Gaining Strength [Part 8]
Jul. 5th, 2020 12:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonv2Fandom: Noblesse
Summary: Frankenstein needs to gain strength to protect humanity; the werewolves might hold the key to that.
Notes: Frankenstein decides werewolves are the bigger threat AU.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word count: 2,369
Total word count: 17,332
Status: Work in progress
It had been another couple weeks while Frankenstein continued mapping the throne island. 'Throne island', because that was the only structure so far he had found there. The other islands would be far more populated, from what he'd seen. Was this island used only for important discussions?
"Yo."
Frankenstein's hand went to his dagger before he recognised Muzaka standing there in front of him. He huffed. Was it a habit of werewolves to appear out of nowhere? Or did they have a way to announce their presence that he didn't know?
Well, there was that pressure they could generate...
"Heard you were fightin' some of my warriors," Muzaka said, smiling. "They're pretty excited about you."
"Yes," Frankenstein said, loosening his grip on his dagger, "I've had a number of visitors already." More gossip, spreading even as high as the Lord. Werewolves and humans really were similar.
The warriors had been interested seeing his transformation, and he'd learned something new with each one, even if they hadn't intended to teach him.
"Wanna spar with me?"
Frankenstein's eyebrow arched up. The werewolf Lord, the strongest of all the werewolves, wanted to spar with him?
Well.
The answer was easy.
Frankenstein pulled his tunic off in one swift motion, seeing Muzaka's eyes light up. He had gotten used to the stripping down before each fight, though he was still loathe to throw his tunic in any direction. Maybe he should make a cloak for ease as well.
Muzaka's jacket was off to the side before Frankenstein had found a suitable branch to hang his tunic from.
Without the jacket, it was easier to see how deep Muzaka's scars were. A number of the attacks must have pierced bone.
"Show me what'cha got," Muzaka said, grinning.
Frankenstein didn't get to reply, only having enough time to see Muzaka rush towards him.
He transformed, ducking out of the way of Muzaka's swipe. Frankenstein slashed down.
Muzaka caught his wrist, leaving him wide open. He saw Muzaka's free hand swing towards him.
Gritting his teeth, Frankenstein yanked back, slashing at the arm holding him.
Feeling his claws cut through skin was a surprise, as was the smell of blood that accompanied it. He normally missed or the other werewolf dodged out the way.
He stumbled back a step as Muzaka let go of him. Muzaka was still grinning though.
"That was great!"
Before Frankenstein could think about mentally celebrating, Muzaka attacked again. It was clear this was going to be the flow to the spar, Muzaka keeping the pressure up rather than waiting for him recover and attack first.
Frankenstein would just have to hope his transformation would be able to last throughout.
* * *
Frankenstein was lightheaded as he leaned back against a tree and slid down, gulping in as much air as he could. His fingers ached. Everything ached.
"You can hold yer transformation for pretty long," Muzaka said, stretching.
Could he? It felt like had been the longest he'd held his transformation, but an internal perception of time wasn't an accurate measurement. If Muzaka thought so however...
It had also been the longest continuous fight he'd been in so far. The others usually paused the spar after something he'd done to correct it or show him a better way to do it. A good way to learn, and it seemed with Muzaka he was using everything he'd learned against him. Putting it all into practice.
"And when do I get to see your transformations in a fight?" Frankenstein panted. None of the werewolves had used their transformation against him. As much as he was learning, he wanted to see them use their transformation as well - he wanted to see and observe what they did too.
"Eh?" Muzaka looked at him, surprised. He swept a hand over the a trail of blood over his body. Underneath, his skin was unmarked, no sign at all there had been a wound there.
That healing was incredible... Frankenstein lamented seeing all those potential blood samples that he couldn't collect. The spars with the other werewolves were the same - the blood would be too contaminated under his nails or he wouldn't know which blood was his and which one was the werewolf's. A waste that he couldn't learn even more from the spars.
"If we transformed, the fight would be over as soon as it started and you wouldn't learn anything from it."
Frankenstein narrowed his eyes at him, considering his words. "So I need to become stronger before I see your transformation."
Muzaka smiled and nodded. "Yeah."
A simply put goal. Though not as easily done. He reached his limit with the transformation too quickly to do much. It was all right with the other spars - he could regain some energy while the other werewolf showed him something new, but in a fight with no such breaks... He would need to find a way to conserve his energy.
"All right," Frankenstein said as he pushed himself to his feet.
Muzaka came over with his tunic. "C'mon, let's get something to eat." He clapped Frankenstein on the shoulder, guiding him towards the eating area.
* * *
Frankenstein was used to the slight quietening when he showed up, but the buzz continued longer than usual. Hm? Was something different?
