Minutes ago, shortly after Ashley's announcement:

Justin did a double-take of Ashley as he looked at her after she had called everyone's attention and dropped what he considered a bombshell. He'd seen his fair share of strange happenings, but he'd never met a werewolf before, or realized they were real. A dozen questions popped into his head, which he had to smother quickly before any of them managed to reach his mouth.

I don't think this world is ever going to stop surprising me, he thought, and I hope it never does.

Nora's eyes widened as an "Oh my," escaped her lips, before she quickly chimed in, "W-well, thank you for being honest and open about your, um...condition, Ashley. If there's anything else we should know, or if there's any way I can help, please let me know."

The truth, however, was that Nora knew this already...and while she was genuinely surprised that Ashley had been so open about her lycanthropy this early on, the information about Ashley's powers was all within the same database held on the scientist's personal computer. At least, everything that Cybertronics Unlimited had observed and scouted out about each lodger before inviting them into the lodge program.

Nora felt uncomfortable knowing so much about each of the different lodgers, even things they would probably not have wanted her to know, and she did wonder just how Cybertronics Unlimited had acquired some of the information. If it hadn't been the express intent of this retreat to help them, she may have refused to accept this assignment at all. But since she was here to help...well, she didn't think it was bad to know as much as she could about them so that she could help them when the time came.

Boxcar wagged his tail as he gave Ashley a fanged smirk. "I thought you had some wolf in ya," he gruffed as he walked right up to her and gave her a closer sniff. "Yeah, I can make it out now. Never smelled a werewolf before. And nobody here's gonna hurt ya..." He turned and gave a stern glance toward everyone else. "That goes for all of ya. I'll give ya a little rule to remember...'No fightin', no bitin'.' You have a problem with somebody else here, you talk it out or take it to Nora, 'cause you won't like my teeth in yer tail end, capisce?"

And, without another word or thought about the threat he just laid out, Boxcar volunteered to help bring Ashley's stuff up to her room, grabbing handles with his teeth and handling the stairs like a pro. It wasn't long after that when he suddenly remembered what he had smelled in the basement, and he vanished down into the depths while everyone was still busy with bringing in other luggage.

Justin, meanwhile, took a moment to scribble out an additional note that he tucked into the unconscious girl's pocket - a note that gave his name, comm number, and address, "in case you need a safe place." He didn't know if she would trust him at all, but he felt a little responsible for her and didn't like that he was leaving her here. This was the best he could do.

Justin then followed Ashley to the garage, where he reached into one of the saddlebags of his Ostrich and turned to her with a shirt in his hand. "A band had a gig a few months ago," he started without preamble, "and I was called up by the landlord to come and fix a speaker that had shorted out just before the show. I fixed it fast enough that it was ready for the show, and the owner rewarded me by giving me a ticket to see the band and a free T-shirt." He smiled at her as he held up the shirt and shook it out for her to see; it was Ashley's band on the T-shirt! "And I've been a fan ever since...so, before I go, would you sign this for me?"

---

At the present time, with Boxcar in the basement and Justin having left
Nora adjusted her glasses as she played back video on her lenses after Ashley had pointed out Boxcar's curious attention in the basement, and found that she had inadvertently captured the wolf sniffing with intense attention at one corner of the cement-bound room. But just as she was about to confirm what Ashley had suggested, she was startled by Samuel's voice nearby - blinded as she was by the video still overlaid on her lenses - and she bumped into the railing and barely held onto it to keep from falling down the stairs. Nora cleared her glasses and let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, sorry, I was...oh, well, nevermind."

She then turned to Sam as she stood up straight. "You're not interrupting, Samuel - may I call you Sam? Anyway, I'm sure we can work on a solution to fireproof your room once we're all settled in and have had a chance to go shopping for some supplies." Nora frowned as she looked back down at the unconscious girl on the couch. "But for now, could one of you keep a close eye on that girl from the crashed ship? I had Boxcar doing it, but he seems to have gone off, and I'm afraid she might still be a little delirious from her, eh...mishap."

To be honest, Nora felt a mixture of pity and a little fright about the girl, not to mention feeling badly that she couldn't convince her of her own good intentions. And she felt guilty feeling all of that as she looked and saw the girl snore open-mouthed and quite innocently.

Nora also still had the girl's shock glove components in one of her labcoat pockets. She was fascinated by the design and wanted a closer look, but she was aware the girl would probably want them back sooner rather than later. Until Nora could figure out what to do with her, however, she didn't want to take chances that there'd be another attack again, and now she didn't have Justin to help out if things got dicey, and Boxcar had gone off on his own...

"Ah, of course!" exclaimed Nora as she took out a small necklace transponder, which looked like a blue tab with red stripes and a black glass dot with a glowing white dot inside the glass. "I can just find Boxcar with this! He's got a tracker in his collar...yes, it looks like he went down to the basement, all right. Kudos, Ashley, for that fast thinking!"

What to do next, though...Nora felt like she shouldn't abandon everyone to go chasing after the wolf, who couldn't go that far without her anyway without receiving a nasty shock. But Boxcar couldn't be left alone forever, either; he was as much her responsibility as anyone else was in the lodge. She teetered on the brink of indecision on whether she should go downstairs to see what the wolf was up to, or finish up unpacking first...

Ashley's blush deepened as Boxcar gave his threat and an obviously embarrassed frown crossed her face. Giving a squeak of a sigh Ashley mumbled. "That really wasn't needed, Boxcar." before quickly walking outside to move her bike into the garage and collect her things. While she was out there Justin arrived to mess with some of the bags on his Ostrich and Ashley paid him no heed until he began to talk. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder for a moment, Ashley listened to Justin speak and began to laugh when Justin showed her the shirt he was holding. Catching her breath, Ashley spoke again. "Oh wow, I didn't know anyone actually bought these things. Kenny handled our finances to get some use out of his mathematics degree. He was our drummer, you can see him in the back here..." Ashley pointed to the grinning man sitting in the back with his drumsticks held high above his head before she continued to speak. "He loved playing the drums and would always yammer on about how much mathematics was involved with it, though most of the time he knew what he was saying was going over our heads."

Ashley dug around in her backpack for a moment to pull out a silver pen. Pulling off the cap Ashley gave a quick swirling signature under the front of the stage where she was standing and singing. Capping the pen, Ashley tossed it back into her backpack before saying. "There you go. One authentic signature. I had better not find it on bandmart~!" The last phrase was an empty and joking threat, and was jokingly sang as Ashley walked back inside to drop her bags off.

