Howl Your Appellations

The Forefront of Trouble

Reese Lanterman

    For both golden families, the forbidden love resulted in nothing but misery and chaos. The two lovesick usurpers had not gone far until their doomed demise, but they were unaware of it at the time. They believe they have conquered the insurmountable, focusing solely on their high thrones fashioned from the twisted branches of thin spindle trees and stationed beneath the golden tree of destiny. She presented her with a necklace, a 12-trinket gem amulet containing every love language her lover has ever described. They share a deep and powerful kiss, trickling with honey saliva, in the aftermath of the cursed wedding, where no one but the moon was present. One of them will have to die for the other; one of them will have to take on the role of Queen Bee. 

    “Why do you write these sorts of stories? And why do I keep wanting more updates?” inquires a girl who does not fit into the forest's fashion; her hair is kept in neatly twirled twin braids, with blue lace ribbons that slither along the plaits. It neatly contrasts the shining dark black of her hair. Her ombre gray tulle gown actively addresses the forest that she doesn’t care about propriety and that she can wear whatever she wants. Her name is Cain, and she’s still anticipating for a response.

    “It’s because you’re a degenerate and feed off of drama!!” Reese snarkingly replies as she twirls around and hides the book pad inside her large russet-colored poncho. Her bleached hair sways as she spins and her wolf ears also follow suit, her tail she decided to hide behind her poncho. “I don’t want to hear that from you! You...piss-haired weirdo!!”  Cain exclaims, she forms her hands into fists and proceeds to hit Reese with weak and generic punches. Soft but clearly agitated steps approach the room they’re in and a towering voice reprimands them, “ You two better tone it down or the guest will wake up with a headache!”

    Nikki, also known as the mother of the pack, the big bad nagger and cleavage enthusiast, holds her arms on her hips with one hand holding a ladle. She wears a shirt with a generous boob window that exposes one of her most prized assets. It’s not Shaen level but still prized nonetheless. Her skirt apron says, “Chef” but they all know that Miller’s the rightful owner of the title. She continues, “If you want to hit each other, do it outside with the other kids. Our guest is still recovering in the other room.”

    The two wolf girls digress. They look at each other and decide that it’s just right to help the guest with her recovery. “Sorry.” they both reply. They limply hold on to each other as they proceed to the other room to take a peek at the guest.

    The guest is a girl their age. She's lying down on a bed with one big pillow to support her head and curly hair that looks like a patch of golden brown vines. On her face lay rosie cheeks and a slightly stern expression. She looks as if she's a beautifully preserved corpse, minus the fact that sometimes she breathes deeply. Her left leg, ending at the knee, is entirely bandaged and is elevated carefully on a soft vertical pillow. She's supposed to have woken up by now but something seems to be keeping her in her slumber. The pack has been taking turns in watching her.

Cain taps Reese's shoulders and holds her mouth directly on her left ear for a whisper. "So why do you think she's so important? Even Nikki takes her turn. She's normally leery when it comes to outsiders." Reese smiles and faces Cain, her voice in a loud whisper, "It has something to do with what happened to Sana. She apparently found the lost fae parts from decades ago."

"Oh!" Cain gasps loudly. Nikki's ladle hits her head as soon as she covers her mouth. "Time's up! Go outside!" She shoos them away from the room and stares at the guest with suspicion. An outsider in The Train is one of the many things that should have been impossible. But this isn’t the most disquieting thing that happened in the forest the past few days. Although changed in terrain and structure, such as new clearings, slopes and the disorganization of the trees, the Abalone forest acts as if the day is peaceful and unchanging.

That night, in a battle that no one expected to happen, with no real winners, the forest lost a few Weres, both from the bizarre amount of Airies and the Prince’s wrath. One of the casualties was a Were from an older generation named Krolo. His pack has always dominated the westside of the forest and was respected by the Wolf Weres from all parts of the domain, now only a measly number of them remains. The death of their alpha was shocking and unexpected as well as gruesome and merciless.But the master of the crime was most shocking to all, and the Prince of the Faes was the one who absolutely smashed his head with no traces of the skull left to be seen.

Lissana had given her orders that night and called for her appellations, something that should only be done in a hopeless situation. She compelled a warcry on anyone who harms the wielder of the moon ring. And proceeded on a rampage with the Prince and her dancing in a fight of life and death. The stench of the dead faes’ hatred and malice enveloped her like a heat signature to the Prince for the killing, like an insulting moving target. They fought while Lissana’s second in command, Imus, and subordinate Reese collected Boen Opeor, the sleeping guest on The Train. When he ensured the safety of Reese and the guest, Imus proceeded to help Lissana and that’s how she survived but with her whereabouts kept in secret. 

