First Chapters: Molly’s Reach By Dissident Love Author’s Note: This is a story that evolved out of a fairly simple premise: a hyper half-human, growing up in a world that isn’t always built to hir specifications. And I don’t mean just a little bit hyper, I mean… well, you may see more characters like this in the future, but in different settings and situations. This is a fairly dramatic case, but I feel like Molly handles it with dignity and aplomb. “He’s not going to be here for another hour,” MJ repeated from the kitchen, rolling his eyes for no other reason than to feel he was getting away with something. Hunched over the counter and carefully slicing vegetables, no-one but the potatoes could possibly have seen it. “Could you please calm down?” “I AM CALM!” Molly hollered from the other side of the apartment, and MJ could hear hir tiny fists shaking defiantly over the ever-present soft thumping of his daughter’s gait. “Yes, yes, very calm.” “I CAN BE CALM WHILE SHOUTING!” MJ snorted, but it was hard to deny the truth of hir statement. The phrase ‘Genki Girl’ had been brought to his attention just the week before, and he had to admit it certainly seemed applicable to the petite (hah!) hybrid. During the long cross-country move to Freeport and the first few months after settling into their new life he’d been worried about hir subdued demeanor, hir reluctance to step hoof outside, hir general malaise. Shi’d continued to postpone attending public school, hir first since the second grade, until the looming threat of repeating hir sophomore year became too great to ignore. After the first day at Saffbridge High School, Molly had come home seeming confused and anxious. After the second day, shi seemed cautiously optimistic. Shi all but smashed hir way through the front door of their apartment on the third day and shouted that they NEEDED to go shopping for new clothes for school RIGHT THAT MINUTE, and shi’d somehow maintained that level of volcanic optimism and righteous glee ever since. “You still haven’t answered me, though. Are you going to eat before going out?” “NO! I... uhm... YES! If I eat now I won’t eat like a pig if we go somewhere for food! Wait... no! I don’t... what do you think?!” The big human heaved a sigh and thumped his forehead against the cabinets. While an effervescent Molly was infinitely better than a depressed Molly, it was a great deal more work on his part. “Maybe just eat something small.” “No garlic, right? Or onions? I don’t want onion breath!” MJ’s eye twitched. “Oh, really?” he called with forced nonchalance. “Why not?” The prolonged silence was all the answer he needed, and everything he didn’t want to know. He kicked himself quite literally and continued chopping, heating up oil in the pan and tossing veggies in as he worked through the pile of produce. On the one hand, he wasn’t the sort of father that would stand next to the front door with a loaded shotgun aimed at the prospective boyfriend, prepared to rattle off the list of Rules For Dating His Daughter. On the other hand, he knew all too well that Molly was not like a lot of grrls hir age and he knew all too well that boys of a certain age tended to be rather single-minded. “Not me, of course,” he muttered under his breath. “Other boys. I was... not great, but I was good. Well, I’m all right. Ah, damn. I need a shotgun.” . . . . . Molly struggled out of another top, a laborious process at the best of times. It was hir sixth shirt in an hour, each one was sapping the strength in hir shoulders until shi feared shi wouldn’t be able to even bring food to hir lips. When it finally cleared the far reaches of hir breasts shi tossed it onto hir bed, squarely into the ‘Maybe’ pile. Shi had already decided on what to wear below the waist, which wasn’t much of a problem... shi only had two types of leggings, either custom-ordered yoga pants or outrageously capacious skirts, so the only real choice was down to color. Nathan liked green, and that was good enough for hir! Besides, the horizontal golden stripes might help minimize hir assets. That flowing silky skirt was currently hung over hir computer chair so shi didn’t rumple it too much while shi agonized over the rest of hir ensemble. As if anything could, shi sighed, turning sideways to flick through hir closet again, yanking out a deep maroon sweater that could have been used as a reasonably-sized couch cosy. Well, a small couch, maybe... love seat? Shi trotted back to the middle of hir room, the apartment’s master bedroom due to hir physical requirements, and glanced over hir shoulder to check hirself out in the mirrored closet doors. Shi wasn’t a very imposing figure (hah!), only a couple inches more than five feet tall, though shi supposed hir zebroid ears added a little more when upright. Shi appeared human from this angle if you didn’t look too closely, slender and pale skin glowing under the fluorescent lights, but hir mother’s ancestry