elk creek, a werewolf roleplay

[друг]

↟. ─────── 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃

xxxxxxxxxxx32, elk creek alpha, tagging: Cassia, Huan, mentioned: none, location: woods

Although he considered himself quite the optimist, Jackson was not sure what he had been expecting — that the stranger would rebuff his offer? — and thus when she made a graceful leap onto the truck bed, he couldn't help the smile that broke across his face. It's settled then. It would have been safer for her to ride inside the truck, but if she was more comfortable being outside, he wasn't going to tell her otherwise. Besides, none of them were built fragile. It was simply a fact of what they were. Still, as he stood up to make his way to the driver's seat, he turned back to her for some passing advice.
indentin"You might want to stay low for the drive, the dirt road can make for an uneven ride." Finally, he allowed his smile to soften into something genuine, brought on by a kind of warmth of welcoming someone into the pack. Even if it would only be temporary. "Welcome aboard."
indentindentWhen Huan asked him about getting a ride back, he nodded and opened the passenger door for her. It stuck, just a bit, one of the hazards of a well-loved vehicle.
indentin"Sure thing. It's getting so late I can almost hear my bed calling for me from across the woods," he joked, before circling around to the driver's side.
indentindentJackson slid into the soft-worn seat and waited for Huan to be settled before twisting the key in the ignition. The truck shook to life with a splutter or two, and he steered them smoothly away from the lakefront, by now used to the vehicle's many idiosyncrasies. He let the radio keep on playing the local station as they drove only about a half-mile down paved road before turning onto the forest path that would take them home.
indentindentThe headlights cut bright swathes through the late evening dark, illuminating low-hanging branches and the trunks of pines as they swept past. Jackson tapped his fingers softly against the wheel to the beat of the music, but kept his eyes carefully on the road ahead. Sometimes deer would cross the road here, but he wasn't particularly concerned about them. He'd merely always been a careful driver.
indentindentAbout a mile or two from the house, it started raining. Large, sparse drops splattered against the windshield before turning into a steady torrent that battered the glass. Jackson turned on the wipers and readied himself to pull over to the side of the road so he could invite their guest to the backseat and out of the rain, but as he began to decelerate, something — a weight solid as a concrete pillar — slammed into his side of the truck.
indentindentJackson attempted to correct with a calculated jerk of the wheel, but it was too little too late. The truck tilted and rolled, briefly turning everything upside down and pinning him against the door, and they went off the dirt road and into the brush. His arm shot out to shield Huan, but that was when the truck smashed into a tree, stopping their roll, and his temple slammed into the window. There was a brief moment that he attempted to fight against the darkness creeping into his vision, before everything went dark.
indentindentHe came to moments later. Half of his vision was blurred, and when he reached out to touch his forehead, his fingers came away wet with blood. The truck had ended its roll upright, but when he attempted to open the door, it was stuck. Jackson applied some force, propping his shoulder against the frame, and it gave with a creak of metal. He stumbled out onto the side of the road, up to his ankles in early spring greenery, the fabric of his sneakers soaking through from the wet soil. The sudden downpour had already eased into a drizzle, and even with the heavy scent of rain hanging in the air, the smell lingering all over the road was unmistakable — cold and sharp. They had been attacked by a vampire.
indentindentIt was instinct to shift right then and there. What was standing beside the wreck of the truck was no longer a broad man with a crop of black hair, but a large grey-brown wolf, blood tousled through the fur of his forehead. But as he sifted through the darkness all around them, with one intact headlight cutting a path over the road, it became clear that the vampire was already gone, having pushed them off the road and made a run for it. But he had no doubts that it wouldn't be the last time the pack would cross paths with this nomad.
indentindentWith the forest around them empty of danger, Jackson was overcome with a bone-deep weariness. All he wanted to do now was to get them home safe, and all that stood between them and the house were a few measly miles of dirt road. He would send a willing volunteer to track the vampire, but he had to make sure his passengers were safe first. He returned to the truck, peering through the night to make sure Huan and the newcomer were alright.

