#the city is my hunting ground: warwick interaction

[shimmerbeasts]

The ghostly lady had not left. She likely never would leave. So far, Warwick knew a few things: One, she would always appear near him. Did not matter how far he ran or how distracted he was, she always appeared. Two, she could not be hurt physically. Warwick had tried to chase her away, had swiped at her with his claws and snapped at her with his teeth. He had not been able to create any kind of injury. He had not even drawn blood.

Warwick had found a rill of relatively clean drinking water. Sinking down before it, he lapped at the cold water. His thin, long ears flicked around as he listened to any unexpected sounds. Even though he had closed his eyes for a few seconds, the moment he opened them again, the ghostly lady was sitting on the brook opposite the rill. She was pretty and young. Her frilly hair, freckled skin and uniform clothing made him think of someone from the other side of the river. One of those smart people. The real clever ones who invented iron sticks, which thundered and glass cages filled with light.

Looking at the woman, Warwick huffed and shook his muzzle to clean away some of the water in his whiteish-grey hair. He said: "Why are you here? You kept eyes on Warwick for days now. Even when I tried hurting you. You stayed. Why? What do you see in Warwick?"

@runes-menagerie liked for a Warwick starter.

[shimmerbeasts]

Despite Warwick's core being a wolf, he was not a pack hunter. There was a strange feeling of revulsion in him whenever he thought of the idea of hunting in a pack. Strategically, the idea made perfect sense: A group of individuals naturally made all the respective individuals stronger. However, subjectively, there was something in the very nature of this idea, which felt wrong for Warwick on some dark, subconscious level, he did not dare to unravel.

He had hunted with a teammate before... and somehow, this had gone horribly wrong.

Even so, it was clear that Hat Lady had designated him as a member of their improvisational pack, whether Warwick wanted it or not. Thus the wolf could only let out a displeased grunt and gnashed his teeth, even as Hat Lady's Iron Stick sent forth its deadly black rocks. Corny like sand. It was clear that she wasn't aiming at him but at Blue Whirlwind. One of the corny rocks even struck. It penetrated Blue Whirlwind's upper thigh, making her purple eyes flare up even more.

Sickly, poisonous, wrong! Orange and purple. Why did Warwick suddenly feel like he was being watched all over again? The rage split his skull and made it hard to think. Saliva bubbled between pulled-back chops as the huge wolf picked up speed, heavy, black paws and metal claws hammering on the bathysphere like a drum as he came sprinting forward. Faster and faster and faster!

Run away, little girl! Run away!

Was the man-long-dead howling those words or was it the beast's terrible bloodthirst, screeching louder and louder as it refused to slow down?! Blue Whirlwind hand shifted her weight and slammed her hand on the exposed wound, hissing low and angry as she hounded Hat Lady with iron teeth of her own. She was distracted, focused on her prey and not him! Now was his chance!

Growling loudly, Warwick slammed into the girl's side and clenched his jaws around her lower abdomen. Yet despite all the fury the beast carried, something in him - the man-long-dead - wrestled control from his bone-crushing jaws to ensure that while he held onto the girl and tried to tear her to the ground, he did not actually rip her apart. Why though?! Why was she so important? His mind was clouded with the stench of blood and the flashing image of a small girl with hair as blue as Blue Whirlwind, nursing a small cup with a special straw.

Her scream of pain almost made him let go of her. Hurts, hurts, hurts. Stop it! Do not hurt Blue Whirlwind! Unclench your jaws - SHUT UP! So preoccupied was the great beast with the dilemma in his skull that he did not pay attention to the fact that Blue Whirlwind very much had not yet fainted from the pressure on her chest or the shock to her system. Instead, those purple eyes swirled with a madness much akin to his own. It was as if the pain kept her alive out of spite. Like him.

"Hey, Wolfy!", Blue Whirlwind shouted, "You got something on your ear!"

She was fast! Faster than Warwick had accounted for. In a blur of alabaster flesh, blue and pulsing purple, she twisted herself around in his jaws and attached something behind his ear. From the nipping sensation of teeth, Warwick at first regarded it as something non-consequential. Sure, it stung a bit, but he had endured worse than a little bite.

However, then the thing behind his ear started to beep. Slowly at first, but it rapidly increased in frequency. Warwick's eyes grew wide and his jaw went slack. There was a sudden, deafening bang in his ear like a canon being fired right next to his head. However, the brief disorientation by that sound was nothing compared to the searing, scalping pain he was in. Warwick dropped Blue Whirlwind on the ground, staggered backwards in shock and agony and howled loudly.

