For a second Agnes really thought that Emerald was not going to return the hug. Not that Agnes was really expecting on in return. She was, after all, really just trying to show affection and her sincere apology that Emerald had to go through something like that. But she had Gina as a roommate, the school’s resident gargoyle. And if there was one thing that that girl was well known for at this school it was the fact that she was a hugger. That was especially true when it came to Agnes.

But as she hugged the wolf girl, for a moment she truly thought that she was not going to receive a hug back, which she was fine with and had prepared herself for, but that would not be the outcome. Before the runaway knew it she felt the strong arms of that young woman as she awkwardly hugged her back. It was a tight hug, one that seemed to connect them on the level of survivors.

Both had been through the fire…

Both had been burned…

Both bore their scars well.

It was odd for Agnes to find someone that she had any form of kismet with, but she was thankful for that chance. Maybe she and Emerald were just simply meant to run across each other’s paths.

Once she felt the wolf-girl’s arms slacken, Agnes stepped back and smiled down at her. She was not crying, nor did she look upset, but she was still thankful for the hug Agnes had given her. This made the bug-girl smile a bit. It felt good to know that she did not irritate her again.

>> “Thanks…for listening. I’m sorry if it freaks you out or anything…Just so ya know you promised not to run away from my problems so now you are stuck with me.”

Agnes grinned and shook her head. “No…I’m not freaked out at all.”

Slowly she returned to her spot across from Emerald. Slipping onto the seat, she sighed as she took up her glass of chocolate milk and took a long sip. The sensation of the chocolate laced dairy as it cooly raced throughout her system made her smile a bit appreciatively. It certainly felt good to drink this, even after she had gotten pretty drenched outside in the rainstorm. At least she was beginning to dry off.

But she turned her eyes back onto Emerald and smirked at the girl’s last remark.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Another sip of milk before she winked playfully at her. “I did make a promise, after all. I keep my promises…”

The chocolate milk that Agnes had pushed over to the wolf girl caught her eye, she would reach her arm out to grab the delicious chocolate glass that was intended for her earlier before she started the traumatic tale. Emerald had a certain weakness for Chocolate milk, though some members of the family would joke that they were surprised she didn’t get sick from drinking it, due to the whole half wolf thing. She would drink it eagerly, tail wagging back and forth like a happy young pup as she chugged down the wonderful chocolate beverage.

She would put the glass down once Agnes mentioned that she wasn’t going anywhere. A small smile appeared on the wolf girl’s face beneath a chocolate milk mustache. The thought of finally not being alone, for having a pack that stuck around was one that filled her with glee and a little bit of dread as well. Agnes was now most definitely part of her pack and with that came Emerald’s protectiveness, for her fellow pack member. The dread part of all this, was Emerald dreading what she would do if anyone ever threatened Agnes in anyway. The alpha was always protective of their pack and with the full moon coming up soon that protectiveness may double in time. Emerald may have to keep herself in check this upcoming moon, just she could remain in control if l happened.

It could be of note, or just a fun little noticeable thing that Emerald sort of looked like a playful pup when she drank down that chocolate milk. With the glass down, she would look at Agnes with a glance filled with confidence, but with a little bit of relief in them as well.

“Good, I..really don’t like being alone all the time anyways,” Emerald would say, placing her arm behind her head , rubbing it a little sheepishly. A little bit of that chocolate mustache dripped down on her lip and the wolf girl would lick her lips a little. “Ah hell I got it on my lips again,” the wolf grumbled in embarrassment. She would wipe it off with her arm a low laugh escaping her lips

With a loud clap of lightening outside Emerald noticed the storms strength increased, the wind beginning to whip around the large building louder than it was before. “Hmm,” Emerald began before turning to Agnes, “Are you gonna be able to go back to sleep tonight? Cause I’ll be just fine but if you wanna chill in my room for a bit you can.”

Agnes smirked as she sipped her milk and then watched as Emerald decided to partake in the treat as well. She looked quite happy drinking it and the knowledge of that made her smile. She was glad she didn’t give her something that either she couldn’t have or that she didn’t like. But judging by the almost, playfulness at which she drank, the runaway could only deduce that she was happy with the concoction that she had offered her. It really did make Agnes feel good that she was doing something to make another person happy.

She drank again and assured Emerald that she was not going to anymore. She meant it too but she only hoped that her word would be enough to ease the wolf-girl’s fears of loneliness. Apparently she did not relish the thought at all of not having her pack mate around or scaring her off.

