03.2023 | WELCOME BACK! Hello friends old and new! I'm so excited to welcome you all back to SITW! I've made some changes to the plot and added the ability to play supernatural charcaters! So come and check it out! I can't wait to jump back into this little town with all of you!
A strange history surrounds the town, it is a place where mysterious and supernatural things have been known to happen. The reputation of the town reguarly draws in visitors and newcomers alike. While some residents avidly believe in the supernatural, others are far more skeptical. What do you believe?
Darcy was ready to pounce out of the way, when a sharp whistle distracted both her and the bear. No, dammit Ferris. She thought as the bear stood up again and seemed ready to run toward him. Darcy gave a sharp growl, gold eyes flashing as she jumped to the side and wound up to run at full force.
The bear growled and began charging in the direction of Ferris. While she could appreciate his bravery, or was it stupidity? Darcy couldn’t let Ferris get hurt more than he might already be. She could now smell his blood in the air too, and that made her stomach turn. She grunted and ran full force to headbutt the bear and roll it off the course for Ferris. It took all her strength, but she managed to send the bear tumbling down a slight incline. It took it a moment to register and get it’s bearings, but looked back at her and then Ferris with clear agitation.
With a forceful pounce, the wolf landed firmly between Ferris and the bear, a deep growl reverberating through her chest and throat as she readied herself to pounce again. Though her back left leg trembled slightly at the action, the wound still bleeding. She might be in pain, but she could handle things until her pack showed up. Which she knew wasn’t long, she could smell them in the air. And so could the bear, who now began charging toward them once again.
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 30, 2023 0:29:53 GMT
Although bravery and stupidity were closely related, this was almost entirely stupidity. Stupid as it was, alarming as it was, terrifying as it was, the fire chief didn't have room for any of that. He'd been in plenty of tough spots, maybe never quite like this, but it always seemed that in moments of life of death situations, a sort of calm control came over him. Like some other engine inside took control. Ferris felt all those emotions, but the drive to act came first.
The wolf's growl divided his attention, and for a moment, he thought he was going to have two wild animals on his ass. The entire opposite of what Darcy had implied earlier. The bear charged and he knew there was no out running it. He'd either have to defend himself or get lucky enough to dodge out of the way and climb a tree. For all of two heart beats, Ferris faced down the bear like a matador facing down an angry bull. Every muscle in his body screaming to move but that engine commanded everything to wait.
That level of stupid was saved by the massive, magnificent wolf (no denying what he saw now) bounding in front of him. His breath caught in his throat. Okay, so maybe the ranger was right that the wolves would help, but that didn't mean what she said made any sense. In fact, that it happened after she said as much seemed to make even less sense. He couldn't help but stare for another heartbeat, noticing the blood on the wolf's back leg and just how defensive it seemed to be over him.
The next moment, with the two kaijus facing off slightly down the hill, Ferris turned his attention to where he'd last seen Darcy. He scrambled toward the other side of the trail and the brush she had dashed into, only to trip and barely catch himself on her discarded pack. And her noticeably free from blood clothes. Between the bear, the giant wolf, and a supposed nude ranger running about in the forest somewhere, he wasn't sure what to think.
She had been so distracted by the bear, she forgot two things; her discarded clothes and the approaching pack. She tried her best to be defensive with the bear without hurting it, not trying to do any serious damage. But her hesitation earned her a rather vicious slap to her left shoulder. She yelped and rolled off to the side, trying to avoid the next swing.
Thankfully, the next swipe of a paw was thrown off when another large wolf lunged and bit into the bear’s arm, pulling it further off the trail and away from her. Finally!
Darcy thought to herself as she met the gaze of two other wolves who then joined their companion in herding the bear further into the woods. She was thankful that the presence of the other wolves made the bear rethink continuing to engage. Though it did throw a few more swipes and she could tell one of the other wolves got hit. She needed to get back to her clothes so she could shift back and check on Ferris. Her heightened adrenaline not wanting her to abandon the fight, but she trusted the others had it managed. She had to check on the man and make sure he wasn’t hurt too badly.
