Chapter Text
"Okay!" Legundo barked out in a forest clearing while clapping his hands together once. "So, bats."
John and Vivian, both of them sitting in the grass, stared up expectantly at their sire. It was just the three of them gathered in the clearing that night. Legundo had begged Cleo to help him out, but she had adamantly refused. They'd been the one to teach the fledglings a majority of their current knowledge on vampirism. A task that was meant for their sire, not their sire's friend. The only reason Cleo had tolerated being a teacher so far was the fact that Legundo himself lacked much of the knowledge necessary.
But he knew how to shift into bat form, as was the lesson for the night. Although he had been rather out of it at the time. Trying to remember how he'd done it before was a pain for more reasons than one.
"Turning into a bat is pretty different from other vampire abilities," Legundo continued, trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about. "Its pretty much all instincts. I mean, all vampire abilities are tied to instincts, but changing into a bat is especially so."
John and Vivian both nodded their heads in acknowledgement.
"You might find it a little scary at first, as you'll suddenly be a lot smaller. That's okay. You're still in control, for the most part. And you usually start in the air already, so be sure to flap your wings or else you'll just splat on the ground. Oh and ignore the other bats that show up. That's normal."
The fledglings nodded again, still staring up at him with wide eyes.
If he still had a heartbeat, Legundo was sure it'd be jackhammering away in his chest from the nerves he felt. "So, uh, any questions?"
Vivian raised her hand in the air.
"Uh, you don't...you don't need to do tha- never mind. Vivian?"
She lowered her hand and grinned. "Are you gonna show us your bat form now?"
"Uh, I guess?" Legundo tilted his head. It did make sense to show them how to do it first. As well as give him an excuse to refresh his memory of the process. Notably without the stress and anguish of his first time experience.
The fledglings seemed to become much more alert as Legundo cleared his throat and straightened his stance. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to remember the feel of wind on fur and leather wings.
It was pure instinct that drove him skyward. The change had been so quick, he'd barely recognized the altered feeling of limbs stretched and thinned out until he was already in the air. He passed over the treetops effortlessly, diving down on the first animal he came across. A fox, bright and vibrant against the dull colors of the earth. He dove down with claws and fangs and-
Legundo shook his head with a grimace. Not exactly the part he was trying to recall, no matter how tied those emotions were to the memories. He shook out his arms and tried again.
He focused on the fur he remembered having as a bat. Tawny brown with dark patches across his chest that matched the webbing of his wings. Not too much different than his hair color, if he thought about it. Had there been streaks of gray in his fur as well? Legundo couldn't quite recall, as he never got a good look at himself and a mirror wouldn't have been helpful anyways.
Legundo heard gasps of shock from his fledglings along with the feeling of his arms feeling heavier, warmer even. His skin itched as fur sprouted out quickly all over his body. He frowned slightly, confused by how slow the transformation was in comparison to before. He expected to grow lighter, to suddenly find himself weightless and hovering above the ground. Instead, he grew heavier still. His skin thickened, the muscles on his back swelled, and he felt himself pitch forward onto his hands.
Legundo opened his eyes and looked down at John and Vivian. John appeared to be incredibly confused while Vivian had her mouth open in shock. Legundo scowled, opening his mouth to speak. Instead, his voice came out as a low and guttural sound.
That was not a sound a bat could possibly produce.
He shut his jaws abruptly, fully aware of the large canines he now sported. Looking down, he saw what should've been wings braced on the ground was instead a pair of large, furred forearms. Long claws sprouted from wide paws, easily sinking deep into the grass and earth. Obscuring his vision was a wide snout that ended in a massive black nose.
Legundo let out a growl that pitched upwards in confusion. A second of silence passed in the clearing before panic swept in to replace his befuddlement. And as the panic settled in, Legundo quickly found himself face first in the grass, back in his human shape.
He scrambled back up to settle into a seated position, staring back at his fledglings with eyes just as wide as theirs were.
John cleared his throat. "I'm pretty sure that's not what a bat looks like."
"Okay, lesson's over."
