Astral Gifts

I felt my cheeks burning. Sheeet. A ridiculously curvy cosplayer was flirting with me. This never happened. Usually, I awkwardly shuffled past booths, too shy about making IRL friends to make eye contact.

Maybe this was just her marketing strategy? Yeah, that’s it… Vendor marketing. No way that a girl with a figure like this would ever talk to…

“I… uh…” I let out eloquently, my brain hiccupping as I stared at the cosplay photos strung across the back of the booth.

So many stupid sexy cosplays in barely-there G-strings. No, a butt like that couldn’t be real. These were clearly super-photoshopped. Had to be…

“A soul seems like a costly price for a photograph of you,” Laika commented, pulling me back defensively.

“It’s a joke, bruh. Oh! Is that a doggo PLUSHIE? Did HE buy you a PLUSHIE?” The cubehead pointed at me accusingly.

“Yes?” I said.

“ADORABLE! Ten out of ten. Full marks. A plus plus!” She pumped her fist. “You have PASSED the first test!”

“There’s a test?” I asked.

“There’s ALWAYS a test! Life is a series of tests! This one you passed by being nice to a stranger! Most people fail that one!”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to her chattering. The cube headed vendor was a lot.

Capital L Lot. Too many revealing, supermodel-style chest and butt pics a LOT.

“I’m… glad I passed?” I ventured, struggling not to stare at the lewd cosplay gallery.

“You should be! The reward is Eternal Fwen-ship!” She reached under the table and produced a cardboard crown, sliding it across the table towards me. It was decorated with bright orange construction paper, covered in glitter, with “MY HERO” written on it in colorful markers. Over a hundred fox stickers decorated the edges. “Here! This is for you! I made it myself as a reward for the cutest cosplayah.”

“I am definitely wearing that.” I chortled.

Yes, focus on the nice crown. Don’t look at the perfect photos.

“You will ABSOLUTELY… wait, you said yes?”

“Yeah. It looks stupid. I want it.”

The cube-head made a sound like a deflating balloon. “You’re not supposed to… you’re supposed to RESIST and then I CONVINCE you and there’s a whole THING… I’ve planned. A THING! Stop derailing my script, bro.”

“Nope.” I took the crown and put it on. “Derailing scripts is fun.” It sat lopsidedly on my head.

When did I get this good at derailing scripts? Maybe Laika’s company had something to do with being more brave than usual.

“I… okay! This works too! You’re now the regalest sun-knight of all!” The cosplayer declared, spreading her arms wide. “A glowing, toasty bacon of hope!”

Laika giggled softly. I turned to look at her and she quickly covered her mouth with her hands.

“You look silly,” she said through her fingers.

“I look MAGNIFICENT,” I corrected. “Magnificently silly. There’s a difference.”

She giggled again. Louder this time. Her tail began wagging like helicopter blades.

The cubehead cosplayer leaned across the table, chest swaying under the zentai suit. “See? SEE?! This is what today is all about! LAUGHTER! Merriment! Good feels!”

“You’re… very intense,” Laika observed.

“Thank you! I cultivate intensity like a garden! I water it with excessive enthusiasm and fertilize it with Red Bull!”

“That seems unhealthy,” I said, once again glancing at her alluring selfie garden.

Nope, I’m better than this. Can’t look like a drooling idiot in front of my new friend Laika.

“It is mega-unhealthy! Alas, my passionnnnn has no limits! Also, I’m Sage… if you forgot.” Sage reached under the table again and produced two more items. A bracelet made of braided orange and silver thread with a small fox charm dangling from it, which she handed to me. And a small, star-shaped pendant on a simple leather cord, which she offered to Laika. “Gifts! From my emporium! For my favoritest customers!”

“We haven’t bought anything yet,” I pointed out. “I don’t think that we qualify as customers.”

“Irrelevant! I am giving these to you because I wanna! A symbol of our… sexy cosmic connection!”

The way she said “sexy” was a knockout punch, even heavily muffled by the helmet it made my heartbeat go wild.

You’re better than this Ash. She’s obviously waaaay out of your league, and probably has ten boyfriends in ten states that she’s milking for cash online. Yes, that’s it. She’s probably on Gonelyfans. That’s not a healthy relationship choice for a partner.

Laika took the pendant, examining it with wide, brown eyes. The star with a fox-eye was carved from some kind of pale wood. “It’s… Beautiful. Thank you.”

“It’s for YOU,” the vendor said, “It’ll remind you that you’re not alone. That even when things seem dark and cold and scary, there are people who care about you!”

The words hung in the air, suddenly heavy with unexpected weight to them.

Laika’s eyes glistened. She clutched the pendant to her chest, right next to the stuffed dog.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you… I… It’s nice. This place is nice. I really appreciate this dream… Lady fox. Is he… really… like this? This isn’t a trick right? Mr. Bond… Ash isn’t… He’s been acting like he just met me two hours ago.”

“I did say that things are wobbly,” the cube-head cosplayer replied. “I wobbled him sideways, backwards to this day about a year ago. This is a day from his and my life, a slice of it. I wanted to show you what he’s really like in real life, without masks, without worries. So, how do you judge our Alpha?”

