Outsiders. Chpt 4.
The Outsiders
Chapter Four
By Roofles
The back doorbell jingled as it swung open, a rather large autumn fur wolf withdrawing the head he had used to knock it open with. Logan snorted, his black nose twitching at the smell of the place. His brow furrowed as he gave an exhausted look at the man that soon joined him. Even for a wolf, Logan's expression was one of reluctance on this whole matter, just going along with the man.
Jayden stretched in the afternoon sun, letting out a groaning sigh. Logan watched him intently, reading over his features and took a sniff in his general direction.
"That was an interesting ride." He chuckled giving the back of Logan's head a good scratch. "Thanks for the lift." Jayden said with a smile looking down at his friend.
"Right." Logan grumbled, his ears twitching before folding back and he looked away. "Tell anyone-," he growled turning to face him but Jayden already was chuckling it off.
"Yeah, yeah. You'll rip my legs off. Stuff them down my throat. And kick my own ass with them." He rolled his eyes. "No one would believe I hitched a ride on a talking, giant wolf." The man moved next to him looking inside.
"Miles." Logan muttered, panting a bit. "Carrying you miles. And that's the recognition I get." The wolf took a seat, looking off to the side with an open panting muzzle.
Jayden pet the top of Logan's head as he wrapped his knuckles on the door with his other. "Anyone home?" He called in staying within the thresh hold of the building at the edge of town. "Are you sure they can help?" He inquired looking at the wolf who was still looking off into the distance behind them, from the woods they had come from, as if worried they had been follow. He turned his head back around, ears swiveling with him before looking up at the man with those large amber eyes.
"Unfortunately." Logan muttered ears splaying out and a dark shadow crossing his face. He shook it off. "You sure you still...want to do this? We can always head back to your house. There is a lot of things that need to get done." The wolf asked, grumbling a bit to himself. Logan didn't want to be here. He didn't like coming to the town. The stone ground was uncomfortable for his paws and the smells of exhaust, oil and gas from the cars always made him nauseous. It wasn't like the wild. Everything smelt so... unnatural. Fake. Just like the people in it.
"You said it was a party?" Jayden smiled down at him. "What's not to enjoy? Besides," Jayden said softly not looking at Logan as he spoke. "I can always deal with that stuff later..."
"If that's how you feel." Logan said understandingly patient with the man. They had spent most the afternoon in his glen out in the forest and as night began to set it was just a passing comment Logan made that Jayden had jumped on. "Every year we have a local...Halloween party, yes." Logan nodded in agreement, having been the one to tell him in the first place. "I don't usually attend." And at that his ears perked training inside the building now.
"Right! Well now you are. We are." Jayden smiled and Logan splayed his ears at that face looking at him. "Can't go to a party, let alone a Halloween party, without an outfit." Jayden chuckled lightly. "Or in this case, a costume." And he was more than happy for the distraction that had come along. This way he could at least spend another night not having to be in that place he once called home.
"I don't get it," Logan muttered turning his head to look inside. His ears focused and trained on movement within the building some more, eyes narrowing. The smell was tossing off his senses too much to be certain. "Why you humans are so obsessed with clothing." And with that, the naked wolf, got up and headed inside. Jayden followed behind rolling his eyes.
"Says the man-wolf."
Jayden figured out why most of the buildings in town were boarded up and all but looked as if they had closed down. When you weren't exactly human, it was best to both be and not to be in plain sight. Hide a tree in a forest. Hide a building, a home, in a town. And that's exactly what most of the denizens of this town out in the middle of the country side, barely on any map, did.
With the veil lifted up over his eyes, he saw everything, the very town itself, in a new light. Where there were dull streets and graffiti covered buildings with slabs of wood nailed over windows and doors, were now a red brick road, cobble sidewalks and large black lamplight style street lamps as if from old England - reminding Jayden of something he had seen in a movie once; it had been covered in snow then however.
There were tattered old oak signs outside of various, previously closed, shops. Such as "The Witching Cauldron" and "The Glass Slipper." All things one would instantly noticed and that Jayden had, during his trip into town just the other day, hadn't even been able to see.
Those of the town itself had changed as well. From grumpy old men and retired lumberjacks, farmers and the good old church going folk. To things with too many legs, things without legs, things that very hair moved and hissed with a mind of their own. Hooves stomped on the ground, scales slithered about or with feathers flew in the sky. Everything, everyone was bright and colorful from the dreary gray place it had once been. It was full of life.
Jayden saw little as they crawled through the shadows, slinking behind the buildings and using the back door of a store called "The Bone Fetcher." Jayden didn't ask and Logan didn't tell why he had to keep hidden. Let alone as to why this place. That was until he saw the owner of the shop.
