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[ Notable IC Information: While not many witnessed this particular event during the storm, there were a handful who would have through the windows of their homes and been privy to the knowledge of these beasts in the chaos. ]
Maxie had not had the most pleasant first couple of days in the city - while very pleased to be off the boat and out of increasingly poor weather, he had not only found the weather chasing them inland, but his presence less welcome than it. While to some extent he knew how foolish he was for coming here, how his appearance was likely to be received, the culture shock was still severe - he was looked down upon by even certain elvish sects, which seemed to mostly hang in the slums where he'd had the most luck in the market and was ironically safer due to higher human population. Maxie did not speak the language and had a hard time getting through daily transactions, from exchanging his coin and much of the metal on him - including charms and a weapon or two - to getting new clothes that better concealed his features and kept him out of the sun. However, despite no longer being sea sick he had been increasing agitated and short of temper, even highly paranoid and more than on edge. It seemed he barely knew what to do with himself and it took too long for him to piece together the reason why. When exchanging goods his scarf had unraveled as he took the charms off, but it didn't matter as the crystals had failed to hold much charge or even help much anymore either way. While initially he had hunkered down with the crowd at his inn, he soon realized upon the first surges of the storm and distant calling of beasts that it was not a good idea to be locked in a building with other people. So before they could lock the doors he would abruptly abandon most of his things in his room, and looking ill and upset, force his way through the crowd and out into the rain. Maxie wasn't sure where the Hell he was even going, entirely lost in this place, but he pulled up his hood anyway and made it a priority to get outside the city and simply keep going until he found somewhere that might be safe - a cave, a barn (not that they wouldn't be full of animals and people already), hell the forest if he must. It seemed he was on some fools errand as he staggered through the streets and out the gates into the fields, pausing on occasion like he was going to throw up, shaking and wild eyed and truly not right.
Rufio Delgado had been nearby, enjoying having his butt feathers oggled by the locals as he enjoyed a drink before the storm and the gentle hum of hushed conversation. The tavern had an odd atmosphere as the storm started to kick up a little. The rooster-man noticed Maxie get up to leave rather abruptly and so he pushed himself up to stand and hurried on after him "You alright, Max?" he asked as he followed behind but near. He felt the storm like a very distant heartbeat at the moment, he felt buzzed, excited and energetic. "Are you feeling it yet?" he asked as he hurried to catch up a little to the mans side, glancing back at the tavern, worrying quietly about Sullivan.
Maxie stumbled rather suddenly and caught on to a nearby fence to catch his balance. "Yeah, I'm feeling it," he wheezed, looking disturbed and a mixture of energized and sick all at once. With little focus he was spinning from what was for him an overwhelming sensation - trying too much to deny his nature and keep it repressed, he was not prepared for the energy of the storm alone, nevermind the collective of supernatural energies screaming at his instincts. Maxie's hand tightened on the fence as he hunched over again with a sound of more irritation than anything, trying to steady his pounding heart and hard breathing. "I don't think this is goin' to be good for me - you should go back to the inn. I don' think I'm going t' be safe t' be around..."
Rufio Delgado felt painful prickling in his skin at times as if feathers wanted to burst forth and he repeatedly scratched his itching skin, damp hair even seemed more mad than usual. He stopped as Maxie hunched at the fence. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths...so far he was doing a little better but he was silently alarmed by the way he could feel his heart beating, his blood burning and everything seemed far more focused. He felt worried, because he had no idea what this would do to him or if he'd be fine. "That's why i'm here, Maxie. If you're going to be dangerous to be around i need to make sure you don't do anything you'll regret....I'm here for you." he said softly and stepped forwards a little, gritting his teeth and shuddering. The urge to.....go jogging was strong? why? he just needed to use his energy, he wanted to run and part of him wanted to lash out for no reason.
Maxie let out a dark chuckle as he tried to straighten and turned to look at the rooster with heavy worry breaking through his complex mix of feelings - his head kept turning and his eyes kept snapping from place to place however, as if he weren't sure what was going to happen at any given moment. "I'm not sure what you think you're going to do," he said. Maxie abruptly turned away to tense up like he wanted to fight someone, trying and failing desperately to keep his cool. A heavy rumble passed through the storm, sending another wave of energy out that nearly sent the man to his knees, rain now absolutely pouring down in a torrent. In the distance, something howled and Maxie answered with a low, guttural inhuman noise.
[#] A heavy rumble passes through the storm, sending another wave of energy rippling through the sky - it only gets darker and the rain has turned into a true downpour just getting started.
Rufio Delgado smirked. "Well, i think you'd be surprised what i can do Max. I'm telling you i can-" he felt the rumble rather heavily this time and fell hard into the fence this time, grabbing it with his armpit before he fell completely on his face. He hung there on the fence, soaking wet by now and panting as he stared ahead blankly at Maxie's back. As the man responded to the distant howl and nearer by Maxie let out that terrible noise, Rufio's pupils shrank to slits as he started giving in to the animalistic urges overcoming him. He responded to the terrible animalistic noise too, voice low as he started letting out PARTICULARLY inhuman noises, even if they were not as ....intimidating. Gurgling, pitchy noises to enter a chorus alongside maxie's growling as his eyes lost focus. The rooster seemed somewhat.....well, distracted from the world around him.
Maxie was similarly drenched by now and it was with weird, halting motions that he pulled off his hood and let down his hair, which he had tied back and concealed to not attract attention. It was like the storm was calling out to them now, like it had found the children of supernatural origin, and yearned to wrap them all in its embrace. Maxie wildly looked around at the sound Rufio was making with bared fangs, eyes entirely without white now, the man looking scruffier than he would have ever seen him. With a fresh stagger Maxie pulled his tunic off and began forcing himself to focus as he tossed it over the fence and moved on to his boots, looking to find somewhere things could be stashed - somewhere on the farm, perhaps underneath a coop or bush? Fine, maybe he'd get his clothes back, but the way things were going they'd not last much longer if he didn't remove them now. Maxie leaned forward on the fence as he stretched strange feet into the mud, that awful cracking of bones and muscle apparent even through the rumbling of thunder and booms of lightning. "We’ll see," he managed to snarl out as his mass all too notably began to expand - not at all like a wolf, though. No, there was something very different forming.
Rufio Delgado shook his head and sneered "No no no no" he said repeatedly to clear his head "I'm fine. I'm fine" he said, snapping out of it momentarily before feeling the feathers burst from his skin along his jaw "Agh- shit!" he swore and started frantically removing his clothes, every last bit no matter how wet and muddy it was. He fell to his knees, tossing his shirt and pants over the fence in with the- aw chickens.....he tried to spot one a moment but they were all inside the coop hiding and locked up. It gave him a moment of clarity and finally with his boots off he let it happen. It wasn't the rooster that was coming forth.... Rufio's legs began to grow crude scales and his feathers, as they protruded from his bare skin were darker and more sinister than usual. The man hunched over with his fingers gripping at his face in pain as he started to shift....oddly this time it wasnt an instant transformation and his bones cracked and warped, legs turned to bird legs as his knees inverted abruptly and painfully, letting out a rough rooster-like scream as his arms snapped the wrong way to form wing-like structures and his fingers began to elongate. Man turning to ape was no doubt painful but man turning into a bird-like creature had to be horrifying.
Maxie would normally not have been so eager to take off all his clothing in the pouring rain and the company of another man, but his own wet and muddy attire - or what was left before he hastily discarded his pants - was already beginning to strain against a body growing too big for them. It was a disgusting chorus of changing bodies and they were not the only ones, as many howls and screeches and squeals and roars filled the deepening night - he man cursed himself, swearing and snarling as he could do nothing, alternating between gritting his teeth at the thundering sky and hunching over the fence. A fence that was no longer holding his weight as two hundred pounds became three hundred and continued to strain and crack and distort as it didn't stop there. It was a lush red fur sprouting and a heavy brow jutting, hair flowing into thick mane, tail growing only somewhat longer but remaining hairless, tusks and massive chest perhaps the most significant of changes. Maxie's transformation while in the end nearing eight hundred pounds of trollish muscle, was admittedly not the more dramatic of the two. It would be over within minutes, but the beast would still sit there for a time, unfocused and agitated, rumbling as dark eyes began to scan - but not with the same intelligence as before.
[#] A full moon hangs heavy and oddly tinged in the sky, but spotting it through the cloud cover is a fleeting privilege. As shifters and others begin to fall under the influence of the raw magical currents, beastly howls and screams echo through the night unnaturally, their direction and distance impossible to judge over the pounding of the rain into the thickening mud.
Rufio Delgado's body took an odd shape and even his neck shifted, mouth hardened and lengthened into a beak painfully. Etheral, demonic screams errupted from the roosters throat and his mouth opened wide until it was gaping like a gators, unnaturally dislocated jaws hanging open. The comb of the rooster twisted and curled up high like the fan on a dragon's spine whilst the wattle was a grotesque spiked monstrosity down its throat. Its tail, still surrounded by corrupt rooster feathers, now sprouted a long reptilian tail that ballanced its top-heavy body. The wings were long enough to reach the floor and long crude, clawed fingers grew out of the shabby feathers. The rooster slammed its foot into the dirt, and its head tossed back to let out a pitchy, horrible crowing sound that would carry for miles throughout the city. Its eyes glowed in the darkness of the storm like fiery stars. The beast staggered as if it were unstable and crashed through the fence and head-first into the coop, causing the poor chickens inside to screech and flap around. He staggered then into the stone building and let out echoey, deep clucking noises, hissing before raising up its head and spitting a ball of flame pointlessly at a nearby tree, the bark too wet to catch fire from such a weak spit of fire. The beast didn't seem very conscious of what it was doing, its needle-point pupils spun around, glaring at the surrounding area. The once vibrant orange and teal feathers were dark and murkier shades of their former selves, almost looking like they were coated in oil.
Maxie would finish long before the other did, sitting rather dumbly for a moment as body finished shifting and simian monster gathered its wit - eyes suggested a decent amount of it, but nowhere near that of the man it had been. It was those demonic screams that really seemed to snap great beast to attention - with a snarl he was up on his feet with a lunge, slamming down all four-hundred-something pounds down into the mud with a much larger, booming roar somewhere between lion and gorilla. SLAMMING the ground with knuckles again in a false charge the challenge came again as prey was assessed.
Rufio Delgado finally snapped to attention. Its strange narrow head snapped towards Maxie and then back away to tilt its head sideways, right eye focusing on Maxie closely. A low rumble rattled up from its throat and the spines and feathers on its head slowly lifted, its wings opening out wide to make itself look much bigger. It threw its head forwards towards Maxie but from a distance and screeched horribly in his face, returning the challenge. Its tallons and feet scooped at the dirt like a bull getting ready to charge.
Maxie let out another roar that built from a grunting to a thick snarling bellow and the beast pounded the ground furiously, only rising up once with a single slam of fists to the chest, and charging as soon as knuckles hit the ground - if there was anything between them, fence or chicken coop or otherwise, it would be demolished in his path by a shove of a huge shoulder.