"Yooo, if it isn't Lunark!" Muzaka called out, aiming for the closest campfire. Huh, the Lord ate with everyone else? Frankenstein had been too distracted during the walk over with putting one foot in front of the other to even consider they would go somewhere different.
Frankenstein nodded towards Panska as he sat down. The bear of a werewolf handed him a cup, pouring water into it.
"So I heard someone just gained her claws," Muzaka said, chatting with a young woman with shoulder length brown hair, the woman perking up at the words.
...Maybe it wasn't so strange that Muzaka had heard werewolves talking about him when he heard about children reaching their coming of age marker.
Though knowing about such things were important to the populace, and meant Muzaka knew what was going on with his people.
"Do you want to see, Lord Muzaka?" the werewolf, Lunark, asked.
"Heh, of course I do!"
Lunark held her hands up and with a yell, her nails grew into claws, fur racing up her arms. Fur also grew along her cheeks.
There was a chorus of cheers from the werewolves as Lunark let go of her transformation, beaming at them.
"Veeery nice!" Muzaka said, ruffling her head. "They look sharp and strong."
Well, if they were focused on her, that meant he could keep back and listen.
"Hey, Frankenstein," Panska said, and Frankenstein turned to him. "Are you only coming to visit when you get dragged in by whoever you've sparred with?" But Panska was grinning at him.
Ah. Well. It seemed he wouldn't be spared talking for this evening either.
* * *
"I'm gonna turn in for the night," Muzaka said as he stood up and Frankenstein looked at him, surprised.
That was early to leave, even for him.
There were a few disappointed noises, but none of the cajoling to come back like Frankenstein experienced when he left early.
Hm. "I have my own matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving also," Frankenstein said, collecting his plate and cup. This time, a few werewolves called out to him to stay and there really was an undercurrent of difference between how they treated their Lord than someone else.
Muzaka's silver hair stood out against the trees, and Frankenstein hurried after him before Muzaka started running.
"I would have thought you would be the last to leave," Frankenstein said once he caught up. Muzaka seemed like he would have enjoyed spending hours talking with everyone if he knew about everyone's business. Though...he'd never seen Muzaka at any of the meals he'd been at before. Maybe they had merely arrived at different times.
Muzaka smiled softly at that, his gaze focused forward. "They're still surprised seein' me so much, heh. An' while I like talkin' with 'em, I've been talking with people all day already."
Yes, that would be tiring. Spending the night chatting to people took more out of Frankenstein than entire day with his experiments. A whole day of talking with people would be exhausting.
"Hm, Muzaka," Frankenstein said, "I was wond-" He cut himself off, seeing Muzaka's wide-eyed look at him.
...Ah, dammit.
"You called me Muzaka," Muzaka said, his eyes still wide.
He had been so used to referring to Muzaka by his name in his head, he had forgotten about his title.
"That's great!" Muzaka said, grinning.
...What?
"Aaah, I can't get the others to call me by just my name!" Muzaka said, and even while saying that his gait seemed looser.
Huh. It was a far better reaction than he expected. "Then I'll continue calling you Muzaka," Frankenstein said. Calling him Lord would have left a bad taste in his mouth after his first encounter with werewolves.
Muzaka grinned at him. "So what were you saying?"
Ah, right. "It's taken you almost a month to check up on me - I thought you would have came earlier to keep an eye on me." He was a stranger in Muzaka's land - that would arouse suspicion and a need to watch him.
"Oh, that's it?" Muzaka shrugged. "My warriors have been doin' that without me askin'."
Of course. Gossipers. The easiest way for word to spread.
"And when word got out I was stickin' around, there was a lot of people coming to see me," Muzaka continued. "So I was kept busy anyway."
Frankenstein arched an eyebrow at him. "And were they matters that could have been dealt with at a later time?"
Muzaka scratched his cheek, a small sheepish smile on his lips. "They weren't urgent, but they were needin' to be resolved." He looked back at Frankenstein. "Did find a couple more werewolves who'd attacked human villages though."
Frankenstein smiled. "Good."
* * *
Frankenstein bounced on his toes, waiting for Muzaka to attack. If he could keep enough presence of mind during this spar... It might help.
The good thing was-
Muzaka dashed forward.
Frankenstein dodged. He transformed, aiming his claws low. Aiming high seemed to always leave him open to getting caught. He scored a hit and he jumped back, letting go of his transformation.
Good. That worked.
Muzaka held a hand to his bleeding side for a second, before he grinned and lunged forward again.
Now to see if his plan would hold up for the longer run.
