My Second Visit To Frank (A Walter Fox story)
MY SECOND VISIT TO FRANK (A WALTER FOX STORY)
by Little Bill
(WARNING: The following story contains references to sexual activity between humans and sentient alien animals. Please do not read this if you are a minor or are offended by such material. But if neither is the case, enjoy.)
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story follows the stories "The Furry Sex Scandal" and "The Furry Sex Scandal: The Aftermath". Also, "The Foreigner" by Larry Shue is a real play.)
Before I begin, dear reader, I thought I should tell you that if you have already read other of my writings, you might have gotten the impression that I live an exciting life as a researcher of Earthian society at Planet Earth Research Center (PERC). I do have exciting moments, of course, and sometimes dangerous ones. But like any other job, there is a lot of drudgery and aggravation as well, and I need recreation time like anyone.
In my first year on Earth, we were under tight control by the human Earth authorities. Our movements were strictly limited and carefully watched, and going out among human society for any non-scientific reason was out of the question. Since then, as humans realized that we were not the vanguard of an invasion force and that we were not going to be spreading virulent diseases all over Earth, the Earth authorities, and humans in general, started relaxing their attitudes toward us.
But what truly changed Earthian attitudes toward us, even if people at PERC are not really willing to admit it, is the fact that Sammy Skunk, who famously defected from us and his world to be with his human lover Jim, even more famously proved his absolute devotion to Jim by his fiercely violent reaction to some thugs who attacked the two of them in the street, and afterward pining abjectly for Jim while he was in a coma and it was uncertain how or whether he would recover from the serious head injury he suffered. Jim did recover fully, of course, but the idea of a space alien skunk-person being so devoted to the human who adopted him touched human hearts around Earth, and since then not only do I have to put up with humans who want to have sex with me, but those who want to adopt me in the hopes that I would be their loving pet.
I have in fact already developed strong emotional bonds with several humans I did meet, for various reasons, though none of them strong enough to make me want to leave my world forever the way Sammy Skunk did. But it is still a great joy for me to visit them, and this is the story of one visit to one of them: Frank, the first human I developed such a bond with.
In my very first account, when I had taken Sammy Skunk to the furry convention only for him to get lost, and I was desperate to find him again, Frank was the one to come to my aid, for he knew that his then-friend Jim was the one who had taken Sammy with him to his apartment. We both rushed back to Jim's apartment, but we arrived too late-Jim and his friends had engaged in sexual activity with Sammy Skunk, with very unpleasant consequences for everyone involved. In the brief time I was with Frank, I developed a strong emotional bond with him, in part because he came to my aid in a desperate time for me. Miraculously, my career survived, and I even managed to get the Director to allow the two of us to meet again.
By then, Frank had broken off his relationship with Jim and with the human furry community in general, and when I met he said he wanted nothing more to do with me. This upset me very much and I cried and groveled and begged as abjectly as I could until Frank got the idea about how I had bonded with him, and he relented and we stayed friends, despite all the trouble I had put him through. We corresponded since then by email, and I met him again at the hospital where Jim was being treated for the head injury I described earlier. He went to console Sammy Skunk but was reluctant to resume his relationship with Jim, and he admitted his dilemma with his guilt feelings over disassociating with Jim. This dilemma had remained unresolved when I got permission to visit him on my own one more time.
I had a day to see him, and we agreed to meet at three in the afternoon. I drove over to his place, and he waited at the front door for me. I walked up to him, and resisted the temptation to jump on top of him and lick his face like a dog welcoming his beloved master. We greeted each other with a handshake, then he ushered me inside, and when we knew it was safe I started wildly wagging my tail and gave him a big bear hug. He hugged me back more daintily, and even knelt down so I could lick his face, which he evidently enjoyed or at least did not mind, for I kept licking his face until my mouth got too tired, and we let go of each other.
"You certainly can give an enthusiastic greeting," remarked Frank. "Does my face taste so good?"
"Yes, it does!" I replied enthusiastically. To you, dear reader, it might sound odd, even disgusting, as you humans do not typically lick one another, but we animal-people are different, and Frank certainly must have gotten the idea that this was my nature and I was enjoying it. He started rubbing my head and neck as if I were a pet dog, and I enjoyed that also.
As a rule I generally avoid describing people I encounter in detail, often omitting even names, as a way of protecting their identities. But I shall say that Frank is medium height by human standards, and quite pudgy, with dark hair and a thin growth of mustache and beard. We animal-people vary quite a bit in size, dependent on species, and I am an average size for a fox-person so I am among the smaller of animal-people, so the top of my head goes up to Frank's shoulder. I am larger than a four-legged red fox but smaller than an average human, so compared to Frank I look similar in size to a large dog.
He stopped patting me and said, "Actually, my original reason for arranging your visit with me was for you to meet my girlfriend. Unfortunately, my girlfriend and I have broken up."
"Oh, I'm sorry!"
"Don't worry, it was inevitable," Frank replied. "She's still into furries and I'm not anymore, and there were other things as well. It was an amiable breakup, so we're not enemies."
I thought of my own failed marriage. "Lucky you."
Frank looked momentarily confused, then evidently realized what I was referring to, so he quickly said, "It was meant to be a surprise to her, so it's just as well I didn't tell her. You may or may not meet her on your own, it doesn't matter. In any case, you say your Director allowed you to visit me until tomorrow if I read correctly. Is that right?"
