FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Naerian race, characters and locations are © Jordan "Nalz" P.

Author's Note: After a long absence I finally finished another short story. Not much plot to this one since it wasn't in the original plan. If I do do another one after this, set in the same story arc (Don't get your hopes up), it'll have more plot than this by a long shot. Anyways, enjoy.

Edit: Changed the name of Nalz's home planet to reflect a recent rework and to keep confusion to a minimum with the possible sequel.

Section One

Nalz set the Xbox controller in his lap, cracking his upper hands knuckle's proudly as the Post-Game Carnage Report drifted onto the large TV screen set in front of him. With a triumphant, "you like that shit!?" to his singular Human spectator, who gawked at the utter domination the scaled creature had handed out. "50 and 13. Told you I was amazing at Halo 2." Nalz said with a massive grin on his lips.

The on looking Human nodded as he looked over the scores for the rest of the players. The next closest player with a mere 26 kills and 32 deaths. "How exactly did you manage that?" He asked thoroughly baffled at how some of those numbers were possible. "Especially with 78% accuracy!"

"What more do you need other than 'amazing?'" The lizard retorted with an unwavering grin.

"Possibly a decent, less arrogant response? Just because you're Naerian and have two more arms doesn't instantly make you amazing, in fact, I'm pretty sure it makes you an ugly, self centered prick." He accented his last word by swatting the controller out of the lizard's hands.

Nalz laughed at the comment knowing full well how he constantly caught the Human staring at him as he did the simplest of things. He decided to play that fact to his benefit. "Ugly, huh? Is that why I'm always catching you staring at me and most often not very subtly, Jason?" This brought a shade of pink to Jason's cheeks as he turned his head away from the alien's gaze.

"Ha! Your face has always given away the truths that your voice will not."

"Just shut up will you?" Jason's eyes fell to the floor as he frowned and set his balled fists on his knees. Nalz's ignorant grin faded after several failed attempts to get the distraught Human to smile. He stood from the bed and moved in front of Jason, standing relaxed with his arms crossed and his eyes down on him.

"What's the matter, dude?" Nalz asked after a defeated sigh, intent on getting a straight answer.

"You know damn well, lizard, why I always stare." All he received was a questioning look. Jason sighed as his fists clenched and relaxed, a nervous habit. "Because . . . " A pause. "You're a hot piece of ass, Nalz. I'd rip off your clothes, hold you down and fuck you in a heartbeat, in a fuckin' heartbeat. Your empty responses to some of my questions only make it worse for me. Nothing is ever a solid yes or no with you."

Nalz was a bit shocked and angry at the same time. Shocked from hearing Jason talk about him in such a way and angry that'd he actually never thought about Jason's stares like that and his own empty responses. His only true friend on Earth just confessed to wanting him and he'd never acknowledged such a possibility and worse yet Jason thought he was . . . attractive.

"You really think I'm hot?" Nalz stuttered, blinking behind his frameless spectacles. Jason looked stunned that the sexiest thing he'd ever seen just asked him that.

"Hot? You're the sexiest creature I've ever seen in my short existence! Nothing on this planet could beat you."

Jason unclenched his fists and looked up at Nalz, who couldn't quite tell what was behind the Human's steel-blue gaze. Nalz certainly didn't agree that he was sexy. He could think of many, many Naerians better looking than him on Sihv. Personally he thought he looked plain in a simple black t-shirt and baggy khaki pants. The only particulars about his looks that he liked was a lip ring offset to the left of his snout and his small lens glasses that perched on his snout just in front of his eyes.

"I think you're mistaken. Back home I was hardly considered attractive. My only redeeming quality on Sihv is these frilly crimson spikes on the back of my head." He said as he slid three fingers through them slowly, pushing them out of the way as his digits continued down the back of his head.

"I could care less about other Naerians, Nalz. You're the only one I know and the only one I" He sighed. "Forget it."

"What? You expect me to just - " Jason put up his hands in protest, cutting him off.

"Forget it Nalz. I'm tired, it's two A.M. and I'm going to bed." Nalz just watched Jason from where he stood as the Human crawled over his bed and lay down.

Section Two

The room was dark and silent save for the soft hum of computer fans. Nalz lay on top of his sleeping bag in a pair of black boxers, wide awake. He was thinking, as he had been for two hours since Jason had gone to sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about what Jason had said earlier in the evening and now he was questioning his own emotions on the whole subject.

