Mike's Ship
There is nothing in this world that motivates me to actually finish something quite like a deadline. Today it's the fanart contest for the Twokinds Group Chat discord here (https://maeve.chat/ and https://discord.gg/2kinds), which closes in a few hours probably. I don't know exactly, it's 4am in the morning or something and I've lost track of time.
This months theme was "shipping", so obviously I wrote a fanfiction about a future where Mike is a ships captain, trading goods back and forth from the basitin isles. You know, that sort of shipping.
It might also include the other kind.
Thanks as ever to Mandag_Morgen for proof reading basically every other story I've written, but not this one. I didn't finish it until 4am, and even if he were awake he'd be too busy playing Elden Ring. He's been hyped about it for years now and I'm not going to take him away from it now it's out.
Based on the work and characters of Twokinds ( http://twokinds.keenspot.com/ ), copyright Thomas J. Fischbach.
The wind rushed through Mike's hair as he looked out from the bridge of his ship. It was a cool, salty sea breeze that felt familiar and inviting to him after his many years on the ocean. He didn't feel very much of it, thick trousers and a long coat that made him seem taller than he was kept the worst of the weather out. The problem was that the wind was blowing the wrong way and throwing his long hair into his face. He put his tricorn hat back on to hold it all in place.
The morning's wind was onshore and had helped them make great time getting into port, but that had all stopped at the breakwater. Were he in any human or keidran port he would have sailed the ship right up to the dock, dropping the anchor to slow them down today and then haul themselves back out when he left. But this was the basitin isles; and the Easterners had rules. His sails had to be stowed as soon as he was past the breakwater, no anchors out unless they were kedging and all docking had to be done by sailing a line ashore and be towed in. Right now there was a team of four oxen walking in a circle round the capstan, slowly turning it as the line to his ship wrapped around the core and reeled him in.
There was a magically powered one in his cargo hold that would do the same job for none of the effort and only the cost of a little mana; something the basitins had plenty of in fact, with multiple dragon caves on their islands. There was only the minor niggling point that none of them could operate it, but that was an increasingly distant problem as their society opened more and more to outsiders. Selling it to them would have been a major problem, were it not for the fact that he had already sold it to them and they just didn't know yet. The trick now was going to be selling them on it.
The basitins could be stubborn and intransigent at times, and Mike would have complained were it not for how fabulously wealthy he was becoming trading with them. basitin steel was second to none on the mainland, especially with the magically heated forges he had brought the basitins (they still did not trust them sufficiently for their own equipment, so sold everything produced by them). Meanwhile their rum had gone from almost mythically rare to the latest exotic luxury every bar needed to stock. He was no less busy on the voyage out to the isles, and his ship sat low in the water from how laden it was with magical goods, fine wines and passengers.
His ship. He let the words float in his mind a while longer because he liked the way it sounded. The Na'Vella was a sistership to the Na'Rella that Eric had initially rented to him half out of guilt and half out of desperation. He'd left the slaving business abruptly and found himself with a slaver fleet that did nothing but soak up maintenance bills. He'd been more than happy for Mike to pay the costs for one of his ships and had leased it for only a share of his profits. The first trip had paid for her to be refit, stripping out the slave pens for more cargo holds had doubled the ships capacity and likewise their revenue, if at the cost of making her a tad slower.
Then six months ago he bought the ship outright. Now the former slave ship was owned by a former slave. He thought there was some poetry to that.
Mike sighed. Thinking back to his time as a slave had reminded him of the one thing he'd had back then that he now lacked. Not that both he and Evals weren't much happier now of course. The dog had gone home, found his family and fit straight back in as though he'd never left at all. Mike had taken some time to go visit him once. He was happy. He'd tried to hook Mike up with several of his sisters; luckily they'd figured out why that wasn't going to work much faster than Evals had.
His crew went about passing ropes over to the dock crew to bring the ship to a halt and tie it in place. He was friendly enough with all of them of course, even if the nature of employment on a tradeship in a post-emancipation world meant a hefty turnover of crew as sailors chose to spend time ashore and sign on with a different ship later when they wanted another paycheque.
Life ashore wasn't for Mike though, he'd found his freedom on the open ocean. Though that wasn't to say there weren't some distinct perks to land. For example, most of the ports Mike now frequented had at least one person eagerly awaiting his next arrival. Speaking of which...
Mike probably looked ridiculous pulling his telescope out and scanning across the city, but he found exactly what he thought he'd seen; a parting in the crowd. Right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of one of the city's main arteries, everyone was making way for someone important. Right in the middle of the parting, Mike spotted exactly who he was expecting to see.
