Dorian sat on a rusty old water tower, watching the city as the daylight faded, and its many lights started to flicker on. First it was the street lamps downtown, their almost-blue tinge contrasted by the yellow incandescent haze of the surrounding areas. After the street lamps came the headlights of the city's many cars as their drivers battled their way through the endless traffic jam. Dorian noted a pair of bright green headlights as they turned on to the mountain highway and accelerated out of sight.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" Dorian was startled by the sudden presence of his coyote friend Edmund, and despite his best efforts, his tailfur poofed a bit, a reflex he'd never been quite able to override. Edmund continued,  "I went to the A-frame to meet up with everyone, but you weren't there. Checked the shop, then figured you were probably here"

"You know I come out here to be alone, right?" Dorian watched as his friend slowly climbed the ladder attached to the tower, the bad light hindering the coyote's ascent. "I mean, you have a phone."

"You might consider answering yours." Edmund retorted, prompting Dorian to check his pockets for a moment.

"I must have left it in my jacket. Whatever. We can still catch up if we chill here a bit longer." 

The pair sat silently for a few more minutes before Edmund spoke again. "Mac came home pissed off again, he said something about you messing with his work area. Wanna talk about it?"

"Not especially, I left his some of his wrenches out and it got kind of out of control. He'll get over it." Dorian's tone of voice indicated that he wanted the conversation to be over.

Edmund debated momentarily whether he should press the issue,  instead contenting himself with the knowledge that Dorian was as familiar with Mac's angry outbursts, and how little they actually meant, as he was. "Well if that topic's off the table, how about that bike. Its definitely got some style, but I really thought I'd convinced you to go electric."

"Your electrics may be quiet and efficient, but nothing quite beats the feeling of exploding dinosaurs spinning a rod twelve thousand times a minute between your legs." Dorian sat back up, his enthusiasm at the new subject evident to his old friend, despite his best efforts to conceal it..

"And fast. Quiet, Efficient, and Fast. You can't forget fast." Edmund smirked  at his friend's intentional omission.

"Skill beats raw speed any day, You could be riding a rocket and I'd still beat you from the A-frame to the silo every single time."

"Suck my Dick." The coyote lightly shoved the cat.

"Mmmmm, dick." Dorian licked his lips suggestively, "I think Mac might take offence though."

"Asshat." Edmund and Dorian stared at each other for a moment, each attempting their best poker face, before both broke down laughing.

After a moment, Dorian stood and walked towards the ladder, his feline vision and balance allowing him to move much faster than the coyote would have considered safe. Once Dorian reached the bottom, Edmund slowly made his own descent.

As always, the mountain roads were empty as the two raced towards the piece of property Dorian had picked up in a government auction a few months prior, its name not so much an indication of its purpose as it was what Dorian had thought sounded coolest. Dorian's v-twin sport bike more than made up for the lack of noise Edmund's electric motor produced as they wound their way along a twisty ridgeline road south.

Coming around a cliff and in to view of a long straightaway ending in a tunnel, Edmund saw the faint glow of red emanating from the tunnel. He opened his throttle as wide as it would go and keyed his throat mic, "Twenty bucks says its Milo, twenty more I can pass him first."

Dorian took a moment to respond, his own bike screaming as it climbed towards the redline. "You never pay out your bets man, no way."

"Damn, would've been easy money." Edmund responded before returning his full focus to the road.

At the end of the straightaway the two slowed to a slightly less insane speed as their respective phones informed them in slightly-robotic voices that they had entered range of other furs using the same communications system.

The two shared brief greetings with the other linked-in riders, and fairly quickly caught up with Milo and the widely spaced pack of riders, taking positions at the rear of the group.

A few minutes later, the group slowed as they turned one-by-one down a small dirt road, some of the riders obviously more comfortable on the gravel surface than others. They stopped in a large gravel parking lot surrounded by a dilapidated chain-link fence, and containing a small concrete structure with one large rolling door and a smaller double-set of steel doors. As everyone dismounted, Dorian walked up to Milo, the diminutive otter greeting him as he approached, "Hey man, how's the new bike treating you? Also, there's a new guy, the black triple over by Jet's bike."

