Adder was a longtime resident of New York City and its blurred neighbourhoods, but he'd never been this close to this place before. He'd been in the area, of course, but it was far too wealthy and riddled with itchy security for him to stick around or come often. It was more of a... summertime curiosity thing.


It was not summer and this was not pure curiosity.


This was... influenced by anxiety, and carefully considered.  He had become very mobile as of late, sleeping in short breaks and almost exclusively in public, well-witnessed places. Just in case.  Precautionary.  He had practice being effectively invisible in public, but his concern wasn't easing over time.  His exhaustion was just growing.


And so now he was here, poking around the outer edges of the backside of a particular incredibly rich estate.  Its level of rich was farther beyond what he usually called rich than he was from a domestic rabbit.  The only association he had with rabbits was when he managed to catch a wild one to eat.  Hopefully this level of rich didn't share that trait.


Just in case it did, Adder moved through the trees on all fours, leaving only canid footprints in the lingering snow.  Very large footprints, yes, but certainly mistakable for a large dog's in a city like this.  He walked slowly, alert and warily examining every wisp of scent that drifted past.  This might be the far edge of the estate, but it still held a dizzying array of scents.  Vibrant people.


And-


Adder... couldn't place that scent.  It was incredibly familiar, and yet he couldn't name it.  He should be able to.  It was obvious, how could he not name it?  And yet he couldn't.


He lashed his tail in frustration, and sprang forward to try to catch a new scent.  A less difficult scent.

Tyson sat outside the greenhouse, curled up as he brooded on the latest of failed attempts to try and reclaim some normality and stability in his life. His excursion into the city had not gone as planned, the complete opposite in fact. It seemed he couldn't even go out in public without putting himself, and others in danger. That combined with the now several incidents where his instincts had gotten the better of him had him more melancholy then ever. He had nothing to anchor him to his old life anymore. He couldn't play video games, he couldn't go out, he couldn't even write a letter to him mom without having someone else transcribe it, and even then he couldn't even speak without growling and slurring his words due to the shape of his mouth. The inside of the building stank of people, the noise unbearable, he wasn't sure how much more of this he could take before he finally snapped. The only solace he could find was in escaping outside to some place quit and less trodden. Xavia usually tended the gardens inside the greenhouse, and while he enjoyed the fact that she didn't smell as strongly as everyone else, right now he just wanted to be left alone, so he just sat outside, stewing in his own disconsolate state of being.

He didn't know which way his life was heading anymore. Hopes for a cure seemed to be harder and harder to hold onto, he felt empty inside, like a part of him had been gouged out and left to bleed, and the mantras he told himself, that things would get back to normal felt less and less convincing with the repetition. What was he now? He didn't know anymore, everything was different, he was different, was he still human, of just some sort of animal? Or worse, a monster?

Then a scent wafted his way on the wind, different from other scents he had smelt before, and suddenly he was on his feet, growling. Instinct took hold of him and his hackles rose as he sniffed the air, picking up the trail like a line of white hot fire. Before he knew it he was running on all fours, chasing it down until he saw it's origin. A white wolf. Someone could have mistaken it for a dog from a distance, but Tyson's nose was a different matter altogether, and unfortunately it stuck at deep territorial instincts he was not aware of. A rival was on his territory, and it needed to go, it did not register to Tyson that this was not the way he thought of the mansion, nor that he didn't need to defend it. Already his teeth were bared and he was growling and barking threats as he bore down on the intruder, ready to defend his claim.

The smell wasn't wafting away. It was getting stronger, and the individual soul-scent grew clearer, and then he had no time to process why the initial scent had been familiar, for he was too busy spinning around to face the threat. Tail stiffly upright, motionless for the moment but still definitely don'-****-with-me, full eye contact, and full display of his own teeth.

He'd dealt with street dogs before, and pet dogs of varying levels of protectiveness, but Adder had never actually met another wolf of any sort before. For the moment, he wasn't quite ready to work on more than assessing the stranger's movement and momentum, and the angles different attacks could come from if this didn't turn into an abrupt standoff.

The stranger was aggressive, but Adder didn't get a dominant vibe. Like hell he'd let some pushy loudmouth drive him off that easily. Not when he needed an escape.

