Kammi Kettu

Two days after Ms Clark had been stabbed, she still had not turned up at any hospital. I was starting to worry, and I needed to get down to that Emerged bar to find that investigator. I had meant to go the day after, and the day after that, but I had been stuck. Stuck fighting the spectre of Kelly’s lifeless face. Did I really want to hope? If I did, I would be opening myself up to more pain and heartache. Not only that, but I had placed so much significance onto the image of kelly I held in my mind, when in reality I barely knew the girl. Our friendship had only just been blooming when it had been cut short.

I was huddled in my blankets on the couch for most of the day, but not a few hours previous I had managed to get myself through the shower, so I was making progress. I was close to making a decision, I could feel it, but I had no idea what that decision would look like when it arrived.

My brooding was interrupted when I heard a frantic knock at the door. Ugh, who was that? I waited to see if they would go away, but half a minute later I heard a knock again, this time more urgent than the first. Fuck! Fine! I’ll answer the damn door, far out.

“Coming!” I called out, wriggling out of my nest and stumbling towards the door.

I wasn’t wearing much, just some shorts and a tank top, so whoever it was better be ready for casual Kalia. Shuffling up to the door I cautiously cracked the door open to look through.

“Kalia, please I need your help!” The person on the other side pleaded.

I didn’t recognise them for a good ten seconds, only catching on to who they were because of their clothing and presentation, as sloppy as it was currently. Standing before me was an androgynous and fae creature. I was first struck by their eyes, large and tilted in a way that was definitely not human. Their irises glowed an icy blue that was matched by the spray of freckles across their nose and cheekbones. Glowing freckles… huh that’s new.

Next to strike me was their pearlescent white hair, reminiscent of an opal. Their face as a whole was just subtly elfin and fae in a myriad of minute ways, and it was all topped off with two moderately long pointed ears. Their body was what gave them away to me. While they were even more willowy than before, they still held themselves in a certain way, and their clothing style was the same.

“Caser?! Wow! You emerged?!” I exclaimed in awe.

“Yeah… and the folks I was living with weren’t happy about it,” they said sadly.

“Shit, well… come in I guess,” I said reassuringly, “We can talk inside.”

I motioned them in, and noted the way they breathed easier once I had shut the door behind them.

“Thank you so much, I mean I didn’t doubt you would talk to me or whatever but it’s just so good I have a friend to trust right now,” they babbled while wringing their hands.

“Come on,” I said, gently grabbing them by the wrist and leading them to the couch, “We can sit down and you can tell me what’s happened.”

They nodded with a sigh and settled in on the other side of the couch from my nest. I wriggled back into it and then shuffled the whole setup over to be next to them, throwing some of the blankets over them and worming my tail into their lap. They looked down at my tail in their lap and then giggled. It was a giggle of tensions released and I saw a little smile grace their lips.

“Damn this is crazy Kalia, you’re a fricken fox girl and I’m… I don’t know some kind of elf or fae creature and your tail is in my lap!” they said quietly.

“Yeah… it’s wild isn’t it?” I agreed, “So… I see you emerged.”

“Yeah, I did. It would be pretty damn cool if it wasn’t for… people,” they grimaced.

“People?”

“Specifically my roommates. I didn’t know them that well and when I first moved in there I was just happy to have people who weren’t actively hostile about my enbieness. I didn’t know they were so anti-emerged until it happened to me. One of roommates, this kinda air headed girl, she went at me with a kitchen knife the first time she saw me!

“Anyway, I had to get out of there with as much stuff as I could fit in my car. Not before the airhead girl’s boyfriend landed a hit on me with a shovel and I learned about my first power. I can heal really fast when I’m near plants and stuff apparently… so when I got my stuff into my car I just kinda gunned it. I tried looking for some friends to stay with, but no one was really interested. Any friends who might have taken me in have left for other cities years ago, and my coworkers were less that cool about the whole thing. I slept in my car for a bit.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Why didn’t you come here straight away?” I asked sympathetically, leaning myself against them to give them a hug.

“To be honest, I was still trying to salvage my life back in Pittsburgh for like, a week. My parents went into a home a few years back, so they were out of the question, and dad is starting to show signs of some sort of dementia. My closest friends were either you here in Penrith or a few near New York. I kinda figured you would be the better bet?” they said, resting their gently head on mine.

“Well, you bet right!” I grinned, “You can definitely crash on my couch until you find your own place! Or, if you wanna stick together, we find a place with more than one bedroom.”

I felt their arms wrap around me and squeeze me hard, “Thank you so much Kalia! You’re seriously the sweetest girl ever. Not to mention an amazing cuddle buddy!”

