Tarantula (Part 3)

"Why do they look so alike?"

"Maybe because they're from the same species?"

"I know, but… Ugh, never mind…"

We walked to Aly's trapeze (which she used as her room) and spotted Beanie at the bottom, sleeping peacefully with his ears up.

At first I thought that he was the cub because they looked really alike from afar, but as soon as we got close to him, we discarded the idea.

"What do we do with him?" I asked Lyra as I crouched to pet him.

"We let him sleep," she said while pulling me from my hoodie and dragging me to the ladder that led to Aly's 'room'.

"Is there a reason why we can't touch him?"

"He's got quite the temper. He barely listens to Fiona or Bill, so imagine how he'd treat a new guy like you."

We moved our heads up and stared at the long ladder above us. Just as I was about to hold on to the first rung, I felt a pair of arms surrounding my body.

"Need anything?" I asked as I recognized who they belonged to.

"Can you carry me?"

"Aren't you old enough to climb up by yourself?"

"I am!" she said energetically, "But since you're the one who's responsible for losing the lynx cub, you shouldn't mind doing some extra work, right?"

I let out a big, notorious sigh as I listened to her teasing tone. 

"So, are you gonna do it or not?" she whispered while putting one of her legs around me.

I completely froze in place, waiting for her to take action, and as soon as she was done crawling up to my back, I started to climb on the ladder.

"You don't seem too annoyed by the fact that I'm on your back."

"..."

"Is that your way of saying 'You're so light that I barely feel your bodyweight'?"

I sighed and let go of the rung with one of my arms. Lyra screamed at the top of her lungs as we both hung on one of my arms.She clung tighter on my body as she kicked me gently to make me go back to safety. 

I looked back at her and released a short laugh. After teasing her for a few more seconds, I held onto the ladder with both of my arms and laughed louder than before.

"It's not funny, you know?"

"Aren't you an acrobat? How come you're scared of heights?"

"That's different!" she yelled as she kicked my legs with her feet, "Since Daniel and I are in control of what we do in the air we don't have to be afraid!"

A faint smile appeared on my face as I let go of the rung again, repeating the stunt from before. Just like last time, Lyra screamed and hit me as we hung on one of my arms.

Tired of yelling at me to stop messing with her, she quickly crawled to the front of my body and clung onto it. I caught her with my free arm, looking at her in confusion as I wondered why she did that.

"What are you doing?" I asked as her hair hit my face.

"It just… feels safer to be here…" 

"Why? Don't you trust me?"

She hugged me tighter and put her head over my shoulder, recomposing her breath. "I think it's the other way around. My body just moved by itself because I trust you."

The silence reigned on us as I stood still. As I tried to avoid making eye contact with Lyra, I moved my eyes up and spotted the trapdoor to Aly's room.

"Maybe we should keep moving…" I said as I tried to climb with only one arm.

"Right…"

I prepared myself to reach the trapdoor while carrying our combined weight, but the moment I tried to move my body up, Lyra and I noticed the presence of another person close to us.

"Can you guys stop flirting so close to my room?" 

Aly appeared behind us with a rope attached to her body. We watched her awkwardly as we tried to find a way to explain what was going on.

"We weren't flirting, we actually came to-"

"Dude! Stop lying! I can literally see your hand on her ass!" she interrupted me while pointing at us.

When I noticed where my hand was placed, I tried to move it away. Lyra, however, had other plans. She applied all the weight from her lower body and kept my hand in place.

"He's ensuring my safety!" she said in an awkward tone as she palmed my arm.

Alysson looked at us with suspicion, but quickly shook off the feeling.

"Whatever you guys say…" she scoffed. "So, why are you here?"

"We came to… We came to… I'm sorry, I just can't…" Lyra tried to speak but interrupted herself with her laughter. "PUAHAHA! YOU LOOK LIKE A FUCKING BAT HANGING UPSIDE DOWN LIKE THAT!"

I focused all of my strength on trying to hold her as her body shook because of her loud laugh. Aly raised her eyebrow at us and began to go back to her room, but before she kept going, I shouted.

"Have you seen a lynx?"

She mocked me by repeating my question, claiming that it was absurd.

"Glasgow! Open your eyes! We live surrounded by cats!" Alysson pointed her finger at the nest where Bill was feeding the felines and then yelled again. "There are 3 lynxes by Bill's side over there, and Beanie is sleeping below us! So yeah, I've seen a few lynxes around."

At that moment, Lyra crawled on my body and held onto my shoulders. The unexpectedness of her move almost caused us to fall, but I managed to hold onto the ladder at the last second.

"Aly! This is serious! We need to find the lynx cub that Fiona made Glasgow take care of!"

