Chapter 4: Brown Liquid Boogaloo



A butterfly landed on a tulip, only to burst away while a fox pounced the flower.

"I feel alive!" Cyras shouted before going, "WOOO!"

For the first time ever, Cyras hadn't felt sleepy that afternoon. However, she felt a lot more... jittery.

"She's so much more annoying like this." Ahmond shook her head and went further down the dirt path, into a more rural, secluded area of the countryside.

Earlier, Cyras asked why they weren't going to the ice cream shop, however Ahmond explained they didn't live at the shop, but at a house. The shop was just some of their territory, not their sleeping quarters.

Lilu said, "Alright, Cyras, we're here." They came upon a twenty-foot house made of logs. As they entered, Cyras saw the place was less fancy than Lilu's. Just a rug, a couch, and a chair, and a tiny kitchen.

However, from that kitchen, a strong scent brewed, like the brown liquid Lilu gave her. Coffee.

"Ooh, can you buy me more of that coffee?" Cyras asked Lilu.

"Um, I'll get you some," Ahmond told her. "Mosor, Kyofi, Vanos, Mynt, Baynana, I brought home some friends for a sleepover."

"Are you getting more family members?" Lilu asked, "because I thought there was like, three, before."

A yellow coywolf walked down, and Cyras' jaw dropped as she saw him.

He was slender, with a small patch of brown on his cheek like a mole. The saunter he walked with made him see more enticing, and he was truly beautiful, like a banana. Wait, that wasn't the prettiest way to say that.

A twinge at her tail made her yelp as Ahmond had stomped on her. With a glare, she stared at the whistling coywolf.

The yellow one came down, and said, "We weren't expecting any company, but please feel free to make yourselves comfortable." His brows furrowed, as he came to Cyras. "Ah, you're the new one, yes?"

"My name is Cyras," she told him while staring into his bright blue eyes.

"My name is Vanos, pleasure to meet you." He brushed past her, sending a wave of excitement through her. Then he went back upstairs.

"Baynana should be up in my room," Ahmond said. "Lilu and I can sleep on the floor."

"Why should I sleep on the floor?" Lilu asked, "when I'm the guest?"

"Because your bed at home is way nicer than mine is."

Cyras wasn't interested in their ensuing argument, so she drifted away from them. Her nose carried her to the kitchen. Her claws hit the tiles, and she scanned the area. A wooden door, like used to access the house, stood barrier between her and stronger scents. Handling the knob, she opened the door, only to find various foods.

Cereals... Grains... Gingerbread…

Cyras grabbed a box of gingerbread mix. She liked bread, so she opened the box, only to see…

...Sand, she thought. Maybe some other type of bread she ate.

With a shrug, she put some on her paw and licked the bread up.

Oh goodness no wonder Lilu thought she was suffering when she had to eat bread this was a crime.

Cyras hacked and got some spit onto the floor.

"Lilu, she's making a mess."

"Bring that up with the Wilder. Last time I started problems with her, she beat me up."

The red and black coywolf came to Cyras and said, "That's gingerbread mix. You're supposed to combine that with other ingredients. I'll cook you a batch."


"Bake."

Ahmond stared at Lilu, who repeated, "Bake a batch. You bake cookies, you can't cook cookies, otherwise, they'd be called... Not cookies."

Cyras hopped onto the counter, and Ahmond shouted, "Get off now."

Jumping off, she asked, "How am I supposed to get to the other doors?"

"You can ask, and I can get you meals," Ahmond said.

"Coffee. I want more coffee."

Ahmond was about to protest when Lilu nodded with a snicker.

Sighing, the coywolf got the pot. She poured a fresh cup for Cyras, before mixing in some other ingredients. Soon, the cup was on a wooden table, with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles on top.

Cyras slurped away at her drink, not waiting for anything to cool since she was used to excessively high heat anyway. The boiling burned the taste buds, but to her, this was little worse than warm water.

She gulped the drink, before releasing a steamy breath. "That clears up the nasal passages."

Lilu said, "She's going to be so hyper."

"Huh, why?" Cyras asked her.

"Caffeine makes you even more excited than usual," Lilu said, "which is why I gave you some. That drink has even more."

"...So you're feeding me stuff that, ahem, makes me more excited?" Cyras asked, suddenly not feeling thirsty anymore.

Lilu rolled her eyes. "Just a joke. Was wanting to see how you'd react while you were on the stuff. No big deal at all."

"I know some mushrooms you can eat, or spoiled fruits, that will make you act weird, just a joke, no big deal at all. You can try some next time you visit the forest."

"Hah, I might take you up on that offer, since I'd rather be there than back at home."

Cyras' expression softened, and she asked, "Lilu, really, what's going on at home? Are you okay?"

Lilu grunted and said, "Nothing, except..."

***

Lilu hadn't even stared at her mom as she ranted and raved at her for leaving.

