Little House in the Woods [Kaelan]

[Sonja Gwen Kane]

It was such a nice day; it would be a shame to waste it. The air was crisp and awake yet the sun was high and bright. And Gwen had the day off; she was going to make the most of it. She had abandoned the city for something far more rural, which she enjoyed so much more, even as much as she liked to be around people. It had been especially rewarding to ride through the (brief) countryside on her motorcycle, the wind in the hair that was not held down by her helmet. She hadn't even gotten cold since she always rode with her thick leather jacket on. Safety first, as her father had taught her.

Once she'd gotten a good ways out of the city, she'd just kept driving until somewhere caught her eye. This forest had been the first real intriguing thing she'd come upon. It looked clam in there, sort of dark but comforting in a way, the way the tree branches hung down and made paths between their thick trunks. It was a great place to go exploring, though she did so only with the added precaution of her revolver, the one that her father had given her. She even had extra ammo, though she told herself that was only in case she wanted to practice shooting targets, not for any sort of real emergency, that would just sort of ruin her day.

Perhaps foolishly, she left her bike parked by the edge of the woods, off the side of the road, thinking that it would be too hard to steal the vehicle without the keys since it was so heavy. And if something did happen to it, she'd have to walk all the way home. She'd beat herself over the head with a pan for being so stupid if that happened.

This thought never crossed her mind, and so she went into the forest without any worries. She got at least a mile in before she saw anything really interesting. The light was quite spare in there now and it took her a while to get her eyes adjusted to it to that she wouldn't start bumping into tree trunks, which were huge, or whacking her head on branches. She had stopped at the time her eyes started failing her to keep from doing anything stupid and just looked around. After she began moving again, she came upon the strangest thing; a cabin in the middle of the trees.

The structure had stopped any trees from growing in that space, so there was a good amount of sunlight shining on its roof, though little of that light actually reached the ground because trees had grown tight around the building, claiming that land that they could without actually taking root inside of the cabin. Not at all thinking that such an old house could possibly have any sort of resident, she wrenched open the front door without a care, curious as to what was beyond the weathered wood.

As she had thought, the cabin was totally empty, there wasn't a single item of furniture to be seen. Wondering what, if anything, was in the other room, Gwen stepped fully into the building, stopping when she heard a very loud crack as her foot landed on the house's planked floor. That sort of sound was never a good. Carefully, she backed out of the cabin to get her feet onto the leave strewn ground, feeling that it was much safer there. She might be a little silly sometimes, but not enough to risk her life exploring some dilapidated old home, despite her intense desire to do so.

Oh well, she could look around the outside. Slowly, she moved around to the side of the building, looking up at its roof and down its side as she moved, barely registering the trees and bushes that she stepped around to keep from tripping. Her eyes settled on a window high above her, wondering what was in there since everything beyond its glass was shrouded by complete blackness. Her mind immediately started shifting the to thoughts of ghosts and witches, all hiding out in the shadows that her poor eyesight couldn't penetrate. Crack! Gwen yelped softly, swinging around to see what it was and suddenly wishing that she was back with her bike. But she couldn't quite move, her bod wouldn't let her until she knew hat had caused that noise.

[Kaelan Abrams]

"When everything's made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am."

This was ridiculous, utterly stupid in fact. Those were his only thoughts as he traversed through the woods, dodging branches and tree roots. There was no telling what was going on in these woods, if anything. But his new client had demanded he investigate, claiming that people had disappeared and been spotted just before disappearing into the woods. But the trees were so thick that it made any sort of search and rescue impossible. Kaelan’s felt a slow rising grumble fill his stomach as he watched a blue bird flutter off, and realized he hadn’t eaten in awhile. Oh well, it would have to wait until he was done with this investigation. Maybe he’d grab a steak from one of those fancy restaurants in Clerkenwell. It’d been awhile sense he’d eaten out.

Something about looking another person in the eye and telling them you wanted your steak in the rarest of ways possible just felt wrong. It made him remember that he was painstakingly inhuman. Sometimes it was easy to forget his more animalistic nature, wrapped up in work or playing with Buck. But it was always there, gnawing in the back of his mind, reminding him that he was different. A lot of people, especially in London, were werewolves. Even knowing that fact it was a hard thing to deal with.

Attempting to focus back on the task before him, he once again descended deeper into the woods. He let out a low curse as he stumbled and nearly tripped over the trunk of a small fallen tree. So much for paying attention to his surroundings, huh? It wasn’t long before he came upon what looked to be an abandoned house. Looking in through the windows confirmed that thought.

