1x1 with sonder_

[exempt]

Aspen Trepner
Her light smile remained as she took his phone, looking down to the small screen and typing in her first name and cell phone number. She considered putting something dumb like "not a hookup," but he likely wouldn't find it as amusing as she did. Anyways, she didn't want to tease him too much on the topic. She clicked saved and handed it back over to him. "Alright, well I'll see you around then. Have fun with your chores and such." Aspen lifted her hand in a small wave as she glanced back towards the table, making sure she didn't forget anything. In the clear, she flashed Daniel a last quick smile and headed out of the small establishment.

[mewsters]

The boy took his phone back from Aspen once she was done and gave her a slightly nervous smile,"Thank you, I definitely will." he said,"I'll see you later!" he gave a half wave and shoved his phone into his pocket. Daniel stood there for a second, waiting for her to leave before slowly making his way to the door. He looked down the sidewalk and watched her walk away with a deep sigh,then looked the opposite way. "Let's get this over with.." he muttered under his breath, slowly growing less enthusiastic about having to shop for basically everything. He stopped in front of the first store he saw and eyed the objects in the window display, mentally questioned if he needed to spend money there, then stepped inside.

By the end of the day, Daniel had bought multiple pieces of furniture, an ancient television, a few shirts and pants, and an actual mattress. He was exceptionally happy about the mattress, no more sleeping on the blow up one and waking up with sore muscles and a terrible headache. He hummed happily as he strode down the sidewalk, the last streams of sunlight were poking through the clouds and colored the sky a reddish tint, just like his eyes. Wait. Just like his eyes? He froze suddenly and stared at his reflection in the window next to him, anxiety crept up his throat. "Not now, god, please, not now." he said under his breath as his shoulders slumped. The color of his eyes was almost like a warning, a warning to him and everyone around him, that he wasn't normal. Daniel let out a shuddered breath, trying to make himself think straight. The delivery people wouldn't be at his apartment until later tomorrow morning, so that was good at least. His hands clenched around the bags of clothes he held as he thought about his neighbor, he didn't want to hurt her.

Daniel stood in the same spot, staring at his reflection, and mentally coming up with a way to keep anyone from being hurt by him.
Finally, he'd decided what he was going to do. He'd try to wait it out by locking himself in the bathroom, there weren't any windows to let him escape, and the door was pretty thick too. He let out a deep sigh and flipped his hood over his head, trying to keep his eyes and worried expression hidden as he made his way back to the apartment.

[exempt]

Aspen Trepner
After parting ways with her new neighbor, Aspen had gone back to her apartment to check on Bandit and her hungover roommates. The former was at the door waiting eagerly for her return, the latter unfortunately still sleeping on the couch. The gal glanced around the mess in disdain, spending half an hour in her room until the loud snoring began to drive her crazy. It was probably time to take her beloved pup out anyways. The two shared a nice walk together, Bandit stopping several times to either relieve himself or sniff at something that caught his interest. He'd also attempted to befriend every dog that they passed, some far less excited to share their personal space as he was.

The next few hours were spent similarly, wasting time in the park and making a pit stop for some ice cream in a small, canine friendly creamery. The pair had made their way back to the apartment building and had taken a seat on the front steps. Aspen had finished her cone, but the pit bull was still trying to lick every last drop from his plastic cup, pushing it around the ground as he did so. The dog's leash was lopped around his owner's arm, who was currently leaning back against the step two up. Her gaze moved about the city in front of her, occasionally landing on a specific person or car. It took her awhile to realize the approaching hooded figure was Daniel, though he was still too far away for her to notice his odd behavior. She lifted a hand and waved, a small smile spreading over her features. "Oh, hey again! I take it your shopping went well?" she questioned. Bandit struggled against his leash towards him, letting out a small bark, but Aspen took it for his normal social friendliness.

[mewsters]

Daniel glanced up quickly as he heard a familiar voice, his red eyes wide with sudden panic. "O-oh! hey!" he said, his tone slightly shaky. "Yeah, shopping went well! I got some new clothes and furniture, which will be here tomorrow. I-I still gotta spend one more night on my blow up mattress though, which sucks." he said quickly, not quite meeting her eyes. He was mainly focused on the large dog, Aspen's dog, barking at him. It's barks didn't sound friendly, they sounded like a warning. He fought back the urge to growl and snap back at it,"A-anyways, I'm gonna head up and relax, it's been a.. really long day." he said with a deep sigh, glancing up only once before snapping his eyes back to the dog that obviously wasn't too happy to see him.

