#ssypno

[wolven91]

It's Cold Outside

Space isn't as cold as one expects.

Oh sure, in the shadow of something; it's freezing, but exposed to a star and no way to naturally dissipate the heat? It gets hot quickly. Having a robust method of cooling one's ship is vital, otherwise the crew would cook within hours. One's ability to cool one's systems is the deciding factor of how much a ship can do in most situations. Problem arise though when that system goes on the fritz and doesn't stop cooling.

On its own, Neil wouldn't have really had an issue. Maybe put on an extra jacket or hoodie? Sure, it was cool, but it wasn't cold. Unfortunately, Yil'ro was a ssypno and cold blooded.

She wasn't cruel, evil, or mean. She was not cold blooded in that sense, but more literally; she made very little of her own heat and without enough heat, she would slow down, become sluggish and eventually fall into a coma. The ship wasn't huge, it was enough for a grand total of eleven crew members. Yil'ro was missed when she didn't appear at breakfast.

When the human had gone to check on her in her, comparatively to her size, tiny quarters, he'd keyed the door open to find her trying desperately to warm up. Blankets covered her and several instant hot food snacks resting against her gently steaming into the air-conditioned room.

"It's... Not... not enough..." She explained haltingly. Coiling herself into a tight knot, causing the hot-pots to wobble. 

Neils, unafraid of the blue Titanoboa, stepped up and placed a hand on the nearest loop of her tail in a show of care and solidarity.

"Is there anything I can do? I can bring more blankets?" The man suggested, genuinely concerned for his friend of the last three months. However, she reacted to his touch, pushing into his palm.

"By the storm snake's blessing, your hands are like a fire..." She murmured, seemingly not hearing him.

Emboldened, the man rubbed his palms together quickly and placed both back onto the coil, which surged up again and into his hands. Neil had always delighted in the deep blue scales of Yil'ro, they were so dark that without light they looked almost black. Currently they shimmered and moulded under his touch. 

"Is this helping?"

"Yes!"

"Should I get everyone else?"

"It doesn't work like this with t-them. Too much fur. Feels cold."

The skin. Humans were alone in the universe with regards to how little they had to cover them. A bit of hair, here and there, but nothing even close to the full head to tail covering of pelt that most of the other races had. Skin on scale transferred heat with such efficiency, that it had been reported that humans who touched the draconians, geckins or the ssypno; felt heavenly.

Neils frowned as he tried to think of a solution, before his mind offered him one.

There was a second of debate, but all it took was to see Yil'ro's miserable face, pulled tight against her coils to make the decision for him.

The man put his weight onto the coil in front of him and vaulted it, swinging a leg up and over it. The size of a ssypno can not be understated. They regularly reached forty to forty-five feet in length with the potential to get much, much bigger. Even with his leg thrown over one of her smaller coils, his toes barely touched the floor.

"Ooh.. What-? Neil?!" Yil'ro started, apparently opening her eyes to see what had just briefly provided two legs' worth of heat across one section of her tail. "What are you... you doing?" She asked, flinching as she shivered with the cold.

"It's an old human trick, sharing body heat."

"But-"

"In life and death situations, skin on skin contact can save your life. I'm not offering, I'm instructing you-" Neil removed his top, the frigid air making his skin pebble. "-To coil me. Shut up! Just do it." Neil ordered with a firm tone, silencing Yil'ro before she could say another word.

Despite her cooled state, the speed at which a ssypno could move shocked the human as her torso appeared from the depths of her coils and embraced him with all four arms. Then, thick, muscular coils wrapped and coiled around the pair of them, sandwiching them together before the outside world was lost and all the remained was the sound of the ssypno and the human's breathing.

She was cool to the touch and Neils could feel the heat sap from him, before the air in the confined space began to warm notably.

"Oooh..." the chest Neil was pressed to rumbled. "Oh my..." Yil'ro murmured.

"I had always wondered... what it was like to hold you- I mean a human..." She corrected hastily. Neil just grinned.

"Enjoy what you like, I just want y-" Neil's words were cut off as he squeaked. One of the broad hands that were clasped down his back had twitched sidesways and given his rump a hard squeeze having him jerk forwards into her.

"You said 'enjoy'..." Yil'ro giggled, already seeming much closer to her old self. "Can we... do this every morning? It would definitely help me get moving..."

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #human x scalie #snake #ssypno

[wolven91]

Magma Flows

The burning human silhouette continued to amazingly pull away from it’s pursuer. Her footprints, left in the deep snow, gave her an impressive stride.

The mango coloured ssypno, in any other environment would have had no issue in not only outpacing the shorter alien, but would have also been able to drag her back to safety without any kind of notable resistance from her. The ssypno inherent speed and strength would surely outstrip the smaller creature, just if she could get her claws on the damn creature.

As it was, the surrounding snowy environment was hampering not only the ssypno’s movement but her speed too. Her usually powerful tail, instead of launching her forwards, the survival suit that covered her slipped and left deep gouges in the snow banks. She was only on this stupid frozen hell of a planet because of the apparently single most insane human she had ever had the displeasure of meeting and knowing. 

She’d begun to like the geologist that had ‘needed’ an escort, she was kind and soft and warm before now. But while visiting the tundra world that was experiencing several volcanic eruptions Ya’tfeea had zero desire to be anywhere near an entire mountain exploding. Apparently the human’s job had meant that she decided that she was to record if there were any differences between ‘Earth’ flows and ‘alien’ flows. The ssypno didn’t understand the difference; they were all alien!

She focused her eyes against the back of her head as she ran in frustration. It was impossible without eye contact, but the ssypno hoped her Stare would burn a hole in the back of the human’s head so she would turn to face her and be forced to stop. 

Why couldn’t these damned apes just look from orbit? Why’d they have to land on a planet that was specifically designed to kill her kind?

The whole planet was freezing; dangerous to her cold-blood. 

Come to think of it, the human started getting excited when she moaned about being cold. 

The smaller creature breached the tree line and turned her head towards where Ya’tfeea expected the lava to be. She picked up her pace, carving her path through the snow; it would do no good if the human went and got buried under a million tons of molten rock! How would she explain that to her government?! 

As she breached the treeline moments later, her four arms grasped the human’s shoulders and arms in a vice-like grip, while her face was a vision of fury, she turned her to face the ssypno in one smooth move.

“Why were you running?! You need to be careful! If the lava flow is too fast you could get hurt!” She blurted out, while one side of her body rapidly had the cold that had leached through her survival suit and was replaced with a wonderful heat. 

“Because we already knew that this one is not that fast… and I thought you wanted to get warm?” She replied with that insufferable smirk that Ya’tfeea had gotten used to over the past few weeks. Against her grip, the human’s left arm, diminutive in her far larger hands, lifted to ‘present’ something to her. 

She slowly turned her head to see what she seemed so confident that she’d want to see. 

It was beautiful. 

Lava flows have always been described to be mesmerising by those who have seen them, But to the sspyno’s heat vision; it was a blinding white light that reminded her of seeing through a crack in the very mountain into the blinding light of heaven. She was stunned at this near religious awakening. The cold of the world was always nearby, the perfect contrast against the blinding heat of the centre of the flows and the various shades of it cooling over time. 

She released her, gently setting her down while she; a lowly guard, got to bask in so much heat that she knew there were even Nobles who had never had this much to play with. Within the ssypno ships and stations, heat was always controlled. Only the rich and powerful could bask in it.

A small hand slipped into her where it hung limply by her side. 

“It’s mostly looking at rocks, but every now and then; we find a really cool rock.” Murmured the human.

Ya’tfeea smiled to herself, already feeling the effects of becoming heat-drunk as it saturated every cell in her body. 

“...I think you’re confused; those rocks are really hot…” 

A snort from the human set off both as the two bursted into laughter, confused laughter for the ssypno, knowing for the human.

Alone on a tundra world, in front of the remnants of a world’s might, the pair took their time.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #human x furry #furry #ssypno #snake #human x scalie

[wolven91]

Beers With The Fellas

"Hey guys, you coming round to mine tonight? Got a bunch of drinks in." Asked the human suddenly, surprising the work crew.

The rest of the crew looked up from where they were packing away their tools to the diminutive creature. The 'new' additions, that were the humans, were still finding their feet in the wider society despite it being over a year since their disastrous debut. It had to be admitted that they had taken to it rapidly now that they had given a proper opportunity.

