Chapter one - Meetings
#2 of Callista Rises
The residents of the Callista Rises apartment buildings trooped out into the rain, and it might have puzzled someone who didn't know the building's history why there were so few of them. There were only about a dozen of them in a building with fifteen stories. The Rain wasn't heavy, but of that particular sort that soaked through clothes and fur alike. Carter the Shire Horse was indifferent to the rain. He worked outside anyway. Towering over the rest of the residents, he looked down at the wolf by his side. He name was Lars Enoch, and he lived on the floor below Carter. By the Stallion's easy going standards, he was a pretty good friend. He was also quite a colossal pervert, which was why he had an apartment in Callista Rises, where he had a whole floor almost to himself.
"What's with the alarm?" Carter asked him, nudging Lars in the arm. The slightly shabby wolf shrugged.
"Problem with the gas, I think? Let me check with the supervisor." Lars grinned wickedly and leaned forward, yanking on the tail of someone standing in front of him. The Spaniel yelped in surprise and spun around to be confronted by the all too innocent face of Lars.
"Good evening, Mister Supervisor, Sir! I was just wondering if you might be able to tell my rather large friend and I why we're standing out in the rain in the night?"
"You watch your step, Enoch. I'm really not in the mood. And the main gas line's ruptured. It's not sage in there, at least for tonight, minimum." He cupped his hands around his muzzle and half turned, the raindrops bouncing and splashing off his cap.
"You hear that, folks? You can't stay here tonight, it ain't safe! I'll get hold of you all in the morning and let you all know what's happening! Till then, find somewhere else to be!"
The other tenants drifted off into the twilight, rain-spattered city. The Supervisor hunched his shoulders and went to talk to the engineers and repairmen who were beginning to congregate around the Rises. For their part, Carter and Lars began to stroll away along the street.
"So what're you going to do?" Carter asked. Lars shrugged and slipped his paws into his jacket pockets with a grin.
"Oh, I'm sure one of my acquaintances will let me in. I've shown them how to be...accommodating. You?"
Before Carter could answer, something landed at his hooves with a sodden 'plath' sound. They both stopped and looked down.
"It's a towel." Lars said eventually, prodding it with his shoe. Carter nodded.
"Yup." He agreed. He glanced around. They had been stopped by the alleyway that ran down the side of the Rises. There were a few empty, discarded boxes, but that was about it as far as he could see. Nonetheless, he took a step forward, the ever-curious Lars by his side. The wolf had scooped up the rain-drenched towel and was taking a sniff.
"Definitely a lady's towel." He commented with a leer. Carter nodded absently as he looked into the alley. Was that a brief flash of colour he'd just seen?
"Hey, look at this, it's been monogrammed...I wonder who 'MM' is?" A sudden flash of red, gone as soon as he'd seen it. Carter felt as if he might be able to make an educated guess. He cleared his throat.
"Ria?" he asked cautiously, and Lars jumped back with a startled oath of surprise as a head appeared behind one of the boxes, followed rapidly by a tail that actually topped the woman's head by at least a foot.
"Carter? It is you! Oh, brilliant, I was worried I'd been wrong and I'd just chucked my towel at a total stranger..."
"What're you doing there, Mari?" Carter asked, looking a little puzzled and making to move closer. The autumn-red squirrel looked a little panicked, and ducked back down behind her box, failing amazingly to hide her tail from view as well.
"Wait! Don't some any closer!" She pleaded, and Carter blinked.
"Uh...why?"
"Because I'd only just stepped out of the shower when the alarm went off, if you must know." Came the slightly embarrassed reply, and her tail gave a slight flick from side to side. "You don't have any spare clothes, do you?" She asked pleadingly.
"You mean you're naked back there?" Lars grinned, trying to peer around the bulk of his friend, who was all but blocking off the alley. Carter gently but firmly pushed him back.
"Why didn't you grab any clothes on the way downstairs, Mari?" he asked quietly, his hands gripping the base of his tee-shirt and pulling upward. It was soaked through, black, and had the name of a rock band on it, but he figured it was better than nothing.
"I panicked, didn't I? So I, you know, jumped out the window."
Lars leaned his head up towards Carter's.
"She jumped out the window? What floor does she live on?"
"Fifteen."
"Fifteen?! That's insane!"
"Not if you're a Squirrel." Carter shrugged, tossing his teeshirt towards the boxes, where it was deftly fielded by a paw.
"Thanks, Carter! ...Guns N Roses? Cool."
Accompanied from the sounds of rustling from deeper in the alley, Lars jabbed Carter in the small of his back.
"So who is she, then, and why haven't I seen her before? How many ladies have you been hiding from me?"
"She's new, only moved in a fortnight or so ago. I helped her move her thins in. You were at work."
"Then how come I've never seen her going through the lobby, then?"
"I don't think she uses it much." Carter admitted, recalling the long glances the Squirrel had cast towards the massive window that dominated almost an entire wall of her lounge.
"Use what?" Maria asked, stepping out from behind the boxes and rearranging the tee-shirt. It was an...interesting effect, Carter had to admit. On the Shire Horse, it had been rather form-fitting and snug. But the Squirrel was at least two and a half feet shorter and of a much slighter, agile build. The sleeves came down past her elbows, and the hem of it reached down to her knees, save for at the back where it looked as if the base of her tail was pushing it up. One paw was behind her, tugging at the teeshirt, and the other clutched at the garment's collar. The neck was far too wide for her and seemed to be permanently threatening to slip from one shoulder entirely. In addition, the sodden fabric clung to her chest, outlining the shape of her breasts and slight hips. Her hair was plastered damply to her head, and her tufted ears flicked a little to loose drops of rain. She moved towards them with an unconscious, natural grace, her bare feet stepping carefully between the puzzles.
"Thanks Carter, this'll get me by until I get inside when the drill's over." She smiled brightly, her tail flicking a little and belying her embarrassment. Carter cleared his suddenly dry throat.
"Uh, it's not a drill, Maria. The gas main's bust. We can't come back until tomorrow, earliest."
Maria's tail drooped a little as the rain continued to pour.
"Oh." She said, a little nonplussed.
"You can come with me." Lars offered, draping his arm over her shoulder, lewd inflections dripping from every syllable. Maria looked at him flatly, and ducked out from his embrace.
"You'd be Lars, right? The Skinny? Yeah, no thanks. The supervisor warned me about you. Besides, you came on way to strong."
Carter tried to hide his grin. So Lars liked to dress up as a human, like something from a cartoon, did he? That was something he hadn't known before. He beamed widely at the flushed wolf, who looked up at him.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being a Skinny!" Lars said defensively.
"I never said there was." Carter said innocently. He left the shorter man to his embarrassed sulking, and turned to look down at the Squirrel.
"So where're you going to stay tonight, miss Moray?" He asked quietly. He heard Lars's sudden intake of breath, but paid no heed to it as Marianne looked uncertainly at the sky, shielding her eyes with a forearm from the rain.
"Um...I'm not sure." She confessed. "But I'm sure something will work out..."