Plumbing Your Girlfriend's Newfound Nordic Leanings

Looking up Norse runes on the internet is... well, fraught, to say the least. There's a few earnest Neopagans who mean well but seem kind of woo-woo about it. There's quite a few Neo-Nazi assholes who use a lot of runes. In particular, there's a few runes that will definitely get you considered a Nazi rather than a hippie. You're pretty relieved to learn that none of those are what suddenly appeared on Morgan's back.

Still, you're reminded that her brother came up with whatever BS is currently bolstering your girlfriend into a large, surly warrior queen so maybe he thought of that when he was drawing up this D&D campaign.

Good job on not accidentally turning your sister into a Nazi, Keith.

Ultimately it looks like a combination of several letters. An attempt at getting a single symbol that spells out 'ULFR,' which is literally 'wolf.' So that seems benign enough, right? You both were already wolves. Nothing end-timey about that, considering it'd have to be 'FENRISULFR' to be one of the big bad Ragnarok style wolves.

It's probably okay. Probably.

Stepping out of Allegra's apartment, you run your hand along the smooth, fresh-shaven sides of your head. As weird as it might be to get a haircut inspired by a... vision you had, lining those details up feels strangely good. You've still got glorious locks that sway across your back as you walk, but overall the effect when the stylist was done made you look fierce in the mirror, and it's hard not to like that considering what you are now. There's something to be said for looking dangerous, or at least like the kind of girl mothers warn their kids about.

Besides, a rummage through Allegra's things showed you that whatever did this to you ratcheted up her style a few notches in the same direction. Lilith was already there when you met her, or when the machine made her real. Not the exact style it had given you, but certainly somewhere on the dangerous/sexy curve. She's still attracted to you too, you could smell as much while the two of you were talking out on the street. Allegra made a fair point that you haven't been that confident and thus haven't known when girls are attracted to you but Lilith is easier to read than ever since you turned. Then again, you've been feeling more confident too.

You vaguely remember Lilith saying she had a thing for redheads, which feels a bit weird now knowing that your dork of a brother made it so redheads have special significance in werewolf society. Granted, it means you're kind of a big deal now, and that feels pretty nice. There's a little temptation that Lilith would probably be down for a roll in the hay with you. Allegra really isn't into sharing you though, and cheating on a girlfriend who has the same sensitive nose you do would be a dumb idea.

Still, Lilith knows more about this than you do. Possibly more than you can read on the internet about what your brother wrote. Keith is going to be pretty busy for awhile, and you feel like it would be super awkward to pick his brain about his old D&D campaign that you're plainly living right now. Besides, Lilith is living it too. It's gospel to her, so as much as she might be bad news she really is your kind of person now.

Then there's Jenny.

Yes, your pretty, athletic friend is a bona fide monster hunter. From a famous family, too. Part of you wonders if she actually was one before last night, or if the machine somehow rewrote her, too. You're not sure what in her it would latch on to her that would trigger that sort of thing. Then again, it tried to do something to your brother too, so maybe there's something to that. It's an academic question anyway. Regardless of whether the machine did it, it's Jenny's reality now. She clearly has the skills, and memories of being sent of for several summers to learn how to absolutely wreck a fair number of monsters.

And all six-foot-whatever of you has recently, enthusiastically become a monster.

So that's going to be awkward next Girls' Night Out.