One More Time
#1 of The Fox and the Dragon
The Fox and the Dragon
by _SeHT
One
"One more time"
YOU KNOW, thinking back about it, it was funny how we met. I mean, I don't tend to go to the public places a deal these days, like the park or the pools, so it's not very often that I meet new people. Of course, I don't say it never happens, just that it doesn't occur too often, that's all.
So there was yours truly, spending time with a friend at home. I like my home, actually... even though it's a little larger than I think I need. I seem to spend the majority of my time at the pool side: well, I say pool; I suppose 'small lake' would be nearer, since it is about three hundred feet wide... But it's very relaxing, and visitors seem to like it more than the other rooms, so... why not? Since I seem to invite to my home more than I'm invited out, that's where I spend most of my time
But I digress. My friend and I had just finished a gentle session of love making, and we were lying in the shallows of the pool, cooling down and nuzzling a little when suddenly you guessed it he was called away. Typical. But before he went, he told me about a friend of his whom he talked to about me and who wanted to meet me. Well, I was delighted to hear this anyone who actually wants to meet me, I personally believe, is either slightly insane or extremely polite. Or both. Still, a few moments before my friend vanished, the newcomer arrived. They embraced, and then my love partner disappeared into one of the many cracks in reality.
I studied the newcomer while, I suspect, he was studying me. He was a fox who, unusually, sported jet black fur. The tips of his tail and his belly were a beautiful silver white colour, as were the very tips of his ears. But his eyes! oh, his eyes! It is unusual for me to be unable to break eye contact with someone, but his green eyes held me fast for a few moments, as I expect my depthless black eyes held him. He didn't blink, or move... and then he smiled, exposing a double row of beautiful white teeth. "Hi," he said, and introduced himself.
I smiled, inwardly shaking my head in wonderment, and introduced myself. The fox seemed perplexed as to how to pronounce my name properly, and ran it through a couple of times. "Sekh?... Seth."
I chuckled. //It's near enough. I can't help the fact that my name sounds like a noise made by an expectorating llama.//
He laughed, a gentle, sweet sound, showing his teeth again. There was genuine warmth and humour visible in his green eyes, and I laughed with him. "Are you always so derogatory about yourself?" he asked, settling himself down on the grass at the edge of the pool. There was an easiness about the way he did it that made me feel warm inside; already I was beginning to feel genuine affection for this unusual fox.
I sat down beside him and pouted a little, cocking my head to one side. //Not always,// I said. //Sometimes I almost think I'm quite likeable. But,// I said, continuing before he had a chance to speak, //only in months that have fewer than twenty eight days.//
He pondered that one, then shook his head softly, and rather sadly, I thought. He looked up at me even seated, my head was at least eighteen inches above his and again our eyes locked for a moment. "I wonder what it is about you that makes you hate yourself so much," he whispered. I thought for a moment, and sighed. //I don't know,// I said. //Honestly, I don't know. I just think that other people are more important. When it comes down to it, I'm quite unimportant... after all, I'm only me.//
He growled softly at me, and even that had a musical quality. "Don't think that way," he said. "You're a beautiful, good person. And you have a great deal to offer." I chuckled wryly, and he continued. "No, believe me... I can tell." He leaned forward and very gently placed a kiss on my right cheek. I blushed, and he smiled. "I can see we are going to become great friends," he said.
I can't remember where the rest of the day went. When he arrived, the sun was rising over the limes and beeches that form the Lime Grove to the east of the pool, and before we knew where we were, it was falling softly to the west, the sky turning orange and scarlet. The stars began to twinkle softly, and the shape of the SSD OverLord was just visible above the top of the tallest beech tree. All I know is that we had talked all day. Apart from that one gentle, chaste kiss, we had hardly touched each other all day. But what we talked about well, I just can't remember.
He got up to leave, and without thinking, I moved forward and embraced him. //Thank you for a most interesting and stimulating day,// I said. He nuzzled my chest with his furry head, and smiled. "Thank you," he said. I released him, and he waved softly and disappeared.
***
PERHAPS I should introduce myself. Now is as good a time as any, I suppose, for a task which will probably be as boring for you as it is embarassing for me. You see, I don't like talking about me; I don't have a very high level of self worth but I suppose you'd already guessed that.
My name is _SeHT, and I am a Gold Dragon. If we were to follow the nomenclature system of my home planet, I am a Gold Dragon Lord. This fact has caused several of my friends to refer to me as "Sir", "My Lord", or "Lord _SeHT" at early stages of our acquaintance. This I readily forebore on them not to do; I find it embarassing in the extreme. I haven't been called "Lord _SeHT" and felt comfortable since my bonding to my mate, _raIa... but that is a long time ago, and is another story entirely.
I try, as far as possible, to live for others. My living area is theirs, if they need it; I will listen for ever and a day to those who need to talk; I try never to get angry I fail, sometimes, and those who aroused my wrath never do it again, for some reason, and I take care of those I love. Perhaps I sound as if I am eulogising myself; perhaps I am promoting that which is good about myself, neglecting the unworthy. But still, I dare say we are all guilty of having done that at some point in our life.
As a minor point, I am also an ArchMage, a fact which tells of a side of me which several of my friends have needed to call upon at various points in our relationship. I am happy to provide this special "service", and try to be there whenever I am needed. Again, I fail sometimes... and I still carry several crosses of my own making for times when I failed there.
