FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1

The low sun warmed Zanthia's fur as she pressed her back into the trunk of the tree. General theft was normally beneath her, but times in the political movements of Palavan city were quiet. Nobody was really making a move against anyone, and her services as a freelance agent were for now at least, not in high demand. Money wasn't an issue, she had actually plenty and more than enough to live on, but it was the feeling of sheer restlessness that at least gave her the urge to take on this contract.

She could have spent a few more months tinkering with her kit, or maybe working on a new version of her arm. However at the same time, she had to also keep her tradecraft skills high, and there was nothing quite like on-the-job experience.

The task was simple; steal a book of magik. Fair enough, she had done that sort of thing more than once, the only real issue was that the mark in question this time was also a fellow P'Twilk, one Klassa T'woon, some rich bitch from her home world the timeless city of Bassennta. She had learned of what she was about, banking, investments, stocks. Bassennta was a hub of these things for sure, but the open allure of setting up such an operation here on Palavan, and in the capital city where everyone was here for the killing must have been music to her leathery ears.

Zanthia despised such people, the fact that her race, her gender, was full of such types normally filled her with such anger. It so much reminded her of her mother and her ambition, the thing that had gotten Zanthia herself thrown out like trash when she was revealed to be what the P'Twilk considered 'broken'. She gritted her teeth every time that came up, sure she wouldn't be the woman that she was today, feared and respected in her own right. It was more how she got here that hurt, and how it took the person that she perhaps loved the most.

She shifted the cloth that covered her vacant eye socket and kept her natural biological eye closed. If anyone could see her up in that tree it would look like she was asleep. The reality was she was concentrating hard on seeing through her mechanical eye, which was now quite deep into Klassa's mansion up here in the gated community of Oakwood Heights. It wasn't her first trip here, fourth in fact. That was the thing about heists, the preparation, the planning. The taking note of security, who was on guard? How many? Where were they? All the questions a good thief needed to ask, and needed to know for a robbery to be a success. Zanthia of course wasn't just any thief, she was of course an agent with at least three hundred years of experience all from the tender age of ten. She went the extra mile to get more information. Some bribes to insiders at K Investments corporation to get Klassa's schedule for the week. Another few strings were pulled at city hall to get architectural plans of the mansion that were filed before and during the building of the mansion. If all of this groundwork was good then she would be in and out easily.

Right now her eye was looking at the front door from the inside and she could see everything that was going on without anyone noticing, and she was just waiting for the right moment. Standing to the door was one of Klassa's security team from Manta security, decked in a suit that barely hid the kevlar body amour under it, or the 9mm pistol in the side holster. The human was looking as composed as he could be with the slick back hair and shades, wire in his ear to a security room. A less observant, or less knowledgeable person might have thought that this guy was a professional. However, in Zanthia's experience with Manta Security, she knew these guys were little more than basic muscle given a grooming session, and a lesson in dress code. Good for her, it hopefully meant that this would be a job with a low or no body count. As soon as their client would be out any sense of professionalism would go, and trips outside to smoke, watch the game on the big TV or other such slacking off would ensure, it was easy money.

She used her powers to shift the dragonfly-like automaton that was her eye around to see what was going on. She caught sight of Klassa walking down the hall. All a few minutes off schedule of course to be that 'fashionably late' that someone in her position would be. Zanthia gritted her teeth as she saw what she was wearing. A tight-fitting red dress with a cut up the side, and she was wearing only the finest necklace the money could buy, diamond ear studs in her leathery webbed ears, her green fur was cleaned to a shine and her hair had been made up in a braid that went over her shoulder. Zanthia wasn't just angry at the type of P'Twilk that Klassa was, she was jealous of the confidence that she had, as she strut towards the door with a handbag under her arm the cost of which was more than the average worker made in a month, and groomed tail swishing from side to side. Klassa went over to the big security guard on the door who, being a human had at least half a foot on her, and she put her pawed hand on his cheek.

"Now be a good boy and look after my things while I'm out, who knows I might even let you into my bedroom without the risk of you being fired." Zanthia heard Klassa say to the guard. It was disgusting in a way that she could say that to someone and get away with it. Possibly she was hoping that this sap might actually do his duties if there was the hopeful reward of sex with an exotic being such as a P'Twilk in the bargain. However, to Zanthia it was a little more information that this would be an even easier job than she expected. She now knew that no guards were allowed into Klassa's bedroom, which was where she had figured out the book to be. As Klassa's hand slid off the rather stoic guard's face as he opened the door for her, Zanthia had decided she had seen enough. She wiggled a bit in her hiding spot and her dragonfly eye took flight. It zipped unseen through the hall, through a door, into the open plan kitchen, and barreled through a gap in the window, then a barrel roll as it passed over the swimming pool and garden area, and finally the fence lines to the tree where Zanthia was hiding.

She reached out her paw as it flew up to her, and she landed it right onto her open palm. In a second the dragonfly that was a beautiful copper gold, with black and green diamond wings, elegantly curled and folded up into a neat black orb with the front of an eye. Though she had done it many times at this point, Zanthia still winced slightly at what she had to do next. She took off the cloth covering her empty eye socket, and she positioned the orb on the empty orbit. She winced again and gave it a hard slap forcing the orb in. She shook her head a little to get over the pain and used her powers to line her eye back into alignment with her biological one. Another quick shake was what it took to make sure she had her binocular vision back. In the distance she could hear the engine of Klassa's limo firing up, it was time for her to get to work.

Giving a slight wince from the subsiding pain from putting her eye back in, she hauled up a bag that she had hanging off the side of the tree branch. She stood up shouldered it and pulled out a gun with a grappling hook coming out of its barrel. Attached to that was a fine dark rope. Zanthia was no amateur, this was thireme thread rope, it was smaller, lighter, and darker making it harder to see even in the dying evening light. It was also strong enough to support her weight and that of any of her equipment and loot. It was anything but cheap, but Zanthia knew well enough that if you wanted anything done right and to have confidence in it, then nothing was.

She pushed her back into the tree and took aim. The tree she had chosen was not a random choice, she had selected it carefully after looking at the mansion plans, and at least a few trips casing the area surrounding the gated community. It not only had a good view of the mansion gardens and swimming pool, but it also had a direct line of sight to the balcony of the master bedroom, where her target was located. The best and most direct route for a fast entrance and egress.

She took a breath in and held it, and aimed slightly high over the handrail of the balcony. She then gave a smooth pull of the trigger.

BOOM! WHIRRRLLL!

The grapple shot out of the gun, and the thireme rope spooled out following it. It sailed over the garden, over the swimming pool and over the balcony handrail, then clattered on the marble balcony floor. Zanthia lowered the grapple gun satisfied with her shot. She quickly bagged the gun holding the rope. The gun bagged she then gave the rope a pull until the grapple hook pulled up and gripped the balcony handrail, something that was confirmed when the rope went tight. With the rope and hook in place, she tied the rope to a branch above her making sure that it was tight and taught.

She gave the rope a quick shake to check that there was no slack, and then she looked at her metal arm. She rested her palm flat and clicked a button on her wrist, her hand folded out and moved to the side a bit to reveal two rollers that then popped out. Her heart beat slightly faster with some nervousness. This was a new arm of hers and she had only tried this motorized zip line attachment twice. Sure in each test it had worked just fine, but it was still new, still a bit experimental, and there was always the risk that it might break or fail. When she had tried it she was only a foot or two off the ground but now this was the first time in the field. If something went wrong she would be sent tumbling into the metal fences, maybe the shrubbery of the garden, hard concrete paving or an unintended swim in the pool at best. She knew that she was good, but not flawless, her missing real eye and arm were reminders of that.

She gulped, and some moments of a little doubt crept up. She gripped the fine rope tightly, then gripped her metal arm with her real one and slightly bounced off the branch so she was hanging off the rope. She took one final look to see if any of the Manta goons were patrolling the grounds, and she could see none yet. Taking a breath of air in she pressed a button on her metal arm and suddenly she was flying along the rope. Over the fences, over the garden, as she reached the pool she pressed a second button to slow the rollers. She stretched out her foot paws as the glass of the balcony's fence came up, and the breaking just slowed as the pads of her feet gently made contact with the glass. She breathed a sigh of relief, then she mantled and rolled over the handrail onto the marble floor of the balcony while retracting the rollers in her arm.

She quickly and quietly looked around and then did the same into the swimming pool area and garden for any of the goon squad. Satisfied that she was still undetected she took the grappling hook and gave it a tug left to right, while mentally focusing on the knot she had tied to the tree. The antenna on her head glowed for a second and remotely the knot untied. Quickly and carefully she reeled the rope to her, taking care not to make much disturbance in the pool when the rope fell into it, she cursed a little at that as it was a giveaway that something was amiss, and as there would be the small wet patch left by its passing. Hopefully, the Manta guys would, if as she had observed, were more interested in the security inside and out the front than that of the back. So it would be a while at least before it was picked up on, and knowing the low-end goons that Manta employed they weren't likely to investigate it with any seriousness if it was.

To a more novice thief what she had done might have seemed like pure madness, but Zanthia had experience and her reasons. The first of course that even while the rope was hard to see it was still there and could be noticed, and it was more likely to be seen than the wet patch. The second was that it was a lot easier to retrieve the rope from the grapple end. The third was that it was evidence that she would rather not leave behind. Then finally, well it was a rope that cost 180 re'al per foot, and she was dammed if she was just going to leave it behind at that kind of cost.

She then stashed it against the wall so that it was at least out of sight from anyone on the ground floor. Then she slid along the wall slowly to the glass patio doors to the Master bedroom, the blinds weren't drawn and she could see inside. Just like Klassa herself had said there was no guard, which was good. She went to the handle and tried it. It refused to budge, locked! But to Zanthia that was no issue as there was a keyhole. Slipping out the picks from her belt she quickly got to work knocking the pins into place and rolling the tumbler so that the lock clicked open. All too easy given that she had been knocking locks open like that since she was ten. She slowly opened the door just enough to slide in.

The room was mostly as she expected from the plans that she had acquired from city hall. She slowly and carefully closed the patio door behind her.

It was over sized in an almost L shape, and it was almost more like an expensive hotel room than anything else. The one main area was like a private lounge, with a large sofa and ceiling-mounted overhead projector rather than a TV. In the corners were lamps shaped as naked Lortaxian's, Male and female respectively holding up poles that held the lamps, artful if somewhat erotic. There was also of course a coffee table and a drinks cabinet. She could make out the sight of whiskeys, wines and liqueurs. All more likely for the private entertainment of guests than Klassa, knowing that like herself alcohol was toxic to her kind. There was also a room to the side that was an en-suite bathroom, and to the side was the bed area. This had a large plush double bed, covered with fine red bedding with a gold trim design, and plush pillows with cases more the same. More than enough for Klassa, and any potential lover she had dragged back for fun. It was more than what Zanthia was used to. In fact, she had only slept in something like it a few times in the past, and once was with...

She stopped her thoughts there, not the time nor the place. There was work to do and she had to do it as quickly and carefully as possible. There was something else in this area and it was what she had been focusing on when she had been studying the plans. A long wardrobe that had been built into the wall.

This had been the thing that caught her attention when she had been studying the plans of the mansion, and always the thing that she took note of when doing such reconnaissance. It was an architectural anomaly. On the overhead plans in this area, the walls didn't seem to make sense. The opposite bedroom next door shared an almost similar plan, but between the bathroom and the bed area, the wall seemed to have a long cavity. In the master bedroom, there was also a similar cavity but it was off to one side and behind the wardrobe area. While the plans never made out why or what this was for, Zanthia had seen this sort of thing enough times to work out what it was. A hidden compartment that had been installed during or after the construction of the building, the wardrobe itself being a hidden door to whatever was behind it. Given that nothing else stood out, what she was seeking for her client, the book had to be in there. The question was how to access it.

She quietly slid the doors to the wardrobe open, it's what she expected a rich bitch of a P'Twilk to own. Designer dresses, fancy cloth rings to decorate her tail with, jewelry, and even while P'Twilk normally preferred to walk barefoot, some designer-tailored footwear. There were even corsets, designer bras and underwear visible. The sort that cost a couple of hundred each even if Klassa only intended to be seen in them for a short time. Zanthia scowled, in a way Klassa was mocking her, someone who possibly and still did consider her kind in P'Twilk society 'broken'. They were never to wear such things or be seen as objects of beauty or desire. They were to be huddled away in dank little corners, wearing scrubs left to rot, out of sight out of mind. It also bit into Zanthia's confidence, she would love to wear such things more often herself but rarely if ever got the chance. Just as well she felt more comfortable in her cotton night blue work wear, leathers and cape. Of course, though, there had been that one time when she did get a chance to, but again such thoughts had to go to the back of her mind. She had a job to do, something to find.

A switch, a keypad, a button, there had to be something. She looked around and gently felt around with her paws, going round the sides of the wardrobe, under the shelves. Then as she looked over she noticed something that just seemed slightly out of place, a mannequin head P'Twilk in shape. It was the only thing in the wardrobe like it, and it was displaying a masquerade mask. Zanthia eyed it with some curiosity. Maybe...

She pressed its nose, nothing. Poked in its ear, nothing. Then she rocked it back, and it felt heavy like there was some kind of force below it.

CLICK!

There was a gentle noise, and Zanthia took a step back. Then the wardrobe slid to one side into the wall cavity that she had noted in her reconnaissance. What she saw beyond made her blush through the red and brown fur of her face and mask pattern.

This was a hell of a collection of the most adult kind. Zanthia noted the number of leather things that were hung up. Leather masks for at least three different species, a number of ball, bit and ring gags of all sizes, magical and non-magical restraining rope, paddles, whips, and leather cuffs. Then there was 'the collection'. Klassa really had a thing for cocks, because there were dildos of all different shapes and sizes, some clearly life casts of actual species. Zanthia noted human, Dragonkin, P'Twilk and of course Lortaxian. A very large Minotaur one though made her wince just by looking at it. There were also several diamond-backed butt plugs. Though whether or not Klassa took any pleasure in stuffing those up her own tail hole, or doing that to her suitors was something else that Zanthia didn't want to dwell on.

However, front and center of this depraved little collection was what she had come for, the book that her client had described. It was brown leather and had a small magnetic clasp. The title was written in P'Twilkian script "Personal Pleasure Magik of the T'woon Bloodline". She reached out to take it but stopped herself just short.

"Rookie mistake Zan!" she whispered to herself, chastising her own hasty actions.

The book was clearly a bloodline heirloom, a tradition in P'Twilkian culture. She knew this too well, P'Twilkian women, normally the first of their bloodline inherited or were given a gift by their mothers. Sometimes it was as simple as a bit of clothing or jewelry, but it could also be an object like a book. All it symbolized was their status as the firstborn of a P'Twilkian mother. Zanthia, being a firstborn herself should have gotten something like this from her mother too, but that never happened. All she got from her was to have her memories erased and then tossed into a hazardous world. First as a pet plaything, then to fight for her own survival. Her mother was a bitch, and she had no regrets about what she did when they next met. Anyway being such an item of such personal importance it was more than likely that Klassa, would have at least taken another step of security on it.

Zanthia knelt down a little and looked around the plinth. Sure enough, there was a small obscure button, not even marked, that had to be it. She pressed it, and there was another soft click as a small bolt locked into place deactivating a pressure plate. It had been in no doubt rigged to an alarm that would have summoned the Manta goon squad. Zanthia smiled and carefully lifted the book off the plinth, and quickly bagged it. All too easy, a real milk run job with no real challenge. Now all she had to do was to leave the way she had come in.

"I'm telling you, Mac, she's gonna be gone for a couple of hours at least! You can't say that you've never been curious about what's in there?" a voice said from just beyond the bedroom door, somewhat muffled over wood and plasterboard.

Zanthia's heart started to race, and a cold feeling shot down her spine.

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" She whispered to herself, it had been too easy, way too easy. Now she had to think and act quickly.

"Come on man! You heard what she said, it's off limits, I don't wanna get my ass fired just to find out what perverted shit these fancy trash panda's get up to" Another voice said.

That was good, they were arguing so she had a few seconds at least.

"Stay calm! Think Zan! Think!" she whispered to herself as her eyes darted around, she was looking for a switch to reset and hide the hidden wardrobe. It took her half a second to spot it. It was nowhere near as hidden as the one on the normal side, it was just a large red button on the side wall. She slammed her paw against it. Almost instantly it started to close. Zanthia stepped back and didn't even wait to slide the wardrobe doors closed.

CLUMP!

"Oh come on how the fuck is she gonna know, just don't... Wait what the fuck was that?" The first voice said.

"Shit! Too loud!" Zanthia whispered to herself.

"Someone's in there? Well fuck you then! You've got your god-dammed wish" The other voice said. She could just hear some rustling then the more obvious click-clack of pistols being cocked.