Agnes knew that feeling all too well. She hated to scare people off because of her powers and now that she was integrating back into a normal society, she didn’t want to risk that again.

>> “Good, I..really don’t like being alone all the time anyways… Ah hell I got it on my lips again,”

Agnes snorted but didn’t full out laugh. It was cute, to say the least. Milk, especially chocolate, did have a way just wanting to be messy. She shook her head and still smirked at Emerald as she wiped the milk off. Agnes turned back to drinking the rest of her own and sighed. She was feeling tired but definitely not sleepy.

>> “Hmm…Are you gonna be able to go back to sleep tonight? Cause I’ll be just fine but if you wanna chill in my room for a bit you can.”

Blink. What, did Emerald know how to read minds, now? Not that Agnes was thinking that she wanted to be in Emerald’s room, it was just that she was going to have trouble sleeping. She smiled appreciatively and nodded.

“I’d love to see your room. I am a little wired now…” she said with a nod.

Once the wolf girl’s question was answered she didn’t waste any time in responding. She would slide off of the stool onto the floor and Agnes would soon find Emerald had disappeared behind the countertop. It was only a few seconds later that the bug manipulator would find herself with a rather large wolf at her side. Emerald’s wolf form was bigger than most timber wolves, however while they had thick fur to protect them from the heavy winters,

Emerald’s fur was a little bit lighter than Thiers, this of course didn’t mean that her fur wasn’t thick it was just not nearly as thick as it could have been. Semi Thick, almost pure black fur with thick red fur around her head area, going all the way down to her mid shoulder blades. It could be of note that Emerald’s particular shade of fur in her wolf form could be akin to her mother’s reddish husky fur when she was in morph making Emerald look a tiny bit like a mutt in a way. In spite of her roots though, it was best not to mention to the girl she looked like a dog. It would also seem that her dog Tags stayed around her neck in this morph, though a little tighter due to the increased girth of her neck.

The blue eyed she wolf would look over at Agnes with curious eyes, clearly inquiring if she was going to follow and once the younger girl would make a move to get up Emerald would begin to pad out of the kitchen, leading her over to the dwelling she called her temporary home.

The wolf would occasionally glance behind her, giving Agnes a glance to make sure she was keeping up alright and once she did that about the fourth time she would quickly run ahead and dart into the door of one of the rooms. Emerald was still on the student floor because of Ruby being her roommate but she had one of the larger rooms due to her seniority and back when the Mansion was destroyed a few times, since Ruby and Emerald both had a hand in the rebuilding they got first pick.

The door to the room was actually closed but what was open was the rather large dog door at the bottom which was clearly where Emerald got in from. The She-wolf would leave Agnes outside for a few moments; several rustling noises and the like were heard as she did so before she opened the door. The red head looked a little flustered, with some of her hair in her face and her breathing a little deeply but otherwise she looked just fine.

“Come on in,” the she-wolf panted, stepping aside.

Emerald’s room was fairly sizable, not huge but a little bit bigger than some of the rooms in the mansion. The wolf girl’s bed was in the left corner with green sheets (the bed had been recently made) and an overly fluffy pillow with a good deal of holes in it, some of the feathers leaking out of the side.

There were a few posters of surfers on the wall and one poster showing the lunar cycles of 2011, with every full moon day circle tentatively with a black sharpie. The floor was clean but there were various stacks strewn all over the place, placed haphazardly in semi neat piles. Most of the stacks were Surfing Magazines, old magazines with motocross on them, with one rather familiar looking racer on the front and a few issues of national Geographic with special focus on wolves or foxes.

There were also a good deal of Cd’s on Emerald’s side of the room and the paper on the small, blue wooden desk was filled with music notes as well as scribble lines. There was a half burnt stub of an incense on her table as well with a dragon incense burner, the box next to it revealing the lavender incense that was in the burner as well as the lavender smell permeating from the room.

The last thing of note was the photographs on the desk, which was in a duel frame, showing the Lupin family, one side being Emerald’s parents, her mother with long overly fluffy red hair and green eyes as well as a husky tail and her father a perfectly normal human with straight brown hair and blue eyes. The other picture showed a rare captured moment between the Lupin sisters when they last visited their parents. Emerald wearing a wetsuit with her surf board in hand on the beach, Ruby, with her arm wrapped around her sister while she was wearing a bright little yellow sundress and Sapphire, the black haired Lupin with bright blue eyes like her father and the most stickling beautiful of the Lupin sisters sitting under the umbrella, sketching something out in a sketchbook with a small smile on her face. She had no animal features to speak of and she looked human but anyone who knew the sisters knew she was far from it.