***
I DID NOT MEET the fox again for some days; I expect he was busy doing other things. I sent him a letter and received one in kind, and in it he said he would make time to see me again.
For some reason, this made me extremely excited. I am always happy at the thought of meeting someone I know and or love... but this fox seemed to have a hold over me that I could not, and still can not, verbalise. I could not stop thinking about him after I received his letter. In fact, I was so distracted that a friend had to call me back to reality while we were making love.
You could assume from my tale, and rightly so, that I have only a few friends, and I see them rarely, and I make love little. While it is true that my circle of friends is perhaps not the largest in the world, neither is it particularly small. And even if I am unable to see all of my friends regularly, I at least attempt to send them a letter regularly, to "keep in touch" as one of my lovers would say. This would doubtless account for my preoccupation with this curious vulpine.
But, I don't think that that was the case... I don't know. I have been in love before my mate _raIa, whom, just in case the question should spring to mind, I still love like life itself and I began to wonder if I were falling in love again?... Perhaps... who knows. They sometimes say that love comes in the strangest forms, and from the strangest sources; proof positive, maybe?
The pre arranged time arrived, and the fox stepped out of a crack in reality into a more private part of my home for the waterfront is sometimes like a giant switching station of friends coming and going, and therefore lacks somewhat in the finer points of etiquette not to mention privacy. He looked around approvingly, I seem to recall and sat down on a bench.
This place I call "Arcadia". It is a part of my home that very few have seen, for I tend to use it for contemplation and solitude. There is a fire at its centre, surrounded by benches, and there are grass beds behind the benches, for times when friends and I have talked late, and they wish to sleep, sheltered in its quiet solitude, withdrawn from the rest of the busy, busy world. The area is formed from a hidden glade to the north east of the lake, in the trees... and many say it deserves its name.
He smiled again. "Hi," he said. "You either have excellent taste, or a taste for excellence."
I smiled in my turn and sat down on a bench opposite him, to the other side of the fire. //I try,// I said. //I don't come here as often as I should, really.//
"Oh?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "And why is that?"
I sighed, chuckling wryly, shaking my head. //Simply because I don't have time. I seem to spend my life running after people who need my help. Not that I mind, believe me,// I added, before he could speak. //I enjoy it. If others are happy, I am happy, too.//
"Very philanthropic," he said, with just a touch of irony.
I chuckled again. //Yes, I suppose you could say that.//
And the conversation continued. After a while, it seemed only natural that I, as the host, should offer him something to eat and drink, which he accepted with yet another smile. And consequently, we began to share a bench to eat our meal. And so it was that later, "as the miller told his tale" as the fable goes, we sat next to each other.
The conversation had done more than meander during the afternoon; it had positively gone hiking. From person and friends we had gone onto such diverse topics as reincarnation, the existence of a God or Gods, the state of the world today, the history of our respective homes and had ended up by my telling him about my mate.
I had begun to cry as I reached the final part of my tale, as I often do. And he had gently reached around my broad shoulders, as far as he could, and held me as I sobbed into his fur. Now this is no minor detail: for me to cry at all is generally unusual I contain my emotion as far as I can and for me to cry in front of others is almost unknown. And yet here was I, the "strong" Gold Dragon Lord _SeHT, sobbing and weeping like an eggling in the embrace of this fox I barely knew. Some big strong dragon! I thought. And said as much, when I had my breath under control again.
"Why do you say that?" he asked, gently wiping my tears away with a tender finger.
//Well...// I prevaricated, stalling a little for time, //I don't like crying. And I try to support others... I'm not used to being supported.//
"You feel embarassed about showing your weaker side?" he asked, and I blinked. This was one perceptive fox!
I found myself nodding softly. "Then stop it," he whispered. "We all need someone to turn to, someone to lean on sometimes. And strength and love and companionship can come from many places... and sometimes when you least expect it."
I quirked an eye ridge at this in curiosity, but he merely smiled softly. Then, without warning, he leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on my lips. I was too startled to respond to his caress, and by the time I had regained my senses, he had broken the kiss and was sitting erect once more.
I sat up, and he released me. I stretched out my left wing, and wrapped it softly around him. He smiled. "Like being wrapped in a soft, golden blanket," he said, snuggling into the scales. I smiled. //I suppose so,// I said.
It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?" he asked sincerely. "Have I offended you?"
I shook my head. //No... I was just...// I trailed off. I couldn't bring myself to say the words: I was just thinking about that kiss you just gave me. I couldn't find the strength inside me to tell him how good it felt... how loving and tender. How much better his soft hands had made me feel. How compassionate his fingers were as they dried my tears, his ears were as I poured out my stored woes.
He smiled softly, and licked along my muzzle, from the front to the point where my mouth line ends. I looked at him, and smiled softly.
Was I in love? was I falling in love? The answer, I know now, is yes. I wasn't head over heels yet, but the ol' banana skin was coming up fast.
I nuzzled him tenderly with my chin. "You know," he said, "I'm surprised you don't get out more. There are a lot of people who would like to get to know you, I'm certain of that."
I giggled. //Nah,// I said. //Besides, I can't stand crowds. I feel trapped. Claustrophobic, almost. With a few people I can cope. That's why I don't like the Park much.//
He nodded appreciatively. "I know how you feel," he said. "It gets so busy over there that sometimes there's hardly room to breathe."