Her heart ran a little faster now, there was no place to hide. Even under the bed. She had too much bulk with her bag for that; along with it being too darn obvious even to the biggest idiot. There was only one thing that she could do, and she was lucky that she could do it as quickly as she could. She Froze, gritted her teeth and her antenna glowed with a crystalline shine, she then visibly disappeared. She knelt down and slowly moved into the lounge area.

"Control, This is unit Two Niner, investigating disturbance in master bedroom" She heard the first voice say. There was a second pause and the door clicked open, two large suited humans walked through, handguns drawn and pointed. Zanthia slowly pressed herself against the wall and drew her knife.

She had killed before, and like lock picking it was also something that she had done early in life, as young as ten. She had shot a man right in the eye with an arrow. She had cried at the time, not over having to take a life, but rather over the consequences of doing so. She had at first been told never to kill, but as she had learned it had been a kill-or-be-killed situation. She was then told that killing when that happened, was sometimes necessary. It had put her mind at ease, and it had been her personal code from then on.

As she tightened her grip on the knife, she knew that this however wasn't one of those times. This was a minor robbery, and she would rather not shed blood over it.

The two men fanned out into the room. One went over to the patio window, and the other quickly checked the en-suite bathroom. He glanced into it pointing his weapon, and then he walked towards his friend who was taking a quick look at the bed area.

Zanthia tucked in, the best that she could, and held her breath. She was invisible, but not undetectable. Her breathing could still be heard, even her heartbeat if it was heavy enough. She also still had a physical presence. Just knocking into her would be enough to alert the goon. There was also the issue that this quick form of invisibility wasn't flawless. When moving, or at least moving too fast, a person might still notice your shape move like a ghost as the light bent around your physical form. So she had to keep as still as possible. She held her knife tightly ready to pounce and strike if required, but he stepped by without noticing her. He also gave a glance into the bed area before tapping his buddy on the shoulder, just as he was about to reach for the patio door handle.

"Utterly fucking nothing man! Just your mind playing tricks on you. Anyway, we got to see this room now, are you satisfied?" The Security goon said to the other, distracting him from investigating further. This was much to Zanthia's relief, as surely if he had checked the balcony he would have found the hook and rope she had left there.

"Yeah sure, whatever." The other goon said, knocking his buddy's arm away.

"I mean what were you expecting? It's the same rich décor as the rest of this place. Were you really thinking that she had some kind of special trash panda den of depravity in here or something?" His buddy said.

"If only they knew" Zanthia thought to herself, knowing what she had just seen in Klassa's little hidey hole.

"I don't know man, you ever done the late shift after she's come back from one of these parties with a guest?" The goon, who was clearly the first voice said.

"No, normally I clock off before the graveyard starts, why?" The second goon, the one possibly called Mac said.

"I have, at least twice, always someone different each time, give it an hour of quiet chat then the loud shit starts," The first goon said.

"Loud shit?" The guard called Mac said.

"Loud lewd shit, moans, cries, shouts of 'oh yes mistress', that kind of shit. These P'Twilk I swear are perverted little rich fucks. I just wanted to see if it was true with my own eyes." The first said, flipping the safety back on his gun, and putting it back into his shoulder holster.

"Well take it from me then, you heard nothing and keep it to yourself. Whatever our client is doing with her fuzzy claptrap isn't any of our business, it's better that way." Mac said doing the same with his pistol. "Anyway the Steeltown Sharks versus Palavan City Pirates starts in ten. Bashball is always more interesting than the sex lives of these freaks." He said starting to walk towards the door. Zanthia froze up again to keep herself unseen.

"Yeah sure, whatever." The first guard said, in a disappointed and dismissive tone as he followed his buddy.

"Oh and since this was your idea, you can call it and take any heat from control" Mac said as he got to the door. Hearing that the first guard gave a grumble that Zanthia couldn't quite make out, and he Pressed on his earpiece.

"Two Niner to control, false alarm in Master bedroom, returning to patrol" The first guard said, walking through the door and closing it behind him. Zanthia kept still though for a few seconds longer, waiting as the sounds of chatter from the two and their footsteps went away, seemingly downstairs. The second that she thought that she was in the clear again she sighed. She dropped her invisibility, her antenna again glowing, and she re-sheathed her blade.

She could have almost killed the pair for the stream of racist remarks that they had made about her kind. However she knew to keep such anger in check, it caused more problems she didn't need. The fools though had at least given some more info to her that was handy. At least two of the guards were going to be more concerned with watching the Bashball1 game, than watching over the mansion in at least ten minutes, if not starting now. This bode well for her escape, as that meant two fewer eyes were on the pool and garden.

She slowly slipped over to the patio doors, and she slid them open just enough so she could get through. Then she closed them behind her when she was out on the balcony. It was time to leave the way that she had come. She took out the grapple gun, reloaded a fresh blank cartridge to the chamber, and then picked up and locked in the grappling hook. She slunk over to the glass panels of the balcony fence and looked over to see if anyone was patrolling. She sighed with disappointment, there was one guard, sitting on a brick planter in the pool area. She could tell that he wasn't in any state of alertness, as he pulled a cigarette out of a pack with his mouth, and fiddled into his pocket for a lighter. He was right in the line of sight for her flight path back to the tree. If she was to go now she would surely be seen. Sure she would still more than likely escape. However any head start she had with getting rid of the book would be gone, and she didn't really want to deal with her own client this evening. She slunk back out of sight, given what she had learned from the two that had entered the room.

"Games on in less than ten now, just have to wait, just have to hope," Zanthia whispered to herself, as she kept on her own sense of alert just in case another guard decided to break the rules of the house. Breathe in slowly, breathe out slowly, wait, stay calm. She had done this a thousand times before in situations more dangerous than this. Sure enough, the signal to action came.

"Jim! Games starting!" came a shout from inside the mansion. Zanthia slunk over again for a peak. Sure enough, the guard stubbed out his cigarette against the stone, hid the stub in the plants, and started to walk back into the mansion. Her assumption that all of these guys were slackers was spot on. Good on Manta for hiring just the best, and most dedicated to their jobs for fifteen re'al an hour.

She gave it a few seconds for the guard to re-enter the mansion. She then stood up and took aim at the tree. She adjusted her aim to be a bit higher than before. This was to account for the slight weight added to the rope from its dunk in the pool.

"Welcome Everyone to tonight's exciting game between The Steeltown Sharks and The Palavan Pirates! We now hand you over to our commentator Rex Morris." She heard from below. Even better they turned up the volume on the TV! She focused her aim.

PPPPEEEEEPPP! BOOM WHIRL!

She timed her shot to the starting whistle as it masked the report of her grapple gun. The hook and line sailed out over the pool and garden, over the fences and fell wrapping itself around the branch of the tree. She quickly bagged the gun, and then she gave the rope a pull to secure it on the tree. She tied her end to the handrail, and she went over it, grabbing the rope. One last check around was all she needed before pressing the button on her arm, and making her flying escape back to the tree.

She reclaimed the rope keeping an eye out for any change in plans the guards might have made. It was all made easier now that the light was starting to fade. All and all, save for that one situation, it had been the easy job that she had expected.

Chapter 2

Northwood district was a world away from Oakwood Heights. Oakwood was the gated community where the wealthy got to stay away and pretend that places like this didn't exist. That was even if some of it was where their money was made. Zanthia stepped to one side to make way for an old Morallian, who was pushing a shopping cart filled with his worldly possessions. As the trash blew around their feet she sighed. He wasn't the only person like this that Zanthia had seen around here in the same state. For some, the abandoned warehouses, and factories in Northwood were where they called home. Zanthia kept her hood up to keep a low profile and the rain that was now beating down off her head. She went from street light to street light. Every wall was tagged with graffiti, and the factories and abandoned warehouses loomed down with a menacing feel.

For a single woman, or for almost anyone else for that matter, this area would be a no-go area at this time of the evening. It was just an area that screamed you are going to get accosted for change, mugged, raped, and even murdered after a certain hour. Zanthia wasn't worried though, she had been raised, even given her early education into the person she would become from such a place. She had survived, however. Anyone now foolish enough to try anything with her would be the one to be found in the curbside gutter the next morning.

"Hey, lady! You got any change?" a disheveled human said, stepping out of the shadows his beard unkempt and clothes dirty.

"No," She said, shifting her cloak and pulling her blade slightly out of its scabbard. Its hilt and part of the blade gleamed in the street light.

"Sorry to bother you" The tramp said slinking back into the shadows. She felt sorry for such people but it was best not to interact or stop. One poor soul might be genuine, the other might be a setup for an ambush, it was never best to find out the hard way.

She kept on until she saw what she was looking for; a phone booth. She slid in and fumbled into her side pouch for a few coins. She lifted the handset to check to see if it still had a dial tone. It did which was amazing given the state of the booth, covered in graffiti tags, stickers that advertised local sex workers, a non-existent phone book, and the faint smell of piss that it had about it. She dropped the coins into the slot and dialed the number of her client. The phone rang for at least ten seconds before he picked up. Zanthia used the time to wrap part of her cloak over the receiver.

"Hello? Who is this at this time of night!" Came a gruff voice.

"Mr Mokan?" Zanthia asked.

"Yes speaking, who is this?" Mokan her Client replied.

"Your delivery of flowers is ready and will be delivered at 11am tomorrow. Payment on delivery, ensure there is extra as there may be additional fees." Zanthia said, giving her client the code phase for the completed job.

"Oh, I see thank you. I will make sure that it is ready." Mokan said.

"Goodnight Mr Mokan" Zanthia said as she hung up, unwrapping her cloak from the receiver. She was about to walk on when she heard a voice from behind her.

"Hey Lady, you calling a cab? You're looking a little lost." It said, a male voice, human in tone.

She slowly turned and glanced from the side of her hood. Again while she had to stop, this had been the danger of doing so at night in Northwood. Behind her was a white human in his mid-twenties. He wore a leather jacket, a white tee, ripped jeans, and a black woolen hat. His face was rat-like and strained, with bags under his bloodshot eyes, and an overly red nose. This was always a sign of heavy spice use. He was flanked a few feet back by a Minotaur, standing a good seven feet tall, a pure wall of muscle. He was wearing much the same attire as his friend. Both had red bandannas around their necks, a sign of affiliation with the Northside Cobras2 gang.

"Hey, no sudden moves now Lady!" The human said pulling out a flick knife and clicking out the blade. She turned around, not really that intimidated by the blade that the human had. He caught sight of her fox-like muzzle from under the hood, and her tail became more visible as she turned her cloak to one side.

"Told ya' that she was a rich bitch trash panda. Saw that tail tip a mile off, can smell that rich shit too, like fucking peaches man!" The Minotaur said to his friend.

"Oh yeah, you're real lost lady." said the human taking a step toward her, pointing the tip of the knife in her direction.

"What do you want? Money?" Zanthia asked calmly. The human and the Minotaur smirked as she said that.

"Yeah, something like that, but me and Max here think that if you're in Northwood you're looking for something else, something you're clearly not getting" The human said, waving the blade about in the direction of Zanthia's face.

"Like what exactly?" Zanthia asked again quite calmly.

"Fucking get a load of this bitch Max!" The human laughed.

"Yeah, since you're not quite getting it. Taking you someplace nice, and getting you out of those tight leggings of yours. Then we'll show you what a real fuck feels like" Max the Minotaur said folding his arms.

"Yeah money's cool, but fucking a trash panda pussy like yours is an opportunity that don't come around too often, what'ya say sweetheart?" Said the human waving the knife again. "You ain't in a position to argue now.".

"Oh sorry, I think I am," Zanthia said, and the pair let out another laugh.

"You really don't get it bitch, do you?" Said the human taking a step closer to Zanthia, as if to force her back into the phone booth.

"No, I don't think you do," Zanthia said, remaining calm. She brought up her metal arm with her hand outstretched.

"What's that supposed to..?" The Human said before a loud bang cut him off, and he was sent three feet backwards. His white tee was marked red from the tight grouping of the four triple-aught buckshot pellets. All of which hit square into his chest. He hit the deck gargling from his wounds, and his knife clattered into the gutter. Seeing this his Minotaur friend, Max jumped back, his powerful stance shattered by the sudden felling of his friend.

This was Zanthia's other new little addition to her arm. A small single-shot concealed .410 shotgun for self-defence. Like the zip line rollers, she had tested it but this was the first time she had used it in the field. The floored human was to her a satisfying sight that it had worked as intended. However she still had his friend Max to deal with, and he was just starting to figure things out.

"What the fuck! You're going to pay for that you little bitch!" he shouted at her. He stretched out his arms and started a charge toward her.

Zanthia acted quick. She grabbed the handle of her knife and started to run towards him in response. Her antenna glowed again a bright blue. Suddenly the mass of fast-moving muscle that was Max seemed to be moving in slow motion. She slid down through his legs and slashed up with her knife. Unlike his friends which was a tiny thing, maybe only two inches in length, and possibly blunt, Zanthia's was twelve inches of ultra-sharp Ultrate steel. It could slice through cloth, flesh and bone as if it was butter.

She hopped to her feet as the Minotaur fell to his knees clutching his now bleeding groin, his nut sack and manhood sliced cleanly in two by Zanthia's blade. He bellowed in pain as Zanthia jumped on his back, gripped one of his horns and thrust her blade through his brain. She pulled out her knife and hopped off his corpse as it hit the concrete. Landing she walked over to the human, who was gasping his terminal breaths through his now punctured lungs.

"Who... are... you?" he gargled, coughing up frothy blood. She leaned down slowly so that he could hear her.

"Not someone who likes to be called a 'trash panda'" She calmly replied, as the human coughed for one final time. Zanthia stood up and looked around. The street was now quiet save for the rustle of blowing trash, and the falling rain that was already washing the blood down the drain. She took out a cloth and wiped the blood off her blade before putting it back into its sheath. Then she calmly continued on.

Well, it had almost been a bloodless evening.

---

The Mandtech warehouse was only a few hundred meters more up the street. It was grey as any other building in the area, but it was more modern and actually recently built. The surround was a chain link fence with a double barbed wire top, and a large loading area for lorries, all brightly lit by flood lights. Looking up Zanthia could see the Mandtech Logo painted onto the roof. She could see the guard patrols covering the entrances and loading areas, each guard was carrying a submachine gun.

She walked up to the main gate, there was a booth with a counter and window with a hole at the bottom for the passing of documents. Somehow these were the times when she felt nervous for some reason. She had done this a load of times in the past but it always was just a thing that she felt out of her comfort zone with. Namely social interaction.

She reached into a zip pouch on her belt pulled out a card, and placed it on the counter sliding it over to him. He looked at it, then at her as she somewhat blankly looked back.

"OK 'special employee' Z1123, here to check on the 'special merchandise'?'" He said to her sliding the card back. Zanthia quickly took it and placed it back into the Zipped pouch.

"Yes," she said softly. "OK, a quick visit or is it a long stock take?" The guard asked.

"A long take, I'm most likely going to be here until early morning." She said, slightly gulping.

"OK then, sunrise is at 6. I will make sure that there is a van ready for your goods at 7, is that OK?" The guard asked.

"Yes that will be fine, I will call you when I am ready," Zanthia said noticing the guard reaching over.

"Well then let me buzz you through, and Miss.." The guard said pressing the button. There was a buzz and then a clank of metal as the gate slid to the side, enough for a single person to pass. However, Zanthia froze a little as he said that, not really sure what he would ask.

"Have the locals been giving you trouble?" he continued on pointing at her blue top. Zanthia looked down and noticed the small patches of red, more visible now in the powerful electric light. It must have been from when she stabbed or sliced the Minotaur. The rain not having washed it off due to it being the clothing under her cloak.

"Oh yes, I had a run-in with two fellows near the corner of 33rd and Vineyard Road." She said trying to keep her tone blank.

"Well, they didn't get the better of you then clearly, do you want me to call the Militia or the paramedics?" The guard said with a little smile.

"Militia, tell them they will need chalk and bags, and make sure one of the bags is extra large" Zanthia said trying to crack a nervous smile.

"OK then. I'll give them a call for a clean up on aisle three then, along with a call to our legal teams to make sure it all gets forgotten about." He said taking out a notebook and pencil. "Have a good night Miss Z!"

"Thank you!" she said before walking through the gate. She got a few meters in before there was another buzz and it slid back closed.

She made her way over to the main warehouse where there was a small side door, it was flanked by two more guards carrying submachine guns. One was a large bulky human woman, while the other was a male Lortaxian, he had a micro-raptor by a chain. As Zanthia approached it bolted a little, snarled and hissed threateningly, flaring its feathers. Zanthia took a step back, and the Lortaxian grunted and pulled back on the chain.

"Heel! Razor Heel! Friendly!" He barked. With instinct and training the Micro-raptor stepped back and clicked its sharp claws in the concrete.

