Ezra immediately draws his hand back, presenting it safely and empty to show the leopard he means no harm, then extends it forward to return the greeting.
He recognises him now: the were leopard that bloodied his nose last night, and ran off when the cops showed. He's not surprised he was able to follow Ezra back to their squat, but he is surprised that he did.
"What are you doing here?" he asks, and on realising that he can't answer, he sighs.
He obviously isn't expected, which is a mild concern, but being recognised - and invited in - is at least promising. Perhaps he was supposed to be somewhere else, and that's what caused the surprise, though there was something about the tone...
He doesn't know, and he can't really find out until he can actually ask some questions of his own, so he ducks his head in a nod and then gently nudges his head against the boy again in encouragement, hoping that one or the other - or both - will confirm his answer is yes.
Ezra nudges back with his knuckles, not doing anything as patronising as petting, before he stands up and quietly opens the door.
"Keep it down if you can," he says. "The others are sleeping. I'll just sneak into my room and grab you something to wear, okay?"
He's not sure Hera and the others will be happy about him bringing an unfriendly into their home, but the boy is obviously distraught and needs a place to go, and Ezra can't turn someone away.
If he can. His feet are basically automatically slippers, he's not the one who'll need to try and 'keep it down'.
He chuffs softly, like a laugh, and then pads silently after Ezra as he leads him inside.
He had hoped there would be more familiar smells here, but there's nothing - well, nothing that's enough to suggest he's been here before, anyway. Maybe that's why the boy was surprised to see him.
When they get to Ezra's room, though, and the clothes are offered, he tries to shift so he can actually get to the bottom of what's going on and finds he can't. He'd blame the fact he's still quite tired only the real problem is that he thinks he's forgotten how. He did it so quickly last time it just sort of happened, but now...
He tries willing it, tries thinking human thoughts, but he just ends up standing there for longer and longer, his tail swishing slightly in frustration as he tries to understand why he suddenly can't figure this out.
Ezra himself is also ghost-quiet, his feet so light on the floor they hardly make an impression until he's in his pokey room, sitting on his bedroll and waiting for the boy to change.
He doesn't, and Ezra frowns. "What's wrong?" he asks quietly, rhetorically of course.
The waves of frustration coming off the leopard are almost palpable now, and he moves, hunkering down next to him.
The leopard makes a quiet, frustrated growling noise and ducks his head in a nod again.
If he was capable of it, he'd probably be blushing - just about the only thing he knows about himself is that he's a shifter and now he can't even do that? How long is he going to be stuck like this, too? The boy doesn't smell like a were, so he's not even sure if he can help either.
Ezra wonders if he should wake Sabine, ask for her advice, but she's never before mentioned anyone ever being stuck in one form, not beyond the werewolves who get stuck in the lunar cycle, but that's different. What he can remember is when they used to spar together and he would feel her shift, feel the changes her body was going through. He's not sure if he can help, but it's worth a try.
What he is sure of is that it's a huge risk to expose himself as a witch to this kid who Ezra knows happens to hate him. But he also hates the state, he knows that. Surely he won't turn him in?
"Okay," he says. "Let me try something, okay? I'm not going to hurt you. And, um... don't freak out, okay?"
He puts a hand out to the leopard's flank and shuts his eyes, breathing in and out in deep slow breaths as he reaches his mind out to the boy.
He can't magic the kid back into human form, but he can feel points of tension, blocks where the usual energy would flow, an undercurrent of stress and anxiety. Ezra touches his mind against each of these spots and breathes gently, letting his magic play softly along the boy's energy, easing blockages away as unobtrusively as possible.
In the end, it's sort of a combination - he gets so distracted and fascinated at what the boy's doing that he stops overthinking it, and with the tension in him melting away under the influence of magic, it's easier just to lean into that flow and allow the shift to happen rather than trying to force it.
Soon enough he's sitting on the floor in entirely human form - if Ezra didn't move his hand when he felt the change start to happen, he'd find it now resting on the warm skin of the boy's waist.
"Thank you." He says, feeling a flood of relief at being able to speak again. It's only after he's spoken that he realises what that tingling flow of magic meant.
"You're... a witch?" He asks. Did he already know that? Maybe not, maybe that's what he was expected to freak out about. He doesn't feel freaked out, there's something vaguely unsettling about the feel of the magic, something weirdly ticklish, but aside from a sense of caution in the back of his mind that means nothing to him, he's not sure what about the whole situation is worth freaking out over.
