FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1reu2zU4WvKzMGVpdU-XnVmUKAm3VTvBmbz4guipZC2A

This will (potentially) turn into a larger Ren'Py project involving a 'choose-your-own-debauchery' game approach. Here's hoping! Eureka!1 or She Wants the D. All rights reserved Copyright © 2014 by Shiantar This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed herein are fictional, and any resemblance to real people, whether living or dead, or to real events, is purely coincidental. The character Dimitri Donahue is the intellectual property of Shawnthegirl ( ) and appears herein with permission. {1Eureka! is a Greek exclamation meaning "I have found it!" and was attributed to Archimedes at the time of one of his more memorable scientific epiphanies. It is also, incidentally, the motto of the state of California. Double-, triple-, and multiple-meanings for eureka! will hopefully be evident by the end of the story. - S}{Credit for this story's alternate title goes to user Bit555. - S} No matter how pleasant a job is, Yalara thought, there is always a point at which a vacation will be both deserved and sorely needed. She was relaxing at the time of her mid-day meal, idly scrolling her way through the items listed on a computer-displayed news feed. Occasionally, without taking her eyes from the screen, she would reach out with the claw of her forefinger and stab gently a few times at the plate in front of her. After a few tries, she would succeed at skewering a small cube of meat, which she would then idly and lazily bring it to the corner of her mouth, where it would disappear between her lips. Her plate shifted almost imperceptibly as someone settled into one of the other chairs at her table. Yalara canted an ear in that direction for a moment, and then looked up from the screen of her tablet computer, still working her carnassial teeth gently back and forth. Opposite Yalara's seat, La'Liana had slumped into a slouching posture, with eyes closed and looking thoroughly exhausted. The normally impeccable white of her nurse's gown was damp in places, most notably over her bosom, and appeared to be more wrinkled than usual as La'Liana reached up to unfasten the topmost clasp near her neck. Yalara finished chewing and effected a quick swallow. "Commander Eshrak has had his bath?" she inquired amiably, turning her attention back to her computer for a moment. La'Liana let out a short but affirmative sigh. "Huh," she indicated. Yalara's head described a slow, knowing nod. "Was he feeling as bold as he was yesterday?" she asked, pointedly looking back to La'Liana for confirmation. La'Liana's eyes opened halfway, allowing her to regard Yalara with a sly expression. "Twice as bold," she explained. "He was explaining in detail how, if he still had the use of his legs, he would have felt obligated to gift me lavishly and fill me with the best in food and drink before taking me back to his family estates and then sinking his spear into me." Yalara quirked the corners of her mouth in humor. "Generous of him," she noted. "He would always play the suitor with me, rather than the casual companion." A throaty chuckle from nearby announced the arrival of another of Yalara's fellow nurses, as the discussion was joined. "... and with me, he would always play the stud rather than the suitor," came the conclusion. Feh'ren'Al'ya'Dra, looking in her nurse's gown like a veritable mountain of ice but clearly somewhat heated with the exertion of her morning's duties, deftly slid a tray in front of La'Liana before sinking into a chair herself. The chair, having neither voice nor advocate for its plight, made its customary creaking of protest and then fell to silence. Sinking her jaw toward the wide expanse of her bosom, Feh'ren'Al'ya'Dra began her best imitation of Commander Eshrak's attempts at seduction, murmuring, "Imagine, my dear, the fine sons and beautiful daughters I could sire on you." The effect was so uncannily accurate that Yalara and La'Liana fell into chittering laughter, attempting to stifle some of the sound of their delight in the shared atmosphere. Catching her breath, Yalara made a vague but insistent gesture in midair. "Alya," she began, saving the oxygen from the remainder of the name which Feh'ren'Al'ya'Dra's parents had bestowed on her, "you were only called upon to bathe the Commander once." "Mmm!" came the affirmative reply, as Alya began to swallow the mouthful she was working on. "That was his point - he insisted that for a male of his potency, once would be more than sufficient!" More laughter followed, Yalara taking advantage of the chance to shed some of the tension that the duties of a nurse inevitably involved, and attempting to chew her way through another morsel of food. Alya seemed to notice La'Liana's soiled gown and gestured toward it. "Did he touch you again, 'Liana?" La'Liana rolled her half-lidded eyes for a heartbeat, and then nodded. "If he had not, I would be concerned that his strength was failing. But we have told him a hundred times that he should keep his hands to himself, and a hundred times he has reached for breast or backside or both." She perked her ears up and relaxed in an expression of amusement. "At least we know he finds us attractive." Alya gave Liana a conspiratorial nudge with her elbow, nearly pushing the other out of her chair. "Handsome in his day," Alya commented. "Mmmh." Liana rumbled in reply. "Handsome now," she pointed out. "In his way, I suppose. But perhaps I should accept his offer of a courting and spend my vacation in the countryside. A week of sunning myself on the grasslands might be worth the trouble." "Or not," Alya interposed. "Even sitting in the shade, my dear, his gaze might drink in the glow from your pelt somewhat faster than the sun might warm it." "Ha!" Liana agreed, slapping her friend's nearby thigh with a free hand. "I would take you with me for that week," she added, giving Alya's pelt a casual stroke, "but the glare from your coat would blind that old soldier for good." "Hmh," Alya considered affably. Yalara chuckled good-naturedly, half to herself. "'Blind the whole battalion ..." she murmured under her breath. "Hmh!" Alya responded in good humor, using a clawtip to fling a small cube of her lunch at Yalara's head in retaliation. Alya bulked the tallest and heaviest of all the staff at the hospital, and she knew it, but she had no regrets. Every year, when the staff celebrated their successes in merriment and drink, Alya won all the competitions for strength - and consequently won as much drink as she had thirst. Yalara blinked reflexively as the morsel bounced off her muzzle and fell to the table, eventually ignored. She chewed at another mouthful for a moment before a thought came to her. "Alya, you and Liana share the same vacation week?" she asked. Liana chewed enthusiastically but gave a slight shake of her head from side to side. "'Staggered," she explained. "Although we share five days in common." Yalara pondered this, and then on impulse decided to call up her own work schedule on her tablet computer. The familiar rows, and columns, and blocks of hours neatly marched up the screen as she first cross-referenced her own schedule, and then that of her dining companions, discovering for the first time a surprising but happy accident. "It seems," she ventured, with a crafty twisting of her lips, "that we have four days in common, between the three of us." Liana canted her head backward in delight and swiped her tongue pointedly across gleaming canines as she raised her nearby glass of water in mock salute. "Mothers, guard your virgin sons!" she warned, laughing. "The three of us once again slicing our way through the Recreational Quarter of the Capital." Alya squeezed her eyes shut as she fought against sympathetic laughter from deep within her generous belly. "Oh my ..." she considered. "Are we not too old to begin this sort of thing once again?" she asked, with heavy irony. Yalara shook her head in dismissal, keeping a smug expression leveled at Alya. "Not too old," she asserted. "No, my friends," she continued, "I am not sure if we will be quite that lucky in our exploits this year. While the thought of raising the morale of the males of Chakraa is something I would look forward to ..." She made a vague, expansive gesture in the space above the table. "Is it possible that we might indulge our desire for variety this year? Perhaps we might see something or somewhere that none of us has ever seen before?"It became clear, after a moment's pause and the rapid, wordless blinking from both Liana and Alya that neither of the two had suggestions.Liana canted her head very slightly to one side. "There was the recent Imperial initiative encouraging travel to the human capitol -- to Earth, I mean."Yalara nodded, thinking to herself that there had indeed been several prominent campaigns in news media lately, all promoting the benefits and possibilities that a trip to the Earth Confederation might have to offer. And the centerpiece of that trip -- always a stop on beautiful, lush, and exotic Terra. Alya seemed to be pondering the possibilities with optimistic conservatism, her gaze fixed on the middle distance and charcoal-dark brows lifted in consideration. "Inexpensive food ..." she noted.Liana nodded at this latest, considering angles of her own. "Very inexpensive drink ..." she pointed out.Yalara nodded again, agreeing with all of this. "Reciprocal