It was a relatively quiet evening in the city. The only sounds that broke the silence were the cars returning home from their evening shifts on the street below, or the occasional dog barking in the distance. The sun rested lazily on the horizon, painting every color from burning orange to dark navy across the cloudless sky. The moon hung suspended in the sky overhead, but no stars could ever shine through the city's nightly light show, already coming to life despite the early hour.

Most of the busy city-folk had either already eaten dinner, or were soon to begin the preperations for it. James was no exception. After a busy day at the nearby studio where he worked, he had quickly made a bee-line towards his appartment. For a bachelor in such a situation, a quick-and-easy microwave meal was often standard fare... but James had a secret he'd never admit to any of the guys he worked with.
He liked to cook, and he wasn't bad at it.

However, just as he started preparing the beef, rice, and greens that would comprise his eavening meal, he was interrupted by a loud knock at his door. With a glance at the ground beef browning on the stove top to make sure it wouldn't burn the appartment building down, he made his way over to the front door, curious to know who would visit him at this hour.

When he opened the door, however, he was surprised to see what looked like a tawny-coated wolf sitting at his door with a note taped to its forhead. He blinked at the sight, then snorted a short, quick laugh.

"Silly looking as it is, I suppose a note on your face is certainly one way to garner attention to yourself... Wonder who left you here?" He mumbled to himself as he plucked the note in question from its resting place, smirking to himself as he glossed over it.

The note quickly detailed the circumstances that had left the apparently abandoned canine at his door, politely pleading him to take "CC" in, as her previous owners couldn't take care of her any longer with a child on the way.

He shook his head and glanced at her. "Well, that rules out anyone in the office... Maybe someone in the building, then?" He wondered, then simply shrugged and grinned broadly. "Well, doesn't matter in the end. Guess I can't really complain, since I wanted a wolf, and now I guess I've got one..."

He hesitated slightly, then crouched in front of her and gave her a serious look. "Not sure if she's exactly tame or not, though... Guess the fact that she's not in a cage 'n hasn't ripped my throat out's a decent indicator, though..." The smell of burning meat broke his concentration, however, as he realized he'd left his meal alone for just a bit too long.

"Shit...!" He exclaimed quietly, quickly forgetting all about the wolf at his door and the note in his hand in favor of dashing over to attend to his swiftly burning meal.

Idiot...

She shook her head slightly, smelling the burning meat. What a waste of perfectly good meat too. She padded into the apartment, looking around. It was nice... Definitely not bad. She was expecting a lot worse to be honest. But this guy was actually pretty tidy.

She padded her way towards the smell and watched with amusement as the guy raced around, trying to figure out what to do. Interestingly enough, she was laughing because she thought he was kind of cute but she'd never admit it to anyone. She let out a small sigh and made her way into what she assumed was the living room and jumped up onto the couch. She laid her head down on her paws and watched the blank screen.

Would it be weird if a dog turned on the TV? Probably...

Oh well. I'm not a very good pet.

She lifted her muzzle and let it fall on the precariously placed remote, hitting the power button 'on accident.' The TV blipped on and soon then apartment was filled with the sounds of That 70's Show's Fex being yelled at. She grinned, letting out a small cough, her own version of a laugh and settled for this. It'd been such a long time since she'd been able to watch TV or sit on a couch like this. Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe.

It didn't take him much to "save" the slightly over-done beef and rice: Simply removing them from the heat fixed the issue reasonably well. He fixed himself a plate and started to put away the leftovers before he remembered the open door and wolf he had left outside it.

"Piss... What's wrong with me tonight?" He groused, setting his plate and the bowls of meet, rice, and salad aside.

He glanced over his shoulder into his fairly modern living room, making sure nothing unwanted had wandered in from the cold night without his knowledge. He noticed the wolf bump its... her nose against the remote, apparently aquainting herself with the new environment. He gave the back of her head a small smile as the TV came on from her probing, then grabbed the tupaware bowl of meat from the counter.

"Hey CC..." He said as he made his way over to the door and closed it. "Ya hungry, girl? 's a little over cooked, but I'm afraid I don't have anything better..." He paused, then glanced at the fridge and mumbled to himself. "... or at all, I guess? This was the last I had, wasn't it?"

He shook his head. "Whatever... I'll just head over to the store after work tomorrow..." He glanced back at his new companion and grinned a grin that might well have looked better on her. "Might even pick you up something special if you're good, CC..." He said, then sait the bowl on the tile flooring just inside the door, offset from the offwhite carpets by a thin metal divider.

He trekked back over to the kitchen to grab his plate, put the cooking dishes in the already lightly occupied sink, and put away his leftovers... in reverse order, of course.

She lifted her head when she heard him call out to her. Her new nickname... CC. Terrible name for any dog. She felt sorry for herself. Still, wanting to play the good pet, she let out a soft bark when he asked if she were hungry. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't and that meat smelt so good.

