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Description

It locked in place within the darkness, stiff. Soon after contemplating the girl’s response it came to its conclusion. “Impossible,” it spat at her. “You’ve never set your eyes upon me-” “But I have seen you somewhere!” Marceline corrected before she thought long and hard. “I have never seen you in my school or the city, but I think…”

    Her mind had pulled out a familiar memory. A followed scented trail of iced pine needles with a touch of smoky charred air came to her, accompanied with the overlapping sounds of chortling and eagerness. In the memory, she heard pitchy and scratchy voices racing closer and closer to the slender packed trees, trees that proudly towered their shadows across the snow-fallen acres of land. “Watch it, Duran!” a boy with reddened cheeks had bursted as he pushed through the other. Another boy ran up to the kid and shoved him down into the once untouched sheet of snow and commented “Whatever, I already called dibs!” He ran farther and farther away from Duran until his footsteps could no longer be heard. Duran had puffed and panted once Francis had run too far and was out of sight. The winds that day were getting too icy and harsh to the point it had brashly smacked Duran’s pale face against the dry and bitter bark and kicked him back onto the freezing snow. His cries in pain were muffled by the long echoing howls of the ice-splintering winds, but were noticed by the quiet child, layered in multiple thick wooled jackets, observing his distress. I remember it as if it was yesterday, Marceline thought to herself. Remembering she had helped him up and made it through the woods with him, despite the heavy snowfall and winds, they continued the walk.
    They had made their way deeper into the treacherous woods and eventually managed to find their cousin in a small opening, standing completely frozen (no pun intended hahah). From behind, Duran quickly readied his pouncing stance and had planned on serving back karma for what he did before. About a few seconds in, the two noticed how Francis was staying in place for an oddly long time. “He should’ve heard us coming here?” Duran whispered to Marceline, confused. He was ignored as she was attentively focused on Francis, following his gaze to the otherside of the opening. There, in front of the three children, were red paw prints inched on every part of the dirty snow and stood a gray accented wolf with piercing icy eyes from a distance, deathly staring into their widened eyes, full of fear. Duran wrapped his arms around Francis for protection, begging to leave the area together. Being the eldest of them, Francis did not want to be seen as inferior or weak. He looked back and reassured them, “It’s only a lone wolf,” as he recollected his laid-back composure. “He can’t do any damage without his pack,” he teased.
The atmosphere grew silent and tense. “And the boy decided throwing rocks at the wolf would scare it,” the voice recalled. “The wolf then used all of his remaining strength to scare the kids by all means, so that it could be left alone as it has always been since birth,” it said defensively. “It used its agonizing pain and let it out with a roar, making the boys run for their lives, but the girl stood her ground, still stuck with widened eyes. The wolf glared at the girl long enough to see tears running down her puffy cheeks. Oh why would the child cry? The wolf would wonder. Its fur settled down as the wolf lowered its head. The girl took one step closer to the wolf shyly and it reciprocated with caution. Once they were both at the center, the girl dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around the wolf all of a sudden, sobbing. “I’m so sorry!” she said in deep remorse. “I should’ve stopped them but I saw death staring at them and I didn’t know what to do.” Her grasp onto it was so tight, the wolf couldn’t move to loosen her grip. It was confusing, but then felt something deep in its now racing heart. What is this feeling?, the wolf thought as it whimpered, relieved of most of the swollen injuries. It feels new, but good; real love. With someone who gave it unconditional love to a wild animal, it fought the light to stay bound with Marceline for as long as it could, knowing she would be his only refuge from the harsh unforgiving world.”

“...And the wolf always came to visit me from that day on, showing me the beauty of the woods everyday. Just him and I,” Marceline lit up with a smile and watered eyes. “It’s funny, I remember there was a guy behind us. He had a matching set of eyes as my wolf friend. I don't know if it was just a coincidence, but it was something I couldn’t help but to notice,” she sighed.
    Without realization, the boys in her vision began to part ways. The dry leaves of red, orange, and yellow followed the boy in the striped shirt faded to the left and the other in a beanie as he faded to the right. The boy against her back turned his focus to her, eyes locked onto the ground, and kept his distance. She in turn refrained from making eye contact. I’m not allowed to look into his eyes unless he looks at me, she remembered. The pale blue light shone on his bruised and scarred left hand as he offered it to her. “Are you ready to see the truth?” the voice echoed. This has been the moment she had been waiting for. And there was no turning back now. “I’m ready,” she braced herself and took the familiar stranger’s hand. Seconds later, more dried leaves fell from the blackened sky out of thin air as the gust of winds picked up south, away from the faded boys’ directions. The boy held her hand firmly and ran into the direction of the ombres of red leaves deeper into the darkness of the once known woods. “I sure hope so.”
________________________________________________________

I might write a little bit about this later on in the week ;3 (update February 25th, I DID IT WITHIN THE WEEK!) I started this piece on February 10 and finished it today on February 18! It has been a while since I've drawn anything animal-related, heh... (I think the last time was October 21, 2022 on an Inktober piece "Bad Dog"). It was really cool learning some of the wolf anatomy!

