“Just die already!”

Fire flashed across the battlefield, slamming into the monster as the lithe mage dodged its swing. A trio of fireballs shot from the shark pyromancer’s staff, scorching the scales of her opponent. Another swing, another miss, and the shark found herself backed into a corner. She twirled her staff, flames spewing from the tip of the wooden implement to forge a wall of fire. Her serpentine foe towered above her, lifting above the flames as it hissed. 

“I’ve got you now!” The scaled head reared back to lob a ball of acid at the shark-

Right before its head burst into flames.

The monster fell forwards as the flames covered its body. In moments, its body dissolved into ashes. No blood, no bones, just ash.

The shark wiped her forehead and looked up, a grin appearing on her face as the pitch black sky slowly changed color to blue. Clouds shot across the sky at incredible speeds before coming to a sudden stop. The clouds shifted until they were in place.

[Round 2 - Victory! Game win!]

With the round over, both players were returned to the pre-game lobby in their avatars. The shark stretched, still grinning triumphantly. “You’ve got me, huh?”

The snake next to her sighed, scratching the back of her head. “Seven wins in a row, Faye. Seven. How are you this good?!”

“Three reasons.” Faye replied, holding up her hand. “First, I’m better at planning ahead than you are. Second, I’ve got nerves of steel. Third, and most importantly, staying inside and playing video games all day is vastly preferable to going outside.”

“You have to get out sometime!” The snake protested. “Grab a bite to eat, go to the water park, something!”

“C’mon Val, not you too!” Faye’s grin faded as she pouted.

Val crossed her arms. “When was the last time you talked to someone?” When Faye opened her mouth to speak, Val added to her statement, “In person.”

“Tod-,” Faye began, only to be cut off again.

“Besides your parents.”

Faye huffed. “Thurs-,”

“That wasn’t required for school.”

At that, Faye paused to think about it. “Um. Monday. When you came looking for me during lunch.”

“It’s not healthy to lock yourself away like this, Faye! You need to get out and talk to people!” Val planted her hands on her hips. “Tell you what. It’s still early. Meet me at Biggy D’s at four.”

“But Val-,”

“No buts except the one you sit on! I’m counting on you!”

[User Snakelegs35 has left the session]

“Val…” Faye sighed and hugged herself. After a few moments she shook her head and opened the logout screen.

 -
- -
 -

In a different part of the underwater city of Anchorsway, a cobra girl slid a DreamScape headset off of her head. Valerie Freewell set the visor aside and rubbed her eyes with a sigh. “C’mon Faye…”

Groaning, Valerie sat up in her bed. DS tech always gave her a mild headache, which naturally limited her experience with it. The games were still fun, but if she ever played for more than an hour or so then the resulting headache would keep her in bed for a further ten minutes. With how long Faye always played, Valerie found herself entering prolonged play sessions far more often than she would’ve liked. Still, she got to hang out with Faye, even if it wasn’t in person.

With a grunt, Valerie rolled off of her bed to hit the ground with a thud. It was a routine she went through with surprising and mildly painful regularity, seeing as she really didn’t have too much of an alternative. Not if she planned on moving quickly.

Being born a quadriplegic was hard. Without the body part to begin with, it was impossible for modern medicine to regrow the missing limbs. But she had shoulders, and prosthetics were able to replace natural limbs with near complete accuracy. Of course, she lacked the basis for mechanical legs, but nature had provided an alternative.

Valerie’s tail lashed behind her as her extended underbelly gripped the floor. In place of legs, her thighs melded together below her bright green understicker to form a thick tapering tail that was as long as her bed. Physical therapy and exercise had allowed her to train her tail to be strong enough to act like the tail of a real snake.

According to one of Faye’s mother’s, the tail was a result of a rare genetic quirk; one that was exclusive to those with serpent heritage. That same genetic quirk was the same one that had rendered her quadriplegic. It made stairs difficult, and there were plenty of times when her tail had been stepped on by those who weren’t paying attention. Despite the downsides, her tail was useful sometimes. She could boost her height by a significant amount by using her tail as a base, or increase her grip strength by a phenomenal amount by using her tail instead of her hands. Although the most fun use by far had to be during OC…

But her mind was wandering. She was still lying face down on the floor, and it was rapidly getting more uncomfortable to compress her breasts like that. Grumbling to herself, she lifted herself off the floor and grabbed her PET from her bedside table. 2:00 P.M. Good. Two hours was more than enough time to get ready for her little date with Faye. 