"I-I'll see you tomorrow, maybe?" he said, his voice uncertain as he moved carefully past the dog and the girl sitting on the steps. He prayed she wouldn't try to stop him and continue conversation, or follow him back up to his apartment. He felt the sharp pain of the transformation already, his head ached and his sense of smell and hearing began to heighten and his stomach was rolling. Daniel gave a low groan as he pushed through the front doors, praying silently that Aspen hadn't heard him groan in pain as he reached the elevator. He prayed she wouldn't be a witness to this. He prayed she wouldn't be hurt. He rushed inside and quickly pressed the button for his floor. As soon as the doors began to close, his body was wracked with shivers and spasms. "please, just hold on a m-minute longer." he panted as he wrapped his arms around himself as if trying to contain the wolf about to consume him.

[exempt]

Aspen Trepner
She frowned as she realized that he wouldn't quite look at her, her brows drawing together in confusion. Of course, she didn't really know him well enough to know what was normal. Aspen followed his gaze down to her dog as he spoke, who was still pulling against his leash towards him, any last thoughts on his ice cream gone. While she'd taken it as friendliness at first, he did seem a bit more...aggressive, which wasn't like him. She pulled on his leash, grabbing his collar so that he was forced to stay by her side. Maybe Daniel just wasn't a dog person. He'd acted odd both times while around the canine. Thinking back to the previous incident in the hall, the Pit Bull acted differently while around him as well.

Aspen opened her mouth to reply, but he was already closing the conversation, planning to leave before she could get much in "Ah, okay, I was just-" she paused, looking back to Bandit as he barked again, trying to shush the bulky canine. She pulled him closer to her, gently lifting his chin to look at him, but he was still intent on watching Daniel as he began to leave. She was going to say that she'd head up with him, since they lived on the same floor, but he didn't seem to want that. Perhaps she'd been too much and he just didn't want to be rude and turn down her breakfast offer. She turned her head as he walked past, giving an uncertain nod. "Oh, yeah, maybe." she murmured, her lips pouting just slightly. As the front doors of the building closed, she looked back to Bandit, releasing a heavy breath. "You dumb dog..." Even as she muttered this, she leaned down and kissed the short fur between his eyes. After scooping up the empty cup and throwing it away, she headed in, the doors to the elevator having just closed. With an impatient huff, she took the stairs, making sure to keep her dog on his leash this time.

[mewsters]

Daniel felt bad about having to cut the conversation with Aspen short, but he did it for her own good. He'd ask her to breakfast again if he was back to normal by tomorrow, but for now he had other things to focus on. The ride in the elevator up to his floor felt like it took an eternity, his head pounding worse and worse each minute that passed. As soon as the door opened he rushed out, about running into some people he didn't know, and desperately tried to dig the keys out of his pocket with his very shaky hands. Once the boy finally got a steady grip on them, he slid the key into the keyhole, opened the door, and rushed inside. He slammed door behind him and silently knew that the whole complex probably heard it, but he didn't care. He was panting, shaking, and he'd broken out into a cold sweat. These were the symptoms of a werewolf transformation.

Daniel looked around the empty apartment and threw the bag of clothes next to the blow up mattress, his eyes glazed over as he made his way to the bathroom. He leaned into the sink and stared hard at his reflection, red eyes and a face of sharp teeth and patches of fut stared back. "D-do you not want me to live normally?" he asked his reflection with a shaky voice. "Of all times, why now?" he spat, moving his eyes from his reflection to his hands, which were now sprouting claws. He let out a small sob and fell to the floor before finally losing consciousness. Well, partial consciousness. His human half was now gone, and in the place of it was something else.

[exempt]

Aspen Trepner
She paused at the top of the stairs with a heavy breath, Bandit having tugged her along as quick as she would allow. Aspen would never understand his fascination with racing up the stairs. Pushing open the door, she couldn't help but flinch as another one was slammed shut. Moving around the corner, she glanced down the hall towards Daniel's apartment door, the decorative paintings that aligned the walls shaking with the impact. She frowned once more, confusion again ebbing its way onto her features. Aspen truly did not understand him, but knew it wasn't her place to intrude. Bandit had his head lowered, sniffing along the ground. She paused by his door as she headed to her own, listening partially because of her worry, partially because of her curiosity and hurt. Her canine was now sniffing under the small crack of the door, his small ears perked and eyes wide.