[Ashton_99]

⟸✯ᴄᴀꜱꜱɪᴀ ᴀʟᴅᴇʀꜱ-ʟᴏᴄᴋᴇ✯⟹
⟸✯The Newcomer ✯ She/Her ✯ Tags:Jackson/Huan ✯ Location:Woods ✯⟹

It was a pleasant surprise when Huan approached her. Her ambient excitement over the positive sign made her tail thump against the truck. There was a charm to the woman’s well meant but awkward offer. Cassia found herself curious about what the woman was going to say before she cut herself off, but there was no real way to ask in canine form. So instead Cassia gave her a cursory glance, she was a little taller than Huan but they didn’t look terribly dissimilar in size aside from that. She made a soft not-quite-bark in response to the offer despite Huan already having rushed away. It was a positive sound, hopefully getting across her appreciation. At least as much as it was possible to get that across with only a small noise.

Finding herself a passingly safe spot in the truck bed amounted to simply scooting against the back of the cab. Her claws rasped lightly against the weathered metal. The truck was well loved but seemed sturdy enough.

More than the passing details of the truck however, Cassia was excited to see how a pack lived. Though for a time she’d run with another wolf, they had never been much of a pack and they had certainly never stayed anywhere long enough to be considered ‘settled.’ Did they all live together? Was there going to be a roommate situation? She hadn’t a clue but was excited to find out.

She resettled when the road changed. the dirt around the lake turned into a paved road and the paved road back to a worn down dirt path. The wind rushing past her brought the scent of rain just before the lazy trickle of rain began falling. Clouds had closed in over the stars and as the wind grew colder Cassia poked her muzzle off the side of the truck bed. Though a bit cold, the smells whipping past were pleasant. Largely natural and earthy, the dark night blurred past. That was when an icy, sharp smell cut through the pleasant ambient scent of the night.

Cassia recognized it for what it was just a moment too late, panic shooting through her as her damp fur raised along her back. The truck shuttered with the sudden impact as a vampire of all things appeared out of the night. Metal squeaked and crunched with the force of the impact as they slid and rolled across the path. From one moment to the next Cassia was in the truck bed then sprawled out in the brush. Brittle branches snapped under her as sharp rocks scraped across her skin. The impact left her vision spinning as pain sprung up from her hip and across her side up to her shoulder. By some small grace she’d managed to avoid hitting her head too hard.

Despite the blossoming pain she was on her paws as soon as all of her limbs were responding. Despite her vision still clearing she was already snarling into the darkness. Her lips peeled back and she’d bore her teeth. Even while favoring one of her legs she crouched low, hackles raised in preparation for another attack. She had just calmed down from the last situation and now this. Later Cassia would wonder if getting blind sided by blood suckers was going to be a theme in pack life. For the moment though nothing but instinct filled her mind. Danger. Protect. Defend. Protecting and defending what exactly she wasn’t quite sure- everything maybe.

The driver’s side door groaned and creaked open. The sharp noise brought Cassia back to herself, her vision mostly returned though the pain hadn’t dissipated in the slightest. Dazed and stumbling out from the truck first was Jackson. Though he smelled of blood there was a moment of relief in seeing him on his feet. When fur burst forth from his skin she had to believe he would be alright. With him accounted for, Cassia rounded towards the passenger’s side to find Huan. There was an awkward hobble in her gait as she went along. But the struggle was worth it when she could finally hear Huan starting to move.

Cassia had poked around the territory with the hope of something exciting happening. While these events hadn't been what she’d been expecting, it certainly was exciting if the rapid beat of her heart pounding in her ears was anything to go by. Or maybe that was the shock. Who could say.

One thing she was certain of though. With a vamp out in the woods she was more than ready to get a move on. She pawed at the forming mud, signaling her restlessness.

[друг]

███ █│
███ █│
███ █│

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𝙊𝙃 𝙈𝙔 𝘿𝙍𝙐𝙉𝙆𝙀𝙉 𝙎𝙊𝙐𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙉 𝙎𝙏𝘼𝙍

𝖧𝖮𝖶 𝖸𝖮𝖴 𝖳𝖱𝖨𝖤𝖣 𝖳𝖮 𝖧𝖨𝖣𝖤 𝖨𝖭 𝖣𝖠𝖱𝖪𝖭𝖤𝖲𝖲

───⋯⋯⋯────────────────

Frances Rowe is intelligent and analyti-
cal, far more than just the looks she
tends to get reduced to by those who do
not know her. She can be wary of situa-
tions and people when she lacks all of
the facts, but sometimes it would be

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𝙎𝙇𝙄𝙋𝙋𝙀𝘿 𝙁𝙍𝙊𝙈 𝙊𝙍𝘽𝙄𝙏 !

