The Woods

Lily leaned her red-head against the palm of her hand while her eyes were steady on the dirt road ahead. She offered to drive everyone as far as they could get by car, but now she was regretting it. The previous night she didn't sleep a second, she was too busy packing and repacking her bags. She heard her mom say something about watching out for bears and of course that only made her nervous. As a little girl Lily had never gone camping before, her family took trips to the beach and vacations in Florida, but she never thought about going camping until now. "How much further ahead is this place?" She narrowed her eyes behind her pink glasses and spotted a gravel parking lot in the distance. "Great we're finally here!" She sped up as fast as possible without running off the road and pulled into the very first spot. It was bright and sunny, on a lazy afternoon, but there were no other cars around. She purposely ignored that fact to keep from turning around.

"I guess we take that trail to uh...the campsite?" Lily felt like a little child going on some fantastic adventure, sure she was sort of terrified to sleep out in the woods, but she had her friends there with her.

(Masquerade, your character is beautiful! Just thought I'd throw that out there ^^)

Max could easily hear the sound of a car rolling onto the gravel driveway from his spot on the pier overlooking the lake. He also heard laughing and slightly nervous chatter - girly sounds, at that - and dared to look over his shoulder at the group of ladies making their way up the trail. The sun was beating down relentlessly against his caramel colored skin, shimmering with a layer of sweat, as he narrowed his eyes to try and see them clearer. The first girl he saw stood out the easiest among the crowd - her fiery red hair practically screamed of her existence - and his lips dared to curl into a smile at the sight of her; she was the anxious one.

After a few moments of blatant, googly-eyed staring, Max's attention reverted to the jerking fishing pole in his hands. He reeled in whatever catch was unfortunate enough to get hooked with no expression until he found himself holding a handsome trout. He placed it in his bucket, wiped his hands on his jeans, and continued to sit there, gazing at the sparkling sapphire lake ahead of him. He would get up and go home soon... after he found out more about this red headed girl and her friends.

Azrael rolled her eyes, holding back a smirk at Lily's anxiousness. She stepped out of the passenger side of the car and pulled her guitar out after her. She strapped it onto her back before grabbing her other bags, briefly wondering why they had decided to go camping, of all things. She pulled her chest length braid over her shoulder, her deep green eyes scanning the forest ahead of them. She adjusted her guitar strap a little as she waited for the other girls. She'd been camping before, with her father when he was alive. He had loved the outdoors, and whined and begged until she went with him. Fishing especially was his favorite, and they would spend hours at the lake, holding the fishing polls silently. They had been doing that for about twelve years, and she'd grown to like it quite a bit, up until three years ago. She hadn't been camping since then, so it felt odd now.

She flashed Lily a reassuring look as they headed down the trail. She stayed silent, observing everything around her. She practically had this place memorized by heart since it was the same place she had come to so often. The lake was her most favorite place, and she made a mental note to visit there later. As they neared the lake, she glanced over at it. She felt eyes on them, and as her green eyes traveled across the shore of the lake, she locked eyes with a man sitting there and watching them. A few seconds later, he turned to reel in whatever he had caught. She paused mid-step for a moment, watching him pull a nice trout out of the water and place it into the bucket next to him. Were people allowed to keep their catch now? They hadn't been able to three years ago. She snapped back to attention as the girls continued to chatter, and continued walking, flicking a brief glance at the man over her shoulder. A weird feeling turned in the pit of her stomach and she turned back to face toward, biting her lower lip out of habit. The other girls hadn't seemed to notice him, she realized.

There were more footsteps crushing dirt and gravel beneath them; when Max turned and looked again, he caught sight of a pretty girl with a braid and a guitar. She had just turned and looked over her shoulder at him, and, as not to be rude, he nodded a slight greeting at her. She seemed more vocal and a bit more composed than the redhead, and something else about her bothered Max to some extent. He felt like he had seen this girl already, several times, actually - but instead of pondering this thought, he shrugged it off and turned back around to pack his fishing pole away. This trout was his lunch and he was getting a tad ravenous; plus he noticed the accusing glare from the girl with the braid, questioning his ability to keep his food at all.

