4. Naked Encounters

4

NAKED ENCOUNTERS

PACARI

T here's something strange about the cove beneath the Cliffside Lady's abode. Her ghost is nowhere near, yet things are changed. The moon is too bright for my liking, but the Lantern Witch's urgency brings me to the surface in whatever state I must. Usually, I would wait til a new moon to transform into a human. The cover of darkness offers many protections.

I bring my hand from beneath the water slowly, testing the witch's magic. The nudibranch curls in on itself reflexively. Worry furrows my brow until it unspools, the light glow of its spots and stripes still vibrant in the dark. I watched in fascination, through the journey here, how the slug proved hardier than the changing waters .

"Welcome to the surface, slug," I murmur to the little nudibranch, stepping out of the water.

The light catches on the droplets. My scales shimmer underneath. Within moments, as the water evaporates, a reflexive response turns the scales to skin. My scalp and arms and legs and toes itch with the hair that grows in their place. The hair is sparse along the bulk of my body, but from my head grows a crop of hair no longer than my fins, settling just past my ears. I stretch out, reacquainting myself with this human form.

"Oh my god!" a woman squeaks out from the base of the cliff.

I drop to the ground in surprise, knowing how humans can be about nudity. Cirro once told me people in this area wore nearly no clothes several hundred years ago, during which my transformation would have been much easier. But just as I did in the southern waters, I have modern clothes stored nearby. I just need to get to them.

"Sorry!" I call out, answering back in her English. It's one of a few languages local to the area.

"I'm not sure I mind," she giggles. "What are you doing down here? Going for a midnight swim?"

"Just finished," I say.

Her behavior is flirty—an interaction I'm used to, but not from women who have just discovered me naked at the foot of a cliff. Usually, it takes some of my other talents to bring out that reaction. My eyes are still getting used to the dry air, but I can see that she wears a towel around her shoulders. From underneath peeks out her stomach, round and cutely framed by a two-piece purple swimsuit.

"Too bad," she murmurs.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll get out of your way," I say, glancing downward so she understands what I'm trying to save her from. It is then I realize the nudibranch is nowhere to be seen.

"Too bad," she repeats with a smirk on her lips, turning away.

I search frantically for the creature, terrified that I have lost it already.

"Have you seen a…" What? What am I even looking for?

"Oh, I've seen quite a lot—" she clears her throat. "Sorry, what are you looking for?"

She still has her body turned from me, but I can see her shaking underneath the towel. Laughter or cold? It is not chilly to me, but the surface never feels as frigid as the ocean's depths.

"My pet," I say.

The witch promised the human I first met would alter it. But what did it turn into?

The woman squeals again. I worry that the nudibranch never transformed. Perhaps she screams at the sight of a slug—the witch was right .

"You can't have such a cute puppy and be this hot, what the fuck!" she grumbles, affection lacing her voice. "Hello there, puppers! Aren't you the cutest little guy? Oh my god!"

She bends, back still to me. My eyes trace the outline of her ass, her body fully blocking the ‘cutest little guy' from view. I have seen many a dog in my time above the waters, but its form is still a mystery to me.

It lets out a small, hoarse sounding bark. It must be tiny. Fitting, considering the nudibranch was little to begin with.

With a swear under my breath, I cover my human dick with my hands and step closer to the woman.

"My dog, please," I request as sweetly as I can. This isn't the time to use my magic, even if she was flirting.

She jumps at the proximity and turns to me, her eyes tracking up and down my body. Her lips twitch with a smile. Her teeth drag across her lower lip to stop it from escaping.

"Does he have a name?" she asks, turning her attention back to the dog.

"He never told me it."

She laughs. "Is that why it looks like he's never been to a groomer? Men, honestly."

I do not know what that has to do with me being a man.

"You really didn't name him? "

"I just call him slug," I say, trailing off at the end.

"I'm sorry, Slugger?" she clarifies with a laugh.

I don't have time for this.

"Can I have my dog?"

"Grumpy," she laughs, turning to present the nudibranch-dog in her arms. Its hair is wild and featherlike, slightly reminiscent of its feathery gills, though completely white.

"Naked," I counter.

Her eyes drop across my form again, snapping up as I lean forward to take the small dog from her. Giving up on human modesty, I hold the dog at my chest and walk away. There's a time and a place…