Tyson was rarely in full control of himself at the best of times. Right now he wasn't in a mood that helped that. The intruder wasn't budging despite a raging ball of fur heading his way. As he got close he came to a halt for a moment, teeth bared, rising to his feet to display claws and give him height. The display was as much a threat as a final warning, his instincts were to avoid an all out brawl when he was able to simply chase off an intruder, but failing that, this was about to become messy.

"Grrrrrrrr hrrrrrrrrrrrrr gggggeeeettt oooouuuttt hrrrrrrrrr, " he growled what little cognitive control he had vocalizing his threat. He faced the intruder, unwavering, waiting for him to either run or return his challenge in turn. His hackles were raised, eyes locked in the other wolf's. He had never seen a wolf in person. Well besides the traits that he saw in a mirror. Not that he was in any state of mind to appreciate it at all, he may have been fascinated in his old life. He knew he could easily tear a man apart with his claws, he doubted they would have any less resistance in this case either.

Adder wanted to huff and wander on his way. He wanted to avoid fighting, even with recent-ish actual meat in him. He'd had too much stress lately to want to waste resources on whatever this squabble would be -

Except for the part where he was trying very, very hard to get out of reach of a certain pink-glowing murderer before she decided she had any sort of interest in him. Not the sort of person he wanted anything to do with. The sort of person who could end his life so very easily, and with so very little consideration.

So he stood his ground against the wolf-man, unyielding but not pushing forward. His ears shifted a little bit to sort through the harsh almost-not-words of the stranger's growls, but the intent was vividly clear even if he hadn't been able to make it out. Leave? Not yet. Not unless this stranger was the average for this place, and the not-cop was a complete liar. Where the hell else could he go?

Adder's lupine jaws didn't allow even vague growly words, though, so he could hardly explain that. He didn't want to. Why would he explain himself to someone who charged him snarling like an animal? Territorialness was no excuse to be rude. Y'know, said someone just as territorial. Indifference was a safe route, wasn't it? It didn't escalate and it didn't show off that his back was against a metaphorical wall.

Indifference was a good call - LOUD!

The car crash in the distance was more abrupt than truly loud, but it was still more than loud enough to send pain spiking through Adder's head from both ears. He dropped to the ground, covering his ears with limbs that were losing their fur faster than he moved them upwards, and curled around his head until the rush of sensory overstimulation faded, whining all the while.

The sudden crash distracted Tyson for a momentarily, though not as much to break the hold his instincts had on him. However the spectical following it was definitely something he was not expecting. The wolf before him was suddenly losing it's fur to become human in shape, and a sudden confusion hit him as scents changed as much as shape. As the human cogs I his head started turning again, he realized he was about to attack a human. It was too much, he felt like he was losing his mind, was he seeing things now as well? Could he not even tell the difference between people and animals anymore?

He quickly backed off, the growls and posturing dieing immediately into one of vulnerability and stress. He didn't want this, he didn't want to hurt people, but he was doing it again. He could still remember the blood on his lips, and held his head trying to blot out the memory. What was he becoming? He could feel his face contort with the emotional pain he felt, his chest felt tight and his throat clogged up with the revoltion he felt towards himself. He could feel tears starting to well up in the corners of his eyes, and he faced away from the perso he had almost attacked in shame of what he had done. "Hhhhhrrrrrrrrr ssstaaay aaahway, noooot ssssafffeee," he managed to croak out between labored breathing and his break down into near sobbing. He wanted it to be over, he wanted to be normal again, he wanted to wake up in his head without fur and fangs and claws and just be a boring regular guy who went to college and got a job, not a monster who attacked people.

Adder fought to his feet at the movement, but his head still pounded and his less-furry-but-still-pointed ears were still clamped flat under his hands.

And as the pain faded, senses far more comfortably dull now, he squinted at the guy who had just been snarling in his face with a full display of territorial aggression, and was now... miserable.

...

. . .

uh

That was unusual. He scratched his head a bit, finally letting his hands off his ears, and watched silently for a moment. That the other wolf didn't agree with his own instincts certainly didn't occur to him, given how integrated his own were and his casual lack of conscious consideration for instinct versus human rationality. He just figured the hybrid was, well, weird.

