A New Phase - Chapter 5
#5 of A New Phase
Waking up is even harder to do...
A New Phase
Chapter 5
"I don't like having to release that spell. He can't be comfortable." Sounded like Master Takaran.
"You've already endangered yourself enough with the unassisted freeze..." the voice faded out... Many things were fading in and out... the sensation of a touch on his forehead briefly... maybe?... hard to say...
A rush of sound returning and a jumble of confusion. Words scrambled and jumbled.
"Takaran!" Didn't recognize that voice.
"Somebody catch him!" Or that one.
"Jack!! Jack, what's..." Ah... His supervisor.
"Masters! What's happening?" Farren?
"Don't touch... ... electrocuted..." One of his coworkers... maybe?
"That'll work. Get on it!" Same voice he didn't recognize.
He heard chanting again, a variety of voices joining into it, then a shock of pain up his arm from the mouse he was clenching. He let out a strangled gurgle. This was worse than before. Then the mouse was suddenly yanked from his grip, bringing at least some relief. A warm touch against his forehead and a voice near him, "Get things ready, we have a lot of..." And with that, he faded out again.
* * *
Jack woke in the hospital for the second time this week. He was aware of a hand leaving his forehead and opened his eyes to look. He blinked as he saw a squirrel standing there. He squinted his eyes in thought and was about to ask a question when the squirrel put a finger against its lips and a human nurse walked through the fluff-tailed creature to look at instruments.
"Ah, you're awake," the nurse said, not too loudly. "A doctor will be in shortly."
The human nurse left, and the squirrel nodded to Jack. "I'm Master Chinto," the squirrel said in a voice that left Jack still not knowing if it was male or female. "We'll talk more in a moment."
"About time you woke him up," said a grumpy voice from his other side. Jack looked over and was surprised to see Master Takaran lying in a hospital bed also, hooked up to machinery and his arm in a sling. The wolf noted Jack's questioning gaze and smiled wryly. "I used a spell that is normally too powerful to be cast by only one person. I'm paying for it now. But I'll be all right. Bit of a power burn and a sprained arm from falling."
"Jack Starson?" a human doctor entering the room caught his attention. Jack nodded, blinking as he recognized the doctor. "I'm..."
Jack interrupted him, "Doctor Crissen. I remember you from Sunday."
The doctor let half a smile creep to his face. "You're alert, too. That is a good sign. Bad weekend, and now a bad workday I hear. You were brought in suffering from the effects of electrocution. From what I understand, one of your coworkers apparently thought that making a small modification to your computer mouse was a bright trick to play on you. Unfortunately, wall current is not a small trick, or smart."
Jack frowned at this news. Electrocuted? The doctor continued, "We have a few more tests now that you are awake." Then he promptly went about with various poking, prodding, questions, and other such things until Jack was thoroughly tired of it. A folder full of test results arrived while this process was going on, and the doctor finally began to leaf through the test results, looking puzzled.
"Huh... Well, Jack, I have news for you now, and some of it bad. It seems that..." Doctor Crissen began, but was interrupted by a very official-looking man in a suit.
"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, Doctor, but I need to have a word with Mr. Starson immediately." The man barged in, and Jack noted that it was odd that the man was followed closely by an otter and what looked like a ferret. Why would midphasers be interested in this human? The ferret nodded to Takaran, who smiled and nodded back.
The relatively rude man set a briefcase on the foot of the bed and opened it, extracting a clipboard with a number of papers on it, and a very expensive-looking pen. "I'm Timothy Jules, attorney for Telvidia. After a thorough review of the case, the legal department recommendation was forwarded to the C.O.O. and was approved. I am here to offer you an immediate out of court settlement."
Timothy pushed the clipboard into Jack's stunned hands, and continued. "Telvidia is offering the following: In exchange for your agreement to not prosecute the company or seek any further damages or investigation into this issue, you will receive a fully pensioned retirement, effective immediately. The pension will be at a rate of $144,000 per year, paid monthly, plus accrued interest, with the pension funds for 60 years' value held in escrow against potential future changes in the company. In the event of your death, the escrow will be released to your beneficiaries. In ten years, if the company still exists, an additional $1,440,000 will be added to the escrow fund, extending it by ten years.
"In addition," Timothy continued, "The company will pay an immediate lump sum of twenty-five million, plus all immediate medical bills and future and consecutive ongoing medical expenses related to this incident, excepting in the circumstance that ongoing expenses cease for a period of five years, in which case future expenses related to this incident are forfeit. A secondary escrow of ten million has been created for this purpose, and in the event of the aforementioned lull in ongoing medical expenses, the remainder of this escrow will be released back to the company or its successors in holding."
Jack began to wonder if this man ever had to take a breath, his head beginning to spin from all of the information being pushed at him. And Timothy was still not finished. "Your responsibility in this agreement is to release all extended liability claims, as well as agreeing to relinquish all future claims regarding this incident against the company, its executives, employees, and/or shareholders. You will also be put under a confidentiality agreement to not speak or otherwise communicate about this incident with anybody at any time for any reason whatsoever." The attorney shot a glance at the doctor, "And of course you are covered by medical privacy laws, so I'm not concerned about you.
