Mission: Rescue Our Boy
Location: Dormitory belonging to Tenebrae Academy.
Time: 00:00 Midnight
Current mission status: Briefing.
Four girls returned to the dorm. They made sure Evan was sleeping as hard as a rock. They gathered in Morona's room. Their only light was a single candle.
"Alright, girls! We all know the situation and what could happen."
The remaining three nodded.
"Evan is already starting to climb onto our plate all by himself."
"And what's worse, we're losing every last bit of restraint," Aiko added. "A little more and we'll really go down the evil route."
The girls suddenly felt their morale drop. Callisa raised her hands in a stop gesture.
"Not everything is lost yet. We have to bring him back to normal."
"Brilliant, little fox. So we just keep doing what we've been doing? Might as well fire up the grill already."
Frida said it with clear sarcasm. Callisa was about to reply when they suddenly heard Evan's voice through the wall. It was muffled, but they were certain of one thing: he was talking about a spit and wood.
In a flash of terror the girls immediately blew out the candle and fell silent. They waited motionless for a moment. After a short while the sounds stopped. Silence fell. They waited several more minutes to be sure before lighting the candle again.
"Is it already that bad?! Just talking about it is enough?!" Frida couldn't believe it.
"Maybe he was just dreaming?" From Aiko's voice it was clear she didn't believe it herself.
"The river of time flows on, sweeping everything away in its current, and it holds in contempt those who stand on its banks."
The girls looked at Morona in surprise.
"When the cycle of the silver starry plate completes its full circle and becomes full once more, the time of the mourning feast shall arrive."
Morona looked as if she had a splitting headache. She seemed furious with herself. Frida stared at her in frustration, growling. She was about to snap at her when Evan's voice came through the wall again.
Evan was mumbling about the full moon and how he wanted to look good on the date.
The blood drained from Callisa's, Frida's and Aiko's faces, while Morona nodded. The cat girl grabbed her phone and checked the lunar calendar. She showed the result to the others.
The full moon was in three days.
"There's no time," Callisa said.
"Right, we have to act," Frida agreed.
They all looked at one another. Callisa spoke.
"First, the rules."
A moment of silence fell.
"First. We do not call Evan: sweet, appetizing, juicy, or anything like that. We call him by his name."
They all nodded.
"Second. No meat jokes."
Another nod.
"Third. We hide every knife, butchering tool and the rest of it. It has to disappear from sight."
"Except it's always hidden. Besides, how exactly do you plan to move, for example…" — she lowered her voice — "the brick grill from the garden or the oven from the kitchen?"
"Then we hide them better, so it doesn't look suspicious…" Callisa paused for a second. Hiding all of that would look suspicious — "or at least we don't play with any of it in front of Evan."
Callisa needed a moment to catch her breath.
"Fourth and most important. We have to show him he can be something other than… you know what. Each of us has to come up with something. Use your heads. It has to be something that will help him."
All the girls looked at one another with determination and spoke together. They already had a plan. A simple plan, and hopefully an effective one.
"We start tomorrow. Nothing will defeat us."
At that exact moment four stomachs let out an ominous rumble.
"Quiet down there!!!"
Mission: Rescue Our Boy
Location: Dormitory belonging to Tenebrae Academy.
Time until full moon: 70:25:11
Agent: Callisa Vulpine
Objective: Convince Evan that he is more than meat.
Tactic: Cooking is about more than meat.
Callisa stood in the kitchen. Her plan was simple. It could be summed up like this: if cooking had driven Evan into this state, then cooking could pull him out of it. All she had to do was cook something good and safe.
"Evan, could you help me in the kitchen?"
Evan appeared beside her quite quickly.
"Yes, Callisa? Do you need help?"
He immediately went to the spice cupboard. He seemed strangely excited. He pulled out a jar of rosemary.
"No. We won't need that." Callisa answered calmly.
"Why?" Evan looked genuinely surprised.
"Morona is planning tea. We're making dessert."
