Everybody feels -open-

[NIAMH BRIDGET CALLAGHAN]

It seemed like lately no matter what the hunt was she somehow found herself treking through the trees in the dark. She never started off in the dark but this was just leading her around in circles, dead ends like nothing she'd ever seen before. She needed the sunlight to keep tracking...this, thing, whatever the hell is was so she gave it her all until the sun started to disappear behind the tree line and she knew it was time to give up.

Normally she would have set up camp, but Lucy was staying at the hotel and leaving her there alone didn't seem right. Her outfit had held up surprisingly well, the only hints of her journey being the dust on her boots and a few more tears in her jeans.

She was however, before she got to the room, going to stop in the bar for a drink. With this case, she was going to need it. If it was a wendigo, which the word around seemed to think it was, she was pretty sure she would not have escaped the woods so many times now unscathed. A human, she could out run, a Wendigo, she wasn't so sure. As she entered into the bar her hand absent mindedly went to the silver crucifix that hung around her neck. She wore it daily more out of habit and practicality than anything else but she'd never taken it off and in some ways it was her good luck charm.

Placing her sunglasses in her satchel she let her blue eyes take in the room until they settled on someone she certainly had no been expecting to see sitting at the bar chatting up the bartender. "Lucy!" she said both surprised and annoyed.

She glanced at Jed, who had been working every night since they'd got there and shook her head disapprovingly. He was cute, if she cared to think of it, but she knew he was probably less at fault as her quick to think smart talking child. "I know I'm not from this country but I am pretty sure there are laws against this sort of thing" she actually had no idea since she'd never thought to bring her daughter into a bar before, but it seemed like common sense. Though this place was half in the middle of nowhere they probably didn't like laws all that much.

"It's fine, we're a team we've got a flawless plan worked out" he said with a grin, which if she hadn't been so tired, and now annoyed she may have actually found charming. "Luce manager" and watched as her daughter hopped up and he lifted her over the bar to hide behind it. It was a little bit funny she had to admit but just, not what she wanted to deal with right now. "Flawless clearly....Lucy... Bed!" she demanded and rolled her eyes listening to her daughters protests. She felt bad, honestly because her daughter was left alone so much she made friends with anyone and everyone who would talk with her, which also scared her a little, the main reason she tried to get her to stay inside.

She should have known naming her after a Pevensie meant she was going to be a curious kid looking for adventure. Lucy was so faithful in people, and made friends so easily, Niamh couldn't even imagine where she got that faith from. "Now!" she said and with a defeated look watched her daughter head out towards the rooms. Moving to the window she watched her go until she could see the room door shut behind her. After taking a seat at the bar she waved off the apology. She wasn't really annoyed it was just more of a safety thing than anything else, besides she wasn't sure she wanted her daughter to see her drinking out of frustration. Ordering a beer she grabbed it off the bar and moved to the dark board. There was nothing wrong with a little target practice.

[KNOXVILLE EMERSON RADLEY]

He had pretty much been at the bar all day. Research is what he liked to call it. Poke around and ask questions, the more drunk people got, the more that they were willing to tell you. However, Knox realized that regardless of whether they were drunk or not, people still liked to talk about these bear attacks. Probably because only strangers they knew had die, he was certain if it had been anybody family related, the answers wouldn't have come so easily. Knox knew it wasn't a bear though, bears, at least for the most part, didn't attack people. Someone would have to get close to them, or piss them off or something. They were like almost any other animal, didn't know humans were food. If they did, there would be bear attacks on a daily basis, and then they'd all be in deep shit. Planet of the Grizzly Bears or what not.

So it was a good thing that they weren't dealing with bears, or well, he wasn't dealing with bears since Angus ditched him for a few days. Other things to deal with he said, more like other stuff. He was dealing with a Windigo, that much made sense. They were mistaken for bears all the time, mostly because they were too fast to get a good eye on for people to recognize the difference between a pasty skinned seven foot tall human and a fuzzy animal. The thing he didn't like about them though, is the fact that he needed a plan, and Knox usually wasn't the planner in his little partnership. Well, he had a plan that involved molotov cocktails, but that still required a distraction.

Knox figured he solve the problem sooner or later, he couldn't just sit around and wait for his friend to come back when people were still dumb enough to go into the woods. Plus, there might still be people alive and waiting to be saved from being eaten alive. The thought made him grimace a little as he nursed another glass of straight whisky, leaning up against the table as some of his other buddies threw darts and laughed along. It wasn't long though before somebody interrupted his thoughts, "Something up, man?" It took Knox a moment to snap out of it, his gaze quickly falling to the other, "Hm? Fine. Thinking 'bout my daughter. She was talkin' about prom...and I can't help but to think that she's not old enough to go to prom. Does this mean I have to buy her a dress regardless?"

Some of the other guys were looking over at him, clueless as he seemed to be about Prom. Clearly this was the wrong crowd to even ask or mused about it, meaning that he better turn the direction of this conversation before they thought himself a girl, "Fuck it, I'm just going to find her date and threaten him a shotgun." That did it, there were some cheers to that and they went back to their game. A slight snort of laughter escaped Knox, he shook his head lightly before he glanced around the bar, scouting out other people. But it seemed as if he just about had, unless he wanted to talk to other people which wasn't the case.

