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Another short story entered for consideration for the AC conbook. Didn't make it but I wanted to post it nonetheless :)
This one's based on 'The Priest & the wolf'.
Enjoy!
*********
“Lunar Father, Leon, I’m so glad you’re here! Please, come on in.” Syka ushered the clergywolf into their suburban semi.
“Thank you, my cub.”
Syka and Perry Zilvris had called in a priest to exorcise what they saw as a huge issue with their only son, Perry junior. At barely twelve years-old, he was a curious little soul.
The youngster had, ever since birth, never truly spoken per se, rather communicating in words that pertained solely to food. He couldn’t scentmark properly, nor was he able to write anything other than recipes, meal ideas and grocery lists. He’d draw beautiful pictures of fruit at school, whereas his classmates would use their musk and scent to draw the kind o’ stuff that you’d expect from any young wolf cub
Boys’ kinda’ things, like weapons, cars and vast buildings to serve the great Lupic cause.
Enough was apparently enough.
The Lunar Father padded in and drew the moon’s circular shape in the air, the residents of this humble abode bowing as the wolf blessed their den. Leon was a tall member of his Order, standing six-seven and boasting a supremely dark pelt that was made even more distinct by his vivid green eyes. He’d long believed that he was destined to be part of the church with his “night-borne” fur.
So black it captured the light.
So dark it sparkled like the blessed stars above, the companions of the Moon’s righteous and holy wolven ‘pack’. He also bore the crescent tattoo of the Church of the Moon on his glabella, forever marking him as a dedicant of that silvery satellite.
“He’s in the kitchen making you a drink, Lunar Father.” Syka murmured nervously, directing their guest to a seat in the lounge, the smells of tepid dust and old beer coursing through the atmosphere.
“Why thank you.” The wolf took to the loveseat over by the window, removing his cowl and looking about, tail draped like a coal-dusted palm leaf over the arm. “And please… call me Leon.”
Mr Zilvris stood behind the sofa with a permanent scowl across his muzzle as Perry junior came padding through. He had a mug of venison broth in his paws, the beverage swirled perfectly with marrow cream. He wandered over gingerly and presented it to the holy wolf. With a smile and a nod of thanks, Leon took it and sipped. Paws alive, it was… amazing!
“Did you make this, young one?”
The cub blushed, his tail tucking between his footpaws as they pigeoned shyly.
“Venison cutlet, minced and diced, onion, lamb bone broth, salt, pepper, tepid marrow cream and a dash of horseradish.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Leon smiled.
“You see? You see what we mean?!” Syka interrupted the innocent moment, moving to her cub and caressing his muzzle with both paws as though she were petrified for his life. “He only ever talks about food, Father. Nothing else. Dontcha’ sweetheart, huh? Huh?”
“Hmm.” He murmured thoughtfully, watching as Perry shook off the rather paranoid attentions of his mum and leapt onto the sofa to play with his phone. Those clawed digits were soon busy swiping and dabbing.
Leon paused for a second before padding over to kneel before him, Perry looking up from his game, his ears pinning.
“It’s OK young one, I’m… I’m just going to take you through the alphabet. All that stuff you learnt long ago.” The huge wolf took both Perry’s paws into his own, gently caressing those warm little pads. They were positively trembling. “Now… the letter ‘A’ might be for…?”
“Avocado.” Perry soon realized what the Father meant. He perked up no sooner had he found this new chance to talk food.
“OK yes that is very true. But how about, ‘B’. That could be the first letter of…?”
“Beef.”
“Hmmm I see. And how about…”
“Celeriac.”
“Well, and…”
“Duck.”
All this woulda’ driven anyone else totally nuts. But far from being angry or frustrated, Leon got to his footpaws and ruffled the fur on Perry’s head.
“By the wax of the Great Moon, he is blossoming into a fine young wolf.”
“I’m sorry, what?!” Syka sat forward, her muzzle askance.
Her mate was no different and could remain sullenly silent no longer.
“Are you serious?!” Perry senior peeled a snarl at the Father. “Is this what we get from the church these days?!”
But Leon remained steadfast, his muzzle quiet and calm.
“I understand your trepidation, my cub. But your son’s muzzle is betraying his tail’s wag. You take him for a fool. But he is wasted. He is telling you what he desires. He is an artist. A chef.”
