12-03-2018, 01:29 AM
[align=center][div style="width: 45%; text-align: justify; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: times new roman;"]Clarence couldn't sleep. It wasn't a trait unique to this new form. It was the only thing that wasn't new. He'd suffered from nightmares for a long time. Night terrors, really. He was lucky he knew how to control his physical reaction to them. Recently they'd been more about drowning and about the moment he had died or... whatever had happened. He still didn't understand it. He was half waiting to wake up in an asylum somewhere, stuck in some sort of cell and told he'd never been in the navy at all, that his mind was broken beyond repair after Jordan's death. Yet he was still here. He'd expected that on the ship too. Maybe he had just hoped he wasn't in the watery hell that surrounded him. Maybe his only way of coping had been to force the situation into a fantasy. Maybe if he hadn't been so distant, maybe then he would've moved fast enough and Finnis wouldn't have been killed. Maybe he wouldn't have fallen overboard, maybe he wouldn't be stuck as a... panther? Yes, a black panther. That was what he was now. He wasn't sure how to deal with that so he mostly tried to ignore it. He liked to think he'd sort of accepted the talking animals situation but he was still rather distressed about the whole thing. In any case, he's sat inside his house long enough until he decided it was a respectable time to come out without garnering too much suspicion.
The man emerged and his first response was to go on a run. He needed some kind of exercise. As much as this new life confused and frightened him, he had to admit it was nice to be off of his ship. The Queen Charlotte had been a fine navy vessel but not good for much else. It wasn't particularly roomy or comfortable and it was nice to run somewhere that wasn't the deck of a ship. He still wasn't completely familiar with the territory, though, so he stuck to running in a large circle before wrapping back around to where he'd slept and then heading to the small waterfall he'd found some time ago. There were less people here than there were at that lake-like body of water so he felt a bit more protected. He felt rather odd not wearing clothes but was able to get past it given the sensation of his fur was enough to remind him of his old uniform, but when it all stuck to him, it felt... different. He just wasn't a fan. In any case, he sat an soaked in the cool water with his eyes closed for some time, trying to steady his own breathing before climbing out and shaking the water out of his fur. He'd had the same schedule for about a week now and no one seemed to notice him. Today, though, with water still dripping from his body, he heard something nearby and tensed but didn't move, waiting to see what it was before approaching.
The man emerged and his first response was to go on a run. He needed some kind of exercise. As much as this new life confused and frightened him, he had to admit it was nice to be off of his ship. The Queen Charlotte had been a fine navy vessel but not good for much else. It wasn't particularly roomy or comfortable and it was nice to run somewhere that wasn't the deck of a ship. He still wasn't completely familiar with the territory, though, so he stuck to running in a large circle before wrapping back around to where he'd slept and then heading to the small waterfall he'd found some time ago. There were less people here than there were at that lake-like body of water so he felt a bit more protected. He felt rather odd not wearing clothes but was able to get past it given the sensation of his fur was enough to remind him of his old uniform, but when it all stuck to him, it felt... different. He just wasn't a fan. In any case, he sat an soaked in the cool water with his eyes closed for some time, trying to steady his own breathing before climbing out and shaking the water out of his fur. He'd had the same schedule for about a week now and no one seemed to notice him. Today, though, with water still dripping from his body, he heard something nearby and tensed but didn't move, waiting to see what it was before approaching.