I'm not big on spite, or contempt,
If anyone wants to know anything,
or want's to use the characters or
background, ask me and specify
why and how, I'm nice.
starlight2098@yahoo.com

 
About 09:00.
 Jez sighs and stares miserably out of the window... half an hour
woken from his restless sleep...  He shakes his head from the wakening
and switches on the television.
 The screen flares to life straight onto the news channel, and Jez
sighs helplessly... perhaps other people's troubles could be of some
consolation...
 A report on the Maelstrom system was running... Jez smiled, the
last stronghold of humanity...  The system was an anarchy.  Red dwarf
star, the system consisted of nothing but asteroid type debris...  The
original mining claims from legitimate companies and militaries that had
sought to exploit the easily accessible resources had soon deteriorated
into territorial squabbling, fighting, the abandoning of legitimate
operations... a right bloody mess.  For several centuries Maelstrom
degenerated and degenerated... until nothing remained of the initial
official investment save for the cheap outgoing ore sales...
 When the transmorphaline virus swept the terran worlds on its
commercial traffic Maelstrom was safe, since it only had a meagre number
of smugglers and traders, and its settlements were scattered through the
rocks...  There lives about 10,000 humans... thousands more there than
the entirety of anywhere else...  The fighting had died down some, since
there was no real demand for the ore anymore... there were just grudges.
 The report ended with a note of hope... fat fucking chance.  The
screen brightened with the view of the town... this town...  Jez sat up,
worried... he listened intently to the presenter,
"Yesterday in a town in Florida, a young squirrel student of the local
college was mortally wounded by his vixen lover, the exact details are as
yet unknown, but it's being called second degree murder by some law
enforcement officers.  A secret arbitrator is being called into the
investigation, owing to the lack of experience our society has had with
such crimes..."
 Jez sighed and sank his head back into the couch... wondering how
the press could possibly know before even 24 hours had passed...  The
programme moved on to a strategic review...
"Shit!" he cursed aloud, to no-one in particular... life sucks.
 
                             *      *      *
 
The local 'police' station, 13:53.
 The door opened and in walked a fox, instantly catching the
attention of those around...  He was sleekly built, with a soft affection
about his eyes, a particular grace in his step, his neatly brushed fur
was a brilliant white, his clothes a deep crimson...
 Noticing the sudden flush of attention the fox grinned charmingly
at the people in the office as he scanned them,
"Well," he said in a soft New York accent, tinted with exposure to what
was probably a British accent, "aren't we all surprised to see me?"
 A wolf wearing an imperial police uniform walked over and shook
the fox's slender hand,
"Welcome to our little unnamed district sir," he said respectfully, the
fox shook his head, still grinning,
"Call me Rafa if you please, t'works better."
"You've heard of our little dilemma up here?"
"Yes..." the fox grimaced, "I hate these situations... back home they're
just looked on as something not to touch with a 20 foot barge-pole..."
"I believe you were asked to help since you have more experience in how
to deal with such a situation."
"Yes well, there are very few ex-Morphians living in terran space, Chris
is on a special operation, Keff... is on a special operation..." Rafa
looked up thoughtfully for a second, "I'm feeling quite left out."
 The wolf shook his head, a real character.
"Care to take a walk, to see the station, then our vixen?" he asked, Rafa
nodded, "good, shall we start with... over there?"
"Ah yes... over there... ahem..? over there?"
"Tour of the office."
"Oh."
 
                             *      *      *
 
Hospital, 17:33.
 Jez walked into the quiet reception room looking downcast...
There was no-one to see though, the hospital was way too big for the
world it was in...  He was hurt all the way through, all day he had
waited to be contacted... it had happened at last, not before he had
cried himself sick though...
 "Can I help you sir?" asked a friendly female voice from the
desk, a young-looking tiger.
"Aye," Jez replied quietly, "the name is Jez, I was contacted earlier."
She nodded, and replied solemnly,
"He's in ward 2, resting... I was sorry to hear about it..."
"Thanks..." Jez croaked and walked off in the direction the sign pointed,
starting to cry again, wonder what he would see, what Grey had to tell
him...
 Eventually he reached the small room lined with beds surrounded
by machines, Grey was the only one there... covered in a single blanket.
 Jez bit down on his pain and walked over, sitting himself onto
the bed and shaking the squirrel lightly, until his eyes opened.
"Here I am Grey..." he said, feeling hurt...
"Jez..." Grey sighed, and sat up, "fucking hell Jez..."
 Jez could help but let a tear slip... what did he have to say..?
Jez was caught entirely in surprise when the squirrel threw himself onto
the ferret, bowling them both onto the floor, hanging off the bed...  As
Jez regathered his wits he realised that Grey was hugging him tightly, as
if he were hanging onto his only anchor in a flood...
 Grey started crying on his chest, matching Jez's heavy breathing,
"Feeling better?" Jez asked in a high pitched voice, smothered in shock
and sudden joyous surprise...
"OH GOD JEZ!" the squirrel cried, "she almost killed me!"  Grey was
shocked, scared, overwhelmed, he wasn't the only one...
 Jez couldn't think of anything to say, so he hugged the squirrel
instead.
 
