Aubrey's Day
Character Challenge for: http://moontouched.deviantart.com/
Character by: http://frizz-of-fury.deviantart.com/
Pic from: http://frizz-of-fury.deviantart.com/art/Aubrey-Matthews-212792953
The bird was not singing. Nor was the bird chirping like it would have been usually.
All was not right in the world and everyone around knew it. Then again it wasn't such a surprise considering it was that time of the month.
Bake Sale Time.
Today was the day that Aubrey had received a super deluxe order to be shipped out by 3 PM this morning from a company in Elkhorn which was having an even later on that evening and it was already noon. The café known as Sweet Spot was one of the best places to come for homemade brioche and other quality baked goods in Elkhorn and today that truth was being tested. People in the café watched with rapt attention as Aubrey ran around like the Mad Hatter about her little shop; checking over the all the pastries, cakes, cookies and making sure that they were boxed, wrapped and placed on the cart to be loaded into the back of her truck to be shipped into town.
A curse of having a shop all the way in the middle of the forest was that it would take almost an hour to drive into the city to deliver goods. Which was why when the order came in, via a smartly dressed man who looked like he was almost bloated with money from his too charming smile, Aubrey made sure to charge more than the normal rate for her goods when the guy...not asking, telling her that he needed a shipment of baked goods by a certain time that afternoon. The man who had come by earlier having made it crystal clear that if the shipment was late by any more than twenty minutes then he wasn't going to pay the full price when Birdie accepted a check from him; the check in question being half the amount of the total order for what she had charged him.
Looking at the auburn haired werewolf, or rather girl to most people, running around like a whirlwind making sure that everything was progressing smoothly, many patrons could almost swear that there were three Birdies running around the small café. Time was running out and as the hour got close to 1 PM Birdie was panicking more and more and getting a series of cramps in her stomach that she failed to take note of as she packed another round of cookies into a plain white box and carried them onto the cart into the back.
Her failure of her own body's warning however, hadn't been missed by someone, or rather several someone's, who were watching with rising concern as they noticed fur starting to coat over Aubrey's hands and naked shoulders while her voice became more low and growly as she coughed out orders to her frenzied staff. Looking around, noting that some of the people were starting to take second ganders at Aubrey and questioning what they're senses were telling them, the wolves in the crowd realized that they didn't have much time to act. So when two of them got up from their seats and then went outside without a word no one bothered to notice save for the other werewolves who readied themselves to act.
Of course this had nothing to do with Birdie as she continued with her original duties...up until the point where the lights suddenly flickered out and the ovens turned off. That in itself wouldn't have been such a bad thing since Aubrey could see in the dark when her natural lupine internal vision kicked in, however, when the rational part of her brain decided to kick in, after she couldn't hear pastries simmering in the ovens anymore...well things didn't go well.
In the middle of the day with people in a dark café since the blinds were closed at the time, a large order having to go out in less than two hours and Aubrey just now realizing that she was not going to be able to get everything out in time...she snapped.
Fur, fangs, claws and a long tail slipped out from her human guise, breaking apart the seams of her clothing like jelly from a glazed doughnut, and if it hadn't been for the murmurs around her, or the twin sets of hands bum rushing her out of the room and through the backdoor one of her more impressive secrets would have been out of the proverbial bag. By the time Aubrey realized that two larger and furrier creatures had hold on her she was violently snapping and growling at them as they rushed her from the café and into the surrounding woods. Fighting for all her worth to get free, now not even consciously aware of what she was doing and just instinctively wanting to be free to return to her den-home, Aubrey was almost completely feral by this point.
This fact coupled with the growing bulk in between their arms addled the two other werewolves as they were forced to carry Aubrey far off from her establishment to keep her from doing something fatal in her stressed out state-of-mind. Fully changed by now, Aubrey was an extra half hundred pounds bigger and squirming and thrashing like some kind of fish on a hook making the two holding her pant heavily and then grunt between each other. Moving far enough away for their comfort the two werewolves looked to each other and then huffed out growls before stopping together and then dropping the bird onto the grass then backing away from her. It took a minute for the werewolf Aubrey to realize that she could escape and snapped out a growl before bounding a path back to her den, or trying to before twin furred walls stopped her dead in her tracks.
Not understanding, Aubrey tried to go around the two only to have the both of them circle around in front of her and block her path once again. Angry, Aubrey barked and tried to bow guard pass the two werewolves only to have the both of them stand their ground and bark back at her in return. Grunting and snarling quietly, Aubrey backed away and then sat onto her haunches before trying to find another way to go and getting blockaded once again and then having the same effect as before when she tried to push herself between the two.
This went on for a full ten minutes with Aubrey getting blocked by the other werewolves, who in their motions made sure not to get anywhere near Aubrey's fangs when she snapped at them in desperation. Lips curled away from her teeth, tongue licking out over said canines in a show of aggression, Aubrey's back arched and her tail rose into a straight line to the sky as she twisted her head back and forth trying to find a way from out of the two werewolf's barrier.