"Clear the gangplank!" He shouted out with authority just as it clattered against the docks. Confused heads turned to look at him: passengers and crew alike wondering why they were not allowed to begin disembarking and unloading now they were here. Mike clarified. "Make way for the General!" Everyone onboard the ship understood to make way for the basitin generals. Even those that had not been to the islands had been instructed in the basics of life here.
General Alaric walked up the gangplank a few minutes later, flanked closely by a minimal two guards and tailing a messenger. Every basitin on deck stood to attention in his presence, and Mike made the point of descending down the stairs from the back deck to meet him, best not to appear to be trying to stand above the general in front of the basitins. "Greetings general!" Mike said with a firm but friendly tone. "What can I do for you this morning?"
Alaric's good eye snapped its attention to Mike, looking him over sternly. Then looking him over much less sternly , eyeing him up from top to bottom. "I'm here to make a personal inspection, of your manifest." He said with a predatory grin, and Mike could swear he saw those eyebrows wiggle.
Mike grinned back at him, trying hard to hide his amusement at the way Alaric could get away with being so brazen in public. "Certainly General. I have it in my cabin, if you'd care to come and take a look." Mike could get away with it of course because he was the captain and everyone else could put up with it on his ship. "Should my passengers wait for you to finish before they can disembark?" He asked in sympathy to the many tired, and some white seasick, faces waiting to feel dry land again.
"Not at all, you're welcome to begin unloading as you please." The general said as he began walking to the back of the deck. "I'm here to see what booty you've brought with you, and if there are any pleasant surprises."
Mike bit his tongue to stop himself from laughing. "Of course general." He said after a moment to compose himself. "I think I've got a surprise that might catch your eye." He led the way to the aft of the main deck while his crew and passengers began to organise themselves again and head down the plank onto dry land.
His cabin was directly underneath the raised wheel deck at the back of the ship and part of the sweeping modifications made during the refit. The original main cabin (technically called the master cabin as it was for the owner of the ship, less the captain) was a deck below, separated from the noise of crew working up top and accessed from inside the ship so the wealthy owner wouldn't need to get wet in poor weather. It was a pair of VIP cabins now, one usually reserved for the highest ranking basitin officer transferring out to their expeditionary force on the mainland or rotating home.
Mike made a point to his passengers and crew that his cabin was the captain's cabin, not the owners. The only door to it led out onto the main deck of the ship, so even when he was asleep he was never more than a few steps away from the helm.
Alaric made a hand gesture to his guards and messenger which was understood instantly as some signal to wait outside while he conducted some private business. Very private in fact. Mike's cabin gained guards shortly after the two of them entered.
The door was small and low by the standards of the rest of the ship but neither he nor Alaric needed to duck for it, he was on the shorter side for a keidran and Alaric was not on the taller side for a basitin, even if he was a general. In a move that would have horrified some of the passengers though, Mike left Alaric to close the door behind himself. The general might part rule a nation, but this ship was Mike's domain, and he did not yield dignity here.
Mike did a final scan of the room, checking the windows were shut and blinds closed before he turned back to the basitin and spoke "So what do you plan to insp.."
Alaric interrupted by shoving his tongue down Mike's throat.
The basitin grabbed hold of his ass for support and began manhandling him backwards, groping the fox's ass firmly while grinding up against him with the bulge in his crotch. Mike made a vain effort to push back that he quickly gave up on, Alaric could pick him up off the floor without breaking a sweat (though what they'd done with him holding Mike off the floor had made them both quite sticky). Kissing back wasn't worth much time either because the general treated it like a contest, constantly fighting for control, pushing Mike's tongue around to where he wanted it and keeping it there.
Mike didn't resist, not on Alaric's terms anyway. He went straight for the ears. Both at the same time. Gripping them firmly in fists and rolling them in short strokes along the lay of the fur, rubbing firmly along the insides with his thumbs. The way he clenched them would have seemed rough to anyone else, but he knew exactly how the general liked his ears being played with. He liked it rough, and he mumbled happy noises into Mike's mouth.
The ear rubbing gave the basitin only a slight pause before he continued pushing Mike backwards, still holding him by the butt and threatening to pick him off the floor if he ever stumbled. Mike let him lead onwards, closing his eyes and losing himself in the strong embrace until he finally bumped up against the map table. In an instant he'd been lifted up onto it, Alaric dropping him down on the very edge of the fine wood. The table was clear of course, as was the rest of the furniture, and for the same reason that the blinds on the back windows were already drawn down. They'd fucked over just about every piece of wood in the room other than the bed and he'd cleared the surfaces before coming into port just in case the general made a surprise visit.