𝖭𝖮𝖶 𝖸𝖮𝖴'𝖱𝖤 𝖣𝖠𝖭𝖦𝖤𝖱𝖮𝖴𝖲𝖫𝖸 𝖢𝖫𝖮𝖲𝖤

───⋯⋯⋯────────────────

difficult to tell, thanks to her confident
and friendly attitude. Frankie works as
a journalist for the local paper, and she
always has her eyes on everything that
is going on in Elk Creek. Although she is
the furthest thing from a gossip, if you

───⋯⋯⋯────────────────

│███
│███

𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝙊𝙐𝙏❟ 𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝙊𝙐𝙏

⤷ 𝖥𝖱𝖮𝖬 𝖠𝖫𝖫 𝖸𝖮𝖴𝖱

𝙃𝙄𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙊𝙐𝙏 ⤶

i

───⋯⋯⋯────────────────

need reliable information, she is the per-
son in town to come to. Frankie has this
driving force within her — which Jackson
calls her "righteous fury" — that desires
to see evil punished and good deeds re-
warded.

───⋯⋯⋯────────────────

.

││
││

───────────────────────⋯────

Frances Marie Rowe, elk creek subordinate
twenty-nine, she/her, pansexual panromantic

────⋯───────────────────────

┌─ .────────────────┐

│
│

nicknamed Frankie, Fran/Frank ✘, green eyes and
golden brown hair, which is usually tied up; sun-
kissed, freckled skin; 5'8" with a feminine build,
fragrance of suede with vanilla. born werewolf

│
│
└──────────── 𝘿𝙀𝙏𝘼𝙄𝙇𝙎. ─┘

𝙈𝙔 𝘽𝙍𝙊𝙆𝙀𝙉 𝙊𝙋𝙀𝙉 𝘾𝙃𝙄𝙇𝘿

─⪼ · 𝖶𝖤𝖱𝖤 𝖶𝖤 𝖳𝖧𝖨𝖱𝖲𝖳𝖸 · ⪻─

𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙍𝙉𝙀𝘿 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃 𝙒𝙄𝙇𝘿 𝙀𝙔𝙀𝙎

───⋯⋯⋯────────────────

───────────────────────⋯────

𝙒𝙀❜𝙇𝙇 𝘿𝙄𝙂 𝙄𝙉 𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝙃𝙀𝙀𝙇𝙎 ⪻ ─────────
────────── ⪼ 𝖲𝖠𝖫𝖴𝖳𝖤 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖡𝖠𝖳𝖳𝖫𝖤𝖥𝖨𝖤𝖫𝖣𝖲
𝙒𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀 𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝘽𝙍𝙊𝙆𝙀𝙉 𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙍𝙏𝙎 𝙒𝙀𝙍𝙀 𝘽𝙊𝙍𝙉

┌── .─────────────┐

│
│

Frankie's wolf form has a warm brown coat
that lightens to a caramel tone, not unlike
her hair. She's slightly taller than the av-
erage wolf, with an agile but strong build.

│
│
└────────── 𝙒𝙊𝙇𝙁. ──┘

Frankie grew up in a pack far more traditional in its
day-to-day than the Elk Creek led by Jackson, and
during these years she received a training to make

───⋯⋯⋯───────────────────────

│██
│██

𝖠𝖭𝖣 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖲𝖳𝖮𝖱𝖬 𝖢𝖫𝖮𝖴𝖣𝖲 𝖠𝖱𝖤 𝖳𝖧𝖨𝖱𝖲𝖳𝖸

𝙄 𝘾𝘼𝙉 𝙎𝙀𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙈 𝘽𝙐𝙍𝙎𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂

𝖶𝖠𝖳𝖢𝖧 𝖳𝖧𝖤𝖬 𝖦𝖠𝖳𝖧𝖤𝖱𝖨𝖭𝖦 𝖫𝖨𝖦𝖧𝖳 !

𝙒𝙀𝙍𝙀 𝙒𝙀 𝘽𝙍𝙊𝙆𝙀𝙉 𝙊𝙋𝙀𝙉❟ 𝘽𝘼𝘽𝙔?

