Live and Learn

Reflexively, Ryan inhales and is nearly washed away by the scents. He's salivating and hungry and it's getting more and more difficult not to step forward now.

"You should get moving, Le Chiffre," he says mildly before he turns and walks away.

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The woman who walks out of the bar
is older, her stance much less tentative or friendly than that of an
18-year-old that Ryan had previously
met.
She glances up at the sky, and smiles grimly.
The sound of voices catches her attention, the fear in Le Chiffre's, particularly.
She heads in that direction, sacrificing stealth for moving quickly.
This time? She is wearing silver, a mesh covering her throat beneath the veil, and armbands that are an alloy of several hard metals meant to deflect knives or alien claws.
No weapons made of it, however, not here...even tonight.

Sooraya spots Le Chiffre, and pauses to coolly assess the scene before she goes any closer. There's no one else in sight.
Yet.

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Yet another attempt at moving has him collapsing back against the tree once more, giving up on begging and even failing in attempting empty threats. He knows they won't work and he's not about to waste energy over them.

He's so close to wanting to give up. Just let himself slip out of consciousness and not bother waking up again. It's the easy way out, but this just isn't how he saw himself dying (again).

For now he'll stick to mumbling numerous and desperate sounding curses under his breath, much like his own version to a quiet prayer.

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Then Sooraya's heading in his direction, her expression utterly blank. She moves at an angle to place herself between him and anything that might come out of the woods.

The bloodstains elicit a muttered curse. They're going to have to see to that first; she can't carry him. It's going to slow them both down too much.

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He's far too distracted by self-pity to notice her at first, but he does eventually peer up to spot the newest figure. The reaction she gets isn't one of relief, but something involving a visible flinch and a slight shift.

No one sane should be out in the woods at this time.

"..Are you with him?"

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"Since I have no idea who you're referring to, not likely," she replies, a touch sharply. "Do you want to wait for whoever did that," indicating his leg, "or get out of here?"

Sooraya has claimed to be any number of things, in the past, but sane has so far not been discussed.
She's not particularly minded to launch into a long explanation of her own status; not just now, thanks. Storytelling or introductions can wait until part of the audience isn't going to try to eat them.

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The sun is setting, the moon will rise shortly afterwards, and Ryan's ready and waiting. More than waiting because for the first time since he's been infected, he's pushing for the change. He doesn't expect anything to happen since he's been trying to hold it back for months to no effect, but here his vision goes black and white a moment before the moon comes up.

The soldier would be surprised if the rest of the change wasn't sweeping over him, and in another moment's time the black werewolf is shaking himself off and howling to the heavens.

It's time to hunt.

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It's impossible for him to keep from wanting to question her, but he realises now isn't quite the time. He's likely to die if he remains where he is, so no worse is going to come of it if a small amount of trust is put in a stranger, however difficult that may be.

A nod is all she gets at the final bit of her question, wanting nothing more than to get the hell away from here. His eyes dart back and forth as he begins a panicked statement of warning, "I think he's a--"

But that howl rippling through the area seems to finish what Le Chiffre had started to say perfectly. It's not a welcome sound.

"We need to get out of here now." You won't be hearing any noble 'go on without me' from Le Chiffre.

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"No kidding. Right. Come on--" she doesn't flinch at the sound, reaching for Le Chiffre's arm to help him to his feet.

If they're close enough to hear that? Too close.

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Ryan went quite a distance away to change. Just because he means to eat Le Chiffre doesn't mean he's keen on having the man see him naked. It's going to take the werewolf a few minutes run to get back to where he left the human.

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"The tree line," he says in an attempt at some self-distraction while trying to pull himself up with the aid of Sooraya, gritting his teeth and shifting the weight onto his un-injured leg. It doesn't stop his leg from hurting, but at least he can support his own weight.

Now would be about the time he'd be running impressively fast. If only his knee wasn't shot.

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She doesn't know why he says that, but at least if they get that far they'll have open space to move through(or fight in, if needed).
"Go on," motioning urgently for him to go ahead,
one hand on his shoulder. She doesn't look back, but her hearing's trained on the area behind them as best she can manage it.
"You're not armed?"

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The 'wolf caught Sooraya's scent now, and he curbs his enthusiasm with a snarl. Again the girl-of-sand has invaded his territory! Worse than that, she is with his prey. His prey.

He growls softly, slinking forward.

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Adrenaline has thankfully started to numb the pain, enough that he can move awkwardly but not exactly with much speed, and he's got the odd feeling he's at risk of collapsing back to the ground at any second with one wrong step.

Shaking his head to the question and managing a sharp glance to her, he replies with as much snark as he can muster, "You think I'd be in this situation if I was?"

Be glad he's yet to spot the 'wolf.

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"If you didn't know 'he' was a werewolf? Probably, yes." Her eyes narrow as she risks a single look back. "Does 'he' have a name?" as she follows close behind Le Chiffre. She's not trying to be subtle about it. The blood scent's likely to draw in the one who howled, anyway. She just hopes there's only one.

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He's found where Le Chiffre was leaning against the tree and he takes a moment to lap up the rapidly cooling blood, sneering at the girl-of-sand's silver tainted scent.

There's a blood trail to follow now, but how to get his prey away from her? The werewolf tilts his head. He could always try to take the girl down as well. He knows what to expect this time. There are no surprises.

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"I don't-- he didn't tell me." He sounds mildly let down by this fact, brows furrowing heavily, though possibly more so from the wound than his disappointment. Even if he never finds out the name, he can recognise the face.

Between grimaces and flinches he manages to keep a slight conversation. Le Chiffre is finding talking to be somewhat helpful in forgetting his issue, "What the hell are you doing out here anyway?"

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"Searching for leprechauns," she answers with a tone that gives no hint whether she's serious or not.

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And on that note, the black werewolf explodes from the foliage, charging at the two humans with a growling snarl.

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She whirls, and is running, not toward the wolf, but not to flee either;at a direction that'll take her away from the man she's trying to protect.
"Keep moving!" she shouts over her shoulder at Le Chiffre.

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He's shifting as fast as he can, which isn't all the fast, but the sight of the werewolf does have him quickening the pace considerably. If there wasn't fear in his eyes before, there is now, especially as it looks like he's suddenly been ditched. Not that he can blame her. He'd be the first person to ditch himself if he could run.

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The girl-of-sand is running? Perhaps she has decided that the prey is not worth the battle. Whatever the reason, the 'wolf cannot believe his good fortune.

With the challenger out of the way, he darts straight for Le Chiffre, a wolfish grin revealing the teeth in his muzzle.

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Appearances are deceiving. As for 'out of the way', she isn't yet. She needed time, however, and a certain distance between her and the human. Churning up a storm may look very impressive, but when you're trying NOT to catch someone else in it? There's certain problems, as well. A fierce wind cuts across the space between them, once the wolf's back is to her.

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There's the slight issue of being charged at by a werewolf that makes Le Chiffre completely ignorant to the true purpose behind Sooraya's running. Currently he's busy with stumbling away from the beast's approach to notice anything until the wind kicks up, and even then he doesn't stop to take more than a glance. Ask questions later. Run now.

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