.

Even though it's been barely a month since Duck introduced them, Mairi and Cassidy are getting along just fine. But Mairi can tell that the younger coyote is still a little hesitant to fully accept her. So, Mairi tries to spend a little more time with the reserved young girl, and try to get her out of her shell....

Completely oblivious to anything else that was going on around her, Cassidy kept her focus on where her feet were going. She knew all too well the dangers of letting her concentration slip, be it with her skating or her powers. More than once had she accidently burned Duck's tail feathers, and a couple times the tips of Ace's ears got caught in the crossfire. It was hard, but she was getting better.

Mairi stood by the door of the skating rink, hugging her thick coat tightly around her. Where she grew up, they were lucky if they saw snowflakes let alone below zero temperatures. Even though she had lived in Acmetropolis for several years, she was still not used to the extreme cold in the winter time. She watched her new freind on the ice, completely engrossed in her routine. She thought it was funny, how Cassidy, who possessed power over fire - and everyone knows that fire is hot - enjoys nothing more than gliding freely across frozen water.

Looking like just a blur of red, brown, and blue, Cassidy spun in circles, until finally coming to a sudden stop, legs spread apart and arms held straight out from her sides. She punched a fist into the air happily. "YES!"

Mairi smiled widely and burst into applause, at first startling the she-coyote.

Cassidy giggled, red appearing on her cheeks. "Thanks Mairi." She skated over to the lyrebird, her messy red fringe hanging in her face. "What are you doing here?"

"I did come to see Duck, but he's not anywhere in the tower. No one knew where he was, so I asked Tech where you were. And he said you were at the park. So I went to the park. And here I am." Mairi grinned.

"Yeah, Duck did seem... very impatient. Like he needed to go somewhere fast." Cassidy shrugged. "Maybe he went to get you something.... trying to be a gentleman, for once."

Mairi snorted. "Ha! I've only known him for four months and I know the bludger will prolly never try something like that!"

Cassidy blinked. "B-bludger?" She repeated.

"Yeah. Bludger. A lazy-bum."

"Sounds like Duck alright!" Cassidy laughed.

"But Bubby's such a spunk." She added, smiling widely.

Again Cassidy gave her a confused look.

"He's good-looking." Mairi explained, trying not to laugh at her freind's confusion.

"Sorry." Cassidy giggled slightly. "It's just... trying to learn two languages at once isn't easy."

"Two? What are ya learnin' two for?"

"Well, I'm trying to remember those Australian words you keep using so you don't have to translate everything you say... and I'm also trying to learn my own language." Cassidy walked over to a bench to take off her skates and put her boots back on.

"Oh yeaaahhh." Mairi mumbled. "Duck mentioned something about you bein' from a different place... Where is it?"

"Well, I'm from Sari... a nearby planet."

"So... you're like.... an alien?"

Cassidy laughed a little. "I guess you could say that." She glanced up at Mairi. "That... that doesn't bother you, does it?"

Mairi quickly faced her, grabbing the coyote's cheeks and squishing them. "Not at all. You're too cute for it to bother me." She then brought her face towards Cassidy's until the tip of her beak touched the tip of Cassidy's nose.

Cassidy stared at her with wide innocent eyes. "Uhh... Mairi?"

Mairi stared right back. "....Hi."

"Mairi?" Cassidy asked again, getting a little nervous. "Would.. would you mind to let go? P-please?"

"Oh. Okay." The lyrebird replied flatly, freeing Cassidy's face from her grasp. "Sorry." she sidestepped away from the coyote, frowning and staring at the ground.

Cassidy watched her for a few minutes, feeling unbelievably ackward. "Uhh.. Mairi, I'm.... I didn't mean..."

Mairi stared at her blankly while she stammered. Then she smiled. "You sound ackward. And it's adorable."

Cassidy giggled. "Thanks....Listen, Mairi, I'm sorry I kinda.. pushed you away there. I just... don't do well with hugs."

Mairi shrugged. "No worries. Hey, since Duck has no clue where I am, let's go get some Maccas!" Before Cassidy could ask what 'Maccas' was, Mairi added, "McDonalds."

"Oh." Cassidy replied with a laugh. "Sure, sounds good to me!" She jumped to her feet, grabbing her winter jacket and pulling it on.

"Maccas IS good." The lyrebird grinned. "Duck won't be happy, but I don't care. 'Sides, you could use it." She poked Cassidy's ribs. "You're a stick." She paused in thought. "I'm jealous." She added with a sad face.

"Don't be, Mairi.."

"But I'm faaaaaaaaat." Mairi whined.

"You are not fat! You're just..." Cassidy paused. "Well built!" She finished with an innocent face.

Mairi gave her another long, blank stare. "You. Are a horrible liar." She began to laugh, and soon both were in hysterics.

