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Jak & Daxter: Safety

Chapter 7

by Tempo & Sillyneko

Note: This is set after Jak X.

~ ~ ~

Jak blinked against the dawn light and squirmed against the bedcovers. A dried stickiness tugged at the fur of his crotch. He looked down. To either side, naked ottsel bodies nestled against him. His fur lay mussed with ottsel seed. As he shifted, a lingering tenderness traced through his cock.

Exactly what had he gotten up to last night? The fading throb of a hangover reminded him how the night started: in the bar. From there, he remembered being ambushed by amorous ottsels and...

His eyes shot wide against the blinding light of morning. He'd kissed them. Sweet Precursors, he'd done a lot more than that.

A sinuous furry form slipped against his shoulder to nibble his jawline.

The hero flailed into an stifled eep.

Daxter groaned into his cheek ruff, voice soft. "I can hear yer brain cookin' from here. Ya doin' okay?"

Jak blinked. "Headache."

The orange ottsel rolled over and rattled a bottle of aspirin from a bedside drawer. He returned with a pill and a sloshing half-glass of water.

Jak studied the glass through bleary vision and dawnlight. "How long has that been there?"

A grin entered his smarmy voice. "I could give ya something else to swallow, Jakster."

Taking the glass with a grunt, the blond popped the tablet and sipped the dusty water. He'd never thought about it, but his new body probably didn't need a big dose of anything to feel the effects. Mulling over the overdose of drama he'd taken in the past few weeks, he handed the empty tumbler back.

"So yeah, last night happened." After putting the cup back on the nightstand, he slid a paw down around Jak's fuzzy tummy. "You're ours. Get used to it, go back to sleep, or lemme groom you."

"I don't know about all this..." Jak's whisper floated through the half-grey light of sunrise. "What if I screw up your relationship?"

"I do; ya won't." The other ottsel sighed. "You've been in this thing since the beginning, but with none a' the perks."

"But this is more than just fooling around." His hand drifted down to curl over his friend's elbow. "I mean, I'd thought about you guys, but this..."

"It's okay ta want this. You deserve a little happiness. And we deserve a little you." A quiet chuckle stirred his neck fur. "We'll work out the fiddly details as we go. That's how this junk works."

On his stomach, Tess jostled, basically draped across him. He noticed his hand between her legs and didn't dare move it.

"But Dax..."

Daxter nuzzled into a soft kiss as his ears dipped under the weight of a blush. The press of delicate ottsel lips against his felt so natural, so easy.

Jak wanted it never to end, wanted to stay bundled up in a loving ottsel tangle, wanted to be everything for these two people who were so wonderful to him.

His lifelong friend drew back, smirking even as a blush lit his ears. "That answer yer questions?"

The world's newest ottsel nodded. With no objections left, they sank into comfortable silence, then into happy dreams.

~ ~ ~

Awaking in his friend's embrace, Jak drifted back to consciousness. He looked to his bedmates. A bright sunbeam painted the colorful bedspread, warming three shades of equally colorful fur. Jak was hard pressed to hold back a purr--the sound was still foreign in his throat, and tickled when he tried. Heh. It was kind of funny in a way. A bed almost too small for one human woman seemed a palatial nest to three ottsels; staying nestled in it so late into the morning, entirely decadent.

A soft chuckle arose near Jak's ear. His head was tucked under Daxter's chin, those scrawny wrapped arms around his waist. Tess' chin rested on Jak's shoulder, her arms hugging his middle right above Daxter's. In a literal hero sandwich, the green-blonde ottsel couldn't deny the embraces anchored him to this time more than anything had in the past. Between his old best friend and his new girlfriend, he got the message at last:

We love you.

We want you.

You're safe with us.

In silence, a delicate paw drifted to caress his half-mast erection, then to Daxter's. Tess wiggled to wakefulness. "Mmmmm. Morning, boys."

~ ~ ~

A sleepy grin spread across Tess's muzzle as she groped her boys. Lucky her, getting two adorable and hunky guys all to herself. A few years ago, she never would've believed it. And, best of all, they loved her as much as she did them.

Dax stirred with a sleepy scoff, but pressed his hips toward her grasp. "Startin' early."

