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"A story for anyone who enjoyed fa!lemonfont 's Harpy Honeymoon ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13050997/ ) and wondered what their first date must have been like."

fa!randomguy664 who was the commissioner of that comic and owner of Garret and Rae, asked a bunny to chronicle their first date, and I honestly couldn't think of a better way to spend a Valentine's Day..

If you're looking for what happens next, and perhaps some of the down and dirty details once the candles were blown out, you'll find it all in Part Two.

Also, Big thanks to fa!darkzuri for creating the cover image above. Could not have done any of this without her.

What She Saw In Him

Part One

By Bishiebunny

"Well then, why don't you show me?" asked Garret, with eyes that fit the quality of his smile. "I'd love to watch."

Rae was startled by the proposal, even if it wasn't half so indecent as it might otherwise seem. The female harpy considered the human male who had just gone Dutch on the evening's meal, made light conversation sprinkled with a few groan-inducing puns, and then suggested they cap off the night with a stroll through a nearby park. Up until this point, it had all been standard blind-date fare, the sort of pleasant evening that often leads to a second date, assuming nothing more provocative came along. It was less a couples outing and more a no-pressure, come-as-you-aren't mixer; the kind set up so that a pair could dabble their toes in neutral waters without committing to anything more hot tub related.

She had even convinced herself that she was doing a pretty good approximation of a regular person. Granted, a regular person with ebony feathers, talons for feet, and the golden, light-reflecting eyes of a predator, but that was just your assumptions talking, which had nothing to do with her. Its what they all wanted, you know? Better to respond to those puns with a human, feminine laugh, instead of a spine-chilling caw. It was better not to remind your date that you could have easily caught and stripped your own meal, before looking up to him with hot crimson dribbling from your lips and offering a share with a perky, "want some?"

That was Rae's mother's way, and there was nothing wrong with that way. It was just not her way. It was not the way a modern, civilized woman conducted herself, at least not one who meant to get her bachelor's degree in undecided and maybe date a nice guy or three. Only, some of those old ways were kinda her ways too. The perfectly normal, not-quite human who had struggled through inane conversation while nibbling over-cooked meat was largely a fabrication. It sat too firmly on one side of her spectrum without giving the other room to breath.

Had he honestly seen through the mask, or had he only noticed the straps that kept it affixed? What had even prompted the question? Oh right, when she had casually mentioned that it was a "nice night for flying."

Dirty pool old man, she thought. You don't just pounce on a random comment from a young woman who had forgotten herself in a rare burst of nostalgia. Besides, it was true. It absolutely was a fine night for flight. The air was crisp and clear, the heavens beckoned, and she had not stretched her wings since orientation. He could hardly hold a slip like that against her. Rae put her hand on the human's shoulder, laughing in that way other humans do, and shook her head, "I'm honestly not sure what you mean."

The young man turned to face her, carefully reaching up with one hand and, mindful of her reaction, brushed a few errant, ebony feathers from her eyes. "I'd love to watch you fly. I think I might even get a glimpse of the real you, the you I think you kinda want me to see." He shook his head, feeling a bit like a fool, or worse, like one of those assholes that thought asking a woman to "smile more" was a good pick-up line. "Sorry, that was stupid. It's just... I wish I had a gift like that."

He could feel the warm shift as his date prepared to giggle his embarrassment away in that curiously melodic laugh that somehow rang false. Before she could rescue him, pull his flailing ass back to safety, he plunged forward, suddenly thinking it was also a good night for fools. "I can't fly, and I can't even show you something amazing, something you've never seen before. But I'm pretty good at watching and admiring. Also, and I hope this doesn't make me come off as an asshole, but it sort of feels like you've been holding back. Like, you don't think I'll be able to keep up? I don't know, maybe you've dealt with too many people who don't even bother to try."

Rae's eyes shifted, catching the moonlight as she stared at this curious human getting all flustered for her sake. She tilted her head to listen and felt an once-forgotten, now fondly remembered twitch just between her shoulder blades. He was a babbling bumble of second guesses but a cute one, and its not like he was entirely off-base.

"Now, I'm not promising that I even could keep up. All of this is way out of my wheelhouse." He took a moment to consider how best to phrase himself. Judging by her inquisitive, encouraging expression, he figured he could get a little poetic. After all, it was such a nice night for fliers and fools. "What I can promise is that I'll try. I will do my best, with all of my better angels, if you're willing to show me a few of yours." When Garret finished, not quite able to meet her gaze, he knew that he had set himself up for an awfully long fall. He was metaphorically stepping out onto a twisted and quite possibly fragile branch, all on the whim of an amiable evening.

This was more risk than he had taken since half-past forever. His life had long since settled into a fairly standardized, somewhat stagnant routine. Not that he had anything against routine; ask anybody who had lived through the curse of an interesting time, and they'd tell you exactly how they felt about risk taking. They were sure to extol the virtues of a comfortable rut. In Garret's case, his meticulously well-maintained foxhole had supported what little was left of his family. Unfortunately, a key and often annoying part of that family had demanded her brother take a chance on something strange, something new and different. So here he was, standing on the precipice before an unfamiliar territory, trying to gauge an unknowable distance. However, he knew that whatever he might risk by asking, she risked far more in the telling.

It was selfish to demand greater courage than he could muster for himself, and yet those golden, glittering eyes did not waver. She simply took a step back, her feather-laced arms crossing over her chest, touching the bared, dusky skin exposed by the cut of her dress. Steadying herself, those fierce orbs taking a moment to rest under the shade of smokey eye-shadow, she left the warmth of her date's immediate presence. Something slipped between her obsidian lips, something sacred. It was as intimate and personal as singular secret, and once invoked, she took the prayer with her as she leapt into the sky.

