Dew (open)

[Julian McAllister]

"In the cemetery?" Julian couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow and fire a very befuddled glance over one of his shoulders. He couldn't actually see anything beyond the fence, the coming storm and early hour fogging the air to the point that it was all one solid sheet of grey out there. But he had no reason to argue about the stranger's explanation. Rather than wait for Craig to turn around and give any sort of response to the rhetorical question, Julian just gave a bony shrug and raised his hands in defeat casually. He really was not in a position to criticize, being the one found naked in an alleyway. Wandering a cemetery in the middle of the night was downright normal compared to his crap, so who was he to judge? "Alright then."

Without even a hint of sarcasm this time, the lycan agreed and casually fell into step behind the shorter man, musing silently to himself about their suddenly very noticeable height difference. Craig had gotten into the habit of calling him 'kid', despite him being nearly thirty years old and an entire head length taller than him. But somehow, Julian really couldn't find any reason to blame him for the nickname. Your average thirty-year-old mature New Yorker didn't wander around strange streets buck nude, and something about the hunter's position as 'unwilling help', and the lycan's position as 'sheepish victim' made it all seem so appropriate somehow. Wringing his hands together thoughtfully, Julian followed Craig up the steps and into the small apartment. He paused in the doorway to look around shamelessly, but said nothing. At some point in the previous five minutes, he'd figured out that the hunter was not a talker, and probably wouldn't enjoy one either, so he was making a point to keep his normally loud mouth shut politely.

Rather than follow Craig into his bedroom, which seemed... intrusive somehow, Julian idled in the part of the apartment one might call the "living room", if not for the fact there was no wall separating it from the kitchen. He kept his hands clasped tightly behind his back, making a point to avoid touching anything or doing anything to upset the apartment's resident. This was all in the name of pants, it would not help his situation at all to piss the hunter off before getting himself a pair. Somewhat nervous and looking very awkward where he stood, Julian distracted himself by wiggling his toes against the hardwood and watching the shapes his nails made in the fine layer of dust that seemed to coat everything. It was taking all of his willpower not to bend down and draw a smiley face on something...

((No worries. :3 Have fun camping. Take your time replying.))

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[Craig Bennett]

The deep scowl of Craig's lifted slightly as he noticed that Julian had indeed followed him, and he seemed rather pleased with the fact that the other man had managed to keep himself under check and had stayed put instead of following Craig further into the apartment. With a half-hearted underhand toss, the pants were sent into the air sailing towards Julian. There obviously would be a problem with the matter of the size of the pants themselves, but they'd be better than nothing, and to be frank, this stranger was lucky to be getting anything at all from Craig, who'd much rather be saving Jill than having to save someone from being nude and then having to listen to her bark into his ear for hours about how long he took getting the damned rope.

"Pants. Done," he huffed, relieved to be rescued from the burden that was Julian. Now the man could go off on his own and Craig could get back to the whole rescuing thing. But somehow this whole pants thing would probably drag on. The man had said he was lost, and Craig would have to end up giving him directions or something. But he had taken care of the immediate problem, and Julian could ask someone else for directions, and that left Craig free.

"Alright. You got your pants. Now I have to go rescue someone, and you have to get out of my house," Craig said, more ordering rather than just mere stating of facts. He didn't like people in his house. He didn't like them near things that could be tied to him, or things that could say something about who he was. He would prefer that people made their own conclusions about him or, better yet, leave him alone. When another human got into his territory, his space, and stood in it, it unsettled him, even if it had been him that had let the person in the area. As it was with Julian, though he was rather pleased with the man's courtesy to not step into his bedroom.

It wasn't really like Craig had anything important lying about in his house. Nothing really had any meaning to him out in this area; most of the things that had any meaning to him he kept in his bedroom, and that would only be some old records. Craig had long since thrown away the photographs of his brother, long thrown away the little trinkets that had been given to him, or the wooden toys his brother had carved when they were young. Craig minutely wished he had them now, that he could have kept them instead of trashing them when he heard of his brother's death.

