mericlecure | Sample: Whacked Kind of Welcome Wagon

Who: Astrid and Caleb
Where: Lockwood house
When: eeearly mornin'

So this absolutely wasn't the first time Astrid had stopped by the house. It also wasn't the second, or the third. Yes, this was the fourth time Astrid had dropped by -- if one didn't count her simply walking past -- and that was her restraining herself. Because the fact was that, even with the help of Oz, there just wasn't any more of a clue to what had happened to Mathias and Dorian than the house. And even then there weren't really any clues at the house, because suddenly disappearing without the slightest trace just... didn't count as a clue, in Astrid's book. But it was the place with the freshest scent trail, and Astrid just wasn't keen on making the same mistake as last time: leaving the place, getting lost, and coming back only to discover Mathias had been there and then disappeared again. So, yeah, she wasn't going to let a day go by that she didn't check in on the house... granted, right now it seemed she wasn't able to let a couple hours go by without leaving the house, but at least she wasn't camping out!

And, well, at least she forced herself to leave again after some point -- sometimes returning to the pack, sometimes exploring the town a little more. Either way, Astrid was near-paranoid about wandering off too far this time. And... Astrid was currently in the process of leaving again. Really. She was just... sorta lingering around the front door, alternating between staring and frowning and sometimes glaring at it, all part of the 'aaaaaand we're leaving again. Promise.' thing. In fact, she was even finally turning back around and taking a step back to the street when she caught a scent from upwind that first had her stopping in her tracks before darting toward its direction.

Caleb got dropped in his living room. Hunt's blonde had one thing down, and that was convenience. He apparently didn't even have to walk anywhere. When he was suddenly alone in his living room, in an empty fucking house, he dropped everything he was carrying. Not that it was much, per se. Just a bag he'd found somewhere that contained a bunch of dirty, bloody, mostly shredded clothes. And that ipod with british music on it. He rubbed at the slice on his jaw again, and stared at the floor, totally unsure what the fuck to do now. It was only when he heard rushing footsteps that he frowned and looked up, kind on top of his game in that moment.

Really, it didn't make any sense whatsoever that the scent would just suddenly be there, but she wasn't thinking on that part too much. Just tunneling in on the fact that it was. And, really, had the front door not been locked she quite literally would have barged herself in. After dealing with worrying herself sick and an inability to get anywhere in tracking Mathias or his brothers, niceties such as knocking just kind of went out the window when such a major breakthrough popped up. But the door stopped her pretty suddenly there, startling her for a moment just short enough to figure out why she couldn't get in, rattle a bit at the doorknob, and already make her way toward peeking through the nearest window to visually confirm what her nose was telling her.

"Hello?" she called out, forehead pressed against the glass as she caught sight of the boy, "Are you Caleb? Are you okay? Do you know where your brothers are?" she rattled off, shooting the questions as soon as she thought them in the order they hit her: Caleb? Safe? Other two? Although a faint whiff of what smelled like blood had her looking more worried, and she quickly made her way around the house, peeking through whatever windows she could along the way. "Are you hurt? Hold on, I'll come in," she called out as she hurried around the house, finally stepping in through the back door.

Caleb stared out the open window at the woman out there. Then he walked over, and looked at her from closer up. "...who the fuck are you?" he asked, very confused. And then she was gone, and he was more confused, til he heard someone coming in the back door. So he headed that way, through the living room to the kitchen where that door was. "How do you know my name, and--is that door lock broken?" he asked, trying desperately to catch up with current events, but that so wasn't happening yet. he felt a little like his mind was short circuiting. Like he was only catching snatches of information, not the whole picture.

"I'm Astrid, Oz told me, and yes" she answered, not dwelling too much on the intro or how the lock got broken while her eyes intently ticked over him, cataloguing whatever scrapes and such she saw there. The brevity of answers wasn't any attmempt to be coy -- it was just that lengthy explanations didn't top the priority list right now. A part of her really could appreciate that this wasn't exactly welcome or normal on Caleb's part, but the overwhelming majority of her really just had more important things to be concerned about. Like the fact that Caleb was here, and that there was most definitely the scent of blood coming off in waves. Which had her frowning, as her nose and eyes weren't quite lining up on that matter. Yes, she saw cuts and scrapes and injuries on Caleb -- any amount of which would kick up her concern -- but what she saw no way accounted for how strong the blood-scent was. ... were there more injuries under his clothes?

