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"Yeah, no, biting is actually bad, it passes the...were-ness to the next person," Lily nodded, suddenly hyper aware of the way her teeth fit together under her lips. She said nothing of the extra pet--if she was willing to offer one, then what was one more?

"Yeah, but like...nothing like what most people dealt with," she amended, glancing down at her arm. "A lot of people got really ******** up, I just got a little baby-scratch."

"The four of us went to the otherworld before moonrise--the change isn't bad there, it doesn't hurt, we stay us." She let go of her tail, then rummaged through her bag again, reaching this time for mascara. It was a distraction from thinking about all the blood, the panicked people, it forced her hands to stop shaking as she began her practiced application. "It's when you do moonrise on this side that it all goes to s**t. Otherwise, all you do is hang out in the otherworld for a few minutes, wait for the shift, and then you come home and you're fuzzy for a few days but that's it. Goes away in, like, four days or something."

"He wasn't with us," Lily answered solemly, her lips pulling into a frown. "Or...he wasn't supposed to be there? Mercer said that Michael was a part of the otherworld, he wasn't from here anymore or whatever. And it's too late after the moon rises--you're basically ******** until the shift is over." She didn't mention how they'd found Michael Mitchell's body floating face-down on the beach a month later, how they'd pushed him through that portal back to the otherworld and in the last moments she'd seen him he'd begged, pleaded not to go. Maybe he'd known what was coming. Maybe they could have stopped it.

"There were four of us," she amended, crossing her arms. "But anyone who got bit received a free membership to the furry fan-club, so the Pack's pretty huge now. Some people are pretty shy about it, but I guess that's fair." Lily evidently didn't seem to feel any shame for her current state of being, having made no efforts to hide in a public place. There were worse things to feel shame for, darker secrets with no fix in sight, like possibly sending a packmate to their death.

"Thanks," she said absent-mindedly, looking in the mirror as she licked her gums. "I figure if I look halfway like a hell-beast, I might as well go full on Satan spawn."

"We carpool, kinda--it's weird. Some people know how to get there, some people don't, but we all kinda text each other when it starts to be that time of the month, make sure no one forgets, because, I mean, I guess Blackfriar's again? None of us really wants to test it out."

Lily laughed once at the comment, though it came out more as a soft huff through parted lips. "I'm about it, Armageddon 3000 has a nice ring to it." She pondered for a second, then asked, "You wanna be...uh, I dunno...Apocalypse Mark II?"

She hadn't talked to Lucas in a while--her nickname game was starting to go stale.

"No full animal here, there's not enough 'magic' or whatever," Lily shrugged, looking in her bag for a hair tie. She bent down to drape the swath of her hair over her face, than began to tie it back in its usual ponytail. "The normal world only gets discount furry mode, but in the otherworld, we can shift pretty much however we want."

"I'd watch it," she mused, fluffing her bangs when she pulled herself back up to her full height. "Sounds like a thrilling summer action flick, explosions and titties galore."

"Ehh, it's probably for the best," Lily shrugged, tightening her ponytail. "Otherworld kinda sucks hardcore unless you're into, like...weird spooky s**t."

"I mean...I guess," she added with a sigh, shooting Preacher a smile that might have been joking. "It's no problem, man, I'm all about spreading awareness or whatever. Makes us less weird-weird and more just...quirky."

"Any time, Mark II, any time," she nodded, then turned back to the mirror for some last minute primping.