"Let's go. I'm not looking forward to hearing someone screeching at me about how long I took, so let's make that duration shorter."

[Julian McAllister]

His willpower had almost completely faded by the time he heard the flap of fabric, all of his attention on the floor at his feet that begged to have something drawn in it. So Julian only had time to look up, slightly startled, before his vision was smothered by the light gray fabric of a pair of sweatpants. But, as ungraceful a catch as it was, he did absolutely zero complaining. Honestly, how could he have? The pants were small and, once he'd eagerly stepped into them, were more like long shorts rather than a pair of decent pants. But they were loose, comfortable, and did the very necessary job of covering everything that needed covering, so he looked up with a very grateful smile when Craig stepped back into the room, headed for the door his guest was still standing in front of, though a command to step away was never uttered or needed. Like an animal before a hunter, Julian stepped away from the door so it could be opened and they could vacate the premises. He was honestly just as unnerved by being in a stranger's house as this particular stranger seemed to be about his being there, all frowns and displeased tones. Julian at least found the courtesy to smile still and ran a hand through his hair sheepishly.

"Right! Right, yes, let's go." He'd only just found the words when he realized how stupid his cobbled sentence fragment had sounded. Craig clearly had no use or desire to stay in the lycan's company, nor should he. Complete strangers don't become bro's overnight. There was no reason the hunter had intended them both to return the cemetery, or any reason for him to assume this female friend needed two people's help rather than one. But he felt obligated to at least offer his aid. After all, he'd gotten a pair of pants out of this whole ordeal. The garment was worth its weight in gold to him.

"That is, if you need any help. I mean... I appreciate the pants, and I don't know what kind of trouble your friend is in but if it involves a rope..."

Julian just let the sentence hang in the air unfinished, shrugging his bare shoulders awkwardly, hoping the rest of his thoughts could be read without the use of words. Unfortunately, he didn't think they would so, after shrugging a second time, more as an idle activity to fill the silent void, he searched for words again. Words were really his only weapon or defense against anything, even kindness apparently.

"I dunno. Are you going to like... tow her car or something?"

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[Craig Bennett]

The door was quickly shut and locked as if instead of a dusty room inside, there was a beast. The keys were shoved into Craig's pocket, and the hunter ignored Julia's first comment, incorrectly assuming the man meant for them to go their separate paths. But soon it was clear that was not Julian's intentions at all. Apparently he felt he was in debt or some such thing, and wanted to repay Craig by helping him tow out Jill. This amused Craig, mostly because Craig had been rather hostile the entirety of this ordeal, and had made it clear that he preferred to be alone rather than in the company of another. But he did appreciate the offer, truly he did. It was a typical thing to do, try and repay someone for their kindness, but it was not something that Craig particularly wanted to be reminded of or repaid for.

Then again, if Jill couldn't fully climb up the rope, he'd have to drag her up, and that wasn't something he would look forward to doing. Even if he didn't have to, he'd need to steady her somehow, so he'd have to end up tying the rope around a headstone and holding the rope in case it broke. In all these scenarios, it seemed that if he brought Julian along, the whole process would be a bit safer. And less rigorous on him.

"Alright. You can come. And no, we're not towing her car. She was walking alone in the graveyard like the idiotic creature she is. Lycan starts chasing her, as would happen with her luck. She decided to jump off a cliff to escape it. Surprisingly, it worked. The thing left, and she landed on a ledge. And I -we- need to drag her out of there," Craig explained, his voice rather monotonous and bored. He was already starting to walk towards the graveyard, and busied his hands by checking that his pistol was holding full ammunition, which it was, as it always did, unless he'd just been shooting something.

"After this, you can run along to your home. Once she's out of there, I'd do it fast," he added, attempting to make a joke. Craig was not good at jokes. He wasn't good at saying them, wasn't good with getting them, and he didn't generally like them. But this whole situation was ridiculous enough to allot it. Craig had left to get a rope, had met a nude man, took the man to his house, got him pants, and was returning back to the girl with the man in tow.

