Wolf Apologies

I’m still bored. But also guilty of wolf crimes. Poco and I can’t find that dang wolf anywhere and I still need someone who can talk to me so that I don’t go completely insane. Being probably a little insane is already enough of an issue.

I also need to actually apologize to the guy because apparently he’s been sentient this entire time and I’ve been trying to go after him to bully him. That’s not great but he also just refused to speak.

I’m definitely more in the wrong though, he’s only kinda in the wrong. 

“Wolf guy! I’m sorry I electrocuted your butt can we talk? I know we’ve had our differences but maybe we could be buddies????” I say without an ounce of confidence. It’s broad daylight. They’re definitely nocturnal since I only see them at night.

“I’m also sorry for dousing you with water! In hindsight that was really mean!” I shout. Poco bounces in response, but there’s nothing from the wolves. I decide to stop for now and busy myself with other matters. A thought enters my head then.

“Hey Poco, where did you come from? Why haven’t I seen any other slimes like you?” I ask the small being.

Poco begins bouncing away.

“Wait- Poco wait up!” I start chasing after them, and after around a minute I find myself in front of a cave.

“Oh. so that’s why I haven’t seen any other slimes.” I grimace.

“Cave systems are terrible- wait,” Before a proper objection can be made, Poco is already bounding inside of the cave that they apparently came from.

Refusing to be reduced to only talking to fish, I continue to follow this cruel blob.

“Poco you know I hate caves you little butt!” It feels like they’re mocking me with their bouncing. They shifted themselves into a butt they’re absolutely mocking me.

As we head further into the cave, I see more and more slimes of many colors. Blue, green, red, yellow, lots of colors. There’s an even amount of about all of them, and it seems like they’re ignoring me.

Taking this as a blessing, I continue my chase after Poco. After a minute or two, I find myself in a throne room? In a cave? For some reason? Yeah that’s weird.

It looks like Poco is talking to someone, and as I look up I realize it’s a giant clear colored slime; sitting on a throne.

“Now child I must ask, why are you shaped like a tiny butt?” The large slime inquires. He looks as if he realized something. Somehow.

“Oh it seems your guest has made it! Never mind the butt, you can explain later,” The slime states.

“Hello Rain! Poco here has told me much about you, like how you are incredibly lonely because you can’t really converse with anyone,” The slime states.

“Oh. No one's ever put it that bluntly before but yeah,”

“Of course no one's put it like that, it’s likely that no one’s ever even put it like anything at all. But getting to business, I hear you beat the moonlights out of the wolves and soaked their pack leader, and now you want to apologize to them?”

“Yes very much so, I did not know they were sentient and now I feel a lot worse than I did initially,”

“Well you shouldn’t feel too bad, creatures like them just respawn. Same souls and everything,”

I take a moment to process this fact. 

“Oh, At least they’re alive. . . But how do I apologize? I’m not sure my ideas good enough,”

“The warm towels? They might not say it but they’d love something like that, being dry and warm is their favorite. I’d recommend requesting one big one from the slime house, they’re communal and would like being able to share,”

“Thank you Mr. Big Slime for your wisdom. I will go through with the big warm towel,”

“Wonderful child, now Poco informed me that you do in fact loathe caves, so seeing how our business is discussed I will bid thee farewell. So farewell,” The big slime teleports us out to the entrance of the cave.

Woah, that’s a powerful big slime I guess. I look down towards Poco.

“Hey why are you still a butt? Is this butt humor hour or something?” I mean butts can be funny, but it’s starting to feel a bit overused. I guess Poco likes it quite a bit though.

Before I can think about it any further, Poco turns back into their regular blob like self. Guess they got tired of it too. I pick them up, and we begin walking back towards the cottage.

“Well Poco, we seem to have a new request for the house to do. Are you ready to have it make the giant ultimate warm towel?” Poco quivers in response. A fair reaction from a naturally cold and wet being.

“Oh yeah wait- you being warm and dry would be horrible for you wouldn’t it? Sorry Poco. I’ll make sure to keep the big towel faaaaaar away from you, okay?” Poco shakes themselves up and down in response, signifying agreement.

“You can skip out on this one too if you want, it’d suck if you came into contact with the moisture sucker known as a warm towel,” Poco hesitates a moment, but eventually nods in agreement.

“Don’t worry I’ll be okay, this is a diplomatic quest after all,” I say this knowing that there’s a fair chance that it could get non-diplomatic as soon as I step foot in the wolves vicinity, but I think it’s better to have a comfort like that.

Not long after this reassurance, we make it back to the cottage. Chamomile’s nubs have grown longer, now bearing more resemblance to arms and legs. She’s also a bit blue, so I drop two berries in her tank.

I wonder if maybe she’s some kind of frog-like creature and I got her in a tadpole stage? I stare at her for a bit and question.

