[Fiction] Vixen - Realms

[z-Carver]

Sunlight burned through her eyelids, forcing Roxanne to move her head. And as she moved her head, the pain that blossomed in her brain forced her into consciousness. With a groan, she sat up, looking around and struggling to remember how she got here. She remembering falling asleep with Mitch, and that was all.

,,

If she was feeling like crap, her surroundings were doing her best to lift her mood. Rich, green grass grew in thigh-deep in wind-billowed waves; tall, powerful trees rustled in the blue sky. And the stillness – it was deep and primal. The air smelled of outdoors, and nature; there were so many different scents, scents that you just didn’t smell in the modern world – rot and decay, life and living. This was the scent of nature running rampant.

,,

“This is bad,” Roxanne said, sitting up fully. “I have seen this movie before and this is bad.” There was something else wrong, but she couldn’t decide exactly…

,,

A shriek tore through the air, and Roxanne was on her feet, looking toward the source of the noise. A young woman ran into view, stumbling as she crested a hill. Roxanne took a step forward; when she saw what was chasing the woman, she took that step back quickly.

,,

A mad scientist’s wet dream rushed her, a nightmare mixture of wolf and centipede. Thick, shaggy fur hung in limp lanks from a feral, snarling head that crudely meshed with a hard-shelled body. It was at least one hundred feet long; while the black and red body was only five feet across, it had long, spindly legs sprouting from its body. Not that it used them; the whole monstrosity flew, cutting through the air like a snake through water.

,,

The girl stumbled and fell down with a surprisingly cute scream. Vixen didn’t think about what she did; instead she gathered her fire to her hands and thrust it at the monster. A blast of rich, blue flame poured from her fingers, flickering and flashing as it impacted against the monstrous shell of the terrible creature. With a shriek, the creature fell to the ground, curling in on itself before shuddering into death.

,,

The girl rose to her feet, shaking out her long, black hair. “Wow,” she said, walking over to Roxanne, “that was cool! How’d you do that? Are you some sort of demon?”

,,

Roxanne felt the fur on the back of her neck start to rise; with an effort, she soothed herself. “No, I’m not,” she said once she was sure she was calm. “I’m a nova.”

,,

“Isn’t that a kind of star?” the girl asked, tilting her head.

,,

Roxanne quirked an eyebrow up, though the motion was mostly lost in fur. “You’ve never heard of no-”

,,

“KAGOME!” a strident voice shrieked, and Roxanne and the girl turned to see a figure running toward them. He cut a strange form; his outfit was a bright red and of a vaguely oriental cut, his eyes were a flashing gold, and he carried a sword bigger than Roxanne. But most amazing was his mane of thick, white hair; it fell past his waist in a pale, glorious spill.

,,

Then Roxanne saw his ears poking up through his white hair. A nova?, Vixen wondered as her other eyebrow joined the first. Here? Then she asked a more important question, Where is here?

,,

“It’s ok, Inuyasha,” Kagome said, “I’m alright. I was saved by the fox-demon.”

,,

“Hmph,” the white-haired boy said, crossing his arms. “I was gonna save you.”

,,

“It’s not a contest,” Roxanne said, hiding her irritation. “And my name is Roxanne, by the way.”

,,

“I’m Kagome,” the girl said, managing to look adorable as she introduced herself. “This is Inuyasha. Our friends Miroku, Shippo and Sango are… there!”

,,

Roxanne followed the pointing finger and was startled to see a giant cat of unknown species, flying through the air without wings while flames poured from its feet. For a second, Roxanne was befuddled; then she remembered Wakinyan, and realized that this form was nothing big. Ok, so we have a lot of novas here, she decided.

,,

Once she was finally past her amazement at the strange nova, Roxanne saw that it was carrying three riders, a handsome man, a lovely woman and a strange, strange child. In fact, Roxanne realized with a start, all of the adults were attractive – Where are the “ugly” friends? Could these all be novas?

,,

Time to find out who was what. In the flurry of the great cat-creature landing, Roxanne closed her eyes and sent a pulse of energy through her node. Like a sonar, it sent out a wave of energy, which should ‘ping’ off of any other nodes nearby.

,,

There was no answering ping. Well, this is downright weird, Roxanne thought, one of her tails twitching behind her in aggravation. But there was nothing else to do at the moment, so she stepped forward to meet the new arrivals.

,,

* * *

,,

By the time the campfire was lit that night, Roxanne had a decent measure of her companions. And what an uneven, strange lot they were. They claimed to be Japanese (and even claimed to be speaking Japanese when Vixen knew they were speaking English), but they had none of the features of a Japanese person. Also, they claimed to be in medieval Japan, though Kagome said she was from modern Japan. The explanation of what she was doing in medieval Japan involved a long, complex story about a magical well and magic jewelry. Vixen was unamused.

,,

The people themselves were… interesting; within moments, Vixen had pegged their various personalities. Miroku was the lecherous, troubled young man with a hidden heart of gold; Sango was the plucky, lovely female fighter with an improbable weapon; the child, Shippo was actually a ‘fox-demon child;’ Kagome was the fish-out-of-water who nonetheless was the heart of the group; and Inuyasha was the angry half-demon. I’m in a comic book, Roxanne sighed to herself as she ate some of the very modern food Kagome had cooked. Apparently, the young girl went back through her magic well occasionally, attended school and brought back food from the modern era.

