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  "description": "Take a step back\nAnd [i]breathe[/i].",
  "description_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>Take a step back<br />And <em>breathe</em>.</span>",
  "writing": "\"Are you ready, Gren??\"\n\n\"Huh?\" The wide-eyed goat child looked up from her shoes, unsure how long she'd been staring at them. A house full of old, antiquated furniture seemed to look at her from every angle, some unseen sentience animating the biggest wooden radio to the tiniest fancy spoon. \"Ready for what??\"\n\nA deep, bassy piano trill sounded and the whole house went dim. Suddenly, an eerie blue flame created a spooky spotlight in which a curvaceous brown bat woman with wild red hair gazed down at her with a look full of mischief. \"I bid you welcome. My name is Betty, this terrible house's ghost-est hostess. And are you [i]ready[/i], my dear,\" she began in an ethereal and dreary voice that still managed to be energetic somehow while the piano percussed each word, \"for us to scare-\" dun! \"- your-\" dun. \"[i]pants off! [/i]\"\n\nThe piano began began banging out a raucous ragtime number as the house full of haunted furniture laughed and hooted and carried on. \"Waugh!\" Gren felt herself launched back into a comfy old chair as her pants literally flew off her legs and ran away screaming out the door! Meanwhile the house's menagerie of living appliances broke out in song along with that crazy piano.\n\n[i]\"Take a seat my silly dear\nAnd try to not pass out with fear\nYou thought you'd get scared once a year?\"[/i]\nThe bat broke in solo, \"A [u]day[/u] for spooking? Very queer.\"\n\nThe chair spun around as Gren tried to hang on, only to open a trap door and drop her into a dark basement full of cobwebs and orange and blue lights breaking up the darkness. She crawled forward as a variety of classic monsters reached for her.\n\n[i]\"Ghosts and ghouls will steal your face\n Howling demons, things from space\n Gobble you up without a trace\"[/i]\nGren backed into a corner before a mummy with a deep baritone grabbed her shoulder. \"Y'know you'll never leave this place!\"\n\nThe goat girl squealed, eyes wide as she ran through the basement, the grin never leaving her face when she dashed into a closet door and began running through a dimension of wall-less, twisting tile floor hallways leading from one door to the next, sending her through a hopeless loop of insane portals. Finally she ended up before that bat woman again, who had her hands on her hips as she walked toward her, the whole house seeming to gang up behind her.\n\n[i]\"Go on cutie, if you dare\n Bats and spiders in your hair\nBOO! You're about to get so scared\"[/i]\nA comically large haunted vacuum sucked up both Gren and Betty's dresses, leaving them down to their lacy skivvies. \"Frightened down to your underwear!\"\n\nThe entire menagerie of spooks and spirits began crowding up, cackling, and Gren continued laugh-screaming all the way to the door, which she yanked open and ran out into the eternal murky twilight. She screamed and laughed and ran until she could do none of the three any more, collapsing into a pile of panting, spooked giggles. \"Hah... hah... hunh...\" \n\n\"Wow, sure is creepy out!\"\n\n\"AH!\" Gren blinked at the sudden appearance of her friend Aren. \"Geez, stripes! Where'd you come from??\"\n\nHe smirked and shrugged. \"I was around. I didn't know you wore [i]old[/i] underwear.\"\n\nThe goat girl reached just out of sight and slapped her dress back on. \"And you'll keep not knowing that if you know what's good for you,\" she kidded him. \"All I need is the real you perving on me, too.\"\n\n\"The real me?? But Gren! I'm the very realest!\" He struck a pose to much fanfare.\n\nShe blinked. \"What.\"\n\n\"Come on, I'll show ya, kid!\" He grabbed her hand and leapt into the air.\n\n\"Kid?! I'm older than you by a month!\" She looked around, incredulous, as they flew through the clouds. \"Why can you fly??\"\n\n\"It's just one of my many talents,\" he said with all the attempted suaveness of a boy impersonating a much older man. \"I don't mean to brag, but I'm kinda awesome.\"\n\nShe sputtered. \"Kind of-\"\n\n\"Okay, okay!\" he laughed as if conceding to her. \"I'm [u]really[/u] awesome!\" He rolled to the side like a biplane, taking her down to an enormous city which he flew very low to the ground in. \"I have super special powers over Science that let me make the cure for the sniffles, turn homework into Hallohall's candy and basically beat the crap out of huge monsters- look there's one now!\" He pointed off to the main town square where an enormous horned beast with razor teeth and fire scales stomped around aimlessly... yet threateningly!\n\n\"W-... What??\" Gren winced.\n\n\"Argh!\" cried out an injured Natalie as she flew into the side of a building wearing an ostentatious and exploitative outfit. \"Flamezillasaur is too strong!\"\n\n\"Hell! Damn!\" Carrie swore, wearing an even more impractically revealing outfit as she too inexplicably flew to Natalie's side. \"This thing's one tough son of a gun!\"\n\n\"Don't worry girls!\" Aren called out dramatically, suddenly donning an outfit featuring a techy trenchcoat and goggles. \"Dr. Awesome is here!\"\n\n\"Dr. Awesome!\" both of the older girls called out as they spotted him. Carrie hugged him close to her as Natalie joined in from the other side. His face was noticeably eclipsed by chest. \"We're so glad you're here,\" Carrie cooed to him. \n\n\"No time for cuddles!\" he said with authority. \"We've got to slay that beast!\"\n\n\"W-... What is this...?\" Gren asked, floating in the air, disbelieving what she was seeing.\n\n\"Can you do it, Dr. Awesome??\" Nat worried.\n\n\"I-...\" Aren clenched a fist. \"I can't.\"\n\nThey gasped in unison.\n\n\"But we can win if you Power Up!\" he added.\n\n\"Right!\"\n\nAren dug a remote control out of his trenchcoat pocket- a monstrosity glittered with switches, dials and buttons of all kinds- and hastily adjusted several settings, the monster roaring in the distance. \"Just a few more adjustments... that's it!\" He pressed a button on it. \"Thanks to child genius Dr. Awesome's incredible B-Waves, Carrie and Natalie are surrounded by a mysterious energy that supercharges their amazing abilities!\" Their bodies glowed with an awesome power, which coincidentally also made their breasts bigger by several factors- something they somehow completely failed to notice, flying off toward the beast with a tremendous heaving jiggling that Aren stared intently at. \"Go, you can do it!\"\n\n\"... I...\" Gren scrunched her brows together. \"Unbelievable...\"\n\n\"Look, I know,\" Aren conceded. \"I could totally have taken that monster down myself. But that would've just been showing off, and I'm too humble for that. So anyway! You wanna kiss in our underwear now?\"\n\nThat did it. She couldn't take anymore. \"This... is... STUPID!\"\n\nEverything stopped. The monster, Carrie, Natalie, Aren... the whole city stared at her, before sheepishly disappearing from sight, all except the tiger. \"... Gren, what's the matter with you?\" He looked concerned, walking over and putting a hand on her horn. \"Do I need to adjust something, or...\"\n\n\"What are you doing??\" She pushed his arm away. \n\n\"Lucid dreaming, duh,\" he said as if it were the most obvious thing imaginable. \"And trying to have a good one! What's wrong with me? I usually imagine you so much nicer.\"\n\n\"What??\" She blinked. \"You mean... I'm in your dream?\"\n\n\"Of course you are, I m-... uh! UH!\" His eyes grew wide and his whole face flushed. \"G-Gren is that the real you?!\"\n\n\"Of course it's me! It was always me!\"\n\n\"Ohmigod, how did you get into my private dreams??\"\n\nShe put her hands on her hips expectantly. \"Me?? How did you get into [i]my[/i] dreams?!\"\n\n\"Sorry.\" They both looked down at a yellow inkling with black eyes that looked like Gren. \"I just thought you wanted to play together...\"\n\n\"Voltaus??\" they whispered in unison.\n\n\"Yeah. I can talk now.\" The inkling changed into the outer shape of Aren. \"Your prana's so good when you're together. Like, way, waaay better. So, I thought maybe you'd like it if I linked your dreams...\"\n\n\"You can do that? We're not even physically close to each other...\" Aren asked with wonder. \"That's amazing... you know, now that I think about it, even my lucid dreaming isn't usually this good, or even close to this dependable.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Gren nodded in agreement. \"And I can never seem to dream about what I want to at all.\"\n\n\"Well!\" Voltaus piped up hopefully. \"You can dream about whatever you want now! B-... But um. You have to share the space.\"\n\n\"So...\" The goat girl considered it. \"If I wanna have dreams about spookyfun, then I'm gonna have to put up with Dr. Science and his love of giganto-boobs?\"\n\nAren's ears wilted. He pushed his hands in his pockets and frowned, facing away from her out of embarrassment and disappointment. He was startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder.\n\nGren gave him a careful, bashful smile. \"Hold on... I didn't say [i]no[/i].\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nEyes open, morning's here. Time to get up. Where this time? Coat pile? Dumpster?\n\n Nope. Bed.\n\nA soft, warm, comfortable bed, with room to stretch and layers to grasp. It was at once difficult to get used to and achingly wonderful, every inch of luxurious space-age fabric a pleasure to touch; the kind of thing it was impossible to know, until one touched it again, how much he starved for it. \n\nAnd Jacent had starved. But not today. Not ever again. He rose out of his bed- [i]his[/i] bed, that belonged to him alone- and walked along the smooth polished wooden floor of his place. A stop at the refrigerator, out of which he grabbed a box of cold leftover beef lo mein. He didn't demolish it like before, to throw fuel into the furnace and waste punching mutants and robots... but instead savored the salty chew of the peppered beef and the greasy noodles, loving every drawn out moment of it. A casual toss of the empty box into a machine he didn't understand nor have to, a light flashed, and it turned to dust, which would apparently be recycled.\n\nHe stepped into the bathroom, disrobing slowly and noting with some amusement as the room's temperature slightly raised as he did so. The shower opened and closed. He stuttered. \"Ah, uh. Computer. Jet... stream attack, or whatever.\" The command worked, cleansing spears of hot water washing over him, completely untying the knots in his muscles that had been loosened by his bed while he slept. There was a hologram of a private mountain glade surrounding him, something purely there for the pleasure of it. \"Mmmmh. Computer. Fog... bank?\" The spears turned to clouds of water that penetrated his long red hair easily, making his shower much shorter and more economical. Then came the dry cycle, which seemed the same as those air-powered hand dryers he remembered from public restrooms, but instead of taking an eternity, it was over in moments, the moisture wicking downward somehow.\n\n\"Okay. Let's... let's try this.\" He stared down a patch of cloth that seemed altogether too small to serve any role other than handkerchief, and placed it awkwardly. He was dismayed that he'd applied the navy blue understicker at a crooked angle, but it quickly auto-corrected itself, crawling over his flesh as if every corner of it was covered in tiny grasping fingers that unrumpled it like a prideful rug. In the end, it was like the middle part of a pair of very thin thong underwear, his privates wrapped and nestled into a compact spheroid in front of him, brandishing the white 'C' logo from his uniform- an addition Carrie had made purely to antagonize him, insisting that the letter stood for something else entirely. \n\nThe rest of his outfit was equally as form-fitting. Super thin under layers covered by geometrically-flared over layers which seemed to fill the function of a tee shirt and shorts, yet still had less thickness than your average 20th century tank top. It was showy, all of it, and that had made him wildly self-conscious at first; time with Samantha, however, had made him less so. She knew what men wore, and this was it. Plus, he couldn't lie; it was the most comfortable clothing he'd ever worn. Before trying it on, he'd never thought about how often normal clothing rode up or slid down or wrinkled or rumpled, no matter how well-fitted, and had to be adjusted constantly throughout the day. Even the (at first) horrifically invasive junk-tucking wedgie napkin these people considered underwear felt so natural that he barely even noticed its presence.\n\nTruly, to live as an average person in this time was better than as a king in his own. He smiled as he paced toward the out of place red leather chair in his living room, sat in his throne... and was overthrown by an overactive spring that dumped him like a box of rocks.\n\nHis PET rang. Carrie's voice came through. \"Hey Jacent, you up?\"\n\n\"... Yes,\" he answered from the floor.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"... Great! I don't know if you noticed, but it's actually nice out today- the Climate Station people finally managed to wring some good weather out of the thing- so the pack's planning to go to the water park. You coming?\" She sat on her bed, idly playing with a fluffy husky plush and arranging several pieces of swimwear in a fan.\n\n\"That sounds nice. Yes! I will go.\"\n\n\"Come on, you've gotta get out there at some- wait. Really? That easy??\"\n\nHe paused. \"Yes. There's little like an evil murder-bot from the past beating your face in to highlight the foolishness of wasting second chances.\"\n\n\"Well look at you! Getting all integrated.\" She grinned. \"Next thing you know you'll be operating auto-doors!\"\n\n\"Auto-doors are deceitful harbingers of head injury! Anyway, I'll see you at Sam's place.\"\n\n\"Bye, doofus!\" she ended the call melodically, watching at her girlfriend walked out of the bathroom. \"Uh! You're not wearing [i]that[/i] out, are you?\"\n\nNatalie stopped, taken aback as she looked down at her pink one-piece swimsuit. \"What's wrong with this??\"\n\n\"It belongs in a museum,\" she deadpanned. \"I thought you were supposed to be over your weird body image issues; why the grandma suit?\"\n\nShe shifted her weight from one leg to another. \"I am! Mostly. I don't know, I didn't even really think about it.\"\n\n\"Hey guys, I'm ready to go!\" Erwin announced, walking in from the hallway. His glasses were notably gone, his hair spraybrushed in such a fashion as to all but cover one of his eyes. His swimsuit was by all rights something that looked like it was designed for a small child; a soft midrift-exposing top with a bow on the front, and a bikini bottom with trim frills that did little but emphasize the bounce of his neatly tucked and very sizable front bulge with every step.\n\n\"Ooh! [i]Tasty.[/i]\" Carrie grinned. \"See?? Use what you've got!\"\n\n\"But I don't know fashion like you guys,\" Natalie complained. \"Whatever, just pick something out and I'll wear it.\"\n\nCarrie and Erwin gasped, then looked at each other with devious grins.\n\n\"Well, they're certain to take advantage of that,\" Echelon noted, sitting back in a fuzz-covered chair. \"Thankfully I don't care what I'm dressed like.\"\n\nNat leaned against the wall as the other two began rifling through drawers. \"Are you sure you're gonna be alright?\"\n\nThe inkling nodded, smoothing the pink leotard she now wore as a uniform. \"Certainly. The others are still reticent to appear in public, but if we're to be trusted, then I must. Besides, the exhibit is right next to the park.\"\n\n\"But what if something happens to you?\" the wolf worried.\n\n\"Nothing is going to happen.\" She shook her head with certainty. \"The pranic malaise over Locksmouth hasn't been this clear since before the invasion, and little wonder. Canvas has seen that our victory over Osoth was no fluke- even if it wasn't really us that did it- scaring any of my Elite fellows out of action for the moment. My campaign to remove all unwilling hosts' inklings showed we mean business toward the Greys. And Erwin's brilliant idea to plant SCIFI signal buoys all over town turned our random mess of evacuation spots into a spider's web of safety nets.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Nat conceded. \"I just hope the Greys don't take that as an all-out threat.\"\n\n\"Here's an idea,\" Echelon suggested. \"How about you act like a teenage girl for a while and let the weird gooey alien worry about the other weird gooey aliens, before you worry yourself into a nervous breakdown?\"\n\nNatalie let out something between a sigh and laughter. \"Yeah. Okay.\" Her attention turned to her friends. \"Alright, what've you got for me?\"\n\nCarrie's teeth gleamed. \"The perfect outfit.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nSamantha sang a little tune as she neared the door. Sunglasses, an inner tube and a swimsuit shaped like the letter 'I'... there was no question what she was equipped for today. \"I'll see you later, Papa!\" She opened the door and almost stumbled into someone. \"Gah!\"\n\n\"Oh! Hello Sam!\" Jacent managed, catching her before any embarrassing impacts could occur.\n\nThe bat looked him over; a shirt and board shorts. Not exactly revealing, but not bad, either. \"Ah, hello~\"\n\n\"You ready to go??\" Max asked with his signature immature impatience, carrying Gropey in a fishbowl and doing a little dance, shaking his neon green and yellow speedo-esque swimwear left and right.\n\n\"Oh, more than!\" Samantha eagerly shut the door and traipsed out of the house, down the midwalk. \"Have you ever been to a water park??\"\n\n\"Sure,\" Jace affirmed. \"They had them in my time as well. Though I am a little lost as to why a town with a beach needs a water park?\"\n\n\"Oh man, then there's no way you've been to a water park before! Not a [i]real[/i] one,\" Max added with a grin.\n\n\"You've never been to a real water park before??\" Gren asked, approaching the group with Ten in tow, wearing her black and yellow spider webbed two-piece while her counterpart went minimalist like Max. \"That's a crime!\" Both of them were all smiles.\n\n\"Well you two seem cheery,\" Sam noted with amusement.\n\nTen blushed, smiling ear to ear. \"Good dreams.\"\n\n\"Oh man though!\" Max carried on. \"Our park isn't even that big or great compared to Anchorsway's, but it's still way fun! Oh hey there's the guys!\"\n\nNat, Cat and Erwin were strolling down the midwalk and joined them. Carrie was showy as always, her suit showing a back like overalls and a front that left a massive amount of midriff, not unlike a person wrapped in a big fabric letter 'X.' However, in Carrie's case the top arms of that 'X' looked like it had to call on the rest of the alphabet to cover the big white swells that jut from her chest. And yet somehow, despite the positioning, the fabric held enough structure to push her breasts together with an almost unforgivable showiness. \"Oh... wow,\" Jace couldn't help but be awed just a bit; she was a stunning young woman.\n\n\"I know, right?\" Cat grinned with just a bit of likable arrogance. \"But wait, there's [i]more[/i].