“A house this far into the woods?...” He couldn’t help but feel like something was off about the area and maybe his client wasn't the complete idiot that Kael had first pegged him for. Walking around to the side of the house, he decided to shift into his wolf form, knowing the amplification of his senses would help. Once he’d pulled of his white buttoned up shirt and blue jeans, he proceeded to remove the rest of his garments before his face changed into one of determination and focus. A growl of pain ripped through his clenched teeth as his body started to twist and contort. The pain was something he didn’t ever think he would get used to. In about seven minutes, the change was complete and a new world surrounded him. The brown shaded wolf raised his snout in the air, giving it a big whiff. The smells of the world encompassed him, once again reminding him of his hunger. Pushing the thoughts aside, he turned his attention to the woods. He could smell a human, or what had been one recently, passing through the area. Following the smell, he abandoned his clothes just at the edge of the woods, on the side of the house.

His search had been in vain. There weren’t any bodied to suggest the possibility of murder, only the smells of others such as himself. Their canine scent was easy enough to recognize in this form. The wolf shook his head frustratingly as he moved back towards the cabin to get his clothes, disappointed that he wouldn’t have anything to report to his client.

Kaelan was so wrapped up in his own thoughts, that he didn’t pick up on the scent of another, or at least not until his massive form hulked into the clearing for the cabin, stepping on a rotten log and causing it to crack under the weight of his paw. The wind picked up just right then, carrying the scent of her to his nostrils. Growl ripped from his throat before he could catch himself, out of defense or aggression he wasn’t sure but he’d instantly regretted it. Hazel eyes locked onto hers as they melted into a feature of friendliness. He didn’t smell others on her, which was a good sign that she wasn’t involved with the disappearances. And the last thing he wanted to do was scare the girl, which he had probably already done.

He lazily opened his mouth and then closed it once more, showing her he obviously couldn’t speak but wasn’t just some dumb animal. Then quickly backed up into the woods, disappearing in the darkened brush. He had to get to his clothes, preferring not to transform in front of her naked.

ooc; yuck, that was icky. >< Sorry, wasn't sure how to approach her. Then I remembered if he just stood there he'd get shot. xD

[Sonja Gwen Kane]

Oh no, not a wolf. Gwen's heart dropped right down into her stomach and she pressed herself so tight to the side of the building that she imagined that she could disappear right through the wall into the safety of the house if she tried hard enough. That didn't turn out to be the fact as she still found herself staring, terrified, at the huge animal that was not that far from her. What was she going to do? Oh god, it was going to eat her, rip out her throat without a thought.

Her mind finally remembered that she a weapon on her. In her frightened state however, it was difficult to start moving toward pulling out her gun. After what felt like a few minutes, though it had been seconds, of gazing at the animal, she crammed her hand down around the handle of her revolver and fumbled it out of its holster. She was at least able to get her finger around the firearm's trigger and lift it to the wolf's height. It didn't register that the animal was looking at her in such a kind and inviting manner, all she saw were its teeth, which were enough to scare the life out of her.

"Go!" she yelled at it in a cracking voice, even as the animal started to turn around. "Out!" She screamed again, only her voice was stronger this time. She imagined that her commands had worked because the creature was indeed leaving her alone, but just to be safe...

BANG!

The recoil of the gun made her shoulder smash painfully into the wood paneling behind her, but she didn't notice, more concerned that she might have hit the wolf. She'd have no such luck though, as she could tell she'd hit a tree instead, and far over the animal's head anyway. Now she was fearful that this would just piss the creature off and that it would come after her.

Since she'd gotten her arms and hands to work, she found it even easier to get her legs into motion and soon she was sprinting away from the cabin, her gun held loosely in one hand in case she needed it again. After a little while, she had to stop, heart racing even faster than it had been when she'd first seen that wolf, and her breath coming in short little gasps. Her body must have thought it funny to deprive her of adrenaline just when she needed it.

Leaning heavily against a tree, Gwen tried to catch her breath, bending over and reaching her arms over her head. She just hoped that beast wouldn't find her yet! She only needed to get back to her bike and she would be fine, but that still seemed so far away. Perhaps she should have gone after the animal and actually shot it, killed it personally, so that she wouldn't have to deal with this ridiculous chase.