It wasn't much of a surprise now, given he'd never failed to get Mike's pants off within an hour of docking.
Speaking of which, Alaric made quick work of the belt, buckle and all the buttons that were holding in Mike's steadily growing erection. A few seconds and some tugging later it, and everything below his waist was free. He thought to himself about how Alaric never wasted time, but this was still far from a record. The general had once sailed out to his ship on a launch before they'd finished hooking up the tow line. He'd been balls deep before they'd even thrown the mooring lines.
Alaric pressed forwards again, gripping Mike by his hips, rolling him further back onto the table and grinding up between his legs, rubbing between the base of his fluffy tail and the soft white fur of his sack. After a few moments of that he finally let go of Mike with one hand to start undoing his own pants. Mike would have offered to return the favour for him, but had now been put in an awkward enough position he wouldn't be able to reach. The basitin didn't seem to mind, he had his dick out a few seconds later and was rubbing it between the fox's cheeks again with much more gusto.
Both of them let out soft moans, Alaric's mostly of relief now his already full erection was free. He seemed quite intent on hiding it away again though, constantly poking the tip of it towards Mike's rear.
Mike took the hint and laid himself further back on the table, regrettably letting go of the long ears, one hand needed to prop himself up while the other searching his jacket for the lubrication spell.
Alaric grabbed hold of Mike's legs while he was searching, effortlessly tossing them over his shoulders. That thick, basitin cock returned a moment later as he impatiently poked himself against the foxes tailhole, threatening to try without any help.
Mike would have let him try if they didn't both know he wouldn't fit, but he found the mana crystal he was looking for a second later and reached between his legs to apply it. He was no mage, since gaining his freedom he'd thought to take a few lessons from Trace and determined he had no talent for it, but he could use a pre-loaded spell in a crystal. This was one they'd used a number of times and found to work quite well, including on Alaric. A wave of cool and tingling mana flowed from the faintly glowing blue crystal towards his tailhole. The fur around it and on the base of his tail stood on end for a second as it chilled sensitive flesh; but then a moment later all returned to normal, except for the perfect cleanliness of his rear, and the smoothness with which anything else would glide over it.
Alaric pressed the tip of his cock in the moment Mike was done with the magic. It pushed a loud moan out of the fox, who dropped the crystal to the side, though the basitin replied only with a soft chuckle. He continued to push forward, sinking his length in inch after inch, gripping the orange and white thighs for support.
Mike laid back on the table and let himself make whatever pleasurable sounds he fancied. The cabin was covered by magical silence and Alaric knew just where to poke him to make him howl. He wasn't nearly all the way in by the time he started thrusting back and forth over the foxes' prostate and was rewarded with high pitched happy noises.
Mike's own cock grew from a soft red tip poking out of his sheath to hard and throbbing within a dozen strokes of the basitins onslaught. Alaric grabbed hold of it and started stroking, which Mike was perfectly fine with, because it left his hands free to dig claws into the wood of the map table.
The basitin began to thrust in deeper, filling the fox with even more of his cock, stretching out Mike's hole, and continuing until the small, soft bulb of his knot slipped in. basitin knots inflated much later during sex than for canid keidran, often not until the very last moments before orgasm. Alaric was a late bloomer even by his species, and was a clear tell of when the general was nearing his release. Mike's knot meanwhile was already full and throbbing.
Alaric scratched behind it gently with his claws because he knew that drove the fox mad.
Every muscle in Mike's body spasmed when he felt that, shaking him from ear to tail. That did drive him mad, and thankfully Alaric didn't do it for too long because they knew it would drive him to the edge far too fast, but then not quite get him over it.That had been a truly exhausting experience, that the basitin had thankfully saved for when they'd had the entire evening to share each others company. For now he settled with going back to gently stroking Mike's cock with the same rhythm as his thrusting, giving it light little squeezes every time he pressed his knot in.
Then he licked it.
When Mike finished moaning he looked down over his chest to see if he really had felt that. Alaric was in fact hunched over with his muzzle an inch away from the tip of the fox's cock. He was looking back with sultry, predatory eyes, waiting until he had Mike's attention before he stuck his tongue out to give the pulsing red flesh another soft lick. Mike replied with a needful moan and a small drop of precum that the basitin lapped up hungrily.
Then Alaric wrapped his lips around the tip of Mike's cock, and slid down the whole length of it until he kissed the knot.
