Feeling Small

## Content Information

Arsling was sat at her desk reading the textbook for class, while doing so idly chewing on a rib bone she had been gifted by Didi

Arsling couldn't express how much she hated and loved this gift, the smell of meat had become so delectable and enticing as well as it's taste, suddenly these ribs were some of the best things she ever tasted, rivaling the homemade stews her mother used to make her on Sundays

She hated the gift for that reason, it's a gift from Didi, a way to soften her up and make her more submissive or willing to accept her new form, she recalled last Friday being held in the wolfs arms and being called pup

A now-familiar howl reached her ears through her closed window. Somehow she knew it meant a hunt was beginning, heard the replies, voices she was starting to recognize despite not knowing who they belonged to. Except one, close by.

A short time later, that snout pressed against the window, hot breath steaming the surface.

Arsling looks towards the window piece of rib in mouth looking at the large cute wolf practically licking the window "what do you want? I'm trying to do my school work, unfortunately lycanthrope isn't an excuse to avoid class" Arsling pulls the rib out of her mouth putting it on her plate

The wolf gave her a chiding look, then jumped up with one paw on each side of the window to push it up, enough to get her snout under it and open it the rest of the way. She rested her muzzle in the now-open window.

“If you want help preparing for the hunt, if you want to meet any of the others, if you want to explore our territory… it’s best if we do it now. Tomorrow at the latest.”

Arsling sighs, getting a full whiff of the outside and Didi, ever since her encounter with Burgundy she had been trying to expose herself to the smells of the world to avoid being overwhelmed a second time "fine" Arsling gets up and throws on her jacket "take me to your leader" Arsling says pulling the window the rest of the way open and jumping threw the window

Didi laughed at the joke and went to wait for Ash, gazing up at the moon. They were moon people kind of, she mused, wondering what it would be like to be a werewolf and actually visit the moon. She was halfway into designing a sniffing system that might work with a spacesuit before she realized the gibbous moon was already having an effect on her, making her mind wander.

She was glad they were doing this tonight, so she could be sure not to forget to tell Ash anything she ought to cover.

Arsling tightens her ponytail, for some reason her hair was getting harder to contain in her hair tie "so why is it best if we do it now? Couldn't this wait another year?" Arsling says as she walks with the giant wolf, probably looking to onlookers like she had gained the world's largest guard dog

Didi didn’t answer right away, savoring the night smells with a packmate by her side.

“At the full moon, we hunt bison in the highlands,” she said, catching the scent of their prey on the wind. “It can be a trial by fire, or it can be a routine hunt and celebration. There are a lot of things that it would be helpful for you to know, and if we wait until closer to the full moon, well… sometimes I’m a little forgetful.”

"Great, not that it matters, I won't be taking part" Arsling says her eyes scheming clearly thinking about ways to be as much of a pain in the arse as possible for the pack probably thinking of trying to repeat her concussed antics "wait you get dumber around the full moon, didn't think that was possible" Arsling smirked teasingly before mentally slapping herself

“Listen, pup,” Didi growled. “If all we cared about was ending the threat of the curse, we’d let you fend for yourself. But we care about you *and* about the safety of the people around you, so we’re going to teach you. After the full moon hunt, if you want to strike out on your own, that’s up to you.”

Arsling felt that growl in her spine, instantly feeling her instincts tell her to apologise to her turner, undoubtedly heightened by the moonlight on her skin, Arsling manages to be stubborn enough and not apologize, just glancing away from Didi as she looked guilty "so how far away are we from your boss?" Arsling says slipping off her sunglasses

“We’ll meet some packmates tonight,” said Didi, sniffing at the air as they padded into the woods. She turned to watch Ash for a few steps. “Can you feel your wolf near the surface? I can help you shift.”

Arsling hugged herself her eyes widening in Fear their yellow glow looking nice in the moonlight in truth she could partly at least feel her wolf although she had no desire to act on this feeling “no i think i’ll stay human if it's all the same to you” Arsling bites her tongue irritated at what felt like asking permission to remain in her human form

Didi was disappointed but not terribly surprised, and she tried to reassure Arsling.