Rufio Delgado's head reared up sharply as Maxie charged forwards. The huge chicken knew naturally where its greatest strength was as the great ape drew closer and leapt up high in the air and kicked HARD for Maxie's chest in one swift thrust of his feet. Like with any rooster it happened quick enough for the rooster to kick with both feet, flap his wings a bit and land on both feet again, it was only a small mercy that the spurs hadn't been used that time....not with the size they were at now. A terrifying screech escaped its maw and shattered the atmosphere in the process, likely terrifying anyone still inside the tavern.
Maxie charged blindly and was easily caught off guard - in fact, beast made himself more of a target as he tried to rise, grabbing for the rooster as it suddenly flew up. A demonic entity like this was far too fast, however - both feet would catch him solid in the chest and send him collapsing back, slipping in the mud. However, beast would immediately be rolling to all fours and charging back around in an enraged circle, grunting - may have been a little bruised and scratched, but lucky indeed the spurs had not been used. It was a little more cautiously that he loped back and forth in agitation, head swinging back and forth, huffing and growling through rain dripping off chin and long eyebrows. In the distance, howls sounded, distracting.
Rufio Delgado's eyes fixed on Maxie piercingly as he charged back and forth with agitation, staring endlessly at him but somehow the brief conflict had helped the rooster clear its mind and grasp onto some of its humanity, but just barely. It knew it didn't want to hurt the stupid creature charging around in front of it, but it didn't know why and instead of responding to the agitation it flapped its wings hard, rising up and turning clumsily to slam into the roof, sending shreds and chunks of thatch down onto the ground before perching up high and watching Maxie from where it felt was a safe distance, letting out low growls and rumbles.
Maxie grumbled back, tearing up a few smaller plants and hurling handfuls of dirt in the general direction of the rooster, but with no real aim - his hunger targeted this one for certain, but such pulls were coming from every direction and agitated loping turned into unhappy charging around. Which included more handfuls of mud and rock and plant being flung pointlessly around and great imprints in the mud rapidly turning into puddles; a bolt of lightning flashed in the sky, spurring on his fit as he spun to beat on the side of the chicken pen before charging away again, creating a sound that echoed like a wooden drum - if a drum also clucked in distress, that was. While the beast kept going up to the tree line and barking out a challenge, he also didn't seem to want to take his eye off the demon perched on the roof.
[#] A particularly bright bolt of lightning splits the night. A deep rumbling boom follows the blinding flash, enough to lightly rattle panes of glass.
Rufio Delgado clucked furiously over at Maxie as he beat on the chicken pen but as he charged off the giant monstrosity leapt down and hurried over to the broken up coop full of dead and alive chickens, tenderly lifting it upright with its beak and letting out a few sad, low clucks but then realized it was again in the line of fire and ran off along the path past Maxie, leaping high over the fence as if made of air but still somehow seeming to land heavily. It charged off, trying to lead the ape down the street away from the poor hens who'd taken a good beating from the coop getting thrown around. Once past the tavern the rooster would skid to a halt and turn around, screeching back towards Maxie loudly.
Maxie was certainly distracted by the sudden movement - and took off after rooster, grabbing on to trees, building pieces, anything to propel himself forward with great leaps that shook the ground when he landed. Now wary of those feet, he skid to a halt and slapped the ground, roaring back as though trying to drown out the screeching. With a little more wit than before the monster turned sideways to bare a shoulder and gave a little false charge, stopping short of actually reaching the screeching demon.
Rufio Delgado let out a horrible growling shriek as Maxie charged forwards and the rooster braced itself. Falling for the false charge it leapt up and flapped to try and get backwards several feet without kicking this time, though that definitely made its legs vulnerable to grabbing gorilla-like hands.
Unfortunately, that was an opportunity an instinct laden beast was going to take, as he lunged up from his halt to swipe at avian legs with huge, leathery hands - and grab above those danger spurs if possible. If he got so much as a handful of leg, talon, or feather he'd yank down hard, making to throw the rooster to the ground, grunting.
Rufio Delgado let out a horrifying screech as its light-built but huge body was swung down into the gravel. The creatures body hit down and with its spare free leg it immediately pushed out to grab and grip at Maxie's shoulders in huge toes, one either side of the gorilla's neck to try and keep him at a distance. It looked afraid and also furious as it turned its head from where it was lying on the ground to glare at the ape. It didn't want to hurt Maxie, but a ball of flame was growing in the back of its throat.
Maxie was stopped mid lunge and although his strength was great, he was distracted enough by the talons at his throat to try and pull them off before they caused much damage - but it forced him to stand back up as he made to grab and toss, throwing them apart due to slippery mud and giving the rooster something of a clumsy opening. It would likely be clear that the flurry of feathers was a distracting blur - this beast did not seem to see very well at all, with incredibly near sight.
Rufio Delgado swung a wing at Maxie as if to stun him with a powerful smack to the face and then the rooster flapped hard to get back up onto the roof, throwing huge sheets of matted thatch down onto the road as is scrabbled to get up high again and peer down at the street at Maxie once more if successful. It let out a low growl and sat down as if to get comfortable right on the tip of the roof, glaring irritably at the ape-man. It wasn't quite intelligent enough to speak right now but it knew it favored maxie even if the strange beast kept attacking him.
Maxie grunted, swinging wildly at the feathers that smacked him in the face, snorting and wiping at his nose as he loped underneath the demon - only to get showered with more than the heavy rain, which was already making him look quite pathetic at this point, a soggy mop of long red clumps with a droopy naked dog tail and short tusks. With a highly annoyed grumbling he swat at the pieces of roof rebounding off him and once again loped sideways out into the street - howling, once more, was a great distraction and he stopped still to listen through the cascade of endless rain.
Rufio Delgado lowered its head slowly to peer down at Maxie with an odd calmness, however at the cracking of the thunder the rooster twitched and pecked hard at the roof, ripping off huge chunks of thatch and even opening holes in the roof to the attic before opening its maw and finally shooting a molten ball of demonic flame down at the chunks of thatch on the street near Maxie, a horrible sound errupting from its throat and gurgling as the fire left and lit even the damp straw down below.
Maxie had been distracted and most certainly had not been expecting fire to follow the new shower of thatch, which had largely been ignored - up until it burst into flame, which the beast shied away from in surprise with a barking grunt. In growing agitation and with bared teeth, great handfuls of mud and now burning thatch was hurled at the rooster, but with rather poor aim; it mostly struck the side of the building. A fresh fit continued and he now took to the rooftops himself if less gracefully, the wood of balcony and supports creaking under his weight, pieces of stone tile and more thatch being flung to the ground as he flung himself from one roof to another looking for something, punching many holes in structures not really intended for this kind of force.
Rufio Delgado stood up abruptly when Maxie climbed up onto the roof, a low rooster-like growl rising in the demons throat. For whatever reason he didn't like watching Maxie punching holes in things and the rooster charged forwards and leapt across the rooftops to reach Maxie in a quarter of the time it took the bumbling ape to navigate them (feathers for lyfe) and upon reaching the ape he'd make one last leap and swoop in to aim another kick at his torso, trying to throw the beast back onto the street below furiously.
Maxie was not very quick as he lumbered across the rooftops, and it was taking most of his concentration to not slip and fall on the slanted structures as tile and wet straw fell apart, sliding under his feet. A snarl and curled lip was offered to the rooster as colorful feathers filled his vision, but the attempted backhand to Rufio only sent him off balance. Maxie tumbled back down into the street proper with an upset grunt of a roar, grabbing at pieces of building and feathers pointlessly on the way out. It was a pretty good THUD that resounded as he hit the ground, and beast didn't get up quite as quickly as the first time - but teeth and tense posture as he rolled to his feet and looked up suggested that he was actually pretty mad now. A low series of grunts rolled out of his chest, building in intensity - there was no telling how long this back-and-forth exchange was going to last, but it looked like Rufio's new form was proving to be a rather effective boon.
Rufio Delgado shrieked loudly enough to be heard over the storm as a clump of feathers was torn out of his chest by the falling gorilla, leaving bloody pores behind. The rooster tilted its head, wattle shaking grotesquely as it tilted its head this way and that to focus on Maxie on the street below. The roosters long tail whipped irritably to the side against a raised part of the roof as the ape-beast grunted furiously up at him... again the rooster stared and waited for Maxie to make the first move...which was only too easy to do when the ape kept getting angry. Waiting for Maxie to make another move the rooster lowered its head to a shut window and pecked it open with no problem to peer inside only to hear screaming from children inside. The rooster clucked in shock and pressed its burning eye to the window to stare in, distracted truly and completely.
Maxie kept that fistful of feathers proudly for a while as he carried on hooting, at least until he decided to throw them up back to their owner, broken shafts decorating mud and bits of pathway being flung; with any luck he would actually hit his target this time.
Rufio Delgado was hit by a bit of mud at first which honestly didn't bother the collossal creature but when rocks and harder mud started striking it, it left the poor kids inside the house alone and lifted its head up angrily. It had had enough of the ape-mans games now, especially as a rock struck it rather hard in the side of the head and again in the chest. The horrible things beak opened but then kept opening until its jaw hung wider open with a gator-like maw. A loud, etheral cockrel crowing scream errupted from its throat and the horrid creature clambered to its feet... a little bruised and a tiny bit bloody. It leapt down from the roof towards Maxie and tried to land on him, talons grabbing for his shoulders or arms in some attempt to pin him onto the pavement, angry clucking echoing demonically throughout the streets.
Maxie roared as the demon landed on his back, throwing his weight around furiously and making every attempt to stand back up and fling off the talons digging into shoulders, alternating furiously between struggling bounds and staggering back up - arms, however, only reached back so well, and doing so with balance was even more so of a challenge. Even if he managed to grab on to something he might be hard pressed to actually pry the rooster off - and the demon would find his strength distinctively oppressive, hard to pin down. Anyone looking out of a window or otherwise witnessing this would have quite the show of what looked like a cockatrice riding some kind of ape around - perhaps unusual, even in this chaos.
Rufio Delgado flapped madly as Maxie swung around, making his best effort to ballance as he clucked furiously. Chickens were notoriously good ballancers, however, and despite all the swinging around his head somehow managed to stay in exactly the same place looking down at Maxie, body bobbing up and down but the head always staying frozen in the air rather freakishly. Suddenly however, realizing he couldn't pin the ape very easily the Rooster would keep flapping hard and digging his talons in to lift the ape for brief seconds at a time or pull him backwards, using the strong and difficult winds to get his own way and try to swing the ape around.
Maxie let out a shrieking bark of pain as the talons sank in deeper, wingbeats pulling him up and back - being swung around threw him off balance and he staggered around comically for a moment, still grabbing wildly, before crashing into the side of a building and creating more property damage in the form of smashed barrels, crates, and the like. It was likely the talons had done a fair amount of damage under the fur, especially with such a sharp motion, but if the rooster didn't let go he might find himself the one pinned between falling ape and wall.
