Howl Your Appellations

Before Dinner

BOEN OPEOR

“I didn’t think you’d carry me like this!!” I wiggle and squirm. It feels a little too rough for me to be carried like this. I’m still recovering after all, and I’m not too comfortable with my weight right now I feel like I gained a couple of pounds since I was bedridden. “Ohoho~! Don’t worry I won’t drop you, or would you rather I carry you in another, more romantic way~?” She jeers. “Yes! Carry me like a princess or something, this is really uncomfortable for me!”

“Ah, oop, but I guess we made it! I’ll carry you the right way when we reach the stairs.” she puts me down gently as Kaya gives me my crutch, I can’t recall when exactly it fell but I believe it was when I was squirming and jerking about Reese’s shoulder. “Can’t Cain or Kaya carry me? I feel like you’ll just make fun of me, if you do.” I look at Cain and Kaya, hoping that they’d consider.

Cain crossed her arms,“Fine by me.”.

“Yeah, me too.” they both affirm, but this does not sound like good news to Reese, especially since she looks like she has plans she’s set a-boiling if she were to carry me up the stairs. “No! It has to be me! Otherwise, she won’t have as much fun!” She objects. “She already said they way you carry her, makes her feel uncomfortable. That’s what you get from playing jokes all the time!” The two of them bicker further as Kaya taps my shoulder and tips her toes to whisper something in my ears, “These two probably won’t reach an agreement, so I’ll be the one who’ll carry you. I’ll have to look at bit weird to you though, the human body is such a weak thing.” she states.

“Oh! It’s fine, I think I’m more or less used to seeing you guys’ Were parts.” I whisper back to her, seeing a bit of a sparkle in her eyes. She’s kind of cute when she isn’t so critical about things, I give her a smile and proceeded to ask which room the first door belongs to. Reese’s ears seem to jolt up when she heard my question, “It’s the best friends’ room! Andalee and Sean Barry’s room!” so that’s what S.B. stands for, it honestly really suits the guy, Sean Barry, and I didn’t know Anda was short for Andalee! I love how it sounds like a really fancy name, I feel like I heard a similar name like it before, like a name one of the daughters of our business partners would have. I shudder at the thought of Anda being a daughter of one of our business partners, I'm sure I would have met and remmembered her if she was.

There are two separate beds in the room; one with a white bed frame and the other in a plain wood color, a couple of beanbag chairs are placed around the sides of the beds, there is one big desk with two chairs and a table that sits on the side of the room next to the cabinets. Anda has a lot of  arts and crafts materials and pictures of constellations while S.B. keeps only a couple of books. It’s hard to make out what hobby he has, but I’m sure he has one. Maybe it’s more of a wolf related hobby rather than a human hobby, I think to myself. I think I thought this because it finally clicked that there was a large wolf sleeping under the table…!

“W-who is that!?” I asked in a scream, immediately covering mouth as I realized that I might wake them up. The wolf silently sleeps as if the world is nothing but a summer dream.“Hmmm, Anda and S.B.’s coat are quite similar, but if they have white streaks along the neck, that’s S.B. Oi~!” She lightly kicks S.B.’s leg. He springs up and hits his head on the table, "Awwooo~~!" he howls.

“Where’s Anda, Sleepyhead?” Reese asks, they stare at each other as if they’re talking telepathically. S.B. jolts up when he noticed me, “Ah! It’s fine, I’m not scared or anything!” I gesture at him thumbs up to make sure that he understands that I'm not too scared. He has gentle eyes for a wolf.

“He says, he and Anda had a fight and he went to sleep so he wouldn’t have to think about it.” she scratches his giant wolf neck and pats his head, “You’ll make up in no time, Anda forgets how to act when she’s stressed out, we all understand that, ye?” Reese looks specifically to me, telling me that these things happen and they have a healthy way of dealing with it, “She probably ran off in full form too, I’m glad your room’s still intact.”

S.B. smiles and licks Reese’s face, I forget how big they get when they transform, but I feel that S.B.’s on the small side, I have a feeling that I’ve seen much more larger wolves before. Thinking a bit it feels as though it is not a pleasant mind-scape as my head’s starting to throb and I’m getting a little woozy. Let’s stop thinking about it for now and focus on the tour. “S.B. will be coming with us in a few, I’ll grab something to eat from the kitchen first then catch up.”