was evident in any number of ways. Hir hooves, for instance. Tiny and black, what hir father referred to as ‘dainty’, they seemed almost impossibly small to actually support hir weight. Hir equine legs were velvety-furred below the knee, striped very similar to a full zebra, and a ropey, bushy tail swished back and forth above hir pert and all-too-human rump, what shi often felt was hir best feature (even if no-one ever seemed to notice it). There was some other decidedly zebra-like anatomy in that area, but we’ll get to that in a minute. Hir torso was human in appearance, but below hir elbows shi was furred once more, the stripes here slightly more purplish. Shi was thankful that hir fingers weren’t quite as thick and stubby as hir mother’s, even if shi’d inherited her markings. Typing was already enough of a chore! Shi matched hir reflection’s stare, a mischievous grin on hir black lips. Here again shi could have passed for full human, except for the inky button of hir nose and the equine ears protruding through hir unruly mop of equally black hair “Like anyone even notices that until the second time they meet me,” shi sighed, but it was a proud sound. After all, it’s not like it was hir fault shi tended to be remembered more for hir front side than hir back. The petite hyrbid wiggled hir hips once, and the ensuing ripples took more than a minute to fully subside from hir wildly overfilled swells. Shi seemed to be quite securely affixed to four colossal milky beachballs, one pair resting heavily atop another, and the average person on the street generally needed a moment to reconcile Molly’s improbable figure. Hir sac protruded fully a meter in front of hir, with barely a hand’s width of space between hir lower curves and the ground, and even that scant distance could vanish if shi entertained the wrong thoughts. Hir breasts were against all logic even larger, currently straining at the confines of a black bra with the sort of underwires normally reserved for bridge construction. Hir eyes peeked out over the very tops of hir bust, and if shi inhaled too deep hir face would be completely obscured by them. Shi wrapped hir arms around hir bosom, striped fingers stopping well short of the sizeable mounds hir nipples made in the lacy fabric, and hugged hirself. “And saving the best for last,” shi narrated to no-one in particular, shi allowed hir mitts to stray south. In consideration for hir dimensions hir underwear didn’t even come close to keeping the fullness of hir maleness covered, and were cut more like shorts to allow the vast bulk to breathe free. That said, the deep purple trunks covered the very base of hir sheathless equine shaft, a mound nearly every inch as wide as hir hips. It narrowed only slightly as it arced over hir sac, snuggled up between each gurgling foalmaker, a patchy mixture of black and pink flesh twitching and pulsing with unnervingly thick blood vessels. It passed beneath hir balls, a small portion of it dragging along the ground and reminding hir to always be conscious of obstacles, and ran up the back until it passed between hir thighs and once again found itself contained by hir shorts, hir vast broad flare perpetually snuggled up to hir butt. Molly thought about Nathan, the sweet and oddly-proportioned mouseboi that had asked hir out, and hoped that he really was as open-minded as he seemed. Shi’d been on several dates so far this year, done hir share of fooling around with the braver segments of Saffbridge High’s male populace, but hir anatomy always seemed to create more problems than solutions. Just the month before shi’d caused more than a thousand dollars worth of damage to the frame of Franklin Rose’s car just making out in the back seat with the big ursine, and just the month before shi’d dislocated Roger Mochrie’s... well, everything, really, when they’d rounded third base and headed for home. The wonderfully stretchy weasel was all healed up now and back at school, but they’d decided to just remain friends. Just friends... Oh, how shi was growing to dislike that phrase. Shi hoisted the maroon sweater over hir head like a parachute and started to twist and wriggle hir way into it, hir bra creaking under the stresses. Shi refused to let hirself feel bad about hir body, even if it was a bit of a chore just to perform the simplest tasks, and shi actually was still good friends with most of hir attempted paramours. Shi just wished it was a little easier hold onto that romance when shi was- “Coming?” MJ called softly through the closed door, rapping with one knuckle. “NO!” Molly squeaked, mortified at having hir thoughts completed. “I mean... yes! Just... sorry! Lemme just get dressed!” “I’ve been letting you get dressed for the last hour!” hir father chuckled. “Can we expect you before the leaves change color?” The demizebra eyed hir top critically, the warm fuzzy material straining and thinning in a few spots but otherwise rather