Rufio Delgado indeed DID find himself between an ape and a wall and the rooster crashed into it with monumental force. The winds were too strong and the force of gravity swinging him around for the rooster to stop, so there he lay against the wall, stunned and his head hanging to the side, eyes staring blankly into nothingness. Its talons let go of Maxie's poor shoulders and its legs were upright and rigid, almost looking dead.
Maxie would sit a moment in the rain and muddy, broken rooster - he let out an uncertain grunt when nothing happened next, shrugging off limp legs and pushing himself up. With curled lip he turned around, lumbering a little lamely as he nursed a sore shoulder - a new roar of challenge and a false rush was offered first to check the situation. If the demon didn't respond a wary arm would reach out and pick up a wing, dropping it as he scoot closer cautiously, sniffing, rumbling.
Rufio Delgado lay completely unresponsive, the false charge was met with no resistance and the roosters pupils didn't shift at all either. The irises still glowed softly but the brute of a chicken had hit his head and being avian in nature had become stunned, wakingly unconcious.
Maxie let out a grunt of satisfaction and shuffled forward, ignoring throbs of pain in his shoulders - leathery hands reached out to grab the rooster by his own wing joints and pull him up, nostrils flaring and spraying rain as the beast stared into those blank, if glowing eyes. It was an almost opposite gaze, dark eyes deepening as his jaw slacked open. The 'gorilla' began to breathe in deeply, as if attempting to pull something more than air into his body - and he would succeed, slowly prying demonic power from the limp entity, through eyes and mouth like a wraith consuming souls. It would not be a quick process, however, and pauses would be taken between 'gulps' - power would only begin to loosen, excess energy taken first, that less anchored to the core…
Utterly, absolutely foolhardy, a rather commanding bark of a shout rang out through the air, in spite of the storm, and the perpetrator stepped out from relative safety around the corner of a nearby building. It could have been Arron - the rain-soaked black curls and the ridiculous and spindly height would have suggested as much. But an Arron in rough shape. Something dark soaked the front of his tunic, persistently clinging to the fabric in spite of the rain. He had bare feet, tattered shreds serving as the hems of his pants, walking at a strange limp - and it was shortly evident why: one leg was considerably different than the other. While each ended in weird, doglike paws and claws, one had risen to a digitigrade stance. And the face certainly wasn't QUITE Arron, after all - elongated only slightly, black eyed and pointy-eared. And the grin was considerably sharper than his old. "Good show, good job mein Herr Hahn. Huh. Is too bad, I think I've mixed up your nicknames!" His voice was hoarse. "I would just like to say that our crew is UTTERLY, what is it...'fucked up,' but for the sake of my Sullivan, I think the show is over, mm?"
The rooster started to shrink down as Maxie began to eat his essence and his glowing eyes grew dim. The tail slowly shrank back into his body and his feathers began to grow back out and look healthy once more...neck even shrinking back a little and the claws retracted into his wings. The rooster became more and more normal, slowly starting to return to conciousness. This time, he was concious of his mind ...he was himself and he felt weak and tired. He wasn't even aware of Aaron until the man started talking...dim eyes staring blankly ahead. Suddenly though, the roosters feathers stood up and it turned its head sharply to glare at Aaron...the voice it spoke with was demonic, etheral and somehow both inside and outside Rufio's body at the same time "YOUR Sullivan? He is not YOUR Sullivan" the weak rooster growled, despite its confusion and...well, apparently forgetting it had a huge demon eating ape-man stood over it "Sullivan owes you NOTHING for what you did, no more than his GRATITUDE!" the rooster crowed but then collapsed and panted heavily on the floor. Where had its energy gone? where was he? what was happening?
Maxie abruptly stopped what he was doing and turned his great head towards the new arrival with a rope of water slung through the air from sopping mane. A jaw of short lower tusks snapped close, remnants of final 'bite' fading in the increasingly cold downpour. It was the yelling that briefly got his attention and he would ROAR once again, directly in the roosters face - and then drop him into the broken wood, facing the fresh, still standing threat with a short huff. It didn't seem like those dark eyes cared too much about what he had to say as he rose up, let out a much uglier sound of threat, and gave his chest a few beats before slamming fists back into the mud and stone. It didn't seem like his shoulders were bothering him much anymore - in fact, after that 'taste' of demon he seemed all too ready to go again, if arguably a little placated. It was hard to say, but the not-wolf-not-Arron hadn't been charged yet.
"He at least knows when I am about to leave for Esta." His voice lowered to a growl. "If you think that MY HOSPITALITY-!" And then abruptly cut off with a gasp, small and pained - an animalistic hiss through his teeth, interrupted by a horrific twist and /crunch/ that left the spindly man grasping with wicked claws at the corner from which he'd come around, the other leg appeared to catch up to the first, too-slow. He was panting, the mud around his immediate feet shifting and roiling about independently, rather strangely indicative of his current mood. Wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of a lightly bristled fist, eyes darting to the gorilla with some nerves - not that it was evident with black iris and sclera. "Speaking of which, where is she?"
Rufio Delgado let out a low rooster growl at Arron, though he stopped himself saying something that might cause issues between the lot of them rather reluctantly "Why would I know where she is?" he looked up at Maxie who seemed ready to charge and hobbled weakly forwards to stand in front of the great ape, the tiny rooster that he was was in real danger. He clucked loudly up at Maxie to try and get his attention "Look at me big guy" he said tiredly "Just calm down, calm. Try to remember yourself" it was worth a shot, he had set himself the task of stopping Maxie hurting anyone he didn't need to hurt but was only now realizing that wasn't as easy as he thought...especially now he was barely a distraction anymore.
Maxie roared in frustration as the twisted half-wolf didn't seem particularly threatened - at first the demon was ignored entirely. Arron was not only something more familiar to him, more akin to the prey he knew well, and more importantly - somewhere in there Maxie knew this man didn't like him and was going to respond to that and the brewing emotions between them like a dog. However, short burst of rush was stopped by the now small rooster in front of him, face crinkling up into what could only be dim confusion. While now vaguely familiar, this smaller form, human memory didn't seemed to be jogged and with an annoyed grunt the beast tried to swat the bird away with a very lazy backhand.
Arron answered that roar with an animalistic shriek, rather formidable in spite of his size. It was almost involuntary, would have almost been embarrassing had the man been a bit more willing to think. But he wasn't, he was talking, seemingly unable to simply put a cork in it. Uncharacteristic, quivering almost under the barest of restraint. Something shuddered through his body, clawed at his mind, caught at the man, twisted until he nearly doubled over. The earth still turned before and around him, as chaotic as the black eyed man's disjointed words seemed to be. "I'm TRYING to carry on a civil conversation!" he'd snarled, hardly civil at all! And seemingly addressed to no-one, turned inward. Before focusing on that giant "But what are words for when no-one LISTENS anymore. But I suppose it would not be the first time, would it! /Paladin?/"
Rufio Delgado was trying to ignore Arron, "You should get out of here...and shut up!" he snapped over to him, he didn't care he was transforming so much as this was a brewing disaster. He leapt over the lazy backhand and crashed back into the path, panting heavily. He struggled back to his feet and looked up at Maxie "No no look at me, look at me" he said to Maxie and tried to lead him away from Arron, slowly edging sideways "Come on, follow me. Please. Cmon big guy." he was ready to spring with what little energy he had if Maxie suddenly went for Arron.
Maxie stopped in place, deadly still and silent as eyes bore into the man - ignoring the rooster. It was unclear at first if it was the anger and chaos that paused the beast or something more - until that final word. It was a dirty word Maxie hadn't even let himself say in a long, long time - and the man inside twisted too, white showing at the corners of his eyes. It was rapidly swallowed back up as he roared once more, turned, and charged away to begin climbing another building - however, his intent didn't seem to be to leave. It seemed to be in ripping up pieces of the roof as Rufio had before and raining it down on the both of them in confusion and upset.
"Yes, that is right," Arron rasped at the gorilla-creature's pause. "I was not strong enough the last time. But this time will be different! YES!" That last shoud charged with fury - and a note of alien and strange pain. So much so that he hadn't even noticed - or cared - that his rough and growling voice had slipped back into his original tongue. And, shrieking, the man-beast sprang to follow him up, scaling and hauling itself after him, earth moving with him, wrapped about him, in flux in places, solidifying elsewhere like an eldritch coat - or, in this case...reactive, un-honed armor.
Rufio Delgado wasn't certain what Arron was talking about but he was quickly realizing....shit- the HAIR, THE HAIR! Was Arron going to try to end Maxie to protect- SHIT. The rooster had little energy but he tried to chase Arron up up the wall. It wasn't easy, he was so tired. The demon burst into a tiny ball of flame, the dark phoenix of certain lore, he turned into flame entirely for a brief moment and the flame rode up the side of the wall defiant of the rain but then stopped at a window halfway up. The rooster lost its flame and panted on the ledge before igniting again and shooting up again....pausing at the next window, close behind Arron "Don't you touch him!" he sqwarked after Arron desperately.
Maxie stopped throwing pieces of building and stood up on knuckles to watch the wolf charge, bark-grunting a warning - if he hadn't been soaked, red mane probably would have been standing on end. All kinds of loosened pieces of roof went tumbling into the rain and window panes shook as he dropped down, grabbing on to the edge with one hand and ripping it apart as he used the momentum to throw himself forward to meet the climber with yet another quaking ROAR, shifting earth protecting Arron's body or no. How much earth did it take to block over eight-hundred pounds of temper tantrum flying through the air?
Arron whipped around, claws already impossibly burying themselves into their meager foothold, tendons white against dark skin, lightly coated in patches with a bristly gray down. He snarled something else - near-wordless, yet it could have been some perversion of that language - at Rufio, but whatever he'd said was lost beneath the primate's next roar. Needless to say, it was probably unpleasant. Ears flicking up, he'd /hissed/ in return, shoved off of his perch with a strengthening leap. He'd been aiming to launch himself to a higher foothold - but whippet-wiry and springy Arron was, in any form...he could do very little about being caught and whacked off course in midair. And he fell - but in that space of a moment, he'd reflexively flung what amount he'd had - straight at the giant's face! Dunamai-rron used Mud Shot! But was it effective?
Rufio Delgado cried out from the window "NO! STOP! God damn it you stupid asshole!" he crowed and sqwarked furiously at them. Maxie was not going to die today, he wouldn't allow it. But he could barely do much, especially with them entangled like that. The rooster would wait for them to land or hit something solid before he would throw his body out into the rain again, once more taking the form of flame and zipping swiftly towards them, forcing his energy into darting underneath Arron as a ball of horrible flame and flaring up against his stomach, seeking out cracks in the armor, weaknesses, trying to burn him good.
Maxie would have fallen with the monstrous butcher, driving his weight down upon him into the mud, but gravity was his master and a hard shot of wet earth straight to the face was enough to send him on a backward trajectory instead, crashing hard on his side and tumbling a distance away. It was with pain and rage the beast pulled itself up with a limping stagger, coughing deeply and wheezing, wiping mud out of already squinting eyes, blowing it out of nostrils, hacking and spitting furiously into the rain.