His voice is a hell of a lot softer than Ezra will have ever heard it before, without the angry determination and dislike he usually has behind it.
Ezra does move his hand, though a fraction late, because he's used to shifting and he knows that sometimes people don't appreciate the moment of naked that comes after. So he hands over a blanket immediately, along with his spare shirt. Pants can come when the boy is ready to stand.
"Yeah," he confirms, a little sheepishly and after a moment's hesitation. "Don't tell anyone, yeah?"
He hopes to god he got this right, and the boy hates authority worse than he hates Ezra, though he's still not sure why he's here.
"Uh, we haven't actually exchanged names or anything, have we? I'm Ezra."
Though it's entirely possible Ezra has shouted another name at him, or in his vicinity. But it's no time to be Jabba the Hutt right now.
He pulls on the shirt and wraps the blanket around himself, appreciating the warmth now he isn't in fur. He nods quickly; he's not going to tell anyone. Right now he isn't even sure who he would tell, or why.
It's his turn to look sheepish when Ezra introduces himself - in fact he straight up blushes, his entire demeanour awkward and embarrassed. He's grateful that Ezra has so readily helped him when it's clear he's misjudged their familiarity, he already feels a lot safer being off the street should anyone be looking for him.
"Oh... um.... well, thank you for being so kind, Ezra. The thing is that... I don't actually know what my name is?"
He's wondering, now, how he's ever going to find out who he is, if Ezra doesn't know and he doesn't have any other clues himself.
He's just so different to the scrappy, angry kid Ezra keeps running into. If he didn't look exactly the same in both forms, and have the same magical aura, Ezra would be worried it was a different guy.
"You don't know?" he repeats, in a tone that is also a request for clarification. "You don't have a name at all, or...?"
Something's very wrong, that's obvious. The kid needs Ezra's help.
As far as he's concerned, maybe he doesn't have a name at all, but he's not sure if that's actually the case so he doesn't know quite how to answer - until Ezra continues and he nods.
"Yes. I think." He says hesitantly "I woke up in a cage earlier, but I don't remember anything before that. I think things have happened before that, though."
He's pretty sure he wasn't just summoned or created today, because that wouldn't account for the aches and pains he felt from being in a fight, or the familiarity he felt around some places and scents - and Ezra.
"Thanks." he says awkwardly, fiddling with the sleeve of the shirt Ezra gave him. Now that he's out of immediate danger it's starting to sink in that he doesn't know who he is, where he's from, and that currently his only connection in the world is someone who apparently didn't know him all that well.
But he's going to help, and that's something - he wouldn't blame Ezra for turning him away to fend for himself, so he's relieved he's not doing that.
The question makes him look up, a hint of colour in his cheeks and a sheepish tone to his voice.
"Well, uh, the shirt I was wearing.. it had some blood on it and then I caught the same scent in the street and it was... familiar, somehow, so I just... followed it..."
"So... we fought... and you are still willing to help me?" He asks slowly, clearly confused by this generosity. Barely knowing each other is one thing, but actively fighting?
He looks down at his hands, frowning at his knuckles.
Ezra doesn't' know how to answer the question except with a shrug. Fighting is one thing, but he obviously needs help right now so of course Ezra's going to help him.
"Yeah, I think you do," he agrees wryly, and holds out a hand. "Want me to take a look at it?"
"They're just kind of scabby, it's no big deal." He says with a shrug, he holds his hand out anyway so Ezra can see for himself - he's not lying, there's a few mostly-healed scabs of varying ages suggesting he's had more than one fight in the last couple of weeks. Or, rather, he's punched something more than once in the last couple of weeks.
"It's okay," Ezra says easily. "I was being a bit irritating at the time, you could argue I had it coming."
He takes hold of one of the kid's hands and nods, letting it go. They're healing up okay, there's no point using up magic to speed it up, and he doesn't really want to use more magic than the shifter would be comfortable with.
"So this is an awkward question, but... is there any chance you've been followed on your way here?"
He laughs a little at that - he suspects Ezra is probably lying, if he gets in as many fights as he thinks he does, but he appreciates Ezra for saying it all the same.
He drops his hand back into his lap when Ezra lets go, and shakes his head at the question.
"I don't think so," he says - he doesn't want to dismiss the possibility, not when it might bring danger down on them both, but he does want to offer some reassurance of his own "whoever they were, something was going on that had them all distracted, that's when I escaped, so they won't have come right after me. They got a were, wolf I think, but I criss-crossed and interrupted my trail so much before I caught your scent it's probably gonna be hard for them to track. I ditched my clothes in some garbage too, so they might not even have a decent scent to follow."
