He pretended he wasn't pretending he was in some random city park.

He pretended very hard on both accounts, out here on new grass that wouldn't get much sun after the tree above him leafed out properly.  For now, he had a nook between the roots.

It was a today nook, anyway.  Adder didn't really do things longer term than that.  Sleeping in the same room - well, closet - for a few nights in a row was weird as it was. Not that he was actually sleeping for much of a stretch at a time. It was too quiet. Quiet had meant that something was wrong for too long. The city was not quiet.

There was more background noise out here; perhaps that was why he was finally in that hazy place where sleep was a real possibility.  Real sleep, not a few minutes of drowsing before stress jumped in again.  There weren't any people around, or hadn't been when he'd closed his eyes.

It really was like a city park.  Middle of the week, late morning.  Rich people had things to do, and they left him alone.  The haze of scents on the wind and pressed into every surface around him was muted with age and distance.  He felt more alone out here, technically in public, than in an officially private place like 'his' room.

He shifted slightly, resettling his tail under his chin and pushing the muscle beside his spine against a tree root.  He wasn't going to sleep out here, just in case...  but it felt like he could, and even hanging out on the edge of sleep felt more restful than the miniature naps he'd been hoarding since coming here.

"HEY I just met you... and this is crazy... but here's my number... so ccccckkkkkkkkkkkkRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

"No, Angua! BAD!"

Ever since the Roomba had shown up in the Mansion, all the pets had been going bonkers, and Gawain was not entirely sure that had not been the goal to begin with. Angua, large and lazy as she normally was, seemed to be irked by the cat-sized moving object that made funny noises, and even without much agility, her sheer weight was usually enough to threaten serious damage to the appliance. Especially when Evelyn's squirrel-thing was taxiing around on top of it.

"NO! Go outside!" the mirrorwalker opened the front door of the Mansion and ushered the Irish wolfhound outside. Angua knew she had done bad, and she ran out with her tail tucked between her legs. But once outside, her ears perked up again, and she sniffed the fresh spring air. There were always things to do Outside. things to sniff. Things to chase. Friends to make.

Jogging around on the grounds, Angua stopped here and there, poking her nose into flowerbeds, peeing on certain spots. As she neared one of the trees, her ears perked, and she paused to sniff the air again.

Another canine?...

There were other Dog Things on the Mansion grounds, but she knew them by smell very well. This one was new... didn't smell very clean either, and the wolfhound grew both suspicious and curious. Stalking closer, she took a look at the other fur-creature hiding by the roots of the tree.

Dog, getting closer.

Big dog.

Adder opened his eyes but otherwise remained still, waiting and watching to get a feel for the threat level. That was... A much taller dog than he was u used to, and better fed than the street dogs he fought off.

He rolled onto his feet and rose slowly, eyes very much on the approaching wolfhound and body language very ready to shift from waiting to threatening. His ears were as fixed on the dog as his yellow eyes, and his tail held still a few degrees above the line of his back.

Angua pause as the wolf stood, then gave a hesitant wag of her tail. She was generally a very friendly dog, and used to all kinds of critters around the Mansion; she wasn't going to fight unless attacked first. After a pause, she wagged again, more confidently this time, and made a small whining noise. Come play, fur friend.

Gawain exited the Mansion looking for Angua. He felt guilty for yelling - he always did, even when the yelling was justified, since Angua was such a big softie pile of love. It usually took mere minutes for the mirrorwalked to cave and go looking to apologize. He spotted the dog from the front door, down away on the Mansion grounds, wagging at a tree.

Squirrels. It had to be squirrels.

...

Pet dogs.

Adder snorted and rolled his shoulders to relax himself and his fur. He would have rubbed his eyes if he were in his two-legged form, but he restrained the impulse before he shifted. He didn't wag his tail back, but he did stroll forwards at only a slight angle.

What did this pet dog want to accomplish? She'd gone and interrupted his snooze and now she wanted him to... what? Run around like an overfed, under-exercised maniac? Why would he do that? He poked her shoulder lightly with his nose and gave her a faintly incredulous are-you-serious look.

Angua blinked as she was poked. The wolf didn't wag, which was suspicious, but he did not take up a fighting chance either. Maybe he didn't know how to be friendly? He certainly didn't pose a threat to a dog Angua's size, but she was concerned he might be without a pack. As a response to the poke, she tilted her head, wagged again, and then her ears perked up as she heard the Human calling.