"Hey, I'm not the early riser here." She slipped her other paw from under Jak's back to around his cock. With a planet-wide hero in each paw, she stroked their sheaths and admired every cute little noise she could extract from them. Jak's was straighter and thicker, while Daxter's had more length and more of a curve. She decided both of them were perfect. Before long, two little glimmers of precum shone in the morning sunshine.

"So, um..." The greenish ottsel ran a paw over his ears. "Where do we start?"

"Oh, I have an idea..." A hungry grin spread across Tess's muzzle. "...or two. Scoot together. I wanna see those fuzzy balls touch."

Daxter pulsed a little further from his sheath and hurried toward his pal.

Jak blushed hard, but swelled even harder. His sheepish hips tilted to allow the other male ever closer.

She guided their legs and tails to interweave. Once both had their dicks within range, her paws curled around their creamy-furred sheaths. Gentle strokes coaxed them harder and bounced their sacs together. As arousal thundered through her veins, she leaned their tips together, letting bare ottsel cocks slide together for the first time in recorded history.

Both of her boys winced with pleasure, though Daxter's soon became a moan. The other ottsel grit his teeth, a crystalline bead of precum collecting at his opening. It gleamed in the light and spread as she rubbed their naked flesh together, a tantalizing sheen that made her mouth water. The faint musk of the males blended to draw her irresistibly closer, closer.

Her tongue curled around the familiar contours of Dax's cock head first. His lovely texture greeted her, as did a slight swell of arousal, followed by a fresh trickle of hot liquid. Then, almost by accident, she licked around to Jak's. His taste warmed her mouth: salty, exotic, but somehow familiar. She decided in that instant that, like many great flavors, she liked them even better together. Her mouth bobbed on Jak's delicate shaft, slurping up its length, tongue tracing around him as she kissed his sheath. Then, a thin strand of saliva still connecting her to the virgin's cock, she repeated the maneuver on Daxter.

A tender paw caressed her shoulder, brushing back her long, blonde hair. From the corner of her eye, she saw the orange ottsel watching with an egotistical grin from where he'd propped himself up on the pillows.

Jak, meanwhile, dared only shy little glances at their shared blowjob.

With infinite care, her claw tips traced the edge of their sheaths, then down to explore their balls. Jak's seemed larger and a little less round, but that could just be from them being somewhat on top of Daxter's. She resolved to check more in the future. For the moment, she swirled her tongue between their tips, then took both deep to savor the feel of two eager dicks in her muzzle.

Careful to keep his cock in her mouth, Jak edged his upper body closer to Dax's, every movement jostling that ottsel member against his and over her tongue. His deep blue eyes watched pleasure play out on the face of his best friend, his boyfriend.

Daxter placed a paw on Jak's shoulder. As it traced up the side of his neck, their eyes met. A welcoming smile shone between them, distracted now and then by a well-placed suckle. He ruffled Jak's mop of green hair and ample ears.

Their muzzles met, whiskers mingling like the long-denied dreams they were living out. The kisses came chaste at first, just little pecks, but soon deepened. Then the tongues came into play.

Both lovers gasped into each other's mouths as Tess bobbed her head and sucked. Air crept in between their shafts, so she had to press them tighter together and closed her lips tighter to make a seal. As lovely and warm as they felt in her muzzle, having them together like this, pleasuring the two males she loved, warmed her heart all the more.

Delicate male paws traced each other's pelts. Hind paws stroked along each other under her stomach. Jak's tail lashed against the bedsheets. Dax's, however, arched up to stroke her slit with mischievous purpose. He knew she was watching and could feel the wetness of her arousal. Supple fur brushed her naked folds. It reminded her of their first times together, before she was even an ottsel, when that tail and balls would massage her entrance as his cute ottsel dick dumped load after load into her. It felt wonderful. But she refused to let it distract her from sucking her boyfriends off.

She lapped up their sleek lengths, then slurped back down. Together, their girths almost seemed too much for her dainty muzzle, but sheer determination made them fit. A matched pair of cock heads pressed to the back of her throat, throbbing precum. A reflexive swallow squeezed them together.