On the other side of the room, things were very organized, a small bed with red sheets signified where Emerald’s baby sister slept. It also didn’t hurt the fact that her bed was filled with stuffed animals and an old Robotics manual on her bedside table. It was funny how Emerald somewhat conquered the room since her little sister was off training with her mother.

“So here’s my room, I dunno what you want to do, I have a computer and fun stuff but it’s under the bed,” Emerald would say sitting down on her squeaky bed.

Agnes agreed to hang with Emerald for a bit. The truth was that she was a little wired and did not want to have to worry about sleep right now. But at the same time she was also worried for Emerald. She knew that Emerald was tough and that she could handle anything that was thrown at her but that did not mean that she was tough all the time. She needed company as much as anyone and Agnes was only too happy to offer that to her.

So the runaway got and followed the she-wolf as she let the way, before suddenly she shifted into a full-grown Agnes. Agnes was slightly startled at this revelation but she did not gasp or scream. Instead she could only stare in wonderment. Emerald really did have a beautiful wolf form. The creature she became was sleek and black, except for a line of red colored hair and signified her own hair color. She had to marvel at the creature’s eyes whenever she paused to glance back at Agnes. She had never see a more beautiful creature.

Mutely she smiled back at the wolf as she continued to follow. Once they got to a door, Agnes had to stop because the door remained closed. Instead Emerald dashed in through a doggie door and the runaway had to awkwardly look from left to right. Was…she expected to follow through there?

But as she thought about it, she heard the sounds of shuffling inside the room. Maybe Emerald was cleaning? Before she knew it the door was thrown open and Emerald smiled at her.

>> “Come on in,”

Agnes nodded in thanks as she stepped in. Boy she was glad she didn’t have to crawl through that opening.

>> “So here’s my room, I dunno what you want to do, I have a computer and fun stuff but it’s under the bed,”

She smiled in response as she just wandered, looking over the room. It was fairly typical, messy, with various types of music, magazine and clothing littered about. She was most impressed by the poster that was situated on the wall that showed the lunar cycle. It was probably important to Emerald’s powers. Then her attention shifted to the small desk where she saw the family photo. They all looked so happy that she had to smile. She always wanted a family like that.

“You’re family is beautiful,” she said with a nod. Of course not referring to the physical aspects, even though they were all rather good looking people, but more along the lines that they looked like a typical family. And that she indeed found beautiful. “My parents didn’t like pictures. They said it was vanity.”

Watched Agnes as she walked into the room, tail wagging back and forth slowly, it had been a long time since she had someone else in her room besides Ruby or maybe Mirror on occasion so this was sort of nice. It wasn’t like she was going to try to show off or anything like that but what she was going to try to do was make things as nice as possible. Besides, she didn’t do half bad of a job for cleaning everything in a rushed manner at the last minute.

As soon as Agnes would address her family photo Emerald would smile a little bit. There was quite a bit of history behind the photo, even though it hadn’t been taken too long ago. The Lupin family had always been quite strange to say the least but the fact that there was a photo taken of all the Lupin sisters, together and having a good time was a rare occasion to say the least. Well, at least with Emerald and Sapphire being in the photo together actually not trying to kill each other with glaring.


“Thanks, ya know that picture is the first one that me and my older sister Sapphire have been in together, without being at each other’s throats,” Emerald would laugh a little, shaking her head. As much as she hated her older sister sometimes, she still loved her in a way. They were family after all and they really didn’t have to like each other, that were what family was for.
“Sides, she hates taking pictures with me most the time because I don’t make myself look good enough for them. Pah, she knows she’s the prettiest of the three of us why the hell do we have to suffer to try to measure up to her?”

The werewolf had a bit of bitterness in her voice and she realized she had one off on a bit of a tangent. She hated it when she did that but Sapphire tended to bring out the bad side of her sometimes. That and thinking about the way her older sister would pick her apart for how she looked. Sapphire would tell her about how she had the pride part down and the self-confidence but needed to make herself look beautiful in order to put out the full “fem Fatal” look. Funny, she felt pretty damn Fem Fatal when she tore out the throats of the enemies that threatened Sapphire while she was busy giving orders. Tucking a stray strand of red hair behind her chewed off tip of an ear out of nervousness she realized that Agnes had mentioned something at the end of the picture comment that she didn’t even address.


