Theriomorphic

"I don't find myself here in the clinic too much; I typically travel around the area for the majority of my job, seeing clients that are much much bigger than Praline. It's fun to get a day with the smaller guys ," Elijah explained, gesturing to the surrounding animals, particularly amused by a dog with crooked eyes and a wonky tooth. Looking back to the little bunny it was clear to see Praline was very well taken care of . "Well, he seems to be aging gracefully— hey, that makes one of us," He joked, rubbing his beard and definitely not thinking about the gray hairs he found this morning. "It's good you're on top of things, we'll make sure he's feeling as good as he's looking; How long have you had him?"

Chris felt his shoulders relax when his friend agreed. He had always looked up to Elijah and somehow, him agreeing to help made Chris more certain that they were going to find her. "Mmm you know too much about me, you're dangerous."

They trudged through the woods, he carefully picked his way around roots and the odd fallen tree or two; his wolf stirred as they continued their journey, itching to come out and bolt through the landscape. Elijah had no kids of his own, and though he felt protective of his younger brother, he was old enough now that the elder Burgos couldn't necessarily parent him as he once had. Even if he wasn't, Elijah knew it would only anger him if he tried considering how long he'd been in Crestle Cove alone. "I think mistakes are unavoidable, it's an important way of learning— the severity of the consequences can probably be manipulated, but mistakes in general are bound to happen. She's smart enough to stay away from the things that are inherently life threatening, besides most of the teenagers in town are losers, I highly doubt she'll be doing anything stupid in order to impress them," He smirked, remembering how he had also been one of those loser teens at one point.

"Elijah Burgos," she repeated, trying to decide if she had heard the name before. She had not. "Where are you from?" she asked, keeping her same formal tone. Now she knew he was a vampire, she didn't have to pretend to be so human.

His mouth edged up in a sideways smile. "I'm from Crestle, moved away in my mid twenties though to travel the world. Came back..." He waffled his head back and forth as he thought, "Came back about seven years ago. Decided I'd been away from my family too long." Running from his family would have been a more accurate statement. "You talked like you were quite fascinated with Crestle Cove, what's kept you from settling here for longer?" The question might have been a little nosy, but Elijah couldn't help but speculate what the vampire had been up to in all her years of life. "I agree, magic is definitely to blame here, but does it not make you feel uneasy— I mean this magic in particular? I don't get the impression it's as harmless as it may seem."

Xanthe knew she was being paranoid but she had to check, she couldn't relax until she did. She'd had magical dreams since her teens and since moving to Crestle and gaining more control of her powers, those dreams had only increased. Sometimes a little too real for liking, after a bad dream about her cat being sick, she had to get him looked at.

"Not crazy at all," Eli soothed, lowering himself to the cat's level. "Conrad the cat, are you a distinguished gentleman, Conrad?" A jesting smile on his face as he used his thumb to rub between the cat's ears, looking for any obvious signs of health issues. From first glance he couldn't see anything wrong, but it wasn't unusual for pet owners to bring their animals in on a whim and something actually be wrong. They would cover all of Conrad's bases to make sure he was in tiptop shape. "I don't see anything glaringly obvious, but there's no reason why we can't take a closer look; you can go ahead and follow me." With one last gentle pat Elijah stood up, leading the blonde and her cat to an empty exam room.

He held the small paw on the tips of his fingers, bobbing it in a mock handshake. "Praline! Hard to decide which is sweeter, the actual snack or this little guy," Eli grinned, eyes crinkling with affection. The clinc had a small handful of bunny patients who would come in, and one person on the outskirts of town who had a handful of the little thumpers , but they still weren't as common to see as cats or dogs. "If anyone important looking asks, I'm in here helping the front desk, but between me and you, I couldn't not say hello to the visitors— mainly the four legged ones," He gave her a conspiratorial wink, glancing towards the reception to make sure they didn't actually need his help. "What's brought you in today?"

Aria had been scared of dogs since she was a kid. She was more of a cat person. Cats were clever, but her little black cat, sage hadn't been doing so good lately. She'd had sage a few years and she had settled into her home in Crestle Cove wonderfully. It wasn't almost like the cat knew the town better then she did. It amazed her how smart animals were. She looked up smiling at the man as she stood. "Please do... although careful she's not too good with stra-" Her words paused, amazed as the cat rubbed furiously against the stranger's hands.

Given his nature, Elijah was hands down a dog person, however, that never deterred his excitement when coming across any kind of furry friend. Especially Sage, who had lived with him for a short time, "What's up, buddy, it's been awhile." He squat down beside Aria, letting the feline sniff and push at his hand. Having two dogs at home was a blast, but it could also be overwhelming; Sage had been less hectic to have around and had a calming effect on him as the cat often minded it's own business, silently offering it's companionship. It was unfortunate that their reunion was due to the cat not feeling well, "What exactly has you in today? Hope it's nothing too serious."

"Oh, he's not too good with strangers", Thalassa was quick to reply, "I hear it's a breed thing. They're supposed to be family dogs but from what I have gathered that involves disliking whoever is not part of said family." Her tone was a joking one but she could not help but be confused as she saw how relaxed her dog was when the man approached. "But I guess, yeah? He's Benji, and he's apparently made it his job to cause me some trouble this week."

