NaNoWriMo Day 30 - Prologue and Last Chapter

Slugtectives Gary and Larry the Leopard Slugs

Prologue

One Spring day on a post in the yard of a house on a street in the outskirts of a town called Lakeside, slightly shaded by the large tree growing on the edge of the yard, hung two leopard slugs. They were suspended by a thick trail of mucus that was plastered against the post above them, their bodies intertwined and hanging free below. The mating ritual of the leopard slug can last for hours depending on how entwined they become. Gary had worked hard to entice Tendra the other slug into mating, his instinct taking over once they had climbed the post.
They had met that morning as he had been slugging through the grass with Larry on their way to find food. She was really receptive to him and he fell for her instantly. Larry made small talk but Gary monopolized the conversation and soon had setup another meeting between them.
Larry watched them hit it off and he knew he had the perfect opportunity, it would be internet gold. All he had to do was follow them and then let them and his camera hidden beneath his mantle do the rest. His SlugTube channel was going to explode once he could get the video he hoped he would get put up. He just had to bide his time and help Gary seal the deal.
They ended up finding a nice pile of decomposing leaves that had a fungus growing through it. They munched away at the pile for a while until they felt full, chewing in silence. Larry was watching Gary and he could see his thoughts were focused on her. Between mouthfuls he said, “you gonna seal the deal with Tendra tonight?”
Gary came back to present and looked at Larry saying, “damn well hope so.”
They each finished their bites of fungus and Larry motioned for them to go. They headed back to Larry’s nook and as they approached Larry said, “I’ll catch up with you later, let me know what happens later.” He slugged into his nook and Gary watched as he turned and entered. “Sure,” he said as Larry disappeared.
Gary went to the directly to the post that she had told him was where her hole was and he stopped near it as he searched for the entrance. He couldn’t make out which opening might be her hole so he began calling for her as he worked his way around the post. As he reached the opposite side he saw her head pop out from between the post and mound of grass.
“Hey,” Gary said quickly at the sight of her. “I just wanted to stop and see where your hole is so I’m not wandering around later.”
“Sure you were,” she said coyly.
“I swear,” he lied unconvincingly.
She gave him a look as she moved past and over her back said, “I’ll see you later, I was just on my way out. Maybe after dark?”
“Sure,” he stammered as he watched her go and he felt his heart thumping hard in his body. He turned and slugged back towards his hole, stopping at Larry’s along the way. He gave a call from the entrance then began to enter Larry’s nook. His head in the entrance he heard Larry laughing out loud to himself. “What’s so funny?” he asked as he entered the nook.
Larry looked up quickly and tapped at the screen of his pda with his lower tentacles before saying, “nothing, just a video.”
Gary eyed him suspiciously before saying slowly, “it’s on for tonight.”
Larry smiled and thought simply, “YES!”. He slid his pda aside and turned to Gary and said, “you ready for this? Remember try not to get too tangled with her, you might lose your dick.”
Gary shuddered and said bluntly, “yeah I know. It’s the last thing I want, trust me. I’m happy being male.”
Larry laughed at him then asked, “when you meeting up?”
“After dark,” Gary replied.
“Awesome, good luck,” Larry said with a smile.
“Thanks,” he said then turned to leave saying, “bout time it’s my turn.” He left the nook and slugged to his hole to wait impatiently.
The sun set and the night began to take over as Gary sat outside his hole watching the light fade. He was not sure how long he should wait but his anxiousness had him tapping his foot nervously. He watched as stars began to appear in the sky and as the half moon rose he decided it was time.
Moving intently and as directly as he could manage he soon found himself at the base of the post, his heart pounding. He gave a whispered call of “Tendra?” and waited. After a pause he heard her call back, “I’m coming” and she soon appeared from around the post.
Gary’s heart was pounding and his mind went blank as he watched her approach and he stammered out a, “hi”.
Tendra had obviously done this before and she moved right up to Gary and stared to caress his mantle with her lower tentacles. He shuddered at her touch and he felt the rising waves of instinct kicking in. He began to circle with her as they touched each other with their tentacles, occasionally she would nibble on his skirt or his mantle gently.
They were so enrapture with each other that they were completely oblivious to Larry sitting next to a rock, his camera exposed as he recorded the event. His mind kept thinking of how he could edit the video to really make it go viral. He knew he had something here.
Gary and Tendra circled each other for nearly an hour as Larry sat as still as the rock next to him watching and recording. At one point Tendra stopped and and with a coy look at Gary she began to climb the post. Gary saw her look and then her movement and followed suit. The post leaned to one side, the side facing Larry, and they soon found themselves near mid height of the post.
They stopped in the shadow of the overhang and soon their bodies were twining together and a thick patch of mucus was soon spreading across the post. Once enough had adhered Tendra let loose of the post with her foot and Gary suddenly had her full weight to bear. He looked up at the thick string of mucus above them and with a deep breath let go of the post with his foot.
The pair swung out into space and the mucus string pulled tight and held them in the air away from the post. Their bodies writhed and twisted around each other, their slime flowing and coating them as they hung. Once their bodies were sufficiently entwined from the right side of her head Tendras white semi-translucent penis everted from her gonadopore and Gary noticing it everted his. Their penises became swollen in frilly furls of membrane and they twisted and entwined them together in a knot.
The knot gradually changed shape and began to resemble a flower as they writhed in their inverted position. As the flowering look changed they slowly exchange sperm until their penises re-knotted. Gary was not used to the exertion and he felt himself starting to slip mucus out and he suddenly was beginning to flip right side up. He soon found himself hanging from the now thin trail of mucus still attached to him and his penis still entwined with Tendra’s.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asked him sharply.
“I couldn’t hold my mucus tight, I’m sorry, I’m tired. You wore me out,” he said impishly.
All of his weight was now hanging from their entwined penises and slowly they began to unravel. Tendra grunted at the weight of Gary hanging below her and said through them, “hurry up already”.
Gary focused on making his penis move, on getting it to undo the massive knot that it had built. Slowly he became free and with a last movement he slid free, suddenly air born the thin mucus still attached to him snapped and he hit the ground with a solid thud. He sat in a lump as he retracted his penis back into his gonadopore, still reeling from the drop. Soon Tendra was climbing down from the post and as she pulled her from from it said, “what the hell was that?”
Gary looked up at her questioningly but said nothing.
“Since when is it okay to hang on a penis during mating? That was seriously rude and really hurt,” she said accusingly.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I lost grip of the mucus and slipped, and then fell,” he said quickly.
“Yeah well you better be careful, that sort of thing can get you a reputation,” she said with a smirk.
Gary glared at her in response.
“Well, I’m hungry so I’m going to go find food,” she said then turned without waiting for a response and slugged away from him.
Gary sat and watched her go, still sitting in a lump from the fall until he relaxed once she was out of view.
Larry could barely keep himself contained when Gary began hanging from Tendra’s penis and he had to steady himself against the rock next to him. He kept his lens as steady as possible and recorded the entire ritual. As Tendra slugged away Larry made sure to get Gary’s reaction the best he could then stopping recording he silently slugged back to his nook, leaving Gary in the afterglow and covered in mating slime. He couldn’t wait to get the video posted online and planned to spend all night if need be getting it just right.

