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And together there

In a shroud of frost, the mountain air

Began to pass through every pane of weathered glass

And I held you closer than anyone could ever get

(Death Cab for Cutie)

---

I needed to make a point of getting kidnapped by crazed giantesses more often. In the days following my encounter with the enraged and enlarged Becca, Reynard attended to and pampered me like I was a godsdamn royal or something. He took time off and managed to get me out of work for the rest of the week without the usual eight-week vacation notice. They must have changed Karl's meds or something. He had been far too jovial of late, or whatever passed for 'jovial' in the stuffy old muskrat's book, at least.

"C'mon, hon," I laughed as Reynard brought me a fresh cup of tea (Earl Grey, of course) and fluffed up my pillow. "It's not like I'm dying of meningitis or something, I dunno,"

Reynard just shook his head in a knowing manner.

"You've been through too much of late. Becca was just the icing on the cake," Reynard said, nose wrinkling in distaste as he uttered the ferretess' name.

I remained silent. Ever since the incident with Becca, Reynard had fixated on the ferretess. You don't get it, do you? he would insist forcefully when the topic came up in conversation, She nearly killed you--she would have if we hadn't stopped her. Why aren't you reacting to that?

Maybe he was right. But for some reason or other, I simply couldn't find it in myself to hate her. Reynard certainly wanted me to. Even a part of me did. But I just couldn't manage.

Becca was troubled--unstable, even. She needed help and compassion, not more blind hatred and contempt. That would accomplish nothing. Perhaps Edmond really was the best thing for her at that moment. I had to admire his calm resolve in diffusing the whole situation. Perhaps there really was more to that red panda than I had initially judged.

"You need to learn to take days off on occasion," Reynard chided, switching the topic.

I knew better than to protest his statement, allowing him to leave the bedroom with a swish of his tail. Hey, I wasn't about to complain about my husband cooing and clucking over me like I was staying home from primary school with the flu.

That evening, Reynard returned to the room with a mischievous grin on his lips and his hands concealed behind his back.

"What do you have there?" I asked, sitting up in bed with a perplexed frown on my face.

Reynard held out his hands, revealing them to be empty. "Oh, nothing," he shrugged.

"What are you playing at?" I accused gently as Reynard sat on the side of the bed, leaning back against me.

"I've been thinking about our wedding, and I realized something," he said playfully, nuzzling his cheek against mine.

"And what is that?" I sighed.

Reynard knew I hated fishing games like this, but that never stopped him from forcing me to cast the rod in the hopes of reeling in the big one, whatever that turned out to be.

"Guess," Reynard smirked.

"Oh, come on," I groaned, but my husband's lips remained sealed. "I dunno... Some stupid viral-video-clickbait dance procession entrance thing? In case you've forgotten, you were fifty feet tall at the time. You would've flattened half the forest if we'd tried that. And you're terrible enough at dancing even without the... enhancement,"

"Hey! I'm a fine dancer. Better than you, at least" Reynard stuck his tongue out, ever the picture of maturity.

"I'm not the one who suddenly decides that it's Saturday Night Fever time after I've had one too many to drink," I replied haughtily.

"And I'm not the one whose conception of dancing is mostly standing in one place and smugly bobbing his head in time with the music," Reynard stuck out his tongue. "But you're wrong, anyway. Guess again,"

"Oh my gods, just spit it out," I heaved a theatrical sigh.

"A honeymoon," the arctic fox grinned toothily. "That's what we were lacking,"

I hesitated. "You don't mean... We aren't..."

"It's all been arranged," Reynard's grin broadened. "Everything. Reservations, travel, the works,"

"But--but--"

"It's all budgeted out, and we'll be fine. And I've already let Karl know you'll be extending your little sick leave a little," Reynard urged, punctuating his statements with kisses to my neck and collar. "You don't need to worry about a thing. C'mon, guy. You deserve this. We deserve this. We need some time for ourselves,"

I found myself grinning as much as Reynard. "Where are we going?"

"A little corner of paradise known as San Javier," Reynard gushed, patting me on the chest. "We need to visit somewhere the Sun actually exists on a somewhat predictable basis,"

"I'm not about to argue with that," I murmured wistfully.

