11996/Conquering Selenophobia

Conquering Selenophobia
Date of Scene:	13 July 2022
Location:	Farny State Park, New Jersey
Synopsis:	Cael and Mercy go to a nature preserve outside of New York City for the full moon - where Cael can explore a little more about her new nature, and what it really means.
Cast of Characters:	Mercy Thompson, Cael Becker

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Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy and Cael have been in a car for almost an hour together. Her older car bounce on the back roads as they get farther and father from civilization. "Wore good walking shoes and brough all that stuff I asked right?" She pulls them off to an area to that is open for parking. She doesn't open the door yet, just sitting in the parked car. "Thanks for trusting me on this. Before we open the doors though I want you to take a moment and sit. Listen around here."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Yeah. It's in the back," Cael promises. She's been sitting in the passenger seat - and Mercy can doubtlessly smell the anxiety coming off of her - or maybe it was outright fear? She couldn't help but wonder, what if this was some sort of trick? What if Mercy was taking her out here, alone, with ill intent? Maybe she smiled, and talked a good game - but thought it was her duty to remove were-creatures from the world? Maybe she meant to catch her, cage her, and use her?
    It couldn't be any of those things, right?
    As the drive continues, she plays at a leather cuff on her wrist - painted blue, teal, and gold it has intricate butterfly patterns cut out of the leather, leaving holes that show Cael's skin through it.
    As the car stops, the glances around around with the window rolled down - not spotting any other cars or people in the area before she settles in to listen, and breathe in the smells of the isolated area.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy can totally pick up on the nerves in poor Cael and knows that will only rile her wolf-jackal more. She looks out the window and is searching the edge of the wood, she's come out her for runs herself, though this is her first full moon in some time. "I'm not going to hurt you, and I'm here to help." With that Mercy will start to get to the back and see about getting some stuff out of the back of the old van they're in. "So we're going to hike for a bit. I'm curious about this tattoo and not sure I like the idea of it, but that's a talk for later. Today is about you being safe and getting in touch with the animal. You have to accept it though. It's now part of you." She will get her own bag together and then a plastic wrapped big side of beef that must weigh the better part of a hundred pounds and shoulders it with ease. "Be honest to me about what you are feeling."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Because I love getting touchy-feely with perfect strangers," Cael mutters under her breath. She's not a real //open// person at the best of time but- she and Jon had agreed that this woman was trying to help her (before her paranoia started taking over during the ride). With Mercy ready, Cael leans over to grab her own things, which she'd packed into a backpack for convenience's sake. She shoulders it as she joins the woman.
    "I... I don't know," she admits. "This whole thing scares me. I don't like the idea of not being myself. Of being //changed// by something without my consent, you know? I still- I want to find a way to cure this, though I know you don't think it's possible." And Jon sure read her the riot act about how //they// can't take the lead on fixing this for her. "And I feel- I don't know. Like my emotions aren't really under my own control right now. I feel- I just want to run. I just want to move, which- I'm not particularly good at sitting still on the best of days? But this is //more.// A lot more."
    She's silent for a moment, then she adds, "And I hate that Bear and Jon aren't here. I'm used to- I've gotten used to having one or both of them around, when I feel under pressure."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy's got shop ears so she hears the mutter and can't help but give a sharp hard laugh. "Fair enough," looking over at Cael with a wide grin. "You'll be fine. I was out here the other night, no campers and nobody should be around." She's doing her best to be reassuring.
    They have to hike, but Mercy goes at a smooth pace, and should only take them twenty minutes to get to where she thought they should start. A little clearing surrounded by fir trees and with a clear that Mercy drops the meat down. "When you shift that will help. We'll hunt but I want you to eat some first. You're a predator so we need to let it run and hunt and chase.
     Mercy is doing her best to be calm and smooth in her motions. "So it's always good to fold your cloths and keep them hidden and in a water resisitant bag. Avoids scents and keeps them dry for after. I always double bag my cell to be sure it stays dry." Mercy starts to strip down to her underwear to show all her tattoos off. "Bear will be here with you as I'm to be your surrogate Bear, I'm going to roll in your dog's pillow to mix our scents. It should help you."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "You think?" Cael asks. She doesn't sound convinced. The little tawny coyote had looked nothing like her 100 pound goofy great pyranese dog but- whatever. Mercy is the expert.