"Well, yes."
Frank smiled. "So I had you come today because I was going to take her to a dinner theater this evening. Of course that's out of the question, and the tickets are nonrefundable, so I figured, why not have you as my 'girlfriend" tonight? If that's okay with you."
"Of course."
"It's The Foreigner by Larry Shue. Hopefully you can understand at least some of the jokes."
"I'm sure I'll be entertained."
"And you can stay the night with me."
I was starting to feel a sense of dread. There have been no shortage of humans who have tried to get me to have sex with them, and invariably I have refused them. Frank had told me in the past that he was not a homosexual, and I had no reason to disbelieve him. But now he had broken up with his lover and had no replacement, and if I was going to replace his girlfriend at the theater, if he wanted me to replace his girlfriend in other ways too, at least temporarily. I would have rebuffed anyone else who expected this of me, but my emotional bond with Frank was strong enough to the point where I might have been willing to do him that sort of favor after all. I looked toward his crotch, wondering if it would really be so bad to abandon my inhibitions and place my tongue where his personal odor would be the strongest. I already licked his face thoroughly; would it really be so terrible to taste other parts of him if it pleased him?
"Walter?" Frank asked, startling me out of my reverie.
"Is there a place we can be private, without worry about anyone looking in on us?" I replied.
"Well, yes," Frank said, looking confused. "We can go to my bedroom if you like."
I knew it. "Then let's go," I announced, and Frank, looking strangely at me, led me there.
Once in his bedroom, I pointed to his bed. "Please sit down," I commanded, "This will be my first time, and I'd better do a practice session first."
Frank sat down, and I interpreted his look as expectation. I then knelt on the floor and steeled myself, telling myself that Frank was my friend and I was doing him a favor that was not so terrible. I looked toward his crotch, moved my hand toward the zipper on his crotch, found the pull tab, then took it in my fingers and pulled it down...
"What are you doing?" Frank almost shouted, reaching down and grabbing my wrist.
"You said I was going to be your girlfriend for tonight," I replied.
"You mean-" Frank broke off, gaping at me, and I realized right then what a phenomenally stupid assumption I had made. I was so ashamed and embarrassed I wanted to burrow into the floor. I did press myself against it, barely resisting the temptation to try to dig in with my hands.
After a moment, Frank was kneeling beside me, grabbing my head and trying to raise it up. "Walter, what's the matter with you?"
"Sheer stupidity, that's what!" I shot back.
"My God, you thought I wanted..." Frank broke off and started to laugh, then abruptly stopped when he saw me continue to press myself against the floor in deep humiliation. "Walter, did you think I was gay? Or bisexual?"
"No," I replied. "I figured you were going to imagine me a female."
"What about you? Are you gay or bisexual?"
"No! And no, I'm not secretly suppressing any homosexual feelings either."
"Then what...were you actually going to give me oral sex?"
It took me a while to eke out a reply in the affirmative.
"Even though you're not even gay?"
"I just wanted to please you because you're such a special friend to me."
Frank was silent for some time. Finally he replied, "You've bonded with me to the point where you're willing to do anything to please me?"
I finally managed to calm somewhat and look up towards him. "Well, not absolutely anything. I'm not going to rob a bank or anything like that for you. Even Sammy told me there are things he wouldn't do even for Jim."
"But he still was willing to break away from his home world to be with him."
"Sammy Skunk didn't really have anything he wanted to go back to in the first place, and after having had sex with a bunch of humans he would have been afraid of being treated like a pariah among his own kind."
"What about you?" asked Frank. "I was under the impression that you were planning to go back home sooner or later. Or have you changed your mind about that?"
"No, I don't plan to stay on Earth for the rest of my life," I replied. "As strong as my emotional bond is with you, I can't bring myself to break away from my home world."
"But you just told me that Sammy Skunk was now a pariah among his fellow animal-people by having sex with humans. Do you think the same wouldn't happen to you for having sex with me?"
I said rather sheepishly, "I expected that to stay our secret."
"And what if it didn't? Do you really want to risk the consequences? And did you think I wanted to use you for sexual pleasure?"
I really felt terrible at that point, dear reader, and pressed my head against the floor again.
"No, no, don't do that," said Frank. "Stand up and face me. Please."
I felt so weak that I needed Frank's help in getting me to standing position, but I made it. Frank sat down on the bed so he faced me eye to eye.
"Listen to me," he said soothingly. "I know that you've been hit upon for sex by a number of human furries. Maybe you think that I also fantasize about having an animal-person as a sexual partner. And I will tell you the truth. I did have such fantasies during adolescence, but once I became older I no longer felt that way. And after the business with Jim and Sammy Skunk, the last thing I ever would want to do is to have sex with an animal-person. Especially you, knowing your only motive for doing so would be fear of losing me if you didn't. It would be total exploitation on my part, and I'm not like that at all. I agreed to be your friend, and unless you do something truly reprehensible and unforgivable, I plan to remain that."
"Thank you," I said breathlessly, practically falling onto him in an embrace, which he returned. "And now do you find it so strange that I would bond so closely with a Mr. Nobody like you?"
"Not at all," Frank replied. "In fact, you just did me a tremendous favor."
"Oh?"
