FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

_ Explorations - _

Sammy, A.K.A 'Shadow the Skunk' wandered out of the crowds toward the side of the lobby and sank down onto one of three well upholstered benches with a soft chuff. He was alone, which was his preference, but for the golden fox sitting on one of the other benches.

Setting down his Con Cachet he dug out the program and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees and opened the program. Not that he would learn much; the con itself did not even begin until the following day. Today was merely check-in and registration, the latter of which he had already taken care of. Knowing the con Chairman had its perks. Luck had it that he spotted the harried looking English hare the moment he walked into the lobby. Unfortunately check-in was being delayed while the rooms were being cleaned and prepped following the business convention that had just concluded; "Professional Proctologists' Benevolent Society". He thought the desk manager was being cute until he saw an attendee checking out wearing one of the group's badges.

Trying not to laugh had made his gut hurt.

A sullen sigh brought his ears up and he glanced up through his brows. The golden fox was morosely staring at his cell phone, ears laid back and whiskers adroop.

"What up, kid?" Shadow asked quietly in his normal low churr, "We haven't even had opening ceremonies and you already look like someone just shot your best friend."

The fox looked up, his expression caught between surprise at being addressed, curiosity that a stranger would bother to inquire, and that 'edge-of-tears' look of panic. His delicate hands wrung the phone in their grasp as if trying to kill a particularly tough chicken. "It's... it's nothing."

Shadow rolled the program up and wrapped his hands around it as he leaned further forward, elbows on his knees. "Uh huh?"

The fox took a breath, fetching green eyes closing for a moment as he tried to steady himself, "Got kicked out of my room." He sighed out after a long moment.

"Damn," Shadow chuffed with a flick of his long, lush gray and white tail. "You actually got a room?" His dark glance at the desk, now crowded with a queue both trying to check in for the con and check out of the previous one.

"N- no." The fox admitted, "The guy I was going to room with did, earlier this morning. But-" The fox took another steadying breath and slumped forward in a look of defeat. He wasn't a bad looking youngster, Shadow observed, but then when you're closing on fourty pretty much any youngster looked better than you did. He guessed that the fox was, at most, twenty with his slim physique and clear eyes unburdened with the weight of years. Shadow's own eyes were just blue; nothing spectacular except that they were set in a muzzle of pale slate gray and white so they stood out quite starkly. "But then his ex showed up and... well... no room for me."

"You check the message board or forum to see if anyone else has space?" Shadow asked gently, sensing that the kid was about one sharp comment away from a breakdown.

"Yeah." The fox sucked a stuttering breath and covered his long, narrow muzzle with one hand. "Sorry." he coughed, "But it's just that... this is my first con. I don't know anyone here. My ride's on his way to work, and that's three hours from here. I'm stuck, at least until tomorrow morning."

"I doubt they'll let you sack out in the lobby, or even the Zoo once it's open." The common gathering room, a'la 'Zoo' would not be open for another three hours. "What's your name?"

"Yeah." The fox shook his head again and tried to focus on his phone, his golden furred thumb sweeping down across the device's smooth face. The black claw tipping that thumb was well manicured and glistening. His striking green gaze came up at the question. "Crev... er... Crevan."

"Interesting nom'de'guerre, kid." Leaning forward Shadow extended a hand, "Shadow. Nice to meet you."

Looking at his hand for a moment the fox, Crev, let out a quavering breath before reaching across and taking Shadow's larger paw in a light, almost effete, grasp. "Likewise, Shadow." The skunk was well used to such handshakes; no one seemed to know what a good handshake was any more. He gave the proffered hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it.

"Before you panic, look. I booked a double, and I'm running stag this time around." He offered with a warm smile, "If you don't mind sharing a room with an old greymuzzle."

Crev just blinked, jaw slightly agape showing off white vulpine teeth. "Seriously?" he positively squeaked, squeezing his phone again. That chicken just would not die.

"Yeah, it's no problem... well... unless you snore." Shadow offered a smile in return, his own white cutlery gleaming from the pale gray fur of his muzzle.

Crev snorted and scowled, his ears going back for a moment, "Uh, no, I don't. But -"

Oh, dear, the 'buts'. Shadow raised both brows curiously. "But?" he let the word trail off.

Crevan's ears twitched and he looked down at his hands, then back up through the pale sunshine gold of his brows, "I -" he paused, taking a breath as if steeling himself to deliver bad news, "I- I'm gay?"

Shadow blinked, one eyebrow arching as his own short, round ears twitched. He let out a chuff through his nose, "Lad, I'd be rather willing to bet a good third or half of the folks here are gay. And?"

"You're okay with that?" The fox asked hopefully, the black of his pupils widening with vertical pools of shadow in the green of his earnest, puppy-dog gaze.

"Wouldn't be here if I was, eh?" Shadow leaned back and rested his hands on his knees, the rolled up program waving from his left grip.

"You're not?"

Shadow chuffed and grinned hugely, "No, I wouldn't call myself gay, no." the skunk shook his head slowly, "I'm ... more an opportunist."

Crevan blinked in confusion, his ears rotating back as he gazed across at his earstwhile roommate. "An opportunist? I- I don't get it."

Shadow chortled in good humor as he pushed up onto his feet, flexing his naked claws into the expensive shag of the lobby carpeting. "I enjoy what I can find where I can find it. Old farts don't get the pick of the pretty ones, now do we?" Picking up his bag of sponsor level swag he turned toward the check in counter that had, mostly, cleared. Crev slipped his phone into the pocket of his shirt. The simple dark cotton was well ironed and free of shed fur; the cub did dress well the skunk observed quietly to himself. Even the unshod paws poking from pressed, creased black slacks were well groomed with carefully tended black claws. Shadow's own claws were hardly so impressive; pale ivory without the least pedicuring done on them in his entire life.

"Well, no, I guess not." The fox intoned as he fell into step beside the skunk. He stood just a little taller than Shadow's shoulders, putting the tips of his angular vulpine ears just a shade higher than the skunk's nose. "How old are you, anyway?"

"Thirty eight." Shadow replied affably, his lush gray tail sweeping lazily back and forth behind him. "You?"

"Twenty three." Crevan offered with a wan smile, "Still a virgin, too."

Shadow staggered a step and paused with a sidelong glance before chuckling and resuming his stroll toward the desk. "A bit more than I needed to know, lad, but it's cool. Not many virgins over the age of twenty about these days." They joined the queue, though Shadow didn't really know why the fox would stand in line with him. Probably the only life preserver in a stormy sea, he figured.

"Yeah... I'm old."