"How badly are you hurt?" she asked, taking a step closer. Really, the only thing that barred her from completely closing the distance and getting handsy in her assessment was the little bit of awareness on Caleb's probable confusion -- at least, for as much as she could understand it. After all, as far as he knew right now?, she was pretty much just barging in on his territory. So she held off a little, forcing herself to gauge his state from a couple feet instead of a pat-down.

When she came closer, Caleb immediately backed up, til his back hit the kitchen counter. It wasn't a move he'd normally make, really, but at the moment he was disoriented and such so it was automatic. "...okay, Astrid...Oz told you...what, my name?" he asked, connecting the dots albeit a touch slowly. "And I'm fine." he told her, as usual blowing off any injuries he had. As far as he was concerned he wasn't bleeding to death from anywhere therefore he was fine. There wasn't much of a middle ground in Caleb's assessments of that nature. There was 'fine' and 'dying'.

Astrid frowned more at that, confused, in one of those moments of 'I'm missing something here' that did nothing to point out what it was. "You're... bleeding," she pointed out slowly, in a way that would've come off as stubborn if she didn't also sound rather confused there, gesturing at the gash in his cheek for one. Not that she thought he didn't know he was bleeding, but the amount of blood she smelled didn't equate 'fine' in her book. Astrid wasn't an expert on vast seas of articulation, but she had a set idea that 'fine' was at least supposed to equate to not bleeding, for one. And yet Caleb didn't sound like he was lying when he said fine, and yet her eyes and nose were clearly saying otherwise... so, again, a bit confusion on her part. "Are there more injuries?" she asked, really kinda trying to get that part worked out at least, as she gazed about the kitchen. "Where's the first aid kit?" She thought she had seen one somewhere earlier, but it hadn't been so vastly important then to stick out in her memory.

"Not anymore." Caleb said. "I'm okay, it's just fresh." he said, reaching up to rub at the gash again, which he'd been doing now and then so maybe it was bleeding a little bit. "And it's fine, and I'm fine, and you really need to start explaining what the hell you're doing here, woman. And why you're just sort of...flipping out. I just got here." And he almost told her to talk to Dorian, but Dorian was gone, wasn't he. Which was pretty much a good chunk of the reason he was in as bad a mental place as he was. First Math, then Dorian. Right. He was home alone. ...apparently except for some mad (if kinda hot) chick who'd burst in.

Yeah, well, fine or not or whatever, Astrid was still rummaging about the kitchen looking for the first aid kit anyway. Whether he realized it or not (which he didn't) or appreciated it or not (which he likely wouldn't) Caleb was solidly set in Astrid's mind as part of her pack, and she was hell-bent on ensuring he got taken care of. She had a personality that tending to take that on, looking out for others, taking on that responsibility. And what with Caleb being fundamentally etched as Pack to the deepest core, it was a responsibility Astrid was taking to whole-heartedly with him. Also, at least rummaging for a kit kept her from walking up to him to physically poke and prod until she was satisfied in his well-being.

"I was looking for you and your brothers," she answered, head kinda halfway in a cupboard that looked promising... only it wasn't. "You all kinda..." she frowned, really unsure how to put that except for, "well, vanished. Except for you, I guess. You vanished too, but at least Oz knew where you were, and you had some kind of trail. But your brothers just... disappeared." Which was really the best word that she knew of to explain it. Mathias and Dorian's scents just disappeared, they didn't go missing or wandering off or anything that made the least bit of sense. And, even if her face was obscured by another cabinet door, her tone was clear she was every bit Not Happy about his brothers' disappearances as she was Confused As Hell.