"Huh, guess I'll have to introduce myself, Was he hot?" Dorian threw his arm around Milo and pulled him close to whisper the last part, endlessly amused by the straight otter's discomfort at being asked to gauge the attractiveness of other men.

"Well, I guess you could say he was not unattractive." The otter responded uncomfortably before extricating himself from Dorian's friendly embrace, doing a final check on his bike, and walking towards the now-open steel doors. A quick check of his own bike accomplished quickly, Dorian walked up to the rolling door, unlocked it, and opened it to reveal a large diesel generator that had been haphazardly wired to a breaker box on the wall. He fiddled with some controls on the front then hit a button, causing the huge machine to roar to life. After a few moments of flipping various switches on the wall panel, the facility's lights came on, the exterior lights bathing the whole area in an eerie yellow glow.

"You should really get someone to come wire that up properly before it catches fire and kills us all." Jet, a muscle-bound horse walked over and slapped Dorian's back with sufficient force to make him stumble forward a step. "Seriously though, I think Maggie's dating that electrician again if you want me to give her a call."

"Some other time man, its all wired up right, the relays are just going bad." Dorian responded, stepping through a small door in to the stairwell almost everyone else was already descending. As he came through the door he was intercepted by a large brown bear.

"What's the password" She asked, the smile on her face betraying her otherwise tough appearance. After a few seconds of Dorian's unamused glare, she stepped forward and hugged him tightly. "Good to see you grey kitty, Jet. I sent everyone else down already."

"Hey Amanda." Jet dodged around the massive bear and disappeared down the badly list stairway.

"I saw you six hours ago... Good to see you anyway." Dorian responded a moment later before starting down the stairs. After passing four levels of variously blocked doors, they reached an open set of doors, through which the sound of some local indie band's latest album could already be heard. After hanging his riding gear near door and greeting a few more friends and acquaintances, Dorian zeroed in on the only person he didn't recognize, a lanky panther standing awkwardly in the corner near the makeshift bar and looking thoroughly intimidated by the party.

As he approached, Dorian smiled and reached out his hand to shake the panther's. "Hi, I'm Dorian, and I don't recognize you, so you must be new." 

"I'm Frederick, though most people call me Fred or Freddy" the panther responded, seeming almost frightened of Dorian, despite standing nearly a head over him. "You own this place right? I talked to a doberman at the motorcycle shop on Pinzgaur, and he said there was a ride and party tonight when I told him I had just moved in to town and didn't know anybody"

"I like how he didn't mention how I'm also the owner of said shop. His name's Mac, which is worth knowing, because he's the best mechanic around, as anyone here will happily tell you." Dorian smiled as he said it, hoping the casual atmosphere and some conversation would help the panther be more comfortable.

"Ahh, well, he didn't seem to think too highly of you, but he said I should talk to you when I got here." The panther seemed to be relaxing a bit, Dorian thought.

"We were arguing earlier, you must've come in right after I left for the day. You want a drink?" Dorian indicated the bar and started to walk towards it, hoping that maybe a little liquor would loosen the panther up sufficiently to have fun.

The two walked up to the bar where Edmund, acting as bartender, was having a conversation with Amanda the bear. "... And so she just set it on the counter and walked out, I had to try so hard to keep myself from laughing before she was out the door. Hey Dorian, who's your new friend?" The coyote smiled, then took a shot of vodka that had been sitting on the bar.

"This is Fred. Fred, this is Edmund, and this lovely lady, who is not nearly as intimidating as she seems, is Amanda."

"Hi. Uhh... Hi." The panther tensed back up a bit, but flashed an only mostly-forced looking smile at the two.

"I'm out of just about everything, but I can do screwdrivers and vodka-colas, or just shots if you prefer." Edmund didn't wait for a response before pouring a couple shots of vodka and a little bit of cola from a two liter in to a plastic cup and handing it to Dorian.

