goneawayworld | Not Sleeping Like a Dog

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Not Sleeping Like a Dog

Who: Sirius and Open
What: A great big “dog” sniffing around the Rig. Come and get any much needed therapy dog cuddles and a much more understanding dog than most-- or just find him shapeshifting.
Where: About the rig
When: Night, prior to the Adverse Rig Event
Warnings/Notes: References to imprisonment and dealing with the effects of that. There will be talk of murder and probably PTSD flashbacks in the thread with Remus. Smoking in the thread with Saturday. Will add more here as needed.

I can switch to actionspam if you prefer that.

A. Padding Around (Open)

Sirius couldn’t sleep. Considering he wasn’t welcome in his room and also that he’d taken to spending his nights as a dog lately, this wasn’t surprising. Sirius first started his nightly wandering of the halls as his usual self, then turned into his Animagus form. It was easier to be a dog, less painful, and the smells were far more interesting.

He also had the vague idea that if he were caught like this, he might be in less trouble. Or he might be in more. He’d find out once that happened.

He didn’t check out any rooms just yet. He was just wandering around and getting a mental layout of the place. If anyone approached him, he’d wag his tail and walk slowly toward them. Just a normal, friendly dog. Granted, this dog was huge Newfound-like dog, the size of a short person. Black and shaggy, he could be either terrifying or adorable, depending on one’s view.

Unless they happened to catch him while changing back to Sirius Black, as he sometimes did. In which case, they’d just get a sheepish grin.

B. I Solemnly Swear I Didn’t Betray Our Friends (Closed to Remus)

To say it had been a long day was an understatement. Sirius longed to sleep. And they had actual beds here. On the way to his room he imagined what it would be like to have a nice, restful night in peace and quie--

He stopped just inside of his room. He knew he’d have a roommate, of course. He just didn’t think it’d be…

“Remus,” he said quietly. “This is your room?”

The last time they’d talked had not gone well. It’d been pretty close to explosive, really. Sirius had little hope that this time would be better.

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So that was the source of that strange smell. Sirius had seen Alloran before-- it was hard not to notice him. He'd assumed that maybe he was some distant relative of centaurs that had kept quiet. The other possibility being he was an alien like in those Muggle movies. Once a voice sounded (and yet didn't) in his mind, Sirius was more inclined to believe the latter.

Sirius startled, which in a dog involved his head cocking to one side and lifting his front paw.

He considered leaving it a mystery. He also considered just going out of sight to transform back. But he always was a show off and it wasn't illegal here...

Sirius placed his foot down, wagged his tail a few times, and then instead of a dog there stood a tall, pale, and very gaunt man.

"You were quick to jump to that conclusion." Sirius pushed up the sleeves of his overly loose coveralls. "Just what gave it away?"

There seem to be different mechanisms for transformation going on here. Lots of people who prefer canid forms. He wonders why.

Alloran grins. It's a subtle expression on him, in the angles of his eyes, though he also holds his stalk eyes further apart.

<It's always possible for suspicious animals to be people who can transform disguising themselves. I've seen it a lot. Anyway, if I was wrong it's not like anyone would know. You do that very quickly.>

Never mind, this was looking more and more like he was face to face with an alien and not some previously unknown magical creature.

Trying to read the body language of an alien was not only difficult but unsettling. But he thought that Alloran was... intrigued? Well at the least not angry with him.

"Interesting. I've never known it to be common." He smiled a little, which still didn't look quite right on his gaunt face. If one were used to humans, anyway. "While I'd like to take credit for being unnaturally fast, that's just the way my magic works."

Alloran's 'human-like' upper body is less human the longer it's observed. His shoulders are more like a rodent's than an ape's, he's got a big head with a slight muzzle and big luminous eyes, his seven-fingered hands are wide and intricate on delicate arms. For that matter the rest of him is less deer- or horselike, with slightly metallic blue fur.

<Technology, for my part. Not a common technology, but it has a way of standing out. It takes longer and is extraordinarily grotesque, but useful,> he says in a dry tone. <If you hadn't responded I might have tried to add your dog morph to my repertoire. The native workers here have their own domestic animals, have you noticed? Cats and dogs at least.>

"Really?" That did surprise him, even more than knowing he was talking to an alien. Sirius tried to imagine technology advanced enough to do that. Muggles made all sorts of interesting and more convenient things, but he would have thought changing into animals was well beyond their capabilities.

Even the shows got it all wrong. From what he remembered anyway, which wasn't much. This was all so surreal he didn't even bother with a mental breakdown. Being kidnapped to some strange world? Check. Advanced technology you didn't understand? Check. Aliens? Yes, why not. What was one more impossible thing?

"I'm curious what would've happened if you tried but I don't think it would have ended well. Magic and technology don't always mix. So you can change into more than one animal?" He tried not to let that get to him. After all, Alloran had just said Sirius was faster and it certainly wasn't grotesque. He'd always have that.

<We're an old people, older than yours, and so we've developed quite a lot of technology.> He turns a hand over in a shrug that doesn't involve shoulder movement. There's yellowish bare skin on the inside of his palm.

Nothing here is much stranger than anything else that's happened to Alloran in the past few decades. It's hard to get much more inexplicable than that encounter with Crayak and the creature he was testing.

