Thunder Moon, [event]

The folowing message is posted throughout the facility in the week leading up to the full moon:

At the door of the room is a Marshal stationed to check in the werewolves. The room is charmed so that werewolves can enter, but not exit. Only Marshals can get out of the room or release the charm. All wands are confiscated upon entering, and inmates must surrender all clothing but undergarments. Any faculty wishing to view the changing are directed to a side door, where they can observe in a room off to the side, a room where the werewolves cannot detect them.

The moon has not yet risen.

Alison plodded down to the saferoom. Same old story, different place.
"Alison Reddenhurst, checking in." She said. God, did she hate this place. she'd rather be running with the pack right now... but was required to be here, chained up.

"so what do i and i don't do, and what does the require" She asked chewing gum. Alison Loved to chew gum and Always had at least a piece in her mouth.

It was easy for Afton to feel like a very old person as she made her way to the safe room on the evening of the full moon. She had spent the entire day curled up in bed in the fetal position, trying to will the moon to wait one more day and let her be. She bargained fiercely inside of her head, begging someone or something - God, or the sky, or her own body – to be kind, to give her a break. She'd only just gotten up, rising very, very slowly from her bed. Every muscle in her dainty little frame was screaming, and she just couldn't muster the energy to stand entirely upright. She shuffled, half stooped over, taking slow, calculated steps. Her hair, long and pale, was mussed and tangled from fitful sleep and sat half covering her ashen face. She felt too old, but she looked like a young girl who'd been woken up by a dream, wandering half awake through the facility. The change did not treat Afton well. It never had. She already felt awful, aching with each step – it was difficult to push herself any harder knowing she was headed for a glorified cage.

Her Nana used to go with her – to drop her off at her transformation site and take care of her while she wallowed in dread. She didn't realize how lucky she was, having the woman there to help her when fear and depression rendered her too helpless to so much as unbutton her own fly. Why had she run away from that? She'd only had a few transformations at Furiae so far, and she never thought she'd come to miss the warded off section of forest where she transformed back at home. Sitting naked amongst the weeds and fungus was never pleasant, but sitting naked in a stark, copper-scented room where she couldn't hide was worse. She thought she'd felt shame before. Transforming at Furiae taught her the true definition of shame.

She handed in her clothing, her hands shaking, feeling the flush come over her once she was sufficiently stripped down. She'd gotten undressed for so many in her life – for healers and mediwizards and transformation wardens alike. One would think that it wouldn't bother her anymore, but it did. She crossed her arms over her chest and pressed her legs together tight as she was ushered into the room. The heavily scarred area where she'd initially been bitten was prominently on display. The combination of her pale skin, profound scarring and the low lighting made her look like a reanimated corpse creeping toward the corner. She sat down gingerly, tucking her legs into her chest and almost disappearing within herself. She bit down hard on her lip and waited.

He hated this job.

He was the muscle, the brute, the enforcer. He was here every full moon, herding these beasts into their room where they couldn't get at humans. They were always so pathetic. Weak, sniveling sub humans, crying out in the room as they awaited their true natures. He had a list in hand, a list of all the werewolves in the facility. Already a few had come crawling in, surrendering their clothes without much fuss.

But there were always the difficult ones.

This one was new - he had a good memory, and he'd never seen her before. Her insolent attitude and questions tagged her as ignorant. Stifling an inward sigh he motioned towards the bin with a few clothes already in it.

"Strip down to your undergarments and place your clothing in this bin," he told her in a bored voice, "go inside and await the full moon. Stay calm and composed, and you might be allowed to go unchained. Make a fuss, and you'll stay tied up."

He hated gum smacking. It was just a sign of a rude, stupid child with no manners whatsoever. Drawing his wand quickly, he pointed it at her.

"Accio gum" he incanted. As the gum shot out of her mouth, he then used another spell to incinerate it.

"Now get inside."

Alison stripped down as told and headed in sans gum. She'd figured she'd have lost it evenually. she hunkered down in the corner, and sat down in the corner and tried to not make a big fuss. Being able to walk around, yeah it was better then chained up.

"so, what's up fellow wolfs?" she asked. She just hoped to make convo untill it happend.

Aiden felt great. Wonderful, in fact. As a born werewolf, he suffered none of the lingering or weakness of the bitten ones. He got stronger. The past few days had been exhilarating, despite his imprisonment. His muscles seemed stronger, his appetite fiercer despite the horrible food they served, his wolfy features more defined. People had been avoiding him more than usual, put off by the canines extending past his lips and the hairy tipped ears. Escorted by a marshal he went up to the room.

