Archive for August, 2010
2 items.
mature audiences
Tery realized Allie was watching her intently, staring with the expected awed look, but also an inquisitiveness that was faintly alarming. The young wolf wouldn’t look away, and Brittery ended up laying her ears back a bit, and saying “What?”
“I’m trying to decide if I still want to.” said Allie.
“Want to what?”
“Join you.”
Brittery blinked. “Okay, didn’t expect that. You do realize you just did? You just made a year’s worth of money. We wouldn’t cheat you of it. You can go about your business…”
“I’m not sure I have a business.” said Allie. “It seems like I can do this. I’m learning how to deal with it…”
“It seems like you have your own little style there. What’s that about?”
Allie looked away. “I, uh, I can be very sexual, but don’t ask me to make noises. Somebody once expected me to make noises, and I’m not anywhere he can find me, anymore.”
“Well, I got you to make noises.” pointed out Brittery.
“I… don’t think that was very kind.”
Brittery laid her ears back. Above her, the dead weight of Dren began to snore. “Don’t you call me unkind.” she said. “I do the best I can.” She trembled, pressed against Allie by Dren’s sleeping body and unable to leave.
“I’m sorry… it just seems like… I don’t even know where to start.” said Allie.
Brittery wouldn’t stop trembling. Her eyes glittered, but not with wickedness or malice- they glittered with unexpected tears. Suddenly, her impassive face was distorted by distress, and when she spoke, it was to say, “Please don’t start!” in an unsteady voice.
This astonished Allie. “But… what’s the matter?”
“I have to… hold it together til… this guy goes away…”
“Is he hurting you?”
“No… you are.” said the ebony Nerre.
“You’ve got to be joking.” said Allie. “I bit my own tongue, and I can still feel what your claw did…”
“I didn’t pull it, I know I didn’t pull it!”
“You kinda stabbed me with it. Uh, Brittery… what the heck is the matter with you?”
Brittery tried to draw a breath, though she was pressed between Dren and Allie. Her body was tense. “Okay,” she said, “just… just tell me. How badly do you hate me?”
This made Allie stare in even deeper astonishment. “What, for making me scream like that? It was pretty startling, but why would I hate you for that?”
“Then for, for… I don’t know! Are you going to attack?”
Allie thought quickly. “No, no… Brittery, is this when you’d usually have a fit and run off?”
“Uh-huh.” said the trembling Nerre.
“Because you’re, um… scared of Runge girls?”
Brittery shook her head vehemently.
“But you’re flipping out about something.”
Brittery nodded, eyes glittering with tears.
“What can I do to help you?” said Allie, without a clue what the answer might be.
Brittery gazed in the beautiful wolf girl’s eyes, her mind shrieking a host of vague warnings.
“I want Faisand…”
“I don’t think I can get her. I can’t get up with both of you on top of me- and isn’t she out with those kids doing something?”
“She knows how to hold me…”
“You need to be held?” blinked Allie.
“Very firmly. So my nerves don’t.. nyowll!!”
Brittery scrabbled for a moment between the two lupines, because Allie had promptly and unquestioningly wrapped her arms around the hysterical feline in a very firm hug. The frantic Nerre tensed dreadfully- and then buried her face in Allie’s furry breasts, and let out a series of muffled wails, bursting into tears and leaving Allie hanging on and wondering what on earth had got into the kitty to produce this insane behavior.
But then, over breakfast she had flipped out as well- and she’d always had this extraordinary energy and tension about her. What was it she’d said? To Dren, a frantic wolf apparently on drugs and mad with excitement, she’d said ‘I can match your wildness’.
Apparently this wasn’t just words. Perhaps it was literally true. If so- what must that be like? Allie hung onto Brittery tightly, though the feline had ceased struggling and her wails were quieting. She had cried directly into Allie’s chestfur, as if muffling herself with a pillow, perhaps to avoid disturbing Dren. Allie glanced at him. The newly rich wolf wore a dopey grin and looked deeply comatose- odds were fairly high that he wouldn’t even wake up when his knot subsided and they parted from him.
Allie waited for Brittery to calm down, if indeed she ever did.
Gradually, the ebony feline’s shuddering subsided. When she looked up, her eyes were calmer, though troubled. When she spoke, it was to ask, “Do you think I am very crazy?”
“I don’t know.” said Allie. “I don’t know how people like you act. Are all Nerre like you?”
“Some of the ones with the markings- like Magarce, or that Rai who turned up recently. I don’t know why I got it. I guess I use it?”
“But I don’t understand what you mean. Use what?”
Brittery looked at her. “I made love to you. Did you find it, well… relaxing? Sedate, calm, soothing?”
“Um. Don’t take this the wrong way, but it seemed like you half killed me. If I didn’t mind making noise it would be really something… I don’t like being driven to that.”
“I’m so sorry- I won’t do that a… maybe I’d better just not make love to you, it’s not usual anyhow.”