\"\n\nShe fully turned Natalie around, who wore a top that was like a green halter made of mesh with sleeves reaching all the way down to her wrists, her modesty preserved by two big green hearts underneath. It was the bottom half, however, that shocked all in attendance: a classic lime green thong that reached over her wide hips and delved beneath her tail only to all but disappear within her thick shelf of wolf butt- no mean feat considering the stunning contrast of the bright color on her dark fur.\n\n\"Whoooooa...\" Lil' Tenny marveled, echoing everyone else's sentiments.\n\nAnxiety filled her. All Natalie could think about was that one day at the clothing store so many years back. She was a little girl, and her mother had taken her to get some new pants. She was very particular about them, so it was hard to find a pair that met her approval. She'd been looking at shirts when the unthinkable happened: Lorna had bent over to pick up a pair of shoes and summarily knocked over a stack of hats with her rear end. She remembered the horror she felt as everyone looked and laughed, the humiliation for her poor mother. Worse, Lorna was so scientific and lost in thought that she hadn't even noticed why everyone was laughing at her. No idea whatsoever why she was the laughingstock of that entire store- because of her big, fat butt.\n\n\"Is it Echelon wearing that too?\" Max asked with a sly grin.\n\nThis was silly. Beyond silly! It was time to get over this. Natalie put a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes with a little chuckle. \"Whatever you guys, it's not a big deal.\"\n\n\"Really??\" Sam asked. \"You don't care that... you know?\"\n\nShe shook her head and shrugged it off with a flippant smirk. \"Come on, let's get to the park already!\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nThe park was a germ of an idea that grew over time. Originally just a very big public pool for those who didn't want to tussle with the tide or get quite so salty, it slowly gained things for more ambitious water-lovers, like slides. Then some started playing organized games, which began to get in the way of more casual pool-goers. Thus, more pools were built. Soon there were more slides, and more games, and more pools, until the place became more than just a simple hang out; it was a recreational destination for those who didn't want to make the trip to Anchorsway. Modernly, the Splash Zone (as it came to be called) was a tangle of enormous multicolored noodles reaching into the sky. It had been conspicuously untouched during the invasion and had undergone little more than a quick cleaning and inspection to be ready for the public again-which said public apparently appreciated quite a bit.\n\n\"Man, there's a lot of people here!\" Max noticed. It wasn't too many, though, just enough to keep up the veneer of a place of fun, with children laughing, adults talking and everyone having a good time. \n\nNotably, the place was not built on a block of concrete like one would have expected, instead integrating into the land by shifting from grass to sand and incorporating its fixtures into that organically; each attraction was like an oasis, and had the desired effect of making them look even more attractive. Big, strangely shaped bodies of water teemed with park-goers. Enormous, mind-bending slides boasted rides that seemed physically impossible to undertake. A rather enormous spherical structure filled with water featured people playing some kind of competitive game inside of it. And in a particularly wide pool, a bunch of kids were fighting a naval battle on top of holographically-augmented platforms.\n\n\"Well, Jacent?\" Natalie grinned at him. \"Whaddya think?\"\n\n'Wonder' didn't even begin to describe it. \"This is... amazing. There's... the slides are so huge and there's a pirate fight with water swords and what even [i]is that[/i] weird ball thing??\" He noticed something else, too. \"Uh. Though. I'm not used to the sheer amount of very underdressed boys...\"\n\n\"What, do you put on a sweater to go swimming??\" Aren giggled.\n\nJacent made a thoughtful sound. He'd almost asked why all the boys were as attention-gettingly dressed as the girls, but... that was really the point, wasn't it? This wasn't strange; this was what equality looked like. He could accept that. Besides, there were more important issues at hand. \"... Sam.\"\n\n\"Uh??\" The bat blinked up at him as he siezed her- gently, but urgently- by the shoulders.\n\n\"Will you go on the slide with me? The big one!\" He pointed at a corkscrew monstrosity that looked like a gnarled vine of the Yggdrasil.\n\nSamantha took a moment, then sputter-laughed. \"I-... of course.\" She flashed him a sunny smile. \"Let's go.\"\n\n\"Us too!\" cried Gren and Ten, swept up in the enthusiasm and running after them in an impromptu race for it.\n\n\"No way I'm gonna let you guys get on it without me!\" Max challenged, bounding ahead. \"I invented water slides after avenging my father with the power of my miiind~!\"\n\nCarrie looked after the group, then turned to her girlfriend with a knowing smirk. \"Well? Aren't you gonna go after 'em?\"\n\n\"Yeah.\" She folded her arms with a smug expression. \"I just thought I'd bask in what an awesome idea this was a little longer.\" The wolf waited a moment. \"... What, no witty retort?\"\n\n\"Nah.\" She pulled Nat closer with a hand around her hip, rubbing sides with her. \"The pack's happy, goo problems are nil, I had a red velvet cupcake for breakfast, my Geography report was turned in a week early, and you've got your big ol' bouncy Nat-butt out in public.\" She pulled in for a kiss, lingering only for a moment. \"I'm a happy kitty.\"\n\n\"Mm. And I'm a happy puppy,\" she returned with a toothy grin.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nErwin smiled faintly, watching his friends run off to have fun as he sat behind a drinking fountain. \"Well, that's a whole lot of commotion, isn't it?\" he posed to the cyclopean goo ball he held in his hands.\n\nGropey, of course, said nothing back, staring up at him.\n\n\"Yeah, I know, I should be with them,\" he admitted. \"I dunno though. I know Kei's still out there.\" He looked around at all the kids laughing and playing. \"He's probably eating bugs or something to survive, while I'm here, having fun.\"\n\nGropey leaned to one side.\n\nThe ferret sighed. \"I just feel so guilty about it. And-\" he looked down to notice the little grabber wasn't tilting his metaphorical head quizzically, but literally trying to surmount his hands and get at an attractive-looking pool that few were swimming in. \"Oh.\" He laughed. \"Of course. Here.\" He walked up to the poolside, kneeling over and dunking him into it. Gropey took to it happily, swimming in slow, directionless circles, flexing his pseudopod like a squid.\n\nA caramel-colored reflection looked up at him, coalescing slowly. \"Looks like he's having fun.\"\n\n\"Hm, Gropey?\" Erwin shrugged at Phactys. \"Of course he is. He's just an animal.\"\n\n\"An animal still feels pain,\" Phactys reminded him. \"You think he doesn't miss his mom?\"\n\nThe freckled ferret considered it carefully, watching the little thing as it freely flitted about the water. \"I... I don't know. Maybe?\"\n\n\"But he's being strong, regardless,\" the inkling said. \"And he's being happy with what he has: a bunch of people who care about him despite how weird he is. Because anything else would be selfish,\" he added knowingly. \"Kei will be fine. He's smart- you know he is- and his inkling is very powerful. If anyone ran into him, I'd feel bad for them. He'll be okay.\" \n\nErwin sighed. \"Yeah, I guess you're right.\"\n\n\"I often am,\" said Jordan.\n\n\"Gah!\" The ferret turned about suddenly.\n\n\"I've been trying-\" The weasel cocked a brow, looking Erwin up and down and drinking in his features. \"Wow. Uh. Ahem.\" He blushed slightly. \"I've been trying to reach you for several days. It was a chance lead that gave me the tell you'd be here.\"\n\n\"Oh.\" In truth, he'd been laying down the groundwork for the SCInet for some time now, barely coming home even to eat. \"Sorry. I've been... busy.\"\n\n\"Apparently.\" Jordan thrusted his PET at Erwin. \"Nevertheless, I've had a big break in the case, and I was told to deliver it to you personally.\"\n\n\"Oh! Uh. O-Okay.\" He took it, and a holographic video immediately started playing.\n\nKei appeared on the porch of a slightly unkept house. \"Erwin, it's me.\"\n\nThe ferret's heart skipped a beat.\n\n\"Your friend's been very... insistent. It's grown harder and harder to lose him. So, finally, I want to tell you... I'm okay.\" He paused. \"It's been a long, hard road and I'm... well, I've been better, to be honest, but I just need some time to myself. I care about you a lot, and I'm so glad you've been thinking about me, but... please. Don't worry. I'll tell you when I'm ready to come out. I have food, and a place to sleep, and...\" The camera shifted angles to show Cedric playing street soccer with Alliston. \"I think I'm in a safe enough neighborhood.\"\n\nThe outskirts, of course! He'd never even thought to check.\n\n\"Just give me time. I'll let you know. And... and when I do, how about a do-over on that date, huh?\" He smiled gently. \"I'll wait for you if you wait for me.\"\n\nErwin nodded slowly. \"... Yeah.\"\n\n\"Oh. And... tell your detective friend I'm sorry I knocked him out. And to stop following me. Thanks. Take care of yourself, Erwin.\" The hologram ended.\n\n\"... Well.\" Jordan unconsciously rubbed the back of his head, wincing in memory. \"I think that about wraps it up for this case.\"\n\n\"Yeah.\" Erwin nodded, smiling. A great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. \"Thanks, Jordan.\"\n\n\"Absolutely.\" The weasel straightened his tie. \"Now if you'll excuse me, I have another case to tend to. Something about a plastic girl that glows in the dark.\"\n\nJordan walked off, and as he did, Erwin looked back toward Phactys, who only smiled before disappearing. \"... Oh crap, where did Gropey go??\"\n\n\"I got him.\" A dripping wet Shelly walked up from the corner of the pool, holding the grabber out to Erwin.\n\n\"Oh, Shelly! Thanks!\" The ferret took him. \"Max would've killed me if I lost him.\"\n\n\"Nah, just near-fatally wounded!\" she joked. \"Ugh, like, the only thing about swimming is the wet wings.\" The amply-endowed butterfly set her feet, spread her soggy folded wings and shook like a wet dog. Her antennae, hair and wings flapped left and right, and thanks to the purple slingkini she wore, her enormous breasts bobbed and wobbled, tracing huge circles and figure-eights that mesmerized Erwin and Gropey both for not dissimilar reasons. \"Ah, there! Wet wings always give me that just-out-of-the-pupa feeling. Hoowhoa~\"\n\n\"Huh?\" He shook it off.\n\n\"Like, I didn't notice, but wow, nice swimsuit. Hot~\" she giggled.\n\nErwin felt stunned momentarily. \"You... think [u]I[/u] look hot? But... you haven't even been in the pack that long. I'm so... goofy and bulgy.\"\n\nShelly looked confused. \"Erwin. If I didn't think skinny, weird, bulgy nerds looked hot... why would I dress like this?\"\n\nHe paused, stunned. \"... You know, you're right, Shelly.\" A grin came to him as he laughed, putting on a haughty voice. \"Then I extend to you an invitation to avail ourselves of the diving boards.\"\n\n\"Why thank you,\" she returned in the same accent. \"Boy, like, that's not [i]all[/i] you extended to me.\"\n\n\"Haha, shut up, come on!\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nAnastis Blacklotte had seen a lot of animals. The 40-something gazelle had been working with them most of her life in an official or unofficial capacity, and her travels had taken her all over, let her see many things. Her current occupation as a wildskeeper- something like a mix between the ancient professions of ranger and zoologist- had let her see an unbelievable variety of creatures. But nothing could have prepared her for this.\n\nWhen the alien invasion occurred, she was terrified, to be sure. But that it came with so many strange new creatures drew her like a moth to flame. She'd made many foolish decisions that had nearly cost her, but thanks to some of them, she had something special to show. \"Is everybody here and ready?\"\n\n'Here' was odd, to be sure. A collection of covered containers set in an unused patch of grass held the draw to this little event she'd planned, but it had been decorated with every non-terrestrial piece of foliage she could find. Some had been pet projects made on The Ring, but a precious few she'd been able to salvage from reclamation efforts near places like the Fabricatory. \n\nShe'd been so lost in thought that she almost didn't notice the crowd had answered in the affirmative. It was far from a cheer or applause, however- to be sure, plenty of people present were pensive. \"Alright! Now let's take a look... at wildlife [i]beyond the stars[/i].\"\n\nCovers drew back on the high-tech cages, revealing creatures that had become familiar to residents of Locksmouth only recently- and only through the vector of violence. In one tank, a pair of grabbers. In another, a shuffler. In the last, an adolescent bugape. All looked around at the crowd that had gathered through the transparent plastics, curious and cautious. The crowd's breath was held as they beheld, finally, the creatures they'd seen only in nightmarish encounters.\n\n\"Behold, creatures that hail from worlds far from our own,\" she narrated for the benefit of the children present, but also just anybody who genuinely wasn't familiar. \"These odd-looking creatures gave us quite a scare in their initial showing, being hosts for the alien invaders we fell victim to... but without that direction, it's become very clear in our studies that these creatures we initially found so scary... are just animals like any other.\"\n\nA timid squirrel child bit her lip. \"A-... Are they gonna get us??\"\n\nAna shook her head reassuringly. \"No. All of these animals are in very secure containers. They can't escape.\"\n\n\"Are you sure??\" a very concerned older jackal hazarded.\n\n\"Very sure,\" she chuckled a little. \"We're still in the infancy of our knowledge about these fascinating animals, but rest assured we know [i]everything[/i] about containing them.\" Ana gestured toward the bugape, which had taken to resting in the center of its containment. \"This intimidating fellow- whom we've dubbed the Gigas Mole- was the hardest to contain, so we turned up the security to eleven. He couldn't get out if he had a family of himself in there, though there'd be plenty of room.\"\n\n\"Ooooh.\"\n\n\"That's like the one I saw at the park!\"\n\n \"That's a small one!\"\n\n\"Too right!\" Ana praised an observant observer. \"This is just an adolescent Gigas. Our friend over here, however-\" she gestured to the shuffler, \"Is, near as we can tell, as fully grown as they can get! The Achillian Oarfin as we've come to call them are an enigmatic bunch, moving very slowly and having a taste for soft vegetation.\"\n\n\"What about the little ones??\"\n\nShe smiled. \"Ah yes, the Mollusk Spider! These two were very hard to capture, they're very mobile and can get into small spaces easily, which allows them to escape predators. They're very-... very...\" Her eyes widened as she stared in the distance. The crowd looked to where she was looking.\n\nEchelon walked forward at a languid pace, going in amongst the crowd which seemed to edge away from her slowly. \n\n\"... U-... I-... Ah, uh, h-hello.\" Ana choked on her own words before chastising herself. She was a professional, she could do this! \"Can I help you?\"\n\n\"Yes.\" Echelon smiled. \"I couldn't help but notice you were having an exhibit on creatures from... beyond the stars,\" she said with an inflection that imitated Ana's opening statement. \"Well. How about a little help?\"\n\nAna's brows vaulted in surprise. \"You know about them?\"\n\n\"Intimately!\" The inkling nodded. \"After all, I've been hosted at some point by one of each of these creatures!\"\n\nA murmur of fascinated whispers prodded Anastis' professional intrigue as well as her personal curiosity. \"By all means!\"\n\nEchelon walked up to the bugape. \"Gigas Mole. That's a good name! These guys are very aggressive, extremely protective. Also really hard to keep under control.\"\n\nA little hand went up. The squirrel from before, now very curious. \"Can you speak their language?\"\n\nShe thought about it. \"Yes, kind of. They don't have a proper language as much as a few key sounds that express certain feelings.\" The inkling turned toward the tank, facing the thing, and made several chittering clicks. It stopped pacing and sat down.\n\nThe squirrel grinned a little. \"Ooh, cool...\"\n\n\"Why does the droopy one look so sad?\" another child, a wide-eyed shrew, inquired.\n\n\"Probably because it's so dry! These particular creatures are amphibious; they come from a place that's full of... well, not quite water but a solution that has chemicals not from this planet. All the same, put some water in their tank and they'll be a lot happier.\" Echelon patted the side of the container. \"You know, what's neat about these guys is that this big eye here? It isn't just for seeing. It also senses barometric pressure, so that they know if a storm is coming or not. For a species so dependent on being constantly hydrated, it lets them know how long they can be on land.\"\n\nAna grinned. \"This is so fascinating! Ah, but do you think you can tell me why the mollusk spiders are so agitated?\"\n\n\"Oh, sure, easy.\" Echelon smirked and pointed toward the bugape. \"Because that guy eats them. Don't put them in the same place if you don't want him to try and snack on them.\" She crouched next to one. \"The really interesting part? These little gals reproduce by spore! They're kind of like a parasitic fungus that grows on trees from another planet, and then uses the tree's fruiting pods to create more of them.\"\n\n\"Whoooa!\"\n \"Creepy!\"\n\"That's so weird!\"\n\nAna watched with fascination. It was when she noticed the children getting more and more eager to learn that she began to understand Echelon's aim. In a way, it wasn't that different from her own.\n\n\"What about you? Can I touch you??\" the shrew asked abruptly.\n\nEchelon only smiled. \"Touch me all you want. I won't bite.\"\n\nThe kids eagerly descended on her to the apprehension of the adults. Their little hands grabbed and slid and rubbed all over Echelon's face, arms and shoulders.\n\n\"Oh, coooool!\"\n\"It's like a big bag of jello!\"\n\"You're not as gooey as you look.\"\n\"You feel wet! But my hands aren't wet...\"\n\nAn adult puffin stepped forward. \"Are you still hosted by that Natalie girl?\"\n\n\"It would have been very foolish to stay bonded with her,\" she dodged as a child stretched her face like putty, her serious expression becoming quite silly. \"If you're wondering why I still look like her, it's because inklings resemble the host they were last most strongly bonded with.\"\n\nA scowling buck asked, \"What are you still doing here? I heard that tearful goodbye, you said you were going to leave.\" \n\n\"Oh my god, really??\" From out of the crowd, a speckled, lavender, twenty-something frog elbowed forward, heavily accessorized PET in hand. \"A real live alien comes to us and you want her to go away. Unbelievable. Am I the only one who finds this amazing?\" He turned to Echelon and snapped up some pictures, fascinated. \"Echelon? Hi! I'm Emille Pondweight, I write for Extra, the Extraterrestrial Enthusiasts channel and I just want to say what an honor it is to make contact with you. I am [i]so[/i] amazed by you and your kind!\"\n\n\"Well!\" Echelon nodded. \"That's refreshing. Nice to meet you, Emille.