Howl Your Appellations

Genuine Intrigue

BOEN OPEOR

The world has become just me and the contents of Skia's Appellation Records. The first few pages sparked an innocent intrigue within me, one as such like a question you would have as a child during a very long road trip; you'd pass towns and wonder, what do all these little shops sell? What do the insides of these shops look like? The curiosity in me should have vanished when I saw the name of the person who threatened me. 'Krolo', that's what Lissana said; but the intrigue is still there, intensified even. It's an unfamiliar name. I think it suits its beholder.

His name is etched on the eleventh row of the shoddy hand-drawn table. Phrases like: "Rain tomorrow", "Lost game card" and "Mushrooms only for the next month", perpendicularly overlay on top of the original texts. There seem to be other names but they don't spark me with much interest. It says that he belongs to the "Pack Rook".

Is this how the people of the forest group each other? They form communes and call them packs? That means Lissana must also be part of a "pack". Could Lissana be in the same pack as this Krolo guy?

I read on, to what I can make out as readable, the paragraphs seem to talk about the "Weres" aren't as easy to document and that the information about the "Weres" from the previous page may change drastically depending on the circumstances... She's decided that she'll mostly focus on the wolf Weres as per suggested by Grey.

"First, packs now, Wolf Weres? Weres as in.. WEREWOLVES???? werewolves.. THEY'RE ALL WEREWOLVES? So that means... The wolf girl, Reese, Lissana, and Krolo can turn into canines at will?!"

Out of my fear and excitement, I dropped my cheap wine glass and it completely shattered itself as it hit the floor. It made every irregular shape with all its shattered bits. The forest seemed to take offense to the amount of noise I'm making, that a few resting birds flew away from their safe nests in the nearby trees. And subsequently, a strong breeze blew directly in the face of my cabin. The night is indeed breezy but sudden gusts like this always make me question the consciousness of nature. All the wood hanging from the ceiling rattled and clacked as if scolding me. I forgot that there are even some hanging from the balcony ceiling. A patch of dust illuminates in the moonlight. Luckily, I keep a broom and a dustpan outside so the dust and shattered glass isn't a big issue. I took the cleaning supplies stationed at the corner of the balcony and began to clean up my mess.

"... So that's why they wanted to take my moon ring. They're wolves! But it's not even a genuine moon ring... or at least I think it's not... Then isn't it a bit too dangerous for me to be here? The next wolf I see could actually be a Werewolf!.. This is so exciting!!"

Wait. What am I saying? It's not exciting… one of those werewolves probably intends to harm me and the other one's a mystery girl that only partially looks like a wolf. I can only assume Lissana’s a werewolf too, there's a really high possibility that she is since her name is mentioned in the book. But then why's she all alone in her shack? Where are the other three people now? And what would Lissana do if she found out I stole this book? 

I finished up cleaning and went inside. It was getting pretty chilly and it felt like an insidious feeling was starting to loom over me. I'm holding the book tightly as I stare at it eagerly. I feel as though I imprinted on it like a newborn duckling to a tree. I want to read more and know more; and maybe if I learn more about the werewolves, I'd have more chances to get along with Lissana. Maybe I can learn about how I can protect myself against them. Yeah! That sounds like a plan! Things are looking up for you, Boen Opeor! 

    First thing’s first, what are “Appellations” and why is it so important to know them? The author specifically put the word “Appellations” on its cover so it may be something incredibly important. I suspect the majority of this book will mostly focus on this topic.

    I lay down on the conversation pit and took a spiral notepad and a simple writing pen from underneath the wooden shelf of the table. The notepad already has a few things written on it so I decided to write starting from the last page forward. It would be wise to form a concept map of what I can understand from the book, looking at the jumbled, unorganized mess that it is hurts my brain and my eyes. Soft has woken up from her slumber and decides to venture the cabin again, probably towards the rooms I’m not able to enter. I warn her not to wander off too much and, as expected, she ignores me.

    Still a bit unsatisfied with my set-up, I tap at my cheeks wondering what was missing...oh! I need snacks!! I can’t investigate without them! I run towards my innocent kitchen shelves and fridge, unable to stop me from taking an unholy amount of food from their chambers. I took: three packets of tiny milk bread shaped like dogs, two boxes of Pecky biscuit sticks, a tall carton of strawberry milk and a small bottle of coconut milk. I don’t usually consume this much snacks as I keep forgetting I have them. They seem to just pile up when I least expect it.