"Posturing isn't going to hurt me," he said flatly, and then a faint touch of curiosity rose up to reignite his interest in this place. "Is it this place or you that isn't safe?"

Tyson didn't know hat to do, he was being torn apart inside by everything that was happening. He felt like it was too dangerous to be around him, what if it happened again? He couldn't take it if he attacked someone again. However, the stranger didn't even look concerned about it, just asking for clarification. It confused him even more, if some monster had tried attacking him he would have freaked out. He looked at the guy, hoping that he didn't go off again, "Grrrrr hrrrrrrr meeeeeh," he said, as far as he knew he was the the only thing dangerous about the place, "hhrrr noooot saaafe to beeee arrrroooound hhrrr."

He didn't know who this was, at first he assumed it was a mansion resident, however, his nose was detecting unfamiliarity with his scent, so he couldn't be. And his comment of course. "Hhhrrrr hhwhooo arrrrr yooouuu?" He asked, keeping his distance, just in case. He didn't want to hurt him, and he didn't trust himself enough to let his guard down least he attack him again.

Adder's ears continued to curve back and forth to sift through the sounds, and he tilted his head. Peculiar. That was a word to describe this. Strange, weird, odd, but also peculiar. A handful of other terms he'd heard to describe unusual things, but those had an air of rudeness he wasn't interested in using.

He moved to the side, not quite circling the stranger but trying to get a better look, and his steps were as soft and fluid as when he walked on four feet. If anything, he was more soft-stepped, for his human feet were more sensitive to the ground that the tough pads of his lupine feet.

So this guy raged at him like a chained dog guarding his yard, and then turned right around and was ashamed of it. It was definitely odd, but it reduced the perceived threat level. Intent outweighed ability. Not completely, but a bit.

Adder tilted his head a bit, considering the curious stranger and the request. Sheltering places did tend to want to know who sheltered there, yes? And his name didn't come with any particular reputation. He'd worked for that. He'd worked to be unnoticed rather than respected and feared. He believed it to have worked.

To choose to answer the request, though. The choice made it harder to choose, but Adder's expression was mostly small considering flicks of attention, examining fur or the curve of a joint or a set of claws. Indecision he had learned to hide as a child. Eventually, though, his expression changed, almost imperceptibly, and he came to a halt.

"I'm Adder," he said briefly, still-canid teeth flashing when his lips pulled back to pronounce his name.

Tyson watched as the stranded looked him over. He felt uncomfortable, which was natural considering how he looked. He was self conscious about his appearance and feeling like he was on display didn't help. Still, he was starting to calm down a little, now that the initial shock was over. He started noticing a few details about this person he'd been too distracted to notice before. Not so much how he looked but how he moved. He couldn't really put his finger on it, but the movements were, natural? Fluid? No, it resonated with something in his subconscious, not so much something human, but something more animal about it. Was this guy... Curious? Something about it communicated something non-verbal his animal side picked up on, even if his human mind couldn't understand it.

"Ahhhdderrrrr?" He repeated after the stranger gave a name. A strange one, maybe it was sort for something, or maybe it was a nickname of sorts. He noted his... Fangs? No canines, his teeth had a familiar look to them that he saw in his own reflection each morning, just in s differently shaped mouth. He started putting two and two together, and felt a bit of relief that he may not be hallucinating after all. "Hrrrrrr, yoooou, shhhappppeshhhhiferrrrr?" He asked, if nothing else then to confirm to himself that this was the case. He supposed that helped him feel a bit better, though not by much. At least he knew in future what to expect if he came across a real wolf.

Adder snorted at the rough pronunciation of his name, but accepted it. It hardly stood out among the other things the hybrid said, so he wouldn't take it as intentionally growly. Some mutants had difficulty speaking in English. It was hardly the end of the world.

Shapeshifter? Adder was usually far too busy surviving and planning the immediate details of his survival to think about how labels worked with him. He knew the term, of course; shapeshifters were a relatively common group of mutants, and he was fully aware that the mutant label applied to him. He did shift shape, so it would make sense to call him a shapeshifter, but most of the shapeshifters he'd come across and recognized as shapeshifters were visually indistinct from human when they weren't in their other forms.

