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  "writing": "Warning: This story contains descriptions of explicit sexual acts between two female puppies, a machine and a female puppy and depictions of sexual acts between a male puppy and a female cat. If you are under the legal age to see such depictions, hit the back button on the browser. If it just squicks the hell out of you, deal with it and back the hell offa me, prude.\nDisclaimer: I do not own 101 Dalmatians, and don't make any claims of that. I did create Gabriel, Ertha Kitt and the Game Room/Lounge. Tic-Tac and Diva belong to Spin and I thank him very much for letting me use them. Contact me at Gabriel_Wolf87@hotmail.com\n\nFestival of lights\nBy: Gabriel\n\n\t\"Baruch ata Adonoi Eloheinu melech ha-olam, Shehhecheyanu vikeeyimanu Viheegeeyanu lazman hazeh.\" A single light wavered in the darkness of the Dearly family barn, it's light radiating out from a window beside it. Puppy paws moved a quick-light barbecue lighter from the first light to a candle on the far right, the lighter switch clicking off and being set aside.\n\tThe puppy handling the lighter was a Dalmatian pup, just like the other dozens of others on the farm. His markings were unique, to say the least: A large black disk on the back of his head; two curly lines of spots down the side of his head; a line of spots down each leg leading to a huge black splotch on his back; and various other spots scattered liberally over his body. Gabriel, one of the resident outcast dogs on the farm. \"Ha-nerot ha-lalu anachnu...\"\n\t*Splash!* Without any warning, a huge bucket of water was tossed at Gabriel and his menorah, extinguishing the candles and soaking the poor pup. \"You know the rules. No fire in the barn.\"\n\t\"Grrrr... Tripod! You shmendrik! I ought to...\" Gabriel seethed and shook his paw.\n\t\"Cry me a river, you know the rules.\" Tripod tossed the bucket aside and started walking away.\n\t\"Just because you can't handle being a feygele in love with a guy more in love with himself than any other creature on the earth doesn't mean that you get to punish the rest of us!\" Gabriel shook off and followed behind Tripod, intending to kvetch at him as long as possible.\n\t\"Just shut up, Gabriel. You don't...\"\n\t\"Know anything about it? Oh, I know better than you realize. And you know what? He loves Thunderbolt more than you. Because he comes around the Game Room. Yea, he pays for the video booth, and watches my fine collection of Thunderbolt vids. He just loves to stroke himself...\"\n\tTripod whipped around and leaped upon the speaking canine, sitting on Gabriel's stomach, single forepaw pressed to his throat. \"Shut up... Just shut up. You don't know what it's like! So just shut the fuck up and don't make me choke you until you... AAAAHGH!\"\n\tGabriel, not that physical at all, merely tapped the side of his very modified collar and shot a pair of stun probes against Tripod's chest, zapping him nicely without killing him, fortunately. \"I'll thank you not to do that again.\" Gabriel rolled back onto all fours and started walking back to his menorah, leaving Tripod to recover from the stun shock. \"Oh, and if it's any consolation, Lucky sometimes lets your name slip when he's jerking himself off. It's sweet really...\"\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\t\"Your problem seems to indicate that there was some trauma earlier in your life. From what you have told me of self-inflicted pain, mutilation, chronic inability to choose one course or another, I can only give a tentative diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder.\" Cadpig was in her element indeed. She sat in a comfortable leather chair, a pair of small glasses perched on her nose as she scribbled notes on a little pad with a well-chewed number 2 pencil. Around her the room was dressed up like an old Viennese office, like the old Viennese Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, famed in song and story, used to use to treat the people who needed him. A few small desk plants sat on a heavy wooden desk, with a few framed pictures and a couple of small crystals. The walls were decorated with reasonably inexpensive art prints, diplomas, and awards from various agencies.\n\t\"Well... Yes, I had a very large family problem a little bit ago... It was very hurtful. It just destroyed all the stability I thought I had in my life. I just... Couldn't handle it...\" Lying in the patient position, on a leather couch, was the ever-lovely and plump TwoTone, dressed in a very faithful reproduction of a late 19th century European dress, brownish and red in a woodland pattern with a light cream background, with plenty of ruffles and lace, the only authentic touch lacking, of course, was a corset, her tummy being her pride and joy. Also accenting the look was a pair of fishnet stockings, highlighting her chubby legs. \"So then I got this earring and just... Whenever I have problems, a little tug, a little yank, a twist or something and I feel better. For a while.\"\n\t\"I understand. You need to feel pain to calm yourself. A little physical pain takes away the emotional pain you feel. But while it is understandable, it is just not acceptable. And thus, you have come to me. I believe I do have the perfect solution for you. I will however need you to roll over onto your belly.\" Cadpig stood up from her seat and took a short stroll behind her desk. With a soft hum she started digging through her desk drawers, pulling out papers and writing utensils and other bits and bobs.\n\tTwoTone obeyed the doctor without hesitation, rolling over onto her beautiful belly, showing off the soft, subtle divot of her back through the satin of her dress, her large, overly plumped up rump rising up like a majestic foothill, her graceful little tail peeking out of her dress, just above the big red bow that was tied under her tail, lifting it ever so slightly. Her tail started to wag despite herself, swishing despite the mounting uncertainty and panic. She knew the doctor would take care of her, the doctor would fix her problem. She'd be alright. She'd be fine. Everything would be fine in the end.\n\t\"Here it is! Tricky little thing is always getting lost under my Shirley McLain and Rita Mae Brown.\" Doctor Cadpig came up with the little help device she had been so desperately seeking, a green ping pong paddle with red felt on the face of both sides. She gave it a few test swings, swishing the air around. \"This should solve everything.\"\n\tTwoTone's eyes went wide as she saw the paddle approaching her big ol' butt, her tail trying to tuck and protect her ass, but being stopped by her big bow, leaving that cloth-covered swelling up and exposed, high and proud and fully ready for a good paddling. \"Wh-what?\"\n\t\"Now now, let's not be backwards-looking. You need to have some serious physical therapy. And there's nothing more serious OR physical than Old Butt-warmer. This little beauty will turn your backfield into a hot plate.\" Cadpig caressed the felt face of the paddle, running her tender little tootsies over it like a soft lover's caress. \"It's absolutely ideal for changing attitudes and making everything perfect.\" She swung the paddle downwards at her own tiny, swaying ass. The paddle connected solidly with the little bit of rumpmeat on her flank, making a muffled thwack noise.\n\t\"But... but...\" TwoTone's ass shook lightly as her tail struggled to curl downward, the huge mound of tuches meat waggling softly in the air.\n\t\"That's exactly right, on your sweet butt-butt...\" Cadpig started to drool slightly, huge eyes locked on TwoTone's hindparts, the reflection shining in her enlarged pupils. The paddle wooshed through the air and caught that big rear end right on the side, a muffled thwack ringing around the room. \"That's the sound of emotional growth and well-being.\" A slender paw shot out and grabbed at the hem of the dress, yanking it up high, further trapping the struggling tail beneath the voluminous piles of fabric, exposing the sea of ebony fur with the single white spot showing through like a target. \"Now try to be still and take it like a woman.\"  Two more blows rained down on the struggling ass, striking TwoTone on her pudgy flank and directly between both thighs.\n\t\"Aaah! Nooooo!\" TwoTone's teeth gritted and her jaw clenched tight in between screams and cries for mercy. Even after only three smacks her ass was simply on fire. The warmth surged sharply at first and then soothed down to a throbbing presence as Cadpig took aim for a second volley. The sensation of paddling, still fresh in mind, the sharp strike against her flesh, the slight humiliation as she was paddled like a naughty girl right in the office... Her little nips started to rub against the coarse material of her dress, and then she remembered. She had only her garter belt and stockings. She wasn't wearing any kind of underwear at all. Her entire crotch was exposed, including her unfortunately pink, puffy and moist vulva, the fleshy triangle right in view amid all her shiny black fur.\n\t\"Ooh, it seems we have a little reaction here. I believe that this therapy path will be very effective indeed. But sadly, this treatment is only experimental. I'll have to continue observations and check my data multiple times. Let's start now, shall we? First, to repeat the previous action.\" Cadpig was very casual about the way she flicked her wrist, snapping that paddle rather hard against TwoTone's right flank, sending an absolutely delicious-looking ripple to run through the whole huge ass, the ripple a glorious wave of flesh and fat that set any rational mind to drooling. Cadpig had to have more, so she swung that paddle again, coming in straight and swift, slapping that thing against both cheeks, creating a second ripple that moved through her body until it was cut short by her costume.\n\tTwoTone screamed in something approaching agony with a slight twinge of a strangely coaxed out pleasure worming it's way through her cries. Her ass began to sting more and more now, the pain shocking through her system, needling through her buttnerves, quickly shifting from pain to pleasure, making her facial cheeks burn, a deep cherry blush tinting them through her smooth white fur, a color that would match her rear if it wasn't black in hue. Her puffy pink vulva grew even moister, on the track for an orgasm without even the slightest touch against her vulva, making her all the more wanton and wanting, the good doctor having proved herself to be very, very good indeed. She was putty in the paws of the devoted doc.\n\tCadpig, the well-grounded trippy-dippy-hippy chick was absolutely losing her macrame mind from just the sight of all that fat moving around like a living thing. Her teeth gritted tighter, flecks of drool sprinkling her lips and flicking out to land on the butt presented to her. \"Yes,\" she seethed through her teeth, shuddering through her entire tiny body, giant watermelon head moving closer to the site of each impact. Another high, whistling arc cut the air and landed with a low, resounding smack against TwoTone's left asscheek. \"Tell me, how does that make you feel?\"\n\t\"I-i-it feeels... No!\" Though TwoTone jerked her head around and shook it repeatedly, she made no real move to get away from the rain of stiff paddlings. \"S-stop it! Don't!\" She cried and screamed but to no avail. Still the spankings poured onto her bottom, while her puffy sex lips grew even damper, and the blush on her pearly facial cheeks deepened. She couldn't deny it for much longer. She was starting to drool at both ends, from both sets of lips, breath huskily rushing from between her slightly pulled-back lips.\n\tCadpig released TwoTone's tail, knowing full well the girl could no longer lower it, deep as she was in her desire. This left one small, dexterous hand free to grope down between TwoTone's plump and soft thighs, tickling her gingerly even while the steady, regular paddlings kept on smacking down upon her rear. Those deft little digits crawled lightly up one thigh, clawtips teasing at the moist, puffy flesh of her sex, pulling one side open wider, exposing the flushed interior, a single finger sliding into the warm, dripping interior. The questing finger swirled around within, lighting pumping away at the suddenly clutching, squirming tunnel.\n\tTwoTone was unable to hold out any longer. Between the maddeningly regular, hard paddling and the deft manipulation of her already overstimulated flesh she just had to let go. With a guttural, growling how she went stiff all over, her cunny clenching up tightly on the finger within her, a slow shudder working over her heavy set body, again setting her fat to jiggling as a small, warm rush of her puppy honey drooled out over Cadpig's paw.\n\t\"Very good. I think you're on the road to recov...\" Cadpig started.\n\tA red light flashed repeatedly on the ceiling, accompanied by a loud, buzzing alarm. After a short moment the door opened up and Gabriel stuck his head into the room. \"Five minutes ladies. Gotta close up early today. Hope I'm not interrupting.\"\n\t\"Not at all! We were just finishing.\" TwoTone hopped out of the couch and started to strip off her costume. \"I'm afraid you'll have to have this dry cleaned again.\"\n\t\"I kind of figured. Don't worry about it. Just leave it in the costume bin on your way out. And have a nice evening.\" Gabe slipped his head back out of the room and started walking down the hallway. It was a rather plain hallway, threadbare carpet and blank walls, lined with six doors, a seventh open doorframe in the opposite direction from where Gabe was heading, a sign above proclaiming \"The Lounge\" in colorful script. The way he was going had a sign above the doorframe in equally colorful script, \"The Game Room.\"\n\t\"Aaaaah! Noooo! Please, no more! No mooommmph!\" Diva, the barnyard sexpot, struggled against the metal bonds that held her. She was rather like TwoTone, only more so. A plumper derriere, with more glossy black fur over it and a star shaped white splotch on her right asscheek, a generous sprinkling of dots over other places. As it stood her mouth was plugged by a semifirm pink phallus attached to a rapidly thrusting metal arm, which occasionally pulled the pink toy from between her lips to lightly bap it against her facial cheeks. In her nether regions was a firm, purple dildo with numerous bumps and ripples, being pushed unmercifully into her drooling twat and withdrawn slowly, letting her inner flesh be tugged slightly by the ridges. Her tail hole was not allowed to be left out, a slimmer electric blue smooth toy being pushed in to the hilt each thrust, despite her squirmings, which were likely caused mostly by the frantic, intense buzzing vibration of the blue faux cock.\n\tGabriel walked right up to the seemingly nonconsensual tableaux, and looked on impassively, seemingly deaf to Diva's cries for mercy. He did nothing more than reach under the device and tap a button. The machine screeched to a halt and began withdrawing all it's various toys, from the struggling, complaining bitch. \"Closing time. Gotta take care of the receipts early today.\"\n\t\"Damn it! It was just getting good...\" Diva stepped down from the device with a spread-legged waddle, testifying to the activity of her entire day. \"I hope you give me those bones back.\"\n\t\"No refunds, you read the contract. But, to be nice, I'll give you one free ride tomorrow.\"\n\t\"Well... Fine. But I'll be here bright and early.\" Diva started to walk away, seeming to flaunt her ample hiney, the way she always seemed to.\n\t\"As always...\" Gabe muttered with a good-natured smile, checking all his other machines, most less complex than the one Diva had vacated, but all bearing the masterful touch of a dedicated tinkerer.\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\t\"Five bones, beef, approximately...\" Gabe took out a width measuring tool, sliding it down to properly measure the middles of each bone. \"Two inches thick, and seven inches long.\" Gabriel so noted that on his ledger, saying it for the benefit of the tape recorder on his desk.\n\tGabriel's office, at the side of his club, which started life as a refurbished storage shed, was a model of inefficiency and comfort. Scattered around were various sheet metal bits and tools, a path cleared through to his desk, a plain pine job scarred and nicked and a little discolored. The walls were a strange mix of peeling wallpaper, probably Rodger trying to fix the place up before abandoning the idea to work on something, and photographs of siblings on the farm caught in compromising situations.\n\tAs Gabriel was tabulating the final figures for the day the light from his door was interrupted by two large figures and a small one he could more smell than see. \"The Game Room is closed early; I'm counting the day's receipts. Please leave your business in note form in the suggestion box; I am very busy right now.\" Gabriel didn't have to look up to know what he was about to be forced to deal with. \"And no, I do not need aluminum siding, a new roof or insurance, Swamp Rat.\"\n\t\"Now, that ain't at all neighborly! I jes come down here to have a nice chat with ya, that's all.\" Swamp rat presumptuously crawled on top if Gabriel's desk, all greasy fur and bad combover. His two stooges flanked him, Stephen the alligator and Sydney the snake, the one that everyone is curiously afraid of. \"Thought y'all might be interested in a little proposition of mine.\"\n\t\"Rarely, if ever even then, but keep talking, I need background noise while I tabulate the final totals.\" Gabriel never looked up from his ledger, filling in the numbers dutifully under each column.\n\t\"Well, y'see, yer business is cuttin' inta my profits jest a little. And that ain't right, y'unnerstand, because I need all that to retire on someday. What I had in mind was you shutting down your operation. Hear me out now. You see, a job like this is a headache, y'know? Facts and figures, planning, opening and closing the place, all the hassles like fires and floods and the hard, relentless competition.\" At that cue Stephen stepped up with a low, vaguely threatening growl.\n\tStill, Gabriel kept writing in his book, finally noting, \"Daily Operating Expenses exceeded by three beef bones, one inch thick and five tall; three reshapeable and reusable chew toys, rubber; parts from the fuel system and coolant system from a tractor engine; and twenty dollars someone found. And as for you, Swamp Rat, you can take that deal and stick it where your pet alligator stuffs his cock every night. Because I am not giving up this place.\"\n\tSwamp Rat seethed visibly, gritting his buckteeth and shaking one fist. \"Why you miserable little... I'll break you for that! Why I ought to...\"\n\t\"You ought to what?\" Gabriel asked with supreme contempt, hitting a button under his desk. Down from the ceiling dropped two weapons, home made gattling guns with ammo chains hanging out just waiting to be unloaded. \"You listen to me you scum, I built this place from the ground up and I am not going to lose it to some little two-bit huckster from nowheresville. Now scram, before I ventilate you.\"\n\tSwamp rat would have paled had he been able to show it through his fur. All he did was slink miserably off of the desk, while Stephen raised his hands and Sydney started to slither off slowly. \"This ain't over. This ain't near t'being over. I'm gonna get me this place. And all that stuff y'all got. Don't yew ferget it!\" With that said the wretched rat scurried out of the office with his flunkies.\n\tGabriel wrote a few last notations into his ledger and closed the book. \"Amateurs have no place in any business venture. He should leave it to trained, professional hucksters like me. End of notation.\"\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\tGabriel bowed his head in somber contemplation of the miracle of the oil, basking in the light of the three candles on his menorah. He had been there for almost half an hour, as was custom. Stock still, eyes closed, merely letting his mind try to contemplate the mysteries of eternity. He had no need to fear Tripod, who was out patrolling, and trying to keep Lucky out of harm's way. If Lucky only knew the source of most of his fabulously famous luck was an attentive secret lover.\n\tGabriel lifted his head and opened his eyes as the candles died, leaving him to adjust to the darkness, with only the outside lights to see by. And see he did. All he managed to see was a pudgy, full-bodied form perched atop a piece of farm debris. And then with a surprisingly deft motion she was gone, a phantom in the night, a definite female feline form vanishing like mist.\n\tGabriel sat there stunned for a long while, eyes glazed and unseeing, though he stared out the window. He was too busy running his mind over something other than designs for his devices. For once in his short life he wasn't occupied with images of mechanical components working against each other, mathematical computations or physical laws. His mind was cleared by the purity of a mystery kitty taking over his mind.