Campus Creatures

The first snow hung in the crisp winter night’s air. Kira looked up and took a deep breath. Things were different, she knew, and going back, in one of a hundred different ways, was never going to be a possibility anymore. She’d fallen in love, twice over now. Once with her best friend, something she’d never let herself ever do before coming here. And once again with the cute girl who had been there when she’d felt so out of her element. And she got to love them both, and boy howdy did she ever. 

She was a pretty good girlfriend, too, if she said so herself. These past few months, she’d been cheering Jonas on from the benches, they’d steal kisses before any competitions he took part in, and she made a pretty okay tiramisu to go with his so-good-it-was-unfair cooking skills. And she fell asleep, cuddled up under a blanket, watching her favourite movie with Elliot, who was more scared of Jim Henson’s puppetry than she let on, and they held hands and went on walks and reminisced about how damn cold the northwest was, and Elliot told her that her kisses taste like strawberries. 

Kira squeezed her left hand, and Jonas turned to look at her. She scrunched up her nose when he kissed it. “Hey.” There was more to say, of course, but not now, not in that moment, when they looked out over the lake, at the crescent moon bathing the campus in its soft white glow. 

She squeezed her right hand and got a kiss on the cheek from Elliot for it. The three of them sat on a bench, just a little bit too cold, made up by the fact that they had huddled up a little closer together. McKenzie was curled up under the bench, asleep next to an equally sleepy and slightly larger Toby. It had been a… strange few months. The end of fall quarter had just kind of showed up out of nowhere and their exams had been alright. McKenzie had blown everyone out of the water by doing really well. According to her, being able to turn into a dog allowed her to hyperfixate on actually studying a lot better, and the tradeoff — no more chocolate — was more than worth it. 

With everything going on, Kira’s grades had taken a dip, but the counselor had reassured her that was normal. Apparently, transitioning and being a plant girl meant she wasn’t expected to perform optimally during winter, and she was receiving some private tutoring from both her partners. Elliot was a big help, when she wasn’t fawning over Kira, and Jonas at least was good at keeping her focused, promising snacks as rewards for chapters finished. 

And now they had a couple of weeks off. In theory, they might be going home. There would be questions to answer, though. Like ‘wait are you a Werewolf now?’, ‘what the hell is an Alraune?’ and ‘how did this boy who went to college across the country come back as most definitely not a boy?’ Simple questions, really. Kira shivered, and both Jonas and Elliot scooted a little closer against her, keeping her warm. She smiled. 

“Do you think it’s going to be okay?” Elliot asked. She didn’t sound particularly worried, but it was something that had been playing in all their heads. Kira exhaled, creating a little puff of vapour in the evening air, and nodded. 

“I think so,” she said. “School’s gonna make a big announcement in a couple of days, about monster people and stuff, and they’re coordinating with a bunch of communities around the world. Should be one in Austin, too, so I’ve got a place to go if things take a turn for the worse.” She sniffed. “I don’t think it will, though.”

“You handled your parents,” Jonas said. “You can handle anything.” Kira blushed and leaned her head on his shoulder. She hadn’t told them everything, of course. That’s why bringing Jonas home with her over the break was going to be as scary — if not scarier — than being a public ‘monster person’. But, like Jonas said, she could handle it. Besides, there were a lot more non-humans living around the world than she could have ever imagined. Statistically, they made up about five percent of the population, apparently. 

“You know,” Elliot said, “I really didn’t expect your dad to scream like that.” The three of them chuckled for a moment. 

“Yeah, he got to speedrun introspection,” Jonas said. “Can’t say I’m particularly eager to look in those eyes any time soon, if I’m honest.” He shivered, and probably not from the cold. While his reaction to Malena’s gaze hadn’t been as explosive as Kira’s, he’d still been forced to look well and truly at himself when he had, and had found it a sobering experience. 

“You’re missing out,” Elliot sighed wistfully. “It’s like a dip in a hot spring for me.” 

Jonas rolled his eyes, but did so with a smile. “You’re just saying that because you’re, well, yknow…” He began to peter off when he realized Kira and Elliot had both turned to look at him. “Because you’re gay as hell for her.”

“Gay as charged,” Elliot said, “doesn’t mean you’re not missing out.” Kira giggled. Her subsequent dips into The Void that lurked behind Elliot’s other girlfriend’s eyes had not been nearly as confrontational as the first one had been, but it was still a rough go each and every time. A baring of the soul, truly and completely, in the face of all of infinity, was not something people walked away from easily. Except Elliot, apparently. 

“Mom got off pretty easy though,” Kira said, grinning fiendishly to herself. “She stopped muttering to herself after only half an hour.” Jonas looked at her, and then at Elliot. 

“You see that? She’s picking stuff up from Malena.” Elliot looked too, nodded, and then up at Jonas. 

