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Café Plaisir: October's Jaunt part 5; Twin Shenanigans

by October Flixard

"The gall of that fuck!" growled Eclipse, as they watched him stalking angrily from one end of the room to the other, "He's really pissing me off, now!"

Their brother was animate with his frustrations, pacing the room furiously. Like he'd been doing on and off all morning and a few times the evenings before. The large, male Mightyena's face was swallowed in his distinctive black markings, though they were not half as dark as the scowl he bore across them. Furious, pensive, he was as ominous as a storm cloud, as if waiting for his moment to come crashing down.

Lay across the couch, trying to watch the TV as Eclipse continually crossed back and forth across their vision, Sinister and Dextus shared a brief look of irritation and concern. Much as they'd been sharing all morning.

"He comes here, from his damn magic tower, where he pulls his deadbeat, asshole shit," grumbled Eclipse, "and instead of jail or just getting left to me, he gets a damn job, which he can't do for shit..."

"Uh-huh," said Dextus, on cue. They'd ran around this one a few times. Next to him, Sinister's frown increased just an imperceptible line further.

"He causes nothin' but shit," continued Eclipse, "and still they tell me, 'stay outta his way, just let it be...' and against my better judgement, I fuckin' do..."

"It was big of you," said Sinister. A little less sympathetically then maybe she'd intended... or so Dextus hoped.

If Eclipse noticed the impatience in her tone, he didn't show it though. He was mid-flow, "So he messes with me, he sends his little friend to come and spy on me and mine! ...and then he has the gall to come and show his fuckin' teeth at me!"

"Stupid of him," said Dextus, again on cue.

"So why'd he spy on you?" said Sinister, suddenly, still staring at the TV with a frown.

Dextus gave his sister a look. They were both tired of this, but they knew that trying to talk to him about it was likely to be a bad idea. She gave him one back. She and they both were too tired not to try.

Eclipse stopped and stared at her, surprised and angry to be interrupted mid-rant. "What?" he asked.

"Why would he do that, anyway?" said Sinister, not engaging his eyes, "Why would he send the Umbreon?"

Eclipse's eyes became darker, Dextus noted with some concern. Still Sinister didn't look at him. Dextus shifted uncomfortably.

There was a pause before Eclipse spoke, "He was probably trying to dig dirt or look for weaknesses. That Fox is up to no good. I can tell."

"What could he be up to?" said Sinister frowning, "What's he done since you and Firenze brought him to heel? Ass all, that's what."

Eclipse all but barked as he spoke, "He got that Umbreon workin' for him, who found you two makin' nice, for one!"

"Well that ain't exactly a secret, Eclipse," said Sinister, "Oftentimes me and Dex go to a customer as a package, I mean, the fact we get accepted here's the reason we came... and how do we know the Umbreon was sent by him, anyhow, huh?"

The older brother paused, but only for a second. "Oh, he sent him, alright," grumbled Eclipse, "why else would he be watching? The story he gave us was bullshit."

"Oh? So what did he say?" asked Sinister.

"Yeah... what did he say?" said Dextus, suddenly curious too. They hadn't heard this part of the tale.

"Said he was studying us," said Eclipse, with a thoroughly contemptuous sneer, "said he wanted to learn to be a better Dark type. Said it was October's idea..."

"That's what he said?" said Dextus, doubtfully. It sounded odd.

"That's what he said," said Eclipse, "and even if he wasn't lying, he's just a dumb bitch doing whatever the Ninetales told him. If he wasn't lying. If," he put a lot of angry emphasis on that word, "Could just be coverin'. That one's just as shady as the Ninetales. I already had my eye on him..."

There was a pause, Sinister took a breath to speak, but Eclipse was already off again. "...and I don't know what the Ninetales is plannin'. Could be anything. Maybe he's thinking of robbing the place. Maybe he's got the Umbreon on board..."

"Woah now," said Dextus, "Now that's a bit of a leap, isn't it? Rob the place?"

"The Ninetales who spills drinks?" added Sinister, doubtfully, "Rob Café Plaisir..? Come on, Eclipse..."

"Hey," said Eclipse, angrily, "Don't get too hung up on the impression he's giving us. He's not like Firenze. That Ninetales is sneaky and crooked." He snarled, "If it's not robbery, could be anything. Could be plannin' more shit like he almost pulled with Nature..."

"Nature said that was a misunderstanding, bro," said Dextus, "We were there..."

Eclipse growled, "Pah," he shook his head, "I'll tell you what happened there. Ninetales pounced Nature. Nature gets a soft voice and a hard cock on him and he goes cock-happy."

"Oh come on," said Dextus, "Nature's not stupid. He'd report shit like that."

"Ain't he?" said Eclipse, suddenly staring his younger brother in the eyes, "...or is that his exact brand of stupid? You know where he goes in the woods?"

"No..." said Dextus.

"No-one does," said Sinister, "Unless you're saying you do."

"Somewhere he one day probably won't come back from," said Eclipse, in a low voice, "Like I said, that's his brand of stupid. I say that Ninetales was up to no good and woulda done no good if we hadn't caught up to him."

"So..." said Sinister raising an eyebrow at her brother's sudden concern for consenting conduct in Café Plaisir, "You're worried he's some kind of scary rapist type?"

Next to her, Dextus smirked, "Is that what this is about, Eclipse? Worried you've got some competition?"

"Hey, Café Plaisir's only got room for one like me, and that job's mine." said Eclipse, almost smiling for a second, though his expression was no less dark than it had been, "That ain't it though, he's up to something, I just KNOW it..."

"So he's up to something because you want him to be up to something," said Sinister, sighing, "If you're so sure, why aren't you out busting him?"

"Because despite all appearances, despite my services in that regard, that's NOT my damned job," said Eclipse, stopping his pacing, growling and staring dangerously at his sister, "and they shoulda listened to me, just like you ought to start listening to me before I get upset..."

Sinister and Dextus looked at each other. 'Leave it,' said Dextus with his eyes. Eclipse was standing up, stiff and angry, staring at them. They weren't going to get anywhere with him right now. Probably weren't going to get anywhere with him on this full stop. Their brother had his hate on... he'd set his mind and they weren't changing it. They both knew it. Knew from bitter experience that they'd be hearing about this until Eclipse himself resolved things.

Sinister was getting angry and frustrated though. Her impatience showed in her eyes. Dextus sympathised completely and synergistically, but talking about it wasn't going to make their day any better.

Eclipse began pacing again, distracted by his own hot-headed temper. "...and I'll tell you another thing!" he began again, looking away.

Sinister and Dextus both rolled their eyes and returned their attention to the inaudible TV. Sinister tapped a claw on the remote and the subtitles came on. They didn't really care about the program, but it would be easier to tune out Eclipse.

Dextus paw slid over subtly and rested it on his sister's. He gave her a smile. She gave him a small, subtle smile back, showing more honestly in her expression how tired of this they both were.

Eclipse continued grumbling in the background.

* * *

Mister Pouncer wasn't happy. He'd allowed himself to think that things were going well. He'd even congratulated some of his staff members yesterday for a job well done.

Now, with nearly half of the Cleaning staff off sick, he was conducting a decidedly less populous Morning Briefing with a strained grumble in his voice, "...the reports on the new conditioner are good," he said, droning with less enthusiasm than usual, "no-one has proven allergic thus far."

Demure, one of the two Unfezant who handled the unenviable task of Café Plaisir's morning laundry, clucked unhappily, "The new conditioner leaves the bedclothes stiff and nasty!" she declared, "It's unacceptable."

Mister Pouncer sighed, not in the mood for Demure's attitude, "We've had no complaints," he said tiredly, "so management wishes to continue using it."

"It's of low quality," said Demure, accusingly, "it is cheap."

Pouncer stared irritably at the Unfezant. She stared back indignantly.

Next to her, Delilah, let out a warbling chuckle, "I don't know why you bother, Demure. It's not like the filthy mammals notice during their rutting."

Demure looked around angrily at Delilah and the two Unfezant began to stare at each other with competitive indignance.

Pouncer decided to swiftly move on, counting on his Laundry team to effectively internalise their argument. It was done, anyway. "So..." said Pouncer tiredly, "That brings us to the floor staff..."

"Yes..." said a sharp and formal, slightly asian-accented voice from the corner, "on that matter, where IS our floor staff?"

Pouncer paused, looking first at Elegance. The Mienshao stared back at him with an unreadable expression on her sharp features. He looked then for his floor staff...

With half of his cleaning staff sick in their beds, he hadn't noticed the extra absences right away. He glanced around quickly, but surely enough, there was no sign of October, Chai... or Colin.

October and Chai weren't too surprising an absence, but Colin? It gave Pouncer pause.

"One begins to worry about the sense of professionalism here," said Elegance, staring directly at Pouncer. "Will I be required to wait tables, today?"

"Not as yet," said Pouncer quietly, "I will determine what has happened to our usual floor staff, first."

"I'm beginning to think a bad apple has fallen in with the bunch..." said Elegance, a sharp look entering her eyes.

"That is for me to decide," said Pouncer, a little more sharply than he intended, "and decide I shall, soon enough. We are done for this morning. Dismissed!"

The assembled floor staff began to disperse. Much to Pouncer's irritation, Elegance remained behind, still looking at him.

He sighed and took a deep breath as the diminished staff began to file out to attend to their overburdened duties. Marshalling his not inconsiderable discipline, Pouncer prepared himself to deal with Elegance. The Mienshao was normally very quiet unless she had something to say. It seemed she did today, much as Pouncer wasn't in the mood for it.

He waited until the last members of staff had left, knowing that Elegance would be stood not far behind him, before saying, "Yes, Elegance? You have more to say?"

"I do," said the Mienshao, "Though it surprises me to have to say it. You must share my concerns."

"State them out loud, anyway," said Pouncer, turning, "So I might hear them as you think them."

Elegance, who was indeed stood nearby, rose her head with a small, nearly inaudible hiss, keeping her eyes closed. "This may not be the most prestigious shift in Café Plaisir," she said, her voice as smooth as her perfectly groomed fur, "but too many low class elements are visible to customers, making for a poor impression," she said, her words becoming as sharp as her keenly maintained claws and fangs, "The Umbreon was bad enough, but this Ninetales is a joke in poor taste. He is an insult to his kind and this Café's reputation."

As usual, the Mienshao had wasted no time, nor spared any edge in tone. Pouncer was annoyed, but composed, "You speak ill of your co-workers as always, Elegance," he said, "and with little understanding. October and Chai have both shown marked improvement. They both have the potential to be great employees."

"The potential?" said Elegance, sharply, "Perhaps, though I have my doubts. Besides, we should not have potentially good staff. We should have good staff. I cannot fathom why either of them are working here."

As ever, she wasted no time in going for the critical strike, engaging in no more maneuver then necessary to deliver it. Pouncer found himself once again wondering about Elegance's past. He himself had once been a Pokemon trained for combat. Yet at times like this, he was glad he had never faced her in battle. This however, was ultimately more his arena.

"Elegance..." said Pouncer, "the kind of character it takes to work at Café Plaisir is not as common as you seem to think. In your harsh judgements, you neglect this difficulty in your impatience. Neither are we here the kind to waste promising prospects. Both October and Chai are worth developing."

Elegance hissed, more openly and glared at him, "I am not impatient... and the waste here is in indulging such folly as those two. They harm the pride of our establishment."

Pouncer frowned, "I'm sorry Elegance, but your judgement does not agree with my own and your severity does not match the situation. There has been no lasting harm done."

"Nor any significant progress made, as we can see today," said Elegance quickly, "but if I cannot make you see sense, I see no point in wasting further time with this."

She began to walk away without being dismissed. Despite himself, Pouncer found himself irritated by the calculated snub.

He held his tongue, however. In truth, the Mienshao's words held greater truth than he might like. There was a certain tolerance in Café Plaisir, for colourful characters filled the rosters by necessity and design. Yet there were limits... and neither October nor Chai had much earned any exceptional patience.

He heard another involuntary hiss over his shoulder and glanced at the Mienshao as she stepped aside, allowing October to amble into the Main Bar. The Ninetales had a white blanket hanging over his body, drawn in at front and back. He walked oddly, halting unevenly in his unusually wide gait.

Better late than never, Pouncer supposed. Even so, what was wrong with him to make him walk like that? Glancing over his form, he couldn't see signs of an injury, the way he carried his weight didn't suggest as much. He assumed the blanket held its secrets, but part of him was reluctant to get close in case he caught a whiff of alcohol to confirm the suspicions he didn't want to have. Instead, he just frowned, hoping it wasn't... any of the possibilities going through his mind right now. He would hate to have to suddenly be forced to agree with Elegance...

"Hello..!" said October, an over-wide grin showing a little too much fang as he stumbled nearer. Well, that narrowed things down slightly. "Ahhh... I'm not too late, am I?"

"October..." sighed Pouncer, "You have missed morning briefing. This is very disappointing after yesterday's performance. You know we expect a certain standard of professionalism here..."

"Ahhh, yes," said October, looking sheepish and awkward, "Very sorry about that. Won't happen again, I don't think... Ahh..."

Pouncer stared harder, "You don't seem to be thinking about the impression you're making here, October. Nor of your sizeable debt, nor the chance to improve yourself." He was speaking harshly, he realised, but October's foolish grin was doing nothing to soothe the frustrations of the morning, so he continued, "You should know that it will take a consistent effort to prove yourself to us here, October. You should realise that a better future requires an uphill struggle, making yourself better, every day!"

October growled and rolled his eyes, irritating Pouncer further, muttering, "Stop that..."

"Stop that?" Pouncer's anger rose, "Stop telling you where you went wrong?" The Ninetales eyes still didn't return to his own. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Pouncer demanded, his frown sharpening, "I'm beginning to think your attitude-"

"Mister Pouncer!" squeaked Colin's voice, seemingly from nowhere.

Pouncer, caught by surprise, looked around until Colin spoke again and the Grovyle's gaze was drawn down towards the blanket hanging over October's legs. "Ummm, Mister Pouncer I'm sorry, it's my fault."

"Colin..?" addressed Pouncer dumbly, taken by surprise to say the least. Somehow, that wasn't one of the possibilities he'd considered. "Your fault..?"

The blanket seemed to part at the front of its own accord, revealing the Sylveon's sorrowful face.

"It's my fault October is late, Mister Pouncer!" said Colin, "I didn't check the time and... well... we're stuck..."

Pouncer's palms found Pouncer's face as the penny dropped in his mind.

October sighed, "We'd have still made it if Colin wasn't so fussy. He was trying to to find a crimson-coordinated sheet in a roomful of white and pink..."

"White sheets don't suit you!" protested Colin, "I still think you should have wore the pink blanket!"

"I don't, wear, pink," said October slowly, raising his muzzle indignantly.

"You are wearing it now," said a sharp voice from the doorway.

Pouncer opened his claws enough to see Elegance at the doorway. Why was she still here? Nevermind, it was obvious.

Colin was giggling, "Hee-hee! He sure is!" he must have waggled his hips, for October growled and looked distant, "...and what a fit!" continued the Sylveon, "You should try him soon, Elegance!"

Elegance stared venomously at the Sylveon, "I don't think I will try him at all Colin. In fact, I thought you had better taste."

"ENOUGH!" shouted Pouncer, before this could escalate any further, "Elegance, please attend the Café floor. It appears you may be needed after all. I hope this meets with your approval..." he said, not without bitterness.

"It will," said Elegance, "Perhaps I can return some class to the floor," she said, turning on her heel.

"You two!" said Pouncer, wheeling on the tied quadrupeds, "both of you should have better awareness of how long a knotting lasts. It is something I should be able to expect of a professional."

October had an eyebrow raised, but Colin looked sorrowful. As he ought to, Pouncer thought.

"A certain amount of liaison is the norm here at Café Plaisir," said Pouncer, "but we also expect a certain level of discretion and we expect it not to interfere with your duties." He paused, then took a deep breath, "For October, this is perhaps an understandable rookie mistake," said Pouncer, "Yet I'm truly surprised at you, Colin. A seasoned operative should not make such mistakes."

"Sorry," whined the Sylveon, looking truly pathetic, sorrow filling his big blue eyes.

Pouncer sighed, suddenly feeling somewhat guilty for his outburst. Still, it had all needed to be said. As his trainer had once said, 'If I'm not harsh when harsh is needed, who else is going to do it?'

