(continued from A Mansion full of Bags)

"Well, I'm starting to smell something. Someone must have cooked popcorn or something" she hazarded, as they got close to the kitchen. The lights were low however, so whomever it was must have moved on elsewhere. For the moment, they had it to themselves.

Tyson could smell the kitchen long before they got near it. He couldn't help it, especially with the scent of meat that clung to it. He steeled himself to resist the urge to tear into it when he got there. The first time he had gone there he had devoured a raw steak before throwing it back up in disgust. Even knowing what to expect it was hard to resist. He had a carnivorous pallet now, he didn't find vegetables satisfying anymore. He could eat cooked meat without issue, but the wolf and part of him wanted something bloody and fresh. He found it disturbing.

Still, Claire was right, someone had made popcorn, it's smell outweighed any of the other smells, even dampening the smell of meat from the fridge. He could smell someone else's scent, but at this point couldn't tell if f the were still in the kitchen or had left. He let Claire take lead as they approached, if another student was in there, better the normal looking one go in first, since startling someone who could potentially shoot lasers out their eyes or something was not a great idea, and a distinct possibility in this school.

Claire walked into the kitchen, all smiles at the thought of food. It was empty; the mad pop-corner had vanished leaving only the scent behind him or her.

The slightly-built redhead went straight to the 'fride to see what she could find. "Oh, hey! Leftover chicken. Want some?" she asked, pulling her head out of the fridge, and straitened up with the container of chicken in her grasp. "Cheese, milk... a pomegranate? Cool!" she continued, starting to list off what was available.

Tyson couldn't really help himself, his mouth began watering as Claire proffered the container of chicken. Had it been open, he'd have no doubt leapt upon it right then and there, but as it was, he could think long enough to keep a somewhat civil mindset, even if there was now a bit of drool dripping from his muzzle. He quickly whipped it away, and told himself that there was a reason you didn't feed dogs chicken bones. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to let himself go wild over chicken, if he wasn't careful he may splinter the bones, which would not be a good time at all.

"Hrrrrr chiiiickeeen boooooones?" he asked Claire, wanting to clarify if it were boneless chicken breast, legs or patties. He didn't try to take the container, he would probably drop it with his claws, or worse, just tear it apart. His hands were not very reliant, and trying to pry off the container lid was more likely slice it with his claws then actually open it.

"Umm, looks like fried chicken tenders" she said, opening the Styrofoam box, "so, nope, no bones." She went and set them on the table, then returned to the 'fridge, and started pulling out salad makings.

"Do you know where they keep plates" she asked, her voice coming from inside the fridge where her head was buried while she dug stuff out. Only her lower half showed from behind the door.

She soon emerged, carrying a head of lettace as well as some romaine and several different dressings. "Wasn't sure what you liked, or if you even like salad. Me, well, I could pretty much live on it at times" she said with a smile. If nothing else, she was cheerful company.

The scent of chicken rushed out of the box, and filling Tyson's nose almost instantly. He was drooling again, and despite himself he was moving towards it, barely able to restrain himself. Thankfully Claire said there were no bones. Unfortunately that meant he had no more excuses to keep himself in line, and as soon as Claire had turned away, he was attacking the book, his teeth sinking into the chicken and tearing it apart as fast as he could. At least this time the meat was cooked, cold but cooked. The wolf part of him was disappointed, but meat was meat, and it wasn't to picky as long as it was food.

By the time Clair had come back with salad, he had finished off every crap of chicken, and torn the styrofoam box apart in the process, leaving Tyson looking extremely guilty with remnants of chicken smeared across his muzzle and claws. He looked up a bit hopelessly, disappointed in himself. "hrrrrr sorrrrrrrrrrrry," he said, his tone a bit meek despite his fierce exterior and rolling grow. He hated when he lost control, and it happened far too often.

"Uh, yah..." Claire said, looking at the mess. "Well, I suppose salad is okay too" she continued, not quite sure what else to say.

"I guess you, ah, really like chicken?" she asked, taking a seat and pouring a carefully measured amount of salad dressing on her greens. She was still operating in her old 'dancer' mode, and not realizing that using her power sucked an awful lot of energy out of her when she did. She had, in fact, lost a little weight despite disruptions in her dance training.

Tyson looked sheepish, if a wolf could ever look sheepish. It wasn't so much that he liked chicken, his wolf side liked meat, or maybe it was more like, it saw a free meal. His instincts had a habit of leading him around by the nose, in a very literal sense. It didn't seem to care about sharing either, some sort of territorial instinct, but that left his more human side with all the guilt for robbing Claire of her chicken dinner. "Hrrrrrr strrrrrong instiiincts," he tried to explain, "Caaaaaann't coooontrrrrrrrooll it aaaall thrrrr tiiiime." He sat down, looking as glum as ever. So much for good first impressions, not that he could really expect anything better from himself. He was little more then an animal, at least that is what he thought at this point with everything he had done unwillingly under the influence of his instincts.

He wanted to make it up to Claire, he just didn't know what he could do, his body wasn't built for most normal indoor activities anymore, so he couldn't really try preparing her something, even if he didn't have to worry about his wolf side devouring any meat it came across. All he could really do now was look guilty and keep Claire company, though at this point he wouldn't be surprised if she thought him a complete jerk.