Even though winter proper was still a few weeks away, the persistent chill in the air, coupled with the grey shroud that covered the city, was already starting to get to me. Besides, it had been far too long since I'd last visited San Javier.

"We'll be staying at a nice little place in the Wharf District. Close to everything. We can see the sights, take in the nightlife, sample the local cuisine..." Reynard said, tracing his finger down the row of buttons on my pyjama shirt. "Make love..." he added almost in afterthought, nibbling on my ear as his hand drifted further south.

"I was wondering when that would get brought up," I replied, burying my muzzle in the soft fur of Reynard's neck.

"Why don't we have an undress rehearsal right now? Just to make sure we get it right," Reynard murmured, rolling on top of me with a little growl.

My lips met Reynard's as I let him fumble clumsily with the buttons of my shirt. I really was the luckiest fox in the world.

*****

"I'm just the luckiest fox in the entire godsdamned world," I growled, slamming my fist onto the table top. Guillam's mug sloshed coffee over the memo pad on which he'd been taking notes.

"Aside from me, of course," my partner replied crossly, shooting me a reproachful look as he hurried to mop up the liquid before it did too much damage to his writing. "Unless we're splitting red- and cross fox varieties here. Then we can both get top honors. Hooray,"

"What are you even taking notes on?" I snapped. "Why are you bothering? We're fucked,"

"What happened to the whole 'there's always a lead' philosophy you were waving around?" Peter said sourly, abandoning his efforts to salvage the sodden papers. "Oh, yeah. It got replaced by the 'randomly scrawl a bunch of complete and utter nonsense on a white board and hope that it means jack shit' philosophy. Like that's going to accomplish any--"

"Oh, fuck OFF!" I bellowed, snatching up the coffee mug and hurling it against the wall of the conference room we'd sealed ourselves into for the better part of three days now.

Guillam flinched as the mug shattered into a million little pieces, littering the drab grey rug with shards of tan, brown, and yellow ceramic. The off-white wall now had an artful splash of dark brown across a portion. We stared in stunned silence at the mess.

"I_liked_ that mug," Guillam said softly at length, so matter-of-factly that I almost wanted to laugh.

"I'll get you a new one," I muttered.

More silence.

"We should probably take a break," Guillam said, phrasing the sentence like a question.

I shook my head numbly. "Do whatever you like,"

The cross fox mumbled something about getting more coffee and showed himself out of the room. I caught Bethany, the cute tigress whose desk was just outside the conference room, shoot him a questioning look as he passed. Half the floor had probably heard the outburst. I probably would have been embarrassed were it not for the fact that I was just so damn frazzled.

I took a sip from my mug, realized it was empty, and set it down on the table as I turned to face the whiteboard that had been the focus of Guillam's derisive outburst. A jumble of scrawled notes connected by arrows drawn in various colors of ink and images taped to the surface, it more closely resembled the ravings of a madman than organized analysis.

Taking up an eraser, I assaulted the board with a fury, demolishing countless hours of work in the matter of a few strokes. The eraser slipped through my fingers, thudding dully to the floor as I sat on the edge of the table.

I stared at the blank board, willing it to connect the dots for me. We were looking at the situation all wrong; we had to be. How could Todd have escaped through some sort of portal device like the one his associate had described? Where could he have gone? How was that preposterous situation even possible?

The circumstances had been hard for me to wrap my head around, and even more impossible for my supervisor. Find a new lead, he'd insisted hotly, _one that doesn't hinge on the most unhinged person on the godsdamn planet. _

It was impossible, it certainly sounded like it. But when I'd run it by the agency's physics consultant, a professor at the University of Pacifica, he'd confirmed just how bizarrely possible it really was.

"It's feasible," the walrus twitched his moustache with an air of childlike wonder as he studied the pages of notes I'd handed him. "Years ahead of practical application, mind you. But feasible. Where'd you find this? Could I have a copy, by any chance?"

I'd apologetically denied his request (usual mouth-noise about ongoing investigations and all that bit) and left his office with more questions than had been answered. No amount of scribbling, no number of phone calls, could answer them.

