dropping in Who: Ransom and Charlotte When: Mid-day Where: Ransom's house
Charlotte had spent the day doing last-minute errands around town for the camping trip, and once she was done and had only the actual packing to do, she decided to head across town and into the pack-lands to see Ransom. He'd texted her this morning to let her know he was alright, and she'd wanted to let him sleep, but he was bound to be awake by now, right? Besides, she didn't drop in on him often enough. Not that they didn't see or talk to each other every day anyway. That wasn't the point. After parking in front of Ransom's house, she headed up to the door to knock.
"Raaaaaansoooooom," a young voice called from inside the house. There was a stomping of feet proceeded by two faces popping into view, one pushing in front of the other, as the door opened. "Ransom's in his room!" "You smell like him!" "Did you see another wolf?" "I smell something too!" The two boys spoke back and forth, halfway ignoring Charlotte, though intently waiting on her answers as they ushered her into the house. "Does he know you're coming?" "You should come over more." "Will you stay for dinner?" "We're having apple pie!" Cyan and Lynk were finally interrupted by their mother, who poked her head out of the kitchen, Mayze on her hip. "You two come finish peeling apples and leave her alone. Hi, Charlotte," she smiled as Mayze waved to her shyly. "Ransom's up in his room."
Charlotte loved Ransom's family, even if all of them en masse could be kind of intimidating. And this wasn't even half of them, really. "No, he didn't - it's a surprise." she answered one of the twin's questions with a grin. "I did see another wolf. And a cougar! I can't believe you guys can smell that." Which was in no way humoring an eight-year-old (or pair of them), but the honest to goodness truth. She smiled brightly at Mayze and waved back at her, and of course at Ransom's mom. "Thanks," she said, feeling a little shy herself. She needed to do this more often.
"Be sure to stay for apple pie!" Lynk called as he raced his twin brother into the kitchen. "I knew I smelled cat," Cyan whispered loudly before disappearing behind him. He'd never met a cougar before, but not filed the scent away, just in case he'd smelled it again. Ransom, meanwhile, had opened his door and started down the stairs just as Charlotte started up them. "Hey," he smiled, always glad to see her. He'd had an awful night and it showed, unfortunately. While his hair was always a mess, there were dark circles under his eyes and his body seemed to slump slightly, appearing worn down. "You met a cougar?"
Oh, jeez. Ransom looking like that made her heart hurt. "You poor thing," she said, ignoring the question for the moment in favor of hugging him. "Are you okay?" Not that she hadn't already asked over texts this morning, but it was the kind of thing she couldn't really ask enough.
His eyes closed and he sighed softly as his arms wrapped around her, returning the hug. "I'm okay. Spent the night in the barn and haven't slept yet, so I'm just... tired," he answered. He'd been too rattled to go out in the rain and as soon as the storm really hit, he'd practically dug himself a hole and stayed there all night. His siblings were not impressed as they'd wanted to play, but there was nothing that would move him from that spot once the lightning began to strike.
"You need to sleep," Charlotte murmured, not pulling too far back from the hug. She kept her arms around him and lightly rubbed his back. "Do you want me to go so you can try?" She didn't expect that to go over well, but it was worth trying anyway. She was allowed to worry about him.
"What in the world makes you think I'd sleep better with you gone?" Ransom said with an hint of amusement. Taking her hand, he began to lead her towards his room. It was, unfortunately, shared with his brother, Locke, but Locke wasn't there right now and Ransom could at least pretend they had privacy. "Come tell me about the cougar," he smiled, shutting the door behind them. If he wasn't a were, his mother wouldn't have allowed it, but it wasn't like they could get away with anything without the entire household hearing them.
Charlotte smirked at him and squeezed his hand. "I had to take Anna for a walk yesterday and I met a cougar. In human form, but Anna told me he was a were and I called him on it." she explained. "There was a car accident and he helped the driver while I called 911."