Ezra listens with a critical ear, and eventually nods his approval. It seems like that should be enough.
"Then we should be okay until my friends wake up and we put a plan together about how to get those guys. Are you still tired? You could sleep here if you wanted - I'll keep watch."
He's a bit too buzzed to go back to sleep for just a couple of hours.
It's not until Ezra says it that he realises just how tired he actually is and he nods.
"Thank you, I'd appreciate that." He says genuinely, content to make himself a little nest on the floor with the blanket - though if Ezra does offer him the bedroll he certainly isn't going to say no.
Trusting that Ezra will be true to his word and keep watch, he lets himself surrender to the tiredness and falls asleep quickly.
Ezra does indeed let the kid have his bedroll - he sits in the room and meditates while waiting for the others to wake up, as he's pretty sure that someone will want to have a word when they do.
Sure enough, as morning creeps around, there is a sharp knock on the door, and a female voice says: "Ezra?"
If the kid wakes up enough to pay attention, the person outside smells distinctly like werewolf.
He stirs at the sound of the knock, though he doesn't fully untuck from the little ball he's curled himself into. He catches the scent of werewolf and stills, tense and cautious.
He tries to tell himself it's fine, that it's someone who knows Ezra so it can't be someone who's looking for him, but he stays wary nonetheless.
(Quite why he has apparently decided that Ezra is trustworthy, he isn't entirely sure, but he isn't really questioning it either)
Ezra opens his eyes, glances at the curled up ball of boy, and decides to deal with the knock first. So he stands up and goes to the door, opening just enough to give the young woman outside a view of his room.
"Hey Sabine," he starts.
"Have you got a shifter in there?" she asks pointedly, trying to peer in.
"Yeah," Ezra says, sounding mildly sheepishly. "It's okay, I know him - kinda. We know him. Listen, I'll explain at breakfast okay? He came to us in the night. He needs our help."
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branchandroot
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Date: 2025-01-26 08:46 pm (UTC)He recognises him now: the were leopard that bloodied his nose last night, and ran off when the cops showed. He's not surprised he was able to follow Ezra back to their squat, but he is surprised that he did.
"What are you doing here?" he asks, and on realising that he can't answer, he sighs.
"You want to come inside out of the cold?"
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Date: 2025-01-26 08:53 pm (UTC)He obviously isn't expected, which is a mild concern, but being recognised - and invited in - is at least promising. Perhaps he was supposed to be somewhere else, and that's what caused the surprise, though there was something about the tone...
He doesn't know, and he can't really find out until he can actually ask some questions of his own, so he ducks his head in a nod and then gently nudges his head against the boy again in encouragement, hoping that one or the other - or both - will confirm his answer is yes.
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Date: 2025-01-26 09:16 pm (UTC)"Keep it down if you can," he says. "The others are sleeping. I'll just sneak into my room and grab you something to wear, okay?"
He's not sure Hera and the others will be happy about him bringing an unfriendly into their home, but the boy is obviously distraught and needs a place to go, and Ezra can't turn someone away.
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Date: 2025-01-26 09:33 pm (UTC)If he can. His feet are basically automatically slippers, he's not the one who'll need to try and 'keep it down'.
He chuffs softly, like a laugh, and then pads silently after Ezra as he leads him inside.
He had hoped there would be more familiar smells here, but there's nothing - well, nothing that's enough to suggest he's been here before, anyway. Maybe that's why the boy was surprised to see him.
When they get to Ezra's room, though, and the clothes are offered, he tries to shift so he can actually get to the bottom of what's going on and finds he can't. He'd blame the fact he's still quite tired only the real problem is that he thinks he's forgotten how. He did it so quickly last time it just sort of happened, but now...
He tries willing it, tries thinking human thoughts, but he just ends up standing there for longer and longer, his tail swishing slightly in frustration as he tries to understand why he suddenly can't figure this out.
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Date: 2025-01-26 09:46 pm (UTC)He doesn't, and Ezra frowns. "What's wrong?" he asks quietly, rhetorically of course.
The waves of frustration coming off the leopard are almost palpable now, and he moves, hunkering down next to him.
"Are you stuck? You can't shift?"
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Date: 2025-01-26 09:58 pm (UTC)The leopard makes a quiet, frustrated growling noise and ducks his head in a nod again.
