13721/Follow Your Nose

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Follow Your Nose
Date of Scene: 02 January 2023
Location: Maria's Homeless Squat
Synopsis: Rahne catches scent of a fire and tracks it back to find Maria's hidden homeless squat.
Cast of Characters: Maria King, Rahne Sinclair




Maria King has posed:
Winter time in New York is particularly difficult on the indigent population. The homeless are more likely to avail themselves of shelters this time of year. Though there are still those who for whatever reason prefer to go it alone on the streets.

The slums of New Lots are an area where this can be seen more than in some areas. Economic depression has consigned the area to urban decay. In many ways New Lots is worse economically than Bushwick, if only having the normal types of racism without the addition of those aspersions made towards Bushwick's heavily mutant population.

Tonight it is cold. Snow fell earlier but by now has mostly turned into unclean slush by traffic both vehicle and pedestrian, the slush freezing again as the night falls. Should a certain mutant be out in her wolf guise tonight, there would be plenty of things to smell. The aromas from a Puerto Rican restaurant, the scents of detergents from the exhaust of a laundromat. The smells that New Yorkers have left in their passing, though the streets are clearing by this time at night.

A different smell would catch a sensitive wolf nose. A faint smell of smoke. It's not uncommon, the homeless often burn things in barrels to stay warm at night. Though this particular stretch doesn't have any of the underpasses or other places they are known to frequent.

A little sniffing around would lead Rahne to an abandoned building. The remnants of a sign look like it was an insurance office at one time, but the structure is caving in on end. The door is fallen in, and the inside has already been picked clean of anything of value.

Though another scent might catch Rahne's nose. That of a person. Also there are little scents of blood, though at least a week old. Together, they make a clear trail over to where a large, rusty metal filing cabinet sits tipped over on its side against a wall. The drawers are all gone as well. The wolf's sensitive nose can smell the smoke is coming from behind the cabinet, and examining really close might suggest the edges of a hole in the wall just visible around the cabinet. Though where it lies, it hides the hole very well.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
There's something that people don't realize about said wolf-girl. Yes, her wolf form (for she is a werewolf) has a sensitive nose. But it's less known that her human form is similarly equipped, if not to the same extreme.

Walking with her hands shoved deep into her pockets, Rahne walks back from her work at the food bank. She isn't exactly warm, but owning a coat puts her a few steps up above most of the people around her. That's WHY she works the food bank though; to help where she can.

She pauses when the scent touches her though, and her head turns to the left. Something off, and she glances about to make sure that she's not being lured. It's happened before, there are a few people who think 'petite redhead' means 'target'.

She spots one, then another, and sighs. Gonna have to go this on four paws, she decides. For her own safety. So a moment later she's nosing into the old building as an oversized burnished crimson wolf, her tail having left when it spotted her own. Tail, that is.

The enhanced scent makes her blink. There's a lot going on in here! Blood, too. Hrm. She sniffs to the opening, then gets down and slinks into it, hoping not to have to deal with anything violent tonight.

Honestly, some people just want to watch a wolf eat their hand.

Maria King has posed:
The filing cabinet is tough to move without making any noise, but it's not too hard to push aside. Behind it, the hole is deeper than one might expect, as it's not just crawling through a wall. Instead the hole goes through the wall and then through a space beneath what appears to be a hallway that has caved in. Finally it finishes by going through another interior wall. As Rahne gets nearer the scent of the fire is more noticeable, and the crackling of flames is added. And the room ahead seems lit by the flickering flames as well.

As the wolf noses at the exit of the hole, signs of habitation can be seen there. There's a couple of jugs of water. A bowl with a sponge and a towel so it appears to be used as a wash basin. There's an old olive drab knapsack that looks like it survived the Korean War.

The fire itself is ringed with some cement blocks, with a metal pizza pan beneath to hold the coals above the floor. Some thing blankets are lying near it, though the one using them must have heard the sound of the filing cabinet being slid out of the way, because she's on her feet, a worried expression on her face as she looks towards the hole.

Maria King is just pushing five feet and has a petite build on top of it. Her dark hair is a bit mussed up as if she'd been sleeping. She sees the wolf head emerging from the hole and her eyes go wide.

"Oh. Oh boy," she says very nervously. A quick glance around the room will show there's no other exit. Just a tiny hole up near one corner that lets the smoke out. "You... you look like a really nice dog. One who wouldn't ever think about, you know, eating someone," she says, both nervous and hopeful at the same time.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
The wolf-girl's first reaction is to look behind her and see what's making the girl so scared. She's not even fully into the room, her head poking out of the hole with her torso still kinda stuck in the gap. It was tighter than she'd expected, and she had been considering shifting back to her human form.

You don't do that with someone staring at you though. It's rude, and awkward, and they're looking at you! So weird, shapeshifting when someone's watching. Eeh. So, you know. It'll wait.

