He was walking on what seemed like an endless dirt road. He'd felt as if he'd been walking for days now. Jesse studied his surroundings, but it just seemed like there was nothing but oak and birch trees; they were tightly clustered together. There were two wooden fences flanking both sides of the road, battered and barely standing under their own weight. He was used to rural dirt roads, but nothing as long as this before. The burning sun in the sky was deceiving; there was a crisp chill that bit at his bare skin and made his hair stand on end.

He already attempted to try and look through the trees for any sign of civilization, but he hadn't had any luck.

Suddenly, the weather changed. He saw the sky change from a baby blue to an angry gray, and the sun morphing into gargantuan near-black clouds. The wind picked up beyond what felt possible. He had to protect his eyes from the bullet-like rain.

He continued moving despite his shirt and jeans being drenched in water. He peeked through his arms and saw a dim light in the distance. He hadn't seen it earlier, although it was something to aim for.

The closer he had gotten to the light, the more the weather mellowed out. The visibility improved enough that he was able to see what the source was.

It was a lone telephone pole leaning slightly from age. The lamp itself was battered and it was a miracle it was still on, if not flickering.

However, Jesse immediately recognized this telephone pole. He turned his gaze to the wooden mailbox right below the lamp. It had a house number nailed into it with bronze numbers: the same as his home address.

Jesse's eyes widened as he finally made the connection. He took a turn onto the driveway to his house. He started running. The driveway was much longer than he'd remember. His lungs were burning in protest at his forceful strides, but he didn't give a damn. He felt like he was breathing harder than he'd ever had in his life.

He spotted the house in the distance. Even though he kept running, it seemed as if it kept moving further from him – taunting him – trying to reach it.

Jesse slowed down. He couldn't keep running. He collapsed on his knees and sat down, trying to recover from his fatigue immediately.

He looked up and jumped back in surprise.

The house was now not thirty feet from him.

He dusted off his worn jeans, and warily walked towards the front porch of the house. He studied it, although it looked the same as when he left it nearly a month ago. It was a smaller place, about two floors with no basement. The bottom floor housed the living room, kitchen, and some miscellaneous closets plus a small workshop. Up top was the bedrooms, consisting of his own bedroom, the master bedroom where his parents were, and his sister's room. He looked around for the detached shop, but that was nowhere to be found in the endless grass fields. Nor was the barn or the large farm equipment. Just where was he?

Jesse also noted the eerie silence. Usually, the cicadas would be in full force around Georgia, but he hadn't heard anything. Not even his sister's car was parked outside, and she was back for the summer last he could recall.

He entered the house, but it was completely devoid of life. There seemed to be a heavy coat of dust on every surface, and even him stepping into it was enough to leave noticeable footprints from his boots.

What the fuck is going on?

There was an almost inaudible noise that Jesse would've missed had he not been already carefully studying a place he should be comfortable in. To him, it sounded like a garbled song. He could barely make out the lyrics, but it seemed to be something his sister would listen to. Some sort of indie-alt-rock type stuff that his parents never seemed to approve of, whatever that meant.

He carefully made his way up the steps to the second floor. Aiming to make it to his sister's room, he painfully creaked his way up the stairs, despite his efforts to not make much noise.

By the time he put his weight on the last step, he felt like he was falling. His perspective of the place seemed to stretch and morph for no discernable reason. Jesse yelped in confusion, fruitlessly attempting to grab whatever seemed to be stable.

Right before he fell into blackness, he got a faint look at his sister. She was casually sitting on her bed browsing her phone, as if nothing was amiss.

Had he even spoke to them since he went west?

He awoke. Again. This time with a killer headache, and face down on a slightly scratchy couch. It was absolutely covered in fur.

He got up and studied his surroundings. Then it hit him. The events of the previous day were very real. He only had a fever dream of home.

