The Mall Santa Mystery
#10 of Evil Petting Zoo
A number of people search for someone at a mall who may be dressed up as Santa.
"What, are you trolling Kris Kringle's line for new customers now?" Brenda's voice dripped with acid.
Donovan rolled his eyes, "there's, like, no business leading up to Kristmas. Why can't I run errands?"
"Work hours are work hours, if you have no appointments at least do something useful!" Brenda was filling out some sort of paperwork herself, taxes perhaps or budget reports.
"Later," Donovan waved his paw as he slipped into his jacket and picked up his duffel bag, bulging with some secret contents. "And you'd seriously accuse me of trying to pick up children? Gross."
"How old are those runaways you keep putting on your couch?" Brenda gave him a very serious look, the Dalmatian tapping her pen to her muzzle.
Donovan flinched, "I don't fuck anyone who isn't legal age... even if they are sleeping on my couch."
"Ok, fine." Brenda leaned back and folded her arms like a school principal delivering a lecture, "if nothing untoward then what are you going out for?"
"Things," Donovan answered too quickly. He followed it up, "shopping and stuff. Kristmas presents."
"Awfully vague. Presents for yourself? The kind you can fuck?" Brenda shook her head with a disappointed 'tut tut'.
"You know what, I don't owe you an explanation. Dungeon Master has a problem with it, he can talk to me about it." He slammed the door grumpily and Brenda shook her head, mumbling to herself.
"What a lazy ass," Desi said, voice low so Brenda wouldn't hear. He watched Donovan out the window, though... regardless of what he said everyone knew he had a crush on the wolf Dom.
"It's not like he's a real employee..." Judy responded. The two of them were sitting in the front room lounge, no work to do themselves, opposite the entranceway from Brenda. At least, they had no work to do unless they drew Brenda's attention and she gave them some to do. "It's more like they rent out rooms to use with their customers. Like a hairdresser, sort of. So why shouldn't he leave when he likes?"
Desi scoffed, scratching behind an ear. A sort of nervous twitch the monkey displayed whenever he was hiding something. "Everyone else is still here. Why shouldn't he be? Actually being here is sort of an obligation."
Judy smirked at Desi's weak deception; she knew he felt cheated to not have Donovan there with him. "So what do you think he's doing?"
"He said he's doing Kristmas shopping," Desi tried to look nonchalant. He wasn't very good at it. He seemed like he was acting in a play, showing off his disinterest. Sort of the opposite of how disinterest works.
Judy peeked over the edge of the couch to make sure Brenda couldn't hear them. She knew her huge bunny ears would have heard from that distance but Brenda's ears were floppy and fluffy, probably not as good. "He took a full duffel bag. Why would he take a filled bag instead of an empty one to get presents?"
Desi's tail went stiff and straight, a sure sign of attention. "I could think of lots of reasons...."
"And they're all unlikely," Judy leaned forward with a big smile. "Don't you want to find out?"
Desi gave her a sidelong, uncertain look. "How?"
"We follow him, of course." Judy glanced nervously back at Brenda again; she'd be furious if she knew they'd left as well.
Desi looked to Brenda, too. "I don't think we should... besides, it doesn't matter."
Judy sat back and folded her arms behind her head, "Ok."
Desi stared and stared at her... confused by her sudden relent. "Ok, fine. I want to follow him. Grab your coat and we'll sneak out the back."
Judy grinned, "you're too easy."
Desi sneered, "you're one to talk!"
They arrived at the mall moments after Donovan, hefting his large duffel bag over a shoulder. Catching up on the road had been easy and hanging back to avoid notice proved no challenge since they knew the destination. Now they just needed to hope he didn't glance back over his shoulder and see them in the distance.
They didn't need to follow him long, though; he slipped into the very first men's room they found in the mall. He gave no indication of having spotted them so the two just waited outside, watching from a few benches away.
They waited a long time, too. It seemed like half an hour, though probably much less, when they finally started to suspect a problem.
"There's no way there could have been another way out of a mall bathroom, right?" Judy quizzed.
"Nope... not a single way." Donovan thought to himself a minute before presenting his hypothesis, "a disguise? A Kris Kringle did come out of there."
"You think he's the one working the mall? Children on his knee telling him what they want for Kristmas?" Judy thought about it herself, "but why would he skip work... to go to work?"
Juli stared at the monkey and the lop-eared rabbit as he and Leena passed them by.
"People you know?" Leena asked, a touch of nervousness in the chubby panda's voice. The two were odd out in public; the rabbit was wearing mostly lingerie under a long coat while the boy had on tight leather pants and a collar with only a fishnet shirt beneath his open leather jacket.
