Rising Shards

Amara took her hair ties out as she waited for KJ to finish in the bathroom. She sat on her bed and hummed to herself until KJ stepped out with a shower cap on her head and a makeshift shower cap wrapped around her tail. She read the instructions on a large bottle as she went to her own bed.

“It says it takes an hour to settle before I can wash it out.” KJ said, finagling the bag tied to her tail that made annoying crinkling sounds.

“Whenever I’ve removed hair dye, it’s only taken about half an hour at most.” Amara said. “Although I guess I should just be happy this gothic phase is ending.”

”This ’gothic phase’ isn’t ending,” KJ said. ”I’m still gonna dress the way I want and dye my fur and hair and showcase the pain and bleakness of the world with my art. I’m just gonna...tone it down a bit.”

”Oh, OK,” Amara said. An awkward silence that lasted what felt like fifteen minutes followed. ”So what sort of substance did you put on your hair now?”

“The industrial removing kind, because I put the industrial power dye in there, and a lot of that is on my tail.” KJ said. “So I just have to sit here for a while if you want to leave.”

Amara gave it some thought, but even with KJ removing her gloomiest hair dyes, she still seemed very down. And after the two had consoled each other, Amara didn’t feel like leaving KJ alone.

“I don’t mind staying,” Amara said. “Would you like something to occupy the time? Perhaps some light entertainment? A television show, perhaps?”

“No,” KJ said. “Not really in the mood.”

“Maybe listening to music?” Amara asked. “Should I tell you a story?”

“Not a bedtime story,” KJ said.

“But you would like me to tell you a story?” Amara said.

KJ crinkled the bag on her tail and groaned. “Ack, this stuff kinda smells, I can’t even touch my camera right now.”

Amara tried to think of a good story to talk about. She landed on something that wasn’t really a ‘story,’ but also wouldn’t count as a bedtime story so KJ maybe wouldn’t groan through the whole thing.

“Do you remember when we met?” Amara asked.

“Yeah,” KJ pouted. “In that class.”

“Alright, I’ll think of someone else,” Amara huffed.

“No, no, that’d be a good one,” KJ said. “Tell me your take on it.”

Amara blinked, surprised KJ turned around this quickly. She was staring at the bag on her tail that Amara assumed was a garbage bag, unable to make eye contact at the moment.

“Hmm,” Amara said. “Alright. A long time ago, perhaps thousands of years earlier, the three of us were in a ballet class…”

“It was ten years ago.” KJ said.

“Just making sure you’re paying attention!” Amara said before really starting her story.

* * *

Amara pouted as the ballet instructor ordered the class to start their routine again so soon after an all-too-brief break.

“One two, step, one, two, lift, one, two, step…”

Amara kept up with the steps, sure, but she found her ballet teacher very stuck up. Her hair was pulled far back and tied tightly, so Amara guessed that it pulled her brain into her being rude and pushy somehow as well. Amara watched her own reflection alongside the class of twelve or so Kanibari kids, all tottering about attempting their early dance maneuvers. There was only one in the class who moved with any grace; a Kanibari deer girl with pink fur. The teacher didn’t seem to find the girl’s movements as great as Amara did.

“Rain, stay in time with the rest of the class!”

Amara felt her face scrunch up. How could this teacher be rude to who was clearly the best dancer in the group? She turned her attention to the teacher, who was a Kanibari as well, Amara guessed she was a leopard Kanibari, but she could be any number of cat-based species. Amara didn’t care enough to investigate further. In Amara’s opinion, the girl named Rain was a better dancer than even this teacher. As the class continued their steps, Amara reached out toward the mirror. She wasn’t thinking much about what would happen, but she was mad, and when she was angry, the little control she had of her powers tended to show itself.

“Aaaand one, two, step, one, two, lift, one, two, ACK—” The teacher was stopped midway, as a small laser bolt shot out from Amara’s hand, reflecting off of the mirror and hitting the teacher in her shoulder.

Moments later, Amara was pulled aside into a supply room, eyes stinging from tears as her teacher chastised her.

“But in all the assassin movies they’re always ballerinas first.” Amara whined.

“First off, elementary ballet class isn’t an assassin movie,” the teacher said, rubbing her singed shoulder. “Second, why are you watching assassin movies so young anyways? And third, a movie trope does not give you permission to fry people with lasers. You are going to sit in here for the rest of class and think about what you’ve done.”

Amara mostly just had a big screaming tantrum once the teacher left. She wasn’t looking forward to hearing from her parents about this either. As she usually did, she sat by herself as she and the other kids waited for their various family members and guardians to pick them up. Their dance class was at a gym, so sometimes it took a bit for the parents that took their time with their workouts before picking their kids up.

There was a small bench the kids were all seated at or around, but Amara rarely felt like talking to any of them. She noticed something curious, though. The deer girl and another, a raccoon Kanibari, were giggling about something the raccoon girl was holding. The two were seated behind the bench as well. Amara held her pointer fingers together nervously as she approached the two.

“Oh!” Rain said before giggling. “Again, again!”

“OK, OK!” The other girl said.

Amara saw that the girl was holding a small camera. Rain gasped when she saw Amara approach.

“Come here, come here!” Rain said.

“Me?” Amara asked, not used to being included in anything with kids her age.

“But shhh!” The raccoon girl said. She showed her camera like it was something incredibly dangerous.

Amara looked at the camera’s touchscreen. It was footage of the teacher getting zapped by Amara’s laser.

“She recorded it.” Rain announced proudly as though the footage didn’t explain it.

“It’s a music player,” The girl explained. “But it has a camera.”

“Oh…” Amara said.

“It was really funny.” Rain said.

“Oh?” Amara said, feeling immediately excited that Rain was happy with something she’d done. But she didn’t want to get in any more trouble.

“Don’t…don’t show my parents…” Amara said.

“We won’t! I’m not supposed to have my music player out in class.” The girl explained. “I can’t dance, so I mostly just play with this try to make a movie with everyone. My parents told me I could get a new camera if I joined something, too. Oh, and I’m KJ! What’s your name?” She beamed, showing off a smile with some missing front teeth.

“I’m Amara.”

“And I’m Rain! Now play it again!”

Amara started to laugh more as the three watched the clip a few more times before all of their parents arrived. She got scolded a great amount and had another tantrum, but once she calmed down, she vowed to never forget how happy she felt thinking about making friends for the first time in her life.

* * *

“And so, we all stayed together all these years later…” Amara said.

KJ looked at her phone, which had a timer app up. “Pretty good, got just like three minutes left…” She crinkled the bag around her tail again. “I remember it a little differently.”

“How so?” Amara crossed her arms.

“I think you were the one who said they couldn’t dance.” KJ said.

“Pfft,” Amara said, laughing at KJ’s smirk that betrayed her joke.

“Alright, gonna go finish washing this out,” KJ said. She got up, but stopped at the bathroom door. “And…Amara?”

“Hm?”

“Thanks.”