Now if only she could convince Faye to see it like that…

Valerie shook her head and slithered across the floor towards the bathroom. She had to wash off the sweat from the thrill of the DreamScape. Another reason that she didn’t wholly enjoy the technology. Valerie tapped the controls of the fog cycle a couple of times before removing her understickers as it turned on. Now nude and ready for her shower, Valerie slithered into the shower to wash off the sweat.

DreamScape. An innovation that allowed video games to expand beyond previously established horizons. The system had no controllers, no real limitations. Anyone could use a DS visor to link into any one of hundreds of games, both multiplayer and singleplayer. All you had to do was put the visor on and lay back while it superimposed a controlled dream over your awareness. It technically put you into a state of unconsciousness, during which you had limited control of your body. Of course, it would automatically disengage if the user fell into true unconsciousness, or if there was enough outside stimulus to break through the thin veil between reality and the DreamScape. Through DreamScape, you could be someone else entirely, do the impossible. It wasn’t without its flaws – there was a reason that conventional video games were still popular – but it was usually a pleasant experience. Valerie’s mind just wasn’t wired to receive it properly.

Faye, on the other hand, had a tendency to stay on DreamScape for literal days on end; only taking breaks for food and coffee. Valerie knew this for a fact, as she had once gone to visit and found that Faye had been playing for almost three days straight. Neither of Faye’s parents had even noticed that their daughter had been secluded in her room for 60 hours.

The fog cycle turned off automatically, interrupting Valerie’s train of thought. She grimaced, shivering in the comparative cold, and stretched. The worst part of the fog cycle shower was that it turned off at all, something that the scale-covered young woman despised. Still, while it was on, it was amazing. She even had dyes set to change her scale pigments. Purple augments on her brown scales gave her a fetching diamond pattern down her back and along her tail.

Scales slid on tile as Valerie slithered out of the shower to the sink. The cobra reattached her understickers casually, admiring herself in the mirror. Hourglass curves and heavy breasts above a flat stomach combined with her scales and patterning to give her an air of exotic sensuality. It was a look that she had sculpted carefully for years now, putting The Soak to use to get curves that defied expectation. Valerie twisted to get a look at her rear, grinning as her plump butt jiggled pleasantly. Her vanity appeased, Valerie slithered back into her room to get dressed.

A glance at her PET told her that she had taken an hour to shower and admire herself, something that she would never tell anyone. It was bad enough that she had a reputation for vanity, nobody needed to know how long she actually spent in front of a mirror.

Still, that left her with half an hour to pick an outfit, since it took her another half hour to get to Burger Dictator on foot. Er, tail. Colloquialisms were hard when they failed to apply.

It took a further fifteen minutes to decide upon her outfit: a short skirt that was just barely long enough to cover her butt and a modular top that revealed most of her belly and a scandalous amount of cleavage. If nothing else, than she was at least going to try to draw Faye’s eyes to her body.

Poor Faye. Valerie pitied the girl. Faye never went outside. She had serious image issues and a crippling case of social anxiety, which made it difficult to get her to ever leave her house. Valerie seldom saw her outside of school, which was a damn shame since she was so nice to look at. What was a surprise - given her social anxiety - was her wit, which made it even better to talk to her.

Valerie slipped her purse strap over her shoulder, making sure to grab her PET, a hand mirror, and a couple makeup kits. One could never be too careful, after all. Besides, there was supposed to be a party later, hosted by Devon King. With luck, she’d be able to convince Faye to go.

A check of her PET told Valerie that she had thirty-five minutes. Shrugging, she slithered down the hallway to the family room. “Dad! I’m heading off to Burger Dictator for dinner!”

A cobra-hooded head poked out from the kitchen. “Make sure to be back by dar-,”

“And then after I’m planning on getting Faye to go with me to Devon’s party tonight!”

Marcus Freewell sighed heavily. “Just… be back tonight at some point.”

“I will! Thanks Daddy!” Valerie waved to her father as she slithered out the front door.

To say that her father was lenient was an understatement, but she really never did anything to betray his trust. He never asked much of her beyond that she stay out of trouble, and she complied.

