ROLEPLAY HQ - the-beast-within

Ben walked hurriedly into the sprawling school building. All the hallways were the same - green tile floor, white popcorn ceiling, and matte white walls. He'd only been at university for a week, and still didn't have his bearings straight when it came to the campus. He looked for a room number and began following the numbers until he reached room 138. He glanced down at his transcript to check that he had the right room and opened the door. The classroom was setup as a science laboratory, with black slate counters and metal stools. The counters were setup in groups of two, so that students could pair off with each other. He sat down at one of the empty counters, watching students file into the classroom. Ben gulped. He preferred working alone; in high school he'd felt like he had finally gotten to know everyone, and now he was cast into a new environment where he had to get to know people all over again. His nerves were like a rock in his stomach. He looked down at his hands, trying to avoid making eye contact. It was then that he noticed the hair on his hands appeared to be...growing. The short thin hairs were growing thicker and rougher. "What in the world..." he thought to himself. "I'm just freaking out. There's nothing to be worried about", said his inner voice, trying to calm himself down. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, his hands had returned to normal. He let out a long sigh, trying to expel that bunch of nerves that had built within him. Ben reached into his pack and retrieved his notepad and pen, setting them up in front of him while he waited for a partner to join him at the counter.

Clarissa found herself rushing through the hallways, dodging everyone else that was on her way. She had a tendency to run late, her mother called it a flaw. It wasn’t like she wanted to be late, but she would get lost in her own thoughts, doodle on paper, or hum small melodies that were living in her head. Clarissa was an air head and it got her in trouble more then anything else. By the time she made it to the right classroom it was already filled with other students, everyone paired up together and sitting at their respected tables. Her green eyes searched for an open spot and she couldn’t help but sigh when the only one she found was next to the new guy. She brushed her black straight hair behind her ears and sat down at the seat that was left open. She glanced over at him beside her quickly. He seemed like the smart kind, the kind that would quickly get annoyed by how distracted she tended to be. She was not looking forward to it. She wanted to say something, introduce herself in the very least when the teacher already started to open the class. She rummaged through her backpack, taken out a busy looking notebook that was filled with all kinds of paper sticking out of it. She ripped a small piece out of it and took a pen to write something on it and shoved it his way. I’m Clarissa, nice to meet you.

Ben was going through the syllabus when Clarissa sat down next to him. His anxiety, which he had just managed to suppress, immediately returned when he smelled the sweet scent of a woman next to him. For a moment, he pretended not to notice her, his head buried in his notebook. When she passed the note introducing herself, he had no choice but to acknowledge it or look like a huge asshole. He inhaled, attempting to calm himself, and turned to face her. At first, he smiled the kind of generic smile one always tends to give when meeting someone - but when he saw Clarissa, his mouth opened slightly for reasons he could not explain. Yes, she was very pretty, but it wasn't just that. Something in her energy, in her smell, awoke something within him that he was unfamiliar with. A primal desire. Ben forced himself to avoid confronting these new feelings. He gulped, wrote a response on the note and then turned his attention to the professor as the class began. The first half of the class was the lecture session, and Ben had time to focus on what he felt sitting next to Clarissa. He didn't even need to look at her - it was a warm energy that filled him with a confidence he did not normally have, the opposite of the anxiety he felt walking into the classroom. Once the lecture ended, the students were paired off to do their labs. As they began setting up for the experiment, Ben spoke up. "I hear there's a party going on in Dorm 3 tonight. You thinking of going?" Parties were not Ben's thing, but his roommate had been trying to convince him to get out and have some fun. That, and he wanted the chance to talk to Clarissa in a more social setting.

C: If Clarissa was distracted normally then this time she was even worse. She couldn’t concentrate during the lecture. Her eyes kept going to the birds that were flying by outside, a doodle she was making in her notebook and then to the boy who was sitting beside her. Something about him kept attracting her attention and she was convinced that she was being annoying to him. She twirled her pen between her fingers, really trying to just keep her mind on the professor, but even the simple act of him breathing seemed to catch her ears. In the end she forced her hair forward, creating a barrier between them and that finally got her to find her concentration back. It wasn’t until the lecture ended and they were paired off to do labs that she turned back to the boy, being forced to work alongside him. She mostly just stayed quiet, feeling like just talking would give away how awkward she was feeling around him. There wasn’t even a reason why she did, she just did. “I hear there’s a party going on in Dorm 3 tonight. You thinking of going?” He was talking to her. She flicked her eyes up, looking at him with those green eyes that peeked out of the black hair that fall around her face. Just finding her eyes locked with his made her feel strange inside. She tried to continue the task she was doing, but it only resulted in her knocking over a test tube stand from the desk. It clattered to the floor, leaving small shards of glass spread around their table and feet. “Ooh! Shit uhm... I’m so sorry. I..” she stuttered, feeling even worse now then she did before. The turned to lean down to it and start gathering the glass when her vision suddenly turned into almost a grey scale, all the color fading away. Something that she didn’t see was that her pupil’s had started to take a more oval shape. The sudden change in her vision surprised her so much that she just froze in place. She blinked a few more times and suddenly the color’s returned. What was that..? she thought.

Ben's eyes met Clarissa's, and he could feel himself blush slightly. Her green eyes were very pretty, and quite striking against her dark hair. It seemed that she was even more nervous than he, as she fumbled, knocking over the lab equipment. Ben bent down to help Clarissa pick up the shattered test tubes. He looked to try and read her when something very strange happened. Clarissa froze in place, mid-motion, and Ben saw...something. Something he could not explain. For a moment, the girl's face morphed into that of an animal or beast. It wasn't ugly, exactly - in fact, Ben was oddly attracted for that moment. He closed his eyes and rubbed them with his hands - after the incident with his hands earlier, he feared that he was losing his mind. When he ceased rubbing and opened his eyes, Clarissa looked completely normal again. The only thing that gave her away was the shocked, fearful look on her face. "Are you ok?" It was clear that she was not. Ben tried to change the subject as he helped clean up the mess, sensing her discomfort. "Anyways, I'm probably gonna check out that party. Well, not that I'm a big partier or anything, but it sounds like fun. Not like I dont party, but sometimes...I mean..." Ben trailed off, obviously flustered. Just then, the clock struck the hour. Class was over, and the students started cleaning up their lab tables. Ben put his supplies back in his pack, then turned to face Clarissa again. "...anyways, I'll be there. Maybe I'll see you? It was nice meeting you." He managed a weak smile before heading out. (edited)

“I uhmm..” she stumbled over her words, still unsure of what had just happened to her. Did she just imagine that her vision went grey? That seemed like an odd thing even for her. “I’m fine.” She eventually just said, looking up at him and giving a sheepish smile. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest, feeling just so uncomfortable in that moment next to him. She picked up all the pieces of glass carefully, placing them on a piece of paper so they could expose of them. By the time they were done cleaning it up the class was over. She couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. Thanks to her clumsiness they had gotten exactly nothing done that class that they should have. She was so distracted that she hardly could register what he was saying about the party. “Yeah.. maybe.” She just answered before he seemed to already be making his way out of the door. She rubbed her face, cleaning up the last bit of the mess she made before tucking her busy notebook back into her backpack. “Good going Clarissa.” She just whispered to herself. “Way to make a fool of yourself.” She took a deep breath before hoisting the backpack back into her shoulder and leaving the classroom as well. She looked from left to right, wondering if he was maybe still somewhere in sight, but he was already gone. She went back to her dorm, having finished the last bit of her classes and thought about the invitation. In the very least she should apologize to him right? For being as clumsy as she was, for knocking over their equipment. Maybe a party was just what she needed to shake off all those nerves that she was feeling throughout the day. Even if she normally wouldn’t have gone. So she put on a pair of high-waisted jeans and a black top with sleeves that showed off just a small sliver of her stomach. She messed with her hair, but it never fall quite how she wanted so she gave up and headed out towards Dorm 3.