There was just silence… tail-stopping silence. The Father was used to this, padding over to Perry senior. He knew, no matter what he’d said or was about to say, that no wolf would lay a paw on a member of the Order.
“He has perfect scent, my cub. It’s like being blessed with perfect pitch for our most famous howlers. Mark my tail, your son will be a chef.”
“Not on my tail he won’t! Not a chance!” Perry senior growled, folding his paws and facing off with their guest. “He’ll be a military howler, you hear me?! Just like my father and his father before him. End of story!”
The youngster had had enough of the commotion and had wandered behind the two larger males. He began tugging on his dad’s tail with a pitiful droop in his own, a sunken defeat dampening those golden-yellow eyes.
“Get off me, boy! And don’t give me that wag either!”
“Crus… crushed roses.” He muttered, tears streaming down his muzzle.
“What?”
“Roses, syr... syrup of venison, bit… bitt… bitter cho… chocolate. Warmed. Serv… serv…”
“Stop it!”
“Served with two, sm… sma… small dri… dried lamb kid… kidneys.”
“I said stop it, boy!” He growled before yanking his tail away and storming into the kitchen, sulking to a chair at the dinner table. Perry senior now had his head down and was clasping his paws over his ears, desperately trying to deafen the upset mutterings of his only cub.
“Curious.” Leon murmured, watching the domestic disharmony unfold before his very nose.
“Perry? Perry, what in paws’ name is the matter?” Syka dashed after him, paws on either shoulder.
“My… Syka, that’s… that was my mother’s recipe for when I was…” Perry sniffled and lifted his head from the table, eyes damp with tears. He was desperate not to show emotion in front of Leon.
“When you were what?”
He got up, both paws ‘scrunched’ to fists atop the table, eyes cast into the lounge. Perry was holding so much back, given away by his droopy tail and dull scent.
“When my father walked out on us. When I was upset, she… she used to make it for me. How… how could he possibly know, Syk’?”
“I… I don’t know, love.”
And now they were stuck there, gazing over to where Lunar Father Leon stood staunchly behind their cub, both paws on Perry junior’s shoulders.
**
It was an eye-opening moment.
At Leon’s behest and with the blessing of the restaurant’s management, Syka and Perry took their only cub to see Lucas Jubatus, the chiropteran head chef at the critically acclaimed B@. Located in the AfterNight area of the city, this was way beyond the wags of many residents.
“This is a bad idea, Syk’.” Perry mumbled angrily. “We don’t belong here. You can just smell it, I…”
It was then that the boss bat himself padded out to meet them.
“Mr and Mrs Zilvris?”
The two parents simpered smiles as they shook paws with the Executive Chef, the bat giving a hearty welcome to his world. Dressed in his ‘whites’ with a hot-iron and herbaceous scent, he was a rather diminutive soul. Luc’ bore a ruff of flame-orange fur and a distinctive blunt snout, both taking all the notice from his deep, bark-brown eyes.
“Welcome one and all, and uh…” It was then that he noticed the youngster stood alongside his father, footpaws twizzling shyly and an adorable blush overcoming him. “And you must be master Perry?”
“Shake his paw, boy!” Perry senior commanded, ushering his cub forward.
With the cub nervously saying ‘hi’, Lucas was ready to take them around.
“You guys ever eaten with us here at B@?”
“No uh… no we…” The she-wolf pinned her ears as she stuttered her way through an answer.
“Too expensive!” The patriarch of the family, sulking as usual, was quick to open his big fat muzzle with a sullen mumble.
“Perry, shhhh!” Syka hushed him quiet, hissing her embarrassment between grit teeth.
“Heh, it’s totally OK, Mrs Zilvris. I understand. I’m not here to make you feel uneasy. I just want to show this young wolf that being a chef is an exciting and rewarding career.”
Perry senior rolled his eyes and crossed his paws again, the family trio now stood at the threshold of the kitchen.
“Speaking of… before we head in, I have something special for you, young wolf.” Luc’ reached into one of the brushed steel cabinets along the back wall. “Can’t possibly go into the engine room without the right gear, huh?!”
The bat handed over a cub-sized chef’s hat, admiring Perry’s cute enthusiasm and gratitude as he adjusted it atop his head. It settled perfectly between his ears. And now it was showtime!
