Part 2

‘Ahhh, I honestly hadn't expected the last few days to be so exciting.’ First I almost died due to touching a pretty glowing crack in time and space. Then I not only get turned into a mystical lizard person but have to find out that magic is indeed something very real and tangible. And to top it all off, I had my very first brush with the life of a runner during my fricking escape from heavily armed mercenaries. I was still trying to frantically scrub my mind of the recent memories I had thanks to Marie's recklessness.

Escaping on a motorcycle while being shot at, not wearing a helmet, and also being the person sitting in the back was not something I wanted to ever experience again. For the love of it, I was a scientist! The most dangerous situation I had ever been in since now had been when I had accidentally set my own kitchen on fire!

Additionally, I must have hit myself on something yesterday because I had a massive bruise on my lower back. I couldn't see or touch it because of the scales covering the area, but I could for sure feel it. Even now the bruise smarted really badly and some of the scales in the area were cracked! It wasn’t like I actually liked being a drake-person-thingy but at least I wanted to look good while I had too!

My face must have shown one very telling frown, for when I look up from the tablet I was currently checking for the closest bus connection I found some dude staring at me. As he was doing just that and not approaching me or anything actually concerning I just shrugged and went back to what I had been doing before.

Seriously one would think that the makers of these things would incorporate the unfortunate people that had claws into the design process, the constant clacking noise was just as annoying as the dude still staring at me! What the heck was up with that? Staring at someone like this was rude as hell!

“Okay, fuck it. Is there something on my face or do you just generally stare at other people!?”

The guy seemed to be actually shocked that I had spoken to him and was now frantically looking around as if trying to escape the situation. After realizing that I wasn't going to just walk away he decided that answering was the best course of action. “Uhm, sorry for staring lady, I was just wondering… are you a Kobold?” ‘Really, that is what you came up with?’

“No, I am not a Kobold. I am a girl with dragon mods and very sharp teeth. So, either you piss off, or I will find out how stupid stalker tastes!”

“Woah! Sorry! I want no stress with you people, I'll go already.” Much more quiet but still audible for my well-tuned ears he murmured something else. “Fucking gangers. This neighbourhood is going to shits.”

‘Now this is interesting. He apparently had thought of me as belonging to a gang. Honestly what kind of gang is there that has people looking like me?’ Making a note to ask Marie about this later I started walking towards where the supposed bus stop was supposed to be. Not even two streets later I was utterly lost; maybe I should have been a bit more attentive when Marie had brought me here last night because none of these streets seemed familiar to me.

The further I walked the more confused I grew just what brain dead idiot had come up with the concept for this area after the war? Unlike most of Neo-York which had been rebuild bigger, better, and bolder than before the bombings, the inhabitants of the Bronx had been mostly left to themselves.

Instead of clear cut grids and parallel roads nothing here was conform, not even the streets it seemed. ‘For fucks sake! This is the third dead end I ran into! No wonder Marie managed to lose the Knight Errant mercenaries so easily, this entire district is a fucking maze!’ Just as I was considering scaling a building again, I smelled something delicious.

Out of instinct, my tongue shot out and I got an even better idea of what had just gotten my attention. I was more than certain now that there was food around here! And a lot of it if my senses weren't fooling me. By now I had totally given up on looking at the map and instead let my tongue guide me. The smell was so rich, it was simply incredible, and I could almost taste the food already.

When I suddenly heard the noise of people I put my fleshy appendix back where it belonged. Even if it was a very practical tool to have, it was also completely out of this world… yet that is. I obviously had some plans for using my own DNA in some of my research but that could wait, for now, there was something far more important: Food!

My eyes grew wide in delight when I saw where my senses had led me this time. The market Kassy had brought me to, yesterday, paled in comparison to the bazaar of wonders in front of me. Shacks selling all kinds of knick-knacks, oddities, and baubles were right next to various food stalls offering culinary treats from all around the world.

This was almost like a wonderland so rich in colours and sensations was this place. ‘Just why did I never go here before? This is simply amazing; I can't understand why the corpos tell you to stay away from here.’

Before I could even fully finish the thought my nose picked up on yet another wonderful smell. ‘Can it be? YES~!’ Indeed it could only be one thing the overwhelmingly good scent of freshly brewed coffee! Like a woman possessed I began scouring the immediate area from the tasty delight, not caring for other people's presence or their questioning looks. My body craved the liquid gold even now and I hadn’t gotten a single cup since my change.

‘I need my soul fuel now!’ Pushing aside passer-by be they children or the elderly alike I finally made it towards my goal. A small cart run by a smallish young man who I guessed to be of Pakistani heritage was the origin of my desire. The man was currently selling a cup of some horrible coffee monstrosity topped with whipped cream to another customer. Trying to ignore the coffee war crime I pushed past the last few people and went straight to the stall.