“But why do you work yourself into such a state? Was it for, you know, this guy? I can understand that. Will he really pay us?”
“He said he would- we’ll find some way to make it worthwhile to him. Make a plaque or something… but you said I work myself into a state. Allie- I’m like that all the time. All the time.”
Allie blinked. “At breakfast you didn’t seem as… well… frenzied.”
“Sometimes it’s more like the stillness of being stuck… tension of opposing forces? Do you know why I left Ause and came here?”
“Why?” asked Allie, ears quirked in puzzlement.
“I couldn’t leave home. I didn’t dare walk down the street. We have all these strict rules and expectations on us on Nerre worlds, the protocol we live by. I never violated it, not once, but the cost was this: I was frozen, not daring to see anyone or go anywhere. Feeling all the overwhelming impulses, freezing more and more rigidly to avoid wrong action…”
“You came here?”
“I came here. I came here and immediately provoked a drunk Runge to mount me in public, and I cared nothing about whether he gave the right responses. I burned all my bridges. I became false to my culture… For a week, I ran wild, doing everything I could to get seized and taken by drunk Runge who would ask no permission… and then I met Faisand.”
Allie was quiet, willing Brittery to continue, nervous of provoking another fit of temperament.
“Faisand understood me. I mean, understands me! Or at least she did, but then maybe she understands me too well because I’ve been fighting with her and what if that’s why she feels she needs to leave…”
Allie hugged a bit tighter, her ears back. The tense little Nerre had launched into a paranoid fantasy as if from a spring. Her voice had gone from thoughtful to panicky in less than eight seconds.
“She understands you.”
“Does she? I mean, does she? Is it too much to bear?”
“I don’t know, Brittery.” said Allie. “I saw you together, what you saw as fighting. I know you were upset, but…”
“How can you know what’s in her heart? I can’t stand it, I can’t see anything past each moment exploding across my senses. A glance and I’m cursed, half a smile and I’m redeemed. I can’t stand it, Allie.”
“I think I can tell what’s in her heart, a bit- at least the major stuff.”
“Oh?”
“I think I can. First,” said Allie, “I don’t have what you’ve got. I’m not exploding all over everything like you describe…”
“Lucky.” said the black Nerre bitterly.
“And second, a man raped me a couple times a week for a bunch of years, and tried to find ways to hurt me that wouldn’t show, if I said no to it. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but I had to get good at it. I’m good at telling if someone thinks you’re scum and is playing it cool and waiting to punish later.”
Brittery’s eyes widened in horror.
“That’s why I can say Faisand doesn’t have those negative thoughts about you.” said Allie. “I’d smell ‘em on her. It was important to learn.”
The ebony Nerre was speechless.
“He called himself Daddy. I… call that a technicality.”
Brittery suddenly tried to hug Allie back, which was very difficult for her as Dren was still occupying her and resting his weight on her, and Allie was pressed against the bed very firmly.
“How can you be doing this, this- line of work? Poor thing!” said Tery.
“For money?”
“You’ll get it. I’ll make sure this guy’s good for it. We’ll find something special to do for him, like I said… but all this, it must be horrible!” cried Brittery. “How can you even stand it?”
“Actually, it’s interesting- I had this one guy and with him it was all different. Not just because he liked me- I think he did, anyway… but he was a Nerre.”
Brittery regarded her solemnly. “Are we so different? I would think you wouldn’t want anything, just not anything.”
“Yeah, he was real different- sometimes different is really important.”
“But… don’t you think it’s… not appropriate?”
Allie regarded Brittery. “Are you telling me what I’m not supposed to do?”
That stopped the Nerre for a minute. Finally, she replied, “Of course not… but I’ve spent my whole life doing things that were horribly difficult, and sometimes I feel old as Faisand- and she’d be the first to tell you that you might want to find other talents, if it comes to that. And that’s why I wonder if it’s appropriate.”
“That would sound better if you… look, here’s the problem, what else is there? I don’t think I’m in a good position. And don’t even start talking about going,” and Allie spat the word, “home.”
“No, I wouldn’t think so.” said Brittery. Her own complaints seemed forgotten, as if she considered herself somehow outranked in woe. “But there surely must be something you can do other than this.”
“Jennis says I’m good at this.”
“Fresh pussy sells.”
Allie’s eyes widened. “You think…”
“Oh, honey.” said Brittery, seeing Allie’s expression. “I’m sorry. It is true. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Allie looked cranky and thoughtful. “I know you did some stuff I never heard of… and Jennis was telling me things…”
“Don’t be fooled. It’s mostly personality. If you get hung up on tricks it’ll get you nowhere. Nobody wants to be a whore’s science experiment.”
“But the way you’re talking- do you want to find another sort of work, too? Why do you do it?”