Rae startled him with the speed at which she soared. The park they were wandering became a verdant blur as the harpy pierced the evening's cool depths. She reveled in the switch, temporarily abandoning her waltz with gravity so that the stars and moon could cut in. Starlight fought with moonlight to embrace her frame, setting all the sparkling surfaces about her dress to shimmer and glow. The dark-skinned beauty danced in the night sky, twinkling in a way that a Lucy could only dream.

She wished his eyes upon herself, demanding he take in every detail, to become lost in her fantasy. Rae burst into an excited, satisfied smile when her keen senses caught sight of him. Yes, he was watching, and there was not a trace of avarice in his gaze, no sense that he meant to possess her in any way beyond those she offered freely. Nor was he cowering, stumbling about in an animal panic, just another superstitious peasant who had the presumption to imagine himself as worthy prey. All there was to that handsome man's face was an honest, open expression of wonder.

The harpy preened as she flitted by, letting the shadow of her curves show through the sheer, shimmering fabric in which they were cloaked. Once she was sure Garrett had been given the full show, she allowed herself the indulgence of a prideful crow. Rae admired him for not reaching out too soon, for not trying to summon an obsidian star from the heavens until she was ready to come down on her own. Her date was dazzled and gratifyingly patient, not giving in to an Earth-bound human's ageless envy. When their eyes met, what she saw was a man who wished to share the same space, no matter the vertical or the horizontal. Something internal shuddered in rapid melt, and she found herself gleefully returning in a dive-bombing swoop.

The black-feathered beauty had practically flow through him, knocking the male over and leaving his head swirling with images of little birds flitting about, like in the cartoons. When his vision cleared, her eyes loomed above like twin harvest moons, polished to a fine shine as they devoured her pinned human with a predator's intention. Garret began to frantically recalculate risk from his newfound position underneath her full-bodied pounce.

Not every better angel was divine, he considered, as some of the best had quite gleefully fallen. Better or worse, he got the feeling that her angels could probably beat his angels up. It was a sobering, trembling thought, and he found it difficult to appreciate the nuance that separated titillation and terror. Her breath was simply too close to call, along with the heave of her heavy chest and the slick glisten of those ripe, midnight-colored lips. All of it lit through him within a confusing tumble of conflicting instincts.

"Run!" cried something weak, yet primal. "Fight!" came a gruffer, crueler intuition. "How about we hide, why not?" said something in a surprisingly adept Zoidburg. The voices nearly drowned the faint whisper that sounded the most like his ten year old self. "Kiss her," it kept repeating, with all the bravery of a child that had never experienced rejection, nor submitted to the limitations of a fragile mortality. No. This was just a little too much for a blind date on a Friday night, and Garret opted for the more rational response of a simple strategic withdrawal.

It was Rae's grip that shut him down, leashing the human to his earlier promise. The firm, possessive nature of her intimate hold said, quite clearly, "You will not disappoint me. Not tonight." Garret rallied in response, though barely able to meet her golden gaze. Instead, he let his eyes wander down, suddenly curious exactly how he was being held. Also, where was that breeze coming from?

You wouldn't think feathers could grab a cock in that manner. At best, you might consider a French maid's duster with bits of ruffled fluff that could tickle or tease, but certainly not grip, stroke, or grind. And to be fair, the black plumes that had taken possession of Garret's shaft were not exactly feathers. They were more like specially adapted wing-fingers, serving as both pinions and long, flexible digits. Regardless of how you might refer to them, they were apparently dexterous enough to unbutton a man's trousers and had demonstrated this ability just before pulling his cock free. He was surprised by how quickly and deftly she had accomplished it, especially given that just a moment ago, her feathery-fingers had been devoted to the intricacies of flight. "H-how did you manage to pull that off?"

Rae didn't answer, simply sliding her body forward, against his own. The beautiful harpy knew her handsome human's night had been full of surprises, just as she knew there were bigger surprises yet to come.

***

Earlier that evening, that same beautiful harpy considered her reflection with a critical eye. Her mocha-shaded skin was bare, excepting her arms and legs which were layered in an impressive ruffle of ebony plumage. Those same feather's crowned her head, creating an illusion of hair that rustled a bit more than a human's silken strands might. A shimmering, deceptively thin dress waited impatiently on her bed. Her roommate had thought it a bit extravagant for a first date, particularly a blind one, but that was honestly more for Rae's own gratification. Might as well make fancy, she had decided, given how long it had been since her last opportunity.

"Do you think I should wear a carnation or something? Maybe a white rose or like, an orchid?" Rae fidgeted in front of the mirror, fighting the good fight against the cosmetics required by society's current standards of beauty, and her own desire to look absolutely banging. Most of the more complicated application and foundation building had already been completed. Now she was worrying around those final details that brought it all together. At the moment, that meant crafting the perfect lush lips that drew the eyes and kept whatever promises her smokey eye-shadow might make.

Lipstick was easy so long as you picked the right shade and didn't cheap out on the brand. There were few make-up mishaps quite as demoralizing as smearing every surface with cartoon lip-prints, like an overenthusiastic auntie. Unfortunately, her preferred colors involved a starling array of black shades. She blamed some of this on her mother and the rest on an extended goth phase in grade school, and then high school, and then right up until sometime yesterday. So very yesterday, she assured herself. Yet, regardless of her sudden maturity, it was still a struggle to find a really nice Obsidian Dream or Midnight Mood, especially one that came in the right consistency without costing a fortune. This was where the proper gloss came in handy, and Rae was a longtime master in the art of enhancing a basic matte into something enigmatic, yet dazzling.