"And finally, with the agreement and cooperation of the Internal Revenue Service, the entirety of these payouts has been granted a tax-free status, excepting any interest earned by any future investments made with the funds by you. Simply sign all seven copies of the contract, and date." Timothy flipped a single page and pointed to the bottom, which was already signed by more important people from the company than Jack wanted to think about. The man looked very nervous.
Jack blinked. He had been skimming the contract while the man had been talking non-stop, and it all worked out. No hidden items, no loopholes, and no odd clauses. This was... overwhelming to say the least!
"You'd better damn well sign that, Jack Starson," came Takaran's threat from the next bed over. "It took a good dozen Spell Masters and tens of assistants to garner enough power and control to get this deal for you. We'll all be QUITE annoyed if you blow it."
Jack's eyes widened, but he refrained from looking over at the wolf in the other bed. Coming to the decision that the midphasers had never shown him intent of harm, and seeing no damages in this, he took the pen to the paper and began to sign and date. As the last of the seven copies were signed, the attorney relaxed substantially. He retrieved the clipboard and handed it to the doctor, "If you would kindly add your signature to each copy as witness?"
Doctor Crissen looked over the paperwork briefly, and after a moment signed all seven copies on the witness lines. Then Timothy retrieved the paperwork, looked it over, and handed Jack and the doctor both a copy. He countersigned a check with more digits than belonged on such a thing and handed it to Jack with a flourish. "Thank you very much, Mr. Starson. Here is the lump settlement and first pension payment. We will contact you within the week to set up the future pension payments." The attorney grinned and looked decidedly pleased now, even almost sneering. "Your settlement has saved the company a lot of money. Our investigations and review of similar cases nationwide in the past indicated that you could have likely gotten several hundred million in damages or more. Enjoy your pittance."
With a shit-eating grin on his face, the attorney mock-bowed to Jack, then collected his briefcase and left the room. Jack blinked. Several hundred million? Then Jack noticed the doctor shaking with mirth. He shot a look at that man and opened his mouth to ask, but Doctor Crissen was ahead of him.
"What I was ABOUT to tell you, Mr. Starson, is that you are perfectly healthy. Almost unimaginably so. You have absolutely nothing wrong with you according to all our tests, no damage to anything apparent at all. Even the tiny puncture wound on your thumb from the electrified pin inserted into your mouse appears to be completely healed," the doctor explained, grinning.
"Wait," Jack muttered, confused now. "You said you had bad news though."
Doctor Crissen nodded. "The bad news that I was going to give you was that with such great health, there would be no recourse against the company for anything at all. You would even have trouble collecting workman's comp for the three days of work that you missed, and would likely have had to foot the medical bills here on your own."
As Jack digested this information for a short while he couldn't help but chuckle as well. "Sounds like that jackass attorney who thought he screwed me over managed to screw himself over instead. And from the contract, I don't see any way they can wiggle out of it."
The doctor nodded and slapped him lightly on the back. "Congratulations, Mr. Starson. You are undoubtedly the luckiest man I have ever had the privilege of treating. Fully retired and a millionaire already. I'll have a nurse in to get you unhooked from the equipment and checked out shortly. Please don't hesitate to come back if you have any problems at all, but from all the results, I seriously doubt you will." The doctor collected his own records and departed the room whistling a short merry tune.
Jack looked over at Takaran, and then at the squirrel, both of whom were grinning widely. He noticed that the otter and the ferret outside the room and hugging each other in celebration before they entered. "Mission accomplished on our end, sir!" the otter told Takaran before she threw a pleased look at Jack.
Master Takaran nodded "Excellent. And everything is good in here. I should be good to be released today also. So, you're set, Jack." He looked at the squirrel, "Send somebody to notify Jack's housemates that he will be released soon. They will need to walk him home, because I am not going to interrupt midphase traffic a second time in under a week for him right now. Too hard to explain, and we already have rumors flying. I want an invisibility spell ready for him also." The squirrel nodded and scampered out on all fours. Male, Jack noted bemusedly as he tried to gather his thoughts again. Four times his old salary, tax free, for 70 years, without doing a lick of work, plus a huge tax-free check in his hands right now. What a day.
* * *
Selkine, Farren, and Sess'tha arrived within a half hour as Jack was being de-wired and prepared for discharge from the hospital. The company had even been completely on the ball; the hospital's financial department informed him they were already given a contact to bill. It was Wednesday afternoon, and he was issued a stock "No work for a week" note. How ironic.
Several midphase medical folks attended to Takaran, then a group of what were apparently also Spell Masters evaluated him and decreed him to be fit to go. The wolf was set up with orders to keep his arm in the sling for a week. Finally some runners arrived with extra equipment, including an invisibility medallion for Jack. Takaran examined the small hanging coin, then nodded and handed it to Jack when the outphase folks were allowing him to change into his own clothing.
