Where the Predators Prowl [104]

104: Dream Chasing

“Scale-bae, why must you be against fun things?” Candace asked.

“I’m not against fun things!” Kristi huffed. “I’m fine with beach dates and… Uhhh… Paragliding and whatever else normal this carnival offers! I’m against simulating the end of reality where fuck knows what’s going to happen to us!”

“Soooooo…. You’re up for a wet t-shirt contest then?” Candace made a sly face.

Kristi looked like she encountered a blue screen error.

“Come on.” Candace elbowed the raptor. “None of this is real. Your sisters and parents ain’t gonna see this. It’s like a lucid dream. You can do anything here without consequences!”

“Anything?” Kristi blinked.

“Anything within reason,” Candace said, silver tail floof wagging. “Don’t murder people. Don’t break the ward securing the prizes and cash. Stay within the narrative boundary of ‘you are having fun at the fair’.”

“So then, not anything,” the raptor stated.

“Anything nice! Also!” Candace grabbed Kristi and me by our arms, dragging us towards the beach. "You two need to talk. Properly. Without the rest of us being lovely distractions." She steered us toward a bench overlooking the carnival with the lake behind it. "Sit. Chat. Resolve tensions!"

"What tensions?" Kristi protested.

"The tens-y tensions!" Candace declared, “I know what you know, feel what you felt, we were together as one like five minutes ago. Unbind outfit!”

The prim security outfit on Kristi detonated, unfolding into the Diamondust dress she was wearing earlier. Kristi let out a yelp.

The fox bounced away before the raptor could voice any objections. "I'm giving you twenty minutes of privacy! Use them wisely! Ness, Ads, come help me scout the contest situation while these two have their heart-to-heart."

Kristi and I relaxed on the weathered wooden bench, the noises of the carnival muffled by the rhythmic crash of waves behind us. The raptor girl positioned herself at an angle, not quite facing me, her long feathered tail settling across my lap.

"This is so weird," she said.

"Which part?" I asked, petting the offered tail with a happy smile.

"All of it. But mostly..." She kneaded her chin. "Mostly remembering things about my past life… with you. Us dating. You leaving to university. Losing you. Systemfall. Getting stuck on that damned Highway. Finding you again… experiencing heartbreak as you didn't remember us dating. Dying in the Superstore. Growing up again, meeting you again in school and chasing you like an idiot. So many versions of you and me. Different us… Finding and losing each other.”

"Yeah."

We sat in silence for a moment. Her tail wiggled against my legs and hands, the feathers catching the colored lights from the carnival.

"In our first life together," she said after a minute, “I… I was horrible to you and Nessy."

"Kristi, that…"

"No, let me finish," she said, "I saw her as competition. A hyperactive, ridiculous husky who somehow had you wrapped around her finger. And I... I constantly pushed her away. Every chance I got."

I reaching out to a fraction of myself that grew up with Nessy, recalling bits and pieces of memories. The snide comments in the hallways from the raptors. The way Kristi would suddenly appear whenever Nessy and I were together at school, trying to redirect my attention. The constant subtle and not-so-subtle attempts to drive a wedge between us. The intensifying threats from the Strand family when Kristi and started dating.

"I told myself I was being protective," she continued, not looking at me. "That Nessy was bad for you. Too clingy, too chaotic, too whack. But really, I just... I wanted what she had. Your friendship. Your trust. Your Syn-pack. The way you looked at her like she hung the moon even when she was being utterly absurd."

"There was no magic back then," I said. "No System, no stats, no way to know you and Nessy were the same soul. You were just two pradavarian girls from very different families who happened to like the same weird human kid who lived in an RV."

"Still. I could have been better. Should have been." She leaned against me slightly. "When Candace bound our souls together on the Ferris wheel, I felt it. Not just the connection to all of you, but... the weight of every cruel thing I'd said to Nessy. Every time I made her feel small or stupid or unwanted. I was hurting myself, literally hurting a reflection of my own soul, and I couldn't even see it."

"She forgave you," I pointed out. "The moment she understood what we all were to each other, she forgave everything."

"Because that's who she is. The part of us that loves unconditionally." Kristi sighed. “Meanwhile, I was trying to force something that should have happened naturally.” She fell silent again, struggling to recollect herself. “There was always this pull toward both of you. This feeling like we were supposed to be together, all three of us. And instead of trusting that, I tried to make it just about you and me… ignoring what my sisters were doing, listening to my dad. In the end… I messed up so bad, pushed you away. It was my fault that you left Ferguson, my fault that... Nessy died in the Superstore."