Jason was very attracted to him as he'd just found out, but was he attracted to Jason? He wasn't even sure if he was attracted to Humans at all. Human females seemed very 'fake,' covering themselves with specially made products in an attempt to make themselves look better. Males were generally smarter and didn't seem to partake in such a silly thing for the most part. Females also had mammary glands that seemed to drive most males to stare at them; Nalz wasn't entirely sure why, as he found them strange since Naerian females don't have them. After having short relations and mating with one he was completely certain Naerian females were infinitely superior.

Human males didn't fare much better in his mind. Human males had a much closer body build to Naerians of both genders except they lacked a tail, two more arms and had an oddly shaped head, no snout and plantigrade legs. The last thing about Human males that he found to be a put off was the fact that they had external genitalia. Before leaving Sihv he'd taken the liberty of scanning through Human anatomy books that were provided throughout the 'Humanization' process.

Naerian males have completely internal genitalia, the only external part being a genital slit. Memories of pictures and text cascaded through Nalz's mind as he continued to ponder Jason. That particular Human had a build that he would find attractive in most Naerians: toned muscle masses, slender body type and tall. If not for the lack of everything else a Naerian possessed, Nalz would certainly find Jason attractive.

Nalz lay still with his eyes shut for several more minutes, blanking his mind of the past two hours of thinking to try to get some sleep. His peace didn't last long when a fresh notion snuck into his thought process. If a cross-species relation was going to happen, he couldn't base it on such superficialities as appearance. Nalz lay quietly for another hour thinking about Jason's personality, who he was and how he acted before coming to the simple conclusion that he was indeed attracted to Jason's personality.

With a smile spread over his snout, Nalz sat up and looked over the bed to the unmoving heap of a Human asleep near the end of the mattress. 'If this has even a possibility of working, I might as well find out,' Nalz resolved in his mind as he slowly crawled onto Jason's bed. Halfway across, he froze as Jason stirred and the Human's hand ventured to a small table lamp. The lizard put up a hand in front of his eyes to shield them from the sudden light.

"Dude, what the hell are you doing?" Jason asked sleepily, rubbing one of his eyes.

"Well . . . I've been thinking about what you said earlier," Nalz began, continuing to crawl slowly towards Jason through the faint illumination. "I've come to the conclusion that I am attracted to your personality."

Jason had sat up on his elbows by now, with wide eyes stuck on the lizard's gray, glistening scales and fluid movements. So much so that he'd almost forgotten to respond to what Nalz was saying. "Really?" he asked, after a pause.

Nalz nodded slightly but continued talking as he passed over the Human's legs. "Yes, but I hate your hair, dislike your lacking two arms, wished you had scales and weren't a tailless Human." He finished with his snout mere inches from the Human's face. Nalz's small, sharp teeth drew Jason's attention as the lizard's voice grew more irritated while he had been talking. He was reminded of the Naerian's predatory past or at least what little of it he'd had the chance to learn about. Slowly the lizard's snout grew closer to Jason's slightly agape mouth.

"What are you going to -" Jason began, his heart rate and subtle shivering increasing as Nalz's words silenced him.

"I'm looking past all of those shortcomings, they're superficial, Jason." Nalz finished his sentence softly, his lips touching tenderly against the petrified Human's. Seeing Jason's shocked eyes he took hold of his biceps with his upper hands, slowly setting Jason's head back onto the pillow under him.

The action jarred Jason out of his shocked state and he brought his lips into working order against the lizard's. Pressing more of his snout to the Human's mouth - who was now enthusiastically returning the action - he sat softly on Jason's waist. Nalz's tail coiled down the length of Jason's leg, unknowingly pressing his tail base against the Human's groin, finding himself actually enjoying their making-out.

Nalz's upper hand moved to either side of Jason's head, setting the Human's arms free to slide hesitantly over his scales. Slowly the lizard parted their lips and opened his eyes to gauge Jason's reaction, his scaled finger tips sliding over his smooth chest. Jason opened his own eyes, quickly looking up and down the lizard's radiant body as his hands roamed excitedly over it; he hadn't expected Nalz's scales to be so soft and slick.

"That was extremely unexpected," Jason muttered looking up to the Nalz's grinning face, his hands pressing up flat against that completely smooth chest.

"The unexpected is always more interesting." Nalz said while he dragged a claw lightly down Jason's body, lifting himself onto his hands and knees, to the waistband of his boxers. It wasn't until his finger was hooked firmly under the elastic and slowly pulling down that he realized what he was doing.

