Chapter 31 ~ Slavering

With some unspoken plan in mind, Robin had grown more intimate with Kurai while she bathed. While things were kept light, he nonetheless proved to be very skilled in captivating the novae. Things seemed to be going perfectly up until a poorly timed vying for praise led to Kurai absentmindedly admitting it was not as enthralling as her encounter with the wolfgirl. Robin grew cold as he coyly wished for Kurai to "one day" be a good mistress of the manor.

Later that evening, Kurai considered again what Robin had suggested about imitating a foxfolk. She didn't really need to change much about herself, did she? A woman of her body type wasn't exactly common among the foxes—nor existent at all from what she'd seen—but there were body modifications common enough out there for humans to get fluffy tails. Surely it wasn't completely unrealistic that a foxfolk could get a bit more squish on her with the right dedication.

Actually adding on features was another matter. She had, very unfortunately, not had the pleasure of ever petting or rubbing canid ears, and the only times she felt a tail was when she was getting smacked by that wolfgirl's. They just kept coming out wrong. Having human hair instead of fur on the ears, far more noticeable than she would have thought. Having them being too hard and bony. Having them be too soft and crumpled. Let alone guessing how they fuse to the skull, how sensitive they are to noise, how much fluff there is to protect the ears without clogging them...

It really made the novae feel inept when it came to mimicry when she couldn't fill in the blanks on all those details. And this was just for one part, let alone all the transformations Irene had written about. She had completely neglected following through on any of that homework with how much her attention had been taken up recently. Maybe if she had waited for her trip across the rift until after she already did so...

...Well, too late now.

She opened up both notepads again, making certain to add a rude entry for the foxfolk in her own. Her own notes were woefully unhelpful in anything beyond conjuring a memory of the correct creature. Irene's notes, on the other hand, were pragmatic to a fault. Kurai could hardly recall the right creature on her descriptions alone, but even then they were more than detailed enough when it came to understanding what Kurai could expect to gain from the animal. Strength here, acuity there, multiple ways to accomplish similar tasks. They even came with annotations denoting the muscle groups involved. The biggest surprising help was from an addendum in the back of the notepad.

'One does not need to become a fish in order to swim. They simply need to know how to move themselves through the water, whether by mimicking the fish or through their own techniques. Don't try to become something you're not. Only accept inspiration from the world around us, within whatever limits you feel most comfortable in.'

It gave Kurai pause to reconsider her approach. It wasn't any new sentiment compared to what the apothecary had already said, but it had slipped from her mind so easily until this reminder. All these worries and woes about exact biological composition, the most accurate replications...

Who cares?

What did mimicry matter when it became a limitation rather than a guideline? Still, it was one thing to declare such a thing, but putting it into practice was its own art. Irene's notes were surprisingly helpful for their length, but Kurai needed more. She went to the library, searching for a book about biology and anatomy. A few fruitless minutes in, and a scowling thought came to mind.

Who says I need to read?
If the secrets lie within the animals themselves...

Donning a cloak and removing Robin's planted proximity stones once again, Kurai slipped out into the night once more. She didn't forget the way to the zoo so easily. Of course the gate was already locked this late into the evening. It wouldn't do a thing to keep her out.

Finding a secluded spot around the perimeter of the zoo, the novae slipped off her clothing. They would only get needlessly dirty. It wasn't as if she was planning to run around in the nude, but for these few minutes, she stopped herself from proceeding any further. Her stomach felt weak as she felt her doubts bubbling to the surface.

Maybe this is a bad idea.
Do I really want to risk making another grand mistake?
How many things can go wrong?
It's not too late to back out yet.
...And, yet...
This is something I need.

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Kurai reached within herself to find her resolve. With a bit of imagination, the novae dissolved her skin and absorbed her own bones. Her organs were likewise gone, leaving only the vague, fleshy shape of the woman she was. Something about her still remained faintly recognizable even now. With exposed flesh, the cool night air brushed far more sensitively against her body. So too did the cold metal bars as she passed between them effortlessly. She was faster now than ever, and yet she wasn't putting in any more effort than a nonchalant stroll. The chittering animals of the night grew warily silent as she passed by their exhibits. There were a lot more nocturnal species than she recalled, but it made sense considering she was there during the day.