"Take an hour," said Pouncer, "Get yourself separated and cleaned up. I expect you on the floor, October and you in your room, Colin."

"Can't I help on the floor?" asked Colin, sadly.

"Not today," said Pouncer, sternly, "Perhaps tomorrow."

"Aw, okay... thanks Mister Pouncer..." said Colin, looking sad and repentant. The effect was almost ruined by October staring irritably at the Sylveon and himself, but it was all said now.

"One more thing," said Pouncer, as they began to turn to leave, "Where is Chai?"

"Ah, Chai is in the Sick Room," said October, "With the Monster Nurse."

"Nurse Boora!" said Colin, sharply correcting the Ninetales.

Pouncer groaned as he spoke, "The Sick Room? It's not a stomach illness, is it?" He already had a goodly portion of his staff down to that.

"He took a tumble," said October, frowning, "He's hurt, but he should be alright."

"Fine..." said Pouncer, sighing and rubbing the bridge of his muzzle, "I will go and see him. Now off with the pair of you."

"Thanks again Mister Pouncer!" said Colin, "Goodbye!"

Ribbons waved from under the blanket as October started them off again, shaking his head.

Pouncer's palms found his face again and he wondered what by Arceus' grace he could possibly have done to deserve such employees.

* * *

Eclipse had finally gone out for a walk. Sinister and Dextus had breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The room was finally empty and the pair of them finally had a lick of privacy and reprieve.

Normally, they'd fall right on each other at a chance like this. Any private time they got was usually filled with appreciation for one another.

This time though, they were happy just to seize the quiet and the calm. They did fall together, but only for the comfort of contact, twin brother and sister leant against each other on the couch for mutual support.

Sinister's paw found the remote and the TV clicked off.

"So, what are we going to do?" asked Dextus, knowing it to be in vain even as he said it, answering his own question immediately afterwards, "There's nothing we can do. Eclipse's got a new hate-mate, he's all excited..."

"...and he's driving us crazy," finished Sinister, looking down.

Dextus slid his muzzle down, finding his sister's nose with his own. "Hey..." he said softly, "This isn't anything new. We know what our brother's like..."

"...and we love our brother," said Sinister with a sigh, "but damn it, Dex, it's getting tiresome."

"Yeah," grunted Dextus in agreement.

They were silent for a brief while.

"He's always been a pain in the ass," said Dextus, "but he's our pain in the ass. It's not like anyone else can deal with him."

"Yeah..." said Sinister, taking a deep breath and rubbing her head against Dextus, "I just thought we'd have more time before he got this worked up about someone again..."

Dextus sniffed in humour, "Yeah, it was great when Firenze put himself in that dungeon. Never seen Eclipse in a better mood than after that... got him right over Firenze."

"IF he's over Firenze," said Sinister, "He just hasn't been held back by him since. That's more luck and our design, Dex."

Dextus sighed, "...Yeah... and it's a pain in the ass keeping an eye on him. It's not like we could stop him and he knows it. It's not improving his mood any, either. So what do we do?"

Suddenly Sinister sat up. She had an idea, Dextus could tell from the gleam in her eyes. Those cunning, darkly imaginative eyes... "So if we can't deal with it..."

"...What?" Dextus had to prompt his sister. Like she sometimes forgot he couldn't literally read her thoughts.

"Well maybe someone else could deal with it," said Sinister, with a grin.

Dextus suddenly found himself grinning too, as he caught his sister's thread, "Like someone strong enough to deal with him, but not as strong or as well liked as Firenze?"

"Someone who could take a fall and put our brother in a better mood?" said Sinister, a smirk slowly forming on her face. She could already tell where her brother was going with this..

"Maybe in a good enough mood that we wouldn't have to watch him so much," said Dextus, slowly and pensively nodding. "Maybe even be dumb enough to get back up again and keep it going for a while..."

"Someone who won't just stand up to him, but gives him the runaround," added Sinister.

"Someone sneaky enough and stupid enough not get management involved," chuckled Dextus.

"I can think of someone alright," said Sinister, her smirk now a broad grin, "Just think of the time we'd have to ourselves, Dex..."

Dextus paused, "...but he already hates the Ninetales," he said thoughtfully, "but not enough to chase him down."

Sinister's grin didn't diminish, "So we make him hate a little more. Just a little push. Won't take much with our dear brother."

Dextus paused thoughtfully, "We'd have to be careful. Push him too far and it's last night all over again, except stuff gets wrecked, Pokemon get hurt and Eclipse gets fired..."

"So it's gotta be something that pisses him off, but doesn't push him too far," said Sinister an excited tone creeping up further in her voice, "So we don't want him straight up angry as we want him competitive and territorial... He's gotta want to play a longer, subtler game with the Ninetales..."

"...One he wants to keep us out of..." said Dextus, thoughtfully. "Sounds great, sis, but what have you got in mind?"

"Well...." she drew out the word slowly, grinning broadly, "This October... We've met him twice Dex. We've looked him over, chased him some. We've got a feel for him. You tell right away that he's proud... confident right up until he gets cornered..."

"...Yeah and then he's hasty when he is," said Dextus, "Sneaky too... he gave us one serious runaround... He'll do anything to get out of a jam."

"Hasty, proud, impulsive, nearly as smart as he thinks he is," said Sinister, bumping noses with her brother so they could share the growing sparkle in each other's eyes, "from Nature and Rain Flower we know he's horny and he swings both ways, as well..."

"...Huh..." Dextus found himself grinning too, now fully caught on.

They moved almost in unison as their excitement rose. It was almost a dance as they turned their heads towards each other, smirked toothily, then rose together, smoothly rubbing shoulders with one another as they did.

They loved it when they got up to mischief together.

"Y'know, fire can be unpredictable Sin... it can burn you." said Dextus without much warning in his tone.

"Unless you know just how to handle it," she said with a grin, "and you know... maybe a few burns'll help too..."

Dextus chuckled, feeling more alive and excited on multiple levels. How he loved his other half... He tilted his head and opened his muzzle, quickly growing in desire to join closer in affection...

Sinister licked him on the nose and drew back, a firm look in her eyes. "Save it, Dex," she said, "We're gonna get plenty of time later..."

* * *

Bandaged and still sore, Chai wasn't in a great mood. He hated this place, with its noisy ceiling fan, the spinning shadows the stark light cast and the stink of Nurse Boora's medicinal cooking.

He'd already been made to drink several of the improvised potions that passed for medicine around here. Mostly berries and herbs collected with the zero budget the bigwigs up on shag alley thought they needed for medical care around here.

It was packed, too. It seemed like half the morning shift was here. Marill and Rattata were lay two to a cheap, shaky aluminium bed, laying tail to tail under the awful, scratchy sheets. They were groaning and clutching their abdomens.

Chai didn't want to be here. Didn't want to be stuck in this awful bed, smelling these awful stinks and generally being around his apparently diseased co-workers.

He'd learned long ago to make the most of medical care though. It had been hard to come by amongst stray Pokemon. He, like most, had been nervous of humans and their medicines, but after he'd seen what an untreated wound could do to a Pokemon, he'd lined up on Pokemon Center open days like all the rest of the smarter strays. Heck, even Strays had.

So he lay and he waited and hated until the Goodra said he could go. At least he wasn't flipping chairs right now. Nor serving customers. Nor putting up with Colin... Admittedly, Chai didn't dislike that fairy quite as much as he had, but that wasn't enough to stop him from dreading his insufferable company. Nor from dreading the fact that they'd grown closer at all. In fact, he had to shudder at that thought.

He was busy trying to count up his good luck when Pouncer came in. Chai didn't even look, just heard the Grovyle's distinctly rhythmic clawed step and watched the ceiling fan.

Pouncer's head appeared in his vision, "Hello Chai," he said, "Are you feeling alright?"

Chai nodded, "Feeling a lot better, waiting to be excused," he said.

Pouncer nodded, "Good... do you know when you'll be out?"

Chai shook his head.

"Nurse?" said Pouncer, to Nurse Boora, who was busy stirring some pot of concoction, "How is Chai's treatment going, when will he be able to leave?"

"Hmmm?" said the Goodra, "Oh, he's healing well, I just wanted to keep him in here for the rest of the afternoon. He twisted his leg bad. I want to make sure there ain't no complications."

"Hmmm," said the Grovyle, "In here, with the sick?"

"Oh, whatever's wrong with them ain't airborne. It's something they ate or drank," said the Goodra, "Chai's not in any risk."

"Alright," said Pouncer with a sigh, "Have you informed facilities?"

"They're lookin' into it..." said the Goodra, whose tone sounded but a little bit impatient, but suggested to Chai that she had about as much faith in promises from upstairs as he did.

"Hmmmm, thank you, Nurse," said Pouncer, then he returned his gaze to Chai, "It worries me to see you in here again, Chai."

Chai looked away, petulantly, feeling his anger rise.

Pouncer made a thoughtful noise, "What was it this time, Chai? Another accident?" The way he pronounced 'accident' made it clear he was already suspicious.

"Nope," said Chai, glancing at Pouncer. He was pleased to see the Grovyle surprised. Almost pleased enough not to regret the direct answer.

"No..?" echoed Pouncer, his eyes became wide and he leant in closer, spoke more quietly, "Chai... what have you done..?"

Chai twisted his face and didn't look at the Grovyle. "It's nothing. I was watching someone and they took exception."

Pouncer sighed, whether in relief or annoyance Chai couldn't tell. Maybe both. "Who and what were you watching?"

"Eclipse and nothing," said Chai.

"Eclipse?" said Pouncer, loudly before with bulging eyes, he leant down closer to Chai and spoke quieter, "I would have thought you of all people would have known better than to provoke him, Chai."

"Yeah well," said Chai, "He didn't take much provoking."

"He never does, I don't know why we put up with him," said Pouncer, then he sighed again, this time with definite relief, "Well, foolish as you were, at least this wasn't as bad as I feared. At least you didn't steal anything this time."

Chai stared right at the Grovyle, a snarl on his face. "That was once."

"Three times, Chai," said Pouncer, "or do you think I'm stupid?"

Chai looked away angrily, frustration and bitterness bubbling up within him. More than three, he thought... but didn't say it out loud, of course. "I gave that stuff back."

"Planted it back on their person, you mean," said Pouncer, "I am patient, I am not stupid. I had thought that you had stopped this."

"I did," Chai said sharply... and honestly. He hadn't had to return anyone's valuables in a while, but it seemed like some habits just wouldn't stay dead.

Pouncer paused. It was a loaded silence. Chai wouldn't look at him though. Angry and frustrated, he was sick of his past coming back to bite him. This was where he'd come to get away from all of that... but all of that seemed to keep trying to drag him back.

"Chai..." said Pouncer, "It's fortunate that Eclipse generally wears and carries nothing, so I know it wasn't theft. If it was some other bad habit..."

"I was just watching," said Chai, angrily.

"Well, don't watch Eclipse," said Pouncer, "and please stop giving me reasons to suspect you."

Chai, furious, didn't answer.

Pouncer remained quiet for some time, then rose. "I have to go," said the Grovyle, in a conversational tone, "October is working with Elegance on the floor today. I'm going to have to keep an eye on them if I don't want broken chairs and burning tablecloths. Get well soon, Chai."

With that, he departed. Chai listened to but didn't watch him go.

He lay there still, staring at a spot on the wall, as his anger slowly sank into misery.

* * *

It had taken some time to disengage from Colin. It was a sign of the good night they'd spent together. They hadn't gotten much real sleep between them, with one or the other dozily provoking repeat performances throughout the night. With so much tension offloaded, it was entirely worth how tired and awful October felt right now.

At least, it would have been if not for Elegance.

October had of course made the most of the hour Pouncer had given him, with only fifteen minutes overrun. The Mienshao had already flipped every chair and stood waiting by the door, ready to greet customers, much as Chai and October never did, by the time October had gotten there.

"Fifteen minutes," had been the first and only words the Mienshao had said to him for an hour.

Of course, nothing much had happened for that hour. No customers had arrived, there were no tasks that needed attending. Sleepily sitting some distance from the Mienshao, October had almost dozed off until he heard the musteline biped hissing contemptuously.

He had given her anger stare and sat up indignantly. Puffing his chest and doing his best to look alert. Until he had simmered down and nearly dozed off again some time later. He had heard another hiss. Then he had started to pretend to fall asleep just to catch her staring. It had become something of a game. Fuelled entirely by a seemingly instinctive mutual dislike.

When the first customer had arrived, however, October had been dozing. "Welcome to Café Plaisir!" he had said out loud, much as he never had before, entirely out of a spirit of competition.

"Thanks," said the customer, already sat and served at a table just meters from him.

Elegance was stood nearby with her arms folded, sneering.

He had growled under his breath and bristled. From that point, it was on.

Each new customer was a competitive race. October had never worked so quickly, nor been so polite to the customers. There was absolutely no way he was letting the Mienshao get any further ahead of him.

It was entirely beyond his abilities to sustain. He was about halfway through his shift and in the non-alcoholic beverages sub-kitchen. He had just loaded himself with Coffee, inside and out, when he turned and heard a catastrophic noise of smashing jars and spilled contents.

He looked behind himself slowly. He had swept the shelves clear with his tails, again.

"FUCK!" he swore, then billowed flames from his maw. Bright orange flames swept over the spilled contents of multiple jars.

There was a sizeable amount of sugar in the pile. It caught fire.

"FUCK!" swore October again, again involuntarily blasting a gout of flames. The fire increased in size and intensity.

"FUUUUUCK!" swore October at the top of his lungs. Acrid smoke billowed from the pile of powdered beverages and condiments, stinging his eyes and making him want to heave.

October sighed, "Well... fuck it," he said, then left the fire to do as it would. The kitchen was mostly stainless steel and tile, anyway.

He turned to leave the kitchen. The Coffee fell from his back and spilled. It chinked off the floor noisily enough to hurt October's sensitive, tired ears, but at the least, did not break.

Sighing and increasingly feeling as though he were lost in the smoky mist that the sub-kitchen had become, he felt an odd urge to try and fix this. A creature of whimsy, he followed it, picked up the cup then running against his usual grain, dared to use the tap to fill several cupfuls of water, which he poured upon the fire until it was out. Every stray drop stung like acid. He grumbled at each one and had to dance back from the puddle on the floor.

He would have bemoaned his continuing lack of control over his own powers, the unfairness of it all or the blow to his pride... but he was just too tired. He refilled the cup with Coffee and was about to take it to the customer when he noticed Mister Pouncer through the thinning smoke, standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

Sighing, he hung his head.

"No excuses?" asked Pouncer, curtly.

October shook his head. He was too tired.

"Well at least you tried," said Pouncer, looking away, "I thought you were just going to let it burn."

"I almost did," admitted October.

"Yet you did not. That's something..." said the Grovyle quietly, "You know... Elegance has been telling me that you were dozing off in front of customers, earlier."

October shrugged, "Elegance could have woken me when the Customers arrived. Instead she chose to embarrass me." He would have injected more venom into those words, but he couldn't bring himself to care that much. He was just too bloody tired.

"Elegance would say you should not put yourself in a position to be embarrassed," said Pouncer, looking away. It wasn't something October wanted to hear. It certainly didn't help matters. "You know, an all-nighter can be a wonderful thing, but it is not a luxury we of the morning shift can well afford..."

"Clearly," grumbled October, with feeling.

"Especially when one burns the candle at both ends, as you do," added Pouncer, "I don't think I've seen you well rested even once."

"I am not a creature of morning," said October, "I think I said that."

"You did," said Pouncer, looking at him again, "but then you promised me you would adapt."

October growled and not voluntarily, "Are my habits on trial now?"

"All of you is on trial, October," said Pouncer, "and you aren't giving yourself a fair chance."

October growled again, but he managed to wrestle it into a sigh before it became another outburst of flame.

"Go on, serve the customer his Coffee and then take a break," said Pouncer, "I will clean up in here."

October paused, then said, "Thankyou," with a nod.

"You take too long to clean up anyway," said Mister Pouncer with a smile.

October raised an eyebrow. The smile did nothing to make him feel better about that jab. It still provoked him to mutter, "You try doing it with just your mouth, then, no hands, go on."

"I think not, though I will point out that you have nine functional limbs around back, which you might learn to make better use of," said Mister Pouncer, smiling, "Go on and go, October, think on what I've said."

October nodded and walked past the Grovyle.