“Okay~!” I see and he slowly leaves the room to go to  the kitchen, “Is turning into a full wolf difficult for you guys?” I ask, looking at S.B. back as he walks slowly towards the place where Miller makes food. The three of them contemplate about my question and all agreed that it’s not hard for them at all. “How about turning back?” I further inquire with the hopes of learning a bit more on how it feels and works to be a Were. This time, it takes them longer to answer; the silence makes it seem like the world is thinking with them too and I’m just an outsider from the outside looking in. Kaya opens her mouth, “For the Hogs, we tend to consider our human form as our secondary form, we don’t normally keep this form for too long.” She grabs one of her braided pigtails and strokes them, “But Koto and I like our human forms so It’s not hard for us.” she adds.

I give her a small hug and confess that I love her human form too, and Koto’s. Maybe the reason why their room’s the way it is is because they want to be reminded that they could switch back any time because deep down, they know they’re the same person despite the difference of forms or appearances. The thought hadn’t crossed my mind; that there’s more to them than just being able to transform into animals. Every member brings a different nuance to the situation, as the colors of the skies change and mean different things to everyone.

“As for me, I’m most comfortable with semi-forms. See my tail for further reference, I like to pop up my ears too.” She turns her human ears to wolf ears so fast I didn’t catch the change, “Now that I think about it, I don’t remember the last time I was fully human and, eh, I have no intention to be one anytime soon.” she twirls and twirls with her satisfied part human, part wolf appearance. She has an interesting perspective on things too, the only reason I’m alive here today is because of her, and that one fateful day.  Her self-actualized self flashed a cascading light of curiosity over me, and even now, the light shines just as brightly.

Cain still thought about it, she thought about it a little too deeply. We wait for her to give us an answer but in the end she just pats down her dress and said, “I’m good with both but….yeah…both is cool, I’m cool with whatever.” she blushes. There must be some context for her behavior but I’m too much of a newbie to know what it means. Kaya gives an uninterested expression, while Reese smiles her usual knowing and teasing smile.

“Well, that’s just how it is~! So what do you think? Are you satisfied with our answers?” the wolf girl asks completely satisfied and clearly having fun. “More than satisfied. You guys give more meaning to your answers than my old college blockmates, they always made me feel like I’m wasting my time when I talk to them.”

“Hahaha! Now that’s a compliment! Thanks! Now come, on to the next room.” The four of us form a short line as if we are in kindergarten and on a field trip. Reese is the mighty leader of the group and we are the younger kids that require her power and protection. The hallway towards the next room has a number of thin rugs and carpets with simple designs, it feels really homey already,“Mei’s room!” Reese points out.  “But wait just a sec, lemme check if it’s in here. Wait there don’t look, Cain, Kaya don’t allow any movement from her.” She enters the room alone, probably planting traps or cleaning some up.

“Does she think I’m a child?” I give a confused expression matched with a rhetorical question. “She’s a little bit more contained than this, but yeah, don’t look into the room until she says so or she’ll scream and it’ll be really annoying.” Cain tells me in a, I’m-so-done-with-this-girl’s-bullshit manner. Kaya stays impartial but also slightly tired, psychically.

“Alright gang, it’s probably fine to look now!” She signals. Mei’s room is probably the one I’m most disinterested in, he probably just has had stuff in his room since he exudes that kind of vibe.His room did indeed look like a room a father would have, simple with only the essentials like a bed, desk and a small rack with just a few types of clothes. But this is probably the first time I’ve seen a clock in a room, next to mounted carvings of animal heads: a bear, deer and a goat, Mei keeps a regular wall clock. Leaning on the edge of the bed and the wall is a rectangular box, large enough to fit, let’s say, a golf club or a bat.

“This is the first time I’m seeing a clock in this whole building.” I called The Train a building. “Oh yeah we don’t keep a lot of those here. I have this neat little pocket watch tho.” Reese pulls out a small black pocket watch from inside her poncho. “We can more or less tell what time it is but most of the time, it does not matter to us.” She sways her tail back and forth slowly.

“Oh, right! Still, it’s weird to see a clock. It’s almost 3 pm.” I tell them. “Hmmm, I thought this tour would take much longer. But we aren’t finished yet! We’ll be done by 5 I think! Then we’ll have dinner! But first things first, time for me to carry you---Hey!” Reese sees me getting ready for Kaya to carry me in a comfortable way. Cain actually likes it this way, so she helps me with my balance.

“Sorry, Reese but Kaya politely offered her assistance and I couldn’t decline! You can hold my crutch though!” She takes my crutch bitterly and pouts, “I’ll be careful, don’t worry.” Kaya reassures me as I clung onto her. “Thanks!” I close my eyes as she transforms her eyes and feet, I guess I'm not ready to fully grasp the way they are yet, we ascend up the stairs with ease and my eyes are greeted with the light of the outside world once again.