Beyond the Veil - Ch.7 - Team Building Pt.1 (Patreon)

"Alright it looks like everyone's here now," my Goddess spoke up over the din of the crowd, "So before we get started I'd just like to say a few quick words."

My long floofy tail swished in excitement as I looked around at the size of our group. There were about three dozen people in total, which included a half dozen new faces I hadn't seen before. In fact there were enough of us all grouped around my Goddess that even some of the regular park guests were stopping to listen in and see what was going on.

Which made sense, considering we'd picked a fairly public place to meet. The timing put us right in view of loads of people as well. Basically it was just past ten on a Wednesday morning, and being the sixth of August we had perfect bright sunny weather. And with almost the entire Team Chaos pantheon gathered just inside the main gates of a big amusement park north of Toronto, we had a huge stream of people moving past right next to us, since the park only opened a few minutes earlier.

Cassandra ignored the curious onlookers as she continued, "First off, I know it's cliché but I'm hoping we can use this as sort of a team building thing? I'm not saying you can't all stick to your own groups, but maybe try and mingle a little as well, make some new friends? Second off, I can see some of you are masking your true appearance today. This is a Chaos outing though, so I'd like to encourage you all to just relax and be yourselves."

My long floppy bunny ears and big floofy tail were already out in full view. No wings though, since I was in my casual form. Same with Kaylee, the tiny fox-demon wasn't trying to hide her five fluffy tails or her tall fuzzy red ears. And Sasha's white bunny ears and tail were out as well. Same with the RSS girls, they were proudly showing off their ears and tails.

Two of the new people were also sporting some obviously feline attributes. Although as near as I could tell one of the catgirls was a mortal, so she probably didn't have any way to hide her non-human traits even if she wanted to.

On the other hand both the werewolf girls were in their human guise, and so were all the demons. Including Mara, which was a surprise. I'd only met her a handful of times over the past three months, but every time I saw her she always had her horns and tail out on display. I was still looking at her when the dusky-skinned demon girl explained why she'd hidden her demonic bits for today.

"The problem is all the rides here feel like they were specifically designed to be as painful as possible for those of us with tails," Mara stated with an unhappy frown. "So it's kind of a tough call? Either you get rid of your tail, or you don't enjoy the rides."

I hadn't actually thought of that, but now that she'd mentioned it my tail ended up tucked down between my legs while I began to imagine what it'd be like having to sit on it all day long.

Fortunately my Goddess had an easy answer. Most of us felt Her magic wash out over the entire amusement park as She replied, "Not anymore Mara. Now the rides will all adapt to accommodate tails. Not just for those of us on Team Chaos either. From now on the rides will adapt to suit any and all guests with tails."

"Heck yeah!" Mara responded with a wide grin. A moment later her tall red horns and long spade-tipped tail appeared and she added, "Let's do this!"

The two werewolf girls exchanged a glance then shifted to their wolfgirl forms, with ears and tails out. And needless to say, that earned our group even more attention from the public as the crowd continued moving past us. With a dozen of us sporting furry or demonic tails and fuzzy ears or horns, we probably left a lot of people scratching their heads wondering what the heck was going on.

Then another voice spoke up from near the back of the group, and this time it was from one of the new people. I could tell she was a cambion, even though her horns were hidden in her messy black hair her long barbed tail was visible and obviously demonic. Her most unusual feature though was her height. She was tiny, possibly even shorter than Kaylee. And that was the subject of her question.

"What about that whole 'you must be this tall to enjoy the ride' thing?" the half-demon shortstack asked, while her tail swished around behind her. "Can you fix things so us vertically-challenged folks can have fun too?"

Cassandra nodded, "Sure! If you're tough enough not to get hurt, or don't mind taking the chance, then it's just a bit of magic to zap your wristband so you can access all the rides regardless of height restrictions. I've already done that for Kaylee and Lucie. And if any of the park staff try and stop you at the individual rides, I suggest using an illusion to let them think you're tall enough."

"And actually this might be a good opportunity to do some introductions?" my Goddess added. "Since we do have a few new arrivals on the team today."