She was about to leap off the couch when he said he'd pick up something special if she was good. She stopped. That had set something off. She pulled her lips back in a snarl and snarled at him as she walked over to where he'd put the food. She ate it, but in silence.

Treating me like a d-

She could almost here Kaln laughing at her. Whatever. When this poor guy went to bed, Carina would leave and go get some work done. She'd also have to figure out how long she'd have before he got home from the work he mentioned. She needed to know when she needed to come back. She didn't want 'James' to send out a rescue team for her. Well, that was his name, wasn't it? James? That's what Kaln had told her. James Marshall. But... Was Wolfsbane really necessary? Maybe the guy was a wolf freak. She didn't know. She didn't really want to find out. And she hoped to god he didn't expect her to sleep on the bed with him because god knows that wasn't happening. She was more than happy sleeping out here on the couch. Wait...

Her eyes grew large as realization swept over her.

CLOTHES?!

Crap... What was she going to do about clothes? If he woke up while she was sneaking away, trying to find something to wear, it would be pretty obvious. Plus, she'd have to wear his clothes until she could get back to Kaln and get a bag hidden in his room.

Why did everything have to be so damn difficult. Ugh, whatever.

It didn't take her long to finish off the food she'd been given and she walked over to watch James with the dishes. Looking back at her own dish, she decided to go back and bring it to him. It was the least she could offer him since he'd been kind enough to feed her and she couldn't very well say she wasn't enjoying this little time spent in heaven. Compared to the barn she'd been staying in before, this was the Ritz. She'd never admit that to Kaln though.

She padded back and secured the bowl in her mouth before walking back and lifting it up for James to grab, sitting on her haunches as she waited.

After quickly downing his meal, James had taken to doing the mess of dishes left over from it. Not a difficult task by any means, but the artist considered it rather boring, all things considered. With his mind set adrift, he soon found that it had immediately snapped to the she-wolf in his living room, mere yards from him. That was understandable, though... He had been fascinated and inspired by wolves for about as long as he could remember, and had suddenly found himself face to face with one.

He grinned broadly as he lost focus on his task... until he heard the clicking of the wolf's claws on the linoleum. His hands automatically started back on scrubbing the dishes, albeit a little slower than before, as he turned to look at the face of the creature who disturbed his thoughts. "Heya, CC... Lemme guess. Still hungry?" He nodded at the bowl in her maw. "Sorry... no dice. Still, thanks for bringing the bowl over, I guess..." He took it from her, then grinned to himself. "Guess whoever left ya to me musta had you pretty well trained."

As he turned back to the sink, he noticed that he'd been washing the last dish repeatedly up to that point and frowned. The rest were already all sitting in the drying rack. "... I really need to stop spacing like that." He grumbled, then washed CC's plastic bowl. "I'll probably grab you a tougher bowl while I'm out tomorrow, too... Ya handled this one pretty gently, but I don't wanna have to go and replace all my Tupperware if that was just a fluke."

He set the newly cleaned bowl aside, then turned to the wolf with a tired grin. "Well... I'm pooped. It was a long day at work today... I think ya got about the right idea with that TV, there." He started over towards the couch, chuckling as he heard the intro to the next re-run episode of another show come on through the speakers of his modestly sized flat screen. "Whadaya say? Care ta join me, or should I just head off for bed?" He chuckled, obviously not expecting an answer of any form from the canine.

No... No, I'm not still hungry. Well, I'd be laying if I said I weren't... But no. I'm not here for more food. I'm not a pig. She thought sourly, turning her head as he took the bowl. She was even more upset to the fact that he assumed she was 'well trained.' Maybe she should show him just how untrained she really was. Chew up his shoes or something. She'd have to rinse her mouth off after wards but the look on his face would be priceless.

She shook her head slowly when he mentioned getting a stronger bowl. To be honest, it was probably a good idea. If she was hungry enough she could tear a hole in it by accident. She was pretty tame for a dog but she still had those tendencies.

She suppressed a snicker as she thought of something else she could do to mess with him. After all, he could just assume she was potty trained, right? She let out a long sigh as she heard him say something about the TV. She looked over at the TV and watched for a second, the people moving around on it. She wouldn't get too many chances like this, honestly. Living in such a nice place... How long has it been? She was... like... 5 the last time she'd lived in an actual home rather than the woods or a barn. She did venture into cities and such but only as a human but she did that rarely as she still... acted like a child.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was pretty uneducated. Still, she knew enough to know that nice things should be treated as such and peeing inside was frowned upon. But... what the people did on the TV kind of amazed her. She liked the cartoons just as much as she liked watching the... more 'adult' shows like the one with the sharks and things like that. They used a lot of things she didn't know about like.. the devices humans used to talk to one another. She'd never used one of those before. She had no idea how they worked. She barely knew how the remote and the TV worked much less what to call it. She only knew from her times spent around humans. What little time she'd spent there, anyway.

She nodded her head at James slightly and then moved to sit on the couch, laying her head on the armrest quietly. Content with herself, she sighed and crossed her paws, watching the people on the TV talk.