The first exhibit she was visiting now was the horses'. They were fast. They were strong. They had wide ranging eyes and potent hearing. Most importantly, they were sleeping right now. Kurai doubted she could physically compete with a horse as she was, but if she had learned anything lately, it was how overwhelming it could be to get the drop on someone. As she made her way into the enclosure, it seemed as if the equines were going to wake up at any second.

But by then, it was already too late. Kurai made contact like a tidal wave, allowing her malleable form to crash down all at once. Just as she had done with humans, it was a powerful, targeted dissolution to the spinal column that would incapacitate her target. All she needed to do then was allow her flesh and her nerves to pass through the horse's own, integrating herself with the animal enough to learn all of its secrets. At which point she could release the creature unharmed.

That was the plan, and yet it wasn't what was happening. With an inebriating primal instinct, Kurai couldn't dream of letting the prey go. She wasn't observing it, but consuming it. She didn't need to start solely from the outside either. From every crevice her malleable form could get into, she was devouring it all at once. Even with how slow her dissolving speed normally was, when she was absorbing from every possible angle at once, it took only a scant few minutes to take in every last trace of the animal. It couldn't resist, and it lost its ability to even cry out in distress almost instantly.

With the first meal taken, she had far more mass. It just meant she had more freedom with what her body could do. She immediately put her new anatomical knowledge to use as she swiftly galloped to another exhibit. None of the other horses interested her; she already had the studying she needed.

The next was the crocodile. They were certainly dangerous, powerful creatures. They were also predictable. Remembering what she read in the notes, she offered up her own flesh as bait for the beast to clamp down on. Little did it realize that its maw would never open again. As a fleshy muzzle, she could hold the creature in place as she went through the process of incapacitating it and taking in every last trace of the crocodile. Once again, she would soon put that knowledge to use as she went to the nearby tortoise exhibit and clamped down herself, breaking right through the creature's thick shell.

Large, noteworthy creatures weren't the only ones. There were dozens of exhibits of smaller creatures: hares, ferrets, penguins, iguanas, and many other easily contained things. The zoo owners must have thought they were saving people's time lumping them all so close. Little did the realize just how right they were. Kurai didn't need to instill dedicated effort for each of them. She expanded her body to be wide, far wider than any living creature should have been. Connected by thick tissue, she allowed enough of herself into each exhibit to efficiently capture and absorb exactly one member of every species.

With all that mass, she could easily handle even evasive creatures such as birds. They only could fly so far in their cages. She didn't need to chase them. She only needed to have more of her flesh enclosing slowly in one direction, inevitably claiming her prey each time. Even powerful species such as bears and hippos found themselves helpless with no answer for a foe so adaptable. For one instance, despite how dangerous a crocodile bite was, they only had one jaw to attack with. Kurai's chaotically shifting flesh had no such limitation.

The novae had become The Wave That Consumes. After having her first few specific targets out of the way, she had lost herself from any defined goals. It felt natural to systematically go through each cage she came across. Every time she took in a new species, the more a rain of euphoria washed over her, eager to try out any new trait or part. Her body no longer resembled anything human, only a constantly shifting exhibition of anatomy. The only thing that could stop her was her own gluttony. Before she knew it, there was nothing left untouched. She had already eaten from every cage. All except one.

The human exhibit was empty. Kurai didn't know where they went to at night. Still, it didn't matter. She knew where she could find a human, seeing the streets nearby. Rushing out of the zoo to a place where she could be concealed by bushes, thoughts raced through her head. She could simply brutalize the first person she saw. She could ensnare them in tendrils. She could chase them down. She could put her new knowledge of toxin production to good use. Yet all of those were things she had already tried tonight. There was one thing that lingered in the back of her mind, something far removed from the animal kingdom...

A man was walking with a brown bag to drink from in one hand and a flush on his face. He hardly seemed to register the world around him, but he wasn't so blind as to not notice when a woman called out to him in distress. Not just any woman, but one with a tragic beauty along with a curvaceous nudity, poorly concealed by some bushes.

"H-Help me... Please...!" she cried. It could move even the hardest of hearts. The man obliged, not bothering to hide the grin on his face at the sight of such a woman.

"Please, sir... Just a little closer..." she continued. It was only when he was right in front of her that he spotted the odd fact she had no legs. Instead, her torso was connected to some sort of visceral line trailing deeper into the darkness. The man did not have to wait long to see the rest of the shaded figure gradually emerging from the night.

