Sixth chapter

The night didn’t last long enough.  Kyle’s alarm was blaring in the other room at the early hours of the morning.  Sam was so groggy he almost fell back to sleep when it was shut off were it not for Kyle excitedly waking up and yelling, “convention tiiiiiiiime!”

Sam had never felt more annoyed in his life than that moment.  Kyle was rushing about his room while chanting and getting ready, making way too much racket for Sam to go back to sleep.  The fogginess finally lifted from Sam about the time Kyle finished getting ready and Sam knew he wasn’t getting back to sleep any more.

Kyle came bouncing into the room a moment later carrying a couple camera bags and jumped when he looked at Sam, who at this point still hadn’t moved from his original position on the couch.

“Whoa!  Big!  Need photos!”  He set down the bags on the table and assembled one of his cameras in a flash.  

Sam marveled that Kyle had done it in 30 seconds flat before realizing that he himself was likely the target of the impromptu photo shoot.  He shifted his tail to make sure it was covering any upskirt opportunities before looking over his shoulder at Kyle and finally noticing that his wings were no longer short.  In fact his one wing that had been hanging off the side of the couch now stretched across the room!  It had to stretch around 10 feet from his side.  He tried moving it and found that it actually was too long to stretch out in the room, hitting the wall next to the entertainment center.  Sam tested the wing a bit, stretching and rotating it around in the space he had.  Finally he pulled it in to his side so he could see how small it would fold, slowly standing up with it folded in as far as it would go comfortably.

Kyle had been taking photos the whole time and was grinning like a maniac.  He really was into this whole alien business.  Sam looked over his shoulder at him and just had to shake his head at Kyle’s antics.

“That look over your shoulder was a beautiful shot.  The composition couldn’t have been any more natural!”

“Kyle, you’re a nut. So why are we up so early?”

“Oh! Well I need to get there so I can set up for fursuit photos and such.  That and it’s a one hour ride over.”

“Aw maaaan!”

Sam didn’t really stop his complaining until he saw the method of transport they were going to use.  He had assumed they would be riding in an older Honda Civic or something of that nature, but Kyle walked them right over to a Hyabusa motorcycle.  He was speechless, confused, and totally not ready to have Kyle plop his camera equipment into a couple saddle bags and hop on.  Sure it wasn’t the most expensive motorcycle around, but it certainly was one of the fastest!  This was not going to end well.

Kyle held out a helmet for Sam to take but thought better of it when Sam wiggled his large ears.  Definitely wasn’t getting a helmet over those!  Kyle straddled the motorcycle and beckoned for Sam to join him.  Sam was weary of getting on the thing but he didn’t have much choice if he was going to get to the con.

Kyle fired up the bike with a growl, “hold on!”  Sam barely had time to register that Kyle spoke before the bike lurched forward and they were speeding off to the highway.  Kyle said it was an hour ride but did he mean at breakneck speeds or the speed limit?

They hit the highway and Kyle opened up the throttle.  Sam could feel the drag on his wings the faster they went and he tried tucking them in closer to his body.  It was bad enough the end of his tail was straight out the end of the bike too!  Ugh, his feathers were going to smell like exhaust after this.

Kyle hit a particularly straight stretch of road and went full throttle.  There weren’t any other vehicles on the road and they took off.  At this speed Sam really had a difficult time and felt himself lifting off the seat from the pressure on his wings.  He actually had to hold onto Kyle tighter as he came completely off the seat and flapped in the wind like a flag behind Kyle.  Seeing as though Kyle wasn’t going to slow down any time soon, he tried to stabilize himself in the wind, shifting his wings and tail around to stop moving around so much.  He got the hang of it and was actually able to keep straight and level after a few minutes.  He even started to enjoy the sensations before Kyle started to slow down.  Sam tried to stay in the air as long as he could by extending his wings before settling back down into the seat when Kyle slowed down to take an exit.

The whole trip took maybe 25 minutes.  Definitely not the hour Kyle claimed it would take so sam figured it would’ve been an hour on a normal day.  How Kyle didn’t get pulled over by any cops was beyond Sam’s belief, though, he never did see any.  Come to think of it, the few cars they did pass got an interesting show with Sam literally flying past them.  Sam may have not had his wings spread all of the way, but it still took up a decent amount of space.

They pulled into a garage next to the convention center and parked in a motorcycle section right next to the elevators.  Since Sam wasn’t sitting for most of the trip, he hopped off and looked around the garage.  It was surprisingly sparse this early in the morning.  He wasn’t surprised though, 8:30 was pretty early for a convention.

They walked in and headed to registration.  The people at the desk were nursing coffee and looked like they had just gotten up as well; one even was pouring a red bull into theirs.  They gave Sam a hard time when he tried to get his badge and merchandise.  They didn’t believe he was who he claimed since the name was Samuel Pedersen on file and he definitely did not look like a Samuel, but rather a Samantha.  He finally told them that he was transgender, which he technically was now, and they let him in since ID is useless in suit.  His “suit” certainly didn’t come off easily either and it obviously looked like painted and glued on prosthetics.  Not that Sam had any valid forms of ID anymore anyways.

