Fantasy Is That You?

[PanOtterPus]

Jamie Randall

Spoiler: Jamie

Name: Jamie Randall
Gender: Male
Age: 24

Appearance:

Spoiler: Jamie

Spoiler: Wolf

Description/Personality: (6", blue eyes, brown usually unkempt hair) Jamie is a very laid back kind of guy, only getting truly serious when the situation calls for it. He is usually happy, especially when the sun is shining, and tries his best to stay positive. He lives in a cabin within the woods, close to his pack, each member having their own cabin. He enjoys the freedom the woods give him to shift and run free as a wolf.
Jamie prefers to look on the brighter side of things, staying open minded and not letting much get him down, and whenever life gets too much, he just picks up his trusty guitar and plays his worries away.

Brief History: Jamie comes from a long line of what some call werewolves. However, they do not require a full moon to shift, the moon only makes the experience easier and enhances their abilities.
He lived his life growing up in the woods, raised by his pack and warned to keep his distance from humans. The pack believe that if the humans found out about their kind then Hunters would become a bigger thing than it already was. This being said, Jamie had always had a certain curiosity about these humans, spending his free time walking the edge of the woods and watching them, learning about them and their ways, wishing it was as simple as walking out from the trees and joining their world.

With a grunt and a yawn, Jamie rolled out of bed, unable to hide from the morning sun's rays any longer. He wasn't much of a morning person, but he had his duties to take care of today. Mathias, the pack Alpha, had tasked Jamie with patrol today and this was a task Jamie didn't like turning down - it was the easiest one they had and required minimal effort. Sure, he loved to contribute and always did his best at the tasks he was given, but even he needed easy days. Today was one such day.

Jamie trudged across the room to his wardrobe, dressing himself in his usual dark jeans, white tee and denim jacket. Hearing his stomach grumble, Jamie left the bedroom and made his way to the kitchen. His cabin was a single level, basic floor plan, but it was his and he loved it. He grabbed a bagel and took a bite as he left his cosy home and entered the woods around it. Mathias had come from a long line of leaders who, in the beginning, had decided it would be safer for their kind to live within these woods, each with their own similar cabin, keeping them close enough to run to each others aid when needed, but far enough to keep their privacy.

Jamie finished his bagel, crouched down to allow himself to shift without falling (he had done so before and his paw had landed on a nail - took a while for that one to heal) and began walking, in no particular direction to begin with, but soon realised he was heading where he always did straight towards the closest human inhabited town. Jamie had always had a fascination with the humans. The pack had been warned to stay away, always reminded that you never knew which human was a Hunter and which was a simple human who was blind to the reality of their world. Supernatural creatures were all around them and they hadn't the slightest clue - except for those who grew up in Hunting families. The Hunters were dangerous, the smelled the same as any other human, they could blend in with the rest and they'd stab you in the back before you could suspect a thing.

Jamie knew to stay away. He knew Mathias would less than happy if he knew about Jamie's little ventures. He knew his patrols allowed him to wander the edge and no further, and not for long. Yet he couldn't help himself. As such, he once again found himself at the edge of their forest, in wolf form, sniffing the air for any signs of human activity. He caught a faint scent from a nearby house that , from memory, was usually unoccupied. Weird, he though to himself absentmindedly, maybe someone bought it. And so, he sat and watched, waiting for some sign of life, hesitant to go any further towards an unknown presence. There were some humans he watched regularly, knowing where to find them on certain days and knowing where to hide at the edge of the woods to save himself from being spotted. It had been some time since he came across someone new. He smiled to himself - as much as a wolf could anyway - and waited.

Oriaru

 

[Oriaru]

Lily Buchanan

Spoiler: Lily

Name: Lily Buchanan

Nickname: Lil

Gender: Female

Age: 22

Height: 5’5

Appearance: Lily only stands in at 5'5 and has a petite appearance, but despite how she appears she's actually a pretty sturdy girl who has a lot of strength packed in such a small package. She has a naturally light olive skin tone, which is enhanced by all the time that she spends outdoors in the sun. Her hair is a dark brunette that hangs below her shoulders and has a natural loose wavy feature to it. Lily has complete heterochromia in her eyes, making her left eye brown while her right eyes is green. Due to the heterochromia, Lily doesn't like making eye contact with people for long because it makes her uncomfortable.