Jack palmed it, hanging it around his wrist for the time being, and wriggled his fingers. "Makes my fingertips tingle, but I can live with that," he mentioned. Master Takaran shot a look at him as he made the statement, but quickly went back to his own matters. He tried a bit too hard to not have the glance be noticed, but Jack caught it anyway. The human decided it was best not to ask right now.
The walk home was thankfully uneventful, with Jack in the middle of the three girls who were doing their best to look like they were just chatting amicably, not protecting an invisible human from discovery. They even made a stop at the bank, where the cashier went wide-eyed at the check. The branch manager was called out, phone calls were made to verify the check was real, and Jack was advised that there would be a 21-day hold placed on the check and several government agencies would have to be informed about it, due to the size of the deposit. That was about the most exciting part of the trip though.
Upon reaching the apartment, things got a bit more interesting for a short while. A crowd of midphasers was gathered outside one of the other buildings, milling about and looking worried. Sess'tha and Farren looked over at the crowd, noting several folks taking control and keeping people back. "Ssshadow!" Sess'tha hissed, startling Jack with her voracity as her tail floofed up to three times its normal width.
"We have to take care of Jack," Farren reminded her quietly, putting a hand on the feline's shoulder to calm her down. "It looks like it's under control."
Jack actually was curious about these shadow things, and considered heading over there anyway. There was an odd burst of black smoke from the building, straight through the wall, and it faded away quickly. "See?" Farren murmured, "They took care of it, no problem." A shout came from the building, indicating things were clear, and the crowd dispersed, some returning to apartments, others heading off. Jack realized he was lagging when Selkine bumped into him from behind and apologized under her breath to him, so he continued on to the apartment.
Once safely inside, he gladly took the medallion off his neck, setting it on the kitchen counter and rubbing at his hands. "That was annoying, my hands and feet are all tingly," he complained.
"Must be an interaction because you are really an outphaser," Farren decided, but Selkine was quick to jump on the problem.
"Tingly??" the vixen demanded. "That might not be good. We'll tell Master Takaran about it soon, but we've got to take care of the tingling right now!" Jack was bustled to the bedroom and removed his shoes under the demand of the vixen, with Farren and Sess'tha watching amusedly from the doorway. He was quickly pushed back onto the bed, and Selkine straddled his belly, taking his hands and rubbing them in hers to de-tingle them.
Selkine glanced over her shoulder at the watching grey vixen and cat, "You guys rub his feet too!" Sess'tha and Farren exchanged a glance. No good reason not to, especially since it meant touching Jack. And so the poor tingly human was treated to not only extremely good foot rubs, but also to a vixen atop him attending to his hands. Maybe tingly could be a good thing.
"You girls just can't keep your paws off him, can you?" drawled Jeran from the doorway. "Let me guess... tingling extremities?"
Farren spun on him in a heartbeat, ears laid back, "I TOLD YOU TO -KNOCK- BEFORE..." Then she stopped, blinking, and her ears flicked to the sides in confusion. "Wait... Yeah, tingly. How did you know?"
The black cat nodded, "Master Takaran overheard him mention his fingertips tingling at the hospital. He wants to talk to two of the three of you right now. Just two, so Jack still has company. Who wants to come?"
"You two can go," murmured Selkine. "I'll keep him company. You guys are better at understanding what the Masters say anyway."
Jack felt Sess'tha's hands leave his other foot, and a strange silence suddenly came over the room. It took him a moment to realize that there was a sudden lack of the little ocelot's very big purr, and he lifted his head to see everybody looking at the cat. Sess'tha wrung her hands a bit, and looked around self-consciously. "What?" she demanded when the silence grew a bit too long..
Farren frowned, sniffing at the air, and glanced at Jeran. "You can wait for us in the living room. We'll be out in a moment." Jeran nodded and chuckled quietly, walking out as Jack wondered what was going on. Farren walked over to Sess'tha and whispered something in her ear. The feline startled and laid her ears back in embarrassment.
"Oh, shoot, that bad?" Sess'tha exclaimed, jumping onto the bed. Jack went bug-eyed as the cat spread her legs and began to lick her extremely wet crotch fur clean. Now that was a show that you didn't see every day. And it wasn't too bad a view either.
Selkine, who had been paying close attention to Jack's hand, suddenly paused and looked at him as her tail swept past HIS crotch and discovered his reaction to Sess'tha's show. "Hey, why are you...?" Then she glanced over and noticed Sess'tha just finishing up with the quick cleanup. "HEY! Do that somewhere else! You're making him all horny now!"
Sess'tha jumped and blinked, her ears going back in shock, "Oh, right, he can see us! I'm so used to... Aw shit, good enough!" She squirmed and closed her legs, backing slowly off the bed under Selkine's accusing gaze, then turning tail and running out of the room on all four paws, tail between her legs.