A quarter of his face felt like it was being frozen up. The skin seemed raw and exposed, and the fur burned clean off. There was a big hole in his head, where his ear used to be. Even his skull felt like it had been fractured in parts. Blood ran down his jawline and neck and Warwick inspected his paws and claws in shock, mortified by what had just happened to him. The Bad Man had done a lot of heinous things to him, however, this was unlike any pain, he had ever felt.

This explosion should have killed him. Warwick was sure of it. However, the Bad Man was not someone to let you die easily. He had carved Warwick open in a multitude of ways. Poured chemicals and acids into his wound. Infected him with every malady, his wicked mind could envision. And yet, the concoctions, he had prepared for Warwick's tank, had always done their work. No matter how much pain he was in, Warwick always came back. Sometimes, it seemed as if the rage fuelled him in ways unbeknownst to man.

Thus it had only been a matter of time before the concoction on his back kicked in. Under loud bubbling and valves hissing as they opened, Warwick's bloodstream mixed itself with the dark green liquid, glowing red as new fur burst out of his skin and bone fragments shifted around, plastering themselves back together. Even the ear, which had been nothing but a hole a couple of moments ago, regrew, even if every new tendril of flesh and burst of fur pained him so much.

Blue Whirlwind stared up at him. What evoked terror and fright in most of his victims now produced a wide manic smile as the girl shifted the rocket launcher around as if she wanted to give the shark a chance to see him as well. Why did that shark make his head pound too?

The little girl said only one word with purple lips softening into a serene smile as if she wanted to hide the fangs behind them: "Interesting."

@ferinehuntress

The shift of danger prickled against Caitlyn's skin as she sensed the swirling change within Warwick. She didn't need her empathy to notice how his eyes changed and the bubbling chemicals against the tank on his back. Carefully she took a step back, keeping her distance from the wolf. She held a healthy respect for the danger he held and one she wasn't going to control. Darken eyes of amber turned almost like burning suns at sunset, as her fingers tightened against the forestock of her rifle. Something changed distinctly within Warwick she had not witnessed before; a nature so calamitous. Their hunts have often been lethal, but Warwick had a sense of control around himself but now it looked as if he was taking on a new rage. A beserker in fur, releasing everything within him; anguish, wrath, desolation.

The sudden slam of his paws caused the bathysphere to creak and alter from side to side, as Caitlyn had to find a way to move with the movement. A few shouts from inside the cart echoed in panic as she bends her knees slightly to try and keep her balance.

His history with Jinx didn't go unnoticed, something deep and troubling haunted Warwick and one she still hadn't figured out. Caitlyn skidded to the side, pivoting on her feet as she slid slightly to the edge when her Gatling gun fired a few rounds, and lifted her rifle in anger. "Great deduction there Jinx," Caitlyn muttered as she canted her head to the side in acknowledgment of finding her 'surprise' as she called it. Her eyes flicked in Warwick's direction, keeping an eye on him and what he would do so she could counter and match. She would not shoot him, just as when she worked hand in hand with Vi, she would not shoot her. Coordination with a teammate meant protecting; not firing on them. Something Jinx hadn't figured out since day one when gave her a connection to Lock. Perhaps if Lock had been safe from her bullets, she would not have had a link that led her to Vi, and in turn into the undercity.

Everything set off a path that interlocked their lives, every choice blending indefinitely.

Eyes narrowed on Jinx as she started to speak again noting certain words. Delivery in Piltover, and … there wasn't time to fully process the words as Caitlyn's eyes widened as she suddenly hit the trigger of her Pow-pow. Immediately Caitlyn dropped down to the top of the roof as she heard the screams echoing inside. She grasped her rifle in her palm as she shifted to the left in the same way Warwick moved directing in front of Jinx and toward her. Caitlyn leaned on her side while he took the fire of the bullets (how he could still be standing after so many!?) as she aimed Oathkeeper to try and hit her leg. She remembered how it troubled her their first night; the way it hindered her movements. However, after the shot she had to quickly roll again as Jinx started to move to try and shoot her again. She slid down the cart and fell off the edge of the back to take cover on the ladder. On the edge of the cart, she could see inside and counted at least eight bodies. Two young children, an elderly couple, a Vastayan, and three women and a man. Tears rolled down the kids' eyes as one of the women held her son and daughter trying to calm them down. The Vastayan fox had a grip on the side of the window, ears flat in anger, and the elderly couple looked resigned to their fate as if they thought they might die. The man was up in arms as if ready to fight as two of the women looked at Caitlyn through the window.

