Raining again (Southpaw chapter 2)
{This is part 2 of the Southpaw saga. Part 1 was simply titled "Southpaw," and it's okay if you didn't read it. All you need to know is that Jack is a wolf, and Connor (Southpaw) is a Dalmatian. In part 1, they took a shower together and became friends.}
Jack always felt weird when he ventured outside. And by "outside," I don't mean simply walking out of a door, and finding oneself in the open air, under the blue sky. I mean "outdoors," as in out in the country - out in the wide open spaces, with nothing but trees, tall grass, and wildflowers everywhere one looked. If you were lucky, there'd be a path of some sort winding through the trees and grasses, but that path might be the only sign of civilization.
He knew he felt weird because he'd grown up in the capital city - in the slums, no less, where the massive buildings stood very close to each other (thus, there wasn't much light, or fresh air, or space).
His grandmother would say he felt weird because he was a wolf - and wolves (she would go on to say) belonged in the countryside - out in the "great outdoors," with the wide open spaces, and the trees, and the tall grasses, and the many varieties of wildflowers, and the sky - oh, the sky - at night, you could see all the stars.
Grandmother had been the one who'd taught Jack the Old Stories. According to them, all of animalkind had once gone about on four legs - and they'd been feral, living out in the wild. Thousands of years ago, that was. Before animals evolved, and developed human intelligence, and began walking on two legs. All of the many canine species, all of the different cats - as well as the various kinds of taurs, and the rams, and the horses, and the elephants, and, oh - what else - the raccoons, of course, and so many other species - all of them had, ages ago, walked on four legs - and they'd all prowled the forests of the world, and the tops of mountains, and the valleys. Grandmother believed that this explained why animalkind still felt a connection to the countryside, and to the wilderness, and to the forests.
"We didn't have cities, of course," his grandmother had told him. "Before we evolved, cities were things that only the humans and the elves built and lived in."
Like you and I, Jack had grown up in this world - in this present time - where the cities are home to every kind of human, elf, and species of animal. The same, of course, is true for every village, every farm, every Guard outpost. As a child, listening to his grandmother, Jack had been unable to imagine the world of thousands of years ago, when the humans and elves lived indoors, and the animals were confined to the outdoors. He'd been unable to imagine wolves as feral creatures who lived in the forests.
He also wasn't sure how he felt about the Old Stories, truth be told. Like many young folk, he wondered how much truth was within those Stories - and how much myth.
For example. Why had most of the animals evolved - but not all of them? There were still birds in the sky, and fish in the seas. True, they'd never had legs, so it made sense that they hadn't evolved into creatures that walked on two legs. But they were still the same as they'd always been - why hadn't they evolved in at least some small way?
And what about the cows, and the bulls? And the oxen, too. They were just the same as ever they'd been. Placidly living on four legs, domesticated, beasts of burden. They'd never developed intelligence, their bodies had never changed. Why hadn't they evolved?
All of this lengthy (and probably quite boring) prologue leads up - and attempts to explain - this: that as Jack the wolf stood looking down into a seemingly endless valley, with rows of trees on either side of it, and a cloudy sky high above, with a gentle breeze caressing his fur, he felt two very strong and very conflicting emotions. For one, he felt - well - a sense of unreality. These wide, open spaces were so completely the opposite of the city (at least, the part of the city that he was most familiar with) - that they didn't seem real. He'd been in the Guard for a few years, and he still couldn't get used to seeing all that space whenever he stepped out into the countryside.
The second thing he felt, however, was longing. A very strong sense of longing. The outdoors called to him in a way that he hadn't expected. He was drawn to the trees, he yearned to kick off his boots and walk barefoot through the grass. Part of him wanted to build a small house and live out there - part of him wanted to wake up in the morning, make some coffee, step outside to the fresh air and the song of birds.
And as he stood, and gazed, and tried to understand his feelings, he felt something else - a physical sensation, this time - a drop of rain bouncing off his head.
Rain. Yet more rain. Again. Of course. Jack turned and sprinted back to the barracks.