There was something of a curious sight though, some young girl at the bar. Like, really young, as in probably under the age of ten. It caused him to look around, wondering if she belonged to one of the barmaids but they were a serious lack in women here tonight, which was, well, a little annoying. He shook his head at the thought, reaching into his pocket and pulled out a little baggy. Cooked rabbit ribs. Already, Knox felt the looks coming his way but he didn't fucking care. Now that he had his information, he could do whatever he wanted. Ripping one off from the meat, he just bit down on it before hiding the rest away. Bad habit of his, chewing on animal bones. Probably made him a heathen, his daughter yelled at him about it all the time. But it's what they said, bad habits die hard. Just like sinners.

Although, there was nothing to sin on. But just like that, maybe God heard his little thought, or his earlier complaint about there being a lack of women in the bar, because in walked a woman. Knox actually felt himself stop in mid chew, the bone resting lightly in between his top and bottom molar. He was about to say something when she yelled at the girl, "Fuck, no way...she's a mother?" A youngin. Knox was willing to gauge her around mid twenties, positive she wasn't anything in the teens. There were some snickers besides him, but that didn't change the fact that they all just watched her every move like the dogs they could be.

He, himself, found her walk a little enticing. But, a lot of girls did that. They just had that walk, plus her aviators just worked, and the beer. She walked on by, to another one of the dart boards. Knox's head cocked a little, as if that would give him a better look at her, or at least her side shape. But as his gaze traveled down her body, he noticed something. Dirt. It was on her boots. Now he crunched on the bone, thinking. One could never tell about girl jeans anymore whether the rips were on purpose or not, but that dirt wasn't. Next to him, some of the guys tensed, probably deciding who should go over. The notion only caused him to roll his eyes, like they had a chance. They weren't even hunters, animal or otherwise, "Back off, she's mine." The inward groans of defeat could be heard as he pushed away from his table and walked over now. Closer inspection is needed anyways, "Hunting bears tomorrow?"

[NIAMH BRIDGET CALLAGHAN]

Hearing someone approach she was half tempted to just tell them to fuck off, but she knew she shouldn't take her mood out on other people. She didn't even turn her eyes she kept them focused on the target. She never missed. Hell, what the heck else was she supposed to do with her time. Darts were easy when she'd growing up with throwing knives, sometimes she'd pretend to miss just to lure someone into betting on a round with her and then she'd school them without even breaking a sweat. It was easy, too easy. A small laugh escaped at the question as she squinted her eyes slightly before hitting her first dart to the bullseye.

“Hunting something” she said simply figuring that probably wasn't all that strange of a thing to say even for a foreigner, not in these parts at least. Forest meant lots of animals and lots of hunting opportunities for food, sport even not that she particularly took joy in killing anything for the hell of it.

“Why... do they cause a lot of problems in this country?” she asked playing dumb. They didn't have bears back home. Extinct from overhunting, hundreds of years with a myth, lot like the snakes had been driven out. If any of them seriously though bears were an issue they were Idiots, the lot of them. They thought bears were their problem, she supposed it was just easier to blame what they could see rather than look any further to find a horror story waiting before them.

Not that she hadn't heard the Grizzly stories, attacks, mauling, but animals didn't frighten her. Mostly this was due to the fact that in her experiences they left you alone if you left them alone, mutual respect. The supernatural however, hunted you down whether you deserved it or not.

“I'm after something a little faster myself” she continued, balancing her last dart before she hit it dead centre of the board. Now that she was finished she actually bothered to turn her attention and was admittedly slightly surprised when she did. He was...not horrible looking and strangely, familiar. Not his face exactly but more like his demeanor, the way he was standing, holding himself. Somehow, she hadn't noticed him when she'd come in, maybe because her daughter had been her main focus. Quickly she turned to the board moving to pull the darts out of the target. “Why do you ask” she questioned.

Gripping the darts tightly in her fist she turned back again to face him for a moment then glancing around the place realising soon enough she was pretty much the only woman in there, which probably spoke volumes about the local.

[KNOXVILLE EMERSON RADLEY]

The minute the girl opened up her mouth and spoke, Knox thought his heart nearly flat lined. She is a foreigner, and not just in these parts but in the whole entire country. Totally just went up on the hotness scale just a little bit more, but being his age, he figured he should just keep that little information to himself. For now at least. His gaze went to the dart board for a moment now, she had a pretty decent aim since she seemed to be doing nothing but hitting the center area. Knox figured she was probably used to throwing something a little more bigger and sharper. Still, child's play when it compared and sized up to guns and shooting ranges.

