A Bump in the Road. Chapter Five.
A Bump in the Road
Chapter Five
By Roofles
Those teal eyes blinked once more. Touching the side of my face with a hand trying to feel the very mask on it before just looking at the reflection of my hand. In the mirror it still looked odd, foreign like I had a large glove over it. I could feel it, the fur between my fingers the pads underneath as I clenched it into a fist but as I looked at my hand I only saw that. My hand. Flesh, nails and the slight hair on the back. No fur fur, nothing of the sort. It was like a trick that betrayed all my senses but sight.
"An Aztec medallion of the jaguar," Varric explained. "It'll give you an apperance of one." He re-explained. "So no one will think you're human." That bit was obvious. I was just trying to figure out, wondering how the hell this all worked. And...
"Is it permanent?" I asked afraid of the answer. And yet I couldn't help but marvel at the ingenuity of this. I'd blend in purrfectly... Did I just purr?
"Nope." Varric shook his head but he seemed hesitant. "I mean it is a cursed medallion." He said scratching the side of his muzzle now and giving me an apologenic grin. "So I wouldn't wear it tooooo long." He stretched the word out, pushing away from the front desk and looking towards the back as if afraid I'd chase after him any second. It did cross my mind, I won't lie.
"What do you mean cursed?" It was beginning to tire me how the answers I recieved were always so short and open ended. They only left more questiosn to be asked and more short answers to be given.
"Well...it works!" Varric clapped his hands together and grinning widely, still like a salesman trying to sell a faulty car. "And as long as you don't wear it all day, I'm sure everything will be fine." It was clear he didn't even believe his own lie. Was I his guinea pig?
I was halfway to taking it off when he waved his hands stopping me. "If you don't wear it you'll be killed!" He said dramatically, overly so. He really wanted me to take this thing with me. Probably just wanted to get rid of it, being cursed and all. "Just wear it," the black cat motioned for me to put it down. I just frowned at him the whole time. "And once you get safely home take it off."
"Fine." I said picking the mirror back up and looking at myself. It really was convincing. I wonder if I could keep it until next Halloween. The thought wasn't assuring.
My ears folded and moved as I concentrated on them. The tail behind me swayed loosly side to side and my yellow, black spotted fur seemed to actually blow in the wind from the cracked window, like a meadow of golden wheat. My face was covered in that rich brown mane, well not so much a mane but my hair. I had to reach up to feel that it wasn't a wig someone had slapped onto this jaguar costume. The fur changed from that sunflower yellow to a milky white as it reached the front of my neck. That milky stream ran down my chest and checking inside my shirt, disappeared into my pants. I wasn't about to check that however. Some things are best left unknown.
My tail swayed back and forth with a mind of it's own, those open circlular black spots running all the way down to the tip. My tail? That even sounds odd. My hands were larger, poofy and somewhat commical. Reminded me of a cartoon more than anything else. Springing pink paw pads and I could tell the skin around it was far darker than my own, like an ashen gray unlike the pads themselves. It really was like I was in a different body. Or had one over my own.
It left a sickening taste in my mouth. My maw? My muzzle? Whatever it was. Even my tongue felt scratchy and I was afraid of biting my own tongue off with these teeth. And as I thought of this I could see my own emotions displaying on my face so clearly to these teal eyes. Whiskers shook as my brow scrunched up, ears folding back and the side of my muzzle rising a bit to reveal those sharp fangs. Every feeling displayed on my face so quickly I almost missed it.
"So you like?" The cat asked rubbing his paws together with wide yellow eyes clearly oblivious to my feeling on the matter. I could almost see those black slit pupils turn into dollar signs.
"Surrre." I offered weakly frowning as I set the mirror back down, my own voice was deeper than I was familiar with. It was more of a growl than not. I was beginning to get a head ache and rubbing my head only made it worse. The scratchy pink pads rubbed the side of my whiskered face and the very feel made me.... Urgh, I just needed to get out of here.
"Let's get this over with." I said turning around and just heading out not even waiting for the hare to follow.
"He's not going to eat me." Barney said behind me, I could practically feel my ears stand up and turn back to hear him. It was a bit...useful if unnerving. How they focused in on the sound and amplified it.
"Probably. If not, make sure you come in tomorrow. Early!" Varric frowned. "For skipping out for the rest of the day." The cat said rather coldly and I could hear the disgruntled tone to his voice fully changing who he was now that the smuck, I mean costumer had left.