Description

It locked in place within the darkness, stiff. Soon after contemplating the girl’s response it came to its conclusion. “Impossible,” it spat at her. “You’ve never set your eyes upon me-” “But I have seen you somewhere!” Marceline corrected before she thought long and hard. “I have never seen you in my school or the city, but I think…”

    Her mind had pulled out a familiar memory. A followed scented trail of iced pine needles with a touch of smoky charred air came to her, accompanied with the overlapping sounds of chortling and eagerness. In the memory, she heard pitchy and scratchy voices racing closer and closer to the slender packed trees, trees that proudly towered their shadows across the snow-fallen acres of land. “Watch it, Duran!” a boy with reddened cheeks had bursted as he pushed through the other. Another boy ran up to the kid and shoved him down into the once untouched sheet of snow and commented “Whatever, I already called dibs!” He ran farther and farther away from Duran until his footsteps could no longer be heard. Duran had puffed and panted once Francis had run too far and was out of sight. The winds that day were getting too icy and harsh to the point it had brashly smacked Duran’s pale face against the dry and bitter bark and kicked him back onto the freezing snow. His cries in pain were muffled by the long echoing howls of the ice-splintering winds, but were noticed by the quiet child, layered in multiple thick wooled jackets, observing his distress. I remember it as if it was yesterday, Marceline thought to herself. Remembering she had helped him up and made it through the woods with him, despite the heavy snowfall and winds, they continued the walk.
    They had made their way deeper into the treacherous woods and eventually managed to find their cousin in a small opening, standing completely frozen (no pun intended hahah). From behind, Duran quickly readied his pouncing stance and had planned on serving back karma for what he did before. About a few seconds in, the two noticed how Francis was staying in place for an oddly long time. “He should’ve heard us coming here?” Duran whispered to Marceline, confused. He was ignored as she was attentively focused on Francis, following his gaze to the otherside of the opening. There, in front of the three children, were red paw prints inched on every part of the dirty snow and stood a gray accented wolf with piercing icy eyes from a distance, deathly staring into their widened eyes, full of fear. Duran wrapped his arms around Francis for protection, begging to leave the area together. Being the eldest of them, Francis did not want to be seen as inferior or weak. He looked back and reassured them, “It’s only a lone wolf,” as he recollected his laid-back composure. “He can’t do any damage without his pack,” he teased.
The atmosphere grew silent and tense. “And the boy decided throwing rocks at the wolf would scare it,” the voice recalled. “The wolf then used all of his remaining strength to scare the kids by all means, so that it could be left alone as it has always been since birth,” it said defensively. “It used its agonizing pain and let it out with a roar, making the boys run for their lives, but the girl stood her ground, still stuck with widened eyes. The wolf glared at the girl long enough to see tears running down her puffy cheeks. Oh why would the child cry? The wolf would wonder. Its fur settled down as the wolf lowered its head. The girl took one step closer to the wolf shyly and it reciprocated with caution. Once they were both at the center, the girl dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around the wolf all of a sudden, sobbing. “I’m so sorry!” she said in deep remorse. “I should’ve stopped them but I saw death staring at them and I didn’t know what to do.” Her grasp onto it was so tight, the wolf couldn’t move to loosen her grip. It was confusing, but then felt something deep in its now racing heart. What is this feeling?, the wolf thought as it whimpered, relieved of most of the swollen injuries. It feels new, but good; real love. With someone who gave it unconditional love to a wild animal, it fought the light to stay bound with Marceline for as long as it could, knowing she would be his only refuge from the harsh unforgiving world.”

“...And the wolf always came to visit me from that day on, showing me the beauty of the woods everyday. Just him and I,” Marceline lit up with a smile and watered eyes. “It’s funny, I remember there was a guy behind us. He had a matching set of eyes as my wolf friend. I don't know if it was just a coincidence, but it was something I couldn’t help but to notice,” she sighed.
    Without realization, the boys in her vision began to part ways. The dry leaves of red, orange, and yellow followed the boy in the striped shirt faded to the left and the other in a beanie as he faded to the right. The boy against her back turned his focus to her, eyes locked onto the ground, and kept his distance. She in turn refrained from making eye contact. I’m not allowed to look into his eyes unless he looks at me, she remembered. The pale blue light shone on his bruised and scarred left hand as he offered it to her. “Are you ready to see the truth?” the voice echoed. This has been the moment she had been waiting for. And there was no turning back now. “I’m ready,” she braced herself and took the familiar stranger’s hand. Seconds later, more dried leaves fell from the blackened sky out of thin air as the gust of winds picked up south, away from the faded boys’ directions. The boy held her hand firmly and ran into the direction of the ombres of red leaves deeper into the darkness of the once known woods. “I sure hope so.”
________________________________________________________

I might write a little bit about this later on in the week ;3 (update February 25th, I DID IT WITHIN THE WEEK!) I started this piece on February 10 and finished it today on February 18! It has been a while since I've drawn anything animal-related, heh... (I think the last time was October 21, 2022 on an Inktober piece "Bad Dog"). It was really cool learning some of the wolf anatomy!