Daxter shivered. The first gush of heat rushed against the roof of her mouth. No sooner had she swallowed in surprise than he surged again, the heat coating her mouth. It slicked Jak's shaft in an instant. The taller ottsel squeaked in orgasm, but his boyfriend muffled it with a deep, loving kiss. Just as one ottsel's shots of seed ebbed, the other jetted thick cream against her soft palate.

With greedy suckles and gulps, she milked each with one paw. Their salty-sweet juices mingled on her tongue in a rich dance of male flavor. Her paw cupped their twitching balls together, arousal surging through her lithe body with every swallow. Sucking Daxter off when she had been human had been fun and tasty, but ottsel pheromones now got her as sticky as the cum dripping down her chin.

The boys softened, drained, on her tongue. She pulled off. Seeing their cocks limp and adorable together, she gave each a loving kiss on the head. As both saviors of the planet moaned for her, Tess knew she was the luckiest girl on it.

He and Jak looked up from their make-out session, love in their hazy blue eyes, their hair a tousled mess around shaky ears. Her heart skipped with glee.

Daxter noticed her radiating happiness and turned a wobbly smile on her. "That was amazin', Tessie-kins."

Jak nodded slowly from where he had sprawled, boneless and speechless with awe in his unfocused eyes.

She puffed with pride as she crawled up between them. "So not too bad for our hero's first time?"

The greener ottsel huffed in disbelief. "Tess, that was...wow. Perfect."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Daxter nuzzled under her chin with a purr of contentment, but the tell-tale shift of lithe hips gave away his quickly renewing interest. "Now, I think it's high time our lovely lady got her share of the action. What'll it be, sweet-cheeks? Tongue bath? Tessie sandwich? Oooh, I know! Bet you'd like ta take the Jak Machine for a test drive, wouldn't ya?"

She cast the suddenly flushing hero a playful wink. "Well, I'd be lying if I said no. Are you up for it, Jak?"

"Um." He glanced down at his slick pink shaft, already nearly halfway back out of its sheath. Soft ears lay back in embarrassment. "Looks like I am now." He looked beseechingly to his best friend. "Is this a normal ottsel thing?"

Tess giggled. He was just too cute.

Daxter loosed a slightly evil cackle. "Congratulations, Jakkie-boy, you just discovered one of the very best parts of being an ottsel. If I told ya how many times we can go in an hour you wouldn't believe me, so I'll just let you see for yourself." He punched Jak playfully on the shoulder. "So what do you think, pal? Wanna show Tessie how much you liked your first blowjob?"

Though still pink in the ears, he nodded resolutely. "Definitely." Jak had always been a go-getter; it was no surprise he would be the same in bed, given a little patience and praise from his newly christened lovers.

"That's the spirit, big guy!" Dax cheered. "And don't worry; I'll be right here watchin' if you need pointers."

Tess rolled her eyes with a fond smile. If their boyfriend wanted a show, she was sure she and Jak could provide. "So, Jak. Do you think you could pick me up?"

He blinked at her confusedly. "Pick you up? Of course I could. I've hoisted guns a lot heavier than you."

"Excellent. Follow me!"

Tess stood. A scritch under that little beard tempted Jak to trail her to the headboard. She had always fantasized about having a guy pick her up and pound her against the wall. Daxter was an attentive and...enthusiastic lover, but he wasn't exactly buff. Jak, though, had remained a hunk even in ottsel form. With a grin of anticipation, she leaned in for a deep kiss.

As their tongues toyed with each other, Jak shuddered, no doubt tasting his own salty musk, and that of his lifelong friend.

She lifted his paws to her breasts and showed him how to play with her pert nipples.

Smiling dreamily, Daxter lay on his stomach, feet kicking into the air as he watched the action like his own personal porno.

"Okay, you can pick me up now."

The larger ottsel lifted her obligingly. As he had claimed, the movement was fluid and as effortless as it had been when he was human, picking his ottsel companions up for a shoulder ride.

Tess settled against his bigger frame blissfully, the latent ottsel instincts she was usually able to keep buried glorying in the display of strength from her new partner. Daxter had the speed, Jak had the sheer power, and she had seen how well the two worked in tandem. While her rational brain and emotional heart declared her love for the boys in question, her inner critter chittered simple approval at the excellence of her choice in mates.