Elijah quickly reined in his excitement as to not upset the dog, but it still simmered in the apples of his cheeks, as it always did when meeting a new animal. "Hey, that's alright, people aren't always the most exciting to be around-- I'll make sure the front desk sends his treats home with him rather than try to hand feed him." Black fur erupted from the dog like a puff of smoke, Elijah waved his hand to clear away the floating hair, a laugh accompanying the action. "I'm not a veterinarian so I couldn't say for sure, but it could still be separation anxiety; exercise and mental stimulation are good way to get ahead of it. Maybe consider getting some treats with magnesium to lift his mood, pumpkin seeds are rich with it and in my experience most dogs like the taste— I like to snack on 'em too, but that's beside the point."

The vampire gave a smile at his expression, he seemed to understand just how old she was. She had come across a lot of vampires in her life and she was always more cautious of her own species than anyone else. She knew from experience, herself included, that vampires often had their own agenda.

"Elijah Burgos." He nodded to her, head dipping a little lower in respect, her polite way of speaking hadn't gone unnoticed; even if she hadn't been someone of great status, wasn't it only right to have some sort of admiration for her? Disregard whether she could be called a good or bad person, either way she had managed to survive for, arguably, six lifetimes. That was pretty impressive in his book. "Do you find yourself back here often? Out of all the places on earth I can think of a few I'd rather spend eternity at," He responded thoughtfully; his brother's face appeared in his head, a stab of guilt shortly after. Eli would go where ever his family went. Recentering his head on the conversation, he sat himself down on the nearby stairs, "What do you make of these lights— kind of weird, yeah?"

Claudia had spent a long time people watching, studying behaviour, learning to read people. Her eyes glanced over at him. She'd made use of her youthful appearance over the years, she knew it could be deceiving but she was a 500 year old woman. She was far from naive.

Both eyebrows rose, this time he didn't bother to hide his surprised look. A vampire, an old vampire. It was strange looking at her youthful face now knowing that her life experience greatly overshadowed his own, it was like seeing a cat bark. How much had she seen and learned in that long a lifespan? What all had she done in it?

Part of Chris was glad he'd run into Elijah, he had always looked up to him. He felt like in times of panic, when he wasn't thinking straight his fellow werewolf could be trusted to think for him. Even with their differences in packs. Chris wasn't raised in the werewolf world, the hierarchy of packs meant little to him. A werewolf was a werewolf and he didn't see the need to be political with it. When he saw Elijah, he just saw a friend. Having been bitten in his twenties, he naturally was panicking about his daughter not being around.

He could smell the sour scent of worry wafting from the other man; knowing that the source of his distress was Chris' missing offspring made Elijah's wolf shift to attention. The beast rustling in his subconscious ready to help another of it's kind. Aditi might not have been a werewolf, and though Chris hadn't been born as one, he was now. Elijah would have helped him regardless of his status, but having that connection made him, and his furry alter ego, all the more ready to help Chris and his daughter. "I have longer than that, friend, let's go." With one look back at the stargazers, Elijah moved in the direction of the ridge. "Aditi has a good head on her shoulders, not sure I can say them same for her father, " Elijah shot him a playful wink, hoping the jest would relax Chris a little. "I'm sure she wouldn't get into anything she couldn't handle, or extremely dangerous. I'm sure the Ridge has a good view of the lights and that's what's drawn them."

Claudia smiled briefly for a moment, she'd been interested in travel and history since she'd been a young girl. It was nice to hear he knew such things too. "Yes, Iceland is beautiful. But this is an odd place to find it, right?" She sat on a wall, glancing up. "I have travelled since I was a young girl, seen some amazing things but this town is a mystery. It always continues to be," she nodded.

"Very," He mumbled, more to himself than her. Since she was a young girl, Elijah subtly glanced down at her; she still looked like a young girl, looked being the key word, he learned early on that appearances could be very deceiving in Crestle. The stillness that seemed to surround her reinforced that thought, he summed it up to her lacking a heart beat. A soft smile curved his lips, it was nice to hear her talk about his hometown with intrigue, more often than not the strange happenings here just made him tense. "You've been here some time than? I suppose you can never stay bored for long here."

open: to all!

The awe of the strange sky lights had somewhat worn off for Elijah, now instead of wonderment he mostly felt anxiety. He couldn't help but feel like the lights were bait for some kind of trap, drawing people out and lowering their guards with what appeared to be a harmless natural occurrence. Elijah didn't trust it. He would prefer to be home with his nose in a car engine or working on some other project, but his nerves had him coming out to supervise witness the strange event and people, after all his brother was among the watchers.

Where: Town Square Open to all @crestlestart

He had in fact seen something similar, just not here. "Uh... Yeah, yeah, I have. I was in Iceland though so it's a little odd to see it now." More than odd, Elijah could only assume this was some sort of omen for things to come. There was no denying it was a beautiful sight, and perhaps he was being a little paranoid, but looking around at all the people who had stopped to look he couldn't help but think of their safety. Hopefully this would just chalk itself up to a pretty light show. "It looks like the aurora borealis, but usually it's not seen here." Not to mention these lights were more... active than the ones he had seen in his travels.