(no subject)

[blaidd_ddyn]

Remus wasn't sure if he'd been imagining it or not, but the days leading up to the first full moon to rise since he'd found himself on Sanctuary had felt more intense than he remembered from any moon back home. He'd done his research, knew the planet where Sanctuary was stationed had three moons on different lunar cycles, and the biggest moon was due to come up full tonight. Cora had agreed, she'd felt it coming too; there was no doubt Remus was going to change as soon as the last embers of sunlight faded and the moon appeared in the night sky.

The way he felt wasn't unusual; shaky and sick, all of his senses heightened to an intensity that made him feel out of control, feral, wild. His breath was coming quickly as he made his way along the path Cora had taught him, headed toward the dark, hidden forest, the beast beneath his skin so ready to be free. He could smell Cora's scent along the way, telling him she would already be there when he arrived, and a disconnected part of his brain echoed pack mate, an excitement Remus couldn't understand throbbing at his temples with his heavy, thudding pulse.

Outside the forcefield, Remus took a deep breath, but it didn't calm him. Reaching up with a shaking hand, Remus touched the panel to open the door, slipping inside and casting his gaze around immediately, searching for his kin.

Comments

[cora_hale]

The pull of the biggest of the planets three moons had been strong for a few days. Cora hadn't felt a pull like this since after the Alpha pack had finally let her and Boyd loose.

This felt different though. A slow creep of sensation up her spine and through her, into the core of her, like warmth of a bath in winter as it seeps into your bones from the outside in. She'd found herself letting her mind drift, thoughts of the forest at the front of her mind if she didn't watch them, her feet endlessly leading her there. And Remus, too, featured heavily in her thoughts, the urge to build a pack, even a pack of two was very strong.

In the end, she gave in and let her feet and mind go where they needed to.

She'd had enough mind left to grab a bag with a change of clothes and some food for the morning for the both of them before she'd gone into the fields, and now she sat on a high rock a little way from the entrance gate to wait for Remus, eyes glowing as she watched the sun getting low on the stations horizon.

Remus was shifting through the gate within the hour and Cora waved to him, jumping down and making her way towards him, eyebrow high at the wolf pawing under her skin and his.

"You made it." She said, voice a little rough.

[blaidd_ddyn]

Remus felt something like relief bleed through him when he met Cora's eyes, and me moved to meet her, feeling comforted when he sensed the struggle she was enduring herself. He knew she had better control than he did by far (as he had almost none at all), and and it made him feel better that he wasn't the only one having an more difficult time tonight.

It didn't hurt to know that he wouldn't have to worry about her safety; if either of them were going to be dominant in their wolf form, Remus was certain it would be Cora.

He took a breath as a shudder worked its way through his body. "Won't be long now," he said, his voice clipped. "How are you feeling?"

[cora_hale]

Cora worked her head from side to side and smiled toothily at him. "A little drunk on it, honestly." She said, teeth lengthening without her permission but she wasn't about to stop them. "It's been a while since I felt the pull this strongly."

Remus was tense. He was holding himself like he was going to fly apart and Cora decided they needed an icebreaker and something to shake remus out of his head for a minute before the change came over him.

So she started stripping.

"Come on." She said, lifting her shirt over her head, then stuffing it in the bag she'd brought and straightening up to face him. She'd dressed in a loose t-shirt and leggings, stuff that was comfortable and easy to get on with tired, clumsy fingers the morning after. Of course, she hadn't bothered with underwear at all because what was the point? "Please don't tell me you trash your clothes every month?"

[blaidd_ddyn]

Remus was about to make a comment about how much more he'd enjoy this if he felt drunk as well, but he'd only just managed to open his mouth when Cora began to strip off right there in front of him without a word of warning. His eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open slightly, and he stared without blinking for a full thirty seconds before he shook himself out of it and averted his eyes. He hoped Cora wouldn't blame him too much; he was a twenty-two year old man who hadn't seen a naked person of any variety in a good long while, after all.

"No, I generally take my clothes off as well," he replied, turning his attention to tugging his jumper off over his head, then going to work on the buttons down the front of his shirt. "I've just never done this bit with anyone else," he added, glancing up at Cora and feeling a fresh blush burn across his cheeks as he lowered his eyes once more.

[cora_hale]

"I used to know a guy in my adopted pack." Cora said, thumbs in her leggings, pushing them down her thighs casually. "He was bitten, not born, and he used to buy clothes specifically so he could shred them on the moon." She grinned and folded her arms. "It's the biggest waste I've ever seen but he loved it."

The sun was almost all the way down now and Cora was feeling the nervous excitement that always came with the moon. She watched Remus undressing and smiled. He was a good looking guy, she could see that, but it was just appreciative. Cora was used to nudity.

"You'll get used to it. Packs are naked together a whole lot. Body hangups aren't really a thing." She said, picking up the bag and moving it to a space under the large rock she'd been sitting on to keep it out of their way if they found their way back here.

[blaidd_ddyn]

Remus nodded, and he tried to behave as normally as he could, looking at Cora rather than avoiding it despite her nudity. Of course she didn't have any hangups about her body, he thought a bit bitterly; she was lovely, well proportioned with clean, smooth skin, shiny hair and bright eyes and even an adorable smattering of freckles. His shirt off, the lacing network of scars that slashed across his skin had already started to become visible, which didn't do anything for his scrawny build and overly pale complexion. He hurried through removing his boots and socks, then his trousers and his pants, and he folded his discarded clothing together as best as he could and stashed it near Cora's beneath the rock.

"I've never had money to waste," Remus told Cora when he walked back to where she was stood waiting for his return. "The clothes I have were always secondhand to start with, so I couldn't afford ripping them apart by accident, let alone purposefully. Even magic can only repair things so many times."

He offered her a wan smile, shivering a bit despite the upward shift of his body temperature as the moonrise steadily approached. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Is it painful?" he asked then, after a few moments of silence. "When you change?"

[cora_hale]

The scars were a little shocking, even to Cora's eyes. She'd seen bitten humans before, even a few savaged ones when an omega went too long without a pack and let the human rule the wolf. But the ones that turned healed up from their injuries. Remus...there was no healing where he was from apparently.

She shook herself out of her revelry and met his eyes, allowing the moon to wash the change over her until she was half-turned.

"It doesn't hurt." She said, smiling gently around her longer teeth. "I've been doing it for my whole life though." She reached out with a taloned hand and brushed one of the longer scars. "Does it hurt you?"