agreements for medical and consular assistance, should we need either ..."Liana seemed to meet a moment of puzzlement, the markings on the fur of her forehead shifting slightly as her brow furrowed. "An entire world without Chakri males ..."Alya snorted briefly in derision. "I would have thought that an absolute requirement of yours," she teased, giving Liana another nudge.Liana sighed. "Well," she began, brushing at the front of her gown, "I might think highly of peace and quiet after being mauled so often."The three of them chucked their agreement."So where might we visit, if we decided to travel to Earth?" Alya asked. "I have heard of many places of fame and renown, but I know next to nothing of any of them."Yalara thought for a moment. "Pyramids ..." she ventured.Liana turned one of her hands palm-upward and spread her fingers wide, a gesture of indifference. "We have one in Chakraa," she countered, "and the one that we have built is bigger."Alya moistened her lips with a sarcastic grin and quoted from Tahrak directly. "What matters size?""You and your preoccupation with size ..." Yalara chuckled to herself, pausing only to intercept Liana's balled-up, paper napkin as it sailed ineffectually at low speed toward her."The great Tower at Dubai," Alya suggested."Mmm ..." Liana rumbled at herself. "A desert place. Fine for you, Yalara," she explained, "but I think if we took you there," she continued, glancing pointedly at Alya, "you might melt before the first hour was out."Alya nodded. "Would the Department of Tourism have any suggestions?" she wondered aloud. As Liana and Alya began a spirited debate on some of the places of interest on Earth, Yalara's attention was meanwhile drawn to a small advertisement on the page currently displayed on her computer screen. It read: "Purveyor of the finest cuts of organic, free-range Terran meats ever to be sold on Chakron. Tender veal, juicy pork, succulent chicken, and nothing but the freshest fish." "If you want to know what from Earth is the meat to eat, why not ask a carnivore?" There appeared a stylized logo of the business in question, the wide, heavily-furred and broadly-striped head of a tiger. "D. Donahue Organic Foods. Look for our new distribution center in Tanjin!" D. Donahue ..., Yalara thought to herself. In a flash of memory, she recognized the name and, curious as to what she might find, gently gave the computer screen a tap where the advertisement was centred.The screen filled with a page detailing the self-described D.D.O.F. Incorporated, and its proprietor, who surmounted the page in a graphical banner. Just as Yalara had guessed, the face which gazed pleasantly out at her from above a smart, dark-grey business suit of the Terran formal style, was Dimitri.She was speechless for so long that she was startled out of her reverie only by Liana putting a gentle, inquiring hand on her shoulder, and attempting to take a surreptitious peek at what Yalara was looking at."Is that ... ?" Liana began.Yalara nearly scratched the screen's surface with her claws, so quickly she attempted to dismiss the page and its contents. "Nothing," she explained."Hoho!" Liana continued, undeterred. "Far from 'nothing' I think." She regarded Yalara with a kind of sly but sympathetic humor, as Yalara herself felt her ears burning with embarrassment. "I seem to recall that he was a patient of yours in this past year," Liana probed, "was he not?"Yalara rubbed at her eyes with her hand, conveniently permitting her to cover most of her face and to try to blot out the memory of ever having confided something so reckless in someone else. "I remember that you would not stop asking what transpired between us," she replied."Hum ..." Liana mused, as she slid back into her seat. "I was curious, true." She arched her eyebrows at Yalara suggestively. "It did not take much to guess at what you had been up to."Yalara shook her head at the sheer, comic perversity of it all, and regarded Alya pleasantly. "I suppose Liana told you?"Alya finished a mouthful of her lunch and nodded knowingly. "Even if she had not," she explained, "I might have figured it out on my own." She spread her hands expansively across the table, describing the scene in her mind. "You arrived in the morning, frustrated and miserable. Miraculously, your patient recovers his sense of sight and you continued your day looking rather satisfied with yourself.""Doctor Korav ought to send more patients to you for treatment," Liana teased, gently. "When I remarked originally," Yalara interposed, "that the whole business was nothing short of miraculous, I was attempting to be literal." She waved a hand dismissively. "I doubt very much that I have the power to heal by the laying of hands on someone."Alya chuckled. "Heal by laying ..." she muttered under her breath."Although ..." Yalara wondered, slowly. "Although it might be possible that Dimitri would have some advice for us." She looked at her two companions optimistically. "Advice on where we might travel on Earth."Liana nodded in agreement. "Certainly more knowledgeable than anyone we might ask hereabouts."Alya clapped her hands together in obvious pleasure. "An excellent idea!"* * Dimitri had been reclining in his office chair for the better part of an hour, enjoying the post-sunset view of the Pacific from the window behind his desk, when an insistent tone from his computer drew his attention aside.Turning back to his desk and then casually sweeping a scattered group of paper documents into a semblance of order, he placed them in a rough pile next to the computer screen, which was blinking faintly with a communications alert.Who the hell is calling my office at 8 p.m.? he wondered, self-consciously sweeping a clawed hand through his hair and then deciding to toggle the videoconferencing software to audio-only after all.He heaved himself to his feet, grabbed after the two separated halves of his shirttail and began buttoning it toward his neck, only vaguely annoyed that he'd been caught in the midst of an evening of consolidating paper notes, and hurriedly swept his tongue around his teeth to prepare himself for the challenge of being coherent and personable. Doesn't hurt to get the taste of whiskey and lime out of my mouth, either, he thought.He tapped at the computer screen a few times, attempting to trace the origin of the call and get some idea of who the other party might be, when his eye tripped lightly over the word "Chakron," and he felt his whole head start to feel dizzy in a way that had nothing to do with the alcohol trickling in.On impulse, and reassured slightly by the notion that he couldn't yet be seen by the other party, he hit the button to connect the videoconference in 'preview' mode and was nearly shocked back into his chair by the sight which followed."Yalara ..." he breathed, his jaw hanging open.Yalara was, like him, sitting in a clinical, professional setting -- probably an office at the hospital where she worked -- but otherwise looked exactly as she had at the last time they'd seen each other in person.He hurriedly tugged on his shirttail to rid the garment of some of its less obvious wrinkles, took a deep breath, and pressed a button which connected the videoconference in open, two-way communications."Yalara Tadjak ..." he managed, meaning to greet her politely but being unable to move on from what was occupying his mind.If she was surprised at seeing him, she kept it well hidden, he remarked to himself.She inclined the shining, short-furred expanse of her feline forehead toward him and averted her eyes downward for a heartbeat or two, and then straightened, regarding him with a calm but unabashed warmth which made the tip of his tail start to wander aimlessly behind him."Mr. Donahue," she greeted him, with a hint of a chuckle in her voice. "I am pleased that you remember me."Trying to recover some of his composure, he wrangled his lips into something of a cool smirk and cast a hand open in front of him. "How could I forget?" he asked. "Uh ..." he started, and then when his normally charming wit failed to come up with anything, he settled for merely straightening his shirt collar. "Please excuse my appearance, Miss Tadjak. I wasn't expecting a call at my office this late in the day.""Forgive me," she insisted, with a twinkle in her eye. "I thought I might leave a message for you, while I had a moment to contact you. I would have thought to contact you socially, but I knew of no other way to reach you," she explained."Oh.""Please do not worry about your appearance, Mr. Donahue. In fact, you are looking quite well," she continued."Aw ..." he murmured, gently. "C'mon -- you'll embarrass this ol' cat. And please -- call me Dimitri."She barely hesitated. "As you wish," she replied brightly, as if the notion pleased her anyway."So ..." he continued, "I should thank you anyway -- you picked a time to get me away from all this tedious paperwork I didn't really want to do tonight." He delicately moistened his lips, deep in thought for a moment. "And ... well, I forget if I ever thanked you for your kindness before."She blinked in that slow, langourous way that made him feel a little light-headed, and glanced aside for a moment in apparent embarrassment. "It was not needed," she reassured him."Well ..." he mused, unconvinced, but not wanting to press the point. "To what do I owe the pleasure?""In fact," she replied, shifting in her seat before the computer, "I was in need of some advice.""Hmm ..." he considered. "Mostly I give advice on things to eat -- but something tells me you don't need help with that," he chuckled."Not quite," she agreed. "I was planning a visit to Earth for a few days. Two of my fellow nurses will be joining me, and I thought that I might ask for your help in learning which are the best places to visit."Yalara's coming here?, he thought. He just about lost his balance, so light-headed he'd become. He covered it by sinking his weight onto his palms as he laid them on the desktop. "Well," he began, "I wouldn't be a very good ambassador for the Earth Confederation if I didn't help you out." He made a show of gnawing idly on his lip as he sorted through some possibilities rapidly in his mind. "Everybody I know has shut down for the day. To be honest, I'm half in the bag m'self," he drawled lightly. "But I can make a few calls tomorrow ... write a few messages ... that sort of thing. I know some people. 