Shadow smirked with a twitch of his whiskers. "Old? What does that make me?"

Crevan managed a game smile, "Ancient?" the young fox joked with a twitch of his own long, bushy tail. His angular vulpine head tilted slightly, "How old were you?"

"Was I?" Shadow asked as they moved forward a step. Seven others were in line ahead of them, all sporting various badges or costumery indicating they were there for the same convention. Directly ahead of them in line was a towering horse, of some draft breed, standing well over seven feet at the tips of his ears. He carried a full suitcase in one hand as easily as Shadow might a pamphlet.

"When you... you know." Crevan hinted with a lift and drop of one shoulder, eyeing up the back of the mountainous equine ahead of them.

"Should I just tick off each first experience, or the very first one?" Shadow asked with a curious lift of one grey brow. Such impertinent questions to ask of a stranger.

"Your very first?"

"Oh, ahh, let me think... it was so, so long ago. Twelve, maybe? Eleven?" Shadow actually had to stop and ponder that one because it was so very, very long ago indeed and since then he had enjoyed so many firsts it was hard to enumerate just one.

"Wow... very young!"

Shadow shrugged a shoulder, feeling a bit exposed telling a complete stranger how old he was the first time he got laid. He could even remember her name; Lila, a very pretty raccoon girl who lived in the big house down the street. Not that their first was their only sharing, but time got in the way. His parents moved two years later and he had just never reconnected with his first girlfriend. "We all gotta start sometime, pup." He replied quietly.

Crevan's ears flattened back briefly and he looked down as if contemplating how the gold fur of his paws clashed with the deep burgundy tiles of the hotel floor. "Yeah, I guess. And I haven't even started yet."

"Don't worry about it, Crev. It'll happen when it happens, just hope that your first is something to be enjoyed, not something you look back on at my age with regret." Shadow offered reassuringly, "And believe me, I've got a lifetime of regrets to look back on. I envy your youth."

"Ain't that the truth." Rumbled a sonorous voice, bringing both of their gazes up. The horse was looking back over his shoulder with one deep brown eye. With an enigmatic nod and a smile from the corner of expressive equine lips the towering workhorse stepped forward to the desk leaving them momentarily alone. Crevan looked scandalized at having their conversation overheard and Shadow could only stare at the horse's back until he was done checking in.

While the stallion clomped heavily away on hooves as large as dinner plates Shadow stepped forward, handing over his ID and reservation number. The man, a perfectly ordinary looking human, bent to his computer and clicked a few keys. "How many passkeys will you require, sir?"

"Two."

"I only have a single available at this time, sir, I'm sorry."

"Excuse me?" Shadow asked, his tail stilling behind him and bushing slightly. "A single?"

"Yes, sir. I do apologize, but housekeeping is still preparing the hotel and no doubles, as I see you initially booked, will be available until tomorrow morning." The human looked embarrassed and shrugged helplessly, "All of the available doubles have been claimed. It does, however, have a queen size bed; an upgrade to a suite."

At least a suite would have a sofa, Shadow thought, which would be more than enough for the slender young fox to crash on. "Oh... very well. What floor?"

"Third, sir, though toward the rear of the hotel. I've noted in your booking you did not want to reside on the activities floor." Party floor, in other words, which would be raucous at all hours. Shadow's whiskers twitched as he considered his options; take a queen suite and reduce the fox to sleeping on the couch, or hold out for the possibility of a double bed later in the day... or not, leaving him in the same situation as the fox until the next morning.

"Ahhh... very well. Will there be any upcharge on the suite?"

"No, sir. You will only be charged per your original booking." The clerk assured him with a beneficent smile. After Shadow signed off on the requisite paperwork, in triplicate, the clerk slid across the envelope with the passkeys and room number.

"Something wrong?" Crevan, who had stood at the far end of the counter while Shadow booked his room, asked when the perturbed skunk joined him.

"Yeah. They booked me a queen sized single suite." He chuffed as they walked toward the elevators. He wanted to find out where is room was before he tried to move his car. As with all cons, the parking lot would be filling up quickly so he wanted to hold a decent parking place as long as he could.

"Single queen? That's like - what - one bed?"

"Yeah." Shadow fished one of the passkeys out of the envelope and handed it to the fox walking beside him. "But it's got a sofa, being a suite, unless you want to try sharing that bed." They caught one of the elevators as a few people stepped off, wearing their Proctologists' Benevolent society badges. "I don't snore."

"Eh, heh, and I'm small." Crev said as the doors closed, "I don't mind if you're okay with that, I don't take up much space." Truly, he didn't, with his slim young physique so opposed to Shadow's slight middle aged softening. He wasn't large as skunks go, but he had long ago lost the svelte good tone of his youth. "You don't have any bags?"

"I do, they're in my car. You?"

"They let me park mine in Con Ops for a couple hours, until I figured out what I was going to do." Crevan laced his fingers and looked down. Shadow could see his nose twitch and his ears back for a moment before the fox glanced up again. "You... you don't smell like a skunk, by the way."

"Thanks." Shadow was still a little put out by the unexpected change of rooms. "I'm careful about that, because most get rather put off. Besides, my great grandmother was a husky, we think."

"Think?" Crev tilted his head curiously. The elevator door dinged and opened and they stepped out into the hallway. Shadow scanned the nearest doors for numbers before he began walking toward the back of the floor. "That's why you're gray, rather than black?"

Shadow touched one of his brows, defining the subtle husky mask easily lost as it was mixed with the normal stripes of his kind, "Yeah. Husky color, no spray, mixed markings. My grandmother was adopted so no one knew her parentage, but since hybrids are just scandal... she got put up for adoption."

"At least she got adopted." Crevan nodded. They both fell into silence for a few minutes as they navigated down the long hallway, coming to the last door in the hall; 369.

"Well, here we are. Quite a jaunt, but at least it'll be away from the noise when the parties kick up."

"I like quiet." Crev nodded as he let Shadow open the door, holding it for him to enter. The room within was very spacious, with a huge bed dominating one side next to a long L-shaped couch, both facing the wall-dominating flat screen TV on one wall. Two walls had windows but the heavy drapes were drawn casting the suite in a quiet, cool gloom. "I'll help cover-"

Shadow waved one hand as he padded in and flicked the lightswitch, eyes settling on the thermostat. "I already paid the full booking; I always do well before hand to avoid any post-con billing fuckups. So whatever you were going to say, don't. Enjoy the con, and don't worry about the room."

"I -"

Shadow cocked a sidelong glance at the fox, "Neh! Hush. I said the room is nothing to concern yourself about. I'm sure you set some aside to pay that ass who kicked you out for his girlfriend, so, well, use it for the Con, yeah?"

