly claw wounds - and the t-shirt wrapping his left shoulder is mostly soaked through with blood. Now that he's finally safe, Kyle realizes that he's feeling a little more light headed than he gave himself credit for.

"Werewolf," he explains, trying to straighten a little and then grimacing with the effort.

[stauncherhearted]

She can't even say anything about his joke, because there's already a million things that need to be done in the next few minutes. First things first, look at the damage and take his shirt. With one hand, she takes it from him and tosses it into her sink- she can clean up later- and then there's actually taking care of the wound and good lord.

"Fucking hell," she swears under her breath, and she's moving over to her cabinet and pulling out a few more jars. One of them, around the size of one of those five-hour energy drinks, she brings over to Kyle immediately.

"First, drink that. It's blood replenisher. Perfectly safe." She nearly lived on them, it seems. "Then we're going to get that cleaned up." Get comfortable, because she's taking off around the apartment again, grabbing bandages and setting the kettle on again.

Other than that, she was slowly realizing, she had no idea what to do.

[akillersmile]

'It's perfectly safe.' The words echoed in his mind. They were the same words used in his specialized training camp, when they were exposed to some abnormal training practices. It almost turned him off to trusting it. Had it not come from Nancy, a person he already trusted, he probably would have. Instead he only gives it a wary eye before drinking it as instructed.

Kyle dropped his right arm onto the table and let his head follow into the crook of his arm. With the adrenaline wearing down finally, the exhaustion and cortisol were setting in. The soldier could practically feel his nerves fray, forcing himself to take deep breaths. He wasn't afraid of dying, but sure as hell was afraid of becoming one of them.

"How do I fix it?" He asked, his voice muffled by his arm. The escalating anxiety was clear in his tone.

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy knows the words are coming before she even thinks about it. "I don't know." Because there's no point to lie to someone in this position. Furthermore: "But I can find out." She knew the way it worked- you get bitten and you get cursed. Once you're cursed it has to be activated.

"What do you know about werewolves, Kyle?" The water was near hot enough now, and she poured some of it into a large glass bowl before bringing it, the bandages, and some paper towels over to the table. Carefully, Nancy dipped the towels into the water, before she began to gingerly clean the wound. "Because a lot of the legends get it wrong."

i

[acrookedchild]

There were nightmares now. Katherine, the previous Maiden, had warned her that would occur. Nightmares mixed with visions of the future, all of which were left up to her to decipher and sort. Lately, she'd been dreaming of bared teeth and a giant dog.

A wolf? The dog that had attacked her? The large dog she fed?

She couldn't be sure.

Still, as it was, she went to the door when she heard the knocking and opened it. There were circles under her eyes, but her smile was genuine.

"Kyle. Please. Come in."

[akillersmile]

"Sorry if I interrupted your beauty sleep," he replied with a smile as he stepped past her and into the foyer. Kyle waited for her beyond that, to guide their way to wherever it was that she wanted to go, not wanting to be rude or get lost in the monstrosity that was her house.

He glanced back over to his friend, worried that she wasn't looking well. Not that he was all sunshine and rainbows either, but at least he'd been getting sleep again. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. "How are you doin'?"

[acrookedchild]

Abigail laughs a little and shakes her head at his question.

"As well as I can be. There's a lot to be done, still." He didn't need to know about the dreams she'd had. But-- his voice. She didn't normally dream about people, but she was sure she'd heard it in one of her dreams. Or was it a vision? ...Hard to say, as she didn't have much experience with that. "But I'm managing. Come on. We'll go to the sitting room."

And, so, she leads the way, taking a seat on the divan once in the room, tucking her legs halfway under her.

"Please. Have a seat."

[akillersmile]

"Always is." He nods, following her into the room and taking a seat at the same chair as last time. He glances to where his water was before without even thinking about it, as if expecting it to still be waiting for him. Without a second thought, his gaze travels back to her and he focuses on the reason he's come.

"What do you know about moon jewelery? For werewolves. Not made of moonstone or moon cheese or any of that shit. Unless the werewolf kind is made with- whatever. You know what I mean, right?"