Spoiler: Lily

Personality: While Lily on the short side when it comes to height, she’s a headstrong and fierce young lady to make up for what she lacks in height. While she may be a country girl from the heart of Wyoming, she’s got a bright mind that she put to good use through her high school years and now med school. Being raised by her single father along with her two older brothers, Lily learned from a young age how to be strongly independent and make due with whatever life hands her. While most would think all of those things would make Lily outgoing, she’s actually a quiet girl and keeps to herself due to the fact she has a hard time mingling with others. Though once Lily has her heart set on something, there isn’t much of anything that can stand in the way of her determination.

History: Born in the heart of Wyoming, Lily was the last child to be brought into the Buchanan family. Not but a year after she was born, her mother decided that the country life wasn’t for her and up and abandoned the family after divorcing Mr. Buchanan. Lily’s father owned a large ranch, a ranch that had been in the family for as far back as they could trace their bloodline, so it wasn’t hard to provide for three children. The difficult part was raising three children on his own while running the affairs of the ranch. Her brothers, William who is seven years older than her and Joshua who is five years older than her, both kind of stepped up to the plate to help when they were able to and took turns in watching over Lily. When Lily was old enough, she insisted on helping on ranch, so she learned everything the boys needed to learn and then some.

When Lily graduated from school, she initially focused on the ranch but with the boys having things under control and having no real desire to leave the ranch that left Lily with options. She decided to leave the nest, spread her wings and venture off into the world alone without the support of her family. So she packed up her things and moved and started going to medical school. Eventually, between working and going to school full-time she managed to save up enough money that she could spend on a house to call her own instead of living in a rundown apartment. Freshly graduated from med school and now being a full nurse, Lily has a new home to call her own to go along with it to start the new chapter in her life.

Extra(s):

Spoiler: Tattoo on the underside of her right wrist.

The sun hadn't been up when Lily started moving boxes downstairs to her truck, she had been far too excited to sleep so decided she'd get going earlier rather than later. Carrying the last of the large boxes, she slid it into the bed of her blue Dodge Ram truck before lifting the back gate and shutting it closed. Running her fingers through her hair she let out a sigh and patted the truck before going back upstairs one last time to the apartment. She walked through each room, making sure she grabbed everything and that everything was cleaned up before going back to the kitchen. Lily opened the box and glanced at everything packed inside, pictures she had brought from home, she lifted a picture of her standing with her father and two brothers and stared at it a moment before putting it back. Lily left everything behind for this and now she was starting yet another new chapter to her life, in a house that was all her own. A smile tugged to her lips at the thought and she hoisted the small box up in her arms and headed out of the apartment and locked the door for the last time.

Heading downstairs, she walked by the front office and gently knocked on the window, it wasn't long before a man came to the window and slid it open. Lily pulled a folded envelope out of her back pocket and handed it along with the apartment key over to the man, "This is what I owe and this is the key to the apartment Mr. Harris." Lily said as the middle aged man nodded and shifted through the envelope counting the money before setting it aside.

"Good luck to you Lily, was a pleasure having you here." The landlord said and gave a light nod to Lily. With everything settled, Lily headed out to her truck and stepped up in the driver side and slipped the box of photos she had with her in the passenger seat. Shoving the keys into the ignition she turned the keys and listened as her truck roared to life. She slipped one of her many country CD's into the console and turned the volume up before driving off out of the parking lot and headed towards her destination.

The nice thing about the house she had bought was that it was out of town, up the mountain and right near the forest too. She was going to enjoy the privacy, as well as enjoy the quiet because she was ready as ever to get away from the inner city. As soon as Lily turned down the road that would lead her up the mountain, she rolled her windows down in the truck and took a deep breath the smell of fresh forest air out on the mountain was never going to get old. She hummed along quietly with her music while she drove, looking at the trees that lined both sides of the road. When she turned around the bend in the road, the house she had purchased came in view. It was a small, two level cabin-like house, just recently renovated and modernized, the siding was a mixture of stone and wood and had a beautiful wrap around porch. When Lily pulled up into the driveway, she spotted the moving truck she hired for her new furniture already waiting for her. Waving at the men they got out of the truck and started getting ready while Lily unlocked the front door.

