Xaviers!

Since the Danger Room is closed, Tereza is taking out some of her extra energy on one of the heavy bags in the gym. Her mind is dwelling on what happened at Sam's. How at peace she'd been, the conflicting feelings the 'fallout' had generated. She lands a savage punch on the bag, swinging it back a bit. She's actually more frustrated with herself than anything. She should be happy, reveling in the peace that the visit had brought, but she just couldn't rest.

((Open))

A college student that Tereza hadn't seen before walked into the gym from the locker room, her chestnut-brown hair in the process of being pulled back into a ponytail. Her nose wrinkled slightly as she sniffed the air, and her eyes moved to the girl at the heavy bag. A warm smile crossed her face and she waved as the girl landed a particularly nasty hit onto the bag.

"Hi Tereza," she announced herself as she walked over, her own scent oddly familiar to the werewolf, even if the face wasn't.

Tereza raises an eyebrow at the newcomer before it clicks, "Stephanie?"

“Yeah,” she smiled. “Hard to recognize me without all the fur.”

She smiles. "You figured out how to change back! Good for you!"

“Well...” she said her smile faltering a bit. “I mean....I changed back. I wouldn’t say I had a lot of say in the matter.”

“But apparently being around your crush alone in his room can encourage the less growly side to come out.”

"Oh," Tereza says, "That had to have been exciting and embarrassing."

“....more exciting if I didn’t find out *after* I was unintentionally naked that Tosh is already dating someone.”

Tereza inhales sharply. "Oo, ouch. I'm sorry. That sucks a lot."

“I just can’t believe I was so clueless to not notice it,” she sighed. “Of course he was equally clueless that I had an enormous crush on him so...”

"Tosh is a sweetheart, but he's... a little focused in some respects." She taps the bag a few more times. "I had a similar incident while I was at my girlfriend's house in Ireland. Went four-legged in my sleep. Weirded her family out."

“You can go full wolf?” she asked, starting to stretch in a bit in place as she eyed up some of the nearby equipment.

"Yeah, apparently. I'd had some inklings of it before, but never actually done it."

“Wonder if I can,” she pondered aloud as she grabbed a jump rope and started warming up.

“....did you have a good Christmas?”

"Other than that incident, it was really nice. Her family is really sweet. It was nice to see that."

At the mention of family, her expression seemed to darken a bit, and she hesitated for a moment before replying, “That’s good...nice to see that they were accepting.”

"Yeah, my family... well... that's complicated. My sister tried to have me kidnapped and taken back to Russia, so a family, even one that gets weirded out is preferable." Apparently thinking about her sister gets the punching back a couple of more hard punches and a swift side kick.

“I’m just genetrash and not actually part of the family anymore if you ask my parents so...I guess I don’t have family anymore?” Steph increased the speed of her jumping rope.

"Welcome to the club. We have meetings with punch and cookies every third Tuesday of the month. Next time I see my sister, I'm putting her through a wall... again."

“I hope you aren’t lying about the cookies,” she smirked, coming to a halt and hanging up the jump rope, looking around to find her next piece of equipment.

"As long as you don't mind store-bought. I'm not much of a baker."

“I’ll take what I can get,” she smiled, “but maybe I should make cookies for us instead of a dumb boy.”

"Just gotta find the right person, even though that sounds trite and probably isn't what you want to hear."

“I should probably focus on learning about myself before I worry about anyone else anyway...especially since there’s apparently an entire other me.”

“Would probably help me if I could figure out how to shift.”

"You could always talk to one of the school counselors. Sometimes they can help with stuff like that."

“How did you learn to control it?”

"I'm not so sure that I have learned to control it, but I had a lot of practice and training with my natural ability," she says, pausing to wreath her hands in ice for emphasis, "So I think some of that discipline helped."

“Guess I just need some time...a lot of people here have had their powers for years and I’ve only known for a couple months.”

“I’ve had mine since I was 11 and my ‘family’ dumped me off on a Russian ‘school’. A ‘do because there is no do not’ sort of place. Not a training regimen I’d recommend.”

“Yeah...I have a feeling my furry side would take issue with being bossed around too much. My human side does too....or maybe it’s always been both of us.... this talking to yourself thing is weird, but maybe it’s the easiest way to deal with turning into a werewolf. “

“She’s probably not that much different than you. Prioritizes things differently because she thinks of things differently. Food... f... um... companionship... survival. Her methods are probably more straightforward as well. At least that’s how it works with me. Your mileage may vary.”

“I may have hangups about swearing, but you don’t have to feel bad about doing it, in front of me” she let out a smile smile. “Not like my other half wants to reign anything in anyway.”

"She and I still have disagreements about how to go about things. She likes to think of most people as... sheep, oddly enough."

“Like a flock that needs to be herded, or like a tasty snack?” she teased.

"Thankfully the former," she says with a shudder. "Mostly though, it's a division between 'pack' and 'not pack'."

"I can sort of see that...not sure I have much of a ... "pack" at the moment, but...I'm still surprised at how kind everyone here has been to me even though I...well I wouldn't have been as kind just a few months ago."

"Well, you're maintaining a good attitude, which helps other people adjust. And you realize you were a piece of shit before. That also helps." Tereza grins at her.

"I won't disagree with you on the latter," she nodded, "though I'm not sure I have much of a good attitude at the moment, considering I can barely bring myself to to speak to my former best friend that is probably largely responsible for pointing me out to X-Corp and getting me over here even though I said some horrific things to him."

"...decidedly un-Christian things, now that I've had a lot of time to myself to pray and reflect."

"Sometimes you gotta get over that fear, but it's easy to say, hard to do," she says, slamming her fists against he bag a few more times. "But I'd say, if he did point X-Corp in your direction, it's likely he doesn't hold a grudge."

Steph found a weight machine that seemed to suit her and started adjusting the weights, “My brain understands that...my gut or my heart of whatever on the other hand...”