[acrookedchild]

"Moonlight," she says. The correction comes kindly, just to let him know what it was. She smiles a little more and gives a nod.

"I can make it, yes. Why?"

iv

[facethewolves]

Alex was just on the cusp of getting worried about Kyle when the knock came. She opened the door, grinning at him, but almost instantly her smile fell. He looked, in the words he'd used to describe her not that long ago, like shit. Even when he'd been angry or panicking, she'd never seen him look so drawn and exhausted before.

"Are you okay?" she demanded. That probably came out sounding angrier than intended, but the anger was entirely motivated by concern for him. She held the door open wider so he could come inside. "Have you slept at all this week?"

[akillersmile]

Kyle looked at Alex, straightening from the doorway. Without hesitation, he moved forward, closing the distance between them. His left hand put pressure on the wounds on his right side to give him a little more leverage, his right hand moving to her waist. He pressed into her, lips meeting hers, kissing her to release all the tension that had been building for months on end.

He'd been putting it off. They'd been sort of flirting without ever progressing, with him discouraging it. An ironic turn after her insistence of them being just friends. But now, after the attack that actually scared him and the chance of his turning into what she was, he didn't want to waste time being distrusting or uncertain.

[facethewolves]

Alex's hand moved towards his right arm, but didn't quite settle there. She shut her eyes, but opened them again a second later, confused and surprised and completely unsure of how to react. They'd gone through so many iterations of their relationship, finally settling into him obviously being uninterested, that she couldn't quite believe this was happening. Something was definitely wrong with him, maybe this was part of that rather than a real kiss.

It felt real, though. After a moment, she smiled against his lips, her her eyes shutting and her hand finally settling on his upper arm as she kissed him back.

[akillersmile]

Kyle was fine. He was good at ignoring pain, especially when something far better was available to him, and he focused on that now, deepening the kiss. It wasn't until her other hand touched on his left shoulder that he winced, breaking the kiss to withdraw slightly.

"We should talk." With that wide, charming smile he knew to get him whatever he wanted.

He moved into the apartment, closing the door behind him with his right hand, left still wrapped across his stomach to press into his right side. At least Nancy helped him to clean up, so he was freshly showered and properly bandaged. Albeit badly injured and horrendously sleep deprived.

As soon as the door was taken care of, his attention returned to her.

[facethewolves]

Alex turned with him as he walked past her. She opened her mouth to question him, but couldn't think of what to ask so she closed the door instead and followed him.

"What happened to you?" She sounded more concerned than angry now. Carefully, she reached for his arm again, trying to steer him towards the couch. He looked like he really needed to sit down.

As discussed!

[hurtfew]

Norrell isn't expecting a Human visitor. When he hears that he's going to have one he initially assumes it might be someone from Hillingdon come to apologise for their appalling behaviour and betrayal. He's invested a good amount of money into Hillingdon, after all, and hardly expected this!

Subsequently finding it to be someone he doesn't know admittedly leaves him a little thrown, but he's curious enough to see Kyle all the same.

He'll find himself led through the Norrellite coven into a peculiar hallway which seems far longer than it should be, a disorientating maze of twists and turns that will be terribly hard to remember (magic, of course it's magic) and which somehow seems to end in a door that opens to reveal Gilbert Norrell himself. He's sitting writing at a desk, office lit by one incredibly large arched window. Everything about the Norrellite coven is rather old fashioned, including the man himself. He looks up and studies Kyle a second, finally sets down his pen and waves him in.

"Are you with Hillingdon?" he prompts. Best to establish how much of a grudge he should have first.

[akillersmile]

Kyle didn't take too active a role in Hillingdon's defense of the territory. He heard about it and supported it as much as he could before the actual battle, mainly to oppose the vampires rather than support the fae, but he was nowhere to be found in the actual battle. It's not his war. Not yet, at least, and he wants to understand more of the politics before he really aligns himself with a particular side.

He follows the man through the hall, barely noticing how many turns they're taking and way more focused on catching sight of whatever he can on the way there. When they finally enter an office which can only belong to Norrell, Kyle stands near the door with left wrist in right hand behind his back. An old habit. When beckoned, he moves forward.

