Porsha only got a glimpse of Ash before Buster whisked the porcupine, Johnny, Calloway and Nooshy away. Of Ryan there was no sign. All of her sagging, the wolf stared after Ash for a long time, then turned and plodded across the backstage area, through the throngs of people, to her personal space. She took off her costume and underclothes, gave them to a dresser who looked at her in silent concern, draped a towel over her shoulder, and headed for the showers.
This time one was free. She went mechanically through the cleaning motions, returned to her space, dried off, then sat with the towel over her bowed head. It wasn't long before her ears flicked to the sound of approaching footsteps that managed to be both quite heavy, and very tentative, but she gave no other reaction.
"P-Porsha?" A voice quietly ventured, accompanied by a soft tapping together of very large extremities. "Are...are you...all right...?"
A long silence, then the wolf threw back the towel and locked watery eyes on the elephant. "What did I do wrong?"
Meena's widened. "N-nothing!" she hurried to assure. "You were just as good as ever out there. Better!"
"Not the show. Ash! She's barely spoken to me in a week!" Porsha's paws wrung. "I-I must have done something wrong, b-but I don't know what!" Her voice fell to a strained whisper. "I don't wanna lose her..."
Alarm raised Meena's ears. "You won't! She...she just...she's just had a lot...she's been...I mean..."
"May I have your attention, please!" Buster's amplified voice echoed from the auditorium; the chatter of the audience faded. "Sadly, we've reached the end of the line for this production of Out of This World."
"Aww!" the crowd chorused.
"But, it's been an amazing run, with so many amazing audiences..."
That got a roar.
"...so we felt a need to say...thank you."
A louder roar.
"One of our number, Ash, has been working on her second song, with help from Johnny...and Clay Calloway."
A ripple of excitement ran through the crowd. Porsha's head cocked.
"Busy with that," Meena continued, "but she...we...c-couldn't tell you about it, because..."
"She wanted to perform it at the cast party, as a surprise for a certain wolfy someone who means the world and more to her..."
Porsha's head snapped round with an audible crack.
"Well, that," Meena finished. "Uh...surprise...?"
"But, when I heard what they were cooking up, I knew it needed a far bigger stage, so with no further ado except a caution this performance may quite possibly contain some..."
"She doesn't hate me," the wolf breathed. She leapt up, towel going flying, hugged the elephant, kissed their cheek, then shot off. "Thanks, Meena! I gotta see this! It's for me!"
The pachyderm blushed. "M-my pleasure." Fresh alarm lifted her ears again; she hastily turned to call after the lupine. "P-Porsh, wait! Don't you want to put something on, first...?"
Porsha exploded into the wings, just in time to see Calloway, Nooshy, Johnny and two of the theatre's musicians head out on stage as Buster introduced them to exuberant cheering. Frowning in confusion at the absence of Ash, she crept forward just enough to see out, taking in the drum kit Nooshy sat behind, the upright piano Johnny perched beside, the transparent platform lifting Calloway and his guitar up into the air, and the acoustic and bass the other musicians collected.
Her gaze moved into the crowd, and that's when she finally saw Ash, the porcupine standing on a small platform in the middle of the stands with their red and white six string round their neck, a harness on, their arms at their sides, and their eyes closed. While the other three were dressed as normal, Ash was wearing a form-fitting, wine red and deep silver bodysuit with matching eyeshadow, and Porsha briefly forgot to breathe. A pat on the back restarted her lungs.
"Really something, huh?" Buster beamed up at her.
The wolf nodded. "Yeah! Can't believe this is for me!"
"Well, not just you," the koala corrected, with a chuckle. "The others had their own motivations, but for Ash it was all about you." A trace of guilt crept in. "Which is why she was so worried about the prep for all this taking her away from you, but that may have been slightly, mostly my fault, so hopefully this goes some way to making up for it..."
As Buster finished speaking, Johnny, the acoustic and the bass started a warm, gentle, almost shimmering melody that had the wolf instantly entranced. Then the gorilla began to softly sing.
Sensitive, tentative,
Take it beat by gentle beat.
New romance, leave no chance,
For the slightest note of sour in the sweet.
Ryan appeared beside Porsha, close enough their shoulders brushed, his eyes as drawn to Johnny as hers were the still motionless Ash.
Wondering, questioning,
Just what we can truly be.
Hope so bright, that we might,
Come together in the closest harmony.
The gorilla's eyes found the tiger's as he sang the last refrain, his own smile growing considerably. Ryan barely stopped himself taking a step forward, glanced at Buster, who nodded with a grin, then bounded out to the piano, a ripple of cheers and applause rising from the audience, and settled into a gentle, fluid little sway of a dance beside it.
Starting to find our rhythm,
Our sync beat,
Our song.
Starting to see the dream I've wanted for so long.
Nooshy and Calloway came to life, filling out the melody as it swelled into the chorus; Ash didn't move; Porsha fidgeted; Buster chuckled.
"You can go out, too," he whispered, "but pick your moment, and put something on, first." Then turned and left.
Of a beautiful adventure!
The wolf glanced around, eyes roaming over all the backstage clutter, but finding nothing. She frowned.
On a beautiful adventure!
Porsha started rummaging in hurried, slipshod fashion through trunks and boxes and piles, gaze repeatedly twitching to Ash.