Smooth scales whispered over the streets of Anchorsway, putting the friction offered by studded rubber and cobblestone to use as Valerie slithered to her destination. She could theoretically get to the commercial district faster by using a dive tube, but Valerie had never much liked having to hold her breath to get somewhere quickly. Using the topways was also a bust, seeing as the glass flooring didn’t give her enough traction to move quickly. Besides, she had time to spare.

As Valerie got closer to the commercial district, the traffic on the streets around her got busier. She could feel eyes on her. Some were curious, other were confused. Smirking internally, the cobra put just a bit more motion into her movement, swaying her hips just a bit more than strictly necessary. Every set of eyes that stared at her gently bobbing breasts and her plush rear was like a miniature round of applause for her efforts.

Valerie arrived at the Burger Dictator at exactly four, stretching her arms behind her. This got exactly the results she expected; namely the nearly undivided attention of many passersby.

Faye was late. That wasn’t actually surprising. She had probably gotten back onto the DreamScape and lost track of time. Either that, or she was traveling slowly. In all likelihood-

No, there she was. Towering above everyone else was a familiar shape. Technically, Faye was mostly a shark, but that was a vast oversimplification of what exactly she was. The pointed ears that stuck out from the top of her head and the fur that lined parts of her body marked her as an anomaly. Faye’s skin and fur were yellow – and Valerie knew that Faye rarely dyed her fur except to make herself fit in better. Of course, the greatest feature that made it easy to pick Faye out in a crowd was the fact that she was tall enough to have trouble with most doorways, at eight feet tall.

“Faye! Over here!” Valerie waved, lifting up on her tail to increase her height.

The hybrid’s ears twitched, and her head turned towards Valerie. Faye immediately started towards the Burger Dictator, nervously waiting for people to pass before stepping past. She was wearing the loosest, baggiest clothing she possibly could, which was disappointing. Still, it wasn’t enough to completely hide her figure. The swells that pushed her shirt out front so much that she would have difficulty clasping her hands together; the hips that gave her difficulty with doorways; the chair-crushing orbs of fat that jiggled behind her. But by far the most out of place feature was the sizable bulge in the front of the shark/bat hybrid’s pants.

Normally this would have been considered some kind of prank or deviant practice, but Faye North was anything but normal. Her parents were naïve, genius geneticists who clearly loved their daughter very much. Geniuses who, because of said daughter, were under police supervision any time they worked in their laboratory.

“Hey girl! Glad you came!” Valerie’s face erupted into a smile as Faye walked closer. “It’s good to see you!”

“Why did you have to drag me outside?” Faye whimpered. The way she stood - with her shoulders hunched and her back permanently slouched – made her seem less imposing. It was an intentional choice that the hybrid made. “People always stare…”

“They should! You look amazing!” Valerie looked the hybrid up and down, clicking her tongue. “If only you’d wear clothes that accentuate your beautiful body, not hide it!”

“I just…” Faye wrapped her arms around her midriff, unintentionally undoing the whole point of wearing the loose shirt in the first place as the fabric was drawn tight around her monumental breasts. Her ears drooped pitifully. “I don’t…”

Valerie relented. “I’m sorry, I’m just teasing.”

Valerie mentally chided herself. She knew better. Most people would be perfectly fine talking about their body, but Faye wasn’t most people. There were plenty of people who would kill to have curves like Faye’s, but the giant hybrid hated her own body. Given how much she stood out, Valerie could understand where she was coming from.

Faye nodded, shrinking further into herself. Valerie felt a pang of guilt at the larger girl’s obvious distress. It was weird to know that Faye, the giant with anxiety issues was the same person as Faye, the confident professional level gamer; the two were seemingly incompatible. But Valerie knew that the best way to get an accurate image of someone was to give them anonymity.

“Let’s get our burgers now,” Valerie suggested.

“O-okay.”

Valerie turned and slithered into the Burger Dictator, pushing open the door and pulling her tail out of the way as she held the door open. A few moments later, Faye’s top half passed through the doorframe. The hybrid twisted her body so that she was sideways, then carefully shuffled the rest of the way through. It was a technique that prevented her from getting stuck in the doorframe, something that had happened more than once.

