Chapter Thirty Two: level of care.

"hintity hint hint" >:3

-emperorwolf.

Carl said goodbye to their guests as they left, politely thanking him and Syrus for their hospitality.
the leopard sighed "that was an ordeal and a half."
he looked towards the kitchen to see Radin had changed into more casual clothing. "Radin," he spoke to his adoptive son "thanks for being polite, Sy really appreciated it."
the young snow leopard smiled "it was cool meeting them."
Carl nodded "yeah, i think i'm finally in their good books, too!"
"well..." Radin stretched "i'm going to youth group now."
"okay," Carl sighed "you know which car in the carpool it is?"
"i do."
as he walked out, Carl waved to him "enjoy yourself!"

momentarily after he watched Radin get in the correct car through the window, Carl smiled and sighed happily.
he stretched, and removed his black jacket, glad to finally have the thing off. "phew, never noticed how hot that thing is!" he groaned as he tossed it on the couch, realising seconds later that Syrus wouldn't be very happy if he left it there, so he grabbed it and headed to the bedroom.

before he opened the door, he picked up on an odd scent.
"whazzat?" he muttered under his breath, taking a big wiff "is that... no... it couldn't be... roses?"

he twisted the doorknob to find his suspicions correct, walking in, he found two scented candles burning on each of the bedside desks, the blinds were drawn, and the lights were off.
he went to flick the lightswitch.

"uh-uh, you don't wanna ruin this~!" came a familiar, cooing voice.

Carl looked at the bed to see Syrus in a bathrobe, leering at him.
Carl looked around, realising what kind of atmosphere had been set up "Sy... what is all this?"
the little otter giggled "why not come over here and find out?"
Carl shut the door behind him, and simply dropped his jacket "please tell me this is what i hope it is."
with a broad grin, Syrus beckoned his partner over "with Radin out at youth group... we've some time to ourselves... i thought, maybe... you'd appreciate some alone time with me... give me a chance to thank you for being so well behaved today..."
Carl could feel his heart beating faster, he wanted this very, very much... but his consience compelled him to ask out of concern "what about... all the things you said when i tried to talk you into it last time...?"
"i thought about it... and i trust you more now that you've got a clearer head."
Carl unbuttoned his shirt and removed it, his heart thumping so much he was sure Syrus could hear it.
"y-you're sure about this, Sy?"
The otter stuck out his tongue "i'd be lying if i said i wasn't a little bit scared... but maybe you were right, maybe we should try."
unbuttoning his pants, Carl smiled joyously "Sy... if you're not... okay with this..." Carl blushed "i mean, you don't have to do this just for me... if you don't want to..."
"so selfish," Syrus said jokingly "this is just as much for me as it is for you."

now stripped down to his briefs, Carl sat on the bed, Syrus standing and ordering him to lie down
"what're you doing?" he asked as he lay flat on the bed, Syrus climbing up onto his pillow to be next to his head "Sy, what've you got planned?"
"on your front." he ordered the leopard
Carl obeyed, still a bit confused "Sy... please tell me what you're doing..." he turned his head right, looking straight at the little otter standing upon the pillow.
"what am i doing?" he returned with a miscevous smirk "you'll see."

Carl groaned irritably as his partner discarded the bathrobe and leapt onto his back, now completely unclad, and giggling like a child.
"Syrus, if you don't tell me right no--ah!" Carl was cut short as the otter jumped hard upon his spine
"sorry," Syrus apologised, and started bobbing up and down a bit slower "how's that?"
Carl sighed contentedly "mmh... now i understand..."
in the past, Carl had given a wonderful massage to his partner, as they hadn't exactly reached the intimate stage he desired at the time, and Syrus had always told him he was sad he couldn't repay him for it... however, it seemed he'd worked out an effective way to do so. a way that he realised he especially liked.

Syrus continued the improptu massage, striding down the big leopard's spine "good, 'cause i'm not done."
once Carl felt the otter reach the base of his tail, Syrus turned, starting back up toward his upper back.
"ahh... ngh! hey," Carl chuckled after the abrupt grunt "i think you just pushed part of it back into place."
"i felt it, so if you did too... it must have." Syrus chuckled.