“We go back to Faisand, again.” said Brittery. “Around here everything goes back to Faisand. She found us all. She bought this building, ran the place until we found Demarle to do it… Faisand showed me this could be an art.”
“Yeah?”
“Believe it. You just made nearly fifty thousand dollars performing that art, and you know well-kept pussy is wonderful but the guy’s hand was right there the whole time. He could’ve saved an awful lot of money if he’d been able to forego art…”
“But you say we have to avoid tricks and techiques?”
“No, you need to not be hung up on them. Like… for instance, the silence thing. I take it you don’t like crying out because Da… somebody liked to make you do it? But you’re not unable to get aroused? That’s not a question, really, I know you’re able to get aroused because I did that. I don’t know if Dren here was doing it?”
Allie nodded slowly. “Yes, he was. When you said to follow your lead, rules change, all I could think was that you expected me to be very fake usually, and that it wouldn’t do this time. You wouldn’t explain further. It seemed like I should try to be what the guy wanted, as hard as I could.”
“No, Allie,” said Brittery, “at a price point like a hundred K, you try to be yourself as hard as you can, because there’s no other way to be powerful enough. And you have to hope that it’ll work, because you don’t have a plan B. You do your thing, because you can’t do somebody else’s thing as convincingly. And at a scale like that, you can’t just be a pretty girl with a nice tight pussy- you have to have a real personality with it, one that can’t be had on just any street corner.”
Allie looked worried. “Do I have that kind of personality? I mean, in bed?”
“Depends. Mine is colored very strongly by my tension and energy. Daucery is high energy too, but she’s more rambunctious. I keep more of a lid on my energy, lash out with it- I can give them a sense they’re balling a sort of sex monster, a wild creature much more responsive than most. I don’t match absolutely every client, but the ones that like me like me a lot.”
“Do I have tension and energy too?”
“You’re… I have to think. The way you suppress noises, in some ways that’s not good, but… tell me, do you usually make some kind of noise in the end? I realize I set you off very hard, but in normal sex, with a guy, do you stay totally silent or do you get to little sounds like you started off making with me?”
“I can never stay totally silent the whole time. I just make an effort. I won’t start carrying on, you know? I won’t make any noise on purpose, but something always squeaks out.”
Brittery nodded. “That’s actually a principle Faisand calls the rule of distillation- if you withhold something and present only the essence of it in a special moment it makes a bigger impression. Since the rest of you is enthusiastic, it shouldn’t be too false a note, and yes- that is personality enough. We should have Faisand tutor you, I’m sure she’ll make the time, but remember not to fixate on tricks and techniques, you’ll endear yourself to clients b… what is it, Allie?”
Allie had begun to cry. “You’re going to let me join you. You’ve decided.”
“Awww. Yeah, you’ve persuaded me. You did good. You’d better not make a habit of earning as much as me, or I’ll get competitive…”
“But I just did! Am I in trouble?”
“Let me rephrase that. Good luck making a habit of it… though I guess it becomes a sort of demographic… hmmm.”
Allie blinked. “Hmmm what?”
“No, I was just thinking- the ones that go for me are pretty jaded, and often they’re high achievers in other parts of life. Wealthy, demanding… Faisand has ones that are even more needy, or she did- I understand her lover screwed that up for her. As for you, it’s like you have a taste of something that’s not allowed, but in a way that is… that’s why I hesitated. You’d have to understand the psychology to know what I mean.”
“You know psychology?”
“It started with me trying to understand myself.” said Brittery simply.
“I guess I can see that. But please- try to explain to me. I want to know. I’ve already had some, um, weird experiences.”
Brittery raised an elegant feline eyebrow. “I dare say. Hmmm. I hope you don’t take this wrong. How old are you?”
“Two hundred years old. And very well preserved.”
“Didn’t mean your soul, girl. You should know that I care nothing for Runge social mores, any more than I care for the rules of Ause back home. I simply have practical thoughts- and I never told you exactly when I left Ause and came here. I know some things from experience.”
“I’m interested.” said Allie. “Tell me.”
“Okay. You look young. And the way you suppress noises, it causes you to make sounds rather like you are too young to properly take part in lovemaking. You sound like what you were. I realize your idea is to put all that behind you, but all you’re doing is hinting at that experience.”
Allie’s face slowly, slowly fell, tears coming to her eyes, her ears going back, but before she could go too far into the despair, Brittery’s paw lifted her chin.
“I wasn’t finished, Allie.”
“Okay.” managed Allie. “Go on.”
“There are guys who respond to that very strongly. I started out… well, I hadn’t grown up so much, and we have to acclimate ourselves to Runge and be cautious, and there were times before I met Faisand where a Runge guy really hurt me, and liked that. There were two kinds- there was the kind who wanted me to feel small, and the kind who wanted themselves to feel big. They both responded to cries, shaking, the trappings of harm, but where they’d take it was different. Are you following me?”
Allie’s eyes were wide.