* * *

He woke suddenly, to a hissing noise, the burnt stub of a cigarette hanging from one of his forefangs. He spat the ashy thing out and blinked himself back to awareness.

He was sat outside, his back against the wall of the Café. The sun was still warm on his face and it was otherwise still as peaceful as when he'd begun his break with a great sense of relief.

Elegance was stood nearby, however, arms folded, looking as triumphant as disapproving. "I thought you were gone over-long," said the Mienshao, "and I find you napping on the job. If only I was surprised..."

"You're not my supervisor..." grumbled October, "and you're a little too happy about this."

"Happy?" said the Mienshao, her eyes seeming to flare, "I am disgusted. Disgusted that this institution would hire one such as you, a disgrace to his kind, his homeland and his present occupation. I cannot comprehend why you are here."

October groaned as he pulled himself to sit up. He pulled another cigarette from his mane and lit it, partly just to sublimate the urge to alight the Mienshao.

"You are already overdue," hissed Elegance, "and you think you have time to indulge your filthy habit?"

"You know," said October, the meagre calm he had felt just moments ago quickly evaporating, "I can understand some sense of shock at how terrible I am at this job. So was I, but then I always claimed that servitude would ill-suit me."

"Servitude?" repeated the Mienshao angrily, "You are certainly also unfit to rule. Perhaps even unfit to live."

October took a long draw on his cigarette and stared at the Mienshao, "I wasn't finished," he exhaled, "I understand a certain level of contempt for me, as the clearly, if questionably, motivated individual you are..." he took another draw, "but it occurs to me that there's really no need for you to be such a rude and unpleasant bitch."

The Mienshao's face twisted and suddenly she was swinging at him. Her over-long arm fur whipped around and slapped his head to one side hard enough for him to see colours under his eyes.

He paused, looked back around at her angrily, then exhaled, "Impatient and short-tempered, too," he added.

The second slap was harder than the first, knocking his head the other direction. He growled as he slowly looked back around at the Mienshao. "Do that again, I fucking dare you," he said dangerously, staring her right in the eyes.

Her eyes were sharp and intelligent, if full of furious pride and anger. For long, long seconds, October felt his heat rising as they both readied themselves for action. Yet with control evident in her eyes, she reigned herself back.

"I will not give you the satisfaction of a physical contest," said the Mienshao in a hiss.

"That's the first act of self control I've seen out of you," said October, returning to his cigarette.

"Self control?" said the Mienshao, aghast, "YOU speak to me of self control? Who arrived to morning briefing in such indignance?"

"I'm not pretending otherwise," grumbled October bitterly, "I'm a fuckup, but I know it. I'm here because I'm a fuckup. I'm trying to make good. I'm not pretending at professionalism whilst sabotaging my colleagues."

"Sabotaging?" the Mienshao looked again like she might attack. He held her eyes though and she seemed to hold her calm, if barely.

October took a long time and a lot of pleasure over his next draw and exhalation of his cigarette. Feeling particularly uncharitable, he said, "Someone who truly cares about professionalism would have woken me before the customers arrived, rather than allow me to embarrass myself and by extension, this Café. I can expect that kind of courtesy out of Chai, but seemingly not from yourself." He leant closer, smirking, "Small wonder then, that such a team player as yourself is right on the shift of lost souls with me."

Elegance spat, indignantly and not elegantly at all. "You low-class slime!" she hissed, "You dare to compare me unfavourably to that criminal scum?"

October stood, slowly and deliberately, finishing his cigarette in one long draw, "Yes," he said, exhaling, "Chai is no criminal. He's a good friend and a good Pokemon and with a little polish, he'll shine far brighter than you, Elegance."

"Such garbage!" hissed Elegance, angrily, "You are as foolish as you are incompetent! That filthy stray is a liar and a thief. A good Pokemon? A good friend? You are an idiot. He was caught in his petty theft early on and is now merely awaiting his chance. He is using you as he is using this Café and when you realise this, it will be tragic. As little as I care for the likes of you!"

Burning heat rose within October. His eyes narrowed, "Chai is a dark diamond in the rough, Mienshao," he said sharply, "you are a pit of bitter vileness wearing the clothing of elegance. That is all you have convinced me of."

She leant towards him and for a moment October thought she might strike him again, "If you will not mark my words, you will regret them. If you do not think you are fit for 'servitude,' then you should leave!" She turned away, "Enough of you!" she spat, "Enough time wasted on you. There is work to be done, whilst there is still some pride in this place."

With that, she stormed off.

October took a deep breath, then sighed deeply, then decided that he would have rather done that with cigarette smoke. He definitely needed another one. He drew it from his mane, leant back against the wall and then paused.

"Go to Café Plaisir, they said!" grumbled October, "You'll have a great time! Loads of fun! You'll make lots of friends!"

He paused, took a deep breath, tried to calm himself...

"Fuck!" he swore as he lit his cigarette and began to smoke it.

"Who told me to come here?" he asked aloud, exhaling, screwing up his face and grimacing, trying to recall who it was. It had been bugging him for some time.

Shaking his head, he decided to enjoy his cigarette and his extended break.

* * *

Pouncer had stayed on the bar for the rest of their shift. The Café had been quiet, so it was left for October to wonder if he had done so purely to keep an eye on him and Elegance.

He couldn't blame the Grovyle. The tension between the pair of them was obvious. Even the generally oblivious customers had kept out of the way of the glares they shot each other.

Her words from earlier angered him, bit at him. He wasn't so offended for himself as much as for Chai. She had said much to him that was unkind, but, he grudgingly admitted not unfair. Chai on the other hand...

As if he could blame Chai for having a murky past and a few bad habits. He was hardly innocent himself. Chai was working harder than he was to make better of himself. The Umbreon was chasing an ambition. October would be damned by his own measure if he would let the likes of Elegance drag him down.

October cared deeply for his friends, even one as new as Chai. He didn't make them so easily. He held people who he could like and tolerate and who could like and tolerate him in high regard, beneath only the love of his life.

He really didn't appreciate it when people fucked with them.

In a way, Elegance's enmity was worse than Eclipse's. The Mightyena was immediate trouble, but he was obvious and direct. His imagination was left to wonder at the kind of trouble that Elegance could cause. It annoyed him immensely.

He managed to go the rest of his shift without directly offending anyone, but then he didn't exactly shine, either.

In the end, by the time that Pouncer had curtly told him and Elegance that they were done for today, October's anger had simmered down to an empty, bitter, ashy remnant.

His apron and tray were chafing him, so he ditched them at the first opportunity, counting on a large plant pot he had dubbed his 'upstairs cupboard.' He was tired, he was sick and he was ready to head back to his basement dwelling and sleep as much as he could before the dance floor started up again.

He was walking, zombie like through the Café's corridors, little aware of what was going on around him.

He noticed, with a double take, that a Mightyena was walking next to him, it took a few seconds to recognise even the distinct markings of one of Eclipse's younger siblings. The sister. She was looking ahead, not at him.

Nervously, waking up quickly, he glanced about expecting to see Eclipse. Against expectation, the big Mightyena wasn't directly behind him, for which he was thankful, but when he looked to his left, it was to see another Mightyena, the younger male, also walking in step. The Mightyena smiled at him.

He glanced back at the female. Now she was grinning at him, toothily.

He had some height and size over both young Mightyena, but not so much that the toothy grin wasn't instantly and instinctively terrifying to a Fox.

Whilst he was just about recoiling, she suddenly bumped her hip against his, hard, right as he was in mid-step. Knocked solidly, he went stumbling to the side!

Strong jaws clamped on his mane and hauled, sending him skittering further without any control! He all but went sailing through a nondescript brown door and clattered noisily into some shelves full of cleaning supplies.

Dizzy and reeling, his heart pounding, October opened his mouth to protest and panic-driven flames blasted out at the doorway with a rush from his gut!

The Mightyena, just crossing through that doorway, quickly dashed to either side, though not quickly enough to keep their thighs from getting caught in the fringes of the blast with a hiss and an acrid stink of burned fur...

"Fuck!" swore the male, "Ouch!"

"Hey! Watch the flames!" swore the female.

"What the fuck do you want!?" October managed to shout, regaining his footing, his heart pounding, his head dizzy, though his alertness was ramping up.

He was in some kind of large supply room, large enough to hold several rows of ceiling height shelves and with boxes lining its walls. There were brushes and buckets and mops, bottles and cloths and all kinds of stuff everywhere. There were no exits and not a lot of room for maneuver.

The pair of Mightyena glowered at him, smoking from the ears and flanks. They were scorched, but not burned, harmed in hair, but not hide, as far as October could see.

Then they were smiling at each other.

"Well fuck, not getting set on fire would be a start," said the male. He bumped the door closed with his hip. It closed with a definite slam. October became a little warier.

"How's about we calm down a bit," said the female, "and talk a while, huh?"

October, just gathering his wits, stared between the pair. Though from the exact, symmetrical match of their set and expression, he realised he might as well look at one or the other... "I'm listening..." he said cautiously.

This seemed dangerous. Enclosed in a tight space with two malice-driven, superpowered Wolf-Hyena-hybrid... things. Not a happy proposition. He might have been driven to rash action if they looked ready for a fight, but as it happened, they didn't. The twin brother and sister looked surprisingly at ease for a pair he'd just licked with flames.

"Hey hey, no need to bristle, pal," said the male, "Like we said, let's talk first. I'm thinking we've gotten going on the wrong steps here."

"Things got pretty ugly last night," said the female, "and they almost got real ugly. The smart thing to do would be to smooth things over and that's why we're here," she said it with a smile.

It was somewhat cute, the way they lead on from each other. The two of them were like a double act. It was dangerously disarming. As though two concerted Mightyena weren't potentially a very threatening thing.

Still, they were talking sense. "Very true," said October, carefully, "that was very nearly a pink slip party we had back there."

"Pink slip party?" asked the male, looking confused.

"We were nearly all fired," clarified October.

"Damn right," said the female, smiling, "At least you're smart enough to see it... and Eclipse, we can make him see it. Hopefully. Assuming things smooth over."

October frowned, "If he fucks with my friends again, there's going to be trouble..." he began and then paused, remembering his promises to himself, to Silver, to Pouncer and so on, he sighed, "...but I am willing to be mature and reasonable."

"Great!" said the male, "That's exactly what we wanted to hear. That's exactly what we're here for..."

"...To settle this like adults of Café Plaisir should," said the female, with a toothy grin.

"Well, very good," said October, with a nod, "Fantastic in fact. If Eclipse and I can stay out of each other's way and not fuck with each other at all, I'm sure a lot of people will be a lot less unhappy than they might otherwise be..."

"Right, big of you," said the male, with a big smile.

"Glad to hear you're a smart and mature Ninetales like we hoped," said the female, smiling as well.

October felt those smiles becoming infectious. "Well, I might have a ways to go..." he said awkwardly, "but I'm only too happy to do the right thing here. I am trying to do well, believe it or not."

"Hey, I believe it," said the male, still smiling, "you were protecting your friend, I get that."

"...and Eclipse has a way of rubbing people up the wrong way," said the female, sharing a knowing look with her brother, "Don't we know it?"

"We surely do," confirmed her brother.

"Hmm," said October with a nod, "I may not be innocent of that myself, I will admit, but your brother is really..." he searched for a second, "something," he said, ambiguously, but with feeling.

The two Mightyena shared a chuckle with him.

"Don't worry about it," said the male, "Takes strong characters to work here, only natural some of 'em'll collide."

"Real important thing is to handle it maturely," said the female.

October nodded, feeling a smile creep into his features, "Indeed. I'm glad the pair of you came to talk to me, this seems like the best luck I've had all day."

"Oh, you'd better believe it is," said the male, with a suddenly toothy grin.

"Customers pay good money for this kind of peace offering," said the female.

October raised an eyebrow, suddenly suspicious, "What do you mean?"

"I thought you were smart," said the female, suddenly advancing on him.

"Yeah," said the male, advancing too, "she said, 'like adults of Café Plaisir,' didn't she?"

The sudden change, that was not so sudden, when you had a quite sudden realisation about it, briefly halted October's heart in surprise. "Oh, wait, what..?" said October stupidly, catching his breath.

Then they were suddenly upon him nuzzling both of his shoulders. His head went upright, eyes wide. It was a pleasant nuzzling, but he was keenly aware of the powerful jaws right behind those suddenly affectionate noses. It sent a powerful, instinctive thrill through him that warned him that he was in a very dangerous place.

"Ummm..." October managed to say, "Wait a minute, here..."

They didn't. The two Mightyena pressed in closer, nosing along his flanks and trapping him between the press of their bodies. He was instantly aware of how fit and solid the pair were. He might have been longer and taller, but each of them had his strength.

Feeling awkward and excited at once, October managed to speak again, "This is a little... hasty, isn't it?"

"Hasty?" said the male.

"Don't tell me a little nosing's too much for ya..." said the female, teasingly.

"Ahhh, well," said October, squirming somewhat as a nose found his sensitive hip, "I'm certainly no prude, but..." he stopped, eyes wide as the male's nose found his sheath.

"I'll say," said the male, "I'm smelling buttsex right here. Sylveon, Umbreon... wait..." the male looked up with a quizzical expression, "you've only fucked your pals?"

Suddenly the female's nose tried to snake under his tails. He tried to lower them down quickly, but she got through anyway and forced a little squeak out of him. "Yup!" she declared, the Mightyena's voice tingling his sensitive zone, "Nothing doing back here..."

The male rose an eyebrow. "Well you're a mess, so you sure haven't been cleaning off the smells, have you? Just those two? Seriously?"

October, suddenly feeling quite defensive, glared back and tried to wriggle them away from his private parts, despite his utter lack of room to do so, "Well excuse me, I like to have some familiarity!"

"Familiarity?" repeated the female, catching his eyes to meet him with a scornful smirk, "What, so we're going too fast for you here?"

"You need our resume first or something?" said the male with a matching smirk.

October was feeling very hot under the collar indeed. "Ah, well, I don't even know your names!"

The two looked at each other, sniffed and chortled.

"What?" said October, annoyed and indignant.

"Well I'd ask how you were working here," said the male, "but we just found out you aren't working too hard at all!"

"Didn't take you for a chaste type," said the female, challenge in her eyes.

"I am not chaste!" declared October, puffing himself out indignantly.

"Two in five days?" said the female, "'Round here, that's chaste."

"Blast it! I'm still adjusting!" protested October. Insufficient promiscuity was an accusation he was getting tired of.

The pair of Mightyena chuckled, then leant up against him from either side, trapping him from wriggling.

"We'll help you adjust alright," said the female.

"Yeah... and familiar's our field," said the male.

"Look, look," said October quickly, "This might actually be a bit fast for me... and unless your names are righty and lefty I'm feeling a little undernourished for context, here..."

"Context?" said the male, "How's about you're tryin' to make good, huh? We're going to all this effort for you..."

"I'm Sinister," said the female, "and my brother's Dextus."

October paused, raising an eyebrow, "Wait, so you ARE lefty and righty?" He almost starting laughing, until he saw the look in their eyes and thought instantly better of it.

"I said Sinister and Dextus," said the female.

"Which is Latin," said October, then, "Wait, Dextus? Not Dextrus?"

"Hey, our trainer gave us these names," said Dextus, looking irritated, "Don't make fun, calendar Fox."

"We're two halves," said the female, putting her head on his back.

The male put his head next to hers, the pair of them managing to make their crescent-moon markings line up, the two halves becoming a whole, "...and between us, we're bigger then you, so cut the shit."

Then they separated and began to circle him. October felt distinctly uncomfortable with that. "Sorry," he said anyway. No need to be impolite. They had a point. Two Mightyena were in fact bigger than one him.

"...As for our resume..." said the Dextus, low and dark.

"...You're just about to get it," said the female.

"Ummm," was about all October had time to say before they moved in.

The nosing was more aggressive this time, October was practically pushed around. He felt like he was being sized up like a piece of meat. He grumbled, but he felt his fires stoking anyway, as awkward as he felt. It was less to do with the physical sensation, he suspected, as it was to do with the dark intensity of the auras he was trapped between. For between those two synchronised predatory fields, their darkly-coloured intentions were infectiously tangible. Raw lust and mischief was almost hanging in the air...

They slid their bodies around him and crossed under his tails, pausing to nose and rub muzzles with each other. It was an interesting sight to say the least. Of course he'd heard from Chai about these two, but hearing and seeing... well...

His musings were cut short instantly when they circled around and he found a cold nose on either side of his sheath. He squeaked, most unmannishly.