A few minutes later, both coyote and lyrebird were sitting at a table, a tray of food between them. Mairi picked up her burger and took a big bite from it. Cassidy stared out the window with a smile while nibbling on her french fries. Mairi watched her, then tried to see what she was staring at. When she realized that the she-coyote wasn't staring at anything, she waved her burger in front of Cassidy's face. "Hellooooo?? Earth paging Cassidy? Are ya with me, sheila?"

Cassidy blinked, then turned back to Mairi, face flushing. "Uhh.. yeah. Sorry about that. Late night."

"Did ya have one of your mission-things?"

"No." Cassidy shook her head. "Just... late night."

"With Teeeech?" Mairi grinned and poked Cassidy's arm.

Cassidy's face became even more red. "Well, yeah... But it's not what you're thinking, Mairi! We working in the lab."

Mairi nodded. "Sure, whatev. How long have you two been together?"

"Almost two months now."

"Awwww." Mairi was now staring at the necklace around the she-coyote's neck. "Did Tech give that to ya?"

"Yes, he did." Cassidy took it off so Mairi could see it. "For our first Christmas together."

Mairi gave a small squeal. "You two are adorable, did ya know that? You remind me of Troy and Gabriella."

Cassidy stared at her blankly.

Mairi returned the look. "You.... you've never seen High School Musical before?" She asked, her brown eyes wide in shock.

Cassidy shook her head slowly.

"You poor, poor girl. I demand that you come to my place this weekend. We'll watch it together!"

Cassidy giggled. "Alright. Sounds like a plan. As long as no missions pop up. So, how did you meet Duck?"

"He bought a quilt I had made for his mum's birthday." Mairi took another bite of her burger.

"You knit?"

"Sew." She corrected with a mother-like tone. The pair continued their meal in silence for a few minutes, then Mairi spoke up again. "Cassidy? Are you scared of me?" She asked, blunt and to the point.

The surprise question made Cassidy chokes on her fries. After coughing a little to clear her throat, she answered. "No. I'm not scared of you."

"Then why do ya always act so nervous when I'm around?"

"Oh, Mairi I'm sorry. That's not your fault. I... I just have... problems trusting people... even if they're as sweet as you. I've always been like this. You see... I grew up as an orphan."

Mairi gasped. "No!" Then she blinked. "Wait, I thought you have family on Sari?"

"I do. My father, brother, and sister."

"What happened to your mum?" When Mairi saw Cassidy's unsure expression, she quickly regretted asking. But she was wanted to know the story. So. Badly.

"Mother was killed during an attack on the palace. After that, Father sent me here for protection. I was only three weeks old at the time."

"Oh, I'm sorry.....Wait." Mairi suddenly gave her a questioning look. "Your family lives in a palace? Are your parents royalty? You're a PRINCESS?!"

Cassidy bit her lip. "Well..... yes.."

Mairi squealed, earning the attention of everyone in the restaurant. "I'M A PRINCESS TOO!"

Cassidy stared at her with wide eyes. "You are?"

"Deadset." Mairi grinned proudly.

"But there haven't been kings and queens ruling anywhere on earth for centuries..."

Mairi snorted. "I'm not that kind of princess, silly!"

Cassidy was confused. "But-"

"I'm still a princess." The lyrebird gave her a big grin.

Cassidy giggled. "So, you're from Acmestralia, right?" She asked.

"Deadset. I have four older siblings. Three brothers and a sister."

"Heh, you're the baby of your family. Like me. Andrew's older than me by four years, Maria's older by six."

"Hey, your brother has the same name as mine." Mairi grinned more. "And your Maria has a similar name to me."

"She does." Cassidy giggled. "I should take you to meet her sometime."

"I'd love to meet your family! Unfortunately I can't take you to see mine." She made a small sad face.

"How come?"

"I've been trying to save up money to go back, but it's alot, and I've been failing at saving it..." Mairi suddenly felt a wave of homesickness wash over her. It had been years since she'd seen her family. She missed them horribly, but she knew that it would be a long time before she would see them again. Her mother and father had offered to pay her way home, but the lyre bird was determined to make it there completely on her own. She was, after all, twenty eight. She was old enough to make her own money to go places.  

"Oh." Cassidy tapped her finger against her chin as she thought.  "Maybe Teh would build a ship to take you there in his spare time, so you don't have to drain your bank account."

"But I thought he'd already made special space-ship thingos?"

"He has. But the one we use to go to Sari or other planets doesn't work very well if you fly it in the atmosphere of a planet for too long....and the others wouldn't have enough power to fly to Acmestralia with all the extra equipment they have. I'm sure he could build something powerful enough to take you to Acmestralia!"

Mairi's eyes lit up. "Do ya think he would?"

Cassidy smirked. "Just let me ask. For me, he'd do anything."

"Awww.." Mairi cooed. "So kayoootuh. Do ya think he's gonna pop the question soon?"

"What question?" Cassidy tried to feign innonence.

"You know very well what I'm talkin' about..."

"No I don't.. honestly, Mairi.."

"Your mouth lies, but your red cheeks say otherwise." Mairi grinned almost evil-like.