\"\n\nThe man looked ecstatic as he slowly reached for the hand Echelon extended to him, finally clasping it in both of his. \"Unbelievable. I mean I'm just one of many [i]many[/i] people who wanted to see you in person, and now I'm the first of the bunch, it is such a privilege- I was wondering! Do you think you might have time to do an extended interview??\"\n\nShe chuckled, a little taken aback by his enthusiasm. \"Well, I... sure.\"\n\n\"There she is!!\" cried one of another very large group of random people she didn't recognize, similarly outfitted like Emille. They began swarming the presentation area.\n\"Are you [i]the[/i] Echelon??\"\n\"Does your dimension exist within Pilan's Theory of Folding Planes?\"\n \"Are you an enormous single-celled organism??\"\n\"Are there inklings still available?? Where can I get one???\"\n \"Can I be your new host?!\"\n\nThe gelatinous wolf's solid pink eyes widened. \"Back off! Hey, easy! I-\"\n\n\"Esh'lawn?\"\n\nShe looked down to a small, sad-looking moose boy whose inquiry had silenced the others. \n\n\"... Do you know if my daddy's ever coming home?\"\n\nShe blinked. Then crouched down. \"..... What does your daddy look like?\"\n\n\"He looks...\" The boy faltered. \"He looks like me, but... but bigger. His name is P-... Patch Langtree.\" His hopeful eyes betrayed his frown. \"... I haven't seen my Daddy since... since then.\" He was trying so hard to be brave.\n\n\"Alright.\" Echelon nodded, then stood. \"I'll answer your questions later, everyone. Post them up on Fetch, I'll find them.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"AAAAAH!!!\"\n\nIt was all Samantha could hear, the chorus of her voice and Jacent's as they positively raced down the water slide. He held her closely in his lap, bracing them both as the seamless ride corkscrewed suddenly, pushing them up the side, then upside down before completing the barrel roll, water splashing underneath them the whole time. The slide suddenly arched up, the curve causing them to complete an entire loop-de-loop before sending them down a long, even faster stretch and sending them into the pool with a loud ~SPLASH!~\n\nAll sounds muted for a few moments, before strong arms hoisted her up again. \"Ah... hah... ah...\" Samantha looked at Jacent, panting as she caught her breath, then laughed. She laughed like she was a little girl again. They'd gone down that giant green crazy straw and come out wet at the bottom. Twice. But it was so much fun! Which was odd, because she didn't usually care for it.\n\nIt had to be him. That face, usually so distant, yet so sincere... but at that moment so boyish and infectiously happy. He pulled her to him possessively, hugging her tight. She loved that about him, the ease with which he moved her, gently but with so much affectionate insistence. Her hands wandered over his big strong back, lost in all the sheer size of him.\n\n\"Well that was exhilarating,\" she said, still panting softly.\n\n\"It was!\" he answered with cheerful honesty. \"I can't believe I've never done this before! And even more, I can't believe you're doing it with me; this must be driving you crazy.\" He laughed.\n\n\"I'd do anything, so long as it was with you. You're half the reason this is enjoyable.\" She paddled gently toward the edge, her outstretched wings catching a lot of water and making it a simple task. \"The other half is hydrophobic hairspray.\" The bat gave him a sassy smile.\n\n\"I'm having such a great time!\" He swam over and helped her out of the pool, following himself. He still felt self-conscious about his scars, but it was easier with her there. \"Is this all there is to being in a pack? Just... going to parks and helping out with homework?\"\n\nShe chuckled. \"It's more than that. It's the feeling of belonging to a group, of giving yourself willingly to the benefit of others who equally give the same,\" she explained carefully, making little gestures with her hands. \"Everyone brings something different.\"\n\nJacent stopped by the poolside to look into the water. \"I really felt that- the selfless giving- when everybody faced Grendel.\" He faced her slowly, squeezing her hand. \"Do you think... I give enough?\"\n\nShe tilted her head. \"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"Well, I... I mean, nobody got to vote on it. I was just let in by Natalie, and... I guess sometimes I worry that... maybe I didn't really earn it.\"\n\nShe smiled. \"Oh, Jacent, of course you do. You've earned it since the moment you were let in! Everybody in this group likes everyone else, I guarantee-\"\n\n\"AAAATAX EVASION!!\" Screamed Max, who surfaced like a killer whale with Gren and Ten on his back, splashing water all over Sam and Jacent.\n\n\"Ackpthf! MAX!!\" yelled Samantha angrily as the water sluiced down her everything, her drooping hair popping back into place an inch at a time as it ran off of her perm.\n\n\"Oh sorry!\" the iguana said, small pools of water clearly visible inside his goggles. \"I was just playin' duck-duck-shark.\"\n\n\"How do you play that?\" Jacent asked.\n\n\"Lemme show-\"\n\n\"NO!\" Sam interjected. \"That's okay, we don't need another demonstration!\"\n\nThe kids, however, couldn't have disagreed more through their giggling.\n\"C'moooon!\"\n\"Again, again!\"\n\nMeanwhile, from atop another slide that emptied into the opposite side of the pool, Natalie laughed softly at the display below. \"It reminds me of when we were kids.\"\n\n\"I know, right?\" Carrie finished a sucker and crunched down on the cookie stick it had been formed on. \"Not like the serious adults we are now,\" she said, sidling up behind Natalie and squeezing her modest breasts while making a honking sound.\n\n\"Haha, hey! Quiddit.\" She put her hands up on the top of the slide. It was a giant transparent tube that had just a few turns, but the real draw was how akin it was to falling. \"How many times do you think we've gone down this since we were little?\"\n\n\"A ton! It's my favorite, still.\" She grinned. \"Now quit stalling and go! My thighs are aching trying to stay around your hips.\" \n\n\"Hey! I was j-AAH!\" Natalie tried to object, but a hip thrust from her girlfriend sent them on their way, the slow, inevitable start crescendoing into a slick, fast ride. They screamed and laughed and squinted as water splashed up near their eyes. At one point, Nat turned around, rolling over so she could go down it backwards, holding onto Carrie's hips and watching the world scream by.\n\n\"Yeeeeaaaaah- UNH!\" Carrie grunted as they stopped very suddenly. Both of them looked surprised, until they found the reason why: The combination of Carrie's legs and Natalie's body had been too wide for the children's slide, culminating in them getting trapped on an upward bent that got stuck... on Natalie's bottom. \"Pfff... PFFFTTT...\" Carrie tried desperately not to laugh.\n\n\"Oh my god are you kidding me??\" Natalie blushed and wriggled, trying to dislodge herself as the water began to pool around her hips.\n\nMeanwhile, Carrie was hysterical. Each effort her girlfriend made to fix the situation just made it funnier, paralyzing her with laughter as tears escaped her.\n\n\"Carrie! Come on, help me!\" Nat's cheeks burned as she intensified all efforts.\n\n\"I... I can't-... I can't even-...\" she managed between breathless giggling. Cat would be of no use to her, only managing to weakly spread her legs. \n\n\"Nnnnngh...\" The wolf took a deep breath and flexed her back, dropping her torso lower and allowing a more forgiving angle which let her sink down further, dislodging them both. They flew down the rest of the slide and splashed into the pool.\n\nNatalie surfaced, and it was everything she'd feared from that day on. The laughter, the ever-present laughter that she had worked so hard to avoid, wanted so badly to never be the reason for. Friends, strangers, even her girlfriend were doubled over from the entire affair. Had they all been pretending to like it? Were they all just waiting for this moment to mock her?? Her ears burned with anger and shame.\n\nAnd then she remembered something. Something she'd forgotten until this very moment. She'd confronted her mother about that incident when they'd left the store.\n\n[i]\"Mama, aren't you embarrassed??\"[/i] she'd asked. [i]\"Don't you know why they were laughing at you?\"[/i]\n\nShe could see her face even now, that knowing little smile on it. [i]\"Of course, honey. But I also know why they were looking in the first place.\" [/i]\n\nShe didn't realize back then, what her mother had meant. It all clicked now. Lorna wasn't unaware of it at all, she knew. She knew! And... she didn't care. \"... But of course she didn't...\" she whispered to herself, finally putting it together. Lorna's entire pack loved her. She was constantly praised and adored for all of her features, especially the most literally outstanding one. Her mom wasn't some blissfully unaware absent-minded nerd getting laughed at behind her back- she was the unassailable fortress of confidence that came with being both a towering intellect and unquestionably desired.\n\n\"Uh, babe?\" Carrie asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. The laughing had died down. Now everyone was just staring at her because she'd been looking off into space. \"You okay?\"\n\nShe looked around. Then back at the slide. She thumbed toward it, canted her hips and smirked. \"I'm just saying, that was bigger last year.\"\n\nThey broke out in uproarious laughter again. But this time... she was laughing, too.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nWalking. On feet.\n\nWhat a weird experience.\n\nEven when totally dominating a host, Echelon had always relied on 'driving' them via their own familiar motor functions. Going dry was different, though. It was like actually controlling her own body all on its own, as if completely separated, and performing simple repetitive tasks- like walking- were a lot like repeating a word over and over; thinking about it to any degree would make it feel alien and awkward to utilize.\n\nAs her feet hit the pavement amidst the untended midwalk of the abandoned residential area, she was thankful for the extra durability she'd gained from practicing this form. At first, even small impacts would risk structural integrity- or make her 'go splat' as her host was fond of putting it- but she'd slowly built up more and more resistance to outside forces. Her little spanking session with Natalie- such a bizarre yet delightful experience- had served as a training session of sorts, and it was paying dividends every time she went dry. \n\nThis was a positive for certain, because consecutive looks around the empty streets weren't doing anything to convince her she wouldn't end up in a fight. The city was big, and there weren't a lot of people to round up the creatures that had vexed them. Were courage not an issue- and it most certainly was, regardless of what police said- there was still the issue of time and resources. As long as the odd stray monster got taken care of, places like this could teem with them for all the vast majority of the citizenry cared.\n\n\"Sneaking around, I see.\"\n\nEchelon would've been startled if she'd had the nerves. \"Floe.\"\n\nThe ice blue inkling leaned up against the side of a house, staring at her dispassionately. \"What brings you here?\"\n\n\"I'm looking for a man with potentially a rack of antlers. His son misses him dearly. Have you seen him?\"\n\nThe wall spoke. Or perhaps not the wall, but a shape that almost perfectly blended in with it. \"Still playing pet to them, Echelon?\"\n\n\"Why yes, I am improving human-inkling relations as we speak. By myself. You're welcome, Vissage,\" she said curtly.\n\nFloe looked away. \"Do you really think that can last? They'll fear you without proper guidance. Without a firm guiding hand.\"\n\n\"Is that what you think?\" Echelon asked, unimpressed. \"Or what Emnas thinks?\"\n\nThey stayed quiet for a moment until Floe broke the silence. \"I think I've seen a man like that being carried off some time ago. This way.\" \n\nThey all walked together, pacing down the midwalk in broad daylight- something still probably out of reach for inklings at present, were it a more populated area. \"So, Emnas still insists on this conflict between us, does he? I don't see the point in it; Osoth's not around anymore to push us.\"\n\n\"Isn't she?\" Coul's inkling kept pace with both of them, to Echelon's other side. \"Then perhaps you can tell us what happens when an inkling dies. Do you know?\"\n\nThe liquid wolf frowned.\n\n\"Not that it matters. She may be gone, but her legacy will echo for a long time. Some people say you have a special connection to her, you know.\"\n\nEchelon found this very troubling. \"Of course. We're all connected to her; she made us. Other than the mad old ones.\"\n\n\"Some people think there's something else about you,\" Floe contended. \"Something different.\" She read Echelon's straining, confused expression. \"But of course you can't remember. They're just whispers and rumors anyway. Things the uncolored ones say, when they insist they're older than they should be.\"\n\nThe black inkling shook her head, more confused than ever. \"Think about what you're saying. That I'm not part of the second generation... but the first? Nothing about that adds up. They're ramblings of madness from the prana-starved.\"\n\n\"Probably. Just something they feel.\" Floe stopped in front of a house that featured a cracked mirror on the porch, tucked away in the corner. \"But. The old ruler being killed... the new one insisting her way is better while the common inkling starves... it sounds awfully familiar.\"\n\nEchelon picked up a shard of mirror covered in dried green blood. \"Thanks, Floe. You always did have a way of telling me what I need to hear right before you stab me in the back.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nCarrie couldn't stop eating today. The sunny weather was just too good of an excuse to stuff her face with an ice cream bar at every opportunity. \"So anyway Sam, I told Natalie she has to at least [i]try[/i] wearing a hoopskirt for our next Steampunk Sunday; I am going to get her in bloomers if it's the last thing I-\" \n\n\"Hey Carrie! Think fast!\"\n\n\"Uh?\" The cat turned toward the source of the voice. Despite the impressively large and growing list of things she was able to expect, however, she couldn't have accounted for Random Acts of Max. \"MMPH!\" The iguana had flown at her lucha style, his big soft bikini bulge pancaking against her mouth, his legs wrapped around her neck.\n\n\"Mucha lucha!\" he cried, swinging around her in a semicircle like a pendulum, letting go just in time to land on the edge of the pool as he sent Carrie into the drink.\n\n\"Ohmigod!\" cried Gren, laughing hysterically. \"That was hilarious!!\"\n\n\"Did you see her face??\" Natalie giggled. \"Perfection. Max that was the best.\" She put a hand out toward him.\n\nMax grinned, exchanging a secret handshake with her. \"It's all in the hips.\" He did a side-winding hip-shimmy to accentuate his point, making both of them laugh even more. Then he felt two big wet hands on them. Looking down, his eyes widened; the hands were white. \"Ah! No!\" Two muscled arms wrapped around his middle. \"AaaAAH PELIGRO!!\" He was lifted and dumped into the pool by Carrie via suplex, dismissing him to the water.\n\nThe iguana slowly drifted to the bottom of the pool, contemplating his folly as he watched Carrie's discarded ice cream bar follow the same path as himself. He snatched it out of mid-fall and stuck it in his mouth. Not bad! He was blessed to live in time with granular active-filter pools, ensuring any foreign elements would clump and fall to the bottom for filtering instead of intermixing. Max crouched at the bottom, looking up through the peaceful strobe-like patterns of light coming from the surface of the water. He even waved to Ashbie, who was on the other end and looked surprised to see him. He could stay down for tens of minutes if needed; it was a latent skill he'd developed more acutely while dating Svenson, who hailed from Anchorsway. He momentarily missed their underwater frolicking, learning more sign language and enjoying the privacy that underwater life afforded. \n\n\"Enough reminiscing!\" Koralo demanded from the reflection of the surface's underside. \"Our friends are up there, let's play!\" he reminded him.\n\nThe iguana half-smiled. He'd had so many moments like this lately. What was bugging him? Was he sad about something? Or... or worse! Was he getting [i]old??[/i] He shuddered, shoving his tongue upward, sticking it to the bottom of the diving board and reeling his way up, hanging underneath it and then climbing on top.\n\n\"Oh! Max!\" Erwin blinked and smiled. By coincidence, he'd been using the diving board. \"There you are. Here, take Gropey.\" The ferret handed the blob off to him as Max walked off the board to the poolside. \"Didn't wanna scare him.\" He bounced a few times on the board to get some momentum, then bent forward into a straight dive, his long, lithe body smoothly cutting into the water.\n\n\"Nice!\" Shelly approved, watching from behind. \"My turn!\"\n\nMax watched from the side as the butterfly did the same momentum-building bounce that Erwin did, but hers she interrupted just to insert a few more teasing jiggles. He grinned and giggled approvingly before she finally took her dive. He'd been noticing things like that a lot more lately. It wasn't any wonder; he was almost sixteen now, just like all the rest of them. Sixteen would take him, but it would be kicking and screaming! He didn't want to grow up. 'Grown up' was the antithesis of everything he was, of everything he willed to be. 'Grown up' was the mark of a traitor to pranks out of nowhere, to frisbee in the park on a Wednesday, to fun! \n\n\"Hey guys!\" he yelled. \"Don't get out yet!\" Max ran to the other end of the pool, grinning as his friends looked on, mystified. \"Catch!\"\n\n\"Gah!\" Erwin cried in surprise as Max's tongue thumped against his glasses. He grabbed and removed it before realizing the intent. \"Oh! I know what this is!\" He smiled toothily, grabbing the iguana's tongue with both hands and leaning back. \"Let her rip, Max!\"\n\nThe plucky reptile winched his tongue back so rapidly that Erwin lifted bodily until he was waterskiing on the pool surface, sparkling droplets spraying everywhere. \"WOOO~!\" he cried joyfully, letting go in time to sink again and press against the end of the pool, laughing. \"That's never not awesome. Shelly! You have to try it!\"\n\n\"Totally!\" responded the excited butterfly, who caught the tongue in her outstretched palms. \"Ooh, it's all warm and kinda slimy...\" the area where her nose would've been wrinkled as she inspected it with a kind of curiosity more befitting of someone younger than she, but this was cut short by the sudden winching. \"Ohp! Ah! Whoa!\" Shelly lifted, remembered to spread her feet and began waterskiing. \"Aaaaaa! Ohmigod you guys this is great!\" Her thrill made her wings open, and when that happened she became Shelly Iverson: the extremely unstable kite. \"AaAaAa!!\"\n\n\"Whoa! Reel her in, Max!\" Erwin cried as the butterfly began tracing erratic figure-eights in midair.\n\n\"Ahm shryin' due!\" he answered in kind, pulling back even harder. Shelly pulled in at speed, bowling both of them over and landing in a heap on a deck chair.\n\n\"Whooooa. Like, I haven't beefed it that hard since flight school.\" Ms. Iverson's knees wobbled as she tried and failed to stand, instead landing on Max again. \"You guys are like [u]so[/u] much fun, I love being in this pack already!