White Lightning Productions

I think the general sentiment around here is that Peter and his pack are handling things the exact wrong way when it comes to bringing a newly-fuzzified thrall under control. That begs the question: what's the right way?

I've got a few ideas (mainly involving a four-step process of accepting the condition and learning to harness it), but I'm interested to hear what you guys think.

I'm thinking that the whole town should be involved in teaching the newb acceptance, control, and how to keep the secret from outsiders. I's sure that I'm missiong a lot of steps, this is just for starters.

The first step to controlling a thrall, I would think, is to make the person accept what's happened to them. Take them aside and say, "You're a werewolf." Make them realize that there is no cure, no magic potion, no ritual or anything else that will reverse the condition, and that the only way to get anywhere close to being "normal" again is to come to terms with their condition and embrace it, rather than fight or deny it.

This is where this town's pack really dropped the ball, in my opinion. Rather than leave an elder of any sort - Jack, Con, Carla, anyone - in the cabin for the first few nights to help her cope, they just locked her up in the closest thing to a jail cell they could find. Thus, Sarah has had no opportunity to do anything but develop resentment over becoming a werewolf, and over Peter for doing it to her.

The first night that wasn't a full moon, Tom should've taken Sarah to a large open space - a warehouse, for example, or a large forest - and just laid it out for her. What she is, what it entails, and what she needs to do to deal with it. Maybe let her vent out what it means to her to have this happen to her (missing out on ComicCon, losing touch with her sisters, etc.). If she changes out of frustration or anger, let her. Better to let it all out now when there's nobody else around than have her bottle it all up and have it explode at an inopportune moment. At the very least, Sarah hasn't proven to be especially violent (unless provoked) - just rambunctious - so there likely won't be any major issues with her mauling Tom to death. And on that note, Tom needs to take this opportunity to demonstrate to Sarah's wolf side that he's the alpha. Much like the visit with Dr. Abe, once that connection is made, the wolf should be more easily handled with Tom around.

After that, it becomes a matter of controlling the wolf. This would take some practice, but I figure the most effective way to do it would be to present the wolf with problems that require the problem-solving skills of the human mind, forcing the two sides to interact. By making the wolf use human intellect, it allows the human side to have more conscious control over the body. Start with simple tasks like jigsaw puzzles or children's learning toys, and work your way up to more complex things like combination locks. Eventually, the wolf will become so used to allowing the human mind to take charge that the wolf remains in the background permanently.

Lastly, control over the changes. This probably is something best left to meditation and finding that "switch" that triggers the transformation from human to wolf and back. Once that switch is found, the thrall needs to learn how to flip it themselves - and how to avoid changing inadvertently from outside influences. Sarah almost got the hang of this back in Chapter 6, but she wasn't able to block everything out of her mind and concentrate fully on holding back the change.

Of course, I've never happened upon a thrall before, so who knows if this would work, but it seems like a feasible way to do things.

Regrettably, one of the dynamics of this story is Sarah's refusal to accept who she has become, as shown in this particular episode.
As long as she sees only negatives in her Lycanthropic nature, she isn't going to accept it (and getting lucky with Peter won't do that).
Perhaps if she were to do something of value to her- As the Wuff- that she couldn't do as Sarah; she might see some good in her condition. Until then, she is going to refuse her acceptance of what she is.
Most likely, once she has gained form control, she will never willingly Shift. She will stay Sarah, and pretend the Wuff (or by then Werewolf) doesn't exist.

Is is me, or is this story starting to get depressing, Boobies or not?