Aiden didn't stop at taking off his robes. He stripped all the way, looking anyone who met his gaze directly in the eye. To look away was a sign of weakness. Even with the slight starvation he was an impressive male, his muscles well defined with no extra fat. Even more defined now that he was skinnier. He couldn't smell Kass yet. He hoped she didn't try to run. Not only would they be able to catch them, the bracelets would hurt like hell.

He strode into the room, eyes adjusting abnormally fast to the dim light. Looking up, he saw the area where the moon would shine through, unlocking the wolf stirring inside. They were close, so close. He could feel his muscles tense and loosen, eager to transform. The other wolves didn't look as excited.

"First moon?" he asked open endedly, wondering if they were new wolves.

There were a few he certainly hadn't seen before.

"not by a long shot" Alison said. "first one with out wolfsbane... yeah.. i've had a few full moons over the summer and 3 at hogwarts and nothing beats finding your self half awake in the shack and dragging yourself in.." She said. Slytherins were known for being cruel, but they protected there own. Two people knew about her "furry little problem" and they were probably the ones that attacked those kids and blamed it on her..

"So, Born/Bitten/Just turned?" she asked. "if i'm make it 3 years here, i'll need to make freinds, and freinds are a commodity. If you get into trouble,they back you up. If they need a lie, you easily and coolly say that they were with you all night, you were up till the wee hours cramming for a test, or that you simplly never saw them all day." Alison Smiled. "So, what i'm getting at is, i could use a few freinds here. you in or out?"

Wolfsbane was for weaklings. Of course he knew of it - only a few in his pack knew how to make it, but it was given to many first timers after they'd been bitten, as well as she wolves with cubs in their bodies. But no one took it for more than a few months.

"Born, of course," he said scornfully, "how else would I get my teeth and claws?"

He stepped closer as she finished talking, sniffing her. She smelled...odd. Like something familiar, but not quite good. He circled near to her, almost brushing her, his nose in her hair.

"The other pack!" he suddenly hissed, looking at her darkly, "Friends aren't just made - you're either born in my pack or you're accepted into it. You've been with Priest's wolves, haven't you?"

Afton listened to the others talk, but didn't respond. She wasn't really the bantering type – not before a transformation, anyway. Every muscle and tendon and nerve in her lithe little frame was already shrieking in agony, stretching up toward where the moon's pale light would soon fall. She tried to focus on the other inmates' words so she wouldn't lose herself in her pain. She didn't want to surrender her mind to the wolf within her before she absolutely had to. The idea of her essence vanishing and her body taking on another form still chilled her to the bone. She focused on their words, trying to keep herself human up until the very last second. She couldn't help resisting the change with all that she had. It was always exhausting and always fruitless, but Afton wouldn't be anywhere without hope. Anything that made her feel like she was in control of her mad life was worth the pain.

A girl from the barracks was talking about how her little handful of transformations suggested that she wasn't a new wolf, and then went on to explain that this would be her first transformation without wolfsbane potion. The girl was just chatting, Afton knew – just speaking genuinely... and yet her words made her chest feel full and uncomfortable. Afton could never afford wolfsbane and had never, ever transformed with the aid of a potion of any sort. Sometimes she wished she could, just once – she wanted to know what she looked like as a wolf. Even after all of this time it was difficult to believe that she spent any time in another creature's body – and it had been a long, long time. She was old and seasoned – the kind of old and seasoned that made five transformations seem like absolutely nothing. She envied Alison's innocence. This was going to be like the girl's first transformation.

She was lost in her thoughts as the two other werewolves went on to discuss friendships and alliances. She knew nothing of packs, so their words really weren't making much sense to her. She didn't know what went on when she was in wolf-form and she didn't realize that there were werewolves who lived in packs even in their human forms. All she knew was that a very naked boy was sniffing a slightly-less-naked girl's hair. She averted her eyes and produced a soft moan of pain or fatigue.

She missed her woods. Nobody sniffed anybody there.

Comfort had heard about the safe room, but she wasn't sure how things would run there. Would they be able to run, would she have any privacy? Did she want any privacy. She couldn't think. Merlin, why couldn't she just think clearly? She needed Phineas and Faolan. She really needed Faolan.