Frank moved his arms from around me to beside me, and grabbed my shoulders so that I was eye to eye with him again. "Ever since that time," Frank told me, "after the trouble I had gone through, I told Jim I didn't want to see him again. I admit that since then I had felt like a coward and a deserter for disassociating myself with someone I had been friends with for years.
"But I also had had a nagging suspicion which you just confirmed. Jim was guilty of having taken total advantage of Sammy Skunk. He and his friends used him for their sexual needs and never gave a thought to what might be the consequences for him. All they cared about was screwing a real furry."
"True," I replied. "At least Jim had the decency to adopt Sammy Skunk and give him a new home afterward. Not that it makes up for what he did to him in the first place."
"That's exactly how I feel," said Frank. "It would have been okay if Sammy had defected to Earth after thinking about it and then he and Jim had become gay lovers. At least to me. I would have had no problem with Jim for that."
"In my case," I replied, "I never liked Sammy Skunk much, but I certainly wouldn't have wanted him to end up like he did. Even if he were absolutely definitely homosexual, I cannot imagine he would have wanted to be gang-banged by a group of humans as his first sexual experience if he had had time to think about it. I warned him what could happen to him and thought he would have been emotionally prepared for that, but he wasn't. I should have taken him back to base at the first sign of trouble. I never should have taken my eyes off him."
"It's not all your fault," Frank said. "I knew that Jim had taken Sammy Skunk out of the furry convention with him and his friends, and I didn't do anything until you came along. I should have reported what happened right away because I knew you and he weren't supposed to walk out the front door. I couldn't believe it when I was able to walk out the front door with you along. The door guard didn't even bother to look at us!"
I laughed briefly. "And this was during the time when you Earthians were so suspicious of us animal-people and were watching us so closely! I would have expected twenty policemen to be surrounding Sammy Skunk before he made it out of the convention center parking lot!"
"And instead both you and Sammy were able to make it to Jim's apartment and back without anybody even noticing until it was too late. Well, there's no point worrying about what's past. In any case, now I'm glad I have nothing to do with Jim anymore, no matter how nice he was to me." Frank looked at his watch. "But that's all in the past. Right now, if we want to make it to the theater in time for dinner and the play, we'd better head out."
So Frank zipped up his trousers and led me to his car-the same sedan I had ridden in with him years ago-and we drove to the theater. It was a fancier place than I imagined, and despite this the parking area was quite crowded. Frank had to go up several stories of a parking garage before we found a space. And even as we parked and left the car, other cars came and filled up the other parking spaces.
"This play must be quite a hit," I told Frank as we descended the steps to the ground level.
"Their productions are always topnotch," replied Frank. "And this place isn't cheap, but a lot of people come here for special occasions. I didn't have anything special in mind when I intended to take my girlfriend out, but with her out of the picture I might as well take you. You earned it."
"Really?" I asked in surprise. "Even though I've become so close to you, I admit I haven't done you any big favors."
"Earned a vacation, I meant," said Frank. "Do something where you don't have to take notes or file reports. I assume you don't have to, anyway."
"Other than say where I was and what I did, no," I assured him. "A genuine holiday for me. And I'm going out with someone who isn't trying to use me for nefarious pleasures."
Frank gave me a look. "Were you giving me an integrity test earlier?"
"No, no, not at all!" I replied quickly. "I actually would have, well-"
"Never mind, let's just enjoy the evening."
"Oh yes."
We entered the building, and Frank led me to a fancy dining area. Frank had worn a more dressy outfit than he normally wore, and I had bathed beforehand and put on a fresh set of clothes. We animal-people do not have the equivalent of human dress clothes, just everyday clothes and utilitarian ones for dirty work. The man who took our reservations looked rather strangely at me, and I have been long accustomed to surprised looks. Still, I hoped it was not because he thought Frank and I were gay lovers.
We were escorted to a table and handed menus. When I looked through mine, I noted most of the listings had no prices, and I pointed that out to Frank.
"The meals are already paid for when you buy the tickets," Frank explained.
"Oh, I see," I replied. "But I do see some prices for several of the items."
"That's what you pay extra if you want the more expensive items. If you want one of those, I'll treat you for that."
"Oh, no, no, no!" I quickly replied. "You told me in the past you don't make a lot of money."
"I don't," said Frank, "but I saved up for this little treat."
"Am I supposed to get the most expensive item on the menu? Is that the idea?" I asked him seriously.
"No, no. Just pick anything you like. By the way, how are you with eating human food?"
"It's definitely an acquired taste," I replied, "but I have become accustomed to it by now. Most human foods are digestible to us. And by the way, contrary to popular myth among you Earthians, lower animals are able to eat a wider variety of foods than you might expect. For instance, deer do eat meat. Wild animals can't be too fussy about what they eat, since food supplies tend to be erratic for them."
A waiter came and took our orders, and no, I did not order anything that cost extra. In fact, dear reader, I prefer the simpler, plainer foods, since sauces and spices might contain things that could cause me problems. I ordered salmon, potatoes au gratin, and a spinach salad with no dressing.
"Anything to drink, sir?" asked the waiter.
"Just water, thank you," I replied.
When the waiter left, Frank asked, "I was wondering what you were able to drink."
"Definitely not milk," I replied, "for it gives me digestive problems. Same with coffee, tea, or carbonated beverages. I can drink alcohol, but I prefer not to if I can help it."
"So what sort of beverages do you have on your world?"