“That’s not unusual; don’t worry about it.”

She turned her eyes back towards the path ahead. “I’m taking you to meet Pitch and Broc. Pitch is the one who awakened me, and Broc is the newest packmate besides you -- he joined us a couple of months ago.”

"That better not be the same Broc that I met at the charity run, wolf or no wolf he was a creepy dickhead...I guess I'll find out" Arsling sighs "Pitch...their are so many jokes I could make but too little time to make them" Arsling says following her canine 'friend'

“Nah that’s not the name Broc would give in human-mode,” said Didi, before laughing at the second comment. “Any you want to get out of your system?"

Arsling smiles "I don't know, I'd have pitch some of my worst ones to you to see if their ok, also if I start throwing jokes you better be able to catch them" Arsling smirks before mentally slapping herself for trying to have fun with her turner "so y'all give yourselves second names or does someone else give them?" Arsling says slightly worried about ending up with a nickname anywhere near as stupid as Pitch

Didi turned her head with mischief in her eye. “Oh don’t worry, I’ll choose something *``appropriate``* for you~”

An audible whine can be heard from Arsling, she sounds adorable and looks startled at her own noises

“Cuuuuute!” cried Didi, then her jaw dropped. “That’s it! That’s perfect! ‘Cutie!’ Get that gaelic Cu in there.”

Arsling... didn't entirely hate it, Cútie would be a compliment any time of day... y'know if it wasn't coming from a wolf that gave her neck these permanent scars, or made her eyes seemingly forever yellow "y'know what fine, I'll take it, there are worse outcomes"

Fluffy wagged at that and kept on leading the way. Soon they emerged into a moonlit clearing, and from the other side came an enormous black wolf, so large Arsling thought it must be a bear on its hind legs until she saw the length of her, more than half again the length of Fluffy. She smelled like a force of nature, confident and powerful and somehow both like a threat and a sanctuary at the same time.

Beside her was a smaller wolf, grey like fluffy but with more warm brown shades as well. He smelled eager and also carried the scent of fresh-cut grass and some kind of chemical on him in addition to the wild forest scents.

Didi trotted up to Pitch and licked her chin, wagging and sniffing. The smallest one sniffed her in turn.

“This is Cútie,” said Didi, looking back towards the redhead. Pitch maintained her imperious gaze and tall stance, while Broc ran towards Cútie, wagging.

Arsling's face turned red at being called what is essentially a second and very new name swallowing her pride and looking between Broc and Pitch feeling small and out of place in her human form but still too scared of truly embracing Cútie until she was forced to

"Eh...hi I guess, I'm...Cútie" Arsling says scratching the back of her own ears, both out of awkwardness and to negate the nervousness she felt about her new packmates by giving herself scritches

Pitch shifted at last, giving something like a wry smile and looking at Didi. “I doubt this will catch on as the new pack naming scheme, ‘Fluffy,’” she said.

“Some of us just know the secrets to luxurious fur care,” Fluffy teased back. Then she nodded towards Cútie. “And some of us are just adorable nerds who can’t resist puns.”

"I'd like to clarify that Cútie was not my idea...don't worry about *pitching* you your name I already caught it" Arsling says just a little bit of her pride brimming above the ungodly amount of anxiety about interacting with a group of Werewolves that by instincts she wants to befriend and earn the respect of that she's currently trying to deny

“I see,” said Pitch, stoic but for a glance Fluffy’s way. “Well, Cútie, welcome to the Pack. I understand you can handle yourself alright in a fight, so let’s talk while we patrol.”

Fluffy cocked her head; it was certainly unusual. Was Pitch testing Cútie or was she worried about something?

Cútie looked nervous "is it okay if I stay in human form?...I'm not finished cooking" Cútie says really worried about retaliation from the more experienced and powerful Werewolf

“No rush,” Pitch replied. “We’ll take care of any trouble, but do join in if you feel the urge.”

Something about her enormous grin suggested that she expected Cútie would indeed feel that urge.