"Dessert?" Evan seemed confused.
"Yes, a delicious dessert for tea."
"I see."
Evan slowly put the jar back and closed the cupboard. Callisa felt relieved that he had done it on his own. He stood in front of her, looking thoughtful.
"Dessert… maybe cookies or a cake."
Callisa brightened. Evan was thinking about something other than meat. Her plan was working.
"Nothing heavy. Something light," Callisa said.
"Maybe something with meringue," Evan considered.
"Yes! Lemon meringue pie." She had to fight herself to keep from breaking into a crazy smile. Her plan was working.
First they made the base. She watched Evan out of the corner of her eye. He kneaded the dough properly. The same focus she hadn't seen from him in a long time. While the dough chilled in the fridge they worked on the lemon cream. They were zesting the lemons.
"Careful, Evan. Only the yellow part of the skin. The white part is quite bitter."
"Right."
Evan started zesting more carefully. When Callisa was squeezing the lemons into the bowl she felt she was on the right track. Best of all, Evan watched the cake in the oven with a completely neutral expression. That wonderful focus with no trace of excitement.
Soon the cake was ready. Callisa lifted it high in a gesture of triumph.
"Wonderful."
The cake was good enough that it could have been served to Porceli in her parents' restaurant without any fear of a bad review.
"Perfect dessert, right Evan?"
"Yes."
Exactly what she wanted to hear. Victory had the refreshing taste of lemon and sweet meringue.
"This is the perfect finish."
"Yes, Evan, this is the perfect ending—" she suddenly froze. They were supposed to be making a cake for tea.
"Uh… Finish, after what, Evan?"
"After something from the oven… with butter… red wine… herbs… something that needs to be cut through with lemon…"
NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!
NOT THAT DREAMY EXPRESSION!!! NOT THAT EXCITED FACE!!!
Callisa felt herself trembling like a fruit jelly with whipped cream served in a crystal cup. She wanted to say that wasn't what she meant, but all that came out of her mouth was…
"You're right. Nothing cuts through heavy flavours like the refreshing acidity of lemon."
Evan smiled at her.
She hated herself for those words, but her chef's pride would not allow her to answer any other way. She would have been denying her entire knowledge and passion for cooking.
"I'd like the dessert on our big date to be just as wonderful."
Callisa felt weak. She felt her strength leaving her. She collapsed to the floor. Evan managed to catch the cake.
"Are you alright, Callisa?"
"I'm fine, Evan. I'm just very tired."
"Rest a bit."
Callisa stayed on the floor for a long time.
Mission: Rescue Our Boy
Location: Dormitory belonging to Tenebrae Academy.
Time until full moon: 65:14:58
Agent: Frida Vollmond
Objective: Convince Evan that he is more than meat.
Tactic: The body is more than meat.
Frida was alone in her room. She put on sportswear.
"Alright, Evan. That cake was delicious… even if it didn't work. Now you probably have a few calories to burn off."
She smiled. She left the room with the equipment.
She found Evan deep in thought in the living room, sitting in an armchair. She set up the equipment without drawing attention to herself. She turned on her phone and played a military bugle call.
Evan immediately jumped up from the armchair.
"Frida, what—"
The wolf girl simply blew the whistle hanging around her neck. She looked at him sternly. She walked up to him and touched his backside.
"Don't you think you've been neglecting yourself?"
"Neglecting?"
"Your ass seems a little less firm."
"Seriously?" Evan's eyes went wide.
"That's why we start training today. On the mats."
They stood side by side and began exercising. Frida looked at Evan and thought:
They say you have to sweat out an illness, and exercise is health. Simple things always work.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye. Every now and then she had to correct something, but it was fine. He was focused on the exercises.
When they finished the first set, Evan sniffed his arm. At first it worried Frida, but what he said immediately calmed her.
"I haven't sweated enough yet. Shall we keep going?"
"Sure."
It worked! No wonder they say a healthy mind in a healthy body! All the exercises went perfectly.