"We do have brewed beverages, but not like yours, as well as flavored soft drinks. And we have alcohol as well. I only drink it if social occasions require it, but otherwise I don't care for it."
The salads came sooner than I expected. The vegetables were rather dry without the dressing, but I definitely would not have liked the vinaigrette dressing that was on Frank's. Frank was observing me eat, and so were some people at nearby tables, presumably wondering what a space alien fox-person would eat. Perhaps they assumed that I was supposed to be carnivorous, though wild red foxes are known in the scientific community to eat fruit and vegetables as well as meat. I did not begrudge anyone their stares; most humans rarely had the chance to observe an animal-person in the flesh.
The main courses eventually came, and I was more enthusiastic about the salmon. But when I started on the potatoes, Frank put a hand out to stop me. "Didn't you know? 'Au Gratin' means there's cheese in it, and cheese is made from milk, and you told me you couldn't have milk."
"Oh!" I replied. "I can't have milk in liquid form. But I'm okay with some types of cheese. And I did have au gratin potatoes in the past without ill effects. The other offering was garlic potatoes, and I definitely cannot have garlic."
Frank moved his hand away. "Oh. I wasn't sure. Well, if you can eat them, enjoy. And by the way, they do offer desserts, but I'm not going to have any, I'm too fat already. You can order one later if you wish."
I smiled. "Definitely no desserts for me. Most of them contain things that I definitely cannot eat, such as chocolate."
"Okay then," Frank replied. "Say, I was wondering..."
"Yes?"
"What happens if you're at a meal or other social occasion where you're offered something you cannot eat?"
"I just say that I cannot eat that. I'm a space alien fox-person, so nobody tries to press me. It wouldn't do to risk poisoning a visitor from another planet."
"That must be a great way of getting out of having to eat things you don't like."
I smiled ruefully. "No, there are things I don't like that I can eat, but I'm expected to eat them anyway."
"Oh, too bad."
Frank and I finished, and eventually it was time to see the play. Either Frank was lucky, or had to pay a premium price, for we got seats in the middle of the theater, close but not too close to the stage. We received handbills as we entered the theater, and I read through it. I was surprised that Frank had chosen this play to take his then-girlfriend to, unless it had been her choice; I would have expected a light musical or something. But on my world as on Earth, sometimes what is ostensibly light entertainment can be more serious under the surface.
The play finally began, and though I did not understand all the jokes, I was more entertained than I anticipated. Finally the first act ended, and I turned to Frank.
"Where did they get the name 'Ku Klux Klan'?" I asked.
"It's a real organization," Frank replied, "and that's the real name. I remember first reading about it as a boy and thought the name looked and sounded so goofy."
"Wouldn't they take legal action against the producers of this play? Or are they actually a legal organization?"
"As far as I know, they're legal. But why bother taking legal action against somebody who says bad but true things about them? Everyone knows who they are, and they aren't popular."
"They're some sort of marginal movement?"
"They were a powerful organization many decades ago, but now I'm sure they're quite marginal. You've heard about the American Civil War?"
"Only the bare outlines, about the Southern states of the USA breaking away from the rest of the country, and the Northern states going to war to stop that from happening."
"You got it right. The Ku Klux Klan was founded by a group of Southerners after the war to continue it, but it didn't last. Then somebody revived the organization, or at least the name, decades later, and they're basically just a violent racist organization."
"You'd think the government could shut them down."
"For all I know, they supposedly stopped using violence, and in any case, it's probably just different groups of thugs using the name."
"I thought Catholics were a religion, not a race."
"They are. It's a matter of somebody hating one or more groups of people for whatever reason, so you form or join an organization with other people like you. You can call yourselves the Ku Klux Klan or whatever you want."
"I get the impression that in this play that the villains are just a group of thugs."
"That's probably the case," Frank replied. "Say, I've been wondering, though..."
"Yes?"
Frank asked rather awkwardly, "If you animal-people are a bunch of different distinct species, well, you wouldn't have racism like we humans do."
"You're correct on both counts. Our various species are genetically different and cannot for the most part interbreed. In ancient times there were wars between groups of different species, but fortunately in modern society, we're too mixed together for that to be a significant problem. And no, we don't have divisions such as between reptiles and mammals."
"Ah. Say, I've got to use the bathroom."
"I need to use it too."
When we left our seats, I noted that a number of people had been listening in on us. I did not mind, dear reader, and Frank did not seem to, for ours was not necessarily a private conversation. After all, Frank was hardly the only human to wonder this about my world.
Though we had to wait in line to use the toilets, intermission was long enough so that we returned to our seats in plenty of time for the next half of the play. I understood it well enough, and noted that not one audience member seemed to take offense at any of it. The villains were merely buffoonish thugs as I expected, and though they may have the fictional members of a real-life organization, nothing in the story seemed to incite controversy.
Quite a large crowd left the theater building, and I realized that they included not only theatergoers but a wedding party that was using one of the building's other spaces, and that fact that we were all leaving the building at the same time made for quite a nuisance both in getting to our respective vehicles and in leaving the parking lot. It must have been nearly an hour for us before we actually got onto the road to Frank's residence.
We got there and we both went in. Frank turned to me and said, "You did say you were allowed to spend the night here?"
"Oh, yes, yes!" I replied, a little more enthusiastically than I intended.
