Hawknell do your worst

shortly after this, early evening

---

Backing away from the possiblity of a hunt had possibly been Levi's greatest accomplishment since being turned. Keeping control like that had taken all the willpower, but he had DONE IT. The price would remain to be paid, hence why he was driving slightly too fast to get out of city bounds. He was a little surprised not to feel pressure outsite of the big staring purple eyes he felt on him. In him.

The stare is coming from inside the skull!!

He started chuckling, more from relief than his own joke, and was well engaged on the path to Scott's Wonderland, the date that never was. Reminded him of Mathis. And Mathis' upcoming unturning. Unturning, a topic his beast disliked.

That was enough to rattle the coyote, and this time Levi knew he couldn't just push him back into the doghouse. He parked his car and looked to the darkening sky.

"You know, I won." He stated out loud, not that he needed to for the beast to hear him. "We didn't attack the manul girl. I know you're angry at me, so go ahead, buddy. Do your worst."

Despite willingly leaning into the shift, it was the most painful one he experienced so far. And yet he smiled, because he had won. A precedent had been made. There would be many more, he was convinced of it.

Freed from human skin and some of human's principles, the coyote instantly turned to run back into town. There was no hope of finding the scent of his last prey, but the beast was not picky when it came time to create trouble.

Today had been a tough day, death wasn’t a rare thing her field, but it still hit her hard every time they had a patient whose surgery wasn’t enough to save them. Harder when the patient didn’t even make it to the surgery room, which had been the case today.

They’d done their best, but sometimes their best just wasn’t enough, and while the more experienced surgeons took it as well as someone who saw death on a regular basis, Malai was still learning not to blame herself for these things.

She’d done well not crying during the remainder of her shift, but afterwards she had cried, and cried and cried and still her heart felt heavy. Still her brain ran through every little thing that they could have done differently, different scenarios that could have had different results.

Results that she would never know.

She’d need to learn to shield her heart better, she knew that, but she would allow herself this sadness tonight, and tomorrow she would study hard and strive to become the type of surgeon she aspired to be.

Making her way back towards her car, Malai was grateful for the late hours for tears still stung her eyes and there were less people to witness it as she brushed them away every so often.
She would be brushing the back of her hand across her eyes when she noticed it, the large dog, her brows furrowing in confusion as her steps faltered. A very large dog that Malai wanted nothing to do with already.

The coyote hadn't cared for his human's taunts, in part because most language was wasted on him, but even if not, he would have ignored him.

The beast had very much enjoyed the run back in town and was looking around to find something to chase or to eat (or both, yikes) when he caught a weird scent. Must investigate.

There was a car and a human there. Unhurried and not immediately hostile, the coyote would stare at her for a moment, sniffing.

Curiosity or hunger, the jury was still out.

The dog stared, and Malai stared back unsure of how she was supposed to handle these sorts of situations. It didn’t look aggressive, but Malai was no stranger to the fact that stray dogs, when hungry, could turn on a dime.

Lips thinning cautiously, Malai would slowly start walking once more, eyes locked on the dog.

Stay over there, please.

He matched her pace, not getting closer, but not conceding an inch. There would be no pretense of puppy behavior, no tail wagging. Just a nearly unblinking purple stare.

Keeping his strenght if a sudden pursuit needed him to pounce.

Distantly, Levi pleaded with the girl not to run. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop his beast then.

Malai watched the stray follow, her brows pulling inward as she debated what to do next. She knew that some strays were skittish, and while this dog was huge, she was bigger so maybe…

”Klạb b̂ān” She’d call, shooing the stray away. ”Go go.”

---

T: Go home

The coyote tilted his head at the words, which was more Levi being intrigued at what language this was rather than the beast actually caring.

The shooing would have very little effect though. Back off, she's gonna think we have rabies. Levi sighed inwardly. Not that the coyote knew what this was, and instead got even closer.

Teeth would remain hidden still, a small miracle.

It didn’t work, and Malai’s lips thinned in stress. She had no food on her to entice it to leave, and she had nothing to throw to scare him off either. It was a predicament that she did not need tonight, taking a step backward as the stray drew closer.

There was no foaming at the mouth. No drooling…

”C̄hạn mị̀mī xāh̄ār” She sighed, eyes rolling as she turned and picked up the pace to get back to her car.

Levi's urges to get away went unheeded, in part because he did want to hear more of that mysterious language, but also because it was coyote time.

And coyote said nope and bounced ahead to get in between the girl and the car.

No escape.

Malai stopped short, eyes widening as the stray cut her off, jaw clenching as she took yet another step back from the dog.

This wasn’t the skittish sort, that much was for certain, but what was she supposed to do when the stray wouldn’t leave her be? She was at a complete loss.

”There’s no food.” She would scold, in English this time because Thai just wasn’t doing it. ”Go home.” Or whatever the stray called home.

The dangling wallet got his attention. That was not food, but something that looked pleasant to bite into.

While a jerk move, this wasn't directly harmful, so Levi decided to let it happen. Not that the coyote was asking permission.

