Why did he come here? Seriously. This whole idea had been bad from the beginning. His hackles raised and he could feel his whole skin crawl, just by standing in the doorway. All his instincts screaming at him to run the fuck away, hiding in the farthest hole he could find.
"You fucking bastards! Can't you leave me alone for once! Don't make me angry or I'm going to make fucking bedside rugs out of you flea slings! Get the fuck away!" a goateed man with dark hair and a cobalt shirt running down the stairs, spitting insults at the two huge dogs chasing him. No, wait a second; those were no dogs, but wolven. Great.
He just arrived at an old baroque house in the outskirts of Atlanta, because he got invited here by an old friend. Now he stood in the doorway, observing this rather unusual situation. The man soon got cornered by the wolven, both their tails wiggling and they barking happily.
"Fuck off!" cursed the cobalt clothed man loudly, before turning into a bat and flying towards the wolven, one of them happily trying to catch him.
The bigger wolven however, suddenly began to whimper. With his tail between his rear legs, he ran off towards the library, where a redhead just emerged with a huge book in his arms.
The huge wolven tried to hide behind the redhead, which was hilarious. The wolven was pretty big, Wash assessed that the wolven was about 47 inches, and bulky in build. The redhead lanky and small, not really providing a good hiding place.
Said red haired guy with glasses and freckles just rolled his eyes. "Grif, seriously? Shouldn't you learned by now that you shouldn't chase Church when you're terrified of bats?"
The wolven answered with another whine, looking up to the redhead with big amber eyes, ears flat on his skull and tail still between his legs.
"You fucking asshole! Better learn that once and for all! I'm really once going to suck out all your blood when you sleep!" screeched the bat, fluttering in front of the redhead.
The guy again rolled his eyes, batting the vampire away. "Fuck off Church."
"Yeah, yeah! Fuck you too!" still spitting insults, the bat made his way towards one of the hallways, one of the wolven still at his heels.
The other one still stood behind the lanky guy. Now that the bat was gone his focus turned towards the new arrival – Wash.
The screeching of his instincts got louder with every step the wolf came closer. Wash would have loved to hiss, but kept his instincts in check, just standing there, trying to hide deeper in the grey hood he wore.
"Grif! Will you stop harassing the people for once?" that was the redhead, calling for the wolf. He couldn't say why, but the wolven obviously seemed to mostly obey the redhead. The wolf huffed in annoyance, trotting to the redhead.
Wash now slowly tried to back down and do what his instincts told him, without tempting the wolven to chase him. He just wanted to get away from here.
"Hey, Wash!" Oh, shoot! Couldn't he have start running a little bit earlier? No matter if there was a wolven or not? Turning around, he forced a smile on his lips.
"Hey Carolina."
"Good that you came. I was worried you wouldn't show up!" she grabbed him by his arm, dragging him through the hallway.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Wash could see the library door close again, the redhead obviously retreating in his studies again. Hopefully, he had taken the wolven with him.
"I first will introduce you to Kimball. She's the head of the Sanctuary network and will welcome you. Afterwards, you will get a medical examination by Dr. Grey and will get your own account in our System from Simmons. I'm sure you already met him. The redhead where the wolven hid."
"Wait you saw that?"
"Of course." Replied Carolina, leading Wash through dozens of doors and hallways until he lost his was around completely.
"Why didn't you do something?" His voice turned a big higher, accompanied by a low hiss.
The redhead in front of Wash only huffed in amusement, replying in a matter-of-factly voice. "Because there would be no use to. That's the daily madness in here. You can chide them one day, the next will be all the same like before. So you better get use to this."
Wash groaned. Great. Two hunting-happy wolven living together with him.
"We're here." Stated Carolina, opening a door and letting Wash in. She closed the door after entering behind Wash.
At the desk sat a rather young woman, her long bangs tied back on her head, the rest of her half long hair open, falling over her shoulders like a river of chocolate.
Blue eyes piercing his grey ones when she shortly mustered him.
"I suppose you are the friend Carolina announced to come here?"
"Yes madam." The woman chuckled, obviously amused about his behavior.
"No need to be so formal. My name is Vanessa Kimball. I usually go by my last name." Introduced the head of the Sanctuary herself.
"My name is David Washington. But I prefer going by Wash." Explained the young man standing awkwardly in the room.