* * *
Frankenstein leaned against a tree, feeling the bark press against his slick skin. He breathed in and out deeply, but he stayed on his feet. That was an improvement.
"You did a bunch better this time!" Muzaka said, tossing him his tunic.
"Mmmn," he replied, catching it. He almost didn't, everything feeling weighted down. He let his arm drop, holding his tunic. He would put it on later after they'd washed up.
"I haven't seen anyone use their transformation like that," Muzaka said, wiping the blood away.
"Well," Frankenstein said, brushing his hair away from his face, "I don't have your stamina, so using my transformation...only when it's needed seemed to be the most efficient way to use it."
Muzaka nodded, grinning at him. "You caught me out a couple times, heh."
"That was the point," he said wryly. And by letting it go, it made it harder for his opponent to predict where he would be if he boosted his speed or strength at a different time. It also left him open for hits, but the benefits still outweighed the drawbacks, until he tired himself out too much.
The next step aside from training his stamina would be to figure out how to make his hits more effective. He could hit Muzaka, but those were essentially just scratches.
Though that might just be Muzaka's ridiculous healing...
"There's something I don't understand," Frankenstein said as he straightened with a grimace. Moving hurt after he'd stopped for a while.
"Yeah?" They started walking in the direction of the river to wash up.
"It's you," Frankenstein said. One step in front of the other. He would recover soon enough and stopping would make it worse. "You'd heard what's said of me: that I'm a monster who preys on my own kind. And yet, you let me stay on your land." Welcomed him, almost. The werewolves had accepted him and visited him, letting him eat with them. It had been turning in his mind for a while now.
Muzaka chuckled. "You think I listen to rumours?"
Frankenstein eyed him from the corner of his eyes. "You did when we first met, and you listen to your warriors talking about me." As well as any other news about his people by the sound of it.
"Hmm, true." Muzaka stretched, resting his arms behind his head. "All right - I listen to rumours, but I don't believe 'em until I see it with my own eyes. The rumour was you'd attacked other humans and tried to get power that humans aren't s'posed to." He shrugged. "You want to get stronger and the only people you've hurt here, it was to protect humans. That's fine."
"...Yes," Frankenstein said with a sigh, "you are definitely hard to understand." That wasn't what happened with humans when they'd heard about him. It had to be because he was amongst werewolves - they thought differently from humans, with their focus on getting stronger.
Muzaka just looked back at him in puzzlement.
Maybe in time he would understand them better.
Summary: Frankenstein needs to gain strength to protect humanity; the werewolves might hold the key to that.
Notes: Frankenstein decides werewolves are the bigger threat AU.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word count: 2,369
Total word count: 17,332
Status: Work in progress
It had been another couple weeks while Frankenstein continued mapping the throne island. 'Throne island', because that was the only structure so far he had found there. The other islands would be far more populated, from what he'd seen. Was this island used only for important discussions?
"Yo."
Frankenstein's hand went to his dagger before he recognised Muzaka standing there in front of him. He huffed. Was it a habit of werewolves to appear out of nowhere? Or did they have a way to announce their presence that he didn't know?
Well, there was that pressure they could generate...
"Heard you were fightin' some of my warriors," Muzaka said, smiling. "They're pretty excited about you."
"Yes," Frankenstein said, loosening his grip on his dagger, "I've had a number of visitors already." More gossip, spreading even as high as the Lord. Werewolves and humans really were similar.
The warriors had been interested seeing his transformation, and he'd learned something new with each one, even if they hadn't intended to teach him.
"Wanna spar with me?"
Frankenstein's eyebrow arched up. The werewolf Lord, the strongest of all the werewolves, wanted to spar with him?
Well.
The answer was easy.
Frankenstein pulled his tunic off in one swift motion, seeing Muzaka's eyes light up. He had gotten used to the stripping down before each fight, though he was still loathe to throw his tunic in any direction. Maybe he should make a cloak for ease as well.
Muzaka's jacket was off to the side before Frankenstein had found a suitable branch to hang his tunic from.
Without the jacket, it was easier to see how deep Muzaka's scars were. A number of the attacks must have pierced bone.
"Show me what'cha got," Muzaka said, grinning.
Frankenstein didn't get to reply, only having enough time to see Muzaka rush towards him.
He transformed, ducking out of the way of Muzaka's swipe. Frankenstein slashed down.
Muzaka caught his wrist, leaving him wide open. He saw Muzaka's free hand swing towards him.
Gritting his teeth, Frankenstein yanked back, slashing at the arm holding him.
Feeling his claws cut through skin was a surprise, as was the smell of blood that accompanied it. He normally missed or the other werewolf dodged out the way.
