A few minutes later, Shida swiped through the collection of pictures that had been taken during the last…maybe hour or more. She grinned slightly, one of her overgrown fangs poking out from under her lips as she once again was reminded just how many things and positions she had managed to talk Chak into. It would’ve certainly been easier if these had only been for Simone’s eyes. But, a bit of ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ group pictures had managed to sneak themselves in there as well. And if Chak really wanted to show off Shida’s body to the redhead, she would have to live with the alternative as well. Not that it mattered all that much. Technically, even while running around in their naked disguises, they were both still fully dressed.
Still looked nice though.
“That was so much fun! I think I actually understand why modeling is such a popular career among Terrans! If this disguise theoretically never came off, I think I’d know what line of work I’d be interested in!” Chak partially joked to keep the positive atmosphere going, “I suppose we ought to get dressed, but… did you ever figure out how their clothing washing machines work? I’ll still wear what I wore yesterday, but the smell is a bit too much like Terran sweat odor.” she asked as she picked up her sack-given outfit that came with the disguise, “Perhaps the sack will clean them? Or replace them?’”
Shide looked over at her with a shrug.
“Usually that stuff is easy enough to figure out,” she said, but still sauntered over to the sack. “But we probably should’ve worried about that yesterday…so yeah maybe this thing will spit out something for us.”
For a moment, she glanced over at the smaller sack that had provided the original disguises. Surely, that would work again…but maybe they shouldn’t waste that powder if they could avoid it. After all they had no idea how easy it was to replenish, if at all.
Forgoing the whole song and dance this time, she got straight to the point.
“We wish for more clothes for our disguises,” she said, sounding neither nice about it nor the least bit thankful. However, either the magic was as compelling to it as it was to everything else or the sack knew very well that it did this to itself. Whatever may have been the case, it opened up and released two new neat stacks of folded up outfits.
Well, after pulling them both into this, being helpful was the least it could do. However, as Shida picked the two stacks up to hand one of them over, she paused for a second as neither of them seemed to have anything in a way of labeling.
“Very funny,” she mumbled as she began to slightly pull the clothes apart, before addressing Chak. “I have no idea which one is yours.”
“Uhmm…” Chak hummed as she came up to go through one of the stacks, pulling out a tucked away pair of earmuffs. Putting it on, Chak showed off the white fluffy ear warmers that sported cartoony decorative cat ears sticking out the top, “If I were to venture a bold guess for this stack…” she giggled, reaching up to feel the fake fluffy ears getting genuinely excited to notice that they were poseable.
Shida sighed and reached for the stack.
“You can keep those,” she mumbled while rifling through the rest of the outfit. “Oh, you’ve got to be-”
Annoyedly, she pulled out another example of what looked to be the most uncomfortable version of underwear humans had ever produced in their history.
“Seriously considering ‘going commando’ at this point,” she spitefully hissed under her breath and shook her head, before exhaling in concede and beginning to dress anyway.
“Really!? Thank you!” Chak happily bounced as she played with the ears, looking to the rest of her stack she picked up her own upper pair of undergarments, “If it makes you uncomfortable I don’t see why not.” Chak said as she tossed hers to the side before picking up a pink thickly woven turtleneck sweater with white lettering on the front stating, ‘Christmas Princess’ in a fancy font and bracketed by two candy canes.
“Well this is… cute?” she said, unsure of how to feel about it.
“Very,” Shida replied with a wink, before demonstratively lifting up the rest of the outfit provided to her, much of which looked not unlike the things she had worn the previous day, although the exact version of the clothes were slightly different. “And I’m pretty sure if I’m wearing this, people would notice. You don’t have secrets with clothes this tight.”
Chak seemed to be slightly distracted by that statement, and at that moment Shida noticed something peeking out of the princess’ own stack. Some brown felt stuck out of it. Quickly, Shida snatched it up and decidedly tossed the small, plushy antlers on a green headband into a nearby paper-bin while shaking her head in both annoyance and anger.