\" She squeezed both boys in a hug and beamed.\n\n\"Yffh hvnt sh-\"\n\n\"Gaaah!\" Shelly laughed. \"That tickles!\"\n\nMax tilted his head up enough so that he didn't have to speak directly into boob. \"Sorry. Anyway! Shelly, bro, you ain't seen [i]nothin'[/i] yet!\" He pointed a finger outward as Gropey slurmed from Shelly's cleavage back to his head. \"To Bludgeon Bay!\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nCastle Blackwolf. She hadn't thought of giving it a name before- locations on Canvas were known to inklings on such a subconscious level it seemed pointless- but it definitely fit. When she appeared there through the broken mirror, it was in a deep part of the basement that she couldn't remember. Had the Greys taken it there? Hard to know. She'd been cleaning up their mess ever since.\n\nFinding the correct mirror was easy. They all were broken, yes, but finding the collection of shards most meticulously grouped into a congruous mass was far less difficult. The connection between the two was clear. But she couldn't go, not yet.\n\nA trudge upward was necessary. The main keep was where she expected her friends- not allies, she was learning the difference between the two and it was fulfilling- and sure enough, they meshed with her expectations. All were dreaming, of course. She was jealous, naturally; today was a grand day for good dreams, and she'd have to rifle through Natalie's later. Such was the burden of leadership. However, misery loved company, and one had to come with her. \"Mhend.\"\n\n\"Mm. Ah. O-... Oh?\" The pink inkling's secondary color came into focus as her eyes opened. \"Echelon? Mmm... we're cheering for Jacent. He's so cute. Why can't he have an inkling?\"\n\n\"I need your help, friend.\"\n\nShe gave her an awkward, askance salute and a smile. \"Always ready for duty.\"\n\nThe black inkling couldn't help but smile. It was a joke, naturally- Mhend had never been anything close to a soldier. But at the same time, she felt like she sort of meant it this time. \"Come with me to the basement.\"\n\n)\no\n (\n\nMirror slide deposited them in a bathroom. \"Guh!\" Mhend struggled to stand on her own two feet.\n\n\"Here, easy.\" Echelon helped support her. Mhend wasn't used to being Dry, so Echelon was faciliating it using her own prana stores. \"One step at a time.\"\n\nThe house was old and in disrepair, but not abandoned. Familiar sounds filled the place, and opening the bathroom door was like an exercise in self-terror. Countless creatures left over from the invasion were swarming the entire place, making so much as walking on the floor a questionable endeavor.\n\n\"Mhend, I need you to placate them.\"\n\n\"A-Alright! Just a moment.\"\n\nThe black inkling looked down at all of those creatures, all desperate and starving and probably packed with more than one Grey each. \"Clear a path, you poor wretches...\" And indeed they did, parting like the sea in a myth, making way for her. \"Ah, good work.\"\n\nMhend seemed shocked. \"I... I didn't do anything.\"\n\n\"That's... odd.\" She looked down at all the inhabited creatures and suddenly felt overcome with feelings of dread. \"... Let's go, come on.\" They powered through the mess of creatures and made their way into the den, where it was clear everything was moving to and from. Six different people, all emaciated and unwell, laid on the floor in various positions. Among them, halfway on the couch and half off, was the antlered gentleman they'd sought. He twitched, the only reaction to their presence that he could manage the most fearful one. \"Sir? ... Patch? My name is Echelon. And I'm here to take you back to your family.\"\n\n)\n\n o\n\n(\n\nMurphy hated doing reports. She hated getting yelled at even more. Both of these things at once was her own personal chamber of torment.\n\n\"I mean honestly!\" The Chief of Police didn't run out of air easily. \"The last report read like an ad lib! The victims came from somewhere unspecified and your little team disappeared to some other place. Well! I'm sure glad I had you to fill in the blanks.\"\n\nShe sighed. \"I know, sir.\"\n\n\"Do you appreciate how hard it is to justify letting those walking pudding cups stroll around and do as they please??\"\n\nShe nodded. \"Yes sir.\"\n\n\"And this!\" He gestured toward a mirror over a mattress, where the word 'rescued' was written on its surface in soap. \n\nShe winced; it was gathering dust. Never used once. \"Sir-\" \n\n\"This is a monument to your hubris. I've entertained this long enough, Murphy, I want results! Give me something positive to tell the press for once, or Project Roundup is getting greenlit tom-\"\n\n\"INCOMING!\" Another officer rushed to the mattress as five different people bounced onto it one by one. \"These people need medical attention, get those people in here!\" He turned toward the others. \"Chief! I recognize them, these are some of the people from the missing persons report!\"\n\n \"I know this guy!\"\n\n\"I can't believe they're still alive!\"\n\nThe Chief of Police turned slowly to Murphy, who was fighting a losing battle with the biggest smile her face could contain. \"... Don't get cocky! I still expect... things! From you!\" He shuffled away. \"... And quit that smug-ass tail wagging!\"\n\nShe didn't.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"Your time's up, Oakenfield!\" yelled Jessalynn from over the bow of a ship facade set above a pool of water below.\n\n\"My time's just begun, Sabel!\" Carrie countered bombastically, brandishing a water-cutlass. \"I'm gonna make you [u]and[/u] your pack squeal [i]like little babies[/i]. I hope you're ready to crawl back inside your cocoon!\"\n\n\"... Spiders don't have cocoons.\"\n\nCarrie sighed, rolling her eyes. \"Who fuckin' cares what am I a doctor FIRE!!\"\n\n\"Firing cannons!\" Gren and Aren cried in unison, pulling on a knotted rope that fed into a cannon, firing a huge water balloon at the other ship. It screamed across the divide before smashing into the side and splashing all over Selina.\n\n\"Ugh, wet wings! I hate wet wings!\" she complained, shaking out her hands.\n\n\"Right?? I know!\" Shelly added from the other side. \"Gah!\" She took a pelting of return fire.\n\n\"Wahahaha!\" Milly cried like a maniac, straddling a cannon. \"This is my third biggest explosive discharge! Take it in the face!\"\n\n\"Board 'em!\" Jessalynn ordered, Madison and Havid grabbing ropes and swinging across.\n\n\"Return the favor!\" Cat ordered fiercely in return, Max tongue-grappling to the other ship and taking Erwin with him.\n\nJessa kicked a hinged plank down, bridging the gap between the two ships and charging it. \"I'm coming for you, Captain Fatbaps!\" Natalie was already running from the other end of the plank, and they threatened to collide, but Jessa dropped off at the last moment, catching the board for an integral moment and holding herself aloft by a few feet of webbing. \"FIRE!!\"\n\nSeveral cannons from Jessalynn's ship opened fire at once, all trained on the wolf. She showed her gymnastic prowess, somersaulting, front-flipping and back-flipping before finally jumping to stick the landing on the deck, just dodging the watery balls.\n\n\"Ohhh gosh, ohmigosh, what do I do...\" Selina tittered indecisively, backing away from the menacing Erwin and Max.\n\n\"Yer gonna eat water, scurvy cur!\" Max cackled. \"WAH! What the heck?!\" He sidestepped a thick, compressed jet of water. \n\n\"I be the cooper, ye bilge rats!\" A particularly plus-sized Ashbie opened fire with what appeared to be a small shoulder-mounted cannon. \"Prepare to meet yer maker!\"\n\nOn their ship, Shelly, Gren and Ten shot round after round of watery munitions at Havid, who appeared to be using some kind of water-saber bushido to deflect them. \n\n\"Like this is outrageous!\"\n\n\"It shouldn't be scientifically possible!\"\n\n\"She's gonna kick our butts, don't let him come closer!!\"\n\nMadison and Jacent circled each other, the latter smirking. \"No catching this time!\" Jacent taunted, before finding new and inventive ways to launch water balloons at the girl. She grabbed onto a sail rod, pulled up to avoid his shots, dropped down to grab two balloons with her feet and lobbed them at him. \"Gah!!\"\n\nFor her part, Sam was energetically cheering them all on. \"Go, go, now attack! Send them packing, don't look back! [i]Yeah!![/i] \" A grin was on her face even as she muttered, \"Alliston should've been here, she'd love all of this.\"\n\nThe two captains locked in water-saber combat. Carrie's relentless aggression fell prey to Jessa's quick, accurate parries. \"You're gonna eat this sword, Sabel!\"\n\n\"I don't think so.\" The spider took one particularly overzealous swing as an opening and slashed across Carrie's middle, the entire sword exploding into a huge splash of water all over the cat. \"Ha.\"\n\nCarrie stood, panting, dripping. She looked down at herself, then at Jess. \"... Fuck it.\"\n\n\"Oakenfield what're you doing, the game's over, argh!\" Jess was lifted bodily into a bear hug. \"Gnfh, I can't breathe, Funbags!\"\n\n\"That's your problem.\" Carrie grinned as her hands wandered over Jessa's buns and down her short shorts.\n\n\"Hey, what's the big idea?? That tickles! Quit it.\"\n\n\"Sorry!\" Cat grinned as she groped. \"My girlfriend's all the way over there, you'll have to do. Ooh, bouncy~\"\n\nJess pressed her hands into the bulging tops of Carrie's breasts in an attempt to escape as both of their respective packs stopped and laughed. \"Oakenfield, I'll get you for this!\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"... Excuse me.\"\n\nThe small moose boy looked up at the shiny black inkling from his seat on a bench. He'd been crying, but he tried to hide it. \"D-... Did you find my Daddy?\"\n\n\"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, I-\"\n\n\"Don't you dare.\" The buck grimaced at her, holding his shoulders protectively. \"Don't you dare get his hopes up and then crush him, you monster.\"\n\nEchelon took a moment, her fatigue showing. \"... I came here to tell you that he's waiting for you at the hospital. He needed treatment for dehydration and exhaustion... but the doctors say he'll be fine.\"\n\nThe boy's eyes welled up with tears. \"O-... Oh thank you!\" He hugged Echelon around the waist, tighter than she probably would've liked in her current state. \"Thank you Esh'lawn!\" He blinked away some of his tears as he looked up at her. \"I don't care what anyone says, I think you're great!\" He smiled despite the overwhelming emotions on his face, looking to his other guardian. \"C'mon, let's see him!\"\n\nThe buck looked at her, then at him, stunned and perhaps a little ashamed. \"I... Of course.\"\n\nShe watched them leave, tired, but satisfied. All of this 'walking around' nonsense was exhausting. \"Time to go home.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"Whoops! Aaa~!\"\n\"Easy! Here, lemme hold you.\"\n\nIt was the perfect end to a perfect day.\n\n\"I could watch that forever...\"\n \"C'mon c'mon, mmmph!\"\n\nWater slides, ice cream, a letter from Kei, and now...\n\n\"Hngh, uhn, h-here it comes!\" Erwin pulled down on Shelly's hips.\n\n\"Give it, give it, awfh! Theeere we go! Ohhh... ooh! Ah-ha~\" The butterfly shuddered as good feelings ran up her body. \"Mmm... my turn!\"\n\nHe huffed, wiping his glasses on Carrie's pillow before replacing them; he wasn't going to miss a moment of this to imperfect vision. Though honestly just her smile was enough to want to see it clearly. \"Again, huh?\"\n\n\"Yup!\"\n\n\"Well, I'm cold, I need some sheets,\" he managed between breaths, a sweaty lock of hair matted between his eyes.\n\n\"Bwah!\" Shelly lifted up several layers behind her like a cape. \"Cocoon!\" She laid on top of him, pressing her breasts against his chest and rolling them up in a bundle of covers until they couldn't so much as move their arms.\n\n\"Ah!\" Erwin looked around at the blanket burrito he was in. \"You're almost as weird as Natalie.\" Still, he smiled and began returning her the favor vigorously.\n\nThe door opened, and Carrie appeared in the room, nonplussed. \"Oh. Hey.\"\n\n\"Uh. Hi.\" Shelly huffed. \n\n\"So, hey, nerds. About that SCIFI net you laid down.\" Carrie ate a small piece of strawberry cake casually. \"That thing tight enough, you think?\"\n\n\"Sure,\" Erwin answered without hesitation. \"I mean it's a web, obviously, so there're some gaps in it, but it should be decent enough!\"\n\n\"Mm.\" She nodded, taking a bite. \"... 'Cause Echelon just got through telling me about a house full of inked monsters that sucked the juice outta people until they looked like beef jerky.\"\n\n\"... You know maybe the web could use more nodes,\" Erwin said worriedly as he slipped out and put his pajama pants on.\n\n\"Aheh, [i]one[/i] more fly-over to check for dead buoys couldn't hurt!\" Shelly laughed nervously, leaving with the ferret. \n\nCarrie cocked a brow, sitting on her bed and sidling up to a husky plush as she polished off her cake.\n\nMilly came out of the closet door in something translucent. \nLooked left. \n Then right. \n\"... Oh come on, they left?? Rude!\"",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>&quot;Are you ready, Gren??&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Huh?&quot; The wide-eyed goat child looked up from her shoes, unsure how long she&#039;d been staring at them. A house full of old, antiquated furniture seemed to look at her from every angle, some unseen sentience animating the biggest wooden radio to the tiniest fancy spoon. &quot;Ready for what??&quot;<br /><br />A deep, bassy piano trill sounded and the whole house went dim. Suddenly, an eerie blue flame created a spooky spotlight in which a curvaceous brown bat woman with wild red hair gazed down at her with a look full of mischief. &quot;I bid you welcome. My name is Betty, this terrible house&#039;s ghost-est hostess. And are you <em>ready</em>, my dear,&quot; she began in an ethereal and dreary voice that still managed to be energetic somehow while the piano percussed each word, &quot;for us to scare-&quot; dun! &quot;- your-&quot; dun. &quot;<em>pants off! </em>&quot;<br /><br />The piano began began banging out a raucous ragtime number as the house full of haunted furniture laughed and hooted and carried on. &quot;Waugh!&quot; Gren felt herself launched back into a comfy old chair as her pants literally flew off her legs and ran away screaming out the door! Meanwhile the house&#039;s menagerie of living appliances broke out in song along with that crazy piano.<br /><br /><em>&quot;Take a seat my silly dear<br />And try to not pass out with fear<br />You thought you&#039;d get scared once a year?&quot;</em><br />The bat broke in solo, &quot;A <span class='underline'>day</span> for spooking? Very queer.&quot;<br /><br />The chair spun around as Gren tried to hang on, only to open a trap door and drop her into a dark basement full of cobwebs and orange and blue lights breaking up the darkness. She crawled forward as a variety of classic monsters reached for her.<br /><br /><em>&quot;Ghosts and ghouls will steal your face<br />&nbsp;Howling demons, things from space<br />&nbsp;Gobble you up without a trace&quot;</em><br />Gren backed into a corner before a mummy with a deep baritone grabbed her shoulder. &quot;Y&#039;know you&#039;ll never leave this place!&quot;<br /><br />The goat girl squealed, eyes wide as she ran through the basement, the grin never leaving her face when she dashed into a closet door and began running through a dimension of wall-less, twisting tile floor hallways leading from one door to the next, sending her through a hopeless loop of insane portals. Finally she ended up before that bat woman again, who had her hands on her hips as she walked toward her, the whole house seeming to gang up behind her.<br /><br /><em>&quot;Go on cutie, if you dare<br />&nbsp;Bats and spiders in your hair<br />BOO! You&#039;re about to get so scared&quot;</em><br />A comically large haunted vacuum sucked up both Gren and Betty&#039;s dresses, leaving them down to their lacy skivvies. &quot;Frightened down to your underwear!&quot;<br /><br />The entire menagerie of spooks and spirits began crowding up, cackling, and Gren continued laugh-screaming all the way to the door, which she yanked open and ran out into the eternal murky twilight. She screamed and laughed and ran until she could do none of the three any more, collapsing into a pile of panting, spooked giggles. &quot;Hah... hah... hunh...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Wow, sure is creepy out!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;AH!&quot; Gren blinked at the sudden appearance of her friend Aren. &quot;Geez, stripes! Where&#039;d you come from??&quot;<br /><br />He smirked and shrugged. &quot;I was around. I didn&#039;t know you wore <em>old</em> underwear.&quot;<br /><br />The goat girl reached just out of sight and slapped her dress back on. &quot;And you&#039;ll keep not knowing that if you know what&#039;s good for you,&quot; she kidded him. &quot;All I need is the real you perving on me, too.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;The real me?? But Gren! I&#039;m the very realest!&quot; He struck a pose to much fanfare.<br /><br />She blinked. &quot;What.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Come on, I&#039;ll show ya, kid!&quot; He grabbed her hand and leapt into the air.<br /><br />&quot;Kid?! I&#039;m older than you by a month!&quot; She looked around, incredulous, as they flew through the clouds. &quot;Why can you fly??&quot;<br /><br />&quot;It&#039;s just one of my many talents,&quot; he said with all the attempted suaveness of a boy impersonating a much older man. &quot;I don&#039;t mean to brag, but I&#039;m kinda awesome.&quot;<br /><br />She sputtered. &quot;Kind of-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Okay, okay!&quot; he laughed as if conceding to her. &quot;I&#039;m <span class='underline'>really</span> awesome!&quot; He rolled to the side like a biplane, taking her down to an enormous city which he flew very low to the ground in. &quot;I have super special powers over Science that let me make the cure for the sniffles, turn homework into Hallohall&#039;s candy and basically beat the crap out of huge monsters- look there&#039;s one now!&quot; He pointed off to the main town square where an enormous horned beast with razor teeth and fire scales stomped around aimlessly... yet threateningly!<br /><br />&quot;W-... What??&quot; Gren winced.<br /><br />&quot;Argh!&quot; cried out an injured Natalie as she flew into the side of a building wearing an ostentatious and exploitative outfit. &quot;Flamezillasaur is too strong!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Hell! Damn!&quot; Carrie swore, wearing an even more impractically revealing outfit as she too inexplicably flew to Natalie&#039;s side. &quot;This thing&#039;s one tough son of a gun!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Don&#039;t worry girls!&quot; Aren called out dramatically, suddenly donning an outfit featuring a techy trenchcoat and goggles. &quot;Dr. Awesome is here!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Dr. Awesome!&quot; both of the older girls called out as they spotted him. Carrie hugged him close to her as Natalie joined in from the other side. His face was noticeably eclipsed by chest. &quot;We&#039;re so glad you&#039;re here,&quot; Carrie cooed to him. <br /><br />&quot;No time for cuddles!&quot; he said with authority. &quot;We&#039;ve got to slay that beast!