"You can drive again," Soneya said as the three of us walked quickly but quietly from the elevator towards her Jeep. "I still don't know my way around here yet."
I nodded as she handed me the keys, then we all got inside and I started it up. We were still good for fuel, but I knew that was going to be an issue before long. The price of gas had already jumped by about two-hundred percent, and it was hard to tell how much of that was price-gouging and how much was legitimate supply and demand.
Soneya seemed to be on full alert as we pulled out of my parking spot. The wolfgirl was glancing around looking for any sign of trouble, but apart from rush hour the parking garage was never all that busy.
It was just past noon on Sunday and the three of us finally left the apartment for the first time in almost a week. We were heading back to my parents' place like I suggested on Friday, partially because my folks wanted to see me but also because if we didn't go out one of us was liable to snap.
Lia was especially uptight, but now she was almost bouncing in her seat in excitement at the thought of running around my parents' backyard. It was as cute as it was distracting. Meanwhile Soneya seemed almost paranoid, especially when we stopped at red lights. She acted like she was expecting other drivers to attack us on sight, or maybe she worried someone would call the police after seeing our fuzzy animal ears.
I was maybe a little less anxious about that, especially since there was still no word about other Gaia representatives coming forward. Either nobody had taken her offer yet, or if they had, it was being kept very quiet.
Fortunately the drive proved uneventful, and soon enough we were pulling into my parents' driveway. Mom was already at the door too, so when we emerged from the car we didn't have to knock or wait on the front step. Mom ushered us all straight inside then shut the door behind us.
Then she pulled me into a tight hug, "It's good to see you again hon. And your friends too. I'm glad you're all staying safe."
Dad was there too, he greeted Soneya and Lia. Then as soon as mom let go dad pulled me into another hug.
The whole thing was kind of touching, but also underlined how serious my parents were taking the situation. They seemed to share Soneya's fears and apprehension, especially about potential threats to our safety.
"Are you sure you want to go out in the backyard?" dad asked once all the hugs and greetings were out of the way.
Lia practically jumped up and down as she nodded, "Yes! Tori says you have trees and grass and flowers and plants! I need to be there, I need to be outside!"
"I think that's your answer dad," I said with a smile. "We all need some fresh air, but Lia seems to need it the most."
Dad nodded, "All right hon. We've still got the patio furniture set up so we can sit together outside and talk. I'd suggest we keep our voices down though, if we're going to discuss anything sensitive. Just incase the neighbours happen to be around."
"Tori why don't you take Soneya and Lia out to the backyard?" mom suggested. "Your father and I will get drinks and meet you out there."
"Ok mom," I smiled, then motioned to my friends "C'mon."
My small sister was almost bouncing on her toes as she followed impatiently while I led her and our wolfgirl through to the back door. Then as soon as I opened the door to the yard Lia dashed past me and ran a quick lap around the yard.
Between the big smile on her face, the way her long orange-red hair flowed behind her, and her tail wagging up a storm, there were absolutely no prizes for guessing how she felt.
It wasn't even that big a yard. It was about fifteen meters wide and twenty meters deep, but there was a meter-wide garden along the left and right sides just inside the privacy fence. Along the back of the house we had a paved patio that took up another couple meters of space, then at the very back mom had a line of cedar shrubs just inside the privacy fence. And finally there were two trees, one sort of in the back left and the other nearer to the patio on the right. Each of them was surrounded by a circular garden two meters or so in diameter.
"We can sit over here," I said to Soneya as I gestured to the patio table.
It was a sturdy round metal table, with six metal chairs around it. The chairs all had outdoor cushions on them, and happily they were the style that had a gap at the back between the seat and the backrest, so there was plenty of space for our tails.
The wolfgirl smiled as the two of us moved to sit down together, "Lia looks like she's having fun. Are you tempted to join her at all?"
Our small sister was currently laying spread-eagle on her back in the middle of the lawn looking up at the sky. She had a wide happy smile on her face, while her tail wiggled around between her legs.