"Care to elaborate?" he asked now, it's not like he could poke fun at her height since she was close to being a giant as far as women were considered. First time where Knox didn't feel like he actually had to look down much to meet the eye level of someone. That is, if she would look his way. The guys he had ditched were still glancing his way with distanced, annoyed that they had lost out. Although something told him that this woman would have been eating them alive, and not in a pleasant way. The way she was throwing her darts, he should be lucky that she didn't tell him to fuck off, although, Knox had to say, not a lot of women really did that.

A chuckle escaped Knox at her next question, and he chewed on the rabbit bone for a second before taking a drink, thinking it over. She was playing dumb, trying to bait him into information. Probably thought that he was just one of the dumb locals out here. Being from the Ozarks though, he didn't take much insult to it. That's how they all were, hunters that is. Thinking they were the sole person on a hunt, and right now, he couldn't even tell which one of them had claims on it, "Grizzly bear attacks only happen two or three times a year in the whole nation," he placed his glass down on the table he had been leaning up against and folded his arms over his chest now, still watching her, "So, these ten attacks in the past three months...it's a little unusual."

Actually, that statement is an understatement. Still, he wanted to read into her a little bit more, for all he knew, she could just be hunting deer although something told him that it was far from the case. This woman was like him, hunting something that civilians should never learn about, "And that's a lot of bears to discover that humans are actually something to eat." Since that was usually the main thing about bear attacks and why they were so limited. Bears didn't realize that humans were food, they were just some other thing entirely to the animal, "Hope you got a flame then," he commented nonchalantly on her faster game. Her last dart hit the board dead center with a loud thump before she turned to face him. His eyes lingered on the board for a moment before turning to her, and per standard fair, Knox found himself glancing her over. Bad habits die hard after all.

But it's not like he was a gentleman either. Knox knew well enough to not take advantage of anything or force himself on anything and that was about as far as his morals went. And then came the question of the evening: why do you ask? Such a simple question, but the answer could be just about anything as well as the truth. Knox just stared at her for a moment while longer, continuing to roll that rabbit bone as little hairline cracks started to appear. He figured it was better to just say then to dance around the bush, "Hunting also. My partner ditched me for something else. Just trying to figure out if we're here for the same game." Maybe he shouldn't hunt with her though, form fitting clothes were a distracting and plus, she was a mother, "Name's Knox."

[NIAMH BRIDGET CALLAGHAN]

“Playing some sort of game?” she asked her eyes following to the men he'd been sitting with who were watching all too closely for her liking, though they didn't look happy which was fine by her because if they so much as stepped in her direction they'd be dealing with her mood. “Or do men just stare at you like that all the time” she joked.

“I really wouldn't know” she said simply in regards to his bear comment, she really wasn't just playing dumb, not entirely at least. She didn't hear about a lot of bear attacks she would give him that and usually if she did it was a provoked or stupidity involved situation.

“We don't have bears where I'm from” she said honestly. “so they've never been much of an issue for me” Course she'd been in American for almost 9 years now so her adaptations and familiarities had certainly changed since arriving. “Though animals I am familiar with and I agree” they didn't just attack humans for no reason, we were strange and unusual they didn't usually think they were a threat.

“Unusual? No...seeing a unicycle is unusual” she added. 10 dead bodies in one area was more that unusual it was generally supernatural, or a very not careful serial attack.“Though I imagine 10 attacks of any sort in a short amount of time raises flags....after all why else would I be here” she said offering what he too had been fishing for in return. He was obviously another hunter. It really wasn't that much of a surprise given the questions and the way he was talking.

“Ah well I'm a bit of a flame addict so I'm not too worried about that” she added. She always had a lighter and matches on her, of course. She was a hunter, she burned bones constantly not the mention the fact that she loved a good bonfire, loved lighting candles. Her mother had always joked that she was was little pyro, but luckily she'd never harmed anything living with the fire. “always prepared” she added. She had to be because she needed to make it back home alive each night otherwise she was leaving her daughter an orphan with no family to take far of her, that simply wasn't an option, survivial was key.

“Well from the sounds of things....” she said holding his eyes for a moment before she answered. “Seems like we are” she admitted. If that was even what it was but either way she needed to find out and the two of them hunting the same game separately well, it was probably pretty stupid. “Niamh” she said introducing herself in return offering her hand to the stranger.

[KNOXVILLE EMERSON RADLEY]

"Hmmm?" is the only sound that left his mouth at her question. For a moment, he wasn't even sure what she had been refering to until he followed her gaze back to the guys now. Knox knew most of the attention was on himself but he wasn't even sure as to why they bothered to dare to give her a second glance or mentally undress her. There were girls you could get away with doing that with, this girl however, Knox knew that wouldn't be the case. It is probably the main reason that he was keeping his own mind and eyes in check at that very moment, well, that and the sinking suspiscion of her being a hunter. At her follow up question, Knox only smirked, "They're merely wondering if all of their children will have the good fortune of looking like me."

Of the conversation of bears, she honestly seemed to be acting truthful with him about not knowing anything. Well, she was from Ireland, or at least, that's where Knox was placing it. Still, even with her thick accdent, there was just the slightest wear which meant that she had been in America at least for three years if not more, "I've feel like you've been here for a while. Tourist act isn't going to work forever, but I'll let the bears slide since you seem rather genuine about it," Knox commented now, still chewing thoughtfully on his little rabbit bone, the meat finally stripped sadly enough.

