The Big Good Wolf: Part 1

The Big Good Wolf

"Mmm…wha?" In the middle of a dense forest, a pair of pointed, brown-furred ears twitched, their previously sleeping owner stirring to wakefulness. "Whazzat sound?" The speaker moved to get up, but a sharp pain in his back caused him to cringe, his body arched. "Damn… musta slept funny." He tried getting up again, and the pain returned, a bit sharper this time. He winced. Yup, definitely slept funny. The speaker took a deep breath. Alright, no big deal. All I gotta do is twist my back like this and… as he finished that thought, he maneuvered his body to the side, contorting it in an odd way. Alright, gonna twist in one…two…

CRACK!

"GAAAAAHH!"  Ignoring the numerous small animals and birds that had been startled by his yelp of pain, the sleeper dropped to the ground and began rolling about, whimpering. "Geez, hurts like a…owwww!"

For the next minute or so, the speaker continued his senseless rolling and whimpering. "Ow ow ow…what was I thinking? Owwwww!" At this point, his pain had subsided enough that he could think: Note to self: never try to twist your spine in ways it's not supposed to go.

Before long, the pain in his back had finally vanished completely. Deeming it a good time to properly get his bearings, he stopped rolling, laying on his side and panting for a few seconds. After waiting a few more seconds, he rolled onto his stomach, only waiting another second before pushing himself upwards and stumbling upright. He swayed a bit, the paws that served as his feet struggling to keep steady. "Kind of an off morning today…" he mumbled to himself.

Finally, his feet found purchase. Placing both of his hands on the small of his back, the speaker pushed his body forward (gently this time), smiling as he heard the satisfying pop of his back getting itself situated. "Ahhh…much better," he murmured, his tail wagging slightly.

Feeling a yawn coming on, the creature stretched his arms high in the air, muzzle opening wide as he let the involuntary reflex run its course. In doing so, his entire body came into view, and, had there been anyone else present, they would have seen something quite startling.

The speaker was a wolf, albeit a very unusual one. Covered in dark brown fur (that just so happened to cover all the…interesting bits), he stood on a pair of legs that bent backwards at the knees and terminated in digitigrade paws. His arms, about the same length as a human's, ended in a pair of paws, their digits extended to allow them to grab and hold things as a human might. His head, nearly identical to that of an ordinary wolf's, held a long, slender muzzle and a pair of dark, hazel-colored eyes, in addition to a crop of messy brown fur, slightly darker than the rest of his body, that looked almost like hair. Behind him, his thick, scruffy tail moved from side to side, reflecting its master's pleasure at his comfort.
As the yawn culminated, the strange, human-like wolf lowered his arms, a smile on his muzzle. Opening his eyes, he turned his head, looking about. He thought it was a nice day, if the bright sun, flourishing trees, and blue sky was anything to go by, but he couldn't be certain; everything was so blurry, for some reason…

The wolf smacked his forehead. "Oh yeah, I forgot about those!" Breathing a sigh of relief at the realization that he wasn't inexplicably losing his sight, the wolf dropped back to the ground, crawling to a patch of bushes that had surrounded his sleeping area. Reaching his arms in, he began rooting about. "Now let's see, where did I leave them this time?" Grunting softly to himself in frustration, he continued searching. "I coulda sworn I left 'em around here…" Suddenly, he felt his hand wrap around something, and he let out a triumphant "Ah!"

Smiling, he scooted away from the bush, a small object clasped in his hand. Getting to his feet once more, he took the object and unfolded it, revealing it to be a pair of worn, yet still more than usable, glasses. Dusting off the glasses (the only thing resembling clothing he had to his name) with two of his furry fingers, the wolf placed them on the bridge of his muzzle, making sure the legs were tucked firmly around the base of his ears. Blinking his eyes a bit, he looked around, taking another look at his surroundings.