“You’re following me. Maybe- yes, I see it in your look. You’ve had at least one of each. Haven’t you?”
Allie nodded. “One is dead. One’s in jail.”
“Oh, honey.” said Brittery helplessly. “There’s nothing so bad about you that you deserve that. Which one’s dead?”
“…the one that liked me to hurt and be overwhelmed.”
“Good.” said Brittery. “One less Daucery-bait in the world. I’m not up on all the details but she seems to end up with those guys…”
“Where are you going with this? It’s just upsetting me. I didn’t realise I… I hadn’t changed.”
“No, listen, trust me. Listen. I just gave you a real workout with a bunch of Demarle tricks. If you weren’t responding, I swear, I’d have found some way to do something else- maybe just put you aside and have you pretend to masturbate? I didn’t have to do that. I know you’re no child, your body reacts like a woman, okay?”
“…and that means?”
“You wouldn’t know this, but the thing about the guys that want to hurt? Whether they’re just sadistic, or especially when they need someone helpless to be overwhelmed sexually, these are not successful guys. Let me be specific- these are not wealthy guys.”
“The guy I had… he acted like a successful guy.”
“Who was he with?”
“Huh?” said Allie. “Nobody. I noticed that, I thought it was weird. He acted like an alpha guy, but he was alone.”
“Exactly. There’s an interesting thing about people’s desires- they want what they’re not, or what they can’t have. You know what some of the wealthiest, most powerful, dominant guys come here to get?”
“Cuddles?”
“Diapers. Only not anymore since Faisand’s boyfriend did something- but really, I’m not making it up. Those super-capable people go to a trusted whore to become helpless and incapable. By the same token, the ones that need to make you feel small? They’re small.”
“Actually, he was pretty big. And rough.”
“Cery bait, we have to watch her. You see, there it is again- Cery is huge for a Nerre, she’s not easily overwhelmed, but she still manages to find it from time to time. But the guy who hurt you? Small in other ways. A failure, shunned…”
“This is upsetting me.” said Allie. “Why would you guys want me, if the guys hot for me are… are losers?”
“I didn’t finish. The other type are the kind who want themselves to feel big. You know why they need that? Insecurity, dissatisfaction. Regular lovemaking isn’t going to be enough- they want to impress, need to. They’ll sense the difference between legit and fakey, every time, because they’re always wondering if they’re being humored.”
“They’re not losers, though?”
“If you ask them, they’ll probably think they are. All the same, they can be very wealthy and successful, they can earn a lot because the same dissatisfaction drives them to produce and won’t let them rest… And, they go through girlfriends quickly because they’re not satisfied there either, or they get dumped for being angsty whiners, so not only will they have money, they’ll come here. And that’s why I hmmmed. You can produce very authentic overwhelmed reactions, but you are adult- at the same time, you’re responding and you’re able to also signal that you want the lovemaking. That’s… quite a combination, Allie.”
“I’ll say.” said Dren, unexpectedly.
“Oh crap…” said Brittery, and fell silent. Allie glanced between the two, hectically.
“What… are you… Dren, did you catch us doing something we shouldn’t have done?” said Allie.
“How long have you been listening? Are you offended?” asked Brittery.
Dren considered this for a moment. “You jostled me by hugging Allie here. You said, how can you be doing this line of work, poor thing? She said, for money. You said, you’ll get it, I’ll make sure this guy’s good for it…”
“Oh my God. Oh my God.” said Brittery. “I am so sorry. Oh my God!”
“You said you’d find something special to do for me.” said Dren. “That’s an interesting offer. What were you thinking you were going to do, that was 100K worth of special?”
“Oh my God.” said Brittery, again.
“Didn’t know Nerre had gods.” said Dren.
“It’s complicated. Uh. I swear we’ll come up with something- better not talk to Daucery, she’ll be suggesting Alonifi and we can’t be offering that though Faisand’s the biggest objection there and she’s leaving, but…”
“Hush.” said Dren. “Listen. Really, both of you, listen.”
They did.
“I think you already have. Yeah, the sex was beyond fantastic- but then, the next thing you know, I’m waking up, and I’m seeing things I’d never see, hearing what I’d never hear. Nobody gets to know that stuff. I made my money learning behind-the-scenes stuff wherever I could- well, just now I was behind the curtain at the highest-class cathouse in Verss, listening to your shop-talk. That would never happen. It’s priceless…” and Dren hugged Brittery and Allie awkwardly, “and I’m honored.”
“That’s good…” said Brittery.
“But more than that- you told me this girl didn’t work here. Am I right?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Changed your mind, huh?”
“I think,” said Brittery, “I was too hasty.”
“Well, there you go. I think you’re right- she’s going to be a superstar, she felt really good, and she’s so sweet and the little noises, wow. And you know what? I was first. I was her first, and that makes me special. Yeah- you guys gave me stuff that can’t be bought, at any price. We’re cool.”
