All Good Things

## Content Information

Arsling yawned, rolling out of bed to continue the same routine as usual, her last day or so before she shrunk again, she glanced over at Tamzen who had fallen asleep on her bed last night, looking as cute as a button as they cuddled the cat plushie Knight named Xander, how appropriate

Tamzen murmured sleepily as she felt Arsling get up, her eyes squinting shut against the morning sun streaming in through the bedroom window. She was still wearing the same clothing she had arrived home in - a baggy hoodie and yoga pants, which covered the worst of her injuries from sight, if not from the keen scent of a werewolf. There were still faint streaks of mascara running down her cheeks, from when she had gotten back to their dorm and she had finally...*finally* allowed herself to cry. She groaned in displeasure and tried to bury her face in the pile of plushies, hiding from the sun and her to-do list.

"Morning Tamzen" Arsling smiles kneeling down to eye level with her adorable sleepy friend grabbing the wizard cat named Tamzen and with Arsling being a dork she puts on an impression of Tamzen, using the cat wizard like a puppet "human me should get up and accept hugs from the silly werewolf" 'cat Tamzen' says

Tamzen’s giggle in response was muffled by the pile of plushies, but after a minute she groaned and carefully pushed herself into an upright position. She gave Linny a sleepy smile. “Okay, okay… I’m up.”

Arsling grins giving Tamzen a massive hug still holding cat Tamzen she gets the little wizard to hug Tamzens face "sleep well?"

Tamzen winced slightly as her friend’s hug put pressure on the gash that the ghost had given her the evening before. “Oof, not quite so tight... and yeah...slept about as well as I could hope, I guess.” She smiled again. “Thanks for not making me move.”

"You're welcome, regardless of the state you're in my beds more comfortable than yours anyhow, I'd let you have it if I could" Arsling grins cockily "so what's on the schedule for today brain?"

Tamzen frowned, still a bit sleepy. “Umm… pack up all my things - again - I suppose.” She chewed on her lower lip, thoughtfully. “Talk to Admin about my classes, and… I need to spend some time at the engineering lab, finishing up my part of the group project so that Didi doesn’t get screwed over by this.”

Arsling steeled herself, recalling last night's, Tamzen telling her threw the tears that she'd be leaving soon, it made Arsling anxious the idea that Tamzen and Xander would be so far away, in truth, Arsling was scared but she wouldn't let that get the best of her, not this time "so we're not taking over the world?" Arsling jokes smiling weakly

Tamzen sighed, and pulled Linny close to her. “‘Fraid not, Pinky.” She seemed to think about that for a moment. “Maybe Corporate America, someday. But not the world.”

Arsling rested her head against Tamzens chest muttering out "I'm going to miss you"

“Yeah…” Tamzen just sat there for a while in quiet contemplation, just enjoying the close presence of her friend. Finally, she sighed, released the other girl, and scooted to the edge of the bed to get up. “Well… I guess I better get started.” She glanced over at Linny. “Want to keep me company while I pack?”

"I can't think of a higher honour" Arsling placed cat Tamzen down on the bed and stood up straight smiling as she followed Tamzen, thoughts of things she wanted to do to stop this, but knew deep down that all of her ideas were ridiculous or impossible, she wanted so badly to shout at Gertrude to try to intimidate her into letting Tamzen and Xander stay Arsling suddenly asks "so what's the chance I'll ever see you again?"

Tamzen turned from her inspection of her closet, a thoughtful look on her face. “Fairly good, I’d think. If nothing else, the old bat has to die *sometime*. I’ll invite you to the funeral, and we’ll all dance on her grave together.” She smiled, despite herself. “In all seriousness though… she may have won this battle - even I have to admit that Xander seems to have drawn far more... *attention…* than any of us would have liked while he was here - but the fight isn’t over. She might be dragging him back home for now, but this time I’ll be there to protect him.” She shrugged, wincing again as newly forming skin pulled and stretched. “Once he’s healed up, we’ll figure out a way to regain a little more independence from her…”

She didn’t have the heart to tell Linny that she had no clue how they were going to pull off *that* particular miracle.

Arsling sighed "so no chance I could shit talk Gertrude to her face? Gotta make sure she doesn't continue living out of spite" Arsling chuckled gently, the idea of verbally lighting that old bat up danced across her mind

“As entertaining as that might be - probably best to not.” Tamzen laughed. “She’s still pissed with you about your diversion last night - at least we managed to convince her that the chaos was for a good cause.”