**
Jack stood by his bunk and took off his soaking wet shirt. He tossed it casually over the metal bar at the foot of his bed, and began running a thick towel over his wet fur. He kicked off his wet boots gratefully. At least his socks hadn't gotten wet - he hadn't had to run back with his furry feet squelching inside damp socks.
"Raining again?" Gunnar said, playfully. He was sitting on his bunk, which was next to Jack's.
"How'd you guess?" Jack snapped the towel in Gunnar's direction. The tall Ram laughed, and avoided the hit.
"Hey, now, don't make jokes!" The deep voice was half serious, half kidding - and it belonged (of course) to Kellen, the Minotaur. "It's rained almost every day for two weeks! I'm about to go completely fucking insane."
"Not just partly insane?" Gunnar smiled.
Jack laughed, and ran the towel over his long muzzle, his ears, the top of his head.
"Guess you got soaked out there, wolfie," Kellen said.
By way of reply, Jack flicked his bushy tail towards the tall Minotaur. Fat drops of water flew out and and bounced off Kellen's massive thigh.
"Hey, hey!" he laughed. "Wolfie! I don't want to get rained on indoors, too."
Across the room, a young Dalmatian named Connor watched as Jack bantered with his two friends. Connor - whose nickname was Southpaw, because he was left-pawed - had never actually noticed Jack . . . until the day that Jack had helped him get over something. It had happened two weeks ago. It'd been the absolute worst day Connor had ever had - and he hadn't been able to get himself past it. But Jack . . . Jack had helped. Since then, the two had barely spoken - not by choice, however. Both had been incredibly busy. Both had been constantly getting sent out on missions, and never with each other. There just hadn't been time - yet - to talk about what had happened in the shower room.
And Connor wanted to talk about it - or, if not, to at least say thanks again. Or maybe . . . maybe do more than just talk. Since that day two weeks ago, Connor had begun to notice how handsome - ok, well . . . how hot, how damn sexy Jack was. With his dark gray fur (light gray on his paws and feet, and on his muzzle), and his bushy tail, and his piercing brown eyes - and his slim, muscular body.
There was just something . . . masculine about Jack. If you'd asked him, Connor couldn't really have described it. Jack wasn't aggressive - he wasn't masculine in that way. He also didn't go around bragging, or _telling _anyone how much of a male he was. He was just masculine in a quiet, sturdy kind of way.
Suddenly, Connor was aware that Jack was taking off his pants, which were probably also wet from the rain.
"That's what I've been waiting for," Kellen said, joking around. "C'mon, take 'em off - let's see what you got."
"You've already seen what I got," Jack replied, standing in his underwear and searching for a dry (and hopefully kind of clean) pair of pants.
"Yeah, but I want to see it again. C'mon, let's get freaky. Gunnar won't mind, right?" Kellen laughed.
"Shit, you guys go right ahead, do what you want. I'll just watch." Gunnar said, joining in the joke.
Jack laughed, and started getting dressed. He liked Kellen's sense of humor - the Taur was always making jokes about "getting freaky" with Jack. They were just jokes, but Jack knew that Kellen swung both ways . . . and it was tempting to imagine what it would be like, dealing with that massive weapon which Kellen had in his pants.
Suddenly, one of the officers was in the room, walking up to Kellen. He was a human, stocky, with short, dark hair and green eyes.
"Hey, Deacon," Kellen said to the human, as a greeting. "Something going on?"
"As usual," the human officer replied, with a sad smile. "One of our comm towers has gone silent. The boss wants you to take - what's his name? - Vance, right? That kid genius. Take him out there so he can fix it. Take two others, too, just in case you run into trouble."
"It's still raining, isn't it?" Kellen asked.
"My friend," the officer replied, "It's raining even heavier now. Sorry about that."
"Ah shit!" Kellen wasn't happy. "Okay, Jack, you're with me."
"I just put on dry clothes! Plus I was just out there, like, five minutes ago!"
Kellen ignored Jack and looked around the room.
"Southpaw! You too. Let's move out."