"Go home. Get some rest," Guillam urged, taking a sip of coffee from a mug borrowed from the break room.

"What?" I blinked, snapping out of my reverie. "I can't,"

"You really need to. You've been at this too long. We both have--time for a break. We can come at it again later,"

"Every minute we waste taking breaks is another minute Todd is still out... wherever," I insisted. "And he's going to do something terrible. I know that. You know that. We can't allow that to happen,"

"I know. But at the same time, staring at the same information and going in the same circles over and over is accomplishing just as little," Guillam replied strongly. His tone softened and he patted me on the shoulder. "Get some shut-eye. We can start at this afresh tomorrow morning,"

I sighed heavily and capped my whiteboard pen. Guillam was right, as he seemed to be all too often.

"Alright, Peter. You win,"

"Something is going to click sooner or later," the cross fox smiled sympathetically.

"I hope you're right," I sighed.

"I'm sending you a link to the site where you can get the mug, by the way," Guillam called after me. "Don't think you're off the hook about that,"

I chuckled softly to myself, shaking my head knowingly as I pushed through the doors leading to the bank of elevators. Sleep really did sound good. Some food, too. And not the just the kind that comes out of the vending machine, for a change.

*****

When the package Miles had promised arrived, I'd never wanted more badly to murder that damned meerkat. He'd promised me an escape and sent a pair of glorified friendship bracelets. What good were those metallic, wire-wrapped pieces of crap to me?

Quite a lot, as it turned out. Tucking one of the bracelets into my mattress for later use, I disdainfully clasped the piece of junk around my wrist. In an instant, the world seemed to be consumed by blinding white light. Everything vanished--the bars of my cell, the sounds of the penitentiary, the bed underneath me. I fell to the ground, curled into a ball with my eyes screwed shut.

I blinked as the whiteness faded away. My wrist twinged and I glanced down at it. The bracelet smoked slightly. One-time use, I supposed.

Unclasping the bracelet from my wrist and dropping it to the ground, I looked around my new surroundings. I was in a bedroom of some sort: one of immense proportions. The floor stretched off forever and the ceiling arched far over my head. All of the normal bedroom furniture items--table, bed, dresser, and so forth--were present, but of monumental size. There was something... different... about them, too. They were unlike anything I'd ever seen; not entirely unfamiliar, but just different enough to plague the back of my mind like a persistent itch I couldn't quite scratch.

I shouldn't have been surprised by the size or alien quality of the room, but I was nevertheless taken aback. Ever since I'd seen the attack on Saaduuts the previous Halloween by a giant dragon who had appeared out of nowhere, I had known two things: he couldn't have come from nowhere, and I needed to get to that Nowhere. And there I stood. Persistence pays off once in a while.

"...the fuck?"

Startled, I snapped my head in the direction of the unfamiliar voice. An individual was standing in the space under the bed, an individual of my size. He hastened towards me, affording me a better look. I gasped.

He was a dragon. His slim frame was covered in scales of a burnished copper color that transitioned to a rose gold across his stomach and jaw. He was staring back at me through the slitted pupils of deep amber eyes that seemed just as bewildered as I. His muzzle came to a severe point and several sharp teeth were visible, jutting past his thin lips. Numerous horns of various sizes jutted from the back of his head and down his neck, forming a mane of some sort. A thick, powerful tail sprouted from the base of his spine, ending in a wicked spike.

The drake wore simple, close-cut trousers and a matching shirt sewn somewhat clumsily from silky grey-black material.

A fucking dragon. He had no wings, but that's definitely what he was.

I blinked furiously several times and then looked at him again. Still a dragon. This couldn't be true.

"Aren't you a little, er, small for a dragon?" I asked stupidly.

The dragon--for that is what he had to be, there was no doubt about it--threw his head back and laughed.

"Isn't that the understatement of the century?" he snorted.

I folded my arms across my chest as the dragon's expression grew serious again. "Who are you, though? What are you? Why are you here?"

I was about to respond when the copper dragon held up a hand. He glanced around nervously. "We should go somewhere more safe before discussing matters any further," he insisted, ushering me towards the bed.