Her eyes glittered with tears.

"Hey," I said. "It's fine. Nobody handles feelings perfectly, especially not in a world where humans and prads were figuring out how to coexist."

"That's not an excuse."

"It's not an excuse, but it is a reason. And we figured it all out eventually,” I pointed out. “After many years of messed up time apart."

She finally turned to look at me, amber eyes flashing with tears. "I owe Nessy such a massive apology. For all the times I called her an annoying dog. For excluding her. For being a controlling knob. For letting my family bully her, threaten you—"

Something black and white launched herself at Kristi with the force of a furry missile. The raptor let out an undignified squawk as she was suddenly engulfed by an extra-enthusiastic husky.

"ACK! Nessy! Where did you even—" Kristi let out, wiping her face.

"Shhhhh," Nessy interrupted, wrapping her arms around Kristi and proceeding to assault the raptor's face with aggressive licking. "No more sad words! Only acceptance licks! Mlem mlem mlem!"

"This isn't—stop—I'm trying to have a serious moment here—GAH!" Kristi flailed as Nessy's tongue found a particularly sensitive spot beside her ear. 

“What? This is serious apology acceptance!” Nessy declared, rapidly fully maneuvering herself onto Kristi's lap. "I accept payment in smooshes and snuggles! The current exchange rate is one mean comment equals three face licks!"

"Three?! What kind of…”

"Accounting says you owe me..." Nessy pretended to calculate, her paws sliding down to squeeze Kristi's sides. "Approximately infinity licks! Better start paying up!"

Kristi attempted to push the husky off, but Nessy only got more aggressive with the licking offensive.

"No strugglage! This is important pack bonding! Years of repressed mutual attraction being resolved through therapeutic licks!"

"We—" Kristi started.

“Don't deny it. You dreamed about me," Nessy interrupted. "Candace showed me the Astral receipts when we fused! Very spicy dreams! Something about a supply closet and—"

"THAT WAS ONE TIME!" Kristi's entire face turned brilliant violet. "It was… hormonal! And you had just worn that stupid crop top to school!"

"Ohhhhh?" Nessy's tail wagged. "So you admit to remembering my crop top? The one with the little paw-hearts? How interesting! Tell me more about these hormonal feelings!"

"You’re terrible," Kristi muttered.

"Nu-huh, I’m amazing!" Nessy sing-songed, grinding slightly in Kristi's lap in a way that made the raptor's breath hitch. "You loooove me! We're soul-mates! Packmates! Destined besties across infinite timelines!"

"We're—Slayer, stop moving like that!"

"Like what?" Nessy asked innocently while doing it again. "This?" Another wiggle. "Or this?" A particularly aggressive hip swivel that had Kristi gripping the bench.

"You're doing this on purpose!"

"Doing what on purpose?" Nessy leaned in close. "Accepting your apology? Healing our past trauma through physical affection? Discovering that uptight raptors make the cutest sounds when you find their sensitive spots?"

She punctuated this by licking a stripe up Kristi's neck, causing the raptor to make a sound somewhere between a chirp and a moan.

"Did you just—" I started.

"HA! SHE CHIRPED!" Nessy announced triumphantly. "I made the raptor princess chirp! Candace! I MADE KRISTI CHIRP!"

"TEN POINTS TO TEAM HUSKY!" Candace announced from somewhere in the fog.

"There are no teams!" Kristi protested weakly.

"There are now!" Nessy declared. "Team Husky versus Team Raptor! Current score: Husky ten, Raptor zero! Unless you want to earn some points by reciprocating?"

"Reciprocating what?"

Nessy struck a dramatic pose. "The Great Lick Exchange of 2020! You lick me, I forgive you for one mean thing! It's a limited time offer!"

"That's—"

"Terms and conditions subject to change based on how cute you look when flustered!" Nessy interrupted. "Speaking of which..." She leaned down and stage-whispered in Kristi's ear, loud enough for me to hear. "Your diamond dust dress is very see-through when backlit. Just thought you should know."

Kristi looked down at herself, shrieked, and tried to cover herself with her hands while also pushing Nessy off, resulting in both of them tumbling off the bench into the black sand.