At the end Evan was towelling himself off.
"I think I've gotten rid of all the toxins from my body."
"Yes. And you feel much better. Shall we train like this every day?"
"Sure."
Frida smiled. Victory!
"I want to look good for the date."
"Of course! Huh…"
"Callisa's father praised the meat of my thighs." Evan said, touching his legs. "Thanks, Frida. You were right, I neglected exercise."
Frida screamed in her mind that that wasn't the point.
"Do you remember how you used to chase me? You seemed really happy."
"Oh yes…" Frida grew dreamy. Her imagination began to drift. Before she realised it she started fantasising. Fantasising out loud.
"The chase… tearing off clothes… but so rough… and at the end, roast on a spit. Delicious. Delicious BBQ."
"You're right."
"Exactly…" She looked at Evan. At his excited face…
FUCK!!! THAT WASN'T HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO!!!
"We could—"
Before Evan could finish, Frida shouted that she had to go to the store for something and ran out so fast dust flew behind her.
Mission: Rescue Our Boy
Location: Dormitory belonging to Tenebrae Academy.
Time until full moon: 61:34:34
Agent: Aiko Nekogawa
Objective: Convince Evan that he is more than meat.
Tactic: Art is not only about the plate.
Aiko watched the rising sun. She stood in the pose of a manga hero setting out to defeat the demon lord.
She felt, however, that this battle would not be as simple and spectacular as an epic fight from some battle manga. Her enemy was even more sinister. Like some evil force destroying her world. Or maybe more like a villain who wanted to destroy her romance.
She had to fight!!!
Otherwise… Her stomach treacherously made itself known.
She knew there was no time; she had to act.
She remembered their first meeting, when she had asked him to pose for her.
"Art brought us together and art will give us a future."
She grabbed paper, pencils, crayons and markers… her weapons, and went to find Evan.
She found him in the living room. He was leafing through a cookbook… about cooking whole carcasses. On the individual pages he had stuck yellow sticky notes with his thoughts.
To her every one of those sticky notes was a little red flag.
She took a breath and approached him.
"Evan."
"Yes, Aiko."
"I'd like you to pose for me. Can you do that for me?"
She smiled at him. Twitched her ears. Wagged her tail. Raised her kawaii level.
"Gladly."
She smiled. For a moment she basked in success.
"Like this?"
When she turned her attention back to Evan she froze. She didn't know whether from fear or admiration. He had instantly cleared the entire table, stripped naked and arranged himself on the table in a roasting position.
"It's great, but that's not what I meant." She wasn't lying… in any way… though she wasn't particularly happy about it. Especially the first part. That pose was delicious torture for her.
"Then maybe like this?" He arranged himself like a turkey.
"That's not it either."
Evan tried a few more positions before she managed to get a word in.
"Evan! That's not it."
"No?" He stopped mid-pose.
"You see…" It wasn't easy for her to speak after that arousing display. "I want to draw something in an antique style."
"Antique?" Evan sat down calmly.
"Yes, antique."
"Antique…"
Evan thought for a moment, then looked at the tablecloth. He wrapped himself in it like a toga.
"Yes. Yes. That's perfect." Aiko nodded vigorously.
Evan struck the pose of a Roman senator. Aiko grabbed paper and pencil. She would shower him with compliments and…
Nothing…
Nothing…
Looking at him like that, she felt nothing.
"Something wrong, Aiko…"
"I don't feel inspired…" She flattened her ears against her head.
"Then maybe like this?"
He lay down with one hand under his head and the other extended as if holding a wine goblet.
Aiko shook her head. Evan thought, then suddenly remembered a certain painting from history class.
"Then maybe like this?"
He arranged himself on the stairs head-down.
It was instantaneous. Aiko received a massive surge of inspiration.
"Yes, that's perfect!"
She grabbed paper and pencil. It was like unleashing a great beast of creativity.
"Evan, you look amazing. Don't move."
Pencils. Crayons. Markers.