She held in a low growl at the heat from her thigh wound, pushing herself away from a tree and back toward the foliage where she’d left her clothes. And to where Ferris stood. Fuck. the large grey wolf froze in place, though clearly favoring her left legs. The back leg still bleeding while the front was sore. Despite his presence, she had to shift back. She couldn’t set her dislocated shoulder until she did, and she needed to address the wounds on her thigh.
Just hoping he didn’t view her as a threat, she laid down and exhaled slowly, willing her body to return to her human form. She had long sense grown accustomed to being seen after a shift during runs with the pack, but she couldn’t remember the last time she’d revealed herself to a human. Darcy dropped to the grown with a grumble, her thigh stinging the worst, but her shoulder causing her the most issues at the moment.
“I know everything you’ve seen is a lot to process, but I’m going to need to help setting my shoulder so I can dress myself.” Darcy managed out between labored breaths, though she did happen to grab a hold of her flannel and cover herself somewhat, now was not the time to worry about timidity.
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 30, 2023 2:54:01 GMT
He heard the other wolves more than he saw them. Between the growls and howls and the thunder of paws, he'd guess at least two more. He also really hoped none of them got any ideas. Certainly, they could all smell him, especially with the blood running down his arm. Just because one wolf decided to jump between him and the bear didn't mean to others wouldn't decide he was a snack once they were finished killing it or running it off.
"Darcy?" He called out, not exactly sure what he was expecting. It didn't make any sense for her to abandon her clothes. Maybe as a way to have the bear lose her scent? He looked around at the woods, not seeing any other sign of his hiking companion. His attention shifted back to toward the scuffle down the slope at some extended yelps, but from the sound of it, the wolves were chasing the bear away. Good. Not that it helped his nerves to hear something moving toward him. He backed up slowly and then froze when the same grey wolf padded out from the brush. They seemed a lot more banged up than before, favoring two legs. Ferris didn't know a lot about wolves, but a hurt animal was even more dangerous.
His hair was a mess, blood seeping through his left sleeve, his jacket hanging open, making it a lot more obvious that he was indeed armed. But he still didn't twitch or even seem to think about pulling a gun out to defend himself. "Thanks for the help with the bear," he said slowly, doing his best to project calm, moving his hands slowly to his side and taking another step back. "I'm just gonna look for my friend, okay?"
He watched it lay down, which seemed to be some kind of agreement. Or at least a sign he wasn't going to get pounced on like the bear. And then, beyond all the other unexplainable phenomenon he had just witness in the last five minutes, he watched the massive beast seem to...melt into a shaking, bleeding, naked as the day she was born, woman. If not for the adrenaline still coursing through him and the lack of control he had of himself at the moment, he might have stumbled back. But instead he just stood there, staring at Darcy. Until she spoke and reached for her shirt.
Ferris barely waited for her to finish speaking before he dropped his pack and pulled his jacket off to drape over her, providing a lot more coverage to work with since she seemed worried. Whatever the fuck he had just witnessed could wait. Whatever mountain of questions he had would wait. Darcy was hurt. And he was pretty sure she had saved his life. "It's dislocated?" he asked, reaching out to take her hand gently. "You should lay down." All business. Normally he'd rather they wait to get back to town but...given what he'd just seen, he wasn't about to tell Darcy to wait.
She couldn’t imagine how crazy this all must seem to him, but to be honest; she appreciated the fact that he didn’t ply her with questions or freak out. Instead he covered her with his jacket and was ready to assist her with the dislocated shoulder.
“Yes, I was just trying to scar it, and I got sloppy with my jumps.” Darcy admitted through gritted teeth as she laid herself down and exhaled, bracing herself for the dislocation to be righted. It was also at this time that she realized she had indeed smelled his blood. “You’re bleeding too… how bad is it?” She asked him with a raised brow, wincing slightly at the pain in her leg.
