A Visit by a Dire Wolf: Day 1

By: Ash Cinder

            I drove me and my best friend, a squirrel-owl named Sona to the hotel. We were so excited that our friend, a dire wolf named Eric got to visit us in town this week. It was a bit of a spur of the moment thing, he’d messaged me a week ago saying he was coming down to San Antonio partly for a business trip, but also because he wanted to visit me, Sona, and one other friend of his.

            “I can’t wait to finally meet him.” Sona told me.

            “Me too!” I said. “I knew I’d be able to meet him in person one day, I just never thought it’d be this soon.”

            “Yeah, and you’ve known him longer than I have.”

            “Where do you think we should take him?” I asked as we started to get closer to the hotel as we entered downtown.

            “How about we go to Hard Rock Café?” Sona said, looking at her phone. “That’s pretty close by to his hotel, and we could walk there from the Riverwalk.”

            “That sounds good, man, I haven’t been there since I was like 10.”

            “Great, guess we’ll eat there if he’s cool with that.”

            About five minutes later we got to the hotel and parked, Eric and his other friend were already there waiting for us and headed over to the spot we parked in. I immediately got out of the car, only to be embraced by the old dire wolf in a friendly hug, squeezing me so tight I was hard to breathe for a second.

            “So good to finally see you Ash!” He said. “Hat and all!” He patted the top of my head.

            “You too!” I said as he walked around the car to give Sona a hug too.

            Then I turned my attention to a female jackal standing by him.

            “This the other friend you were visiting?” I asked.

            “Mmhm, this is Sekke, you can thank her for me being here.” He said, putting his paw around her, making her smile. “You see, it all started when I told her online that I’d travel all the way here just to tell her she was beautiful in person, and she didn’t believe me. And, well… here we are.”

            “Yeah, pretty much.” She giggled and blushed slightly.

            “Awwww!” Both me and Sona said.

            “Well, it’s nice to meet you.” I said, about to give her a hug before she stopped me.

            “Ah! No hugs, I just got some nipple piercings today and I’m still really sore.” She warned.

            “Oh wow.” I said.

            “Yup, took her to get them today.” Eric bragged. “Squeezed my paw pretty hard when she got them.”

            Me and Sona laughed.

            “So, what are we doing?” Eric asked.

            “Besides roasting in this Texas heat?” I said, making him chuckle.

            “Yeah, it doesn’t get this hot in back home.”

            “Yeah, I bet not. Anyway, me and Sona were thinking we’d go to the Hard Rock Café, it’s only a walk away from here, and it would probably be a good start for the rest of the evening.”

            “Sounds like a plan, lead the way!” Eric said enthusiastically.

            We walked a long the Riverwalk, we were so happy to finally meet the old Dire Wolf in person. We’d gotten to know him online for quite some time, and it was nice to be able to talk face to face. Me and Sona also got to know Sekke a little more, she was really cool.

            “Thanks for not hugging me back there by the way.” She said. “That would have hurt.”

            “Heh, I’m fine with tattoos, no piercings for me. Especially not nipple piercings” I said.

            “Why not?” Eric asked, giving his earring a tap.

            “I just don’t want any.”

            “What if I went with you, like I did with her?” He patted my shoulder.

            “I’d say thanks but no thanks.” I said, blushing a little. “Like I said, tattoo, sure, piercings, no senor.”

            “Aww, okay.”

            “Don’t pressure him.” Sekke said.

            Didn’t take us long before we reached the Hard Rock Café, hadn’t changed much since I’d been there when I was a kid, had a bunch of tributes to different bands and artists all over the walls, we ended up sitting right by a tribute to the Texas singer Selena, which me, Sekke and Sona immediately started educating Eric on when he revealed he had no idea who she was.

“You know how Coco Chanel is really big in France and everyone knows who she is there?” I asked.

“Uh huh…” Eric said.

“Well, Selena’s like Texas’ Coco Chanel.”

“She was a Tejano singer.” Sona explained. “Really big in the nineties.”

“Made a movie about her.” Sekke said.

“Ah, yeah I think I remember her now. Played by Jennifer Lopez, right?”

The three of us nodded our heads.

“So, what do we want to drink?” Eric asked, holding up the menu.

“I’ll probably just take water for now.” Sona said. “And maybe a Blue Hawaiian.”

“I’ll probably have a margarita or something.” I said.

            “I’ll take a margarita too.” Sekke said.

            “Sounds good!” Eric said.

            We all ordered our food and drinks when the waiter came over a few minutes later.

            “Still can’t believe you’re actually here!” I said to Eric.