Once all the furniture was placed in the house, she thanked the men for helping her move everything in and agreeing to meet her in the early hours of the morning to begin with. Once they left, Lily began her own unpacking and started moving boxes from her truck inside the house. She had spent the better half of her morning unpacking the necessity things that she'd need versus what could wait for later or even tomorrow. Lily left once to run into town to get some basic groceries to last her for the week, she wanted to make sure she had power at the house first before deciding to get food. Almost as soon as she got all the food put up and packed in the fridge and the small pantry near the fridge she got back to work getting boxes moved to their designated rooms before unpacking.

The sound of thunder had broken Lily's trance of trying to get work done, drawing her to the window as she peered up at the sky looking at the angry looking dark clouds looming overhead. It wasn't long before she could hear the light patter of rain, "Perfect time for a break." Lily said aloud to herself and wandered downstairs, pouring herself a tall glass of peach iced tea. She made her way to the back of the house, opening the double doors fully and wandered to the edge of the steps sitting at the top one. Lily rolled up her jean pant legs until they were to her knees and stuck her bare feet out some allowing some of the light rain to fall on them. Watching the edge of the forest while sipping her tea she leaned back on one of her hands and sighed out allowing herself to actually relax for the first time today.

PanOtterPus

 

[PanOtterPus]

Jamie Randal

Jamie's early observations told him the occupant was a young female. He had been wandering at the edge of the woods, watching the house, sniffing the air, and even braving a short, tentative trip up to the porch at one stage when he realised she had left for a short time. A quick scan - propped up on his hind legs and looking through the window - told him his earlier judgement had been correct... she was new to the home. Jamie could see boxes piled around the room, a few already opened, presumably important items she'd need in the imminent future. At the recognisable sound of a truck approaching, he had fled back to his hiding spot, careful not to be spotted. Sure, the woman wouldn't know what he really was, but he couldn't have her going and calling animal control.

Rain began to pitter-patter around him, a few drops making his ears twitch, then Jamie's ears flattened back at the sound of thunder. He didn't mind thunder, he could smell when a storm was going to hit. This one just seemed to have snuck up on him. If he had known what his future was to hold, he may have suggested this was some kind of metaphor for what was to happen. Alas, he did not know such things and as such, he couldn't stop the curiosity that struck him when he caught the scent of the female as she opened her door, unmasking her scent from within the house.

The wolf took an unthinking step forward as bright blue eyes watched while she wandered out with a glass in hand - he could smell the sweetness of peaches even from here - and proceeded to sit on the step. Jamie curiously tilted his head while the female rolled up her trousers and stretched her legs. Another step. Odd, he thought to himself as he observed the strange ritual. He figured her feet must have been tired from the day's work. A third step. Before he knew it, Jamie was far enough from the forest's edge that if the woman was to look hard enough she'd spot a grey wolf with almost human eyes watching her every move.

Jamie couldn't stop himself, even if he wanted to. Mathias would have a cow if he could see his young protégé now. Dangerous game we're playing, Jamie my boy! his conscious told him, but Jamie - as he so often did - decided to ignore it. The woman's hair was blowing in the slight breeze, sending her light perfume straight for his sensitive nose, and he found the whole experience mesmerising. He almost didn't care when she finally locked eyes with him. Almost...

 

[Oriaru]

Lily couldn’t remember the last time that she had enjoyed rain, just sat and actually enjoyed it. It wasn’t so much that in her time here she hadn’t enjoyed the rain, it was just that she hadn’t had the time to appreciate it. Everything since she moved away from home had been all about getting through med school, focusing on getting all those good grades to make her dad proud. On top of that scraping by when it came to living in the apartment to put money away so she could save for a down payment on a house of her own which she accomplished. Now thousands of miles away from her family, in a home that was truly her own the reality of how isolated she was began to sink in. Who did she really know here? Outside of the occasional people she ran into at the checkout line in the grocery store or maybe someone she’d see while she was out to eat, she hadn’t formed any real bonds in the town yet.

A heavy sigh passed Lily’s lips as she took another drink from her glass and stared out into the forest, shifting forward resting her right elbow on her leg and propped her chin in the palm of her hand. As she was lost deep in thought she had spaced out and at first hadn’t noticed the bushes rustling, but when her eyes finally fixated on the movement she had grown stiff and set her glass down slowly next to her. When what was causing the movement had come to view, Lily was pretty sure she had stopped breathing. A wolf. Standing to her feet she watched every slow step the wolf made out in the open and she was locked in place. Common sense told her she needed to get inside but it also told her sudden movements were probably a bad idea.

