Archive of Our Own

Growls-a-lot snarled as he tried to break free. As a spirit he was used to other spirits constantly trying to devour him to become stronger, or fighting with others for the best hunting grounds. But never did he think he'd end up being a captive to some filthy werewolves! These damn creatures who tried to keep the spirits in check and kept them from using the humans for their personal gain all the time! The bear spirit himself was to blame for this, as he didn't think the spirit trap he walked right into would actually be able to hold him, but here he was! Tied up with silver rope to a trap right in his personal grounds, at the mercy of three young werewolves! They were in their regular wolf forms, and judging by their fur he assumed they belonged to the tribe of the Hunters in Darkness, which explained why their trap worked so well. Growls-a-lot however was furious and was drooling with rage.

“Release me, you impure mongrels! Whatever it is you want from me, I will never serve you arrogant kind!” he growled at them as the three approached him, smiling.

“My my, that's a big one!” one of them chuckled. “Oh yes, I didn't think a spirit of your power would fall for our trap, but I guess you just couldn't resist!” the second one added.

Now the bear spirit looked like he was about to lose it. “Release me or I will possess the ones you love and force them against you!” But that didn't seem to impress the three pups. Suddenly all three of them changed back to their human forms, as they would need their hands for what was about to come next. “Maybe we should introduce ourselves first.” the first one tried to break the tension. I am Sasha Hugged-by-Shaddows, the second one is Victor Rising-Moon and that's Daniel Blooming-Field.”

Again the spirit was unbroken in his rage and demeanor. “What do I care? Others have tried to break me before and force me into their servitude, what makes you mongrels think a bunch of babies would be able to do that?” Growls-a-lot once again tried to break free from the pole behind him, but these three clearly knew what they were doing. He already knew how this was going, the three werewolves would perform a rite to try and bind him next, so he was forced to do some errands for them. But even though he might not be the most powerful spirit around, he took pride in the fact that almost no mage nor werewolf ever managed to bind him.

But apparently that pack had different plans for him. “Oh, but I think you should know our names! After all, you're about to become our pack totem!” That revelation hit the bear hard. At first he thought he must've misheard that dirty mutt, but apparently he was serious!

Proper werewolf packs always had a totem, a spirit bound to the pack, either because he was defeated, tricked, outsmarted or had simply accepted the price they offered. The spirit would share their power with the werewolves, and they in return respect their totem's restrictions. But this was way worse than being forced to do some minor errands! If the three werewolves were successful he would be forced into complete servitude, whether he liked it or not!

Growls-a-lot didn't even remember the next things he yelled at the young pack, he was too mad and was just spurting every single course he could think of. Never would he surrender to a couple of werewolves, never!

But the three of them didn't seem bothered in the slightest, which caused the spirit to get nervous. But wait, there was no way these little whippersnappers would already know the rite to bind a spirit to a pack! Usually pups would have an elder do it for them instead, but they were alone.

The one called Sasha reached into his luggage, which he had brought with him into the Shadow, the ethereal realm of spirits. He showed him a couple of shiny feathers that clearly weren't from the physical realm. “We got a bet with our mentor, we're gonna catch our own totem without any help, and if there's anything our tribe knows, it's that being prepared is key to being successful! We know bear spirits like you are usually very resistant to pain, so using our teeth and claws on you would probably be useless. No, instead we're gonna make you endure torture that you didn't even know spirits would feel!”

Now Growls-a-lot laughed like a maniac. “What? You don't know how to bind a spirit and are hoping to break me, so I surrender to you on my own free will? Your pretentiousness would be humorous if it wasn't so pathetic! You do realize I'm gonna return any pain you're gonna inflict on me, right? So just release me and my revenge will be minor!”

Still the wolf pack didn't seem impressed, as Sasha, who was probably their pack leader, handed his pack mates some of the shiny spirit feathers. “Big words, spirit. Let's see if you got the spunk to back them up!”

Suddenly the werewolf dragged the feather across the bear's exposed foot. That made Growls-a-lot flinch and make a sound he never would've expected him to make during torture: He giggled. “Hahaha! Wh~ what kinda sorcery is that?” he growled as the soft, shiny object teased his toes, which caused the other two werewolves to chuckled. “You see bear, these feathers are from one of the most powerful bird spirits in the entire country, and were blessed by our tribe leader himself! Not only can they actually touch your ethereal body, they also got the power to inflict the same kind of torture a mundane human would endure in this situation! In other words, you are being tickled!”

This felt like a stab to the heart for the proud bear spirit. Tickled? Him? Since he didn't have a physical body he never experienced anything like that before. Pain, sure! Spirits knew the concept of pain, but this? This was something completely new, and he didn't know how to handle it! However he did realize that this weird sensation causing his body to shiver tried to force him to laugh. If he succumbed to that he was basically screaming in pain in front of his tormentors, so he tried his best to control his voice. Still, he couldn't prevent some slight whimpers and giggles from escaping his muzzle as now two feathers were working their evil magic on his soles.