Abolish was rudely awakened from his slumber by the ringing of his phone. His personal phone, no less. He could easily count the number of people on one hand who had that number. And he wouldn't have to use all his fingers on that hand to do so either.
He groaned and reached over to his bedside table, hand aimlessly flopping around in the dark. Luckily, he managed to answer the call and put it on speaker before the ringing ended. Abolish didn't bother with a greeting, simply groaning into the mic and flopping back into his bedding.
"Abolish," Legundo's voice came through from the other end of the line. "I think I turned into a bear."
"Hhuuwhuh?"
"How am I a bear?"
Abolish let a minute of silence pass by as he processed the question. His brain sluggishly came to a conclusion.
"I don't know how you know that term, and I'm not entirely prepared to answer the how, either."
"What?" The doctor's voice was tight and high in pitch. From stress, confusion, or a combination of the two, Abolish couldn't really find it in himself to care. "What term? What are you talking about?"
"What are you talking about?"
All he heard was indignant spluttering from the other end of the line.
Abolish let out a very long and audible sigh. He cracked open one eye wide enough to read off the time. He growled. It was too early for this.
"Legs."
"Abolish?"
"You do realize I still need to sleep, yeah?"
"Oh! Right, I didn't realize the time, sorry. I just... panicked?"
Abolish shifted around so he was laying on his stomach, arms folded under his pillow while his chin rested on top. "Okay, just...start at the beginning."
"Right, yeah. Sorry, again." The vampire's voice quieted slightly. "So I was uh, giving lessons to John and Vivian. Specifically about changing into a bat. But when I tried to demonstrate, I didn't turn into a bat. I turned into a bear."
Abolish hummed in thought. It wasn't entirely unheard of for some vampires to take the form of different animals. Bats just happened to be the most common.
"Did you read the book I sent you?"
"I, uh, I'm not done with it yet."
Abolish rolled his eyes, fully aware that Legundo couldn't see him. "Well it's probably in the book. Could also just be a Doyer thing."
"Of course it could be." The voice that replied back was clipped. Likely not to have been meant to be heard by Abolish. "Yeah, I should've checked the book first before calling you. I'm sorry for bothering you, Abolish."
"It's whatever," He waved a hand, still aware of not being seen by his conversation partner. "I'd be awake in an hour anyways."
"Right, yeah, okay," Legundo muttered. "I'm just....I'll let you sleep. Sorry, again." And then the call ended.
Abolish flipped his phone closed, letting out a barely muffled scream into his pillow. After a few minutes of silent lamentation over his lost sleep, Abolish removed his covers and got up. It looked like he'd need to request another trip for a "family emergency".
Pearl walked cheerfully into the entrance of her shared home and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the morose statue of a man on the couch.
Legundo sat hunched forward, head buried in his hands, with a book laid open on the coffee table. He didn't make any motion of greeting or acknowledgement towards Pearl. Hell, he didn't even breathe, which only added to his impression of a statue even more.
Pearl stepped forward and leaned over her friend. "Ya good there, Doc?"
Legundo replied with a muffled groan of frustration before looking up to her.
"I'm guessing the answer is no."
"Could be worse," He replied in a voice absolutely heavy with exhaustion. "Could also be better."
"Alright then," Pearl sat on the couch next to him with enough force to make the cushion bounce. "Penny for your thoughts?"
Legundo leaned back on the couch with a grimace on his face. "I keep reading through this book again and again, and it does give me answers, but they're so vague and leave me asking so much more."
"Oh, is that the vampire book Abolish gave you?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "It's supposed to have anything and everything his organization has ever known about vampires. But I suspect the person who wrote it never had any personal experience to draw from."
"Oof, that's rough." Pearl nodded her head and chewed on a nail. A bad habit she was very much aware of, but she wasn't in the mood to correct it right then.
"I just," Legs let out a deep growl before he continued, brows somehow furrowing further down. "Every time I think I've got a handle on this," he gestured to himself. "Something new pops up. And even if I read this book a thousand times and understand everything inside and out, I never feel prepared for when something new happens."
