FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Don has to tell Cher the truth and telling the truth is often very difficult.

NOTE 1: The entire rest of Shifting Consequences, all the way up to chapter 53 is up on Tili and my patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tandz $4 a month is all it takes to see ahead in time on "The Tishen Transformation" and my stories. You get other perks too! I will still post chapters of SC weekly. It will never be a pay-only thing.

NOTE 2: Mal's a bit of a radical and over-the-top. His views do not match up fully with mine.

Shifting Consequences--Chapter 46: Breaking Trust

By Zmeydros (Lucien Quinn)

Don's nose is greeted with the smell of spaghetti, meatballs, and fresh grated Romano cheese. He looks into the kitchen to see Cher putting the meal into tupperware containers.

"I hope you don't mind that I used your kitchen." Cher glances at him and then back at the tupperware she is pouring sauce into. "I texted you asking when you'd be back so that I could have this ready for you, but after waiting a half-hour, I was too hungry to wait." She starts to put the top on the tupperware, but then looks at Don while she holds on to the top. "Did you want some now?"

So much has been going on that Don hadn't even thought about eating. He's starving! "Yes, please."

Cher keeps staring at him as if she's wondering why he was gone so long and why he's holding a giant cloth Aldi bag that looks empty.

"I'll explain why I had to leave so suddenly, but first I need to eat and give you your dessert." He reaches into the bag and pulls out the chocolate bars.

"Break one in half and hand it to me and then hide the rest. I always eat more of those than I should." She motions breaking a chocolate bar with her hands as she speaks.

He chuckles. "I'm not sure where to hide them since I can't control myself around them either."

She smiles at him. "I'll give you grief if you eat more than half of one."

"Deal." Don breaks one in half and hands it to Cher.

Cher takes her half and sets it on the counter before grabbing a plate and putting some noodles on it. The noodles are still in the shiny steel pot she boiled them in. The dark brown cabinets are nearly the same shade as her eyes and her navy-blue maintenance coveralls make a dark void in the light reflecting off of the polished stainless-steel gas range. He puts the chocolate bar that hasn't been broken up in the top cabinet next to his two-year-old hot chocolate packets.

When he turns back toward her, she hands him a plate. "What would you like to drink?"

"Just some water," he says as the smell of the Romano cheese hits him and makes his mouth water.

Cher takes a glass out of the cupboard and uses the filtered water spigot on the front of the refrigerator to fill it.

After he grabs the cup from her, he hurries over to the table and sets everything down. She follows him and sits in the chair to the left of him. The table only has four seats at it right now, and it's in its square un-expanded state. The leaf for it that makes it bigger is in the hall closet behind all the coats, and the extra two chairs are on either side of the entryway providing spots to set down bags or for people to sit in while tying their shoes. Don's uncle had tried to convince him to get a bigger table, but he knew there was no way to get it to fit in this tiny house, and he never has more than a few friends over anyway.

His hands and mouth go through the motions of eating as his mind drifts a bit. Is Cher ever going to meet his friends? Is he going to leave town to join up with Zack and his friends? Will Cher stick around after he tells her his deep dark secrets? A bit of sauce falls off of his fork and splats on the plate. This pasta is pretty good, but Cher didn't add anything to it. Everything is just the way it would come out of a package. Maybe she--

After eating a bit of chocolate, she makes a happy mmm sound and watches Don eat. "I was so hungry that I didn't bother to look for your spices. I hope the cheese makes up for it."

"I was wondering why you didn't add your own flair to it. Not that I do that much to a meal like this. Some garlic powder and onion powder, a bit of black pepper, some Italian spice mix." Don eats another meatball. Cher must have cooked them in the oven, the outside is crispy and delicious. If he could get away with just eating the meatballs--the thing she did the best job on--he would.

"Shouldn't they just make a powder that has both onion and garlic powder? It seems everyone adds both." She takes another bite of chocolate and sucks the chocolate off of a hazelnut bit before crunching it up and swallowing.

"I've seen some people add different amounts of both, but when I'm lazy and just cooking for myself, I think it would be nice."

"Do you not value your own enjoyment?"

He chuckles. "Ahh, always so sharp on the details. I value my time more than I value my enjoyment of food."

"Hmm... I think that's why I don't put much effort into cooking for myself either."