Mike let out a long whimper, bucking upwards into his mouth desperately. He couldn't figure out how in the world the basitin was so flexible. He hadn't stopped thrusting at all; if anything that stayed remarkably consistent with long, slow thrusts that filled Mike's rear every time. He hoped the basitin was enjoying it, because Mike wasn't going to last long at all. And yet through the whole thing, Alaric's eyes were still watching him, watching him moan and whimper and struggle to hold what little composure he had left. There wasn't much of that, Mike had turned to jelly below his waist, his tail was flopping around to the side somewhere because it had forgotten how to wag, and his toes were splayed out, hanging limp behind Alaric.
It took a minute through the haze of pleasure flowing through every nerve in his body, but eventually Mike realised that Alaric had put himself back in ear rubbing distance. There was a noticeable break in the calculating and collecting thrusting once Mike managed to reach out far enough to grab an ear. He started rubbing firmly, and while Alaric carried on, he would jump or pause every time Mike changed his rhythm.
Mike didn't get a blowjob from Alaric very often and he savoured them whenever he could, because the general was very, very good. There was something fantastically complimentary about the way he would combine strokes of his tongue, bobbing of his head and suckling on the foxes length. Then just to tease, he would stick his tongue out to lick around Mike's sensitive knot. That got more happy noises out of the fox, and a firm squeeze on that long ear.
Alaric's speed began to pick up more and more. He kept with the long thrusts, and kept angling to hit Mike's prostate, but his rhythm was becoming erratic as he drew closer and closer to his release. That might also have had something to do with Mike managing to grab hold of his other ears as well. He wasn't doing anything rhythmically at all, he was randomly petting and rubbing and squeezing them, and making sure each ear got something different at the same time. It was working, because he could hear soft moaning from around his cock.
Mike already felt like he could cum at any moment. His tip was leaking a steady stream of precum that Alaric was eagerly swallowing down and if either of them were to put so much as a finger behind his knot then he'd pop instantly. Mike could cum without a tie behind his knot, but it took more time and effort. Alaric had once even managed to get him off just from rubbing his prostate. That had taken all evening though (even if it had made for an amazing orgasm at the end), and neither of them had that much time. Mike certainly didn't, he was sitting on the edge. He was in sensory overload from the pounding in his rear and the soft, gentle massaging of his dick.
Then he felt Alaric's knot squeeze its way into him briefly, before sliding back out again. It wasn't full yet, and it was a little larger on the next thrust, but it meant he must be close. Mike held a little hope that he might last longer than the basitin, but another jab to his prostate squeezed out a long rope of precum from him, as if to remind him how close he was. Mike could feel it in his knot, it was straining, stretching against itself. He humped up into the warm and inviting mouth futility, and could have sworn he heard a chuckle in response.
Mike was going to cum, he was moments from it, and in the haze he remembered how Alaric had fucked him the last time he'd visited the isles; pounding him until he came and then grabbing behind his knot. Now he was going to do it again.
Mike supposed it was his own fault for moaning so loudly when he'd done it.
Alaric did almost what Mike thought he was going to do. The moment Mike tensed up and started to moan in orgasm the basitin slurped even further down the cock and wrapped his lips around the base of Mike's knot.
Mike made some sort of faint squealing noise as he pumped cum into the back of Alaric's mouth with as much force as he ever had before. He could see stars long before his head hit the table; the rest of his body joined in with his lower half in going limp with orgasm. There were only twitches and moaning now as he emptied his load into that eager and chuckling muzzle.
A moment later he felt Alaric knotting in his rear. His cock pulsed for a second while Mike clenched down around it with what little strength he had, then began pumping pent up seed into the fox one load after another. He couldn't moan because his mouth was full of dick and he was busy swallowing cum, but Mike more than made up for the both of them in volume as they shared in waves of orgasm and pleasure.
Mikes balls ached by the time he was done emptying his load. He'd given the basitin an awful lot to swallow, and it had taken some time for him to finish. It then took a bit more time after for his head to stop spinning enough for him to look down at Alaric. He was still glaring up at him with those predatory eyes.
Very gently, the basitin let the knot slip out of his mouth, still holding a seal around the red cock with his lips. Then he started to slowly lift himself up, sucking hard all the way and massaging the underside with his tongue.
Mike was wrong, he hadn't finished with his load. He gave Alaric another three spurts and moans to accompany them by the time he reached the tip. He stayed there for a few moments, suckling gently on the tip, lapping every last drop out before he finally let go, licking his lips when he was done.
"Satisfied with your inspection general?" Mike asked between loud panting.