'Might be able to pull some strings for you. 'How much time before you finalize your plans?"She made that same bow in his direction, polite and courteous as always. "Dimitri, whatever you can easily find out would be quite sufficient," she insisted. "I am grateful for your offer to help -- it would be rude of us to impose upon you.""It's quite alright," he reassured. "At the very least I'll be able to give you some good ideas." He waggled his eyebrows at her. "But I won't make any promises.""Very well."With a final bow, she then paused in her brief collecting of her thoughts and surroundings as she made to quit the desk. "I must go," she explained, "and I hope that I did not disturb you overly at this late hour. It is, however ..." She drew out the moment in a way that matched his own feelings. "... it is good to see you again, Dimitri."He hoped that he looked merely pleased and not awestruck. "It's good to see you too, Yalara."As her name slipped from his lips like a confession, he caught a final glance from her sparkling eyes, and she was gone. He found himself staring at the placeholder screen for the computer's videoconferencing software, as it informed him, "Call ended."It figures, doesn't it? he thought. Through his khaki pants and a combined haze of whiskey and mild exhaustion, he still had the beginnings of what he knew, beyond any doubt, was going to be an achingly uncomfortable erection. * *It was nighttime and relatively cool at the Palm Springs Interplanetary Spaceport as a 20-seater passenger shuttle came to rest at the landing pad connected to Gate 4. As the transparent, weatherproof, all-enveloping dome re-closed over the pad and neatly separated the outside air from that inside the terminal (which was cooler still), the sound of distant rocket engines and the evening breeze gave way to the simple tick! as the shuttle's hull continued to cool.With a slight hiss, the shuttle's rear door unsealed itself, joining more or less seamlessly the gangway with the shuttle's interior. The two had opposing carpeting schemes, so the effect on the passengers was not quite as seamless as the designers might have intended. From the small gap between the two, the instructions of one of the cabin staff could be heard, saying, "... ensure that you have all of your luggage before exiting. For our passengers who are arriving from off-world, please note that you may experience disorientation or difficulty walking for several minutes, as you adapt to Earth's gravity. If you require any assistance, please ask one of the crew."The local attitude toward this kind of long-winded explanation could be readily assessed from how the majority of the Terran passengers had already filed out of the shuttle by twos and threes, eventually trickling to a halt.After a pause, a large, white, black-striped and fur-covered foot emerged from the shuttle doorway, bringing with it the hem of an ankle-length grey gown. As it made contact with the gangway floor, it dug its clawed toes in for purchase, but otherwise appeared steady.Emerging from the shuttle, and carrying a pair of only lightly-stocked shoulder bags, a tall, curvaceous bipedal feline stepped cautiously along the gangway, first appearing to test its footing, and then having to check its speed as it surged ahead against the slight incline leading to the spaceport concourse.Two further felines followed it -- a shorter, more slender feline of golden coloration, rather than striped black-upon-white, and another feline of even shorter stature and a reddish-gold pelt.The three of them, to greater or lesser extents having the same problem with their footing and the local terrain, eventually negotiated their way up to the end of the gangway, where a sign proclaimed, in Terran English, "Sonny Bono Concourse."It was here, in the arrivals area, where Dimitri Donahue had parked himself with a tablet computer facing outward into the crowd, on which could be seen an image of the second arriving alien, alternating to show her given name, Miss Yalara Tadjak.True to the tradition of air and space travel everywhere, Dimitri had arrived punctually and had waited until well after the arrival time of the shuttle, having no desire to take even his unladen, unassuming self through port security to reach so much as a taco stand. With the evening relatively cool, and the thin cotton of his collared shirt and shorts breathing well, he had nothing to contend with except boredom.On seeing Yalara, however, and her two friends, he could do nothing except smile broadly, slip his tablet computer back into the backpack at his right shoulder, and begin walking to meet them.Yalara, in a display of emotion and pleasure that he'd never before associated with the Chakri, let fall her luggage and stepped from her companions to embrace him warmly. "Dimitri," she laughed gently, into his shoulder. "It has been a long journey, and I am happy to see you." She withdrew partway and regarded him at arm's length, appraising him with a friendly irony. "Somehow I expected you in a business suit.""Ha!" he replied, amiably, giving her a final squeeze and then politely releasing her. "This is So Cal, babe. I don't know about you, but when we get outside into the parking lot, I don't want to be wearing wool. It's nice out tonight -- but not that nice." His wit ran out on him at that point, so he could say nothing else except, "So ... uh, welcome to Earth."He was, embarrassingly, only just noticing the other two Chakri females in attendance. As he politely kept his teeth from showing, but smiled nonetheless, he was lucky that Yalara chose that moment to start the formal introductions, as effective command of his tongue left him as he studied the two of them."May I present Miss La'Liana of the House of XXXXX," she carefully enunciated, gesturing at the shorter of the two. La'Liana took a slight step forward and extended her hand graciously in Dimitri's direction, mirroring his pleasant expression with one of her own. "I am pleased to meet you -- may I call you Dimitri?" she inquired.Dimitri held onto his composure as one would hang onto a piton hammered only halfway into a sheer rock face five hundred feet above ground -- very carefully, in other words -- and La'Liana's hand gently and shook it. "Please," he offered. "I was never all that keen about 'Mr. Donahue'" he chuckled. "Would you prefer I call you 'Miss XXXXX?'""Yalara has said many positive things about you," she insisted, with a slyness in her tone. "My friends merely call me 'Liana.'""Thank you," Dimitri offered.Liana was, to his eye, a slightly shorter Chakri female than Yalara was, except that she was of a more golden-bronze coloration than golden-brown, and appeared to have curious little dark highlights decorating her pelt -- at her muzzle, just where her whiskers emerged, as well as beneath her eyes, at her brow, and at the very tips of her ears.These little ear tufts she canted slightly in his direction as she released his hand and stepped back. She was leaner than Yalara -- not that he had anything against leaner females -- but was still shapely and womanly by Terran standards. She appeared to keep in shape, like he did, as he could detect the flex and shift of well-toned muscles under her shining pelt. That is, where he could see Liana's pelt. The three of them were very conservatively and plainly dressed, by Californian standards. Grey gowns -- or were they traveling cloaks? -- ankle-length, with sleeves to the elbows, and cut to just below what he guessed was the collarbone. But, he remarked to himself, Liana looked like she was equally as energetic and perhaps a little more uninhibited than Yalara. He thought he could see something of a mischievous twinkling in Liana's eyes."And may I also present," Yalara continued, as Dimitri's pleasant countenance and relaxed demeanour revealed -- he hoped -- nothing of what he was thinking, "Ms. Feh'ren'Al'ya'Dra of the House of XXXXX."Dimitri had, on later reflection, misjudged rather badly when he had simply turned his head to look for Yalara and Liana's companion's face, so that he could look her in the eye. All he got for his effort was a huge expanse of bosom, which stunned him so much that he lingered overlong before looking up.He was looking into a face as plush and richly striped as his own -- except where his lighter fur was cream-colored, this other was as white as snow. He was also struck by the notion that he was looking up