Haze
#5 of Shorties
A story about an otter at the end of her high school years, who desperately wants to make some friends to hold herself together after graduation. Of course, there is a slight problem to deal with, first...
Again, just a shortie that I wrote. This will most likely go nowhere. It was definitely a challenge to write from this kind of perspective, and there's a lot of elements that are just hinted at, not really much of a clear definition on anything about the main character aside from gender and species. I find it makes her seem anonymous, and I really hope it helps the reader to see things more from her perspective. Let me know what you think! As always I welcome comments on my work. If you'd like something like this from me, I am offering them for $5USD. Just note me for details.
Every sound was amplified. Even more than it normally should have been, bringing even what were tolerable sounds when she had woken up that morning to ear-splitting annoyances. Indescribably unpleasant, like a pup possessed by the overwhelming drive to lambaste on pots and pans, while wailing it's imitation of lyrics to the real music everyone else was listening to. The buzzing of the florescent lights in the ceiling grated against her skull like the whine from a mosquito. The squeak of the markers moving across the white-board as the instructor talked seemed to shiver and crawl a path up her spine like some horrible aberration of arachnid occasion, while the words issuing from the drawling female beside her seemed to castigate her very equanimity like a knife through the webbing between her digits. The sound of a zipper being pulled either up or down(she couldn't tell one way or another) was akin to rasping sandpaper across a drum, combined with the sound of a towel being wrung and a muffled blast that was something thudding against the desk behind her was enough to drive her crazy. "Ugh!" The smell finally hit her nose; a strong, almost insistently pungent odor, strong and repulsive but at the same time with a weak sweet or savory scent that tickled the insides of her nose and raised the fur on the back of her neck almost in a pleasurable way, or anticipation of something. But, ignoring the feelings that were racing across her skin under her fur she lashed her rudder tail against the leg of her desk and raised her hand. "Yes, Haze?" She didn't bother looking up form her desk, but just kept her face planted firmly against the faux wood with growl of disapproval. "Forgive me for doing part of your job, Mister Cane, but I believe this is Algebra-Two, not Biochemistry, so could you tell Jacob that his condom broke while his girlfriend was sitting down?" There was a collective scraping of clothing, and what to her sounded like somebody else in the classroom leaving their desk without an occupant due to the pace they had turned to see, while in the seat behind her there was a slightly softer squelch and a squeak of female ecstasy and panic, followed by a low, shuddering moan through gritted teeth. "Nevermind...he's already tied to her." Haze lowered her hand back to the desk and tapped her rounded claws on the surface, irritated at the now obvious, and unashamed, instances of bodily slaps and heated panting going on behind her. Unfortunately the instructor's sigh of annoyance was enough to distract her from most of her imaginings, not all. "Thank you, Haze, for pointing it out." She mumbled to herself about wanting to have caught it sooner, but didn't feel like raising her voice to try to speak over the noises behind her. "Class, please turn your attention away from Jacob and his...partner. We still have half a lesson to complete before the bell rings, so I would appreciate your restrai-Cindy lower your skirt, or you'll be going to the principal's office, do I make myself clear?" "Yes, Mister Cane."
Haze sat in relative reticence the rest of class, breaking her silence only when called upon by her teacher to answer a question or to explain a theorem from the textbook, or sneeze loudly just once, causing the love-making couple behind her to pause briefly in their throes to wish her a blessing for the sneeze before they resumed. Nice enough of them to offer, though it didn't change the level of annoyance they were causing for her as the fox drilled with increasing fervor into his girlfriend, whose vocalizations seemed to match the vigor of his bucking by increasing in volume and pitch, though discreetly, either by fortune, lustful felicity, or force of will, her voice ended up cracking as, judging by the panting Haze could feel against the back of her neck when she sat up straight for a moment, Jacob leaned her over the desk to continue rutting into her. She sat back forward and ran her thumb over the zero-friction dial of her watch, reading the time without glancing at it while she rested her chin on the cool surface of her desk. _One-thirty-two..._Not quite time for school to end, still another thirty minutes of class left before the final bell. But the way things were going right now, that would also mean another thirty minutes of the mating session going on behind her, which was causing a wholly obnoxious itch to develop for her the longer she was around the scent. All consequences weighed, she decided to raise her hand again, supporting her forehead on her remaining arm. "Yes, Haze?" "Mister Cane, may I be excused for the rest of class?" She let out a breath and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm not feeling well." "You turned in your assignment at the beginning of class, am I correct?" Haze nodded and lowered her hand. "Yes. The paragraph thesis is also there, Mister Cane." There was a rustling of papers, and the tap of bare-skin knuckles against the teacher's desk. "Alright. I don't see any problem with it." She sat up and started reaching across her desk, pulling everything together while her foot nudged around for her backpack. "Tyler, would you please go with Miss Waters to the health-tech office?" "Sure thing." "Thank you. You may also be excused for the remainder of class." Haze's insides clenched nervously and she paused in packing her things into her backpack, dropping one of her books onto the floor before she could regain herself. She cursed under her breath and stuffed what she could hold onto into her pack, then climbed out of her desk