Manipulated (Zakkol and Forlorn)

[vibrantsystem]

@Forlorn


​

The night thus far was really fairly standard. Theo hadn't exactly done that much, beyond adding a few words to a rather lack-luster essay he was supposed to be doing on something boring. What was it again? Cabbages? No, not that. But it was boring and mundane enough to warrant that extremely prestigious tag and where it like a badge.


But that was the past. At the current time, Theo was lying on his couch. An extremely large and curiously fluffy cat was lying on his chest, purring contentedly, while he stroked it. The cat's fur seemed to come out easily on Theo's hand as he stroked it, ginger and white hairs floating through the air and settling on the carpet. And that was all that he was doing. Lying there on the couch, admiring the cat. Nothing else. And then there was a strange rustling sound coming from outside.


The cat, hearing the noise, got up off Theo's chest and arched its back, before hopping off and looking around the room. Following the cat's example, Theo got up, stretched, and then walked over to a window that overlooked the house's garden. The house bordered a forest, but Theo had tried his hardest to make it look like it didn't, employing a gardener to plant a series of bushes and flowers to cover it up. It worked. Kind of. But sometimes creatures always got into it and got stuck, such as hedgehogs, and Theo would have to go and get them out. Which he was going to do now.


Outside, the rustling noise continued, and Theo approached the section of bush and tree it was coming from. Whatever it was that was stuck or was there was considerably larger than he had anticipated. Foolishly extending his hand out in to the bush, Theo made a move to pull away some of the plants, his hand clearly exposed to whatever lurked in the bushes.

 

[Forlorn]

The full moon beamed across the night sky, casting a faint glow on Sophie's wolfish features. Saliva poured from her mouth, dripping on the moist ground. She panted softly, waiting for some form of creature to cross her path. She was no longer human, only purely wolf both physically and mentally. That's the beauty of the lunar phases, they control the mental aspect werewolves. While they can shift forms at will, their mentality relies on the moon's form.


Nearby, a boy walks outside. Sophie slinks into a bush, waiting for him to come closer. She shudders with anticipation, tensing her muscles and bowing her head. A hand reaches towards her unknowingly, and she pounces. Teeth tear through flesh, spilling blood on the pine needle laden ground. She tasted the sweet metallic flavor of his blood, something she hadn't experienced in a long while. Lunging a second time, she knocks him to the floor. she looms over him, ready to make the final fatal blow. Her emerald eyes lock with his, registering the pure fear. This awakens the human Sophie, allowing her to take over for a brief moment. She changes forms. "Run!" Sophie screams as she fights the primal urge to rip him to shreds.

 

[vibrantsystem]

The creature's appearance had been extremely sudden and wholly unexpected. One moment Theo had been reaching into the bushes to pull them apart, and then the next he was yelling in pain as jaws of iron clamped around his hand and he fell over backwards as the creature lunged at him. He had to get away from it. Pushing himself along the ground, fumbling about, Theo was able to right himself as the creature stalled for a brief moment. Back on two feet, the human turned and ran from the creature, blood trailing from the wound on his hand.

-EXCITING NEXT MORNING TIME SKIP-




​

Theo was lying in his bed the following morning. It was horribly late, or at least it was for Theo, who was an extremely early riser on most occasions. Following the events of the previous night, he really wasn't in the mood for doing anything other than not moving. He had had to go to the doctor's clinic late at night, just before it closed. Thankfully, it hadn't closed, and he was diagnosed as being "fine" following what he had been through. Except he didn't feel fine. One moment, Theo would feel extremely hot, while the next he would shiver and groping for the blankets he had thrown off during the a hot flush. It didn't help his throat was dry and his voice was hoarse. He felt horrible. But his thoughts were on the creature that had attacked him. It had been a wolf, yes, but with curiously coloured eyes.