"Hmmm, it's not bad, but he's taking his time to get warmed up, Dex," said Sinister.

"Hmmm, so he is," said Dextus.

October was about to speak, when he felt Sinister's fangs briefly testing upon his sheath. It quietened him instantly.

"We'd better get that filled out," she said.

"Gonna get offended, otherwise," said Dextus.

"Maybe he needs foreplay?" said Sinister.

"Maybe he needs a kiss," said Dextus.

That they were having an conversation under his undercarriage was weird. The turn of the conversation was weirder. Not a kissing sort, October found the prospect somehow more inappropriate than the touching and wondered how much a thing might work without muscular lips. He was to be surprised.

Suddenly Sinister was out from under him and walking past him. Dextus remained behind, apparently investigating his junk. Every sniff tickled his gear and the Mightyena proved unshy about shoving his cold nose right between October's fuzzy crimson balls. He wasn't sure if it was foreplay or assessment...

It was also distracting enough to have to squint his eyes in reaction and when he opened his eyes again, his vision was filled with Sinister's hindquarters.

October's breath paused. To say that either Sinister or Dextus was a healthy specimen was an understatement, but right up close, it was a grand sight indeed. Not the smooth, toned charm of Chai or the soft, feminine curves of Colin, but a sleek yet solid, shaggily furred rump that screamed of raw, formidable power. A clean-looking pucker and a glistening femininity stared him aggressively in the face.

"Hey, we're getting some life down here," said Dextus.

"Good," said Sinister, looking over her shoulder at him, with a toothy grin, "Now it's time for that kiss."

"Ummm," October just about managed to say, as the blood departed his brain.

"Well?" said Sinister, "What are you waiting for?"

"Yeah," said Dextus, "There's her lips, better kiss 'em."

'Oh crap,' thought October. Now THERE was a gap in his skill-set.

Still, at this point, he really didn't feel like he could say no. Awkwardly, hesitantly, still feeling rather unready and disturbingly close to trapped, he lowered his muzzle towards Sinister's waiting sex. It smelled strongly of desire.

As soon as he was close, she shoved it in his face.

"Mmmf, warm nose," said Sinister, looking back over at her brother.

October hesitantly opened his muzzle and put his tongue to work. The taste was even stronger than the smell... musky, musty, powerful, almost intoxicating...

Sinister growled appreciatively, "Warmer tongue," she said.

"Like the sound of that," said Dextus.

"Oh yeah," she said, as October continued his lapping, "You've got to get some of this."

"Gonna," said Dextus.

October found himself growing unexpectedly excited. He began to peek from his sheath and had to pause and gasp as Dextus' tongue swept over and teased his growing member. He had never much been one for oral sex, but with Sinister's powerful scent in his nose, rich taste on his tongue and solid hindquarters in his vision, it wasn't so bad. He had no idea what he was doing though, so he just kept lapping.

"Hey," said Sinister, "Don't you know any other tricks?"

"Uh, no..." said October, sheepishly, "I don't really do oral..."

"Don't do it?" said Sinister, eyebrow raised, "What do you do then?"

"Biting, rough and tumble, fun foreplay, you know..?" said October and then instantly paused, regretting it.

The light that entered Sinister's eyes befitted the English meaning of her name. "Is that so..?" she said quietly. Her gaze skipped to the left and October could tell without checking that she was sharing a look with her brother.

"We can do that," he heard Dextus say from behind him, an eagerness in his voice that gave October pause.

"I think we'd better teach him something whilst we're at this though," said Sinister, "I ain't gettin' short changed here."

"Oh?" said Dextus, "Huh, you want me to..?" he tailed off.

October saw Sinister nod. "Yup, show him how it's done."

"Alright..." said Dextus.

October mouthed the words, 'Now wait a minute,' but didn't say them out loud. He was about to, but as he was gathering his wits, the male was already behind him.

"Alright Ninetales," said Dextus, "Do as I do and keep the hell up."

October was about to protest, when he found the Mightyena's muzzle under his tails. His tails couldn't keep that muzzle away. A second later, a tongue was dragging up his very sensitive tailhole, drawing another squeak out of the Fox.

"Hah! He's sensitive!" said Sinister.

"Good to know," said Dextus, then he got right back to work.

October was wracked with spasms, finding it impossible not to react to the Mightyena's tongue. He jerked upwards as it probed his hole and paid particular attention to the top. Which didn't do so much for October, the whole area was a region of over-stimulus, but he caught the idea quickly enough.

"Better get on with it," said Sinister.

It took every ounce of will to go along with the demand. It was a struggle just to keep his forepaws on the ground. Gasping and whimpering, he got his tongue back to Sinister's sex and began to imitate the extremely detailed instructions he was receiving from his rear. His tongue lapping and swirling to instruction.

Sinister growled appreciatively. "Better," she grumbled.

October felt as ridiculous as he did awkward. He began to feel somewhat like a puppet. Still, this was basic manners... or some bizarre derivation thereof, he supposed...

Legs barely kept from shaking, he was induced to go deeper, probing inside the labia. Sinister's taste was intense. Her texture spoke of her toughness and resilience. Compared to him, this female was definitely of sturdier construction, whilst lacking not at all for powerful, certain femininity.

"Fuck, yes," growled Sinister, "That's the ticket."

They kept at it for a while longer, until suddenly Dextus stopped. Glad of the reprieve, feeling his back legs begin to shake, October stopped too.

"Hey, glad you're having fun Sin," said Dextus, "but I'm getting neglected back here."

"We'll get to that, Dex," said Sinister, turning around, "but we've got something to do first."

"Huh? We do?" said Dextus.

"Sure do," said Sinister, a smiling forming slowly in her face, transforming rapidly into a grin, "Rough and tumble."

Apparently that was all the cue she was going to give. Sinister suddenly leapt at October.

Surprised, October flinched and went to roll, but got solidly shoulder-charged on the way and he went tumbling, crashing painfully and noisily into a shelf.

He didn't have time to speak, protest or do anything beside find his feet before Dextus was charging right at him, a gleeful, determined and hungry look in the Mightyena's eyes as he came.

October quickly leapt, sailing right over the Mightyena's head by an inch. There was a crash behind him. "Ha!" he declared, landing gracefully. Now this he could get in the spirit of!

Sinister crashed into his shoulder, knocking him straight into some shelves, pinning him against them and forcing them halfway over. Cleaning supplies rained onto the supply room floor.

His ribs compressed, October could only wheeze, but when he felt Sinister shift against him and noticed that she was going towards his foreleg with jaws wide, he found new strength. Relying on that fact that most of his strength was in his hindquarters, October leapt!

He didn't get far, in fact he only succeeded in bowling them both over, sending them rolling over one another. Sinister, tumbling over with him and struggling for position, ended up on top and immediately lunged for his windpipe with her jaws.

He managed to get his paws crossed under her neck and barely held the Mightyena at bay, though his shoulders immediately screamed with the effort.

Sinister and Dextus apparently played very hard, indeed!

He went to roll over and found himself matching his strength against hers... His longer leverage against her brute power... Which he didn't have time for, so he cheated by using his tails on the shelves and floor and with the power of even more leverage, pushed himself on top!

He grinned down at her. She grinned with a snarl back up at him. He could see though, by the light in her eyes that Dextus was in position behind him.

He waited for the first sound of movement and then threw himself off, rolling away to freedom. He didn't want to get caught in a grapple...

Disappointedly, Dextus pulled up short of Sinister and turned to face him.

"Y'jump a lot," said Sinister.

"I'm a Fox, I pounce," said October, with a toothy grin.

Sinister got up and stood next to her brother. The two of them lined up side by side, ready to move, perfectly and symmetrically poised, facial markings and all. Like savage poetry in motion. On appearances, October was very screwed.

Sounded like fun... He charged. They charged. He feinted left then threw himself to the right. He stuck out his tails in a fan.

He was sure that the Mightyena could have charged through or stepped over one or two, but nine was an obstacle that had them both tripping over. He span quickly and ran in. He leapt and went for the more distant of the two, Dextus.

His pounce landed and they went tumbling, crashing into the shelves with a bang. The shelves went over, unnoticed as October suddenly found himself behind yanked backwards, rolling like a wheel as Dextus lunged at him. They went crashing into more shelves, causing more destruction. He just managed to lean aside from Dextus' lunge, big, dangerous fangs missing his shoulder by an inch.

He shoved the Mightyena and reversed the lunge back at him, teeth first, sending them rolling again and smashing into some cardboard boxes. They were matched, just about... but each of these impacts was taking a toll on October's stamina, whilst the Mightyena didn't seem to be feeling it at all.

Then it was irrelevant, as mid-lunge, October felt himself suddenly arrested by powerful jaws, clamping on his mane.

Suddenly, growling at the pain as his mane was yanked, he was hauled up and along as Sinister twisted herself and turned into a full body throw. Unbelievably, October suddenly found himself flying. He had just about time to think, 'fricking Wolves with superpowers!' before he crashed into some boxes. He found himself on the floor, dazed.

He didn't snap back to alertness until he felt a rough, clawed paw on his cock. He stared at it, then up at Dextus, the Mightyena looked triumphant.

"Well whaddya know?" said Dextus, "Hard as a rock and hot as a fresh coffee. I like your foreplay, Ninetales." He turned slightly, showing his own hard member.

October felt he had to stare. Dextus' throbbing pink member looked pretty big on the little Mightyena, in fact it was almost on-par with his own! Maybe a little shorter, but nearly as thick, less tapered, maybe... and dripping with unattended lust!

"You like..?" said Dextus, grinning toothily.

"I'm impressed," October managed to say.

"You're pretty okay yourself," said Dextus, rubbing him with his roughened pawpads. October took in a sharp intake of breath, not knowing whether that feeling was good or bad.

Politely and partly to distract, he let one of his less prideful tails (the fourth from the left) follow a curious urge. It slipped aunder the Mightyena and swallowed his swollen member in crimson fluff, pushing it into the grain of its soft, thick fur. From the throaty growl and distant look, October suspected he was having the desired effect. He managed not to wince as he felt pre in the fur of one of his precious tails...

"Pfff, cocks, cocks, cocks," said Sinister, mockingly, "You boys done sizing up or are you getting ready to put 'em to use?"

"Uh, hang on a minute," said Dextus with a huff of breath, he looked at October, "Keep doin' that."

The understanding and proud owner of a coat of exquisite Fox fur, October charitably obliged, running Dextus through four feet of in-reach tail and then immediately feeding it on to another, then another. The Mightyena growled, bared his teeth lustfully and began to buck at the sensation of continuous, fluffy penetration.

"Yeah, you could keep doin' that, looks kinda like fun..." said Sinister with a smirk, "...or you could come over here and win a prize..."

Distracted as he was with the task at tail, October hadn't been looking at Sinister. He looked now. He looked now and paused.

Sinister was smirking at him from ground level with her hips high in the air. From his position on the ground, October had a grand view of her sex.

October was up on his paws before his brain caught up with him.

Things caught up with him badly. Suddenly, despite everything that had happened in the last few minutes, despite his beginning-to-boil blood, he felt terribly awkward approaching someone's sister with their brother in the room, with his cock. Despite the fact that he was still touching said brother's own cock with his tails, if more distractedly then before.

"What, you waiting for a signed form of consent?" said Sinister mockingly.

October grinned and chuckled, he rubbed a paw on the back of his neck, "Ahah, no... I just..."

Suddenly Dextus was behind him, shoving his butt with his forehead, pushing him forwards, "Go on," said the Mightyena, "Don't keep her waiting. If you know what's good for you."

October chuckled nervously, but there was no denying the impulse, metaphorical and literal, driving him towards the female.

He mounted her hesitantly, but smoothly, getting himself into position with a little difficulty. He couldn't quite get both forelegs onto the ground. It was funny, he was so used to Eeveelutions, it was odd dealing with someone closer to his own size.

Then he was there, he was poised and ready. The tip of his hot, tapered member contacted her lips and he hesitated.

"Go on!" instructed Dextus, shoving him by the butt again.

He went in suddenly, with less care than he himself would have used. He gasped. Sinister's moistened sex felt rather nice... and quite hungry. She growled, voraciously and pushed back to meet him.

It seemed as though if the Mightyena had any sense of delicacy or gentleness, they weren't bothering to show it.

"Ah! Dex!" said Sinister through her growl, "this'd warm you up on a cold morning..."

"Knew you'd say that," said Dextus, with a grin.

Breathing slowly, October took a moment to savour the sensation. It had been a while since he had done this with a member of the opposition sex. It wasn't so much that he didn't like females as that he and they just tended not to get along.

Suddenly a rough, heavy, clawed paw was slapping him on his crimson butt. "C'mon," said Dextus, "I said, don't keep her waiting."

October looked around to raise an eyebrow at him, "Well, excuse me, alright then," he said politely, then shoved in as hard as he could. He was pleased to elicit a husky gasp. He was slower on the return, deciding to try and be careful at first, see what worked...

He was slapped on the butt again, "Hey, keep it up!" ordered Dextus, smirking at him and showing a little bit of fang in a grin when October looked at him.

He would have protested his indignity, but one really can't protest such things when one is in a person's sister, it just wasn't done. October was verily restrained by his manners.

Worse, Dextus seemed to be looking at him with an expression of dark comprehension. There was a pause, Dextus spoke after a baited silence, "I'm callin' the pace here," he said, "you wouldn't want to be rude, right?"

October opened his mouth, but didn't speak. Dextus had got him. They both knew it. Dextus could ride his indignance with impunity from this position.

"So, mush!" commanded the Mightyena, with a harder slap on the butt that had October jolted.

With fresh, grim determination, October set to work.

Sinister growled, impatiently at first, but as October's hips drove in again and again, her demeanour softened. Kind of. She hungrily took each thrust, almost fighting her way onto it. She squeezed at him roughly, as if making it clear that she was going to enjoy him as she liked whilst he was in her most personal territory.

Not that he was complaining. It was rough on his member, but it was very, very good.

He was smacked, painfully on the behind. "Better!" said Dextus with some glee, he smacked again, "Keep it up!"

"Uh, Dex," growled Sinister, "I'd swear you're having more fun then me."

"Not yet I ain't," said Dextus with a dark chuckle.

Then, as October went on at the pace he had been grudgingly set, which was lustfully intense but carried the weight of having been dictated to him, Dextus moved and circled out in front of him.

"Now here's where Dextus gets his," said the Mightyena, looking at the pair of them with a sly grin.

Dextus leapt up and put both forepaws on October's back, pinning him down against his sister, October's head against hers, smothered in Dextus' belly fur. Something big and solid bumped his muzzle. It didn't take much guessing.

"Get to it," ordered Dextus, reaching to pat October on the butt again.

Sinister chuckled, "I think Dex is enjoying being big brother..."

"Damn right," said the Mightyena, rubbing his large, beating length against their muzzles, "Always wanted a little brother. So he's temporarily got the job."

October, against even his manners, had to indignantly gasp, "I'm not little!"

"See!" said Dextus, "He's already into it."

"Huh, so he is," said Sinister, "Kinda cute."

"Cute!?" protested October, not knowing where to begin with this, feeling terribly, terribly awkward.

"Now get on with it, too much talking going on here," said Dextus.

Sinister apparently didn't need more invitation. She swept her muzzle onto her brother's cock like it was a hose bearing precious air. She expertly took it in and hungrily set to work, her tongue working wetly and noisily. The act was quite something to see...

He had oft wondered how one could effectively suck a cock without muscular lips, but apparently the solution was to just shove hard enough until you had a seal!

October busied himself with his former task, pounding pleasurably into Sinister from behind, though it was a little harder now that his front end was pinned. To the displeasure of October's behind as well, he quickly discovered that Dextus could reach just far enough to keep up his clawed marching orders.

Then Sinister drew her head back enough to free Dextus' saliva-glistened, swollen canine member from her maw, then pushed it with the side of her muzzle, offering it to October.

Dextus' cock loomed large in October's eyes, pulsing with an enthusiastic discharge of pre even as he hesitated, seeming almost to leap at him on its own...

October was not enthusiastic about this. He was only slightly more familiar with fellatio than cunnilingus, never having been a keen practitioner.

Still, manners. He supposed. So he hesitantly opened his muzzle and tried to wrestle himself into a comfortable position to be able to manage the great throbbing, glistening thing...