That said, they often had odd ideas that left the other races scrabbling to react correctly.

The crew was a mixture of races, none of which really mixed outside of work. It wasn't that they specifically didn't like each other or had unfounded prejudices, it was just... not done? The various races had multiple clashes with one another. Everyone present hadn't been involved in the fighting or even knew someone involved, but it was s still a fact that their respective governments had a cold relation, if at all. The slender taurian, looked to the robust ursidain, who looked to the towering ssypno. When a new species joined the wider community, it was required, expected or demanded that they be given an opportunity to show how they can add to the community, how their culture reacted to others.

It was just good sense, a fresh set of eyes on established processes. Especially saying of just how much the galaxy had stagnated over the last few hundred years. There were rumours that nothing had changed, not even a new recipe in all that time. At least not until the humans showed up.

In the distant past, some races like the vulptanis had interesting technology to add, or others, like the esquinines, had an inspired governmental process. But the humans? Well, they had none of these overt boons.

But what they did have, was ideas. Odd ones, but every now and then a tiny change here or there had a ripple effect that confounded established processes down the line. Some good, some bad.

So, when the human was stood there, arms wide, a broad smile plastered over her face and offered the team to come to her domicile for 'drinks', the crew hesitated when they realised their first gut reaction was to say no. Afterall, you didn't invite practical strangers into your nest, den or home, colleagues or not it was done.

"Sure?" replied the taurian, always first to side with the human, even to his detriment. Male taurians were meant to know how to handle any social situation after all, it was why he oversaw managing the haphazard group.

The ursidain, a male who hadn't quite decided if he liked the tiny, stick thin creatures yet, rolled his eyes whilst facing away from the group, he'd wait, let the rest of them decide before throwing in his own choice with the popular choice. The ssypno clapped his hands together with a joyful look plastered across his face.

"I've never seen a human home before! Of course! Do you need me to bring anything?"

"Only if you want something specific to drink, a friend of mine works in logistics; a bunch of beer, or rather what was described as beer. The kegs got damaged and the snooty sluggat who they were for refused to accept them. They were paid for so he basically gave me a bunch as he needed the warehouse space, should be enough to tide you guys over and I made sure to have plenty of food in so-"

"What time?" Asked the ursidain, not intending to interrupt the human, but to be fair he'd need to go and get washed first. At the mention of food his head had whipped round, ears perked.

"Soon as you're ready, all I'm going to do when I get home is get changed. Apparently, the comet that flew by earlier today has a tail that'll give us a bit of a light show." She explained. It was as a good excuse as any, the ursidain would get to eat, the ssypno would get to satisfy his curiosity and the taurian would suffer through, but watch, monitor and learn what he could.

The team broke up and went their separate ways. It was barely a few hours later, that the trio of aliens met up with one another again as they navigated to the human's apartment. It was an interesting travel, the human's home was a secret, they were banned from revealing it and were escorted at one point by a squad of canids to ensure they weren't being followed. As the 'B' repair team, they were used to getting the crap jobs, the jobs the rest of the teams didn't want. So the fact they got an escort and were brought to a very nice hab-block with all the airs and graces that came with that life?

It stroked their egos ever so gently, endearing them to the human for this opportunity. No rich citizen would invite 'their kind' here normally. Not unless a toilet was broken.

Stepping up to the door, they scratched their claws down the metal plate to announce themselves and moments later their human colleague let them in with a smile and a flourish.

"Hey! Come on through, I rigged up an ice bath on the balcony so if you got anything that needs cooling down, you can stick it in there. Foods next to the doors too!" The female human finished with a chuckle, lightly elbowing the ursidain in the rotund belly. The giant brown bear grinned at his weight being acknowledged; he'd tried hard to ensure he kept up appearances, it was nice that someone other than a fellow ursidain finally paid him a compliment. To the ursidains, to be accused of getting thin was on par with the worst insult one could think of after all.

Stepping through the door, the home wasn't too far removed from the standard template, but the home itself had some odd styleistic choices. The ssypno made no effort to hide his curiosity, moving around, running his fingers over the counter tops. Everything was too small, but he loved the rugs that tied to room together, plus it was nice to have something other than the cold floors beneath him.

He shamelessly stole the idea of rugs everywhere for his own meagre home.

The whole team eventually settled on the balcony that overlooked 'The Great Glass Ceiling' that was the ceiling and sides of all the spinning circular station that residents this side of the station enjoyed for an unobstructed view of space. At first, conversation was hesitant, the nervousness of meeting co-workers outside of a work environment was alien, but with drinks and food available, eventually the walls came down. They settled into the banter they had during the day, realising that they were no different from who they were at work, just more relaxed.

The comet's 'tail' was a sight to behold as micro-meteors lashed the station's shielding creating a display of shooting stars that were hard to come by outside of specific planets. Even the shield added its own glowing display that coloured the darkened residential district.

What came from this evening was a noted high cohesion of the team by upper management and the taurian manager. All of a sudden, during work hours they were far more in sync with one another and became even more so over time. Their efficiency skyrocketed from a lower end of the average to being classed as 'ideal' by the station AI. Upper management, obviously wanted to recapture this lightning in a bottle. So began their plan to enforce 'team building exercises' for all workers outside of work hours. This initiative ended as a unmitigated disaster and almost universally hated when employed with the various other races.

The Administrator of the station instead decided to recreate the original environmental settings while instructing nearby stations to do the same and see what would happen. Several food and drink deliveries were 'refused' for various false reasons and marked as 'free to be taken'. The human, and other humans on other stations, time and again, took the opportunity to share their wealth with their colleagues. Each time the various races took part with these 'drinks with the guys/girls' there was a noted positive increase to their work-life interactions.

Mind bogglingly, they invited near strangers into their homes or to established bars to simply 'make friends' with any species, not just their own.

The social engineering of humans, seemingly unintentionally, was a boon to any workplace should they have access to what was needed, meaning free booze and food, and placed with staff that were openly welcoming to newcomers. It was quietly designed that this would happen should a human appear in a station and request work.

Humans were excruciatingly rare still, but if one enquired about any open positions, a role was created in rapid order where the 'recommended' settings of human friendly crew were available. Each time and every time, the overall productivity, morale and team cohesion increased once the human began making friends in their own strange alien way.

The various AIs of each station communicated with one another and simply made the conditions easier for these humans to work their magic. For the cost of a single delivery of consumables, these humans made work teams who were struggling into top notch employees.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #ursidain #bear #taurian #minotaur #ssypno #naga #furry

[wolven91]

Eating Habits

Kevin stared as the alarming clicks and cracks of a dislocated jaw snapping back into place continued only a foot away, across the table.

Meesha, the giant blue serpent he was being escorted by that day 'hummed' in enjoyment and contentment. The ssypno were huge apex predators, but after the last year and a half of seeing them around, Kevin had thought he'd gotten used to them by now. His new guardian however, taught him the 'mild' aspects that he'd missed in his brief interactions in the past. Specifically in this moment; their eating habits.

"I love it when they warm it up just right, really gives it... flair! You know?" She gleefully celebrated as the alien deer sized lump descended into her body before disappearing from sight below the table. It had been so big that Kevin had wondered what she was going to do with it, let along pick it up and gulp it down like it was nothing more than a jelly shot!

The ssypno were big. Really, really big. Like, forty-five foot long and two and a half foot wide; big. So, when Meesha placed her 'plate' down and it had formerly held a full-grown animal, Kevin had forgotten about his own trauma on a plate.

"You eating those?" She asked quietly, pointing a large, clawed digit below his chin at his untouched plate. It had been several minutes since they sat down and his own 'meal' was untouched.

Kevin looked down at the five squidgits that were curled up on his plate. Space rodents or livestock, thankfully they were dead. The human admitted that he had no intention of attempting to swallow them despite the fact that they had been arranged artfully around the plate before a squiggle of some sort of light green sauce had been drizzled over them to give them 'flair' as Meesha put it. It reminded him of a fancy restaurant from back home.

"Weirdly, I'm not hungry. Had a big breakfast." The man mumbled a lie, once again shell shocked at the culture clash he got from being brought into ssypno territories.

She reached over, plucking one of the creatures from the plate, wiped it against the sauce and plopped it straight into her waiting maw.

"Weird, I didn't think you had much more than one of those fruit things?" She pointed out, mouth full and talking around it.