Cassidy's face continued to grow red. "Well... honestly Mairi... I'm just... I feel so lucky just to be with him, that I really haven't given marriage much thought yet. Besides.... I don't know if I'm ready for that step yet."

Mairi nodded. "I understand. I guess you're not in a rush to think about kids then, huh?"

Cassidy giggled. "Honestly, no. In fact... I reallllly don't think I'll ever have kids.. at least, not my own."

"How come?"

"Well..... I've been in a lot of families, and I've seen a lot of things that kids my age probably shouldn't see... And.. well... I'm... a little scared of it."

Mairi stared at her. "I know..... I'm kinda that way too. But I still want to have kids. At least one will be a girl. And her nick-name will be Spider." She smiled. "Then I'll have two more kids of my own and then two more, which are adopted."

Cassidy laughed. "You've really thought this through, haven't you?"

"Deadset."

Cassidy gave one more giggle before continuing munching on her fries. When the girls were finished their meal, they headed for the tower, hoping the rest of the gang hadn't missed them too much.

The crisp March wind blew sharply in their faces, sending their hair flying everywhere. Mairi paused a moment to push her hair back in a bun, when suddenly a mysterious hand reached out and grabbed her arm, yanking her back into an empty alleyway. "AAAAAIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!" She screamed loudly, thrashing her arms wildly.

The person who grabbed her shoved her to the ground and pulled a small gun from his pocket. Mairi could then see that it was a man, human, with a rough, messy face and wild black hair. His clothes were torn and covered in who-knows-what. "Keep quiet! Or else!" He threatened with the gun.

Cassidy heard the scream. "Mairi!!??" She gasped, running back to where she heard the noise. She glared the man down. "HEY YOU!"

He spun around, gun still pointed at Mairi. "What do you want, puppy?!"

"Let her go. NOW."

The man laughed. "Not gonna happen, girly."

"I said. Let. Her. GO." She kept her temperature down, keeping herself from glowing. She didn't want to reveal her powers just yet.

"What are ya gonna do? Call the Loooonatics?" He taunted her.

"So you've heard of them? Great." She smirked and sent a blast of fire from her hand, effectively frying and destroying the man's gun. "Allow me to introduce myself." Cassidy threw a swift punch, landing square in the jaw. The man stumbled backwards a few steps. "Cassidy Coyote. Member of the Loonatics."

The black haired human lept at her, fist balled tightly. Cassidy dodged the punch, quickly returning with her own. The two fought feircely for several minutes, while Mairi huddled against the metal wall of a building, unsure of what to do. Cassidy was holding up pretty well in this fight, seeing as how the man was at least twice if not three times her size, that was, until her foot hit a hiden patch of ice. Her ackward position and lack of balance in such a position caused her to slip, falling flat on her back, her head hitting the rock hard ground. Dizzy and disoriented from the fall, Cassidy sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her head.

Suddenly she heard a click.

She glanced up.

The man loomed over her menacingly, his back up weapon, a short, sharp knife pointed inches from her neck. "Now... are you gonna behave, puppy?"

Cassidy glared at him, a growl erupting from her throat.

"Didn't think-" A sudden THUNK cut him off, and his eyes closed and he fell beside Cassidy, his knife falling at her other side.

Cassidy looked up to see Mairi standing there, holding an empty metal garbage can in her hands with the most absolutely terrified face Cassidy had ever seen in her entire life. "Mairi?" She called out to her freind, huffing and puffing from the fight.

Mairi dropped the can and quickly grabbed Cassidy by the arms, pulling her up to her feet and out of the alleyway. "FLOPITTHATSCAREDTHELIFEOUTOFMEPLEASEDON'TDOTHATEVERAGAIN!" She then threw her arms around the coyote and hugged her tightly to her chest.

Cassidy was beginning to suffocate in Mairi's coat. "M-mairi?"

"I don't CARE if you don't like hugs. I'm hugging you anyway!" Mairi continued to cling to her, until the coyote seemed to melt through her grasp, forming a large blue puddle on the ground. The puddle grew and took back it's original form.

"Mairi.... You....you just saved my life." Cassidy gasped, staring at the lyrebird with wide eyes.

Mairi blinked. "...Don't even care."

"Well, I do... Mairi, that was amazing! You don't know how much guts it takes for someone to stand up to a bad guy like that!"

"Really?" Mairi stared back in shock. "I really didn't mean to hurt him... I really didn't. I just... when I saw him pull out that knife at you..."

Cassidy smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry. With any luck, you won't be around if it happens again." She rolled up the sleeve, revealing a small watch-like device. She pressed a button on it. "Tech? Cheif? You there?"

"Hey Kiddo, what's up?" Ace's voice replied.

"I think you guys should get down here, fast." She then gave them their location. With that finished, she turned to Mairi once more. "Mairi.. listen... I really owe you for that."

Mairi thought for a moment, then spread her arms out wide. "I know how you can repay me." She smiled.

Cassidy giggled before embracing her freind tightly. "Thanks... Mazz."

END

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