Windfall: An Otter-Body Experience

by Tempe O'Kun

  Kylie drew in on herself, feeling foolish. Only a few rhinos lived in town, and if she’d taken half a second to think she could have realized that none of them were exactly threatening. She needed to calm down and stop acting like a pup.

  A green dragon roared down from the rafters, spreading leathery wings. Flames wooshed down from its maw. For an instant, the passage gleamed with the flare of firelight.

  The otter leapt, flailed at the air, and almost tripped backward over her own tail. A thrill of cold disquiet ran through her body, calmed only a little by the familiar husky paw that steadied her from behind.

  Bouncing back from the commotion, Sarah squeaked with surprise, then laughed. Shane, as usual, trailed behind and gloated at their every scared reaction.

  The bat in the dragon mask wiggled wing fingers at them and pocketed the lighter she’d used for the fire-breathing. “You can start the maze at any of these doors, but choose wisely. You never can tell what lies ahead.”

  Smarting from the Karl incident, she waved Max off. The otter stomped to the farthest door, yanked it open, socked the dangling paper skeleton, and slammed the door after her.

  Through the door, she heard him gave a whine that hurt her heart as much as the scares had hurt her pride, but soon his claws clicked along the floor to another door.

  Endless twists and turns awaited her. At one point, she had to eel through a hallway filled by giant bladders of air. As soon as she escaped from that, a fog machine blasted her with a rain forest’s worth of humidity. Otters can see through water and air just fine, but the mixture sent her stumbling. She punched her way through a heavy curtain, bounced off some walls, then tripped into complete darkness. Using the uneven wall as a guide, she pressed on, swearing as she bumped into pillars and struts. “Ugh!”

  Kylie fumbled for her stupid, useless keychain flashlight, turning the feeble LED on the walls and confirming her suspicions: She’d somehow gotten so turned around she’d wandered into the catacombs of the civic center, a narrow brick hallway stretching off into the blackness, devoid of either life or Halloween decorations.

  She huffed, mostly to put some sound into the eerie silence. Wonderful. Now she had to fumble around in total freaking darkness, hoping to find her way out of the accidentally-creepy portion of the building and back into the part that was deliberately creepy. And then she’d have to explain where she’d been, and Shane and Sarah would think she was an idiot, and Max would get all worried because he’d assume she’d been scared, and just because that was true didn’t mean—

  “Excuse me, are you lost?”

  “Yauagh!” Kylie articulated, shooting three feet straight up in the air as her heart and stomach abruptly switched places. She landed awkwardly, falling against the wall as she turned her light on her assailant.

  An otter stood before her, but not a river one like her. She stood several inches taller and her white-tinged muzzle had bristly whiskers. She wore a black windbreaker with frightfully neon highlights.

  “Whoa, chill.” The matronly sea otter held up webbed paws. “You wander off the track?”

  “Yeah! Sorry…” The river otter made herself start breathing again, her entire pelt on end. “I got turned around in the dark.”

  “Well, you don’t look like a teenaged thrill-seeker, so I believe you.” The taller female wiggled her bushy whiskers. Her costume consisted of 80s clothes grabbed from the back of a closet, but her mom had tried to pass that off as a costume before, so it didn’t seem too weird. “I keep telling the scarers they need to make sure they shut the doors.”

  Kylie grinned. Most adults assumed she was in her mid teens, which gets old after half a decade. Must be because she’s a fellow lutrine.

  “Edith.” She offered a paw. “I work here.”

  The younger otter shook it. “Kylie. I’m lost here.”

  “That’s a rad little costume.” The sea otter glanced at her get-up. “Red Riding Hood?”

  “Yeah. I got separated from my Big Bad Wolf. He’s dressed as a dinosaur. Probably with a space bunny and a cat.”

  The older otter arched an eyebrow. “Gotcha. What’s the cat going as?”

  “Wet blanket, like always.”

  “Ah, normal clothes.” She clicked on a flashlight and pointed it down the corridor. “Let’s see if we can find them through the scare-holes.”

  “Scare-holes?” Kylie followed her through the struts and electrical cords of the access passage.

