Writer's note: Andynes - like Arin - are a bird-winged people from my GB and CC stories, and Tawny is a genetically-engineered human (and also a futa). This concludes my customary glossary of silly terms. :)
*
Arin tipped the last of the glass into her mouth and grimaced. She hadn't properly stirred the dagger root infusion when she'd diluted the current pitcher(her third that night), and the drink in her glass was from the bottom of that pitcher. It was thick, bitter and syrupy, and tasted vaguely like dirt, but it was the last of the birthday bottle of kannar she'd gotten from her brother. Looking up to pause the movie she was watching, Arin saw that it was almost two in the morning. Her bladder was achingly full, but it wasn't an emergency quite yet, so she decided to get up to empty it while it was still manageable.
Arin heard a chime from her front door as she crossed the living room; there were motion sensors in place in the hallway outside to let her know when she had guests. The front door was closer than the bathroom, so she decided to check it first. She pulled a hank of her shoulder-length crimson hair up behind her ear before grasping the door handle.
Arin opened the door to an empty hallway and heard what sounded like a pair of feet retreating around the corner.
"Hello?" called Arin. The effort of raising her voice caused some pressure on her bladder, but it wasn't too bad. Her bathroom was just inside her quarters. She heard the footsteps again and ventured further into the hall, closing her door behind her out of habit. "Hello?" She called again. She reached the nearest corner, where her hallway bisected another. To her left and right, the hallway was deserted. Arin started to sway on her feet - she was respectably sloshed - and put a hand on the wall to support herself. She stood there at the corner for a few seconds listening and heard nothing. She decided to turn around.
The short walk back to her quarters was more difficult than Arin had expected: the urge to pee hit her so badly that she had to waddle a little to keep herself from leaking. When she finally grasped her door handle and pushed, the door wouldn't move. She didn't have her key and didn't remember locking it before she stepped out. Her memory wasn't exactly reliable at the moment, though; she couldn't even remember what movie she'd been watching for the last hour.
Arin heard the footsteps again. Though she felt like she was about to burst, she followed the sound. If nothing else, it would get her closer to the nearest bathroom or communication line.
Though Arin knew the maze of hallways around her quarters well, the closest bathroom on that deck was on the opposite end of the ship, near the maintenance deck infirmary. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold it that long. Her only hope was to use the elevator near her quarters to get to a bathroom on the upper decks. She waddled to the elevator, holding the waistband of her fuzzy pajama pants in case she lost control unexpectedly. She clenched up as hard as she could to hold it in and tried to breathe lightly as the elevator doors closed. They needed some oil, and moved excruciatingly slow in their tracks-
A hand shot through the elevator door and it slid back open, revealing a familiar pink-haired figure: Tawny. Her waist-length pink hair was tied into a rumpled bun at the top of her head, and she was still in her work clothes, carrying a box under her arm labeled, "LITE-BULBS."
"Oh, hello Miss Rae," said Arin weakly.
"Hi, Ar-...I mean Captain," said Tawny, stepping into the elevator. Tawny pushed the same button as Arin had and stepped back to stand next to her as the elevator doors closed again.
"Oh, just Arin's fine," Arin replied. "Azriel and my brother are doing most of the captaining right now anyway. 'Arin, you're on light duty, I'm here to pick up the slack, get some rest, bluh bluh bluh,'" she said in an overly-serious falsetto voice.
"He says 'bluh bluh bluh?'" said Tawny awkwardly.
Arin felt a leak coming on and pressed her legs together. "Well...no. Not really."
"Ah," said Tawny. "Did something happen to your wings?"
Arin extended her left wing slightly. Several of her dappled brown flight feathers and patches of fluff were clearly missing. "Just m-molting. Happens every ten to fifteen years."
"Does it hurt at all?" asked Tawny. If Arin hadn't been trying so desperately not to wet herself, she would've noticed how nervous Tawny seemed. The elevator started its short ascent, chiming and opening its doors on the floor above. It opened on a short stretch of dim hallway, equally as deserted as the one below it. Tawny walked slowly next to Arin as she struggled toward the door at the end of the hallway. There was a bathroom around the corner just outside, and Arin felt a strong urge to let go just thinking about it.
"It gets itchy when the new feathers grow in, but it doesn't hurt. So...w-what brings you here at this hour, Miss Rae?"
"Call me Tawny, please. I didn't take the last name." Tawny pushed open the door at the end of the hallway and held it open for Arin.
"Heh. Can't imagine why," panted Arin. The need to pee was only getting stronger as she neared her destination. She shuffled outside. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness: the hulking shadows of crates and deck equipment loomed against the violet early-morning sky, strewn with the last twinkling stars of the night. Arin and Tawny rounded the corner toward the bathroom and found the pathway partly blocked with crates.
"It's okay, I just have to go around them," Arin said aloud to herself. They followed a path along the railing around the crates. Tawny was trying to help Arin walk faster by pulling her along by the arm, but drops of piss were already leaking out. They arrived where Arin thought the door was, but it wasn't there: it was several meters to the right, completely blocked off by crates. Arin turned around, cursing under her breath. There was a wide gap in the ship's railing meant for gangways, cordoned off with a net of chains. Arin made for it, dripping steadily as she shuffled to the barrier. She could feel it beginning to seep out of her underwear and down her thighs. Using her wings to balance, Arin grasped the railing on the left side of the gap and yanked her pants out of the way. She loosed a powerful spray off the side of the ship with a loud, unabashed moan of relief. The world below was dark, with a small cluster of lights near the horizon.
"So uhh-"
Arin jumped - and so did the arch of piss. Tawny was standing next to her on the deck, holding the box of lightbulbs strategically in front of her crotch.
"H-how have you been?" asked Tawny, turning pink in the face but trying to smile.
Arin relaxed a little. It had been just over two weeks since she and Tawny had parted ways, two days after the pool incident. "I've tried to keep busy," said Arin. "But it's my birthday and my brother is forcing me to take the week off."
"Oh...uh...happy birthday," said Tawny, watching Arin finish. She pushed two more squirts out into the darkness below and let a few stray drips out on the edge of the deck.
"Thanks," sighed Arin, pushing herself to her feet. "Hahh, that's so much better."
"Do you think it fell on anyone's head?" asked Tawny, smirking.
Arin snorted, slurring a little. "Maybe. We're not supposed to fly over cities, but people could still live out here, so it's possible." Giggling, she pulled up her pants and she and Tawny made their way back indoors.
"So, Miss R-...I mean Tawny," said Arin. She had to tuck in her wings a little when they passed into the hallway. "What are you doing up? Can't sleep?"
Tawny blushed again. "Well...yes, but then I remembered I had some lights to replace on the maintenance deck."
"Why did you get on the elevator with me then?" asked Arin.
Tawny squirmed. She was careful to keep herself covered by the box. "I was going to your quarters next, and figured I'd just walk with you back to them."
Arin later wrote it off as a drunken conclusion brought on by all the dagger root infusion, but she got a vague sense that Tawny was lying.
"How's work been?" Arin asked Tawny. The elevator descended, and in what seemed like no time at all they'd stepped out into the hall.
