NOVEL NEXT 31: Vibacious Connection
Krysanthea swiped her tongue across her own beak-snout, as if trying to remove the taste of fur. "Ugh. If this doesn't work, I'm never trusting either of you again."
"Tree-bloom-time!" Nessy sang as she relocated the tree to the center of the RV and rapidly organized pillow nests around it.
"Let's begin with… holding hands!" Nessy instructed, offering her paws to us.
"Is that really necess—" Krysanthea began.
"Yes," Nessy interrupted firmly. "Pack connection. Very important for the vibes. I've done this before, I'm an expert!"
"Doing a thing once doesn't make you an expert," Kristi pointed out.
"I'm talking about producing positive vibes with Alec for decades, you thicc raptor," the husky huffed. "Not just the summoning of the electric pollinators."
With a sigh that suggested she was regretting every life choice that had led to this moment, Krysanthea extended her scaled hands. I took one, Nessy the other.
The circle complete around the small tree, we sat in silence for a few beats, the only sound the gentle rustling of the forest outside of the RV and Nessy's tail thumping rhythmically against the pillows.
"Now we need to think happy thoughts," Nessy explained. "Like... I'm thinking about how nice it is that we're all here together, and how Alec is alive even though he technically died, and how Kristy didn't shoot us when she probably wanted to and how me and the lizard are achieving gradual friendship through our pack leader even though we dislike each other a lot."
"Such heartwarming sentiments," Krysanthea said dryly.
"Your turn!" Nessy prompted, unfazed. "Share something positive!"
"This is ridiculous," she muttered.
"It's only ridiculous if you make it ridiculous," Nessy countered. "Just say something nice. Anything!"
Krysanthea's amber eyes darted between us, then fixed on some distant point beyond the clearing. "I... appreciate being able to sleep," she finally admitted with a twitch of feathers. "Not being alone is… nice. Even though I have to put up with an extra-annoying canine whom I really want to strangle."
Nessy's tail stilled momentarily, her blue eyes widening before softening with a nod of understanding.
"Alec?" Nessy prompted gently. "Your turn for happy vibes."
I looked at our joined hands—my human fingers interlaced with Nessy's fur-covered paw and Krysanthea's scaled digits.
"I'm also grateful that I'm not alone," I said. "When I woke up in that bathtub, reconstituted by the System, I thought I was the only one left in a world gone mad. But instead, I found... both of you. People who care whether I live or die. That means more than I can express. You're my unexpected sunshine and… starlight," I glanced at Nessy and then Kristi.
Nessy sniffled, her ears wiggling with emotion.
Kristi swallowed, blinking rapidly. "You… that's what you… the other you called me. Your… starshine."
"Awws," Nessy said with a watery smile. "Thems good starter Vibes."
"Starter vibes?" Kristi glared, wiping her eyes. "What the hell more do you want?"
"The vibes between us are a pitch too boxy," Nessy declared, releasing our hands and sitting up straight. Her ears twitched as if sensing something imperceptible. "Too many rough corners and pointy edges. We need something smoother, rounder, more... vibacious."
"Vibacious?" Krysanthea repeated.
"Ye," Nessy bobbed, undeterred. She scrambled to her feet and rummaged through her bag, producing a spiral-bound notebook with a colorful paw print cover and the word 'Doggorrific!' on it. "We need to dig deeper. Get to the root of why you are so tense n' lame."
"Hey, I'm not lame," Kristi began. "I'm a serious..."
"Yes, yes, you're a very serious raptor." Nessy flopped back down cross-legged, flipping the notebook open and clicking a pen that had a fluffy pompom on the end. "Kristy, when did we first meet? Really think about it n' gimme the deets."
The raptor's feathers flattened, her amber eyes narrowing with suspicion. "You already know how we met, do you not? Why do I need to…?"
"Because Alec and the Sandwichu tree don't know these things," Nessy said with exaggerated patience.
"You want the tree to know about how we met?"
