With a delighted caw, Ko-Ga rejoined Nate-Dog and perched on his neck, nibbling with some mischievous affection at a fur-laden ear. Nate-Dog shook at the pinch, and, satisfied with the reaction, Ko-Ga flapped obnoxiously before settling back between the shoulders.

Cecil laughed.

"Charmingly vague," they drawled. Suppose they couldn't expect everyone to be up front. Hell, they weren't exactly being straight about themself either. "I get it. Can't trust just anyone you run into."

The crow, with a sharp caw, fluttered up to perch on his shoulders. Cecil watched, thoughtfully. Animals could enjoy the company of cruel men- they'd seen dogs enough to know that. But the way the newly-named Nate Ronan was angling himself towards them felt like he was no less wary than they were.

Ah, they'd play along. Why not.

Cecil took a delicate step forward, testing, and was pleased to find the balance issues had more or less sorted themselves out, long as they weren't doing more than walking. Body knew itself better than the brain did, it seemed.

"Cecil Acothley," they said amiably. "Suppose you could say the same for me. Now, I mean nothin' by it, but as the bearer of such a name myself...Nate Ronan don't much seem like it belongs to a wolf."

Ears pricking, Nate blinked. Then dipped his head and flicked one, in polite approximation of a hat tip. Wolves didn't really know what hats were, for the most part, but it was a hard habit to break. And it kind of amused him, anyway.

Well, my mom wanted something more unique than Moony. She came from a long line of it, you see, and thought Moony Moon was a little too on the nose. I'm grateful to her every day of my life. An exaggerated, solemn frown paired with his nod.

And then Nate wore his smile again, laughing a little. Not meaning to be rude, of course. It's just that being too straightforward tends to lead to about as many misunderstandings as being too clammed up, in my experience.

Clearing his throat, he stepped forward in reciproaction. But if you don't mind me saying so, friend, you look a little lost. In uh, mind and body, maybe? There seems to be a bit of that going around. Nate glanced down his chest with a meaningful blink.

"All right," Cecil said, laughing again. "Should've known better than to ask...though I think Moony would've suited you fine." They grinned.

"Ain't the name. Not the Nate part, anyway." They went to wave a hand, remembered the arm'd been replaced by a leg and caught themself before they could fall on their ass. "The family name. Always thought the point was to keep track of people. Make sure everyone inherited like they were supposed to and so on. Don't rightly know why a wolf needs either."

They cocked their head. "But I weren't born to this, so what do I know? Maybe all that's important to animals too." The curl to their lip would give their opinion on the matter. "Wherever this is."

Nate took a mirroring step forward. Cecil put the rest of the pieces together and huffed. Weren't that they'd been expecting to find the second stranger they came across in their same situation, but, well, it only made sense to ask. If a man showed up here, surely there'd be others. Assuming the crow was a real crow, and not at all like a...whatever they were now.

"Well, an hour ago, thereabouts, I was on horseback. And I'll tell you I only had two legs then."

Cecil had an easy humour, and a plain way of talking that set Nate more at ease with each sentence.

Animals. Horseback. Two legs.

Yeah, they were on the same page, then.

Relief and confusion battled in his chest; to not be the only one! Nate cleared his throat, smile twisting into an apologetic shape. Wasn't on horseback at the time... but the surplus of legs came as a surprise to me, too.

He came forward again, sitting down in the open snow. Glanced briefly around, twisting an ear, but Ko-Ga showed no sign of alarm, and Nate tentatively trusted that they were safe. I met a she-wolf, a few days in. She couldn't rightly explain how she got here, but she seemed to think she'd always been a wolf. Others remember being something else. Some are more cryptic about it than I'd like. Still don't know how it happened... or why. But if it eases your mind to know it, at least you're not alone, here, friend.

