Funny, How Things Change [Closed]

Caine found himself wondering again. Being trapped in that god awful room was far too much to handle. Those he had talked to so far did not seem awful, but none were impressive enough for him to keep around. Except Vivian. Even her name stirred something primal within him. But she was nowhere to be found. As of now, she also showed no interest in him. That had frustrated Caine to no end. He was used to not only running the crowd, but also instantly having the female population wrapped around his finger. Literally. Here, things were different, strange. It all bothered him to no end. His tongue worked its way furiously around the lollipop in his mouth. Cutting away from cigarettes had been difficult, especially when the pressure was high or things were changing. His addictions were high and self-control next to none in most cases. For now, having the tiny little ball of sugar between his teeth seemed to keep the habit at bay.

It was still early so the Courtyard was empty. Caine's eyes scanned lazily over the clearing as he walked along. His hands were shoved into his front pockets as he surveyed it all, but he maintained a strict posture that had been taught over the years. It seemed that for once in his life, the teenager found himself missing a busy class schedule. There was nothing quite yet to keep him entertained. Hopefully, meeting more of the female students would fill that void. Currently, he just wondered. Everyone had spoken of developing his 'powers'. Caine barely knew what they were, nor did he have any idea of how to control him. If only there were some sort of guidance in this shit hole. He just stopped himself short of cursing allowed to the empty void that stood against the morning sun. His eyes squinted as the glow obstructed his gaze. Then, he saw something against the harsh orange rays that make him question whether or not this all was real. Something he never thought he would see again.

"Carl?" Caine spoke up. The sucker almost fell from his jaw as he gaped at the sight that he still assumed was a mirage. His voice was filled with both confusion and question. There was no way his brother was here. No one had mentioned this. Neither of his parents had said a word about his presence here. A mix of anger and frustration caused his fists to curl up. As of late, that seemed to be their usual state, along with the ever present rage that boiled just beneath the surface. What is wrong with me now? was the last thing he thought before his world seemed to shatter at the sound of a voice he had assumed had been lost to him.

Carl had been up early this morning as per usual, abandoning the dorm room that he had just recently moved into in favor of something a bit more exciting. Even if that 'more exciting' thing was simply running through the massive campus for a bit of early morning exercise and exploration. He had rounded through the familiar bowels of the Courtyard, water bottle clanging awkwardly at his side as he did so, when a familiar voice called out to him. A familiar voice he had hoped to never hear at Beata.

Oh for fucks sake.

Feeling a burning heat rising in his throat, Carl turned on his heel to face Caine with a seething look of disbelief with palpable anger glinting within the depths of his gaze. Why Caine had decided to show himself here, he had no idea- the only type of special Caine was wouldn't of gotten him into Beata. Biting back a pained groan, he gave Caine a scornful look over, feeling his skin heat with a boiling mixture of surprise, anger and frustration as he continued to stare at his older brother. Of course Caine had to come here- Carl couldn't have just one thing to himself!

Without a second thought, his arm was pulling back to promptly launch the half-full bottle into the center of Caine's chest with a loud 'crack'- the faint sound of sloshing evident as the water proceeded to soak the material of whatever needlessly expensive shirt that Caine happened to be wearing. Good. The only thing faker than his brother's personality were his attempts to dress suave. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here." Carl hissed out through tightly gritted teeth, fists clenching so tightly that his nails roughly bit into the soft flesh of his palms as he impatiently waited for a response on his brothers behalf.

As the younger boy whipped around, all of Caine's doubts fell away. It was without a doubt his younger brother. A swirl of complicated emotions swirled in his head as he stared down at Carl, but only one stood out- disappointment. Part of him had hoped never to run into the family disappointment again. There was a small part of him that knew the reason for his disdain was the fact his brother seemed to be so much happier. He was free from the strict scrutiny and mold of the family. However, Caine would never acknowledge that fact. Instead he buried it under a mask similar to that of the parents he so hated, one that blamed Carl for everything that was wrong with that. It was the only way to deal with his own flaws.