Bleach white bones hung from it's dangled ears, a large bone skewered it's nose and brass rings adorned it's fingers, hands, ears, tail and nipples as the mostly naked jackal came into the view of the back door as the lights turned on. He, as Jayden soon realized it was just that, wore an intricate vest made of hollowed out bones. White paint was dragged on his arms, chest, over his face and legs. Otherwise he had a muddy brown fur with only a loose lower sash of a tunic on that covered his unmentionables.
"Well, well if it isn't my favorite four legged guest. And friend?" The jackal nearly squeaked at the end running over, skidding to a halt on his heels to face Jayden. "Such a handsome one too," he practically drooled already nearly a breath away from the startled man who had leaned back and away.
"Hi." Was all Jayden could get out before his arms were lifted up and his body all but violated as the jackal quickly gave him the once over sniffing every inch of him that black nose could reach. Jayden soon jumped as his ass was squeezed.
A threatening growl at his side slowed, but didn't stop, the jackal who had moved away at least enough to give Jayden some breathing room or out of biting distance from the still growling wolf. This space was only expanded as Logan moved into the room, curling around behind the man's thigh and standing in front of him and between the jackal.
"Louie." Logan growled in greeting.
"Wolves." And Louie shook his head side to side. "Why do they always get between me and my man?" And before either of them could say anything the jackal went on in a loud voice. "And look at him! Covered in mud and twigs. Poor man, needs a bath." And then speaking directly to Jayden said. "We could take a bath." His words filled the whole back room with a low, unsettling growl as Logan raised his hackles appearing even larger than he already was. Jayden took a step back and Louie... Louie didn't even seem to notice.
"I brought him here so he could get a costume." Logan just explained not moving from where he stood. "For the party." Logan frowned a bit as the jackal just stared at him with wide blank eyes.
"Oh, the party." Louie nodded. "What party?" He asked the light bulb over head flickering before turning off and breaking all together.
"The all hallows eve party!" Logan snarled at him now getting frustrated and annoyed with the fact the jackal kept trying to get past him and closer to the man who was just looking around the shop.
The place had a strange smell to it. Like burnt incense. And with the back light turned on Jayden could make the store out. The back door led to a storage room, of sorts. Everything in the front could easily be restocked from the numerous boxes, glass jars and potato bags and barrels stuffed into every corner, hanging from the walls and resting on the numerous shelves that filed out in rows in front of them.
"The party!" Louie's eyes widened as it all dawned on him, realizing that that was what all the commotion was about outside. "Why would you want to go to the party? You never go."
"Jayden wanted too." Logan just muttered not looking at either of them now.
"Oh." Louie said blinking a few times. The bones on his neck jingled as he turned towards the man before back at the wolf. "Does he know about the party?"
"Obviously." Logan growled a bit annoyed already with this conversation and this jackal.
"What can I do?" Louie tilted his head to the side giving him a smile, his eyes full of curious ignorance.
And Logan groaned shaking his head side to side. "A costume!" He barked at him. "Something to wear. To the party. Tonight. To keep him from being seen."
"Oh, I got one of those." And Logan wanted to cover his head with both paws and whine, wishing he knew anyone else he trusted that could help him on this matter. "It's dangerous though..." Louie brought up.
Strange things Jayden had never seen before in such a manner filled the room, distracting him from the conversation at hand. A bundle of cat whiskers hung from a string from the ceiling. Cloves of some strange foreign plant budded next to a jar of multi-shaped, multi-colored eyes that floated in a strange eerie translucent blue liquid. Some of the eyes looked as if they were still moving. Frog legs, lizard tails, bat wings, dung beetle carapaces and dull gray scales of some sort of fish lined the closest row.
"I know already." Logan muttered. "I didn't want too. I shouldn't even have mentioned it to him." And the wolf looked over at the man, his eyes softening a bit. "It's what he wanted though." He said as if only to reconfirm what he already knew with himself.
Firefly's danced in the air above with creepy hairy black legged spiders trying to catch them, lure them into the vast network of cobwebs above. The ground beneath his feet, Jayden soon learned heading further inside as the two talked, was damp as if moss were growing over the floor boards. That or a swamp had opened up and flooded the shop at one point.
"Well a costume should help..." Louie nodded scratching his chin.
"Can you help or not?" Logan growled.
"And one for Logan too." Jayden jumped in turning back to them and joining the conversation. Logan was about to object when Louie cut him off.
"Deal! Free of charge. Just to see this mutt finally dress up." And the jackal attempted to slap Logan on the back and nearly got his hand bitten off.
"Why do humans insist on wearing these crude, uncomfortable things?" Logan detested the tuxedo he had been crammed into. His furry paws looked awkward and out of place sticking out of the stretched black shirt and pants that stuck out in odd angles from the thick fur shoved inside. "Why?" He growled gripping at it with his fingers, nails sliding between the buttons chest, planning on ripping it off.