at an angle which placed her at a height a full foot above his own."Oh," she said, a look of concern filling her face, "I am afraid I may have flustered him."Before he could object, she had stepped close to where he was standing dumbfounded, slipped two huge, soft arms around his shoulders and pulled him in so that his left ear was squashed against her left breast. He felt a broad, soft paw of a hand run through his hair, stroking his head."Shhh ..." she soothed at him. "... and ignore my overly polite friend, please. I believe that my parents were well-intentioned when they named me, but I have been merely Alya for decades now."She released him partway, taking hold of him by the shoulders, and gave him a quickly appraising look from head to toe. "My, you are a healthy and handsome-looking young male. I had thought that Yalara might be exaggerating, but ... well, here you are.""Alya!" Yalara chided gently, in embarrassment. As the largest of the four of them released Dimitri, Yalara laid a conspiratorial hand on Dimitri's shoulder and whispered low. "I only spoke well of you," she said.With his head twisted to look at her, he arched his eyebrows a couple of times, flashed her a wink which he hoped the others couldn't see, and said aloud, for the benefit of the others, "I wouldn't have trusted anyone else to represent me."He took a deep breath, replacing some of the air that Alya had squeezed out of his lungs, and put on his most pleasant, 'public relations' face. "Well, ladies?" he began, as he gestured in the direction of the marked exits to the concourse. "What do you think of Earth so far?"He noted the three of them exchanging some glances, whereupon Liana shook her head slightly and breathed out something like a sigh. "I feel somewhat dizzy," she admitted, with a laugh. "Walking is somewhat unusual as well.""Yeah," Dimitri agreed, as they made their way through the spaceport. "I'd read about that. Lower gravity, plus the higher concentration of oxygen. They say it'll pass in a few hours, all the disorientation." He shrugged. "If you feel a little giddy, I can't say I blame you. I felt the same way, visiting Chakron.""Yes," Liana agreed, "but this feels ... remarkable. I feel as light as ... a cloud, I suppose. And I feel unusually strong."She unslung the bag from her right shoulder and held it at arm's length for him. "Would you consider this to be heavy?"The way she was holding it, he would've guessed it had a weight of perhaps five kilograms. Stretching out his arm to take it from her, he almost lost his balance as at least fifteen kilos of weight attempted to coax him into performing a cartwheel. "Maybe a little," he managed, keeping his footing with difficulty.She tossed her head a little, as he relinquished the bag back to her grasp, to show that she understood. "Yalara mentioned that you had adapted quickly to the higher gravity of Chakron, when you had visited.""Well," he chuckled, trying at modesty, "it wasn't easy, but I did my best. It probably looked easier than it was -- I try to keep in shape, and I climb rocks for fun." He shrugged. "I don't imagine we'll be doing much of that while you're here."Out of the general laughter and agreement that followed, Dimitri caught Yalara giving him a sly, interested look. "'We?'" she queried, amiably."Well ..." he began, grabbing at one of the spaceport's inner doors, and holding it open for the others. "The truth is, I didn't want to just hand you three some advice and then leave you to figure Earth out on your own. And I think, to be honest, I'm about due for a vacation myself. So I took a few days off to spend with all of you." He noted the surprise on Yalara's face and added, disarmingly, "That is, if I'm welcome to join you?"Yalara spent a moment with her mouth partway open, her eyes gently dancing, before Alya intervened with a clap of her oversized hand against his shoulder. "Of course, Dimitri!" she assured him. "How else might we repay your kindness?""Heh," he responded. "Well, don't thank me yet," he warned, gesturing at the exterior door, beyond which the lights of Palm Springs shone, dancing lightly in a shimmer of heat haze. "The gravity and the oxygen might be nice, but this heat is going to feel a little nasty until we get into the transport."With that, he opened the door, stepping out into a wall of warm, humid air. He shook himself slightly, unable to suppress an unpleasant prickling down his spine at the assault of the heat against his senses. Parked at the entrance, only a few meters from the door, was a very long , very white, and very expensive-looking limousine transport car, exactly where Walt Thurman had promised it would be.Dimitri curled one corner of his mouth into a satisfied grin. Walt wasn't the easiest guy to get along with, and he demanded a high price for favors like the kind Dimitri had called in, but whenever you needed a classy vehicle and a sober chauffeur, Walt absolutely, positively, one-hundred-percent guaranteed would have them where you wanted them and when you wanted them there."Walt!" Dimitri hailed from a few paces away. "'Been waiting long?"Walt, in an unusually sharp-looking suit and tie, swiped a sunburnt, pink hand across an equally pink, bald scalp. "No, Mr. Donahue. Not long.""Good," Dimitri commented, as he gestured toward the vehicle for the three Chakri females to enter. "I'd hate to keep you waiting in this heat.""Oh, don't worry, sir," Walt countered. "This thing has AC or I wouldn't have brought it."  The building was well-maintained but of a style of architecture from many, many centuries ago, and despite being familiar to Dimitri he was still of the opinion that someone had dropped a 19th-century clock tower on top of a 20th-century stock exchange. Yalara, on the other hand, raised a clawed hand very, very gently to touch one of the stone columns within reach of the chapel's front door, and rested her pawpads against its surface. It was pitted here and there with the signs of very rare, very small interior bubbles, but was otherwise smooth, a testament to its quality and the care with which it had been treated over the centuries. Even the patina of wear by the hands of students, and the slight stain of their collective sweat, had been lovingly cleaned and restored by the university's custodians. Yalara had closed her eyes in quiet contemplation, one hand still resting against the stonework, and then looked up at Dimitri with an apologetic, almost wistful pursing of her lips. "In the land where I was born," she explained, "we build our homes with this same kind of stone. It stays cool in the sunlight of high noon and ..." She patted the column's surface almost absently, and then withdrew her hand in what seemed like reverence. "... stays warm even until sunset."{The following are included for reference only, and the author has NOT obtained permission to use these works. Consider, if you will, the necessity of pasting any of the following into a browser address bar, for the sake of the site host's bandwidth, but if the words describing the scene don't conjure a sufficient image in your mind, the images might help. -S} . aspx . jpg . jpg . htm {The linked video describes a concert setting in which a young man plays a familiar tune. It is not quite what I have envisioned for this scene, but it is very, very close, and that is due to the not inconsiderable talent of Mr. Goldstein. If you can, I would invite you to imagine this very tune played on a pipe organ, with the benefit of a 'third hand' provided by the foot pedals, but with the music very delicately sculpted out of the keys of the instrument as Mr. Goldstein's fingers work their magic. Observe ... -S} . youtube.com/watch?v=uKq5IcBFyeQ  <+alcohol>Dimitri scraped a footpad across the tile of the pool area and was reassured to see that the gripping surfaces of the steps leading into the hot tub were still as uncomfortable as sixty-grit sandpaper. He made a point of adjusting his swim trunks before venturing a toe into the water's surface.Ahhh ... he thought. Sweet merciful heavens above, that's nice!A few more steps, gingerly taken, put him at the bottom of the tub's stepped portion. Gradually he felt his ankles and calves becoming comfortable with what might otherwise have felt like water fit to boil him tender, although his thighs were taking their time catching up with the rest.As he was about to plunge the more sensitive bits of his body into the churning water, he heard the slight squeaking of the gate's hinges behind him. Turning his head, he was relieved to see Yalara standing there, in a white terry-cloth bathrobe, with her hand on the gate's handle."May we join you?" she asked, a gently questioning expression on her face, while it was clear she had a good idea what his answer would be."Of course," he replied, with a gentle pursing of the mouth and a gesture at the hot tub. "I wouldn't have mentioned I was coming here if I didn't want you to join me. But ... ah," He gestured in her direction. "What'd you mean by 'we?'"Yalara merely flashed him a coy expression and stepped into the pool area, followed shortly thereafter by Liana and Alya. There was a short, almost conspiratorial exchange of laughter between these two, bordering on giggling. 