A thousand eyes glistened within the darkness. Faces that came in many shapes, even ones that shouldn't exist, all bore their teeth, smiling. Things that weren't hands reached out. It wasn't the sight that broke the man. It was the sounds of every one of those mouths laughing. Theirs was a chorus that took away all fears of the unknown. In its wake was a paralyzing dread of one undeniable terror:

Nothing can save you now.

The Wave That Consumes crashed down upon the man. He didn't have time to scream. His throat became suffocated as the godless flesh forced itself into his mouth. His ears, eyes, and nasal cavities burned along with every other orifice. He was melting from the inside. Nothing was painful, not for long. He already lost the ability to feel any of it. Cheap alcohol dripped out from the bottle inside the bag that had fallen. Soon, it was the only trace left of the man's existence.

Even then, he alone wasn't enough. None of this was; stop this... There was one entity from every species—she had to get a grip on herself—but what about one of every sex of those species? Even doing so of different ages, both the children and the elderly as well as the typical adults, no, no, no...? Though really, I said to, who said it had to be just one? Surely she could get more out of it if she were to simply take every animal she could find, get rid of it all, stop it, stop it, I'm begging you to stop it now. And with humans, wasn't the entire city an enclosure, in a way? All she needed to do was, no, not this...

"I said stop this!"

Kurai cried out to the skies above with a guttural scream as she severed herself from the fleshy mass. Her torso found itself forming legs where the visceral attachment once was. She gasped for air, still feeling the effects of her stupor as she watched the greater mass in fear. It was unbelievably large even to the one who made it. It could have covered two elephants at the same time and still have flesh to spare. Heads and limbs of various species protruded from it, yet now they lay motionless and unresponsive. All life had drained from The Wave That Consumes from the moment Kurai was no longer it. It wasn't the grotesque anatomical nightmare that scared her though. It was a shade she could see in the very middle, eyes locked onto her more fiercely than ever.

"What are you...?" Her jaw trembled at that sight alone. "Answer me!"

The shade pulled itself from the mass as well, with sticky globs detaching from its shape as it glid through the air towards Kurai. She recoiled, but with what wits she had left, she soon held out a hand towards the apparition. It did likewise, and just for a moment their hands touched...

Nothing should be spared from this point on. Nobody should be an exception. This world is made of wood and oil before our eternal flames of Chimaera. The future is forsaken; the past, forgotten. In this moment alone, the feast will never end. The only destination is the nearest heart that dares to beat in the presence of the Typhonic beast.

The sensation was deep into ever fiber of the novae's being. It was utterly intoxicating, but it lacked any euphoria. She felt as if she would never be able to stop the compulsion, but the shade mercifully pulled itself away. Its answer was now given.

"...No. Don't ever... do this to me again." Defiance bled into fright as she stared down the shade. It never blinked, and she felt its gaze now more than ever. The apparition drifted again, surrounding her entirely. There was only the thinnest gap of air between it and her body. It never crossed that final distance, and its shadowy haze faded away before her eyes.

Kurai slumped to the ground as she caught her breath. The mass before her stood like the idol of a false god. Its lifeless husk felt as it if was still staring at her, motionless as it was. She couldn't leave it like this.

Sticking her arm into the flesh let her interface with it as naturally as her own body, taking only a few seconds for her control to spread to every bit of the wasteful viscera. Knowing only one solution that could work, she contorted the bottom of the excess into now-familiar claws, rending the earth beneath itself. As ever, she did not need to limit herself to only two claws. The ground itself was helpless to give way in a matter of a scant few minutes. She went six feet deep, then another six for good measure. Surrounding flora on the surface was all torn and spread out to disguise the dirt that was dug up, and the excess covered itself seamlessly. In under five minutes, the impossibly large mass was completely concealed, with Kurai separating herself to leave it inert.

She stood above her own burial site for half an hour. It was only the distant light of dawn that stirred her. She placed a hand to the dirt, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. Even having pulled herself free from it all, she could still feel the indelible mark of an unknown change. Something even her mimicry couldn't touch.

...Just like cleanliness, huh?
But this feels far from clean.

She made her way back to her clothing, redressing herself and pulling out the notepad once again. On a blank page, she wrote in large letters:

ANATOMICAL STUDY: SUCCESS

She couldn't suppress a smile as her eyes lingered on her own words, then she made her way back to the manor just as the boys would have started waking up. She could hear Robin washing himself in the bathroom, while Meus coughed from his bedroom. It seemed like her absence was unnoticed. This time, she would keep it that way.