fetchingly hugging hir curves. It was modestly cut, as much as anything could be on hir body, only exposing a few square feet of cleavage and most of that would only be visible from directly above hir. “Yeah, I think I’m good. Just gonna get my skirt on. One minute!” “If you’re sure. I don’t want to rush you...” “Yes you do!” “Yes I do.” When Molly eventually clip-clopped out to the dining room, moving with practiced care to minimize any rotational momentum or bouncing, hir father was just serving up. Shi turned and backed up the remaining distance, easing hir rump onto hir reinforced seat. Hir sweater bulged and strained as everything was pushed up well beyond the tops of hir ears. Shi sniffed at the steaming plates and grinned. “Onions and garlic, huh? Always trying to sabotage my love life.” The burly human steepled his fingers against his chest in mock affront. “I would never do such a thing! Next you’ll be accusing me of raising the door jamb an inch so you can’t get over it!” “HEY! Not funny!” Molly glowered. “I have a hard enough time just moving from hardwood to carpeting.” Father and daughter chuckled, but it was a topic on both their minds lately. Molly was still a growing grrl, and shi was already experiencing the best and worst parts of being a hyper. It wouldn’t have been an issue if shi’d inherited hir mother’s height, but shi was short for a human and downright tiny for a zebra. Vertically, at any rate. MJ was already looking up hyper-compatible trolleys and wheeled panels that could be installed on hir yoga pants. “So,” he asked casually, watching hir poke at hir veggies. “Is he nice?” “Yes, Dad.” “Older?” “Seventeen, I think.” “Tattoos?” “Oh, yeah. COVERED in them. He’s bad-ass.” “Sounds good. Where are you going tonight?” “I TOLD you, Dad,” Molly sighed, rolling hir dark eyes. “We’re going for a bite to eat somewhere, and then to the Movie Under The Stars at the park. I’m pretty sure being outside around hundreds of people will keep me safe.” “And what will keep them safe?” “DAD!” shi squeaked. “Too much?” “A little!” shi huffed dramatically, glancing up at the solid wall of flesh that loomed above hir. “Sorry, sweetie. I was just trying to make you smile. I trust you.” “Uh huh...” “I do! I just don’t always trust the rest of the world, especially... uhm...” Molly tapped the side of hir fork against one immense breast. “Especially the kinds of people that would ask out a grrl like me?” “No! Well... ok, yes. And that’s only because I used to be one of those boys.” “Used to be?” Molly grinned, almost leered. “So, what, Cassandra just happens to be a coincidence?” MJ’s blush spread at the mention of his new grrlfriend. “Cassandra is a lovely woman, and I’ll remind you that shi asked ME out. But that’s not the point. We’re old, and you’re sixteen. No offense, but all sixteen year olds are stupid.” “HEY!” “I just say that with the benefit of hindsight! I was stupid, my friends were stupid, and pretty much everyone around us was stupid. It’s all part of growing up.” “Did any of them look like me?” Molly asked pointedly, hir eyes flicking to hir sweater. MJ kept his eyes on his plate. “I don’t recall.” “Uh huh. Look, I know I’m young, dumb and full of... love,” shi winked, “but Nathan has always been a perfect gentleman, and I know you’re going to love him.” “You can’t make me,” MJ pouted, but there was mirth in his voice. “You’ll just be home by nine?” “DAD! The movie doesn’t even START until nine!” “That’s not my fault. Take it up with the organizers.” They finished their meal, hurling polite barbs back and forth. Molly knew that MJ was dealing with a great deal of stress, despite how idyllic their new lives in Freeport had been. Back west from whence they’d travelled, Molly’s young life had been a series of dull apartments and hotel rooms, taking endless online courses via the internet. Hir father moved around a lot for work, usually deep field or industrial positions, and they tended to not be the sorts of places that were generally socially accepting of hybrids, hypers or both. The move to Freeport on the south coast had involved a substantial cut in pay, but the stability, the comfort, and in particular Molly’s freedom to wander around in public more than made up for it. MJ always seemed like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, though, waiting for the inevitable problems that would force them to move again. More and more shi was seeing a more carefree version of hir father trying to bubble to the surface. Especially since that day a few weeks before when, for the first time in years, he’d casually mentioned that he’d met a nice lady, who- The phone buzzed on the counter, the piercing klaxon of the building’s intercom, and both human and demizebra jerked upright, guilty expressions on their face. “I’ll get it-” “No, no, you stay sitting, I’ll-” “I don’t want him to hear you being grumpy-” “I’m not grumpy, I’m perfectly pleasant-” “Just