“That wasn’t my first.” protested Allie.
“Well then- I was your first here, in the place you’ll be known at. It’s like I was a part of that process. And yeah,” continued Dren uncertainly, “it’s like being part of that, or maybe being around to see it, it’s like I might be special, or at least I got to be real up close and present in order to see something special when it happened…”
Allie blinked. It was like Brittery had been saying- insecurity, suspecting he wasn’t really that significant, combined with the achievement of the perennially dissatisfied- the guy was talking himself out of his reward. Allie’s heart went out.
She reached up, grabbed his stammering muzzle, and delivered a lingering kiss, letting her eyes close in savoring of the moment.
“You are special.” Allie said earnestly, and his smile lit up the room.
1 Comment
The car skidded to a halt, and the door flew open.
Boodins Earncy jumped out with a practiced haste, and dashed for the abandoned, blown-out building. He didn’t go inside- he paced a bit, sniffing, and his ears flew up in startlement, and then he was dashing back to the car again, slipping in the debris and gravel and sprawling on his face, getting up and resuming his headlong sprint back to the Estrai sports car.
The door slammed behind him, and the wheels clawed for traction, a weird whirring chirp as traction control gave just a hint of wheelspin.
The sound of servo-modulated tire screech and the whoosh of the vehicle’s headlong flight were lost in the distance long before the dust Boodins kicked up had settled.
Inside the car, Siertes gave grudging approval. “That was pretty quick, puppy, you’re taking it more seriously…”
Boodins was panting, but wouldn’t wait for a proper breath. “It’ser! Itwas! Shewasthere!”
“Take it easy, Boodins!” said Dene. “You’re kidding. Elistary stopped at that place? Really?”
“Really! ‘s her!”
“That’s seriously out of character.” said Siertes darkly. “She should be stopping at the nicest refueling places. If she’s stopping to piss in abandoned shitholes there’s something badly wrong.”
“How are we for time?” said Dene, staring fixedly at the road as the car flung itself forward.
“Yes, they’re still back there. No, they’re not catching up or anything.”
The gang of Runge that were admiring the car had been left far behind, but Voustret’s sports car was such a prize that they continued to patiently give chase. Dene and Boodins could no longer see them in the distance, but Siertes had no difficulty picking them out, anytime the path of the high-speed conduit rose over a gentle hill and allowed a really long view behind.
“How much time will we have?” said Dene.
“A good fifteen minutes, maybe.”
“Why do you care if something’s wrong for Elistary? You said there was something badly wrong.”
“Yeah. I don’t like the sound of that.” said Boodins. “I’m still hoping she has some kind of explanation for all this.”
“Explanation for gathering a huge amount of contraband poison?”
“If you put it like that,” said Boodins, “…yes. Explanation for it.”
“There must be an explanation but I don’t think you’re going to like it any better than we will…”
“To answer your question,” said Siertes, “she can rot for all I care, but when somebody goes against expectation, it’s usually bad news. I mean, badly wrong for us.”
“Other than chasing a bitch with a truckload of poison while being chased by a gang who’s gonna kill us?”
“Steady, crazy wolfess. They haven’t got us yet.”
“Okay… I have to say it.” said Boodins. “I don’t like you guys talking that way. She is still a princess! Can you, I don’t know, respect my feelings a little bit? When me and Rai started out, I thought I was rescuing her!”
“Respect your feelings?” inquired Siertes.
“I don’t know where you get off calling her names- if she really has done anything wrong, we have the Fine Courts at home! There are ways of handling this. What’s making you so… mean? I was gonna say venomous,” said Boodins, “but you’d probably take that as a compliment…”
Siertes didn’t blink, but she didn’t answer at first.
“Seriously,” said Boodins, “aren’t you sorry?”
“If you weren’t Scruff class, I might be offended.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” snorted Boodins.
“Simple- of all Resten, you guys are by far the most accepting of my people. You’re not really freaking out. I can tell you to go sniff at a building and you aren’t offended just at the idea that I’m giving you orders. You sure aren’t giving me credit for wisdom, but every road points two ways- I’m not giving you that either, and we’ll make do. I think possibly you just don’t know.”
“Know what?”
“I have no reason to think well of Elistary. I’m a Tompar. It’s nice of you to behave as if I’m almost a person, but your Shopkeeper middle-class friends very likely wouldn’t even speak to me, and your Fine royalty have killed my people in legions.”
Boodins was speechless. His mouth opened and shut, his eyes bugged out, and finally he managed a “Nuh-UH!”
“I don’t mean directly. The Estrai defend us from Xarnax attack, and the fighting goes all over the place. Every time, every single time Estrai ask Resten for aid or use of their facilities- refueling, armament, to intercept fleeing Xarnax units or blockade them when they’re cutting through Resten space- nothing.”
“We’re very lucky they’re not making war on us too!”
“Why should they, when they can get whatever they want without firing a shot?”