Gawain walked down the stairs and along the path towards the tree where Angua seemed to be making friends with another dog. A very wolfish-looking dog.

"Hey there" he grinned, stopping at a respectable distance "Made a new friend, Angua, or is that just Calley with a new shape?..."

Adder huffed. Airheaded dog. Nothing but fanciful play thoughts in that skinny head, was there? Whatever. She'd probably get the idea that he was more interested in napping than running in sho-

Familiar smell. His head lifted and his ears locked onto the approaching figure with the rest of his attention, only to boost his confusion when he realized that the person who was coming was not exactly the person he remembered.

Still smelled way too much like the person he had stolen a wallet from and been mostly caught by. Also, he was not this dog's friend and didn't know what a Calley was. So harrumph. He'd turn and go away if it wouldn't put him at risk of being playfully tackled by the dog.

Darned pet dogs.

The wolf gave him and indignant look, and if Gawain had not been sure it was a person before, he was sure now. No wild animal had that much "meh" in their facial expressions.
The wolf turned to go, but Angua took it as a sign of acceptance to play, and accordingly she play-tackled the smaller canine to the ground. She was not exactly trying to, but given her size, drop-and-roll was a very likely outcome.

"Hey!" Gawain rolled his eyes "Let him go, Angua. Down."

Angua wagged and looked up at her Human, but did not exactly get off the wolf.

"Angua!"

The Irish wolfhound whined and jogged back to Gawain, who patter her on the head. She was a smart dog; she knew orders, she just selectively avoided obeying them.

"Hey there" Gawain said to the wolf "Have we met before? Are you one of the new students?..."

Dogs.

Adder had to keep the whole smelled-like-the-not-cop thing in mind as he snarled but held back from just outright biting the dog. He might not doubt that he had more fighting experience than the dog, but there was the simple matter that the dog's owner was present and tentatively flagged against initiating violence.

He still stalked a few paces back when the decidedly unpleasant weight went away, though, and snorted at the guy. Did look like the not-cop, and sound like her, more or less. Mostly smelled. Very, very similar.

Hmmmmmmmmm well, he could play along with whatever this conversation thing was. Nothing wrong with being ambiguous as all get out either; be funny to see if this guy figured out whether or not he could talk in this form. Adder nodded once, making a moment of eye contact before glaring at the dog again.

Dogs were so annoying, and didn't even really taste that great.

Angua made puppy noses, but Gawain managed to get her to sit down. Even sitting, she easily was as tall as his waist, so he kept a hand on her head, keeping her still. The dog... wolf?... did not seem very comfortable with the wolfhound's playfulness, and if he was indeed a new student, Gawain did not want him (her?) to feel intimidated.

The wolf nodded once and made eye contact. Student, then. Gawain smiled and nodded too.

"Welcome to the Mansion, then. Sorry about Angua, she is overly friendly, but she won't hurt you. She is used to shifters, we have a few of them... That's what you are, right? A shapeshifter?"

Chatty. So chatty. Adder supposed that living with a dog that size might reduce the default wariness and occasional outright panic that a lot of people had towards his wolf form, but the guy didn't need to be so, well, chatty. He hadn't had enough sleep for chatty.

Besides, he wasn't worried about being hurt. City dogs were very good at running away instead of playing if he simply bit them. There were worse tastes than pet dog, whether or not blood spilled. The idle eye contact he made with the dog held the ghost of that threat; he didn't feel like being tackled again. He hadn't had enough sleep for that either.

Speaking of being tackled, now he felt all gross and stiff. With a faint huff, he stretched his forelegs out in front of himself, methodically stretching each section of his spine, and then snorted quietly and nodded at the pet dog's guy again. Yes, he was a shapeshifter. No, he didn't feel like shifting.

At least not until he knew what was up with the smell.

Gawain took the snort as a 'yes' - Calley communicated like that sometimes, with animal noises and whines when he was not in the mood for verbal conversation. Of course the snort could also have been no, in which case he had been talking to a very sentient wolf... but it was highly unlikely. Angua kept wagging her tail, but stayed put as the wolf stretched leisurely in front of them.

