FLUFF-uary2026 Randivor - Modern
Day 1 Meet Awkward
Eivor stepped in off the docks, shifting her pack down to the ground, stepping out of the way for what had to be a local of the area.
The bell chimed at the door. They looked at her curiously. A bearded gentleman, older, smiled with a nod, before he passed her by. “Hey Butch.”
Randvi looked up with a raised brow as her elder brother lumbered in.
“Excuse me?” A raspy unknown voice said.
Randvi only just now smelled her. A woman, whose scent he brought with him as he passed by her at the door. A musky warm woody scent, that felt more like nature than sports wear. She shifted behind the counter so that she could get a look at the new comer.
“Hello.” Randvi said, her brother flashing her a bearded smile as he moved back behind the counter, making urging motions.
She shook her head and made a face at him as the bundled woman appeared.
“Hi—I.” The raspy voice hesitated, her skin paling as her body began to tremble.
Randvi inhaled sharply as the scent hit her—a raw, musky wolf layered over warm wood and fear. Her body tensed as she raised her hands, mimicking calm breaths. Steady… steady…
The blonde froze, eyes wide and darting, trembling uncontrollably. She ripped off her gaiter and jerked open her coat, exposing more than herself—her panic, her wolf, her untrained chaos.
Randvi’s gaze softened. “We aren’t going to harm you.” She could feel the wolf thrashing inside, muscles coiled, heart hammering. “Breathe with me—2, 3, 4… hold… release…”
The blonde backed into a shelf, knocking over canned goods. Instinct took over—she bolted out like a squall off the sea.
“Aw hell.” Randvi huffed, pressing a hand to the battered counter.
Her brother made a face. She vaulted over it. “Try to stay dry! There’s a storm coming in tonight!” he hollered after her.
Randvi hit the upper walk outside the trading post, looking around for their fleeing guest, seconds later a splash was heard. A sharp gasp, the sound of churning water. Green eyes went down over the boardwalk to the blonde in the water.
Randvi watched, tense to see if the terror rose, or if calm and survival kicked in. For a brief moment she saw it, smelled it, washing up from the bay, too much white in blue eyes, and then something raw kicked in, a sharpening of the blue, and the blonde reached out, instinct grabbing her as she swam heavy towards the deck below. “You got it!” Randvi said reassuringly. “There you go.” She said and stood at the head of the ramp, unsure if the woman wanted help or not.
She pulled herself shakily up onto the deck and just lay there, blue eyes wary, watching.
Randvi crouched. “I can help you— if you let me.” She offered, not yet moving from her place.
The poor creature stayed there. Wide-eyed. Panting. It was too nice a day to shiver, but she did that too. Frightened, and barely functioning. Randvi guessed her last encounter with a shifter had been her violent attack. One that left her scarred psychologically if not physically.
“Are you people everywhere?” She asked weakly from the soggy end of the dock.
“Yeah, pretty much. Though most of us are actually civilized in a good way.” She offered. “Just doing our best like the rest of the world.” Randvi sat down on the damp dock. “I am sorry for what happened to you.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” The blonde crooked, rolling over onto her back with a deep sigh. “You smell different, why?”
Randvi smiled at her, the beast letting go of the woman made blue eyes darken. Her breathing evening out, and that tang of terror lessened greatly.
“We are bears.”
“Bears—” The woman croaked, grunting shortly after. “Of course there are bears.”
Randvi couldn’t help but smile.
“Could you make me a bear?”
“It doesn't work that way.”
The blonde grunted again. “Of course not.”
“Do you have some dry clothes in that pack of yours upstairs?” Randvi asked. Even shifters had limits to endurance, and the wind was starting to come out of the north, the air heavy with the smell of rain and the weather headed their way.
“I do. I might need help,” the blonde murmured, eyes still wary.
Randvi pursed her lips, the urge to tease brushing against her. Briefly, she wondered if it would be a bad time. Instead, she asked, “How can I help?”
“I feel like melted butter.”
“So you need to get your land legs back?” The faintest smile tugged at Randvi’s mouth.
“Something like that.”
The blonde tensed as she moved forward. Randvi paused. The wolf’s instincts were still strong, still bristling. A small breath slipped from the newcomer’s lips.
Randvi lowered herself onto her knees halfway down the ramp. “If you try to sit up, it might help,” she said, careful. She was giving the blonde the power to choose. Positions mattered now, even if the woman didn’t yet understand it. Her wolf did.
With a groan the blonde rolled over, movement giving her momentum that carried her up onto her knees. She wobbled there, reaching for the rail nearby.
Dear god she was so new to her lycanthropy she was struggling with the wolf dumping in untamed hormones. A soft whine came from her as she leaned into the arm holding the rail with white knuckles.
“Don’t worry about puking in the water,” Randvi said, stilling herself once more, afraid the blonde would take a nose dive off the pier again if she tried.
“Ugh…”
Her eyes watered. There was an intense need for eye contact in shifters. Eye contact meant protection. Readiness. Safety. It meant a lot of things. Right now, in the blonde, it was a wordless cry for help that struck Randvi hard.
She couldn’t rush to her aid. It would agitate the she-wolf.
Instead, Randvi lowered herself off her knees and sat on the ramp, averting her eyes, tipping her head slightly to the side. She gave the wolf space without giving her room. The wolf had to make peace with her first. She had to do it for her human. They didn’t have to rush.
The blonde was panting again, salivating, gasping for breath as tears streamed from blue eyes. She whined, her eyes lightening in color as the wolf stalked closer to her skin.
“We got nowhere,” Randvi said. “When you can, grab the top rail and lean on it. I promise you will feel better.”
“Whyyy.” The blonde lamented, turning a groan into a growl.
Randvi’s ears shifted as her expression changed to something more compassionate. She gently shook her head. The wolf didn’t want words, it wanted to be safe, and that was not what she felt at that moment.
Randvi did not give ground. She picked at the zipper on her vest, watching from her peripheral vision rather than making direct contact. “Just breathe.” She murmured, “She will listen.”
A pathetic sound left the blonde before she growled again. It wasn’t the beast, it was pure human frustration, and more than a little embarrassment. Randvi took a deep breath. She did it in such a way the wolf listened, rather than the woman. That is why it took several breaths before the blonde followed her.
When they had simply breathed for a minute, the blonde must have been feeling stronger, because she scooted her knees closer to the rail, and reached for the banister. Taking more even breaths now she slow blinked at Randvi.
That was a good sign. A sign she didn’t want to rush. “My name is Randvi.” She offered, now that the woman had more control.
“Eivor.” Eivor whispered it, her eyes closing for several beats.
That was an excellent sign. Randvi nodded and continued her slow breathing.
“Eivor,” she said gently. “Did you come all this way to run away from— us?”
Blue eyes opened again, brows tensing as her nostrils flared, the wind shifting Randvi’s scent back to her. “No.” Her answer came out cracked and exhausted. “Oh, you are crashing.” She said. “We need to get you—”
The blonde slipped back down to the deck with a bone weary sigh. Her eyes rolled closed. “Eivor…” Randvi said, and then sighed, as wolf and woman surrendered. Part 2