Now, one question lingered on his mind: where in the world were the others? He rolled his eyes, thinking of all the mess the other boys most likely had gotten themselves in. He picked up his bucket and began walking the length of the lake, not after flashing an unreadable look at Azrael.

Tabi hopped out of the backseat of the car and gave a cat stretch. “Finally is right! That was a longer drive than I expected.” Turning back to the car to grab her own bags, she swung them over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Lily “ ‘uh’ is not a good thing to hear in the woods. The last time I heard that I ended up with this disaster.” A finger pointed at her short pink hair, which to her disappointment looked brighter out in the woods, Tabi stuck her tongue out at her friend to show she was joking then started to follow Azrael as she led the way into the woods.

She was trying to sound upbeat about the whole camping trip, but she was having troubles getting her head to stop worrying about all the technical problems they were going to have. Bathroom being the worst of the list, she still couldn’t ignore the fact of wild animals living in the..well.. wild. Lily seeming just as, if not more, anxious about the whole trip; she was relieved that she wasn’t alone in worrying and that Azrael knew what she was doing. “So are we the only civilization around here? I didn’t see anyother cars where we parked. Or is it just us and the wild…Something wrong Rael?” Noticing the other girl glancing somewhere then biting her lip, Tabi cocked her head to the side. “It better not be bear tracks or I’m going back to the car.”

Rael snapped out of her thoughts and lifted her eyes, her gaze resting on Tabi. She flashed her one of her rare smiles to let her know nothing was wrong. "No bear tracks. And this place has always been...empty. Not many people come here, so yes. It is just us and the wild." She replied, her voice calm. The smile was gone as quickly as it had appeared and she glanced around the forest, noting they were close to their camp sight. Well, it wasn't exactly a camp sight. It was more of a clearing where they could set up tents. There were several around, but Rae thought it would be best to settle down closest to the lake. A mental picture of the man at the lake floated through her mind, and she couldn't help but wonder where she'd seen that...well, pretty damn gorgeous face, before.

He seemed a little familiar. She didn't know what it was. Maybe it was his face, or the air around him? Or...his eyes. Yes, it was his eyes. She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to think of when she'd seen them before. She sighed and pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, focusing on the task at hand. She thought better than to warn the girls of the animals around here. There were deer, skunk, coons, the average squirrel. Though they were far more feral out here. There weren't many bears, at least, she hadn't come across any. Wolves. There were plenty of wolves in this forest, but they didn't need to know that. Rael had come face to face with some of them a few times, but they never attacked. Instead, they just stared at each other warily. She hadn't been scared of them, but then again, she didn't fear anything besides thunder and lightning. She hoped there wouldn't be any hard storms while they were camping. The weather channel had assured them there wouldn't be, but then again, the weather channel wasn't always reliable.

Kind of tuning out the rest of the group.She followed behind them.She liked the woods,they were nice,calming.But there was something weird about here....I dismiss the thought.No,I'm not going to be creepy over cautious girl this trip.This was supposed to be fun.Her and her friends camping.So I made a mental note to make sure the weird side of my brain shuts up and I have some fun while I'm here. "Just us and the wild....ok,but aren't bears wild?"I said with a smirk.I knew I was being annoying but it was either that or I was going to run to the car ."But she's right,theres no bear tracks anywhere."She looked around the 'camp site'."Ummm, can i have help with my tent?"I look out at the lake.It looks pretty, but strange.I shrug the feeling away. I hoped to see some animals. Unlike the others it seemed,I liked animals.They usually liked me.There was a little baby fox that used to come to my house and look up at my window.I found it a little weird but didn't mind.I loved animals.I see a bird i the sky and smile.It seemed camping wouldn't be so bad.

