[Vfw-times] GM: A Halloween to Remember - 11

[Wolf0013]

Wow, it's Christmas and I'm still writing about Halloween, oh well.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!  Happy Holidays too, no
matter the particular holiday you're celebrating.

Sorry this section took me so long to finish, first I decided to completely
rewrite it, then school computer repair and holiday shopping kept me from
really devoting much time to this.  I'm happy with the result though.

Note, I haven't yet passed the final version passed my fiend Chris O'kane
wise little eyes, he's my last minute critic I use to help me make the final
determination if it's ready.

So if something looks a little rough, you have my apologies.  Thanks to Volk
Oboraton for all the helpful critiques and suggestion.

now here's the story, enjoy.

----Shred with Chainsaw here----



Darkness had already fallen on Greenwood.  Early nights are a side effect of
being nestled in the mountains I suppose.

I could have sworn that I saw him out of the corner of my eye, coming after
me while I ran into the woods behind Uric's mansion.  In my mind he was
everywhere, behind every bush, hiding in every shadow, right behind me.  If
I were calmer I would have realized this wasn't the case, I would have
realized I was heading towards Mystic Mountain but I was too scared to think
clearly.

Time passed as I ran further and further into the woods away from Uric's
mansion.  I stumbled awkwardly through the growing darkness, through the
underbrush, dodging tree branches and desperately trying to balance Christia
in the process.

"Why me," I asked aloud.  "I never asked for this to be this way, so why?"

"That goood Question Nafen," chimed in Christia sleepily

"What's a good question?" I asked while ducking under a branch.

"Why you werewolf?" she asked yawning.  "Is passed down through momma an
poppa?"

It took me a few moments to translate what Christia just asked me.  "It's
really none of your business Christy." I said quickly

"But I wanna know," she whined like a pup, "please tell me."

I paused while stepping over an old fallen tree in path.  "Like all Myths, I
am a product of my genes."

"So it passed down?" she asked

"Yes and no," I said absently.  "It's hard to explain why, but if I was born
anywhere else, I wouldn't have been born the way I am."

Christia said nothing, instead opting to look up at me with a look of
confusion in her eyes.

"Well who cares if you don't understand," I exclaimed as I began running
short of breath. "I shouldn't have told you anything."

"I'm sowwy," said Christia sadly.

"Well you should be," I said sternly.  "This is your fault after all, it's
all your fault."  I entered a clearing and stumbled onto my knees, wincing
painfully as the skin was torn open by a sharp rock on the ground.  I lost
control and roughly Christia rolled out of my arms onto the ground.

"Owe!" exclaimed Christia from the ground.  "That hurt, big meanie."

"Oh just shut up!" I exclaimed as tears began to burn out of the corners of
my eyes.  "This is your fault! Everything has gone wrong! They'll find me!
They'll hunt me down!  They'll send me to live underneath the Mystic
Mountain because of you!  And that's only if I'm lucky!  So just shut up!

There was an uneasy silence for a few moments.  I didn't want to deal with
any of this, the power of the moon was already upon me, it wouldn't be long
before it happened, so I just wanted to sit here and have a few moments of
peace before it happened.

"Nafen I'm coold." said Christia visibly trembling.

"Too bad!" I said angrily.

More silence, for several moments that's all there was.  Even the forest
seemed to be muted.  Christia broke this silence as she began whimpering,
visibly shedding gleaming tears.

"I'm cold, so cold." She sobbed quietly.

At that moment my eyes began to water, I've been a jerk, this wasn't her
fault it was mine, I've been unfair, I've been venting, I've been lying to
myself, the weight of all this finally crushed me, and tears burned their
way out of the corners of my eyes.

 I'm sorry, I said trying not to sob, "It's not your fault," I added before
taking a deep breath.  I opened my mouth again to add more, but all that
came out was a canine whimper.

I grabbed my throat in mild shock.

"Nafen, what wrong?" asked Christia confused.

I whimpered again pathetically when I tried to answer.  It was too late for
such a thing, I had fought the full moon as long as I could, and already I
could feel it exercising its power over me.

"Talk to me." begged Christy desperately, tears still flowing down her face.
"Please?"

I wanted to answer her but there was no way I could. Numbness spread across
my body signaling the final moment before the monthly change took hold of
me.  Quickly I scrambled to take off my shirt before it became a problem.  I
threw the shirt away and bent over to remove my shorts, but I hesitated,
uncomfortable with the prospect of Christia seeing me do such a thing.  I
made up my mind and tried to unbutton my jeans, but found that my fingers no
longer had the dexterity they needed.

