{ooc: I KNOW the new moon was two days ago, but we're pretending like it's the full moon.}

Okay.

Calm down.

You still have time. It was only, what seven? Seven thirty? The sun would set later in the summer and the moon would come up slower. No need to worry. She was all by herself, sitting under a tree with a pile of flowers she'd picked next to her. Because she was stressed (the ultimately worse day of werewolf PMS) and she needed something to take out her stress one, she was ripping out each petal, one by one. And she'd gone through about... seven or so flowers now. Just as long as nobody came along, she wouldn't hurt anyone!

Yes, Alex was having a royal spazz. She did not like the full moon one bit. She didn't even get to enjoy like all the others kids! No, she had to turn into an oversized wolf who didn't recognize anything or anyone. It was like being schizophrenic or with another person living in her, who had control over her body once every month. Except during July this year, when she'd get control twice. How horrible. But really. Alex knew what was going on. She never wanted to hurt anything. It was the wolf in her going, 'kill, kill...'. Very scary.

But the sun shouldn't go down for another hour or so. So until then, she was safe. Just extra bitchy, spazzy, and emotional.

Acid didn't want to be bothered right now, so that was why he'd gone to the woods. He'd gone to the woods because, after all, when people bothered him, he'd get bored. And then he'd get pretty sleepy, and then when he got home he was even sleepier, and he really, really didn't need the risk of falling asleep again. After all, sleeping meant nightmares -- a repeated line he told himself day after day after day after day... it had been going on for over years -- seventy, about, if he remembered correctly. And during those seventy years he'd stolen and cheated his way so he could live -- so he wouldn't die. But now... now he just didn't know. Now he was so, so tempted to die in the cold. Well, it wasn't that cold, but to a Shadow, anything 'warm' was 'cold.' That was why he was wearing a baby seal fur parka, the hood over his head and his arms crossed over his chest as he slowly walked passed the tall, looming trees, his steps making soft, crunching noises when they broke twigs. His flaxen-colored bangs hid his golden, green-rimmed eyes, but he wasn't blind, so he didn't bother to brush them away. It wasn't like anyone cared if they were hiding his eyes, anyway, since no one was really his friend.

Well, except Alex. He hadn't seen Alex in a while, and, although sometimes he didn't want to admit it, he really, really missed Alex. He missed the laughter and the smiles and everything because Alex made him happy, and being happy was a nice, nice feeling.

Ooh? What was this? A twig snap? Another person in the woods? She became happy for a second--someone to talk to!-- then became very, very concerned. If there was someone else in the woods, she would hurt them. It didn't matter if she didn't know them, she would regret it so much in the morning. (ooc: that sounded dirty!} So Alex tensed and tried to peer around the tree, blinking. Ah, too thick. So she stood, stretching for a second in a almost canine sort of way, then started to follow the noise of foot steps.

That was a good thing about being a werewolf. Doggy like senses. Smell, sound, but not so much sight. Ah well. She followed, hands in the pockets of her khaki shorts. Alex glanced up at the trees, trying to peer up at the sun, just to be reassured it was still there. She was getting goosebumps; that always happened before... the other thing happened. And the hair on the back of her neck was prickling.

Oh, please let there be another hour to get whoever was in the woods out...

Oooh, person! But... from behind, she had no idea who it was.

"Hello...?"

Acid whirled around, panick clear in his strangely-colored eyes. He didn't recognize the voice when he had heard it, and it scared him to see someone there. He didn't want to be talked to. It would make him sleepy and tired because he'd have to think out his responses and his mind was already so, so, so tired.

"Alex?" Acid's voice sounded old and weary, making him sound older than he appeared (and he really was older than he appeared). "Alex!..." He realized suddenly. "Alex!... wait, what are you doing here? Isn't it a bit late to be out in the woods?" Of course, Alex could ask him the same question back, couldn't she? And he could just say he was tired and needed a walk, which he did, so he wasn't lying at all or anything. He would be telling the honest, honest truth.

It was Acid! Yay! Finally, she got to see him again! Because lately, everywhere Alex went, he wasn't there. A bit strange that of all places they'd see each other again it was in the woods, but hey! Who cared? There was her friend... in a parka. In June. Wow. She blinked a couple times and tiled her head, then put her hands on her hips.

"Acid, what are you wearing? Aren't you overheating? Oh. And I'm just out here because..."

Oh. No.

