Little pieces of her soul were coming back to her. She was able to deal with the what she was now, at least to some extent. There were shelters in town where she could go during the full, which really wasn't that far off now. She could feel it, a bubbling in her blood, like her body was preparing itself for the shift. It was the most bizarre feeling. She was nervous and apprehensive for the night of the full, but the way it made her body feel like there was a layer of pleasant fire beneath her skin wasn't at all uncomfortable. Some part of her, some primal part of her wanted to enjoy the full moon, but the human conscious she held firmly to would not allow her to. Over the last six months, Drina had made quite a bit of personal progress. She had lived in Scarlet Oak for a few months now, had a job, had volunteered at the bridge, even had a personal fitness routine at the Dojo. Hell, she even thought she had a few potential friends here. People she might be able to rely on sometime in the future. And then there was Marco; the werefox who had so strangely helped her home the other night and then came into the restaurant the day before. Drina had thought maybe he had come in to see how she was doing, but how could he have known where she worked? Unless she said something to him the night that she had drank so much.
What was next? What could she do now to help her feel a little bit more like her old self? Church. Now there was something that Drina had not been to in quite some time. Her mother was a devout Catholic who had impressed upon her only daughter that church was something that ought not to be missed. 'People have sins to atone for and Church is the only way to do that.' What would poor Suelita think if she knew that her daughter had not been inside of a church since March. Six months. Had it really been six months already? Six months since she had shifted for the first time into a beast that nearly ripped everyone apart in its path? Six months since she had last spoken to her mother and her husband. Six months since she had lost her son...
So Drina had found a church. She was completely and totally unsure how she felt about it in the first place, but she hoped that it would feel right. She had decided on attending a Wednesday night sermon for the sheer fact that the congregation would be thinner that night. Baby steps, right? The sermon itself had been nothing short of lovely and Drina found herself captivated by the man who was delivering. He seemed very charismatic and trustworthy. Kind of like an overgrown teddy bear. But she couldn't help the sense of unease she felt while inside of the church. She couldn't tell if it was her general discomfort from being in a dress and heels for the first time in six months or more, or if it was the odd plethora of smells that had reached her nose. She could have sworn she smelled sulfur. Like someone was lighting matches or something.
After the service was over, Drina was one of the last to leave. She was heading to the door where she had left her umbrella -- she didn't want to drip water everywhere on the nice floors -- and she saw the pastor speaking to a young girl. Now was any good time as any to thank him for a wonderful sermon. She just wished she could get that awful scent out of her nose. A scent that grew stronger the closer she walked toward the pastor and the little girl. From their smells alone, she knew they weren't human. They weren't weres either. She had no idea what they were, and it made her rather uncomfortable. Still, she smiled pleasantly as she drew up to them.
"That was truly a lovely sermon." Drina tried not to let her eyes linger on the child behind his legs. It wasn't that she disliked children, just that they reminded her that she was supposed to be a mother right about now.