Selkine pouted as Farren tried to hold in her mirth. "I think she did that on purpose," Selkine muttered, taking in Jack's still-glazed look.
"She probably did," Farren agreed quietly with a wink. "Can you really blame her?"
"Well, no, not really," Selkine admitted.
"Don't worry, things'll be fine," Farren leaned over the bed and hugged the red vixen. "We'll be back in a little while, okay?" She walked out on two legs to avoid stunning Jack worse.
Selkine peered at the discombobulated human for a moment. She leaned down and licked his nose, promptly getting his attention. "You okay, Jack?" she asked, tapping at his hand.
"What? Oh, yeah, the tingling is gone."
"Oh good!" She got off him, obviously with some reluctance, and frowned slightly. "Um... Sorry about the mess on your tummy."
Jack blinked and realized that his belly was decidedly wet where the vixen had been straddling him. His face reddened a little, and he smiles shyly. "No problem, I need to take a shower anyway after the hospital visit."
"Oh, you can use the spell if you want to!"
"NO!!" Jack shook his head, but realized he had reacted rather strongly... "No, thank you... that was a bit much for me right now. I'll just use the shower, okay?"
Jack got up and blinked as he finally noticed his dresser. There was a small device at one side of it, and a freestanding screen between it and the wall. A pale blue glow was emanating from the device, like fog, and blowing through the dresser, vanishing at the screen. "Um... What is that?"
"What, that?" Selkine looked. "Oh, that's a mistfan. It keeps anything from baking from your phase into ours, so none of your clothing will copy itself."
"Oh..." Jack said, and decided to ignore it. If it helped him not go out naked to the humans, that was fine. He headed to the bathroom, aware that Selkine was tagging along and watching him. He realized that her attentiveness was a combination of desire bordering on lust, as well as care and concern for his well-being. Well, he guessed he could deal with being watched and admired. It had been a while since he had entertained any thought of female company.
As he was taking off his shirt, something occurred to him. "Selkine?" She perked up immediately and stepped over to him. "I still didn't get a chance to ask... How do you do that running on all fours thing?"
She giggled and grinned at him. "Well, our legs aren't shaped the same as yours." She lifted a leg, displaying it. He had noted that it was animal-shaped before, but the differences were interesting when he looked at it and paid more attention. He reached down and felt along her leg curiously from the foot-paw upward, finally dropping his shirt and using two hands to explore. It was somewhat of a more muscular version of what he'd expect to find on the back end of any animal. Digitigrade, that was it. He could feel the strength in the muscles, and realized that he had indeed seen a few indications that the midphasers were substantially stronger than humans.
He blinked as he realized that his touch was approaching the top of her leg and more sensitive territory, and glanced at her face, seeing that her eyes were half-closed in pleasure. "Oh, sorry..." he drew his hands back, fearful that he had offended her by feeling her up. She smiled and blinked a few times, looking at him curiously.
"Sorry? For what?"
"For... um... your leg... my hands... where I was touching..." He stuttered and gave up, looking flustered.
She slipped her arms around him as she dropped her leg back to the ground, and suddenly made him VERY aware that she was all soft and warm and loving as she embraced him for a moment. Her tongue drew up the side of his jaw, ending with a soft nip to his earlobe. "Jack, when you are ready, I hope you will touch me much more..." she murmured, then tore herself away with obvious difficulty. She was keeping her promise to be good even as his pants became decidedly too tight for comfort.
He swallowed and blinked, then asked, "What about your hands and arms?" He was taking a better look at her now, trying to distract himself from the growing tension in his shorts. He realized that her body proportions were slightly different from a human's. Her torso and body were longer, her legs just a bit shorter. She also seemed to have differences along her collar and shoulders.
She smiled and rolled her arms about in a way that humans probably couldn't. The way her joints worked seemed to be more limber. "Well, we can either do this with our fingers..." She held up her hand and bent her fingers fully back at the first knuckles where they joined the palm, curling them so the end of her palm and tips of her fingers were flat beside each other. This made her hands look decidedly more paw-like. He blinked... Yeah, humans DEFINITELY couldn't do that. Nor did they have prominent claws on the tips of the fingers.
"Or, if we want to spend the energy, anybody but the blanks can do this," she continued. He blinked and took a step back as her whole arm changed subtly. The most obvious change happened from her wrist to her fingertips as her hands became actual large fox paws like he would see on a normal animal. "If it's just a short scamper, it's easier to just bend your fingers back than use the magical energy."
He gawked as the paw melted back into a human-like hand. The process was too fast to see clearly, but obviously effective. He took her hand and examined it, distractedly asking, "Blanks?"
"Anybody in the midphase who is magically blank. They can't use magic themselves, but they can use packaged spells and have magic work on them. It's not a bad name, by the way. Heck, you're an outphaser, so you're a blank too." Selkine smiled at his examination of her hand, holding it for him to move easily.
