Trivia

Character

History

Dan and Lizzie met through mutual friends in college. She was warned about his eccentricities and thought it was a joke or over-exaggeration. It was not. They got along fabulously regardless. Wasn't long out of college that the two of them moved in together, first as Good Friends, then as a Couple. Lizzie got an apprenticeship tattooing, Dan was her first model. Dan got a job, and a side-gig, and then another job, working as much and as hard as he could to support Lizzie's dream. They were happy.
Lizzie became a fully fledged tattooist. She had full bookings in the studio regularly, guest slots in other studios, the works. Dan couldn't have been prouder. Then her Mentor - her Uncle - retired from his own studio and bequeathed it to her. A Solo Studio, with a single bedroom flat above to live in. Nice area, close by to everything, but a short walk from a national park. It was perfect.

The new studio was quieter, but Lizzie was still booked well in advance. She had more time now to work on passion projects, and she could comfortably charge more too. Lots of time in the studio was just the two of them, he always had new tattoo ideas and she was always happy to follow along - even if she laughed and shook her head at his enthusiasm sometimes.

Dan had a bad feeling when the Stranger first visited the Studio. They weren't interested in Lizzie's work, and they looked at everything like it might be a starved man's next meal. He switched to working nights, and spent his days in the Studio with Lizzie as 'Security'. Plenty of time to get really inked that way, not a lot of time to sleep. He didn't mind. The Stranger visited sporadically at first, once every few weeks - then it was once every two weeks - then weekly.
Then the nightmares came.

Dan woke in sweats frequently, he couldn't get more than an hour or two of sleep in, fell asleep in the studio often, even on his feet at work. Every time, the Stranger was there - in his dreams, his Nightmares. There was no escaping that piercing gaze, a hungry predator. One morning Dan woke in the yard - cold and scared. Something was wrong. They talked, and agreed, that Dan needed to go somewhere to get help - to find out what's wrong. So he left.

Lizzie was alone for the first time in years.
Dan stayed in a hospital the next town over. He couldn't sleep at all anymore. All he wanted was to close his eyes and see his Lizzie looking back at him. He wanted to hear her laugh, and feel warm arms around him. All he had was silence.
All he saw when he closed his eyes was those Hungry Eyes staring back at him. He couldn't sleep.

For a month it was quiet. Lizzie kept working - she had to. Dan tried anything they could give him - what else could he do? Sleep was only provided by heavy sedation, he woke every time like being stirred from a coma. There were no more nightmares, there was just Nothingness. The medications didn't work.
The Stranger visited again. Lizzie was alone.
The neighbours found her at dawn. Her clothes torn and dirty, one shoe missing, twigs and leaves and brambles through her hair. She didn't know what happened. The doctor found nothing, no signs of injury or attack, no evidence of drugs or poison - just some scrapes and bruises like she'd had a rough tumble through the scrub. The studio, too, was untouched - no evidence of a struggle, nothing. It was like she'd up and left for a hazardous jog in the woods. She remembered nothing.

Dan was discharged with a tentative clear bill of health and some little pills to help him sleep. Someone had to be there for Lizzie, after all. She recovered quickly, much to his relief, and everything was normal again. Mostly. Dan would nap then find himself in the yard, or down the street, or in the park. For Lizzie's sake, he said nothing. He couldn't leave her alone again. But he knew something had to be done, and he knew it was that Stranger.
As if by pre-cognizance, The Stranger arrived again. Dan was ready, he'd had enough, this Stranger was doing something to them and he was going to put a stop to it. A Confrontation, an accusation - a clash, a conflict - Lizzie protested, Dan persisted. They took it outside, she lost eyes on them both. Dan went missing.

The Change

A search was conducted immediately, police and neighbours got involved, park rangers scoured the woods. No one knew the Stranger that Dan had clashed with, though many recalled the description. After three days of searching many resigned themselves to giving up, to simply hoping for the best. Lizzie was never left alone, not after her loss. Everyone in town had met Dan and Lizzie.
Five days after Dan's disappearance Lizzie recieved a phonecall - Park Rangers. They'd found something - not Dan - but odd nonetheless. "Did... you have a dog?" The Ranger asked on the call, and Lizzie thought about how they'd wanted to but never had the time or space. "No, um, what does this have to do with Dan?"
"I think it's better if I show you" a pause "Bring some comfortable shoes."

There was only so much of the park that could be navigated on four wheels, and not much more of it on two. The rest had to be traversed by foot. Comfortable shoes indeed. "So what's this about?" Lizzie asked, but the response was a simple 'you'll see' and they kept walking. Then, they stopped, in the middle of nowhere. "Look here," The ranger said as he squat down to move some underbrush aside, Lizzie quickly making out the bright colour of Dan's bracelet. Her breath stopped in her throat, like it had turned to stone right there and then, and her hands balled to grip the fabric of her pants, knuckles going white. But there was more to see - the park ranger delicately cleared away a print just inches from the bracelet. A distinctly canine pawprint, bigger than any she'd ever seen.
"A- A wolf?!"
"By God Liz, I wish I knew. They're freshun's, but we couldn't follow 'em far. Ain't often see wolves 'round 'ere."
The trek back was silent - Liz couldn't escape her thoughts the whole way back to the Studio. She was Alone.