Darcy didn’t often sustain damage like this, but a dislocated shoulder was such a pain in the ass. She was glad to have his assistance, especially because she figured out of anyone she could have dealt with a bear attack with, someone with basic first aid care would be a solid choice, and he was more than qualified.
last edited Oct 30, 2023 3:58:56 GMT by Darcy Vance
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 30, 2023 4:31:37 GMT
If he hadn't put together that Darcy was the wolf before, he certainly did now. No wonder she had said the wolves might help. Hell, she probably fucking new them. It explained too why the bear had been so aggressive toward her specifically, scenting her in its territory. Maybe too how she had shoved him so easily and seemed so anxious the whole hike and- holy shit, she was a God damn werewolf! and he was just calmly sitting here giving her first aid. Did she even need it? Why wasn't she ripping his throat out in a sort of 'no witnesses' kind of way? Is that what happened to visitors and others that went missing around here? Were there more werewolves?
But instead, Ferris was simply relieved he was still tense and full of adrenaline enough to keep that shit mostly contained, trying his best to ignore her casually talking about the encounter. He moved to sit at her side and took a gentle but firm hold of her arm, pulling it slowly straight out from her body without a word until he felt her shoulder thunk back into place.
"I...am," he said slowly, like he had nearly forgotten about the fact he was bleeding. His back hurt the most from slamming into the tree, but while there were some raw patches, mostly it would bruise and he would regret it in the morning if he didn't get some ice on it soon. That seemed unlikely. And speaking of it, now that he was on the ground, the man had a feeling he wouldn't be getting up. Ferris reached up to check his neck and head, finding those relatively intact. But the movement strained his arm, which made him look down at it, almost surprised at the impressive gash along the outside of his forearm. He flexed his fingers. Nothing broken, most of the muscles were okay. But his jacket had definitely helped with the bleeding and lacking that it wasn't so great. He lifted his hand to his shoulder slowly to rest it there.
"It's...pretty bad," he said eventually. "Your leg okay?" He wasn't trying to defer his problem, but at least one of them needed to be functional to help the other. "I have some bandages in my pack. Proper first aid in my truck."
Try as she might to remain ready enough to expect the pain, she couldn’t help the way her face contorted as her shoulder was properly set. Despite being in her human form, her clenched jaw almost made it sound like she was growling at the pain. She exhaled sharply as she sat up, rolling the sore shoulder and shaking her head, wild curls shaking loose some leaves as she did.
Darcy winced as she grabbed ahold of her discarded clothes and tried to make quick work of slipping back into them. The leggings were the worst, but that was largely in part to the three stripes from where the bear’s claws caught her left thigh. Darcy forced past it though, right then left, pulling the grey leggings up over the wound and fighting the urge to scream her discomfort into the woods. But she knew that would do no good. So she settled for some muttered curses under her breath. She tied her flannel over the wound to try and help limit to blood loss. Darcy slipped half out of his jacket to pull on her shirt and looked back at him as he spoke.
She didn’t like the amount of blood she could smell coming from him. “I’ll manage until I can throw some stitches in it, here.” She offered his jacket back to him to possibly help lessen his loss of blood. Thanks to her heightened levels of adrenaline, she wasn’t even fully aware of just exactly how much blood she’d lost. Had she been a human she’d have passed out already, gotta love those werewolf perks. “We’re not far from the parking lot, but still this needs to be lessened some.” Darcy was gently stepping toward him and lifted his hand and shook her head. It was a deep gash, but not too problematic if they could get the bleeding to stop. Darcy tore trips from her flannel to tie off above his wound to help restrict the blood flow.
“The first aid in my hiking bag needs to be updated, it’s got some basic bandages, but for falls. Nothing this extensive.” She admitted with a shrug, trying to keep most of her weight on her right leg. “May I?” She asked him with a raised brow, motioning to his arm with the strips of flannel to help tie it off, at least temporarily.