\n\tThe image lingered in his mind long after he had gone to bed. Never before had he seen such an ample gluteus or meaty thighs and belly, not on a feline. And never on one so enticing. So tempting that even the shortest look had been enough to make him want her. His life wasn't supposed to get complicated. And yet it was. Tomorrow, he'd find her. Or go broke trying.\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\t\"And you know... It's not the feline thing. My mother raised me to appreciate different species. I had an uncle who married a rat, lived a long, happy life with her, never got left out of family reunions. My cousin on my father's side was dating a poodle when I got kidnapped. I guess every aspect just clicked with me. But... My life wasn't supposed to get this complicated. It especially wasn't supposed to get complicated like this. I was a child prodigy, specifically a mechanical engineer, for starters. That was all I had on my mind. Which is how I manage to run and maintain a club like this, and build and maintain all the machines, manage the finances and keep everything going smooth. But now... I just want to find out who she is and where I can find her to woo her. I guess seeing all the interpersonal interactions behind the sex has finally gotten to me. I guess... I want romance now...\" Gabriel shook his head a little bit and sighed. \"Thanks for letting me chew your ear for a while.\" He reached out and patted the puppy he was talking to. \"It really helped out a lot.\" Gabriel then walked away, leaving Jewel, the bitchy-bitch pup, tied up and dildo-gagged on one of his more intense rape machines. Diva sidled up to the bound pup, causing her to squirm and whimper into her gag.\n\t\"Alright, Jewel, I paid for two hours. And I mean to make use of every second...\" And Diva dissolved into a fit of half-delighted, half-maniacal giggles.\n\tWhile Jewel was receiving a much-deserved punishing at the paws of the delightful Diva Gabe was behind the bar at The Lounge, the rest and relaxation component of his club, which served food and non-blitzing drinks to satisfy the appetites that weren't satiated in the front room. He was alternately fixing drinks and tinkering with what looked like part of a guided missile. \"Welcome to The Lounge, satisfy your hungers. What do you need?\"\n\t\"Hello, Gabe...\" Not an unfamiliar voice but one he hadn't heard in a while. \"You're looking well.\"\n\t\"I'm living the con-artist's dream. People beg me to take their money in exchange for things they could do on their own if they applied themselves. What can I do for you, Tic-Tac?\"\n\tYes, Tic-Tac, the resident super genius, mad scientist and general brain, whose mental capacity topped even Gabriel's mentality. \"I'm just here for a smoothie.\"\n\t\"Wheeeee! This is fun!\" And of course, not far from Tac, was the ever empty-headed Dipstick, as usual, about a quart low on neurons. \n\tTac rubbed his forehead softly, tapping the counter. \"Make it two, on my tab.\"\n\t\"You got it. So, what's new on the \"Kill Lucky\" front? Any breaks? He still comes in regular as clockwork.\"\n\tTac was not generally known as the most stable personage on the farm. In actuality he was known for being given to sporadic outbursts of anger followed by long periods of melancholy with bursts of creativity and homicidal mania. \"Yea? Then you try it! You kill that stuck-up pretentious bastard! You do it and see how well you do!\" Of course, most people only got to see that side of him because they annoyed him in new and disastrous ways.\n\t\"Whoa, whoa, time out. I was just curious. I know that's your big project. But you might want to consider a new track sometime, once the big weapons are all used up. Just a little Plan B in case, well, you know, you need it. Now, why don't you give Lucky exactly what he needs, most especially if he doesn't want it?\"\n\t\"Right. And then why don't I build you a new totally mechanized wing for the club and give you a blowjob, hmm?\" Tac wasn't long on far-out suggestions. Cadpig made him itch. And spontaneously invent giant weapons of terrible destruction.\n\t\"Not that I couldn't make it myself eventually. But really. I got the idea from an episode of M*A*S*H. I really don't watch it so much as I have it on the DVD player while I'm building things, usually before closing time. And I heard a sequence of events that might make things a little easier on you. You take care of his needs, he forgets about his wants. He forgets about his wants he stops being a self-aggrandizing prick. He stops being a self-aggrandizing prick, the menace is gone. And you earn yourself a little respite. And I know just what he needs, perhaps for a price...\"\n\t\"Your idea has been thought out well with great contemplating and understanding, the mark of a good mad genius. It also completely misses the mark. It's not just his self-aggrandization and him being a big prick, or having one, it's all about his general attitude, his actions his very thought, nature, history and being.\"\n\t\"I know. Your odium is desperate, deep and far-reaching. But it's still a good plan.\"\n\tTac did something he didn't often do, then. He smirked slightly at the corner of his mouth. \"You interest me strangely...\"\n\t\"I probably do swing that way on some level...\" Gabe said with a grin, \"But save yourself for Dipstick. How is that going, anyway?\"\n\t\"Don't ask, that's how it's going.\" Tac looked aside at Dipstick running around the tables, entertaining himself. And knocking over chairs all the way. \"I'll send you a few used gun barrels.\n\t\"Thanks. .45 if you can. And by the by, what Lucky needs is Tripod. No charge.\"\n\tTac broke out into a trademark mad scientist grin and even went as far as to rub his paws together. \"Tripod? That's almost worth doing just to force him to realize that what he needs most is what he wants least. Oh it's brilliant, brilliant and perfect. That would destroy him...\"\n\t\"Until Tripod built him back up again. But for a while, there would be enjoyment in your heart, right?\"\n\t\"My heart doesn't feel enjoyment. I'll leave that to you. If it does I'll flash an AP/UP bulletin. And then get my head examined. Just as long as it's not Cadpig and her amazing dippy love fest kind of therapy.\"\n\t\"Dippy. Hmmm...\" Gabriel took his time messing with the smoothie ingredients. He knew Tac's order like the back of his hand. Strawberry-peach with orange sherbet and crushed black cherry-flavored ice. Numerous appliances required for such drinks and more, of course. Good thing he leeched off of Cruella's main electric line. His needs would probably crush the dear Dearlys. \"Come on; level with me, seriously. How is it going with you and Dipstick over there?\"\n\t\"Like trying to court a rock of remarkable construction and sophistication. He has the rudiments of speech and comprehension. He can read and write at a basic level. He can draw, but not well but...\"\n\t\"Say no more on that front. If you start getting mushy you might melt into a puddle of goo and run up my carpet cleaning costs for the month.\"\n\t\"Your attempts at humor leave much to be desired. Really, consider taking up a new career. Soon. Seriously, I just cannot understand him. Me, Tic-Tac, the genius, and I don't understand any bit of him. How he can be so dull and so endearing, how his random assemblage of genes creating a specific body type with some unique features makes him so irresistibly endearing. It's highly frustrating, as you can imagine.\" Tac looked wistfully at Dipstick, who was trying to stand the chairs up again, but who was only knocking them down once he had them back upright. Tac, wistful. Someone flash an AP/UP bulletin.\n\t\"Right. Here you go, two smoothies. Oh yea, you hear a lot of the fringe things. Did you see a black or very dark gray cat, quite plump, hopping around last night? Somewhere around the barn, possibly heading your way?\"\n\t\"I barely notice if the sky is there when I'm working a project, especially one at night, the prime development time. Asking me if I saw a black cat at night is not going to net you much. And no, before you ask I didn't hear anything either.\" Tac took the two glasses from the bar and turned away to bring them to Dipstick at the table that the pup was trying to fix the chairs on. Before he got there, Tac turned around and offhandedly commented, \"Tibbs, though, is often up at that hour doing patrols and getting things set up for the next day. He keeps track of cats, mostly to warn them about Pug. No charge.\" And with another ghost of a smile Tac turned back around and joined Dipstick in enjoying a cold concoction.\n\t\"Tibbs...\" Gabriel hissed quietly, as though angry at himself for not seeing it sooner. When in doubt about a cat, ask a cat. He grew even more thoughtful as he contemplated the questions to ask of the Colonel's lover and personal assistant while he worked on his (apparent) guided missile.\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\tGabriel closed up the club extra early that day, long before sunset, so he had time to question the Bark Brigade Sergeant. Odd that, close as he was to the Colonel, was still an enlisted man. Even more odd was that there was no General overseeing the Brigade, just a colonel, the Colonel. And everyone was a private, save Tripod the Corporal, Pug the Lieutenant and Captain, the... Captain. Even the farm's rag-tag military was dysfunctional. It was like everything in the domain of the farm was reworked so it could not function properly.\n\t\"Halt! State your name and the nature of your business.\" Tripod stood as sole guard before the Colonel's train car. He was wearing his corporal's bars on his collar, which gave him an air of geeky authority.\n\t\"Out of the way, Corporal Punishment, I need to speak with Sergeant Sugar-pie in there. It's a matter of immense, vital importance. You can keep on playing soldier out here.\" Gabriel simply brushed Tripod aside and continued to walk on through.\n\t\"Sorry, authorized Bark Brigade Personnel only beyond this point. I'm afraid you'll have to make an appointment. I think there's an opening next week. Maybe.\" Tripod gave Gabriel a self-satisfied smirk as he saluted.\n\t\"Listen you militaristic buffoon; don't blame me because Lucky doesn't want to admit you're perfect for each other. I need to see Tibbs about a cat. Preferably before that narcoleptic ailurophobe Pug gets wind of it. Now out of my way.\"\n\t\"Shut up about Lucky! Shut up, shut up, shut up!\" Tripod hopped on Gabriel again, who this time did not use his shock collar on him.\n\t\"Take it easy, laughing-boy. You'll never get promoted this way. Now, get your surprisingly tight, toned ass off of my stomach, get back to standing guard, and let me get in to see a cat about a cat. And if they ask, I bribed you. They'd never believe I hit you.\" Tripod grumbled a bit but obliged Gabriel, getting off the other dog and letting him pass. \"Sometime in the very near future, expect an evil genius plan to attempt to bring you and Lucky together in some subtle, sneaky manner. Don't tell anyone.\" Bribery indeed.\n\t\"Now, Colonel, I'll get right on those training exercises just as soon as I clean up.\" Tibbs, the red cat who looked girly no matter what butch military thing he was doing, grinned and continued his work. As it stood he was licking his forepaws, which were both coated in a thick white goo. The same white goo that sprinkled his chest and face.\n\t\"Mmm. Mm yes, very good Sergeant. Take care of that. I just need...\" The Colonel never finished his thought as he mumbled himself into a nap.\n\t\"I never figured the old boy had it in him. Not that much anyway.\" Gabriel sauntered in as he usually did, smooth and confident. \"I need to see you about a cat.\"\n\t\"Sorry, I'm a little busy right... Mmm, now.\" Tibbs slurped and savored the big sheepdog's issue, dragging his rough, sandpapery pink tongue over the luxurious red fur of his paws.\n\t\"Look, you can gobble cream while I ask, I'm on a bit of a tight schedule myself. I just need to know if you know anything about a black or very dark gray cat around the barnyard, about a half-hour after sundown or so. Very plump, possibly adult as opposed to a kitten.\"\n\t\"Hmmm. Mmm. Delicious... I'm sorry, that's a new one on me. Must be someone who heard we have great scraps and leftovers in the garbage bins, and who possibly found all those scraps you leave out behind your club. I must admit to nicking a few of those and wondering why you had to toss them out.\"\n\t\"Didn't have to, just felt like it. I pride myself on having the freshest things in there. And when I feel the freshness is gone I downgrade them to freebies and leave them out to be taken care of. I don't lose any money on the deal, in case you're wondering; I always account for things I'd dispose of and make allowances in my daily operating expenses. That way I stay profitable and can be charitable all at the same time.\"\n\t\"Your charity is so admirable and yet... Sleazy. That's a new one.\"\n\t\"I brought a little bit of New York to this peaceful little sensory deprivation chamber to keep myself from going insane. If I was back home I'd be a university dog or something. Here, I'm an entrepreneur, bringing this place what it needs: Action, kicks, kinks and mindless entertainment as well as minions, goons and followers, and usable items all at reasonable, negotiable prices and trades. I create work for folks like you, who keep the peace by pissing off Swamp Rat and his crew, giving you dedicated military folk something to do with yourselves besides practice parade drills and screw.\"\n\t\"Keep screwing Swamp Rat, smart guy, and you'll find out why no one has done what you did before. He doesn't fool around.\" Tibbs had finished with his spoogy paws and had moved on to wiping the semen from his face and chest, to be quickly licked away.\n\t\"Neither do I. That brain-dead hick and his wannabe Costa Nostra don't scare me. That little fucker couldn't knock me out of operations if he tried, and I can respond to an assault by him with more force and precision than he could ever hope to. Just keep your eyes open. I don't want her to leave on account of Pug and his insane Napoleon complex.\"\n\t\"Just why are you so interested in this girl, hmm? Does something about her make her special?\" Tibbs raised an eyebrow at Gabriel and smiled his contented kitty smile at him. \"Or maybe you're just...\"\n\t\"If you say, \"Smitten with that kitten,\" I swear I'll cut your tongue out and use it as an eraser. I just want to meet her. From what I could see she had many admirable qualities that I would like to see up close and personal.\"\n\t\"You wanna fuck her like a rabid mink, don't you?\"\n\t\"Yes. You happy now?\"\n\t\"Very. I'll keep my eyes open. And don't worry. You know me, I won't lay a paw on her.\"\n\t\"See that you don't. I'd like her reasonably pure. In my business, that's a rarity among rarities.\" Gabriel turned and sauntered smoothly out of the train car, mind on autopilot, ready to do his sundown celebration but remain thinking on... Her.\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\t\"Four nights completed, and though I feel the spirit of this holiday season I cannot help but feel pale and washed out simply because I have made not the slightest hint of progress...\" Gabriel rubbed his forehead and shook his head, looking out onto the farmyard in case the mysterious lady showed up again. The odds were so very much against a repeat performance but he had to retain some semblance of hope, or else he'd end up wearing black and sighing all over the place.\n\t\"Huh, that's odd, there's more light than usual out there. It almost looks like... Bobbing lights? Oh no... That's the Club!\" Gabriel tore out of the barnyard with a furious padding, disturbing any number of his siblings in the process. Already his fears were being confirmed. The proximity alarms were shrieking that a fire source had encroached on the club perimeter. The sentry guns wouldn't go off on a fire alarm, too much chance of shooting a bystander.\n\t\"I told y'all yew'd be sorry that this place ain't mine!\" Swamp Rat's voice echoed darkly from the shadows when Gabe emerged into view before his club, the exterior ablaze as the alarms shrieked on. Inside, fire retardant blankets protected the machines, while the hallway to the Lounge was fully fireproofed. Internal fires were no match for the sprinkler system that leeched water off of Villa DeVil's considerable intake line. But the outside, the outside was original wood!\n\t\"You backwoods bastard! I'll demolish you for this!\" Gabriel, ever self-sufficient, hauled out his emergency hose, dousing the face of the building with even more siphoned off water. \"You want a war? You've got a war! And I have the upper hand!\" Gabriel cried his rage into the darkness as he fought with the suborned fire. The roof was still intact and the face of it was starting to die down.\n\t\"Woah... That's...\" Tripod walked slowly into the scene, having been shoved awake by an irate sibling demanding that something be done about the abrupt awakening. He had no idea that an actual emergency had been going on. \"Swamp Rat?\"\n\t\"No, aliens from the planet Clusterfuck. Of course it was Swamp Rat! He firebombed my place, looks like Molotov cocktails using cheap, low-grade alcohol, probably whiskey or gin. He must have used a working supply, pre-cut. If he'd used his real white lightning this place would be an inferno.\"\n\tTripod scratched the dirt at his forepaw nervously, seeing nothing useful to do but not really wanting to just walk away after all the flak he'd given his brother over the past several days. \"Look... Is there anything I...\"\n\t\"You bet your sweet spotted nut sack you can do something. I checked the property line. This club is officially within Bark Brigade jurisdiction. Also, since it was an aggressive action leveled against property owned wholly by a member of the Dearly family that constitutes an act of war. Well, a terrorist action being used as a substitute for a vocal declaration of open war. I want the Brigade running security around here now. Give me however many troops you think you can spare, and I'll give them half off whatever they want to have with a purchase of a regular anything at full price.\"\n\t\"What? You want us for a private security force? And you really want us to declare war against Swamp Rat? We can't! We've never done it before, and... We're not trained for a war...\"\n\t\"Fine! Then just give me the security forces. I'll make your war for you. But remember, I didn't start this madness. I just intend to end it.\"\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\t\"So this is how you use the troops you were given?\" The next day, after a hasty declaration of war and promise of security delivered by the Colonel, written by Tibbs and recommended by Tripod, the latter was observing the situation down at the club, which was inexplicably open.\n\t\"You just handed them over to my command, you did not tell me what I had to do with them. It's all at my discretion, am I right? This is how I want to work things.\" Both pups were sitting in the main area, with the machines all around them, each working properly, as usual. The only changes in the room were scorch marks, a few standing mops and signs proclaiming: \"Pardon our dust. We're remodeling.\"\n\t\"Holding on the security forces for the moment, what are you doing open after a firebombing?\"\n\t\"Easy, nothing inside was damaged, the water is being taken care of and I'm doing repairs right now. It's good to have a plan.\"\n\t\"Whatever, it's your place. But... Why are my highly trained, professional soldiers over there in a corner fucking some pudgy girl?\" Indeed, it was true, off in the corner, Diva was underneath a pile of three big, muscular pups, the trio all trying to sink into something, two fighting for her more than allowing sex while the third simply took advantage of her drooling maw.\n\t\"Oh, I guess they got a better offer. I had them mopping. Excuse me a second.\" Gabriel calmly walked over to the scene, looking over the four dogs with a practiced eye. \"I hope you have a good excuse. And Diva, you'd better not be freelancing in here. That's a big no-no and can get you banned for life.\"\n\tDiva only shoved a pile of bones at Gabriel and went back to concentrating, mouth freely drooling and loudly slurping upon the glorious erection, her tongue sliding out underneath it occasionally to cup and bathe it.\n\t\"Enjoy yourselves; just get the water cleaned up sometime today. Thank you much.\" Gabriel gathered up the bones and walked over to Tripod once more. \"Glad I got that settled.\"\n\t\"Right... Just what do you intend to do in regards to Swamp Rat?\"\n\t\"See me tonight. Late. I finally finished up the thing I'd been needing for a while. And now I have a reason to use it.\"\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\tAbout an hour after sundown, when most pups were either asleep or seriously contemplating it, Tripod went up to Gabriel's loft, which he had largely to himself and which he used for anything he could need. \"Alright, I'm here. What was it you wanted to show me?\"\n\t\"Do you think this place is any good? I've been wanting to move out. Maybe to a place at the club. Underground. With even more leeches for running water, power and internet access. This place is so... Blah. I can't really do anything with it. The only thing going for it is this window here. It looks right out onto the club.