Author's note: Here's a little thing I've been working on for my friend Meandraco as a favor for all his help with covers and concept art, it's a story about his OC character 'Exampla'. It's full of in-jokes, but even if you're not familiar with his streams or the meta nature of the character, you'll probably like the sex scenes, and I like to share everything that I write with you guys.
*****
My stylus flew across the tablet, the piece slowly taking form as I refined the brush strokes, the character seeming to spring to life before my eyes. It was finished, one drawing down, only several hundred more to go...
It was late at night, the pale glow of my computer monitors the only thing that illuminated the room, discarded food containers and soda cans littering the desk upon which they were perched. I had been at it for hours, the sun had still been shining through my windows when I had begun, but now all that I could see through the panes was the night sky and a few solitary flakes of snow as they drifted lazily towards the ground.
My hand was starting to cramp, perhaps it was time for a break. I bade farewell to my viewers in the stream chat, then shut off the feed, rising out of my chair and stretching my arms above my head. I tried to suppress a yawn unsuccessfully, then turned and made my way to the door. I was feeling a little hungry, maybe I'd get a snack before bed.
The staircase creaked under my feet as I descended to the ground floor, rubbing my eyes as I debated making a pot of coffee and staying up for a few more hours rather than getting the rest that I so obviously needed. I had a lot of work still to do. I had taken to streaming my artwork lately, but it had ended up being more of a distraction than the boost to my productivity that I had hoped for. I spent too much time messing around, interacting with the viewers and doing silly requests, rather than working on more serious projects. It was a lot of fun, but I really should try to get some real work done.
The kitchen was dark too, lit only by the far-off glow of a street lamp that was bleeding in through the window, giving the room a yellow tint. I crouched in front of the fridge and swung the door open, rummaging inside for something to snack on. A half eaten turkey sandwich, it would do in a pinch...
Munching on my newfound midnight snack, I made my way over to the counter and turned on the coffee machine. I figured that I might as well stay up another hour or two, if only to finish off that one piece of background scenery that had been giving me trouble. The next version of the game was supposed to release soon, if I wasn't careful I'd have to scramble to get it all done at the last minute.
As the machine whirred loudly, I noticed a strange smell wafting on the air. It was acrid, stinging my nose, and as I struggled to focus my eyes in the darkness I saw a trail of grey smoke rising from the counter a few feet away.
Curious, I inched closer, leaning in to see what it was. It was a cigarette, it looked like it had been carelessly put out on the wood, and my first instinct was to pick it up between my thumb and forefinger and drop it into the sink. I wet the sleeve of my worn sweater with my tongue, and tried to rub away the burn mark. It quickly dawned on me that someone else must be in the house with me. I certainly didn't smoke, and I lived alone, where had the cigarette come from?
Suppressing my panic, I marched over to the near wall and hit the light switch, illuminating the kitchen. My eyes snapped shut as my vision adapted to the glare, and when they opened again, 'she' was standing there.
"Oh...it's you," I muttered. "I should have known. Could you not put out your cigarettes on my counter top?"
Her black lips spread into a wide, toothy grin, another cigarette hanging from her mouth as she peered down at me with her cyan eyes. They reflected the light from the ceiling lamp, shining like a pair of emeralds, her reptilian pupils examining me in a way that seemed cold and calculating.
Her head very nearly touched the ceiling, she was well above six feet, probably skirting seven. I had never dared to pick up a tape measure and check. Her hairless head had somewhat of a snout, her defined cheekbones casting dark shadows down her face, her reptilian skin a shade of deep blue. She wore a form-fitting, purple jumpsuit made from no material that I couldn't name, the tight garment doing little to conceal her generous bust and her muscular form.
Exampla might have been mistaken for a normal woman, if one had only seen her torso, her more jarring features contrasting with her humanoid figure. She had round thighs, her digitigrade legs ending in three-toed feet, each tipped with a claw. I could hear the sound of her long, powerful tail as it dragged back and forth on the tiled floor, it sounded like a wet towel. For all intents and purposes she looked very much like one would imagine a bipedal lizard, or a dinosaur that had evolved to sentience.
I wasn't sure where Exampla had come from. She had just inserted herself into my brain, like an intrusive thought, or a catchy tune that one finds himself humming out of the blue months later and entirely out of context. She was my muse in a sense, an embodiment of my xenophilic tendencies. It was hard to say whether she was a figment of my imagination, some kind of supernatural entity that seemed able to defy the laws of physics and logic, or whether she was simply evidence of a very real psychological problem that should probably be medicated.
Either way, she appeared from time to time, doling out harsh criticism of my work and tormenting me with her odd humor. Whatever her motivations were, she seemed intent on having me finish my project, at times she even seemed more invested in it than I was...
She raised a pair of clawed fingers to her mouth, retrieving the cigarette and blowing a cloud of acrid smoke in my direction. She chuckled at me as I coughed and sputtered, waving my arm to clear the air, my eyes watering as she loomed over me.
"It's late," she said in her husky contralto, flicking her cigarette and depositing ash on my floor. "You should get some sleep, or you'll be useless tomorrow. You 'have' been working on the project tonight, right?"
"Uh...yeah, the project," I replied sheepishly. I had been procrastinating all day, fooling around in the stream. "I didn't get as much done as I'd like, I was thinking of maybe...staying up a couple more hours?"
I was unsure as to why I had phrased that statement as a question. It was my choice, not hers, and yet going against Exampla's wishes never ended well for me.
She shot me an icy glare, turning her nose up at me as she took another draw from her cigarette. I watched as she exhaled through her nose, the smoke leaving her nostrils to make her look like an angry dragon.
"Show me," she said, and my heart sank. It was a lie of course, and I was about to be found out. Who could say what she might do to me when she discovered that I had tried to mislead her. I led her back up the staircase and into my bedroom, the giant woman ducking through my door frame and coming to stand behind me as I sat down at my desk. I rolled closer on my wheeled office chair, intending to quickly tab out of the window that I had left open with the stream, but I felt the weight of her clawed hand as she leaned over my shoulder to stay my mouse.
"What is 'that'?" she asked disdainfully, her breath carrying the smell of her cigarettes.
"I was doing a stream," I replied, my voice wavering.
She moved my hand, her grip like iron, mousing over to the scroll bar on the stream chat. She rolled the mouse wheel, her cyan eyes scanning back and forth as she read through the exchanges between me and my viewers.
"Chatanon," she read, her black lips curling into a sneer. "Please draw some Exampla nudes."