Crevan's ears backed and he looked down, whiskers angled back in a moue of embarrassment, "Y- yeah, I did, and I will, thanks." He looked up with a smile, "At least let me buy you dinner, Shadow, is that okay?"

"Splendid, I'm starved! I didn't eat before I drove out here." He walked to the door and waited for Crevan to come out before letting it close.

"Long drive?"

"Three hours, not so bad." Both paused when the door opposite theirs opened and a rust-red wolf backed out. "Oh! Hey there, Sizzle." Shadow offered to the back of the wolf. Strong shoulders twitched and lifted as the wolf ducked it's head slightly, then let out a rumbling sigh.

Crevan looked from Shadow to the wolf and back, "Sizzle... you.. you know Sizzle?" The wolf was an artist quite well known in the fandom, with multiple illustrated novels and other material in circulation. She was also very, very reclusive and put off by the attention her popularity had garnered her over the years. Slowly she turned, golden eyes sizing up Crevan quickly with one eyebrow slightly lifted in appraisal before her gaze settled on Shadow.

"Shade, you old stinker! I didn't recognize your voice." The wolf beamed, thrusting out a hand. Shadow grasped it warmly; Sizzle was one of the few he'd met in his years of attending cons who could actually give a handshake. "Got your commission requests ready?"

"Of course, rustbutt." The skunk laughed as they shook hands while the fox, slack jawed, hovered at Shadow's shoulder. "Now that I know what room you're in I'll just slip it under your door."

Sizzle's golden gaze twitched slightly to one side, "And who is your shadow, Shadow?"

"Stranger in a strange hotel... name's Crevan, I ran into him downstairs looking for a room share." Dropping a hand he found the fox's wrist and pulled it up to thrust his paw toward the rather masculine looking she-wolf. Crevan let out a startled squeal and tried to retrieve his hand but Sizzle's grip was implacable, though gentle. "We were just about to grab a bite, care to join us?"

"Me? Shit, I'll get mobbed and you know it." Sizzle huffed with a frown. She liked her art, and her farm, but was never comfortable with the crowds at cons, despite those crowds paying her bills.

"Then let's go somewhere not at the con, eh? It's a big city, and I've got my car."

Sizzle seemed to ponder that for a few moments, then shrugged and smiled, "Sure, I'm game. What were you going to grab?"

"Well, tradition? I generally hit up that brazillian meatery in Addison, on my first day at Con."

"The churrasqueira? Damn but I love that place!" Sizzle proclaimed with a wag of her tail. Shadow laughed and crooked his arm at her chivalrously to which she merely looked, frowned, and scoffed. The skunk laughed, the wolf laughed, and the fox looked on with a disbelieving moue.

Dinner was, as always, more than 'excessive'. They stuffed themselves almost to the point of nausea before returning to the hotel well after dark. The registration line had dwindled to a trickle, allowing Crevan to slip in and return in minutes rather than the hours he had been dreading. Sizzle, as one of the Guests of Honor, had already gotten her registration done just as Shadow had much earlier in the day.

The three of them snuck into the hotel through the back door, which was closest to their rooms, and managed to get Sizzle back to her room without attracting the attentions of the much more numerous con attendees. Shadow caught a glimpse of another wolf, pale white, beyond the door when she opened it. That would be the Lady Avalon, another artist. The two of them almost always shared rooms at cons both were attending. Avalon merely met Shadow's gaze with a curious look before the door closed.

Shadow let the door fall closed behind him and stretched as he hauled his suitcase toward the couch. Crevan had brought his as well and dug out his laptop which he was studiously attempting to connect to the hotel's network. "Wow." The fox giggled, still giddy from the drinks he had imbibed during their raucous feast. "I just had dinner with Sizzle... who will ever believe that?"

"Not many." Shadow observed laconically as he dug out his toiletries and brushes from his bag. "She's not known for palling around at Cons these days. Early on, before she was so well known, yes. But these days she gets swamped by fans so you don't see her much beyond the Dealers' Room." Shadow shrugged out of his shirt and tossed it over his open suitcase, not bothering with his own laptop. He normally didn't get much writing done at cons.

"Thanks, I -" Crevan said as he finished connecting his computer and turned around, his words stuttering into silence when he saw Shadow shirtless. Shadow hissed inwardly at himself; he lived alone and so seldom thought about when or where he took his clothes off. "I - uh - yeah, Shadow, I - really don't know how to say thank you enough." The fox blushed under his fur and cast his gaze down at the keyboard of his laptop.

"You don't have to." Shadow smiled reassuringly as he fished one of the heavy hotel robes from the closet just outside the bathroom. "Glad to have the company, honestly." He chuckled with a swish of his tail, "I live alone, and most often work alone, so I don't get to enjoy company." Especially good looking younger company, he thought but did not say. "I'm gonna hit the shower, unless you need to use the facilities?" Shadow was in desperate need of those facilities so figured that he'd let the fox avail himself before he tied up the room with a long, hot shower.

"N- no, I'm good." Crevan stammered without looking up from his computer, both ears backed self-conciously. "You're so... comfortable around her, like you've done this your whole life. I didn't even know how to talk, much less what to say."

"Ach, yeah, I saw. But you caught in gamely enough... and laughed at all the right places. Her jokes tend to be a bit... raw." The skunk chuckled as he leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom, robe over one shoulder. "I've only been attending cons about eight years. In fact, my first con was this one. It was Sizzle's first too. Our rooms were right next door, too, just like today. Brings back fond memories."

"Did you - ?"

"Oh, hell no." Shadow scoffed with a laugh, "We shared a hello and a nod whenever we passed in the hallway, until the last night. Some half-drunk feline was so taken with her art that he wanted to be amorous. He came knocking on her door at like 3am. Woke up damn near everyone in the hallway." He paused to recall the moment with a chuckle and a smile. "His back was to me and he was trying to push into the room. I could see that Sizzle was about to lay him flat, which would hardly go well for her reputation, so I tapped him on the shoulder and let him get a good, long look at the ass end of a riled skunk. He had no way of knowing I can't spray, so lit out of there so fast most of his flight was a mad scramble on all fours. Sizzle and I have been friends ever since."

Crevan giggled merrily. "Yeah, I can imagine! Poor cat!" He shook his head and got his giggling under control. "I've been a fan of her work since I first found it. I was fourteen and... it really defined me a lot. That's ... she... her work, well, kinda really let me know I was ... you know..."

"Gay?"