“I think I get more out of the whole cuddling thing than you,” I giggled, “My family was not big on the whole physical affection thing. Or even affection at all really.”

“Yeah, I remember you complaining about them, they sounded like… Kalia, what is that?” they asked, pointing at… oh shit.

Leaning against the wall were the mechanical legs I used as Vulptrix, along with a few other pieces of my outfit strewn on the ground where I had thrown them after that night on the rooftop.

“Uhhhh,” I said eloquently, sitting up and trying to find somewhere to put my eyes that wasn’t Caser’s face.

They got up off the couch and cautiously made their way over to all the Vulptrix gear that was strewn across the ground. I got up and partially followed them over, stopping in fear as they bent down to look through the incriminating evidence. They frowned, holding one of my gauntlets in their hands, looking up at me and then back down at it.

“C-careful Caser! That’s dangerous, it’ll uh, put you out for like three hours. Please put it down,” I said pleadingly.

“But how? You can’t… this isn’t. You’re definitely not,” they said, not able to finish a sentence as their mind fought the strange magic of the necklace.

Fuck, I needed to put them out of their misery before it hurt them. I didn’t know for sure if it would, but I didn’t want to see what the continued mental conflict would look like.

I hurried over to where the necklace lay and picked it up, “Caser, look at me please!”

They looked over and asked, “What is happening?”

“I want you to watch me closely here okay?” I asked gently.

They nodded slowly and I took that to mean they were doing as I asked. With a deep breath, I fixed the necklace around my neck and studied Caser’s face desperately.

I saw their mind click, and I took the necklace off in a hurry, flinging it back onto the ground, “It’s some sort of weird magic necklace. People see me as a completely different person while I wear it, and it keeps them from making the connection between the two people even after I’ve taken it off.”

“And the other person that people see you as… is Vulptrix the Thief. No fucking way,” they breathed.

“Uhhm, yeah, I’m Vulptrix,” I squeaked, taking a step closer to them, worry etched into my face.

Please don’t hate me Caser...

They stared at me for several long moments, their mouth slightly agape and their hands limp at their sides.

Slowly, I watched a smile spread across their face, then morph into a grin that got wider as the seconds passed, “No shit… That’s so fucking cool!”

“Wait, what?” I asked in confusion.

“You’re like, amazing! You steal from all those assholes, nazis and evil corporate bastards and stuff! Holy shit and you’re like… Oh no,” they trailed off, their excitement making way for a furious blush.

“I’m what! What’s wrong?” I asked urgently. Shit, what had I done wrong?

“Nooothing, just uh, yeah nothing,” they said uneasily, their eyes flicking away.

“Please! Please tell me!” I urged. Caser was going to keep this from me? They never kept things from me!

“You really don’t want to know!” they cried.

“Please?! You’re making me worried!” I urged back. This had to be bad if they were this keen not to talk about it.

“I masturbated to rule thirty four pictures of you and Nightbinder!” they exclaimed in a rush, then buried their face in their hands in pure embarrassment.

We both stood there in silence for a moment, digesting the conversation. Then I collapsed forward onto them in laughter, wrapping my arms around them in half support and half hug. This was too funny, of all the things to come up during a big reveal of my secret identity, being the vehicle of someone’s climax had not been high in my mind.

“How many times?” I asked between my bouts of uproarious laughter.

“I’m not telling you that!” They exclaimed with an embarrassed giggle.

“Suit yourself! I assume you still want to stay? If you think I’m cool as Vulptrix?” I asked, extracting myself from the hug and stepping back with a smirk.

“Yeah, Uh, if you’re cool with me being here,” they said biting their lip hopefully.

“Definitely! You’re awesome, I’d love to have someone around to talk to as well, I think I’m going crazy here by myself,” I told them, “Okay come back to the couch and we can talk under the blankets.”

“Fine, but I have so many questions! You might regret letting me into your villain lair,” they giggled.

“Yeah well, so long as you respect my right as a villain to throw you in my tank of laser sharks if you so much as look at me funny!” I giggled back.

“Yes mistress,” they laughed.

“No! Don’t call me that!” I exclaimed, making slashing motions in the air for emphasis.

Caser hunched over and began wringing their hands in a caricature of a villain’s sidekick, “Whatever pleases the mistress!”

Walking past them to get to the couch, I shoved them lightly on the arm, “Stop that igor!”

“As the mistress commands!” they continued in their silly acting.

I realised then that I could do something now that they knew, and I grinned evilly. With a thought, I summoned an illusion of a stereotypical bedsheet ghost right in front of them. It made spooky noises. They screamed and fell flailing sideways onto the couch in a panic and I laughed, following them onto the couch..