The Prince has calmed down and resides in the middle of the clearing he created. He harbors the backpack which contains a piece of his flesh and blood. For now, if he continues to calm down, the pack  will be able to finally put an end to his long suffering and the sudden ordeal of the forest inhabitants. Presently, no one has ever found or has gotten past the cave tunnel to the cabin. It appears that only Boen and Lissana can enter and exit the area. The Weres are expectant of Lissana’s pack, Pack October, to help restore the forest back to its old rondo.

“How long is the girl going to sleep for? They’’ve been watching us since she came.” asks a little girl with short dark hair and bright red eyes. She seems to have cut her hair herself on a whim and now she just appears like someone on the run. Her older sister calls her Koto but she insists that it isn’t her real name just as she insists that she’s not a Were and she’s not a little girl. Her older sister, Kaya, does not understand why her younger sister insists on denying reality. She stares blankly at the sky, apparently forgetting that she asked a question. 

“Well we don’t know how long or if she’ll wake up for that matter. But I shouldn’t worry so much if I were you, those bastards won’t even get a chance to step on the inner circle.” a reply from Reese. She and Cain enter the scene as they were told. They’re outside, although it seems that almost everyone from the pack is also somewhere lurking outside of The Train. They may have been reprimanded as well or maybe felt the uneasiness of the new atmosphere of their truly missing alpha and an unknown entity in their home. Cain runs to SB and Anda while Reese stays with the boar sisters.

“I honestly don’t feel all that anxious. Koto and I have been through a lot, something like this, isn’t something that should make us uneasy, right? ”Kaya asks. Apparently, Reese is asked questions on a daily basis; it’s sort of like taking meals for her because she enjoys answering them so much. She likes the attention she gets; she enjoys the need for her inputs. She gazes at Kaya’s image, silhouetted and against the light, she’s still wearing her hair in pigtails and her brown sleeveless dress doesn’t seem to suit her. Cain must have made it for her and told her it looked nice on her. Reese is not one for hurting feelings of little Boar Weres so she decides to not comment on it. She thinks about her reply, “Hm, well, I think you should feel how you want. It gives the pack a balance, you know? We can’t have everyone worrying about our precious leader and the pretty stranger in our house, am I right or am I right?”. She gives a reply satisfying Kaya as always. She nods in agreement. 

“Hey, Koto, want to listen to a story I wrote for you?” Reese inquires. Koto hasn’t really opened up to everyone in the pack and Reese is no exemption. Koto isn't so much of a timid type but more of a distrusting type. She barely treats her sibling like a sister and sometimes the pack  wonders if they are even sisters. So much mystery surrounds the two sisters but they help out with hunting and gathering supplies and are cute so the Octobers don’t mind. “It’s okay. I don’t like things made for me.” Koto replies and runs away hiding somewhere in the bushes. 

“Sigh. Has she ever really spoken to anyone in the pack except you? She’s a real odd one, isn’t she? I’ve been trying to get her to talk to me for weeks now. Can you feel my anguish, Kaya?” Reese jokingly nudges, to which Kaya took seriously, “No I can’t since I feel much worse. I don’t think she’ll ever open up to anyone. I’m burned out to care right now.”

“Ah. Sorry. I didn’t mean to touch up on a sore subject for you.” Reese replies. Kaya nods and runs back to The Train. “I guess they both have something in common after all.”

With nothing better to do, Reese approaches the trio: Anda, SB and Cain. Anda and SB are a bit younger than them so they treat them like children just to piss them off, well, piss Anda off. SB doesn't really have a bad or a mad bone in his body. How he became a Were is a whole mystery, one of the many among the members of the pack. 

“Why are you two back so early? Aren’t you guys incharge of the grub for tonight? I’m craving hare!” Reese announces.

“Oh shut up, Reese. We there’s plenty of hare! I brought home a deer. What about you, miss writer? Did you bring home mushrooms again? No one’s going to eat them except you!” Anda replies.

The two like to bicker as if they’re old school rivals, the freshman vs. the senior. They seem to enjoy it. SB watches them in concerned awe while Cain could care less about their little squabbles.  SB always hides behind his white scarf when he feels out of place, in a way, he resembles Koto but luckily, through a generous twist of fate, he ended up being in the same pack as Anda. They were childhood friends, separated and reunited again. As they continue to act their age and interact under the obscured sky lights from the gaps of the towering trees, they felt a sudden shiver going down their spines. Something happened in the moment.

Mei emerges from the front door of The Train and calls for everyone to come in. Today again, without fail, he wears his favorite denim jumpsuit. His big broad arms gesturing them to hurry and return. “”What is it?” Anda asks. The rest of the subordinates and the hog sister also waited for a reply, “The guest is awake.” Mei replies.