onto her hands and knees, feeling around on the ground for the book she had lost while a series of footsteps approached her from her right. She turned her head away from the sound and reached out, arching her back as she felt forward, grabbing onto someone's shoe instead of her book when she heard a male voice next to her. "It was in the isle..." She squeaked and started a little, hearing fabric rustle next to her, and the sound of Tyler sliding her book into her backpack. "Here." Then she felt his hand on her rear, and she straightened up, knocking her head on the bar under her desk with a grunt of pain. "Take your hand off my ass, or I'll break it off." She growled, balling up her fist and rubbing her head. "Sorry..." Tyler tugged at her skirt a little and brushed his hand over her, then put both hands on her shoulder. "Your skirt got bunched up under your tail, some of the guys were staring. "Oh." She looked down and rubbed at the cheek furthest from him, trying to massage the heat that had flooded her face away, and at the same tried to relax and calm down. "Do you want help standing up?" She shook her head, but grabbed onto his arm anyways and let him haul her to her feet, then she bent down and lifted up her backpack. She tossed it onto one shoulder and started walking down the isle of desks slowly, keeping her hands out a little in front of her and to the sides so she could feel the edges of the desk while she was walking until she reached the isle, where she turned and started towards the door with Tyler's hand at her elbow gently nudging her to keep her from running into anything. "See you tomorrow, Miss Waters. Please feel better, and send your mother my regards." "Sure. Later." She waved in his general direction, then stuck her hand in her blazer pocket while she heard Tyler open the door. Once outside in the heat, and the door closed behind her she bent forward and let out a quavering sigh, her hands on her knees. She bit down on her bottom lip and sucked in a breath through her nose, wiggling her feet so that her legs spread just enough for the air to get between her thighs, her tail curling around her leg a little. "Jeez, Haze are you alright?" She jumped and let out a surprised yelp, having forgotten that Tyler was behind her. She stood back up and composed herself, running her hands on the front of her skirt in embarrassment, but she nodded to him and held her tail to her body. "Yeah...I..." She cleared her throat and let out her breath, and slid her legs closed shyly, her shoes grinding against the concrete a little. "I'm fine." "Do you want to, you know, lean on me while we're walking?" His fingers closed around her shoulder softly and made her shiver just a little, and she turned her head in his direction. "You know, so you don't fall. I don't want you getting hurt." "Oh, yeah. Sure." Haze blushed heavily under her fur as Tyler lifted her arm and draped it over his shoulders, wrapping one of his around her waist to support her weight while she leaned against him. "I promise if you fall, I'm not letting go." She chuckled and walked next to him, tightening her arm around his shoulder a little. "Going to use your body to break my fall?" "Hadn't thought of that, actually. Thanks for the idea!" She pretended to stumble and put more of her weight on him, causing him to grab onto her with both arms to hold her up. "You just want me laying on top of you." "I, uh, didn't _quite_mean it like that, Haze..." She blushed harder and stood back up on her own, and looked down towards the ground. She hadn't expected that reply, and she didn't know how to come back against it, but being quiet seemed awkward while they were walking. "Sure." "Nice job with the hotter hearing, by the way." She glanced at him and tilted her head. "Huh?" "Come on, not even Kylie would have heard them doing the deed if Kate's crotch was right on her head. And she's a fruit bat." She shook her head and staggered for real, catching herself before he reacted. "No...what did you call it?" "Hotter hearing?" "Yeah. Why'd you call it that?" "That's what everyone calls it. I mean, you have super hearing, and you're an otter..." He trailed off a little and went quiet for a moment. "Oh." She heard him scratch at something, most likely the back of his head, and she could feel him warm up under her arm. "And, you're hot." "I don't know about that. I've never really _seen_myself that way." The way his neck moved against her arm told her he was nodding, then he shrugged against her. "Still, that level of hearing you have is crazy." She smiled a little and nodded herself, enjoying the compliment he had given her. "It comes with being me. I know, I'm weird." "I like weird." His voice was barely audible, even for her. Just a whisper, but she could still hear what he had said. "Hmm?" "I don't think its weird." She turned her head anywhere except for towards him, cast down from the change in his statement, but at the same time she felt satisfied and pleased for what he said. "Here's the health-office...lemme get the door." She nodded a little and let go of his shoulder, and hugged her arm across her belly until he felt his hand against her back to let her know the door was open for her to walk through. He wrapped his arm back around her waist while she was walking into the office, leading her over to a chair to help her sit down. "Thanks, Tyler..." "Don't mention it." She looked up towards him and offered a smile, then pulled off her backpack and set it on the floor next to her feet. "Hey...Haze?" "Hmm?" "I have something for you." She tilted her head a bit and sat back. "I meant to give it to you earlier, but I forgot..." She was about to open her mouth, but he cut her off by grabbing her hand tenderly and slipping what felt like a folded piece of paper into it. "Tyler, I can't..." "If I did it right, you'll be able to. I spent all weekend trying to get it just perfect. Just, promise me you'll look at it, okay?" She closed her hand around the paper and tilted her head, but before she could say anything she heard his footsteps moving away from her. She rolled the paper in her hand a little and ran her thumb against one of the corners, thinking. She lifted one hand in front of her face, bumping the end of her snout while she stared directly at it, and traced her fingers around her eyes. "Look at what..."