He pounced again and caught the leather between his teeth. Let out a low growl. More staring.

Tug of war.

---

hit

Were you serious? As if this day couldn't get any worse, she now had this stupid stray not only following her but stealing her wallet too?

This was so beyond Malai's realm of knowledge, she'd never had a pet fish, let alone a dog, and now she was supposed to figure out how to handle some feral mutt? Malai pulled her arm back, surprised at the strength of the stray as she moved a hand to swat at the dog's nose, not hard but firm.

"No."

Just let her go home, please.

---

WOW SHE HIT

UH OH.

It wasn't painful, not really, but that removed the ounce of restraint the coyote had shown so far. He let go of his prize only to sink his teeth in something warmer and softer. The only thing Levi could do was to focus on the strenght of the jaws, to only break skin and not bones.

And then prey this girl would be as lucky as Indigo had been, to nurse a wound rather than join him.

---

hit

It had come as a shock, despite the fact that she had known how vicious strays could be, she had not seen an ounce of aggression until now. She had been foolish to think a strike to the nose would send the stray running when her lording over it had not, she had made a mistake in her judgement, and now she was paying for it.

The bite stung, piercing her skin and sending blood pooling at her and the strays feet as her other hand moved to pry the dogs maw off her arm. She tried not to scream, clenched her jaw and kept to a low moan in hopes of not triggering its prey drive any further.

---

Miss on prying off

A low whine. Levi's way to apologize, not that the actions of the coyote were any distinct from his own. They were one, even if of two minds. Would they ever agree?

Perhaps it was the disconnect that allowed the jaws to unclench and free the hurt wrist.

---

miss on hold

The moment there was release, Malai would book it, yanking her arm away from the stray and cradling her wound close as she made her way back towards the car. Hopefully the stray had gotten his fill, hopefully it had decided that human blood was not what he craved.

She would not look back to see if it gave chase.

He licked the blood on his jaws and did give chase. He still wanted that damn leather thing.

The coyote liked to bring things back with him, and that was what he had chosen this time.

Jaws snapped just a few inches away from it, not having been able to properly calculate the swing.

---

miss

She'd finally scream then, feet pounding the pavement as the dog gave chase.

"Help!!" She'd scream, a call for anyone nearby to help get this stray away from her.

Suddenly the evening didn't feel so nice.

This time he wouldn't leave it to chance. Heartbeat quickened as a chase finally really took place.

Full speed would not be required to tackle her to the ground. Just hand over the leather thing, human.

---

hit

Malai would cry out as she spilled onto the ground, the palms of her hands scrapping against concrete in an attempt to save her face from shattering on the pavement.

It was enough, but there would be no relief her attention fully focused now on the stray that crouched above her, Malai flipping onto her back sending a hard kick towards the mutts face.

Jaws snapped near the leather-carrying wrist, without any success. The coyote just wanted the THING. Give him the THING.

A whine of exasperation at being denying the thing.

He was getting tired of this.

---

so many misses

The dog continued to bite for her, but Malai was struggling backwards, elbows digging into the pavement as she hauled herself away. It was then that she remembered what the dog had bit for the first time, and occurred to her that it continued to bite in the same general direction.

Did it think that she had food in there? She wouldn’t dare think about it further than that, ripping the wallet from her wrist and throwing with as much strength she could muster behind the dog. She didn’t dare hope that it would chase for it yet, Malai still scooting backwards as her remained locked on the dog.

With a single tail wag the coyote bounced off and ran after his little prey.

The woman was forgotten as he closed his jaws around the leather and started chewing contently.

This was not food, but it felt goooood. Great texture and resistance.

Meanwhile Levi was distantly trying to guess how much a wallet like that cost, because he would need to buy her a new one.

It was one thing to lose your wallet and another to potentially lose your life, and so Malai was glad to be rid of the accessory and eager to vacate, slowly pushing herself to her feet, careful not to draw to dogs attention to her as she held her bleeding arm by the wrist and slowly began backing away.

It did not yet occur to her that the bleeding had slowed, or that the pain in her hands was not as harsh as it had been seconds before.

Placated by the win, the coyote strode away, still nibbling at his prize.

Maybe there would be food elsewhere, but this was a satisfying hunt for him, even without a full belly.

Ignoring both the woman and his own human, the latter mentally commenting that stealing wallets and biting innocents was not what he had meant by do your worst, the beast got into a jog towards where he had come from.

Off the dog went, and Malai would allow herself some sense of relief as she quickly turned on her heels and made her way towards her car, thankfully the keys didn’t fit in the wallet, a fact that Malai had always resented, but now found herself grateful for as she unlocked the vehicle.

This entire encounter had not gone as planned, and while it had helped her forget about her earlier troubles, it had brought with it a whole hurricane of its own issues. Stitches would be needed, or… Wait… Malai’s brows furrowed as she inspected the wound.

Or lack thereof.

She didn’t know much when it came to things supernatural, didn’t keep up with it in the way that she knew she should, but she did at least know this one rule. If attacked, and you leave without a scratch… There’s a chance, you’re infected…

Not good.