Ben stood in his dorm bathroom, white concrete walls and speckled tile floors. He looked at himself in the mirror - he had his hair combed back, and was wearing a black collared shirt with blue jeans. He tried to make a confident face in the mirror that he could use at the party, but failed miserably - the truth was, he hadn't yet been to many parties, and was nervous about being caught outside of his comfort zone. He looked down at his hands, thumbs grasping the pockets of his jeans, and his mind turned to what had happened earlier that day. So strange...he could have sworn his hands were growing hairier and more muscular one moment, and the next they were back to normal. And then, seeing Clarissa change, her eyes wide and oval-shaped. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. Ben finally got control over his emotions and set out from the bathroom, headed to Dorm 3. He was worried that he would not be able to find the party, but that fear disappeared when the building came into view. A single window on the second floor blasted music, with smoke wisping out and the sound of students mingling inside. He headed up and walked in. Students were packed shoulder to shoulder in the dorm. Music played over a pair of speakers, and in the corner a table was filled with different sizes and colors of alcohol bottles and red plastic cups. Ben took a cup and poured himself a coke and rum, hoping it would ease his nerves a bit. He looked around at the scene - people were dancing, talking to each other, smoking. He looked for someone he knew, but he hadn't met that many people at school yet, and was too nervous to introduce himself. He hoped that Clarissa would make an appearance so that he'd have someone to talk to. He took a big sip of his drink, liquid courage burning down his throat, in an attempt to give himself the confidence to make something of this night.

As soon as she got closer to the party she was already regretting her choice of going. Clarissa once again fussed with her hair as the music was already starting to blast into her ears. She didn’t like loudness or flashing lights. With the way she was, it was so easy to get distracted. She would get lost in everything and surely do something dumb, just like she had in the classroom with Ben. She walked into he dormroom, already feeling intimidated by the amazing group of people that were gathered. She tried to shoulder her way through them, but she was quickly pushed to all the sides she didn’t want to go. It was the downside of being small. “Just.. excuse me! Please.. uhm.” She tried, but her voice didn’t carry enough to be heard over the music. It took a good few minutes of being just tossed from side to side before she finally came out on the other end having a little bit of space to herself. She hugged her back against the wall. She started to look around her, seeing if she could find Ben but her eyes kept being flashed by the lights that were mounted everywhere. She blinked a couple of times needing time to just find her footing. She then just went over to the table with the drinks as it seemed to be the only place that was at least sort of away from the blasting music and bright lights. She didn’t even really recognize that Ben was there in that moment, to focused on just getting her footing back. She looked over all the colorful liquids, not even sure what any of them were. She had never been a drinker..

Ben had finished his second rum and coke - at first the mixture had burned like acid on his tongue and down his throat, but now the buzz had set in and dulled the unpleasant sensations of drinking hard alcohol. He looked around at the scene, bodies grinding against each other in the flashing lights of the dorm, upper classmen flirting confidently with the objects of their desire. He was feeling particularly out of place, when he glanced over and saw Clarissa near the drinks, trying to find a bit of space to stand in between bodies swaying back and forth. Ben's heart started beating at the sight of her - she looked even prettier than she had in the classroom, but also seemed even more uncomfortable than he did in these surroundings. He gulped, trying to ground himself against the intoxicating effects of the alcohol, and approached her. Ben tapped his hand on Clarissa's shoulder - normally he wouldn't be so forward, but she seemed to be lost in the crowded scene and there was no way she'd hear him over the blaring music. He got close to her ear and tried to speak loudly enough for her to hear without yelling. "Hey! I'm glad you made it. It's kinda loud in here though, huh? Wanna step outside for a minute? I can make you a drink, if you'd like." Ben smiled a nervous smile at her, and for a moment the sights and sounds of the party faded into the background as he focused on Clarissa, trying to read her response.

The sudden hand on her shoulder made Clarissa jump, a loud gasp leaving her mouth. “Oooh jeez.. you scared me.” She said in relief when she saw that it was just Ben. She was sure that in the loudness that was around them he barely even heard what she had said to him. She gave him a sheepish smile. Just being around this guy made her feel awkward and abnormal in a way. Her eyes drifted even more then they normally would, not really being able to stay on his for a long time. When he moved into her she leaned in so he could talk into her ear. She plugged her other with her hand just to make it easier to hear him. She then got back up and nodded at him with the same nervous smile that he was flashing her way. She then leaned into him again, this time putting her mouth close to his ear. “I’d like that.” She just said before she stepped back. She watched as he prepared her a drink, still very unsure of what exactly all the liquids were called. She took the drink from his hand looking inside of it. Somehow the smell of the alcohol was pretty overwhelming to her nose. She took his hand then and started to navigate towards the other side of the room again, choosing to keep hugging the walls this time. She didn’t want to loose him in the crowd, so just keeping her hand in his seemed like the easiest way to achieve that. It took a little bit before they were outside of the room and she led him just a little bit further away so the music was finally not blasting in her ears again. By the time she stopped and let go of his hand they were standing alone in one of the white and green hallways that were all over the dorms. She turned back to face him, looking up at him again. She pulled on her shirt then, suddenly pretty aware of the bit of stomach that was openly showing. “I.. uhmm.” She started, needing to look away from his eyes already. “I just wanted to apologize for this afternoon.” She smiled apologticely. “I tend to be very clumsy.” (edited)

Clarissa took Ben's hand, a simple action that gave him goosebumps as he led her across the room. After pushing through a dozen or so people, they finally made it to the hallway outside the dorm. It was much quieter out here, with only the thumping bass making it outside the party. Ben turned to look at Clarissa and their eyes met, his cheeks turning red. She apologized for being clumsy in class earlier - Ben quickly waved his hand at her, indicating that she needn't be concerned. "Oh its no problem - I'm really clumsy too, bumping into stuff all the time. Heh." A moment of silence passed, the two looking away from each other out of mutual shyness. Ben gulped some of his drink, then scrambled to find something else to say so that he could keep the conversation going. "So, what do you think of school so far? It's a lot different from high school [I think you call this secondary school], isnt it?" He managed a nervous laugh. Just as the two were talking, a group of drunk upper classmen emerged from the party, rowdy and loud. Ben made eye contact with one of them, then quickly looked away.

They weren’t even that close together and the music was still decently loud from where they were standing, but she could swear that she could hear the sound of his breathing, the beating of his heart even. Maybe she was just imagining it, it was probably just her own heart that she heard. Her eyes kept flicking up to his face and then directly downwards again to the ground. Her hands playing with the edge of the crop top, just to have something to do. “Yeah, very different.” She nodded agreeing with him, trying to keep the conversation rolling between them. “A lot harder.” She smiled as she bit down on her bottom lip just a bit. At high school she her being as easily distracted had not mattered too much, it was a lot more difficult now. The conversation once again fell quiet between them. She had opened her mouth, wanting to say something else when the group of drunk guys started to come closer to them. They were loud, laughing, embracing each other by the shoulders. She tried to look away from them, but one had already seen her looking. “Well well well, what is a cutie like you doing here? Is this guy bothering you?” One of them said as they got closer, leaning over Ben and trying to get between them. His words were slurred from the alcohol in his system. “No... He isn’t bothering me.” She said, but her voice didn’t carry much weight. “We could take you somewhere nice, show you a much better time.” Another one joined in as she was almost getting surrounded by them now, her back pressed against the wall. “I’m fine.. really.” She tried again, but she could feel her heart beating.