Pearl hummed and put her chin in her hand. "Is this about the bear incident?"
Legundo grumbled pitifully but nodded his head.
"You know, I felt much the same when I first wolfed out." Pearl allowed a pause to gauge Leg's reaction. He slightly turned his head to look at her, eyebrow raised, but didn't interrupt. "My whole life I was taught how to best hunt and kill werewolves. I've known all their weaknesses for years. How to set up the most effective traps, how to thin their numbers if they attack in a pack, how to expose them in their human disguise...." she trailed off, lost in the memories. Pearl let out a huff of breath, reminding herself she was now years ahead of those times.
"None of that prepares you for actually becoming one." Pearl shifted to look Legundo full on. "I know you studied a lot about vampires when we first met in Oakhurst. Trying to get as much information as you could to make a cure. But I bet it didn't prepare you at all for when you actually got turned."
Legundo brought his hands up to grab at his arms, his good eye darting off to the side. "I wasn't prepared to turn at all. It wasn't an option I ever wanted to consider."
"I know," Pearl spoke with a sad smile. "But even if you had been able to choose, I doubt you'd really know what you were getting into until it was too late. Cleo had a bit of a struggle too. They spent eighty years seeing how vampirism affected others in their life. Didn't mean they knew exactly what it was going to be like when it was their turn."
"I appreciate the talk, Pearl, but I'm not really sure how this is supposed to make me feel better."
"I'm just trying to tell you you're not alone, and we're all here to help you out with whatever may come." She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
Legundo let out a small chuckle. "Everyone seems to be really intent on telling me that."
"You seem to need the reminder quite a lot." Pearl laughed back.
They enjoyed a small moment of mirth before Legundo shifted in his seat. "You know, there's actually something I've been wondering about."
"Oh?"
"How did you become a werewolf?" He raised his hands upwards in a placating gesture soon after the question left his mouth. "That is, if you don't mind me asking."
Pearl gave him a look of surprise. "I honestly thought I'd told you about that already. Guess I didn't."
"I didn't know if it was a sensitive subject, so I just never tried bringing it up."
"Oh, it's been a long time now," Pearl waved her hand. "A long time for me, anyways."
"After Oakhurst, when it was just me and Cleo left behind, I agreed to be turned. I didn't want to leave Cleo trapped here forever. And truthfully, I didn't want to leave her so soon either. Eternity is pretty awful to spend all alone. Anyways, they tried to turn me, but I messed up. You see, my family had this sort of....morbid tradition. In order to put ourselves on equal footing with werewolves, we would drink their blood. Not enough to turn, mind you. But I guess what wolf blood I still had in me didn't react well with the vampire venom. The two kind of duked it out in my bloodstream, and in the end, the wolf blood won. I've been a fullblooded werewolf since then."
"Oh, wow." Legundo said with wide eyes. "Pearl, I had no idea."
"It's alright," she smiled. "Like I said, it's been a long time. I've learned to adjust. It's actually not that bad either. I just feel bad for all the hunting I used to do with my family up till then."
"Did they...uh, do they know?"
Pearl shook her head. "Most of my family was dead by the time I came to Oakhurst. Those who remained weren't part of the uh, 'family business'."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's alright. If I have any family left, they probably think I died a long while ago. Besides, I have family here now." She looked over to a framed painting on the wall. The two figures stood side by side in dresses of white, arms around each other's shoulders and smiling wide.
Legundo smiled as well, genuine this time. He was glad his friends didn't have to navigate eternity alone.
"Okay!" Legundo clapped his hands together. "Let's try this again."
He was once again in a forest clearing with his two fledglings, now with Pearl at his side. She smiled and nodded to him, allowing him to take the lead while she simply observed and offered moral support. He was grateful for her presence, even if it wasn't necessary for the lesson.
"I did a little bit more research, and it turns out, some or even none of us might turn into bats. Obviously, we know I can't go bat anymore. Or, well, for now I can't. Doesn't mean you two will have the same form I did, though. So, we're just going to have to try and see what happens. And then we'll figure it out from there."
Vivian raised her hand. Legundo sighed and pointed at her. "Yes, Viv?"