It was the teeny tiny rooster that did it! Or rather, the teeny tiny rooster ENGULFED IN FLAMES, which was far more understandable. An inhuman shriek! And Arron reared up, fell back, scuttled backwards on a limping leg, heaving with heavy pant. Licked his lips, black eyes wide - pained, in disbelief. "Not now, not again. Not again, not again..." Words were burbling forth from the low canine moans and wimpers. But he didn't move; Rufio was doing a rather miraculous job at keeping the comparatively titanic mutant before him at bay. Arron's eyes remained locked on Maxie, only occasionally and warily flicking to the fire. "Not now, not again, I'D HAD HIM! I NEED THIS, RUFIO, I NEED THIS ONE." Those shrieks, then, nonsense they might have been,were all too human.
Rufio Delgado was tossed hard against the street as Arron scrabbled away but the rooster was quick as he could be to stand back up, opening his wings out wide before sputtering back to life, flame errupting from his body and his wings outwards a very short distance as he stood there on the path, defiantly between Arron and the ape-man "No! get BACK!" his voice boomed demonically, gaining back some energy to it. It seemed rufio was slowly but surely recovering "You'll not get through me! So begone!" the rooster charged forwards a foot towards Arron as if to see if he'd back off, not entirely sure if it was a fear of the flame or just a reaction to the pain he'd just felt.
Maxie finished wiping mud out of his eyes and bristled, punching the ground and growling at recovering demonic energies, but still very much more focused on the shrieking not-man. A short charge closer to fiery wings was halted by pain from the fall, however - the beast coughed again, cringing. Unfortunately, as his head rose it only seemed to be fueling his mindless nature; lips curled to show massive teeth and tusks as he glared past the fire - the sky rumbled with him.
It would have been almost comical - Rufio, aflame, charged forwards and the wolf-man balking as if his opponent was far larger. He didn't step back from the fire, but the wish to do so betrayed him in the sharp hiss, rise of a front hand-paw, the severe lean away (almost sending him tumbling over an off-balance leg), the flattening of ears and bristling of a patchy mane. Still fixed the Maxie-monster with that hardened stare, a low, long humming whine escaping unbidden from his throat. Earth slid slowly back to him but otherwise remained at-ease. Licked his lips with a black tongue. "You, too." was vague and strange; low, murmured, could have been missed among the hiss of the rain. And, almost reluctantly even in its suddenness, he sprang, bum leg at all, to propel himself at and off a corner to whip around it and into an alley!
Rufio Delgado glared through one burning chickeny eye towards the beast as their stand-off ensued. When, however, Arron bounded off, Rufio turned abruptly to face the ape and kept the flame burning though he felt exhausted still, gradually growing back in strength as the storm fed him. "Do NOT Persue him, Maxie" he said, now they were alone on the street as far as he could tell "You are bigger than this. Find yourself." the rooster said, only hoping he didnt get bitchslapped into the next dimension right now.
Maxie did make a charge after the wolfman too, even if every pull forward seemed to cause him to grunt and wheeze a little - the fire, the voice, the discomfort in his side, it gave him slight pause and he grumbled with dying aggression. It was pure confusion on that muddy face as the chicken felt wrong still, but was nowhere near intimidating an opponent as before. Maxie punched the ground once again and gave a final roar after Arron, resounding his disappointment down the alleyway passages. It didn't seem like the great beast was at all interested in slaughtering a small colorful bird - especially one that was on fire. Just wary enough of it to not lunge past and give chase, he began pacing back and forth on his knuckles, almost whining, and not really seeming to listen.
Rufio Delgado lost the flame when Maxie finally started to pace back and forth seeming upset...it was hard not to feel compassion for him as a big bumbling beast, especially when he'd seen him get so upset.... what was the word that had started it? ...Paladin.... he'd have to ask about that when Maxie was in his right mind, if he dared. "Maxie... "he said softly and hobbled after him, feeling very sore in his back and the back of his skull after the hard strike he'd felt earlier "You're not alone here. I know you think you're alone. I can tell when i talk to you" he rambled on to the beast, not even thinking he could understand him but ....hey, maybe the soft talking (as soft as one could be over this rain) would help calm the beast some more "But i'm with you now, friend, and who knows....it's a new city, a new start. You might find many more friends, but i promise you have me. I promise."
Maxie huffed mud and rainwater at the bird dismissively - but the voice did distract him from resuming his chase. It seemed there were fewer strange noises out in the night now, and the rippling fluctuations of energy had ceased, for now. With a defeated, frustrated, tired grumble-grunt-grumble, the beast fell into a sitting position in the mud and reached out to lightly shove the rooster with a hand, pull very lightly at a wing. It was definitely more than just eyesight that was short here.
Rufio Delgado approached Maxie where he sat.. the rooster felt himself getting tired now that the fluctuations were ceasing, leaving him unable to so easily recover anymore. He soon regretted going near Maxie as he was shoved and then tugged by his wing "owow- careful- that's sore" he'd been bashed pretty good into that wall after all "not too rough, not too rough" he pleaded gently, a little terrified actually.
Maxie would be surprisingly gentle with the rooster for him still being a demonic entity, no matter how less intimidating he was now. A little roughly the rooster would be dropped, pushed back a little with a shove, and so it would go for a while with this poor creature - staring, poking, scratching self, looking around with the occasional growl as if making sure threats stayed away. Incredibly easily distracted, he would get up and wander, finding random things to fiddle with or scattered pieces of fruit that had fallen from trees - OH, now here was a distraction. Maxie left the rooster to plant himself in someone's yard and begin ripping down all their figs, gorging himself with lazy, messy chewing. Eventually however, he'd seem to grow sluggish and pause, looking around in fresh confusion - with eyes that seemed to be growing whiter at the edges, losing their dark tinge. A half eaten fruit fell from his palm and he'd finally really look at Rufio, with a whole lot more intelligence than before. If Rufio had continued to follow him around and even carried on talking to him, it'd likely encourage along the change and this time, actually draw some focus.
Rufio Delgado allowed the irritating pushing and pulling as long as it went on before finally Maxie left him alone. The rooster, obligated by his concern for the man, followed and sat on a little wooden crate in to watch Maxie. The rooster let out a low chuckle in the depths of his throat, just watching. When Maxie finally looked at him again he noticed the slight change.....damp drowned looking chicken seemed amused "You hungry over there big guy? ....big fan of olives myself, used to get lots fresh back when i lived on the orchard. Honestly after tonight i could eat a horse."
Maxie took a little bit in 'coming to' - giving Rufio a low grunt, he looked around, slowly getting up and staggering away from the tree. With gradually dawning awareness, the look of horror on the face of a beast like this was rather comical; slack jawed with little lower tusks sticking out and limp mane dangling in his face, both of them rather drenched. Now falling to one elbow, a hand covering a face with eyes that blatantly stood out blue on white - ah, now that was a very human move. Was someone finally home?
Rufio Delgado saw Maxie come back, though the effort to not just fall asleep sat up was becoming a rather tedious one. The roosters head drooped to one side as it became heavy to keep up...perhaps a little bit of a concussion...considering he'd been stunned for quite a while. "It's alright Maxie, you're alright..." he droned tiredly. Meaning it, but losing the energy to really speak up much. It was fascination that kept his eyes open...observing the man returning from the monster, feeling very sorry for him too.
It was typical for transformations to be unpleasant things; especially with shapeshifters who were not naturally born as such beings, the form forced out of their cells a grotesque display of shifting muscle and bone twisting and snapping and pulling and reforming, of mass expanding and receding. While supernatural energies might have pulled resources out of the environment in some way and explained his appetite, unlike some more graceful shifters such as Rufio, there was no absorption here and there was something especially primitive about the whole process. As the beast in the mud turned back into man, gradually shrinking, those extra three hundred pounds did not all simply become less dense tissue and vanish into the night. Excess slacked away from his skin in clumps of gelatinous gunk and dissolving hair as bones crunched back into place and he twisted in the mud, crying out as clawing limbs raked the mud - the process was much slower and more excruciating; it seemed difficult for the man to come back, as though the beast did not want to go willingly.
The beast was mindless instinct that took rage from the pain as it broke free in a surge of transformative energy. The man on the other hand was losing strength and helpless as he reemerged, gasping with the effort, face screwed up in hurt as he staggered to his knees long enough to throw up - no man could eat that many figs - and collapse again, spine recurving with an absolutely sickening sound; that one made him really scream. Ah, the pouring rain was a blessing as he lay there half propped up, wheezing and spitting as it ended, coated in muck and sticky strands of shifter 'afterbirth' slowly washing away. With soaked hair stuck to his skin and hanging in bedraggled clumps in front of his vision, naked in the mud, he was as pathetic as anyone had probably ever seen him.
Surprisingly, as the sludge slid from his trembling body, it was mixed with remarkably little blood - there were some cuts and scrapes, marks here and there, but the major damage seemed to be the massive bruise on one side, probably a couple broken ribs. It seemed whatever damage talons had done was no more than shallow punctures, mostly healed unlike the injuries recieved after he'd tried to consume the dark essence within Rufio.
Eventually Maxie would shakily look over towards the rooster he just remembered was there, but with a look of weary shame he'd close his eyes and bow his head, words not coming as the rain battered him.
The rooster looked on at Maxie, blearily peering back at the tired, weary eyes of the man before him. As if finally secure in the idea that Maxie was at least safe from himself now the rooster caved in to what was inevitably going to happen anyway, eventually. He passed out, wet sopping, muddy feather-ball fell from the crate a short distance into the mud with a horrible wet ‘SHLOP’, looking like just some dead chicken in someone's yard. It wouldn’t be until he could change back that he’d realize the extent of whatever injuries he’d received.
Maxie had trouble getting up, struggling to find his balance in the mud, knees quaking, but the rooster falling inspired his efforts. It would be incredibly ungrateful of him if he just let Rufio drown beak first in the mud - to some extent he had a vague comprehension of what had gone down. An awkward pause was given after he checked for life in the demon; unless he wanted to run around streaking in the rain (even though that would not at all be unusual tonight), it didn't look like he had a lot of options other than to rip down a rain filled awning and wrap the soggy material around his waist.
With another kneel he gently picked up the limp, muddy ball of feathers, taking care to not let his little chicken head flop around. A little bit of a strange image, a half naked and distinctly foreign man wandering around in the rain, cradling a dead or unconscious rooster against his chest in both arms. It'd take a little bit of backtracking before he managed to find inn and destroyed chicken coop - retrieving what clothes he could for the both of them from the mud took a little work. While pants were barely salvageable, Rufio's finer articles of clothing were probably less so - but he gathered up what could be found anyway.
Now that the inn was locked up tight and the storm continued to rage, Maxie decided against trying to break in and instead scouted them out a small barn on the outskirts, rather packed with worried livestock. In the loft there was just enough room for a man to pass out in the hay and for a rooster to be nestled in with a clutch of hens roosting there, alongside quite a lot of pigeons in the rafters. In muddy pants and wrecked tunic, pile of collected belongings nearby and dumb doggy tail sticking out to compliment the curl of his dextrous feet, Maxie would crash and crash hard, done until long after the sun had risen - not that anyone could be certain it was day for a while, as the dark clouds would continue to loom, ever rumbling with the threat of another overpowering energy fluctuation.
