Raptor Den: Chapter 1

Story by Russ on SoFurry

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#5 of Trade Stories

Chapter 1 of my part of a trade with Kyrio


Following the foreman through the club Kyrio flexed his clawed feet against the tough granite tiles lining the floor. It was nice to be in a building where he didn't have to worry about his claws shredding carpets or ruining lino surfaces. It was also just the right temperature, not too humid but the air was warm against his scales and beneath his feet there was underfloor heating. The blue raptor stopped to admire the main club, the circular tables around the edge where all accompanied by low to the ground, tail friendly benches. Even the booth seats had space for tails and the sturdy leather looked comfortable and inviting.

Tucking his hands into the pouch of the comfortable hoodie, the only item of clothing he was wearing Kyrio sighed in delight and looked around, a wide smile covering his muzzle.

The main room had a clear place for dancing at the front near the stage, the bar was a teak wood and bronze art deco masterpiece in the style of an old steamship purser's office. Complete with highly polished backlit stained glass portholes depicting different coloured raptors. The barstools all stood on beautifully polished bronze stands with new leather seats and the shelves where laden with bottles and glasses all ready for use.

The four and a half foot tall raptor grinned up at his foreman and chief builder, "I'm liking what I see so far Nido," Kyrio commented to the purple poison bunny who'd help turn his vision of a raptor friendly club into a reality, "I'm loving the granite flagstones."

The purple and lavender poison bunny turned to grin down at the Kyrio, the horn standing out on his forehead from amidst his thatch of untidy brown hair catching the light, "I'm glad, you said you wanted something that could withstand raptor claws, granite seemed the most hard wearing."

Scraping his left claws on the stone Kyrio grinned, "It's great, I can actually just walk without worrying I'm going to shred the floor."

"Perfect, now that door leads through to the kitchen," he pointed at the door set next to the bar, "Or we can head back stage and I can show you the space back there or we can head up to the VIP lounge and private rooms and offices."

Moving past Nidonocu, his body shifting rapidly from one foot to another Kyrio stuck his nose into the kitchen then turned to hop across the main room and up onto the stage. It didn't take long for him to peruse the backstage rooms before darting back to rejoin Nido where he was standing near the bar. Tilting his head and smiling Kyrio stared up at the heavily built builder bunny in his tough denim dungarees and t-shirt.

"I am loving it, let's go to the offices, I want to see mine then we can sign off the paperwork and you can relax knowing you've done an amazing job."

Chuckling the purple rabbit headed up the stairs, led Kyrio through the private, VIP club with it's art deco flavour and climbed the stairs to the third level admin offices. Kyrio moved alongside Nido, darting with short hopping bursts of raptorish speed until Nido swung open the door to the main office. The door itself was oak, with the top panel being frosted glass stenciled with Kyrio's name.

Inside there were dark ebony flagstones, a very heavy desk framed perfectly in the centre of an open balcony that looked down over the whole club. There were sliding, wooden framed doors so he could have privacy if desired otherwise he'd be able to lounge in the beautiful, leather bound office chair and admire his new domain.

Sighing happily Kyrio darted across the room and clambered into the chair. His nude, blue scaled lower half settled easily into the wide base of the chair and his hoodie covered torso and limbs were at just the right height for the desk to be comfortable. Brushing his feather like dark blue hair out of his eyes Kyrio eagerly absorbed the information in the folder Nido laid out on his desk.

"It's all in here, final invoices, guarantee, warranty of work for five years on the actual structure of the building and three years for fixtures and furniture."

Picking up a pen Kyrio signed each page with a flourish, pausing only to read over some of the more complex terms. Then it was done, his pen dotted the final i in his name and Nido opened the bottle of fine champagne sitting in an ice bucket on the desk.

"And there we have it Kyrio," the purple rabbit poured two glasses and slide one across to the dinosaur, "It's all yours, your very own club, what will you do first?"

"Well," Kyrio mused as he swirled the bubbling golden liquid in his champagne flute, "I think my first rule of business will be to staff the club before we open, get some marketing out there and make sure to enforce rule one."

"Oh?" Nido sipped his beverage and Kyrio watched him as he leant against the desk next to the raptor's chair, "What is rule one?"

Setting his glass down on a coaster Kyrio reached out with both hands and gripped the poison bunny's tail, he traced his heavy claws through the short purple fur and smiled up at the muscular builder. Nido raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, just kept drinking his champagne. Right up until the moment Kyrio dug his claws into the base of Nido's tail and pulled with all his might.

The bunny yelped and dropped his glass, it hit the table and bubbling, sparkling golden liquid splashed over Kyrio's hair. The bunny also twisted and tried to jerk his tail out of Kyrio's grasp. All this accomplished was to let Kyrio drag his claws down the length of Nido's tail as he twisted. As he pulled his claws through the bunny's tail Kyrio discharged his magic through his hands, twisting the flesh and bone of Nido's tail.