“They shoot at us!”
“Ah yes, the emissary. Your people heard that Xarnax had confronted a Nerre on Ause. He looked at the drone, and recited a Nerre poem, one of their haiku things that doesn’t rhyme, that five-seven-eleven form, and the drone flew off without harming him.”
“Yeah, everybody heard about that. It was on the news, along with the poem.” said Dene.
“And your guy decides in the middle of a Xarnax raid to try that. He goes out, confronts the Xarnax drone, and recites a limerick. Zap!”
Boodins looked unhappy. “Then you admit they fight us.”
“They HATE us. Everybody else just gets played with. Except Vorsi, of course.”
“Why does that make it okay for you to be mean about Elistary?” whined Boodins.
Siertes considered this. “I guess it’s not strictly necessary. I’m just telling you- your people don’t like us either. You have the luxury of kissing up to your princess and hoping she’ll smile upon you. She isn’t going to be smiling on me no matter what I do. Is she involved in politics? She might have voted to deny aid to Tompar and Estrai herself.”
“I don’t think she is involved with politics. I don’t think she had the voice for it, from what I heard.”
Dene blinked. “The voice? What do you mean?”
“You know, voting. We put up a sound meter, and it’s ‘yes yes yes!’ ‘no no no!’ ‘YES YES YES!’ ‘NO NO NO!’ to see who wins. I’ve never heard that Elistary had the voice for that. I think her family said she was frustrated that she couldn’t do it properly…”
“Maybe she’s going to poison the lot of them, so she can bark the loudest at last.” suggested Siertes.
“That’s not funny!”
“Well, she’s apparently going crazy, because she’s skipping nice stops and using only abandoned places. Did she piss at the last one, or take a dump?”
Boodins looked dismayed, but answered. “Uh… the first one.”
“But she didn’t stop at the one before that- which had people to clean it.”
“Maybe she didn’t want to talk to anybody.” muttered Boodins.
“Maybe she didn’t want anybody looking in her truck- or whatever she’s driving.” said Dene.
“Drove, you mean. That guy at Dinsam said he had a tracer, and the shipment was already in the mountains. Puppy is smelling traces from last night, maybe.”
“You’re right.” said Dene. “I hope we’re in time.”
“Time for what?” said Boodins.
“I just have this feeling that something bad’s happening.” said Dene. “I admit we don’t know what it is, yet, but can I at least hope we won’t be late to try and stop it?”
The car hurtled on, Dene keeping it stable moment by moment. She’d chosen to pull back slightly from its top speed, explaining that she didn’t want to take any chances of burning out the electrics.
“I hope we’re in time, too,” said Siertes, “because I have that same feeling.”
The car hurtled on…
Back in Verss, Rai gradually and reluctantly woke, strapped down in a hospital bed. Surgery had happened. He had not been present for it- the doctors had quickly decided the wounded Nerre would have to be anesthetized to be worked on. To Rai’s chagrin, they had shot him with a tranquilizer dart, for he’d got a leg free and was menacing anyone who approached, brandishing bared razored claws.
They had shaved bits of him, all over, everywhere they found a bullet to go after, or a hole to sew up. Rai could feel it, cool air insulting his flesh, and kept his eyes squeezed shut, avoiding that insult and the equally intolerable assault of the newstapes. Public spaces in Runge cities often had these- running flashing advertisements for the damn knot expanders, interspersed with news stories to try and win back deservedly lost attention. Hospital beds were ideal targets- the companies paid a premium to see their media shown to an audience that could not get up and move away.
The word ‘Dinsam’ emerged from the newstape’s auxiliary speaker.
Rai’s eyes opened. Dinsam? More later on Dinsam?
Voustrets Talanstre Laimontre was sitting in a chair by his bedsite. Rai’s ears flattened.
“Firstly…”
Rai hissed, and tested his bonds, which held.
Voustrets didn’t flinch. “Firstly, I must apologize. Vri-something-they-said…”
“What? What? Now, you mock me?”
“I asked the ladies at the Cathouse to tell me suitable words to say. I can’t remember them now. There are more important things…”
“That is your opinion.” hissed Rai, his ears flat.
“Your friends’ safety?”
Rai’s ears came up a bit. Eventually, he said, “I’m listening.”
“What Elistary has done is terrible. She has accumulated vast sums of money through her whorehouse, she has channeled the money towards illegal armaments, and she has twisted the Verss police force, particularly the raid action squads, to her own ends. Anzende and I have been trying to determine the extent of the damage.”
“This is inarguable,” said Rai, “yet does not affect me. Carry on doing so, ‘aons, and leave.”
“Not until I have your help.”
“Leave!” yowled Rai. “These indignities, this bondage, it shames me!”
“It’s protecting me.” pointed out Voustrets.
“It is all that is protecting you!’