"A screwdriver would be great. I love those." The panther took the quickly poured drink and stepped back, zoning out for a couple minutes before returning his attention to the conversation the three furs were having.

"You seriously can't be bothered to walk ten feet to put his damn wrenches away? Mac's got a right to be pissed, I'd slap you silly if you left my tools all over the shop." Amanda admonished the grey Burmese, who stood a little taller and moved slightly closer to the bear, something that probably would have seemed suicidal to one not familiar with the furs.

"Yeah, you know that toolset cost like three thousand bucks." Edmund added, a statement that very visibly did not sit well with Dorian, who immediately spun to face his old friend.

"Two thousand, and I'm the one that paid for them." Dorian's hackles started to raise, though he calmed himself quickly when Fred interrupted.

"So do you work at the motorcycle shop too?" The panther asked, stepping forward and back in to the middle of the group.

"Nope, I manage a little smoke shop by the river, Mac's my boyfriend, so I end up spending a lot of time there." Edmund responded, pouring himself and Amanda another set of shots.

"Oh... You're gay?" Somehow, the Panther's tension seemed to melt away entirely.

Dorian answered for his friend, "Yup, me too. Well, I'm bi but I lean more towards the dick. I assume that's not a problem for you?"  his phrasing eliciting smiles from Edmund and Amanda.

"No, no... I, um... I. I'm gay too. I kind of didn't have many friends back home after I got caught with my boyfriend in high school." The panther looked down, then back at Dorian, "You have no idea how scared I was that the same thing would happen here."

"Just how old are you, kitty?" The large bear smiled as she asked, making it clear she didn't actually care.

"Twenty three." Fred answered, taking a sip of his screwdriver.

 Dorian's normal smile was replaced with an evil grin as he had an idea, "You single?" he asked, overtly checking out the panther, and reaching to grab his ass, causing the panther to emit a decidedly feminine squeal. "Because I'm in the market, and you are anything but unattractive."

"I, uh... You're very forward." Fred seemed unsure what to make of Dorian's proposal.

"I am. When I see a hot guy, I just *have* to try, its easily my greatest failing, and has lead to many a black eye." Edmund and Amanda both had short but violent bursts of laughter, drawing a few questioning glances from other partygoers.

"You think I'm... Hot?" The panther's expression changed to one of mild confusion, and Dorian was sure he was blushing under his dark fur.

"Absolutely. I mean, I'd have to see a *bit* more to be absolutely certain, but from what I've seen so far, I would definitely fuck you, or suck you, or be fucked by you... anything involving your penis really." Now he was sure the panther was blushing. "Sorry, really, I don't mean to embarrass you too much, but I like to see how far I can go with new people."

"Its all right, I'm... flattered, really. Just, maybe we actually get to know each other first?" Fred smiled a little as he said it, obviously at least a little bit flattered at the attention he was getting.

"Oh my god he is just the cutest thing ever, this is so adorable." Amanda made a silly face as she said it, then started laughing again. "Come on hon, these two need to get a few more drinks in before they get really fun, and I can introduce you to everyone else in the mean time."

"Oh, sure, that sounds great." Fred took a drink and followed the bear to the other end of the room where a large pile of beanbag chairs was occupied by another group of furs.

The party went on for some time before furs started to filter back outside and ride off, or disappear down a hallway opposite the entrance. Fred was sitting in one of the beanbag chairs, the seven or eight mixed drinks he had consumed leaving him quite drunk, when Dorian and Edmund approached, each carrying their own bottle of liquor. He attempted to stand to greet them, but decided he was better off remaining where he was and simply waved as they approached.

"Hey new guy, having fun yet?" Edmund smiled as he collapsed in to a part of the beanbag chair pile adjacent to Fred, somehow managing to avoid spilling his bottle in the process. A moment later, Dorian found his own place, opposite the panther from Edmund, in the bean bags.

"I don't think I've ever been this drunk before. you guys are great. really." the panther paused for a second, and Dorian wondered if he was about to throw up. "I never got to go to parties like this back home. Its... liberalizing."