    As Mercy starts to strip, a mildly uncomfortable look crosses Cael's features, she looks away, looking towards the horizon. They didn't have that much time, somehow she could //feel// it, but the thought of stripping down in front of this woman...
    Cael retreats to the edge of the clearing, where the brush and the fir trees give her some covered. Only then does the start to undress - starting by putting her cuff and the silver chain with a small, simple gear on it inside a small, sturdy bag. She takes out her cellphone as well, and stares at it as well, typing out a text and hitting send. Hopefully, this close to the parking lot, there's still reception. 'Love you. See you soon. Hug Bear for me?' She adds the phone to her bag.
    Then she starts to remove her clothes, with her back turned to Mercy, showing a tattoo on her back in gleaming, redish ink using Hebrew letters.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "As our other forms, we use our noses more then anything else. Trust me." Mercy will stay in her underwear as she looks to Cael as the woman turns to the horizon and the sky, "you feel it. It is getting close. I know." She studies that tattoo in great care. "I bet you didn't even notice it. WE're in the woods. Not near any lights, and we're both walking around just fine. Without lights. Your eyes are already adjusting," points out Mercy. "Don't find the animal. It is like a wave. You got to ride it, you can't conquer it." Mercy knows her change is faster and she wants to see how it is for Cael. "Call your animal, let it come. We're somewhere safe."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael looks around at the dim setting they're in and - indeed, she has very little trouble seeing. But was that supernatural? Or just adjusting to the darkness? She presses her lips together, still standing there in her bra and underwear. She pulls out the cover from Bear's bed - and simply tosses it to the center of the clearing - and then she paces, back and forth, back and forth, near the place she's tucked her clothes, while the tension in her slowly grows. When it's built to a pitch she can barely stand, only then does she take off her bra and underwear, still keeping her back to Mercy, as she tucks the last of her clothes away.
    "No, no, no..." she murmurs quietly. She's fighting it, not that it does her any good - as her skin begins to ripple and change - her form expanding, rather than shrinking, her limbs and fingers elongating, alone with her face growing out to a snout. The creature she becomes is a towering hulk, easily three hundred pounds in weight, and she stares down at her own hands, breathing heavily and trying to gather her wits.
    She's... herself. She's still herself. She's not a monster - not inside her head, anyways. She's Cael. She knows who she is, and where she is, and- and who she's with.
    Her posture shifts abruptly as she turns towards Mercy, her gaze seeking the other woman out.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy is quiet and watching Cael while she paces. Letting her eyes follow the woman as she tries to keep alert for the first signs of the change starting to happen. If she were a werewolf and able to go animal, she'd be on more familiar ground. Fortunately Mercy is better about hiding her fear and keeping herself calm in tense situations.
     "Let it go and ride the animal, Cael. Go with it, don't fight against it." Speaking in a calm even voice for the woman as best she can. This is NOT looking like any change she's seen before. The woman's form twisting into something far different, and clearly meant for one thing.
     Mercy took her bra and panties off and put them in her bag and put her bag away as soon as the other woman started to change. She's nude and has her stance ready to respond to anything. "You're probably hungry. That's last weeks' earnings in beef. Go nuts on it. Take the edge off. I'm just going to take Bear's pillow over to my side." Smoothly reaching to do just that with her hand. "When you're ready I'll change and we can do this on our animal sides."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael's teeth are bared for a moment as Mercy reaches for the dog bed cover she'd brought. It was //hers,// afer all - but rather than going towards Mercy, Cael forces herself to take a step back from her, moving on digitigrade legs.
    Mercy's mention of the meat brings the smell of it to the forefront of her mind, and once she smells it - she can't get it out of her mind. Try to hold onto herself, and her humanity all she might - there's meat. Fresh, raw meat - and she closes in on it, powerful jaws making short work of the meatier chunks of the carcass as she gulps portions of it down.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy stops reaching at the growl and for the first time speaks in a firm commanding tone at Cael. "Stop that!" Eyes meeting the other woman's firmly. "Eat," giving another easier order right after that first one. When she sees Cael turning for the food she nods, "that's better. You got the teeth for this. Use them more then your hands. The eye teeth grab and pull. Chew in the back and sides of the mouth. Use your jowls and swallow bigger bites then you would normally."

