Lawrence

She moved quickly and quietly; keeping all of her senses on high alert. Twice, she caught sight of him in the distance and was forced to back pedal through the forest. It was a bit annoying to have to do it while working on this map (daylight burned quickly this time of year), but her only choice here was to work around him or die, so.

Eventually, the sun began to set, and Kaori knew she was going to have to shift her focus. She'd sketched out a decent portion of the surrounding area, though there was a chunk of it that was still missing...Hmm.

Around her was nothing more than the sound of nature transitioning into nighttime, which she took as an indicator that her hunter might also be settling in for the night. Just to be certain, she climbed up again, and located the cabin. The lights were on, and she could see his giant silhouette in the window.

So the monster had a bedtime? Good to know.

She put thirty minutes worth of distance between herself and the cabin before finding a big, long, dry stick. The stars were out now, and with them the temperature was dropping rapidly. Using her fire starter and the stick, she made a torch, and used it to light her way.

While exploring around for a place to sleep, she spots a pathway she hadn't noticed in the daytime. Following it, she finds herself in a gloomy little swamp. Immediately, she feels a sense of serenity wash over her. Stepping closer to the water, she notes that the ground here is softer and wetter than the rest of the forest. All of the wood and leaves are too damp so she doesn't bother gathering kindling from here.

Still, this place had plenty of big bushes and a large, if mossy, hollow log she believes she can fit into. She looks around the swamp, feeling relaxed for the first time since she woke up. She kneels down next to the water, and, after brushing away some of the algae, she noticed that at the bottom of the swamp was a large pile of bones.

“!” Cool~! She wondered how they all ended up down there. Was there an alligator in there? Maybe some of the animals down there had gotten sick on some bad berries and became delirious? Wandered into the water and drowned? And who's to say those were just animal bones? There was a good chance at least some of the pile belonged to a human. After all, there was no way The Creep had only just started his little hunting people as prey nonsense, right? He seemed way too self assured and calm.

Regardless, there was something about the swamp that brought Kaori peace. She felt compelled to stay here for the night, and sat on the log so she could fish out the trail mix from her backpack and have a bit of it. There was plenty left for tomorrow by the time she couldn't stop yawning.

Deciding on the log, Kaori pushed out any plants, rocks, critters, and bugs and then pulled herself inside after putting out the torch. She used the backpack as a pillow and did her best to ignore the cold....

---

She woke up an hour or so before dawn, and crawled out of the log with a big yawn. She's a mess, her hair and clothes with moss and mud all over them. She doesn't really mind, certainly not with all of her other problems. She shakes her head and scratches at her hair to free it of bugs, and then finds a spot behind a tree to pee besides.

Sometime later, she’s finished the map, and is about to leave the swamp so she can start a fire when she catches sight of her captor off in the distance.  Quickly, she hides in a bush and watches him.  She sees him stop just on the outskirts of the swamp and give it a look over.  Somewhere to her left, an animal sprints across some leaves.  He takes notice, but instead of coming into the swamp to investigate, he walks along the perimeter; firmly refusing to step over an invisible line that separates the dry dirt from the swampy mud.  Because he won’t come in, he doesn’t notice her in the bush at all, and eventually moves on once he catches on to a different sound in the forest.

Huh.

What was that about? ---

Kaori finds herself walking alongside the river she’d found yesterday.  She washes her hands and face near the most active part of the waterfall and gathers water in her cupped hands to drink.  Ice cold and refreshing~  She can see salmon in the river, and decides to catch one so she can leave the trail mix as an emergency ration.  Rudimentary spears aren’t difficult to make, and soon enough she’s got a large stick with a pointy tip to use.  Approaching the river, she catches sight of the sun hitting something metal; hidden beneath the fallen leaves.  On edge, Kaori, nudges the end of the spear closer to the object, and nearly jumps a foot in the air when the bear trap she’d just activated snaps shut on the spear.