Syrus reached his leopard's neck, standing with his footpaws on either side of the giant leopard's spine, he began to rock left and right, drawing a low moan from his partner.
"how's that feel?"
"ohh... how'd you know 'bout the crick in my neck?"
Syrus chuckled "you're always looking down, plus, i do lie next to it at night."
"i see... thanks."
the massaging exploration continued for some time, the tension in Carl's back muscles slowly alleviated by the little roaming otter's intentionally-placed paws.

Carl yawned.

"i'm not boring you, am i?" came Syrus' mocking voice to the near-sleep leopard.
"no no no!" Carl assured him "it's just... very nice..."
the little otter giggled "oh? maybe you'd prefer if we didn't move on to the next bit, then?"
"next bit?"
the next words started Carl's heart pounding all over again.

"something more suited... for someone who's my lover~"

Carl gasped "don't mess with me, Sy..."
"i'm not. i mean it," Syrus crept up behind Carl's ear, and whispered "let's try it out."
Carl's heart seemed it might burst "y-you mean it? really?"
the otter laughed "i just said, didn't i?"
Syrus clambered off of the leopard, standing in front of his nose and pressing himself against Carl's muzzle, gazing up into his big, golden eyes with a loving smile on his face.
Carl grinned "if you're planning what i wanted to do last time..."
"i am~"
Carl winked at him "hrmm... well, after all that, i think i'm loosened up enough... so i think it's your turn now."
Syrus gasped as the leopard's tongue slid from his mouth and carressed his lower body, making him moan "o-oh my god... C-Carl...!" he tried to move away out of surprise.
"shh," the big leopard whispered between his loving licking, his paw rising to hold Syrus in place "to quote; you don't wanna ruin this~"
Syrus, now pressed between the massive tongue in front of him and the paw behind him, felt truly blissful. "god... damn! i kinda wish i'd had the nerve to let you do this before!" he exclaimed as the intensity of the licking increased "I can't believe i've said 'no' to this so many times!"
"you were scared."
"scared or not... aahhh.... i shoulda known not to've waited so long... all these years... oh god i'm so friggin' stupid."
Carl winked at him again, his licking becoming even more intense than before "i think it was worth the wait, to see you so... happy~" he mixed a kiss in with the licks, making Syrus cry out in joy "it was smart of you, even if it wasn't intended. your subconsious must be a genius."
"Carl... I lo-- rrrgh!" Syrus growled.
the leopard giggled "yes, i love you, too."
Syrus had never felt such intensity before, it was making his heart beat so hard it was liable to burst out from his chest, and just before the tension reached its peak, he blacked out.

when Syrus came to, he found the giant leopard's euphoric face in front of his own, back far enough to allow all of it to be in view "hey there, Sy. how're you feeling?"
Syrus took in his surroundings; he was on the pillow again, with Carl's paw laying on top of him like a wonderfully warm banket, and his body felt weak all over.
but, in spite of that, he felt amazing.
"ngh... pretty good, actually... did i... you know, finish?"
Carl carefully brought him to his muzzle, giving a delicate kiss to Syrus' lips "you did. we'll have to do that again some time..." he nuzzled at Syrus' stomach "by the way, i think i was spot on before."
Syrus cocked his head, snuggling against his leopard's muzzle "about what?"
"how would you describe your mental and physical condition right now?"
"tired." he admitted "so?"
Carl grinned "think about that. yes, you're always tired, but..."
Syrus's eyes shot open, and his jaw dropped "i... i feel kinda sleepy!"
Carl nodded, laughing "exactly. what'd i tell you? you. were. pent. up."

Syrus suddenly recalled something "hey... that night i spent with you in the hospital, after you nearly died... i slept that night, didn't i?!"
"you did," Carl replied "i think it was because you let out a lot of emotion that day."
Syrus yawned "y'think i'll be able to sleep from now on?"
Carl gently kissed him again "i do. i'd bet on it."

the little otter clung to Carl's face, his eyes watering "goddamn... i love you so much right now, Carl."
"no matter how much you do," Carl said with tears forming in his own eyes "i'll always love you more."
Syrus playfully, albiet weakly, thumped Carl on the nose "you're speaking nonsense, what you're saying is impossible, you big lug."
as Syrus felt himself drifting off, Carl snickered and said "lucky you then!"
and as the darkness of long-awaited sleep closed in, the leopard said one last thing.