A shift from him, a squirm on her part, and his hot hardness rubbed her impatiently waiting folds. She cooed encouragement as his back and ears stiffened, his hands momentarily digging into her fur where they supported her as he fought the immediate urge to thrust.

"Is this okay?" he managed to grunt.

She purred, trailing her claw tips through the sleek fur at the back of his shoulders. "Perfect."

He hardened further against her slit. Tess took a moment to savor that perk of Precursor physiology: a reload time that would make a machine gun blush. With a last loving caress, she reached down and guided him closer against her soft folds.

His gruff voice timid and still nervous, the greenish ottsel gave her a shy and somehow vulnerable look. "You know I... I've never..."

"Shh, don't worry about that. Just enjoy." Her heart pattered in her chest as clumsy, but ever more determined, thrusts teased her entrance. "You want this, right?" Heat glowed in her ears. "Want me?"

"Yeah..." His words faded to a sweet little whimper of longing. He bit his lower lip as the underside of his shaft rubbed her slick heat.

"We both want ya, Jak." Moving swift and silent, Daxter slunk up Jak's back to caress his furry chest. Tess's raised calf felt his hard length rub the underside of his best pal's tail. "Not the hero, not the badass, just the guy we love." One paw slipped down to Jak's sheath and angled him back to tender, swollen lips.

The first centimeter slipped inside, welcomed by hot, wet need. Tess and Jak squeaked in unison, burying noses in each other's neck fur. Over his shoulder, muzzle to her muzzle, Daxter flashed a lewd grin as he guided his friend deeper by the sheath.

The female ottsel squirmed further onto her new lover, tail arching against the headboard. Her ankles crossed over his tail, spreading further open, easing that lovely penetration. Muscles fluttering up his girth, she clutched at his shoulders. "Oh Jak..."

"She's the best, isn't she, buddy?" The naughty ottsel leaned forward, whispering in his friend's ear as any lingering vestiges of virginity vanished with every inch. "And she loves yer cock just as much as I do."

With a blissful keen, Jak closed his eyes and nuzzled her throat. His purr rumbled against her, setting a tremble to her whiskers.

"Ahh..." Tess looked down, seeing that deep pink shaft thrusting deeper. A shiver of lust telegraphed down her supple spine, from the twitch of her whiskers to the grip of her toes in Daxter's belly fur. The orange mustelid's lips met hers and sent her mind reeling.

She giggled giddily into the kiss. A girl could get used to this.

~ ~ ~

Jak gasped at the sensation of moist heat clutching his arousal from all sides. His breath caught short when he thought too hard about what he was doing and with whom, but loving claws trailed through his fur, churrs as soft as ottsel fluff reassuring him.

Tess kissed at one ear; Dax nibbled at the other. A firm length snuck under his tail, prodding the back of his balls and leaking. A hot, slick passage beckoned him deeper. Their bodies swathed him in fluff and affection. He belonged here. Here, he didn't have to be a big, tough hero. In their embrace, he could just be an inexperienced kid learning how amazing it felt to be naked and wanted with the two people he loved most.

The scent of his friends --his lovers, now-- stoked a fire within him more fearsome than all the colors of eco combined. The taste of his own cum, familiar yet muskier, only heightened his arousal. His new body responded to them with fresh instincts, rocking his hips up into the moaning female. He thrusted faster. A shudder escaped his muzzle as he hilted in her. He pressed her hard against the headboard, knocking it along the wall.

"That's it! Yes!" Her tail lashed the worn wood, driving him deeper inside her as her claws sank deeper into his shoulder fur. "Sweet Precursors, Jak! Harder!"

His climax hit like a desert monsoon in Spargus: sudden and furious, flooding her passage as jet after sticky white jet sprayed her walls, running down his throbbing length to drip down his sheath. Fresh cum dribbled, obscene and erotic, down the underside of her tail to soak his balls.

Daxter's arm shook behind him, bumping his hot tip into Jak's fur. With a long groan, he shivered and clutched his best friend's tail. Several shots of liquid heat spattered against his exposed entrance.