"You are MY daughter. When I say you're going to do something, you're going to do what I say, and when I say." She wasn't even staring at her child, as she focused on sugaring her tea. "I'm feeling very disrespected right now."

Lilu said, "I show you the same respect I show everyone else."

"Then no one will like you. You're getting too big for your socks, and unless you watch yourself, you're going to end up alone."

Lilu walked out the front door of the palace. Karv tried to stop her, but Lilu brushed past him.

"Of course she walks away."

***

"...Ryvoh slaps me too," Cyras said, "but at the same time... Well, she still loves me."

"My mom only had me to be a princess."

"Lilu, that's awful to say!" Ahmond told her.

"Awful and true," Lilu said as she glanced at the table. "I used to try to impress her, and be good, and everything. At some point, just not worth the hassle. I hate the idea of having to grow up, and having to become a queen one of these days. I see your life, Cyras."

Feral wild eyes met cold pessimistic eyes.

"I wish I was you."

Cyras shook her head then. "My life is really not that great..."

"This life is complicated and complex. I wish there was a place, an endless expanse, I could run away to," Lilu told her, "a place where I could finally be free."

Hiding her retort, Cyras swallowed up more coffee.



"Let's go to the library tomorrow," Lilu said, "and hey, Ahmond, can you get us some honeybuns with our coffees?"

"Yeah," Ahmond said, trying to move away from the talk.

Meanwhile, Cyras knew she was afraid of Ryvoh, and of returning home. Soon as she came back, there was no way Ryvoh would ever let her out of sight again, she had to savor these moments.

Though apparently they weren't as great as she thought.

***

Lilu took them to the library, and Cyras sniffed up the smell of dead oak. Books gave the library a unique smell, a musty perfume.

Rosod sat on an oak chair, and Lilu instructed Cyras on the details of a prank. The fox smirked and slowly came upon the crimson.

As Cyras sought to jump, Rosod flicked a pink string at Cyras, floating her into the air. Cyras gasped and kicked.

"Psychic mana," Rosod said. "Allows me to use my abilities to teleport, levitate, and make barriers. You must think you're the only one with magic, right?"

"How did you know we were coming?" Lilu asked.

Rosod said, "I have eyes in the back of my head." She brushed back her fur to reveal she magically gave herself two extra eyes on the back of her head.

Ahmond said, "That's perturbing!"

Rosod brushed the fur back over the eyeballs. "Anyways, perhaps I should help all of you."

Lilu told Cyras, "We're starving. Go and get us something to eat."

Cyras dashed off, only to catch a snippet of conversation.

Rosod said, "There's no food allowed in a library."

Cyras paused and backtracked.

Lilu said, "Yeah, I know. I just wanted to distract the little Wilder. So, if my prank on you didn't work, we need to pull something on her."

Ahmond said, "Sounds kinda mean."

Cyras peered her head around a shelf and kept her ear up as she listened from twenty feet away.

Lilu said, "She knows nothing. She's adorable. Like, she's always wanting to bite on stuff, put stuff in her mouth, she has boundless energy. We really need to do something, something that would be funny, like a trick she wouldn't recognize. Maybe something with a mirror?"

"She knows about reflections, I'm sure she's seen a lake before," Rosod said.

Lilu rolled her eyes at her snide friend. "I guess. Fine, any recommendations?"

Ahmond said, "Let's keep from doing something too cruel. The point of a joke is to make her have fun too, not to make her angry."

Cyras thought about how annoyed already she was. She slumped on her haunches.

"They think I'm stupid, don't they?"

Ahmond frowned. "This is getting mean."

Lilu laughed, and told her, "Just some hazing. Alright, so yeah, so we all agree with the plan?"

"Not me," Cyras said.

They whirled around in shock to see Cyras, who sidestepped Rosod's 20/20/20/20 vision, and Cyras padded on the ground. "Hope all of you know, I'm not that stupid."

"Cyras," Lilu said.

Cyras raised a paw. "I'm not your pet. Lilu, you're afraid of growing up, right? Well, guess you won't have to worry."

Cyras bolted out of the library.

Lilu growled. "Who does she think she is?"

"Are you getting mad at her for standing up for herself?!" Ahmond said.

"I thought we were friends, wait." Soon as the words came out of Lilu's lips, Ahmond saw a look on Lilu she never saw before. A mix of anger and guilt.

Shame.

"Girls," Rosod said. "We're in a library. Shush." She rolled her shoulders, cracking the bones, popping them loudly in public. Soon she spread her arms out.

Lilu receded into her seat.

"Man," Lilu said, "this is so unfair. She's acting like this is only our fault because we decided to play some games with her. She tried to attack us. She was going to murder us, in the middle of those woods, and never think twice."

Ahmond said, "Lilu, can you think about anyone other than yourself for once? I'm going to go talk to her."

This left the table with the two oldest pairs of friends, and also the two oldest members of the group of once four, Rosod and Lilu.

Rosod steepled her fingers.

Lilu barely acknowledged her.