*****

Tabitha was sitting on the stoop of her house as I pulled up on the curb, hopping off my bike and leaning it against a fire hydrant. I always teased Tabitha about that hydrant--she always had to be careful not to kick it off its base any time she left her house.

"What did you want to see me about?" I asked.

"Do I need an excuse to see my boyfriend?" the ferretess giggled.

"Of course not," I replied, quietly thrilling in the word 'boyfriend'. We were doing all right again.

"But I really do have something to show you," Tabitha leaned down, smiling.

"I'm intrigued," I said, clambering onto Tabitha's offered palm.

I felt the familiar plunging in my stomach as the ferretess got to her feet, but it was gentler than it had been recently--she was getting back into practice again. I'd missed feeling so comfortable around her.

The door swung open and Tabitha crossed over to her bed, sitting down at the edge. I was going to make some joke or other about her directness, but then I noticed the odd cloth-draped shape underneath her bedside table.

"Er, what is that?" I asked as Tabitha crouched down, sitting on the floor with her legs curled back around her side. She placed me on the paneled floor a few feet away from the object and grinned down at me, resting a hand on the ground.

Wordlessly, the ferretess reached over me and lifted up the cloth covering, letting it drop to the floor. I gasped softly.

Underneath the sheet was a house. It was a fairly simple affair, a ranch-style home with probably not any more than one or two small rooms. It was painted dark brown with cream trimming. Anywhere else, it would have looked like an ordinary, if a bit small, house, but here it looked nothing short of surreal, a model home or dollhouse in Tabitha's enormous living space.

"It's beautiful, Tab," I murmured, walking slowly towards the structure.

"And it's for you," she replied. "Go on, take a look!"

I pushed open the door, stepping into the darkened space. My hand found a light switch and flicked it on. A couple of floor lamps flickered to life--the house was wired for electricity.

The space inside was as simple as the exterior, but it had a certain hominess to it. All in all, the space was probably about the size of a small studio apartment. An overstuffed couch stood against the far wall next to a lamp emitting a warm glow. A couple of large patterned rugs were spread across the floor, which was made of a light-colored wood. I crossed over to the large bookcase built into a wall. Running my fingers along the spines of the volumes, I saw that many of my favorite books were included in the library.

The other room had a large four-poster bed and a desk. A wardrobe and chest of drawers, both made from the same wood as the floor provided plenty of space for me to keep clothes.

I turned around, noticing Tabitha's eye peering through one of the square windows. She was stretched out on her stomach, face level with the house.

"This is amazing," I gushed, smiling as I walked towards the window.

"I'm glad you like it," the ferretess replied. "I've been working on it awhile. Built it from scraps and bits of stuff they didn't need at work. Kit's been helping me with all of it: showing me what to do, helping with all the little details, getting the furniture..."

"I love it. Really," I sat on the bed, patting the soft comforter. "This is incredible,"

I started as I heard a click overhead, my attention snapping upwards. The roof was sliding and lifting up to be replaced by my girlfriend's grinning face as she propped her chin up on her hand. A lock of her dark, shoulder-length hair brushed against the lip of the wall.

"I added this little feature," she admitted with a cheeky grin. "But there's a mechanism over there on the wall to lock the ceiling in place," her hand reached into the room, pointing out a switch next to the desk. "For whenever you want privacy or anything like that,"

"I can't believe you built this," I shook my head.

"It was a lot of fun to make," Tabitha enthused. The tips of her ears colored. "And Kit said I had a knack for it. Fast learner and all that,"

"Maybe you should study architecture or something like that," I suggested.

"I've been kinda thinking about that," the ferretess replied wistfully.

I smiled. I'd always known, or at least wanted to believe, that her prospects weren't hopeless. Maybe she'd found a calling of some sort.

"I mostly just did this thing because I wanted to make you a present," Tabitha mused. "I know you've got a room at my dad's apartment and all, but... well, I suppose this is about as close as you can really get to asking someone to move in when you're over ninety feet tall,"

"Well, there was always your underwear drawer as an option," I giggled as Tabitha rolled her eyes. My face fell slightly. "Er, don't take this the wrong way, Tab, but do you think this would work out... logistically? I'm just thinking about safety and all that. Do you think it's a good idea for this to be on the floor? Accidents and whatnot, you know. I mean, I'd really hate to be stepped on or anything like that if you woke up some morning and didn't notice me for whatever reason,"

Tabitha grinned smugly. "Already covered," she announced. "I really thought of everything. There's another switch by the door. It's hooked up to a light on the nightstand. If you're heading out, you can just hit that switch. I'll see the light and know to keep an eye out for you.