"Yeah." Crevan tucked his chin low and flattened his ears, abashed. "Seeing how she drew her males... really clicked."

"How do you know?" Shadow asked.

"What?" Crevan looked up, saw that Shadow was still shirtless, backlit by the bathroom light that defined him in a nebulous gray halo of fur, and quickly looked back down, his tail tucking behind his chair.

"That you're gay? You're a virgin, as you said."

"Oh." Crevan's paws fiddled at the legs of his chair and he rested his arms to either side of his laptop. The screen turned the gold and paler cream fur of his muzzle almost blue. "I've just ... well, I've always just liked males, that way. Females never 'did it' for me, or do. Yeah, they're pretty and all, but..." he trailed off with a sigh. "But I've never let on, back home. They wouldn't get me."

"Many seldom do, but our culture is far more tolerant these days." Shadow offered reassuringly.

"You're cool with it."

"I've never bothered to concern myself about it." Shadow shrugged, "I've always gone either way, since I was very, very young. Yeah, in high school I was the trenchcoat grunge no one associated with. Being nondescript gray no one really cared what I thought about things. I never stood out, nor did I try to. What I liked, I liked, and like... to hell with what anyone else thinks."

"You're older, more experienced, more mature... you've had time to settle in and come to grips with it." Crevan argued quietly without looking up, shifting uncomfortably in his chair while his tail tried diligently to touch the back of his legs from beneath it.

"I came to grips with it by the time I was fifteen. Fuck everyone else." He paused, considering what he'd just said, then laughed. "And I did, or let them. I'm my own man, not anyone else's."

Crevan chuffed a soft laugh at the skunk's words, "Never been married then, I guess."

"Not that kinda guy, no." Shadow shook his head, "I have always been in awe of what my parents have had for the last fifty years, and I know that I could never find a lady who could complete me the way my mom does my dad. Nor guy, for that matter." Shadow shrugged again with one shoulder. "Gonna hit the shower, back in a little while."

The shower felt marvelous, the water pressure set to a perfect pummeling force that successfully blasted through his thick pelt to ease the aches and weariness of the day away. He emerged some time later after a long time basking in the dry, warming cyclone of the auto-drier. Cinching the robe about his waist he wandered out to find the fox rattling away at the keys of his computer.

"Shower's open." He commented with a yawn, glancing at the clock only to be somewhat surprised that it was only just after ten. Far too early to be turning in, but there was no reason to go out wandering until the wee hours; the con had not even begun to kick into full swing. Crevan glanced up and smiled, dropping the laptop closed.

"Just rattled off another journal entry for my blog. All of my friends are going to be so jealous that I got to take Sizzle to dinner." He smiled as he stood and turned to dig through his luggage. Shadow smiled at the fox's back, admiring the flow of his shoulders; not too broad, not too narrow, that lead to his slender waist and hips. He found the fox's tail quite pleasant to watch; but then he had always been partial to tails. One of his longest relationships had been with another skunk lady whose tail had been especially fine. Alas, her career came before boyfriends and she moved to California over a decade past. They still shared correspondence, but she was married to her Hollywood job. Shadow was nothing more than another fan, now.

"Paid for her dinner, too. She won't soon forget that. Her budget is too tight to enjoy many eat outs like that."

Crevan chuckled and tucked a handful of items under one arm, drifting past Shadow on the way to the bathroom. His swaying tail brushed Shadow's hip on the way by. "Mine's not, by far, so let her know that any time she wants dinner, I'll cover." He flashed a toothy smile over his shoulder and disappeared into the bathroom.

Shadow smiled and shook his head as he dug one of the dozen folders he brought with him out of his suitcase. Each had the particulars he wanted for some commission or other, usually for his stories. He wondered what the fox would think if he really knew who Shadow was. He never attended cons with his pen name, to avoid the public attention that Sizzle and others of her caliber suffered. What would Crevan think if he knew that three of Sizzle's graphic novels were actually his stories that she had illustrated and put her name to?

Tucking a couple folders under his arm he walked across the hall, still wearing his robe, and rapped lightly at door 368. After a few moments it cracked open slightly revealing a white muzzle and pale blue eye. Shadow took a half step back and bowed regally. "Mistress Avalon, greetings to you." The door opened a little further, revealing the aristocratic lupine visage of Lady Avalon who coolly regarded him. She coolly regarded everyone; that was the mystique of her alternate persona. Once the door closed she was an altogether warmer person. Not exactly a friend, as Sizzle was, but a nice acquaintance. "Sizzle wanted these." He offered the folders, "And, if you're not booked, the second one I had intended to give you in the Den, tomorrow."

Avalon opened the door further and accepted the folders with a warm smile, that cool façade fading for a moment. "Thanks, Shadow. We're open, until the commissions roll in tomorrow. Show you some proofs when the Den opens, okay?"

"Thank you, milady. And a good evening to you both." With another regal bow Shadow retreated back into his room. He could hear the loud hiss of the shower through the slightly open bathroom door and drew it closed on his way by without a thought. Shucking the robe he glanced at the bed, then his luggage, pondering for a moment before pulling out a pair of sweat pants. He normally never wore them, but then again he always slept alone. Stepping into them he drew back the coverlet of the huge hotel bed and crawled into it.

He was reading his portable electronic book reader when Crevan emerged some time later, a towel wrapped around his hips. His fur was comically fluffed from the auto-drier and Shadow quirked one smile from the corner of his muzzle at the sight. Under the dense pelt the fox's stomach was flat, very likely a decent six-pack hidden there, but then the fox was young and still in shape. Shadow's own stomach was hardly large, but had lost that sort of definition by the time he was thirty.

With a self-conscious smile Crevan tried to smooth down his fur and went to his bag. He pawed through it, a frown drawing at the corners of his muzzle as his ears twitched erratically. "Uhm..."

"Hmm?" Shadow murmured curiously, drawing his reading glasses down his nose a bit to look over them.

"I... uhm... I didn't bring any night clothes." The fox muttered quietly, his ears going flat back against this head so firmly they almost disappeared into the frizz of freshly dried fur.

Shadow could only chuckle, "That room you were going to use had two beds then, I assume?"

As if he were not already scandalously abashed the fox only blushed further, ducking his head between his shoulders, "N- no." he managed to quaver after some moments. Shadow only laughed again.

"Intentions and intentions, young fox did have." The skunk intoned in a caricatured voice, wagging a finger toward the fox. "Came a virgin, but didn't expect to leave the same way, eh?"

Trying to shrink in upon himself in embarrassment Crevan could only shake his head jerkily. "No." he managed to stutter meekly.