Before he knew it, he was stumbling a few steps backwards. Caine had been too in his own head to notice Carl lashing out. Pain radiated from the blow. Shock crossed his face and left as soon as it had come, almost instantly replaced with an uncontrollable anger. His fists balled up at his sides. His right side connected with his brother's cheek within seconds of the other boy's attack. His eyes blazed. He moved closer to stand over Carl. The brother he had thought was gone, the brother he so hated, yet so instinctively cared for underneath it all. All of that was forgotten in an instant. Any rational thought was thrown out the window in that heartbeat. If it were any other person or any other situation, he probably would have held onto some scrap of self-control, but that was not the case.

"Apparently you've been away for long enough to forget not to mess with me." One hand clutched tightly to the back of the collar of Carl's shirt, the other stayed ready at his side. If Carl wanted to play this game, they could, and he would lose time and time again. Caine's physical stature was a clear advantage, that combined with his athletic experience had always helped him to best the younger Mallon boy. After a moment, he threw Carl away and created a distance between them. Eyes never left his opponent. A ragged, barely contained, breath left his mouth before speaking again through gritted teeth, "I'm going to give you one chance to have a civilized conversation with me before I beat your ass."

The look on Caine's face was priceless. He looked like this was the worst thing to ever happen to him- and perhaps it was. It was so unlike the universe to let something actually go against Caine's wishes. The momentary rush of satisfaction likely dulled Carl's senses as he did little to ward off the approaching Caine or even try to mount a defense, because before he knew it, his head was snapping violently to the side and there was a jarring rush of pain exploding in the side of his face. 

His teeth painfully scraped against his tongue before finding purchase in the soft flesh of his inner cheek as Caine promptly whacked him upside the head and the bolt of sharp pain sent a wave of heated resentment strong enough to outweigh the momentary pain. He hardly had time to actually wince or register the blow before Caine was upon him once more. Allowing Caine to grasp the collar of his shirt, a wry smile spread across his face as he listened to his older brother prattle on. He could never see Caine again and it'd be too soon. Exposing his blood-staining teeth in a wide, mocking-grin, Carl found himself hardly listening to his older brother's words before finally grinding out, "Has...the fist fulls...of coke you bought with mom and dad's money made...you an even bigger idiot? You've..never beat me." Each word rasped out made his lower jaw throb painfully, but he still managed promptly spit a bloody spittle at Caine before wrenching away, ruefully reaching up to rub at his face.

Carl's smug response caused the blood to boil hotter underneath his skin. Before he thought of how specifically to to best punish his brother, flecks of bloody saliva stained his crisp white shirt and his younger sibling had pulled away. His nails dug into his own flesh; his own blood begun to trickle down his palm. Caine didn't notice. He was far too lost in the all consuming rage that had come from Carl's response. After so long, all he wanted to do was attempt to have a normal conversation with the kids who had been lost to him for so long. Sure, the younger Mallon had been a subject of family shame for years, that was a given. However, outside of the reach of his parent's control on his mind, there was a small and deep down part of him that cared for his brother. Carl shattered any remnants of that currently in his head. Carl had fucked up.

"You bastard! I'll have to remind you of all those years!" This time his fist connected with Carl's chest with a satisfying 'thud'. A brief grin broke out across his features before he stopped. Caine's body seemed to stiffen up as his stood across from the other Mallon boy. It was only for a moment before every part of him began to quiver. Something was wrong, very wrong. He barely took notice to the strange instance, still caught up in the anger that reddened his sight. Still quaking uncontrollably, he took a couple of stiff steps towards Carl. With a clenched jaw, he ground out, "You will never speak to me like that again." And then the world exploded. Everything seemed to spin for a second as immense pain ripped through ever inch of his being. Caine howled in pain at the unexpected feeling.

But it was over in an instant. His side's heaved and he panted. Inhaling oxygen was also painful for a second. Then, everything seemed fine. What was that? He glanced up at Carl's face to look for some sort of answer, assuming his brother had been the one to inflict the pain. Wait up? For almost his entire life, Caine had stood a good few inches taller than his brother, but now it seemed like he was about a head shorter. Stumbling backwards, he fell roughly onto the ground. For some reason, this didn't feel like normal. Caine lay in an awkward mess on the ground. His ears burned with a hot embarrassment. Carl stood over him, while he simply lay there in a bit of a daze. He tried to shout at his brother to defend his honor, but the only sound to be heard was a series of rough yips. What is happening?