'Never heard giggling from a Chakri before, he thought. He strode through the hot tub quickly, ignoring the burning sensation at his waist and the brief, irrational fear that he was about to boil his testicles, and reached the knee-high bench built into the hot tub's opposite wall. Turning, he settled backward onto his rapidly-warming rump, and spread his arms lazily along the rim of the tub.Watching the three of them approach, he was struck by how relaxed and gracefully they moved. Yalara, reaching the tub's edge, regarded him with an interested expression as she stretched out a clawed foot and dipped a toe into the water."It's a well-known fact," he said, brightly, "that most Terran tigers love water. I guess that explains how I find this so pleasant and relaxing." He shifted slightly and let himself slip under, the water cresting at the tuft over his breastbone. "Ahhh ..." he sighed. "I don't know if Chakri would find it quite so appealing, though."Yalara blinked her pretty eyes at him and quirked her lips into a smile. "I cannot speak for anyone but myself," she began, "but many Chakri find bathing to be quite pleasant. I, for example, grew up in a desert place -- not unlike what we see to the east of here, in the flatlands." She knelt, and trailed her fingers along the water's surface, as it rolled and eddied below the tub's rim. Dimitri's gaze intensified by a fraction as the front of her robe dropped to expose her cleavage. Damn ... he remarked to himself. Too bad we're in polite company.She continued, saying, "Mostly we bathe, if at all, in still, cool water. I imagine, however, that practices vary from place to place." She withdrew her hand, shook her fingers a few times, and straightened. "What about you, Liana?" she asked.Liana slowly canted her head to each side, noncommittally, choosing instead to slide her fingers along the tub's polished stainless-steel handrail. The way she was looking at him, though, was uncannily sly and predatory. "I have had baths both cool and warm," she said, "but this I have never seen before. The water circulates?""Yeah," Dimitri explained. "Little jets of water set into the bottom and sides." He thought for a quick moment, gesturing at the water in front of him. "I think there are some volcanic hot springs in the world which create the effect naturally, but the rest of us have to make do with machinery." He placed his outstretched arm behind his head and worked his neck around a little, feeling a gentle grinding sensation. "It's very therapeutic, actually. I'm surprised you wouldn't have them at your hospital."Liana snorted gently. "A bath of this type has been on the procurement list for several years," she explained. "But I imagine I need not explain the nature of bureaucracy to a man of business, yes?"Dimitri laughed. "No," he agreed. "No, you wouldn't.""I was told," Alya chimed in, looming behind her two friends like a great granite monolith, "that these baths also produce bubbles?"He nodded, smiling back at her, until he remembered to perk his ears up as well. "They sure do!" he acknowledged, jokingly. "What, you don't have bubbles on Chakron?" He slipped his arm from behind his head and felt over to where one of the bath's air inlet valves was situated, and gave it a few twists to open it partway.In moments, the water around him had begun to froth and hiss gently with the minute, effervescent bubbles central to the archetypical whirlpool bath. Alya's eyes, merely interested up until now, had begun to dance. "How's that?""... Beautiful," she remarked, leaning in over Liana's shoulder. To Dimitri's eye, he didn't find the bath water exceptional one way or the other, but the way that Alya's one-size-fits-all bathrobe was trying to hold in her massive breasts was certainly more stunning. Jeez ... he thought. Where did she get all those tits from?"Um ..." he continued, picking up the threads of the conversation again. "It took me a while to get used to the bubbles, myself. They have a tendency to get up your nose if you're not careful. I didn't like them at first, but then again I probably spent my younger years in mostly public swimming pools, where everything is filled with chlorine."Liana made a face. "Chlorine? Whatever for?" After a brief instant, a look of comprehension crossed her face. "Ah. The risk of contamination," she realized. "And this bath has none?" she queried, sniffing the air for confirmation."I had James drain and clean it before refilling it with fresh water," he assured her. "For the price these hotel rooms usually command, the least they can do is change out the water." He dipped a hand into the water's surface by a centimeter or two and flicked a few droplets at the three of them. "C'mon in!" he encouraged. "Don't worry about the robes -- the staff have to replace 'em daily anyway."Yalara merely chuckled, exchanging a knowing glance with Liana and Alya both. "Perhaps," she agreed. "But," she continued, her hands testing the weight of the free ends of her robe's belt before sliding gracefully back to the knot at her middle, "Chakri have no tradition of wearing garments as we swim."Before his amazed eyes, Yalara turned slowly, untied her robe, and then regarded him warmly over her shoulder as she allowed the fabric to slip from her shoulders to around her waist. His mouth sagged open at the sight of her standing unclothed, her golden pelt shining in the subdued light of the pool area, and the muscles of her back delicately stretching and flexing before him. "Ahhh ..." she remarked, closing her eyes in delight. "It feels so, so very nice to finally be free of all these restrictive things ...""Huh." Liana remarked. "I thought you had said that Dimitri had seen you unclothed before." She canted her head to look at him more inquisitively. "He appears to be surprised," she joked.Yalara tittered a small burst of laughter. "Aheh. I ... I believe Dimitri saw less of this angle than others," she countered, continuing to regard him warmly. With a final, deft movement of her fingers, her bathrobe slipped to the tile in a heap around her ankles, and she stood completely naked in the Californian breeze. "There," she pronounced. "I suppose this adequately repays my having seen you unclothed before, does it not?" She flashed him a wink -- a very un-Chakri gesture, he thought -- and slid her long, graceful fingers down her flanks to her hips.He was damn near speechless again, struggling to regain command of his tongue. "Uh ... uh, really, Yalara," he reassured her, apologetically. "I never thought of us as needing to get even on that." He was now sitting slightly more erect, and now his awareness was gently shocked by the sensations that his forearms were now no longer on the rim of the tub and were instead dipping his fingertips into the water. What the hell are these three doing? he thought. Liana's gaze had dropped -- something he scarcely noticed, as his eyes were locked on Yalara's curvaceous rump -- and the former appeared to have a pleasantly puzzled expression on her face as she now commented, breaking his concentration, "Is that something typical of the males of Earth?" she asked. As he caught her gaze, she nodded in the direction of the bath."Uh ... no, actually," he explained, hurriedly. He reached to his waist, where a large bubble was rising above the water's surface, trapped by his trunks. He laughed a little, sheepishly, as he rolled the fabric backward to free the trapped air. "That's just a hazard of swimwear," he said."Ah." Liana seemed amused. She looked at Yalara and waggled her ears a little. "All the more reason to shun garments while swimming." Turning her attention back to Dimitri she fixed him with a predatory but warm look, as she rolled her shoulders out of her robe, first one and then the other, and then slid the garment almost effortlessly to her hips, whereupon it fell as Yalara's had.Liana, caught in the light for all to see, and with the minute reflections from the hot tub's underwater lamps rippling a sea of light across her, the moment caught her bronze, lean, toned form rather well, as she slid her palms over the fur of her stomach and stretched her neck back, her perky breasts and small, dark, nipples thrusting up toward the sky.She finished stretching whatever she was stretching, by Dimitri's estimation, including all of his situational credibility -- what does this make the number of times I've seen more than one woman naked at once? he thought. Like, three? Then she stepped onto the first step of the hot tub, immersing both feet. He could vaguely see her flexing her ankles and wiggling her toes as her eyes went half-shut and her fingers slid across her stomach to her hips. "Ahhhh ..." she murmured. "That is nice."Yalara, meanwhile, had begun to turn, slowly, and was by now standing with her right side facing him, but with her eyes now turned to Liana. In profile, Yalara looked as gorgeous as he'd remembered -- elegant, curvaceous, and with the grace of movement he'd expect of a dancer, not a nurse. She took a step forward and reached out tenderly to hug Liana around the shoulders and waist. "I told you we would not regret coming here, the three of us," she chuckled into Liana's ear. Her laughter gently shook her breasts, pressed into Liana's right side though they were.Whoah ... Dimitri's thoughts husked to himself. Am I seeing things? He was trying, desperately, to keep from grinning like a fool. Whether something was going on for his benefit, or he was fooling himself with the notion that there might be two or three Chakri women sexually propositioning him, he knew that showing his teeth would be a