Chapter 44: Planting Seeds

A group of college kid influencers was performing pranks in the lobby while live-streaming now that the internet was back up and running.

Playing her cards perfectly as a potential victim for their current ’prank’ game, she drew a lot of attention due to her mostly full [Lunar Pool] now giving her hair a twinkle effect and her skin a light glow.

Wandering through the loitering groups and lines offering clothes, water, packaged food, and other donated goods, she wanted to roll her eyes at the snickering girl who nudged her friend and pointed her out, knowing they’d likely get clicks on social media by targeting her; it was too easy.

Lazily timing it in her head as the black-haired girl crept up behind her, Rachel saw the tight expressions and worried looks from those who had already seen the kids’ bullying antics targeting the beastkin, trying to warn her with their eyes, but she played the stupid role.

Three, two, one...

The influencer reached out to yank on her tail, missing spectacularly as Rachel smoothly twisted to ’accidentally’ trip the wild-eyed girl.

"Hehe—h-hey!"

"Whoops! Don’t fall!" she cried out, her friends stiffening as Rachel snatched her shirt at the seam, causing it to tear clean off to show her padded yellow push-up bra as she flipped onto her back from the momentum. "Oof!"

"Wh-wha..." she shrieked, covering her chest as Rachel swiftly dropped to her knees to try and cover her with the item; her friends didn’t stop recording, going so far as to move to better angles. "Help—"

Bending in towards her ear, Rachel released a short chuckle. "Be very careful who you try to ’prank’; if I wasn’t paying attention, I might have taken your head off. Heh. It’s not just a prank to people with tails."

The girl’s face went white as she held the ripped fabric against her chest, and Rachel got up with an innocent smile, motioning to one of the stands.

"Hey, can I get—thanks! She just needs something to cover up... You should be more careful next time. Don’t get into more trouble than you can handle; next time, you might lose an eye, and your Only Patrons wouldn’t like that," she snickered.

"Enjoy the free content, boys," she winked at the camera, leaving everyone confused about whether she’d done it on purpose or capitalized on the situation.

Moving away, she went down a neighboring hallway, spotting a wolf-boy’s ears poking up at her comments. Scarlet and Mateo bustled in, the vampiric girl and heavily armed Green Berets causing a stir within the crowd as they passed the recovering group of influencers; the humbled bully was now in tears.

"What was that about?" Scarlet asked, holding the sides of her tank top as if it would just fly off.

Mateo’s sharp eyes caught Rachel’s gaze drifting to the wolf-boy, no older than thirteen, now following them, tail weaving left and right. "Hmm."

Tilting his head to the side, one of his men backtracked to get the boy; the military men were Special Forces for a reason, by how quickly they caught on to her tactics.

"W-What did I do?" he asked, switching to Spanish soon after to try and pretend he didn’t speak English. More than a few of their Green Beret escorts chuckled and responded in the same language, making the boy’s face go bright red.

A few of the Mexicans in the area frowned and paid close attention to them as the soldier brought the teen to them; most of them were somehow affiliated with the unicorn, whom they called ’The Queen’ since she was a prominent figure in their tight-knit community.

"I didn’t do nothin’! I found the five dollars below the vending machine! I didn’t steal it—I swear!" he balked, eyes wild.

Rachel gave him a compassionate smile while waving to get his attention. "You’re not in trouble. I know those guys were picking on you, pulling your tail and ears to embarrass you in front of their fans. They shouldn’t mess with you anymore, and if they do try to, then just pull out your claws, and she’ll leave real quick. Okay?"

The boy’s face now turned another shade of red as he fidgeted with his shirt and nodded. "T-Thanks, umm... I’m Diego. Uh, yeah, she was saying nasty stuff l-like kissing me would be like kissing a dog—people do that, right?! N-Not that I am a dog... I like wolves," he mumbled, ears drooping and looking away as his tail went between his legs.

Rachel knew treating him like a little kid would only further agitate and embarrass him, so she took a better route.

"Totally; wolves are cool. Got to respect strong pack animals that help each other, right? It’s just hard when you don’t want to scare people or hurt girls; it sounds like you’re a pretty good guy, which is why you didn’t bite her hand. I may have!"

He nodded fervently and laughed at her last comment. "Yeah! Why was she so mean to me? All my friends that are girls aren’t nasty like her... The Queen’s not like her; she helps everyone on the block!"

His eyes grew wide as they shifted to her bandages and patches. "You’re hurt?"

This was what she wanted him to focus on, so she lowered herself a little, looking around as if she had a secret to pull him in, and pulling her long braid over her shoulders to draw more attention to her face.

"I fought some aliens over at the college nearby when they attacked the school. That’s why I have these military guys with me."

"Cool," he mumbled, seemingly captivated by her eyes, before following her gesture to the soldiers. "Wait, so...are you okay?"

Rising back up, she chuckled. "Bruised, cut, and sore, but I’ll be fine. Why don’t you go see your friends? Best to stay in the pack, right? No need to be a lone wolf when you got a cool queen to back you."

"Yeah. Thanks, umm..."

"I’m Rachel," she grinned, ears shifting to the left and flashing her teeth. "Mine are normal, by the way. What about you?"

He copied her, showing the sharpened parts. "Mine are pretty scary, so...maybe that girl was just trying to, uh..."

Rachel shook her head. "No. She was just a bitch. Still, be careful, Diego; there are some mean people out there, so stay with your pack."

His head bobbed, regaining his confidence as he jogged off down another hall, stopping and waving near the end. "Thanks, Rachel!"

Mirroring the gesture, she rediverted their path to the elevators to take them to her parents on the 4th floor, where an area was sectioned off for them.

Scarlet wore a beaming smile at the encounter. "That was sooo nice of you."

Mateo snorted, knowing the truth. "That was all manipulation... You’re building rapport with the unicorn’s gang."

Rachel’s illuminated eyes twinkled as she gave him a side-long smirk. "Can’t I be nice and build rapport, all while easing tension and putting a bitch in her place? I try to multitask. Now, the terrifying part...meeting my parents."