"Like I said, I will never take advantage of you," Frank told me. "I can prepare my sofa for you, or I can sleep on it and you have my bed."
"But I was really hoping to sleep with you," I pleaded, "and no, I didn't mean in that sense."
"Sure, if you want to," replied Frank casually, and soon after we were both in his bedroom. Turning away from each other, we both got undressed, and in my growing sleepiness I forgot where I was and simply stripped naked out of force of habit. I looked around for my suitcase which I normally carried on my travels before I remembered that this time I had not brought it. I turned to Frank and saw him in the nude. He looked back at me in shock and threw his hands protectively over his genitals.
I threw up my hands in a conciliatory gesture. "I'm not going to try to lick them, honestly," I hurriedly said.
"No, no, I wasn't expecting that," Frank replied just as quickly. "I didn't think that you wanted to see my penis."
"I've seen human penises before," I told him. "In many instances when-" I broke off when I realized Frank was starting to get red with embarrassment. "But not you. You I absolutely trust."
Frank looked uncertain how to respond, so he moved his hands away, presumably to prove that he trusted me as well. I let him look upon my own naked body, including genitals.
"I think we can totally trust each other," I said.
"Is it normal for you animal-people to be naked around each other, like in a locker room?" Frank asked.
"Our modesty standards are akin to yours. There are plenty of humans I'd be terrified to be naked around, as you might imagine. You're not one of them, of course."
"Do you wear pajamas or other sleepwear?"
"I normally wear sleep shorts, but I neglected to bring them with me."
"I could always loan you-oh, where would you put your tail?"
"If I sleep naked this one night with you, would you object?"
Frank shrugged. "It won't bother me. I've gotten into the habit of sleeping in the nude since I got my girlfriend, but now that she's gone, I can put on pajamas this time."
"You can be nude with me, unless you think my fur is going to tickle you to death."
"I've had dogs sleep with me and I was fine. If it makes you happy, we can sleep together without clothes."
"Actually it would. It's been years since I had a body to cuddle against."
Frank looked surprised. "Cuddle against? Do you animal-people cuddle with each other while sleeping, like I see four-legged animals do?"
"Oh my yes. When it's cool, or if we feel ourselves in a potentially threatening situation, we animal-people do cuddle up against each other when sleeping as a protective measure. It's a quite ordinary practice for us, not only among family members or friends, but even among total strangers if the circumstances are right. At PERC, the Director sleeps with his wife, we department heads have our own beds and bedrooms, and lower-ranking members share beds, with my assistants all sharing a bed for themselves. I've had times where I wanted to sleep with someone else out of loneliness, but we department heads are not supposed to sleep in the same beds as our underlings, or with each other, at PERC base."
"That's the social rules among your kind?"
"Precisely, just as you humans don't cuddle with one another except under very strict guidelines."
Frank moved the sheet on his bed. "Well, you're welcome to cuddle with me tonight then."
Exactly what I wanted to hear, dear reader! Frank was surprised to see me wag my tail like a dog about to be taken for a walk, but he said nothing as he climbed into bed. I waited for him to settle before I climbed upon him and practically lay upon him.
"Not on top of me, please!" Frank complained, and in embarrassment I adjusted my position so that I was curled beside him. "That's better."
And it was. I felt that somehow my body was a perfect fit to his, as he lay on his back while I was laying on my side alongside him. My unclothed genitals were pressed against his side, and I was pleased to note that he was indifferent to the fact. This may sound strange to you, dear reader, but remember my situation. Try to imagine what it is like to be on an alien world where you have genuine reason to be terrified to be seen naked, knowing how some of the natives would react. Now imagine being with one who is totally trustworthy and who would never take advantage of me even though he could, and who at the same time does not object to my touching him because he trusts me. Admittedly, dear reader, propriety among us animal-people says that I was not supposed to have laid my naked genitals upon him and that I was supposed to be wearing sleep shorts. But this was a vacation, so I only cared about what Frank cared about. In fact, he had already fallen asleep, and it was not long before I did the same.
I woke the next morning when light was coming in through the bedroom window. Though I traveled a lot and frequently slept overnight in unfamiliar places, finding myself in a bed other than the one in my quarters at PERC was always a surprise to me in the moments before my memory returned. It was a further surprise to find another body in bed with me, and a naked human one at that, and that I was also naked. On the rare occasions that I traveled among Earthians with one or more of my assistants, we would invariably share a bed and huddle together. None of my assistants have gotten accustomed to being among humans to the level I have, so they huddled with me to make themselves feel more secure. While my assistants and I were not supposed to huddle together in the comparative security of PERC base, once we were out in the less secure world of Earthian society as traveling companions, huddling with my assistants was perfectly acceptable, even a requirement. This may seem like a contradictory set of rules, dear reader, but that is the way we animal-people work.
Frank was still asleep, but I was wide awake because my bowels and bladder were full; I had to use the toilet badly. I hated to tear myself out of Frank's warm bed and away from his warm body, but the feeling that I was going to burst was enough to prompt me to do so. I rose from the bed and practically ran into the bathroom, and sat on the toilet and emptied myself. The sensation of relief I had felt once emptied was a pleasure in its own right, and I was tempted to sit on the toilet for a while to relax, but then I realized that Frank might want to get up and use the toilet himself, so I flushed and cleaned myself up before returning to Frank's bedroom. He was still asleep, and I cuddled myself against him once more, enjoying the sensation.
