For Jupiter Butterfly Kayne, there was beauty to be found in every evening, but this one was particularly nice. The day had been hot and muggy, and she'd spent most of it indoors, enjoying the air conditioning at Lavender Haze and talking and laughing with customers enjoying the same. The nice ladies from the organic, farm-tot-able cafe next door had even brought over some iced tea for everyone, on the grounds of "it's too hot to be working without drinks," and frankly they were right. But iced tea with a mix of fresh summer fruits in it (strawberries, mangoes, pineapples, mandarin oranges) made for exactly the right drink on exactly the right day,and while it was finished, the pitcher returned, and ionly the memory of it left on her tongue, even the memory left Jupiter Butterfly with an extra touch of lightness in her step.
It had, so far, been an eventful summer; honestly, just the proof that Aliens Really Were Among Us would be more than enough to keep Jupiter excited for the rest of the year, but she also had proof, now, that magic was real. There was the charming alien shopkeeper who'd given her such a lovely piece of jewellery, and now there was her little wisp friend, which appeared from wherever it hid away as she turned down the street and into the park that made a perfect shortcut from her apartment building to the shop and back.
She'd managed to get a place not far from Lavender Haze, especially when one accounted for the as-the-crow-flies route through one of Destiny City's many lovely little green spaces--a benefit, when she'd decided that she didn't want to live in the crowded but love-filled apartment over the store, where her parents and her younger siblings all still remained, but that she wanted to be close by. She could still see them every day, working or not, and they could drop by and visit, usually with food. It was, honestly, a fairly nice arrangement. Sure, her family worried sometimes when she had to walk home alone in the dark, but she'd been safe so far, and she saw no reason to expect that would change.
Her little wisp floated up and bumped against her cheek, and she laughed.
"Hello, little friend," she said, brightly. "It's good to see you. Have you been having a good time, wherever you go?"
It couldn't respond, of course, but it could whirl around her, and at first, she took that as confirmation that it did, indeed, enjoy wherever it disappeared to when it wasn't with her.
But it spun around her again, and bounced in a way that seemed distinctly...unhappy. Jupiter frowned, tilting her head to the side and stopping dead in her tracks.
"Is something wrong?" She asked it, and it whirled around her again, in a way that seemed to communicate that it wanted her to turn around.
Behind her, she heard the crunch of leaves under feet. The snap of a fallen stick breaking under a heavy step.
She turned.
Fear stole her breath.
Jupiter was not often afraid--rarely had cause to be. She lived a happy, fulfilling life, with people who loved her. Usually, the most she had to be afraid of were the horror movies her eldest brother loved so much, and most of those weren't even that scary.
This was not a horror movie, even if the creature before her looked straight out of one. This was reality, and reality apparently had sharp, slavering fangs.
It looked like a dog--like a wolf--like something vaguely canid, but undoubtedly, most certainly wrong. Its fangs were vicious and dripping, its fur an unnatural green-black, and she swore she could see bones protruding through its sides. There was a strange ridge on its spine, and as it moved forward, the ridge lifted to reveal quill-like spikes as long as her forearm in a line.
This....this was some kind of monster, and her little wisp had clearly seen it before she did.
And it looked hungry.
"Ssshhhh, shhh, hey," Jupiter held out her hands, like she might towards an ordinary animal. Perhaps it was lonely, or in pain--who knew what "pain" looked like on a creature that was probably from outer space? Maybe it thought she was a threat, and was as scared of her as she was of it, and that was why it was threat-displaying with its teeth and those quills! That seemed to make sense. "I'm not going to hurt you, it's alright."
She took a step towards it.
It lunged, snapped, and she jumped back just in time to avoid its fangs sinking into her torso. Her heart lurched into her throat, and she began to back away.
"It's okay," she said, even though she distinctly felt like ti wasn't, especially when the beast began to prowl towards her. "You're okay, I'm not going to hurt you." If she kept speaking to it soothingly and kept getting out of its way, maybe it would realize she wasn't a threat? That seemed less and less likely by the second, and she looked left and right, trying to spot an escape. Running in any direction would take her into the trees, and it would just chase her, and that would probably make everything worse, and--
The heel of her sandal caught on an overgerown root, and she yelped, stumbling backwards and falling on her a** on the ground.
The monster kept approaching her.
She started to scramble backwards, and found her back slamming into a tree, and it bore down, drooling and snarling as it apporached.
Jupiter groped around in the leaves at the base of the tree she was pinned against, hoping for something she could pick up and throw to distract it--and her hand closed around something.
She brought it up in front of her.
A hand fan. Beautifully made, and not at all something she wanted to throw away, and as soon as she laid eye4s on it, she felt something in her change.
Sonora of Ida, something inside her said, and she wished he had time to figure out what that meant.
The beast lunged forward, and she squeezed her eyes shut, and swung at it--smacking the still-folded fan into its nose, a deterrent against continuing to come after her. It yelped, and she could hear it scrambling backwards.
"Sorry, sorry!" she gasped, and she scrambled to her feet.
She took off into the darkness, praying that it didn't follow her.
[1,092 words]