,,

And the relationships! By dessert, Roxanne was getting a headache from the vibes being thrown around the campfire. All of the young people had already paired off, though there didn’t appear to be any internal triangles, thankfully. Now, external… that was something different. At one point, Inuyasha left the fire, leaving Kagome sitting alone, clearly miserable, while Miroku was gone somewhere, catting around, if Roxanne was correct. Don’t get involved, Roxanne told herself clearly, which must have been why she said softly, “Guys can be hard to deal with, huh?”

,,

“Yes,” Kagome sighed, resting her head on her knees. She looked lonely and forlorn; just as Roxanne was reminding herself to not get involved again, the girl said, “I just don’t know if he likes me or Kikyo better.”

Oh, god, Roxanne thought, don’t offer any advice. “Well, have you asked him?”

Kagome looked surprised and then embarrassed. “I can’t talk to him about it!” she exclaimed.

Roxanne barely restrained her eyeroll as she said, “Yes, you can. It’s obviously bothering you. And he can answer questions, can’t he?”

“I don’t know if I should,” Kagome muttered. And Roxanne nodded, waiting patiently for what she knew was coming.

After Kagome had left the fire to go find Inuyasha, Sango shifted a little closer to Roxanne’s side of the fire. “I heard what you were saying to Kagome,” the pretty older woman said. Roxanne just nodded, waiting for the inevitable. “Can I ask your advice?”

So much for not getting involved, Roxanne sighed, even as she nodded.

* * *

“There’s been a lot of fighting since you came,” Shippo said critically the next morning.

Vixen frowned down at the knee-sized person, wondering how she could possibly give credence to criticism coming from such a miniscule nova. Ok, so she knew they weren’t novas, but thinking ‘nova’ allowed her to continue functioning without falling into a frightened ball of anxiety. Because if they weren’t nova, what were they?! “Oh?” she asked, not sure what else she should say.

Beady yet endearing little eyes looked up at her as he said, “Is it your fault?”

“Not so much,” Vixen said, “more like I just made them rethink their situations. Kagome and Sango were both unhappy in their own way, and I just mentioned some thoughts on those situations.”

“See!” Shippo pointed an accusing finger at her. “It’s your fault their fighting! We were happy before you came! As your prince, I order you to stop talking to them.”

“My what and you order what?” Roxanne said, her eyebrow rising in disbelief.

“I am the prince of fox-demons,” the pint-sized runt shouted, wagging his finger imperiously, “and I demand that you stop giving my friends advice!”

Roxanne’s tail flicked back and forth as she considered blasting the tiny person into oblivion. She finally restrained herself and merely said, “I’m from a democracy, not a monarchy. Sorry.” And she walked away, leaving him pondering her words.

But he was right, there was more fighting going on around here. Kagome and Inuyasha yelled in one part of the woods while Sango and Miroku stalked around in angry silence. And Roxanne was aware of it, but to her mind, the alternative was worse.

“See, normally, that would be the case, but not so in this world,” a voice behind her said, and Roxanne turned to see a short man dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. A smoothie of some sort frosted in his hand.

“Excuse me?” Roxanne asked. “This world?”

“Yeah, you’re a long way from home, and your presence here is a disruption,” the man shrugged. “Don’t worry – things will be set straight, just as soon as you get outta here.”

“You can send me home?” Roxanne said, smiling for the first time in days. She was ready to kill for a hot shower.

“Well, not me, but a friend,” the mysterious man winked. He took a slurp of his drink. “But he’ll be here soon, so don’t worry.”

“I won’t, but would you mind terribly if I asked you what’s going on here?” Roxanne asked, giving him her best smile.

“Well, you’ve gotten pulled into another world, one of the sympathetic ones where art and creativity come from,” the man said. “See, that’s part of the way the universe works. There are the realms where things live, and there are supporting realms. You’re in one of the latter – a story-telling realm where fairy-tales and legends are born to inspire the living realms. And that’s why you’re creating such a disruption.”

“Because I don’t belong?” Roxanne asked, tilting her head to one side.

“Eh, more because you’re trying to solve problems using tactics from the living worlds,” the man said. His tone and manner became lecturing and his slushy began to wave around enthusiastically. “See, here, those things don’t work because they actually decrease drama. Which is what is needed for this world to work.”

Roxanne did not like where this was going. “So… in order for things to not get messed up, people here can’t communicate or do anything sensible?”

“Yes.” Her instructor seemed quite pleased.

Roxanne considered what he had told her for seven seconds. “I think I’d like to go home now.”

“Sure,” her host nodded. “In fact, here comes your ride.” He nodded over her shoulder, and Vixen turned. And stared, her jaw dropping.

“That’s…”

“Yes.”

“He’s…”

“Sympathetic realms, my dear,” her host chuckled. “He exists in one where truth and justice are dreams that need succoring.”

“Hi,” Superman said. “Someone need a lift?”

* * *

Roxanne awoke in heaven: curled up in her flannel sheets with Mitch, a real bed underneath her. What a strange dream, she thought as she slid a hand down her husband’s chest.

With a mumble, he slowly woke up, his hair standing up in adorable clumps. “Morning,” he said, or Roxanne choose to interpret the grumbles coming from his head-region as a greeting.

“Morning,” she murmured, sliding closer to him. That was when she noticed she was fully clothed, and in the outfit she had been wearing in her dream. After a moment of shock, she forced herself to calm down – it would make sense to dream of wearing these clothes if her body felt her wearing them.

Something crinkled in her pocket, and Vixen reached into it. It was a waxy label, the kind used to seal cardboard containers of food. Roxanne had become quite familiar with them, as Kagome had used them often. The label was bright yellow; the letters were thick and cartoonish – and in Japanese.