"Yeah, something like that." Kevin replied idly as he watched the mouse- pig-chinchilla thing barely make a bump in her gullet as descended to its doom. He realised that the ssypno never chewed their food. their mouth full of fangs were just there to hold prey.

"Whatever." The gulp that followed had a nonchalant air to it. No different than someone snacking on some Doritos.

Kevin was actually pretty damn hungry now, but in an effort to improve his relations with his 'guardian' Meesha, he had made a point to have lunch with her. Something he hadn't done before and wondered if he should do again. He frowned at the interesting display as he watched the second creature suddenly disappear and a similar small bulge begin the same journey as the first.

Was it a trick of his eyes, or was that lump wiggling? Meesha caught Kevin staring.

"If you wanted to watch... you could have just asked..." She murmured with a sudden smirk and a sultry wink. Kevin's eyes bugged out of his head.

"That's not, I mean, it's not like that!" He stammered, panicking that he'd just ruined the diplomatic opportunity that he had been afforded, his hands came up defensively, holding them up in innocence. She was watching him as if she had just realised what she was doing was appreciated, completely missing the fact the display merely held the human's attention like a road accident. Dark curiosity held her gaze.

The unconvinced 'uh huh' did little to calm Kevin as Meesha repeated the action of before. Plucking a squidgit, only this time using its tail to dangle it over her open mouth, before lowering it slowly. All the while she maintained eye contact with him, staring down at him over her snout. It didn't matter they were two different species, the heat that rose up the back of his neck agreed with the 'subtle' hints she was giving him. His body didn't care she was making a show of eating things; he was receiving signals!

Without a word, the fourth and fifth space-mouse was plucked up, all the while, she was staring into his soul.

She was slower this time. Her forked tongue reached out towards it and mimicked a ssypno by wrapping around the creature's blubbery middle, before a rapid yank drew it into the waiting maw.

Without swallowing, she closed her eyes and quietly moaned in front of the stunned human. She 'savoured' the small rodent, rolling it around her mouth, suckling at it loudly, whilst reaching to cover his hand with hers, capturing it quite easily as her limb dwarfed his.

Her groans of pleasure continued, punctuated with squeezes to his hostage wrist. Kevin's red face deepened in shade.

Eventually she swallowed, noisily.

The man's eyes were glued to the final lump as it too, began the journey down, past the defined pecs of her chest. She got his attention by drawing her free hand to trail a finger down the centre of her chest, following it until the lump disappeared although her hand still tracked it before it too slipped beneath the table.

"If I'd known you were into food play, I would have demanded you as my ward weeks ago." Meesha announced with a grin, while she leaned forwards, resting her head in her hands and her tongue flicked out, startling the human.

Kevin's stomach chose this moment to growl in protest. Meesha's grin was downright predatory.

"My, my, Kevin.. we need to go back to mine for something to eat..." She promised, standing rapidly and, without letting go of his wrist, pulling him along with her with ease. The ssypno strength once more rendering his own no match for hers.

"Plus, I'm still famished... if I don't eat something soon, I might end up eating you.." She whispered with a wink backwards and a brief raise of the ridge above her eyes.

"You... you couldn't actually do that right?" Kevin asked, finding his voice again.

"Nah, we can only just about eat something as large as ourselves." She replied.

Kevin looked up at her back with wide panicked eyes. The ssypno were big... and he was smaller than the damn deer!

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #ssypno #snake #human x scalie

[wolven91]

A Coiled Mind

"Desh? Can I speak to you for a moment?" asked the human on the ssypno’s door step.

"Ah Daniel, of course you can; please come in!"

The human known as Daniel was a diligent worker, but even Desh had noticed a marked change in their demeanour recently, one that had worried her. Very new to the galactic scene, the humans were industrious and quick to pick up new tasks once shown, but thanks to the chaos of a few months ago, Desh considered them fragile. 

As his direct controller, she wanted to make sure she was available for him, but hadn't pressured him to speak in case he hadn't wanted to. She wasn’t a psychologist, she had no formal training and had to rely on the official government therapy sessions given to the humans that they would be enough or catch any pent up emotions. 

He stepped into her home and stood there awkwardly for a moment, scratching at his arm. It took a moment to twig that something was seriously wrong as she made her way to get him a drink from the kitchen area. 

She stopped her short journey across the room and looked back at him, frowning and returning to the man. The large serpent lowered herself down to his level. Her length was immense and trailed lazily round the room, but she pulled herself into a tight knit of a roiling mass of scales to give the smaller human more space in her home. He had worked with her a while now, so she assumed he was fine with her, but was aware that she could still be intimidating at the best of times.

"Daniel? Is everything... okay?" She reached out a hand, but hesitated. She so desperately wanted to touch him, but was unsure if she was allowed to at this moment. Humans were one of the races to be warm blooded, but were the only one without a dense layer of fur. Thanks to this lack of insulation, they were walking, talking heat lamps to her kind. It would be so easy to hold on to them and never let go, but she mustn't, she had to give them space lest she scare him off, they were significantly smaller after all at only six foot tall compared to her forty five feet on length.

"I... I just.. it-" he cut himself off as a sob broke forth. She made the call to surge forward and pull him into a tight hug against herself. Two of her arms, the lower set grasping his back while her upper set; one hand found the back of his neck and her fourth and final hand slid through his short brown fur that topped his head. Her muscular lower body, a single thick tube of scales and muscles wound around his legs and raised him up into the air so she could hold him without stooping low.

"Hey! Heeeey, come on now... it's okay... it's okay now.. " She said, continuing to whisper sweet nothings into his ear as she propelled herself backwards into her home. To an outsider, it would appear as if she were a predator with a successful hunt within her clutches. 

She weaved and wrapped him thoroughly against herself as he quaked and sobbed against her.

Eventually he did begin to settle and started to apologise for his 'outburst'. Desh was shocked and sickened to think that he thought the need to apologise for something as natural as his reactions.

His home world was lost, he was part of an endangered species, he had every right to be upset and yet he had soldiered on for two months since the catastrophic events of the Sol System.

"Human Daniel, do not ever apologise to me for seeking me out to unwind. If you need to cry, you cry to me. If you don't want anyone else to know, then no one will know my friend... okay?"

He nodded his head, trying to wipe his eyes with hands already wet with his tears.

"If your kind are half as strong as you, then you will all be alright friend-Daniel, but I think today will be spent here, if that is alright?" He nodded again and whispered; 

"I'd like that Desh... thank you..."

Her tail began to wind and spool around his shorter legs bringing them together before it wound up further curling around his hips and stomach. She gave him the option to have his arms down or up, to which he placed his arms against himself. Her tail finished by sinching around the tiny neck that all humans had.

Feeling bold, she grasped his head in either of her hands, the deep blue scales standing in stark contrast to his skin.

"Look into my eyes dear.. look how they swirl with colours, do you see?"

His tense body within her coils started to ease. In the primitive times, this would be where she would tighten and squeeze her prey before devouring it whole.

But for now, she would luxuriate in the waves of heat he gave off. She would let him rest and sooth, while she was paid in the most intimate spar treatment she had ever felt.

No wonder she was banned from touching Humans normally, nothing would ever get done if it felt like this...

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #ssypno #hfy #aliens #earth is a deathworld #haso

[wolven91]

A love story between the human pianist and their alien counterpart (bodyguard or performer whichever I guess)

Lovers of Music

It was worth more than some ships.

Crafts that contained more advanced technology onboard than anything that could have existed back on earth. This one item could have been traded for one of them.

"How...?" The human uttered, more as a statement of shock than a real question. He approached and reached out to run their fingers across the otherwise immaculate curves. But they stopped, hesitating as if realising they were about to touch a museum piece.

"I bought it from a taurian. Apparently, they had filled their holds with all sorts of items. They didn't know what they had." Explained the noble.

Graham turned back to look up at his serpent guardian. A ssypno noble with golden scales who had joined the program to offer help. Forty sixth in line to his family's fortune, he had no delusions of being truly powerful or being able to be a figurehead. Instead, despite being able to live in luxury, Har'tress chose to work. Through his work, he met Graham.

It had been a long road and would be longer still, but he hoped that perhaps he could teach Graham that not all of the various races in the stars were as bad as each other. There was still good and caring people, even if they looked very different. The ssypno noted that the human had yet to touch it.

"It's yours."

The human's head whipped back to the ssypno in shock.

"What?!"

