That Doggie In The Window

## Content Information

Arsling dragged herself out of bed her body in agony her skin paler than usual and those new yellow eyes staring back at her, her sleep had been rough but being awake had been even rougher, Tamzen was helping out Xander and it turns out Burgundy was apart of the plot to turn her

There was no love left inside her, her heart was broken, both of her love interests have damaged her seemingly beyond repair, maybe Cú when they take Arsling's mind will fall in love again, they certainly still held affection for Didi, but for now Arsling has pain and fury on her mind, slumping down at her desk and typing up on the computer ways to try and reverse this and stop this agonising transformation

Something caught her newly-heightened senses. From the corner of her eye, she saw Fluffy -- Didi -- out the window, sitting and watching her. When Arsling looked up, the wolf’s tail wagged twice, then stopped, and she rose to her feet to walk closer.

Arsling instinctively took a step towards her window before backing up her yellow eyes staring daggers at Didi, hesitantly Arsling reached over and pushed the window open slightly, she went to speak but suddenly just pushing that window open led to a overload of new senses causing her to begin panicking backing up against her wall and sliding down it as new smells and sensations flooded her head overwhelming her triggering a panic attack as she struggled to regain her composure

Didi trotted to the window and pushed it open the rest of the way with her muzzle before leaping inside and going to Arsling’s side.

“It’s okay,” she rumbled. “You have nothing to fear from me.” Tilting her head, she sniffed at the girl. “It’s all the sensations, isn’t it? Climb into bed, where it smells like you, it’ll be okay.”

Arsling was filled with horror, the smell of Didi herself becoming mixed into the overwhelming senses as she dragged herself on the floor back onto her bed, she hated this she hated doing what Didi said, she wanted to hit the wolf in the nose but something inside her told her just to follow Didi's orders, so she did her breathing becoming steady as she just focused on one sensation

"W-what the hell do you want? Y'know they don't let you keep dogs" Arsling says trying to beat her fear with smartarsery, unfortunately her fear getting the best of her as she leans back into the pile of cat plushies Tamzen bought her

Didi sniffed at the new plushies, taking in the artificial scents that accompanied new fabric, as well as the scent of Tamzen, a stranger, and now Arsling. The redhead’s scent was changing -- still delicious, but sharper, now.

“We’re not pets,” she said with pride, raising her forelegs to the bed and testing its sturdiness before she jumped in and lay down next to Arsling. “I’m here to help you through the changes. Close your eyes and focus on our scent, for now.”

Arsling's face displayed confliction, part of her wanted to tell her turner to get the fuck out of her bed, the rest of her, Cú presumably told her to listen "i hate you, you know that right?" the turning werewolf closes her eyes "everything hurts, I can't even have my old eye colour back" she breathes in deep taking in both her own and Didis scents

The wolf bit back a remark about how many people Arsling would be willing to kill to keep her eye color, keeping it to a wordless low growl and a momentary glare.

“Once you have our scents,” she went on, forcing herself to be patient. “Start noticing more. What’s the strongest scent in here besides us?”

"...Tamzen, it's the plushies" Arsling says rubbing her head against the large pile "she smells...nice...this feels several shades of creepy and wrong" Arsling lifts herself up into a seated position looking down at Didi "so when can I expect the rest of the hellhounds to say hi and try to convince me this is great?" She says with disdain in her voice, but mixed in somewhere inside her she's excited to meet her new packmates

“The pack would love to meet you,” said Didi, curled with her nose near her tail, which gave a little wag. “Any night you wish, I’ll take you to start meeting them. Everyone is rooting for you. And you won’t have to be scared to go out at night anymore.”

She ignored the comments about Tamzen’s scent. She was trying to get over her feelings about the other redhead, and the events of that fateful night should have helped more than they did.

“Did she really not tell you I was a werewolf?” Didi asked, suddenly. “I thought you might have forgotten when you got that concussion, but… you should be healed now. You don’t remember?”