You and me,
Meant to be,
In our beautiful adventure!
The melody stayed strong as Calloway's voice rang out. Porsha lifted up a blue, purple and silver space suit, stared at it for a moment, then flung it away with a flick of her ears.
Can we play, all the way,
Make it last until the end?
Sing our song, all life long,
Never lose our perfect blend?
A smiling lioness danced with grace and energy across the area of the stage-wide screen right behind Calloway, looking so alive Porsha could have sworn she was on the lion's platform at one point.
When we're grey, can we say,
It was truly all worthwhile?
Lows and highs, laughs and sighs,
Did we live it all with style?
Porsha stumbled across a harness, and her ears shot up on realising it was still attached to the flying rig. Her mind raced.
"Mr Moon said to put something on, and this is something," the wolf rambled to herself, "but is it enough of a something?"
Was ours a love that lasted?
That sang long,
And loud?
Was it a romance that'll leave us feeling proud?
"Is what I'm thinking of doing with this too much?" Porsha wrung her paws, muzzle twisting. "Or is it a match for what she's gonna do?"
Of a beautiful adventure!
"Should I? Shouldn't I?"
Our beautiful adventure!
"Would I? Could I?"
You and me,
Meant to be,
In our beautiful adventure!
Porsha, still wrestling with herself, watched as Calloway stared with a deep warmth at one last smiling image of the lioness before the music distilled and focused into a drum-driven thrum. The wolf's heart leapt for her throat when Ash, still motionless with eyes shut, finally started to sing, low and fast and intense.
With everything that could go wrong,
The endless ways to break our song,
Is it a risk worth the taking,
The worry of two hearts breaking?
What if I...
What if you...
Maybe I...
Maybe you...
Could I, should I, would I?
The porcupine's eyes snapped open, looking straight at Porsha as she spoke a single word with a conviction that sent a shiver right down the wolf's spine. "Yes."
Bounding to life, Porsha hastened to wrestle herself into the harness, stumbling and fumbling, eyes locked on Ash. The music filled back out a little, as did the porcupine's voice, ringing with potential energy.
If I want a dream,
I'll find a way.
If we want a dream,
We'll find a way.
Gotta take the risks,
Gotta take chances,
You're worth the risk,
You're worth chances,
If we put in the fight,
We can really take fli-i-i-i-ght!
As Ash's voice soared, and she built a rising rhythm on her guitar, she herself rose slowly into the air. Porsha managed to click the last clasps of the harness into place, then launched upward, above Johnny, Ryan, Nooshy and the backing players, past Clay's platform and out over the gasping audience in a sweeping arc around the porcupine.
Ash hung for a moment, sung and played notes hanging with her, her eyes shining as she laughed in delight at the wolf, then she was curling through the air in fluid counterpoint to them, while playing a buoyant, ringing solo. They swirled and swooped an aerial dance, passing close several times, reaching for each other, but never quite making contact.
Finally, the solo quieting to a close, they descended to Ash's platform from either side, touching down simultaneously, Porsha folding herself into as low a kneel as she could, their eyes locked. The music faded to nothing, silence filling the theatre, broken only by the sweet singing of a porcupine to the wolf whose paw she now held.
In our beautiful adventure,
Such a beautiful adventure.
Porsha, damp trails showing on her cheeks, joined in.
You and me,
Meant to be,
On a beautiful adventure...
Ash drew Porsha in to press a kiss to their lips. "Happy birthday."
Several expressions passed across the wolf's face, her mouth moving but nothing coming out. She finally settled on happy confusion. "Why am I not being dragged away for invading a performance wearing only a harness and a lovesick grin?"
Ash laughed, nuzzling her. "We kinda knew it might happen. Made a plan or two in case of it, even."
"Wait..." Porsha blinked. "So that's why..." She laughed, grabbed the porcupine, swept her around, and kissed them, hard. "Best birth-a-day ever!" she whooped, dancing on the spot.
Voices calling from the main stage pulled them out of their bubble, to finally hear the raucous ovation from the audience. Hand in hand they made a long, smooth bound over to join the others, rapidly shed their harnesses, Porsha needing a little help from Ash, then the group lined up with arms around waists and bowed.
Backstage, the pair were swarmed by ecstatic people, a mess of hugs and smiles and cheers and pats they struggled to extricate themselves from, until Calloway stepped in. He got them somewhere quieter, and stood watch as Ash changed, and Porsha got dressed.
"You know, Porsha," he mused, "you remind me of someone."
Her head cocked. "You've seen someone else be naked on stage?"
"More than a few, and more besides. It's more the spirit, though. I'll hafta tell you about them, sometime."
"I'd love that!" the wolf enthused, bobbing her head.
"Another time," Ash gently but firmly insisted. "The rest of this night, whether you like it or not, is gonna be spent having stupid amounts of fun at the cast-slash-birthday party, then snuggled up on a couch with me, and a load of snacks, and funny movies, and we might even try to figure out how to fit our muzzles together."
"Ooh, I like it, like it, love it!" Porsha beamed. She grabbed Ash, spun on her heel, and ran off. "Let's get started right now! Partyyyyyy!"
Calloway watched them go, chuckling. "Guess it's startin' early."