The wolf pulls forward, not entirely certain that she can get in. She's ..her hips are stuck, and she whines a little bit uncertainly. It's not that she's afraid of the girl (that's hilarious) she's kind of annoyed at this.

If anyone hears that her ass was too big to get through a gap, she'll never live it down. >.< Wolf form needs squats badly!

Also she's not able to twist and get out. It looks as if she's trying to get herself out of the hole, and can't. But she's not growling, not at all!

Maria King has posed:
Maria King, for all that she's rather nervous, is doing a very good job of putting out all of those friendly human vibes that canines pick up on so well. The big eyes, the hopeful smile. The excited-to-see-you face that is known to draw wags from all but the most ill-tempered of dogs.

Though she's swallowing down little gulps too, as a lot of the dogs one runs into on the streets like this have had bad experiences with humans. Though Maria has always had some luck, and skill, at developing rapport with animals.

At the little whine, Maria's eyebrows go up. "Are you hurt, boy?" she asks, not able to see enough to know if she's right on the guess of gender. After a few moments of watching the struggles, she says, "Are you caught on something?"

Maria bites her lip and takes a hesitant step forward. If there's no negative reaction, she walks over slowly, crouching a bit, enough she can reach her hand down, not putting it right up to the wolf, but where the wolf could lean out enough to smell it and get her scent if it chose. "I'm not sure you're a canine," she murmurs quietly. "I can try to help pull you out," she says, sounding hesitant. If she pulls and it causes the animal pain, she knows it could snap at her. And with those jaws!

The girl, who at first glance one might have said a younger teen, but on more consideration maybe in the latter half of her teenaged years, says, "Ok, I'll try to be really gentle ok. There's that one bump that can be hard to get around," she says. She reaches slowly for the wolf, ready to stop if there's a growl or a snap. But if allowed, Maria gently helps pull the wolf to try to get it free.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Wait she's going to what? Oh this won't go well, Rahne thinks, as the girl reaches for her. She has it in hand, or paw, or ...you know, whatever. But ...sigh, alright, you can do that. I suppose.

The look on the wolf's face is not as easy to translate as 'wide eyes and a hopeful smile', but to be fair she -could- shift to a form very much like the girl's own. Still, this isn't going badly. She's being invited, no helped, to enter the place? This isn't a normal reception, usually she gets stuff thrown at her.

The pull isn't very helpful, in all honesty. Rahne weighs a fair lot right now. But she digs in her hindpaws and shoves, and there's a thump as something shifts, and then suddenly the wolf comes forward all at once!

And Maria finds herself up very close and personal with the wolf/dog/big furry thing. At least Rahne brushed her teeth last night, so the breath issue isn't so horrible.

She's clearly not aggressive, but she does crowd the space kinda a whole lot! However she mostly sniffs at Maria, there's no sign of teeth or jaws.

Maria King has posed:
Maria still doesn't have a true understanding of just how big the wolf is. It surprises her the animal got stuck in the first place, let alone how difficult it is to pull it free. Though she's also being so gentle early on to avoid hurting the animal that it takes awhile to build up to really tugging hard.

But when Rahne finally comes free, Maria tumbles over backwards, the wolf ending up practically atop her. "This is the point you are all grateful I helped, and don't eat my face," she says as she looks at the enormous wolf head.

Maria swallows. "You are so much bigger than I thought, even." As Rahne sniffs the girl, she'll get a lot of scents she might associate with the streets. The smoke from the fire on her clothes. Though she seems to use that wash basin a fair amount, and doesn't smell bad, it's still noticeable that her clothes get worn more than one day in a row between washings.

Maria reaches up hesitantly when the wolf doesn't eat her face. If allowed, she gently touches the wolf's muzzle, and then scritches her fingers through the fur there. "Oh you're such a beautiful... are you a dog or a wolf? You seem more like a wolf, but what are you doing in New York?" she asks. Rhetorically she assumes since she thinks it's just a wolf.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Oh lord, so big. Wolves aren't this big are they? If Maria were to be on top, she could literally ride this thing. This thing, that's standing and looking around the room as she reaches up towards its face.

It pauses as she nears it, then looks at Maria herself. Then the wolf lowers its head so she can touch it.

The fur is soft, but thick. There's an outer layer and a thick, harsher inner layer of fur that is probably the best insulation against the weather; you don't see it just looking, you have to touch a wolf to find out that it's there. Their protective fur, not just for show. It'd stop a knife! And still, the wolf seems soft to the touch.

Humans haven't managed to make clothing like this yet. They so should; dressing in layers doesn't cut it.

The wolf holds still while the girl scritches into her fur, and seems to be being patient with the child. Though her eyes keep glancing about. It is clearly intelligent, and there's a ...There's a collar on it! This is no wild wolf.