"So you had been part of the same project as Carolina?"
Wash hesitated a short moment, looking over to Carolina who gave him an encouraging nod. "Exactly."
Kimball nodded, as if she already knew everything about the project itself, making a short note on the tablet.
"So you came here on the invitation of Carolina. First of all. This isn't a prison here. You are allowed to leave whenever you like to. You are my guest, not a prisoner, okay?"
"Yes." Washs instincts still were screaming on full volume to get the fuck away. But he was curious at the same time. Carolina wouldn't invite him if she wasn't sure it was okay.
"May I ask you what kind of abnormal you are?" there was genuine curiosity underlying the question. Probably, this genuine curiosity made Wash brush off the hood. Maybe it was because Carolina was around.
From under the dark of the hood appeared blonde short hair. It was such a fair blond, that it almost seemed white. On top of his head appeared two ears, now peeking up to gather every information and even the tiniest sound from his surroundings. His pupils were slits and small pointed fangs dented his bottom lip. His fingernails were long and sharp.
Kimball smiled happily. "So you're a werecat."
"Obviously." Kimball blinked shortly while Carolina gave him a short push to remind him of who he was talking to.
"Excellent. Considering the fact that you're not able to transform fully into a human, I suppose you're rather young? In terms of a life of a werecat."
Wash only nodded, his ears twitching and turning as if there would be an enemy lurking somewhere. If his tail wouldn't be hidden under the huge hoodie he wore, it would twitch and jerk back and forth.
Kimball made some more notes, before again looking up to the young male standing awkwardly in the room.
"Okay, I suppose Carolina will show you the showers and give you some clothes to change. After that, Dr. Grey will make a short health examination. Simmons will make a guest entry in the system of you. Afterwards, you will get your room shown and are free to do what you please. Carolina, would you mind showing Washington around as you already know each other?" the last question was directed to the redhead standing behind the werecat.
"Absolutely not. Come on Wash, let's get you out of the hood. You reek."
"But I like the hood!" replied the blonde man, following Carolina through other hallways. Some looked fairly familiar, but foreign at the same time. Maybe Wash thought he knew this hallway because they all looked alike.
"This hood is old and dirty and it reeks."
"This hood is mine! And it just smells a little bit."
"You're reek-blind, Wash. That thing almost kills my nose." Replied Carolina, fondling her hand to dissipate the reek.
"But it's mine! I like my hood!"
The redhead in a teal shirt eyed him for a short moment before sighing. "Okay, then just let me wash it. Afterwards you'll get it back."
Ears peeking up, the Werecat only nodded to the prospect of having his favorite hoodie washed and clean for once in years.
After showering and a rather creepy examination with flying stuff at Grey's, Wash was lead to Simmons, the readhead with the wolven (Luckily, latter wasn't around), who made up an account for Wash.
Afterwards, Carolina showed him his quarter; he would stay with the 'Blues'.
Unlike Kimballs announcement, the red-haired woman dragged him off just after showing him his room, saying something about needing to show him someone.
Wash feeling oddly exposed without his hoodie to hide in followed his former leader through the house. It was bigger than expected, which meant that Wash would more easily get lost.
Rounding a corner, he heard trampling steps, someone running towards him.
"Waaaash!" with a rumbling sound, something flew right through the werecat, which was frozen in place, tumbling on the ground. "Aaaaaw North, that's not fair! Why did you do that!"
A low chuckle emitted from the hallway the blur previously came from. "I know how tactile you get, York. Better not scaring the rookie off."
A half translucent figure pushed up from the ground, staring at the other man standing there. He crossed his arms, sporting a pout. "Not true!"
"You are tactile York. It's really better North keeps you in check."
"But Linaaaaa!"
"Never call me like that again or I put you together with Caboose."
"Please not!" yelped the brown haired man, immediately hiding behind the tall blonde man with a violet shirt. From behind his human meat shield, York again peeked up. "But I'm still not tactile."
Carolina rolled her eyes. "No absolutely not York, you're the politest person I know." The human meat shield chuckled again.
Slowly the whole situation began to sink in Washs mind.
"York? North? Is that you, guys?"
"No we're just copies of the guys you know." Deadpanned York, North hitting his shoulder. "Ow!" whined the ghost. Carolina chuckled.