Her face lit up after hearing the words 'lynx cub' and she quickly returned to her room. After a few seconds, while descending upside down, Alysson brought a noisy little thing in her hands.

MRAAAH

I smiled at the sound of the baby's growling, sighing in relief after seeing him in the hands of the trapeze artist. With a great effort, I put Lyra down from my shoulders and then stretched my arm to take the cub.

"Thank you. You saved our asses."

"Don't mention it… But next time try not to dodge my hugs at least."

Lyra took the lynx out of my hand and started to caress it as he bit the fabric of her clothes. As we descended on the ladder, Lyra put the lynx up in the air and yelled to Alysson before she reached her room.

"Why was he with you?!"

Aly let go of the rope and then held it as she arrived to our height.

"I saw him playing with Beanie a few minutes ago, and since he reminded me so much of him when he was still a baby, I just took him to take a nap with me."

We stared awkwardly at each other for a couple of minutes in complete silence. 

"Anyways…" Alysson said while descending to ground's height and taking her lynx into her arms, "Goodbye!"

I kept watching her as she went back into her room, and when she was nowhere to be seen, I started to descend the ladder again.

Once my feet touched the ground, I stretched my body and waited for Lyra to get off.

"..."

"..."

"What are you waiting for?"

"I don't know. Since you weren't complaining I thought that I could still be here."

She gave me a playful smile before going back to play with the cub's teeth. 

MRAAAH GRAAAH

I smiled as I took the lynx back on my hand, tickling his head with it as I held Lyra with the other.

"Why aren't we moving?" she questioned as she put her head on my shoulder.

"Maybe because it's impossible to move my legs with you in my chest?" 

"Oh, right!"

The twin quickly let go of my body and put her own feet on the ground. While she stretched her body, I began to walk in the direction of Bill's den. But not even 5 steps later, a pair of arms surrounded my neck from behind.

"Have you considered my offer?" Lyra said while clinging on my back again.

"Hmm?"

"My offer, Glasgow! The one where I help you secure your place in the circus!" 

"Oh, right…"

We walked in silence until we reached the big cat's nest, where they were being fed. As we tried to make our way to talk to Bill and give him back the cub, Fiona stopped us and snatched him from our hands with a grumpy face.

"Be grateful he has no scratches," she said while inspecting the feline and giving him a soft kiss in his head. "Otherwise my dad would've killed the three of us."

After scolding us, the girl caressed the neck of her tigress and walked up to his father. We stared in silence as she walked away, feeding the cub with little treats of meat before returning him to her father.

"So… What do you say about my offer?" Lyra said playfully after we spent a couple minutes in silence.

I moved my shoulders up, showing my indifference.

"If you don't care then…" 

At that moment, Lyra whistled loudly and the puma she was scratching an hour ago quickly came by our side. 

The feline rubbed against us, and she let go of my back in an instant so she could play with her.

"Why aren't you frozen like you usually are?" she teased while placing her puma's paw on my clothes.

"Because you're with her." I answered as I touched the big cat's paw.

"Aww, that's so sweet" Lyra told me while emerging from behind me. Since this time I didn't even flinch like I used to, she smiled teasingly at me before pulling me from my arm and dragging me all the way to what she called 'her room'.

As we walked, the Puma followed closely beside us, and once we got to her 'room', Lyra patted her head and whispered "Keep watch" in her ear.

Before walking inside, she closed the curtain that separated her room to the exterior and began talking to me with her usual playful smile.

"Okay, before I start, I shall ask you a few things."

"Alright…?"

"First off, why do you want to be in this circus?" she asked while placing her index finger in front of me.

I thought of a suitable answer for a few seconds. An answer that wouldn't make me feel like I was giving her a false reason, but also one that wouldn't make me seem like a selfish person.

"I need some information, and I believe Johnny can give it to me."

"Hmmm… And what did he ask for you in return? Besides being a part of the circus, of course."

I looked away for a few seconds and scratched the back of my head. Then, as I tried to maintain a neutral face on me, I told her "Please don't laugh," before enlisting the 2 tasks that Johnny gave me.

Lyra stared at the two fingers I put in front of her as I told her what the ringmaster asked me to do and immediately held them. She then lowered my hand to my hips height and said.

"That doesn't sound so hard, to be honest" she scoffed before letting go of my hand and jumping on her mattress. There, she tore a piece of paper out of a notebook that was beneath a pillow and presented it to my face.

"Here. We can use this to think about a name for Johnny's kitten."

"And what about me getting along with the big cats?"

"That might be a bit harder…" she said in a low tone as she turned around with her back facing me. "I assume that what takes you aback is the fear that they might hurt you, right?"

