Luna and Miguel make it back home in mostly in one piece, as Luna had to help him up the stairs to the apartment. She opens the door for him and guides him to his room, though Miguel pushes off from her at the door.
“I...I think I’ve got it. Go get me some cold stuff in the freezer. Ice packs or frozen veggies or something. Bring em here. That and a wet rag. Cold.”
Luna nods towards the request and goes to fulfill it while Miguel ambles into his room. He almost collapses on his bed, sliding off his shoes and grabbing the heavy suitcase he had left on the bed. He deposits his guns and their corresponding ammunition back inside of it before closing it up again and pushing it to the side, out of the way. Miguel chuckles to himself, realizing that he didn’t even use either one of his guns. He takes off his earpiece and his shirt and looks himself over for injuries.
If he were still complete flesh and blood, he would have been in much worse shape, but fortunately, his metallic limbs took the most thrashing. Miguel has a fair amount of muscle tone, choosing to actively keep fit while he was recovering during the cyberization process. His metallic arm had some scuffing on it, but otherwise, it seemed to be functioning fine, Miguel testing this by rotating his wrist and flexing his fingers. His torso and his regular right arm were bruised up, but thankfully nothing seemed broken.
Miguel changes clothes into an A-shirt and a pair of sleeping shorts as Luna returns, carrying two ice packs, several glacially freezer burned packs of vegetables and a wet rag. She sits next to him and hands over the ice packs first, seeing the multiple bruises.
“Are...you okay? I’m really sorry I didn’t get down there sooner.”
Miguel takes the ice packs and straps one to the joint between his left shoulder and his metal arm and the other one straps neatly on his right forearm.
“Nah kid, you are fine. Don’t worry about me. I’ve been beaten up worse than this when I was a kid. Besides. I was just thinking I was gonna run into some thugs. I didn’t expect damn vampires. Maybe all those stupid stories do have some truth to them.”
Luna scratches her head quizzically at that. “Huh...that would explain the magic sword..and the blood..and..the teeth.”
Miguel nods. “Pass me the rag next.”
Luna hands it to him and winces herself, somehow forgetting that she had been stabbed. She keeps it to herself and puts on a conversational smile for Miguel.
“That went...well...right?”
Miguel shrugs. “I’m not dead, you aren’t dead, we blew up the stuff, and you didn’t get seen. I think. That’s a win in my book.”
He takes the wet rag and applies it to his face, washing off the blood from his lip and his nose, though both had stopped bleeding by now. He cleans himself with it before resting it on his shoulder and reaching down to grab one of his legs. Luna inquisitively looks over towards his Cybernetic legs with interest. Similar to his arms, they were unified in their silver and blue design, but they were very much molded to resemble what his actual limbs used to look like. Miguel slides open a panel the side of his leg and rests his hands over a small keypad, his fingers pressing various buttons.
“Mr. Morales...uhm..what...what’re you doing?”
Miguel stops what he’s doing and looks at her plainly.
“Oh...weren’t you wondering why I needed help and was limping back to the car? I mean, I don’t have real legs anymore, right?”
Luna blinks in realization. “Oh...Ooooooh yeah! That doesn’t make sense.”
Miguel continues. “Normally cybernetics just take care of calibrations, but when I’m getting my kneecaps busted hard enough, I need to realign them and god damn does it hurt. So if you’ll excuse me…”
Miguel finishes inputting the commands and a small whirring noise burrows into Luna’s ears. He braces himself as his leg visibly moves out to the side and shifts its position automatically, Miguel clenching his teeth at the unnerving sensation. It only takes a few seconds before his leg slides properly back into place and he lets out a massive sigh of relief. He waits a few seconds before doing the same to the other leg, with similar results.
Miguel exhales deeply as he reaches over towards Luna and grabs one of the packs of mixed vegetables, holding it to his bruised side. He then points over towards his computer desk and to peculiar looking device. A set of long, flat sticks were sitting in a small slotted tray, the front of them marked with a blue light that was pulsing. At the top of each of the sticks was also a little notch for a light, though these were all green.