Then, to cover up her ‘crime’, she quickly continued with a joke,
“Starting to think the sack is very serious about me finding a Ms. Claus sometimes soon. Either that or the thing itself love seeing me in skimpy outfits. Well, skimpy for the weather.”
“I was going to say… Maybe you should ask for warmer clothes? A thick sweater at least? It would solve both issues. It’s no doubt still very cold out there.” Chak said as she reached up for her earmuffs again, suddenly feeling a bit guilty for claiming what must have been the warmest thing from Shida’s pile.
Picking up her new white pants made of a soft stretchy thick material, she almost offered it to her friend but noticed that her legs were significantly shorter and it would mostly likely ride up Shida’s.
Shida hummed in disapproval.
“I don’t want to give it the satisfaction,” she murmured while covering up with her own sweater to fully remove the eye-candy from the room. “Besides, magic’s keeping me warm just fine. I have a feeling I could actually run around in my birthday suit and would still be okay.”
As she pulled it down, the phrase ‘cool as the north-pole’ became visible on the black knitwear, right above some light-blue swirls that likely indicated some sort of cold wind, as well as a Santa-head above the letters, which was just…bad on so many levels. Biggest one being that no matter what was written there, it would of course pull any gazes right to that area. Oh well, not like she wasn’t used to being stared at.
“Okay, despite the dork-factor, do I look presentable?” she asked, twirling on the spot.
“Presentably hot!” Chak answered in a giggle as she finished tying up her boots. Pulling up the pillowy turtle neck up to her jawline, Chak stood up and adjusted her earmuff ears so that one flopped while the other aimed straight.
“Can’t say the same for myself, but I think I still like it!” she added as she did a quick curtsey with the long bottom of the sweater.
Shida shrugged.
“I can’t see you running around in skin-tight stuff anyway,” she admitted, the picture just not forming in her mind. Then she glanced around and crossed her arms. “Guess that means we can let the perv out now…Oh well. Doodle, you may leave the attic now.”
Impatiently, she tapped her foot while waiting for the elf to notice that the magic keeping him had dissipated.
The disheveled disguised elf opened the door, his mouth coated with cheese puff powder and dark heavy bags hung from under his eyes.
“Don’t talk to me till I had my cocoa.” he grumbled before snapping his fingers to magically produce a steaming mug into his hands.
Taking a deep sip he pulls away releasing a satisfied breath.
“Ahhhhh…. That’s the stuff.” he said in relief, “Morn’n boss. Make a Ms. Claus out of that reindeer of yours last night?”
Before getting scolded, Doodle stepped back into the attic to turn off his active television, but decided to switch over to the news channel first. A woman with dressed up hair and in a white suit spoke in an odd human accent where every line and word had a droning yet super clear emphasis on pronunciation.
‘-issing since last night. Parents of the missing children are worried that they were caught in out in the storm while playing-’ Turning off the television, the elf dropped the remote and rolled his eyes.
“Christmas crumbs… I always miss the weather. Aw well.” with another snap of his fingers his fingers his appearance cleans itself up in a jiffy. Kicking the large but empty cheese puff bag under the small couch he slept on he made his way out of the attic, stirring his hot drink with a small melting candy cane.
“That is for me to know and for you to never find out,” Shida gave back as she began to gather her things that she would be taking with her together. “But I did remember I have this.”
She briefly showed off her micro-rifle to the elf, although she quickly set it down again, figuring it might not be the best look for a random stranger to the town to be running around with a very modern looking weapon, and it wasn’t exactly like she could conceal it anywhere on her in this state.
She did however turn around to hand Chak her pistol.
“You can never know…” she mumbled as the weapon was hesitantly taken off her. “Anyway, I guess it’s time to get planning,” she announced while storing away her phone underneath her hoody by sticking it into the tight straps of the ‘cage’ underneath. “I hope Dagon’s assistants don’t take too long with getting those phones to us, otherwise we’re going to have a lot of wasted time on our hands.”