She was beginning to get the achy feverish feeling she always got before the full moon. Tears built up in her eyes for a second before she tipped her chin to the ceiling and forced them away. This had been one of the worst days to be in Phineas' camp. Everyone was always snapping and snarling at each other. But it wasn't like that, they just couldn't help it. She hated being alone on days like this. It was empty and lonely. She wanted someone to snuggle with someone who felt as bad as she did. Of course there wasn't anyone like that here. Everything smelled funny and she was always cold. The other wolves here were like plastic copies. They didn't show anything.

Still, she had things to think about. She forced her despair back and forced herself to calculate. She didn't want to lose her robes. They were grey and ugly, but she thought they were all she'd get. Nothing that wasn't locked up lasted over the full moon in Phineas' camp. So, she stripped down, ignoring the sniggers from the veelas in the room. She flipped them the bird and stalked off in her bra and underwear, her bare feet slapping the floor, hoping that she wasn't breaking some major rules.

She arrived at the safe room and quickly realized her malfunction. She stood as tall as she could, her expression proud. Obviously, she'd done something wrong but how was she to know? Almost everyone else had left their clothing there. She had nothing to leave.

"Comfort Goodwin." She said through gritted teeth, brushing her way into the small box. As soon as she was inside, she balked. God, it was so close and tiny in here. She couldn't breath. The rest of this place was bad enough. At this point, her wolf was so near the surface she couldn't stop herself. She let a little snarl slip between her lips and skipped sideways along the wall.

"They really mean for us to stay here for a full night. I-" she gasped for breath, her eyes wide. "I don't think I can breath. Please let me go, please."

Looking down the list, the marshal saw a hastily added name at the bottom. Comfort Goodwin. Must have just come off the Portkey. She had the look of someone who had no idea what they were doing.

"From now on, you keep your robes and underclothes on until you get to this point," he grumbled, "so we can return your items to you when you become human again."

Stupid new kids. Never knew their place. She didn't seem interested in listening and instead swept into the stone room. Stupid wolf. No way she would last more than a week in Furiae, especially going into the safe room for a full moon within the first few days.

"Sorry, cupcake," he leered with a grin, looking in the doorway at the hyperventilating girl, "room's a one way street. No coming out until the night is done. At least you're free for now. Act up too much and you'll find those chains ain't just for decoration, alright?"

He was itching to put one of the snotnosed kids in chains.

She couldn't leave, she couldn't leave, she couldn't leave, she couldn't leave. The words flashed through her mind over and over again until they became a meaningless jumble. She was all flesh and blood and adrenaline. It was a good thing the full moon wasn't yet up. If she'd shifted at this point, Comfort was fairly certain she would have hurt herself, and she wasn't out of the woods yet. Her adrenaline peaked and she felt it whistling out of her ears like steam from a tea kettle. She was in serious danger of losing her mind until a sneering voice interrupted her potential meltdown.

"Sorry, cupcake, room's a one way street. No coming out until the night is done. At least you're free for now. Act up too much and you'll find those chains ain't just for decoration, alright?"

Was he actually calling her cupcake? No one called her pet names except Faolan. The thought had the desired affect. She ran her fingers over the touchstone on her wrist, the place where she'd been bitten initially. It calmed her enough that she could straighten her back, disguise the adrenaline shakes and step into the room. This was just a room, just another prison cell. She'd been looking at them ever since she'd gotten here. No before that, she'd been looking at prison cells since the aurors had come to their camp.

"I see," she tossed the words over her shoulder. "Next time I'll remember my clothes." She tossed her hair over her shoulder and calmly took another step into the room. There were already people here. She had no intention of letting them see how rattled she was. Instead, she took a seat against the wall, letting herself slide down to the floor.

Afton could feel the new girl walk into the room, somehow sensing her before so much as hazarding a peek. Her presence was enough to make the slight blonde girl turn her head to investigate, snatching a silent glimpse of the brunette. She looked her over, still hunched in her corner, and wondered why it was she felt the other girl's presence so strongly. It might have been that the moon was growing close to taking to the sky and her senses were already sharpening, alerting her to subtle sounds and smells that most humans would miss completely – which she would miss completely if she wasn't on the verge of a transformation. She could feel every inch of her body screaming to release the wolf that lived inside of her. The pain was now accompanied by an acute sort of new awareness. It was odd to feel so weak and so powerful at the same time.

