Howl Your Appellations

Baby Steps

BOEN OPEOR

The wine they’d given me was not too strong but I think I’ve drunk too much in a short amount of time. It was clear but was sparkling blue lights from the inside so who knows how much alcohol content was in there, the bottle didn’t give any clues as it does not have a brand or any information on it, it just has the initials: L.M.C. on it’s body. The lights of the dining room makes it seem like the world is spinning, while just being regular lights hanging from the ceiling. Alternatively, this makes me feel that the world is orbiting around me and I have no way of stopping it. Now, I’m no light-weight, but I feel like I might just fall asleep if I keep drinking. I take one last sip from my glass and decide that my little happy belly and I are content and are ready to take a long relaxing bath after a few minutes of digesting.

As I was just about to doze to sleep I felt my hands fall from my belly to the sides of my dress and noticed that there are still bracelets within the ever convenient pockets; one for Mei and another for Imus, I assume. I survey the room to look for the last two but only Mei can be seen sitting at the other end of the table; he’s holding an incredibly large wooden dimpled mug, his hand clutching on the handle like it’s the last pint of beer in the world. Opposite to his chair is Beige, he’s also holding a glass but it’s just a regular tall glass with half of the beer already inside his body. They seem to be having a really one-sided conversation but that’s apparently only from my perspective since I’ve been told that they can communicate in a telepathic way, or similar to that. The kids, or the younger ones at least are drinking non-alcoholic, age appropriate drinks, possibly orange juice or apple-flavored shandy. I’m referring to Kaya, Koto, Anda and S.B.; the other two, my tour guides, are drinking the night away like it’s their first time tasting booze. Miller only takes little sips but I believe that it is his 12th cup. He still seems sober to me, he’s talking to S.B. about hunting and his encounters, things I’ll never understand or relate to. They both seem to be really close. Anda silently stills on her chair but she seems to be content and ready to leave whenever, like me in a way.

I wait for everyone to settle down a bit so I can give Mei his bracelet. Not more than 8 minutes later, I found an opening and slowly began to approach his table placement, before this, I softly  told Miller in a whisper-y half-drunk demeanor that I’ll be giving Mei his bracelet and to that he replied with a smile and a thumbs up. I realized that this might not be a good idea since I’ve had a few and I only got one leg and one crutch to work with; but I’ll take on this challenge, I’ve faced worst things than this. Having motivated myself, I watch myself slowly trudge through the dinner table and reach Mie, the paintings seemingly mocking my situation, the abstract pictures remind me of failure. It’s not my fault I’m not a bird lady and can’t just fly over there, I’m just a dumb human. I push through, red-faced and finally reached Mei, only almost falling over 15 times.

“Dude! Mei, here.” I tell him, my body more in control of my mind than I am. “Yours is a pretty earth color, I hope you accept it.” Mei happily accepts and ties it around his wrist, Beige shows me that he’s wearing his too. It makes me glad that these people appreciate them. I clap furiously but Mei suddenly stands up as if he forgot something, there’s teary panic in his eyes, like he forgot to buy his son a present for his birthday. “Heuh~? Wh-what’s wrong?!” shocked by his sudden movement, I almost fell over (again). He doesn’t say anything but notices that Imus has finally come back and is carrying a box. “Oh!” I say to myself in a scream, “Imus!” I call his name and hurriedly scurry towards him like a sewer rat, I was not good at scurrying with my crutch but I still managed to reach him without falling flat on my face. I feel that I should be given a reward for my everlasting efforts.

“I made everyone a bracelet! This one’s yours.” I made sure that it actually is his bracelet and gave it to him. He, of course, smiles and accepts it. Now, everyone’s complete, I think. He tells me that they have a gift for me as well and I remember it being teased to me a while back but I completely forgot about it. This will be the last present they’ll ever give me, I’ll make sure of it. Imus leads me to the center stage of the room: his seat. He has such a sleepy aura around him topped with intoxication that it’s hard to believe that he knows what he’s doing. He allows me to take a seat but I already feel the dizziness and the adrenaline wearing off from my little trips. “ I mustn’t fall over, I am balancing stones, I need to focus on opening this box when they say ‘go!’’’ I chant in my head as loud as I could.