“Please, listen! We have been trying to determine the damage, and we’ve gone on the assumption that Elistary means to sell her barrels of poison on the black market. But there are no buyers- I have certain sources of information. Nobody is lining up a weapons purchase of that magnitude. No police force on Verss, or on Restred, have turned up anything. Elistary’s poison hoard disappeared from Dinsam Industrial Fabrication early this morning and… never appeared again…”
“And, because of you, the Resten boy who is in my charge has gone off searching for Elistary, along with my friend Dene Tieschtet and the Tompar Mued.”
“True,” said Voustrets dismissively, “but the important thing is this: we believed Elistary was taking the poison to some sort of black market transaction, for profit. But now we must ask- to whom is she bringing it? I have… um.”
Rai was staring fixedly at the newstape. It was still speaking, but the message wasn’t knot expanders any more.
“…at Dinsam Industrial Fabrication, a new twist on the tragic drug raid that has produced consternation in city police forces. After the company’s tragic destruction through an informant’s tip that proved mistaken, neighbors of the facility believed they had seen the worst. We interviewed Gert Hanly in an earlier edition…”
“…not that I would question the judgement of the police,” came the interviewee voice, “so we’ve just been crying a lot, and deciding if it’s safer to stay in and lock the doors, or go around as normally while keeping our hands in view at all times…”
The newstape continued. “But Gert and the other Dinsam neighbors were shocked even more just thirteen minutes ago, when a Xarnax drone boldly entered the city and appeared to inspect what was left of the Dinsam facility. Two passersby were killed by laser blast, one at the site and one near the East Gate of the city, as the drone entered. All other bystanders reportedly were able to take cover in blast shelters around the city. Reft Beisling, Verss City Defense…”
An authoritative Runge voice cut in. “Remember, Xarnax drones do not make an identifiable smell, but there’s a telltale sound to warn you! Hear the high-pitched crack, watch your back! Xarnax energy weapons destroy the air they’re fired through, but the pulses are of almost no duration, so the sound they make is like a loud ‘tick’ noise, not a gunshot. If you hear that noise, someone has already been shot by a Xarnax drone. Don’t you be next!”
The announcer returned. “And until recently, that was true- but before fleeing the scene, the Xarnax drone was heard firing many times, rapidly. Once it had left, onlookers returned to the scene to see a strange pattern etched onto the Dinsam building…”
“Ours did that.” said Rai, shocked.
“Did you say, yours?” said Voustrets.
“Yes. When we went to the Ungovernment base, and returned with the two children, we had encountered a Xarnax drone. It didn’t shoot us, but it fired at a wall, like that, and it left.”
“You didn’t tell me this!”
“We did return with Hallem and Aine. Siertes, too, for that matter. I thought that was all that mattered.”
Voustrets looked seriously worried, for the first time that Rai had ever seen. “This changes everything.”
“Does it?”
“What if I told you that it was a terrible mistake on my part, to allow your charge, Boodins- or for that matter any of them, even Siertes- especially Siertes- to go in search of Elistary?”
“Of course it was.” said Rai. “It might be dangerous.”
“Oh, but it is. Oh dear…”
“After all, who knows what is out there. We ran into a Xarnax drone, and that cannot be typical.”
Voustrets held up a paw commandingly. “No, you don’t understand. What you saw- they don’t do that. It’s a new pattern. We thought Elistary was directing the police to clean up operations she had done with. She’s done that- but look at the pattern. Do you now see something extra?”
“But nobody can communicate with Xarnax!” said Rai.
“Boodins, Dene, and Siertes are trying to intercept Elistary. Would you like to guess who- or what- they’ll find her with?”
Rai’s ears were back again. “How is this possible?”
Voustrets was pacing. “I have to pursue them. Somehow I must intercept them, tell them to abandon their attempt…”
“Release me, ‘aons!”
The Estrai detective gave Rai a look. “I hardly think that is wise. Even though you are gravely injured, I suspect I would come to harm momentarily.”
Rai’s ears went back. “It would be tempting.”
“It’s a temptation you won’t be troubled with. Lie there and heal.”
Rai didn’t reply. Instead, one arm strained against the straps that confined him. There was a creaking sound, and, gradually, a soft noise of slowly fraying, ripping fabric…
Voustrets’ eyes bulged. He dashed to an intercom, pressing the call button and crying “Security! The Nerre patient is breaking loose! He may wreak havoc among those who have shaved parts of him, send orderlies with tranquilizer dar… d… um…”
Rai had released his right arm, and with the razored claws of his right hand, made short work of the straps binding his left arm and his legs. He rolled into a sitting position, came off the bed towards Voustrets, but made no move to attack. Instead, he bowed.
“You will make amends at some later time, ‘aons. I beg you, allow me to go with you and rescue my charge and my friends from the danger.”
“You amaze me.” said Voustrets. “How is it you can stand?”
Rai’s ears were laid back in pain. “There is discomfort. I can still fight better than you. I must accompany.”