After catching her breath, she realizes that she’s got no other choice but to drag the trap out of the area.  The snapping sound had been incredibly loud, and she couldn't risk him coming to investigate, only to see that the trap had been triggered but was empty. What if he reset it somewhere else and she wasn't as fortunate? No, better he not have access to it. Despite it being a giant pain in the ass, Kaori lugged the bear trap all the way back to the swamp and hid it amongst the bushes. She snuck back carefully to the river, keeping an eye and an ear out for the man and thankfully spotting him heading towards the large clearing.

Back at the river, she caught a salmon with the spear. She decided to risk the fire, since eating a fish raw wasn't the best decision health wise. The second it was cooked she started eating it, powering through the heat. She was about to be a responsible camper and out the fire when an idea struck her.

This was his forest. His land. Even if she didn't have to give a damn about it burning to the ground, surely he did? Surely he'd come investigate a smoke pillar if she left the fire going, right?

Time for an experiment.

Gathering her things, Kaori added some branches to the fire and left it unattended. She found a hiding spot that was as far away from the campfire as possible while still being able to see it. Then she waited.

---

When he arrives, she watches him put out the fire and look around for her in a state of disbelief. Haha! He searched the area, eventually noticing that his bear trap was missing. Hopefully he didn't have another one ready to go, but she had no way of knowing that just yet.

Eventually, he left the area, and Kaori decided to enact another experiment. She made her way to the other end of the forest, and lit another fire. When he dutifully arrived to put it out, she grinned to herself. 

With this, she could control his movements. 

After taking a few bites, something outside caught his eye. When he looked out the window, Mason saw the light of a fire flickering through the trees.

Seriously?

With a sigh, he got up, grabbed his crossbow, and set out toward the light, feeling a mixture of excitement and slight disappointment that all it took for her to slip up was night falling. Then again, it did get pretty cold up here. 

Mason approached the fire fully expecting to see the girl there, but to his surprise, it appeared deserted. He frowned. No one who ‘likes camping’ is going to leave a fire just running like that….right? But after a quick look around the clearing (and then a not-so-quick look), he had to accept the fact that is exactly what happened. Grumbling obscenities under his breath, Mason put out the fire himself.

What kind of idiot was this girl? Was she trying to burn the whole damn forest down? She clearly had a sense of self-preservation, so he was pretty sure that was not the case. Maybe she’d just lost her mind a little in the cold?

Just as he had decided to give up and return to his dinner back at the cabin, another light caught his eye. Ah-ha! This time, he made way over to it quickly, and a little less quietly as a result. But when he arrived at the source of the light, it was the same as before: lit fire but completely void of any human presence. 

Was she doing this on purpose? Was she trying to set the forest on fire? No....no there were much easier ways to do that, she wasn't stupid. But what then? What purpose could setting fires and leaving them unattended in the woods possibly serve?

[The Auction House]

Beneath a tight canopy of treetops, sitting peacefully on the stump of a tree he’d felled himself, a large, burly mountain man sits and waits for his companion to wake up.  Patience was a gift, really, it was, and up here in the mountains, where time could slow down to a crawl, patience was a friend he’d made long, long ago.  Curled up on the ground by his feet was a young woman, a tiny thing, sleeping away the precious daylight.  He glanced over at her as he adjusted the tension on his crossbow, looking for any sign that she was beginning to stir.  Little did he know, she’d been awake for several minutes now. 

‘...He’s humming to himself.  He’s fiddling with something too, something metal by the sound of it....’  

Kaori Saionji; 19.  Japanese.  Fluffy short brown hair.  Possibly cursed.  Several hours ago she’d been bought at some sort of underground auction for people.  Several hours before that she’d been minding her own business and making her way hurriedly through the crowded city streets.  She’d h a t e d it; hated the claustrophobic feeling of being surrounded on all sides by strangers with their leering, judging eyes.  It wasn’t supposed to be a long trip into the city either, just a check-up at the hospital that she’d been putting off for literal years.  It had taken a lot of nagging from her best friend to pressure her into going, but she’d eventually caved.  