“Eh, sorry kinda get rant-like when I get on about queen of the family,” Emerald would tell Agnes sheepishly, blue eyes softening from the previously hardened and irritated state they had been in when she mentioned that last sentence about Sapphire.
“And pictures aren’t vanity, they capture memories, good or bad. Moments in time we aren’t sure we can replicate like…hold on,”

Emerald would go over to her nightstand and open the drawer next to it, rummaging in it for a moment before retrieving a small photograph. It was a photograph of herself standing next to what it appeared to be a young great white shark (though it was still huge in comparison to her younger self) but considering the huge gash in the side of it’s gill and it’s marred face. Emerald herself was a lot younger in that picture, wearing a wetsuit with her hair pulled back she was at least 16, with short red hair that was thinner than it was now. That and she didn’t look nearly as feral as she did now .She handed it to Agnes.


“You see that? I beat up a great white shark that had been preying on the surfers on a local beach in Hawaii, of course it was peoples fault he was attacking in the first place because they had been fishing wayyy to close to the surfers and the big guy got confused, that and the brain tumor they found in the autopsy later didn’t help…” Emerald realized that she was ranting again so she quickly stopped while she was ahead.
“Anyways, there is no way I will ever, or at least I hope there won’t be, beat up a shark again so this picture is a good example of a memory caught.”

Agnes eyed the pictures and even uttered a comment about how nice they all looked together. Emerald took this as an opportunity to explain. The runaway settled in and gratefully listened, thankful to have a distraction from her nightmares tonight…

>> “Thanks, ya know that picture is the first one that me and my older sister Sapphire have been in together, without being at each other’s throats…Sides, she hates taking pictures with me most the time because I don’t make myself look good enough for them. Pah, she knows she’s the prettiest of the three of us why the hell do we have to suffer to try to measure up to her?”

She smirked. She had nearly forgotten what sibling rivalry could be like. She did have a brother, Dante, but she hasn’t seen him in years and no way did she have a relationship with him the way that Emerald had a relationship with her own sister. Though she had bickered with her own brother before, it was something that was quickly stamped out thanks to her parents and their strict upbringing. It was because of them that she and her brother were as close as they were…at least that is until he ran away from home.

For a long time after that, she didn’t have anyone. Just herself and the swarms of insects that lived within her. Now though, at least things were different. She had people that she could call “family”, sisters that she was especially close to, including Gina, Sveta, and now Emerald. The thought of such only made her feel all the better.

But Emerald seemed to catch onto her last comment…

>> “Eh, sorry kinda get rant-like when I get on about queen of the family…And pictures aren’t vanity, they capture memories, good or bad. Moments in time we aren’t sure we can replicate like…hold on,”[/i]

Agnes paused as Emerald pulled out a photo that had been placed inside of a drawer. She blinked as she stared at the photograph, a moment in time that depicted a younger Emerald with what could only be identified as a Great White Shark. Astounded, Agnes listened in.

>> “You see that? I beat up a great white shark that had been preying on the surfers on a local beach in Hawaii, of course it was peoples fault he was attacking in the first place because they had been fishing wayyy to close to the surfers and the big guy got confused, that and the brain tumor they found in the autopsy later didn’t help…Anyways, there is no way I will ever, or at least I hope there won’t be, beat up a shark again so this picture is a good example of a memory caught.”

The runaway smirked and then giggled. Just seeing the younger Emerald standing in front of a beaten up Great White shark for some reason just started her laughing. She stopped herself before it got too riotous and then turned her crystal blue eyes onto her.

“You have a point there. No one should ever have to forget something like that.” she handed the photo back. “I mean, I don’t buy into what my parents said anymore, it’s just, at the time, I had to believe what they did,” slowly she quieted down as she rubbed her own stomach, the scars mocking her from the other side of the fabric. “Even if they were completely wrong.”

The laughing that Agnes started was quite contagious and even the wolf girl herself started laughing lightly at it. It really did look funny in hindsight, her standing in front of that Mauled great White shark with that goofy wolfish grin on her face. That was a really great day, one of the best vacations she had ever had, even if she was all by herself when she did it. This got the wolf girl thinking, maybe next time she would invite some of her friends to go along with her on the boat and they could sail to Hawaii, or maybe just around Florida to her parents’ house. Her parents would love to have visitors and her Mom would be way more than excited to realize that her daughter was going back to being her normal pack leader self.

