[Drama] Room 103: In My Defense, You Were Delicious

[Leo Eskandari]

Not knowing anywhere better to start looking for Will, the couple risked a goddess' ire by knocking on the door in the middle of the night.

[Will Stanton]

There was some rustling, as various people in the dorm room tried to ignore and not wake up from the pounding.

After a moment, a green-haired man in black tails and tie opened the door a crack. "Mmmmyes?"

[Leo Eskandari]

"Hey..." Leo said sheepishly. "Do you... uh... do you Will guys share memories? Or at least know how to find each other?" he asked, guessing butler Will wasn't the animal Will. The rumor mill had it that there were several of him around these days.

[Ainsley Green]

For his part, Ainsley loomed in the background, being silent.

Like an Ainsley do.

[Will Stanton]

"I'm not fully sure I understand the heart of the matter to which you are attempting to get," Will said, through the crack in the door. "May I be so bold as to ask what your purpose is here, assuming, if one can be forgiven for such an impertinent assumption, that your primary goal was not to satisfy your curiosity as to the neurological makeup of a fellow student's mutation?"

[Leo Eskandari]

As this Will clearly didn't know, he answered, "I need to talk to a specific you. To apologize."

[Will Stanton]

Will blinked for a few moments.

"Apologize for...what, precisely? I don't recall you doing anything requiring an apologetic state?"

[Leo Eskandari]

"That's why I need the right you. I... don't think I'm brave enough to go through this twice."

[Will Stanton]

"No, that's not quite what I mean.

You were correct, of course, in your supposition that returning to the mirror means that I obtain all the memories involved in my various travails and treks.

But I have no recollection of anything negative that you've done, meaning that either whatever secretive transgression you claim to have been responsible for did not register as such to me, or that the said me that you transgressed against has not returned, and thus would have current whereabouts that are, to me at least, not entirely within the realm of where our current knowledge would provide any additional light on the subject."

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley kept his cool, hoping Leo hasn't put together the possibility he already had.

[Leo Eskandari]

He looked crestfallen. It didn't look like he was going to sleep tonight.

"So you don't even have an idea how I could find the Will who turns into animals? Or where yous usually hole up?"

[Will Stanton]

Will thought for a moment.

"I would not go so far as to phrase it that way. While I can not give you any assistance personally, I do believe I know how you may be able to get on the trail, as it were. If you would be so kind as to wait for just one moment?"

[Leo Eskandari]

"Of course," he said, cautiously optimistic.

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley was relieved to hear the other Will wasn't dead.

If Leo looked at him, he'd smile reassuringly and give him a double thumbs up.

[Will Stanton]

After a few moments, the door creaked open again.

"I believe, sir, that you will find this an invaluable asset in your quest," Butler!Will said...handing Leo a leash.

The leash was attached to a collar, which was itself attached to a nametag. Oh, and also a green-tinted bloodhound. That might have been the first thing I should have mentioned, so sorry. A green-tinted bloodhound, floppy ears and all, looking up at Leo and Ainsley.

[Leo Eskandari]

"Seriously? I can do that," he smirked. The smirk faded as he thought better of approaching Beast Boy Will that way. "Nevermind. Thanks."

[Will Stanton]

"I would posit that, if you truly believed you could have performed adequately in the olfactory acquisition of my acquisition of my erstwhile other self's present whereabouts, the content and nature of this discussion would have acquired an altogether different timbre and content insomuch that the inherent nature of your current nocturnal activities would have an undeniably altered endpoint."

"Baroou," the dog agreed.

"Notwithstanding, I wish you well upon your quest and should you require any additional assistance, we would be pleased to offer it at a time which may create less consternation amongst the inhabitants of this particular domicile."

[Leo Eskandari]

It took visible effort for Leo to parse ButlerWill's word salad but he nodded anyway before looking down at the green dog.

"Uhh... lead on McGruff?"

[Will Stanton]

"Barou," the dog said, looking back up at Leo.

Perhaps taking it to wear Leo had last seen Will would be a good first step.

[Ainsley Green]

Tentatively, Ainsley reached out to the green doge, hoping to make a mental connection.

"Hello, hello? Can you hear me?"