"This is us, Wash." Replied North calmly and gentle, walking towards the werecat. He moved cautiously, to not scare the new arrival.
"But- how? I thought you were dead!"
"Well, Northy-boy here" this brought York a withering glare from said man. "is a telepath. Means that he managed to form a dome for us three" York pointed towards North, Carolina and himself. "when the whole building collapsed. We dug our way out afterwards."
Wash just gaped at the three people. First he thought he would be the only survivor, learning that Carolina survived too when she found him in the streets. Now he learned that North and York were alive too.
"What about the others?" Asked Wash hopefully.
North just sighed, before replying. "We don't know. Some got killed, like Florida and CT. Some just disappeared, we don't know if they're still alive."
"I see." Answered Wash a bit sad to the explanation of the telepath.
"Now tell me, how did you come here? We actually thought you were dead." North asked. They were sitting in one of the big community rooms in the sanctuary, Wash having a glass of milk on the table in front of him.
"I had been on day pass when the whole complex began to crumble. As there was no-one looking for me, I hauled ass and ran as fast as I could. Not really thrilling story. I guess I was just lucky."
"What about the tracker in your neck?" asked York, nursing a beer. He was allowed only once a day.
"I found a shady backyard doc who took that thing out." Wash rubbed over the scars in his neck. They were pretty big and nasty. But he was okay with them as long as the tracker was out of him.
"I pickpocketed a lot of people to pay the doc and make myself sated. I often used my cat-form for that." Replied Wash, a tinge of red dusting his cheeks.
He wasn't keen on this part of his past, but it had been necessary to survive.
"What about you then?" asked the werecat his friends after some moments of silence.
"Nothing big. Carolina dragged our asses over to the Sanctuary right after we dug our way out. She already seemed to know this place and thought it would be a good idea. The disturb signal first made it impossible for the director to track us. Soon after, Dr. Grey surgically removed the trackers and gave them Caboose to play with."
"Wait? They're still active!?" Washs eyes immediately became wide as saucers. York and Carolina began to laugh while North chuckled amused.
"No you dummy. First, the director couldn't find us as the whole property is protected by a disturb signal. Secondly, Caboose is a fire elemental. And giving him something to play means that it'll get burnt after five minutes tops."
Wash sighed relieved. So they seemed to be halfway save here.
"You're staying then?" This time it was Carolina, looking expectantly at Wash. He shrugged a bit helplessly.
"I have no better place to go at the moment and I think I can give it a go." Replied the werecat.
"On which team are you?" peeked North up.
"Blue team, why?"
A shit eating grin appeared on Yorks face. "Oh boy, have fun with them."
"Why?"
"You'll see." Replied York with his special grin. In addition, the others began to grin, but neither of them seemed to want to enlighten the werecat.
In the end, Wash decided to leave the guys alone, trying to track his way back to his dormitory alone. It took him more than an hour to do so, but eventually he found it. Luckily, he didn't cross paths with one of the wolven.
Back in his room, he saw that Carolina stuck to her word and brought his grey hoodie. It was freshly washed and every hole was sewed so that it looked almost normally again. Immediately, Wash slipped into the grey fabric with yellow streaks on it.
The streaks were from a sprayer who thought that Wash wanted to take away his favorite spraying spot. It took days to get the yellow out of his hair.
The streaks never went out of the hoodie. Some when this odd combination became Washs brand color, people always referring to this hoodie when someone had to find him to ask for a favor.
Laying on the bed, Wash soon felt his hair grow out while his bones and muscles began to shift. When the transformation was complete, the werecat rolled up in a tight ball inside the freshly washed hoodie. Soon he was fast asleep although he was at an unknown place. Normally he wouldn't fall asleep so easily. Maybe it was because some of his friends were around and okay with the place here what set him at ease.
The next day, Wash woke up to another ruckus in early morning. There was screaming and banging, making Wash almost jump through the roof.
Smoothly jumping down the bed, he left his room (He always left the door a bit open. He didn't like closed doors or small rooms since the 'project'.
Toddling towards the door the noises came from, he saw that the name on the door was written in a childlike handwriting, reading 'Michael J. Caboose'. Huh? Wasn't that the fire elemental?