"It's... okay. Things got weird for me too. Ever since this started, sometimes I get these weird cravings. Like, before I came here, one day I suddenly had to have a bowl of milk. Not a glass mind you, for some reason it needed to be in a bowl. Oh! Or another time, I was dying for ribs, but I was more interested and chewing on the bone than eating the meat when it came down to it. So, yah... I kinda get it?" she said, cocking her head to one side questioningly.

Tyson didn't know if Claire was trying to be funny or was just mocking him. The things she mentioned didn't seem weird, just mundane, and really couldn't compare to the things he had done, he had possibly killed people and eaten raw meat, wanting to chew on rib bones just seemed a joke by comparison. He supposed he deserved that, after eating her food she was probably entitled to make fun of him. He did feel a bit bitter about it, angry inside, but he pushed it down, even if he didn't like it, that's the way it was now, he was an animal, a monster, a... thing. A growl formed at the back of his throat, both a self loathing and annoyed sound. He hated himself, what he was now, what he did, but there was no escaping it.

Did he just... growl at her? She hadn't shared that with anyone, not even her best friend Cherry. But maybe she'd imagined it. She didn't have the body language she was used to, to support or deny if she'd annoyed him. Just that noise, which she wasn't sure how to interpret. Still, trying to find common ground might not be the best idea she'd had, she decided.

Claire quietly ate her salad, not sure how to proceed, and feeling a tad uncomfortable now. But she plucked up her courage and tried again. She could be dumb that way. Being social was just her nature.
"My counselor or recruiter-type-person said they'd probably have my class schedule today. I'm mostly taking AP classes. They mentioned Powers class, but didn't give a lot of details about what they'll do there. He just said it was customized for each student. Do you know if you'll be taking anything? I guess they're going to have me do some work-study to help offset the cost. Probably tutoring in math from the sound of it."

As Claire went on about her classes, Tyson considered if he should start attending the institute officially. Right now, he wasn't a student, he was there for 'rehabilitation' to adapt to his new form. Honestly that wasn't going well, he hadn't gotten anywhere with his speech and hand coordination, his instincts were still driving him crazy, and senses still overwhelmed him. But the fact was, he had nowhere else to go now. No college was going to accept him, and even if they did he would likely lose control and hurt someone else. So was there any point anymore? It wasn't like he could have a job now, or do anything that he had planned before his transformation. So maybe the institute had something he could focus on. It wasn't like he was going anywhere anytime soon, so maybe he should look into it.

"Hrrrrr nooooot ahhhh stuuuudeeent," he clarified to Claire, "Trrrrrrrying toooo rrrrr coooontrrrrrroll myseeeelf, rrrrr rrrrrreeeeehhhaabilllitaaaatiooon." it was harder to get the longer words out without garbling them, his mouth and throat weren't designed for human speech. He had heard of the different powers classes, he hadn't really attended any, he mostly kept to his room, or out of the way somewhere, but if Claire was right, maybe one of the classes may have some helpful tips about controling himself.

Claire nodded, listening. I dawned on her that she really didn't know how old this guy was, only that he lived there. He might already be out of school, or he might even be too young for High School. She'd rather jumped to a conclusion that he was in her same age group, which might be wildly inaccurate.

She finished her salad, then went to the corner to retrieve the broom and dustpan. A glance at Wolf's hands, such as they were, gave the impression that picking up little pieces of styrofoam would go even worse than his trying to get the chicken out of the box in the first place. No biggie; she knew how to push a broom.

"I'm hoping I can have my friend Cherry come over some time" she said as she swept. "She's an international student from Japan. Cherry's just her nickname. She's really sweet, and a lot calmer than I am" she said with a laugh. "Not much of a reach though" she said with another giggle.

Tyson watched as Claire cleaned up, feeling guilty all the way. It seemed like all he did now a days was make a mess of things. His hands and face were still stained with grease from the chicken, and bits of styrofoam clung to his paws. Chalk up another expense to the school along with his destroyed room and probably Cafa's medical bill. Who was he kidding, even here, putting him around people, kids no less, was too big a risk for him. He was... well, an animal. A monster. Something that was dangerous to be around and could rip you apart at any moment.

He was barely listening as Claire went on about her friend. Thinking about the friends he had lost and his mom only made him feel worse. People he would never see again, people who would scream and run if they saw him now. It was too painful to dwell on. He got up and went to the sink, pushing the handle and sticking his paws under the water to remove the grease, rubbing his snout to clean it as well. Claire's joke feel on death ears. Well, not death, he couldn't help but here her, but he didn't get it, nor did he think he could really laugh at anything right now. Besides the hopelessness of his situation.

Claire emptied the dustpan into the trash, pondering her large companion. Strong silent type she thought which isn't surprising given that he's having trouble talking. That was a little hard to miss.
"Well, I was planning on figuring out where my Chem class and English meet before bedtime. Those are my first two classes , and I figure I can ask directions from there. You gonna tag along?" she inquired.

Claire was still all smiles. So far, for her anyways, this was all a big adventure.