Speaking of being a good pack leader, dark blue eyes caught those crystal blue ones as the picture was handed back to her. Those pointed ears of hers twitched a little as she listened to Agnes, noticing the younger girl quieting down. Once Agnes moved her hand over her stomach, the she-wolf would recognize that sort of movement almost immediately.

“Glad you don’t think that anymore,” Emerald agreed, nodding her head a little in agreement to how her parents were completely wrong. She would glance at Agnes’ stomach for a moment, tempted to just force the girl to tell her the full extent of what happened to her so she would have a reason to go beat her parents up. Well more of one anyways. It was then Emerald was reminded of something that Ruby told her not to long ago.

“Emmy, you can’t just force people into things. That’s not nice, but maybe if you showed what ways you related to them, maybe you would make more friends that way. Not a lot of people get when you try to say things but…your actions have always spoken louder than your words. But don’t give them the silent treatment…just try to be sympathetic”

Without another word, the wolf girl would follow her sisters advice, knowing that the little kit was far smarter than she gave her credit for. Emerald would pull up part of her shirt, revealing her own stomach up to the second part of her rib, marred by that grotesquely long and wide scar. The she-wolf had plenty of scars on her, most being from fierce battles, others from things she really didn’t like to think about. But this one, her newest scar, the “present” that monster had left for her was nothing to laugh at. The scar went from her lower right rib all the way across her belly down to her hip and was about three fingers wide. It looked like she had been torn open by some sort of beast’s claws, but under further inspection it was clear that this horrible mauling of the wolf girl’s muscular stomach was deliberate.

“Scars...heh, they really suck right? Good thing knowing that you can talk about it with people who actually care about you enough to make you feel better,” Emerald would give Agnes a sort of lopsided smile. She put her shirt down,fixing her shirt a little. “Though, I’d take about 4 more of these if it meant protecting people I care about from their own problems. “

Emerald Lupin, werewolf, slightly scary feral wolf girl and yet somehow she felt a strange kindred spirits with a girl she made sad not too long ago and she would be dammed if Agnes got hurt like she did by her whacked out parents again.

Agnes sighed. She hated thinking about her parents, especially on a night like this. They already invaded her nightmares so the last thing she wanted was to think about them during her waking hours, but it was far too late for that. Especially considering that she could still feel those scars, mocking her from underneath her shirt. It was a hard thing to know that you were disfigured like that. While she knew that people had it far worse than she did, it still hurt to know that she looked like this underneath her clothes.

Rhythm understood, but now she was gone. She sighed.

Then Emerald seemed to catch on that something was up with her. Agnes could have kicked herself for being that transparent, but as she stood there, she blinked when suddenly Emerald raised the bottom half of her shirt. She thought for a moment that the wolf-girl was simply going to change clothing so she looked away, trying to be respectful.

Apparently that was not the case…

>> “Scars...heh, they really suck right? Good thing knowing that you can talk about it with people who actually care about you enough to make you feel better.” [/i]

She turned and immediately her eyes grew misty at what she saw. That long, horrific scar that traced down from Emerald’s ribs and down to her the waistband of her pants simply made Agnes cringe with sympathy, fear, and memories. She sniffled as she looked at it. She didn’t know the context of the scar but the simple fact that it was there was enough to make her sniffle. Emerald went through this? And she lived? It looked so…bad. Though she knew that Emerald would not be the type to breakdown about it, Agnes could not help but feel like breaking down for her.

>> “Though, I’d take about 4 more of these if it meant protecting people I care about from their own problems. “

Agnes watched as Emerald lowered the bottom of her shirt. So…she knew what it was like. Maybe…maybe she could confide in someone after all. She loved Gina and Sveta…but they didn’t go through it. Sometimes it just helped to connect with someone who understood what it was actually like.

Sighing, she cleared her throat as she stood up, held the bottom of her own shirt and took a breath. Gently she lifted up her own, just expose her scrawny stomach.

“Courtesy…of mom and dad’s exorcism…” she whispered.

