New Genna City

The Red Hood(ie)

**Author's note: I had an idea of "reverse" werewolves for a while before coming up with this story. 'Hyperlycanthropy', as I deemed it, was mentioned in 'The Wrong Turn', but is more fully explained here.**

You sigh loudly as you dig in your bag, trying to find the one thing you needed at that moment: your headphones. You worked at a graphic design company that had loose office codes when it came to stuff like that, and you enjoyed the freedom it provided.

Unfortunately, it also meant there were some remarkably obnoxious people who could basically get away with murder. As you slip the noise-cancelling cups over your ears, you sigh in relief; your coworker nearby, while not the worst of the people to do so, liked to play music loudly from their desktop speakers throughout the day. You turn back to your workstation and smile as you turn on your own tunes, grateful for the peace of your own music.

The end of the day comes around, and as you're packing up to leave, one of your more... tedious coworkers comes over and starts trying to chat you up. You don't really pay them much attention, simply nodding vaguely in response until...

"Great! So I'll meet you at Frank's tonight at seven," they say with an oily grin. You blink and look up as they walk off, wondering exactly what just happened. Did you just accidentally... agree to a date?

Oh crap. Crap crap crap.

You scurry home as fast as possible, trying to figure out what to do. You had an hour or so before you had to meet them, and you really didn't want to go. At all. You never would have agreed to this if you'd have been paying attention. Ever in life.

"Well, this is a handy reminder to pay somewhat better attention to people I don't like," you mutter to yourself in the mirror.

You briefly wonder if you could feign being sick, but they'd literally just seen you; no go. Finally, after much, MUCH thought, you decide that it shouldn't be THAT bad to just... go this once, even though you couldn't stand them. There was no prior agreement that you had to go on a second date, after all.

Still, as you get cleaned up and dressed, you wished you could follow your original plans of staying up all night and re-watching your favorite movie trilogy. You think back to when you were younger, and the times you used to do just that with your best friend.

He'd always been so much fun, and you'd had so much in common. Sure, he'd been a little weird, and hadn't always been able to hang out, but that was the way things were when you were a kid; your parents had final say. But one day, he and his folks moved away and you never saw him again. You'd never really made another good friend after that, and had just... stopped trying. Nowadays, you spent a lot of time by yourself, but that was okay. It just meant you got to do the things you wanted, when you wanted, without having to wait for other people to show up or anything.

You check your hair in the mirror by the front door, and surprise yourself with how well you clean up. Just as you're about to leave, you pause and go back to snag your jacket. It was a bit old, too big, and bright red (which didn't match what you were wearing very well), but it was sort of a security blanket. And you definitely needed one right now.

You make it to the restaurant with time to spare, and get a table. You wait for a good while before ordering a drink, and sigh heavily as you glance at the clock. It had been their idea; why were they late?

Half an hour later, you finally determine that they obviously weren't coming. Whether it had been a prank or otherwise, it was still upsetting to be stood up, even by someone you didn't want to spend time with. You decide to make the most of it, and splurge on some strawberry daiquiris and some expensive food. After all, if nothing else, you could enjoy the cuisine here.