Author's Note: Halloween was on the brain and I was watching Cabin in the Woods (and I may or may not have been under the influence u_u). So this happened. Hope you like it NotAllThere21. I'm really sorry if it's too weird. And I'm also sorry that it's more like borderline femslash than actual femslash. Kinda got ahead of myself o.e'
Nina was a rabbit. Peggy was a wolf.
Well okay, Nina wasn't exactly a rabbit. She was a shapeshifter who could change at will from a human to a rabbit and vice-versa. And Peggy wasn't exactly a wolf. She was a werewolf, who automatically changed into a fearsome, bipedal canine beast every full moon.
Point being, they were supposed to be enemies. Peggy was a predator, a hunter whose bloodcurdling howl struck fear into the hearts of the bravest men. Nina was prey, a delicate round-eyed creature who children wanted to pick up and snuggle. They were by no means meant to become friends. But that is exactly what happened.
Peggy was on the floor in her cousin's cabin in the words, fists uncurling and fingers twitching as her arms jerked forward. Jolts of white hot electricity shot up her spine and fanned under her skin, her entire physique quivering as it anticipated the change. Peggy had been bitten by a werewolf two years ago and now carried the curse of turning into one herself every full moon. In accordance, she had begun coming to her relatives' cabin every full moon. Naturally she kept it a secret, always telling her parents she was at the house of one friend or another.
Tonight was Halloween and they thought she was at her friend Iris's, passing out candy to trick-or-treating children. Ha, the things they didn't know.
"Ah!" She gasped loudly and tossed her head back, the bones in her spine cracking loudly as they shifted and reshaped. Her fingers flexed against the hardwood floor as fur sprouted along them, fingernails turning black and lengthening into thick, sharp claws. She regretted that she'd forgotten to take her shirt off because it ripped along her twisting body and fell to the floor in tattered shreds. A thick bludgeon of a tail sprouted from her behind and tore away the underwear she'd also forgotten to remove.
With a low groan she dipped her head down. When she raised it again, it was the head of a wolf and the mild pain of the transformation faded away. She loped out of the open door on all fours and the ground pounded with the thuds of her heavy steps. The harvest moon was high in the vast night sky and her bistre pelt was turned an inky violet under its glimmer. She sprung onto her hind paws and howled to it, a low haunting cry that echoed through the pines.
And then she was running again, racing through the forest at full speed. Crisp fall air whipped through her fur and stung her eyes. It carried the spicy aroma of pumpkins and fallen leaves, and she drank it in with vigor. She felt free tonight, untamed like the wild animal she supposed she was. Nothing could break her stride! Nothing!
Or...Wait. What was that?
Peggy paused in her run and swiveled her ears to the side. A thin wail rose from beyond a stretch of trees, faint but still audible to her sensitive hearing. Peggy turned her head in that direction and raised her snout. She took a curious whiff. Blood. Rabbit blood, she was sure, as she also picked out a trace of alfalfa. It made her stomach growl. Even though in her human state Peggy would never harm a little bunny, things were different when she was like this. She perceived small mammals in a whole new light, smelled them for the scrumptious meat beneath the fur instead of saw them for the pelt of fluffy cuteness.
She swiftly sprinted towards the scent, urged on by her hunting instinct and just plain nosiness.
The metallic scent of blood and the warm alfalfa scent of rabbit grew stronger and thicker, nearly congesting enough to choke on by the time the smaller animal actually came into view. Rabbits scarcely ever made loud noises, but the one ear-piercing sound they could make was scream. Oh, could rabbits scream when they were in distress. The bunny was screaming when she laid eyes on it, its tiny mouth parted and buck teeth shining in the moonlight as it screeched in pain so loud she was sure her eardrums were bleeding.
Deep ruby stained the pale blonde fur on its left hind leg, snared in a wire loop. A hunter's trap. A hunter of the human variety, not the kind Peggy was.
Instinct roared in her ears, imploring her to leap fourth and lock her jaws around the prey's neck. And yet, she didn't. Something held her back. Curiosity perhaps. Instead of attacking the minuscule vegetarian, Peggy approached it slowly and gently pushed her nose into its heaving flank.
The rabbit fixed its terrified eyes on her, round as the moon and as silver as the starlight. Its shrill squeal of pain shrank and died in its throat.
No, not it.
She, Peggy realized as she snuffled the bleeding bunny. Werewolves had an innately keen sense of smell and gender was just one of many things they could pick up from a nasal inspection. The scent also told her that the rabbit wasn't just a rabbit, but it was a shapeshifter. Good, that meant Peggy could talk to her.