“For your health!” Tsumiki had insisted.  “You never know what could happen!”

It was after Kaori had left the hospital, clean bill of health in hand and was on her way to the bus that she’d been grabbed by a stranger while passing by an alley.  It was tremendously rotten luck for sure.  But it wasn’t exactly the first or even second stupidly awful thing that had happened to her, so she could hardly claim to be surprised that it was time to confront yet another challenge.   

But back to the present.

Several hours had passed between her time in the Auction House and now.  She’d been asleep for most of those hours, thanks to being drugged, so she didn’t know how far away from her house she was.  She’d woken up maybe ten minutes ago, and managed to remain still enough that the man who’d bought her hadn’t realized she was awake just yet.  It gave her time to get her bearings at least.

Her face and her hands were cold; the mid-November air picking up now and then to nip at whatever skin was still exposed.  She can tell that she wasn’t wearing her dress anymore, and was instead in some sort of pants, and maybe a jacket?  They were nice and warm at least.  Her hands were tied behind her back.  She’d been placed on the ground and was lying on the grass.  Outside.  Thank God.  She’d been right that the man who’d bought her was probably the one asking about camping.  How deep into the woods were they?  Were they up in the mountains?  If only she didn’t have this stupid blindfold over her eyes.

.....

Deciding she was awake enough to be able to use her brain effectively, she took a deep breath and rolled onto her back, hinting that she’d finally begun to wake.

“Oh!”  He said immediately.  He sounded very close as he stood up.  “Lookit you, already awake.”  He nudged her in the side with his booted foot and she turned to look in his direction despite the blindfold.  Tch.  After a few more seconds of silence, he continued.  “Looks like yer about ready, eh?”  His heavy footsteps circled her body.  She could feel him looking her over, making the judgment for himself that he was satisfied with what he saw.  “Now, I’ll be takin’ the blindfold off.  Stand up.”  Despite her arms being bound, she rolled onto her stomach and moved so that she was on her knees.  She was a little wobbly from being on the ground for so long, but she succeeded in standing up.  He stepped even closer, looming over her.  This close, she could feel some of his body heat.  She hated this.  “Mmhm.  That’s better.”  He gripped her blindfold and yanked it off in one motion.  

When he first laid eyes on the woman up for auction, he was honestly a little dissapointed. She was a tiny little thing, looked like she’d break down crying in the first five minutes. He didn’t necessarily mind the crying, but it made the hunt painfully boring if it was from the get go.

As soon as the bidding started though, she proved the first impression to be wrong. Her choice not to answer at all was encouraging, so he put in the first bid. Quiet he could work with. Quiet could hide. Especially a little thing like that.

The other two bidders were not quiet. At first he could sort of tolerate it, or at least ignore their comments well enough to focus on the task at hand. But after the woman in the chair’s one definitive answer piqued his interest and he upped the amount a bit, the other two started bickering almost non-stop. When Mason met the gaze of the quiet woman, he decided to end the show right then and there. He could afford it, and in that moment, he found it hard to put a price on the sound of those other two shutting the fuck up. 

The payment process was simple and quick, especially since he always paid in cash. Since he’d escalated to his full budget all at once, it was even quicker than usual; he just handed over the entire box to them and had them count the bills.

And then Mason was off. He drove her all the way back home in his truck, then parked and carried her the last stretch. She was easy to carry, lighter than previous years’ prey. But that would work to her advantage out here. Still… her clothes left something to be desired. She wasn’t dressed for the mountain cold, and he certainly wasn't about to let such an expensive purchase freeze to death the first night. He’d already set up all the traps before leaving—he’d found out the hard way years ago that it had to be the day of, lest another creature fall into the traps meant for the person he brought home. So he still had some time to change her into some of the smaller clothes he had lying around. They weren’t a perfect fit, but they’d definitely get the job done better than the stuff she had on. He folded those clothes and placed them in the corner of his cabin, unwilling to waste the fabric no matter how flimsy it was.

