Liberate Your Mind [open]

[Delilah Jones]

A scream sounded across the meadow. The young woman squirming on the ground yelped again and again as the horrible feeling came over her. Painful as hell, but there was this strange, sick twinge of pleasure that came over her as her bones cracked and rearranged themselves. She ran her tongue over her teeth as her spine made a loud crunching noise, and felt as they began to lengthen and sharpen into fangs.

Great. It's happening...again.

Her long, slightly curled red hair begain to recede into her head, and by running a clawed hand over her back, she felt her mane coming in quickly. And a glance down at her arm revealed that her spots were forming on her skin. She sighed, curling up on the ground and letting the change take her over. She watched her arm absently still as her fur grew in, and moments later she found that it had apparently ended. She hadn't shifted all the way -- only into her crinos form, but it was enough to piss her off.

Delilah was not, in any way shape or form, fond of her new abilities. They irritated her, as she often shifted randomly without any say in the matter. It was almost as if her hyena-self had a seperate will or something, like it wanted to be set loose. Well, I'd certainly enjoy it if it stopped setting itself loose, she thought bitterly, looking at her new self. Her deep red fur set her apart from the typical werehyena appearance. She had tried to dye her hair brown, but she found that it often came out quicker than it had before. She had never really enjoyed her fiery red hair, and its appearance in her new form didn't please her any more than having a new form did. Ah, well. Make the best of things. Serenade had easily survived with being a werewolf for as long as Delilah had known her, without any obvious problems. Maybe Delilah could do the same. She tried to smile, but she got the feeling that it probably looked like she was even angrier now. That made her laugh a little inside, and then, to her surprise, a loud laughing noise came from her own mouth. Ah, yes. Hyenas laughed. Now she grinned again, looking, though she didn't know, silly and doglike.

She tried wagging her tail. Maybe, if she could figure out how to control the shift and allow herself to transform into a full hyena, perhaps she could pull off being nothing more than a stray dog.

Ever since Delilah had figured out what was happening to her, she had wondered how she was going to keep this whole thing quiet. Not just her being a werehyena -- but there being, if anyone happened to know what she was, a hyena loose in the city. Fortunately for her, she thought it was probably rare that people would know automatically what a hyena was. She might be safe.

Werewolves had it so much easier, she had decided. In their feral forms they could easily be mistaken for a dog, or a wild wolf -- either was fine. And their crinos form, to a disbelieving human, could easily morph itself into a bear, or even just a really big dog of some kind. But few dogs had rounded ears and manes, so Delilah simply hoped with all her might that she wouldn't meet any hyena experts anytime soon.

At least she was safe here.

Here, in this meadow, where no one could reach out and harm her, because she was the only one there. She sighed, laying her head down again for a moment, letting her great brown eyes flutter to a close. She stretched her long arms and legs, letting the moon's light shine down on her. Not that it had any effect. Werehyenas, she discovered quickly, transformed on the new moon, not the full moon. In a way, it made her feel good, but there was a part of her heart that sank at that.

There was a small part of Delilah that wondered if, in one way or another, the new moon, being total darkness, somehow was a sign that her new species was a little...darker than the others. She tried to shrug the idea away, but it kept creeping back into her mind. An irritating little fly on her windshield. Well, Delilah had never liked bugs. Again, she pushed the idea out of her mind.

Be happy, she reminded herself. When you were younger you thought this whole thing was the shit. But quickly, she answered herself. That was also when I was surrounded by werewolves and wanted to be normal. Now, I'm all alone, and still I'm not normal. Great.

Quit whining, she told herself, freezing as she realized that she had been talking to herself. Oh well. Just one more thing to make her look just a little odder. She stretched again, and though Delilah certainly woudln't admit it to anyone -- including herself-- she liked the feel of the new muscles. She stood for a moment, as if controlled by some desperate want to just...test out her new self.

She ambled along a few steps, her gait loping and lopsided because of her hunched back, where she found a single tree. It looked strong -- oak, pretty thick, definitely had been around for a while. She raised a single hand and swiped at it, curious as to just how deep she could dig her claws into this tree in just a swipe. Much to her surprise, the claw marks in the tree were fairly deep. Something like satisfaction came over her, and she made a loud hyena-laugh again, giving her goofy, dog-like smile.