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;W-... What is this...?&quot; Gren asked, floating in the air, disbelieving what she was seeing.<br /><br />&quot;Can you do it, Dr. Awesome??&quot; Nat worried.<br /><br />&quot;I-...&quot; Aren clenched a fist. &quot;I can&#039;t.&quot;<br /><br />They gasped in unison.<br /><br />&quot;But we can win if you Power Up!&quot; he added.<br /><br />&quot;Right!&quot;<br /><br />Aren dug a remote control out of his trenchcoat pocket- a monstrosity glittered with switches, dials and buttons of all kinds- and hastily adjusted several settings, the monster roaring in the distance. &quot;Just a few more adjustments... that&#039;s it!&quot; He pressed a button on it. &quot;Thanks to child genius Dr. Awesome&#039;s incredible B-Waves, Carrie and Natalie are surrounded by a mysterious energy that supercharges their amazing abilities!&quot; Their bodies glowed with an awesome power, which coincidentally also made their breasts bigger by several factors- something they somehow completely failed to notice, flying off toward the beast with a tremendous heaving jiggling that Aren stared intently at. &quot;Go, you can do it!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;... I...&quot; Gren scrunched her brows together. &quot;Unbelievable...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Look, I know,&quot; Aren conceded. &quot;I could totally have taken that monster down myself. But that would&#039;ve just been showing off, and I&#039;m too humble for that. So anyway! You wanna kiss in our underwear now?&quot;<br /><br />That did it. She couldn&#039;t take anymore. &quot;This... is... STUPID!&quot;<br /><br />Everything stopped. The monster, Carrie, Natalie, Aren... the whole city stared at her, before sheepishly disappearing from sight, all except the tiger. &quot;... Gren, what&#039;s the matter with you?&quot; He looked concerned, walking over and putting a hand on her horn. &quot;Do I need to adjust something, or...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;What are you doing??&quot; She pushed his arm away. <br /><br />&quot;Lucid dreaming, duh,&quot; he said as if it were the most obvious thing imaginable. &quot;And trying to have a good one! What&#039;s wrong with me? I usually imagine you so much nicer.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;What??&quot; She blinked. &quot;You mean... I&#039;m in your dream?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Of course you are, I m-... uh! UH!&quot; His eyes grew wide and his whole face flushed. &quot;G-Gren is that the real you?!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Of course it&#039;s me! It was always me!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Ohmigod, how did you get into my private dreams??&quot;<br /><br />She put her hands on her hips expectantly. &quot;Me?? How did you get into <em>my</em> dreams?!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Sorry.&quot; They both looked down at a yellow inkling with black eyes that looked like Gren. &quot;I just thought you wanted to play together...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Voltaus??&quot; they whispered in unison.<br /><br />&quot;Yeah. I can talk now.&quot; The inkling changed into the outer shape of Aren. &quot;Your prana&#039;s so good when you&#039;re together. Like, way, waaay better. So, I thought maybe you&#039;d like it if I linked your dreams...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;You can do that? We&#039;re not even physically close to each other...&quot; Aren asked with wonder. &quot;That&#039;s amazing... you know, now that I think about it, even my lucid dreaming isn&#039;t usually this good, or even close to this dependable.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Yeah,&quot; Gren nodded in agreement. &quot;And I can never seem to dream about what I want to at all.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Well!&quot; Voltaus piped up hopefully. &quot;You can dream about whatever you want now! B-... But um. You have to share the space.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;So...&quot; The goat girl considered it. &quot;If I wanna have dreams about spookyfun, then I&#039;m gonna have to put up with Dr. Science and his love of giganto-boobs?&quot;<br /><br />Aren&#039;s ears wilted. He pushed his hands in his pockets and frowned, facing away from her out of embarrassment and disappointment. He was startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder.<br /><br />Gren gave him a careful, bashful smile. &quot;Hold on... I didn&#039;t say <em>no</em>.&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />Eyes open, morning&#039;s here. Time to get up. Where this time? Coat pile? Dumpster?<br /><br />&nbsp;Nope. Bed.<br /><br />A soft, warm, comfortable bed, with room to stretch and layers to grasp. It was at once difficult to get used to and achingly wonderful, every inch of luxurious space-age fabric a pleasure to touch; the kind of thing it was impossible to know, until one touched it again, how much he starved for it. <br /><br />And Jacent had starved. But not today. Not ever again. He rose out of his bed- <em>his</em> bed, that belonged to him alone- and walked along the smooth polished wooden floor of his place. A stop at the refrigerator, out of which he grabbed a box of cold leftover beef lo mein. He didn&#039;t demolish it like before, to throw fuel into the furnace and waste punching mutants and robots... but instead savored the salty chew of the peppered beef and the greasy noodles, loving every drawn out moment of it. A casual toss of the empty box into a machine he didn&#039;t understand nor have to, a light flashed, and it turned to dust, which would apparently be recycled.<br /><br />He stepped into the bathroom, disrobing slowly and noting with some amusement as the room&#039;s temperature slightly raised as he did so. The shower opened and closed. He stuttered. &quot;Ah, uh. Computer. Jet... stream attack, or whatever.&quot; The command worked, cleansing spears of hot water washing over him, completely untying the knots in his muscles that had been loosened by his bed while he slept. There was a hologram of a private mountain glade surrounding him, something purely there for the pleasure of it. &quot;Mmmmh. Computer. Fog... bank?&quot; The spears turned to clouds of water that penetrated his long red hair easily, making his shower much shorter and more economical. Then came the dry cycle, which seemed the same as those air-powered hand dryers he remembered from public restrooms, but instead of taking an eternity, it was over in moments, the moisture wicking downward somehow.<br /><br />&quot;Okay. Let&#039;s... let&#039;s try this.&quot; He stared down a patch of cloth that seemed altogether too small to serve any role other than handkerchief, and placed it awkwardly. He was dismayed that he&#039;d applied the navy blue understicker at a crooked angle, but it quickly auto-corrected itself, crawling over his flesh as if every corner of it was covered in tiny grasping fingers that unrumpled it like a prideful rug. In the end, it was like the middle part of a pair of very thin thong underwear, his privates wrapped and nestled into a compact spheroid in front of him, brandishing the white &#039;C&#039; logo from his uniform- an addition Carrie had made purely to antagonize him, insisting that the letter stood for something else entirely. <br /><br />The rest of his outfit was equally as form-fitting. Super thin under layers covered by geometrically-flared over layers which seemed to fill the function of a tee shirt and shorts, yet still had less thickness than your average 20th century tank top. It was showy, all of it, and that had made him wildly self-conscious at first; time with Samantha, however, had made him less so. She knew what men wore, and this was it. Plus, he couldn&#039;t lie; it was the most comfortable clothing he&#039;d ever worn. Before trying it on, he&#039;d never thought about how often normal clothing rode up or slid down or wrinkled or rumpled, no matter how well-fitted, and had to be adjusted constantly throughout the day. Even the (at first) horrifically invasive junk-tucking wedgie napkin these people considered underwear felt so natural that he barely even noticed its presence.<br /><br />Truly, to live as an average person in this time was better than as a king in his own. He smiled as he paced toward the out of place red leather chair in his living room, sat in his throne... and was overthrown by an overactive spring that dumped him like a box of rocks.<br /><br />His PET rang. Carrie&#039;s voice came through. &quot;Hey Jacent, you up?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;... Yes,&quot; he answered from the floor.<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />&quot;... Great! I don&#039;t know if you noticed, but it&#039;s actually nice out today- the Climate Station people finally managed to wring some good weather out of the thing- so the pack&#039;s planning to go to the water park. You coming?&quot; She sat on her bed, idly playing with a fluffy husky plush and arranging several pieces of swimwear in a fan.<br /><br />&quot;That sounds nice. Yes! I will go.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Come on, you&#039;ve gotta get out there at some- wait. Really? That easy??&quot;<br /><br />He paused. &quot;Yes. There&#039;s little like an evil murder-bot from the past beating your face in to highlight the foolishness of wasting second chances.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Well look at you! Getting all integrated.&quot; She grinned. &quot;Next thing you know you&#039;ll be operating auto-doors!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Auto-doors are deceitful harbingers of head injury! Anyway, I&#039;ll see you at Sam&#039;s place.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Bye, doofus!&quot; she ended the call melodically, watching at her girlfriend walked out of the bathroom. &quot;Uh! You&#039;re not wearing <em>that</em> out, are you?&quot;<br /><br />Natalie stopped, taken aback as she looked down at her pink one-piece swimsuit. &quot;What&#039;s wrong with this??&quot;<br /><br />&quot;It belongs in a museum,&quot; she deadpanned. &quot;I thought you were supposed to be over your weird body image issues; why the grandma suit?&quot;<br /><br />She shifted her weight from one leg to another. &quot;I am! Mostly. I don&#039;t know, I didn&#039;t even really think about it.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Hey guys, I&#039;m ready to go!&quot; Erwin announced, walking in from the hallway. His glasses were notably gone, his hair spraybrushed in such a fashion as to all but cover one of his eyes. His swimsuit was by all rights something that looked like it was designed for a small child; a soft midrift-exposing top with a bow on the front, and a bikini bottom with trim frills that did little but emphasize the bounce of his neatly tucked and very sizable front bulge with every step.<br /><br />&quot;Ooh! <em>Tasty.</em>&quot; Carrie grinned. &quot;See?? Use what you&#039;ve got!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;But I don&#039;t know fashion like you guys,&quot; Natalie complained. &quot;Whatever, just pick something out and I&#039;ll wear it.&quot;<br /><br />Carrie and Erwin gasped, then looked at each other with devious grins.<br /><br />&quot;Well, they&#039;re certain to take advantage of that,&quot; Echelon noted, sitting back in a fuzz-covered chair. &quot;Thankfully I don&#039;t care what I&#039;m dressed like.&quot;<br /><br />Nat leaned against the wall as the other two began rifling through drawers. &quot;Are you sure you&#039;re gonna be alright?&quot;<br /><br />The inkling nodded, smoothing the pink leotard she now wore as a uniform. &quot;Certainly. The others are still reticent to appear in public, but if we&#039;re to be trusted, then I must. Besides, the exhibit is right next to the park.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;But what if something happens to you?&quot; the wolf worried.<br /><br />&quot;Nothing is going to happen.&quot; She shook her head with certainty. &quot;The pranic malaise over Locksmouth hasn&#039;t been this clear since before the invasion, and little wonder. Canvas has seen that our victory over Osoth was no fluke- even if it wasn&#039;t really us that did it- scaring any of my Elite fellows out of action for the moment. My campaign to remove all unwilling hosts&#039; inklings showed we mean business toward the Greys. And Erwin&#039;s brilliant idea to plant SCIFI signal buoys all over town turned our random mess of evacuation spots into a spider&#039;s web of safety nets.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Yeah,&quot; Nat conceded. &quot;I just hope the Greys don&#039;t take that as an all-out threat.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Here&#039;s an idea,&quot; Echelon suggested. &quot;How about you act like a teenage girl for a while and let the weird gooey alien worry about the other weird gooey aliens, before you worry yourself into a nervous breakdown?&quot;<br /><br />Natalie let out something between a sigh and laughter. &quot;Yeah. Okay.&quot; Her attention turned to her friends. &quot;Alright, what&#039;ve you got for me?&quot;<br /><br />Carrie&#039;s teeth gleamed. &quot;The perfect outfit.&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />Samantha sang a little tune as she neared the door. Sunglasses, an inner tube and a swimsuit shaped like the letter &#039;I&#039;... there was no question what she was equipped for today. &quot;I&#039;ll see you later, Papa!&quot; She opened the door and almost stumbled into someone. &quot;Gah!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oh! Hello Sam!&quot; Jacent managed, catching her before any embarrassing impacts could occur.<br /><br />The bat looked him over; a shirt and board shorts. Not exactly revealing, but not bad, either. &quot;Ah, hello~&quot;<br /><br />&quot;You ready to go??&quot; Max asked with his signature immature impatience, carrying Gropey in a fishbowl and doing a little dance, shaking his neon green and yellow speedo-esque swimwear left and right.<br /><br />&quot;Oh, more than!&quot; Samantha eagerly shut the door and traipsed out of the house, down the midwalk. &quot;Have you ever been to a water park??&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Sure,&quot; Jace affirmed. &quot;They had them in my time as well. Though I am a little lost as to why a town with a beach needs a water park?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oh man, then there&#039;s no way you&#039;ve been to a water park before! Not a <em>real</em> one,&quot; Max added with a grin.<br /><br />&quot;You&#039;ve never been to a real water park before??&quot; Gren asked, approaching the group with Ten in tow, wearing her black and yellow spider webbed two-piece while her counterpart went minimalist like Max. &quot;That&#039;s a crime!&quot; Both of them were all smiles.<br /><br />&quot;Well you two seem cheery,&quot; Sam noted with amusement.<br /><br />Ten blushed, smiling ear to ear. &quot;Good dreams.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oh man though!&quot; Max carried on. &quot;Our park isn&#039;t even that big or great compared to Anchorsway&#039;s, but it&#039;s still way fun! Oh hey there&#039;s the guys!&quot;<br /><br />Nat, Cat and Erwin were strolling down the midwalk and joined them. Carrie was showy as always, her suit showing a back like overalls and a front that left a massive amount of midriff, not unlike a person wrapped in a big fabric letter &#039;X.&#039; However, in Carrie&#039;s case the top arms of that &#039;X&#039; looked like it had to call on the rest of the alphabet to cover the big white swells that jut from her chest. And yet somehow, despite the positioning, the fabric held enough structure to push her breasts together with an almost unforgivable showiness. &quot;Oh... wow,&quot; Jace couldn&#039;t help but be awed just a bit; she was a stunning young woman.<br /><br />&quot;I know, right?&quot; Cat grinned with just a bit of likable arrogance. &quot;But wait, there&#039;s <em>more</em>.&quot;<br /><br />She fully turned Natalie around, who wore a top that was like a green halter made of mesh with sleeves reaching all the way down to her wrists, her modesty preserved by two big green hearts underneath. It was the bottom half, however, that shocked all in attendance: a classic lime green thong that reached over her wide hips and delved beneath her tail only to all but disappear within her thick shelf of wolf butt- no mean feat considering the stunning contrast of the bright color on her dark fur.<br /><br />&quot;Whoooooa...&quot; Lil&#039; Tenny marveled, echoing everyone else&#039;s sentiments.<br /><br />Anxiety filled her. All Natalie could think about was that one day at the clothing store so many years back. She was a little girl, and her mother had taken her to get some new pants. She was very particular about them, so it was hard to find a pair that met her approval. She&#039;d been looking at shirts when the unthinkable happened: Lorna had bent over to pick up a pair of shoes and summarily knocked over a stack of hats with her rear end. She remembered the horror she felt as everyone looked and laughed, the humiliation for her poor mother. Worse, Lorna was so scientific and lost in thought that she hadn&#039;t even noticed why everyone was laughing at her. No idea whatsoever why she was the laughingstock of that entire store- because of her big, fat butt.<br /><br />&quot;Is it Echelon wearing that too?&quot; Max asked with a sly grin.<br /><br />This was silly. Beyond silly! It was time to get over this. Natalie put a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes with a little chuckle. &quot;Whatever you guys, it&#039;s not a big deal.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Really??&quot; Sam asked. &quot;You don&#039;t care that... you know?&quot;<br /><br />She shook her head and shrugged it off with a flippant smirk. &quot;Come on, let&#039;s get to the park already!&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />The park was a germ of an idea that grew over time. Originally just a very big public pool for those who didn&#039;t want to tussle with the tide or get quite so salty, it slowly gained things for more ambitious water-lovers, like slides. Then some started playing organized games, which began to get in the way of more casual pool-goers. Thus, more pools were built. Soon there were more slides, and more games, and more pools, until the place became more than just a simple hang out; it was a recreational destination for those who didn&#039;t want to make the trip to Anchorsway. Modernly, the Splash Zone (as it came to be called) was a tangle of enormous multicolored noodles reaching into the sky. It had been conspicuously untouched during the invasion and had undergone little more than a quick cleaning and inspection to be ready for the public again-which said public apparently appreciated quite a bit.<br /><br />&quot;Man, there&#039;s a lot of people here!