    I invite myself into the book once again. Skia’a Mons is the known author and a person named Grey is tagged as a co-author. Skia dedicates the book to Grey, Nike and Sana; the Sana mentioned is presumably Lissana, the heavy built lady who lives alone in a shack deep in the woods; the place where I took the book in the first place. The book doesn’t seem to have a table of contents or anything that signifies a coherent order of topics so I’ll be going by their page numbers as indicators.

    On page three, there is a paragraph that states the book will only be specific on the werewolves or “Wolf Weres” to be exact with the terms. Below the paragraph is a table with three columns and twelve rows; the first row on the first column says “Pack Rook”, the second column has the word “Appellations” written on it and the third row is labeled “Traits”.

    The first person is named “Ameal”. And his Appellations are, “The Red Night”, “Alpha” and “Husband”. The traits are written in bullet form and they are as follows:

∙ Fur extremely extravagant, vibrant brown and long

∙ Loves wife

∙ Has a sense of humor, and he’s helpful

∙ It’s hard to predict his movements, luckily he’s not too agile 

∙ He never misses a strike so he ends up covering himself with blood, thus “The Red Night” 

∙ DO NOT ENGAGE IN BATTLE

The next person is named “Darine”. Her Appellations are, “Stone Fang” and “Wife”, while her traits are:

∙ Mostly relaxes with her subordinates 

∙ Loves husband

∙ She’s incredibly reserved and secretive, always seen whispering to her husband’s ear

∙ She’s agile and normally targets the legs which results in serious injuries

∙ Approach with caution

    So far, from what I can guess, these two people are the leaders of their pack and Appellations are their titles. I don’t see why it’s so important to write down. Maybe it’s so that it’d be easier to remember the person? It’s a little anticlimactic and a tad disappointing if that’s the case. 

    It’s incredibly hard to make out some of the names in the table since it seems like a bunch of people drew over it as if it was a blank canvas. The only ones that I can sort of make out are, on the sixth row and the 11th row: Zeke and Krolo.

    Zeke. His Appellations are or is, “Dark Moon”. Strange how he only has one, but then again, maybe having a lot of appellations only apply to the strongest ones? That’s...how I think it should work… Zeke’s traits:

∙ Very gloomy and unfriendly. I offered him some fruit the other day and he didn’t take it

∙ He doesn’t get along well will Sana

∙ He gets along well with Nike 

∙ He’s a bit new but I can see potential in him

    Oh, so Sana  knows this person. “Gets along” sounds like something you’d say about kid friendships, that, or this person’s probably way older than Sana and Zeke. It’s something an old person would say, in my experience.

    The last person that isn’t obscured with irrelevant words is Krolo. I honestly don’t want to know anything about him but the information might be useful to me in the future. Krolo, appellation, “Play dog”---”hahahahaha! Sorry! Play dog help ahhahha why is this so funny to me?! Hahahaha Play doggg somebody helpp!!!”

    Give me one more minute, pfft,  okay. So that’s his appellation, huh? I can’t really imagine him running around the forest threatening people with a nickname like that. What the heck. I hope he didn’t choose it himself or I’ll be scared of him less now. Intimidation meter goes down a bar for you, Mr. Stinky Play dog. PPFT. 

    His traits must also be a tad funny right? Okay! Oh! I’m half way through all my snacks!! I’ve just been eating mindlessly all this time. I’ll have to go on another diet at this rate...but who cares. Traits.

∙ The guy always tries to make his pack laugh

∙ Lanky

∙ He's a bit of a coward so I hope he toughens up

∙ He has the least improvements among his pack from what I observed

∙ He's barely a threat

    Huh. Well I'm not sure what I expected but it definitely wasn't this. So he's barely a threat to them,well to me he still is since he can turn into a wolf. But with Lissana with me I don't think I have to worry about him at all. If I play my cards right, maybe I'll meet other Weres or maybe Lissana will introduce me to her pack! Gah! What am I thinking! Things aren't that easy. But with Skia’s book maybe it will be.