"I think you mean liberating, kitty. I don't think liberalizing is a word." Edmund commented, and all three promptly started giggling.

"Liberating, Right. Um, where's the bathroom?"

Dorian pointed towards the slightly ajar door opposite the entrance, "Through there, second door on the left is the bathroom, third's the locker room, you can just piss in the drain in there if the bathroom's occupied."

As the panther stumbled off to the bathroom, Edmund tried to look seriously at Dorian, "You probably shouldn't have been quite so forward with him, remember what happened last time you tried to get in someone's pants five minutes after meeting them?"

Dorian sat for a few moments formulating a response, then smiled and said, "Well, the last time it worked we ended up fucking for a week then he started dating my best friend and now he lives in an apartment over my shop and bitches at me constantly. All in all, totally worth it. And the new guy *is* incredibly hot, you have to admit."

"And that's all that matters, right?" Edmund said, a slightly annoyed expression on his face.

"What's all that matters?" Fred returned with nearly perfect timing.

"Nothing you need to worry about, we were just arguing about my habit of hitting on every hot guy I see." Dorian smiled and paused for a minute before continuing. "I think the consensus was that you're totally fuckable, right Ed?"

Edmund glared at Dorian, "I think the consensus was you're a prick."

"Right, that was it, I'm a prick." Dorian smiled and took a swig from the handle of vodka sitting nearby.

"I like your face, your whiskers are so... fuzzy." The panther drunkenly pawed at where he thought Dorian was sitting, missing by a few inches and falling deeper in to the pile of beanbags. "Ow. wait. that didn't hurt. I think I'm drunk."

"I think you've had enough, and I probably should have stopped about... four shots ago? how many have I had?" Dorian started fruitlessly trying to count the number of shots he'd taken over the course of the night, providing a few moments of entertainment to the panther and coyote before giving up. "We should probably hit the sack before its daylight again."

"I didn't know there was going to be liquor, I didn't bring a sleeping bag or anything." Fred looked a little alarmed.

Dorian helped the drunken black feline to his feet. "That's fine, the military just left most of their shit here when they left, so we've got plenty of bedding. Its through here." 

Dorian led Fred down the hallway with the bathroom and locker room to a wooden door with a badly written sign saying 'barracks - men' and ushered him through it. Inside was basically what you'd expect from a barracks, two rows of bunk beds, some of them with footlockers, and many of them already occupied by other furs who had gone to sleep or just decided they didn't want to be part of the main party anymore. After indicating an open top bunk for the panther to use, Dorian walked to the far end of the room and pulled a blanket and pillow from a closet.

"If you need anything, I'm up two levels, you'll have to use the stairs at the end of this hall, i'm too lazy to cut the welds in the other stairwell.. Follow the signs to 'Officer's quarters', I'm in colonel Briggs's quarters, whoever he was. If I don't wake up, Amanda's in the room marked Lynch, and Edmund is in Decker" Dorian left the panther and started slowly making his way from the room, Dodging out of the way as Jet entered and immediately collapsed in to a bunk, apparently too tired or drunk to even acknowledge the grey fur.

After closing the door to his room, Dorian rinsed his face in the small sink in the corner before turning towards his bed and stripping himself of everything but his underwear. He switched on the bedside light then stood to turn out the room's light and grab a bottle of lubricant from the shelf by the door. After laying back down on his bed, he wiggled his way out of his underwear and grabbed an old stained porno magazine from the nightstand with his right hand, his left already starting its work. After only a moment, Dorian heard a light knock on his door and paused.

"Hey, Dorian? It's Fred... I can't sleep, could we talk?" Fred's voice through the door confirmed the interruption to Dorian's jackoff session, and mildly exasperated, he responded.

"Yeah, just give me a moment, its unlocked." Dorian pulled the sheets and cover up to hide his erection, though the bottle of lube and porno mag were still fairly obvious on the bed next to him.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I woke you." Fred entered the room a moment later, and seeing the mag and lube, he realized what he'd interrupted. "oh you're busy. We can talk in the morning." 