The soft crunch of leaves announced the presence of someone/something behind her and she quickly lifted her gun to whatever it was coming. If it was that wolf running toward her she was going to blow its head off, though it would unlikely that she would make it in one shot, considering how badly her hands were shaking.

[Kaelan Abrams]

"When everything's made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am."

The tone of her voice told him she was fearful of him, but it hadn’t taken a rocket scientist to figure that out. He heard the sound of the gunshot resonate behind him and the noise helped kick him into gear. Maybe he’d been wrong and she was involved in the disappearing. Or maybe, she’d just had the daylights scared out of her by a five-foot tall wolf. Before he could reach his clothing he was already shifting back into his human form.

It always felt like the pain of shifting back towards his human form lasted much longer then the other way around, but he’d always shrugged it off as a higher pain tolerance. As he was shifting he heard her foot steps take off into the woods, fleeing the scene. Walking and shifting was damn near impossible but somehow he’d managed it by the time he’d reached his clothes. Snatching up his boxers, he through them on along with his jeans. Jumping into his tennis shoes, he didn’t even bother putting on his shirt before making a mad dash around the house and into the woods.

Kaelan flung his shirt around his shoulders but didn’t even attempt to button it as he ran wildly through the woods after the girl. Endurance was luckily one of his stronger points and it didn’t seem like long before he’d caught up to her. Bringing himself to a slow jog and then down to a walk, he contemplated the best way to approach the situation. Obviously just walking in on top of her didn’t work, as he’d successfully scared the hell out of her once already and that had been enough for one day. The cop in him wanted to know what she was doing around the cabin while all he really wanted to do was make sure he hadn’t shaken her up to bad.

Hazel eyes grimaced at the sight of the gun and instinctively he held his hands up, as if he were under arrest. “Hey…look…um…” Oh great, they were off to a perfect start. With a gun aimed at him it was a little difficult to work out any coherent sentences. If she was as scared as he figured she was, her hand might slip from shaking and he could get shot anyway. Even though he was pretty sure it would take more then one bullet too kill him unless it was to his head, but he’d rather not feel that pain again. Suddenly he became conscious of the jagged scar on his bare chest, massive wolf claw marks closely aligned with his heart. But he new the sudden movement of closing his shirt would only jolt her more.

“My name is Kaelan. Kaelan Abrams. I’m a private investigator; if you check my back pocket you’ll see my badge. Look, I’m sorry. I know I scared you back there…that wasn’t my intent.” his voice trailed off, unsure of how to continue as he stared down the barrel of a gun.

[Sonja Gwen Kane]

Staring at the man that slowly approached her now, Gwen readjusted the aim of her gun so it was right at his chest, though it shifted a little in either direction at the discrepancy of her shaking hand. For a split second she had thought that this was wonderful, a man come to save her! But then she saw the huge scars across his chest and recognized the color of his hair and understood. Fucking werewolf! It made her all the more afraid of him. Wolves were strong and ferocious; the gun would be of much help now.

Despite him being human looking, despite being able to see his toned chest, despite the cute face, Gwen couldn't get her mind away from her fear or her slight prejudice toward him already. He hadn't attacked her earlier, he had turned the other way, but he might just be trying to get her comfortable around him so that he could kill her with more ease. Well, she was not about to let that happen, she had more sense in her head!

“Hey…look…um…”

The woman remained silent, plastering a brave, determined look as she stared him down, still trying to catch her breath and rapidly blinking her eyes to get her contacts to refocus. She could feel herself still shaking, yet she ignored it. She didn't care what he thought of right then; she had the gun and all he had were his hands and bare flesh, let him try and do anything.

“My name is Kaelan... I know I scared you back there…that wasn’t my intent.”

Gwen bared her teeth. If he hadn't wanted to scare then he would have been more careful about walking right up to her. How was a humongous wolf staring you down supposed to make you feel? Excited? Well perhaps in a very negative way, sure.

Unsure as to what to say herself, Gwen stayed silent, staring at him and hoping that the gun said enough. She waited for a minute or so, but he still didn't move. Damn him, leave already! "Why don't you just," she started, pausing to take a deep breath before continuing. "get out of here? I'll promise not to shoot you if you just let me," she took another breath, "get back to my bike."