mistake.Liana closed her eyes in delight and canted her head to her right, leaning slightly into Yalara's embrace. "You are usually right," she pointed out. She glanced again in Yalara's direction and then lightly jerked her head in Dimitri's direction. "Should we keep him waiting?"Yalara made a brief pouting expression and then shook her head. "Dimitri has been kind enough to arrange this for us," she pointed out, turning a sultry, half-lidded gaze on him as she spoke. "We ought to enjoy it."So saying, Liana then turned her attention to her footing as she stepped down into the tub. Her hips swayed gently as she continued, reaching the point at which she was immersed up to mid-thigh. A further step brought the water to her pudendal crease, at which a brief flicker of sensation crossed her face, and she inhaled sharply, before she resumed her previous outwardly calm expression and then settled herself on the tub's opposite bench, facing him and with the water's surface gently lapping at her collarbone. "Ahhhh ..." Liana murmured once again. "This is perhaps the single most decadent, luxurious thing I have done all this year."Yalara, meanwhile, had mounted the first step and was poised to enter the tub herself. She made a point of smacking her lips lightly as she looked at Dimitri with a knowing air about her. "I learned," she said, in a low voice, although nominally for Liana's ears, "once upon a time, that one should never actually name an event as the height of decadence." She stepped down to where she was tantalizingly close -- almost close enough for him to reach out and grab, if he wanted to. "I did so, and was very soon provided with an opportunity to behave more decadently than before." Again, she flashed him a wink, and then stepped briskly into the depths of the tub on her way to a spot near where Liana was sitting. "Hahhh!" she exclaimed as she, like Liana, found herself submerged to above her waist in a heartbeat. "Dimitri, I find this as pleasant as you do, but the initial shock is ... well, shocking!"He chuckled. "Well, it could be worse," he replied, jokingly. "Those jets don't have the air turned on. Some people find that they ... er, 'tickle' a little." He ran his tongue around his teeth. "If you know what I mean.""No doubt," Yalara replied, as she settled herself into a sitting position. "Although the heat of the water is ..." She slid a hand under each of her breasts, floating as they were on the water, and cupped them gently. "... stimulating enough as it is."He merely quirked a smile at her in agreement, and continued watching her from his place across the tub. His mind, however, was salivating over the view he had of Yalara, and how much she seemed to be enjoying herself.Liana seemed to be enjoying herself as well. Having already tried a half-lidded gaze of contentment, she was now sitting quietly with her eyes completely closed and her head leaned somewhat backward. The only sign of life from her was her slow, relaxed breathing, evident from how slightly the waterline at her neck slowly rose and fell.Alya, meanwhile, had mounted the steps into the hot tub herself, and had ventured a toe into the water. Dimitri watched as she submerged the rest of her foot, but her impressed and optimistic expression faded as she sucked in a breath and withdrew her foot again."Too hot?" Dimitri ventured."Perhaps a little," Alya replied."'No hot tubs in the northern parts of Chakron neither, eh?" he joked.She turned her blue eyes on him, blinked gently, and shook her head slowly. "We have a tradition of taking in steam or dry heat, but nothing like this." She stepped back, and began making her way around to where Yalara and Liana were sitting. "There is also the related pastime of alternating with a swim," she added, reaching for the belt of her bathrobe. "Which I could never truly grow to like.""Uh ..." Dimitri managed. "What was ...?" I'm gonna be the only guy overdressed at this party, he thought. "What ... um, what was the part you didn't like about swimming?""Swimming?" Alya asked. She chuckled quietly and began to undo the knot at her waist. "Swimming, I do enjoy from time to time. It was the water, you see. Within perhaps .... mmm, two degrees of freezing, I think?""Yikes," he managed, by way of agreement. If I wasn't in this tub of hot, swirling water, he thought, I think my ballsack would've just shriveled up to the size of a golf ball."Perhaps I will join you in a few minutes," she reassured him, taking hold of one side of her robe's front. "I am finding this outfit to be both uncomfortably warm and needlessly tight.""Uh ..." Dimitri started, again. "Well, uh ..." He was dealing with the sad reality of at least two medical phenomena at the same time -- the water of the hot tub was dilating all of the blood vessels under his skin, and the mounting sexual overtones of the situation were dilating blood vessels elsewhere. He was surprised that he had any blood left at all to run the higher functions of his brain. "Uh ... well, I don't think they had anyone seven-feet-tall in mind when they picked those out."She gave a satisfied, amused grunt of sorts. "No doubt." Alya reached the spot on the pool area's tile floor between where Yalara and Liana were sitting a few feet below. "Clothes are somewhat pointless when you and I have an abundance of fur for this climate." She turned, so that she was facing away from him, and let the front of her robe fall open. "Do you wish, on occasion, that in this climate year-round, you might forego clothing entirely?"He blinked. "The thought had crossed my mind," he admitted. "I'd certainly feel more comfortable at times, but I think some of the people find me a little more ... I dunno ... 'human,' if I put on a pair of shorts at least."Alya gave her robe a deft little ruffle which caused it to slip down around her shoulders, and wrapped its front halves around her waist. "And this?" she asked, jokingly. "How human would I look if I walked around wearing this all year?"Dimitri almost snorted with laughter, so absurd the picture before his eyes looked. Alya looked like she could pose -- if the body of her robe were crimson instead of white, but still retained its white trim -- for a very naughty Mrs. Santa Claus. The robe did nothing to conceal Alya's curves, and its hem was poised mere inches below where the contour of her round, generous ass met a pair of massive thighs.Fuck ... he thought. If she bends over I'm gonna lose it.Alya gave him a reprieve of sorts, letting the robe slip from around her shoulders to fall to her feet. She was every bit as beautiful as Yalara or Liana, in her unique way. Where Liana looked nubile, and Yalara womanly, Alya looked motherly after a fashion. Broad across the hips, but proportioned in that way from hip to waist that almost made him salivate, he knew she wasn't fat. She's strong on the inside, and soft on the outside, he remarked to himself. And everywhere, from spine to flank, from edge to edge, she was striped just about as broadly and richly as he was.She didn't bend at the waist, or anything of the sort, really. As if in respect of Dimitri's precarious grip on his sanity, she spent a moment or two busily brushing at the fur on her arms, and then simply took a step backward before neatly folding herself up so that she was sitting cross-legged.He was puzzled, at first, since it seemed uncharacteristically modest or shy of her, but Alya eventually uncrossed her ankles, and slowly lowered her shoulders to the tile behind her. She took in a deep, deep breath, which caused her breasts to lift tantalizingly toward the sky, and then she sighed equally deeply, as if expelling weeks or months of tension."Uuuhhnnnn ..." she droned quietly to herself. "This is cool against my fur, and I think this will suffice for now." She gently lolled her head to her left and regarded Yalara with a relaxed air. "What can I expect if I join the three of you shortly?"Yalara blinked in that slow, measured way she did when she was sublimely happy. "Hot, refreshing, and invigorating," she summarized. "Although the initial sensation is somewhat ... er, interesting.""Hey!" Dimitri chimed in, looking to assert himself a little. "It's no picnic for us neither," he drawled. There was some chucking interspersed with a general mumbling of consensus, after which Yalara gently cleared her throat. "We have heard much about how things are on Earth," she agreed. "I must confess that things are somewhat similar on Chakron." She looked up at Alya, sideways though her face appeared, and asked, "What was the word that came up repeatedly?"There came the sound of Alya gently sucking on a tooth, only interrupted by a quiet sound of revelation from Liana as her eyes opened briefly. "Shrinkage." "Ah." Yalara nodded in agreement. "Yes, that was it.""Yeah," Dimitri replied, unconcerned, "but that only applies to cold water." He made a point of shifting his rump around and slouching a bit further, with a smirk. "And besides, even if the water was cold, it wouldn't affect me that much."His smugness was short-lived, however, as after a heartbeat or two, Alya craned her head awkwardly to catch an indirect look at him and asked, "Is it different for you? Having your organ inside instead of out?"He shook his head. "Not really," he explained, and then stopped. "Wh -- hey!" he protested, looking pointedly at Yalara. "What have you been telling them?"Yalara managed to look sheepish, although