───⋯⋯⋯───────────────────────

her one of the strongest trackers among Elk Creek's
wolves. What is perhaps even more vital is her pa-
tience — something to match that of a vampire's.

───⋯⋯⋯───────────────────────

[друг]

I swear I'll finally code both of my relationships
posts soon omg

[Ashton_99]

▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉

birkan sokullu .5.gif (511.48 KiB) Viewed 96 times

❖ Wolf Pack Healer ❖ He/Him ❖ Thirty Three ❖ Bisexual- Single ❖
❖ 5'11 ❖ Curly Brown Hair and Beard ❖ Brown Eyes ❖
❖+: Compassionate, deeply empathetic, and Calm ❖
❖/: Protective, Steadfast, and Curious ❖
❖-: Firm, Contrarian, and Questioning ❖
❖His wolf form is largely tans, browns and whites ❖
he is long legged with a dense coat.
❖ Elijah smells of pine, citrus, and herbs ❖

❖ Face Claim- Birkan Sokullu ❖

▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉

«❖»
Synopsis: Once upon a time, Elijah was a much more high-strung, untrusting person. It took a fair bit of time after he and his foster brother were adopted by a couple in the Elk Creek pack for Elijah to feel secure. Despite those traits born from a rough start, he's always been a protective and caring person. It was as he grew familiar with Elk Creek and the pack that he began thriving. Family, the pack, and the town became very important to him and it was with his family's support that he eventually began studying medicine.

Despite getting accepted into better schools out of state, Elijah chose to attended a closer University as to not be too far from Elk Creek. And he could not have been any more grateful for that then on the night he got the call about the attack on the pack. He speed home in the middle of the night, abandoning his classes for months on end in order to help in the aftermath. Guilty that he wasn't there when it all went down. It was in the attack that he and his brother lost one of their mothers. Eventually through a slough of grief Elijah returned to finish his degree and go on to medical school. He pushed himself hard in those days, not wanting to spend any more time away from home than he had to and eventually he finished with his MD and rushed back to Elk Creek, becoming the resident healer for the pack as well as the town after taking a job at the local clinic.

Now-a-days the pack healer is much more laid back. Though not a loud or extravagant person by any means he is friendly and more than happy to connect with others. Despite the tragedies that mar his past Elijah has grown to become a very stable person. He does his best to go with the flow of things though occasionally with mixed results as that contrarian stubbornness still lives within him. He's had to work hard to be gentle but by now it is second nature.
«❖»
Brief Physical Description: Elijah is a man of fairly average height with curly brown hair falling past the nape of his neck and a beard. It's rare that he shaves. His eyes are brown and very old, faded scars litter across his body. When not at work he dresses very casually, valuing comfort over style.
«❖»

▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉☰▉

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength.” -Ralph W. Sockman

[Ashton_99]

birkan sokullu 2.5.gif (511.25 KiB) Viewed 94 times

.Elijah's relations wip

[rigbees]

.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
.
☾ Luca Blackhill
he/him . thirty . bisexual . subordinate
shoulder length black hair . green eyes . 5'9
wolf fur is dark brown almost black
.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
.
Luca is a very easy going type of person, he
tends to go with the flow of things and enjoys
spending his time with others. He is very
affectionate so he has a habit of initiating
casual touch without thinking about it. He often
just leans against whoever's nearest to him, even
if he hasn't known them long. He works at the
record store owned by Jackson, music being
one of his absolute favourite things. If he could
get away with it, he would be listening to music
24/7. He is really proud of his adoptive brother,
Elijah, for being the packs healer despite all the
hardships they've gone through. He is also really
close with their living mother.
.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
.

.𝘼𝘽𝙊𝙐𝙏 𝙃𝙄𝙈 ☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰

𝙎𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙔
Luca was adopted alongside Elijah, into the Elk Creek pack. Luca
and Elijah grew up close when in foster care due to being the
only two shifters. Once adopted, Luca adapted extremely fast. He
has always been a little bit too carefree, so he had no problem
with the change. In fact he was excited, finally having other shifters
around so he could be himself and learn more. He loved his family
dearly, and was happy when Elijah decided to study medicine,
even though he himself never had any specific career goal. He
tended more towards going with the flow, and was happy to have
small jobs. Luca had been in Elk Creek during the attack, and he
lost one of his mothers. He grew even closer to their living mother,
and was happy that Elijah returned, their family needing each other
in that time. Once things settled down, Luca became even more
affectionate with the people he cares about, not wanting to lose
any chances. Once the pack reformed, and Elijah became their
healer, Luca decided to start working at Jacksons record store.