"Have you always been a bear?"
Pearl immediately leaned forward, hands on knees, and let out a wheeze of laughter.
"Um, no?" Was Legundo's extremely confused answer. He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Just...concentrate on changing your form. Latching onto something small, like how you'd think having fur feels like, or maybe what flying might be like. It'll help you to shift."
Vivian nodded her head and closed her eyes. John soon copied her, eyebrows furrowed deep in concentration. Legundo stayed silent as fur sprouted out from both his fledglings, not wanting to interrupt or break their focus.
John's black suit began to morph into brown, downy fur. White patches grew from his throat and chest while his face began to narrow down into a lupine form. His ears widened out and moved to the top of his head, tall and pointed into perfect triangles. When he opened his eyes again, he was a coyote with dusty golden fur.
Vivian quickly shrank in size, large masses of her body flying off in the form of small bats. This was a transformation Legundo had seen many times over, albeit much slower. Vivian's own form was still shrinking, hidden behind the cloud of bats now protecting her shape from prying eyes. When they finally dispersed, a larger bat with pale reddish fur sat demurely in the grass.
Legundo smiled over both of them. "Congratulations! You just did your first bat shifting! Well, coyote in your case, John."
John wagged his tail while Vivian squeaked with a wide grin. At the tiny sound, John stuck his nose right into Vivian's face. The bat eagerly took the opportunity to climb upwards onto the coyote's head. Legs could feel both of their elation and pride over the bond he shared with them. Slowly, it was replaced by a feeling of uncertainty. Both fledglings looked back to him, unable to voice the questions they had.
It took only a few seconds for Legundo to realize what they wanted to know. "Oh, right. Changing back works pretty much the same way, but this form doesn't last for very long either. It should wear off in about an hour at the longest. In the meantime, why don't the two of you explore for a bit? Vivian, you can practice flying and John, uh, just run around I guess?"
He barely managed to finish his words before the two were already racing for the woods. Vivian easily lifted skyward and darted into the trees, while John slunk into the underbrush, blending in with the shadows.
Pearl looked over to Legundo, a smile on her face. "You know, you could join them."
"I...yeah, I guess I could."
"You need the practice just as much as they do."
"Yeah yeah, I know." He ran a hand through his hair. "It's just...."
"Different?"
"Yeah," he chuckled. "A lot different. I don't even know what a regular bear does."
Pearl shrugged her shoulders. "What any forest critter does, really. Eat, sleep, rinse and repeat."
Legundo grimaced. "That sounds really boring when you put it that way."
"An animal's life only gets exciting when they have to fight for their survival. Which I doubt they ever try to seek out."
"Fair enough." He let out a sigh and shook his head. "Well, guess I better follow after them. Make sure they don't scare the local wildlife too bad."
Pearl grinned wolfishly. "Could make it into a game of tag."
"Game of tag-?" Barely the question escaped him and Pearl had slapped him down on the shoulder.
"You're it!" She shouted over her shoulder as she ran off. As she crossed the threshold into the tree line, Legundo saw her form begin to warp and shift into her werewolf form.
He let out a bark of laughter, then bounded forward. The shift happened upon him more quickly this time around. He fell forward onto heavy paws and pushed his way through the foliage, the bulk of his form unhindered despite his size. He could easily catch onto the scents of John, Vivian, and Pearl with his nose. With a playful attitude he didn't often find himself with, Legundo gave into the chase.
Thanks to Derpyxlove for this hilarious meme that made me absolutely lose it in Legundo's discord server
And here's some random doodles that I think I posted on tumblr at some point but I frankly can't remember
One of my first drawing of V!legs, although I draw him a bit differently now. Mainly how I draw his hair as less uniform
Only drawing I've made so far of v!Legs and uhcg!Loony hanging out. I need to draw them both more
v!legs after first being turned :]
GIVE ME MORE WEREWOLF WOMEN WHO LOOK LIKE MONSTERS AND NOT WOMAN WITH WOLF EARS AND A TAIL!!!!!
My favorite BDG quote :]