&quot; Max noticed. It wasn&#039;t too many, though, just enough to keep up the veneer of a place of fun, with children laughing, adults talking and everyone having a good time. <br /><br />Notably, the place was not built on a block of concrete like one would have expected, instead integrating into the land by shifting from grass to sand and incorporating its fixtures into that organically; each attraction was like an oasis, and had the desired effect of making them look even more attractive. Big, strangely shaped bodies of water teemed with park-goers. Enormous, mind-bending slides boasted rides that seemed physically impossible to undertake. A rather enormous spherical structure filled with water featured people playing some kind of competitive game inside of it. And in a particularly wide pool, a bunch of kids were fighting a naval battle on top of holographically-augmented platforms.<br /><br />&quot;Well, Jacent?&quot; Natalie grinned at him. &quot;Whaddya think?&quot;<br /><br />&#039;Wonder&#039; didn&#039;t even begin to describe it. &quot;This is... amazing. There&#039;s... the slides are so huge and there&#039;s a pirate fight with water swords and what even <em>is that</em> weird ball thing??&quot; He noticed something else, too. &quot;Uh. Though. I&#039;m not used to the sheer amount of very underdressed boys...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;What, do you put on a sweater to go swimming??&quot; Aren giggled.<br /><br />Jacent made a thoughtful sound. He&#039;d almost asked why all the boys were as attention-gettingly dressed as the girls, but... that was really the point, wasn&#039;t it? This wasn&#039;t strange; this was what equality looked like. He could accept that. Besides, there were more important issues at hand. &quot;... Sam.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Uh??&quot; The bat blinked up at him as he siezed her- gently, but urgently- by the shoulders.<br /><br />&quot;Will you go on the slide with me? The big one!&quot; He pointed at a corkscrew monstrosity that looked like a gnarled vine of the Yggdrasil.<br /><br />Samantha took a moment, then sputter-laughed. &quot;I-... of course.&quot; She flashed him a sunny smile. &quot;Let&#039;s go.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Us too!&quot; cried Gren and Ten, swept up in the enthusiasm and running after them in an impromptu race for it.<br /><br />&quot;No way I&#039;m gonna let you guys get on it without me!&quot; Max challenged, bounding ahead. &quot;I invented water slides after avenging my father with the power of my miiind~!&quot;<br /><br />Carrie looked after the group, then turned to her girlfriend with a knowing smirk. &quot;Well? Aren&#039;t you gonna go after &#039;em?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Yeah.&quot; She folded her arms with a smug expression. &quot;I just thought I&#039;d bask in what an awesome idea this was a little longer.&quot; The wolf waited a moment. &quot;... What, no witty retort?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Nah.&quot; She pulled Nat closer with a hand around her hip, rubbing sides with her. &quot;The pack&#039;s happy, goo problems are nil, I had a red velvet cupcake for breakfast, my Geography report was turned in a week early, and you&#039;ve got your big ol&#039; bouncy Nat-butt out in public.&quot; She pulled in for a kiss, lingering only for a moment. &quot;I&#039;m a happy kitty.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Mm. And I&#039;m a happy puppy,&quot; she returned with a toothy grin.<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />Erwin smiled faintly, watching his friends run off to have fun as he sat behind a drinking fountain. &quot;Well, that&#039;s a whole lot of commotion, isn&#039;t it?&quot; he posed to the cyclopean goo ball he held in his hands.<br /><br />Gropey, of course, said nothing back, staring up at him.<br /><br />&quot;Yeah, I know, I should be with them,&quot; he admitted. &quot;I dunno though. I know Kei&#039;s still out there.&quot; He looked around at all the kids laughing and playing. &quot;He&#039;s probably eating bugs or something to survive, while I&#039;m here, having fun.&quot;<br /><br />Gropey leaned to one side.<br /><br />The ferret sighed. &quot;I just feel so guilty about it. And-&quot; he looked down to notice the little grabber wasn&#039;t tilting his metaphorical head quizzically, but literally trying to surmount his hands and get at an attractive-looking pool that few were swimming in. &quot;Oh.&quot; He laughed. &quot;Of course. Here.&quot; He walked up to the poolside, kneeling over and dunking him into it. Gropey took to it happily, swimming in slow, directionless circles, flexing his pseudopod like a squid.<br /><br />A caramel-colored reflection looked up at him, coalescing slowly. &quot;Looks like he&#039;s having fun.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Hm, Gropey?&quot; Erwin shrugged at Phactys. &quot;Of course he is. He&#039;s just an animal.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;An animal still feels pain,&quot; Phactys reminded him. &quot;You think he doesn&#039;t miss his mom?&quot;<br /><br />The freckled ferret considered it carefully, watching the little thing as it freely flitted about the water. &quot;I... I don&#039;t know. Maybe?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;But he&#039;s being strong, regardless,&quot; the inkling said. &quot;And he&#039;s being happy with what he has: a bunch of people who care about him despite how weird he is. Because anything else would be selfish,&quot; he added knowingly. &quot;Kei will be fine. He&#039;s smart- you know he is- and his inkling is very powerful. If anyone ran into him, I&#039;d feel bad for them. He&#039;ll be okay.&quot; <br /><br />Erwin sighed. &quot;Yeah, I guess you&#039;re right.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;I often am,&quot; said Jordan.<br /><br />&quot;Gah!&quot; The ferret turned about suddenly.<br /><br />&quot;I&#039;ve been trying-&quot; The weasel cocked a brow, looking Erwin up and down and drinking in his features. &quot;Wow. Uh. Ahem.&quot; He blushed slightly. &quot;I&#039;ve been trying to reach you for several days. It was a chance lead that gave me the tell you&#039;d be here.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oh.&quot; In truth, he&#039;d been laying down the groundwork for the SCInet for some time now, barely coming home even to eat. &quot;Sorry. I&#039;ve been... busy.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Apparently.&quot; Jordan thrusted his PET at Erwin. &quot;Nevertheless, I&#039;ve had a big break in the case, and I was told to deliver it to you personally.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oh! Uh. O-Okay.&quot; He took it, and a holographic video immediately started playing.<br /><br />Kei appeared on the porch of a slightly unkept house. &quot;Erwin, it&#039;s me.&quot;<br /><br />The ferret&#039;s heart skipped a beat.<br /><br />&quot;Your friend&#039;s been very... insistent. It&#039;s grown harder and harder to lose him. So, finally, I want to tell you... I&#039;m okay.&quot; He paused. &quot;It&#039;s been a long, hard road and I&#039;m... well, I&#039;ve been better, to be honest, but I just need some time to myself. I care about you a lot, and I&#039;m so glad you&#039;ve been thinking about me, but... please. Don&#039;t worry. I&#039;ll tell you when I&#039;m ready to come out. I have food, and a place to sleep, and...&quot; The camera shifted angles to show Cedric playing street soccer with Alliston. &quot;I think I&#039;m in a safe enough neighborhood.&quot;<br /><br />The outskirts, of course! He&#039;d never even thought to check.<br /><br />&quot;Just give me time. I&#039;ll let you know. And... and when I do, how about a do-over on that date, huh?&quot; He smiled gently. &quot;I&#039;ll wait for you if you wait for me.&quot;<br /><br />Erwin nodded slowly. &quot;... Yeah.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oh. And... tell your detective friend I&#039;m sorry I knocked him out. And to stop following me. Thanks. Take care of yourself, Erwin.&quot; The hologram ended.<br /><br />&quot;... Well.&quot; Jordan unconsciously rubbed the back of his head, wincing in memory. &quot;I think that about wraps it up for this case.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Yeah.&quot; Erwin nodded, smiling. A great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. &quot;Thanks, Jordan.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Absolutely.&quot; The weasel straightened his tie. &quot;Now if you&#039;ll excuse me, I have another case to tend to. Something about a plastic girl that glows in the dark.&quot;<br /><br />Jordan walked off, and as he did, Erwin looked back toward Phactys, who only smiled before disappearing. &quot;... Oh crap, where did Gropey go??&quot;<br /><br />&quot;I got him.&quot; A dripping wet Shelly walked up from the corner of the pool, holding the grabber out to Erwin.<br /><br />&quot;Oh, Shelly! Thanks!&quot; The ferret took him. &quot;Max would&#039;ve killed me if I lost him.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Nah, just near-fatally wounded!&quot; she joked. &quot;Ugh, like, the only thing about swimming is the wet wings.&quot; The amply-endowed butterfly set her feet, spread her soggy folded wings and shook like a wet dog. Her antennae, hair and wings flapped left and right, and thanks to the purple slingkini she wore, her enormous breasts bobbed and wobbled, tracing huge circles and figure-eights that mesmerized Erwin and Gropey both for not dissimilar reasons. &quot;Ah, there! Wet wings always give me that just-out-of-the-pupa feeling. Hoowhoa~&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Huh?&quot; He shook it off.<br /><br />&quot;Like, I didn&#039;t notice, but wow, nice swimsuit. Hot~&quot; she giggled.<br /><br />Erwin felt stunned momentarily. &quot;You... think <span class='underline'>I</span> look hot? But... you haven&#039;t even been in the pack that long. I&#039;m so... goofy and bulgy.&quot;<br /><br />Shelly looked confused. &quot;Erwin. If I didn&#039;t think skinny, weird, bulgy nerds looked hot... why would I dress like this?&quot;<br /><br />He paused, stunned. &quot;... You know, you&#039;re right, Shelly.&quot; A grin came to him as he laughed, putting on a haughty voice. &quot;Then I extend to you an invitation to avail ourselves of the diving boards.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Why thank you,&quot; she returned in the same accent. &quot;Boy, like, that&#039;s not <em>all</em> you extended to me.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Haha, shut up, come on!&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />Anastis Blacklotte had seen a lot of animals. The 40-something gazelle had been working with them most of her life in an official or unofficial capacity, and her travels had taken her all over, let her see many things. Her current occupation as a wildskeeper- something like a mix between the ancient professions of ranger and zoologist- had let her see an unbelievable variety of creatures. But nothing could have prepared her for this.<br /><br />When the alien invasion occurred, she was terrified, to be sure. But that it came with so many strange new creatures drew her like a moth to flame. She&#039;d made many foolish decisions that had nearly cost her, but thanks to some of them, she had something special to show. &quot;Is everybody here and ready?&quot;<br /><br />&#039;Here&#039; was odd, to be sure. A collection of covered containers set in an unused patch of grass held the draw to this little event she&#039;d planned, but it had been decorated with every non-terrestrial piece of foliage she could find. Some had been pet projects made on The Ring, but a precious few she&#039;d been able to salvage from reclamation efforts near places like the Fabricatory. <br /><br />She&#039;d been so lost in thought that she almost didn&#039;t notice the crowd had answered in the affirmative. It was far from a cheer or applause, however- to be sure, plenty of people present were pensive. &quot;Alright! Now let&#039;s take a look... at wildlife <em>beyond the stars</em>.&quot;<br /><br />Covers drew back on the high-tech cages, revealing creatures that had become familiar to residents of Locksmouth only recently- and only through the vector of violence. In one tank, a pair of grabbers. In another, a shuffler. In the last, an adolescent bugape. All looked around at the crowd that had gathered through the transparent plastics, curious and cautious. The crowd&#039;s breath was held as they beheld, finally, the creatures they&#039;d seen only in nightmarish encounters.<br /><br />&quot;Behold, creatures that hail from worlds far from our own,&quot; she narrated for the benefit of the children present, but also just anybody who genuinely wasn&#039;t familiar. &quot;These odd-looking creatures gave us quite a scare in their initial showing, being hosts for the alien invaders we fell victim to... but without that direction, it&#039;s become very clear in our studies that these creatures we initially found so scary... are just animals like any other.&quot;<br /><br />A timid squirrel child bit her lip. &quot;A-... Are they gonna get us??&quot;<br /><br />Ana shook her head reassuringly. &quot;No. All of these animals are in very secure containers. They can&#039;t escape.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Are you sure??&quot; a very concerned older jackal hazarded.<br /><br />&quot;Very sure,&quot; she chuckled a little. &quot;We&#039;re still in the infancy of our knowledge about these fascinating animals, but rest assured we know <em>everything</em> about containing them.&quot; Ana gestured toward the bugape, which had taken to resting in the center of its containment. &quot;This intimidating fellow- whom we&#039;ve dubbed the Gigas Mole- was the hardest to contain, so we turned up the security to eleven. He couldn&#039;t get out if he had a family of himself in there, though there&#039;d be plenty of room.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Ooooh.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s like the one I saw at the park!&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;&quot;That&#039;s a small one!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Too right!&quot; Ana praised an observant observer. &quot;This is just an adolescent Gigas. Our friend over here, however-&quot; she gestured to the shuffler, &quot;Is, near as we can tell, as fully grown as they can get! The Achillian Oarfin as we&#039;ve come to call them are an enigmatic bunch, moving very slowly and having a taste for soft vegetation.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;What about the little ones??&quot;<br /><br />She smiled. &quot;Ah yes, the Mollusk Spider! These two were very hard to capture, they&#039;re very mobile and can get into small spaces easily, which allows them to escape predators. They&#039;re very-... very...&quot; Her eyes widened as she stared in the distance. The crowd looked to where she was looking.<br /><br />Echelon walked forward at a languid pace, going in amongst the crowd which seemed to edge away from her slowly. <br /><br />&quot;... U-... I-... Ah, uh, h-hello.&quot; Ana choked on her own words before chastising herself. She was a professional, she could do this! &quot;Can I help you?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Yes.&quot; Echelon smiled. &quot;I couldn&#039;t help but notice you were having an exhibit on creatures from... beyond the stars,&quot; she said with an inflection that imitated Ana&#039;s opening statement. &quot;Well. How about a little help?&quot;<br /><br />Ana&#039;s brows vaulted in surprise. &quot;You know about them?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Intimately!&quot; The inkling nodded. &quot;After all, I&#039;ve been hosted at some point by one of each of these creatures!&quot;<br /><br />A murmur of fascinated whispers prodded Anastis&#039; professional intrigue as well as her personal curiosity. &quot;By all means!&quot;<br /><br />Echelon walked up to the bugape. &quot;Gigas Mole. That&#039;s a good name! These guys are very aggressive, extremely protective. Also really hard to keep under control.&quot;<br /><br />A little hand went up. The squirrel from before, now very curious. &quot;Can you speak their language?&quot;<br /><br />She thought about it. &quot;Yes, kind of. They don&#039;t have a proper language as much as a few key sounds that express certain feelings.&quot; The inkling turned toward the tank, facing the thing, and made several chittering clicks. It stopped pacing and sat down.<br /><br />The squirrel grinned a little. &quot;Ooh, cool...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Why does the droopy one look so sad?&quot; another child, a wide-eyed shrew, inquired.<br /><br />&quot;Probably because it&#039;s so dry! These particular creatures are amphibious; they come from a place that&#039;s full of... well, not quite water but a solution that has chemicals not from this planet. All the same, put some water in their tank and they&#039;ll be a lot happier.&quot; Echelon patted the side of the container. &quot;You know, what&#039;s neat about these guys is that this big eye here? It isn&#039;t just for seeing. It also senses barometric pressure, so that they know if a storm is coming or not. For a species so dependent on being constantly hydrated, it lets them know how long they can be on land.&quot;<br /><br />Ana grinned. &quot;This is so fascinating! Ah, but do you think you can tell me why the mollusk spiders are so agitated?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oh, sure, easy.&quot; Echelon smirked and pointed toward the bugape. &quot;Because that guy eats them. Don&#039;t put them in the same place if you don&#039;t want him to try and snack on them.&quot; She crouched next to one. &quot;The really interesting part? These little gals reproduce by spore! They&#039;re kind of like a parasitic fungus that grows on trees from another planet, and then uses the tree&#039;s fruiting pods to create more of them.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Whoooa!&quot;<br />&nbsp;&quot;Creepy!&quot;<br />&quot;That&#039;s so weird!&quot;<br /><br />Ana watched with fascination. It was when she noticed the children getting more and more eager to learn that she began to understand Echelon&#039;s aim. In a way, it wasn&#039;t that different from her own.<br /><br />&quot;What about you? Can I touch you??&quot; the shrew asked abruptly.<br /><br />Echelon only smiled. &quot;Touch me all you want. I won&#039;t bite.&quot;<br /><br />The kids eagerly descended on her to the apprehension of the adults. Their little hands grabbed and slid and rubbed all over Echelon&#039;s face, arms and shoulders.<br /><br />&quot;Oh, coooool!&quot;<br />&quot;It&#039;s like a big bag of jello!&quot;<br />&quot;You&#039;re not as gooey as you look.&quot;<br />&quot;You feel wet! But my hands aren&#039;t wet...&quot;<br /><br />An adult puffin stepped forward. &quot;Are you still hosted by that Natalie girl?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;It would have been very foolish to stay bonded with her,&quot; she dodged as a child stretched her face like putty, her serious expression becoming quite silly. &quot;If you&#039;re wondering why I still look like her, it&#039;s because inklings resemble the host they were last most strongly bonded with.&quot;<br /><br />A scowling buck asked, &quot;What are you still doing here? I heard that tearful goodbye, you said you were going to leave.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Oh my god, really??&quot; From out of the crowd, a speckled, lavender, twenty-something frog elbowed forward, heavily accessorized PET in hand. &quot;A real live alien comes to us and you want her to go away. Unbelievable. Am I the only one who finds this amazing?