Themes: Foot fetish, dubious consent, fear, male/male interaction with an anthropomorphic character.
---
I grumbled as I walked down the hallway in the remote outpost, approaching the large room that I was to meet my "friend" in. The journey there wasn't terrible, but it was long and inconvenient and took time out of my day I could have used for other things. I did say I would meet him, however, and intended to keep my word.
I stepped into the large oval-shaped room and stood at the entrance. The room had a few tables and chairs scattered around, and some computer systems and workstations on one side. The far end of the room consisted of several large windows, offering a panoramic view of the vast area they were tasked with studying. A big rocky, hilly, forested area that at that moment was very foggy. It was a nice view, all things considered.
What the place needed was a fireplace, I thought, and then it would have been very cozy. Even a nice place to call home perhaps, provided one didn't mind the potential difficulties in getting supplies there.
I turned my attention to the recliner in the center of the room, which had swiveled to face the array of large windows on the opposite side, its back turned to me.
"Come on in," came a voice from behind the recliner. It was cooing, sounding playful and chipper, almost sing-songy. I took a few steps toward the recliner, before stopping.
"Closerrrr," it continued. A yellow-orange arm hung off the side of the armrest and beckoned with a clawed finger.
I sighed and stepped forward some more, walking all the way up to it. As I approached it, the recliner slowly swiveled around to face me, its occupant examining me up and down, which of course allowed me to get an equally good look at him too.
He was like a humanoid bird, a member of a sapient species we had on-again, off-again relations with. They resembled birds of prey, with curved, hooked beaks, feathers, talons, and so on. At the same time, they were human-sized (if not slightly taller on average), stood upright, and were wingless, having instead evolved to be tool users like us.
Despite their lack of natural flight ability, they at some point had become quite adept at space travel, which I found interesting. That's a subject for a different day. But every now and again we would cross paths with them. Our relations were difficult at times, though we were never really enemies either and were able to work together on some things too. I guess we ended up more as rivals, in a way?
They were kind of a pain in the ass to deal with too sometimes, I thought. Intelligent and competent, sure, and very smart with engineering and technical matters, but cocky and stuck-up. As far as I was concerned, if they wanted to act like they were better than everyone else, they should have taken steps to prove it. Anyway, I digress.
"Good on you for not keeping me waiting," he commented, looking up at me with a mildly admonishing, yet playful expression. "Ever so punctual."
His piercing blue eyes stood out against his plush coat of white and grey feathers, with their black tips sprinkled in. His feathers made him look plush and large, I thought. Like a big feather pillow, I liked to imagine.
I also imagined he was probably very scrawny without them. What if he suddenly lost them through some mishap, revealing himself to be stick-thin, with a big pair of spotted underwear underneath them like in the cartoons. I resisted the urge to laugh at the thought.
These creatures certainly looked nice though, I will admit that much. Quite decorative, even. It might have been fun to stick one in a cage, I thought, one of those kinds that dangled from the ceiling, as a sort of centerpiece to amuse visitors. Could have them wear a bunch of little baubles too, for a bit of flair. Maybe if my more speculative investments worked out and I was in a position to retire early into a comfortable, lavish lifestyle, I could find some way to make that happen.
"Yeah, what can I say," I replied, shifting my attention away from my thoughts back to him. "Anyway, I guess we had to meet like this, sooner or later."
"Indeed," he replied. He dipped his head down, eyeing me from behind his big, hooked, eagle-like beak. "You remember why you're here, right?"
I sighed. "Yes, I know. I tried to beat you at that little game we played."
"And?"
"And, I lost."
"Mm." He dropped his gaze down at the back of his scaled, yellow-orange hand, lazily examining the shiny black talons on his fingers.
I thought for a moment, before leaning my head in. "I mean, that's it. Right?"
He looked back up at me. "No, that's not it. You also tried to embarrass me in the process. Remember?"
"Yeah, I figured you had it coming." I crossed my arms. "Being so... pompous and all. You were on a winning streak, and I could see it getting to your head. I wanted to knock you off your perch. Well, metaphorically speaking."
"Mm. And how'd that end up working out for you."