Moving her foot back carefully to step up and back to the top of the porch, she knocked the glass of tea over which sent her nerves in a panic and caused her to jump. Lily scrambled to step up, near tripping backwards over her own footing as she kept stepping backwards slowly. She had always been told that predators like wolves, bears and the like were much more afraid of humans than humans were of them but right now Lily wasn’t so sure of that. Taking a few more steps just outside the double doors that had led out to the porch, she knew that once she got inside she was going to have to get both doors closed. Still the wolf hadn’t made a move, but she felt a bit safer knowing that she could scramble inside and get the doors closed.

She had drawn in a deep breath to fill her lungs, half wondering when she had stopped breathing again during her awkward display to get near the doors. ‘Oh god Lily. You’re basically face to face with a wolf. A huge wolf.’ Lily thought to herself never taking her eyes off of him or daring turning her back to him, she knew better than that. So, Lily stood there, locking eyes with the wolf half tempted to march towards the edge of her steps and try to be intimidating to scare the wolf off. ‘Oh yes because you’re ever so intimidating Lily. The wolf probably hunts animals five times your size!’ She logically scolded herself.

 

[PanOtterPus]

Jamie, now more open than he had ever been in his life, began to realise the seriousness of his actions. He had spent the entirety of the morning trying not to be seen by this woman, yet here he was, taking small steps towards her. What on earth was he thinking? Oh well, he thought to himself, I'm already this far. And so, he kept inching forward, watching as the woman slowly stood, smelling the slight fear in her. She had probably never seen a wolf this close in the wild before.

The wolf gave a slight flinch as the human rose to her full height, tripping a little as she did so. Jamie had lived so long as a wolf that he had to remind himself that this experience wasn't normal for human kind - they didn't even know the existence of half the creatures living under their nose, never mind a regular wolf. As he watched her move towards her door, Jamie slowed his steps. What if she was moving to the house to grab something. Something... gun or knife shaped...

At these thoughts, Jamie stopped dead. He sniffed the air a little, still smelling the same fear as before, now a little more sure of herself though as she became used to the situation - if that was even possible. He let out a small, gruff noise and sat defiantly, still staring at her. He had heard an old human mantra once before, that now ran around his head - "it's probably more scared of you than you are of it." Tilting his head, Jamie figured that was probably true, though in this case it was the reverse. He was no longer scared, he was in too deep now, and he decided that whatever happened he would deal with the consequences later. Oh, how Mathias was going to yell when he caught the human scent later. And it was impossible for Jamie to lie to him. He mentally flinched at the thought.

Jamie kept his eyes trained on the girl, waiting to see what she would do next - whether she'd run inside, lock the doors and call whatever authorities she thought to call, or if she'd calm down and stay in the moment. He gave a wolfy chuckle at the word "moment", as if that as what this was. Even he knew better than that. He didn't know what was happening, but he wasn't sure he wanted it to stop.

 

[Oriaru]

No one would believe Lily if she had decided to tell someone she had been locked in a strange standoff with a wolf that randomly appeared out of the woods. When the wolf had stopped walking altogether and eventually just sat there and stared at her she found herself a bit at a loss. Why just sit and watch her? Though to be honest it had eased her panic a little and she for some reason felt a bit more relaxed. For the life of her, Lily couldn’t figure out why a wild wolf would just stop out in the open and sit there to watch her. Then it dawned on her, what if this wolf was brave enough to venture this far because he was hungry? ‘Okay then just give him something to eat and maybe he’ll go.’ She thought, because being out in the open wasn’t exactly good for a wolf either.

Turning she stepped inside her house and quickly went to her fridge, opening it up and pulled out a long stick of salami and placed it on the counter. Grabbing a knife, she sliced the outer wrapping and peeled it back and chopped the salami stick in half and picked it up walking back out to her back porch. Sure enough, there was the wolf still sitting there. Taking a deep breath, she walked slowly forward to the edge of her steps that led down to the yard, pausing a moment and then stepped down before pausing once more. Lily paused each time she took a step down on the stairs, being cautious because this still was a wild animal. Once she got to the bottom step, now getting rained on because she was no longer under the protection of the porch roofing, she crouched down a bit and held up the half of the salami stick she had cut for the wolf.