The upper classmen approached and quickly surrounded Clarissa, looking at her like she was a piece of meat for them to devour. She tried to encourage them to leave, but it only caused them to pursue her harder. Ben was looking down at the ground, his blood boiling with rage. He had been too nervous to confront them, but then he saw Clarissa back up against the wall, frightened. Something changed within him, he didn't know what but he felt...different. He didn't even notice that the hair on his arms was growing thick again. What he did notice was a newfound confidence that had not been there just a moment earlier. He stepped forward, towards the largest guy, and placed a hand on his chest to stop his advances. When Ben's hand made contact, the man stumbled backwards, falling. Strange, thought Ben, I didn't really push him that hard... "She's fine right here. Why don't you guys g--" Ben had gotten the sentence halfway out when he felt a fist connect with his cheek. The student that hit him wasn't small, and even though the punch hurt, Ben was surprised that he hadn't been knocked off-balance - he wasn't exactly an athlete or anything like that.

22:11

The feeling that he'd had inside was growing...it was something Ben couldn't describe. Like another life force taking over his own. As the group rushed in to make Ben pay for his mistake, the feeling took over. Ben threw punches and was surprised to find his attackers flying backwards. Surprisingly, the fighting ended almost as quickly as it began. Once Ben started fighting back in earnest, the group ran from them, one by one. It was as if they saw something in Ben that they feared. It was only when the last of the group had fled that Ben looked down at his hands. Something was not right. They were muscular, much larger than he was used to, and covered in thick black hair, almost as thick as fur. Ben took deep breaths, trying to center himself and recover from the adrenaline rush of the scuffle. As he did so, he noticed his hands returning to their normal size and hairyness. It was only then that he turned to Clarissa, whose back was still pressed against the wall. His eyes widened as he sensed the fear in her eyes. "I'm so sorry about this. Coming to the party was a bad idea. Are you OK?"

The closer they came, the more Clarissa pushed herself against the wall. She half hoped the wall would just give out behind her, giving her a way to escape. But the wall was solid, it wouldn’t budge. She just went from one of their faces to the next, searching for the words to convince them to leave her alone. But there were no words and it seemed that Ben had realized the same as one of the seniors suddenly stumbled to the side and fall flat. The eyes of the seniors instantly left her and focused on Ben instead. “You mind your mouth!” They said as suddenly the vist landed right in Ben’s face. Clarissa gasped loudly, her hands covering her mouth as the punch connected, but Ben barely seemed bothered by it. Within moments he was throwing punches back, his eyes staring them down in such a dangerous manner. But his eyes weren’t the only thing that changed about it. From where Clarissa had pinned herself against the wall she could see the changes in Ben’s body. She could see the thick fur growing on his hands, the veins slowly popping out of them. They almost seemed to grow in size. Clarissa just stayed to the wall, frozen in place as the fight went on for just a few seconds longer before they seemed to run away from him as well. She didn’t move, not even after the senior’s were gone. Her eyes were simply focused on Ben. The fur disappeared again, his hands returning to normal. She blinked again and the guy in front of her was just Ben again, the guy she had met that morning in the classroom. The guy that had looked so smart.. not strong. She flinched as he asked if she was okay. Her heart was still beating fast in her chest, adrenaline rushing through her body. She had just seen him beat up four seniors. Her flight or fight sense took over from her. Her feet started to move, putting space between her and Ben. She just ran blindly, going for the stairs that would bring her outside of the building. She didn’t even know if he was following her or not. (edited)

03:54

She just ran and didn’t stop until she was outside of the dorm building, the cold evening air embracing her skin and putting her back into reality. The adrenaline rush was starting to leave her body and her legs stopped running. She was out of breath and leaned down to rest on her hands on her legs to catch her breath. Only then did she dare to look back over her shoulder.

Ben looked to Clarissa for a response. Her reaction was not what he'd hoped. She took off, running, terrified of him. Ben had hoped that the changes he saw in himself were just mental - that he was just hallucinating - but Clarissa and the fight with the boys all but confirmed that there was something more going on. He stood there for a moment, watching her run, trying to figure out what the best course of action was. If he just went home, things would never be normal between the two of them. Going to class would be a source of constant anxiety for them both. He had to confront her, let her know that he wouldn't hurt her. Even though he felt the change take over, something inside him told him that he still had a conscience, even in his mutated form. It wasn't something that would be a danger to someone like Clarissa. Ben ran in the direction that Clarissa had headed off in, but he had given her quite a head start, and she was no longer in his line of sight. After heading in her direction for a short while, he stopped, bending over so that he could catch his breath. That was when he smelled something...smelled her. He remembered the scent from when she'd sat next down to him in class. Sweet and feminine, a scent that had triggered something in him again as it had done then. He turned his head back and forth, looking for the direction of the scent before starting to follow it. Ben came off the path to face one of the dorm buildings. Bright white streetlights shone down onto the sidewalk outside, and at the corner of the building, he found Clarissa. He was only a couple feet away, and he stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to say or do. When she turned to see him there, he knew he had to act.

22:54

"Wait...please, let me try and explain. I promise that I'm not going to hurt you." He took a step towards her. Ben didn't know it, but his normally brown eyes were a golden hue, glowing in the shadows between the streetlights as he looked at Clarissa. It was at that moment that he noticed that her smell had...become different, though he did not know what that could mean. Even the fact that he could track and smell her from this distance was a new experience for him. He waited to see how she would respond, hoping that his words had given her enough reason to let down her guard so they could figure things out.

She looked back and he was just right there behind her, looking just as winded as she was. She just looked at him, trying to figure out if he was the boy from the classroom or the boy who had beat up four seniors without even batting an eye. He looked.. normal again. Except for his eyes. These were not the eyes that she had remembered. When he took a step towards her, she took a step back. Not yet willing to let that distance close between them. Her eyes moved in front of her as if that would create a barrier between them. Her eyes just stayed at him. “Just.. What was that?” Was all she could say. “You beat up four seniors.. you arn’t even hurt..” she was trying to make sense on it. “You.. you looked different..” she added to it. She was so focused on him that she didn’t even notice the differences that were starting to happen in her. The stress of the situation being so great that it was triggering her own transformation. Her nose would start to get more pointed, the tip of it turning black. Her eyes once again showed that long pupil and turned an even more intense green. Her ears shifted, growing dark fur and becoming longer as they poked out from underneath her black hair. The transformation seemed to stay contained to her face and even though the changes were only subtle for now, they would be noticeable. Her vision turned more greyscale again, but it was so dark that Clarissa barely seemed to notice it. A streetlight flickered close to them. It was something that would have easily distracted Clarissa normally, but not this time. Her full focus was on Ben and keeping the distance between them. On making sure that he wouldn’t hurt her.

As Ben stepped towards her, he noticed a sudden change in Clarissa. She grew fur, just like him...and in her face, her features became primal and bestial. Now he knew for certain that something very strange was happening, and either he was losing his mind and having vivid hallucinations...or something was happening to Clarissa as well. "Clarissa...you're changing too. Your face..." Ben trailed off as he stared at the girl, her eyes glowing bright flourescent green, pupils like the slits of a cat. "Look, I dont know what's happening, but strange things have been happening to me too. I...I can't explain it. To be honest, I could be losing my mind." At this last statement, Ben blushed deeply - he could feel his cheeks getting hot and red. What an idiot he was making of himself, this girl was going to think he was a nutjob and never talk to him again. And maybe he was. What the hell was going on... It was clear to Ben at this point that he wasn't going to be getting through to Clarissa tonight, not after what had just happened. He looked down at the ground, which was covered with puddles from recent rain. He caught his reflection, and saw his glowing golden pupils staring back. He looked back at Clarissa, still standing there frozen and guarded. "I'm so sorry about tonight. I didn't mean for this to happen. I'll leave. But..." His eyes studied her thick fur and inhuman ears with intrigue. "...something is going on. And when you're ready, I want you to help me figure it out." Ben turned, walking back to his own room to let the alcohol lull him to sleep.