\"\n\t\"Is this all you had in mind? Because I need to be up way before dawn for calisthenics and drills.\"\n\t\"I was just waxing creative. You can be so short tempered sometimes, I swear. Just keep your eyes out there.\"\n\tTripod hopped up to the windowsill and scanned the area. \"Just what am I seeing?\"\n\t\"I promised I would make your war. And so I am.\" Gabriel pressed a big, bright red button on a remote control near his sleeping spot. From the area of the club came a huge whoosh and a bright flash of light. Something slim and white rose slowly into the air, reaching for the stars as fire trailed from behind it. It seemed almost lovely, before it began to turn in the direction of the swamp and streak downward, screaming like a hawk. Once past the tops of the thick trees there was a crash and a tremendous explosion, lighting up the night like a sudden flashbulb.\n\t\"What in the fuck was that!?\" Tripod leaped off of the windowsill and stared disbelievingly at Gabriel.\n\t\"A guided missile. I finished the system the other day and had it ready for action just in case. It carried only a partial payload, of course. There's no danger of a fire as it exploded only when fully submerged in the swamp, but it most likely destroyed the bulk of Swamp Rat's operation. If not everything. I doubt he was killed, he's always out at night getting supplies or shaking down folks. He will now require weeks, if not months, to regroup and return to some semblance of normalcy. And I have very probably removed all of his ability to strike back at me. Time will tell but from indicators, I just won you a war.\"\n\t\"You're insane...\" Tripod whispered, backing slowly away from Gabriel.\n\t\"No, merely effective. But sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference, isn't it?\"\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\t\"Just another night...\" Gabriel strolled along in the barnyard, mostly in the direction of his club, because he liked to admire the way it looked at night. Lovely and cheerfully dilapidated, especially now. It almost seemed illogical for such a run-down place to inspire such lust and joy. Yet it did. The illogic of it tickled Gabriel's logical little stick. \"But a lovely one.\"\n\tGabriel never saw the dark shape coming out from behind the club clutching a piece of old cheese, but he certainly felt it. And heard the cry of, \"Watch it!\"\n\t\"Ow! Oh, sorry I'm...\" Gabriel opened his eyes to stare into the biggest, greenest peepers he'd ever encountered anywhere on any species. It was no exaggeration to say he could lose himself within, even with her pupils being dilated as hugely as they were. She was pure black, a glistening kind of black that made her blend in just right with the dark and take on a sheen in the light. Just as he'd seen days before, she was plump and perfect, pudgy all around, soft in places he wanted to snuggle and lick and just plain adore. \"You're...\"\n\t\"No, I'm not stealing. I found this fair and square. Now outta my way or I'll...\"\n\t\"No! No no, you misunderstand. That's free for removal. You see, I own that place and leave out all the food I feel needs to be downgraded from sellable to giftable. It's a minor distinction, personal sort of thing, I never use it to calcu... That's not important. I mean, you're the girl I saw the other day...\"\n\t\"The other day? Oh, yea, I came around here because I smelled some cooked meat back there.\"\n\t\"I always cook meats before I leave them out. Less chance of infection that way. I've been trying to track you down since then.\"\n\t\"And just why would you do that? I had nothing to do with all that fire damage I see on your place. I wouldn't kill the goose with the golden eggs.\"\n\t\"That's not why I wanted to see you again. Though now that I do I... I'm a little tongue-tied by this entire situation. I never really thought the whole matter though as well as I should have.\"\n\t\"As much as I would love to continue this conversation, this cheese isn't getting any fresher. I'd like to have my meal and then get back to...\"\n\t\"Oh, are you hungry? Why didn't you say so? You can have all you want from my kitchen. If you'll let me have the pleasure of joining you. I can make up something for you that you'll absolutely love.\"\n\t\"Alright... But nothing weird, alright? I ran into a guy here who yelled at me and then fell asleep.\"\n\t\"Oh yes. Lieutenant Pug. Don't worry, I'll take care of him.\" Gabriel allowed the mysterious woman into the back of his club while he mentally ran through the long list of decidedly unpleasant, totally detestable and utterly painful things he would, could and should do to Pug to repay him for his intolerance.\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\t\"Um... Are you sure this is necessary? I mean this seems like a bit much...\" The mystery kitty found herself sitting at Gabriel's best table, the one made of actual wood salvaged from Cruella's ample garbage stores, on his best chair, the one that matched the table, while Gabriel himself was behind the bar firing up his grill to toss on his choicest cuts of meat. Meanwhile he was contemplating what he could do about a drink. The best thing on the menu was a fruit and yogurt smoothie. But he couldn't serve it with the beef. He'd have to use the most loathsome thing on his menu, the soymilk that he held in stock in cases of lactose intolerance.\n\t\"Do you mind if I use this soymilk instead of the real thing? I can't serve meat with milk...\"\n\t\"That's fine. I'm a little lactose intolerant...\"\n\t\"Then, why were you taking a large hunk of cheese?\"\n\t\"Because I also have to eat. Do you think I can maintain this figure without a good meal?\"\n\tGabriel was in awe of the fact that this gorgeous creature maintained such a healthy bulk on the streets through stolen high-fat, high-cholesterol meals. \"Y-yes... I can understand why you would want to work to retain your perfect figure.\" Gabriel nearly missed the blender and almost forgot to turn down the grill as he once again got to act like a voyeur, admiring the hot, zaftig curves of the pretty kitty before him.\n\t\"Ha! Hardly perfect. I'm more than a little pudgy, don't you think?\" The kitty placed one paw firmly on the table and put the other upon her most impressive hip, cocking it out almost intentionally, making the fat on her ass and belly jiggle slightly. Her face almost seemed to be taunting and teasing in its innocence, as though not realizing that the spectacle was arousing as all get-out.\n\t\"Gah... N-not at all. I think you look f-fabulous...\" Gabriel pressed the blender button as soon as that caboose started to shake and his puppy pecker came out looking for someplace to bury itself. Thankfully he was behind the counter and spared himself embarrassment. Until he had to go and present her with the food. Gabriel concentrated of loading a plate with grilled meat, pouring the (admittedly vile) soy shake into the best glassware he had (Pilfered DeVil crystal) with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. As an afterthought he placed both on a serving tray and whipped an apron around himself to hide his arousal problem. Wouldn't do to let a fine lady like that see something like that. He bore the serving tray out from behind the bar, balancing it on his head, using his forepaws to steady the sides while he walked it over to the table and slid it smoothly onto the top. \"There you are. Finest I can provide.\"\n\t\"Th-thank you... Thanks so much...\" The feline stared, huge-eyed at the plate of meat and the freshly made shake. All for her. It was all for her. She started in right away, her hunger getting the best of her manners. She speared the meat with her claws and tore off great hunks with her pearly whites, seeming almost ravenous. Hers. And hers alone. She had something all her own. Didn't need to claim it, didn't need to defend it. It was freely given to be hers. And though fleeting, it was something special.\n\t\"So...\" Gabriel was undeterred by the clawing and tearing and loud slurping. He had her, dammit, and he intended to do more than just sit there and gape at her pudgy magnificence. \"What's your name? Where are you from? Got any favorite songs or things of that nature?\"\n\t\"Mmmph?\" The cat swallowed her mouthful of steak loudly, gulping a bit of shake to lube up her throat. \"Sorry... My name's Ertha Kitt. Yes, naming a female black cat Ertha Kitt is the height of obviousness. My original owners had that stunted a sense of humor. It's one of the reasons I left. Though to their credit, they tended to overfeed me a lot. That's about as nice as they got, and how I acquired my admirably ample carriage. That extra bulk carried me on my own. I remained pleasingly plump and could bluff my way out of confrontational situations.\"\n\t\"Mmm, I can see that. Puff yourself up a little bit, arch your back, boom, you win.\"\n\t\"As you can tell, I had to defend a lot of meals to help me maintain all I've got. It's a hardscrabble life out there on the streets. But... I guess it was good for me. I learned to deal with my own problems, be independent, and generally rule my own destiny. But, it's just too hard out there. I guess that's why some portions of domesticity were invented, to give a sense of stability without being stifling.\"\n\t\"A woman after my own heart. Thoughtful, independent, and intellectually careful, framing your words to avoid any possible taint of supporting or endorsing slavery or submission. I'm extra impressed.\"\n\t\"That's just me. I like being especially clear, if not brief. I guess it serves me well enough. Do you really like it? Most people find it confusing, or incomprehensible... Or worse, annoying.\"\n\t\"Not me. But you might have noted, I'm not exactly average in that respect myself. I'm quite brainy by most standards. Everything you see in this place that wasn't salvaged from the trash, like the tables and chairs, was made by my own two paws. I can make almost anything out of the leavings of the humans.\"\n\t\"That's quite a talent you have. And from what I can tell, it seems to serve you well enough. This whole place is opulent to my eyes. But don't take that as a knock against your skill because, well, I just haven't seen much of anything. But from what I recall, it's nicer than the room I used to inhabit with my old family. I was... Not quite unloved, but rather showered with attention then they could remember and mostly left to my own devices the rest of the time.\"\n\t\"I was smothered with love, affection, attention, food, grief, annoyance and guilt. I came from a rather large Jewish family in New York. Both human and canine were plentiful. And overflowing with attention to be given to everyone within the extended family. It made me both gregarious and inwardly drawn. The gregariousness manifests itself in things like this, this place, these things, making other people happy, bringing dreams to life, a love for my fellow pup, tempered, in many ways by a desire to be just a little detached. That's where the other half comes in, forever separated from them by some quirk of my personality, helping them, receiving material things from them but never connected to them. I think because... When all is said and done... They're not my real family. They're surrogates. Replacements for the time being. Simple placeholders. What I find most disconcerting is that I want to love them like my own flesh and blood but my mind stops me from doing so. I keep trying, getting interested in their personal problems and situations, learning their lives and times and other matters of great import to their beings. Love and hate and anger and revenge and sorrow and pain... I know it, I feel it but it never gets me close enough...\"\n\tErtha cast her eyes downward, not at all knowing what to say about that. She was no expert on families. She barely had one in every stage of her life. And here was a pup who had one that was large and filled with emotion... Which was lost to a new family, also large, also filled with emotion... But not real. Just adoptive. He must hurt every day, longing for the feelings of having a real family surrounding him, knowing he has one somewhere, and also knowing he has one with him, one that he cannot reach. Because he won't let himself. \"You... Don't want to be happy here.\"\n\t\"What?\"\n\t\"You don't want to be happy here. Because... I don't know. Maybe you'll feel it's a betrayal of your real family. And maybe you... Don't want to become close to all of them because you want to get away one day, back to your real family. You don't want to bear the pain of being rent away from yet another family, or face that feeling when you're among your real loved ones. You don't want two families, because you know... You know you can't have them both.\"\n\tThen it was Gabriel's turn to cast his eyes down and think. It was only a theory, from someone new who didn't have all of the data, just a partial... He stopped his brain in mid-rationalization, because he realized that it was things like that that kept his emotional guard up. And the mere fact that his mind was trying to dispel the notion so hard was proof that it was truer than he wanted to admit to himself. He couldn't have both of his families. His real one and his new one. And given half a chance, what he really wanted was both of them. They both had charms and advantages that covered the quirks and little flaws in each. In the end what it meant... \"I want... A family. I want this one; I want my real one. I want one. But I don't want to be torn away from it, ever. And that is the only fate available for someone who has two.\"\n\t\"No, it isn't. If you can just contact one then you've got them. Live apart from them, call them, mail them, do something. You can have a long-distance relationship with whichever family you aren't with. It's not the same as being there but... Of all the limited options available for such a fate, it's the one with the least pain.\"\n\t\"You have a point. I'll get online and track down someone from the old neighborhood, see if I can make a connection to anyone. Phone calls might be hard unless someone can hijack a cell phone, and letters written by a canine to a canine might be undeliverable. However, maybe a web cam, streaming video like that.\" Gabriel really looked at Ertha, all over her plump and perfect form, up into her expressive, sweet face and then at last into her deep, sincere, and innocent eyes. She was a lot more than just a perfect body and a pretty face. She was something else. Something special. \"You know... You're very easy to talk to. And... I feel so comfortable around you. All my defenses are down, all the truth is out, and I don't even care, when usually I'd be guarding everything with my life. I can't explain it, but there's just something that makes it possible.\"\n\tErtha blushed lightly under her fur, the dark pelt making it impossible to see the sweet pink she was turning at the compliment. She closed those large eyes and smiled a touch, a paw at her face to lightly rub her cheek. \"Thanks... I tried to make myself as friendly as possible. That's the way to survive. Mind you, I have my logical limits. This is actually more than I'd normally do. But how can I not? You've been so nice. Made me dinner, talked to me... Admired me...\"\n\t\"Wh-what do you mean... \"Admired you?\"\" Gabriel tugged at his collar, seeing the one disadvantage in having it be a solid band. It didn't budge an inch, just pressed against a different part of his neck. She noticed, though he had tried to be as subtle as possible.\n\t\"Come on. I'm not the only one with big eyes. Your big peepers are certainly obvious enough. I saw you checking out my curves. And you didn't back away. You didn't scream, you didn't run, you didn't get sick. You looked... Admiringly on them. You looked at every part of me: My hips, my tummy, chest, face, eyes. The eyes meant the most. Seeing everything you did, loving the view, you had the decency to look me in the eyes. You weren't in it for the fetishistic lust, or looking for a quickie, or just being polite. You gazed over everything, looked me straight on, and still had the same emotion in your look. I've never had that. It speaks well of you. You're a decent guy.\"\n\tGabriel had no trouble with blushing. The white parts of his fur showed off the pinkness beneath. He looked to the side, now self-conscious about where his eyes were straying, even if it was a sweet and loving thing. \"Well... I try. I've cultivated a bit of a con-artist, would-be Don image around here. But I'm actually very sincere and fair. I charge what I think is fair and lets others get a good deal. I price things near cost and my little fees and extra charges are tiny. They don't add up to a lot but keep the place running. I deal in volume business with satisfied, repeat customers and an intimate knowledge of what they need, followed by an even more intimate knowledge of what they want. Needs are nice, but wants are real power. A want is an influential thing. It makes many do strange things. And if it is safe and worth it, I supply wants to my brothers and sisters. I have become an important part of their lives by not only giving them what they wish, but also subtly sneaking them closer and closer to what they need.\"\n\t\"You really do sound like a good person. Nothing wrong with a modest profit while helping your siblings. A secure future, being well liked by those you're closest to, keeping yourself active and vital. I think I'd like to be a part of this. You need a secretary or assistant accountant?\"\n\t\"Are you kidding? I'd love that! The image alone or having both would be priceless, plus I'd have more time to work on my machines. You're hired. You start... You start when you feel like it. You can sleep in the club, nick food from the back, and will have priority when I finally build some subterranean chambers for habitation.\"\n\t\"A \"yes\" would have been more than enough.\" Ertha casually slumped back in her chair, imagining it. A real job, a real home, steady meals, and a boss... A friend, worthy of the name. A little tear glinted in the corner of her eye.\n\t\"I'll give you the grand tour, introduce the system, and then... Stay here, if you don't mind. I don't want to leave a lady alone at night in a strange place.\"\n\t\"An entrepreneur and a gentleman. I like working here already.\"\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\tGabriel basked in the combined heat of eight candles, the day's receipts handled perfectly by Ertha, who was a wizard with all the figures. Not as slow and methodical as Gabriel, she was still effective because of her checking and rechecking, making careful observations of each column to make certain everything made sense. Gabriel smiled, thinking that his new secretary was truly a miracle, a gift from the glorious Lord of creation. Saying his prayers each day and keeping his faith was indeed rewarded. As someone once said on an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims unit, \"The Jews have kept the Sabbath and the Sabbath has kept the Jews.\"\n\tThere were no interruptions, no unusual situations or other oddities to interrupt the flow of his day. The entire thing was a welcome relief from the last few days of fire, war, explosions and a new employee. Employee... No. A girlfriend in all but name. He knew he had some kind of connection to her. They had a rapport, an understanding, a link that held them together beyond a simple working relationship.\n\tThe previous night had been a heaven the likes of which he had never known before. He had strewn pillows about his office and plenty of blankets. Ertha rested atop a pile of pillows like some exotic, unattainable queen, her every look, innocent or intentional, was sultry as all hell. The spot beside her, just barely touching... There could come pleasure from even such a simple touch as that. The dreams it brought were all of the same stripe, dreams of Ertha sprawled out over every part of the farm, surrounding every familiar scene, making the beautiful scenery more so.\n\tHe shook his head to clear his thoughts of that. That, most certainly, was not what should be in his mind. But, a part of him knew, that in this time of reflecting upon miracles, Ertha certainly counted as one. After the candles had burned down, in fact, he was on his way to see her at the club, to be near her again, to talk, to do most anything. To do anything she wished to, no matter how plain in might be.\n\tIt was not that long of a wait, for he had thought so long and well of her that he was surprised by the sudden inrush of darkness and coolness that informed him his candles were done. He thought some stray breeze had come in and extinguished them all, or that Tripod had covertly extinguished them it was so sudden. But no, when his eyes adjusted to the low light he saw that the candles were burned all the way down to the bottoms, pools of melted wax confirming they had burned all the way down. He thought it odd that thinking of Ertha made time fly so fast, then struck the notion from his mind, realizing that it was a compliment, that the mere thought of her could made the minutes fly.