However, he failed to notice the fact that his glasses were slipping, so engrossed was he in his pursuit. The eyepiece, nonetheless, slid further and further away from his ears, and further and further down his muzzle, unused to such speeds.
Just as he did not notice his glasses slipping, the wolf did not register the tiny rock jutting out of the ground in front of him…that is, until one of his front paws slammed directly on top of it.
"YEEEEOWW!" the wolf's pained yelp rang through the air, and he tumbled forward, the momentum propelling him forward a good few feet. At the same time, his glasses were violently dislodged from the bridge of his snout; they, too, flew through the air, landing on the forest floor a few feet in front of him.
The wolf grunted as he hit the ground belly-first, wincing as his muzzle smacked upon the ground. "Ooh, that'll leave a mark…" the wolf mumbled, staggering to his hind feet/paws. He winced again, noticing the ache in his muzzle. Reaching up with his hands/front paws, he gently massaged his snout, letting out a sigh of relief after a few seconds. "Nope, nothing's fractured. Still hurts like heck, though," he grimaced, continuing to massage his muzzle. "Geez, what did I step on? A stick, or a rock, or something like…"
He stopped abruptly, his eyes focusing on his hands, still on his muzzle. Only problem: they seemed a bit more blurry than usual. "Crap! Where're my glasses?" He felt around his ears, hoping that he might at least find them dangling from one of the pointed appendages.
No such luck; they were nowhere to be found. The wolf felt a brief surge of panic; those glasses hadn't been easy to come across, and he couldn't see a thing without them. Long story short: if they were lost or worse, broken, he was out of luck.
Willing himself to stay calm, the wolf dropped to all fours, tail held high in the air. He scuttled about, sniffing wildly, as his tail waved to and fro, bristling with nervous energy.
"Crap, crap, crap," the wolf hissed, exposing his teeth in a worried grimace after several seconds of searching had passed, with no results. "Where are they, where are they, where are…"
CRUNCH!
The wolf stopped dead as he felt one of his back paws fall upon something hard, flimsy, and very breakable. Slowly-very slowly-he moved his back paw up off the ground, at the same time turning himself around to get a better look at the unfortunate object.
"Please, please, please don't let that be my glasses," the wolf muttered, trying to fight back the sense of panic growing within his chest. "Please, please, please don't let those be my glasses," he said again, repeating it as though it were the most sacred of mantras. "Please, please, please…"
After what seemed like minutes (but was, in reality, only a few seconds,) he was finally staring directly at the destroyed object. His vision was still blurry, so he couldn't make it out exactly, but he could make out the color: namely, a light brown.
Crap, he thought to himself, anxious. That was the same color as his glasses rims! Anxiety churning at an even greater intensity than before, he squinted his eyes as hard as he could…and promptly let out a huge sigh of relief.
What he had stepped on was not a pair of glasses, but rather a couple of small sticks. The broken twigs were hard and brittle, which readily explained the unpleasant crunching noise they had produced when trampled upon.
The wolf let loose another relieved sigh. "Heh…heh heh," he chuckled nervously, slowly backing away from the offending twigs. "Freakin' sticks…." He turned around, glancing left and right as he did so. "Now, I've just gotta keep looking around, and hope I don't actually step on-eh?" His lupine ears perked up as one of his front paws brushed across something. Puzzled, he glanced downwards. There, right in front of him, sat his glasses, a bit dirty but otherwise unharmed.
Yet another sigh of relief escaped the wolf's muzzle. "Oh, good," he breathed, quickly scooping them up in his paw and standing back up on his hind paws as he did so. "Good thing I wasn't searching like that the whole time; otherwise, I'd be crap outta luck!" Chuckling from relief, he stuck out his tongue and wet a couple of his fingers before using the padded digits to wipe the dirt and leaves off the lenses. Smiling, he blew on the lenses a bit to dry them before placing them back on his face. "Ah, that's better…"
He took a deep whiff. "Ah, that smells really nice…" Ears perking, he sniffed the air some more. "…and whatever it is, it's really close by!" He took stock of his surroundings; forest floor all around him, a few trees in back of him, a line of trees at his front, what looked like a dirt road in front of that tree line…
"That's it!" he exclaimed suddenly, his tail swishing about in frenzied excitement. "That's where its coming from!" With his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his nose lost in that wondrous smell, he dropped back to all fours, tensed his limbs, and leapt forward. He grinned as he sailed towards his destination. HereIcomehereIcomehereIcomehereIcome…
He'd just about reached the dirt road, and he thought he might even make a perfect landing, four paws and all. Incidentally, no sooner had this thought flitted through his head than a frightened scream rang through the air.
