it's not regret

[unfollowing]

Who: Emily, Wolfie, and y o u ! (Will match format.)
What: A girl and her wolf hang out after losing some friends to the Door. (Yes. Her wolf. Fight her. ...okay, the sad children's wolf. F i g h t h e r.)
Where: The sewing shop, the park, the lakeside, and the wildcard option
When: January 6
Warnings: Sadness. Emily. A lack of self-love on my part, yolo. Will update as needed.


sewing shop

Wolfie lies at her feet while she works, warming her toes as he looks, quiet and forlorn, at the shop door. Emily can't blame him. Now and then, she looks up too, half expecting Chris or Sam to walk in. Or even Ash, all excited about a new dye. (Ash has been gone for months, never got to meet Wolfie. She bets they would've liked each other.)

He's surprisingly gentle. Maybe he's got some dog in him, enough to know she's as upset as he is over losing friends, packmates.

When someone walks in, Wolfie will lift his head in their direction, attentive to any indication they might be a threat to him or the human girl he's spending so much time with.

"He only bites if you're an asshole," Em will add. What? Don't look at her like that. It's true.


park

She doesn't want to know what that bone he finds used fo belong to. As long as he's happy and not killing things right in front of her, she's fine. (He could've bitten Mike a little for her, geez, but no. That asshole had to go all wolf whisperer. Whatever.

Emily sits on one of the benches, and Wolfie curls up on the ground next to her, munching on his treat. She scratches him between the ears now and then, when she's not busy taking sips of Irish coffee that smells entirely too much of booze.


lakeside

Once, she and Chris had a heart to heart here. It was pretty brutal. One of them almost cried.

Now she sits at the edge of the lake and listens to the water while Wolfie alternates between pacing behind her and coming up to her to gently headbutt her in the arm. It's like he's reminding her there's still a life worth living, people worth living for. There's still Matt and Hannah and Beth. She shouldn't take them for granted, but right now she just... needs this. Time alone. Time to think.

A thick, nice-size branch floats over to her. Emily snatches it out of the water, glances at Wolfie, and throws the stick without another thought. Maybe Jack (it's pretty cool they know his name now) taught Wolfie how to fetch.

Or she just hit you with a stick. Win-win.


wildcard

(Come to me, all ye adults who deal healthily with your shit amirite.)

Comments

[knifecollecting]

Jo didn't go to the lake as often as she could, but after the beach she found herself missing the tranquil sound of water. The river worked sometimes, but she headed for the lake today.

It was supposed to be a way to relax, until the stick appeared out of nowhere and thwapped her across the nose.

"Holy shit."

[unfollowing]

Well that wasn't supposed to happen.

"Shit. Sorry." But she's not too sorry... until she remembers Sam would be really, really sorry. Now Emily's sorry.

Wolfie heads over to pick up the stick at Jo's feet, pausing to sniff her legs before making his way back to Emily.

"You're not bleeding or anything, are you?" Emily asks Jo, reaching out to scratch Wolfie between the ears when he's close enough.

[knifecollecting]

She stays still and quiet for a moment, trying to gauge her position before responding to that question.

Everything checks out, and there's no telltale trickle of blood. Good.

"I'm fine." Jo approaches the bench slowly. "You don't have anything else to throw, right?"

[unfollowing]

"Does it look like I do?"

There's not as much sass to Emily's response as there would be normally. Grief will do that to a person.

Wolfie settles by Emily's feet, chewing on the stick, looking up at the girls now and then as they talk.

"He found a bone earlier. I don't know what animal or monster it used to be from. He left it behind at the park."

Good ridddance.

[knifecollecting]

"Didn't look like you were gonna throw the stick that way and you did." She laughs quietly.

"Probably don't want him chewing on it. You never know what he might pick up."

[unfollowing]

What are you talking about, Jo, it was totally obvious Emily was going to throw the stick your way, you just weren't paying attention.

But whatever.

"Considering he might've chewed on human bones back where we're from, I'm not sure it matters what he chews on here."

...oh gross, Emily hadn't really thought about that. It's sad and terrifying and that's where Sam went back to, the mountain, after dawn.

[save_theworld]

You'd think, after being here for over four months, they would have sorted out their rather unfortunate clothing situation by now. Frisk has not. Aside from the clothes on their back, the only other piece the child has collected is a large, which shirt, one that goes all the way down to their knees and reads I've been HADriel! With two roommates of the same age...and a sweater that now has a rather large hole in the sleeve, it's time to remedy this unfortunate situation.