Nalz quickly pulled his hand away from Jason's boxers and blushed deeply, his gray-scaled cheeks changing to a faint red hue. To his surprise Jason simply laughed, "Now that's something I have never seen before." Nalz smiled warily, apologizing quietly. Jason's smile only widened as his hands returned to sliding smoothly over any scaled part within reach. "You don't need to be sorry, Nalz. What has happened is already more than I could have hoped for. I could remind you about everything I said regarding your looks." Jason ended with a smirk, blushing just enough to be noticeable. Nalz hadn't originally planned on anything sexual happening but as he had crawled over the nearly nude Human the idea began spreading through his subconscious like a plague, even now he could feel a blooming energy coursing through his veins.

"I hadn't originally thought about-" Nalz stopped short after sitting back down onto Jason's waist and the Human's erection. Both blushed furiously as they looked at each other but neither moved. They both knew in their rational minds that one or the other should say or do something but neither of their bodies were listening.

The color slowly left their cheeks while they continued to sit silently. Nalz was first to move, his hips gyrating slowly over the Human's groin. Jason's hands twitched against Nalz's naked sides from the stimulation. Nalz closed his eyes to everything, his mind's focus narrowing down to touch, sound and smell. Jason's hand rubbed up and down the arms that were poised on the pillow next to his head, shivering when Nalz's lower hands gripped his sides. Nalz tilted his pelvis forward and arched his lower back, his weight pressing Jason's hard member against his slit.

"Uh, Nalz," Jason asked in a confused tone. Nalz opened his eyes, his focus diluting, following Jason's worried look to their merged crotches.

"What's the matter?" Nalz asked calmly, thoroughly oblivious to what was worrying the Human.

"I . . . I thought you were a guy," Jason trailed off embarrassed that he wasn't even sure of Nalz's gender. Nalz tried not to laugh but failed, his snout splitting apart as he laughed, his jaw displaying its glittering ivory spikes. Jason resolved that he'd never get over those razor sharp teeth. However, upon further consideration, his tongue and elongated snout were appealing to say the least.

"I guess your advisors didn't tell you much about Naerian reproductive anatomy." Nalz giggled at Jason's utterly lost expression. "Well let me teach you what they never could."

Nalz climbed off of Jason and crawled to the head of the bed, placing one of the Human's body pillows against the wall as a cushion. Jason smiled to himself while he eyed the lizard's alluring rear end, along with the hypnotic swinging of his tail. "I guess that will never change," Nalz said loud enough to break Jason out of his trance.

Nalz sat back against the comfortably positioned pillow with his knees bent and legs spread enough to sit between. Jason raised a brow in silent question. His answer, a single claw pointing out a spot on the bed in between Nalz's legs. Without a response Jason crawled forward slowly and sat on the indicated spot, waiting patiently for his next instruction. "Spread your legs under mine on the bed with your knees bent and legs around me," Nalz instructed. Jason followed through without objection, sliding his legs under Nalz's with his feet under the pillow behind him.

Without hesitation Nalz slid his lower hands to his boxers, stopping after his thumbs hooked under the waistband of them. "First lesson, internal genitalia: Everything important is inside the body and exits when aroused through a slit, which you felt earlier and freaked out." Jason listened to Nalz intently as he spoke. It was all a completely new information to him. Nalz pulled the waist of his boxers down until well below the base of his slit and held it there.

To say Jason was at a loss for what to do would be a great understatement. "Go ahead; just rub over it with two fingers. It really isn't difficult to figure out." Nalz reassured Jason, watching him as he hesitantly reached his hand towards Nalz's crotch. Softly he touched two finger tips to the top of the lizard's slit, slowly sliding them down over the two folds of extremely soft scales, then back up. Jason took Nalz's sudden shudder as a good sign, adding a third finger under and between the original two.

For a minute Jason continued the simple motion before he noticed two small mounds on either side of the base of the slit. Pressing his finger tips against them curiously he made small circles over the covering scales. Nalz closed his eyes again, returning his mind to its sharpened state, to slide deeper into the pleasure emanating from each pinpoint that was Jason's fingers. "Those would be my testicles. Naerian body temperatures generally run lukewarm due to our reptilian ancestry thus allowing sperm to survive internally. They can be stimulated from outside and inside the body as well." Nalz hinted none too discreetly.