I did not fall asleep again, but lay awake alongside Frank until he awakened, and as he did so, he seemed surprised initially to realize that I was in his bed, then he remembered it was because he invited me into it. He seemed unsure how he was supposed to react, for he greeted me with a rather awkward "Good morning."
"Good morning," I replied, and uncertain as what I was supposed to do next, stuck out my tongue and gave him a single lick on the cheek.
"Is that your normal way of saying 'Good Morning'?" Frank asked in surprise.
"Uh, no, I-" I replied awkwardly, but broke off when Frank smiled at me.
"I understand," he said, then reached over and started rubbing my head and neck, followed by a tummy rub. Oh, dear reader, I wanted this moment to last forever. But eventually he stopped. "I have to go use the bathroom, unless you-"
"I already did," I replied. "Go ahead."
Frank left to use his bathroom, and returned. Instinctively I stood up and threw my arms around him, and was pleased when his arms encircled me. Another moment I wished would last forever. Naked and embracing, but a definitely nonsexual relationship. I do not know if there is a human equivalent to this, dear reader, but I felt a warmth that neither my closest past friends or lovers ever quite gave me. And I thought of how it must have been for Sammy Skunk, given the lonely life he had beforehand. Even if Jim was guilty of exploiting him, I understood why Sammy Skunk would have left everything behind to be with him. As for me, not quite. Not at this point in time, anyway.
Still holding me, Frank finally asked, "How long before you have to get back to your base?"
An unfortunate reminder that I had to leave and go back to my normal humdrum life. "No definite exact time," I answered, "but still..." I broke off and turned to look at a nearby clock. It was eight-thirty in the morning. "What do you have to do today?"
"Oh, some shopping, some laundry, housework...nothing I need to rush to do though."
"Yes, but though I enjoyed being with you so much, I know that you as well as I have a routine life to get back to."
We let go of each other. "You're right," he said. "Whenever we can, we'll meet again. I hope I made you happy."
"You couldn't have made me feel better," I replied.
"Say, do you need to shower or anything? I'll let you go first."
"Oh, we animal-people don't bathe every day like you humans generally do. For you humans it's fine, but for us animal-people it can cause fur and skin problems if we bathe that often. I bathed before I came to visit you yesterday."
"What about washing your hands after using the bathroom?"
"That we do of course. Or if we get messy with mud, chemicals or whatever. But I haven't gotten messy enough to require extra cleaning."
"You wrapped yourself around my naked body," Frank said. "Won't you smell of me among your fellow animal-people? Or won't that be a problem?"
"That won't be a problem," I replied. "My colleagues know that you and I are close friends, and as I said, we animal-people cuddle with each other all the time, so why shouldn't I cuddle with a human I like?" I smiled ruefully and added, "Of course, if we had crossed any forbidden boundaries, my colleagues would definitely smell that as well!"
"I assume we didn't. But I got the idea last night you deliberately wanted us to both be naked when we slept together. Is that normal for animal-people too?"
"Actually, no," I replied sheepishly. "Unless clothes are unavailable or it's too hot to wear them. But in my case, I just wanted...well..."
"I know, you wanted to be naked with a human who wasn't going to exploit you in that state," Frank completed.
"That's right."
"But I think you'd better get your clothes on now," Frank suggested, so I found my clothes and put them on while Frank watched. I picked up my car keys and looked at them ruefully, for they reminded me that I would have to leave Frank's comforting presence for an indefinite time until I could possibly meet with him again.
I looked toward Frank, and he evidently saw how unhappy I was to be going, for he walked over to me and knelt before me so that his face was level with my muzzle, and gave me one last hug, which I returned. With his face so close to mine, I could not resist sticking my tongue out and giving him one more tongue bath. As usual, he let me do it until my tongue got tired. When I stopped, Frank pulled away, smiled, and rubbed my head once more.
"I'd better show you to the door," he said, and I followed him to his front door, which he opened. As I looked out onto the street, I saw a woman walking her dog, start to turn and look towards us-and abruptly I grabbed the front door and slammed it shut with a loud noise.
"What?" Frank asked, gaping at me.
"We both forgot that you have no clothes on!"
Frank looked down and saw that I was right. He then ran back to his bedroom and before I could follow, he came back wearing a bathrobe.
"I'm sorry," I said miserably. "I didn't mean my visit to end on a note like that!"
"Actually," he replied, "I'm glad you caught everything before anybody saw me. I might have stepped outside in the nude and never even realized it until after the fact!"
"I should have caught you before you went to the door."
"Never mind," Frank said. "I need to bathe and you need to get back to your base."
Frank opened the door again, and we said goodbyes. I walked out, tempted to hug and lick him again but not daring to do so, especially in public. I found my car and went back to PERC base.
When I got there, of course I had to report to the Director and tell him how my visit with Frank went. He was clearly uncomfortable with me being so close to a human, but raised no objections. After all, unlike me or most of the PERC staff, he had a wife he shared a bed with, and he knew I was one lonely fox-person. If granting me the occasional privilege of visiting one of my human friends was the only price he had to pay to ensure I did my work and did it properly, and that I made my assistants do the same, and that I did not misbehave too much, and that I grovelled to him satisfactorily, then that was fine with him.
