"You think she's after you?"

A thousand questions ran through Ann's mind, but there was no time for that now. She thought of the girl they'd just passed. How many more innocent civilians might be hurt if the wolf stalked the corridors of the college. Not to mention the dogs. Or the cats.

"Let's get you out of here," she said, grabbing Elissa by the elbow. "Is there anywhere around here which would make a good spot to defend?"

Renee smiles pleasantly with the trio,  "Good evening to all of you. It is a bit busy out there. Lots of different sounding dogs " Taking a moment to evaluate each of them, she hesitates for a moment. "Are you three with me in attending Emmanuel?"

"Well she's coming closer...." Elissa observed. She suddenly realised that there was a civilian still with them. "Uh hi. No I'm studing Dance and Drama at the college. Yes you are right lots of dogs and cats making a noise." Shit! What did she do now! She didn't want to be rude to the pretty green eyed girl, but she also didn't want to be here when some sort of Wolf Woman turned up in case the pretty green eyed girl got turned into a dead pretty green eyed girl.

"We have to go. See you later." she was being dragged off by Ann, so that made it easy to decide what to do

The wolf's howl is coming from a different direction now, from Regent Street, perhaps, or Hills Road.

Before the Security bots arrive, Percival hears the howling of a wolf or wolves growing slowly but inexorably closer.

Ann replied to Renee. "I'm still at school, but we're here to visit Miss Casey. I don't suppose you know where she is, do you?"

She snapped her head around when she heard the wolf's latest howl. If it was changing direction that quickly, it had to be close. Very close. Perhaps it was too late to run, and this stranger might well be caught up if they left her alone and unguarded.

"That howling is getting close, and it's scaring me. We couldn't take shelter in your room until it passes, could we?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:27, Sun 03 Apr 2022.

"It's coming from the South... we came from the North" Elissa mussed aparantly at random. "But we were there earlier in the day. There might be more than one. I think I am going to talk to Alice first." she knocked harder on the door

"Out of curiosity, you don't have a silver letter opener or some silver jewelry do you Renee. I was watching 'Curse of the Werewolf' a couple of weeks ago, and it's making me twitchy" secrecy be damned if there were multiple wolves coming, Elisa was going to deal with them. If Alice didn't have anything, maybe Renee did.

Renee nods as if she is accepting the explanation, though she does have an expression that is mildly still guarded. "I have not seen the Lecturer today. Other than in passing, I have most commonly found her looking through the stacks of the library. I am..." Mid sentence she flinches. Her head jerking down and to the right and her eyes shutting in a clench with her brow very furrowed. Recovering from the quick motion, the guarded expression becomes one of worry. "Sure that she..." She flinches down and to the left a second time. Her brow furrows again and her mouth turns into a grimace. When her eyes open, there is some confusion and worry present in them. "What was I saying. I am not sure if shelter is entirely warranted at the moment."

Turning to look at Elissa she asks, "Do you often ask individuals you have just met what valuables they might posess?"

"Got it" Elissa said suddenly "Those sounds they are really close to the Taboo, or Downing. I wonder if she's... that's where we met... Christ how many people are going to be in Taboo! Shit this could be a ..." she stopped they had an observer

"No actually, girl" she said to Renee "Only when I've seen too many horror movies. Sorry... I didn't mean to act weird, but I have to go... Ann, Inoue...silver if you can. Don't hang around.  See you at the Taboo..."

And then she was off down the corridor. At the sort of speed a normal person could run if they were sprinting, but she was obviously in a hurry. And heading for the Taboo.

Goffery had noticed the somewhat noisy group of girls as they made their way onto Emmanuel grounds past him on Parker's Piece and noticing the sounds of the lycanthropic threat as it grew closer.  He started to follow them as they made their way to the residence of Emmanuel, letting his vision flow through the spectrum his form allowed him.  Following them and keeping some distance as he did his duty of protecting those on these grounds.

However, when the rather loud one of the group turned and ran back, he had to come to a stop, the statue he played, was a bit more obvious in this location, but now he had to make a choice, stay with the rest of the group, or follow single runner.  For the moment he stayed stilled, watching to see if the others would follow their friend, or at least until their attention would be off his location and let him follow after without drawing attention.

"We're not trying to steal your silver. If I ever take up a life of crime, I won't target student digs. Posh houses have lots of silver.
 A stash of hash and a few LPs probably isn't going to be worth the effort."