Once inside, Faye stood up almost to her full height, carefully avoiding bumping her head on the ceiling. She looked around, freezing nervously when she realized that most of the eyes in the restaurant were on her. There was a brief moment of awkward stillness before Valerie cleared her throat. “Carlos! Mind setting up a table for Faye?”

The octopus cashier blinked in surprise. “Wha- oh! Right!”

As Carlos scrambled to grab a couple of unused chairs, Faye looked down at Valerie with a look of confusion “Did you set this up beforehand?”

“Technically...” Valerie shrugged. “I mean, I talked to Carlos about it a couple weeks ago, but not with any specific plan in mind.”

“We don’t want any more broken chairs, right?” Carlos chuckled.

“O-oh…” Faye stuttered, “I-I’m s-sorry about that…”

The octopus’ eyes widened as he realized what he’d said. “Nonononono, it’s fine! It was a simple fix, I swear! No harm done!”

“B-but I-,”

“It’s not a problem! It let us know that the seating was too fragile anyways!” Carlos waved his hands in a way that he probably assumed was placating, but in reality was just ridiculous. “So please, just enjoy yourselves! What can I get you?”

Valerie patted Faye on the shoulder as she slithered towards the table that Carlos had picked out for them. One side had a single chair, while the other had three lined up together and set a significant distance away from the table. Valerie sat down on the single chair, wrapping her tail around the legs. “I’ll take a Double Dictator and a medium Carbolate, Carlos.”

Faye swallowed, walking over to the chairs. When she reached the trio of seats, she turned around and slowly, carefully lowered herself onto the chairs. There was an uncomfortable moment when the plastic chairs creaked, but they ultimately held under her weight. With her tail through the hole in the back of the center chair, Faye let out a sigh of relief. “Um. I-I’ll take th-three Triple Dictators. And, um, a large Carbolate.”

“Gotcha, gotcha. I’ll get those to ya in a jiffy.” The octopus man turned and speedwalked back to the counter, ringing up the order quickly. “I’ll just charge your account, right Val?”

“You got it.” Valerie gave a thumbs up.

Faye furrowed her brow. “Y-you don’t have to pay for me...”

“Nonsense. I dragged you out here, I’ll pay for your meal.” Valerie waved it off. “Besides, it’s no big deal.”

“Okay.” Faye looked down at the table.

Valerie felt another pang of guilt for dragging Faye outside her comfort zone. “So Fantasy Fighters updated earlier today. What was up with that?”

At the mention of the video game, Faye’s eyes lit up. “Oh, it was a balance patch and a bug fix. The devs removed an exploit that allowed people to clip outside of the arena, removed the entangled status effect from several of the Dryad archetype’s attacks, and added flinch resistance to most of the Behemoth’s big attacks.”

“Really? Did you run into any of the people who were glitching the game while it was still possible?” Valerie asked, leaning forwards and cupping her chin with her hands.

“A couple times, yeah. They scummed their way up to higher ELOs by picking the Wizard and spamming ranged attacks. Can’t retaliate against someone you can’t hit, and firing a projectile at the arena wall just dissipates it,” Faye explained, “The only way to hit them was to either hope that they stayed close to the arena wall and use melee attacks, or to pick the Psychic and repeatedly use the telepathic blast. Of course it doesn’t help that you can’t tell if your opponent is going to cheat until the match starts, and there are lots of pro players that main Wizard because of the versatility it offers-,”

Faye stopped as Carlos walked over, a tray with four burgers and a couple cups of Carbolate in his hands. “Here’s your order. One Double Dictator, three Triple Dictators, a medium Carbolate and a large Carbolate. Can I get you anything else?”

“I think we’re good, Carlos. Thank you.” Valerie gave the octopus man a smile as he set down the tray.

“Alrighty then. Just lemme know if you need anything.” Carlos gave a quick grin before returning to the counter.

“Will do!” Valerie replied. When the octopus man walked away, she returned her attention to the hybrid sitting opposite her. Faye had sat silently throughout the exchange, hunching her shoulders and doing everything she could to seem smaller than she was. “So, Wizard is the archetype of choice for most of the pros, huh?”

“U-um yeah. Yeah. It has at least one way to apply each status effect, a lot of free ranged attacks, and some of the biggest MP attacks in the game,” Faye mumbled listlessly, unwrapping one of her burgers. “Um. Sorry. For rambling.”