Cael Becker has posed:
    The eating comes easily - almost instinctively, or maybe she's just so hungry that she doesn't notice the awkwardness? While she eats, there's little higher thinking going on - just the need, and the smell, and the hunger - though the rate she eats slows little by little, the more she eats. Her hands are used for little more than supporting herself against the carcass, as she kneels on the dirt floor - and the fact that dirt is getting on and into her food doesn't even seem to occur to her, or mar the taste.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Somewhere while Cael is eating, Mercy goes on and changes her form. Shifting into her coyote form is always fast. Though it can take a beat while the brain adjusts to the new shape and senses. Mercy hates to get a dog's scent on her like this, and will seriously scrub herself after. But this is for Cael tonight, so she starts to roll and flop on her back onto Bear's pillow. Kicking her legs up some to get his scent upon her top coat as best she can. She doesn't need to eat, but that social action of 'sharing a meal' can mean as much for canines as it does for humans. So the Bear scent masked Coyote steps up and goes for a little strip of one side to get a rib. She'll use her teeth to grip, and snap at the tendons to pull the bone loose with the meat still on it. Letting Cael see how you do without hands. Then she'll settle in to chomp chew chew away at that bit of fresh meat.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Something comes and snatches at the side of //her// food - her meal - and Cael's first reaction is to snap at it. But even as she does, she gets a strong whiff of Bear and- something else. Someone else? The confusion is enough to stop her, and she pulls away, watching the coyote eat its meager strip of meat. She moves in closer then - slowly, cautiously, to get another sniff and- yes. The same smell comes to her. Bear, but not Bear. Bear //and.//
    It takes her a moment, but then the creature that is Cael speaks a single, slightly garbled word. "Mercy." She remembers - the woman was helping her. Helping her with... this. Helping her control it - helping her be safe. She sniffs again, glancing to where the rising moon could be glimpsed through the trees - and then moves back in towards the side of beef for another bite.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy can't talk like this. She's got a mouth for marking other sounds now. She can give her tail a few quick swishes though and a quick single huff of a sound in replay. She can't help but try to use humor and be a bit bold (or stupid) as she will walk toward Cael, bold as you please. Then does a quick turn and sort of bap-slaps her tail over Cael's nose and muscle twice. Get a good whiff there, and learn her scent.
    When Cael looks like she's going back for the food, Mercy's decided she had enough for now. There's a bark and a nip at the jackal. Teeth snapping loud enough to be heard. The intent of 'No!' or 'Stop that!' clear without her ability to speak. She'll dance away toward the tree line after and yelp to Cael. Trying to coax her to follow.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael falls back as she's nipped at - the surprise difficult to read on her changed features. That so tiny a creature would-
    No. This is Mercy, remember? This is Mercy, and she's helping. She clings to that, with what little bits of her higher thinking and self control still remain.
    As she dances towards the tree lane, Cael looks back at the carcass again - clearly hesitant to move away from the carcass. It was- hers. Wasn't it? Why should she stop? Why should she follow?

