One froggy night. (August/Simon/?)

[beastly]

Simon pulled up in his silver minivan, stifling a yawn and taking one last swig of coffee from his thermos. He'd already had a busy day, but there wasn't a chance he'd ever say no to running around the lake at night with August. He'd have the vampire's back.

The werewolf spotted his vampire buddy and parked nearby, hopping out of the vehicle with a grin. He was wearing rubber boots, jeans with paint on them already, a black t-shirt with a paw print on it, and a blue jacket. It was a bit less formal than his normal work clothes, but this was a job where he was going to probably get messy. He slung his bag over his shoulder and slammed the door behind him.

"Hey, big guy! Y'ready?"

Simon came up beside August and gave him a pat on the back.

[indeath]

August grinned happily at his werewolf buddy, happy to see his friendly face. It was impossible to feel down around this guy, he was such a positive spark and August loved that. He also knew Simon didn’t mind a hug so he gave the guy a  squeeze in return.

“Does a turtle love pizza? This should be real fun. Like huntin’ but without the bad bit. Ooh nice gumboots! I should’ve thought of that. Just got some old runners. I did find some rubber gloves though. I reckon I’ll be safe though! What’s a spark gonna do? Restart me heart?”

He laughed at the thought, if it was that easy there’d be a lot less vampires in the world. He slung his backpack on, then he motioned to the thicket nearby.

“We gotta head that way towards the lake. There’s a marshy bit that I reckon will be a good spot ta start. If ya get hungry I got ya a donut and coke. Ya do like coke, right?”

[beastly]

Simon snorted at the Augustism, walking along with him. He tilted his head, sniffing lake air and listening to the sounds of the night. One of the positives of lycanthropy was the heightened senses, and after a decade he was coming around to enjoying it.

"The rubber gloves are a solid idea, I don't wanna find out, yeah?"

Simon nodded at the thicket with a contemplative sound.

"Right, sounds good to me, a good place to start," he smiled at August's thoughtfulness, " Aw, you didn't have to. I'll eat just about anything, you know me, man."

Simon walked along with August, listening carefully and occasionally pausing to sniff around. He could identify a lot of things, and some canine corner of his brain lit up eagerly.

[indeath]

“Alright then. Gloves it is! Though with a name like Loveland frogman, maybe he’s just lonely? Needs a froglady or somethin’. Hehe kidding I know it’s a place.”

August nodded moving quietly towards the thicket, he pulled shadows towards him and Simon to make it more difficult for them to be seen. The sounds of frogs and crickets filled the air. Nothing yet to suggest the frogman but August had hope that he or she would appear.

“Eat anything? Would you eat crickets or a frog?”

August steered them away from a human he could smell a little ways away. He assumed it was late night fishing or something but the smell of alcohol was there too so who knew? Could be camping too. Hopefully their froggy pal wouldn’t be attracted by the smells itself.

[beastly]

"Are we thinking this guy is the Loveland frogman and he moved? 'Cause, that's just a place. If he's from here, he's a Wathias Frogman," Simon mused, picking his way through the area.

Simon sniffed the air, detecting the scent of a drunk somebody. He'd keep an ear out for them as they worked, fingers crossed they'd be engrossed in their own activities.

"I'm not a picky guy. I've eaten crickets and frogs. They make chocolate covered crickets, spicy ones, and ones with peanut butter," Simon counted on his fingers," Frogs taste half like fish, half like chicken. It's fine, not my favorite. "

[indeath]

August nodded to his friend, pushing a branch aside. The ground was getting more marshy and his shoes were flecked with mud.

“Yeah! The Wathais Frogman… I dunno. Just reports of people bein’ fried like chips and a weird looking frog person. He might be a little offended if we assume he’s another frogman. Maybe he goes by Algernon or Steve. Guess we’ll need ta ask.”

August made a face at Simon’s questionable food choices.

“Lawdamimbo! That’s so gross, Simon. Poor little blighters! Maybe don’t mention that to our Mr.Frog…”

He smiled at Simon so he knew August wasn’t actually judging him. Meat eaters were weird and he was used to it. A noise made August stop in his tracks, eyes wide.

“Did ya hear that?”

[beastly]

"We'll ask Steve for his name, of course."

Simon nodded sagely, giving the night air another whiff. He grinned widely back at August's disgust and made a silly face.

"Listen, I'm an open minded fella, I'll try anything once. Especially if there's peanut butter involved, man. What's really gross is-"

Simon's head snapped to the direction of the noise, his keen ears picking up... something. The werewolf was still as a statue, wondering if they'd found their frog. Or a deer.

"Yep. Should we..."

Simon gestured onward, squinting into the trees.

[indeath]

August nodded and motioned towards the bushes. Wondering what was the weirdest thing he could get Simon to eat if he smothered it in peanut butter. It was a thought for another time. He pulled shadows over them both, his footsteps becoming silent. The soft smell of rose perfume filled the air, tickling at Simon’s heightened senses. August barely smelt it these days, it was as much a part of him as his hair now.