            “I know!” He said. “It’s so good to see you, all of you!”

            “Really lucked out getting to come down here, especially now that school’s out.”

            “Yeah, I don’t know what this week is going to entail.” Eric said. “But I look forward to spending it with the three of you!”

            Once we got our drinks, Eric held up his glass.

            “I’d like to start a toast, to Sekke, who if she hadn’t believed me when I told her she was beautiful online, none of us would be together today.”

            “You are so corny.” She snickered at him and lifted her glass, followed by me and Sona.

            “Cheers!” We said, clinking our glasses together and taking a drink.

            “Hold on, I need to get a picture.” Sona said, taking out her phone and holding it out in front of her, trying to get us all in the selfie.

            We all posed with our drinks as she took the picture.

            “Text us all a copy.” Eric said.

            “Will do.”

            “So, how’s San Antonio treating you so far?” I asked.

            “Well, it’s certainly a lot hotter than I’m used to back home, that’s for sure.” He said. “But other than that, you three have given this old Dire Wolf a nice welcome.”

            “Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be doing anything outside, unless you’re just a masochist.” Sekke said.

            Eric just kind of gave us a suggestive look when she said that, making us laugh.

            “After we eat, what should we do after this?” I asked.

            “We could walk over to the mall and see a movie.” She said.

            “Sounds like a good idea. I still need to see Deadpool 2.” Sona said.

            “Cool! We could both see it a second time then!” Eric said, putting his arm around Sekke.

            “You guys already saw it?” I asked.

            “We went and saw it yesterday.” Sekke said.

            “Nice!” Sona said.

            After we finished eating, Sekke and Sona left to go to the bathroom before we headed to the mall, leaving me alone with Eric.

            “Heh, what the hell would my parents say if they knew I was friends with a Dire Wolf twice my age?” I chuckled, looking around the Hard Rock Café’s gift shop.

            “Would it really matter?” He asked.

            “Meh, they’d probably just ask a bunch of questions to make sure you weren’t dangerous or anything.”

            “Helicopter parents?” Eric asked.

            “Well, I’m their only pup, so I can’t really blame them for always being cautious with me.”

            “Yeah, I can understand that.” He said. “I’m a dad too, remember?”

            “Right, I keep forgetting we’re both in open relationships.” I said. “Too bad Jamie couldn’t be here.”

            “Yeah, I would have loved to meet that fox.”

            Soon, the girls got back from the restroom and we proceeded to the mall As we entered it, we saw a candy shop and decided to stop by there.

            They had a lot of good looking stuff, gummy snakes, Air Heads, Butter Beer, but my eyes lit up when I saw a cereal-box-sized thing of Sour Patch Kids.

            “Holy shit.” I said, grabbing it. “I didn’t think they made them this size!”

            “Guess that’s what you’re getting?” Eric asked.

            “Uh, yeah! These things are like crack to me!” I hugged the box while Eric took a picture of me with his phone.

            “You are just adorable, you know that.” He took off my hat and ruffled my red mohawk.

            “Hey!” I snatched the hat back and put it back on.

            Sona and Sekke laughed as they both chose their sweets to buy.

            Unfortunately, once we left the candy store, we started noticing that a lot of the stores had their cages up already, and we realized that the mall was already closing.

            “Looks like it closes at nine today.” Sekke said, checking her phone.

            “Damn, that sucks.” I said. “What should we do instead?”

            “I think Dave and Busters’ is still open upstairs.” Sona said.

            “Sounds like a good plan B.” I said. “Why don’t we just go to every place in town I haven’t been to since I was a kid tonight?”

            Eric laughed and patted my back.

            “Sounds like a perfect way to keep the evening going, lead the way.” He said.

            Sona led us upstairs to the sports bar and we ordered a couple of drinks. Eric ordered himself a shot while Sona and Sekke took their drinks and went off to go get some cards with credits for the games for us all.

            “You want one Ash?” Eric asked, holding up his shot glass

            “Eh, I’m not really a shot guy.” I said, leaning on the bar.

            “What? You’ve gotta have at least one tonight.”

            “But I can’t stand the taste. It took me forever to find any drink that didn’t taste like a chem lab to me!” I made a disgusted face as I remembered the last time I tried a mixed shot.

            “Well, look on the menu.” Eric said, handing one to me.

            “It won’t matter, all shots are too strong for me!”

            “Aw, c’mon, just take a look, you know your pallet better than anyone else.”

            I rolled my eyes but looked over the menu anyway. I looked over all the usual stuff, all of it sounded way too bitter and disgusting for me, until I saw one simply called the Green Apple. Seemed sweet enough for me to possibly enjoy.