There was a loud bang! overhead, and we looked up in time to see a firework rocket explode into a billion scintillating spangles. It had gone dark without either of us noticing again. There was a whistle, and another bang!, and another rocket exploded. I looked at him curiously. //What is all this?//
"Independence Day," he said, and my eye ridges went up again. "From the Empire," he continued, then shook his head. "Never mind," he said, "it's a long story.
"Shall we watch the fireworks?" he asked.
I nodded, rising. //Let's go to the lake we'll get a good view from there.//
He nodded, stood, stretched and smiled again. I led the way to the lake, where we sat, our hind paws dibbling in the cool, dark water as we watched the rockets explode in brilliantly coloured patterns and effects, spelling words and drawing pictures as huge numbers of bombs took to the sky. The lake was alive with their reflections, two sets of pictures and explosions, two sets of colour one on earth, and one in heaven. The sound of the World Anthem could be heard coming from the distant Park, the sound of thousands of different voices carried on the stream of symphonic orchestral music.
The fox began to sing softly, and I listened to the words...
_"Oh free we are now, and free shall we stay,
"For this world is safe haven, whatever befall;
"And all our homes here, we shall defend them alway,
"For this is world Furry, with freedom for all.
"All the lives that were lost in the final great war,
"Given that we might live and none die any more.
"Oh sing, oh raise your voices and let us be one
"As we remember what they for Furry have done!"_//Very patriotic,// I commented drily, as the sounds of the anthem faded, to be replaced by more standard music. Soon the strains of an antique waltz floated across the water, which seemed to ripple in time to the music. The air was still now, no more rockets burst their lightnings in its bosom, and the lake had resumed its limpid blackness. The gibbous moon half scowled down upon us as we reclined upon the grassy bank, and the fox looked up at me.
"Why the sarcasm?" he asked. "Those furs gave their lives for us," he said. "And it's only right that we remember them."
//Yes, indeed,// I said, sincerely this time. //But... I work for the individual, not the world. The world is made of individuals... and sometimes people forget that.//
He nodded slowly. "I understand," he said. "But war happens."
I nodded, then shook my head. //Please don't talk about war,// I said softly. //Talk about the moon, talk about the crickets chirping in the bushes beyond the lake, talk about how the music makes the ripples on the lake dance in tender syncopation just don't talk about war.//
He looked up, pained. "I'm sorry if I hurt you," he said. He looked out over the lake. There was a pause. "I think you really want to talk about it, don't you?"
I didn't move for a while... then I nodded. I continued my story from where I had left off... and I told him about the war between the dragons and gryphons... how I had part command... how I had to order my brother into battle... how I felt him die... how I collapsed insensible on the floor of the Council chamber... and how I had had to be carried out, whimpering my brother's name in semi delirium...
When I had finished, tears once more running silently down my muzzle, there was silence between us for a long, long time. The only sound was the distant dancing of the music, and the chirp of the crickets... the soft splashing of the lake lapping at its shore and the whistle of the wind in the high branches of the trees. When he finally spoke, his voice was thick. He had been crying too.
"I'm so sorry," he said. "I'm so very, very sorry."
I smiled gently. //Shhh,// I whispered, lifting my paw to wipe his tears away. //Don't cry for the dragon.//
"Why not?" he asked.
//Too many tears have already been shed for me, and by me,// I said. //Save them for someone more worthy.//
"I can't," he said. "I don't know anyone more worthy."
And then he lifted his muzzle, pulled my face to his, and began to kiss me softly, tenderly... I half closed my eyes... and my mouth opened a little for his tongue to slide in... It slipped in and began to play over my back teeth, over my large fangs... and my tongue entered his mouth, and returned the caress, feeling gently over his carnassials as he sighed softly in pleasure... flickering tenderly over the back of his warm throat. It was a kiss that seemed to go on forever, our tongues dancing around each other, twining a little and then continuing their cotillion... and after what seemed an eternity, our lips parted, and he smiled at me, sadly.
"I must be going," he said. I got up, and helped him to his feet. He laughed softly. "I'm all right," he said. "But thank you anyway."
I chuckled. //I can't help it,// I said. //Born and raised to have good manners.//
He smiled, and very gently kissed my right cheek, his whiskers brushing over the front of my lips. I felt a tingle run down through my spine, up through my wings, to the tips of my very digits, down my legs to my paws... and an especially marked tremor made its home in the sensitive folds of skin between my legs, and I felt my sudoriferous glands begin to seep just a little.
I lapped my tongue over his right cheek, tweaking his whiskers as I did so, running them through the fork in my tongue. He smiled again, and I felt an electric spasm of pleasure run through his body also.
We released each other, and he stepped back, waved in the manner of the previous encounter, turned away without another word and then quietly, so quietly, he slipped away again, away into the night.
***
I COULD NOT SLEEP that night. I lay awake in my soft grass bed, looking up at the twinking stars so far above... and wherever it seemed I looked, I could see in their myriad constellations the face of the fox, smiling down at me. I could hear his voice, echoing around and around my head... I remembered the tender touch of his paw... and the way his kiss made me feel... and felt a tremor once more begin between my legs. But the tremor became more than that, and with a sigh, I began to rub myself there, thinking of the fox... thinking of his soft fur.
