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"Oh, I didn't figure you'd done it on purpose." Em said, "Actually, I figured it was either just an amusing coincidence or..." she paused, looking over at the wolfen features, debating whether to finish her thought, before finally deciding there was no need not to be honest with Ambrose, "that some of the instincts had kicked in. Wolves are pack animals. They need that sense of family, they're drawn in to groups that they feel comfortable around."

She smiled, almost apologetically, for the assumption. "Like I said, though, I was just... thinking."

"You shouldn't feel nervous about people seeing you, Ambrose. We all know what's going to happen- we all know that we'll have to face this ourselves. Actually, if anything, seeing you this far transformed is only difficult because it reminds us that it's going to happen to us, as well. At least, for me." She took a deep breath, kicking at a stone in the path and watching the steel toe of her boot shoo it off with a single motion. "To be honest, it's... comforting, to see you like this, even if it does take some getting used to- because it means that we're all together in this. ...Wow, I know that didn't make any sense at all," she said, both to Ambrose and to herself. "Maybe I mean... that seeing that you can go through it, and that you're still you- it makes me feel good. It makes me feel... like nothing's changed. ...Even if everything has."

She realized how muddled her thoughts were, and that they were spilling out like ink from a pen- thoughts, like ink, were supposed to form into words that made sense, into reason and rhyme... but just as easily, they could flow out in a muddled mess.

"Oh, no, I completely understand!" Em said, feeling a bubble of relief burst and all the words contained inside just rush out without censor. "I feel sorry for him, too, but every time I talk to him, it's all about how troubled he is about Greer- which is fine, but he basically said 'why couldn't it have been anyone BUT Greer'- right to my face. Which I sort of took to mean, 'why didn't YOU get this debilitating change', as if it a) wouldn't matter if I was turning into a bird, and b) like my own change isn't going to be gruesome enough," she said, ticking the two points off on her fingers.

"Don't get me wrong, I admire The Dude a lot. But it seems that he's in a very... negative place right now. I don't blame him... but I think a lot of the things I used to think about him- ... well..." she paused, not knowing how raw she wanted to get with her emotion right now. "Well, suffice it to say, he obviously doesn't hold me in as high a regard as I thought he did." She quieted, and then, wanting to get off the subject, brushed the hair and quill mass out of her eyes, and sighed gently.

"Poor Jamal. I didn't know he'd had a breakdown. ...I suppose that means he found out. ...And a priest? Oh god.... what is Moreau doing?" She said the words, sad and rhetorical, placing a hand on her heart as if the answer lay therein.

"I've wondered that myself," Em said. "I mean, I was the first person besides Aubrey that Jamal saw- and I was like this... but he still didn't want to believe anything was wrong. He saw so many of us transformed, but I think it just took that time to allow his system to accept it. ...I don't know if the shock method would work too well." She exhaled a sigh she didn't know had been stored in her throat. "You know... I don't envy these newcomers their realizations. I think our way was the easiest way to realize what had happened to us. I mean, we were all in the dark, and we learned together, slowly, either by transformation, or by... admission of guilt," she said softly, remembering that night in Moreau's mansion. "We all helped each other through it. I think that's why we're all so close. But these newcomers- they're coming across these transformed people, and they don't know who to turn to, what to believe. It's an immense, grating shock on the system, even if they try to learn about it 'gradually'. Eventually, they're going to realize they just stepped into hell."

"Hm..." she said, musing over everything he said. "It's actually not a half bad idea. I'd at least like to get the islanders together so I can MEET all them. Not to mention that some may be... well... have skills that would be useful." She still felt badly for bringing up the idea of escape to Ambrose after his transformation- but his change had been so shocking that the threads of ideas and hopes for escape had rushed out in a furvor. She was still regretting.. having upset his balance that way, after she'd just gotten finished 'reality checking' him into his fate. ...But she herself didn't know how much the reality check was worth for her- not after all her opinions of Moreau had changed. ...Emelyn had been seriously thinking about ways to leave this place- and except for those whispered words in Ambrose's ear that morning, she had spoken of her desires to no one. She doubted that he even knew how much she'd been thinking about it recently.

"You've said so much," she said, walking slowly, "I don't even know what to respond to first. ...I'd forgotten that you were the first one. At least, I wasn't thinking of it when I said that. Of course it would have been harder for you to find out that way. I was just thinking of me- I'm sorry. That was... rather insensitive. And just after we got finished talking about others being the same. I apologize. ...I think I just meant- we all had each other, going through it together. These others, they show up alone, and pretty soon they realize what's going to happen, and they don't have anyone to turn to who is at the same level they are- at least, not many." She stopped a while, musing. "Maybe it would be a good idea to have someone that we... sort of assign to each person, to get them used to the idea, so it's not overwhelming for them. Someone who is near their same level, who hasn't transformed yet, or something- anything that we figure may help them transition easier."

They had reached the steps that led to her upper duplex, and Em paused at the bottom, wondering whether they were going to continue up or if he was going to head back to his own. Instead of vocalizing the awkward mental moment, she grasped onto something she felt, based on what he'd said, poised on the bottom stair like a soul in limbo.

"Well, what can I say, Ambrose? I am a freak." She laughed, rubbing at the light fur on her arms. "But.. in a good way, I suppose."

The hair that brushed her arms- was not indigenous solely to that area. Indeed, that soft down of brown hair also coursed up her shoulders, in soft trails down her back, legs, and even in v on the back of her neck. And now, those hairs were all standing at... almost hopeful attention, as if to tell Emelyn that this touch... was not a bad thing.

"Thank you..." she said, feeling something that she'd not felt.. ever. ...Shy. To this confident girl, the sensation was wholly unfamiliar, and she almost wondered if that fluttering in her stomach pointed to an illness, rather than what it was- that glowing blush of newness that was born out of such a moment.

She hung still on the step, until finally those shy eyes looked upward to meet those still so human eyes in a body she was... still coming to recognize.

"So are you going to make me ask?" She said, thinking as she said it... that he'd either understand what she meant, or not. And she didn't entirely know which one she'd prefer. If he knew... well... they'd take it from there. And if he had no idea- then perhaps she could pretend it meant nothing.