━━𝙏𝙍𝘼𝙄𝙏𝙎
.
━━positive ✧
━━friendly . genuine . affectionate
.
━━neutral ✧
━━trusting . relaxed . restless
.
━━negative ✧
━━blunt . clueless . forgetful

━━𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙏𝙎
.
━━likes ✧
━━casual affection . music . storms
.
━━dislikes ✧
━━being cold/cold weather
.
━━hobbies ✧
━━painting . gardening

face claim: Avan Jogia

[rigbees]

.𝙍𝙀𝙇𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙎𝙃𝙄𝙋𝙎 ☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰

𝙅𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙙 | alpha━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
★★★★☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Luca would consider Jackson━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
his friend, and a good leader━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━𝙃𝙪𝙖𝙣 𝙔𝙖 | beta
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★★★☆☆
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━while not the closest, Luca
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━gets along well with Huan

𝙀𝙡𝙞𝙟𝙖𝙝 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙡 | healer━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
★★★★★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Luca values family, he ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
cares deeply for his brother━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━𝘾𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨-𝙇𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙚 | newcomer
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆☆☆☆☆
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━they have not met yet
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━LOL
𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙍𝙤𝙬𝙚 | subordinate━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
★★★☆☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Luca likes spending time━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
with Frances━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[rigbees]

☰☰ 𝙃𝙐𝘼𝙉 𝙔𝘼 ☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
☾ she/her . 31 . wolf pack beta ☽ tag. jackson, cassia location. woods

Huan smiles kindly at Jackson when he opens the door for her, climbing quickly into his truck. She doesn’t drive herself, being more of a walk everywhere type of person, but she adores Jackson’s truck. Despite it being a little bit beat up, she thinks of it fondly and doesn’t mind when things like the door getting stuck happen. Huan even laughs at Jackson’s joke, far more at ease now that the wolf is safely in the back and clearly means no harm for the time being. She settles in feeling better than she has in a while, finally the anxiety of a new person is at the beginning of fading away.

Huan even hums a little bit to Jackson’s music, accompanying his tapping beat. She doesn’t know the lyrics yet she enjoys going along anyways. Thinking of music reminds Huan of the record shop, and she spares a thought to whether or not Jackson will offer the newcomer a position there. If she intends to stay he probably will. She isn’t sure whether she wants the newcomer to stay or not, although she is leaning towards the positive after the interactions they’ve had. Unless she does something threatening once they get to the house she sees no reason to be completely on guard. Although Huan knows the fear won’t be completely gone for a few days, it definitely isn’t as strong as when she was simply waiting for something bad to happen before.

Once the rain starts, Huan thinks internally that she’s glad to have asked for a ride. While she doesn’t hate getting caught in the rain, it is mildly annoying and would’ve caused her to have to shower and change once she got back which would be very inconvenient, especially with the new girl probably using the shower already. She does glance towards Jackson, the thought of the wolf in the back getting soaked entering her mind. She notices him slowing down however, so knows she doesn’t have to say anything. Just as she’s about to look out of the rear window to check on the girl, the truck is hit by something.

Huan lets out a startled and panicked yelp as they swerve and begin rolling over, Huan notices Jackson reach out to shield her moments before they hit the tree. Huan’s eyes slam closed as they collide, barely even breathing as she feels the pain, although unsure where it originates. Before she manages to collect herself to calm down, she finally notices the smell of what must have hit them. She scowls and tries to focus on it, yet the panic and pain clog her brain. She is frozen with indecision, unsure whether to check on Jackson, climb out to check on the newcomer or climb out and try to fight the vampire she smelled for the briefest of moments. Eventually the sounds of Jackson waking up stir her into action. She frantically unbuckles her seat belt as Jackson climbs out of the car, struggling to get out of her seat. She figures out the pain is mostly concentrated to her left side, which she chooses to ignore.

