TRP: Ba'ob and Hansel (Wolf Druid)

**ABBY**

[Setting: Day 262, woods outside the sanctuary.]

The Sanctuary was more bustling than Ba'ob had ever seen it
before. So many people, going everywhere-- it was a little much. So he told
Azriel he wanted to go for a walk, and took off soon as permission was given.

The woods were much the same since he'd last been there. But
still different. There was a nest in a tree where Ba'ob used to hide out now
and then. A little hollow he'd slept in was taken over by skunks (it was a good
thing his animal-speech spell still worked there).

A clearing torn into the earth where the orc army had been.

Ba'ob had been stupid, wandering off on his own. Quietly he
slipped back through the trees, back towards the Sanctuary. Towards safety.
Wasn't quite there when he saw someone else moving through the woods. Orc, he
realized, heart pounding. But a second later, he recognized it. It was that
orc. He hadn't died.

Ba'ob found himself slowing, batting at the branches on the
trees to announcing his presence. Wasn't entirely sure why.

**IZZY**

Hansel needed a bit of a break. Not an actual break, because
there wasn't time for breaks -- but a little room to breathe and do his own
thing. People always needed firewood, and now that the Sanctuary's usual
residents were back, on top of the small army they'd mustered, they were
running short. He could always chop firewood.

He had a nice little stack of it built up and was taking a
breather from his breather to chug some water -- axe lodged in the stump he'd
picked as a chopping block -- when he heard some twiggy sounds behind him, and
turned to see that kid. The weird one. Ba'ob. His eyes were drawn to the arm
straight off, and he made himself look away. Was just fuckin' unpleasant. He
kept wondering if Amari or someone could take care of it, grow it back.

Kid had been skittish as all hell, last time Hansel had seen
him, and he wasn't sure how he was doing now, so he kept his voice soft and
quiet, and raised a hand to acknowledge him. "Hey. Goin' for a nice walk,
huh?" he tried. God, how the fuck did conversations work, anyway.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob kept his eyes locked on the orc. Stayed back. Wolf
though, wolf didn't share any of his reservations. She bounded forwards and
started nosing at the orc-- Hansel's hands.

Slowly Ba'ob edged out after her. Not too close. Glanced
uneasily at the axe. Those hurt. Hugged his stump to his chest and nodded
slightly. 'Cept he needed to get better about words. "Yeah," he said
softly. "Good walk. I had a good walk."

**IZZY**

Hansel ruffled the Wolf's ears automatically, forgetting it
wasn't just a regular dog. Well, shit, she acted like one -- may as well. He
noticed the kid eyeballing his axe and frowned, first thinking he should grab
it and put it away, but grabbing it in the first place might spook Ba'ob. Might
ought to just leave it alone.

He knelt down, kind of to make himself smaller and hopefully
keep the kid from feeling all threatened, but to scritch the wolf's neck, too.
"Hey," he commented, picking up on the way Ba'ob corrected himself,
"ain't like I fuckin' talk right, either. I got what you meant first
time." Maybe that Azriel kid was trying to get Ba'ob to talk all proper,
but he kinda seemed like a poncy little shit.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob shook his head slightly. "I am a person. I need
to-- to act like it." It was getting easier. Words coming more naturally.
(Sometimes Ba'ob wished he could fight it-- but how did you fight learning?)

He didn't want to think about that though so he nodded at
the wolf. "She wants food." Not that she wasn't happy with the
attention either, wagging her tail and tongue lolling out happily. Hansel
always was feeding him though. Feeding the both of them.

**IZZY**

Hansel shrugged. Eh, acting like a person wasn't all it was
cracked up to be, all the time. Wondered if maybe the kid would have an easier
time with Nighthand, like Theo did -- 'course he'd only be able to use it with
some of them, so it wasn't exactly a solution.

"Yeah I got some jerky, I think." He reached into
his bag to pull some out some smoked venison, halting for a moment when he had
the brief urge to tell the wolf now sit, lay down, roll over, or whatever other
dog tricks came to mind. Not actually a dog. Yep. Probably wouldn't take too
kindly to that shit.