“Aw man! I just realized something that kindof sucks.”

Kyle slowed down a bit to walk next to Sam, “something random you remembered?”

“Yeah, pretty much.  So my original character fursona was a coyote.  I don’t match any of my art or badges any more!  No one will recognize me like this at all and my badges are useless!”

Kyle couldn’t help but laugh, “well just think of it as a fresh start!  You can always make friends with people all over again.  I’m sure you’ve changed more than just physically in the past few days and your personality will reflect that!”

“Oh god! I need to talk to Lacy then.  I need to know if I’ve changed!  Ugh, why must this suck so much!”

“Oh relax, it’s not a big deal.”

“Yeah but what if I’m a completely different person now?!  What if no one is going to like me?!  Nooooo!  I want to go back to my old life!”

“Really Sam?  You’re freaking out about this now?  Just calm down.  I’m sure your old friends will say you haven’t changed that much.”

“But—“

“No buts!  Relax.  You’re not some crazy alien now.”

“Ugh, fine. But if anyone screams or yells at me I’m coming for you!”

“Dude, you’re at a furry con.  You don’t even look scary!  Just go with the flow.”

Kyle walked into the room with the sign advertising when the fursuit photos would be.  At least Sam knew where Kyle would be all day.  In the meantime, he figured it would be a good idea to meander over to the dealers den and see if he could catch his few dealer friends setting up.

Dealers were rushing in and out of the dealer room getting their displays and product lined up.  Some were pushing carts, others were hauling boxes in their arms.  However you looked it was chaos.  Sam easily slipped in between some of the dealers and looked for her friends.  Inside was much calmer since most were setting up tables and displays with the occasional helper running back and forth with product.  He saw the familiar glass display racks of his friend and meandered over to her setup.  The racks were in place and she was almost done putting product in place.  She must not have slept much because she’s usually late.

Sam fidgeted nervously while slowly walking over.  He was close friends with Sparkle and didn’t want to lose her.  She paid no attention to him when he approached since the dealers den wasn’t open for another hour still.

“Hey Sparkle.”

She looked up a little confused but rolled with it, “Oh! Hi there!  I must have not been paying attention. Is it 11 already?  Either way, browse my wares and I’ll answer any questions you have!”

“I know you don’t recognize me, but it’s Sam.”  She gave him a blank stare.  “Samuel Pedersen?  Sam the coyote?”  She was still blank, “come on. You always called me fluff coyote because I was fat!”

“Wait.  Sam? There’s no way!  He was easily six foot and four hundred.  You’re tiny!”

“I know, I know! Look, I don’t know how to explain it.  I’m not human anymore and I’ve been through a lot because of it.”

“Well you’re looking awful pale.  What, couldn’t find a coyote suit?  And what the fuck is that anyways?  I’ve never seen that before.”

“Sorry, I didn’t get the coyote variety alien.  I don’t even know what I am!  This has all turned into one big mess.”

“Yeah well you’ve always been a mess. At least now you’re a hot mess!”

“Oh har dee har har!  Yuck it up snek girl.”

“No, really.  I’d do you!  Well, if you still had a sausage between your legs.”

Sam stuck his tongue out, “nope, I am now of the fish variety.  No more meat stick.”

“Awwww, bummer!  You had a nice one before too.”

“Yeah, I do miss it.  The new equipment is so insanely sensitive too.  Almost passed out just trying to clean it in the shower!  I can’t even imagine trying to do anything sexual with it after that.  Even with those fantasies I’d told you about.”

“Those were some sexy fantasies too.  Now that you can live them out you’re apparently too scared to try!  Some big strong guy you are.”

“Shush!  I’m still strong.  Just not so big anymore.”

“Oh please, you look like you weigh 70 pounds soaking wet.  I bet you couldn’t even lift this plush without breaking a sweat!”

“Well I did rip the arm off of a cyborg two days ago.  Then knocked him out with his own arm…  I’m pretty sure I could pick you up if you let me.”

“Yeah no!  Not letting you try!  Even if you could, not something I’d enjoy!”

“Figured.  Anyways, I need to see if I can find Lacy.  My friend who lives up here.  She has my stuff and I would like to have some clothes.  At least I hope she has it here with her.”

Sparkle waved him off and he headed out into the convention to see if he could find his friend.  She may or may not recognize him in his current state seeing as how most of the current changes happened after he ran off.  She would probably at least understand that it was him once he walked up to her.  But where would she be?  He could always try her hotel room since they were supposed to be staying there together.  His best bet was to start there at least, then search the con.

Sam headed up a few floors and looked for their room, “412, 414, 416, ah, 418!  I hope she’s in.”

Sam knocked on the door and waited.