Or they could fixate on the dog. Frisk is absolutely going to fixate on the dog.

"...Um. Can I pet him?" Asks a very small ten year old, and not an asshole.

[unfollowing]

Emily recognizes the kid from the network, even though they haven't really talked before. She spots the sweater in their arms (why else would a virtual stranger come to the sewing shop, after all) and knows right away what their request will be, but then they ask about Wolfie.

"If he lets you, sure."

And Emily is going to watch closely to make sure Wolfie and Frisk are being friendly. Nobody needs to get bitten by a wolf or attacked somehow by a small child. (They asked to pet Wolfie, but this is Hadriel. More fucked up shit has happened than a child hitting a dog. Nothing would surprise Emily anymore.)

[save_theworld]

It's not that kind of timeline. Thus, Frisk is free to give into their quiet adoration for all things canine and fluffy as much as they'd like, edging closer in a careful, conscious manner. He probably doesn't like being crowded in; nobody really likes that.

When they try for a smile, it's almost, almost genuine; just a little underused, a little rusty. And their hand is offered palm up for him to sniff.

"Hello."

[unfollowing]

Wolfie watches them approach, calm and quiet. When Frisk offers their hand, he gets up and sniffs it for a second or two. Then, satisfied, he licks their palm.

Instant friends.

"You're Frisk, right?" She figures they're okay if Wolfie likes them. (Ignoring the fact that Wolfie liked Mike, of course.)

[save_theworld]

Truly, a greater gift has never been bestowed upon Hadriel. Their face lights up, but each motion remains gentle, allowing Wolfie to finish his inspection- before they go straight for the ears. Nothing is more important than fluffy ears.

"Yeah." She's got that right; which makes them wonder if they should also be able to place her. It seems- a little rude that they can't, brow creasing as they tack on apologetically. "It's nice to meet you...um..."

Name the Fallen Human?

Park

[justice_from_above]

[Fareeha has never really had a pet before. Growing up with her mother in Overwatch, and then joining the Army and recently in the private sector, it was a matter of time and space. Her first real conflict here, she'd picked up a little Fennec fox. After things had calmed down she'd tried to release it, but it had insisted on keeping by her side In the end, she relented and was now caring for it.]

[Which meant taking it for walks and letting it run around the park. She didn't bother with a leash or collar; there was no trouble in getting it to come to her. He's still a young and energetic fox, though, and the minute he locks his eyes on Wolfie he's sprinting over. Friend! Playtime!]

Jesse! Come! [Fareeha follows after in a light jog, unsure if she should be worried or not. She'd never seen Emily's dog before, but while he did look relaxed, he also looked big.]

[unfollowing]

[Wolfie lifts his head as the fennec bounds over, alert where Emily is a little inebriated. She recognizes Fareeha (she could be a model, with that height), but the fox is new... sort of. Didn't they come in around when Hannah's naked rabbit did?

Regardless, Wolfie seems to decide the fox is harmless and some playtime is in order, so he gets up and meets him before he gets to Emily. He is much bigger than the fox, but he doesn't seem bothered, sniffing him for a second before darting off into the park for a run.

Emily, meanwhile, looks up at Fareeha, not bothering with a smile.] Jesse? Mine's name is Wolfie.

[justice_from_above]

He's named after a friend of mine. I think I can guess what yours is named after.

[Fareeha does offer Emily a small smile as she sits on the bench, her hands tucked in her pockets. Now that she's a little closer she can smell the booze wafting off of Emily's coffee. She might not approve, but she's not going to lecture.]

How have you been?

[unfollowing]

I didn't name him. [Emily shrugs. She's not really a pet person anyway, but Wolfie is big and fluffy and a wolf, which means he can protect her.]

Another of my friends disappeared this week. [Hence the no smiling, and the booze in her coffee, which she takes a drink of.]

park

[skelebro]

[Wolves are basically dogs, right? Might as well be big, fluffy dogs, or somethin' along those lines. And if Sans knows dogs - and he likes to think he does, for all the time he's spent workin' with the Canine Unit back home - he knows that they love bones.

He only takes a moment to reach up under his shirt to detach a rib bone, which he jiggles at the wolf tantalizingly as he draws to a halt nearby. Not close, just - a few feet away from where Emily's sitting.

He can understand the impulse and need to drown one's sorrows all too well.]

Your pup want a bone?

[unfollowing]

[It seems Wolfie recognizes the word 'bone'. He looks up from the one he's chewing on and stares at Sans's, which is fresher and therefore better. Sans himself is shaped enough like a person that Wolfie doesn't seem interested in gnawing on all of hum.]

