FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. 0730 hours. 9th of August.

Arlen 'Arl' Blacktiger drummed his fingertips in a sharp rhythm against the faux-marble tabletop, thick tiger tail swaying and awkwardly wrenched under the gap of the plastic back of the chair--the only sign of his rising impatince, the rest of his bulky body and face professional, even bland some might have said. Blank, yet always imposing.

His charcoal-colored stripes, normally almost indistinguishable against his jet-black coat, were now visible thanks to the high sun. He wore an turquoize hawaii-styled silk shirt, printed with palm leaves in navy blue, the glossy sleeves pulled up around thick, powerful wrists and weathered, caloused hands. Golden eyes scanned the visinity from behind aviator-styled sunglasses, pale scars which peaked through the open collar tell-tale map of a rough life.

He rocked an uneasy tempo with his foot on the footrest even as he squirmed ever so slighty in his seat, as if he sat on needles. He sheated and un-sheated his claws, more to have something to focus on than anything else. God he hated open places--too many people, too many things--at least to his jittery mind--that could go wrong. He'd experienced that too many times to ingore any potentional signs, or how to not look for them.

People frittered to and fro, akin to a shoal of fish, at least they gave such an impression to his ever-watchful golden eyes, as they kept pursuing the crowd for that familiar face, even when he meant to simply watch. If anyone tried to sneak up on him, it would be hard to catch through the ever-shifting crowd. Too many places were enemies could hide: The upper rise of the airport would be a good sniping nest...The cafeteria were too spacious...Not enough walls for cover and the ones in place were transparent glass--

He flinched, sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth as somone brushed up against the back of his chair. Adrenaline spiked through his belly in a veering, corkscrew twist. He shifted his neck sideways, fangs bared and fingers spread and curled on the tabletop, claws at the ready.

A small Racoon boy backed away from him, red Gameboy in his hands forgotten, face frozen; eyes brown and wide--wide with terror. His mouth hung open and his chest rose and fell quickly beneath his blue t-shirt. Under the fur, his face had turned a pale greenish tone.

Oh shit--! Arlen clenched his hands tight, tried to calm his racing hearbeat down enough to apologize_._

Not again. Godamn it! His thick tail struck against the chair's back in aggitation. He wanted to melt through the floor and let the Earth suck him up.

Instead, Arlen groaned quietly in the back of his throat and rubbed at his eyes before he gave his best apologetic smile to the boy, who didn't smile back, but instead turned and scurried away over the open plasa to a sitting area and vanished out of sight.

With a heaved sign, the large black tiger turned back to his cold cup of ignored coffeé and let his head fall into his waiting hands. He rubbed at his temples. He knew the problem well enough to know why he'd reacted so strongly as the boy had brushed up on him--he'd gone too long without his profession--despite being semi-retired, his work as a private military contractor were still a part of his life--an more or less unwanted part, that was. Yet a part he couldn't live without all the same.

Hopefully that would change; his fixer were returning stateside and hopefully would find him some small-time work to ease his basketcase-of-nerves--the very same fixer who were dragging ass and not showing up as she was suppoused to. Or at least not _when_she was suppoused to--according the flight chalender.

Arlen reached up past his sunglasses to rub at his eyes again. But when are those damn things ever_right..._

He felt his jaw muscle pull and grow tense; what if something had happned? He shook his head internally. No, no. He were probably just getting jittery again, he would've gotten a message from her if something were up, or his gut-feeling would have told him something had really happned. Yes, that was right. He weren't in Sao Paulo or Mogadishu now, he reminded himself.

Tamra's too sharp to rush ahead like that anymore. Of course. Fuck. Gotta stop worrying. His heartbeat spiked again, sharp little kicks that made him overly aware of his hands, and that they shook; a series of deep breaths lulled the rhythm into a calm underbeat once more, just as his doctor had absently instructed him to. They were not in Sao Paulo right now. Hadn't been to Brazil, not after the mission that crippled his long-time boyfriend, Sato, and gave Tamra the mother of all concussions, all those years ago.