Lucas took them on a tour, the family padding between sous and commis chefs preparing the day’s wares. Perry junior was thrilled, eyes and nose alight with the sights and gorgeous aromas of fine dining.
“Here, Perry...” The bat directed the youngster over to the broth and gravy station. “…try this out.”
“But chef, I haven’t…” Eric Faulds, a fox who’d been on Lucas’s brigade for more than a decade, tried to dissuade them from his unfinished creation; but his boss wanted to see this with his own eyes.
Perry took a spoon and carefully tasted the sauce for the lamb dish.
“It needs… rosemary.”
But he paused before relinquishing the limelight.
“And uh… you missed the alcohol. It’s not burnt off properly.”
Now that wasn’t what Lucas was expecting at all, taking his tasting spoon from a right shoulder pocket and dipping away.
“Paws above, he’s right.” He murmured with an excited smile, turning to his employee. “Eric, the cognac is still too strong.”
“Paws alive, I’m sorry, chef.”
“Don’t worry about it.” And now Lucas’s attention was back on Perry. “That’s… wow, that’s an incredible nose and palate you have for one so young. I’ve never smelled such talent.”
The chef ushered Perry to explore some more whilst he returned to the parents.
“I uh… I’m gonna’ go out on a limb here, folks, and say that I’d love to take him on as an apprentice. Weekends of course cos’ I know he’ll still have school. But by my wings, he’s gonna’ be somethin’ special!”
Perry senior, although perturbed and bored at first, had had the chance to smell the success in this kitchen. It was also the happy wag of Syka’s tail and the look on her muzzle that made him rethink his impudence; and now she was nodding her head as if to direct him to his son.
“Go on.” She smiled, wiping away a tear with her left paw. “He needs you.”
As he padded over to his cub – the youngster attentive at the vegetable station with sous chef Fang-Lee - Syka was keen to accept Lucas’s generous offer, warmly shaking his bony paw.
They watched on as the alpha and beta of the small Zilvris den were side by side once more.
“Hey, son?”
“Ye… yes, dad?”
“Do… do you think you could make me that drink? The one your grandma used to make me.”
The cub’s tail wagged happily. He was home at last.
***
This one's based on 'The Priest & the wolf'.
Enjoy!
*********
“Lunar Father, Leon, I’m so glad you’re here! Please, come on in.” Syka ushered the clergywolf into their suburban semi.
“Thank you, my cub.”
Syka and Perry Zilvris had called in a priest to exorcise what they saw as a huge issue with their only son, Perry junior. At barely twelve years-old, he was a curious little soul.
The youngster had, ever since birth, never truly spoken per se, rather communicating in words that pertained solely to food. He couldn’t scentmark properly, nor was he able to write anything other than recipes, meal ideas and grocery lists. He’d draw beautiful pictures of fruit at school, whereas his classmates would use their musk and scent to draw the kind o’ stuff that you’d expect from any young wolf cub
Boys’ kinda’ things, like weapons, cars and vast buildings to serve the great Lupic cause.
Enough was apparently enough.
The Lunar Father padded in and drew the moon’s circular shape in the air, the residents of this humble abode bowing as the wolf blessed their den. Leon was a tall member of his Order, standing six-seven and boasting a supremely dark pelt that was made even more distinct by his vivid green eyes. He’d long believed that he was destined to be part of the church with his “night-borne” fur.
So black it captured the light.
So dark it sparkled like the blessed stars above, the companions of the Moon’s righteous and holy wolven ‘pack’. He also bore the crescent tattoo of the Church of the Moon on his glabella, forever marking him as a dedicant of that silvery satellite.
“He’s in the kitchen making you a drink, Lunar Father.” Syka murmured nervously, directing their guest to a seat in the lounge, the smells of tepid dust and old beer coursing through the atmosphere.
“Why thank you.” The wolf took to the loveseat over by the window, removing his cowl and looking about, tail draped like a coal-dusted palm leaf over the arm. “And please… call me Leon.”
Mr Zilvris stood behind the sofa with a permanent scowl across his muzzle as Perry junior came padding through. He had a mug of venison broth in his paws, the beverage swirled perfectly with marrow cream. He wandered over gingerly and presented it to the holy wolf. With a smile and a nod of thanks, Leon took it and sipped. Paws alive, it was… amazing!