She gestured towards two attractive young women standing together near the edge of Her group, "These are my parents. My mom Julie, and my mum Tanya. Up until recently they've been keeping out of my Chaos business, but Cass and I finally convinced them to join us."

The fallen angels looked far too young to have a daughter in her late teens or early twenties, but apparent age was meaningless when it came to immortal beings and magical creatures. The couple looked no older than thirty, and were dressed like a pair of college seniors. They smiled and politely greeted the rest of the group.

The next introductions came from the demon contingent. Eva grinned as she announced, "A few of you already know my found family, but for those who don't this is my adopted little sister Lexi, and her girlfriend Marianne."

Lexi was another blue-eyed blonde like Eva, and she really did look like the demon's shorter younger sister. Except for the fact that she had a pair of furry feline ears poking up out of her hair, and a long fluffy striped tail swishing back and forth behind her. Marianne on the other hand looked mostly human, although I could just make out a pair of small demonic horns hidden in the taller woman's long chestnut curls.

One of Cassandra's disciples spoke up next. The slim white-haired bunnygirl smiled as she gestured towards another young woman standing near her, "This is my mother, May Hawthorne."

"Thank you Sasha," the twenty-something ravenette mumbled. Despite being a goddess she actually looked like she felt awkward and out of place. And maybe a little embarrassed too, as she glanced around at the rest of our group.

Her eyes lingered slightly now and then, and it only took me a moment to realize it was those of us who were obviously non-human that seemed to make her uncomfortable. Like myself, Kaylee, Mara, that little cambion, and the wolfgirls. For a moment I wondered if she might be prejudiced against demi-humans or demons, but we all found out the real reason a moment later.

May was fidgeting with what looked like a braided leather 'friendship bracelet' she had around her left wrist as she asked, "Are you positive these things will work? It feels like we're talking an awful risk here, with so much public exposure. Not to mention all of us being gathered here in one place."

All the other gods and goddesses were wearing similar bracelets, even Siggy had one around their neck like a little collar. The only exception was Cassandra, since She didn't need it.

"Yes mother I'm quite certain," Sasha replied. "My enchantments blend divine and demonic magic with the power of primordial chaos. They're guaranteed to keep you shielded from the status-quo."

After that distraction there were just a few more new people to be introduced. Amethyst's angel was actually standing with that group rather than by her goddess's side, and instead of her usual angelic form she looked like a normal goth human today.

Raven actually blushed slightly as she introduced her companions, "This is my girlfriend Avery, her sister Cheryl, and Cheryl's girlfriend Tabby. And the little one is Jinx."

Apart from the tiny cambion the rest of that group were all mortals. Avery and Cheryl appeared to be normal humans, while Tabby was an orange tabby catgirl. She actually stood out to me though, because she was the first mortal demi-human I'd encountered who didn't owe her transformation to my Goddess and Her enchanted plushies.

"Hey everyone!" Jinx smiled and waved happily. "So are we done now? I wanna hit the rides already!"

Cassandra smiled, "Alright Jinx. I suppose I've wasted enough of everyone's time. Let's all go have some fun! And spread some chaos, but remember to be nice about it. Obey park rules and all that."

The tiny cambion and Mara both exclaimed "Yeah!" at the same time, then they both dashed off in different directions, while the rest of their friends or family chased after them. The remainder of our large gathering dispersed a little more calmly.

At first I stayed with my Goddess and Her closest friends, as we queued up for the park's tallest roller coaster. The line moved quickly, and soon enough we all got on board together. Cassandra and Kaylee were in the first row, along with their two werewolf friends. Sasha and Willow got into the second row, as did Nina and myself. And to my surprise the little torty goddess joined us as well. That put a big smile on Nina's face, as Siggy settled onto the young demoness' lap.

In fact with my attention on the happy demon and the purring cat next to me I almost didn't notice the way the molded plastic seat beneath me reshaped itself to accommodate my long floofy tail when I got seated.