There was a whimper and soon I found the hare tailing after me with a look as if he were a pig heading for the slaughter. What a drama queen. Though my stomach rumbled at the thought of food. A loud intimidating sound that made several people (not even sure if that was the right word for them) turn to look at me, and in turn move away. Everyone but the hare seemed to keep a rather large distance away from me as if afraid to invade the bubble that was my personal space. It was nice. A respect I had never really known.
I had eaten only a couple of hours ago but it felt far longer. My eyes kept looking around at the smaller creatures about and with it my stomach growling. I just closed my eyes for a second before opening them once more. And looking above I found myself under a night sky not a cloud in sight. Most the lights around me blocked my view of the stars but a few stray dots could still be seen. I couldn't make heads or tails of a single constilation above.
"Where am I?" My own voice sounded far deeper than it was, a growl even lingered afterwards betraying my worries. I had always been so good at hiding how I felt and this get up was ruining it. Every thought or concern was loud and clear to anyone around me.
"The other side." The hare just answered lightly, bouncing on his toes as he moved passed me. "A world between worlds." He carried on thankfully before I had to ask. I could only figure the expression on my face said enough for me. "It kind of...a road, between worlds?" Barney wasn't even sure about the answer he gave. That seemed to be the case about this place. Nothing had a definite answer. Everything was open ended. Fricking neverland; fuckin' wonderland made more sense than this place.
Several raccoons moved past me, not even coming up to hip level. One of which bumped into me, falling down, staring up and then brushed himself off.
"Parden meh, me good chap." It said in a slightly squeeky voice. It soon rejoined it's friends. There was something about it that was just not...
"It's a faye." The rabbit said once more stopping to wait for me down the street a bit. "Spirits of the forest and stuff."
"Right...that makes purrfect sense," son of a...I purred again. I'm a stereotype in and of itself.
"Their both tangible and not. Between worlds in and of itself." There was a look in his eye. "I'm suprised."
"About?" I asked catching up with him and we continued on.
"That is was able to...or you were able to touch." The hare said thinking it over a bit. "Spirits like myself don't normally interact with the physical world. We live in the shadows." And he left it at that, so I did too. The less I knew at this point the better. Once I get out of here the better, I could at least pretend this all wasn't real.
The road we traveled on was like the one I first came too. A cobble stone of a blueish gray with street lamps that jutted up like trees, fireflies flickered and dance in the bulbs as trails of koi fish and lights danced above. It was a wonderous sight as if a festival was underway. But everyone walked around as if this was normal everyday thing. The lights shifted from a yellowish hey to that of a pale white and everything in between.
Stores lined both sides of the street. I could see things from all over the world inside each shop, each seeming to have a certain theme in mind, a consumer they were aiming for. Some held jewelry of gold and silver and other metals I wasn't familiar with. Gems and diamonds sparkled and glowed in their casings. Some gems changed color and others I was sure changed into different substances all together. There was one item, a band of white gems, that the longer I stared at it the more colorful these gems became. As if each one held a small rainbow inside that only grew larger as I stared.
I wasn't even away of it until Barney gave my arm a good tug.
"Stay close to me." He said. It took me a moment, several seconds in fact to grasp the sound of his voice. It was like he was far away, down a tunnel his voice echoing towards me until finally my mind was able to comprehend his words and I was back.
Shaking my head I just looked at him. "Damn, what was that?" I muttered holding my head with a large padded hand.
"Mortals can't stay here long. Or rather...this world will effect them. Some way or another. For instance," he looked down the road and I followed his gaze. It was endless to my eyes. The same thing as far as the horizon. "A mortal can't even travel through this place without a guide. Most get lost and aren't heard from again." The jackalope shrugged and continued onwards as if it was but a daily thing and nothing to be concerned of.
I followed along, keeping a bit closer this time around. My cat's curiosity seemed to get best of me and even after my last mistake I continued to look around at the wonders before me. I couldn't help it. It was as if all my senses were increased. The things I saw, the music I heard, the smells wafting through the air around us (with the exception of the jackalope with me who stunk as if he never heard of a little thing called soap).
A nearby shop contained the most bizarre "pets" I have ever seen. Snakes that devoured their own tails, foxes with multiple tails, shadows that moved inside jars, fairies or pixies or some kind of fruity flying things spun around above in cages and countless other things I wasn't able to see before being pulled away once more.
I felt like a damn tourist.
The next shop held sweets. Sweets that smelled like roast beef but looked like cupcakes. Spirals of candy canes spun together like a caramel web of sugar. Cotton candy balls that moved on their own as if trying to escape their horrible fate. Sour gummy bears that were alive and clung to the side of their barrels as they were picked up and stowed away in small bags to buy. There was everything one could imagine except for chocolate jumping frogs.