"Sorry, Zee! Don't know what's got into him." Said the Lortaxian, pulling the chain back to move the micro-raptor to the side, as the human woman opened up the door for her. Zanthia had an idea of what had triggered the micro-raptor. It was probably the scent of blood from a recently deceased wannabe Minotaur rapist that still clung to her body. Zanthia stepped forward now that the micro-raptor was out of reach.

"Thank you, it might just be something in the air tonight," Zanthia said to the Lortaxian with a slightly nervous tone.

"Yeah, could be that. Dammed rain or its breeding season." The Lortaxian said, and Zanthia gave a slight nod in reply. She quickly walked through giving a nod to the female human guard who had opened the door for her. She passed through the small reception area and fumbled into her zip pouch for a small key. Out through a corridor, into the main warehouse, past vast shelves full of assorted boxes. There were a few other guards inside whom she also nodded to. Then she passed along the wall, past the cafeteria, and the restrooms to a place where there was a single light switch. She looked around, left, right, and behind her to check that nobody could see her. Then she stuck the key into a concealed keyhole in the underside of the light switch. One slight turn to the right was all that it took.

CLICK! And there was a slight rumble, and the wall shifted open inwards. She quickly stepped inside and hit a button to close the door.

She breathed in and relaxed. Her safe house, well more safe room really. One of at least a dozen she had around the city. She couldn't really ask for better, aside from having to pull a few 'social' moments with the Mandtech security guys. They were at least on her side, as well as Leo Mandris the owner of the warehouse. He was her main benefactor, ally, client, friend; well more than a friend, more almost family.

Anyway, It was still on the small side. Enough room for a reasonable bed, a wardrobe of spare clothes, and a set of drawers for small personal effects. She also had a workbench and tools, for if she needed to tinker with any of her equipment or make plans. Finally, there was a small shower, hand basin and toilet off in a slightly separate area.

It was also really secure being in one of Leo's facilities. Even if it was ever discovered, any legal ways would require warrants just to enter the building. Any illegal ways, well that's what the guards were for. Unlike Manta, the Mandtech security division had better hiring policies, anyone here was either former Militia or a trusted and vetted 'Private contractor'. Slacking off just wasn't a thing. She knew well that it was not one hundred per cent guaranteed to keep this place fully secure. However, in the worst case, it was enough to buy time for her to escape, even cover her tracks.

She took off the satchel that had the book, grapple gun, and rope onto the workbench. She took off her cloak and unstrapped her leather strapping and pouches, dumping them over the back of her workbench chair. Now down mostly to her shirt and leggings, she checked them over to see just how bad things were with the Minotaur blood. Only a splash, on her shirt. It was noticeable enough though and she would need a fresh one.

"Darn, I'll have to give Leo a ring to arrange for a laundry pickup." She muttered to herself, before pulling it off and tossing it on the floor. She sat on the edge of the bed and slipped off her leggings. She then casually kicked them off also onto the floor. She reached around and un-clipped her dark blue bra, and it too joined the shirt and leggings.

"It's been a night I need a shower," She said sighing. She stood up and walked over to the shower. She slipped off her panties, and for now, dumped them in the hand basin. She then undid the green elastic ring that held her chestnut hair in a ponytail, allowing it to fall freely down past her shoulders.

There was nothing like a good shower to Zanthia, it was maybe still something that was typically P'Twilk about her. Granted, she preferred to wear her work wear, of normally well-made cotton fabrics. That was fine to her she was comfortable with that. Even her underwear was more practical than for style.

Normally when she was ever seen, and interacted with people it was mostly for business. And in her business, there was never any reason that she would be seen in less. It wasn't like she didn't mind dressing in more exciting things. Then again there was something in her instincts for finery about that, she just felt awkward about it. One time was on the final nights she had spent with Leo and his wife Alara. She got to wear a rather tight, and fetching dress with no back, cut up the side, in her favorite night blue, only it was slightly sparkly. Perhaps as well it had been the g-sting panties, not normally her thing.

She looked and felt stunning, but also embarrassed and awkward. Instincts for finery and sexuality clashed with a condition that was screaming at her for being so far out of her comfort zone.

She still smiled slightly though thinking about it, as the water ran over the fur of her naked body. The scent of the expensive peach hair and fur shampoo filled her nostrils. Still, at minimum the instincts to keep and stay clean, and that by doing so that made you feel great was something she had. That sometimes alone, always made something of an impression.

She stepped out of the shower, dried herself off, and slid her panties back on. She didn't normally wear that much nightwear, just her panties and shirt. However considering that her shirt this evening had blood on it, she was going to forgo the top half. The safe room wasn't that cold after all.

"Oh, who's going to see you Zan?" She said stepping back out into the main area of the safe room. She pulled back the chair to the workbench and sat down.

"Well it's late, but I'm not sleepy yet, I just wonder." She said to herself, reaching into the bag and pulling out the book. The words of its title and gold trim still glowing with its enchanted effect. The chair creaked a little as Zanthia leaned forward.

"Personal Pleasure Magik of the T'woon Bloodline", Zanthia said reading the title out loud. She let out a curious "hummm". Then she reached for a notepad and pencil on the workbench, along with some sweet biscuits, and a bottle of apple soda that she had kept there. A normal habit of hers given how she could get wrapped up in her tinkering at times. Keeping some snacks about was never a bad thing.

"Well, Klassa what's yours is now also mine. After all, going by this cover I doubt there's going to be any dark Magiks in this. Oh and Mr Mokan, my dear you have to wait until tomorrow for your turn, that's if you can read it." Zanthia said to herself.

Normally it is said that talking to oneself like this is a sign of madness, but this isn't really true. It is however something that Zanthia did subconsciously, at least when she was by herself to combat one of the many symptoms of her condition, namely loneliness. She preferred to be by herself, to be wrapped up in her own space, her own thoughts. While she had learned to remain composed while working, more relaxed social situations still made her nervous. Things like parties, balls, and even sometimes shops, anywhere where there were people that she didn't know, and had to interact with gave her a sense of anxiety. She was always afraid of what people might think of her, or that she might make a fool out of herself.

Sure she could wrap herself up in work, tinker with mechanical things out of necessity or curiosity, and occasionally read. However P'Twilk like other beings weren't islands. She had to come up and breathe social air because the feeling of being alone bit just as much.

When she was recovering from her injuries with Leo and Alara, she inadvertently found herself, being social, perhaps it was because it was just the three of them for the most part. The slight intimacy with another person helped, and she relaxed as she realized that they weren't being judgmental about her. As a result, she opened up about being what was considered or known as 'Broken' in P'Twilk society. All she knew was that it had something to do with her mind.

Leo said that he knew someone who had helped him and Alara with their own issues. A psychiatrist, a mind doctor. He had given her a call and told them to keep somewhat quiet about his guest, which they agreed to. While she was getting better over her physical problems, which she could understand and overcome. She had talked to this doctor about the ones she had with her mind. Ones that she always had and could never overcome.

It took a while and a little strain, given her limitations. However, this doctor of the mind told her what her condition was. Why she struggled with social interactions, why she got fixated on things, why she got lonely and depressed, why she felt like she could never 'fit in' and felt awkward. Even why she had a slightly 'flat' tone to her voice. She said that it was called 'autism', and she was apparently 'level 1' when it came to this condition.

She now understood what it was, but she asked if it could ever be cured. The words of the 'psychologist' were now always in the back of her mind.

"No, but Zanthia you are not what your kind call 'broken', you just think differently."

But still, it was something that she had to live with, much like the loneliness that it caused. The social problems, and with that issues with needs. She undid the metal catch the book had, and she shifted her legs. Given what she had seen in Klassa's secret little place, maybe there was something in this book that could help with that. She leaned back in the chair which creaked a little more loudly as she put more pressure on it, and started to flick through the pages.

"Hummm... This is very fancy Klassa, I'm sure all that magic ink cost one of your ancestors a small fortune, but this content is total shit." She said skipping the introduction and taking a look at the first few spells.

"Eldritch pleasure tentacles? Erotic ghost hands? Oh please.." she said turning the pages. "Erection hold? Rapid male orgasms? This is the type of crap that you could find in any backstreet Arcana shop3" She continued to muse to herself. It really wasn't a book of actual 'secret' magik at all. Mostly so far a collection of somewhat basic entry-level sex tricks. Though, as she did at least look through, the text of the spell descriptions were at least accurate and correct, nowt an error. That at least was something you couldn't expect from a much cheaper version from a shady vendor.

"Area of arousal? Yeah, I bet that's one you use a lot Klassa." She snarked. "Rope enchanting? Well it saves a lot of money at Anne Sommer's I guess. But I already know that, though I have other uses for it".

She was slowly giving up. Mokan was welcome to this, that was if he could read it. He was spending big, tens of thousands on her services to get this tome. In reality, these spells could be bought for only a few hundred at the right place. Maybe another hundred or two, and some embarrassment for having any errors corrected.

"Dildo enhancement? Remote clitoral stimulation? Well..." She said shifting a little, she had to give the book at least another thing, it was also well illustrated in places. The last two did something for her at least. The correct hand and tongue movements to make to activate the enchantment were stirring. Then there was how to paint the symbols around your pelvic region for the clitoral stimulation spell. She shifted in her seat and felt slightly moist in her panties at the sight of the exposed vulva in the book.

She sighed and put the book down for a second. She took two biscuits out of the packet and quickly munched them down along with a swig of the Apple soda.

"This better give me something, or I'm just going to turn in and get some rest," she said, picking the book back up to read through the last few entries.

She leaned back in the creaking chair, and she turned the page expecting another load of well-written, well-illustrated, yet disappointing material.

"Well, I don't think I want to try a spell that will summon an instant butt plug. And Magic gag is correct, and might have actually been useful if it wasn't shaped like a guy's junk" She said sighing. She then flicked through to get to the last entry. Her eyes suddenly shot open with surprise.

"Wait this is something new!" She exclaimed, reaching over for her notepad and pencil. "Solid State Memories," She said, reading the spells title out loud.

She placed the notepad on the pages of the book and started to transcribe the spell into her own notes.

"To re-experience any interaction with someone in the past through memory alone. to feel every moment, every touch, every lick, every kiss, every orgasm as if it was real all over again." She said, reading the spells first descriptive text, and writing it down into her notepad.

It was a magik drug spell, of sorts. Magik and drugs went together quite a bit. For non-magical races taking substances, often hallucinogens had been standard practice for millennia. The ability to see, and feel the unseen flow of magik was needed after all to understand and use it. For P'Twilk however, this was a much easier process, their brains were literal receivers and emitters of magik. Zanthia herself could see Magiks occasionally faintly without trying. If she concentrated slightly then she could see the full flow of the magik web. It was something that non-magical practitioners took years to learn, but to her, it was something she learned to do at three years of age.

This too meant that along with all their normal scheming, most if not all P'Twilk knew some magic and how to handle it. How to wrap themselves in it, and enhance their own auras in it. Their main trick of course was one of the hardest. Something normally only female P'Twilk could do due to their stronger connections to the web, and that was to slow their aging to a crawl. Normally a P'Twilk could only live as long as a human without it, but Zanthia was now three times that age, despite herself only looking like she was in her late twenties. Oh and of course, yes they used it for pure recreation as well. Why inhale, inject, or drink toxic substances? When one could just get a high by tapping into the right magik.

She noted down the last steps. There were only three to note, then a small warning.

"Always remember to clear your mind, and concentrate on the time with your lover, drifting away may take you to places less desirable." The final words of the spell read.

"OK, this actually looks easy to do," Zanthia said, and she looked around. She had time to kill after all, and looking at all this sex stuff had, after all, made her own nether regions kind of moist. She put the notepad and pencil back on the workbench and stood up off the chair. She took the book over to the bedside table, placing it open on the page with the spell.

"Well, time for bed anyway." She said slipping the knife off her leathers and then sliding it under the pillow. Something she did out of force of habit more than anything else, and then she opened up the top drawer of her bedside table.

"Well the spell said for the best results one should use a toy as an aid" She said, looking in and pulling out a small vibrator. She sighed remembering what she had seen earlier in Klassa's little hidey hole. It wasn't that she really wanted any of those things anywhere near her nether regions really. It was that this was normally all she had to hand, and frankly all she normally felt comfortable with. She put it on the bed and sat down on the side, and slowly she pulled down her panties. A quick kick with her foot and they joined the rest of her clothes. She then slid to the center of the bed and sat in the middle cross-legged in the lotus position. She then took one last look at the book.

"Close your eyes, chant the incantation three times, focus on the memory that you want to re-live." It read in glowing text.

"Should be easy," Zanthia said placing her paws on her knees palms up and pinching her thumbs and forefingers together. She breathed in, closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and started to relax.

"tew eb lliw sniol ym revol ym htiw emit ym rebmemer lliw I, tew eb lliw sniol ym revol ym htiw emit ym rebmemer lliw i, tew eb lliw sniol ym revol ym htiw emit ym rebmemer lliw I." She chanted softly and then breathed in. Her antenna glowed gently golden, and then her body emitted a slow golden glow. She cleared her mind and focused. It had been that one night, that one night where she had experienced a few things for the first time, the one night she would never forget.

Slowly her mind slipped, and the world that she was in, the safe room, slipped away.

Chapter 3

Zanthia found herself in the penthouse of the Bayside Park Hotel. The lighting was soft and there was gentle jazz music playing, and just occasionally over that she could hear an explosion of a firework outside. Such things when she was a child would have scared her but tonight she was calm, relaxed, even a little giddy from the small amount of rimson spice4 she had smoked from the hookah a little earlier.

She looked up into Alara's face, her soft eyes meeting hers as Alara felt around her sides and along her exposed back. She was wearing that tight-fitting night blue dress. She felt, perhaps slightly awkward in it. It was more revealing than anything she had worn before, but at this high fliers dinner party, she had gotten a few compliments. However, that too might have also been because she was also a P'Twilk, and some of the other guests at the event were all hoping for a chance of something with her. She however had preferred to keep out of the way as much as possible, sticking close to Leo and Alara. Small talk wasn't her thing, and she did her best to engage when she had to, with Leo or Alara bailing her out when it became too much, which they often did. After the dinner and drinks, another ordeal in itself as Zanthia wasn't used to such formal eating, well anything that involved plates of food in general. They had retreated back to the penthouse that Leo had rented for the evening. They just got back in time for the main firework display over the bay, the highlight of the mid-autumn festival, a key holiday for Lortaxians. For them lighting up the sky with colorful explosions was a sign of defiance to the coming dark winter months, and that they would never dull their spirits.

During it Alara had slid herself around Zanthia as they stood out on the balcony, she didn't resist this intimate gesture. As Alara pressed herself against her, as the booms and flashes of fireworks lit up the night sky, Alara told her the tale of their gods, the twins Idella and Marketh. How at this time the pair had a fight about the seasons. How Idella had argued for the need of autumn and winter, as they were a time for renewal, for things to come to an end, but how Marketh had complained that the dying of the light and bitterness of the cold would bring sorrow. Marketh however conceded to his sister, knowing the necessity of it all. But feeling sorry for their children, Marketh took the darkness of the night and filled it with stars. He told the Lortaxian people to fill this fresh canvas with light to warm their hearts and give them hope for the hard months ahead.

At least that's what Zanthia could recall. She was feeling Alara's heartbeat against her back, and she was too busy leaning into her to care.

The main fireworks display ended, and they all went back inside. She recalled seeing Leo smiling at the pair, before saying that he "needed to freshen up for a second." As he left them that's how they had turned to each other, and now found themselves in such a close embrace.

Zanthia lifted her tail slightly and flicked its silky back and white mass around Alara's legs. Alara reached down and placed a hand on Zanthia's butt pulling her up slightly. Zanthia let out a little squeak of surprise then wrapped her arms around Alara's fluffy green neck. They looked into each other's eyes for a second more before they kissed. Zanthia's vulpine-like muzzle meeting Alara's more dragon-like one. Their tongues met, and Zanthia could taste the wine Alara had earlier, the sweetness of it, the only time she could taste it. Zanthia's heart started to pound with excitement. She pulled closer, wrapping her own leg now around Alara. Zanthia savored it, this nice feeling, the excitement. She rarely ever got these chances, and when she did she wanted to make the most of them. The pair slowly ended their kiss for a second to catch their breaths, the world around them coming back into focus slightly.

Zanthia slid down too for a second just to relax, and she nuzzled her head in Alara's breasts.

"You're such a beautiful little thing Zan, did you know that?" Alara said softly stroking her chestnut hair.