"sweet dreams, Sy."

---

Radin returned a few hours later, finding his larger father in the kitchen with a cup of coffee.
"hey da--"
"shh!" Carl quickly silenced him, but still smiled.
Radin whispered "hi... um, where's...?"
Carl giggled excitedly "Sy's asleep!" he managed to say quietly.
Radin went wide-eyed "asleep?!"
Carl nodded "we worked out his stress, and bam, he can sleep!"
the young snow-leopard smiled "i see why we're whispering, then."
Carl stood "c'mon, come look!"

-Syrus' Dream-

Syrus found himself in a field of flowers, every colour possible, and the sun shone brilliantly overhead.
he knew this place, and the simple cottage behind him confirmed it.
reppunais, his Gentikan birthplace.
a tiny leopard slid down onto his muzzle from his head, smiling happily into his eyes.
"i'm glad you brought us here, Sy."
"glad you like it here."
he hugged Syrus' face "i do, i love it here... your hometown... it's just paradise."
"and you're okay with being so small here?"
"i prefer it, i think... certainly beats accidentally breaking this place!"
Syrus lifted the leopard from his face and kissed him "good to know. what's your favorite part, though?"
the lepoard hugged his muzzle tightly "you."

tears flowed down Syrus' face "thank you..."

Syrus wished he could stay here forever, holding the leopard and never having to let go, the two of them together until the end.
he would have accepted such a life, seen it as one spent perfectly, nothing else mattered to him more than his beloved leopard did. he even valued him more than himself.

"i wonder if Radin'll visit?"

before Syrus could answer, a loud thump drew him from his dreaming back to the real world...

---

the otter awoke to find both felines standing in the distant doorway, a painting having fallen being the noise that woke him.
he yawned "hey Carl, Radin, what's up?"

Carl winced, his ears lowered "sorry for waking you..."
"s'okay... (yawn) if Radin's back, i should probably get something done, huh?"
"yeah... i guess it is dinner time... but still, this was your first sleep in five years... you sure you wanna get up?"
"i do. can't leave you two hungry, can i?" he laughed happily "after all, it's my job to 'feed the cats' isn't it?"
they smiled at him guiltily "Sy... I can do it if you want to sleep... you don't have to--"
"Carl," Syrus laughed "shhhhush! besides, you? make dinner? yeah right!"
the big leopard strode over and leaned down to be closer to his level.
"jeez Sy," he chuckled "have a little faith."
Syrus shook his head "c'mon Carl, you know i do it better than you."
the leopard rolled his eyes "okay, okay, twist my arm why don't you..."
Radin walked out "i'll go set the table."

Carl closed his eyes and sighed, ruffling the otter's fur "y'know what Sy?"
"hm? what?"
Carl gently scooped up the little otter and hugged him to his chest within his shirt collar as he straightened up "after we dress you, maybe it's time you showed me what i've been doing wrong... after all, we both know what happens when i'm in the kitchen."
Syrus snuggled into the soft white fur around him "yeah; fires."
Carl scoffed.
"so... maybe you're right, guess i could teach you a few things. there are all those big utensils just lying around unused, after all."

---

-inside Vagrant Eons Online-

Draqis had been put in a virtual interrogation room, the system administrators wanted to know how he'd caused the earlier sieze-up and why.
like most of the Admins, the one questioning him; a human with short red hair, wore a black leather duster coat, along with a pair of shades, greatly resembling a character from a certain movie.
"we've been over this, how did you freeze the entire server, and why?"
Draqis sighed "and i keep telling you, I. Don't. Know!"
the admin didn't buy it "you're going to tell me how you did it, or we're going to be here for quite some time, kid."
Draqis growled angrilly "so what, i'm stuck here until i say what you wanna hear from me and then call that the truth?"
the admin said nothing.
an intercom-like system carried an authoritarian voice into the room ""Avarice, let me talk to him.""
the admin groaned and stood "fine, you take over, Sporad."
the admin digitised and sent himself away, a new one appearing that looked like an alaskan malamute clad in the same black clothing as the one before him.
"hello." he said politely.
Draqis nodded "yes, hello. are you as pushy as the last guy?"
"Avarice hears only what he wants. I, on the other hand, hear only the truth."
Draqis sighed "well, I honestly don't know what happened."
"and why is that?"
"all happened pretty fast. before i really knew what was going on, it'd already happened."
"what already happened?"
Draqis smiled wryly "gonna make me say it, huh?"
the malamute nodded "well?"
"alright... my will overrided the firewall and let my mind slip out of the system. happy?"
"very much so... Mr Fiest."
the first admin reappeared "hold on! YOU MEAN I WAS INTERROGATING BETA FIEST?!"
the malamute nodded "you were, Avarice. and you had no idea."
'Avarice' looked like he might faint.
"you're free to go," the malamute sighed "just try not to crash us again."