The strange wolf smiled. As he'd seen just a few minutes earlier, the sky was a bright blue, the sun shining brightly; there didn't seem to be a cloud in sight. Yep, definitely a nice day. The wolf took a deep breath and let it out in a contented sigh. "Ah, spring weather…" the wolf breathed, still smiling. Tilting his muzzle into the air, the humanlike wolf took a few deep sniffs. "Mmmm…smells nice today, too." He sniffed again, inspecting the smells more closely.  He caught quite a few different scents: the fresh, earthy smell of the soil, the savory aroma of the nearby pines, even the sweet scents of a few spring flowers (he couldn't tell which ones were which, but he wasn't bothered. To him, all flowers either smelled good or they smelled bad. He wasn't particularly picky in that regard. )

"Ah, the smells of spring…" the wolf muttered, still sniffing. "It's days like this I'm glad I'm a canine." The smile firmly in place, he continued sniffing, the air. "Let's see what we got… pine needles,  a coupla' rabbits-which reminds me, I'm a little hungry-, birdseed, tree sap, and…"

He recoiled suddenly, clapping both of his paws over his nose.  His eyes squeezed shut, and a disgusted grimace came over his muzzle. "Gack! Alright, whatever that smell was, it definitely wasn't springtime…"  Slowly removing his paws from his muzzle, he opened his eyes and took a deep breath (through the mouth.) Gulping, he sniffed the air tentatively... and again recoiled, though his paws stayed where they were.

Yep, no doubt about it; some local critter (probably a deer, the wolf thought with a touch of annoyance,) had seen fit to… conduct certain business somewhere within his current range of smell.

"Delightful," the wolf grumbled to himself, waving a paw in front of his muzzle.  "Could've gone all day without smelling that. " He shrugged. "Ah well, nothing I can do about it now. Besides," he added, smiling as a particularly strong beam of sunlight hit him, "it's too nice a day to dwell on stupid crap like that." He chuckled a bit at his own joke as he stretched his arms once again.  "Not to mention, it's too nice a day to just stand around here looking pretty." He looked up, his gaze focused on the forest in front of him.  The trees were placed fairly close to each other, but there was still plenty of space in-between them; more than enough for a human-sized creature to make their way through.

The wolf smiled as he took this in. "Well," he muttered to himself, tail wagging slightly, "it would seem as though a little stroll is in order." Scratching his side contentedly, he took one last look at his surroundings before heading off towards the trees, head held high and tail swishing. "After all, the sooner I get away from eau de deer, the sooner I can actually start enjoying the things I'm smell-"

Without warning, he stopped dead in his tracks. He blinked. "What…what was…" Nostrils flaring, he tilted his muzzle into the air, taking deep, sniffing breaths of air. There was still that awful smell ('that shall not be named,' the wolf added mentally), but now, it was accompanied by another scent, this one far less repulsive. In fact…

The wolf continued sniffing. "Hey, if I ignore that other smell…" the corners of his muzzle turned up in a grin. "That smells really good! More importantly…" his eyes shot wide open, still smiling. "That smells like food!" Tilting his head back down, he licked his chops hungrily. "Oh man, I'd love to know where that delectable scent's coming from…" As if on cue, his stomach suddenly rumbled.

He winced. "Oh yeah; it's been a while since I ate anything, hasn't it?" He rubbed his stomach, wincing as another growl rang out. "I guess I could go after some rabbits…" once again, his stomach growled, this time far more insistent. "…on second thought, that's way too much effort for a little tiny rabbit."  He looked up, taking another sniff. The smile returned to his muzzle. "I'm gonna see where that wonderful smell's coming from, instead!" Licking his chops, the wolf bounded off through the woods in the direction of the smell, occasionally bounding on all fours for an extra burst of speed. His tongue lolled out of mouth, both in exhilaration and anticipation.

However, he failed to notice the fact that his glasses were slipping, so engrossed was he in his pursuit. The eyepiece, nonetheless, slid further and further away from his ears, and further and further down his muzzle, unused to such speeds.

Just as he did not notice his glasses slipping, the wolf did not register the tiny rock jutting out of the ground in front of him…that is, until one of his front paws slammed directly on top of it.

"YEEEEOWW!" the wolf's pained yelp rang through the air, and he tumbled forward, the momentum propelling him forward a good few feet. At the same time, his glasses were violently dislodged from the bridge of his snout; they, too, flew through the air, landing on the forest floor a few feet in front of him.

The wolf grunted as he hit the ground belly-first, wincing as his muzzle smacked upon the ground. "Ooh, that'll leave a mark…" the wolf mumbled, staggering to his hind feet/paws. He winced again, noticing the ache in his muzzle. Reaching up with his hands/front paws, he gently massaged his snout, letting out a sigh of relief after a few seconds. "Nope, nothing's fractured. Still hurts like heck, though," he grimaced, continuing to massage his muzzle. "Geez, what did I step on? A stick, or a rock, or something like…"

He stopped abruptly, his eyes focusing on his hands, still on his muzzle. Only problem: they seemed a bit more blurry than usual. "Crap! Where're my glasses?" He felt around his ears, hoping that he might at least find them dangling from one of the pointed appendages.