Though he felt odd being talked to as if he were a student in such a situation (Nalz feeling the same but as the teacher) Jason realized he didn't have much of a choice being, so clueless. Given a sense of direction Jason pressed his index and middle finger slowly past the two external folds at the base of the slit easily. The scales around the area felt especially slick and extremely smooth. Nalz gasped quietly from the new feeling of flesh covered digits penetrating his slit, his maw parting when Jason's finger tips found and began stroking the two orbs from within. "Mm, just like that," Nalz muttered happily, resolving that Human's clawless fingers were decidedly more functional than the sharp clawed ones his own species possessed.

Now, without hesitation, Jason brought his other hand into play, stroking up and down the silken scales of Nalz's slit whilst occasionally venturing deeper. Nalz hissed softly whenever Jason's fingers explored his slit, shuddering when his flesh brushed his hardened tip.

Jason's exploring fingers retreated while his other remained to massage the lizard's hidden testicles, applying deeply pleasurable pressures. Panting softly, Nalz continued with his crash course, hands-on lesson in Naerian reproductive anatomy. "When aroused or under the delicious attentions of a partner," Nalz said lustily, smirking as he sensed Jason's blush. "The phallus hardens and extends out from the slit, thus prepared to serve the purpose of an ever hard, throbbing cock." Nalz opened his eyes and flashed a toothy grin to the giggling Human.

With a practiced speed Nalz lunged forward and meshed his lips lustfully with Jason's. The Human's free hand moved back to Nalz's slit to find several inches of the lizard's moist member exposed. Finding his own upper hands empty Nalz slid them down Jason's sides to the waist of his boxers, smoothly pulling them down until the waistband was situated under the Human's own dangling twin orbs.

Jason shuddered the moment the lizard's lukewarm hands gripped his hot, hard length, the foreign feeling of scales around his flesh strange yet, intoxicating. Nalz's smooth fingertips and careful claws trailed scantly up and back down Jason's length as Jason's stroked the lizard's already slick phallus. The kiss and fondling lasted but a minute, though strangely it seemed longer to either of them.

Delicately Jason separated their lips and looked down to visually examine Nalz's member. He turned it over in his hands the best he could as he inspected it intently from all angles. Overall the shape was indeed alien, yet it was aesthetically appealing to Jason. There was no visible end of the glans as there was for him, being Human. His entire length looked smooth but soft ridges could be felt under the flesh around the midsection and base. The tip was tapered with the point of a well rounded cone. Around the middle was the thickest, enough to feel a stretch but enough for the right amount of stimulation. Most appealing and decidedly alien to Jason was the base. Half the width of the middle it was slim and to Jason didn't look like it could withstand much stress.

Nalz watched Jason curiously as the Human studied and explored various aspects of his member, panting softly under Jason's constant caress. Jason ringed his thumb and index finger around the slim base and squeezed it to test its structural integrity. He was surprised how robust and rigid it was.

Though Nalz had seen and paid a moderate amount of attention to anatomical drawings and several pictures of Human genitalia it was still very different than his own and worth further study. A claw tip started at the very tip and slid slowly down the underside. The obvious glans was something Nalz didn't posses as well as the small amount of flesh that partially covered the tip, what Jason called a 'foreskin' after Nalz had been tugging and moving it with interest. Continuing his claw's journey down Jason's length, which was notably a more consistent thickness, to the base he gently cupped the Human's external testicles. Carefully he rolled either one between his fingers in turn, testing each ones density. Jason's member was definitely alien but he enjoyed the contrast.

All the slow and focused attention on each other's member was causing their bodies to burn with need. Nalz could feel his body warming and his heart rate increase. He wanted release and he knew how he wanted it.

Still enthralled by the lizard's phallus Jason was caught off-guard when Nalz suddenly pressed him down flat onto his back. Nalz sat on his knees just behind Jason's waist, sitting so his length was pressed against the Human's. His breathing quickened, his body burned from desire and quivered with lust. Jason shuddered from the double sensation of the lizard's sleek flesh against his own and being so suddenly dominated by his inhuman friend.

Tenderly Nalz wrapped one of his lower hands around their members, holding them firmly together. Innocently Nalz slid his upper hands down Jason's arms, trailing his claws over his skin until they hovered over his wrists. Innocently his fingers slid around and held fast the Human's wrists. Before Jason could react Nalz had his hands firmly above and flat behind his head. Jason was a little distraught as he looked up to a toothy reptilian grin with a smirk behind the lizard's amber eyes. Mercifully Nalz closed his maw to hide his teeth but retained his broad grin.