It was flattery, but Zanthia smiled and accepted it. A year before and anyone could have said anything but that about her. Not every mission she did went to plan, and the day they had met it was one that definitely didn't. It had been a scouting job, and she had been mapping out a section of sewers. At the time she was still very new to Palavan city, and didn't realize that there were things here that called those sewers home. She didn't exactly recall much of what happened, only that whatever it was had a lot of barbs, a lot of tentacles, and a lot of venom. She somehow still must have come out on top, as the next thing she knew was that she was walking towards an open sewer outlet. Then the warmth of the sun as she rested caked in mud, and who knows what else, as she heard faint cries from somewhere.

The next thing she knew, and most solidly remembers was Alara's face smiling at her as she looked at her through her remaining eye. Then at Leo after she called him over. She remembered wiggling around, and that's when she found that part of one of her arms was now just a bandaged stump after the elbow. She had been very lucky to only have lost what she had. Her Magiks must have kept her alive and had stopped the spread of the venom from going any further than the initial strike points.

The pair told her that the road to recovery would be a long one, and it was. She had to learn to live with only one arm, and monocular vision, along with recovering her strength. However, she was in good hands, possibly the best in fact. Leo was a respected industrialist, the CEO of Mandtech the company that he had inherited from his father, and with his skills, he had grown it to being Palavan's number one company and employer. It had its hands in everything from steelworks to shipping, to defense, consumer goods, and medical tech, if it was something, he made sure Mandtech had a hand in it. They had, and still do face competition from foreign companies that had come to Palavan. However being a national company put it in a better spot to acquire lucrative government contracts, helping it maintain its number one spot.

Despite all of this, and acquired wealth Leo was still proudly Lortaxian. He didn't like showing off trappings of wealth much beyond keeping up appearances in the land of the ultra-rich. He still personally preferred to live as frugally as possible to keep in line with his heritage. Even his personal home was a flat inside Mandtech headquarters, rather than a mansion in the likes of Oakwood Heights. Lortax normally preferred if anything the value of family and tradition, over the acquisition of wealth. He was a stand-out, but not an exception to cultural rule.

Also like Zanthia, he too had lost his left arm, and also another body part, namely his left leg, which was missing below the knee. All was the result of an accident when he was working on an experimental machine when he was younger. He made some errors in his calculations and it went boom, and his limbs went with his work. He was determined not to die, and then not to waste away. He fought hard, he built his own prosthetic arm, and then leg. Then he stood back up and built up his company and his empire.

He had inspired Zanthia not to give up, and she, in turn, traded her tale, as he helped her build her arm. She impressed him with her skills, as hers made his metal limbs look crude by comparison.

But now they were here, and she was going in for another kiss with his wife. She accepted and Zanthia tasted that sweet taste again, as Alara this time felt up her back. Her fingers felt along Zanthia's spine, each touch electric until she hit the clasp that held Zanthia's dress up around her neck. Zanthia ignored her, enjoying the kiss too much to care as Alara undid the clasp. Zanthia let out a small eep! And slid out of the kiss with surprise as her dress suddenly felt loose. Alara gave her a sly smile in return.

"Step back for me sweetie" She said softly, and Zanthia obeyed, something she did whenever Alara told her to do something. Perhaps it was because Like Leo, she too was just as responsible for her recovery. Reminding her to take her medicine, bandaging her wounds, the way she kept watch over her. Like a mother Zanthia never really had, like a caring friend who was always concerned, even like a lover who would always listen, and she did. She had been the first of the two that she had opened up to about being 'broken', and Alara said that both she and Leo had their own issues that they fought with. How they helped Zanthia understand hers. Zanthia was forever thankful for that.

The dress fell down Zanthia's body, and Alara gave it a little help with a slight pull when it reached Zanthia's hips. It fell in a circle around Zanthia's feet, and she stood there in just her dark blue g-string panties. Alara drank it in for a second before Zanthia slid up her body, wrapping her arms again around her neck, and tail around her body for another kiss which Alara happily accepted. They locked themselves in this embrace for a few seconds, Alara now feeling around Zanthia's near-naked body before they slid out of this kiss again.

"Look Zanthia, I think you're going to get rather tired reaching up to me all the time, and I might do something to my neck." Alara said with a giggle, "I think it would be easier if we took it over there." She went on gesturing to the large bed in the penthouse. Zanthia looked at the bed, and then back to Alara, and smiled.

"OK," Zanthia said softly. Alara took Zanthia's hand softly in hers and walked over to the bed with her. Once there Zanthia slid herself onto the sheets and sat up as Alara stood there for a second.

"Well, it would be unfair if you were the only mostly naked one, you showed me yours so I should show you mine," Alara said loosening the straps that kept up her own dress, a rather fetching red number much like Zanthia's. The top fell down exposing Alara's own breasts and she then wiggled it free at her hips. As it hit the floor she kicked it to the side.

Zanthia smiled at what she saw.

Alara was quite the woman, even by Lortaxian standards. She was just a bit over six feet tall and athletically built. Zanthia took in her powerful legs, her belly which she had never seen, and the impressive abdominal muscles visible on her yellow belly fur. Her breasts were also much larger than Zanthia's, plump and full, nipples already somewhat pert from their previous fondling of each other. Now in little more than her own red G-string panties, she slid onto the bed on her knees to join Zanthia. She smiled cheek to cheek of her delta-shaped head, and Zanthia reached out to stroke the black fur at the sides of her cheeks. Alara's golden yellow eyes looked back softly at Zanthia as she did that, and she tilted her head into her lover's paw, her long fluffy black and white spotted ears tilting back. The light shone off the rib of golden scales that went along the top of her muzzle, to just between her eyes. As it did off her two sharp little horns off the top of her head, which for this evening she had decorated with silver rings.

"Oh little Zan, let's start where we left off?" She softly said, and Zanthia purred slightly and leaned in for the kiss that Alara accepted. It was much easier this time now that the pair were on the bed. Zanthia fully tasted her as their tongues met. Their arms reached around each other embracing, then exploring each other. Probing and feeling over each other's curves and muscles. Zanthia drinking in the powerful frame of her Lortaxian lover. They stopped for breath once in a while, but it wasn't long before the kissing stopped, and they started to taste each other's bodies. Alara really had a thing for Zanthia's neck and shoulders, while Zanthia herself couldn't get enough of Alara's breasts, they were so much larger than hers. They were almost pillow-like, and Alara's nipples were now pert and hard. Alara herself could only smile as Zanthia took her time to lick and suckle at them.

Slowly as they played with each other, Alara slowly got the better of Zanthia as they fondled. To Zanthia it was fine, when it came to sex she always felt more submissive. It was better that way, it eased her anxiety in these intimate encounters. She didn't have to worry if her lover was taking charge of making a mistake or doing something wrong, which always frightened her slightly. She let Alara slide around to her back, and pressed against her, smiling as she felt Alara's breasts against her shoulders. Zanthia tilted her head back allowing Alara to lick, and nibble at her neck, as she wrapped her silky black and white ringed tail around her.

Alara felt around Zanthia's breasts. She panted as Alara petted and squeezed them, rocking her head with delight when Alara gave her now pert nipples a tweak. She kept this up as Zanthia reached round to feel her flanks, and she closed her eyes soaking up the ecstasy that came from this.

Slowly while Alara kept up with cupping and fondling of one of her breasts, Zanthia felt Alara's other hand slide gently down her white belly fur. She felt her heart rush with excitement as she reached her waist. She spread her legs slightly in anticipation of what was to come.

"Good girl," Alara whispered to her, as her hand slipped under the elastic of Zanthia's panties. Zanthia panted again as she felt Alara's hand slide through her soft white pubic fluff down to her clit, and along her already moist labia. Alara then started to gently stroke along the flaps of Zanthia's vagina and rubbed her clit.

"Gosh! That's a nice small and soft pussy you have Zan." Alara whispered into Zanthia's leathery webbed ears as they folded back.

"Please, don't stop." Was all Zanthia could whimper back. Her heart now pounding to this electric touch as her nether regions were toyed with.

"Well, as you wish my sweet," Alara whispered back, and Alara intensified her play with Zanthia's vagina. Each touch felt more electric, wet, ecstatic as she played with the lips of her labia and clit. Zanthia's mind slowly got lost in the feeling, only to be brought around by Alara sliding a pair of digits into her slick vagina, causing her to moan. Zanthia fully pressed herself against her lover, and lifted her arms up, wrapping them round Alara's neck behind her, and she panted harder.

"Don't stop" She whimpered out again as she became even wetter. Alara intensified. Toying with her breast, and sliding her digits into her vagina more often along with tweaking her clit.

"Ah... Ah.." Zanthia whimpered out, "I'm going to... AAAAHHH!!"

Zanthia Squirmed and then convulsed in pure pleasure, her tummy rolled and flexed as she orgasmed. Her antenna glowed a pink hue, and there was a slight burst of something.

---

In the safe house, Zanthia shifted around relaxing slowly out of the lotus position. She slowly opened her eyes. Her natural eye was filled with a golden light, while her mechanical one also emitted the same, though it was somewhat muted through the glass and metal. Her antenna also still glowed, more softly but it was noticeable.

Slowly she shifted and sat on her knees. She only panted softly, mouth slightly open, and she slowly started to feel around herself. Her paws slowly started to slide down her sides, gently caressing them, stroking them. She pawed over her belly, and her tail started to swish behind her. Slowly she raised both her paws and started to cradle and paw at her breasts.

She was in a trance and totally unaware of what she was doing. She started to slowly tweak and rub her nipples as she started to softly moan. Each action was somewhat mimicking what she was experiencing in her head, her paws almost doing what Alara had been doing to her.

She took her natural paw off her breast, and slowly slid it down her belly, softly stroking it as she went. As she touched around she spread her legs slightly further apart, getting ready for what was to come. She passed it over her belly button and then slowly stroked it into her pubic fluff. She trembled as she reached her nethers, and like Alara had done she slowly touched and started to work her clit with the tip of her finger. Then emulating Alara's actions she started to stroke her now quite wet labia, going back to twitch and work on her clit.

Zanthia panted hard and started to let out a soft moan. She, like Alara had done then started to pick up pace, working faster.

"Please, don't stop." She whimpered out, Much like she had that night. "Don't Stop!"

Much like that night, she started to repeat what Alara had done. After giving a rub of her clit she slid two of her fingers into her now soaking vagina and moved them gently in and out for a bit before going back to work on her labia and clit again. She moaned and panted hard, picking up pace, moving her fingers into her vagina more often. More enthralled as the memories in her head brought her on autopilot to her climax.

"I'm going to... AAAAHHH!!" She cried out throwing her head back.

Her body then twitched and convulsed, likewise her belly rolled as it did before. She took her paw away from her worked nethers and spasmed with her hips and legs, squirting some of her juices onto her bed linen as she came.

Her mind was on an orgasmic high but her body was worked, and she tumbled back onto the pillow. She panted heavily from wanking herself this hard and heavy. However, her eyes and antenna still glowed. She was still under the influence of the magik, still lost in her memories.

---

"Ah... Ahh... ooohh... Oooh my!" Alara said behind her, stopping with her toying and pulling her soaked hand out of Zanthia's wet undies. Zanthia leaned forward panting, coming down from the orgasmic high. She turned her head so that she could see Alara with her one good eye.

"Are you OK?" Zanthia said looking slightly scared, over what had just happened.

Alara's eyes were wide open. There was a surprised look on her face, which she was rubbing the side of with her still-dry hand.

"What was that?" She asked, slightly timid yet surprised in tone.

"Sorry, shit, I totally forgot.. darn these encounters happen so infrequently it slips my mind!" Zanthia rolled around looking concerned, feeling like she had fucked up.

"Forgot what?" Alara said taking her arm away from her face, tilting her head and looking at Zanthia with an inquisitive look.

"Well, you know that I told you about how us P'Twilk had a thing about controlling magik, how we can bind it to our auras?" Zanthia said, both looking and sounding sheepish.

"Yes... I kind of got it" Alara said sliding close to her.

"Well... Erm... occasionally we can have a slight magikal outburst if we are in a heightened emotional state.. it doesn't happen often.. and we learn to control them... Others close by can.." Zanthia went on stumbling over her words and sliding away from Alara a little bit.

"What you are trying to say is, that you can share your orgasm?" Alara said slowly, following Zanthia in the slide.

"Well if you want to put it that way.. Yes." Zanthia said, now feeling quite nervous. "Did I fuck up by not telling you that?"

Alara leaned back put her dry hand on the side of her head, and let out a loud laugh.

"Are you kidding? That was fucking incredible hun!" She said giggling. "If I could cum myself each time I jerked off Leo, that would be amazing!" Zanthia relaxed and let out a shy giggle herself.

"You came too?" Zanthia asked.

"Oh, by the goddess yes! I just wasn't expecting to cum was all." Alara said reaching over to gently stroke Zanthia's cheek fur, and Zanthia purred slightly to the touch. She closed her eyes and the pair softly kissed again.

"Anyway, speaking of Leo... We were so wrapped up with each other we rather forgot about my husband." Alara said after they kissed.

"Oh, he said that he was going to freshen up?" Zanthia said slowly. She realized that it had been some time, more than enough time in fact for a guy, even a large Lortaxian with metal limbs to slide out of a stuffy dinner suit.

"It's OK you ladies really put on a show." Said a voice from just behind Zanthia. She looked over and saw Leo with her good eye. He was naked now and sitting in an easy chair of the penthouse suites lounge, smoking the hookah they had enjoyed before going out. He was also gently stroking his erect cock.

Zanthia's mind raced, she didn't quite know what to make of this. She was slightly all over the place, she didn't have sex that often, let alone be watched while she was being fucked. But also because she had been wrapped up so much with Alara that she had, for once, totally let her guard down. She had never noticed him come back, seen or heard him, even with his metal leg on the hard marble floor. Alara took notice, and placed her body next to hers, wrapping an arm around her waist reassuringly.

"I think it would be wrong if my husband just sat there, and didn't get to enjoy some fun too. Are you OK with that Zan?" Alara asked her as she softly stroked her tummy.

Zanthia, like all P'Twilk, said that she was bisexual, and confided that fact to Alara as they grew close. She was surprised when Alara said that while she was married she too was also interested in women. While Alara not having had sex with another woman in a while was understandable on account of her marriage, Zanthia's attraction to men was more complicated. Male sex was the first type of sex she had seen, hadn't wanted to see either during her time on the streets growing up. That's where she had to make a choice, steal to survive, or turn tricks the second that she was old enough. The things that she shouldn't have seen at such a tender age alone, were enough to convince her to get good at sneaking and theft. That and men weren't to be trusted with intimacy. So any encounters, and relationships she had when she was older were with other women.

However, still, those instincts inside her had always been with her. She had wondered what it was like with a guy, but she just didn't trust them.

Leo though, was a man that over the last few months she had grown to trust. If it wasn't for him she would have breathed her last in a pool of mud and pure shit. She gulped a little and leaned over, Alara had offered this to her as a question after all.

"Yes.." She softly said, and Alara looked back at her husband and nodded with a smile.

Leo took one last drag on the hookah and blew out a puff of smoke. He put the pipe of the hookah back onto its holder and stopped stroking his manhood. He stood up and flexed slightly.

Leo had a metal arm and part of his leg. The prosthetics of which were much cruder than the new arm that Zanthia had built for herself. The leg mostly had a strapping section that kept it attached below his knee and a strip of metal that was bent, and flattened. Its flattened base was sprayed into three to make a makeshift foot. His arm was a contraption of pulleys and wire around a skeletal frame, the metal hand of which only had three fingers. The latter of which did all work, though its movements were somewhat stiff compared to what Zanthia could do. However the rest of his body was still like most Lortaxian men, and Zanthia could see that now that he was naked in front of her. Powerfully built, six and a half feet tall and dragon-like, save for the lack of a tail. Covered in green fur with a yellow patch that ran down his chest, and into his inner legs.

He cocked back his long fluffy neck and took off his spectacles that were on his dragon-like face. Being male it was more rounded in the muzzle, and had a more square appearance overall, but still had many of the same attributes as his wife's. Black cheek fur, long black fluffy ears with a white spot in the middle, scales that ran down his nose, and soft golden eyes. The only other major difference was his horns, which were long, somewhat flat save for the point upwards, and like his ears had a distinctive white spot in the middle.

He placed his spectacles on the table with the hookah and walked over. He was slightly clumsy on his leg as he made his way over to the bed where Zanthia and Alara sat.

As he reached the bed Alara leaned up, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him which he accepted. They pulled out the kiss and Leo stroked his wife's ear.

"Nice of you as always my dear, but it would be rude to leave out our guest." He said looking over and gesturing his biological arm to Zanthia.

"Yes it would be." she softly said to her husband, and she slid off him back to the bed smiling at Zanthia.

Zanthia gulped, and she had to stand up a little on the bed to reach up to Leo who smiled back at her. She too slid her arms around his neck and leaned in. This was her first time kissing a guy ever, she didn't know what to expect, and her heart started to race again a little. She hesitated for a second before accepting. Their tongues met and she could taste the intoxifying spice on his breath. It was warm and nice, just like it had been with Alara. She slid out of the kiss as he felt around her small body, and she smiled.