Maxie had not had the most pleasant first couple of days in the city - while very pleased to be off the boat and out of increasingly poor weather, he had not only found the weather chasing them inland, but his presence less welcome than it. While to some extent he knew how foolish he was for coming here, how his appearance was likely to be received, the culture shock was still severe - he was looked down upon by even certain elvish sects, which seemed to mostly hang in the slums where he'd had the most luck in the market and was ironically safer due to higher human population. Maxie did not speak the language and had a hard time getting through daily transactions, from exchanging his coin and much of the metal on him - including charms and a weapon or two - to getting new clothes that better concealed his features and kept him out of the sun. However, despite no longer being sea sick he had been increasing agitated and short of temper, even highly paranoid and more than on edge. It seemed he barely knew what to do with himself and it took too long for him to piece together the reason why. When exchanging goods his scarf had unraveled as he took the charms off, but it didn't matter as the crystals had failed to hold much charge or even help much anymore either way. While initially he had hunkered down with the crowd at his inn, he soon realized upon the first surges of the storm and distant calling of beasts that it was not a good idea to be locked in a building with other people. So before they could lock the doors he would abruptly abandon most of his things in his room, and looking ill and upset, force his way through the crowd and out into the rain. Maxie wasn't sure where the Hell he was even going, entirely lost in this place, but he pulled up his hood anyway and made it a priority to get outside the city and simply keep going until he found somewhere that might be safe - a cave, a barn (not that they wouldn't be full of animals and people already), hell the forest if he must. It seemed he was on some fools errand as he staggered through the streets and out the gates into the fields, pausing on occasion like he was going to throw up, shaking and wild eyed and truly not right.
Rufio Delgado had been nearby, enjoying having his butt feathers oggled by the locals as he enjoyed a drink before the storm and the gentle hum of hushed conversation. The tavern had an odd atmosphere as the storm started to kick up a little. The rooster-man noticed Maxie get up to leave rather abruptly and so he pushed himself up to stand and hurried on after him "You alright, Max?" he asked as he followed behind but near. He felt the storm like a very distant heartbeat at the moment, he felt buzzed, excited and energetic. "Are you feeling it yet?" he asked as he hurried to catch up a little to the mans side, glancing back at the tavern, worrying quietly about Sullivan.
Maxie stumbled rather suddenly and caught on to a nearby fence to catch his balance. "Yeah, I'm feeling it," he wheezed, looking disturbed and a mixture of energized and sick all at once. With little focus he was spinning from what was for him an overwhelming sensation - trying too much to deny his nature and keep it repressed, he was not prepared for the energy of the storm alone, nevermind the collective of supernatural energies screaming at his instincts. Maxie's hand tightened on the fence as he hunched over again with a sound of more irritation than anything, trying to steady his pounding heart and hard breathing. "I don't think this is goin' to be good for me - you should go back to the inn. I don' think I'm going t' be safe t' be around..."
Rufio Delgado felt painful prickling in his skin at times as if feathers wanted to burst forth and he repeatedly scratched his itching skin, damp hair even seemed more mad than usual. He stopped as Maxie hunched at the fence. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths...so far he was doing a little better but he was silently alarmed by the way he could feel his heart beating, his blood burning and everything seemed far more focused. He felt worried, because he had no idea what this would do to him or if he'd be fine. "That's why i'm here, Maxie. If you're going to be dangerous to be around i need to make sure you don't do anything you'll regret....I'm here for you." he said softly and stepped forwards a little, gritting his teeth and shuddering. The urge to.....go jogging was strong? why? he just needed to use his energy, he wanted to run and part of him wanted to lash out for no reason.
Maxie let out a dark chuckle as he tried to straighten and turned to look at the rooster with heavy worry breaking through his complex mix of feelings - his head kept turning and his eyes kept snapping from place to place however, as if he weren't sure what was going to happen at any given moment. "I'm not sure what you think you're going to do," he said. Maxie abruptly turned away to tense up like he wanted to fight someone, trying and failing desperately to keep his cool. A heavy rumble passed through the storm, sending another wave of energy out that nearly sent the man to his knees, rain now absolutely pouring down in a torrent. In the distance, something howled and Maxie answered with a low, guttural inhuman noise.
[#] A heavy rumble passes through the storm, sending another wave of energy rippling through the sky - it only gets darker and the rain has turned into a true downpour just getting started.
Rufio Delgado smirked. "Well, i think you'd be surprised what i can do Max. I'm telling you i can-" he felt the rumble rather heavily this time and fell hard into the fence this time, grabbing it with his armpit before he fell completely on his face. He hung there on the fence, soaking wet by now and panting as he stared ahead blankly at Maxie's back. As the man responded to the distant howl and nearer by Maxie let out that terrible noise, Rufio's pupils shrank to slits as he started giving in to the animalistic urges overcoming him. He responded to the terrible animalistic noise too, voice low as he started letting out PARTICULARLY inhuman noises, even if they were not as ....intimidating. Gurgling, pitchy noises to enter a chorus alongside maxie's growling as his eyes lost focus. The rooster seemed somewhat.....well, distracted from the world around him.
Maxie was similarly drenched by now and it was with weird, halting motions that he pulled off his hood and let down his hair, which he had tied back and concealed to not attract attention. It was like the storm was calling out to them now, like it had found the children of supernatural origin, and yearned to wrap them all in its embrace. Maxie wildly looked around at the sound Rufio was making with bared fangs, eyes entirely without white now, the man looking scruffier than he would have ever seen him. With a fresh stagger Maxie pulled his tunic off and began forcing himself to focus as he tossed it over the fence and moved on to his boots, looking to find somewhere things could be stashed - somewhere on the farm, perhaps underneath a coop or bush? Fine, maybe he'd get his clothes back, but the way things were going they'd not last much longer if he didn't remove them now. Maxie leaned forward on the fence as he stretched strange feet into the mud, that awful cracking of bones and muscle apparent even through the rumbling of thunder and booms of lightning. "We’ll see," he managed to snarl out as his mass all too notably began to expand - not at all like a wolf, though. No, there was something very different forming.
Rufio Delgado shook his head and sneered "No no no no" he said repeatedly to clear his head "I'm fine. I'm fine" he said, snapping out of it momentarily before feeling the feathers burst from his skin along his jaw "Agh- shit!" he swore and started frantically removing his clothes, every last bit no matter how wet and muddy it was. He fell to his knees, tossing his shirt and pants over the fence in with the- aw chickens.....he tried to spot one a moment but they were all inside the coop hiding and locked up. It gave him a moment of clarity and finally with his boots off he let it happen. It wasn't the rooster that was coming forth.... Rufio's legs began to grow crude scales and his feathers, as they protruded from his bare skin were darker and more sinister than usual. The man hunched over with his fingers gripping at his face in pain as he started to shift....oddly this time it wasnt an instant transformation and his bones cracked and warped, legs turned to bird legs as his knees inverted abruptly and painfully, letting out a rough rooster-like scream as his arms snapped the wrong way to form wing-like structures and his fingers began to elongate. Man turning to ape was no doubt painful but man turning into a bird-like creature had to be horrifying.
Maxie would normally not have been so eager to take off all his clothing in the pouring rain and the company of another man, but his own wet and muddy attire - or what was left before he hastily discarded his pants - was already beginning to strain against a body growing too big for them. It was a disgusting chorus of changing bodies and they were not the only ones, as many howls and screeches and squeals and roars filled the deepening night - he man cursed himself, swearing and snarling as he could do nothing, alternating between gritting his teeth at the thundering sky and hunching over the fence. A fence that was no longer holding his weight as two hundred pounds became three hundred and continued to strain and crack and distort as it didn't stop there. It was a lush red fur sprouting and a heavy brow jutting, hair flowing into thick mane, tail growing only somewhat longer but remaining hairless, tusks and massive chest perhaps the most significant of changes. Maxie's transformation while in the end nearing eight hundred pounds of trollish muscle, was admittedly not the more dramatic of the two. It would be over within minutes, but the beast would still sit there for a time, unfocused and agitated, rumbling as dark eyes began to scan - but not with the same intelligence as before.
[#] A full moon hangs heavy and oddly tinged in the sky, but spotting it through the cloud cover is a fleeting privilege. As shifters and others begin to fall under the influence of the raw magical currents, beastly howls and screams echo through the night unnaturally, their direction and distance impossible to judge over the pounding of the rain into the thickening mud.
Rufio Delgado's body took an odd shape and even his neck shifted, mouth hardened and lengthened into a beak painfully. Etheral, demonic screams errupted from the roosters throat and his mouth opened wide until it was gaping like a gators, unnaturally dislocated jaws hanging open. The comb of the rooster twisted and curled up high like the fan on a dragon's spine whilst the wattle was a grotesque spiked monstrosity down its throat. Its tail, still surrounded by corrupt rooster feathers, now sprouted a long reptilian tail that ballanced its top-heavy body. The wings were long enough to reach the floor and long crude, clawed fingers grew out of the shabby feathers. The rooster slammed its foot into the dirt, and its head tossed back to let out a pitchy, horrible crowing sound that would carry for miles throughout the city. Its eyes glowed in the darkness of the storm like fiery stars. The beast staggered as if it were unstable and crashed through the fence and head-first into the coop, causing the poor chickens inside to screech and flap around. He staggered then into the stone building and let out echoey, deep clucking noises, hissing before raising up its head and spitting a ball of flame pointlessly at a nearby tree, the bark too wet to catch fire from such a weak spit of fire. The beast didn't seem very conscious of what it was doing, its needle-point pupils spun around, glaring at the surrounding area. The once vibrant orange and teal feathers were dark and murkier shades of their former selves, almost looking like they were coated in oil.
Maxie would finish long before the other did, sitting rather dumbly for a moment as body finished shifting and simian monster gathered its wit - eyes suggested a decent amount of it, but nowhere near that of the man it had been. It was those demonic screams that really seemed to snap great beast to attention - with a snarl he was up on his feet with a lunge, slamming down all four-hundred-something pounds down into the mud with a much larger, booming roar somewhere between lion and gorilla. SLAMMING the ground with knuckles again in a false charge the challenge came again as prey was assessed.
Rufio Delgado finally snapped to attention. Its strange narrow head snapped towards Maxie and then back away to tilt its head sideways, right eye focusing on Maxie closely. A low rumble rattled up from its throat and the spines and feathers on its head slowly lifted, its wings opening out wide to make itself look much bigger. It threw its head forwards towards Maxie but from a distance and screeched horribly in his face, returning the challenge. Its tallons and feet scooped at the dirt like a bull getting ready to charge.
Maxie let out another roar that built from a grunting to a thick snarling bellow and the beast pounded the ground furiously, only rising up once with a single slam of fists to the chest, and charging as soon as knuckles hit the ground - if there was anything between them, fence or chicken coop or otherwise, it would be demolished in his path by a shove of a huge shoulder.
