Past the Twilight Hours
Chapter 1: Past the Twilight Hours
It is past the twilight hours, the sun has long since sunken beneath the meridian, and the atmosphere ignites with the fretted fire of starlight. The moonlight pours down upon the world below, caressing the very cockles of the meandering cloud vapors beneath. A grand and magnanimous halo of light coronates the moon like a frozen ripple harbored between heaven and earth; however, below the troposphere this is never seen.
Colossus gray masses of cloud saunter silently though the skies and blot out the celestial lights. A slow and dismally demure rain falls onto the mountains and the forests and the small towns below. It was an unending apathetic affair, and as the autumn days melted away the chill of winter prowled ever nearer. Somewhere in the nebulous distance the metallic sound of flint snapping against steel broke the silence. It was past the twilight hours and in the empty concrete halls of a subway station a faint red light glowed against the dimly lit room. The flame of a cigarette lighter licked the stale air, as a husky unsheathed a cigarette from the little paper box in his pocket. 8 cigarettes left. At the tip a small ember smoldered, the husky took a heavy drag, burning away the inscription on side of the cigarette "Tempus edax rerum".
This morning the husky dressed as a professional, his shirt was neatly buttoned and tucked, his tie folded in a tight Windsor knot, his fur maintained, his pants crisp and unmarred, but it is well past the twilight hours and this is not the same husky that left home this morning, no that husky is gone. His shirt was unbuttoned and un-tucked, his tie hung limply around his neck, his fur wet and somewhat mangy, and his pants wrinkled and vaguely stained. The tobacco smoke plumed from the husky's mouth and curled and coiled in the cold air before disappearing as if never there at all, only the smell lingered-- he really hated these cigarettes.
A pair of headlights made their way through the dark tunnel, a rush of air and churning steel flooded the cavernous concrete halls as the sound of breaks filled the air with their screeching. The gates parted and the husky stepped inside the nearly empty cart, a paw gripped the slick metal support rod just as the doors sealed with a faint clap.
It was several months ago, before the endless rain, before the long abrasive silences, before the lingering smell of tobacco loomed oppressively in the air. There was a husky, a husky whose title read "Pence Wallace, Senior Operating Systems Engineer", he was a husky that organized his cubical the way gravity organizes planets, precisely. All papers that made their way to and from his desk would remain at 90 degree angles until the time they arrive to the time they departed, and indeed this was true for anything that made its way to his work station, he maintained order. As a consequence, no clutter was tolerated; there were no post-it notes, no reference books, no calendars, no posters, no clocks or trinkets or photos of any kind. The one solitary display of identity this desk had to offer, besides the husky himself of course, was a tiny fox-shaped stress ball which he abused mercilessly and openly when particularly vexed.
The vigorous clicking of keyboard keys became the devout mantra of his profession, it was his art. At the moment he was constructing the interface for OS-B1, or Operating System Biology Version 1. OS-B1 was an operating system created specifically for medical computers, and would be used primarily in hospitals for data entry, by its collaborators it was affectionately called OS Bone. This husky saw perfection in the way strands of code came together, in the way his desk remained a beckon of order, in the way his tie ended exactly at the tip of his belt. This was the path that he had led his entire life; he was always on time, completed all of his assignments and ascended the levels of education until he found himself here, the pinnacle. He was at this point nearing middle-age, faint hints of gray fur shimmering at random places on his body, and he no longer felt quite as confident of his back as he used to, but he was content.
The work days was nearly at its end, the crimson coated sun hung low in the sky and red and orange light bleed through the office windows. A grey wolf weaved his way slowly through the corridors of cubicles; his heavy gait carried with it the weight of his faculty. The wolf would occasionally stop by the cubical of other beasts and begin the jabbering jargon of electronically savvy employees before moving dutifully to the next one. "It's you lucky day, Wallace" said a rather dry voice just behind the husky.
"Oh?" The husky replied with equal dry enthusiasm, his white-sapphire eyes remaining engrossed on the florescent glow of his LCD computer monitor.
"You've got a special assignment" There was a long pause were only the rapid tapping of computer keys filled the silence. The wolf's beleaguered golden eyes rolled in an exhausted way before the wolf physically turned the huskies chair around to face him. He was met with a perturbed and impatient husky who crossed his arms firmly against his chest, and turned his eyes up at his superior. "Have I got your attention?"
"My undivided attention, sir"
"Good, OS-B1 is nearing beta testing phase, but first the product must be displayed to our advisory committee before we release any distributions. I know you've been the one really leading the charge on the system so, you've been allocated to marketing the more commercial aspects of the program, by means of auditory enhancement."