"It's yours. I got it for you. You can play it whenever you like." After a pause the ssypno continued; "I can have it moved to your room if you prefer?"

"But... I..." The human looked back around at the piano. It was beautiful. Graham couldn't see any damage to it, he doubted he'd see it even if it was. It was like seeing the countryside after being in a city for so long. Everything about it was precious.

A real piano, from earth, survived its destruction. 

"Please? If you're worried about the price, don't be. As I said, they didn't know what they had and if you wish to pay me for it, then I have a price in mind." The human looked up at the guardian and squared his shoulders.

"Name it."

The ssypno smiled and extended both sets of his right hands to gesture to the item.

"Please play me something..."

"Me? There's better players, I'm not that-"

"You spoke about how music brought you joy and allowed you to express yourself. That you would play just because, without 'sheets'. Please... I want you to express yourself."

There was no stool, probably left behind or not placed with it, but the human strolled over and touched the keys for the first time. It was black with a gold trim, the white and black keys seemingly immaculate.

He pressed one and the device, lovingly crafted trillions of miles away, sang and single note.

Graham held both hands over the keys and began a small tune. It wasn't in tune, he'd need to figure out the best way to get it back in top form with care, but as his fingers traced and ran up and down the keys, he glanced to his guardian, who in the sunlight that stream through the windows, sparkled and swayed with his eyes closed.

"I can do better... but I need to tune it. Can I... I may need to make a tool or two, but if I can get it up together, I promise I will play with our meal tonight."

The ssypno lowered himself to the human's level, who opened his arms and the pair embraced.

Graham still felt the pain of losing his planet and being sent to the far corners of the galaxy, but in Har'tress's actions, he took his first step towards actual healing.

Discord / AO3 / Ko-Fi / G Drive

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #human x scalie #ssypno #snake

[wolven91]

The Distant Anniversary

The anniversary day of the Sol-3 Incident came and went, with some observing the celebration and others not. Enough time had passed that the pain was no more, nor even remembered. Those that were alive on the day were no more, their children who were told the stories of their home planet saw that history as just that, a story and history. Steven just shrugged and moved on with his life, there was no need to observe a day that neither he nor his grandparents were even alive for thanks to how far back it was.

Steven had spent the day blissfully unaware with his ward, they'd played hide and seek and wandered the gardens enjoying an unusually balmy autumn day. They wouldn't be able to do that on this day however, as autumn was truly in effect and a cold wind battered the modest mansion in which the human was respectfully employed.

The history of yesterday played on Steven's mind, however. He wasn't ignorant to human and ssypno history; they were so interweaved that there were entire degrees just trying to document those first few weeks and months and the resulting fallout of such a cultural upheaval. Not to mention the sordid history of the uncountable humans who had been inside ssypno territories before humanity had been 'discovered'.

'Nobles' in ssypno culture used to have a far greater and a certainly corrupted reach when compared to the current day. The 'Leashing' ssypno called it when the nobles were originally brought down several pegs before humanity was the first step. Their monarch had not been gentle in the first instance, and she certainly wasn't any more delicate in the years that followed. All The Queen had been waiting for was for the general public opinion on humans and their right to freedom to align with her majesty's goals, then came the bloody 'realignment' of the nobles.

Steven shook his head as he reached his ward's room. It didn't matter now; the turmoil of those days was over and for the most part only positive things came from it. A middle class, a dying noble class, the monarchy seemingly taking a step back now that the ssypno people were not being exploited and of course; humanity being treated as equals.

"Morning Noodle!" The man stage whispered into the darkened room, something stirred within.

At this voice the blinds started to change from opaque to translucent, before gently transitioning too completely transparent. The man was assaulted by an anaconda sized serpent child that immediately climbed his legs, wrapped its tail around his waist and four arms hugged him tightly. The child's head and hood rested against the side of the man's neck. He staggered back somewhat but was expecting this. The child was barely out of infancy and yet was already nearly as big as he was.

Steven wrapped his own two arms around the boy and returned the loving hug.

"Well! You're in a good mood today!" The human exclaimed, recalling that when he had put the child down to bed, they had been quite adamant they weren't tired.

Humans were preferred nannies by ssypnos. This mostly thanks to a human's biology. Higher body temperature and a lack of fur meant that humans transferred heat to scales far more efficiently than even a specifically designed heating mat. Humanity was perfect for keeping a ssypno child comfortable and, thanks to all that lovely heat, the child actively didn't want to disengage from the human in question. A child that is hardwired to seek out a nanny was something that countless races had wished for, for millennia. Human nannies were one of the most well-paid employees within the ssypno hegemony.

The literally cold-blooded serpents really only needed two things to grow big and strong. Heat and food. If a ssypno had these throughout their lives in ready supply, there technically was no upper limit to how big they could get or how old they could become. Her Majesty was evidence of that; she spent her days submerged at the palace now, her size making it difficult for her to move about her world. A noble home that wanted their child to grow, would obviously seek out a human precisely so their child could have the best start as a ssypno's size was, culturally, directly tied, to their 'success'. No different from human's flaunting expensive toys, a ssypno would flaunt their size.

So, humans always had a job in ssypno territory these days and Steven happily stepped up to the task.

A far cry from the human smuggling or slavery days, Steven chuckled wryly to himself as he walked from the child's room with the young boy tightly coiled around the man thanks to the chill that permeated the expansive home despite the modern insulation.

"Shall we watch a film today?" He asked the child who simply nodded against the man still pushing the top of his skull and hood up against the human's chin.

With humans being so highly sought after, they enjoyed a fantastic popularity amongst ssypno-kind. Steven considered that it was almost a celebrity level status. No, not almost; he was a celebrity wherever he went these days.

Another side effect, was that humanity as a whole, was the first independent state, that was not only allies with the Ssypno Hegemony, but who's territory was within the Hegemony's sphere of influence as well without being consumed. The Ssypno Hegemony had a whole history of aggressive expansion and absorption of their neighbours and yet, centuries after Sol-3's destruction and humanity's scattering, 'The Human Territories' appeared on maps across the stars as a single system reserved for humans by the ruling monarch all those decades ago. She dedicated to a human she apparently knew who had died of old age at her side.

Some called it a 'reserve' or a 'zoo' and avoided it, others thanked the ssypno monarch and enjoyed the protection offered by the fleets that just so happened to pop up in the adjacent systems. Nobody with ill intentions went after that system and it was just enough, to prevent humanity from dying out, even if we still toed the line all these years later.

Still, as the human and the young ssypno sat and laughed at 'Iggy and the Community Bunch', a cartoon about a human getting into mischief with the long-suffering Guardians running after them, Steven had to admit, whatever the suffering of the past; he was glad they'd made it to this moment at least.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #human #furry #human x furry #human x scalie #ssypno #snake

[wolven91]

Beginner's Luck

Did you know humans were lucky?

Ask any fik and they'll be able to tout any number of stories and anecdotes of how humans are not only lucky, but divinely so.

Brön, didn't put much stock into all that nonsense. As a male taurian, it was expected that he would know better. To not bother with superstition and focus on the real world. But he learnt that humans were lucky by sheer luck and a slip of the tongue by a human himself.

Luke was the first human Brön had come across in real life as an interaction. Not unusual given their rarity. At most the taurian had seen them on the news or waving from a secure area.

But as a taurian, and a registered guardian, when the human had appeared on his station, he had done his job as necessary. Brön wanted to make it clear that the taurians would be the best of the guardians. Ssypno weren't to be trusted and the ursidains were too stupid to know how to care for others.

So Brön escorted him round the station and ensured his safety whilst showing the sights, keeping to the finer areas. Humans were still critically endangered after all, one had to ensure they were safe, whilst giving them the enrichment they needed. Cute as humans were, Brön knew not to let his human out of his sight. Thankfully, Luke had made pleasant conversation that put Brön at ease. Luke didn't appear to be one of the mischievous humans.

Plenty of other guardians had gotten into trouble for allowing their human too much leeway and getting them sick or hurt. Mercifully, this Luke seemed to enjoy his wit and rather forward jokes. Brön had researched male humans after all and was told that they enjoyed the kind of humour their taurian women did. The taurian grinned listening to the human's belly laugh, it was so loud it echoed down the promenade, much to Brön's chagrin.

When they came across the gambling merchant, Luke had mentioned that he wouldn't mind putting on a wager. When Brön had asked why, the human merely turned to him and had said it was 'a vice'.