“He’s… nice,” Laika said. “Kind… sweet.”

I stared at them both.

Did they know each other? What? Was this some kind of prank? A coded conversation? I had no idea what they were talking about. Maybe they were meme-ing some obscure anime I’ve never seen?

“Group hug time!” Sage announced, vaulting over the table with unexpected agility for a person wearing a cardboard cube on their head. “Teya! Quit loafing back there and join us!”

I was suddenly engulfed in a tight embrace. Oh no. She was so close. So very, very close.

Laika was pulled in too, pressed between me and the overly-enthusiastic merchant of selfies. Her thin arms wrapped hesitantly around us both, grip was tentative at first, then tighter. Her tail wagged against my leg.

Something about the moment felt important. I couldn’t explain why.Fox… Laika called Sage… Lady fox?

Up close Laika’s costume suddenly looked and smelled far too realistic. As if she was a genuine dog-person and not a cosplayer.

Teya? Who’s Teya?

A dark haired, tall, violet-eyed girl stepped out from the tent innards and slowly approached us. “Hi.”

She was wearing a black “PROPERTY OF FOX” shirt with the drawn fox supporting her curvy chest making a silly face. I felt like I knew her and also didn’t. My mind wobbled further sideways.

“You smell lost, Ash,” the violet-eyed girl said softly.

“I’m… at a convention,” I said slowly. “How lost can I be?”

“Very,” Sage laughed. “Very, very lost. Lost in time! Lost in space! Lost in the sauce! Lost in my brain-melting hug!”

“What.”

“She means philosophically,” the violet-eyed girl clarified. “Also literally… You’re about a year behind where you should be.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I admitted.

“Good!” Sage clapped her gloved hands together. “Excellent! The wobble is holding! Teya, how’s he look to you?”

“Younger,” the girl called Teya said. “Softer around the edges. Fewer worry lines.”

“How many worry lines should I have?” I asked.

“Ignore the dragon! She speaks in riddles!” Sage giggled, elbowing Teya.

“Dragon?” I looked at the violet-eyed girl more closely. Her eyes seemed to glow from within ever so slightly.

“When’s he going to be… fully himself?” Teya asked.

“Soonish.” Sage shrugged. “He’s kind of thick. Linear-thick. Susceptible to magical shifts when divided. All of this says it’s August of 2024, so that’s what he thinks.”

“What?” I asked. “If it’s not 2024 what is it then?”

“August of twenty twenty five!” Sage bobbed.

“Riiiight,” I said.

Yep, she was clearly unwell. Why do all the girls I fall for have to be crazy?

“What are we doing now then?” Teya wondered.

“Do you two wish to roam the con some more?” Sage asked.

“We’ve been walking for hours,” I said, refocusing on the conversation. “My feet are staging a revolution.”

“Feet revolutions are valid,” Sage agreed. “Rest is important. Self-care is important. Taking a breather with new friends is most important. Why don’t we head outside for nice noms?”

“Don’t you have to sell stuff?” I asked.

“Eh.” She shrugged and covered everything on her table with a black cloth painted with gold fox eyes. “Friendshippery is more important. Thursdays are terrible for sales anyways.”

“Aight,” I said.

I took a step from Sage’s booth and reality suddenly wobbled.

No, it was me that wobbled.

Wobbled and then snapped together catastrophically, nearly making me trip over my own feet. The frontend and backend of my mind collided back together, rejoined as one.

Shady and Nexxali flashed into existence at my sides as their human shaped versions. Laika yelped, letting go of my hand.

“Ah,” Sage said. “And we’re all together. Subarashi!”

I looked at Sage with a frown, her muted allure no longer melting my thoughts. “You… tricked me.”

“Nu-huh. You tricked yourself, bruh,” Sage huffed from under her cube-head cosplay. “You wanted to experience today, with new friends at your side. You wanted it so bad your linear half-soul convinced your brain that you were really in twenty twenty four.”

“I…” I opened my mouth and closed it.

She was right. I did want to attend this convention with… a friend or two, without having to worry about alien invasions.

I glanced at Laika. My brain no longer processed her as a cosplayer. She was a pradavarian dog, an actual alien at a comicon.

Laika for her part looked withdrawn, clearly scared of Shady and Nexxali. Mostly Shady. Shady had that effect on people, even when not looking like a Wendigo.

“Laika,” Shady said.

“Y-yes?” The prad dog swallowed.

“If I, uhm,” Shady let out, lowering and softening her voice. “If I scared you earlier, I’m sorry. I tend to do that when I’m… hungry. It’s… my thing. Just Wendigo things, I suppose.”

She offered the dog-girl her pale, lanky hand. “Friends?”

“F-friends,” Laika reached out and shook the human-Wendigo’s hand with her paw. “A-are you not hungry anymore then?”

“Nah,” Shady replied with a toothy smirk. “I ate all of your nightmares.”

“Yep,” Nexxali agreed jovially. “They’re all dead.”