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Soon as Cael's attention drifts to the meat, Mercy barks and growls again. No. No more eating. They're predators and if they go for gluttony and no hunting it isn't healthy. She may be much smaller but that doesn't stop Mercy. She'll growl louder and if she gets Cael to look at her, the coyote drops her forward body, tail up to flag and yip at her. Then scampers to the tree line. A quick series if barks and woo-oo-wows all meant to coax the other woman.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael is- well. Even like this, she's Cael. She does indeed look back to the coyote, to her yips, and her playful movements, and her woo-oo-woo - and then she turns to carcass, snapping up one last bite, before she follows.
    Tell //me// no, will you?
    Moving on her digitgrade legs, she towers over Mercy at a good seven feet of height as she licks at her snout to get every last morsel. Her steps on these legs are... well. As capable as they are of great power and speed, Cael is clearly still unfamiliar with moving in her own body. She's had to little experience with it.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    The last bite done in defiance makes Mercy laugh. A quick series of barks and yips that are clearly laughter. She thinks it is hilarious. The jackal may be bigger, but it is very unlikely to be faster. Mercy is built for speed and supernatural speed at that.
    When Cael starts to move, Mercy darts off and does more barks. Clearly saying 'Come one. Keep up!' She keeps going head, and barking or yipping. Trying to get Cael to go faster. To get moving.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael tries - but not only is she unfamiliar with her body, she's unfamiliar with wild lands and, as Mercy had predicted, her larger form makes it much harder for her to move through spaces that Mercy can slip through with ease. On more open ground, though, she's able to run at a speed that thrills her, prompting her to let out a howl in delight at the moment. The fear, the anxiety of- how long had it been? 30 minutes before? seems to have been forgotten.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Their animals are meant to run, to be part of the life that is a woods or land. Mercy hoped that once she got moving, Cael would be able to feel that. To find the good side of her animal. To be aware of the sounds and animals all around them. Mercy never understood how BLIND humans are to stuff. The passing of rabbits not but feet away from them, the hush of birds as they pass under a branch, the trail of scents that say a deer came by on a game trail.
    No not frustrate Cael, Mercy takes the bigger paths. She's heading vaguely down hill. And if she's using her senses, a few miles ahead of them, there is a lot of water. But first. They run! Mercy giving yips of encouragement or taunting as she works to get them both up to speed. Mercy isn't like the horror movies. She's QUIET at a run. Save for the barks at Cael of course.

Cael Becker has posed:
    After the first howl, Cael runs more quietly, the occasional chuff, or other quite sound answering the coyote's yips. The coyote that smells of Bear. Mercy.
    Somewhere at the back of Cael's mind, some small portion of her realizes she hadn't expected it to feel... like this. To feel so... good. So freeing, after all that fear. Even if moving through the wilderness was still a largely clumsy prospect for her.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy leads them on a fast paced three mile run. Not that it will take them long to travel three miles. She just wants to give Cael a chance to enjoy this and feel more comfortable in this body. That's about the time also when Mercy's nose catches scent of a rabbit!
    Mercy will take leads as she suddenly changes direction. Biting at the low bush branch that has the scent on it and drop it in the way of Cael. Helping her to see with her nose more. Then she howls. Giving off a call for a hunt. They have prey to chase. Things to run down. Other needs to help Cael understand this life.

Cael Becker has posed:
    The scents are confusing to Cael - using her nose to guide her is so new, and there's so //many// smells in the woods she's unfamiliar with. It takes her time to notice the smell that Mercy follows - and she slows for a moment, sniffing more closely, before she's on the trail as well.
    Following the trail of the tiny rabbit, however, is a challenge given her massive form, but the desire to track and hunt is there, as she struggles through the brush.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy has a plan for that, the coyote doesn't need to do the kill or hunt. Likely Cael's beast side does want those things. The little predator will flush and drive the prey out, right to Cael's jaws. She flies low and fast over the ground, ears up and forward, breath tasting everything she can.
    Mercy jerks her head and yips. Pointing to a bigger path to her right, then cuts hard to her left, peeling away from that path for a smaller one. Cael is being sent down wind. While Mercy stay's upwind so her scent will carry to Cael. And their prey. She's close and knows that cute bunny won't live to see tomorrow, small price to pay though.

