Anger issues

[blackwolfhell]

I have a question that may be pretty useful for my book I'm writing about werewolves. Imagine you were a teenage werewolf. What would anger you enough for you to change?

It'd be helpful. If you think about it, wouldn't we maul our math teachers? Just some suggestions.

[Leonca~]

It would have to be something pretty extreme for me, since I just tend to bottle everything up. Feeling like I am facing a serious threat/attack would probably be enough (being stalked by some creepy pervert would make me pretty mad). A dog once tried to attack me a few years ago, maybe that would have done it.

[lycanthropeful]

That theme in itself is a main theme of my novel... in which the main character Versa is a teenage werewolf (essentially an altered, yet extended and angrier version of myself). I think two paragraphs from the prologue sum up quite well what may make a teenager pretty dang angry (though that's ME, not necessarily YOU or YOUR werewolf character):

Cursed with the oppression of a werewolf’s temper, Versa could only handle so many facetious snickers when she answered a question correctly, or tolerate a certain amount of witnessing other students afraid to act how they really felt, fearing disapproval from the popular ranks. Why should an attitude toward personal betterment and an appetite for knowledge and duty be shunned, not respected? Versa was far from perfect, but knew that she was at least heading in the right direction.

The fact that such popular scum could be revered to the point of idolatry simply because they wore a certain brand of clothing or owned the latest cell phone appalled her, especially because they lacked the desire to live an enriching life beyond scorning those that did. Instead, they settled for mediocrity, convenience, cruelty, and insecurity. Again and again and again, this hypocrisy made Versa angry to the point that the wolf inside could not be controlled. Her power consumed her, just like it did them, and ignoring them would simply not suffice.


My rub? I got teased in high school for being a good student and a nice person. The whole reason I found an interest in werewolves was that concept of using rage-fueled power as an advantage over obstacles, or as a vigilante-styled form of physical retribution for wrongdoings done to you by those people whom you dislike.

If given the chance, Versa probably would maul a math teacher, haha. She has the control to not shift in the middle of a classroom - imagine the consequences of that! Perhaps your werewolf might be the same way, in which all their stress from various dislikes builds up, then cascades into a massive downpour of aggression and fury, which thereby ignites a transformation.

Possible things that would make them angry enough to change... I really don't think I can answer that, seeing as how everyone dislikes different things. Certain stimuli piss off people more than most. Like if your werewolf really hates cupcakes, for example? That would get them angry enough to shift. My werewolf hates "valley girls," jocks, and a lack of dedication, which is what makes her aggressive.

[MoonKit]

Cheerleaders.

[Aki]

It could be any number of things that would piss of your average teenage, really. Unless a werewolf has supernaturally heightened or lowered anger you simply need look to what pisses off your average teen and you have it.

Overall though, I imagine an accumulation of little things would probably be it. When people go on real-life rampages there's generally not one big outstanding event (or at least not one people notice until after the fact) - it's an accumulation of small slights that builds and builds and builds without release.

Then it explodes.

So the werewolf in question would just suffer a number of annoyances, aggravations, humilations, slights, etc. all until eventually.... BOOM! Fur and teeth and claws.

[Wingman]

Well, me personally, it'd take something pretty serious for me to lose it. Unless I watch myself I can get a serious rage-on as is, but not to the point of wigging out.

I suppose the best route to go would be to decide how easy it is for them to transform, and what it equates with. Would it take emotion to the point of leaping over a table and attacking the other person, or just enough for you to qualify as mad?
Partial transformations also really expand this subject, and help maintain a bit of sanity, at least in preventing them from fully wolfing out in the middle of a crowded room.

Also, how strong are the instincts of the werewolf? After all, most modern society is built on things other than physical prowess or presence, so a werewolf's mental image of how society should be structured is likely to be much different from a human's.
Having a higher-ranked person in school/work tell your werewolf to do something might be all that's needed to hit their Berserk Button. Or maybe your werewolf will defer to someone who is lower-ranked then then, because they "smell like a warrior" or something.
It all really depends on what type of werewolf you've got, and exactly how much wolf is in there were.

[vrikasatma]

[RedEye]

(This is gonna get me yelled at fer'sure...)