"Hurry it up," grumbled Dextus giving him an extra firm pat on the butt. He thrust his cock forwards, shoving it into October's narrow muzzle.

October nearly panicked as the hot, girthy Mightyena meat forced its way into his maw. He couldn't move his jaws wide enough fast enough. He tasted a lot of musky, lust-ridden pre and a pinprick of dark, healthy blood.

Dextus grunted, "Ahhh... watch the teeth!" he ordered unenthusiastically, not actually sounding overly bothered.

October wanted to protest, 'Well why would you ever want to put your dick in a narrow muzzle filled with extremely sharp teeth? Why would you ever think a Fox is a good candidate for that!?' but he couldn't. His narrow muzzle was utterly filled with thick cock.

Then October had two things to do. Though this was a little more complicated than rubbing your belly and patting your head. Nimble he might be, but trying to maintain a thrusting pace and wrestle with what was to him, an over-large cock wasn't easy...

It was ridiculous. October could barely breathe or move his tongue. He could actually feel Dextus' strong, healthy pulse through his aggressively throbbing dick and though he struggled it around and licked it with what focus he could muster... He was having a hard time just holding back the urge to try and get rid of the intrusion, whilst getting shorter and shorter on breath...

"Hey, c'mon," said Dextus, pat-patting him on the butt, "Up your game." He thrust in suddenly.

October's eyes went wide as Dextus' member shoved into his throat. He struggled for a second, then gagged, halting entirely as his throat tried convulsively to reject the intrusion.

Dextus seemed to take over-long to realise he was gagging and when the Mightyena eventually pulled back, his cock seeming to take far too long to pull out of the air-starved Ninetales, October was gasping, coughing and feeling sickly.

"Wow, you seriously aren't good at this," said Dextus.

"I think you're too much man for him," said Sinister, teasingly.

October had to gasp in a breath to speak, "Not an oral fan," he managed to say.

"Well shit, you're gonna need to learn to do better, working here," said Dextus.

"Can't believe we've got a waiter with a gag reflex," chuckled Sinister, "Never thought I'd see the day..."

"You'd better show the new girl what to do with it," said Dextus with a snicker.

"Yeah, right you are, Dex," said Sinister, with a matching snicker.

"Damn it, I-" began October.

Sinister licked his face, right over his eye, to shut him up. It worked.

"Quiet, class is in session," said Dextus.

"Just open wide," said Sinister.

October's protests died in his throat. However his pride might protest, he was in a poor position to argue by his own codes. He was with what was very apparently an established couple as well as twin brother and sister, putting him way down the positional ladder. At the same time, this was also apparently some kind of perverse, Café Plaisir-style peace conference. If he wanted peace, if he didn't want to lose his friends their jobs, he was just going to have to step up and take it, dash blast it to cosmic buggery and back!

He would do this for peace in their time!

He opened wide.

Sinister nosed Dextus' cock until it was in position between October's muzzle and her own. Supporting the cock briefly atop her muzzle, she bossily shoved her tongue into October's muzzle. His eyes having been apprehensively glued to Dextus' dick, it took October somewhat by surprise and before he knew it, Sinister's tongue had slipped under his own and all but dragged it out of his muzzle and onto the underside of Dextus' hefty, throbbing, darkly musky male-meat.

Reflexively, October tried to pull away, but between Dextus' member and Sinister's tongue, his own tongue was essentially pinned. He found himself distressingly unable to quip or pun, despite the pressing need.

"She'll show you what to do," said Dextus teasing in his tone, "If you're foxy enough to keep up, that is..."

'Oh, you dick, picking on my pride, now, after all of this...' thought October. Though he could only actually offer a protesting growl.

Sinister began to work Dextus' meat and October found himself literally dragged along for the ride as his tongue was carried along with hers up and down the throbbing and over-healthily, over-proportioned Mightyena malehood... a shape with which he was becoming intimately familiar, very quickly. He was big, he was chunky and every throbbing part of his big, pink, tapered dick felt powerful. Even the veins on Dextus' cock felt like they could do him damage...

Sinister opened her muzzle wider and took Dextus cock into her muzzle. October, his tongue still trapped, found himself pulled cheek to cheek with Sinister with his tongue in an unfamiliar maw. As Dextus' cock shoved forwards, it became quickly crowded in there...

"Ahhh," grunted Dextus, "All muzzles should have two tongues..."

At first, October was simply an unwilling participant to Sinister's oral attentions upon Dextus, but... subtly at first, October found himself beginning to try and mirror everything Sinister did. Since his tongue was being dragged along for the ride, he might as well try to mimic her movements, after all... and as Sinister became more and more energetic in the movements of her head, it was a safer guard against whiplash...

They moved so well together though, that he doubted he could manage to copy the technique on his own... Sinister seemed to know how Dextus was going to thrust before he did it. Their timing was perfect...

Then, suddenly, October found he need not worry for finding the timing on his own.

Dextus pulled back just a little more than usual. Suddenly, they switched. Dextus, aimed by Sinister's and October's own co-opted tongues, thrust into October's already wide muzzle with his cock.

October was surprised to sputter, but any protest was immediately smothered by cock and tongue.

He braced for the worst, expecting another jarring thrust into his throat, but Sinister only coaxed him into a gentle bobbing upon the over-large cock and he began to relax, just a little...

He wasn't sure if he was finding the appeal, but it was interesting. Dextus seemed to throb with desire and his body rumbled with his pleasured growls, which rattled around October's head, around the member in his maw... It was surprisingly satisfying to be the source of that.

With the obvious dominating his attention, October had stopped thrusting into Sinister. Sinister reminded him with a hard and pointed shove of her hips. Embarrassed by such a lapse in concentration, October resumed thrusting into her with renewed vigour, then at once growled appreciatively. Quickly enough, Sinister did likewise.

October was just starting to get the swing of timing both front and back when the Mightyena decided to switch again.

October gratefully gasped for air as Dextus' cock pulled free.

Sinister adjusted her position under him, setting herself just so. It took a second for October to realise that she was aligning herself to take Dextus' cock deeper.

She gave a little grunt and Dextus' seemed to thrust in on cue. There was nothing careful about the way they went at it. October's eyes went wide as he felt how deeply and easily Dextus shoved into Sinister's throat. Dextus' growing knot actually brushed October's tongue. Before he knew it, Dextus was fucking her throat with wild abandon.

"Hope you're paying attention," said Dextus, with heavy breath, "Because it's your turn soon."

October made a dreading noise from his throat, quite by accident. Dextus visibly picked up in enthusiasm.

Before he knew it, they switched on him once more. Again, Dextus' meaty member pulled back just a little more than usual and then Sinister was all but wrestling that mighty cock into October's maw, just in time for Dextus to thrust in. There was no time to protest.

Hard, strong-tasting Mightyena cock was forcing its way into his mouth in no time, battering mercilessly against the back of his throat. He gagged almost instantly and his very body protested, making him squirm, but he was pinned by the tongue and throat, there was no way to struggle!

"C'mon, don't be a pussy," said Dextus, cajoling him in a husky tone, "Y'dont need that reflex here..."

October wanted to protest mightily! He thought that reflex served a rather valuable function and hadn't seen much need to be rid of it! Yet, he literally had no choice but to try and relax...

Dextus used his maw callously whilst October, eyes quickly starting to water in rising, breathless panic, did his best to keep up... and by his best, that meant he gagged and squirmed and tried not to evert himself whilst his hot, tight throat spasmed around the intrusion!

...Which didn't seem to bother the Mightyena at all. Oh no. Quite the opposite, in fact!

"Fffuck!" swore Dextus suddenly, his cock swelling.

October's eyes went wide.

Dextus cock first throbbed with the pressure, before the Mightyena's cock erupted into October's throat. Dextus pulled back right then, spraying into October's maw and over both tongues in his next jet, with thick, strong-tasting seed. October just about had time to wheeze, desperately, for air when he felt the side of his muzzle and cheek get painted, too. Dextus continued his barrage onto Sinister's face and then on into her greedily-sucking maw!

Bleary eyed and huffing, about to protest, the enthusiasm with which she went about that gave October pause and he decided that his very indignity was probably a sign that he had, after all, done a good thing. He would have sighed or grumbled anyway, though, if he wasn't too busy panting and desperate for breath! Peace in his time was apparently very hard-won indeed.

He began to swallow seed and clean himself between breaths, as a necessity for breathing. Indignity already as aside as he could put it, the stuff itself wasn't as objectionable as people seemed to think, October reflected, but then perhaps he was just unfussy about what he swallowed.

"Damn, Dex," said Sinister with a chuckle, cleaning up much faster than October, "You goin' for a record?"

"Y'made me wait, all day, then some," said Dextus, panting heavily, "So, that's what you get, when I get teased..."

"Gotta remember that," said Sinister, with an evil chuckle.

"The two of you are fun," said October, with feeling, "but you are HARD work."

"Damn right we are," said Dextus, waving his hips and dangling his still-hard member, "better get used to it."

"Aww, no need to be mean," said Sinister, "You're too harsh on him."

October's fears rose. He knew fine and well that Sinister's impression of sympathy probably meant bad news for him. He knew how this worked...

Dextus just chuckled and panted.

"I think it's time he got a reward," said Sinister, wiggling her hips and squeezing his member, still-wrapped in her sex as it was, "Come on, October, out of there..."

October raised an eyebrow, "This seems like a funny reward."

"That's just 'cos you ain't thinking," said Sinister, "I just want you to aim higher, if you know what I mean..."

It took a second or two, but the penny dropped. "Hmmm," he said, a smile forming, along with the memory of the sight of Sinister's tailhole, earlier, "I'm happy where I am, but..."

"Hey," said Dextus, swatting his ass again, apparently already regaining his vigour, "when a lady offers you that, it'd be rude not to. So hop to it, little brother..."

October would have protested the label, but somewhere between pride, politeness and potential pleasure, he just outright lost his words for a bit. He grudgingly pulled out as instructed and struggled back for a bit of room to aim, his front half still pinned under Dextus.

October needed no help aiming for tailhole. A deft flick and push of his hips had him resting right on the mark. He was pleased to get a gasp.

"Well at least you're good at something," muttered Sinister.

"Let me show you how good," said October with a grin, regaining at least a little of his gusto.

His long black member was moistened with Sinister's own juices, so he didn't need to wait for pre. He pushed in at once, feeling that soft, tight texture about him, surrounded as it was by powerful hindquarter muscles. He pushed right up to the point of dangerous resistance before he relented, then pulled back only enough to let her relax for the next push.

"Oh, fuck he's hot," growled Sinister.

"I'll bet," said Dextus, only now clambering off, seemingly to get a better view from the side, "Remember, this was your idea, Sin." He gave a knowing grin, which he shared with October.

October was back on somewhat more comfortable ground. Sinister was a pleasure to thrust into, he suspected she hadn't had so much practise back here. She didn't have the crushing tightness of Colin and she had a robustness obvious even here, in the most tender of places, but that most tender of Wolf-flesh was pleasing indeed to work deeper and deeper into...

He was just about all the way in when he was suddenly mounted from behind. Dextus pushed his way through his tails and suddenly October was pinned to Sinister's back again as he was mounted!

October's eyes went wide and his ears went back as he felt sheer dread rush up his spine. His tails tried to curl in defensively, but only ended up cradling the Mightyena.

"Now hang on!" said October protestingly, "I'm-"

"In my sister's ass," said Dextus, "No complaints."

October, mouth wide, desperate to issue complaints, felt his words die in his throat. He struggled to find something to say, fearing imminent events. "Look," he said, "I really don't do that very much and you're very big... Much bigger, in fact than I-"

"In," growled Dextus, right into his folded-back ear, "My," October could feel his breath in his ear, "Sinister."

He finished his sentence by pushing his cum-slicked tip against October's tailhole. October made a girlish gasp, by far the girliest noise by that point made in the room, utterly embarrassing himself.

Then there was no time for complaints. Dextus pushed into him. He whined aloud as he was penetrated, thrusting forwards into Sinister just to get away. Dextus pursued. Sinister cried out, October cried out, Dextus growled appreciatively as sensitive tissues were violently stretched.

October ran out of room to run, first. His hips hammered right up against the anvil of Sinister's firm, furred behind. He felt like he'd been stretched open a few miles. He panted desperately.

"How deep you get in him?" asked Sinister, huskily.

"Uh, about an inch..." said Dextus.

"What..?" gasped October, "It's more then that."

"It's the first inch," said Dextus, assertively.

Sinister looked up at October with a frown, "Do you do anything but pound ass?"

"I..." gasped October, thinking of his usual interests, then answering honestly, "am terrified of answering that question, for whatever you might do with the information."

"Well," said Dextus with a toothy grin as he put on a humorously feigned officiousness, "As fellow employees and temporary family members, I'd say you need more on-the-job training."

"Yeah," said Sinister, grinning just as widely as she lead on, "Your skill set is lacking. In some important basics. Don't worry, we'll help you out."

"Oh, please-" October began to try to plead.

"You're welcome!" said Dextus, thrusting in and shutting up the Ninetales. At least from speaking. For the hideously embarrassing and distinctly unmasculine high-pitched Fox cry he made as a very sharp and incredibly intense and very personal pain overrode all else in his perceptions, his maw was actually open quite wide!

October's tails spread as wide as he felt he was being stretched. He knew he had to be ridiculously hot back there, but Dextus didn't seem to feel it... or didn't mind it at all...

"Ahhh! You're pushing too fast!" cried October, feeling himself stretch in ways he was very not-comfortable stretching!

"You're being a wimp," growled Dextus, deeply, as he lectured, "You should be able to take this."

"Seriously," said Sinister, waggling her own rump and the Ninetales cock within for emphasis.

It was fine for them to say. The Mightyena were seemingly immune to pain, certainly by his sensitive vulpine standards.

With his only other viable options being crying out some more, insulting them by refusing to go further or immediately setting everything on fire (which was tempting) October impulsively and suddenly bit down on Sinister's shoulder, his fangs sinking straight through the thick fur and tough Mightyena hide.

"FFffff! You bitch!" cried Sinister, "Bracing yourself huh?"

"Uh-huh," October managed to say.

"Good thinking," said Dextus, "Stay braced."

October winced and readied himself for what was coming.

Thrusting in with just enough care, Dextrus wasn't completely without delicacy as he made October whimper and jolt with every movement.... And although every movement had a hungry aura of Dark-type lust flowing from its savage poetry, it was always just shy of tearing him and wrecking him. So, much alike and almost to the level of October himself, it was obvious that the Mightyena knew what he was doing inside of a tight ass... Dextus had to have had plenty of practise... but October naturally knew there was only so much you could do. He was suffering mightily and there was no way around it.

Yet it was all for peace and prosperity. He was making a noble sacrifice. So he reminded himself, inch, by hard won inch of throbbing, brutally present Mightyena cock.

He tried to thrust into Sinister, but he was having a hell of a time controlling his hips. His hindlegs were like jelly.

"Come on, be brave, little brother," said Sinister teasingly, "You can do it..."

She seemed to be completely oblivious to the pain in her shoulder, where October was biting down. That made it somehow even more intimidating.

Then his resistance finally gave and he was over the worst of it, the sharp pain of stretching leaving the dull and constant ache of having something too-large inside of him. His pulse and Dextus' both tangible as bleating, thumping soreness, the most sensitive region of his body rendered even more over-sensitive by events. Feeling most unmannish, indeed, he whimpered into Sinister's shoulder fur as Dextus finally began to move more freely... It felt as if he'd had a huge stake shoved into him. A fit foundation for a castle, mounted in his ass. Throbbing and spitting pre.

"Phew, hoh," exclaimed Dextus, "You weren't kidding about hot, bet you wish you could try this, Sin."

"Don't assume envy until you know what you're missing, Dex..." she said.

"There are totally spells for that," October muttered, absently mindedly. Seeking displacement.

"Huh?" said Dextus.

"Magic," said October, suddenly glad for the distraction... his conscious mind likely trying to be elsewhere as his body desperately tried to adjust, "Spells and things. Could swap you, for a day..."

"Bullshit," said Dextus.

"Well it's totally not safe," chuckled October, hysterically, "that stuff... well when you try and reconcile it with science, hah, scary stuff, like those Pokeballs, they so shouldn't work..."

"I think he's just rambling," said Sinister, with a smirk.

"Buying time," said Dextus, "Too late." He thrust in again.

October let out a languorous, tuneful whine, "Ahhh, dammit!"