Cael Becker has posed:
    It takes a few tries to communicate to Cael the plan, as she struggles with taking wordless directions - but in the end, she figures it out, moving onto the larger path, used by visitors to the part as they explore the natural settings. She prowls along it, sniffing the air, trying to stay as close to Mercy as she can. She can smell her and their quarry getting closer, and she crouches, a primal need rising strongly in her.
    She hears a faint rustling as the bunny flees desperately from the predator, and perhaps a quiet yip from Mercy to alert Cael that it is time.
    As the small, brown rabbit emerges onto the path, intent on darting across it to more cover on the otherside - it never gets the chance. Cael springs, her jaw clamping down on the creature, that lets out a single high-pitched shriek of distress, before the sound is silenced. She can feel the warm blood filling her mouth with an arterial beat that is... better, more fulfilling, than any cold carcass can ever be.
    She crouches on the dirt of the trail - using both her hands and her jaws this time to tear through the hide, and into flesh as the rabbit twitches and kicks spasmodically while the brain dies, neurons firing off at random with no remaining consciousness in the prey.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy took a bit to hound the rabbit. Driving it toward Cael, and making sure they made noise. Making it an easy hunt for the newbie were-jackal. She also makes sure to not run herself into the possible claws of jaws of said jackal. Soon as the deeds is done Mercy settles onto the larger path and sits. Twisting and pulling her tail around to use her teeth to get a burr from it that got there in the chase.
    If Mercy were a wolf she would demand her share of the kill, and get into a dominance struggle. But she's not a wolf. She's a coyote and so she sits, proud and watching as she cleans herself some. Leaving Cael to eat as she likes. Usually predators go for the heart and liver fast as they can, then the meatier bits. She looks around and nods in satisfaction. Her expression could not more clearly say, 'Damn I am good' then if she wore a flashing neon sign.

Cael Becker has posed:
    As much satisfaction as Cael gets from the kill - there's not much meat on the rabbit, and it takes her little time to eat the choicest entrails, and go for the meatier sections of muscles. A mess of ripped fur, a splash of dark blood, and a scattering of bones will be left on the trail for hikers to find come morning, as Cael sits back on her haunches to lick at her snout - considering the smug coyote in front of her.
    "Mercy," she repeats the woman's name - before she proceeds to circle around her. She towers over her - but there doesn't seem to be hostility in the action. She seems almost... curious.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy looks up from her tail, the burr long gone, she was just fussing while Cael ate. Letting her tongue hang in an exaggerated canine 'smile' because she knows Cael can't read the more normal or subtle cues yet. With a quick jump she tries to spring off of Cael's thigh and hip. Kick hopping from the bigger were. A single quick Yip, with a head flick down a trail. She starts to lead them to water. That will give Cael a nice drink and a chance to wash up some.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael takes a step back in surprise from the unexpected action, a sound of protest that might very well be a human, "Hey!" Then she lets out a huff that is almost a sigh as she follows after the coyote. She runs on two legs - only dropping down into a crouch over particularly rough ground, or to pass through areas with low hanging branches. She also periodically uses the crouches to let herself maneuver more quickly, shoving off with her arms to help her change directions abruptly.
    The smell of wet vegetation and water slowly begins to fill her nose - the closer they get.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy chose this spot because it was also where Splitrock Reservoir, a 650 acre body of water with plenty of untouched coastline. Not on a run or hunt, Mercy settles into that steady loping motion most wild canines can do in order to get there.
    Once closer she'll just jump in. Splashing into the water nearby and then swimming to shore to shake off. Doing of course right next to Cael. Splashing at the bigger woman. Totally not to try and wash off Bear's scent and get more of Mercy's scent on Cael. Not at -all-. Really!

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael does not seem as eager to play in the water as Mercy does. She crouches at the water's edge - drinking, and washing away the blood - but does not jump in or cavort. Was that something inherent to Cael? Or to the desert 'jackal' from which she descended, with little other than the Nile to provide water? As she gets splashed, she lets out a huff of annoyance, and turns to study the coyote again, looking down at her own hands (and they are hands) with their long fingers, before studying the wet coyote once more.
    It looks even smaller now that it's wet.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy tries not to shift back and forth too much, but knows this is new and a strange case. Seeing Cael looking down at her, some what intently, Mercy pricks her ears, cants her head while making a questioning sound in her throat. Then she sneezes as a drop of water tickles her nostril as it ran down her muzzle, causing her to paw at it some to rub the sensation away.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Why is she so different? Was it because Mercy was born this way? Were the werewolves she was raised with- this way as well? She hadn't made it sound like that, though. Cael's gaze goes to the water, looking at her own feaures, roughly reflected in the moonlight on the surface of the rippling water, before looking at her hands again, and then touching her own face. She'd changed twice before - but both times had been in the midst of battle, without the chance to really observe, and understand //what// she was. What she'd become.
    She looks to the coyote again. "The werewolves," she says - her words are recognizeable, but only with effort, as the vocal chords of whatever she'd become clearly weren't perfectly suited for human speech, "Were they like you?" There's a pause for her to respond. "Or like me?"