Sagging a little back against the counter, Caleb watched her. "What are you doing?" he asked. "And why were you looking for us?" he asked. He didn't comment on his brothers going missing. He knew that. Math had poofed, then Dorian too. Apparently, he couldn't leave for two seconds without them wandering off into god knew what trouble. He'd feel so much better if when they did wander off for trouble that they took back up. Of course he couldn't know Dorian didn't. Though it sounded like the people who were the best to have around for backup hadn't even known where he went, so...yeah. He needed to concentrate on current events. Like this woman in the kitchen.

"Looking for the first aid kit," she answered to his first question. Although now she had stopped to look back at him. Did he know where his brothers were? Because to a wolf to whom Pack was everything, he was taking the news of his brothers sudden disappearances extremely well. Or, well, oddly. At least to her. She knew that she would be a bit more upset -- hell, she was incredibly upset. She wasn't getting hysterical, no, because there was a mission at hand to find them and hysterics didn't help... but the fact that she had no idea where they were was definitely driving her to distraction when she wasn't doing something to look for them. "I came here looking for Mathias," she answered to the latter, eyes still on Caleb, "but I couldn't find the town for a while, until one day I did -- I guess a couple days ago? And he wasn't here then, and when I went looking around I got caught in the... Loops? is what Oz called them? And then I found the town again.

"But neither you or your brothers were here again -- although this is where they both were here last and it couldn't be more than two days ago, I think." The most frustrating thing yesterday had been how fresh the scent was, after all. "But their trail just... ends. Like they just disappeared into thin air. And I don't think they're the only ones. But that's all I know." And if she knew any more she would have told Caleb more, seeing as how he had every right to be as informed on the situation as possible to her eyes. But the fact was that she didn't know anymore, even if she wished she did. "You don't seem surprised," she observed, not pointedly but definitely a bit confused, "do you know where they are?"

"I don't need first aid." he said first. "I'm fine. I've said it like three times now." he told her. He frowned as she spoke, the days not quite matching up at least for Math, but at the same time she seemed a whole lot of frazzled so maybe she was off. It wasn't like she'd come off as a credible witness so far. And she'd been caught in the loops, so who knew what that did to a person. "No, I'm not surprised, I knew they were gone." he told her. "But no, I don't know where. I wouldn't bank much on Math coming back though." he added, tone lighter than before, though it wasn't in response to her. He still just really hated the idea that his brother was gone, and he'd gone after a fucking horseman so he was pretty sure that shit didn't end well.

She observed him for another moment, one thought at least finally clicking to her. "I think we have different definitions for 'fine'," she stated, mind finally hitting onto that possibility. A possibility that, no matter how many times it seemed to be the case, always took her a bit to come upon. "Your brothers are missing, and you're bleeding some. And even if the injuries are just fresh you could still clean them and put gauze or band aids on to stop an infection, or re-opening a wound," she pointed out, really just trying to be helpful there. Because as a lycanthrope Astrid tried to avoid hospitals where she could -- especially after humans became aware of her species -- but she hadn't spent the past six years safe and cozy either. There had been a lot of scrapes, and a lot of relying on herself or someone else to patch her up.

As to the rest of his response... it was all just so strange to her. Even if she knew Mathias had traveled alone, and made no mention of any kind of family, and therefore said family had to be used to him being gone... the idea of a Pack so physically distant was just... really hard for her to wrap her mind around. Even if she knew human minds didn't work like hers, and they didn't really have Packs, that awareness didn't make it any easier to try to bend her mind to accept that. And she caught the change in tone. "I don't think you're fine," Astrid observed, not being pointed about it, though she didn't expand onto it. Because although the change in tone was enough to tell her something was off there with him, she knew she was more often wrong than not when it came to guessing the Whys behind human (or, considering his brother, likely nonhuman) behavior. And she could have responded more about Mathias, but opted to focus more on the 'Fine' issue for now.

He didn't say anything to her for a long moment. Really, he wasn't fine. In fact, he was probably worlds away from anything resembling fine. They weren't on good terms. Not speaking, as it were. They'd had a falling out. And sure, it had been building, but he was quite firmly in 'not-fine' land by now. That just didn't mean he was going to sit down and spill his guts to a girl who basically just broke in and had a nuts story. "I don't think it's your business." he told her, tone still quiet.