It didn't seem to register with her that he had mentioned that he was a P.I., meaning that he would probably have a gun on his person as well and that shooting him could land her some serious jail time. She was merely concerned with getting him away from her and getting home in one piece, without having a wolf scratch her up. And she was thinking that she could stand running again, her breath coming back under control and her eyes becoming focused again, though her hair would be a problem, since it kept falling in her eyes. Even now, locks of dark hair were obscuring her vision, but she didn't dare move them in case she got distracted.

[Kaelan Abrams]

"When everything's made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am."

Why don’t you just get out of here? I’ll promise not to shoot you if you just let me get back to my bike. She was still afraid of him, not that he blamed her. Her deep breaths alone reminded him of how scared he’d made her. A smarter Kaelan would have walked away, maybe an older and wiser one. But he couldn’t, not after the way he’d startled her. There was no way he’d be able to walk away at this point, knowing how frightened she was of him. Hazel eyes once again fell to the gun in her shaking hands. From experience alone he would tell she was aiming at his chest and he frowned slightly. He’d been shot there once before and it had burned like hell for a week.

Kaelan almost wished he’d brought his glock with him. Normally he never brought it out on investigations when he knew he would probably be shifting like this. A wolf had no use for a gun and he hated the idea of leaving it with his clothes for someone to find. But it wasn’t like if he had it he would actually be using it right now. Pulling out his gun would only frighten the girl more. One again he tried to speak, focusing on making his voice as calm as possible.

“I can’t. Not after I scared you like that, I’d feel horrible. I am sorry I scared you. I wasn’t paying attention and walked right into that clearing.” It wasn’t a very good excuse, but he was being honest. Had he been paying attention, he wouldn’t have ever appeared to her, well at least not in his wolf form. “I didn’t hurt you then and I wont hurt you now. I promise. I help people, protect them. I don't hurt them.” He might not be human. He might be a monster in the terms of some. But damn it, he had his ethics and he had his morals. Hurting innocent people wasn’t one of them that was for sure. Unconsciously, he shifting his weight nervously from one foot to the other and sighed, thinking about how gruesome he probably looked with those scars. Sure it did nothing to make him appear more friendly.

How did he always manage to get into these situations? Silently, he wondered what Buck would do if he never came back home? If he got shot and left for dead in these foreign woods, would Buck be alright? Hazel eyes fluttered up from the gun to meet the woman’s eyes, she seemed to be composing herself a little more. It was worth a try right?

“Let me make it up to you. Please?”

[Sonja Gwen Kane]

Gwen felt herself growing calmer and calmer as the man spoke, watching the way he stood, shifting nervously from foot to foot. Her was a wolf, why should be nervous? She knew enough about these creatures to know that it took a lot to kill them and that one little bullet wouldn't do the job unless it was expertly aimed. By no stretch of the imagination was she an expert. Novice, maybe, but no expert.

"....I help people, protect them. I don't hurt them.”

So he wanted her to think that he was one of the good guys? Well, if he worked for the cops like he said, than perhaps he was. But if he worked for one of those curropted underground organizations she'd heard about, then she wasn't going to trust him any farther than she could throw him, and of course, that was not far at all. Even if he worked for D.O.G.S, she wasn't about to give him anymore trust. D.O.G.S. was no better than any other hidden organization.

Her eyes shifted for a moment to those scars on his chest, wondering how he'd gotten them. Obviously, they'd been from his turning into a wolf, since it was very unlikely that any regular human could live with that trauma, and that knowledge did a little to take about the factor of fright she had of him, knowing that he'd gone through that and not come out crazy... as far as she could tell.

“Let me make it up to you. Please?”

Make it up to her? How was he going to do that? Buy her dinner? Ha, fat chance! However, he was making an effort to get her to stop being so... paranoid. Did he think her paranoid? No, probably not, he wouldn't think that she was reasonable then.

Slowly, she took a few steps toward him, trusting that her legs would support her even if they felt a bit like jello. Her gun shifted its position as she moved, moving from aiming at his chest to between his legs, probably a bigger threat to him in the long run. "Let me see your badge," she said, stopping a ways from him. She was now close enough so that if both of them stretched their arms out, their fingers would barely touch. They were close enough to where something could be handed off but not near enough that Gwen wouldn't have any time to react with her gun if she needed to.

[Kaelan Abrams]

"When everything's made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am."