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 30, 2023 22:58:48 GMT
Ferris left his attention mostly in the direction the other wolves had gone. Not because he could see anything, but because it was the decent thing to do rather than watch Darcy get dressed. Though, seeing her nearly nude somehow seemed to be one of the least revealing sights she had made him privy to in the last five minutes. Of course he had looked in that brief moment, he rather couldn't help himself watching a...a werewolf change back into a person in front of him. That person happened to be very good looking, with or without clothes on.
He continued to sit there, nodded as Darcy brushed aside more first aid. Once again, Ferris wasn't inclined to press the werewolf to do anything she didn't want to. Ferris accepted his jacket and managed to pull it halfway on before pausing and letting her inspect the damage herself. The bandages he had would help, but he probably needed stiches just as much as Darcy did. And a tourniquet. Which he was a lot slower at getting to, now that things had calmed down and the pain set in. He was relieved to see she understood what he needed, from the quick work she made shredding her flannel shirt. "Be my guest," he said, though his tone was much more appreciative than the words alone.
"Uh, sorry I...found your clothes," he offered awkwardly while she tied the strips around his elbow. He'd sort of accidentally forced her hand by being in that exact spot.
Once she finished, he offered her his other hand, wordlessly asking for help up. "Nice and easy, eh?"
With his permission, Darcy set to turning the strips of flannel and a stick into a rough, but functional; tourniquet. She tied the flannel to his upper arm and used the stick as a windlass, and tightened as much as she could without inflicting much more pain. She used another strip of flannel to secure the stick in place and then gave a slight nod.
“Shit happens, it’s not like we knew we’d be running into a bear when setting off on this hike.” Darcy shrugged, taking a deep breath as she steadied herself and then took the hand Ferris offered and helped him to his feet. Darcy didn’t really care about all the politics of everything at the moment, she wanted to get their wounds tended to properly and would worry about everything else at another time. She’d catch quite the lecture from the elders of the pack, and she imagined it wouldn’t bode well for her with the older pack in town either. She’d cross that bridge when she got to it though, right now; she wanted to stop bleeding g like a stuck pig.
“Slow and steady, nice and easy; whatever gets us there without straining or hurting ourselves too much more.” She chuckled a little and grabbed her pack up, wincing a little as she tossed it over her shoulder. She’d be sore for the next few days for sure.
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 31, 2023 17:12:24 GMT
He nodded approvingly at her makeshift tourniquet. Hadn't he just been thinking about his year long record of keeping hinself out of urgent care? It was a rather small personal victory now dashed on the rocks.
"Or a werewolf," he said quietly. It was almost to himself except he was daring her to correct him.
He groaned and then swore loudly at the effort of standing, grip on Darcy's hand a bit tighter than necessary in pain. Once on his feet, he let go and pressed his hand to his thigh, leaning forward for support and resisting the lightheadedness and urge to vomit. He was mostly fine. Physically, anyway. If he had been on his old medication, he might have chalked all this up to seeing things.
Ferris pushed himself upright once more and ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath and trying to keep himself together. He offered Darcy his arm in turn, considering he wasn't sure what shape her leg was in to be limping like that. He was relieved to see the sparse gravel parking lot with just his truck.
Ferris could feel his nerves starting to get the better of him as it all sunk in. He made it as far as his truck, pressing a hand against the blue pickup and forcing himself not to shake as he pulled out his keys. His first order of business was leaning over to the glovebox for his cigarettes and lighter, before pressing his back gingerly against the driver's side passenger and lighting up.
She pulled her shoes on and fought off the urge to scream at the burning pain from the gashes on her thigh. Even when being challenged by wolves, she’d never received a wound this painful. Darcy was just thankful she stayed up to date on her shots and knew enough basic first aid care to keep herself from dying.
At first Darcy wanted to protest, but in all honesty; this was her fault. The bear wouldn’t have bothered them at all if she had a way to better mask her wolf scent. Plus, it wasn’t the bear that shoved Ferris; she did. “Yeah, about that… I’m sorry. I’ve never crossed paths with a bear, I didn’t know what to expect. But that doesn’t excuse my actions injuring you.” She sighed a little, shaking her head.