Then I returned to my department where my two assistants were awaiting me. I knew that while I was away, they were having their own little vacation without me to supervise them. Of course I did not begrudge them this, dear reader; they deserved a break from work as much as I did. But when I went up to them, they reacted with barely concealed dismay, and not because their rest break was over. Their noses twitched and I knew they were smelling the scent of Frank upon my body, and that they knew just how close my personal contact was with him.
"Did you enjoy your time off while I was gone?" I asked half-mockingly.
"Well, yes," replied one of them, Timothy Squirrel. "How was yours?"
So I told them everything about my visit to Frank-excluding the part when I thought he wanted me to perform oral sex on him, of course. Still, what I told them clearly was making them uncomfortable. "Is there a problem with anything I have told you?" I asked them at the end.
My assistants looked at me in uncomfortable silence before realizing that my question was not meant to be rhetorical. "All right, there is," said the other one, Freddy Lynx. (Yes, dear reader, those are their "Earth names", for our actual ones are not readily pronounceable to humans.) "Don't you think you've become a little too close to this human friend of yours?"
"Too close?" I repeated. "Who do you think I am, Sammy Skunk?"
My assistants winced at my mention of his name. "I certainly didn't mean that way!" Freddy replied quickly. "I mean, I know we're here to study this planet and the Earthians, and we're supposed to make friends with who we can, but..."
"But I've become too attached to one of them?" I concluded. "Well, before you criticize how I feel about things, let me remind you that I am the first animal-person to move out among human society in a major way, on my own, without guards to protect me. You know how scary that was, back when we animal-people were still a novelty and Earth authorities and ordinary humans were still very suspicious of us? When, despite all the studies I made about humans and their behavior beforehand, there was still a lot more for me to learn? You found going out among humans yourselves frightening, and often you wanted me to be around to make you feel safe. But I had to go out without anyone to protect me. I had to defend myself, and do so without harming any humans if possible. And I don't need to remind you about human furries."
More winces. Timothy then responded, "I thought your friend was one?"
"Yes, though not anymore," I said. "He and Sammy Skunk's human lover are no longer friends either. Yes, he originally wanted nothing more to do with me, but I changed his mind."
"How?" Freddy asked.
I purposely dropped my voice low. "I've been avoiding telling you the full story of that. You might find cause to scorn or despise me. Would you like me to? And will you at least not tell anybody else what I tell you?"
My assistants looked at me nervously, but neither one said anything, one way or the other. So I went ahead and told them of how truly strong my emotional bond with Frank had become. How anxious I had been before I met him the first time after the Sammy Skunk incident, and how I was so desperately hoping he was still willing to be friends with me, despite the fact that I had (indirectly) caused him trouble. How, when he initially told me he wanted nothing more to do with me, I had gotten so upset I ended up throwing myself onto the floor before him and crying profusely and grovelling and pleading abjectly to relent, and how shocked he was at my reaction, and how I managed to talk him into remaining my friend after all, even to the point where he would pet me and let me lick his face.
I admit I was secretly terrified my assistants would end up laughing at me in response for behaving this way, let alone toward an Earthian of no special social status. But while they looked at me strangely for a long uncomfortable time, neither of them showed signs of amusement. They were of course aware that I was no physical or emotional weakling, and for me to have acted that way indicated that I had suffered great emotional distress indeed.
Timothy finally spoke up. "But I don't understand. This friend of yours came to your aid at the furry convention when you were desperate, I know, but...you only had known him for a total of one hour of your life. One hour, and you reacted to the prospect of losing him as if he were you dearest life-long friend. I never thought anyone would have bonded that strongly to someone they barely knew!"
"I never would have thought it, either," I replied. "Nor would I have expected Sammy Skunk to bond to a human who took total advantage of him in a moment of weakness!"
My assistants again fell silent for a period, then Freddy was the one who spoke. "So your friend Frank...did he just happen to appear to you at the right place and time? Is that why you became so attached to him?"
"I suppose," I answered. "It's happened to me before. I told you the story of my ex-wife. I can't believe I was actually once in love with her, considering how she turned out to be, but I was."
"And how good has Frank been to you?" Timothy asked.
"As good as any human can be to me!" I replied. "He pets me, he cuddles me, he lets me lick him, but he doesn't regard me as a pet. He talks to me like a person and understands my behavior is the nature of my kind, even if it might seem odd by human standards. I can be as I naturally am to him and he doesn't patronize me. He even let me sleep naked with him because I wanted to do that with a human who didn't want to use me as a sex toy. He too has gotten the idea of the stresses I have had to endure."
"He let you sleep naked with him?" Freddy asked incredulously. "Not even sleep shorts?"
"I neglected to take a set with me," I admitted. But before I could continue, a discomfiting thought occurred to me. I had just admitted to my underlings that I had engaged in behavior with a human that, though technically within regulations, amounted to violating propriety. Was I slowly becoming like Sammy Skunk? Had I cracked and become no longer fit for my position? Should I turn myself in and ask to be sent back home when the portal opens?
"Listen to me," I finally told them. "I realize that I have just confessed to you that I have become more intimate with a human than propriety allows, and you can report me to the Director if you think that I am no longer fit to be your supervisor and that I should be demoted or perhaps expelled. If that happens, one of you will certainly take my place and have to take on my responsibilities, which means going out among humans a lot more than you do now, without expecting me to be around to help you. You will also have to take the level of abuse I sometimes suffer, and you must never strike back with any more force than absolutely necessary to prevent yourself from being harmed. You will sometimes be in situations where you encounter embarrassment or danger, and you will have to figure out the proper way to deal with it, for you will be the automatic representative of how we animal-people are to humans. You will encounter all sorts of weird humans and have to deal with them in such a way as to avoid hurting or offending them if possible.