Bad! Bad, bad, bad! If there was one person in the world she didn't want to see right now, it was him. Not because she didn't like him, no way, he was her best friend, but that was the problem. The sun would set and the moon would come up soon and she'd attack him; possibly kill him! And that was another thing she didn't want. To harm anyone. And on a list of people she didn't want to harm, he was at the top. Why, oh why, did he have to be out now?

"Acid, do you know what today is...?"

The moment she said 'overheating,' he almost panicked. Well, yeah, remembered that he had told Alex about him being a Shadow thing and all, but he was still a bit over-paranoid about people questioning him about stuff like that. Like about his parka when it was June and it was supposed to be hot out. That kind of bothered him. Well, okay, so it bothered him a lot, since he still wasn't used to people knowing about the whole hello-I'm-a-Shadow thing, and Alex was one out of two people who knew, and there was all this other stuff he still hadn't told Alex about, and that bothered him too, because Alex was his best friend (his only friend).

"Well, yes... I know what today is. Today's a Saturday. Today's in June. Today's the...--" His voice died in his throat and blinked several times, his face growing a bit white. "Today's the... the full moon?..." his voice held a question, and then, without giving Alex a chance to reply, he repeated the phrase as a declarative. "Today's the full moon."

And then he looked away from Alex and said, very, very softly: "Today you become a werewolf."

She nodded very slowly, trembling a little. He knew. He'd have a chance to get out. Thank. God. But still! She didn't know how much time she had! The trees were blocking any sun there could be, she didn't know if it had set or if it was setting or what. This could be bad.

"Yes. Today is the full moon. That is why I'm out here. So I wouldn't hurt anyone."

Apparently, the sun had set, because she was feeling sick to her stomach, and that always happened. Her fingertips were feeling tingly and chills kept going down her spine. Oh.. it'd happen... soon. Very soon. Maybe a half hour at the very most, but most of the time, her luck didn't give her the very most time. He needed to get out or she would hurt him! And if he fought back, the wolf would be angry and she'd have no control at all. So Alex took a step back and swallowed, looking at him.

"Acid..."

Her voice was weak, sort of hoarse, like it was being forced out.

"...run."

From all the research Acid did on his species' history, he knew that Shadows were not affected by were(insert name of animal here) bites. It was like being bitten by a vampire; becoming a vampire wasn't exactly possible (besides, Shadow-blood wasn't exactly appealing to vampires, anyway).

Acid gave Alex a look, something between (maybe) disgust and pity or sympathy or pain or sorrow or regret or something different all together and maybe Acid just didn't know how to express certain emotions because he just never got a chance to express them at all.

"I'm not going to run away and leave you here. Besides, it's not like you're going to hurt me," he told Alex, "because I won't let you hurt me." He didn't want to tell her what he'd do once she became a wolf. She didn't have to know. She didn't have to know all the ugly side-effects of being a Shadow at that moment, because it was just her at that moment, just Alex because she was the one with the bigger problem at the time.

"But Acid... I can't control it. I could kill! Or..."

Hm. Too late. She didn't quite understand the whole species thing, that she couldn't hurt him. All she knew was that she didn't want him hurt. But, as was said a sentence ago, it was too late. She shuddered, doubling up. The pain her stomach was spreading outwards and the tingling was going up her arms. Alex bit her lip, making a small whimpering noise that eventually broke into a scream as the fine little hair started sprouting on her skin. She held herself as the clothing ripped and fell off and her body changed shape. Her legs became thin, dog-like, she fell to all four and her arms did the same. Her face elongated, got a muzzle, and ears and a tail popped out.

So there she was. An oversized wolf... with a wolf necklace on. A silver necklace. She howled, scratching at it, even though normal thinking Alex wanted to leave it. It was gift, dangit!

He shouldn't have been scared. He shouldn't have been scared because it was useless to be scared because he couldn't get hurt or anything at all. He was... he couldn't... he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't... Acid bit his lip, and then he disappeared, his body now hidden somewhere in a shadow, blended in with the shadows of the night. He was still watching Alex, and he'd probably trail after her for however long he needed to. He saw that wolf-Alex was trying to get the necklace off, and he wanted to get it off for her so, so badly... And he could, with shadow manipulation... Acid concentrated as fast as he could, and as fast as he could, he pulled the necklace off of Alex's neck using a random-placed shadow and threw it at the base of a random, nearby tree.

The wolf blinked a little and looked around, trying to figure out how the necklace had gotten off. Seeing no one, the instinctive wolf side decided there was a reason to be afraid. Alex had always believed dogs and other animals were more aware of when to be afraid because something unseen caused something else to happen. So her fur prickled a little and she began to pace slowly, in a cirlce around the tree. Then she weaved through a couple of trees, still unable to find anyone. No one. But just in case.