Jack blinked as he noted that the whole palm surface of her hand was covered in soft, velvety fur, rather than the bare skin he expected. "Huh... Short, soft fur... doesn't that make it harder to hold things? Like they slip or something? And doesn't it wear down?"
Selkine grinned now. "I never thought about that way of seeing it. Well, yeah, it wears down, but we shed it constantly and regrow it just as fast because it's so short. And gripping's not a problem. The fur... Um... we just... Oh, here..." She clenched her hand slightly, and the appearance of the fur changed in an instant, going from a soft velvety look to more resemble thick stubble on her palm. He blinked and poked a finger at it curiously, discovering that it was indeed thick stubble, and very sandpapery like an unshaved beard.
"How...?" he asked in surprise as the texture changed back to soft velvet even as he was touching it.
"Well, they teach us when we are young that it's basically muscles at the root of the furs pulling them down into the skin enough to leave that out. We've got to learn to control it properly when we are younger, but it quickly becomes second nature." She smiled and set her hand on his arm, rubbing it lightly with the smooth palm. "After all, it wouldn't do to try to grip something sensitive." One light rub with the stubble and a flick of her tailtip at his groin, and he got the hint, wincing at the thought of that roughness being applied to sensitive skin.
"Wow. You guys really are pretty complicated. Somewhat like our animals, but really not." Jack murmured, putting his hand on the back of hers, feeling the soft fur on the back of her fingers.
She nodded, gazing into his eyes and obviously enjoying the contact. "And we are smarter," she noted, then smiled slightly, "And we have feelings, and desires based around them."
He nodded with a smile, catching the hinting. Gazing at her, he decided that he could definitely enjoy a romp with her. She had shown care, smarts, and was definitely beautiful and wonderful to be near. But he had to take a shower. Yeah, that was it... Not quite yet... Shower first. After all, the other two girls would be back anytime.
"I... um... do have to take a shower, Selkine," he murmured. He saw her look of disappointment, but she brightened and smiled.
"No problem. I'll still wait for you and be good." With that, she walked to the corner of the bathroom and dropped onto her haunches, similar to an animal just sitting down. Another thing that human legs definitely could not do, he noted.
He stripped out of his pants and underwear. He was distracted enough by the discoveries and information that he was no longer sporting a huge boner, but he had to keep his thoughts off the vixen who was watching him admiringly if he was going to keep it that way. He retreated into the tub, pulling the shower curtain closed as a way to escape view at least.
Turning his attention to the water faucets, he blinked at the fact that the midphase handles had been modified, turned 90 degrees from the outphase handles, and both sets were now both clearly labeled with little plastic stickers, obviously for his benefit. He chuckled softly. "Thank you..." he murmured, mostly to himself, and was surprised when Selkine answered.
"You're welcome!" she said brightly. "We thought it would help." He blinked. He had said it very quietly. Obviously they also had really good hearing.
He turned on the water, got it to a temperature he was happy with, and soon was enjoying a good shower after three days in the hospital without one. But something was nagging at him. He scrubbed and he scrubbed, rinsed repeatedly, but the slippery spot on his belly from Selkine's prior attentions seemed adamant about staying. It seemed to almost be spreading as he rubbed at it with a finger. Strange. As if the water and soap weren't doing any... wait...
He groaned as he realized that the soap and water from the outphase wouldn't touch it at all. So he had been cleaning off all the outphase dirt, but Selkine's gift was untouched and now well spread over him.
"Something wrong?" came Selkine's concerned voice in response to his groan.
He chuckled softly, "No, sorry. I just realized that all this showering cleans off the human world dirt just fine, but it doesn't touch your juices. I guess I'm going to have to shower in the midphase shower water as well." He began to reach for the midphase handles.
"Ummm... Won't work," came Selkine's voice sheepishly, causing him to pause.
"Why not?" he asked guardedly.
"The midphase pipes in the bathroom were burst before we came here. Nobody lived here for so long, they froze. The water to the shower is turned off inside the wall. Only the sink works." She sounded embarrassed.
Jack thought on this for a moment. "Oh... Wait, then how am I supposed to clean midphase stuff off? In fact, how do you guys take a shower?"
"Well, we usually just lick ourselves clean. If we are icky enough to need a shower, we go across the hall. The porcupine who lives there is always happy to let us use his shower. He said we don't even have to knock anymore, we can just go in and use it," she explained.
Jack frowned. "That doesn't help me," he muttered. "I can't just go across the hall and deal with a human neighbor. And I don't think I could reach my belly to lick it. Not a human thing to do."
There was silence for a short time, then Selkine's voice was closer to the shower curtain. "I could groom your belly for you," she murmured quietly, almost too soft for him to hear. He could hear the undertones in her voice too, the hopefulness.