"Besides. I'm _always_careful," the giantess concluded haughtily.

"I'll be the judge of that," I snorted.

But she was right. For someone as large as her, Tabitha was really quite graceful; I had to admit that much.

Tabitha replaced the ceiling-lid gently, sliding the pegs into their proper places. I heard her shift and start to get to her feet and then yelp as she bashed the back of her head against the underside of the nightstand.

"I'll be right out to kiss it better," I called out, my tone gently mocking.

I pushed myself off my bed, heading towards the door to tend to Tabitha's grievous wound, a big grin on my lips. I had the best girlfriend ever.

*****

The dragon hurried underneath the enormous bed with me no more than a pace or two behind. Ducking behind an enormous discarded wrapper of some sort, he stopped in front of, well, nothing. As I walked up beside him, the dragon bent over and, slipping his hand into a knot in the wood paneling of the floor, lifted up a small trapdoor.

"Name's Kotalyn, by the way," he grunted, kicking the rope ladder rolled up in the lip of the trapdoor down into the darkness. "But just Tal is fine,"

"Er, I'm Todd," I replied, following the dragon down the rungs of the rope ladder and into the space underneath the floor.

Reaching up, I slid the cover of the trapdoor back into place as Tal flicked on the lights. Looking around, I couldn't help but laugh. Growing up, I'd read stories about tiny little people living in the walls of houses, stealing bits and bobs in order to make a living. Tal appeared to have taken more than a page from their book. The furnishings of his home-beneath-the-floor were all repurposed objects--twisted staples used as hangers, a table fashioned from a matchbox, a tapestry made from part of a playing card hanging from the wall.

"It isn't much, but it's a place to call my own," Tal said, watching me look around the space with a thin, melancholy smile on his lips. Even though the space was already quite warm, he placed a fragment of a match head on a scrap of an aluminum can that appeared to serve as his fireplace. "I hope you don't mind the heat. I rather like it,"

I watched in shock as the dragon's throat began to glow a dull yellow-orange under his scales like a small furnace. He exhaled gently on the match head, igniting it with a small, controlled gout of flame.

"Holy shit..."

"Dragon," Tal reminded me with a grin. "Fire-drake, more specifically,"

"R-right," I nodded, still trying to process the fact that my host had just breathed fire.

"You never told me what you are," Tal prompted. "Or why you're here, for that matter,"

"Oh... right. I'm a fox," I shrugged, gesturing at myself. "Red fox, more specifically,"

Tal squinted at me curiously.

"Oh, but this isn't typical," I added, catching the dragon staring at my glass eye. I plucked it out of its socket, tossing it over to the shocked and mildly horrified Tal. "Catch!"

The glass eye thudded to the ground as it slipped through Tal's fingers. He stared at the glass sphere, then at the empty socket, and the back at the false eye. A grin flickered across his face.

"I can help you with that," he enthused, shuffling through a collection of small bottles arrayed in a row underneath a scrap of polished foil he used as a mirror. He produced a vial of viscous green liquid, bringing it over to me. "This will probably sting a little,"

Before I could protest, the dragon jerked my head back and poured several drops into the empty socket. I clapped my hand to my face as searing pain shot through my head as if someone had stabbed me with a hot poker. But then... I opened my eyes. Both of them.

"What--my--my eye is back!" I gasped in disbelief, blinking furiously. "How did you do this?"

"You mean to tell me you guys don't have tissue-regenerative formulas? We worked that stuff out ages ago," he clucked his tongue. "The vision in that eye will probably be blurry for a little while, but that'll pass,"

I shook my head numbly. "I can't... wow... what..."

Tal chuckled. "Hey, it was no problem, really. I just can't believe you lot are still in the Dark Ages,"

"I take it you don't get many folks like me around here?"