He stood there for a long moment, waiting for her to say something. After what seemed like an eternity, she asked for his badge. Maybe they were finally getting somewhere but for some reason he doubted that. Hazel eyes glanced at the slightly lowered gun and he could help but feel as if things were progressing positively. As he lowered his hands, he slowly reached into his back pocket. The black flip case was easily tugged from his jeans but when he pulled it, he also pulled out a picture and note from his previous client. Quickly grabbing it from the ground, he shoved it back into his pocket. He turned once more to face the woman, holding the badge gently towards her as he flipped it open with his finger, briefly reading the words written on the gold colored medal. Licensed International Private Investigator and Detective Kaelan Abrams

He glanced at the United States Driver License across from it and silently made a note to put his new one in there as soon as he got home. Wouldn't do any good for people to think he still lived in the States at this point. Once he’d handed it off to her, he turned his attention back towards himself. Arms rose slightly as he began to button his shirt, confident in the fact he wasn’t about to get shot. Well, as confident as one could be with a gun still aimed at them. Kaelan hated the fact that he hadn’t looked more into being a Private Investigator here opposed to back home when he moved to London. Continuing his police career probably would have been easier, and he didn’t even know how much sway a P.I. even had here.

He did help with the occasional missing persons and murder cases the cops through his way, he mostly just stuck to his own agenda, as his badge said. For some reason, he didn’t think London authority would take kindly to him prosecuting werewolves as well as vampires. And both of them were a source of crime in this city. And he’d heard of some D.O.G.S. organization he felt questionable on. But with any type of government, he knew there was corruption.

Once his shirt was buttoned up and his scars closed off to the world once more, he turned to look back at her. “See? I’m not going to hurt you.” While he still couldn't really tell if she believed him or not, he hoped she did. He didn’t raise his hands back up over his head again, but instead kept them at his sides.

[Sonja Gwen Kane]

As Kaelan dropped his arms, she followed his right hand as it went to his back pocket ready to shoot if was up to anything, like pulling out a knife or his own gun. All he had in his hand when he held it back up was a little booklet, though he'd dragged something else out with it, which fell at his feet. Apparently, he didn't want her to see what it was as he quickly bent to snatch it up. His fast movement coaxed Gwen to raise her revolver and snarl softly, ready to shot if he was using this to disguise yanking out his own firearm. However, he merely placed the papers back into his pocket and stood straight and still as before, though he now held out the booklet to her.

She reached out and snatched the booklet from his fingers, doing her best not to touch his own hand. Her attention was not yet on the badge though, watching him closely as he slowly buttoned up his shirt. Only when he was done with that did she look down at the gold badge, reading it then turning to the driver's license next to it, one from the US and barely expired. His accent finally made sense to her. She didn't know why she hadn't been able to place it earlier... Oh right, she'd be scared out of her fucking mind.

“See? I’m not going to hurt you.”

Gwen looked up at him, frowning slightly. She flipped the booklet shut then held it out for him to take, dropping her hand once he did. For a while, she stared at him, keeping her gun up, not quite willing to let her guard down just yet. Her eyes moved over his face a few times then down his body, looking for any sign that he was just waiting for her to put her gun down so that he could pounce, pun definitely intended. She saw none.

With a sigh, the woman slowly dropped her revolver down and tucked it away in its hostler, though she left her shirt slightly hiked up on that one side so the the gun handle was easy to access. She then tucked her hands into her jacket pockets, left hand curling around her keys, making them jingle slightly as they hit each other. Again, she just stared at him for a while, waiting for him to leave her alone. Why didn't he move? Any sane person would have run when faced with the threat of a bullet to the chest or balls, but not him. She supposed it was a good thing was so pretty, or he'd already have a hole in his torso.

"You're not going to leave me alone now, are you?" she asked, voice sounding annoyed, not hopeful. She knew he wouldn't, she just wanted to confirm it. He was clearly one of those people that always had to fix up anything they felt they did wrong, he was a person that liked to help, even when their help wasn't appreciated. She could handle those sort of people every once and a while, she actually appreciated, but at the moment, she'd prefer it if he just left.

"Why were you walking around as a wolf anyway?" she then asked, pulling her jacket closer around her as if to protect herself. "There's no blood on you, so you weren't hunting." As far as she saw it, that was the only reason a werewolf ever changed; for food. Sure, he could have just been walking around and having a nice time as an animal, but that didn't stick with her 'wolves are [sort of] evil' philosophy.

[Kaelan Abrams]

"When everything's made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am."