She had to find a way to make sure this bathysphere made it to the upper city, and that meant somehow ensuring Jinx didn't destroy it. Planting her feet on the bottom of the end she grabbed several bullets from her pocket and refilled her Rifle. Grabbing the ladder she climbed up and lifted herself over the edge of the cart hood and aimed point blank in Jinx's direction. Her eyes narrowed in an attempt to fire the bullet near Jinx's shoulder. She didn't even need to hit her, only enough to distract her in hopes of giving Warwick a chance to attack. She had to protect these people on this freight cart; though she could not formulate the plan amid the attack.

She had to work hand in hand to ensure their safety.

[shimmerbeasts]

The sump was a dangerous place. The Grey here was so thick, it made your eyes constantly water. Every breath was like inhaling mud. The air reeked of dead bodies - people, who had not been able to ascend to higher planes fast enough -, chemical waste and spoiled water. The muck was hard to wade through. But people still breached those dangers for you might find treasures in the murky slime and mud if you knew where to look. That and you could just bury a body.

Warwick's paws were thick and large, the mud squashing between his toes and claws. He had been following a scent for the past few hours. Blood, fresh spilling blood. Some Chem-Barons were so cruel that they slashed open your wrists or belly and dumped you into the Sump. You lay there, choking on the Grey as your mind grew delirious from blood loss. Whatever poor chap was stuck in here, Warwick would bring them a swift end. And then track down their killer for good measure.

With powerful leaps, Warwick travelled across the waste. His long snout almost graced the mud, wet nostrils twitching. Sometimes his head whipped around and his body followed suit whenever the trail of blood took a turn. His long, pointy ears were pinned against his head. There, there, almost there. Blood, blood, blood. Kill!

Finally, he came to a stop at a slope. Strains of saliva coated his muzzle and slicked up his fangs. Bright amber eyes darted over what seemed to have been a landslide. The mud had been shaken up more, creating canyons and mountains, dips and cracks. A figure was struggling to pull themselves out of some hole. Their heavy breathing laboured against Warwick's ears. He gnashed his teeth.

Kill it, kill it, kill it.

The chemicals in his tank bubbled and boiled. Warwick shifted, preparing himself to launch at the figure. However, then the dim light reflected on a pair of goggles. Goggles! Images seared themselves into his mind and Warwick yowled like someone had just stepped on his tail. Cubs. Four cubs. His cubs. Goggles, lock pick and ... It hurt to think.

Warwick shook his head. He pressed a clawed paw on his temple as if he could force his mind to make a decision. Howling in frustration as he finally made up his mind, he carefully began to crawl towards the trapped boy. Coming closer, he noticed blood on his stomach. A small cut, maybe from some sharp piece near where he had fallen.

"Hold still!", Warwick growled. Dropping down beside the boy, he tore at the mud with his claws, sending the dirt flying behind him. His fangs caught onto some metal grid, which had fallen against Goggles. Warwick growled and jerked his head up as he did his best to push the grid up so that the boy could finally get out of the hole.

@claggrot liked for a Warwick starter.

[shimmerbeasts]

His mighty paws drummed across the narrow streets. The scent of blood flooded his nostrils and pulled him along like the irresistible hook of a fishing line. It was fresh too. Someone had been gravely injured. Enough that it had to have been committed in the act of a crime.

Blood, blood, kill, kill!

Warwick growled under his breath as he ran faster. Tearing through the streets, saliva gathered in his jaws as he wondered just what might have caused the injury. Probably the thugs of a Chem-Baron. That was the ugly truth of Zaun. Did not matter that the men in blue took down the Chem-Barons. You created a power vacuum and something always longed to fill it! The old guard was dead and quickly replaced by new ones. Younger, with greed and arrogance in their belly, but no less deadly.

There it was! Warwick had finally identified the source of the smell. It was a goon of some Chem-Baron, just as he had predicted. The figure lay on their side. They had long stopped breathing for their body were covered in long, deep cuts and stab wounds. Some were in places, which were hard to reach. They made Warwick halt instead of just bursting into the scene.

Something was not right. There was another predator at work here! Something, which went beyond the usual base brutality of a Zaunite. It was too clean and precise. Warwick sniffed the air, tilting his head this way and that way. The odours of chemicals and oils and smog made it hard to discern any other scents, but then Warwick caught the distinct smell of hextech, fresh blood and tea.

Piltie.

His ear cracked as it whipped backwards. There! A sharp whizzing sound like wires being spun or moved. Warwick's head whipped around and he reared up just in time to be greeted by an angry-looking, pale woman, dressed in black with a pulsing hextech gem stuck to her chest. Sharp, stinging pain exploded in his chest as something long and pointy burrowed itself deep into his fur.

