Encounter 11 - Aerial Nirvana

 

    *shik*

    *FOOSH*

    *WUMPH*

    It only took me one try to get the fire going thanks to the way I arranged the logs in the pit, applying lighter fluid to the teepee-shaped configuration. Cracking was heard almost immediately after the flame was lit, and I could feel Rebecca pull back in response to the sudden burst of heated air. I lowered the cooking rack onto the border of the pit and covered it in aluminum foil.

    “So plan is, we heat up the dogs on the foil, and if you want to char ‘em just use a metal skewer after they spend enough time on the foil. I def prefer mine a little charred.”

    “Same here.”

    “Are you a mustard fan?”

    “Yep. Ketchup too but I don’t mix ‘em.”

    “Heh, funny. I always mix ‘em.”

    “Oof, guess we can’t be in love then.”

    “Damn,” I chuckled, patting Rebecca’s ‘head’.

 

===

 

    I got a first person view of what it’s like  to be a short version of Mark from this unorthodox facial location. Using a skewer Mark cut open the package of hot dogs, asking me how many I was in the mood for.

    “Two is fine.”

    “Got it.” Pulling out four he shook off some of their condensation and placed them on the foil. “Now it’s the waiting game,” he said. “Can you eat like that?”

    “Now is not the time nor place to find out,” I responded. Even I barely knew how I was able to form my facial features on virtually any surface. “Also I’ll be clinging on like this until dinner’s ready, so is there anything you want me to turn into once we’ve got our grub?”

    “Definitely not a bear,” he snickered. “Oh wait didn’t you want to be a kite? Sun’s still out for a while.”

    “Yep! Oh and uh, do you need a lantern?  I can be one of those too.”

    “I suppose we could. But lemme sleep beside a human Rebecca, kay?”

    “Of course man.”

 

===

 

    “Alright this is burning a little slower than ideal...” I told Rebecca, noticing the weakening flame. “I’m gonna add just a little more firewood.” Walking over to the bag of logs, each one seemed too heavy for the job. Thinking about the situation, I can poke the logs or... I can use Rebecca.

    “Hey cutie, I need a favor.”

    “Yeah?”

    “Just a quick shift. These logs are too heavy to add to the fire without causing an oversized flame. I need a hatchet.”

    “Yes! Alright I got you.” Sliding off my body she collapsed to the ground, only to stretch like putty back into human form. “Whew. Been a while but I think I got this.” She performed a few arm circles, closed her eyes, and started to rapidly shrink.

 

===

 

    I merged arms with sides nearly immediately. My feet sliding into one another I condensed them into my combined ankles, which hardened into wood. The wood spread up my body, and as it did my legs fused, my breasts vanished, and all definition of a human torso faded and skimmed down into a hatchet handle. Pressing the front-most regions of my face outward I was able to press a wedge design from my visage, forging it into steel and dissolving my facial features as my hair retreated. Internally reinforcing myself to make sure I’d stay integrate when Mark inevitably swings me I concluded my transformation.

    Without sight but still able to feel I sensed I was being held by Mark. He stepped around; I could tell by how I idly rocked back and forth as he moved, but a few moments later I felt five taps. A second passed.

    Four taps.

    Three taps.

    Two.

    One.

 

===

 

    I reared Rebecca back and drove her blade through the log I’d rested on a nearby tree stump. She halted dead on impact, but no doubt without a thrilling rush from such a clean slice. Prying herself out of the stump she flopped over as if made of wet spaghetti, then her body stretched and expanded until she was again herself. “What an adrenaline rush...” she sighed, nonetheless smiling up at me from her seat on the stump’s edge.

    “You make one hell of a hatchet! Real simple in design but you get the job done.”

    “That’s what I do, in any form we need.” I then chuckled and hugged her. She is quite the sweetie.

    With the halved log in hand I carefully slid one of the two slices under the rack and into the flame. The hot dogs looked properly warmed but decided they could use some additional time. Because of that, I grabbed a skewer, though I heard Rebecca tell me to “take them both.” Turning around, she’d split her right arm into two, and instead of hands, long metal prongs extended outward from her wrists.

    “Who the hell invited Hot Dog Wolverine?” At this remark we each had a good laugh.

 

===

 

    Mark did take the other skewer, but not without a smirk in my direction. He went to one side of the pit after choosing two hots and I stood over the other side. Removing the rack we charred them up just how we wanted them; the slightest bit snappy to the bite. Opening buns and readying our plates, we applied condiments for each other and dug in, wholly deserving some good campfire eats.

    After finishing off one of his hot dogs, Mark lurched for both the potato and tortilla chips. Pouring some on his plate and eating them rapidly it hit me just then that he ate that hot dog in likely under a half-minute. When I asked if he’d eat the chip bag, he replied with a full mouth, “I might.” Then he just grinned and kept eating. I took some chips too.

    We broke into the veggie tray and finished off the sour cream & onion throughout the course of our meal. Slightly surprising to me, Mark seemed stuffed. “I’m filled to the brim, man,” he said. “But I’m happy as can be.”

    “Pigs are pretty happy creatures.”

    “Oh be quiet, you.”

    “Nooo you.” I then bent down and reorganized my body, taking on a new silhouette as my colors and anatomy shifted from those of a human to those of a sow. “Now I’m mocking you.”

    “Muzzle yourself, porkchop,” jeered Mark. I turned back into standard me.

    “Can’t muzzle something without a muzzle, silly.”

    “Can’t speak to something that won’t speak to you, silly.”

    “About that.”

    ...

    “Damn you,” I sneered at Mark as he put all the food back into the car. Locking up, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we made our way from the campsite and to the area in which I’d momentarily take flight.

 

===

 

    “Oooh yeah, this’ll be perfect.”

    We’d come to a clearing in the park not far from the campsite. Everything about it was just how we wanted: surrounded by forest, wide open, and somehow still secluded enough that nobody besides myself and my girlfriend occupied it. “Wow Mark... good find!” She cheered, clearly excited. “There’s a lot I want to show you, but... kite first.”

    “I’m ready. Is there anything else you...” I peered over to see Rebecca folding on herself, her arms spread out wide as she shrank while her torso appeared to flatten out into a blue plastic-like film over a developing wooden frame. She twisted her legs together and elongated them into a long, clear string, decreasing their width appropriately until the string was only about a millimeter wide if that. Deflating her head into the top of the kite she pulled herself taut and sculpted her feet into a handle with much more string wrapped around it. Lying on the ground as if she was always a kite, I slid a finger across her airfoil.

 

===

 

    I felt it. I felt him. I felt it all... my simpler forms always made me more aware of my surroundings and yet there’s my Mark, bringing me into them. I simply couldn’t wait to fly with him...

    I sensed him pulling on my string while simultaneously unreeling more from my handle. He kept this up until about a third of my string had been deployed. Straightening it out, he picked me up only to drop me somewhere else a few moments later. Then Mark began to tow me. He was sprinting...!

    With a sudden gust I found myself up in the clouds, forming shielded eyes in my frame to look below. The small figure on the ground with the handle would of course be my boyfriend, a title I was more than proud to have given him. I could see the world from this point, and that was what Mark meant to me.

    Up here, it was only myself, the occasional bird, and amorous thoughts. I was one... I was peaceful... I wanted nothing.

    Lulling myself away on air, inanimacy and enlightenment, I nearly drifted off to sleep, with lovely images of Mark and I fluttering through my astral vision.