“Did you make this, young one?”
The cub blushed, his tail tucking between his footpaws as they pigeoned shyly.
“Venison cutlet, minced and diced, onion, lamb bone broth, salt, pepper, tepid marrow cream and a dash of horseradish.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Leon smiled.
“You see? You see what we mean?!” Syka interrupted the innocent moment, moving to her cub and caressing his muzzle with both paws as though she were petrified for his life. “He only ever talks about food, Father. Nothing else. Dontcha’ sweetheart, huh? Huh?”
“Hmm.” He murmured thoughtfully, watching as Perry shook off the rather paranoid attentions of his mum and leapt onto the sofa to play with his phone. Those clawed digits were soon busy swiping and dabbing.
Leon paused for a second before padding over to kneel before him, Perry looking up from his game, his ears pinning.
“It’s OK young one, I’m… I’m just going to take you through the alphabet. All that stuff you learnt long ago.” The huge wolf took both Perry’s paws into his own, gently caressing those warm little pads. They were positively trembling. “Now… the letter ‘A’ might be for…?”
“Avocado.” Perry soon realized what the Father meant. He perked up no sooner had he found this new chance to talk food.
“OK yes that is very true. But how about, ‘B’. That could be the first letter of…?”
“Beef.”
“Hmmm I see. And how about…”
“Celeriac.”
“Well, and…”
“Duck.”
All this woulda’ driven anyone else totally nuts. But far from being angry or frustrated, Leon got to his footpaws and ruffled the fur on Perry’s head.
“By the wax of the Great Moon, he is blossoming into a fine young wolf.”
“I’m sorry, what?!” Syka sat forward, her muzzle askance.
Her mate was no different and could remain sullenly silent no longer.
“Are you serious?!” Perry senior peeled a snarl at the Father. “Is this what we get from the church these days?!”
But Leon remained steadfast, his muzzle quiet and calm.
“I understand your trepidation, my cub. But your son’s muzzle is betraying his tail’s wag. You take him for a fool. But he is wasted. He is telling you what he desires. He is an artist. A chef.”
There was just silence… tail-stopping silence. The Father was used to this, padding over to Perry senior. He knew, no matter what he’d said or was about to say, that no wolf would lay a paw on a member of the Order.
“He has perfect scent, my cub. It’s like being blessed with perfect pitch for our most famous howlers. Mark my tail, your son will be a chef.”
“Not on my tail he won’t! Not a chance!” Perry senior growled, folding his paws and facing off with their guest. “He’ll be a military howler, you hear me?! Just like my father and his father before him. End of story!”
The youngster had had enough of the commotion and had wandered behind the two larger males. He began tugging on his dad’s tail with a pitiful droop in his own, a sunken defeat dampening those golden-yellow eyes.
“Get off me, boy! And don’t give me that wag either!”
“Crus… crushed roses.” He muttered, tears streaming down his muzzle.
“What?”
“Roses, syr... syrup of venison, bit… bitt… bitter cho… chocolate. Warmed. Serv… serv…”
“Stop it!”
“Served with two, sm… sma… small dri… dried lamb kid… kidneys.”
“I said stop it, boy!” He growled before yanking his tail away and storming into the kitchen, sulking to a chair at the dinner table. Perry senior now had his head down and was clasping his paws over his ears, desperately trying to deafen the upset mutterings of his only cub.
“Curious.” Leon murmured, watching the domestic disharmony unfold before his very nose.
“Perry? Perry, what in paws’ name is the matter?” Syka dashed after him, paws on either shoulder.
“My… Syka, that’s… that was my mother’s recipe for when I was…” Perry sniffled and lifted his head from the table, eyes damp with tears. He was desperate not to show emotion in front of Leon.
“When you were what?”
He got up, both paws ‘scrunched’ to fists atop the table, eyes cast into the lounge. Perry was holding so much back, given away by his droopy tail and dull scent.
“When my father walked out on us. When I was upset, she… she used to make it for me. How… how could he possibly know, Syk’?”
“I… I don’t know, love.”
And now they were stuck there, gazing over to where Lunar Father Leon stood staunchly behind their cub, both paws on Perry junior’s shoulders.
**
It was an eye-opening moment.