He just offered it to her instead, looking back up to the
kid to add, "Got some soup if you're hungry, too, or cold or
anything." He patted the fur-wrapped ceramic on his hip. "All veg,
though. Know you like some meat."

**ABBY**

Ba'ob shifted restlessly. It'd... been safe so far. And he
was hungry (he was always hungry). Still couldn't quite shake the voice in the
back of his mind. Could ignore it, though.

He edged closer. Close enough to touch. (Close enough to
grab.) Couldn't look. Ba'ob stared at the ground, the trees, the wolf--
anything but Hansel. "Anything is fine." He didn't have a right to be
picky.

**IZZY**

Huh. He studied Ba'ob for a moment, then held the carafe out
at arm's reach, so the kid wouldn't have to get any closer. Had to be real
careful. He was fuckin' stubborn, though. He'd get through. "Have as much
as y'want. Growin' boy, and all."

**ABBY**

Ba'ob glanced up just enough to see it, just enough to be
able to carefully take it. (Grip with his one hand, use the stump to brace,
hold it against his chest and back off.) "Thank you," he said
quietly.

He could go now. Find Azriel and hug him and just forget
about the orc-trail he'd found. Except. Azriel was busy. Everyone was. And...
this wasn't so bad. Ba'ob had a little space, he had food. He'd been in worse spots.
So, he gingerly settled in on the ground, pushing the wolf away when she came
to sniff at his carafe. "It's not meat you won't like it," he told
her. No magic though, she didn't understand. So he rolled his eyes and opened
it up, let her take a couple laps and find it out for herself.

"Told you," he said as she pawed at her snout,
looking disgusted. "It's person food."

**IZZY**

Hansel grinned a bit, crookedly, and dug out some more jerky
to wiggle at the wolf.

"How come you got to be friends with a wolf,
anyway?" he tried. Seemed kinda like some druid shit, actually. Fuck,
maybe he could have a wolf friend now. That'd be neat.

**ABBY**

"She chose me," Ba'ob said, smiling a little as
the wolf perked up, bounding over to get the jerky she was being offered. That
wasn't a full explanation though. Ba'ob chewed on his lip for a second, trying
to think of how to explain. "My first memories are with wolves," he
said softly. "I was... happy with them. And after the wolves there was...
orcs." He hunched his shoulders, ducking his head. "Didn't like them.
They... they gave me into the people's world." He rubbed at his arm. The
missing one. "The slave world."

"I escaped though," he said, with quiet
viciousness. "And so I went back to the wolves. But... I changed too much.
I was too... elf. So they rejected me." The wolf glanced back, and then
trotted back over to Ba'ob, nosing at him and dropping her half-eaten jerky in
his lap. Ba'ob smiled slightly, slinging his arm over her neck. "Not her
though. She stayed."

**IZZY**

Hansel was quiet for a moment, slightly dumbfounded. Fuckin'
... so he was really just a feral goddamn kid. Well. All right, then. He
wondered if some elf family had ditched their baby, or if they'd been killed by
animals or an orcish raiding party, or something -- like Goro's dad's family.
He didn't think Ba'ob was a wood elf, though. Weird.

At any rate, made a lot of fucking sense, the kid's attitude
towards orcs. All things considered. Hansel didn't really have anything he
could say to that. "S'good you got someone, then. Makes everything easier,
havin' someone, no matter what happens."

He thought about how long orcs lived, how long elves lived.
How long wolves lived. He didn't say anything.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob nodded. Yeah. Wolf'd been with him through some real
rough times now. While he was running-- before he'd met Jasper. With Bala.
"Got people now too," he said. "I love her but... she doesn't
understand sometimes." An animal. Not a person. Ba'ob resented her for it
sometimes. And then felt bad about resenting and tried to make up for it. And
the wolf only could understand something was wrong.

**IZZY**

"Yeah," Hansel said slowly. He hadn't had the
impression that the kid cared for people that much, but he'd been alone,
himself, enough to know that you needed them. It'd been a bad time for him when
he'd only had Jonn, when he'd been broken. "Better to have a pack,
yeah?"