Time passed. Dan was missing two weeks, then three, then a month. Lizzie joined an online support group for friends and family of Missing Persons. The lack of closure hurt the most. Her work became a tribute to him, to her memory of him. She'd drawn wolves and werewolves before - she couldn't not with Dan around - but now it was every second piece, sometimes more. When the full moon came, she stayed out late to paint it - she was going to dedicate a mural on the side of the building to him. As the dark blanketed the town, she set up with paint and canvas behind the studio - the moon hanging brilliantly over the woods, illuminating the peaks of trees, a smattering of lawn and plants, and her doe-eyed face on the back porch. She couldn't believe it'd been a month since Dan was gone.
Lizzie allowed painting to absorb her completely, immersed fully in the light of the moon and the sounds of the night - peering only over her canvas to filter in further inspiration. Then she saw it - a... Something emerging from the woods, like a large, injured dog, or an emaciated bear with mange. The moonlight framed the silhouette in a silver glow, and she swore it was coming closer. Hopefully it wasn't a bear. She set her paints and brush down, preparing to flee - it continued to approach. Now it was only yards away, she jolted backwards in fear - setting off the motion-sensor light and briefly blinding the Something. She could see it now, for more than its moonlit silhouette. Crouched and vulnerable before her was a grotesquely malformed person, limbs warped and covered in a thick layer of hair, fingers like gnarled bark, and something akin to a frizzed and matted old wig for a mane veiling the face and neck.
But there were tattoos - and if there were any tattoos she knew (of which she knew many) she knew those.
"DAN?!"

She was completely blind-sided in that moment, tunnel vision on the beast before her that she never saw the others leave the forest behind it. Like a lightning flash she was struck out of nowhere, searing pain immediately coursing through her - blood dripped in her eyes, turned her vision red. The last thing she saw was the beast - No, Her Dan - crying out and leaping to protect her.

Some head trauma, lacerations, and a broken ankle. Liz was in bed rest for 3 days. Dan never left her side. She was cleared for discharge on the fourth day, and they went home.
"You were gone" She said
"I'm sorry"
"I thought I lost you" She continued
"I'm so sorry"
Silence
"I'm... I'm scared I can't protect you." He broke the silence. She looked at him as tears began to course down his face. "I don't know what to do."

Departure

Dan had to tell Liz - tell her everything. Or at least, everything he could remember.
Firstly, the Stranger was a Werewolf - so was Dan now too for that matter - and he had been 'claimed' for the pack. Lizzie was just an "un-necessary attachment", according to the Stranger, and she "needed to be removed". Originally, Dan explained, the Stranger wanted them both - but she wasn't "compatible". But he couldn't just leave her, he couldn't accept this fate for either of them.
He had to try.

Months of struggles passed, possibly even a year, before out of the blue an old friend of Dan's got in touch - a computer geek he'd known in college, called Andy.
"You alone right now?" Andy's first words in the call, with that smug tone of voice like he already knew the answer. It was usually because he did.
There wasn't enough time for Dan to answer before Andy spoke again "Nevermind I know you are and I don't feel like wasting time. I know about your little secret."
"My wh-"
"Yup, I know all about your crush on me in college." Another pause too short for Dan to actually answer, a quick laugh to indicate a joke, "You're a werewolf."
"How did-" Dan didn't know why he bothered trying to ask, letalone interject. Andy was terrible at phonecalls.
"A magician never reveals his secrets. You're in quite the pickle aren't you? Don't answer that. I'll be in town tomorrow."
The line went dead before Dan could protest. What the fuck did Andy have planned.

Exactly as promised, Andy - or "Technomancer" as he opted to introduce himself - arrived at noon the next day. Dan was instructed to immediately begin packing his things while 'Technomancer' "got to work". By dinner there were security cameras looking at every possible inch of Lizzie's studio, and an assortment of other bells and whistles too. Dan didn't understand any of it. All he knew was Lizzie would be just fine.
The caveat was that it wouldn't work if Dan stayed. The Stranger still had a connection with him, and the Pack would still target them for as long as he was near. "My boss knows about these sorts of things" Andy explained dismissively.
The plan was that Dan had to stay with Andy until it all blew over.

It was a good plan at first, besides how difficult "Tech"/Andy was to live with. But they'd done it before so they could do it again, even if it was... a little bit weird. Then, the nightmares came back.
The lack of sleep and strange nightmares Dan could deal with, but when he woke up 2 blocks away from where he'd gone to bed it was a sign of trouble. Andy said he'd "consult with [his] boss", which was apparently a process of maximum security that Dan was allowed to know nothing about. So he sat around in the scarcely furnished "living room" as his situation was discussed and future determined.
After what felt like hours Andy emerged with a tall, ominous looking man who gave Dan very much the same feeling as The Stranger did. Then the tall man offered him a handshake and explained things. There were two options, one was to come live with him - the other was less pleasant. Dan accepted enthusiastically.