The unicycle comment made him laugh a little, she had clearly never been to the south to very often. The junk somebody could find sometimes was a little frightening. Knox thought about her comment though and actually attempted to put some sort of brain power behind it. The girl really did have a point, some people just ran away from the problem but it took a certain type of person to go running to it. Not to mention, the idea of the Irish actually caring about bear attacks were slim to none. It's not as if this place was a tourist trap or anything for the States, "That you're here for the same reason that I am."

It seemed as if everyone he had ever met was a bit of a flame addict. Knox tended to stay away from it out of habit, not that he built any meth labs back home but the knowledge came with the area, "Glad to know my ass is covered then," Knox commented now, meaning that he would end up taking his usual place in attempting to flush the damn beast out. Nothing like going down in flames of glory, and with her not beign Angus, for all he knew, that may actually be the case this time around. Girl looked tough though, he'd give her that which meant that he'd live to see another day and maybe see a little more of her too. Probably not though, her being a mother and stuff. But a man could still dream.

They merely held each other's gazes before the cat just came clearly out of the bag. Although, let's be honest here, they already knew each other from the start of what the other one was. Knox couldn't help but to smirk a little and nodd his head. Windigo hunt it is then. Fun times, he hated how fast the things were, hence the cocktails though. When she offered her hand, he went for it but latched onto inside of her forearm instead. Army habit he supposed, but it was probably also another reason that would get him shot, "Pleasure. Don't meet too many Niamhs. In fact, you're my first. Usually get Andreas, Britneys, and Heathers, if you get my drift." He let go now, allowing his fingertips to graze though before reaching to his pocket and pulling out hte bag of bones, "Rabbit bone? THey're cooked."

[NIAMH BRIDGET CALLAGHAN]

She actually managed a laugh. She was generally not in a terrible mood but she didn't usually tolerate people either unless they could entertain her and it was safe to say the converastion had been entertaining so far. "Doubtful they'd be so lucky" she commented casually but then realised it sounded like she had agreed that he was good looking, which he was but that hadn't really been her point, nor her observation.

"to have children that is, not likely if they make a habit of staring at people like that" Course, she supposed there were some pretty desperate women out there so maybe she was wrong about that. "then again" she muttered but that was just to herself as an after thought.

"Well I'm certainly not here for the beer" she said simply. To her, American beer was... horrible but doing what she did for a living, or lack of a living she could rarely afford anything better, but she would have given anything for a Kilkenny or a Smithwicks in that moment.

"Mmm I've gathered as much, don't have many of those at home" especially not Brittany's especially considering it's connections to Britain, a few Andreas she'd come across. English names were becoming far more popular than ever before, but her parents had obviously been insistent of keeping hers traditional. She'd broken the own tradition with her daughter, but living in America now it seemed silly not to and she'd always loved the name. "My parents were obviously traditionalists" She said letting go of the grasp.

"No thank you... I only eat rabbit in a stew" she said simply. There was so little meat on the animals anyway that was the only decent way to consume them really, why bother otherwise. Mmm now she was thinking about meat, which was sort of a reminder that she had been in the woods all day and hadn't actually eaten anything.

[KNOXVILLE EMERSON RADLEY]

Was that a laugh he heard? Knox couldn't help but to smirk slightly, well, she was enjoying his company which was always nice to see. Sometimes it lead to more afterwards, oh, if only he were to be so lucky though. Her comment though, made his smirk turn into a grin and laugh before she added on the part about the children, "What a shame. Here I thought you were complimenting me there." Knox chewed thoughtfully though as he glanced back over at the men, "Hmmm, bet some of them do. Bet some of them have families as well." After all, they reminded him of the people he saw back home and that had all different sort of equations out there when it came to blood and family.

A snort left Knox and he found himself rolling his eyes rather quickly. Fucking Europeans. He glanced over at her now, it was hard to stay annoyed when she was pretty though. Knox really had to get his mind sorted out though, because if he kept on thinking like that, he would end up loosing arguments left and right. Then again, it's not like he'd probably see this woman again afterwards. That's how hunting tended to work unless you had a legit partner. Til his own, most of his own hunting had been on his own. Sure, he had help before, but they always parted ways at the end of the day, "You're just saying that cause you've only done name brands. Locals where it's at, or moonshine." God, he was starting to sound like a red neck or something well, something more than the white trash that he could already be considered.

Knox wasn't even sure as to how he felt about that. He shrugged a little at her comment, "I never thought much of names being...region specific." Although, Knox didn't tend to think outside of America much either. Bad habit probably but it also came from a lack of attending high school half of the time also, "But yeah, I can tell. You don't seem too traditional though, being here and such." He never even heard of a Niamh before, unless he had and he had just been too drunk to remember. Knox wouldn't lie and say something like that had never happened before. His arm dropped back down to his side for the moment, he could still feel her touch lingering but that's how it felt for everyone.