**ABBY**

Ba'ob flinched a little at the wording. "I'm not an
animal," he said quietly, staring at the ground. Not right now, anyway.

**IZZY**

Hansel shrugged one shoulder. "Hey. I used to be a
sailor. Call it a crew or a pack or a gang, s'just a word. Means the same
thing."

**ABBY**

Ba'ob's hand gripped into the wolf's fur. Except 'pack' was
what they called wolves. Ba'ob didn't have a pack. Not any more. Ba'ob was a
person. Had two arms two legs and magic pulsing in his--

--chest. His furry, wolf chest. Not again not again. The
wolf jumped back, pinning her ears back and growling. Ba'ob whined, cowering
against the ground. Change-back-change-back-change-back.

**IZZY**

Hansel noticed the kid was getting a little
agitated-looking, and frowned to himself, wondering what he'd said wrong, here,
what he could do to fix it -- really just kinda seemed best to back off, with
Ba'ob. Maybe go track down Larkin's boyfriend, or Ombre, and see if they could
help the kid.

Before he could do that, though, the kid fuckin' turned into
a wolf.

Hansel just kind of stared. He should grab his trident,
except that it wasn't a real wolf, it was just the kid, and he wasn't a threat
and had to be treated gentle, and the uncertainty just made Hansel freeze up
dumbly. He was used to this kind of thing with Mishka, and with Roddy, now, but
it didn't usually just ... happen. And with the spell they had, it still had to
be a person. Nah, this was more like some Ombre shit.

"Oh, shit," he blurted out. "Fuck, kid, you
some kinda fuckin' ... wolf kitsune or some shit? Is that a fuckin'
thing?"

**ABBY**

Ba'ob whined and shook his head. Finally got the magic to
pulse to his human heartbeat and--

--he was back to two legs, two (one) arm. Pointy ears,
smooth skin. Elf. He hugged his knees to his chest and buried them there,
trying to hold back sobs. Felt the wolf licking his head after a second. She'd
just been growling at him and now she was trying to comfort him. (She didn't
understand. She was just a wolf. Telling himself that didn't help.)

**IZZY**

"Oh, uh." Shit. Well. Kid was crying now. That
wasn't usually what happened when someone fuckin' shapeshifted or whatever.
Usually it seemed real fuckin' cool. And he'd been a wolf, and all -- had to
like wolves, didn't he? Hansel didn't get it. He had no fucking idea what to
do, here.

"Uhh." He scooted a little closer and reached out
to carefully pat the kid's shoulder. He wanted to grab him in a hug, because he
couldn't stand to see someone cry, but he thought that'd actually just make
things worse. Fuck, he didn't know what else to do.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob's head snapped up. He bared his teeth and growled. It
tapered off as he realized what he'd done. Still such an animal. He stayed in a
ball, covering his head. Deserved hits now. Supposed to be tamed but he's not.

**IZZY**

"Yep," Hansel said, pulling back but not going
far. "Yep, fair. Uh." Shit, the way the kid was hiding his head was
fuckin' uncomfortably familiar. "Hey, you're all right. I growl at folks
sometimes too, eh?"

**ABBY**

"It's animal." Ba'ob didn't look up.
"Wrong." Like his words. Too upset to get them right.

**IZZY**

"Aw, hey, uh." This was a losing fuckin' battle.
"Nah. Listen, I bet uh, I bet that ain't what Ombre or Azriel'd say,
right?" He didn't figure he could comfort the kid, but maybe he could act
like he was just on the same side as the people Ba'ob did like.

**ABBY**

"Azriel doesn't like it." Ombre... had pinched his
cheeks and cooed over him. (It had been irritating then. Now it made him feel
homesick for who he'd been.) But he wasn't Ombre's, he was Azriel's.
"Azriel likes... clean. And polite. And not... not an animal."

**IZZY**

"Oh, uh. Well." Well, fuck. "Fuckin'
..." Hm, probably shouldn't say fuck'im, then. "I dunno, kid, you
been living with him a long time, now, yeah? Probably woulda kicked you out or
some shit if he really didn't like it." Hopefully that was true, or would
at least sound it.