"Almost," I admitted with a slight grimace. "Maybe later. It would be nice to take off my shoes and socks and feel the grass under my bare feet."
"Yeah," she nodded slowly.
A moment later my parents emerged from the house, mom was carrying three glasses of ice water while dad had two glasses of wine. Mom smiled as she set the water down for us, "Here we go girls."
"Thanks mom," I smiled back.
The two of them got seated as well, then after a sip of his drink my dad asked quietly "So how are you girls holding up?"
Soneya and I exchanged a glance, then the wolfgirl replied "It's been tough. We're worried about our safety, worried about the future, and overwhelmed by everything we see happening in the world right now."
"I've been on the phone with my parents every other day since Tuesday," she added. "I'm worried about them, they're worried about me. I'm still not ready to try and go home though. Whatever happens, I feel safer here with Tori and Lia than I would trying to get back into the States."
I nodded in agreement, "The three of us have been going stir-crazy, but we've been worried that it's not safe for us to go out in public. We stand out too much, and if anyone figures out..."
My voice dropped to a whisper as I continued, "If anyone suspects we might be working for Gaia I think things could go very bad very quickly."
"I know hon," my mom sighed. She shook her head, "I wish there was something your father and I could do to keep you all safe."
My dad asked, "What are you going to do about work? I've got your headset all ready to go by the way. Two of them in fact. One's wireless, but I made a wired one first as a prototype. I'll get them for you before you leave, so you can try them out."
"Thanks dad," I smiled. "That's amazing you got it done so fast, I really appreciate it!"
The smile faded a few seconds later as I added, "Except I'm not going back to work tomorrow after all. It's just too risky."
A moment later I clarified, "Not that I think work's unsafe, I don't think my boss or coworkers would be dangerous? Although I suppose I can't really be sure of anything right now. But mostly it's the commute. I'd be spending twenty or thirty minutes on public transit twice a day, and the way things are right now that just doesn't feel safe to me."
Soneya nodded in agreement. She didn't comment though, she didn't have to. Instead she just had a sip of her water.
Then mom asked quietly, "Have you girls made a decision yet about the other job offer?"
"Not yet," the wolfgirl replied just as quietly. "I still have a bunch of questions and concerns about the whole thing."
I nodded, "Same. She really didn't tell us anything, other than there was an opportunity to work for her. We're just guessing at what the job is, based on the stuff she said Tuesday evening."
"Have you heard anything else about that?" my dad asked. "Do you know more than what they're saying on the news?"
Soneya shook her head, "No sir. We haven't seen or heard from her since Tuesday. Most of what we talked about when we were here last week is the same, but a lot of that's still speculation."
"We don't even know how to get in touch with her," I commented with a frown. "She told us to contact her when we were ready to talk, but she didn't actually tell us how."
"When she talked on Friday she said she'd be reaching out to her representatives," mom stated softly. "I guess that hasn't happened yet?"
Me and Soneya both shook our heads, then the wolfgirl added "I don't know if she meant everyone she'd offered the job to, or only the ones who accepted. That's part of what's so frustrating, she's vague and hasn't told us anything. We're as much in the dark as the rest of the world."
Mom started to ask something else when she was suddenly distracted. She looked past me as her eyes widened, then she gasped "Lia?! What are you doing?!"
Soneya and I both twisted around in time to see our small sister finish pulling off her top and bra. Her shoes and socks were already off, and next she pulled down her jeans and panties. Just like that she was stark naked in the backyard, four or five meters from where the four of us were sitting.
Then there was a flare of light, and next thing I knew we had a small red fox dashing around our backyard with a serious case of zoomies. Her bushy tail flicked and twitched as she ran, while her ears stood up tall and she had a happy bright-eyed expression on her furry vulpine face.
"Oh my..." mom gasped, while Soneya face-palmed and dad just stared wide-eyed.
I grimaced as I got up from the table, then went and gathered up all Lia's discarded clothes. I carefully folded everything up and put it in a neat pile on one of the empty patio chairs, then I took off my own shoes and socks and left them next to the table too. Finally I moved to the middle of the backyard and sat down crosslegged on the grass.