With Jackson okay enough to get out of the car on his own, Huan’s next priority is the safety of their newcomer. She may not be part of the pack, but she’s still a wolf and anyone in Elk Creek is Huan’s to protect. Once she finally manages to get out of the truck, she heaves a huge sigh of relief at the sight of the wolf, standing near her side of the truck. A burst of affection runs through her, realizing that she must have been concerned.

Huan then notices Jackson shift, and follows his lead. She has no concern for the clothes on her back, focused now on making sure the three of them remain alive, in case the vampire returns for a fight. She can no longer smell it, and the pain in her side is worsening, but she continues to ignore it. Sidling up towards the newcomer, Huan stays near her as she explores, protective and knowing Jackson can handle himself. Huan’s not sure how well the wolf will do in a fight in case it’s needed, although she notices her restlessness.

Huan sniffs around some more, still unable to find anything, and then lets out a soft bark towards the girl, her own way of trying to ask if she’s okay. She then turns back towards Jackson, waiting for direction on what comes next. She knows now they’re not far from the house, and can only internally hope Elijah is there to check on everyone.

[друг]

↟. ─────── 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃

xxxxxxxxxxx32, elk creek alpha, tagging: Cassia, Huan, Elijah mentioned: Frankie, location: house

Jackson gave their guest a once-over with his eyes, the drizzle having done a decent job at washing the blood from his eye and clearing his vision. She must have been thrown from the truck when they had rolled, but he was thankful that she had been thrown clear and not pinned underneath. He was lucky to have slowed down when he did. And all things considered, she appeared mostly intact — and hopefully well enough to walk back to the house. Any scrapes would heal fast — evident in how his forehead had already stopped bleeding — but broken bones would be a cause of concern for any werewolf. His head turned to Huan, and concern spilled into his chest. The beta was putting on a brave face, but something about the way she walked made it clear to Jackson that she was in pain.
indentindentJackson walked closer, until he, Huan, and the newcomer were clustered in the middle of the darkened road. He reached out to Huan with the help of the pack bond, the notes of his sonorous voice reverberating inside of his own head: "Tell me if it begins hurting too much to walk," he instructed, then turned around on the spot until he was facing the way that would take them to the house. He had no real way of talking to their guest until she had made her decision, but he hoped she would understand to follow them. "Let's go home."
indentindentNormally they could have cleared the distance in a matter of minutes, but they were all tired and banged up, and so Jackson kept his pace down to a walk. His ears remained on a swivel, listening to the woods that rose tall on each side of the dirt road, but all he heard was the eerie creaking call of a nightjar. As they approached a bend in the road, he threw one last glance over his shoulder, back at the wreck of the truck, hardly more than a dark lump off the side of the road, in the shade of the pines. It had served him well. He would call someone in the morning to come gather it away, but he had little hope that it could be driven again. Maybe he would get to keep some part of it as a memento.

The clouds had broken away by the time the woods began to disperse around them. Silvery light from the stars and the moon fell down from the midnight blue sky, revealing the outline of the pack house against a backdrop of forest. The outer walls were timber and stone, and while the windows were tall enough to fill the house with sunlight during the day, they were now filled with the glow of artificial light from inside. Some of the pack was still awake, and Jackson hoped that Elijah would be among them.
indentindentThe path that could be considered the driveway curved around the yard to a place where a few cars stood parked, silent and still in the night, but Jackson took a shortcut across the soft grass- and leaf litter- spotted turf to climb the worn wooden steps up to the stoop. He chose to shift there, knowing the door might be latched this late, and as he reached out to try the handle, he was proven right. He knocked, and for a moment it was quiet, until the sounds of shuffling and footsteps from inside, and then the door was opening, flooding their feet with warm light. It was only then that Jackson finally found himself relaxing, greeted by the familiar smell of woodsmoke and half-a-dozen wolves packed into the same house.
indentindentThe person to greet the three of them at the door was Frankie, someone who had been with the pack for a couple of years. She seemed to look them over, eyes lingering on the third who she did not recognize, and a subtle frown etched itself into her brow. "What happened?" she asked as she stepped aside to allow them into the entry, and even the familiar defiant insistence of her voice was a welcome sound after the night he had had.
indentin"We're alright," he reassured, although he couldn't help the concerned look he gave Huan. "For the most part."
indentin"You don't look alright," she noted, her initial frown softening into something more worried. Jackson touched his fingers to the cut on his forehead, but the blood was still dry, and it hardly ached anymore. Still, they must have been quite the sight — soaked, disheveled, and a little bloodied. Although he would have preferred to relay the story someplace else, he relented. It was somewhat urgent, after all.
indentin"We were driven off the road by a vampire. Someone new, I imagine. I didn't recognize the scent," he explained, before gesturing a hand toward his beta, and, finally, the newcomer. "Huan and I should go see Elijah, but I need someone to show our guest to one of the empty beds. And..." He stepped closer to Frankie, his tone now a little apologetic to be asking this of her in the middle of the night, but at least she happened to have the habits of a night owl. "The vampire took off right after the crash. I need you to follow the trail, to make sure that the town will be safe until we can organize a proper patrol in the morning. You can find the truck a couple miles down the road — I think you'll be able to pick up the trail from there."
indentindentFrankie nodded, now far less incensed. Jackson could count on her to understand the gravity of the situation. "I will," she promised. Before their guest could be led away, Jackson turned to her one last time: "We should talk more in the morning. When you're ready."