"Well..." Gawain paused for a moment. Some people would have shifted by now. Was the guy... what, naked?

"Do you need a place to change?... Have you been assigned a room yet? I can get you one if you like. And clothes if ya need them. We have a bunch in storage."

Students came and went, and clothes did not always go with them. Miss T had them washed and labeled, in case they were ever needed. For naked shapeshifters and such.

"My mother's a shifter" Gawain supplied "And I'm one too... sort of." he smirked "Would you like a tour of the Mansion? I can get Angua to go away if you'd rather not have her around. She can be a handful."

Adder snorted again, just about rolling his eyes but restraining himself to prevent an inadvertent shift to human. Clothes though -

Clothes that were implied to be free, and offered by someone who didn't appear to be used to wearing clothing long past the point where they were more hole than fabric. His ears twitched a bit. He might not lose his clothing when he shifted - thank whatever nonexistent idiot power anyone else wanted to name - but he did still eye any unattended clothing in decent-ish condition.

Sort of shifter? Adder's attention came fully back to the present and his eyes narrowed slightly. His suspicion was back in full force, so he huffed and flicked his head. He wasn't going anywhere with this guy without knowing more. What sort of shifter? ...What quality of clothing?

The wolf eyed Gawain with a certain amount of suspicion, and did not seem like it was ready to go on a tour. Gawain was not sure what the problem was. Was he scared? He was already on Mansion grounds, so he had to know there was nothing imminently dangerous... and yet it made some noises that were hesitant, rather than excited.
Well then.

"Alright, wait here" he sighed "I'll go put Angua in my room, and get you some clothes."

He jogged away, whistling for the wolfhound to follow, and disappeared through the front door of the Mansion, only to emerge again a couple of short minutes later, without Angua, and holding a box full of clothing. It was all clean and folded, and there were various sizes to pick from. Placing the box on the ground, Gawain stood back.

"There, you can look through this. I'll... uh, be over here. Let me know if you need help."

He stood back, turning away to give the shifter some privacy. Some were more shy than others.

Well this was backing into an awkward corner that didn't seem to leave much space for finding out why this guy he hadn't seen before smelled so much like not-cop-girl.

He considered this while the guy and the dog went away. He also stretched out again in his nook. Free clothes or no, he didn't really care a huge amount if he came back. New clothes would be nice, though. His jeans in particular were too worn out to really be that helpful. Unless he happened to fall on the side of his left knee, or his shins, or most of his butt. Those parts were still reasonably intact.

Adder had almost dozed off when he heard returning footsteps, a bit heavier and lonelier than they had been before. His ears flicked up, and then he yawned and lifted his head. It was guy-who-smelled-like-not-cop-girl. And he hadn't picked up more of her scent like he would have if they shared spaces and he had returned to that space. That was honestly more suspicious.

He snorted and rolled to his feet, giving himself a brief shake to get rid of the bits of dirt and grass that had caught on his pelt. Satisfied, he stretched again and stepped out towards the guy.

An entire box of clothes. A lot of it was way too small to fit him, but as Adder picked through the contents with nose and teeth and paw, moving more carefully as a wolf now to keep his clothing-consideration from forcing him to shift, he casually collected everything that both fit him and he could wear all at the same time. No socks, though. He liked his toes being free and it wasn't cold enough to suffer things on his feet for warmth anymore.

He picked up his bundle of multiple shirts and almost miraculously untorn jeans in his jaws and trotted off.

... would guy-who-smelled-like-not-cop-girl follow him if he just left?

...

Or should he just find out the potentially dangerous was what their connection was? She had promised safety. He didn't trust her, and he'd come across cop-people who lied through their smiles before. Saying things like he'd be well taken care of in such and such place, that he should come along quietly - pah. He'd seen the places those people talked about. Crowded miserable places with yelling adults and shrieking children and never enough food or space.

...

He dropped the clothes from his suddenly not-very-wolfish mouth and glanced over his shoulder awkwardly. Guy-who-smelled-like-not-cop-girl wasn't looking. Okay. Fine, he'd just do this. He stripped off his old clothes with little consideration for anyone who was looking, and pulled on his full collection of three t-shirts, a hoodie, and jeans. He prodded his shed clothes with a bare toe, then shrugged and left them where they were. He didn't like carrying things with his hands. Someone else would probably find them useful.