[Julian McAllister]

Julian hung back a few steps in an almost weary manner, following the hunter a short length behind him, out of sight. It was an odd decision for him to make and he felt terribly awkward about following behind a companion, no matter how brief, rather than walking beside them as equals. He was always so willing, eager even, to treat others as his equals. But something about the turn of the conversation as they stepped back out onto the street and headed back toward the hole in the cemetery fence line kept him lingering slightly in the shorter man's shadow.

"A lycan?" The word rolled off of his tongue awkwardly. He'd honestly never heard it before, or at least not in any detail. Vaguely, he remembered reading about some sort of moss-like plant that shared the term, but plants don't chase people, so this all left the dark haired figure all levels of confused, and even slightly terrified. Based on Craig's very brief description, he was probably referring to an animal and, at the thought, Julian worried his left wrist in a fidgeting sort of fashion, running his thumb over the old ring of teeth marks that had long turned to fresh scars. "You mean, like... one of those crazy feral dogs from the news and everything was after her? Good lord, is she alright?"

It was probably an excessively long moment before Julian realized how unnecessary a question that was and, his expression faltering a bit apologetically, he verbally backtracked.

"Well, I assume she is, since we're going to go 'rescue' her and you don't seem like the type to leave someone bleeding to death at the bottom of a cliff. But still... Damn."

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[Craig Bennett]

Craig stiffened as he slowly realized that Julian had no clue what the hell he was talking about, and thus wouldn't understand what kind of potential danger there could be. Even worse, Craig realized that if he attempted to explain it, Julian would think he'd gone off the deep end. He wasn't sure which was worse, letting a completely naive man walk around in a graveyard where Craig knew there was a werewolf wandering around, or telling him and possibly risking any respect the man possibly had for him.

"Ah- you don't know. This keeps getting better and better. Kid, there are things in this world, monsters if you will. You'll undoubtedly think I'm insane if I explain any of it to you. You'd have to see it for yourself. And if you're lucky, you might just get to, if I happen to see the beast and get a good shot," sighed Craig, slowing his pace so as to be by Julian's side. It was useless. The man would think he'd gotten a little odd in the head, and the only way to prove any of it would be to shoot the bastard that attacked Jill. "The big feral dogs everyone's been talking about. Sure. That's what it is."

Was Jill alright? Well, Craig wasn't really sure. He assumed she was. He didn't think she was bitten, god he hoped not, and he was pretty sure she wasn't majorly bleeding. "I'm fairly certain she's alright. I didn't go down and check, but she was talking well enough that I figured she'd be fine. If she is hurt, she got what she deserved. You know, this has happened twice. Only reason she's alive now is because I went and shot down the, ah, feral dog that was attacking her the first time. And, just my luck, I'm around to save her again."

Stopping walking and looking hard at Julian, Craig shook his head. "Are you alright?" he asked, noticing how fidgety the man was. Julian, the hunter decided, was just like that. "Of course you are. I don't know how you can just keep on smiling. I suppose if you're as naive as you are, it's possible. But someday you'll have to learn. And you're not going to like learning one bit."

[Julian McAllister]

Blue eyes bore into the back of the shorter man's head, silently communicating anxiety to no one who could see him at the moment, and by the time Craig had slowed so they could walk side by side, the lycan had been smart enough to look away. He wasn't very good at schooling his emotions, and he knew this painfully well, but made a feeble attempt anyway, flashing a half smile of appreciation for the older man's courtesy. The hunter really didn't seem to like his company very much, it was surprisingly nice of him to slow his pace. Still, the momentary connection was whisked away in an instant with the conversation, which Julian still seemed to eye wearily, still fidgeting with his scarred wrist. There was a loud questioning in his posture, which was slightly slouched in uncertainty, but it took him a few minutes to find the proper words for it.

"... What... do you know about these things?" He eventually asked in a small voice, clearly aware of Craig's unladen sarcasm on the subject. The news had definitely said they were feral dogs, and the one he'd gotten a look at was definitely canid in nature. But it had been awfully big for a dog... Some news papers speculated pumas. Perhaps... But how would this seemingly normal man know anything about the vicious wild animals running around? Even the police were baffled. "I could've sworn it was a dog."