No such luck; they were nowhere to be found. The wolf felt a brief surge of panic; those glasses hadn't been easy to come across, and he couldn't see a thing without them. Long story short: if they were lost or worse, broken, he was out of luck.

Willing himself to stay calm, the wolf dropped to all fours, tail held high in the air. He scuttled about, sniffing wildly, as his tail waved to and fro, bristling with nervous energy.

"Crap, crap, crap," the wolf hissed, exposing his teeth in a worried grimace after several seconds of searching had passed, with no results. "Where are they, where are they, where are…"

CRUNCH!

The wolf stopped dead as he felt one of his back paws fall upon something hard, flimsy, and very breakable. Slowly-very slowly-he moved his back paw up off the ground, at the same time turning himself around to get a better look at the unfortunate object.


"Please, please, please don't let that be my glasses," the wolf muttered, trying to fight back the sense of panic growing within his chest. "Please, please, please don't let those be my glasses," he said again, repeating it as though it were the most sacred of mantras. "Please, please, please…"

After what seemed like minutes (but was, in reality, only a few seconds,) he was finally staring directly at the destroyed object. His vision was still blurry, so he couldn't make it out exactly, but he could make out the color: namely, a light brown.

Crap, he thought to himself, anxious. That was the same color as his glasses rims! Anxiety churning at an even greater intensity than before, he squinted his eyes as hard as he could…and promptly let out a huge sigh of relief.

What he had stepped on was not a pair of glasses, but rather a couple of small sticks. The broken twigs were hard and brittle, which readily explained the unpleasant crunching noise they had produced when trampled upon.

The wolf let loose another relieved sigh. "Heh…heh heh," he chuckled nervously, slowly backing away from the offending twigs. "Freakin' sticks…." He turned around, glancing left and right as he did so. "Now,  I've just gotta keep looking around, and hope I don't actually step on-eh?" His lupine ears perked up as one of his front paws brushed across something. Puzzled, he glanced downwards. There, right in front of him, sat his glasses, a bit dirty but otherwise unharmed.

Yet another sigh of relief escaped the wolf's muzzle. "Oh, good," he breathed, quickly scooping them up in his paw and standing back up on his hind paws as he did so. "Good thing I wasn't searching like that the whole time; otherwise, I'd be crap outta luck!" Chuckling from relief, he stuck out his tongue and wet a couple of his fingers before using the padded digits to wipe the dirt and leaves off the lenses. Smiling, he blew on the lenses a bit to dry them before placing them back on his face. "Ah, that's better…"

His nostrils expanded suddenly, and an eager grin crept onto his muzzle; in his panic, he'd nearly forgotten about the reason he was out here in the first place.

He took a deep whiff. "Ah, that smells really nice…" Ears perking, he sniffed the air some more. "…and whatever it is, it's really close by!" He took stock of his surroundings; forest floor all around him, a few trees in back of him, a line of trees at his front, what looked like a dirt road in front of that tree line…

"That's it!" he exclaimed suddenly, his tail swishing about in frenzied excitement. "That's where its coming from!" With his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his nose lost in that wondrous smell, he dropped back to all fours, tensed his limbs, and leapt forward.  He grinned as he sailed towards his destination. HereIcomehereIcomehereIcomehereIcome…

He'd just about reached the dirt road, and he thought he might even make a perfect landing, four paws and all. Incidentally, no sooner had this thought flitted through his head than a frightened scream rang through the air.

Letting out a startled yelp of his own, the wolf lost his concentration and tumbled, quite un-gracefully, the rest of the way, smashing into the ground back-first and raising a cloud of dust. "GAH! That's the second time today!" he grumbled, hoisting himself up on his hands. He winced suddenly, massaging the area between his neck and shoulder with a padded hand. "Geez, at this rate, I'll end up with arthritis or something…"

His ears perked up, and, on impulse, he glanced to the side. As soon as he did  so, his eyes widened, as he saw what could only have been the source of the scream…and it wasn't quite what he'd expected.

There, standing only a few feet away from him on the dirt road, was a young girl, about twelve or thirteen years old. Her attire was simple, yet tasteful: an earthy-brown homespun dress, well-worn leather shoes, and, most striking of all, a red cowl that terminated in a short cape. She carried a simple, handwoven basket in her hands, which quivered along with her arms. From beneath that hood, her light blue eyes stared at the wolf, widened in fear.