A few minutes later, as Ashley stood at the base of the stairs talking to Nora, Samuel appeared and spoke his opinion, and although Ashley had no real reply for him she gave him a nod and a friendly close-lipped smile in greeting. When Nora produced the necklace Ashley raised an eyebrow and spoke again. "Well, if you've got that thing, why not let Samuel and I go look for Boxcar while you unpack? Though if we also know that he's in the basement we have a good place to start looking, especially since the basement isn't very large."

Ashley leaned against the nearby wall and placed the toes of her left foot upon the ground to the right of her right foot. Folding her arms in a relaxed manner Ashley waited to see what Nora would say. Ashley expected Nora to be somewhat reluctant to give up the necklace out of fear of not getting it back, though she supposed that Nora could be different than some others. Time would tell in a few moments either way, so all Ashley had to do was wait.

Ashley would probably go looking anyway, since Boxcar getting into trouble could upset Nora, and Nora being upset could cause some friction among everyone else at The Lodge due to the fact that Nora was technically the owner, and was thus their technical leader. Nora would probably deny such a claim, but it wasn't too far off the mark for now. Someone else might step up and take the mantle of leadership from Nora, but right now that mantle rested rather firmly on Nora's shoulders and ignored the fact that Nora might not like it.

---

Jaiden Fairfield

Immediately after seperating from the group

---

Soon after walking away from the group, Jaiden found himself leaning against a tree, feeling as if he'd lost all the strength in his legs. Consuming the entire tree in order to quickly hike up his regen speed by feeding all of his bio-generation into it had been effective in getting him able to react to a possible immediate threat, but the after effects were predictably devastating to his system. His body always struggled with assimilating plant matter(especially large quantities like that), often leaving him exhausted soon after ingesting it, along with his body feeling as if it wanted to turn itself inside out for the the better part of an hour.

"Well. . . that could have gone better. Geez, if it wasn't for that Justin guy, I'd either be in a world of hurt or on the run for killing that stuck-up sociopath of a rich girl." His thoughts turned to said sociopath for a moment, chuckling to himself as he thought over the encounter in his head and realized how ridiculous both of them were acting. "Fuckin' hell. . . who even challenges people to legit duels anymore? That concept is so antiquated it isn't even funny, and the fact that some thirty-woman said it makes it even sadder. And weren't duels outlawed or something way back when. . . could've sworn that was a thing." It was a this point that Jaiden took a moment to curse his lacking education, knowing he really had himself to blame for it though. Never was the best student, and like the rest of the world, he never really saw the internet as the information hub it was. Just a place to find funny videos and the occasional breaking news story.

"Still, crazy and antiquated as that chick is, I wasn't really much better given how I was basically threatening her without strictly saying it. *Heh* Guess I wasn't as blameless in that situation as I acted. Still, I'll be damned before I apologize to that stuck-up princess, especially with that stripper-esque name. Seriously, who names their kid Amethyst, especially as a first name. Jaiden let out a few more weak chuckles at the proud woman's expense, before a wave of aching pains turned his laughter in to pained groans as he sank to the ground. ". . . Fuck, I need some damn meat. Ugh, damn space girl and her dumb spaceship with it's stupid self-destruct-y lookin' countdown. Making me fuck my back up for nothin', and I doubt I'll even get so much as a thank you either. *sigh* That Jane chick is probably talkin' alllll~ about how much of a filthy deviant I am, and other fancy sounding insults of my general character." Jaiden could almost hear her irritating, holier-than-thou, stick-up-her-ass-formal sounding tone now, talking all sorts of shit.

After taking a breath, both to calm himself down and to take his mind off of imagined(and somewhat self-indulgent) slights to instead redirect focus back to the task of getting to his bike. With a sharp, if pained, intake of breath, Jaiden pushed himself up unsteadily to his feet. Carefully putting one first in front of the other, he slowly gained more confidence in his ability to walk, and thus slowly increased his pace with one eye constantly eyeing the sky in hopes that it remained cloudless till he got to the Lodge.

"Yeah. . . if I were to rate my day so far, it be a solid 'FML' right now. F it very fuckin' hard."

---

later that day. . .

---

Damian had managed to reach his bikewithin an hour of his departure without incident. Much to his relief, it was undamaged and untouched, still hidden from sight behind a thick bit of brush along the roadside. A quick check through the saddle pouches that he had attached to the the back half of the bike revealed that everything was still there, including his spare set of clothes. After getting properly dressed, along with a thick black leather riding jacket and his streamlined black helmet, he was quick to rev the engine as he mounted his ride, taking a moment to listen to the engine purr to life.

"That's a good girl, Jessie. Missed me, didn't ya?" Jaiden said in as he leaned in close to the car, revving the gentle purr of the engine into a might roar that echoed through the surrouding woodlands. "Come now, don't be like that. I got held up with something. Now, just relax and enjoy the ride. Probably going to be out last one for a while, but I'll be sure to care for you. Don't want ya to lose your figure, do we?" Chuckling to himself, Jaiden revved the engine once more as he put pressed the pedal down, causing the cycle to jet forward with a lunge, quickly blazing a path up the road to the Lodge. The trek that had taken an hour of exhausted walking to accomplish know only took around 15 minutes, if that, as Jaiden's 'girl' ate up ground along the narrow country roadway as if the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels. While for most, this would be tantamount to suicide due to the very rugged and curvy nature of the road, Jaiden's enhanced reflexes and dexterity allowed him to navigate all the turns with easy, the feeling of burning rubber like this making him so glad he decided to go with Jessie, and not her newer, more hi-tech sister. In his mind, once you take the wheels off a cycle, then there's no fun in riding it anymore.

Those residing in the Lodge would hear Jaiden's arrival even within the confines of the Lodge, as the engine easily penetrated into the interior of the building with it's thundering roar. Pulling into the a screeching halt, Jaiden, marked his arrival with an arcing skid mark as he twisted Jessie to the side, the front wheel acting as a focal point for the turn as he hit the brakes. Once he had completely stop, he put down the kickstand before getting off the ride, patting his ride on the side with a muttered "Good job, Jessie" before heading up to knock on the Lodge door.

"Oi! You guys back yet? It's Jaiden. Is the brat still with you guys, or did she hightail the first second she got?"

The trip back to the lodge was quiet and uneventful, which was a nice change of pace from the trip away and the time between. Winters had done his very best to both remain respectful and object violently to the entirety of the plan, but ultimately the presence of a Jane took precedence, and Amie was the highest of the family present at the time. Had her mother been there, the entire excursion would likely have been cancelled. Instead, Amie checked her assistant into an upper-class room for two (one being for her luggage, half of which was being abandoned) at a rather modern hotel, entirely at her own expense, with the length of stay set at one year (as was the maximum time allotted for her visits). She wasn't expecting to stay for so long, but she couldn't begin to predict the adventure that lay before her in the coming days.