As my cock slid steadily out into the grip of my waiting paw, I began to stroke it rhythmically up and down, my pelvis thrusting in time to my rubbing. I imagined, with half closed eyes, that the fox held it in his hands, that it was his skin I felt against me... his black fur against my gold scales... My musk filled the air around me, thick and heady, redolent with the scent of my arousal... My pelvis began to move more insistently as my paw increased the speed of its ministrations... I sighed and groaned, my eyes fully closed now, thinking of the feeling of him touching me in my most sensitive places...
And suddenly my groans became a roar of pleasure as I reached my peak and orgasmed, my white seed spilling over my belly, running down my flanks into the grass... and then my second climax took me, and it felt as if my entire body had squirted out through the tip of my penis... and I roared again in pleasure and ecstasy, my semen gushing forth without cease...
And my river of pleasure slowly became a trickle... and then ceased almost completely. I found myself covered from chin to crotch in my own semen, the bed I was lying in saturated with the warm, milky fluid. I got up somewhat stiffly, it must be admitted and washed myself clean in the lake.
Then, when I was once more clean, and my scales shone in the light of the moon, I curled up by the fire in Arcadia... and fell asleep, my dreamland populated with dogs, wolves, panthers, dragons and bears... but only one fox.
***
BY THIS TIME I had given up all pretence to myself of not feeling strongly attracted to this fox. I didn't know where he lived, or how he spent his time; frankly, it wasn't important to me at the time. All I knew was that he brought me a greater pleasure, a deeper feeling of self worth, than I had known for some considerable time. The last person who had made me feel so... loved... was my mate, _raIa... but she had died, along with our unhatched brood, so long ago... I began to work out the years since my hatching and hers, the length of time until our mating... I had hatched over a hundred and forty one years ago... and I fell in love with her the day she hatched, when I was a mere nine months old. And forty years later, we were bonded as mates.
Two weeks later, she would be dead at the claws of gryphons, our children with her... and I would fashion for myself and bear up the first of my many crosses... for I had sworn that day to protect her, when I took her as my mate, and I failed in that duty... and for so many years later all I could see as I closed my eyes was her... growing up, maturing, giving herself to me as my mate, feeling me in her as we made love... and then lying as a battered shell in a pool of her own blood.
And as time went by, I added other dragons to the list: those I did not know, but who died because of my actions; my brother, _perJiK... even the gryphons, who died for something they did not do... For all of them I made and bore crosses, steeped in the blood of their dying. Towards those who murdered her, I feel no ill will... just pity. Sorrow... For I murdered them as they murdered her, blasting them apart in my anger and my lust for blood.
All this is past history... _raIa had died a hundred years previously, and the war ended a few years after that... and yet, as I thought of the fox, old wounds were opened, and I felt rushes of almost forgotten emotions. But then I felt again his soft touch on me... tender, caring... loving. And my feelings were stilled, and I felt his tranquility overtake me again.
And then, something happened which brought forth my darker side: my anger, my hatred, my bitterness. The fox said he was going away.
***
IT DIDN'T JUST HAPPEN like that, however. I sent him mail, remembering myself to him, and wondering when we might meet again. I received a letter back almost straight away saying that he was busy at the moment but would come over a little later. I replied in kind, and said I was looking forward to meeting him. In the meantime, I busied myself with a little housework: changing the grass beds (especially the one I had slept in last night!), cleaning the stream that supplies the lake, tending the flower beds around the summer house, cleaning the moss from the benches in the Lime Grove... minor tasks such as these. I am not what you could call "house proud", in the sense that I devote my entire life to maintaining the perfection of my quarters; however, I do like to tidy up well, once in a while, and just maintain the status quo at other occasions. And today was one of my "binges".
I was just replacing the last of the grass beds by the lake when he appeared. As soon as I saw him I noticed there was something different about him; the way he carried himself... and the set of midnight black overalls he was wearing. He seemed listless and sad, but he forced a smile as I rose to greet him.
I took him into my forelegs and embraced him tightly. //Hello there, foxy!// I said, and kissed his cheek.
He smiled wanly. "Hiya dragon," he said softly, returning the caress with a few soft laps of his long tongue. I let him go and looked at him steadily. //What's wrong?// I asked.
"You don't want to know," he said, sitting down, his hind legs stretched out in front of him.
I stepped over and sat beside him. //Oh yes I do,// I said. //More than ever I want to know.//
He looked up at me, and his green eyes filled with tears. He took my right paw in his hands and rubbed it. "I've got to go away for a while," he said.
I was stunned shocked into silent disbelief. I shook my head, trying to force my thoughts into some kind of order. //W why?// I stammered. //Where are you going?//
He tugged at his overall with a thumb and forefinger. "My friend needs my help on his prospecting ship. We'll be mining asteroids... and I don't know how long I'll be gone." He smiled a little. "But we can still write each other," he said, placatingly.
I began to tear tufts of grass out of the earth with my free paw. I had clenched my jaw together and my now flexed long talons cut wide strips as my paw reached in to tear each piece of earth. I felt as if I had been stabbed through the heart... I felt so angry, and I swear my eyes must have been glowing red with hatred.
By now the fox was looking up at me, fear beginning to creep into his expression. "Seth?..." he said. "Seth, are you all right?"
I pulled my paw from his, ripped out a huge divot of earth, and, climbing to my feet, hefted it and threw it out over the lake with a bellowing roar of anger. The turf flew in a steep parabola until it connected with the water's surface, when it sent a huge splash of water high into the air, ripples rocketing towards the banks. I roared and roared... I could feel myself getting ready to flame, and I just managed to restrain myself.