As he reached out and took his badge from her, a strangled sigh worked its way from his throat. She hadn’t said anything since she’d looked at the badge but he hoped it had done something to ease her mind, to let her know he wasn’t just going to pounce on her and maul her to death. Obviously it had done something because she tucked the gun away, and he instantly felt a bit more relaxed. Mind reeled with thoughts of the situation and he honestly felt bad for scaring her. He couldn’t hide the genuine smile that had appeared on his lips from her words though. You’re not going to leave me alone now, are you? She was annoyed with him, which that much was evident in her tone. But annoyance was a much easier thing to deal with then fear. With a curt shake of his head, he turned to respond.

“Probably not. I’m sorry.” He really didn’t know what he could do to make it up to her. The situation had spiraled out of control so quickly and for some reason, he felt that sort of thing seemed to happen to him an awful lot. In trying to make it up to her, he’d could only make it worse. The question was, when to just accept it and move forward. Kaelan always seemed to stumble in that area.

Her next words caught him off guard, and his features probably showed it. Since he’d thought they had moved past the conversation of him being a werewolf, he had to figure out how to word his response, worried that he might word his words incorrectly and make the situation worse.

“Well… I was hunting in a sense I guess, just not for food. There have been reports of some disappearances out in these woods. My client noticed the disappearances only when his daughter vanished. At first I thought maybe she was just some seventeen-year-old kid, exploring the world on her own. But…she’s been missing for about a three weeks. I can smell better and hear better in my wolf form. I was hoping to find something out here…” but he hadn’t. Her scent hadn’t been anywhere near the cabin, though there were a lot of them surrounding it. He figured it might be where some of the people did disappear. He’d come back to it later with someone else. Better to work something like that with someone else watching your back.

“Anyway, what about you?” It was bold, he admitted, but he was curious as to why she was in the middle of the woods. “The disappearances have been kind of kept under wrap against my better judgment. It seems the local law enforcement would rather act like nothing is wrong. Its dangerous out here,” realizing he was probably saying the wrong thing, he decided he should say something else, motioning to her gun, “But not that you can’t take care of yourself of course.” She might have been able to wound then enough to get away….if there weren’t multiple opponents.

“How about I at least walk you back to your car?”

ooc; Sorry its so late! ><

[Sonja Gwen Kane]

OOC: It's okay ^_^

“Probably not. I’m sorry.”

Gwen only frowned back at Kaelan’s smile, finding this much less amusing than he probably did. And why would he say sorry? If he really was, wouldn’t he just let up and leave her alone? She guessed not. He felt too guilty to her off without knowing that she didn’t harbor any bad feelings toward him anymore. She wasn’t too sure that he could get her to like him though, no matter how hard she tried, coz she just didn’t really like supernaturals as a general rule. One wolf wasn’t going to change her mind in a few hours or less.

However, the girl was a bit amused by the look that crossed her face at her asking him about his walking about in the woods. She listened to his response only half-interested. It was sad that a girl had gone missing and it was very possible that her dead body was out here, but that sort of thing happened so often that she had become used to it. The thing that got her was the slight bit of disappointment she could hear in his voice. Though that was quickly forgotten.

“Anyway, what about you?”

Gwen assumed that this was only a fair question to ask, seeing how odd it was for anyone to be out here. Yet, she didn’t really want to tell him and felt that she didn’t owe him an explanation, with him creeping up on her and everything. She didn’t care that he’d done it by accident. He should have just run off, not follow her and scare her even more than she had been. He’d frightened her enough to actually shoot her gun for the first time in months, and all the times before that had been at paper target. Damn this wolf, trying to get to know her, to seem like less of a threat. She would engage him though, it wasn’t as if she had anything else to do today.

Shifting her weight onto her other hip and moving her jacket so it lay closer around her chest, she smiled a bit smugly over at the man at his saying that being out here was dangerous. If a person couldn’t handle dangerous, it was likely that they wouldn’t last long around here, especially when that someone didn’t have the money to hire big men to follow them around and keep them safe. Apparently, Kaelan did recognize this, saying: “But not that you can’t take care of yourself of course.”

“Mm, obviously,” she sniffed softly, her nose feeling cold and glanced away before continuing. “As for why I’m out here…” She shrugged softly. “I guess I just wanted to go on a walk.” To her, that sounded pretty stupid, but she would let him make of it what he would.

“How about I at least walk you back to your car?”