"Yeah, yeah," said Dextus.

The Mightyena pushed into him and pulled out hard enough to drag him with him. Sinister grunted appreciatively. Then it was on. October glanced back and saw Dextus' impish grin. The game was immediate.

Dextus thrust into him punishingly hard. Each time, October would vice down reflexively on the big member and then Dextus would pull back twice as hard, dragging October with him, thus sawing him into and out of Sinister. Sinister caught onto this almost instantly and soon enough, October was getting pulled and pushed, battered and dragged from both directions, by the muscular and seemingly indefatigable Mightyena.

His ass was screaming with agony. Dextus was way bigger than he could handle and he could smell his own blood. Not much, but it explained some of the sharper, nastier pains. Still, his prostate was being brutally pounded. Not by any fine aim on Dextus' part, but more from the sheer collateral effect of his pulsing, tapered lupine member. It was a terrific, adrenaline-pouring combination of pain and pleasure.

Not much one for dealing with pain, October was able to handle this only because his cock was buried in some very fine behind that from the crimson scent in the air, smelled at least as damaged as his own was. To say that the twins played rough was a great understatement. It was beginning to seem like Dark types practically needed a little brutality, remembering as he did Chai's appetite for rough treatment.

Yet from the way that they were treating him, his own, Fire type blood was boiling. The deliberate and callous slights to his pride, the pain he was feeling, the very fact that he was now very much a puppet, now physically being handled between the two Mightyena, merely a victim of their lust, ragdolled from hip to hindquarters and back again... that.... HAD to be addressed!

He had to do something. Well, he didn't have their strong, heavy build or their seemingly relentless stamina. He was a Fox, he was built more for pouncing and sprinting in short bursts. He was a quick, light creature by design who happened to be slightly bigger than them in fact. The ass was strong with this one.

So briefly calling upon a short time spent with music, he counted upon Sinister and Dextus well-synchronised hip-movements, caught the timing, waited for the bar and then - allegro!

October's hips kicked in suddenly, just as the Mightyena's hips were at their furthest apart, in-between thrusts. He doubled the pace, forwards and back, with quick, violent thrusts, ramming into Sinister and impaling himself onto Dextus' big member, fuelled and powered by an inner flame swelling with the heat of pain and indignance!

It was deliciously pleasant and deliriously agonising, but right now October was a reactor nearing critical output. It was this or set fire to all of the cleaning supplies.

Besides, after being ragdolled around like that, his pride was on the line, now... and there was little more powerful than the pride of a Ninetales!

So he furiously pounded into them both, distantly knowing that he'd hate himself for this, later. For now, it was entirely worth it. The pain burned along with the pleasure, fuelling the reaction.

"Where the fuck..?" growled Dextus, his voice shaky with pleasure.

"You were a bit languorous..!" declared October bravely, with bravado he didn't feel. He was a thing in meltdown, pouring the overload into lustful drive.

"Fuck! Keep it up!" snarled Sinister.

October's ears twitched. Her voice had sounded pained, despite her actual words. Impulsively, he decided to give her a taste of what her brother had earlier.

Keeping up the furious pounding, he curled several tails down between the clashing hips. He lay them under Sinister and one by one, began to curl them back out again, dragging them over Sinister's sex as he did, with feet of extremely ticklish hot fur. It should have been impossible to coordinate with October's frenzied movements, but the trick was in the fact that his tails practically had minds of their own, anyway. (Especially the fourth one. That one wiggled gleefully as it went to work, down there...)

It seemed to work! Sinister's breathing changed to a pattern more befitting of deep and growing pleasure.

October smiled with satisfaction.

He was on a high, a peak of rough and feral pleasure, soaring on the currents of his own fire, caught between the two dark and formidable Mightyena, trapped and focussed as the deep, dark igneous stone of the volcano traps and focusses its fiery wrath.

The eruption was inevitable, but as his peak drew near, the mountains seemed to sense it and closed in upon him with greater weight than ever. As October's knot swelled with his imminent release, Dextus drove in on him with a furious lustful pressure that couldn't be denied. A stone was driven into October as he was in turn driven into stone. There was no pain, only the fury of the twin eruptions, rumbling, caught and contained within a tomb of obsidian despite its explosive, swelling intensity.

He burst into Sinister furiously, his relentlessly pounded, now heavily pressed-upon prostate fuelling a furious orgasm. She gasped at the heat and volume of the thick magma pouring oh-so happily into her, filling her oh-so ferociously... Soaring high on an incredible cataclysm of pleasure, where all that pain had turned into burning bliss in his now-blazing body, October himself could barely breathe, caught between his own explosive eruption and the swelling, pumping mountain of Mightyena flesh that was stretching him with every heavy swell of copious seed, anchored by an unbelievably enormous-feeling knot..!

Moaning and humping and swaying then falling together in synchrony, they collapsed on the ground in a sprawling heap of gasping and panting fur! Like wreckage tumbling down in the aftermath of the eruption...

It was fine to wax poetical at all, but returning physical sensation post bliss was something of a journey for October. He was knotted nice and snug in Sinister, it was true, but the realisation of pain from his behind was a revelation all in itself for October. He had been torn, wedged and stoppered. He felt like a jug... and unbelievably, Dextus was still pouring into him. So much... it felt strange... Odd... kind of nice, he supposed... but strange! That Mightyena was mightily productive, alright! October supposed Dextus was in the right line of work!

October's first approximation of a word was actually more of a twenty second long, protracted, warbling, musically lilting whine as he came to terms with the sheer battering he had taken during all of that. He wasn't feeling all of it now, but he had a nasty feeling like his entire hindquarters region was going to feel like a giant bruise...

So why was it so satisfying? He wanted to scream his objection! ...It came out as more warbly whimpers as he failed to find any words or rationality to express anything about this deeply animalistic moment... Then he sighed, huffed, sagged... and his tails wrapped around the pair of Mightyena, grabbing at every part of them, seemingly not knowing whether to hug or strangle them. As discordant as the rest of the Ninetales, each tail had its own idea.

"Aww... I think he likes us," said Dextus, with a panting chuckle, as he held October's ninth tail from his throat.

"Heh... hff... I think he did pretty good, himself," sighed Sinister.

"I am a warrior of peace," gasped October deliriously, realising just how much this pain hurt, "an exploding volcano... for... great justice... in space..."

"What..?" said Dextus.

The lack of sleep, the shift and current events all caught up with October at once and he collapsed into unconsciousness.

-

Sinister and Dextus watched silently as October slumped between them, spilling like a fluid rug of crimson fur wherever he wasn't directly anchored to them.

"Damn, we're good," said Dextus, grinning and panting in lustful pride.

Sinister poked the sleeping Ninetales. Apart from an ear flick, for the moment, he was out for the count.

"Yes we are," said Sinister, with a far more devious grin, "We checked off nearly the whole damn list there."

Dextus nodded his head, doing some checking over. "Yeah..." he said, smiling, then patting his scorched, blackened flank fur. It would grow out in a few days, probably, but for now it looked pretty bad. "Damn but this October's an eager achiever."

"When you know how to handle fire," said Sinister, grinning, "Damn, we are good."

Dextus all but pushed his muzzle into hers. They shared affectionate licks and then briefly locked fangs in a passionate, enthusiastic kiss. Brother and sister, united in lust and accomplishment. They broke only hesitantly.

"Yes, we are," said Dextus.

"Still a few things, though," said Sinister, "We got him to knot my ass. Hurts like hell, but it's gonna be worth it."

"Yeah..." said Dextus, "Why was that so important?"

Sinister smirked, "Oh, brother, you should have seen Eclipse's face when he eventually got that great-big Arceus-damned knot of his into me... the big dick was so happy I thought he might melt inta my cunt..." her eyes glittered with mischief as she recounted, so crudely, "He was so pleased to tie his little sister. Now, just imagine his face when he realises that October's beaten him to knotting my butt!"

Dextus paused for just a moment as he took all of this in, then began sniggering, "...Oh crap, that's going to drive him crazy!" he said Dextus, gasping now as he almost melted, himself, into mirth! "That's too much, Sin!"

"Not yet it isn't," said Sinister, her eyes narrowing on him, her grin spreading, "Let's let October nap. We're not done with him yet..."

* * *

Chai was glad to finally be back on his feet again, though his shoulder was still aching like crazy. He could ignore it though. The mostly-Oran gunk he'd been fed had done enough to fast-heal most of him. He'd probably be fine by tomorrow and now he was just glad to be out of that damn sick room.

He'd caught up on all the rest he was going to and now he was ready to go and find or do something interesting. In fact, he was definitely in the mood to bitch about stuff.

So, with just a bit of a limp in his step, still wearing bandages on his ear, Chai went searching for October.

He knew it would be difficult. October didn't so much have a routine as a lack of one. It was early evening, so October could be in his room, out in the forest or up on the roof.

He wasn't exactly up for a run in the woods, so Chai decided to check October's room first. It wasn't so tough to get down in the basement, anyways.

The pounding rhythms and beats of Dark Pulse, the Café Plaisir nightclub boomed through the wall behind October's room. There was no way he was sleeping.

He knocked softly with the pads of his paw, but there was no answer. Pressing his good ear to the door, Chai listened. No sounds of life inside. Quickly checking there was no-one about, Chai pushed the door open and peered inside. There was no October amidst the piles of junk.

He slipped inside anyway, knowing where October kept his excess cigarettes and having no difficulty finding a yellow, plastic lighter amidst the debris. Chai would give October his magic words later.

Lighting a cigarette as a quadruped ought to have been a difficult task, but Chai was nothing if not dexterous. Holding the cigarette in his mouth and the lighter against the ground, Chai got it on the first try. Putting flame to tobacco, Chai inhaled deeply of that artificial satisfaction that October had described. It tasted awful. It felt alright. Well, alright was what he needed. He maybe needed a lot more.

Sitting in the middle of October's room, Chai decided to rest his leg for a bit in the gloomy wasteland. The light was still blown out and the steadily growing piles of junk were now lit only by the purple glow of the weird magic jar, joined now the cherry of Chai's cigarette. It was more than enough light for the Umbreon, though.

October had utterly ruined this room, but Chai felt strangely at home here. With the wrecked furniture, the piled junk, the evidence of fires, it looked like the kind of squat street strays tended to occupy. Yet it was too warm, too pleasant and too noisy to be a squat.

It was much like October himself, thought Chai, reflecting suddenly. Right between where he'd come from and where he'd hoped to be going. October was a pile up of weird coincidences to that end, come to think of it. Even that toothy grin...

It brought someone unpleasant to mind. Someone Chai tried not to think about. He frowned. That was behind him. He'd made sure of it, continued to make sure of it.

There was just one unpleasant reminder a week and the rest of the time he was free to pursue his own life. There was no point in dwelling on the past now.

At first he'd been suspicious of October. Thought he might even have been sent to check up on him. Ten seconds of talking to the Ninetales had dispelled that notion, however. There was no way October had anything to do with any part of the Dark Strays. The very notion was laughable. If October and that group were to interact, there would be nothing but trouble.

Though he liked October too much to ever want to see that happen.

Not that it ever would, he reminded himself. Because that was all in the past. October was in the present and he was going to help Chai find his future.

Chai wasn't the faithful sort. He'd seen too much of the Dark side of life to have any kind of notion that any kind of god truly gave a shit about this world, but October was almost like a thing sent to him. Someone to show him there was a way between the sharp assholes he'd known and the nice idiots he was surrounded with now, neither of which he could reconcile himself with.

He was trouble, certainly, reflected the Umbreon, feeling his shoulder throb. October'd been getting him back to some nasty old habits, with familiar results.

Still, he admitted to himself, most of that had been his own idea and that made a big difference. He'd regretted it all a hell of a lot less, too. Despite it all, perhaps because of it all, Chai'd even had fun putting those skills to work.

He was worth the trouble, thought Chai, shaking out his injured leg, getting ready to move again. October was fun trouble. Chai was ready to subscribe to more.

So, Chai finished his cigarette and went looking.

He'd just opened the door when Colin burst out of his own.

He looked surprised to see Chai, "Oh hey!" said the Sylveon, waving briefly, "Were you in there with October? You were quiet."

Chai was surprised that Colin might have heard anything above the din of Dark Pulse, upstairs. "Nope," he said, "I was looking for him."

"Oh," said Colin, "Hmmm, I was kind of wondering, myself. He hasn't been back to his room all day."

Chai frowned, "That can't be unusual, Colin."

"It's not," admitted the Sylveon, "I've just got a funny feeling something is up. A bad feeling."

Chai tilted his head slightly, "You're not a psychic type, Colin."

"I know," said Colin, "but, well..." he tapped his ribbon against his chin thoughtfully, "most things are a little bit, especially Pokemon, well, except maybe you Dark type Pokemon... ummm, no offense."

Chai simply stared. He wondered if Colin was going to get anywhere near a point with this shit anytime soon.

"Anyway," said Colin, "I think we should look for him!"

"I'm already looking for him," said Chai, simply.

"Oh, alright, that's good," said Colin, looking relieved, "I'll go look as well, then."

"Right," said Chai.

Colin went off at a leisurely pace, looking around in odd places as though October might be hiding behind the ceiling fan or on the junction box. Chai shook his head and set off in the opposite direction.

* * *

October woke to something yanking on his tail. He felt like hell, it was dark and there were squishing noises coming from the direction his tail was being yanked from.

He briefly remembered something about thousand year curses and major plotline events, but he couldn't be bothered with any of that, so he just opened an eye to determine what it was all about.

Dextus was fucking Sinister a short distance away from him, rutting with his sister lustfully and with seemingly all the energy in the world still behind him. Sinister, whose chest was on the ground, had both forepaws on one of his tails, which she was using to rub herself and her brother's balls.

'You know,' thought October, 'this is really quite arousing, but that is a little bit too much.' Irritable flames aroused, October sat up with a frown, meaning to raise the issue at once of too much disrespect for his tails.

Lifting her torso up slightly and then slipping her muzzle under her chest, resting on her head and looking at him, upside-down, Sinister seemed to have a sly look waiting for him. "Hey, October," she addressed him with husky cheer in her voice and an increasingly wicked grin on her face, "Nice to see you with us again! In fact, you're just in time to punish Dex... He's tied in me, he's not going anywhere, come and get him."

That and the sudden pause in the motion of and sudden look of surprise in the face of said Dextus gave October pause on what he was about to say. This current situation was suddenly far more interesting a topic.

Seeing she had his interest, she went on, "Dex was taking things a little bit too far earlier," said Sinister, still grinning, "and I think he needs taking down a peg, for his own sake."

Ears pricked and eyes widening, "Huh?" said Dextus, alarmed, "Wait a minute, Sin!"

Sinister pushed her nose up into her brother's chin, "You slapped his ass and ripped it open, Dex," she said, with sultry accusation in her voice, "so, I think the least you could do, is apologise in kind... We're making a peace offering, remember?"

"She makes some good points," growled October, a toothy grin forming.

He had been considering making his original point and then leaving for bed. He did need it. On the other hand, this was in fact, far more interesting. On an instinctive, prideful level, he felt like there was a score to settle. His sore ass cried out for vengeance.

His body did in fact feel like he had played dodgems without a car, but his body knew it would be worth it. He was already becoming hard again. He grinned, toothily, now in fact having very Dark type thoughts of his very own. He supposed they had rubbed off on him (and his tails!) enough for him to want to give some of it back...

Dextus seemed to see it in his eyes, too, "Fuck," he said, but he dutifully raised his tail anyway, showing that fresh and so-far unspoilt-by-the-action pucker of his. It looked very inviting to October, he hadn't failed to notice that Dextus had a very fine ass of his very own. Just as fine and formidable as his sister's, but with a very big price tag in satisfaction now attached to it as well.

October advanced. Sinister cackled in wicked anticipation. Dextus' ears went back.

October growled as he extra-huskily stated aloud, "... and there'll be no-one to slap my ass, this time..."

...And oh, but there wasn't... and oh, but it was good.

Perhaps he had been hanging around the pair of them too long, already, but with his tails flowing behind him like a flaring cloak, the Ninetales marched across the supply room like a lord of the Dark Side before mercilessly mounting the Mightyena!

Forepaws with shiny black claws already all the way out slammed down on either side of the pair and October's breath was heavy and hot as he looked down upon the now distinctly smaller-looking Mightyena. Eyes glowing green with his fiery enthusiasm cast an eerie light on proceedings.