“And last but not least, bring me three of those.”
Luna pulls the requested number out of the charging station and hands them over, sitting back down next to him.
“Batteries?”
Miguel nods as he slides open another slot on the outside of his leg, this one being a bit higher up than the keypad. With the press of a button a battery stick is sprung out of his mechanical leg. The small light at its top was orange. Luna’s tail wags in curiosity as she watches him.
“How long do these batteries last?”
Miguel shrugs, sliding in one of the new charge sticks into his leg. Judging by the angle, it slid in deeply, likely to prevent it from being damaged or rattled. “About three days. Less if I use it for fighting or anything strenuous.”
“Oh. That sounds like it lasts for awhile. That’s good. What if you run out though?”
Miguel slides the compartment closed on this leg before reaching over to his other leg and popping the long battery out.
“Well, I’ve got like, a half an hour’s worth of emergency power if everything’s drained, but past that point I’m toast. These things may as well be hunks of metal if I am that reckless.” He replaces the charge stick in his leg and closes it.
Luna croons with knowledge, nodding towards him.
“That makes sense. That should get you enough time to get back home or find something to get up and running again.”
Miguel nods, opening up the last of the compartments and switching out batteries. Flexing his arm and feeling the power flow through the mechanical limb, he looks towards Luna. “That’s the idea. Now turn around kid.”
Luna does as he asks, but turns her head up and to the side so she could look back at him. “What for?”
“Did you really think I didn’t notice that hole in your hoodie?”
Luna’s ears lower to the side of her head as she sighs. She looks forward again and raises an arm and pulls up her sweatshirt enough to expose the wound. The sword cut through her side just underneath her rib, but it already looked like it was healing up judging by the closed wound present. Satisfied with that to some degree, he then looks at the inside of the sweatshirt he could see, noticing the dried blood on it. He reaches up to tug her shirt back down.
“We really need to get you some new clothes. I’m sorry kid, I’ve been focusing on...other things. How about tomorrow I go and pick you up a few things. Do you know what size you are?”
Luna leans her head back again, looking at Miguel without turning around. “Well...I mean I used to. But that was before I grew like, half a foot and got all fuzzy.”
Miguel chuckles good-naturedly before standing up, pushing the frozen veggie packs onto the bed. “Well, I’ll just have to make a guess. A lot of wild guessing. Good lord this is going to be a lot of trips back to the store.”
Luna turns towards him finally and stands, smoothing out her hoodie with a hand. “I don’t want you to spend too much money on me. I mean, you’ve done so much already.”
Miguel gestures, swatting away Luna’s verbal concern. “Don’t worry about it, it’s the least I can do for ya after tonight. By the by, you did really good tonight kid. Really good. Saved me, that’s for damn sure.”
Luna’s tail sways happily. “Oh..uh...D-don’t mention it. I just...you know. Did what I could to help. I watched you sneak in though. Did you do that stuff in the army? Like special ops or anything?”
Miguel chuckles as he crosses his arms over one another. “Nah. I went in and became a combat medic. I was deployed overseas for awhile and saw some fighting, but I also spent time working in the infirmary too. I ended up learning the majority of that stuff from just basic training, a little bit of reading, putting two and two together and listening to some of the guys as they were recovering.”
Luna’s brows raise, looking most certifiably impressed. “Wow...like...the only time I’ve seen that kind of stuff in video games or in movies but seeing you just bust it out like it was nothing. That’s cool.”
Miguel grins as he steps towards the door and opens it for her. “Well, I’m glad you approve. In either case young lady, this old man is going to go to sleep. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. Goodnight.”