Juli blushed, the sheep's hairless cheeks showing the pink clearly. "I think I might recognize them from somewhere...." He knew very well who they were; he'd seen them at the bondage club his Mistress Grace had taken him to for a Halloween party. He'd never been to a bondage club before and his Mistress had jerked him off on that very rabbit's face. There was no way he could tell Leena, his coworker at his day job, about that... "I'm not sure, though."
Juli liked Leena and the two of them flirted very openly at work. A joking flirting, though he knew real flirting often pretended to be a joke, leaving an escape route back to innocent friendship. Despite all of that openness he couldn't be sure how she would react to knowing the truth about his love life. That he lived with a Mistress much older than him for whom he was a servant and pet, for instance, could freak out even a very open person. As could the other boy now involved with both he and his Mistress.
Even were she ok with all of that the bondage club was a whole step beyond that. It wasn't even a question of her being open to a fling on the side with such shocking personal details; she might not even be comfortable being his friend. She'd probably try to be, taking a live-and-let-live attitude toward it all, but she would likely feel awkward and slowly drift away.
To admit that an oddly dressed woman Juli happened to see at a mall was a complete stranger whose face he had cum all over... there was no way to tell Leena that. How could he explain that it wasn't his choice, or her choice, but that it was ok? Their owners had chosen that position for them but it was ok because they allowed their owners to choose for them.
All Leena was likely to hear was that he'd borderline raped a girl. That was not something Juli wanted the panda to think of him.
"Well, keep your eyes on Mr. Hatchford." Leena seemed mollified, her attention still primarily on their boss. Mr. Hatchford was a taciturn, oppressively serious badger that managed the hotel they both worked at. In the year Juli had worked there he had not seen a single moment of mirth pass by this man without it being squashed. And now... now Mr. Hatchford was regularly taking time off work to go to a mall during Kristmas. It was such a shocking reversal of his habits that it aroused suspicions amongst the staff.
"He hasn't turned around yet. We've been pretty lucky." Juli was quite relieved. Had it not been for Leena's presence he wouldn't have been brave enough to follow the badger. It didn't help that it honestly seemed possible that their boss was a serial killer. Between his horrible personality and the way he avoided questions about his almost daily trips to the mall the worst seemed likely. He was taking vacation time to have half-days off from work, sometimes whole days and it wasn't even the holiday yet. What could he possibly be doing?
Then Mr. Hatchford slipped into an employee only entrance. Leena and the sheep stopped in their tracks and turned to one another, "should we go in?"
Juli shook his head, "oh goodness no! We could get in some real trouble if we got caught back there!" He'd only barely been brave enough to follow Mr. Hatchford in the first place, after all; sneaking into a restricted area seemed suicidally foolish even with Leena for support.
And so they waited... but he never came out. Soon it became clear that they would have no hope of regaining the trail. Dejected, they went off to the mall's one sit-down restaurant for lunch. As they slid into a booth and took their menus Juli was surprised to see someone else he recognized; sitting with his family, presumably, was the ID checker from the dance club his friends had dragged him to one night. At least that was someone he could tell Leena about.
"I wanna go see Kris Kringle!" Darren sighed at his little sister's outburst. Half-sister, technically, but he never made that distinction.
"We'll go after we eat, Penelope." He ruffled her hair, black and striped like his own despite her being a cat; she'd inherited her mother's species but their father's skunk markings. Unusual but it happened sometimes.
Penelope giggled at him while he tucked her napkin into her shirt collar. He'd grown very used to taking care of her.
"When did you get so good with her, son?" Penelope's mother purred.
"I don't know, it just happened Adelle." She pursed her lips at his refusal to call her 'mom'. As much as he'd accepted her... Penelope's mother was still just his step-mother. It wasn't about spite, though; he just couldn't replace his own mother.
"Javier, darling..." she turned to his father, her French accent slipping out a little. "Isn't that Ethel Goldman?"
Sure enough, it was Ethel; a shrew and the wife of a family friend, Simon. She would be playing babysitter to Penelope when his parents went off to Kristmas parties and he went to his job at the club. She was Jewish and happy to take on the burden despite her often unpleasant disposition.
The shrew was sitting alone, staring forlornly at her folded menu. Adelle walked over to greet the woman and after a few moments of chatting they all joined her table at Adelle's insistence.
"Where's Simon?" Javier queried while he replaced his napkin on his lap.
Ethel sighed, shaking her head. "I wish I knew... he says he must go to the bathroom and then he is gone for so long. I don't understand how it could take him so long!"
Adelle gave her a pat on the back, cooing sympathetically. "There there, I'm sure he has a good reason."
"I just wish I knew what he was doing... ever!" Ethel sniffled a little, clearly having only barely controlled herself before they'd arrived. "So often he does these things! Or he goes out and I don't know where but he says he can't bring me. It happens so often I don't know how it can be!"