Fluffy butted in. “We patrol for things like vampires, ghouls, lungtakers, creeps… all sorts of stuff you probably know plenty about already.”

"Everything but a lungtaker" Arsling both felt one moment comforted by that grin and in the next fucking terrafied by the fact that those rows of fangs offered her any comfort, that and the implied message that she would soon feel an urge to join them in their Werewolf forms defently freaked her out

As the walked, Broc chatted with Cútie.

“Did you get dressed up all fancy just to meet us?” he asked, playfully.

"Oh no, this is my usual outfit, I can't really see myself in anything else if I'm honest" Arsling says adjusting her tie and making doubly sure her ponytail was in right, having felt it try to slip out during the walk

“Did you know I was a vegetarian before I awakened? For ethical reasons. But to get protein sustainable hunting is a good option, environmentally. And in terms of overall animal suffering--”

A heavy breath from Pitch was enough for Broc to turn and tilt his head.

“Broc can talk your ears off about this stuff,” Didi put in. “If you’ve got veggie leanings it’ll make you feel better but, Broc, Cútie here is a carnivore through-and-through.”

“Good girl,” Pitch said. “The prey in Night Falls is more plentiful than you might think -- and more formidable. My first year we took down a boar the size of a truck!”

“It’s true,” said Didi. “She has one of the tusks in her living room!”

"Yeah I can't say I've done anything like this at all…" Cútie says looking down to the dirt try to avoid any glares, she's killed before, Cútie just can't consider what she did as hunting, afterall prey isn't supposed to bite at you first

"So Broc equals Broccoli...what's with the weird second name thing?"

The smaller wolf grinned. “Yeah, it’s Broccoli, but it’s also like this over the top masculine beefcake name that’s definitely not how I roll… I’m a trans guy and there’s a lot of masculinity that’s just kind of funny to me.”

“We also use the names for safety,” added Pitch, her ears alert. “Generally with outsiders, to keep our human identities unknown. This is especially important right now, with nonhumans coming under fire here in our territory. Of course, in time you’ll get to know us in human form as well.”

“Yeah, sure…” Cútie replies, her internal intent to want to leave as soon as possible, although currently being smothered  by her pack instincts and genuinely taking a liking to Broc “well lets hope theres more irish werewolves than me” she again tightens ups her hair

As Broc kept chatting with her, she overheard Didi talking with Pitch.

“Is that why you’re so uptight tonight? This cult? We can deal with them no problem, and we’ve got the whole monster community coming together.”

The larger wolf gave a snort that Didi seemed to interpret as a reply.

“It’s not all on you, y’know.”

Ash found that she could smell their emotions during the interaction, too, that Pitch was left uncertain but somewhat soothed. That Didi was preoccupied.

Then all the conversation stopped and the three wolves lifted their heads in unison, peering off in one direction. A moment later, Arsling smelled what they smelled: blood.

The smell reached her nose putting her immediately on edge, she drops down crouching down at head level with Broc “so what do we do?” she says grabbing a pencil from her inner jacket, having forgotten to grab Mighty Brid, not really expecting any action tonight

“Stick with me,” said Didi, sniffing at the air. Pitch gave the two other wolves a look and they started padding towards the fresh scent, Pitch on the left flank and Didi on the right, with Broc a short distance behind in the center. Pitch was astonishingly stealthy despite her size.

They navigated downwind of the scent and prowled towards it. The blood scent was overwhelming, and Cútie could smell a stale, dry death scent that registered immediately as a danger. It was strong… something large? Or a group? Or just especially pungent?

Cutie grips the pencil tight, her heart racing, adrenaline and fear mixing together to create a very confusing excitement, she sniffs up trying to get a clear position on the creature that could’ve caused this smell of death

Fluffy and Cútie fanked wide, while Pitch vanished into the shadows. Arsling could smell human fear, human scents, and she heard a low groan.

Then Broc burst from the wood and barked, and through the trees Arsling saw grey, humanoid shapes spattered with blood rise from their hunched feeding. Fluffy’s raised ears and wide eyes confirmed the scent Cútie got from her: there were more of them than expected. She gave Cútie a quick look and a raised brow, followed by an ambiguous nod as she began silently to advance.