The store on the other side was a place one could buy cloths. All shapes and sizes made of silks that could easily be sold for thousands of dollars back home. The silk alone let alone for hand made outfits of exquisite craftsmanship. The old gyspie hag beckoned me over with long nails on boney fingers. The nose on her face was far larger than any humans could be and the wart alone on it was as big as a normal nose. She only seemed to cackle at what I was looking at, finding it more amusing than anything else thankfully. She looked as if she could put a horrible, twisted curse on me. That might've been the case until she saw the brass amulet around my neck.
I wasn't sure if it was morbid or not but the shop next to it was selling various trinkets made of the very feathers of the bird selling them. These feathers were as long as a peacocks and yet were more colorful than anything I had seen. One of the feathers slipped, swaying in the air before touching on the ground and in a brilliant display of blue fire burned up to nothing but ash. Which was then swept up, put into a jar and had a price tag stamped onto it.
Yet it was the next stand that made me walk over. I hadn't smelled it before, with every few steps we took this endless road we walked on changed and shifted, the stores themselves manifesting into reality as if they were but wallpaper before. And this shop made my stomach growl, mouth water and eyes widen in hunger.
"Welcome traveler," the hyena the size of a gorilla said. Arms too large for his body with shorter than normal legs and a thick, heavy torso and a hump back this gray fur beast hunched over (taller than even I was) and offered a giant slab of this foreign meat. In nothing but a dirty loin cloth no less, with a grease stained (too small) apron on. Actual meat on the bone still something I had only seen in cartoons as a kid.
"Lamb chop? Soaked in the finest of drake's blood and ales." He grinned toothily, that smile was as large as his dish. It drizzled down onto his hand but he didn't seem to mind. It was succulent and juicy, it seemed to shine like a finely polished shoe in the light and each drop glistened with flavor that rose up in the air and wafted into my hungry nose. It was sizzling hot and the very sound of it crackling made me drool.
I wasn't even aware I had been drooling until Barney pointed it out. "We'll take three." The hare said offering him some strange coins. They looked like genuine silver and copper coins. "Best you eat up before I become your meal." I'm pretty sure he wasn't joking either as we took a seat near the shop. I didn't say anything on the matter so focused as I was on the meal presented to me.
Curved claws sprung from my fingers as I plucked strips of this meat apart before hungrily devouring them. I was glad I didn't have a mirror to watch me as I savagely devour each piece. Drool trickled from the side of my muzzle but I didn't care. My hunger was so great, I wasn't even aware I had been this hungry until now. It was as if I hadn't eaten in days. Months. Years.
"You want one?" I offered a bit poorly after the first two pieces were gone.
"No thanks." The hare replied with a chuckle at least. "Getting comfortable in your new body?" He asked only after I had biten into the last piece. My very tongue could scrap the flesh from this succulent roast. I was sure it wasn't lamb though, It was easier to think it was than something else.
I didn't reply, just ate in silence. Or the three bites of the meal that was. I licked my finger, tasting the fur on each one and blood with it. "No." I answered looking around for a napkin to use to at least try and clean up after my disgraceful display. It was only afterwards that my own mind seemed to come back as if it were in a deep fog before. I didn't like it.
My mind was clear and I was ashamed. Ashamed of what I had done. But at the time it felt so...right. "I don't know what came over me." I answered looking at my bloody hand. Is this what it was like to be an animal?
"It's not too surprising." Barney shrugged looking cross the street at something else as I used a spare rag to try and clean up the mess. I ended up just licking my fingers clean. I'd end up with a fur ball by the end of this day.
"It is to me." I replied curtly. "This whole thing isn't."
"I understand." Barney replied still not looking at me. Both his ears had drooped making him look like one of those lop eared hares.
"Do you?" I snarled making those ears jump up. "Shit, sorry." I closed my eyes gripping the table. I could feel my nails digging into the wood, slicing through it as if it were nothing but sand. "Let's just get this over with."
Barney nodded but didn't say anything as we both got back up.
My ears stood up and my nose twitched. A familiarity hit my nose, my ears could hear their voices and with it my eyes darted over. It was two guys I hadn't seen before but knew I had recognized them. They were the ones I had followed in here originally and from the looks of it they were with those therans from before.
My ears folded back and my eyes drifted back to the table as I licked at my hand. Focusing, concentrating I could make out a few words they were saying, watching them from the corner of my eyes.
Something to do with "The Warehouse." Most their words were lost as a rather large looking centuar dude trotted by. "Tonight." It was already night time here, I must've misheard that one. "Match." Match? Like a wrestling match.
My eyes drifted back to my guide who was looking at me. "Tell me. Do you know of any kind of match going on tonight?"