As Chak figured the best place to hide her weapon away the sound of the home’s front door opening and closing rang out.
“Hello? I’m here to drop off some phones?” a feminine voice called out from the entryway.
Chak turned back, now quickly finding a place to shove the pistol.
“How fortuitous…” she uttered, finally deciding her deep pant pocket to be the only place it can go.
“Gotta love the everyday Christmas miracles!” Doodle chimed in.
Triple checking her state of dress, Chak ventured out to meet the visitor.
Turning the corner to the entry hallway she sees a young woman dressed in a very similar dark suit as the one Dagon wore, however her chest area was almost ludicrous exposed. Her sharp angular features of her face seemed to be a bit exaggerated by her choice of dark make-up.
“Hello, yes I believe those would be for us.” Chak greeted the woman pleasantly.
Instantly the expression of the guest face soured before half-heartedly recovering once she saw the two women.
“Ahh… Dagon didn't mention his guests were… well anyway whatever. Here.” she said, seemingly to mostly drop pleasantries, holding out a small paper bag, “The phones have each other’s, mine and Dagon’s numbers already saved in the contacts. But Mr. Dagon is a busy man so it’s better if you called me first so I can relay anything you’d like him to know. Really, no need to bother him.”
Before Chak had a full grasp on the bag the woman dismissively pulled away and exited the house without so much as a farewell.
“Uhm… that was… uhm… she was…” Chak mumbled as she peeked into the bag, a bit thrown off by the woman’s attitude.
“Well, clearly I’m not the only one in heat,” Shida mumbled towards Doodle in the living room with her arms crossed. “And here I thought humans were primates and not canines.”
Admittedly, she was kind of proud of herself for the -at least in her mind- cleverly worded insult that managed to sneak right past whatever kept her from cursing.
Then she started to move over towards Chak.
“So, you wanna call Dagon and tell him his assistant’s got a thing for him?” she loudly asked and leaned in to also take a closer look at the provided devices. “I wonder if she knows that he’s engaged. But I guess the sheer stink of jealous inadequacy indicates as much. She can’t think too much of it if she seriously considers him having two flings over the holidays, though. Wonder if there’s a reason for that. You think he ever gave her a phone like this?”
“She certainly has issues to address…” Chak replied with a shrug before presenting the bag to Shida for her to choose which phone she wanted, “And I certainly don’t see myself calling her first in any situation, hopefully that won’t become a problem in the future.”
“And here I am wondering if Dagon already dipped his pen into another company inkwell…” Doodle spoke up from behind the two. He leaned on the wall corner finishing up his drink, “Anywho, what’s our first play here boss? Hungry? I saw we passed by several diners on our way over here last night. Small town breakfast food is to die for! Can’t save Christmas on an empty stomach!”
Shida tilted her head in contemplation.
“Human food?....hmmmm I don’t know about this,” she said pondering, shuddering slightly at the thought. Then again, her taste buds did work differently now. And it was unlikely to find anything edible around anyway if she didn’t make it herself. She glanced at Chak. “You hungry?”
“Oh… Since I haven’t really consumed much since the spiced ethanol last night…. I mean we do have our rations, but I figured we would have to eat those sparingly. But since we are capable of eating the local food and won’t have a chance to really eat it after this…” Chak responded as she beat around the bush, reaching into the bag she pulled out a small rectangular envelope. Inside was a plastic card of sorts with a black scan strip and chip, “Yes, very.” she caved.
“Then it’s settled! Off we go!” Doodle cheered as he tossed his mug over his shoulder to the floor, but just before it could shatter it dissipated into magical dust.
Chak opened the front door just to see the assistant woman in her vehicle still in the parking lot. Pulling out she was seemingly in a heated conversation on her own phone device.
“Let’s hope she drives carefully,” Shida mumbled in mocking sweetness and waved her goodbye with a sly grin on her face.
