(no subject)

[quileutejacob]

Jacob mostly kept to a set schedule on the island. Wake up, teach his class if school was in session, work on anything at the Homestead that needed repairing and head home to spend time with Belle. It was a bit predictable and occasionally broken up by going to see Bella and the baby or Coraline but it was his life and he loved it.

The island, of course, occasionally decided to throw a wrench in those plans and if his way home became a swamp or there was a freak blizzard, Jacob tried to take it in stride and just keep moving on. It wasn't anything new after three years and some change, right? Except today. He'd pulled open the door to his and Belle's little house expecting to see his wife working on some new invention...and got greeted with a complete decor change.

So the new carpet was nice. So was the air conditioning, which wasn't available in abundance on the island (being inside a room without feeling hot and sticky and without the air so thick that he could breathe without drowning was a novelty) but he couldn't figure out how it got here. Was this some trick? Some temporary decorating change that was going away whenever the island's wacky magic decided to swing back to (relatively) normal? Jacob didn't know. Smarter people than him had been stumped by the island and he had never professed to be into researching or anything that involved reading or sitting still for very long.

But the biggest change about this place was the little undercurrent of power he felt. There was a little ripple, a little spark in the air and it just felt different than he'd felt in the three years since he'd shown up on the island and resigned himself to not being able to shift anymore. Maybe he'd learned to live without that part of himself but he'd never really accepted it and he sure as hell had never rejected it. Could it be? Was the wolf still under there after all and he was finally in a place where he could access it?

He turned the corner away from the front desk and let loose on his control, feeling his body shift and change into the wolf he hadn't been since showing up on the sandy beaches of Tabula Rasa all those years ago.

Finally.

[[See Jacob either before or after he shifts into a wolf - don't worry, he's not going to bite.]]

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[vampire_shield]

Bella was on her way from her room to go get a little exercise. Not that she needed it, or anything. Her body wouldn't change by inch or wrinkle next year, or in the next hundred years. So, no, she didn't need to work out, but it was fun to really let her vampire skills go every now and then, and not against elk and deer in her forest. The dinosaurs were much more fun.

Already anticipating, Bella turned the corner and stopped statue-still when a familiar scent pulled at her. A scent she knew better than almost any other on earth.

Her eyes scanned and she made her feet continue to move forward. Her eyes whipped side to side...and then she saw him. The familiar, russet colored wolf.

"Jacob!" She half-cried, half-laughed as she launched herself towards him at full speed.

[quileutejacob]

Bella smelled off. She smelled cold and sickly sweet and it stung his nose the way the other Cullens did. Vampire? Bella was a vampire? He backed away a little and searched her face, hackles raising a little when he saw her eyes.

Red. Bright red. The red that showed she'd been drinking human blood and not the amber the rest of the Cullens had.

[vampire_shield]

Bella saw the hackles rise and immediately stepped back from him with her hands out. She might not have ever seen that reaction from Jake, but she had from Leah often enough to be cautious. Could this Jacob not know her? She'd heard of that happening to a few people here. Then there was Adrian, who looked so much like... Well. She knew this wolf, knew this smell, but could it be possible that he didn't know her? Or recognize her now that she was a vampire?

"Jacob. It's me. Bella."

[quileutejacob]

He couldn't really have a conversation while shifted so he shifted back, completely comfortable with nudity in front of Bella - even if this was his Bella because he wasn't sure. Bella wasn't a vampire last he checked and even though the Bella on the island had been from later he didn't know about a Bella who apparently drank from humans.

"Your eyes are red," he said gruffly. "That breaks the treaty."

[vampire_shield]

"What?" Bella said, and then laughed her bell laugh at him when she figured out what he meant. "Oh, don't worry. I'm still completely in line with the treaty. There's another vampire here, Erik, and in his world they have synthetic human blood. It takes the edge off the human cravings completely, so I don't worry so much about being around them all the time."

She paused, raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to go all wolfy on me and start tearing limbs off, right?"

[malachai]

Okay. It wasn't every day Nick saw someone taller than him; it was even more rare to have that tall person shift into a very large wolf right in front of his eyes. At least here. Back in his world, the weres weren't exactly everywhere, but it wasn't all that strange to see bear, wolf, or whatever form they took go to fur at any given time.

He still hadn't seen Max transform, and as much as he'd like to see a dragon tranformation, he wasn't willing to piss off the timeline keepers by going back in time with him to do so.

There'd been something, though, about the height and the face he'd seen briefly before the guy went to fur. Something familiar.

"Jacob?" he asked as he approached the wolf.

[quileutejacob]

Jacob recognized this man and nudged against him with his nose to recognize it. He wanted to enjoy the wolf for a little while longer before shifting back but at least this guy was one he knew from around Tabula Rasa. After a few moments of pacing around, he shifted back.

Oh. Right. No clothes.

"I forgot the downside to my better side. Hey, Nick."

[malachai]

Nick relaxed when the kid recognized him. After all, it hadn't been the first time he'd seen a familiar face here only to find out that person didn't know him from a hole in the ground. The comment, however, had him grinning.

"Yeah, that's a hazard of this place. Years with nothing but human and then boom, walk through the wrong door and you're back to supernatural land. Impressive wolf form, by the way. Bella said you were a shifter, but I never realized just how big a wolf you became."