“Nah it’s good. I haven’t been keeping up too much with the Fantasy Fighters competitive scene and needed a brush-up anyways.” Valerie shrugged, taking a sip of her Carbolate. “If you want to keep talking about it, that’d be cool.”

“I-I’ll stop boring you now…” Faye’s gaze fell to the table again, her burger held in one of her hands. “Um. How do you know Carlos?”

“Oh, he’s in my psych classes. I have to tutor the guy like, once a week so that he can keep up,” Valerie answered, pausing to take a bite of her burger. “Got held back.” Swallow. “A year.”

“Wait, he’s my age?” Faye furrowed her brow. “I-I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah. He’s not the brightest.” Valerie glanced past Faye with a snicker. The octopus in question was fumbling with a cup as he tried to get a proper grip on it. “He’s a nice guy, though. He does his best.”

Faye’s confused expression remained as she unwrapped the second of her three burgers. She must have eaten the first one at some point, so quickly that Valerie hadn’t noticed. “But I thought that octopodes were supposed to have a higher base intellect due to their larger brain size?”

“Fun fact: the scientist who spread that little rumor was himself an octopus, and it’s since been proven incorrect. Octopi still have skulls. They just also have floppy heads.” Valerie giggled for a moment. “It’s squishy.”

“Should we really be talking about him behind his back?” Faye asked. She unwrapped the third burger now. “Er, in a manner of speaking.”

“Probably not, but it’s too late now anyways. Let’s talk about something else, if it bothers you.” There was silence between the two friends for a little while as Valerie set to work finishing off her Double Diccy. When she popped the last morsel of food into her mouth, she took a sip of Carbolate to wash it down. “So, do you have any plans for tonight?”

“Not… really?” Faye paused as she took a drink of her own Carbolate. At some point, she had eaten her third burger. “I was planning on playing a couple of ranked matches of Fantasy Fighters. Why?”

“You know Devon King?” Valerie asked, “The guy with the pack of like twenty people?”

“Um. Yes?” Faye raised an eyebrow, clearly confused.

“His parents are going to be on the Ring for the next couple days, so he’s throwing a party in their house tonight. Anyone’s welcome, so I was planning on going.” Valerie paused for a moment. “I wanted to ask you if you’d like to go too.”

“Val…” Faye gripped the table tightly, her knuckles clenching nervously. A look of panic overcame her soft features. “I don’t… I really don’t think that I should… I don’t want to hurt anyone…”

“Look, you don’t have to dance, and I won’t force you to go, but it would be nice to have a friend with me at the party,” Valerie pleaded, reaching across the table to place a hand on Faye’s. “Please? We can leave the party at any time if you want.”

“O-okay…” Faye hesitated. “I… I’ll go.”

Valerie’s face split into a wide smile. “Thank you Faye. I’ll make sure that you don’t regret it.”

“I just hope nothing goes wrong…” Faye picked up her Carbolate and tried to drink, only to find that the straw made unpleasant slurping noises, indicating that the cup was empty. “Um… m-maybe I could use a refill first.”

 -
- -
 -

Half an hour later, Faye was conflicted.

Valerie had practically frog marched her back home after complaining about her outfit. Neither of Faye’s parents had spoken when they arrived, which meant that they were either out of the house or in the laboratory. Which left just Faye and Valerie in Faye’s room.

“No. No. No. No. Oh good heavens no.” Valerie tossed outfit after outfit aside. “Come on, Faye! You have to have something nice!”

“M-my wardrobe wasn’t picked with a party in mind…” Faye mumbled, wringing her hands. “I’m sorry Val…”

“Nonsense, we can make something work!” Valerie declared, “Worst case scenario, you can just go in your understickers. Wouldn’t be the first time someone’s done that.”

“N-n-n-no. Nooooo.” Faye shrank down in a vain attempt to hide. “I-I-I-I-“

“I’m just teasing. I’m sorry.” Valerie turned around and placed a hand on Faye’s shoulder. “We’ll find you something to wear.

“Now then, let’s see…” Valerie returned her attention to Faye’s closet, frowning.

“Um…” Faye kneaded her hands. “T-there’s… one thing. Um. Ch-check in the back. Um. Under th-the boxes.”