Rufio Delgado's head reared up sharply as Maxie charged forwards. The huge chicken knew naturally where its greatest strength was as the great ape drew closer and leapt up high in the air and kicked HARD for Maxie's chest in one swift thrust of his feet. Like with any rooster it happened quick enough for the rooster to kick with both feet, flap his wings a bit and land on both feet again, it was only a small mercy that the spurs hadn't been used that time....not with the size they were at now. A terrifying screech escaped its maw and shattered the atmosphere in the process, likely terrifying anyone still inside the tavern.
Maxie charged blindly and was easily caught off guard - in fact, beast made himself more of a target as he tried to rise, grabbing for the rooster as it suddenly flew up. A demonic entity like this was far too fast, however - both feet would catch him solid in the chest and send him collapsing back, slipping in the mud. However, beast would immediately be rolling to all fours and charging back around in an enraged circle, grunting - may have been a little bruised and scratched, but lucky indeed the spurs had not been used. It was a little more cautiously that he loped back and forth in agitation, head swinging back and forth, huffing and growling through rain dripping off chin and long eyebrows. In the distance, howls sounded, distracting.
Rufio Delgado's eyes fixed on Maxie piercingly as he charged back and forth with agitation, staring endlessly at him but somehow the brief conflict had helped the rooster clear its mind and grasp onto some of its humanity, but just barely. It knew it didn't want to hurt the stupid creature charging around in front of it, but it didn't know why and instead of responding to the agitation it flapped its wings hard, rising up and turning clumsily to slam into the roof, sending shreds and chunks of thatch down onto the ground before perching up high and watching Maxie from where it felt was a safe distance, letting out low growls and rumbles.
Maxie grumbled back, tearing up a few smaller plants and hurling handfuls of dirt in the general direction of the rooster, but with no real aim - his hunger targeted this one for certain, but such pulls were coming from every direction and agitated loping turned into unhappy charging around. Which included more handfuls of mud and rock and plant being flung pointlessly around and great imprints in the mud rapidly turning into puddles; a bolt of lightning flashed in the sky, spurring on his fit as he spun to beat on the side of the chicken pen before charging away again, creating a sound that echoed like a wooden drum - if a drum also clucked in distress, that was. While the beast kept going up to the tree line and barking out a challenge, he also didn't seem to want to take his eye off the demon perched on the roof.
[#] A particularly bright bolt of lightning splits the night. A deep rumbling boom follows the blinding flash, enough to lightly rattle panes of glass.
Rufio Delgado clucked furiously over at Maxie as he beat on the chicken pen but as he charged off the giant monstrosity leapt down and hurried over to the broken up coop full of dead and alive chickens, tenderly lifting it upright with its beak and letting out a few sad, low clucks but then realized it was again in the line of fire and ran off along the path past Maxie, leaping high over the fence as if made of air but still somehow seeming to land heavily. It charged off, trying to lead the ape down the street away from the poor hens who'd taken a good beating from the coop getting thrown around. Once past the tavern the rooster would skid to a halt and turn around, screeching back towards Maxie loudly.
Maxie was certainly distracted by the sudden movement - and took off after rooster, grabbing on to trees, building pieces, anything to propel himself forward with great leaps that shook the ground when he landed. Now wary of those feet, he skid to a halt and slapped the ground, roaring back as though trying to drown out the screeching. With a little more wit than before the monster turned sideways to bare a shoulder and gave a little false charge, stopping short of actually reaching the screeching demon.
Rufio Delgado let out a horrible growling shriek as Maxie charged forwards and the rooster braced itself. Falling for the false charge it leapt up and flapped to try and get backwards several feet without kicking this time, though that definitely made its legs vulnerable to grabbing gorilla-like hands.
Unfortunately, that was an opportunity an instinct laden beast was going to take, as he lunged up from his halt to swipe at avian legs with huge, leathery hands - and grab above those danger spurs if possible. If he got so much as a handful of leg, talon, or feather he'd yank down hard, making to throw the rooster to the ground, grunting.
Rufio Delgado let out a horrifying screech as its light-built but huge body was swung down into the gravel. The creatures body hit down and with its spare free leg it immediately pushed out to grab and grip at Maxie's shoulders in huge toes, one either side of the gorilla's neck to try and keep him at a distance. It looked afraid and also furious as it turned its head from where it was lying on the ground to glare at the ape. It didn't want to hurt Maxie, but a ball of flame was growing in the back of its throat.
Maxie was stopped mid lunge and although his strength was great, he was distracted enough by the talons at his throat to try and pull them off before they caused much damage - but it forced him to stand back up as he made to grab and toss, throwing them apart due to slippery mud and giving the rooster something of a clumsy opening. It would likely be clear that the flurry of feathers was a distracting blur - this beast did not seem to see very well at all, with incredibly near sight.
Rufio Delgado swung a wing at Maxie as if to stun him with a powerful smack to the face and then the rooster flapped hard to get back up onto the roof, throwing huge sheets of matted thatch down onto the road as is scrabbled to get up high again and peer down at the street at Maxie once more if successful. It let out a low growl and sat down as if to get comfortable right on the tip of the roof, glaring irritably at the ape-man. It wasn't quite intelligent enough to speak right now but it knew it favored maxie even if the strange beast kept attacking him.
Maxie grunted, swinging wildly at the feathers that smacked him in the face, snorting and wiping at his nose as he loped underneath the demon - only to get showered with more than the heavy rain, which was already making him look quite pathetic at this point, a soggy mop of long red clumps with a droopy naked dog tail and short tusks. With a highly annoyed grumbling he swat at the pieces of roof rebounding off him and once again loped sideways out into the street - howling, once more, was a great distraction and he stopped still to listen through the cascade of endless rain.
Rufio Delgado lowered its head slowly to peer down at Maxie with an odd calmness, however at the cracking of the thunder the rooster twitched and pecked hard at the roof, ripping off huge chunks of thatch and even opening holes in the roof to the attic before opening its maw and finally shooting a molten ball of demonic flame down at the chunks of thatch on the street near Maxie, a horrible sound errupting from its throat and gurgling as the fire left and lit even the damp straw down below.
Maxie had been distracted and most certainly had not been expecting fire to follow the new shower of thatch, which had largely been ignored - up until it burst into flame, which the beast shied away from in surprise with a barking grunt. In growing agitation and with bared teeth, great handfuls of mud and now burning thatch was hurled at the rooster, but with rather poor aim; it mostly struck the side of the building. A fresh fit continued and he now took to the rooftops himself if less gracefully, the wood of balcony and supports creaking under his weight, pieces of stone tile and more thatch being flung to the ground as he flung himself from one roof to another looking for something, punching many holes in structures not really intended for this kind of force.
Rufio Delgado stood up abruptly when Maxie climbed up onto the roof, a low rooster-like growl rising in the demons throat. For whatever reason he didn't like watching Maxie punching holes in things and the rooster charged forwards and leapt across the rooftops to reach Maxie in a quarter of the time it took the bumbling ape to navigate them (feathers for lyfe) and upon reaching the ape he'd make one last leap and swoop in to aim another kick at his torso, trying to throw the beast back onto the street below furiously.
Maxie was not very quick as he lumbered across the rooftops, and it was taking most of his concentration to not slip and fall on the slanted structures as tile and wet straw fell apart, sliding under his feet. A snarl and curled lip was offered to the rooster as colorful feathers filled his vision, but the attempted backhand to Rufio only sent him off balance. Maxie tumbled back down into the street proper with an upset grunt of a roar, grabbing at pieces of building and feathers pointlessly on the way out. It was a pretty good THUD that resounded as he hit the ground, and beast didn't get up quite as quickly as the first time - but teeth and tense posture as he rolled to his feet and looked up suggested that he was actually pretty mad now. A low series of grunts rolled out of his chest, building in intensity - there was no telling how long this back-and-forth exchange was going to last, but it looked like Rufio's new form was proving to be a rather effective boon.
Rufio Delgado shrieked loudly enough to be heard over the storm as a clump of feathers was torn out of his chest by the falling gorilla, leaving bloody pores behind. The rooster tilted its head, wattle shaking grotesquely as it tilted its head this way and that to focus on Maxie on the street below. The roosters long tail whipped irritably to the side against a raised part of the roof as the ape-beast grunted furiously up at him... again the rooster stared and waited for Maxie to make the first move...which was only too easy to do when the ape kept getting angry. Waiting for Maxie to make another move the rooster lowered its head to a shut window and pecked it open with no problem to peer inside only to hear screaming from children inside. The rooster clucked in shock and pressed its burning eye to the window to stare in, distracted truly and completely.
Maxie kept that fistful of feathers proudly for a while as he carried on hooting, at least until he decided to throw them up back to their owner, broken shafts decorating mud and bits of pathway being flung; with any luck he would actually hit his target this time.
Rufio Delgado was hit by a bit of mud at first which honestly didn't bother the collossal creature but when rocks and harder mud started striking it, it left the poor kids inside the house alone and lifted its head up angrily. It had had enough of the ape-mans games now, especially as a rock struck it rather hard in the side of the head and again in the chest. The horrible things beak opened but then kept opening until its jaw hung wider open with a gator-like maw. A loud, etheral cockrel crowing scream errupted from its throat and the horrid creature clambered to its feet... a little bruised and a tiny bit bloody. It leapt down from the roof towards Maxie and tried to land on him, talons grabbing for his shoulders or arms in some attempt to pin him onto the pavement, angry clucking echoing demonically throughout the streets.
Maxie roared as the demon landed on his back, throwing his weight around furiously and making every attempt to stand back up and fling off the talons digging into shoulders, alternating furiously between struggling bounds and staggering back up - arms, however, only reached back so well, and doing so with balance was even more so of a challenge. Even if he managed to grab on to something he might be hard pressed to actually pry the rooster off - and the demon would find his strength distinctively oppressive, hard to pin down. Anyone looking out of a window or otherwise witnessing this would have quite the show of what looked like a cockatrice riding some kind of ape around - perhaps unusual, even in this chaos.
Rufio Delgado flapped madly as Maxie swung around, making his best effort to ballance as he clucked furiously. Chickens were notoriously good ballancers, however, and despite all the swinging around his head somehow managed to stay in exactly the same place looking down at Maxie, body bobbing up and down but the head always staying frozen in the air rather freakishly. Suddenly however, realizing he couldn't pin the ape very easily the Rooster would keep flapping hard and digging his talons in to lift the ape for brief seconds at a time or pull him backwards, using the strong and difficult winds to get his own way and try to swing the ape around.
Maxie let out a shrieking bark of pain as the talons sank in deeper, wingbeats pulling him up and back - being swung around threw him off balance and he staggered around comically for a moment, still grabbing wildly, before crashing into the side of a building and creating more property damage in the form of smashed barrels, crates, and the like. It was likely the talons had done a fair amount of damage under the fur, especially with such a sharp motion, but if the rooster didn't let go he might find himself the one pinned between falling ape and wall.
Rufio Delgado indeed DID find himself between an ape and a wall and the rooster crashed into it with monumental force. The winds were too strong and the force of gravity swinging him around for the rooster to stop, so there he lay against the wall, stunned and his head hanging to the side, eyes staring blankly into nothingness. Its talons let go of Maxie's poor shoulders and its legs were upright and rigid, almost looking dead.