\n\tHis walk to the club was slow and leisurely, a calm, serene stroll through the night, inhaling the cool air of the season, tasting the crispness of it, reminiscing about happy times in New York, walking through Central Park, or along the crowded sidewalks to Temple, his ears perked and listening to the Cantor as he stood outside with his siblings, worshiping the same as the humans within. Then he remembered where he was, and who he was with, and, surprisingly, memories came to him too. Of Tac trying to hard to destroy Lucky and then drowning his failure in fruit drinks and Dipstick's mindless, perky company. Of Lucky working so hard to be the best and Tripod helping him as hard to be that. Cadpig and TwoTone's relationship, about the only piece of the farm that was not dysfunctional as hell. A crown jewel, and something to be proud of. And all the happy faces of his adoptive siblings in his place, enjoying themselves, chattering, making small talk with him and others. He felt a smile grow upon his muzzle. Ertha had been right. He had been stopping himself from enjoying his family, but now, with Ertha as a subtle path to his emotions, the rest had come flooding in. The loneliness was still there, but was dulled and muted into a little whisper behind all the laughing, shouting and talking from both families.\n\tHis mood was high and bright when he came into The Lounge, his step light and his mind free. So much so that as soon as he saw Ertha he grabbed her tight and gave her a huge, warm kiss on the lips, murring deeply while he gave it. After he had loosed his lips from hers he gave her a huge smile and said, \"You were right. I just opened myself to the happiness of my family here and now, and actually found myself enjoying the memories of both of them. I finally felt... Part of things here. Not just important, which I might be, but loved and appreciated. And you made me realize I could do that. Thank you so much.\"\n\tErtha would have been humbled by the compliments but she was too busy being floored by the kiss. No one had ever kissed her, not like that. The guys who tried with her never wanted a kiss, and that was a ticket to hurtville; so was doing it to just get in her pants. There was always something attached to it. Tit for tat. Quid pro quo. A kiss for a fuck, a kiss for some liberty, always a deal she was quick to turn down. But this time, the one who did it didn't want anything. In fact, he was giving her something along with it, a compliment. Her words had helped him and he was so happy he just had to thank her in the most direct and personal way possible. \"Th... Th-thank you for the k... compliments. I'm only too glad to help out... It's the least I could do. I mean, after the food and the room and staying with me. Really, I don't think I could ever repay kindness like that.\"\n\t\"You've done more than enough by just being you. Your very nature makes you worth all the things I have given to you. Plus salary and benefits, and a percentage of profits in addition to that.\" Gabriel was still not thinking about what had happened. He had just kissed the girl of his dreams and was talking about financial things. The rush of emotion was still upon him, sending him forward without thought. \"So... You eaten yet?\"\n\t\"Yep. Had kind of a later dinner and cleaned up everything after I was done. You've got some nice stuff back there. I can't believe people threw it all away.\"\n\t\"People toss the most useful items when they think it's broken or obsolete. One person's broken bits are my weekly projects, and someone's obsolescence is my challenge of the day. It's not a well-spent day if I haven't tinkered with something, trying to fix what's barely broken or upgrade what's hardly outclassed.\"\n\t\"Simply amazing. You've got a lot of dedication. Devotion of that strength is hard to find in anyone, much less someone from a place like this where you don't have to be anything but complacent and bored.\"\n\t\"That boredom is exactly why I work so hard. That and I like seeing the fruits of my labors enjoyed by all. It feels good to help others out in such a manner. But the initial spark is, indeed, the boredom born of an English countryside lacking in any high adventure save what certain fringe groups force-fit into the area, and what I make for myself. A challenge is always sought, and I always meet my own desire.\"\n\tErtha grinned lightly at the use of that word. Desire. She knew that it was only a kiss of friendship, and thanks. But still, she had hopes deep in her kitty heart that there was something more to it. After all, he had taken the trouble to seek her out, asked around about her specifically, and was eager to just talk to her. Maybe there was something more to his desire than just friendship and a working relationship. He surely wasn't cold and dead inside. There must exist some kind of passion in his canine form. \"I have a little question. Don't take this wrong or anything, I just wonder... Do you think I could get another kiss?\"\n\tGabriel coughed into his paw, realizing what he had done at last. At last it sank in that he had given the girl of his dreams... Of anyone's dreams, a gigantic smooch on the lips, and held it longer than was proper for boss and employee. He wanted to take the relationship to a new, more intimate plateau, but that wasn't how he intended it. \"S-sure... Just lean in close.\" Gabriel licked his lips in delight and expectation, fairly quivering with delight and nothing had even happened yet.\n\tErtha leaned in close, going slowly to let her fears run their course. It was just one little peck. Something out of friendship, respect and admiration. A gift and a thank you for what she had done. It wasn't anything especially scandalous. Just innocent fun and frivolity. Her own delicate pink tongue slipped out to wet her suddenly dry lips, her eyes remaining open to watch Gabriel's handsome face approach her.\n\tThe two inched closer and closer, eyes locked to each other's, each one looking scared, a little dewy and quite hopeful. Both wanted it to mean something more than just friendship. Closer and closer they came, lips lightly puckered until at last they finally touched lightly, quivering a little bit. A purr began growing in Ertha's breast, thrumming though her form, gently rumbling though Gabriel's lips, meeting his pleasured murr, which created a resonant rumble between the two. That resonance alone, the pleasurable hum it created in them both, was their sign. Something special was going on between the two. The universe wanted them together. The good girl and the huckster. A match made someplace better than heaven: The hearts of two folks.\n\tThey hadn't planned for anything beyond the kiss. Ertha hit upon the idea suddenly and Gabriel had only time to say yes and anticipate it. So their bodies continued forward, desperate to touch each other, wanting to merge, to blend and combine into one until there remained nothing but one being made of them both. Their chests touched first, Ertha's large, soft one against Gabriel's slender and smooth one. Next came their paws, which slowly wrapped around each other. Ertha slid her paws over Gabriel's slim, trim bum, stroking his young bottom with her rough pawpads, toughened by her life in solitude, ready for the softness she was being promised. Gabriel brought his quick, slick hands up over Ertha's very generous bottom, his pads smooth, his toes talented, able to work a deck, work some shells, work anything he had to. Now they were working on something truly important, a big bottom that was soft and yielding, but which flexed playfully underneath his touch, which toyed with his paws like his preferences were wide open and fully known. They had their new level. There was only one place to go, if both could agree on such a bold and daring path, such a brash thing between two who are both new to each other.\n\tThe touching continued, slow and sensual, loving, because that's what it was. Love was what drew them together. They knew it, could see the grand plan for them crafted by fate. Their lips parted, though reluctantly, their respective rumblings softly fading away in time and tune, their eyes almost fully closed, still looking longingly at each other. Neither one wanted to break the contact, but neither could speak without looking away. If they said a word to each other they would instantly have to blush and look away, for such a question was rather embarrassing. Two virgins, one young and unwilling to do such a thing, the other matured and wanting to save herself for a man who would care for her first and her body second.\n\t\"You've offered me your kingdom. Your empire. Salary, perks, bonuses, a place to sleep, food on a regular basis, and good stuff, too. Safety, security, stability, and... Passion.\" Ertha closed her eyes fully, pushing her rounded belly up against Gabriel.\n\t\"Everything I have I'd give to you. Shared, gifted even. I mean... I... I love you Ertha. I never thought anyone would make me feel this way. And no matter what happens here tonight, or whatever happens the next day, just know that I mean what I say, truly.\"\n\tThey both slid slowly to the ground, still embracing tightly, drinking in the contact with happy sighs. It was a short step from there to the place they truly wanted to be. Ertha was moist and ready, her thighs dewed with arousal, vulva glistening softly in the low light of the club. Gabriel could not hide the erection jutting up from his belly, nor could he make excuses for it as it thrust up against Ertha's tummy, pressing into the soft, pliant fat.\n\t\"I want...\" Gabriel started to whisper, rolling onto his back and rubbing his maleness against Ertha's tum. The fur was extra smooth and silky, even more that before. It wrapped his length in a little half tunnel of yielding heat and ticklish comfort. She obviously took advantage of the hot tub and the variety of pilfered beauty products Cruella never missed. He ran his fingers through Ertha's thigh fur, clutching at her desperately. \"I want you, my precious one, to sit on the throne of my empire, as my sweet and devoted queen.\"\n\tErtha settled atop Gabriel like a kitty blanket, her returning purr making her a massaging blanket, a long moan coaxed from Gabriel's lips, a case of punny but appropriate gentle purrsuasion. She bore down upon his cock with her belly, moving slightly to the side and letting one row of nipples glide over the turgid puppymeat. \"It's the job I was born to do, that's what I am you know. But... I think I need a good alpha at my side.\"\n\tThe next drag tickled her other set of nipples over the twitching, spitting cock, leaving Ertha with her hind stuck up in the air, just a short aim and a gentle lowering from being impaled by puppy cock which would be considered reasonably generous in general, to say nothing of the comparison between what the feline boys had been trying to force on her. Gabriel's paws were upon those hips, every so gently pulling them down, no resistance slowing the passage, but merely his own concern for her comfort and pleasure. The pointed tip of his canine prick resting just below the moist lips of Ertha's sex, tickling them when he breathed in, and squirting precum lightly against it. \"Well then, let us seal this most agreeable merger...\" Gabriel winked up at Ertha with a cheeky little smile.\n\t\"With a kiss...\" Ertha whispered through puckered lips, seeking Gabriel's once again. But the only way for her to really recreate that kiss would be to press everything in against him. Everything. And she did. She allowed her hips to be pulled down, helped him push even. She bit her lower lip while he groaned and whimpered, his pointed head meeting her virginal lips. Slowly, very slowly, the pink-flushed lips parted before both of their urgings, spreading wide and then wrapping in tight around more and more of Gabriel's erection as it was slowly sunk into Ertha's body, her kiss approaching his as she achieved a full fit. With a touch of lips and a touch of knot the job was done, they were as one, Ertha atop Gabriel, lips held together, eyes shut in delight, everything pressed so wonderfully together.\n\tGabriel just slumped back, fully relaxed over his entire body, save for his hips, which he held tight, tautly keeping his cock in position, not wanting to interrupt anything that Ertha might try to do. Even though he could tell she was just as much at a loss as to what to do. It was one thing to watch, and for Diva to give him tips, but doing it... He couldn't control himself, he didn't dare try. Each unintentional motion his beautiful ebony kitty made sent a slow pleasure from his cock up to the pit of his stomach. It was almost an ache of delight, which warmed him in new and erotic ways.\n\tErtha had to break the kiss to let out a yowl of delight at her first motion. She had thought the initial penetration was the height of her experience, with all the stretch, and the new feeling of being full, and warm, in many different ways. Her muscles tightened, operating on their own, squeezing down upon the hot meat resting within her, sealing her to her throne, her clit pressed in against Gabriel's knot. But when she pushed up on Gabriel's shoulders, to slide herself up on his erection the sudden change and renewed clenching sent a shudder through her jiggly form. \"Say... Say the words I want to hear...\" She whispered hotly into Gabriel's ear, grooming it once she was done.\n\t\"Mmmm, Job perks... Insurance plan...\" He didn't know what words were just right for her. He hardly knew what he was doing. He was blinded with kitty face and pleasure. He might just have had his eyes closed. He couldn't be totally sure any longer. Everything was swirling into a haze in his mind. The details were growing fuzzy, save for the little spikes of delight pumping into his mind from the strokes and caresses of Ertha's inner walls, together with his light and hesitant thrusts.\n\t\"Yes...\" She sighed, slowly adjusting to her newfound pleasure, vaginal muscles rippling up and down along Gabriel's shaft, more and more under her own control, the same as her slow sliding along that pole, becoming used to the pleasure and the warmth spreading through her form. \"More...\"\n\t\"Medical, dental, vision, and prescription drugs.\" Gabriel was using his other instincts for this situation, for without any experience with direct carnality he could only seduce with economics. He wanted to thank Ertha for the feeling of her around him, atop him, almost surrounding him like a furry blanket. And he was, in his own special way. \"No co-pay. Life insurance too. Full coverage.\"\n\tMore hot kisses poured down on Gabriel's ears, her yowls and screeches and whimpers drifting across her lover's hearing. She was sounding like one of the old pros out on the fences, screeching like a harpy whenever some little needledick tried to get it up and hump. This was far more appealing just on principal. She didn't think enough cats mated with dogs. Or vice versa. She tightened her grip all over, not long for holding on, her hips starting to move faster, jerking her cunny all along Gabriel's precum spitting organ. \"Not... Those words...\"\n\t\"Then I...\" Gabriel jerked a little bit, wrapping himself back against Ertha, holding her tight once again. They were both holding on, clinging to life and happiness and each other and the new delight they had found with one another they didn't want to relinquish but which their bodies were soon going to force them to. Gabriel quick-humped into Ertha's wet slit, forcing his knot in against it but never once even considering trying to force it. \"I love you...\"\n\tErtha ground herself furiously against that bulbous swell, clutching down desperately hard on the dog dick offered up to her, yowling so loud it could probably be heard in the main house, letting the Dearlys know there was a cat mating somewhere. She was so unfamiliar with the experience it simply sprang up at her and gripped her body tight, worming it's way through her flesh in a wave of tingling pleasure originating at her tightly stretched cunny.\n\tGabriel wasn't being very vocal at all. He was practically smothered in cat, his muzzle pressed in against her neck, all of his moans and whimpers becoming little more than tingly vibrations in her neck, something to buzz his lover's body while he jerked his hips and lightly kicked his hindlegs about. He didn't have any clue what giving in was, only that there was a moment of concentrated pleasure, and then a sudden rush of relief, a release it seemed like. It truly was a feeling worth spending cash on. He could feel his plump organ twitch and spit, not the watery precum of before, but thick, rich seed, like he'd had to clean up many a time before.\n\tNeither one moved, nor did they ever want to again. It was warm and safe there, in a little ball on the floor of the club, relishing the afterglow that each had only heard of. It was a proud day indeed, for both. One had her home back; the other had his heart. They had needed each other, and now they would never want for what they desired again.\n\n**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\n\n\t\"...And afterwards you just look upon the lights and meditate on the meaning of the miracle. It’s a deeply personal and spiritual ritual. I'll light the candles and pray, and you can observe everything. Hope it's a good show for you.\" A new day, long past dawn, long past crafty smiles that only a few understood. A day of secret blushes and secret whispers. The day after the moving of the earth. And it was made out to be a day like any other.\n\tGabriel lit the center candle and started to pray, his voice seeming, to him, deeper, and richer in tone, more confident than before. He was a man indeed. His father would be proud, by all likelihood. Part of himself didn't want to enjoy it, however. Part just wanted to keep warning him that now he was attached. He had connections to his surrogate family that went beyond just serving drinks and food. Not just them, either, but a new girl who could very well be a bride to him. What sort of a happy life could he lead with two families ever separated from one another? He silenced the thought with a contemplation of Ertha. He could have, for as long as he chose it, a truly happy life. Because he wasn't letting anyone steal what had taken so long to earn.\n\nThe End.\n",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>Warning: This story contains descriptions of explicit sexual acts between two female puppies, a machine and a female puppy and depictions of sexual acts between a male puppy and a female cat. If you are under the legal age to see such depictions, hit the back button on the browser. If it just squicks the hell out of you, deal with it and back the hell offa me, prude.<br />Disclaimer: I do not own 101 Dalmatians, and don&#039;t make any claims of that. I did create Gabriel, Ertha Kitt and the Game Room/Lounge. Tic-Tac and Diva belong to Spin and I thank him very much for letting me use them. Contact me at Gabriel_Wolf87@hotmail.com<br /><br />Festival of lights<br />By: Gabriel<br /><br />\t&quot;Baruch ata Adonoi Eloheinu melech ha-olam, Shehhecheyanu vikeeyimanu Viheegeeyanu lazman hazeh.&quot; A single light wavered in the darkness of the Dearly family barn, it&#039;s light radiating out from a window beside it. Puppy paws moved a quick-light barbecue lighter from the first light to a candle on the far right, the lighter switch clicking off and being set aside.<br />\tThe puppy handling the lighter was a Dalmatian pup, just like the other dozens of others on the farm. His markings were unique, to say the least: A large black disk on the back of his head; two curly lines of spots down the side of his head; a line of spots down each leg leading to a huge black splotch on his back; and various other spots scattered liberally over his body. Gabriel, one of the resident outcast dogs on the farm. &quot;Ha-nerot ha-lalu anachnu...&quot;<br />\t*Splash!* Without any warning, a huge bucket of water was tossed at Gabriel and his menorah, extinguishing the candles and soaking the poor pup. &quot;You know the rules. No fire in the barn.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Grrrr... Tripod! You shmendrik! I ought to...&quot; Gabriel seethed and shook his paw.<br />\t&quot;Cry me a river, you know the rules.&quot; Tripod tossed the bucket aside and started walking away.<br />\t&quot;Just because you can&#039;t handle being a feygele in love with a guy more in love with himself than any other creature on the earth doesn&#039;t mean that you get to punish the rest of us!&quot; Gabriel shook off and followed behind Tripod, intending to kvetch at him as long as possible.<br />\t&quot;Just shut up, Gabriel. You don&#039;t...&quot;<br />\t&quot;Know anything about it? Oh, I know better than you realize. And you know what? He loves Thunderbolt more than you. Because he comes around the Game Room. Yea, he pays for the video booth, and watches my fine collection of Thunderbolt vids. He just loves to stroke himself...&quot;<br />\tTripod whipped around and leaped upon the speaking canine, sitting on Gabriel&#039;s stomach, single forepaw pressed to his throat. &quot;Shut up... Just shut up. You don&#039;t know what it&#039;s like! So just shut the fuck up and don&#039;t make me choke you until you... AAAAHGH!