Issue 1 Downtime

Jennifer burst out of the manor and is running towards the woods. She feels her frame wrench and bulk painfully and she tries to fight it down with questionable success as she stumbles through the underbrush, eventually missing a root and going down.

Brigid is following after, albeit a bit behind, a burger wrapped in foil clutched in one hand as she heads for Jen.

Jennifer is sitting on the forest floor, thick dark fur on her arms and encroaching on her face that is faintly feral looking. She's making heaving noises that sound somewhere between growls and whines.

"Hey," Brigid says, finally catching up and kneeling down.

"Just breathe deeply. You're safe."

Jennifer growled at her and turned away, possibly to hide the fact that her eyes are wet with tears.

"Take your time. Nobody else is here."

"Have food, if you want it."

"Fuck off..." she growled, but her voice is lacking bite. She sounds more disappointed and sad.

"Just wanted to help," she sighs.

"You looked like you were in a bad way."

"Why don't you go back and buddy up to Haley." she spits out.

"Why would I want to do that? I already had to room with her for a year."

"That why you two were talking about... this?" she asks, looking down at her furry hands and the claws her fingernails have turned into.

"She doesn't know about this. She was getting nosy, so I was trying to steer her away from this."

"I heard what was going through both your heads and it sure wasn't something else."

"She caught something with her telepathy the other day that might have been someone in the pack. I was trying to convince her she'd just tuned into some shifter student."

"Jesus Jen, why would I want her in on this? She'd text the whole campus in like ten seconds."

"I don't know! Because she fucks everything up so of course she'd fuck this up too!" she barks out, her body jerking as bones twist and muscles grow, making her grimace at the pain.

"Come on, I've got some taste. I'm not looking for some Texan Scrappy Doo to follow us around."

Jennifer doesn't say anything and just hangs her head down and letting her hair fall over her face. Her hunched back almost reaches above her head and occasionally shakes from suppressed sobs.

Brigid sighs and sits down next to Jen.

"...already made the rest of the pack mad at me. Guess it's your turn."

"Jen?" Murphy asks. She had been headed to the cafeteria when she caught their scent heading away from the building. She looks concerned.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Everything's awesome." she chokes out, trying not to sound like she was crying.

Murphy crouches in front of Jennifer, "You're hurting."

"I just thought it'd be different here, but it's not..."

"I know," Murphy says.

"It's different with you guys. You get wanting to do the stuff we can do... And then Haley was trying to butt in on that too and take that away from me..."

"Never," Murphy says. Her eyes flash a bright golden yellow. "Wouldn't let her."

Jennifer sniffs and tries to force herself back towards a more human shape but like a cramping muscles all that accomplishes is to make her body hurt and sprout a bit mroe hair.

Vertie stepped out and stood beside Brigid.

"Don't try to force it when you're upset. Never works. I know that."

"Fine." she says in a tone that says she might as well have uttered a 'Fuck it' and with the sound of fabric tearing at the seams her shape wrenches itself further towards full wolf in pained lurches.

"Jen," Murphy says. "Focus on me."

Murphy puts her hand on Jen's shoulder, trying to comfort the girl.

Jennifer howls and looks up at Murphy.

"Already doing better than I was," Brigid mutters.

"Breathe," Murphy says. "Have to be honest with yourself. Anything locked up inside you will come out when you shift. Hurts."

Murphy's mind was open and unguarded. She was broadcasting an overwhelming sense of trust and loyalty towards Jennifer. No words. Just the fact that no matter what happened, Murphy would always be on Jennifer's side.

Jennifer has a hard time keeping her thoughts straight, much less Murphy's, but she does catch on to the raw emotions on some instinctual level and her muscles stop tensing and shivering under her fur.

"Good," Murphy says. She strokes Jen's head approvingly.

Eventually she lowers her head and whines faintly, though much less intensely than earlier.

"What's wrong?"

Jenn makes a couple of weird head movements, almost looking like she's chewing on thin air as she tries (and fails) to talk. Instead she just tries to focus on projecting feelings of shame and embarrassment as a way to try and communicate.

"We're your friends Jen, we want to be. We're family, bent, busted, but loyal." Vertie said as she walked up to Murphy and Jen, placing her hands on either of them and closing her eyes, making an emotional bridge between them.

Murphy frowns. She closes her eyes and breathes in deep. In one fluid movement she shifts into a wolf.

As a wolf, Murphy broadcasts a feeling of understanding and acceptance for Jennifer. She feels angry at Haley for hurting someone she loves. She's worried that she can't help the pack. She's scared of having people who need her after being alone for so long. She opens herself completely to Jennifer, Vertie, Brigid, and any other member of the pack. There is nothing hidden in her thoughts or feelings. She trusts her pack completely.