Only ate rabbit meat in stew? That seemed like such a girl thing to say, that and well, civil, "Squirrel's for stew," he replied back. Still, he saw that look in her eyes at the mentioning of meat meaning only one thing, well, technically it could mean two but he was being serious for once. Besides, if she was now his partner for the hunt, he couldn't be thinking about getting laid twenty four seven. Plus, mother. It was the one thing that Knox seemed to be constantly reminding himself about at that very moment, "I can buy, if you're hungry since clearly, you're too good for my rabbit," he joked now, watching her to gauge for a reaction.

[NIAMH BRIDGET CALLAGHAN]

“Is that so?” she asked a tinge of sparkle in her blue eyes showing amusement at the challenging statement. “Why don't you show me what I should be drinking then” she offered him. He seemed to think he knew best and as a seasoned drinker she was curious to see what he would offer. Moonshine almost made her laugh just because of the memories. She remembered her daddy testing the Poitín with a lighter, even as a little girl she remembered it. He'd always told her the colour of the flame could tell you if it was safe to drink. Blue was good, yellow or red would make you dead. Course that was old fashioned, and she wasn't even sure why she was thinking about her father now, he had been gone for a long time. Clearly her throat she pushed the memory to the back of her mind and smiled at the name comment.

“All names are region specific technically... it's only irrelevant now that everyone's an immigrant” she stated. After all the Americas were built on immigration, no one was truly 'American' or 'Canadian' unless of course they were first nations people. No, they were all, German, Irish, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Spanish.... most of them were a mix by now of course after centuries of living it was bound to happen but it didn't really matter because it was a melting pot of cultures “Now you've got French naming their kids Seamus” she stated. She'd met one recently thought it was strange but it was sort of neat as well she supposed though you didn't find a lot of Emile's or Ettiene's in Ireland so the concept was foreign to her. “Knox is British... 'From the small hill' It's actually a common surname in Scotland too” she admitted as she thought about the hunters she'd dealt with back home.

“Course you're not here for an onomatology lesson, sorry” she said catching herself now. Got she really needed to stop reading so much, but she got bored easily and when Lucy was asleep and there was no hunt she had to do something with her time, so she knew a little about a lot of things, enough to get her through a decent enough conversation. She should have gone to college, it was too late for that now, and she'd never really ever planned her life on the fact, but it was only now she was beginning to actually realize how much she loved to learn new things.

“Well, depends on what kind of tradition you're talking about” she admitted. No her mother had no wanted her to come but she was not exactly forging her own path either, she had followed that of her Uncle James and her Grandfather only to find that they had died long ago. So she'd been 16 and on her own in a strange country with only hunting as her skills to get by.

She'd obviously managed to make it far enough, but she'd always managed to get herself knocked up in the process. At the time she'd lost her mind, considered all the possibilities. It was of course insane to think she could keep a child in her line of work, with no help, no father, no family at all. Somehow...she'd gone ahead and done it anyway and now that she had Lucy she had no doubt in her mind she'd made the right decision.

“Well yeah that too stew's pretty much for anything that has no meat on it” she admitted when he commented about squirrel. It was true she knew so many people ate rabbit in many ways it was so much splender, easy to trap. She laughed and shook her head at his statement “Oh trust me, I'm not too good for anything I just don't want any thanks” she assured him. “and I'm not that hungry” she couldn't eat with the thought of god knew how many people missing in the woods. It was stupid, not to eat because she knew that she should be keeping her strength up but the mother in her was too much of a worrier even if she never let it show physically, it showed in her nervous habits sometimes. “Why don't you just buy me a drink and tell me what you've found” she said simply.

[KNOXVILLE EMERSON RADLEY]

Knox couldn't help but to smile at her words, nor deny the fact that she had rather beautiful eyes. Oh exotic girls, and here this had been the last place that he ever thought of running into one. Of course, running into hunters usually felt like a rarity, like they were a rare creature themselves. Other than Angus, he didn't run into a lot of them and there was no underground system. Those were left behind in the days of old he supposed, "Can't just show you," Knox replied now, "Have to get to certain places and that means crossing state lines. Girls are kinda weird about that with a man. But I guess...you're not just some ordinary girl either."

He hadn't been expecting this whole little name lesson to pop up. In fact, it had been the last thing that he had been expecting in a conversation with a girl. Ever. Since with the names, the whole thing only started up because he had been talking about girls that he had slept with. Maybe that had gone over her head. Plus, he hadn't even passed high school, he dropped out because of this learning and education nonsense. It must have translated in his face because Niamh finally ended it after she went over his own name: knox. His name was british? Now he felt somewhat corrupted and not as American, "Mine's short for Knoxville. I was named after the city. Not...a hill," he informed her now.

The tradition comment caught him off guard for a moment, maybe he had just dug himself in a rut. After all, he didn't know this girl or anything about her. As his daughter would chastise him for, he couldn't make assumptions about people. Which was a load of bull coming from her since she's a teenager girl and that's what they did for a living, "Doing your own shit. That's what I meant." He had done it, more or less. Left everything behind when he went into the army and didn't look back until his sister called him. Knox couldn't decide yet even after all of these years if he regretted answering that call or not. Now was not the time to dwell on such a thing though, not when he was talking to a pretty girl.

