``I've had enough! What is wrong with you guys?! And why are there so many of you?! I literally and figuratively cannot breathe!'' Winnie threw a furred butt off herself into the mass of bodies. It seemed that the older she got the less patience she had for her more rowdy siblings.
It was taking all of her patience to not bark or growl at them, though it was arguably more effective than trying to speak properly. With a huff she waded to the exit in an attempt to escape before the next free-for-all wrestling match broke out.
But as much as she wanted to stay in-doors she knew that it wouldn't be long before someone smelled her out and tried to drag her back into the fray. Grumbling to herself she wandered the hotel as she racked her brain for a place with any measure of respite.
And as she leaned against a window and stared outside it hit her. Outside. Why not just go outside. It made so much sense, they weren't allowed out there. She could sneak away for a bit before her absence could cause any worry. It was the perfect plan.
What she'd do outside wasn't important, that could be figured out when she got there. All that mattered was getting some peace and quiet from the insanity that was her massive family.
Nodding to herself, the Werewolf made her way to the bowels of the hotel, hoping to enter one of the many secret tunnels before any of her brothers realized where she was heading off to. How hard could it be to find an alternative way out?
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Winnie burst out into the surface as the cold night air ruffled her fur. While she was grateful that the winding tunnels resulted in no one following her it was a small miracle that she even made it out.
Whatever she ended up doing out here better have been worth it. She continued to grumble to herself as she brushed flecks of dust and other debris out of her fur. It was a nice night though, seeing the moon and stars was completely different compared to within the castle.
However she didn't endure all that nonsense just to stare at the sky. Surely there was something of interest to do off of hotel grounds. Picking a random direction the Werewolf started her journey towards the forest, intent on seeing what was on the other side.
To her surprise and glee, she only needed to travel halfway through the haunted woods before encountering something of interest: humans. Dennis didn't count, he was only a half-human and as fond as she was of him she had always wanted to know what full humans were like.
They certainly were dressed differently, with brown tunics or were they dresses? It was hard to tell in the dim light what they were, especially with the hoods covering their faces. You'd think that the torches that they were carrying would help but all it did was cast rippling shadows in all directions.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she scampered through the bushes beside them as quietly as possible. At this range she could smell them causing her to wrinkle her nose, definitely not as pleasant as Dennis, likely not as clean.
``...ear somethi...''
``..op trying to sca...''
They were whispering to each other, but she couldn't quite hear what. The air now had another scent mingling in it, was it fear? Why were they scared? There were plenty of them to keep each other company and their fire should provide enough light.
Maybe she could help alleviate some of these fears. She was strong enough to guide them to wherever they were going, not that there was anything really dangerous in these woods anyways. But it would be a handy excuse to make some more human friends who already looked more reasonable than her siblings.
``Hey there! Are you alright? Need some help?'' With a flourish the Werewolf leapt into the path in front of the strangely dressed humans. She smiled as wide as she could and spread her arms out.
So it was to her surprise when they all ran off screaming and crying back where they came from. Their movements were so frantic and unexpected that she didn?t know how to respond. They were tripping over everything and soon they had left her all alone in the dark.
Well that was completely unexpected, and to be honest, Winnie's feelings were just a little bit hurt. She wasn't that scary was she? But given that it was unlikely that regular humans had ever seen a werewolf before it made sense that they'd be a bit taken aback. Especially since it was so dark out.
Determined to right this wrong she strode off down the dirt path in hopes of encountering the group again. How could she refine her approach? Maybe she just needed to let them see her first as opposed to surprising them like that.
And luckily for her, exactly that happened. Before she realized it a row of humans were blocking the path in front of her.
``Hi! My name is Winnie! What are you guys doing out here at this hour?'' There, that should be friendly enough. But even though they were easily twice her size the fear in their faces was palpable and no one responded to her.
Rustles were all around and in her peripheral vision she could see more humans popping up. A semi-circle had formed and the Werewolf was now starting to feel a little uneasy.
``Are, are you guys ok? What's going on?'' She took a few steps back but when she turned to look behind her another row of humans was closing in. They had her surrounded in an instant and she had been completely oblivious to their efforts.
``Um, I'm not going to hurt you guys. See? Look how small I am compared to all of you!'' That seemed to work a little. The aggressiveness in their eyes dimmed a touch but before she could react a heavy net was thrown and she was pinned to the ground.