"She's quite the kisser, don't you think love?" Alara said, and Leo nodded as Zanthia slipped down back on the bed with her.

"Oh, she is very sweet!" Said Leo in reply.

Zanthia could only blush for a second as Alara slipped her arm around her back, and pulled her face close to hers. "you know you're really cute when you do that dear." Alara then said, giving Zanthia's black nose a playful tap with her finger. Alara then reached over to gently stroke her husband's manhood that was being presented in front of the pair.

"Well since we've gotten my husband quite eager to join us, let's play a game shall we?" Alara went on, giving Zanthia a sly grin.

"Game?" Zanthia asked, a little bit confused. "What do you mean by a game?"

"Oh simple really, the one that makes my husband cum is the winner!" Alara said, playfully continuing to stroke her husband's presented cock.

"And how do we do that?" Zanthia asked, feeling somewhat sheepish.

"Like this Hun," she said, beckoning her husband to step forward. She gave Zanthia a smile and turned to her husband. Alara licked her lips, opened her mouth, and then slowly slid her husband's cock into it. Wrapping her tongue around it and then her lips fully, she sucked slowly and gently back and forth. Zanthia's eyes lit up slightly as she watched Alara work on her husband's penis, going gently back and forth. Closing her eyes as she slid it in and out of her muzzle.

"Oh my," Zanthia whispered, as Alara gave her husband's cock one last stroke with her mouth. She opened her eyes and then slipped it out. She caught her breath and turned to Zanthia. Leo turned slightly to present his now slick cock to her.

"Your turn now dear," Alara said, as Zanthia stared down Leo's cock. It was large, as to be expected from most Lortaxian men. A good seven and a half inches at least, and somewhat thick. Zanthia gulped and her heart raced. This was a lot considering it was her first time with a real cock.

"OK then, here goes," She said nervously blushing, and she opened her muzzle. Slowly she slid Leo's cock into her muzzle. Her tongue licked its tip first, then opened as wide as she could to take as much of his length in. She slid as much of her tongue around its underside as possible. Then she gently closed her mouth slightly, being aware of her little sharp teeth and Leo's delicate manhood. She then emulated what she had seen Alara do, and she sucked on it in a back-and-forth motion. It tasted nice, a little of the wine-like flavor that Alara had left but also a somewhat salty and warm feel, and she closed her eyes taking it in. She took it deeper and deeper as much as she could, and she could feel Leo place a hand on her shoulder as her little nose started to come close to his pubic fluff.

She gave it one last stroke and slid out licking the underside of Leo's cock. She then took a gulp of fresh air.

"Your turn!" She said panting to a surprised Alara.

"Well, you learn quick!" Alara said back, as Leo presented his cock in Alara's direction now.

"She's going to be hard to beat dear, that muzzle of hers is quite tight," Leo said jokingly between pants.

"Well then, it looks like I will have my work cut out for me," Alara said stroking Zanthia's side, as she licked the tip of her husband's cock and then slipped it back into her mouth. Zanthia now started to feel slightly excited by all of this. So she shifted her own legs apart a little so she could toy with her own nethers while Alara worked away. She looked at his cock going in and out of Alara's mouth, panting a little as she waited her turn. She then took a look up at Leo, who was smiling back at the sight of her pleasuring herself in front of him.

Alara finished up and took Leo's cock out again for another breath. She gave it a quick lick of its tip before Leo shifted it back in Zanthia's direction.

"Your turn again dear," Alara said softly. Zanthia didn't waste as much time, her anxiety over the situation now faded. She stopped pleasuring herself and gave Leo's cock a quick lick before sliding it back into her own muzzle, with more enthusiasm this time. She closed her eyes and sucked harder, deeper this time. She almost thought that it was going to hit the back of her throat, as she really started to work it. However there was something different this time, she felt his cock start to throb and jerk slightly to her motions, and Leo was starting to thrust his hips slightly. She opened her eyes, and through her one good eye, she could see that he was panting heavily, making moans as he did so.

Zanthia was almost about to stop. She opened her mouth and pulled back just a little so that Leo's cock was half out. That is when she felt it, something warm, thick, sticky, and salty splashed into her mouth, and over her tongue.

"AAAHHH!!" Leo exclaimed, and Zanthia took his cock out of her mouth with surprise. She caught just one glimpse of Leo's cock, before it shot a stream of thick white cum into her face.

"AAAAHH!!" Leo said again taking his hand off Zanthia's shoulder to stroke his throbbing and cumming cock. Zanthia tried to bring her paws to her face to wipe off the seed that she had been coated with, but it was to little avail as she was hit again in the face by a further stream of hot cum.

"EEEPP!" Zanthia exclaimed as she was hit by the barrage of warm Lortax cum.

"Aaahhh!" Leo panted out ignoring her and letting out a third and final bolt of seed. Not as much this time and not as hard, but it was enough to soak Zanthia's torso and breasts in more hot white cum.

---

Zanthia rolled around on the sheets. Her body was still coming down from the orgasm that she had given herself while under the effects of the spell. Slowly she picked herself up and slid around to sit at the end of the bed. She placed her paws on the edges of the bed, and just sat there for a few seconds panting softly.

Zanthia then looked over, and her glowing golden eyes saw the vibrator that she left on the bed. She reached out and picked it up with her metal paw. She put it in front of her glowing eyes and looked at it for a second. Almost as if she was in control she pressed the button at the bottom of the vibrator to test the function, and it buzzed in her hand. She flicked it off again and it suddenly stopped. With that, a grin crossed her face.

Zanthia shimmied her butt so that she was sitting half on and half off the side of the bed. She twirled the toy so that its tip was facing her muzzle, in much the same way as when Leo had presented his cock to her. She slowly opened her muzzle wide and slowly she slid the vibrator into it. It was in an emulation of what she had done with Leo's cock. Of course, the toy was much smaller and by far less girthy than Leo's erect manhood. However, she tried her best to wrap her tongue around it, and almost dangerously deep throat it as much as possible.

To anyone watching, that was if anyone could watch, what Zanthia was doing would now seem a bit comical. The act of fellatio with a toy was already that, but with one rather small it seemed doubly so. It was an act that showed she was being driven by her memories, to act out what she was experiencing as best as possible.

She took the toy out of her mouth for a second to catch her breath, and slowly she slid her natural paw down to her nethers to gently toy with them again. She gave a soft pant as she touched them as they were still sensitive from her last masturbation session. With her mouth once again open she closed her eyes and slid the toy back into her muzzle.

She kept on it again as much as last time, working the toy with her mouth. Sliding it in and out, slightly in, then quite deep. She kept pawing at her nethers, mostly fingering her clit. Her tail wagged happily across the sheets behind her as she lost herself more and more in her actions.

Zanthia then bucked a bit from a slight orgasm, and she took the toy out as she had with Leo's cock and held it there in front of her for a second. She tilted her head back and closed her mouth. It was like she was pretending to be showered in imaginary seed, as a wide smile ran along her face.

When Leo came on her she had been surprised by it, but her actions here made it seem like she enjoyed the experience of being soaked in cum.

---

Zanthia, just knelt there blinking, her face was covered with Leo's seed as were her breasts. Leo Just panted, his erection waning a little as his cock leaked cum from its tip.

"I think you won Zan!" Alara said laughing, and pushing herself off the bed "I'll fetch a towel for you!" she strutted off giggling in the direction of the Penthouses bathroom.

Leo flopped down to sit beside her as she started to wipe his cum off her face.

"Did I do something wrong?" Zanthia said in a slightly worried tone to Leo, she felt that she somehow didn't get that quite right. Leo pulled himself beside her and put an arm around her reassuring her a bit.

"No, you did fine Zan, you're actually quite good with giving head with that tight little muzzle of yours." He said back giving her nose another little playful tap with his metal finger.

"Well OK!" Zanthia said, tilting her cum covered face to Leo and giving him a sheepish smile in return.

"Anyway, looks like Alara forgot to tell you something." He said smiling back.

"What's that?" Zanthia asked, wiping off a little more cum from her face fur.

"That Lortaxian guy's can blow like a fire hydrant when we're really worked up." He said with a giggle.

"Yeah it's quite a thing," Zanthia said, not quite knowing what to say in return as Alara came back holding a towel. She handed it to Zanthia who took it, and quickly started to clean off her coated white and vulpine red fur. Alara cuddled up to her and gently pawed her back. She looked at her husband and held two fingers out with her hand. He smiled and nodded back, as he started to stroke his cock again.

Zanthia wiped the last of the cum off her, and she threw the seed-soaked towel on the floor. It was house cleanings problem, and she was sure that they had seen and dealt with worse things.

"Well Zanthia, since you won our game, I think it's time for your prize" Alara softly said to Zanthia.

"Oh? What's that?" Zanthia asked, tilting her head at Alara.

"Getting to choose who out of the pair of us you want to fuck." Leo said with a soft smile.

"Oh!" Zanthia said, blushing a little. She was sure that this had been Alara's, and possibly Leo's idea whatever had happened. But she played along all the same.

Zanthia looked left and right at the pair as they snuggled up beside her on the bed. The reality was that the question had more than one answer, and she hated choices like this. Of course, neither was an option as well, and they could end everything right here. However, feeling Alara place her hand on her butt, and knowing that with all that they had done already this evening, it was perhaps a bit silly.

Alara, she was after all a woman, Zanthia's preference, and she trusted her. She always felt more comfortable with a woman after all, and that made her the natural choice in this situation. However they already had sort of fucked, just Zanthia herself would be in charge. That did make her blood run cold with the prospect.

Leo, well he was a guy, but for once one that she did trust in this situation. He was kind-hearted and more likely going to take charge. However that said, it really would be her first time being fucked by a guy. Looking at what he had between his legs, well it was really a lot for a first go. She gulped at the prospect of that. He had pretty much filled her muzzle with his cock, what would that be like in her vagina? Would it be nice, or would it hurt?

"Well?" Alara said giving her cheek fur a nuzzle. She really was putting Zanthia on the spot and she knew it. She had to make a choice, here and now, and her indecision was starting to tear at her. She gave one look at Alara and then back at Leo, who was now feeling along her thighs. She closed her eyes, bit her tongue slightly, then looked at Leo and placed her paw on his thigh.

Alara looked at Leo a little surprised, as did Leo looking back at her. Then Alara smiled.

"Well I wasn't quite expecting you to choose Leo knowing your preference, are you sure you can handle a penis like his?" Alara asked, knowing somewhat that this was Zanthia's first time.

"Well... I have tried dildos, and I did do it with a former partner who used a strap-on." Zanthia said to Alara "Nothing quite as big as Leo's, but there's a first time for everything right?"

"Like with an actual guy as well?" Alara said with a laugh.

"Yeah, that too," Zanthia said, with a slightly nervous laugh in return.

"Well OK then, if you are sure," Alara said slowly standing up, and taking Zanthia's arm beckoning her to do the same, which she did. Zanthia pulled next to her, and Alara put her arm around her in a gentle embrace. She looked at Leo who was watching the pair, and starting to stroke his cock again to get back his erection. "Are you ready for round two dear?" Alara asked him.

"Yeah, just going to have to get warmed up again," Leo said, he was looking like he was about to shift for something. "Knowing where this is going I should also get a condom." he went on, looking at the small amount of luggage the pair had brought with them.

"I don't think you need it," Zanthia said, turning her head so that she could see Leo with her one good eye. Leo in turn cocked his head and gave a slight look of concern to Zan.

"Really, are you sure?" Leo asked, with a little concern in his voice.

"Yes, it's OK," Zanthia said, trying her best to sound reassuring. "We can do it with other species easily and without problem, but if you're worried about knocking me up.. well.. erm.. as far as I know, we've never been able to have any kids with other races." She went on slightly nervously with this. Not really being any kind of subject matter she talked about, or felt comfortable with.5

"Well OK, but what about you know, other concerns?" Leo asked softly.

"Again, there's no sexually transmitted diseases that I know we've been able to catch off other species," Zanthia said, hoping that it was the right answer to Leo's question.

"Well OK," Leo said shifting. "Just remember what it was like when I came on you, I'm most likely to go like that again, and it's going to be just as messy." He said, standing up slightly ungainly on his metal leg. "I just want to make sure that you are going to be OK." he went on just stepping over, as he watched his wife who had been looking a little concerned herself. He stood there and started to stroke his cock again, it having gotten slightly limp again during their conversation.

"It's OK Zan, he's just making sure that you're going to be fine with everything," Alara whispered into Zanthia's leathery ear. "Now, there's something you need to do, you've got to lose these." she went on, her finger sliding under and pulling slightly the thin side strap of Zanthia's panties. "Besides, you've made quite a mess of them yourself dear."

Zanthia gulped, and her heart raced again as Alara said that.

"Oh OK.. that would make sense," Zanthia said swishing her tail, with a little excitement. She hooked the thumb of her own metal arm around the strap on the other side of her panties, and with Alara's help pulled them down to her knees. She gave a wiggle of her legs and they fell to the floor. Her last sliver of dignity dropped, and she was now buck-naked with the pair.

"It's alright, you look so cute," Alara said softly to her, and Zanthia blushed through her facial fur. Alara giggled and kissed Zanthia's cheek fur. "Now that two of the three of us are naked, it would be rather rude if I remained the last one with any clothing on." Alara then said, taking a step back.

Zanthia looked around with her good eye. She saw Alara pull down her own panties, which were also slightly wet from the inadvertent orgasm that she had given her. She slid them off over her legs and then teasingly held them for a second before throwing them in the direction of the seat where Leo had been. She smiled and gently spun Zanthia around towards her. Zanthia's heart raced with the now fully naked Lortaxian woman in front of her, and she didn't resist when Alara went in for another mouth-to-mouth kiss.

"You're something amazing too," Zanthia said nervously, as she slid out of the kiss. Alara smiled back and gestured to the bed. Zanthia nodded and the pair slid back onto the sheets, Alara scooted near the top end with the pillows and sat on her knees, Zanthia followed over, crawling along the covers, her tail slightly to one side with excitement. It also gave Leo a good view of her privates as he stood watching the two getting comfortable.

"Here Zan," Alara said, gesturing by gently patting her hand on her thigh. Zanthia looked a little confused, but she had a good idea of what Alara was intending. She crawled up to her and then rolled over, her back to the sheets but head and shoulders resting on Alara's thighs.

"Relax Hun," Alara said slowly looking down and stroking her face. "This could be amazing for all of us if you do your thing again."

"What thing?" Zanthia asked a little confused, then her eyes lit up and she then felt slightly embarrassed. "Oh that thing!" she said, her face going a little red.

"Yes, that thing," Alara said with a smile, as she continued to softly pet her face. Alara continued to gently paw around Zanthia's face, shoulders and breasts, relaxing her, and putting her at ease. Zanthia occasionally pawed back feeling at Alara's flanks and breasts that were above her. She wiggled slightly and purred at the touching. So lost in Alara's attention she almost didn't notice Leo straddle up on the end of the bed. He was stroking his cock which was now hard again. Alara looked at her husband who was now at Zanthia's feet. Zanthia raised them up but kept them together.

"You wanted to experience him?" Alara asked, noticing Zanthia's action.

"Well yes.." Zanthia said slightly nervously.

"Well then, show my husband that delicate little flower of yours," Alara said stroking Zanthia's face. Zanthia gulped and blushed, and she gently spread her legs showing Leo her still-slick pussy.

Leo smiled and straddled over Zanthia, and her heart started to race again as he brought his face close to hers.

"My, you do have quite a delicate little thing don't you?" He said, his lips coming close to Zanthia's own.

"Yes, it is rather.." Zanthia said again, not really being sure what to say. Leo put one of his real fingers under her chin.

"Are you still sure you want to be fucked?" He asked her softly.

"Yes." Zanthia whimpered nervously in reply.

"OK I'll try to be as gentle as possible, this could be a lot Zan." Leo went on, his words soft.

"Please do." Zanthia Whimpered back.

"I will... don't worry little Zan." He said reassuringly, almost as someone else did long ago, and he drew in and the pair briefly kissed. Zanthia once again tasted the spice on his breath. They slowly slipped out of the kiss and Leo slowly started to work his way down Zanthia's body, he nuzzled and licked at her neck, causing Zanthia to purr gently. She gently closed her eyes as he worked his way to her chest, pawing her breasts and licking her nipples. Zanthia started to softly pant and moan as he did so, and he stayed there for a little while continuing to let her writhe in the pleasure. Zanthia enjoyed this and it relaxed her, so far Leo hadn't been any different from any female lover that she had previously, and she started to smile as she panted.

