Orion coughed a few more times managing to force up some more bones to be tossed to the side “What the hell did you eat,” he muttered lamely, aware then that his jaw also had a dull throb going on for some reason. Something with a shell, ugh…

He might have continued muttering to himself had not his ears picked up on something crunching in the ground. Immediately, his humanoid ears became wolfy, and his head turned towards the sound. The sight of a blonde woman in dark clothes and an umbrella wasn’t exactly what he was expecting to see, and his eyes narrowed a little in questioning in response. If this was some sand slugger aiming to pickpocket him, she was out of luck at the moment.

The offer of water, however, had him blinking a few times. “Ahh….” A hand reached forward and took it. Opening it, he took a sharp drink of it, determined that it was probably at least mostly water, and then downed the rest of it viscerally. A deep sigh broke from him thereafter. “Hell…” Rubbing his forehead, he looked up at the woman again. “Too bad for you there’s not much going on in my head at the moment… aside from this weird buzzing sound…” His ears twitched as a fly that had somehow caught interest of them seemed content to zoom around them. Reaching up, he snatched it from the air and crushed it immediately after. “Thanks though.”

Orion yawned and stretched slowly. Just waking up made him want to go back to sleep, but he had to kind of figure out where he was and what was up first. Guess I could just answer this lady’s questions first too… He could feel the way she was looking at him so questioningly (scrutinizing?), and he could only guess that he looked like hell at the moment.

What question was vocalized, however, had Orion snickering softly thereafter. “What do you guess happened?” he asked stretching and rolling his shoulders again. “I look like I got maimed, huh…” Holding his arms out, he stared down at the numerous holes in his shirt and jeans. What was left of his shoes were in tatters at most. “Or fought a bear….” You stupid dog…

Orion snorted looking sideways at the woman again. “I don’t actually remember anything… aside from the full moon being a thing….” he answered. “The wolf in me likes to eat a lot of weird shit.” He went on digging into his mouth for any extra items that shouldn’t have been in there.

A dry, goofy smile came and went from Orion’s features as the girl commented back on a wolf’s diet. Oh, he knew. He knew well enough after however many years of this he’d been subjected to. His werewolf bipedal form enjoyed eating all kinds of things that were neither good nor healthy to consume normally. At least sometimes it learned there were some things better left not eaten.

The comment on cute animals had Orion’s gaze flickering sideways as well. If he had to guess from just the bones that were there, he’d guess it was some kind of sandy hare. It wasn’t really big enough for anything beyond that unless he was radically misjudging what those bones were. “Oof.” Yeah that was more of a dog sound than a human one.

“I’ll probably get new clothes… maybe… Don’t see a store out here, do ya?” Orion commented back only to pause and snort after. “Pickpocketing’s the game but not the lifestyle.” There were plenty in his circle of associations who did, in fact, steal for a living. However, Orion was neither that desperate nor that interested in risking everything on something with so little reward attached. “Name’s Orion… by the way.”

She was serious about this, wasn’t she? Orion snorted softly. He supposed a normal person would be pretty concerned about finding someone splayed out in the desert in trashed clothes. Leaning forward briefly, Orion shoved himself onto his knees and then up to standing. Ugh, so much sand. Smacking it free of his clothes, he started after the woman.

Allison… Orion yawned. “Interesting name.” For whatever reason, such a name itched in the back of his mind, as if he should have been more familiar with it. Ruffling the sand from his hair, he glanced up at the sky. Early morning always had these strange colors. The question, however, had him smirking a little sideways at her. “Not every night, only the night of the full moon,” he answered. “Give or take about once a month… I’ve just stopped fighting it over the years.”

A slow breath drew into Orion, and a particular scent did hit his nose at that. “Though you’re not exactly human yourself either, are ya?”

Gave into the urges… Orion nodded his head. That was basically what it was at the end of the day. He couldn’t control the beast inside. The next best thing was to go out far enough out of town that he didn’t hurt too many sentient people while out like that.

A curious look came to Orion’s features as Allison played coy with her own species. An eyebrow raised, and a small dry smile came to his features. She wanted him to guess? Well, she was humanoid in shape and form, but she clearly didn’t smell entirely human. There was… something vaguely familiar about that scent, but he couldn’t put his finger on it right then.

“Hmmmm…. Fairy? Elf? Nah not pointy enough ears…” he was joking, and his tone made it obvious right then. But just then, his nose did register what it was. “Oh, vampire…” Hah, a werewolf’s supposed mortal enemy if you believed some stupidly old legends. “That’s what you smell like.” Reaching back to ruffle his own hair, Orion glanced forward again. “Am I close even?”

A devious sort of smile curled onto Orion’s features as his guess was rewarded with the truth. He knew he recognized that scent. He knew he knew it from somewhere. “Heh, I see,” he hummed more to himself than to Allison. “Kind of late or early to be up isn’t it?” he teased dryly. He doubted that all vampires were weak to the sunlight, but the conventional ones he knew of from his home world’s lore were of that variety.

The mention of what feeding on blood entailed, though, had Orion’s ears twitching and setting back on his head. “Yeah that… must suck,” he answered slowly smirking at the terrible pun he’d made of that situation. “Though I guess you gotta B+ even through stuff like that.”