Luna steps outside of the door and waves in return, the door closing up and locking with a click. She turns around and heads towards the kitchen, the mention of food reminding her that she should grab something before bed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later on that evening, far beyond the time she’d fallen asleep on the couch, Luna awakens in an unusual place for the second time. She was lying face down and bleary-eyed in soft grass that felt real to the touch. She pushes herself up to stand, and the first thing that immediately grabs her attention was the moon. It was larger, almost impossibly large in the clear sky, dominating most of it. The stars were also abnormally bright, numerous in number and twinkling of their own accord.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Luna immediately recognized this as some sort of dream, but she’d never been in a place that felt so real. There was a small breeze pushing through the evergreen forest that surrounded her, ruffling the branches and sifting through the grasses. Her foot claws could feel the dirt of the earth. And unlike before, nothing was translucent, though she did appear to have a small purple aura around her, the same hue as her eyes. Was this place related to the mysterious blurry island she was on before?
When she goes to speak, she finds that her voice is intact and sounds about the same as it did in real life. “Hello? Anyone? Is...is anyone here?”
She waits for a few tense moments and fails to get any kind of response, but the soft breeze comforts her loneliness. Unable to think of anything else to do she starts to walk forward into the spirit forest, following the direction of the wind at her back. After a few minutes, she overhears a soft clopping noise. It seemed to be coming from everywhere, but there were distinctly only four hooves.
As soon as Luna turns around, she finds the source. A stag spirit about two times larger than she was, stands before her, it’s glowing blue eyes piercing through the werewolf. It lowers its head and stamps it’s hooves aggressively, quaking the very ground beneath Luna’s feet. It speaks, but it’s mouth does not move, the voice instead filling Luna’s head.
~”You...wretch.”~
Luna gulps as she takes a step back, holding out her hands pleadingly towards the stag. “Whoa-whoa-whoa, take it easy okay? Who...wh-where is thi-”
The stag’s voice reverberates through Luna’s consciousness by sheer volume alone. ~”SILENCE ABOMINATION! Your kind have the audacity, after so many centuries, to show up here!? AGAIN!?”
Luna cowers in fear now, her ears and tail laid low as she slowly backs away from the spirit. The stag’s eyes glow brighter.
~“The time for atonement passed ages ago. The waters of time wash away many things but your stench...will never be cleansed. As long as I stand guard, your kind will never again be welcome in these wylds. BE GONE!”~
The stag charges Luna immediately, lowering its head to attempt to gore her with it’s massive antlers. Despite their size of the bone protrusions from the spirit’s head, they seem to be phasing through the various trees with no trouble at all. Luna turns to run, digging her feet into the ground to get as much speed as she could. Even sprinting on all fours, the stag is still faster, and just as she turns to see how much distance she’s put between them, a mighty jagged spur from the antler pierces her chest and starts to rip her in hal-
Luna wakes up again, this time on her couch and with her heart ready to leap out of her throat. The window from the living room showers her in a soft afternoon light. The sounds of cooking catch her ears, someone clinking a metal utensil on a ceramic surface. Meat is roasting in the oven, the aroma sinking directly into her nose. Luna’s pupils shrink as she looks around bewilderingly, her ears at attention and her breathing sped up. She reaches down to grasp at her chest and holds it there for a second, calming herself down.
Miguel’s head pokes out of the kitchen with a friendly smile. The night of rest and ice packs seemed to do wonders for his face, as the swelling had gone down dramatically. “Rise and shine La Loba. I started to wake you up when I came back in, but you looked like you were having one of those running dreams dogs have. Your legs and hands were moving, and you know, to be extremely honest, it was kind of cute.”
Luna gives him a weak smile and exhales deeply, dropping the stress from the dream and reclining on the couch completely. “Uh. Cute...r-right. What are you cooking? It smells really, really good.”
Miguel’s head disappears back into the kitchen as he calls out to her. “Well it’s only just gotten started, but it’ll be barbecue chicken when it’s done, and I’m making some mac and cheese and uh...veggies to go with it!”