-
Not too long after the group had settled down in the first diner they could find on their way towards town. The air was heavy from the heating as well as the vaporizing water and grease that came from the semi-open kitchen behind the counter as they sat down into the strange bays of chairs and tables and opened their menus.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Then, after a brief and unwelcome chat with an overly personal waitress in a white and blue uniform and some more wait, the food was delivered to them.
“Welp, after it was the first thing you asked me about when talking about dating a terran, I think it was about time this happened,” Shida joked towards Chak as she pulled a golden brown rectangle made of two slices of bread with a sticky yellow substance in between, as well as a tiny ceramic bowl with a thick, red liquid inside towards her.
“You’re certainly right.” Chak agreed in a chuckle as she poked her fluffy yet flat breakfast cakes that were sided with strips of fatty meat, fried eggs and a mound of seasoned roughly chopped steaming potatoes. She picked up an identical small ceramic bowl to the one Shida had -but in hers was a light brown syrup- and poured a little of it at the edge of the cake.
“I’m so excited to try genuine Terran pancakes, but… there's still a part of me in my head screaming that it’s going to make me very ill… if not outright perish. This is such a huge amount of sugar too…” Chak replied as she figured out how to properly use a fork with her new brand of hands, practically butchering the poor set of round food items.
After Doodle was given the ‘kid’s menu’ he insisted on getting something from the regular menu, although that didn’t stop him from trying out -and struggling with- the simple maze with a blue crayon.
“Fudge! Do they really expect brain-dead kids to do this? And don’t get me started on this crossword puzzle! It’s downright impossible!” he complained, having not even touched his sauced egg on a biscuit.
After struggling to put her first shredded bite in her mouth, Chak’s eyes would have blinded the others if they were still capable of glowing.
“This is… so good!” she quickly stabbed a few potato chucks and tried them, the grip on her fork being rather unpleasant. She leaned back into the cushioned seat with her eyes wide open in sheer amazement, “I think I’d give up being a Cali forever for potatoes…” she jested in a breathy vent, though perhaps not too far from her true feelings.
Meanwhile, Shida was struggling significantly with taking the first bite of her food, because the part she bit off just did not want to let go of the rest, as long strings of stretchy cheese clung on to the bulk of the sandwich. Biting it off didn’t work, and seeing that, Shida had instinctively tried to shake her head in order to tear it instead, which had only thrown the threads around and made them even longer and thinner, so that they now hung down from her mouth all the way to her chest, and she had to hold the rest of the sandwich they were connected to high up so they wouldn’t accidentally touch the table, the cleanness of which she didn’t exactly trust.
“I think I’ll stick to meat in the future,” she complained through her semi-closed teeth and still with a full mouth, while she defeatedly removed one of her hands to begrudgingly remove the cheese-strings manually. Once she had managed to sever all of them, rolling them up and tossing the ensuing ball into her mouth, she made an even more begrudging expression as she tried to process the food in her mouth. She wasn’t really used to having to chew anything, and the feeling of it didn’t sit right with her. However, she also very clearly felt that if she just tried to swallow it like she would’ve usually done, she may well die trying. Finally, after a good twenty to thirty seconds, she managed to force the sticky and crumbly mass down her throat. With her mouth now free again, she added, “Give it a few days and you’ll be missing the taste of cul-dew and candied crickets.”
“Maybe, but I’d certainly like to expand what I could share with Simone without her being the one to compromise...” Chak pointed out before rotating her plate to have the strips of meat face towards her friend, “Feel free to have my bacon! I don’t think I’ll be able to finish everything on my plate anyway.” She offered before taking a bigger helping of her potato heaven.
Doodle looked up from his crayon endeavors after the front door bell jingled as it swung open.
“Twelve o’clock. Mr. Mop graces up with his presence.” he informed.
Turning back to look, Chak not only sees the man who tried to attack them in the hospital walk in, but he was accompanied by Mary.
The two seemed to be presenting a sort of high spirit, but there was clearly something else going on. Almost receiving a heart attack as they approached their booth, she sighed in relief as they continued down to claim their own. Seemingly no not notice the trio at all in their current state.