"I hope you knew that roommate of yours well."

"Well... well enough." Crevan stood staring down at his bag.

Shadow chuffed with a shake of his head, "Not so well that his girlfriend didn't send you packing when she showed."

"He. Boyfriend."

"As much I figured." Shadow intoned with a smile. "You could always wear your slacks, though considering how clean they are I doubt you'd prefer that."

Crevan's muzzle wrinkled in a distasteful moue, "Ugh, no. Uncomfortable." He looked at his bag again and dug through it aimlessly for a few seconds, disturbing fastidiously folded slacks, shirts, and tightly bundled socks. Compared to Shadow's toss of random clothing it looked to have been packed by someone with a serious case of OCD. "I normally-"

"Uhm hmm, yeah, same." Shadow interrupted with a good natured smile and a shrug, "Don't freak yourself about it, the bed's more than big enough." Setting aside his glasses and e-reader Shadow reached up and tapped the single light off, plunging the room into almost total darkness. Being on the back of the hotel there were no streetlights or signs outside to illuminate the room with intrusive light. Plus the curtains were heavy and thick, blotting out even the diffuse light of the parking garage behind the hotel. Crevan let out a surprised huff at the sudden darkness.

A moment later Shadow felt the bed shift a little and the coverlet moved as the fox crept onto his side of the bed. "Sleep well." Crevan offered quietly. Shadow shifted and turned onto his side, his back to the fox, and pulled his tail up snugly against his back.

"You too, lad." The skunk intoned with a quiet murmur, yawning despite himself. After rising early, spending a few hours fruitlessly hashing through a particularly problematic chapter of his latest work for much of the day, and then driving three hours he was surprisingly spent. Of course, a meal high in meat and a couple of beers really left him mellow. Within minutes he felt himself drifting off, the fox's quiet breathing fading into the subtle murmur of city life whispering through the walls of the hotel.

Shadow awoke suddenly some time later and did not move, he did not even let his slow breathing change, his eyes springing open to stare into the darkness. He found himself on his back, his tail stretched now down between his legs. A gentle touch was stroking his stomach, brushing lightly across the front of his sweats and tracing out the ridge of his sheath. The skunk lay there, frozen into stillness by the soft, almost inquisitive touch. The light, butterfly caress was an unbearable teasing across his sensitive fur and sheath. Despite his best attempts to quell the natural response of his body he found his sheath beginning to thicken.

The damn fox was feeling him up!

Well, not exactly giving him a good groping, but certainly taking considerable liberties with someone he assumed to be asleep. Shadow grit his teeth and kept his breathing carefully slow, cursing his body for its response. Within moments his cock was almost painfully erect, half exposed from his sheath and pressing against the restraint of his sweats. Only his sheath held it down against his stomach, or it would have been making quite a tent of those loose pants. He felt the delicate touch drift downward, tracing out the knot still trapped within his sheath, then pause and touch again, a little more solidly as if tracing out his knot. His eyes rolled up and his fingers dug into the sheets beneath him as he fought to keep his tail still or his cock from twitching.

Which, of course, it did when Crevan's fingers satisfied themselves about his knot and drifted up, passing from the fur of his sheath to the naked, exposed flesh of his cock through the plush cotton of his sweats.

"Well?" he asked at length, his breath gurgling from the depths of his throat. The fox's touch suddenly vanished as he jerked his hand back. Shadow turned his head and looked aside at the fox, a pale shadow quite surprisingly close beside him, wide eyes glistening in the darkness.

"Sorry!" the fox squeaked, retreating to the far side of the bed in horror.

"Well?" he asked again, not moving. Crevan's breath was quick and shallow, as if expecting him to spring up and deliver a thorough drubbing for his impertinence. Shadow did not move.

"Sorry," the fox stammered again, his hands clenched fearfully against his throat and only his shadowed head exposed beneath the tightly drawn coverlet.

"Yes, yes, you already said. Well?" Shadow muttered after taking a moment to clear the sleepy roughness from his voice.

"Well?" Crevan quavered fearfully again, ears naught more than subtly angular shadows atop his dimly seen head.

"Are you satisfied with it?"

"I-" Crevan gasped, then swallowed, "I - yes." He admitted with a gushing sigh and ducked his muzzle under the coverlet, hiding himself to the eyes. "I... I didn't know... sorry."

"That I was awake?"

"Y- yeah." The fox's head nodded under the shield of the coverlet, "That skunks had... knots, like I do."

"Husky in the bloodline, pup." Shadow huffed out a breath as he finally got his body under control, his erection fast fading and his teased cock slipping back into the protection of its sheath. "Husky gray, markings, no spray. And a knot. Pretty much the whole thing is dog, down there."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Yeah, pup? Why'd you check it out? You've got one, too." Still, Shadow did not move but that one turn of his head.

"I-" Crevan tucked his head deeper under the coverlet, hiding his eyes, his ears invisible in the darkness as they flattened back. "I've... only ever... I've only ever touched myself."

"Wanted to know what another guy felt like?" Shadow got his racing heart to slow, and took long breaths. His body wanted more oxygen from the momentary fright of being awakened with a paw feeling up his sheath. It'd been quite some time for him since feeling anyone else's touch. Being the equivalent of a shut in, but for attending cons as a speaker on writing panels, left him to his own paw more often than not.

"Y- yeah."

Shadow half turned onto his side, freeing his tail up to stretch off the edge of the bed behind him, "Did ya think to just ask?" he grumphed with one eyebrow raised archly. The darkness rendered his stern look moot, but he conveyed it quite plainly with his voice.

"No." the fox muttered, a muffled voice from beneath the coverlet. At least he lowered it enough to peek over it again. "I didn't think you-"

"Thought I'd laugh and send you to the couch, or packing entirely, eh?"

"Y- yeah." Crevan nodded jerkily. Despite the plushness of the bed Shadow could feel the fox shivering in fear at having been caught.

"So you'd rather wake me up with a handful, eh?" Shadow shook his head slowly and let a huff out past his lips. He ran his tongue slowly over the complex contours of his sharp teeth and took a steadying breath. "Getting woke up like that could've surely gotten you a foot up your ass, pup."

Crevan whimpered and quivered, "Sorry!" he yelped again, cowering under the coverlet.

"Calm it, pup. I'm chuffed, yeah, okay... just ask next time. Some folks aren't cool about that sort of ... wake up call, kay?"

"Yes, sorry, sorry, Shadow. I won't do it again, promise!" Crevan let out in a babbling gush, lifting his head free of the shielding coverlet and nodding emphatically.