shut up and answer it before he leaves!” “Yeah, that would be a real bummer.” “DAD!” Molly’s limbs flailed as shi struggled to rise to hir feet, pushing hir vastly front-heavy figure ahead of hir like a tugboat pushing a tanker out to sea. “JUST-” Moving with a speed that belied his size and grinning from ear to ear, MJ swept to the counter and pushed the talk button. “Yell-o,” he cried jovially into the phone. “Molly and MJ’s residence!” A pause. “Well, shucks, shi said you’d be dropping by! You wanna come up?” Another pause and the hint of a frown. “If you’re sure. Shi’ll be right down.” He hung up and glanced curiously at Molly, who was upright and flushed from the exertion. “Did you tell him not to come up?” “No!” shi replied honestly, hoping hir panting would hide hir own blush. It was the truth, too... shi’d never specifically told him not to come to the front door. The reason was obvious, if only to hir. “Just... thanks for dinner, Dad. I’ll see you in a couple hours, ok?” “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily,” he smiled, slipping an arm around his daughter’s shoulders and steering hir slowly towards the front door. “I want to meet this young man!” “DAD!” “Just meet! I’ll say hello, shake his hand... is it a hand or a paw?” “Paw, but... they’re all hands, Daddy.” “Fine, fine. Shake his hand, and introduce myself, and look him in the eye, and then I will send you both off with my blessings.” Hir eyes narrowed. “Really?” “Really! Just a handshake. Is that all right?” MJ opened the door and stood back while Molly turned sideways and stuffed hirself through, exhaling fully just to get hir widest portions into the corridor. They had a request lodged with the building management company to upgrade the door sizes, and he’d even offered to handle the construction himself, but so far no response. Fortunately the elevator doors were double-width and shi had no problems riding down to the ground floor. Father and daughter stepped out into the spacious faux-marble lobby, but there seemed to be no-one standing at the fully-glassed entrance. “Huh,” MJ frowned, heading for the street. “I hope I didn’t scare him off. You know I was joking, right? Just being... goofy friendly?” “I’d more call it ‘stupid-friendly’, Dad,” Molly said reassuringly as shi passed, squeezing hirself through again. “But I don’t think you scared him off. He’s probably just around the corner.” “Why?” Molly just shrugged, swishing hir tail as shi inhaled the fresh air of the outdoors, or at least the fresh air perfumed with distant ocean spray, mass transit diesel fumes and the half dozen exotic takeout restaurants just on their block. “Nathan?” shi called out, hoping MJ didn’t have a heart attack. He was awfully old, after all... he was turning thirty-four this year! “You here?” A horn blared as the traffic slowed noticeably in front of their building, and for once Molly was fairly certain it wasn’t hir fault. Shi trotted gingerly out to the sidewalk as the awning darkened above hir. MJ was at hir side in a flash, one palm protectively on hir shoulder, glaring defiantly at... nothing in particular. It was merely his default reaction. Molly’s heart jumped when Nathan knelt next to the awning, his sleek mousey face framed by a rather girlishly-styled waterfakk of emerald-green hair. “Hello,” he seemed to whisper, still more than loud enough to be heard over the mild din of rush hour. He brushed a few errant locks out of the way, revealing far more of his mane cascading down his back. “It’s... nice to meet you, finally.” The demizebra just nodded, tiny nostrils flaring as shi struggled to keep hir composure. “Y-you, too,” shi replied, wondering if shi had to speak up. MJ seemed to have stopped breathing altogether. He was caught, trapped, glancing back and forth between his precious daughter and the fifty-foot golden-furred rodent that seemed to be taking up the entire sidewalk. Most of the boulevards in Freeport were exceptionally wide in order to account for the wide variety of shapes and sizes of its inhabitants, but Nathan still had to pin his knees together to avoid nudging the parked cars alongside him or the wall sconces clinging to the face of the building. “You-” he started, but instantly lost track of where he wanted that thought to go. There was just too much to choose from. “And you must be Molly’s father,” Nathan continued, extending a paw, and then just his index finger, to the older human. “Shi’s told me all about you.” Molly and MJ were both examining Nathan’s body with great intent, but for vastly different reasons. The mouse had been described as male, but he wore what could only be described as a white silk blouse with several buttons undone. Given his hunched posture in order to more easily speak at ground level, the three exceptionally proud and full breasts adorning his slender chest strained audibly at their confinement, the central mound in danger of falling