Forced to Start Again

Confusion and Procrastination

The day started like any other. Freya ended up meeting him and they shared some sort of food, whether it be something that she hunted down or things that he picked, though she never ate any of that. Her leg had almost healed completely by now, and he was ready to finally start learning how to shift. He figured it would come naturally, that it was something that he would just know how to do when the time came, so he restrained himself from worrying too much.

The weather, unlike Freya's leg, had been worsening. The days and nights both were getting colder and colder, and snow plagued them almost constantly. Luckily, as of now, the skies were quite clear and the sun had started to melt some areas of the snow. For himself it was quite hard to maneuver in the conditions, but it was nothing for Freya, other than the small crippling of her aching leg. Xander was quite envious of that trait, but he kept reminding himself of the rewards of his hard work that he was about to begin, and how he'd be able to do that just as well.

"Are you ready to start?"

Xander turned to look at the mammal, eyebrow quirked in amusement as a smirk danced on his lips. "You're supposed to teach me? How are you going to do that?" He didn't even know he was supposed to do, but he would never admit it.

"And maybe that's because I'm supposed to teach you." She stood on all four paws with a grunt, stretching out with her back arced downwards. Slightly limping, she made her way put of the cave and sunk into the soft, white snow, already shaking her fur to rid from stray, falling snowflakes. "Now, come on, Xander! Destiny awaits!"

The humanoid sighed with annoyance, tongue brushing over his top tow of teeth before he followed her. The snow covered up his foot completely and if it weren't for the thickness of the boots, his feet would be many times colder than they wore. That was something he wan certainly grateful for.

Now standing in the clearing with Freya stood across from him, he leaned against and evergreen and stared at her, prompting her with his gaze to start her lesson or whatever great idea she had planned.

"Now, all you need to do is.. imagine yourself shifting."

Xander snorted a laugh and if wolves can have expressions, hers would be one of slight hurt and confusion. "What?" she barked out, now bothering to use the telepathic link they have to voice her words for the first time in a while. "Explain to me what is so amusing about the situation."

"You're acting as if you know more then me."

"What if I do?"

"You don't."

The two fell into a silence before Xander shut his eyes, beginning to picture with his mind's eye what Freya looked like. Her muscled form, the way she looked when she ran, sat, even to the smallest detail as to what way her fur went in each crease, or how each of her eyes were different colors. This was seeming to help and he certainly felt something, but his concentration was broken when Freya spoke. "Xander, you okay?"

"I was thinking," Xander snapped, opening his eyes open only to narrow them at Freya.

"Sorry, I've never seen you do that before," she deadpanned and Xander tensed at the light hearted insult. Their banter was good company, but he was very easily angered, and his emotions exploded with no warning or explanation whatsoever quite frequently.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. You're hilarious." he said with a snap to it before clearing his head of all thoughts once more. "Okay, tell me.. tell me about yourself.. wolves in general.." Xander rambled pointlessly, eyes squished shut as he tried to figure what he was supposed to be doing, because "imagining himself shifting" isn't helping. At all.

"I can't help you with that, Xander." she spoke and with exasperation Xander opened his eyes and let out a snarl between clenched teeth. He was getting quite irritated. Taking quick a shallow breaths to try and clam himself down, his iris' turned a deep shade of red for a moment before changing back. "Or maybe I can." Freya said after a moment, breaking away from their locked glares. Sitting herself down in the snow she barely felt threatened by his increasing anger. "When you get angry, your eyes turn red, maybe if you somehow emotionally manipulate yourself you can change into a wolf." she said with a curl of her jowls, almost looking proud of thinking of such a thing.

"Great idea, Freya, now explain to me, please, how am I supposed to do that?" he asked with narrowed eyes and then she didn't answer. It was obvious she didn't know that either. "And even if I could find a way to do that, what emotion would I even manipulate?" She was still silent. "Exactly." Quite frankly giving up, he fell against a tree only to be attacked by a pile of snow raining down from a few weak branches and landing right on top of his head. In surprise, he jumped backwards and tripped over his own feet, sinking into the snow were a groan. He lifted his head slightly and then sighed, resting it back down.

"This just isn't your day."

"It hasn't be my century."

She snorted and Xander could hear her approaching from his strange place on the ground. "You'll figure it out, don't worry." she encouraged, giving his cheek a soft nuzzle with her cold, wet nose. A smile threatened to tug at his lips, but he forced it back down. "Maybe your subconscious will figure it out for you and one day you'll wake up and just know how because your mind and body figured it out for you." There was a pause before Xander said anything.

"You're a wolf. How do you know anything about the subconscious mind? It isn't as if you can go to some sort of Human 101 class at Wolf College."

"You'd be surprised at how intelligent I am. Now, should we try again?" Xander shook his head, groaning like a child. "Fine, but don't expect me to let you continue procrastination." The alien shrugged. "Right."