As he thinks about changing the subject to tell her his secret, he wraps a bunch of spaghetti noodles around his fork and stuffs them into his mouth. How pathetic can he get? Stuffing his face so he doesn't have to talk?

"You seem nervous, are you okay?" Cher sets down the remaining third of her half of the chocolate bar.

He swallows his mouthful. "You do know that telling people they seem nervous often makes them more nervous, right?"

Her eyes narrow. "Tell me what happened today."

His heart speeds up as he eats the forkful he was lifting off his plate as she was speaking. After he chews it, he takes a drink of water and sets it down. He can see Cher's right hand gripping the table as she stares at him with her brow furrowed. He may as well start with the worst secret first. "I knew about Mal before I asked you out."

She blinks a couple times before letting go of the table and leaning back. "I should have guessed that. You adapted to the reality of magic faster than I thought you should have. I just trusted you and thought that you were just that kind of person."

"I am that kind of person. Once Mal provided proof that he could alter reality, I accepted him for what he was."

"And what is he exactly?"

"The god of absurdity."

She shakes her head. "No, I don't think that covers it. Have you thought about what other names he may have had throughout history?"

"Other names?" He raises his eyebrows.

"My grandfather told me many tales from his tribe and neighboring tribes when I was little. The trickster gods Coyote and Skeleton Man were the main characters in many of them. If Mal was toying with people back when those stories originated, I think some of them might be about him. Skeleton Man is the Hopi god of the dead, but he is said to have been wise and helpful to the Hopi. Coyote was depicted many different ways. There is a story about him slaying a giant and saving the people trapped inside, and there is another tale of him seducing a woman who could change into a bear and turning her to evil. He convinced her to kill her three brothers."

"Whoa, Coyote seems a bit unbalanced..." Don sighs. "Just because those stories exist doesn't mean that Mal had anything to do with them."

Cher shakes her head. "That's not the point. In these stories, gods do whatever they want. They toy with man. Whether they are evil or not, they have the power to change the rules, to subvert the wishes of others. If Mal is real, some of the old tales of gods from various cultures may have been the actions of actual entities."

He looks at her for a moment before raising his eyebrows. What if gods did interact with man way back in the old-timey days of yore? "So, you think we shouldn't trust him?"

"I'm not sure what to think. Depending on how powerful he is, we could all just be running through a maze he designed. He may already know the outcome and that frustrates me." She looks out the window staring at the vague brown and green shapes beyond it. Her eyes aren't focused on anything. She knows he's going to tell her something else she doesn't want to hear before they leave this table.

He shrugs. "He wouldn't want to know the outcome. In the short time I've known him, I have gotten the clear idea that he enjoys watching the chaos unfold."

"Or, that's just what he wants us to believe." She looks into Don's eyes.

With a smirk, he says, "You're being sarcastic, right? I'm not falling for it."

She taps the table with her right index finger as she makes her point. "No. I am being serious. Think about it, if we believe he doesn't have an intricate plan and that we actually have free will, we're easier to control."

"I understand what you're saying, but I think you're reading too much into this."

"Mal led me to Mallory's house when I was having an arousal attack before I made it back to the office. Her door was unlocked when I got there and I didn't know it was her place. I know that's how she was exposed to my sexual fluids."

"And Mallory spiked Deron's dessert causing him to transform into a rhino and his secretary to transform into a reptile hybrid. Deron's got a plan to deal with Mallory, tho--"

"See? He's sabotaging the FBI from the inside. All he had to do was trick me into entering Mallory's house. I'm just a pawn in his game." Cher leans back in her chair and rubs her forehead.

Don sets his jaw and narrows his eyes at her. "So what? If he's powerful enough to control our fates, we can't do anything about it. I'm just going to assume that I have control and try to enjoy what happens so that I'm not miserable."

"I--" She grabs the edge of the table and glares at him. "If you found out he was controlling you, using you, and you had no control, you'd just give up?"

"What would you do? Fight something you can't touch, can't kill, can't even find?" He raises his hands in exasperation.

She shows her teeth as her eyes go wide in anger. "I'd refuse to play his games and make damn sure I was no fun to him as a pawn."

"And if he's evil enough that he just killed you the moment he got bored with you, what purpose would that serve?" He lets out a puff of air as he tries to calm himself.

Her arms cross. "At least I would die knowing I wasn't someone's pawn."