Winters insisted at least on going over every inch of Lady Jane's luggage, checking for damage and cleaning away the stains. Her jacket, pants, and boots positively glowed by the time he was done with him, though she hadn't the heart to tell him this would likely be in vain. He even oiled and rubbed the leather in her sword belt, polished the belt buckle, and honed the blade on a whetting stone. To her frustration, he also insisted on showing her how to drive the car and describing every feature. She was nearing the two hour mark by the time her luggage was reloaded and her assistant bid farewell, but Amie had decided to make up for lost time by taking full advantage of the car's acceleration and suspension. She assured Winters that the resulting smile was in regard to the spreading of the glory of the Jane household. The poor assistant waved goodbye, clutching his tablet so tightly that his knuckles were white, as Lady Jane pulled away and made the return trip.

The car handled beautifully, and Amie, now free of the watchful eye of Winters and her family in general, pushed it to the safest limit she could. The 45-minute trip was completed in just under 30, and the first thing any outside residents of the lodge saw was a cloud of dirt as she braked hard into a sharp turn. Steadying her breathing and calming the trembling in her hands, Amie vacated the car. She had changed into much lighter, more comfortable clothing; a light blue dress that came down to her ankles, a gray jacket, and gray ankle-length boots. She was still wearing the gold-stamped glove on her right hand. The other was bare, with a thin silver bracelet around the wrist to match the two plain silver earrings in each ear. The belt, sword, and sheath were still present and in place, though. The most noticeable different, however, was her countenance. The stern, prude noblewoman had been replaced by a cheery young lady, complimented by a warm smile and bright eyes.

The smile faltered as she saw her path blocked by whom she believed was named Jaiden. He was undoubtedly the last person she wanted to meet after the...altercation in the forest. He didn't seem like the sort of fellow who would easily forgive, much less forget, that sort of thing, and for a split second she wondered if she should just return to the hotel. Amie forced the thought aside immediately. The Jane house is not so easily deterred. If he wished to be rude and impudent, fine, but she would not stoop to such a level as that. Rather, she squared her shoulders and walked briskly towards him.

"Salutations. Methinks that, as we will reside together, we could..." Amie cleared her throat, aware that she was still speaking too formally. She lightened her tone and adjusted her vocabulary and wordplay, though it ended up sounding more awkward that informal. "We could start over with the whole thing. I'll go first. My name is Lady Am...my name is Amie. And you may call me...Miss...Amie," she said with some difficulty near the end. Being addressed by first name was very, very abnormal. It was probable that she would not even be addressed as "Miss." Regardless, she controlled her pride and extended her hand to shake once more. Whether he accepted or not made no difference to her. She had decided to test his maturity.

"Oh, but I already finished unpacking," Nora replied first without thinking, then she paused, bringing the hand holding the transponder up to her chin as she took the time to think. The transponder and the shock collar had been given to Nora for Boxcar's safety - it was to prevent him from running off and getting lost or hurt somewhere, or at least that's what Nora's bosses had told her. She felt she needed to take care of Boxcar, but she also needed to take care of the rest of the lodgers, and right now, her stomach rumbled and reminded her that she had a bigger priority.

"Actually," she said slowly as she worked up to the idea, and tossed the transponder to Ashley, who snagged it with a one-handed catch, "that's a good idea. I just remembered that we haven't had lunch yet, and if I start right now, it should be ready by the time everyone is done unpacking. Could you please find Boxcar and let him know we'll be having lunch soon? If you go in the rec room just around the corner of the bottom of these stairs, you should find the door that leads to the basement, and that should be where he is right now." She gave Ashley a thumbs-up. "I'm counting on you!"

To Samuel she added, "If you're free, you could either help me in the kitchen, or you could go with Ashley and help her find Boxcar. I think the mystery girl we picked up from the crash site will be fine for now."

With that said, Nora went to her room and retrieved a white apron with an atomic symbol and the phrase, "Stand back, I'm going to try SCIENCE!" written across the front of it. She went down to the kitchen and, with a certain blushing delicacy, slipped out of her labcoat and hung it on the back of a chair in the kitchen, then she hurriedly whipped the apron on, visibly relaxing as she did so.

"Let's see," she said musingly to herself as she took a moment to locate the cooking utensils and pans, and take stock of the food in the fridge. The pantry and cupboards were examined with an exacting gaze augmented by Nora's glasses as she used them to rapidly catalog the available foodstuffs in a three-dimensional map in her Heads-Up Display. It took only a few moments to correlate the ingredients and plug them in to her cooking database to come up with several available meal options, then narrowed that list down to options that took less than a half-hour to put together. "Chicken fajitas it is," she muttered to herself as she collected the various implements and ingredients together that she needed, and then she got to work.

The truth of the matter was that, while Nora did not think of herself as housewife material, her eye for detail and creativity with a given set of variables lent itself extremely well to things like housework and cooking. And somehow, she seemed as confident in the kitchen as she did in the laboratory.

Soon, the sizzling of grilled chicken and tri-color peppers and other vegetables filled the kitchen, and their pleasant aroma combined with that of the saucy marinade Nora had just added when she thought she heard a loud engine outside, then she definitely heard the knock on the door, as well as a male voice she didn't recognize call out loudly enough she could hear it over the noise of her cooking. "Coming!" she shouted, and without hesitation, she covered the fajita mix and dashed to the front door and flung it open - and there on the covered porch were Amie, her hand outstretched toward the other person on the porch, a young man wearing a motorcycle helmet that Nora couldn't place by sight. But since she heard a man's voice from outside, and he had used the name Jaiden, which she recognized from the lodge occupant files, it was a matter of simple adrenaline-fueled deduction that caused her to say-

"Jaiden, right? Welcome to the lodge, I'm Nora Minder, this is the right place, yes she's right here, you and Lady Jane please come in I'm cooking lunch it'll be ready soon gottagetbacktothekitchenbyyye!" Nora's voice had accelerated enough that she was hardly leaving room between letters as she sprinted back to the kitchen in time to take the fajita mix off of the stove/grill combination oven before it scorched. She expertly doled it out into homemade tortillas already arranged on a serving platter, set the platter onto the main kitchen table, where handy disposable plates and utensils were already set up for use along with napkins, cups, and a tall pitcher of strawberry lemonade.

Nora took a brief moment to survey her handiwork, and nodded, pleased with the result. Yes, this would do.

She went to the doorway of the kitchen. "Lunch is ready!" she called out pleasantly.

---

Boxcar went as far as he dared by himself, convinced that he was going to receive a shock at any moment, but feeling an urge of overwhelming curiosity driving the wolf forward to the top of the stairs. This part of the lodge was very different from the rest, and clearly meant to be a secret...but from whom, and for what purpose?