Her focus on him was intense during his silence. Really, sometimes, Astrid did better with reading people when there weren't words to get into the way -- like people throwing 'I'm fine' around when her nose, ears, and eyes all told her that they weren't. Granted, there was definitely some human body language that she wasn't fluent on -- was probably never going to be fluent on -- but there were also those unlearned natural and universal tells that even the most rational of humans couldn't really shake. And those tells were broadcasting pretty heavily right now. In that moment, Astrid could probably gauge better just how un-fine Caleb was moreso than if he had sat and spilled his guts to her. It didn't mean she knew what so going on, or what had contributed to it -- aside from his brothers missing, which he seemed oddly (to her) unphased-like about, she was absolutely clueless to that regard. But -- whatever the causes were -- she could observe their effect clear as day in that moment.

"Doesn't mean I'm not concerned," she finally replied, tone remarkably sincere on that for a woman who had just met him. Because he was part of her Pack, and she was absolutely concerned about and feeling responsible for his well-being -- physical and mental.

Caleb squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, and drew in a breath, letting it out slowly. "Look, Astrid, whoever you are, I don't know you. And I've never even heard of you. And you just kind of burst the fuck into my house, and I just got back two seconds ago. My brothers are gone, I really need change of clothes and probably sleep, and I have no clue why you're concerned, or what you really think you're doing. So unless you can give me some better answers here, I'm going to do that changing and sleeping thing." he told her, rubbing at the gash on his face again, an absent gesture. He sounded tired. Exhausted, even. He was fabulously un-okay and even if he was seeming like his brothers being gone was nothing, it was actually the reason why he was as un-okay as he was. That and the whole world ending detail. That sucked.

Again, a part of her could get that. And the part of her concerned about Caleb thought that, yes, the boy really did need to get some sleep. He had spent the past couple days fighting vampires and -- from what Astrid had taken from the conversation with Oz -- had been doing it alone. The last part of that striking her just slightly more than the fact that somehow this boy was fighting vampires. He didn't look quite able to fight off vampires, and she had definitely picked up on some Not Fine/Instability issues there... but, well, she was all too aware that people could be more than they seemed. But Astrid wasn't going to just leave Caleb there; because she sure as hell wasn't going to leave somebody -- especially a Pack member -- by himself when she could clearly pick up on him not being okay.

And he had asked a question, which deserved an answer; and almost every part of her was completely on board for disclosing everything, and no part of her was for lying, but with recent lycanthrope sentiment even Astrid felt a bit compelled to leave out some details for now -- which was really really hard for her. And she had to figure out what to do here. "I'm not going to tell you everything yet -- I don't want to risk getting killed unnecessarily," she disclaimed, opting to table the full truth once she got a better idea of who Caleb was and particularly where he stood on werewolves. She would risk her life for the boy in a heartbeat, but she wasn't jumping for him opting to kill her. Granted, if she was going to leave something out she probably shouldn't have told him she was leaving things out, but even willfully omitting important details to someone she considered Pack just rubbed her the wrong way.

"I'm... bonded to Mathias," she confessed, needing a moment to find a word that stressed a bit more of the 'this is permanent, not some mere attraction' thing but wasn't quite a werewolf giveaway as saying 'Mate'.. "For years. I know, now, that it's a one-sided thing -- but it doesn't change anything in the end. I came to Marquette looking for him, but he wasn't here again... except this time it's... different, than others." She frowned a bit deeply at that before continuing, "And you and Dorian were gone. But when I met Oz he knew where you were, but we still haven't been able to find anything on your brothers." And, at the end of it, it was Astrid's turn to give off the Not Fine vibe; because for as much strain she had dealt with in always being a step (or twenty) behind Mathias, being here with him vanishing and having been worried about his two brothers had really frayed some edges.