As Frankie led their guest into the hallway, Jackson raised his hand to gently touch Huan's shoulder and guide her to the direction of their healer, a place he jokingly called the "den". It was a newer addition connected to one side of the house, someplace spacious enough to hold a proper sickbay.
indentin"Let's get ourselves checked out," he said softly, before knocking on Elijah's door. Hopefully he would still be up, and Jackson wouldn't have to wake him from sleep.

🟆. ─────── 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐄

xxxxxxxxxxx29, elk creek subordinate, tagging: Cassia mentioned: Huan, Jackson, Elijah location: house

Frankie had been up late, working away in the blue light of her laptop, when there had come first a creak and then a knock from the front door. She had left the kitchen table and padded down the wooden floors of the hallway in socked feet, only to find a rather miserable sight waiting on the other side of the door. Jackson was soaking wet and tired, a mending cut on his forehead. The unexpectedness of it all and her own concern had melded into a kind of anger that wasn't really directed at anyone, but she was capable of controlling her emotions enough to hear Jackson's explanation of what had happened.

"Follow me," she told the stranger, inclining her head back in the direction of the hallway. Frankie wasn't someone to be excited to be thrust into a situation in which she had hardly any of the facts, and while she sometimes thought that Jackson was perhaps a little too trusting, she — perhaps in spite of herself — believed in his judgment of people. She did not always agree with him, but that did not make him any less of a dear friend, and he had welcomed her into Elk Creek after all. As far as first impressions went, the woman following her down the hallway didn't seem particularly hostile, and thus why should she not be afforded the same benefit of the doubt as Frankie herself had been?
indentindentThey passed doors, some ajar and others closed tight, the walls around them decorated with old pictures of past pack members grinning at the camera or gathered around campfires. A deer's skull, crowned with pointed antlers, loomed high on the wall at the end of the hallway, before it opened to a high-ceilinged living room and a dining area. Stairs crawled up one side of the room, to a loft-like second floor where the house had an empty bedroom or two. Frankie checked that she was still following, then climbed up the stairs and began pointing out different doors along the upstairs hallway, which finally opened into a lounging area at the very end.
indentin"You'll find the bathroom over there. The closet should have clean towels, but if you can't find any, there should be more in the laundry here," she explained, already following the railing to the door of an unoccupied bedroom. She pushed open the door and flipped on the lights. The room was somewhat bare without anyone's personal touch in it, but the bed was comfortable and the sheets fresh. Some things had been left behind over the years, miscellaneous decorative items and a few framed paintings, alongside a bedside lamp and an alarm clock. There were patterned curtains hanging by the lone window. "This room has been empty for a while, but it should have anything you need to stay the night. There's usually food in the kitchen if you're hungry, and Huan will likely bring you something dry to wear."
indentindentFrankie turned to leave and give their guest some privacy, but she lingered in the doorway for a moment, debating whether to bring it up, before turning back around. She had noticed the slight limp in her gait. It wasn't like Jackson to be so unaware as to overlook someone's injuries, but he must have been worried about the well-being of his beta. "Elijah is our healer. You should be able to find him downstairs, his rooms aren't far from where the front door is."
indentindentShe finally closed the door behind her, then headed for the stairs. There was a vampire she had to track.