​

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie awoke in a pool of blood, shivering and exhausted. She let out a whimper as she traced her finger through the blood. "More suffering from my own doing". A rumble escaped her stomach. "huh, I should be full" she thought to herself. Not only was she hungry, but ravenously so. "Did I not catch anything?" she thought to herself. The blood covered her naked body, slowly dripping down her skin and onto the ground. With shaky legs, Sophie rose to her feet. The metallic scent stung her nose. "I better clean up the mess I made. If it was human I'd better bury it" She said with a forlorn expression. "But firs, clothing would be nice". After throwing on a T-shirt, she changed into wolf form and began tracking the scent.


A small red cottage stood in the distance. The wolf sniffed the ground, picking up the same scent as the blood. It trailed from the bush to the door, and ended where it had begun. "Strange, did it get away?" She though in disbelief. A warm feeling of giddiness flooded over her. Perhaps the human survived. While the possibility was remarkably slim, he could have shot her or something of that nature, scaring her away. She decided that the red house harbored her victim. "I better check and see if it's alright" She thought. Ringing the doorbell, Sophie waited nervously.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Doorbells. Stupid bloody things, whoever invented them. Whoever it was ringing the doorbell, they were not going to be on Theo's good side. In fact, they would be on his extremely unsociable side. The unpleasant side. He had to drag his heavy, groggy form out of the bed and waddle through the house. Which is what he started doing. Bundling up the blankets with one hand (for the bitten one was bandaged), Theo draped them around himself, grumbling as he did so and began to make slow progress towards the door. As he did so, he passed the cat, which shot him a look of pure terror and fled. Odd. He hadn't seen that cat since the previous night, and the reaction was rather perplexing. Maybe it could tell he was sick.


At the door, Theo bundled the blankets around himself tightly, and opened the door, the large brass handle cold against the palm of his good, working hand. Twisting the handle, Theo opened the door and looked at who was standing on his doorstep. It was a girl. She seemed to be younger than him, but looked as though she had seen a lot more of the world than him. While he had never seen her before, her eyes stood out to him particularly. They were a curious green colour, much the eyes of the wolf-creature that had attacked him the previous night.


'Um,' Theo said, his voice husky. 'Hullo?' He queried, directing his speech at the girl on his doorstep.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie stared at him; she could smell the sweat and blood and something unidentifiable on his body. His once brown eyes were beginning to turn an unnatural blue. "Oh no" Sophie whispered as her eyes widened. She could smell the transformation on him, a sickly smell sharing the scent of both human and wolf. Even as a human Sophie could pick up the scent. She could tell the boy was in no mood to talk, let alone show some stranger his wound. A sour expression plastered his face, and his body was hunched over from pain.


"I'm so sorry" was all she managed to say. Tears welled in her eyes, a few escaping down her cheek. "I would never condemn anyone to such a fate" she said in broken whispers. "Please, let me come inside, I need to explain the situation"

 

[vibrantsystem]

Standing at the door was causing Theo immense pain. His bones were aching and sore, feeling like the could break at any moment, while his muscles were feeling strained. His head was pounding as a headache raged, pounding and crushing many of his thoughts. His eyes were stinging too, but the pain they were causing was minimal when compared to everything else that was happening to him at the current time. But the question was, why? Why was he hurting? Why did every minute something else began to hurt? His jaw had just started aching now and the pain was slowly but surely driving him mad.


Trying to take his mind of the pain and discomfort, Theo looked at the girl on his doorstep curiously. More questions came to him. Why was she crying over someone she didn't even know? Why was she here? 'Um, sure, come in,' Theo invited, making a choice. It was rude to leave people waiting. 'Could you wait in the living room please?' He asked, before following up the command with instructions. 'If you come and go right down the hallway, it is first on your left,' Theo supplied. 'I need to get some painkillers or something first.'

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie closed the door behind her, following his orders. The cottage was quaint and cozy, something that she deeply longed for. Living in the forest was invigorating, but having a place to call "home" was very foreign to her. Sophie sniffed the air. The musty scent of books hung in the air, along with his sweat and the smell of canine. She also deduced that he hat a cat, which may be problematic when he changes. It would not be long. "I need to explain to him the ordeal he is about to endure" she thought to herself. "Um, excuse me?" she called out in a slightly frantic tone. The clabbering of cupboards echoed through the tiny house. Profanities were muttered before the boy resurfaced.