Werewolf-Alex barked and growled for a second to scare off anybody, then started to run. Not because she was scared or chasing anything... she was a wolf! She just loved to run. It was being free. Even Alex enjoyed tromping through the leaves and flowers, around the trees, being one with the harmless side of the wolf. As long as no one was there. No one.

Acid?

No, Wolf-Alex did not see Acid... the wolf part only vaguely remembered him, but Alex was worried he was still out there somewhere.

Acid waited and then slid over to the necklace and picked it up and it disappeared behind somewhere. His mouth? His paws? Something? It was hard to tell. Acid slowly followed Alex, his steps quiet on the soft leaves and twigs of the ground. He was kind of nervous, since he'd never followed a werewolf before, and besides, what if Alex found him? And tried... tried to attack him? What if he couldn't dodge fast enough? What if the shadow in the cage got out? What would he do then?... He couldn't exactly do anything to let him out.

The more reasonable side of Acid was trying to get him to leave, but the Acid that loved Alex to bits and pieces (like a friend) forced himself to trail after Alex, because... because he just wanted to make sure Alex didn't hurt anyone? Because he wanted to tell Alex later that someone had been watching her?... Because that was what friends were for?...

Acid was still pacing after Alex at a manageable distance, as not to attract her attention. At least, that was what he was aiming for...

She continued to run, tongue lolling out of her mouth, pale gold eyes closing everynow and then. Too bad she didn't have anyone to play fetch with. Oooh, rabbit.

Now, most people would think Alex would be going 'food!', but... the werewolf liked animals. And it loved playing with them. She slowed and stalked up to it, quietly... quietly... oooh, poo, stepped on a twig. The rabbit twitch and sprinted away and she took up after it. The poor baby's eyes kept darting around and then it tripped. Alex pounced it, placing two big paws on it.... and then...

She licked it and did a sort of doggy-smile.

So for a good while, she'd let it go, it'd run, she'd catch, and lick it, then repeat. Dogs were easily amused..

If Acid had real, white eyes, they'd pop out right about now, because, after all, he was... well, this scared this shit out of him! The poor, poor rabbit! OKay, so he probably should have thought about Alex first, but his love for rabbits outdid that. It was a rabbit! And Alex was torturing it!... Er, not exactly, but still! The poor thing was probably terrified! ...

Er, proably, anyway. Acid wasn't sure. So he just kind of stalked after Alex slowly, pressing himself flat (literally) against the ground so Alex wouldn't be able to see the small, black doglike form that Acid had chosen to become. He just hoped that Alex wouldn't notice his scent anywhere, but then again, Acid was pressed and touching the ground, so maybe -- just maybe -- over half his scent was just leafs and dirt.

The rabbit continued running and she kept chasing it. It was kind of like fetch... but she didn't get to carry to rabbit back to someone in her mouth. Eventually, though, she got bored and let a saliva-covered rabbit go. She didn't want to run now, but sitting down was boring. She really needed another werewolf or somebody to play with.

I wish the moon would go down...

Alex yawned, then decided to explore. Sure, she'd been here a zillion times, but it never really got boring. Just sniffing around in the dirt like tracker dog, harmless and content to smell all the animals that had been there before-- deer, squirrels, racoons... it was cool.

Or at least, cool to a wolf.

Acid panicked and moved back a bit, but to do this, he had to made himself unflat, so his doglike (it was bigger this time, a bit smaller than Alex's, but still...) form was visible, but not really, since Acid was careful to be hidden in some sort of shadow place. I wish the moon would go down... Acid thought, mimicking Alex's thought (of course, he really didn't know this). He stayed hidden in a tree's shadow, sitting upright and staying very, very still. He hoped that Alex wouldn't notice him (but with where he was sittting, it was unlikely. Of course, he was way too tired to realize this [actually, he's always too tired to realize the obvious]).

No, she couldn't see him. Yay. However, with her sniffing around like a puppy, she was bound to smell him.

Oooh. New scent. This wasn't a squirrel, no siree. The wolf blinked once and proceeded to follow the smell, blinking. And she followed it right up to the tree, where the smell was the strongest. In the shadows. She blinked again and her ears twitched uncertainly, which was followed by a short bark. She wanted to know if something was there, dangit! Maybe it was another bunny. But it didn't smell like bunny... it smelled like...

Acid.

But... Acid wasn't there. And the smell radiated out from there. Alex panicked and the wolf just stayed curious.