Lily tore a small piece off the end and ate it, like as if to show the wolf that it was food that was okay to eat. ‘Because an animal really needs to be told food is okay to eat Lily.’ She thought and almost sighed aloud. She tossed the salami just enough that it was land near the wolf, because she didn’t want to hit him with it and agitate the creature. Logically, Lily should have stood up and gone back inside and closed her doors where it would be safe. Though in reality, Lily was crouched on the bottom step still resting her chin in her hand watching the wolf in awe. Majority of her fear was kind of waning, though it lingered in the back of her mind probably for the sake of caution.

“How did you even find me?” Lily said aloud, though obviously to herself seeing as the wolf wasn’t going to respond. It occurred to her not only was the wolf probably hungry, but that this place had been vacant for years, so here was all this commotion with the moving truck and of course obviously herself. The wolf was probably here to investigate what was going on. A thought crossed her mind which made her laugh, “Coming to meet your new noisy neighbor probably…” Lily continued to laugh a little.

 

[PanOtterPus]

Jamie sat as still as he could, sniffing the air every so often as the girl figured out what to do. The metaphorical ball was in her court, he figured. He even thought about bolting back to the woods when she had decided to go inside the house. He almost did, had it not been for that unusual aroma floating through the kitchen window. Salami. He'd smelled it once before, when Mathias had decided to do his own shopping instead of his mate, Nonie. Jamie hadn't tried it at the time - anything bought by Mathias was to be approached with caution. The man may be Alpha but like all men, he couldn't shop to save himself.

The female reappeared with the meat in hand, and began to creep down the steps. He probably should have listened to his gut, because it appeared she now expected him to eat it. She took a piece off, apparently showing him how to eat, which mustered an inward chuckle. The piece she threw caused him to flinch back a step, standing once more. Sniffing the air around the meat he figured he may as well give it a try.

Keeping his eyes trained on her he crept forward and gave the meat a small lick, tasting it. He shook his head in protest. Who in their right mind actually likes that? Jamie thought to himself, retreating a little. Maybe she was trying to poison him. Certainly tasted that way. Then he heard it. A howl. And not a happy one. His ears flattened back at the command to return. Now. Shit.

Jamie glanced at the female again, not knowing what to do to indicate that, although much to his distaste, he appreciated the gesture of feeding him. So, as a last thought, he gave her an awkward, wolfy bow, lowering his head, before running back to the safety of the trees. With one last glance back towards her, he ran home... but maybe a little slower than he was capable...

 

[Oriaru]

Lily watched the wolf cautiously approach the salami and taste test it, his reaction made her laugh because it certainly wasn’t what she had been expecting. Probably nothing like the usual food he probably ate, though she didn’t think throwing raw meat out would be much better since it was cold. Unless she put it in the microwave. Then there was a howl off in the distance echoing in the woods, whatever that howl meant the wolf in her backyard didn’t seem too pleased to hear it. Lily stood up and took a few steps back going up on the porch, one wolf who acted oddly tame was one thing, multiple wolves was another thing though.

But just when she thought her encounter with the wolf couldn’t become anymore bizarre, right before he turned to run off he lowered his head towards her and then turned running back towards the tree line. ‘Did he just bow his head?’ Lily thought to herself and placed a hand on her forehead. Logic told her, he was smelling the ground so that’s what she went with and that’s what she stuck to versus her initial thought. For a long time she stood at the forest from her porch, finally willing herself to move she crept off the back porch and in the yard picking up the uneaten salami stick to throw away inside. Lily was not about to leave it as an open invitation for things like raccoons or opossums. On her way back up the steps she picked up her knocked over glass bringing it back inside with her as well.

Shutting the double doors once she was inside, she made sure they were both locked and wandered to her kitchen tossing the now useless salami in the trash and placed her cup in the sink. She just had encounter with a wolf from the wild and it was only her first day out here. Apparently, she wasn’t as alone as she thought she was up here, in the very least things wouldn’t be dull. Glancing down at her now damp clothes she sighed, figuring a hot shower and more comfortable clothing were a good idea for the rest of her day. Lily wandered up the steps to the master bedroom and pulled out baggy pair of sweat pants along with a large shirt before vanishing in her bathroom for her shower.

Once she was cleaned up and changed, Lily went back to unpacking though each time she walked back a window that faced the woods she would stop and watch for a moment before going back to what she was doing. Even after she had settled in for the evening after getting everything done, Lily found herself wondering what that wolf was probably doing now. She knew for a fact there wasn’t a chance she’d see the wolf again, but still it was for sure something she wouldn’t soon forget.