"This is nice," Nessy commented from under Kristi's weight. "We should trauma-bond horizontally more often!”

Kristi looked at me for assistance, blushing furiously.

"You did say you owed her an apology." I shrugged.

"This isn't an apology! This is... this is..."

"Foreplay?" Nessy suggested, wiggling her eyebrows. "Pack bonding? Interpretive reconciliation? Oh! Therapeutic wrestling!"

"NONE OF THOSE THINGS!"

"Multi-purpose snuggling?" Nessy laughed.

“Argh! How are you so bold?” Kristi demanded. "What the shit? I don't see a glowing eye."

“Candace just managed to bind us together via a weak Astral tether without two souls sharing one body fully. So I'm more bold and she's more… dogged.”

Kristi, having been outmaneuvered by the fox-husky combo, made a sound of raptor-frustration and, apparently deciding that dignity was already lost, proceeded to aggressively lick Nessy's entire face in one long stripe.

"There!" Kristi said triumphantly at the surprised-looking husky. "Apology delivered!”

I laughed as did Nessy.

“Vampire fox attack!” Candace suddenly announced from behind me, softly chomping into my neck. 

I jumped slightly at the unexpected contact, her teeth grazing my skin just enough to send a shiver down my spine. "Candace, when did you even—"

"I’m sooper sneaky when I wanna be. Also, m’ marking my territory," she murmured against my neck, "you smell too neutral. Need more fox on you."

"Hey!" Nessy protested from under Kristi. "No fair! I haven't marked him yet today!"

"You're clearly busy markin' raptor baes," Candace teased, her arms sliding around my waist from behind, pulling me back against her. The soft fuzz of her chest pressed into my back through her dress.  "Also, the contest starts in like ten minutes!"

“Ten minutes of feather-pawage it is then,” Nessy commented, pulling Kristi's front down into her embrace.

The motion caused Kristi’s sheer, diamond-dust dress to ride up high on her thighs, exposing everything. Her long and feathered tail shot straight up in surprise, perfectly framing the view. The fabric clung to her curves, and the black sand only served to highlight the delicate, glistening folds of her intimate anatomy. The humid sea air had left a dewy sheen on her violet scales, and where her tail met her body, a single, perfect droplet of moisture caught the carnival lights.

"Ooh, Alec, look!" Candace whispered, eyeing Kristi’s behind a hunter spotting a prize stag. "Team Raptor brought dessert! And it’s already got sprinkles! Mmmmmm..."

"NESSY!" Kristi shrieked. She scrambled to cover herself and only managed to tangle the dress up further. The blush that erupted across her cheeks and down her neck was a brilliant, deep violet wave. "YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!"

"Did what on purpose?" Nessy asked, batting her eyelashes. "Help you showcase your… assets? That was just a happy accident! A very, very happy accident. Right, peanut gallery?"

"Damn right. Seems our little ice princess is melting,” Candace snickered. 

A flicker of shadow solidified next to me. Adelle appeared on the bench beside me, wrapping a muscular arm around me, a slow grin spreading across her face. She looked from Kristi's exposed rear to me, then back again. "Nice," she said simply.

Kristi froze, realizing she now had an audience of four. She finally managed to yank her dress down, rotating. "I'm going to kill all of you," she growled, shoving Nessy into the sand. "Going to dismember you and feed your remains to the dragons."

"Hawt," Candace fired.

"Need a hand?" I asked Kristi.

She hesitantly took my hand, and I pulled her to her feet.

"You're all terrible, degenerate... packmates," she finally let out, straightening out her dress.

"The best kind of packmates!" Nessy launched herself at Kristi for another hug, this time joined by Candace from the other side.

"Contest, NOW," Kristi declared, grabbing Nessy and Candace by their scruffs like a pair of kittens and marching toward the contest stage. “If we don’t win that damn chalk today both of you are definitely getting turned into dragon chowder.”

We made our way to the registration table, where a drunk, curvy shark in a Hawaiian shirt gave us a thumbs up.

"Group entry?" the judge asked.

"Yep. Four in one tube," the fox confirmed.

"That's... gonna be cozy, dude,” the shark grinned. “But you do you.”

We watched for a bit as other contestants got dunked and wet, doing various silly, drunk things. Soon it was the turn of our team.

"Bind minor soul tether!" Candace whispered, hugging the others tightly.