Darren looked up from his sister's menu, having been helping her choose what to eat. "Maybe he's out buying Kristmas presents and he wants them to be a surprise."
Ethel glared at him with an audible scoff, "we are Jewish young man!"
Darren's ears flattened in shame, "I mean... Hanukah presents."
Ethel kept her glare on him for some time but as the minutes drew on she seemed calmer and more conversational. Despite his mistake the idea seemed more than plausible and eased the poor woman's fears.
"Penguins!" Darren's attention snapped back to Penelope and his eyes followed her pointing finger to a pair of penguins. Well... sort of. It was a real penguin and a mall penguin with his costume head off, sitting on the stool next to him.
"Huh," Penelope tugged on Darren's arm. "I never noticed! The penguins at the mall, they're not real penguins! They're just in costumes!" Darren sighed... it was obvious, the costumes looking like bad caricatures of the real animal, but most people never saw a real penguin anyway.
"The real ones stay in the North Pole, making presents," Ethel spoke up, smiling to Penelope. She may not celebrate Kristmas but spending so much time with the children she'd learned to support the holiday's lies anyway. "Kris Kringle can leave and see children, but the toys... they must still be made!"
"I'm really sorry I tried to kick your ass," Fernando twirled the whisky in his glass.
"Ha," Roderick replied from his own gin and tonic, "like you could ever take me, 'nando!"
Fernando smiled, "what in the hell are you doing here?" Roderick looked ridiculous in half a penguin outfit, the corgi's head matching the body slightly worse than the cartoonish head.
"Oh, just making a living any way I can," he took a long sip, his Welsh accent standing out. "Too old for the wrestling these days, and going back to my own country is more expensive than staying here."
Fernando nodded glumly, "of course... I know how that is. I'm still surprised to see you HERE, though. Like, we weren't even in the same state when we parted ways!"
Roderick laughed heartily, a sort of mirth Fernando rarely felt. "I should wonder at you! I'm at least from some place cold, but you? You're from South America! What are you doing moving north?"
Fernando mulled over his answer, swirling that whiskey some more. "Well, a person. A studio. You know, always a job for the 'vertically challenged' in show biz." He invested a lot of bitterness in that phrase. 'Politically correct' speak always made him feel dirty and weak to identify with... though it was better than insults.
Roderick looked away and they were both silent for some time. They both knew that this wasn't Hollywood. The sort of business someone of their stature could get in film here... was less than dignified. Both of their species tended toward minute statures, though Fernando's much more regularly. For whatever reason penguins were unusual. They were only a few feet tall and not built like other species, lanky and long. Looking at the drink held between his wings and back at Roderick's paws he felt a whole lot worse off.
Many species tended toward height similar to his, but were not nearly so extreme or regular. Penguins seemed to be singled out among all the species of the world, the sole reason the Kristmas stories cast them as the diminutive helpers of Kris Kringle, manufacturing toys for children.
"You know," Fernando changed the subject, "they won't even hire me for these things. A real penguin. I don't look like the cartoon version in story books."
Roderick shook his head sorrowfully, "I didn't want to do this. I know how disrespectful it is, really. But... I have bills. We all have bills. And we do the things we must to pay those bills. This isn't the worst thing I've done... or you." He gave Fernando a pat on the shoulder.
"I wish we could have kept wrestling," Fernando downed his drink quickly. "That was the best of them. We could get hurt, sure, and it was far from respectable but at least we could feel kind of cool there, you know? At least people actually liked us for who we were! Even if I feel ashamed to be happy about that."
"We were the punch line to a joke, yeah." Roderick collected his costume head and slid from the barstool, "but people liked the joke."
"Have to get back to work already," Fernando pulled out his cell phone. "I should at least get your number."
"I've got to hit the bathroom first. Come along," and the two departed.
Donovan almost gave a start upon exiting the bathroom and seeing Judy and Desi waiting for him. He shook his head at their ill-formed plan; he was now incognito. He was momentarily afraid they'd realize he wasn't the real Kris Kringle, though. Well, the real fake Kris Kringle.
Donovan quickly made his way down the mall's corridors and away from the two subs lest they realize his ruse. He didn't need them going and ruining his fun today.
He'd read online that there were lots of people out there who fetishized Kris Kringle. Sure, he'd seen and read pornography featuring the man but it'd never dawned on him that some would be into the man himself rather than the whole situation. A man who sneaks into your home to give you presents? There a lot to love there even before one gets into weird daddy issues once a kid learns who really brought the presents.
Donovan didn't really care why anyone got into it, though. He was interested for one reason only; he wanted some of that action. If he could just catch the eye of even one of these boys or girls he could get some free, easy sex with a stranger. He wanted something nice and simple with no consequences.
