Family is Everything

[Gerwald Lechner]

It was a hot night, Gerwald couldn’t sleep. Usually it wasn’t an issue, but his blood felt like it was on fire. The twenty-five year old Lupine had been having dreams that seemed too real, objects were moving on their own, and yet he felt like he was controlling it all somehow. Growing up had been hard for Gerwald, br more so complicated by the fact he did not fit with the people of Stewjon. He was a wolf, and sorcerer of some kind.

When Gerwald was stressed he hunted. It wasn’t his night to be out, but he didn’t care. Alwine and Varick were out tonight, but the gray wolf stalked its prey anyway. The buck had been in his sense of smell all night, and nothing ever got away from Ger. His siblings were deeper in the woods, hunting for bigger game, but Gerwald had known this buck always ventured close. It was going to be his.

The cool night air was nothing to the fur which kept him warm. The breeze blew in his direction which served to mask his scent from the large deer. It was all too perfect. He just had to wait for the right moment.

He inched forward, stalking, standing still, until...

Gerwald leaped and bit into the neck of the buck which put up a good fight. The wolf was strong though, larger than his other siblings. The kill was not much of a challenge, though fun. He knew it was going to get him in trouble, but Gerwald built a fire. If he couldn’t sleep he would roast the venison. The family never complained when he gave them meat to eat. Fresh and cooked to perfection. Gerwald wouldn’t have it any other way.

It was women’s work, the roasting, but Gerwald liked it. Besides, he had to survive military rations somehow... they did not eat as well as the Lechners!

[member="Alwine Hilde Lechner"] | @Varick Lechner

 

[Alwine Daye]

She had always been the little one. Born last, born little, grown little. As a human, the blonde stood at a full 5"0 and often had to puff her chest out to not seem smaller than that. As the wolf, she was only slightly bigger than a cub. And yet when she growled and used her jaw, beasts five times her size fell below her. She was just as ferocious as she was small, and her size in either form would never keep her from being deadly.

Amongst the Lechner children, Alwine had been the quickest to adapt. She had welcomed the change, bathed in it, after spendng years envying her brothers for having changed before her. She was the wolf, and the wolf was the one form in which she could have the freedoms that had been denied to her as a human because of her sex and caste. As a woman, she had to slave in the kitchens, clean the toilets, and bow her head to her superiors. Everyone was her superior. As a wolf, she was free to roam where she willed, barked where she willed, and howl at the moon as she willed, and quench the life out of her inferiors. All beasts that were not wolves were her inferiors.

More than once had the eighteen year old fantasized of faking her own death in the village, only so she could shed her useless human skin and live as a wolf forever. If her mother had not interfered, she probaly would have done so over two years ago in order to escape the torment that was life on Stewjon. Their family could not afford to leave the planet. Her inability to treat children had ensured that she would not serve as a caretaker for a family with little children and perhaps travel with them. For all it was worth, this was what she had, and this was what she would always have.

This night, she was hunting out with Varick. Her brothers were the only thing that were on par with her love of being alone. She could and would never deny their company, not as a wolf and not as a human. But as a wolf, she was their equal, despite her little size.

She and Varick were hunting for larger prey. They had caught the scent miles ago and were now waiting. Tonight, she would give Varick the killing bite. She would wait. Her stomach did not hunger for meat; her body hungered, but for game. She kept the howl she wanted to produce all to herself, not wishing to scare the prey away.

Because tonight, was the turn of Alwine Hilde Lechner to be a wolf outside of the house. And there was nothing that would keep her from being one.

​

[member="Gerwald Lechner"] | [member="Varick Lechner"]​