Xaviers!

Tere-za gets to her feet, breathing hard. "If you're going to fight, you might as well enjoy it. And besides, they yelled at me the last time I got into a fight with Thresher."

Sam grits her teeth, showing no sign of shifting back.

"You could've just asked!"

"But then you wouldn't have taken it *seriously*." She grins, moving to find some cloth to wrap around her arm for the claw marks.

"I swear, you're the only one who bloody wants to see me like this," she says, slowly steadying her breathing.

"You look really alive when you're like that. Like you are having the time of your life," she says, moving to recline in the throne again.

"It's just... blowing off steam," she sighs before shaking her pelt out.

"Call it what you want. It's fun." She ties off the cloth with her teeth.

"I wasn't always like this, you know."

"You were one of the cursed beasts, yes? Our shaman talked about such creatures, though they could never agree on what caused them."

"I got bitten. I still have the scar, even though nothing else seems to stick."

"I'll show you my scars if you show me yours," she says, seeming excited.

She blinks for a moment, then shakes her head, leaning back against the cavern wall. Reaching down, she undoes a zipper on the cuff of her riding pants, allowing her to roll up one leg.

"Probably need to shift down to really be able to see it," she says, brushing aside fur to show a horseshoe-shape on either side of her leg where it doesn't grow, with four particularly livid spots in it.

If Tere-za is much for comparison, it looks about the size of Sam's jaws, right now.

"Impressive," she says, getting close and peering at it. "I would guess it hurt."

"Hurt, bled like a stuck pig. Meant they could smell me when I ran and hid."

"Yes, predators are difficult like that. Though plant-eaters aren't much better sometimes," she says, standing and turning, lifting the back of her tunic, shoring a scar from what must have been a nasty gash. "Fully-grown tri-horn did that to me."

"...autographed your arse a bit. What'd you do to get that mad?"

"Stuck it with a spear. They're good eating, if you don't mind that they're super dangerous."

"...and people think I'm crazy," she snorts.

"Ended up on the wrong side of a nest of leaping pack hunters, but didn't get any scars from that. More's the pity. That was a complete accident though."

"I guess I get wanting something to... remember it by. It was strange finding out almost nothing could put a mark on me."

"I suppose that's why I went with the ink," she muses, starting to shrink back down as her skin peeks out between gaps in her receding pelt.

"By the time I was old enough to get markings of my own, my skin was too tough for the tools we had."

"Didn't seem that tough when I made you bleed..."

She reaches out and takes Sam's hand, lifting what's left of the claws up. "These things are dangerous and more importantly they're not of my world."

"I'm just another beast though, aren't I?"

"You're certainly a more cunning opponent, but I would not label you as a 'beast', no matter what your outward appearance."

"Not cunning enough to avoid getting hairy scary because you nicked my things."

"To be fair, sneaking into a creature's lair and making off with something is a time honored tradition among my people."

"I've... got a temper. I know that. Being like this doesn't help it."

Tere-za waves that away. "It's nice to see someone with some fire in their eyes and soul. Everything outside," she indicates the space beyond her door, "is a bit too clean and..." She seems to be struggling to find the words.

"...sterile?" She asks, quirking a ginger brow at the barbarian.

"I suppose. It's a strange brand of magic."

"I'll admit, I don't get all the spacemen and shite. I guess I'm used to things being... messier, as well."

"There's something to be said for things being direct. See lizard, kill it before it kills you. Simple."

"And then wear it, aye?" She says, looking to Tere-za's outfit.

"And eat it. No sense in wasting things."

"Suppose there's something... fulfilling about eating a kill," she muses, her eyes yellowing again as her teeth sharpen.

"Fulfilling and filling," she says with a grin, "And now I'm hungry..."

"...you've got me hungry too," she shakes her head, her ears twitching to points.

"Unfortunately there's no prey to hunt in this place, so we'll have to content ourselves with pre-caught food."

"...aye. Should probably put my nice face on," she grimaces, forcing her wolfish features back inside.