The wolf turned to the girl, blinking in surprise. Still rubbing the back of his neck, he ventured an uncertain greeting. "Um…hi?"

"H-hi…" the girl stammered, the basket still shaking in her hands.

The wolf groaned quietly; out of all the things he could of said, he had to go and say 'hi'? It certainly wasn't doing the poor girl any favors. The wolf shook his head, taking a deep breath through his nostrils…

…and immediately straightening, ears shooting up. That wonderful smell was back, and it was really close by! The wolf's eyes flitted about, trying to see where the smell might be coming from, before they finally settled on the basket the girl was holding.

Engrossed in the delectable scent, the wolf practically lunged in the girl's direction, barely noticing the girl's terrified yelp. Dropping further to the ground, the human-like wolf put his snout to the basket, taking a deep whiff.

He practically moaned as his nose was overpowered by the sweet smell. "Ohhh, that's good…" He took another deep whiff, helpless to prevent another moan from escaping his muzzle. Whatever was in that basket, he wanted it, and wanted it bad. Unable to help himself, he took a third whiff, this time opening his muzzle a bit. He paid little heed to the tiny amount of saliva, which had pooled over the last few seconds in his mouth, dripping out.

The girl, at this point, was even more nervous than before. What was he doing? Getting really close to her, sniffing at her, drooling near her? It was almost like he was… the girl paled, not wanting to think any further on the subject.

Meanwhile, the wolf, oblivious to this reaction, finally decided he'd had enough. Backing up and standing up to his full height, he wiped a hand across his mouth, wiping away the saliva and wondering, offhand, just how long he'd been producing it. "Man, that smells awesome," he mumbled, a goofy grin forming across his muzzle. "Whatcha got in there?"

"In here?" The girl blinked in confusion. "Oh! You mean in the basket!" She glanced down at it, now feeling more confused than frightened. "Um, a batch of cookies I made for my grandma."

"You made those?" the wolf exclaimed. "Musta done a good job, if the smell's anything to go by."

In spite of herself, the girl smiled. "Nah; it's her recipe, but she makes them the best."

The wolf shrugged. "Hey, a cookie's a cookie; so long as they're not rock hard and tasteless, it's all good."

The girl blinked. "Um, thanks, I guess. Still, I hope they make her feel a little better."

"Eh?" The wolf's eyes widened, his curiosity piqued. "Is something the matter with her?" Great; freak the girl out some more, why don't you.

The girl straightened, a bit of firmness coming into her expression. "W-why do you want to know? You're not planning to do anything to her, are you?"

"What!?" The wolf couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Of course not! Why would you think something like that?" He knew wolves weren't exactly the most popular critters around these parts, but still… "Look, I'm just curious; there's no reason to jump to conclusions or anything."

"Well," the girl sniffed, the firmness remaining, "if you really wanna know, it's nothing serious; she just sprained her ankle the other day, and it's kind of hard for her to get around."

"Sprained ankle?" the wolf winced. "I've been there; how's she holding up?"

The girl gulped; why was he showing so much concern for her? "Just fine; she's uncomfortable, that's all." Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you care? Besides that, who are you? Why aren't you wearing any clothes? And why do you have glasses?"

The wolf laughed nervously, holding up both of his hands. "Whoa, kid, one question at a time." He thought for a second. "Then again, I probably could have explained a few things." Clearing his throat, he began answering her questions.

"First off, my name's Hunter. Pleased to meetcha." He held out a hand. "And yours?"

The girl eyed his hand suspiciously for a few seconds, only reaching out once she'd stared at it for a bit. "My name's Red. I…guess it's nice to meet you, Hunter."

Hunter grinned, exposing his sharp teeth and causing Red to flinch a bit. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" Without waiting for her to answer, he immediately picked up on her second question. "Why aren't I wearing clothes? Um, please note…" he gestured to his body. "Notice the fur. Notice the paws. Notice the tail and ears. Notice the freaking muzzle. I'm  a wolf; why would I bother with clothing?"

Red shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't have a problem if you walked like a normal wolf, but you're standing up like a person. Wouldn't people see…certain things?"

