Learn to Howl {Alex Vreeke | Jumanji}

7; bone & bandages

Alex was right when he said time moved different around here; they waited a few hours, found out more about the land and it's history, got to know and trust one another more now that they had been granted a bit of a reprieve. Tetra came to, letting Stevie bring her scraps of meat to devour, and growling at anyone who came anywhere near her.

"Don't make him do this," Alex sounded weary with bandages in hand, his own dog snarling and snapping at him. Tetra's eyes were closed, but Stevie's were glowing emerald green. The others watched in fascination. Tetra opened one eye, looking at Alex out of the corner of her eye before looking to Stevie. For the briefest moment, the wolf continued to snarl at him with hostility before the emerald drained from his eyes and he yipped in greeting and butted his nose against Alex's hand. Fridge was the next to approach, looking at Tetra with a frown on his face and cup in his hands.

"What is she?" He asked, and Tetra let out a huff before letting her eyes close once more. Alex sat by her head, taking a look at where her fur was soaked with blood, trying to discern where the wound was.

"What do you mean?" Alex responded, only half paying attention.

"Listen man, I know animals, and this, whatever she is, is not a real animal." Fridge said, though he didn't seem afraid, in fact, he seemed ready to trust both Alex and Tetra, as with a steady hand he reached out and began scratching behind Tetra's ears. She seemed appeased by this, and smiled a little.

"Uh, I thought none of them were real animals; this is a video game." Bethany cut in, sitting herself next to Alex, watching him work where he was trying to wrap a bandage around Tetra's shoulder, with little success. They all watched, if only for a few minutes, before he sighed heavily and gave up.

"I don't think it's gonna work." Fridge cut in, unhelpfully. Tetra opened her eyes just a little, and Alex caught her gaze.

"You need to change back if you want me to fix you up." He told her, and she made a whine of discomfort at the suggestion. At his imploring look, she struggled to her feet, giving Fridge an affectionate nudge in thanks, and a nod of acknowledgement to Bethany. With another whine, she fixed Alex with a pleading expression.

"It hurts." They're waiting to ambush the Transportation Shed a second time. She got her knife back from the last time and is now flipping it idly. At Alex's confused look, she avoids his gaze. "The wolf thing, it's not like, a party trick." But he still doesn't understand, so she closes her eyes and her hand stills with the knife in it. He watches in fascination as she scrunches up her face, before her eyes snap open, glowing emerald, and she snarls at him, the sound accompanied by the sound of bones crunching and moving, her mouth and nose distending into a muzzle before his very eyes. When she tried to speak again, it was a growling snarl, and after another round of blood-curling bone sounds, her face was back to normal. "It hurts."

Alex doesn't want to be the cause of her pain, not now, not ever, but if she doesn't turn back, he won't be able to bandage up her wound, she won't be strong enough to accompany them to the end. His expression doesn't waiver. Tetra takes off into the forest and their whole party collectively recoils at the reverberating sounds of bones snapping, of a low howl turning to an incredibly human moan of pain. When she walks out of the forest, she looks fearsome, long, black hair in tight braids down to her waist, lion pelt draped elegantly over her shoulders, covering most of her "outfit" that consisted of a tight, ripped crop top and jean shorts that barely covered her ass, though the pelt had a certain regal air about it that made the whole outfit seem less... skimpy. Alex's mouth went dry, watching as she finished the transformation by pushing her jaw back into place, eyes fading from their distinctive emerald back to her natural brown. It's been so long since he'd seen her, and now it feels like he can finally breathe for the first time since he'd realised she wasn't coming back the first time.

"Oh." Bethany's voice is very quiet.

Tetra seems almost embarrassed by the sudden attention, quickly stumbling her way over to Alex and offering her injured arm, avoiding his gaze. He obligingly looked down and began to apply pressure and wrap the wound. Removing the bullet wouldn't help, the heat from it would have cauterised the wound so it's safest to leave in at this point.

"So you- you're Tetra?" Spencer asked, and she nodded once. "The Huntress?" Tipping her head back and forth with indecision before nodding again. "Wh- what does that mean?" He asked, and Tetra sighed, closing her eyes for a moment in a movement that Alex knew all too well as when she was trying to order her thoughts.

"I'm more of," she paused again, breathing deeply, wincing as Alex kept wrapping up her arm, "Huntress implies precision." She explained, opening her eyes to catch Spencer's gaze. Pressing her lips into a fine line, she hummed thoughtfully. "I am capable of precision, but in my other form I sacrifice precision for strength, and that's the form that's more valuable in combat, I find." Every words was spoken with a low, even alto of a voice, ending with a grunt of discomfort as Alex finished up. "Are we ready to go?"

"Ah, yeah, we should be," Spencer nodded, swallowing hard at the information he had just received, and looked to Alex for confirmation.

"Yeah, yeah, we're all good. You guys go ahead, there's an outlook through the trees," he pointed at a track leading away from the camp, away from where they had come from, "I just need a word with Tetra." He hung back as the newcomers started filing out, his hand loosely grasping Tetra's wrist, not enough to actually hold her back, but the gesture was enough to keep her grounded. As soon as they were alone, Tetra turned and wrapped her arms around him. God, she's so warm, and she's shaking with the apologies that are all forcing their way from her lips.

"Never do that again!" Alex implored into her hair, and Tetra was agreeing without hesitation. "We're getting out of here, Connie," he half laughed, and she pulled back, tears in her eyes but a grin on her face, "we're going home." And with that, she planted a kiss on his cheek, following through until she's kissing his lips, he's kissing her back, and it's like daybreak after a stormy night. She's back. She's finally back.

"We're going home."