CHAPTER 1: CONJUGATION
Jamie ran, his sneakers pounding on the asphalt, his earbuds blaring music as he weaved through the throngs of pedestrians that clogged the street. A pizza box was clutched in his arm, the grease starting to soak the cardboard. The constant motion had probably reduced it to mush by now, but he didn't care. He passed beneath the rows of trees that were planted along the sidewalk, winter leaving them naked, their gnarled branches reaching up into the sky like skeletal fingers. On the road beyond the natural barrier that they created, cars zipped past, their nav systems coordinating the flow of traffic like shoals of fish.
It was late in the evening, and the sun was beginning to set, the vibrant reds and oranges reflecting off the glass facades of the kilometer-tall buildings that dominated the skyline. Above his head, their spires reached up beyond the clouds, the network of skyways that joined their upper floors creating a maze of streets above ground level. Winding mag-lev rails trailed between them, snaking between the structures.
He arrived at the foot of his residential building and stepped into the cavernous lobby, which took up almost the entire ground floor. Towering pillars of concrete extended into the air, a network of steel support beams hanging above his head, the abundance of glass letting natural light flood in. The core of the building was an open shaft that rose all the way to the roof some five hundred floors above, convection carrying a constant stream of fresh air up through its many levels. There were walkways bridging the gap, and every twenty stories or so was a commercial plaza where the residents could shop.
The ground floor served as a terminal as much as a lobby. There were dozens of glass elevator shafts that would ferry their occupants up through the center of the building. He made for the nearest one, keying in his floor number, watching the city fall away beyond the windows until he could scarcely even see the ground anymore.
It came to a stop, and he stepped out into a long hallway lined with numbered doors. He soon arrived at his apartment, pulling his phone out of his pocket and scanning it across a reader that was embedded in the frame. The panel slid into a recess automatically, letting him pass, Jamie wiping his brow with his forearm as he proceeded inside. He was drenched in sweat from his jog, the mesh shirt that he was wearing sticking to his skin.
The apartment was open plan, one wall dominated by a large window that looked out over the skyline beyond, the rays of the setting sun bleeding in between the high-rises to bathe the room in an orange glow. There was a living area, along with a kitchen that was separated from it by a low wall, the bedroom and bathroom sectioned off behind their own doors. The furniture was a strange blend of shapes and sizes. The couch that occupied much of the main living space was wide enough to seat half a dozen people, and the kitchen table was at about chest height to his six-foot frame, the chairs that surrounded it similarly scaled up. There were chairs better suited to his stature, too, and the counters were at a comfortable height. Even so, it often made him feel like he had been shrunk down to the size of a child. It was necessary to make such concessions when your roommate was a clear two feet taller than you.
The woman in question emerged from the bedroom, leaning against the doorframe, itself scaled up so that she could fit through it more easily. Even so, her eight-foot, five hundred pound frame filled it almost completely. She raised a furry hand to her mouth, opening it wide in a yawn, exposing a set of sharp teeth. Her round ears twitched as she scratched her cropped, blonde hair with her hooked claws, a pair of feline eyes the color of emerald peering back at him groggily.
"Hear me coming?" he chuckled, Liz nodding her head.
"I got tired of waiting for you, so I took a nap," she replied.
Her outfit, or lack thereof, caught Jamie's eye as the door slid shut behind him. She was wearing only a tight-fitting t-shirt in revealing white and a pair of black panties. As large as she was, it was mostly muscle, the high gravity of her home planet having imbued her with a physique that would have put an Olympic athlete to shame. She had never set foot in a gym, and she hadn't needed to. Just walking around on Borealis was a form of resistance training. He could see the outlines of her abs beneath the fabric, so firm that they could have been chiseled from marble, a pair of weighty breasts that befitted her exaggerated stature straining against her shirt just above them. She hadn't seen fit to wear a bra, that much was obvious.
His gaze wandered down to her thighs, skin the color of caramel dimpled by muscle, almost as thick around as his torso. Her legs were digitigrade, ending in feet that more resembled the paws of a lion, a coat of sandy fur rising to her knees. Her arms were much the same, her developed biceps smooth, while a covering of straw-colored fur began at the elbows.