Jayden walked in a second after. The man could've been Logan's double. He wore large gloves and had slipped on over covers for his shoes. A vest hung from his chest covering all the way down his front and back. He was holding the head of the costume. His pants were covered in the same rich autumn fur that the rest of the suit was made out of. The head was that of a wolf in mid-snarl.
"How do I look?" Jayden turned around before laughing at the expression Logan gave him. "You look good." He added smiling at the wolf. He walked over, Logan folding his ears back. "You're missing something though." And at that put the half-mask on the side of his furry muzzle. "Their. You make a perfect phantom of the opera."
"Right." Logan frowned, splaying his ears and trying not to swipe the mask off his face. It messed with his whiskers "And the hell are you suppose to be?"
"Mini-Logan." Jayden just said. He chuckled at the look Logan continued to give him. "I know it's dumb." Jayden looked away trying not to blush. "Louie said," he looked back at the wolf standing up on his hind legs and still fussing with the outfit. "It'd be the best. It's even made out of your fur."
"Why does he have my fur?" Logan asked with a frown.
"I... That's actually a good question." Jayden chuckled moving over. He set the head piece down on the counter and reached over to fix the tuxedo Logan was wearing. The wolf stood a bit taller as he fixed the buttons on the front that were straining just to keep the wolf's body in it. "It'll be a blast." Jayden said in hopes to calm Logan's nerves unaware as to why he was on edge.
"If this is what you want." Logan just replied looking down at him. "We can always go back to your place. If it turns South." He added at the end.
"I know." Jayden said not looking up into that face now and just staring at his chest. "It's just... A little longer, ok?" He asked with a smile and Logan folded his ears. How could he refuse.
"Don't stray from my side." Logan warned as he moved towards the front door. "If you do. I'm taking you home. Right then and there."
"Fine, fine." Jayden rolled his eyes walking over. "What could possibly go wrong?" And he took hold of Logan's arm after putting his mask on. The wolf looked down at him before, with a wag of his tail, led them outside.
The first thing that hit them was the cold of the world in contrast to the humid heat of the store. The streets were the same red brick Jayden had seen before, the lamplight style street lights glowed with an eerie pale light like the moon high above. The ground had a layer of foggy mist over it and the whole of the streets were filled with people.
People might've been a strong word.
A large minotaur cut them off, snorting down at them before moving on. Several mini-minotaurs followed in his wake. A gyphon strode right on by without even giving them a second notice as he met up with a female that appeared human but was mostly feathers; the harpy chatted with the gryphon who took her arm and led her down the street. Fur, flesh, scales, leather, wings, tails... So many things passed by of all different shapes and colors Jayden had to take a few seconds for his mind to register it all.
"Take it easy." Logan helped steady the man. "It's a lot for a human mind to process."
Jayden nodded, taking a few steady breaths. "Thanks. I'm ok."
They headed down the street looking at the various stands that had been set up, at a slow steady pace. Most were silly games and others were food booths. Food seemed to be the very theme of the place. Every other stand was that of a concession stand. Popcorn covered with thick caramel, apples dipped in chocolate and rolled in various kinds of nuts. Snow cones were being sold by a woman in a pure white dress that seemed to be, partially, the source of the misty fog under their feet and paws. Her very outfit seeming to be made of the same material as the fog, that or at least emitting it. There was also an ice cream stand just next to hers; the two seeming to be competing with each other.
"Wow." Was all Jayden could say as he looked up at the strings of orange and black lights that had been set up. Each one looking like firefly's trapped within the cobwebs that weaved above like a canopy of a forest. They weren't fake pieces of cotton one could buy in the store but actual webs created and woven by the large spiders resting on top of them. It made the man shudder a bit and he moved closer to the wolf who was watching him, not the party.
"It's really something." Logan said aloud reading Jayden's thoughts clearly as they danced acrossed his face. Full of wonder and excitement.
"It is something. A festival more than a party." Jayden said moving in front, taking Logan's hand and giving it a tug. "Come on!"
"Isn't a festival and a party the same thing?" Logan asked quirking one ear to the side in confusion but followed after the man. The two headed further down the street.
"Free?" Jayden asked, far too surprised as he took the pretzel from some sort of Sphinx, that had a lion's face rather than that of a human.
"Of course. Everything here is!" The sphinx replied, eying him wearily as he looked him up and down at his costume. "You don't need to hide..." The lion said about to move forward to take his mask off but Logan cut him off.
"True forms are best kept secret." Logan said as if it were some kind of code word. The sphinx stopped, gave a nod and then shrugged.
"Whatever." Was the tactful reply he gave before going to the next costumer.
Jayden was thankful the mask at least allowed for his mouth to be free, hidden within the short snout of the mask. It made it easier to breath and gave him a chance to get a taste of the pretzel.