If he was capable of it, he'd probably be blushing - just about the only thing he knows about himself is that he's a shifter and now he can't even do that? How long is he going to be stuck like this, too? The boy doesn't smell like a were, so he's not even sure if he can help either.
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Date: 2025-01-26 10:11 pm (UTC)Ezra wonders if he should wake Sabine, ask for her advice, but she's never before mentioned anyone ever being stuck in one form, not beyond the werewolves who get stuck in the lunar cycle, but that's different.
What he can remember is when they used to spar together and he would feel her shift, feel the changes her body was going through. He's not sure if he can help, but it's worth a try.
What he is sure of is that it's a huge risk to expose himself as a witch to this kid who Ezra knows happens to hate him. But he also hates the state, he knows that. Surely he won't turn him in?
"Okay," he says. "Let me try something, okay? I'm not going to hurt you. And, um... don't freak out, okay?"
He puts a hand out to the leopard's flank and shuts his eyes, breathing in and out in deep slow breaths as he reaches his mind out to the boy.
He can't magic the kid back into human form, but he can feel points of tension, blocks where the usual energy would flow, an undercurrent of stress and anxiety. Ezra touches his mind against each of these spots and breathes gently, letting his magic play softly along the boy's energy, easing blockages away as unobtrusively as possible.
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Date: 2025-01-26 10:22 pm (UTC)In the end, it's sort of a combination - he gets so distracted and fascinated at what the boy's doing that he stops overthinking it, and with the tension in him melting away under the influence of magic, it's easier just to lean into that flow and allow the shift to happen rather than trying to force it.
Soon enough he's sitting on the floor in entirely human form - if Ezra didn't move his hand when he felt the change start to happen, he'd find it now resting on the warm skin of the boy's waist.
"Thank you." He says, feeling a flood of relief at being able to speak again. It's only after he's spoken that he realises what that tingling flow of magic meant.
"You're... a witch?" He asks. Did he already know that? Maybe not, maybe that's what he was expected to freak out about. He doesn't feel freaked out, there's something vaguely unsettling about the feel of the magic, something weirdly ticklish, but aside from a sense of caution in the back of his mind that means nothing to him, he's not sure what about the whole situation is worth freaking out over.
His voice is a hell of a lot softer than Ezra will have ever heard it before, without the angry determination and dislike he usually has behind it.
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Date: 2025-01-27 06:48 am (UTC)"Yeah," he confirms, a little sheepishly and after a moment's hesitation. "Don't tell anyone, yeah?"
He hopes to god he got this right, and the boy hates authority worse than he hates Ezra, though he's still not sure why he's here.
"Uh, we haven't actually exchanged names or anything, have we? I'm Ezra."
Though it's entirely possible Ezra has shouted another name at him, or in his vicinity. But it's no time to be Jabba the Hutt right now.
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Date: 2025-01-27 07:01 am (UTC)He pulls on the shirt and wraps the blanket around himself, appreciating the warmth now he isn't in fur. He nods quickly; he's not going to tell anyone. Right now he isn't even sure who he would tell, or why.
It's his turn to look sheepish when Ezra introduces himself - in fact he straight up blushes, his entire demeanour awkward and embarrassed. He's grateful that Ezra has so readily helped him when it's clear he's misjudged their familiarity, he already feels a lot safer being off the street should anyone be looking for him.
"Oh... um.... well, thank you for being so kind, Ezra. The thing is that... I don't actually know what my name is?"
He's wondering, now, how he's ever going to find out who he is, if Ezra doesn't know and he doesn't have any other clues himself.
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Date: 2025-01-27 11:50 am (UTC)"You don't know?" he repeats, in a tone that is also a request for clarification. "You don't have a name at all, or...?"
Something's very wrong, that's obvious. The kid needs Ezra's help.
"Or you can't remember?"
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Date: 2025-01-27 11:57 am (UTC)As far as he's concerned, maybe he doesn't have a name at all, but he's not sure if that's actually the case so he doesn't know quite how to answer - until Ezra continues and he nods.
"Yes. I think." He says hesitantly "I woke up in a cage earlier, but I don't remember anything before that. I think things have happened before that, though."
He's pretty sure he wasn't just summoned or created today, because that wouldn't account for the aches and pains he felt from being in a fight, or the familiarity he felt around some places and scents - and Ezra.
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Date: 2025-01-27 01:33 pm (UTC)"Shit," he says. "I'm sorry. Okay, yes, don't worry, I'm going to do everything I can to help, I promise."
His mind is racing, and he knows he's going to have to wake the others up soon.