Hunter groaned. "Oh, c'mon! It's not that bad! Seriously, I don't get what it is with you humans and your obsession with covering up your bodies. I mean, yeah, clothes do look snazzy, but the minute they come off, you're running and ducking for cover." He grunted, folding his arms. "And anyway, you can't see anything; if you can take your eyes off my handsome mug for a second, you could plainly see that I'm decent, so to speak."

Raising her eyebrows skeptically, Red nonetheless slowly moved her eyes from Hunter's face all the way down to… a certain point on his body. A jolt of dread slinked up her spine. He'd better not be lying about this…

Fortunately, he wasn't, and Red breathed a quiet sigh of relief; true to Hunter's words, his fur covered his body in such a way that specific sights were hidden from curious (or insane) eyes.

Hunter smiled. "See? Didn't I tell ya? Nothing to see here." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "And before we get too off-subject here…you wanted to know about my glasses, right?" The girl nodded, now more curious than anything. "Well, it's simple, really; I can't see a damn thing without 'em."

Red blinked, confused. "Don't wolves smell their way around most of the time?"

Hunter shrugged. "Well, admittedly, I do use my nose a lot, too, but there are some things that are best experienced with these." He pointed to both his eyes. "Besides, if I just used my nose, chances are I'd come across a few too many…unpleasant… smells, if you catch my drift."

The girl grimaced. "I'm not sure I want to…"

The humanoid wolf waved a dismissive paw. "Eh, I don't blame ya; some things you just don't wanna hear about." He chuckled, but quickly froze as he took in another whiff of the cookies. "Oh man, those smell so good. How'd you make them?"
The girl opened her mouth, but quickly shut it. "I-I'm sorry, but I don't know if my grandma would appreciate me sharing her recipe with a stranger. She's had it for years, you know."

Must be a heckuva recipe, Hunter mused, brow furrowed in thought. Still, it makes sense she wouldn't wanna share it. But man oh man, I want those cookies so bad…ah!

A grin slowly spread across Hunter's muzzle as a light bulb flashed in his mind. "Say, kid," he began, his smile slowly widening. "If I asked her nicely, you think she'd be willing to share her recipe with me?"

"H-huh?" Red snapped to attention, instantly on guard. "Well, I dunno; I mean, it's not like it's a jealously guarded secret or anything, but I don't know if she'd want to share it with someone who…erm…"

"Might wanna eat her?" Hunter spoke up, finishing her sentence. "Relax, I don't plan on eating anyone today; I'll just make myself a bit more presentable, head off, and hope she doesn't mind me dropping in." His ears twitched. "Oh, that reminds me: where did you say her house was again?"

Red narrowed her eyes. "I didn't, and honestly, I don't know if I feel like telling you. I mean, you seem nice enough, but I don't wanna take the chance that…"

"I just keep following this road until I come across a little cottage, right?" Hunter butted in, startling the girl.

"Y-yes…how did you know..?"

The bipedal wolf shrugged. "Eh, I've passed by it a couple of times in the past; never really gave it much thought, though." Upon catching her wary look, Hunter sighed. "Look, kid, I give you my word; I'm not gonna hurt your grandma, OK?"

Red glared at him, but nonetheless nodded. "Alright, if you say so. You'd better not be lying, though…" Keeping her eyes on Hunter, she slowly strolled past him, heading on her way down the dirt road.

He watched her go, blinking. "Well, she didn't seem too happy; maybe I should stay off the road." He rubbed his hand-paws together, a smile quickly forming on his muzzle. "Anyway, first things first; gotta find me some clothes, first." Tail wagging, he darted back into the trees, peering out at the road from behind a large pine tree. "Should be easy enough; just gotta wait for an unsuspecting passerby to stroll by, and then I can jump 'em, take their clothes, and be on my merry way." He grimaced. "They're probably not gonna be too happy, though...." he shrugged. "Ah, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time I've gotten humans pissed at me…" He winced as he remembered the sight of an angry lumberjack, axe in hand, chasing him through the woods.

In spite of his trepidation, Hunter snorted. "Hey, it was his fault for making such delicious-smelling flapjacks…" He grinned, rubbing his stomach. "And man, were those worth the effort!" He could almost taste it as he thought back to it: the fluffy pancake, the butter and syrup slathered across it…

His ears perked up suddenly. "Eh?" Snapping out of his reverie, he looked up…and grinned as he spotted exactly what he'd been looking for.

"Nothin' personal, stranger,"  Hunter muttered as he tensed, ready to pounce on the young man that strolled, unsuspecting, across the dirt road. "But I need me some duds…and you've got exactly what I need."