Werewolf Headcanons
The first few transformations (and the full day ahead of them) are especially rough. The curse doesn’t solidify for a number of months, causing the infected a wide array of fluctuating physical discomforts and emotional turbulence in the hours leading up to and especially during their transformation. The change itself is incomplete at this point; a fur-less, warped, starving shadow of what it will be. Their howls and the pheromones they release in this stressful phase will call to any of their settled “family” in the area, who will keep them from wandering too far from a particular territory and assist in hunting enough big game to sate the young’s elevated appetite.
Assuming there are settled wolves to guide the way and enough big game in the area to hunt, humans are generally safe if they keep a wide distance. Wolves should be placed deep in a healthy wooded area ahead of their moons, well away from human structures, and left to their own devices.
Shutting them in, especially in locations with human scents, creates a confusing negative association and aggression. They will lash out. They don’t retain full human intelligence at this point but they do remember one moon’s events to the next and will hold that grudge a long time. (If you’re forced to do this at any point to a newly infected, make sure to leave enough meat to sate their appetite; preferably raw, take an amount you think is truly excessive and add more still to that; stay well out of reach, and talk in soothing tones. Leave them in a quiet, enclosed space but Do Not Restrain Them.)
Wearing wolf scent can save your life if you have no choice but to pass through their hunting grounds or if a wolf accidentally roams too close to your home. Collected sweat or saliva is best. Blood works but will cause a stress response and potentially increase aggression toward others in the area (especially if it’s blood collected from a new wolf).
Shutting a wolf in will cause other wolves in the area to become aggressive if they can hear and smell the distress.
Preventing a new wolf from hunting and feeding as much as they need to keeps the transformation from settling as it should, potentially leaving them in an incomplete state for a longer period of time. This will only cause increased hunger, stress, and aggression in future moons.