``Gotcha! We did it boys! We've subdued a horrific werebeast before it could ravage and destroy our village!'' A light cheer went through the crowd as a different human approached the net.
``You know, for a supernatural monster it doesn't look all that intimidating. Honestly it looks kind of small and harmless.'' Mutters of agreement were heard until the first human spoke up again.
``That's the whole point! You need to deal with them now before they grow up, get big, and become a problem! Don't you get it?!'' It appeared that the mob was split between the two people who were arguing with each other.
``Fine, you're so smart. Now that we've caught it, how do we ``subdue'' it? Go on, you clearly have all the plans and ideas. What do we do next.''
``Uhhh...'' Human number one hesitated for a moment, ``You know, I have to consult my books back in the village. Let's take it back there and decide what to do.''
``I have a name you know. It's Winnie. Can you let me go please?'' All of them jumped back screaming in terror as the Werewolf tried to free herself.
``DON'T LISTEN TO IT! IT'LL CORRUPT YOUR MIND WITH ITS FOUL WORDS AND TURN YOU INTO ONE OF THEM! COVER YOUR EARS!'' All of them were screaming now and their voices echoed amongst the trees scaring away the sleeping wildlife but also preventing Winnie from being heard.
She was quickly lifted up and dumped into a thick bag, which then was thrown into another, and another. Only when they were confident that they couldn't hear her talk did they begin walking.
It was dark inside the bags and fairly uncomfortable. It was stuffy and they jostled the bag frequently on their journey but the worst part was how they had unfairly imprisoned her. All she had wanted to do was find some new humans friends and get to know them and this was how she was being treated.
She could hear them mumbling but asides from that she might as well have been deaf too. Thankfully the trip was short but when the final bag was opened they quickly gagged her.
Struggling to get free she found little success due to the sheer number of arms and hands. This was made more difficult by the fact that she didn't want to risk harming any of them but it also meant that she soon found herself dragged towards some strange contraption.
It looked like a little bed but the headboard had two shackles which they shoved her wrists into and locked. Meanwhile her feet were inserted into the holes at the baseboard and secured into place. All in all, moderately uncomfortable.
Try as she might she found all movement impossible asides from her neck and head. Not that it did much good to see what was going on. The humans were poring over a giant tome and chattering amongst themselves.
``It says here that you're supposed to stuff them with garlic and stab their hearts out with a stake!''
``Are you an idiot? That's for vampires! Who taught you how to read?!''
``This picture shows them cutting off the hands and feet and burying them with it.''
``What about drowning? If it floats then it's a monster!''
``We're not testing for witches you moron! We already know it's a monster so let's just chop its head off and be done with.''
``It's a werewolf right? Silver kills werewolves I think.''
Winnie was genuinely getting frightened now and was actually grateful for the gag in her mouth. That way they couldn't hear her whimpers as she fought back tears.
``Do I look like I'm made of money? If you want, we can melt down your necklace and turn that into a weapon.''
``Are you out of your mind? This was my Great Grandmother's! I'm not using it to kill some monster!''
``Guys, shut up!'' Someone pointed to the book and after some hushed whispers they all dispersed, leaving her alone in the room absolutely frightened of what method of disposal they were planning to use.
And she was understandably confused when they returned with a number of oversized feathers in their hands.
``Do it gently at first. We need to gauge the response and increase the intensity if it works.''
``And if it doesn't, off with its head!''
``Shut up Robert and get working.'' A grumbling man approached Winnie and stood in front of her feet. The werewolf froze with fear. What horrific torture was this human planning to do to her? She closed her eyes and braced herself for the worst.
And felt the feather lightly brush against the footpads of her hindpaws.
Confused, she opened her eyes up to see the person kneeling down with the feather in hand waving it against her feet.
``It ain't working. Time to move onto the next thing.''
``Who are you trying to tickle there? Your Great Grandmother? Try harder!'' Someone walked over and slapped the human called Robert in the back of the head as he grumbled and tried again.
This time the feather was applied with much greater force and Winnie found herself squirming to escape. Of course it was absolutely futile but her reactions seemed to be generating a position response from the humans.
``Alright, I guess it is working. What now? We finished? Is it tamed now?''
``Book says to do it until it can't move no more. Do both its feet at the same time. Maybe that'll speed it up.''
A second feather was now stroking her other foot and soon tears were forming in her eyes from the ``torture''. Now she was once again grateful for the gag in her mouth but for different reasons as she tore into it with her fangs. Her uncontrollable giggling was being eaten up and converted into muffled rambling when the tickling suddenly stopped.