Of course his job included quite a bit of sex. Well, it wasn't supposed to... sex work was illegal in their state... and nearly all others. So they were supposed to do the bondage but not the sex. But really... who even believes anyone would work as a Dom and not fuck their clients? It was just paperwork and bureaucracy, no matter what Brenda said.
But work, with or without the sex, was a business arrangement. It was meticulously planned, full of fail-safes and safe-words and whatnot. It wasn't simple at all. It was stressful, really... and even when work was something you enjoyed that still became less fun just because it was work.
He had sex and bondage in his home life, too; he'd become sort of a magnet to troubled teenagers, some underage and some legal. The last thing he wanted to do was go to jail so he made sure not to have sex with any of the underage ones but there were always ones who were at least legally adults. He wasn't sure how it started but at some point, he'd become the local bondage scene's daddy... and there were always troubled kids and runaways who needed a surrogate parent.
That was stressful, too... and in both cases his needs and desires were rarely the primary concern. He may be a Dom but the needs were mostly coming from the subs. He needed something just for his poor, selfish desires.
So now he was playing a mall Kris Kringle actor on break, hanging around the food court and the restaurant, trolling around the shops, avoiding places with lots of kids and just being... accessible. As long as he stayed away from the real fake Kris Kringle he'd be fine.
Simon struggled to keep his breathing steady in the cramped stall. Well... cramped for him, at least. A full wrack of horns required some roomy spaces. Luckily he wasn't so tall that they'd poke out above the stall.
The waiting was getting to Simon; he'd been stashed in this stall for... he didn't even know how long but certainly his wife must be quite put out by now. Ethel was usually put out by something, though, so he had a hard time caring. He felt bad for the life he was giving her most of the time but she could be so unbearably unpleasant that sometimes it was hard to care what she wanted.
Simon brushed the red velvet of his Kris Kringle costume flat. He felt ridiculous; a Jew dressed up as Kris Kringle? It was truly and deeply ridiculous. No help that, as a reindeer, he was falsely associated with all of that North Pole Kristmas nonsense anyway.
And yet... that was part of what made it so hot to him. How wrong and forbidden it was. Lots of people had weird sexual fantasies revolving around Kristmas but such a scenario was off limits to a Jew. Their religion had nothing similar to offer him, either; Hanukah wasn't really a holiday one could fetishize. And even beyond that, just the fact that he shouldn't like Kristmas made it all that much dirtier.
Every time Simon saw an advertisement or cartoon or something with Kris Kringle and his penguin toy makers he imagined the big Yeti just fucking the shit out of them and he got so horny. It was too bad his fantasies didn't veer more toward the animals pulling his sleigh; Simon's antlers would be perfect for that costume... he could be one of those giant jackalopes pretty easily!
But no, that wasn't the role he wanted to play. Simon wanted to bend little, diminutive penguin servants over their worktables and use them like they were his property. And only the boys, of course. It was hard enough with Ethel, he didn't need to pretend he was straight in his fantasies, too! Oh how he longed to not need to hide his real orientation... but in a traditional family like his that just wouldn't do.
But where were the penguins? He knew they must take bathroom breaks sometimes, damn it! He'd been here for so long, just waiting for the chance to proposition one. It probably wouldn't work; hell, he might get dragged out by security. But he had to try.
He got to be with men so rarely and the chance for a real, honest-to-goodness fantasy was too much. He couldn't go back home to Ethel without at least trying.
Well, maybe if he got her into a penguin costume he could do it. In the costume it'd be easy to imagine that she was a boy and just pretend, after all. But she would never go for it... she rarely went for anything. She was strict and proper and more than a little persnickety. Even asking her about a more normal fetish would probably make her hysterical.
It was really too bad he couldn't get her to wear a strap-on... but a real boy would be better, anyway.
Mr. Hatchford washed his hands in quiet, dignified silence. He moved with a mechanical efficiency, treating the task with bizarrely misplaced professionalism. Professionalism kept him calm. Right now he needed to be calm.
As he left the 'employee only' restroom in the mall's back corridors some of the costumed penguins came in, greeting him. He was still too nervous for words and just waved to them instead. He felt like he didn't belong and stood out like a sore thumb. It was maddening for him, trying to fit in and seem jovial. Seem like he was in the Kristmas spirit. Seem like he had any jolliness in his heart at all.
He had spent too long maneuvering to fuck this up now.
Mr. Hatchford slipped back out into the mall's public area and headed directly for one of the Kristmas themed shops that had sprung up. He assumed they were regular shops most of the year, though he would hardly know what the mall was like, but that during Kristmas they became dedicated wholly to the holiday.
Mr. Hatchford needed to find something. Quickly. Something easily concealed. Something that wouldn't arouse suspicions. Something that SHE wouldn't notice.