He considered declining her offer, but he realized that one vixen licking him would be nothing like that tongue assault before. And he had finished his shower that he used as an excuse not to get closer to her earlier, right? Hey, waitasec... which head was THAT idea from? He glanced sharply down his body, glaring at the offending anatomy, as if it could think for itself. It just hung there under his gaze, looking all sad and unattended. He finally gave in. But just to get cleaned up!
"Selkine, if you would, I would be grateful," he murmured, and her head immediately poked past the side of the shower curtain, a look of joy on her face.
She climbed into the tub without disrupting the curtain at all. He had to do a double take, but he realized finally that the midphase curtain was still bunched against the wall, unused. The second thing that he had to wrap his mind around was the fact that she was between him and the spray of water, but the outphase water didn't collide with her at all. The warm stream of water went straight through her and splashed against his bare skin as if she were an illusion.
She looked him over, and he was suddenly reminded that she was very much solid as she hugged his shoulders carefully, so as not to get her own fur messy. Then she dropped down halfway on her legs, keeping them partially bent, and began to sniff at his belly. He marveled at the strength of her legs. If he tried to stay squatting like that, he'd be tired quite swiftly. He bit back a laugh as she began to lick at his tummy, the surprise of the action causing some tickling.
He quickly relaxed as her arms draped around his hips and she continued to groom him. He leaned his head back, putting a hand lightly on her shoulder and marveling at how the fur was still dry and soft to the touch. He closed his eyes, using her shoulder and arms around him to keep his balance with his head back, and enjoyed the unique sensations.
He had a feeling that he was almost completely groomed when he heard a strange noise over the splash of the shower, and her licks paused on occasion at the same time as the noise came. He listened carefully, and soon realized that she was stopping to emit small whimpers before resuming her grooming. Fearing that something was wrong, his eyes shot open and he looked down.
He quickly went red-faced. He was at full attention again. She was well aware of this, and frequently stopping to gaze at the sight, whimpering softly. She made a halfhearted lick in its direction, but caught herself before it touched and shook her head, then went back to lick the last of his belly. She froze as she saw him looking at her, her tongue against his skin in mid-lick, and her ears went to the side in embarrassment.
Slowly slipping her tongue off his tummy, she sunk a little bit, a small smile touching the side of her muzzle. "Umm... I'm sorry. I'm done... I've been done for a little while... but... well..." She turned her head away in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I'll behave."
Now, he wasn't one of those stuck up types who wanted to wait until marriage and kid time for having fun. In fact, given an option of a romp with a cute girl, he would gladly do so. He had just been recovering for the past year plus from that miserable relationship. Shower done, he thought to himself, looking down at the embarrassed vixen who was obviously having a battle of her own internally. "Um... Selkine... you can, er, stop 'behaving' now if you like. I think I'm ready."
Her ears shot straight up and focused on him intently as her full attention came to his face. Her eyes widened and a huge smile crossed her lips. "You mean it?" she asked, almost not believing it.
He nodded with a warm smile and complete sincerity. "You are a wonderful person, and beautiful to boot. You've done so much to help me in this trouble, and obviously have had your eye on me for longer than I have known you." He grinned. "I was warned to not try to keep a vixen away from what she wants."
Her face lit up in joy, as she dropped further on her legs. Her hands slipped around and up his body, running fingertips down his chest and slipping to the sides of his belly, down to his hips to hold his waist as her gaze dropped to his proud acknowledgement that he did indeed have an attraction to her. She got a distinctly feral and decidedly predatory look in her eye, and her head shot forward with jaws agape. Jack's immediate and very powerful thought:"OH SHIT, TEETH!!!?!?" For indeed, there were some VERY sharp, pointy canines bearing down on him extremely fast.
He didn't have a chance to panic though. Her muzzle closed with her teeth safely framing him, not even a threat of a nick to any sensitive skin. His senses exploded with the pleasure of her muzzle surrounding almost his full length as her tongue massaged the underside. She held his hips tightly, pulling him closer as she greedily suckled for what seemed like an eternity... and ten seconds after she started, with him in a blissful haze already, she released his muzzle-slickened flesh and stood up to curl her arms around him possessively, pressing her body close to his.
His cloudy mind once again marveled at the difference between the warm outphase water flowing over him and the wonderfully lush dry fur of the vixen that his arms wrapped around to hold. Her leg drew up his side and she reached below it, finding him with her fingertips and nudging him into a proper aim very swiftly. She licked and nipped at his throat, writhing against him in her need, and when she finally had him nestled just at her opening, she looked at him again, needing reassurance. "Now?" She pleaded, still trying to be good.
He nodded, caught up in the pleasure and the heat of the moment, holding her close. "Yes, now," he murmured, and no sooner had the words left his lips than she plunged herself down to engulf him. Her body was obviously much hotter than his, the heat surrounding him driving waves of pleasure through him as she clung close.