"And even back at base, it's not so easy. You'll get your own office and bed and communications privileges with the outside world. But the sociological department will become your total responsibility. You will have to answer to the Director, and to your assistants, and to the other department heads, and to the Earth authorities. You will sometimes have to fight with them too, in order to make sure you have what you need. You will have both your usual busywork plus all the headaches I just mentioned.
"Undoubtedly you are getting the impression that I'm telling you all this to scare you out of wanting me to leave and having either of you take my place." I paused for effect and smiled. "Actually, this is true. If you really want my position I thought you should know what you're going to get yourselves into. It may not be so bad as when I started out but it's not easy either. Despite all the stresses, it's exciting to be able to explore an alien world and learn about it. I like being out there far more than being stuck in here. Yes, it can be dangerous, but if I wanted safety I never would have joined PERC in the first place.
"And while I don't intend to stay on Earth for the rest of my life, I'm not anxious to leave, either. Unlike many people here, I have nobody to go back to. It's also difficult for me to fraternize with anybody at PERC, either. And during my first year on Earth, the natives and I didn't get on all that well. I was a space alien, either to be shunned, despised, or condescended to.
"But Frank was different. When we first met, we were at the furry convention where Sammy Skunk had gone missing, and when I told him about my problem, he took it and me seriously and helped me find Sammy Skunk as soon as possible. Of course we were too late, but all the same he understood that I was someone with a difficult problem and he didn't treat me like some novelty like most humans did at the time.
"So now you know how I ended up being so attached to him. He has an understanding of me. I can show weakness in front of him and not suffer for it. He won't laugh at me or exploit me when I am vulnerable. Everywhere else, I have to worry about decorum. I don't have anyone else to turn to for emotional relief."
I fell silent, and awaited my assistants' reactions. They looked uncertainly at me, so I added, "All right, if you think I've become unfit for my job, say so, and I'll go to the Director and hand in my resignation. If you think my strong emotional attachment to Frank isn't so terrible after all, then we'll get back to our regular duties. If you need time to think it over, then I will let you do so."
They looked toward each other, then toward me. It was Freddy who responded, "I can't help but wonder...what does Frank think of you? Is he letting you act the way you do to him because he feels sorry for you? Maybe he doesn't necessarily like how you slobber all over him."
"Do you think that that thought hasn't occurred to me?" I replied, trying not to sound too worried. "Maybe I should go and ask him myself, if you like. By telephone, of course."
So I left them and returned to my bedroom. I called him on the phone, and he answered. When I identified myself, he asked, "Did you leave anything behind?"
"No, no," I replied. "Do you have a few minutes?"
He did, and I told him about my conversation with my assistants. At the end of my piece, I was very nervous as to how he was going to respond, and I got the impression he sensed it.
"All right, Walter," he replied, "let me put everything on the table. First off, I know you're a space alien and are a different creature than me, and come from a very different world. If that had bothered me, I never would have gone up to you at the furry convention in the first place. Also, I'm an easygoing guy when it comes to people with quirks. I was friends with Jim, remember? Despite all his weird practices such as having sex with his friends in animal costumes? I only broke off with him after the Sammy Skunk mess, and as you told me what Jim did was morally reprehensible.
"And I understand you've quite bonded to me, which is why I stuck to being your friend even though, after the trouble I had gone through, I wanted to cut myself off from everything and everyone who had to do with it. But then I learned why you were so desperate to keep me as a friend. It couldn't be one of your own kind at your research station, and most humans viewed you as a freak."
"That's true," I replied. "Of course, humans have gotten more used to us nowadays."
"Oh, I understand," Frank said. "And I know you're a much tougher sort than I am, but I realize that you have your limits like everyone else. But if you're wondering if I've stayed friends with you just because I feel sorry for you, that's not the reason. I do like you and enjoy being with you, and enjoy talking to you. It's nice to have a friend who is from another world, and I still like foxes even if I'm not a furry anymore."
"It helps that you don't have a hen house," I quipped.
"Ha, ha. Actually, you're right. In any case I'd be your friend no matter what species you were. It's nice to have somebody who is so close to me, even if you're a bit clingy."
"Oh, I'm sorry!" I exclaimed in sudden alarm.
"Relax," Frank replied, "I'm not upset over that. Of course, you may want to tone down the tongue baths in the future, especially if we end up around other people. And if you ever stay the night with me again, you'd better pack your sleep shorts, especially if it bothers your colleagues if you don't. I don't want you to get into trouble with them."
"Oh, of course."
"We can talk later on if you like. But right now I'm going to have to check on my laundry. See you."
We said goodbyes, and I put down my phone and returned to my assistants, who were looking at me rather nervously.
"I had a little chat with Frank," I told them. "No major discussions or anything. By the way, have you decided whether I'm still fit to be your boss or not?"
They looked at each other again. Timothy then said, "You're still fit, as far as I'm concerned."
"Same here." added Freddy.
"Very well, then," I replied, "shall we go back to our regular duties?"
And we did.