Conclusion

The phone rang as it sat in the kitchen counter and Dru walked to it and picking it up saw it was Vivian calling. “Hello,” he said after he hit the call button.
“Morning. Did they drop the dumpster for you??” she asked.
“Yeah, yesterday, thank you. I got the pile loaded in before dark,” he replied.
“Good, I can have them pick it up whenever you want,” she said.
“Maybe in a day or two, there is still some stuff that needs to go in it.”
“Okay, just let me know when. Everything else okay?” she asked.
Dru paused for a moment, he wasn’t sure if he should tell her about the slug or even really how to. His pause became longer as he hesitated then at last said quickly, “yeah, it’s okay.” He knew she would find the whole thing as unbelievable as he did and it would sound crazy.
“What happened with the LarrSlug guy?” she asked.
Dru again paused as he searched for something to say that wouldn’t sound crazy, his mouth opening and closing silently as he tried to talk. Finally he sighed and said, “I don’t know how to say it that won’t sound crazy.”
Vivian coughed before asking, “what will sound crazy? What is he, he’s a furry isn’t he?”
“A what?” Dru asked confused.
“A furry, the cosplay people that dress up like cartoon characters?” she said questioningly.
“No,” he replied, “not that. It’s,” he struggled to get the words out, “it’s, I think that LarrSlug is an actual slug. There, see? It sounds just as crazy as I thought it would,” he said with his words quickening as he finished.
Vivian sat silent on the other end of the line in contemplation as she absorbed what she had just heard before saying, “you’re right, it does sound crazy. So you’re telling me that a slug has been writing you messages to your phone and is what broke one of the biggest stories in the past decade?”
“Believe me when I say I am having a really hard time believing this myself, I was standing at my window talking to a slug and it answered yes or no questions. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a dream or hallucination,” Dru said, his voice trailing off.
“A slug?” Vivian asked.
“Yeah, a slug named Larry that lives in my yard apparently,” he replied.
The phone was silent for a long pause before she finally spoke and asked, “how the hell can it type? Really, I have nothing but questions now. If this is even remotely true how can it understand us? How is it even possible?”
“I’m just as confused as you are but we are going to try working together and see what happens. If anything I can just squish it and go on about my life,” Dru said with a shrug.
“Normally I would be all for killing the slug but if it is what you say then this is something insanely special and unique. Hell the government or military would probably be especially interested in it,” she said, her voice lowering as she trailed off into thought.
“Exactly, they would probably dissect it and try to bioengineer more. Last thing I want is letting them have it. We’re going to try working together as it is apparently dedicated to exposing the global human trafficking groups. I guess, what’s the worst that could happen?” Dru explained.
“I don’t know but I could think of a lot of things that could go wrong, but they’re probably not very likely. I don’t know what else to say about this, it is all so weird, and a SLUG?” she exclaimed.
“My thinking at the moment is to treat this like an intern and have it do the shit work like research and see what the hell happens. I mean, it’s a slug, how much can it actually do? It did apparently leak the list so it must have some ability and the damn thing answered yes or no questions. I can’t believe I ‘m saying all this,” he said as he shook his head.
“Honestly I can’t either. I have to go but we’ll talk later. I’m now super curious so you’ll have to tell me what happens,” she said.
“Okay, I’ll talk you later,” he said then hit the call button and set the phone on the counter again.
“What the hell am I doing? I’m going to work with a slug? I’ve got to be losing it,” he thought as he picked up the phone and slid it in his pocket before walking out of the room.
He walked to the living room window and stared at the bush outside trying to decide if what he had seen was real or not. The sun was now up and its light glinted off the slime trail left on the perch atop the bush, glinting so that Dru could see it. He stared at the glinting for a while then shaking his head he walked away from the window mumbling to himself , “I’m pretty sure I’m sane”.