&quot; He turned to Echelon and snapped up some pictures, fascinated. &quot;Echelon? Hi! I&#039;m Emille Pondweight, I write for Extra, the Extraterrestrial Enthusiasts channel and I just want to say what an honor it is to make contact with you. I am <em>so</em> amazed by you and your kind!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Well!&quot; Echelon nodded. &quot;That&#039;s refreshing. Nice to meet you, Emille.&quot;<br /><br />The man looked ecstatic as he slowly reached for the hand Echelon extended to him, finally clasping it in both of his. &quot;Unbelievable. I mean I&#039;m just one of many <em>many</em> people who wanted to see you in person, and now I&#039;m the first of the bunch, it is such a privilege- I was wondering! Do you think you might have time to do an extended interview??&quot;<br /><br />She chuckled, a little taken aback by his enthusiasm. &quot;Well, I... sure.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;There she is!!&quot; cried one of another very large group of random people she didn&#039;t recognize, similarly outfitted like Emille. They began swarming the presentation area.<br />&quot;Are you <em>the</em> Echelon??&quot;<br />&quot;Does your dimension exist within Pilan&#039;s Theory of Folding Planes?&quot;<br />&nbsp;&quot;Are you an enormous single-celled organism??&quot;<br />&quot;Are there inklings still available?? Where can I get one???&quot;<br />&nbsp;&quot;Can I be your new host?!&quot;<br /><br />The gelatinous wolf&#039;s solid pink eyes widened. &quot;Back off! Hey, easy! I-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Esh&#039;lawn?&quot;<br /><br />She looked down to a small, sad-looking moose boy whose inquiry had silenced the others. <br /><br />&quot;... Do you know if my daddy&#039;s ever coming home?&quot;<br /><br />She blinked. Then crouched down. &quot;..... What does your daddy look like?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;He looks...&quot; The boy faltered. &quot;He looks like me, but... but bigger. His name is P-... Patch Langtree.&quot; His hopeful eyes betrayed his frown. &quot;... I haven&#039;t seen my Daddy since... since then.&quot; He was trying so hard to be brave.<br /><br />&quot;Alright.&quot; Echelon nodded, then stood. &quot;I&#039;ll answer your questions later, everyone. Post them up on Fetch, I&#039;ll find them.&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />&quot;AAAAAH!!!&quot;<br /><br />It was all Samantha could hear, the chorus of her voice and Jacent&#039;s as they positively raced down the water slide. He held her closely in his lap, bracing them both as the seamless ride corkscrewed suddenly, pushing them up the side, then upside down before completing the barrel roll, water splashing underneath them the whole time. The slide suddenly arched up, the curve causing them to complete an entire loop-de-loop before sending them down a long, even faster stretch and sending them into the pool with a loud ~SPLASH!~<br /><br />All sounds muted for a few moments, before strong arms hoisted her up again. &quot;Ah... hah... ah...&quot; Samantha looked at Jacent, panting as she caught her breath, then laughed. She laughed like she was a little girl again. They&#039;d gone down that giant green crazy straw and come out wet at the bottom. Twice. But it was so much fun! Which was odd, because she didn&#039;t usually care for it.<br /><br />It had to be him. That face, usually so distant, yet so sincere... but at that moment so boyish and infectiously happy. He pulled her to him possessively, hugging her tight. She loved that about him, the ease with which he moved her, gently but with so much affectionate insistence. Her hands wandered over his big strong back, lost in all the sheer size of him.<br /><br />&quot;Well that was exhilarating,&quot; she said, still panting softly.<br /><br />&quot;It was!&quot; he answered with cheerful honesty. &quot;I can&#039;t believe I&#039;ve never done this before! And even more, I can&#039;t believe you&#039;re doing it with me; this must be driving you crazy.&quot; He laughed.<br /><br />&quot;I&#039;d do anything, so long as it was with you. You&#039;re half the reason this is enjoyable.&quot; She paddled gently toward the edge, her outstretched wings catching a lot of water and making it a simple task. &quot;The other half is hydrophobic hairspray.&quot; The bat gave him a sassy smile.<br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m having such a great time!&quot; He swam over and helped her out of the pool, following himself. He still felt self-conscious about his scars, but it was easier with her there. &quot;Is this all there is to being in a pack? Just... going to parks and helping out with homework?&quot;<br /><br />She chuckled. &quot;It&#039;s more than that. It&#039;s the feeling of belonging to a group, of giving yourself willingly to the benefit of others who equally give the same,&quot; she explained carefully, making little gestures with her hands. &quot;Everyone brings something different.&quot;<br /><br />Jacent stopped by the poolside to look into the water. &quot;I really felt that- the selfless giving- when everybody faced Grendel.&quot; He faced her slowly, squeezing her hand. &quot;Do you think... I give enough?&quot;<br /><br />She tilted her head. &quot;What do you mean?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Well, I... I mean, nobody got to vote on it. I was just let in by Natalie, and... I guess sometimes I worry that... maybe I didn&#039;t really earn it.&quot;<br /><br />She smiled. &quot;Oh, Jacent, of course you do. You&#039;ve earned it since the moment you were let in! Everybody in this group likes everyone else, I guarantee-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;AAAATAX EVASION!!&quot; Screamed Max, who surfaced like a killer whale with Gren and Ten on his back, splashing water all over Sam and Jacent.<br /><br />&quot;Ackpthf! MAX!!&quot; yelled Samantha angrily as the water sluiced down her everything, her drooping hair popping back into place an inch at a time as it ran off of her perm.<br /><br />&quot;Oh sorry!&quot; the iguana said, small pools of water clearly visible inside his goggles. &quot;I was just playin&#039; duck-duck-shark.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;How do you play that?&quot; Jacent asked.<br /><br />&quot;Lemme show-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;NO!&quot; Sam interjected. &quot;That&#039;s okay, we don&#039;t need another demonstration!&quot;<br /><br />The kids, however, couldn&#039;t have disagreed more through their giggling.<br />&quot;C&#039;moooon!&quot;<br />&quot;Again, again!&quot;<br /><br />Meanwhile, from atop another slide that emptied into the opposite side of the pool, Natalie laughed softly at the display below. &quot;It reminds me of when we were kids.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;I know, right?&quot; Carrie finished a sucker and crunched down on the cookie stick it had been formed on. &quot;Not like the serious adults we are now,&quot; she said, sidling up behind Natalie and squeezing her modest breasts while making a honking sound.<br /><br />&quot;Haha, hey! Quiddit.&quot; She put her hands up on the top of the slide. It was a giant transparent tube that had just a few turns, but the real draw was how akin it was to falling. &quot;How many times do you think we&#039;ve gone down this since we were little?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;A ton! It&#039;s my favorite, still.&quot; She grinned. &quot;Now quit stalling and go! My thighs are aching trying to stay around your hips.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Hey! I was j-AAH!&quot; Natalie tried to object, but a hip thrust from her girlfriend sent them on their way, the slow, inevitable start crescendoing into a slick, fast ride. They screamed and laughed and squinted as water splashed up near their eyes. At one point, Nat turned around, rolling over so she could go down it backwards, holding onto Carrie&#039;s hips and watching the world scream by.<br /><br />&quot;Yeeeeaaaaah- UNH!&quot; Carrie grunted as they stopped very suddenly. Both of them looked surprised, until they found the reason why: The combination of Carrie&#039;s legs and Natalie&#039;s body had been too wide for the children&#039;s slide, culminating in them getting trapped on an upward bent that got stuck... on Natalie&#039;s bottom. &quot;Pfff... PFFFTTT...&quot; Carrie tried desperately not to laugh.<br /><br />&quot;Oh my god are you kidding me??&quot; Natalie blushed and wriggled, trying to dislodge herself as the water began to pool around her hips.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Carrie was hysterical. Each effort her girlfriend made to fix the situation just made it funnier, paralyzing her with laughter as tears escaped her.<br /><br />&quot;Carrie! Come on, help me!&quot; Nat&#039;s cheeks burned as she intensified all efforts.<br /><br />&quot;I... I can&#039;t-... I can&#039;t even-...&quot; she managed between breathless giggling. Cat would be of no use to her, only managing to weakly spread her legs. <br /><br />&quot;Nnnnngh...&quot; The wolf took a deep breath and flexed her back, dropping her torso lower and allowing a more forgiving angle which let her sink down further, dislodging them both. They flew down the rest of the slide and splashed into the pool.<br /><br />Natalie surfaced, and it was everything she&#039;d feared from that day on. The laughter, the ever-present laughter that she had worked so hard to avoid, wanted so badly to never be the reason for. Friends, strangers, even her girlfriend were doubled over from the entire affair. Had they all been pretending to like it? Were they all just waiting for this moment to mock her?? Her ears burned with anger and shame.<br /><br />And then she remembered something. Something she&#039;d forgotten until this very moment. She&#039;d confronted her mother about that incident when they&#039;d left the store.<br /><br /><em>&quot;Mama, aren&#039;t you embarrassed??&quot;</em> she&#039;d asked. <em>&quot;Don&#039;t you know why they were laughing at you?&quot;</em><br /><br />She could see her face even now, that knowing little smile on it. <em>&quot;Of course, honey. But I also know why they were looking in the first place.&quot; </em><br /><br />She didn&#039;t realize back then, what her mother had meant. It all clicked now. Lorna wasn&#039;t unaware of it at all, she knew. She knew! And... she didn&#039;t care. &quot;... But of course she didn&#039;t...&quot; she whispered to herself, finally putting it together. Lorna&#039;s entire pack loved her. She was constantly praised and adored for all of her features, especially the most literally outstanding one. Her mom wasn&#039;t some blissfully unaware absent-minded nerd getting laughed at behind her back- she was the unassailable fortress of confidence that came with being both a towering intellect and unquestionably desired.<br /><br />&quot;Uh, babe?&quot; Carrie asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. The laughing had died down. Now everyone was just staring at her because she&#039;d been looking off into space. &quot;You okay?&quot;<br /><br />She looked around. Then back at the slide. She thumbed toward it, canted her hips and smirked. &quot;I&#039;m just saying, that was bigger last year.&quot;<br /><br />They broke out in uproarious laughter again. But this time... she was laughing, too.<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />Walking. On feet.<br /><br />What a weird experience.<br /><br />Even when totally dominating a host, Echelon had always relied on &#039;driving&#039; them via their own familiar motor functions. Going dry was different, though. It was like actually controlling her own body all on its own, as if completely separated, and performing simple repetitive tasks- like walking- were a lot like repeating a word over and over; thinking about it to any degree would make it feel alien and awkward to utilize.<br /><br />As her feet hit the pavement amidst the untended midwalk of the abandoned residential area, she was thankful for the extra durability she&#039;d gained from practicing this form. At first, even small impacts would risk structural integrity- or make her &#039;go splat&#039; as her host was fond of putting it- but she&#039;d slowly built up more and more resistance to outside forces. Her little spanking session with Natalie- such a bizarre yet delightful experience- had served as a training session of sorts, and it was paying dividends every time she went dry. <br /><br />This was a positive for certain, because consecutive looks around the empty streets weren&#039;t doing anything to convince her she wouldn&#039;t end up in a fight. The city was big, and there weren&#039;t a lot of people to round up the creatures that had vexed them. Were courage not an issue- and it most certainly was, regardless of what police said- there was still the issue of time and resources. As long as the odd stray monster got taken care of, places like this could teem with them for all the vast majority of the citizenry cared.<br /><br />&quot;Sneaking around, I see.&quot;<br /><br />Echelon would&#039;ve been startled if she&#039;d had the nerves. &quot;Floe.&quot;<br /><br />The ice blue inkling leaned up against the side of a house, staring at her dispassionately. &quot;What brings you here?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m looking for a man with potentially a rack of antlers. His son misses him dearly. Have you seen him?&quot;<br /><br />The wall spoke. Or perhaps not the wall, but a shape that almost perfectly blended in with it. &quot;Still playing pet to them, Echelon?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Why yes, I am improving human-inkling relations as we speak. By myself. You&#039;re welcome, Vissage,&quot; she said curtly.<br /><br />Floe looked away. &quot;Do you really think that can last? They&#039;ll fear you without proper guidance. Without a firm guiding hand.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Is that what you think?&quot; Echelon asked, unimpressed. &quot;Or what Emnas thinks?&quot;<br /><br />They stayed quiet for a moment until Floe broke the silence. &quot;I think I&#039;ve seen a man like that being carried off some time ago. This way.&quot; <br /><br />They all walked together, pacing down the midwalk in broad daylight- something still probably out of reach for inklings at present, were it a more populated area. &quot;So, Emnas still insists on this conflict between us, does he? I don&#039;t see the point in it; Osoth&#039;s not around anymore to push us.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Isn&#039;t she?&quot; Coul&#039;s inkling kept pace with both of them, to Echelon&#039;s other side. &quot;Then perhaps you can tell us what happens when an inkling dies. Do you know?&quot;<br /><br />The liquid wolf frowned.<br /><br />&quot;Not that it matters. She may be gone, but her legacy will echo for a long time. Some people say you have a special connection to her, you know.&quot;<br /><br />Echelon found this very troubling. &quot;Of course. We&#039;re all connected to her; she made us. Other than the mad old ones.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Some people think there&#039;s something else about you,&quot; Floe contended. &quot;Something different.&quot; She read Echelon&#039;s straining, confused expression. &quot;But of course you can&#039;t remember. They&#039;re just whispers and rumors anyway. Things the uncolored ones say, when they insist they&#039;re older than they should be.&quot;<br /><br />The black inkling shook her head, more confused than ever. &quot;Think about what you&#039;re saying. That I&#039;m not part of the second generation... but the first? Nothing about that adds up. They&#039;re ramblings of madness from the prana-starved.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Probably. Just something they feel.&quot; Floe stopped in front of a house that featured a cracked mirror on the porch, tucked away in the corner. &quot;But. The old ruler being killed... the new one insisting her way is better while the common inkling starves... it sounds awfully familiar.&quot;<br /><br />Echelon picked up a shard of mirror covered in dried green blood. &quot;Thanks, Floe. You always did have a way of telling me what I need to hear right before you stab me in the back.&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />Carrie couldn&#039;t stop eating today. The sunny weather was just too good of an excuse to stuff her face with an ice cream bar at every opportunity. &quot;So anyway Sam, I told Natalie she has to at least <em>try</em> wearing a hoopskirt for our next Steampunk Sunday; I am going to get her in bloomers if it&#039;s the last thing I-&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Hey Carrie! Think fast!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Uh?&quot; The cat turned toward the source of the voice. Despite the impressively large and growing list of things she was able to expect, however, she couldn&#039;t have accounted for Random Acts of Max. &quot;MMPH!&quot; The iguana had flown at her lucha style, his big soft bikini bulge pancaking against her mouth, his legs wrapped around her neck.<br /><br />&quot;Mucha lucha!&quot; he cried, swinging around her in a semicircle like a pendulum, letting go just in time to land on the edge of the pool as he sent Carrie into the drink.<br /><br />&quot;Ohmigod!&quot; cried Gren, laughing hysterically. &quot;That was hilarious!!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Did you see her face??&quot; Natalie giggled. &quot;Perfection. Max that was the best.&quot; She put a hand out toward him.<br /><br />Max grinned, exchanging a secret handshake with her. &quot;It&#039;s all in the hips.&quot; He did a side-winding hip-shimmy to accentuate his point, making both of them laugh even more. Then he felt two big wet hands on them. Looking down, his eyes widened; the hands were white. &quot;Ah! No!&quot; Two muscled arms wrapped around his middle. &quot;AaaAAH PELIGRO!!&quot; He was lifted and dumped into the pool by Carrie via suplex, dismissing him to the water.<br /><br />The iguana slowly drifted to the bottom of the pool, contemplating his folly as he watched Carrie&#039;s discarded ice cream bar follow the same path as himself. He snatched it out of mid-fall and stuck it in his mouth. Not bad! He was blessed to live in time with granular active-filter pools, ensuring any foreign elements would clump and fall to the bottom for filtering instead of intermixing. Max crouched at the bottom, looking up through the peaceful strobe-like patterns of light coming from the surface of the water. He even waved to Ashbie, who was on the other end and looked surprised to see him. He could stay down for tens of minutes if needed; it was a latent skill he&#039;d developed more acutely while dating Svenson, who hailed from Anchorsway. He momentarily missed their underwater frolicking, learning more sign language and enjoying the privacy that underwater life afforded. <br /><br />&quot;Enough reminiscing!&quot; Koralo demanded from the reflection of the surface&#039;s underside. &quot;Our friends are up there, let&#039;s play!&quot; he reminded him.<br /><br />The iguana half-smiled. He&#039;d had so many moments like this lately. What was bugging him? Was he sad about something? Or... or worse! Was he getting <em>old??