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy is patient as she sits there and give sCael the time she needs to process. She thinks about how to answer without shifting. She goes to Cael and tries to gently take the woman's wrist in her jaws. Leading her to make a 'print' on the ground if allowed. Then she makes her own print a few feet to the side. Finally she 'slashes' at the ground between the two, closer to Cale and only a quarter of the way toward Mercy's own paw print.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael tenses a little as the coyote's her wrist in her mouth, but allows her to make the print, then watches what she does with her own print, and the slash on the ground. She's not sure she understands - but after a long moment of thought she offers, "More like me, than you." But what does that mean?
    She stares down at her hands again, then pushes herself back up to her full seven feet of height, looking around at the resevoir, and the forest, and the night's sky - listening to the quiet sounds of insects, and the rustle of the wind through the foliage, and the occasions cry of a nocturnal creature going about their life.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    There's a hop and a bark as Cael gets the answer in her first guess. Then Mercy sees the confusion and considers. OH man is she going to feel THIS tomorrow. She takes a slow breath and shifts. Suddenly a nude Mercy is standing there, a bit damp from her bath and smiling, "Guess I'll just change to talk if you want to. Most can't speak on the moon."
    She motions to herself, "I think I can try to go back and forth one more time but I'll start to get tired and going to have to eat or paper nap in the van before driving back. Then again you're likely to pass out hard near the dawn." Mercy takse a slow breath to begin lecture mode.
    "Most werewolves are know are closer to you then to me. I'm weird. They shift with the moon, hear her call, can't resist it. But they can change at will or if hurt and scared. When they shift, MOST times they look like really really big wolves. You know if you took a wolf and made it pony sized. SOME can manage a sort of 'half form' like you are closer to now. Even I'm bigger then a normal coyote but not that much bigger."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Some can //manage// a half form," Cael repeats, her speech still strange and garbled as she talks to the woman. For all she'd looked away, and tried to hide her own nudity before - she was looking unabashedly a the woman now, as if it didn't occur to her to be bothered by her nakedness. "But all can be a wolf," she surmises.
    "...why can't I?" That was the true source of confusion. Why was she different? Why was she- //this//? This monster, halfway between human and animal. Why?

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy seems unbothered by her nudity. You get over that quick with being a shifter and sometimes loosing your clothes. She's not flaunting her body either. Just sort of sitting there and talking. "Well my guess is you're different breeds and maybe different sources of the original curse. Or you got magic messing with you on top of how you got infected or cursed yourself. Not all even can survive the infection, some die." Mercy motions to Cael and says, "Maybe we should see if we can like... purify the animal in you." Mercy shrugs a little to offer, "Maybe that's just the Native side of me some talking out of turn. You're doing great for your second full moon by the way."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Some die? This gets a sharp look from Cael, as this was new information to her. ...she could have died? Died, and left Jon - again? A shiver runs over her, even as her head turns - back towards New York City.
    Jon... Her Jon. He wasn't here. He wasn't even in New York... She stares off into the distance for a moment, before returning her attention to Mercy again. "It's strange," she remarks, without clarifying the comment. She begins to move around the shore a bit restlessly on two legs - though whether the restlessness came from the animal inside her, or her own inherent restlessness that she's had since birth is a little unclear.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "HEY!" Mercy's voice is not unlike the barks or yips earlier. "That's the human world over there," she gestures to the east. "That's tomorrow. Stay here. Stay now. Stay with the animal. The more you go in two places at once the worse it will be." She wants to keep Cael as focused as possible. "Go to all fours if you can. Don't think of those as hands. Think more like a canine, or a bear. Let the animal have it's time. She'll only demand one night out of you every four weeks. Small price all in all." Mercy stretches and stands to keep herself loose and alert. The night isn't over.