She watched as Elissa headed out. She considered following her, but Ann knew the part-demon could look after herself in a fight. There were others here who needed the Slayer's protection.

"It's silly, I know, but my friend here watched The Beast Must Die on TV recently, and she's terrified of that howling. A little bit of silver will put her mind at rest that at least we can hurt it. If werewolves really existed, of course."

OK, that probably wasn't the best bluff ever, and a stranger was unlikely to hand over her silver to people heading out to a club. She gave another hopeful rap on Alice's door.

"Do you always get this howling around here?"

As Elissa runs down the stairs and out through the main gates, pausing only for the doddery old porter to unlock the door, dark having fallen now, she looks to the left to see... well that's not a wolf.  Elissa has seen wolves before and they're not that big, that big black wolf-shaped creature was almost the size of a bear and it was growling at someone or something down the road.

The statue watched from a short distance, the soul inside noticing that all four of them were not normal, as much as one found normal in Cambridge at this point.  Two girls lit hotter than the others, but there was magic surrounding the southeast asian girl, something that would be of concern and to keep an eye on.  The fourth was not something he had seen before and the proximity to the youthful watcher made for much more of a concern.

However, the howls were growing, and this building would provide a little more safety, and so with only the soft grind of stone the statue turned and made it's way to leave and follow after the aggressively azure agitator and follow her outside, to at least make sure she got out safely.  The gravely voice flowed from him as he talked to himself while no one was around. "I'm sure that it will be just a moment, she'll be getting on her way, and nothing will be the matter.  How much trouble could that girl be."  He said, really hoping that he didn't just jinx himself with that comment.

"I wasn't attempting to accuse you of anything. It was merely an odd question, especially for s... well nevermind." Her words are abruptly halted by personal choice as if there is a topic that she is trying to avoid speaking of. Her eyes watch Elissa as she heads out.

"I have never been a fan of the horror genre. Affecting the dreams and what one sees, no. I would prefer not too see anything more disturbing" Again her cadence is deliberate as if there is a facet that she is speaking around.

"The howling is new. I heard some howling back at home up north, but father assured me that there have been no Wolves on Stewart lands since James VI. I have to doubt that the City would be any worse off. "

Elissa had heard the expression 'heart in her mouth' but it was very rare that she felt it. She did now though. Was that really Rhiannon? The girl that she had kissed and danced with? Given what she had seen over the last couple of weeks... it was certainly possible...

But ... fuck ... what should she do now? One thing she couldn't do was let the werewolf go after whatever it was looking at... or was that whatever she was looking at. And if it was Rhiannon in there, then she had to help her.

"Rhiannon" she said cautiously "Is that you?" she was approaching it hands held in that 'I am not armed', and she had the tone of voice of 'I'm here to help'. "It's me, Elissa" It was hard. Hard to see anything other than 'thing' but she tried. Tried to visual that as the clever welsh girl in the bomber jacket. And every nerve on edge, she made herself get closer. It would have been so very much easier just to pull the cricket bat out out of her backpack and smack it on the head from surprise, but easier might get Rhiannon dead

The Porter of Downing College was cowering in his sentry box as the Gwyllgi, hackles raised and teeth bare growled at him.  He pressed a button and the howls of the Gwyllgi were joined by sirens and the rumbling and whirring of strange machinery.

When Elyssa called, the Gwyllgi backed away and looked toward her.  It does not approach but merely stands on all fours, looking with that expression canids get when faced with a 'so what's this' moment.  The howling stops but the sirens and machinery do not.

If the creature had attacked, Elissa would have known what to do. This just made it more scary. There was no flash of intellect in those eyes, Elissa couldn't see Rhiannon in them .. not yet.

That whirring noise... that was scary too. Little feelings of panic ran through Elissa. That was the sound of something coming to 'deal' with the situation. And 'dealing' might mean killing... And then the pretty welsh girl would be dead on the floor here...

"Rhiannon" she repeated the name, hoping that it would get through to the beast "Look at me. Listen to me. Let's go somewhere quiet Rhiannon. Let's go to the park" Parker's Piece was just a short distance away, and perhaps the whirring noise wouldn't follow them. She kept repeating Rhiannon's name... maybe that would help ...  as she tried to encourage it to follow her to the park. She wasn't sure what she was more scared of: the whirring noise, having to deal with an attack from Rhiannon, or Rhiannon actually following her... because what the hell would she do then?
This message was last edited by the player at 06:47, Tue 05 Apr 2022.