  “It’s what we’ve always called the little doors that open on the main track.” She popped open a porthole and poked her whiskery nose through. “Back in my day, we only would’ve had one track to check, but now they’ve got this maze. I’ve been pushing for a water fixture.”

  Kylie tailed the larger otter as she spied through various peepholes on the track. Muted music echoed from the other side of the walls, less scary now that she in a less creepy context. Her paws still wrung each other, feeling cold.

  “You don’t seem to be that excited to get back.” The taller lutrine peered through another panel, letting in a curl of fog. “Haunted houses not your scene?”

  “I thought they were!” A shrug rippled down Kylie’s flexible spine. “And then I got here and…” She paused for an instant, then figured it couldn’t possibly matter to vent to a friendly stranger. Plus, the jumble of feelings in her guts felt like they had to be said out loud to get untangled. “I used to like getting scared. Then some actually scary stuff happened and now I’m all weird about it.”

  The other otter nodded. The concern in her eyes could be spotted even in the dim light.

  “Nothing bad actually happened, really. I didn’t get hurt or anything.” Her hands squeezed into fists for a moment as she gripped at the thought. “But, it turns out there’s a lot I don’t understand about how the world works. And now the fun kind of scary is just…gone. Ya know?”

  The older girl nodded and fostered a slight smile. “Well, it’s probably not gone forever. We wouldn’t stay in business long if it worked that way.” Ignoring the screams and scampers within, she slunk under a rise in the tunnel to access another part of the maze. Here, she peered through a heavy black curtain, but to no avail. “The more you get scared in a fun way, the easier it gets to enjoy it. The whole town is based on the idea of being drawn to scary stuff.”

  “Easier said than done…” The river otter snapped her muzzle shut. This random lady didn’t want to hear her whine.

  The sea otter didn’t seem phased. “For me, Halloween’s about laughing at your own fear, finding a way of looking at it that takes back its power over you. Get the blood up and those feel-good brain chemicals going.” She considered. “Also, candy.”

  Though a little worried her guide was about to burst into a children’s cartoon song, the younger mustelid pondered that notion. What would it take for her to feel safe again?

  Edith checked another passage, then wiggled her whiskers in dismay. “Starting to think this is a lost cause.” She waved her flashlight at a distant orange exit sign. “Let’s just get you outside. You can catch your friends when they come out.”

  The pair of mustelids padded out one of the event center’s many back doors.

  The taller otter let the door slam behind her, clicking locked. “Okay, just cruise around the building and you’ll see the main exit.” She pointed a webbed digit. “If you see the lobby entrance, you’ve gone too far.”

  Kylie nodded at the closed steel door. “Aren’t you stuck out here too?”

  “Nah. This is my personal entrance.” She gave the locked door handle a practiced jiggle and popped it open. “Hang loose—and think about what I said.”

  After her rescuer vanished into the dark, the younger otter stood for a moment. The door closed. Then a distant and familiar whimper caught her attention. Around the corner of the building, she glimpsed the Maxosaurus milling around the crowd, clearly looking for someone.

  The otter cleared her throat. “Hey Maxie!”

&nb
sp; His ears popped up. Those blue eyes brightened on her.

  She slipped through the loose crowd toward him. “You got through fast.”

  “I hurried.” He trotted up to her. His fingers traced her arm. His muzzle chewed a question or two he was trying not to ask.

  She squirmed, remembering how she stormed off. “I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

  He bent down to bump his nose to hears. “It wouldn’t have been as much fun without you anyway.”

  Her muzzle angled up to give him a little kiss. She started to think of how to explain how she wandered off the track without sounding stupid, but then a space bunny and a sourpuss exited the building. The pair waved them over.

  Sarah moon-bounced over. “What’d ya think?”

  With a quick glance up at her boyfriend, the otter shrugged. “It was actually pretty cool.”

  “I know, right?” She beamed from inside her clear helmet, then shoved her brother toward the car. “Come on. The high school always hosts a super great Halloween party.”

