※Act 1: RUN

Large paws met earthy ground, carrying her over thickets of bracken and through stands of fir with grace born of familiarity, the undergrowth parted obediently. Fierce viridian shades and further browns blended together into a muddy blur as Amaranthine flew past taking leaves off branches that hung too close. Each stride drew her closer to the pulse of the forest.

The air was cool tinged with rich scents of pine, louring trees added to the overall gloomy atmosphere, it was silent aside from melodies of morning birds warped by the severity of her speed. Amaranthine's breathing came in sharp gasps as raw adrenaline spiked her stystem.

The shadows receded into the depths of the woodland, trees thinned into a small clearing. A faint trail lay off to the side shielded by foliage, rows of trailors layed out across the grass greatly varying in size and color. Some had make-shift picket fences, others assorted childrens toys and exterior additions like clothing lines. Amaranthine skidded ripping up dirt and turf as her paws dug into the earth bringing her to an abrupt halt. If it weren't for the combination of roaring of blood in her ears and dissipating high, the low buzz of cicada would be overpowering. A quick glance to the sky confirmed it was late dawn, with a final huff to quell her breathing Amaranthine raised her head.

The peaceful hum of ambience was apparent, she now took notice of two figures across the glade, next to the ugly gray-blue trailer home. Mami called it 'Le Vaisseau', although if you asked her, it resembled a tincan more than anything else. The shorter of the pair was just standing there idly, while the taller had their hand up in the air waving her down. Amaranthine ran her tongue over her molars, springing into a slow canter. The distant silhouettes began to ease into familiarity as she sped up to time her bounds, using a particularly powerful stride Amaranthine vaulted herself to a comfortable height.

Her shifts were always clean.

Black and white locks retracted, falling just past her shoulders licking upwards at the tips.

Bones creaked and stretched. It was an odd, gross feeling; having your figure reconstruct itself in a matter of seconds, but not foreign. Akin to unexpectantly bending your limb at a weird angle.

Amaranthine left the ground a wolf, and touched back down a girl. It was funny really, how congruent the two forms felt. Often she would find herself forgetting which one she was if left in her head without interruption.

Her shifts were always clean, seamless.

"Now that was flawless!" The taller of the two, another girl, congradulated accentuating the praise with a slow clap. Amaranthine huffed in amusment, rolling her eyes playfully as the two approached. "No need to butter me up wench.." Amaranthine shot back, although her tone held no bite. Lysithea held her hand to the right side of her chest in faux hurt, "Your hearts on the left side of your chest dumbass." the other scoffed passing her, ignoring the cries of protest and swatting hands as she ruffled the hair of the little boy to Lysithea's left.

The gravel crunched as she neared the door step, Amarathine didn't have to look to know that the two were close behind. She circled the tincan's white fencing knocking the gate open with a hip, the entire thing creaked with effort and Amaranthine half expected it to flop over. She dodged some boxes and a plastic play structure reaching for the screen yanking it open, hurried steps were the only warning before the little boy blazed past her in a rush, almost shoving her off the cinder block that acted as a doorstep, she had to plant a foot on the ground again to prevent eating absolute shit. Amaranthine held out her free leg in attempt to trip him but he overcompensated by taking larger steps, anticipating his sisters stunt. "I hate you." Amaranthine deadpanned, hanging on the handle and swinging herself through the opening, bunting the door open for lysithea to slip in after her. It was a small room, planks linned every surface except the floor, a booth was tucked to the right complimeted by green leather cusions and these beige pillows with flowers and leaves woven into the material. The kitchen adjacent from the entrance, a window nessled above the sink accented by frilly curtains. Various framed pictures littered the walls, Fleur disappeared into the bedroom to the far left. "It always smells homey in here, Mary" Lysithea commented, shrugging off her jacket and securing the sleeves around her waist in a knot.

Lysithea was only an inch or two taller than her. Brown, sorry, ashe blonde hair typically pulled back somehow. Today she adorned a gray old wifebeater, that thing was stained to hell, Mary didn't understand why she kept it around.

"Mmm." Mary hummed plopping down on a sofa wedged along the wall between the frontdoor and booth, Lysithea followed.

"How are your shifts feeling?" The girl questioned abruptly.

"..My shifts?" Mary parroted, her eyebrows knitted together in light confusion. "..Good, why?"