Her reaction was strange though. She writhed against him, whimpering avidly. He was pretty sure it was from pleasure, but the reaction was so strong. He tilted his hips back to slide partway out and gave a quick push back in, and then was brought out of his own haze as her legs suddenly went limp beneath her. He was vaguely aware of her muttering "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my GOD!" very rapidly as he caught her to keep her from falling. He winced as her downwards motion pulled her off of him in somewhat of the wrong direction, but the discomfort faded quickly with his concern. Had he hurt her somehow? What happened?
Ignoring the water spraying over his face, he lowered her carefully to the floor of the bathtub. He could feel her shaking with reaction in his grip, her breath coming in ragged pants and her eyes clenched shut. He reached over quickly to turn off the water, catching the hot first, and getting drenched with cold water for a few seconds before he managed to reach the cold faucet to turn it off.
"Selkine! What's wrong? Selkine, snap out of it! Are you okay?" He was very concerned now, holding her as she started shaking less. She began shaking differently, and making a new noise. As she finally lifted her head to look at him with twinkling eyes and a shit-eating grin, he realized she was giggling uncontrollably.
"That... was... SO TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME JACK!!!!" she suddenly screamed, leaving him taken aback as she seemed giddy as a schoolgirl. "Oh my god! It was like, just wow! I wanted you, and needed you so badly, and then I got to suck you, and that felt so good already, and I was just getting so wet, and then I held you so close, and I just had to have you, but I was still trying to be soooo good, and I didn't know if you were sure, so I asked you, and you said YES AGAIN, and then you were inside me, and it was instant explosive orgasmic bliss and ooooooooooooooh I fell down because I couldn't even control my legs and that thrust you gave made it all even STRONGER and OH MY GOD JACK IT WAS JUST SO..." he could barely make out what she was saying as she said it all in one huge burst, then suddenly stopped and stared at him in apparent dismay.
"You didn't cum, did you?!" she exclaimed, that statement sounding as if she had just discovered a dead body.
"Umm... well, it was pretty... quick..." Jack murmured, feeling guilty for some reason, though he wasn't sure why. He was definitely confused. "So, you're okay?" he asked meekly.
"Absolutely!!" she exclaimed. "Much better than okay! Good god, Jack, the moment you were inside me, I just came like there was no tomorrow! I couldn't stop cumming at all, and when you thrust, it just made it even better!" She glanced down his body, where something was still standing there oblivious, as if just saying "What? What did I do?"
"But you didn't get to cum. What kind of a vixen am I?!" she asked, in what was apparently genuine almost-horror. She stood up, still somewhat wobbly, but he stood and helped support her arm. "Okay, you dry off and come to bed, I've -GOT- to fix this!"
He was still trying to figure out what the hell was up as he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, drying off with Selkine fussing over him constantly. No sooner had he dropped the towel back onto the rack than he was scooped up by the vixen and carried to the bed with no chance to protest. Yes, with the ease she carried him with she was obviously DAMN strong. He knew that he had enjoyed the fun a lot... but not as much as she apparently had.
He found himself on his back on the bed in short order, a few more licks to encourage turgidity, and then Selkine straddling his hips and looking ready to take on a mammoth endeavor. She leaned down against him as she got herself into position, panting already as he barely nudged between her folds. Licking at his neck softly, she purred to him, "I've gotta have you love this too."
Her fingers curled around his shoulder as she engulfed him once more, and then curled harder as her back arched from her sudden orgasm, the clawtips threatening his skin for a moment. Taking it as she could, she began to ride on him, her whole body shaking with her ecstasy as she came more powerfully with each thrust onto him.
He was quite in heaven himself. Her heat was astonishing; the feel she gave of being with her was something no human woman could ever achieve. The soft fur against his bare skin, the pure and literal animal passion she expressed, the look of rapture on her face... It was all unique and highly pleasing to him. Hell, the squeezing from her constant cumming wasn't too bad either.
She was a trooper, but she was only able to keep it up for a short time. Over a dozen orgasms later, she weakly pulled herself off him, unable to stay upright, and lay against him shuddering and panting heavily, her tongue lolling against his throat. She rolled off him and took up a position on her back, her legs spread wide. She tugged at him and encouraged him to climb atop her. "You try!" she insisted.
He was halfway reluctant, looking at her state, but he was willing to give it a go. He climbed over her, careful to not kneel on her tail, and quickly found new pleasures from the new angles. She was writhing in orgasmic bliss immediately again, and her claws actually did mark up his back now. He could ignore the clawmarks, but he could see her ability to maintain this venture fading. Out of concern for her, he finally called a halt himself.
She whimpered softly as he rolled off her, laying against her side and holding her shaking form soothingly. Her thighs and lower belly were completely soaked from her own fluids seeping through her fur and she could barely move after the exertion. He had no idea how many times she had cum, but the result was pretty obvious: She was not really up for more.
"You've gotta... gotta cum... I gotta get... you to..." she mumbled, trying to pull him back ineffectively. He stroked the top of her head, trying to calm her down.
"Selkine, you can't take any more yourself. Rest a little bit." He snuggled against her, trying to encourage her to lay still, and she quickly succumbed to exhaustion. He peered at her sleeping face for a short while before relaxing beside her and shortly falling asleep himself.