Blinking, Nate rolled his shoulder a little and Ko-Ga flapped to re-balance with a grumpy squawk. Ko-Ga's just a crow, s'far as a I know. Had him with me... before. The unbidden memory of mashed feathers and blood beneath the boots of cruel men rushed forward, and Nate grit his teeth. Willed it away with clenched breath. Remembered to stay smiling: But I think he's smarter now. I swear he knows more than he's letting on.

So Nate Ronan weren't born a wolf either, and maybe there wasn't a concept of property ownership or taxes among wild animals.

That was good.

"You been here a while, then?" Cecil asked, sitting to match him. He'd clearly relaxed, but people usually felt better on even footing, and they were still a little unsteady. "Know where we are? Ain't where I remember bein', but I only just, uh, woke." Could be some sort of second life. Another world. Plenty going wrong in the last one.

They'd expect to keep two legs in that case. And there was purpose in questioning, but Cecil kept that thought for later.

Nate was right- they weren't alone. And weren't being ripped into by an animal that saw them as intruder, at that.

"More than you know," Cecil said, and meant it. They were certain as anything they were dead now- but that was all right. Worse things to be.

And that wasn't to say it didn't hurt, just that they could put up with it. All told, their mother would still have brothers and sisters to take care of her. Didn't make up for them not being there, never could, but it made the sting a little softer.

There was something in Nate's smile that looked...a little forced. Not that Cecil knew how to read a wolf's face well, but it would've on a human, and, well, he'd been human once too, hadn't he. Before.. Huh.

"Well, he found me, so there's probably somethin' to it," they said. "Real quick too. How long'd it take you to get used to it? I'll be honest, I've already been strugglin' a little, and I ain't gotten to anythin' more strenuous than standin'...though I'll admit- probably been on horseback for a good few hours before I ended up here, so I might've been havin' some trouble with two."

A wry smile. "Was expectin' a little more pain, though, so I shouldn't complain. Turns out all dyin' gives you is a headache. Well, that and a new body."

maybe there wasn't a concept of property ownership or taxes among wild animals.
That was good.

LOOL well at least one of those is true

---

Well, he was in good spirits for a dead man! Better than Nate had been, anyway. But smiles were sometimes the mark of the worst kinds of sadness, so he didn't discount Cecil ending up worse off later on, when the shock wore out.

Chuckling, Nate tilted his head and shrugged, Had myself a fine new coat for a couple of weeks, I reckon. Not long enough to break it in. Crawled out of my own damn grave, but I've never been here before. No reason to take me this far North, either. And Miss Mithwyth, the girl I met, she said she just wandered in in a fog, no expiration required. Though it had crossed his mind she might have been shot by a hunter, and never known a moment between the living and the dying.

Still not sure what to make of it. I... His jaw clenched, They don't exactly talk about turning into a wolf on Sundays. And I don't rightly remember any stories about it — elsewhere.

Frogs eating the sun? Sure.

Birds as guides for the spirit, yeah, he knew something about that. Nate leaned his head back against Ko-Ga, gently.

There's a pack not too far from here, camped out at a big frozen lake. Weren't the friendliest, but... maybe I haven't learned to say hello properly enough yet.

---

they will learn a painful lesson but at least you dont have to buy it</3

"I'm sorry to hear that," they said, the casual ease dropping out of their voice. "Don't know how it was for you- and I ain't askin', if it's personal- but mine weren't how I was hopin' to go out. Fewer gunshots, when I imagined it." A wry smile. "So I get it...if that means anythin'."

Then, more easily, "Good to hear there's real wolves here, though. With proper names. Could go for a lesson or two on how all this works. Not to discount you, of course."

And of course, they knew all the church said. Hard to avoid. But they'd clearly been wrong on this count, so in their opinion it weren't worth considering.

Cecil whistled. Or as close as a wolf could get to whistling anyway, which more or less came out as that coyote-howl they'd got used to hearing over the empty desert.

"There's stories." More than. "Ain't what happened to us, though." They put a finality on that. "And all those stories the church has about the afterlife are just that- nobody's around to tell the truth of 'em. Other worlds, I could get- but when people walked between it was always on two legs. No tales about makin' a man into a wolf."