At Leon’s behest and with the blessing of the restaurant’s management, Syka and Perry took their only cub to see Lucas Jubatus, the chiropteran head chef at the critically acclaimed B@. Located in the AfterNight area of the city, this was way beyond the wags of many residents.
“This is a bad idea, Syk’.” Perry mumbled angrily. “We don’t belong here. You can just smell it, I…”
It was then that the boss bat himself padded out to meet them.
“Mr and Mrs Zilvris?”
The two parents simpered smiles as they shook paws with the Executive Chef, the bat giving a hearty welcome to his world. Dressed in his ‘whites’ with a hot-iron and herbaceous scent, he was a rather diminutive soul. Luc’ bore a ruff of flame-orange fur and a distinctive blunt snout, both taking all the notice from his deep, bark-brown eyes.
“Welcome one and all, and uh…” It was then that he noticed the youngster stood alongside his father, footpaws twizzling shyly and an adorable blush overcoming him. “And you must be master Perry?”
“Shake his paw, boy!” Perry senior commanded, ushering his cub forward.
With the cub nervously saying ‘hi’, Lucas was ready to take them around.
“You guys ever eaten with us here at B@?”
“No uh… no we…” The she-wolf pinned her ears as she stuttered her way through an answer.
“Too expensive!” The patriarch of the family, sulking as usual, was quick to open his big fat muzzle with a sullen mumble.
“Perry, shhhh!” Syka hushed him quiet, hissing her embarrassment between grit teeth.
“Heh, it’s totally OK, Mrs Zilvris. I understand. I’m not here to make you feel uneasy. I just want to show this young wolf that being a chef is an exciting and rewarding career.”
Perry senior rolled his eyes and crossed his paws again, the family trio now stood at the threshold of the kitchen.
“Speaking of… before we head in, I have something special for you, young wolf.” Luc’ reached into one of the brushed steel cabinets along the back wall. “Can’t possibly go into the engine room without the right gear, huh?!”
The bat handed over a cub-sized chef’s hat, admiring Perry’s cute enthusiasm and gratitude as he adjusted it atop his head. It settled perfectly between his ears. And now it was showtime!
Lucas took them on a tour, the family padding between sous and commis chefs preparing the day’s wares. Perry junior was thrilled, eyes and nose alight with the sights and gorgeous aromas of fine dining.
“Here, Perry...” The bat directed the youngster over to the broth and gravy station. “…try this out.”
“But chef, I haven’t…” Eric Faulds, a fox who’d been on Lucas’s brigade for more than a decade, tried to dissuade them from his unfinished creation; but his boss wanted to see this with his own eyes.
Perry took a spoon and carefully tasted the sauce for the lamb dish.
“It needs… rosemary.”
But he paused before relinquishing the limelight.
“And uh… you missed the alcohol. It’s not burnt off properly.”
Now that wasn’t what Lucas was expecting at all, taking his tasting spoon from a right shoulder pocket and dipping away.
“Paws above, he’s right.” He murmured with an excited smile, turning to his employee. “Eric, the cognac is still too strong.”
“Paws alive, I’m sorry, chef.”
“Don’t worry about it.” And now Lucas’s attention was back on Perry. “That’s… wow, that’s an incredible nose and palate you have for one so young. I’ve never smelled such talent.”
The chef ushered Perry to explore some more whilst he returned to the parents.
“I uh… I’m gonna’ go out on a limb here, folks, and say that I’d love to take him on as an apprentice. Weekends of course cos’ I know he’ll still have school. But by my wings, he’s gonna’ be somethin’ special!”
Perry senior, although perturbed and bored at first, had had the chance to smell the success in this kitchen. It was also the happy wag of Syka’s tail and the look on her muzzle that made him rethink his impudence; and now she was nodding her head as if to direct him to his son.
“Go on.” She smiled, wiping away a tear with her left paw. “He needs you.”
As he padded over to his cub – the youngster attentive at the vegetable station with sous chef Fang-Lee - Syka was keen to accept Lucas’s generous offer, warmly shaking his bony paw.
They watched on as the alpha and beta of the small Zilvris den were side by side once more.
“Hey, son?”
“Ye… yes, dad?”
“Do… do you think you could make me that drink? The one your grandma used to make me.”
The cub’s tail wagged happily. He was home at last.
***
Category Story / All
Species Wolf
Gender Multiple characters
Size 50 x 50px
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