Laika gulped. “So then…”

“You won’t dream of your worst day anymore,” Sage said. “You’re free.”

“Free?” Laika repeated with a concerned expression. “Really? I’m… free?”

“Uh-huh,” Sage nodded with her cardboard box head. “Free forevah, to do whatever you wan’ to when you wake up. If you want to, say, walk away… from your mission, come down to Earth, meet us in the real… you’d be able to do that without your blood catching fire.”

“My mission?” Laika looked contemplative. “I… don’t remember any… missions.”

“Like Ash, you currently don’t remember things that you REALLY don’t want to think about,” Sage said. “This is a nice dream without dire stress. When you wake up you’re going to be fully yourself again though.”

“And the… toy and pendant?” Laika looked at her gifts with a sad expression, “will they… be gone?”

“No,” Sage said, “They won’t.”

“What?” Laika muttered. “How can they possibly exist outside of a dream?”

“Teya can stabilize them, suspend their echoes in the Astral with me, make ‘em exist as ghostly objects. Visible to you alone,” Sage revealed. “When we meet I’ll give them to you as real defensive artifacts.”

“Uhrm,” Galateya let out. “I’ve never done that. But I can try.”

“Remember, these aren’t binding curses, nor pacts, nor chains, they’re gifts, reminders that we are out there, waiting for you,” Sage added softly.

“How do I… how do I find you?” Laika asked. “When I wake up?”

I considered telling Laika the address of the pub in Seattle currently being secured by Wattica and Kawathra’s Corpse Seeker.

“The pendant,” Sage said before I opened my mouth. “It’ll show you the way.”

“Why can’t you just tell me?” Laika asked.

“Because the devious bastards who bound you with pact chains might stop you from doing specific stuff or going to a specific place,” Sage explained. “They’ll be watching when you wake up. The pendant is safer as we can change the meeting spot.”

Laika nodded.

Sage turned to Galateya. “T-buns, work your magic. The doggo might wake up soon, so we might as well get to it faster.”

Galateya stepped to the shy-looking dog girl. She reached out and gently touched the star pendant dangling from Laika’s paw.

“I’ve never stabilized dream objects deliberately before,” Teya admitted.

“You froze yo gun’s contract.” Sage grinned. “You got it. I know you can do this.”

“I, uhm, froze her accidentally,” Galateya pursed her lips.

“Don’t mattah. You’ve got a skill from it, no? Use it. Think of it like… suspendin’ an idea in time,” Sage encouraged, “makin’ a concept moarr permanent.”

Galateya closed her eyes. Frost began to spread from her fingertips, coating the wooden star in sparkling crystalline patterns. The temperature around us dropped several degrees. Her human disguise flickered, radiant scales manifesting along her neck and hands.

Laika shuddered, staring at the dragon girl and the pendant with wide eyes.

“Focus on da’ weight of the feels,” Sage coached, fox-eyes appearing in rings around them both. “The pendant is a promise, not leather or wood. Radiant hope, a gift for Laika with greatah’ meaning. Freeze the concept, bruh, make it persist way longer than it should.

Galateya’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

“I’m guiding, directing you, no fret,” Sage added, grabbing Teya’s wrists.

The Taniwha’s eyes ignited with brilliant violet rings. Frost bloomed across the air, then seemed to sink into the pendant itself. The wood began to glow faintly, a soft silver-blue light pulsing from within.

“Is it… working?” Laika whispered.

“Keep going,” Sage urged. “The plushie too. Both gifts need to be anchored to the doggaw.”

Galateya reached for the stuffed dog in Laika’s other arm.

“Ah, ah! I can feel it,” Teya’s voice came out slightly strained. “They’re… solidifying!”

“Excellente,” Sage said. “Seal it! Make it permanent.”

Galateya exhaled sharply. A wave of cold then warmth pulsed outward.

The glow around both objects intensified. A radiant rainbow detonated from Galateya dancing across the convention hall, momentarily suspending the nerdy and cosplayer crowds as if reality was put on pause, making the halogen lights above us flicker.

“Phew. It’s done,” Teya announced, opening her eyes with a soft smile. “I think.”

“Yep.” Sage nodded, a ring of fox eyes flickering above her cube-head. “They should persist when she wakes. Visible only to Laika now, existing in the space between dreaming and waking.”

Laika sniffed the plushie and pulled the pendant onto her neck. “It… smells more real.”

“Because they are real,” Sage confirmed. “As real as anything can be in the Astral ‘nways.”

“Thank you,” Laika said. She looked at each of us in turn. “All of you. I still… don’t… I don’t understand why you’re being so kind to me.”

“Because you deserve kindness,” I said. “Everyone does, especially if they’re hurting. Right Shades?” I glanced at the haughty looking, tall blonde.

“Right,” Shady made a face and then grinned and messed up my hair. “Don’t make me sound too sappy, Ashy. My reputation as a terrifying nightmare is at stake here.”

“You literally just apologized to her, babe,” Nexxali pointed out.

“Temporary weakness. Won’t happen again.”

“Sure, Princess.”

“Shut up, cat.”

Laika giggled at their banter.