Acid panicked and a soft sound escaped his mouth. He pressed himself against the tree (and, without thinking about it, remained unflat), and hoped that Alex wouldn't come near him. He was kind of scared at the moment, so his sense of direction and logic was off. Really, really, really, really, really times infinite off. But that's okay, because Alex wouldn't hurt him anyway, right? Because Alex seemed like a really, really, really nice werewolf, even though the werewolf part was a bit misleading.

Okay, so maybe Acid was just trying to reassure himself, but anyway, he kind of had proof Alex wasn't so bad. She had licked the rabbit instead of killed it, and that earned big points in Acid's book. (He was just biased, kind of, that people who didn't hurt rabbits were O.K.)

She snorted a little and barked again. Alex knew something was there! She knew it, knew it, knew it! And there was no response. So she cirled the area the smelled of Acid (though Alex didn't know if he was really there or not), and tried to poke around with her nose. The wolf made a whining noise and sat back on her haunches, examining the tree with a tilted head. She raised one paw, bring it down sort of blindly near the spot. She wanted proof something was there!

Acid guessed that revealing himself to Alex wouldn't hurt. He hesitated a bit, before moving to reveal himself, several yards away from Alex. He was still a bit smaller than Alex, and he was half-sitting and half-standing, in case Alex tried to do something to him (but if she did, he [probably] wouldn't be able to move fast enough, since only a few yards seperated the distance between Alex and Acid).

Alex blinked. Another dog? But... it looked like shadow. Oooh, a shadow dog! Or maybe it was a black lab. Either way, she had a playmate!

So the wolf's tail instantly started thumping happily against the ground and she sprung up, circling Acid for a moment and sniffing around before stopping in front of him. She bent down in front, forelegs lowered, hind still up, like she was going to pounce. But she just sort of made a little yip and sprung back and forth, this time like she wanted to play. Which, of course, she did. She sensed no harm, no human in this. Humans... humans hurt her, feared her. She'd hurt them too. But animals did nothing to her. Animals were good.

Acid froze the moment Alex came close, but then he instantly relaxed, and then-- then... then he almost smiled. Almost. He really didn't want to learn of the side-effects of opening his jaws. God, Acid's teeth scared himself. Anyway, so Acid barked back a few times, kind of high-pitched, friendly barks, and then he ran away from Alex a bit, before looking back, as if to say, 'Catch me!' and then running off again, slower, so that Alex would have time to catch up to him.

Alex sprinted after him, wishing wolves could laugh. This was fun! She never had someone to run around with and chase and stuff. The rabbit didn't count, because it was still cautious about her. But hey, he wasn't the same. He was... a shadow dog thingy. And it was cool.

She bounced around him, jumping closer with short, happy yips, then springing back and wagging her tail excitedly. See, if there was someone who would get to know a werewolf, they'd realized they weren't actually evil unless they needed to eat or felt threatened.

Poor Acid; he wasn't feeling very fast today... So, he stopped short and then ran back. It was a nasty trick, to run and then in the middle of a run just run back. Oh well; Alex was pretty fast, wasn't she? She could probably catch up to Acid in a nanosecond, since she was a werewolf and all.

Acid was kind of starting to like werewolf-Alex, because she wasn't so bad. She was as nice as she was in her human shape. Er, kind of. Acid doubted human-Alex would pounce on rabbits and scare them like that.

Alex blinked and came to a skidding sort of halt, then kicked back up and started running after him again. Of course, he was right, due to werewolf speed (and strength, but she wasn't using that) she caught up to him and sprung around in front of Acid, happy and hyper. She paused, then just sat down in front of him and tilted her head, tail thumping.

Playmate, wheee!

Hehehe... Acid grinned inwardly and then jumped over Alex, running and hiding behind a random tree. Hehehe-- hide-and-seek. Again, Alex could probably find him in a nanosecond, but it was still fun to hide and wait for Alex to go find him. After all, Acid hadn't done a lot of the fun, kid-themed games when he was... well, a kid. Or, well, really, really, really young...

Alex blinked, startled, and nearly tripped over herself. This was actually pretty interesting. She was getting along with the wolf instead of fighting it for once. So she went along with being in sync with her werewolf side and went after Acid, sniffing around in the leaves.

Within a minute or so she found him (they'd been running, the smells confused her!), bumping her nose into him unintentionally. She looked up and barked happily. Aww.