12:55

That night, a dream came to Ben. In it he was watching a beast run through the forest. It did not look like him, but Ben knew that it was. Ben had seen small changes, but this was a full transformation. His ears became pointed, and facial hair grew out wildly from his chin and cheeks. His eyes glowed a golden yellow, and his teeth were sharp and jagged. His hair, normally soft and a little wavy, was wiry and blended into his facial features. In the dream, he was chasing something...an animal. Ben ran through the forest, tearing away limbs in his path, his mouth wide open exposing jagged fangs. He was running like a man, but suddenly he put all fours on the ground and propelled himself forward, lunging for a kill. Just as he was about to strike the animal... Ben woke up, jerking upright. Sweat covered his face and dripped down his back. He looked at the clock, 8am. His first class wasn't for another couple hours. Ben started getting ready, but couldn't shake the dream which had seemed so real. Was he turning into a monster? He pulled out his phone and called his parents. "Hi...yeah mom, I'm alright." ... "School's fine, yeah." ... "No, I don't have a girlfriend yet. Listen, mom, I have a question to ask you. Have you ever had anything weird happen to you, where you didnt feel like yourself?" ... "Yeah, exactly, like an animal. How did you know?" There was a long silence on the other end of the line. "Mom?" ... "What's going on, why can't you just tell me? You know I don't always get along with dad." ... "Ok, I'll give him a call. Thanks mom." Ben hung up the phone. His parents had split, and he never really knew what had happened. After the divorce, he lived with his mom, only seeing his dad once in a blue moon on weekends. Ben's dad was a drinker, and had always been a little rough around the edges. Hesitantly, Ben looked up his number in his phone and started to dial.

Her hands went to her face then, feeling over her features. They were different.. She pulled her mobile phone from her pocket and looked at her own reflection. She gasped, dropping her phone to the ground. Her hands went up to her face, covering it. The fur that was growing there tickled the inside of her hands. “My face…” she just said. “This can’t be… What is happening.” She was starting to freak out, freak out even more then when Ben had beat up those seniors. Why was this happening? And why was it happening to both of them. She looked back up at him, his golden eyes still glowing back at her. She didn’t know what to say. She just watched as he turned around and walked away. Part of her wanted to tell him to stay, tell him to wait.. but she was still frozen to the ground, unable to find her voice. Only when he had gone truly out of sight she was able to move again. She picked her phone of from the ground, having dropped it straight in a puddle on the ground. She whisked the water off it and tried to turn it on. “Fuck.. great..” she just said, it refusing to show her. She stared at her reflection again, her features back to normal now. Had she just imagined it..? No. Ben saw it too. She walked back to her room, needing the peace and quiet. She washed her face, wanting to make sure that whatever was happening to her was truly gone. There was no hint of fur anymore, her eyebrows back to normal, her nose white again, her ears back to normal. She put her phone in some uncooked rice, hoping maybe it would help to fix it. She went to sleep then, hoping that tomorrow things would be more clear. But they were not. She just woke up feeling groggy from a very restless night with lots of waking up. She looked at herself in the mirror, dark rings grown under her eyes. She tried to fix it with make-up, but honestly it didn’t do her much good. She looked like a mess and she felt like one too. She checked on her phone, but it wouldn’t turn on. “No phone…”

20:31

She threw it back in the rice. No use bringing it to class if she couldn’t even use it. She put the other thing she would need into her backpack, bringing everything she would need. She didn’t have classes with Ben till early afternoon..

Ben looked up his fathers number. He paused for several seconds before pressing the call button, debating if this was really worth it. He thought back to his reflection in the puddle last night, a reflection that wasn't his. And Clarissa...something about seeing her like that had lit a fire in him, in a place that he did not know existed until a matter of days ago. He pressed the call button, waiting for his dad to pick up. The ring sounded three times...four...five... "Hello." The voice was gruff and without emotion. "Heya dad, its Ben." "What is it." "Dad, some weird stuff's been happening lately. Mom said to talk to you about it." "You're an adult now, Ben. I helped you enough. Goodb-" "Dad wait. I turned into...into an animal last night. I dont know what's going on." The phone went silent, just like it had with his mom. Ben waited this one out, for what felt like minutes. If the phone hadn't said so, Ben would have sworn that his dad hung up on him.

22:17

"Describe it." "I had these yellow eyes, and fur all over my face, and I felt these urges...and this girl, she turned too." "What? What girl." "I just met her, her eyes turned green and she looked like a cat. She was just as surprised as I was. Dad, do you know what's going on? What's happening to us." Another long pause. "Son, this is something you're going to have to figure out on your own, just like I did. Just know...know that you're not going crazy. This is you. And you're not alone, there are others like you out there too. Like this girl you saw. Many are dangerous, you're about to enter into a world that you had no idea you existed. If you're not careful, you'll end up like me." The last words confused Ben. End up like him? What did he mean by that? His dad had always been a bit of a loner, but he had never really considered why. "Can't you tell me more? Why does it happen? Can I control it?" "You'll learn to control it. At first it happens when you get angry, or sad, or excited, but eventually you'll learn how to trigger it within you. I can't show you or tell you, Ben. You have to take this journey on your own." Ben mentally noted that this was the longest he'd talked to his father in years. "What is it? Do I have powe--" Ben's dad cut him off. "Know that I love you, son. Good luck." -click-

22:17

The phone beeped to signal the end of the call. Ben stared at the phone, unable to move on with his day, thoughts racing through his head. What was happening to him? At least he knew he wasn't crazy now - either that, or his dad and Clarissa were crazy too. Clarissa. Ben had gotten so wrapped up in his thoughts, it was only now that his thoughts turned to the girl who'd changed like he had. "There are others like you out there." The words resounded in Ben's head. His father had said that some were dangerous, but Clarissa didn't seem dangerous to him - in fact, she seemed just as confused as he was. Ben decided that he had to go sort things out with her. Maybe if he told her what he knew, it would help them both figure things out. He headed over to Clarissa's dorm. When he got there, he realized that he didn't know which room was hers - the only reason he even know which dorm was in was because he'd followed her there last night. Class started in an hour, and Ben was about to turn back and head home to get ready, when he smelled it. Her. The same sweet scent he'd picked up in the classroom, and last night outside. It wasn't like perfume or shampoo. It was her, and it made Ben's blood rush to smell it again. He followed the scent until he reached the door to a room, and the smell was almost overpowering. Ben took deep breaths. A day ago he could hardly look at girls, and here he was about to knock on her door. He hoped things would go better now that he had a little bit of info, and they'd had time to calm down from last night. Knock Knock

She had been gathering her things, wanting to just get to head towards the classes early. She would probably just get distracted again. Sit down under a tree to enjoy the sun, see a bird sitting in a field and start staring at it. Something always happened to distract her, she couldn’t help it. But then the knock was at the door in her place. She didn’t even know who she could expect to be there. Barely anybody knew the number to the dorm room that was there. She opened the door anyway and was not ready for the face that was staring back at her. Her lips parted slightly as she looked into his eyes, the last bit of the door opening slowly. “Ben..” she just said softly. She could feel her heart flutter as he was standing there. Something about him just made her feel.. different. But then the memory came back. Of him changing.. of her changing. It didn’t make sense. “No.. I am not ready to talk about it.” She started, quickly rambling off. “It doesn’t make sense. It just doesn’t! You don’t just change.. You don’t just beat up four seniors like it is nothing. You don’t just.. do that.” She turned around walking futher into the room with her hands in her hair. Her room was messy. It wasn’t dirty, she did keep things clean. She just was the kind of person to leave her stuff laying around. Her desk was filled with paper, stickers, pens and colorful tapes. A set of dirty clothes from the night before laying on the floor, including her bra and panties. Her bed wasn’t made. She should of closed the door, but she hadn’t. “My phone broke..” she then muttered as she turned back around. It was the only thing that had made sense about last night. She just needed to concentrate on the one thing that didn’t make her feel crazy. “I dropped it in a puddle and it won’t turn on.”