Sitting down they quickly started to converse quietly to one another. At first it’s a bit confrontational, but as they went into it they exchanged what seemed to be shocking conspiratorial revelations. To which was comically interrupted by the waitress coming to take their drinks and food orders.
After what seemed to be a weirdly short amount of time, the two seemed to really warm up to each other. To the point where Mary reached her hand out to his across the table with a reassuring smile.
Chak then peeled her gaze back to the others at her own table.
“Should we… run?” she asked with uncertainty.
“Heck no. I’m still finishing my eggs benedict.” Doodle responded before pushing his crayon drawing away to actually start eating his now cold food.
“We’d only make ourselves suspicious anyway. It’s not like they can recognize us,” Shida mumbled in galactic common so they wouldn’t be overheard and casually picked up one of the bacon strips from Chak’s plate to take a bite. The poor meat was completely oversalted, but she would have to live with it here. Seems like her tastes in that regard had not changed that much. “Who should be a lot more worried is Mary over there. Not only did she drive away with the aliens yesterday, the naughty list is also still being updated. And those are some grabby fingers right there.”
She chewed a bit lost in thought, wondering how invested she should get in these people. She didn’t know them all too well, however she had so far gotten the very strong feeling that their relationships weren’t exactly supposed to be all that ‘open’. Would it be the right thing to shoot Dagon a warning after he was so generously helping them out? Or would that just tick him off and she should better keep her mouth shut? Either way, running was out of the question, so now it was either to make smalltalk or to watch those two as they went about their questionable business.
Hesitating but accepting the logic, Chak severed another rough chunk from her syrup drizzled pancakes.
“You know this tastes really good, but I don’t see the nutritional value to it…” she noted to smooth out the air a bit, “I hope Dagon wouldn’t mind if I ordered a bowl of fruit too…” waving down a waitress she did just that, but upon a bit of pressing from the waitress she also ordered a free cup of hot coffee.
Once both arrived the waitress just left the metal pitcher there for refills.
“Concentrated caffeine like this… I normally wouldn’t survive drinking it, and Simone’s always smelled very enticing… So why not, right?” she justified to herself as she dragged the small mug closer to her to smell it. With both hands, careful to not touch the hot areas she lifted the dark drink to her mouth for a sip.
Almost immediately her face cringed in utter disgust as she stuck her tongue out in revolution.
“What in Kl- Kl-.” she gagged before quickly setting the drink down and away from her, Waving her hands from the intense bitterness her displeasure face didn’t let up, “That’s so gross! Stars! How does she- why would she-” snatching up a napkin out of desperation she pressed her Terran tongue against it hoping to remove the string lingering taste.
In a single movement, Shida both pushed Chak’s bowl of syrup closer to her while pulling the mug of coffee to herself, taking it by the handle and bringing it up to her nose.
“Stinks like always,” she mumbled, almost glad to see that apparently, her opinion on certain things hadn’t necessarily changed along with her species. Then, she almost absent-mindedly lifted the liquid to her lips and took a quick sip, keeping it in her mouth for a second. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, and she glanced at the cup in quick appraisal as she swallowed. “Doesn’t taste as bad with this tongue though.”
It was mostly just earthy and dry. Still bitter, but not as much as it would’ve been to her usual senses.
She set the cup down again, but kept it standing in front of her, before briefly glancing at the cutlery she had been given along with her meal, wondering aloud,
“Why would they serve a soup without a spoon?”
She was sure that the menu had said “-and tomato soup” with her grilled-cheese, and she assumed that’s what the red liquid was, but…was she just supposed to drink it?
Now shoving her miserable mouth with semi-fresh assorted fruits and syrup pancake Chak actually knew the answer to Shida’s quandary. Clearing her throat, thankful for the bitter tar-drink to be mostly gone from her senses, Chak pointed at the soup.