The four of them piled into the tube. Nessy grabbed the waterproof hex-microphone from the judge and began a song with all of the girls humming out the background tune together. I joined in on the humming, somehow knowing exactly what noise to make at what time.

"When the world tries to pull us apart,
We just laugh and bare our heart,
Five souls deeper we dive,
Keeping hope and love alive,

Ohhu-ooo-uhu-uwu!"

Candace straddled Kristi's lap, making the raptor squeak as she sang along: "Om nom nom nom!" biting Kristi’s neck. The crowd cheered. "Shhhh!" Nessy shushed Candace and pulled Addie against her, both of them giggling as she continued.

"Chase your tail or chase your dreams,
Nothing's quite the way it seems,
Round and round the carousel,
Through each heaven, through each hell,"

The first bucket of water hit them as one of the prad girls managed to hit the red target with an apple. I watched as their clothes immediately clung to their bodies. Nessy's sundress went semi-translucent, Candace's dress outlining every curve, Kristi's diamond dust dress becoming completely see-through. Adelle threw off her leather jacket and then straight up lifted her tank top, flashing the crowd with a wet chest.

"Lost my memories, lost my way,
But I found you on this yesterday,
Tomorrow's just a word we say,
When time has gone to play,
Mwah! te he he he"

Nessy punctuated the lyrics by grabbing Kristi and kissing her deeply, the raptor's surprised moan audible even over the music. The crowd went wild, phones coming out everywhere. I watched as Kristi's shock melted into pleasure, her hands tangling in Nessy's wet fur.

"Water falls but we don't break,
Every moment that we make,
Is a moment that we take,
From the jaws of our mistake,"

Another deluge. Candace took the opportunity to lick water off Addie's neck while the cheetah ground against her. Their wet clothes left nothing to imagination. I could see every curve, every line of their bodies pressed together.

"Wet or dry, we stand as one,
Underneath this setting sun,
What was lost can be re-won,
When the ending has just begun!"

They were putting on a complete wild show now. Nessy had Kristi pressed against the back of the tube, kissing down her neck while singing. Candace and Addie were practically devouring each other between verses. The crowd was losing their minds.

"Pack together, never lone,
Even when we're on our own,
Every seed that we have sown,
Leads us back to what we've known!

Splash me once, I'll sing for you,
Splash me twice, I'll see it through,
Every trial, old and new,
Proves what we already knew,"

More water. Nessy's dress had given up any pretense of coverage. She didn't care, grinding shamelessly against Kristi while inexplicably maintaining perfect pitch. The raptor's hands were everywhere, no longer caring about the audience.

"Tails are wagging, hearts are racing,
All the memories we're chasing,
Every moment we're embracing,
Finding what needs no replacing!"

More water fell from above. Candace pulled Nessy in for a kiss while Addie attacked Kristi's body.

"Through the fog and through the funnel,
Love's the only constant tunnel,
We refuse to simply crumble,
Rising from each little stumble!
Ahh-ahhh-ahhh!"

They were a tangle of limbs now, switching partners fluidly. Nessy kissed Candace, Kristi mauled Addie, then mixed again.

"So here's to us, the lost and found,
To every soul that's ever been dungeon-bound,
We'll make the world spin round and round,
Until we find that sacred ground,
Ahh-ahhh-ahhh! Owo-oooo!"

All four of them howled the last line together, then Nessy's eyes found mine in the crowd. She blew me a kiss that somehow felt more intimate than everything else I'd just witnessed.

"...Where all our tails can be unwound!"

The song ended with them collapsing together, completely soaked and laughing. Marlena howled, clapping loudly, looming above the crowd. A flock of dragons dove from overhead, igniting the sky with brilliant lines of fire. One of them landed on my shoulder. I recognized the colorful critter Nessy had adopted in the ruins of Denver. 

The crowd erupted into all sorts of noises. Whistles, cheers, and howls mixed with the sound of dragons chittering excitedly overhead. Sparkles trilled and did a little victory dance, her small claws pricking through my shirt.

"THAT'S MY PACK!" I found myself shouting along with the roaring and howling drunk prads. The dragons overhead responded to my shout with a cascade of brilliant sparks that rained down like golden snow.

The drunk shark judge was on her feet, hooting and clapping too. "HOLY MACKEREL! That's what I call PERFORMANCE ART!"

The noise meter beside the stage had maxed out, the needle bent and flashing against the far edge.