Now trapped under what no doubt felt like a much bigger Ninetales, Dextus now looked up at him with much bigger eyes. "Hey now, wait a minute, there..." he began to say...

"We have altered the terms of this arrangement," October growled as he adjusted his hips, deftly bringing his already once-again throbbing shiny black tapered member up to poke at that pretty pink pucker, "Pray I do not alter them any further."

"Umm..." Dextus gulped, his eyes even wider...

"Oh, fuck yes," growled Sinister, with a giggle, "Fuck him, Ninetales!"

Still moist from before, but now drooling fresh pre, regardless, October began to push in with a merciless pressure, forcing that hole open wide one cruel inch of throbbing Fox-dick at a time.

Dextus gasped and whined, "...Gah, fuck, Arceus, that's hot!" he immediately began to vice down, "and big! Fuck!"

Pausing in his penetration and leaving his tip just over two inches inside for Dextus to squeeze and squirm most satisfying around, October chuckled, deeply and wickedly, the fires of vengeance burning eagerly, as they quite naturally did, within a Ninetales' chest. Those fires made his voice seem to ripple and reverberate as they begged to be freed, "...C'mon now, you should be able to handle this, don't be a wimp," he said, mockingly copying Dextus' earlier tone.

Dextus whined in a manner that was most satisfying, indeed...

Sinister cackled, wickedly.

October began to press, deeper, "...Go on..." he growled, deeply, "Tell me it's too much for you..."

Dextus bit his lip at first as those increasingly thick inches of Ninetales dick began to slip even deeper inside him, becoming even hotter with October's rising, wrathful lust... then that calm melted and he gasped... and whined and protested, "No..! I'm fine..!" he lied.

"As you wish," said October, with a grin. Perfectly willing to accept a foolish and transparent lie at this moment.

For that was when he really began to press in.

"Aooohhh...!" Dextus cried out. He squeezed, he squirmed. Oh, it was satisfying.

"This can stop at any time," promised October, as he began to move his hips. Big, powerful Ninetales hips, where almost all of his body's muscle was concentrated... and oh it began to tell. As he began to push more and more of himself into the smaller male... only growing hotter as his lust rose and rose...

"Ahhhh! No-no...!" growled Dex, gritting his teeth in near-hysterical defiance, "I... I can -ffFFfff!- take it!

October grinned toothily, then pressed his teeth through the Mightyena's backrug mane and to the back of his neck. "Don't make me destroy you..." he growled as he began to move his hips properly at last, beginning, at last to really enjoy the sweet, tight hole in which his pointed dick was so tightly wedged.

"Mmm! Mmmf Rrrf!" Dextus moaned and whimpered under him with every movement, then, when October gave him just enough space to catch his breath and be defiant, he growled, "G-grrf! Rrrr! G-give me your w-wor-"

October laughed, deeply. That was EXACTLY what he wanted to hear!

That was when October finally unleashed the full power of this fully armed and operational Ninetales. His thick wedge of hips and dick going to work with unstoppable fury as the vulpine struck back!

Dextus was no doubt used to brute force, alone, but caught in his molten fury and experiencing a combination of heat and speed for which he was doubtlessly unprepared, Dextus whimpered, gasped and squeezed and squirmed and practically withered under his burning assault, proving immensely satisfying to October's wrath!

Meanwhile Sinister moaned with pleasure; after all, the rough pounding October was giving her brother was grinding his knotted dick within her. For the second time today, she was getting all the bumping and grinding benefits of two males on top of her and eating it all up with glee.

October would get to her, he promised himself, as his lust soared towards another incredible peak... For now... there was the matter at hand... or rather.... "Are you ready?" he growled into the back of Dextus neck... as he slammed his thick and swollen, burning hot knot against that sweet, tight, pink hole...

Dextus could only answer him with a hysterical yelp and whine.

"Good..." growled October.

Then, in he drove, with all of the power of those fiery-wrath-driven vulpine hips behind him, forcing his way through all of that sweet resistance to bury himself deeply inside of the wailing Mightyena and fill that sweet, tight hole with the day's second ferocious flood of all-too-eager, all-too-hot Ninetales seed...

Lust overcoming his entire body in a burning wave of incredible exultation, October blasted flames up at the ceiling.

Beneath him, Dextus yowled. Most satisfyingly, indeed, as he merely began to reap the benefits of what he had earlier sown.

Whilst October couldn't help but feel that peace negotiations in Plaisir were FUN.

* * *

Some time later, he had bade Sinister and Dextus farewell... or rather, waited until they were thoroughly engaged with one another again, made his excuses and slipped out of the door.

Now October limped wearily along the corridor, hiding in doorways whenever anyone was coming near. He was determined that no-one would see him. He was just conscious and just aware enough to realise the sorry state he was in now. He was a stinky mess of tired Fox and fluids.

He reminded himself never to try and keep up with Mightyena on stamina again. He would carve that into his foreleg if he had to. By the bleating pain of his tortured ass and a dozen strained muscles, he would remember his limits and not let a pair of wicked Pokemon goad him into completely forgetting them.

It seemed like a natural progression of events for him, however, when October heard Colin calling his name.

"October!" said the Sylveon with worry in his voice, power-strolling his anxious way over to him, "Oh! I was wondering where you were, so was Chai! Are you alright?" Colin seemed only then to notice his actual appearance, "Oh, you're a mess!"

"Yes," sighed October, "Yes I am, Colin."

Colin marched right up to him and started fussing about him with his ribbons, "Your fur is all messed up, you look like you've been fighting!" October ducked away as the Sylveon tried to straighten out his bite-mangled mane, "You're covered in stuff and..." he sniffed, "Is that blood?"

"It's not all mine," answered October, honestly.

Colin gasped, "Have you been fighting?" he looked horrified, his big blue eyes wide.

"No," said October, able to answer with an honest chuckle, "As a matter of fact, Colin, just the exact opposite."

Colin looked confused.

October elaborated, "I was making peace!" he declared, "Fighting only for a cessation of last night's bitterness, risking hide and hole for pax sempiternus!"

"Pax what?" said Colin, looking even more confused.

"Peace everlasting," said October, with a happy sigh, "There will be peace in our time!"

"Wow," said Colin, still looking confused, but smiling, "Well, that sounds great. You mean you made friends with Eclipse, Sinister and Dextus?"

October gave a chuckle, "I believe the negotiations were successful, what with me being such a proper grown-up and all and settling things like an employee of Café Plaisir should."

"That's great!" said Colin, enthusiastically, suddenly flinging himself at October to give him a ribbon hug. October chuckled. Colin paused, "Ew," said the Sylveon, "You're sticky."

"Peace, was hard won," iterated October, assertively, with a firm smile and proud chin.

"Hmmm," said Colin, "We'd better get you cleaned up... and maybe to the Sick Room..."

"Bah!" said October, feeling his second wind coming with his swelling pride, "Neither of those things. I simply need replenishment!"

"Ummm," Colin looked unsure, "I think you need taking care of," he said carefully, "I really think we should-"

October waved a paw dismissively, "Nonsense, I just need a cigarette... and well," he sighed, "a drink, really. Really could use a drink right about now." His ass would really appreciate it.

Colin nodded uncertainly, "Maybe you could use some water..."

"Water?" echoed October, "Oh my no, Colin, that water stuff is deadly to me. I meant a real drink. The kind that lets you forget your worries, cares and most especially, pains."

"Oh..." said Colin, "Well you're off duty, October. You can get a drink at the bar. There's even an employee discount."

"Pfff," said October, rolling his eyes, "They don't pay me. I'm working off my debt. I don't have any cash."

"Ohh..." said Colin, "So that's why you eat in the woods..."

October shrugged, "Nothing wrong with nature's bounty."

"Uh-huh," said Colin, over-politely, "Well, I have money in my staff account. If you'll let me clean you up a bit, I'll buy you a drink."

Taken quite by surprise, October smiled, brightly, "You would? Oh, Fortuna! That would be fantastic, Colin!"

He didn't often experience generosity. He didn't tend to inspire it. He never took it for granted.

Colin seemed very happy he was happy, "Yay!" literally declared the Sylveon, "I have some scented wipes that won't make you too damp, can you wait here?"

"Meet me in the car park, so I can smoke," said October, "The cigarettes might do something about the smell, too. I admit, I must smell like Sin." Then he chuckled, at his own pun.

Colin giggled too, no doubt just to humour him, as he skipped off to get the wipes.

'Ah, things aren't so bad, after all...' reflected October.

* * *

The door burst open, admitting Eclipse into the dark and quiet room. The TV was off, Sin and Dex were in bed, for all appearances resting.

Eclipse came over to investigate his younger siblings and the curious scents they had brought in, just like they knew he would. They sat up in surprise, just like they planned to.

Then, Eclipse was standing over them. Eclipse, who was looking huge... and ominous, like a stormcloud rendered in shaggy fur, muzzle crinkled as he sniffed at them and stared... with increasingly sharp... and baleful eyes...

Right about here was when they lost some certainty in their plan. When they were looking at Eclipse's anger, their older, bigger brother's piercing eyes that looked as though he saw right through them...

Sinister put a paw atop Dextus' to shut him up before he could start talking. They waited for Eclipse to speak.

Deep voice rumbling, "Y'look like a pair of whipped pups," growled Eclipse, accusingly, "Had a hard day..?"

"Uh," began Dextus, Sinister pushed down on his paw, shutting him up again.

Eclipse looked at them suspiciously, sniffing the air again, now that he was closer to them. His brow creased in a frown. Two hearts beat faster at once.

"Well-" started Sinister. This time Dextus pushed his paw up at hers, prompting her to shut up.

Eclipse growled. The sound went right through them.

"Tobacco," said Eclipse, slowly and darkly, "Cum, Blood... Ninetales..." he stared balefully at them, fury in his eyes as they shared a nervous look, then looked nervously to him.

"Burned fur," said Eclipse, putting his forepaws on their backs and forcibly rolling them apart, revealing the matching scorch marks they had been pressing together and hiding on their flanks. His next two snarled words hit the pair of them like hammers, "WHAT, HAPPENED?"

"It was nothing, Eclipse!" said Sinister first, "He came to us, it's not as bad as it looks..."

"...and what's that?" growled Eclipse, pointing at the burns, "Let me guess, you were meant to dodge it. You were too clumsy to get out of the way."

"That's right," said Dextus, "Just an accident."

Eclipse growled and chuckled at once, "Just an accident, was it?" though there was no humour in that chuckle as he went on to say; "Little pups, I arrange that kind of accident all the time. Tell me more about that happened, tell me more, right now!"

"Hey Eclipse," said Sinister speaking up protestingly, though shrinking back when her older brother pointed his muzzle right at her. Still, she went on, "I don't want you to get the wrong idea. October came to us, said he had an idea to work things out..."

"...Yeah," chimed in Dextus, just in time, "A peace offering. So he'll stay out of your way."

"Is THAT what he offered?" snarled Eclipse, his anger swelling in his Dark aura, becoming like a tangible thing in the room as he glared furiously at the pair of them, "and you ACCEPTED?" His growl was thunderous, terrifying...

"Fuck!" swore Sinister, "Eclipse, calm down! We did this for you, brother!"

"Yeah!" said Dextus, "Bro, we almost all got fired last night. C'mon, we're trying to look after you..."

Eclipse was suddenly in Dextus' face, pushing his muzzle into Dextus' face until his younger brother turned aside in submission, then he growled, "When I need you two to look after me, I'll be in a sorrier fuckin' state then you could help!"

"Eclipse!" gasped Sinister, "Calm the fuck down!"

He turned on her, snarling and she ducked back. So, he advanced, "You dumb pup," growled Eclipse, "Trying to please. Well, you pleased the wrong Pokemon... and you've pissed the wrong Pokemon off!" Stil advancing, he backed her up until she fell over, until she was was lying on her back, belly up...

"Hey, c'mon Eclipse," said Dextus, seeming to rally and regather enough of his courage to try and come between Eclipse and his sister, just...

Eclipse wheeled on him and soon had him driven back again, "Shut up!" he snarled. "The pair of you SHAMED me, shamed our family by letting him do this to you!" Eclipse kept pushing him back, keeping up the pressure until Dextus fell back, lying belly-up next to his sister...

"We didn't, 'let him,' nothing!" protested Sinister, "We're adults, Eclipse, we can make our own decisions and judgements. We-"

"Fell for some damn fool Fox's wiles!" declared Eclipse angrily, "As if he's even gonna stick by what he said!" He snarled and turned away, briefly pacing and animate, "He just did this to FUCK with us! Fuck with ME!" He growled in frustrated anger, "The gall of that fuck! He did this just to fuck with ME!"

"Oh, come ON, bro!" said Dextus.

"Shut up!" growled Eclipse, wheeling on them again.

Though this time he went low. Putting a forepaw roughly on each of their bellies to hold them in place, he investigated their hindquarters, shoving his muzzle in to sniff at their privates directly as he surely felt was his natural right.

He paused, of course, at Sinister's ass. You could feel his anger pulse through the room, if you were sensitive enough. And naturally, the twins were.

Sinister grinned a brief and knowing grin at Dextus. Dextus, worried that Eclipse might see her expression, looked quite genuinely worried and caught out when Eclipse came up again, after checking out his own rump... and no doubt getting a very strong smell of blood... and Ninetales' cum.

Eclipse's face came up looking like a statue made for some god of rage.

"He's fuckin' dead," growled Eclipse, turning towards the door.

"Eclipse, stop!" shouted Sinister.

Eclipse did not stop.

"Seriously," said Dextus, rising along with his sister.

They surged up and ran in front of Eclipse before he reached the door. He stared, practically right through them.

"Don't get yourself fired," said Sinister, pleading in her eyes, "Please Eclipse, don't do anything stupid."

"Get out of the way," grumbled Eclipse, shoving her aside with a paw and grabbing the door-ring.

"Think, dammit!" said Dextus, as Eclipse opened the door on him and shoved him aside, "What if... what if he wanted you to get fired..?"

Eclipse growled once, then departed through the door, "Don't follow!" he snarled.

They didn't.

They waited until they had heard him stomp away down the hallway and gave it a good ten seconds more to make well sure he was well and truly out of earshot from the room...

...And Dextus tried to shoot a concerned look at his sister, but in seconds they were collapsed into wicked, giggling, hysterical laughter.

* * *

"You know, one forgets how much more pleasant this room is," said October, referring to Café Plaisir's Main Bar, "When one is sitting in a chair, with a drink, without the bleak morning sun glaring at you from outside."

It was true. It was very pleasant lounging in this Café when one didn't have to make it run. The atmosphere was far more pleasant to him without stark daylight.

"I like the morning sun though," said Colin, "I love sunrise and everything getting nice and bright..."

"Hmmm," said October, taking a sip of the thick, reddish-brown liquid in the glass. It tasted like aniseed and jet fuel. He had no idea what it was, just; "Something that kills a lot of pain, very quickly," as he had ordered, via Colin. The Typhlosion bartender was in and he was determined not to make eye contact. Nor did he even want to look at a waiter, tray or apron.

He had to admit to a pleasant result. Whatever the hell it was, it was re-energisingly warming and pleasantly dulling.

"...and everything just comes to life," continued Colin, as October enjoyed his drink, as per the ritual of bar conversation, "and it feels like the day has unlimited potential, like anything can happen, you know?"

"Mmm-hmm," said October, with a properly exaggerated nod, "That's true. One can really feel the gathering pace of a day... but..." he paused dramatically, "At the same time, there's an unavoidable fact;"

"Is there?" said Colin, taking a quick and pitiful sip of his colourful, fruit-adorned, mostly fizzy-pop drink.

"There is!" said October, "Photons between the hours of six am and noon are qualitatively the worst of all photons."

Colin, sipping his drink, looked confused.

"They arrive more sharply, hit harder and cause more misery than a photon at any other time," said October, "They rob you of rest, ache your weary eyes and just don't have the matured and more vibrant tone of photons later in the day."

"Hmph," said Colin, "I think you just don't like waking up early..."

"Well," said October, "I just don't function during that period. Those are not my natural hours..."

"You seemed alright this morning," said Colin with a smirk.

October smiled a pleased smile back at the Sylveon, "I was motivated," he said, then took another sip of his drink.

"Well well, imagine seeing you here," said a formal, polite voice.