He stumbled back a step as Muzaka let go of him. Muzaka was still grinning though.
"That was great!"
Before Frankenstein could think about mentally celebrating, Muzaka attacked again. It was clear this was going to be the flow to the spar, Muzaka keeping the pressure up rather than waiting for him recover and attack first.
Frankenstein would just have to hope his transformation would be able to last throughout.
Frankenstein was lightheaded as he leaned back against a tree and slid down, gulping in as much air as he could. His fingers ached. Everything ached.
"You can hold yer transformation for pretty long," Muzaka said, stretching.
Could he? It felt like had been the longest he'd held his transformation, but an internal perception of time wasn't an accurate measurement. If Muzaka thought so however...
It had also been the longest continuous fight he'd been in so far. The others usually paused the spar after something he'd done to correct it or show him a better way to do it. A good way to learn, and it seemed with Muzaka he was using everything he'd learned against him. Putting it all into practice.
"And when do I get to see your transformations in a fight?" Frankenstein panted. None of the werewolves had used their transformation against him. As much as he was learning, he wanted to see them use their transformation as well - he wanted to see and observe what they did too.
"Eh?" Muzaka looked at him, surprised. He swept a hand over the a trail of blood over his body. Underneath, his skin was unmarked, no sign at all there had been a wound there.
That healing was incredible... Frankenstein lamented seeing all those potential blood samples that he couldn't collect. The spars with the other werewolves were the same - the blood would be too contaminated under his nails or he wouldn't know which blood was his and which one was the werewolf's. A waste that he couldn't learn even more from the spars.
"If we transformed, the fight would be over as soon as it started and you wouldn't learn anything from it."
Frankenstein narrowed his eyes at him, considering his words. "So I need to become stronger before I see your transformation."
Muzaka smiled and nodded. "Yeah."
A simply put goal. Though not as easily done. He reached his limit with the transformation too quickly to do much. It was all right with the other spars - he could regain some energy while the other werewolf showed him something new, but in a fight with no such breaks... He would need to find a way to conserve his energy.
"All right," Frankenstein said as he pushed himself to his feet.
Muzaka came over with his tunic. "C'mon, let's get something to eat." He clapped Frankenstein on the shoulder, guiding him towards the eating area.
Frankenstein was used to the slight quietening when he showed up, but the buzz continued longer than usual. Hm? Was something different?
"Yooo, if it isn't Lunark!" Muzaka called out, aiming for the closest campfire. Huh, the Lord ate with everyone else? Frankenstein had been too distracted during the walk over with putting one foot in front of the other to even consider they would go somewhere different.
Frankenstein nodded towards Panska as he sat down. The bear of a werewolf handed him a cup, pouring water into it.
"So I heard someone just gained her claws," Muzaka said, chatting with a young woman with shoulder length brown hair, the woman perking up at the words.
...Maybe it wasn't so strange that Muzaka had heard werewolves talking about him when he heard about children reaching their coming of age marker.
Though knowing about such things were important to the populace, and meant Muzaka knew what was going on with his people.
"Do you want to see, Lord Muzaka?" the werewolf, Lunark, asked.
"Heh, of course I do!"
Lunark held her hands up and with a yell, her nails grew into claws, fur racing up her arms. Fur also grew along her cheeks.
There was a chorus of cheers from the werewolves as Lunark let go of her transformation, beaming at them.
"Veeery nice!" Muzaka said, ruffling her head. "They look sharp and strong."
Well, if they were focused on her, that meant he could keep back and listen.
"Hey, Frankenstein," Panska said, and Frankenstein turned to him. "Are you only coming to visit when you get dragged in by whoever you've sparred with?" But Panska was grinning at him.
Ah. Well. It seemed he wouldn't be spared talking for this evening either.
"I'm gonna turn in for the night," Muzaka said as he stood up and Frankenstein looked at him, surprised.
That was early to leave, even for him.
There were a few disappointed noises, but none of the cajoling to come back like Frankenstein experienced when he left early.
Hm. "I have my own matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving also," Frankenstein said, collecting his plate and cup. This time, a few werewolves called out to him to stay and there really was an undercurrent of difference between how they treated their Lord than someone else.
Muzaka's silver hair stood out against the trees, and Frankenstein hurried after him before Muzaka started running.
"I would have thought you would be the last to leave," Frankenstein said once he caught up. Muzaka seemed like he would have enjoyed spending hours talking with everyone if he knew about everyone's business. Though...he'd never seen Muzaka at any of the meals he'd been at before. Maybe they had merely arrived at different times.
Muzaka smiled softly at that, his gaze focused forward. "They're still surprised seein' me so much, heh. An' while I like talkin' with 'em, I've been talking with people all day already."