Luna tilts her head at the final bit. “Is the reason why we’re having veggies because you forgot to take the frozen stuff back to the fridge?”
An awkward silence passes.
“...Maybe? Yeah, maybe is a good answer. Anyway, I got you some clothes and some other stuff that might be useful for you! It’s on the floor right by you.”
Luna blinks as she looks down, and sure enough, there are several bags of clothes. She idly sorts through them, finding a few different styles but compared to the designer stuff she had before these were certainly older. And just like he said, of varying sizes. She stops when she finds several pairs of underwear and bras, her ears lowering in sheer embarrassment. Miguel calls out again.
“So yeah, whatever doesn’t fit lemme know, and I’ll take it back.”
Luna fishes out a wildly oversized bra, and toys with its stretchiness by pulling at it. “Just...how big do you think my boobs are?”
“Man I don’t know. If you are expecting me to understand the alphabet soup of letters and numbers and algebra you guys use, just flunk me out of class now. It’ll save you time.”
Luna snickers a little bit as she puts the bra back with the others looking back through what she was given. At the end of the line of bags was a slightly smaller one from a different store. She opens it up and starts filing through the contents. Toothbrush, toothpaste, a hairbrush (“That one is actually a really good idea actually.” Luna thought to herself.)...Deodorant? Did...werewolves need deodorant? There were also a bottle of shampoo and conditioner, but at the very bottom of the bag was box of tampons. She reaches down and slowly retrieves the box, holding it up in the air above herself sarcastically, like the worst treasure ever.
“Tampons?”
Miguel’s head pops around the corner.
“Hey, I lived with a woman for like, 10 years. I have made many a trip to stores in the past, in the middle of the rain and snow, dead-ass crack of night, just to buy that little box? You guys don’t have anything I don’t know about. Trust me. Besides, I don’t know how you work, you don’t know how you work, I figure it’s better safe than sorry you know?”
Luna nods, agreeing with the assessment. Miguel’s head slips back into the kitchen.
“Go ahead and put the bathroom stuff up, I made a space for you there this morning. I don’t have a drawer for your clothes kid, so you’ll just have to use some boxes for now. Lunch will be ready in like half an hour alright?”
Luna pulls herself off the couch and heads back into the bathroom to try on all of her new clothes. She found that fit her just fine and plenty of others that threatened either cut off circulation to vital organs/limbs or may as well been bedsheets on her thick frame. Still though, she was very appreciative of the efforts Mr. Morales went through for her, for she didn’t even realize how large she’d gotten. Whenever the Oswalds gave something to her, it was always through the lens of being given a hand-me-down or an undesirable, even though she was much larger than Peggy and required her own clothes. These gifts were given out of kindness, not necessity.
Luna did have to make some adjustments to the pants though. She carves out holes in each one of them for her tail using an extremely rugged pair of scissors. It wasn’t perfect by any means but at least it would be a little more comfortable that way. Luna felt a lot more secure with proper clothes on and even though she couldn’t go outside, she felt more...normal than she had been since she’d transformed a week ago. Happy even. She settles on wearing a nice pink hoodie with a white headphone symbol on it and blue jeans. Her pendant stayed underneath the outwear for safe keeping.
Lunch went about as well as expected, with Luna devouring the lion’s share of the offerings, though Miguel prepared for it and made extra. Several hours pass with Luna heading back to the couch to watch more terribly droll TV and Miguel going back to work in his room. The sun starts to set before Luna heard from him again.
“Luna...Do you mind coming back here for a sec?” Miguel calls patiently.
Luna slides off the couch in a heap, thoroughly bored with the prospect of watching more reality TV. There was only so much of ‘Dude, where’s my Android?’ a person could take. Luna heads towards Miguel’s room and knocks politely before entering, her voice sincere.
“Mr. Morales?”
Luna opens the door and steps inside, finding Miguel with his weapon case out. He beckons her over and pats the bed next to him.