The scars were there, expose the cool air in the bedroom. Several cuts and whiplashes could be seen across her stomach, as well as across her back. The scars were old now but she could see feel them, as if their stings were fresh, though she knew that was not true. But the worst of all was the extra large crucifix that had been branded into her stomach, just under her smell bellybutton. The cross looked large, gnarly, and just nasty. One could hard believe that something as fragile looking as Agnes could have survived that alone, but mixed in with all the other lashes and cuts, it seemed like a damned miracle.

Agnes sniffled as she lowered her shirt and crossed her arms over her chest as she turned to look out the nearest window. In the dim light of the twinkling of tears could be seen in her eyes. They were in prison…but god it still hurt…

No questions were asked about the long scar that tore across her toned tummy, but instead Agnes looked at it with sad eyes. The she-wolf would feel her heart drop into her stomach, she didn’t expect this, and she didn’t expect this at all. Emerald wasn’t used to people getting all teary eyed when they saw her scars, she was used to fear and them just asking her what in the world happened. Then again, it had been a while since she was around people like Agnes, maybe she had just forgotten what it felt like. She did have friends in the past but she would open up to them very seldom and while she was used to words of comfort she knew how hard it was to get them to relate to anything she had gone through.

The she-wolf always seemed to have such terrible luck and she was often worried it would fall upon the others that were around her. It would seem to her however, that Agnes had her own strain of bad luck judging by what she saw on the smaller girl’s stomach. More like bad luck was forced upon her judging by how she mentioned her parents’ exorcism on her. The wolf girl would let out a low snarl, sounding very inhuman for that very moment.

She hated it when people attacked something they didn’t understand or worse thought it was evil? What damn right did they have to say what was evil and what wasn’t? Burning a cross into your daughter’s stomach? That was pretty damn evil and that made Emerald just want to ring the necks of her parents. There would just be two less stupid people in the world that she and her pack would have to deal with, that would be just perfect.

The redhead would stop snarling for a moment and look at Agnes, seeing the girl looking out the window, tears in her eyes. Emerald’s demeanor changed in that moment from angered protector of the innocent to just…a friend, pack leader or just someone that Agnes could talk to about these sort of things and for some that she herself could talk to.

“Mine was courtesy of that damn psycho I mentioned earlier, one of his tortures, got hungry apparently after he took off the tip of my left ear,” Emerald told Agnes, feeling as if she was comparing war stories with an old friend. The problem was though, she wasn’t Agnes wasn’t some soldier like person or a battle hardened veteran. She looked so frail like she would snap if Emerald would punch her, but there was an inner strength, that much was certain.

The she-wolf would then wrap her arms around the girl in a full on hug, a warm, Emerald Lupin style comforting hug. “Hey,” she would begin “Don’t go off in your head thinking about this crap alright? You don’t know what bad thoughts are hiding in there. Sides…I don’t want ya to leave me alone out here when I finally found someone to talk to. You said you wouldn’t.”

Agnes blinked away tears. She really did not want to think about this right now but she had absolutely no choice. The memories were there, she had shown someone knew her scars, and it made her want to relive the whole thing all over again. She hated those memories but she knew that she could not forget them, nor should she. They were a part of who she was. Maybe they did not make up the entirety of herself, but they were part of her that she should never forget. Her parents betrayed her and as much as it hurt, she needed to remember it in order to keep herself strong.

She sniffled as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She continued to stare outside the window and to the world beyond. She could hear Emerald behind her, growling. She didn’t want to upset her, that was never Agnes’ intention but, being her friend, how was she expecting her to react?

But as she stood there contemplating how she should have handled the situation, Agnes heard the growling slowly stop. Emerald breathed in before she began to recite her own tale…

>> “Mine was courtesy of that damn psycho I mentioned earlier, one of his tortures, got hungry apparently after he took off the tip of my left ear,”

This only caused more tears to fall. Torture, cruelty, it was a world that the both of them knew far too much of and something which had left its mark upon her. For Emerald is a “psycho” and for her it was her own parents. She sniffled. That pretty much covered the entirety of who could and could not be trusted. She wished that Emerald had never gone through something like that…but she did. Agnes knew better than anyone that there was no coming back from that…

But as she stood there musing, suddenly she felt a pair of warm arms encircle her and Agnes was pulled in for a hug. She didn’t fight it, instead she simply let it happen and tried to keep back her sniffles.

>> “Hey…Don’t go off in your head thinking about this crap alright? You don’t know what bad thoughts are hiding in there. Sides…I don’t want ya to leave me alone out here when I finally found someone to talk to. You said you wouldn’t.”