"Why not?"

That stopped the fox's stammering apologies, "Huh?" cold.

"You already got your pawful, why stop?"

"Because I pissed you off?" the fox murmured in confusion.

"Startled me a bit, yeah. Pissed me off? Yeah, okay, a little. But I'm cool, kay?"

"Yeah, okay, I'm sorry, but -"

"And stop apologizing, geeze. It's not like you were trying to root under my tail unasked, sheesh." Shadow rolled his eyes and shook his head. Reaching across with one hand he ruffled the fox between the ears reassuringly.

"But... you're cool, yeah?" Crevan tucked his head into the ruffling and swallowed his fear. "Can I?"

"Touch?" Shadow raised an eyebrow, again an ineffective expression in the dark. "Sure, why not." He chuckled, his gaze catching the clock near the door. Only eleven-fifteen? Damn but the fox hadn't wasted any time. Curiosity did bad things to cats, but foxes weren't much less curious, and no one said that got them killed.

Shifting a little Crevan relaxed his reflexively curled posture under the coverlet and met his gaze, such as he could in the dark. Shadow held still, relaxing on his side with his head propped on a pillow. After a moment he felt a hesitant touch against his side, then his stomach, twitchy fingers tracing the waistline of his sweats. "I thought you said that -"

"Usually I do, but I've got company, yeah?" He sucked in his gut as the fox's fingers brushed across a somewhat ticklish spot on his flank. "Didn't want to send the wrong message, you know?"

Crevan's head bobbed in the shadows, "Yeah, I get you. I'm really, really s-"

"Shut, it, pup." Shadow laughed, "If you want to explore, okay, feel free. I won't bite you."

The fox's muzzle light with a brief flash in the darkness; teeth revealed with a huge vulpine grin, "Unless I ask?" he responded with the usual line.

"Shit no, not even then. My teeth are sharp. Biting ain't my thing." His words stuttered and huffed silent as the inquisitive paw traced down over the front of his sweats and smoothly, much more boldly than the feather light curiosity shown previously, slid along the front of his sheath. "Well?" he croaked, then cleared his throat with a snort at his own rough voice.

"Feels very nice. Big." The fox's hand rubbed against his sheath, working downward as his fingers pressed against his sweats, defining the ridge of his sheath. "Kinda like cotton."

Shadow got the hint and chuckled. Shifting a bit he raised his hips and hooked his thumbs under the waist of his sweats. Shimmying out of them was not difficult in the least and he kicked them down to the foot of the bed under the covers. Relaxing back down he stretched out partially on his side to give his tail some freedom. He normally did not sleep on his back because his tail did not feel the most comfortable pushed down between his legs. He preferred it usually straight out behind him or curled up in the natural skunk's curve behind him. Having husky lineage further compounded the desire of his tail to curve upward rather than down.

By the time he had re-settled himself the fox had shifted himself a little closer so he did not have to reach out quite so far. His fingers brushed lightly along the front of Shadow's thigh, then inward and upward as the fox watched his face. Blunt, smooth claws brushed across his balls and the root of his sheath, soft pads once more brushing against the subtle curve of his knot. "Soft." The fox murmured quietly in the dark, "Your fur is very soft, and warm."

"I try to keep the coarse outer coat trimmed back." Shadow admitted, his eyes half lidded as he found himself babbling, too caught up enjoying the curious, inquisitive caress of the fox's paw. Once more his cock was quick to react to that touch, pulsing steadily as it thickened, extending slowly beyond the limited length of his sheath. Crevan's gentle fingers continued to rub and trace, touching lightly upward from his balls and knot toward his tip.

When warm, soft pads encountered exposed flesh Shadow could not help but twitch a little with a body-length quiver. All the while Crevan watched him alertly in the dark. No doubt the fox could see far better than he could. Warm pads brushed against his naked flesh, tracing the curves and veins pulled taut against solid inner tissues. "Shadow?"

"Yeah?" the skunk asked, trying to keep his voice quiet to hide the huskiness at the edge of his breathing.

"You feel very nice." A thumb brushed across his slender, tapered tip and he shivered again, one hand clutching the pillow under his head.

"Thanks." As he watched the fox drew his hand up, brushing it across the tip of his muzzle, and then reached down again. Shadow caught a momentary glimmer of dampness that disappeared quickly in the pale shadow of the fox's face very near his own.

"Thank you." Crevan murmured, his hand reaching down to briefly brush across the skunk's hip before finding his crotch again, warm fingers cupping under his balls and lifting them while his thumb rubbed along the front of his extremely full sheath. Gently stroking and rubbing the fox's thumb slowly coaxed his sheath further and further down, carefully easing it over his knot before it was too large to slip free. "There, shouldn't be so uncomfortable. I know how that is." The fox's breath was warm against Shadow's sensitive, plentiful whiskers, his breath smelling faintly minty from whatever brand of toothpaste he used.

"Yeah, thanks." Was all the skunk could offer, studiously trying to keep his body still.

"Shadow?"

"Mmmhh?" It was hard to think with those gentle fingers mapping out every little curve and bulge of his knot and achingly erect length.

"Can..." The fox paused again as he considered his words, "Can I do more than touch?"

"Explore." Shadow murmured with a slow nod, "I said... explore." He closed his eyes and let out a slow breath, "As much as you want."

"Really?" The timid quaver was gone entirely and the sultry, soft growl brought Shadow's eyes open with a snap. "As much as I want?"

"Yes."

If it were not weighed down by the heavy coverlet Shadow imagined that the fox's tail was quite animatedly wagging. Releasing Shadow's all-too-eager length Crevan raised his hand and once more licked his fingers, then pushed the heavy weight of the coverlet down until it covered only Shadow's legs from the thighs down. "I want to... see you." In the darkness all Shadow could see were his namesakes; shadows.

Crevan was a paler hue in the dark, an indistinct form stretched out close beside him. When he glanced down the skunk could only discern his own erection as a glisten against the pale fur of his stomach that, in the darkness, was actually more akin to his namesake species. Even the white of his stripe was just an indistinct line more pale than the gray of his hips. The fox, however, seemed to have little trouble with the darkness. His hand unerringly returned to the glistening length of flesh lying in the nest of Shadow's dense belly fur, the pad of a thumb brushing across his tip before being raised once more to the fox's tongue and slowly licked.

Propping himself up slightly on one elbow the angular shape of Crevan's head pointed downward as he gazed at that erection, his thumb stuck in the end of his tapered muzzle as he considered the view for a few long moments. What he saw, or how clearly, or what he thought of what he saw Shadow had no idea, until the fox took his thumb from his muzzle and reached down once more. His warm paw circled about Shadow's cock entirely and gave a slow, gently rubbing squeeze.