His fixer also happned to be a friend: a very close friend who'd turned into a trusted lover in a semi-casual way, an arragmanet now going on more years than he cared to remember. Though it had been Sato's idea in the first place, there were few others beside Sato himself he'd grown to trust in the way he trusted little fiesty Tamra Delgado.

Now that he sat and waited on her, it dawned on him that he'd been more than happy to lay in bed, get a late breakfest and simply fart around his and Sato's shared home; watching sport, or cleaning his guns or keeping in shape with the live-in gym they had made...or_he_ had made. Just one more reason to stay inside and not test his agoraphobia.

But when he'd heard through Sato that Tamra were returning from her two-year trip across Europe, he'd offer in a weak moment to be the one to get her--a part of him had certainly wanted to bethe one to get her--but the rest of him had only started to fret and then his Agoraphobia had kicked into hight gear. But he was a man of his word, and few things would break it once it had been given, and so off he'd gone in the end.

His brow furrowed as the minutes ticked by, punctuated by him tapping a finger against the table once more, while he fidigeted with his big, muscle-bound body on the chair.

"Strange--why does the words 'A worthog trapped in a china shop' come to mind...," A clear, well-enuciated voice said, warm and pretty and with a subtle purr that had his heart beating faster for all the right reasons.

He swallowed to wet his at once parched throat.

"Must you sound so teasing about it? Damn it, woman..." Arlen grumbled in a deep baritone as he slipped off his chair, startingly graceful and quiet for his large, toned frame, face pulled into a light, half-hearted frown. More for show than anything.

Tamra looked as prim, fresh and pretty as ever, dressed in a yellow bell-sleeved summer dress, green eyes visible under the rim of a straw-hat with a white satin bow, the shorter, athetlic Calico were more than worthy of all of his current attention. His eyes traced over the familiar curves; for a more petit lady she had a very generous, fantastic rack. Arlen felt how his face unclenched some as he continued to drink her in with his gaze.

A snorting, knowing chortle made him look up, eyes blinking as it struck him that he'd stared, he gave her a soft little chuckle. His face and the inside of his round ears felt slightly hot.

"You look. Uh...Look very good. Yeah. Very good."

Tamra snorted again while she folded her arms, cocked her hip to the side as she tipped her chin to look up at him.

"Thanks. S_omeone_ has to have a little style around here." she strode closer then, eyes never leaving his, then to reached up on her tip-toes and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He smiled over her shoulder, chin nestled against the curve of her neck, bulging arms curling around her as he held her close. Hundreds of words crowded on his tongue: 'Where have you been?' and 'Why did you leave?' and 'Is something wrong?' stood out among countless others.

Two of those were tecnically none of his buissness: early on in their friends-with-benefits arragment, the rule that when they weren't together whatever happened during that time was not the other's to know had been placed, and so far they had both adheared to it.

Yet a part of him wanted to know just what had kept her busy for two_whole_ years with very little contact; she knew how worried he could become! Having lost too many friends to the dangers of his contractor work and his past employment in the US Army, she knew better than to make him worry without reason...even though they both knew she could take care of herself.

He finally let go, a thrill rushing through him that were well worth the bout with his Agoraphobia. He grinned at her and she returned it.

Tamra's gaze sparkled.

"Ready to leave?" She slipped around his bulk to stand beside him.

"Oh yeah." He said more vehemently then he intended which caused Tamra to nudge him with her elbow, her head tilted as if in contemplation despite one corner turning her mouth up.

"You didn't have to come, you know."

Arlen reached down beside her to snag her luggage--a medium-sized lavender suitcase, before answering. "Wanted to. Besides, had nothin' else to do, really." He shrugged as they began to walk to the nearest exit.

She wrinkled he little Calico-nose as a smile slipped onto her face. "I don't have to remind you again do I? You know I can take care of myself."

His eyes slid to their corners to watch her.

"Never hurts to be carful."

Tamra drew close, one hand touching his shoulder, which caused Arlen to slow to a stop, long enough for her to reach up and kiss his cheek.