            “This one sounds okay.” I said to Eric, pointing at the menu.

            “Is that what you want?”

            “Sure, I guess I’ll try it, but don’t say I told you so if I don’t like it!”

            “I’ll be happy to finish it for you if you don’t.” He said, taking his card out and handing it to the bartender who quickly made one for me and put it in front of me.

            I lifted up the oddly-shaped glass. Had a similar look to an hour glass, with the green apple liquor on the top part and what I assumed was the sour stuff at the bottom. I gave it a couple of testing sips and didn’t immediately want to spit it back out.

            “You’re supposed to chug it in one drink.” Eric teased me.

            “Give me a break! I told you I don’t drink shots.”

            I swirled it around a little more before finally putting my whole mouth on it and downing the contents of the small glass, hoping I wouldn’t immediately regret it. It actually tasted really good. Just like some sort of sour Jolly Rancher candy, was strong but the alcohol wasn’t overpowering.

            “There you go!” Eric patted me on the back.

            “Okay, I’ll admit, that wasn’t bad.” I said.

            “So that was your first shot?”

            “Well, my first one I could actually hold down and enjoy drinking.”

            “Glad I could give you a good first time.” He said, with a cheeky grin.

            “Shut up.” I laughed, giving him a playful push.

            “Sorry, I’m a tease.” He stuck his tongue out.

            “Yeah.” I burped slightly. “Wouldn’t mind getting another one of those before we leave.”

            “Heh, slow down there, let’s find the girls and play some games first.” He put his hand on my shoulder and led me over to where Sona and Sekke wandered off to.

            We both walked over to where Sekke and Sona were, playing Space Invaders on a large LED screen.

            “Well, I found a shot that he likes.” Eric bragged, patting my chest.

            “Stop.” I laughed, giving the Dire Wolf another playful push.

            He laughed and let me go.

            “So, what should we play first?” He asked.

            “I kind of want to play DDR with someone.” Sona said.

            “Hey, I haven’t played that in years, let’s do it!” I said.

            “Let’s play 4-person air hockey afterwards!” Sekke suggested.

            “Sounds fun!” I said, following Sona.

            “Me and Eric are going to play some ski ball, we’ll meet you at the air hockey!”

            “This is turning into a really great night!” I said to Sona as we made our way to the DDR machine.

            “Yeah, he’s so sweet in person.” She said.

            “And Sekke’s pretty cool too.”

            “Yeah, can’t believe we never met before now.” She said.

            “Well, San Antonio’s a big city.” I said.

            “Alright, you ready to get crushed at DDR?” She asked me.

            “Well, considering I haven’t played in years, and you exercise more regularly than I do, yeah I guess I am ready.”

            “Don’t worry, we’ll do normal mode.”

            “Yeah, you’d better.” I warned. “I don’t feel like getting carried out on a stretcher tonight.

            She swiped her Dave and Busters’ card in the game slot and selected a song. I got ready for a work out as the song started. I did my best to try and remember which arrows were where but it was pretty hard when I started out. Sona did as well as I thought she would, hitting almost every arrow while my feet floundered about basically button mashing.

            I moved my legs fast trying to keep up with what was going on, on screen, but Sona wasn’t even breaking a sweat, and was destroying me with her score. I breathed heavily as I tried to keep up, eventually I started to get acquainted with where the buttons were and started to gain on Sona’s score.

As we continued with our game Eric and Sekke came over and started watching us.

“Having fun Ash?” Sekke asked.

“Don’t talk to me! I’m concentrating!” I panted, trying to focus on where the buttons were with my feet.

We kept going for two songs, I actually didn’t do as horrible as I expected, ending up with only a few points behind Sona, but by the time we were both done we were drenched in sweat. I took my hat off and wiped some of it from my forehead.

“Jeez.” I panted. “Well, there’s my exercise for the day.”

“Guess we’re moving on to the air hockey now?”

“Alright, but I gotta get some water afterwards.” I said following them.

We all got around the hockey table and swiped our cards. The air started blowing and the puck came out on my end, I put it down and hit it across the table towards Sona who quickly hit it back at me, I countered and sent it towards Eric who was to the right of me. He hit it back towards Sekke who hit it back at him and managed to score herself a point.

Eric waved the puck around before slamming it back at Sekke who returned it over to me and got herself another point.

“Damn!” I said, taking the puck and sliding it over to Chrisette.