[Will Stanton]

The dog turned to look up at Ainsley with a somewhat bored expression on her face.

Hear you fine.

[Ainsley Green]

"Good! You know what we're looking for, eh?" He asked.

From Leo's perspective, Ainsley was just intensely staring at the dog, but he was probably savvy enough to figure out why.

[Will Stanton]

An animal.

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley was hoping for a more human-y answer than that, but he chalked it up to Will's mutation.

He turned to Leo -

"Let's take her back to the site of the incident. She'll need a scent to track, she's not quite as aware as I'd hoped."

[Leo Eskandari]

"Yeah. If he was aware as an animal, he'd never have let things get as far as they did," he said as he led the dog down the hall.

---

After stopping to let Ainsley get a flashlight, Leo led the way into the woods. He grew quietly anxious as they reached the bloodstained spot where he had lost his battle with instinct.

[Will Stanton]

The dog had rather obediently plodded along after the duo. Ainsley would not find her much better of a conversationalist than your average canine, which raised questions in and of itself, but no matter.


With a little prodding, the bloodhound sniffed the ground where the fight had took place, trying to catch the scent. This wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do, considering Will had shifted mid fight, but soon, she was off and running, bounding towards the boundaries of the school.

[Leo Eskandari]

Leo was glad that Ainsley was the only person likely to be amused by the sight of a big fuzzy hulk struggling to keep up with a dog pulling at its leash. It didn't even occur to him to let go and use his senses to follow.

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley thankfully cut dog-Will some slack and didn't rattle around in her brain too much like he did with Leo.

Leo also learned a thing when the dog started bolting: Ains could run. In fact, maybe it would have been reasonable to let him take the dog.

Oh well. Watching Leo stumble around with Will was at least amusing, if nothing else.

[Will Stanton]

The bloodhound led the two to the iron fence surrounding campus, and then, with a surprising (and anatomically impossible) amount of athletic ability, lept over the fence to continue the chase -- apparently, Bird!Will had flown the coop, somewhat literally.

[Leo Eskandari]

Having lost the leash in time to see the dog sail over the fence, Leo shouted, "Hey! Wait!"

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley was *on it*. He hopped over the fence like a pro, though he didn't try to take up the leash. He was commons kid, not a superman.

"Follow our scent!" He called out to Leo as he attempted to chase after Dog-Will.

[Will Stanton]

The dog was going faster than jogging speed, for sure, but bloodhounds were endurance animals, not speed runners, and so it wouldn't be all that difficult for Ainsley to keep up with her at a decent pace -- and, indeed, keep up she would have to, as she showed little signs of stopping as she trotted downhill, occasionally pausing to re-establish a scent.

After about ten minutes, she stopped at the base of a tree, "barouing" up at the branches above.

[Leo Eskandari]

Leo had to go on all fours to jump over the fence. He knew Ainsley's scent well enough by now that he could continue on a civilized two legs. Although that was slower, he caught up in short order.

"Well, I guess I can't be a true superhero without gettin' a cat out of a tree," he said, equal parts amused and irritated.

[Ainsley Green]

"Calm the dog for a moment, eh?"

Ainsley tried making contact first in a bird dialect, hoping to determine if Will was in fact still a bird up there, or a scared person.

"Are you up there? Are you ok?" He called out.

[Will Stanton]

Go away! Go away! Danger, danger, danger!

Well, the voice sounded like Will's, at the very least.

[Leo Eskandari]

Leo kneeled by the dog and gave it a firm but gentle scratch behind the ear. He hoped his ability to get along with dogs hadn't been sabotaged by becoming part cat.

"Shhh... shhh... easy girl."

[Ainsley Green]

"No danger, just us and yous. No one to worry about." He attempted to assure the bird.

[Will Stanton]

Beast! Fast, clever beasts! the bird protested and, after all, it had a point.


As for the dog, it's work done, it lay down on it's haunches, pleased with itself.

[Ainsley Green]

"No beasts, friend. Just creatures who can be more than one creature.

Like you."

[Will Stanton]

This was a hard sell, considering Leo had chased Will down and bit him (without even asking, first!), and so the bird kept mostly yelling, both audibly and telepathically, at the two below.

Stupid birbs.