Then Pitch was on one of the creatures, crushing a head between her powerful jaws, and Broc was backing away. He’d been the distraction for Pitch’s attack, but there were enough of the creatures that he wasn’t in the clear.

Until Fluffy barreled in, knocking a creature to the ground with her body weight and dragging down another by the arm.

Cútie watched the violence unfold an calm look on her face, she heard steps behind her as this feral creature raised its mouth to sink down and drain Cútie of all her blood, Cútie suddenly twists her body, sinking an elbow into the creatures face, the creature goes to strike Cútie but she counters sinking her sharpened teeth into the creatures wrist, using her position sweeping the creatures leg sending it onto its back, the last thing this leach mouthed creature sees is Cútue sinking a pencil into its chest a ferally excited look adorning her face

The sounds of struggle subsided from the nearby scene of battle, as well, and a moment later Pitch was by Cútie’s side.

“Are you alright?” asked the enormous wolf, sniffing at her. Concluding that she was unharmed, she cracked a toothy smile, showing fangs longer than Cútie’s pencil. “Well done.”

A short ways down the path, Broc had pressed the emergency box’s big panic button while Fluffy stood watch.

“Neck and back wounds,” he was saying into the speaker. “They’ve lost a lot of blood. Type B-negative and O-positive.

Cútue spat some blood out her own mouth having bit hard into the creatures wrist, she approached the injured “oh no” her heart sank, seeing the injured person, she had seen many injured humanoids, having torn thru werewolves and during dues but very rarely has she seen humans this hurt, keenly down “is there any threat of them turning? I've never encountered those type of vampires” Cútue sniffs, she can smell this person's fear and pain in empathy she holds this person's hand “its ok”

“They won’t turn,” said Fluffy. “Leechmouths have this whole gross thing with an egg--”

“We need to leave, or the humans will blame us,” declared Pitch. Fluffy and Broc immediately turned to follow her.

Cútie looked offended, her instincts say follow but she says no "someone's coming for them right? If not I'm staying right here" Cútie leans down to look the victim in the eyes saying softly "hay what's your name?" Cútie grips the victims hand tight not willing to let this person die alone

“What…?” The girl was clearly disoriented. She fought through it and managed to recall her name. “Alicia…”

Fluffy turned and went to her side. “We called emergency services; they’ll take care of them. It’s not ideal but it’s the best we can do right now and it really is dangerous if we’re seen here. Come on.”

Cútie looked worried and leans down again to Alicia “its going to be okay Alicia” Cútie stood up looking down at the girl worried about her state, pulling out a piece of paper she writes quickly “ my name is Alicia” on it before giving the girl the note and following the wolves out of the area

Cútie looked at Fluffy “so what was that egg thing?...i'm curious”

The wolf wrinkled her nose. “They do this gross thing to make humans into more of them. Their mouths have this sedative, right? As if someone’s not going to notice… but when they find the right kind of victim they stop draining them and pump them full of that sedative and plant an egg inside that turns the person into one of them. They wake up but get all sleepy and transform in a night or two.” Her eyes tightened and she gave a bit of a shudder; she was speaking from direct observation.

“Yeah that’s...nasty, so where are we headed or are we still just patrolling?” Cutie says wiping blood off her pencil before putting it back in her jacket, the thought crossing her mind that she’s quite lucky to have not been found by those things, and she thought this neck scar was bad

Fluffy looked to Pitch, who had come to a stop. The great black wolf threw her head back and howled into the sky, soon joined by Fluffy and Broc. Somehow Cútie knew they were telling the pack what had happened and asking the others on patrol to check in.

Cútie felt that urge to howl with them it was strong, not helped by the noise being so close and all around her, she felt her vocal cords shift briefly as she joined them in howling, her form still human but bits of her inner wolf still seeping thru, after howling she glanced at the moon, she could almost hear the moon howl back

The chorus sounded from elsewhere around the campus, the mountains, the town -- a dozen other voices that all resonated with the sense of ‘pack.’