The wolf woke up with a start. Something had made a sound that was eerily similar to a human screaming in the distance. That was the first thing that made her alert, the second thing was where she woke up. She vividly remembered falling asleep in her bed last night but now she saw neither bed nor the cozy little room it stood in. What she saw were cold stone walls and a floor covered in hard packed dirt. She sneezed as some of it got into her nose. Very dry dirt. The third thing to notice took perhaps the longest but definitely shocked her the most; she no longer had hands. Or at least not human hands. She noticed this when she tried to wipe at her nose and accidently cut herself over the snout with her own claws. She didn't have a snout before either now that she thought about it...

"...."

Yes, this was definitely something to panic over... But she has the feeling that she already did that earlier so she doesn't really have the energy to do it whole-heartedly. So she just stares at her clawed... hands? Hands. Yes, these things could probably be called hands. There are fingers, although they don't end in normal nails but rather some kind of claws that look suspiciously like the digits in her fingers had outgrown the flesh and just kinda went with it for a bit before ending in sharp points. And her fingers are much longer now. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that her 'fingers' where as long as the lower part of her arms. Which is very long for fingers and should make them brittle... but they're surprisingly sturdy and... they bend too far. That doesn't look right...

Gingerly she puts her hands down vertically to the ground, bending the ends of her fingers in the wrong direction. Her fingers don't snap but they sort of click at the joints and then fold into place, letting her put a lot of weight on her hands without the slightest bit of pain. It's sort of like when you stretch and you both hear and feel your joints pop, not in a painful manner, more like a "yes a stretch was needed thanks" from your joints. Fanv was the type of person who took every chance she got to pop her knuckles or shoulders partly because it felt pleasant and mostly cause it made others (weaklings) wince.

....

She just remembered her name. She almost forgot her name somehow. For some reason, she hadn't remembered her name or who she was before when she was-... Oh yes, she was running for her life. Memories are slowly returning now.

She had woken up because her body had started to change. Which isn't something that should happen so she had screamed. And then the guards had chased her, which at that moment had been very strange to her. Pain is a pretty good distraction it seems. To think that she didn't notice her hands mutating until after she had nearly died. So far it all made sense. Except for the part of her changing. And into what?

Fanv tried to stand up as she asked herself these questions and nearly toppled over. Her legs were longer as well. Much longer, just like her fingers. Slowly she tried to stand again, this time using her hands as support, which revealed that her arms were longer as well. She should have noticed the arms when she inspected her new fingers but it was kind of hard to notice while she had them bent. Fingers, legs, and arms are longer. Anything else? Fur. Thin, not exactly a coat of fur, just a thin layer covering her entire body. A deep black color with patches of white covering her legs and arms, some of her tail (yup there's a tail) and her neck and back. She was able to check her back cause unsurprisingly her neck was longer as well. Feet are clawed like her hands, just a bit stubbier. Her thumbs are shorter, or the same length as before but they look short because of the long spindly fingers.

Carefully she felt her head, bending her fingers and moving slowly as to not cut herself again. Snout, long ears, teETH-... very sharp teeth (cut myself again goddamnit) and (now bleeding) paw pads at the furthest finger digits. If she had to guess she was now some kind of canine, judging from the snout, tail, and fur. Possibly a feline but cats don't have very long snouts (although I haven't seen many long-legged dogs either). Next question: why? As far as she knows her parents weren't known to transform into animals. Possibly a curse on her mother. Curses that affects the firstborn child isn't all that rare in the stories, and her mother wasn't a very nice person so it would be a surprise if she didn't manage to piss off a witch or warlock if she ever met one.

So a curse and canine. Sounds like a werewolf. Are there other canine shapeshifters? Let's go with werewolf for now. Fanv had sat down again at some point while pondering her current state. She should probably feel more afraid considering all this, but for some reason, it didn't feel that alarming. It didn't really feel weird either, which was... weird I guess. She had to grin a bit at that. Her current shape felt strangely right and that should have been concerning to any other human. But she's not actually a human now is she, so that rule no longer applies to her.

