After Hours

[Choi Jun Yong]

"Ya!" With some irritation he snapped at the guy, and he damn nearly hissed a curse, too.

He did not like when people wouldn't let him figure his own shit out. Did this guy really think he was some troublemaking teen who went to the forest without an ounce of ability to get himself back out or what?

To hell with hiding his magic when there was a wolf on their tail. Jun Yong wasn't apt on getting gnawed on by another mutt. Without batting a lash, he cast a barrier spell under his breath and the wolf let out a sudden yelp in pain, followed by snarls and more sounds. As the wolf smacked into it, the barrier was visible, shimmering into sight for less than a second and continuing to do so at each strike.

"Worry about your own ass." he did get out while they were trying to escape, since Jun Yong felt like this guy seriously wasn't understanding that, even if his job was to make sure no one was around here right now or some shit.

[Heath Rafferty]

Blinking, Heath watched as the wolf came at the kid--before he could do anything, the kid seemed to have it under control. Magic. He wasn't dumb; he knew about the witches and magic users in town. Not that he had a list of which one did what but he knew they existed and that magic was a thing. Still, he had assumed the kid was just a kid until the moment when the barrier went up to protect him.

All right, then. So the kid had things under control...

For now.

Because the wolf, angry and shaking its head, growled and seemed to understand after a few attempts that there was a barrier. And wolves, as much as people liked to use the term lone wolf, didn't tend to come out alone. This one was no exception. From behind it, two others came creeping out, heads low as they growled.

"Fuck," Heath said under his breath. "Come on kid, if we hurry up the trail we can get in my truck."

[Choi Jun Yong]

Fucking. Wolves. I. swear. He had some shit luck with them, apparently.

"Got it." Hey, he knew when to shut up and go with it. They could get a much greater distance without worrying about fangs at their heels for now, even if Jun Yong did stop to throw the barrier up. He wasn't about to waste more magic if he didn't have to, or worse, shift. Off they went again. He glanced back once to make sure the barrier was still up. It wasn't the weakest, but he definitely had stronger. Those dogs would need to bang into it a lot more to break, so it looked like they were getting out of there without another hiccup so far. But there were multiple wolves now.

Luckily for him, the dark wasn't as much trouble to maneuver through as it could be, and they managed to get a ways away. He could see what looked like the shape of a truck in the distance, and assumed that was the truck this guy was talking about.

(I find him assuming Jun Yong is a kid so amusing, idk why it gives me this image of his giant ass self staring down his nose chastising him for being out after dark.)

[Heath Rafferty]

(Hahaha! He's convinced he's dealing with some teenager!)

"Damn, there's a whole pack of 'em," Heath said as they came up over the hill. The kid was still keeping them at bay somehow but they were getting pissed off. Heath would have liked to try and reason with them but... they were obviously feral. That must have been what happened to the families in this area. The ones that had lived here peacefully had ended up on the bad end of a pack of ferals who recently moved into the area. It hurt Heath's heart.

But he could still help get one kid out of here! Grabbing his key fob from his pocket, he hit the unlock button and swept his arm toward the car.

"Get in, get in!"

[Choi Jun Yong]

(LMAO and they're literally the same age. Is it because he's short?!)

There were too many wolves coming out at them for Jun Yong's comfort. What, did he end up pissing off a pack when he knocked out that one wolf forever ago, while protecting Jasper? He almost scoffed at the thought, but didn't to avoid looking like a nut job to this guy. It was a stupid guess anyway.

They were at the car already, and Jun Yong didn't argue one bit. He opened the door and jumped into the passenger's seat, checking back to see how those wolves were dealing. He kind of hoped barriers were enough to keep them a fair distance away, because no matter how violent they were, Jun Yong hated to hurt anyone.

He could tell it was starting to crack. Maybe I should've used a stronger one. At least they weren't too close anymore. "Damn persistent mutts." he grumbled. "It's gonna break soon." he didn't need to tell the dude to hit the gas, that was probably his intention, but since he saw the barrier go up he should know those dogs may come at them full speed once the barrier fell.

And magic was harder to swing out while in a moving vehicle.

[Heath Rafferty]

(He's not even short, just a shorty to GIGANTIC HEATH!)

"Shit!" The passenger's side was the first door and the kid leapt right in, which meant the wolves were closing in on him. Hurry, hurry, hurry! He sped up, leaping over the truck and into the bed before leaping over the other side. It was just faster than running around the back of the thing. On the other side, he opened the driver's side door and immediately slammed the door shut behind him. His heart thumped against his ribs and he peered through the kid's window to see where and what the wolves were doing.

"What the hell? How did so many of them gather here?" he asked. Was it the blood? Did it call them?

No time to sit and wonder. Heath jammed his key into the ignition and turned it. Unlike a cliche horror movie, it roared immediately to life--Heath took excellent care of his truck and he had no patience for those scenes.

He backed up, hitting one of the wolves as it tried to leap at them. He heard the sound of its cry but luckily, its body had been launched away so his tire didn't flatten it. Heath didn't think he could live with himself if he ended up killing one, despite what they'd done.

Heath hit the acceleration and headed down the trail away from the park.

"I'm Heath," he said, now that the panic was drawing further behind them. "Sorry about all that back there but this is why we're trying to keep people away. The wolves this season are pretty... wild."

[Choi Jun Yong]

(LMAO)

That's what I'm curious about too. "No idea. Nothing was happening before they all popped out." At least not around him. Jun Yong sure as hell wasn't injured so maybe there was something else that went down he didn't know about to attract all the wolves (or they were craving snake).