Brön watched as the human produced his stylus for interacting with the many touch screens of the modern day. Claws on ninety percent of the population meant that touching a screen directly usually earned the user a fine. The taurian watched the human curiously as he rubbed the stylus against his chest, before using it to select his choice of bet.

The human noticed Brön's quizzical eye ridge and grinned.

"For luck."

Brön thought nothing of this at first. Rubbing one's equipment did not make the object lucky or any action beyond what one can manipulate and better or worse. But as the pair watched the screens, a series of squidgits, each the size of a canid, race around a large track. The bet had been an odd choice, the human had picked an underdog for an upcoming race. The taurian noticed the human retrieve another item from his pocket, its morbid appearance held the prim and proper taurian's attention.

A set of keys connected by a single metal circle. Attached on the same loop, with a small, fluffy, taxidermized paw that he held tightly with his thumb. Again the human must have felt Brön's eyes boring into him as he leant to the side to whisper;

"For luck."

Damn Brön's horns, the human won.

Now. Brön was a male taurian so held himself to a high standard. But on learning the human enjoyed games of chance and luck, the taurian made enquiries into private card games where the human could play with others who enjoyed the same thing.

Brön grinned into his delicate drink at the bar whilst he watched his human be handled quiet easily by the ladies.

He was currently being held aloft in the middle of the barracks of the station far above Brön's head. A friend of his was currently celebrating her forth win at cards, whilst hold the human.

The group around the table groaned and threw their cards back onto the table, none beating the large lass's cards.

"This isn't fair! Let me hold him for the next hand!" demanded another tall, black furred taurian, one giant hand outstretched expectantly.

Luke was crushed into the current holder's chest as she held him tightly and protectively.

"Oh no no! He's my good luck charm! I have to keep him near me at aaall times..." she exclaimed in a sing-song tone. Luke didn't seem to be distressed or thrashing too much. The cad seemed to be enjoying the attention from Brön's position. Although the male did need to speak up a handful of times.

"You're suffocating my charge again."

Looking down, Brön was right and the taurian was, indeed, suffocating Luke against herself.

"Sorry! Sorry!"

Despite being slightly red in the face, Luke seemed in good spirits, laughing and extending his thumb skywards before demanding another hand and another drink.

They sat for another hand, Luke having his head rubbed by each of the taurian gamblers present for good luck.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #human #furry #human x furry #taurian #minotaur

[wolven91]

Drifting - Part 1

Geckins and chintians are very good mechanics.

Watching either species work, it would be easy to assume that all either of the one-foot-tall species had to do was glance at an engine and they'd be able to say 'oh, that's how that works'.  That wasn't true of course, but their knack for mechanics and ability to build, repair and design machines was unparalleled amongst the stars.

The one thing both species did better than any of the larger species of the galaxy was mechs. To the humans, the moment they glimpsed a hulking walking machine, all their science fiction dreams came true in one moment. As to why it was the diminutive species that invented machines that made the taller and larger species have to look up, no one wanted to really say out loud. The geckins almost proudly wore the chip on their shoulder about their size thanks to the far larger ssypno struggling to convert the geckin people into a vassal state before seemingly giving up. The chintians on the other hand always had their eye on their neighbours; the canids. Neither species had a good introduction in the Galactic Community and had paid for their membership in blood.

 The design of their machines however, differed depending on who made them.

Chintians piloted their mechs via the use of artificial intelligence, two separated minds working in tandem with one another. Talking, communicating and planning their goals together. The geckins however, used direct connection with the machines themselves. There wasn't an intelligence within the machine like the chintians, but the pilots often reported that the machines had a personality beyond their own.

The short comings of the chintian design was the delay in between seeing and reacting to something, not to mention the separation between mech and pilot. The issues with geckin design was the draining aspect of piloting their mechs on the pilot itself. Geckin pilots were often geckins who appeared sickly, tired or gaunt. As if they were being drained of their very life force.

But, for the time being, these mechs were not heavily used in fighting. At least not officially. The Galactic Community government had no mechs in their standing army, regardless of what reports from separatist forces suggested. The GC merely pointed out soldiers of fortune were a thing and they could utilise whatever hardware they had access to.

It was when Casper had been practically dumped in Geckin territory with his meagre belongings that he shortly afterwards discovered all of this. The fact that they greeted him atop walkers that put them at his height was not lost on him. The fact he reacted with unconcealed amazement and awe meant that Casper, very quickly, became a celebrity on the Geck home world, his reaction and gushing about the walkers broadcast over and over to all corners of the planet.

It was a mere three weeks later, when Casper was in his quite opulent home a top a tower in the main city, surrounded by a good thirty geckins that they discovered yet more things they liked about humans.

"What's this one say?" Asked a yellow geckin, Casper had given up trying to remember all their names and they simply didn't care. Most seemingly just shouted 'oi, you' and the geckin they were talking to looked round. The young man looked round and observed the DVD that the geckin had pulled out of the pile. Casper had merely seen what was happening on the horizon the other month and swept his had across his shelves of DVDs and tossed them all into a bug out bag along with his books and anything else to hand.

To this day he couldn't say why he'd saved the media, he hadn't thought about it. He just did.

"That one is... Ha... Casper the friendly ghost." He replied with a grin, the translators not having his written language yet meant anything written had to be translated for them.

"You have a story written about you?!" A green geckin exclaimed, jumping from the shelves onto Casper's back. One had to get used to geckins clambering all over oneself if they were staying in geckin space. He could feel no less than three geckins in the various pockets of his cargo pants, fully asleep enjoying the heat of his legs through the material.

"No, just a coincidence. He's about a dead human." That immediately lost any interest in the tale.

"What about this one? Looks like a Tax Two?" Asked a red geckin, holding up a different case.

"Oh, Pacific Rim. Giant monsters attack and the only way to beat them back is giant mechs. What's a Tax Two?"

Casper's question was initially ignored as a surge of multiple-coloured scales across many different creatures ran towards the one holding the approved DVD. It was amazing to the man how quickly they had reinvented a device capable of reading the DVD correctly, but again; it was a species of engineers.

As they settled, Casper's lap becoming buried in the geckins and the rest of the oversized furniture, at least to them, was likewise covered.

"Oh and a Tax Two is a heavy loader. Manipulators instead of weapons. Good for tearing vegetation out and clearing areas, although I bet it could knock out an ursidain if you gave it a swing."

"Huh... I think you'll like this one then..." Casper promised, shuffling down into the seat, content to be a climbing frame for the various blighters for the time being.

"Huh... I wonder how well humans mesh with a suit that big..." asked one of thr geckins turning to fix Casper with a look that was not one Casper had seen before.

For a brief moment, he felt as if the geckin only saw an important cog that needed to be fit somewhere, not a human.

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #scalie #human x scalie #geckin #lizard

[wolven91]

The Human Problem

Humans.

'Late to the party' as they would say, were only discovered after many of the other sentient races had already discovered one another for thousands of years. That wasn't unusual. Space was big, very big. There are records of many species and races living in old territories of one another and not knowing it simply because of how big space was.

What was unusual, was how the draconians, were not surprised by the human appearance like the other races were. Furthermore, the draconians already had many stories of humans, or at least, something that could match the human appearance according to their archivists and philosophers. Although, to the draconians, 'human' wasn't the correct name.

According to the literal hundreds of draconian stories and even one or two ancient texts; humans, were called the fae.

All three rings of the draconian government were present for the debate. The inner circle, the chaotic aquatic draconians swam in the mighty pool at the centre of the auditorium. These were the artists and creatives of the draconians. They celebrated the humans as a great tiding and new life being breathed into a stagnant and dying universe.

The outer circle, the quadrupedal dragons clung to the rafters and in the upper stands. They suspected the humans; they knew what the stories of the fae warned. The outer circle of government was the military arm of the draconian people, it was their honourable duty to protect the draconian way of life. Humans represented chaos and new dangers.

Finally, the middle circle of their government, the bipedal draconians. These were the even hand of the draconian people, the ones who were the outward face and considered all sides before acting. They... did not know how to handle a part of their history come to life. Humans or Fae, they were fantasy, they were myth. It was as if the draconian children's imaginary friends were all suddenly wished into being.

How does one handle the magical suddenly made physical?