“I believe Seven made this for Simone a few times when they made us grilled cheeses. Although I think you can ask for a spoon if you want it, you’re first supposed to dip the sandwich into it.” she notified before focusing on her fruit, wanting to make sure to eat it all before she started to get full.
Following the instructions hesitantly and with a suspicious look in her eyes, Shida pushed the tip of one of the sandwich’s edges into the red liquid, that thickened even more as it was cooling down, before taking another bite. Thankfully, the colder cheese was much less stretchy than the hot version, and she actually managed to completely bite a piece of this time.
After chewing for a bit, she closed her eyes. Then after a bit more, she opened them again.
“I don’t get it,” she said, her mouth half full, and she reached over to wash it down with a bit more of the mucky tasting coffee.
“Yeah… Simone wasn’t a big fan either. It took her some time to gently convince Seven that the soup wasn’t needed.” Chak admitted.
“Pickiest Santa of all time… Though you can subsist on nothing but cookies and milk so what do I know?” Doodle chuckled, showing that he had already scarfed down his meal to extinction.
The door jingled open once more. A heavier set woman stepped in, dressed in an authoritative unifrom.
“Excuse me everyone, sorry can I have everyone listen up?” she said in a commanding but soft voice.
The whole dinner stopped and turned to look at the sheriff curiously, Bell was particularly surprised to see her.
“Thank you, I won’t take much of everyone’s time. But we’re stopping from place to place to ask if anyone has seen the following kids who have gone missing since last night;” she said, pulling up printed photographs to hold up as she stated the names, “Tony Baker. Ashley Johnson. Zach Cringle.”
Most people shook their heads and mumbled in the negative. The color of Bell’s face drained away however as he saw the very familiar faces.
“I see. Thank you for your time. We are also assembling a search and rescue effort in the last area of the wilderness where they were spotted. If you are able, the Flakeville police department would gratefully accept any and all hands to come help in the search. We are meeting at the north end of town in a few hours if you’re interested. Thanks again, and Merry Christmas.” the sheriff finished before handing a waitress the pictures to put up and taking her leave.
Bell excused himself from Mary to hurry outside to catch up to the Sheriff to report what he knew, but Mary quickly paid for the half-eaten food and followed him as well. She passed by the table once again not noticing those who were sitting in it.
“Hey, this is great news. If the police are gonna be busy with all that we can probably get away with a little tomfoolery.” Doodle said as the atmosphere of the diner resumed.
Chak gave the little man a stare of daggers, but kept quiet.
“Not inaccurate,” Shida mumbled with a shrug and finished her food, leaving most of the red soup untouched, before also emptying the mug of coffee, even though she too pulled a slightly grossed out face after taking more than one sip at a time. “However, if I was a bettin’ girl, they’ll probably try to pin the disappearance on the aliens when their search inevitably comes up short, so I’d say we better keep the tomfoolery to a minimum and focus on the essentials. Our one lead is the parade. And with Mary seemingly busy for the time being, I guess it’s as good a time as any to get on Dagon’s nerves some more.”
As she said that, she was already pulling out the phone he had lent them. For a second, she pondered if she should actually call his assistant first, if only for the comedic value alone. However, ultimately she decided against it. The poor guy probably had enough problems without her fueling the jealousy of that witch. And so she directly called their current benefactor’s line.
“I just hope the children are found safe and sound…” Chak mumbled, not liking the source of this boon, but having to accept it.
“You’ve reached Dagon.” the man’s voice answered in the middle of the first ring.
-
“Get up.” a growling voice ordered, shocking Zach into consciousness.
In a panic the boy sat up, along with his two unharmed friends. Under their heads were their coats rolled into impromptu pillows, while the tower’s provide big blanket rested atop all three of the kids keeping them warm.
His eyes instantly found the green winged creature that assailed them that night facing away from them. The sound of sizzling and popping hiding behind it.
“We're not dead…?” Tony whimpered as he touched his chest and gut for wounds.