“Well, hello there little lady. I don’t think I have ever seen one so determinedly make their way over to a hot beverage! So, what shall it be?”

I barely looked at the man as my gaze was already fixated on the machine behind him. “Large cup, black, two sugar!”

“Curious choice most at your age want all kinds of fancy stuff in theirs. But I like you, plain and simple, eh?”

“Believe me; I’m older than I look. Now get on with it!”

“Hehe, sounds like someone needs her fix. I got you, one freshly brewed Arabic coffee coming right!”

It took a few moments while the machine was working, so I looked around a bit for my next destination. Almost instantly my gaze fell upon a stall selling some kind of meat skewers, no questions asked, I needed those! Wait, was that glazed bacon? That too! All around my eyes picked up delightful treats and tasty treasures. I couldn’t remember being so obsessed with food before but now I was almost close to drooling!

“Hey, girly! Where were you going of to? Your coffee is ready. That makes 4$”

“Sure...”

Without really looking at the man I paid and put the cup to my mouth. ‘Gosh, what a good smell. Down the hatch!’

“OH GOD! Kid the stuff is piping hot!”

‘Wait what?’ Before the warning could reach my brain my body had already acted. My mouth opened and in one black torrent, the entire cup of coffee disappeared down the gullet that was my throat. Once the last gulp was downed I instinctively released a happy snarl. That had been exactly what I had needed, I yawned once and was amused by the steam escaping my throat. ‘Hahaha! This body is fucking insane! I feel so... powerful, indestructible almost! Oh, the coffee man is staring at me like he saw a ghost.'

“Uhm, I really don’t want to be rude, especially after that display. But those are mods, right? Your not some kinda escaped research experiment!?”

I was in a surprisingly good mood and so instead of ripping the face off the second person thinking me some kind of monstrosity, I just flashed him a very toothy smile and answered both questions.

“Sure! Tootles~.”

With a now almost happy skip in my step, I made my way around the market and perused its various wares. Mostly though I stuffed my stomach with everything that was once alive. Flesh of all sorts, steamed vegetables, seafood, even two forks, and one spoon found their way into my stomach. The latter had been a bit odd for I had just finished a bowl of noodles when I found myself chewing and licking the fork like a popsicle. Curious enough the metal had actually tasted pretty good and so I had stolen a few more utensils and added them to my diet. It may have been an odd thing to do, but my body seemed to literally crave these things. And considering my claws could rend concrete, it made sense that the building materials for my pointy bits had to come from somewhere.

“Hmm~, that was good. I feel stuffed like a goose... and paid almost a hundred bucks for just a single meal. I hope I don’t have to eat so much every day or I will be poor pretty soon, especially considering that I can’t really go back to work looking like this.”

Still murmuring my thoughts out loud, I couldn’t hold back a tired yawn. Actually, I felt rather sleepy after all that food. I wouldn’t be against a little nap right now. Slowly searching the area around the market I soon spied a prime napping spot. A pretty looking wall a bit higher than my head was being perfectly warmed up by the morning sun and by the looks of it; it’d be at least an hour before the sunshine moved on. Grabbing both my duffel bag and Mr. Fluffy Butt tightly, I looked around once more to make sure no one was watching me and jumped on to it in one fluid motion.

I put my teddy down as an improvised pillow and let the basically empty bag rest beneath my tail before letting out another tired yawn. ‘Wait, hadn’t I planned to do something today? Oh well, whatever I literally have all the time in the world, so a nap is fine. Night night, Mr. Fluffy Butt.’ Not even a minute later my eyes fluttered shut and I dozed off to sleep.

. . . .

“No, I can’t eat anymore go away, tasty knight.”

“Hey! Guys, I think she is waking up!”

“Really?”

“Fucking finally, how can a person sleep throughout your entire poking session?”

“Ahhh~ What’s goin' on?”

I opened one of my eyes to see who was disrupting my slumber. ‘Why did people always do that? That’s the second time today. And who the fuck is poking my tummy!?’ Now both awake and annoyed I let out a hearty yawn before turning my head to face my deviant assailants.

“Mhm, who are you, kids? Isn’t it like two pm, shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Ha! We could ask you the same, sunbathing out here like some kinda lizard.”

The person that had spoken was a girl somewhere between sixteen and eighteen. The most curious feature besides her punky clothing had to be the cat-like ears in place of her human ones and some very sharp canines. A quick check of their “aura” told me that they were lacking, in the same way, other humans were, was it magic I was searching for? As I was still half asleep they were obviously not a threat, I responded with the first thing that came to mind.

“I have scales so I’m a lizard. I’m allowed to do this.”