(Thanks Valentine ^-^)

Lily was too busy scanning their surroundings to listen to the conversation, though she did pick up bits and pieces. "Bears? My mom did say something about watching out for wild animals, I don't wanna get mauled out here." Nervously the red-head bit down on her thumb nail, luggage slung over her shoulder as she followed the others up to a decent looking clearing. "I swear I'm not an idiot, but how the heck do you set these things up?" Lily sat her bags down in a neat pile and examined the instruction less tent bag her dad bought her from some hunting store. 'This is pathetic, I can't even set up my own tent, how are we gonna survive out here for a week?'

Lily turned to giggle at Zemy, holding up what she guessed were two tent poles, "Looks like we're in the same boat, I have no idea what I'm doing." Instead of frustrating herself over the impossible tent, Lily rolled out her sleeping bag and put one earbud in, turning up the volume of her ipod. Music could do anything for her, even keep her mind off of random thoughts about wild animals attacking everyone. "Hey," she said over her loud music, "we should go hiking or something! I bet there's some really neat stuff around here." She suggested with a cheerful smile on her face.

Giggles at Lilly."I can put up a tent usually,but I kinda forgot..."blushes."And I'm up for a hike.I love the wild.But beware,at night I like to scare people.."Grins,takes out my ipod now too,putting music on but quieter in my ears.It went to the song all these years by adema.Smirks and looks around campsite for something to do."Hey,don't we need a fire pit?"

Little do the girls know that they're being watched from a distance. The one watching them tilts his head and smiles. "Prey" He whispers to himself. 'should i tell the others? Or should I keep them for myself...' He thinks to himself. He licks his lips and starts to approach silently so they won't notice. 'I'll just watch for now...'

Sees movement,or at least thinks I do.Turns head and sees nothing.i must be real paranoid,I swore I saw the plants in the distance move.Maybe I'm loosing it.I ignore it and turns back to group."I really could use a hike right now though guys..."

Tabi felt a bit relieved that there were no bear tracks, that at least knocked one worry off her list; but she was kindly reminded by Zemy that they were still a part of the wild. “Wonderful.” She murmured as she continued to follow everyone to the camp site, taking in the scenery around them and noticing the lake for the first time. Worry filled or not, the area truly was beautiful.

Dropping her bags to the ground at the campsite, she figured she would just have to wait and see whatever it was that was bothering Rael; if her friend didn’t want to tell, then she highly doubted she would be able to coax it out of her. With a random green strap in her hand, and a good tug from the tangled bags she carried, Tabi pulled out her own tent and promptly fell to the ground when it gave way too easy. A quick glare at the insolent bag was interrupted by Lily and Zemy proclaiming neither knew how to set up a tent. Looking between the two, she could only shake her head as both girls put in their earbuds and started talking about hiking and fire pits. “That sounds fun, get a bit of sight-seeing in before we have to start working on these…things.” Poking her own tent bag with her boot, she smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “And if we can’t figure the tents out by then, we could always just tie a string between two trees and flop them over it. Then we’d really be camping in style.” Hopefully that option would only be a last resort, or miraculously meeting a handsome ranger who knew how to set up a tent…Ok, it was official; she had read one too many books.

Grins at Tabi,"Ya,sight seeing.And if we end up sleeping like that I'd rather sleep outside like an animal then twisted up under two flaps for cover."Laughs."But I can set up a tent....it just may take a minute to remember."Smiles and looks at where I saw something."We should hike that way I think...away from the path.I like bush-wacking.It's more adventurous."Grins at others."Anyone else comin?"

"You guys can go explore. I'll set up the tents. I have a few things I want to do anyway." Rael said with a shrug. It was true, she did have a few things she wanted to do. It had been three years since she was here, and she wanted to visit the lake my herself. Besides, she could set up the fire pit too. It would be much easier to do it herself, and the other girls wanted to go sight seeing anyway. She reminded herself that there were wild animals out there, and if the girls ran into them...it wouldn't go over well. She sighed, also realizing she couldn't stay with them the whole time anyway. It would be best if they went, maybe picked up some firewood while they were out.