"Not exactly," Tal said. "I know of one kitsune--think she's on her way to her fourth tail about now," he shifted, staring at me pointedly. "Though I'm fairly certain she's got pinkie fingers larger than you,"

"We'll see about that," I muttered.

Tal shot a look at me, but pressed forward. "And why are you here?"

"Well, I saw one of your, ah, larger brethren paying a visit to a city in my dimension and I had to take a look at... where the magic happens," I replied evenly.

Tal bristled. "Those barbaric monsters," he spat disdainfully. "They go stomping around helpless cities, thinking they can do whatever they want just because they're bigger than other people,"

"Speaking of 'bigger', why are you so..." I gestured at the diminutive dragon.

"Pathetically small?" Tal snorted bitterly. "I can thank my 'larger brethren', as you put it so astutely, for that,"

I sat on the edge of the bed, made from half of a padded necklace gift box. "Go on," I said, intrigued.

"Oh, you really want the story?" Tal asked? He laughed harshly again. "I wasn't born like this, if that's what you think.

"No. I was like any other dragon. Hell, when I was growing up, I wanted to be like one of those... monsters, leveling entire cities under my body. It was what everyone wanted to do--something of a... patriotic duty, I guessed. Something to be proud of: providing energy to our cities and fueling our very livelihood.

"But it wasn't in the cards for me. I failed the physical. I was furious. I went in for the exam over and over, but they always turned me away.

"So I went into biochemistry. I got a research position, finding new ways to improve the ways we refined and processed the biological and potential energies provided by my... destructive colleagues. I'm really glad I made that change.

"You see, the more I witnessed and learned about the things my coworkers in the Reaper section did, the more disillusioned I became. The things they did were terrible. Inexcusable. Evil. There had to be a better way.

"I threw myself into finding an alternative to those terrible things. And did I hit the jackpot or what. Our oceans--what few ones we have left--teem with countless varieties of microorganisms. I managed to isolate one species whose waste products from normal metabolism were analogous to the fuels we derived from... elsewhere. In fact, this energy was far more potent than what we had before. A much better choice.

"Expecting commendation, I rushed to present my findings to the Energy Board. How wrong I was. Apparently, deriving energy from anything other than what amounts to mass murder is not only a bad idea, but outright treason.

"I thought they were going to sentence me to death. But apparently the Energy Board has a strong sense of irony. Instead, they did something far worse to me. They shrank me down to this minuscule, insignificant size. Perhaps that of itself was enough of a death sentence. Fuck knows they tried to exterminate me enough times afterward. But eventually, they gave up. I can just hope they have forgotten about me or think me dead.

"I did the only things I could do: I moved on, and I plotted my revenge," Tal concluded simply.

"Revenge?" I asked.

"I can't let those bastards continue the way they've been going. No. I'm going to destroy their very energy infrastructure. They will never again be able to destroy another city in the name of the 'common good'," the dragon practically breathed fire with every word.

"How... cute," I murmured, arching a brow. "Aren't you a little pint-sized to be doing much, ah, terrorism? I mean, you would probably lose a wrestling match with one of those toothpicks," I gestured at his 'rafters'.

Tal's eyes blazed. "And there you are wrong!" he retorted boldly.

The copper-scaled drake crossed over to his breath mint tin wardrobe. Shuffling through its contents, Tal produced a number of items of clothing from the back of the closet. As he arrayed the garments on the tabletop, I saw that it was a complete outfit, all sewn from the same black spandex-like material.

"You've been dabbling in fashion, I see," I snorted.

Tal shot me a dirty look. "They don't exactly make clothes in my size, as you might imagine. And I wasn't about to go running around in the nude," he sniffed disdainfully.

I shrugged. "I can think of worse things to do. But I still don't get it. How is this gonna change anything for you?"

"Well, if those bastards thought they could just get away with what they did to me, they've got another thing coming. Through a healthy sum of problem solving and no small amount of thievery, I managed to figure out more or less how they shrank me like this. Once I had that worked out, it was a simple matter of reversing the process, wasn't it?"

"Naturally," I arched my brow.