&quot;<br />\tGabriel, not that physical at all, merely tapped the side of his very modified collar and shot a pair of stun probes against Tripod&#039;s chest, zapping him nicely without killing him, fortunately. &quot;I&#039;ll thank you not to do that again.&quot; Gabriel rolled back onto all fours and started walking back to his menorah, leaving Tripod to recover from the stun shock. &quot;Oh, and if it&#039;s any consolation, Lucky sometimes lets your name slip when he&#039;s jerking himself off. It&#039;s sweet really...&quot;<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\t&quot;Your problem seems to indicate that there was some trauma earlier in your life. From what you have told me of self-inflicted pain, mutilation, chronic inability to choose one course or another, I can only give a tentative diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder.&quot; Cadpig was in her element indeed. She sat in a comfortable leather chair, a pair of small glasses perched on her nose as she scribbled notes on a little pad with a well-chewed number 2 pencil. Around her the room was dressed up like an old Viennese office, like the old Viennese Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, famed in song and story, used to use to treat the people who needed him. A few small desk plants sat on a heavy wooden desk, with a few framed pictures and a couple of small crystals. The walls were decorated with reasonably inexpensive art prints, diplomas, and awards from various agencies.<br />\t&quot;Well... Yes, I had a very large family problem a little bit ago... It was very hurtful. It just destroyed all the stability I thought I had in my life. I just... Couldn&#039;t handle it...&quot; Lying in the patient position, on a leather couch, was the ever-lovely and plump TwoTone, dressed in a very faithful reproduction of a late 19th century European dress, brownish and red in a woodland pattern with a light cream background, with plenty of ruffles and lace, the only authentic touch lacking, of course, was a corset, her tummy being her pride and joy. Also accenting the look was a pair of fishnet stockings, highlighting her chubby legs. &quot;So then I got this earring and just... Whenever I have problems, a little tug, a little yank, a twist or something and I feel better. For a while.&quot;<br />\t&quot;I understand. You need to feel pain to calm yourself. A little physical pain takes away the emotional pain you feel. But while it is understandable, it is just not acceptable. And thus, you have come to me. I believe I do have the perfect solution for you. I will however need you to roll over onto your belly.&quot; Cadpig stood up from her seat and took a short stroll behind her desk. With a soft hum she started digging through her desk drawers, pulling out papers and writing utensils and other bits and bobs.<br />\tTwoTone obeyed the doctor without hesitation, rolling over onto her beautiful belly, showing off the soft, subtle divot of her back through the satin of her dress, her large, overly plumped up rump rising up like a majestic foothill, her graceful little tail peeking out of her dress, just above the big red bow that was tied under her tail, lifting it ever so slightly. Her tail started to wag despite herself, swishing despite the mounting uncertainty and panic. She knew the doctor would take care of her, the doctor would fix her problem. She&#039;d be alright. She&#039;d be fine. Everything would be fine in the end.<br />\t&quot;Here it is! Tricky little thing is always getting lost under my Shirley McLain and Rita Mae Brown.&quot; Doctor Cadpig came up with the little help device she had been so desperately seeking, a green ping pong paddle with red felt on the face of both sides. She gave it a few test swings, swishing the air around. &quot;This should solve everything.&quot;<br />\tTwoTone&#039;s eyes went wide as she saw the paddle approaching her big ol&#039; butt, her tail trying to tuck and protect her ass, but being stopped by her big bow, leaving that cloth-covered swelling up and exposed, high and proud and fully ready for a good paddling. &quot;Wh-what?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Now now, let&#039;s not be backwards-looking. You need to have some serious physical therapy. And there&#039;s nothing more serious OR physical than Old Butt-warmer. This little beauty will turn your backfield into a hot plate.&quot; Cadpig caressed the felt face of the paddle, running her tender little tootsies over it like a soft lover&#039;s caress. &quot;It&#039;s absolutely ideal for changing attitudes and making everything perfect.&quot; She swung the paddle downwards at her own tiny, swaying ass. The paddle connected solidly with the little bit of rumpmeat on her flank, making a muffled thwack noise.<br />\t&quot;But... but...&quot; TwoTone&#039;s ass shook lightly as her tail struggled to curl downward, the huge mound of tuches meat waggling softly in the air.<br />\t&quot;That&#039;s exactly right, on your sweet butt-butt...&quot; Cadpig started to drool slightly, huge eyes locked on TwoTone&#039;s hindparts, the reflection shining in her enlarged pupils. The paddle wooshed through the air and caught that big rear end right on the side, a muffled thwack ringing around the room. &quot;That&#039;s the sound of emotional growth and well-being.&quot; A slender paw shot out and grabbed at the hem of the dress, yanking it up high, further trapping the struggling tail beneath the voluminous piles of fabric, exposing the sea of ebony fur with the single white spot showing through like a target. &quot;Now try to be still and take it like a woman.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Two more blows rained down on the struggling ass, striking TwoTone on her pudgy flank and directly between both thighs.<br />\t&quot;Aaah! Nooooo!&quot; TwoTone&#039;s teeth gritted and her jaw clenched tight in between screams and cries for mercy. Even after only three smacks her ass was simply on fire. The warmth surged sharply at first and then soothed down to a throbbing presence as Cadpig took aim for a second volley. The sensation of paddling, still fresh in mind, the sharp strike against her flesh, the slight humiliation as she was paddled like a naughty girl right in the office... Her little nips started to rub against the coarse material of her dress, and then she remembered. She had only her garter belt and stockings. She wasn&#039;t wearing any kind of underwear at all. Her entire crotch was exposed, including her unfortunately pink, puffy and moist vulva, the fleshy triangle right in view amid all her shiny black fur.<br />\t&quot;Ooh, it seems we have a little reaction here. I believe that this therapy path will be very effective indeed. But sadly, this treatment is only experimental. I&#039;ll have to continue observations and check my data multiple times. Let&#039;s start now, shall we? First, to repeat the previous action.&quot; Cadpig was very casual about the way she flicked her wrist, snapping that paddle rather hard against TwoTone&#039;s right flank, sending an absolutely delicious-looking ripple to run through the whole huge ass, the ripple a glorious wave of flesh and fat that set any rational mind to drooling. Cadpig had to have more, so she swung that paddle again, coming in straight and swift, slapping that thing against both cheeks, creating a second ripple that moved through her body until it was cut short by her costume.<br />\tTwoTone screamed in something approaching agony with a slight twinge of a strangely coaxed out pleasure worming it&#039;s way through her cries. Her ass began to sting more and more now, the pain shocking through her system, needling through her buttnerves, quickly shifting from pain to pleasure, making her facial cheeks burn, a deep cherry blush tinting them through her smooth white fur, a color that would match her rear if it wasn&#039;t black in hue. Her puffy pink vulva grew even moister, on the track for an orgasm without even the slightest touch against her vulva, making her all the more wanton and wanting, the good doctor having proved herself to be very, very good indeed. She was putty in the paws of the devoted doc.<br />\tCadpig, the well-grounded trippy-dippy-hippy chick was absolutely losing her macrame mind from just the sight of all that fat moving around like a living thing. Her teeth gritted tighter, flecks of drool sprinkling her lips and flicking out to land on the butt presented to her. &quot;Yes,&quot; she seethed through her teeth, shuddering through her entire tiny body, giant watermelon head moving closer to the site of each impact. Another high, whistling arc cut the air and landed with a low, resounding smack against TwoTone&#039;s left asscheek. &quot;Tell me, how does that make you feel?&quot;<br />\t&quot;I-i-it feeels... No!&quot; Though TwoTone jerked her head around and shook it repeatedly, she made no real move to get away from the rain of stiff paddlings. &quot;S-stop it! Don&#039;t!&quot; She cried and screamed but to no avail. Still the spankings poured onto her bottom, while her puffy sex lips grew even damper, and the blush on her pearly facial cheeks deepened. She couldn&#039;t deny it for much longer. She was starting to drool at both ends, from both sets of lips, breath huskily rushing from between her slightly pulled-back lips.<br />\tCadpig released TwoTone&#039;s tail, knowing full well the girl could no longer lower it, deep as she was in her desire. This left one small, dexterous hand free to grope down between TwoTone&#039;s plump and soft thighs, tickling her gingerly even while the steady, regular paddlings kept on smacking down upon her rear. Those deft little digits crawled lightly up one thigh, clawtips teasing at the moist, puffy flesh of her sex, pulling one side open wider, exposing the flushed interior, a single finger sliding into the warm, dripping interior. The questing finger swirled around within, lighting pumping away at the suddenly clutching, squirming tunnel.<br />\tTwoTone was unable to hold out any longer. Between the maddeningly regular, hard paddling and the deft manipulation of her already overstimulated flesh she just had to let go. With a guttural, growling how she went stiff all over, her cunny clenching up tightly on the finger within her, a slow shudder working over her heavy set body, again setting her fat to jiggling as a small, warm rush of her puppy honey drooled out over Cadpig&#039;s paw.<br />\t&quot;Very good. I think you&#039;re on the road to recov...&quot; Cadpig started.<br />\tA red light flashed repeatedly on the ceiling, accompanied by a loud, buzzing alarm. After a short moment the door opened up and Gabriel stuck his head into the room. &quot;Five minutes ladies. Gotta close up early today. Hope I&#039;m not interrupting.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Not at all! We were just finishing.&quot; TwoTone hopped out of the couch and started to strip off her costume. &quot;I&#039;m afraid you&#039;ll have to have this dry cleaned again.&quot;<br />\t&quot;I kind of figured. Don&#039;t worry about it. Just leave it in the costume bin on your way out. And have a nice evening.&quot; Gabe slipped his head back out of the room and started walking down the hallway. It was a rather plain hallway, threadbare carpet and blank walls, lined with six doors, a seventh open doorframe in the opposite direction from where Gabe was heading, a sign above proclaiming &quot;The Lounge&quot; in colorful script. The way he was going had a sign above the doorframe in equally colorful script, &quot;The Game Room.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Aaaaah! Noooo! Please, no more! No mooommmph!&quot; Diva, the barnyard sexpot, struggled against the metal bonds that held her. She was rather like TwoTone, only more so. A plumper derriere, with more glossy black fur over it and a star shaped white splotch on her right asscheek, a generous sprinkling of dots over other places. As it stood her mouth was plugged by a semifirm pink phallus attached to a rapidly thrusting metal arm, which occasionally pulled the pink toy from between her lips to lightly bap it against her facial cheeks. In her nether regions was a firm, purple dildo with numerous bumps and ripples, being pushed unmercifully into her drooling twat and withdrawn slowly, letting her inner flesh be tugged slightly by the ridges. Her tail hole was not allowed to be left out, a slimmer electric blue smooth toy being pushed in to the hilt each thrust, despite her squirmings, which were likely caused mostly by the frantic, intense buzzing vibration of the blue faux cock.<br />\tGabriel walked right up to the seemingly nonconsensual tableaux, and looked on impassively, seemingly deaf to Diva&#039;s cries for mercy. He did nothing more than reach under the device and tap a button. The machine screeched to a halt and began withdrawing all it&#039;s various toys, from the struggling, complaining bitch. &quot;Closing time. Gotta take care of the receipts early today.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Damn it! It was just getting good...&quot; Diva stepped down from the device with a spread-legged waddle, testifying to the activity of her entire day. &quot;I hope you give me those bones back.&quot;<br />\t&quot;No refunds, you read the contract. But, to be nice, I&#039;ll give you one free ride tomorrow.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Well... Fine. But I&#039;ll be here bright and early.&quot; Diva started to walk away, seeming to flaunt her ample hiney, the way she always seemed to.<br />\t&quot;As always...&quot; Gabe muttered with a good-natured smile, checking all his other machines, most less complex than the one Diva had vacated, but all bearing the masterful touch of a dedicated tinkerer.<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\t&quot;Five bones, beef, approximately...&quot; Gabe took out a width measuring tool, sliding it down to properly measure the middles of each bone. &quot;Two inches thick, and seven inches long.&quot; Gabriel so noted that on his ledger, saying it for the benefit of the tape recorder on his desk.<br />\tGabriel&#039;s office, at the side of his club, which started life as a refurbished storage shed, was a model of inefficiency and comfort. Scattered around were various sheet metal bits and tools, a path cleared through to his desk, a plain pine job scarred and nicked and a little discolored. The walls were a strange mix of peeling wallpaper, probably Rodger trying to fix the place up before abandoning the idea to work on something, and photographs of siblings on the farm caught in compromising situations.<br />\tAs Gabriel was tabulating the final figures for the day the light from his door was interrupted by two large figures and a small one he could more smell than see. &quot;The Game Room is closed early; I&#039;m counting the day&#039;s receipts. Please leave your business in note form in the suggestion box; I am very busy right now.&quot; Gabriel didn&#039;t have to look up to know what he was about to be forced to deal with. &quot;And no, I do not need aluminum siding, a new roof or insurance, Swamp Rat.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Now, that ain&#039;t at all neighborly! I jes come down here to have a nice chat with ya, that&#039;s all.&quot; Swamp rat presumptuously crawled on top if Gabriel&#039;s desk, all greasy fur and bad combover. His two stooges flanked him, Stephen the alligator and Sydney the snake, the one that everyone is curiously afraid of. &quot;Thought y&#039;all might be interested in a little proposition of mine.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Rarely, if ever even then, but keep talking, I need background noise while I tabulate the final totals.&quot; Gabriel never looked up from his ledger, filling in the numbers dutifully under each column.<br />\t&quot;Well, y&#039;see, yer business is cuttin&#039; inta my profits jest a little. And that ain&#039;t right, y&#039;unnerstand, because I need all that to retire on someday. What I had in mind was you shutting down your operation. Hear me out now. You see, a job like this is a headache, y&#039;know? Facts and figures, planning, opening and closing the place, all the hassles like fires and floods and the hard, relentless competition.&quot; At that cue Stephen stepped up with a low, vaguely threatening growl.<br />\tStill, Gabriel kept writing in his book, finally noting, &quot;Daily Operating Expenses exceeded by three beef bones, one inch thick and five tall; three reshapeable and reusable chew toys, rubber; parts from the fuel system and coolant system from a tractor engine; and twenty dollars someone found. And as for you, Swamp Rat, you can take that deal and stick it where your pet alligator stuffs his cock every night. Because I am not giving up this place.&quot;<br />\tSwamp Rat seethed visibly, gritting his buckteeth and shaking one fist. &quot;Why you miserable little... I&#039;ll break you for that! Why I ought to...&quot;<br />\t&quot;You ought to what?&quot; Gabriel asked with supreme contempt, hitting a button under his desk. Down from the ceiling dropped two weapons, home made gattling guns with ammo chains hanging out just waiting to be unloaded. &quot;You listen to me you scum, I built this place from the ground up and I am not going to lose it to some little two-bit huckster from nowheresville. Now scram, before I ventilate you.&quot;<br />\tSwamp rat would have paled had he been able to show it through his fur. All he did was slink miserably off of the desk, while Stephen raised his hands and Sydney started to slither off slowly. &quot;This ain&#039;t over. This ain&#039;t near t&#039;being over. I&#039;m gonna get me this place. And all that stuff y&#039;all got. Don&#039;t yew ferget it!&quot; With that said the wretched rat scurried out of the office with his flunkies.<br />\tGabriel wrote a few last notations into his ledger and closed the book. &quot;Amateurs have no place in any business venture. He should leave it to trained, professional hucksters like me. End of notation.&quot;<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\tGabriel bowed his head in somber contemplation of the miracle of the oil, basking in the light of the three candles on his menorah. He had been there for almost half an hour, as was custom. Stock still, eyes closed, merely letting his mind try to contemplate the mysteries of eternity. He had no need to fear Tripod, who was out patrolling, and trying to keep Lucky out of harm&#039;s way. If Lucky only knew the source of most of his fabulously famous luck was an attentive secret lover.<br />\tGabriel lifted his head and opened his eyes as the candles died, leaving him to adjust to the darkness, with only the outside lights to see by. And see he did. All he managed to see was a pudgy, full-bodied form perched atop a piece of farm debris. And then with a surprisingly deft motion she was gone, a phantom in the night, a definite female feline form vanishing like mist.<br />\tGabriel sat there stunned for a long while, eyes glazed and unseeing, though he stared out the window. He was too busy running his mind over something other than designs for his devices. For once in his short life he wasn&#039;t occupied with images of mechanical components working against each other, mathematical computations or physical laws. His mind was cleared by the purity of a mystery kitty taking over his mind.<br />\tThe image lingered in his mind long after he had gone to bed. Never before had he seen such an ample gluteus or meaty thighs and belly, not on a feline. And never on one so enticing. So tempting that even the shortest look had been enough to make him want her. His life wasn&#039;t supposed to get complicated. And yet it was. Tomorrow, he&#039;d find her. Or go broke trying.<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\t&quot;And you know... It&#039;s not the feline thing. My mother raised me to appreciate different species. I had an uncle who married a rat, lived a long, happy life with her, never got left out of family reunions. My cousin on my father&#039;s side was dating a poodle when I got kidnapped. I guess every aspect just clicked with me. But... My life wasn&#039;t supposed to get this complicated. It especially wasn&#039;t supposed to get complicated like this. I was a child prodigy, specifically a mechanical engineer, for starters. That was all I had on my mind. Which is how I manage to run and maintain a club like this, and build and maintain all the machines, manage the finances and keep everything going smooth. But now... I just want to find out who she is and where I can find her to woo her. I guess seeing all the interpersonal interactions behind the sex has finally gotten to me. I guess... I want romance now...&quot; Gabriel shook his head a little bit and sighed. &quot;Thanks for letting me chew your ear for a while.&quot; He reached out and patted the puppy he was talking to. &quot;It really helped out a lot.&quot; Gabriel then walked away, leaving Jewel, the bitchy-bitch pup, tied up and dildo-gagged on one of his more intense rape machines. Diva sidled up to the bound pup, causing her to squirm and whimper into her gag.