"Opening up with the possibility that you might get killed for things? Not your best bet, for future reference." Caleb said, trying to take all of that in. That was just the first thing that came to mind. After that, he settled back again, looking down at the floor as he tried to wrap his head around some chick 'bonded' to his brother. He also tried to pick out everything that she'd said, and add it all together to see what he got. "Oz. How'd you hook up with him for this? Are you--what, a werewolf? Lycanthrope?" he asked. Which might explain the bond thing. Mostly he wondered if Math was aware he had a chick stalker or if it slipped his attention. He had tunnel vision sometimes. Or, a lot of the time.

"Yes," she replied, tone deliberate, eying him very cautiously with the admission. She was on the lookout for anything that might suggest... well, non-sympathetic tendencies. What with kinda being focused on the whole 'Caleb is in England fighting vampires' thing, she hadn't really grilled Oz for details on how much Caleb knew about werewolves. Oz had said that Caleb had helped out his and his own, sure, but that didn't guarantee Caleb knew he was helping nonhumans at the time. Obviously she hadn't been subtle -- Astrid was never great at dancing around a point, and had once been faulted with having the tact of a bull -- but sublty hadn't really been her aim. Just caution, what with not knowing how much he knew. And she thought she had managed well enough that he couldn't really put two and two together so quickly had he not known Oz was a werewolf. Or, well, so she thought... it wasn't like her assumptions were always spot-on.

Caleb nodded, not looking like he was planning on killing her as a matter of course because of it. "I see." he said. "Um...born?" he asked, because he knew there was a difference, too. Born werewolves weren't the kind that had attacked the town now and then, and who'd Nic'd backed over with his car when one was trying to charge him. So it was kind of an important distinction, not that even if she was a cursed one that he'd outright kill her or anything. If that was the case he'd be calling Dean and asking what to do about that.

Astrid nodded, actually smiling the slightest bit. "Yes." There was a note of warmth in her voice at the question. It wasn't really one people stopped to ask often -- not that she went about usually disclosing her lycantrhopy -- and there was definitely an appreciation there that he knew enough to ask it. Because, yes, there was an incredibly huge difference between being a born were and a cursed one.

Well that was a relief. He nodded again. "Okay." he said. Then shook his head. "I'm going to be honest and tell you I have no clue what to actually say to that. Or any of this." he admitted. "I just..." he made a vague gesture. "Just got in, and people are gone, and I'm not having the world's best day. I can see you're concerned, which...I'm guessing is because of the injury thing, but I swear I'm fine. I've had worse, this is pretty much nothing."

"Not just because of the injury," she kinda blurted in response to that. "You do smell of blood, though." Since he knew what she was, she didn't see any point in hiding that fact -- it was what was kinda the most... confusing and concerning thing in regards to his physical well-being. "You just don't seem okay." Chalk it up to the canine thing, but her head actually a cocked a little to the side as she assessed him, sharing that. And, just because she wanted to make sure nothing got lost in the inter-species communication, she tapped against her temple with her finger to clarify that she meant, well, mentally. Of course, he had plenty of good reasons to be not-so-great right now -- her being there probably wasn't helping -- but she needed to point out it wasn't just his physical well-being she was concerned about.

Caleb made a momentary face. "I have brothers, who're the only family I've got, and they're both gone." he said. "Do you really think I should be okay?" he asked. Which was contrary to what she'd been saying before, but then again, he was talking physically before as well. He still maintained he was fine in that sense. Just...not in other ways. And yeah. His brothers were gone. It wasn't a fabulous day. Not in the slightest, and he also knew there was shit he could do about it right now.

"No," she answered pretty steadily to that bit. Although she looked confused now, feeling like she missed a step in the conversation. She kind of felt like something got lost in translation somewhere, and she didn't know enough to guess whether it was on her end or his. "I don't think you should be okay at all with your family missing. Which is why I'm concerned," she reiterated, the frown still in place. To her mind she was repeating what she had said earlier -- about being concerned for his mental well-being. Only now she was being wordier, but repeating still a sentiment, and unsure if that would help regain that lost-a-step feeling in the communication.