"That depends, are you going out on a date or planning a heist?" Nicole, whose freckled face, auburn locks, and emerald eyes allowed her lips to get away with an economical red, asked from behind the sort of romance novel that had vampires in it. "Unless you mean a corsage. In which case, isn't he supposed to supply that?"

Rae snorted, then tsked as the shift in her features caused a misstep in application. She corrected it with a few careful swipes, then turned to her friend, "It's a classic accent and a standard blind date accoutrement. Don't tell me you've never come across it in one of your high school romances."

"Well yeah, when the blind date is literally going in blind. But I think this guy knows to look for the prettiest girl in feathers." Nicole tilted her head, "You really don't think he's going to stumble across some other beautiful bird lady and then just assume it's you?"

"I won't be in feathers. I'll be in that dress I picked out, no thanks to you." Rae replied coolly, though somewhat mollified by the compliments that accompanied her best friends sass. "Err, and so will my feathers." An arm that seemed more like a wing reached up, tussling at hair that was more like a raven's mane.

Maybe a hat? No no, her plumed hair looked fine. It looked fabulous in fact, and if he couldn't see that, he didn't deserve the time it would take to secure a headpiece that matched. Yes, and besides, nobody wore hats anymore, right? She was a good eighty to ninety percent convinced, but just to be sure, she began to mentally catalog the contents of her closet and those of her roommate.

Nicole sighed, "I'm pretty sure you will be the only harpy there. You will definitely be the hottest girl in the room that's flying solo and looking for somebody else to pay for her meal. So, unless this guy is an absolute idiot, he knows what to look for." She grunted, flipping another page in her book, "If he is an absolute idiot, then bullet dodged."

"First, we're going Dutch, and don't roll your eyes. It was my idea. Second, what if Ayaka is there? She's always looking for a poor loser with more money than sense. He doesn't have a picture or anything, just a name and some basic details." The increasingly frantic young woman brought her feathered fingers to her face, letting her imagination run while. "Oh god, she could totally be a Rae. We've even got the same colored feathers!"

"Alright, calm down. Tengu don't shapeshift or drop their human glamor until after you buy them dinner. Nobody is going to see her feathers, especially if she's paying for her own meal." Nicole set her book down, then walked over to her friend, putting a hand on Rae's trembling shoulder. "And again, if he's an idiot or a loser, then you don't want him, and you certainly don't need him. Ayaka can have him. Seriously girl, stop treating tonight like it's anything special. It's just a date; you've been on dates before."

"K-kinda," Rae admitted meekly. "Like, play dates when I was a kid, and then a few dances in high school. Prom was kind of a mess because the guy was a bit too eager and saw something he wasn't ready to handle." The dusky-skinned beauty burst into a deeper shade as an embarrassed blush darkened her cheeks. "Y-you know how that goes, right?"

Nicole smirked. "Well, to be fair, I spent my prom with the girlfriend of a guy like that, so I suppose our experiences are a bit different." She reached around, hugging her friend close. "Get back on that horse, Rae. Just don't take this ride too seriously. It's more a test flight for the both of you; if it goes great, then fantastic. If not? You just let me know, and I'll make him regret his choices in life. Besides, isn't this some sort of Internet thing?"

Rae blinked, then bit nervously at her bottom lip, cheeks shifting to an even deeper shade of shame. "Y-yeah, sorta. It's something like a 'Date My Son/Daughter' kinda... thing."

"Wait, Date My...? Are you shitting me?" Nicole's barely got her hands up to stifle the snicker before it left her lips. She held it for a moment, taking a step back from her friend, before it doubled her over. "Oh god! Really?"

Turning away from her so-called "friend" who was trying to keep from collapsing into a heap of laughter, Rae snorted in a snappish caw. "That's why I didn't tell you before. Th-there's nothing wrong with it!"

"S-seriously? Like your mother hooked you up with... oh you poor thing," Nicole wiped at eyes wet with fresh hilarity, letting lose another bout of throaty laughter.

"I will eat you," Rae seethed, "I swear to the One-Eyed god, I will."

"Hey," Nicole grinned at black-haired fury starring down with glittering, golden eyes, "I already offered. You're the one that said it would get all weird between u-lp." The teasing, freckled-faced friend ducked a hurled stick of lip gloss. She put her hands up in sudden surrender when Rae began to shift out of her chair. "Whoah, down girl! You have spent way too much time on that hair to get it all futzed up over some shots fired by your best friend."

"Ayaka is now my best friend," Rae grunted, settling back down in a huffy plop. She turned back to the mirror and realigned a few feathers that had gotten out of place, "We're going to share bird girl secrets and talk shit about flame-crotched sluts who refuse to keep their private parts to themselves."

"Look, it's funny, alright? You just spend so much time and energy trying to human yourself up, making yourself all civilized and modernized. Which is fine, really. We're all making it up as we go along." Nicole sighed, getting to her feet which were covered in pink, unicorn socks. "Only, isn't this kind of backwards? I mean old world stuff, with the parents setting up their kids and all?"

Rae paused in mid primp, taking a moment to really digest the effect of all her hard work. Finally she looked away, a fresh spot of shame spoiling her features. "Maybe. I didn't even know she had signed us up. Old world for her involves pouncing a one-night stand without protection. If things go well, you rely on the sisterhood, which is what I call them because it sounds better than the Council of Murder. So there are no real husbands or fathers, though maybe a few favorite playmates and some seriously questionable uncles."

"Yeah, you've told me about that," Nicole put her hands to either side of Rae's neck, thumbs rubbing tenderly along the back. "Sounds rough, but your mom also sounds kinda amazing."