<br />\t&quot;Alright, Jewel, I paid for two hours. And I mean to make use of every second...&quot; And Diva dissolved into a fit of half-delighted, half-maniacal giggles.<br />\tWhile Jewel was receiving a much-deserved punishing at the paws of the delightful Diva Gabe was behind the bar at The Lounge, the rest and relaxation component of his club, which served food and non-blitzing drinks to satisfy the appetites that weren&#039;t satiated in the front room. He was alternately fixing drinks and tinkering with what looked like part of a guided missile. &quot;Welcome to The Lounge, satisfy your hungers. What do you need?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Hello, Gabe...&quot; Not an unfamiliar voice but one he hadn&#039;t heard in a while. &quot;You&#039;re looking well.&quot;<br />\t&quot;I&#039;m living the con-artist&#039;s dream. People beg me to take their money in exchange for things they could do on their own if they applied themselves. What can I do for you, Tic-Tac?&quot;<br />\tYes, Tic-Tac, the resident super genius, mad scientist and general brain, whose mental capacity topped even Gabriel&#039;s mentality. &quot;I&#039;m just here for a smoothie.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Wheeeee! This is fun!&quot; And of course, not far from Tac, was the ever empty-headed Dipstick, as usual, about a quart low on neurons. <br />\tTac rubbed his forehead softly, tapping the counter. &quot;Make it two, on my tab.&quot;<br />\t&quot;You got it. So, what&#039;s new on the &quot;Kill Lucky&quot; front? Any breaks? He still comes in regular as clockwork.&quot;<br />\tTac was not generally known as the most stable personage on the farm. In actuality he was known for being given to sporadic outbursts of anger followed by long periods of melancholy with bursts of creativity and homicidal mania. &quot;Yea? Then you try it! You kill that stuck-up pretentious bastard! You do it and see how well you do!&quot; Of course, most people only got to see that side of him because they annoyed him in new and disastrous ways.<br />\t&quot;Whoa, whoa, time out. I was just curious. I know that&#039;s your big project. But you might want to consider a new track sometime, once the big weapons are all used up. Just a little Plan B in case, well, you know, you need it. Now, why don&#039;t you give Lucky exactly what he needs, most especially if he doesn&#039;t want it?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Right. And then why don&#039;t I build you a new totally mechanized wing for the club and give you a blowjob, hmm?&quot; Tac wasn&#039;t long on far-out suggestions. Cadpig made him itch. And spontaneously invent giant weapons of terrible destruction.<br />\t&quot;Not that I couldn&#039;t make it myself eventually. But really. I got the idea from an episode of M*A*S*H. I really don&#039;t watch it so much as I have it on the DVD player while I&#039;m building things, usually before closing time. And I heard a sequence of events that might make things a little easier on you. You take care of his needs, he forgets about his wants. He forgets about his wants he stops being a self-aggrandizing prick. He stops being a self-aggrandizing prick, the menace is gone. And you earn yourself a little respite. And I know just what he needs, perhaps for a price...&quot;<br />\t&quot;Your idea has been thought out well with great contemplating and understanding, the mark of a good mad genius. It also completely misses the mark. It&#039;s not just his self-aggrandization and him being a big prick, or having one, it&#039;s all about his general attitude, his actions his very thought, nature, history and being.&quot;<br />\t&quot;I know. Your odium is desperate, deep and far-reaching. But it&#039;s still a good plan.&quot;<br />\tTac did something he didn&#039;t often do, then. He smirked slightly at the corner of his mouth. &quot;You interest me strangely...&quot;<br />\t&quot;I probably do swing that way on some level...&quot; Gabe said with a grin, &quot;But save yourself for Dipstick. How is that going, anyway?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Don&#039;t ask, that&#039;s how it&#039;s going.&quot; Tac looked aside at Dipstick running around the tables, entertaining himself. And knocking over chairs all the way. &quot;I&#039;ll send you a few used gun barrels.<br />\t&quot;Thanks. .45 if you can. And by the by, what Lucky needs is Tripod. No charge.&quot;<br />\tTac broke out into a trademark mad scientist grin and even went as far as to rub his paws together. &quot;Tripod? That&#039;s almost worth doing just to force him to realize that what he needs most is what he wants least. Oh it&#039;s brilliant, brilliant and perfect. That would destroy him...&quot;<br />\t&quot;Until Tripod built him back up again. But for a while, there would be enjoyment in your heart, right?&quot;<br />\t&quot;My heart doesn&#039;t feel enjoyment. I&#039;ll leave that to you. If it does I&#039;ll flash an AP/UP bulletin. And then get my head examined. Just as long as it&#039;s not Cadpig and her amazing dippy love fest kind of therapy.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Dippy. Hmmm...&quot; Gabriel took his time messing with the smoothie ingredients. He knew Tac&#039;s order like the back of his hand. Strawberry-peach with orange sherbet and crushed black cherry-flavored ice. Numerous appliances required for such drinks and more, of course. Good thing he leeched off of Cruella&#039;s main electric line. His needs would probably crush the dear Dearlys. &quot;Come on; level with me, seriously. How is it going with you and Dipstick over there?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Like trying to court a rock of remarkable construction and sophistication. He has the rudiments of speech and comprehension. He can read and write at a basic level. He can draw, but not well but...&quot;<br />\t&quot;Say no more on that front. If you start getting mushy you might melt into a puddle of goo and run up my carpet cleaning costs for the month.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Your attempts at humor leave much to be desired. Really, consider taking up a new career. Soon. Seriously, I just cannot understand him. Me, Tic-Tac, the genius, and I don&#039;t understand any bit of him. How he can be so dull and so endearing, how his random assemblage of genes creating a specific body type with some unique features makes him so irresistibly endearing. It&#039;s highly frustrating, as you can imagine.&quot; Tac looked wistfully at Dipstick, who was trying to stand the chairs up again, but who was only knocking them down once he had them back upright. Tac, wistful. Someone flash an AP/UP bulletin.<br />\t&quot;Right. Here you go, two smoothies. Oh yea, you hear a lot of the fringe things. Did you see a black or very dark gray cat, quite plump, hopping around last night? Somewhere around the barn, possibly heading your way?&quot;<br />\t&quot;I barely notice if the sky is there when I&#039;m working a project, especially one at night, the prime development time. Asking me if I saw a black cat at night is not going to net you much. And no, before you ask I didn&#039;t hear anything either.&quot; Tac took the two glasses from the bar and turned away to bring them to Dipstick at the table that the pup was trying to fix the chairs on. Before he got there, Tac turned around and offhandedly commented, &quot;Tibbs, though, is often up at that hour doing patrols and getting things set up for the next day. He keeps track of cats, mostly to warn them about Pug. No charge.&quot; And with another ghost of a smile Tac turned back around and joined Dipstick in enjoying a cold concoction.<br />\t&quot;Tibbs...&quot; Gabriel hissed quietly, as though angry at himself for not seeing it sooner. When in doubt about a cat, ask a cat. He grew even more thoughtful as he contemplated the questions to ask of the Colonel&#039;s lover and personal assistant while he worked on his (apparent) guided missile.<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\tGabriel closed up the club extra early that day, long before sunset, so he had time to question the Bark Brigade Sergeant. Odd that, close as he was to the Colonel, was still an enlisted man. Even more odd was that there was no General overseeing the Brigade, just a colonel, the Colonel. And everyone was a private, save Tripod the Corporal, Pug the Lieutenant and Captain, the... Captain. Even the farm&#039;s rag-tag military was dysfunctional. It was like everything in the domain of the farm was reworked so it could not function properly.<br />\t&quot;Halt! State your name and the nature of your business.&quot; Tripod stood as sole guard before the Colonel&#039;s train car. He was wearing his corporal&#039;s bars on his collar, which gave him an air of geeky authority.<br />\t&quot;Out of the way, Corporal Punishment, I need to speak with Sergeant Sugar-pie in there. It&#039;s a matter of immense, vital importance. You can keep on playing soldier out here.&quot; Gabriel simply brushed Tripod aside and continued to walk on through.<br />\t&quot;Sorry, authorized Bark Brigade Personnel only beyond this point. I&#039;m afraid you&#039;ll have to make an appointment. I think there&#039;s an opening next week. Maybe.&quot; Tripod gave Gabriel a self-satisfied smirk as he saluted.<br />\t&quot;Listen you militaristic buffoon; don&#039;t blame me because Lucky doesn&#039;t want to admit you&#039;re perfect for each other. I need to see Tibbs about a cat. Preferably before that narcoleptic ailurophobe Pug gets wind of it. Now out of my way.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Shut up about Lucky! Shut up, shut up, shut up!&quot; Tripod hopped on Gabriel again, who this time did not use his shock collar on him.<br />\t&quot;Take it easy, laughing-boy. You&#039;ll never get promoted this way. Now, get your surprisingly tight, toned ass off of my stomach, get back to standing guard, and let me get in to see a cat about a cat. And if they ask, I bribed you. They&#039;d never believe I hit you.&quot; Tripod grumbled a bit but obliged Gabriel, getting off the other dog and letting him pass. &quot;Sometime in the very near future, expect an evil genius plan to attempt to bring you and Lucky together in some subtle, sneaky manner. Don&#039;t tell anyone.&quot; Bribery indeed.<br />\t&quot;Now, Colonel, I&#039;ll get right on those training exercises just as soon as I clean up.&quot; Tibbs, the red cat who looked girly no matter what butch military thing he was doing, grinned and continued his work. As it stood he was licking his forepaws, which were both coated in a thick white goo. The same white goo that sprinkled his chest and face.<br />\t&quot;Mmm. Mm yes, very good Sergeant. Take care of that. I just need...&quot; The Colonel never finished his thought as he mumbled himself into a nap.<br />\t&quot;I never figured the old boy had it in him. Not that much anyway.&quot; Gabriel sauntered in as he usually did, smooth and confident. &quot;I need to see you about a cat.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Sorry, I&#039;m a little busy right... Mmm, now.&quot; Tibbs slurped and savored the big sheepdog&#039;s issue, dragging his rough, sandpapery pink tongue over the luxurious red fur of his paws.<br />\t&quot;Look, you can gobble cream while I ask, I&#039;m on a bit of a tight schedule myself. I just need to know if you know anything about a black or very dark gray cat around the barnyard, about a half-hour after sundown or so. Very plump, possibly adult as opposed to a kitten.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Hmmm. Mmm. Delicious... I&#039;m sorry, that&#039;s a new one on me. Must be someone who heard we have great scraps and leftovers in the garbage bins, and who possibly found all those scraps you leave out behind your club. I must admit to nicking a few of those and wondering why you had to toss them out.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Didn&#039;t have to, just felt like it. I pride myself on having the freshest things in there. And when I feel the freshness is gone I downgrade them to freebies and leave them out to be taken care of. I don&#039;t lose any money on the deal, in case you&#039;re wondering; I always account for things I&#039;d dispose of and make allowances in my daily operating expenses. That way I stay profitable and can be charitable all at the same time.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Your charity is so admirable and yet... Sleazy. That&#039;s a new one.&quot;<br />\t&quot;I brought a little bit of New York to this peaceful little sensory deprivation chamber to keep myself from going insane. If I was back home I&#039;d be a university dog or something. Here, I&#039;m an entrepreneur, bringing this place what it needs: Action, kicks, kinks and mindless entertainment as well as minions, goons and followers, and usable items all at reasonable, negotiable prices and trades. I create work for folks like you, who keep the peace by pissing off Swamp Rat and his crew, giving you dedicated military folk something to do with yourselves besides practice parade drills and screw.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Keep screwing Swamp Rat, smart guy, and you&#039;ll find out why no one has done what you did before. He doesn&#039;t fool around.&quot; Tibbs had finished with his spoogy paws and had moved on to wiping the semen from his face and chest, to be quickly licked away.<br />\t&quot;Neither do I. That brain-dead hick and his wannabe Costa Nostra don&#039;t scare me. That little fucker couldn&#039;t knock me out of operations if he tried, and I can respond to an assault by him with more force and precision than he could ever hope to. Just keep your eyes open. I don&#039;t want her to leave on account of Pug and his insane Napoleon complex.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Just why are you so interested in this girl, hmm? Does something about her make her special?&quot; Tibbs raised an eyebrow at Gabriel and smiled his contented kitty smile at him. &quot;Or maybe you&#039;re just...&quot;<br />\t&quot;If you say, &quot;Smitten with that kitten,&quot; I swear I&#039;ll cut your tongue out and use it as an eraser. I just want to meet her. From what I could see she had many admirable qualities that I would like to see up close and personal.&quot;<br />\t&quot;You wanna fuck her like a rabid mink, don&#039;t you?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Yes. You happy now?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Very. I&#039;ll keep my eyes open. And don&#039;t worry. You know me, I won&#039;t lay a paw on her.&quot;<br />\t&quot;See that you don&#039;t. I&#039;d like her reasonably pure. In my business, that&#039;s a rarity among rarities.&quot; Gabriel turned and sauntered smoothly out of the train car, mind on autopilot, ready to do his sundown celebration but remain thinking on... Her.<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\t&quot;Four nights completed, and though I feel the spirit of this holiday season I cannot help but feel pale and washed out simply because I have made not the slightest hint of progress...&quot; Gabriel rubbed his forehead and shook his head, looking out onto the farmyard in case the mysterious lady showed up again. The odds were so very much against a repeat performance but he had to retain some semblance of hope, or else he&#039;d end up wearing black and sighing all over the place.<br />\t&quot;Huh, that&#039;s odd, there&#039;s more light than usual out there. It almost looks like... Bobbing lights? Oh no... That&#039;s the Club!&quot; Gabriel tore out of the barnyard with a furious padding, disturbing any number of his siblings in the process. Already his fears were being confirmed. The proximity alarms were shrieking that a fire source had encroached on the club perimeter. The sentry guns wouldn&#039;t go off on a fire alarm, too much chance of shooting a bystander.<br />\t&quot;I told y&#039;all yew&#039;d be sorry that this place ain&#039;t mine!&quot; Swamp Rat&#039;s voice echoed darkly from the shadows when Gabe emerged into view before his club, the exterior ablaze as the alarms shrieked on. Inside, fire retardant blankets protected the machines, while the hallway to the Lounge was fully fireproofed. Internal fires were no match for the sprinkler system that leeched water off of Villa DeVil&#039;s considerable intake line. But the outside, the outside was original wood!<br />\t&quot;You backwoods bastard! I&#039;ll demolish you for this!&quot; Gabriel, ever self-sufficient, hauled out his emergency hose, dousing the face of the building with even more siphoned off water. &quot;You want a war? You&#039;ve got a war! And I have the upper hand!&quot; Gabriel cried his rage into the darkness as he fought with the suborned fire. The roof was still intact and the face of it was starting to die down.<br />\t&quot;Woah... That&#039;s...&quot; Tripod walked slowly into the scene, having been shoved awake by an irate sibling demanding that something be done about the abrupt awakening. He had no idea that an actual emergency had been going on. &quot;Swamp Rat?&quot;<br />\t&quot;No, aliens from the planet Clusterfuck. Of course it was Swamp Rat! He firebombed my place, looks like Molotov cocktails using cheap, low-grade alcohol, probably whiskey or gin. He must have used a working supply, pre-cut. If he&#039;d used his real white lightning this place would be an inferno.&quot;<br />\tTripod scratched the dirt at his forepaw nervously, seeing nothing useful to do but not really wanting to just walk away after all the flak he&#039;d given his brother over the past several days. &quot;Look... Is there anything I...&quot;<br />\t&quot;You bet your sweet spotted nut sack you can do something. I checked the property line. This club is officially within Bark Brigade jurisdiction. Also, since it was an aggressive action leveled against property owned wholly by a member of the Dearly family that constitutes an act of war. Well, a terrorist action being used as a substitute for a vocal declaration of open war. I want the Brigade running security around here now. Give me however many troops you think you can spare, and I&#039;ll give them half off whatever they want to have with a purchase of a regular anything at full price.&quot;<br />\t&quot;What? You want us for a private security force? And you really want us to declare war against Swamp Rat? We can&#039;t! We&#039;ve never done it before, and... We&#039;re not trained for a war...&quot;<br />\t&quot;Fine! Then just give me the security forces. I&#039;ll make your war for you. But remember, I didn&#039;t start this madness. I just intend to end it.&quot;<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\t&quot;So this is how you use the troops you were given?&quot; The next day, after a hasty declaration of war and promise of security delivered by the Colonel, written by Tibbs and recommended by Tripod, the latter was observing the situation down at the club, which was inexplicably open.<br />\t&quot;You just handed them over to my command, you did not tell me what I had to do with them. It&#039;s all at my discretion, am I right? This is how I want to work things.&quot; Both pups were sitting in the main area, with the machines all around them, each working properly, as usual. The only changes in the room were scorch marks, a few standing mops and signs proclaiming: &quot;Pardon our dust. We&#039;re remodeling.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Holding on the security forces for the moment, what are you doing open after a firebombing?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Easy, nothing inside was damaged, the water is being taken care of and I&#039;m doing repairs right now. It&#039;s good to have a plan.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Whatever, it&#039;s your place. But... Why are my highly trained, professional soldiers over there in a corner fucking some pudgy girl?&quot; Indeed, it was true, off in the corner, Diva was underneath a pile of three big, muscular pups, the trio all trying to sink into something, two fighting for her more than allowing sex while the third simply took advantage of her drooling maw.<br />\t&quot;Oh, I guess they got a better offer. I had them mopping. Excuse me a second.&quot; Gabriel calmly walked over to the scene, looking over the four dogs with a practiced eye. &quot;I hope you have a good excuse. And Diva, you&#039;d better not be freelancing in here. That&#039;s a big no-no and can get you banned for life.&quot;<br />\tDiva only shoved a pile of bones at Gabriel and went back to concentrating, mouth freely drooling and loudly slurping upon the glorious erection, her tongue sliding out underneath it occasionally to cup and bathe it.<br />\t&quot;Enjoy yourselves; just get the water cleaned up sometime today. Thank you much.&quot; Gabriel gathered up the bones and walked over to Tripod once more. &quot;Glad I got that settled.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Right... Just what do you intend to do in regards to Swamp Rat?&quot;<br />\t&quot;See me tonight. Late. I finally finished up the thing I&#039;d been needing for a while. And now I have a reason to use it.