False Sense of Security | To Find it in One's Heart #1 | WolfQuest Anniversary Edition
24Tarantula was a relatively happy pup, finding comfort and safety in her parents and littermates. She loved to curl up in the den with her siblings and sleep until Bug or Roach returned with food, toys, or occasionally just another pack’s scent on their fur as they lay down exhausted in a pile of playful pups. Tarantula loved exploring, playing by herself or with others, and she loved her pack.
On one journey to a new den, a sudden cougar ambush sent both parents into a panic. Tarantula, not paying attention to her surroundings, was surprised when claws raked across her muzzle and sharp teeth met her sides. Terror filled the young pup for the first time as she was picked up and carried away from her siblings. But her mother, with quick thinking, chased after the large cat, digging her teeth into its tail with such force that it caused the cougar to release her pup. Tarantula stood completely still, stunned from the experience as Roach thundered past her. Above the aggressive growls and terrifying hisses of the cougar, Tarantula barely heard Bug telling her to run- but with a great effort she began to stumble towards the grass, tremors running through her body. The cougar, slipping away from Roach and Bug, tried the same tactic as before- nearly snatching Tarantula again, but the fear of the two wolves on its tail got the better of it.
Once more Tarantula was picked up roughly by the scruff, and a growl rumbled in her mother’s throat. “Don’t you EVER scare me like that again, or next time, I WILL feed you to the cougar,” Bug said harshly, the fur along her neck bristling as she reprimanded her pup.
Tarantula tensed in her mother’s jaws as Bug brought her closer to the fleeing predator and set her roughly on the ground. “The next time I tell you to run, you RUN. Do you have any idea how much danger you were in? If I see you hesitate to follow one more time on this journey, we’re leaving you behind.”
The young pup’s eyes widened. Instead of gratitude and a greater love for her mother, she felt a coldness strike deep in her heart. It wasn’t her fault! Slug and Katydid had been right next to her, the cougar could’ve taken any one of her siblings, but it had chosen her. She had been helpless, defenseless, and afraid, and now her mother’s harsh words only served to frighten her more, and hurt far worse than the scratch on her muzzle.
Now her father had returned, breathless after chasing the cougar far away from the family. He sent her to the grass, and she went willingly- her only sense of relief was escaping the confrontation with her mother, and the cougar’s somewhat fading scent, though it would linger on her pelt for many days.
Bug’s resolve did not waver, and she remained strict and tense throughout the remainder of the journey, though especially keeping a watchful eye on Tarantula, whose paws were threatening to drag under her mixed emotions. No longer did her family feel like a safe haven, no longer did the den remain a warm and comforting place. She often slept away from her family after the den flooded. She didn’t tussle with her packmates anymore, and was always on edge when she played by herself.
She didn’t realize that Bug’s seemingly cruel words were from a place of love and a desire to protect, that the harshness was simply a reflection of a parent’s stress over a traumatic situation. Tarantula only knew that her trust had been broken and her heart ached.
Due to her drifting ever further from her family, she was on her own when rival wolves attacked, further from the grass than the rest of the pups. Roach made sure to escort her to safety, but that time wasted only caused the attack to be far more brutal- and Tarantula’s sister, Ladybug, paid for it with her life.
This event nearly broke the family, each of the pups realizing their own mortality. Roach and Bug acted much differently, no longer cheerful and often quite distant at times. They relocated the pups to the river, where they met their cousins for the first time. Tarantula was indifferent to the situation, vowing only to learn the skills she needed to protect herself from the unfairness of life as a wild wolf in a struggling pack. She is now focused mainly on her own survival, knowing better than to rely on her trust of other wolves.
- Credits -
Game: WolfQuest Anniversary Edition
Recording/editing software used: OBS, Shotcut
Art Channel: @-snowfrost-7988
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