a/n: i had some inspiration to write some wanpup awhile back and ive been stuck since i finished this part - it seems good to share hehehe also this is unedited

tags: wanpup, druid irene, mystical, fantasy, magic, legends, werewolves, friendship

Irene is on her way to find medicinal herbs for her grandmother when she gets turned around. At 16 and having lived in the forest all of her life, she still gets turned around in the tall dungeon of trees. Something about the tall trees, the lush greens, the beaten and unbeaten paths, they get confusing to Irene. And while she tries to make sense of the directions she wrote down, there’s a low growl that startles her. 

The growl immediately turns into a series of loud angry barks and Irene screams as she comes face to face with a silver grey wolf. 

Irene forgets the root she steps over and immediately tumbles onto her back. There’s a sharp pain that shoots up her left leg as she scrambles backwards. She abandons all of her wares as she scrambles back on the ground as fast as she can. Her ankle quickly begins to throb and she realises she wouldn’t be able to outrun a wolf in her condition. 

As she crawls backwards, it comes to her attention that she should've been pounced already. 

When she’s a good distance from the sound of barking, it stops. Confused, Irene pulls herself together and actually looks at what is really happening. 

Ten metres away and Irene can still see the wolf. Upon making eye contact, it starts growling and barking once more and Irene squeals, terrified by the powerful sound. And yet, it never gets closer. It’s a strange occurrence. 

Irene picks herself up to stand, leaning against a sapling for support. In the distance, the wolf is still very much there, but all she sees is its silvery head (trying not to think of its hungry maw) and its front paws and shoulders. It doesn’t move though. Even as it sees Irene stand, it doesn’t move towards her. 

The wolf stops barking, but still emits a low, defensive growl. 

Her woven basket full of wares is just five metres from the wolf. While it doesn’t come at her, Irene surmises that it is stuck where it is. If she can get close enough–

The growling gets louder and Irene nearly runs away wanting to completely abandon her things. But her grandmother would not be happy about that. She steadily steps forward or in this case, hops on her good leg. 

A sharp bark startles Irene and she screams in frustration, “OH STOP IT PLEASE I JUST WANT MY THINGS!” 

A pitiful whine fills the air. 

Irene is confused by the sound because it is immediately followed by a series of sad whimpers. The sound relaxes Irene and she continues to make her way closer. When she gets close enough, wolf still growling and all, she sees why the wolf can’t chase after her. 

Its lower half is entangled in rope and there’s an arrow sticking out from its back paw. 

Irene looks around in confusion, trying to see evidence of a trapping, but there isn’t. As she stares around the wolf and past it, she sees the broken branches and upturn leaves. There is a trail of blood as well. 

“You were running away,” Irene gasps in realisation. While the wolf is already Irene’s size, she knows that it isn’t a full grown wolf. It is just a pup. The pup puts its head down, signalling it won’t move. So it allows Irene to gather her basket and tools. She does it without a problem. The pup only stares at her to see if she gets closer, but it never moves. 

When she has everything accounted for Irene moves to leave. 

The wolf weakly tries to kick the rest of the ropes off, but its hind leg is severely weakened and with every movement, the wolf painfully whimpers.

The sad sounds twists Irene’s heart. 

Even if she’s scared because she’s heard tales of the wolves in the woods of how the beasts are the most predaceous animals over bears and territorial of their lands and kin, she knows that all animals are innocent. They belong in the woods and forests just as much as humans do. Her grandmother says as long as they live with respect to nature around them then they can live peacefully.

A pup is just a pup. And by the looks of this one, Irene can tell it’s far from its territory. The thick grey fur and fluffy paws are indicative of a wolf from the mountains where it is always cold. To be alone is one of the worst things that can happen to a wolf. They survive in packs. 

This little one won’t make it through the night if Irene leaves it. 

Knowing that fact makes Irene feel uneasy. It is trapped and wounded. She can’t leave without giving it a chance. 

Pulling forth the last bit of bravery inside of her, Irene approaches the pup. Upon seeing Irene come closer, it inches backwards with a scared whimper.