His old neighbor had told Mr. Hatchford that his ex-wife was coming to the mall today. He'd been waiting here, pretending he belonged for so long and now was finally the day. He had to be careful, stealthy... professional.
Mr. Hatchford was glad his neighbor understood what he'd gone through. Understood what he needed. Was willing to spy on his ex-wife for him.
Mr. Hatchford picked up a snow globe, testing its surprising weight in his hand. For its size the weight was intense. That ball of glass could be dangerous... it could really hurt someone. Was it what he needed? Would it do the job? Of all the important parts of his plan he couldn't believe this was the part he'd had the hardest time settling on.
The item was essential.
Mr. Hatchford bought the snow globe, slipped it into his pocket and went back into the employee area.
Juli shuffled his hooves awkwardly, shoving his hands into the pockets of his slim jeans. "So now what are we going to do?"
Leena shrugged, "we might as well check out the mall as long as we're here, right?"
Juli shrugged back. He didn't really have anything in particular to do... but she was right. They may have lost Mr. Hatchford but they could still make the most of their visit. "Where would you like to go?"
Leena pointed over at a clothing store, "I could use some new tops." She nudged him, "maybe you could, too!" Juli smirked; the store was exclusively women's clothing. She knew about his cross dressing at least and loved to tease him about it.
After they walked in Juli suddenly felt nervous. He had a little déjà vu about the place... and then it struck him. This was the first clothing store his Mistress had dragged him into.
"Hey!" Juli froze; it couldn't be... certainly she wouldn't remember him after so long. "It is you!" He felt her paw on his shoulder.
Leena came over to see what was happening and Juli forced a smile before turning to address the raccoon. Luckily she had on a nametag; he certainly didn't remember who she was. "Hello Vanessa. I can't believe you still remember me."
The saleswoman laughed, "how many boys you think I've helped try on dresses? Well, more than just you but you were the only one I didn't know beforehand!"
Leena glanced at Juli quickly, "you didn't say you knew people here...."
Vanessa shook her head, "it was just the once. He just stood out, you know."
Juli blushed terribly. He was afraid some sort of awkward secret was going to come out, though he couldn't think of what Vanessa would know that Leena didn't. But anytime two people who know separately meet... it makes one nervous. "I'm sure you have work we're keeping you from, though."
"Nonsense," she waved a paw and pulled off her nametag before turning to another employee. "I'm going on break for a little bit."
She dragged them to the food court where she bought a pretzel for her short lunch break, grabbing a lone table to chat. Juli followed obediently... but really he wanted to run. That first day of Grace forcing him to try on fancy dresses out in public, under Vanessa's gaze... it was deeply embarrassing. It was fun, too, but he didn't like it just sneaking up on him when he wasn't ready for it. Unbidden memories dragging him to food courts and telling stories to his friends.
Juli watched Vanessa slowly chew the first bite of her pretzel in dragging, fearful silence. Finally she swallowed and looked between them, "so, are you two going out?"
Leena beat him to a reply, "nah, we just work together."
"Yeah, I'm still with Grace." Juli settled down a little in light of Leena's nonchalance. "The woman who bought me the dress."
"Oh, well that's good!" Vanessa took another bite of pretzel.
"You thought we were that good a couple?" Juli thought a moment while she chewed, "but you only saw us such a short time...."
"Nah. I mean I'm glad for you and all," Vanessa waved the question away. "But it means this girl might be single... and that's good."
"Wait, what?" Leena looked to Juli for help but the sheep could only shrug.
"So how is it, panda?" Vanessa grinned at her, "Because if you're single we can upgrade this to 'great'!"
"I, uh..." Leena chewed her bottom lip and looked away.
"Anyway," Juli tried to change the subject. Awkwardly, he had to admit to himself. "We followed our boss to the mall but we lost track of him. We think he's been up to something weird lately. Sneaking off, skipping work a lot... but he went into an employee area. We can't make sense of it."
Vanessa cleared up her mess and stood up. "Kris Kringle. Bet he's our mall one, with the kids lining up to talk to him and all that nonsense."
"What, really?" Juli looked at Leena questioningly but she was still hiding her blush. "Why do you say that?"
"He's your boss, so it's not like he took some regular mall job. Gotta be short term." She slipped a piece of paper to Juli, "it's my number. Text me yours and Graces. And the panda's." She winked, "I've got to get back to work."
"Oh my god, oh my god..." Leena watched Vanessa depart. "I can't believe that happened."
Juli patted her arm. He really didn't know what to say. "Not into girls, then?" Well shit, that sure wasn't the right thing to say.
Leena raised a brow at him, "Uh... no? Maybe? I don't know! It's not that she's a girl anyway." She shook her head, "look, chubby girls aren't used to getting hit on."