Another of those half screams snaps her back to reality. It came from down the tunnel, further away this time. Fanv slowly stands up and considers her options for a bit. There's only one tunnel leading into the cave she's in currently and whatever screamed earlier should be down the tunnel. Perhaps it's another human? Fanv had to shake her head at that. Meeting a human while she looks like this wouldn't be a good thing. They'd probably panic and then possibly attack. The thought of that perked her up somewhat though. It's kind of concerning but the thought of being attacked by, or even attack a human herself, is kind of tempting? That can't be right. Attacking other humans is bad because... why is it bad again? She shook her head again, trying to remember why she shouldn't harm others. It was common sense, right?

Do not harm other humans.

But she isn't a human so does common sense apply to her? Something is missing. It's hard to think. Attacking a human would be bad. It's what monsters do. But aren't werewolves monsters? They maul and hunt humans by night, then hide among them during the day. Sadistic beasts with the intelligence of man and all the tools needed for deception and betrayal. That's what the stories have taught her. But now she is the monster... She hasn't done anything monster-like yet though, have she? Wait. Didn't she hurt that guard, the first one that had seen her when she began transforming? She didn't notice it back then but she had hurt him, right? And he bled... She remembered the smell of blood, thick and metallic, inviting her to spill more of it. Addicting.

She stopped walking at that thought. When had she begun walking? It's the smell. It's not just a memory. Fanv inhaled deeply and the intoxicating smell filled her lungs. Something was bleeding up ahead. A lot. And she finds herself salivating as she pulls more of the smell into her lungs, paws starting to move her towards it again. All thoughts of morals and humans forgotten for the moment, she keeps on walking, following the smell. Her steady walk turns into a trot then into a lazy sprint. Something is bleeding and the smell is overwhelming and calling to her. She wants whatever is bleeding and she wants it badly, only hunger and need remains in her head now.

She barely notices the ground changing beneath her as she runs. The dry packed dirt turns moister and bits of gravel and stone peaks out of it here and there. But what's most noticeable are the plants. Black clovers cover the floor and small red buds peak out beneath the leaves. Fanv pays them little attention as she hones in on the scent of blood. Further ahead lies a dead animal, or what's left of it. A pile of mashed up flesh and organs with bits of white bone peeking out underneath the grisly mush.

And all around it, the red flowers are in bloom, glowing bright red and lighting up the tunnel that splits into 3 up ahead. The clovers closest to the cadaver sports the biggest, brightest flower. But Fanv is too distracted by the bloody mess to notice the soft red light pulsating as the flowers drain the blood that touches them.

When she finally reaches the pile her last shred of sanity is far gone. Only hunger remains and her jaws open as far as they can, almost looking unhinged as her surprisingly elastic skin stretches to let her bit as big a chunk as she can fit into her jaws from the corpse.

The ravenous wolf cares little for its surroundings as it feasts. It devours big chunks of flesh and bone all the while growling loudly to warn any nearby creature that if it dares disturb the wolf as it feeds, they will soon join the carcass on the floor.

The many rodents that live in the hollowed out walls and ground, sulkily obey the warnings, not daring to test this new unknown creature. Some of them chatter and snarl at each other, sizing each other up for the upcoming fights that would break out should the New one leave anything behind. To their dismay, the wolf keeps on feeding, then lap at the floor to get any last bits of flesh or blood the clovers hasn't yet got to.

The wolf cleans itself off, lapping up the last blood left on its fur with a satisfied grin. Then it stops and gags. She stares at the spot where the corpse laid. Then at the glowing red flowers that crowd its place. She's conflicted about what to feel. About what to think. She remembers she has a name and that she was once human. And then she remembers the euphoria of tearing into flesh and the small part of her that regrets that her meal wasn't fighting back or squealing in terror.

Fanv wonders if she should feel guilty about such thoughts. She even waits a bit for the disgust about the whole concept of preying on others (...humans included) to set in.

But no such feelings surface to make her feel bad about it. No such feelings jump in to support her former morals and so she decides to stow them away until she's risking to break them again.

Stomach full and proper human emotions avoided, the wolf rises up and turns to walk back the tunnel she came. She needed another nap after that meal (and to contemplate her fading humanity) and something about sleeping in the middle of the blooming clovers didn't seem like a good idea.

[Creature Fanv obtained a new Skill!]

[Frenzy]