**ABBY**

Kick him out? Ba'ob felt sick at the thought. (Then he'd
have to find someone else-- didn't want to end up with someone like Bala or
Soklov again. He hunched into a smaller ball. "Not... not like that.
Belong to Azriel. Have to do what he says."

**IZZY**

"D'you ..." Hansel hesitated. "D'you want to
belong to him? You could just fuckin' leave, if you wanna, kid. I'll help you
out. You can stay with Ombre. Don't gotta belong to anyone."

**ABBY**

Ba'ob cringed and finally looked up just enough to peek at
Hansel with one eye. "Do gotta." That wasn't good. Ba'ob licked his
lips and tried again. "I'm... a wild animal. I need taming.
Azriel..." Azriel was good to Ba'ob. Ba'ob had food, Ba'ob had a good
place to sleep, Azriel never hurt Ba'ob, and even encouraged him when Ba'ob
said things he wanted to do. "He's better than I deserve."

**IZZY**

Hansel winced. He shifted to settle, crossing his legs, and
gently said, "People used to fuckin' call me an animal, too, kid. Just
'cause people say it don't mean it's true. Who told you that, huh?"

**ABBY**

"Bala. Azriel. Lotta others." Bry too.
"It's... what happens. When you're like me."

**IZZY**

"Bala." Hansel thought a second. "That's the
bitch that took your ring, yeah? Like you can fuckin' believe what she told
you." He scoffed. "Kid, hey. What happens when you're like you is that
people lie t'you and try to fuck with you."

**ABBY**

Ba'ob rubbed his stump. "Asked her to," he said
quietly. "Begged her to. I'm a wild animal and I need taming. She saw
that." Azriel didn't. Ombre didn't. Nobody else did. And Ba'ob hated how
grateful he was for it.

"Maybe I deserve it," he said, shooting Hansel a
look out of the corners of his eyes. "Maybe I should be treated like
that."

**IZZY**

"Aw, kid." He winced again. "Nah. Hey.
No." He forgot the point he'd been trying to make, about not being able to
believe shitty people, and couldn't help but scoot closer again, putting his
hand back on Ba'ob's shoulded to pat him gently. "No one deserves that,
okay?"

**ABBY**

Ba'ob saw it coming this time. Tensed up and looked down,
but allowed. It was heavy, and warm and... it wasn't a hit. "I do,"
he said with quiet viciousness.

**IZZY**

"Nah." Since he didn't freak out, Hansel let his
hand rest on the kid's shoulder. "What d'you reckon makes you so special,
huh?" he prodded gently.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob remained tense and not looking at Hansel. Shrugged.
"Maybe I'm not."

**IZZY**

"Guess it's fine, then, eh?" Hansel tried to sound
a little teasing, and hoped the kid didn't think he was being made fun of for
it. "Guess you don't deserve shit no one else does."

**ABBY**

Ba'ob tilted his head to give Hansel a sullen look. "Or
other people deserve it too."

**IZZY**

"Oh yeah? Who, you reckon? Ombre?"

**ABBY**

Ba'ob took a second to think. He knew who came to mind
first-- but it felt like betrayal to say it. Wasn't though. It was the truth.
"No. Bry." He tilted his chin to finally stare at Hansel defiantly.
"She was slave too. With the elves. Till she freed herself with bedsheets
and the rafters."

**IZZY**

Hansel stared at him, blinked for a second. He always
thought it was good to try to relate to folks, share shit, bond with'em. But he
didn't think Ba'ob much cared if he lived or died, so telling the kid that he'd
very nearly freed himself that same way didn't seem like it'd fuckin' ...
matter.

"Sounds like she did the best she could," he said quietly.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob nodded slightly, the defiance evaporating out of his
frame. "She was good to me too," he said quietly, picking at the
grass.

**IZZY**

Hansel patted his shoulder, still being gentle. "Sorry
you lost her, kid." He wasn't sure where to go from there, so he tried,
"D'you ... wanna tell me about her? The good parts?"

**ABBY**

Ba'ob kept picking at the grass. "She... tried to
protect me. Even though I did stuff I knew would get us in trouble. Once... I
shifted the bookcase and scratched the back of it all up. And she helped me put
it back. It was... a long time before that got discovered. And she said she did
it." And Ba'ob had did what he could while she screamed and cried while
her arm burned. "I miss her."

