𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖈𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖊𝖓

‘  i’m  looking  for  my  daughter  hope  .  ’

                downing her final shot, she decided that she would be getting tipsy enough here to want to get back to her motel and finish off whatever bottle she had there for a solid brick of sleep. she would at least feel safer being inebriated in her demon proof room. maybe her drunk self wouldn’t get the room on the other side of the wall next to her bed complaining to the motel manager about her screaming. much more of that and she would have someone bursting in afraid that she was getting murdered.

                “i like the old time brick design of this place. but – string up some lights in an outdoor seating area like the golden martini has and i’m smitten.” she supposed that she was easily impressed by anything most would find pleasing to the eye. from what she had overheard from some teenagers while at steamy beans while waiting for her coffee in the late mornings, she was a bit of what they would call a basic bitch.  “i hope they have good cheese fries here, they’re comforting too.”

     she had no intention of getting too intoxicated that she wasn’t able to handle herself should something come up. while the distraction was appreciated & needed, it wasn’t that needed -- not currently anyway. drink in hand, she kept up a slow pace, not wanting to finish off her drink too quickly & ruin the good plan she’d put in place. while finding hope was worrisome & bothersome, it wasn’t enough to send her off the edge just yet.

                  “it’s nice. a bit more lowkey than where i grew up, but – something about the balance between easily accessible nature and still having things to do in town is refreshing.” he enjoyed the hustle and bustle of city life and the night life was obviously a lot better back in colorado springs than it was here, but he did appreciate the beauty of the trees and the sorry excuse for a river on the outskirts of town. 

                “you’ll be thanking yourself. i’ve tried to cut back on how often i come here, but the food trumps my common sense.” a small smile on his lips as he appreciated the tattoo on her wrist, he shrugged his shoulders. “nice penmanship. – if you ever decide to get a new one me and the other guys at the shop have a bunch of good ideas in our sketchpads if you’re looking for inspiration.”

     “while i can appreciate the hustle & bustle of city life, i don’t know that i could live anywhere that wasn’t surrounded by the beauty of nature. there’s something about wandering off into the woods that’s just incredibly calming.” perhaps it was the wolf gene she carried within her or the fact that she’d always been the girl to choose nature over a city -- regardless, the wilderness always seemed to feel a little bit more like home to her than anything else.

    “my attitude keeps me right where i wanna be princess.” alone, primarily, and she wasn’t about to bend her personality for the people in this town. she had let enough people past her walls since she had joined jake’s pack. “i don’t think it is wise to make too many friends in this town. who knows who’ll be dead in time for tomorrow’s headlines.”

        he smiled at the woman, assured that she had read the situation right and they didn’t have the same struggle. “nice to share the frustration regardless of differing circumstances.” most aspects of anybody’s life would be turned upside down by the utter chaos surrounding this town. he hoped some of the residents had the common sense to leave to visit out of state family for a while instead of risk their lives simply by living their day to days.

           “at least the weather’s nice this time of year. i need to remember to skip a lot of my layers for next time i’m out and about. a minor silver lining easily overshadowed by the murder sprees around here.”

     “the weather certainly is beautiful -- much better than what i had expected, if i’m honest.” truthfully, she hadn’t given much thought to what the weather would be like in devil hills. it really hadn’t even been a thought that had crossed her mind. the only thing hayley had been concerned with prior to coming was finding hope -- everything else was simply minor details. “suppose we have to look for some form of silver lining around here if we’re to keep ourselves the least bit sane.” not that murder & murder sprees hadn’t somewhat become the norm for her during her time with the mikaelson family.

             “can’t really blame them. the amount of crap going on around here is enough to drive anyone to drink.” she took her second shot, hoping to be far enough gone that she wasn’t panicking within the half hour… but she needed to be careful that she was sober enough to fight anyone, or anything, off when she left this place. maybe her nerves were getting the better of her, but after nearly four years of trying to do anything she could to survive her second shot at life, she wasn’t about to let it end in devil hills. 

             “change of scenery. i’ve been in town for a few weeks and haven’t gotten around town that much. i heard this place had shuffleboard, which, seemed interesting for a bar.” a lot better than hearing men squabble in the other room over pool, but perhaps less entertaining than seeing how many of the locals fell for the i don’t know how to play pool until there’s money on the line hustle. “and maybe some of the same as anyone else. distraction from this morning’s headlines in the papers.”

     she couldn’t disagree with the woman’s statement -- after all, she knew very well she was right. with everything happening in devil hills, drinking seemed to be the only thing that could put a wandering mind at ease. & it was all too easy to let your mind wander -- wondering who was going to be next, or rather, what was going to be next. “takes the edge off, i suppose.” at least it had momentarily for her own wandering mind -- her thoughts always circling the wellbeing & whereabouts of her daughter & the mikaelson family. truthfully, she didn’t know where she’d be if it wasn’t for the booze.