Nalz's tail snaked up Jason's leg and over his own until a small length of his whip-like tailtip coiled a couple of times around the base of their lengths. The lizard was a metaphorical goldmine of new sensations and pleasures to Jason. The feeling of a moist, warm cock pressed against his, griped by a gentle hand covered in silken scales and now a tail so slick if felt wet constricting their members together as if trying to make them one. It was all so good and Nalz had yet to even move his hand or hips! Jason relaxed, submitting to the sexy lizard that slowly began to move over him.

After adding his other lower hand under the already quite full one, Nalz slowly thrust his hips forward. Jason and Nalz collectively gasped when their hard members ground against the others. Nalz repeated the motion slowly in an attempt to make their first time doing anything together last as long as their horny bodies would allow. Jason shuddered and groaned softly under the lizard's tight grip and sexy frame. The feeling was exquisite and each of Nalz's thrusts exceeded the last in the supplied amount of pleasure.

Nalz was already panting quietly over the Human as he thrust, squeezed and ground his throbbing length against Jason's. His entire body was already getting hotter from the activity and his hardwired instincts. Jason turned his head to the side to see what Nalz was doing with his arms when he felt them being moved. They stopped on either side of his head with his wrists still firmly in Nalz's grip. He turned his head and only a moment after he was looking straight up he found his lips locked with his scaled partner's. Jason found the lizard's ebony-slitted pupils staring into him somehow. Looking back he couldn't help but feel Nalz was much older than he appeared; it was something in his eyes that told of a long life he had already lived. Nalz's pupils danced from side to side quickly as if he were speed reading a book, barley reading each word but getting everything that mattered out of it. He'd been so entranced he'd forgotten to react to the kiss or even feel.

Everything came rushing back to him quickly, causing him to moan against Nalz's lips who took the chance to slip his slender, expert tongue into the Human's unsuspecting mouth. While Jason had spaced out Nalz had been using his lower hands to spread the pre cum that had beaded at their tips over their lengths; turning his quicker thrusting into a frictionless business. Nalz's tongue explored the Human's mouth, thoroughly inspecting every incisor, canine and molar with his long, slender tongue. Jason's saliva tasted like nothing in particular and he could clearly tell of Humanity's omnivorous nature from their small, sharper front teeth to their large and flat rear teeth.

Nalz retracted his tongue back into its proper place but kept his lips apart as he held them to Jason's, offering Jason the opportunity to explore his maw if he wished. Jason's tongue crept past his lips to the lizard's, sliding over them slowly. His lips felt similar to his own and the idea that there were at least a few common physical traits between them was appealing. His tongue continued as far as it could reach which, being Human it was considerably shorter than a Naerian's, wasn't much passed Nalz's front teeth. Jason's tongue explored the teeth more carefully after pressing his tongue against them a little too hard. All of his previous fantasies of Nalz giving him a blowjob suddenly became more scary than pleasing.

Being in control Nalz broke the kiss once Jason finished his exploration, no longer feeling he could get enough air through his nostrils alone. Nalz's breathing was short and fast, his eyes closed from all distractions as he thrust into his hands and everything else that was touching his length. His increased his pace little by little; feeling Jason coming closer to climax from his shivering body, twitching hands and progressively louder noises.

With Nalz's thrusting becoming more labored and less consistent Jason could tell the lizard was fast approaching climax. Jason knew he wouldn't be able to last much longer either. Nalz lowered his head and licked lightly at the base of Jason's throat, nibbling his skin carefully. Normally this action would have made Jason extremely nervous but right now he could care less, it only added to the pleasure.

Jason was the first to reach orgasm, his body shuddering and back arching from the immense pleasure centered at his member. Nalz came shortly after with a drawn out reptilian hiss of ecstasy, his seed mixing in spots with the Human's on Jason's belly and chest. Their heads slowly cleared of the instinctual lust that had fogged their intelligent conscious.

As if exploring something they had never seen before both males gathered a sample of the other's spunk between a thumb and finger, testing its viscosity. Jason noted that Naerian cum was slightly clearer and thinner than his own. Nalz observed Human semen to be cloudy and stickier than his. Still holding together their slightly softer members Nalz lowered his head until his snout was almost touching Jason's chest.

Smiling to himself Nalz licked up some of their combined cum, sampling the mix over the various sections of taste buds. It was an odd combination. It held a slight sweetness from the glucose both contained yet it was dull and bland otherwise. While tasting their mixed fluids - as a wine taster takes the time to savor all of the different levels of flavor of their selected vintage - Nalz had come up with an idea, one he had talked of before but never tried; now was as good a time as any.