//NOOOO!!!// I roared, giving voice to the pain and anguish, the anger and bitterness which had overtaken me. By now I was crying too, tears flowing down my muzzle onto the earth. The fox had jumped up and was walking towards me slowly... his hands outstretched. I hung back, like a hound at bay, watching him approach me... He moved slowly and carefully... and then his hand took my paw... and he sat down, and brought me down beside him.
And for the third time I cried in his embrace, my hot tears flowing down onto his black overalls, staining it a deeper black. And he held me and stroked my neck softly, up and down, rubbing me gently and tenderly... and I thought of my mother, when I was little, how she used to do the same for me when I was in pain.
In time my sobs stilled and I sat up enough to see that he too had been crying... and I felt my automatic guilt for not having supported him, instead of it having been the other way around. //I'm sorry,// I whispered huskily. "Why?" he asked.
//I always seem to be leaning on you for support,// I said. //Instead of me supporting you.//
He smiled. "That's one cross I don't want you to bear," he said. "Everybody needs someone to lean on. Perhaps I'm here to support you."
I nodded. //But I want to support you, too.//
He smiled. "You will."
I lifted my paws and dried his eyes... and then it seemed the most natural thing to take his head and bring it to my mouth... and kiss him deeply and tenderly, our tongues again meeting and dancing... tasting each other, cleaning each other of the detritus of our crying... The kiss, like our last one, seemed to go on forever... and then he broke it. I looked at his overalls... and he noticed my expression. "I'll take it off," he said. Standing for a moment, he shimmied and twisted his way out of the single piece boiler suit he was wearing... and stood once more in only his beautiful black and silver fur, before sitting down beside me again. I smiled.
There was a pause... and then he said, "What's on your mind?"
I chuckled. //Mind reader,// I accused him playfully. He shook his head. "Empath," he said. "Just like you."
//You know?// I said, surprised. My empathy is a talent I admit to very few.
"I sensed you as soon as we met," he said. "I've felt your barriers come down further and further... and now they are fallen completely."
I nodded. //Yes,// I said, and looked into his eyes deeply. I tried to see into his very soul... sense his thoughts...
He squirmed. "Oooh," he said. "That sent cold water all down my spine."
//I'm sorry,// I said, and relaxed the intensity of the gaze. //It's just...// I said, and trailed off again.
"Just what?" he asked.
//It's just... I love you,// I said, and felt a tremendous release for saying it. //I thought I was fooling myself... and then, when you said you were going away, I realised... just how much I love you. And how much I want to be with you.//
He looked deeply moved. "It's strange," he said softly, looking out over the lake. "But I've been feeling the same way for a little while." He reached up and stroked the back of one of his hands along my muzzle. "I love you... you sweet, gentle dwaggin..."
I kissed his lips softly, not penetrating him with my tongue. //And I love you too... you gentle, kind foxy...//
We lay down in each others' arms well, arms and forelegs and continued to myrr and purr and kiss softly. My paws began to explore his body through his thick black fur, feeling the strands of hair as they flowed between my digits like black quicksilver. He would half close his eyes and myrr in pleasure as I did so, my paws moving up and down through his belly and chest fur... And his hands began to explore my scales, running their short claws across my strong hide, scritching me gently... he reached behind me and ran his talons up and down my back, along my spine, out along the leading edges of my wings... and I closed my eyes and purred in my turn at the exquisite sensations he was giving me.
It was only natural for him to lie on his front so I could return the favour, gently scratching him with my wickedly sharp talons, running them softly across his skin, through his fur, teasing out knots and combing it tidily again... and I began to massage him, my claws sheathed... and he myrred more loudly, whispering words of love to me through his sighs. I felt his buttocks tense as I rubbed them, and down lower, past his thighs to his tight calf muscles, kneading out the tensions there.
And it was then natural for me to lie on my front for him to do the same for me, scritching me softly... as I purred in ecstasy... and I told him about how _raIa used to do this for me, knowing she would have a willing slave... and he laughed pleasantly, scritching all the while. He kneaded my flanks and haunches, and the base of my tail, tenderly rubbing and scratching... and then moved back up me, half lying on me to reach my shoulders... and it was then I felt his slightly hard cock pressing into my spine.
I looked up and back at him and found myself muzzle to muzzle with him. I leaned a little further forward and we kissed again, and I felt his hardness grow still firmer.
He knew I could feel it, and he smiled. "I can't help it," he said. "I love you so much... and you're such a sweet, sexy dwaggin."
I chuckled. //I'm not asking you to help it,// I said. //Besides, you're such a gentle, sexy foxy.// I lavished his face with my tongue. //I was just thinking about the other night we were together...//
"Mmm hmm?" he said. "What about it?"
//I couldn't stop thinking of you,// I said. //The way you touched me, the way you made me feel so... loved... And how, when we kissed good bye, I felt so... aroused...// I could feel myself tightening between my legs now, my musky odour beginning to filter into the air, and I knew he could smell it too. //And that night... I...//
He smiled. "You what?" he asked, teasingly.
I blushed, the corners of my eyes going orange. //I jerked myself off,// I said, //imagining it was you stroking my length... your fur touching me. And I came... boy, I came!//
He chuckled softly. "We have more in common than I thought," he said. I quirked an eye ridge, and he continued. "Yeah... I jerked off too... thinking of you. Wondering how your scaly paw would feel on my cock... and I came so hard I almost passed out."