"We need to talk" Sophie said softly. She knew how irritable he would be in his current state, and was trying to be as soothing as possible. "You seem like a boy of intelligence, so be frank with me. You feel like you are dying, correct?"


(I think one liners might be need at this point due to dialogue, but if you don't want to thats ok. Also hopefully its ok that I controlled your character for continuity's sake? if not please tell me~)

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo let out a laugh. It wasn't a normal laugh though, for it sounded rather guttural and strained, not like a light,mbouncing laugh one would expected. He looked at the girl, wondering her name. Was she trying to complement him, with these kind words. "Of intelligence." that was hilarious. 'Some may call me intelligent,' Theo said, his voice husky. 'But most people call me a stupid introvert,' he paused, mulling over what had been said by the girl. 'I do feel like I'm dying, yes,' Theo muttered bluntly. He wasn't really interested with what the girl had to say. At first he had thought she was an extremely informal postman,mbut she clearly wasn't. Didn't mean he cared though. Theo was more interested in finding the painkillers.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie grabbed his hand. "Please, sit" she said, almost in a whisper. "You are not dying, although in the next few hours you will wish you were." She quickly regretted her choice of words, seeing as they sounded like she planned to do horrible things to him. "I didn't mean it like that. What Im trying to say-erm-well," She let out a sigh, this was a touchy subject and she was trying to sound somewhat sane. "Im a werewolf, and by the looks of things, I bit you. That means you-well…you're going to turn. Tonight." The room went silent.

 

[vibrantsystem]

'Right then,' Theo said, staring directly at the girl as he sat in a chair that was lingering by the kitchen table. 'Firstly, I wouldn't believe you if someone else had already provided me with an answer for how I'm feeling, so I'm going to believe you until someone else proves otherwise. And I think you are going to be that person,' he coughed out, irritated by the girl's games. What did she think she was doing? He felt and looked like hell and here she was telling him that she was a werewolf and now he was too.


'Go on then,' Theo said, a small smile on his lips. 'Change for me. Go on. Transform. Or are you one of those werewolves that can only change on a full moon or when the wind blows south at a forty-seven degree angle or something like that?' Theo said, verbally jabbing.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie smiled at the proposition. Staring at him with her hazel eyes, she began to shift. Her body shifted all at once, impossible to tell what started or what finished the process. In one swift motion she was an animal.


As soon as the wolf had graced his eyes, it was gone, replaced by the girl. "Now do you understand the severity of the situation?"

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo let out a yell of shock and rocked back in his chair when the girl changed in front of him. It was very rapid the transformation was, and caught him extremely off guard. While once upon a time he would have dismissed shapeshifters and werewolves as stuff of fantasies. It wasn't real. It couldn't be real. But here was living proof. Standing in his kitchen.


Sighing, Theo mumbled weekly. 'Yes I do now,' he muttered, casting a look at the girl. She looked normal enough. Nice, and not like he would have imagined the beast that had attacked him the previous night to look in its human form. 'Right then,' Theo said, perking up slightly. 'You said tonight, didn't you?' He queried, taking one hand to massage his neck. 'So what should we do to prepare?'

 

[Forlorn]

"Well, firstly I want to clean your wound" Sophie said as she rushed outside. With two fingers poised on the ground, she took a deep breathe and focused all her energy on the spot. Her eyes glowed as if a flame had been lit inside of them. The tips of her fingers illuminated, and a small bud arose from the dirt. It reached towards the sky as leaves protruded from it. The plant kept growing, looming over Sophie as it did. Finally a yellow fruit bloomed, making Her remove her fingers. She got up and picked the lemon nonchalantly. She comes in with a proud expression plastered on her face. "Ok, we can clean the wound now!" She said with a grin


(Ok so I had an idea. How about since Sophie grew up in nature basically, she does not understand society and new gadgets and such like Theo does, so while Sophie teaches then the ways of a werewolf, he does the same with the human world)

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo had sat in the kitchen while the girl went outside and around the house to the back. Theo had watched while she grew a tree from nothing, and he had continued to watch as a large, juice lemon grew on its branches. How was that even possible?