Ben stood at the doorway, debating whether he should enter. He watched Clarissa pace around the room - the night before had shaken her as much as it had him. She started talking about her phone breaking, and he remembered the call from last night with his dad. "Something you're going to have to figure out on your own." Maybe not? He looked at Clarissa. For now, they both looked completely normal. He stepped through the threshold, taking in the girl's dorm, his face turning hot when he saw her clothes on the bed. He quickly looked back at her. "I know a bit more about what's happening to us now."

She just looked back up at him again as he came closer into her room. She suddenly became much more aware of the mess around them. She quickly fussed with her blanket, throwing it over the underwear that was laying around. "What do you mean?" She just asked, unsure how he could even know anything about what could be going on. What happened wasn't normal.. it was so far from normal!

Ben stepped closer to Clarissa so that he could lower his voice. Anyone who heard what they were about to talk about would think they'd lost their minds. "I talked to my Dad this morning. He's an ass..." Ben looked down at the floor upon saying this, but quickly turned back to Clarissa. "...but he seemed to know something about what's going on. He didn't really tell me much about what to do, he said that I had to learn to deal with this on my own." He paused before saying the next line, nervous about how she would react. "And that we're not alone. There are others like us too." Ben turned around, pacing the room. "I know this sounds batshit insane. But you saw it just like I did. Right?"

She wanted to step back when he stepped forward, but the bed was right behind her and she had nowhere to go. It wasn't because she was still scared of him. It was because whenever he got close to her there was a weird feeling that came to her stomach. She just looked at him shyly, trying to focus on his words. "No.. I saw it too." She said, thought she still didn't know what exactly she saw. "How are we just supposed to figure this out Ben? What if it happens at school..?" She knitted her eyebrows together. "I don't.. I'm scared.." she admitted.

"Well, I have one piece of good news." Ben gulped. "He said that it happens when we feel a lot of emotion, like when we're angry or scared or excited. And he said we can figure out how to control it. But I don't have the faintest idea how." He gave Clarissa a shrug and smile, trying to show a bit of confidence and make her feel better. "So I don't think we have to worry about it that much at school." He stopped and stared out the window, lost in thought. "We've got to figure out how to make it happen. Once we know how to do it maybe we can try and figure out how to do it on purpose." He looked to Clarissa, seeing what she thought of the idea.

“Do we even want to..?” She looking into his eyes. “Figure out what this is? Control it?” She wondered. “You beat up four seniors Ben.. You weren’t even hurt in the slightest. They ran like babies because of you.” She bit her lip as she remembered that. As much as he had protected her.. it had scared her. “I don’t know if I want to be a monster.. a beast.. whatever this is.” She sat down on the bed, just needing some support as her legs felt weak from just thinking about it.

"Clarissa..." Ben felt badly for her. The situation was so unexpected and overwhelming. This was not what he expected college to be like. Looking at Clarissa though, he felt a tiny bit of peace and confidence. He had not expected that the girl who sat next to him in class would end up someone he shared secrets with the next day. "...I don't know if I want this either, but I don't think we have a choice." He sat down on the bed next to her. "I didn't fight with those guys just for fun. That's not me - I don't think this changes the kind of people we are." Ben lifted his head to look at her sitting next to him. "I did it to protect you." Ben placed his hand on Clarissa's leg, and felt a strange sensation heat up from inside his stomach. One he'd been unfamiliar with until just a day ago, but was now starting to recognize.

She bit into her lip again when he place his hand gently on her leg. A weird tingling sensation left on her skin even though her jeans was in between them. “I know..” she whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear her. She was feeling so unsure, so overwhelmed. She was already the weirdo to everyone, the quiet girl who doodled and stared at the sky. “I don’t.. blame you Ben.” She said only now realizing that must be how it seemed to him. “I mean… Thank you.” She said, feeling shy now and a blush creeping up on her face. She let her hair fall in her face to hide it.

Ben moved his hand up to Clarissa's chin, letting her dark black hair twirl in his fingers and tucking it behind her ears so he could see her face. He felt the heat inside him grow, and suddenly he thought back again to the conversation with his father. "...it happens when you get angry, or sad, or excited..." Ben leaned in, closed his eyes, and kissed Clarissa, waiting to see if it would trigger the change. It didn't take long for him to receive his answer. The heat radiated from his midsection as their lips met, tingling electricity arcing between them. He had not noticed the change the last time, being so distracted and panicked, but this time he was expecting it and could feel it happen. The hair on his hands and face, the growing of his muscles. He even felt his vision change, becoming more sensitive to light. Ben pulled slightly on her lower lip as he broke the kiss and backed away. He opened his eyes, eager to see if it had the intended effect, but also nervous to see Clarissa's reaction.

She looked back at him when he started to tuck her hair away from her face, knowing that blush was still there. She didn’t expect the next part though and even though she moved back out of surprise, their lips still met. She instantly could feel something moving through her body, like a surge of electricity that went from her lips all the way into her toes. She closed her eyes, leaning into the kiss then, the blush on her cheeks only growing darker. But that blush wasn’t the only thing that grew. Small bits of silver and black hair started to take over her face, her face taking a bit more of a pointed look, small whiskers forming from her cheek. The ears that he had tucked her hair behind also grew, becoming covered in the same dark fluff and growing more pointy as it poked out from underneath her hair. But it didn’t stay contained to that this time. The transformation continued, crept on. Her fingers growing just so slightly and her nails turning into pointed claws, the same happened to her feet and legs. Little bits of fur growing at different points. There was also something tickling her back, though she couldn’t figure out what that was. When he broke of their kiss and she looked back at him again, there was a different face looking back at her. She was still taken aback at first, but this time she was less scared. She moved her hand up to his face, moving her fingers over the fur that was now there. She noticed the fur on her own hand, the sharp nails but somehow she had expected it after seeing him. “What are we…?” Was all she could ask.

When he opened his eyes, it was clear that his dad had been right about excitement triggering the change. Clarissa was still in front of him, but she had changed too. Her face was now covered in silver and black fur, and whiskers poked out from her nose. Ben didn't know if it was because of his transformation, or the kiss they'd just shared, or both, but he found himself quite attracted to Clarissa in her new form. Clarissa moved her hands down Ben's face, her clawed fingers carving paths through his dense hair. His eyes studied her in amazement - the fear was gone now - as he pondered the answer to her question. "I...I'm not quite sure. My dad said we had to figure this out for ourselves. He stood and looked at himself in the mirror. The thick black fur covered his face and neck - his whole body really, though his clothes covered most of it. His shirt, normally a bit baggy, was taut against muscles that were previously nonexistent. Ben turned to Clarissa. "There have to be others like us. I'm not sure exactly how we find them, but if we're gonna figure out more we need to try." His mouth curved into a slight frown as he remembered more of his conversation from that morning. "My dad said some are dangerous. We need to be careful." Ben glanced at his phone and realized they only had a couple minutes until class. "Oh crap. It's 15 minutes to 11." His eyes widened a bit as the reality of their situation dawned on him. "Last time I just turned back into...into me. But it hasn't gone away yet. How the hell do we turn human again? Oh shit oh shit..." Ben started to panic, which was probably the opposite of what he needed to do to turn back.

She tried to figure out what he reminded her off. The fur was so much denser then the fur was that had grown on her, it almost seemed bristle like. She liked the feeling it create on her fingers. “We couldn’t be the only ones right?” She just said though she felt unsure. How had they found each other if they were the only ones? Was there a reason why they seemed to make each other turn. Was turn even the right word? She didn’t know.. She followed him towards the mirror and couldn’t help but gasp as she saw herself in it. She looked so different. The fur was a big change, but she also seemed taller and even more slim then she usually was. She touched her own ears as they were sticking out from underneath her hair. They felt soft and even with just herself touching them they were strangely sensitive. But the biggest change of all was the big fluffy fur that had appeared behind her. “I got a tail?!” She said shocked. It was just standing upright behind her, completely black with a white tip and very fluffy. She tried to move it, but since it was a muscle she wouldn’t normally have. When she finally seemed to figure it out, it just sweeped almost uncontrollably and she ended up even kind of hitting it against Ben. She turned around and only then noticed it had kind off pushed her jeans downwards, revealing quite a bit of her behind. She gasped again and quickly covered it with her hands and stood against the wall. She was blushing deeply, but it probably wasn’t even visible really with all the fur covering her cheeks. When she finally calmed down a bit again she considered his question, thinking about the last times it had seemed to happen to her. “I dunno.. maybe we just need too.. relax?” She suggested. It probably sounded weird. “I mean… If it happens when we get scared or fearful or.. excited. Then being relaxed kind off seems the opposite of that?”