**IZZY**

"Good to have people watchin' your back. Bet you woulda
done the same for her, too. Try to protect folks like Ombre and Jasper,
right?" he hinted, not pushing too hard on the idea that Ba'ob wasn't any
more deserving of suffering than any of the people he liked.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob hunched his shoulders. "Can't now." He
rubbed at his arm. "Wasn't good at it anyway," he muttered. Lot
better at getting into trouble than out of it.

**IZZY**

"Dunno, you can turn into a wolf, seems like,"
Hansel pointed out. "Seems damn useful."

**ABBY**

Ba'ob shook his head. "Can't do that." He should
rephrase. "I'm not supposed to do that. It's... animal. I'm a
person." He hugged his knees. "I can't... I can't be an animal."

**IZZY**

"Nah, nah. Y'can, though. Hey." He wondered if
Ba'ob'd like the Lady. Or if she'd like him. "Hey, you're a fuckin' druid,
ain'tcha? Wildshape shit. Fuckin' killer, kid, me too, apparently." He
patted Ba'ob's shoulder, companionably this time, and let his hand drop away to
see if the kid's have any reaction to it.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob was getting... used to Hansel's affection. Still
didn't like the movement in the corner of his eye, flinching a little till he
recognized the hand was being pulled away.

"Druid?" Ba'ob had heard stories about those.
Hadn't thought too much about if he believed they were real. "The people
that turn into animals," he said slowly.

**IZZY**

"Yeah, that's it. I mean, I can't fuckin' do it, yet.
My, uh." Shit, the hell was the Lady to him, anyway? "My friend's a
druid -- she says I'm a fuckin' baby and I'll learn how to do it. Guess you're
already there, though." That was neat. Maybe Ba'ob magic got an extra kick
when he lost his arm, or something. Eh, or the kid was just fuckin' better than
he was. That was neat, too.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob hugged his knees and buried his face in them. This
wasn't right. Sitting here talking like this was... this was normal. "I'm
not supposed to be an animal," he repeated. "Not... not right."

**IZZY**

"Nah, but ... you are, though," Hansel said
awkwardly. "The druid I know, she says it's, uh ... like a thing that's
just in you. It's, y'know. Natural, and shit. It's right."

**ABBY**

Ba'ob shook his head. "Don't want it." Hansel
wasn't a slave. Hansel could do that. Ba'ob shouldn't. Ba'ob couldn't have
this. (Except he did now.)

**IZZY**

"Guess you can just, uh ... not, then?" He rubbed
the back of his neck. "Think it's real fuckin' neat, though, that you can.
You oughta show Ombre. Bet she'd love it." He just kept banking on other
people having a better time talking to the kid than he did.

**ABBY**

Oh. Yeah, Ombre might like it. Maybe Ba'ob could turn into a
fox too now, and they could hang out and... but he wasn't Ombre's. (Azriel
might not mind if he stayed out of the house--) Ba'ob was getting ahead of
himself. "Yeah. I can... not."

**IZZY**

"Yeah." Was fuckin' sad, though. "Maybe just,
uh -- one more time, huh?" He backed off a little bit before pushing
himself up, offering the kid a hand -- mindful of which one -- but not really
expecting him to take it. "I'll help you find Ombre, yeah? Show off for
her a li'l bit."

**ABBY**

Ba'ob hesitated before slowly climbing to his feet. Didn't
accept the help-- didn't need it. Tried to decide what to do. Azriel didn't
like him an animal. But he could not be around Azriel during it? And Hansel was
telling him to do it. (And Ombre'd be excited. Think it was really cute. Maybe
she'd shapeshift too and they could be animals together for a bit.)

"Okay," he said quietly.

**ABBY**

[END]

**IZZY**

Title: Wolf Druid. Summary: Ba'ob accidentally wildshapes,
which Hansel thinks is pretty neat. Ba'ob disagrees, but after some bonding(?)
he goes along with Hansel's suggestion to show Ombre.