Shaking his head, he said nothing. For once, he wasn't looking for a fight and considering the way some of these guys were looking at her, Knox figured now that he shouldn't just go up and leave her either. Stew is nice and everything, but it took effort to cook: meaning that first he had to cook the meat and then throw everything in a pot, "Suit yourself, but if you faint. It's not my fault. I offered" Knox commented, clearly unphased. After all, he had really only been joking before without asking permission, put his hand on the small of her back and guided her over to the bar now before letting go. Leaning against the bar, he had just flagged down one of the bar tender, "Hey, Yuengling black and tan. Get her whatever she wants, I'm buying."

He really wasn't sure if there was that much information that he had to share with her. At least, there was nothing really too unusual about it. In fact, the reason why this thing was eating so much was probably just because people didn't think that the 'bear' attacks could happen to them. Unless there was something else going on, like the end of the world. Knox had heard all of those tales about those fucking Winchesters and the shit that they stirred up during their hunts towards the end. "First thing's first though," he started now, reaching into his pocket to grab his wallet and open it up now to pull out a rather worn piece of folded up paper and passed it to her, "If I die, you need to call those numbers. First one's my daughter. You need to lie on that one, just tell her something normal. Car crash, stabbing, I don't care. Second one's my usual partner. You can tell him whatever, shit, he'll probably already know I'm dead. Anyways, deal?"

[NIAMH BRIDGET CALLAGHAN]

“Most girls probably don't know 25 different ways to kill someone either so I'm not too worried about it” she assured him. Not that he was offering, but just the idea of being alone, crossing boarders into strange territory it didn't scare her, he didn't scare her and maybe that was the problem. Maybe she should have been living her life with a bit more common fear, but it felt like a waste of energy, fear was a choice, most times she chose not to embrace it, at least not in petty human situations. In supernatural situations, it was an entirely different ball game depending on how in control of the situation she was.

“Ah yeah well I can't take all the credit for that idea...I was an idealistic teenager following in my dead uncles footsteps...I should have figured followed by now dead relatives here was probably a bad omen my daughter's the only good thing that's come out of this country” she muttered. “no offense” she added. “Though I'll save my judgments on you” she didn't even know him after all it was hardly fair to pass a judgment on a stranger.

“Do I look like the type of girl who faints?” she asked. This was not corset wearing England where she was going to 'faint' because her air supply was being cut off by her garment, damn fashion seemed to always be the downfall of women no matter what the era.

She looked at the numbers for a good while as though she were memorizing them into her mind before she nodded. Fair enough, it was good and smart to be prepared for the worst case scenario. She slipped the numbers into her jacket pocket. “Deal” she started. “But if I die, you need to tell the little girl in Room 17... she'll know what to do” She and Lucy had formulated the plans a long time ago, in case she never came home, or went missing, it was hard to explain to a 4/5 year old why you might not come home but somehow her daughter had never been afraid, or if she had been she'd never really shown it. It made her proud. In fact she was pretty sure that she was more afraid about leaving Lucy alone half the time than Lucy was of actually being alone.

Her daughter knew she had two options. She could contact her Grandmother and end up in Ireland, a place she had never even seen before and Niamh had hoped would never had to be, at least without her. Or she could run, there wasn't really anyone for her to run to in the states she had no other family. Kevin didn't even know she existed and she hadn't seen the guy since long before she'd even realized she was pregnant, and with no way to get a hold of him, well, it was likely he was probably dead. Besides, dropping your kid on someone with no warning, even if that person was technically their parent was not fair. Oh sorry, here's the daughter you never really knew you had all yours now.

“If we both die I guess we're shit out of luck” she said simply. She maybe should have been more afraid of the idea of possibly dying and leaving her 7 year old daughter alone to fend for herself in this terrifying place but she tried to take life by the horns, which meant she never accepted the fact that she was going to die, or be defeated until it came down to her last moment, the last breath, it was only then would she ever give up the fight.

[KNOXVILLE EMERSON RADLEY]

The way she talked sometimes, Knox couldn't help but to feel like he was in some sort of masculinity contest rather than having a normal conversation. Most of the girls he talked to though were feminine. Not to say that Niamh Callaghan was not a woman or feminine, but she was different to say the least. Everything that left his mouth must have seemed like a challenge each time to her because that was how she delivered it right back in his face. If anything, it felt like he was back in the army where everybody felt like they needed to prove something, "No, I guess not." Knox was full of himself in some ways, he thought he was ruggishly handsome and knew his way around words, that young pretty girls should just flock to him like sheep would to their shepherd, but even sheep knew to fear the dog in the shadows as well.