"I mean calling her a complete failure of a grandmother sounds like a great cause" Arsling smiled "I was making something for you, late birthday present, I'll try to get it too you before the wicked witch of the US takes you away" Arsling leans against the doorway, her posture slumped

Tamzen smiled. “Thank you - that’s so sweet of you. Abby and Kitty are going to be coming up on Sunday to take anything that Xander and I don’t want to take into the snake pit - you can send it with them, and they’ll make sure it’s safe.” She thought about this for a moment. “Well… as safe as anything can be in a house with five children, at least…” she admitted.

"Eh I'm about as dangerous as five children, I'm sure my gift will be safe as houses" Arsling looked around Tamzen's room, thinking about the fact that soon Arsling would have to find a new roommate, she wouldn't survive living by herself, well not without going insane

“Next time I get to see the Goblins, I’ll make sure to invite you along, and we can test that theory,” Tamzen said, as she started packing her newly acquired “society” wardrobe into a pair of sturdy trunks.

Arsling smiled before grimacing at the high society outfits "Jesus, that old broad better not force you to wear that more than once, that's cruel even by her standards"

“Eh, not all of it is so horrible…” Tamzen admitted, somewhat grudgingly. “Iva helped pick out most of this stuff, so it could have been a lot worse. Some of it is even kinda comfortable.”

Arsling made a fake gagging noise before cheekily grinning and taking off her tie "now this is a good outfit on anyone, Gertrude could wear this, and while that suit would need to be burnt afterwards she would look two percent better at least"

“Oh, undoubtedly,” Tamzen agreed. “Even with six inches of extra fabric, it’d be an improvement.”

Arsling chuckles holding the tie in hand "why don't you keep it? As a momento of good fashion sense" Arsling gave a shit eating grin to Tamzen

Tamzen took the tie, and smiled at Linny, tears starting to gather at the corner of her eyes again. “Ohh…” she murmured, stepping over to hug her friend again. “I really am going to miss you…” she sniffled.

Arsling couldn't hold back her own tears anymore, wrapping her arms around Tamzen she cried into her shoulder "m-me too darling"

For a moment, the two of them stood there, tears flowing freely. Finally, Tamzen straightened up, almost regretfully, and grabbed a towel to wipe her face and nose with. She folded up the tie, and reverently placed it in the trunk, before turning back to her closet.

~~That Evening~~

The sun had just set behind the horizon, casting the town of Night Falls into the soft glow of civil twilight when Tamzen exited WKDN for the penultimate time. She still had one last broadcast, if all went well, but she had decided to take time that afternoon to go clean out her personal belongings from the booth that had been her second home for so long. She carefully gripped the sides of the box as she made her way down the front stairs, only to hesitate before taking the final step to the ground.

A nearby bush rustled and stepping out silently and as majestically as possible was Cutie, her tail wagging as she approached her friend, walking around Tamzen, rubbing her head, side and tail against the human girl

Tamzen smiled and balanced the box on one hip as she reached down to scritch her friend behind the ears. “Heya, Cutie.”

Her tail wagged as she gladly accepted the scratches "so do you want me to talk or should I pretend to be your big happy lapdog" she asked curiously, she was fine ethierway, one of the comforts of being a werewolf was this feeling of belonging that humans didn't typically feel, y'know except the stoned hippies

Tamzen sighed, her hand still tangled through Cutie’s fur. “I’d say I want to be alone with my thoughts… but I don’t. I really, *really* don’t.” Her throat tightened, and she gulped slightly, trying to keep the tears from falling again. “I think it’s all starting to hit me that this is *really* happening.”

"Yeah...this is really gonna suck, not having you around to manage my craziness or crack jokes" Cutie rested her head against Tamzens hand "you've helped me through so much I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay you"

“It’s what friends do,” Tamen replied, simply. “And you’ve been there for me as well. Even when I was being stupid. Even when I didn’t deserve it.” She thought back to the days she spent sequestered in the studio - was that only two weeks ago? It seemed like it had been longer…

Cutie licked Tamzens hand "I just wish I could be with you though this, I hope you give Gertrude hell before her trip down"

Tamzen laughed, then looked around for any signs of Gertrude’s security team. She didn’t really expect to see anyone - they had always been more likely to follow Xander around, but it didn’t hurt to check. She grinned down at Cutie. “Well, that’s the plan, at least.”

"Good, now then those boots and these paws are made for walking" Cutie smiles before leading the way

The walk home was uneventful, the moon glowing down on the two friends as they quietly enjoyed that final walk as roommates