"Whatver you say, worry-wart." She drew back, just the hint of a teasing smile at the corners of her muzzle. Her hips swayed as she walked infront of him; which were probably done intentionally, the little minx.

She hadn't been so adventorus when they'd first met. Back then, years ago, she'd been a 20-something year old virgin who could've been, as Sato had once stated ' raised in a monestary', sheltered and innocent, but never stupid.

Well, she certainly picked up a thing or two over the years. Damn, look at that! Arlen quirked one corner of his muzzle up as he blatently took her in with his eyes.

Yeah, getting up from bed had definetly been the right choice of the day. Actual desire began to smoulder low in his belly. He reafirmed his grip on Tamra's suitcase, a very masculine rumble sounding from deep within his chest.

The sweltering Californian heat enevloped them like a sheet as they made their way over the parkinglot towards Arlen's car. His night-black fur soaked up the sunlight like a spoonge, despite his best efforts to dress lighty, as it were, his loose summer shirt and khaki-style shorts only gave so much relief...Especially with arousal now starting a slow burn through his body.

"Do try and keep your eyes on the road now..."

Arlen snorted good-naturedly as he ducked his bulk into the car. Teasing and ribbing each other had been a game since long ago. Nice to see she's still kicking. But why did she leave? He frowned briefly as his eyes saccaded for an answer.

As he ran through further potentional options in his mind, he dug around and fished out his car keys from his poket, his hand brushed against the consealed old M1911 holstered under his shirt as if in afterthought. Something in his mind settled as the gun skimed against his hand cooly along with the rough brush of leather.

His hand remained stuck inside, fingertips resting against the grip and the magazine. He didn't touch the trigger.

"Something wrong, Arl?"

"Nothing, kitty-cat...nothin'." He said, eyes staring straight through the windshield.

His friend's worrying was only done out of concern, he knew, but he were too pround to tell her that he needed to get out of the house again. She probably alredy knew, perceptive as she was. She'd always been a smart woman, which made her one of the best fixers in the private military contractor buissness.

He turned and gave her his most easy-going smile to banish any worries. She gave a small smile back, green eyes glinting mellowy from beneath the sunhat's brim.

Arlen removed his hand from inside his shirt and started the engine, backed the car out into the driveway.

"So where to, boss lady?" He settled his eyes briefly on the housecat ocupaying the passanger seat.

Tamra hummed, crossed her legs. "Thought I might follow you home..." One green eye winked at him from underneath the sunhat. "...And celebrate." There was a subtle purr in he voice. Subtle, but unmistakingly there.

Arlen felt how a victorious smirk broke over his face. He shifted the rearview mirrior.

"Oh yeah? Celebrate...May I know why?"

"My homeccoming. I'm feeling generous."

Arlen desperately wanted to turn around and look at her expression, because if her voice was any indiaction to go by, then holy shit, she had to look smoking.

Instead, the big black tiger focused on the road, taking the familiar turns and twists that would take him to his and his boyfriend's shared place in Carmel.

* * *

Almost missing the sound as the door clicked shut behind them, Arlen locked it only thanks to intergrated habit than any sort of actual in-the moment awareness, as he were happily busy craning his head down to kiss the shorter calico passionately. Her familiar taste lingering on his pallet, he procceded to press his aching hard-on against her, still confined and straining to be free of its opressive shorts prison.

He nuzzled into the crook of her neck, gently rasping his sharp incicors against it before he whispered in a purring baritone rumble.

"Bedroom."

As Arlen carried Tamra up the stairs, it struck him that he'd actually missed her; the downey scent, the satin-soft fur as her pelt brushed at his exposed wrists. The little purr that she used on him that sent goosebumbs down his back. The pleasant weight of that atheletic body in his arms.

He nudged the door open with a foot, before he eased it all the way with a broad shoulder. The bed and it's metal frame had many stories to tell; most with Arlen and Sato as the main actors, but many inlcuding the pretty houscat as well. All of them pleaseant. The covers were blue and freshly changed. Probably gotta change 'em once we're done...