The wolf continued down the steps, waiting for a warning noise from his collar to stop him dead in his tracks. Yet, he found he could continue onward, and he realized that Nora must be getting closer to him - and inadvertently giving him the range to keep going. If she was looking for him, it wouldn't take long for her to find this entrance that stayed open-

There was a creaking sound behind him, and he realized his mistake immediately. The hidden door was closing automatically! He whirled around and scrambled back up the steps and down the hallway, just in time for the door to slam shut right in front of his nose. The lights clicked out a moment later, and he was left in the dark.

Boxcar scrabbled around the door, trying to find the secret catch or button that would open the door from the inside...but soon enough, he realized there wasn't even enough light for his wolf eyes to adapt, and he barked and howled with the hope that someone would be able to hear him through the thick sliding door.

Ashley caught the Transponder with ease, holding the device up to examine it for a moment before lowering her hand. "Can do. I'll go and hunt for him. If you can't find me, start with the basement. I'll let you know if I don't find him there." Ashley gave a glance to Samuel briefly to quickly say. "Coming?" Before she turned and walked away herself. Ashley wandered for a moment before she found the stairs leading down to the basement and gently stepped down them. The first few steps were filled with hesitation and careful placement, but once Ashley got her momentum going the rest of the stairs passed without incident. Ashley looked around the basement's initial landing area and called. "Boxcar?" In an attempt to gain the wolfs attention. Holding up the transponder that Nora had given her, Ashley began to wave it about slightly as she looked for any sign that Boxcar might be around.

If Ashley had been in her wolf form, she would've heard Boxcar howling and barking, however, her hearing while human was not enhanced and thus while Ashley heard a faint noise, she didn't currently attribute it to Boxcar. The transponder began to ping faster as she approached the corner of the basement that Boxcar had sealed himself into. It was at this point that the barking and howling of Boxcar became more distinct. Lowering the transponder, Ashley began to kneel and pressed her ear to the wall to listen listen as she began to realize that this was more than mere background noise she was hearing. Finding a particularly suspect corner of the wall, Ashley brought her fist up and pounded on it, a few resounding thuds would resonate through to the other side of the door, and Ashley could be faintly heard yelling. "Boxcar? Are you in there? How did you open the wall? Are you okay?"

These questions were obviously not in order of importance, though Boxcar would possibly be glad to see that someone had come for him. It wasn't Nora, but it was probably quite enjoyable to have someone respond to his plight. Ashley considered calling for Nora, but Nora had previously mentioned going to cook, so perhaps it was best to leave Nora be and try to solve this matter herself? Ashley didn't know, but right now Boxcar sounded almost like he was in a panicked state, and it was essential to Ashley to get him to calm down before he overexerted himself in some way. In most animals, being in a state of panic was never a good thing, as remaining in such a state for too long could result in serious health problems, like organ failure from stress. Ashley assumed that it was the same for Boxcar since Boxcar, despite all of the experiments that had supposedly been run on him, was still a wolf at basic assumption.

Hopefully he would hear Ashley pounding on the wall and yelling at him clearly enough to calm down and answer her. Though perhaps the transponder could also serve as a microphone? Ashley didn't know, only Nora would, and Nora was busy cooking. It smelled good, whatever she was cooking, but Ashley knew better than to let her hunger get in the way of Boxcar's current situation.

Sam's dreams became a nightmare fusion of the events leading up to her capture and the strange, mechanical spiders which had chased her through every twilight hour she could remember. Had they been her alien abductors, or had they been there before that? Could it be she had been watched since before her escape from Mantovani and his men?

Her dreamscape violently reshaped itself, swirling briefly into a jumble of disjointed, senseless imagery. She could hear the eerily quiet heel-toe click of Italian leather soles, punctuated by the tap of a metal-capped cane. She raised her head and made herself look at him.

"I don't really need you," he had said, pinching a transparent vial filled with a thick, red fluid between his thumb and index finger. "So your options are rapidly thinning out."

Mantovani had been pacing like a caged lion. Sam remembered this scene. He'd been trying to get her to cooperate with him of her own free will, but...she had been...less than forthcoming with the information he wanted. Had he been able to force his cell phone into her hand, or had that been another memory fouled by stress and head trauma? She couldn't remember. She did remember that he had her blood, and that it would only be a matter of time before his scientists could replicate whatever genetic oddities had unlocked her talents. She had to get that vial.

"...I'll do it." Sam repeated the three words she most regretted in her short life, with a dry throat which threatened to choke them off before her lips could shape them. "Just get me out of this fucking chair."

The scene melted into chaos once more. Sam saw herself in a metal chair, her arms splintering into countless thousands of wires which threaded through a computer bank spread out in a 120 degree arc before her. From this out-of-body view, she could see that the top of her head was missing; her exposed brain crawling with those tiny metal spiders. One of them stopped picking at her neurons for just long enough to sharply redirect its compound sensor-eyes at her. She had a split second to react before it lunged, forelegs and mandibles poised to strike.

Sam's eyes shot open, though her body did not move. The searing pain in the back of her head forced her to squeeze them shut again, and she dragged her right arm across her face, feeling for the source. Her fingers came back sticky from the matted hair at the base of her skull.

"Uuuuuuuuuuugh..." she moaned softly, so as not to give the diamond miners in her brain any further excuse to swing what she could only assume were titanium picks coated in fire ants and acid; maybe a little Ebola. It took some doing, but she pried her eyes open and cast them about from her position on the couch.

"Nice ceiling..." she noted. It was one of those "modern, but rustic" deals, where they'd gone and covered the rafters of a high ceiling with polished hardwood planks. They hadn't been stained, but...there was definitely some kind of weather seal at work. It was glossy...acrylic? Some kind of resin, maybe. That would protect it from moisture, without spoiling the natural look of the wood.

Her eyes traveled right, but she had to turn her head slightly to get anything other than more ceiling. There was some kind of balcony wrapping the wall. She hadn't seen that done before; not in a cabin in the woods. Hotels, maybe, but not places like this. Somebody had expensive taste.

Talking of taste...that was when her nose registered something wonderful. Her nostrils flared, sucking in enough air to identify the scent. That was definitely chicken.

"Spicy chicken..." she corrected herself. For the first time in days -perhaps weeks- she had a reason to get out of bed that did not directly revolve around a visit to the scrapyard. Her neck muscles screamed their defiance, but she made them lift her head off of the back of the couch. She swayed a little, but steadied herself and slowly stood.

"No hurling, Sam." she commanded herself, even as her stomach threatened to jump through her throat. Her eyes would not settle on anything in the way of a focal point, but she managed to shuffle her way toward the kitchen. Someone was cooking.

