Chapter 11
Why are we here?" I asked. "This place is a mess. Why did he just leave like that? Who is this surly looking beast? It looks like she got in a fight with a blender."
Arnina just shrugged in response to my questions.
Her Boy Toy had left us in an office with three aliens, apparently guards.
One, a mean looking lady, was wearing an outfit I only knew was a uniform because the other aliens who had come out when the crowd surrounded us were all wearing the same thing.
The clothing was dark red, and the top a vest exposed her heavily scarred arms. The skin on the inside of her arms and neck was a tawny gold, and her fur was mottled with several different colors that made me think of tall, dry grass.
She had a significant number of scars slashing across her arms.
More importantly, she was standing next to him.
My hot murder cat man was here, the midnight jaguar of an alien.
It shouldn't have surprised me. It seemed like every time I found myself in a new situation, he was there.
But when would he stay?
A fluttery nervousness raced through me. It was clear from Arnina's interactions that these males had the ability to be interested in us in a way that went well beyond friendship.
This one had gifted me the heads of my abusers. He was powerful, vicious, and cared for me in a way that struck something in me I had never acknowledged before he opened that box in front of me.
This was a man who could protect me.
But he had also left me behind in that vet office to be stuffed in a kennel. He didn't take me with him. So, just because he could protect me didn't mean that he would.
I took a deep breath to clear my head and get my bearings.
He was just standing there looking at me.
I instead turned to focus on the female alien next to him.
"My name is Lorelei," I squawked out in my best vocal attempt.
"Yreta," the female cat elf alien responded.
"My name is Zale!" the midnight black guard sang out with gusto and a smile.
The last guard, a grey colored male, ignored us.
I looked around.
The room looked like someone had been in the middle of trying to trash it and was interrupted partway.
Stuff was strewn about, and several objects had been smashed against the large desk in the center of the room and left broken on the floor.
Against the wall was a half full built-in shelving unit, and in front of it, on the floor, was a box filled with items that would have fit on the shelves.
"Do you think Yreta is her name or a way to say leave me alone?" I asked.
"Hard to tell. We know, like, ten words," Arnina replied as she moved into the room.
Technically, she was the one that knew those words. I wasn’t involved in the whole knowing vocabulary thing, unless it was movement vocabulary.
Zale hadn't said anything else. He was just watching us.
I never found any good came from draping myself over a man who was playing hot and cold with me, so I ignored him.
If he wanted attention, I was sure he'd make it known.
She walked over to the huge floor to ceiling window that extended in a large curve.
The window dominated the huge room. I followed her to look out.
Only to see the zoo sprawling before me.
"There is my pen," Arnina said, pointing down into that wretched place.
This office had a prime view of it and several others.
Her pen looked like a small park, but with all the plants positioned so that every inch of it was visible from the viewing windows.
There was a small pond up against one of the windows.
For a moment I felt unreasonably jealous that she got to hang out there instead of in the vet's office. I would have used that pond to put on a show.
I took another deep breath and tried to let that unhelpful emotion pass through me.
Then I spotted the pen next to hers.
"Ugh, what is that thing in the pen next to yours?
" I asked. There was a creature in it that looked like the stuff of nightmares.
It was twice the size of an elephant, had spikes, a stinger, six legs, and was chewing on a large hunk of something bloody.
"It looks like it would have eaten you alive. Can you imagine if it could climb?"
She paled and recoiled.
"I almost got over that wall," she said.
"Neen, you would have been dead if you got over that wall," I said, pointing out the obvious.
She was silent, lost in thought.
The door opening behind us caused us both to turn. A svelte female cat elf alien pushed a large floating box into the room. She tapped it, and it settled on the ground and opened. She reached in and pulled out a clothing rack stuffed with fabrics of different colors.
She was all snow leopard chic.
"She looks a lot like your hot elf cat," I said. "Her coloring is all the same. Everyone else has been pretty different so far."
The woman looked over when I spoke and froze in place for a moment, her eyes widening. Then she whirled and shot out a rapid series discordant words at Yreta.
Arnina and I made a beeline toward the clothing when her back was turned.
I was desperate to wear something other than a towel.
The wardrobe woman and Yreta had a lengthy back-and-forth before the wardrobe woman turned back to us. She stepped back when she realized we had crossed the room and were already rifling through her clothing.
"Hello, my name is Arnina," Arnina sang out.
"Bet she didn't know she was dressing the pets." I pulled a shimmering teal dress out that would look fabulous on Arnina. "Try this on."
"Oh no," Arnina flipped from one outfit to the next. "No, we can't wear these."
"I'm wearing a towel," I said. "Of course I'm wearing these."
"They all have holes for tails." Arnina held up a dress and stuck her arm through the offending gap. "This is ass crack city for us."
"That isn't even remotely a problem. Now put on this dress." I pushed it into her hands. She stopped arguing, took off her shirt and dress, and did what I said.
I grabbed a purple flimsy thing that felt like I could mail it, held it up, and with one deep breath, tore a strip out of it.
The wardrobe elf let out a string of words that sounded like an arpeggio, but she didn't move anywhere closer to us as I held up the strip of purple fabric.
I knew I was a weirdo for being able to recognize musical structure elements, but one of the reasons I knew for a fact that I was shit at singing was I had tried for so long to be good at it.
Enough lessons and practice to learn that song was never going to be my strong suit.
I tied it around Arnina's waist like a belly dancer's hip scarf. The booty hole problem was solved with a little layering.
"See? No problem," I beamed, proud of myself.
It always felt good to tackle a problem and solve it, especially when the outcome was caring for others. The problem with caring for others without taking care of myself first became rapidly apparent as the wardrobe woman began to fold the clothing rack back up.
"Noooooo," I cried out, reaching out to stop her. "I'm still in a towel! Come on, lady!!"
The woman, her tail lashing back and forth, was directing all of her many words at
Yreta, who just stood there, arms crossed, saying nothing.
Arnina grabbed the end of the wardrobe rack and pulled it back towards us. She said something firm and short in their language, then she hissed like a cat.
I grinned. Finally, she had my back!
The woman took several steps back, letting go of the rack.
Arnina pulled it back out.
"I haven't ever heard any of these elf cat morphs hiss," I pointed out as we resumed rummaging through the clothing.
Arnina shrugged.
"Guess I'm just behaving like a wild animal, then." She pulled out a gold dress. "Try this one on."
"Oooh, yes," I grinned.
I deserved to be draped in gold.