Howl Your Appellations

Empathy

BOEN OPEOR

Reese looks almost all knowing with her back against the green and blue glow of the window; her Grey wolf's tail peeping from her white poncho as a symbol of forbidden knowledge and power, and her dark gradient ears blend together with her black hair, making it seem like she has horns growing out directly from the crown of her head: A treacherous appearance but accompanied by a friendly radiance, makes a Reese Lanterman. She puts her chin on the top of her forehand and proceeds to tell me a story she'd woven specifically for me, she's at her element, and it's honestly an interesting sight to behold.

"The story starts with a young city guy, he's about the average type of guy, had a family early and strives to provide for his wife and daughter. He loved his daughter especially. He drew cute greeting cards for her, taking advantage of his art talents and made her paper dolls. They had a happy life for a while, until things started becoming difficult with the daughter. The daughter has been going through the Abalone Proem Puberty, she didn't have a lot of friends and this made her incredibly violent at times. Her parents were patient with her, especially the father, he knew how difficult feelings can be especially since she's going through her teen years. They tried to console her as much as they could, but they could only do so much. The daughter started professing that she doesn't feel like she belongs in the family, she believes that both her parents were nothing like her, that they don't understand and decided to runaway. Thinking that the situation might get worse if they follow her right away, they let her express and feel her feelings on her own. The daughter decided to ride the gondola with the longest distance, it's a small gondola with the tiny words that said "God will receive" on the side of the door. She traveled and traveled until she fell asleep, when she woke up she and the gondola were up on the clouds, there were no other gondolas in sight. "This is it." she thought to herself but in turn, she became angry and started to scream and destroy the cushions of the gondola. She screamed and screamed where no one could hear her. Exhausted, she finally decided that she needed to go home and tell her parents what she actually feels. "But it's too late" she thought to herself. When she woke up, she was in her bedroom, she's still wearing the same clothes when she went out but she's drenched in sweat. She decides that it's finally time to ask her parents if she was adopted, both her parents were devastated to hear that that is what she thought and realized their mistake a bit too late. They revealed that they're Weres and Began to explain what they mean by "Weres"."

"Oh? Alright, finally!" I interject. "Shush, they shall explain the things to you now." she states.

"Oh, right. Continue on."

"The father explains that they're "Wolf Weres". But they wanted to explain to her that becoming a Were requires trust and almost always a scar from a person who's already a Were. It's different for every Were but there's almost always some form of physical indication that you've marked. And person can be born as a Were, but that's highly rare and unlikely. They wanted their daughter to live a safe life with them in the city, away from the dangers of the forest and the curses that come with it. The curses come from various places, cursed objects or places, forbidden words but most cases come from malice from the faes. They have a long history with the moon, the entity that made Weres and all the magic in the world. It is believed that the faes were the first cursed beings, that's why they have no appellations and why their existences seem to be filled with malice. It's important to stay away from them and their little air traps." At some point, Reese forgot that she was telling me a story about a nuclear family with Were parents and a human daughter.

"How do I know what an air trap looks like?" I ask, "Well, it's sort of like a mirage but in the air. Can you imagine it?"

"Yeah, I think I do." I reply, I think I have a good image of what she means. Thankfully, I've never encountered any of them when I was wandering. I don't know if I can say I have great luck in this situation. Luck works in uneven proportions.

"Good! But if you ever catch yourself in a situation that seems almost perfect for no apparent reason, just remember your main goal. Your real and immediate destination. If you don't you'll be trapped forever and become lint and/or furniture."

"Uhh..oh..ah."

"Hmm. do you think I missed anything? Oh! When you turn into a Were you start seeing appellations, they're basically your name and titles. They're incredibly useful, and they're a sort of power source for us, it's hard to explain, but when you are given titles, it becomes a part of you, a part of your identity that enhances yourself. So appellations differ from people to people, no appellation is alike."

"How many appellations can one person or Were have? I can only see one but I thought I saw more the other night." I didn't want to say this was about Imus, but I think I'm starting to understand the how's but I'm really more curious about the why's. I should have asked that first, but I already asked a question.

"Hmm, there's no limit as far as I know, they say an elder Were would have enough appellations to have the brightness of a tiny star. But something like having that many appellations can't be good for you. The most is preferably under ten. I have three so far, I haven't been a Were that long yet but I'm proud of them. Can you see them?" Reese asks, titling her head towards me as if the action would help me see appellations better. "I can only see your name. Reese Lanterman...why did you become a Were?" I asked without thinking. Reese flinches and thinks about what she's going to say.

"I'm not the girl in the story, if you were thinking that. Our origin stories are long and tired, Boen Opeor, there are characters that might not get translated well when we tell our stories, so I'll just tell you a little summary of why I am a Were: it's because I wanted to live." Reese smiles at me with a pained expression. I don't know how I'm supposed to interpret what she said, but there's no point in over-thinking it. "I understand."