And It Was Late In The Evening...

[Tereza Rozanov]

"See, here's the thing. Your cause is bullshit. It's some lame excuse for you to do whatever the hell you feel like doing in the name of 'helping the mutant race'. You're bitter that I realized that. It's uncomfortable, isn't it?"

[Narrator]

"You're bitter that you finally figured out that nobody in the Brotherhood is more important than the cause."

"Or maybe you just think you should still be special to me."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"It is an absolute wonder that your eyes aren't brown." The claws flexed, "You're a self-important, entitled piece of shit filled out in triplicate. But let me be clear, I'm not here to pay you back for rescuing me. You tried to sell me back to the Russians because I didn't want to be a part of your little world. And for that," she said. She moved with lightning quickness to grab the ankle of the unoccupied one and throw her at the others, "It's payback time."

[Narrator]

The claws cut into the leg of the one Tereza snatches up, the metallic tang of blood in the air. Trinity yelps in pain as she's tossed towards the other two, a red slick welling up in the spring.

"You... you always were just a brute. Nothing but an animal..."

[Tereza Rozanov]

Tereza leaped into the spring, intent on beating the ever-living hell out of Trinity. Her blood was running hot and she was through letting others settle her debts. And she owed Trinity a lot. "I'll make a note to work on my refinement."

[Narrator]

The fight, if it even can be called that, is a blur for Tereza. Bright flashes of sensation, pained noises. Stranger ones from Tereza herself. Cold water, hot blood shed, her heart hammering in her head.

When it's all done, Tereza is standing over the three, Trinity bloodied, beaten, and sprawled over the rocks. Tereza is panting from the effort, but she hasn't felt this good in a long time. The ice she built up on her forearms is flaking away, falling into the water below. Beneath it, she can see actual dark talons pushing forth from her fingertips, As her skin is exposed by the cracking ice, it bursts into sprouting thick black hair, marching up her forearms and stopping at the elbows.

[Tereza Rozanov]

She looks down at her hands, flipping them over and looking at them as though they belong to someone else.

[Narrator]

They move as she does, clawed fingers flexing, and she can feel the wintry wind blowing through the newly-sprouted dark pelt. There's strength in them, though they also seem... vaguely familiar. It's escaping her at the moment.

[Tereza Rozanov]

She shakes them, as if trying to make them go away or shake off the fur.

[Narrator]

Nothing happens. They're part of her, the same as anything.

Beneath her, Trinity groans softly.

She did this.

[Tereza Rozanov]

Tereza looks down at the groaning Trinity. She was many things, but a killer was not one of them. She'd had her revenge on Trinity, so she started away at a run, looking for anything else to occupy her.

[Narrator]

It's not hard to run. If anything, it feels like it's getting easier. She's getting better at it. Two scents are nearby as she runs, one trail smelling like Sam, the other like Vivienne. One she knew from simple familiarity with her roommate, the other from... a different kind of closeness.

[Tereza Rozanov]

She turned towards Sam. The wounds with Vivienne were too raw and she didn't want to deal with that with fuzzy hands.

[Narrator]

It's a quick run over to where Sam's scent leads, which has her sitting crosslegged on a large rock. A therapist might have a field day as to why Tereza imagined all of them in the buff, but Sam at least seems to have preserved some modesty by the draping of her improbably long red hair. She has a raven on each shoulder, and seems to be communing with them with her eyes closed.

"...so you made it after all," she says, not opening her eyes.

[Tereza Rozanov]

"After a fashion," she said, yawning. "Aren't you cold?"

[Narrator]

"Why? Are you?" She asks, reaching a hand up to pet one of the ravens.

[Tereza Rozanov]

"No, but I'm me. I don't get cold. I *am* cold."

[Narrator]

"Maybe you're rubbing off on me. Do you want to sit with me?"

[Tereza Rozanov]

She thought for a moment, "Yeah, that would be cool. Pun not intended." She moved slowly towards Sam, "I miss you, you know."

[Narrator]

"I'm right here," she says, patting on the rock next to her. "All you had to do was find me."

[Tereza Rozanov]

Tereza moved over and sat down, resting her arms on her knees. She regarded her arms with some apprehension. "You've been a little hard to find lately."

[Narrator]

"Maybe you weren't looking the right way. How did you find me this time?"

[Tereza Rozanov]

"I... honestly don't know. I just did."

[Narrator]

"That doesn't sound like the whole answer," she says, finally opening her eyes and leaning towards Tereza. Her scent is thick here. Stronger than Tereza remembers it, but now that she's aware of it she realizes it was all over their shared dorm. Especially on Sam's bed.

[Tereza Rozanov]

"It sounds weird, but I can smell you," she said, sounding uncertain again, the exhilaration of dealing with Trinity starting to fade.

[Narrator]

"What's weird about that? Everyone has a scent. I've smelled you before. While shifted."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"I suppose, but I'm not like you."

[Narrator]

"Aren't you?"

She reaches out to touch one of Tereza's hands.

[Tereza Rozanov]

"No, I'm not," she said, looking down at Sam's hand. "I don't know what did this."

[Narrator]

"You did this," she says, as if that explains everything. She runs her hand along the black fur, slowly.

"Does that bother you?"

[Tereza Rozanov]

"It should... but it doesn't. You're saying this is my fault?"

[Narrator]

"Fault implies judgment."

She hasn't stopped petting Tereza's arm.

"Am I judging you for this? Should I be?"

[Tereza Rozanov]

"Well, I don't know the how or why. But it does feel good."

[Narrator]

"You wanted it," she says, lingering to entwine her fingers with Tereza's.

The dark hair starts sprouting again, worming its way up the ice-wielder's arms.

"You still do."

[Tereza Rozanov]

Tereza begins scratching at the hair, trying to make it stop. "No... I mean, I don't know."

[Narrator]

The sprouting finally stops, but only after her shoulders have become crowned with thick black fur.

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

[Tereza Rozanov]

"It's just... it feels right, but it doesn't feel right. I'm not a shifter, so why has this started happening to me?"

[Narrator]

"You look strong like this," she says with a squeeze of Tereza's monstrous hand.

"Stronger than I've ever seen you. Maybe..." she murmurs, leaning in closer to Tereza, "...I like that."

[Tereza Rozanov]

Tereza suddenly got super awkward. "You... you do?"

[Narrator]

"Before I always had to push to get through to you. This time you came to me. If this is what brought you, well..."

She runs a hand along Tereza's shoulder, kneading, feeling the new musculature under the pelt.

"...it suits you."