We went back and forth in a pretty intense game, but in the end there could only be one winner, and that was Sekke, who played hard and beat all three of us. Though to be fair, I was still out of breath from the DDR game. After playing a few more games and winning some tokens on our cards we went to the prize room, I decided to get a little rubber band launcher, and some candy. Sekke got Eric a little heart emoji pillow, which was so dorky it was adorable.

            “Well, it’s only ten o’clock, anywhere else we can go?” I asked.

            “Oooh! We should totally go to Howl at the Moon!” Sona suggested, it’s only a walk away from here! It’s my favorite bar!”

            “Sounds like the perfect last place for the night!” Eric said.

            I ordered one last shot of that Green Apple drink before we left and we walked over to this bar that Sona was talking about. It was a sweet little spot with a neon sign of a wolf howling at the moon. We went in and headed upstairs where they were the band was playing Don’t Stop Believing by Journey, a song I actually couldn’t stand because of how overplayed it was, but the band was doing a pretty good job playing it in their own style, so I didn’t mind it as much as I usually did.

            We ordered a drink and sat down at a table, trying to keep talking to each other over the live music playing. The server came over and gave us our drink, which was served to us in decently sized bucket with four straws sticking out of it. We enjoyed the drink and the nice music. This had been such a nice night, I was surprised we’d managed to do so much in the span of just a few hours.

            While Sekke and Sona talked Eric started talking to me again, I did my best to hear him over the band, which was now playing We Are the Champions by Queen.

            “It looks like they’re hitting it off pretty well!” He said to me.

            “Yeah, we all are.” I said back, taking another drink.

            Eric said something else to me, but I couldn’t hear.

            “What?” I asked, scooting my chair closer.

            “I said, you know, you have beautiful eyes.”

            I blushed hard under my grey and brown fur when he said that and my tail wagged slightly in my chair.

            “Oh, wow… thank you.” I giggled a little. “And you’re much more flirty in person.”

            “Oh?” He said, taking a drink. “Well, I can be more if you want me to.”

            “Jeez, you are just making me blush all over the place tonight.”

            Eric just giggled at that and took another drink.

            “Look at him, isn’t he adorable?” He asked Sekke and Sona who laughed at him.

            “I think you’ve had enough, sugar daddy.” Sekke said.

            “What’d you call me?” He asked with a goofy smile.

            “Sugar daddy, basically a guy that shows people a good time and pays for everything.” I said.

            “Yup, you know, what you’ve been doing for us all night?”

            “Oh, well alright then.” He smiled, wagging his tail.

            Sekke just rolled her eyes playfully and took another drink.

            Then the band started playing Sweet Home Alabama, and the dire wolf’s face lit up and he started singing along.

            “Oh god.” Sekke laughed and put her paw over her face.

            “Sweet home Alabama! C’mon sing it with me!” Eric said. “Where the skies are so blue!”

            I rolled my eyes and started singing with him, and Sona joined in, Sekke just gave us an annoyed, but clearly amused smile and said,

            “If anyone asks, I don’t know you.”

            I laughed at her response and just kept singing with Eric and Sona. But after the song, I looked at my watch and saw it was already about midnight.

            “I think it’s about time we head home, if I have one more drink I definitely won’t be fit to drive, and I’m her ride home.” I said, gesturing to Sona.

            “And if you have anymore, we’re all going to have to carry you back to your hotel.” Sekke added, giving Eric a pat on the shoulder as he stood up.

            “Alright, it’s been a fun night, but yeah, let’s head back.”

            We all walked back to the hotel, managing not to get lost in the city streets. We got Eric back to the hotel and said our goodbyes for the night.

            “Bye Eric, this was a fun night.” I said.

            “You’re telling me.” Eric said, giving both me and Sona a hug.

            “And seeing as how he definitely won’t be driving me home, I guess I’ll be staying the night.” Sekke said.

            “Wonderful.” Eric said, putting his arm around her.

            “Hehe, have fun you two.” I said, getting in my car followed by Sona and heading home.

            I got home and told my mom about the fun night I had before taking a shower and heading to bed. Though, as I tried going to sleep I kept thinking about my interactions with Eric, he was such a great guy, so fun and free-spirited. But I couldn’t help but keep thinking about my interactions with him near the end of the night at the bar.

            I remembered how he’d complemented my eyes, and how he’d rested his hand on mine. He was a lot more flirty in person, and I had to say, I didn’t mind that. He was such a sweet dire wolf, and I had to admit, I think I had been starting to feel something for him the more I’d socialized with him online, and being with him in person just kind of exacerbated that.

            I remembered him saying that he could be “more flirty” back at the bar, I wondered what that meant for the rest of the week he was here?

My Patreon Editors

Michael E. Dunlop

SekkeAnubis