"Would you like me to free you now?" she asked, pulling her muzzle back and meeting the luminous silver pools with her own sheer, royal blue ones.
"You're not going to eat me?" came the raspy, timid reply.
She shook her head.
"Then yes, please free me." The rabbit shut her eyes tightly as though she suspected Peggy was lying and did not want to witness the first bite taken out of her body. But Peggy wasn't lying. She bit right through the wire with her supernaturally sharp teeth and tenderly took the bunny in her hands. Through the change, said hands looked more like paws, bearing pads on the bottom like a canine's, covered with thick fur on top and sporting deadly claws. But despite their animalistic appearance, Peggy still maintained the opposability human hands possessed.
Even though the wire that tethered the rabbit to the stake in the ground was now cut, the loop of it was still wrapped around the small blonde furred leg. With delicate precision, Peggy curved the very tip of her claw under the loop and shaved it in half. She proceeded to lap at the wound and felt the rabbit stiffen with fear. But all Peggy did was soothe the injury. She didn't snap at the taste of the smaller animal's blood like nature intended her to do.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. What's your name?"
"Nina. And you?"
"Peggy. Do you want to come with me, Nina?"
Nina hesitated for a moment or two, but then bobbed her head in a single nod. Peggy stood up on her hinds and clutched her close to her chest, holding her in a secure, but gentle grasp as she began to run back to the cabin. She generally stuck to running on all fours when she was in this state and was faster in doing so, but she was still capable of running on twos. And she was still very speedy.
The wind buffeted her fur and pine needles and leaves crunched beneath the pads of her feet as she rushed back to her temporary home. She relished every second of it. Zooming past the threshold, she shut the door behind her with a whack of the tail and gingerly set Nina down on the kitchen table.
"Would you mind shifting? We should probably cover your cut, and that would be a lot easier if you weren't so small." Peggy wasn't usually what one would call helpful. But Nina intrigued her and she wanted to keep her around for a bit.
"Sure. But can I have some clothes before I do?" Nina's silver eyes flitted to Peggy shyly. The werewolf nodded and withdrew down the hallway. She returned with a long green t-shirt and a darker green pair of shorts. They were her own, as she often stored clothes here in the event that (like tonight) she forgot to take off the ones she was wearing and they were shredded during her transformation.
"Here you go," said Peggy as she put the clothes down next to the small, fluffy bunny. She smiled a toothy grin, oh so like the one the wolf always had in the picture book renditions of Little Red Riding Hood (why grandma, what big teeth you have!). She then turned around and allowed the shapeshifter to change in privacy.
"You can look now," Nina breathed after the rustling of clothing being pulled over skin had stopped. Peggy turned to face her and took in her appearance with intent royal blue eyes, searching over her face and physique. Nina was a slender girl, with a modest chest, narrow hips, and willowy arms. She was probably a little younger than Peggy and had a sweet, round face, taunt lips and wispy platinum hair that spilled over her slim shoulders. The ends of her tresses and bangs were accented with another fair color, but with only the moonbeam that shone in through the window for light, Peggy wasn't sure what color. But by all means, Nina was cute.
"I hope my clothes aren't uncomfortable," Peggy noted after a moment of studying. "They're pretty darn big on you."
"They're fine," Nina chirped. "Thanks. Can I see what you look like as a human too?"
Peggy shook her head. "Not yet. I'm not like you, I don't change at will."
Nina mulled this over, chewing on the tip of her thumbnail. "So you weren't born a werewolf," she concluded. "You were a human who got bit."
"Bingo." Peggy plopped down on the floor. She'd heard that werewolves who born to werewolf parents could change when they wanted to, but she supposed she hadn't really known if it was true or not. "You're familiar with werewolves then?"
"Yeah. There's a lot of them in these woods. Most would've eaten me, so I'm really glad it's you who came across me first, Peggy." Nina offered her a cheerful smile, her gratitude expressed in every pearly white.
"If you didn't want to get eaten, you shouldn't have been screaming like that," Peggy chided. "All you did was draw attention to yourself."
Nina's cheeks darkened and she lowered her gaze in embarrassment. "I thought you were going to cover my cut."
"Right," Peggy barked and left the room once more. She ducked down the hall and into the bathroom, grabbing a washcloth from the sink. She returned and crouched in front of Nina, stripping the cloth with one easy swipe of the claws. The wound was an ugly pink ring that circled Nina's shin, moderately deep and appearing rather painful. Peggy felt a tug of sympathy and wrapped the strip of washcloth around her as gently as possible.