"Yes! We're creating emotional resonance here! Bulbees respond to genuine connection, not just surface-level niceties. So speak up, lizard! When did our epic rivalry begin?"
Krysanthea sighed, her claws tapping against the aluminum floor. "Grade eight. Biology class with Mr. Howlston."
"Exactly!" Nessy's tail wagged enthusiastically as she scribbled in her notebook. "You transferred in mid-year. Came in all fancy with your color-coded notebooks, fancy pens and perfect posture."
"And you were the class clown," Krysanthea recalled, a reluctant smile tugging at the corner of her snout. "Making ridiculous puns about cellular respiration."
"Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, but laughter is the powerhouse of the soul!" Nessy quoted, raising her paw dramatically. "See? You remember my dumb jokes!"
"Because they were so stupid," Kristi said.
"Uh-huh," Nessy scribbled more notes, her tongue poking out as a cute blep slightly in concentration. "Okay, next question: if we hadn't started competing for Alec's attention, do you think we could have been friends?"
The question hung in the air, weighty with unacknowledged possibilities. Krysanthea's feathers rose and fell as she considered it, her gaze drifting to the window where the forest swayed gently in the mountain breeze.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
"Maybe," she finally admitted. "You were... annoyingly good at field day events. And that science fair project with the solar-powered cell assembly was actually impressive."
"And you were amazing at debate club," Nessy added, writing furiously. "Remember when you demolished Terrence Barkley's argument about local water rights? I wanted to high-five you so bad."
"Why didn't you?" I asked.
Nessy's ears drooped slightly. "Because by then, we'd already drawn our battle lines. Raptor versus husky. Academic prima-queen versus Alec-dedicated social butterfly chatterbox. It just seemed... fixed."
"Like we were locked into our roles," Krysanthea acknowledged, nodding slowly. "Too proud to step outside of them."
"Exactly!" Nessy's tail resumed its enthusiastic wagging. She flipped through her notes, clicking her tongue thoughtfully. "This is good stuff. Vibacious potential."
She stood abruptly, diving back into one of the cabinets and emerging with my grandfather's old guitar. "Time for phase two of Operation Smooth Vibes!"
"More singing?" Krysanthea asked.
"That's right!" Nessy confirmed with a toothy grin.
"What are you, a Disney princess now?"
"Nah, I'm the pack's resident Bard!" Nessy declared, settling back down and positioning the guitar on her lap. "Connecting through shared experience is step one. Step two is processing and sharing those experiences through art."
Her clawed fingers strummed the strings experimentally, finding chord progressions that seemed to hang in the air like visible things. I could see the faint silver threads of her Riffweld skill activating, connecting to both Krysanthea and me.
Then she began to sing, her voice lifting with a clarity that seemed impossible in the small space, filling every corner of the RV with resonant warmth:
"Grade eight biology, two prads collide,
Raptor precision, husky pride,
One path divided by the lines we drew,
Green feathers, white fur–both questing for a boy.
Could we have been more than rivals all along?
Standing side by side instead of head-on strong?
Time lost to fighting, moments we can't reclaim,
But here in this metal home, nothing's the same.
A circle of three where two stood apart,
I wish for fresh-drawn beginning, a new beating heart,
Looming Systemfall monsters–bonds we can't refuse!"
Her voice swelled as she reached the chorus, the guitar strings vibrating with something more than mere acoustics:
"System's strange mercy brought us to this day,
Paradox allies with no words to say,
Except 'I see you' across the divide,
All our broken souls finally side by side by side!
Vibacious connection, stronger than before,
Three souls entwined on this rocky shore,
Lizard and dog and the boy twice-born,
Putting together what was torn!"
As she sang, the silver threads connecting us pulsed in time with the music. Thin strands of rainbowy light began forming between Nessy and Krysanthea directly—not just through me as an intermediary, but a direct connection forming between the longtime rivals.
Krysanthea noticed it too, her amber eyes widening as she watched the threads materialize. Her scaled hand reached out unconsciously, dark-clawed fingers passing through the shimmering filaments.