October had to look up to see the source. 'Damn, but he's not getting any smaller...' thought October, looking up at Firenze. The handsome Ninetales was as tall and majestic as ever, looking somehow proud with tray and apron the General Supervisor never too proud to work the floor. He was almost disgustingly beautiful... and powerful and pretty and wonderfully groomed and gleaming golden and generally a perfect picture of a Ninetales... making October, with his ruffled, injured body and rushed wipe-down feel very graceless and base indeed before that living marvel. Indeed, he felt very much humbled and muted before this beautiful creature. Embarrassed by his very self. He found his ears flushing with the heat of that embarrassment...

"Hi mister Firenze!" declared Colin brightly, waking October up from his daze.

October blinked. He really did need sleep. He internally frowned at himself, blaming Dextus for a release of weird hormones, or something.

"Ah, yes, hello!" said October cheerily.

"Hello Colin," said Firenze, "I trust you're keeping well?"

"Yes, sir!" said Colin, "I'm doing great! I got to go back on the floor yesterday!"

"Oh, really..?" said Firenze, "I suppose it's been quite a while since... hmph," he'd seemed to have paused, thinking about something before continuing, smiling pleasantly at Colin, "Well, that's good news, you've been doing good work then? Keeping an eye on October here?"

"Keeping an eye on October here?" October silently repeated, irritably. Oh, it hadn't taken Firenze long to get to his failings...

October blinked and shook his head at his own upset. Apparently, he was feeling very tender at the moment. 'Next I'll be upset because he didn't compliment my hips,' thought October bitterly at himself.

"Oh, October's doing great!" said Colin happily, distracting a surprised October completely from his musings, "He's made a few mistakes, but he's learning fast. I think he'll fit right in, here." The Sylveon smiled sweetly.

"Really now..?" said Firenze, looking genuinely surprised, "I thought October here might have caused at least a little trouble..." he smiled at October, "He did seem quite the rascal..."

October was starting to get offended again until the last part, then he had to look away with a chuckle and a smirk. He put his ears back so that they couldn't see his blush.

He promised himself there and then that he would protect his ass better in future. Weird things were going on, upstairs and down...

"Oh, October's not done anything he hasn't handled maturely and learned from," said Colin, "I think he's been a good influence on Chai, too!"

"Really now Colin," said October with a chuckle, waving with a paw, "You're far too kind..." and he meant it. All of these weird gooey feelings were freaking him out a bit.

"Marvellous," said Firenze, "I'm very glad to hear you're doing well, October. I really must get back to work, but is there anything I can do for the pair of you? Need anything? More drinks?"

"Oh, we're just having a few and taking it easy," said Colin with a sweet smile, "I think October needs a rest."

October chuckled, "Probably..." he conceded. Without much difficulty. Deprived of sleep, the booze was going to his head all too quickly.

"Very well, enjoy your evening," said Firenze pleasantly, "I'll be around." With that, the Ninetales departed gracefully.

October drank and waited until Firenze was out of the room, never mind earshot, before he turned to Colin with a grin, "Thanks for covering me there, Colin! I didn't know you had it in you!"

"Hmm?" said Colin with surprise, "Cover for you? What do you mean?" His eyes betrayed the innocence in his question.

October sighed and couldn't help but reach over the table and ruffle Colins head, "You know," he said, "You're too nice, Colin."

"I don't know," said Colin, "Maybe everyone else could stand to be a little nicer!"

"I'll drink to that!" declared October, then he followed through on his words.

"Okay!" said Colin with a smile. He went to drink and then stopped, "I need the bathroom though," said Colin, "Excuse me."

October nodded and returned his attention to his drink.

You know, perhaps there was something to all of this. He felt rather pleasant at the moment. He felt as though he had actually accomplished something and the pleasant buzz of the compliments he'd received were still running through him.

He knocked back another slug of the aniseedy drink, feeling quite pleased with himself and almost, but not quite at peace with the moment.

The door opened with a bang. The growl that followed it cut above all the conversation in the room and almost knocked October from his chair in surprise.

Eclipse had entered the room, looking furious, sniffing the air. He was searching for something.

October hoped it wasn't him. He had worked very hard for peace today. He shrank down in his chair anyway.

Eclipse spotted him then. The Mightyena's eyes narrowed, focussing entirely and exclusively on him. October's heart skipped a beat.

He so wasn't ready for this. He was confused as well. Had they not just worked something out? Had he not bled and suffered for peace?

Not enough, by the looks of the big Mightyena's expression.

Eclipse charged at him. October's first panicked kicking reaction had him overbalancing the chair and flailing. As Eclipse thundered across the Café floor, knocking furniture and customers alike aside, October let himself overbalance and fall at the last moment.

Eclipse sailed through the air and missed him by an inch, knocking over the table and chair. Customers rushed to get out of the way.

October's pounding heart told him to run and run like hell. October's aching rear end was just not currently up to the task however. Instead, he ran behind the overturned table and cried out, "Wait, what the fuck!?"

"Y'fucked with my family!" snarled Eclipse, leaping and suddenly appearing atop the table, poised above October like a great, jagged boulder of dark fur and gleaming fangs, looking for all intents and purposes like imminent and brutal death.

Yet October's tails were apparently thinking without him. He had unconsciously threaded them through an overturned chair. He allowed himself a smirk. If there was one skill he had learned here... a veritable morning-shift special...

The very instant Eclipse hunched back to lunge down at him, October flipped the chair right into his face! 'Puunk!' The noise was hilarious. The impact was not severe. It was just enough to knock the unbalanced Mightyena back the way he had come.

"That was a peace offering!" protested October, "What's wrong with you!?"

"PEACE OFFERING!?" snarled Eclipse, appearing around from the side this time, "You've got some nerve!"

October warily tried to put a chair between himself and Eclipse, but didn't kid himself. That joke wasn't going to work twice. He might as well be holding a cushion.

"Look!" shouted October, "I'm trying to be reasonable and work things out, if YOU need to get something out of YOUR system, I suggest-"

Eclipse growled and charged at him.

October swung the chair in his face... it barely slowed him down but the Mightyena grabbed it by the leg anyway and easily yanked it out of his tails' less-than-iron grasp.

It had given October just enough time though, to bunch his legs and leap onto another table, scattering a load of drinks as he did and wincing mightily with the effort... His hindquarters would really quite appreciate it if he would rather not use them at this time, (so read a damage report written by his body in pain.) On the bright side, though the table wobbled, it stayed upright. A temporary refuge.

Eclipse leapt at him again however and there was simply no choice but to move. So he leapt straight up!

Pleasingly, his reward for his serious pain was to see the huge Mightyena go flying under him, across the table and off the other side before he landed again.

He wasted a few valuable seconds snickering before, "Now come on," said October, quickly, "Let's calm down and be reASONA-!" he was cut short as Eclipse rose, put his head under the table and pushed.

The table and October upon it were flung bodily by the Mightyena's shocking strength. 'Frickin' super-powered Wolves...' October had just about time to think before gravity claimed him and the wind and all his thoughts were knocked out of him by his hard and sudden landing.

He lay in a painful, winded daze for a few moments, snapping back to alertness just in time to see Eclipse but two meters from him, just starting the first few slow steps that would carry him surely into a mauling pounce before October could do a single thing to stop him.

It seemed to be happening in slow motion, as deadly dangerous events have a tendency to. He saw the efficient, muscular motions, the skipping steps that would lead to the stronger ones that would drive the Mightyena upon him and seal his doom. It seemed so languorous at this pace that he might stop it, but his body seemed to be even slower than before and he didn't even have a chance to plant his feet or gather his breath.

He was halfway to both of those things and no-where near enough to either when a white and purple blur flew over him and landed against the side of Eclipse's muzzle with enough impulse to stop the Mightyena dead and knock him physically back.

The sleek form paused perfectly for a moment, then span one way, then another, dealing a series of slaps to the face of the Mightyena that were almost too fast to see.

Stunned, reeling, Eclipse was briefly given pause.

October's maw hung open, aghast. He didn't know whether he was more surprised or appalled at his saviour.

Elegance took a perfectly poised fighting stance in front of Eclipse and spat a single hiss at him. She stared with not a hint of passion in her eyes, only dangerously sharp intent.

Eclipse growled, "Fuck off... and I'll forget that," he said, the huge, powerful Mightyena looking disturbingly unfazed by the attack, "I'm not here for you."

"Yet I stand in your way," said the Mienshao, sharply, "Your cause is unjust. Peace was agreed. In doing this you dishonour your family, yourself and this establishment. Thus; we are in dispute."

Eclipse snarled angrily, seeming to tower over the Mienshao. Looking for all intents and purposes like a huge, dark beast that would fall upon the musteline biped and literally tear her in half. Which October suspected was exactly what was about to happen, fighting skills or not. Elegance might even have been stronger than Eclipse in sane terms, but Eclipse, however was crazy. Sane terms meant nothing to the likes of him.

So, with due consideration and frightful panic in synergistic alignment, he began gathering his energy and breath for what would be his first deliberate and deadly serious Flamethrower. As if his fire wasn't dangerous enough.... Dangerously intense power began to pool in his body... Far more intense then he had ever tried to use so far. He really hoped he didn't fuck this up...

"Eclipse!" cried a formal voice, polite, but firm enough to catch all of their attentions, "What are you doing?"

Firenze had appeared nearby. How such a large Fox had crept so close without notice stunned October.

"Get lost," said Eclipse angrily, though his posture shifted slightly as he glanced at Firenze.

"I don't think so," said the large Ninetales, firmly, "You'd better explain yourself, right now."

"None of your business," grumbled Eclipse, low and angry.

"Well you're making a very public business of it, Eclipse," said Firenze, slowly, "This is beyond the usual. If you don't explain yourself, this might end poorly for you."

Eclipse seemed to go quiet for a second. He glanced at October, "Yeah," he muttered quietly, under his breath, just loud enough for October to hear, "You'd love that, wouldn't you? Rid of me?" Eclipse took in a deep breath.

The Mightyena looked Firenze right in the eyes and then smiled. A big, broad, ear-to-ear smile that was honestly more disturbing than when he was snarling. He shared it with October, with Elegance, with the room, practically flourishing it. "It's fine!" he declared, "It's nothing!" he took a few paces around, "Just a..." he wheeled on October, making him jump, then stared right into October's eyes, "...Misunderstanding..."

He spun and faced Firenze again, "We were just playing! It was a game. Maybe we... got carried away." He chuckled, "No need to get so upset. Just healthy males clashing in friendly competition with the blood up. You should try it some time, Firenze."

Firenze frowned, frowned at Eclipse and frowned at October. He gathered his breath slowly before he spoke, "I think the pair of you should go back to your rooms and consider what a ridiculous spectacle you've made of yourselves," he said slowly and firmly, "and think very carefully about your... 'hot-blooded competition' and how it might reflect, in future."

"Sure," said Eclipse, with an insincere smile.

"Will do!" said October, pulling himself up straight, "I am VERY sorry, by the way."

Firenze shook his head, "Get out of here, both of you."

October started for the door, Eclipse headed the same way.

"Different doors," instructed Firenze, just loud enough for them both to hear.

"Just kiddin' around," said Eclipse. He gave October a brief, but intense stare that contained a lot of dark humour and a great deal more in promise of pain, "See you around, October..." he said with a grin.

"Take care, Eclipse, oh, please do watch yourself..." said October back, with a sneer and the very last dregs of today's supply of bravado.

* * *

Sinister and Dextus lay in bed, firmly tied, coiled about each other, about as happy as happy got. Warm, comfortable, temporarily sated and feeling very, very pleased with themselves.

Dextus started laughing again.

Sinister batted his chest with her paw for disturbing her, then smirked, "Oh, but we got them good, right?" she said happily.

"Oh yeah," said Dextus, sniggering, "Wound 'em right up."

"Y'know," said Sinister, suddenly sounding serious, "There's always the chance that they'll be mature, sit down, talk it out and realise we were workin' them..."

They were silent for exactly five seconds, then they burst out in loud, guttural belly laughter at the very thought of that. Pretty soon they were howling and crying at the very absurdity.

It was minutes before they settled down.

"Ahh, this is great," said Dextus, "Brother's got a new hobby. We've finally got some quiet time..."

"...and by Arceus are we gonna make use of it," finished Sinister with a very Wolfish grin indeed.

They growled together in synchronicity and bumped muzzles, affectionately, glorying in the mutual feel of their other halves. They were very pleased with themselves this day.

Suddenly Sinister burst out laughing again, wickedly.

"What, still?" said Dextus.

Sinister smiled, "Oh, just thinking about poor October and how he's doing. Think he's holding his own?"

Dextus sniggered, "After what we did? He's either dogmeat or hiding. Probably. He is full of surprises, that Ninetales..."

Sinister stroked his muzzle with a paw, "Hey, the longer he can keep our brother interested, the better. So here's to October, huh?"

Dextus grinned and declared in a mockery of October's occasionally theatrical manner, "May he continue to fight for peace! Our peace!"

They broke down into giggles again, but this time, they were shifting with more than just mirth. Sinister and Dextus had a lot of catching up to do with themselves.

* * *

"October," addressed a curt and formal voice.

October, limping his way back to his room, had expected Colin to catch up with him at some point.

He was less pleased to see Elegance striding up behind him, easily catching up to his bow-legged gait.

He turned with a sigh, feeling that fair manners did come first.

"Look," he said, "I want to thank you-"

Elegance slapped him sharply, knocking his head aside with bright and shiny colours. He groaned.

"You are an IMBECILE!" hissed Elegance, sharply.

October blinked and drew in a deep breath. Well, it was probably too much to hope for a fresh start.

"How could you fall for that?" spat the Mienshao, glaring at him angrily, "It should be obvious, even to a fool that the twins were working you only for their own benefit!"

"Say what, with the what, now?" said October, stupidly, "Hang on, how do you know-"

Elegance looked away, indignantly, "They were behaving suspiciously and tailing you. I allowed them the moment to strike, in order to learn their intentions."

"...and what were their intentions?" said October with a frown, "What possible agenda could they have had?"

"It is obvious to any who watch the pair," said Elegance, "They love each other very much and value their time together. In agitating the conflict between you and Eclipse, they get more time alone."

"Hmmm..." said October, "That's a bit tenuous, that's a maybe at best-"

"They also said as much whilst you were asleep in there," said Elegance with a sigh.

October raised an eyebrow. "Hang on a minute," he muttered aloud.

"You are a naive fool after all," said Elegance quickly, "I can barely believe you bought that story of a peace offering. No such convention exists here or anywhere else." She flung her arms out to either side in frustration, sending her over-long arm fur out in waves, "I have no idea why you would think that would have smoothed things over, Eclipse is VERY possessive of his siblings..." she pointed at him, "I can scarce believe how foolish you are!"

October, very tired and not having much fight left in him, had merely tilted his head and listened. When she stopped, he sighed.

"Well, it seemed credible, given what I'd seen and heard so far," October said tiredly. It would hardly have been the strangest convention in the multiverse.

"Like I said, you are an imbecile!" snapped Elegance.

October couldn't be bothered to argue the point, however. Especially when something else had his interest. "Yet... you defended me, curious," said October, thoughtfully, "Why?"

"Despite... in fact because of your idiocy," said Elegance, with a hesitant pause, "you negotiated in good faith... and with good intentions." She took in a deep breath through her nose, "When Eclipse rejected your offering, he insulted your honour and that of the Morning Shift."

"Well..." said October, "Thankyou."

Elegance paused, seemingly expecting him to say more, from her posture she was expecting some quip or insult, but he didn't have one for her. He'd actually meant it quite honestly.

She raised her muzzle and smiled, folding her arms.

October went to walk away, then paused, "Just one thing though," he said with a smirk, "I very much doubt they're keeping you in the basement. I've never seen nor heard you around there." October smirked, "To notice that Sinister and Dextus were tailing me you would have had to be tailing me as well... why is that..?"

Elegance might have smiled for a second, but he wasn't sure. She looked away and began walking in the opposite direction, "I am still making my mind up about you," she said.

October watched her go, in silence, with a smile. He wasn't even looking at her behind. So much.

Elegance was a thoroughly unpleasant, overly harsh and sharp edged individual for certain... but perhaps she was alright, after all, he thought.

"Come to Café Plaisir," said October to himself as he turned and started walking back towards his room, "You'll meet lots of interesting types and make lots of friends. It'll be loads of fun."

He limped, bow-legged and gracelessly towards his bed, but with a spring in his limp and a chuckle on his chest.