She made it to the doorway before her balance failed. Her shoulder thumped into the frame, and she curled her left hand around the doorway to keep from falling over. It was hard to concentrate. Had she dreamed the smell? She managed to slur out something about being hungry enough to eat a baby seal, but her brain wasn't working well enough to finish the joke. If not for that damnable slip-and-fall, she'd have topped it off with "club sandwich".

"Still, though...Fajitas. Totally works."

"Sam is fine, and thanks," he said to the professor, he figured fireproofing his room may have to go on the back burner for a bit, but he was glad to know it was something they could get to work on in the near future. He would have offered to watch over the girl they found at the crash site but after saying it the professor seemed to decide she was probably fine on her own. The offer to let him help cook was appreciated but he had to inform her, "I'm not that great in the kitchen, I can grill things and that's about it, I'll help out Ashley."

Speaking of Ashley, she now had the transponder to locate Boxcar and asked Sam if he was coming, "yup, coming." He walked down the stairs quickly, skipping the last few as he followed her around the corner and in to the basement. Sam was usually fine with basements, but that was when they had proper lighting, and the stairs had a proper railing. At least there was a wall to keep him balanced, he was really awful with stairs. Not that he couldn't use them, but he was always paranoid that without something to hold on to he would just fall down.

Sam figured now might be a good time to tell Ashley that he thought the werewolf thing was actually kind of cool, "hey, Ashley..." but unfortunately for him as soon as he started to speak she seemed to have picked up on Boxcar. "Never mind, tell you later," Sam went to the corner and heard her thuds on what should be ground sound more like a metal door. Ashley was trying to keep Boxcar calm, which was probably a good thing. Sam figured it might be a door the original owners may have wanted put in, but why was it hidden then? At any rate, Sam figured Boxcar must have found a button and walked in before trapping himself. So Sam started feeling the floor and wall near where Ashley was to try and find how to open it up to release Boxcar, "come on, the friggin' wolf can find the secret lever or whatever but I can't?" He was more talking to himself than Ashley at that point. It had to be a hidden button, there was no other obvious way that would open some secret door.

Boxcar heard Ashley's voice, and then shortly after that, could hear Sam as well, and almost immediately stopped howling and barking. Good, he had been found, and despite the thickness of the hidden door, they were able to hear him. He didn't question why or how they had found him so quickly; for his animal mind, it was only important that they were there now.

"Okay, listen up!" he said loudly and clearly in his somewhat growly, gravelly voice. "There's a catch built into the wall, kinda hard to see but it's just a little right of the door. Should just sink into the wall when you push on it." Then when he heard scrabbling around on his left, he grumbled a wolf-themed expletive under his breath before barking, "Hey! My right, not yours!"

A little more shuffling around, and obviously one of them must have pressed the button because the doorway slid out of the way again, and Boxcar found himself looking at Ashley and Sam. He stepped out of the doorway nonchalantly into the basement proper and turned his head to look up at them. "About time!" he gruffed, though his tail was wagging behind him and betraying that he was glad to see them, and very grateful for a rescue. "Say...that smells like food, doesn't it? Now that you mention it," he said, even though no one had mentioned anything, "I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast. We should go get the food."

At the moment, Boxcar was completely unconcerned about the secret doorway in the lodge basement. As soon as he had been rescued, any trauma of the event had fled his mind, replaced with a very "I meant to do that" sort of attitude.

---

Nora had gone back to the kitchen to start loading plates with fajitas so that people could start eating them as soon as they arrived, when she heard a thump against the kitchen door frame, and she whirled around to see the girl slumped against the frame. "You're awake!" Nora gasped as she put her utensils down in a hurry and - without stopping to even take her oven mitts off - strode over to where the girl had stopped, and she came to a halt just within arm's reach. She tried to gesture with her hand by her glasses, but then realized she still had the mitt on, and she had to take it off and then make the adjustment. A medical diagnostic program supplemented Nora's basic medical knowledge; while the girl was shaky and was still a little pale, nothing indicated any serious injury, at least externally.

"E-Easy there," Nora stuttered soothingly as she flipped off the glasses readout and held out her uncovered hand. "Can you make it to the table? I just finished making lunch, and you look like you need some nutrients right now."

Nora suddenly remembered that her last chat with this girl hadn't gone so well, and she swallowed audibly in anticipation of another blow-up, but she held her ground; the girl had been through a terrible crash, and possibly hadn't eaten for a day or two by what her glasses told her. It was no wonder she was on edge. And Nora still didn't know her name!

"I hope you aren't vegetarian," she quipped with a nervous laugh.

"I had the weirdest dream," Sam began. She was staring past Nora, whom she did not seem to immediately recognize. Maybe it was the lack of a labcoat, or perhaps the concussion, but her voice was quiet and distant; not the defiant enemy she had been before. "They were coming to take me again." She took a deep breath, but instead of a calm exhalation, it shuddered its way out. She pulled her eyes away from the non-specific point to which they were affixed and studied Nora. She didn't see a labcoat anymore; she saw a pretty blonde girl with Coke-bottle glasses and a witty apron. She could not help but crack a smile.

"Vegetarian? Hell no. I didn't hit my head that hard." She quipped. Apparently even a concussion had little effect on her social skills.

There was something familiar about Nora. Sam could not assemble a complete memory, but she had definitely seen this person before. It was outside, she decided. There had been trees, and sunshine, and the smell of smoke. She inhaled again, and the lingering scent of grill smoke triggered another part of the memory. Still lacking enough information to piece it all together, Sam decided to leave the puzzle for another time. There were more important matters, like making sure her head injury hadn't removed more than an hour or two of her short-term memory. Everything seemed hazy, and she couldn't concentrate.

Still, presence of mind eventually won out and she began wondering where all the classic questions were. She'd expected inquiries about her name, her place of birth, or what day it was. Through this indulgent musing, Nora's voice was like a quiet murmur.

"Sorry," she eventually offered, shaking her head. "Must have hit my head. It hurts."

She pushed gently on the door frame and straightened herself, then took a tentative step. The room spun, but she fought it with deliberate care, each step a minor victory in the war for fajitas. They just smelled so damned good.

Ashley was rather perplexed at Boxcar's sudden lack of stress once the door was opened. Perhaps he was more basic in nature than Ashley had initially presumed? With the location of the switch to open the door now known, Ashley figured she could come back at any time. Though she would want to come with a buddy system since, as Boxcar had shown, the door seemed capable of closing behind you. If there was no way of opening the door from the inside, Ashley would want someone reliable standing on guard to open the door once they were finished.