"I hit on you all the time." Juli pouted playfully.
"That's a joke, though! Jokes are safe." She gave him a long look, "they were jokes, right? I mean, you have Grace."
Juli chuckled nervously, "well... I don't know. I guess I'd need permission...."
Well shit, that also wasn't the right thing to say. Juli chewed his lip and tried to think of way to talk himself out of this one.
"Hey, there he is!" Leena was pointing to a man in a Kris Kringle costume walking down the hallway. She grabbed his hand and dragged him along. Juli wondered about that contact. Holding hands?
Leena tapped on the costumed man's shoulder, "Hey there, father Kristmas. We know you're secret!"
The man turned to face them, face obscured by prosthetics and beard, heavy hat drooping over his head. No wonder they hadn't realized it was Mr. Hatchford.
He suddenly looked around and pointed toward an 'employee only' door. Clearly he was embarrassed about being caught publically. The Kringle poked his head through, scanning the area quickly before opening the door for them. Once inside he directed them into a storage room.
As Juli followed Leena into the half-empty storage room it dawned on him that costume or no, he did still half believe Mr. Hatchford was a serial killer. He glanced back fearfully while the costumed man flicked on the light switch.
"We know who you are, 'Kris Kringle'. We've been watching you!" Leena put her arms akimbo, smiling triumphantly.
"Hey now, that's my line!" The voice was deep and throaty, trying to sound like big and jolly Kris Kringle. "Always watching for naughtiness, making a list, or however the song goes. And girls, you've been very naughty!" And then Kringle pulled out his dick, hard and thick sticking out of his red pants. "But I still got something to stuff your stockings!"
Leena's jaw hung open aghast. Juli was in shock. For several moments he stared at that throbbing cock while Kringle stared back at them in confusion. "Well, isn't this what you were waiting for?"
This time the voice hadn't been disguised. Juli took another hard look at Kringle's face and slowly he recognized features through the yeti prosthetics. "Wait a minute... you're not Mr. Hatchford. You're from that club Grace took me to for Halloween."
Donovan's jaw dropped and he hurriedly stuffed his dick back into his pants, "oh no. No no no, of all the people to want to fuck Kris Kringle... someone from the club." He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "Wait, if you're from the club...."
Juli tried to back up when Donovan's eyes locked with his. The costumed wolf grabbed him by the shoulders and whined into his face, "please don't tell Judy and Desi I'm here!"
Juli nodded dumbly... and Donovan looked confused again, "wait, you're not a girl. Huh."
Simon perked up when he heard the bathroom door open. It wasn't the first time someone had come in, naturally, but every time he hoped. He peaked through the crack in the stall door and saw a real penguin and a mall penguin with its head off, standing in front of the urinals. The real penguin wasn't ideal... oddly enough, the cartoon version from storybooks and Claymation films was what he saw in his fantasies. But he could settle. And the other, well, they were just perfect once the mask was back on.
Simon quietly opened the door and stepped out, careful not to draw attention until he was ready. He got into his best Kringle pose, arms akimbo and chest puffed out. He drew in a deep breath....
"Hey there, little penguins! I need you to 'polish' this toy for me!" Simon instantly regretted the choice. He needed a line... some line. But it sounded so stupid coming out of his mouth! Not that he'd had a better idea....
The two penguins froze at their stalls and turned in unified slow motion to look over their shoulders. They turned back to the stalls while Simon stood there statuesque.
"Did that really just happen?" The real penguin asked.
"Aye, that it did." The fake one nodded while they both finished their business and zipped up.
"This ever happen to you before?" The real one turned around to face Simon's forced optimism.
"Nay, never happened to me." The other, a corgi Simon could now see, also turned around, "so you wanna?"
The real penguin nodded sharply and Simon got excited. He couldn't believe his luck! They actually were going to do it! "You'll have to take turns, but I think it's a two penguin job anyway!"
Then Simon's world was pain. The two launched at him faster than he could follow and took his legs out from under him. Even while he was still falling they'd both reversed, elbow dropping his back. When he struck the tiles they followed instantly, forcing the breath from his lungs. While he gasped for new breath they proceeded to kick and pummel him.
"We have enough bullshit to deal with," the real penguin was shouting.
"Without this shit!" The corgi finished.
After a few moments they stopped, leaving the gasping reindeer curled helplessly on the floor.
"Wow, we've still got it!" The real penguin pressed his flipper-wings together and stretched, cracking them like knuckles, "we should go back into midget wrestling!"
The corgi stripped off his penguin costume, throwing the various pieces to the floor, "whatever I do, I'm sure as shit done with this! That's the last fucking straw! If I'm going to fuck men for Kristmas I'm going to need way better pay!"