 

[PanOtterPus]

It had been a long week since his encounter with the girl. Jamie had taken a pretty hard telling off from Mathias about the necessity to stay away from "her kind". He had been keeping Jamie off of patrol to make sure he learned his lesson, either having him babysitting the young ones, or out on hunts with other pack members, all the better to keep an eye on him. Though, after his week of basically being grounded, Mathias had no choice but to let Jamie take up patrol again, as all the others were occupied.

Jamie, having promised to stay away from the towns, ran into the woods with the intentions of following orders... though once again, his curiosity began to take over. He began to think about what she might be doing, what she may have done after he fled last time, if she had tod anyone of their encounter. Ah, shit, he thought to himself, knowing that once again he was bound to get himself into all kinds of trouble. And so, he changed direction and headed towards the same house again.

At the forest's edge, Jamie slowed to a crawl, sniffing the air and finding nothing out of the ordinary. He caught her scent and this raised his excitement, for reasons he couldn't explain. He sat at the edge, waiting for any signs of movement, having placed himself close enough to the end of her yard that if she were to really look she'd spot him, without the worry of being spotted by simple passers by in the street on the other side.

 

[Oriaru]

In the week since Lily had seen the wolf she expected herself to be wary of being outside, but she hadn’t been, if anything Lily was pretty calm about the whole thing after the initial shock had worn off. It just made Lily more aware of the fact that instead of dealing with people, she was dealing with wildlife here which wasn’t such a terribly switch in her mind. She had gone to town and stocked up on tons of supplies after a day of being lazy and just in general resting, Lily had a few projects in mind when it came to the house and the property and how to make it more her own home versus what it was now. When whoever acquired the home, all they did was modernize the inside and fix the home up in general to make it like new again, they didn’t do a whole lot around the outside of the house though.

Lily worked inside first, getting curtains hung up and in general dressing up the interior of the house so it didn’t look so bland and empty. In the living room where the fireplace was, Lily had got two matching bookshelves and arranged them on either side of the marble fireplace and she had packed both shelves full of her books. She had got all sorts of rustic décor to put around the house so it wasn’t so bland and empty and felt a bit more welcoming and like a home.

Outside though is where Lily put a lot of the real hard work in, she invested in tons of plants to put up around the house. In the front yard on either side of the porch stairs, Lily planted tons of baby’s breath and lavender together. For one both the plants worked well together and for another thing the white and purple offset would look nice against the dark wood and stone siding on her house. Not only did she get flowers planted, but Lily had invested in large flat stones to lay out and made a small stepping stone path too.

Though today was a lot different though, while everything on the front of the house had been to make it pretty and welcoming, the backyard was for her. Lily had precisely dug up two square areas in her backyard that began on either side of the stairs and extended outward like two large paths. Then she began planting blue hydrangea bushes in the areas she had dug up, roughly twenty bushes per plot she had dug up and then started to neatly lay out stones on the path of grass the led between the two gardens of hydrangea. She had been so focused on what she was doing that she hadn’t noticed that halfway through her planting that she had a guest.

When Lily had taken her gardening gloves off and shoved them in her back pocket, she placed her hands on her hips and looked around at her work and was quite happy with how pretty the bushes all looked. She was kind of excited for them to take root and really get growing and blooming, with a little bit of tender love and care of course. But without the distraction to keep her focus, it left her eyes to wander to the edge of her yard where she had spotted the wolf and at first because he was sitting among the brush she glanced over him. Lily had done a double take though and her gaze immediately locked in on the wolf, how long had that wolf been sitting there? It wasn’t just any wolf either, it had been the wolf she encountered earlier in the week.

She wasn’t anywhere near the porch, or anything else that she could run to for save haven this time. So, Lily stood there frozen with eyes wide, though panic didn’t rush through her as much as she was expecting even though her heart was pounding so hard it was echoing in her ears. Lily had more sense than this, than to stand like a deer in the headlights in a situation that wasn’t exactly safe and yet she was more mesmerized than anything else.

 

[PanOtterPus]

Jamie had waited, and his patience had paid off. The woman had appeared and began working around her garden as he sat in silent observance, curiously following her every movement. The garden began to take shape, and though he wasn't much of a green thumb himself, he was impressed with the way it was shaping up. The previous occupants hadn't bothered much with upkeep, making his patrol here easy as they had plenty of overgrown shrubbery for cover.