"Well, things are fucked up. But there's not much I can do about it, either. Not right now, anyway." Caleb said. "So I can drive myself nuts, or I can try to get some sleep." he continued. "Then...I don't know. Try to figure something out. See if someone can do a location spell, or...something." Not that that had ever worked especially well in his experience. Though, he guessed it had got Dean his brother back. Even then, though, it had been when the loops were down. To say Caleb was in a hopeless frame of mind would have been a gross underestimation.

"A location spell?" Her ears quite literally pricked up at that, what with the possibility not occurring to her before. She understood the being driven nuts part. Unfortunately, she knew from experience not trying drove her even more so. Although this whole situation had her a hair shy from chasing her tail in circles. Because before she always had the option to travel, to retrace some old ground and see what popped up. To go back and occasionally find some minuscule clue to point her in the right direction. But not now. Now she had a scent that was fresh and not getting any fresher, was locked inside the town, and absolutely no trace of where her Mate or his brother had flitted off to. But at least she had one brother here, who was alive at least -- if not well. And channeling her focus into looking out for him was serving to keep her a bit more grounded than she had felt in a long time.

Although, as much as Astrid wanted to jump back into the search, she could more than see that Caleb definitely needed rest. "We could try talking to Oz when you're rested," she suggested, it being clear in her voice there was no time limit there. "He's also looking for someone who just vanished. And her scent and Mathias and Dorian's all end in a way that... I can't explain it, it doesn't make any sense. I don't know what happened and can't be certain, but my guess is that their disappearances are related. So whatever needs to be done, the I'm sure the Pack at the commune would help." She didn't know humans, but she did know wolves. There wasn't a doubt in Astrid's mind that they would be on board with tracking their missing.

"Math left." Caleb said. Then sighed. "But...sure, whatever. We can talk to Oz later." he said, then realized he'd said 'we' and internally groaned. What was he signing on here for? Jesus. "Are you going to be around? Or...?" he asked, not even sure what she planned on doing.

"I'll be around," she answered without the slightest hesitation. Caleb was Pack, which in and of itself was every reason the Wolf needed to stick around. But he also wasn't alright and he needed rest. Which wasn't a great state to defend oneself if danger showed up -- which was probably a bit paranoid, but one could never be sure of anything these days and his brothers had vanished (voluntarily or not) from this same house. And if her reasons had been more rationally thought out than instinctualy realized? She would have shared them.

So Astrid was sticking around, and it was going to be an uphill battle to get her not to. In fact, really, it was a feat of willpower that she wasn't outright hovering. It was only due to past experience that she knew hovering didn't go over to well. And she had at least enough sense to try to think from Caleb's point of view, in which she could recognize enough that she was still largely a stranger in his territory. "I can stay inside or out," she offered, "but I'll be around."

"Honestly, right now I don't care." Caleb said, sighing as he dragged his fingers through his hair. "Just stay out of the basement." Which was his room, and he pushed off the counter to head in that direction. He'd talk to people later. He'd figure out werewolf-chick later. He'd figure out if he was having some messed up dream then too. Everything felt a little like that. Hazy, soft focus, like he wasn't quite on par with everything else. Which really, was probably not so awesome a sign. But what could he do? His family had fucked off, Math was probably dead and the world was ending. There wasn't a whole lot to do there.

Astrid's gaze was locked on him the entire time, worried and frowning, but not saying anything as she watched his progression to the basement, though she moved out from the kitchen a bit to keep him in sight. Although she was concerned, and every bit of her wanted to follow and just make sure... well, just keep an eye on him, she didn't. At the very least, boundaries and territories was something her lupine instincts definitely understood. So instead she made a circuit around the living room, going over scents, although all the while her main focus remained on keeping an ear out for Caleb. She couldn't keep an eye on him, now, but that didn't mean her other senses weren't on the lookout.

And when she had exhausted the same smells she had exhausted before, and her energy level notched down to something a bit more managable, she finally sat on the couch; lounging there in some state that managed below hyper-vigilance... but could easily snap to the alert when needed. And with one ear still honed onto Caleb below and the other on the lookout, she turned things over in her head. She still didn't really know what to do, or have any clear idea of what to do in regards finding her Mate and Dorian. But at least now she had one of her Pack here, that she could actually look out for right now, and that counted for something.