"Hello, there, miss. Have you had your ticket scanned?"
The first passenger Dana'd approach was a peacock busy typing away at her laptop, kept company at either side of her by a black attache case and a stack of work papers. Her low expression was etched with hard business, and Dana approaching her with a smile was returned by a look as though the two of us were some kind of annoyance. She stared our way for only a few seconds, only making enough eye contact to ensure we'd scan her card key as she handed it over.
Her attitude only made her reaction all the more hard to laugh over as Dana took off her hat, bringing the card key near her hair so I could scan it, instead.
"Oh, how adorable!" The peacock chortled, holding a wing over her beak to keep from having a full laugh.
"Enjoy your stay, Ma'am!" Dana said heartedly, handing back her ticket. I cast out a dramatic salute as the hat came back down, and the peacock gave a more complete chuckle, her smile lingering as she went back to her laptop.
"Here, go down my sleeve, this time!" Dana whispered, opening up her collar by a button. I crawled down under her shirt and worked my way down through her sleeve, and the cloth of her uniform held down me like tight cling wrap against the warm dense padding of muscle and adipose beneath her coat of feathers, holding me in place as I poked my head out from between her wrist and the suit's cuff. "There's somebody!"
Dana's sights were turned towards somebody sitting a few rows ahead. From the head up, their fur's color seemed pretty normal; brown fur beneath a head of wavy black hair, but the jackal lady's ample form was concealed by a flowing robe sewn from a mess of vibrant colors, their shapes winding together into some exotic, yet hypnotically fluent design that flowed nicely down along her body.
"Excuse me, miss?" Dana asked, holding out my sleeve as she came up from behind. "May I see your ticket?"
The jackal lady turned her head back, looked disinterested by Dana's presence, then looked down at her stud scanner, and took her key card out from her breast pocket.
She held it under Dana's scanner, but I popped out into view, whipping out mine to do the task instead. "Thanks for coming, Miss. I-"
...but right then, Me, Dana, everybody in the car, and everybody in the cars next door leapt back as the jackal let out an earsplitting screech. One moment, Dana was standing up, and the next, the world was thrown into a blur for a split second before I felt her arm slam down onto the floor, with me only a few too many feet to the side from getting crushed by its weight.
With my arms shaking, I pulled myself out, legs too weak to hold me up as I stumbled onto the rug. Dana's head was kept out of view by her stomach pointing high up into the air, legs hanging up in some kind of stupor.
"HOW DARE YOU?!" Came the jackal's voice in full volume.
Bracing my arms on my legs, I looked up as she stood at full height, teeth bearing as her muzzle rumbled with a long, steady growl. I held my hands up. "Miss, I'm incredibly sorry, I meant not-"
"HOW DARE YOU APPROACH ME WITH THAT KIND OF INDECENCY!!!" She snarled again, pointing a claw down at me. "NEVER, NOT EVEN ON THE STREETS WOULD I EXPECT TO BE TREATED WITH SUCH INEPTITUDE AS THIS, BUT FOR IT TO BE HERE, BY A HUMAN, OF ALL THINGS...!!!
Finally, Dana rolled rolled forward, the velocity of her stomach nearly toppling her forward as her talons dug back into the carpet. "Miss, listen, this was all my idea! If you'll just hear me out, I swear tha-"
"YOU WILL BE SILENT!!!" She screeched at Dana, who promptly obeyed with a squeak. She then leered back my way. "...AND YOU!!!"
She threw her other arm out, and I covered my head with both hands, but only out of reflex. Instead of come down to either roll on me or rip me to shreds, she stood straight and still with her fingers open and tense, her face existing somewhere between glaring at me and channeling some inner sense of deep concentration.
"Nowth'I sthes toryal'la!!!" She spoke in a more quiet, but still booming volume. "Bou thowm'y lifego, tfl'ipp edt'urne dupsi!"
"...Dana?" I said wearily, looking back to see her watch us both with an uneasy face. "What's going on?"
"Dedow nandi d-li ketota!" She continued. "Keami nutejus t-si'trig h'the reillt! ELLY'O UHOW IB'ECA METH EP'R INC-EOF ATO WN'CAL LED-BE LA'IR!!!"
...and at that last tangent, she ceased to speak, or even move, arms still cast out with her eyes twitching after her sudden burst of energy. I kept staring at her eyes as they hung frozen in vengeance for a few moments, then steered my head away back towards Dana, whose feathers were all fluffed up.
The jackal's paw moved aside, and she walked the other way down the aisle, not saying anything. Instead, she looked back at us, her mouth flashing us one of her canines as she gave us a confident smirk.
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