They chewed on that a second. "Wonder if we're still where we came from. My people return to the world when we die- just split up, in pieces. Different places, different ways. Might be this is just how we spring up again." Sure, they didn't know the place, but there was a lot of world they hadn't seen. "...Wasn't expectin' to keep all the memory though."

The only proper answer lay in going out and finding it. Which Cecil fully expected to do, just- not right now, when they were bumbling around like a pup taking its first steps.

"Territorial, ain't they?" they commented. "When the dogs have themselves a fight, get a new face in the pack, one of 'em always ends up on their back with tail between their legs. You tried that yet?" The grin on their face said it was a joke.

Mostly.

Skill - Heartbroken

Nate shrugged off the sympathy compulsively, Eh, I'm prettier as a wolf. It happens to all of us, sooner or later. Lip tilted, Well, maybe not this part. But still.

Then a chuckle, Mithwyth's much better equipped to teach you wolf business than me, I won't be too proud to admit it. But uh... haven't told her I used to be a man. Haven't found a natural way to bring that up, yet. Not sure there is one...

And a twist of his mouth, I might try asserting myself to the rest of 'em like you suggested, if I wasn't pretty sure I'd be the one on my back. Something in me doesn't bend well to the idea.

Hands grabbing, holding him down in the cold, strangling him in the dark, kicking, beating, forcing him to be less than. It spurred a wave of nausea that he swallowed back subtly.

No, Nate didn't really want to talk about himself.

He had mixed feelings on the church. Raised under a Catholic father who thought that a leather belt and a leather Bible were interchangeable, Nate didn't like to speak ill of a man who had no doubt done the best he could. But it was hard not to wonder about the risk of hypocrisy in prayers for mercy, when they folded around that violent strip instead of a rosary.

Nate hadn't confused his father for God since he was seven years old... but what he'd seen of Christians making manifest their destiny had made it harder to pray the last few years.

He wished he knew more about his mother's beliefs, the ones she'd abandoned when she converted. But the legends of the Cherokee were somehow more dangerous than those of the Greeks and Romans, and had been forbidden in the house. The pieces Nate had were scattered and incomplete.

Didn't sound like this fella's were, though. Nate tilted his head, ears pricked, If you don't mind me asking, friend... who are your people?

---

Nate :(

"Haven't taken enough of a look in the water yet to say anythin' for myself." Cecil snorted. "But, y'know, not to stroke my own ego, I weren't bad-looking in human skin. Sure my sister would call this an improvement, but you can't trust siblings with these things."

They raised a brow. Wondered if Nate had family left behind too.

Cecil would miss their own. Was trying not to think too hard about it, and was real practiced at compartmentalizing when they had to. They knew it'd hit later when they had time to themself to mourn. Didn't want to roll and show their own belly to a stranger, friendly as he might be.

So they couldn't hold it against Nate not wanting to, either. And they weren't some naive kid. There was a lot of cruelty in the world. Always had been, sure, but it was a lot fiercer now. Wouldn't have been shot off the horse if it wasn't.

"Don't seem like it'd be that odd," Cecil said. "She's already far from home, ain't she? Just wandered in here in a fog? Wouldn't think it a surprise that somethin' else could up and walk in, unless wolves and coyotes and such are the only ones who speak."

They grinned. "You could introduce us. Could use the lesson, and I could give her the whole human talk for you. See how it sounds with a stranger before you risk your dignity."

And they had nothing else. Didn't mind admitting that. Just them and their four legs and this whole new world and no idea how to do any of it. Could do worse than following along with a friendly face, and one with much the same experience they were having.

"My people are the Diné. Navajo. Could go into clan, but I don't know it'd mean much to you." Cecil flicked an ear. "You got a people?" Lotta the settlers didn't call it that. Didn't call themselves much of anything. They would've been sympathetic a dozen years ago, but they thought they'd lost most of the space inside them for that.