Xaviers!

Basil cleared his throat and spoke again.

"Morrigan-" He addressed her, hoping to appeal to her better senses this way "- May I make an observation?"

"...I suspect you'll make several."

"Your allies are dwindling. Even now, two of the people in this room that were your own are infected and I'm only here because you made me a promise that I intend to see you keep in exchange for whatever it is you're wanting out of me.

To say that any of us are comfortable with our various situations would be a lie, but if your end goal is as you say it is, I don't think you are in a position to be particular about who you ally with, even if they give you the heebie jeebies.

If they are willing to help, you should probably take that assistance."

Basil's tone didn't seem accusatory, and maybe even a bit sympathetic to her situation.

"...look, he's right. We all know each other, at least somewhat. We've lost enough people. Even if some of us are...different we probably can't let that stop us from working together."

Haley cracked her neck, "Morrigan, Tereza...you think you can do something to help me not go all mindless hellbeast in a few nights? Guess same question for you, Viv, since you're down with all the magic shit too."

"Yes and no," Tereza says, "Some things are unavoidable. The moon's call can't be ignored, but we can help keep the packs from finding you."

"I already asked if she's squeamish about tattoos."

Haley's yellow eyes narrowed with concern at the response, "I'm not...how in control will I be?"

"Your first moon? Not much, if at all. We'll get you some place less... dangerous to other people before the full moon hits. I'll keep you from hurting anyone."

"...god damnit. If I had just been more focused...could have avoided all of this," she swore, looking down at the tattered remains of her jacket's right arm.

"I can ward a location outside of the Morrigan's territory if needed. There are some very old tunnels closer to the river."

"Tunnels are probably a good choice...keeps us secluded, easy to seal off like you said to keep those assholes from finding me."

Tereza seems lost deep in thought for a moment. I have an idea, love. But I don't know if it will work since she's already infected and you're probably not going to like watching it.

"...try me," she sends, arching a brow at Tereza.

For Haley's predicament he had nothing clever or convincing to say, and so he instead grabbed his bag and moved to sit alone quietly with his jar and listen in on the chatter, as was his prerogative. He unzipped the flap but did not take it out for the moment, his behavior wasn't particularly distracting from the task at hand.

"There is one thing we could try," Tereza says, trying to sound more confident in the plan than she necessarily feels. "Odds are, the asshole who bit you is probably a few steps away from the original. I can try to override their claim to you, since the original is the one that bit me. Since I belong to the Morrigan, if it works, that would make you the Morrigan's by rights and it might make it harder for them to find you. But it means I'd have to bite you and I'm not even sure it would work."

"I'm rude and eavesdropping...but it's worth a shot." Haley said, rubbing her arms nervously.

"Okay then. Give me a moment to change and then we'll give it a try," Tereza says, stepping behind the curtain into Sam's bedroom.

"Oh..right now. Okay then," she sighed a bit nervously, stripping off her jacket.

"The sooner the better, aye?"

"Once you actually change, it may be too late," Tereza says through the curtain. Shortly thereafter, there's the crackly, crunchy sound of her shapeshifting, though it's nowhere near as long or painful sounding as it used to be.

"Y-yeah..." she muttered self-consciously in her tank top, wrapping her arms around herself. Either a lot of fighting and training or the full moon had certainly given Haley a lot more muscle mass than Sam or Basil remembered.

"Don't worry." Basil comments. "If it gets out of hand I can always put the both of you out of your misery."

Helpful.

"Oh god that still sounds awful..." she said, panic in her voice as she heard the change.

Tereza steps back out, stretching a bit as she moves. She's covered in shaggy silver-grey fur except for the snow white fur that starts on the underside of her muzzle before running down across her chest and stomach. The white fur is a strange mixture of shaggy and fuzzy. She glares at Basil before moving over to Haley, "You ready?"

Haley's heart was threatening to recreate a certain scene from Alien and her eyes were wide with near-panic as the enormous werewolf loomed over her.

"I...guess so?" she stammered.

"This is going to hurt," she says, but she doesn't give Haley time to dwell on that as she grabs her arms and clamps her jaws down on Haley's shoulder.

Haley let out a blood-curdling scream and went weak in her knees for a moment, held up only by Tereza's grip on her arms. Blood gushed from the wound and stained her tank top as all of her muscles tensed and she whimpered, her eyes squinted in pain. Several bones crackled and there was a tearing sound as her muscles ripped through her jeans as she added girth and a good six inches of height.

"Breath Haley. Focus on us, we are your pack, she is your Alpha. Tereza, Morrigan, Basil, me. We hunt together, we are victorious together."

Basil wasn't sure how comfortable he felt with his name being brought into this, but he kept silent and clutched his bag a bit tighter to him.

"It ah... gets easier," she offers by way of explanation to the others.

Haley was panting in pain, but holding herself upright with Tereza's jaw clamped onto her shoulder. "Why...are my clothes...so tight," she gasped, the transformation that she didn't seem to be aware of seemingly stopped for the moment.

"You could take them off." Basil offered. " but I'm pretty sure that would upset Sam more than my own nudity." He joked.

Tereza gives Haley's shoulder one last savage before she pulls away, licking her teeth and letting Haley's arms go. The curse inside Haley twists as Tereza's will wars for claim to Haley. It isn't a pleasant sensation and the more mystically inclined in the room can sense the struggle if not the exact substance. Tereza's own claws leave several furrows in the floor before Haley's wounds finally start to close and Tereza growls out one word as much in challenge as affirmation, "Mine."

Haley dropped to the floor, spasming as the curses battled each other out inside her, tears streaming down her cheeks, her claws gouging Sam's floor even more, and her fangs becoming more pronounced.

She gasped as she looked over her massively muscled legs and arms bursting from her clothes, and gazed up at Tereza, "...does...the rest of the change...hurt as much...as that did?"

"Maybe more," Tereza says, breathing hard, "if you fight it."

"Okay," Haley panted, "don't fight it...got it,"

"...do I try to force myself the rest of the way now, or...just let the moon do its thing in another day or two," she grunted.

"Wait for the moon. Better that way."

Haley nodded, still catching her breath, but marveling at how quickly she was feeling better from the bite.

"...don't suppose any of you have a change of clothes that will fit both...big...me and normal me, do you?"