"That's your choice. From what Mal's done so far, I have no proof that he's evil or just using me. Everything that's happened has made my life better. He asked me to go back to help Deron and Sonya because he didn't want Mallory to use them as her pawns. He encouraged me to ask you out because I told him how much I liked you. Ever since I transformed, the pain in my left knee hasn't come back. It used to be terrible and nearly constant." Don looks at the table with a slight frown as if he's bracing himself for what she's about to say.

"Fuck this!" She stands up. "I don't know what to believe. I don't know if Mal's an enemy or a friend and I don't know if I can trust you."

He may as well tell her everything. He at least owes her that much. "I was exposed to the scent of Sonya and Don's sexual encounter for too long and ended up transforming myself. I had sex with Sonya so that I could change back."

"And that's just icing on my reasoning! We've lost control of our lives! Our department is going to collapse from all the chaos when Deron perpetrates his coup to dethrone Mallory. Criminals that actually need to be caught will go free." She pounds her fist on the table when she says the last sentence.

He reaches over and puts his hand over her fist. "I doubt it will play out that badly."

She pulls her fist away and avoids his eyes. "I'm going on a walk."

"Cher! Please, let's talk this out, I understand your frustration." He looks at her face as he takes a shaky breath. Is he about to cry?

Her feet carry her to the door and then outside.

He tries not to cry as he sits at the table. What just happened fits perfectly with what he knows of her personality. Her mental brilliance is what first got his attention, but her attachment to the idea of justice and fixed morals leaves her inflexible. He thought it was cute before, but he never thought about what things looked like from her perspective.

To her, this disruption of their lives must seem like a personal slight. If she's mad enough, she might be blaming Mal for the whole fiasco that has been her search for Zack thus far. Can she not see how she's benefitted from Mal's influence? She couldn't stop smiling for most of the last day--even when she was with Mallory. It's the first time anyone in their office was ever able to dominate Mallory, let alone get her to willingly put effort into fulfilling their needs.

Cher thinks she's lost control of her own life, but it was her choice to go out with him even though she knew she might end up changing him. It was also her choice to confront Mallory the way she did. She could have just let the matter drop and done what Mallory asked her to do. Mal did change the paths available to her, but he never outright controlled her.

Of course Mal might have a plan, but who wouldn't? Even if someone's just setting up absurd jokes, they have to have some planning to get the most laughs. Ever since he met Mal, Mal never gave him orders. He asked for help, but didn't demand it. He's more likely to make deals than to order people around... "Mal, I think you should go talk to Cher and find a way to stop our bureau from collapsing."

A bright green can appears, with a black "x" over a picture and text exclaiming the fact there are garbanzo beans inside. It says, "Well, slap, slap, slap, slappity, slap, slap."

Don laughs despite his current depressed mood. "So you'll go talk to her?"

"Affirmative," the can says in K-9's voice.

"Doctor Who references are cool." He chuckles.

The can bounces and then disappears.

A block away from Don's house, Cher hears the clanking of chains behind her. She turns around as quick as she can and takes a step back when she sees a transparent gray and white apparition of Dr. Noonian Soong in chains. The ghost says, "I'm the ghost of Christmas past."

"Mal, cut it out." Cher turns around.

"Brent Spiner was your favorite actor from Star Trek: TBA. I thought seeing him would cheer you up." All this is said in Dr. Soong's somewhat creaky voice.

She sighs and turns around. Why is his attempt to cheer her up actually working? "You mean Star Trek: TNG, I hope."

"No, Star Trek: To Be Announced. The fan made, fan funded, fan-centric fantastic series that uses advanced computer digi-graphics to bring back all your favorite characters for a frolic through the stars that turns into a foray. If you fund this Kickstarter, you'll breathe new life into a franchise that should have never had a finale. Contribute over a hundred dollars and you'll get this Star Trek-themed Bratz doll." Ghost Dr. Soong pulls a Bratz doll version of himself wearing the same tattered rags he's wearing. Its breasts, hands, hips, and shoes are all huge.

Cher laughs. Watching the perfect dance of facial expressions, creaky old Brent Spiner voice, and character acting Mal pulls off with his illusion combined with the over-the-top proportions of the Bratz doll easily overcomes her foul mood.

"You've been through a lot today. Are you okay?" He puts his hand on her shoulder and looks up at her from his slouched stance.