She dropped her bags to the forest floor and slid her guitar off of her back. She would wait until they left to head to the lake. Pulling the tent supplies out for each girl, she started putting Tabi's together. Within ten minutes, it was standing proudly off to the side. She'd been taught well. She sighed and moved on to the other's, letting her mind wander while she was at it.

"Easy, Lupe," Max said, grasping the boy's shoulder firmly. "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach."

He gave the boy an unwavering look, allowing his azure eyes to become slightly cold and authoritative. He understood why the boy was so ready to attack - he was young, after all - but Max knew that he couldn't do it just yet. Instead, he offered him his large trout, placing the bucket in front of him to serve as a temporary alternative. Not only was it a bad idea to attack them all at once and immediately, Max had already taken an interest in one of the ladies at the campsite and wasn't willing to part with her until he found out more.

Instead of going home, Max remained where he was beside Lupe. It was an easy spot to watch the girls, where he remained nicely camouflaged with the foliage - but mostly, it had a perfect view of his early favorite. Max, however, wasn't quite satisfied; in fact, he was a little more daring now than usual. He turned back to Lupe, flashed him an assuring smirk and squeezed his shoulder.

"You gonna sit there all day and watch or try and bait your prey?" he asked playfully, then disappeared.

He made his way up a desolate trail until he reached his motorcycle, parked in plain sight at a cliff top overlooking the campground. Attached to his bike was a guitar; it was old and ratty, but the strings looked new and shined nicely. With a conniving smile etched along his handsome features, Max flung his guitar strap over his shoulder and made his way back down to the pier, strumming a pretty song along the way.

Surely it would catch her attention.

Rael glanced up from where she was setting up the tents when she heard music playing. Her gaze flicked over to a figure carrying a guitar, and she stood up straight, arching an eyebrow. She recognized him as the man before, at the lake. He was walking towards her, so she moved a few steps towards him, arching an eyebrow. She recognized the tune of the song, but she wasn't sure where from. It wasn't a famous song or anything. Her green eyes studied him carefully, taking in his appearance. He was pretty tall, especially taller than her. She was quite short at 5 feet. He was pretty muscular, and had a long, lazy stride. Her eyes flickered over his face, and she was surprised at how gorgeous he was up close. She felt that odd feeling at the pit of her stomach, and tried to ignore it. She pushed her hands into her back pockets, and took the last remaining steps towards him.

"Hello." She greeted, not quite sure what to say to the guy. He had just strolled in, playing a guitar. His skills were quite impressive though, she noted. She kept her gaze on his face, still sure that she recognized him from somewhere. It was starting to bother her a little, but she kept it well hidden.

With a smirk, Kein watched the girls below him, curiosity taking the best of him. High in the tree, he grabbed onto the trunk and leaned out, craning his neck to get a better view. He saw a flash of pink and furrowed his eyebrows. He leaned out once more, grabbing the trunk as best as he could.

One slip of a finger, that's all it took to send him tumbling to the ground, catching for a few moments on a branch before gravity sent him tumbling back down. He watched as the ground started coming up to meet him very fast and managed to turn himself so his feet were pointing to the ground. With a thud, he landed, tucking in and rolling to keep the impact off his legs. He rolled to a stand quickly and brushed himself off, jumping behind a tree and hoping they hadn't noticed the fall.

Adrian was wandering the woods, being his usual self. Normally, he would be in his wolf form, but this time, he'll just let it slide. With his hands behind his head he looked for the others, wondering what they were up to. Right when he was going to give up and head back home, he spotted two figures. Tilting his head, he quietly walked over, only to see it was Lupins and Max. Adrian was going to say something, but Max disappeared. Curious as ever, he appeared next to Lupins, staring at him, "What are you staring at?" he asked. From the corner of his eyes, he spotted other movements.

He turned his head and blinked, when he saw a group of girls struggling to put up their tents. He guessed this was the answer to his question. "Oh.. I see.." he mumbled. He smiled to himself, thinking life wont be as boring for the next few days.