  A couple hours later, Kylie sat to one side of the Windfall High School cafeteria. Shane and Sarah had led them there, only to vanish into the crowd to talk to old friends. Meanwhile, the otter pretended to text on her phone while a DJ showed unnatural enthusiasm for a loop of royalty-free Halloween songs on stage in the gymnasium. The door between the two large rooms opened and closed with each passing student, muting and unmuting the music.

  The otter sat in a corner near the entrance, nursing watery punch and deep thoughts. That Edith lady had made an interesting point. How could she take control of her fear? An idle paw in her pocket clicked her keychain flashlight.

  The massive husky could be seen weaving around clusters of teenagers and young adults. Max sat down beside her, two tiny cups of punch in one massive hand, his third plate of snacks in the other. Nearing, he smiled down at her, juxtaposed by the serious eyebrows of his dinosaur costume. “May I kick down a wall yet?”

  “Could you? Maybe it’s just because I don’t know anybody here, but I’m feeling a little too old for this party.” She took the offered cup and glanced to the cafeteria door. “These high school kids keep making jokes about extracting your DNA. Mostly the girls.”

  “Yeah.” He munched on some sections of submarine sandwich. “I heard one tell her friend to go Isla my Nublar.” A couple gulps drained the small cup of punch. “I suspect she failed Spanish.”

  With a subdued chuckle, the lutrine pocketed her phone. A teenage fox padded past with a samurai sword and at least eight extra tails. The otter leaned against her husky boyfriend’s reassuring bulk.

  He patted her shoulder. “You doing okay?”

  “Yeah.” She clicked the flashlight a few more times. A soft crinkle in her pocket reminded her what else lay there. A wild plan started clicking together in her mind.

  At her pause, he took her by the paw and led her through the crowd to the front door. They angled through the thinning crowd and out into the chill night air. A short jaunt saw them across the parking lot and back into her mother’s hatchback wagon.

  As they crossed town, she passed by the event center again, its haunted house trappings dark. The parking lot stood empty. The whole place looked deserted. Kylie got an idea.

  On an impulse, she veered into the lot.

  “What are we doing?” The husky cocked his ears at her sudden course correction.

  She pulled up around the back of the building. “I wanna take a look around.” She hopped out of the car. “C’mon.”

  The dog made a series of growly grumbles, but followed.

  She reached Edith’s personal door and, after much shaking, jostling, and rattling, didn’t get it to so much as budge. She chattered with frustration and tried again. Same result.

  He raised an eyebrow. “So, by look around, you meant you wanted to throttle a door handle?”

  “I swear this is the door she let me—” Click. The faulty door clicked open. She swung it open the rest of the way with a squeak of pride. “Told ya.”

  Max padded after her, giving the space a wary sniff. “Okay, so we’re trespassing.”

  “Exploring.” She popped her head out to make sure no one had seen them enter, but the parking lot was as dead as ever. She shut the door and clicked on her feeble flashlight.

  “Uh-huh.” The husky clicked on his much better flashlight, sweeping the beam through the dark and cramped passage. “Exploring what exactly?”

  “Fear. Love. Sex.” She gestured dramatically around the access corridor, flashing the light across her face. Taking him by the hand, she led him deeper into the building. Anxiety and anticipation bubbled up inside her. Could she really go through with this? Sure, the place was deserted, but someone could have forgotten something and come back. Even the nice sea otter lady from before wouldn’t approve of her shagging her boyfriend next to a pile of exotic gourds.

  “Okay, if the writers had tried to make you say something that cliché on the show, you would’ve thrown a fit.” He growled a nervous laugh as he ducked under a strut. Those pointy ears scanned the dark corridor. “Sounds like nobody’s home.”

  “See? You should trust me.” Passing through another door, they emerged onto the scare track. Instead of eerie music, silence awaited. Here and there, dim lights cast intricate shadows through the dangling rubber snakes and fake tree branches. Her heart racing, she still took a moment to appreciate the serenity of delicate color. Dragging him to the start of the maze, she flashed him a big grin. “I’m good at getting in just the right amount of trouble.”

  Several shades of light painted Max’s monochrome fur in complex overlays. “Now there’s something Red Riding Hood might actually say.”