"I'll tie it," Nina murmured, likely noticing that as opposable as Peggy's unusual fingers were, her claws would likely snag on the fabric in doing something so intricate. She leaned forward and reached down, her small, pale hands brushed over Peggy's large furry ones. A pleasant tingle of an unlabeled sensation rippled from one to the other and they briefly exchanged bemused glances. Peggy then drew back, feeling her skin heat under her pelt.
Nina carried on and tied off her makeshift bandage with ease. "Is it okay if I spend the night here? My home is pretty far off..."
Peggy nodded. "Sure. I'll show you to the bedroom." She led Nina down the hallway and pushed open the last door on the right. A neat queen-sized bed (which belonged to her aunt Margret and she reminded herself she must refold everything before departing) sat empty and appealing. Nina flopped right down on her back, spreading her arms over the quilt.
"Ah, this is nice," she trilled. She rolled onto her side, hair splaying over the pillow as she flashed Peggy a curious look. "Why are you being so nice to me, anyway? We don't even know each other."
"Because I'm curious about you," Peggy answered simply as she strode over and flopped down on the bed beside Nina. She took up a good deal more room and her paws hung over the end of the bed. "I've only met one other shapeshifter and I never got the chance to talk to him. He ran away and hid in a hole. Besides, I always go hunting on the full moon. It's about time I put some variety in my schedule. What better way to do that than to do the exact opposite?"
"Oh. Well what are you curious about?"
"For starters, how'd you get stuck in that trap?"
"I was just following this firefly and I didn't see it." She shrugged. "Nothing special. Do you live here?"
"No, it's my cousin's cabin. I just come here on the full moon because no one knows what I am. Where do you live?"
"The city. I just came up here tonight because I thought it'd be nice and spooky to spend Halloween in the woods. Where do you live?"
"I live in the city too. What school do you go to?"
The rest of the night went just like that, with the two of them trading information and asking questions and slowly scooting closer to each other. Nina fell asleep first. She'd been drawn to Peggy's body heat without even realizing it and pushed herself into the werewolf's chest, using one furry arm as a pillow while the other draped over her. It was soothing to listen to the easy rise and fall of Nina's breaths.
In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
So peaceful. The sky outside the window was starting to lighten with the first hints of the coming sun and Peggy found that she'd grown tired as well. She closed her eyes and pulled Nina closer, holding the girl like she was a teddy bear and being lulled to sleep by the tranquil sounds of her breathing.
Peggy was human formed once more when her eyes fluttered open. Sparkling sunlight streamed in through the window and danced across the sleeping girl who laid against her. The color of her fringe and ends that had been indistinguishable last night was pink, Peggy now saw. She found it suited her and smiled softly, reaching out to twirl a pink and blonde lock around her finger.
But seeing her smaller, clawless, human finger alerted her to the fact she was naked.
Breath catching in her throat, Peggy drew her hand back and scrambled away from Nina, falling right off the bed. She grunted softly as she hit the hardwood floor and then sprung up to a stand, rapidly scampering over to the dresser.
"Huh?" Nina lifted her head sleepily and searched for the sound that had woken her.
"Don't look!" Peggy snapped and quickly covered herself with her hands. "I gave you your privacy last night!"
"Sorry!" Nina's hands flew over her eyes.
Peggy grumbled and jerked open the dresser drawer. She pulled on a beige hooded dress and some knit umber tights, giving her hair a shake and running her fingers through it to smooth the tangles. "Okay, you can look now."
Nina removed her hands from her eyes and sat up straighter in the bed. Her eyes traveled up Peggy closely and a cheeky little grin turned up the corners of her mouth. "You're just as pretty as a human as you are a wolf."
"Oh. Thanks- Hey! That's an insult, you thought I was scary looking last night!"
Nina giggled and shook her head. "No I didn't. I thought you were scary because werewolves usually eat rabbits. I didn't think you looked scary. You were actually really pretty. Your eyes dazzled like sapphires."
A blush crept into Peggy's cheeks and she breathed a sheepish laugh. "Thanks then. But you know, I should really be going now. My parents will be wondering where I am."
Nina nodded and hopped off the bed. "Then you're going back to the city?"
"Yeah."
She smiled. "I have to go back that way too. Do you want to walk together?"
Peggy smiled back at her. "Actually, I think I do."