"You look wonderful, Shadow." The fox murred quietly, leaning closer and tucking his muzzle to press his nose into the fur beneath Shadow's chin, pushing his head up. "I've never... I've never seen another guy. Not like this." His hand slowly pumped Shadow's erection, turning slightly so that the leaking pre escaping its tip cast a gleaming trail over the dark pads of his palm. "Outside of the showers in gym class, when I was in school." His voice was soft, quavering as his head tipped to look downward across the planes of Shadow's chest and his stomach which was now primly flat while he reclined. "I really, really like seeing you, like this."

"N- naked?" For once it was Shadow's turn to find his voice broken and shaky.

Crevan chortled softly and slid his hand upward, releasing the skunk's twitching, throbbing length. Raising his head he turned to look down at the skunk, slowly licking his palm as he smiled. "No. Aroused. By me. For me." He purred with an almost cat-like rumble. Shadow's breath hitched in his throat as he watched the handsome young fox lick his palm; lick the damn glistening trail of his own pre from those dark palm pads.

"You're not so bad looking yourself, Crev." He admitted with a twitching smile, his cock giving a demanding jerk as he watched that coquettish display. "It's been a long time since someone as good looking gave me more than a second glance."

The fox smiled and licked his nose, reaching down to trace the pad of one finger slowly upward along Shadow's length from knot to tip. "I looked twice." Crevan admitted, "But I was lost." Pushing further up on the arm supporting him the fox cast his gaze slowly downward, following his own finger as it traced up the rigid girth of Shadow's erection, caressing the all too canine tip, the pad softly brushing across the recessed hollow above the tapered, out thrust tip. He smiled when the skunk's cock twitched and a glistening jet of pre fountained across the pale fur of Shadow's stomach.

Even as Shadow let out a gasp, before he could take in the words for the touch, Crevan's body bent, his head borne downward until the warm caress of the fox's finger was replaced with a softer but far more heated caress. Shadow's hips bucked and he let out a sharp, bird-like trill at the slow downward stroke of the fox's long, warm tongue. "I was lost, but now am found." Crevan intoned as his tongue rolled over Shadow's bulging knot, his cool nose pressing against velvet furred balls with a slow inhalation. "You found me. Now you're letting me explore; letting me find you."

Shadow dropped a hand and pressed his splayed fingers into the rich golden fur at the fox's middle back, gray and gold equal hues in the darkness. "Damn you're such a poet, pup." The skunk rumbled throatily, his hips striving up against that lazy lick and his tail lashing against his hip, curling around before them to brush the fox's shoulder.

"Mmhmmm." Crevan murmured quietly as his tongue continued it slow downward path, hooking beneath Shadow's balls and lifting them as his lick stroked beneath, around, and back upward. "Damn... I never knew it would taste like this." His tongue contoured itself over Shadow's girth as it drew upward, then curled beneath his tip, lifting it even as it gave another spastic twitch and showered another spurting jet of pre directly into Crevan's muzzle. "Ohhh, no, never knew."

"Good?" Shadow's fingers fisted into the fox's fur as his own toeclaws splayed with a quiet, whispering hiss against the coverlet over his feet.

"Wonderful!" The fox's tongue swirled and rubbed, sliding down his cock again and then back up to circle and lift his tip, accepting another twitching jerk that sent pre spattering across his tongue. "Better than I ever imagin-" The rest of his statement disappeared in a wordless, mumbled growl as his tongue lifted Shadow's tip, curving beneath it and drawing it upward as his head dipped down. Shadow let out an inarticulate cry and his entire body jerked at the sudden warm embrace that slid smoothly down his length until Crevan's lips touched his knot.

The sensation of the fox's tongue nursing, a rippling stroke that rolled firmly against his tip and down his shaft before the entire length of the fox's tongue pressed him up against the curved palette of Crevan's muzzle and stroked back in one motion, made Shadow's eyes roll back in their sockets. His tail pushed and thrashed as his heels drove down against the opulent softness of the mattress, lifting his hips into that hot, confined passage. Crevan's tongue nursed him for several seconds before he drew his head up, supporting the skunk's cock proudly upright with one hand. The fox swallowed noisily and gazed down admiringly at the proud spear standing before his tapered muzzle, letting out a lusty giggle as a spatter of pre struck his nose and dripped from his whiskers. "Thick, too, and so long... and you taste..." The fox shook his head slowly, at a loss for words as he licked the glistening pre from his nose and whiskers. "Wonderful."

Once more his head dipped downward, muzzle opening to let the skunk's needy erection slip past his lips, between the dangerous pillars of his carnivorous fangs, and slide along the warm, rippling length of his tongue. Shadow twitched and bucked and writhed, lost in the pure pleasure of the gentle fox's hot muzzle 'exploring' him all the way to the throbbing thickness of his knot. "Kkrist..." he gasped breathlessly, trying not to yank fur out of the fox's bowed back, "You've... you've never done this before?"

Crevan carefully shook his head at the apex of another slow plunge, swirling his tongue softly about the skunk's painfully sensitive tip. "No, never." He managed to say intelligibly past the thickness held just between his lips, kissing lightly at Shadow's tip; almost reverently. "Only what I've seen, or read, in Sizzle's stories."

Maybe one of which I've written, some distant cogent part of Shadow's mind thought, but his forethoughts completely disregarded. He was too caught up in the moment; the warm, damp caress of tongue and confined muzzle. For someone who had never had a dick in their muzzle before the fox was remarkably skilled in his gentle explorations. Not once did the edge of a tooth scape tender, naked flesh. Not once was he taken so deeply that the throat gagging about his tip clench uncomfortably. As long as the fox claimed that he was Shadow's length did not plunge nearly so deep when the fox's lips caressed his knot, gentle fingers massaging beneath that huge bulge with the skill and understanding available only to canids.

Then cold! So cold. Chilled heavily air-conditioned air left his cock feeling as if it had been plunged into an arctic breeze. He blinked and huffed as Crevan raised his head to look back upward, eyes glistening black pools in the darkness. "Shadow?"

"Yes, Crev?" Shadow huffed breathlessly, releasing his deathgrip on the poor fox's fur, gazing down to meet that dark regard.

"If I can... if I get that far..." Crevan looked away, gazing at the throbbing cock in his grasp in contemplation, "Will you - please -"

"Crev? What?"

"If I can get you.. that far? Will you...will you let me taste you? In my muzzle?" His voice was quiet, timid, yet passionately eager.