A wide, expectant grin spread across Carl’s face as he watched Caine’s face morph into one of absolute rage and disgust- he knew this would be the intended reaction and he was absolutely living for the way that Caine’s face twisted and flushed with anger. Have fun getting the blood out of your shirt, asshole. Sure, he knew that as of right now, he wouldn’t really stand a chance against his older brother, but he could at least go down swinging and enjoy himself in the process, right? For a brief moment, he was struggling with the fantasy that perhaps he could hold his own against Caine, but then his brother hit him.

An audible wheezing noise was evident in the air as Caine struck him in the chest, but thankfully the force of the blow allowed Carl to wrench himself away even further and stagger back a few steps to place a safe distance between them. An angered glare was evident on his face as he reached up to wipe at his aching jaw and bloodied chin, scowling as he did so. Then he noticed the trembling that more so resembled uncontrollable spasms, and his defensive stance dropped somewhat as he continued to watch his brother with a bewildered look. What was wrong with him? ’Maybe he did do too much coke.’ He thought with an incredibly strong urge to roll his eyes so far back into his head that he’d never have to look at his brother again, but Caine’s words brought a fresh grimace to his face. “Bring it bitch.” He hissed, getting ready to lash out at his brother- but then all of the sudden Caine was screaming and dropping to his knees in a fit of writhing.  His eyes grew wide as he watched whatever was happening to Caine happened- and yet his eyes grew even wider as he realized it was no longer Caine at his feet, but some sort of Wolf-like dog.

"What...the fuck Caine.." Carl spit, eyes practically popping out of his head as he continued to stare down at the newly transformed Caine, his mouth ajar as he tried to understand the furious yips that were coming from his brother who was now simply sprawled across the ground at his feet. Caine was somehow some sort of a dog- a fucking dog! Was this the reason his brother got sent to Beata? For being some sort of ugly wolf-dog?! An incredulous laugh bubbled at his lips as he continued to stare down at Caine, both of his hands reaching up to rake his fingers through his tangled hair as the hysterical laughter burst from his mouth in choppy sections. He managed to wheeze in several uneven shaky breaths as he tried to open his mouth in a futile attempt to utter out something other than his brother's name or a curse, but he couldn't even begin to process this well enough to do something other than laugh. He began to laugh even harder now, stray words that were practically incoherent mixed into his hiccuping laughter, unable to keep the stray tears that welled up in the corners of his eyes from leaking down his cheeks and mixing with the blood that wept from his bitten tongue and down his chin. "Ca-ine..- C-Caine oh my god! You’re a…a!" He was practically howling by this point, his spine unintentionally bending over as one arm wrapped tightly around his midsection in an attempt to soothe the ache in his stomach from the hysterical laughter that he simply could not stop. His left foot, which had been previously planted firmly on the ground to regain balance while Caine had been hitting him, rose from the ground to knock a hard nudge into his brother's ribs in an attempt to rouse him from where he lay.

Caine was about to continue snapping at his brother. He wanted to lunge out, but his whole body no longer felt like his own. Everything felt strange. The boy growled in frustration. His hands didn't move right and he only stumbled again. Helplessly, from the ground, he stared up at Carl with blazing eyes. Carl only howled with laughter at him. Before Caine could even attempt to lash out, a foot prodded his side and caused his head to whip around. Everything seemed to stop. His body was gone. Everything was gone. Behind him was the pure, black frame of some giant wolf/dog thing. A yelp broke from his throat. The boy stared back at what was apparently himself in a mixture of horror and confusion. He was a... werewolf? His eyes snapped back up to try and meet Carl's. Now he understood the howling laughter.

But, there was no way he was going to let Carl ridicule him for this. If anything, he should be quaking in fear at the sight of the magnificent wolf that was his brother! What am I thinking... I have no idea what the hell is happening... I cannot even walk. Can I? Caine attempted to twitch his toes and realized he now had four feet. Well, paws. With an unsteady attempt, he raised himself up. Once he was fully standing, Caine's new form stood a little less than a foot shorter than a brother. Even as he stumbled a little unsteady, a fanged grin appeared on his face. As a wolf, he was still close in size. Flexing each limb, the strength was evident. Carl would continue to fall under the muscle of the of him still. With a growl, which was the only thing he had seemed to master in the last few moments, Caine lunged forwards. He fell to the ground once more, teeth narrowly missing it's target only because of the uncoordinated motions of their owner.