"It's...good." Jayden said a bit alarmed by the fact. Somehow he figured it would be filled with bugs or something to satisfy the odd taste of those around. "I can't believe it's free though."
"All Hallows Eve is kind of like your Christmas." Logan said offhandedly. "It's a big things for... monsters like us." Jayden gave him a look but Logan returned it with a smile, wagging his tails slowly. "I'm the big bad wolf remember?"
"I guess so." Jayden chuckled. "But, for tonight, you're my big bad wolf." He teased and Logan splayed his ears.
"Careful what you wish for, boy." Logan growled nosing at him. "Might bite off more than you can chew."
"Wouldn't that be something." Jayden laughed before pointing over at another stand. "Look! It's one of those cheap shooting galleries."
Logan frowned. "I don't care much for guns..." He just replied but Jayden had already moved over and the wolf followed, grumbling a bit. The wolf stopped a few feet away, looking at and flinch as the sound of the pellet gun went off.
"I used to go hunting a bit with my dad." Jayden said standing in line and waiting for his turn. Logan stood at his side. "It used to be a yearly thing. Every season we'd go out to hunt elk."
"Did you like it? Elk that is." Logan asked once more indifferent on the matter and just making conversation. He had spoken more in the past few days than he had in months.
"We had elk steak and made this nice rub to put on them, grilled 'em up. Was delicious." Jayden said moving forward to take his turn.
It was a simple shooting gallery with a pellet gun and a couple rows of mechanical tracks. He lifted the gun up, aiming carefully before stopping as a man dressed in a business suit moved by. He looked like he was on his way to work, looking down at his watch and not even aware of where he was going. Another followed behind it of a girl in a summer dress looking off to the side.
"What is this?" Jayden asked lowering the gun to look at Logan.
"We're done." Logan nodded to the clerk who was looking at the two. He soon guided Jayden off to the side and between two of the buildings. "Things here are a little different than what your used too."
"Those were... people, weren't they?" Jayden asked looking back at the shooting gallery. "Fake people, but still people."
"Yes." Logan just said before looking down. He rubbed a large paw over the side of one of Logan's arms to comfort him. "Not all of us feel that way. But a lot of us do. Humans have done a lot to us. We've done a lot to them. We're not all like that." He said after.
"Yeah..." Jayden said taking a moment to let that soak in. He adjusted the mask on his face. "So that's why I have this, huh?"
"Correct." Logan said. "If anyone found out? It may cause a bit of a panic."
Jayden took another second before nodding and looked up at him. "And how do you feel on the matter?"
That caught Logan off guard even if he was waiting for it. "I..." He said softly about to just deny and lie to him right there. "I used to hate humans, a lot." He looked off, memories flooding back to him. "Before I was... conscious of who and what I was, when I was just a wild animal humans came to our forest. A few of our pack had roamed too far and killed cattle that belong to a few human farmers. They came to make sure that never happened again."
Jayden face fell at that. "Logan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean too drag up such memories." And he looked back towards the festival. "I just wanted to have fun for a while... To forget such things, if only for a bit."
"I know." Logan spoke softly, even with that deep husky voice of his. "So of course I came to hate them. For what they did. I was one of the few who managed to escape." And he shook his head. "I soon came to realize I didn't hate them, though. But myself. For the lack of what I could do for my pack. I was helpless against their guns. There was nothing I, any of us really... could do.
"I followed them." Logan went on resting back against the building and looking up at the night sky above. "Days, weeks even... Watching them, studying them. Waiting for them to let their guard down. I planned to sneak in and take away their young, a price to pay to sate the anger I had. I didn't," he looked down at Jayden. He took a hand and lifted it up before lowering it and placing it on his chest.
"I guess during that time I learned that, what I truly felt for them... was envy. I wanted nothing more than to be like them. To be able to do what they could."
Logan took a moment just looking at the man.
"I had never really been like my pack. The way I thought, and acted. Beginning to question and ask why we did what we did. I was different, an outcast really. A lone wolf by the end of it, even before I lost everyone. And I soon found out why."
"You're more human than most humans." Jayden said placing a hand ontop of the one still placed against his chest. "Most people don't feel like that. They don't think about it, they take it for granted all those thoughts and feelings. Most don't even know what empathy is. You were able to rationalize, even back then. That's... That's impressive."
And Logan wagged his tail at that.
"Do you want to continue?" Logan asked nudging his head towards the festival.
"I see no reason not too." Jayden said already moving back, not wanting to have to focus on such a sore subject any more than he needed too. He stopped and looked back. "If you want too, that is."
"So long as you stay by my side." Logan said offering his arm once more, like a true gentleman. Jayden had to stifle a laugh at the sight and gladly took it.
"After you, my good sir."
And the two headed back into the street to rejoin the festival.