[Thursday Prompt] Wolfess in Spaaaaaace! ;)
Presented to Enderexplorer1212 as part of The Great Holiday Story Exchange! Enjoy!
Wolf Queen and Ooo-er © EOCostello.
Art and Faerie © Tegerio.
Minor edits courtesy of Walt46.
Color and story by MMM&M. The extra M is for HARD VACUUM! ;-)
_____
Wolfess In Space
by Tali Hartoh-Mason
as told to M. Mitchell Marmel
by Tali Hartoh-Mason
as told to M. Mitchell Marmel
"Ooo-er," I asked my junior junior otteress wife, "would you be so kind as to soak Missy's head? She apparently has brain fever."
[Note appended to document] "Don't you need brains for that?"
[Note appended to document] "Sharrap you face, acorn-****ter."
[Five pages of descent into personalities diverted to an Appendix, not included as it is being studied.]
It was a lovely day in Elfhame, and with Rohsii, Diana and Arnie Jr. being watched by the Ashearth Sisters, babysitters sans pareil, Artemisia Sage-Hartoh, Ooo-er Sage-Hartoh and myself were enjoying a nice swim at Grace's Grotto.
"I repeat," I said, "are you nuts?"
The pretty, trim wolfess shook her head. "I don't think so. Remember how we were freezing on top of that Gap?" (see "Rise of the Raccoon Queen" for details) "Well, I'd reached heights like that in the Regalia without problem, so.."
"So you want to try the same thing in hard vacuum," I said, eyebrow raised. "You're barking mad."
"Aw, c'mon, Tali. PUH-LEEZE?"
Those puppy-dog eyes will be the death of me yet.
*****
"So, we'll be exiting the airlock here. At the first sign of distress, I'm yanking you in."
"But why the strap? It's...well." Missy regarded the nylon strap fastened around her waist.
"Because, Artemisia Sage-Hartoh, I love you like I love life itself and I'll be damned if I let you kill yourself." With that, I pulled the strap snug.
Cautiously, I decompressed the airlock. As the gauge read zero, I could see a faint glow appear around my senior junior wife.
As I opened the airlock hatch, Missy stepped out and manifested her wings. With me watching carefully for any signs of distress (and a spacesuited Ooo-er watching anxiously from a viewport), she performed a graceful zero-gee pirouette.
I smiled and relaxed a little. So far, so good-
With a bow and a smirk, the winged wolfess popped the latch on the strap and gracefully dove for the planet below. Fortunately, my suit comms have automatic decibel reduction; otherwise, Ooo-er's panicked scream would have deafened me.
"DAMMIT!" I punched the ship intercom in my suit. "Hartoh Prime! Ready Catlass on starboard catapult!" I didn't wait for an acknowledgement as I emergency-cycled the airlock and embraced a sobbing otteress. "Grab that helmet, love," I said. "I planned for this contingency."
*****
The Musashi holds an assortment of aerospace vehicles, including some single seat ex-Spectrum Angel Interceptors. However, they were single seaters, so I had my personal F-714 Catlass two-seater (F-14 cockpit, F-7 fuselage) standing by for just such an emergency.
The engines were ticking over as I hustled Ooo-er into the back cockpit and strapped her in. "Hold onto the seat arms and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"
With everything buttoned down, the lift took us abovedecks and onto the catapult. "Catlass Launch!" With that, the sleek craft shot into space and after the Wolf Queen.
While teleporting to intercept an object in re-entry was doable, it was also a tricky business, so, I opted to engage cloaking and pursue. Not terribly difficult; our co-wife was leaving a re-entry trail like a meteor.
I punched up the cockpits' viewscreens and zoomed in. Missy had her wings tucked in and her hands and legs brought together in a graceful dive. The superheated air didn't seem to be bothering her; I guess the Regalia was protecting this fool (not drunkard; we'd hardly touched a drop today).
But what was she up to?
As we got closer to ground, I recognized the fishing village where Matt and Low-chan had accidentally allowed their VF-1 mechas' contrails to be seen (see "Family Matters" for details). As Ooo-er and I watched, Missy dove towards the villages, popped her wings and, trailing gleaming light, did a low-level pass, waving at the astonished villagers.
Clever girl! Missy was covering for us! In future, any stray contrails would be explained off as "The Wolf Queen messing about again..."
[Note appended to document] "About 19 of 20 strange and stupid events in Faerie can be attributed to the Wolf Queen messing about again."
[Note appended to document] "HEY!"
[Note appended to document] "Elves Do Not Lie, wolfess."
[Note appended to document] (growl)
Still trailing light, Missy soared off towards Albric Tor, treating the capital's inhabitants to an impromptu air show before gracefully landing in the central plaza, bowing to the astonished passersby and pooking away.
"You know," I observed to Ooo-er as our cloaked craft set course for Elfhame, "I don't think I don't half-love that gal."
"And how!" a relieved Ooo-er chuckled.
*****
For the record, I think Missy rather enjoyed the spankings we gave her that night.
END
2 years ago
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2) Pretty good, apparently. ;-)