[quileutejacob]

"Big, but there was another who was bigger," Jacob confirmed. "Leah was a little smaller than me. It's been so long since I was able to shift that I just had to, you know? I felt the wolf in there again and I just had to let it out."

He was grateful that his was a voluntary shift. He couldn't imagine how hard it would be to have the traditional werewolf thing going on where his shifts were controlled by the moon and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

[malachai]

Again, Nick nodded. "I had the same problem when I first got here. Didn't do me any favors and nearly got myself in some serious, serious trouble with it, but I understand it completely. It's like having an amputated limb just suddenly grow back."

[mlle_belle]

Belle's been feeling rather good lately. She still feels frustration at being unable to find a door back to the island, but there are books and there are whole worlds hiding behind doors. And some days, like today, there are strange things, like the strange beast of a thing near her. Belle's eyes widen with horror and curiosity, her heart beating madly.

She thinks that she's seen that before.

It couldn't be, though, could it? Tentatively, she approaches, fingers shaking and she wonders if she could be so lucky.

[quileutejacob]

Jacob was happy to see Belle. If this place wasn't the island (which he suspected since he could shift here) he was glad it was a place that his wife had followed him to.

He drew up close and got down as low as he could at her feet in a sign of respect and recognition.

[mlle_belle]

Breath caught in her throat, she approaches and reaches her fingers out to the wolf, her smile shaky but no less ecstatic for her nerves. It's been so many months and she had given up hope, but now that she's here, she can't contain herself. Her excitement propels her forward and she doesn't give a thought to the danger before throwing her arms around the wolf's neck, nuzzling his fur as tightly as she can.

[quileutejacob]

Jacob allowed that for a minute or two before he really just needed to shift back into a human so he could really talk to her and so he did, backing away just a little before he did so there would be room for the shift in his form. The one thing about shifting was that clothes didn't shift with you so he stood there a little awkward.

"I probably need to go somewhere private. Where are we exactly?"

[mlle_belle]

She presses her lips together, amused at his sudden lack of clothing, though it's nothing she hasn't seen before. She steps in closer, wrapping her arms around him as she takes off her sweater, offering it to him. "It won't do much," she admits, "but maybe you can tie it around your waist. We can go to my room, here."

[buryyouwithmysound]

"Hey! That looks way fun!" Marceline calls out from where she's floating under a parasol. As easy as breathing, she takes on a semi-bat, semi-lupine form to keep up with the giant wolf.

[quileutejacob]

Jacob didn't recognize the other animal except to know she, too, wasn't quite human. He made a curious noise in the back of his throat and ran off before circling back, clearly wanting to play. It had been too long since he had this form to shift back yet.

[buryyouwithmysound]

Marceline can talk in this shape, but she doesn't need to. She's run with wolves before and this guy's pretty clear on what he wants to do. She moves to all fours and starts running too, laughing as she readies a pounce.

[quileutejacob]

There was a part of him (a small, very quiet part) that questioned the logic of two animals running around a hotel and wondered how to get outside. The rest of him was content to play chase with this new animal, drawing close to her and feinting away at the last minute as he tore off down the halls in a massive, elaborate game.

[buryyouwithmysound]

It's hard not to keep laughing, howling a little as she searches for more wide open spaces. This is fantastic and strange, but she loves it.

[genetic_deadend]

Apparently even pack separated for a long damned time still called to pack, and Leah felt the little shimmer in the air and answered it before she really thought or could stop herself.

Which sucked because dammit, she'd really liked that shirt.

Holy shit, Jake, it's you. You won't believe this but I am so friggin' happy to see you, uh, so to speak. Where are you at you douchecanoe?

[quileutejacob]

I'm in some kind of hotel lobby. Leah was someone he loved even if he didn't always like her and pack was pack no matter how difficult they could be at times. He was happy to know she was here too and could shift again; being on the island had been hard.

Just arrived from Tropical Island of Doom.

[genetic_deadend]

You remember that place too?! Can't even tell you how much better that makes me feel. There's actually a few of us here that spent some time on Craphole Island. The Bella here didn't. Weird, right? And she's full on bloodsucker now, fair warning.

Leah trotted over to Jacob and bumped her head against his in greeting. Ha, I'm still prettier than you. You may be the giant monster but dammit, I'm the prettiest.

[quileutejacob]

Yeah, because vampires really care about which wolf ripping them apart is the prettiest, Jacob thought, snorting loudly. He whined a little when he saw Leah again as a wolf and bumped his head back against hers, just saying hello in the lupine way.

So Edward finally turned her, did he? Figures.

[genetic_deadend]

Good thing I'm still the fastest too, then, right? Leah's muzzle pulled back in what could almost be called a grin.

Reeking smell and freaky red eyes, yep. Course it was headed that way when I left home, so not really surprising. It's just a little weird that we remember Craphole Island and she doesn't. She whined softly and shook her fur out. I'm guessing you shredded your clothes too. You and Jon aren't even close in height, but I might be able to scrounge up something that'll at let you keep your dignity long enough to get your key from the front desk. Not that it wouldn't be hilarious, but I've matured.