My fellow Arthenians:

I'm loving you guys right now. I looked up the stats for ZTS and we're averaging about 450 visitors a day in the month of December. Keep it up!

Also, for those of you who read my posts as they come out, don't expect them around 11:00 EST any more... It'll vary now. Some chapters just take longer than others, and all of these are beginning to take a while. I write a word about every one and a half seconds, as this is a lot of words.

The spontaneously noticed issue caused both of the two in the room to begin looking around them. Their place for the night consisted of a very simple design: a bed (got that already), a sliding door along one wall which presumably led to a bathroom, a fridge which was doubtlessly stocked full of overpriced drinks, a basket of doubtlessly overpriced snacks, and a microwave, the latter two sitting on a shelf which protruded from the wall, under which the miniature fridge hummed contentedly to itself.

Ben looked to Delaney, who was still looking around, her back to the bed and her eyes combing across every inch of open space, which wasn't much to begin with. He watched her cross the room to aforementioned door, opening it to, yes, a bathroom with a toilet (shocking, right?), a sink, and a bathtub which was exposed when she drew aside a shower curtain. She looked to the towels sitting on a metal shelf above the toilet and then to the tub again. Her brain appeared to be working rather hard, but she wasn't accomplishing anything by the look on her face. She stepped back into the main area, uncommanded door closing behind her.

Ben had, in his day, seen a lot of movies, television shows, cheap pornos, and even read a few books which presented this problem. He was zoned out looking at the Anthro in front of him as he recalled one which conformed to the basic plot, if you could call it that, of the events which would follow: the couple try to be polite with one another and offer the other the bed, they after a while reluctantly get into bed together, and then they don't sleep the entire night.

"...to me?" Ben was snapped out of his hallucinatory state by the back end of the question. Instinctively, he said "huh?" and tried to refocus. Delaney gave a sigh, placing her hands on her hips in irritation with the male in front of her. "I said, what are you waiting for?" In response to this, Ben blinked once or twice, not entirely sure if he had missed something or if he simply wasn't following what she aid.

Delaney shook her head. "You said you were tired." A nod. "Are you not going to get into bed?" Her brow wrinkled in confusion. It occurred to her that humans, at least those who weren't being used for reproductive purposes as in her village, might have different processes for going to sleep. She gestured to the bed to designate her inference.

"Oh. Uh, yeah." In his head, Ben assumed that she had just skipped the first step or two. He walked over and pulled back the covers, smoothing out his robe and climbing into bed. Delaney gave him a look like he was from another planet, then her face softened slightly as she realized, well, he was. She made her way to the door into the hallway and pressed a button which turned off the light. The only illumination was provided by a distant streetlight whose beam shone weakly through a window. Ben couldn't yet see at all, but Delaney didn't seem hindered.

Ben adjusted the pillow behind his head and smiled as he put his head down on it. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend that he was in his own bed in his own home, getting ready to end his normal day of his normal life, preparing to wake up with his usual family on his usual planet.

The next sound made him realize that perhaps this place could provide other thorns that were just as good.

Delaney pulled her top off over her head, tossing it onto the floor in one corner, and then followed suit with her bottoms. Ben couldn't see anything except for a shadow, despite how hard he looked, straining every part of his eye and his brain to make out the nude figure not ten feet from him. Delaney stared back in the night, able to see perfectly the perv despite the minimal light. "What?" A pause. He realized that she could see. "Nothing," he assured her, closing his eyes.

His eyes cracked open discreetly when he heard her moving, and his heart skipped a beat when he felt her peeling back the covers on the opposite side of the bed, and her light weight gently depressing the bed. Her ears lay lay against the sides of her head in a relaxed state. They lay on either side for a moment before she turned on her side to get more comfortable. Ben casually turned in the same direction and scooted a few inches closer.

At this distance, Ben could barely make out the ears, shoulders, and back of the head of the Anthro girl in front of him. The space separating them was about eight inches, and because of their proximity the covers were raised as opposed to lowered against the bed, and Ben could see under them- or at least he could have in better light. He tried anyway. He almost gave himself a migraine, but after staring for long enough, he could see the fluffy yellow bunny tail he had noticed on her before, her fur beginning to thin out the closer it came to her rear. He, as casual as a lepper with dementia trying to cross a silent church, slid down the bed a few inches under the covers and down his pillow. His sight improved as the distance decreased, and he could see almost perfectly the little butt she had which was covered in short, thin, light brown fur.

"What are you doing?" Came the question which snapped him out of a trance for the second time in the past few minutes. A head picked up off the pillow and turned to look at him over her shoulder just as he hastily moved back up to a logical height on the bed and looked back at her. He was silent as he was sure that she caught him. She continued, "why haven't you taken off your robe? You're going to get hot in that," she justified. "I know your mind is very shy and self-conscious about your bodies, but it only makes sense."

Ben stared for a second before nodding, ignoring the warmth in his cheeks. He was aware of her continuing to watch him, though only his face, as he disrobed, quite literally, under the covers. He felt the weight of his diary- no, journal, and pen as he dropped it to the ground, also naked. She gave a nod of satisfaction and put her head back down in the other direction.

Ben had sneakily scooter an inch or two closer while he was taking his clothes off, and now he was all too close to the girl beside him. She gave off warmth from her furry body that he could feel at this distance. He frowned as he saw that she wasn't trying anything, as he had originally projected, but then he thought about her last remark. Take his clothes off... He was going to get hot...

He went out on a limb and picked up on what he was certain had to be subtle cues for him to make a move. As he was on his right side facing her, he picked his left hand up and slowly, carefully put it down on the outside of one of her thighs, the one not against the bed. He didn't get a reaction, so he took it one step further, sliding the large hand up her body carefully, slowly, hesitantly.

He got a few inches below her waist when, quick enough to make him physically jump as well as cry out quietly in alarm, he felt his hand suddenly in the crushing grip of her delicate-looking yet incredibly strong hands.

"What the fuck are you doing now," she questioned agitatedly, sitting up fully and turning her upper body to face him. She kept a vice grip on his hand, holding it in the air as proof of his wrongdoing. Ben's eyes looked to her for a moment before dropping to her exposed chest. She had a similarly light brown fur there too, which thinned out gradually, all the way to puffy brown nipples on top of not terribly perky but really, really big breasts. Ben's mouth opened but nothing came out except his tongue, which licked his lips as he wordlessly closed his mouth again.

She followed his gaze and then looked at his hand and developed a tone which was heavily saturated with pity. "What's the matter? Is the thought of being in bed with me keeping you awake?" She smirked a little. Bringing his hand up to her chest just under her neck, above and between her breasts. She slowly dragged it down her body. "Hm?" She promoted him again monosyllabically. Ben gave a nod, distant.

She pulled the covers off of them, and she turned her whole body to face him. Ben's expression immediately turned from hopeful to confident. It was about that time when she released his hand, placing both of hers on the bed on either side of her, and he was about to start perusing her body with his now freed hand when it happened.

She pulled her legs up close to her body, then, in a flash, issued a hard, double-footed strike to Ben's stomach and chest, enough force communicated that Ben actually went airborne before hitting the ground. She gave a new meaning to the term "getting kicked out of the bed" for Ben.

The male was on the ground and wheezing, clutching his chest where it felt as though he had cracked most of the bones under his skin. A satisfied giggle was heard followed by Delaney pulling the covers back over herself. "Then sleep on the floor," was her final punctuation.

Ben closed his eyes and tried to sleep off the pain he was experiencing.

Ha! Made you guys think this scenario was gonna get dirty.

...Okay, so what if I am going to make it dirty next time. This one wasn't! Ha!

Arthenius