RP: As the Sun Fades Who: Jennifer Burke Where:Burke House, East Dulwich, South London When: evening, September 4, 2024 Rating/Warnings: Graphic description of a changing human to werewolf Summary: Jennifer goes through the motions of a full moon Status: Complete
She had been feeling poorly all day, so much so she hadn't gone into the shop. Not that she thought that Ronan would be there anyhow. Jennifer imagined he would be elsewhere, dealing with his own confrontation with the full moon.
In the basement of Burke House, Jennifer had prepared her room for the evening. Her father had created it for her as soon as it was discovered that she had been turned were. Perhaps out of punishment for her mother not living and her surviving, Caractacus Burke refused to allow his daughter to be given wolfsbane potion. Nor to be registered with the Ministry. He had pulled a lot of strings and cut through a lot of tape for his daughter to go to Hogwarts with her affliction, though it all had been for naught considering her poor magic abilities. For five years he had pulled his daughter out the day of the full moon and brought her back the next evening when she was healed and given potions to bring back her strength. Some people would think that Caractacus was either a doting father, or an incredible bastard.
The room that Jennifer spent at least once a month in was made of hard plaster walls and iron bars. The door was a twelve inch thick slab of mahogany with a small barred window large enough for a human hand to slip through. And for a person to look in. There was nothing in the space, just four walls, the door, the floor and a ceiling. But all was built strong like a fortress. Caractacus had seen to that.
The outside of the door was bolted by a heavy iron bar that could be lifted and set into an iron groove. To the bar, a length of thick corded rope was tied and the other end tied to the bars in the small window. It allowed Jennifer to lock herself in at night, and after the transformation to reach through the window and pull on the rope to let herself out again. Only a human would be able to maneuver the door.
It wasn't even dark yet, but Jennifer could still feel the moon's pull looming heavily on her. She hated this. She hated the days coming up to the full moon, and the days following it. Only during a few weeks in a month did she ever feel 'normal'. She hadn't eaten since her meal with Ronan the night before, and thankfully she had. Sometimes Jennifer didn't feel up to eating for a couple of days prior to the full moon, and subsisted on dry toast and tea.
She was in the kitchen, making a final cup of tea when the dizziness began. It always started with the dizziness - her vision blurring and the floor seeming to rise and fall under her. Jennifer quickly shut off the flame under the kettle on the range and double checked everything as well as she could. It was time - she needed to go downstairs.
As soon as she made it carefully down the stairs, Jennifer had to stop and lean against the wall. She felt like passing out, but she knew she wouldn't. That would be a relief, but it never came. After a minute, she forced herself to continue and lifted the heavy bar on the door. The door swung out on properly greased hinges, allowing Jennifer entrance.
With the bar lifted and set into its slot, Jennifer slid down against the door. She pressed her head against the wood, the cool feel of it welcome against her flushed face. She stayed like that for almost an hour, just sitting against the door - breathing and biding her time. Before, when she was a child and a teenager this start of the transformation always frightened her. She would scream and yell and cry for her father, but he never came. As she got older, she learned to accept that no one would come. She was alone.
When the dizziness stopped, Jennifer opened her eyes and crawled towards the middle of the room and curled into a fetal position on the floor. Her body felt like it was on fire; her skin as if it would burst open. Her breathing became more shallow and fast, her heart racing. A deep pain in her stomach made her convulse and vomit bile on the floor. Again. And again, until nothing was left and she just jerked with dry heaves. The stink of urine and human feces filled the room as her body forced itself to empty her bladder and bowels. Jennifer whimpered, covering her face with her hands.
And then, moments later the shaking began. Great, violent spells of shaking that caused Jennifer's teeth to chatter and her whole body to jerk like a fish on a hook. She began to scream out in pain. Gods the pain! There were no words that she could give to the sort of pain she experienced as her body shifted into its wolf form. Her hands that clawed at the floor underneath her changed into fur covered paws. Her face shifted; her nose and mouth forming into a wolf's muzzle while the rest of her body tore through the clothing she had on and turned them into rags. Soft, female flesh changed into fur - limbs from human to animal and her screams into howls.
Long, drawn out wolf howls which no one could hear.
With her wolf-eyes, Jennifer looked around and was angry. She growled and snarled at her cage and circled around it, smelling human but she was the only one in the room. Her claws clicked on the floor beneath her as she milled around the room, howling and growling her outrage. Who locked her in here? How dare they!
She noticed the door and the small window high above within it. Jennifer ran at the door, putting her full weight into her movement and slammed into the wood. The door did not move an inch. She got up onto her hind legs and began to scratch, snarling at the window.