Realizing he was being ambiguous, the lycan paused for a minute in an attempt to find more words, and was momentarily distracted by the looming shape of the iron fence of the cemetery rising up out of the morning fog. Rain hissed in the distance and thunder rumbled the stones and pavement like a far away train, but the sun still rose and the morning still progressed steadily, illuminating the world one tiny fragment at a time and bathing the city in a dull silver shine. In any other situation, involving more clothing and preparation, the atmosphere might've been soothingly cool, with the muted colors and the gentle lighting. But as it were, Julian found himself staring up at the seven or eight foot wrought iron fence that surrounded a field full of dead people, speaking with an aggressive stranger about vicious animals. If ever there was a situation that warranted an air of caution, this was it. But his idea of a 'caution' was still painfully open in the minds of most people, so he still grinned half-heartedly when Craig broke the sudden silence with a question. Julian shrugged his response.

"My brother used to say that, before he joined the military." He spoke haphazardly, examining the fence as though expecting it to reach down and shake his hand. "I trusted his word was true, but so far, I've learned nothing except to not sweat the small stuff. And then people turn around and call me weird for it. I've never understood why happiness is abnormal and misery is to be expected- is considered the more intelligent opinion. Seems like a waste of time and energy to me. I mean, yeah sure, people are getting attacked by animals now and that's no good, but other than that... what's there to complain about, really?"

The lycan shrugged again, his gaze casually searching the fenceline for signs of the hole he'd seen Craig climb through earlier. He'd never seen or been to this cemetery before, did this place even have a gate?

"Maybe it's just me. Other than this feral dog bullshit," He waved his left hand pointedly. "I've never had a reason to be worried about much of anything. I guess to some degree, I know that's not true for everyone."

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[Craig Bennett]

With a slight chill in the air and a graveyard rising menacingly in the distance, laughter, especially as hollow and bitter sounding as it was, could be less a joyous sound and more an eerie one. And it set the tone perfectly for this little endeavor. Two men out to rescue a woman, possibly facing a haunting beast of age-old lore. It was an underused laugh, one that was rough and hard, much like it's owner's way of speaking. It was rather unpleasant, and most certainly disconcerting. Especially when it came from a man like Craig, who didn't seem to actually find a terrific many things humorous. So why, then, was he laughing? The answer was quite simple and lay within the question asked by Julian. What did Craig know about these things? Further within that question seemed to lie another one; why did he know about these things?

"I know a good amount about these things. I wish I didn't. I wish I was like you. They always say that in the movies. The people who know, they wish they were still innocent, protected, and hidden from the truth," he began, for once refusing to lock eyes and instead looking a bit farther off in the distance. Craig didn't like telling people about himself, but this seemed like the right time to do it. "My brother was killed by one. That was after, though, we joined the hunters. And that was after we watched his wife-" Craig attempted to explain, but broke off the sentence, not sure quite how to finish it. The words had seemed easy enough in his head. She turned into a werewolf. But somehow, those words sounded so fake now, too fake to utter. There was a long moment where he stood there, refused to look at his companion, and locked his jaw.

"They're not feral dogs, Julian. I've seen enough of them that I should know. I've stared at them face to face, same as the woman that's stuck down that cliff. If I had been more into trophies, I'd probably have their heads tacked all over my walls," he said solemnly, looking Julian straight in the eyes now with a great amount of conviction. And suddenly Craig stopped, recalling something that Julian had said not a moment before. I could have sworn it was a dog. A cool wave washed over him, and his body tensed visibly as he studied the werewolf's face.

"There's more to complain about than you know. Now, Julian? Tell me, have you ever seen one of these dogs? And this is important, so you need to tell me the entire truth," Craig said sharply, almost like a police officer asking for a report from a child. But unlike a police officer talking to a child, the hunter did not try to mask his urgency, and instead left it clear on his face. Julian needed to give him a straight answer, though Craig wasn't sure he wanted to hear it yet. He wasn't sure if it'd be good or bad news, and he never had taken well to bad news.

