someone cut the lights off please

Kalle wasn't running.  If he'd been running, that would make him a coward.  He's not a fucking coward, he's just... clearing his head.  Getting some air.  The lifestyle was heavy, and so what if he didn't want to pick up his phone?  So what if he'd withdrawn too much cash and run off into for the woods for a little while?  Isn't that how you're supposed to cope?  Isn't that a healthy coping mechanism?  Especially when the alternative involved absolutely losing your shit and catching everyone you love in the crossfire?  Kalle has never been one for what they call coping skills and therapy.  Maybe that's how he ended up this way in the first place.  

So he'd been walking.  And walking.  And really, he was pretty sure things should have been getting more familiar by now.  He'd been camping here dozens of times, like his whole fucking childhood.  It had never looked quite like this before.  The leaves seemed to get deeper and deeper red the deeper he went.  It should be getting dark by now... oh yeah, there it was.  On the horizon, the sky beginning to turn.  Weird.  

Looking up at the trees for any sort of trail marker and not finding any, Kalle grumbled to himself.  How hard was it to keep the fucking trails marked?  Seemed like they were slacking on maintenance this far out, too.  Shit.  As he found the next trees parting around him, the man paused.  Squinted at the sky, at the trees.  He really was lost, huh? 

---

@Willa

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With the patience of a virtuous maiden, Willa lingered in the crimson-hued den, waiting for her beast to come home.

She waited and waited.

Until she grew bored and found herself unable to stay put anymore. Her continued fascination of the red canopy overhead pulled her forward and she found herself leaving the safety of their den.

As the girl ventured out, she found herself staring upwards, enjoying the low blanket of fog and clouds that covered the skies that bled with different hues, telling her that the day was almost coming to an end. There was a chill to the air that made her shiver and with each exhale, her breath trickled out like magical wisps.

Willa hummed quietly to herself, trotting along with a lil pep to her step, no real aim to her wanderings. She knew she didn’t want to stray too far from their spot but besides that, she had no real destination in mind. That is, until a figure, unfamiliar, was noticed off into the distance and without hesitation, she began to head towards it with a curious glimmer in her gaze.

Who was that? Another friend?

A smile spread across her speckled face and hurried steps spurned her forward and before too long, the girl was just close enough to be heard. Not wasting a moment, her words carried easily, soft but full of animation. “It’s so pretty here, isn’t it?”

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Lost in his own head.  Fuck, it's too loud up here.  He knows there's a warrant out.  A warrant.  For someone else's plants!  Can you imagine that.  Kalle should know better, why's he lying to himself?  Maybe the rock star lifestyle had caught up with him a little harder, a little faster than he'd anticipated.  Or wanted.  Or seen coming.  Fucking idiot.  It didn't matter.  He could afford lawyers, why was he so stressed?  He could afford to make this whole thing go away, other than the whole child support issue.  Another can of worms.  Maybe he was more fucked than he planned on being... it's fine.  There wasn't anything that enough greased palms couldn't fix.  

Truly and entirely lost in his own head, Kalle hadn't heard her approach.  Though he jumped, the man recovered quickly, letting a smile slip across his rugged features.  He lets the light hit his eyes, rolls his shoulders back-- it's show time after all.  Damn, if that wasn't the prettiest jump scare he'd ever gotten.  A long look as his gaze rests on her... no this was a dream.  That's not a girl that's a wolf, and he's one too.  Wait, had he ever seen a wolf carry its tail over its back like this?  Kalle gave it an experimental wag.  Fuck.  Did he slip and smack his head somewhere on this hike and forget about it?  

Kalle is pretty decided, now.  It's a dream.  There's a wolf talking him-- one that he thinks is pretty?  That would take some unpacking later, if he could even remember this when he woke up.  Dreaming... fuck, had he dreamt since he was a kid?  Whatever.  He'd enjoy it.  She looked so friendly, so optimistic.  Here... yeah, Kalle supposed this wasn't the wood that he'd left this morning.  This one is different, bleeding brightly, the leaves hanging high and crimson above his head.  "Pretty place for a pretty girl."  The words roll off his lips before he can stop them.  His tone is light, though his voice is resonant and brassy.  For a moment, he thinks about asking her if she knows the way back to the campsites, but he's still pretty sure this is a dream.  May as well stop worrying.  