A slightly angry grunt later, he stood up and grouchily looked for the bathroom. Jesse desperately needed a shower – the feeling of dried sweat and grime on his body was an unpleasant one. He wasn't sure what time it was, but he was guessing he crashed for a while. Jesse always considered himself a heavy sleeper.

He wasn't very familiar with the layout of her apartment, but he set off to find the restroom. Before he could get a chance to look around, he heard her call out to him from the kitchen – he hadn't noticed her presence in his grogginess.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up. You were out for over twelve hours or so."

He looked towards her, the wolf still managing to look far better than he had guessed he looked. She was dressed in a different pair of sweatpants, although this time wearing a tank-top instead of a sweater she had been wearing the day prior. Jesse thought that was a bit ironic considering the weather – then again, she also had a heavy coat of fur to keep her warm. He didn't exactly have that luxury, and it's not like his beard was very good at keeping his face warm.

He rubbed his eyes, adjusting to the morning sunlight, "Mornin'. Figured I'd be out as long as I was. Y'all need help with uh, cleanin'?"

Juno beamed, turning off the faucet before replying to him, "Don't sweat it, dude. You probably could use some rest after what you've been through. I appreciate the offer."

Jesse chuckled, stretching his back out. He emptied his pockets on the coffee table, not feeling the need for carrying a gun and cigarettes around the apartment. Shortly after, he slumped back down on the couch and sighed heavily. It didn't go unnoticed by the wolf in the kitchen though, as she cocked her head in curiosity.

"What's up? You don't look like you got great sleep."

"Nah, not really." He picked up the firearm from the coffee table, depressing the magazine release. He then pulled the slide back to clear the chamber, catching the bullet mid-air. "Had a uh, nightmare I suppose. About home. Kinda fucked me up."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Juno asked, walking in front of the counter, and leaning against it whilst looking at the recipient to her question.

"No. Believe me, it ain't personal." He shrugged, "I'll admit to ya, I'm no good at opening up. You've been nothing but kind to me, but it's just… hard." His head hung in reflection of his feelings; he was clearly not in a great mood despite his earlier interaction.

She frowned, sitting down next to him setting her hand on his shoulder. He tensed up upon her touch but didn't say anything.

"Fair enough. Take your time."

He flashed a thumbs up, "Will do. I'm gonna head to the restroom."

The tired face of a man stared back at him in the mirror. He turned on the faucet, gathering a pool of water in his hands before splashing it on his face. Jesse proceeded to take a washcloth from the shelf and dried his face with it.

He was still conflicted on whether to continue being friends with Juno – it's not that he dislikes her. Rather, he has already noticed the effects of his existence here on here. She's becoming nearly as high profile as he is. He didn't want to drag someone else into this. Maybe he'd bring that up with her sometime.

Jesse studied his face once again. He looked at his jawline, or rather, his thick beard. He told himself he'd have to trim his beard and hair sometime, but he only really knew how to do the former. The latter was something left to his mom and sister.

He felt a bit better after a quick trim; it felt like routine to him and that's all he cared about. His blue eyes were tired but still showed something. Resolve to get home or try to integrate? He wasn't sure he knew the answer himself.

Just keep pushing.

He picked up his phone out of his pocket – not the new one. The man stared at it. He wasn't sure what to do now; it's not like he could contact anyone on the miniature computer, but he still found himself browsing through his texts with his friends and family. It was a constant pattern of texts, camera roll, and whatever social media pages happened to still be saved on his phone.

He eventually cursed to himself, slamming the phone onto the granite countertop.

"I'm going to fucking lose it one day." He spoke to himself, peeling his oil and sweat stained clothes off. He relegated himself to the shower, allowing the water to run with the squeal of the faucet. The water was frigid, although he didn't do so much as flinch when it hit his sunburnt skin. He was too busy contemplating.

Meanwhile, the gray wolf was finishing up with her cleaning and decided to plop down on the couch. She warily eyed Jesse's pistol before moving her furred hand over it to the TV remote. Flipping on the TV was a mistake, however. She scrutinized damn near every channel, but it was all about the poor guy. Juno growled in frustration; she too would soon be in the spotlight as she was currently housing him.