Finally, Mason got together a bag of some essentials for her to bring with her to further ensure she didn’t die the very first night, then brought her out to the middle of the forest and set her down, waiting for the drugs to wear off and her to wake up. 

"What time…Is the audition?" Asked Lawrence. Rosie checked the time before answering.

"It's at six-thirty. If I leave soon I'll have time to go home, shower, change, and grab my dance shoes before booking it to the audition." She thought about things realistically. "I'd wanna get some pajamas and a change of clothes, since I'm sleeping over for a bit~ And obviously I'd bring back those donuts. If I rush I can get everything done and be back before ten." It occurred to her that she could do everything much faster if he drove, but she didn't want to push. "What time do you go to work~?"

"I get in about 11 so....I leave around 10:45. I should be here at 10."

"That's perfect~" She stood up, bringing her bowl to the sink to wash it. "Do you wanna trade numbers~?"

"Trade....? Oh. Yeah. Um." After getting his phone, Lawrence looked down at it, then at her, then down at it, then back at her once more. "What's your number?"

After telling him, she put her shoes back on and asked him for her purse, which she needed if she was going to retrieve her phone, keys, and debit card. He nodded, and retrieved her purse from his closet. It's was still in fairly good condition, which pleased her greatly.

Delighted, she took what she needed from her purse, and was pleased to see her phone has just enough charge to last until she got home to her charger. Then, so long as he didn't seem unwilling, reached out an held his hands in hers.

"Thank you again, Lawrence~ I'll see you tonight at ten~?"

He was not unwilling, though he did seem a little shy, like he didn't quite expect it. He looked down at their intertwined hands a moment or two before looking up to answer. "Yeah"

Stepping outside of his apartment, Rosie reigned in her bubbling desire to jump and cheer and do cartwheels. She gently shut the door. She casually made her way down the steps. She casually made her way down the street. She lasted until he could not possibly see her from his window before she burst into a giddy sprint and ran madly; happily down the street. GOD. Never before had she been so happy to be outside!

Alive!! Alive and free and outside!!

Rosie ran all the way home, up her apartment stairs, and collapsed on her bed where she screamed into her pillows. She looked up only when she heard the concerned and upset meowings of her kitty, which made her quickly get out of bed. Scooping up her small white kitty, Rosie pressed about a zillion kisses against her furry self why she got her something to eat.

"Victoriaaaaaaaaa...I thought I'd never see you again!" Waaah! After many hugs and cuddles, Rosie managed to pull herself away from her cat long enough to put her phone on its charger. Afterwards, Rosie reminded herself that she was on a relatively strict timeline and made her way into the bathroom for the best damn shower she'd ever had.

---

With her overnight bag packed, and a sandwich in her mouth, Rosie texted her best friend to please come by and check up on Victoria for the next few days, as she was going to be out of the city for a bit. Making it to the audition on time, Rosie signed in and did some preliminary stretches while waiting for the director to make her appearance.

---

Dancing always put Rosie in a good mood~ Feeling light and airy as she made her way down the city streets, she nonetheless kept an eye out for any potential kidnappers. Keeping track of the one was more than enough. That said, if she happened to run into Ren, she'd insist that he give Lawrence a call. At nine-thirty, Rosie stood outside of Lawrence's apartment with her overnight bag, a grocery bag full of a few things she'd picked up at the corner store, and some take out for her dinner/his lunch.

He let her go.

Lawrence sat on his bed and stared at the new number in his phone for a while. It was his last connection with her, and likely the only way he'd be able to reach her again. He switched to Vince's number, staring at on of their recent chats and wondering if he should ask for help with the situation sooner than later. This was, after all, much more difficult than just burying a body. Once she went to the cops, it was going to be a whole mess of things that stressed him out even just think about. He switched back to Rosemary's number.