"She is! She absolutely is." Rae smiled, "Old school bad ass, but she's knew I wanted to be something else, so she just let me be me, you know? She never butted in when it came to boys, and she let me decide if it was even going to be boys. She's not like us, not in that way, but I think she gets it. Mom is pretty clued into the whole being different thing and wanting to be more like them, you know?"

"Well personally I think them suck," the red-head grunted. "But I get what you mean. So why the hook-up?"

The black feathers that adorned the harpy's shoulder shifted in a shrug, "Probably because of our last phone conversation. Moment of weakness and all, but I told her I'd been nervous about approaching anyone here. Like, I'm all about the college life: making friends, studying for finals, and eating organically grown food that was fried up in a vat. I've done my best to fit in and make this place home. Sure, there aren't enough trees and like, no mountains, but it has got its charm. And I'm learning about the people who make it what it is; maybe trying to be one of those people, you know?"

Her friend nodded, taking a quick glance at her phone to check the time. She didn't really care if Rae's mystery date got stood up, but she would be damned if her feathered friend was made to feel guilty over a bit of tardiness. Besides, she had also had an appointment, one that required its own sort of prep work, the kind she preferred to do alone and involved an absolutely profane amount of latex. They had plenty of time, so she settled against the harpy's cosmetic-covered vanity and crossed her legs as she listened.

"It's the guys here, and maybe some of the of the girls I guess, getting me all turned around. I- I can't handle that first glance, the one I get when I thought I was looking hot as hell, but all they can see is a pair of golden eyes and a bushel of black feathers." Rae shook her head, then laughed with just a shade of screech, "I mean, I can't even get to the 'do you mind if I'm a little different down below' bullshit, because I'm too busy apologizing for what they've already seen." She leaned her head against her roommate's supportive hip. "They don't even know the half of it, and there I am, stumbling over the easy part. What happens when it goes wrong? What happens the next day, when I see them in class?"

"You told your mother all this?" Nicole blinked, seriously impressed. Her own conversations with mommy dearest tended to stick to the shallow end of the personal life pool. Deep dives were never wise with the women in her family. There was no telling when you might see the surface again.

"Some of it. I think she just guessed the rest." Rae laughed at herself, shaking her head, "I was so surprised she even had a computer, let alone knew how to fill out a profile, that I just sort of went along with it."

"Iphones changed everything. We're living in the future but still play like it's the present," Nicole smiled, before her expression shifted to serious. "Speaking of which, you need to be careful. Whatever your risking out there, in the grand and glorious RL, you can bet it'll get worse once virtual anonymity steps in. Are you sure this guy isn't some sort of chaser, a dude who'll just use you to scratch off a fantasy from the ole' bucket list?"

"Chasers don't generally get their mothers to fill out their internet search queries," Rae grinned. "Beside, if he's just chasing after some monster girl fetish, then he's about to bite off a lot more than he can chew. All he knows is he scored a nearby harpy with a doting mom. What he doesn't know... well, maybe I can satisfy a few kinks of my own while he's still trying to figure it all out. Besides, aren't you on 'Take My Wife, Please?' Do you really have any right to go stone chucking?"

Nicole shrugged, "I'm not looking for a relationship there, just a few raunchy hook-ups with couples that think they know what they want. I go in; I go out. I repeat it a few times to make a big show of it, depending on the audience, and I keep my phone handy in case it goes bad. So far, nothing but glowing reviews on Yelp and a few regulars who help keep my student debt down to a dull roar. Nobody's heart is on the line, and there's nobody I'm setting my hopes on, so the risk is pretty minimal."

"Sounds awfully risky to me," Rae replied, "in more ways than one. Besides, what to you do if you accidentally knock somebody up?"

"Spend the bonus and send a cigar?" Nicole shrugged. "Honestly, that's exactly what some of these couples want. And those that don't are really particular about their protections."

The harpy blinked, not quite able to fully wrap her head around Nicole's wild, wicked world. Still, it seemed to work for her roommate, and if ever there was a woman who could handle herself, it was the fiery headed vixen who kept their finances afloat and their relatively opulent living conditions managed. Speaking of their fancy domicile and the risks for young women engaging in virtual hook-ups, "How exactly are you going to lecture me on the dangers of chasers, when you're practically giving them our home address?"

"Well first, I go to their homes, not the other way around, and second, I do it right. Initial meeting is always public, somewhere we can share a meal, possibly a drink or two, and were they can pick up the tab. If I get even the barest tingle of a bad ju-ju vibe, I don't bother on the follow up. Nine times out of ten, it's nothing or maybe gas from a poorly fried Awesome Blossom, but it's never worth the risk to ignore that sort of thing. If it turns out my gut misfired and they were legit all along, they can find live out their wildest, wettest dreams on someone else's cock. Besides, I don't mind them so much if we're just exchanging fantasies." Nicole lightly scritched the back of her friend's neck, "It's when people start exchanging hearts that things get all twisted up."

Rae leaned into the scratch, then checked her phone as she worked up a reply. "I know, but maybe we're both overthinking this. Like you said, it's just a date with a guy that had to get his mother to sign him up. The chances that I'm stumbling into anything that's either too kinky or too emotionally involved is practically nil. I mean, if anyone is going into this truly blind, it's him, because I don't plan to show or tell."

"Isn't that sort of dangerous?" Emerald eyes filled with sudden concern, "Not that it's any of his business, not unless you decide to make it his business. It's just that this kind of thing can sometimes go really bad."

"If it did go bad, who would you bet on?" Rae looked up, her golden eyes relighting in a fierce glitter. Below, powerful raptor claws dug small furrows into the hardwood floor underneath. "And the guy has a long way to go before that information is relevant. I mean, I hope he's cute and nice and funny, and all. But this is only the first date and a blind date at that. Even assuming it goes well, how far could it really go?"