"No." The husky attempted to spin around in his chair and get back to his work, but was foiled when the wolf once again stop his chair, the husky was getting irritated.
"Wallace, this isn't a negotiation"
"Good, I'm not negotiating"
The Wolf's eyes narrowed "You're walking a very thin line Wallace"
The huskies hackles bristled "Nowhere in my job description does it state that I am in charge of making music, that's not my department. This is a Research and Development division not Marketing; I'm not paid to handle advertising, so if you haven't got anything else for me, you can be on your way"
"Calm down Wallace, you won't be getting paid for much longer if you don't develop some tact." The Wolf had raised his voice, and he practically spat the word "tact" at the husky. The air between the wolf and the husky was so tense it could crush a diamond. The sound of typing had slowed significantly, and a few heads sneaked up to observe what sort of disastrous events might be afoot. The wolf's eyes shifted back and forth, noticing the attention that was being drawn, and gestured the husky to follow him. "You have valid concerns; we can discuss this in my office."
On the wolf's office desk there is a plaque that reads "Tomas Harrison, Director of Research and Development" there is a lamp, a small collection of books, and a family photograph which Thomas keeps as a reminder that he does have a life outside of this office. The cantankerous husky had resolved that the issue could be addressed once he had gotten to a proper stopping point, Thomas agreed to this, though he wasn't entirely sure why. The wolf brought the pads of his paws to his temples and with a vain effort of attempted to relax. A clock on the far wall ticked, all the other employees would be leaving soon, the sunlight was fading the red sun was falling. He however would likely be here past midnight, the central division was going through a crisis and he knew what that meant, paperwork.
He thought briefly about his two pups, he felt like a stranger to his own family, his hours keep him from the people and the things that he cared about. He had worked so hard all of his life to get where he is, he'd done such ferociously tedious work, some deplorable pandering to his superiors, for what? How many hours, how many days, how many years of his life had he wasted on unhappiness which perpetuated more unhappiness. He had thought very seriously about a career change many times before abandoning the idea, he had already invested so much into this job, this path, this was what he'd been after since he was a pup, he was...successful. The clock on the far wall, ticked without pause. The wolf regained his focus and began searching his computer for exactly how much work he would be assaulted with this night.
A satisfied, dapper husky entered the office of Mr. Harrison. The door shut with a faint click, and Pence took a few steps inside the small office clearing his throat to announce his presence, the wolf was now reading something rapidly on his monitor. Thomas growled and expose a vicious snarl at the computer screen for the briefest of moments before emitting a catastrophic, world toppling sigh, and attempted to regain his composer. "Wallace, are you married?"
The husky, a little taken aback raised a paw to display the lack of wedding ring, "It's customary to buy me dinner first before proposing, but I'll save you the trouble, I can do without the distractions of marriage."
Thomas Harrison laughed for the first time in a long time, it was truly the irony situation that he found so funny, and it was unfortunate that it would likely sail right over the husky's head. When his chuckles had finally tapered off, he felt much worse than he had previously. "You are my distraction, Wallace, you and them" he made a gesture towards the doorway "and all of this!" he made a sweeping gesture about his office "you know what...I haven't got the time or the patience to placate or pander to you Mr. Wallace, you may be good at what you do but you are not irreplaceable"
"With all due respect Mr. Harrison, I haven't got the time or the patience for your extracurricular activities" The wolf's features radiated like a supernova, before collapsing in on itself and an air of unmistakable resignation washed over him.
"You're clearly a very passionate dog, contemptibly irritating to work with, but passionate so let me be candid with you, there is a chance, a very real chance that all your hard work is going to be for nothing." The wolf held up a paw at that moment to silence the clearly accosted husky "We've lost several of our most promising clients, we've missed deadlines, and our competition is miles ahead of us. Pence, we are becoming obsolete, and are going to lose funding very soon." The wolf used the silence between this statement to accentuate the severity of this, and let the information really sink into the husky's head. "We are shifting our priorities, just for the moment, you're not nearly as special as you think you are everyone is doing their part in one way or another. This is about everyone keeping their jobs, it is a community effort, and really it's not that devastating a request I promise you Pence it really isn't."
The husky gave an irritated little snort, "Why do they always put the incompetent ones in charge? Very noble of you, the captain going down with the ship as they say, but you'll find I'm not so chivalrous. You can expect my letter of resignation on your desk by morning, good night Thomas." With that Pence turned around and cleared the space between the desk to the door in no time flat.