She can't feel his hand, but his look of concern is consoling. The hand that's not on her shoulder is holding the fake Bratz doll. Her chest tightens as she thinks about how to answer that question. "I don't know."

He talks softly as he says, "Do you feel I forced you into what happened with Mallory?"

Tears start collecting in her eyes. "Yes."

"I'm sorry. I didn't intend to hurt you." Dr. Soong shakes his head.

"You're not going to try to convince me that I wanted it deep down or something?" She stares at his face.

He meets her eyes. "If I tried very hard, I could probably convince you of many things, but then your involvement wouldn't be voluntary."

"Mallory's involvement wasn't voluntary. At what point did she say she wanted to be turned into a dragon or to have sex with me?" She speaks quietly realizing she's in the middle of the sidewalk.

"It was her deepest inner wish to experience that form. I granted it. She has also been yearning to try lesbian sex for a very long time, but never got up the courage to do it. Your muscled form was very aesthetically pleasing to her and the way you overpowered her was something novel enough for her to find it kinky. It is not a question of whether she enjoyed herself, it is a question of whether you did and whether or not you feel I violated you."

Tears run down her cheeks. She did enjoy herself. She even told Don she'd do it again. She got to dominate Mallory, something she's wanted to do for ages. Also, ever since her friend in high school talked about lesbian sex, she's been curious.

"Did I hurt you? I miscalculate sometimes. The spell I cast is meant to follow the desires of the people under it, not subvert their free will. I want to see humans experience things they can barely imagine."

"But, you make people so horny that they can't think straight and now, Mallory is using her influence to make it so I can't say no to her or she'll hurt people both of us care about."

"That's true, but I try not to have them be so aroused that they will do things that they regret." Dr. Soong looks at a tall tree that's standing over them. Its bark is black and the branches are making a big arc as they go over the sidewalk and road. He looks back at Cher. "I was going to let you find out on your own, but I don't think Mallory will have the power to make demands of you. You should talk to Don when you get back to the house. There's a part you can play in Mallory's exit from power."

"Mallory's exit from power?" Cher raises an eyebrow.

"Yes, her possible downfall is mostly self-inflicted." He leans on a walking stick that suddenly appears under his hands.

Her brow furrows. "And what if the stuff that you've set in motion, the transformations, her downfall--what if the FBI collapses because of it? What about the good we're actually doing?"

"The current governmental system is dismal. If it is not disrupted, it will turn against its own citizens more and more until society collapses and there's a revolution. The corruption in your own office is one small piece of a massive oppressive puzzle. The good you are doing is impeded by what amounts to witch hunts against your own citizens. Your reality is one of the unfortunate ones where George W. Bush is far more sinister and intelligent than the average W. With him and other like-minded individuals pulling the strings, law enforcement becomes a system of oppression, not a system of enforcement."

Holding up her hands in exasperation, she says, "So, you want to destroy the government?"

"No. I want to bring joy and discovery to a world where people are sad and in pain. I believe the power structure will be naturally destabilized by the influence I've exerted. That's all I'll say. If you don't trust me and you want out, I can take away your ability to transform and help you relocate to a place where I am not meddling."

She points at him. "Aren't you the god of absurdity? Why do you care about the power struggle in our nation?"

"Do you enjoy watching miserable people go about their lives?"

She furrows her brow. "No, why would I? How is that rele--"

"Absurdity is only fun if people are able to enjoy it and appreciate it. Your world is very challenging." He shrugs. "And I like challenges."

She thinks about whether she wants out of this nutty chain of events. When she thinks about not transforming again and leaving Don, her heart aches. She's beautiful when she's in hybrid doberman form. She gets to be part of her favorite animal and having sex like that is fun! That said, is it worth it for her to deal with feeling like someone else is pulling the strings?

Wait! Without Mal involved, she'd have no power over Mallory at all. The next time Mallory came to her office, she'd just have to take orders or transfer or leave the FBI. Was she ever in control of her life to begin with? Not fully, everyone is tossed around by powers greater than them to some degree. The trick is to use what little control she has to do some good. "Well, I don't want my office to close."

"Then you can figure out how to hold it together." He points at her chest with a ghostly hand. "I think you will need to be willing to sacrifice the morally backward higher-ups to save your office, though."

"Wouldn't that make me like them?"

"If you try to save them, you will fall with them. What good would that do?"