The two stormed out without a backward glance at Simon. He knew rejection was likely... but this he'd never expected. He tried to sit up and found his breathing still too labored. After a couple of minutes he heard the door open again and a thin monkey came in, wearing skin tight leather pants and a fishnet shirt, accentuated with a collar and a leather coat left open.
"Did... did I die and go to gay heaven?"
The monkey laughed and shook his head, "I'm afraid not... though you aren't what I was expecting either. Those penguins told me there was a guy in a Kringle outfit in here looking for tricks and I thought it must be Donovan." He scanned the bathroom quickly; man in Kringle outfit on the floor, penguin costume nearby, no one else present. A cleaning cart had been left in the corner by some lazy janitor earlier.
"Guess he managed to outsmart me after all." The monkey dragged the service cart to the door, placing an 'out of order' sign outside and using the cart to block the door itself. When he returned he stepped over Simon's prone form and knelt down over him, his crotch hanging just an inch above Simon's.
"Who is Donovan?" Simon didn't really care, honestly... so he was relieved when the monkey pressed a finger to his lips and shushed him.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is that this situation is fortuitous. I've always wanted to fuck Kringle, you know... a big, strong man that sneaks into your home and gives you presents? What's not to love about that?"
Simon smiled wide, "would you mind putting on the penguin outfit?" He raised his arms, stroking his thickly gloved hands over the boy's thighs.
The monkey laughed heartily, stepping aside and picking up the costume from the floor, "Judy is going to be so angry I made her wait."
"Who is Judy?" Simon was pushing himself up, no longer so concerned about the aches and pains the penguins had left him with. The monkey was a bit tall for a penguin... but he could settle.
Desi put his finger to his own lips this time and shushed Simon again, "it doesn't matter...." He stripped off his pants, an erection already bobbing in front of him, before pulling up the penguin outfit's bottom. "What's important is we need to add a hole to this thing."
Darin held Penelope's tiny paw in his hand while they waited in line. Typically, his parents had left him to take her to see Kringle while they went off shopping. Honestly, they were getting him presents as well so of course they had to have him elsewhere but still... they didn't only do this during Kristmas.
Not that Darin minded; he was pretty fond of his little half-sister. He'd never had a full sibling, after all, and he only got this one recently. If he'd grown up with a sister he might hate her; he knew plenty of people who hated their brothers and sisters. But as a young adult it was nice having this little girl added to his family, hungry for brotherly love and new familial connections.
The last child before them in line finally went up to see Kringle. The little girl's mother simply turned away, chatting on the phone without a second glance toward her child while the mall penguins directed Darin and Penelope to the rope in front of Kringle.
The little badger girl tried to climb into Kringle's lap before he reached down and placed her there himself, taking up only one ruby knee. Kringle leaned down close to her before she could even speak and pulled down his false beard, revealing another badger.
"It's me, sweetheart. It's daddy." The little girl hugged her father tight, amazement painted on her face.
"I may not get to have you over Kristmas, and your mother won't let me have you for even a day, but I couldn't go all month without seeing my little girl! So I found a way." He reached inside of his massive, fur lined coat.
"But how did you?" The little girl looked around, the fragile lie of the mall Kringle setup dawning on her.
"I made a deal with Kris Kringle," her father said. "He let me take his place at the mall so I could wait for you. He's a good man."
She hugged him tight and he pressed a snow globe into her hands, "don't let your mother know I gave it to you, sweetheart. I love you."
The little girl finally got down while Kringle put his beard back on, several penguins looking on in confusion. The girl's mother never even turned around until her daughter was back to take her hand.
The penguins pulled back the gate's velvet rope for Penelope while Darin stepped to the side, letting the next child wait at the rope. Penelope ran right up to Kringle, whom was looking rather awkward; he must have realized Darin and his sister could hear the whole exchange.
"And what would you like for Kristmas, little girl?" Kringle bellowed in his jolly voice.
Penelope hugged Kringle tight and started spontaneously crying into his velvet coat, "for Kristmas I want you to get your daughter back!"
Darin laughed a little to himself. He really was glad Penelope had been added to his family. He was going to have to buy her more presents.
Judy huffed angrily, curling up tight on the mall's bench. All of this time at the mall in lingerie was getting to her. The coat was warm but plenty of cold drafts found their way under it and she was not dressed for the weather.
It had been way, way too long since Fernando and his friend had come out of that bathroom. Way too long since Desi had gone in. Way too long since he'd put that "out of order" sign on the door. She knew what was going on... he found Donovan in there in his stupid costume and now they were fucking. Stupid, stupid Desi....
"The boy still in there?" Fernando startled her.
She nodded with a shiver, "where's your friend?"
"He went home," Fernando pulled off his scarf and handed it to her. She accepted it with a smile. It might not help with the drafts but it still helped. Thank goodness they were inside the mall but still... not too warm.