His cock was pressing hard against my back now... my own erection was beginning to slide out of me into the grass below, pressed painfully flat between my body and the unyielding ground. I kissed him again, tenderly and softly... I looked into his eyes... he raised an eyebrow... and I nodded gently. No words were spoken; none were needed.
He climbed off me, and stood before me. At least half of his red pink penis was standing firm and erect, protruding from his black sheath. It looked so beautiful, contrasting with his silver and black fur... Gently I reached out to it, hunching my haunches to give my own (huge) erection a little more space to grow... and wrapped a paw around his length. I rubbed it slowly up and down, enticing it to grow, pulling back a little on his sheath to uncover more of its length... and he sighed, his legs giving way, allowing him to fall gracefully on his back in the long grass, his eyes half closed, a beatific smile on his face.
By now his cock was fully erect, standing a proud ten inches from its tip to the ball at its base; drips of clear pre cum dribbled from it as I stroked it gently, with him thrusting his hips in time to my movements.
With a wicked grin, I lowered my head and took his length in my mouth, tasting his salt sweetness. He groaned, shuddering with pleasure, myrring wordlessly... and sighed. I wrapped my tongue around and around his length, then pulled off slowly, frictively... unwinding it slowly from around his length... He humped violently as I uncoiled my tongue, and more and more pre cum leaked from him all the time. His hands were clenching and unclenching in spasms, his head twisting from side to side.
And then I released his cock, after giving it one final lick as a parting shot. He shuddered in his pleasure for a moment, and then sat halfway up. "What did you stop for?" he asked plaintively... then he saw that I was on my feet, my huge (three foot long!) erection painfully taut beneath my belly... with my hindquarters to him, my tail raised.
He rose to his feet and stroked his hand along my hind quarter. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Have you done this before?"
I nodded. //Yes... but never before with someone whom I want inside me so very much.//
He smiled, and kissed me softly. "I love you," he whispered. //I know,// I said. //And I love you too. And always will.//
He rested his hands on my rump for a moment... and then pressed the tip of his cock against my anus, not quite penetrating. I gasped at the slick, hot feel of it against my own coolness... purring at the thought of him filling me... being inside me...
Slowly he began to press inside me, and I opened easily to accomodate him. I felt him slip deep inside, right to the deepest deeps. I stretched my neck taut... my eyes tightly closed... I concentrated solely on the pleasure which was flooding from my rear... the touch of his fur... his soft panting... the smell of his arousal... the feel of his hot penis in me... it felt so good...
And then he reached his limit and held still for a moment, his groin pressed firmly up against my rump. I purred, looking back at him, seeing him in me, his eyes closed in pleasure, resting on me... I smiled when I saw his eyes open slightly, and he smiled back, myrring softly.
He withdrew slowly... and then slid back in... then out... then in again, long, slow strokes, filling me deeply each time... My head fell down limply between my forelegs... this felt so good... oh sweet foxy... oh yes... I heard him reply, "Oh sweet dwaggin... oh... oh yes..." and I realised I must have spoken out loud... but I didn't care... this felt so very good...
And suddenly I felt one of his hands on my cock, gripping it as tightly and as well as he could, rubbing it in time with his thrustings... I hunched my hips in time with his rhythms, giving myself over purely to pleasure... My ass opening and closing around his delicious, thick cock as he buried it inside me time and time again... his paw rubbing my length softly, up and down, teasing the great length, playing with its very tip... I could feel my musk glands go into overdrive and I felt hot pre cum leak from me as he touched my tip, drenching his paw. "Oh dwaggin..." he said, "ohh... oh dwaggin..."
I don't know how long we were there, making love... it felt like hours, with him thrusting into me, sliding in and slipping out again... gently stroking my paw, teasing more and more pre cum from me until it began to flow like a river, and I knelt in a puddle of my own liquids... his full balls gently slapping against my rump in time with his thrusts... his spare paw holding himself braced against me...
And suddenly I couldn't hold back any more. I began to thrust my hips emphatically, hunching against his hand. //Oh Gods!// I groaned, roared. //Oh Gods! oh foxy! ohh... Ogghhhhh... I can't hold off... Ohhh.. Oh Gods... I'm gonna cum... ohhh... oh yes... OH YES!//
A few more bucks of my hips and I climaxed, my white seed spilling forth from my cock like the explosion of a volcano, spurt after spurt staining the ground, expanding the puddle more and more... I roared in my climax, almost shaking the trees... My ass clenched tightly around his cock, and I felt his own thrusts start to speed up as I roared yet again... My second orgasm overtook me, firing semen into the ground with such force that it pitted the ground. I tipped my head back and let loose with a roar and an involuntary ball of flame in my pleasure... and the fox suddenly hunched forward and buried his knot in my now tight ass, thrusting desperately. "Oh dwaggin... oh yes..." he was panting... I barely heard him through my roaring and the haze of pleasure... "oh dwaggin... oh Seth... oh Seth! oh yes... yesss... YES... Oh... oh... YES... I'm ... cumming..." And with that he let off his load inside me, hot and sticky, it shot and shot into me, filling me more and more... And the feeling of it triggered a third orgasm in my tortured balls, and my roar was almost a scream of pleasure as my hedonistic body seemed to vapourise, to be fired out through my cock... I seemed to be outside my body, looking at myself, seeing the fox thrusting with only his hips, the rest of his body frozen in a rictus of pleasure, his mouth open wide, tongue lolling, his eyes fast tight...