Ben was caught by surprise during his panic by Clarissa's tail, swiping in front of his face as she inspected her form in the mirror. He struggled not to grin when she realized that her new appendage was leaving her exposed. The moment acted as a reset, pulling him out of his panic so he could concentrate again on the task at hand. "Ok, relax. Right." He remembered the other day, when he had seen his hands change. He closed his eyes and breathed in slow, deep breaths. He could feel his body morphing, shrinking, and when he opened his eyes again he had returned to his human form. He noted how loose and baggy his clothes felt now, and if he was being honest with himself he immediately missed his new form. In it he felt powerful, confident. And even though he liked Clarissa, no matter what form they were in, it felt like they now had a special connection with each other when they'd changed. "Ok, your turn. Seemed like just closing my eyes and controlling my breathing did it for me. It's supposed to get easier to control as we get used to it." He shrugged at her, his eyes moving over her pointy ears and silver fur. It's not like he was an expert at this either. "Do you wanna try again tonight? We can grab dinner at the dining commons after classes. I've got somewhere in mind we can go after. No more parties, I promise." Ben flashed Clarissa an embarrassed smile.

“Yeah.. relax.” She tried to assure him. She watched as he closed his eyes and started to concentrate on his breath. It was almost magical how the fur just slowly pulled back into his skin. How his muscles were shrinking back into it’s original shape. Just like that he was back to the boy that she had met in class just the day before. How strange life had suddenly gotten. He opened his eyes again and she smiled at him. “Welcome back.” She just said, knowing how ironic that sounded. She just walked over to him, putting her still furry hands into his that were already back to normal. She put her forehead against his and closed her eyes. Slowly she transformed back. The sound of his heart had been so clear in her ears just seconds ago, but now it quickly faded as they turned back to normal. Her claws turned into fingers nails and her fur also stepped away. The strange extra part of her that had been her tail faded into thin air and already it felt like she missed it. She opened her eyes again and Ben was taller now.. No, she was shorter. She couldn’t help but laugh at his comment about the parties. “Yeah.. That would be good.” She just smiled before she stepped away from him again. “We should get to class though. I mean.. I always how up late, but you don’t seem the type for it.”

At Clarissa's comment, Ben glanced at his watch. 5 minutes to eleven. "Crap, you're right - let's get this over with." He held the door open for Clarissa and they walked down the path to the classrooms. The whole way, Ben couldn't stop thinking about their transformation. The first time this had happened, he'd freaked out, but everything was different now. He knew he wasn't going crazy. He'd started to figure out how to gain control over his form. And most importantly, he'd lucked out and found someone going through the same thing. He looked over at Clarissa, walking next to him. He reached for her hand, but then felt that familiar warmth inside and pulled it back. Until they learned to control themselves, he wasn't going to be able to show his affection publicly - it was too risky to become overwhelmed with emotion and transform at an inconvenient time. What would everyone else think if they saw them? In contrast to the day before, class flew by - but not because Ben was invested in that day's lesson. His head was spinning, processing everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. Thinking he was going crazy. The party and the fight with the seniors. The calls with his parents. And finally, starting to figure things out with Clarissa. Before he knew it, the teacher was dismissing the class. He turned to Clarissa - their eyes met and he struggled to maintain his composure. He looked down at his shoes. "I've got two more classes after this. Meet you at the dining hall around 6?"

21:19

After classes, he headed to the dining hall to meet Clarissa. The sun was going down, and the grassy field in the middle of the campus was filled with people studying on blankets and playing frisbee. He was so focused on people watching that he bumped straight into someone walking in the opposite direction. "Hey, watch yourself!" The voice was familiar, and when Ben turned to apologize he recognized the face of one of the seniors from the night before, surrounded by his much larger frat brothers. The senior's eyes grew wide when he recognized Ben, and he quickly walked back his words - "s'all good bro" - and turned around. His frat brothers looked at Ben confusingly, unsure how their friend was so shook by this diminuitive freshman. As they continued walking in separate directions, he heard them questioning him: "the fuck was that bro? show some dominance." Ben exhaled deeply. As much as he'd like to test his power, in the middle of the busy quad was perhaps not the best opportunity. He reached the dining hall, which was serving his favorite meal - spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread on the side. He inhaled the scent deeply - for some reason, he was really craving meat that night and looked forward to the meal - and what he was planning afterwards. He sat down at one of the tables, looking around for Clarissa.

Something had seemed to have changed in Clarissa since he had first transformed. For the first time in her life it seemed like she could actually focus on what was going on in the class. Where otherwise she would end up distracted by everything around her, she now seemed to be able to keep her eyes on the board. Instead of leaving the class and needing to review everything once she got to her room where it was quiet, she felt like she had actually followed along. She had even already finished the assignment that they had needed to get done. She looked down at her notebook. Even the page that would have been filled with doodles was now staring back at her empty. When ben spoke to her it was almost hard to then focus on him instead. She just smiled, feeling a slight colour appear on her cheeks and nodded. “Yeah, see you there.” The rest of the classes went by just as easily. Without Ben there it was even easier to really concentrate on what was happening before her. At least that was how it was at the beginning. Slowly the effects seemed to be wearing off, doodles started to appear again and by the end of the class she was so distracted by a bird outside the window that she had missed 5 minutes of the lecture. When the class was dismissed she just tried to figure out why she had suddenly been so able to concentrate.. and then not. Did it have to do with what they were? She would need to talk to Ben about that. She gathered her things together and walked off to the dining hall. She made quick way and avoided the campus as it might be to distracting for her. She didn’t want to be late. When she came there she saw Ben was already there and she joined him at the table. Sitting close beside him. “Hey.” She smiled. “How was class?” She said, trying to just hit up the conversation before she got to nervous again.

Clarissa sat down at Ben's table and started making conversation with him. Just seeing her enter the dining hall made his heart skip a beat and caused that now-familiar tingling feeling in his stomach. "Class was good actually...really good. I felt like I was still so nervous about things yesterday, but today felt like I had a burst of confidence that I've never had before. Maybe there's some aftereffects from our changes." Ben scarfed down his dinner as he listened to Clarissa tell him about her day - he hadn't been more active than usual, but he was ravenously hungry. It sounded like Clarissa had encountered some effects from the change as well. Once they'd finished eating, he lifted his eyes to meet hers. "Ok, so I have an idea I want to try. Think of it as getting more in touch with our new wild sides." He smiled at Clarissa, a smile that belayed a confidence he'd never had before. He led her out to the grassy lawn, but then instead of walking back towards their dorms, they turned and walked in the other direction, away from the center of campus. They reached the end of the school, where the paved roads and manicured lawns ended and a dense forest began. Ben and Clarissa walked a couple feet into the forest, until they stood in the middle of a thicket of trees that obscured them from the view of anyone at the school. Dusk was falling on them, the sky getting darker and the moon starting to shine overhead.