**
Vance Riley was a very young, very smart, and laid back Raccoon. He was of average height, but he had a massive tail. He was also a technical genius who could fix anything.
At the moment, he was unpacking and then repacking his gear, making sure that the rain hadn't gotten in to anything.
The group of four Guards were taking shelter inside an abandoned house while the worst of the storm raged outside. Thunder cracked the sky, and lightning charged the air. Kellen consulted his map.
"Okay, we'll get moving as soon as the rain lets up a bit," he said. "We're close to the broken tower. At least we got this far, before the weather got really crazy."
"And at least we found this house," Jack spoke up.
"Yeah. Hey," Kellen said. "Jack, you and Southpaw go upstairs - see if anyone left anything . . . valuable up there. You know, food or whatever. Priceless art." He smiled to show he was kidding (but not kidding).
And so Jack and Connor went upstairs. Jack led, and Connor tried not to look at his rear end.
"Hey, do you like that nickname? Southpaw? 'Cause now that Kellen's doing it, everyone will start calling you that."
They'd reached the upper level, and stood looking around a large - and very empty - room.
"I like it. It's unique, I guess?"
"Cool." Jack shook rain off of his tail, careful to aim it away from Connor.
Through an open doorway - missing a door - they went into the only other room upstairs. Again, there was nothing - just a light coat of dust on the floor.
Jack sneezed. "Gods, I better not be getting sick," he grumbled. "From constantly getting sent out into the rain."
For a moment, Connor caught a whiff of the scent of Jack's fur. He felt the wolf's body heat - so very close to him.
Jack sneezed again, much more violently this time - so violently that his body twisted around. Connor almost believed Jack was going to fall over, from the force of the sneeze.
"Maybe it's the dust that's . . . " Jack went silent, as he realized that Connor's left paw was resting on Jack's right side, near the ribs.
"Oh!" Connor quickly pulled his paw away. "I'm - sorry - I don't know why I did that. I guess - I guess I thought . . . I thought you were falling?"
"It's okay, I didn't mind," Jack said. "It was just unexpected, is all."
Connor stood looking down at his own paw, still unable to believe what'd just happened.
"Here," Jack said, simply. He reached out, with both paws - he placed his left on Connor's side, and his right on Connor's stomach.
"Oh," was all Connor could say. Then he, too, reached out, and put a paw on Jack's chest.
"Well," Jack began saying . . .
"Yeah." Connor felt his heart speeding up, his head getting lighter.
Jack ran his paws around to Connor's back. He drew the Dalmatian in, to a long hug, followed by an even longer kiss. There was no hesitation, no fumbling. Muzzle connected with muzzle, tongue met tongue, and both Wolf and Dalmatian found themselves getting hard. As the kiss went on, both canines ran their paws down each other's backs.
After the long, delicious kiss ended, Jack leaned in and whispered in Connor's ear, "I've been waiting for that, Southpaw."
The feel of the wolf's muzzle so close to his ear made Southpaw's stomach flutter.
Then they kissed again, even longer this time. Connor - Southpaw - again tasted Jack's saliva, his tongue. He ran his own tongue along Jack's teeth, and he reached out a paw, to caress the wolf's furry muzzle. Jack's scent - and his body heat - were much stronger, much more overpowering, and the young dog ached to learn every inch of the wolf's body. He suddenly wanted to know every curve, every bump, every scar, every muscle that together made up the story of Jack's physical form. He wanted to be able to reach out, in the dark of night, and touch any part of Jack's body - and recognize it, and feel reassured.
"Hey!" Kellen shouted from downstairs. "What's going on up there? Are you still searching? This place isn't that big!"
Jack and Southpaw looked at each other. Both were breathing heavily, and Jack was adjusting his pants. Southpaw was shaking a bit. Then Jack smiled, a bright look of pure pleasure, and Southpaw felt his heart thumping in his chest.
Without a word, they went back down the stairs.
Kellen greeted them with, "Find anything? No? Well, it took you long enough." His eyes were lit up, and he was smiling - he was fairly certain he knew what'd been happening up there.
"All we found was dust."
"Which made Jack sneeze."