Tamra purred into his neck, the vibrations setting off a rumble of his own in his chest, and shivers down his broad, toned shoulders and back. His pants tightend further when she proceeded to kiss down and up his neck. He nudged her chin up with his nose so their lips could met hungriliy.

Man I've missed this... Arlen thought as he broke off the kiss to place her back first onto the bed.

He leaned up to move his shorts off, slid them over his built bum to shimmy out of them, and once they were around his ankles, kick them off. His grey sports underwear following suit, joining his silk shirt on the parket floor.

Tamra had begun to unzip her summer dress, when he stilled her with a hand. He grinned down hungrily at her.

"Let me." He rumbled. His hand made a sure trail down her neck on the way to his target: the zipper on the back.

His eyes shifted to their corners to rest on her face. They locked with hers. She shivered, chewing her bottom lip in anticipation, green eyes caught between amused and smoldering. Wholy familiar. Trusted and trusting. Arlen felt how arousal tightend through his bulky member further.

He worked the sun-dress down over her shoulders and began to undress her, raptly watching as more of that stunning, lithe body became bared to his gaze. He finally eased it down over her waist, his thick tail waving behind him, a look of victory sweeping over his featuers.

Stripped down to the underwear--a pair of black satin panties and bra that made her alredy fantasic rack look even more mouth-watering, Tamra looked him over with a cocked brow.

"Waiting for a written invitation?"

Arlen snorted out a laugh, his tick tail flapping against the mattress. "Just taking my time, is that a problem?"

The housecat hummed in response, reached up to wound her arms around his neck to pull his face down. Their lips brushed again, as she framed his hips with her own.

"Maybe I want you to hurry up..."

Arlen groaned into the kiss, eyes wideing before they half-closed in pleasure as she arched her hips, ground her wet heat against his hard-on trhough the satin. The big tiger kneaded the matress, reigned in his slipping self-control like only a life-long military man could.

His hands sized control then, exploring every inch of those familiar curves and dips with his calloused palms, he began to ever so loved process of driving his housecat mad with pleasure.

Reaching up, he kissed her deeply, took the opportunity to unsnaps her bra with deft fingers, and while she were distratced, eased it off a pair of wondefuly luscious tits. His finger went to work, gently pinching and pulling on her pink hardened nubs, causing the calico to squirm, pant and gasp as her sharp green eyes began to haze.

Oh yeah. Definetly been missing this. Arlen thought, his cock giving a few eager twitches below in what could've been agreement. He traced his eyes over his beautiful fixer's body, his palm following his gaze as it traced down to her pantie-covered groin.

A finger gently teased the front, quickly finding a large damp spot.Heh. She wasn't kidding. She's in need alright!

He teasingly blew air down at her, and she squirmed, imaptently snapping at him. Her upper lip curled to expose her incisors.

"You ass--get to it!"

"Heh. Yes, ma'am." Without hesitation, he leaned down, took her underwear between his teeth, and pulled it down and off, in the same motion, he placed Tamra's legs over his broad shoulders. Arlen brushed a kiss to the side of her leg, leaned down to suck at the junction were her hip met her groin, before pressing his muzzle between her damp folds.

Her body twitched in a cascade of shivers as he dragged his rough tongue through her sensetive flesh, a garbled, half-chocked whimper escaping her as he sucked on her pumping little clit, gave it firm flicks with the tip of his tongue. He felt how she gripped his ears, his eyes closed in consentration as he focused on bringing her to the fine edge of almost-release.

Her thighs beginning to quiver, invountarily squeezing his face told him all he needed to know. He stopped, looked up, chin and muzzle wet with her sweet-scented juice, and were met with a dulled glare that dared him to keep stopping.

He smirked wickedly, took hold of her thighs, and dove back in.The muscles of her inner thighs were shivering, flexing before his half-hooded gaze.

It was a sight he'd never get tired of.

One last suck was all it took, one last deep swipe between her musky, dripping folds with his tongue.