Nalz straightened his posture so his smirking lips were level with Jason's. He pressed his lips to Jason's and waited for him to part them. Nalz had figured Jason would have an idea what he was going to do since the Human had been watching him the whole time. Still, Jason appeared surprised when the lizard slipped his slim tongue into the Human's mouth and let the fluid slide onto the Human's broad tongue. Nalz held kiss for only a few moments before sitting up with a grin to gauge Jason's reaction, swallowing what hadn't left his maw.

Jason looked blankly at Nalz, concentrating on the taste. He grimaced slightly as he found it to be marginally bitter, overpowering what little sweetness he could detect. The combination of their fluids is what Jason hoped was the cause of the bitterness. His dreamt images of giving such a sexy creature head took a downward turn when the mental idea of being rewarded for his work with such distasteful cum was conjured.

Nalz saw Jason's grimace and knew that the Human hadn't really liked the taste, not that he had so much either. Jason let out a sigh as he closed his eyes and relaxed his tense muscles. Lost in the suddenly appealing idea of sleep Jason didn't even bother to open his eyes when he felt Nalz climb off of him and replace the Human's boxers. He continued to feel the lizard shift through his soft bed, followed by the nearly inaudible but easily recognizable sound of clothing tossed to the floor. Moments later Nalz's head was resting under Jason's chin; a scaled thigh draped over his waist and a serpentine tail coiled down his left leg. Jason smiled behind his closed eyes and placed a hand on Nalz's back and head, rubbing his fingers through the multitude of pliable spikes on the back of the lizard's head.

A queer feeling overcame Nalz, aroused as soon as Jason's hand tenderly rubbed through his spikes. He felt content for the first time since, well, he couldn't remember. Nalz shifted to get more comfortable and slid his upper arms around his Human's neck, bare scales against nearly bare flesh.

"Jason," Nalz began in a soft exhausted tone.

"Yes, lizard?" Nalz didn't know why but he liked being called 'lizard' by Jason. His tired mind decided against starting a conversion after further consideration.

"Never mind, we'll talk tomorrow." His deep, raspy voice ended in a whisper as he snuggled into Jason's warm body.

Jason rubbed Nalz's back idly, slowly falling asleep under the dismal illumination of his admittedly crappy lamp. It seemed strange to him that a carnivorous reptile that one of his older ancestors would have thought to be a dinosaur was sleeping soundly on his chest. Jason entertained the thought for another moment before settling his mind to sleep.

Section Three

The little corner café was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday morning, only two other tables had customers filling the seats. Nalz sat quietly across the table from Jason, swiveling his 12oz. cup of coffee along its base. Jason sipped from his cup of water as he scanned the latest newspaper for anything interesting. The beige top of Nalz's drink absorbed his attention, eventually able to balance the cup as it spun using only a single claw; the half empty beverage providing the perfect weight balance.

"Bored?" Jason finally asked.

"Thinking," Nalz replied flatly, staring at the dark brown ring around the plastic top. The cup swiveled until it stopped and stood still on the small round table. Nalz took a long sip of the drink, not having any preference for the taste beyond the warmth as it settled in his maw and throat, radiating to the rest of his body.

"About?" The paper was refolded and set in the middle of the table where it had been found. Nalz lifted the cup to his lips again, finishing off the hot drink before setting the cup back down. The cup found itself swiveling for a few moments before falling over.

"Damn," Nalz muttered, picking up the cup and tossing it into a nearby trashcan. "I've actually been meaning to talk to you about this but I haven't gotten up the courage to.

"Since our first night together a few months ago this idea has been running through my mind and about a month and a half ago I finally acted on it. It took a bit of convincing and some throwing around of power but the arrangements were made and still stand. All that is left is your decision on the matter." Jason looked at the lizard, paying attention to nothing but his words.

"First thing, what is this about 'power'?" Jason asked, crossing his arms on top of the cheap wood. Nalz sighed, realizing that he probably shouldn't have mentioned that.

"Back on my home continent I am a war hero. Right now that is as much as I want to say." Jason nodded, "Fair enough. Second?"

"Second. Second, I want you . . . to come with me when I go back." Nalz stared at the wood's pattern, imagining Jason's shocked face, preparing for the answer he didn't want and hoping for the one he wanted.

"I have to think about." Nalz heard minutes later. 'Better than no,' Nalz thought to himself, corners of his lips curling into a nearly concealed smile. In the following days Nalz would hear the answer he'd been longing for from Jason's lips.