The fae, were described as 'Without, feather, fur or scale...' by an ancient text dated several tens of thousands of years ago. At first, it was assumed that it references ghosts or spirits. Likewise, their exploits were just as fantastic. As folktales began, the spirits gained flesh. They were given a name.

Fae.

Shorter creatures that lacked feather, fur or scale. Fleshy creatures that gave off warmth unlike the draconians. They lacked direct advantage in a fight, no claws or sharp teeth or even wings, but a bite from them would always become infected. They were either a great ally, offering boons or sound advice, or they were merciless tricksters, fooling the rude and cruel to their dooms. Often using a draconian's greatest desire against them.

The golden rules to dealing with a human was to be polite, never threaten them or theirs and to never, under any circumstances, offer them your full name.

"The ancient texts are incomplete!"

"We all know what it was going to say! 'Without feather, fur..' and the final portion was to be 'without scale'!"

"That is a guess! The piece is missing!"

"And the folktales? They all complete the saying."

"We have no knowledge of where they began, there's no written beginning to the folktales."

The debate raged on, while several of the more serious bowed out from the discussion, a consensus would not be found here. A purple draconian with a serious expression stalked the halls back to their quarters as they considered the situation.

Humans were a problem. The fae were rightly destroyed. Killed as technology was discovered. No one needed magic back in the universe, least of all an entire race that could destabilise the draconian rings of power. The humans were few, this was a good thing. A few credits given to the select few and many of these humans could suffer accidents or simply disappear in their travels.

No one would miss them, and the status quo would return, but they would have to reach out to like minded others amongst the ssypno, taurian, ursidain and others...

The loathed races would cooperate again to resolve the human problem.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #dragon #draconian #human x scalie

[wolven91]

Squidgits

Anna had come to the realisation was okay with her current situation.

She had come to this planet to get back in touch with nature. Spending too long on-board ships and stations eventually exhausted her to the point she decided she'd come down somewhere 'safe' and go for a weekend hiking. The planet she was on, safely situated will within ssypno territories, was a 'garden world'. It meant that it had previously been heavily mined for resources, such as trees or minerals and was now mostly devoid of any dangerous lifeforms.

Conservation efforts weren't a concept to most of the races until Humanity entered the scene. The various alien races didn't put the same effort into avoiding the loss of fauna. Still, the damage was done long before Anna was born, she felt no guilt, and it meant she could wander around the new forests and grass covered plains without worry.

That was until she set up for the evening in a cave. She was laid on her back on top of her bed roll with her sleeping bag bunched up by her feet. Despite the cold air that whipped through the cave, she felt none of it due to her 'visitors' that had joined her midway through the night.

She was currently covered by curled bundles of fur that quietly rumbled as they breathed in and out. There were many of them, perhaps ten? All of various sizes ranging from as small as a guanine pig to as large as a dog.

She had woken to a cold nose dabbing at her cheek and its whiskers tickling her face, the tiny creature was seemingly curious as to what she was. When she had awoke and paid attention, the easiest way to describe the small creature was a large Chinchilla, roughly the size of a cat, that evidently, could 'purr'.

What had started as one of the creatures sniffing at her face before curling up atop her breastbone in the hollow of her neck, eventually escalated somewhat. It had stayed still a moment before the gentle vibrating in time with its breathing. Anna had to force herself to resist 'squeeing' at its adorable nature. She'd been surprised to see another of the creatures appear, stand on its hind legs before observing its pack mate, brother, or sister? And chambered up onto her stomach where it also promptly fell to sleep.

This was repeated a further eight times until she was nearly completely covered by little adorable babies. She reached out with a hand and gently stroked one of the bundles which merely increased its rumbling two-fold in volume.

Unbeknownst to Anna, these were squidgits. A creature that could be found at every corner of the galaxy. A pest when they weren't wanted, cattle when they were. Squidgits could survive on an amazing range of different diets, from scraps and rubbish to plant matter. Their meat could taste like beef, pork or chicken, depending on how it was cooked, whilst their hide could be made into strong leather with relative ease. They bred at an astounding rate, replenishing their numbers with ease. The interesting aspect of squidgits, was their size. Given enough time and lack of predators or extermination efforts, squidgits could grow into ludicrous sizes.

A pair of squidgits that finds an abandoned sector of a station could eventually grow just as large as an ursidain, and despite their lack of hostility, they were a pest or nuisance.

For Anna, she discovered their drawbacks when she had a moment of panic. She heard the heavy footsteps outside the cave. She reminded herself that she was safe. She had gone hiking on what was supposed to be a 'safe' planet. No terrestrial predators bar some birds of prey and larger water carnivores.

However, the snuffling and heavy echoes of something entering the cave did nothing to assure Anna that she wasn't in mortal peril. From her prone position she was unable to see much more than the first space-chinchilla that blocked her view. It didn't take long for the interloper to show itself, however.

A fully grown space-chinchilla walked up to Anna's head and sniffed it. It was huge, maybe it was fluff, but it was the size of a damn cow! The things using her for heat were just the babies compared to this monster! 'Momma Chinchilla' didn't seem too worried, however after giving Anna a once over, snuffling at her face and at the quietly dozing babies. Anna flinched as the two or three babies that covered her torso leapt off her in a coordinated effort to vacate her all at once.

Before Anna could react, the Momma Chinchilla moved to the now vacant spot on Anna's front.

"No no no no, wait wait waaaaaai-" her pleas were ignored as the air was forced from her lungs as the Momma Space-chinchilla laid the top portion of her body on top of the wonderfully warm body of Anna. The trio of babies that had left their positions returned and either chambered atop their mother or any still exposed part of Anna. The rumbling purr of the squidgit shook the human with every breath.

It wasn't so bad, Anna wasn't being crushed, most of the size seemed to be silky soft fluff which felt quite wonderful and also trapped plenty of heat.

Little did Anna know that she sparked an alarming evolution within the behaviour of the creatures, one that was being discovered as and when the squidgits encountered a human. Following their successful nesting atop their first human, the whole species eventually and rapid came to associate humans with safety and warmth. Human skin transferred heat better than fur or scale ever could.

What was nuisance in the past, became a real problem as it was rather difficult to maintain an outpost while a herd of cow-sized space-chinchillas attempted to chamber into the base at every given opportunity or opened door.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #furry #squidgits

[wolven91]

Drifting - Part 7

"That went well." Qik said as she slipped a foot into the nerve suit's trouser leg while Casper was currently running his fingernails across the top of his scalp, itching it vigorously. The man glared at the messy cap of hair that had plagued him for the last hour.

He'd had to wear it for the entire interview with a GC representative. All a giant farse to hide the fact that as a 'critically endangered species' mere months of living in geckin space, Caper was now piloting thirty-foot mechs that had the potential of killing him if he took a bad hit.

"I want to burn this." He said bluntly, glaring at the ridiculous yellow, blonde wing that was more in place on a fictional character than real life.

"Do it, throw it into the furnace." Qik shrugged, as she shimmied into the Nerve-Suit, its shiny material hugging her curves in ways that made the human stare quite openly. Qik was slim, sleek, and athletic. Her abdominal muscles showed through her fur quite easily and the 'skintight' Nerve-Suit only emphasised that further. His eyes greedily drank in the way the light played over the smooth contours. He blinked, snapping back to reality. Why was it hard to concentrate?

"Uhh, I... Can't. That was it. It belongs to a geckin, not part of the military. But... why did they have a wig?" Casper asked, holding it in his hands and squinting at the item, trying to distract himself from the toned leg that was parked on the bench next to him as Qik adjusted and made sure the suit was in place.

"Apparently they had a fantasy of a human. Or a facsimile." Qik explained as Casper put it aside and began to disrobe.

"What do you mean?" He asked as he turned away from her to remove his underwear, still suffering from the human-made taboo of being undressed in front of the opposite gender. He'd discovered that, that was not a common fear amongst the stars. Humans were the odd one out for how much they cared about separating the genders. Even on his public ID, it didn't have his gender listed.

"Humans aren't new in some parts of the galaxy apparently." Qik began, fists now on her hips whilst she openly stared at Casper as he donned the stretchy Nerve-Suit. "You might have only been officially part of the GC for like, six months? But it seems that Ssypno media has human-things running around long before then. Rumours and shit. This geckin was a human lover." The lopel mercenary finished with a grin.

Casper frowned and ensured his suit was donned correctly, trying to line up the needle holes with the red welts that covered his ashen skin.