she looked far from horrified. She'd quirked the corners of her mouth into a pleased expression, as though she were only lightly embarrassed. It was Liana, however, who came to her aid. "We should apologize, Dimitri," she explained, with a serious expression on her face for once. "Yalara never volunteered anything about the ... er, 'encounter,'" -- she drew the word out, as though tasting it -- "that you and she had shared." She glanced over at Yalara to reassure her. "We only learned about it to begin with from very subtle clues.""Wh-?" he breathed, confused for a moment, but then realized that he'd been thinking like a human for the longest time, and not like the predator that he was. Or, for that matter, that the Chakri were as well. "Right ... right." he muttered to himself idly. He shrugged. "I suppose," he said, with a wry smile, "that the scan room smelled like sex after she and I left, right?""I think that there were rumors," Liana continued, "and like all rumors, I think the hospital staff took the story as gossip and eventually let it go. Only Alya and I kept pressing her with questions until she told us what had happened.""And not -" Alya added, "because she wished to betray your trust." She tensed for a moment, counterbalanced, and then heaved herself over so that she rolled neatly onto her stomach, still between Yalara and Liana but now regarding him warmly from above where her enormous breasts were fetchingly pressed against the tile beneath her. "I believe she felt she needed to share something which was important to her."Dimitri thought he could detect a flush starting in Yalara's ears, something which had nothing to do with being immersed in hot water. She wasn't looking directly at him, but clearly watching him nonetheless."The way she told the entire story," Alya continued, "well ... you might believe that she had experienced something remarkable."He slid his arms back down from the tile and felt his hands splash down through the water onto his thighs. He sat up."Oh."He felt at a loss for words.As he sat, Yalara did begin to make eye contact with him, looking only slightly embarrassed but as though she had something meaningful and important to tell him.On impulse, he slid from his seat among the gently frothing waters, and floated over to where Yalara was sitting. The tub was sufficiently shallow that he could remain with his head and shoulders above water, and only have to kneel -- which he did. I'd better put her mind to rest, he thought."Yalara," he soothed, reaching out for her hand and taking it in his, "I ... I felt the same way. I still do." He tried to think of something poetic, but failed, and then he shrugged. "I can't explain it. I was alone, in a strange place, and ... I dunno, I guess I wouldn't have made it through that whole experience with my sanity intact if I hadn't met you."Yalara lowered her eyes in embarrassment again, although her slender fingers tightened around his hand."Oh," Liana interjected brightly, "that was something we had guessed." As Dimitri turned a slightly puzzled glance at her, Liana shrugged with her left shoulder. Her right shoulder she left as it was, extending her right arm to gently prod Yalara in the shoulder. "As nurses," she continued, "we are used to having patients appreciate us." "Yes!" Alya confirmed, chuckling deeply and setting her bosom to jiggling slightly. "Although the very first thing we learn in the higher schools of nursing," she continued, still chuckling, "is that we should never do precisely what Yalara did!"Yalara turned a look of mock annoyance at Alya and Liana both, and shoved the latter's prodding finger aside. "What is that expression you have in English, Dimitri?" she asked, playfully. "Something involving pots and kettles?"Dimitri sat back onto his heels, still loosely holding Yalara's hand. He still had no idea what was going on here."What she means to say," Alya continued, watching the goings-on in front of her with amusement, "is that she understands how you feel. In some respects, it is commonplace and to be expected. However --" She held up a clawed finger. "-- we initially believed that this voyage of ours was to permit us all to see the wonders of Earth, and to let you and Yalara meet each other again."Liana faintly jerked her head in Yalara's direction. "If that had been where the matter ended," she suggested, "then I imagine Alya and I would have politely excused ourselves for the evening to permit you and Yalara to ... ah, 'become re-acquainted.'"Jeez, he thought. He felt himself start to blush inwardly, although he knew from experience that outwardly, at least, he wouldn't show any signs of it. "Wow ..." he breathed. "Well ... I'm -- I'm flattered, Yalara." He wrangled his lips into a politely closed configuration as he smiled warmly, trying hard not to grin. "But ... um ... if that's the case ..."Yalara nodded, her half-lidded eyes sparkling with something akin to enchantment."... then ... um ..." He gestured helplessly at Alya and Liana. "Not that I want to be a rude host," he continued, "but I don't think there'll be much for the two of you to do while Yalara and I ... er, 'become re-acquainted.'"Yalara turned a supremely pleased expression on Liana, glancing up at Alya as well for a moment, and gave a tiny, slow, almost wistful shake of her head, before she tightened her grip on Dimitri's hand, and rose to her feet. He tried -- and failed -- to keep his gaze solely on her face and off her breasts, which rose out of the water with her and bobbed rather perkily, her dark areolae glistening with droplets and her tautened nipples spilling a twin cascade of water from her fur and back into the tub. He rose with her, hoping to heaven that with how his body felt tingly and alive, his cock wasn't about to give him away.She stepped in very close to him, sliding her free arm around his waist so that the pressure of her nipples fell just above his navel. There was the slow, almost familiar brush of her cheek past his own, as she stretched onto her toes to bring her lips close to his ear."Shhhh ..." she soothed at him. "Do not worry about that." As she withdrew, still almost nose-to-nose with him, she spared a conspiratorial glance at her two co-workers nearby, and spoke just loudly enough to be heard by all. "Dimitri, do you know anything about how Chakri women form their friendships?"He blinked. He imaged that aside from being in the embrace of a very attractive female alien, and the middle of a hot tub that was rapidly becoming steamier than the hottest of his dreams, he probably looked like a deer caught in headlights."Yalara," he confessed, with a wry smile, "I know very little about how any women form friendships with other women. It's ... like, it's the biggest mystery I've ever encountered, except possibly for how women think." "Ah ..." she breathed, her understanding syllable washing over his nose like a summer breeze. "Well," she continued, "there are a number of theories which speculate on how the Chakri used to keep their households." She guided his hand to her hip, gently parked it there, and then began gently tracing a seemingly random pattern in the fur above his right pectoral with the claw of her forefinger."Some believe that Chakri formed extended families from a group of related females -- usually sisters or cousins -- who worked together as the multiple wives of a single male or two cooperating brothers." The way that her claw was delicately scratching his skin and parting his fur made it difficult to think about something as obscure as ... What is it called again? he thought. Evolutionary biology? Anthropology?"So," Yalara continued, moving to the fur over his abdominal muscles, "it would explain how one of the roles of groups of females grew to be cooperation in finding suitable mates.""Uh huh," he agreed, trying to hold back the slight hiss which would've accompanied his response to her sensual attentions. His hands were now lightly stroking the fur over her shoulder blades, and she now employed both hands at exploring his chest. "The three of us are not related," Yalara continued, with a slight giggle as though the absurdity of the notion ought to be apparent. "Not even remotely. But as we work together, we are all necessarily interested in each other's lives, and we work to ensure our mutual and collective happiness."As she lightly, almost imperceptibly raked her claws over his flanks, he shivered enough to draw a slight noise of approval from Alya and Liana nearby."Chakri males used to fight over females," she said, "and often still do. They used to fight to the death, but a lot of their posturing and competitive behavior is now merely symbolic. However ..." She lowered her claws to the waistband of his trunks, a move which brought a fresh stirring to his body and made him give a breathy, wordless sigh. "Chakri women cannot afford to fight over males. We must remain as closely bonded as sisters. So rather than compete, we prefer to share."As if to give him time to digest this latest notion, she slid her fingers through his rich, thick pelt, and up his body until she was embracing him around his neck. "What we shared on Chakron was ... huh ... wonderful ..." she breathed, "even if our manner of meeting each other was unusual.""It was wonderful," he agreed. "And I don't care how we met." He gripped her a little more fiercely."But," she continued, "when you gave me the gift of this