He was eyeing outside the truck to make sure none of the wolves crashed through a window or the likes, and got a good look at the one that was rammed. Ouch, that must have hurt. At least they didn't have to actually fight any of the wolves to get out of here.

Jun Yong faced forward again.

"Oh. Um, Jun Yong." He felt kind of weird introducing himself after his initial irritation with Heath, but most of that went away while they were making a mad dash away from the mutts. "I noticed..." he said thinking back, "Why are they like this? They weren't the other times I been here..." he trailed off, briefly glancing out the window for good measure, genuinely puzzled now.

Maybe he was lucky the other times.

[Heath Rafferty]

Heath checked his rearview mirror. The wolves were pissed but they weren't pissed enough to carry on chasing a metal contraption. They were looking for blood. It wasn't good; Heath was going to have to call this in to the head of the department and let him handle it but first he had to get rid of the kid. Er. Jun Yong.

"The wolves you saw around here before weren't the same ones," he informed Jun Yong. "It looks like a pack of feral wolves have moved down here into this part of the forest. Usually they're higher up in the mountains, away from people. Something's making them come down here for food, though."

[Choi Jun Yong]

He watched out the window while Heath drove them further and further from the snarling dogs. "What's different for them to be comin' down here now?" Did he miss something? Jun Yong didn't run into anything strange while he was slithering around, and even when he shifted back, nothing was around. It was much darker by the time they went back for his phone though, so something could have happened in that time. Or the wolves only came looking here after some time.

He wasn't the most kept up with town news, so even if anything happened while he was in the forest, he wouldn't know unless it was close enough for him to sense.

[Heath Rafferty]

"See, that's the thing," Heath said, lifting one hand to stroke his chin. "We have no idea. Could be something bigger's hunting around their old haunts. Could be something's scaring them back down this way. Could just be they don't have anything left to eat where they came from, though I doubt it."

He hesitated a moment before he lowered his hand and focused for a moment on simply driving. Then he let out a soft sigh and glanced over at the kid.

"The animals they tore up, they didn't... eat them. And ravenous wolves will eat until there's pretty much nothing left, you know? So this is... well, it's pretty unusual, to say the least."

[Choi Jun Yong]

In this big forest? There's no way they'd run low on food to satiate themselves, would they?

"Yeah... That doesn't make much sense..." he mumbled while looking out the front window, trailing off as he pondered why those wolves wouldn't finish off their kills like normal. Jun Yong didn't want to think about torn up bodies, animal or not. Somehow he felt relief over missing that sight, but then guilty for feeling so.

Getting back to the train of thought he was on, Jun Yong cocked his head. "Did those animals get on their bad side or something? It could have been out of anger." With a feral pack especially, he thought they may be more... temperamental. He didn't consider being pissed of to qualify as a good reason for attacking others, but still.

[Heath Rafferty]

Heath laughed but there was a hint of nervousness in it. Did this guy know about shifters? It was possible that he was even one of them; that might even explain his close proximity to the scene. Discreetly, Heath tried to study him out of the corner of his eye, to assess whether he was bleeding or had blood carelessly left behind somewhere. No, the wolves had come for him, too, but they were feral so... well, that made sense.

"Animals don't normally just snap like that," he said gently, although he kept glancing over every now and again to get a better perspective on Jun Yong. "Especially not in large groups like that."

[Choi Jun Yong]

Jun Yong quirked a brow at Heath, turning his head slightly to look at him. Did he catch Heath glancing his way once or twice or was that Jun Yong's paranoia? Actually, if he saw the barrier... maybe he suspected Jun Yong of having done something bad in the forest, something that made the wolves come down from their normal hunting grounds? Jun Yong was out late at night in the forest; thinking about it now, he might rub off as pretty questionable.

"This town's pretty weird, maybe something's wrong with those wolves." He wanted to say maybe they had some motivation to resort to attacking those animals, since if they were wildlings then they weren't as simple as normal animals, right? Bringing up magic himself made Jun Yong anxious, but, the magic he used earlier wasn't discreet at all-- unless wolves running into invisible walls was normal for humans.

And if that was the case, Jun Yong was more sane than he thought.

"...You saw the barrier, right?"

[Heath Rafferty]

Heath nodded, yeah. Maybe there was something wrong with the wolves. He already knew there was but he was starting to think there was something even more wrong with them than he previously thought. Staring through the window out at the dirt road that turned into the highway, he gunned it up the street. Finally. Away from the forest itself. He'd have to bring the kid--Jun Yong--somewhere safe, maybe the ranger's station. Then again, they were probably dealing with the fallout of that wolf attack.

Shit. Heath braked hard. When the truck came to a cold stop, he turned and looked the kid in the face. Yeah, so the kid knew more. He had to. That whole thing out there, that had to be him and it was magic. No use ignoring it any longer.

"Didn't see it exactly," Heath said after a long moment of silence and studying the kid. "But I saw the way the wolves couldn't get to us like something invisible was between us and them." He paused again. "That was you. Right?"

[Choi Jun Yong]

Whoa. Jun Yong jerked forward some from the abrupt stop, nearly cursing again. He blinked, looking fully at Heath. Maybe he should have expected that. Heath hadn't brought up anything about the barrier, so he could have been ignoring the thing coming out at all...

What was off to Jun Yong, now that he thought about it, was his lack of reaction to the barrier when it was cast.

"... Yeah." Hesitating, Jun Yong continued, "Why didn't you say anything about it?"