"We all will. Me and my friends. Hey - how did you know to come here?"
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Date: 2025-01-27 01:47 pm (UTC)"Thanks." he says awkwardly, fiddling with the sleeve of the shirt Ezra gave him. Now that he's out of immediate danger it's starting to sink in that he doesn't know who he is, where he's from, and that currently his only connection in the world is someone who apparently didn't know him all that well.
But he's going to help, and that's something - he wouldn't blame Ezra for turning him away to fend for himself, so he's relieved he's not doing that.
The question makes him look up, a hint of colour in his cheeks and a sheepish tone to his voice.
"Well, uh, the shirt I was wearing.. it had some blood on it and then I caught the same scent in the street and it was... familiar, somehow, so I just... followed it..."
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Date: 2025-01-27 02:16 pm (UTC)"Yeah, you punched me in the face last night. That black eye you've got is from me, too."
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Date: 2025-01-27 02:29 pm (UTC)The boy stares at him for a moment.
"So... we fought... and you are still willing to help me?" He asks slowly, clearly confused by this generosity. Barely knowing each other is one thing, but actively fighting?
He looks down at his hands, frowning at his knuckles.
"I think I fight a lot...."
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Date: 2025-01-27 03:39 pm (UTC)"Yeah, I think you do," he agrees wryly, and holds out a hand. "Want me to take a look at it?"
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Date: 2025-01-27 04:00 pm (UTC)"They're just kind of scabby, it's no big deal." He says with a shrug, he holds his hand out anyway so Ezra can see for himself - he's not lying, there's a few mostly-healed scabs of varying ages suggesting he's had more than one fight in the last couple of weeks. Or, rather, he's punched something more than once in the last couple of weeks.
"I'm sorry for fighting with you."
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Date: 2025-01-27 05:47 pm (UTC)He takes hold of one of the kid's hands and nods, letting it go. They're healing up okay, there's no point using up magic to speed it up, and he doesn't really want to use more magic than the shifter would be comfortable with.
"So this is an awkward question, but... is there any chance you've been followed on your way here?"
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Date: 2025-01-27 06:02 pm (UTC)He laughs a little at that - he suspects Ezra is probably lying, if he gets in as many fights as he thinks he does, but he appreciates Ezra for saying it all the same.
He drops his hand back into his lap when Ezra lets go, and shakes his head at the question.
"I don't think so," he says - he doesn't want to dismiss the possibility, not when it might bring danger down on them both, but he does want to offer some reassurance of his own "whoever they were, something was going on that had them all distracted, that's when I escaped, so they won't have come right after me. They got a were, wolf I think, but I criss-crossed and interrupted my trail so much before I caught your scent it's probably gonna be hard for them to track. I ditched my clothes in some garbage too, so they might not even have a decent scent to follow."
no subject
Date: 2025-01-27 06:16 pm (UTC)"Then we should be okay until my friends wake up and we put a plan together about how to get those guys. Are you still tired? You could sleep here if you wanted - I'll keep watch."
He's a bit too buzzed to go back to sleep for just a couple of hours.
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Date: 2025-01-27 06:24 pm (UTC)It's not until Ezra says it that he realises just how tired he actually is and he nods.
"Thank you, I'd appreciate that." He says genuinely, content to make himself a little nest on the floor with the blanket - though if Ezra does offer him the bedroll he certainly isn't going to say no.
Trusting that Ezra will be true to his word and keep watch, he lets himself surrender to the tiredness and falls asleep quickly.
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Date: 2025-01-27 06:40 pm (UTC)Sure enough, as morning creeps around, there is a sharp knock on the door, and a female voice says: "Ezra?"
If the kid wakes up enough to pay attention, the person outside smells distinctly like werewolf.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-27 06:53 pm (UTC)He stirs at the sound of the knock, though he doesn't fully untuck from the little ball he's curled himself into. He catches the scent of werewolf and stills, tense and cautious.
He tries to tell himself it's fine, that it's someone who knows Ezra so it can't be someone who's looking for him, but he stays wary nonetheless.
(Quite why he has apparently decided that Ezra is trustworthy, he isn't entirely sure, but he isn't really questioning it either)
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Date: 2025-01-27 07:02 pm (UTC)"Hey Sabine," he starts.
"Have you got a shifter in there?" she asks pointedly, trying to peer in.
"Yeah," Ezra says, sounding mildly sheepishly. "It's okay, I know him - kinda. We know him. Listen, I'll explain at breakfast okay? He came to us in the night. He needs our help."
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