"So here's to tomorrow and what we might be,
A raptor, a husky, a human boy – a crystal tree,
No longer divided by what came before,
Just guardians standing at Ferguson's door!"
The husky thrummed, her voice rising another octave. Then the lyrics repeated once again, with Nessy seemingly putting her entire heart into it. I watched as her singing skill use percentage rose and fell, pulling power from us and reinforcing itself.
Krysanthea exhaled and slid closer to me, leaning against my side. Her hand reached out and entwined itself with mine.
Finishing her song, Nessy slid behind us and took another photo of us together. Then she propped her phone against the plexiglass container, the screen displaying a slideshow of our selfies—Nessy licking Krysanthea's cheek, my reluctant lick, Krysanthea's pained expressions, and our final group photo. The images cycled through, each one igniting the crystal tree with a strange luminosity that seemed to intensify with each loop.
[Emotional Core Resonance Detected: Initiating Pack Amplification Protocol!]
"Whoa!" Nessy gasped, her ears shooting straight up. "More comments from System-chan! Means we're finally doing the vibage right!" She hugged us tight, vibrating with excitement.
"That doesn't sound ominous at all," Krysanthea muttered. "Pack amplification? Is it... modifying us somehow?"
"I think it's responding to our connection," I said, watching the text shimmer. "The System seems to recognize what we're doing and is... enhancing it somehow."
As if in response to the flashing silver text, Sandwichu's branches began to sway, though there was no breeze. The crystalline buds along its length pulsed with soft, silver-blue light, a gentle rhythm like a heartbeat. The drawings around its base stirred, not from wind but from some unseen energy that made the paper flutter and dance. The silver web stretching from the little papers intensified ever so slightly, thickened like a ghostly network of roots.
"Look, look! It's working," Nessy whispered.
A soft, chiming sound emerged from the tree—the same musical tone it produced when its branches hit each other, but stronger now, more complex, almost coherent. The melody wove through the RV's interior, wrapping around us like an invisible embrace, sounding almost like the tune Nessy sang.
"Is everyone else hearing that music?" Krysanthea asked warily. "Or am I finally losing my mind?"
"It's singing back!" Nessy said, her voice hushed with wonder. "It didn't do that before… I guess it's 'cus our pack is bigger… stronger, more stable. A triangle is a universally stable structure!"
The chiming intensified, resonating through the RV in concentric waves of sound. The drawings around us began to glow with soft silver light, the pencil lines shimmering as if alive. The selfies on Nessy's phone screen pulsed in sync with the tree's melody, the images of our licking ritual seeming to move subtly, as if the captured moments were breathing.
The forest outside seemed to darken slightly, not with clouds but with an eerie haze. Then what appeared to be tiny, distant motes of light ignited in the gloom and drifted forward in lazy spirals.
"Oh. Here they come," I breathed, staring at the open door of the RV.
The first bulbee appeared as a floating point of light, no larger than a grape. It hovered at the edge of the clearing, pulsing gently like a tiny star. Then another appeared, and another, until the air was filled with dozens of the luminous insects, their bodies glowing with colors that shifted and changed as they moved.
"What the shit. How'd they get here so fast?" Krysanthea tensed beside me, her hand tightening around mine. "Fuck. There are so many," she whispered, a note of alarm creeping into her voice.
"It's okay," Nessy assured her. "Maybe there is already a colony in the mountains nearby! Relax! They're friendly. They just want to see our happy memories."
The bulbees entered the RV, spiraling around us like a living galaxy. They drifted toward the drawings first, hovering over each sketch as if examining the scenes depicted. Their lights flickered and changed in response, sometimes brightening, sometimes dimming, as if reacting emotionally to what they saw.
Then they became drawn to Nessy's phone, clustering into the container and facing the selfie display in a tight, pulsing cloud. As they watched the images of our licking ritual cycle through, their colors shifted rapidly—flashing through spectrums of blues, pinks, and golds.