On one side there was a large pale white wolf, clearly male by his posturing and his gait; he had to have been at least twice as big as Aubrey and completely confident in himself as he sat and looked down at her as if she was some pup. Aubrey had no desire to try and barrel directly into him to try and make a path for freedom making her look to the other werewolf and judge said creature's worth. The second wolf was a little bigger than herself when it came to width but that wasn't so unthinkable since the other was also a young female if her scent was anything to go by. With an amalgamation of light brown and white fur the other female stood half a head shorter and that made Aubrey snarl at the other and ground her claws into the soft earth to try and ready herself to tackle the other before a little piece of reality hit her. This tiny thing being no bigger than a droplet of rainwater was both sticky and smelled like syrup as hit Aubrey right on the nose making the werewolf yelp and then quickly look up.
Up above a skyline full of leaves decorated the world forcing Aubrey to take a moment to breathe in the various scents of the forest around her and nearly loll from the pleasant but sharp cocktail of musky odors that made up Elkhorn woodland. The smells, so familiar and liberating in their texture as they ran across her nose, made Aubrey calm down instantly and then take a look down the lines of her snout to see that the fur on her nose was not only sticky with tree sap but moist and black in coloration which meant that...
The brown werewolf looked around to see what she knew to be the truth in the fact that she had indeed wolfed out and was now supporting a heavy coat of brown fur complete with paw pads and a tail and two set of sharply pointed ears which danced around on top of her head. Tipping her head to look at the other two werewolves, who were passively sitting on their haunches in front of her, tails wagging in various states of joy, Aubrey fell down onto her side and then began to groan and roll around like a happy dog in front of their owners. Panting and kicking up the earth in front of her Aubrey whimpered a bit only to receive two large furry noses pushing into face and then snuffling over her throat and face when the other deemed her sane enough to come over and survey. A set of warm tongues over her face made Aubrey groan and pant happily as she returned the show of adoration while lowering her ears flat onto her head and wagging her tail behind her rapidly.
The trio spent several minutes going over each other with nose and tongue before Aubrey got up and then started to head back in the way she knew her café was. However, this action gets cop-blocked by two massive walls of fur and Aubrey, in complete confusion whimpered and tilted her head to the side, one ears raised and then other flopped down, pawing at the earth in a show of uncertainty. The larger white wolf growled and butted Aubrey back away from her path while the smaller twin toned wolf panted into Aubrey's face and then helped to push her away when Aubrey tried to hold her ground.
Mind focused on getting back to her shop and fulfilling her duties, Aubrey got a rude surprised when sharp fangs nipped her right on the end of the tail making her yelp and spin around only to see the large white wolf with several strands of her fur in between his teeth chuckling a growl at her.
Completely taken aback, indignity hit Aubrey like a freight train and soon her ruff was pulling up as she makes a sharp lunge for the other. The white wolf, already prepared for this, ducked out of the way and then dances off while chuffing out huffs of laughter. Joining in on the fun, the twin toned wolf nipped and head butts Aubrey making her turn her head to the side and then snarl at the traitorous female. All this led up to inevitable and soon a long bout of running between the three takes up the focus of the three werewolves time with Aubrey hastily trying to catch up to the others in front of her to chase them down to show her appreciation for their antics.
The sun moved throughout the sky in at a leisured pace as the trio pace themselves without really thinking about it. In the rush of all three having so much fun together than the hours tick pass by without anyone really noticing it.
Aubrey's fast paced trot returned to her normal skipping lop somewhere in-between the small groups chase and in turn it made the other two slow down and then turn to play tackling each other in an effort to get the other to catch them. When one perpetrator tackled the other and then dashed off in the opposite direction of the group's former path the others easily followed suit, all of them unmindful of where they were going and uncaring about what may await them up ahead.
Three howls echo out throughout the forest turning the heads of the surrounding animals, both humanoid and feral. Many look up with various emotions of their faces as birds take to the sky from the trembling call by the three playful werewolves.
It was almost twilight when the trio found their way back to the Sweet Spot café and by the time they did return Aubrey is so elated and panting heavily from their hard run that she doesn't it even care that the parking spaces around her building are empty even though the lights are back on now. Padding through the door in the back, always unlocked for whenever she wanted to take off suddenly, as she always ended up forgetting her keys because she lived on the second floor of the café, Aubrey and the others went to the upper rooms to shift back to their human selves.
Three forms came down to the first floor and were somewhat impressed to find an older bespectacled woman sipping a small cup of tea with four other cups set around her at her table and a large grey pot steaming in wait. Aubrey and others came over and then sat down and were served tea by the older woman and thus began a long evening of apologizes and thanks as the bird returned to her former self while smiling to some of the greatest friends anyone could have. Sometime later an older gentle with gray hair pulled up in a truck and then walked into the café through the back and as all heads turned towards him Aubrey realized that sometimes being a werewolf could be the greatest thing in the world...especially with friends like the one she had around her.