“What will you be when you’re grown, little Chamomile?” I ponder this for a bit but then remember why I’m really here right now. Get the wolves warm towels.

Looking outside I see that nightfall has come. It’s the perfect time to make the request.

“Umm house? I’m not really sure how this works but I need a really big warm towel to give to the wolves! I was mean to them and it’s kind of like an apology gift? Make sure to keep it far away from the purple slime known as Poco though I don’t want them getting dried up. Thank you for your consideration house!” I say this seemingly to no one.

I really hope I wasn’t just yelling into the void there. I guess I’ll find out soon.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Okay so a few minutes have passed now, and nothing has ha- oh wait a glowing spot has appeared in the middle of the floor. Maybe that’s the towel request going through? I hope it is.

. . . .

More time passes, the glowing spot- nah screw this I’ll do it tomorrow if the towel wants to take forever to spawn. With this thought in mind I decide to go to bed for the night. Tomorrow is another day.

Waking up I find that the floor has been replaced by a giant fluffy warm towel. Poco is cowering on the top shelf of my desk.

The towel thankfully has avoided Chamomile’s tank, that could’ve been a disaster otherwise. Then I properly process the terrified slime on my desk.

“Ahhh! Poco I’m sorry I didn’t think the towel would be THIS big, crap how will I even get this out of here. Umm give me a minute,” I step out from my bed onto the towel, and begin carefully walking my way towards Poco. They mustn’t touch the towel.

After making it to the cowering blob I carefully pick them up, holding them above my head to keep them far away from the towel.

“Poco I think until this towel is out of here, you’re gonna have to stay outside. I’m sorry, I’ll try to get it out as fast as possible,” I tell Poco.

I make my way to the door and open it, jumping from the fluffed towels to the grassy ground. You know I never noticed, but the grass has just the smallest hint of blue to it.

Never mind that, get Poco away from the towel. I begin dashing away from the house and place Poco on a tree branch on the edge of the forest.

“Will you be alright there bud?” I ask Poco.

I take their bouncing as a yes, and begin wandering back towards the house.

“Alright Poco, I’m just gonna check on Chamomile to see if I need to pick more berries before nightfall. I’ll be back in a minute,” I wave at Poco and head back inside to see that Chamomile is rather blue.

“Yeah you definitely need more berries,” I say to myself. Walking back outside, I pick up Poco from their branch and walk into the woods.

I’m starting to get worried that I’m over harvesting the berries though, I’ve been seeing them on less and less trees as of late.

It’s best not to think too much about it. All of us still need to eat after all, especially Chamomile.

Keeping this thought in mind, I climb another tree to check for berries and. . . jackpot! There’s a boatload of berries growing here, ripe for the picking.

I place them back into my bag and turn back towards the cottage, it’s time to feed Chamomile I think. Turning back to the house I realize night fall has come once again. Finally we can do something new!

I feel excitement take hold and make me walk just a bit faster towards the cottage. After putting Poco back on their branch, I head inside to feed Chamomile their berries. They’re still kind of blue, I’ll need to grab more berries after the towel offering.

As I walk back out I notice that the branch that once held Poco now has an absence of the slime. Running towards it, I see a really poorly written note.

‘Come alome middle of wood, get your slime -wolfs’

“I- they slimenapped my slime I- what the- no. . . THEY KIDNAPPED POCO, THE BASTARDS,” My vision gets blurry as I run back to grab the warm towel.

Holding the towel above my head, I sprint to the middle of the woods and look around for the wolves.

“COME OUT AND GIVE ME POCO BACK OR I SWEAR I WILL WET THIS TOWEL AND THROW IT AT ALL OF YOU,” In moments around one-hundred appear, one holding Poco in their paws. Also wearing oven mitts for some reason?

Poco bounces out of the wolf's hold and comes right up to me. They seem happy and well.

“Wait- what’s going on here?” I ask.

The large wolf steps forward to explain.

“Well we do hate you but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to leave a child unsupervised when you find one,” says the wolf.

“I was only gone for a minute- a- Poco is a child???”

“Yes you fool,”

“Oh.” I pause. “I got you a giant warm towel as an apology for beating you up with rain and stuff? Also I’m sorry for beating you up,”

“. . . just leave the towel and take your slime. Don’t leave them alone outside,” The wolf says.

I decide to go along with it and drop the towel in front of them. Picking up Poco, I walk back to the cottage and think about the small conversation I had.

That was dumb of them to take Poco. We’re basically enemies- no it’s fine because Poco is fine, end of that. I’m glad they took the towel at least, it’s a step in the right direction for Rain/wolf relations.

Recalling that Chamomile needs more berries, I pick a few more along the walking path to the cottage. Making it back home I go through my bedtime routine, feed Chamomile, and try sleeping.

Goodnight you strange and magical house.