“Clearly you’re the brains of the group.” the beast responded, making all three kids flinch in fear. Its grasping tail whirled around and snatched a cylindrical container to whatever it was doing.
The kids looked to one another unsure of what to make of the situation.
“What are you going to do with us!?” Zach bravely demanded.
“I should have thrown you a lot back into the snow. Would’ve saved me a lot of headache.” the monster replied before turning around with a sizzling iron skillet, it then approached the prone children causing them to recoil under the blanket. Setting the skillet down on the wooden floor next to them it walked to the tower’s exit door, snatching up a strange looking satchel.
“Eat and get out.” it ordered coldly before stepping out into the crisp air.
“What’s… what’s in it…?” Zach asked Ash, as she was the closest. The visions of freshly butchered flesh from the cooler still prominent in his mind.
“Uh… It’s… scrambled eggs and sausage…” Ash reported.
“What’s the sausage made of…?” Tony uttered in fear.
The three kids screamed as the beast thwacked his tail against the window behind them.
“Venison!” he grouchily answered from outside, “Hurry up!”
Both hungry and not feeling like they had a choice, the young teenagers obliged. Picking out the food with their bare hands they were surprised to find that it was actually really good!
“What do you think it is? Bigfoot?” Zach asked under his breath.
“Bigfoot doesn’t have wings, doofus.” Ash argued.
“How do ‘you’ know? Maybe they do!” Zach snapped back.
The three jump once again from another window twack.
“Doesn’t matter. Less talking, more eating!” the monster persisted.
The three guests sat still in complete shock, terrified that it could still hear them. Too scared to even whisper anymore they hurry along and put on their coats.
“Come on!” the beast beckoned impatiently.
Hesitating, Zach led the others through the door to face the beast who leaned up against the railing that overlooked the town.
“Now what?” Zach asked.
“Leave. And watch your step, the stairs are slick.” it replied in a growl.
Having no problem with that, Tony is the first to start the descent. However Ash noticed Zach not even turning to the stairs. She grabbed on to his sleeve to give it an encouraging tug, but he remained in place.
“What are you?” he asked.
“Elvis Presley.” the green thing replied sarcastically.
“Seriously. Who are you and why are you just letting us go? You gonna hunt us down for sport or something?” the teen pressed.
“All hunted out. Guess it’s your lucky day, Now scram before I change my mind!” it replied as its tail started to aggressively sway.
Not wanting to give up, but also feeling the tugs of Ash get more and more persistent he decided to ask the biggest burning question.
“Are you an alien too!?” he asked.
The furry plumes that the beast had for ears perked up.
“‘Too’?” it counter asked with interest.
Feeling the air shift, Zach immediately regretted asking that question as the beast turned to look back at him with a grave expression.
The tail shot out, snatching the boy away from Ash with ease. Zach screamed out in fear as he was dangled over the railing to face the still leaning beast. Looking down he nearly threw up his breakfast as the fall would mostly prove lethal
“Tell me everything you know. Now.”
Ash started to charge the beast, but realizing the situation Zach was in faltered from committing.
“Let him go!” she demanded.
Zach slightly slipped in the grasper’s grip causing him and Ash to scream in unison. Smiling at the human’s dramatic reactions the beast exposed its two sets of dark fangs.
“Perhaps you are all the brains…” it mused, “Though I may have been too eager to cast you out… You all may prove to be worth the headache after all.”
Swinging the teen back onto solid floor, the monster leaped up on the railing, causing it to slightly sway. Its ear plumes twitched, and zeroed its attention on the scrambling Tony, now fleeing for his life through the snow. In a forward jump, the green monster’s moth-patterned wings expanded open allowing it to glide straight down upon the squealing teenager. With its tail it carries the terrified boy back up the steps, cutting off the other two from fleeing.
“Apologies for my abhorrent rudeness… You are my guests after all, and I’ve been a terrible host. Allow me to rectify that.” the beast said with a smirk, “Hello, my name is Zithra. What’s yours?”