Leo then stopped, and Zanthia slowly opened her eyes to his smiling face. She kept panting as the pleasurable feeling was yet to fade. Leo looked his eyes up at his wife, and he then slowly started to work his way down her belly licking at her white front fur his hands feeling around her flanks. As he reached her belly button licking it happily, Alara's hands came down to continue fondling her soft breasts, and to tweak her nipples that were now hard again. Zanthia looked at her for a second and saw her smiling back, she panted with the continuing toying of her chest, then looked back at Leo.

He passed his snout lower below her belly button, to her pelvic region, and then snuffled it into her soft pubic fluff. He slipped off the end of the bed as he did this, and grabbed the top of Zanthia's thighs. Zanthia panted as Leo pulled her legs a little further apart, and drew his snout closer to her nether regions. So far nothing Leo had done was in any way, different to what any other female lover had done with Zanthia in the past. This further put her at ease as she knew well what was coming next, even Zanthia herself had done this.

"Your pussy smells nice Zanthia, sweet like peaches. I want to know if it tastes the same." Leo said smiling. Zanthia could feel his warm breath against her delicate parts as he said that.

"Please do." Zanthia whimpered, as Alara started to slowly stroke her face again. She panted and looked down her eyes half closed, and she could see Leo slowly closing his as he leaned fully in, almost nuzzling her privates. She fully closed her eyes and that's when she felt it, the tip of Leo's tongue. It gave one slight little lick of her clit, it felt electric and she softly panted. He then licked again this time lower passing his tongue slowly up her already wet labia, and once again across her clit. She moaned more and started to pant a little harder. Alara kept the pawing of Zanthia's upper body going as well. While what Leo was doing was no different to what any female lover Zanthia had in the past had done, it was the fact that she was getting the attention of a second lover was also something new, something nice. Leo licked again, she felt his tongue slide a little over her delicate tail hole, then somewhat harder against her labia and clit. She moaned and gasped, and Leo took that as the call to up the tempo.

He started to lap harder, each lick got a little faster too. Each lapping of her labia, each flick of her clit with his tongue, even each slight lapping of her tail hole brought more pleasure, more joy. She panted harder and faster as he hungrily lapped at her pussy. Each time his tongue hit her clit, she moaned and panted even harder. She threw her head back and started to squirm slightly in ecstasy. Alara took her hand off her breasts and grabbed Zanthia's own natural arm as she flapped it across the bed sheets. She quickly worked her hand up Zanthia's arm and clasped Zanthia's hand through her fingers reassuringly.

Leo worked even harder on her tender pussy. Lapping harder, spreading her labia a little more with each lick, Zanthia let out a little squeak of delight as she felt his tongue slightly enter her vagina itself. Even while he held her thighs her legs still kicked out, twitched and her toes spread.

She was so close to cumming, she could feel it. Her tail flicked across the sheets, and her metal hand grabbed a fist full of the linen, as she came closer and closer to her orgasm.

Then without warning as she was this close, Leo suddenly stopped. It took her by surprise. Her mind swelled, still filled with euphoria from the attention she had received. Why did he stop when she was so close? Then as the orgasmic fog that was on her mind started to clear, she remembered why. Leo leaned back wiping his lips that were slightly covered with Zanthia's juices, and she saw his hard cock. She panted hard, he hadn't eaten her out to make her cum as a female lover would have, he had done so to get her ready. To get her to want what was coming next, and she wanted it, Leo and his now throbbing cock.

Her feet settled back on the sheets, and she looked back at Alara who was still smiling back at her. She nodded her head at Zanthia as she lay there panting in the direction of her husband. Zanthia got the message, and she shuffled forward so that her legs were now dangling off the side of the bed so that Leo had good access to her pussy from where he was kneeling. Part of her tail rolled off the side as well and it flicked in anticipation, as Alara shuffled up so that Zanthia could once again use her thighs as a pillow.

Leo limbered up and grabbed Zanthia's thighs again, and gently parted them as much as possible. He heaved up and flopped his erect cock onto her belly. Zanthia panted in anticipation, his cock tip was almost up to her belly button and it was fairly thick. He started to gently rub it back and forth over her pubic fluff, and she could feel his heavy yellow-furred balls knocking against her now eager nether regions. She felt a small amount of anxiety well up. She had no idea how this would go, would it be nice? Would it hurt? Questions flooded her mind, but he had gotten her worked up enough that she wanted it. Alara took her real hand once more, and Zanthia wrapped her fingers around it. It was a sign of reassurance and she had done it before when Zanthia was bedridden and recovering. Each time she had to have something painful done, or was coming down after treatment. Alara was a trained nurse, and she assumed that she had done the same with Leo after his accident, as that was how they met and fell in love. She looked at Alara and gave a gentle nod, then back at Leo who was teasing her with his cock.

"Ready?" Leo asked Zanthia softly.

"Yes." Zanthia softly panted back, along with giving a slight nod and gulp.

Leo softly nodded and pushed Zanthia's thighs forward and out so that her pelvic region was slightly lifted, and her pussy spread. He pulled back allowing his now fully hard cock to drop down, and he pushed his hips slightly forward. Zanthia gave out a slight gasp as she felt the tip of his cock against her labia.

"Please?" Zanthia whimpered, and Leo nodded in reply. He started to gently push with his hips. Zanthia moaned as she felt her labia stretch as he started to slide into her vagina. It felt tight around his warm pulsing cock. Leo slowly pushed a bit more in, and Zanthia gripped Alara's hand tightly. It was a mix of both pleasure and a bit of pain. Joyful warm sensations of Leo's manhood filling her up, with the feeling of her insides being stretched. Leo moaned and panted too as he savored her tightness.

"It's OK, you're doing fine sweetie," Alara said softly to Zanthia, who gritted her teeth as she felt the tip of Leo's cock almost pressing against her cervix. Zanthia tugged on Alara's hand, a sign that she still wanted to continue, and Alara nodded to her husband who slowly pulled back to begin his thrusting.

Zanthia moaned. Leo's cock was a lot but as he got a rhythm going with his thrusting, the easier it got. She got more slick, more comfortable. Each push into her was ecstatic, electric even. She had toys in her before, but they didn't even compare.

Leo picked up pace. He pushed her back slightly and lifted her hips higher so he could thrust deeper, and harder. Zanthia could now feel the tip of his cock pound on her cervix like a hammer. Her tail swished uncontrollably now that it was somewhat freer, and her metal arm gripped the sheets even more tightly.

"Ahh!!! AHHH!!!! AAAAHH!!!" She moaned out loudly in response to each pounding thrust. Her head swung back, its back almost burying into Alara who softly petted the side of her face.

Leo leaned hard in. Panting hard himself, he took his arms off her thighs and placed them on her hips, gripping them tightly. Zanthia instinctively tried to wrap her legs around Leo the best she could.

They were coming close, she could feel it. She felt the slight new sensation of something warm and fluid in her vagina. She gritted her teeth knowing what was about to happen.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!" Zanthia moaned as Leo gave one solid deep thrust. She suddenly felt intensely warm inside, filled up, as Leo huffed hard and shot his load into her tender vagina. Each pump was intense, and she could feel it burst past her cervix and flooding into her womb. She Twitched and convulsed herself tightening her legs around Leo, her fingers gripping Alara's hand tightly as she orgasmed. Her antenna pulsed a bright pink again. Alara braced and there was another pulse that enveloped the three.

For a second the trio, just stopped there, all wrapped up in each other. Zanthia gasped and she formed a wide-open smile panting. She slowly opened her eyes to Leo who was still over and inside her, panting hard and heavy.

"Wow! Alara wasn't kidding! That thing you can do Zanthia, it's amazing!" Leo said through labored huffs.

"What do you mean? That thing of yours was amazing too Leo." Zanthia said back, her own breath also heavy and labored.

"Well, I just do that, your thing? None of us could do that, never felt that in my life." Leo said, starting to recover his breath. He slowly backed away and lowered Zanthia back onto the sheets. Zanthia slowly released her legs from him. She gently let them flop over the side of the bed, with her swishing tail between them as Leo pulled out. As his cock popped out Zanthia felt it. She twitched again to the sensation, with her pussy being so aroused and worked. She also felt something else, a heavy spurt as Leo's seed leaked heavily out of her now fucked nethers. Some splattered on the floor but she could feel the warm sticky seed leak out onto her, over her ass, her tail hole, even onto the fine silky fur of her tail.

Leo stood up for a second. This allowed Zanthia to see his cock, dripping with both her fluids and his, its erection starting to wane. He shook his head, perhaps still feeling some of Zanthia's feedback, and then smiled as he slid back onto the sheets with the pair.

Zanthia looked back to Alara, her face too was full of ecstatic bliss. She too must have gotten a full blast of that feedback from when she came from Leo's pounding. She was still gripping Zanthia's hand, but their grips loosened and fell away. She looked back at Zanthia panting.

"That was even better than last time little Zan." She said leaning back and gesturing with her head to follow her husband who was sliding towards the pillows. Zanthia pushed herself up, her body still trembling a bit from the heavy breeding that it had just received. Alara slid up to lie on the pillows, and she patted her hand on the space between her and Leo. Zanthia crawled, it felt hard as her body was somewhat exhausted, and her sodden nethers were still feeling worked from the fucking. She thankfully didn't have to go that far, and without effort, she flopped between the pair, then rolled on her back.

The pair snuggled around her and wrapped their arms around her, She purred a little and then she kissed Alara, then over to Leo.

The pair snuggled up and wrapped their arms around her. She purred a little and then she kissed Alara, then over to Leo.

"Thank you," Zanthia said after she kissed Leo, still panting a little between words.

"No, we should thank you Zan," Alara said softly into her leathery ears from behind her.

"Why?" Zanthia asked, her own voice soft. "You're the ones that saved me, I should be the one.."

"Because you came into our lives, and we love you," Leo said wrapping his arms tightly around her, as Alara did the same. Zanthia blushed, her eyes wide open, and she softly sunk into the pair's embrace. It was warm... Comforting...

Zanthia's mind started to swell remembering this. The room became hazy, that feeling. It had been like something long ago, a sensation in her heart that she had almost long forgotten. Never felt much aside from times like these.

The room swirled and started to fade into a kaleidoscopic mix of colors. Something ran cold, and Zanthia felt herself floating in a sea of colors and textures. She was no longer on that bed, no longer in Leo's and Alara's embrace. She was rushing, falling through a sea of space and time almost. That's what it felt like. She was still naked and exposed, but somehow she was starting to feel smaller, more vulnerable.

Then darkness.

---

Zanthia having taken in her mock cum covering flopped backwards onto the bed. The toy that she had in her hand rolled out of it onto the sheets. She just laid there for a bit eyes closed, antenna still glowing in pure bliss. She purred softly, and slowly she reached up with her natural arm to feel around her breast, and to tweak her pert nipple. She opened her mouth a little and softly panted as she recalled those times just after she had sucked off Leo. Her mind was with getting fully naked with the pair and seeing Alara finally fully in the nude, the sight of which excited her even in this state.

She continued to purr, but slowly she opened her still glowing eyes. The mental autopilot of the Magik knew where things were going next. She tilted her head to spot the toy that had rolled out of her metal paw and reached along the sheets to grab it. She had to raise herself up a little to reach it, but once it was in her metal paw she flopped back on the pillow, shuffling around to get comfortable. She lay there for a second and raised her knees up but kept them together.

Zanthia held out the vibrator in front of her and switched it on, it emitted a soft buzz and trembled in her paws. Slowly she lowered it between her breasts and she started to move it around them. First, she gently moved it round the sides of them, and slowly to her pert nipple. She panted softly at first, but as the vibration got closer to her nipple she started to huff louder. She let out a moan as she touched the absolute tip of her nipple, with the tip of the vibrator. Finished with the first she repeated the process with her other breast. It was of course a vain attempt to emulate the attention that Leo had given them.

She parted her legs slowly, then worked the vibrator down her belly in the way that Leo had with his tongue. She passed it slowly over her belly button, and she widened the parting of her legs as she slid it through her pubic fluff. The last part caused her to emit a moan as the vibrations from the toy could be felt by her nethers. Zanthia then twisted the toy down so that its pink shaft was in line with her labia.

"Please do!" She whimpered, as she slowly and gently pressed the toy against her clit and labia. She let out a soft moan and stroked upwards with the toy in the same way Leo had done with his tongue. She slowly started to repeat this motion, press on, press off. However, she started to pick up the pace like Leo had done. Zanthia also started to mimic some of his other actions, by occasionally letting it tickle her tail hole, and gently sliding the tip into her vagina.

As she did this she got more excited, panted more, and made more moans. Her feet kicked off the sheets and into the air from time to time wildly, Leo not being there to restrain them. However, as she could feel herself coming closer to her climax she suddenly stopped and took the toy away from her nethers.

Her feet came to a rest on the bed now, and she parted her legs further. She took the toy and spun it around so that its tip was facing her face. Her metal arm reached out and grabbed a fist full of her bed linen. She lowered the toy down onto her pubic fluff, and gently ran it just over the top, stirring the fine fluffy fur. She slowly looked down at what she was doing with her part open glowing eyes.

"Yes," Zanthia said softly, and she slowly raised her legs up high, parting them as much as possible. She slipped the toy down and pressed its buzzing tip against her labia. She moaned as she felt the buzzing sensations against her wet tender parts.

Zanthia then slowly started to slide the toy into her vagina. Its feelings were nice as it buzzed away, but it hardly compared to Leo's manhood. It was small, somewhat thin, there was no way that it would fill her up like he did. There was also no way that it could reach up and hit her cervix like he did either. Somehow the mental autopilot of the spell controlling her realized this. To make up for the toy's inadequacies she drove it in as deep as she could and moved it up and down.

She let out a little moan and a little kick with her leg. What she was doing in reality wasn't keeping up with what was going on in her head. She started to move the toy in and out, and up and down, all in the best emulation of Leo fucking her damp tender parts.

She upped her pace, and her tail started to swish along the sheets with each repeating cycle that she made with the toy. Her legs started to kick up uncontrollably without Leo to hold onto them, or for them to wrap around. Her metal paw that was filled with linen grabbed it tighter, scrunching it hard between her fingers. She moaned and panted with each increased rotation in her nethers, which were now so wet with her juices they were making a loud 'Slop-slop' sound as she worked them.

Then as she drove in the toy she locked up, legs as high as she could take them and she threw her head back. She rammed the buzzing toy into her vagina as hard as she could. Even ramming in some of the round handle to make sure that she was as filled up as possible.

"AAAHHHH!" She cried out loudly, as her body convulsed and flexed as she orgasmed. She took her paw off the toy, and the flexing convulsions of her worked vagina caused it to pop out like a cork onto the sheets. It was followed by a large squirt of her juices that soaked her nether regions, inner leg fur, ass, tail hole, and silky tail fur.

She let her grip go of the linen and slumped down onto the bed panting. Her legs crashed down, and the toy that she had been using bounced up and along the sheets still buzzing away. She panted, still high off the heavy orgasm that she had given herself.

But her eyes and antennae were still glowing. She was still under the effects of the spell.

She looked over as her panting started to lower, and she looked at the buzzing toy. It must have been annoying her subconscious, because she reached out, grabbed it with her metal hand and switched it off. She dropped it close to her, and she went back to softly panting on the pillow.

Then suddenly her eyes shot wide open. The golden glow that they, and her antenna, had suddenly turned an icy blue. She started to shiver, and she wrapped her arms around herself. She let out a little cry and a wail and rolled over to one side like she was now experiencing something painful. She rolled her legs up so that she was now in the fetal position, and her long silky black and white tail wrapped through her legs and around her, its end passing by her head. She was closing her eyes hard, maybe in some kind of pain, and her antennae were now pulsating that icy blue tone.

"Please make it stop! Please make it stop! Please make it stop!" She whimpered out, almost in a child-like voice.

---

She started to see again and things felt different, she was clothed again. She could feel the soft cotton against her body, but she could also feel that she was smaller, younger. She could see through both her eyes again, and her arm, the one she had lost, was real again. She looked at her clothing, it was a light blue dress, a little one, and it had a little pink heart on its chest. Her arms were wrapped around a soft plush toy. She was five, maybe six. She looked around to see where she was.

It was a massive room, marble-floored, breezy and vast. She felt tiny and lost in it. Her heart beat faster, this time it wasn't out of passion or lust, but out of anxiety and fear. Shapes formed, moving large shapes, they came into focus, other P'Twilk all adult. Some stood there, and some rushed about brushing close to her.

The noise, chatting, music, the clatter of mechanical machinery, the ticking of clocks. It was too much, just all too much! Her head darted around left and right, she didn't know where to go, or what to do. She suddenly looked forward and noticed the P'Twilk running toward her, and she quickly bolted to one side before she was knocked to the ground. The runner also took evasive action at the last second, just narrowly avoiding her.