"Human lover, before humans were found. Sounds like a-abduct-..."

Casper blinked as the changing room was suddenly filled with a deafening roar, he tried to say something, but nothing came out as he became lightheaded and lost his balance. Toppling forwards, strong arms and hands grabbed him, arresting his fall. It took a moment for his legs to work and lift himself back up, knees shaking. He looked down at the brown fur and black latex covered arms holding him.

Qik.

Noise from behind his ear. She was saying something. He took a guess, not wanting her to know how far gone he was.

"Dizzy... Just a bit dizzy." As he was sat down on the bench with her help. "Got up too quick."

"You been eating?" Qik asked, her face close to his. She had knelt down and held his head between both of her hands, peering into his eyes, using her thumb to pull his eyelid down slightly and observed him. They were warm. Her hands were so warm and blocked out the world and the roaring noise. He gently reached up and touched her hands, not quite holding her there, but ensuring she didn't pull away too quickly.

"Yeah..." He lied, the young man hadn't been hungry recently. He'd nibbled the nutritional mush but had poured most of it down the toilet before going to bed. He felt fine, he'd felt this way before, and knew the moment he was back in the rig, he'd be better than fine once more.

The brown furred rabbit-like alien merely frowned, then clicked her tongue. She let go, much to his disappointment.

"Come on then. We're testing live weapons today. No more simulations. You're going to need a pick-me-up." She decided on his behalf, her voice moving away.

Blinking, Casper willed himself to concentrate, to get back in the room and turned his head to find the alien rifling through her jacket's inner pockets. She pulled a tiny hard packet and held it between two fingers, holding it to the light. Standing back up, her legs going on for days, she cat-walked back over to where he was sat and folded herself back down.

She took the packet, snapped it in half and held it to Casper's nose with one hand, while the other grasped the back of his head, preventing him from retreating.

"Sniff. Once and hard." She ordered, eyes fixing him in place.

He trusted her, Casper complied.

Immediately he felt better. The second he finished inhaling, his lungs breathed out through his mouth and his vision became notably clearer. His eyes felt as if he had put drops into them. The tightness in the back of his skull was gone. He wasn't high or wired. There wasn't a tremble to his hands like when he had, had too much coffee, but in a matter of seconds; he was awake and alert once more. Qik nodded at his eyes focusing on her a moment later. Even his legs felt strong and ready, the tremble, gone as if it were never there.

"It's not a fix, but it keeps you on point during extended missions. It'll get you through today. You'll need to eat tonight though. Come on. Let's get going." She explained, patting his knee and standing up right, leaving his head at hip height.

== 0 ==

Casper received a message from Qik. These were public knowledge, and Qik never spoke of private matters over these messages as anyone could have been reading them. At least while they were operating under geckin jurisdiction.

{Okay New Guy, first up. Heavy weapon frames.}

Qik's rig was running ahead, the spiked ends of her rig's legs tip toeing across the landscape like she was merely a thirty-foot mech running through a feel of daisies. As the pair of them left the safety of the hangers and went to the wider, more deserted firing ranges for the rigs, Casper was reminded that they were travelling a not insignificant distance at high speed.

Casper's rig was running alongside her, but it was more of a skip, where his massive metal feet kicked at the earth and his booster suite, fit to his back, propelled him forwards in great leaps and bounds. It didn't matter which way he wanted to move, the directional jets would automatically move with his desires, and fire as one, launching the human rig in a complete 3D space. Even up into the sky, although jumping was ill-advised at most times.

While Qik's rig was armoured and designed to be fast and deadly, offering her an all-round offence and defence, Casper's rig was an 'ultralight', designed to not *be* hit, by being faster than the opponent. It suited his style, fast and accurate, avoiding confrontation if he could. The near zero drift of his connection to his rig meant that plenty of effort was put into freedom of movement of the machine. If his body could do it in 'real life', he could do it inside his rig. Even jumping, the engineering crew of the geckins had put a lot of thought into shock absorbers, just to prevent the utter destruction of the suit from one bad landing.

It had gone so far that Qik had been tasked with teaching the young man how to roll and fall safely on crash mats in the real world. He hated those lessons; his biological side was even weaker now... not like his mechanical body. It had yet to fail him even once.

The new received message caught his full attention.

{Heavy weapon frames are equipment packages that are launched into the combat area during the softening barrages. To the enemy, it could be an unexploded ordinance. To you? It's a power up.} Casper felt *something* ahead, it made him giddy. It was something pleasant. Something good. Like a 'blip' in his mind, he made a straight line for it.

The pair of the giant rigs came up to the lip of a crater. At the centre, in the lowest part of the divot, was a metal lid. Without prompting the lid pinged off and a weapon package appeared from the ground.

{Approach it.}

Casper complied, sliding down the loose dirt with more ease than should have been possible. The loose dirt of the craters had toppled more than one mech in the past. As he approached however, the package unfolded, and an autocannon revealed itself to him. Without training, the software of the rig stepped in and he instantly knew how to equip the item. It was always odd when the software packages that were part of his rig inserted their knowledge in places that he had previously no experience.

He had not known to aim for joints to disable a mech's weapons or movement. He did not know that pilots were almost always situated between the shoulders at the back of the mech. He didn't know, to duck his head and shoulder the weapon platform, nor how to all clicked and clunked into place. But now, thanks to the software, he knew it by instinct. The moment he needed the information; it was there, in his mind as if he had merely forgotten it.

Casper stood up straight, shouldering the platform and felt the weight. He could feel that his movement was lessened dramatically, bending his knees under the weight.

[Its heavy.] He sent.

{You're not going to be able to boost or move at your normal speed with that thing. This is a shoot, empty the weapon, then bug out package.}

[Speed is life?] He sent with mild hope she would get the reference.

{Yes, that's a very good motto to keep in your head. Now, that mountain over there insulted us, fire at will.} She demanded, and a pockmarked slab of rock was pinged as a target. His optics tracked it perfectly, so did the cannon. The cannon was easy to use. It was as if Casper had gained a third eye, one that followed exactly where the barrel was pointing. It was no harder to aim the weapon than it was to cross or uncross one's eyes. It took concentration, an effort, but no more than that. A mild effort to aim an oversized tank cannon.

If Casper could smile, he would have, he settled for clicking his optics. The satisfying clunk and explosion of the weapon rattled the entire frame of Casper's rig with each round. His shots, despite aiming somewhat carefully, went far wider than he expected. It certainly wasn't as accurate as he wanted, so he knelt low and aimed his shots instead of firing wildly, tensing his arm.

Clunk.

Clunk.

Clunk.

The shells of the expended ordinance flew out the side of the cannon, away from his rig until they dented the earth. He was watching the rounds carefully as they arced, however. He was pleased when each hit the centre of the previous round's explosion, visibly boring into the side of the mountain until entire sections began to crumble and begin a rockslide now that gravity wanted its due.

Each time Casper willed the weapon to fire, not pulling any mechanical trigger, he felt a counter in his mind. Like each fired round made him lighter, and emptier until finally nothing more happened. He knew that he had nothing left in this weapon.

{You're out, that equipment is now nothing more than extra weight. Eject it.}

Casper shrugged and pins fired as one. The new frame that had locked around Casper's rig fell to pieces, freeing him. Immediately he felt his spine lengthen and had to resist the urge to bounce on the spot with the returned freedom. His rig twisted and flexed, while Qik's rig merely watched on, still as a statue. His rig's arms extended, then returned, shadow boxing in the open air.

{You really feel more alive out here, don't you?}

[You have no idea...]

{Tell me about it, we got more stuff to try, Southeast.}

A new 'blip' appeared in the distance. It was a curious sensation, like there was a physical presence touching his forehead when he looked in that direction. The software, melding perfectly with his nerves. The pair of them began their run once more, bounding over hills and along valleys. Casper breathed deep, the vents across his chest opening fully, reducing his armour, but allowing his reactor to run hotter. Everything was in sync.

He was the mech. The mech was the real him.

[It's a freedom unlike any other.]

{I've enjoyed lots of different freedom New Guy. It can't be that good. }

[I don't think I could explain it to you unless you lived like a human did only a little bit ago. We were told we had freedom, we didn't.]

{I hope your old leaders survived, only a matter of time until a juicy contract pops up for them}

[I don't want revenge. I just don't want to go back.]