Everything created an ever more perfect work. She was on a total creative high and didn't even know how much time had passed until she finished.
"Done."
Evan stood up and looked at the drawing.
"Wonderful." She heard pride in his voice.
"Isn't it wonderful to be a model?"
"Yes."
She had succeeded. It worked. A few more drawings like this and she would succeed. She would pull Evan out of this state even…
"I'd like to be with you in a situation like that."
"What?"
She looked at the drawing. Evan in a toga lying on the stairs. Bound. It was good, but why was he surrounded by her and the rest of the girls in barbarian outfits with hunger in their eyes?!
That wasn't how it was supposed to be!!!
"Then let's draw an orgy and a feast."
A dazed Aiko simply agreed.
In the evening she felt terrible. Her plan not only hadn't worked, it had ended with a set of drawings in an antique style.
She knew one thing. It was horribly wonderful art. Online it would gather a mass of likes. If she took it to a gallery she could make a fortune and gain fame.
She spent the entire evening berating herself.
Mission: Rescue Our Boy
Location: Dormitory belonging to Tenebrae Academy.
Time until full moon: 56:00:00
Agent: Morona Florentine
Objective: Convince Evan that he is more than meat.
Tactic: Words and symbols are the path and the signposts; if we change the path, will the symbol change too?
Morona prepared her room. It was already normally dark and gothic, but now she intended to heighten that metaphysical atmosphere. Callisa's cooking, Frida's training and Aiko's art had all failed. They were all elements of the same novel about the final feast.
Since the novel was the problem, she had to change its narrative. She made her room almost pure narrative. Roses, candles, incense, meditative music playing from her smartphone.
She had to hit the source from which the meat narrative was emerging, and then guide it so that it stopped being what it had been at the beginning. Then the story of the pleasure of the feast would become a story of the pleasure of love.
She heard a knock. Evan. Time to begin.
Evan entered the room.
"You wanted to talk to me."
She indicated a place in front of her and asked him to sit. Between them was a small table. On the table were a sheet of paper and a pen.
"A story has a beginning and an end. It doesn't matter where the beginning is or where the end leads. Everything is wrapped around a core." She pushed the paper and pen toward him. "The truth about the core hides in single words."
"So I should write single words that define me."
"Let each one sing of your soul."
Evan began to write while Morona watched the words being recorded. Evan. Lover. Devoted. Athletic. Material.
The name was important. The next three were obvious. The last one was unsettling. Many things could hide behind it. Desired and undesired. She knew, however, that she had found the core and now she had to chart a different path from it than the path of meat.
"A blank page is potential. We write on it. We give the story its course. We plant flowers in the garden."
Evan thought for a moment. So she had managed to find the beginning of the path.
"Flowers begin as seeds, but we decide how they grow."
Morona nodded.
"We care for them, they grow and bloom."
Evan listened intently. There was something beautifully mystical about him.
"The purpose of a flower is to bloom and delight the eyes."
Morona smiled. He looked so sweet as he said it. She felt he had begun to enter the right path.
He grew thoughtful. It was even charming.
"They bloom and bear fruit…" Morona initially smiled, but her expression fell when she heard the rest "…and are consumed."
That was far more unsettling than the word "material."
"There are many stories; not every story of a fruit ends in consumption."
"But then would the story remain…" he thought for a moment "…incomplete?"
Incomplete…
That word lingered in Morona's mind. Yes… he was right… the material developed into fruit. So the lack of consumption would be a lack of ending…
She trembled. She realised what kind of ending he was talking about.
"There are many endings." Evan nodded. "Consumption is a worthy ending. You become part of those you love and you are with them forever. In every moment of their earthly life and in the memory of their minds."
Morona immediately collapsed onto the table.
"Are you alright, Morona?"
"If the ending is close and wraps around me, can I resist it? Is my will truly my will, or only a hostage of what surrounds me?"
"Uh… I'll bring some tea. It always helps you."