And then I was back in my body, feeling a huge puddle of semen seeping around my paws, flowing around me... and the fox still spurting inside me, although a little more sedately, filling my stomach and guts with his delicious cream...
I collapsed into the milky pool, my legs unable to support me any longer. My cock continued to dribble slightly, but I was too far gone to notice. My lover... my beautiful foxy... held himself buried inside me long after his orgasm had ceased, long after his flow had dried up. I resisted the impulse to push him out... he felt so good, there on top of me, inside me... But slowly his erection faded, slipping back into his sheath, and he dismounted from me and staggered over to kiss me, falling with a soft plop! into the now cooling pool of my semen.
//Thank you,// I whispered, a whisper that took most of my strength.
He smiled. "You're welcome," he said, stroking my face. "Such a big, beautiful, sexy... and tight dwaggin."
I smiled. //Such a cute, furry, loveable, loving, sexy... and hot foxy.// I kissed him tenderly, his mouth opening to allow me entry. He just held his mouth open while my tongue gently played inside.
When we had lain there awhile, and we had recovered a little, we went to the pool. Standing in the shallows, we washed my cum off of us. His hands slid over my scales, smoothing the congealed liquid off me... and my digits and talons strolled through his long fur, teasing out knots and rubbing gently. Through all this I held my ass tightly closed, keeping his semen deeply within me, still feeling so full, and so very loved.
We left the pool and returned to the forest glade I call "Arcadia". The moon was an old crescent now, and the only light came from the fire in the centre of the glade. We curled up together and talked awhile, about love... about our love for each other... what we would do until we saw each other again... kissing periodically. Then, sleep overcame us both... I watched him fall asleep in my paws, holding him safe and close in my forelegs. Then I lay down, and fell asleep.
The next morning dawned, misty and cool. And the fox had gone.
***
THE FIRST THING I did was to cry. I didn't know whether or not anybody heard me, or saw me. I sat down by the edge of the lake despite what I may say, I sit there a great deal, for I find the rippling of its surface very calming and cried, holding my sides. I cried because I loved him so much; I cried because I knew how much I was going to miss him; I cried because already the hurt within in me was growing to such a point that I didn't know if I could take it any more.
The next thing I did, when I had stopped crying, was to check my mail. And, sure enough, there was a letter from the fox. I read it... and read it again. This is what it said:
_"Dearest Dwaggin,
"By now I will be far away from you, on a ship bound for the asteroid field. And, if I know you as well as I think I do, you will already have cried for me. But I want you to know that as I write this, sitting by the aft viewport on the ship, the tears are flowing freely.
"Perhaps you think I don't love you... perhaps you think that I'll vanish into the sky, never to return. But I don't do that kind of thing... and especially not to somebody I love.
"It's funny... we have only known each other for such a short space of time and yet I feel I know you so well... I feel closer to you than I do to my room mate, whom I have known and loved, and made love to for some months. Perhaps that says something about our relationship; I don't know, and I don't want to speculate. I hurt enough as it is, being away from you.
"All I would ask of you is: remember me. Don't forget me. I could never forget you. If we never see each other again, we will have shared our love... and we each bear something of the other within us. Perhaps when I get back, I will be able to see you again; and maybe we will be able to take this further._
"A friend of mine once gave me a song from his home world that I love very much. I would like to share it with you now... I think it is perhaps appropriate.
"Dearest sweet, loving dwaggin... don't cry too much. Time will show us the way, and you may be pleasantly surprised. Just go with the flow... and see what happens.
"All my love, now and forever, ..."
A memory crystal fell out of the packet into my paw. I stared at it for a moment, thinking who could have a player... and called one of my friends, a technophilic Drakharen. He whisked me off to the cabin on his ship and we sat in silence, listening to the song on the crystal.
It was a woman's voice, with an orchestra backing her. Her voice was pure and sweet as it caressed the notes she sang. I closed my eyes, tears seeping a little from between my eyelids I had changed much in the time I knew that fox as I listened to the words. There was only the one song on the crystal, and we listened to it over and over again, until I began to cry once more, and my friend locked his door, shut down the comm link, and held me in his arms.
_Think of me:
Think of me fondly
When we've said good bye;
Remember me
Once in a while:
Please promise me you'll try.
When you find
That once again you long
To take your heart back and be free
If you ever find a moment,
Spare a thought for me.
We never said
Our love was evergreen
Or as unchanging as the sea
But if you can still remember,
Stop and think of me.
Think of all the things
We've shared and seen
Don't think of all the things
Which might have been...
Think of me,
Think of me, waking,
Silent and resigned;
Imagine me,
Trying too hard
To put you from my mind;
Recall those days,
Look back on all those times,
Think of the things we'll never do...
There will never be a day
When I won't think of you!