``I'm getting pretty tired. Is there an easier way to do this?''
``Are you serious? Are you weak or something? It's just a feather.''
``Hey, if you want to take over, be my guest. Give me a second I'm going to try something else.''
The feathers were transferred to someone else as Robert trundled out of the room. Winnie soon found herself chomping into the cloth as the contraption holding her rattled from her futile attempts to escape. Teary streaks were running down her face just as the human returned.
``Watcha got there?''
``Just watch.''
He was carrying a bucket and waddled over to her feet and dumped the contents. A rush of cold water drenched everything while also making a mess on the floor.
``What is wrong with you?! Do you like doing stupid things?''
Robert didn't respond and instead whistled. Something clopped down the stairs with their cloven feet and the werewolf gave a confused look at the goats that had appeared at the bottom of the staircase.
Guiding the animals over, they gave her feet a cursory sniff before hesitant licks became their coarse tongues dragging into every square inch. This was far more erratic and encompassing than the feathers could ever hope to be and soon her writhing increased tenfold.
``Ya got some kinda fetish you wanna tell us about Rob?''
``Shut up! Look! It's already working!''
``Aren't their tongues so rough that it'll tear through flesh and skin? We ain't running a torture shop down here.''
That may have been true for a regular human. But Winnie was far more durable and the scratchy tongues only served to be more effective feathers. As they scoured her paw pads in the hunt for more salt they inevitably found deeper and more sensitive parts of her feet.
The gag wouldn't last much longer. Already she could hear her own laughter seeping through the torn gaps in the cloth. The goats were getting more bold but why were they so focused on the water from her feet?
``When they slow down I got another bucket of salt water here to keep `em going.''
``You got some weird ideas Robert but I can't argue with this one.''
The bed-contraption thing was rattling violently as it struggled to contain the werewolf's squirms. She had begun spitting out scraps of fabric to preemptively avoid accidentally choking on it later. The glint of her gradually liberated fangs did not escape notice.
``Guys, we gotta problem here.''
``Just put another gag on it.''
``You wanna lose a hand? Go for it.''
``Look, let's just redouble our efforts and completely exhaust it. We know the ritual is complete when it can't move or speak anymore.''
``Anyone got more feathers?''
Winnie could only watch as they approached her from both sides. Feathers in hand they assailed her sides, up and down her ribcage going as far as her armpits right to her hips. If she wasn't so securely fastened she likely would have injured herself trying to escape.
But the only thing escaping was her howls of laughter. By this point it was entirely plausible that the pitiful remains of the muzzle had been swallowed because now her roars were likely deafening.
Cotton was quickly procured and crammed into the ears of both humans and the goats who had become startled. But they were easily bribed back in place when another bucket of salt water was dumped onto her feet.
And then even more feathers were produced. Two humans were on each side so that they could dedicate their efforts to the specific segment of her body. Not a single inch was spared as Winnie screeched even louder. Her cheeks were drenched in tears and her chin soaked with spittle from all the laughing.
``I THINK WE ALMOST GOT IT. KEEP GOING!''
The humans were yelling in order to hear one another over the werewolf with limited success given how loud she was and the makeshift earplugs that they were using. But what finally broke her was when another human squeezed in and lowered a final feather onto her stomach.
It barely touched but it did the job. With one final convulsion her mouth threatened to tear her face in half as she yowled a silent scream.
And then she collapsed, sweaty, heaving, and completely exhausted.
``Did it, did it work?''
``I guess? I mean, it isn't moving anymore. Which means that we've purified its spirit. I think.''
``What does that even mean?! Give me the book!''
As the humans bickered and led the goats away, Winnie took the time to catch her breath and comprehend what had just happened. Certainly not how she expected her first interaction with pure-blooded humans to go but it wasn't all that bad. She still preferred whatever just happened to being with her brothers.
Without warning she found herself pulled out of the contraption and helped to unsteady feet. A towel was brought over to dry her off and then a seat was offered.
``Well if ya ain't a threat no more yer welcome to a meal with us.''
The other humans nodded as a spread of cheese and bread loaves replaced the book on the table. Some of them were already digging in.
Were all humans like this? They might be a bit dumb but at least they weren't mean-spirited. Taking the chair she helped herself to the food and opted to just listen and watch her new friends.