"By default," he replies easily. Which is true. Kyle doesn't really belong the group, but he heard how important it is to align himself with someone and they seem as good as any unless he finds a group he likes more.

[hurtfew]

"By default!" Norrell echoes, settling back in his chair as he watches Kyle. "And what does it mean to be a member of Hillingdon 'by default'? Did you join them in Bromley?"

An important question to Gilbert Norrell, for it will answer the question of if he should be annoyed at Kyle for acting in such a way -- even if it may not really have been Kyle doing more than following orders or simply acting without understanding of the situation. It would not matter to Norrell, who is still frustrated at the perceived betrayal.

[akillersmile]

"It means I don't really fit anywhere else right now," he replies with a shrug. Kyle's plenty comfortable in this situation, with an authority figure on the opposite side of the desk, even one potentially angry at him for doing stupid shit again. He spent a lot of time on K.P. and scrubbing floors with toothbrushes in his day. "And I wasn't in Bromley, because I don't know enough about the fae to support or oppose them. But I'm more curious about your attitudes, sir."

[hurtfew]

Curious about his attitudes. That seems to soften some of his bristling irritation, and he studies Kyle curiously a moment before leaning forward -- lacing his hands together on the desk.

"How long have you been in London?" he prompts, because Kyle's accent is still obvious. It may be a short time, or it may simply be that it has never faded -- both are possible. Norrell wishes to establish which it is before he goes on.

[youronlylaw]

James has been in Kyle's shoes before. Not concerning Lupercalia, but this very moment. Although, he ensured his curse was completed a little more immediately. Kyle at least, has a chance of staying human.

And James wants to help. He tries to make a joke to diffuse whatever stress Kyle is feeling as he arrives, but it's clear he's reaching for it.

"And here I hoped we'd meet again with better circumstances."

[akillersmile]

"James Memon, ladies and gentlemen," he murmurs in reply, making his lack of amusement apparent. Kyle realizes that he's feeling more agitated than usual lately. He blames it on the stress of the curse and his poor sleeping habits, it never occurring to him that the curse itself might be to blame.

He leans back on the driver's side door of his car. The clandestine feeling of meeting in a parking lot is intentional, something familiar to Kyle and less conspicuous than visiting the man's office. It's also safer than wandering around the East End's territories whistling and calling 'here werewolf, werewolf.'

"It was mostly gray with some patches of black and either brown or gold. I didn't get a good look at how big it was. Gray paws, some black on the snout or muzzle, whatever it's called." He tries to think of other descriptive factors that might help, loosely crossing his arms and ignoring the ache in his shoulder. "One of yours? You get why I might want to put it down."

[youronlylaw]

James half turns in his seat to face Kyle and he can see the wear the curse is putting on him. His own time between killing the wolf who turned him and being bitten wasn't nearly so long, so he never really saw how much it could get to someone.

His smile is more of a sympathetic wince than anything, and he shakes his head.

"Not unless you want to be turned you don't want to. The next anything you kill will activate it."

He won't put the wolf down. Not if he doesn't have to, but he does need to know something else..

"Do you remember the borough you were in when it happened?"

[akillersmile]

"Yeah, yeah. I know how it works." He waves a hand dismissively, idly wishing he was one of the many soldiers who smoked and considering picking up the habit to help ease his nerves. "I won't be killing anyone myself."

Not to say that other people can't do it for him. All some members of Hillingdon need is an excuse and a point in the right direction. Kyle doesn't actually want the thing dead unless it needs to be taken out though, unless it was intentional. Also he's heard something about how he might need to find the thing as part of his cure.

"I was somewhere around Hackney or Islington." More on the lookout for rogue vampires than rabid dogs.

[youronlylaw]

James taps on his phone, taking notes about the attack. He remembers the description just fine and as Kyle says the names of the boroughs James looks up in confusion.

"...That's an odd place to find a wolf."

And truly it is. No one without a death wish would go into vampire territory, transformed or not. The territory lines were still painfully clear during the full moon.

"Have you talked with a witch? They might be able to help you figure out how to cure this."

The way he sounds as he says it though...James is doubtful.