Unlike me the RSS girls were all well aware of the way the seats reshaped themselves when they got into the third row behind us. Callie made a point of calling attention to how the ride changed to accommodate their tails, and Bailey agreed. And Serenity commented loudly, "Praise the Chaos!"

That got the attention of several members of the public who'd been in line behind us, especially considering they'd already been staring due to all the furry tails and fuzzy ears in front of them. More than a few of them had their phones out too, so they could get some pictures or videos of us. Nobody made any comments though. Even the park employees kept quiet when they went around verifying we were all properly secured for the ride. Siggy got a few more confused stares though, when people realized there was a cat riding the roller coaster.

After the anticipation of the long slow climb up to the top of the first hill we shot down the other side, then straight back up to the next hill. In fact the whole ride was like that, up and down a lot of really big hills mixed with some tight banking turns left and right. It was actually a lot of fun, and it left me looking forward to more.

I stuck with my Goddess's group as we all moved on to the next ride, which was another coaster. This one was much smaller, but included a couple three-sixty loops and some tight corkscrews. We had almost the same experience waiting in line, with plenty of stares and a few people taking pictures without asking first.

This time I got to ride up front with Cassandra and Kaylee, while Nina Sasha and Willow were behind us, along with Siggy. The RSS crew took the third row, while the two wolfgirls were behind them.

Despite being a much smaller ride the tight loops and sharp turns made it just as thrilling as the taller coaster, but in different ways. It was still fun though, and from there we all moved on to yet another coaster.

Where the first two were modern rides made of steel, number three was an old rickety wooden model. There were lots of clangs and shudders during the long roll-out to the base of the hill, then the mechanism rattled loudly as we were slowly pulled up to the top. After that it felt like what I'd imagine being in a runaway train car was like, going up and down hills and around tight corners.

After that the two wolfgirls decided to head off on their own, while the rest of us continued on to our fourth coaster of the day. That was another small modern steel ride, where four of us at a time experienced the steep drops and sharp turns in individual cars rather than a longer 'train'.

Up until that point Siggy was either enjoying the rides on Nina's lap, or being carried between the rides in the young demoness' arms. However as we left that fourth coaster the little torty suddenly jumped free and ran off towards some sort of disturbance taking place next to a donut stand.

From the look of it a tween was suffering from sensory overload and having a bit of a meltdown. His embarrassed parents were doing their best to try and calm him down, while his older brother was acting very frustrated and impatient.

The small cat dashed right up to the crying boy then leapt up into his arms, and in full view of his family they taught the kid some sort of mantra to help him calm down. Then once he was looking better they gave him an enchanted fidget toy, before finally wandering off with their tail and ears standing up tall and proud. I couldn't help thinking the small cat deity was searching for other overwhelmed people in need of their help.

At that point I decided to take my Goddess's earlier suggestion to heart about switching things up a bit. So I left Her group to do their thing, and soon found myself in the company of a gaggle of demons instead.

Mara and Mira were like a couple little kids on a sugar rush, the way they practically ran from one ride to the next. Their three succubus girlfriends almost had trouble keeping up with the twins, as did I and the other two part-demons with us. Then when we finally got into another line together we attracted plenty of attention again, between Lexi's and my fuzzy ears and tails. Although Mara almost stole the show, with her demonic horns and tail. Not to mention her rambunctious behaviour.

That line was for my first non-coaster ride of the day, a large black and red contraption that made me think of a huge metal octopus with grabby claws at the end of its arms. Each of those grabbers had room for eight passengers, which was perfect. Mara and Mira sat together on one pair of seats, while Lexi and Marianne took the ones across from them. Susan and Melissa ended up next to each other to the left of the twins, while Amber and I took the final seats across from the other two succubi.

When the ride got going each of those 'claws' spun in one direction while the arms raised up then dropped back down as the whole thing rotated in the opposite direction. It was kind of fun, and the drops were thrilling. It felt like it was over a little too quickly though.

Then the moment the safety restraints were unlocked Mara and Mira were off like a shot, giggling and laughing as they sought out their next thrill of the day.

~ To Be Continued... ~