She giggled, lightly, through her tears as she shook her head and turned to look at Emerald. Gently she shook her head as she gave her a big hug in return. They were more alike than anything Agnes could have imagined and she hoped that the wolf-girl never let her past get to her the way that Agnes let her own affect her.

“Never,” she said with a smile. “I’m not going anywhere.”

So, the Alpha Female managed to calm down her friend in a not so growly sort of way. It may be that she was getting better at the whole, interacting with people who weren't part of the family thing or remembering that chipper young wolf girl who was an eager "super hero" not to long ago. One that had a sort of mini pack and became a team player under the headmistress' leadership.

Emerald felt Agnes hug her back and she would smile a little. It would seem that her hug and little pep talk helped more than she thought it would. She wasn't going to be left alone again it would seem. With the thought of being left alone nearly banished for her mind, she continued the hug for a little while longer before she broke from it.

"Good," Emerald began with a smile on her face, trying to wipe her earlier thoughts out of her mind. "Besides, now that you’re a member of a pack, you are not allowed to break promises to your Alpha." The she-wolf would explain, nodding a little confidently

Emerald would take this chance to ponder a little what they were going to do next, the night was still upon them and yet neither of them seemed very tired. That said, Emerald knew that she and Anges would have to get some sleep eventually but neither of them were planning on going back to their respective sleeping quarters anytime soon. Then again, they were both in Emerald's room.

"If you don't wanna stay up anymore Agnes, If you want you can sleep in here tonight if it makes you feel any safer." Emerald would say, watching as the lightening flashed outside. "Or we could just stay up and I could politely brag about my awesome fight with the shark."

The hug was warm, tender, and made her feel safe. It had been a long time since she received a hug like that, a comforting one that made her feel as if she did not have anything in the world to fear. That made all her horrible experiences want to melt away into the strong arms of this young woman who promised to keep her safe. Though Agnes did not want to always be the one to play the damsel in distress there were moments were it felt good to know that she was safe. She felt like that when she was with Gina, and Sveta, her protective sisters, but she would never put either of them in danger like that.

Emerald though, she could take care of herself. And for some reason just the way she said that she would protect her made all the difference in the world. She couldn’t help BUT believe her.

Their hug finally broke and Agnes smiled a bit as the warmth of Emerald’s arms still lingered on her shoulders before it finally began to evaporate.

>> "Good…Besides, now that you’re a member of a pack, you are not allowed to break promises to your Alpha."

Agnes smirked.

“Aye, aye, captain,” she said with a stern nod.

>> "If you don't wanna stay up anymore Agnes, If you want you can sleep in here tonight if it makes you feel any safer…Or we could just stay up and I could politely brag about my awesome fight with the shark."

Agnes laughed and laughed good. The idea of Emerald battling with a shark just made the runaway want to giggle. But before she could, she let out a long, jaw cracking yawn. She sighed contentedly as she stopped and tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She hated the idea of going back to her room right now, especially when part of her was still worried about Emerald. Maybe she could use that invitation to help the both of them? That way, neither of them would have to be alone after a night like tonight.

“I wouldn’t mind if…you know…you told me the story to help me drift to sleep. Maybe your voice will keep the nightmares away?” she asked a little meekly.

OOC:got premisson for Godmodd

Emerald had been planning on almost insisting for Agnes to stay in the first place so when the younger girl agreed she couldn’t help but smile a little. It was good that she wasn’t planning on running back to her room just yet; nightmares had a tendency to come back with avegance when you talked about them too long and nightmares about one’s past were no exceptions.

The wolf girl knew that hers would eventually go away through the course of the night (not that she was looking forward to more) but she knew she would eventually be stable. Agnes on the other hand, she had no idea about so she would have much rather her stick around so she could keep an eye on her.

The rest of what Agnes said though drew the wolf girl into a blast from the past. It was a rather poignant memory for her to say the least, the last time she had heard something like that was from Ruby, her baby sister right around the time that she had arrived at the mansion for the first time.

Emmy…could you tell me a story…your voice always makes the bad dreams go away.

Even though Agnes didn’t know anything about the extensive history the Lupins had, it was still interesting that she said what she said in such a way so similar to young Ruby long ago. Finally, in response to Agnes’ question the wolf girl would nod, a warm smile appearing on that sharp looking face of hers.