"Sneezing, huh? Riiiiiiight," Kellen said, slyly. "C'mon, the rain's letting up."
**
Vance, the young - and smart - Raccoon worked to fix the comm tower. Slow and steady, that was the way - do it just once, and do it right, even if you have to take your time. That was the best way to do things. Vance used an old blanket as a poncho, covering himself as best as he could - just in case the rain started up again. He was, however, more worried about storms - if lightning hit the metal tower while he worked on it . . . well . . . that would suck. He'd be dead in seconds, his eyes popped out and every hair on his tail bristling.
A dozen or so yards away, Kellen, Jack, and Southpaw stood in a loose semi-circle.
"Well, we haven't seen anyone at all," Kellen was saying. "No civilians, no hostiles."
"A quiet night," Jack agreed.
"Okay," Kellen looked at Jack. "I"m gonna go over there - to that tree - and take a massive piss. Stay alert, keep an eye on Vance."
"C'mon, boss," Jack smiled. "Southpaw here hasn't seen it yet - you can just water the ground right here."
"Seriously?" Kellen raised an eyebrow, amused. "Don't tempt me, wolfie - you know how much I like showing it off."
"I am officially tempting you," Jack said to Kellen, while glancing over at Southpaw.
"I can resist anything and everything - except temptation."
The Minotaur turned, until he was mostly facing the Dalmatian. Taking his time, Kellen unbuttoned, then unzipped. "You okay with this?" he asked Southpaw.
"Yeah," the dog's voice cracked. He cleared his throat, and said Yeah again. "It's cool."
"Hah!" Kellen laughed. "That's the spirit."
Before Southpaw could blink, or prepare, he found himself looking down at Kellen's incredible cock. It wasn't just the length - nearly ten inches, Southpaw figured - it was also the thickness of it, the gods-blessed thickness of it. The massive penis was thick like a tree branch, or a club. How, the dog wondered, could that fit inside - well - anyone? Southpaw couldn't take his eyes off it - there were thick, ropy veins, and a prickhead the size of an apple. The skin of it looked tough and durable like armor. Kellen had made sure to fully unbutton and unzip, and slide his underwear down, so that the whole of his maleness was out in the open.
A wide stream of piss was jetting out of the Taur's cock - fast and furious, it splashed down to the ground.
"I can hear that!" Vance yelled - from a dozen or so yards away. "The boss whipping it out again?" His amusement showed in his voice.
"Yeah," Jack said, with a grin.
"So," Kellen said, casually, looking at Southpaw. "What were you two doing up there? In that house?"
Southpaw was still gazing at the wide cock, the wide stream.
"Errrr, what?" he stammered. Startled.
"Exactly the answer I expected," Kellen laughed.
"Jealous, boss?" Jack joked, with a wicked smile.
"Oh, not at all - but - " Kellen's stream ebbed to a finish. "But - if you two want to finish what you started . . ."
Jack and Southpaw looked at each other, neither knowing what to say. Or, rather, knowing what to say - but feeling uncertain as to whether they should say it.
Kellen zipped up his pants.
"Nah," he said. "Never mind all that. We'll have to spend the night out here. I don't want to go back in the dark. And, you know, anything could happen . . . late at night . . . when everyone else is sleeping . . ."
Southpaw blushed, and he felt embarrassed to be blushing - which made him blush all the more. He just wasn't used to this sort of thing being talked about so openly.. What had happened with Jack - he felt good about it. He certainly wasn't embarrassed by that - he just wasn't used to having it out in the open.
Jack, he noticed, didn't seem to mind. He stood there, looking pleased, as the big Taur gave a friendly slap to Jack's shoulder.
I should be more like Jack, Southpaw told himself.
Jack and Kellen started walking towards Vance, to check his progress. Southpaw followed them, at a distance. He studied the easy friendship between Jack and Kellen - so casual, so open. The Dalmatian felt an intense longing, then - he found himself wanting very much to have that sort of companionship.
And then he felt something else - something physical - a drop of rain, bouncing off his muzzle. He began sprinting, to catch up with the others.
**