She came to, roused by a nearby gurgling and a low bassy pulse from somewhere behind her. For a moment she didn't think she'd awoken yet. Everything was dark. But she was awake for sure, as her numbed senses gradually let her know as she noticed the slick softness pressing on her legs, head, arms, chest, tail...

Wait... tail?

Her fur--yes, fur--was matted closely to her from a watery substance oozing from every surface. What a way to find out she even had fur. She must have been still dreaming; yes, this was a little bit like the nightmare, the one she'd just had, with snatches of her nails cracking and enlarging into claws, soft brown wisps of canine hairs sprouting up her arms, a panicked howl as she burst through the windshield of her own car and charged off into the night. Superhuman strength surging through her and the horror of what she'd turned into blinding all her measured thoughts and inhibitions.

Then there was the part where something had whipped around her body and pinned her arms. Something huge and scaly. She'd never had a phobia of snakes or any other reptiles, but she'd struggled like she had one. Then the end of the nightmare, where something warm and wet had forced itself over her head, the rest dark and blurry.

"Mmrf..." She tried sitting up, waking out of this dream-ish envelopment. Her elbows stretched against the roof and sides of the close-fitting, wet... something, but only stretched so far before a great force edged her limbs back to their former position. She sniffed sharply, trying again to wake up. Something was odd. She expected the air to be stuffy, as it steadily became under a bedsheet, but it was surprisingly fresh, and with a faint whiff of acrid sterility.

"Are you waking up?"

"Eh?" A voice from close by started her pushing and fighting against the confinement again. Squelching noises sounded as the sliding folds of this strange prison tightened against her efforts, tucking her legs and arms against her and rendering her immobile again.

"Don't try to move around yet!" The voice warned, seeming to grunt with effort at the same time the walls closed on her. "It's not quite daylight yet; if I let you out now you'll still look pretty wolfish."

"Wolf... ish?" She started. The dream--the transformation--her running off in a panic and leaving a trail of heavy pawprints--the park-goers screaming at the sight of her emerging from the shadows (and her screaming, or howling, in response). And the heavy scaled thing cramming its huge, wet throat over her. "Who are you, and where do you have me?"

"Call me Spider," the voice sounded uneasy. Not openly, but uneasy in the way that people do when they're acting casual and cheerful to cover up some fear or insecurity. "Don't panic--you're in a safe place. It's the only way I had of keeping you contained and, uh, keeping the by-standers and cops from worrying you were still prowling around..."

"Yes, yes, whatever, but where is this 'safe place'?"

"Do you remember? I swallowed you," the speaker sounded like they'd cringed, "Sorry about that. I had to keep them from looking for you, you know? God only knows what they'd do to an unconscious lycanthrope especially after that lycanthrope just 'attacked' them."

"I didn't attack anyone!" The werewolfess cried out, writhing side-to-side and trying to loosen up the space in the creature's stomach. "Lemme go! I didn't mean to freak out, it just... it just happened!"

"I know that, I know that." The creature's guts gave a sharp churn and twisted up a little tighter, stopping her fight for a few seconds before relaxing slowly. "I'm not trying to hurt you or punish you with this. Just keep you out of sight until the sun comes up and you change back. No one will be after you then."

"That was your first time changing over, huh?" Spider guessed, and she numbly nodded. "I figured... It usually comes as a bad surprise to humans."

"I turned into a monster." She realized, voice shaking.

"There's no such thing as monsters," the voice chuckled. "Only animals, just us. You turned into a you. A fuzzier, wolfier you, but still you. You were scared and that's fine." The voice hushed for a moment. The werewolfess wondered if someone was nearby, but then they spoke again, "I just know a bad situation when I see one. Someone was going to get hurt or worse there in that park if I didn't jump in, and I'd hate to think it'd be you."

She sighed, probing around for a reason to believe she was still imagining things, or still sleeping. She found nothing; she had no idea what her own lycanthropized arms and face should feel like or what the inside of a gigantic reptile should feel like to judge this experience against, but as far as she could feel, smell, see and hear this was it. The more she relaxed and accepted this, the softer and more freely-stretching the damp flesh around her became.

"Sun will be up in nineteen minutes now," Spider murmured. "Now... when I spit you out, promise not to scream or go running for help?"

---

^u^; Another vorish mini-story and a doodle-sketch-thing to go with it. u<

And horrible pun title! 8D Sans, my skelebuddy, be proud! XD