&quot;<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\tAbout an hour after sundown, when most pups were either asleep or seriously contemplating it, Tripod went up to Gabriel&#039;s loft, which he had largely to himself and which he used for anything he could need. &quot;Alright, I&#039;m here. What was it you wanted to show me?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Do you think this place is any good? I&#039;ve been wanting to move out. Maybe to a place at the club. Underground. With even more leeches for running water, power and internet access. This place is so... Blah. I can&#039;t really do anything with it. The only thing going for it is this window here. It looks right out onto the club.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Is this all you had in mind? Because I need to be up way before dawn for calisthenics and drills.&quot;<br />\t&quot;I was just waxing creative. You can be so short tempered sometimes, I swear. Just keep your eyes out there.&quot;<br />\tTripod hopped up to the windowsill and scanned the area. &quot;Just what am I seeing?&quot;<br />\t&quot;I promised I would make your war. And so I am.&quot; Gabriel pressed a big, bright red button on a remote control near his sleeping spot. From the area of the club came a huge whoosh and a bright flash of light. Something slim and white rose slowly into the air, reaching for the stars as fire trailed from behind it. It seemed almost lovely, before it began to turn in the direction of the swamp and streak downward, screaming like a hawk. Once past the tops of the thick trees there was a crash and a tremendous explosion, lighting up the night like a sudden flashbulb.<br />\t&quot;What in the fuck was that!?&quot; Tripod leaped off of the windowsill and stared disbelievingly at Gabriel.<br />\t&quot;A guided missile. I finished the system the other day and had it ready for action just in case. It carried only a partial payload, of course. There&#039;s no danger of a fire as it exploded only when fully submerged in the swamp, but it most likely destroyed the bulk of Swamp Rat&#039;s operation. If not everything. I doubt he was killed, he&#039;s always out at night getting supplies or shaking down folks. He will now require weeks, if not months, to regroup and return to some semblance of normalcy. And I have very probably removed all of his ability to strike back at me. Time will tell but from indicators, I just won you a war.&quot;<br />\t&quot;You&#039;re insane...&quot; Tripod whispered, backing slowly away from Gabriel.<br />\t&quot;No, merely effective. But sometimes, it&#039;s hard to tell the difference, isn&#039;t it?&quot;<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\t&quot;Just another night...&quot; Gabriel strolled along in the barnyard, mostly in the direction of his club, because he liked to admire the way it looked at night. Lovely and cheerfully dilapidated, especially now. It almost seemed illogical for such a run-down place to inspire such lust and joy. Yet it did. The illogic of it tickled Gabriel&#039;s logical little stick. &quot;But a lovely one.&quot;<br />\tGabriel never saw the dark shape coming out from behind the club clutching a piece of old cheese, but he certainly felt it. And heard the cry of, &quot;Watch it!&quot;<br />\t&quot;Ow! Oh, sorry I&#039;m...&quot; Gabriel opened his eyes to stare into the biggest, greenest peepers he&#039;d ever encountered anywhere on any species. It was no exaggeration to say he could lose himself within, even with her pupils being dilated as hugely as they were. She was pure black, a glistening kind of black that made her blend in just right with the dark and take on a sheen in the light. Just as he&#039;d seen days before, she was plump and perfect, pudgy all around, soft in places he wanted to snuggle and lick and just plain adore. &quot;You&#039;re...&quot;<br />\t&quot;No, I&#039;m not stealing. I found this fair and square. Now outta my way or I&#039;ll...&quot;<br />\t&quot;No! No no, you misunderstand. That&#039;s free for removal. You see, I own that place and leave out all the food I feel needs to be downgraded from sellable to giftable. It&#039;s a minor distinction, personal sort of thing, I never use it to calcu... That&#039;s not important. I mean, you&#039;re the girl I saw the other day...&quot;<br />\t&quot;The other day? Oh, yea, I came around here because I smelled some cooked meat back there.&quot;<br />\t&quot;I always cook meats before I leave them out. Less chance of infection that way. I&#039;ve been trying to track you down since then.&quot;<br />\t&quot;And just why would you do that? I had nothing to do with all that fire damage I see on your place. I wouldn&#039;t kill the goose with the golden eggs.&quot;<br />\t&quot;That&#039;s not why I wanted to see you again. Though now that I do I... I&#039;m a little tongue-tied by this entire situation. I never really thought the whole matter though as well as I should have.&quot;<br />\t&quot;As much as I would love to continue this conversation, this cheese isn&#039;t getting any fresher. I&#039;d like to have my meal and then get back to...&quot;<br />\t&quot;Oh, are you hungry? Why didn&#039;t you say so? You can have all you want from my kitchen. If you&#039;ll let me have the pleasure of joining you. I can make up something for you that you&#039;ll absolutely love.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Alright... But nothing weird, alright? I ran into a guy here who yelled at me and then fell asleep.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Oh yes. Lieutenant Pug. Don&#039;t worry, I&#039;ll take care of him.&quot; Gabriel allowed the mysterious woman into the back of his club while he mentally ran through the long list of decidedly unpleasant, totally detestable and utterly painful things he would, could and should do to Pug to repay him for his intolerance.<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\t&quot;Um... Are you sure this is necessary? I mean this seems like a bit much...&quot; The mystery kitty found herself sitting at Gabriel&#039;s best table, the one made of actual wood salvaged from Cruella&#039;s ample garbage stores, on his best chair, the one that matched the table, while Gabriel himself was behind the bar firing up his grill to toss on his choicest cuts of meat. Meanwhile he was contemplating what he could do about a drink. The best thing on the menu was a fruit and yogurt smoothie. But he couldn&#039;t serve it with the beef. He&#039;d have to use the most loathsome thing on his menu, the soymilk that he held in stock in cases of lactose intolerance.<br />\t&quot;Do you mind if I use this soymilk instead of the real thing? I can&#039;t serve meat with milk...&quot;<br />\t&quot;That&#039;s fine. I&#039;m a little lactose intolerant...&quot;<br />\t&quot;Then, why were you taking a large hunk of cheese?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Because I also have to eat. Do you think I can maintain this figure without a good meal?&quot;<br />\tGabriel was in awe of the fact that this gorgeous creature maintained such a healthy bulk on the streets through stolen high-fat, high-cholesterol meals. &quot;Y-yes... I can understand why you would want to work to retain your perfect figure.&quot; Gabriel nearly missed the blender and almost forgot to turn down the grill as he once again got to act like a voyeur, admiring the hot, zaftig curves of the pretty kitty before him.<br />\t&quot;Ha! Hardly perfect. I&#039;m more than a little pudgy, don&#039;t you think?&quot; The kitty placed one paw firmly on the table and put the other upon her most impressive hip, cocking it out almost intentionally, making the fat on her ass and belly jiggle slightly. Her face almost seemed to be taunting and teasing in its innocence, as though not realizing that the spectacle was arousing as all get-out.<br />\t&quot;Gah... N-not at all. I think you look f-fabulous...&quot; Gabriel pressed the blender button as soon as that caboose started to shake and his puppy pecker came out looking for someplace to bury itself. Thankfully he was behind the counter and spared himself embarrassment. Until he had to go and present her with the food. Gabriel concentrated of loading a plate with grilled meat, pouring the (admittedly vile) soy shake into the best glassware he had (Pilfered DeVil crystal) with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. As an afterthought he placed both on a serving tray and whipped an apron around himself to hide his arousal problem. Wouldn&#039;t do to let a fine lady like that see something like that. He bore the serving tray out from behind the bar, balancing it on his head, using his forepaws to steady the sides while he walked it over to the table and slid it smoothly onto the top. &quot;There you are. Finest I can provide.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Th-thank you... Thanks so much...&quot; The feline stared, huge-eyed at the plate of meat and the freshly made shake. All for her. It was all for her. She started in right away, her hunger getting the best of her manners. She speared the meat with her claws and tore off great hunks with her pearly whites, seeming almost ravenous. Hers. And hers alone. She had something all her own. Didn&#039;t need to claim it, didn&#039;t need to defend it. It was freely given to be hers. And though fleeting, it was something special.<br />\t&quot;So...&quot; Gabriel was undeterred by the clawing and tearing and loud slurping. He had her, dammit, and he intended to do more than just sit there and gape at her pudgy magnificence. &quot;What&#039;s your name? Where are you from? Got any favorite songs or things of that nature?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Mmmph?&quot; The cat swallowed her mouthful of steak loudly, gulping a bit of shake to lube up her throat. &quot;Sorry... My name&#039;s Ertha Kitt. Yes, naming a female black cat Ertha Kitt is the height of obviousness. My original owners had that stunted a sense of humor. It&#039;s one of the reasons I left. Though to their credit, they tended to overfeed me a lot. That&#039;s about as nice as they got, and how I acquired my admirably ample carriage. That extra bulk carried me on my own. I remained pleasingly plump and could bluff my way out of confrontational situations.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Mmm, I can see that. Puff yourself up a little bit, arch your back, boom, you win.&quot;<br />\t&quot;As you can tell, I had to defend a lot of meals to help me maintain all I&#039;ve got. It&#039;s a hardscrabble life out there on the streets. But... I guess it was good for me. I learned to deal with my own problems, be independent, and generally rule my own destiny. But, it&#039;s just too hard out there. I guess that&#039;s why some portions of domesticity were invented, to give a sense of stability without being stifling.&quot;<br />\t&quot;A woman after my own heart. Thoughtful, independent, and intellectually careful, framing your words to avoid any possible taint of supporting or endorsing slavery or submission. I&#039;m extra impressed.&quot;<br />\t&quot;That&#039;s just me. I like being especially clear, if not brief. I guess it serves me well enough. Do you really like it? Most people find it confusing, or incomprehensible... Or worse, annoying.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Not me. But you might have noted, I&#039;m not exactly average in that respect myself. I&#039;m quite brainy by most standards. Everything you see in this place that wasn&#039;t salvaged from the trash, like the tables and chairs, was made by my own two paws. I can make almost anything out of the leavings of the humans.&quot;<br />\t&quot;That&#039;s quite a talent you have. And from what I can tell, it seems to serve you well enough. This whole place is opulent to my eyes. But don&#039;t take that as a knock against your skill because, well, I just haven&#039;t seen much of anything. But from what I recall, it&#039;s nicer than the room I used to inhabit with my old family. I was... Not quite unloved, but rather showered with attention then they could remember and mostly left to my own devices the rest of the time.&quot;<br />\t&quot;I was smothered with love, affection, attention, food, grief, annoyance and guilt. I came from a rather large Jewish family in New York. Both human and canine were plentiful. And overflowing with attention to be given to everyone within the extended family. It made me both gregarious and inwardly drawn. The gregariousness manifests itself in things like this, this place, these things, making other people happy, bringing dreams to life, a love for my fellow pup, tempered, in many ways by a desire to be just a little detached. That&#039;s where the other half comes in, forever separated from them by some quirk of my personality, helping them, receiving material things from them but never connected to them. I think because... When all is said and done... They&#039;re not my real family. They&#039;re surrogates. Replacements for the time being. Simple placeholders. What I find most disconcerting is that I want to love them like my own flesh and blood but my mind stops me from doing so. I keep trying, getting interested in their personal problems and situations, learning their lives and times and other matters of great import to their beings. Love and hate and anger and revenge and sorrow and pain... I know it, I feel it but it never gets me close enough...&quot;<br />\tErtha cast her eyes downward, not at all knowing what to say about that. She was no expert on families. She barely had one in every stage of her life. And here was a pup who had one that was large and filled with emotion... Which was lost to a new family, also large, also filled with emotion... But not real. Just adoptive. He must hurt every day, longing for the feelings of having a real family surrounding him, knowing he has one somewhere, and also knowing he has one with him, one that he cannot reach. Because he won&#039;t let himself. &quot;You... Don&#039;t want to be happy here.&quot;<br />\t&quot;What?&quot;<br />\t&quot;You don&#039;t want to be happy here. Because... I don&#039;t know. Maybe you&#039;ll feel it&#039;s a betrayal of your real family. And maybe you... Don&#039;t want to become close to all of them because you want to get away one day, back to your real family. You don&#039;t want to bear the pain of being rent away from yet another family, or face that feeling when you&#039;re among your real loved ones. You don&#039;t want two families, because you know... You know you can&#039;t have them both.&quot;<br />\tThen it was Gabriel&#039;s turn to cast his eyes down and think. It was only a theory, from someone new who didn&#039;t have all of the data, just a partial... He stopped his brain in mid-rationalization, because he realized that it was things like that that kept his emotional guard up. And the mere fact that his mind was trying to dispel the notion so hard was proof that it was truer than he wanted to admit to himself. He couldn&#039;t have both of his families. His real one and his new one. And given half a chance, what he really wanted was both of them. They both had charms and advantages that covered the quirks and little flaws in each. In the end what it meant... &quot;I want... A family. I want this one; I want my real one. I want one. But I don&#039;t want to be torn away from it, ever. And that is the only fate available for someone who has two.&quot;<br />\t&quot;No, it isn&#039;t. If you can just contact one then you&#039;ve got them. Live apart from them, call them, mail them, do something. You can have a long-distance relationship with whichever family you aren&#039;t with. It&#039;s not the same as being there but... Of all the limited options available for such a fate, it&#039;s the one with the least pain.&quot;<br />\t&quot;You have a point. I&#039;ll get online and track down someone from the old neighborhood, see if I can make a connection to anyone. Phone calls might be hard unless someone can hijack a cell phone, and letters written by a canine to a canine might be undeliverable. However, maybe a web cam, streaming video like that.&quot; Gabriel really looked at Ertha, all over her plump and perfect form, up into her expressive, sweet face and then at last into her deep, sincere, and innocent eyes. She was a lot more than just a perfect body and a pretty face. She was something else. Something special. &quot;You know... You&#039;re very easy to talk to. And... I feel so comfortable around you. All my defenses are down, all the truth is out, and I don&#039;t even care, when usually I&#039;d be guarding everything with my life. I can&#039;t explain it, but there&#039;s just something that makes it possible.&quot;<br />\tErtha blushed lightly under her fur, the dark pelt making it impossible to see the sweet pink she was turning at the compliment. She closed those large eyes and smiled a touch, a paw at her face to lightly rub her cheek. &quot;Thanks... I tried to make myself as friendly as possible. That&#039;s the way to survive. Mind you, I have my logical limits. This is actually more than I&#039;d normally do. But how can I not? You&#039;ve been so nice. Made me dinner, talked to me... Admired me...&quot;<br />\t&quot;Wh-what do you mean... &quot;Admired you?&quot;&quot; Gabriel tugged at his collar, seeing the one disadvantage in having it be a solid band. It didn&#039;t budge an inch, just pressed against a different part of his neck. She noticed, though he had tried to be as subtle as possible.<br />\t&quot;Come on. I&#039;m not the only one with big eyes. Your big peepers are certainly obvious enough. I saw you checking out my curves. And you didn&#039;t back away. You didn&#039;t scream, you didn&#039;t run, you didn&#039;t get sick. You looked... Admiringly on them. You looked at every part of me: My hips, my tummy, chest, face, eyes. The eyes meant the most. Seeing everything you did, loving the view, you had the decency to look me in the eyes. You weren&#039;t in it for the fetishistic lust, or looking for a quickie, or just being polite. You gazed over everything, looked me straight on, and still had the same emotion in your look. I&#039;ve never had that. It speaks well of you. You&#039;re a decent guy.&quot;<br />\tGabriel had no trouble with blushing. The white parts of his fur showed off the pinkness beneath. He looked to the side, now self-conscious about where his eyes were straying, even if it was a sweet and loving thing. &quot;Well... I try. I&#039;ve cultivated a bit of a con-artist, would-be Don image around here. But I&#039;m actually very sincere and fair. I charge what I think is fair and lets others get a good deal. I price things near cost and my little fees and extra charges are tiny. They don&#039;t add up to a lot but keep the place running. I deal in volume business with satisfied, repeat customers and an intimate knowledge of what they need, followed by an even more intimate knowledge of what they want. Needs are nice, but wants are real power. A want is an influential thing. It makes many do strange things. And if it is safe and worth it, I supply wants to my brothers and sisters. I have become an important part of their lives by not only giving them what they wish, but also subtly sneaking them closer and closer to what they need.&quot;<br />\t&quot;You really do sound like a good person. Nothing wrong with a modest profit while helping your siblings. A secure future, being well liked by those you&#039;re closest to, keeping yourself active and vital. I think I&#039;d like to be a part of this. You need a secretary or assistant accountant?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Are you kidding? I&#039;d love that! The image alone or having both would be priceless, plus I&#039;d have more time to work on my machines. You&#039;re hired. You start... You start when you feel like it. You can sleep in the club, nick food from the back, and will have priority when I finally build some subterranean chambers for habitation.&quot;<br />\t&quot;A &quot;yes&quot; would have been more than enough.&quot; Ertha casually slumped back in her chair, imagining it. A real job, a real home, steady meals, and a boss... A friend, worthy of the name. A little tear glinted in the corner of her eye.<br />\t&quot;I&#039;ll give you the grand tour, introduce the system, and then... Stay here, if you don&#039;t mind. I don&#039;t want to leave a lady alone at night in a strange place.&quot;<br />\t&quot;An entrepreneur and a gentleman. I like working here already.&quot;<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\tGabriel basked in the combined heat of eight candles, the day&#039;s receipts handled perfectly by Ertha, who was a wizard with all the figures. Not as slow and methodical as Gabriel, she was still effective because of her checking and rechecking, making careful observations of each column to make certain everything made sense. Gabriel smiled, thinking that his new secretary was truly a miracle, a gift from the glorious Lord of creation. Saying his prayers each day and keeping his faith was indeed rewarded. As someone once said on an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims unit, &quot;The Jews have kept the Sabbath and the Sabbath has kept the Jews.