"Cum?" Shadow felt his body calming, slightly, taking a steadying breath even as his cock offered up another arcing spurt of pre that struck Crevan's arm and left a glistening trail. "Yes, Crev, if you want-"

"I do!" the fox whined as his freed tail thumped the edge of the bed behind him. "Please, I do." Leaning up briefly he tucked his muzzle under Shadow's chin and nuzzled the thick fur of his throat ruff before lowering his head and wrapping his tongue serpentinely about Shadow's rigid hardness. He licked and nuzzled with slow, teasing strokes of his tongue and nose, working gently at Shadow's churning balls, licking softly at his tender knot. It was a full two minutes or more before the fox's lips kissed his tip, the end of the fox's warm tongue caressing and swirling about it to take in the rapidfire twitches of pre that spattered forth.

When that warm muzzle finally took him once more, slowly and with eager but gentle passion, Shadow was all too willing to give the fox just what he wanted. The vulpine's skilled tongue teased and coaxed his entire length with the rippling, warm suckling as Shadow clutched at the sheets with one hand and the fur of Crevan's back with his other. He dropped his head back upon the pillow and stared blindly at the dark ceiling above as his ears took in the wet, quiet sound of the fox's earnest suckling. The scent of the fox hung heavily in the air; arousal without the deeper fetor of outright sex that tickled Shadow's sensitive nose. His own musk was deeper, more primal; that deep weight of lust and need that was almost visceral in its potency.

And the fox had his nose right down it, each indrawn breath cool across his balls and each huffing exhalation scaldingly hot. Shadow could feel his balls drawing up, his loins tightening with almost painful need, as his tail curled forward across his hip and draped over the fox's shoulder. Gentle fingers massaged the back of his knot and cupped his balls warmly, drawing them up against the cool pad of the fox's nose. Crevan drank in Shadow's scent as eagerly as he drank the steady surges of pre that spurted from his throbbing length. "Crev...." Shadow gasped, his voice high and fluting despite his wish that nature had not given skunk's such a silly voice.

Foxes and wolves were so much better at reveling in their throes of passion; skunks trilled like birds.

Crevan's voice was a muffled gurgle of affirmation; a thrilling vibration from the vulpine's throat along his tongue and directly into Shadow's cock. "Crev..." Shadow's back arched and his hands fisted in fabric and fur, his hips pushing up toward that lovely, narrow muzzle embracing him with such skill and warmth. "Crev... !" From the corner of one unfocused eye Shadow saw the fox's tail lift up in a pale plume behind him and the fox bent forward deeper, mumbling and muttering as he plunged his muzzle downward to take Shadow fully into his muzzle but for the bulk of his knot.

" Crev!" Shadow cried out in a choked trill as his loins released their tension in a powerful, muscular jerk of his cock. He felt the rush of his release blast upward from his balls, coursing through his knot to burst explosively forth into the depths of Crevan's muzzle. His hips jerked upward once, solidly bumping his groin against the fox's muzzle, before falling down heavily, almost dragging his jerking length from Crevan's narrow muzzle before the fox's head plunged down, accepting the second powerful jerk and flooding rush of cum that it sent forth. All the while he moaned and rumbled with eager approval and held firmly to the skunk's very un-skunkish knot.

All too soon, after an easy dozen spasming jerks of his cock and flooding spurts of thick cum into the accepting muzzle, Shadow's orgasm began to slowly fade. His cock twitched into quiescence and Crevan's loud, desperate gulping quieted. They both lay there, awkwardly sprawled and panting heavily as the bliss of release appeased washed over them. Crevan rested his head on Shadow's stomach and continued to suckle, ever so gently, upon the skunk's tender erection. They lay in silence but for their mutual panting; Shadow's through his muzzle agape and Crevan's through his nose in swift hissing breaths, for several very long, companionable minutes before the skunk's erection began to fade.

Crevan kept it in his muzzle, only grudgingly allowing the skunk's length to slip back into the pale gray fur of his sheath. Only then did he un-bend his body and stretch out against Shadow's side. "Thank you." The fox breathed softly, his once toothpaste-minty breath now pungent with the richness of Shadow's release. "Gods that was... thank you." He settled close against his elder partner's side and tucked his muzzle against the side of his neck.

Shadow huffed and muttered, one arm pressed against the fox's back as he lay there staring at the ceiling. "Shouldn't I be saying that to you... ? That has got to be... one of the best blowjobs... I have ever, ever had." Tipping his head slightly he nosed between the fox's golden ears. "And you've never done that before? Really??"

Crevan's muzzle brushed beneath his chin as the fox nodded, "Never."

"What on earth did you read, though, that made you so bedamned good?"

"Oh, lots of stuff." The fox smiled and stroked the side of his muzzle against the fur of Shadow's shoulder, "My favorite, though, is Sizzle's Don't Hound the Fox."

Shadow could only gape a moment, then grin hugely. He was quite familiar with The Hound and the Fox, he wrote the whole series, though Sizzle had only published the condensed series in a single highly explicit graphic novel. The two of them had no less than three publishing awards for it. "I've read it." Was all he admitted to.

Crevan dipped his muzzle into the hollow of Shadow's throat. "But, really, I... did not know what to expect." He stretched slowly, languidly against Shadow's side, one hand idly stroking the skunk's belly fur. "But that was more than I ever dreamed it could be." Relaxing slowly the fox let out a contented sigh, "I.. well... I've tried it with.. you know.. toys? But they're just objects, yeah? And I really only knew about it from what I've read. Artists just don't, even remotely, convey how wonderful it feels to have someone like you filling my muzzle and... oh, I mean... feeling you coming close, just from my muzzle, was like nothing else." The fox raised his head slightly to meet Shadow's stupefied, blissed out gaze, "And when you released, my god. I want to feel that again!"

Shadow choked on a laugh and gave the glistening black pad of Crevan's nose a light kiss. "Oh, damn, not soon, I hope!"

The fox only chortled and shook his head, "In the morning." Shadow found himself grinning stupidly at that idea, looking forward to mornings with attentions like that would make waking up more than worth it. Not getting out of bed, even moreso!

He turned his head slightly and nuzzled into the hollow cup of a vulpine ear, "But what of you, now?"

"Me?" the fox murmured quietly, "I'm... fantastic. I don't need... well, not now. I want to savor this, you, just enjoying what I did, what I could do."

"Dream brightly." Shadow nodded. As much as he wanted to give the fox as good as he'd gotten, he wanted it to be entirely on the fox's terms. "There are many more days to this Con."

"Oh... yes..."