"Not as much as some," he admitted, curving his ears forward and showing his teeth as proof. The teeth-showing wasn't accompanied by any form of aggression. "Are you always part-way?"

Tyson looked at Adders ears and teeth with some interest, after all, he hadn't met anyone with a canine related ability before. It created some form of reliability, at least in his mind. He had met a few people with physical mutations of course, but they didn't seem to have the accompanying instincts that made things so difficult for him. He wondered if Adder's ability were purely physical or if he also had to deal with overwhelming instincts.

"Are you always part-way?"

Tyson nodded, it was easier then trying to pronounce everything. His father had made him this way, and whatever he did didn't come with an off switch, leaving him trapped as whatever it was he was now. "Hrrrr aaaalways, tooo muuuhanny hhhhrrrrrr trrrriggerrrrs." he said, referring to his oversensitive instincts. Anything seemed to set him off without warning, and he found himself doing things that were more wolf then human, "Hrrrrrr yoooouuuu alssoooooo?" he asked. Adder seemed much more... in control, or at least at ease with himself. Either his instincts were separate as he changed shape, or he knew something about keeping them check. If that was the case, maybe he could get some pointers. Right now he was desperate to find some measure of control over himself, before he hurt someone... again, or lost his mind completely.

Triggers? Too many triggers to stop feeling like a wolf? Since that was how Adder changed form, it made sense to him that it worked that way for others. He knew it didn't work like that for everyone, but it still made sense that it would for some.

Adder rolled a shoulder in a vague shrug. Sometimes he was on four feet without intending to, but it was always appropriate to him at the time. He just sometimes walked on four feet and sometimes walked on two. "Mostly too loud. Things are quieter like this. There is more.." he gestured at the world, trying to imply sound and smell and everything else that went along with it, "with fur than without."

When it came to instinct, Adder was just too well integrated with them to really notice their suggestions as other from his own mind. Their suggestions were his ideas, and they kept him alive.

He'd stayed alive for a long time thanks to his instincts. He trusted them to separate food from danger, shelter from exposure, victim from threat.

More instincts with fur then without. So he could turn them off if he wanted. It was frustrating that he didn't have that option. It was on 24/7 wither he liked it or not. "Hrrrrr alllwayys oooohn frrrrr mheeee," he growled, trying to form his mouth around the words, "grrrrrr chhhassse, eaat, fiiiiight hhrrrrrr, nooo contrrrrrrooolll, I hhuuuuuurrrttt peeeooople, grrrrr wwwaaant it toooo sttooopp," the was more desperation in his voice then he wanted, but honestly he was desperate, this situation was driving him crazy. It was bad enough that he couldn't talk right, he couldn't write or play video games because his hands wouldn't respond the way they used to, throw in overstimulated senses, over territorial temperament, and wild urges and his life was completely upside-down and inside-out. Right now he was holding out for the institute to come up with a cure to turn him back to normal, but he wasn't sure how long he would last like this.

"Hrrrrr soooorrrry," he said, realizing that he hadn't apologized for almost ripping off Adder's face. "Diiidn't meeean toooo attttacccc," Well, not entirely true, some part of him obviously felt the urge to, just not the human part of him. If he still had a human part, it was getting hard to tell if he was even human anymore, everything felt wrong, he did things he would have never done before without even thinking. There was nothing to ground him, and nothing that made him feel any less of a monster. The face in the mirror was something he didn't recognize, he was in a strange place, surrounded by strangers and losing himself little by little.

Adder tilted his head at the hybrid. He was so unhappy, so out of sorts. Adder moved a little bit closer, still not approaching head-on but running with his curiosity nevertheless. "You do things you don't want to do?" he asked, head angling the other way consideringly. "Or you want things that you think you shouldn't want?" The former was far more concerning, at least to Adder; he saw the latter as a personal problem, something based in expectations more than reality.

"Tell me about this place," he said abruptly, changing the subject without warning or shift in expression. That was why he had come poking around here, after all. He was here to assess this place, and insider information, honest or not, was useful to that end.