Casper hadn't even laid eyes on the metal capsule before the lid audibly pinged off this time. His mech grabbed the lip of the crater as his legs and boosters threw him up and over the lip. It was the same movement as jumping over a fence, only his entire body knew where it was and where the ground was. He'd never catch his foot on the ground, he'd never worry about being tired. He was truly in control now.

Similar to the Autocannon there was equipment hanging in the air, ready for Casper's rig to get into position. He did so without hesitation, he trusted himself.

{Fastest method of taking out a threat is to ensure its destroyed. Let me get clear before you turn all that on.} Came a message from Qik before he felt her rig retreat rapidly over several hills.

Casper's rig stepped into the frame and a hilt was presented to his hand, which grasped and locked it into place. On his opposite arm, a round disc was bolted into place, the lug nuts twisted and locked in within seconds. Casper turned and swept the hilt in an arc in front of him, just as the fusion engine buried within burped to life.

[You got me a sword!?] He demanded, moving through several motions, finding them natural and fluid despite never having held a sword, real or fake, before.

{It's technically a blowtorch, but if you want to designate it a sword, go for it New Guy.}

Again, Casper's rig's optics clicked in glee as he swung the sword in greater arcs with faster and faster strokes until he was spinning and hopping from one leg to the other. He was graceful and deadly in equal measures. The young man felt as if he could take on any master swordsman if they had the ill fortune to cross him.

{Enjoying yourself? Good to see you so loose and limber. It'll be useful for this next bit.} Came Qik's next message, but she was beyond his range of perception, even if he tried to extend his sight, his feelings; wherever she was, if she was still in the dunes, she was low and still. Hidden from him.

He was turning his head from left to right, searching the horizon for a clue to where she might be, when the first shot pinged off his left shoulder.  Sparks flew and something squealed off into the distance. Casper rolled forward with the force of the below, bending over and getting cover within the crater.

More rounds from the west began to fly overhead, chewing up the crater's edge. He could see and hear the bright flashes of the live rounds whizzing mere inches, or what felt like inches, from his head.

{New Objective: get back to the hangers without being disabled. Good luck New Guy.} Was the final message Casper received from Qik. Emotions never came across in the text format, but this felt cold, or maybe she was amused? Either way, Casper knew the lopel pilot was serious. Casper shuffled on his hands and knees, the ignited blade dying at his whim. He made his way around the crater away from the barrage of bullets that threatened to take the head off anything that appeared.

In the brief moment that Casper's reconnaissance unit popped up, time seemed to slow. His optics clicked and he immediately saw the tower that had sprung up from the ground, from between two of the formerly unimportant hills. Atop it was a turret that was firing a stream of bullets his way. In this slowed state, he could see the barrels twist and adjust to his new position, so he ducked again and shuffled to the bottom of the crater.

Moments later, the space his head had occupied exploded in a shower of dirt and sod. But Casper didn't care.

He might have cared if he was weak.

If he feared for his flesh.

But he didn't.

He was inside a machine that made him fast, strong and dangerous. He might have worn a frown, or even a grimace, but the rig couldn't recreate those movements. As he prepared to leave the crater, his optics clicked instead.

From the crater, Casper's rig exploded out of it with a burst of speed that belied the size of the machine. His legs unfolded and braced him for impact as the rig landed, scraping down the side of one of the hills, sending dirt and grass flying. There was no delay, the main thruster that sat in the very centre of Casper's back roared to life and catapulted him forwards!

If he were a mere human, he may have feared the speed at which he rocketed forwards towards the turret, he may have even feared the barrels as they tracked him, spinning up, ready to vomit another stream at him.

But not whilst he was within his mech, not while he was who he was meant to be.

He.

Was.

Invincible.

The tower grew and grew as his rig approached at Mach speed, all he had to do to reach it was kick the ground only a few moments before he hit the base directly. His trajectory changed in an instant and the rig soared into the sky majestically. The barrels flashed and burped another stream, but the sword was only part of the weapons package he had picked up, the shield bolted to his other arm was raised high, tilted to deflect, rather than absorb the rounds that screeched and wailed as they ricocheted off the solid shield.

The sword came to life once more, flame and fire that burned in the thousands of degrees flowed from the hilt, directly into the metal of the turret, cutting through the armour with ease and destroying both the precious wiring and the volatile ammunition within. Like a knife through butter. As gravity reasserted itself, Casper bent his knees and the booster pack closed all the vents on his back, opened the vents to his front and fired, softening his landing in a cloud of dirt just as the tower and the turret exploded in a shower of sparks and fire.

[Hah! Take that!] He sent on a broad wave, standing in his moment of true victory, one fist raised, holding the sword aloft.

The RL238 AAFPPT (Anti-Armour, Falling Petal, Pass Through) round pummelling straight through the left hand vents on the front of Casper's rig without losing even a fraction of its energy. The spinning munition tore through internal components without a single care, easily completing its mission of punching right back out the otherside of the machine. The round continued its journey for just short of a mile before being oblitorated as buried itself into the dirt. 

The barrel of the 120mm rifle that had fired the round was still glowing at this moment. Vapour steamed gently away, unfussed by any breeze despite the violence of noise and light that flashed by only moments ago. 

Qik winced in her rig as she observed the perfect hole straight through the chest of Casper’s rig. It was a hard lesson, but one every pilot needed to have.To be disabled.

What did it mean to a pilot with no drift though?

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #lopeljack #rabbit

[wolven91]

If a human convinced some of their alien buddies to play sorry how many minutes would you guess till the board is thrown out the window

Taurian males adopt it as a new mental trial to test and torture themselves and others.

Taurian females slap the board after the second or maybe third time 'it' happens.

Ursidains think it's a stupid game and every time they go back will get themselves a snack. It never quite leaves popularity.

Ssypno think it's deeper than it is. Noble adopt it and laud it as 'the next big thing', the general populations join in because fashion.

Canids love it. Its less about them losing, it's more about them causing frustration in others.

[wolven91]

Can't wait to read your other stuff... Just followed you so I can get updated when you post. So in the conservationverse how many other species are considered endangered?

Sentient species? Just us.

The vulptanis experienced a sudden loss of numbers a several hundred years ago, but have recovered with only variations in the colouration of fur becoming rarer.

There are other species with lower numbers than the big three races (Ssypno, Taurian & Ursidain), such as the lopeljacks or the esquinines, but only humanity is considered actually endangered.

Everyone else, has a home planet, a home system and generally; territory around their home system.

Humanity alone is without a home.

Feral creatures, there's going to be many that are endangered or extinct. Uta, the taurian homeworld, is a sprawling metropolis. The natural world exists only in zoos, at least on Uta.

Ssypno, again, only the wealthy have actual, natural environments on their property. The largest available reserve being the Royal gardens.

Ursidains, they have more nature reserves on their home planet, but a vastly reduced flaura and fuana diversity. The reserves are only a recent idea.

Let me know if you have any other questions, more stories to come this week.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #non story

[wolven91]

How would aliens react to video games? Would they think it weird or would they be intrigued that we create fictional worlds to explore and can interact with directly?

It's human media, it was an overnight sensation.

Call of Duty type games are less popular, but still played by any canid with access to a computer.

Ursidains really got into cooking mama, while the taurians really like the Bayonetta series.

Ssypno are into Metal Gear Solid for some reason.

[wolven91]

In the Cuddleverse, have potential bionics been studied or considered as a viable way to increase human survivability? Or would modifying the original human body in such a drastic way be considered a taboo due to their endangerment? Do bionics even exist in this universe? I could scarcely imagine they don’t.

Okay... so.. Meta answer first.

I loath bionics in stories. When I start reading a book and the character is a human, I can get into their headspace, and the book becomes this really in-depth world.

Even if the story isn't very descriptive, I can 'see' the world from their eyes and fill in my own blanks. If its really good I'll read a page then go off on my own adventure while staring at the second page.

Until they stop being human.

A prosthetic doesn't stop you from being human. But I've read so many stories where the protagonist becomes a whole different person because their arms are suddenly really strong or their spine is replaced, and they can move in bullet time all because they got bionics.

It's why I started writing CVerse, 'humans are space orcs' stopped being relatable.

So i will never write about bionics with the exception of ascetic. They will have no advantage over pure flesh and maybe if I'm feeling evil during a writing session make bionics a hindrance.

Go for a swim and float like a rock.

In universe?

Sure. We've got at least two ssypno characters with bionics replacing parts of their body or face.