"I..I don't know..." Lysithea muttered allowing her head to tip back onto the cusioning, so that she was staring directly up at the wooded ceiling. "I've been feeling, blocked..lately. Like-like it's there but, not." She paused, not needing to look Mary's direction to know she was lost. "Like...There's something blocking it." Lysithea tried again.

Mary hummed, leaning back to mimmick her. "My mami was talking about that, something about being 'in civilization' too long affects your 'connection to your wolf'. She called it the 'suburban effect', or something." Mary threw her hands in the air to form quotations with her middle and pointer at each phrase.

"Do you believe it?" lysithea rolled her head to face her, cheek pressing into the coolness of the clothe.

Mary shrugged "I dunno', I'm not really into that 'your wolf and you are two seperate things' crap."

She returned to zoning out at the ceiling. "It's scary. Thinking one day, we won't be able to turn anymore-" Mary cut her off abruptly "Don't say things like that, we're heading to point Eden tonight, there we won't have to think, we won't have to pretend. We can finlly escape and leave all the shit here behind, and never look back. No human shit. No shifting shit, No civilization shit. Nothing. Rien."

Lysithea giggled "Right, heres to no shit." Mary snorted, standing up from the couch and wandering across the room, stopping in the doorway and leaning on the jambs with both arms to hold herself in place. Fleur wasn't anywhere to be seen "Hurry your ass up, we're leaving-" She called, shoving off the boards and walking into the front room again, breifly bending over to snatch her bag from the carpet. Lysithea Rocked up off the couch to exit through the screen. A solid ten seconds flew past before Mary barked a quick "Ok we're leaving without you" and sautered after her friend. Muffled yelling was the last thing she heard before letting the door snap shut, breaking into a short sprint to catch up with Lysithea who was already past the gate. Fleur complained mildly as he peeled the door back open, carefully maneuveriung out of the way prior to releasing it so that it didn't take off a finger.

The trailers were..Somewhat organized..Looped in a wonky oval, each different from the last with their own little yards customized to the owners liking. Mary estimated there were about 11 of them, last time she counted. Rougarou often formed communities, 'packs' of sorts with other households, all of these people were her family. The sun was still making its' ascent, swimming in a firey mixture of sharp oranges and muted ambers. Despite the obscure hour people ambled about, fulfilling standard activities like watering crops or hanging clothes on lines.

Lysithea muttered something as they walked, splitting from the group and jogging off to a highlighter-yellow home, ducking through the door. A man a few trailers over paused his shoveling to toss them a wave, Mary reciprocated the gesture with a leisurely smile.

She turned just in time to spot Luster trotting to meet them, Their little kestrel Maverick perched atop their shoulder. The bird followed them around like a well-trained dog, landing on nearby structures before taking off to relocate further forward once they approached, it was cute.

"Hi Luster!" Fleur chirped running up to them, "Heyy." They greeted, tapping him on the shoulder as they passed. Luster stopped at Mary's side, brown messanger bag strap secured across their chest. They measured out around her height, a patterned purple flannel pulled over a white shirt, paired with dusty blue jeans ripping at the knees. Luster's hair was lighter than lysithea's, curling up at their neck. "Where's Lysithea?" They questioned, scanning nearby surroundings. "Just getting her stuff-" Mary cut herself off as the girl in question barged through her door, twisting her neck to throw some spanish remark over her shoulder, backpack in hand. "Dios mío.." Lysithea groaned dragging a hand over her face, slipping the bag onto her back as she strolled over. Luster raised a hand, waving enthusiastically. Lysithea only glared in result, refusing to return the greeting. Luster lowered their hand awkwardly. Mary look to them, then to Lysithea, Fleur glanced up at her face contorted in a look of bewilderment.

"Oookay..Shall we go?" She suggested, snapping the tension.

"Yeah." Lysithea replied slowly, starting off infront of the group. They weaved through yards and inbetween trailers, breaching into the surrounding clearing. The grass stood tall, some glades even surpassing Mary's hip. They continued down the known path, ground long trampled and warn from years walking that same trail, crickets took flight at every pass. Louring fir rimmed the meadow, Fleur described them as 'threatening' but to her it provided an aura of safety. Or maybe that was just her wolf talking, she wasn't sure. Treaded pathway met pine-ridden litterfall, further accenuated by the broken down, decaying fence. Mary imagined it used to line the entire field at one point, a long time ago. It may have even housed horses, maybe cattle? There was an abandoned barn nearby afterall.