On his way back down, Max acknowledged Adrian with a sly grin and a nod, but continued walking toward the pier. When he reached the clearing, he stopped to feign admiration for the water, his fingers playing a sweet tune on his instrument with seasoned precision. He could already feel Azrael's attention shift from whatever she was doing to what Max was doing now; and at this thought, his grin broadened. It only took a few moments before her footsteps, like gentle patters of fox feet, brought her toward him. He didn't make it obvious that this made him happy, but neither did he play at faking total oblivion; instead, he watched her approach him, his lips curled into a smile but hiding away his pearly whites. When she finally reached him, he continued strumming... and continued staring.

"Hi," he responded, allowing his porcelain teeth to unravel from behind his handsome mouth.

The smile. She'd seen the smile before also. That, and his blue eyes looked so familiar. She pushed a hand through her hair absently, her green eyes flicking down the the guitar he was holding. It was a nice guitar, though it looked a little beat up. The strings seemed to be new, and he had tuned it nicely. "Nice guitar." She made a gesture towards it, a shadow of a smile gracing the corners of her lips. It was her polite smile, one that wasn't exactly genuine, nor fake. She tilted her chin back a little and lifted her eyes to meet his gaze once again. Though this was the first time she'd met him, and he was extremely attractive, more so than any guy she'd seen on TV, she didn't feel uncomfortable or awkward. It was an unusual, but nice feeling, she supposed. Refreshing.

"Are you camping here also?" She asked, trying to make at least some conversation. She flicked a brief glance back at the girls as she heard a slight thud, but didn't see anything unusual. She turned her attention back to the tall man in front of her, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"You could say that," he responded to her question, ending his song.

Max broke eye contact with her for a nanosecond to catch a glimpse of the water surrounding them. The sight was indeed a glorious one to behold. He then positioned his guitar against his back, his grin still broad and beautiful, and extended his hand out to meet hers, revealing his many tattoos. The bright blue color of his eyes sparkled more brilliantly than the face of the lake behind them as he watched her. It wasn't hard to notice how pretty the girl with the braid was, and neither was it difficult to hide the fact that he knew this. His eyes danced along her 5 foot figure playfully, but maintained a level of respect for the girl; she seemed like a nice one, and he wanted to treat her as such.

"I'm Max."

"Haha Crazy Max". He Looks down at the girls hiking. Noticing that no one is left at the campsite, He grins to himself. "Hey man. Adrian, stay here. Or actually... Follow them." He starts to walk towards the Girl's now empty campsite Smiling the whole way. "Crazy... coming camping but unable to set up a tent... Heh" Laughs loudly then picks up one of the tent bags and gets to work setting it up. He secretly hopes the girls will return before he finishes setting up all their tents.

Walking through the woods now.Had parted from the group a little ways with out anyone noticing.Doesn't really like hearing chatter,the point of going was so I could here some quiet.But even alone I realized it wasn't possible.I kept hearing things and I made sure I could see the group,but was out of earshot.I had sworn I'd seen something following them,but my imagination runs wild a lot so I forgot about it easily. I liked the smell of the trees and flowers around me.It was a pretty place. I hadn't gone in the woods in a while,so this was nice to be camping again.I stumbled as I tripped on a rock,almost falling."Opps,Clumsy me..."I mumble.

"Uh..." was all Adrian can say as he watched Max, and Lupins. "Follow them? Why? Dont just leave me here." he said before muttering something under his breath. He rubbed the side of his neck, pondering what he should do. He can help Lupins set up the tent for the girls... but then again, it seemed like he wanted to do that alone. Max was... busy dealing with his own business, and as for Kein, Adrian did hear a crash before. That must be him. He can stay here and watched the others, or follow the girls who went hiking, just like what Lupins told him to do. Wait, why was he thinking so hard about this anyways? Adrian letted out a helpless sigh, stuffing his hands in his pocket.

Sits down on the dirt ,waits for the rest of us to walk away,wanting to be alone for no reason.Looks at a flower,purple petals.It looks pretty,but I don't touch it or pick it.I look around the woods with my eyes only,not moving an inch.I try to hear if anything else is out here,but my hearing isn't great to its not very easy to do.