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[Matthew has never been a terribly polite person. He matches Drew's grin in a knowing sort of way, casually moving his hand to graze Drew's hip.]

I won't take off without you. Then again, between you and me, I might need a head-start.

[He steps back just a little; he's never witnessed a werewolf shift, but figures a bit of distance might do him well. He takes a split second to be fascinated by those glowing eyes before he counts down:]

One ... two ... three.

[Matthew's own shift is not instant, but it is sudden. In the same moment of time, his skin darkens to black and his limbs shrink and contort; it takes almost no time at all before his body has gone from attractive, scarred-up Matthew Lin to an unsettlingly large house-cat. That is, large for a cat; he can't weigh more than 15 or 16 pounds. He's black, hairless and wrinkled, with a long, rat-like tail and exaggerated claws. But most striking and ugly of all are the three pairs of yellow eyes, aligned vertically, making six in total. They blink out of sync with one another, as Matthew the Cat (Catthew, one might say) now stands much shorter than before, looking up at Drew as the werewolf presumably completes his own shift.]

Y'probably might. [He grins nice and wide, even among his pack Drew was well known for his speed rather than his strength. Then again he didn't know what to expect from Matthew once the two of them had shifted.

He takes a step away from Matthew and turns away completely. His skin seems to ripple as a loud growl bordering on a cry of pain is torn from his throat, dropping him to his knees as the familiar cacophony of pops and snaps begins, the werewolf's bones breaking themselves apart only to be knitted together again. A light sheen of sweat covers his face as he groans loudly again, his jaw pulling apart and elongating into a muzzle. It was painful and grotesque to watch but once he's done a humongous wolf turns around to be greeted by the cat, its head tilting to the side in confusion and something close to challenge.

That was not a normal cat at all and the wolf was, well, suspicious.]

[Drew's shift is quite a sight to see, altogether more physical, in a sense, where Abduxel's has a more magical quality lubricating the nasty parts of re-shaping bone and sinew.

Once the wolf faces him, the cat is tense, but only as a precaution; he doesn't know Drew well, he doesn't know werewolves well, and while he can shapeshift quickly, he's at an immense size disadvantage. His whole head could probably fit in Drew's mouth without much trouble - if Drew were ever inclined to eat something as strange-looking as him.

He stands there, tail slowly shifting from side to side.

If he were a man, Drew would see him smiling slyly as he slowly comes to understand the uncertainty that the wolf is communicating; he isn't quite adept enough at canine body-language to narrow it right down to suspicion, but he knows how he looks. Other shifters in his world would know he wasn't really one of them immediately - not entirely, anyway, not anymore.

The cat's ears pitch forward in curios attentiveness, which wrinkles his ugly little forehead. And then he makes that high-pitched, rumbling happy noise that cats are wont to make: mrrr.

Even that sounds a little weird. Like there's five or six cats making the noise at once. But, still, it manages to be a little cute.]

[Drew can't help it, there's a noise reverberating from his own chest that's a lot less one of pleasure on one of confusion, bordering on aggression. It was completely the wolf rather than Drew himself, a little unsavoury moment of instinct as he stands there with his teeth bared, the growl rumbling out of his throat.

It takes him a couple of seconds to kick his own head into gear, switching from instinct to self control as he takes a breath in, the ever present spicy smell that hung around Matthew assaulting him and reminding the werewolf this man was a friend, even if his shape-shifted form seemed to be the kind of thing one would have a hard time associating as an ally.

Drew finally backs off, pulling up into a less aggressive stance and cutting that growl short with a whine. He had to remember that even if there was something sinister about Matthew's form, the man behind it was still nice enough. His head cocks to the side though in an expression that was almost a question.]

[His ears flick back a little and his tail lashes as Drew makes that noise, his weight shifting backwards onto his hind legs where he stands, in case he needs to make a desperate bid for freedom. He reflects on how risky an idea this was, and resists the urge to back away as Drew sizes him up. No need to make this look worse than it is - or, rather, too confirm it's as evil an omen as the wolf seems to detect.

Then, his posture relaxes when Drew's does. His eyes blink asynchronously in response to the wolf cocking its head, with a feline silence.

Matthew the cat then drops his upper body in a dog-like pose of play, wiggling, yellow pupil-less eyes gleaming up at Drew. Lighten up, let's run.]

[He understood that body language a lot better than he understood the visual form of the cat and his jaw hangs low, tongue lolling out and showing a much more relaxed picture in comparison to the tense moment the two of them had shared a moment before. He makes a yipping noise not unlike a bark before nodding his muzzle up and down in agreement- it certainly was playtime now.]

[The cat strafes right and left a bit, playfully, before he bounds off in one direction. He's unnaturally fast for a cat, but even simply by the sheer length of Drew's legs he will be easily overtaken. He dashes wildly into the forest, dodging around trees and foliage, under logs and hopping "cutely" over small obstacles.]

[Drew hadn't expected Matthew to go bounding off like that so its no surprise when the werewolf is suddenly bounding after the cat, it wasn't as fast as he could go, but then again he'd barely shown anyone here his speed yet. He got the idea people would be less up for the fun of it if they found out he could move faster than most eyes could trace.

He was a lot less cute about his actions though, trailing through the under bush like a mad man, his claws kicking up dirt as he went. It felt nice, liberating, to be outside under the stars even as the moon got fuller as the days went by.]

[The quiet cat runs through the brush, barely disturbing it, followed by the crashing, enormous wolf.