free if he tilted forwards any further. Beyond that, a pair of khaki slacks hugged his wide, rounded hips and were drawn equally tight across a bulge that would only have barely been considered hyper on a furre of ‘normal’ height, but on Nathan’s scale it would have been large enough for Molly to easily lay on. This thought filled Molly with joy and MJ with terror. Nathan glanced down at his extended finger, which the human still hadn’t taken, and retracted it slowly. “Did Molly tell you where we’re going tonight?” he asked, brows drawn together nervously. Molly stepped politely away from hir father, chuckling when his hand continued to float in the space shi’d just occupied. “Yeah, dinner and then the movie in the park. And then I’m going to come STRAIGHT home. Do you want his cel number, Dad?” “Nice to meet you?” he echoed, but it was aimed more at his daughter than the macro-scaled boi currently blocking out the sun. “Oh, yeah, we met online. What, you didn’t think I met him at SCHOOL, did you?” “Well... until just this moment, yes...” Molly giggled and squeezed his hand once before almost skipping away from him. “I’ll text you his number, all right? And I’ll see you tonight. And please don’t worry about me.” Nathan continued to blink in bemusement, but he obligingly stood before Molly ran into him. “It was... very nice to meet you, sir” he called down softly, turning and stepping so as to walk just slightly behind the diminutive hyper-herm. They were still only halfway down the block when the words drifted to MJ’s ears, “I don’t think your father likes me...” It took another minute for the slow-moving Molly to reach the corner, and then they were gone (although Nathan’s shadow took still longer to completely disappear). He couldn’t hear whatever it was shi’d been saying, but Nathan seemed to have no problems hearing hir. “Met him online...” he echoed weakly, his knees shivering and stomach twisting. “How the... what the... he...” MJ glanced down at his hand, and then back up to where Nathan had filled the sky, playing back the encounter in his mind. He winced at his behaviour and heaved a sigh, knowing that he was going to have another Talk with Molly, and shi wasn’t going to pull any punches. Nathan had indeed offered to shake his hand, and introduced himself politely, and had acted like a gentleman. Gentlemouse. Gentleboi? Genders and pronouns and self-identification gave the old-fashioned human a headache. He was still standing on the sidewalk when he heard the familiar heavy clop-clop-thud from behind him. He turned and felt his heart leap at the sight of Cassandra sauntering his way, broad barrel swaying heavily behind hir. “Did I miss him?” the centauress called out, eyes roaming the street. MJ shook his head and chuckled. “Yeah, they left about five minutes ago.” “Did you need to threaten to shoot him?” shi asked with a knowing leer, drawing closer. Hir upper torso was human, tanned and blonde and quite athletic. Shi might not even have come up to MJ’s chin were shi fully his species, but hir equine body raised hir up high enough that shi could plant a quick smooch on his forehead without bending. “Act all macho and shit?” He snorted, but couldn’t keep from smiling. Cassandra had a particular bluntness to hir words that he found extremely... comforting. He gave hir a quick kiss on the chin, wrapping his arms around where hir slender waist expanded into a full equine body, hir speckled fur hidden by a capacious and stylish pinstripe skirt that covered down to hir hocks. “No, that... probably wouldn’t have done anything.” “Ohh, he a big boy?” “... yes.” “Bigger than you?” shi asked, barely able to conceal hir delight. “As a matter of fact, yes, a lot bigger.” Shi gently bopped him on the cheek. “Oh, don’t get all sour on me. That’s a good thing! Molly needs someone who can help hir out if shi gets stuck, or give hir a little hoist onto the curb, or help hir out of a car. You won’t always be there for hir.” “This is supposed to make me feel better?” he grumbled. “No, that has to wait until we’re inside,” shi husked, leaning forward to give his ear a little nibble. A muffled chorus of creaks, groans and sloshes emanated from the vast shadowy veil of hir skirts, and he swore he could see them filling out to either side, inch by inch, while he watched. “Come on. I’ll help you pass the time until shi gets home.” MJ held the doors open for hir while shi walked inside, hind legs moving in a complicated series of arcs in order to give hir undercarriage sufficient room. The elevators here were big, but they’d learned that it was still a cramped ride for the both of them together. Fortunately, they counted this as a plus. “How much time do we have?” “Shi said they were going to the Movie Under The Stars.” “Mmmm, that doesn’t wrap up until after eleven,” Cassandra purred, tugging him along as hir pace quickened. “Plenty of time.” “For what?” “Oh... I think you know...”