“Gonna stop now?” I asked with a cheeky grin.

“Yup! Got it! No igor impressions!” they laughed.

We sat there for a moment, then they piped up again, a teasing grin forming, “So, you and Nightbinder huh? I’ve seen enough disaster lesbians like you to figure out you were into her. You had a lot of take me body language going on!”

“I deny everything!” I exclaimed, my face decided it was our turn to blush.

“Oh yeah? So you’re saying if she came on to you right now, getting all up in your face, you wouldn’t want her to press you again-” They teased, before I lunged forward and covered their mouth.

“Stooooop!” I cried in embarrassment, “No fair! I can’t help it! Yes! I want her! Argh!”

“Knew it!” they laughed in triumph, “So what’s Nightbinder actually like?”

I brought my tail up in a hug to hide my face for a moment while I thought. I’d just admitted to having a crush on Nightbinder, or whatever you call it these days. Breathing deeply I curled the tip of my tail to make eye contact with Caser again.

“She's beautiful. Like… genuinely beautiful. She's also really nice. She likes to try and get me all blushing and flustered, but under it all I think she has a huge heart,” I said, unable to keep the budding infatuation from colouring my voice with yearning.

“Wow, so you’ve met up with them other than the time that was filmed?” they leaned forward, interest etched into their face, “You’re further gone than I thought!”

“I am not! She's just nice! It seems like she's been through a lot of shit in her life you know? Just because like, she gets it, unlike other heroes. She jumped me on a roof top and then gave me a hug cos I was feeling sad! Ahh now I’m rambling!” I exclaimed, my heart beating faster as I remembered our embrace. She had felt so good to be pressed against.

Caser grinned a wry lopsided grin and reached over to ruffle my hair, “You’re so cute! Are you going to ask her out?”

“W-what? Me? No way! She's the one who's all assertive and stuff anyway so like maybe she should. But she won't be interested anyway! She's a hero and I’m a villain, and that's just the start! There's like so many other reasons that it wouldn't work too,” I said, my ears wilting with dejection.

“But if she asked you, what would you say?” they asked with a small smile.

I sighed and looked down at my fluffy tail, all the fine hairs marching vaguely in the same direction, “Yeah, I guess I would say yes.”

“Good, remember that when she makes her move, you weren't the only disaster lesbian in that video,” Caser said with a grin.

****

“...and so I have to go to this bar and find this investigator chick, but I don’t even know who she is!” I said, wriggling to get my head more comfortable in Caser’s lap.

“I mean, you can always ask the bartender or owner of whatever,” they told me, hand absently stroking the length of one of my ears. It felt nice.

We’d talked about a lot of random shit yesterday, and sleep had snuck up on us around at around ten in the evening. When we woke up, we had discovered it was five in the morning, shrugged and continued our heart to heart. I’d just finished tearily telling my full story since the first emergence.

I must have been in an awkward position for them, because they reached down and lifted me slightly, settling me in a different position that was more comfortable for both of us.

I stared up at them with a sliver of awe, “Wow you just like, moved me like it was nothing!”

“This new body doesn’t have super strength or anything, but it’s pretty damn strong and you’re a very light little fox,” they giggled.

I grinned up at them, “Cool! Do you think you can throw me?”

“Why… Why is that the first thing you ask? You strange, strange person! Focus! Where’s the bar?” they asked, tapping me on the forehead with a mock frown.

“Uuuuuuhh,” I explained.

“Don’t tell me you forgot!” they cried, with an entreating look into the heavens.

“No no! Let me think! It’s coming to me!,” I whined, “It’s uh, Visaggio Avenue I think, somewhere in the industrial zone?”

“I have no idea where that is,” they said with a laugh, “but google will tell us!”

“Oh yeah, you’re not native,” I remembered.

They pulled their phone out and took a look on google maps, “Yup, got it here, it’s not far if I drive us.”

“You’re gonna come?” I asked hopefully, having them there would be a huge boost to confidence. I was going as Kalia after all, my Vulptrix persona was a kind of shield that allowed me to act like a cheeky little shit. I was a damn sight less sure of myself without that mask.

“Yeah! If you want me to? I figure you could use the support,” they said kindly.

“Yeah okay, uhm, should we go tonight then?” I asked tentatively.

“Yeah why not,” they chirped.

****

We found the place, eventually, but it was a bloody mission. After aimlessly wandering for almost an hour, we found the place hidden behind an electrical cabinet in an alleyway. The building itself was an old irish pub that had seen better days, the lower floor was partially gutted by fire and it looked like the owner had not been able to repair it. The place was a mess, but the upper floor appeared to be somewhat intact.