When Boxcar mentioned that food had been made available Ashley gave a sniff of her own. The smell was faint, though noticeable. Seeing no point in being rude and skipping the communal lunch time Ashley gave a shrug and spoke her thoughts aloud. "This doorway will be here until we get back, unless it somehow moves. The food upstairs, however, may not always be present. Let's eat while we have the chance and perhaps some others can join us later." Turning, Ashley gave Samuel a thumbs up and said. "Good work, yeah? You had something you wanted to tell me earlier, what was it?"

Ashley had heard him begin to speak before she had found Boxcar, and was curious as to what he might have to say. Ashley initially assumed that it had to do with her announcement of her lycan status, but she didn't speak this thought since it would've been rude to assume what Samuel had wanted to say. Instead, Ashley merely waited for him to speak again, hoping that Samuel himself remembered what he had wanted.

Boxcar, likely either unaware or uncaring of what Samuel had wanted to say, probably headed upstairs to find himself something to eat. Ashley didn't blame him, as it had probably been a while since Boxcar had eaten. Ashley wasn't really all that hungry due to the fact that she stopped for food on the way over, but it was better to eat food when it was offered rather than force food to be made when you were actually hungry.

With that in mind, Ashley waited for Sam to speak again, though she wasn't afraid of leaving to go and eat should Samuel find himself at a loss for words.

Sam found the button shortly after Boxcar had told him which side of the door it was on, there was nothing obvious marking it was different from the rest of the area so you'd have to either know it's there or be looking for it to push the button. Once Boxcar was out he calmed down immediately, and didn't sound very grateful for being saved, but his tail was wagging so Sam let the attitude slide and counted it as a win in his book.

The idea of food made Sam realize how hungry he was, he hadn't eaten anything since he woke up at about 6 that morning. Before that though Ashley reminded him he had something he wanted to say, "oh right, it's just something about what you announced to everyone upstairs." He felt his face getting warm, which had a much different meaning than someone else saying it, he hoped he didn't flame up. Why was he getting nervous all of a sudden? "It's just...you sounded kind of scared of how people might react, but I don't see what the big deal with it is." As he spoke he gained more confidence, Sam wasn't the best at talking to new people, but once he got going he found it much easier. "I mean, we've all got something going on with us in this house, right?"

Sam paused a moment and considered telling her about his heritage, then decided he would. Everyone would probably find out eventually, and Ashley seemed like a nice person so he'd tell her first. "I have some ability with fire, and I have that because," Sam looked around and lowered his voice without really realizing it, "I'm actually part phoenix." He let out a sigh he didn't realize he was holding in, it felt good to tell someone about himself. He also didn't feel warm anymore so he didn't fear accidentally bursting in to flames with Ashley right there with him.

Nora walked next to the girl as they made their way over to the table. The scientist adjusted her glasses as she waited in case the girl needed help sitting down, but when Nora saw her slump into one of the kitchen chairs, she reached out and slid one of the loaded plates toward the girl's place with a small, friendly smile.

"Go ahead and eat," she said kindly. "There'll be time to talk later. Just let me know if you need anything for that headache."

Nora sat herself down in a chair at the table nearby and took one of the plates for herself. She wanted to be a good host, but heck if she was going to let her own food get cold before she had some of it! She grabbed a few extra napkins and started eating with painfully-adorable tiny bites, relishing the savory and spicy meat, vegetable and sauce mix along with the homemade tortilla. She let out a pleased noise at her own handiwork, then blushed as she got self-conscious and then nearly choked as she tried to apologize and laugh at the same time. It took a whole glassful of the strawberry lemonade to get things back under control again before she could get back to eating again with a sheepish smile.

Sam felt herself moving, but couldn't seem to register the sensation as an actual event occurring in real time. It felt more like a dream, or a distant memory. She found herself calling up images of devices she'd studied in the past, and ideas she'd had for the future that never came. Thinking about all those lost opportunities -those many, many untraveled roads- disturbed her perhaps a bit more than it should have. The smell of fajitas brought her out of that line of thought and promptly deposited her into another.

"Now, when was the last time I had Mexican?"

Her backside touched something soft, but firm, and she became vaguely aware of something hard supporting her back. It wasn't solid; it felt more like...bars. It wouldn't have been a cage; those bars ran vertically. These felt rounded, like some kind of decorative ironwork. Her imagination drifted again, this time treating her to a grand sculpture of wrought iron in the shape of a dragon. She'd seen the gate online somewhere, probably as part of an article about eccentric millionaires and their extravagant homes.

A good minute or two passed before Sam realized she was staring at a plate. This moment of lucidity -which she could only assume would be temporary, given the fact she couldn't remember how she'd gotten here- blended seamlessly with an angry rumble from her midsection to induce a second thought about food. The same thought, however, which prompted her to eat also caused her stomach to turn.

"Looks good..." Sam forced herself to say something -anything- to prevent an awkward silence. Shrinks loved to use those on her. They would invent all manner of reasons why she shouldn't be so silent; each of those theories inevitably wending its way toward a few days in isolation, following a series of injections and a few broken noses. She wondered whether she would have received as much medication if she hadn't fought back, or whether it would have been more.

"Eat something, stupid." she scolded herself. Even if it wasn't much, it would prevent the inevitable cascade of questions and feigned sympathy which invariably accompanied a lack of appetite. Her stomach growled again, and Sam was forced to admit it was just the nausea which had made this plate unapproachable. In another time, and another place, it would already have been gone, and she'd have been spending this very moment wiping up the last of the sauce with an empty tortilla.

She carefully lifted the neatly-folded fajita with both hands and, with eyes closed from the effort of willing herself not to Linda Blair all over what was- if she was honest with herself- the best spread she'd seen in recent memory, took the tentative first bite. That was all it took to convince her. This chicken had been marinated and grilled, then simmered in its own savory sauce until it fell apart. The spices worked well together, and the crunch of the vegetables added a much-needed texture to the wrap. As she ate, she tried to remember any place local which had served up something like this. By the time she came to the end of that list, she was looking at an empty plate.

"Thanks," she mumbled, still not quite "present". Before she could stifle it, her stomach added its compliments in the way of a loud-and-proud belch, deep and resonant, which sounded like it quite literally had its own teeth.

As Samuel confessed that he was part phoenix, Ashley gave a slight smile before she said. "That's pretty cool. I'm sure you'll do fine. I was nervous about my werewolf condition due to the fact that some people might have had some bad experiences with them before, and since I can't control my transformations I wouldn't want to be slain in an attempt to 'spare me from the monster' should I transform at night while everyone's asleep, if that makes any sense. I just figured I'd get it out of the way ahead of time before we had an accident."