Who wasn't an idealistic teenager in their youth though? Even he had some ideals: never get high on meth, always wear a condom. Everybody thought they owned the world and knew what was best for themselves, they shouldn't slam themselves over it, "You Europeans, hating on my country," he commented lightly. Knox only joked though, he hardly took his own words seriously half of the time. She was lucky he just wasn't some redneck, then he probably would have taken offense in less than half a second. Though, people still argued that Missouri was part of the South some times even though it wasn't, "But no worries. None was taken. Not like I had to fight your wars for you while I was overseas."

The next comment though, nearly caused him to roll his eyes. A loud sigh escaped Knox, not bothering to cover it with something else. Considering that they were going to be working with each other, he was trying to pick words that would not cause him to get on her bad side but it was looking a little too late for that anyways, "I can faint. Anybody can faint from lack of food. It doesn't matter on what type of girl you are. I bet you bleed just like me too." His gaze left her now, staring up at the muted TV as if it held some interest as he raised the bottle to his lips to take a swig, "People overseas told me that they couldn't die, immortals. Yet the sand ran red and here they died just like the rest of us mortals."

Well, at least he still had a deal at that very moment with the phone calls. Not that he really thought they were going to die, Wendigo hunts are simple enough and easy too so long as nothing goes wrong. But it was still nice to have a plan and if he was going to be forever absent, he wanted his daughter to know the reason why and not think that he had just up and abandoned her, "Will do. Seventeen's an easy number to remember anyways." Knox hoped that wouldn't be the case, he really didn't want to tell a seven year old that. He didn't even really know how to deal with kids, hell, he didn't even really know how to handle his daughter sometimes other than to threaten her boyfriends with violence.

He actually eyed her for a moment at her statement, and not in the way that he had been since she first walked through that door, "I don't like to think like that." He just liked to believe that there would be someone there to tell his daughter. People were survivors and there was motivation to stay alive but even Knox could admit that there were things that he feared that didn't revolve around monsters or STDS. Didn't matter though, he supposed, because he evidently had fucking supergirl as his new partner for this hunt, "My partner would figure it out sooner or later...but I guess this isn't the real conversation that we should be having." Knox took another swig from his bottle, "Anyways, campers usually go missing on their first day at night. I would assume it takes more than a day to get to the heart to the forest so maybe it's little den is just on the edge of it." He took out another piece of paper now, sliding it towards her, "And I have names if you're interested."

[NIAMH BRIDGET CALLAGHAN]

“Sorry, it hasn't been all that good to me” she said jokingly though somehow not disappointing enough to tempt her to go home. This was her home now, as much as she played the foreigner card, she'd been there nearly ten years a few more and it would be nearly the same amount of time she'd spent at home.

“I didn't just mean because I'm a girl-” she started but didn't even know why she was bothering the explanation. She hadn't just meant it in the sense of her feminine gender, though she'd stated girl because well, she was one. She was the type of person who knew her own body she knew when it had taken too much, when it needed food, water. She knew exactly how much sleep she needed to operate with a fully functional mind. She wasn’t the type of 'person' to faint because she wasn't ever neglecting her basic needs, after all that was no way to survive.

He was right though, blood was blood and a human was a human, the only thing that bled different than they did were the creatures they hunted. “Nothing is immortal” she muttered more to herself under her breath. There was a way to kill everything and anything except maybe God, if he even existed. The thought made her hand subconsciously go the crucifix she had around her neck. Again, simply something worn out of a habit, something she'd had for as long as she could remember.

“No one likes to think like that but unfortunately in our line of work it's always a possibility we don't need to sugar coat it” at least not to each other. She always promised Lucy she was coming home, even when she wasn't always certain of the fact, which of course she never was, no matter of cocky of an attitude she managed on a day to day basis.

“At this point names are probably of little consequence” she admitted though her eyes glanced over the list briefly anyway just for curiosity sake. That was a lot of names, more than she'd been hoping for and given the fact that she'd heard Wendigo kept their capture alive for a while, the lucky ones at least, she could only hope that most of those names would still be alive somewhere waiting to be found. She looked over the names, ages wondering if there was some sort of pattern or if the wendigo was just being reckless. Her eyes stopped on a name and he breath caught in her chest as she saw it. Fenton O'Connell she'd only ever heard the name once before in her life, 8 years ago on a few hunts with her partner in crime at the time. Kevin had always used that name as a cover, it was unique enough to leave an impression but also sometimes easy to forget, it was a name she had certainly never forgotten and a name, that seeing now listed on that paper made her world feel like it'd just gotten a little smaller.

The colour had drained from her face, that she was almost positive of as she stared at the paper. Every other name surrounding it had vanished and she could almost feel her heart trying to break out of her chest. It had been easy to forget about Kevin when she thought he was just out there doing his thing, she'd never really worried about it too much. They'd had their thing and he'd taken off on his own that was that. She'd never really made an effort to find him about Lucy maybe she should have but he'd never really come back looking for her either so what did it matter.

Now though, a sickening worry took over her that she'd only ever felt a few times before and only ever for the little girl in room seventeen. She knew that for the sake of old times and in case Lucy ever wanted to know her Dad, she had to get in there and hope to God that he was still alive and get him out, or she at least sure as hell had to try. She couldn't breath, she couldn't even speak, taking the drink that was placed down before her she knocked it back quickly. Grabbing the list in her hand she turned quickly on her heels and moved swiftly outside to her truck.