"She never told me shit, if she did I would've asked to see...that" Arsling motions towards Didi "and maybe I'd still be human, I think if she did know she would've told me...and if she does and didn't tell me well that's just another twisting knife in my gut, as if these last two twists weren't enough" Arsling suddenly breaks out into tears "and that's the last thing I fucking need" on Arsling's end table is the letter from Burgundy

“I don’t think she did know,” said Didi, sitting up. “I’m very confused about what she knows, but… I think she didn’t know until last night.” She cast about for a moment, then grabbed a box of tissues in her teeth and laid it in Arsling’s lap. “And I didn’t know about you until the night after the hot springs. I just thought you were a pretty, goofy…” She stopped herself. “Nevermind, this probably doesn’t help to hear.” The wolf glanced towards the window as if she might go, then back to Ash.

"Did the last week and a half mean nothing to you?" Arsling says weakly threw the tears "did nothing I do prove I wasn't a packslayer anymore?" Arsling pokes at the box "I met Cú, I dreamt and they were in control, I was trapped with them... they're excited and I'm terrified, nearly everyone in my life was rooting against me, and now this thing wants to be me wants to become apart of me, and all of this while you and your fucking pack and your fuckin friends celebrate" Arsling says as she shakes, both in pain and fear

The wolf tilted her head. “I don’t know, I never dreamed about my wolf as a separate person, but it makes sense given what you’ve been through, what you’re afraid of.”

She hopped off the bed and paced back and forth across the room.

“We’ve been afraid. The last week and a half we’ve been afraid. Mostly afraid of you, but afraid for you, too. A monster slayer who draws us in with faerie curse magic and then cuts us down? I know it’s scary to change against your will, but you were given three chances to recant that day. When you refused the third time, when you pledged you would keep killing the people compelled to come for you… I meant what I said, that you had to be stopped. Fuck this faerie curse but we’re not going to lay our necks on the chopping block to preserve your purity. And whatever you think of me, I didn’t want you dead. I didn’t want you drained of your soul and made a vampire or worse.”

"B-but I can't be wrong...i-if I'm wrong then that means" Arsling has this look of horror in her golden eyes mumbling to herself "I-I didn't want to hurt anyone i-i had no choice" Arsling rocks back and forth hugging her knees trying to find words but over the last week has been worn down and is out of arguments or stubbornness and now with these new instincts telling her to listen to Didi she's broken "please...please tell me I was right" she says pleading not just to Didi but to the world as a whole

Didi stretched and grew into her wolfgirl form, looking all the more enormous for the tight quarters of the room. Then she scooped Arsling up and sat on the bed with the redhead in her lap.

“It’s alright, little pup,” she said, strong arms holding the shaking girl. “That’s all over. I’m sure some of them were irredeemable, deserved to die. You don’t have to second-guess every one. It’s done. They’re not going to come after you anymore. I know you’ve traded one thing you didn’t ask for for another, I know it’s hard, it hurts. But you’re free of that fate, now.” She stroked Ash’s hair. “Let it go.”

"B-but my mother, she died so i could stay human, I-I-I hurt so many to honour her wishes" Arsling says curling into Didi's lap Hugging her still shaking and destroyed even more than she was before Didi jumped into Arsling's room, she was scared of Cú, scared of being wrong, scared of what was next and due to those new pack instincts, scared of being alone

“You were scared and alone,” Didi said, holding Ash close against her enormous form. “A child.” She didn’t know what else to say. Pack Mother would have something wise to say about this.

Arsling wordlessly brings herself into the fur of her turner her senses filled with Didi "...you smell sweet, like honey" Arsling says awkwardly trying to stop thinking about the things she's done the last five years still shaking in Didi's arms

Didi finally smiled, at that.

“That’s because we’re pack.” She took a whiff of Arsling, but the girl was still mostly stress-scented. She could sense the changes, but it was subtle compared to Arsling’s feelings from the day. Her enormous hand ran up and down Arsling’s shoulder, and then she just held her close.

"Yeah I suppose we are" Arsling rests her head on Didi's shoulder looking in the mirror staring back into her eyes fear and hesitancy in them "what if I said no...what would happen if I didn't learn from you?" Arsling says, her want to reject Didi brimming lightly to the surface again

The wolf’s smile faded, her expression darkly serious. “Then you need to make sure you spend the full moon far away from other people, where the only things to hunt and kill are beasts.”

Arsling's eyes fill completely with horror, the idea that if she got what she want, if she rejected Didi she'd become exactly what she was terrified of

Arsling takes a moment, absorbing the information if Cú is as scary as she dreamt she'd rather be one with them rather than letting the beast control her, she looks back up to Didi staring her in the eyes

"Help me Didi"