She stiffened, a sputtering moan esacaping her lovely, twisted-in-pleasure face. Her flesh quivering against his tongue, edged him on to rasp her again with it, just for good mesure.

When her hand began to insistenly pat his head, a sign that she were growing oversensetive, at least for the moment, he pulled back.

Arlen sat up, powerfully built chest heaving slighty as he caught his breath, legs crossed tailor-style. Half of his attention were on the panting housecat, spread out beautfully, shapely breasts glistening with pespiration, the other on his aching erection.

Tamra let out a breezy chukle, tail waving lazily across the blue sheets.

"Well, that was...Wow. I needed that."

"Been missing me?"

"Pfft. You wish, lummox." She tipped her chin back, eyes rolling, but a small smile quirked her mouth just so. She didn't seem to be aware of it.

She sat up languidly, a lustful glint sparkling in her eyes, and crawled her way over to him.

Arlen rumbled out a long basso note as her head dipped between his legs, which he spread to giver her easier access. He bit his lip at the few first licks at his aching erection, the laps and warm exhales as they faned over him. Relaxing further, he leaned his weight on one palm, the other began to caress her head as he head bobed slowly up and down between his thighs, little housecat ears flickering.

"That feels good, kitty-cat. Mmm..." He muttered, brow furrowing and eyes squinting slighty as she increased the pace, slim fingers toying and rubbing at his balls gently and what she couldn't fit into her mouth. Her rough tongue rubbing at the underside of his shaft, right at the tampered tip, it sent a shower of hot jolts through his cock, goosebums cascaded down his shoulders and back as she slurped and sucked away at him.

His tail started to wave, the arches lenghetening the more the fluttering nest of tingles smouldered more and more. As he began to twitch and jerk in her mouth, the big black tiger growled out in a low and hoarse tone.

"Mmf...I'm getting c-close, kitty..."

Arlen blinked as the wet, moist warmth pulled back, leaving his shaft cool and very much unsatisfed. He looked incrediously between Tamra's smirking face and his twitching shaft. "Oh come on!" He made an imaptient gesture to his throbbing tigerhood. "Don't tease me like this, Tam." He grumbled and barely resisted the urge to paw off.

He blinked as Tamra licked her chops, twisted around onto her hands and knees and spread her legs, back delectably arched.

"We both know you'd never be satisfied from just a blow-job anyway...Better hurry up, Arlen, it's rude to keep a lady waiting." She blinked, head canting, impish smirk shifting slighty. "Besides, you teased me first asshole--what comes around goes around." Her tail arched up, revealing her glistening mound and her swollen nether lips.

Arlen mirrored her look before he sprang on her, the big black tiger leaned down with a purring growl to twist her head so he could kiss her hungrily, a kiss which the housecat seemed only too happy to return.

He angled his hips down, grinded his stiff arousal against her pink folds. The underside of his shaft came back moist. As cool as she was trying to play it, Arlen could read her body almost as good as his own. She needed this probably just as badly as he did...

The tip of his bulky cock, spines well-defined, tappered at the tip, parted her lips with long practiced ease. When he was halfway inside her, he gave a low, strained snort, and thrust the rest in with a forceful buck of his hips.

Arlen couldn't hold back a groan as he bottomed out inside of her sopping, silky depths that clung to his cock so wonderfully. Nothing felt more warm, more perfect around his him in that moment. The housecat's atheltic back arching deeper made the tiger chuckle under his breath. Then, mind shifting gears, he began to move properly, pounded away at her with a practiced staccato paceing and an ease accquied over years of flings and late night booty-calls.

Her body came alive under him, rocking back to met his expecting thrusts. She matched him move for move, like she always did: they were in perfect synergy.

His large, calloused hand grasped her hip with a gentleness that managed to surprise him. The other stroked up over her flank to cup one full breast, gently twisting and pulling on one pink, hard nipple. His hips slowed down, turned from a hard and fast hammering to a slow, rolling search with his hips, pressing along all of her tunnels pleasure spots. He brought her up, urged by an warm insistent tugging in his chest that he couldn't make sense of, but pushed it away for the moment and instead pressed his body along the full lenght of hers, strong hips grinding, eyes half-closed in pleasure and focus.