  Spinning to face him, the otter sauntered closer. She wiggled and puffed out her chest, making sure her breasts stood out in her red bodice. Her round muzzle nuzzled up under his blockier one. A webbed paw cupped the front of his jeans. “My, what a big cock you have.”

  He cast a nervous glance around the darkness. “I don’t know about this, rudderbutt…”

  “Come on.” She rubbed her supple body against his. “The whole point of this was to overcome my fears. I never feel safer than when I’m with you.”

  A whine escaped his throat. “But you said we were just taking a look around.”

  Her webbed paw closed over the bulge at the front of his pants. She arched up to nuzzle his neck fluff, under the green dinosaur hood. “Are you complaining?”

  “Not exactly…” His feet shuffled on the floor, taking a stance that allowed her to rub against him without tipping him over. “…but I don’t know if it’s worth the risk. Someone might hear.”

  She knelt in front of him. “Bet I can change your mind.” Her webbed fingers deftly pulled his boxers down. Though only the red tip of his cock shone in the dim light, his sheath felt firm and plump. She kissed the slit, savoring the faint salinity of his precum. Gingerly strokes worked the sheath down, then up, again and again over that smooth shaft. His balls rocked against the elastic waistband.

  The dog himself leaned against the wall. His blue boxer briefs slid down to his knees. His hips shuddered as he didn’t resist her efforts. “Kylie…”

  “Shh…” She brushed the head of his cock under the soft fuzz of her chin. “Someone might hear.”

  He gave a muffled woof at the stimulation. A faint wet heat collected where his tip touched her chin. Upon pulling back, she saw a thin sheen of precum, shimmering in the surreal lighting, tempting her to lap it up.

  The otter dove forward, engulfing his length with an eager little muzzle. Her smile bobbed up and down on her boyfriend’s hardening dick. “Mmmmm.” She drew out the sound of her moan to make sure it vibrated through his flesh. Her tongue swirled and twirled, tasting his arousal as it leaked even more from the tip.

  A growled moan echoed down the empty corridor as he leaned back against a wall strung with fake cobwebs. A dinosaur-gloved paw settled behind her head, not pushing, just e
ncouraging, letting her know it felt good. His other paw gripped a mossy stone pillar for support. His expression got hazy, mouth open as he panted.

  After a minute or so of loving suction, the otter pulled back for breath. She caressed her boyfriend’s fluffy balls as he trembled before her. She reached into her side pocket, past her keys to a plastic-wrapped object. Her paws left Max’s cock to open the crinkly and stubborn wrapper.

  “Are you unwrapping candy?” Those sharp ears popped up again. He didn’t even sound offended. Dogs.

  “No!” With a strategic nibble, she managed to open the plastic package. The glow-in-the-dark ring of rubber radiated light into the dark room. “But it is supposed to be a treat.” She spat out the chunk of wrapper. “I dipped into our supply.” She’d ordered a box of canine novelty condoms online. Thus far, they had been a lot of fun, if not strictly necessary for an interspecies couple.

  His face lit up in the dim room. That green dinosaur tail wagged a little against the wall. “Wow, that’s actually glowing really well.”

  “I’ve been charging it up in my pocket with my keychain flashlight all night.” Careful not to puncture the thin material with her claws, she eventually ascertained which side was the inside. “I wasn’t sure where we might end up having sex, so I thought I’d better bring a way to find your dick in the dark.”

  “You’ve never had trouble with that before— Mmmf!” He bit back a woof as she unrolled the condom onto his jutting erection. His length throbbed as she settled the band of the condom at the opening of his sheath.

  She nuzzled in against his glowing member, then took it in her mouth. The condom’s faint chemical taste distracted her only a little from the pleasing heft and girth of his cock. She made sure to get a little extra spit on him before pulling off. “Mmmm, now there’s a nice treat.”

  With a light growl, he pulled her close and pressed her to a wall with a hungry kiss. The glow of his dick pressed between them, its light catching in his white fur. His eyeshine glinted as he rubbed his muzzle along hers with a growl of lust. “Horny little otter.”