Claire listened to the old badger's advice, and while her anger seemed to cool a little, she still felt hurt and didn't want to talk to Ryan immediately. Knowing that she had other things she wanted to do, she made her way back to the apartment, grabbed a piece of paper, and wrote a note. The note read: "Dear Ryan, I heard you were "busy" with someone and having a "howling" good time. I'm going back to get the rest of my stuff from the woods. I'll be back later tonight. Regards, Claire." She took the note and went to Ryan's apartment. She noted that the noise was gone and figured that they were done. She taped the note to the door, went back to her apartment, grabbed her backpack, and made her way outside towards the lake.
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Ryan and Barbara were in his bed when her nose picked up something. "Something smells like..." she did a few quick sniffs into the air, "like a normal person."
"Oh, that must be Claire," Ryan responded as he sniffed the air as well. "She's the normal we caught the other night." The two heard footsteps walking up to the apartment door, and then walking away. "That's weird," Ryan said thoughtfully. He got up from the bed and opened the door. It was there that he saw the note taped on the door. He read the note and said rather grimly, "I think she heard us. She's heading to the lake."
"Do you think it's trouble?" Barbara asked.
"Possibly," Ryan responded as he changed back to his human form. "I don't think she fully understands weres and were society. She might have the wrong impression."
Barbara thought for a moment and briefly and gently held Ryan's arm. "Let me go after her," Barbara said. "If she sees you, she might get angry. Let me have some girl to girl talk with her."
Ryan hesitated and said, "All right. Just be careful with her. Try to not make her do something stupid."
Barbara started to change back to her human form as well as she smiled and said, "Trust me". She grabbed her clothes, got dressed, and made her way out the door. It wasn't hard for her to get Claire's scent as it went outside and towards the lake.
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Claire was halfway down to the lake when she heard a female voice behind her. "Claire? Claire Robertson?" Claire turned around and saw a woman, in her mid twenties, with long brown curly hair. Claire could also see that she had a rather attractive figure, with rather midsized breasts and wide hips, and she had rather pretty brown eyes.
The woman stopped by Claire and took a moment to catch her breath. Claire looked at the woman and asked, "Do I know you?"
After the woman caught her breath, she stood up and said, "The name's Barbara. Barbara Masters. I'm a friend of Ryan's. He called me and asked me to go with you."
"A friend?" Claire's eyes narrowed as she asked this.
"Just a friend." Barbara said, although she omitted the "with benefits" part. "He was worried about you."
"Was he?" Claire asked rather cooly as she continued to walk. She was still hurting from hearing the two, and this hurt was still fueling her anger at Ryan. "I could hear how busy he was."
Barbara winced slightly at this. She knew that Claire heard the two, but figured that Claire didn't know it was Barbara that Ryan was with and figured it was better that Claire didn't know for now. "Anyway, let's get down to your camping site, and get our stuff. Ok?"
"Fine," Claire said as she continued to walk rather briskly towards the lake. Barbara followed behind her and she could tell that Claire was still a bit angry. A part of her wanted to smile at this a little, but she kept her face neutral as possible.