* * *

Tamra gasped quietly, eyes fluttering open as Arlen's pace slowed down unexpectedly. For a heartbeat or two she wondered if she should ask if something was wrong but didn't get the chance as one strong paw-like hand scopped her body upwards so it rested against his, sculpted chest and muscles rippling against her back, strong and warm.

She couldn't keep from whimpering and wiggled more fully against him, torn between the desire to nettle him playfully about going soft or something, or to relax and just enjoy the military contractor's unexpected sweetness.

He hadn't stopped moving. The slow, almost dreamy pace making her gasp every time he slid back and forth, every firm brush of his weathered thumb against her proudly peaked nipple. Without knowing why, she covered the hand on her breast with her own, her chest at once wonderfully tight. A firm thrust that sent stars swirling infront of her eyes and made heat coil in her groin and hips set her mind at ease and she decided to just stop thinking and enjoy herself. She had been fantazing about this particular moment since boardering her flight, after all.

She purred under her breath, arched her back and gave a delighted gasp as it changed the series of pleasure spots his cock grinded against as he plunged inside rapidly, shivers and thrills racing through her when he began to pound her fast and deep once more, teeth locking firmly onto her scruff in the old game they both enjoyed while his resounding growl fibrated through what felt like every point of contact.

The first orgasm lancing through her took her breath away, made the threatening yowl turn into throaty gasp as he body siezed up without warning, her insides squeezing down on the tiger's shaft rythmically.

The hot waves rolling through her had no chance to ebb away, and her second release hit her with almost unbearble intensity, yet the housecat couldn't keep from wiggling her atheltic rear against her partner's strong hips even as her fingers clenched into the sheets, body shuddering out its yearned after release. As he huffed and straigjtend up, the room's air flushed across her trembling, sweaty back, almost chilly.

Something quiet yet insistent made her look over her shoulder, mind fuzzy and unfocused, almost cottony.

Arlen's face had turned into a tense, almost studious and focused expression. He looked handsome. Scared certainly, but still handsome, she thought in the back of her mind: His stripes, a few shades deeper than the rest of him, golden eyes half-lidded in pleasure, muscles thick and bunching under his pelt. He was all a tiger should be to the hazed mind.

Her hand reached up to brush against one of the larger ones gripping her hips tight, her focus splintered between the tight spring beginning to coil in her lower body, maddening and all-consuming, to watching her tiger's expressions.

Arlen had begun to tense up behind her, hips smacking against her ass with increasing force as the seconds grew, balls clapping against her sopping pussy lips. His cock had begun to twitch and jerk insider her in warning, grow hotter. But she almost couldn't find it in her to care, her own world shrinkind down to the building, tensing rise of heat between her legs, raptly shifting through and setting every nerve-ending on fire.

Seconds before her third big explosion washed over her, Tamra felt more than heard Arlen grunt, his thick tiger cock pumping heat inside her, quickly overflowing to drip down between both their legs and onto the sheets, set her off.

This time, the yowl ripped free, unrestrained as the pleasure chased through her spasming body, combed through her with tingling bliss and wondefully burning aches from her core that had her gape, sent bright colors rippling in front of her unseeing eyes.

Good thing there's the pill.

Only as she sagged against the blue sheets did she become aware of the weight on top of her, of Arlen's uneven breathing fanning across her sweat-dampend neck, his abs shifting against her back with every ragged breath. She closed her eyes and basked in the gentle tingles which followed, simply let all the worries and questions wait. There was time.

Later, after a quick clean-up and a change of sheets, they laid entwined the way only felines could, drowsy but not sleeping, bodies cocconed in the afterglow of their bedplay, pleaseantly exhausted.

Their purrs were coiling together like two springs, filled the room with their contentment.