day, I think I realized that you were not merely a superior lover, Dimitri." She nosed him gently, with a langourous blink of her eyes. "There are lovers, and then there are lovers. Alya and Liana and I can tell you that Chakron has at least a few competent male lovers."There was a throaty, enthusiastic harmony of coarse laughter from nearby."It is something else," she explained, "to be a lover with empathy." She withdrew her right hand to place it over where his heart was thudding away. "We have a word on Chakron for a male with desirable qualities: Doh-ahn-ee-ah-mak," she enunciated.He blushed so hard he imagined his lighter fur turning pink."I think it would not be an exaggeration to think of you as dohanya'mak," she ventured. "You care for me, and I am grateful.""I'm the one who's grateful," he insisted, sliding a broad palm behind her neck to caress her there. She chuckled. "You will find me grateful as well. Perhaps even more grateful than you. But --" she continued, in a slightly more sober tone, "-- as we Chakri have traditions about bathing nude, we also have some traditions about mate-sharing." She inclined her head toward where Alya and Liana were watching them intently. "You see, having told them about how thoughtful and generous you are, I think Alya and Liana both would rather give you a thorough ... examination," she interposed, "and see whether you live up to your reputation." She made a point of gently licking her lips. "You see, unfortunately for males who spend their time around Chakri women, there is a price to be paid for being called dohanya'mak."To Liana's eye, Dimitri must have been very, very new to the idea of being the object of affection for more than one woman, as he appeared to stand there, in Yalara's embrace, uncomprehending and innocent-looking for several seconds.She cleared her throat and gently murmured, "I think he is flustered again."From just behind her shoulder, Alya hummed a gentle sound of agreement. "I swear by all the gods and goddesses," she chuckled, "it was not my fault this time!""Uh ..." came a faint, weak reply from Dimitri. "I'm sorry, what ... um, what did you mean by that?" His weak reply came with a weak smile. Liana wished he would stop coming so close to grinning in human fashion. He has a very pretty face, she thought to herself. 'Not his fault that he looks furious when he tries to appear happy.Yalara, to her credit, leaned in and embraced him more tightly, pressing her breasts against him and rubbing her nose against his in a display of unbridled mirth. "You ... you treasure, you!" she fairly giggled. "Are you really as shy as you seem at this moment?"He took a deep, slightly shivering breath, and exhaled as though he were contemplating something. "It's not that," he reassured her. "Like ..." He gestured aimlessly with a forearm not otherwise engaged in gently stroking the fur at the back of Yalara's neck. "I went to college around here, and there's a lot of experimentation that happens in college." He shrugged partway, underneath the grip of Yalara's arms. "This wouldn't be my first rodeo, is all I mean to say."Liana frowned. "Your first ... what?" She resigned herself to having asked a rhetorical question when one of Alya's hands gently prodded her from behind.Yalara slid her arms up until she was lightly tousling Dimitri's hair -- a long, flowing mane of straight, golden-brown locks, that was -- and cocked her head to one side by a fraction. "Are you nervous?" she whispered, over the sound of the bubbling and frothing of the water at both their waists.He appeared to swallow, but maintained his otherwise pleasant expression. "Maybe a little," he admitted."Shhh ..." she soothed at him. "I have known Alya and Liana for many, many years, and never once have I heard any male complain of them that they took advantage of anyone."Liana snorted slightly. More than we might technically say of Yalara, she thought. But .. She slid her gaze over Dimitri's handsome form, from his toned, muscular legs, around the bulge slowly forming in his swimwear, up to his broad, soft-looking hands. I cannot say I would have done differently in her place, she reflected. Save for having Dimitri bend me over the control console ..."Oh!" Yalara exclaimed, as if struck by a revelation of some kind. "Liana, did you finish the task we had discussed earlier?"She was still feasting her eyes upon Dimitri's more attractive features, and was only half-listening. "Task?" she queried.Yalara turned her head and fixed her with an exasperated stare."Ah!" she exclaimed. Of course! she thought. "Yes," she replied, hurriedly, "yes, I did." She glanced at Dimitri. "Would you like me to tell him?""In a moment," Yalara replied, turning her attention back to Dimitri, who was by now back to being confused. "I should apologize for taking liberties with you, Dimitri," she explained, "as I seem to be making a habit of it, for selfish reasons." She toyed with his long, silken locks again, faintly stroking and scratching him behind his ears. "Do you remember that small blood sample I asked of you?""Yeah," he replied. "I figured you were just curious."She nodded, brushing her nose against his. "Curious I am," she agreed. "You see," she continued, releasing his hair and trailing her fingers down to where his deltoid and pectoral muscles stood out in relief, even under his plush coat, "even after you and I had shared all that we did, when you were in hospital, and I had relived those moments in my mind --" she tensed her clawtips over his chest and began dragging them sensually down to above his flanks. "-- I was still curious about how it would feel to mate with you again."He chuckled, nodding his head lightly forward so that they were embracing brow-to-brow. "You're not the only one," he husked at her."Only," she clarified, "I was curious to know how it might feel more naturally." She slid her left hand around to grip him by the waist, while her right slid deftly down to dart under the waist of his swimwear. "You really do have a remarkable thing, here," she whispered.As Dimitri's eyes closed, and his head tipped back, Liana wished more than ever that she was in Yalara's place. The hot, swirling water of the tub had been faintly stimulating her tender flesh ever since she'd sat down, and watching the slow, deliberate seduction of Yalara's one-time lover only a pace or two away was beginning to erode her will. She brushed the fur at her inner thighs idly back and forth, feeling it gather and flow with the water, and tug minutely on her skin where she was already feeling unusually sensitive. She felt she ought to interject before Yalara and Dimitri got caught up in something which left her and Alya as mere spectators. "You will be pleased to know, Mr. Donahue," she spoke, professionally but with a dark, sensual quality to her voice, "that you seem to be in perfect health. None of us would object if you wished to use a prophylactic device this evening-""I might ..." Yalara muttered, jokingly."- but I was unable to find anything in your blood chemistry which could be carried from your body to any of ours." She pointedly, and with good humor intended, pursed her lips into a smile and jabbed a claw in Yalara's direction. "Miss Tadjak-the-cautious wanted some assurances that if she were to fling herself at you tonight," she explained, enjoying how Yalara's ears reddened but how she also began to laugh with abandon, "that she could enjoy your bare flesh and you hers, without any fear.""But only ..." Yalara insisted, her right forearm tautening where it disappeared beneath Dimitri's waistband, " ... if you wished to.""Uhhh ..." Dimitri's breath left him in a low sigh, his eyes re-opening and looking at Yalara again, and his jaw hanging open. "Jeez," he muttered, "when you put it like that ..."Yalara gently disengaged her right hand from where Liana presumed it was occupied with taking Dimitri's pulse, and then cupped his face, looking deep into his eyes. "You ... you are not angry?""Angry?" he asked, his hands finding her shoulders with some difficulty. He shook his head slowly. "No, I'm not mad at you." He chuckled a bit. "Well, maybe a little. But I can understand why you did it." He drew a deep breath and shook his head vigorously, as though to clear it. "But I still don't get it." He looked over at Liana and Alya, and managed a nervous, polite pursing of his lips. "All of this? Just 'cause I did something nice for you?""Ohoho!" she laughed, looking over at Liana. Yalara made a rather lewd dipping of her ears, a confidential joke between the two of them that Liana was only too happy to reciprocate. I hope she is right about how obliging he will be, Liana thought."For my part," Yalara continued, "I merely invited them." She withdrew a hand to place it over her heart. "I can try my luck with you, Dimitri, or I can desist. But as for Liana and Alya?" She looked over at Liana again. "I love them as dearly as if they were my own sisters, but even I cannot tell them what they should do.""Hmm ..." he murmured, gently. "Well, I guess I'd better be careful of offending anyone." He slid an arm down and around Yalara's waist and hugged her to his side as he turned so that they were facing where Liana and Alya were sitting patiently. "I seem to be outnumbered.""Worry not," Liana said, { ForeplayYalara & Dimitri redux / voyeurismLiana oral / deepthroat / 69Alya doggystyleThreesomeAlya missionary w/ helping hands