“Haha, look at that, the dragon girl has a sharp tongue in addition to sharp teeth!”

This person was a guy maybe a bit older than the girl and he had much of his face and exposed skin tattooed with a snake-like pattern. To make sure I was seeing right I looked over the third and last person. I had to immediately grin when I looked at the cute twink. He may not have had any impressive mods like the other two but the collar around his neck with the word ‘Bitch’ written on it spoke for itself.

“That’s a cute puppy you have there... so what can I help you, kids, with?”

I began sitting up but stopped when I noticed the three staring at my swaying tail. I moved it from side to side and was very amused when all three of them following the motion with their eyes. Sadly I quickly grew tired of their staring and instead grabbed my bag and teddy and jumped from the wall, landing not even two centimeters away from the cat girl’s face. I had to frown when I noticed that she was about the same height as me, the snake guy was even bigger than myself. Apparently they had realized my frown too, for snake guy was quickly placing himself between me and the girl.

“Okay, everybody calms down! Katie we didn’t come here to pick a fight and to you, uhm, lady, we just have a few questions.”

“Questions? What question is so important, to poke me in my stomach? Don’t you know the saying to let sleeping dogs lie? I’m not like your puppy there, I can be rather nasty if want to...” I could feel my beast side delight in the scent of adrenaline they were giving off, and I actively had to stop my tongue from tasting the air.

“Uhm, I’m sorry about the poking!” ‘Huh, seems that the little kitty is actually scared. I’m not snarling am I?’ Before I could try and figure out the reason for their fear she already started talking again.

“I kinda just got impatient because you weren’t waking up and I really wanted to ask you about your mods! So, I just started poking you and when you woke up you- I was, well the guys say I can be a bit catty, hehe, pun intended, and ofcourse your mods are just so...” ‘Does this girl have an off button? I feel like hitting it right about now.’ To prevent her from saying enough words to fill a whole dictionary I quickly interjected before all was lost.

“Okay, it’s fine! Just go ask your questions.” If I finished this up quickly I could finally proceed with my actual plan for today namely, finding Kassandra. Thankfully nobody but me and these kids knew that I had taken a nap instead of trying to find my girlfriend. But if I knew Kassy, and I really hoped that I did, she could take care of herself quite effectively. Also even despite us going out there had never been a lack of subs around that damned succubus. ‘Kinda serves her right actually to have to wait for me! And if I find her with some other hussy I will just take care of the pest... permanently. Hehe!’ With a wicked smile, I flicked a bit of dirt from my claws, only to be brought back to the current situation by a polite cough.

“Huh? Ah, yes your questions. Go ask, I am listening.”

“Right.” The girl looked me over with a curious expression I could quite place. “So, as I said we kinda wanted to ask where you got your mods! I mean you hardly ever see such impressive full-body mods. They must have been so expensive! Was getting them painfully?”

‘Oh my, is this where I get a fangirl?’

“I can’t just tell you where I got them obviously. I mean we just met and I don’t even know your names. But to answer your last question, yes their... acquisition was quite painful and I do not wish to experience it again” I shuddered as I remember the feeling of my body and mind being literally ripped apart and put back together wrong and twisted. Certainly not something I would wish on anyone. They too must have noticed my pained expression because the cat actually looked horrified.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry! I mean I heard of some people forcing them on others but know that we are fully against such treatment! That is actually one of the reasons why we wanted to talk to you!”

“Oh?”

“Eh, yes! See, we are part of a new group of people that recently got together in the area. I wouldn’t call us a club or anything we kinda don’t even have a name. But we are a bunch of people that really enjoy body mods and uhm, other things.” At that point, she gave the little puppy guy a knowing smile. “But we kinda have a problem...”

Once more I couldn’t even respond before she picked up right where she had trailed off.

“Okay, honestly, our problem is called Devon and he is a prick. He wants to basically take over our thing and now even pressured some of our friends into doing some pretty awful things. And so we thought if we could recruit more members for our side we might be able to get rid of him! And you are just wow! I mean your scales look like they are actually growing from your body! So, even if someone forced the mods on you, know that you are beautiful and just amazing! So, what do you say, want to maybe join!?”

Did she even get to breathe throughout that whole monologue? I honestly considered introducing her to Kassandra, with energy like this she would do great in PR stuff. ‘Oh, fuck Kassandra! I got distracted again! Damn you kiddies and your gang war power struggle shit. Fudge I really don’t want to be dragged into this, how do I get rid of them!?’

“Okay, that Devon guy sounds like a massive jerk, so let’s make a deal. You show me to a bus station around here and we’ll exchange numbers so we can stay in contact?”

“Deal!”

‘Ugh, why do I feel like I just made a deal with the devil? Knowing my luck that guy actually exists...’