 I looked down at my hands and saw my already paw like hands changing.  My
fingers became round and puffed as they were drawn into my hand Leathery
pads also began swelling out of my skin, covering my palms.  But it wasn't
only my hands that were changing.  I could feel my legs begin to shrink,
even as I felt my arches expand greatly.  The mass of my body was
redistributing itself, my chest barreling slightly.  I shot my changing
hands out in front of me as I felt the weight of my body begin to
redistribute, changing my center of gravity.  My arms and legs began
thinning out and their bones shifted.  I could even feel the bones in my
neck shifting slightly to better accommodate a four footed gait.

I whined in annoyance as the changes in my body finished up and my senses
became even more acute.  I really wanted to make a better apology to Christy
before I changed.  Not being able to talk would make this much more
difficult.

"Doggy!" said Christia playfully with a dazed smile on her face.  "Big
doggy!"

Inwardly I groaned at her comment, and then smiled.

This time without embarrassment, I began to process of removing my shorts,
at this point they had grown quite uncomfortable.  I must have looked silly
trying to kick these off; because once I got started Christia started
laughing uncontrollably.  My embarrassment was beginning to return now, but
this time for a much different reason.  Fortunately before too long I did
manage to get the shorts off of me by hooking the cuff of the pants and on a
nearby tree and pulling myself out of them awkwardly with my front paws.
Thankfully my underwear was also removed by this same action, sparing me
from any further embarrassment.

After pulling my remaining clothes off of me I slowly began walking back
towards Christy

"Silly doggy," said Christia visibly smiling from the distance.

At that moment I heard a rustling in the bushes behind me and instinctively
I turned around baring my teeth defensively.  A wild rabbit jumped out of
the bushes for a moment, only to dash away in fright at the sight of me.
Honestly I think I was more frightened of it then it was of me.  For a
moment I had thought the Sheriff had found us.

I exhaled, breathing a sigh of relief.

Wuz you problem Nafen?" asked Christia in a slur.  "You acted like you seen
ghost then."

I looked down at her, really missing my ability to speak.  I really wanted
to explain this all too her, she really seemed to need to know.

Slowly I walked off into the bushes.

"Nafen!" called out Christy, "where you go?  Don't leave me Heer!"

I looked back at her and whined pitifully.  I didn't want her to be afraid,
I wanted her to know what was going on, what I was doing, but I couldn't
explain it to her at the moment.  With my tail between my legs I walked out
of the clearing and into the shrubs, all the while, Christia calling out to
me.

I ran quickly through the woods on all fours, I needed to see get a good lay
of the land.  I stopped every once in a while, inhaling the air, sniffing in
search of any sign that the sheriff followed me.

I could smell scents present and past, trees and birds tickling my nose
strongly right now, while the scent of a deer and other animals that passed
through this forest some time ago gently caught my attention lingering in
the air.  But I smelled nothing like a human aside from Christia's own
distinct scent, which suggested to me that the Sheriff never even bothered
to follow me.

I stood there on all fours confused for a few moments, it didn't make any
sense that he wouldn't follow me, after what I had done and all I didn't
doubt that I was in very big trouble with the council.  Soon though, I opted
going back to check on Christia over working myself into a headache.

I walked back to the clearing slowly, enjoying the cold night air.  There
was no hurry after all, it's not as if Christia was likely to be attacked by
a coyote or any predator of that sort, and all the really dangerous animals
are warded off by a magical spell put in place by the council.  The only
really dangerous animals left around here are humans.

I weaved around trees and through bushes until I arrived back at the
clearing.

I jumped back startled when Christia emitted an inhuman growling noise when
I approached her.  It was quite unlike anything I had ever heard.   For a
few moments I thought she was sick or ill, but as watched her still form on
the ground for a few moments, her eyes closed, her breathing steady, I
realized she wasn't ill.  Christia was snoring.  She punctuated this thought
by once again exhaling violently in her sleep making the same terrible noise
as before.

I would have laughed at moment if I could, but then I noticed something
else.  Christy was shivering noticeably.

I quickly ran over to her, kicking myself for being so stupid.  Of course
she had no need to worry about being attacked by animals, but she's ill, and
I have a fur coat keeping me warm.  Looking down at her I could see that
every time she exhaled I could see her breath freeze almost instantly.  Once
again I kicked myself.

I bent down and nudged her slightly with my nose, but there was no response.
A nudged her a second time, more forcefully and her eyes fluttered open.

"Nafen," said Christia yawning, "I'm cold Nafen, I'm coold."

Her eyes were already starting to close again.

"Just great!" I thought silently to myself.  "Just how in the world am I
supposed to take care of something like this?"


End of Part 11

-------------------------


("I've chosen the Soil for the likes of you!" -Black Kaze-)