“ yeah  ,  ‘n  i’m  okay  . ”  emma  had  been  through  worse  -  the  three days  of  torture  training  ,  who  knows  how  long  in  purgatory  …  the  girl  shifted  at  the  questions  .  “  i  got  some  food  ‘n  i  am  shielded  from  the  weather  in  here  . ”

                      he  could  smell  her  from  a  distance .  the  hybrid  wolf .  a  rarity  indeed .  and  he  was  generally  curious  over  her .  and  so  he  trailed  behind  her ,  attempting  to  elude  her  from  sight .  though  he  knew  it  wouldn’t  have  worked .  the  moment  she  turned  around , he  paused ,  a  distance  between  them .  “  forgive  my  manners .  i  was  simply  wondering  why  a  woman  was  doing  ,  wondering  these  woods  is  all .   “  tristan  replied . 

                            “  i  see  that  this  is  your  home .  hayley  marshall  kenner  isn’t  it ?  wow .  you’re  far  more  beautiful  than  what  they  say … “ 

     for anyone that knew her, it was no surprise that she’d be out in the woods wandering around. it wasn’t the bayou, but it still put her at ease & gave her that sense of home. she needed that now more than ever, especially considering she had yet to find niklaus, hope, or any of the mikaelson’s for that matter. it was getting late & as the sun began to set, she still didn’t bother heading back -- continuing to trek further & further into the wilderness. it wasn’t until she heard another approaching that she came to an abrupt & sudden halt.

           “seems like a lot of people have been flooding in lately. i didn’t beat the crowd by much.” enough to settle down in an apartment and have a modest line up of photos to take for people outside of working at the tattoo shop. excusing his gaze, he turned back to the burger and took a large bite, thinking quietly to himself while he chewed. out of practice with leading small talk, he wasn’t sure where the line was between polite conversation and being a little odd and invasive.

        “you wouldn’t regret it. might need to take half of it home, though. three sandwiches in one.” he tried not to get it too often, but the comfort food became something he craved at least weekly since coming to devil hills. “the only advice i can really give you is that the tipsy vixen can be a little… hectic. the clientele at twisted bull, a little ornery. this place seems to be the most calm. and the tattoo parlor on main street has a few good artists there.”

     “yeah, seems this place keeps getting more & more crowded each day.” not that she minded large crowds of people, considering new orleans always seemed to be hustling & bustling. oddly enough, it made her feel a bit more at home. as much as she missed being back home, if there was the slightest possibility that she’d find her daughter here, it was well worth the move in her eyes. “how do you like it here so far?”

    She didn’t lift her glance from the newspaper the first time she heard a voice beside her. “Not interested.” Clearly most comfortable with vampires, she was looking for a pattern to the deaths of bodies drained of blood to get rid of some of the problematic residents of the town. When the voice picked up again, she dropped the paper on the table in front of her, hard gaze zoned in on the unwanted company. “Sorry, was that word too big? I’m busy.”

    When he got to town he figured he would check out the river to see if it would be a good dump site for bodies he needed to get rid of. Really didn’t seem like it. Barely a stream in some parts, he would call the area a glorified swamp at times. He would have to get some hunters that showed up what they were going to do without causing a complete panic. Enough unsolved mysterious deaths were happening all over without leaving the bodies of monsters lying around. Not to mention the obvious demon problem, the vessels were broken beyond repair and would do nothing but overwhelm the hospital if they could even get them there.

     Alas, he supposed he could enjoy the nice weather. He really didn’t need the hat, often forgot that fall weather was a lot warmer here than most of the weather back home throughout the summer. With a bit of a disappointed sigh, Asa walked back to his truck parked in a wooded area next to a few picnic tables and sat on it. With a swig out of his flask, he tore off his beanie and tossed it into the bed of his truck. “Looks like my work is cut out for me here.” The man mused, unaware if anybody had entered the area since he had been cursing at the side of the glorified stream.

     no matter where she went, the woods always seemed to make hayley the happiest. of course new orleans would always be her home, but the woods made unknown places feel a little less strange & a little more like home. not to mention having been in wolf form for so long, she’d gotten used to being in the woods -- so adjusting had been admittedly more difficult than she cared to admit. hayley hadn’t been intending on finding anyone & given the current state of devil hills, it seemed odd to find someone out here.

“ this  is  my  warehouse  !!  i  got  here  first  . ”  to  many  ,  this  would  just  be  an  empty  warehouse  -  but  to  the  child  that  had  nothing  ,  this  was  her  temporary  home  .  it  kept  her  safe  from  cold  ,  rain  ,  things  that  may  lurk  in  the  dark  .  emma  wasn’t  willing  to  give  it  up  .