Opening the cabinet revealed not a bunch of electrical equipment, but a flight of stairs. Ascending the stairs we found a rundown but sturdy looking door. The doorway appeared to have been replaced a few times, judging by the holes in the wall where the old ones had been… torn out.

Tentatively opening the door revealed a room that encompassed the top floor of the building. I could see where walls had been knocked down to make more room, leaving just the aged brick supports. Throughout the room, rundown furniture was scattered around crates and other objects that had been recycled as tables.

In a corner, a mediocre band was playing some mellow rock song that I didn’t recognise. Not that I recognise the difference between one genre of rock and another. Any music nerd would tear their hair out if they tried to talk to me about their passion. I’ll tell you what though, I love to dance. I don’t dance in front of people, or I didn’t before I became this fox girl, but music just makes me move.

Startled as we were in the doorway, a few heads turned inquisitive eyes towards us, and I felt myself shrink a bit under their gaze. The place was full of Emerged, some very different from the baseline human, others indistinguishable from it. Many of them, well they looked like people you did not want to piss off.

We looked around the small room looking for someone who fit the bill, until a stocky older woman who seemed covered in tattoos piped up grumpily, “Are you two coming in or what? Do you know how hard this place is to heat?”

“Oh! Sorry!” Caser said amicably, “Coming in, definitely.”

I skipped out of the way and allowed Caser the room they needed to close the door.

“What can I get you?” she asked Caser.

“Oh uh, I don’t know, nothing yet thanks,” they replied.

The lady turned to leave when I spoke, “Uh, do you have Tuatara? Can I get a pint or bottle of that?”

She turned back and sized me up, “You got ID?”

“Uhhhm,” I mumbled, then had a flash of inspiration. Using my illusion powers, I added small features that would make me look much older, wrinkles and stuff like that.

“Okay, what about now?” I asked with a cheeky little smile, wrinkled dimples on display.

The tattooed lady stood there staring at me for a moment, then cracked a smile and rolled her eyes, “Great, another one of you shit stirring types. Redd is enough thank you very much. Yes, we have Tuatara, but you better thank that girl with with the chains ‘cos she hounded me for the stuff until I sourced it.”

“Thanks! Girl with the chains? Nightbinder? Oh and I have more questions” I asked, my voice colouring with a tad too much eagerness.

“Yeah that’s the one, and let me get your beer before you ask any more damn questions,” she sighed.

Caser and I waited awkwardly near the door while the bar lady left to grab my beer. When she got back, she handed me the bottle and placed her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow.

“So, I’m Barb, this is my establishment. What’s your question? I’ll answer if you’re not planning on busting the place up,” she said, grimacing at the last.

“Nah no smashing the place up, not unless the person we came to see is rowdy anyway. We were told some chick here was starting up in the investigation business?” I asked with a tilt to my ears.

“Ohhh shit. You want Redd then. Whatever you two get into I want no part of it and I want it done outside my bar you got me?” she said, pointing to a tall wolf girl who was standing at a bar downing shots like they were going out of style.

“Oh… Um, thanks! I hope things do not get… out of hand,” I said with a smile, “I’m Kalia by the way, and this is Caser.”

“Yeah nice to meet you and all that, I’m Barb, now ‘scuse me I got rowdy emerged to calm,” she said with a frown at two beefy dudes getting in each other’s faces.

“Uh, alright, thanks Barb!, cya,” I said as she rushed off to put her foot down.

I looked over at the wolf girl named Redd who was preparing to down several more shots of… something, I couldn’t identify the drink. She was tall, really tall actually, as far as I was concerned, Caser might find her less tall. Her long curly ginger hair was similar to mine, if it had been spun in a circle for an hour and got really dizzy that is. She was hot too, in the sort of way that a girl is hot when you know she can lift you up and fuck you against a wall.

Obviously the most startling part was her emerged features. Her reddish wolf ears were alert and pointing directly at the row of shots like she was a puppy getting ready to pounce on a chew toy. Her tail was swishing lazily from side, its greyish red colouring blurring slightly as it flicked every so often. When she opened her mouth to down one of the shots, I saw she had teeth that were much sharper than a baseline human. Dang, teeth jealousy, all I got was these slightly longer canines.

Looking up at Caser I shrugged and turned, walking cautiously towards the Redd. She looked up as we neared her and her tail stilled, her ears moving back a bit and her face becoming guarded.

“What do you want?” she asked suspiciously, her eyes flicking between myself and Caser like we were a rival pack encroaching on her territory.