Darcy wasn’t too proud to accept his aid, taking his arm to help lessen the weight on her leg. She’d feel better when she could get the wound cleaned, stitched up and then some alcohol in her. Suddenly wishing she had tucked her flask into her pack before heading out for the day. But they made it. First to the gravel edge, then finally to his truck.
She allowed herself to press her back against the vehicle and exhale long and slow. We’re it not for the adrenaline, she’d have thrown up over the blood loss, but it also helped that she wasn’t ’just a human’. A human would have passed out before making it to the parking lot. Whether it was adrenaline or due to her being a werewolf, she truly didn’t care. She just needed to get the wound addressed.
Darcy watched Ferris take a moment for a cigarette and she chuckled. “How are you holding up?”
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Nov 1, 2023 18:57:14 GMT
He blinked at her apology. That hadn't entirely been what he was getting at. He only grunted a soft acknowledgement, plenty willing to move past the moment as water under the bridge.
Her words did give him a lot more understanding though. That this werewolf business was normal for her. Whether born to it or...or whatever you call being turned into a werewolf, this wasn't new. So she didn't fight a lot of bears, neither did he. What was new to her was having a human around. Like him.
Ferris knew that Sweetwater, like any old smalk town, had its secrets. Affairs, criminals, tragic living situations, people trying to leave but never making it out, runaways hiding here just like he was, not to speak of the family drama. He knew there was a dark web that he stayed away from. But werewolves? It explained a hell of a lot and also nothing at all. But her suggestion that protecting a normal human like himself was new implied that at the very least, this wasn't a secret the entire town knew of.
He narrowed his eyes at her at the laugh and then the loaded question. She had to know he was nervous. Could maybe even smell it on him. So he needed a crutch.
"This isn't one of those 'Now that you know my secret, I have to kill you' scenarios, is it?" How did one kill a werewolf anyway? Silver bullets in the movies, but this wasn't Hollywood. The fire chief couldn't claim to having the highest sense of self preservation but getting mauled by a wolf girl was pretty low on his list of ways to go out. "Are there...more of you around? Werewolves, I mean?" He had a guess all those other massive wolves he had seen aid them were. Not that he wanted names. The less people that knew that he knew the better.
"You don't seem worried that I know," he observed. His other internal debate was if he should say anything to anyone else. How would he explain something like this without sounding insane? And who was going to believe him over Darcy anyway? No. Ferris was not interested in starting a 'he said, she said' debate with the woman. That didn't end well for him. Besides, she'd saved his life. And at least as far as he knew, no werewolves had ever hurt any innocents in town.
In his silence, Darcy allowed herself time to simply breathe and focus on the steps she needed to take next. Clean and disinfect their wounds, then get them stitched up. She didn’t know his stance on the stitches, if he wanted his done at a hospital or not.
Personally, Darcy only ever saw other members of her pack for things like this. Namely because she didn’t need hospitals or doctors poking around and asking questions about scars or scar tissues. She was a fucking werewolf, of course she had scar tissue. She’d dealt with bones breaking and her body changing from human to giant wolf ever since she was a teenager. Granted it wasn’t as painful as the first time, but it still wasn’t ever completely painless.
She was rummaging through her pack when she heard his question and she couldn’t help but crack a grin. “Shit, just take all the fun out of this for me; why don’t cha?” she laughed, shaking her head as she pulled her first aid kit from the pack and grabbed the bottle of disinfectant. “No, not one of those scenarios. You’ll have to give me a few days to clear the air with my pack and the elders, I’ll catch a lecture for sure. But there are even humans who live with and travel with us, we do appreciate our privacy though.” Darcy wasn’t about to go into the details of everything now, because there was far too much to unpack.
She used the scissors from her first aid kit to remove the now blood soaked section of her leggings from her thigh, relieved to see she wasn’t bleeding as heavily as she was before. But she knew she wouldn’t completely stop until she patched herself up a little. “You have no idea…” Darcy responded softly, not willing to mention that there were actually two packs in Sweetwater currently. It wasn’t her place to reveal everything. “My pack lives around town.” She admitted as she poured the disinfectant on her wound and winced, biting her bottom lip to refrain from releasing the curses she wanted to scream.