Dazed as he was by orgasm, the greenish ottsel blushed under his fur at the cum running down from his tailhole to slick the other side of his ball sack. He nuzzled into Tess's neck with a shy squeak.

His teenage crush collapsed atop him, pressing his softening cock deep into their girlfriend's folds and coaxed out a renewed trickle of juices. Daxter's tongue lolled out in bliss.

Tess and Jak exchanged a little smirk at his inelegance. But then, she hadn't minded his clumsiness either. Minutes passed, marked only by their rushed breathing.

~ ~ ~

Daxter's tender cock throbbed against the sticky pelts of his lovers. He'd planned to bury that load in Jak's backside, but now his hard-on was perking right back up. And he'd thought being a teenager was bad...

His lovely girlfriend shifted, slipping out from the ottsel pile. "I should probably go wash up..." She backed up against the pillow, legs splayed wide, delicate pink lips leaking thick white jizz.

He rocked back to his knees, tipping Jak up by the tail. "Actually, babe, could ya just sit there a sec?"

She looked up, a little uncertain. "Like this?"

The greenish ottsel propped up on his arms and looked blearily forward. "Dax what--?"

With a lecherous grin, Daxter eased Jak's surprised muzzle forward into Tess's dripping slit.

Jak's eyes shot wide, then narrowed to hazy slits as he lost himself in allure of ottsel pheromones. That strong jaw worked as he extended his tongue to lap at the folds he'd just coated with spunk.

"Mmmmm..." Tess's hips rocked as she reached to spread her outer lips. "Somebody's jumping into the deep end."

Savoring a wicked chuckle, Daxter worked the stiff tip of his dick against Jak's slippery entrance. Ottsels were stretchy little creatures, but he still took his time sinking in. As his sheath kissed that ring of muscle, the orange ottsel shuddered and hugged that thick tail. He'd waited years to get some Jak tail; totally worth the wait.

After a moan of concern, Jak purred into Tess's super-slippery slit. His blue eyes closed in pleasure. A wave of relaxation and trust ran through his body.

The female ottsel pressed her teeth against her lower lip. Her dainty hands stroked Jak's long, silky ears. Her pretty little toes spread, then curled at the sensations.

Dax thrusted, gently at first, but building to enough force that his balls bounced. He gripped the other ottsel's hips and rocked him backward onto his length. As his sheath got pushed back by Jak's tight ass again and again, he panted in pleasure. It felt good --freakin' amazing-- but the best part was doing it to Jak, and knowing that his every thrust buried the kid's muzzle in Tess's luscious ottsel cream pie.

He humped faster, tingles of pleasure racing up his cock to radiate through the rest of his body. His fingers clutched at Jak's fur, his face shoved into the underside of his tail. His length jerked inside that grip of flesh and slickness, the first shot of his orgasm tracing up from his balls to spurt deep into his best friend. With a cry of ecstasy and victory, Dax claimed Jak's ass in the name of the Daxter Factor.

As he collapsed into a shivering heap of sticky glory, he was faintly aware of Tess giggling at the two of them as she slipped off the bed.

As she dropped to the floor and padded off, he might have heard her say: "Okay, now I really need to wash up."

~ ~ ~

Tess finished toweling off on the edge of the tub. Her body still brimmed with sensation: even the cool sleekness of the bathtub under her paw pads seemed luxurious. She hopped to the floor and wrapped a hand towel around her hair. Sex, a nice long shower, and now blueprints were swirling in her head: this was shaping up to be a great morning.

She padded across the hallway and into the bedroom. Atop the bed, Jak lay on his back, legs up in the air and giving the occasional twitch. Daxter snoozed atop him. Once in a while, one or the other would nuzzle closer or heave a contented little sigh.

She leaned against the doorway. So this is what her life would look like from now on: unchecked adorableness interspersed with orgasms. Her teenage self never would've dared to dream this is how her life would turn out. She slipped out of the room and skipped down the stairs.

Once in the kitchen, she made some toast, with strawbana jam, and headed to the back room and began work on a massive bomb.