</em> He shuddered, shoving his tongue upward, sticking it to the bottom of the diving board and reeling his way up, hanging underneath it and then climbing on top.<br /><br />&quot;Oh! Max!&quot; Erwin blinked and smiled. By coincidence, he&#039;d been using the diving board. &quot;There you are. Here, take Gropey.&quot; The ferret handed the blob off to him as Max walked off the board to the poolside. &quot;Didn&#039;t wanna scare him.&quot; He bounced a few times on the board to get some momentum, then bent forward into a straight dive, his long, lithe body smoothly cutting into the water.<br /><br />&quot;Nice!&quot; Shelly approved, watching from behind. &quot;My turn!&quot;<br /><br />Max watched from the side as the butterfly did the same momentum-building bounce that Erwin did, but hers she interrupted just to insert a few more teasing jiggles. He grinned and giggled approvingly before she finally took her dive. He&#039;d been noticing things like that a lot more lately. It wasn&#039;t any wonder; he was almost sixteen now, just like all the rest of them. Sixteen would take him, but it would be kicking and screaming! He didn&#039;t want to grow up. &#039;Grown up&#039; was the antithesis of everything he was, of everything he willed to be. &#039;Grown up&#039; was the mark of a traitor to pranks out of nowhere, to frisbee in the park on a Wednesday, to fun! <br /><br />&quot;Hey guys!&quot; he yelled. &quot;Don&#039;t get out yet!&quot; Max ran to the other end of the pool, grinning as his friends looked on, mystified. &quot;Catch!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Gah!&quot; Erwin cried in surprise as Max&#039;s tongue thumped against his glasses. He grabbed and removed it before realizing the intent. &quot;Oh! I know what this is!&quot; He smiled toothily, grabbing the iguana&#039;s tongue with both hands and leaning back. &quot;Let her rip, Max!&quot;<br /><br />The plucky reptile winched his tongue back so rapidly that Erwin lifted bodily until he was waterskiing on the pool surface, sparkling droplets spraying everywhere. &quot;WOOO~!&quot; he cried joyfully, letting go in time to sink again and press against the end of the pool, laughing. &quot;That&#039;s never not awesome. Shelly! You have to try it!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Totally!&quot; responded the excited butterfly, who caught the tongue in her outstretched palms. &quot;Ooh, it&#039;s all warm and kinda slimy...&quot; the area where her nose would&#039;ve been wrinkled as she inspected it with a kind of curiosity more befitting of someone younger than she, but this was cut short by the sudden winching. &quot;Ohp! Ah! Whoa!&quot; Shelly lifted, remembered to spread her feet and began waterskiing. &quot;Aaaaaa! Ohmigod you guys this is great!&quot; Her thrill made her wings open, and when that happened she became Shelly Iverson: the extremely unstable kite. &quot;AaAaAa!!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Whoa! Reel her in, Max!&quot; Erwin cried as the butterfly began tracing erratic figure-eights in midair.<br /><br />&quot;Ahm shryin&#039; due!&quot; he answered in kind, pulling back even harder. Shelly pulled in at speed, bowling both of them over and landing in a heap on a deck chair.<br /><br />&quot;Whooooa. Like, I haven&#039;t beefed it that hard since flight school.&quot; Ms. Iverson&#039;s knees wobbled as she tried and failed to stand, instead landing on Max again. &quot;You guys are like <span class='underline'>so</span> much fun, I love being in this pack already!&quot; She squeezed both boys in a hug and beamed.<br /><br />&quot;Yffh hvnt sh-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Gaaah!&quot; Shelly laughed. &quot;That tickles!&quot;<br /><br />Max tilted his head up enough so that he didn&#039;t have to speak directly into boob. &quot;Sorry. Anyway! Shelly, bro, you ain&#039;t seen <em>nothin&#039;</em> yet!&quot; He pointed a finger outward as Gropey slurmed from Shelly&#039;s cleavage back to his head. &quot;To Bludgeon Bay!&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />Castle Blackwolf. She hadn&#039;t thought of giving it a name before- locations on Canvas were known to inklings on such a subconscious level it seemed pointless- but it definitely fit. When she appeared there through the broken mirror, it was in a deep part of the basement that she couldn&#039;t remember. Had the Greys taken it there? Hard to know. She&#039;d been cleaning up their mess ever since.<br /><br />Finding the correct mirror was easy. They all were broken, yes, but finding the collection of shards most meticulously grouped into a congruous mass was far less difficult. The connection between the two was clear. But she couldn&#039;t go, not yet.<br /><br />A trudge upward was necessary. The main keep was where she expected her friends- not allies, she was learning the difference between the two and it was fulfilling- and sure enough, they meshed with her expectations. All were dreaming, of course. She was jealous, naturally; today was a grand day for good dreams, and she&#039;d have to rifle through Natalie&#039;s later. Such was the burden of leadership. However, misery loved company, and one had to come with her. &quot;Mhend.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Mm. Ah. O-... Oh?&quot; The pink inkling&#039;s secondary color came into focus as her eyes opened. &quot;Echelon? Mmm... we&#039;re cheering for Jacent. He&#039;s so cute. Why can&#039;t he have an inkling?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;I need your help, friend.&quot;<br /><br />She gave her an awkward, askance salute and a smile. &quot;Always ready for duty.&quot;<br /><br />The black inkling couldn&#039;t help but smile. It was a joke, naturally- Mhend had never been anything close to a soldier. But at the same time, she felt like she sort of meant it this time. &quot;Come with me to the basement.&quot;<br /><br />)<br />o<br />&nbsp;(<br /><br />Mirror slide deposited them in a bathroom. &quot;Guh!&quot; Mhend struggled to stand on her own two feet.<br /><br />&quot;Here, easy.&quot; Echelon helped support her. Mhend wasn&#039;t used to being Dry, so Echelon was faciliating it using her own prana stores. &quot;One step at a time.&quot;<br /><br />The house was old and in disrepair, but not abandoned. Familiar sounds filled the place, and opening the bathroom door was like an exercise in self-terror. Countless creatures left over from the invasion were swarming the entire place, making so much as walking on the floor a questionable endeavor.<br /><br />&quot;Mhend, I need you to placate them.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;A-Alright! Just a moment.&quot;<br /><br />The black inkling looked down at all of those creatures, all desperate and starving and probably packed with more than one Grey each. &quot;Clear a path, you poor wretches...&quot; And indeed they did, parting like the sea in a myth, making way for her. &quot;Ah, good work.&quot;<br /><br />Mhend seemed shocked. &quot;I... I didn&#039;t do anything.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s... odd.&quot; She looked down at all the inhabited creatures and suddenly felt overcome with feelings of dread. &quot;... Let&#039;s go, come on.&quot; They powered through the mess of creatures and made their way into the den, where it was clear everything was moving to and from. Six different people, all emaciated and unwell, laid on the floor in various positions. Among them, halfway on the couch and half off, was the antlered gentleman they&#039;d sought. He twitched, the only reaction to their presence that he could manage the most fearful one. &quot;Sir? ... Patch? My name is Echelon. And I&#039;m here to take you back to your family.&quot;<br /><br />)<br /><br />&nbsp;o<br /><br />(<br /><br />Murphy hated doing reports. She hated getting yelled at even more. Both of these things at once was her own personal chamber of torment.<br /><br />&quot;I mean honestly!&quot; The Chief of Police didn&#039;t run out of air easily. &quot;The last report read like an ad lib! The victims came from somewhere unspecified and your little team disappeared to some other place. Well! I&#039;m sure glad I had you to fill in the blanks.&quot;<br /><br />She sighed. &quot;I know, sir.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Do you appreciate how hard it is to justify letting those walking pudding cups stroll around and do as they please??&quot;<br /><br />She nodded. &quot;Yes sir.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;And this!&quot; He gestured toward a mirror over a mattress, where the word &#039;rescued&#039; was written on its surface in soap. <br /><br />She winced; it was gathering dust. Never used once. &quot;Sir-&quot; <br /><br />&quot;This is a monument to your hubris. I&#039;ve entertained this long enough, Murphy, I want results! Give me something positive to tell the press for once, or Project Roundup is getting greenlit tom-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;INCOMING!&quot; Another officer rushed to the mattress as five different people bounced onto it one by one. &quot;These people need medical attention, get those people in here!&quot; He turned toward the others. &quot;Chief! I recognize them, these are some of the people from the missing persons report!&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;&quot;I know this guy!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;I can&#039;t believe they&#039;re still alive!&quot;<br /><br />The Chief of Police turned slowly to Murphy, who was fighting a losing battle with the biggest smile her face could contain. &quot;... Don&#039;t get cocky! I still expect... things! From you!&quot; He shuffled away. &quot;... And quit that smug-ass tail wagging!&quot;<br /><br />She didn&#039;t.<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />&quot;Your time&#039;s up, Oakenfield!&quot; yelled Jessalynn from over the bow of a ship facade set above a pool of water below.<br /><br />&quot;My time&#039;s just begun, Sabel!&quot; Carrie countered bombastically, brandishing a water-cutlass. &quot;I&#039;m gonna make you <span class='underline'>and</span> your pack squeal <em>like little babies</em>. I hope you&#039;re ready to crawl back inside your cocoon!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;... Spiders don&#039;t have cocoons.&quot;<br /><br />Carrie sighed, rolling her eyes. &quot;Who fuckin&#039; cares what am I a doctor FIRE!!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Firing cannons!&quot; Gren and Aren cried in unison, pulling on a knotted rope that fed into a cannon, firing a huge water balloon at the other ship. It screamed across the divide before smashing into the side and splashing all over Selina.<br /><br />&quot;Ugh, wet wings! I hate wet wings!&quot; she complained, shaking out her hands.<br /><br />&quot;Right?? I know!&quot; Shelly added from the other side. &quot;Gah!&quot; She took a pelting of return fire.<br /><br />&quot;Wahahaha!&quot; Milly cried like a maniac, straddling a cannon. &quot;This is my third biggest explosive discharge! Take it in the face!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Board &#039;em!&quot; Jessalynn ordered, Madison and Havid grabbing ropes and swinging across.<br /><br />&quot;Return the favor!&quot; Cat ordered fiercely in return, Max tongue-grappling to the other ship and taking Erwin with him.<br /><br />Jessa kicked a hinged plank down, bridging the gap between the two ships and charging it. &quot;I&#039;m coming for you, Captain Fatbaps!&quot; Natalie was already running from the other end of the plank, and they threatened to collide, but Jessa dropped off at the last moment, catching the board for an integral moment and holding herself aloft by a few feet of webbing. &quot;FIRE!!&quot;<br /><br />Several cannons from Jessalynn&#039;s ship opened fire at once, all trained on the wolf. She showed her gymnastic prowess, somersaulting, front-flipping and back-flipping before finally jumping to stick the landing on the deck, just dodging the watery balls.<br /><br />&quot;Ohhh gosh, ohmigosh, what do I do...&quot; Selina tittered indecisively, backing away from the menacing Erwin and Max.<br /><br />&quot;Yer gonna eat water, scurvy cur!&quot; Max cackled. &quot;WAH! What the heck?!&quot; He sidestepped a thick, compressed jet of water. <br /><br />&quot;I be the cooper, ye bilge rats!&quot; A particularly plus-sized Ashbie opened fire with what appeared to be a small shoulder-mounted cannon. &quot;Prepare to meet yer maker!&quot;<br /><br />On their ship, Shelly, Gren and Ten shot round after round of watery munitions at Havid, who appeared to be using some kind of water-saber bushido to deflect them. <br /><br />&quot;Like this is outrageous!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;It shouldn&#039;t be scientifically possible!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;She&#039;s gonna kick our butts, don&#039;t let him come closer!!&quot;<br /><br />Madison and Jacent circled each other, the latter smirking. &quot;No catching this time!&quot; Jacent taunted, before finding new and inventive ways to launch water balloons at the girl. She grabbed onto a sail rod, pulled up to avoid his shots, dropped down to grab two balloons with her feet and lobbed them at him. &quot;Gah!!&quot;<br /><br />For her part, Sam was energetically cheering them all on. &quot;Go, go, now attack! Send them packing, don&#039;t look back! <em>Yeah!!</em> &quot; A grin was on her face even as she muttered, &quot;Alliston should&#039;ve been here, she&#039;d love all of this.&quot;<br /><br />The two captains locked in water-saber combat. Carrie&#039;s relentless aggression fell prey to Jessa&#039;s quick, accurate parries. &quot;You&#039;re gonna eat this sword, Sabel!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;I don&#039;t think so.&quot; The spider took one particularly overzealous swing as an opening and slashed across Carrie&#039;s middle, the entire sword exploding into a huge splash of water all over the cat. &quot;Ha.&quot;<br /><br />Carrie stood, panting, dripping. She looked down at herself, then at Jess. &quot;... Fuck it.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oakenfield what&#039;re you doing, the game&#039;s over, argh!&quot; Jess was lifted bodily into a bear hug. &quot;Gnfh, I can&#039;t breathe, Funbags!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s your problem.&quot; Carrie grinned as her hands wandered over Jessa&#039;s buns and down her short shorts.<br /><br />&quot;Hey, what&#039;s the big idea?? That tickles! Quit it.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Sorry!&quot; Cat grinned as she groped. &quot;My girlfriend&#039;s all the way over there, you&#039;ll have to do. Ooh, bouncy~&quot;<br /><br />Jess pressed her hands into the bulging tops of Carrie&#039;s breasts in an attempt to escape as both of their respective packs stopped and laughed. &quot;Oakenfield, I&#039;ll get you for this!&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />&quot;... Excuse me.&quot;<br /><br />The small moose boy looked up at the shiny black inkling from his seat on a bench. He&#039;d been crying, but he tried to hide it. &quot;D-... Did you find my Daddy?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s what I wanted to talk to you about, I-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Don&#039;t you dare.&quot; The buck grimaced at her, holding his shoulders protectively. &quot;Don&#039;t you dare get his hopes up and then crush him, you monster.&quot;<br /><br />Echelon took a moment, her fatigue showing. &quot;... I came here to tell you that he&#039;s waiting for you at the hospital. He needed treatment for dehydration and exhaustion... but the doctors say he&#039;ll be fine.&quot;<br /><br />The boy&#039;s eyes welled up with tears. &quot;O-... Oh thank you!&quot; He hugged Echelon around the waist, tighter than she probably would&#039;ve liked in her current state. &quot;Thank you Esh&#039;lawn!&quot; He blinked away some of his tears as he looked up at her. &quot;I don&#039;t care what anyone says, I think you&#039;re great!&quot; He smiled despite the overwhelming emotions on his face, looking to his other guardian. &quot;C&#039;mon, let&#039;s see him!&quot;<br /><br />The buck looked at her, then at him, stunned and perhaps a little ashamed. &quot;I... Of course.&quot;<br /><br />She watched them leave, tired, but satisfied. All of this &#039;walking around&#039; nonsense was exhausting. &quot;Time to go home.&quot;<br /><br />&nbsp;-<br />- -<br />&nbsp;-<br /><br />&quot;Whoops! Aaa~!&quot;<br />&quot;Easy! Here, lemme hold you.&quot;<br /><br />It was the perfect end to a perfect day.<br /><br />&quot;I could watch that forever...&quot;<br />&nbsp;&quot;C&#039;mon c&#039;mon, mmmph!&quot;<br /><br />Water slides, ice cream, a letter from Kei, and now...<br /><br />&quot;Hngh, uhn, h-here it comes!&quot; Erwin pulled down on Shelly&#039;s hips.<br /><br />&quot;Give it, give it, awfh! Theeere we go! Ohhh... ooh! Ah-ha~&quot; The butterfly shuddered as good feelings ran up her body. &quot;Mmm... my turn!&quot;<br /><br />He huffed, wiping his glasses on Carrie&#039;s pillow before replacing them; he wasn&#039;t going to miss a moment of this to imperfect vision. Though honestly just her smile was enough to want to see it clearly. &quot;Again, huh?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Yup!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Well, I&#039;m cold, I need some sheets,&quot; he managed between breaths, a sweaty lock of hair matted between his eyes.<br /><br />&quot;Bwah!&quot; Shelly lifted up several layers behind her like a cape. &quot;Cocoon!&quot; She laid on top of him, pressing her breasts against his chest and rolling them up in a bundle of covers until they couldn&#039;t so much as move their arms.<br /><br />&quot;Ah!&quot; Erwin looked around at the blanket burrito he was in. &quot;You&#039;re almost as weird as Natalie.&quot; Still, he smiled and began returning her the favor vigorously.<br /><br />The door opened, and Carrie appeared in the room, nonplussed. &quot;Oh. Hey.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Uh. Hi.&quot; Shelly huffed. <br /><br />&quot;So, hey, nerds. About that SCIFI net you laid down.&quot; Carrie ate a small piece of strawberry cake casually. &quot;That thing tight enough, you think?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Sure,&quot; Erwin answered without hesitation. &quot;I mean it&#039;s a web, obviously, so there&#039;re some gaps in it, but it should be decent enough!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Mm.&quot; She nodded, taking a bite. &quot;... &#039;Cause Echelon just got through telling me about a house full of inked monsters that sucked the juice outta people until they looked like beef jerky.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;... You know maybe the web could use more nodes,&quot; Erwin said worriedly as he slipped out and put his pajama pants on.<br /><br />&quot;Aheh, <em>one</em> more fly-over to check for dead buoys couldn&#039;t hurt!&quot; Shelly laughed nervously, leaving with the ferret. <br /><br />Carrie cocked a brow, sitting on her bed and sidling up to a husky plush as she polished off her cake.<br /><br />Milly came out of the closet door in something translucent. <br />Looked left. <br />&nbsp;Then right. <br />&quot;... Oh come on, they left?? Rude!&quot;</span>",
  "pools_count": 1,
  "title": "Issue 08 - The Splash Zone",
  "deleted": "f",
  "public": "t",
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