“So, I got to thinking kid. When I heal up a bit, we’re going out again. And security is going to be tighter. I mean, we got lucky last time, but I’m pretty sure next time, some guys are going to be packing heat. And I don’t want you getting hurt, so I’m going to give you a few tips about guns.”
He opens the case and pulls out his 9mm handgun, popping the ammunition out of it. He gestures towards it with a finger before handing it to Luna.
“Here...hold it.”
The gun slides into Luna’s clawed hands and she stares at it blankly. It felt...heavy. Obviously not heavy in the traditional sense, but in the mental sense. This is a tool.
No.
It’s far more than just that.
A weapon designed for killing. One of these was leveled at her and technically ended her life last week. So often in the various media, she consumed, guns were just...apart of it. They fired bullets that hit people, and they died, more often than not. Good guys had them. Bad guys had them. But the other day...She’d been one of those people. The gun seemed extremely unappealing, even unnerving to her now as she continued to just stare at it, her eyes starting to water. When she was shot in the gut...the intense pain that she felt? Was that what everyone felt when they had been shot? Like you’ve been opened up by an impossibly cold spear of agony that would not go away as you were forced to watch your life pool at your feet? She only felt that sickening sensation for maybe a minute or two but even thinking about it made her feel ill. It was only recently when the fur returned to her stomach, covering up the tender skin.
The gun felt far heavier than the car she’d picked up the night before.
Miguel watched Luna’s face turn from caution to sadness to sickness and places a hand on her shoulder.
“Uh...is...is everything okay?”
Luna shudders as she remembers that she’s still sitting there and passes the gun back to Miguel, clearing her throat awkwardly as she wipes a hand over her eyes, smearing her tears.
“I...don’t like guns. I really just...I really don’t like guns.”
Miguel nods slowly and pulls it back into his hand, spinning it around. “Well, that’s fine but let me give you a few pointers real quick so you can survive. First off, I can’t speak for every jackass and gangster, but there are a bunch of folks who don’t know how to shoot a gun and have never practiced with it. Believe it or not, firing a gun isn’t just pointing and shooting with your hands, but your stance. How you hold your arms, how your feet are placed, that kind of deal.”
Luna nods as she places her hands in her lap, listening closely.
Miguel holds the gun out in front of himself, placing both hands on it to steady it. “Both hands on the gun. Feet placed in a steady stance. Focused on your target.” Miguel turns to look slightly towards Luna and nods. “That’s the look of a guy trying to shoot you who’s had some practice.”
Miguel switches over to one hand holding the gun straight out. “You can do this if you like, but guns have way more recoil than they have in the movies. Not only are you wrecking your wrist but if you take a second shot, it takes longer to get the gun under control to aim. Not the worst thing, of course, some people prefer it but...depends. Now this…”
Miguel tilts the gun to the side and passes Luna a sarcastic look, which causes her to giggle. “Do me a favor and bite the guy who does this in the balls. You’ve got the same problem as doing it one handed, but then you add that you have to aim from a different direction and..ugh. It’s a mess. Never, ever, ever do. Now….”
Miguel puts both hands back on the gun and looks towards Luna again, swinging it from side to side. “Now you tell me something. In all those games you played, which targets were the hardest to hit?”
Luna sits up, her fingers touching each other energetically. “Oh...moving targets, all the time..unless we’re talking about a game with like, snipers and bullet drop and that kind of stuff.”
Miguel nods slowly, though he grimaces at the mention of a sniper. “Let’s just hope we don’t run into those snipers. But yes, moving targets. Most people are going to look for the target, draw a bead on it, and then fire.” Miguel mimics this by swinging his gun out in front of himself, pointing to a corner and mock firing, pulling the gun back to simulate recoil.