Thomas Harrison has had to accept many defeats throughout his lifetime, he had lost many things. The world had taken from him in one way or another; friends, homes, loved ones, memories and mementos his career has even taken him from his family, but today was the first time he had ever lost himself. The wolf rose from his chair so quickly that its legs lost their balance and brought the whole thing crashing to the ground. "DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME!" The words hummed around the room as if they were frozen in time.
The creature that occupied the same room as Pence was no longer Thomas. Pence could tell by the way his breath quivered just slightly as he tried to inhale, he could tell because it felt as if this wolf had just placed a dagger to his throat; this was not the same beast, he would have to be very careful. Pence removed his paw from the door handle and turned to face the wolf. Golden, all he could see were smoldering golden eyes like dews of molten metal, the wolf was standing an inch away, his paws clinched in tight fists, his black lips pulled back in a patient snarl, rumbling like distant thunder. Pence could actually hear the lupine heart beating more powerfully than any war drum. In this situation there is only one thing to do; there is only one thing you can do. Pence give Thomas a kiss.
What Thomas did next, neither of the dogs in the room could have expected. He kissed back. Thomas' tongue collided with the husky's and meshed together like tidal waves. Their moist panting and the slick sounds of lubricated tongue filled their ears. Thomas' drive was like a force of nature there was no reasoning with it, no logic to it, no stopping it. The wolf makes short work of Pence's pants, unlatching the belt buckle with practiced expertise. This was not foreplay, this was no affection, this was a need, an urgent impulse.
It wasn't until Pence felt his head bang against the office desk at the end of the room that he realized exactly what he was getting himself into. This was his boss, this was a professional, this was a beast with a wife and a family, this was a good dog with a conscious, with a moral compass. However, it was as Pence has said earlier; he was not as chivalrous as Thomas, and truth be told he had a rather rough day himself and certainly wasn't going to turn down a good game of hide the bone. Brrttzzz, the zipper was undone, and as if the wolf had trained his whole life for this he's paws grappled the huskies side like a vice grip. He leaned over the dog's body sandwiching Pence between himself and his office desk, his hips buckling and rolling mercilessly the baculum bone lancing Pence's furry butt with each failed attempted at a quick entry.
There was no lube, no stretching, and a wolf that would most definitely be in the mood for a full knotting. Pence was all for a good yiff, but that usually did not include being sore for weeks and being a nervous pooer, he grabbed the family picture, "Oi, what about th--" . Pence quickly found Thomas's teeth buried in the nape of his neck, he yelped in surprise and a low voice growled between panting breaths "Shut...Up"
And just like that it happened, the tapered tip of his pink dagger found its target. It looked so easy, the way the wolf buried the length of his pulsating shaft into the underdog. Thomas used whatever force was necessary and with that single minded ambition he was able to penetrate Pence like a campfire marshmellow. Pence on the other hand found his claws tearing rivulets into the wooden desk, his eyes were shut tight as if the pain would be less if he couldn't see it. Every muscle in his body was flexing, to the great benefit of the wolf. Pre-jizz sprinkled the rim of the husky's anus and the wolf took advantage of that, picking up his pace, like pistons firing an engine. There was the faint sound of balls slapping against fur, and then the outright gasping frustrated cry as the knot engorged to capacity. The wolf would not stop humping he could only thrust less than an inch at a time, but he won't stop. Even after the twitching and the sputtering and the throbbing of his penis as it pulsed, flare after flare of scalding hot semen was injected into Pence.
The reality of the situation was that it truly did not take long. Thomas stopped assaulting the black and white dog's ass, Pence stopped clinching his eyes and they both gradually stopped panting the only sound left in the room now was the ticking of the clock and on occasion the dripping of jizz. It was a long time before either of them spoke. "Do you do that to everyone who threatens to quit or are you going to miss me that much?" there was no reply. "You know I think this might qualify as sexual harassment." There no reply. Pence winked his tailhole a few times, clamping down on the knot snuggly lodged up his rear and would feel the little flicks of Thomas' cock much to his amusement, and the wolf's shame. "You know it's traditional to buy me dinner first, I think you owe me a buffet."
It was another 10minutes or so before Thomas spoke, "I haven't had sex in years..." The wolf began to roll his wedding ring around his finger. "There was only one thing that really mattered and now I have betrayed that...I have no one to blame but myself. " It was another 20minutes before Thomas was actually able to remove his penis, it was freckled with little bits of scat and had a very unappealing odor, but he was able to sheath is easily enough. Neither of them spoke as Pence pulled his pants back on and buckled his belt.
The wolf went to work fixing up his desk, stacking up fallen papers, cleaning up body fluids, and finding a cloth to cover up the claw marks that the husky had left on his desk. "Mr. Harrison" Pence began
"Just leave. Please"
"That job you wanted done. You can count on me."