Joining the Pack
Larry hovered uneasily at the periphery of the group. This would, his mother had assured him, do him some good: help him break out of his shell, learn to socialize a little more, get comfortable letting himself open up and let go. He wasn't clear on how tying knots and starting fires was supposed to accomplish that, but she'd already signed him up and would brook no argument. "Just give it a chance!" she'd said. "If you really don't like it, I'll let you drop – after you've tried it."
He also wasn't super clear on why there were so many girls in what he'd thought was a thing for boys; didn't they have their own group? Only one other kid was even—but she quickly corrected him on that point, no matter how scruffy her appearance or odd her mannerisms. Had…had his mom just gotten it wrong?
Well, that wasn't remotely the weirdest thing here. It might've started with the…peculiar way that Ulve here greeted him, or the way she found it weird when he didn't reciprocate, but why didn't anyone else find it strange? Why was the den mother wearing one of those animal-ear headbands, let alone a tail – and why did it not look fake? And who'd ever heard of any of these merit badges!?
Weirder still, however, was the way that, as the evening drew on, he felt something within him…resonating with this weird little group. He hadn't really expected his mom to be right, but it almost did feel like he could fit in here, and to his own surprise he found himself looking forward to the camping trip that was apparently a monthly event.
But weirdest of all was what happened as evening turned to night. They were all gathered in the living room, the girls chattering to each other; he'd sort of expected them to be talking about, well, girl things, but as far as he could tell they were actually discussing some game-of-chase that was popular with the group. Ulve was hanging at his shoulder, still all up in his personal space, yammering excitedly about…he wasn't quite sure what.
Then the den mother cut the lights, and – out the window, over the treeline – the Moon rose. The mood of the whole room changed; the atmosphere was electric. The chatter gave way to excited yapping a chorus of playful yips and barks and that was confusing enough but well maybe it was the light but he could swear the others were looking different somehow and then Susi yes that was her name lifted up her head and howled
The sound pierced right to the core, cutting through every layer, every wall and every inch of distance he'd built up around himself over eleven long years of never really belonging anywhere. Ulve joined in, next to him, her raucous voice quavering evocatively around the first, steadier note – and then the others, raising a chorus where the modulations in pitch against that central tone blended into a rich, haunting texture, the beat frequencies created forming a music of their own. The great, beautiful light in the sky loomed overhead, seeming to fill his whole vision, and he felt something well up from deep inside of him and spill out, past the shattered defenses, drawn to the surface by its gravity as surely as the tide—
Startled, aware that something was happening but clueless as to what, he let out a distinctly non-human yelp. The lights were back on in a flash, the other girls voicing their dismay as the den mother zeroed in on the source of the sound with ears that were definitely not part of any headband. He was awash in a torrent of new sensation; his ears were picking up frequencies they never had before, twitching and re-orienting in response to the sounds, and the room was a kaleidoscope of scents – including his own, which was both familiar and not, in more than one important respect…
In truth, she didn't really need the older she-wolf to confirm what her nose was already telling her, but it helped to define what she was feeling bodily, put it into a context where it made some kind of sense. The next few minutes were a mass of confusion – Ulve gleefully encouraging her to let the change progress, the den mother trying to determine who was responsible, the other girls alternating between fervently denying involvement and totally failing to disguise their interest in the newest member of the pack.
In the end, she had to testify herself that, really, nobody had bitten her. The den mother, scenting that she was truthful, shrugged and shook her head, ears ticked back in resignation. She turned down the lights again and went off into the kitchen to take care of things, muttering something about "the call" and sounding as if it wasn't the first time she'd heard of this.
The room was dark, and yet not: her changing eyes drinking in the moonlight that bathed the scene, the air swirling with a medley of scents from her packmates – all distinct and yet blended together – and vibrant with sound, the restless rustling of fur against cloth and the excited whines around her communicating feelings she might never have understood before. Then Ulve – hunkered next to her, all four paws on the floor – took up the cry again, her ululating warble inviting other voices to join in and steady it.
To her astonishment, and in spite of her confusion, she felt…full, like there was a space inside her that'd always been empty and she'd never known what went there 'til now. Some part of her, a human part, was still prone to wonder and worry – what would her mother say!? – but for now it was enough to know that, for the first time in her life, she belonged. Taking a deep breath, she let the change take hold of her, just a bit, drawing her muzzle out – and, lifting her head, she raised her song to the Moon.
Another product of That Damned Muse devotedly attempting to distract me from the project I was actually trying to focus on XD The idea came up in conversation over in MentalCrash's stream the other day, and no sooner had I tossed out the notion of "werewolf scouts" than my brain was feverishly filling in details and suggesting bits and I just friggin' knew there was no way I was getting out of this without drawing it…
(I don't draw nearly enough "tomboy who's so scruffy and brash you practically can't tell she's a girl" characters. I really need to do that more. Also super pleased that I got her to be recognizably the same character in both "human" and doggo forms!
Really, just incredibly happy with how this turned out in general – there's only one bit I'm not completely satisfied with, it's non-essential, and like literally everything else came out not just fine, but better than I would've hoped. Funny, for something that I only did because the damn Muse wouldn't get off my back…!)