— ★ happycamper didn't have constant and reoccurring dreams at night. whenever his body hit his bed and he allowed himself to dose off, the feline had a wide assortment of dreams waiting for him in his sub-conscious - if they were there in the first place. most followed a theme of being tame and simple, such as him walking through densely packed trees with lovely canopies that allowed sunlight to touch his fur and illuminate other things as well. many were, ironically enough, of him being involved in camping activities. they'd all span between different dreams in different nights. one could have him dip his paw into a cool freshwater river and fill a sticker-covered canteen with the clear liquid. another was filled with the relaxing crackling of a warm fire. making smokes, strumming his ukulele, fishing with his paw, telling ghost stories to ghostly figures, and watching the night sky through an opening in a tent. overall, happycamper stayed happy even in his dreams.

though there were those few bad seeds within the sweet apple. rarely would happycamper be hit by corrupted dreams, but whenever they did take the place of the sweeter ones, they were horrifying. copper taste and smell would hit him in any nightmare he'd have, even if blood was nowhere to be found. he'd be shoved into a tight space, filled to the brim with anxiety and fear, squeaky voice of a child escaping his adult body as he cried out for someone to get him out. sometimes a nightmare would be disguised as a nice dream, only to have a shadowy figure, so out of place in the calm surroundings, would come and kill him in his sleep with an eerily familiar knife. but the most terrifying of them all were the happy faces of his parents, smiling down at him. those made him wake up in feelings of cold sweet, anxiety, and sometimes breaking out in dry sobbing. though he faced those more ever since he joined tanglewood, the ginger feline always managed to put his cheerful smile on and ignore what he'd felt at night, praying that nobody would ever see him in such a vulnerable state.

happycamper had been drinking some home-brewed coffee well into the crisp-air night, reading a old book he often enjoyed reading during this type of weather. halfway through sipping the liquid inside, a scream pierced the air. the sudden noise made happycamper jump in his seat and narrowly put his cup back on the ground next to him as it burned his tongue. although his tongue was hurting, he was already racing to the corner of the room he was in, messily shoving the bags of herbs and bandages he planned to organize later into his satchel. worry quickly kicked out any pleasant thoughts as he pulled the bag over his shoulders and bolted out of his house. did someone get hurt? did they accidentally step on something sharp? did they fall down and break a limb? did someone hurt them? were they still getting hurt? messy scenarios filled his mind as he listened to the continuous screams that guided him. yet, as he got closer, the more familiar the voice was, and the more dread he began to feel. "oh no, no, no." he anxiously whispered to himself, all the way until he got to a somewhat familiar building.

it wasn't too hard to get into the building, and it wasn't anymore harder to pick up the sobs that were getting more and more louder. eventually he'd entered an unfamiliar space, but laid eyes on a very familiar heaving body. the feline dropped his bag to the ground and made his way over to bella, a sad and concerned look on his face. "bella?" he murmured first, voice extremely soft and cautious. happycamper sat down besides her, inching his head closer as to show that he was there. covered objects caught his attention, and green eyes moved lower to see two possible toys that she was holding. he couldn't see them much due to his angle and bella covering them, but happy could see one of them who had something yellow around their neck. briefly he was too aware of his own bandana, but his mind quickly was pulled back by the concern over his friend's fragile state. "hey, hey, it's okay, bella. i'm here... i'm here." the more he watched her, the more his heart ached. he never liked seeing anyone crying or distraught, or both, but seeing bella like this made it hurt more than it ever had before. "you're safe here."

Pleasant dreams if he had any were such a rare treat for the adolescent who laid curled up in his bed with heavy lids threatening to pull him into a deep slumber as he blinked over a a small, framed picture on his side table that was of his mother and his grandfather who he knew very little about for the most part besides him being Russian and a bit overboard when it came to his temper and protectiveness. He wondered if he and his mother helped him by having blank nights of nothing but sleep or even burdens because of his lack of anything that made him happy was partially due to his dreams. Or not. The wolf let out a sigh and curled into a tight ball under thick, warm blankets that hid the soft glow of the amethyst crystals on his body so he could actually sleep for once, though it didn't always help when his mind was always racing and ready to send him into a fight or flight mood. Especially now what with the loud noise that sent his body tumbling out of bed, his eyes wide and chest heaving as Buggy whipped around his room with a panicked expression clearly splayed across his face as he finally had the gall to poke his head outside of his own room to see that idiot ginger boy passing by quickly without having seen his own figure stiff with fear. Shit, did this guy finally snap and hurt someone? The wolf thought with much surprise as to how fast he was to start hurting his clan, which caused Bugs to carefully pursue his cheerful clan mate with his paws carefully padding onwards with wavering determination with each placement of his paws that drew him closer, confusion ebbing into his young mind as the short time that led him to where he was no felt like hours. To the last place he expected to go on that night and to a rather strange sight of Happy quickly moved to the delicate form on their bed cradling who knows what in their hands

" Miss Bella? "

For the first time, his voice was soft and seem almost like a normal child as he carefully crept forward with the amethyst on his back glowing softly onto the three from where they stood. Each of their chests rose at different rates with Buggy's own staying still as he held his breath for a moment, waiting for his own mouth to blurt out something cynical and yet....it never came. His smaller form crept closer and it was almost strange to feel the sudden urge of wanting to comfort and protect this woman he had tried to belittle on so many occasions, though it was now on this dark night that he was now moving quite closer to Happy as he held onto Bella's form with his own now on her opposite side as he sat carefully  beside her without even asking if this was what she wanted. " You can calm down, y'know. You're safe here." Buggy's hardened slightly and yet still kept that sympathetic ring that he hated to hear in so many others, ignore his own hypocritical self in order to pull a blanket onto her that laid besides them. " We all have bad dreams, but this one won't get you today. You've just gotta take deep breaths. " The wolf had no idea what to do at this point with Happy taking care of the emotional stuff and yet here he was, the asshole who was trying to be nice to the weeping woman beside him. All he could do was hope he was doing something at this point.

"SPEECH"