"Well, it didn't turn out quite as simply as I'd hoped. I had success, but it was limited. I'd been trying to develop a formula or something of that nature. But the solution I developed required continuous administration,"

The dragon picked up a thin strip of cloth that looked like it was supposed to go around the neck like a choker collar of some sort. Kinky son of a bitch.

"I developed a chip and needle system," he said, tapping a small rectangular patch of hard plastic stitched into the side of the collar. "All you have to do is put on the article of clothing, press that little needle into the flesh, and the chip will deliver a dose at regular intervals, maintaining enlarged size,"

"Interesting," I said, meaning it for the first time in our whole conversation.

The drake protested softly as I lifted the collar from him, turning it over and over in my hands.

"Are you certain it works?" I asked, examining the mechanism closely.

"Of course it does!" Tal spluttered. "Could you give it back? I've worked really hard on all of that. I don't want it broken or anything,"

Tal's voice was tinged with barely-controlled desperation. He held out an expectant hand, which I ignored. Turning away from him I began to walk the length of the room.

"Have you tested it yet?" I asked, feeling the soft material between my fingers.

"N-not yet," Tal mumbled. "Give it back! Now, please!"

"Why don't you let me do the honors?" I cackled. "I'll be sure to report back to you with results,"

The copper dragon yelped a protest, but it was already too late. I was halfway to the rope ladder already, clasping the collar about my throat as I climbed. Scrambling up the rungs, I winced as I pressed the needle into my neck.

The effects were powerful and immediate. Disoriented, I almost lost my grip on the ladder and tumbled down on top of Tal, who was still giving chase. I managed to maintain my grip on the rungs and hurried up the final few.

I had to squeeze through the trapdoor entrance to Tal's humble abode and crawl out from the space under the bed, which was becoming less and less spacious with each passing second.

Stumbling out from underneath the bed, I struggled to my feet, now large enough to rest my hand against the lower end of the bedframe. Aside from the collar around my neck, my clothes hung in tatters from my body. I brushed them away with a smirk; I probably would have taken them off anyway, even if they had somehow managed to grow with me.

I stepped back from the bed, closing my eyes and reveling in the sensations of my ascent. Pain had never felt so sweet. Bone and tissue cracked, shifted and expanded. Tendon stretched and an ever-larger heart pumped blood with ever-more-powerful strokes.

A wave of something approaching disappointment washed over me as the sensation subsided; I wanted to go on forever feeling that--the sense of power was intoxicating. When I opened my eyes, I could see that I fit into the room properly now. If anything, I was a little big for it; the tips of my ears brushed against the ceiling.

"Well, it would seem your little science fair project worked," I smirked down at the diminutive dragon standing shocked just underneath the bed. "Congratulations, little guy,"

Tal bellowed some sort of retort, but I was too busy preening in the full-length mirror built into the side of the wardrobe to pay him much mind. He was an insect now. He was below me.

"Now, I ought to thank you for helping me out with all this," I commented idly, licking my lips.

*****

Any time I needed to reaffirm my fear of and distaste for all professions related to retail, all I needed to do was pay a visit to my husband's shop. I don't know what he saw in Suit Yourself--it seemed like a never-ending parade of people in grievously ill-fitting garments whining about how their stuff didn't fit and then whining about how the alterations to their stuff weren't completed in the ridiculously brief turnaround times they expected. Yet Reynard seemed to love the business. Well, whatever made him happy, I supposed.

Edmond was furiously hemming a jacket on a suit form as I arrived at the shop, his mouth full of pins. He spat nearly half of them out as I entered, practically standing at attention.

"At ease, Edmond," I chuckled. "It's just me,"

Edmond smiled feebly and relaxed, or tried to. That poor red panda probably had an off-the-charts blood pressure even when he wasn't dealing with one of his girlfriend's outbursts. He stooped to gather up the pins he'd dropped, looping his yellow measuring tape back around his neck.

"And who is 'just me'?" came an unfamiliar, silky voice from over by the cash register.

Squinting, I wheeled about to find the owner of the voice. Leaning up against the counter with a hand propping up his chin was a jackal, and a rather handsome jackal at that. His frame was clad in an impeccably tailored (obviously) grey blazer with matching trousers. The top few buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned, hinting almost coyly at his svelte physique. A small pendant hung about his neck on a golden chain.