“Don’t be scared,” Irene reassures with open palms. “I just want to help you.” The pup’s eyes follow Irene carefully as she kneels down by its wounded back leg. Irene reaches out to touch the paw and immediately, the pup whines in pain. “Now, now, I barely touched it.” Irene furrows her brows at the pup, who looks at Irene, completely understanding her. “Stay nice and still and let me see.” She reaches again, this time the pup only curiously staring as she touches the area around the wound. The wolf’s pelt is thick but fluffy. It is quite clean and soft as if it's been maintained. It actually feels lovely with how warm the pup’s body is. It reassures Irene not to be afraid because the pup is very much a living, breathing creature. “This is going to hurt, but don’t lash out at me. I’m going to take out the arrow.” 

The pup’s eyes go wide and it looks scared. 

“I’ll be quick.” That’s the last warning before Irene quickly grips the arrow closest to the flesh and pulls with a sickening squelch. The pup howls in pain before it drops its head onto the ground in exhaustion. The breathing quickens but it's too in pain to lash out at Irene. 

Irene pats the wolf’s body. “You did well. I have some salve so stay nice and still.” Luckily, her grandmother always packs her some medicinal salve in case she gets wounded out there. So she applies some to the open wound and finds some fabric to wrap the leg. “There you are, should be good as new soon.” 

Irene proudly smiles before standing up. “I’m going to release you now, please don’t eat me.” 

The pup huffs, offended and lies perfectly still as Irene pulls off the rope from its entangled body. As Irene does, the pup shakes off its fur, pleased to be free. 

“Go on then, back home you go,” Irene chirps when the pup carefully stands up. The pup carefully comes up onto its feet and it stands up at Irene’s belly. She’s sure if it stood up, it would be her height. It looks timid as it stands, carefully it places some weight on the wounded leg. There’s a bit of a limp but it starts to move around, testing it some more. It starts to walk off, slowly, but with a bit more confidence. 

Irene smiles, grateful it doesn’t eat her as the pup starts to walk away. “Now that’s taken care of.” She sits back down and tends to her own wound. Her ankle throbs a bit more, standing up on it while helping free the pup and when she takes off her boot, she can see how it swells angrily and it throbs painfully. 

She’s rubbing the salve onto her ankle, massaging it tenderly because of the pain. 

HUFF

The hot air blows right in her ear and Irene shrieks, falling over. She looks at the source of the sound and sees the big yellow eyes of the pup and big snout sniffing. Irene lies frozen, ready to scream as the maw looks bigger than before, lips pulling back to reveal its teeth. 

This is it. This is how she dies. 

She does one good deed for a big creature and this is what she gets. 

Irene whimpers as the pup opens its mouth before letting out a howl.

Of laughter. 

The pup barks and howls in delight. It’s such a strange sound and Irene feels offended? By it. She watches as the pup falls over on its side, rolling in the fallen leaves, crunching them all around with its body, as it writhes playfully beside Irene. 

“Did you just scare me on purpose?!” Irene scolds as she sits back up. There are leaves stuck everywhere on her dress and probably in her hair. God, she is sick of this pup. “You little!” She reaches out and bops it on the nose with her fist. 

A petulant whine effectively stops the laughter and the pup rolls onto its stomach, hands and face on the ground. It looks up at Irene apologetically. While cute, Irene feels massively annoyed. 

“Why did you come back?” she whines at it. “I fixed your leg, you can go home now.” She waves her arm of some leaves at her sleeve before going back to tending to her ankle. She needs another wrap and unfortunately she doesn’t have one because it’s been used on the wolf. 

The pup whimpers at Irene. As if Irene is supposed to know what that means. 

But she kind of does. Irene has interacted with plenty of living creatures in the forest. Unlike her grandmother and father who have the talent to actually speak with animals, Irene is a novice in that respect. She can only understand feelings. But somehow for this pup, Irene understands a bit more strongly as if she could speak to it. 

“You being lost isn’t something I can help you with.” Irene grabs the knife in her basket. The pup lets out a big sigh and its breath lifts some of the leaves around it. “I still need to search for more herbs and unlike you, I need to be home by nightfall. You are very far from home and I can’t just take you there because it’s more dangerous for me.” She cuts a strip of fabric from the bottom of her dress. 

The sound of the tearing fabric piques the wolf’s interest and it stares at Irene. 

Irene wraps her a