“Uhhh, just to like, talk to you,” I said slowly, a little intimidated by this tall wolf lady. She’d seemed cute when she was making eyes at her drink, but now she looked ready to jump me.

“Yeah? Look if you’re here to have a go at me about something I did or didn’t do, just get on with it, I want to get back to these shots,” she said guardedly, her stance shifting to center her balance better.

“No no! Nothing like that I-” I hastily tried to reassure her, but she cut me off. I don’t think she was listening.

“If you’ve come because I punched that chick out in that club the other day, she had it coming, like fuck who grabs someone’s tail as a first hello? Rude people, that’s who!” she grumbled, turning back and downing another shot.

“I want to hire you!” I exclaimed.

She choked on the shot, and I saw her desperately trying to simultaneously breath and swallow at the same time. I heard Caser snort and turn away to hide their grin, and I struggled to keep a straight face.

Having got the shot down the right hole, Redd turned and nonchalantly leaned against the table like that hadn’t just happened, her voice raspy after the intense alcohol, she asked “You want to hire me? What kind of job?”

Her calm and cool demeanour was betrayed by her rapidly wagging tail, which thumped madly against the bar. She flicked a hand down and tried to still her tail, but it just ended up looking like she was trying to strangle a fluffy snake. The wiggling continued.

“We want to… we’re looking into the death or disappearance of a friend, and someone I know recommended you as being good at digging up secrets,” I said with a hopeful smile.

“Yeah, I can do that type of work… I’ll check if I can fit you in my schedule,” she said, pulling out a phone and flicking through it, “Hmmmm, where to fit in a fox girl? She’s kinda small, maybe my purse will do.”

“Huh, what?” I asked, not catching on.

“You sure you can pay me? You look like you’re five, I don’t charge little person levels of pocket money,” she said with a fleeting smirk.

“What! No! I’m twenty three! I probably have more money than you’ve even seen thank you very much!” I exclaimed, my ears flicking back in agitation.

We stared at each other, her in haughty challenge and me in grumpy rebuttal. Our tails were both fluffed up in challenge and our ears straight back.

“Girls! Stop growling at each other! Come on! You’re being offered a job Redd, and Kalia she’s just teasing you!” Caser chided, stepping between us.

“I was not growling!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah what are you on about?” Redd agreed.

“You were growling. Both of you were growling! You were all grrrrr and your tails were all bushy and ears laid back,” Caser laughed.

I felt my face flame up in embarrassment. More damn fox behaviour! Redd’s cheeks warmed up a bit too, she looked like she was trying very hard to hold her serious face.

Taking a deep breath, I realised if I was going to continue with this fox-like behaviour, I may as well use the most potent weapon of all.

I looked up at Redd with my large orange eyes pleading and I asked in a quiet tone, “Please Redd, I just want to find my friend!”

She looked looked away and shuffled her feet, saying, “Yeah fine. No need to go all sappy on me... fuck, I’ll do it! Damn kids these days can’t take a teasing I swear.”

**Nightbinder PoV**

When I’d sat myself down in a quiet corner of the Limbo bar to watch Vulptrix come in the first night and she hadn’t arrived, I’d felt a little upset. I don’t know why I was staking out the bar at night, but I was here and I wanted to see how it would go for her. When she hadn’t turned up the second night either, I’d started wondering if she would come at all, or if there was something wrong.

It was the third night now, and I was sitting in the same quiet corner nursing a bottle of cold Tuatara pale ale, when I saw… Kalia? The shy cautious fox girl from a few months back in the store I worked. She’d been the cutest little egg. What was she doing here? I had the wrong fox girl! She had this tall elf looking person with them, and I couldn’t place their gender either. Their glowing freckles were very cute though.

I watched the two get accosted by Barb, and then she went of to grab a drink for them. Damn, Kalia had good taste, I was drinking the same thing! They spoke to Barb a little more, and then she directed them to Redd. Why was… ow my head, why was Kalia going to Redd and not Vulptrix? They were both Fox girls, they both knew Kelly, and I’d seen Kalia use the same powers as… I groaned and leaned forward, my head feeling like it was going to burst, and I whimpered.

No, they couldn’t be the same person, maybe Kalia and Vulptrix were family or something. They looked so similar… Another spike of pain, and I felt my body turn achy and cold. No, definitely not the same person. Phew, the pain cleared somewhat. This was strange. The weirdest part was that Kalia elicited the same fluttery reactions in my mind as Vulptrix. Could they be twins?

I felt my mind burn with pain again, and I hunched over, sucking in a sharp breath. What was wrong with me?