***

"Pretty far," reflected the Rae of the present. Only a few hours had passed since she had slipped into something a little less comfortable, but an awful lot more shimmery and flattering, and then headed out to meet with the man whose cock she was caressing. Nicole had wished the harpy luck before oh so casually mentioning that she would be out all night and that maybe neither of them should wait up for the other. At the time, the harpy had considered it wishful thinking with a side order of roommate tease. She was less sure of that now.

"Down girl," she thought to herself, "this is how your mother's generation does it, all dive bombing straight onto a male with an offer he couldn't possibly refuse." She could do better. She would do better, but damn if he had not flicked that primordial switch. What had set her simmer to boil? Was it the friendly little chit-chat at the restaurant, how handsome he had looked when he had waved her over? Maybe it had been the smile that lit his eyes when she sat down opposite and mumbled, "dammit, Kat is never going to let me hear the end of this" before turning a beet red.

"Err, excuse me?" Garret tried to interject, gaining Rea's glance but not her full attention. If anything, based on the idle rub coming from below, his cock was making the better impression.

No, that wasn't it, Rae decided. That was second, possibly third date material. It was how you moved from a peck on the cheek to a final invitation after hours of hemming and hawing. It wasn't even the sweetness of his confession in the park, his desire to see her fly free and to truly be at ease with herself. That was more of a Hallmark or Lifetime movie kinda moment. It made for good dramatic reveals or maybe one of the less tawdry romance novels, but it wouldn't hit this hard. This was raw, primal somehow; this was an ache that gnawed at her very core.

What she was feeling at that moment, with her heart beating so fast she could have sworn she was still aloft, was something far outside the courting rituals of the civilized world. Hell, it didn't even fit within Nicole's perverse little corner of humanity. This was what her mother had warned her of, or more aptly instructed her on, when puberty was making everything internal go haywire. This was the thrill of a raptor on the hunt, of seeing something delicious far down below and catching the morsel before it could escape. This was not half bad, to be honest, and while she fully intended to domesticate this heated flutter that was putting the poor girl on overload, she had no intention of letting her prey- err, her date get away. At least, not without a fight.

"Th-that's feeling very nice, and believe me, I kinda hate myself for interrupting but a-are you okay?" Garret's tried to slip an extra helping of assertion into his voice, something that demanded attention, if not exactly respect. It came out about as well as anyone could expect when one's genitals were being given a right-way rubbing by a gorgeous, semi-distracted lover.

"Huh? Am I okay?" She blinked, then looked down, eyes opening wide as her body's Wi-Fi finally rebooted, and she started receiving input from her brain. "I am stroking your cock, aren't I?"

"Yes. Yes you are," the human male nodded vigorously, his fleshy member having started to darken as his date's attention began to accumulate into its inevitable conclusion. Already, a milky pearl had formed, then tumbled from his tip, disappearing into a forest of midnight plumes.

"Do you want me to stop?" Her expression was simply not wicked or teasing enough for that kind of question. It was delivered far too matter-of-factually, like a fast food attendant asking if he meant to super-size his meal.

Garret whimpered, leaning up on his elbows, "Y-you know, I can't think of a response that would satisfy everything I'm feeling or wanting right about now. But nnff, I will say that if you don't stop, I am about to either impress you or embarrass the hell out of myself."

"Oh really?" Rae smirked, her suddenly smoldering, lidded gaze caught his own in a vise. She leaned in, close enough to fill his palate with her scent, a mix of perfumes and the evenings exertion. The harpy pressed forward until her warm curves made soft contact against his firm chest and they found themselves sharing the same humid breath. Black, glossed lips parted, a tease waiting patiently on her tongue, waiting for her to breath it into life. But then her eyes tensed in a sudden self-reproach. Her grip faded to a single touch, rolling a long, wispy plump up the length of Garret's cock, before finally pulling away. "There is something I want to tell you first."

He blinked, then looked down, coming to a not-so-surprisingly disappointing conclusion. Garret bit his bottom lip and then forced himself to think about the Star Wars prequels, about gritty sand and the way it just gets everywhere. Building arousal collided with lifelong frustrations and childhood disappointments, calming the burn below into less of a necessity and more of an agonizing itch. "S-sure, we can do that. Whatever you want,"

Garret looked around nervously, taking sudden note of the artificial lights and manicured lawns. "Come to think of it, we probably shouldn't be doing this in a public park." Receiving no immediate response, he looked up, seeing his date battling it out with something internal, something that hurt. Concern lit his eyes and, still exposed, still vulnerable, he focused his attention on her. "It's a first date, isn't it? No expectations, no requirements. You don't have to or need to do anything, alright? This is already the best date I've had in," years, "months."

Rae shook her head, though her lips quirked into a gentle smile at his words. It was true. This wasn't about a need or an obligation, and that settled both mind and heart. What she said next came entirely from a place of simple want. "Zip up then. After I tell you this, you may decide to hate me, in which you can go fuck yourself. Or you may decide something else, in which case I might fuck you instead."

Focusing on the zipper, which was a very important thing to focus on when wedging a raging hard-on back into place, Garret nodded. No pressure, he thought, just some shared, intimate detail that was going to determine the rest of their night. Was that really what either of them wanted? Once he had finally secured himself and managed not to Ben Stiller his erection, he shook his head. "Maybe tell me after another date? Because this one went really well, and I really want to see you again. Like I said, this doesn't have to happen tonight. If you're about to tell me you're a serial killer or something, we can always postpone that until later. Besides, my sister tells me that yandere is all the rage these da-erk!"

"Shut up!" Rae growled, showing a pair of prominent canines and grabbing Garret by the face, pulling him to within inches of her own. Her eyes shimmered in that predatory glow for just a second or two, then softened when his fingers drifted along the line of her jaw.