A loud crack was heard ahead of them and thump as a large body went down. Past the bushes they could see soggy prints as something moved quickly away. The smell of burnt flesh could be smelt as well. There was a human shaped mound lying ahead next to a beer can. It was hard to tell whether he was breathing or not.

“Lawdamimbo! Seems like we’re on the right track, Simono!”

August whispered excitedly, though he was concerned for their crispy friend, drunk or not.

”Steve?” 

[beastly]

Simon caught the whiff of the burning human stink over the scent of roses, and he had to hold himself back from launching himself into the situation without getting a proper read on it. If he burst in and got himself shocked to death it wouldn't help anyone. He couldn't tell if the drunk guy was live or dead.

"Shit," Simon hissed," August, we gotta get that guy medical help. We can track our frog friend after, but we gotta take care of that guy."

Simon pushed through the bushes to kneel by the man, intending to put his CPR certification to the test if need be. He checked the man's pulse, tense.

[indeath]

The man was dressed in damp flannelettes and jeans. His leg shook slightly from the electricity that had run through his bones.

His lips were chafed and his breath smelt awful as Simon began CPR. His damp clothes stuck to Simon’s skin as he began compressions. He could feel the rib bones almost breaking under his weight. Mud crept into Simon’s pants then air seemed to gush into the man’s body.

Simon could hear shaky breaths and a soft groan escaped bearded lips followed by a loud belch. A reddened eye opened to look bleary-eyed at the two men.

“You ain’t angels… ain’t green fairies either. Mustn’ be dead. Where’s that froggy basterd?”

[beastly]

Simon was just pleased the man wasn't dead and he actually had remembered how to do CPR. He gave the man some space to breathe, looking him over critically.

"No sir. I'm not sure what you're talking about, with the frog. I'm going to call you an ambulance. What happened?"

Simon didn't think he was going to get terribly far by interrogating the drunk man, but it would be good to get him talking. Maybe he'd say something they could use.

[indeath]

The man shook his head aggressively at Simon, his acrid breath perfuming the air around them. August was glad it wasn’t him giving the guy CPR. He was pretty sure this guy’s blood would taste like an old ashtray.

“I was just uhh looking to meet a friend… If you know what I mean. I mean that’s what ya both doing, right? I’m not one ta judge… Then KA-Pow! Hit with a taser! Then the fellow jumped away like a frog. I mean he coulda just said no.”

The man stood shakily up, dusting himself off though it really made little difference. He looked away with a sheisty expression on his face. He was certainly looking more lively than a moment ago.

August cocked his head to the side, face etched with confusion. Was he looking for the frogman too or just really lonely. He wasn’t sure why you would try to make friends here of all places.

[beastly]

The werewolf half extended an arm as the man stood, watching to make sure the guy didn't fall over. He sure was an interesting character, and Simon just needed to get him to a hospital and away from electric frogs. It didn't matter what he was here for.


"Right. We're doing an ecological study. Did you get here in a car? Let me walk you back to your car and I'll call that ambulance."

He shot August a look, tilting his head back into the brush. Keep going, he'd get rid of the man and come back.

[indeath]

August nodded seriously at Simon, this guy was a professional after all. He was a little nervous going out on his own but he was a vampire, what could possibly go wrong? He hummed to himself as he moved further into the swamp.
—-
“Is that what the kidshh call it? Lead the way, handshhhome…”

The old man leaned heavily on Simon as they walked, the heavy smells making it hard for the werewolf to smell anything else. The old man flirted and mumbled all the way back to the road.

Simon was propositioned several times. Finally, in what seemed like an hour the ambulance arrived, the cranky paramedics took the smell and the old man away.

By the time Simon returned to the spot he’d left August to go on, the vampire’s scent was faint almost impossible for the werewolf to follow. It seemed to stop in a muddy clearing where only a small tuft of light brown curls stuck out from the mud.

A little way off a strange froggy creature sat poking at it with a stick. The creature wore nothing but a pair of dirty underpants. It’s skin was slick and bright green, large red eyes stuck out blinking occasionally and its long tongue flicked at the wind. It smiled at the werewolf. It shot a small spark at the hair that sizzled slightly.

[beastly]

Sometimes doing the right thing was really, really, really annoying.

Simon sniffed around for August, growing worried at the faintness of his scent- he generally had a pretty distinct rose smell that wasn't too hard to find. When he got to the clearing, he froze, having to stop himself from following his nose. AUGUST?! Frog man???

His wolfy brain worked quickly. August was potentially buried in the mud. WHY?! He didn't know the why. August didn't need to breath, he wasn't dead. You couldn't suffocate a vampire.

Maybe August had gotten a haircut somehow.

Simon cleared his throat. August would've tried talking to the thing, right? Did it go that badly? August wasn't bad with people... Hopefully he wouldn't be immediately attacked.

"Hi? Hello. I'm Simon, with the WDSA. How's it goin?"