 They held each other in silence for half an hour, undisturbed...
Grey finally broke the silence.
"Jez... when all this is behind," he sighed, "I want you to know, I want
you... not her," he sniffled for second, "she's USED me for two years now
and I've had enough of it... you... you loved me yesterday... it was so
different..."   Jez couldn't think of a thing to say in reply, so he
simply let Grey continue...  "I'm alright to go, the doctors say, the
damage was easy to repair... Jez..?"
"Yes Grey?" he replied disbeleivingly...
"Take me home..."
 It had spilled out suddenly, and shockingly...  Jez had never
presumed to think so far that Jiffy had abused Grey... but she had...  At
least Grey had just said so, whether it was in a fit of panic he couldn't
tell... he certainly hoped not...
"Aye... I'll take ye home..."
"But first... kiss me..?"
 Jez obliged happily...
 
                             *      *      *
 
Station, 18:01.
 "So then," sighed the officer, "are you ready to meet her?"
"As ready as I'll ever be..." the fox stared at the ground...
 Rafa was lead past the holding cells with a cloud of gloom over
him... knowing almost exactly what miserable picture to expect...
 Sure to expectations, the vixen was holding her knees, sitting
on the bench in the corner of the room, unkempt, her muzzle hanging down
wet with tears, tail lying onto the floor as though dead...
 Rafa sighed,
"Open the door, I'd like to talk to her in private..." seeing the
objection forming on the wolfs face he interjected, "I could handle her
thankyou very much, and I doubt very much I'll have to anyway."  Shaking
his head, the wolf did as asked, the door slid open just enough for Rafa
to slip through then shut.
 "Who are you..?" the young vixen asked tearfully...
"Call me Rafa."
"Well Rafa, what do you want to talk to me for?"
"Because I may be able to help you, that's all..."  She looked away,
"I don't want, or need help, I know what I've done, and what I have to
pay for it..."  Rafa sat himself down beside her,
"So if you're so sure, you could tell me what that is..?"
"Brutally killed my mate," she sighed with fresh tears...
"Well, he isn't dead, as a matter of fact... he'll be back at home before
the day is out..." she rose her head and listened, a new glimmer in her
eyes, "your charges have been lowered to assault... that's a lot better
than the cases in my experience...  On Morpheous, we don't have life
support tanks, medical nano devices and cloning tech... when morphs fall
victim to this sort of thing they die, and their lovers spend the rest of
their lives in guilt..."
"So I'll get to see him again?"
"Probably," Rafa sighed...
 She shut up and looked thoughtful... fresh tears appearing...
"So," Rafa sighed, "how did this come about anyway..?"  She shook her
head,
"Where'd you want me to start..?"
"Start whenever you want... I'd like to know..."
 Rafa listened intently as she began with how she fell in love
with the squirrel... it was amazing how quickly a fox can pick up a
lifeline... much as he once did, she was doing now... and he knew she'd
feel better for it.
 
                             *      *      *
 
Home, Later... sometime...
 Grey sat quietly with his coffee, staring blankly at the
television, thinking of Jiffy... how she had reacted so jealously, so
savagely... it was within her character to be savage... but no one could
suppose that it hadn't been a shock...  Grey knew how vulnerable he was
as a prey morph, but it still ran a chill though his body...
 Jez was standing on the porch again... that was where he liked to
be when he was thoughtful...  However, Grey probably had more things to
think on...  Like what the FUCK was he going to do about it..?
 He was still Jiffy's mate, and she was probably hurting pretty
bad...  But it would be pretty hard to be with her again... it's not like
he ever really loved her... he was just a thing of hers... something to
play with, something to satisfy herself with...  He had been expected by
a dozen people to be there for her... his foster-parent included, all
expecting him to have 'taken the responsibility', whatever that was
supposed to mean, for Christ's sake she stalked him, and molested him for
a whole day!  And that was meant to seal it..?  Through no fault of his
own he was expected to be a sex-slave to her!  Almost every other day she
would fuck him, note, that she did the fucking, he was just expected to
react as she pleased, and that was when she wasn't really in the mood!
 He looked at Jez again, at the sleek form, leaning against the
railings, staring across the horizon... he was nice, he actually loved,
him... and Grey couldn't help but admit feeling something... but having
little so experience in the area... he just couldn't tell.
 The thought of another night with Jiffy was very unappealing at
present... the thought of a night with Jez... with real affection instead
of being held immobile like a stuffed animal... that was very different.
 He stood up and walked quietly over to Jez, standing next to him
he sighed and spoke,
"Jez... I honestly don't want to stay with Jiffy... I want to be with
you...  I want to be loved, not used..."  Grey looked over to him,
"Ye mean that..?" Grey nodded,
"Yes... I do."
"I'd have thought that-"
"Well don't think!" Grey said aloud suddenly, turning around and stroking
Jez's head, "don't think..."
 Jez drew up closer and kissed Grey lightly, Grey responded by
hugging Jez tightly and kissing him back harder, prying his mouth open
with his tongue, quickly being swept back onto the opposing railing...
 They kissed deeply, as time passed slowly, every second
mattering... every action being felt... until finally Jez drew back, and
they breathed heavily, regaining their breath.  Quietly they stared into
each others eyes, and Greys doubts were dispelled... he knew what he
felt... and he could see how Jez felt, no, he could almost feel it for
himself...
 He repeated them in his head until he was so sure he had to sigh
them aloud, the words he once and for all knew he truly meant,
"Fuck Jiffy..."