[mewsters]

Daniel's eyes fluttered open, his headache had dissipated completely and so had the violent tremors that wracked his body before. Only when he looked down did he realize what had happened. He'd transformed into a wolf. A werewolf. He was about the same size as the bathtub that he sat next to and he probably couldn't fit if he laid in it, maybe if he sat he could. He let out a long sigh and got to his feet.. er, paws, and got onto his hind legs and leaned on the sink. He looked at himself in the mirror, a wolf with red eyes and gray fur stared back. Daniel ran his tongue over his muzzle and tasted a little blood, which wasn't knew to him. There was blood on the floor as well from the transformation. He groaned internally as he thought about how he'd have to do a deep cleaning of the bathroom once he was back to human form.

His ears suddenly caught the sound of something outside his door. It sounded like a dog, sniffing and pawing at the door. His eyes widened a bit and he let out a growl, the dog had probably smelled his scent and would most likely make everyone suspicious.
Daniel got back onto all fours and stared at the bathroom door, which was open just a crack. He must've forgotten to lock it behind him before he transformed, which was a stupid thing to forget. A really stupid thing. He shoved the door open with his muzzle and stared out at the mostly empty apartment, his hair standing on end as he caught the scent of the dog he'd heard. He recognized it's scent, it was Aspen's dog. A line of curse words rushed through his head as he flattened his ears and slowly backed into the bathroom. This wasn't good at all. Daniel prayed she'd go away and not try to investigate why her dog was acting odd or else they'd both be screwed.

[exempt]

Aspen Trepner
Bandit's small ears perked, swiveling forward just slightly at some sound that his owner hadn't heard. He responded with his own deep throated growl, nails scraping against the wooden door, leaving shallow scratches along its length. Shocked at his behavior, Aspen maneuvered a leg in between him and the door, shoving him backwards and away from it. It only lasted a second however, as the Pit Bull stepped to the side and returned to his attack on the wood. Even tugging on the leash did nothing, the dog too strong and his owner worried that she'd hurt his neck were she to pull harder. What the hell was wrong with him?

After a moment more of deliberation, she lifted a hand to knock, her voice soon following it. "Daniel? You alright?" her tone was somewhat worried, but were he not to answer, there wasn't much more that she could do. She latched her fingers through her canine's collar and pulled him away from the door with much more effort than it would normally take. He'd usually allow himself to be guided, but not in this instant. Another growl erupted from his throat, causing a perplexed expression to fall over Aspen's features.

[mewsters]

The wolf’s head poked out of the bathroom entrance and swiveled its ears back to the door where a deep growl was heard. He could hear the dog trying to claw it’s way into his apartment. This wasn’t good for either of them. He was basically stuck. He couldn’t snap at the dog because Daniel knew Aspen was there, and he couldn’t make an escape out of the large window because it’d cause too much noise. He’d probably be kicked out of the complex too. The only way to solve things was to somehow will himself back into his human form. He let out a loud snort and turned back into the bathroom, staring at the blood on the floor. The wolf closed his eyes and focused hard on all the human things Daniel had done. Eat breakfast with Aspen, go shopping, stand in line for 2 hours to just buy one thing, almost knocking over a lamp at the furniture place. They all blend together until it was all fuzz in his head and before he knew it, he'd passed out once again.

Daniel'd eyes opened and he jumped up with a start,"What the hell?" he groaned, looking around the bathroom with confusion written all over his face. Blood stained the floor and he didn't have a single article of clothing on and the room stank of wet dog and pine needles. He slowly got to his feet, using the sink for support, and turned the water on. He let it run until it was hot before splashing water onto his face, trying to snap out of the daze he was in. His head whipped to the entrance of the bathroom when he finally caught the noises of something scratching at his door, that's when everything came back to him. He'd transformed again and something was trying to break his door down. Daniel groaned and scrambled to get his pajamas on, which was a loose grey t-shirt and a pair of plaid print sweatpants. He bolted to the door and opened it to find Aspen trying to hold her dog back from breaking down his door. He backed up a bit with an unsteady smile on his face, "U-uh hey! What're you trying to do?" he asked the dog who struggled to get inside. He didn't quite meet Aspen's eyes,"What's up?" he asked, his voice cracking a bit.