~ ~ ~

A couple hours later, Jak tramped, yawning, downstairs and wandered in the direction of breakfast. As he rummaged around the kitchen, he could hear Tess tinkering with something in her workshop. He switched on the coffee maker.

Sitting at the bar, Jak munched on some cereal with yakow milk; of all the advances civilization had made since his childhood, the move from porridge to cereal was near the top of his list. It was a really simple solution, but it made so much sense. And as simple as Dax made their new relationship sound, he may be right. They weren't losing anything from their friendship, just adding nice things. And Tess. Whom he was already friends with anyway.

He smiled at himself. Here he was, the morning after losing his virginity, getting all philosophical over a bowl of Zoomer-O's. Daxter would laugh at him.

The ottsel in question meandered downstairs a few minutes later. His fur stuck up in several directions, though he'd at least put on a bathrobe. He shambled to the bar, clambered onto a stool, and dumped some cereal into Jak's recently-emptied bowl.

Jak considered several ways of bringing up last night. Nothing seemed to do it justice. The greenish ottsel crossed his arms and settled on: "What're we gonna tell Samos?"

A burst of noon light flooded the dim barroom. On cue, the sage himself appeared through the front door. "Yes, what are you going to tell Samos?"

"Whaaaa!" Daxter clutched his pink dressing gown around his scrawny body and hid behind the blond ottsel. "Jak! He's learned to teleport in when ya speak his name!"

Jak snickered.

"Oh save it, you thistle sprouts." The squat sage banged his walking stick on the floor. "I'm here because everybody in town found out about your little transformation before me."

At the old man's heel, Jak's crocodog trotted in. The creature hurried over to Jak, sniffed him twice, then plunked down to pant at him with devotion. From the bar stool, he patted the critter on the head.

"Sorry, Samos." He rubbed the scruff of his neck. "Things've been a little crazy since I changed."

"Frankly, I'm surprised he noticed, considering he transforms into somethin' new every ten seconds." Daxter waved a paw. "But, yeah, go ahead and mock him, just like ya did me."

"I'm not here to belittle Jak's new form. After all, the Precursors themselves tried to change him into this." He jabbed a gnarled finger in the orange ottsel's direction. "You on the other leaf, Daxter, need your ego deflated at every opportunity."

"Hey!" Daxter scowled.

Jak grinned at his boyfriend. "You know you're a Precursor now, right? And he's just a sage? You're technically a lot more powerful than he is."

Samos glared.

"Hey, that's right!" Daxter leaned over Jak's shoulder. "You can start worshipping us any time, loghead."

The sage scoffed at the notion. "I have no intention of worshipping anyone who fled my house in the middle of bathtime and ran around the village naked."

The ottsel winced.

"He's got ya there, Dax." The greenish ottsel looked back at his companion. "Maybe you'd have better luck with the monks."

"Oh no: I just spent the whole morning talking the monks out of trying out that gadget you found in the ruins." A bird flew out of the sage's hair and fluttered to perch atop his walking stick. "They only listened because I told them how you'd already been chosen to be one of the mighty and infinitely wise Precursors."

"That's probably for the best." Jak hooked a thumb toward his fellow ottsel. "Daxter'd pout if he wasn't special anymore."

"Hey! I'm special. I'm the original." Dax crossed his arms. "Anybody else is just a copyottsel."

Samos cleaned the various lenses of his spectacles on his shirt with a harrumph. "Jak, you just let me know when you get tired of the bar and need somewhere else to stay."

Dax puffed up indignantly.

For a moment, Jak considered breaking the news of his new relationship to the sage too. The guy deserved to know, especially after finding out about the new fuzzy chapter in his life second-hand. But no. Someone else deserved to know even before Samos.

He had to tell Keira.

~ ~ ~

A few hours later, Jak and the rest of the ottsel trio wandered into Keira's workshop. The racing zoomers sat forgotten, some clearly mid-assembly. He cleared his throat, a sound which which didn't seem too high anymore. "Hello?"

Clad in goggles, gloves, and a grease-stained apron, Keira greeted them with an absent "hey..." without looking up from swirling various beakers of eco.

The ottsels padded over to her workbench. Tess shook her foot after stepping in a grease puddle.

Jak leaned against the leg of the worktable and looked up. "Progress?"