The girl was new. Afton didn't know many people – didn't let herself know many people – but she enjoyed people watching and was aware of almost every individual in the facility. If this girl was a werewolf then she certainly would have known her, given that they would be staying in the same barracks. The ice in Afton's gut was only growing colder, knowing how many individuals in the room would be making their first transformation in a claustrophobic cage, only to wake up tense and bleeding and exhausted. A million difficult transformations in the woods were nothing compared to even one brutal transformation in the safe room at the facility. It was possible that Afton's highly tuned senses hadn't alerted her to the girl's presence at all. Maybe she was just feeling the other girl's dread. Though she felt horrible thinking it, she had to hope she wasn't the only one feeling keyed up and trapped. The process of transformation had been lonely enough when she'd been doing it on her own. Now that she was in a room full of young werewolves, there should have been someone for her to relate to, right?

She couldn't help but continue to steal glances at the other girl. Though she wasn't exactly a social butterfly, Afton found herself clearing her throat softly, intending to speak. She sighed, cleared her throat again, and then turned to face the new arrival.

“Are you new?” she asked, though she knew the answer. It was the only question she could think of that wasn't stupid. Anxious at having drawn attention to herself, Afton pulled her knees tighter into her chest. It was an odd time to be making friends, considering they'd probably be ripping one another to ribbons in just a few minutes.

Comfort took a quick survey of the others in the room. They were all werewolves. They had to be. There was no way that a human would come in here this close to the full moon. Besides, they all smelled like werewolves. Werewolves just had that smell. For her it was like being outdoors, when the air doesn't smell like anything. Just deep breathing. Werewolves smelled like that.

There was a boy who was chatting happily with another girl in one corner of the room. No, she thought with a disdainful second thought, they weren't chatting, he was sniffing her hair. Ugh, she thought, closing her eyes. She forgot for a second how desperate she was to have someone close to her, touching her. If anyone other than Faolan touched her, she wouldn't smell the same. And she wanted to smell right for when he came for her. She didn't know how long that would take, but she wanted to hold out. Of course he would come for her. He loved her.

The other person in the room was a girl curled up much like she was. For some reason, Comfort felt a pang in her chest for this girl. It was like the pang that she would feel for an animal that was in pain. Was it possible that she was not the only person who was disturbed by the size of the room and the way the walls seemed to hold them back?

Comfort had been changing since she was three. She was a champ at this sort of thing. She even knew how to keep her flailing to a minimum. Phineas had taught her that. Still, she was used to wide open spaces and green things to fill her awareness. She couldn't possibly keep herself in one piece here. She would just shatter. Aware that the thoughts were driving her adrenaline back up again, she took deep cleansing breaths like she'd learned from the massage therapist they'd had in camp with them.

Comfort wasn't foolish enough to think that the girl was a real massage therapist. She knew that the girl had been a whore. Still, once Phineas had changed her, Daisy liked to call herself a masseuse. And, whore or not, she had a way with her hands. Just thinking about it made Comfort aware of the tension in her neck and shoulders. She needed a massage. It wasn't going to happen.

“Are you new?”

The words brought her out of her thoughts and her head popped up. It was the curved girl, the one who looked scared of her own shadow. Comfort knew her eyes were dilating in response to the oncoming moon, but she couldn't help but stare. She'd never really talked to any werewolves that were Phineas' wolves before. She cleared her throat and but was not surprised when her voice came out husky.

"Yeah," she cleared her throat again and tried again. "I'm new. I just got here from the states." She looked over her shoulder toward the door and hunched her shoulders, turning away from it. "H-have you changed here before?"

Afton nodded a very slow, very subtle nod in response to the other girl's question. Oh, she'd changed there before. Though she still had no idea what exactly went on in the room once she was fully transformed, it was difficult to forget just how awful it was to wake up covered in bleeding wounds with no recollection of how exactly they'd gotten there. Wild animals just weren't meant to be caged... and transformed werewolves were just about as wild as you could get. It was weird to wake up covered in wounds that you know the other people in the room had a role in causing – but it was even weirder to wake up with a coppery taste in your mouth and someone else's blood smudged all over you, knowing that you were the one who'd caused someone else pain. Afton, as a human, was a gentle creature who was concerned with hurting others' feelings, let alone breaking their flesh. And Afton as a wolf? Well, she really didn't know, did she?

“It's, um... it's pretty bad,” she responded honestly, her voice soft, glancing back down at her knees, “Too small.” There was no reason to lie. How could this situation be pleasant for anyone? Still, everyone else in the room seemed so much more self assured than she felt – heck, everyone in the world seemed so much more self assured than she felt! In this case, that feeling was exacerbated. She felt like she was intruding, taking up room that the other wolves deserved more than she did. She was pressed as far into the corner as she could go, but she still felt intrusive. She took another glance toward the girl. “It goes quick,” she assured her gently, wincing as something in her back twinged painfully.