Maria King has posed:
Maria has a bit of a wonderous expression as her fingers scritch through the wolf's fur. "I wish Angie could see you," she murmurs softly. The fingers run back further to the wolf's throat, at which point they encounter the collar. "Oh, so you're not wild you just ran away I guess," Maria says.

She slides back enough she can sit up, and then takes a closer look at the collar, rotating it as needed to try to find a tag on it. She keeps one hand scritching the wolf's neck though. "I wonder how long you've been gone," she says to Rahne. "I've got something to eat here if you're hungry," she says after checking the collar. She turns to where there's a bag from a takeout place. Maria pulls out about a third of a sandwich from it. She gets out a table knife and cuts it in half then sets the food down in front of the wolf. "I got it right as the guy tossed it, right off the top of the can, and still in its wrapper," she says, as if that's a very good thing.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
The wolf's collar doesn't have a tag on it. It's there as a shapeshifter's tool; it becomes her clothing, when she changes back! But there's no way for Maria to know that, and unless Rahne shifts she can't exactly say. This isn't going badly, so...it'll wait.

She gets up once Maria slides back, and starts to roam the little room. She sniffs things, checking the blood on the ground. The walls, the fire. It's almost as thorough an inspection as a home support worker would give, except that Rahne actually cares.

She smells the food when it's opened, and she sits, tongue out a little bit. The food? She's eaten recently. So she sniffs at the sandwich, then pushes it toward Maria with her nose.

You can have it, she says. Without words.

Then she lays down, making herself 'less big' for a moment. Eyes still on Maria, since she's still not certain that the entrance/exit didn't collapse a bit on her forced entry. Girl might need some help digging her way out after all.

Maria King has posed:
The scent of the blood is fairly old now. Maria or someone else was injured, though she isn't showing any visible signs of wounds. There is also a bit of a medicinal smell left over, where some antiseptic was likely used.

There's also another scent, another person. It's so faint Rahne can barely pick it up. It might tug at her mind as if she's smelled it before, but it's so faint she can't quite say if it really is familiar or if her mind is just playing tricks on her.

Maria picks up the sandwich, which is really only about two bites for each half of what was left. She takes a bite of it, returning the other portion to its wrapper and bag.

"So no tag," she says softly. "Well, if you're cold out there you can sleep here by the fire if you want. See if you can find your way home tomorrow?" Maria suggests. "I was just starting to doze when I heard you there," she says. She's wearing a pair of jeans and a black tank top, which isn't at all great for cold weather. She hadn't needed more beneath the blankets, but now the cold is starting to get to her. The fire keeps the room above freezing, but it's neither exactly comfortable room temperature.

Maria moves back over to the blankets to crawl beneath them. "Do you want to sleep here?" she asks, patting the top of the blankets beside her.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
The wolf, its very presence has already raised the temperature of the room slightly. It lifts itself up tall, putting its paws on the wall, and sniffs at the roof. Rahne is inspecting this girl's home, making sure that she'll be alright, but she has some issues.

It's too cold. She hasn't picked up the desperation scent, that acrid smell that suggests that a person has reached their last wit. That there's nowhere else to go, and no hope. She's smelled it before. Thankfully it isn't here, though it has been.

When your sense of smell is so good you can pick up emotions from ages before.

Still, there's the issue with cold. The wolf comes down, then walks over and pushes her nose against Maria's cheek, nearly bowling her over. It's a very doglike action, and one that might get a smile.

Then? It lays down, clearly no threat. The wolf curling up around Maria is enough to stave off frostbite, and even give a night of cozy warmth. Though she should do more, right now she's a doggie, and someone needs a bit of pack.

Maria King has posed:
Maria King's demeanor is definitely not that of someone who has given up. Indeed, she can still find the wonder in a huge wolf coming into her squat. And not eating her. The not eating her part being an important requirement.

She watches as the wolf noses around. The room is an interior one, and only a corner of the roof has crumbled, enough to let the smoke out. And there are signs of some water damage on the bit of drywall. It must leak when it rains, but just down the wall from the looks of it.

As Rahne comes over and curls up around her, Maria gives a giggle of delight. She snuggles against the big wolf, fingers scritching gently behind the wolf's ears as she closes her eyes. And soon, dozes back off.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne isn't tired, but she's learned the value of a nap. She naps, easily and quickly, but not for long. A few minutes later she's in hybrid form, slipping out of Maria's arms as quietly as she can. Then, human, she leans down and looks at the girl. They're about the same size, and she wishes she could do more.

Well, maybe the scent will help. The jacket she's slipped over Maria should keep her warmer, it's a good one built to keep her own tiny frame well. And it has pockets, pockets are important.

Then she's gone, leaving Maria with the memory of a wolf, and a bit of an indirect hug. It smells of her, and hopefully that'll help a little bit too. Because if there's one thing that Rahne Sinclair does well, it's give a shit.