"So more a tsundere then, huh?" Garret flinched when her teeth clenched, and he quickly shifted gears, "S-sorry. My sister is a... not important. Just, tell me, alright? Whatever it is you want to say, I'll listen."

The harpy bumped her mocha-colored forehead against his paler cranium, then shook her head back and forth while they were connected, eyes closed in amused annoyance. "I swear, you had better be worth all this." But she knew that he was. Somehow, he had broken the tension, the grind of internal gears that had her at a standstill. Rae understood now. However much she might be afraid of revealing more of herself, what really terrified here were the consequences of not sharing.

No, she refused to let this night end with the pair of them as simply friendly strangers. "If we're going to toss around a bunch of Japanese words," he better not dump her for that damn tengu, he had just better not, "I'm what you might call a umm, a futanari." The word fit better on Nicole's tongue; granted, so did most things, as her infernal roommate would have been quick to say. It wasn't something the harpy's kin had a set term for, beyond another option when it came time to mate. It was more a thing for a very specific community of humanity, but that same community had been among the first to welcome her into their ranks. Still, this was the first time Rae had ever used it to explain herself.

Garret blinked. The term was vaguely familiar, but it didn't really factor into his day-to-day. When the language centers in his brain finally made the appropriate connections, his eyes widened. "You mean-"

"I mean I have a cock," Rae fidgeted, pulling back from her date, not quite able to meet those dark, widening eyes. "Before you ask, I have one of those too, and they both work. Also, because it might matter to you, we're about the same size," she muttered the last bit, "give or take an inch or two."

"So," Garret was processing, not willing to rely on the first response that sprang to mind. Whatever it meant to him, however he might react, she was again taking the majority of the risk. This was important to her, and it required more thought on his part than whatever he might think she wanted to hear. Honest opinion, he told himself, be as open as she is being with you. She deserves that much and a hell of a lot more. While his brain was mulling all of this over, his mouth decided to occupy itself in an idle bout of idiocy. "So you're a woman with a bit extra, right?" Fuck, why did he just say that?

"No," Rae responded, a bit disappointed but determined to get through this. "It's not extra. It's not me plus something else. It's all me, every bit of it. You want this, Garret, you want me?" She slipped one leg over his hips, taking only a moment to appreciate how nicely he seemed to fit, before straddling him completely. "You accept the whole damn thing. I didn't plan on this tonight. I wasn't really intending to share this with you or really anyone, not until I was sure. But now that I'm here," her feathery hands pressed with remarkable weight atop his chest, "I guess I've just decided I'm not willing to accept anything less. So what'll it be, Garret? All or nothing?"

***

Hours before golden eyes would wait impatiently on his answer, Garret was just a nervous young man starring at a menu and wondering if it was stupid to avoid ordering the chicken Alfredo. It must be, it must be monumentally stupid, he decided. There was no connection between her harpy ancestry and a free-range clucker. Implying that there was would be the real insult. Besides, according to the profile his sister had shown him, his date was more like a raptor or maybe a crow. If anything, she might be the one with a taste for bird flesh.

Gah! Why am I even getting all knotted up like this? Hello there, Rae is it? I'll be your date for the evening, but I'm going to be so ridiculously self-conscious about the whole monster-person versus human divide that I'm going to make this the single most uncomfortable night of your life. A tie, that would have saved him, a nice tie to go with this nice dress shirt.

Why had he decided that tonight, of all nights, to try out an unbuttoned collar? He was a nicely trim young man, somewhat on the slim side but not in an unattractive way. Garret had muscle where it counted, even if most of them were in his legs. He had the lean body of a runner, which was kind of false advertising given he preferred to walk. For the fifth time since he had shaved, he ran a finger along his jaw, checking for stubble on a face that was prone to five o'clock shadow at around two in the afternoon.

Everything smooth? He checked his reflection in his butter knife to be sure. Was the face looking back at him handsome? Could he say that about another guy, even himself? Sure he could. He was a modern, open-minded individual. Handsome was fine, just fine. Wait, did that make him an egotist? Garret sighed, trying to calm the cranial fit, only to find himself wondering if one could slit one's wrists with a butter knife. Huh, would that be more of an aggressive self-spreading?

Just as he started to consider the merits of seppuku by breadstick, Garret's cell phone began to pulse in a high-energy beat. It was the theme song to an animated series whose highs and lows were a stark contrast to his more evenly spread day to day. It was a guilty pleasure and something he would only dare to share with one other person, his younger sister and long-suffering life coach. So of course it was the ringtone she had set on his phone, and of course he had forgotten to set the damn thing on vibrate. It was just that kind of evening, a blind date kind of evening.

He snatched the phone, quickly ending its melodic solo before it could hit the ridiculously catchy chorus, and was suddenly overwhelmed by the sonic assault of his sibling's vocals. "Why aren't you at the front, waiting on her? You know, get her coat, pull back her chair, that sorta thing."

"Because people who wait in the foyer are checking to see if their blind date is hot enough to warrant sticking around." Garret sighed, feeling strangely calmed by the familiar irritant, "And are you seriously waiting outside to see how this goes? I told you, we are not Cyranoing this thing."

"Roxanne, I said we should Roxanne it, you dweeb," countered his sister. "I even got the hat and everything. Though I suppose wireless earbuds kinda takes the fun out of it."

"If you'll remember, that doesn't work out so well for either of them, and by the way, you weren't even born before that movie came out." Garret turned this way and that, trying to spot his younger stalker. It was just like her to move operations inside once she had confirmed her target's location. Then again, maybe she was planning on checking out his date before he even got a chance. "Go home Kat. I promise you, I will call you tonight."