"Fine!" She looks away from him for a moment trying to calm herself. "If you give me a chance to keep things from falling into complete chaos, I'll be happy."

"Of course I will. Complete chaos would only make for a tragic tale." He looks into her eyes again. "Do you still have issue with me?"

"No, I can't be sure if you actually have humanity's best interest in your heart, but I realized talking to you that you have brought joy into my life. Some of the hatred I had for Mallory got burnt up by--" She blushes. "You showed me how corrupt the people I work for are... And I'm more hopeful that you're not like Mallory or the evil manipulative gods in old stories."

"I even held back on adding absurdity to our conversation for your sake. I know it's not your type of humor."

"Thanks." She holds up a finger. "One more thing: don't start a revolution or cause a sudden collapse of the government. You could end up killing a lot of people."

"You can't give me orders. At first I was just having fun, but once the FBI started chasing my playmates, I got frustrated with the power structure of this entire nation. The more I looked into people's minds, the more misery, dysfunction, and corruption I found. I have manipulated some things to benefit Zack and his friends and I do have long-term plans." He sighs. "Causing death and destruction is not in my plans. In complete honesty I can also say: If someone hurts my friends, I'm willing to ruin my position in the god hierarchy to exert wrath upon them. It is your choice to be thankful that my influence in this world is limited or sad that I cannot protect you as much as I would like to be able to."

There are at least three more questions that Cher would ask Mal, but the moment she starts speaking, he cuts her off with, "There's a group of teenagers approaching that are about to see you talking to an invisible entity. I think we've discussed enough for one day."

She nods. "Yeah, I have a lot to think about."

"I'm an imperfect approximation of glory, please remember that and talk to me if I upset you in the future. That's about as humble as I get, I hope you enjoyed it. Go fish for runcible participles." The ghostly image of Dr. Soong looks like it's being beamed up as it disappears.

Cher walks back to Don's house. When she's inside, she says, "Mal said there's some sort of plan I can be involved in."

"Oh, right." Don gets out of the plush green easy chair in the living room. "Tomorrow, we need to take our lunch breaks early and join Deron and Sonya for an orgy."

"It sounds fun, but how is that a plan?" She tilts her head.

"Deron's not letting us in on his whole plan, but I think he wants to get Mallory to transform in front of her bosses. Our scents will probably push her over the edge. Like what happened to me earlier today."

She nods. "That's actually a good plan. It would distract everyone from Zack. They'd be asking a lot of questions, questions that Mallory can't answer because she doesn't know what we know. I only worry that they will try to dissect her or something."

"I think you don't have enough faith in her. She has connections all throughout the FBI and Homeland Security. Even though she's an asshole, she inspires some extreme loyalty. After what Deron told me, I wonder if she does some of it through blackmail."

Her eyes widen when he mentions blackmail. "What did Deron tell you? I know she's capable of it because she was pushing that angle when we were arguing."

"He found out she was blackmailing someone in accounting, Deron brought it to the attention of internal affairs and I think they were left with no choice but to put her in jail. Mallory tried to get Deron fired as revenge." Don shakes his head.

"Wow! That's serious! How on earth did she get out of jail?" She rubs her chin thinking about all the people that Mallory may have manipulated that way.

"I think she probably used the same method that got her in jail."

"I thought so." She hugs Don. "Doesn't that make her the exact sort of person we normally hunt down?"

He hugs back and then runs his hands down her back. "Pretty much, but at least she's not the type that enjoys killing people."

She lets go of him and steps back. "As far as we know, at least."

"True."

A frown forms on Cher's face. "She wanted me to have sex with her over her lunch break. How am I going to--"

"I'm sure Deron is going to find an effective way to keep her busy. If not, just tell her you got a lead on Zack and need to meet her later in the day."

She scratches her head and then pulls some lint out of her hair. "Good idea."

"Good enough to get a kiss?" Don grins.

"Let's cuddle on the couch and watch something that's not about law enforcement."

"Oooh, let's see if there's a Netflix Original Series I haven't watched yet. Something other than OiTNB or Lillyhammer. I've watched both of those and they don't fit your criteria." Putting his arm around her waist, he leads her to the couch.

"You're not off the hook for your lie of omission, but I'm going to need you to be honest and open with me from now on." She pokes him in the nose.

"I can do that." He sits down with her and pulls her close. "You're worth it."

"I know I am." Cher nods and crosses her legs.