"I'm sure Anna loved walking in the rain," Ransom laughed softly, laying back on his bed and pulling Charlotte along with him. He was looking forward to her leaving her scent behind. That would be nice. "Sounds like an eventful walk. I thought cats didn't like rain. Maybe cougars are different though..."
Charlotte bit her lip through a smile as she snuggled up with him. She was kind of worried his little brother would come charging in any moment, but she also felt comfortable and confident in the knowledge that Ransom would know if his brother was coming. "I don't know that he had a car. He doesn't live around here."
"Bitten or born?" Ransom asked, always worried about a random were wandering around town. "Not that I think he told you, just that... doesn't seem safe, if he was bitten." That wasn't something he could tell by scent, unfortunately. "How'd Gabe hold up last night?" he asked, realizing that was the other scent lingering on her. Not strong, but definitely there, just barely.
"Born. That's why I asked." Charlotte said, smiling faintly. "It wasn't dark out yet, but better safe than sorry." she explained. "Gabe did quite well, as did Claire. I went over for a little bit, but Gabe didn't like my being there. We're pretty sure he smelled you on me and went all alpha-male about it."
Even though it was after the fact and he could hardly do anything about it, Ransom felt relieved. He was also proud of Charlotte for being smart enough to ask. It didn't surprise him though. He'd always known she was smart. "Yeah, I could see that upsetting him," Ransom laughed. "No matter how calm he might be with a human in the room, the scent of another werewolf is gonna set him off. He should be okay, though. He can't really hurt himself in a cage."
Charlotte grinned and chuckled softly. "He didn't thrash about too much. Just growled a lot, howled a couple of times. I didn't stay too long, I didn't want to make it harder on him or anything." she said. "Oh, I guess your sister told Madock about being a were and he's cool with it. Claire and Gabe are going to tell him about Gabe being one soon."
"That's not bad," Ransom said. "Some bitten weres are angrier than others. You never know what makes 'em calm or whatnot." He wondered if it had something to do with Claire being in the room, but somehow doubted it. Bitten weres were known to kill loved ones and family members. Maybe her smell just seemed somewhat familiar, so he wasn't quite so volatile. It was impossible to really know. "He's cool with it?" Ransom asked, brows raising. "Now I wanna know what all she told him. I mean, it's great she told him, just that... Well, I guess he knows about me now. Not that that's a problem, 'specially if his sister's dating a bitten wolf."
"I'm not sure if he does or not, though Claire guessed. She knows a bit more about weres than he does, I would guess." Charlotte replied with a small shrug. "Gabe really trusts the two of them, though." And that counted for something, at least in Charlotte's eyes. She trusted Gabe. "Maybe you'll get to know him a little better over the trip." Which was tomorrow already.
"He'll probably be reading up on them now that he's dating one," Ransom said with a little smile. He was pretty sure Claire had done so when Gabe had been bitten. In his case, Charlotte had already known quite a bit. "They seem trustworthy. I just don't know them well. I mean, I know Gabe, through you, and Madock and I have gone to school together... Should be interesting," he smiled. He was curious, that was for sure.
"If he's anything like Claire he'll do great." Charlotte said, sounding confident. After spending time with Claire last night she absolutely adored her, and thought she and Gabe would be great together. "The truck's mostly packed up, I did most of the work this afternoon." she said. "We should be good to go pretty early."
"I just want to see my sister happy," Ransom said. "I'm glad she's found a good guy. I'm just used to being protective." Not only of Jessalyn, but of all his siblings. Jessalyn was just the first to have a serious boyfriend. "I am so looking forward to camping with you," he said, snuggling up to Charlotte. "It's gonna spoil me, you know? I'm never gonna wanna come back."
Charlotte smiled brightly and squeezed him briefly. "Me too," she agreed. She wondered how that protectiveness was going to go if Jessalyn decided to share a tent with her new boyfriend, and if that was something that had even dawned on Ransom as a possibility yet, but she didn't have the heart to ask. "I can't wait."