"If you would just listen to me, you would be too busy making making out with Daryl Hannah to call your little sister with the dirty deets," huffed a disgruntled, pint-sized conspirator. "And that movie is a classic!"

"Cyrano is a classic, and that movie is one of a dozen or so remakes. That's not even counting television shows, cartoons, and anime that rips off the premise." He shrugged, "The twenty nose jokes were pretty good, even if Martin overshot the mark by four or five."

"I know, right? That always bugged the hell out of me," replied Kat, whose full name was Katherine. "And you're too much of a lit nerd not to remember what happens in the play. Is that what you want? Stick with Charlie Bates. He actually ended up with his Roxane. Also, quit fidgeting with your menu, Gar. You got this."

"What I got is a blind date that was set up by my sister, who was posing as our mother," Garret checked the time on his phone and finally set it to vibrate. "You know that Tinder is a thing, yes? If you were going behind my back, you could have at least picked a better site."

"I start college in the fall, Gar. I can't be looking out for you like I have been. You need somebody that sees what I see; somebody you can Netflix and Chill with, and yes I mean that both literally and figuratively." Kat sighed, "And I went with the mommy set up because any girl that agrees to a date on a site like that is probably just as hopeless as you. We're talking untapped romantics that are looking for an actual, capital D date and not just a chance to test out the bed-springs at the local Motel 6."

"I'd probably suck at that." Garret admitted at the same time his sister said, "You'd suck at that."

"Right, see? But this? This you got. Show this girl what you have to offer. Then let her show you, and even if all this turns out to be a dud, its better than spending another night on a pizza-stained couched, watching CrunchyRoll with your little sister." Kat noted the time, then spun about in her car seat, pausing to consider the woman walking along the sidewalk. The lovely young lady wore a shimmery dress, one that showed off her curves quite nicely. Oh and feathers, lots of blacker-than-black feathers, which had apparently been carefully arranged for what seemed like the best possible impact. Well done Missus Harpy, she thought, well done indeed.

She waited until the startling beauty had passed by before continuing, "Besides, you saw the profile and the mother who made it. You think someone that old world is going to butter-up would be suitors with false praise? No, that is a mom looking for the right match, not just any ole' match. If she says her Rae is all that, you can bet her daughter come with a bag of chips."

"You said that; my sister just said that. I am a terrible big brother, and I've created a sister who is even worse. Together we shall terrorize this college village with ou-"

"Hate to cut you off Gar, but it's time." She watched his brother's date step through the door, still out of Garret's field of view but approaching fast. "Also, I'm awesome, and you're only a bit less awesome. And the two of you are absolutely going to hit if off. Gotta go. Think like Charlie, but roll like Chris!"

"Wait! Before you go I gotta ask, why a harpy?"

"Because when I'm not around, you do everything the same. Same meals, same clothes, same shows, and you're even taking the same classes dad majored in. You've got a rut, you wallow in it, and honestly," Kat grumped, "you kinda become a boring person. I mean, I appreciate it and all. That same'ole-same'ole dude was responsible enough to take care of the family once it all went to hell. You're putting us both through college, and I don't even know how you managed to pull that off. But Gar, you haven't really lived your life since they died, and once I'm busy with my own, I'm afraid you're going to forget to even try."

Garret's sister began to pull out of her carefully selected parking space, watching the distant backside of the woman with whom his brother was going to share a meal. "You can't be the same you every single day; that's just a different kind of dying. It's time to do something different, meet someone different, someone that's got her own crap to deal with and experiences a different world than you or me. I dunno Gar, give her a shot and see what you look like from her eyes. Isn't that what a blind date is all about?"

***

The present crashed in from every side, a temporal tsunami that left the pair breathless on the beach of the here and now. Advice their companions had given, the meal the two had shared, and their decision to come to this park had all led up to Garret's request that she take to the sky and let her inner harpy fly free. All of it had led up to this point, this singular moment upon which the entire evening had begun to pivot.

Garret starred up into fiery, predatory eyes. Those eyes saw him in an entirely different way than he could ever see himself. Kat had been right. And he had been right to risk asking Rae to risk everything in a moment of shared vulnerability. Now she was sharing even more, displaying that irrepressible courage that shamed whatever he could muster. The human male had never met anyone even remotely like this and would likely never fully understand the totality of her perspective, not even if she explained. But then again, maybe there were greater depths to his own character than he dared to guess.

A cock huh? If Rae had a cock, it had to be the single most beautiful cock he would likely ever see. Like the powerful claws on the ends of her feet or the pointed canines that hid behind lush, obsidian lips, it was nothing to fear. In fact, being a part of her, it was everything to be desired. "I want it all, Rae. Not a piece and not a portion. I want every bit you're willing to risk on a guy like me. W-when I saw you in the sky I- no, I think knew before that. When you first sat down on the opposite side of the table. That was when I knew. At the time I didn't know that I knew, but now I know that I did. Damn, that sounds awkward, umm, maybe stop moving around like that so my brain's blood supply isn't being redirected?"

"O-oh, sorry," Rae leaned back, setting her hips to barely a fraction of the grind that her body had involuntarily adopted. Something else stirred between her thighs, responding to the heated swell below which had made her chosen perch a precarious one. Yes, there was quite a lot of redirected sanguine fluids, and much as she was enjoying the poetic fumble from his lips, she found herself just as eager for the more tangible response from the warm body beneath her own.

"A-nyway," Garret cleared his throat, not entirely sure his date had slowed her movements enough to make any appreciable difference, "at the time I was too busy feeling like a dick for forgetting to pull the chair out for you. I meant to at least offer. Then I'd gauge your reaction, see if you thought it was chivalry or sexism, and then react accordingly. But I just couldn't manage it, not when I was still trying to catch the breath you stole. Now that I think about it, I guess I was just stunned; stunned that you sat down, stunned that you either liked what you saw or were too polite to say otherwise."

