I held it in the night [Nikolay]

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Even though she didn’t exactly want to do this, say, in a library, no matter how much she felt that Todd would’ve appreciated it, Nancy knew that sharpening her talent was more than just advisable. If her mother and father were right about this place, it could easily mean the difference between life and death. This was what brought her to the forest when her classes were done. Perhaps some would have been hesitant to go so near sunset, but even though Nancy felt fear course through her veins, she was able to remind herself that she was far from defenseless.

“One, two…” Counting wasn’t exactly of much use besides focusing her mind on the task at hand. Nancy, much like her parents, was the sort whose mind was always full of so many burdensome thoughts, and it took a true effort to clear her mind, which could prove to be problematic when she was shape-shifting. If she didn’t want to turn into a rather painful looking hybrid, it was best to concentrate on what form she wanted to take and nothing else. At least, besides the numbers; so far she hadn’t turned into the number one yet, so she figured that was okay.

Once again, her method worked well enough. She was now closer to the ground, and what used to be her hands were paws, black and furry. Something about the woods had evoked thoughts of the fairytales that, yes, even her mother told (it just so happened that they were far closer to the truth than most children’s), and what beast represented that world better than the wolf? She vaguely realized that her mother probably would’ve teased her about just copying a second rate fantasy novel soon enough, however. That made her want to change pretty quickly, because even if her mother wasn’t here, Nancy was pretty sure the implication would have made her blush if she were still human.

So what next...

But before Nancy could make a decision, her newly sharpened ears picked up the sound of footsteps, and they were most certainly…well, at least they were humanoid, you never really could tell with Tintagel. Perhaps that was why she still felt the instinct to be on full alert, sniffing the ground, hoping that she wouldn’t have to do anything too drastic. After all, not everyone had to be out to get here at this place, right?

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If he had thought the park was impressive, the woods were even better, there was nothing like this in the centre of Paris. Perhaps out in the countryside, surrounding the city, but he had never ventured out so far. His mama and papa sometimes spoke about the forests back in Russia, the large pine trees, but they never described anything like what was here, it was all just so beautiful.

As he was passing through he suddenly heard a sound that he didn’t recognise, although there had been many on entering the woods, but this…it sounded very strange. Rather than move away, curiosity got the better of him and headed towards it, despite his better instincts telling him not too. As he rounded around a particularly large tree he spotted what had made the noise and he could almost feel the colour from his face drain.

A wolf.

There was a wolf. It had spotted him. If he ran now it was sure to give chase and he was almost certain it would catch him before he got to safety. So instead he stood still, staring at the creature. He held out a hand towards it and mumbled, “Nice, wolfie, I’m not going to hurt you…”

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The old saying about wild animals being more afraid of you than you are of them actually could very well apply here. Well, except for the fact that she wasn’t a wild animal, not really. She was just hiding, so to speak. Apparently her father was an expert at using it to hide, even used to almost turn into a person who looked at him for too long, but Nancy didn’t live in the constant fear her father did. There was less of a need to shape shift for her, at least until she had arrived here. She knew that danger could easily lurk around every corner at this school, and she needed to be prepared.

All the same, the thought of having to face her first danger when she had just got here was upsetting to say the least. She would’ve audibly swallowed if she could, but instead she kept her eyes fixed towards the sound, her heart beating triple time. It was actually sort of funny, how she was the one who was the predator by all accounts, and she was the one who was terrified…

Yet apparently, she had absolutely no need to be. The person who appeared seemed like a rather ordinary boy. Not just ordinary, but terrified at the mere sight of her. In spite of the fact that her social skills weren’t the best, she was actually very good at observing other people’s expressions. It probably came with the territory; if you were going to shape shift into a person, you had to be good at reading people, especially if you wanted to be convincing. It was because of this apparent fear that Nancy decided that it was probably safe to return to her human form…besides, she felt sort of bad over the fact that she was the reason why his voice sounded so shaky.

If she could’ve smiled without showing all her teeth, she would have right away, at least before she slowly morphed back into her human self. That was when she offered the boy a sheepish smile. “Neither will I…sorry about that, I didn’t think anyone was here…” she stated quietly. Now here was hoping that she didn't wind up freaking the boy out even more.

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Nikolay blinked as the creature before began to change, morph into something entirely different. He took a few steps back and managed to trip over a tree root, tumbling to the ground as the wolf turned into a young girl. Strange, very strange, really, really, really strange. He knew there was magic here, he had seen some of it on arriving but this was the first time he had ever seen it do something like this. He ahad definitely not bee prepared for it.

Then the girl was talking and he was sure he should be listening to her but he was too busy looking over her body. There was no fur, no ears, no tail, where had it all gone? Was it all on the inside? Did the magic keep it hidden? Was she naturally a wolf or naturally a human? What did it all mean?!

“What?” he said after a moments pause, “How did…you…changed…and…what?!”