22:19

"I thought maybe...we go for a run. In the forest." Ben grinned. "I know that sounds completely insane, but so does turning into animals. Speaking of which...so we can definitely trigger the change through physical contact, but I wonder if we should work on making it happen on our own." He closed his eyes and thought of his animal form, as he had seen it in the mirror. He opened his eyes and looked down at himself - nothing had happened. "Hmm...I tried to think about changing, but that didn't do anything. Let's try something else." He closed his eyes again. This time, thinking of Clarissa. Sitting on the bed with her. Their lips touching, her hair twirled in his fingers. He felt the familiar tingle, and as he concentrated on the feelings he had towards her, he felt the change, now becoming more familiar. Ben opened his eyes to see his animal form. He turned to Clarissa, smiling - even beneath his thick fur, he was pretty sure she could see him blushing. "I thought of you and I last night...that seemed to do it. I guess the trick is to have thoughts which trigger an emotional response." He instinctively bent down on all fours, his fingers clawing at the damp ground below him, an entirely new sensation which felt oddly familar and right. Ben turned his head to look up at Clarissa, waiting for her to change before they took off into the night.

“Yeah.. I think I noticed something similar.” She said, looking up at him. “Normally I have such a hard time concentrating. I just get distracted by everything. Today in class it was surprisingly easy. I didn’t even doodle.” She chuckled a little bit. “It seems to be fading though, slowly but surely.” She smiled at him. She watched as he scarfed his dinner down. She ate hers more slowly, not quite as much of an appetite as he had. Even though his beast had given him confidence, Clarissa still felt a lot of doubts about it. Where Ben was willing to embrace it, Clarissa still believed she would be better off without. Even if the change had been exhilirating, the unknown about it frightened her. She followed Ben into the woods. Her eyes wandered around as they came into the denser part of it, away from campus. She could hear the birds chirping away. The rushing of the wind through the leaves. She looked up and the sun was just showing itself through the density of the forest. Even if she had een unsure about this suggestion, now that she was here she felt.. home. She only managed to concentrate back on Ben when he started to talk about transforming. He explained to her what he was doing and when he thought about them together, his form once again changed. Again she saw the thick hair covering him slowly, developing over the entirety of his body. She saw his muscles grow. More then ever he resembled the beast, the wolf. She knew he wanted her to change as well, to run with him. But at the same time she felt like she was not ready. “I..” she tried then looked down to the ground. “What if I can’t change back anymore? What if I get stuck in that form? What if.. what if this is only half way and eventually we will just turn into the beast completely?” She started to stammer. She couldn’t give herself over to it, not like Ben could. She needed answers.

Ben walked over and put his furry hands on Clarissa's shoulders. Now that he had already changed, he didn't need to worry about restraining his transformation anymore. He looked at her with golden, bestial eyes. "Look, I don't have all the answers here. I don't think we'll get stuck - I didn't even know my dad was a...a creature until this happened to me, so obviously he's been able to live with it. And I don't think is something we're going to be able to find the answers to at school. Maybe we can find something on the internet, but I think the best way is going to be to discover things for ourselves." He moved his hand from her shoulders, down her arms to hold her hands. "I'd imagine a lot of people have this happen and they have no one to turn to. I'm here with you, Clarissa - we're gonna figure this out together." He smiled at her. "I want to run through this forest with you, but I'm not going anywhere until you're ready." Ben let go of Clarissa's hands and closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths. He morphed back to his human form - he noticed that with each try, he was able to change back and forth more quickly. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable. We don't have to do this if you're not ready. But I feel like the answers are out there, and we're not going to find them as humans."

Her eyes met his, now in his beast form again. She could feel her heart fluttering. He was so beautiful in that form. His eyes so crystal clear like they were piercing her soul. The fur on his hands was rough but at the same time it had a nice texture to touch. She could see how to other’s he might be intimidating, but to her.. he was gorgeous. She could feel a blush growing on her cheeks and soon she needed to step away and close her eyes, otherwise her own transformation might have just been triggered. When she opened her eyes again, Ben had also returned to normal. “I’m sorry..” she apologized. She knew he loved that form, she knew he wanted to run with her. “I’m just scared.” She admitted. She admired his ability to just embrace it. “Maybe tomorrow.” She added, maybe when this wasn’t that new to her anymore. She turned her eyes back to the forest. She understand the pull he had felt for it. She was feeling it too. She knew that if only she allowed herself to transform there would be nothing she would want more then to run. “How are you so okay with this? That we are different..” she then asked him. “Arn’t you scared?”

Ben looked at Clarissa with eyes that were sweet, but with a tinge of sadness in them. "Of course I'm scared. I've always been scared, nervous, shy. But when I transform, I don't know...I feel like a different person. I like who that person is, even if it is different. I'll wait for you, though - I want to experience this with someone else, so le-" WHACK. Ben fell to the ground mid sentence, passed out. The boys from the other night had snuck up behind them, this time with the two larger seniors Ben had seen earlier. The one from earlier still looked a bit unsure, but the two big guys were quite pleased that they had managed to bring Ben down so quickly, especially after hearing about the fight he'd put up the night before. "Hey there little lady," one of the big guys said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "looks like your prince can't protect you this time. You know you shouldn't be sneaking into the forest late at night, right? Who knows what's lurking out there." The guys approached Clarissa, evil grins on their faces, with the largest of them unbuckling his belt.

She had still been staring into the forest when Ben started to talk to her, answer her question. He seemed so brave.. seemed to handle it so much better then she was. But his voice suddenly trailed off and she looked around just to find him on the ground. Her heart instantly stopped as she saw the three seniors.. one of which she recognized as the guy from last night. She tried to back away from them, but soon she was surrounded by them. Even if she tried to get away, they could catch her. Her eyes darted to the largest one, the one that was talking. By this time he was already undoing his pants. She could see the bulge there. “I heard you rejected my friend here last night. That is not very kind of you.” He said, that same evil grin still on his face. “Leave me alone..” she tried, but her voice was small. “You need to speak up little lady.” He said. “Leave me alone!” She tried, this time much louder, but this only seemed to piss him off more. That grin changed to a look of anger and annoyance. “Hold her down.” It was a command and the others listened to it without question. They grabbed her wrists and forced her down to the ground. She tried to struggle, but they were way stronger the her. She panicked. “HELP! PLEASE.. SOMEONE!” She suddenly started to shout, someone had to hear her.. they wern’t that far into the forest right.. someone had to be able to hear her. But that shout was the only one she got as a large hard was forced over her mouth. “Sssst, ssst. No need for that. We are just here to have fun.” He kneeled over her and pulled up her shirt, revealing the pink lace bra that was underneath it. She tried to scream more, but it was just a muffled noise again the hand. He didn’t stop with just her shirt. His grabby hands went to her jeans and within moments they were down over her knees. That is when she really started to panic. They were going to rape her.. they were going to force themselves on her and there was nobody who could help her.

The transformation triggered then. Her intense fear enough to change her shape. Once again the fur grew over her face and arms, the ears started to poke out from underneath her hair and her limbs grew longer. Even the tail made an appearance again and this time.. it was not alone. “What the fuck..” the hands had stopped stripping her down, the eyes now just on her. The first guy to really run was the one that had been so afraid of Ben, the exact person that had been holding down her wrists. She was free then. She propped herself up, lounging her at the senior that had been so ready to rape her. There was this beast-like instinct that just took over, it told her to protect herself. With a simple leap she was on top of him, pushing him into the ground instead. Her green eyes were glowing, the pupils long and slim and eyeing him dangerous, full of anger. He screamed and suddenly her fangs were in the tender flesh of his neck. He pushed her off then, her teeth leaving giant gashes in his neck, the blood instantly starting to run. “YOU FREAK!” He shouted, holding his hand over the blooding wound behave he stumbled off back to the campus. The last one remaining quickly followed. It took a few seconds for Clarissa to come back to her senses. Her fangs and mouth covered in the senior’s blood. She calmed down, the intense anger fading though her transformation remained. Ben.. Ben was still down. She instantly turned around, crawling over to him. She pulled her shirt down, but her pants were still on he knees. It didn’t matter right now. “Ben! Ben! Please.. Please open your eyes! Ben!” She franticly touched over his face and body, not sure if she should shake him or leave him down on the ground. “Please wake up..”