Daxter hopped up on a stool and snatched a glowing object from among the equipment. "Oooh, what's this doohickey?"

"That--" She took the pyramid of luminous material away from his eager orange paws. "--is a solid eco crystal. The Precursors use them to power some of their larger machines. The only problem is..." She squeezed the dropper, letting a drip of eco fall on the crystal. Instantly, it formed into a jagged prong of glowing eco. "...crystals tend to grow."

Jak took a step back. "Whoa!"

"I've wondered for a long time why the Precursors would bother with dark eco. It's dangerous and unpredictable. At first, I thought it was some kind of byproduct, toxic waste they sealed up to protect the planet. Now, though, I'm starting to think it actually serves a purpose." She took a dropper full of dark eco and applied some to the crystal. The moment the hazy purple fluid touched it, the entire structure crumbled and melted into blobs of various colors on the tray.

Cocking her hips, the female ottsel crossed her arms. "It breaks down the crystals."

"Exactly." Keira turned from her experiment and crossed her arms over her breasts. "I think the Metal Heads consumed enough of our planet's dark eco that it can't keep the rest from crystallizing. With all the Precursor technology buried in this planet, it was only a matter of time until some old eco crystal acted as a seed."

The greenish ottsel stroked his tiny beard. "How do we fix it?"

"That's the easy part: dark eco. The tough part is making a delivery device." She held up a map of the planet with a hole drawn straight to the center. "Given a few months and enough resources, I can construct a subterranean drill vehicle that can take us--"

"Umm..." Tess raised a paw. "I have a giant eco bomb."

Everyone turned to her. "What?!"

"I made it this morning." She shrugged. "Mostly from parts of one Baron Praxis ordered from Krew."

"And you knew how to rebuild it from the ground up?" Keira asked, looking impressed.

"Well, yeah!" Tess bounced a little. "Krew wasn't very hands-on when it came to actually building weapons. That's why he had me."

Jak's ears rose in shock. "You built the piercer bombs? The things that almost cracked open the Precursor Stone and blew up the planet?"

"Ya know, that makes a lotta sense." Daxter made little grabby gestures at his fellow ottsels. "Krew always did have weird fat baby-hands."

"I didn't know what they were for. I just worked from Krew's schematics." She shrugged. "It's basically a really big shaped charge for dark eco."

"Well, ya coulda made it harder to disarm them, since yours truly managed it in about five seconds."

"Actually, Daxxie, I left all the wires exposed because I wanted it to be able to be shut down. Battle plans change fast and a weapon's not much good if you can't control it." She patted her boyfriend's shoulder and shrugged. "Krew never really knew much about weapons; he just knew they meant power."

The mechanic crossed her arms and nodded. "I'll start buying up all the dark eco I can get my hands on."

"Uhh, Keira?" Jak looked at the floor and traced a toe along the concrete. "There's one more thing we should talk about."

She took off her gloves and goggles to set them on the table. "Is there something else about the eco situation I should know?"

He rubbed the scruff of his neck. "...More like my romantic situation."

Her jaw dropped open. "Oh."

"That's right: Jak's datin' me now." Daxter threw an arm around his new boyfriend's waist. "And you don't get ta be jealous, Little Miss String-Along."

Keira's chin dipped as her eyebrows rose. "Won't Tess be jealous?" Her eyes darted to the third Precursor.

The female ottsel opened her mouth to reply.

"Why would she be?" Daxter snatched her by the hip, hauling her into the embrace. "He's dating her too. Too bad, so sad."

Keira crouched in front of the trio. "I admit I'm surprised, but... I can't say I'm sad, exactly." Her expression shifted in thought. "So maybe it's for the best."

Still chilled by the sudden turn in conversation, Jak stammered a little.

She turned to him. "We're still friends, right?"

"Sure." He ran a paw over his blushing ears. "Of course."

"Oh, good." She smiled. "In that case, I've been meaning to ask: can I pet your little ears?"

~ ~ ~

Another fluffy little ottsel chapter! Let me know what you think. : )

Art: Slate & Tempo321

Text: sillyneko345 & Tempo

Edits: Kohaku Nightfang

~ Tempo