"BY THE COUNCIL! WHO LET THAT KID IN!" She heard the runner curse, as they continued on down into this large room. She saw another runner coming from the direction that one was going in. Her heart pounded and she quickly ran out of the way, in fact, she wanted to run to get out of this place. It was overwhelming her, scaring her, overloading her senses, she couldn't cope. She needed somewhere safe, somewhere quiet, away from all of this.

She ran left, and right, through throngs of legs of P'Twilk in what looked like very expensive clothing. Her head darted around, overloaded, she didn't know where to turn. Then she bumped into the legs of what looked like a very tall, and dignified-looking P'Twilk. She jumped back startled, and dropped her toy as they looked down at her. They seemed like a monster that was going to devour her at any moment, and she gulped in absolute terror.

"Watch where you are going, child!" The large imposing P'Twilk said down to Zanthia. They sounded like they were going to scold her further, and a cold snap of terror ran down Zanthia's young spine. Zanthia couldn't say anything in response, only whimpering in fear. Her eyes darted about again, she needed to find someplace safe, someplace small. It was then that she saw it, a slightly dark corner next to a tall marble column with a bust of some P'Twilk on the top.

The large P'Twilk was about to say something else to her, but she shot off in the direction of that little corner that she had spotted. She almost slid into it knocking the column, and causing the bust to rock a little. She quickly scrambled around and curled up into a tight ball. Her long silky black and white ringed tail curled around her, and she buried her muzzle into her knees. She placed her paws tightly over her little leathery webbed ears and closed her eyes tightly.

"Please make it stop! Please make it stop! Please make it stop!" She whimpered to herself over and over again, tears starting to form in her eyes.

Then somewhere over the din that she was trying to cancel out, she could hear some voices close by. They were faint and she couldn't make out what they were saying. She was sure that one was the P'Twilk that she had just bumped into, but the other was male or sounded male. She whimpered more, maybe she was in some kind of trouble, she always seemed to be in trouble with such people.

"Please make it stop!" She whimpered again rocking back and forth a bit, as some footsteps padded over into her direction.

"Curse you Thressa, you darn well know not to just leave her in the main atrium!" The male voice muttered.

Thressa? That was her mother's name, the voice sounded familiar in some way. The footsteps stopped right in front of her.

"Little Zan! There you are! I've been looking for you." The male voice said. It was calm, friendly, not scolding her in any way, and most importantly it knew her name. Zanthia slowly untucked her muzzle from her knees and opened her eyes which were flooded with tears. She slowly looked up, took focus, and smiling down at her with her soft toy in his hand was her father. He knelt down and reached out with his paw.

For a second she nervously panted, then she wiped the tears from her eyes and she took his paw. He lifted her back up onto her feet, and he looked around.

"I know you're scared of this place, come on let's go somewhere quieter." He said scooping her up off her feet in a tight embrace. She put her arms around his neck, and locked herself against him, nuzzling into his neck fur.

"You're getting heavy now." Her father said, with a slight heave. "But if it makes you feel safe I'll carry you."

"I don't like it here Daddy!" Zanthia whimpered, her tail starting to swish happily.

"Don't worry little Zan, my office isn't far from here." He said softly, and she could feel him walking. She tightened her grip, held on firm, and closed her eyes again, she never wanted to let go. She wished that she could never let go. She could feel his heartbeat, his warm body. It was warm, and soothing, better times, she felt loved.

Then she felt her mind swirl again, things changed. It felt colder now, the night wind swept through her hair, and she could hear it crashing through the trees. The sound of fires burning nearby, and the smell of smoke, ash, blood and death filled her nostrils.

She could still feel her father, she was still embracing him, but he felt colder, heavier, his heartbeat fainter. She felt larger, older, twelve maybe? No, No mid-teens now.

"Zanthia?" Her father said, his voice labored, groaning in pain.

"Don't leave me please!" She said finding herself sobbing, holding him tightly in her arms.

"I.. Can't.." Her father said, spluttering his words out deliriously. "We all have our time, even us P'Twilk." Zanthia pulled out of the embrace to look into his face, the life from his eyes was slowly fading. Her night blue clothes and his were soaked in blood.

"You can't die! Don't die on me! Not after all of this!" She cried out, nearly choking on her tears.

"I think it's too late for that little Zan." Her father panted out forcefully. He reached out painfully and touched the side of her face smearing it with blood.

"You've become so brave, a survivor, resourceful, smart, you've done so well, and I'm so proud of you," he said coughing up a little blood.

"No!" Zanthia cried choking hard.

"And little Zan.. remember... I will always love you." Her father said, his words faint, labored, terminal. His hand fell away from the side of her face and hung limply to one side.

"No! Father, No! You can't be!" Zanthia cried out loud, but she could no longer feel his breath, his heartbeat. He felt limp and heavy in her arms. She buried herself into him again whimpering and sobbing. She felt cold, isolated, and all alone, all her hopes were gone. She was adrift and lost.

"He's gone Zan," Said a male voice from behind her.

"Fuck off, and give the kid some space!" Said a female voice in a harsh tone, followed by a heavy slap sound.

She cradled him for a while, as her tears rolled down her cheek fur almost without end. She slowly loosened her grip on him, letting his body rest on the earth below. She put her paw over his now lifeless eyes, and gently closed his eyelids. Then she placed that paw on the side of the face where he had last touched her, and wiped some of that blood onto her own paw. She looked at it for a second through her tear-flooded eyes.

"This wasn't how this was supposed to end, not after I found you again, not after all this time." she sobbed softly. "You.. promised to me.. we.." She continued to blurb out, her thought patterns all lost. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes.

With that, she wailed and cried out loudly, endlessly, into the starry night sky.

Things then flashed and went red. Zanthia felt an electric feeling all around her body as if she had just placed her paw on a live wire.

Her eyes shot open, and she leaned up on the bed. The safe room was how she had left it before her trip. It was quiet, the light soft. The only thing that she could hear was the sound of her own labored breathing.

"I guess that's what the warning was about." She said to herself, clutching her natural paw to the side of her head. She shifted her legs a bit and felt that her nethers, ass and tail fur were soaked. Also at some point, she had tossed the toy that she had been using onto the covers. She still felt slightly the same as she did after Leo had fucked her that time. Everything down there felt stretched and used, she almost darn well thought that she could still feel his seed both in her, and coming out of her. Her head, however, felt like it had just been through the ringer. Not painful, just confused, conflicted.

The spell, well she must have thought about the people that she had loved the most in her life. Leo, Alara for sure, had been kind to her, they had grown close, had become family in a way that she had never had in a long time. However, there was her father. She had loved him more than anyone else until she met Leo and Alara. It felt like he was the only one who loved her when she was a child, the only one who understood her.

Maybe that was why. People in her life didn't understand her, all she felt but those three. That's why those memories came back.

She sunk back onto the sheets and rested her head on the pillow. She felt exhausted. The day had been long, and that spell had finally taken it out on her. Her tiredness started to force her natural eye closed, and she just rested panting softly. She looked over and saw that the soft toy that she had kept from when she was a child was also on the sheets. It must have shifted around while she was under the effects. She snuggled it close as if it was a person with her. Her eyelid around her mechanical eye felt tired now too, and she gave the soft toy a slight squeeze with her arm.

"I miss you, dad." She softly said, those last memories still fresh in her mind as she slowly drifted off.

Chapter 4

"WHAT THE FUCK EVEN IS THIS SHIT!" Mokan Shouted, banging his fists hard against the desk. The book that Zanthia had stolen for him bounced slightly and its pages shifted. The air was thick with the smell of tobacco smoke, and the lights were dim making the words on the pages of the book stand out more. Zanthia looked over to the large bull of a human kicking back in an easy chair to the side of the room. He was cradling a Kolash6 assault rifle in his lap, and the cigar he was taking a drag on was mostly responsible for the room's current stench. To his side was a briefcase. She looked back at the fuming Mokan. His goat-like face was red with anger as he saw the book's content, and his ears were sharp and on edge with his somewhat curved-out horns.

Zanthia didn't overly like Mokan, but then she didn't really fully like drug dealers anyway. Although 'drug dealer' was maybe a rather low term for Mokan. He was in reality more responsible for most of the spice and opioid trade in the docklands, and lower districts of the city. 'Drugs Kingpin' was the better term, but she knew that he would never describe himself as that either. More the respectable businessman who ran the 'Easy clean" chain of laundromats in the city, even if these were more fronts for his more profitable business. She could see that he wanted to cut her down here and now, and she also knew that he was well aware that such a move was a bad idea.

She kept her arms crossed and stared him down. Her expression was stern and blank, and she snorted at his arrogance.

"It's a P'Twilkian book, for a P'Twilkian woman, it's going to be written in P'Twilkian." Zanthia calmly stated against Mokan's rage.

"What does that.." Mokan Growled.

"Just that, what? You thought that book was going to be in common tongue since that is mostly what you normally hear us speak? You never once thought through your spice-baked brain that we have our own language as well?" Zanthia said, cocking her head to Mokan's clear stupidity and ignorance.

"Those symbols on the front, I thought that they were runes! You mean to say?" Mokan growled rocking back in his seat. He knew that Zanthia was right and that he had just perhaps insulted her.

"That we have our own alphabet as well, yes, everything you are trying to read is one hundred per cent P'Twilk, words, letters, everything." She said sharpening her look. She knew well what he was going to say next.

"Can you?" Mokan said, his rage turning to an un-chilled sense of frustration.

"Translate it?" Zanthia said leaning forward. "No, I was only hired to steal it, and taking a guess at where I stole the book from, oh and thank you for not providing me with that information by the way, I still want extra payment."

"WHAT!" Mokan shouted, almost suddenly bolting from his chair. Only the sudden sight of Zanthia putting her hand on the hilt of her knife prevented him from doing anything more.

"Ten thousand re'al, on the fifty thousand you still owe me," Zanthia said sharply, her eyes darting over to the human in the corner. He had put the cigar in the ashtray to the side of his chair, and his other hand had gone from stroking the receiver of the kolash to reaching around its grip. Mokan reached out his hand in a stopping gesture to his bodyguard behind him without looking.

"What for? Why? You're not going to translate the book for me, so why do you want more?" Mokan grunted, and Zanthia leaned back. Granted she knew that Mokan perhaps wasn't the smartest of beings, but she also knew that he hadn't gotten where he was by being a complete idiot. There was still cunning and savviness there in the old Morallian.

"Well, it's the same reason as why I don't want to be holding on to that book for any longer than I have to," Zanthia said, breathing in the stale air. "It's a first blood heirloom, an item of extreme value to any P'Twilkian woman."

Mokan sunk back into his chair, she could sense that the situation was dawning on him. He rubbed the scraggly fur on the side of his face and looked back at her.

"So?" Mokan said his tone lowering. A small sense of fear was now creeping into the old gangster that Zanthia could detect.

"It's because I'm sure that at some point in the next few days word will reach me somehow through the grapevine asking me if I know anything about a stolen Magik book. Oh and that there will be a large reward for its return." Zanthia said leaning fully forward to Mokan and placing both of her paws on the table. "Right about now, Klassa has probably called every P.I she can hire, pulled every string she can with the Palavan civil militia, and if things are really bad for you maybe with the Diamond guard." Zanthia continued calmly, her face nearing that of the old gangster.

"Diamond Guard?" Mokan spluttered. "Those P'Twilk in the fancy uniforms that guard the embassy downtown?"

"Oh yes those P'Twilk, the big girls, they do a bit more than just guard things, they're our version of the Militia, they have a military wing as well, emerald commandos? Oh, you don't want them knocking on your door." Zanthia said leaning further forward, her calm expression turning to a nasty smile. Mokan pinned himself to the back of his seat. "Oh think about the stories that you've heard about me, now think about five or so of me, only bigger, nastier, with all the latest in kill-ware. A horrible tendency to leave little else but bodies and bullet casings in their wake."

Mokan's face turned icy blue. Zanthia leaned back and looked down as Mokan's head slumped down into his hands in a sign of defeat.

"OK, I get it! You are saying ten thousand more to keep your mouth shut," Mokan said his tone now calm. He held up his arm and made a forwarding gesture to his bodyguard. His bodyguard stood up out of the chair, put the strap of the kolash around his body and picked up the briefcase. He walked over to the table. Zanthia eyed up the mountain of a man and took a step back as he placed the briefcase on the table. Zanthia heard two clicks as the bodyguard undid the case's catches and opened it up. He took out six sizeable bricks of banknotes held together with paper bindings onto the desk one by one in front of Zanthia. The bodyguard closed it again and slowly retreated back to the armchair, to sit on it again cradling the Kolash. He picked up the cigar in the ashtray to enjoy the remainder of it.

Zanthia was about to reach out and take the first brick of her well-earned reward when Mokan looked up at her.

"Zanthia, can I ask you something?" He somewhat more softly said it put Zanthia on guard for a second. She didn't like it when crooks like him said things like this, never when their money was within reach.

"Yes go on." She said cautiously.

"I am not a man who asks for advice often, but you've explained the situation I've put myself in quite well." He said leaning back in his chair. "So.."

"So, you want me to tell you what you should do?" Zanthia said her eyes sharpening. She looked over to the bodyguard who was taking another drag on the cigar, her leathery ears fanned back behind her. Mokan nodded, however, showing a little honesty, not a thing she expected a man like him to often do.

"You are correct," Mokan said tilting his head to one side. "As you've said, I seem to have made a misstep, and entered the politics of your kind." he went on as Zanthia kept up her guard. She took a cautious step back from the money.

"Well, do you really want to know my answer?" She said with an air of continued caution.

"Yes," Mokan said, fiddling with his fingers.

"If I were you, I would get the book translated as soon as possible, take what you want from it, then return it, don't say anything, and do it all as fast as you can," Zanthia said honestly and sternly. "P'Twilkian women in Klassa's position don't take things like this easily, she will get her book back, and you don't want to be the one holding it." As she said that Mokan looked down somewhat resigned.

"I understand, now take your money." He said, Zanthia quickly stepped forward and grabbed the bricks of money that were on the desk. She quickly bundled them into her side bag, keeping an eye on the bodyguard and Mokan. She took three steps back as Mokan pressed a button under his desk. There was a buzz and the door to the office was opened for her. She stepped out and the two goons that were guarding it both looked at her. Both of them had that sneering expression, and she could see the lower-key submachine guns they were holding both cocked and ready. However, they let her pass out, through the small admin area, into the laundromat where she could see several of the staff watching her. They were also most likely other henchmen of Mokan's. She passed a few customers who were not really paying attention to her as she put her hood up, and walked out of the front doors.

She walked a few hundred meters to the entrance of the underground station. She went down and took the subway to the Bayside district. It was more developed than the Kalshasha district where Mokan had his main front and office. Where Kalshasha was low-brow and forgotten, part of the city known for its crime and neglect, Bayside was the opposite. It was gentrified, upmarket, the place where the wealthy could relax. They could spend time sipping overpriced coffee at the cafes, get drunk in the swanky bars, and wander in the nice park areas with the odd 'modern' art installations. Then maybe stumble back to their parked-up yachts to party some more, or as Zanthia had once done, have fun in the expensive hotels.

She however just wanted fresh air. That was also something Bayside had, and it also didn't cost a penny.

She took a slow walk down to the seafront. She took in the air, the sound of the seagulls overhead, the waves crashing around in the harbor against all the fancy boats of the rich folk. She enjoyed the green space even though it was all very made to order with well-arranged flowerbeds and freshly mown lawns. Relaxation in the land of the wealthy, and she wasn't really intending to spend.

She ignored the others who were maybe here to do the same. The skateboarders, the kids dancing and chilling to the latest tunes on their boom boxes, the young lovers making out, and made her way to her favorite place here, the breakwater.

It was a long strip, mostly nicely paved surface over a much older structure. There were some flower and tree arrangements to make the place seem a little more fancy, and a place worth visiting, not just a solid lump out to sea made with the real intention of protecting the moored boats in rough weather. Here it was the calmest. It was like being out to sea after all, only without getting your feet wet.

She got halfway down the breakwater and she caught the smell of something nice. Fried food, cooking sunflower oil, herbs, spices, her stomach growled. She sighed to herself. She had in typical fashion only eaten something quick, a snack bar that she had grabbed at a local corner store on the way to see Mokan. It really wasn't enough to sustain her, and the previous night she hadn't eaten much either. She was used to this, but still, her body did remind her of the need to eat. She turned and saw the stall, it was a Lortaxian running a pokoaba stall. She sighed, knowing that in this district it was going to be at least three times the price of anywhere else. However her tummy wasn't going to let her go, and she had just made sixty thousand re'al that morning.