Cael Becker has posed:
    As Mercy calls her out for her wandering attention, Cael shifts her gaze back to her and offers only a single word as explination. "Jon," she says simply. No, the woman in her doesn't like being so far from the person she loves - and in many ways, the animal in her was in accord on that.
    At the suggestion she try running more on all fours, Cael offers an awkward, uncertain nod in response. "What now?"

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy uses that speed to try and be fast and 'flick' Cael on the nose, "Istn't here. That's human you stuff. This is animal you night. Right now we're on girl's night out. We howl, we hunt, we chase our tails if we want to. I find those good berries that get you drunk. Well not really cuz you heal fast." Mercy could get drunk though maybe. "Now you tell me what your animal wants. Not what you think it wants or what it is doing to try and get you to listen to it. Deep down into that primal part of you. What does your animal crave? To hunt? To howl? To run? Whatever it is, besides attack and eat me, let's do it."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael rubs at her nose, letting out a snort - and a brief growl. She pauses for a few moments longer, and then simply says, "Run." She's not sure if it's the animal - or her, or if there's really any distinction.
    But she wants to run, as far, and as fast as she can. She wants to run until she can't possibly run any further. She wants to run.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy tries to not show the strain some on her eyes, the moon doesn't power her like it can jazz up the weres. "Then we run. Try to stay on all fours, and see if you can keep up. Learn the scents, the sounds of the world." Then Mercy is a coyote again. Not as fast out the starting gate as her first change, and smelling less of Bear now too. But the coyote gets ready to get going, offering a playful nip at one of Cael's ankles.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael nips back as she's nipped this time - but there's no aggression, and no power behind the bite. She could certainly do the 'little' coyote considerable damage if she did get her teeth on her properly, though.
    As Mercy runs, Cael follows, allowing the smaller creature down the paths, and running in all fours as much as she can, at Mercy's request. Little by little, the action becomes more, and more natural until abruptly Cael realizes - her hands aren't hands anymore.
    She stumbles, almost falls, and practically skids to a halt, staring down at her feet - her paws. Her //fore// paws. She lifts them - one at a time - looking at them as she sits on her haunches - and then abruptly she's running circles, seemingly chasing her own tail, and then flopping over onto her back as she tries to look at, and understand this new body. How...? What-?

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy's ears come up and she turns to look back as Cael falters. Coming back around she'll watch and sniff at the woman, but not wanting her to be 'thinking' as much the Coyote will nip at her some again. Doing her best to keep her running. Even letting out a howl to call for the games and running to begin. This is clearly working, so we just do it more right?!

Cael Becker has posed:
    As Mercy nips at her - this time Cael twists, and tries to pounce - letting out a playful yip. Then she turns, and tries to lead the run herself - leaning into the chase, and going as quickly as she can in the smaller, more nimble form.
    She was still a reasonably large canid - weighing in at 40, or perhaps 50 pounds - but she was a mere fraction of what she had been before.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy gives a yelp of surprise but is quick to roll and is thrilled to see this change. She will begin to try and dart under or around Cael and get the woman to just play. Let her instincts lead her some as the pair can make the night their own. Fortunately the non-healing smaller Coyote has a lot more experience in this kind of pay or body then Cael does but that just makes it all fun.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael runs, and plays for the remainder of the night, seeming much more content and relaxed in the form of the proper wolf, rather than the misshappen half-form she'd worn before. As the night wears on towards morning, however, Mercy manages to lead them back around to the clearing where their things had been left. As the sun rises, Cael ends up dead to the world in the brush, concealed out of sight from any hikers - passed out on top of the cover from Bear's dog bed - which is now covered with both Bear, and Mercy's scents.