Maxie would sit a moment in the rain and muddy, broken rooster - he let out an uncertain grunt when nothing happened next, shrugging off limp legs and pushing himself up. With curled lip he turned around, lumbering a little lamely as he nursed a sore shoulder - a new roar of challenge and a false rush was offered first to check the situation. If the demon didn't respond a wary arm would reach out and pick up a wing, dropping it as he scoot closer cautiously, sniffing, rumbling.
Rufio Delgado lay completely unresponsive, the false charge was met with no resistance and the roosters pupils didn't shift at all either. The irises still glowed softly but the brute of a chicken had hit his head and being avian in nature had become stunned, wakingly unconcious.
Maxie let out a grunt of satisfaction and shuffled forward, ignoring throbs of pain in his shoulders - leathery hands reached out to grab the rooster by his own wing joints and pull him up, nostrils flaring and spraying rain as the beast stared into those blank, if glowing eyes. It was an almost opposite gaze, dark eyes deepening as his jaw slacked open. The 'gorilla' began to breathe in deeply, as if attempting to pull something more than air into his body - and he would succeed, slowly prying demonic power from the limp entity, through eyes and mouth like a wraith consuming souls. It would not be a quick process, however, and pauses would be taken between 'gulps' - power would only begin to loosen, excess energy taken first, that less anchored to the core…
Utterly, absolutely foolhardy, a rather commanding bark of a shout rang out through the air, in spite of the storm, and the perpetrator stepped out from relative safety around the corner of a nearby building. It could have been Arron - the rain-soaked black curls and the ridiculous and spindly height would have suggested as much. But an Arron in rough shape. Something dark soaked the front of his tunic, persistently clinging to the fabric in spite of the rain. He had bare feet, tattered shreds serving as the hems of his pants, walking at a strange limp - and it was shortly evident why: one leg was considerably different than the other. While each ended in weird, doglike paws and claws, one had risen to a digitigrade stance. And the face certainly wasn't QUITE Arron, after all - elongated only slightly, black eyed and pointy-eared. And the grin was considerably sharper than his old. "Good show, good job mein Herr Hahn. Huh. Is too bad, I think I've mixed up your nicknames!" His voice was hoarse. "I would just like to say that our crew is UTTERLY, what is it...'fucked up,' but for the sake of my Sullivan, I think the show is over, mm?"
The rooster started to shrink down as Maxie began to eat his essence and his glowing eyes grew dim. The tail slowly shrank back into his body and his feathers began to grow back out and look healthy once more...neck even shrinking back a little and the claws retracted into his wings. The rooster became more and more normal, slowly starting to return to conciousness. This time, he was concious of his mind ...he was himself and he felt weak and tired. He wasn't even aware of Aaron until the man started talking...dim eyes staring blankly ahead. Suddenly though, the roosters feathers stood up and it turned its head sharply to glare at Aaron...the voice it spoke with was demonic, etheral and somehow both inside and outside Rufio's body at the same time "YOUR Sullivan? He is not YOUR Sullivan" the weak rooster growled, despite its confusion and...well, apparently forgetting it had a huge demon eating ape-man stood over it "Sullivan owes you NOTHING for what you did, no more than his GRATITUDE!" the rooster crowed but then collapsed and panted heavily on the floor. Where had its energy gone? where was he? what was happening?
Maxie abruptly stopped what he was doing and turned his great head towards the new arrival with a rope of water slung through the air from sopping mane. A jaw of short lower tusks snapped close, remnants of final 'bite' fading in the increasingly cold downpour. It was the yelling that briefly got his attention and he would ROAR once again, directly in the roosters face - and then drop him into the broken wood, facing the fresh, still standing threat with a short huff. It didn't seem like those dark eyes cared too much about what he had to say as he rose up, let out a much uglier sound of threat, and gave his chest a few beats before slamming fists back into the mud and stone. It didn't seem like his shoulders were bothering him much anymore - in fact, after that 'taste' of demon he seemed all too ready to go again, if arguably a little placated. It was hard to say, but the not-wolf-not-Arron hadn't been charged yet.
"He at least knows when I am about to leave for Esta." His voice lowered to a growl. "If you think that MY HOSPITALITY-!" And then abruptly cut off with a gasp, small and pained - an animalistic hiss through his teeth, interrupted by a horrific twist and /crunch/ that left the spindly man grasping with wicked claws at the corner from which he'd come around, the other leg appeared to catch up to the first, too-slow. He was panting, the mud around his immediate feet shifting and roiling about independently, rather strangely indicative of his current mood. Wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of a lightly bristled fist, eyes darting to the gorilla with some nerves - not that it was evident with black iris and sclera. "Speaking of which, where is she?"
Rufio Delgado let out a low rooster growl at Arron, though he stopped himself saying something that might cause issues between the lot of them rather reluctantly "Why would I know where she is?" he looked up at Maxie who seemed ready to charge and hobbled weakly forwards to stand in front of the great ape, the tiny rooster that he was was in real danger. He clucked loudly up at Maxie to try and get his attention "Look at me big guy" he said tiredly "Just calm down, calm. Try to remember yourself" it was worth a shot, he had set himself the task of stopping Maxie hurting anyone he didn't need to hurt but was only now realizing that wasn't as easy as he thought...especially now he was barely a distraction anymore.
Maxie roared in frustration as the twisted half-wolf didn't seem particularly threatened - at first the demon was ignored entirely. Arron was not only something more familiar to him, more akin to the prey he knew well, and more importantly - somewhere in there Maxie knew this man didn't like him and was going to respond to that and the brewing emotions between them like a dog. However, short burst of rush was stopped by the now small rooster in front of him, face crinkling up into what could only be dim confusion. While now vaguely familiar, this smaller form, human memory didn't seemed to be jogged and with an annoyed grunt the beast tried to swat the bird away with a very lazy backhand.
Arron answered that roar with an animalistic shriek, rather formidable in spite of his size. It was almost involuntary, would have almost been embarrassing had the man been a bit more willing to think. But he wasn't, he was talking, seemingly unable to simply put a cork in it. Uncharacteristic, quivering almost under the barest of restraint. Something shuddered through his body, clawed at his mind, caught at the man, twisted until he nearly doubled over. The earth still turned before and around him, as chaotic as the black eyed man's disjointed words seemed to be. "I'm TRYING to carry on a civil conversation!" he'd snarled, hardly civil at all! And seemingly addressed to no-one, turned inward. Before focusing on that giant "But what are words for when no-one LISTENS anymore. But I suppose it would not be the first time, would it! /Paladin?/"
Rufio Delgado was trying to ignore Arron, "You should get out of here...and shut up!" he snapped over to him, he didn't care he was transforming so much as this was a brewing disaster. He leapt over the lazy backhand and crashed back into the path, panting heavily. He struggled back to his feet and looked up at Maxie "No no look at me, look at me" he said to Maxie and tried to lead him away from Arron, slowly edging sideways "Come on, follow me. Please. Cmon big guy." he was ready to spring with what little energy he had if Maxie suddenly went for Arron.
Maxie stopped in place, deadly still and silent as eyes bore into the man - ignoring the rooster. It was unclear at first if it was the anger and chaos that paused the beast or something more - until that final word. It was a dirty word Maxie hadn't even let himself say in a long, long time - and the man inside twisted too, white showing at the corners of his eyes. It was rapidly swallowed back up as he roared once more, turned, and charged away to begin climbing another building - however, his intent didn't seem to be to leave. It seemed to be in ripping up pieces of the roof as Rufio had before and raining it down on the both of them in confusion and upset.
"Yes, that is right," Arron rasped at the gorilla-creature's pause. "I was not strong enough the last time. But this time will be different! YES!" That last shoud charged with fury - and a note of alien and strange pain. So much so that he hadn't even noticed - or cared - that his rough and growling voice had slipped back into his original tongue. And, shrieking, the man-beast sprang to follow him up, scaling and hauling itself after him, earth moving with him, wrapped about him, in flux in places, solidifying elsewhere like an eldritch coat - or, in this case...reactive, un-honed armor.
Rufio Delgado wasn't certain what Arron was talking about but he was quickly realizing....shit- the HAIR, THE HAIR! Was Arron going to try to end Maxie to protect- SHIT. The rooster had little energy but he tried to chase Arron up up the wall. It wasn't easy, he was so tired. The demon burst into a tiny ball of flame, the dark phoenix of certain lore, he turned into flame entirely for a brief moment and the flame rode up the side of the wall defiant of the rain but then stopped at a window halfway up. The rooster lost its flame and panted on the ledge before igniting again and shooting up again....pausing at the next window, close behind Arron "Don't you touch him!" he sqwarked after Arron desperately.
Maxie stopped throwing pieces of building and stood up on knuckles to watch the wolf charge, bark-grunting a warning - if he hadn't been soaked, red mane probably would have been standing on end. All kinds of loosened pieces of roof went tumbling into the rain and window panes shook as he dropped down, grabbing on to the edge with one hand and ripping it apart as he used the momentum to throw himself forward to meet the climber with yet another quaking ROAR, shifting earth protecting Arron's body or no. How much earth did it take to block over eight-hundred pounds of temper tantrum flying through the air?
Arron whipped around, claws already impossibly burying themselves into their meager foothold, tendons white against dark skin, lightly coated in patches with a bristly gray down. He snarled something else - near-wordless, yet it could have been some perversion of that language - at Rufio, but whatever he'd said was lost beneath the primate's next roar. Needless to say, it was probably unpleasant. Ears flicking up, he'd /hissed/ in return, shoved off of his perch with a strengthening leap. He'd been aiming to launch himself to a higher foothold - but whippet-wiry and springy Arron was, in any form...he could do very little about being caught and whacked off course in midair. And he fell - but in that space of a moment, he'd reflexively flung what amount he'd had - straight at the giant's face! Dunamai-rron used Mud Shot! But was it effective?
Rufio Delgado cried out from the window "NO! STOP! God damn it you stupid asshole!" he crowed and sqwarked furiously at them. Maxie was not going to die today, he wouldn't allow it. But he could barely do much, especially with them entangled like that. The rooster would wait for them to land or hit something solid before he would throw his body out into the rain again, once more taking the form of flame and zipping swiftly towards them, forcing his energy into darting underneath Arron as a ball of horrible flame and flaring up against his stomach, seeking out cracks in the armor, weaknesses, trying to burn him good.
Maxie would have fallen with the monstrous butcher, driving his weight down upon him into the mud, but gravity was his master and a hard shot of wet earth straight to the face was enough to send him on a backward trajectory instead, crashing hard on his side and tumbling a distance away. It was with pain and rage the beast pulled itself up with a limping stagger, coughing deeply and wheezing, wiping mud out of already squinting eyes, blowing it out of nostrils, hacking and spitting furiously into the rain.