[Julian McAllister]

See Julian, this is why you don't ask questions, a voice in his mind criticized bitterly, and he could almost see the reflection of a man a few years his senior sneering bitterly down his frighteningly familiar straight nose, eyes hard and hateful. It made the lycan worry his wrist again, almost subconsciously, but when he noticed the nervous movement, he stopped it quite deliberately, instead hooking his thumbs into the loose elastic of the waistband of his borrowed pants. The fabric was soft and had warmed to his skin, despite the damp air around them, and he found it soothing and comforting compared to the hard, urgent stare he was getting at the moment. Glare was a probably more accurate term for it- cold and not intentionally condescending, but unnerving and disappointing all the same. Julian tried to meet it with purpose, but Craig's sudden pause, the hard lines in his face and the deep shadows the low light cast upon his features scared him away, and his blue eyes flew elsewhere to stare at nothing in particular instead.

Shit, it was time to lie, wasn't it? It'd be so long since he'd had to do any of this. Untruth was such a foreign concept, it was like giving an ape a bowling ball, he just wanted to stand there and hold it, to examine and understand why it was there. But no amount of careful turning in his daft hands could make the alien object more familiar to him, this much he'd figured out already.

"Once. On my way home from work a few months ago." Julian attempted a shrug, appearing casual about the story and his tone suggested as such, but he couldn't help but scuff at the ground lightly with one of his bare feet. Oddly enough, the rough concrete didn't seem to bother his skin at all. "But it was late and I didn't work in a great part of town so it was dark. I didn't really see it as much as it could be heard, and it barked and snarled like a dog would. Or a wolf maybe, I suppose, but what would a wolf be doing in the city of all places?"

"I really couldn't see much." This part was the truth so it was easy to tell, and the lycan found it much easier to meet the eyes of the shorter man from where he stood a few feet down the sidewalk. "Just dark fur, a tail, a snout probably. They ended up showing a fuzzy picture on the news that looked a lot like it, all hunched over and everything, with those same yellow eyes."

He finished with a pointed raise of an eyebrow.

"And they said it was a dog."

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[Craig Bennett]

There was a feeling of relief that hit Craig as Julian had told him that yes, he had seen one, and went on to say he couldn't quite see it clearly but had seen something like it on the news. If the man had turned out to be a beast, that would have been very bad news for Craig. One, he'd be right next to a werewolf, which he'd then have to kill. And that would mean blood would get all over his pants, not that he exactly wanted to wear them now that they had been all over this naked man. No, he was pretty sure he would be fine if he didn't get them back. Two, he didn't know how Julian would react to everything, and possibly could have made killing him even more regrettable than it already would have been. Because honestly, he didn't seem to be a bad man.

"What would a wolf be doing in the city? It was a big dog, wasn't it? Did you at least see that? Maybe it wasn't a dog, Julian. Or a wolf. Not a bear either. Not something so blissfully normal," stated Craig with a cold, almost sneering tone to his voice. "I spend my time hunting them. I should damn well know what they look like. And don't expect the police or the news to know what they're talking about. When do they ever? And you certainly won't find them hunching over and investigating beasts of 'supernatural' quality."

There was never a moment where Craig liked informing ignorant people of what they were missing. He didn't like political arguments for that reason; it was was far simpler to just hate them rather then get worked up, scream, and then hate them. In his experience, ignorant people were often ignorant out of choice, and it was hard to make them change their minds about that decision. Why, then, was he wasting his time on this stranger? Perhaps it was pity, perhaps it was wanting to make sure the man knew the full extent of what they were about to get into, or perhaps it was a general concern for Julian's well being. Regardless, he was trying to explain it all.

"We should get moving, but I still warn you, the beast that may be laying inside that graveyard is not something at all ordinary, or that you would think is more than a fairy tale. But do not fool yourself. These monsters are very much real," Craid cautioned, and drew from inside his coat a small, silver dagger, which was offered with a nod towards Julian. "Take it. If we see the creature, you're going to need it. And don't refuse. I don't want to have to scrape what remains of your sorry ass off of the headstones because you were too stupid to take a weapon."