“What? Why would you put anything under…” Valerie trailed off as she shifted the boxes in question aside. She gasped as she reached down, lifting a neatly folded piece of red fabric. “Faye… It’s perfect! Why have you never worn this?!”

“It’s… revealing…” Faye mumbled.

“Well, obviously…” Valerie laid the red fabric out on the floor, unfolding it to reveal a long dress. The modular clothing was designed to show off the wearer’s back and stomach. The front of the dress was designed to cup the wearer’s breasts from the sides, revealing cleavage all the way down. The skirt of the dress began below the butt, so that the fabric would hug the wearer’s figure. This would, on Faye, result in an outfit that accentuated all of her curves. Even the one between her legs. “This dress is exactly what you need!”

“B-but it…” Faye’s voice dropped to a whisper. “It shows off my… Um. Y’know…”

“What, your dick?” Valerie asked, putting her hands on her hips. “Faye, it’s not going away if you ignore it. You might as well show off what you got instead of hiding.”

“I-I don’t know…” Faye swallowed nervously.

“Look, if it makes you uncomfortable, then you don’t have to do it,” Valerie reasoned, “And if it goes poorly, you never have to wear the dress again. Please? For me?”

“O-okay…” Faye sighed, defeated. “I-I’ll wear it.”

“Awesome.” Valerie picked up the dress off of the floor and held it out. “Now get those baggy things off and put on this work of art.”

Faye gingerly took the dress from Valerie. There was an awkward moment of silence, then Faye cleared her throat. “U-um. D-do you m-mind leaving the room for a few m-moments…?”

“Aww, that’s no fun,” Valerie teased. Still, she turned and slithered to the door. “Let me know when you’re done.”

As the door shut behind her, Faye let out a heavy sigh.

The baggy sweater came off first, carefully folded up and placed on her bed. The pants followed closely, leaving Faye only in her fiery orange understickers. She stood in front of a full-body mirror as she donned the red dress. The side cups pushed her breasts up a bit, which would make it markedly harder to see anyone standing directly in front of her. It also left her midriff exposed, showing her abnormally muscular body. The form-hugging fabric accentuated her hips, and checking her back showed that it showed off her butt just as well. The part that worried her most was that it hugged just as tightly to the large orb of her tightly packed genitals. The red dress went well with her yellow skin and fur, and the contrast with her blue eyes made them stand out all the more.

Well… if she said that she didn’t stand out she would be lying. But at the same time, Faye wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted to stand out at all.

“Alright Valerie,” Faye called out, “I’m dressed”

The cobra opened the door to the room, a grin on her face. As soon as her eyes landed on Faye, Valerie’s eyes widened abnormally and her mouth dropped open.

“Um. V-Valerie?” Faye stuttered, swallowing. “I-i-is it t-too much?”

The silence continued for a few uncomfortable moments. Faye could feel her knees begin to tremble. “Th-this w-was a b-b-bad idea…”

Valerie blinked. “You’re beautiful.”

Faye blushed, unable to form any words to reply as she devolved into stuttering. “W-w-w-well I…”

“I’m serious.” Valerie slithered closer, lifting up on her tail until she was looking Faye in the eyes. The cobra placed her hands on Faye’s shoulders. “You are beautiful.”

Faye could feel herself heating up as blood rushed to her face. Her voice couldn’t raise above a whisper, “Thank you Valerie.”

Valerie smiled. “Just telling the truth.” The cobra girl lowered herself down. “Now then, slip some shoes on and let’s go. The party starts soon.”

Feeling infinitely more confident in herself, Faye grabbed some slip-ons and, well, slipped them on. As the girls passed through the living room, they were interrupted by a high pitched squeal right before something slammed into Faye’s side.

“My baby girl’s going on a date!”

“M-Mom!” Faye protested, feebly trying and failing to unlatch the shark from her side. “We’re just going to a party!”

“Still, my little girl’s going out, and she’s so well-dressed!” At this point, the shorter shark stepped back a bit, looking up at Faye with a giant smile on her face. Shelly North was a short woman by normal standards, which made it difficult for Faye to see her when they were standing ‘face to face’.

“I’m just trying to figure out when you got home…” Valerie furrowed her brow. “There was nobody home when we got here.”

“I was in the laboratory, dear. Trying to make a brother for my dear daughter.” Shelly patted Faye on the hip. “Recreating a miracle isn’t the easiest thing in the world.”