Ashley figured Samuel would want to eat sooner rather than later, and thus decided to not prolong the conversation if Samuel didn't want to. Turning towards the stairs, Ashley raised her arm and said. "Coming? I have to return the transponder to Nora before too long." With that, Ashley went upstairs. She followed her nose and the clicking sound of Boxcar walking to the kitchen, where she was met with a surprise. The girl from the forest was awake and eating. Ashley found this to be rather surprising, as she didn't expect her to recover so quickly. Ashley didn't say anything to the girl from the forest directly, but instead walked over to Nora and held out the transponder with news of what she had found downstairs. "Boxcar got himself trapped behind some kind of secret door that closed behind him. I would've gone and looked myself, but I figured it would be better to eat food while it's available and explore later since the door is probably not going to move anywhere. It can be explored later if we all want."

Once Nora took the transponder back, Ashley helped herself to the fajitas that were on hand. She took a plate and helped herself to a fork. Sitting down at the table next to Nora, assuming no one was there, Ashley began to eat. Ashley ate politely since she was with company, taking reasonable bites instead of scarfing everything down. Ashley gave the girl from the forest a quick look while she ate. She looked pretty rough and beat up, though it was interesting in that the girl looked fairly similar to Ashley herself in terms of dress, though there was a fair difference in hairstyle and hair care, along with a slight difference in height and a notable difference in body curves. There probably wouldn't be much confusion between who was who.

Ashley ate through about half of her plate in a fair amount of time. Not too fast but not too slow. Ashley paused for a moment to raid the fridge, and smiled to herself when she found cans of soda within and helped herself. Sitting back down at the table where her food was Ashley set the soda down on a coaster or, if there was no coaster, improvised a coaster from a napkin. With a drink secured, Ashley resumed eating unless something happened that would provoke a response from her. Hopefully nothing did, because Nora was a good cook and the fajitas were tasty, but you could never be too sure about that.

Jaiden

Jaiden rolled his eyes beneath his helmet as he heard the voice of the prim and proper princess Cut-A-Bitch speak up from behind him, half-tempted to simply ignore the woman before she could try to spew any more ridiculous notions of honor and duels at him. However, he didn't want to have to deal with an upset swordswoman with an itchy trigger finger for the entirety of his stay here, so he gave her the benefit of the doubt and actually listened to what she had to say.

To his surprise, however, he found neither hidden threats nor brazen attempts to shove her code of violent ethics down his throat, but a simple suggestion to start things over. Not only that, but as he took a second to actually look her over, he found that she didn't actually look half bad, he'd almost dare to say she looked cute in the get-up were it not for his run in with her previous persona. Jaiden didn't respond immediately to the outstreched hand before him, mulling things over in his head for a few moments as he gave off a seemingly impassive stare from beneath the shaded glass of his helmet. However, his posture soon relaxed as he met Amie's hand with his own, giving it a firm shake.

"I'd say we both acted a little hastily and foolishly earlier, so why not let bygones be bygones. I can definitely say that it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance this time, 'Miss; Amie. As a reintroduction, my name is Jaiden Fairfield and let's hope we get along better this time around." Taking her hand in his own, he made a bit of an overdramatic pantomime gesture of kissing her hand like a knight would to that of his lady. As soon as he released her hand, however, the door would open to reveal a rather adorable and cheerful looking woman in some science-y nerd apron, followed by the sweet and savory smells of a hot meal coming from within the Lodge.

He barely had time to give a wave to the sudden stranger as she quickly introduced herself before she zipped back inside the building, presumably to set the table for the meal he smelt. Jaiden could only chuckle in mild bewilderment as he turned towards Amie, taking a step back to give an overly deep bow in her direction. "As they say, Ladies first."

"Ah hah...yes, of course," Amie responded as her brain stalled for a moment, though she managed to successfully return the handshake. She was thrown off track again as the door was thrown open to reveal a sudden appearance and disappearance of her host, whose name Amie only managed to make out before it was obliterated by a sentence that sounded more like a single word. Blinking several times, Amie was about to step inside when she remembered her luggage. Jaiden was, surprisingly, holding the door and motioning for her to precede him. Unfortunately, it was the exact sort of treatment she was used to, and without thinking Amie pointed a finger towards the car, saying only "The luggage."

She realized too late that she had given direct orders to Jaiden. Without hesitation, she tried to convert the order into an observation.

"...is still in my vehicle. And I will go and get it. After I eat." Amie said awkwardly, attempting to make it sound as though that was what she meant to say from the start. It wasn't a very good presentation, compounded with the paleness of her face, and she decided to make the best of it by stepping swiftly past Jaiden and into the main room. Miss Nora (as she should be called, since only servants are addressed without title) had mentioned food, but it was smelled long before it was seen. Amie was not familiar with the dish, though it resembled something more from a previous venture, the difference being that this was less professional and smelled far more appetizing. She arrived at the table to see others already eating, so she took it upon herself to, possibly for the first time, serve herself. It was a bit strange, what with putting food on a plate for yourself rather than having someone else do it for you. She caught hold of an unoccupied chair and seated herself in it, bringing with her a plate of food and a drink. It would take a little time to accept that if she wanted anything done she would have to do it herself.

How unladylike.

Boxcar nudged Nora's leg and whined with his best convincing puppy dog eyes look. Nora, with no defenses against such a technique, found herself putting together a plate of the fajita mix minus wrap and set it down for him to eat, which he did greedily. Nothing in it that'll hurt him, thought Nora as she reviewed the ingredients in her mind. And it'll keep him quiet - him talking seemed to throw this girl off very badly, and I'm not sure how well she can take the shock of that again.

Ashley's report startled Nora visibly, and she had to adjust her glasses from where they had become unbalanced on her nose. "A...secret door in the basement? Nobody told me about that! Justin didn't mention it during the tour, so he must not have known about it, and I don't know if Cybertronics knows about it either." It seemed hard to believe that her company had inspected the lodge and not found this secret door, yet Boxcar had found it within the first few hours of the lodge's first day of operation. Still, Boxcar had senses that the robots and normal people who inspected the location didn't have.

Nora was distracted briefly by the arrival of Lady Jane, and then by Jaiden after her. With his arrival, that completed her expected roster of guests for the lodge, and that also meant everyone was here for lunch. This was remarkably satisfying for Nora, as a checklist was mentally completed in her head. It was also mildly terrifying, since it meant she now had no real schedule to follow. Theoretically, she was here to observe and offer opportunities for allowing the lodgers to test their abilities far from civilization, in the safety of the lodge's environs and the surrounding terrain. Realistically, she hadn't done anything quite like this before, where there wasn't a rigidly-defined plan or schedule of events. She was on her own.

