I've got this silly AU in my head that involves Stiles coming from a long line of mystic deer people. He and his kin protect the forest they reside in (and they are in every forest on the planet), and guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife (cause I read somewhere that there is lore of deer acting as guides to the afterlife, which is cool). His fur would be pure white (leucism) during the full moon, and pitch black (melanic) during the new moon. In between, he has varying amounts of brown and white fur, like the waxing and waning moon.
I also wrote a short ficlet (which I ninja'd into Renqa's inbox) a while ago, which works into this AU.
The full moon glowed in the sky that night, wisps of the Milky Way drifting around it. Derek's paws danced over the pine needles coating the forest floor, his rag-tag pack following at various distances behind him. Even Scott decided to tag along and pretend he was part of the pack that night. Must be one of those breaks he takes with Allison, Derek silently thought, enjoying the extra wolf in the pack run.
The pack approached a large clearing in the north-eastern section of the Hale territory, coming up to a large lake that took up most of the cleared area. It was man-made, but nature had soon claimed it after it's construction. Many had forgotten it was there.
The pack padded into the shallows, their paws relaxing in the cool water. Issac and Scott were splashing after each other, while Erica and Boyd walked along the shore together, and Jackson stayed out of the water all together. Derek watched his pack, content to bask in their happiness. The sound of movement, almost too quiet for even his senses, drew Derek's attention from his group of teens to across the lake. There, what looked to be a stag was quenching his thirst at the shore of the lake. The tree's shadows hid any real definition in the shape, but the idea of a hunt would be a good bonding experience.
He barked at the pack, summoning them all to him and directing their attention to the stag. Yips and whines of agreement were his answer, and they slunk back into the forest, keeping an eyes of the stag. They followed the perimeter of the clearing, watching the deer enjoy the cool waters of the pool as they had just bee doing. At Derek's instructing growl, Erica and Boyd went ahead to close off its escape route back into the forest.
When they were all hidden and ready to strike, Derek and Jackson charged the stag. It froze in the shallow water, hearing the disturbance. The stag lifted neck, which quickly revealed itself to be the upper half of a human. This was no deer, but a forest guardian. Creatures that existed with the forest, and kept its inhabitants safe. It's fur, now that they were closer, was pale, as if under the influence of leucism. Derek stopped first, his paws digging into the dirt to help him stop. Jackson, on the other hand, kept charging, not knowing what it was they were attacking.
The stag-centaur's eyes glowed silver against the shadows, and it didn't hesitate to buck its hind hooves into the charging wolf's face. And then Derek began to recognize the features of the human half of the guardian.
Derek shifted, leaving his wolf form behind in favour of humanity. His lack of clothes did not seem to affect the being before him, which was weird all things considered. He rested a hand on the back of Jackson's whining form, calming him. The guardian started backing away, into deeper water. However, when it left the shadows, the whole pack recognized the human half of the guardian.
Even Derek, eyes no longer red, stared in shock. “Stiles?!”
“Shit,” was his only response.
Damn, my camera sucks. I need a scanner. :|