Finally Alice’s door opened.  She’d been sewing together some cloth bags filled with wolfs bane, complete with string hooks.

“Ahh girls, good evening.  And Miss Stewart… hello to you as well.  Pardon my charges here, they get a little excited when we go on an outing.  Girls, let’s move to the library.”

Alice wanted some privacy in which to hear about their news… and to bring in Sir John, if required.

Goffery made it outside just in time to hear the alarm go up, a small curse being uttered as he made his way onto the street ignoring efforts to hide himself from normal people.  Looking down the street the sight was not what he was expecting but little was nowadays. The blue haired woman from before was approaching a large dark wolf like creature as if trying to calm down a pet, calling out a name he didn't recognize.  This looked to only be able to end in tears.

One stone foot in front of the other as he walked slow and purposefully towards Elissa and the wolf, hoping there wasn't a pack out tonight.  He was stone, meaning he needed to get between any humans and the wolf.  If Sir John was here, or any other Watcher, he would probably been ordered to attack the creature, a monster to eliminate.  But he was alone and the woman was trying to sooth the beast, that was one of the dumbest things he could think to do.  Though he had a track record of dumber, so he could not bring himself to ignore the humanity being offered, instead approaching so that when things went wrong, he could intercept the creature and spare the woman from her own compassion.

The Gwyllgi lowers its head and whines as it faces Elissa, looking up at her.  It moves toward her slowly and sniffs before turning around and loping off about 20 yards, stopping and looking back to see whether or not the human is following.

"Let's go for a run Rhiannon" Elissa said not entirely sure how this was going to work out. Still they were leaving this area, where there were whirring noises, and strangeness. She had absolutely no idea what was going on: 'Curse of the Werewolf' was not exactly the more reliable source of information. She was happy to run after the wolf, still being aware that at any time the wolf might turn.

She hopped not. If it Rhiannon in there, there might be a chance to save her. Perhaps the Watchers knew some suitable magic...

Apparently satisfied that Elissa is following, the Gwyllgi lopes to the corner by the Church of St Mary and the English Martyrs until Elissa gets closer and then begins running Westward down Lensfield Road.  It seems obvious she's heading for Fen Causeway and the backs of the colleges, the biggest open space for a dog wolf Gwyllgi to go for a run.

You notice that the door behind the porter of Downing opens to reveal what appear to be honest to goodness Daleks

Like most people Elissa occasionally watched Dr Who. She kind of liked it, but when she was six her parents had found her hiding behind the couch hugging a cushion watching the Daleks. Every since then she'd worked hard to overcome that irrational fear: she occasionally bought the Dalek annuals at fairs, or in junk shops, and could utter 'EXTERMINATE' with the best of them. She'd even been to the Dr Who exhibition at Blackpool tower and had a polaroid of her hugging one

When she saw them there was just a hint of that childhood fear, almost instantly covered over with 'just a man in a tin can right'. Sure...

Fortunately she was already running with Rhiannon. So she didn't need to worry. Beside everyone knew if you were chased by a Dalek you just had to run up stairs. It's not like they could fly or anything

Thrusting the Daleks to one side she started to run with Rhiannon. This was so much better than what she'd expected. If 'Rhiannon/Wolf' wanted to just run and play that was fine. She was hopeful that come the dawn it would be 'Rhiannon/welsh girl' again, and then they could talk, but for now she was just going to take it one minute at a time. "Let's go Rhiannon" it was important to keep saying the name, she felt. Perhaps it was working, perhaps not, but it had so far.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:53, Thu 07 Apr 2022.

Renee smiles to Alice, "Miss Casey, good evening to you." Her eyes carefully look over the remaining trio there is a reasonable level of suspicion in her eyes. "Things surely are interesting this evening."

"Good evening, Miss Casey," said Ann with a smile. "Elissa was here, but she left for the Taboo. She thought that her, um, missing dog might be around there, and she might bite someone. We were just saying how scary that howling is, and suggesting that your neighbour stay indoors until it has passed. Plus it's a full moon tonight, so who knows what lunatics there will be out."

"If you want to go to the library, perhaps you should lead the way. I get lost every time I come to this college."