Yes, that would be tiring. Spending the night chatting to people took more out of Frankenstein than entire day with his experiments. A whole day of talking with people would be exhausting.
"Hm, Muzaka," Frankenstein said, "I was wond-" He cut himself off, seeing Muzaka's wide-eyed look at him.
...Ah, dammit.
"You called me Muzaka," Muzaka said, his eyes still wide.
He had been so used to referring to Muzaka by his name in his head, he had forgotten about his title.
"That's great!" Muzaka said, grinning.
...What?
"Aaah, I can't get the others to call me by just my name!" Muzaka said, and even while saying that his gait seemed looser.
Huh. It was a far better reaction than he expected. "Then I'll continue calling you Muzaka," Frankenstein said. Calling him Lord would have left a bad taste in his mouth after his first encounter with werewolves.
Muzaka grinned at him. "So what were you saying?"
Ah, right. "It's taken you almost a month to check up on me - I thought you would have came earlier to keep an eye on me." He was a stranger in Muzaka's land - that would arouse suspicion and a need to watch him.
"Oh, that's it?" Muzaka shrugged. "My warriors have been doin' that without me askin'."
Of course. Gossipers. The easiest way for word to spread.
"And when word got out I was stickin' around, there was a lot of people coming to see me," Muzaka continued. "So I was kept busy anyway."
Frankenstein arched an eyebrow at him. "And were they matters that could have been dealt with at a later time?"
Muzaka scratched his cheek, a small sheepish smile on his lips. "They weren't urgent, but they were needin' to be resolved." He looked back at Frankenstein. "Did find a couple more werewolves who'd attacked human villages though."
Frankenstein smiled. "Good."
Frankenstein bounced on his toes, waiting for Muzaka to attack. If he could keep enough presence of mind during this spar... It might help.
The good thing was-
Muzaka dashed forward.
Frankenstein dodged. He transformed, aiming his claws low. Aiming high seemed to always leave him open to getting caught. He scored a hit and he jumped back, letting go of his transformation.
Good. That worked.
Muzaka held a hand to his bleeding side for a second, before he grinned and lunged forward again.
Now to see if his plan would hold up for the longer run.
Frankenstein leaned against a tree, feeling the bark press against his slick skin. He breathed in and out deeply, but he stayed on his feet. That was an improvement.
"You did a bunch better this time!" Muzaka said, tossing him his tunic.
"Mmmn," he replied, catching it. He almost didn't, everything feeling weighted down. He let his arm drop, holding his tunic. He would put it on later after they'd washed up.
"I haven't seen anyone use their transformation like that," Muzaka said, wiping the blood away.
"Well," Frankenstein said, brushing his hair away from his face, "I don't have your stamina, so using my transformation...only when it's needed seemed to be the most efficient way to use it."
Muzaka nodded, grinning at him. "You caught me out a couple times, heh."
"That was the point," he said wryly. And by letting it go, it made it harder for his opponent to predict where he would be if he boosted his speed or strength at a different time. It also left him open for hits, but the benefits still outweighed the drawbacks, until he tired himself out too much.
The next step aside from training his stamina would be to figure out how to make his hits more effective. He could hit Muzaka, but those were essentially just scratches.
Though that might just be Muzaka's ridiculous healing...
"There's something I don't understand," Frankenstein said as he straightened with a grimace. Moving hurt after he'd stopped for a while.
"Yeah?" They started walking in the direction of the river to wash up.
"It's you," Frankenstein said. One step in front of the other. He would recover soon enough and stopping would make it worse. "You'd heard what's said of me: that I'm a monster who preys on my own kind. And yet, you let me stay on your land." Welcomed him, almost. The werewolves had accepted him and visited him, letting him eat with them. It had been turning in his mind for a while now.
Muzaka chuckled. "You think I listen to rumours?"
Frankenstein eyed him from the corner of his eyes. "You did when we first met, and you listen to your warriors talking about me." As well as any other news about his people by the sound of it.
"Hmm, true." Muzaka stretched, resting his arms behind his head. "All right - I listen to rumours, but I don't believe 'em until I see it with my own eyes. The rumour was you'd attacked other humans and tried to get power that humans aren't s'posed to." He shrugged. "You want to get stronger and the only people you've hurt here, it was to protect humans. That's fine."
"...Yes," Frankenstein said with a sigh, "you are definitely hard to understand." That wasn't what happened with humans when they'd heard about him. It had to be because he was amongst werewolves - they thought differently from humans, with their focus on getting stronger.
Muzaka just looked back at him in puzzlement.
Maybe in time he would understand them better.