Gwen’s eyebrows shot up a little at this. She’d sort of expected him to simply follow her without asking. “I suppose,” she sighed, pulling her hands out of her leather jacket to zip it up. “I don’t own a car though, it’s a bike.” With a half dismissive, half curious look over at the wolf, she turned away from him to make her way back out of the woods, positive that she was heading in the right direction since she could see that the light that was getting lighter and lighter. It’d be nice to be back in the sun, as much as she liked the shade, it had taking on a creepier feeling for her.

[Kaelan Abrams]

"When everything's made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am."

He listened to her explanation and felt a frown trying to form on his features. For a moment he thought about telling her once again how dangerous these woods were rumored to be, but decided against it. After all, it seemed like the kind of thing that would only piss this girl off more. Kaelan was happy to not have the gun pointed at him any longer, he wasn’t about to give her a reason to whip it back out and actually use it.

Half expecting her to say he couldn’t walk her back, he was surprised at her response. Even if she had said no Kaelan fully intended to make sure she made it back alright, whether it was from a distance or not. It also surprised him that she wasn’t in a car, but on a bike, though it shouldn’t have because she’d mentioned it before. He’d just forgotten. For a moment he wondered if she met a bicycle but somehow judging from her appearance he guessed it wasn’t. “Thank you.” His words were soft and genuine, trying to convey how appreciative he was that she was allowing him to walk her to her ride at least.

Once she turned and started heading towards the brighter end of the forest, Kaelan quickly moved to walk beside her. He didn’t want her to think he would pounce on her from behind, as she seemed to have a bit of grudge against him. And rightfully so after the way he scared her before.

“I really am sorry about before. I wish there was something I could do to make it up to you…” He was going to say her name, but realized he didn’t even know it. Not wanting to seem rude, he decided against asking and instead he just continued walking towards the edge of the woods.

ooc; Sorry its late, short, and crap. >.-'

[Sonja Gwen Kane]

(( Hmm, this would be a lot more fun if somebody got hurt… ^_^ ))

”Thank you.”

Gwen almost snorted softly at his words, but then she only gave him a slight glare. Thank you for what exactly? For the most part, she had only allowed him to walk her back so that she could keep an eye on him and so that he wouldn’t run up behind her and tackle her to the ground or something. Perhaps that was being a bit paranoid on her part, but paranoia had kept her alive as long as she’d been, so she wasn’t going to let up on it.

Now, as they started their walk toward the edge of the forest, the woman crossed her arms, keeping her chin up and her eyes fixed ahead of her, ignoring the man walking right next to her. Her eyes only shifted to look at him when he spoke. “I really am sorry about before. I wish there was something I could do to make it up to you…” She turned her head a little to look him full in the eyes before looking away again, biting the inside of her lip. So he really, really did want to make this up to her then. Well, she wasn’t sure how he would do that since she didn’t want him near her at the moment, or ever again for that matter. And she was sure he wouldn’t be content with just leaving her alone. She’d have to think of something eventually, maybe she’d ask for a puppy…

After a short silence, she spoke up, tilting her head a little to look over at him again. “Sonja,” she said, feeling that it was at least polite to give him something to call her. Most people she met got her full name, meaning Sonja Gwen Kane, and they could choose what to call her, though she usually asked to be called Gwen. But if someone pissed her off they either never got a name, or they only got Sonja, since that was what her dad would call her when she had pissed him off. With a dismissive half shrug, she shifted her eyes back to the trees in front of her, to keep from bumping into any and to not have to look at the man beside her, still feeling rather upset with him. A slight movement off to the right caught her attention and she looked around. Damn squirrels she thought, following the line she thought she’d seen the creature follow up a tree. With a shake of her head, she pulled out her gloves to pull them on, just to have something to do while they continued to walk. How far had she gone from the road?

[Kaelan Abrams]

"When everything's made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am."

The surprise was evident in his features at her admission, but quickly removed it. So her name was Sonja. He hadn’t honestly expected her to tell him but was pleasantly surprised when she had. And for a moment, it seemed like such a long time sense he’d carried on a normal conversation with anyone other then Buck, his dog. Not that the conversation before him was normal by any means, but it was nice to have another human to respond too. But then that thought reminded him painfully that he wasn’t human.