&quot;<br />\tThere were no interruptions, no unusual situations or other oddities to interrupt the flow of his day. The entire thing was a welcome relief from the last few days of fire, war, explosions and a new employee. Employee... No. A girlfriend in all but name. He knew he had some kind of connection to her. They had a rapport, an understanding, a link that held them together beyond a simple working relationship.<br />\tThe previous night had been a heaven the likes of which he had never known before. He had strewn pillows about his office and plenty of blankets. Ertha rested atop a pile of pillows like some exotic, unattainable queen, her every look, innocent or intentional, was sultry as all hell. The spot beside her, just barely touching... There could come pleasure from even such a simple touch as that. The dreams it brought were all of the same stripe, dreams of Ertha sprawled out over every part of the farm, surrounding every familiar scene, making the beautiful scenery more so.<br />\tHe shook his head to clear his thoughts of that. That, most certainly, was not what should be in his mind. But, a part of him knew, that in this time of reflecting upon miracles, Ertha certainly counted as one. After the candles had burned down, in fact, he was on his way to see her at the club, to be near her again, to talk, to do most anything. To do anything she wished to, no matter how plain in might be.<br />\tIt was not that long of a wait, for he had thought so long and well of her that he was surprised by the sudden inrush of darkness and coolness that informed him his candles were done. He thought some stray breeze had come in and extinguished them all, or that Tripod had covertly extinguished them it was so sudden. But no, when his eyes adjusted to the low light he saw that the candles were burned all the way down to the bottoms, pools of melted wax confirming they had burned all the way down. He thought it odd that thinking of Ertha made time fly so fast, then struck the notion from his mind, realizing that it was a compliment, that the mere thought of her could made the minutes fly.<br />\tHis walk to the club was slow and leisurely, a calm, serene stroll through the night, inhaling the cool air of the season, tasting the crispness of it, reminiscing about happy times in New York, walking through Central Park, or along the crowded sidewalks to Temple, his ears perked and listening to the Cantor as he stood outside with his siblings, worshiping the same as the humans within. Then he remembered where he was, and who he was with, and, surprisingly, memories came to him too. Of Tac trying to hard to destroy Lucky and then drowning his failure in fruit drinks and Dipstick&#039;s mindless, perky company. Of Lucky working so hard to be the best and Tripod helping him as hard to be that. Cadpig and TwoTone&#039;s relationship, about the only piece of the farm that was not dysfunctional as hell. A crown jewel, and something to be proud of. And all the happy faces of his adoptive siblings in his place, enjoying themselves, chattering, making small talk with him and others. He felt a smile grow upon his muzzle. Ertha had been right. He had been stopping himself from enjoying his family, but now, with Ertha as a subtle path to his emotions, the rest had come flooding in. The loneliness was still there, but was dulled and muted into a little whisper behind all the laughing, shouting and talking from both families.<br />\tHis mood was high and bright when he came into The Lounge, his step light and his mind free. So much so that as soon as he saw Ertha he grabbed her tight and gave her a huge, warm kiss on the lips, murring deeply while he gave it. After he had loosed his lips from hers he gave her a huge smile and said, &quot;You were right. I just opened myself to the happiness of my family here and now, and actually found myself enjoying the memories of both of them. I finally felt... Part of things here. Not just important, which I might be, but loved and appreciated. And you made me realize I could do that. Thank you so much.&quot;<br />\tErtha would have been humbled by the compliments but she was too busy being floored by the kiss. No one had ever kissed her, not like that. The guys who tried with her never wanted a kiss, and that was a ticket to hurtville; so was doing it to just get in her pants. There was always something attached to it. Tit for tat. Quid pro quo. A kiss for a fuck, a kiss for some liberty, always a deal she was quick to turn down. But this time, the one who did it didn&#039;t want anything. In fact, he was giving her something along with it, a compliment. Her words had helped him and he was so happy he just had to thank her in the most direct and personal way possible. &quot;Th... Th-thank you for the k... compliments. I&#039;m only too glad to help out... It&#039;s the least I could do. I mean, after the food and the room and staying with me. Really, I don&#039;t think I could ever repay kindness like that.&quot;<br />\t&quot;You&#039;ve done more than enough by just being you. Your very nature makes you worth all the things I have given to you. Plus salary and benefits, and a percentage of profits in addition to that.&quot; Gabriel was still not thinking about what had happened. He had just kissed the girl of his dreams and was talking about financial things. The rush of emotion was still upon him, sending him forward without thought. &quot;So... You eaten yet?&quot;<br />\t&quot;Yep. Had kind of a later dinner and cleaned up everything after I was done. You&#039;ve got some nice stuff back there. I can&#039;t believe people threw it all away.&quot;<br />\t&quot;People toss the most useful items when they think it&#039;s broken or obsolete. One person&#039;s broken bits are my weekly projects, and someone&#039;s obsolescence is my challenge of the day. It&#039;s not a well-spent day if I haven&#039;t tinkered with something, trying to fix what&#039;s barely broken or upgrade what&#039;s hardly outclassed.&quot;<br />\t&quot;Simply amazing. You&#039;ve got a lot of dedication. Devotion of that strength is hard to find in anyone, much less someone from a place like this where you don&#039;t have to be anything but complacent and bored.&quot;<br />\t&quot;That boredom is exactly why I work so hard. That and I like seeing the fruits of my labors enjoyed by all. It feels good to help others out in such a manner. But the initial spark is, indeed, the boredom born of an English countryside lacking in any high adventure save what certain fringe groups force-fit into the area, and what I make for myself. A challenge is always sought, and I always meet my own desire.&quot;<br />\tErtha grinned lightly at the use of that word. Desire. She knew that it was only a kiss of friendship, and thanks. But still, she had hopes deep in her kitty heart that there was something more to it. After all, he had taken the trouble to seek her out, asked around about her specifically, and was eager to just talk to her. Maybe there was something more to his desire than just friendship and a working relationship. He surely wasn&#039;t cold and dead inside. There must exist some kind of passion in his canine form. &quot;I have a little question. Don&#039;t take this wrong or anything, I just wonder... Do you think I could get another kiss?&quot;<br />\tGabriel coughed into his paw, realizing what he had done at last. At last it sank in that he had given the girl of his dreams... Of anyone&#039;s dreams, a gigantic smooch on the lips, and held it longer than was proper for boss and employee. He wanted to take the relationship to a new, more intimate plateau, but that wasn&#039;t how he intended it. &quot;S-sure... Just lean in close.&quot; Gabriel licked his lips in delight and expectation, fairly quivering with delight and nothing had even happened yet.<br />\tErtha leaned in close, going slowly to let her fears run their course. It was just one little peck. Something out of friendship, respect and admiration. A gift and a thank you for what she had done. It wasn&#039;t anything especially scandalous. Just innocent fun and frivolity. Her own delicate pink tongue slipped out to wet her suddenly dry lips, her eyes remaining open to watch Gabriel&#039;s handsome face approach her.<br />\tThe two inched closer and closer, eyes locked to each other&#039;s, each one looking scared, a little dewy and quite hopeful. Both wanted it to mean something more than just friendship. Closer and closer they came, lips lightly puckered until at last they finally touched lightly, quivering a little bit. A purr began growing in Ertha&#039;s breast, thrumming though her form, gently rumbling though Gabriel&#039;s lips, meeting his pleasured murr, which created a resonant rumble between the two. That resonance alone, the pleasurable hum it created in them both, was their sign. Something special was going on between the two. The universe wanted them together. The good girl and the huckster. A match made someplace better than heaven: The hearts of two folks.<br />\tThey hadn&#039;t planned for anything beyond the kiss. Ertha hit upon the idea suddenly and Gabriel had only time to say yes and anticipate it. So their bodies continued forward, desperate to touch each other, wanting to merge, to blend and combine into one until there remained nothing but one being made of them both. Their chests touched first, Ertha&#039;s large, soft one against Gabriel&#039;s slender and smooth one. Next came their paws, which slowly wrapped around each other. Ertha slid her paws over Gabriel&#039;s slim, trim bum, stroking his young bottom with her rough pawpads, toughened by her life in solitude, ready for the softness she was being promised. Gabriel brought his quick, slick hands up over Ertha&#039;s very generous bottom, his pads smooth, his toes talented, able to work a deck, work some shells, work anything he had to. Now they were working on something truly important, a big bottom that was soft and yielding, but which flexed playfully underneath his touch, which toyed with his paws like his preferences were wide open and fully known. They had their new level. There was only one place to go, if both could agree on such a bold and daring path, such a brash thing between two who are both new to each other.<br />\tThe touching continued, slow and sensual, loving, because that&#039;s what it was. Love was what drew them together. They knew it, could see the grand plan for them crafted by fate. Their lips parted, though reluctantly, their respective rumblings softly fading away in time and tune, their eyes almost fully closed, still looking longingly at each other. Neither one wanted to break the contact, but neither could speak without looking away. If they said a word to each other they would instantly have to blush and look away, for such a question was rather embarrassing. Two virgins, one young and unwilling to do such a thing, the other matured and wanting to save herself for a man who would care for her first and her body second.<br />\t&quot;You&#039;ve offered me your kingdom. Your empire. Salary, perks, bonuses, a place to sleep, food on a regular basis, and good stuff, too. Safety, security, stability, and... Passion.&quot; Ertha closed her eyes fully, pushing her rounded belly up against Gabriel.<br />\t&quot;Everything I have I&#039;d give to you. Shared, gifted even. I mean... I... I love you Ertha. I never thought anyone would make me feel this way. And no matter what happens here tonight, or whatever happens the next day, just know that I mean what I say, truly.&quot;<br />\tThey both slid slowly to the ground, still embracing tightly, drinking in the contact with happy sighs. It was a short step from there to the place they truly wanted to be. Ertha was moist and ready, her thighs dewed with arousal, vulva glistening softly in the low light of the club. Gabriel could not hide the erection jutting up from his belly, nor could he make excuses for it as it thrust up against Ertha&#039;s tummy, pressing into the soft, pliant fat.<br />\t&quot;I want...&quot; Gabriel started to whisper, rolling onto his back and rubbing his maleness against Ertha&#039;s tum. The fur was extra smooth and silky, even more that before. It wrapped his length in a little half tunnel of yielding heat and ticklish comfort. She obviously took advantage of the hot tub and the variety of pilfered beauty products Cruella never missed. He ran his fingers through Ertha&#039;s thigh fur, clutching at her desperately. &quot;I want you, my precious one, to sit on the throne of my empire, as my sweet and devoted queen.&quot;<br />\tErtha settled atop Gabriel like a kitty blanket, her returning purr making her a massaging blanket, a long moan coaxed from Gabriel&#039;s lips, a case of punny but appropriate gentle purrsuasion. She bore down upon his cock with her belly, moving slightly to the side and letting one row of nipples glide over the turgid puppymeat. &quot;It&#039;s the job I was born to do, that&#039;s what I am you know. But... I think I need a good alpha at my side.&quot;<br />\tThe next drag tickled her other set of nipples over the twitching, spitting cock, leaving Ertha with her hind stuck up in the air, just a short aim and a gentle lowering from being impaled by puppy cock which would be considered reasonably generous in general, to say nothing of the comparison between what the feline boys had been trying to force on her. Gabriel&#039;s paws were upon those hips, every so gently pulling them down, no resistance slowing the passage, but merely his own concern for her comfort and pleasure. The pointed tip of his canine prick resting just below the moist lips of Ertha&#039;s sex, tickling them when he breathed in, and squirting precum lightly against it. &quot;Well then, let us seal this most agreeable merger...&quot; Gabriel winked up at Ertha with a cheeky little smile.<br />\t&quot;With a kiss...&quot; Ertha whispered through puckered lips, seeking Gabriel&#039;s once again. But the only way for her to really recreate that kiss would be to press everything in against him. Everything. And she did. She allowed her hips to be pulled down, helped him push even. She bit her lower lip while he groaned and whimpered, his pointed head meeting her virginal lips. Slowly, very slowly, the pink-flushed lips parted before both of their urgings, spreading wide and then wrapping in tight around more and more of Gabriel&#039;s erection as it was slowly sunk into Ertha&#039;s body, her kiss approaching his as she achieved a full fit. With a touch of lips and a touch of knot the job was done, they were as one, Ertha atop Gabriel, lips held together, eyes shut in delight, everything pressed so wonderfully together.<br />\tGabriel just slumped back, fully relaxed over his entire body, save for his hips, which he held tight, tautly keeping his cock in position, not wanting to interrupt anything that Ertha might try to do. Even though he could tell she was just as much at a loss as to what to do. It was one thing to watch, and for Diva to give him tips, but doing it... He couldn&#039;t control himself, he didn&#039;t dare try. Each unintentional motion his beautiful ebony kitty made sent a slow pleasure from his cock up to the pit of his stomach. It was almost an ache of delight, which warmed him in new and erotic ways.<br />\tErtha had to break the kiss to let out a yowl of delight at her first motion. She had thought the initial penetration was the height of her experience, with all the stretch, and the new feeling of being full, and warm, in many different ways. Her muscles tightened, operating on their own, squeezing down upon the hot meat resting within her, sealing her to her throne, her clit pressed in against Gabriel&#039;s knot. But when she pushed up on Gabriel&#039;s shoulders, to slide herself up on his erection the sudden change and renewed clenching sent a shudder through her jiggly form. &quot;Say... Say the words I want to hear...&quot; She whispered hotly into Gabriel&#039;s ear, grooming it once she was done.<br />\t&quot;Mmmm, Job perks... Insurance plan...&quot; He didn&#039;t know what words were just right for her. He hardly knew what he was doing. He was blinded with kitty face and pleasure. He might just have had his eyes closed. He couldn&#039;t be totally sure any longer. Everything was swirling into a haze in his mind. The details were growing fuzzy, save for the little spikes of delight pumping into his mind from the strokes and caresses of Ertha&#039;s inner walls, together with his light and hesitant thrusts.<br />\t&quot;Yes...&quot; She sighed, slowly adjusting to her newfound pleasure, vaginal muscles rippling up and down along Gabriel&#039;s shaft, more and more under her own control, the same as her slow sliding along that pole, becoming used to the pleasure and the warmth spreading through her form. &quot;More...&quot;<br />\t&quot;Medical, dental, vision, and prescription drugs.&quot; Gabriel was using his other instincts for this situation, for without any experience with direct carnality he could only seduce with economics. He wanted to thank Ertha for the feeling of her around him, atop him, almost surrounding him like a furry blanket. And he was, in his own special way. &quot;No co-pay. Life insurance too. Full coverage.&quot;<br />\tMore hot kisses poured down on Gabriel&#039;s ears, her yowls and screeches and whimpers drifting across her lover&#039;s hearing. She was sounding like one of the old pros out on the fences, screeching like a harpy whenever some little needledick tried to get it up and hump. This was far more appealing just on principal. She didn&#039;t think enough cats mated with dogs. Or vice versa. She tightened her grip all over, not long for holding on, her hips starting to move faster, jerking her cunny all along Gabriel&#039;s precum spitting organ. &quot;Not... Those words...&quot;<br />\t&quot;Then I...&quot; Gabriel jerked a little bit, wrapping himself back against Ertha, holding her tight once again. They were both holding on, clinging to life and happiness and each other and the new delight they had found with one another they didn&#039;t want to relinquish but which their bodies were soon going to force them to. Gabriel quick-humped into Ertha&#039;s wet slit, forcing his knot in against it but never once even considering trying to force it. &quot;I love you...&quot;<br />\tErtha ground herself furiously against that bulbous swell, clutching down desperately hard on the dog dick offered up to her, yowling so loud it could probably be heard in the main house, letting the Dearlys know there was a cat mating somewhere. She was so unfamiliar with the experience it simply sprang up at her and gripped her body tight, worming it&#039;s way through her flesh in a wave of tingling pleasure originating at her tightly stretched cunny.<br />\tGabriel wasn&#039;t being very vocal at all. He was practically smothered in cat, his muzzle pressed in against her neck, all of his moans and whimpers becoming little more than tingly vibrations in her neck, something to buzz his lover&#039;s body while he jerked his hips and lightly kicked his hindlegs about. He didn&#039;t have any clue what giving in was, only that there was a moment of concentrated pleasure, and then a sudden rush of relief, a release it seemed like. It truly was a feeling worth spending cash on. He could feel his plump organ twitch and spit, not the watery precum of before, but thick, rich seed, like he&#039;d had to clean up many a time before.<br />\tNeither one moved, nor did they ever want to again. It was warm and safe there, in a little ball on the floor of the club, relishing the afterglow that each had only heard of. It was a proud day indeed, for both. One had her home back; the other had his heart. They had needed each other, and now they would never want for what they desired again.<br /><br />**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**\t\t**<br /><br />\t&quot;...And afterwards you just look upon the lights and meditate on the meaning of the miracle. It&rsquo;s a deeply personal and spiritual ritual. I&#039;ll light the candles and pray, and you can observe everything. Hope it&#039;s a good show for you.&quot; A new day, long past dawn, long past crafty smiles that only a few understood. A day of secret blushes and secret whispers. The day after the moving of the earth. And it was made out to be a day like any other.<br />\tGabriel lit the center candle and started to pray, his voice seeming, to him, deeper, and richer in tone, more confident than before. He was a man indeed. His father would be proud, by all likelihood. Part of himself didn&#039;t want to enjoy it, however. Part just wanted to keep warning him that now he was attached. He had connections to his surrogate family that went beyond just serving drinks and food. Not just them, either, but a new girl who could very well be a bride to him. What sort of a happy life could he lead with two families ever separated from one another? He silenced the thought with a contemplation of Ertha. He could have, for as long as he chose it, a truly happy life. Because he wasn&#039;t letting anyone steal what had taken so long to earn.<br /><br />The End.<br /></span>",
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