“Well, I don’t get a bad vibe off you Ferris.” Darcy said with a shrug, then peaked in the open door of the vehicle at him with a wink. “Plus, if you tell anyone, I’ll just have to turn you.” He likely didn’t know her or her sense of humor well enough to tell she was only joking, but it wouldn’t hurt for him to wonder. Darcy hadn’t ever turned anyone before, simply because she didn’t agree with forcing this lifestyle on someone. She hissed through her teeth as she continued cleaning the wound on her thigh. “You’re surprisingly calm, all things considered.”
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Nov 1, 2023 23:24:05 GMT
He finished the first cigarette and pulled out another, playing with it between his fingers for a moment before losing that mental battle and going for round two as he pressed the spent butt into a tray in his truck. He never smoked in here unless he had the doors open which helped with the smell. But he also didn't usually chain smoke either. Or had any plans to do so out in the middle of the woods when there were already strange fires going on. But well...
It was easier to close his eyes and focus on her voice and push everything else into the voice, trying to hold onto that calm that usually took him over in stressful situations. The notion she was part of a pack that lived around here made sense, if was a bit unsettling. He wasn't sure he liked the sound of 'clear the air' but he was pretty sure he was just a passenger in that ride. He took a deep breath of smoke and then let it out after a moment, looking down at his lap and the drops of blood collecting on his jeans with a blank expression. Ferris snorted. "No shit," he said as she expressed how they liked their privacy. Just like any other neighbors on the other side of the fence.
Halfway through his second smoke, Darcy's soft noises of pain pierced through his attempts to calm his nerves. He moved to get up and then froze as she threatened him. Turned him? Turned him into a werewolf. AKA, bite him. Yeah, he supposed that was the word he had heard before. He glanced over at her, grey eyes meeting her sharp dark brown look. He narrowed his eyes at her slightly, not sure how to take her words, about to ask her to double down on that threat, if indeed it was one, until she winked at him. The tension dissipated just as suddenly and he coughed faintly. There the idea would remain.
Ferris stepped out of the truck and moved back to her side with a shrug. "It's a mental tool I use. I've had experience. Not with anything like...you," he admitted. Another hour, plus or minus the blood loss, and he wasn't so sure he wouldn't panic a little, but as a firefighter and military pilot, he had to be able to keep things together on the surface. "Plus the nicotine helps. Darcy, you, uh...want a hand or is there somewhere you want to go? I'm not great at sewing." Considering how nonchalant Darcy seemed about treating this injury and the fact she hadn't passed out, her body probably didn't work the same as a human's. The urgent care would be suspicious. So...maybe the ranger's station or some sort of safe house?
The smell of his cigarettes was almost calming. Though she had never been one to smoke herself, her mother had. While she didn’t have all the memories from her younger years, thanks to the car accident that killed her mother; Darcy found the scent of a cigarette to be a soothing thing. It even made the corners of her mouth turn up slightly as she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
For the time being she was fine with just cleaning it, but that wouldn’t be good enough. She needed to seal the wounds, and she needed to address Ferris’ gash on his arm. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, just trying to calm her nerves. The adrenaline was wearing down and she was feeling a lot more of her pain, from both her leg and her shoulder. Darcy looked back to Ferris with a nod. “I’ve not met many people who could keep such a level head, you’re a good man to have in an emergency Ferris.” she said with a faint smile as she pressed her head back against the truck for a moment, then put her weight back in her legs, though not so heavily on her left side.
“I can handle the sewing, it won’t be beautiful, but it’ll close the wound and eventually heal. But the ranger station will have more supplies, I doubt my pack has enough to cover the number of stitches I need.” She shrugged and then gave a slight chuckle. “Plus I’ve got my hidden bottle of emergency whiskey, it’ll help take the edge off before I start with a needle… you good to drive?”