Mom and dad and Soneya were quietly talking to each other as they watched me and kept an eye on our small sister.
"Lia?" I asked as she continued running laps around the edge of the yard. "Could you come here please?"
She did another lap around the yard then dashed up at me before stopping at the last moment. Her tail swished around as all four legs crouched, then she launched herself almost straight up, before coming down paws-first in a sort of pounce that landed right in front of me.
"Very cute," I smiled as I reached out and gently picked her up. I sat her down on my lap so we were facing each other and quietly told her, "I'm glad you're having fun Lia, but it's dangerous to change like that where other humans might see you. When you're ready to turn back to your other shape please let me know? We'll go into the house and you can change in there. Ok?"
"All right Tori," she replied as her ears and tail drooped a bit.
Then she cocked her head to one side while her ears perked up and her tail swished around. She asked, "Do you want to play with me? We could chase each other around the trees! Or see who can dig the deepest hole in the dirt over there."
I smiled, "I'll run around with you but if we start digging in my mom's flower bed she'll be cross with both of us."
"Ok Tori," she replied. "Then let's run!"
With that she jumped off my lap and took a few quick steps away before she paused to check that I was going to come after her.
I grinned as I got to my feet, then she dashed off while I did my best to keep up. I didn't really have a chance, but Lia would stop or do mini-laps around the trees so I wasn't too far behind her.
And it really was a fun way to unwind and let go of some of the stress and pressure of the previous week. It almost reminded me of being a little kid again, just running and playing and being silly for the pure joy of it all. I lost count of how many laps we did around the yard like that, but at one point I tried to turn too sharply and slipped.
Even though my feet still had toe beans my 'claws' weren't as good as Lia's and couldn't really dig into the ground. So I took a tumble and found myself sprawled on my back on the grass. I wasn't hurt, in fact I ended up giggling at the silliness of it all.
A moment later my small sister was ontop of me. She sat on my tummy with her tail swishing around and her nose and ears both pointed up as she proudly declared, "You lost. Which means I won!"
"You sure did," I laughed as I lay beneath her. My own tail was wriggling happily between my legs as I reached up and gave Lia some celebratory pets and scritches.
It took me another half minute or so to fully recover, then I got up and the two of us headed over to the patio table to join the others. I sat back down in my seat and Lia jumped up onto my lap, then while I had a couple gulps of my water she stuck her nose in her glass and started loudly and messily lapping up her water as well. All while my parents stared in quiet shock and or amazement.
"You two looked like you were having fun," Soneya commented quietly.
I nodded as I set my half-empty glass down, "We were. You should have joined us."
She made a non-committal sound, that left me thinking she was maybe a bit too self-conscious to cut loose and play like that. Especially in front of my parents, since she really didn't know them that well.
"Maybe after dinner?" I asked. "You should at least take your shoes off and feel the grass under your feet. It really does help."
The wolfgirl smiled, "Maybe."
At least she seemed to be considering it, which made me happy. I was positive she'd enjoy it. I was just as certain that Lia was right about getting out in nature. Humans were never meant to spend all their time indoors, and we weren't even fully human anymore.
Those thoughts left me wondering how the three of us would survive being suck in our little apartment over the long winter months, but before I could get lost worrying about that my mom spoke up.
"Speaking of dinner I'm going to go inside and get started on it," she announced.
"Food!" Lia exclaimed happily as her tail started wagging and her ears stood up tall and proud.
Soneya and I both grinned at our small sister's reaction, but the three of us and my dad stayed outside a little while longer. We talked a bit more, but mostly tried to avoid the heavy stuff for now. And eventually we all went back into the house together. I brought Lia's clothes in with me, and a few minutes before the food was ready she changed herself back into a foxgirl again. In the living-room, in front of me and Soneya and my dad.
Fortunately she put some clothes on before mom called us all to the dinner table, and the five of us sat down together to a nice wholesome family meal.
playtime!