"So why don't you come around the club anymore, 'nando? We miss you." She tucked her voluminous ears into the scarf while she wrapped it around her neck.
Fernando sighed, "I'm not gay. I was just doing it for the money, you know... desperate for it. But after a while I couldn't take it anymore. So I stopped." He pulled himself up onto the bench next to her, "it's good to see you again, though."
"So just don't do gay stuff." She turned toward him a little. He looked adorable in his little pea coat and flat cap. "I know back when Dungeon Master was still focusing on movies we did more straight ones than gay. He still does movies , too, now and then."
Fernando clacked his beak and shook his head, "it's not that... it's my height. You ever see a straight midget porn where the midget was a boy? How many girls do you think are even into 'little people'?"
Judy reached down and just picked him up, placing Fernando in her lap and hugging him against herself. He wasn't as light as she'd expected but she managed and his body heat was doing a lot to help with those drafts.
"We should talk to Dungeon Master about that..." she leaned down to kiss his forehead. "Maybe the two of us can find a market for it...."
Fernando knew he should be upset at being just picked up like a toy... but pressed tight against Judy all he could think was that, sometimes, it wasn't so bad being a penguin.
"So... the girl in lingerie, the monkey guy with the collar, and now this flasher in the Kringle suit. You're connected with them somehow, aren't you?" Leena 's tone was serious and piercing. Juli didn't think he could slip a lie past her now.
"Yeah... well, sort of. I don't know their names and I only saw them once. On Halloween." He fidgeted in his lap.
"This wasn't a regular Halloween party." Leena was still staring at him, "this was some sort of sex thing, wasn't it?"
Juli bit his lip, "sort of.... It's a bondage club. Grace, well... she made me get into it."
Leena's brows rose in mild surprise, "she forces this on you?"
Juli smiled wanly. The gig was up anyway... "I only started because of her, but no... she doesn't force me. I like it."
"So you fucked any of them?" Leena leaned back and folded her arms. She was reappraising her friend. She certainly hadn't thought he was pure but this was a lot to take in.
Juli thought about it a moment, "sort of? Grace, uh... made me do something to the bunny girl. That's all. The others I just saw."
"Do what?" Leena tugged her scarf tight in the cold winter air. They could have stayed inside the mall but Juli wanted this to be private.
"She, uh..." he thought about remaining coy. But really, confessing the embarrassing excited him. "Grace jerked me off on her face. During a gang bang. While she was in a set of stocks." Leena stared at him blankly while she processed it all, "I was bound and leashed."
"Well, huh." Leena leaned back on the bench, "and here I was afraid to flirt with you too much. Or honestly, at least. And here it ends up you're allowed to cum on strange girls' faces."
Juli's ears perked up, "what, really? I thought you were just joking around."
Leena reached over and ruffled his head fur, "and I thought you'd never be interested. So now I can start hitting on you in earnest!"
Donovan closed the door behind him as quietly as he could. It didn't matter.
"Oh thank goodness, the prodigal fucking child has returned!" Brenda was sitting at the front desk, her pet Freya massaging her feet.
"I guess things got busy?" Donovan sighed.
"It's not that big a deal if you disappear before we have a whole group show up for a surprise fetish party." She began tapping at her arm in annoyance, "normally we'd say no to something spontaneous, but they were regulars we could trust giving it as a Kristmas present and we didn't have much business. You're useless, though, so who cares if you aren't here?"
"Well, shit..." Donovan slicked back his hair and shook his head, "I had no idea. I mean... that's never happened before! No warning for a whole party?"
"AS I WAS SAYING," Brenda yelled. "Who cares if you aren't here? But two of our subs? Two of the three live in subs? And we didn't even know they had gone!"
Donovan shrunk back; he sure didn't feel like a Dom today. "I didn't ask them to follow me. I didn't even know until I was already there!"
"Be that as it may," Brenda leaned forward and growled. "Why are you dressed as Kris Kringle?"
"I..." Donovan looked down. "Fuck, I forgot to change back." Brenda was still staring at him, waiting for a proper answer. "I was trying to pick up chicks that want to fuck Kris Kringle?"
Donovan barely ducked the stapler she hurled at him. "Jesus, a little overboard!"
"Donovan?" The wolf froze at the voice. Dungeon Master. The boss. "I'm afraid I must have some words with you. And then I'll need to punish you. A lot."
A hand the size of Donovan's head settled on his shoulder. The sergal leaned down close to his ear and whispered thickly, "I'm going to make you a sub for a while to make up for this... and I've always wanted to whip Kris Kringle anyway. You know, for not bringing me the presents I wanted when I was a child. This will be... therapeutic."
Donovan whimpered. This wasn't nice and easy at all.