"Never seen fall go this color before," the words are conversational, and Kalle's attention has shifted.  No longer on the maybe slightly unsettlingly red wood around them, now resting squarely on the nice girl.  After all, what was a nice girl like that doing in a place like this?  He can feel the tension, the strangeness that seems to hang in the air here.  How incredibly strange.  

---

@Willa

the staff team luvs u

Willa crept closer until she was a few feet away, her speckled face radiating with warmth and curiosity as she watched the stranger. He radiated with an energy that seemed to make the air thick with tension and her pulse spike she but didn’t waste time worrying about it.

Her ears pinned back when she noticed the way he jumped and she offered him an apologetic smile, her head dipping sheepishly. She hadn;t meant to scare him - she didn’t think anyone would even have been spooked by her. Maybe it was the forest? The man looked lost as is. Poor guy. She couldn’t help but feel bad for him and it made her take a step closer, her tail a low sway behind her.

’Pretty place for a pretty girl’ He said it easily, smoothly, the words like honey on his tongue and Willa couldn’t help the way a rosy blush painted her cheeks, warming her skin. “Oh! Uhm, thank you!" Her gaze dropped for a moment, darting away towards the ground before returning to meet his gaze. It was different coming from a stranger than it was her Beast; she wasn’t sure if she liked it as much. Wasn’t sure if she was supposed to.

Her next words came out in a rush, a nervous word vomit she couldn't have stopped even if she wanted too. Her doe eyes, warm and excited now, seemed to sparkle and she gestured around with a forelimb, pointing towards the trees and the distance. “It’s so pretty here, isn’t it? It’s like a painting! I’ve never seen anything like it before either! I bet it looks so pretty when it snows, don’t you think? I bet it would make the cold not so bad.”

She paused to take a gulp of air, grinning at him, looking him over again, this time with a wrinkle of her nose and squint of her gaze. He didn’t look like a normal beast… And then it dawned on her and her eyes widened. He looked like a dog. Like one from back home, what with his markings and the curl of his tail.

Willa couldn't help but stare at it, leaning forward as if she wanted to reach out and touch it.

“Why is your tail curly? Are you okay? Also - I'm Willa.”

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Her voice is soft, ringing like a little bell.  Kalle likes the sound, likes the softness.  That, and the more she talks, the less alone he is with his thoughts.  A blessing, all of it.  She is warmth and light, and he would borrow that.  Bottle it if he could, save it for a rainy day.  Like today <I>wasn't</i> rainy-- that's why he's grateful she's here.  Meanwhile, Kalle is a conduit for the clammy air, the tension.  He can feel all of it where it runs, slipping wet and fervent through his system.  Fuck, all of it was so... weird.  What a weird trip.  At this rate, he's still convinced he's tripping.  Tripping balls, still tripping.  Kalle could at least try to enjoy himself.  

He's smooth.  His voice, his step, all of it.  Every part of Kalle is smooth, a walk like flowing water.  The little pink haze across her cheeks, he knows what he's doing.  Her gaze drops after but then, Kalle has already gotten the validation he wanted.  Multicolored eyes, flickering from her to the world around them.  Brilliant, bleeding red.  It's almost ominous, and he can feel the sheer tension in his system beginning to build.  Meanwhile, the girl chatters on happily at his side.  She speaks of the cold and the snow, something that's far from his mind.  "Can't remember the last time I saw the snow," it was a gentle musing.  Hell, Kalle had moved to the desert when everything really kicked off for him.  A desert filled with beautiful people, too much plastic, and a whole lotta sand.  

She's grinning.  He can't help but smile back, a wag to that curly tail where it's held over his back.  The boy has confidence in his steps, carrying him deeper into the wood.  Head high, eyes bright, couldn't lose or whatever they said about that.  She had questions for him now, and Kalle stopped dead in his tracks.  "My wh--" he turned, looking at that tail.  Yeah, it was curly.  Like a dog he'd had as a kid.  "Oh, your guess 's as good as mine."  His tone was near incredulous.  He had... a tail.  He was a dog?  What a weird fucking trip.  That had to be... all this was, right?  "I'm Kalle, sorry, I..."  Maybe it was nice to be anonymous out here, but things were getting weirder by the minute.  It was all he could do to not panic.  

But he stands still, trying to process.  "I'm confused, more'n anything."  A sigh, one that pushed slowly through his nose.  What had Kalle gotten himself into this time? 

---

@Willa

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