[KNOXVILLE EMERSON RADLEY]

Someone was serious, although, she was right. They had to be serious, but maybe the boy in him still liked to believe that there was some sort of hope. Shit was messed up, it didn't mean that he had to forever see the world that way, he didn't have to let his daughter see it that way either and maybe, to Knox, that's what mattered the most. That was maybe the reason why he didn't want to die, sure, he'd go down like a warrior any day the day he died, and he looked for a fight most of the time but in the end, everything revolved around his daughter. In many ways, beyond his booze and alcohol, that's what truly mattered to Knox even though he only saw her three days out of the month.

He was lucky to even have someone to look after her, a family willing to look after her. Knox couldn't imagine his life being like the girl's next to him, having to drag around a kid where ever he went and have some sort of code or plan for never coming back. That was no way to raise a child, but unlike himself, Niamh didn't really have much of a choice. So, he couldn't slam her parenting abilities, nor would he ever really do so. Knox knew he wasn't the parent of the year either and he didn't act like it. Watching people out in the world, they seemed to take personal offense and yes, there were shit parents, plenty of them have had it, but it didn't meant that the rest of them didn't try. Only God could judge them.

"Well, you don't have to look at the list if you don't want to," he replied easily enough, taking another sip of his beer. His eyes rested on her though, watching as Niamh decided to look it over anyways regardless of her rather pointed statement. Something changed though in her demeanor midway down that list, as if everything came to a stand still. Knox knew that expression, he had seen it a lot over the years when he was stationed over seas: she knew someone there. But before he could even get a word in, Knox suddenly found himself alone at the bar and Niamh was leaving him out in the dust. Snickers of laughter could be heard, no doubt the guys he had been with earlier thinking that he had just messed up his game.

Knox didn't really care, they could think whatever they wanted right now. There was only one elephant in the room to address right now and that was the fact that he still pretty much had a full bottle of beer that he was going to have to rush now, "Shit." He hated rushing beer, but he was also a big man and could handle it. It's not like it was truly the end of the world, he just preferred drinking to be a chill thing unless there was a fight going down. Heaving a sigh, Knox downed it as quickly as he could before throwing the tip on the bar counter and headed on out after her, "Niamh?" For a moment, his eyes remained on her truck, it could rival his own and Knox wasn't sure how he felt about that, being a guy and all, but soon decided that was the least of his problems.

He wandered over but kept a good few feet from her and her truck as well, deciding that it might not be best to encroach on her territory at that moment. People did stupid things sometimes when they felt like somebody was going to get in their way, "You know, they're probably still alive. Whose ever name is on that list that got you on this sudden kick." That mood change hadn't happened until at least half way down, there was still a fairly good chance that whoever it was is alive. He could only hope though, that this wouldn't end up turning into something like his own encounter with his sister. Werewolves and Wendigos were two completely different things, but they were every right of fucked up in their own way just like the other and things like that, have a natural ability to adapt and create new things over time.

[NIAMH BRIDGET CALLAGHAN]

She stopped for a moment shoving thinks around in the truck as she heard his words. You know, they're probably still alive she closed her eyes for a minute and tried to focus her mind and calm the racing down. It was a possibility, she knew that Wendigo's didn't eat all their prey at once, they saved them for weeks, sometimes months. She had no idea how long Kevin had been out there, there was just as good of a chance that he was already dead.

“Well for my daughter's sake I really hope you're right but they might not be for much longer if I don't get out there right away” she said simply. Fuck, Kevin this was what happened when he hunted on his own and didn't let anyone know. She would never have known, no one would if she hadn't found the list, if she hadn't known his tricks and habits. He would had just gone vanished off the circuit and no one would have even given it a second thought.

God he was an idiot, one she'd somewhat loved at some point in her life, but that had been the delusional optimistic teenager which real life had beat out of her since then. He was so irresponsible and normally she wouldn't have cared. Hunters died every day, it was something she tried to prevent but she wouldn't normally be so willing to go charging into danger without a flawless plan first.

“Midway down the list, Fenton O'Connell...real name Kevin Riggs, hunter. He also happens to be absent father to my kid. It's one thing to have to tell her he doesn't know about her so took off” it was a long story that she wasn't really keen on telling to a strange but it basically came down to the fact that he obviously hadn't loved her, that much she was certain of. She didn't, however, regret the time because Lucy was a pretty amazing kid and she wouldn't change her for the world “it's another thing to have to tell her I let him die at the hands of a monster” she said slowly turning to look at him. “So I need to get out there... now”

She wasn't the type of girl who was scared of the woods, not even with a Wendigo inside, sure the woods were creepy and they had their moments where they didn't get along for the most part she found them easy to navigate and relatively level playing ground. There was always somewhere to hide, though there was just something about this that was telling her something was really wrong. She needed to keep her head on straight she needed to approach this completely as a hunter.