Whether he slows or Drew speeds, he ends up alongside the wolf, and the two of them frolicking looks like something out of a Brothers Grimm dark fairy-tale.]

[Now that he could see the cat was doing pretty well at following him Drew was practically a blur as he cut through the forest, kicking up less dirt in his tracks now, there was only the loud rustling as his body brushed the things he was leaving behind. He eventually stops on top of a large rock, head scanning the sky for a moon that would soon be full before he lets out one unnaturally loud howl, sending birds flocking to the skies and smaller animals running for the hills. He was claiming this area through his howl, even if Matthew was there with him.]

[His little cat legs can't eventually keep up, unnaturally quickened or not, with the bounding powerful strides of the huge wolf ahead of him. As Drew dodges through the forest and Matthew falls behind a little, he seems to vanish from sight; but Drew will recognize him by scent again when, mid-leap, he transforms instead into a bat, and Drew finds him gliding around over his head while he lets out that chilling howl. It chills Matthew, too, but he doesn't flee. Matthew as a bat is similarly oversized and hairless, but instead of six eyes, only sports a third, and a second set of flapping wings.]

[He'd expected Matthew to disappear, because he knew in the back of his mind that the other man wasn't going to be fast enough. He knew at least that Matthew would catch up though, he just didn't quite expect it to be in a new and different form. A form that is, however, equally as disturbing as the last. He couldn't help but set himself to growling again though, because Matthew had explained himself poorly and he was starting to get suspicious of the other shifter.]

[Once Drew sees fit to growl, Matthew's wings resume flapping instead of gliding, so that he can gain altitude. This thing can probably jump fairly high, he imagines, and so he does quick, high circles over Drew for now, but those three eyes are watching.

Then, suddenly, he speaks. His mouth doesn't appear to move, and his voice sounds more like a collection of discordant, grating voices that are almost like Matthew Lin's: some are deeper and some higher, some human and some unnatural, bizarre. But it's clear where the voice is coming from.]

What's the matter, Andrew Warner? Cat got your tongue?

[To the wolf's ears he can practically pick out each individual voice and most of them set his heart racing, a whine escaping from his muzzle. He doesn't know how to deal with it in this form, there was a pang of fear and anxiety in his chest, there's sudden popping noises as Drew forces himself out of the form and suddenly there's a bloody man crouching there on the rock, staring up at the bat with those glowing blue eyes.]

Matthew? The hell is this?

What does it look like?

[The bat laughing is probably one of the more unsettling sounds around. He stops circling to hang upside-down from a branch near Drew, just out of arm's reach.]

I'm just enjoying the night.

[Drew still can't help those negative emotions swirling inside him, he didn't like feeling afraid or anxious, he'd come here to be comfortable. This though, it wasn't comfortable to him and he was starting to feel the spicy smell that followed his... friend? Was something bad after all.]

Its kinda scary, man... you didn't mention y'could do more than one shift.

I can do three.

[The bat spreads its wings and swoops down, and he shifts back - not into a man, but into the six-eyed cat, to stand on the forest floor in front of Drew.

But then he drops and rolls onto his back, head upside down and blinking up at Drew, like a cat that wants belly-rubs.]

Relaaaax.

Three? [Drew looks perplexed.] What are you? [The question slips out of his mouth before he can stop himself, it was quite a rude thing to ask back home.]

I'm a rat, too.

[But then he realizes what Drew means.]

I'm just a shapeshifter, Drew. Nothing to find scary, here. That big beautiful wolf in you is much more frightening than little me.

[He stretches his exaggerated claws out like any cat stretching for attention.]

Edited 2015-08-18 00:49 (UTC)

[He still isn't quite comfortable.]

Oh yeah? Well at least my wolf is a good ol' fashioned animal that doesn't speak with about a hundred voices. [That's right Matthew, Drew's ears are sensitive enough that he can pick those out, there's no pulling the wool over this wolf's eyes.]

Your wolf doesn't speak at all, I gather. If he did, maybe he'd sound like me.

[The cat rolls back onto its front and stands, approaching human-Drew with a very feline saunter, his tail slowly swishing behind him. Those six eyes blink up at him.]

What are you so worried about? Have I given you any reason not to trust me?

...Somethin' tells me it wouldn't.

[But he wasn't so sure about that, he sits down slowly on the rock as the cat approaches, extending a hand as if he might stroke Matthew should the other man brush past.]

I guess not. Maybe I'm just bein' a little paranoid.

[If he were capable right now, he'd be smiling, pleased that Drew's guard is sinking back down again. But he's also trapped himself, as he really doesn't want to shift back in front of the werewolf; he doubts it would be taken well, given his horns...]

It's alright. I know how I look and sound.

[There's that grating, disconcerting laugh again. He does brush past, acting the part of a real cat, headbutting Drew's hand and walking along with his back arched for rubs or scratches.]

I usually don't tell people so early. You can imagine why.

[Drew wouldn't have so many problems or paranoia if Matthew just fessed up to being something more than a shape shifter. But that would be a discussion for another time. He let's his warn hand stroke across the cat's head and along his spine.]

Kinda jealous if I'm bein' honest, man... I'd kill to be able to speak when I'm shifting.

[Matthew starts purring as Drew pets him, and it sounds about as awful and creepy as you might expect. Maybe like a garborating dump-truck or something.

He walks along, turns around and does it again.]

Even if you had my beautiful voice?

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