“Sure, go get in a bed, I don’t really care which just settle down somewhere,” Emerald ordered, letting out a soft yawn as she did so. Once Agnes got into whichever of the beds she decided on the wolf girl would sit down on a corner next to her companion with an overexagerated sigh. “Alright where to start, a few years ago, back Ms. Tipper ran this school more fully and with an Iron fist I might add. I borrowed a boat from an old friend of mine and decided to go on a quick vacation. Ruby had classes at the time and me, well I was sort of skipping mine since I borrowed the boat during the school year,” Emerald laugh a little at that, remembering how mad Tricity was about her skipping classes.
“Any who, I sailed all the way to Hawaii and decided to stay for a little while before coming back to the frozen wasteland known as New York. So, I was staying on this beach, real mutant friendly community too, so everyone was all out, enjoying each other and their powers, it was great. Then, a rash of attacks started happening on some of the surfers and me being a surfer myself got a little worried mainly because sharks don’t attack 6 people in a row on the same beach,” Emerald would inform Agnes with a knowledgeable nod. The she-wolf was quite a water/beach person so she knew quite a bit about that sort of thing. If she wasn’t so hateful about science and what it could do, she could potentially be someone who researched marine wildlife. With a quick yawn, the wolf girl almost found herself dozing off for a moment, only to shake off that sleepy puppy feeling she was getting.

“So what happened was, I went out and found out a fledgling mutant had the ability to drive marine life absolutely nutty and he unfortunately accidentally did this on a shark. His powers were so raw and untamed though, he couldn’t stop it or the shark and there was no way to stop the shark from attacking people. Later on, I was out catching this great wave, at least 7 feet high when I saw the shark in the clear blue waters to the side of me. Just as I was enveloped in what surfers call the green room, which is when the wave goes over us but doesn’t crash and we could just ride straight out of it like we are shooting out of a pipe, the shark jumped at me and we were thrown into an epic battle of life and death.” Emerald grinned at that last part, starting to really get into the story and even though Agnes already knew the end it was still a fun story to tell.

“We tossed and turned under the waves, wolf vs. shark. Finned one vs. four legged wonder dog and after what felt like hours but was only minutes of fighting, I blacked out. Turns out, I tore into the shark so bad with the whole wolf thing that it got scared and bit a chunk of my leg off, just the muscly fat stuff but still it hurt like a son of a gun. It was regrown and healed by a local healer, however, with my one major injury I felt like I had to go see what the shark looked like and when I did, man was I surprised. I thought I was doing no damage to it and its rough skin was ripping at mine, but there it was, that bloodied mess you say in that picture. I felt sort of bad for it because it didn’t know what it was doing, that said we nearly lost a few people to that damn thing so I’m glad I stopped it before it got worse. Now that is the end of my story for today.” With that enthusiastic retelling of her story, the wolf girl let out a large yawn, exhaustion filling her limbs and soon found herself falling asleep right next to Agnes, then after a few more moments became completely asleep.

Agnes watched as a strange look came over Emerald’s face. Something in the young woman’s face seemed to show that Agnes had struck a chord. For the life of her Agnes didn’t know what it was that she had said that could have affected Emerald so strongly but whatever the case the wolf-girl seemed okay with it. After she blinked away the memory, she had turned her attentions back to Agnes and smiled.

>> “Sure, go get in a bed, I don’t really care which just settle down somewhere,”

Agnes nodded, sleep already weighing down on her eyes. Without realizing it, she climbed into the nearest bed, which happened to be Emerald’s, and curled up as she readied herself for sleep.

She felt the pressure of someone sitting at the end of the bed and Agnes tried to keep her eyes open but they slowly began to close. It didn’t help that Emerald’s voice was just what Agnes needed to hear to be rocked to sleep. She yawned wide as the she-wolf began her tale…

In the darkened world behind her closed eyes Agnes began to actually see the story that Emerald unfolded for her. She imagined a younger Emerald, sailing the waters to Hawaii, a community of open mutants, battle between shark and wolf. All of it just sprang to life for the runaway behind her closed lids and that was quickly interjected with the vivid colors and scenarios of the dreamscape.

By the time that Emerald got to the end of her story, Agnes couldn’t be bother to hold sleep at bay any longer. She didn’t hear Emerald yawn, nor her comments that she was done. And she didn’t even feel her lay down next to her. All Agnes could focus on were her dreams and the sensation of being comforted and protected as sleep overtook her mind…