Here he is again. This is going to be a bad one, of that Yuri is sure. Of course, he believes every month is going to be a bad one -- and he's pretty much always right -- but he's been on edge for days and knows that today is going to be a long, long day. He's been up all night, which hasn't helped a bit with the general crankiness and anxiety, but wistful thoughts of his bed are countered easily enough by the desire to be as worn out and sleepy as possible once the transformation comes. It's going to be a daytime full moon, which somehow makes it feel like the universe is picking on him. He's looking at over fourteen hours in the cage, from a little after five in the morning probably until past eight at night.

Last month had been partly during daylight hours, too, and last month he'd gone stir crazy. There had been complaints (or at least worried comments) about strange noises from a handful of people who had wandered closer to the locked corridor leading to his cage than he liked, and Yuri had bloodied his nose and torn a paw pad in his irritation at being shut in while the whole world was awake and waiting to be chased about.

Relations with Daine have been strained for a long time, but it's not like he didn't end up dragging her into things last month anyway when he fell asleep as a bear and invaded her dreams. It's been made pretty clear to him by the higher-ups that he's not to have anyone in the room with the cage while he's a bear after what happened with Edgar...which is why he didn't discuss today's plans with the higher-ups. Kuiv can (and has been) talked into turning a blind eye, if only because he's promised he'll do his best to let Daine shut him up and stop him making so much noise.

He slips into the cell before dawn, a little over half an hour before the shift is expected to take hold. There's the usual rigmarole of stripping down, wrapping himself in a ragged blanket, and leaving his clothing outside the cage, and then there's really nothing to do except wait for Daine...and for the bear.