"Careful Caboose." That was Carolinas voice. Right, she was resistant towards heat and fire. Only logical that she would put up with the fire elemental then. Although it was a mystery why Caboose was allowed to walk around freely when he didn't had control of his powers as he learned yesterday.
"Kitty!" a squeal erupted from Washs right side, making him jump in the air. His fur rose when he hissed at the strange sound. There was a young boy running towards him, a huge smile on his lips and his hands stretched out to grab him.
"Careful Junior!" another person appeared, apparently the father of the boy.
Washs instincts taking over, he darted into his room, slamming the door shut while he began turning into a human. Panicking, he began throwing on his clothes, hiding his ears and his tail under his favorite hoodie.
A knock at the door caught his attention. "Hey sorry dude. Junior is sometimes a bit vehement. You okay?"
"I- Uh- Yeah, I'm okay." Wash reluctantly opened the door a little bit, seeing the man from before with the boy on his hips. Wash supposed that he was about six or seven.
"I'm Lavernius Tucker. Just call me Tucker. And this little fellow here is Junior. You must be the new guy who arrived yesterday. Werecat, right?"
"Right. Nice to meet you." Wash swallowed, his hackles raising. His cat senses caught something up from this Tucker-guy what made him stay wary.
"Okay, Sorry again. Junior tends to forget his strength sometimes. Oh and the guy here" Tucker pointed to Cabooses door. "Is the fire elemental Caboose. He looks like a grown ass man but he's not completely here, you know." Explained Tucker before pointing to the door on the other side of the floor. "There's Church living. He's a vampire. Ever heard of the Church Clan?"
"The famous vampires who were at war with the Grif-wolvens for years?"
"Well yeah." Replied Tucker with a grin. "But he's not the best representative of this family. He doesn't give two shits about this war. Which is why he ran away from home and landed here."
"Wait a second, isn't it dangerous to have the Grifs and a Church under the same roof?"
"You already got to know the wolvens from red team?" Tuckers eyes lit up with mirth.
"More or less." Wash shrugged as he answered. "They chased Church. One of them peeing his pants when Church turned into a bat."
"Ah, this would be the older, Dexter. Although he only goes by Grif. He's fucking afraid of bats. The other one is his little sister Kaikaina. She isn't afraid of anything and a hotshot. Bow chicka bow wow!"
Wash suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "That didn't answer my question. Isn't that dangerous?"
"Nah, absolutely not." Waved Tucker the werecat off. They now were walking towards the mess hall for breakfast. "Church doesn't give a shit about this war. And the Grif-siblings here didn't grow up in the pack. Most of them stopped fighting the vampires long ago, trying to stay hidden somewhere."
"Why that?" Wash took a tray, trailing behind Tucker and Junior. "The Churchs managed to kill a lot of them about two hundred years ago. Some of them try to get revenge for their fallen family members, but most of them hide since then, trying to survive withouth the Churchs finding them. The fight for the Churchs, however, only ends when the last Grif is killed. Luckily our Church isn't that much of a dickhead."
"So this means that they can live with each other because both don't really give a shit about the war?"
"You can put it like that, yeah." Confirmed Tucker, taking a bun from the basket, giving it to Junior before taking his own.
After getting their food, Tucker wandered over to a table where blue and red clothed people sat. "So this skirmish yesterday…"
"… Is nothing than fun, don't worry. Now let's stop talk about it. They don't like that subject. And better they don't know you know already." Finished Tucker the sentence for the werecat.
Coming to the table, Wash saw lots of new and lots of unknown faces. There was Simmons. Beside him sat a bleary tanned man. His hair was black and his eyes amber. Wash supposed that he was the cowardly wolven. The girl beside him had the same features. So she must be Kaikaina. Church was sitting at the table too, mustering the wolven with a gloomy expression.
After taking a seat, Tucker shortly introduced everyone to Wash and what they were. There was Sarge, a Diacom (So better don't make him angry or he'll cook you inside out), Donut a mermaiden, Simmons, who could become invisible, Grif and Kai the wolvens, Church the vampire and Caboose the fire elemental.
During lunch, the others warned Wash about Tucker. He is an Incubus and tries to hit on everyone who could potentially feed him – Like Wash for example. He's so bad at picking up people (Hey! I'm not! I'm a ladies man!) that he more than not is hungry for several days.
Wash only thought that these people he got grouped with were batshit crazy.