<If I can touch an animal and acquire its DNA, I can morph into it. Humans included. If there's a limit it's in the hundreds, at least. Why? If you want a demonstration I can morph, but I'm not looking to acquire any more humans just yet.>

That made no sense to Sirius until he remembered what DNA was. Where wizarding education failed, his friends sometimes came through. The furrow in his brow left once he pieced the rest of it together.

"Unless I'm remembering wrong, DNA means you've got an exact copy of the animal or person." He vaguely remembered something about cloning? "So you could change into someone else? You could look exactly like me? Or--" Any of the Jorgmund staff, he thought and certainly did not say. "Anyone else?"

Now that was useful.

Sirius rubbed his chin. He'd have to remember that later, if Alloran could be trusted.

"I am curious what it looks like."

Alloran could have given what he privately thinks of as the ignorant's rundown on what DNA is, and is glad he doesn't have to.

<Not an exact copy. Any copy is the same age and has most of the same biometrics, but is without scar or sign of injury, appears to have been fed well all its life, and has a certain degree of musculature - it's in a condition known as racttalasoth> It's an alien word without a close English translation, so it comes across as a jumble of syllables. <You're getting it though. An actual impersonation of a human would also need their clothing. Careful what you say, by the way. No one can eavesdrop on me, but you may be recorded.>

He's definitely thought about acquiring a staffer. Any impersonation will go better the less is known about what he can do, of course.

Alloran smiles in a sardonic way, which is an even more subtle expression on him than a grin. <Tiger, bear, or human?>

Sirius scoffed but he wasn't foolish enough to respond to that admonishment out loud. He'd more or less said that himself. And then there were all the times he'd heard and given it before. What goes around come around.

He gave the options some thought. Human was right out, of course. He didn't want to see that and if Alloran hadn't given away that ability yet, it might be smarter to keep it to himself. But that wasn't his call. Probably a good thing too considering how cavalier Sirius was with his own Animagus ability.

"Tiger," he said finally. He pulled his hand away from his chin and folded his arms over his chest. "I've always liked cats."

The company knows about his Aria morph and that he can become several animals. He's a bit annoyed that Sirius decided to all but air that he's not stuck with that selection. Maybe only young humans are secretive.

<You and him both,> Alloran mutters. <All right. I promise you that this is harmless, but you may wish to give me some space.>

The faint pale stripes in the fur of his back move like cast shadows, becoming thicker and darker and rearranging their pattern to encompass more of him. After that, it gets ugly, ugly like his whole upper body contracting by uneven stages into the right size and shape to be the tiger's head, the insides of his arms going bright red and wet and sprouting sharp teeth before they fuse into a lower jaw.

None of it is good to watch. Absolutely none. It even sounds bad, faint pops and squishing and the cracking and grating of bones breaking and reforming. It also takes a good two or three minutes, longer if he's distracted.

Sirius had seen terrible things in his life and this wasn't the worst. But it was grisly enough for him to wince.

When Alloran was about in the middle of the process, halfway between Andalite and tiger, a thought popped into Sirius's head. This was close to what he could have looked like-- if the Andalite half were human-- if the transformation had all gone wrong. The risks hadn't seemed real at the time. They made the whole thing more appealing anyway, how dangerous it was, but when he thought about a life lived like that...

Finally it was over and Sirius saw a perfectly healthy and very large tiger. Larger than he thought it would be.

"That was something. And painless?" He had no idea if Alloran could even talk to him now-- he'd guess not-- so the question was more for himself. It hadn't looked harmless like Alloran had said. The popping and cracking made that hard to believe, but he hadn't heard any growls or hissing or whatever tigers did while in pain.

The last visible change is the shining blue of his fur, around the dramatic stripes, going to orange and white. Alloran's thin, gestural cat tail twitches and he looks at Sirius with emotionless pale eyes, sniffing the air. The tiger's instincts are appraising. It's wary of humans and doesn't inherently, instantly recognize them as prey, but it's not really afraid either.

Just as well. Alloran is out of practice with this kind of thing and it takes him a minute to get sorted out and take control back from the tiger brain. The tiger's body language changes subtly. He sits down, and it's been enough of a pause to not feel like a natural extension of the conversation, but he still says, <Painless. Unsettling, maybe, but I've morphed stranger animals.>

Sirius was a wizard and even now he felt (mostly) confident he had enough magic to stave off an attack. But he was also human and deep down inside him was that instinctive fear of something large and deadly. A shiver ran down his spine as Alloran's tail swished and it eyed him.

It was thrilling. He hadn't had this kind of excitement in ages.

He smiled. "Thanks for showing me."

Alloran makes a tigery chuff, a shivering exhale. <Normally people are alarmed by the warning and decline, you know.>

He'll demorph soon enough. The tiger is only mildly less uncomfortable being here, in an enclosed and thoroughly unnatural space without even the smell of the outdoors, than he is in his own body. Usually when moving around in morph he's human, and uncomfortable in different ways, a lot of them related to a lack of heat.

Sirius remembered why he liked his Care of Magical Creatures class when the tiger-- Alloran-- made that sound. Nothing like staring at potentially deadly creatures. It never happened enough during that class or after. Maybe in another life he would've made a living doing that.

"Nothing alarms me." Sirius grinned. A lie but clearly one that was made out of joking bravado.

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Not Sleeping Like a Dog

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