The first thing that Ben sensed was the cold, rough ground underneath his back. The second thing was the sound of Clarissa's voice, panicked. He shot up when he heard it and immediately regretted the decision - his head was throbbing and there was a sharp pain at the back of his skull. "Owww....Wh...what happened?" He noticed that Clarissa was in her beast form, and as his vision unblurred, he could see the blood on her fangs and mouth. "Oh shit, Clarissa, what happened?" He put his hands on her furry shoulders, trying to calm her down but internally panicking as he tried to piece together what had occurred. He noticed Clarissa's pants were pulled down and his face grew pale. "Are you ok?" (edited)

The moment he started to wake up and talk back to her she just hugged him. She was probably hurting him, but in that moment she didn’t actually care that much. “Ooh my god.. you are okay. You are okay.” She just said as she held him tightly against her, her fur brushing up against the side of his face. She then pulled back again just looking at him. She was still riled up, even she was trying to piece together what had happened. “Those seniors from last night.. they came back. They hit you to the ground and then they..” she paused, needing a moment. She could taste the blood in her mouth. “They were going to rape me Ben.. why would anybody do that?” She felt the tears welling up in her eyes then, realizing what actually could have happened to her. She was a virgin.. she had never been with someone and today that could have changed. It could have been taken away from her just like that. She sobbed silently. “If it wasn’t for this.. for this shape. For this beast inside of me.. they would have just done it.” She wiped at her mouth the and saw the fur on her hand coming back red. She split it out, trying to get that taste of blood out of her mouth. She had hurt them. She had acted on pure instincts, instincts that hadn’t even seemed to be hers. If it was fight or flight, Clarissa would have always chosen flight. Appearantly her other side had other plans. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “I’m.. I’m sorry. Are you alright? How is your head? Does it hurt?” She asked, realizing she had just been talking about herself while he had been the one whacked in the back of his head. Her hands moved to the spot here he had been hit, trying to find out if he needed more help. (edited)

"It's ok, I'm fine." Ben wasn't being completely honest, the shooting pain at the back of his head was quite intense. "I'm gonna kill those fuckers." He glanced up at Clarissa, who was spitting their blood out onto the ground. "Looks like you fucked them up pretty good though." Ben grinned at Clarissa, hoping it would make her feel a bit better. He hugged her, putting his arms around her and letting her cry on his shoulder. "It's going to be alright. We don't need to figure everything out at once. But we have to accept that this is who we are now, these forms are a part of us and they influence our actions, especially when we can't control them yet. He glanced down at Clarissa's furry body, noting that she had sprouted a couple additional tails this time around. "Tonight was...a lot. I'm sorry I brought you here before you were ready. Next time we'll need to be more careful when we head out this way. I'm not exactly sure what those seniors are going to do, but it's not like they can really make a case against you, considering what they tried." Ben helped Clarissa to her feet and gave her another long hug. He felt the warmth boil up inside him and let it take over. Transforming into his beast form to try and offer her some comfort, a reminder that she was not alone. He helped her pull her pants back up, as much as they could with her tails poking out the back. Ben came close and rubbed his cheek against hers - fur against fur an entirely new and very comforting sensation. "Let me take you back to your dorm? I'll stay tonight, just in case. I can sleep on the couch." (edited)

She was still sobbing on his shoulder when he made the comment on how much she fucked them up and she couldn’t help but chuckle at that a little bit. She had bit him.. and she had bit him good. She moved her tongue over her fangs, feeling just how sharp they were. Her teeth felt so different in this form. In fact, everything felt so different in this form. “It’s not your fault..” she assured him. She understood that he wanted to know more about who and what they are. But change was something that had always been something that scared Clarissa. She had spend her youth being tossed from foster home to foster home. Every time a new family took her in there were new rules to follow, new things to learn. Even if she had now been adopted by two very lovely men, she was still afraid that at some point they wouldn’t want her anymore. That once again everything would change. She had felt jealous that Ben had been able to turn to his parents for relief.. she doubt she would dare to tell her adoptive fathers about it. What if they didn’t want her after that? “I don’t think that bite will look like anything a human could do.” She eventually chuckled. She wiped her tears away and got back on her feet with him together. She leaned against him, not wanting to let him go. He brushed his cheek up against her and she could feel her stomach fluttering. It seemed like such an intimate thing.. in a way it felt even more intimate then the kiss they had shared earlier. Her body mostly moved on it’s own, like her instinct took over again. Before she knew it her mouth was on his and she had initiated the kiss between them this time. Her tongue danced gently with his and she could feel the fangs that were present among his teeth as well. It was so much different then any other kiss she had shared. Something about this shape simply made her do things she normally wouldn’t. Made her more bold, more daring.. more spontaneous.

Clarissa moved close to Ben and pressed her lips to his, initiating a kiss that was like no kiss he'd ever experienced before. The last time they'd shared a kiss, they were in their human forms and had transformed afterwards. This time, they were both beasts, and there was something very primal about the feelings that Ben experienced. The enjoyment was concentrated in the lower-order part of his brain, the animal part, without any interruption or analyzing or overthinking from the higher-order human section. Ben embraced Clarissa as they kissed, his muscular, clawed hands moving up under her shirt to scrape gently against her back. He moved his hands down, forgetting for a moment that there was a new piece of her anatomy at her backside. Ben took one of Clarissa's tails in his hand, picking it up and letting it run through his fingers, feeling her fur brush against him. Ben pulled away from the kiss - he could feel the animal urge to bite down on her lip, but the little human voice that was still left in the back of his head was warning him that he wasn't used to the fangs yet. Ben grinned at Clarissa, hoping that her response was an indication that she was starting to recover from what had happened to them. Clarissa wasn't the only one that had become more spontaneous. He had been trying to convince her to run with him before, but they were both in their forms now...and maybe a little push is what she needed to jump off the cliff. "Catch me if you can, C," he said with a grin, and took off into the trees. The sensation Ben felt was like slamming down the gas on a sports car. He knew that his animal form was powerful, but the speed and agility at which he sped through the trees on all fours was surprising. His claws shredded branches in the way, and when they hit the ground they dug in, acting like springs that propelled him forward. Reaching a clearing, he looked backwards to make sure that Clarissa was behind him.

It didn’t take long before her mind had gone blank and all she was doing was was listening to her instincts. She stepped forward, really leaning into him and deepening the kiss between them. Multiple times her tongue struggled with the pointed fangs that now decorated his mouth, but she didn’t care. She felt his strong arms around her, embracing her. She felt safe, something she hadn’t thought she would experience this quickly after the seniors almost had done to here. Yet here she was. Her hands travelled towards his hair, her fingers rushing through the strands. She found his ears and imply moved along them. Her tails sweeped from side to side, mostly moving out of her control. The longer their kiss went on, the more she wanted it to last forever. But eventually their kiss had to break and Ben was the one to step back from her. She opened her eyes again, her green long pupils staring back into his. There was something different inside of them, something primal, something that had not been ready for him to pull away from her just yet. “Catch me if you can, C,” and without a second warning he was off into the trees. “Ben wait!” She shouted after him, but he was already gone. She hesitated for a moment, but then started to run after him anyway. At first she was running like she was used to, running on two legs. She was slow, Ben pulling away from her so quickly. She tried to run quicker, but something about this form made her lose her balance. She bumped in trees and branches, almost tripped over her own strange feet. She gave into it then. Gave in to that animalistic primal instinct that she had felt during their kiss. Her front lowered to the ground and she quickly gained speed. She finally understood the purpose of her tails. As she was speeding through the forest they corrected her balance constantly. She would dodge out of the way of branches before her brain even processed that they were there. It was the most amazing feeling she even experienced.