“Do you expect me to think that’s a bad thing? Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but me and Malena-” Elliot wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Jonas laughed. 

“Not at all! Just, yknow, looks like you’ve got two girlfriends who can smile like that.”

“And you’ve got one,” Kira said happily as she reached up to kiss him. “You got me.” She snuggled a little further into her coat, and the other two scooted closer again. “Both of you do.” They were quiet for a bit, their breath visibly in little swirls. “It’s gonna be okay,” Kira said to herself, more so than either one of them. “It’s all gonna be alright.”

“And we’ll be there with you,” Elliot said. “We’re not going anywhere.”

“Well,” Kira mumbled, “you are going home. I’ll miss you.” 

“There’s a pretty direct bus-line,” Elliot shrugged, “and I don’t mind commuting to come see my lovely girlfriend.” Jonas shook his head. 

“Bull. It’s not even a three-hour drive,” Jonas said, and looked at Kira. “We’ll take my car, I can drop you off.” Elliot smiled in gratitude. 

“You know, for a guy, you’re alright,” Elliot said. “I mean, you’re no Toby, but yknow.”

Jonas shook his head. “No, I get it. It’s not an easy bar to clear, but I’ll keep trying.” There was a low rumbling chuckle coming from beneath the bench, letting them know Toby might not be as fast asleep as he might have seemed. Or it was McKenzie. It was hard to tell when they were in their wolf-forms like this. Especially when they had their noses tucked under their tails for the cold. “And you’re not too bad either. Yknow, for an Austinite.” There was a slight rumble from underneath them again. 

“Good morning, McKenzie,” Elliot said happily. 

“Woof,” McKenzie said. 

“You think our puppy’s gonna be alright?” Kira asked, glancing down. She wasn’t sure if McKenzie had properly woken up, but it wasn’t a bad time to ask regardless. Sure, Kira would have the harder time appearing as human, with the slightly green hue to her skin and her permanent flower crown, but McKenzie’s change would come once a month, with or without her wanting it to, and she was already planning to be an Out And Proud Werewolf. 

Elliot nodded. “Yeah, I don’t have any doubts. Her parents are pretty cool, but her dad still has a collection of rifles. Anyone comes for her, and they’re gonna be having a staring contest with a twelve gauge.” She paused for a moment. “Her first boyfriend did alright, all things considered.” McKenzie chuckled from beneath them. 

“So we should be worried about Toby then?” Kira asked, but Elliot shook her head. 

“Nah, he grew out of that weird mentality after it became kinda clear McKenzie couldn’t be… uh…”

“Contained,” McKenzie offered helpfully. 

“I was going to say stopped, but that works too, thanks.” Elliot shrugged. “But he still has his arsenal, I think. And if this is a global thing, I think a lot of people are going to have a hard time arguing that the ditzy girl from around the corner is going to eat their Schnauzer.” She looked down again. “Besides, I’m pretty sure Toby would probably survive.”

“I mean, I’m pretty buff, but I’m not sure about that one,” Toby mumbled. 

“She’s saying that because you’re a Werewolf, babe.”

“Oh, right.” The two wolves both walked out from under the bench and stood up, shaking some of the snow off themselves. McKenzie went back into her human form and plopped onto the sofa. 

“You know, not having to worry about heat regulation anymore…” McKenzie nodded appreciatively. “It slaps.” Toby stretched, yawning loudly, before turning into a human and stretching again. McKenzie made an appreciative noise.

“Kenzie,” Elliot said, “close your mouth, you’ll drool.” Kira looked at Toby, but didn’t see what McKenzie saw. Sure, he was handsome, but to her, he was just… well, he wasn’t Jonas, and he was definitely no Elliot. Too fluffy for her. But it was nice to see them happy like that. 

“If you don’t like me drooling,” McKenzie said, “you should have seen what I did to your sneakers.” Elliot looked at her with absolute shock. 

“You didn’t!” 

“I didn’t,” McKenzie confessed, throwing up her hands, “but it would’ve been funny if I had, right?” Toby walked around behind her and kissed her on top of her head. 

“Babe, remember what we talked about. No bullying,” he said. McKenzie grumbled and crossed her arms. Elliot nudged her. 

“You can have a little bullying.”

“As a treat?”

“As a treat.”

They sat there in quietly amused silence for a bit, the kind of silence that begged for staring into space in contemplative introspection. It was a nice night. Cold, but in the right way. Cold that meant going home and crawling into a warm bed. The kind of cold that made hot chocolate taste sweeter and hugs from loved ones feel warmer. 

It was a good kind of cold, shared with the good kind of people, Kira thought, and realized to her horror that this implied she was one of those good people. Oh well. Just like being a plant-person, being a  girl, being happier, being loved and being herself, it was something she was going to have to learn to live with.