Going to sit back down, Theo caught sight of his reflection in the glass window. Upon doing so, he stepped back, looking at the bad reflection. There was no doubt about what he could see. Theo's eyes, which had once been a brown, hazelnut colour were now an bright, piercing ice-blue. While they weren't hideous, they certainly surprised him. Weren't wolves supposed have yellow eyes?


But before Theo could consider the question further, the girl returned, announcing they could now clean the wound with the bulbous citrus fruit. 'Right, yes,' Theo mumbled, sitting down again. 'May I ask your name?' He queried, curious. 'I'm Theo, for future reference.'

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie was surprised by how seemingly calm he was. "Im uh-you can call me Sophie" She said, still dumbfounded. First, she unwrapped the blankets protecting his wound, then proceeded to prod at the bandages. "these won't do" she said, shaking her head as she took them off. "Ok, brace yourself" she said, placing a hand on his bicep with a firm grip Using her nail Sophie pierced the lemon and squeezed the juice into the wound.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo had been expecting the lemon juice to hurt. Of course he had been-it was citrus going into an open wound. Citric acid going in. But it hurt much more than he had anticipated. His arm felt as though it were on fire, the wound a mess of white, screaming pain as the juice trickled down into the flesh mutilated by the girl-Sophie-the previous night.


Letting out a brief cry of pain, before clenching his jaw shut and inhaling slowly to try and ignore the pain, Theo tried focusing on the bandages that had been sealing the wound from the open air. They were currently lying on the floor, bloodied and looking extremely weak. 'Is it nearly over?' Theo hissed, turning his attention to the newly introduced Sophie. 'Please say yes,' he begged, his arm continuing to burn, the flames of pain licking further up his arm now as the juice continued to flow into the wound.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie looked back at him with a tender glint in her eye. "Its over" she said soothingly. "keep the bandages off, though. it will just cause more pain when you change" she uttered as she left the cottage once more. Prodding her fingers into the ground, she propagated a small plant, which she plucked the leaves from. Crushing the fronds in her palm, She placed the mass on his wound. "These will ease the pain as well as soothe irritation" She whispered softly. Sitting down, she began to explain to him the situation. "By midnight tonight, you will have undergone your entire transformation. The first time isn't pretty, to say the least. It gets easier, trust me." She reassured him as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "The start of this ordeal has already begun, the wound is beginning to heal up already, see?" She asked, pointing to the wound. Sure enough, the wound had scabbed over, causing an itchy sensation. "About an hour after that occurs, you will begin to transform into a wolf, just like I showed you. However this is a much longer process. Its only 6:00 now, and will take 5 hours until completion" Sophie explained with a saddened voice. "just bear through it, ok?" She pleaded. A concerned expression befell her face, she had not an inkling of Theo's disposition. If he was mentally weak, or stricken with cowardice, he could possible kill others-or himself- from the immense pain. "we need to find an area free from easily breakable objects. Preferably one away from people. Any ideas?" she inquired.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo paled at this most recent piece of news from Sophie. "YOU ARE WANTING ME TO REMAIN CALM?!" He so desperately wanted to scream. But he couldn't, for his voice was all but gone, replaced with a husky, croaky noise. Instead, he'd just have to comply with what Sophie wanted, and the thing in question was a space away from people.


'There is always the forest,' Theo stated, before getting up and bundling the blankets around him. He wasn't looking forward to what Sophie had promised, but from what he'd seen he had accepted the fact that he didn't really have a choice in the matter at all. 'Coming?' He asked as he bustled out of the room and left the house, leaving the door open for Sophie as he did so.