"What? Never seen a guy with AA?" the jackal smirked.

I blinked, coloring vividly as I realized I'd been staring. I'd met a few folks who suffered from alopecia areata, but never anyone with a case as extreme as this jackal. Most people with the condition lost their fur and hair in patches and tufts; the jackal didn't appear to have a single hair on his body, from the tips of his tall, pointed ears to his toes. Nor did he appear to have a tail, for that matter.

"I'm a medical wonder, what can I say?" the jackal smirked.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Hey, no sweat. I know you were just undressing me with your eyes. Trust me, it's better than you could imagine," the jackal winked. "Oh, I didn't catch your name,"

"Roger," I introduced myself bashfully.

"And I'm Andy,"

"So_you're_ the new hire. Reynard mentioned you once or twice,"

"Reynard, eh?" Andy arched his brow. "Ah, so you must be Reynard's new boy-toy,"

"I'm his husband, not his... 'boy-toy'," I sniffed.

I liked the jackal less and less by the minute, and I hadn't liked him all that much to begin with. There was something in his casual, arrogant nonchalance that rubbed me wrong.

"My bad," Andy replied insincerely. "Well, if you ever get bored with that silver fox, just let me know. I can teach you a thing or two, I'm sure," he bit his lip.

"Are you always this forward, or is it only when you want to come across as exceptionally douchy?" I snapped, temper flaring.

"You'll have to excuse Andy here," Reynard said, sashaying into the room and clapping Andy gruffly on the back. "He's nothing but talk,"

All tongue, Andy mouthed over Reynard's shoulder, running his tongue across his teeth for emphasis.

"Well, whatever," I replied. "Some people don't enjoy having someone come onto them the second they walk in a damn door,"

"Let's just get out of here," Reynard insisted. "We've got a plane to catch,"

*****

Staring up at the gigantic vulpine, I knew that I had signed my death warrant the moment I'd taken out the garments and shown them to him. I'd taken the fox in, fixed his eye, told him everything. And now I was going to pay for it. I couldn't believe it. Here I was, cowering behind a bedpost as Todd crawled back and forth beside the bed, murmuring menacing nothings and taking occasional swipes as he tried to catch me.

I suppressed a bitter laugh. So this was all going to end. I had survived years in my diminished state, only to be devoured by the first person I'd talked with in just as much time.

It was my fault, really. I talked too much. I always did. Was it due to excessive pride? An out-of-control ego? I cursed myself for my seemingly unstoppable need to run my mouth. It had gotten me reduced to the size of an insect, and now it was going to get me killed.

"Hello there, Tal,"

Todd's sonorous voice just about startled me off my feet. He was lying on his side with his head under the bed, staring directly at me. His hot breath washed over me and I shivered in fear.

"I wonder what you're going to taste like?" the fox mused, his steely gaze piercing through me. "I've had the distinct pleasure of sampling many varieties of person, but dragon is new and exotic,"

"Please," I blubbered pathetically, but the giant just chuckled.

Todd's laugh was cut off abruptly as we heard the door to the room swing open. I crouched against the bedpost and Todd's head withdrew from the bed as he sat back in surprise.

Two pairs of feet (one pair of boots and another of hooves, to be exact) entered the room. Everything fell quiet.

"Who--who are you?" boomed a gruff voice, interrupting the stunned silence.

"I--I can explain," Todd replied.

I was pleased to note that his voice had the tiniest note of uncertainty, perhaps even fear.

"What are you doing in this room? These premises are for authorized personnel only. You shouldn't be anywhere around here," a second voice, harsher and colder than the other, snapped with an air of authority.

"I didn't trespass," Todd replied stupidly, scrambling to his feet. "I just... got here,"

"Well, we'll just have to take that up with the boss, won't we?" the gruff voice snorted. "You're coming with us,"

Todd protested weakly, but it didn't seem he had any choice in the matter. He left the room, escorted by the other two.

As the door slammed shut again, I sank to the floor, leaning up against the base of the bedpost. I sighed with relief. Maybe I would live to see another day.