Voustrets’ eyes gleamed with helpless admiration. No Estrai could easily resist heroic actions, and Rai’s sense of duty played right into the Estrai’s sense of the romantic. Voustrets decided, quickly. “You shall. We’ll figure out what to do when we get there.”
The corridor outside was suddenly host to running Runge feet.
“Oh, crap- I’ve just told them to tranquilize you!”
Orderlies rushed in, burly Runge with tranquilizer guns- two with a big net. Rairate had made quite an impression checking in. “Stand aside!”
Voustrets had done the opposite. He interposed his body, crying, “Never!”
“Mister Laimontre, seriously, stand aside!”
“Indeed not! I need this man urgently for a mission I am still devising!”
“Yeah,” said the orderly, “but we’ve got orders from the cops that he’s a witness and not to leave the facility.”
“I change your orders, thusly!” cried Voustrets, signaling to Rai behind him.
“What-ly? Listen, buddy…”
“Excuse me?” came a dry little voice from behind the orderlies. “We’re here to see Rairate.”
They stepped aside, and Faisand, with Hallem on one paw and Aine on the other, padded demurely through. She stopped, looking at Voustrets and the torn straps on the bed, and inquired, “What on earth is the matter here?”
“Ma’am, this isn’t the time…” said an orderly.
“Why are you shielding him?” asked Faisand. “They are doctors, they aren’t going to hurt him.”
“Tranquilizer darts!” explained Voustrets.
“You know,” said one of the orderlies with the net, “you can just hit both of them with darts and sort it out later…”
“Oh, really?” said Faisand tartly.
“Ma’am… Ma’am!”
Faisand stepped forward, and seized the hem of her silky, smoke-colored dress. “Hallem, cover her eyes.”
“Whose, Aine’s?
“Yes. I’m sure it’s just a formality, but I’ll have her maintain the fiction of innocence, thank you.”
“She bites.” protested Hallem.
“She would. Very well…”
Faisand twirled, and in that motion, whipped the dress up in a billowing arc. The motion swept air up into it, as if it were like a parachute, and all that could be seen was a swishing tail, a paw as it let go the hem of the garment. The dress gradually settled beside Faisand in a fluttering heap of expensive fabric, and she began to prowl towards one of the orderlies, who stared, his dart gun forgotten for the moment.
The others stared as well. Faisand was very thin, her curves starved by age, but somehow her poise and the way she moved suggested the famed courtesan she’d once been. Her hips tilted and swayed as if her spine was fluid, her breasts beckoned the passing touch through the shifts of her torso, cunning dancelike moves of her shoulders, it seemed as though her dainty nipples were standing and stiffening, and to the sensitive noses of the Runge orderlies wafted the famous scent of feline arousal, the strange alien note, so heady and compelling in its deep unfamiliarity.
They froze as Faisand approached the leader, and stared as this vision of erotic mastery and confidence reached out a steady paw and purred a suggestion.
“You- all of you- could learn something today, just as I will. Darlings. Surely your jobs don’t offer enough… reward?”
Her paws drifted with seductive, lingering grace towards their goals. One, caressing her nipples, stroking down her lean belly, coming to rest against her exotic Nerre pussy as her tail swished and gave an extended shiver of pleasure. The other, gently and firmly unbuttoning the lead orderly’s pants.
He swallowed. “What… things?”
Faisand’s paw whisked up to his muzzle, as if to say ‘shhh’. It was a sudden yet utterly graceful movement, and the captivation of it was echoed in the feline’s wide, gleaming eyes, her slightly opened mouth- the picture of a Nerre alight with possibly sensual mischief.
“First- I’ve still got it.” she said, and her eyes danced.
“S… second?”
“Second- look behind you.”
The orderlies whirled. Voustrets and Rai were gone.
“This wasn’t the place, darlings.” purred Faisand, and, reaching up, kissed the lead orderly on the nose. “But come and see me sometime, because I really owe you one- and I love you- for giving me a last curtain call.”
The orderlies looked at each other, apparently calculating the odds of successfully catching the already-fled Estrai and Nerre patient. They looked at Faisand, who still glowed with pleasure. She gave them a little curtsy, blew a kiss, began gathering up her abandoned dress. They looked at each other again, and began to filter out. The lead orderly took up the rear, and as he left, he lingered a moment, and favored Faisand with a wink and a grin, before returning to his duties.
Faisand took a deep, shuddering breath, and let it out in a sigh of bliss. “You had no business watching that, Aine dear, but you’ll understand one day. My, my. Now, let’s get you and H…”
“…WHERE is your brother, girl?”
“That would be ‘third’.” said Aine, in cute, childish tones. “It’s still ‘look behind you’, but for you, not him.”
Faisand had already rushed into the hallway, looking frantically this way and that.
Aine stood in the empty room, wagging gently, and spoke softly.
“And they never, ever learn.”