“You are already breaking? That's a shame, we barely even started!” he was mocked by who he figured was Daniel. “Come on, don't tell me we got us a wussy totem!”

Now Growls-a-lot clenched his teeth and snarled. “Hngh, don't underestimate me, you f-f-filthy mutt! I-I'm not gonna breheak from ju~ HEAVENS!” When two more feathers hit his sensitive spirit body he gasped in shock, as the laughing was about to escape his throat. Now he had to use all his strength to keep himself from laughing out loudly, so he had to keep his mouth shut instead of telling the wolf pups how he was gonna get back to them for this.

Then again, there wasn't much he could do right now. Even though he managed to hold back his laughter yet, his body language was definitely betraying him. Feeling these earthly sensations was so weird for him, especially since a couple of soft feathers were having such an effect on him.

“Coochie coochie coo!” Victor teased, as he tickled the bear's armpits with his feathers. Now Growls-a-lot couldn't help it anymore and he let out a loud shout, followed by him laughing, coughing and squealing like a bear cub. “AHAHAHA! DAMN YOU! HAHAHA! I HATE YOU! STOP IT!”

But now that the pack finally had their prey right where they wanted, they were just getting warmed up! While Sasha took his time to tickle every inch of the massive bear paws in front of him, Daniel went for the bear's nipples next, which also turned out to be sensitive to tickling. Victor on the other hand seemed destined to explore the spirit's entire body, and found out that his ears were also quite ticklish. Growls-a-lot yelled, screamed, spat and shouted at the pack, but they didn't seem to listen and only exchanged information about where to tickle next.

“You know the magic words to make it all stop, big boy!” Sasha noticed dryly while scratching the bear's soles with the quills. “Just say it, and it's all over!” “Yeah, don't worry about it, lots of spirits hate being a totem at first. But soon you'll grow into your new role and accept it!” Victor added.

But their captive shook his head. “NEVEHEHEHEHEHEEEEER!” he yelled in agony as both his soles and toes got tickled at the same time. The wolves knew spirits worked differently than physical beings, they didn't have lungs that could hurt from too much laughter, or get tired from mere exhaustion, so they didn't need to take breaks for best results. But they knew all that fighting would drain the bear spirit's essence, the power that spirits require to affect their surroundings. Even if their future totem was yet able to resist, as soon as he was energetically drained he had lost.

And indeed, after a while the bear's yelling became less loud and his swearing began to change. From “I WILL MURDER YOU AHAHALL AND DEVOUR YOUHUHUHUUUU!” to “STOP IT! AHAHAHA! STOP IT, YOU DAMN MUTTS!” to “I WIHIHIHILL NEVER BREAK!” to “NO! NOHOHOHOOOO! NOT THERE!” to “NO MORE! STOP!” to “PLEASE! STOP! STOP TICKLING MEHEHEHE!”

Eventually he realized there was nothing he could to. His restraints were too powerful, and these werewolves could keep torturing him like this for as long as they wanted. And it seems his whining was amusing to them, so there was no sign of it becoming bored to them either. If he wanted this to stop, he had to submit.

Again he felt the evil feathers tickling his unprotected ears, as Sasha once again offered him a way out. “You know what we wanna hear, spirit! Accept your defeat and become our pack totem! Join us, and you are free!”

Next all three of them started a combined attack on all of Growls-a-lot's most sensitive spots. His toes, his armpits and his ears, all of them got tickled just the way that made him scream the most, and like a helpless animal trapped and facing the shotgun he let out a loud shout of despair.
“I SURRENDEHEHEHEHER! I GIVE UP! AHAHAHA! YOU WIN! DO YOU HEAR ME! YOU WIHIHIHIIIIIIIIIIN!”

Silence. Slowly Growls-a-lot realized what just happened. He was standing right next to the three werewolves who captured him. Who had tortured him, humiliated him! And now... now he knew he had lost! He remembered he had given up in the face of torture! It was hard for him to remember after they all had attacked him at the same time, but he did remember that he had agreed to become their totem. All of his suffering for nothing, in the end he was now a slave to a pack of werewolves!

“Are you back?” Victor asked. “After you gave up you seemed kinda... gone.” “Yeah, but don't worry!” Sasha added. “You saying that you accept us as your pack was enough for us to perform the ritual. You are now officially part of the pack, welcome brother!”

Growls-a-lot was about to protest, but he was still feeling rather weak without any essence left in his spiritual body. Also, what was the use? He was now a totem, bound to share his powers with some mongrels! But... but they'd also have to accept his ban! Yes, each pack had to follow their totem's ban in order to keep it's favor!

“Well then!” the bear growled, trying to sound as dominant as possible, which didn't quite work with his voice cracking slightly. “If I am to be your totem, I hereby impose this ban on you! Each enemy you capture shall be tortured the same way as me! You won't show mercy towards anyone until they surrender! Not by your claws and fangs, but by your feathers! I want you to make them all feel the pain and humiliation you made me feel!”