Before the panther could fully turn around Dorian interrupted his retreat, "No, its fine. As long as you interrupted me, we might as well talk, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well. Umm... Mostly I just couldn't sleep and wanted to talk to someone about something, and everyone else seems to have either left or gone to sleep, though your horse friend tried to make some small talk before he passed out again."

"Can't sleep in a new environment easily? I used to be like that." Dorian reached over the side of the bed and retrieved his underwear, slipping them back on under the sheets before turning and indicating to sit next to him on the bed.

"Its not that. I have trouble sleeping around large groups of people ever since the high school field trip right after i was outed. Highschoolers can be very unpleasant people."

"You don't have to tell me. I might not have gotten as far as I did if I hadn't had Edmund around to keep me sane." Dorian sat back, then realizing it pulled the fly on his boxers open, leaned back forward.

"Did you and Edmund date? If you didn't stay together how are you such good friends now?" Fred shifted his weight uncomfortably after catching a glimpse of Dorian's package.

"I wouldn't say we ever really dated, we just used each other as stress relief and an easy no-strings lay every once in a while. Kept doing it right up until he started dating Mac actually."

"Ahh, I was always raised to believe that sex and love were intrinsically related, and that you should 'save yourself' for the right person. I mean, I didn't, but that guy turned out to be a total asshole."

"Don't get me wrong, I love Edmund dearly, just not in a settle-down-and-live-together kind of way. And I'm pretty sure we've all dated assholes at some point or another, you just have to keep trying until you find the right person." Dorian smiled wistfully at the last part. "I certainly haven't found mine yet."

"Thats... thats kind of the problem. I didn't keep trying. After the guy in high school, the farthest I ever went was having coffee or lunch with guys I met on the internet, but I was just too scared to do anything more. And the farthest he and I ever even got was some hand stuff."

"Really? That's kind of sad. To think, you've never even felt another fur's lips as he slowly works his way up and down your shaft, bringing you closer and closer to the edge until you just can't take it anymore and shoot load after load down his waiting maw." Dorian realized he was starting to get hard again and pulled his pillow across his lap. "Sorry, I get carried away."

"That's okay, I have to admit I'm a little turned on myself." The panther answered, prompting Dorian to notice the obvious tent in his pants. "And it does feel really good just to talk with another gay guy. It's like, I've never had anyone I could talk to like this and not have them judge me." Fred saw Dorian's lustful gaze and reached in to his pants, trying to shift himself in to a position where his erection was less painfully obvious.

"And now, for something completely different: Do you prefer Fred or Freddy, I didn't think to ask earlier, sorry." Dorian's rather un-subtle change of subject was welcome, and Fred perked up a little as he answered.

"I go by Fred mostly, friends can usually get away with Freddy, but I always thought it sounded a little funny. How about you, Dorian seems a little too appropriate for someone of your... color."

"Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever fully forgiven my parents for that one. I absolutely hated it for years, but at this points I just appreciate it when someone can come up with a 'Dorian Gray' joke I haven't heard before." Dorian yawned widely, "I am fuckin' beat. I really need to get some shut-eye before I completely fuck up my sleep cycle."

Fred stood up and started towards the door, "I guess I'll see if I have any more luck sleeping now..."

"If you want, you can stay in here. I promise I won't rape you, and I'll even put on pants if you're uncomfortable just my underwear." Fred paused and turned back to face Dorian, who continued, "Really, all that stuff earlier, that was just me fucking with you, while you are quite attractive, and I have to admit I would like to get in your pants, I am capable of at least some restraint."

"I, uh... Sure, thanks I guess. At least I might to be able to get *some* sleep this way." The panther returned to the bed and laid down on top of the covers as Dorian rolled out of the way. 

Dorian fell asleep almost immediately, used to the presence of another in his bed. Fred took longer, though not by much, his discomfort at the unusual situation offset by the liquor and a general lack of sleep from having moved only two days prior.