“But you don’t want to be shot, so you are going to watch for when they are trying to get that lead on you, and then move a different direction. Zigzagging work pretty well. For me, I’m not fast enough to do that kind of thing. Plus I’ll have my own gun, so I’ll be taking up cover points and trying to shoot back, but for you, since you are much faster, you’ll be able to get on folks faster than they can draw a line on you.”
Luna relaxes as they talk, feeling quite comfortable.
“But!” Miguel drops the gun in his lap and turns to face Luna fully. “Ideally, you don’t want to be getting shot at all. Hit them from behind, above, below if you can manage it. I don’t know how many of your games that you play that involve stealth-”
“None of them.” Luna interjects helpfully.
“-but the best gunfight is one you can end before it starts. By the way, what kinds of games do you like to play?”
Luna blinks and looks down at her hands, flicking out a finger and counting them off. It’s clear she’s pretty excited as a smile spreads on her face, and her tail flutters back and forth. “Oh...uh...I really like role-playing games. Action games, fighting games...I love...like really love wrestling games. They’re super fun! Oh, I like games that make me laugh too. Games that make me think are also cool. Old ones, new ones, weird ones, I like a lot of them. What about you, do you play anything?”
Miguel shakes his head. “Nah...I never really had the time to get into them to be honest. I did have one that I had, back on our old computer. It was one where you play as a little fox guy with a sword? What was it called? Tale? Dust tale? Sand-”
Luna lights up energetically like someone stuck her tail in a socket. She speaks rapid-fire, unable to contain her excitement. “Oh! Oh yeah! Sandtail! I remember that game! It’s an old classic, a whole bunch of people really like it, and it’s still really neat. I really like that in the game, you can like, choose like, what stats and stuff to build and the side quests are all really cute and funny, and the story is so good! I mean, Gadget was a really cool sidekick, and your talking sword had a really manly voice! Do you remember all that?”
Luna turns to look at him with the earnestness befitting of a fangirl, nearly hopping up and down in her seat in anticipation for his answer. Miguel is legitimately surprised by her response to that and shrugs awkwardly towards her.
“Uh...yeah. I just liked beating up the monsters.”
Luna misses the memo as she nods quickly, clapping her hands quietly together. “Yeah, that part was really great. You could do so much with like the different specs, and you really could play the kind of game YOU wanted to play…”
Miguel chuckles good-naturedly before tapping Luna on the nose, halting her exposition dump and forcing her to look cross-eyed at the finger.
“Alright, alright kiddo. You remember way more about that game than I do but I’ll tell you what, maybe next time we have some downtime, we can talk about it more? But I just wanted to have this little talk to give you a few pointers. I should be getting back to work now.”
Luna stands and passes Miguel a friendly nod. “Sure! I can’t wait until we talk about it again. Uh, are you going to cook anything tonight?”
Miguel taps his finger on his chin, thinking. “Eh...I don’t think so. Help yourself. It’ll probably be really late before I get done this time.”
Luna nods. “Okay Mr. Morales. Goodnight!”
Miguel smiles. “Goodnight.”
Luna leaves the room and closes the door behind her. Miguel waits a moment, gets up to the door, locks it and then moves back to his computer desk, pulling up his chair. He reaches down inside of one of the drawers of his workspace and pulls out the glass panel phone he’d taken from the truck the other night and sets it down next to his computer. Thanks to the charger he’d stolen along with it, he powered up the device and had spent the last couple of days cracking the touch screen password. It was a lock that involved sliding your finger over specific blocks to make some sort of shape. Through sheer trial and error he finally found out the combination to open up the phone, and while he was out today, he picked up a cable that would allow him to seamlessly transfer documents from the phone to his computer.
After initializing the process, Miguel grabs his own phone and scrolls through his contacts. Finding the one he wanted, he pressed the small panel and the phone dials, a familiar ring tone buzzing in his ear. A masculine voice picks up the phone.
“Well if it isn’t one of my best dudes! Hey man, what can I get for ya?”
Miguel smiles.
“Mr. Dragon...has my special order gotten here yet?”