Even then, she was far too stubborn to give up on him like that. She was trying for the Beastar position at one point after all; it was no secret that she took pride in helping others. Juno was determined to keep him on his feet. Besides, she didn't mind the company. Sometimes she missed the tight-knit social circles of the dorms back at Cherryton Academy. Wolves are very social creatures, and as far as she could tell Jesse seemed to be fairly social. Maybe a bit more than primates, although she's never looked into it.

One thing she wanted to ask him about was his diet. She never asked him to elaborate on it before, but it would surface one way or another. Not to mention she was ever-so-slightly a little jealous of his natural immunity to blood or raw meat on his senses. Every carnivore would, really.

Gotta keep an open mind with him, though.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as she heard a barely audible song under the noise of the TV. She flipped it off, her ears rotating and trying to pinpoint where it was coming from.

Oh.

It was coming from the bathroom. Obviously, she couldn't recognize the artist, but she could hear some of the lyrics through the sound of water.

Only wanted to see you

underneath the purple rain

Juno slowly moved towards the door of the bathroom, curious of whatever he was playing. Suddenly she heard almost a wail from the male singer, a cry in the lyrics.

Honey, I know, I know, I know

times are changing

Then she heard quiet sobbing among the music. Her ears and tail drooped upon that realization. She decided to give him space, moving back to the living area and flipping the TV back on to drown out the sound of the poor guy.

Jesse dried himself off slowly, still recovering from his bout of emotions in the shower. In his haste to freshen up, he of course had forgotten to bring a change of clothes with him. He wrapped the towel around his waist and moved through the living room.

I hope this ain't gonna get weird.

Juno hadn't noticed he was done with his shower, so seeing the man strut into the living room half naked made her eyes wide like dinner plates. It's not like she hasn't seen a naked animal (wolves, to be precise) before – but one without fur was a sight to behold. She comically choked on her water and tried to avert her gaze from his torso.

Jesse didn't even seem phased by her reaction, obliviously moving to his suitcase and getting a fresh change of clothes.

"Sorry 'bout that. I grew up with an older sister and shared the bathroom – we sorta got used to it."

She giggled, turning around to face him from on the couch, "No, it's okay. Just took me off guard. You look good, by the way."

"Much obliged." He gave her a genuine smile, "23 years of living on a farm does that to ya. My sister was stronger than some guys I knew. I was a bit of a couch potato as of recent though; I couldn't really work out in the confines of a truck while driving ten hours a day." He gestured around himself.

"You're the kind of guy so humble he won't even take a compliment in full, huh?"

He shrugged, whilst moving towards the bedroom to change. He replied from out of sight, "I guess so. I'm no stranger to compliments, even from wolf people I guess."

Juno rolled her eyes, although it's not like the guy could even see her anyway.

"Also, you're 23?"

His head popped out from the doorframe, "Yeah. February of '99. It's still 2022, right?"

She shook her head in confirmation, "You've got two years on me. I'm 21." She sipped from her cup of water while waiting for him to finish up in the room.

He emerged wearing baggy corduroy pants with a bomber jacket over a (untucked) colorful striped button down.

"I figured you were in your twenties." He brushed his wet hair back like a greaser. "Mighty hard to tell age, though, with all that fur of yours."

"Huh." She let that simmer for a moment, "Never thought of that before."

Jesse checked the clock, noticing it was still early in the morning.

"I could use a bite to eat. You got anything for cookin'?"

She looked to the ceiling in thought, "Um, I should have some ingredients here and there. I don't cook that much."

He was already looking through the pantry and cabinets, before coming to a solution: pancakes

"Hm. Yeah, I think I got an idea." He replied, acquiring the bowls and whisk before confidently beginning his work.

Maybe I'll stay a little longer. Talking to her helps get my mind off things I suppose.