Arlen lay on his side, one bulging arm thrown across Tamra's waist, his muzzle pressed against her neck. His eyes oppened into drowzy slivers as she began to toy with one big, limp hand, linking and unlinking their fingers, tip of hers gently padding against his while her tail lazly lashed and coiled against his front.

Outside the window, the evening sun cast long satiny curtains of light accross the floor that pulled the shadows of the bed's legs tall and slender.

One hand drawing patterns on her hip, he were more than fine with staying there, close his eyes and listen to his friend's purring. Absentmindedly, he nuzzled into the relaxed housecat.

A slender hand covering his made him turn and look at her, ears perking on his head with a quiet, inquering hum.

"So," Tamra began with one eyebrow quirked. "Best choice of the day--no, Arl?"

The big black feline behind her streatched his arms, yawned fully so his frighteining garniture were on full display, before he said.

"Heh, yeah not a bad choice at all--only you dragged ass."

"I needed to build momentum--Wanted to make you sweat a bit." She poked him on the nose. He snorted and moved her hand off to the side. He didn't let it go. He mirrored her earlier motion; gently turning and circled the middle of her palm with his thick fingers, feeling how a victorious smile pulled at his face, though he couldn't tell from what--amusement most likely. "Well," He looked up into those familiar eyes again. "You succeded."

Tamra smiled back. "Where's Sato?" Her pretty face turned into a none-comprihensive frown. "I thought he'd be home by now." She said as she shifted to sit up on the bed, tail neatly curling at her side.

"Buisness trip outta town, you know how it is."

"Well, glad someone's working around here..."

Arlen blinked raptly in slight shock as he words registred. "Hey!"

He poked a finger against one delicate shoulder, though it just made her giggle, the impish gleam in her eyes increasing, like sunlight caught on a pair of gemstones.

"What's that suppouse to mean, huh? I work!" He said, only half-joking. Don't know how much mowing the lawn and caring for my guns could be called work though...

Something serious rose to the surface beneath the mirth and the ease in her eyes. Her head canted ever so slighty to the side, eyes subtly narrowing as if challening his statment.

"Have you?" She said simply with eyes that already knew the answer.

Arlen averted his eyes, knowing well enough that pretending would lead nowhere, not when they both had noticed how tense he'd beenback at the airport. He sighed as the weight in his chest returned, like a stone on a chain.

"A kid accidentally sneaked up on me...I-I guess I got spooked. I think I scared him." Arlen shook his head, as he dragged a heavy hand down his face, a misrelbale laugh escaping him as the kid's terrifed features resurfaced in his mind. "Hah. Yeah. I definetly scared him, poor kid. Fuck."

"Well, that happens sometime." She said while never taking her eyes off him.

He wasn't offended at her reply. Coddling and platitudes were just patronising most of the time. What was more, they didn't change anything, didn't unmake mistakes.

"If I had known I would've taken a cab. Spared you the trouble. But I didn't know you'd come down for me."

Something in her voice made him look at her again, and he had to be seeing things because she looked almost bashful for some reason. Her eyes met his and something passed between them, drew them in. Slowly.

The strange conncetion broke as Tamra shook her head gently before saying, as she slipped from bed.

"Anyway, sounds like you could do with some away-from-the-home-work. I'll look for something suitable tomorrow, alright tiger?" The grin she gave him over her shoulder was a welcome sight, and the big tiger still spread out on the mattress laughed, some of the heavyness from the airport lodged in his chest chipped away from the familarity of their banter. He streatched some more as he continued to watch her.

It is good to have her back...I missed you Tam. He thought towards her as she slipped in along the path to the bathroom, her tail being the last thing to vanish out the bedroom door.

Arlen rolled over onto his back, arms curling underneath his head in a make-shift pillow, back damp with sweat as it pressed into the matress. A content sigh tore through him, a pleseant anchoring sensation settling over him as his eyes traced the cealing fans rotating blades as they worked. A brief smile tugged at his mouth as he decided to doze until Tamra returned.

Yeah. Defiently the right choice of the day.