"....."

@wishfuldecay (Last Post)

Snuggling up to him was the obvious choice.  The bed wasn’t the largest to begin with; plenty enough to fit a Lawrence, but not enough to fit an additional Rosemary without a bit of squishing.  Rosie tiredly pressed herself up against him, resting her head against his chest.  So encompassing was her exhaustion that it felt like she’d been awake for days, weeks, and years.  She passed out quickly.

When she opened her eyes, Rosie was in the river.

For a moment, she was stunned and frustrated.  Why was this happening now??  Did he kill her in her sleep?  Was this actually some sort of eternal groundhog day and she would be forced to reset forever?

Rosie let out a sound of frustration, and that was what clued her into what was going on.  A sound?  Never before had she been able to make noise in the river.  That angel person would talk to her, but she couldn’t answer.  She couldn’t make any noise, nothing to disrupt the peaceful n o t h i n g n e s s that her beloved river provided.  So…Was this a dream instead?  Rosie looked around for the angel up in the clouds where he was usually hiding.

“Mr. Angel?  Are you here?”  He wasn’t.  Or, if he was, he wasn’t answering.  She laid back in the waters as she’d done so many times before.  She hummed lightly to herself; the only sound in this entire white world…

The river had allowed her to live, so maybe it was so ingrained into her soul at this point, that her memory of it would now remain with her in dreams, even though she wasn’t dead?  

Wouldn’t that be wonderful~?

—

When Rosie woke up, the sun was still up.  Still wrapped up in Lawrence’s arms, Rosie realized that she hadn’t looped back to that chair after all.  There were no real words to express her joy, just a full body sense of relief and a silent prayer of thanks to God.  Feeling affectionate, she touched her nose to Lawrence’s and bit back a giggle.  Alive!  Alive, alive, alive~  She was alive~

Rosie drifted in and out of consciousness for the next while, ignoring her need to pee, until finally an alarm went off from Lawrence’s phone.  There were grumbles from him, which she did giggle at, sitting up with a stretch and a yawn.

He responded to her greeting with a somewhat awkward smile as she gets up and heads to the bathroom. Just before she reaches the door, Rosemary paused and looked back at him.

"Would you mind if I made some breakfast?" He stared at her for a good five seconds before answering, as if trying to process the question.

"Huh?"

"Oh um....no."

"I mean. Sure."

With another smile, she disappeared into the bathroom, leaving him alone to start his afternoon. Lawrence slid out of bed and walked groggily over to his plants to begin watering them.

It still felt like a dream.

Once everything was watered, he grabbed a few of his herbs and started some water boiling to make tea. Rose came back out and started looking around the kitchen for ingredients to cook. She wasn't going to find a lot, but he figured she already knew that. Once the water was boiling, he set in the herbs to steep.

But it wasn't a dream.

While she continued to search, he went into the bathroom, used the toilet, and took a quick shower. Once out, he toweled off his hair and tied another towel around his waist before walking out to grab some clothes. He paused a few steps outside the door to stare at Rosemary, who was busy cooking at this point. It smelled like oatmeal.

It was real.

Lawrence had absolutely NO plan.

Ren had a pretty clear plan of drug lawrence > take him back home and chain him up > HE WILL LEARN TO BE SPECIAL BEST FRIENDS JUST LIKE HE DID :D

But Lawrence went in without a single thought to the future whatsoever. He actually did want to try and make friends the normal way. But then things got out of hand and he had a little oopsie violent moment and he simply HAD to take MC back to explain the situation because if he just left them out there they'd charge him with assault.

I found out something terrible today. Gatobob has blessed us with Lawrence in a suit… AND THERE IS ALMOST NO ART OF LAWRENCE IN A SUIT. I WILL NOT LET THIS STAND ANY LONGER!