My silence worked as an affirmation to her answer, and after letting out a soft, gentle sigh, she unbuttoned her shirt and lowered her shirt to show me her back.

I quickly averted my gaze after realizing that her upper body was uncovered, but while looking at me from above her shoulder, she said that I was overreacting.

As I heard her teasing laugh, I slowly redirected my eyes on her back, quickly catching on a couple things that immediately got my attention.

The first was a big spider-shaped tattoo that almost covered her back entirely. The second, however, was a group of 4 lines that descended diagonally on her back.

"I'm guessing that you saw it already."

"Yeah… It's really pretty…" I said, thinking that she was talking about her tattoo.

"I know. It reminds me of the time I met her." 

"Met who?"

"Terra, of course!" she shouted out while turning around with her shirt still down. "You're telling me you didn't see the big scar I have on my back?"

"I'm sorry! I thought you were talking about the tattoo!" I answered as I tried to cover my eyes.

She laughed teasingly and slowly hugged me. I felt her warm body pressing against me as her soft voice formed words close to my ear.

"How do you feel right now?"

"..."

"It's funny how I can use your silence to have a conversation with you" Lyra said before taking my hands away from my eyes and putting them on her back.

Just as it happened with every big cat I encountered since I entered the circus, I was completely frozen in place. For some reason, fighting someone to death was easier than doing anything in this place.

"Do you feel them?" she questioned in a low tone while speaking against my chest. 

Once again, Lyra laughed at my silence. This time, however, instead of teasing me, she hugged me tighter.

As my mind tried to process the scene that was unfolding in front of me, Lyra started to whisper against my body, getting closer and closer to my face with each word she uttered.

"Those scars on my back are a reminder of the nature that our cats have. It's natural to feel scared when approaching them, because you risk yourself getting injured, like me…" 

Just as she reached my neck, she stopped talking and breathed harshly against it. "If you want to stay in the circus, you have to understand the cat's nature and make yourself part of it. For example…" she mumbled before pressing her lips against my neck.

Our heartbeats intensified as we tried to get air into our systems. 

From one moment to another, my rigid body began to gain movement, and as she worked her way on my throat, I pulled her closer with my arms.

Her ragged breathing made me lose control, and in a split second, our bodies tripped with her bed and fell onto it. 

As we collided on top of the mattress, our movements ceased for a moment. Our eyes, locked in with each other, waited for a signal that would tell us when to resume our doings.

My heaving chest moved her up and down as the air she exhaled hit my chest, and since none of us tried to move, she decided that it was best if she took the lead.

"As I was saying…" she mumbled as her hand made its way under my shirt, "You have to make yourself part of the nature that you want to live in…"

Her nails brushed the skin beneath my clothes as she kept talking. "What I'm trying to say is… If you want the cats to trust you, then you have to adapt to them, not the other way around…" 

Lyra whispered as her teeth grazed my neck, sending shivers down my spine. With little to none effort, she straddled my body with her legs and moved my t-shirt up. 

Prior to unveiling my chest fully, she buried her nails deep on my stomach's skin and waited until she got the reaction she wanted out of me.

"Adapting might be hard, I know... But some species are easier to adapt to than others…" she said in a sultry voice as she guided my hand to her waist. 

"Now… If you've been paying attention up until now… You should've noticed that what I'm saying… applies for both the cats and me…" Lyra told me as her mouth created her own path from my cheek to the edge of my lips. 

Just a few centimeters away from each other, we stared at one another with desire. Before she came down to my mouth, she asked a final question, hoping that I followed her lesson closely.

"I don't think any of us is in a state to be coherent… so I'll try to ask this in the easiest way possible…" the woman above me said lowly as her heavy breathing crashed against me, "Will you… or will you not try to adapt?"

My mind tried its best to maintain the focus in hopes of giving her a rational answer, but the moment my hand imitated her moves and it began to get under her clothes, gently caressing her skin, I realized that it was best to let the moment speak for ourselves.

Instead of giving her an answer, I pushed her head against mine, desperately looking to make any type of contact with her.

Johnny, the cats, the circus,... none of it mattered to me at that moment. Why we were doing this was a mystery to me, and why none of us stopped was also something that was also unknown to me.

To be honest, I wanted to stop and process what was happening, but just a glimpse of her face being this close to me was enough to make me forget everything else.

As the boundaries disappeared, and the only thing we focused on was the person in front of us, my mind let go of any thought that was always there. Axie and Dom, my mother's death, and even the search for my father… 

Everything, absolutely everything disappeared, getting replaced by the craving of her touch on my body…