The moment Alex touched him, he jumped back and barked three times. Your turn to hide, the barks said. Alex was really, really enjoying this, just because he was getting to do certain things with Alex, and because he was in his Shadow form and the phantom -- the shadow -- wasn't bothering him -- at all. Well, maybe subconsciously, but if that was so, Acid wasn't paying attention hard enough to listen to the shadow's deep voice.

She blinked a couple times, then took off running. Alex looked around, trying to find a really good hiding spot. She'd never been real good at this game when she was little and now she was an oversized wolf to top it off. So a good hiding spot was hard to find. She eventually decided on some bushes, crawling underneath them and trying very, very hard to ignore the poky-leaves.

Okay. Shadows = Bad sense of smell. They relied more on look-for-something-that's-close-and-warm technique (which consisted of a lot of feeling around/looking). So... this was going to take a while. Well, maybe not a long while, but a lot longer than Alex might like...

And so began 'the Search' (with a capital 'S'). Acid sniffed around (this wasn't helping, really, but that was ok; maybe he could smell something), and then tried to think of a place where a very large wolf would be able to hide. Of course, it was dark, and although Acid usually hunted in the dark, there was usually light poles for him to see better. Here, there were trees, so it was pitch black. Kind of, anyway. The moonlight made its way passed leaves and such, so it wasn't so dark.

He passed the bushes Alex was hiding in, making soft, whining noises as he did so. Ugh, he thought bitterly. It's going to take forever for me to find her.

Alex yawned a little and in doing so, made a thorn jab right into her muzzle. She made a soft cry-yelp-thing, pawing furiously around her nose until the thorn came out. Oh, poo. Acid would definitely find her now. Told ya Alex was bad at this.

Idly, she wondered how long she'd been playing with Acid and when the sun would come up.

Acid's ears pricked and turned around and wet back to the bushes. He barked at the bushes, having a hunch that Alex was there. After all, how many werewolves could be in this forest at the moment? (Okay, so bad question, but still, at least, in THAT area of the forest.)

She crawled out, looking a bit sheepish, then rolled onto her back and pawed harmlessly at him. She was bored, sort of tired now, and just wanted to sit. And if he went away while she sat, then when she wasn't tired she'd have no one to play with. Alex rolled over onto her stomach and laid her head down on her paws, tilting her head at him. Acid was a lot of fun. In the snow, naming shadow-birds, and now playing with her while she was a werewolf. Which, by the way, shouldn't last too much longer. It looked like the sun would rise in an hour or so...

Acid studied Alex curiously, just sitting upright. He didn't feel like laying down, what with the risk of falling asleep, since he was really, really tired now. After all, running around drains a lot of energy out of someone. Acid heaved out a long, deep breath, and decided maybe laying down wouldn't do any harm. After all, wouldn't the shadow tell him not to fall asleep if he was on the verge of doing so?... Maybe not... but Acid was tired, so he laid down, in the same position as Alex, except with his head up instead of down. After all, with his head up he was less at risk of... well, resting his eyes.

Alex yawned a little and rolled onto her back, squirming around for a second, then back over onto her tummy. What? Her back itched. She paused, then inched over closer and nuzzled her head into Acid's neck, as if thanking him. She would've voiced it, if she could, but barking happily made it look like she wanted to play. So nuzzling affectionately before pulling away and laying her head back down on her paws was her only way to express thanks.

Acid blinked, startled, and then he nuzzled her back. He was hesitant and he wasn't sure how Alex would react, but he did it anyway, just because he thought it would be nice to do it to Alex since she did it to him in the first place.

Well, now she didn't know what to do. Sure, that was probably a you're welcome thing or something, but she couldn't think of something as a wolf to do that would say something. Come to think of it, Alex woldn't know what so say if she were in human form. So she just tilted her head at him, then lightly bumper her muzzle against his shoulder. Perfect. Kind of like a 'quit, you're embarrassing me' while grinning in wolf action speak! Yes!

Acid barked, as if in laughter, and then sighed. What time was it?... Five? He really needed a cup of coffee now. Or maybe, even, three cups of coffee, since he was really tired. Maybe he'd go to a nearby coffee shop and get a few cups of coffee later... maybe that'd help his sleepy-feelingness.

Alex yawned a little but was determined to stay awake, because it would be very awkward to wake up in her human form for... reasons. So she just sat there with Acid for a while, idly licking her paws every now and then or scratching her ears, but mainly happy to just be with her friend.

Acid studied Alex, sighing, and then stood, tired of his Shadow form. He wanted to go back to his human form, but he needed Alex to turn back into a human, first. It would be awkward to turn into a human while Alex was still a werewolf, and besides, what if Alex reacted badly?