Going around the back of the house, Theo looked into the forest, and started to walk into it, the bushes snagging at his blankets and sheets as he walked, fully unsure that Sophie was indeed following him.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie followed him deep into the forest, until they arrived at a large opening in the ground. It was the foundation to a house which was long since gone. It was no where deep enough to hold a rampant werewolf, but then again, most places weren't. "it will do" she stated as she hopped into the hole, bring Theo with her. Placing both palms on the soil, she summoned roots which crawled forward and creeped up the stony walls. Stoic trees arose across the base of the foundation, creating a living wall. "It won't hold you for long but it will at least buy me time. Sophie pressed her plans deeper into the ground, manifesting more trees to border the area. She began to tremble as more and more massive oaks pushed their way toward the sky. By now five layer of trees had surfaced, pact so close together they formed a leafy prison. A trickle of blood escaped her nose as Sophie stood up. "Thats better" she said with a slight smile.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo stared at Sophie, dumbfounded. Not onyx was this girl a werewlf, she could also manipulate trees and plants? Just what exactly was she. She wasn't human, that much had been made obvious by the transforming earlier.


With a small sigh, Theo dropped onto the ground, wrapping the sheets and blankets around him. He wasn't concerned by the fact that they were growing dirty from contact with the ground. No, he was simpy too tired to move anymore.


'Sealed in, am I?' He queried, looking around. 'Too bad I am too tired to actually do anything though,' he said jokingly, before turning his attention back to Sophie. 'How did you do that?' Theo asked, indicating at the trees. 'Are you okay?' He questioned, staring at the blood-nose she seemed to have developed. Theo was firing question after question at Sophie, and all his questions seemed vastly different from each other.

 

[Forlorn]

Sophie realized she had yet to explain her powers. "Werewolves are vastly miss-represented in the media. Not only can we change at will, we have our own unique powers as well. I can grow plants and manipulate the ground. From the looks of your eye color, you can control water, and perhaps ice. Oh, thats the other thing, your powers are determined by the eye color obtained at your first transformation. Mine was always green, but never this dramatic in color" she gave a small smile as she said the last part, widening her eyes at him so he could see more closely. Realizing that he was in intense pain, she rolled him on his back. "Please do not take this the wrong way, but may I take off your shirt?" She asks. "I want to check your spine. thats always the first sign that your final transformation is going to occur".

 

[vibrantsystem]

Theo floundered slightly when Sophie rolled him over. While he relieved to get some answers regarding his changing eye colour, he was still extremely worried concerning many things. How long would the transformation take? Would he be mentally stable afterwards? From what he had seen thus far from Sophie alone, Theo could most certainly see that werewolves didn't necessarily abide by what media had interpreted them to be.


'Yes,' Theo mumbled awkwardly, going limp, trying to make the process easier for Sophie. He would have liked to have helped himself in some way, but he simply couldn't, which was really rather infuriating.

 

[Forlorn]

With gentle hands Sophie took off his shirt, then eased him onto his belly so she could look at his back. She couldn't help but blush slightly, only because she had never seen the male form without a shirt on. She was fascinated by all the ridges and lines in his back, but had to refrain from touching them. Instead, she dragged her fingers along his spinal cord, counting the vertebrae. "just as I thought," she muttered. "your spinal vertebrae are merging together. Humans typically have three more than wolves, so in order to transform your spine has to match that of a wolf's" she said in a concerned tone. Gently rolling him onto his back, she examined his jaw. Her fingers probed the back of it, where the hinge resides. "this hasn't changed yet, so your at the very beginning stages. Im going to get some water for you, you stay her" she says as she manifests a vine with her hand. Using the vine she climbed over the fortress she had created.

 

[vibrantsystem]

There was something strange occurring with Theo's body, there was no doubt about that. It was an odd feeling, lying there on his stomach. The ground was hard and Theo could feel every bump even though he was lying on three layers of sheets and blankets. It wasn't comfortable for Theo to be lying on his stomach, and as a result, he made an attempt to roll over, which happened with some success. While he did get over, his back exploded into pain, and he let out a brief cry before finding a position it didn't hurt in. In the end, Theo lay there on his back, his hands resting on his stomach.


After a short period of time after getting into this position, Theo started to breath in and out deeply, trying to take his mind off the various aches and pains that were racking his form. It felt like there was some kind of energy inside of him. If he hadn't been hurting, he would have most certainly be running and jumping around. He was no longer tired, which was a particularly strange feeling, given he had been a few minutes prior. Instead, he continued to breath in and out, trying to calm himself while waiting for Sophie to return with the promised water.