I hear Imus say the gift is from them and their lovely alpha, and I believe that that is the ‘Go’ signal, “Thank you! So much everyone! For everything, I’m repay you all someday!” I tell them, trying my best to sound sober and genuinely thankful at the same time. There is nothing wrapping (no fancy casing) the gift so I don’t have to rip anything off and feel guilty about it.The lace that locks the lid and box together can easily be untied, with just a tug of the ribbon’s leg, the lace untangles with ease and consent. The bare box looks oddly familiar, like I saw it in a room somewhere, I open the box and…it’s a metal prosthetic leg. It’s beautifully crafted and even the knee cap is shaped like a heart, it glistens at every direction the light strikes at. It feels like the stuff of dreams, or a scared relic crafted by the god of gems and metals. I take it out of the box and lifted it up to look at it more clearly but tears of mixed emotions started to orb at my eyes, making it hard to stop the flow. So this is what Mei’s been cooking up in his workshop, he was making me a new leg. I caress the leg like the blade of a brand new sword.  Everyone watched me cry and uttered thank you, over and over again. I, still, don’t know how to react to such acts of kindness, genuine kindness with no expectations of a reward in return.

After I’ve calmed down Mei asks me if I want to try it on and I nod furiously. He places my metal leg securely on the stub of mine and checks if it’s perfectly snug, “You need a shrinker sock for this but since it’s your first time, I’ll let it slide. What do you think?” He beams a light straight into my soul.I’m still trying to stop my tears from obscuring my eyesight but I’m too happy, too excited and still a bit dizzy. “It fits perfectly! I think it’s great!” I tell Mei and he gives me a proud smile, like what a doctor would give to his recovering patients. “You’ll have to practice and I’ll guide you all the way but for tonight, would you like to take a few short steps? With my assistance of course!” I hear everyone else chanting and cheering for me as if I am at my first debut stage, or a bird about to take flight. I toughen up and decided to give it a go, “Okay!” my reply to everyone.

The feeling towards the first step seem to be in slow motion and the sounds of excitement seem to be muted, they stood me up slowly, supporting my back and my legs. There is a infantile sense to it all; people cheering for you to stand up, you trying your best to stand on your own two feet; the feeling of a warm and loving family. I finally fully stand up! Both legs straight and Mei offers his arm for support and showed me how to take the first step, I move my real leg for a step first and then slowly move my other leg forward. It’s lighter than I thought, but the weight is still new so I have a hard time adjusting to it. I rotate to looking at my feet and Mei with each step, and when I made my 2nd step Mei decides that maybe I’m special and I can balance myself on my own with the next step, he’s wrong. He removes his support and I panic and fall. That’s how my recovery party ended, with my embarrassed face on the floor and everyone gasping while holding in laughter, the best party I’ve ever attended with the perfect ending.

After the party, most of the pack has things to do, the world doesn’t stop spinning when a party ends, so most of them left The Train under the blessings of the moonlight. They are part wolves, the night is their dominion. Only Koto, Kaya, and, surprisingly, Imus are left. But no one dared to clean the dining room, it's as if they're all trying to keep the ending perfect.

“Would you like to take a long bath, Boen?” Kaya asks me while we were heading back to the infirmary, the fall left a stinging sensation on my forehead but there were no visible signs that might be related to the stinging, except the redness , maybe the alcohol had too much of an effect on me. I rub it a bit more and finally registering what Kaya asked. “Oh, yes I would! If that isn’t too much trouble for you guys.” I reply, eager to take a long, wonderful bath in their giant, luxurious bathroom. “The bath water’s always warm so you can go take one right now. Koto and I will bring your stuff to your room.” they’re calling the infirmary my room now, I don’t know if I should be happy about that or not, but I digress. “Alright! Thank you both!” I gave them my bag and, Koto's carrying the box with my prosthetic with care. As we enter the room, all steamy and warm, they gave me instructions and told me where the bath products are, "We don't have much shampoo left but I think you'll have enough. Put your clothes in this basket here and the towels are inside this cabinet. Both shower heads work but the other one takes a longer time to disperse water for some reason..aand I think that's all. Do you have any questions?". I tell them no and they proceeded to carry my things back to my room. But before they left they told me they’ll be back to leave me my change of clothes and that they already took a bath so I shouldn’t worry about taking too long. I wonder when they had the time to take a bath, don’t tell me they like to bathe early in the morning?! I couldn’t handle something like that in a place as cold as here. I can barely manage to do it in the tropics too.

I take off the dress Cain made me and folded the dress neatly onto the basket, but just as I was almost done folding, something thin and dark fell from one of the pockets of the dress, it was Lissana’s bracelet!