We never said
Our love was evergreen
Or as unchanging as the sea
But please promise me that, sometimes,
You will think o-o-o-o-of me!_
***
THE DAYS IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING the fox's departure passed in a blur. I felt a pain inside me... and tried cutting myself with my talons, pressing them deep into my palms and side for only a dragon's talons or fangs can pierce its hide and seeing blood flow red down my gold scales. And my friend who was with me begged me to stop... and I began to cry again, for the colour of my scales had reminded me of _raIa, and the colour of my scales as I cradled her dead body in my forelegs, the exploded eggs scattered around her... and the pain in my heart had not gone away, nor even lessened. In fact, it grew ever more intense for I knew the fox would not want me to do such a thing, and he would be deeply distressed if he were to know that I had deliberately injured myself in such a way because of him. And so it was that I cried yet again in a friends' paws, rocking back and forth as he whispered soft words of comfort and healing, and my sides healed without a seam.
Eventually, I returned to a state of relative stability... but I remained morose and intractable. Apart from occasional shafts of biting sarcasm or acid wit, my sense of humour remained firmly locked away. I had asked my friend to keep the memory crystal and the letter for me I found them too painful to keep by me. I spent long hours at the west beach, staring out over the wide expanse of blue, wishing I could dive in and swim away, wishing that there were some great sea monster that would swallow me up and knowing that it was impossible.
Perhaps one of the best friends I have and found myself growing ever closer to was a black pantheress. I would spend many hours nuzzling into her fur, stroking it and being touched in return. We would talk... and sometimes only sometimes we would make love. It was naturally different to most of my other encounters, as they were generally with males, but it was... fulfilling. Perhaps not as fulfilling as with the fox... but it quieted a need, and provided a comfort. And I truly loved and still love that beautiful female panther, whose gentle hands held me safe while I lay, and whose ears listened to tales of love and woe without demur or complaint. All praise and much thanks to her... the most gentle female purr I ever met.
And then, one day, a letter arrived from the fox... and he said he was coming home! he was coming home! Oh, happy day! calloo callay! My mood swung to the opposite pole, and I sent letters to all my dear friends who had listened patiently as I poured out my woes to them. And suddenly I was surrounded with wolves, bears, dogs, felines, other assorted mammalia and reptiloids, all pouncing me, tickling me, smothering me in kisses and tickling me with their agile fingers! I squirmed at the the bottom of the huge body pile, pressed down by the weight of loving friends who wanted only the best for me. And then, without warning, a familiar voice floated across the glade.
"Well... this is quite a party."
Before I could draw breath, my friends had jumped off me and formed a circle around me and the fox... they were watching, waiting. I raised my head cautiously. //Foxy?//
I looked up and saw an angel in black and silver, saw the green flash of his eyes in the sunlight. "The very same," he said. "The one and only."
I smiled, tears of joy pricking my eyes and jumped up and ran to him, taking him deeply into my forelegs, holding him tightly, pressing his soft warm fur as far as it would go into my scales... and his loving arms went around me, and drew me into him, and we cried, holding each other, surrounded by a circle of friends, who were all smiling, some of whom were in tears as we were.
I lifted my head and pressed my lips against his... his mouth opened wide and my tongue dove inside, desperate to explore his mouth again... and I felt his teeth and tongue... and then held my maw open as he returned the favour, gently, gently stroking over my fangs and points... our tongues dancing the merest little... and then we broke the kiss, and gazed into each others' eyes. //Oh foxy,// I whispered. //Oh dearest, dearest sweet foxy... I love you so... I love you so very much...//
He smiled, and his chin nuzzled my muzzle for a moment. "Dearest big dwaggin," he murmured. "Dearest gentle dwaggin... I love you too... and you'll never know how much."
He finally broke the clasp, having forgotten that our friends were there. Some of them were in tears, all of them smiled widely at us.
I finally found the strength to speak. //Oh my friends,// I said, //you have all earned yourselves nomination for sainthoods at the very least for what you have done for me. While this miscreant // I shook the fox playfully, and he gurgled appropriately // was away, I haven't been the best of company. Thank you for your love... and for listening to the babblings of an amorous dragon.
//You see,// I continued, //I realised how much I love this fox... when he went away. And I don't ever want to be apart from him again. For preference, I'd like to keep him tied up by my bed, for... my own personal reasons.// I flashed a toothy grin and winked at the group of friends, who laughed. The fox made an eeep! noise and wriggled a little.
//But he's here now... and so are you. And if I can tempt you to stay, the food and drink is on me! I can't think of a better reason to throw a party - so why not throw it as far as we can?//
Everybody cheered, including the sweet foxy who was nuzzling into my side. I produced food and drink by the bushel, and still it was consumed... the talk and laughter continued through the afternoon, well into the evening. The first fireflies were beginning to buzz through the still dark gaps between the trees when the first guests made their farewells, slipping quietly away.
The last guest to leave was a dear friend of both myself and the fox.He was is a wulf, or bipedal wolf man. He smiled at me and the fox as we nuzzled closely, tiredly, feeling the pleasure of intimacy again. "You look so 'appy," he said. "And you two look good together black and gold go nicely." We chuckled softly, and, after kissing us farewell - rather more lingeringly than perhaps we anticipated he too slipped away.
I nuzzled my chin into the fox's silver chest fur. //I love you... dearest gentle foxy.// A purr of love... a sigh of pleasure... a tear of joy. He myrred tenderly... "I know... I feel it... And I love you too, dearest sweet dwaggin."
We curled up around each other... so close... and kissed again, tenderly, lips on lips, barely using our tongues. And then, with the warmth of the dying fire on our bodies, we fell asleep together beneath the stars and the protecting moon.