#askmissthunder

The Question’s that’s been asked on multiple occasions finally gets answered!

It's been nagging me for a while but I've decided to come clean about a certain incident that happened during Eli and I's first date.  The two of us have been talking about it and Eli agreed it was only fair to let you all know.

I say "incident" but really, I found out something about Eli that he'd been keeping secret for many years. Nothing too extreme but I don't want people getting the wrong idea about Eli.

It happened while we were in the park, goofing around.  I dared him to try to push me without my wheelchair motor's help. Mind you, I'm pretty sure the combined weight of the wheelchair and me is over 1000 lbs. But, bless his heart, he actually managed to push me a few feet before getting winded. To be honest, I cheated a bit. I was putting my hands on the wheels, putting up a teeny bit of resistance. Of course a "teeny bit" is probably enough to stop a small car.

I offered him a chance to lay on his "safety mat" a.k.a. my tummy.  He gladly took it and plopped himself on his back, sinking several inches.  "If only my mattress was this soft.", he said, snuggling up.

After a few minutes, he struggled to get back on his feet so I leaned as much as I could to give him a push. My hand grazed against his lower back and, to my surprise, I felt fur.

I laughed, "Are you still wearing your wrestling tail?"

However, he had froze on the spot. He slowly turned, his face looking pale. His eyes were wide and looked very fearful, watering up.

"Eli?"

He slowly covered the base of his back with his hands and sputtered out, "You...you weren't...you weren't supposed to know...I mean, that is..."

I could only giggle out of nervousness,"What do you mean? About your tail? I don't mind if you like to wear it."

He looked downwards, his voice starting to crack, "I'm not wearing it.  It's...it's me. It's part of me."

I wasn't sure what to think. I mean, what do you say when your date admits they has a tail?

"Wha...what do you mean it's you? How do you have a tail? Did you get surgery, like Ozzy Osbourne and his tongue?"

He sat down on a nearby bench, his face in his hands. I could see that he was trembling terribly.

I wheeled closer to him, putting a hand on his knee. "Eli...you can tell me. What's the matter?"

He was silent for a moment or two, taking deep breaths.

"I was made like this by...someone. "

"Who?"

He sniffed, "I don't know.  I never found out his name. Some...animal doctor. He made me to be a scout, a tracker."

"A scout for who? The Army?"

"They just told us we would be sold to whoever paid the most."

I paused, my mind trying to process what he was telling me. "There's more like you?"

He gave a small nod. "A bunch of lab freak soldiers. They used to lock us up in cages because all of us were part..."

He stopped and glanced up at me for a few seconds, perhaps to gauge my reaction. I could see tears streaming down his face as he choked out, "...animal."

He picked his head back up, his eyes red. "I'm part dog. He made me part dog."

I could feel my own eyes water up. Just the look of pure mental anguish on his face was painful to look at.  

"I thought that if you found out what I am, you'd never want to see me again. And I can't blame you. Why would you want to date some disgusting animal? Some... horrible fucking creature?"

In truth, I wasn't sure how quite to deal with this. I mean, what are the odds my first date would've gone in this route?  It was a lot to take in but...well, he was being honest. Yes, he was going to keep it a secret for as long as he could (not that I blame him) but he didn't try to cover it up or make some lame excuse once I found out. He was pouring his heart out in front of me, probably the most frightening thing he'd ever have to admit to anyone, let alone the girl he had a crush on. I don't know why but I felt compelled to ask:

"How do you feel?" Like I was some bloody therapist.

"Ashamed.", he answered in a low voice, " Ashamed that I tried to hide it from you. Ashamed that you're stuck on a date with an abomination."

"Stop that.", I said firmly, grabbing his hand, "You stop that right now. If anybody is getting the short end of the stick on this date, it's you."

He looked at me, confused. "What do you mean?"

I plopped my hands on my tire-thick love handles, "Look at me. I'm probably the fattest girl in the country, maybe even the world. I consider it a good day if I only get less than ten ugly looks from people when I go to class."

I gently cupped his face, making sure he was looking me right in the eye.

"Eli, I don't care what you are, okay? Because...half-dog or not, you're still that sweet boy who smiled at me when I was having a bad day. That will never change for me, no matter what you say. I can't describe how much better I felt that day because of that trip on the bus. The fact you'd even give me the time of day, let alone want to actually want to be around me and not be ashamed of hanging out with some giant pig, well...how can I say no to that?"

He then wrapped his arms around as best as he could and gave me a hug, one that I eagerly returned.

"I'm so, so sorry.", he said, "I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

"Shush. There's nothing to forgive. Although..."

"What?", he asked, some of the fear returning to his voice.

"You could make up for it by getting me some ice cream." I pointed to the vendor with the ice cream trolley headed our way.

He gave a relieved laugh, "Sure. Ice cream sounds good right now."

As he got up to to flag down the vendor, I asked, "Hey, your tail. Does it wag when you're happy?"

He blushed, "Uhmm...yeah."

I smiled, "That's kinda cute."

And that's pretty much where our date picked up again. I didn't press for more details about his past that night. It wasn't needed nor did I want to ruin the mood. Was this revelation unexpected? Yes, but if anything, I feel better knowing he doesn't have to hide it from me anymore. I'm pretty sure he does too. I just want him to know that no matter how bizarre his past may be, he's still Eli and that I'm over the moon to call him my boyfriend.

P.S: Now that I've seen it, I have to admit that the tail is adorable :)

Hi! I’m Miss Thunder, one of Ocean City’s superheroines!

I’m a little new to this future version of the internet, so forgive me if my responses come off weird. I’m communicating all the way from the early 1990′s! I have to thank my interdimensional friends, the Unlikely Hero Protection Agnecy, for setting this up and for their technical help.

Hey, everybody! I’ll be starting an Ask sideblog dedicated to my superhero OC, Miss Thunder.

Let’s see how this goes!