It was the teeny tiny rooster that did it! Or rather, the teeny tiny rooster ENGULFED IN FLAMES, which was far more understandable. An inhuman shriek! And Arron reared up, fell back, scuttled backwards on a limping leg, heaving with heavy pant. Licked his lips, black eyes wide - pained, in disbelief. "Not now, not again. Not again, not again..." Words were burbling forth from the low canine moans and wimpers. But he didn't move; Rufio was doing a rather miraculous job at keeping the comparatively titanic mutant before him at bay. Arron's eyes remained locked on Maxie, only occasionally and warily flicking to the fire. "Not now, not again, I'D HAD HIM! I NEED THIS, RUFIO, I NEED THIS ONE." Those shrieks, then, nonsense they might have been,were all too human.
Rufio Delgado was tossed hard against the street as Arron scrabbled away but the rooster was quick as he could be to stand back up, opening his wings out wide before sputtering back to life, flame errupting from his body and his wings outwards a very short distance as he stood there on the path, defiantly between Arron and the ape-man "No! get BACK!" his voice boomed demonically, gaining back some energy to it. It seemed rufio was slowly but surely recovering "You'll not get through me! So begone!" the rooster charged forwards a foot towards Arron as if to see if he'd back off, not entirely sure if it was a fear of the flame or just a reaction to the pain he'd just felt.
Maxie finished wiping mud out of his eyes and bristled, punching the ground and growling at recovering demonic energies, but still very much more focused on the shrieking not-man. A short charge closer to fiery wings was halted by pain from the fall, however - the beast coughed again, cringing. Unfortunately, as his head rose it only seemed to be fueling his mindless nature; lips curled to show massive teeth and tusks as he glared past the fire - the sky rumbled with him.
It would have been almost comical - Rufio, aflame, charged forwards and the wolf-man balking as if his opponent was far larger. He didn't step back from the fire, but the wish to do so betrayed him in the sharp hiss, rise of a front hand-paw, the severe lean away (almost sending him tumbling over an off-balance leg), the flattening of ears and bristling of a patchy mane. Still fixed the Maxie-monster with that hardened stare, a low, long humming whine escaping unbidden from his throat. Earth slid slowly back to him but otherwise remained at-ease. Licked his lips with a black tongue. "You, too." was vague and strange; low, murmured, could have been missed among the hiss of the rain. And, almost reluctantly even in its suddenness, he sprang, bum leg at all, to propel himself at and off a corner to whip around it and into an alley!
Rufio Delgado glared through one burning chickeny eye towards the beast as their stand-off ensued. When, however, Arron bounded off, Rufio turned abruptly to face the ape and kept the flame burning though he felt exhausted still, gradually growing back in strength as the storm fed him. "Do NOT Persue him, Maxie" he said, now they were alone on the street as far as he could tell "You are bigger than this. Find yourself." the rooster said, only hoping he didnt get bitchslapped into the next dimension right now.
Maxie did make a charge after the wolfman too, even if every pull forward seemed to cause him to grunt and wheeze a little - the fire, the voice, the discomfort in his side, it gave him slight pause and he grumbled with dying aggression. It was pure confusion on that muddy face as the chicken felt wrong still, but was nowhere near intimidating an opponent as before. Maxie punched the ground once again and gave a final roar after Arron, resounding his disappointment down the alleyway passages. It didn't seem like the great beast was at all interested in slaughtering a small colorful bird - especially one that was on fire. Just wary enough of it to not lunge past and give chase, he began pacing back and forth on his knuckles, almost whining, and not really seeming to listen.
Rufio Delgado lost the flame when Maxie finally started to pace back and forth seeming upset...it was hard not to feel compassion for him as a big bumbling beast, especially when he'd seen him get so upset.... what was the word that had started it? ...Paladin.... he'd have to ask about that when Maxie was in his right mind, if he dared. "Maxie... "he said softly and hobbled after him, feeling very sore in his back and the back of his skull after the hard strike he'd felt earlier "You're not alone here. I know you think you're alone. I can tell when i talk to you" he rambled on to the beast, not even thinking he could understand him but ....hey, maybe the soft talking (as soft as one could be over this rain) would help calm the beast some more "But i'm with you now, friend, and who knows....it's a new city, a new start. You might find many more friends, but i promise you have me. I promise."
Maxie huffed mud and rainwater at the bird dismissively - but the voice did distract him from resuming his chase. It seemed there were fewer strange noises out in the night now, and the rippling fluctuations of energy had ceased, for now. With a defeated, frustrated, tired grumble-grunt-grumble, the beast fell into a sitting position in the mud and reached out to lightly shove the rooster with a hand, pull very lightly at a wing. It was definitely more than just eyesight that was short here.
Rufio Delgado approached Maxie where he sat.. the rooster felt himself getting tired now that the fluctuations were ceasing, leaving him unable to so easily recover anymore. He soon regretted going near Maxie as he was shoved and then tugged by his wing "owow- careful- that's sore" he'd been bashed pretty good into that wall after all "not too rough, not too rough" he pleaded gently, a little terrified actually.
Maxie would be surprisingly gentle with the rooster for him still being a demonic entity, no matter how less intimidating he was now. A little roughly the rooster would be dropped, pushed back a little with a shove, and so it would go for a while with this poor creature - staring, poking, scratching self, looking around with the occasional growl as if making sure threats stayed away. Incredibly easily distracted, he would get up and wander, finding random things to fiddle with or scattered pieces of fruit that had fallen from trees - OH, now here was a distraction. Maxie left the rooster to plant himself in someone's yard and begin ripping down all their figs, gorging himself with lazy, messy chewing. Eventually however, he'd seem to grow sluggish and pause, looking around in fresh confusion - with eyes that seemed to be growing whiter at the edges, losing their dark tinge. A half eaten fruit fell from his palm and he'd finally really look at Rufio, with a whole lot more intelligence than before. If Rufio had continued to follow him around and even carried on talking to him, it'd likely encourage along the change and this time, actually draw some focus.
Rufio Delgado allowed the irritating pushing and pulling as long as it went on before finally Maxie left him alone. The rooster, obligated by his concern for the man, followed and sat on a little wooden crate in to watch Maxie. The rooster let out a low chuckle in the depths of his throat, just watching. When Maxie finally looked at him again he noticed the slight change.....damp drowned looking chicken seemed amused "You hungry over there big guy? ....big fan of olives myself, used to get lots fresh back when i lived on the orchard. Honestly after tonight i could eat a horse."
Maxie took a little bit in 'coming to' - giving Rufio a low grunt, he looked around, slowly getting up and staggering away from the tree. With gradually dawning awareness, the look of horror on the face of a beast like this was rather comical; slack jawed with little lower tusks sticking out and limp mane dangling in his face, both of them rather drenched. Now falling to one elbow, a hand covering a face with eyes that blatantly stood out blue on white - ah, now that was a very human move. Was someone finally home?
Rufio Delgado saw Maxie come back, though the effort to not just fall asleep sat up was becoming a rather tedious one. The roosters head drooped to one side as it became heavy to keep up...perhaps a little bit of a concussion...considering he'd been stunned for quite a while. "It's alright Maxie, you're alright..." he droned tiredly. Meaning it, but losing the energy to really speak up much. It was fascination that kept his eyes open...observing the man returning from the monster, feeling very sorry for him too.
It was typical for transformations to be unpleasant things; especially with shapeshifters who were not naturally born as such beings, the form forced out of their cells a grotesque display of shifting muscle and bone twisting and snapping and pulling and reforming, of mass expanding and receding. While supernatural energies might have pulled resources out of the environment in some way and explained his appetite, unlike some more graceful shifters such as Rufio, there was no absorption here and there was something especially primitive about the whole process. As the beast in the mud turned back into man, gradually shrinking, those extra three hundred pounds did not all simply become less dense tissue and vanish into the night. Excess slacked away from his skin in clumps of gelatinous gunk and dissolving hair as bones crunched back into place and he twisted in the mud, crying out as clawing limbs raked the mud - the process was much slower and more excruciating; it seemed difficult for the man to come back, as though the beast did not want to go willingly.
The beast was mindless instinct that took rage from the pain as it broke free in a surge of transformative energy. The man on the other hand was losing strength and helpless as he reemerged, gasping with the effort, face screwed up in hurt as he staggered to his knees long enough to throw up - no man could eat that many figs - and collapse again, spine recurving with an absolutely sickening sound; that one made him really scream. Ah, the pouring rain was a blessing as he lay there half propped up, wheezing and spitting as it ended, coated in muck and sticky strands of shifter 'afterbirth' slowly washing away. With soaked hair stuck to his skin and hanging in bedraggled clumps in front of his vision, naked in the mud, he was as pathetic as anyone had probably ever seen him.
Surprisingly, as the sludge slid from his trembling body, it was mixed with remarkably little blood - there were some cuts and scrapes, marks here and there, but the major damage seemed to be the massive bruise on one side, probably a couple broken ribs. It seemed whatever damage talons had done was no more than shallow punctures, mostly healed unlike the injuries recieved after he'd tried to consume the dark essence within Rufio.
Eventually Maxie would shakily look over towards the rooster he just remembered was there, but with a look of weary shame he'd close his eyes and bow his head, words not coming as the rain battered him.
The rooster looked on at Maxie, blearily peering back at the tired, weary eyes of the man before him. As if finally secure in the idea that Maxie was at least safe from himself now the rooster caved in to what was inevitably going to happen anyway, eventually. He passed out, wet sopping, muddy feather-ball fell from the crate a short distance into the mud with a horrible wet ‘SHLOP’, looking like just some dead chicken in someone's yard. It wouldn’t be until he could change back that he’d realize the extent of whatever injuries he’d received.
Maxie had trouble getting up, struggling to find his balance in the mud, knees quaking, but the rooster falling inspired his efforts. It would be incredibly ungrateful of him if he just let Rufio drown beak first in the mud - to some extent he had a vague comprehension of what had gone down. An awkward pause was given after he checked for life in the demon; unless he wanted to run around streaking in the rain (even though that would not at all be unusual tonight), it didn't look like he had a lot of options other than to rip down a rain filled awning and wrap the soggy material around his waist.
With another kneel he gently picked up the limp, muddy ball of feathers, taking care to not let his little chicken head flop around. A little bit of a strange image, a half naked and distinctly foreign man wandering around in the rain, cradling a dead or unconscious rooster against his chest in both arms. It'd take a little bit of backtracking before he managed to find inn and destroyed chicken coop - retrieving what clothes he could for the both of them from the mud took a little work. While pants were barely salvageable, Rufio's finer articles of clothing were probably less so - but he gathered up what could be found anyway.
Now that the inn was locked up tight and the storm continued to rage, Maxie decided against trying to break in and instead scouted them out a small barn on the outskirts, rather packed with worried livestock. In the loft there was just enough room for a man to pass out in the hay and for a rooster to be nestled in with a clutch of hens roosting there, alongside quite a lot of pigeons in the rafters. In muddy pants and wrecked tunic, pile of collected belongings nearby and dumb doggy tail sticking out to compliment the curl of his dextrous feet, Maxie would crash and crash hard, done until long after the sun had risen - not that anyone could be certain it was day for a while, as the dark clouds would continue to loom, ever rumbling with the threat of another overpowering energy fluctuation.