Warwick growled angrily. Grabbing the figure by her waistline, the massive wolf beast ripped her off his chest and flung her sideways. He dropped on all floors as blood gushed out of the puncture wounds in his chest. It did not take long for the chemicals to grow new tissue and stop the bleeding. Rasping, Warwick inspected the woman and shifted sideways, trying to gauge her.

"What ... are ... you?" His voice came in low pants as his vocal cords, sharp fangs and unusual tongue fought to form words. "You are more machine than woman, and you don't belong here."

@steel-shadow

[shimmerbeasts]

Warwick/Vander Tag Dump.

[shimmerbeasts]

Words. She was saying words. And yet something about them scratched at the confines of his mind. He panted as he sat there, nursing his head in his mighty paws. Viktor. The name made the strange metallic man reappear again before him. But now, there was another memory. A distant sensation of a tether around his neck like a noose. Tendrils of something white and bright sank deep into his skull. His brain running on autopilot. Someone else pulling the strings. And he had been powerless to stop it.

His panting grew louder and louder. "Haaa hoooo, haaaaaa hoooooo." Warwick's jaws opened and closed a touch as the large wolfbeast drew in his breath from the mouth and exhaled out of his nose. It felt weird to pay attention so actively to his breathing. And yet, it seemed to be doing something right. The mechanism on his back no longer was that active. The bubbling and gurgling of the chemicals had slowed down. There was no longer the concern of that large needle piercing his back.

Touch on his pelt-covered hand made the wolf turn its massive head. His ears flicked forward. They had grown longer and pointier than the last time Sky must have seen him. His answer came in a rumble deep in his chest: "Thanks... I believe you."

He shook his head and got up. "I don't mind your presence", Warwick said as he looked her up and down, "You smart. Makes me think of Blue Whirlwind. Was smart too." The wolf fell silent again. Warwick remembered falling and holding someone familiar. Blue Whirlwind's hands on his cheeks. Her smile. Those purple eyes filled with warmth. He dimly recalled putting her to bed. She and someone else. Someone older with pink hair.

"I don't know if your idea would work", Warwick confessed, "Thinking hard. Head hurts when trying to remember."

"Viktor. Those words were spoken by Viktor. You couldn't see me then but I was there with him. Together we tried to help you find a balance between man and beast. But then Jayce intervened. Viktor was hurt and the connection broke." Sky explained while watching Warwick with growing worry.

She decided to take a chance and slowly approached him. She didn't want to agitate him further but instead wanted to calm. She hadn't been in his mind yet so she didn't know the exact state of it but given what Viktor had said when initially refusing Singed, she had an idea. She didn't want to invade Warwick's mind however. Not without permission.

"Breathe with me. Focus on my voice and breathe. Take a deep breath in. Hold it.... Now let it out. Again, deep breath in... Hold... Release..." She would repeat the breathing exercise as many times as it took if it seemed to be helping him at all.

"I'm different because I tried to stop him. You didn't hear it, you were too deeply asleep, but Viktor rejected the idea of hurting you until he was hurt and near death. There was still a choice, a path that wouldn't have hurt you but Viktor was hurting too much himself to see it and refused to listen to me." She answered calmly while reaching out for one of Warwick's hands, unsure if he would feel the touch and careful not to use her magic on him beyond maintaining her tether with him.

"I would like to try to mend the damage Viktor caused. But only if you're alright with that plan. I won't force you into anything nor use my magic on you without consent." She said with a gentle smile before looking sheepish. "On that note, I do have a small confession to make. Because I don't have a real body, I have to tether myself to someone or I'll die. There aren't many people I can tether myself to. I chose you because i hoped to help you but this also means that I can't easily leave your side. I can leave you alone if you wish me to, but I'll still be around."

[shimmerbeasts]

He dropped the grit as soon as Goggles was out of danger. Warwick rose and sniffed the air once more. Nobody else had found them yet. They were safe for now. The groan of pain caused his long, thin ears to twitch and his head to turn back to face Goggles once more. The boy looked battered and bruised, exhausted from his time trapped under the grid.

The smell of blood was distracting, yet the large wolf beast clamped his fangs together to stay in control. Some remnants of the man-long-dead seemed to be guiding his actions right now. Looking down at Googles, sitting on the ground, exhausted, confused and vulnerable, caused a surge of worry to flood through Warwick's entire being. This was not a good place for a cub to be in. But then he had seen countless cubs before, even killed several on his rampages - it was an accident, nothing more, nothing less -, so what made this cub so special?