“Mom…” Faye muttered, “We need to get going…”

“Oh! Look at me, keeping you!” Shelly flapped her hands, shooing Faye and Valerie off. “Go! Enjoy yourselves!”

“You heard the lady, Faye. Fun is mandatory tonight.” Valerie took Faye’s hands, tugging her towards the door. “Goodbye, Dr. North! We’ll be back later tonight!”

“I’ll see you then!” Shelly waved as Valerie dragged Faye through the front door. “And if you need anything, don’t be afraid to call!”

~(_)~

It turned out that Devon’s parents owned a penthouse at the top of one of the tallest buildings in the residential sector. Faye and Valerie had taken the topways to reach it, Faye having to drag the cobra a significant part of the distance in order to keep up a good time. Her scales couldn’t get proper traction on the glass floors of the topways.

And now that they were at the front door of the penthouse, which was clearly where the party was at. The walls were clearly soundproofed, based on the fact that the sound wasn’t leaking out, but the walls were vibrating. Additionally, the windows flashed with vibrant colors. Someone had set up a light show.

Valerie didn’t even hesitate. The cobra girl shoved open the door and threw her arms into the air. “What up people!”

This entrance was immediately met with cheers and more than a few people shouting out return greetings. Valerie slithered into the building, high-fiving a few people as they walked up to welcome her. After a moment, she turned around to look at Faye, beckoning her in.

Faye swallowed nervously, then lowered her head and stepping through the doorway.

Er, most of the way through the doorway. She had to back up a little bit and twist her body to fit through the fairly narrow doorway. Once she was freed, Faye stood to her full height.

Only now did she notice the silence. It was spreading across the room, like a wave. Chatter slowed to a stop as heads turned to stare at her. Faye could feel her face flushing as attention turned to her. The only sound was the music, ignored by everyone. This was a mistake. She should never have even thought about accepting Val’s offer…

“Faye?” Valerie said softly, reaching up and placing a hand on her forearm. “Are you alright? Do you need some space?”

Faye could only weakly nod in response, swallowing.

Valerie half-turned towards the crowd of people. “She just needs a little air, guys. Carry on.”

The cobra pulled Faye aside, along the wall of the living room until they reached a doorway. Valerie looked up at Faye with a concerned face. “Faye. We can leave if you want to.”

Faye took deep breaths, closing her eyes. “N-no. No. I don’t- I don’t want to ruin the party for you.”

“Faye, I’m serious. If you aren’t comfortable-,”

“No. I…” Faye took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Have fun. I’ll just… be over here.”

“If you’re sure…” Valerie half-turned to look around the room. Most of the people had gone back to partying. “I… just let me know if you want to go home.”

“I will.” Faye nodded. “I will.”

“Well…” Valerie hesitated. “Alright then…”

As Valerie slithered away, looking back every couple seconds, Faye stepped through the open doorway into open air. It was a balcony, a fairly large one, and one that was empty of human presence. The high balcony gave an impressive view of both the city of Anchorsway and the shimmering light of the setting sun shining through the ocean and the dome. Faye didn’t see either of those things though. Her eyes were closed as she took gasping breaths to escape from all of the attention.

The bass beat was the only thing she could hear from out here. The rest of the noise was blocked by the soundproof walls, with only snatches of a conversation or music flowing out the open doorway.

It wasn’t the first time that she had been surrounded by people staring while music blared in the background. But at least nothing had gone wrong this time…

Faye opened her eyes and walked over to the edge of the balcony, wrapping her fingers around the metal guardrail. If she looked closely, she could see the amusement park from here. And the sports stadium. And maybe, if she looked close enough, her own home-

“So, you’re the hybrid hermaphrodite, right?”

Faye found that she couldn’t move as a lanky guy walked up next to her. He was some kind of… cephalopod. A cuttlefish, probably. He had fins on both sides of his hairless head, strangely shaped pupils, and smooth, slimy skin. His skin was flashing lines of alternating black and white, in time with the constant thumping of the bass.

“Damn, you’re stacked.” The cuttlefish’s eyes scanned up and down. “Is that some kind of gene therapy or something?”

Faye’s grip on the metal guardrail tightened. “I-I-I…”

“Is it true that you’re some kind of super soldier?”

The bass droned on in the background. 
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.

