Xaviers!

Tereza walks in circles in the woods talking to herself. That would be only slightly crazy if there weren't subtle shifts in her body posture and voice.

"Look, we're never going to be any safer than we are here. You need to let it go."

"The interloper has designs. You know she does. Things are not safe."

"The 'interloper' has a name. We may be pissed at her, but you are *not* allowed to maul her."

"It would only be a small mauling. No teeth, I swear."

"Focus. We need to talk about us. Ignore Vivienne for right now. Why are you still on edge?"

There was a brief sullen silence before, "We almost failed. We were caged and made to sleep. Had it not been for the moon, even I couldn't have saved us."

"So you're ashamed that we got caught?"

"Yes. We allowed..."

"We didn't allow shit. We had no way of knowing they were waiting in ambush. It was a possibility, yes, but that was the risk we took by going alone."

"Alone is bad. We need a pack."

"I don't disagree, but I'm not biting more people and I'm not letting Isolde bite more people."

"Thinking too narrowly."

"What then?"

"Said we need a pack, not that we needed wolves."

Tereza stops at that, frowning and shoving her hands into her pockets in a totally unnecessary gesture.

((Open))

Stephanie strolled through the woods, letting her enhanced senses take in everything. She wasn't used to the near-sensory overload, so she got rather close to Tereza before noticing that she wasn't alone in the woods.

Who the hell was she talking to? Did she have a Bluetooth headset in the opposite ear. Wait. No. She's...both sides of that conversation.

The breeze shifted and Stephanie caught the other girl's scent. Predator. Her hackles raised and a low growl escaped from her lips before she stopped herself, clapping her hands over her muzzle.

"Oh my gosh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. And. Uh. Growl at you...."

Tereza's body tenses as she hears the growl, but she calms back down once Stephanie starts speaking and she tries to blow it off. "No. It's all good." Her golden yellow eyes give Stephanie the once-over, "You must be new. I don't think I've seen you around. I certainly would have remembered if I had."

"I....I am," she stammers a bit. "I'm Stephanie."

"...you...um. You're like me? You...smell like me."

"Yes... and no," she says cautiously. "It's still kind of up in the air. I didn't always turn into a wolf-creature," she says, gesturing to some of the snow, "I normally do this." A little, slightly-amorphous man made out of compacted snow trundles of out one of the piles, standing at attention.

Stephanie watched, fascinated. "Thats...incredible."

"But...is it normal for mutants to have such...different powers?"

"Not really... no. I was... eh, it's a long-ish story and you'll think I'm crazy if I tell it," she says, leaning against a tree.

"Ive been hearing another voice in my head and just learned last month when I almost disemboweled my ex that I'm basically a werewolf, so...who am I to judge?"

"Well, I was bitten by a woman who turns into a wolf and now I do too," she says, waiting for the inevitable incredulous response.

"So you're...an actual werewolf?" she asked, though she didn't sound especially incredulous.

"Not if you ask the Headmistress. She still thinks it's some sort of mutant power expression, but having gone through two full moons now, I don't think I agree."

"I...almost prefer the former story since it being a mutant power doesn't help my fear that I could make more people like me if I hurt them."

"...I don't know what my brain believes more. A magic curse or a mutant power."

"As I understand it, wolf shifters aren't exactly uncommon. You went through X-Corp, right? They would have told you if you weren't a mutant."

"Yeah...they did. And I guess my I haven't heard any news stories about my ex running through the hospital howling at the moon."

There was a somewhat awkward pause.

"...I didn't catch your name."

"Welcome to the 'trouble with exes' club," Tereza says with a chuckle, "My name's Tereza."

"He was a jerk. A growing part of me thinks he deserved it."

"Some do, some sort of do, and some don't. It just sort of depends on the situation. And that's the way I thought before the wolf thing."

"Wolf thing is pretty recent for you too then?"

"Little over a month? Was bitten not long before my first full moon and just made it through my second one."

"About the same here," she said, seemingly a bit excited to have found someone similarly new to this.

"Guess my other half has a sense of humor, introducing herself on a full moon."

"What I've found so far is that my other half's basically me, but she prioritizes things differently than I do. She's... simpler in what she wants and needs in some respects."

"That makes sense," she nodded. "I...feel like she's the more...well I guess wild side of me that I usually keep under wraps. I've always done things that surprise me and especially other people...and even though I never turned into this before...maybe she still came out to play."

She shrugged. "I don't know. A week of solitary confinement in a jail gives you a lot of time to be introspective."

"It's certainly possible. Mine gets rowdier if I ignore what she wants, but we're still figuring out to coexist."

"I'd just like to be able to not look like a gender-swapped Beauty and the Beast cast member."

"Mine's being a bit petulant at the moment," she gestures to her eyes and flicks her nails. "We're trying to come to some sort of understanding."

"So you can ...sort of a least...change when you want to? Not just with the moon?"

"Yeah. Pain makes it harder to *keep* from changing and none of my ice stuff works when I'm shifted so far as I can tell, but I can mostly shift when I want. It feels like it's a matter of handing the reigns over to her a bit more."

"Anger and pain seemed to do it both times its happened. And after the second time I haven't been able to go back."

"For what it's worth, someone suggested to me that if she doesn't feel like she's safe, she's more likely to weaponize me to keep us safe. Not sure if that applies to you, but it's something to think about."

"It's hard to feel safe," she nodded thoughtfully.

"I mean...just in general I feel so out of my element here. I'm still trying to come to grips with looking like this," she gestured down at her body, "these new smells and sounds are constantly on the verge of overwhelming me, I still can't bring myself to go talk to the guy whose heart I broke, but still probably made sure I got here safe, and that was before that lighthouse exploded and giant green monsters attacked the school...and then it didn't?"

"That's probably the best first things to make peace with. The unusual is normal around here. My girlfriend can change what she looks like and she can read minds. One of the other students can control the weather. Everyone here is special in their own way and it's pretty awesome."

Steph was quiet a moment, "I can't believe how...short-sighted I was?"

"I was so...quick to just write everyone different than me off and every single person here has been so welcoming and accommodating, and you can all do so many amazing things."

"I'm guessing you can do amazing things as well," Tereza says, "Welcome to the family."

Steph looked down at the ground a bit bashfully, "thanks. That...means more than I thought it would."

"We kind of have to look out for each other, even if you don't like someone particularly, you still look out for them."

"It...felt sort of good jumping in and trying to help with the attack on the school. I've never really felt so....capable. So I guess I'm part of it all now no matter what."

"Sometimes, regardless of the power, having some goal to focus on can help you deal with the other problematic stuff."

Steph nodded, then was silent for a moment. "I...um...listen, this sounds kinda weird but...can we maybe... hang out more?"

She looked to the ground a bit bashfully, "I mean. I just met you and everything but....I don't know. She...wants someone to be close to....like...a pack, I guess."

"I mean. I would like to too," she added quickly. "Other than Trev who I still haven't worked up the courage to talk to, and like...two other people I've met I haven't gotten to know that many people....and certainly no one else who maybe knows what it's like to use an entire bottle of conditioner for one shower."

"I'm sure we can. Fair warning though, I already have a girlfriend," she says, obviously teasing.

Steph seemed especially embarrassed, "Oh...oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...you...you're kidding right?"