“Well Sonja,” he started but stopped quickly, hearing something move towards the right of them. When Sonja looked around them, he knew he wasn’t imagining it. After all, these woods weren’t the safest place to be. Since moving here he’d heard of several bodies found in its midst. The soreness from his shift earlier was starting to set into his bones and he had a horrible case of exhaustion creeping in. His body tensed up, as if awaiting them to be attacked. Hazel eyes scanned the area around them constantly as they continued to walk towards the woods edge. His voice was no louder then a whisper as he stepped closer to Sonja. “Get your-“

The words hadn’t been out of his mouth for more then a split second when he saw something rush at them from the brush. His eyes barely took in the shape of the wolf before a snarl reached his ears just as the weight of it collided against him. Teeth barred into his right shoulder and Kaelan growled in pain as the blood began to seep through his white buttoned up shirt. From the size of the wolf, he figured it was possibly a were. A were with the intent to kill anything it could get its teeth on. Or maybe it was just a stray wolf, who really knew? Kaelan’s hands were around its neck, holding its head away from his own neck. With teeth bared in his face and spit falling on his chest, he really didn’t have time to look away from the wolfs face. The whole time Kaelan’s mind was reeling on how to protect the girl near him while his arm was about to give out from pain. He couldn’t shift for a couple of reasons. One was he was too exhausted from his previous shit and the other was it would take to long. They’d both be dead before he was done.

Kaelan shifted beneath the wolf and rammed his knee into its torso, successfully making it fall off of him. Quickly getting to his feet, he winced as the pain from his shoulder intensified. If he got out of this, he was going to take a vacation. The wolf snarled and growled, before reading himself to pounce again. Kaelan cursed himself for working without his own gun. He moved to position himself between Sonja and the wolf, using his eyes to convey that the wolf would have to go through him to get to her. “Sonja, get out of here.”

ooc; crappeh -_-

[Sonja Gwen Kane]

((Any post is a good post ^_^ ))

“Well Sonja,”

She looked up expectantly at this, ready enough to talk to him since she was starting to let her anger toward him ebb a little bit. Apparently though, he was distracted by that noise they had both just heard and he was staring off into the woods where she had thought she had seen a squirrel. “I don’t think there’s anything-“ But he cut her off when he stepped closer and spoke. “Get your-”

The girl was about to ask what was up as he stopped speaking so suddenly but she had only opened her mouth when a giant furry back came into her view, pushing Kaelan out of the way. A short, startled squeal left her and she quickly clapped her hands over her mouth, sure that screaming would be the worst possible thing that she could do at the moment. She reeled back a pace or two, trying to get her gun out of her pocket, yet it was difficult when her hands were shaking and gloved.

“Fuck,” she muttered as her weapon dropped from her pocket to the leafy ground. She was bending down to pick it up when it seemed to hit her that she was now in the presence of two wolves. The worst of it was that one of them was absolutely bent on hurting someone, or something, and the other one didn’t have much to defend himself, let alone the human he had scared half to death earlier. Well, now she was scared almost to death, but Kaelan should be glad that it wasn’t his fault now.

While the two creatures continued to battle for control of the situation, Gwen finally snatched up her revolver then stood straight again. Doing her best to keep her shaking legs under control, she ripped her gloves from her hands, transferring the gun from hand to hand so she could do so. She tried not to look at either the man or animal as she did so that she wouldn’t lose her nerve and break down, making her useless. She didn’t really want to admit it, but she was very concerned for Kaelan at that instant, and not just because he was the only thing right now keeping that murderous beast away from her.

When she looked back up from her gun, holding it securely in one hand now, the man had managed to get himself untangled from the wolf’s grasp, though not without from painful looking wounds. “Sonja, get out of here.”

The girl glanced at him, jaw clenched as she tried hard to keep her emotions and thoughts under control, but she didn’t do as he said, she only took a few steps back. She stopped and braced herself, raising her weapon, which was shaking softly, to aim over Kaelan’s shoulder at the wolf. The animal growled at the two of them and crouched low to the ground, shifting its feet as it did. Gwen knew that the beast would pounce any moment and if it did, it would bring the man down with it. She aimed her gun as best she could and took a sharp breath, squeezing the trigger at the same time.

The werewolf howled loudly and for a moment, she thought that she had been able to hit it somewhere fatal, but when she lowered her gun to look, she saw that she’d only hit it in the leg. “Oh no,” she whimpered, backing up with her gun held tight in one hand, not willing to lose it. The creature had started to stalk around the man in front of her, clearly more interested at taking out its rage on the one who had injured it. “Kaelan,” she moaned, pleading for help. She knew she couldn’t aim and shoot before that creature was on her, she would have to run.