"I did," cooed the feathered woman, shifting ever so innocently atop the young man's pelvis, "Though you are right, even if I hadn't, I would have stayed to enjoy the meal. You think too little of your appearance, and that's just a sin against uglier men, but it was your charm that made me glad I stayed. That's what led me to this park, and a mix of it and that heart-breaker's smile lured me into the sky."

"So what comes nex- ?" Garret was cut off just as he was trying to sit up, pushed back by a powerful wing and rapacious eyes.

"First things first," Rea leaned down, nuzzling a deeply tanned cheek against her date's freshly pink one. "You said that you wanted all of me, right? Or at least as much as I'm willing to give. Well there's a price for that, and I'm still not convinced you're ready to pay." Her lips ran up along his now trembling jawline, tracing with a lover's light lap, until she found the edge of his earlobe. The plumed beauty gave it a light suckle, then caught it with the point of her canine. She gave it a playful tug before continuing in a sinful whisper, "I won't be satisfied with whatever you might offer the other girls. I'm like you; I don't want just a portion. I want it all."

His body became a tingling quiver, lightning running through-out his system as her body shifted in sensuous, languid motions. "W-what do you mean?" Garret reached up to caress her face, trying to reestablish their now tilted equilibrium.

She caught the human's hand before it could find its mark, pulling it down to the ground with a sudden violence and then pinning it within the authoritative grip of one of her talons. She tightened just enough to settle the point, to let her prey known that he had made it to the "look but don't touch" portion of the evening. But even as she did, she pressed more of her body against his own, letting pleasurable curves roll wickedly against his chest. Every part of her said, "be a good boy and listen," without a single word uttered.

Garret did as he was told, and this time the line between fear and arousal was far more distinct.

"What I mean is that I don't want to waste my time worrying if there's some bit of me you ignore, just so you can play with the rest." Rae moved up a bit more, sliding an altogether different sort of curve, really more of a bulge, up against Garret's midsection. Dresses were so much better than slacks at conveying what lay within. "Feel that? You said you wanted it, said you wanted all of it. Well, it... I still have a few more inches to grow, and the way your trembling underneath me is awfully encouraging." For a moment, she just settled there, smothering him with her own body and letting him feel every supple, erotic inch of herself, both above and below. The golden-glassed windows to her soul kept his darker portals enraptured as she did, not letting him move a muscle, explaining the rest through sensation alone.

And then, all at once, she was gone. The human blinked, surprised at how quickly she had moved. Just a flick of those powerful limbs, a sudden rush of feathers, and if he wasn't mistaken, a teasing caw before she was standing. Now she was looking down at her would-be playmate, her head tilted to see what he might do next. Garret, still on his back, felt strangely cold, his body reacting to the sudden lack of what had been a sensory overload.

It was strangely familiar, this sensation of being suddenly alone. He was rarely conscious of it, beyond the dull, lonely ache that most people learned to ignore. He would have never thought of it as especially frigid, at least, not literally. Metaphorically, sure, but only in the abstract, not in any rational, tangible sense. A feeling doesn't have a temperature all its own, does it? Garret blinked, experiencing the rising chill that came from simple absence. He stared up at Rae, wondering if she felt it too. The human also found himself wondering how much worse, how much colder it might be when the gift of companionship often came within implied bondage.

But as he reflected in a familiar cold, Rae basked in unfamiliar heat.

The harpy smiled, warm and wide, a playful expression that hid a legion of conflicting emotions, starring down at the comely young man at her feet. Her heart kept fluttering, flitting between desire and coy expectation. The view of him from above lit a primal bonfire that had been ignored in a rush to modernize, civilize, and humanize herself. Was there room in his world for all of her; could she possibly fit? What would he think if she reverted just a bit, just enough to feel the rush of a moonlight's sacred kiss, to hunt like her mother did and taste something raw and searing on her lips?

"You want all of me?" She laughed, her voice cracking into another caw, "I'm still finding out what it even means to be me. So if you want to be part of that, you're just going to have to take whatever I've got." Twin harvest moons glittered as her smile went from warm to wicked, "But I gotta warn you, I'm also going to take everything I can , and I don't plan on leaving any scraps."

Liquid fire hit the young man below, causing his eyes to go wider than before. This couldn't be normal for a first date, could it? Hell, it was probably too much for that all-important third. He had already planned that one out. Garret was going to show up at her door, carrying a bouquet of red roses and wearing a tie by god, and then invite her to a night they would remember fondly even after their relationship inevitably cooled. That was how this was supposed to go, right? It wasn't like you married the first harpy that flew your way, all thanks to the interference of a meddling sister and a doting, out-of-touch mother.

Or maybe you did. Maybe you let her pull you up out of that cold, comfortable rut and see the view from her perspective, high above the trees. M-maybe you even let her fill you with some of her own heat, see how much of it you can honestly handle. Something different, huh Kat? He and his sister were going to have a very long, very uncomfortable chat the next time they hit the couch for animation Tuesday. That is, if he could even sit at that point, assuming he was interpreting Rae's desires correctly.

Garret sighed, looking up to that towering temptation, before slowing rising to his feet and dusting himself off. "Well, now that you've said the sexiest thing anybody has ever said to me, allow me to kill the mood entirely with my practical nature. I think, unless I'm completely off-base here, we're going to need some condoms." He considered the shifting, shimmering shape along the front of Rea's dress, "and a fair amount of lube."

The End of Part One,

And the beginning of all that came next.