The Woodland Mansion

Sevy barreled down the hall, trying to get used to using four limbs to get around. He turned a corner and almost ran right into Griffith and the two girls who had taken an axe to the door. He attempted to stop himself, skidding a few feet before smacking his muzzle into the wall.

"These damn floors.." he murmured. It came out as a growl.

He shook out his fur and righted himself before turning to examine the three of them. They all seemed to be changed somehow- Griffith appeared to be decaying, and holding one of his arms, while on earth of the women had an axe for a hand and the other had stilts for legs.

He approached them carefully, keeping himself a few feet back. He didn't look himslef at the moment, but it was never a good idea to scare a woman with a weapon.

He gave a terrified whimper when he saw the gigantic wolf suddenly come around the corner, and refused to stop making the noise even when the aforementioned wolf went slamming into the nearest wall. And then the wolf growled and began to approach him, which was never a good thing.

He slowly began to back away from it. "N-Nice doggy," he said, trying not to trip over the stilt legs. He made it all the way back to where the woman with the ax for a hand was, and wisely ducked behind her - making sure to hold his detached arm close to his chest.

Marisol wanted to take an ax to the man with the detached arm. But she sighed and focused on the approaching wolf instead. She'd just be shooting the messenger, and she'd half-expected the answer anyway. Still, to have Arlais stuck and uncomfortable tugged at her heartstrings, and it was hard not to blame someone else for it.

"How d'ya know this ain't somebody else?" she said, stepping up to the wolf. "It was runnin' around and bein' all aggressive, but now it's just slow and stupid. Nothin' to be scared of, moron." She reached out to pet its head. In case it really did attack, she had her axhand.

When the woman started heading towards it, he immediately made a beeline for the first thing he could hide behind - a vase balanced precariously on a table in the side of the hallway. He peeked around it and watched her as she went to pet the wolf.

"You don't understand," he said from where he was hiding. "Dogs and I are never a good thing. They always jump at me and bite at me and one time I even had one hanging from my arm. Wolves aren't as bad but there's still been some times when things have gone horribly with them! Even if it might be another person, I'm not taking any chances with it!"

A terrified moan followed to confirm what he had said.

"Sucks you for," Marisol said, petting the wolf. Its fur was surprisingly soft and smooth, which only added to her suspicions that this was another person. "The last wolf I met was a total idiot, so I dunno what's your deal." She waited to see how the wolf would react before she made any other move.

Sevy sat obediently as the axe-woman approached. She stroked his head, and he lifted a paw as if to shake her hand. She suggested that he was another person- he panted in relief and tried to look into her eyes, as if conveying who he was.

"Hello..." he concentrated very hard on this one word, only to let out a low whine.

He jumped when he heard the whine, letting out a moan as his detached arm nearly knocked over the vase he had been hiding behind. He managed to grab it just before it could tip off of the table, but it had been close.

As he stared at the offending arm, he suddenly realized something that hadn't occurred to him - he wasn't himself right now. His body was different, and that meant that the wolf wouldn't be so eager to pounce on him!

He hesitantly took a step out from behind the table. With a newfound courage, he strode over to the wolf - only to stiffen when he was a few feet away from it.

"Please don't use me as a chew toy," he muttered, reaching his attached, now shaking hand out to touch the wolf's head. He still held his detached arm close to his chest.

Sevy lowered his head as the decaying man approached. His muzzle wrinkled as he registered the rotting stench with his heightened sense of smell. As repulsed as he was, he had the sudden urge to taste some of the zombie's skin.

No, no, stop, that is disgusting.

The urge finally won when Griffith rested a hand on his hand. Sevy pressed his nose into the man's hand and gave it a long slurp, completely revolted with himself.

He immediately stiffened. A short and absolutely terrified moan - that sound almost like it was combined with a whimper - followed as he stared at the place his hand had been licked. Then his instincts kicked in, and he stumbled back. He tripped over his own feet. As he sprawled out on the ground, his detached arm went flying all the way over to the woman with the ax hand's feet.

"This one's an idiot too," Marisol said, watching the wolf lick the man's rotting hand. Her grimace only grew worse when the man panicked and dropped his detached arm at her feet. That explained the rotting smell. She took a few steps back, turning around to face Arlais. Her heart dropped. She'd almost completely forgotten about helping her out. "I-" began Marisol

The otter raised a hand. "It's fine," she said, trying to shuffle her way to Marisol. Arlais's legs moved slowly, dragging across the carpet. "It doesn't sound like there's anything to be done, and I can relate to the rotting man." She wrinkled her nose. "Either whoever did this will show themselves, and you can hit them with your axhand until they fix us, or something might happen and we'll go right back to normal. I hope." She laughed nervously, eyes drooping.

Sevy whined and sank to the floor, resting his head on his paws. He still needed to find Kit and Leo, but it wasn't much use bounding around if he couldn't call out and no one knew who he was. The most he could do was bark at this group until they helped him find his friends.

"Hey!" He started, "has anyone seen the two kids?" It was no use- he just couldn't get the words to come out.

The arm quickly returned to him, and he made sure to hold it extra close to his chest this time around. The wolf had barked again, but hadn't tried getting closer to him. Did that mean it didn't want to hurt him? He hesitantly got to his feet, and even more hesitantly started to walk towards it.

Something about its eyes made him pause - they were familiar. He had seen them somewhere, but he hadn't seen the wolf before. So that must have meant that the wolf really was someone in the same position as he was.

And when he went through the list of who he knew had to be inside the mansion, he realized exactly who the wolf was. Even more importantly, he understood the reason for the wolf rushing upstairs and making so much noise.

"You're the boy with the wings," he said, his grip on his arm tightening. He didn't need confirmation. He knew that he had guessed it right, so he took another hesitant step towards him and pointed at the library. "Your friends are in there. Kit's okay, but Leo needs to be brought somewhere with water. Do you think you could carry him?"

Ah, so the wolf was one of the victims. Looking it up and down, that made sense - it looked way too friendly and familiar with what was going on. Or, it had as much familiarity as anyone else here had about this situation. In any case, Marisol had figured there was a 50/50 chance she was right on that, and she was pretty happy to be correct.

And it sounded like they had to go help someone. Great. The one thing she wasn't good at doing.

She sighed and extended her arm behind her, trying not to think or gag about the detached arm that had just crawled back to its owner. Marisol felt Arlais grab her arm with both her hands. "Dunno if we can do much," Marisol said. "But we ain't got much of a choice but ta follow ya, so lead the way."

Sevy sat up, relief washing over him. He shot what he hoped was a grateful look toward Griffith, and awkwardly trotted toward the room he had gestured to.

Kit was still warily watching the silent man, crouched next to Leo's helpless form, when a giant black wolf barreled into the room, crashing into the doorframe as it did so. He let out a howl, and Kit looked into its golden eyes.

"Hey, Sevy. Sucks to be you. Okay so, Leo needs help- I'm not strong enough to carry him by myself."

Leo casually waved with his webbed fingers. He had basically accepted the fact that he had to lay around and wait for people to cart him off.

He followed the wolf into the room, awkwardly standing in the doorway as he watched Kit talk to him. He was trying to figure out the best way to carry Leo out of the room. It wasn't that hard when he realized that Leo could easily balance on the wolf's back. It would just be a matter of getting him up there in the first place.

"We should try to put Leo on his back," he helpfully suggested, taking a step into the library. "Then he can carry Leo to somewhere with a tub."