and then he was sent out, rematerialising inside the inn of the town he last visited, Praeton.
he was sitting at a table in the bar area.

"hey there, good to see yer' back again!"

he turned around to see a familiar face behind him.
"hey there, Benkei."

they chatted for a while, going over why the Pragma wolf had suddenly coded-in to the bar.

"i see, cool. so yer' able to bring the whole server crashin' down on us just by wantin' t'get out?"
"oh no, that was an emergency, i can't do that whenever!" Draqis laughed
Benkei seemed amused "well, I kinda wanna see what ya can do."
Draqis took the hint "well then, lets get outside the town and head up, there're high-level monsters up in the air."

the Lynx handed him a glass card "y'll need this."
he accepted it, a message popping up to notify him that he'd recieved Benkei's member ID for forming a party.
together they exited the town, let their respective wings out; Draqis' being insectoid and Benkei's being avian sprouting from his back, and launched into the air.

the wind had been programmed to be fierce up at the height they reached, it was so bad that they could barely keep their eyes open.
however, Draqis, quickly equipping a pair of pilot goggles, got around this issue.
and then the armoured birds came.
Benkei flailed in the wind, his swords missing the agile creatures.
but the wolf wasn't having luck even half as bad as his ally.
his auto-firing submachine guns allowed him to hit the birds easily, quickly racking up experience points.
the lynx laughed "maybe i'll let you take care o'these guys 'til my speed goes up, eh?"
"just hit the slow ones!" Draqis ordered him, pointing towards an oncoming group of larger, slower birds.
Benkei nodded "okay, my level's higher anyway!"

the two engaged the monster bird flock high in the air, while below, in the lake, a young ferret was watching them, her eyes full of awe, specifically watching the lynx.
"wow..." she said quietly "i gotta follow them!"

after they tore apart the enemy creatures, the duo high overhead moved on, so she travelled at speed through the lake and out into the river to follow them.
luckily, being a Mekis, she was able to keep up, that, and they were flying over the river.
eventually, they landed, so she hid nearby and listened in.

the area was a river cut through a forest, the trees growing on either side of the water.
"dammit," Benkei groaned as he touched down near the water's edge "i dun' see why Zobians've gotta have a fly limit when you Pragmas don't!"
Draqis remained in the air grinning "hey, Faerie knights do have their advantages."
the lynx nodded "guess so, even Govions have a fly limit, but then again, you're not exactly strong, are you?"
he embarassedly rubbed the back of his head "thats why i went for guns, low close-combat skill, so i use long range... that's logical, right?"
the lynx shrugged "guess so."
Draqis yawned, and disbanded himself from the party list "i gotta go, i'm tired."
the wolf drew a silver whistle from his inventory, blew a single, sharp note, and vanished.
and then the ferret emerged.

he groaned "what now?"
she glared at him "whey're you being so nice to him? aren't we going to take that kid down?"
he grinned "be patient. i'm thinkin' he might be fun."
she sighed "fine, we'll keep up the act a bit longer, then..."
they both smiled sadistically.
"we PK the kid." Benkei finished
the duo embraced still looking rather evil even as they did so.
"you're such an evil bitch." he said as if it was a suggestive compliment.
"and you're such an evil bastard." she returned in the same manner.

meanwhile, a red-haired knight in blue armour scowled at them from his hiding place behind the bushes.
(the second you try it.... you're so done.) he promised inwardly, he didn't know why a high-level player like Benkei the weapon-taker was targeting the newbie wolf, but it didn't matter.
Sir Stormferno was paid to take down Player Killers.

(Next chapter: Log in! Have fun! Log out!)