[i]Minutes ago, shortly after Ashley's announcement:[/i]

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

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 [i]how[/i] 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 [i]Ashley's[/i] band on the T-shirt!  "And I've been a fan ever since...so, before I go, would you sign this for me?"
[hr][i]At the present time, with Boxcar in the basement and Justin having left[/i]
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...