* * *
"Jack, Selkine, we're home! We've got some weird news though. Even Master Takaran seemed confused. Strange stuff is... Oh, sorry..."
Jack blinked blearily at the grey vixen standing in the doorway, realizing that he was completely nude, snuggled against Selkine, who still had her legs spread wide from their fun. Sess'tha poked her head around the corner and took in the view, then smiled. "I think he gave in and let her stop being good." Jack hoped he wasn't blushing too badly.
Selkine stirred as he lifted his arm off her, and sat up groggily. Jack sat up beside her, still concerned for her. All the fur around her thighs was a dried mess of her fluids, so there was absolutely no way that their actions could be hidden. The scent alone was very telling. Selkine blinked, looking like she was trying to remember something, and started tagging off on her fingers as she peered searchingly at Jack. Both the girls in the doorway seemed to be getting a feeling that something was odd, though they didn't know what.
Tension grew as Selkine made some motions with her paws, as if trying to work something out, and Jack sat there, not knowing what to do. The two girls stood silently, and he couldn't read them very well. Selkine finally stared at Jack for a long time, until Jack opened his mouth and spoke, "Selkine? Are you o..." Then Selkine suddenly burst into sobbing tears and flopped over onto the bed away from Jack.
"What did you do to her?!" demanded Farren angrily, and Jack was suddenly assaulted by flying, spotted feline doom as Sess'tha pounced and tackled him right off the bed. Jack tried to protest his innocence but the words just wouldn't come out as he had a good sized cat on his chest, ears laid back and teeth bared as she hissed at him. He paled as he realized that one of her hind paws were on his belly, just above his crotch, claws digging painfully against his skin. Though one of her hands was clenched on his chest, claws pricking barely at his skin, the other curled clawtips against the side of his throat from his collar. One wrong move and he could either have his throat sliced open, or be eviscerated and neutered in a swift rake of a hindclaw. He sensibly froze in abject terror for his life.
During this, Farren had scooped up the sobbing red vixen and run out of the room with her, leaving Jack staring at a very pissy feline. "I don't care HOW good you feel," Sess'tha finally growled in a low voice. "If you did anything bad to her, it will simply feel good to..."
Her statement was interrupted by Farren loudly proclaiming, "Oh SHIT! SESS'THA!!" from the living room. Jack was probably glad she didn't finish her words.
"If you run, we WILL find you," Sess'tha growled. Jack was definitely not glad thereafter as her claws dug into him slightly when she launched herself off him and took off out the door on all fours. He was left shaking in reaction, whimpering quietly as he felt the warm dribble of blood starting to roll off to the side from a claw puncture on his belly.
He wasn't sure how long he was left there alone. He was too afraid to really tell time too well. However Selkine's outraged exclamation of "You did WHAT?!" from outside the bedroom started to get him back to his senses just in time for a much softer and more polite collision from all three girls.
Jack was aware of Selkine panicking over the blood on his belly, and Sess'tha holding him and rubbing against him like a housecat desperate for approval, repeating over and over again how sorry she was. Farren was looking him over franticly, muttering something somewhat dazedly under her breath, but Jack was not certain what she was saying. He wasn't sure which was more dangerous... their ire, or their affectionate apologies.
"If you EVER do anything like that to him again..." Selkine was scolding her roommates, hugging his head to her chest frantically.
"Jack, I'm sorry! I didn't know!" Sess'tha was rubbing her cheek - and in fact most of herself - against him, and he was pretty sure that she was licking franticly at the wound on his belly.
Farren interrupted her mutterings long enough to look at Selkine. "We thought he had done something bad to you!" she tried to explain.
Jack began to try to extract himself from the chaos of apologies... at least so he could breathe. Sess'tha's frantic apologies culminated in her arms thrown around his waist and her begging his forgiveness with a whined cry. Jack winced though as her sudden grip split the wound open again, causing blood to flow forth once more. He went dizzy. He wasn't sure if it was from the pain of the claw wound on his belly, or from the lack of air from being held so tightly.
He was aware of Selkine's shriek of anger at his re-injury, and both Farren and Sess'tha promptly scattered. His vision clouded, but cleared enough for him to suddenly see... the same?... white vixen that he saw at the call center. Her face was full of concern, and her hand was reaching towards him.
He reached as well as he could, and caught her hand, feeling energy flowing through him suddenly, soothing the carpet burns from the original tackle. The burning pain on his belly faded away as well, and then more. A feeling of contentment, happiness, and well-being flowed into him. The vixen looked satisfied as he felt himself going somewhat dazed, then he saw Farren's face peering around from behind the white vixen.
"Umm... I don't know if that was such a good idea," Farren murmured. He didn't care. He was feeling good. This was something he could definitely deal with.
Recommended Next Steps
If you enjoyed the story, please feel encouraged to comment below, fave the story, and vote on it.