As the lunch progressed, however, she went over what she remembered about the lodge from the meeting with her superiors. The lodge's previous owner had bought several crates of machine parts from Cybertronics Unlimited, as well as building materials from several other companies, but through what must have been an oversight, Cybertronics had been the only company left unpaid. Her briefing hadn't told her who the previous owner was - her superiors were very careful, she remembered, not to give any details, citing that they couldn't tell her due to privacy concerns - but there was enough information between the lines that even Nora could tell the owner had been some kind of criminal, and that the lodge had been built with far more materials than the building they had just toured couldn't reasonably have contained.

This led her to the conclusion that it would be in their best interests to explore the hidden passage themselves. Nora was already in enough trouble with her superiors as it was, which was why she was out here to begin with, and if she asked for help so soon after getting to the lodge, it might cost her any chance of salvaging her job. And, at least for now, this was where she would be living, along with all of these other people, so it was in everyone's best interest to know what lay beneath the lodge. This, combined with sitting through a lunch with the lodgers and finding that nothing went wrong, gave her the confidence she needed to formulate an idea.

Toward the end of lunch, as everyone was eating the last of the fajitas, Nora stood up at the head of the table and addressed the group. "Thank you all for coming here - I'm Nora Minder, effectively the property manager for the lodge as appointed by Cybertronics Unlimited, who invited you here. Some of you have already introduced yourselves to each other, but we're all new to each other, and my hope is that, while you are here at the lodge, we'll all become friends in time."

Nora adjusted her glasses, a motion that nudged some of her blonde bangs away from her blue eyes as she surveyed the group. "It's come to my attention that the lodge has a secret basement door. Justin Hobbes, our handyman-on-call, did not seem to know about this, and neither did the company, though according to what I've been told, this property was collected by Cybertronics as payment by the previous owner who may have had ulterior motives for building this lodge out here in the middle of nowhere. Since we will be living here together for the foreseeable future, I want to propose we do an exploration of this secret underground passageway, so we'll know what we're sitting on top of and don't have any nasty surprises later."

"Of course, this could be very dangerous, and I have no idea what might be down there, which is why I'm not asking any of you to go down there unless you are willing to do so. I will be going, as it is my responsibility to ensure your safety. I wouldn't mind company, though, and would welcome anyone who wants to come along with."

Truth be told, she was kind of excited. What kind of secrets did this strangely-built and located lodge hold? What was under the lodge that required a secret door to hide? And how had her company overlooked something like this? She waited for the response from the others, knowing full well that she might have to go on her own if no one else volunteered.

Sam had to choke back an incendiary retort, which she cleverly concealed with the guise of having swallowed wrong. This lady was out of her mind if she thought Sam would be so quick to risk life and limb for a group of perfect strangers. Her addled mind had been given enough time to at least put together the components of a rational argument against such a foolish use of her time and talents; after all, she had ended up here as a result of pursuit by enemies unknown, and there was absolutely no guarantee they did not already have forces on the planet searching for her. She needed to rest and heal, and repair her craft so that she could continue her escape.

"Yeah, about that..." She reminded herself that, without the necessary materials and equipment, it was likely that fighter would never lift off again. As it was, she couldn't guarantee it would return to 100% capacity, even with their assistance. Her memory replayed Nora's comment about the several crates worth of materials and machine tools purchased by the previous owner of the property, and a surge of adrenaline distributed its prickly warmth through her chest.

"Goddammit..." she sighed. She put down her fork and lifted her eyes surreptitiously to study Nora's expression. Was she serious about those supplies, or just lying to coerce the cooperation of her new team? What about the others? She scanned them all in turn as she finished off her glass of water. None of them seemed too worried about their situation, and she could not detect any signs that any one of them had existing knowledge of the subject before Nora mentioned it.

This was the part where Sam was meant to feign interest in the expedition, then leverage her participation against Nora's willingness to part with some of that priceless scrap. But...they did not know her yet. Reluctant acceptance wouldn't have the desired impact on their trust. She had to give them something to lose before she threatened to take it away.

"Can't do anything today," she ventured, rubbing the back of her head gingerly. "I feel a little better, but I still can't concentrate. I better stay here."

"Perfect," she smirked internally. "No promises, no guarantees, no liability."

Ashley nodded along at Nora's introduction and blurb about how everyone was hopefully going to become friends. That was a rather high expectation for a lot of people who had just gotten to know one another over the course of a few minutes. Perhaps roommates would be a better start than friends. When Nora made her announcement on looking into the secret door and the space beyond it, Ashley set her fork down on the mostly empty plate and finished the last bite of food before she said. "I'll go. I'm interested to see what's down there. Especially if I'm going to be living on top of it." Ashley wiped her mouth down with her napkin before standing up and taking her plate to the kitchen. Running her plate and fork under hot water for a few moments, Ashley opened up the dishwasher and dropped her plate and fork into the proper places on the racks in the dishwasher. Closing the dishwasher again Ashley returned to the table briefly to grab the can of soda she had gotten earlier and returned it to the fridge, her want for the drink having passed. Moving to where Nora was standing Ashley sat down in a nearby chair. Thus potentially starting a trend of those who were wanting to explore the secret door and the area beyond it gathering around Nora.

Unless Nora decided to suddenly lose a lot of bravery, anyway. Then Ashley would probably just lounge around since she didn't have a whole lot to do. Her bike was safely stowed in the garage, her backpack full of clothing was already deposited in a bedroom, and nothing else really needed to be tended to. Thus, Ashley had nothing but free time to waste for the rest of the day. This assumed that nothing came up that needed tending to, which was always an unknown factor and hard to predict.

When Sam mentioned that she couldn't do anything today due to how her head felt, Ashley wasn't surprised. Surviving a plane crash and already being up, about, and eating without a full medical examination was really quite something. Sam was putting a lot of risk into her own health by doing so, though Ashley didn't comment on it outwardly. It wasn't her place to judge the actions of others, so she merely kept quiet about the subject. Ashley thought about keeping an eye on Sam's health to make sure she at least recovered from her injuries, but reminded herself that she wasn't Sam's mother and it wasn't her place to coddle and shelter others. That was largely Nora's job, though Nora would probably blush rampantly at the idea of caring for the others like a mother.

When Amie appeared and sat down to eat, Ashley gave her a nod in greeting as she left the table, but not too much more than that. Ashley made a note to tell her about her werewolf status later, but for now Ashley's stomach was full and contributing to her lethargic nature. The only excitement left for today was exploring the underground area beyond the secret door, and past that very little would motivate Ashley into action unless everyone was called into work.

With nothing more to really think about, Ashley continued to lounge in the chair she had chosen near Nora.