Warwick shrugged his shoulders as if to tell Goggles he was welcome. However, as the question was posed, the large wolf looked down at his meaty paws. Warwick flexed his mechanical claws. He admitted slowly: "I... don't know. Just felt like ... the right thing to do." He dropped on all fours to examine Goggles more closely. Warwick's wet nostrils twitched and he squinted large, amber eyes. "Something familiar about you...", he confessed, "I can't place it."

He shook his head in defeat. It made no sense to try to remember. Thinking just hurt and led to nowhere. Warwick asked: "What were you doing in the Sumps? Sumps dangerous."

Claggor's eyes flickered with genuine surprise and fear as he sucked in a breath, his hand clutching his injured stomach. "W-wait, what are you?" He blurted out nervously, processing that this creature was definitely holding the grid up for him so he can get out of the hole. What can he do? He can't stay under the grid, a soft groan escaping from his vocal chords in which he decided to crawl his way out of the hole. He felt pain washing over him, letting out a slight grunt of pain.

"Agh!" He soon took his seat on the ground, not wanting to collapse right then and there on the ground. "Thank you?" He showed his gratitude, even if he's sounding confused at how this situation is turning out. "Why?" He inquired.

[shimmerbeasts]

The large wolf looked down at the pond before him. Even now his fur was red around the tip of his muzzle and moist. The smell of iron tickled his nose. His ear twitched and his tail swayed from side to side. Warwick gritted his teeth against each other. He grunted: "Can't be helped anymore. The man-long-dead is gone!"

Her next words made him freeze up though. Someone worth the risk. The words seemed to blur into each other, two voices speaking at once. Her calm and gentle tone was overlayed by a man's voice: Rough, hoarse like he had eaten a bucket of chalk. There was a softness in his melody, which felt artificial.

Warwick faced the ghost lady again. He rasped harshly: "How do you know those words? They were spoken before by ... By ..."

He clutched his head as he tried to remember. Ever since he had woken up in that shaft so many moons ago, his memories lay in shambles. It was why Warwick was convinced his former self was a man-long-dead. No matter how hard he tried, connecting those fragments in his mind seemed a near impossibility.

Instead, they would penetrate his skull, claw at the insides of his brain and show themselves when he least expected it. Right now, Warwick could feel a cool, metallic, yet oddly sinew and flexible hand touch his face. His face before he had had a snout. Someone probing in his head trying to be gentle, no, not gentle! Someone piercing the back of his head, the back of his spine. Something burning in his head, setting his mind ablaze. Images crumbling and falling to dust. Replaced by cold calcul and focus.

Warwick thrust his head upwards and opened his jaws in a wild, uncontrolled howl. The machine on his back clicked and gurgled as if it wanted to inject its chemical concoction into his very being. But Warwick kept a handle on his rage just barely. The pain hurt and confused him. Fury and frustration wrestled for the control of his mind. He slammed his metal-enforced arm into the pond, water splashing everywhere. Snapping uncontrollably at the air and snarling, Warwick rasped: "He ... did not ... help! He hurt Warwick! He changed the man-long-dead! What makes you ... different?!"

After being rather violently separated from Viktor not once but twice. The first time when he chose to pursue his 'Glorious Evolution' despite her arguing with him about it for what had felt like hours and the second time after whatever had happened to him and Jayce atop the Hexgates.

She mourned them both but she couldn't delay acting. She had learned in the year since her death that she could only exist within the Arcane for so long without some form of tether in the physical world. Initially the Hexcore itself had been her tether and then when it merged with Viktor, he had been her tether.

Now she was without one and had limited options. There were plenty of remaining Hexgems she could choose but then she would be bound to wherever they were and no one would know. Or she could chose a person. Jayce would have been her first choice but with him gone as well, she was left with four options. Caitlyn Kiramen, Vi, Jinx, and Warwick.

The girls were options due to their extensive exposure to Hextech and the fact that all carried at least one Hexgem. For Warwick, Sky had been inside his mind with Viktor to try to find a balance between man and beast. The girls had been through so much lately that she didn't want to burden them further. As for Warwick... Sky felt a measure of guilt that she had been able to stop him being used in that thrice damned procedure.

So she chose Warwick. Since he wasn't a mage her abilities were limited but eventually she was able to manifest so that he could see and hear her. That went about as well as she had expected given what she could sense of his mind. He couldn't hurt her but her presence also didn't seem to be helping him either. Finally he spoke to her however.

"I want to help you." Sky answered simply, choosing her words with care as she calmly watched him from her seat. "I couldn't stop them from hurting you but I can help you heal."

She smiled warmly at him before answering his final question, repeating the words Viktor had once said. "I see someone worth the risk."