Purple fur rained down over Kyrio's hands, landing and scattering across the flagstones as the raptor replaced that thick, supple, flexible snake like tail with something much more suited for the raptor den. Purple scales, thicker at the base, less flexible but designed for balance, streamlining to a rounded point, perfectly made to help a dino keep his balance whilst darting swiftly about their business.

Of course losing his regular tail left Nido even more off balance, he span too far, Kyrio released his new raptor tail and the bunny fell over, face planting the ground with his rump in the air. His dungarees had burst around his tail hole and Kyrio smirked, fangs glinting as he jumped off his chair and landed on Nido's back.

"Rule one is very simple," he declared, scoring his feet through the thick denim and less thick fur of Nido's lower back, "Only raptors are allowed inside the raptor den."

Nido let out a muffled squeak and attempted to roll over but Kyrio shifted on his feet, his tail swaying back and forth to help him maintain his balance and keep the purple bunny face down. The blue raptor continued to channel his power out of his feet and into Nido's body, Kyrio's speciality was flesh sculpting. Changing the organic make up of someone's body through touch and an avid application of power directly into them.

People could resist but Kyrio had learnt over the years that if you kept them off balance, didn't give them time to react, their body would have changed most of the way and he could finish them off. Nido's squeaks continued to grow more and more alarmed as he felt his legs swell and shift. His joints cracked, scales started to push through his skin and his hips cracked forward as his body started to realign to something more dinosaur in stance.

The floor was covered in a thick rug of shredded denim scraps and discarded purple fur as it was pushed off Nido's body as his scales claimed his body. Kyrio smirked wide, letting his teeth show and revelling in the power he had as he forced the purple builder bunny's body to change to his desire.

Leaning forward the dinosaur grabbed Nido's ears and pulled his head back. He howled in shock as his spine snapped and Kyrio slid his legs to either side and sat down on the half changed boy. Taking a firm grip of Nido's ears, fingers wrapped around the base of each one he pulled back, exposing the bunny's throat and transforming the cartilage of his frilled ears. As his hands slid up toward the tips he left behind smooth green coloured bone, merging flesh, skin and fur into the shape of his newest dinosaur's horns.

Kyrio also used the transformation of his horns to invade the bunny's mind. Hypnotism, mind warping, and the subtle shifts of personality and instincts where all part of making someone a raptor. Nido's little mammalian squeals deepened, transitioning into a dino groan as his muzzle changed, his buck bunny teeth ricocheted off the wall as brand new meat shredding fangs grew into his new dino face. With the muzzle came a new skull, which meant a new brain.

Chuckling softly Kyrio worked his magic on Nido's thoughts, adjusting him from worker and builder and bunny to someone who had always been a two footed, scale covered, horn sporting dinosaur. Running his hand forward over Nido's head he gripped the horn that rose from the centre of his forehead and gave it a twist, elongating it and shifting it to green coloured bone.

Nido let out a startled groan, his eyes rolling back in their head, the bright light of intelligent builder dimmed. Kyrio didn't need someone too smart, just loyal and tough. He burnt his way through the former bunny's intellect, leaving him happy and at the same time simpler. His IQ didn't need to be super high, just enough to be loyal, smart and do his job.

With his ears gone, his scales settling in and his thoughts scattered Kyrio lifted one leg over Nido's back and rocked back onto his feet. Whilst he was dazed he reached out to tease across his feet, to adjust his clawed fingers and made sure the proportion of his limbs were correct. It felt nice, the way his flesh and scales shifted and flowed beneath the touch of his hands, sculpting, adjusting, tweaking until the bunny was gone.

Reaching down to help Nido up onto his feet Kyrio smiled up at the new raptor. He'd not given him a mane, those head horns were too lovely to hide in feathery hair. His scales were a deep rich purple colour, overlapping tiny scales like Kyrio's with a lavender coloured neck, chest and stomach. He blinked his eyes, shook his head and glanced down at Kyrio and smiled as the fog cleared from his eyes.

"Oh hey boss..." he looked around at the mess of fur and scraps of cloth covering the floor, "What happened in here?"

"Oh just lunch, remember... we had rabbit."

Nido licked his lips as the suggestion settled, his new memories of what he had been up to that day settling in, "Oh right, so boss we were going to talk about security for the club? You said you had rules for me to enforce now the builders were all done?"

"Yes," Kyrio moved toward one of the large sofas, the hefty chair designed with raptor claws and tails and chunky dino hips in mind. Settling down he motioned Nido toward another chair, "This is the raptor den, we need to work out a procedure of what to do if anyone who isn't a raptor gets passed you on the door."

Nido smirked, flexing his muscles, he was a big dinosaur, his head towering over Kyrio's and the thick, muscular build beneath his scaled hide giving him a beautifully intimidating size, "That won't happen often I promise but sure let's work out what to do if anyone slips past or sneaks in another way, It's going to be fun though, a club just for us!"

"Oh yes," Kyrio found himself smiling back, "Rule one has to be enforced, this is after all the raptor den."