I guess so. [But...] Is that okay? Like... you're gonna need it back, and it might be pretty gross.

[skelebro]

Eh. I need a shower anyway.

[Or so Papyrus insists, and who's he to argue, huh? Brot likes chewing on a flung bone here and again. It ain't the comfiest thing, sure, but it's worth the visual gag.]

Not much good for chewing, but it'll do for a game of fetch.

[unfollowing]

[...what the fuck. Okay, Sans. You just... do you.]

I don't know if he knows fetch. He's... [Well. Mike knew more, but guess who didn't talk to Mike a lot. Sam, though. She picked up more information on Wolfie from Sam. Sam, who was good to everyone, even if they didn't deserve it.

Who is good. She's home now. She's alive. Alive, in a world where she and Emily are the only two survivors.

Goddamn.]

He used to live with this old mountain guy, Jack. [Whose journal Chris found and Emily has kept, just in case.] But like, Jack got killed by a wendigo. Wolfie showed up here with my piece of shit ex. The Door took Mike back and left us Wolfie. I think Jack trained him to help him hunt.

[So probably no fetch was involved in the training of this wolf.]

[skelebro]

[Like he said. Totally worth the visual gag.

But things lose their comedic spin pretty fast. He don't think he's met Mike, or ever will now, unless he comes trailing on back apropos of nothing. Jack neither. First he's heard of either of 'em in the proper noun sense.

But hell, he knows the cut of those words. That's the sound loss makes. he'd know.]

That's a lotta baggage for one little furball.

["Little" is probably not a real applicable term, but it's all a matter of perspective. Sans offers a bony hand out for the wolf to sniff.

"Wolfie." That's, uh...well, it's accurate.]

How many people's that make now? Two? Three?

Shop

[darthvaderfanboy]

Kylo Ren steps through the door, in all his tall, muscled, cape and masked glory. His hood his up and he looks a bit like a priest who recently escaped a gothic cult. He spares the wolf a glance. He hadn't known there were many animals in the city.

Then his attention is back on Emily. "Then he should meet my roommate." No really, any excuse to cause Hux discomfort was a good thing in Kylo's book. His voice, while sarcastic, comes out in a robotic flat tone due to the vocoder in his mask. He approaches her. "I was told this was the place to come if we needed clothing done."

what a good entrance, kylo

[unfollowing]

Look, Emily has seen and heard some shit sincce she got here, but a dude in a literal cape and mask, with a voice modulator, looking like he walked straight out of a supervillain scene in a comic book?

That'll give a girl pause. (The sarcasm helps. She is fluent, after all.)

Wolfie stares intently at him as he approaches, shifting a little as if to ready himself to attack this supervillain dude should the need arise.

"Yeah, it is." Emily arches both eyebrows. "Somehow, we're not low on black." She's assuming you want something in black.

lbr he practices those. Always got to look Dark Side

[darthvaderfanboy]

The idea of showing up in mask and cape definitely has the effect Kylo was hoping for. It's definitely apparent wherever he comes from, he's not the good guy.

He crouches down low near the wolf, peeling off a glove so that he can smell his hand. Sure, maybe he bites, but then, so does Kylo if the rumors are to be believed. He tends like animals better then people anyway.

"I need pants," he tells her.Shirts hadn't been so bad when he went scavenging through the shops, but pants were a pain since he was so tall. "I don't know what you people barter with, but I'm willing to pay a reasonable price."

[unfollowing]

A good, long sniff is required. Who is this human-shaped being, all dressed up like Jack used to be, no exposed skin, etc. Wolfie isn't sure, so he neither whimpers nor growls when he's satisfied with his olfactory inspection. It's wait and see.

"Pants are easy." Emily has gotten comfortable making shirts and pants -- the basics -- and skirts, though she mostly makes those for herself. "'You people'? Are you no human or something?" She's not judging. She's friends with non-humans. "Money is useless here. We pay each other in goods or services." Or just goodwill, but if he's willing to pay, then...

Well, he's a big dude, and Emily is an average-height girl. She will never say no to anyone offering to protect her and her friends.

"What can you offer?"

[darthvaderfanboy]

Kylo gets back up, satisfied that Wolfie isn't going to immediately take a chunk out of him if he turns his back on him. "There's a lot of different species in the galaxy, but I'm standard human under the mask."

He thinks about what he has the potential to offer. "Do you need anyone killed?" He's only half-joking. Kylo Ren is very good at getting rid of his enemies.