She might be intimidating now, but Jamie remembered her as she once was. They had met at age six, when she had been little more than a fluffy kitten in a duck-patterned sundress. The two had quickly formed a close friendship, becoming inseparable, eventually attending high school and college together. As she had matured, she had lost the majority of her coat, and she had sprouted into a young woman. On the cusp of adulthood, they had declared their feelings for each other, but their relationship had been short-lived. Her parents had taken her back to their home planet, and several excruciating years had passed with no contact.
It was only a few months prior that she had returned to Earth, and they had made an attempt to pick up where they had left off. They had discovered that, as much as they had grown into different people, that fire was still smoldering. They liked who they had become, and ever since, they had been making up for lost time.
"Sorry," Jamie said, stowing his earbuds in the pocket of his shorts. "My shift ran late, and I decided to take the scenic route home."
Her pink nose twitched, and her eyes turned to the box that he was still clutching.
"I accept your offering of pizza as penance," she said, a smile curling her lips. She was always hungry, and greasy, salty foods were her vice.
"I'm afraid it may have been turned to paste by now," he replied, walking over to set the box down on a glass coffee table in front of the couch. "Now I know why they don't deliver pizzas on foot."
"It's pizza," she said, shrugging her broad shoulders. "It was pretty much paste when it came out of the oven."
"I'm gonna get a shower," he added, making his way over to the bathroom. "You want to watch a vidcast or something when I'm done?"
Liz intercepted him on the way there, hooking one of her black claws into the mesh of his shirt and tugging him to a stop. She leaned down to bury her face in the nape of his neck, taking in his scent, her feline nose cool against his damp skin.
"Why the hurry?" she mumbled, her lips brushing his ear. "You know how good you smell to me after a run."
Her sense of smell was many times more sensitive than his own, she could pick up the very pheromones in his sweat. He felt breasts larger than his head spill over his shoulders as she let their weight rest on him, knowing that it would entice him, flesh as soft as butter pressing against his back through the insubstantial barrier of her shirt.
"I get the feeling your pizza is going to go cold," he muttered, leaning into her as she gave him a gentle bite on the shoulder.
"We can heat it up later," she cooed, Jamie laughing at her seductive tone. "Hang on a sec," she added, tugging at his shirt again. "I'm actually...stuck..."
He reached over his shoulder, helping to free her claw from the mesh, Liz grinning down at him as he turned to face her. He gave her a playful push, and she retreated back towards the couch, biting her lip in anticipation as she lowered herself down onto the cushions. The frame creaked under her weight, her ample bosom wobbling beneath her shirt as she settled, her nipples already tenting the fabric. Jamie reached down to part her knees, opening her legs wide, taking the opportunity to run a hand up her inner thigh. Her dusky skin was as smooth as satin, a layer of husky fat yielding before his fingers, muscle like iron rising to greet them as she tensed at his touch.
"Earth's gravity is making you softer," he muttered, watching her arch her back as he took a generous handful of her thigh and squeezed. "I like it."
"Rude," she mumbled, her cheeks warming as his fingers neared her panties. He brushed her swollen lips through the material, finding it wet with her excitement, a beautiful tremor passing through her massive frame as he teased her. It made her toned midriff flex, the outlines of her muscles visible beneath her tight shirt.
"Do me first," she added, the need in her breathy voice making his member strain against his running shorts. "Do me, then I'll do you."
They had been together long enough now that he knew what she wanted, Liz leaning over to get a better look as he knelt between her legs. He brushed her thigh with his lips, leaving a sucking kiss, his oversized partner rolling her hips in frustration.
"Stop fucking with me," she gasped, her claws scratching the leather covering of the couch. A visitor might assume that they owned an especially unruly cat or perhaps a poorly-trained dog, but Liz could be careless with her talons, and the couch was one of their preferred places to fool around.
Jamie finally relented, hooking his fingers around her panties and pulling them aside to expose her. She was so ready for him that a strand of her juices linked the sodden fabric to her lips, her loins puffy and swollen with arousal, their blushing hue making his mouth water.
Liz didn't give him much time to admire the sight, delving a clawed hand into his long, blonde hair as she drew him closer. He brought his fingers to her labia, parting them, exposing a sliver of glistening pink. She wasn't configured any differently from a human, save for her size, the delicate folds of her vulva making his heart quicken.