Evan went to get tea. Morona was in shock. She was supposed to change the core of the narrative, and the core of the narrative had swallowed her.
Time until full moon: 53:24:11
Agent: Frida Vollmond
Tactic: Distract Evan from meat with a video game
Result: Failure: Evan deliberately loses in order to see the cooking cutscenes
Time until full moon: 50:24:11
Agent: Frida Vollmond
Tactic: Distract Evan from meat with a different video game
Result: Failure: Evan finds a hidden cooking cutscene.
Time until full moon: 37:56:48
Agent: Everyone
Tactic: Take Evan for a walk and walk it all off.
Result: Failure: Evan found: a wine shop, three certified butchers, Severyn Augypius's workshop (though he maintains he doesn't know where it was), two restaurants that cook meat you bring in, and two spice shops.
Time until full moon: 35:06:48
Agent: Aiko Nekogawa
Tactic: Card game.
Result: Failure: Evan tried to set the rules so that the loser would become meat
Time until full moon: 34:34:34
Agent: Aiko Nekogawa
Tactic: Safe NSFW drawing, without cooking, with a pre-imposed scenario.
Result: Failure: Right in the middle of drawing, the drawings drift toward cooking.
Time until full moon: 27:09:28
Agent: Morona Florentine
Tactic: Meditation.
Result: Failure: Evan decided that stillness exercises were good practice before cooking.
Time until full moon: 25:01:12
Agent: Morona Florentine
Tactic: Growing herbs
Result: Failure: Instead of focusing on cultivation, Evan focused on the use of herbs in the kitchen.
Time until full moon: 19:49:48
Agent: Callisa Vulpine
Tactic: Remove the oven and all equipment from the kitchen.
Result: Failure: Evan decided they would now cook over an open fire. He praised the advantages of that technique.
Time until full moon: 16:11:18
Agent: Everyone
Tactic: Trip to the store to distract Evan from meat.
Result: Failure: They leave with loads of vegetables, spices, fruit and other things. All bought at Evan's urging as excellent things to go with meat.
Mission: Cooking… NO!!! Rescue Our Boy
Place of Consumption, NO!!! Location: Dormitory belonging to Tenebrae Academy.
Critical Mission Alert: THE FULL MOON IS TODAY!!!
Time: Time to Eat… No!!! There's no time.
Agent: Anyone!!!
Objective: Prepare… NO!!! Convince Evan that he is more than meat. He is the best meat… NO!!! Our boyfriend!
Tactic: Anything as long as it works!!!
Callisa lay on the floor. She growled with rising frustration and hunger. The other girls were in no better state than she was. They thrashed about on the floor half-crazed.
"Damn it! Why doesn't anything work?! Even trying to remove the oven didn't help."
Morona stood over her, saliva dripping from her mouth.
"Fate… Evan… eat…"
She couldn't speak normally. She was only able to force out single words. Her claws opened and closed nervously. The same with her mouth.
"Love… head…"
Callisa looked at her.
"Don't say that."
She wanted to scold her, but unfortunately hunger overshadowed everything. And there was something else. The hunger in the brains of the inhabitants of Carnivora was fused with desire. So not only were they starving, they were also horny, and that made the whole situation even worse. Callisa looked toward her own backside. Her panties and shorts were completely soaked. If not for the sweet scent one could believe her bladder had given out. She took them off. Everything was terrible, but the worst part was that instinct kept feeding her delicious fantasies about Evan.
"If I don't do something soon I'm going to throw myself at him. Rape him or eat him raw!"
In a fit of frenzy she bit a pillow.
The taste of fabric was awful, but she still tore at it in a meat-crazed frenzy.
She looked around and something struck her. The wolf girl was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Frida?"
Morona looked around.
"Aiko…"
They weren't there. Evan wasn't either. Both strained their hearing. Then a sound reached them. Sharp and metallic. As if someone were running a knife along a whetstone.
It was coming from the butchering room.
They looked at each other in horror, then rose from the floor and rushed to the rescue.