One of the problems with the so-called "Progressive" form of child abuse is that the little b@stards never learn that there are limits that you just do not go over for any reason. Parents are told to "Reason" with their children and explain that there are some things you just don't do.
Physical punishment is now called "abuse".
Sometimes, that sort of "abuse" is the only thing that penetrates their thick little skulls. Wander in traffic; eat dinner standing up for a few days. A good whaling actually does little damage if it's done right; what it does do is associate certain unsafe practices with carefully controlled non-injuring but frightening trauma to their gluteal area.
After a good spanking, junior won't even cross the street without asking first; a good outcome in my opinion. It will help them stay alive long enough to learn why they shouldn't play in traffic.
Simple fact: children in the single-digit years aren't Smart enough to make "contracts' with. They forget! And that forgetting is not their fault! Their minds are focused on other things, learning things; and contract-keeping is not a learning activity. It's a rational activity; and they are years away from that sort of mental discipline.

So, should we smack our kids when they do wrong? If it is a potential Life-Endangering action; absolutely. Survival is an instinct that is trained with uncomfortable situations. On the other hand, if they do something stupid; then you explain and show why it's not a good thing.
If they keep doing it, then it's time to get physical. A parent has a responsibility to train (somehow) their offspring into acting in a way that isn't going to get them killed, maimed, or sent to prison for a few years.
Yes, it's conditioning. Yes, it's Pavlovian. And YES, IT WORKS!
In the end, that's what matters. Showing them how to survive in an indifferent and lethal universe.
And sometimes that means pain. It shows them limits (which they need) and it gives them a taste of what could happen if they think that life is all nice and safe.
It isn't.
Rant over... For now...

[vrikasatma]

Last weekend I went out to the country to check out a Moriesian gelding. I'm in the market for a second horse and I heard about this guy, so I went.

His family were lovely folks. Young family, two children: 8-year-old girl, 4-year-old boy. The father took the little boy for a ride to the market while his wife and their daughter showed me the horse.

Father and son came back and son revealed to mother that Dad gifted him with a biiiiiig chocolate bar while they went to the store. (You probably have figured out where this is going)

Anyway, the horse was head-down, grazing on grass, and for some reason comprehensible to four-year-old boys hepped up on chocolate bars, the kid scowled, took a run at the horse and kicked him — hard — in the nose. It was a very telling testament to the horse's good, kind nature when all he did was swing his head up and his feet didn't move. Thank God.

However, the mother was thunderstruck. She didn't whack the kid, but she grabbed him by the arm pretty hard and dragged him off a few steps, where she got down on her knee and chewed him out, eye-to-eye, before sending him into the house for a time-out.

Well, when I went back in about a half-hour later to get the horse's previous owners so as to check his background, the kid was curled up on the couch with his dad, watching cartoons. Didn't look like much of a time-out to me but when his mom was scolding him he looked like he was in the throes of "fear-of-God"ness.

I wound up passing on the horse — his topline is so saggy he'd need at least a year of conditioning before he could pull a carriage — so I won't be watching the kid grow up. But I do know his mom runs a horse rescue and when she told him to never, ever, ever, under any circumstances EVER do anything like that to a horse, she bloody well meant it.

[blackwolfhell]

Well, Thanks for all that. In order, the werwolves in my book maybe will have a little self control, but not much because its kinda a comedy. (And I'm Drawing it!) Math teachers would always make me mad. I'm 16 and my mom still thinks R rated movies are horrible. I really hate that.

[Lewis]

I get driven mad by little kids in shopping centres your walking along and one pops out from no were trips you up and then you like o for **** sake and then there parents looks at you like what you doing and I am just think o just go away

Soo damm annoying!! lol

[RedEye]

That was my point. Children need limits in what they do so they can define the world they live in.

Time-outs may set these limits, but they have to be enforced rigorously. Watching cartoons doesn't fit that concept.

As for anger causing a Shift, anger causes adrenalin to be released; as in "Shaking with anger". That's adrenalin at work.

And adrenalin has been agreed upon here as a strong Shifting trigger, since it triggers the "fight or flight' reaction, which will trigger the Shift.

Blackwolf, you might have your characters use deep breathing as a means of calming and avoiding Shifting, since it works IRL that way.

[blackwolfhell]

Exactly! When I have kids, I'm going to teach them everything about what is right and what is wrong. Sometimes though, they can be cute. But they aren't when you singing in a concert and some kid tries to sing a long. I really hate that!
Thats why you should say before a concert, "If you know the words, don't sing along. Thats just annoying."

I guess that would be another issue.