Alaric chuckled in response, showing no signs he'd even broken a sweat. "The finest quality I've ever had the pleasure of tasting." He tugged back gently on the knot he still had tied to Mike's tailhole. It budged a little, but not enough for him to pull out comfortably.
Mike gave it a squeeze and was rewarded with a happy little churr from the basitin, and what felt like another spurt of cum.
"I'm trying to concentrate, you know." Alaric said with not nearly as much annoyance in his voice as his words would indicate.
That was a strange quirk of the basitins Mike had come to appreciate. For most of the year they could, with a bit of concentration, deflate their knots shortly after orgasm. It certainly made these quick fucks Alaric was so fond of much easier. The only exception to that was during the once yearly rut season the males went into, during which their knots behaved much more like keidrans.
Alaric had been fun during his rutt. It was something akin to a female keidrans heat, in that they became much, much hornier than usual. It was the only time Mike had ever known someone to go back for sevenths.
With a bit of concentration and a lack of interruption from Mike, Alaric managed to deflate his knot enough for it to slip out gently, making a wet slopping noise as it did so. "Now." he said while wiping his cock down with a handkerchief and gently tucking it back into his pants. "I should probably actually look at that manifest while you clean up."
"You should, it's on the writing desk." Mike said, gesturing to the furniture half a metre to Alaric's side.
Once Alaric had moved enough for him to have room to stand up, Mike gently slid himself off the map table, first on to one, then two still very shaky legs. He went straight for where Alaric had discarded his pants, picking them up and very carefully slipping his feet back into them, holding onto the table for support while he did so, still not trusting his legs.
"Those are very nice pants." A surprised Alaric said, looking over the top of the manifest at Mike.
"Of course they are, Kat made them." Mike said with a smug grin as he pulled them up over his butt, buckled first the tail flap, then the front belt buckle.
That got him a raised eyebrow from Alaric's good eye. "And you're going to stain them with cum."
"No I'm not." he said back with a smug grin. "They're enchanted."
That earned Mike a second raised eyebrow. "You had your pants enchanted so you wouldn't stain them with cum leaking out of your ass?"
"Asks the reason why I had to." Mike said defiantly.
"Touche." Alaric conceded the point, and put his head down to read the manifest.
"And I won't be getting cum on them at all, the enchantment is a bit more complicated than just preventing stains." Mike said, still trying to distract Alaric from the manifest. "Clovis is an asshole, despite all of Kat's best efforts, but he's very good at enchantment work."
The way the general snapped his head up at him and glared with his one good eye told Mike that he'd finally started reading the manifest. "Captain," the general spoke slowly, but with a wry grin "when were you going to mention to me that General Keiser is onboard?"
"When you read the manifest." Mike said with a huge fish-eating grin on his face. "His name's right at the top of it."
"And he didn't even come up on deck to greet me when I came aboard." Alaric pretended to pout.
"Well I guess with your inspection being so sudden and unexpected, he didn't know you'd be here at all." Mike was lying, he'd talked to Keith about how the general conducted a surprise inspection every single time he docked in port. He hadn't actually said it was a bold faced ruse for them to fuck, but Keith knew Alaric well enough. "He's probably still downstairs in his cabin nursing Natani's hangover. We had a bit of a party last night to celebrate the last day at sea, and while he drinks like a basitin, he doesn't recover like one in the morning." That wasn't a lie.
"Well then, I suppose I should go speak to him directly." Alaric slapped the manifest back down on the table in fake annoyance. "And I can probably get everything I need to know about this from him."
"Probably yes." Internally, Mike sighed with relief as the basitin stopped reading and walked over to the door. Keith could have the argument with him about the magical capstan. "So when should I expect to see you again, General?"
Alaric huffed, as he stopped just shy of the door, looking back at the fox. "You know, I'm not sure. That rather depends on how my meeting with Keith goes." He was still pretending to be upset about not being told earlier.
"Oh, of course General." Mike said, still grinning. "Give him today to settle back in and handle paperwork, then spend tomorrow trying to get into his bed? I suppose I should expect you the day afterwards when the answer is still no."
Alaric narrowed his eyes at Mike, glaring deeply at him.
Mike kept grinning.
"That's very optimistic of you to think all the paperwork will be finished today, Captain." Alaric finally relented in the staring match. "And don't think you'll be leaving port without me making another, thorough, inspection of your ship."
The day after tomorrow it was then.
"I wouldn't dare dream of it, General." Mike said as he followed Alaric back out onto the deck. He had other things to unload.