“Or that your parents got arrested when the police found out?”

Like the heartbeat of some giant monster.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.

“Ooh, and I heard that they got off with a warning because your uncles and Arbitrator.”

Stifling.
Thud.
Thud.
THUD.
THUD.

“What about that kid in middle school? I heard that his ribcage shattered ‘cause you hip checked him.”

The screeching of tortured metal failed to drown out the oppressive beat.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
Thwack!

“Carlisle you fucking moron! Can’t you tell when someone is clearly distressed?”

“What? I was just asking questions-“

Thwack!

“Ow!”

“Get the fuck out of here! Learn some fucking social cues!”

Thwack!

“Ow! Okay! Okay!”

Faye couldn’t even focus. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in-

“Faye? Let’s go home.”

Faye nodded weakly as a delicate, scale covered hand gently removed her grip from the destroyed guardrail. The same scaled hand wrapped around her oversized mitts, gently tugging her along. The constant thudding of the monstrous heartbeat got louder for a few moments…

And then it was behind them, the door closing shut and blocking the music out for good.

Valerie gently led Faye along the topways, making her way to a ramp down to the footpaths quickly. The cobra was silent, not turning around or pausing for any longer than it took to make sure that Faye was still there. Faye could feel the rage steaming off of Valerie, almost tangible in its nature.

Faye swallowed nervously. “I-I-I’m s-s-s-sorry I ruined the party…”

Valerie stopped, and Faye nearly ran headlong into her. “No. It’s not your fault. The party sucked anyways.”

“B-but I...” Faye swallowed again. “I-I f-freaked out.”

“No, Carlisle doesn’t have a filter on his mouth. He knew that asking you those questions was bad. I told him to leave you alone!” Valerie paused and took a deep breath. “It’s fine. I’d rather spend time with you than be groped by a bunch of sweaty guys anyways.”

“I-,”

“Shush.” Valerie turned around and placed a finger on Faye’s lips. “Listen to me, Faye. If you’re distressed, then it’s not worth it. I’m not going to enjoy myself knowing that you’re having a panic attack.” Valerie paused, blinking rapidly. “And it’s my fault that you were there in the first place. If anything, I’m sorry.”

“B-b-but I ruined your night…” Faye mumbled.

“Nah.” Valerie shrugged. “If you had said no, I wouldn’t have gone to the party at all. I just wanted to…” Valerie stopped, biting her lip. “Never mind. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With that, Valerie turned to leave. The cobra was putting on a brave face, but her slumping shoulders betrayed her true feelings. Faye felt horrible for ruining things for Valerie.

“Erm.” Faye twiddled her fingers nervously. “I-i-if you want, w-we c-could play video games at my place instead?”

“Well…” Valerie paused. “I mean, I…” Valerie turned around to look at Faye again. “I’d be delighted.”

 -
- -
 -

Shelly stepped out of the laboratory, wiping her hands on her coat. No success. Again. It was getting increasingly frustrating trying to reproduce the exact circumstances that had led to Faye’s conception. Failure to take notes was a flaw that would not ever influence her work.

There was music in the house, coming from Faye’s room. That was odd. Shouldn’t she be at that party with Valerie?

Struck with curiosity, Shelly made her way to her daughter’s bedroom. The door was closed, which wasn’t in itself unusual.

Shelly hesitated for a moment before exercising her parental right to check on her child at the worst possible times. She quietly pushed the door open and peeked into the room, smiling to herself at what she saw.

Faye was on her bed, still wearing the red dress she had left the house in. The girl was sleeping, snoring gently with her head resting on the plush pillow at the head of her bed. Laying next to her was an unattended game controller. More importantly, lying on top of her was the Freewell girl. Valerie was just as soundly asleep as Faye was, with her head resting on Faye’s chest. A small smile graced the cobra girl’s face, and it looked like she was more than content to be right where she was.

Smiling to herself, Shelly stepped silently into the room and turned off the game console. Now that silence reigned, the shark woman stepped out of her daughter’s room and quietly closed the door. With the girls left alone, Shelly reached into a pocket and retrieved her PET, dialing up a friend.

After a few moments, she got a response. “Hey Shelly.”

“Hey Marcus.” Shelly glanced back at the door to Faye’s room, then started walking away. “Your daughter’s not going to be getting home tonight…”