Each step grew louder, the sound from above approached closer and closer to the dark room underground. A creature stirred beneath soggy sheets, his moldy mattress squishing as he turned his snout to face the wall.

The door slammed wide open, his guest had arrived.

She hesitated actually stepping inside the room as the ground was covered in puddles, most of them seemed to be due to rain water leaking through the ceiling holes. Some of the puddles were rather dark however, it could just be due to the small space having little to no light source, but the nauseating smell kept her cautious.

It took a really long walk to get here, she's not about to walk all the way back up and run back home just because of corpse stench and dark pools. She held her nose holes closed with one hand and used the other to raise her long skirt. A little bit of mold infested air never killed anyone. Actually that isn't true at all, mold has killed a lot. She chose not to think about that right now.

His guest approached, standing right at the foot of his bed. Instead of acknowledging her presence he continued facing the wall.

"Come now…Not even going to spare me a glance, old friend?" She spoke after a few minutes of silence. "You could've at least cleaned this place up before I arrived."

"Exactly how was I supposed to do that? In case you forget, I can't exactly stand on my own and mop the floor."

"Ahh, good. You haven't grown deaf nor dumb it seems."

He rolled his eyes before rolling on his back, sitting up to face his guest properly. "It's…good to see you." He said with a soft yet annoyed tone. "I see you've cut your hair?"

"Some brat stuck a piece of gum to me, I could've spent some funds to carefully remove it but…I've been meaning to change it up for a while."

The Wolf raised a brow. "Really?"

His guest nodded. "Really."

At that he seemed to grow more interested in his visitor, throwing his dirty covers off and moving closer to her. "Is that why you've finally come over then? After ignoring my pleas…"

"I've been busy." She shrugged. "Lots of people were pretty shook up after your disappearance. What's the point of playing if there's no fun to be had?"

"We didn't necessarily have to play." He raised a paw and played around with a lock of her hair, curling it around a few times. "A cup of tea, coffee…A bite of cake or cookies…a simple afternoon to chat would've been nice."

She grabbed his claw and promptly threw him off. "Again, what would be the point?"

The Wolf sighed, writhing on the ground for a while before managing a sort of standing position. It was hard to stand still with nothing below the belt to support your posture.

She crouched down, staring into his forest green slits. "You've never cared for tea or coffee. Cakes and Cookies certainly aren't to your taste. You were only satisfied with your absolute favorite, picky eater that you are."

"Pot, meet kettle."

She giggled, accidentally letting go of her nose and having a thick stench draft directly enter her nostrils, she went into a coughing fit for a while. While she struggled The Wolf let out a hearty laugh, much to her annoyance.

"Alright, alright. I'll clean up a bit. Go wait upstairs so you can talk to me without sounding like you caught a cold."

She obliges, knowing he'd only kept it dirty specifically as payback for ignoring him so long. She headed back up the creaky stairs and took a deep breath outside.

The smell of the wild was never to her taste, but it's better than the morgue stench down there. She looked up at the wide blue bed, not a single star shone tonight. Perhaps it's due to smog from the nearby city, perhaps it's because the stars know to stay away from a creature that could swallow them whole.

She lowered her head to face forward, as she heard something rustling nearby. Several little ones were trying to hide in the bushes and trees. The woman waved at whatever was trying to hide behind that tree, but upon realizing they were spotted they quickly ran away, unknowingly causing their cover to be blown completely.

"Naughty, naughty…Naughty little piggies, staying up so late."

The door behind her knocked a few times to the classic rhythm of shave and a haircut, two bits. When she opened the door, the stairs now led up and looked much more stable to step on.

A claw at the top urged her to come close, she promptly followed.

What awaited her was a place full of nostalgia, where they first met. She sat in her rustic chair, the raspberry pattern on it still having a pleasant fragrance reminiscent of the fruit.

"Better?" The Wolf asked.

"Very much so." His guest responded.

The wolf grabbed two spoons from below the table, he handed one over to her before making himself truly comfortable. No more laying his feet on the table, but at least he could still sling his arm across his chair which held the smell of woodruff syrup.

"Now then…what have you prepared for me, rather, for us…"

She was about to open her mouth, when she noticed something rather strange lurking from the corner of the room. "Who's this?" She quickly asked, surprised to see another face all the way in here.

The Wolf turned to where she was looking. "That thing? Oh, pay it no mind. I grew a bit bored out here all alone so simply built a toy for myself as a distraction from boredom."

"Hm, explains the blood…" She stroked at her chin, eyeing up the girl who stood in the corner.

"Do you…like it?"

"Not bad for a toy, definitely…Can it do any tricks?"

"Depends, you still haven't shown me what's awaiting me in Berrymarrel."

"I've been so bored. So very, very bored, My Wolf."

The woman laid a photo on the table and began to speak. The photo depicted a young girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, her hair was done in a pair of messy pigtails. It took a while, but eventually The Wolf recognized who he was looking at. A wide, toothy grin spread across his snout.

With lidded eyes, a flirtatious look and in the sweetest voice she could muster, the woman asked: "Won't you come with me to cause a feast?"