Jamie was careful to keep low for a good while, unsure how he wanted this all to play out. He wasn't even sure why he was here in the first place - was it really worth the hiding he would receive if Mathias found him here again? He didn't have any answers for his silent questions, and so he stopped asking them and decided to let fate play out the way it wanted to.

Soon, he sat straight, giving her the opportunity to spot him if she looked - and she did. Their eyes locked. Jamie held his breath, unable to move. He wondered if she had recognised him. Then an idea struck him. Jamie crept closer to the edge, almost in the open and gave her the same bow he had presented on their last meeting. Maybe she'd know it was him.

Jamie sat, tilted his head in question and stared at her.

 

[Oriaru]

There was so many things that Lily could have done, probably should have done in that moment but for right now she just stood there. This time when the wolf took those steps forward Lily didn’t scatter or stumble around she just kept still and watched carefully what the wolf would do next, because it seemed almost as if the wolf was just as cautious of her as she was of him to a degree. But then the wolf did something didn’t expect to see again, that bow that he gave her when she had first encountered the wolf.

Lily had turned so she was fully facing the wolf now, despite what logic told her she knew deep down that this wolf wasn’t just some normal wolf that runs around in the wild. Twice now this wolf bowed to her. So Lily did the most bizarre thing as a response, despite her logical mind screaming at her that this was a wolf, she carefully moved so that she was sitting on her knees and gingerly held her hand out towards the wolf. He acted more like a stray dog in some ways rather than what she would have expected a wolf to act like, or so her mind was rationalizing in this situation.

‘The hell are you going to do if this animal actually gets close to you Lily? What then?’ She scolded herself mentally, though she didn’t linger on it long. She half wondered though what would happen and if she had been right to listen to her gut over her mind on this one. “Hey there boy, it’s okay.” She said softly, probably more softly than she had intended.

 

[PanOtterPus]

Jamie gave an inward whoop of joy when she seemed to react to his bow, turning towards him. Though he hadn't expected the hand to stretch towards him too. His ears flattened against his head, unsure what to do. Sure it would be cool to see what she'd do if he actually let her touch him, but hat if her scent lingered? What if Mathias found out? What in the heck was he doing?

Jamie flinched as her voice snapped him back to their odd interaction. Without letting himself think about it any further, before he let himself talk himself out of it, Jamie leaned forward, closing his eyes and allowing his forehead to come into contact with her human hand. It was a strange sensation, her hand warm and smooth against his fur. Jamie let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, finally relaxing.

Mathias would kill him if he saw him now - his favourite pup all grown up and making friends with humans. Jamie opened his eyes again to look at the woman in question, her own eyes staring back. The to were caught in a strange moment of silent understanding of each other. Jamie would never be able to describe it if he were ever asked, but to him it was everything. It was the answer to every question he had ever had about the humans. And his world shattered. They weren't the monsters Mathias described. They were just like him.

 

[Oriaru]

Lily expected that things could go south, she also expected that she was probably the biggest fool to be known to sit here and do this the way that she was. When the wolf had pressed his head against her hand though she held her breath for a long moment and stayed completely still, unmoving and unbreathing. After a few seconds, she slowly let her held breath out in a slow, drawn out sigh and was watching the wolf with wide eyes.

At the very least she still had a hand, that was a bonus and so far, there wasn’t anything terribly wrong happening. Lily had gingerly scratched her fingers against the top of his head, right between his ears not being brave enough to pet him or move her hand from where it was. Her hand gently began moving along the top of his head, only petting him a few times before she lost her bravery and withdrew her hand and placed it in her lap.

She had relaxed some, but she was more worried about the wolf being out in the open and being unafraid of just coming right up to her. Lily didn’t have any neighbors, at least not in the traditional sense. The nearest house was miles away and that was somewhere else on the other part of the mountain so she didn’t have to worry about that. The only real saving grace was she was in her backyard so even if someone was to drive or walk by, no one would notice anything. She stood up, careful enough so she wouldn’t startle the wolf with her movements. “You should head home…” She said softly as if the wolf could possibly understand what she was saying.

Lily took a few steps backwards putting some space between her and the wolf. This was really happening and there was no way her mind could try to logically explain this, no matter how hard she tried.