Letting out a startled yelp of his own, the wolf lost his concentration and tumbled, quite un-gracefully, the rest of the way, smashing into the ground back-first and raising a cloud of dust. "GAH! That's the second time today!" he grumbled, hoisting himself up on his hands. He winced suddenly, massaging the area between his neck and shoulder with a padded hand. "Geez, at this rate, I'll end up with arthritis or something…"
His ears perked up, and, on impulse, he glanced to the side. As soon as he did so, his eyes widened, as he saw what could only have been the source of the scream…and it wasn't quite what he'd expected.
There, standing only a few feet away from him on the dirt road, was a young girl, about twelve or thirteen years old. Her attire was simple, yet tasteful: an earthy-brown homespun dress, well-worn leather shoes, and, most striking of all, a red cowl that terminated in a short cape. She carried a simple, handwoven basket in her hands, which quivered along with her arms. From beneath that hood, her light blue eyes stared at the wolf, widened in fear.
The wolf turned to the girl, blinking in surprise. Still rubbing the back of his neck, he ventured an uncertain greeting. "Um…hi?"
"H-hi…" the girl stammered, the basket still shaking in her hands.
The wolf groaned quietly; out of all the things he could of said, he had to go and say 'hi'? It certainly wasn't doing the poor girl any favors. The wolf shook his head, taking a deep breath through his nostrils…
…and immediately straightening, ears shooting up. That wonderful smell was back, and it was really close by! The wolf's eyes flitted about, trying to see where the smell might be coming from, before they finally settled on the basket the girl was holding.
Engrossed in the delectable scent, the wolf practically lunged in the girl's direction, barely noticing the girl's terrified yelp. Dropping further to the ground, the human-like wolf put his snout to the basket, taking a deep whiff.
He practically moaned as his nose was overpowered by the sweet smell. "Ohhh, that's good…" He took another deep whiff, helpless to prevent another moan from escaping his muzzle. Whatever was in that basket, he wanted it, and wanted it bad. Unable to help himself, he took a third whiff, this time opening his muzzle a bit. He paid little heed to the tiny amount of saliva, which had pooled over the last few seconds in his mouth, dripping out
The girl, at this point, was even more nervous than before. What was he doing? Getting really close to her, sniffing at her, drooling near her? It was almost like he was… the girl paled, not wanting to think any further on the subject.
Meanwhile, the wolf, oblivious to this reaction, finally decided he'd had enough. Backing up and standing up to his full height, he wiped a hand across his mouth, wiping away the saliva and wondering, offhand, just how long he'd been producing it. "Man, that smells awesome," he mumbled, a goofy grin forming across his muzzle. "Whatcha got in there?"
"In here?" The girl blinked in confusion. "Oh! You mean in the basket!" She glanced down at it, now feeling more confused than frightened. "Um, a batch of cookies I made for my grandma."
"You made those?" the wolf exclaimed. "Musta done a good job, if the smell's anything to go by."
In spite of herself, the girl smiled. "Nah; it's her recipe, but she makes them the best."
The wolf shrugged. "Hey, a cookie's a cookie; so long as they're not rock hard and tasteless, it's all good."
The girl blinked. "Um, thanks, I guess. Still, I hope they make her feel a little better
"Eh?" The wolf's eyes widened, his curiosity piqued. "Is something the matter with her?" Great; freak the girl out some more, why don't you.
The girl straightened, a bit of firmness coming into her expression. "W-why do you want to know? You're not planning to do anything to her, are you?"
"What!?" The wolf couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Of course not! Why would you think something like that?" He knew wolves weren't exactly the most popular critters around these parts, but still… "Look, I'm just curious; there's no reason to jump to conclusions or anything."
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