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Well…this wasn’t the least bit ideal. Seeing as she and her father spent such a large percentage of their time being scared, realizing that someone else was scared was one of the worst feelings she ever dealt with. Nice going, Panic, she scolded herself. Really, it was stupid to assume that there was even a chance of someone not being dead scared at the sight of a wolf, and then watching said wolf turn into a seemingly harmless girl. Who wouldn’t be terrified?

Well, that wasn’t going to work. She was going to have to figure out a way to calm him down before, gods forbid, he decided to maybe invest in a gun. She mentally winced at the idea of starting an epidemic of werewolf hunts or something…not that she was a hundred percent sure if she qualified as one. After all, she could turn into a butterfly, or the boy standing before her, or even that tree over there’s twin if she wanted. Still, if there were any official werewolves out there, she certainly didn’t want to be responsible for the epidemic of silver bullets that she could very well have just started here, dear gods. She was really going to have to be careful from now on, but right now she needed to do damage control…okay, that was easy enough…right? Right??

“I-I-I…?” she managed to get out, which was really so eloquent and was really going to help her case, wasn’t it? Dammit, take a breath! And so she did, and pulled out the calmest tone she could muster. “Don’t be afraid? I…I just shape-shift, I don’t really do anything that involves attacking, I mean, unless I’m attacked first, then that’s a whole different story…and I’m babbling. Great. I’ve scared you witless and now I can’t seem to stop—“ But thankfully, her hand flew to her mouth to quiet her. This was turning into quite the awkward interaction, and she’d be lucky if he didn’t just ran off because she was such a freak.

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Nikolay began to shake his head quickly, “I’m not attacking you, I am definitely not attacking you. So, uh, please, please do not do, that again, please.”
 
It was going to take a lot of getting used too this magic thing, especially since he was beginning to find out that it was everywhere. Apparently, even in the woods and around young girls who apparently is just a shape-shifter. The way she said that, as if that piece of knowledge was supposed to make him feel so much better, as if the idea that this young and quite attractive girl could turn into a big hairy dangerous beast. Next she was going to turn around and say that Vampires were real.
 
He got to his feet, holding his hand out to her as if she might change again and that one hand would protect him. “I…I’m calm…I’m not scared witless, I’m just a little…surprised. And…uh…so…um…how long have you been able to do that then?"

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Dear gods, she was officially making the worst first impression ever, it was taking all of her self control to not whimper like a starving puppy when the poor boy was trying so hard to assure her that she wasn't attacking. Honestly, she wasn't some wild animal! She was just a girl who was very good at looking like one, she wouldn't dream of actually hurting anyone all willy nilly! Not that animals really did that either. Oh sure, to humans it seemed willy nilly and cruel, but there was always a good reason. Honestly, people forgot that they too were just a few good meals away from being wild animals themselves, so when some girl popped up turning into a wolf, they got the completely wrong idea.

"No, no, no, I know you won't, or at least I don't think you will!" she assured him, almost talking over him in how quick she was to actually defend her own honor and also try to calm the boy's nerves. Really, this was just awful, and while he was trying to say he wasn't scared witless, she could practically smell his fear...and of course that was just a metaphor. She was probably better equipped at sensing fear than most simply because she felt it so often, but that was neither here nor there when it came to her animal like abilities.

She shrugged, awkward smile in place. "Forever? My father does it too..." Hesitating for a moment, she took a step forward, then used the gentlest voice she could muster. "I won't hurt you...I was just practicing, honest..."

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“You’re father?! It’s hereditary?!” he said still confused and shocked and scared and…

Well that was actually quite a relieving piece of information all things considered. Nikolay had been able to acquire certain books when he lived back in France, to keep him entertained in the brief hours that he wasn’t working, and to read to his dear sister Natalya. One of which was about people who were transformed into dangerous wolves, werewolves they were called, usually because they had been bitten by another one. They were just fairy stories though, they weren’t real…and not entirely accurate if what the girl was saying, it passed down the family, not bite to bite. Good.

“Practicing…why would you need to practice it,” he said a little calmer now, “Does it not just happen?”

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"Well, yeah. I mean, I'm not sure how common it is, it's not like there's a bunch of us everywhere, but I can only assume it's not just me. That'd be a bit arrogant." Though come to think of it, Daddy and his brother are the only demons of their kind I really know of...and how often would they really be able to breed? It was best to keep those sorts of thoughts quiet, though. She had just calmed the boy down. Using the D word would probably warrant an even worse reaction, gods forbid. He was even asking a rather reasonable and calm question about her ability now! Why ruin a good thing with the truth?

"Well, yes, it does. It's more of seeing how fast I can do it, you know, like running laps. You can only get faster by doing it more often." This time she managed to stop herself from her typical rambling and smiled, moving closer towards the boy.

"Anyway, sorry for scaring you...I'm Nancy Panic," she said, sticking out her hand.