She got to the back of the queue and waited her turn. She tried her best to make out the menu as she fiddled in her side pouch for a few spare notes. Taking note of the prices she pulled out a few fives, and checked herself over as the people before her left with their food. The cart itself was composed of a counter area, a large tank filled with squid-like creatures and a fryer. There were also two gas bottles to the side to fire the burners for the fryer. The male Lortax running it decked out in a shirt and an apron in the traditional style of a pokoaba chef turned to look at her.

"Hi lady what will it be?" he asked her with a friendly smile. Zanthia's eyes darted up and down the menu, her mind not really made up. She agonized for a second over the choice. The Lortax was blinking at her waiting for her to make her decision, and there was also the queue building up behind her. She felt the anxiety build up, and she scrunched her eyes.

"Plain batter please." She said, looking back at the Lortaxian. She felt silly for taking so long to ask for such a simple request.

"OK, Little lady!" The Lortaxian said, taking some white batter mix and patting it out on the counter. He then took a long sharp-looking stick from a holder that was on his side of the cart and looked at the tank of squid creatures taking aim. "You don't mind me asking, but what brings you to the breakwater?" He asked thrusting the stick into the tank, skewering one of the squid creatures precisely. There was a little squirt of black liquid that quickly dissipated into the tank, and he took the stick with the squid creature out7, its tentacles wrapped around the top of the stick. Zanthia however felt nervous at this sudden small talk.

"Getting some fresh air." She quickly replied, "Why are you asking?"

"Oh I don't mean to be rude Lady, it's just that we don't get many P'Twilk coming over to sample Lortaxian street food." The Lortax said, rolling the now skewered creature in the batter mix.

"Well.. erm... Sometimes it's nice to sample the local flavour." Zanthia said, trying her best to find the right words.

"Well then, you can't do any better than to sample good honest Lortaxian pokoaba." The Lortax said as he then placed the now battered squid into the fryer. "A darn slight tastier than anything you would find in one of those fancy restaurants."

The Lortax was right about that, Zanthia thought to herself. She remembered back to that night with Leo and Alara, how they had attended that dinner. Fancy plates of well-prepared food, to her it all seemed more like art made from foodstuff than something to eat. It wasn't really to her taste though, even if it was nice. She had noted how Leo and Alara seemed to share her statement but put on a false face for the rest of the other rich guests. She knew how much it cost as well, and she didn't even care why rich folk thought that such food should command such high prices. Leo after all on the way back in the limo made the remark, "50 re'al for a tiny bit of meat a few carrots! Really!"

"Oh... Oh.. Yeah, it's totally overrated!" Zanthia said back with a shy giggle. "Anyway how much is it?" She said knowing the answer from the board, but wanting to cut the conversation short.

"Six re'al Lady," The Lortax said, giving the stick a swirl in the fryer.

"Here you go," Zanthia said, handing over two five re'al notes. The Lortax stepped over and took them out of Zanthia's outstretched paw, put them into the pocket of his apron then fumbled into the other to take out the correct change. Zanthia quickly took the coins that he dropped into her open paw, and deposited them into her side pouch which she quickly zipped shut. He then went to take the pokoaba stick out of the fryer and gave it a shake to get rid of the excess oil. He then handed it to Zanthia along with a napkin from a stack that was on the counter.

"Here you go, Lady! Just give it a minute or two, the batter is fresh." The Lortax said, assuming that it was Zanthia's first time eating pokoaba.

"Thank you" Zanthia said, accepting the fresh pokoaba and the napkin. She quickly left, almost bounding along the paved breakwater, only quickly stopping to see if the Lortax was watching her. She breathed a slight sigh of relief once she saw that he was quickly serving his next customer. She felt like she had been a bit rude there maybe, but the small talk had intimidated her a bit. While she knew well from her experiences with Leo and Alara that Lortaxians were kind people, it just wasn't her thing.

Leo and Alara. The conversation with the Lortax pokoaba chef had gotten her thinking about them again, that night, and more importantly last night again.

She looked around and saw that there was a free bench, and she trotted over picking bits of hot crunchy batter off the pokoaba stick and nibbling on them. She sat down and wrapped the pokoaba in the napkin and let it cool off slightly. This is what she really wanted to do most of all. Have some time to sit down and think about everything she had experienced in the last twenty-four hours.

The heist and the book. Well, that had been easy, almost as she expected, bar the one incident with the two Manta goons it had gone off without a hitch. She could only imagine Klarra's face later that evening. She in no doubt brought a guest back for a little after-party fun, only to open that little hidey hole of hers to see that book of hers was missing. Zanthia downright knew that she would have flipped her shit the second that she knew it was gone. Nothing was more appealing to Zanthia than pissing off the stuffy upper crust of P'Twilkian society, even if it was just a little thing like this.

The upper crust, the big players like Klarra were like her mother after all. All the same ambitions and drive. The same toxic drive that caused her mother to do the things that she did to her. A minor act of revenge like this was in part why she took that job on after all.

As for Mokan, well the book was his problem as far as she was concerned, and Klarra's wrath as well. She only did what her client asked and wanted after all. She didn't lie to him about what Klarra would do next, even if the book was filled with mostly low-brow sex magik, it was still an heirloom item. It was very personal to Klarra, and she would pull every resource she could muster to get it back. Would she really send in the Diamond Guard? In reality, Zanthia didn't know if she could pull strings that far, but she didn't put it past Klarra. Either way, Mokan was still best to get the book translated as soon as possible, and he might save his own skin. He might also feel stupid when he found out that the content of the book was mostly crap. It had been another reason why she refused to translate it for him, even if in reality it might have only taken her a few hours. He would have used that as leverage to lower her fees. She knew how slimy he was after all.

The pokoaba had cooled to the point where Zanthia could eat it, and she took a bite. She savored the taste of crisp batter, and the squishy but pleasant meat inside.

But there was still that one spell, after all, the one thing that book had that she had taken from it. A lot of that Magik, for the most part, wasn't her thing, but she thought that reliving memories would be nice.

It almost was. However, because of the way she thought, the way her mind worked, it maybe wasn't so good.

The memories of that night with Leo and Alara. It might not have been the first night she ever had sex, but in a way, it was still the night that she may have in a sense lost her virginity to a guy. It had been kind, warm, passionate, a lot of fun. It was a true sense that they all had something, she loved them, and she missed them.

She chomped hard on the pokoaba, enjoying the first real food she had for at least a day.

If they asked she would join them again to do the same in a second. However, she had also remembered the other person she loved, and wouldn't forget. Just remembering that now caused Zanthia to stop eating for a second to wipe a small tear from her eye.

Her father, she remembered him, just. Those memories were almost stolen from her by her mother and her co-conspirators. They made her try to forget, where she came from, and who her parents were. She, even to this day never knew why, so that she would be a docile little pet, an experiment, just her mothers doing to conceal her crimes? She didn't know, but when she did remember those times, what was mostly restored, was of her father and his love for her. The time that they had spent together back in Bassennta, that he would never give her up. Also that last memory of them together, the strongest of them all. She hated that memory, even if she never wanted to forget his final words.

She angrily bit off the last of the pokoaba from the stick, before scrunching the stick and the napkin together.

"Fuck you Thressa!" She muttered to herself.

She leaned back on the bench and spread her arms along the backrest. She shouldn't dwell on her mother, the bitch after all was dead now. Getting angry about her was not only pointless but killing the relaxing vibe she was trying to get. As she watched a pair of seagulls land in front of her that decided to fight and snap at each other for a lump of dropped pokoaba, she turned her mind back to Leo and Alara.

It had been a few weeks, maybe a month since they last spoke. Zanthia clicked her claws as the seagulls started a tug-of-war over a lump of batter and meat, squawking and flapping as they did so. Too long, she had gotten so wrapped up in her work even though it was a quiet time. Taking on jobs like that for Mokan, tinkering with new bits of kit, she had gotten a little wrapped up in herself. She didn't mind, it was mostly her comfort space after all, but last night, experimenting with that magic? She was starting to drown in the loneliness a little. She needed the contact, the spell had at least reminded her of that, how good it felt to actually be in good company, and how nice sex was after all.

She took an arm off the back of the bench and reached around to her zipped pouch. She unzipped it to pull out a few coins. Twenty-five cents was enough for a short phone call, but that was all she needed really. She gave a quick sigh and looked around, no payphones here. But she was sure there were some back at the park, hopefully, ones that were a bit more excluded, or a booth. At least being Bayside there was less of a chance of being surprised like she had been in Northwood.

She got off the bench and walked from the breakwater back to the park. Ignoring both the rich and the young folk alike, the flower beds and the so-so structures that made for 'art', her eye's only out for a set of phones. She eventually saw a set of four. Not booths, more the exposed ones with covers to keep the rain off, and maintain a small amount of privacy and sound exclusion for their users. They would have to do. She went to an end set and checked around before taking the receiver. She dropped in the coins and punched in the number. A number that Leo had given her, one he rarely gave out and then only to people that he trusted the most, that of his private residence. Zanthia got the dial tone.

"Pick up, Pick up, Pick up." She muttered to herself her heart racing a little. While this was a social call, and she knew that this was Leo or Alara, she still worried about making the faux pas of calling them at a bad time, or if they were busy. This was all on a whim after all. She then heard a click.

"Hi, Alara Mandris here," was the voice on the other end.

"H.. Hi... Zanthia here." Zanthia said nervously.

"Oh, hiya Zan!" Alara said.

"I haven't called at a bad time have I?" Zanthia asked, hoping that she wasn't intruding on anything.

"Well you just caught me, I was just about to go out and pick up the kids from school," Alara said putting Zanthia at ease a little. "Anyway, what's up girl? I haven't heard from you for a while, been busy with your work?" Zanthia did at times forget that Leo and Alara were parents, and had three children. She had met them, but she was never quite the type herself to get children or the idea of being a parent. Maybe there was a bit of her mother in her, and she hated that. When Leo's and Alara's kids were about she tried her best with them, even if she felt out of place.

"You could say that" Zanthia replied, she gulped a little as she needed to get to the point. Alara was short on time and she only had a few minutes of call time herself. "I called to see if you and Leo were doing anything tonight or later this week? I kind of feel like catching up."

"Huumm..." Came the reply from Alara down the other end of the phone. Zanthia felt a small bit of dread. "Well it's just me at the moment, Leo's been out on business this week, some big deal going on over at Steeltown. All a bit over my head, only it's important enough to have him in talks for a week."

"Oh," Zanthia replied feeling a little disappointed.

"But I will be honest with you girlfriend, it left me here most of the week between doing the 'mommy' thing and my nursing studies, and I'm a little stressed," Alara said, somewhat happily. "A girl's night off would be something I'm up for."

"But your kids?" Zanthia said with a little concern.

"Oh don't worry, listen, after I picked them up I was going to drop them off with my parents, I've got a workout and Ko-Ro-Tar8 class this evening anyway. I could..." Alara said.

"Go on," Zanthia said, getting a little hopeful.

"Well, I could ask my parents if they could just put up with them for tonight," Alara said.

"Well, I don't want to inconvenience your parents at the last second Alara," Zanthia said. She now felt like she was inconveniencing and intruding on other people, and she started to cringe.

"Oh come on Zanthia, it's not a problem at all, besides they love their grandkids! And they haven't seen them in a while anyway. Worst comes to worst, I'll slip them some re'al and wine, and all's forgiven." Alara said.

"Oh, OK.. so tonight then?" Zanthia said perking up a little, her tail starting to swish from side to side a bit.

"Yep, I should be back at mine by seven," Alara said. Zanthia detected a little excitement from Alara's end of the line.

"So seven thirty at yours then?" Zanthia said, with a small smile coming to her face.

"Sure Hun! It's a date!" Alara said. "Anyway, I've got to dash." Her words were also followed by a harsh beep to tell Zanthia that she needed to put more coins in to continue the call.

"See you tonight!" Zanthia said happily.

"Yep! Love you Hun!" Alara said as the payphone gave another harsh beep.

"Love you too!" Zanthia said blushing a little.

"Bye Hunnie!" Alara said softly.

"Bye, sweetie!" Zanthia said finding herself blushing harder as she said that. She waited for Alara to put down the phone, hoping that the payphones demands for more money wouldn't cut her off first.

"Bye!" Alara said. "Bye!" Zanthia said back as Alara put the phone down.

The engaged tone then filled Zanthia's ear before she returned the handset. She stepped away, feeling her heart starting to flutter again in some nervous expectation.

She took a few steps back out into the park. Her face was now a little flushed through her fur, her breath a little excited, and she smiled.

"See you at seven-thirty!" She said to herself.

END.

1A Lortaxian ball sport that has found popularity with many of the other races in Palavan. Played between two teams of 11 men on a ball court with multiple scoring zones, similar to rugby in our world only played with a round ball. It's rather known for being rather low on rules, and for being a violent affair (which rather explains its popularity). Sometimes known as either murder ball, or death ball (given the odd and not totally unsurprising occasional fatality), the said rule book is said to be only to be about three pages long. The main rules are 'No Weapons' and nothing to the head or below the belt.

2The gang that controls a good part of the Northside district. Easily identified by their red bandannas. They're mostly made up of outcasts from other gangs in the city. Folk often too violent, unhinged or basically stupid to fit in. This might seem like they are the worst performing gang in the city, but being a collection of the 'worst' in that sense actually makes them quite feared from the standpoint of pure violence alone. They're mostly known for street crime, and protection rackets, along with occasional thug work, but their unreliable reputation means they have little involvement with actual organized crime.

3Legitimate shops selling magik stuff do of course exist, but of course the prices are high, and you will get odd looks if you ask for anything dangerous, or in this case 'fruity'. Anyone wanting the latter will likely find one of these backstreet sellers. However, the quality of the merchandise, is frankly, on par with any cheap knockoff product, which also is in line with the prices for these magik items. Many a time Civil Militia have had to clean up the mess of someone that has either been melted to goo, or torn to shreds, and have had to work out if murder or magik experiment gone wrong thanks to these guys. Just remember, _ NO REFUNDS! _

4One of the more expensive, and nicer varieties of 'Spice' that one can consume. Said to have a pleasant warm feel that heightens sensations and simulations. That is on top of some aphrodisiac properties. Though like all spices it is somewhat surprisingly addictive if consumed regularly. Because of this along with Bashball and television, it's one of the best forms of entertainment in the city. Spice gets its name from coming from a line of plants that are mostly used for cooking and or medicine. Leaves are usually dried and ground up, and then consumed by smoking, or simple oral ingestion. Naturally, they are somewhat illegal, unless you are rich and in need of 'party favors'.

5Zanthia was of course lying a bit, There have never been any 'recorded' cases of P'Twilk having children with other races. Though this is mostly down to P'Twilk not really wanting to find out if that is actually possible or not. You may be asking how this is, being that they are seemingly fine with, well 'doing it' with other races? Well let's put it this way, being able to slow down your age, well that slows down 'that time of the month' as well. P'Twilk women, normally have to turn off this slow hold on their aging so that this little bit of biology can take effect if they want kids. Otherwise, it's about ten years or so to wait for things to take their 'unnatural' course. For all of Zanthia's awkwardness, she is at least not the only member of her race who finds having to use tampons a strange experience, given that the 'time of the month' is more like the 'time of the decade'.

6A 7.62mm assault rifle manufactured by the United Democratic Peoples Protectorate. Debate rages among gun nuts over this weapon, some say that it's one of the most solid and reliable weapons in existence. Meanwhile, others say that it's little more than scrap metal that's more likely to kill the person using it, rather than the person it is being pointed at. The reality is that it's just like anything made by the UDPP, it depends on what plant made it, what metal they got that day, what corners they were being told to cut, and more importantly, if it was made first thing on a Monday morning or last thing on a Friday afternoon.

7The Pokoaba squid, from which the snack gets its name from is mildly toxic from the ink that it can shoot. In fact, the main skill of a Pokoaba chef is not cooking the pokoaba, as that is actually a very simple affair, but rupturing the ink sack of the creature with a precise strike of the stick. This is something that takes years of training, and most of the street sellers are masters at doing this, starting practice at it before they were even ten. You may be asking why not just do this once the creature is out of the water? You know, stored and prepared? Well as soon as the Pokoaba squid is taken out of the water, and well, quickly dies, the sack that contains the ink is the first thing that breaks down and then makes the meat inedible. So Pokoaba must be drained right at the point of death. Also, frozen Pokoaba just tastes like old socks, it doesn't store very well. Side effects from accidental consumption of the ink aren't normally fatal, but it may cause: Temporary blindness, headaches, vomiting, chills, explosive diarrhea, cramps, seizures, and temporary localized paralysis. Despite the risks, Pokoaba is still one of the most popular and tasty street foods in the city.

8 A Lortaxian form of martial art, focusing on staff combat. Rather obsolete when firearms are a factor, it's still a popular form of self-defence and sport among Lortaxes. After all long sticks of wood don't run out of ammo, can be found anywhere, and when directed a punks skull with enough force can cave it in.