Professor Wikipedia// Thorny&Jay

It had taken a sleepless night for her mood to calm down enough for a true plan to be formulated. Most of the day before had been spent packing her clothing. She didn’t keep very many possessions with her, and she probably wouldn’t have taken them anyway. By the fall of night, everything that she intended to leave the city with filled a canvas carry bag. That and her shoes, which she only intended to wear for the single journey into the forest.

Now, she found herself outside the bookstore. It was both a necessity, and an undesirable inconvenience. Jay more often than not found a way to get under her skin, but if she was to proceed, she needed a map of the forest. A map that would point out anything she could use as a place to stay, not the sort of map a fuel station would carry. But it meant dealing with Jay. And Jay meant jokes. Bad jokes.

“At least it’s just jokes.” With one hand, she pushed the door open. Her off-black denim jacket overtop a rose-on-blue blouse that she never wore in public bordered the pendant hanging around her neck. The blue jeans with roughed up ends nearly entirely covered her equally roughed up sneakers. It was an odd contrast between her upper and lower self, but at the very least, it wouldn’t draw too much attention to herself from others.

For the most part, she had simply expected the maps to be close to the door. Simply picking one up, looking it over and purchasing it would make her stay there as short as possible. Her hopeful situation didn’t work out at all; none of the few maps she could see from the door covered the forest. “Great. Just stay calm, and remember the fact that you’ll never see him again. And also remember to not tell him that.”

With the most plain of expressions, she wandered further into the store in search of maps. Preferably those of the paper kind, lugging a book around in her arms was highly unappealing in thought alone.

Just a hint of a snarl made it through her tightly closed lips. It was exactly what she had expected, and yet it still irked her. Still, she had the advantage of height, if anything. But of course, she couldn’t exactly use that if she wanted to be left alone by the city pack. Just get the map and leave. “I feel like going on a hunt, for a few months. That sort of thing requires a map, the sort of map only you would be... considerate enough to store.” She bit down on her tongue in the most discreet way possible. It was simply exchanging a rather offensive word for a more appealing one, nothing more.

Further along, she reached the geography section. As expected, it was a vast majority of atlases and textbooks. “I might also need something on wolves. Preferably from the fiction section.” There was a definite silliness about reading wolf romance novels in the hope of learning something that could help her with her own situation. But at the very least, it would help avoid boredom while she was out ‘hunting’.

A small shelf with paper maps caught her attention. While the thought of a camping store occurred to her as potentially being more fruitful, she removed a map from roughly the middle of the pile. From a quick glance, it had a few of the details that she needed. Good coverage of the forest area, the locations of ranger outposts and official hunting lodges. The latter wouldn’t suffice her needs, she needed something truly cut off from human influence.

“I think I have what I need.” She folded the map back up and slipped it under her arm. “And on second thought, I’ll pick out the books too. No offence, but I think we have slightly different tastes in fiction.” There wasn’t much she could do about him commenting about her choices. At least, when she bought them.

Her shoulders shuddered ever so slightly as he laughed. Fortunately, she had moved out of his line of sight in that time. Trashy, hardly fitting. What else was there to read that could possibly interest her? Stories about lycans were either too inaccurate, or else just outright depressing. And she would have no communication access, not because of a lacking signal, but because she wouldn’t be bringing anything to receive such a signal.

After a good few minutes, she had half a dozen small books in her hands, with the map resting on top. His inquiry into her plans as the books settled onto the counter brought another shudder. Did he have to make a point of the fact that humans made a point of showering often? “I’ve already considered that. But thank you, for your concern.” Her lip became trapped tightly between her teeth. Sarcasm seemed to be the only thing Jay understood.

“Look, I won’t be around for a while. That’s all you need to know. Keep the club going; maybe I’ll be back with a few new tricks.” Leaving enough money on the counter to cover her purchase, she reclaimed the books and map. They slipped quite neatly into her canvas bag. “Is there anything else, Jay? Or am I excused?”