Henry sits at the dinner table wiping his cheek. He had just finished rare beef fresh from the deli; his favorite. "Yum. Ahhh always reminds me of Mommy Wolf, the taste of fresh blood between my lips." He smiles devilishly as his stomach grumbles. "What? I'm still hungry? But I just ate that whole steak. Stupid tummy." Just then he sees Panne walk by picking a carrot from the produce rations. Her hair and ears are pulled back and her armor is loosened. "Hey there Panne, why so messy-looking?" Panne glares back stoically as always, "I'm going to explore. The Taguel need to pave new rabbit runs." "Hehe sounds fun can I come?" Panne looks shocked "No. I can't let a human come with me that's... that's insulting." Panne turns and leaves red in the face. Henry watches her walk away, and licks his lips. "I. Am. Starving." Henry style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Panne holds out her arms as she takes a deep breath of fresh air. She has found the perfect forest for a run far into the Chon'sin mountains. It was snowing lightly and the air was still. She stretches and sniffs the air. "No birds, how odd" Panne thinks, she sniffs again "No scent of predators either, but there's some thing there air... something... vaguely familiar." She walks briskly towards the smell, clutching her BeastStone carefully. Suddenly, she hears the rustling of a nearby bush and she turns on her heel to meet it. She growls and holds the stone to her heart. "For the Warren!" She stood ready for an attacker, and then she realizes it's just a pair of squirrels playing in the bush. She stands there embarrassed and sighs. "Ugh how stupid of me. Why am I so tense?" She falls to one knee, takes deep breaths and continues on into the woods.
The forest was known by natives as sacred for it's odd growth pattern: without any rhyme or reason it would have tree-less clearings in perfect squares. Chon'sin legend chalks it up to gods or evil spirits, but none of that mattered to an outsider like Panne. She did however feel the clearings unnerving; as if she was defenseless when entering the empty spaces. Panne sniffs the air again. "Still no predators. Not even snakes or birds of prey. Erg this is more stressful than if I could smell them! This is a forest where are the animals?-" "ARRROOOOOOOOOOO!" There was no mistaking that howl, no mistaking the abject fear Panne felt from ears to feet; it was a wolf cry. She froze for the moment and then dashes madly out of the clearing. "How could I not know? How could I not know?" she screams in her head. "ARRROOOOOOOO!" Her heart pulses as trees whiz by her. Her foot catches on a root and she stumbles to the ground scared. She's covered in cuts from the fall on her face and arms but has no choice but to get back up and keep running. Another high pitch howl pierces the air and her instincts tell her: you can not stop!
Panne breathes heavily and sees light between the trees, she darts to it and closes her eyes, not a wise decision. She slams into an obstacle at full power and rolls along the ground with it. She clutches her head and stumbles up to her knees, it was Henry she ran into, he was on his back bruised from impact. "H-Henry?" she says, "Are you alright?" Henry turns his head and closes his eyes, "World... spinning... face... hurting... Panne?" He opens them and holds himself by his palms. "Oh you're alright. We have to get out of here right now!" "Out? But why? I was looking for some animal friends." "Henry there are hardly any animals here... except I keep hearing howling, I'm being hunted!" "Howling huh?" Henry reaches for a cut on her cheek and rubs the fresh blood on his lips, "mmm, was it something like..." He cups his hands, "ARRRROOOOO!" Pannes screams and jumps back stumbling to her back, and with crazed ferocity Henry jumps onto her. She claws and struggles trying to escape but it was too late, she was but a rabbit caught in the jaws of a wolf. Henry struck her on the face and pulled her head back. She screamed though no one could hear it and he howled into the air again before lunging his mouth onto her throat. She grabs his head and screams but he only bites down harder. He penetrates her skin and she feels the blood fill her throat as she chokes. Her coughs and hacks are silenced by Henry biting down on her, crushing her trachea beyond recognition. She twitches and tries to keep her grip on Henry, but fades as soon the final blow is given. Henry licks his lips and giggles like a small child. He gnaws on her neck and suckles the fresh warm blood dripping from it. Panne's once lively face becomes a pale corpse's that Henry holds gently on his lap. "Tee hee. Just like Mommy Wolf used to make. Juuuuust like it."
The following morning Ricken stretches and brushes his teeth. He had a good dream, but a bit mature of his age, about his taguel friend Panne curling up next to him. He could even feel her soft warm fur. He saw it as a sign of a good day to come. He sat down at the dinner hall alone that morning, but smelled a very good scent coming from the kitchen. He peered in and to his disappointment it was Henry, his least favorite person, dressed in a chef's hat. Henry had a pot taller than he was and was stirring it with a ladle "What are you doing up early?" He asked rubbing his eyes, "Oh, just cooking. I... tee hee hee.. I caught a rabbit recently and I'm stewing her- I mean it. Want some for breakfast?" Ricken grimaced knowing Panne would never approve, but Panne wasn't here, and he was hungry. "Well, that would make a nice breakfast. If you want to share I guess. "Sure Ricken." Henry whispers, churning the thick meat broth "I'd be happy to share my kill, it's what wolves do." He waited for Ricken to leave and then scooped out an eyeball floating in the soup and opened his mouth, "Bye bye, Panne."
"Scruptious."